Jack be nimble, Jack be quick, close the tabs on a West Coast kick ...
Alternate Theory: Colbert used Carr as a prop to hoist Talarico at the expense of Jasmine Crockett, who he deems less electable, and this all went according to his plan. https://t.co/REPJm5vNhl
— Brad Todd (@BradOnMessage) February 18, 2026
Ed: This is my assessment of the situation. In truth, though, I'm not sure why CBS took the bait and canceled the segment. The FCC hasn't enforced the equal-time provisions for years if not decades. I wonder whether CBS wasn't part of this same calculation.
===
Washington Post: Two days after CBS late-night host Stephen Colbert said he was barred from airing an interview with Texas state Rep. James Talarico (D) because of the network’s legal concerns about flouting the FCC’s equal-time rule, the commission’s chair, Brendan Carr, defended himself against allegations of censorship.
“There was no censorship here at all,” Carr told reporters at a Wednesday news conference. CBS, he said, had a clear path to regulatory compliance by affording interviews to Talarico’s rivals in his primary race to become the next U.S. senator from Texas.
Carr blasted Talarico, saying that the 36-year-old politician “took advantage” of news media “for the purpose of raising money and getting clicks.” He remarked that the press coverage of the incident was “a perfect encapsulation of why the American people have more trust in gas station sushi than they do in the national news media.”
Ed: The FCC literally had nothing to do with this. This was between CBS and Colbert. And Carr is correct – all that would have been necessary for compliance would have been an invitation offered to Crockett. That suffices for equal-time compliance, regardless of whether Crockett responds.
===
BREAKING - A fuming Jasmine Crockett has released a statement defending the federal government, confirming that Stephen Colbert and her Democratic opponent James Talarico were lying about the Trump administration pulling his interview. pic.twitter.com/gO8H14IbcO
— Right Angle News Network (@Rightanglenews) February 18, 2026
Ed: If you had Jasmine Crockett defending the Trump administration against Colbert on your bingo card ... please tell me the winning Powerball numbers. Drop me a line at edsretirementplanning@gmail.com.
===
Jim Geraghty at NRO: Except none of that is true. The “network” didn’t ditch Talarico’s interview. “Trump” didn’t attack Talarico, at least in this circumstance. I thought the point of a news organization was to tell its readers the truth, not play along with a Democratic campaign’s preferred narrative.
It is not exactly surprising that Colbert and Talarico are choosing to cosplay as the French Resistance, wildly mischaracterizing what CBS actually told the program, and that almost no one in the mainstream media is rushing to correct that perception. There’s an old saying among lawyers: When the law is on your side, argue the law. When the facts are on your side, argue the facts. And when neither the law nor the facts are on your side, pound the table and shout a lot.
There’s a whole lot of shouting going on here.
Ed: And that's all that Colbert is good for. And Talarico and Crockett, for that matter,
===
Kaitlan Collins to Colbert:
— Western Lensman (@WesternLensman) February 18, 2026
“[Republicans] don't want a Democratic administration saying that Right Wing talk radio must give equal time to Democrats."
Welp, at least she’s admitting what Colbert's show actually is. pic.twitter.com/XXoOhuMgow
Ed: I don't think anyone's confused about the nature of Colbert's show. That's why its ratings keep declining.
===
American Thinker: Chomsky’s response was characteristically blunt: his meetings with Epstein, he said, were “none of your business.” The tone may have been legally defensible. Culturally and symbolically, it was something else.
Because Chomsky is not merely a professor emeritus at MIT. For over half a century, he has been one of the central intellectual pillars of the American Left — a figure whose authority extends far beyond linguistics into foreign policy, media criticism, and moral judgment on American power. His 1988 book Manufacturing Consent shaped generations of students’ understanding of media, propaganda, and elite influence. To admirers, he has represented intellectual courage against empire; to critics, an implacable critic of Western liberal democracies.
But in either case, he has stood as a moral voice.
And that is precisely why the Epstein association matters — not as a criminal allegation, but as a symbolic rupture.
Ed: It's also another reminder that most of the damage from the Epstein Files will be on the progressive Left, because (a) they wanted access to Epstein's money, and (b) he used his money to access their social circles and absolution.
===
BREAKING: President Obama and his National Security Adviser Susan Rice were so distraught after Trump won in 2016 they literally broke down and cried in front of White House staff, according to 1,100 hours of new audio and video compiled by Columbia University in cooperation with…
— Paul Sperry (@paulsperry_) February 18, 2026
... in cooperation with the Obama Foundation. After all they'd built, they feared their accomplishments were "at risk" of being torn down by a "con man" and a "clown." Ergo, Trump had to be stopped?
Ed: Too fun to check? The Daily Mail has the story ...
===
Daily Mail: Barack Obama was spotted shedding a tear as he addressed senior White House staff in the wake of Donald Trump's shock election victory, according to a new interview archive that has laid bare the inner workings of his administration.
Those close to Obama reveal he was surprisingly emotionally stable when Trump was declared president. But he did shed some tears when the moment came to a head.
'He came to speak to the senior staff,' recalled Christy Goldfuss, the managing director of the White House Council on Environmental Quality. 'He got up to give a speech and he started crying and he thanked everybody and he thanks all of us for believing in him.'
Jen Psaki, who served as Obama's communications director, recalled that heavyweights like Treasury Secretary Jacob J. Lew and National Security Adviser Susan Rice were even overcome with emotion.
Ed: I'm fine with men weeping in emotional moments, or even while watching movies. He knew that Trump would rapidly dismantle most of his policies. I don't think his tears adds much to motive when it comes to speculation over his alleged role in the Russia-collusion hoax.
===
🚨 BREAKING: Ugandan Mayor Zohran Mamdani is now receiving widespread backlash after his "solution" of raising property taxes would harm HUGE SWATHS of New Yorkers directly — not just the "ultra-wealthy"
— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) February 18, 2026
You got DUPED by a 3rd world COMMUNIST SCAMMER.pic.twitter.com/FW0xa1ABsL
Ed: To quote Al Green: You knew durned well I was a snake before you took me in. Frankly, soaking the rich is one of the milder forms of Democratic Socialist policy. In fact, it's pretty mainstream among Democrats generally.
===
Telegraph (UK): There are genuine concerns among campaigners and health professionals that some vulnerable youngsters with mental health issues might, in particular, be being led toward violence, thanks to the cocktail of cross-sex hormones they are being prescribed. “The number of shootings by trans-identified young people should be ringing alarm bells by now,” says Stephanie Davies-Arai of Transgender Trend, an organisation calling for evidence-based healthcare for children and young people suffering gender dysphoria. Davies-Arai says she is worried by the rise in these crimes.
“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’.’’
Ed: Are the therapies causative, or are they passively allowing mental illness to develop unchecked while treating it as body dysphoria? Either could explain the issue, but it's worth pointing out that untreated/ineffectively treated mental illness is the strongest connecting thread with mass shooters, regardless of its manifestation.
===
As it should. Dems DID draw these districts with specific candidates in mind. I live in VA-05, where Dems drew the map so Henrico Commonwealth Attorney Shannon Taylor could be their handpicked candidate. https://t.co/4jVM5IqEDe
— Cam Edwards (@CamEdwards) February 18, 2026
Ed: Cam and I discussed this in our VIP Gold/Platinum chat today. I don't think this is illegally, but it smells, and the GOP should push back hard on this as an election issue.
===
NBC News: “I have done nothing wrong and have nothing to hide,” he said in his prepared statement. “I completely and irrevocably cut ties with Epstein nearly twenty years ago when I learned that he was an abuser, a crook, and a liar. And, let me be crystal clear: I never witnessed nor had any knowledge of Epstein’s criminal activity.”
Wexner had a lengthy relationship with Epstein, who managed Wexner's personal finances for over a decade in the 1990s and early 2000s. The FBI referred to Wexner as a possible "co-conspirator" in an Aug. 2019 internal document compiled days after Epstein's death and recently released by the Justice Department.
In his statement, Wexner maintained he was a victim as well, who'd been ripped off by a person he'd trusted who "lived a double life. He was clever, diabolical, and a master manipulator."
"The other life he led, that we now know was full of unthinkable crimes, he most carefully and fully hid from me. He knew that I never would have tolerated his horrible behavior. Not any of it. At no time did I ever witness the side of Epstein’s life for which he is now infamous," Wexner wrote.
Ed: Good luck selling this narrative. Wexner has been seen as Epstein's main financial enabler, but that was prior to Epstein's initial prosecution and conviction. Wexner insists that Epstein got rich by stealing from him.
===
great, now they’ll say THAT’S bad for you https://t.co/RAN2C6wE9k
— Emo Philips (@EmoPhilips) February 18, 2026
Ed: I admit it, I laughed ... and I needed a good laugh today.
===
Editor's note: If we thought our job in pushing back against the Academia/media/Democrat censorship complex was over with the election, think again. This is going to be a long fight. If you're digging these Final Word posts and want to join the conversation in the comments -- and support independent platforms -- why not join our VIP Membership program? Choose VIP to support Hot Air and access our premium content, VIP Gold to extend your access to all Townhall Media platforms and participate in this show, or VIP Platinum to get access to even more content and discounts on merchandise. Use the promo code FIGHT to join or to upgrade your existing membership level today, and get 60% off!
Join the conversation as a VIP Member