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Summary- Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk urged Polish citizens in Iran to leave immediately on Thursday, warning that evacuation might soon no longer be possible as security conditions worsened amid rising US-Iran tensions. - US president Donald Trump said on Wednesday if Iran refuses to make a deal, the United States may need to use Diego Garcia, hinting at possible military action from the strategic Indian Ocean base. - "There are many arguments one can make in favor of a strike against Iran. President Trump prefers diplomacy. Iran would be wise to make a deal,” White House press secretary Karoline...

An avid New Jersey outdoor buff slipped off a trail and froze to death while hiking New York’s highest peak with her dog — after it took rescuers more than six hours to find her in bitter single-digit temperatures, officials said Wednesday. Brianna Mohr, 21 — who posted breathtaking Instagram photos of herself on remote adventures — called 911 while clinging to the side of Mount Marcy in the Adirondacks at 3 p.m. Thursday, according to police. But rescuers couldn’t find Mohr, of Brick, until after 9 p.m., at which point she had died of hypothermia, New York State Police...

WASHINGTON, Feb 19 (Reuters) - The U.S. trade deficit widened sharply in December amid a surge in imports, and the goods shortfall in 2025 was the highest on record despite President Donald Trump's tariffs on foreign manufactured merchandise. The trade gap ballooned 32.6% to $70.3 billion, the Commerce Department's Bureau of Economic Analysis and Census Bureau said on Thursday. Economists polled by Reuters forecast the trade deficit would contract to $55.5 billion. The trade deficit narrowed 0.2% to $901.5 billion in 2025. The goods trade gap widened 2.1% to an all-time high of $1.24 trillion.

Daily Readings from the USCCB“If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. What profit is there for one to gain the whole world yet lose or forfeit himself?” Luke 9:23–25Today’s Gospel presents us with one of the great paradoxes of our faith: the only way to save one’s life is to lose it by taking up Christ’s Cross and following Him. This truth defies human reason; we...

[Catholic Caucus] BREAKING: SSPX rejects Vatican call to halt consecrations, will proceed without papal approvalThe Society of St. Pius X rejected Cdl. Fernández's call to suspend the July 1 consecrations, insisting the state of ‘grave necessity’ demands action to preserve Catholic Tradition.The SSPX episcopal consecrations will go forward as planned.Today, February 19, Father Davide Pagliarani, the Superior General of the Society of St. Pius X (SSPX), published a communique, as well as a letter to Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernández – and several annexes – to announce that the SSPX has decided to go ahead with the episcopal consecrations on July...

On February 17, more than 50 activists with the Gender Liberation Movement (GLM) and ACT UP blockaded the entrance to HHS headquarters in the Hubert H. Humphrey Building, representatives for the coalition said in a press release obtained via email. The groups organized the action to protest three HHS draft rules unveiled in December, which would prohibit Medicare, Medicaid, and State Children’s Health Insurance Program plans from funding gender-affirming care for minors and some 18-year-olds. The protest took place on the final day of public comment for the rules. Twenty-five people, including GLM cofounder Eliel Cruz, were arrested by Department...

Playing God, Becoming NothingThis past week, I read three things that offered a glimpse of how empty the modern notion of what it means to be human really is. The first was an email I received from a student at an Ivy League school where I recently gave a lecture on the desecration that characterizes this present age. He recalled how, a couple of days after my lecture, he wandered into a bar populated by intelligent, bright young things—students, lawyers, those who represent the professional, intellectual classes. While there he noticed that the television screens on the wall were not...

On Sunday in a busy stretch of restaurants and boutiques in the West Village, hundreds of New Yorkers queued up outside a pop-up shop offering free groceries. "New Yorkers are in pain," Nick from Queens, New York, one of several people Fox News Digital interviewed outside the pop-up, said as he waited to grab pasta sauce, bath soap and a bag of Tide Pods. The scene was underscored by the city's cost of living woes and anxiety over who would get a yellow ticket granting entry to the small shop before they "sold out" of goods. As the crowd grew,...

Intent vs results. I had this conversation with Grok.Me:This person was planning to be a nursing assistant, but they died in a car crash and were not wearing a seat belt.It seems to me that if someone was not wearing a seat belt, they’d probably be very bad as a nursing assistant, because they ignore the most basic of safety instructions.https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/high-school-senior-dies-high-202105021.htmlGrok:The article you linked (and recent reports confirm) is about Olivia Bumbac, an 18-year-old high school senior from Parkway Central High School in Missouri. She died on February 15, 2026, in a tragic high-speed crash on Interstate 64. She was...

Gov. Gavin Newsom, a rich kid from an intersection of two powerful dynasties, the Getty family and the Brown family, struggled hard to build a ‘hard-luck’ resume to make the wine country tycoon seem relatable. After trying to get someone, anyone, to buy into the idea that the son of the Getty bagman who went to an elite school was actually a poor kid, Newsom decided to claim that he struggled because of his dyslexia. The Newsom ‘dyslexia’ narrative went viral in the worst possible way when he responded to Sen. Ted Cruz calling him historically illiterate by accusing Cruz...

A Southern California mayor refused to comment on her former fiancé and campaign staffer, who was sentenced to four years in federal prison for "acting as an illegal agent of the People's Republic of China." Last week, Arcadia Mayor Eileen Wang's former fiancé, Yaoning "Mike" Sun, was sentenced to four years in federal prison for acting as an illegal agent of a foreign government. Wang has not been accused of any wrongdoing in connection with the case and refused to comment on it during Arcadia's first City Council meeting since the sentencing. Sun pleaded guilty in October 2025 to one...

Why would any president destroy the U.S. southern border? The Left typically “pounces” on anyone daring to suggest that the Biden administration had green-lighted illegal immigration to gain new constituents for agendas that otherwise were without broad public support. The Left smears critics of open borders as racist conspiracists spreading the “Great Replacement Theory.”

How many times do Americans have to vote for Donald Trump to make the point that they want illegal immigrants deported? They voted for him in 2016, despite sheer hysteria from Democrats, the entire media, and nearly all elected Republicans. They voted for him again in 2024 by an even larger margin, with some misgivings, because he promised a mass deportation force. Do we have to make Stephen Miller president so you finally get the point? Is this Groundhog Day? Why do we always have to start at square one on the question of: Should we have a country? The...

Disgraced ex-Prince Andrew was arrested Thursday on suspicion of misconduct in public office for allegedly forwarding confidential trade documents to pedophile pal Jeffrey Epstein. At least six unmarked police cars and around eight plainclothes officers swooped onto the king’s brother’s Sandringham Estate in eastern England early Thursday — Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor’s 66th birthday. Andrew — who is still eighth in line for the throne — faces a maximum sentence of life in prison if convicted.

As national Democrats search for a unifying theme ahead of the fall’s midterm elections, a California proposal to levy a hefty tax on billionaires is turning some of the party’s leading figures into adversaries just when Democrats can least afford division from within. Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders traveled to Los Angeles on Wednesday to campaign for the tax proposal, which has Silicon Valley in an uproar, with tech titans threatening to leave the state. Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom is among its outspoken opponents, warning that it could leave government finances in crisis and put the state at a competitive disadvantage...

Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs) are one of the most significant proposed shifts in modern currency. They're often marked as an efficient improvement over traditional cash. However, like those ubiquitous pharmaceutical commercials showing joyful scenes before rushing through a litany of terrifying side effects, the push for CBDCs tend to gloss over their profound risks. SNIP The obvious downsides revolve around privacy, security, and autonomy. Every CBDC transaction is traceable, and creates a comprehensive record of an individual's spending habits. When combined with digital IDs or social credit systems, this traceability opens the door to unprecedented government surveillance and intervention....

While speaking to a crowd at the White House for Black History Month on Wednesday, Trump surprised everyone with a big announcement about Dr. Ben Carson. He revealed that Carson is going to receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom, an honor he certainly deserves. You could tell that the crowd approved on this news when Trump told them it was going to happen. Dr. Carson truly deserves this award. He is an American patriot.

19 February 2026 Thursday after Ash Wednesdaygrotto of St. Michael at Gargano, Italy, once under the care of St. BarbatusReadings at MassLiturgical Colour: Violet. Year: A(II).First readingDeuteronomy 30:15-20I set before you today life or death, blessing or curseMoses said to the people: ‘See, today I set before you life and prosperity, death and disaster. If you obey the commandments of the Lord your God that I enjoin on you today, if you love the Lord your God and follow his ways, if you keep his commandments, his laws, his customs, you will live and increase, and the Lord your...

Dogs have graced my life and those of my family and friends immensely. And Muslims? Not so much. New York City is going to the dogs, courtesy of Marxist Muslim Mayor Zohran Mamdani. Which is ironic as Muslims are not dog lovers. In fact, in response to a news item about two grocery stores removing people with dogs, Muslim anti-Israel activist Nerdeen Kiswani recently tweeted: “Finally, NYC is coming to Islam.” She added that dogs “are unclean.” She later claimed her remarks were a “joke.” That pathetic attempt at backpedaling was the real joke, and a bad one. Rep. Randy...

A Lunar New Year celebration in Taiwan took a revolting turn when an elderly temple chief vomited over the country's president in full view of disgusted onlookers. Shocking footage captures the moment Taiwanese leader Lai Ching-te is caught in the unfortunate blast as Lin Pei-huo, head of the Sacrificial Rites Martial Temple, falls visibly unwell during the public appearance. The pair had been standing side-by-side among local dignitaries when Lin began to show signs of distress. Wearing a red hoodie, President Lai appears oblivious at first as the temple chairman blinks repeatedly, clenches his fists and slowly turns his head,...