Largest Middle East Air Force, Meta Teen Addiction and Heart-on-a-Chip

Author

Anna Eisenberg
February 18, 2026

In partnership with

Anna's Daybreak News

Just facts, you think for yourself

Thursday, 5:14 AM

February 19, 2026

Good morning news friend! Discover today’s defining stories and the future they set in motion. 📰🌟

Notice: If you’re reading this email in the Gmail app, you will not be able to see both of our health articles at the bottom. 👉 Click here to view the full newsletter online — it’s free and easy to read.

Largest Middle East Air Force

The U.S. is deploying its largest Middle East air force since 2003, with F-35 and F-22 fighters positioned nearby and two carrier strike groups, including USS Gerald R. Ford, en route.

Command-and-control and missile defense aircraft have also been sent, enabling sustained air operations. President Trump is reviewing military options against Iran, from targeted strikes to regime change, but has not decided.

Diplomatic talks continue amid unresolved issues. The Pentagon is repositioning personnel and aircraft to counter potential Iranian retaliation. Israel is preparing for possible U.S. approval to strike Iran’s missile systems.

Iran threatens the Strait of Hormuz and vows retaliation. All forces should be in place by mid-March.

Given the current military buildup, do you believe the U.S. is more likely to launch a strike on Iran, or pursue diplomacy?

Click to see live results and comment!

Login or Subscribe to participate in polls.

Everyone is obsessed with the "Great Wealth Transfer." But nobody is talking about the "Great Wealth Destruction" happening right under our noses.

It’s called Gray Divorce, and it’s a silent killer.

Since 1990, divorce rates for people over 50 have doubled. And here’s the brutal truth: Divorce at 30 is a "restart." Divorce at 60 is a "reckoning."

You spend 30 years building a "Commingled Empire"—businesses, trusts, passive income streams. Then, in a few months of emotional fog, you have to unwind it all. The result? The average net worth drops by 50%.

I just dropped a deep dive on the Gray Divorce Protection Protocol. This isn't marriage counseling; it's asset defense.

We break down:

  • The "Endowment Effect" Trap: Why fighting to keep the family home is a financial suicide mission.

  • The QDRO Minefield: How a single typo can vaporize your entire pension.

  • The "Phantom Income" Tax Bomb: Why you might owe taxes on money you never touched.

  • The "CEO of Me" Pivot: How to survive when your economies of scale vanish overnight.

Don't let a relationship breakdown turn into a bankruptcy. The stakes are too high to "wing it."

Fed Proposes Mortgage Changes

The Federal Reserve proposes reducing capital requirements for banks on mortgage assets and servicing rights (MSRs) to encourage mortgage lending.

Since 2008, big banks’ mortgage originations dropped from 60% to 35%, and servicing shares from 95% to 45%. The changes allow banks to hold less capital against loans with larger down payments and adjust MSR accounting to free capital.

Nonbank lenders now dominate mortgages but lack bank protections like federal emergency support. Mortgage rates remain high near 6.1%, limiting affordability.

The Fed aims to restore competition by pulling banks like JPMorgan and Bank of America back into mortgages, potentially shifting market share from nonbanks over time.

Should banks be encouraged to increase mortgage lending even if it means lowering capital reserves?

Click to see live results and comment!

Login or Subscribe to participate in polls.

Taiwan Arms Sales

The Trump administration announced an $11.1 billion arms sale to Taiwan, including Patriot antimissile systems, but further sales are paused ahead of Trump’s April 2026 Beijing visit.

Chinese President Xi urged restraint to preserve a trade truce. U.S. and China negotiate extending a one-year trade truce, tariff rollbacks, and export control easing, while the U.S. demands increased Chinese purchases of soybeans, Boeing planes, and energy.

China may reopen Houston and Chengdu consulates as a diplomatic gesture. The Pentagon’s National Defense Strategy supports defense along the First Island Chain, including Taiwan, while avoiding escalations.

The administration aims to maintain stability while balancing Taiwan support before the summit.

Is prioritizing a trade truce with China more important than military support for Taiwan at this moment?

Click to see live results and comment!

Login or Subscribe to participate in polls.

Meta Teen Addiction Trial

Meta faces a Los Angeles trial accusing it of designing Facebook and Instagram to be addictive for teens. Internal emails reveal a 2015 goal to increase user time by 12%, targeting teens despite age restrictions.

About 4 million children under 13 reportedly used Instagram. Founder Mark Zuckerberg denied seeking under-13 users but acknowledged unenforced age limits. The lawsuit, filed by K.G.M., links early social media exposure to mental health issues.

Meta denies wrongdoing, citing safety efforts and temporary removal of beauty filters. Meta’s business model rewards longer engagement for ad revenue.

Snapchat and TikTok settled similar cases; YouTube is also under scrutiny. The trial could influence global regulations on youth social media use.

Should companies like Meta be legally responsible for mental health impacts on teen users?

Click to see live results and comment!

Login or Subscribe to participate in polls.

Reinventing Fentanyl

Researchers redesigned fentanyl using a new molecular structure, 2-azaspiro[3.3]heptane, maintaining pain relief while reducing deadly side effects like respiratory depression.

This version showed minimal beta-arrestin pathway activation, linked to breathing problems, with slowed breathing only at high doses and recovery within 25-30 minutes.

It has a short half-life of about 27 minutes, making it a potential short-acting pain reliever. This challenges the belief that major structural changes eliminate opioid efficacy.

The team aims to develop safer opioids and fentanyl-neutralizing vaccines. The breakthrough could lead to effective pain medications with lower risks of overdose and addiction.

Sources: SciTechDaily

Is the risk of potential unknown side effects from a novel molecular design acceptable if it offers lower addiction potential?

Click to see live results and comment!

Login or Subscribe to participate in polls.

Heart-on-a-Chip

Scientists developed a three-dimensional "heart-on-a-chip" (HOC) using rat cardiac cells on flexible silicon chips to mimic real heart tissue.

The HOC includes dual sensors: one measuring contraction force via elastic pillar bending, the other tracking mechanical stress inside tissue with hydrogel microsensors at the cellular level.

Tested with norepinephrine and blebbistatin, the device accurately predicted drug effects on heart activity. This platform allows detailed study of heart tissue formation, healing, and disease response.

Next steps involve creating patient-specific heart tissues to test personalized treatments for conditions like dilated cardiomyopathy and arrhythmias, advancing precision medicine in cardiac care.

Sources: Sciencealert

Would you feel comfortable if your doctor used a personalized heart-on-a-chip to choose your medication?

Click to see live results and comment!

Login or Subscribe to participate in polls.

“A man who makes himself as common as dirt will soon find himself treated like it.”

Information is free. Intelligence is scarce.

You are one of 550,000 readers receiving this briefing. That is a crowd.

To join the 1,500 investors who receive our redacted contract briefings and wealth defense protocols, you need to step behind the velvet rope.

Join the Inner Circle.

Baked with love,

Anna Eisenberg ❤️

What did you think of today's edition?

Click to see live results and comment!

Login or Subscribe to participate in polls.