Friday, February 13th, 2026 - Primary season is here; DHS shutdown looms; ICE ends MN deployment, gets facial recognition; Gallup ends prez ratings cover art

Friday, February 13th, 2026 - Primary season is here; DHS shutdown looms; ICE ends MN deployment, gets facial recognition; Gallup ends prez ratings

Friday, February 13th, 2026 - Primary season is here; DHS shutdown looms; ICE ends MN deployment, gets facial recognition; Gallup ends prez ratings

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 Today’s Headlines: Early voting is officially underway for North Carolina’s March 3 Senate primary — your reminder that primary season is here and checking your state’s election dates is now mandatory civic behavior. The timing matters, because Washington is doing the most: the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is likely to shut down after Senate Democrats blocked a funding bill that didn’t include limits on ICE practices. If it happens, the shutdown would also hit the TSA, FEMA, and the United States Coast Guard — just as Congress leaves town for a Presidents’ Day recess. Meanwhile, border czar Tom Homan claims ICE is ending deployments to Minnesota, though reporting suggests those deployments may not have actually ended — or possibly started. At the same time, Customs and Border Protection is moving ahead with a $225,000 contract for Clearview AI, a facial recognition tool built on billions of scraped images, now approved for “tactical targeting” and network analysis. That mysterious whistleblower complaint involving Tulsi Gabbard also landed exactly where everyone expected: it centered on her burying an NSA report about a Trump associate’s call with a foreign intelligence agency. Just as we guessed…last week, that associate was Jared Kushner, and the call reportedly involved Iran. Benjamin Netanyahu met with Donald Trump at the White House, after which Trump publicly scolded Isaac Herzog for not pardoning Netanyahu over corruption charges — while brushing off questions about responsibility for October 7. Elsewhere, X, owned by Elon Musk, is under scrutiny after reports it sold premium accounts to Iranian regime officials despite U.S. sanctions. And finally, Gallup announced its ending monthly presidential approval ratings after nearly 90 years. The last one, taken in December, clocked in at 36%. Resources/Articles mentioned in this episode: Axios: Inside North Carolina's 2026 high-stakes primary races Politico: DHS shutdown all but certain after failed Senate vote - Live Updates NYT: Trump Administration to End Surge of Immigration Agents in Minnesota Wired:: CBP Signs Clearview AI Deal to Use Face Recognition for ‘Tactical Targeting’ WSJ: Gabbard Whistleblower Complaint Based on Intercepted Conversation About Jared Kushner Axios: Trump says Israeli president "should be ashamed" for not pardoning Netanyahu Wired: Elon Musk’s X Appears to Be Violating US Sanctions by Selling Premium Accounts to Iranian Leaders NYT: Gallup Will No Longer Track Presidential Approval Ratings Morning Announcements is produced by Sami Sage and edited by Grace Hernandez-Johnson Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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