President Donald Trump is considering merging the U.S. Postal Service into the Department of Commerce with the goal of improving operations and the bottom line.  |
- President Donald Trump is considering merging the U.S. Postal Service into the Department of Commerce with the goal of improving operations and the bottom line.
- Washington and Kyiv are close to reaching a deal to grant the United States access to Ukraine's rare earth minerals in exchange for continued U.S. military aid.
- The Trump administration did not give Venezuela anything in exchange for the six American hostages that were freed last month.
- Delta Air Lines has released the credentials of the pilots from the flight that crashed in Toronto, saying it needed to refute "misleading" claims about them circulating on social media.
- This author's mystical books influenced such fantasy titans as Lewis Carroll, C.S. Lewis, and J.R.R. Tolkien.
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President Donald Trump answers questions after the swearing-in ceremony for Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington on Feb. 21, 2025. (Win McNamee/Getty Images) |
President Donald Trump said he is considering merging the United States Postal Service into the Department of Commerce with the goal of improving operations and the bottom line. "We want to have a post office that works well and doesn't lose massive amounts of money, and we're thinking about doing that," he said on Feb. 21 in the Oval Office. "It'll be a form of merger, but it'll remain the Postal Service, and I think it'll operate a lot better than it has been over the years." The president's comments came immediately after Howard Lutnick was sworn in as the new Secretary of Commerce. While the USPS is meant to operate on its own revenue, it has repeatedly looked to Congress for money. President Joe Biden ended up providing the postal service with around $50 billion in financial relief and signed a law in 2022 to remove some agency requirements, like no longer requiring mail to be delivered six days a week. The agency reported a $9.5 billion loss in 2024. Trump called the USPS "a tremendous loser for the country," and praised Lutnick for having great business instinct, saying that he would be looking into the merger. (More) More Politics: |
- President Trump fired Air Force Gen. Charles Q. Brown, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and nominated a replacement.
- The U.S. Supreme Court declined to let the Trump administration immediately fire the head of the Office of Special Counsel.
- President Trump directed the government to identify which foreign governments are imposing taxes, fines, and regulations on U.S. companies doing business abroad, and to prepare for responsive tariffs.
- A federal judge declined to block the Trump administration from placing more than 2,000 U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) employees on leave.
- Another federal judge issued an order partly blocking President Trump's executive orders against diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs.
- The Associated Press sued the Trump administration Friday, alleging that the White House was engaging in an unconstitutional effort to control speech. Trump has barred the outlet from the Oval Office and Air Force One until it adopts his renaming of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America.
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The five largest U.S. public school districts stand to lose more than $5 billion in federal funds per year if they refuse to comply with President Donald Trump's executive order barring progressive ideologies such as diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs in schools. Districts face federal funding cuts for maintaining personnel, training, or instructional functions centered on providing special or separate treatment to any employees or students based on race or gender. Trump's order, which cites federal civil rights laws, also prohibits curricula that suggest that the United States and its public institutions are inherently racist. The Department of Education funds special education functions for K–12 schools and provides financial assistance to schools with large low-income student populations, while the Department of Agriculture covers free and reduced school meal programs. New York City Public Schools, which in 2022 required administrators to reinterview for their jobs through the district Office of Diversity Equity and Inclusion, received $2.2 billion in federal grants this year, according to the district website. (More) More U.S. News |
- A federal judge vacated an upcoming trial for New York City Mayor Eric Adams but declined to dismiss the charges against Adams for now.
- The mayor of Los Angeles removed the city's fire chief for failing to prepare the department to fight fires which broke out earlier this year.
- Shen Yun Performing Arts is calling for an investigation a day after bomb threats prompted an evacuation of the Kennedy Center on the group's opening night.
- Luigi Mangione, the man accused of killing UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in New York City in December, appeared before the New York State Supreme Court on Feb. 21, as legal teams gave Judge Gregory Carro an update on discovery proceedings.
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President Trump said Friday that a deal with Kyiv is nearly finalized to grant the United States access to Ukraine's rare earth minerals in exchange for continued U.S. military aid. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy also expressed optimism, confirming that negotiators from both countries were working to finalize terms that would be fair to Kyiv. "We're signing an agreement hopefully in the next fairly short period of time," Trump said in the Oval Office on Friday. "I think we're pretty close." Trump emphasized that the agreement—which "keeps us" in Ukraine—would ensure Washington recoups between $400 billion and $500 billion in aid to Kyiv. He noted that while European nations have contributed $100 billion to Ukraine, primarily through loans that will be repaid, Washington has provided $300 billion with no expectation of return. "I think they want it. They feel good about it," Trump said of the deal. "They're very happy about it," he said, and "we get our money back." Zelenskyy initially rejected a U.S. proposal focused on mineral cooperation, calling it "not a serious conversation" and saying that it did not serve Ukraine's interests. He dismissed U.S. demands for $500 billion worth of mineral wealth in repayment for wartime aid, saying that Washington had not provided that amount. He also criticized the proposal for lacking security guarantees, which Ukraine considers essential in any long-term peace settlement with Russia—a deal that Trump has promised to broker. Despite initial concerns, Zelenskyy confirmed on Friday that negotiations were progressing. (More) More World News: |
- U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent raised "serious concerns" about China's economic imbalances and "unfair policies" during an introductory call with his Chinese counterpart
- Confronted with Israel's charge that a body it received was not Shiri Bibas, nor even a hostage, the Hamas terrorist group said there may have been "an error or mix up" in bodies found in the rubble left by an Israeli airstrike Hamas says killed the woman and her two young sons.
- Three buses were destroyed by explosions in the Tel Aviv suburb of Bat Yam on Thursday, but nobody was hurt.
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🎤 Crossroads: Tim Kennedy on the Return of 'Strong' America (Watch) ✍️ Opinion: It's Not President Trump's First Month by Newt Gingrich 🍵 Health: Weak legs can make you feel old, but exercising can help build back your strength and endurance, and make you feel younger. 🍿 Documentary: Forgotten Heroes centers on American dog handlers who risked everything to serve their country during the Vietnam War. (Watch free on Gan Jing World) 🎵 Music: Stanley Myers – Cavatina (Listen)
📷 Photo of the Day: A cargo ship transits through Panama Canal Cocoli locks in Panama City on Feb. 21, 2025. 👇
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Martin Bernetti/AFP via Getty Images |
Duart Point, castle, and the Mountains of Mull. (David Dixon/CC BY-SA 2.0) |
"Of all the stories I have read ... it remains the most real, the most realistic, in the exact sense of the phrase the most like life," said British writer G.K. Chesterton about George MacDonald's "The Princess and the Goblin." These are surprising words to describe a children's fantasy novel, yet Chesterton, as was so often the case, saw past the surface of the work to its inner depths. "The Princess and the Goblin," despite its otherworldly setting and fantastical creatures, contains a certain realism: the realism of universal spiritual truths at the center of our lives. The delightful novel provides young readers (and old ones) with a well-balanced mixture of wit, wisdom, and wonder. Chesterton wasn't the only one inspired by MacDonald's writing. The Scottish writer and Christian minister is sometimes considered the father of modern fantasy. His imaginative, mystical books influenced such fantasy titans as Lewis Carroll, C.S. Lewis, and J.R.R. Tolkien. He also wrote theological works, and his novels contain traces of theological speculation. His 1872 children's novel "The Princess and the Goblin" tells the story of an 8-year-old princess, Irene, who lives in a manor house in a mountainous kingdom. Her father, the king, is often absent, sometimes at his grand palace up in the mountains, and her mother has passed away. A race of evil goblins is hidden in tunnels and mine shafts in the mountains like ants in an anthill. They were exiled from the kingdom and want to get revenge. In the upper recesses of her house, Irene discovers a room she's never seen before, occupied by her beautiful and mysterious great-great-grandmother, who becomes her mentor and ally in the fight against the goblins.
Read the full story by our colleague Walker Larson here.
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