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Epstein files contain explicit but unsubstantiated claim that Trump abused minor

(The Guardian) Three memos that describe four interviews conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation in 2019 contain explicit but unsubstantiated claims that Donald Trump sexually abused a woman when she was a minor in the early 1980s with the assistance of Jeffrey Epstein, according to a Guardian review of those documents. The Department of Justice did not release those records when it uploaded millions of pages of files related to Epstein beginning in December. The existence of the missing documents was first reported by independent journalist Roger Sollenberger and subsequently confirmed by NPR, causing outrage in Washington and sparking an investigation from congressional Democrats.

BumRushDaShow

Core wholesale prices rose 0.8% in January, much more than expected

(CNBC) Wholesale prices rose at a faster-than-expected pace in January, countering hopes that inflation was easing, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday. The core producer price index, which excludes volatile food and energy prices, increased a seasonally adjusted 0.8%, more than the 0.6% gain in December and well ahead of the Dow Jones consensus estimate for 0.3%. On an all-items basis, headline PPI rose 0.5%, also above the forecast for 0.3% and 0.1 percentage point more than the prior month.

demmiblue

Trump, seeking executive power over elections, is urged to declare emergency

(Washington Post) Pro-Trump activists who say they are in coordination with the White House are circulating a 17-page draft executive order that claims China interfered in the 2020 election as a basis to declare a national emergency that would unlock extraordinary presidential power over voting. President Donald Trump has repeatedly previewed a plan to mandate voter ID and ban mail ballots in November’s midterm elections, and the activists expect their draft will figure into Trump’s promised executive order on the issue. The White House declined to elaborate on Trump’s plans.

BumRushDaShow

Top U.S. commander in the Middle East briefs Trump on Iran options

(Axios) The top U.S. military commander in the Middle East briefed President Trump on Thursday about the options for military action against Iran, according to a U.S. official and a source with knowledge of the meeting. This was the first time the commander of the U.S. military Central Command Adm. Brad Cooper briefed Trump since the beginning of the crisis with Iran last December. Trump has order a massive U.S. military build up in the Middle East and he is considering ordering a military campaign against Iran.

KS Toronado

Friday's Condensed News Cartoons

Dulcinea

Hillary Clinton calls House Oversight questioning 'repetitive' in 6 hour deposition

(NPR) Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton spent more than six hours in a closed-door deposition Thursday, facing questions from the House Oversight Committee. The Republican-led committee subpoenaed Clinton, and her husband, former President Bill Clinton, to appear in its investigation into convicted sex offender and disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein. In a short press conference following the deposition, Hillary Clinton said she wished the proceedings had been public and that she and her attorneys have asked for transcripts and videos to be available as soon as possible.

angrychair

White House screws Team USA Men's Hockey Team

(ESPN) Brady Tkachuk, the Ottawa Senators captain and a Team USA gold medalist, said he didn't appreciate the AI-doctored video released by the White House that made it appear he was disparaging Canadians. The video, published Sunday by the White House's official TikTok account, featured doctored footage from a Tkachuk brothers' news conference at the 4 Nations Face-Off last February. While "Free Bird," the goal song for Team USA, played in the background of the video, Brady Tkachuk was made to say, "They booed our national anthem, so I had to come out and teach those maple syrup eating f---s a lesson."

BumRushDaShow

Prosecutor says he knew charges against Kilmar Abrego Garcia would likely be seen as vindictive

(NBC News) A federal prosecutor testified Thursday that he knew an indictment he brought against Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who was mistakenly deported to El Salvador last year, would most likely be viewed by the public as “vindictive” and “selective.” “I knew we were maybe going to be in a courtroom like this,” McGuire told U.S. District Judge Waverly Crenshaw about his decision to bring the human smuggling charges against Abrego. “I wanted to be the person in this chair, and not any of my colleagues.”

BumRushDaShow

Deposed Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro Asks Judge to Toss Out Indictment Against Him

(US News & World Report/AP) The lawyer for deposed Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro asked a judge on Thursday to toss out the indictment against his client on the grounds that the United States has unconstitutionally violated his rights to defend himself by blocking Venezuelan funds to pay his legal costs. Attorney Barry Pollack filed papers in Manhattan federal court, saying the U.S. government has violated his client’s due process rights by blocking funds to defend him that should come from the Venezuelan government.

BumRushDaShow

Irate judge threatens criminal contempt against ICE for repeatedly defying court orders

(Raw Story) A Minnesota judge threatened the Trump administration with criminal contempt on Thursday over repeated ignoring of court orders. Judge Patrick Schiltz issued a scathing order Thursday, warning that he may pursue criminal contempt charges against U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement after finding a pattern of defiance he called unprecedented in American history. The order was flagged on Bluesky by Law Dork's Chris Geidner. The judge said ICE had violated 97 court orders in 66 cases, and that an additional 113 violations across 77 more cases occurred largely after the government promised to improve compliance.

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Marco Rubio orders US officials to stop commentary that could strain Iran talks

8 min ago - Fri 27 Feb 2026 13.59 EST Last modified on Fri 27 Feb 2026 14.40 EST The US secretary of state Marco Rubio told ambassadors in the Middle East to stop making public comments that could inflame tensions and undermine Donald Trump’s pressure on Ir ... (The Guardian)

Stocks on Track for Monthly Losses After PPI Inflation Surprise

33 min ago - US stocks sank on Friday after a measure of wholesale inflation came in hotter than expected and Block's (XYZ) surprise shakeup turned the spotlight on AI disruption risks. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) led the way down with a loss of 1%, o ... (Yahoo Finance)

OpenAI says it shares Anthropic's 'red lines' over military AI use

36 min ago - By wading into the standoff between Anthropic and the Pentagon, Altman could complicate the Pentagon's efforts to replace Anthropic if it follows through on its threat to cancel the contract. OpenAI also has a Defense Department contract, along with ... (NPR)

Trump orders federal agencies to stop using Anthropic AI tech 'immediately'

45 min ago - Published Fri, Feb 27 2026 3:56 PM EST Updated 2 Min Ago President Donald Trump said Friday that he was ordering every U.S. government agency to "immediately cease" using technology from the artificial intelligence company Anthropic. Trump's abrupt a ... (CNBC)

Transgender Kansans sue over new law invalidating their driver's licenses

1 hr ago - Feb. 27, 2026, 2:56 PM EST Two transgender people in Kansas have filed a lawsuit to block a new state law that invalidated hundreds of residents' driver's licenses by requiring they reflect the holders' biological sex rather than their gender identit ... (NBC News)

SCOTUS to hash out how the founders would handle gun-wielding drug users

1 hr ago - February 27, 2026 WASHINGTON (CN) — Federal gun regulations are on the chopping block at the Supreme Court next week as the justices consider whether the founders would have disarmed habitual drunkards. The Trump administration says they would h ... (Courthouse News Service)

Scouting America to alter policies to maintain military support, Hegseth says

1 hr ago - Scouting America will change several of its policies at the urging of the Pentagon, including one targeting transgender youths, if it wants to keep the U.S. military's support, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced Friday. Some of the changes mirr ... (CBS News)

Bill Clinton testifies that he 'did nothing wrong' during Epstein deposition, echoing Hillary's insistence that she had

1 hr ago - 'no idea' about his crimes Former President Bill Clinton insisted that he had “no idea” about the scope of Jeffrey Epstein’s crimes during a deposition with congressional investigators on Friday. “I know what I saw, and more impor ... (Yahoo News)

Justices appear dubious of challenge to constitutionality of foreclosure sales

1 hr ago - The argument yesterday in Pung v Isabella County had two distinct threads. On the one hand, the justices who discussed the question presented seemed to have no doubt that they would reject the idea that the customary practice of selling real estate a ... (SCOTUS Blog)

RFK Jr. vaccine panel to discuss long COVID, vaccine injuries in next meeting

2 hrs ago - Feb. 27, 2026, 8:52 a.m. ET The U.S. CDC's vaccine advisory committee will discuss and may vote on recommendations for issues including COVID-19 vaccine injuries and long COVID at its scheduled meeting on March 18 and 19, according to a notice in the ... (USA Today/Reuters)

Attorney general announces indictments against 30 more people who protested at a Minnesota church

2 hrs ago - By SARAH RAZA Updated 12:56 PM CST, February 27, 2026 Attorney General Pam Bondi announced Friday that 30 more people have been indicted for allegedly taking part in an anti-immigration enforcement protest at a Minnesota church. In a social media pos ... (AP)

Pentagon Attacks Anthropic Chief as Deadline Looms in Standoff

2 hrs ago - Defense Department officials criticized Anthropic’s leader after the company on Thursday rejected their latest offer to settle the dispute. The Pentagon has threatened to either cut the company off from government business by declaring it a supp ... (NYT)

The US has surpassed 1,100 measles cases in two months. Expect more deaths next

3 hrs ago - PUBLISHED Feb 27, 2026, 10:17 AM ET The US has recorded more than 1,100 measles cases so far this year, according to data published Friday by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It’s a troubling milestone that has many in public h ... (CNN Health)

Trump Promised To Halve Energy Costs In First Year, But Raised Them Instead

4 hrs ago - The president claimed he would slash energy prices by half or more. Gasoline is slightly cheaper. Just about everything else is up substantially. S.V. Date Feb 27, 2026, 06:00 AM EST WASHINGTON – When President Donald Trump visits Texas Frida ... (huff Post)

Moore demands Trump tariff reimbursements for Maryland consumers, businesses

4 hrs ago - 02/27/26 10:11 AM ET Maryland Gov. Wes Moore (D) is demanding reimbursements for his state’s consumers and businesses after the Supreme Court shot down a majority of the Trump administration’s tariffs last week. In a joint letter to Presid ... (The Hill)

OpenAI Raises $110 Billion Led by Amazon, Nvidia and SoftBank, Extending A.I. Boom

4 hrs ago - OpenAI said on Friday that it had raised $110 billion from investors to pay for its continued growth and to fuel the development of artificial intelligence, valuing the company at $730 billion. Amazon, a new investor in OpenAI, is pouring $50 billion ... (NY Times)

Tillis threatens nominee holds over immigration data request

5 hrs ago - Posted February 27, 2026 at 7:00am Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C, threatened on Thursday to place a hold on additional presidential nominees if he doesn’t get data he requested from the Department of Homeland Security on immigration enforcement in his ... (Roll Call)

Fintech company Block lays off 4,000 of its 10,000 staff, citing gains from AI

5 hrs ago - By ELAINE KURTENBACH Updated 12:34 AM CST, February 27, 2026 BANGKOK (AP) — Shares in the financial technology company Block soared more than 20% in premarket trading Friday after its CEO announced it was laying off more than 4,000 of its 10,000 ... (AP)

Trump officials move to kill system that protects US from chemical disasters

6 hrs ago - The Trump administration is slowly dismantling the federal disaster management system that protects the nation from chemical catastrophes, such as fires and explosions at high-risk facilities. The US Environmental Protection Agency’s Response Ma ... (The Guardian)

Justice Department accused of briefly removing image of Trump's Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick from released Epstein

6 hrs ago - Thursday 26 February 2026 23:58 EST The Department of Justice appears to have briefly deleted a photo of Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick from its website, which was published last month as part of the Epstein files. The photo apparently depicts Lu ... (The Independent)