THIS IS WHO DEMS TRY TO PROTECT: ICE nabs Iranian national with rape, sodomy convictions after Virginia Democrats move to curb cooperation.

The Washington, D.C., office of Immigration and Customs Enforcement announced the arrest of an illegal immigrant and Iranian national who had a criminal history that included multiple charges relating to sodomy.

The arrest comes weeks after Gov. Abigail Spanberger reversed by executive order her predecessor Glenn Youngkin’s 287(g) agreement with DHS that allowed the commonwealth’s law enforcement agencies and federal immigration authorities to share resources and information to help apprehend illegal immigrants and criminals.

Virginia State Sen. Saddam Salim, D-Dunn Loring, also crafted a bill to bar Virginia law enforcement agencies from cooperating with ICE in most instances. The Democratic-controlled chamber passed the measure 21-19.

Gooder and harder, Virginia.

IN THE ISLAMIC REPUBLIC, EVERYONE’S A BILLIONAIRE!

1 USD = 1,637,000 Iranian Rials

Khomeini's face fittingly represents the most worthless currency on planet Earth.

All of Africa has stronger currencies than Iran.

Absolute insanity. This regime has screwed us so badly. pic.twitter.com/J7TKytBvjb

— 𝐍𝐢𝐨𝐡 𝐁𝐞𝐫𝐠 🇮🇷 ✡︎ (@NiohBerg) February 19, 2026

Next week, trillionaires.

HMM: U.S. stocks are falling behind. It could be the beginning of an epic shift toward global markets.

KRUISER’S MORNING BRIEFING: Karoline Leavitt’s Continued Manhandling of the Press Is Pure Poetry. “Right off the bat, I would like to say how grateful I am to be on the side where we can say that a woman is ‘manhandling’ someone and not have to deal with a gaggle of male feminist professors getting their gender neutral undergarments in a wad. Yeah, they’re still out there, but conservatives aren’t obligated to participate in the leftist manufactured outrage delusion.”

HOW ARE THOSE NUCLEAR TALKS GOING? Trump has discussed timeline for Iran strikes — including as soon as this weekend — but no decision yet.

Top national security officials have told President Trump the military is ready for potential strikes on Iran as soon as Saturday, but the timeline for any action is likely to extend beyond this weekend, sources familiar with the discussions told CBS News.

Mr. Trump has not yet made a final decision about whether to strike, said the officials, who spoke under condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive national matters.

The conversations have been described as fluid and ongoing, as the White House weighs the risks of escalation and the political and military consequences of restraint.

Over the next three days, the Pentagon is moving some personnel temporarily out of the Middle East region — primarily to Europe or back to the United States — ahead of potential action or counterattacks by Iran if the U.S. were to move ahead with its operation, according to multiple officials.

Stay tuned.

IT’S MY THURSDAY ESSAY FOR VIP SUBSCRIBERS: Make Gunboat Diplomacy Great Again.

THANKS, FELLAS: India seizes three Iran-linked US-sanctioned tankers, source says.

India has seized three US-sanctioned oil tankers linked to Iran this month and stepped up surveillance in its maritime zone to curb illicit trade, a source tells Reuters, confirming a post on X by Indian authorities earlier in February that had been deleted.

India aims to prevent its waters from being used for ship-to-ship transfers that obscure the origin of oil cargoes, the source with direct knowledge of the matter tells Reuters.

The seizures and heightened surveillance follow an improvement in US-India relations. Washington earlier this month announced it will cut import tariffs on Indian goods to 18% from 50%, after New Delhi agreed to stop Russian oil imports.

The three sanctioned vessels – Stellar Ruby, Asphalt Star and Al Jafzia – frequently changed their identities to evade law enforcement by coastal states, the source said, adding that their owners were based overseas.

Iranian state media cited the National Iranian Oil Company as saying that the three tankers seized by India had no connection to the company. It said that neither the cargoes nor the vessels were linked to the company.

Well, that’s what you’d expect Iranian state media to say.

GOOD LORD:

The proximate source of NYC’s budget woes is we have the most expensive public schools in the country

$42k+ per student, as enrollment has dropped post pandemic, while spending keeps growing https://t.co/aXYw4PrO8Q

— Arpit Gupta (@arpitrage) February 18, 2026

NYC has about 8.4 million people, and Florida has more than 23 million.

And, of course, the state government in Albany spends on NYC residents, too.

So whatever problems NYC has, they certainly don’t stem from a lack of money.

Exit question: How much of that $42,000 per student actually reaches the classroom, and how much goes to administrators?

IT NEVER IS: Gavin Newsom Wants You to Know It’s Not His Fault That He Doesn’t Know What He’s Doing.

ISN’T THIS HOW “THE THING” STARTED? Pink rocks found in Antarctica lead to the discovery of an enormous structure under the ice.

ICYMI: Fingers Crossed! NASA Is About to Try Fueling the World’s Leakiest Rocket (Again).

AYFKM? Palestinian activist accused of expressing desire to ‘kill Jews’ wins deportation case.

Judge Nina Froes determined on Feb. 13 that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) did not provide sufficient admissible evidence to establish that Mohsen Mahdawi was removable, Reuters reported.

Froes said DHS relied in part on a memorandum purportedly signed by Secretary of State Marco Rubio but failed to authenticate the document.

As a result, the government was unable to “meet its burden of proving removability,” according to Reuters.

Froes was appointed during the final year of the Biden cabal.

COWARDS: Gutfeld Defends ‘Silence of the Lambs’ While Actors Stay Silent.

Earlier this month, actor Ted Levine apologized for playing serial killer Buffalo Bill in the film.

Levine argued the role was insensitively portrayed, suggesting it caricatured the trans movement. Never mind that the character wasn’t trans, or that the actor took more than 30 years to utter his apology.

He wasn’t alone.

“Lambs” producer Edward Saxon also apologized for Buffalo Bill, the film’s human skin-wearing ghoul.

“From my point of view, we weren’t sensitive enough to the legacy of a lot of stereotypes and their ability to harm.”

Naturally, late-night comedians didn’t defend the film classic. They were too busy pushing Democratic party talking points and misleading viewers about candidate interviews.

Not Greg Gutfeld.

Much more at the link.

SAY ANYTHING THING:

Hillary Clinton on Hungary:

“If I were an average Hungarian… I want to be electing somebody who’s for Hungary, not somebody who’s a puppet of Trump.”

Reminder: Orbán entered politics in 1988 and has served as PM since 2010.pic.twitter.com/KJ9m66PW4T

— Brandon Straka #WalkAway (@BrandonStraka) February 18, 2026

She’s always been nasty and bitter, and has only gotten more so with age.

MASSIE, LOL: Massie’s Price for a Vote? A Press Release — and a Pat on the Head.

TO BE FAIR, NEITHER OF THESE MEN IS PARTICULARLY BRIGHT NOR HONEST:

Incredibly dumb. Are you guys actually pretending Trump hasn’t had incredible foreign policies accomplishments just a year into his second term? You’re lying to yourselves or your audience.

— Karol Markowicz (@karol) February 18, 2026

DON’T GET COCKY: Democrats, You May Already Have Lost the 2028 Election.

It’s early, and the contest will attract upstarts, insurgents and opportunists. Such outsiders have seized the moment in the past—sometimes successfully (Barack Obama in 2008; Donald Trump in 2016), sometimes not (Howard Dean in 2004; Bernie Sanders in 2016 and 2020). No one knows who they will be.

But they won’t be conservative Democrats. There are hardly any left. Only 8% of Democrats call themselves conservative, according to Gallup. Fifty-nine percent consider themselves liberal or very liberal. A CNN poll last summer found that one-third of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents think of themselves as democratic socialists like Ms. Ocasio-Cortez. That share is 42% among those under 35.

Socialism’s rise raises troubling questions about the party’s future. The shift has electoral consequences. A radicalized base, animated by anti-Trump resistance, may be an asset in special and midterm elections. But open borders, social disorder and transgender ideology have hurt Democrats in presidential years. They will do so again if unchecked.

Success in 2028 thus depends on finding an appealing candidate who embodies change not only from Mr. Trump, but also from the Democrats’ reputation. That requires exactly the sort of self-examination Democrats are determined to avoid.

Bill Clinton emerged as the outsider, DLC-centrist in 1992, but only because the big names sat that one out, assuming George H.W. Bush was unbeatable following the 1991 Gulf War.

None of the big names — such as they are — seem likely to sit out 2028.

And none of those is anything like a DLC-style centrist.

MATH IS HARD: Reconciling Two Shock Polls: 58% Say Dems Are Now ‘Too Liberal’ — Yet Biden Defeats Trump in a Rematch?

CORRELATION ISN’T CAUSATION…: Is Giving Cross-Sex Drugs to Mentally Ill People Resulting in Trans Killers?

“We know the children who identify as ‘trans’ are among the most vulnerable groups – some are highly disturbed. And yet we’re not investigating this, we’re told to simply ‘affirm’ them.

“As soon as a child declares they are ‘trans’, all underlying issues are ignored and the child is denied proper mental health care – in fact, the activists claim this would be ‘conversion therapy’.’’

Davies-Arai says she is concerned about what so-called “gender affirming care” is doing to the physical and mental health of these young people. Studies have found that there is a higher rate of suicide among trans people compared to the population at large.

“What happens when we give mentally ill children blockers to disrupt their development and powerful cross-sex hormones their bodies were not built to function on? We need a proper investigation into the risks of giving young people large doses of the wrong sex hormone.

…but there’s been enough correlation that maybe now would be a good time to put a pause on these injections.

THE NEW SPACE RACE: Fingers Crossed! NASA Is About to Try Fueling the World’s Leakiest Rocket (Again).

IT AIN’T OVER YET: Warner Bros rejects revised Paramount bid, but remains open to a final offer.

Warner Bros Discovery on Tuesday rejected Paramount Skydance’s latest $30-a-share hostile bid, but gave the Hollywood studio seven days to come up with a “best and final” offer for the owner of HBO Max and the “Harry Potter” franchise.

Paramount informally broached an even higher per-share price of $31, Warner Bros said, apparently enticing the board to the table. But its response to Paramount indicates ‌Warner Bros prefers its deal with Netflix, and the odds of a switch are long.

Paramount has until February 23 to make a new offer, which Netflix is allowed to match under the terms of the merger agreement, ‌Warner Bros said.

Stay tuned…

MEET THE GERONTOCRACY:

Mitch McConnell is a no vote on the SAVE ACT.

Over 90% of his constituents would vote yes.

But his owners don’t want it.

Can’t barely walk.
Has no clue where he is.

Everything wrong with politics.

Congress was not meant to be a crooked nursing home.pic.twitter.com/iBI3PB2Pt2

— C3 (@C_3C_3) February 18, 2026

If the Founders had known how long people would eventually live, and how un-(small-r)-republican our elites would become, they might have included age caps for elected office.

DIVERSITY IS OUR STRENGTH OR WHATEVER: Illegal Alien Attempts to Drown Complete Stranger, Chills Out With Weed and Vodka.

OH, GROW UP:

Remember how everybody in the White House had to wear all black the next day?

Theater kids.

And Obama was the Theater Kid-in-Chief. https://t.co/uayWZG0Uam

— Cynical Publius (@CynicalPublius) February 18, 2026

And since I still have the late Robert Duvall on the brain, here’s a quick glimpse of him as Tom Hagen in a tough-love moment from The Godfather that Obama could have used, long before he got into politics.

HMM: Iran and US agree on ‘guiding principles’ of nuclear deal, Tehran says.

American and Iranian negotiators have hashed out “guiding principles” for an agreement during the second round of talks on Tehran’s nuclear program, according to Iran Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi.

“We were able to reach a general agreement on a set of guiding principles, based on which we will proceed from now on and move toward drafting a potential agreement,” Araghchi told state TV from Geneva, where the talks were held.

“This does not mean that we can quickly reach a final agreement, but at least the path has begun.”

A US official agreed that “progress was made, but there are still a lot of details to discuss. The Iranians said they would come back in the next two weeks with detailed proposals to address some of the open gaps in our positions.”

The Trump administration has insisted that Iran expand the talks to cover its ballistic missile program and the treatment of anti-regime protesters — topics that Tehran has insisted are off the table.

“Jaw, jaw is better than war, war,” but with a second CVN on the way to the region, this story feels a little more like “The art of saying ‘nice doggie’ until you can pick up a rock.”

We’ll see.