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Notorious Drug Trafficker Got Five-Star Treatment After Trump Pardon
New Republic • Feb 18, 2026

Notorious Drug Trafficker Got Five-Star Treatment After Trump Pardon

Former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández was given special treatment and provided with a room in a luxury hotel after Donald Trump pardoned him in December, ProPublica reported Wednesday.Hernández, a member of Honduras’s right-wing National Party, was extradited to the U.S. in 2022 and sentenced to 45 years in prison on bribery and drug-trafficking charges two years later. Prosecutors said he enabled drug traffickers to “move mountains of cocaine” into the United States and used the millions of dollars in bribes he received for his political campaigns.He cut a Trump-like figure in Honduras, attempting to overthrow the country’s Supreme Court in 2012 alongside a handful of other congressmen, in what was labeled a “technical coup” by local press. He was elected president in 2014, then reelected in 2017 amid accusations of electoral fraud.His nationalist beliefs and lax economic policies—which Trump-aligned billionaires Peter Thiel and Marc Andreessen have benefited from—are perhaps why Trump moved to pardon Hernández.After Hernández, a noncitizen, was released from prison, a request to hold him in place until immigration authorities could arrive was waived by federal authorities. A team of officials was then paid overtime to escort Hernández from Hazelton penitentiary in West Virginia six hours east, to the five-star Waldorf Astoria hotel in New York City. Rooms at the Waldorf go for $956 a night, at minimum.Usually, people released from Hazelton are given a “a shitty bus ride or a cheap plane ticket,” one prison official told ProPublica.Hernández’s lavish treatment appears even more amoral when compared to how the Trump administration treats other noncitizens who are detained. Immigrants are usually deported as quickly as possible, regardless of whether they possess a criminal record.Hernández’s current location is unknown, though he has said on social media he does not plan on returning to Honduras. Maybe he can get a Cabinet position.

CFPB Staffer Alexis Goldstein Fired for Confronting DOGE Members, Announces Run for Congress
7:57
Democracy Now Video • Feb 18, 2026

CFPB Staffer Alexis Goldstein Fired for Confronting DOGE Members, Announces Run for Congress

"Extremely Dangerous Situation": Trita Parsi Warns U.S. & Iran Have Incentives to Escalate Conflict
11:30
Democracy Now Video • Feb 18, 2026

"Extremely Dangerous Situation": Trita Parsi Warns U.S. & Iran Have Incentives to Escalate Conflict

MAGA Senator Appears Not to Have Read the SAVE Act
New Republic • Feb 18, 2026

MAGA Senator Appears Not to Have Read the SAVE Act

Republican lawmakers pretending that the SAVE Act isn’t a huge problem for married women are either lying or haven’t actually read the bill. Speaking to Fox News’s Larry Kudlow Tuesday, Republican Senator Mike Rounds dismissed the “inauthentic, unprincipled” concerns that the SAVE Act would prevent married women who have taken their husband’s last names from voting.Rounds claimed that most women who’d legally changed their names after marriage had likely already updated their driver’s license with their new name. If not—“you show ’em your marriage certificate and you’re on your way once again,” the South Dakota Republican said. But in its current form, the SAVE Act doesn’t actually mention marriage certificates. In fact, the bill makes no mention of change-of-name documentation at all. The forms of valid identification listed in the SAVE Act are a REAL ID, a U.S. passport, a military ID card paired with a record of service stating the holder’s birthplace, and a valid ID issued by the state, federal, or tribal government stating birthplace. If the ID does not include the applicant’s birthplace, the applicant must also provide a birth record from a U.S. hospital or Consulate Report of a Birth Abroad, a final adoption decree, a Naturalization Certificate, or an American Indian Card. Therefore, the SAVE Act threatens to disenfranchise the estimated 69 million women (and four million men) who change their names after they get married.Rounds claimed that the bill had been tweaked since it was passed through the House last week, but it’s unclear whether marriage certificates were added to the docket of documentation that could allow citizens to vote in a free and fair election.Speaking of free elections: The SAVE Act should be considered an unconstitutional nonstarter, as many of the forms of identification listed cost money to procure, posing an illegal tax for voters. A U.S. passport costs roughly $165, while a Real ID costs between $30 and $129, depending on what state the applicant lives in.

Jesse Jackson Fought for Justice at Home & Abroad: Juan González & Bishop William Barber
16:47
Democracy Now Video • Feb 18, 2026

Jesse Jackson Fought for Justice at Home & Abroad: Juan González & Bishop William Barber

Top U.S. & World Headlines — February 18, 2026
12:32
Democracy Now Video • Feb 18, 2026

Top U.S. & World Headlines — February 18, 2026

MR FUN | 2/18/26
The Majority Report • Feb 18, 2026

MR FUN | 2/18/26

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