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Melania Trump donates second inaugural gown to SmithsonianFirst Lady Melania Trump entered her 2025 inaugural gown into the Smithsonian National Museum of American History’s First Ladies Collection on Friday, offering praise for the designer Hervé Pierre and the team behind the construction of the dress. According to the Smithsonian, Trump is the first non-consecutive First Lady to donate an inaugural gown for a second time, and only the second First Lady in history to have two inaugural ball gowns represented in the collection.
LOADING ERROR LOADINGThe Wall Street Journal’s editorial board denounced President Donald Trump’s reaction to the Supreme Court restricting his ability to impose tariffs Friday night, stating that the president “owes” an apology “to the individual Justices he smeared on Friday and the institution itself.”“Mr. Chen Mengtong/China News Service/VCG via Getty ImagesAdvertisement“Others think they’re being politically correct, which has happened before far too often with certain members of this court,” Trump said at a press conference Friday. Trump shouldn’t have been surprised by the Court,” the op-ed read. “We warned from the start that this would be the result of his unlawful resort to IEEPA. The fault doesn’t lie with the Justices but with his own tariff obsessions.”
New Secret Service protective detail agents are about to get a wardrobe upgrade, courtesy of taxpayers. The Secret Service will soon offer each agent who graduates from protective detail training two tailored suits, according to sources familiar with the matter and a public contract solicitation. The source added that the Secret Service had to find funding for the suits inside its current budget. “With all the resource challenges the Secret Service has, this seems like an odd expenditure,” former Secret Service agent and CNN contributor Jon Wackrow said. Secret Service agents are considered essential and are currently working without pay during the shutdown.
The Epstein files were supposed to be an exercise in government transparency, but they have also spawned their own opaque subgenre of conspiracy theories. The agency, whose secretive nature and checkered past put it at the center of so many conspiracy theories, did not respond to CNN’s request for comment. But the Justice Department claims not to have withheld any Epstein documents for national security reasons. The state land commissioner called for an investigation when the anonymous tip was released as part of the Epstein files. There are not yet any known conspiracy theories attached to the multiple mentions of lasagna in Epstein-related emails.
A driver is dead after he rammed a vehicle through the gate of a power substation in Boulder City, Nevada, on Thursday in what authorities are investigating as a terrorism-related event, according to the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department. How the suspected terrorism plot unfoldedThe “critical incident” began late Thursday morning at a Los Angeles Department of Water and Power facility located near Boulder City, according to McMahill. At approximately 10 a.m., Boulder City police dispatch received a 911 call reporting a vehicle had crashed through a secured gate at the power substation. As officers approached the car, they found the driver with what appeared to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound, according to McMahill. When asked about a previous incident during the news conference, McMahill referenced a past incident near the Boulder City power substation facility, noting the ongoing need to address vulnerabilities at power plants.
President Donald Trump started the weekend on a more upbeat note following his Friday vitriol against the Supreme Court justices who constrained his ability to impose global tariffs in a 6-3 decision. He criticized Barrett and Gorsuch again, along with Chief Justice John Roberts, in a Truth Social post later that night. President Donald Trump didn't exactly take it well when the Supreme Court ruled against his ability to impose global tariffs. “My new hero is United States Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh and of course, Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito,” he wrote. There is no doubt in anyone’s mind that they want to, MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”The president’s positivity didn’t last long, though.
Scott Jennings reminded his fellow CNN panelists that he’s paid a lot of money to be there while casting the president’s latest meltdown as perfectly functional. Earlier on Friday, the Supreme Court shut down President Donald Trump’s signature tariff policy. This is a properly functioning government today,” Jennings said. “This is properly functioning government,” Jennings repeated, adding that the ruling disproves criticism that the Supreme Court is fully in Trump’s court. “Obviously, that narrative was obliterated today,” Jennings said.
Today, in a 6-3 decision, the Supreme Court ruled that Trump’s tariffs are illegal. Despite differing reasons, the majority of the justices agreed that the power of tariffs lie with Congress’ taxing authority, not the President’s. Friend of The Contrarian and SCOTUS expert Steve Vladeck joins Jen to break down the Court’s decision. The looming question now is how exactly the government is meant to refund the money it earned from the tariffs. Vladeck and Jen then analyze the dissenting opinions from the three justices who stayed loyal to Trump.
National snapshots echo the divide: the National Association of Realtors reports a 2023 Black homeownership rate of 44.7% versus 72.4% for White householders. "Homeownership, which is so central to the American Dream, remains an unequal and financially frustrating experience for Black families," one source summarized. LendingTree finds median household income in 2024 was $56,020 for Black households and $88,010 for White households, a $31,990 shortfall that shrinks the size of mortgages Black buyers can pursue. Black homeowners were more likely to have carried subprime loans into the crisis, producing higher foreclosure and delinquency rates and deeper equity losses: delinquency in 2009 affected about one in 10 Black homeowners versus one in 25 White homeowners, and Ballardbrief records home equity declines from 2007 to 2009 of 12% for Black households versus 9% for White households. Black homeowners also face higher housing cost burdens in 39 states and pay marginally higher median homeowners insurance in 2023, at $1,360 versus $1,310 for White homeowners.
A nor'easter is forecast for the East Coast this weekend, but the amount of snow that falls − and where − remains challenging to pinpoint as of Friday, Feb. 20. According to AccuWeather, there is a risk that the storm strengthens rapidly, bringing heavier snow to parts of the Interstate-95 corridor, including New York City and Philadelphia. A track closer to shore means more snow, while a track farther offshore means less snow. A map from the National Weather Service shows the probability of at least minor winter weather impacts from early Sunday Feb. 22 to early Monday Feb. 23. This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Here's the latest forecast for the looming East Coast nor'easter
Now, we do not know whether President Trump created his “Board of Peace,” which this week held its first meeting, specifically to undermine the authority of the United Nations. We do not know whether Trump, who is indefinitely the leader of this peace board, intends to relinquish that power after he leaves the White House. When voters understand the context in which decisions are made, we are better equipped to address shortcomings at the ballot box and in our daily lives. And by making “woke” an insult, Trump and other conservatives have politicized the very tool necessary to help the country fulfill its promise: information. When Trump returned to the White House, he made lowering the U.S. trade deficit a key component to his economic policy.
“This is just an attempt to further defund the child care system,” said Tami Lunan, director of the Care Economy Organizing Project, an advocacy group representing Ohio child care providers. Parents, teachers, child care workers and community members protest the harassment child care providers experienced following a conservative influencer's video alleging widespread fraud. Smith is also concerned about due process for child care providers in the current environment. ... I’m in Appalachia where there are whole counties that do not have a center that takes publicly funded child care. But he said he was certain lawmakers could come up with a low- or no-cost plan that parents and child care providers would be comfortable with.
