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The atrocities and the fury mount. Astoundingly, after a murderous thug shot a mother of three in the face in broad daylight - "He didn't kill her because he was scared, he killed her because she wasn't" - state terror has ramped up with more lies, goons, attacks on "gangs of wine moms," brutish agitprop literally echoing the Nazis'. So when mini-Bovino went to take a leak at a store, the people's wrath, a bittersweet splendor, erupted. Their/our edict: "Get the fuck out."
For now, Trump's America keeps getting scarier and uglier. He's threatened to (illegally) withdraw the US from the world’s most vital climate treaty and 65 other agencies doing useful work. He's trashing a once-thriving economy because he doesn't know how it works, scapegoating longtime Fed chair Jerome Powell, who's (startlingly fighting back, flipping off autoworkers, admiring non-existent ballrooms. After (illegally) killing over 100 Venezuelans and abducting their president - Chris Hedges: "Empires, when they are dying, worship the idol of war" - he called oil executives to a dementia-ridden meeting where in a reality check one brave skeptic argued Venezuela is historically "uninvestable." He ordered invasion plans for Greenland - wait what - that joint chiefs are resisting as "crazy and illegal": “It’s like dealing with a five-year-old.” And in a supreme irony overload, he's menacing U.S. protesters while warning Iran's killers of protesters they'll "pay a big price" and urging Iran's people to "take over your institutions." We can't even.
Meanwhile, in Minnesota, he's sending yet more thugs, persisting in calling Renée Good "a professional agitator" - Professional Agitators 'R Us! - and warning a besieged, traumatized community, "THE DAY OF RECKONING & RETRIBUTION IS COMING!" Up is down and MAGA minions dutifully follow suit. Tom Homan: "We've got to stop the hateful rhetoric. Saying this officer is a murderer is dangerous. It’s ridiculous. It’s just gonna infuriate people more." Newsmax and GOP Rep. Pete Sessions agree: Dems have to quiet their "rhetoric," cease "honking of horns," and stop "putting an iPhone on your face." "STOP THE MADNESS," shrieks David Marcus on Fox, blasting "organized gangs of wine moms" across the country - Wine Moms 'R Us! - using Antifa tactics to "harass and impede" ICE: "It's not civil disobedience. It isn’t even protest. It’s just crime." Here, Renée Good was "a trained member" of groups "executing missions that put law enforcement and the public in harm’s way," probably all part of "criminal conspiracies."
To support the insane narrative that the brazen murder of a mother of three in her car in public constitutes "an attack on our brave law enforcement," DHS released crude, "pathological," Goebbels-worthy propaganda that repeats the first day's lies and includes footage of when Good "weaponized her vehicle” by “speeding across the road" while failing to mention it was when "she had just been shot in the fucking face and her dead foot hit the pedal." No wonder the mindless carnage goes on. A thug leers to a cuffed protester she should've "learned her lesson," she asks what lesson, he snarls, "Why we killed that fucking bitch." And gangs of goons rampage door-to-door, barging into households of kids with guns and tasers ready. One brave, calm woman records it all, demands a warrant, barks get your hands off me, mocks how big and bad they are flashing a light in her face and sneers that, on the street, "You're all some pussies without that shit on your chest...Your mamas raised a bitch if you can wear that outfit proudly."
Last week both Illinois and Minnesota, and each state's targeted cities, filed federal lawsuits to end their invasions by thousands of armed, masked, violent goons racially harassing, terrorizing and assaulting their communities. The courts may yet halt the deadly mayhem; the regime sure as shit won't. In the wake of the DOJ's predictable, outlandish announcement they won't investigate Good's murder, multiple attorneys in the civil rights division - for decades "America’s last line of accountability when federal agents kill" - have resigned, the latest in a flood of departures totaling over 250, a 70% reduction. In their stead, the FBI seized control of the "investigation" after blocking local law enforcement's access to evidence. Kash's Keystone Cops are now looking into, not Jonathan Ross, but Good and her "possible connections to activist groups" - also, because there truly is no low, her widow's. "This isn’t a cover-up," said one former DOJ attorney. "It’s the end of civil rights enforcement as we've known it."
Experts say the escalating malfeasance and accompanying thuggery are the logical culmination of a longtime "culture of violence" within border control agencies. Ryan Goodman of Just Security describes a scathing 2013 report, commissioned but then buried, that specifically cites agents' proclivity for standing in front of blocked vehicles as a pretext to open fire on drivers attempting to flee a tense encounter. Thank God we don't see that anymore. Nor do we have to see Stephen Miller's nightmare vision of Dems in power making "every city into Mogadishu or Kabul or Port-au-Prince," complete with roaming convoys of masked, armed, hefty hoodlums snatching people off the streets, dragging them out of their cars, beating them up, kneeling on their necks (illegal under post-George-Floyd Minnesota law), and brutalizing them for unknown offenses until they go limp, fate unknown, like in this video by Ford Fischer last week. For MAGA, ICE proudly represents "the fearsome power of the American state." But don't call them fascists.
It was sick Greg Bovino's knee on that neck. Then he went on Sean Hannity's show to praise Jonathan Ross for shooting Renée Good three times in the face - "Hats off to that ICE agent" - because "a 4,000-pound missile is not something anyone wants to face." Hannity readily agreed it was "not even a close call...There is no ambiguity for anyone with eyes to see that (Good) had been taunting officers," which is not true, also definitely a death penalty offense. Later, Bovino claimed that 90% of the public "are happy to see us." Last week, a YouGov poll disagreed, finding a majority of Americans disapproved of the murderous job ICE is doing, and almost half support abolishing it entirely. That may be why, when Bovino went to take a piss last week at a Target in St. Paul, accompanied by a phalanx of surly stormtroopers with itchy trigger fingers and nervous cameras held aloft, they were met by pure, gut-level fury, and a crowd of we the people with no fucks left to give. More video from Ford Fischer of News2Share.
A handy transcript: "You’re a fucking bum. you’re a bitch. and if your wife’s got a problem, fuck her, too. you guys are all bitches. you can’t do shit to me. you can’t do a thing. get the fuck out of here. get the fuck out. nobody wants you here. right. get the fuck out. walk the fuck, you stupid bitches. get the fuck out of here. coward. you’re a fucking coward, bitch. you’re a fucking bitch. fuck you. hold on, babe, I’m on the phone with these bitch-ass niggas. get the fuck out of here. get the fuck out of here, you stupid bitches. you’re a fucking coward piece of shit. fuck you. and if you didn’t have a gun or a vest, I would beat the shit out of you. take that fucking badge off, and that fucking gun, and see what happens to you. you shut the fuck up, you’re not fucking tough. you’re a bitch and get the fuck out, you fucking pussy. you fucking bitch-ass white boys. I’ll fucking spit on you. fucking get out of here. get the fuck out. shut the fuck up. get the fuck out of here. get the fuck out of here. get the fuck out. nobody wants you here."
Among Minnesota's ICE victims was a Marine veteran who said she was following agents "at a safe distance" when they rammed the car, broke the window, dragged her out by the neck, slammed her face into the ground, tightly cuffed her and snarled, per their memo, "This is why we killed that lesbian bitch." Shaken, she told a reporter, "I took an oath, and they're spitting on it. They're Nazis. They're Gestapo. This isn't Germany." Not yet. But close, says James Fell's Sweary History: "Those who cannot remember the past need a history teacher who says 'fuck' a lot." When ICE Barbie, "this puppy-killing, plasticized bag of fascism" called Good a domestic terrorist, he notes, her podium read, "One of Ours, All of Yours" - the phrase Nazis used when the Resistance killed "murderous motherfucker" Reinhard Heydrich, and Nazis retaliated by killing thousands of Czechs and most of the village of Lidice, where they (wrongly) thought the assassins came from. Kill one of ours, we murder all of yours: "This is what DHS is threatening should people dare to resist the American Gestapo."
Dark echoes keep coming. In more Goebbels-worthy agit-prop, the Dept. of Labor just posted a bizarre musical photo montage captioned, "One Homeland. One People. One Heritage," which even X's AI chatbot Grok noted is just like the Nazi slogan, "Ein Volk, Ein Reich, Ein Führer" - One People, One Realm, One Leader. Huh, said many: "Sounds familiar," "Sounds better in the original German," "I didn't have DOL dropping race-baiting propaganda with moody techno music on my 2026 Bingo card," "I remember this one from history books," "Can't wait for the sequel! Labor Creates Liberty!" and, "That 1930s retro energy really matches the new vibe." The video added, "Remember who you are, American." Rob Kelner responded, "I remember who I am. I am the grandchild of immigrants, in a nation that welcomed all four of my grandparents, dirt poor...fleeing tyranny." We have fallen so far, and lost so much. But some truths remain: "There is no world in which these are the good guys. None."
"Get it all on record now. Get the films. Get the witnesses. Because somewhere down the road of history, some bastard will get up and say that this never happened." - Dwight D. Eisenhower, Commander of the Allied Forces, on atrocities committed by the German Nazis.

The massive energy needs of artificial intelligence data centers became a major political controversy in 2025, and new reporting suggests that it will grow even further in 2026.
CNBC reported on Thursday that data center projects have become political lightning rods among politicians ranging from Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) on the left to Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on the right.
However, objections to data centers aren't just coming from politicians but from ordinary citizens who are worried about the impact such projects will have on their local environment and their utility bills.
CNBC noted that data centers' energy needs are so great that PJM Interconnection, the largest US grid operator that serves over 65 million people across 13 states, projects that it will be a full six gigawatts short of its reliability requirements in 2027.
Joe Bowring, president of independent market monitor Monitoring Analytics, told CNBC that he's never seen the grid under such projected strain.
"It’s at a crisis stage right now," Bowring said. "PJM has never been this short."
Rob Gramlich, president of power consulting firm Grid Strategies, told CNBC that he expects the debate over data centers to become even more intense this year once Americans start getting socked with even higher utility bills.
"I don't think we’ve seen the end of the political repercussions,” Gramlich said. “And with a lot more elections in 2026 than 2025, we’ll see a lot of implications. Every politician is going to be saying that they have the answer to affordability and their opponents’ policies would raise rates."
Concerns about data centers' impact on electric grids are rising in both red and blue states.
The Austin American-Statesman reported on Thursday that a new analysis written by the office of Austin City Manager TC Broadnax found that data centers have the potential to overwhelm the city's system given they are projected to need more power than can possibly be delivered with current infrastructure.
"The speed in which AI is trying to be deployed creates tremendous strain on the already tight resources in both design and construction," says the analysis, which noted that some proposed data centers are seeking more than five gigawatts, which is more than the peak load for the entire city.
In New York, local station News 10 reported last year that the New York Independent System Operator is estimating that the state's grid could be 1.6 gigawatts short of reliability requirements by 2030 thanks in large part to data centers.
Anger over proposed data centers has even spread to President Donald Trump's primary residential home of Palm Beach County, Florida, where local residents successfully postponed the construction of a proposed 200-acre data center complex.
According to public news station WLRN, locals opposed to the project cited "expected noise from cooling towers, servers, and diesel generators, along with heavy water use, pollution concerns, and higher utility costs" when petitioning Palm Beach County commissioners to scrap the proposal.
Corey Kanterman, a local opponent of the proposed data center, told WLRN that his goal is to shut the project down entirely.
"No good comes of having an AI data center near you," Kanterman said. "Put them in the location of least impact to the environment and people. This location is not it."
From "stripping collective bargaining rights from more than 1 million federal workers" to "denying 2 million in-home healthcare workers minimum wage and overtime pay," President Donald Trump "has actively made life less affordable for working people."
That's according to a Tuesday report from the Economic Policy Institute (EPI), which cataloged 47 key ways that the 47th president made life worse for working people during the first year of his second term.
The think tank sorted the actions into five categories: eroding workers' wages and economic security; undermining job creation; weakening workers' rights; enabling employer exploitation; and creating an ineffective government.
"Many of the actions outlined here have impacts across categories," the report notes. "Trump's attacks on union workers, for example, reduce workers' wages, weaken workers' rights, and promote employer exploitation of workers."
"Every dollar denied to typical workers in wages ends up as higher income for business owners and corporate managers."
The first section highlights that Trump (1) cut the minimum wage for nearly 400,000 federal contractors, (2) ended enforcement of protections for workers illegally classified as independent contractors, (3) slashed wages of migrant farmworkers in the H-2A program, (4) deprived in-home healthcare workers of minimum wage and overtime pay, and (5) facilitated the inclusion of cryptocurrencies among 401(k) investment options.
On the job creation front, the president (6) paused funding for projects authorized under a bipartisan infrastructure law, (7) signed the Laken Riley Act as part of his mass deportation agenda, (8) revoked an executive order that created a federal interagency working group focused on expanding apprenticeships, (9) is trying to shutter Job Corps centers operated by federal contractors, and (10) disrupted manufacturing supply chains with chaotic trade policy.
In addition to (11) attacking the union rights of over 1 million government employees, Trump (12) delayed enforcement of the silica rule for coal miners, (13) proposed limiting the scope of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration's general duty clause, (14) fired National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) General Counsel Jennifer Abruzzo, (15) stripped work permits and temporary protections from immigrants lawfully in the country, and (16) deterred worker organizing with immigration enforcement actions.
Trump's assault on workers' rights has included (17) nominating Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer, who has pursued a deregulatory agenda, (18) illegally firing Gwynne Wilcox from the NLRB, (19) ending funding to fight human trafficking and child and forced labor globally, and (20) terminating International Labor Affairs Bureau grants.
Chavez-DeRemer isn't Trump's only controversial pick for a key labor post. He's also nominated (20) Jonathan Berry as solicitor of labor, (21) Crystal Carey as NLRB general counsel, (22) Scott Mayer as an NLRB board member, and (23) Daniel Aronowitz to lead the Employee Benefits Security Administration.
The 47th president has made life less affordable for everyone but himself & his billionaire backersTrump has 😠 slowed job growth,😡 undercut incomes for workers🤬 enriched the ultrawealthyThe latest from @joshbivens-econ.bsky.social , @cmcnich.bsky.social, and Margaret Poydock.
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— Economic Policy Institute (@epi.org) January 13, 2026 at 8:20 AM
Trump has also (24) weakened workplace safety penalties for smaller businesses, (25) nominated Andrea Lucas as Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) chair, (26) revoked an executive order promoting strong labor standards on projects receiving federal funds, (27) appointed Elisabeth Messenger, the former leader of an anti-union group, to head the Office of Labor-Management Standards, (28) fired EEOC Commissioners Charlotte Burrows and Jocelyn Samuels, and (29) conducted systematic worksite raids that punished workers rather than improving wages and working conditions.
The president's various "deliberate actions to weaken the federal government" have included (30) politicizing career Senior Executive Service officials, (31) firing most staff at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, (32) nominating Brittany Panuccio as an EEOC commissioner, (33) and picking Project 2025 architect Russell Vought as Office of Management and Budget director.
He has also fired (34) Federal Labor Relations Authority Chair Susan Tsui Grundmann and (35) Merit Systems Protection Board Member Cathy Harris, and (36) tried to fire Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook, whose case is set to be argued before the US Supreme Court next week. Trump further (37) fired Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) Commissioner Erika McEntarfer over accurate economic data, and is attempting to shut down (38) the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and (39) the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service.
Additionally, the president (40) directed federal agencies to end the use of disparate impact liability, (41) put independent agencies under his supervision, (42) signed the so-called One Big Beautiful Bill Act that transfers wealth from working families to the ultrarich, (43) proposed a rule that would make it easier to fire federal employees for political reasons, and (44) issued an executive order on apprenticeships that does not require the government to consult with labor groups.
Finally, since returning to the White House, the Republican has (45) gutted the federal workforce, (46) directed US Attorney General Pam Bondi to challenge state laws that would regulate artificial intelligence technologies, and (47) fired 17 inspectors general.
"Trump's actions since taking office a year ago reveal a clear and consistent effort to make life less affordable for working people in order to serve the interests of his billionaire and corporate backers," said report co-author Celine McNicholas, EPI's director of policy and general counsel, in a statement.
"Every dollar denied to typical workers in wages ends up as higher income for business owners and corporate managers," McNicholas added. "This growing inequality is what is making life so unaffordable for workers and their families today."
EPI released the report as the BLS published its consumer price index data for December, which show a 2.7% year-over-year increase in prices for everyday goods and services.
US President Donald Trump on Thursday announced a "Great Healthcare Plan" that critics panned for being "short on details," arguing that—contrary to White House claims—the scheme will lead to higher consumer costs and less care.
Trump called on Congress to pass his proposal, which he said will "lower drug prices, lower insurance premiums, hold big insurance companies accountable, and maximize price transparency."
However, the advocacy group Protect Our Care called the proposal a "joke healthcare plan" and a "sad attempt to continue gaslighting the American people."
"Since taking office, President Trump and his cronies in Congress have taken a hammer to American healthcare to enrich billionaires and big corporations," the group said. "First, they slashed $1 trillion dollars from Medicaid, and then they doubled, tripled, and quadrupled health premiums for nearly 22 million Americans already struggling to get by in Trump’s unaffordable America."
"Now that it is clear that busting working families’ budgets is bad policy and bad politics, Trump is scrambling for a lifeline," Protect Our Care added. "The solution to ending the Trump-GOP premium disaster isn’t rocket science. It is the three-year, clean extension of the Affordable Care Act tax credits that the House passed. This commonsense solution that Trump callously threatened to veto is now sitting on Senate Republican Leader John Thune’s (SD) desk."
Trump’s new health care plan doesn’t help people facing skyrocketing ACA premiums.No fix for affordability. No solution for families struggling to stay covered.Just another empty framework while costs climb.
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— Protect Our Care (@protectourcare.org) January 15, 2026 at 12:57 PM
The Senate—which last month voted down a similar three-year-extension to what House lawmakers passed—has yet to schedule a vote on the extension. An attempt to advance the bill through a unanimous consent agreement was blocked by Republicans on Wednesday.
Congressman Brendan Boyle (D-Pa.), ranking member of the House Budget Committee, said in a statement Thursday that “Trump’s half-baked healthcare ‘plan’ is a con that does nothing to help Americans facing soaring costs and would raise healthcare expenses while cutting coverage."
"That’s no surprise from a president who is taking healthcare away from 15 million Americans to pay for tax breaks for billionaires," he added. "If the White House is serious about lowering healthcare costs right now, they should support legislation to extend the enhanced Affordable Care Act (ACA) tax credits that already passed the House with bipartisan support. The American people deserve real solutions, not gimmicks.”
The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimates that a three-year extension of the enhanced ACA premium tax credits would increase the number of Americans with health insurance by millions, including approximately 3 million in 2027 and 4 million in 2028.
Eagan Kemp, healthcare policy advocate at the consumer watchdog group Public Citizen, said in a statement Thursday that “Trump’s Great Healthcare Plan is impressive only in the fact that it isn’t great, wouldn’t substantively improve healthcare, and isn’t even detailed enough to be considered a plan."
“Trump and his cronies have had more than a decade to come up with something beyond ‘concepts of a plan’ but have failed time and time again," Kemp continued. "The American people are suffering under a broken healthcare system that has been made worse by Trump and his MAGA allies."
“By passing tax cuts for billionaires and paying for them through healthcare cuts for tens of millions of people, Trump and Republicans showed their disdain for everyday Americans. In the short run, the Senate must follow the lead of the House and pass a clean three-year extension of the ACA subsidies," he said.
“In the longer term," Kemp added, "we must finally pass Medicare for All, an actually great healthcare plan, to finally guarantee everyone in the US can get the care they need throughout their lives without financial barriers."
With public support plummeting for President Donald Trump's deployment of masked, armed federal immigration agents as the administration is expected to next target Maine, Republican Sen. Susan Collins issued a brief statement to the Bangor Daily News saying she didn't "see the rationale" for the expected arrival of US immigration and Customs Enforcement, but had little else to say about what she would do to protect people in her state.
"The difference between Sen. Collins and me is that I would do something about it," said Graham Platner, a Democratic candidate who is running to challenge the six-term senator in this year's election.
Platner is currently out of the country on a brief hiatus from his Senate campaign as he and his wife pursue in vitro fertilization in Norway, a topic he's discussed openly with voters as he's brought attention to the exorbitant cost of IVF in the US compared to Europe and called for the Medicare program to be expanded to everyone in the US.
As reports mounted of an impending major ICE deployment in Maine, Platner called on constituents to "protect our neighbors from authoritarian overreach, however we can."
"As many of you already know, it sounds like ICE is coming to Maine... This means that us Mainers are going to have to rise to this moment and protect our communities and our neighbors from the authoritarian overreach that we just saw bring about the tragedy in Minneapolis," said Platner in a video posted on social media, referring to an ICE agent's fatal shooting of Renee Good last week.
We have all heard the disturbing news: ICE is very likely coming for Maine.
We must protect our neighbors from authoritarian overreach, however we can. pic.twitter.com/PBYL63jgJ1
— Graham Platner for Senate (@grahamformaine) January 15, 2026
Platner has spoken out on the campaign trail about his vehement opposition to Trump's deployment of federal agents to cities including Chicago, Minneapolis, and Los Angeles. He said in October at an event that as a senator, once Democrats win back control of Congress, he would "haul all of these people and the ones that made them do it in front of a Senate subcommittee, make them take their masks off."
Last month, Platner spoke at a rally in Lewiston, Maine, where hundreds of people gathered to express solidarity with the state's growing Somali population. The event was held after Trump referred to Somali people in the US as "garbage." Somali community members in Minnesota have been a primary target of ICE and other federal agents in the state in recent weeks, following a fraud scandal in which some people within the diaspora were charged and convicted.
This week, Trump denigrated Somali people in Maine, saying they have perpetrated "scams" in the state. The Maine Monitor reported that immigration authorities were seen in Lewiston last month at Gateway Community Services, a healthcare provider that serves immigrants for which the state suspended payments after it alleged interpreter fraud had taken place there.
On Thursday, Platner directed Mainers to the Maine Immigrants' Rights Coalition, which has a hotline for people to report ICE sightings and has compiled information about residents' rights when they are approached by ICE agents, ways to support detainees, how people can prepare their families for potential detention or deportation efforts by the government, and how to record ICE arrests and actions safely.
Portland, Maine Mayor Mark Dion and Lewiston Mayor Carl Sheline had been scheduled to hold a press conference Friday morning but it was canceled due to safety concerns. Both Democratic mayors issued statements on Wednesday warning Maine residents to know their rights in the event that they are stopped by ICE and called on people to look out for their neighbors.
Democratic Gov. Janet Mills, who is also running in the US Senate primary, also said state police had been directed to coordinate with local law enforcement in cities including Portland and Lewiston, where police do not work with ICE.
Collins' only other comment to the Bangor Daily News on Thursday was that she supports "the deportation of individuals who have criminal charges against them." Department of Homeland Security data has shown that a large majority of people detained by ICE in recent months have had no criminal convictions.
Demonstrations demanding the United States release Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife continued Wednesday as thousands more people took to the streets of Caracas in a show of support for the abducted leftist leader.
Public workers led a march through Caracas, during which demonstrators chanted slogans—including "Free Maduro!"—while vowing to keep protesting until the socialist president and his wife, First Combatant Cilia Flores, return home.
“Unity is not under discussion at this time," Capital District Head of Government Nahum Fernández said during Wednesday's rally. "The person who conspires against unity conspires against Venezuela."
“The Venezuelan people are going to be in the streets and they’re going to have to hand Maduro over to the Venezuelans,” Fernández added.
Labor leader Anais Herrera demanded the US release Maduro “because he is our president and we want him back, we are in the streets and we will not rest.”
"The president prepared us for this and that is why we are in combat, in the streets with the Venezuelan working class,” she said.
Maduro and Flores were kidnapped by US special forces soldiers during a January 3 invasion backed by airstrikes and an armada of naval warships deployed along with thousands of troops off the Venezuelan coast. The US operation killed more than 100 people, including Venezuelan troops and civilians and over 30 Cuban soldiers and police officers.
The administration of US President Donald Trump has indicted Maduro for alleged conspiracy to commit narco-terrorism, conspiracy to import cocaine into the United States, conspiracy to possess machine guns and destructive devices, and possession of such weapons. Maduro has pleaded not guilty to all charges, and has called himself a "prisoner of war."
The kidnapping and charges came amid US bombing of alleged drug-running boats in the Caribbean Sea and Pacific Ocean, covert CIA operations, oil tanker seizures, and years of crippling economic sanctions.
Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodríguez—who is serving as the US-backed acting president—said Wednesday that she had a long, courteous phone call with Trump, who expressed satisfaction with her move to release hundreds of prisoners held for political or national security offenses.
“This opportunity is for Venezuela and for the people of Venezuela to be able to see reflected a new moment where coexistence, where living together, where recognition of the other allows building and erecting a new spirituality,” Rodríguez said.
Trump took to his Truth Social network Wednesday to praise the "very good call" with Rodríguez.
"We are making tremendous progress, as we help Venezuela stabilize and recover," the president wrote. "Many topics were discussed, including Oil, Minerals, Trade and, of course, National Security. This partnership between the United States of America and Venezuela will be a spectacular one FOR ALL."
Amid widespread international condemnation of his aggression, Trump has openly declared his intention to control and exploit Venezuela's vast oil resources, dubiously claiming that the country owes the US for losses incurred by oil companies due to past petroleum nationalization.
Trump is scheduled to meet Thursday afternoon with Venezuelan opposition leader and recent Nobel Peace Prize recipient María Corina Machado at the White House. To the chagrin of right-wing Venezuelans and much of his base, Trump has said that Machado "doesn't have the support" to be the country's next president.
On the streets of Caracas, one protester said Wednesday, "We say to Donald Trump, that miserable invader... [that] Maduro has already proven that he is innocent."
"Nicolás is not a drug trafficker," she added. "I don't know why they haven't returned him yet."
Another demonstrator at the march said, "The empire can do whatever it wants, but we are here to tell you that we are free, independent, and sovereign."
"You can meet with whomever you want," the man said in a message meant for Trump, "but you must meet with who represents our government, and you must release Nicolás Maduro—our president—and Cilia Flores."
"Maine is our home," said Democratic US Senate candidate Graham Platner, "and we’re not going to let ICE agents terrorize our communities without resistance."
As residents of Maine continue to prepare for and speak out against an anticipated surge of federal immigration agents operating in their communities, Secretary of State Shenna Bellows over the weekend suspended the issuance of undercover license plates requested by the US Border Patrol.
With Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers and others continuing to terrorize Minneapolis, people in Maine have been on high alert since last week, when reports indicated that Maine was next on the target list of President Donald Trump and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.
“These requests in light of rumors of ICE deployment to Maine and abuses of power in Minnesota and elsewhere raise concerns,” Bellows said in a written statement on Saturday.
"We have not revoked existing plates but have paused issuance of new plates," she added. "We want to be assured that Maine plates will not be used for lawless purposes."
"Those wielding Trump's fascist agenda to divide us will fail because in Maine we stand with and will always protect our immigrant neighbors." —Shenna Bellows, Maine Secretary of State
Use of unmarked vehicles has been a hallmark of ICE and Border Patrol operations during Trump's second term, with agents—many of them masked—using the cars to swoop into work sites, bus stops, retail locations, and residential neighborhoods to target people they claim are in the country unlawfully.
"ICE’s lawless tactics are not welcome in Maine," Bellows said in a social media post last week. "In the United States, people cannot be taken off the street by masked agents, thrown in unmarked cars, and disappeared. That’s kidnapping, not law enforcement. Those wielding Trump's fascist agenda to divide us will fail because in Maine we stand with and will always protect our immigrant neighbors."
Ryan Guay, a supervisory deputy for the US Marshals Service District of Maine, told the Portland Press Herald he was surprised to learn of the change and warned that not having "covert status" would negatively impact the ability of federal agents to operate safely in the state.
“This is a drastic change from historical precedent that gives us great concern,” said Guay, who added that next steps were being explored. “I’m engaged with our national office and offices around the country to kind of figure out what to do, as this is not a common occurrence at all,” he said.
On Friday, the ACLU of Maine, where Bellows once worked as executive director, released guidance for community members fearful of the increased presence and harassment by federal agents.
“The ACLU of Maine condemns this agency’s brutal, unlawful, and unprecedented assault on communities across the country,” said ACLU of Maine executive director Molly Curren Rowles. “Every person in the United States has the fundamental freedom to speak out, move around our communities, and gather together. ICE’s reckless actions and lack of accountability are making all people less safe and threatening our basic constitutional rights. This should not be a politicized issue. The United States is not a place where civilians face masked, armed troops and agents in our streets. If we believe in the vision of this country as the ‘Land of the Free’ then we all must get involved to support the rule of law and demand that Congress stop ICE funding and bring the agency under control.”
Large protests against the arrival of more federal agents took place in downtown Portland, the state's largest city, on both Saturday and Sunday. Both Portland and Lewiston, the second largest city in the state, have large refugee and immigrant communities, putting residents in those communities on heightened alert.
Graham Platner, running in the Democratic primary for US Senate, said in a video posted to social media over the weekend that it's vital for Mainers to care for their vulnerable neighbors and understand their rights when it comes to interacting with federal immigration officials.
"Maine is our home, and we’re not going to let ICE agents terrorize our communities without resistance," said Platner.
Maine is our home, and we’re not going to let ICE agents terrorize our communities without resistance.
What to expect in the coming days, and what you can do about it: pic.twitter.com/9N1hIyvcug
— Graham Platner for Senate (@grahamformaine) January 17, 2026
Jacob Ellis, an organizer of weekend protests in Portland, said the message people in the city most want conveyed to ICE agents is this: “You are not welcome here. You will never be welcome here.”
"We see powerful forces lining up to undermine global cooperation," António Guterres said at an event celebrating the UN General Assembly's 80th anniversary.
As the United Nations celebrates the 80th anniversary of its first General Assembly, Secretary-General António Guterres warned that militarism, fossil fuels, and tech-based disruption are threatening its mission of international collaboration at a time when it is urgently needed.
Guterres delivered his remarks on Saturday at the Methodist Central Hall in London, where the first UN General Assembly was held on January 10, 1946. The first UN Security Council meeting was held on January 17 of the same year, also in London.
"We see powerful forces lining up to undermine global cooperation," Guterres said.
He continued: "Last year, the UN reported that global military spending reached $2.7 trillion—over 200 times the UK’s current aid budget, or equivalent to over 70% of Britain’s entire economy. As the planet broke heat records, fossil fuel profits continued to surge. And in cyberspace, algorithms rewarded falsehoods, fueled hatred, and provided authoritarians with powerful tools of control."
"The General Assembly which we celebrate today exists because of a simple truth—humanity is strongest when we stand as one."
Guterres, whose term as secretary-general comes to an end at the close of 2026, reflected on the tumultuous decade he had presided over.
He began his term in 2017, in the wake of President Donald Trump's first electoral victory in the US and the Brexit vote in the United Kingdom. That year, he also spoke in the same location, he said, and warned of the escalation of local conflicts, the rise of artificial intelligence and other new technologies, and how national sovereignty was being used as an excuse to disregard human rights.
"Over the last decade," he said, "all of this and more has unfolded at warp speed. The conflicts in Gaza, Ukraine, and Sudan have been vicious and cruel beyond measure; artificial intelligence has become ubiquitous almost overnight; and the pandemic poured accelerant on the fires of nationalism—stalling progress on development and climate action."
"If this period has taught us anything," he continued, "it is that our challenges are ever more borderless, and ever more interconnected. The only way to address them is together. And that requires a robust, responsive, and well-resourced multilateral system."
But that system, he said, was "under threat."
"2025 was a profoundly challenging year for international cooperation and the values of the UN," he said. "Aid was slashed. Inequalities widened. Climate chaos accelerated. International law was trampled. Crackdowns on civil society intensified. Journalists were killed with impunity. And United Nations staff were repeatedly threatened—or killed—in the line of duty."
While Guterres did not call out any particular country or leader, the Guardian noted that Trump's decision to dramatically slash US humanitarian funding for the UN last year is the leading cause of its budget troubles. Early in 2026, Trump also withdrew the US from key treaties including the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.
Guterres' remarks came the same day that Trump threatened new tariffs against eight long-time European allies over their opposition to his desire for the US to acquire Greenland, further throwing international alliances into chaos.
The UN leader called on the body to adjust to a shifting global reality without abandoning its mission.
"The world of 2026 is not the world of 1946," he said. "As global centers of power shift, we have the potential to build a future that is either more fair—or more unstable. If we wish to make it more fair, it is critical that the international system reflects today’s reality."
Despite the challenges he described, Guterres called on members of the United Nations Association-UK (UNA-UK), which organized Saturday's meeting, to continue with their work.
"In this moment when the values of multilateralism are being chipped away, it is up to us—in our capacity as professionals, as voters, and as members of organizations like the UNA-UK—to take a stand. More than ever, the world needs civil society movements that are fearless and persistent—that make it impossible for leaders to look away."
"The General Assembly which we celebrate today exists because of a simple truth—humanity is strongest when we stand as one," he continued. "But that unity does not start in the General Assembly—it starts here, with people’s movements like yours."
"The best way to get safety is not to have an influx of even more agents and, in this case, military in Minneapolis," Mayor Jacob Frey said.
Responding to the news that the Department of Defense had put 1,500 active duty troops on standby for a potential deployment to Minnesota, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey had a clear message for the Trump administration: "We will not be intimidated by the actions of this federal government."
"This act was clearly designed to intimidate the people of Minneapolis, and here's the thing: We're not going to be intimidated," Frey told Jake Tapper on CNN's "State of the Union" Sunday morning.
The news of the troop deployment was first broken by ABC and confirmed to the Washington Post late Saturday night. It came two days after President Donald Trump threatened to invoke the Insurrection Act due to widespread protests against a major federal immigration enforcement operation in the Twin Cities that has already led to the death of legal observer Renee Good and the shooting and injuring of Venezuelan migrant Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis.
It is not certain that the soldiers, who belong to two Alaska-based infantry battalions, will actually be deployed. The White House said it was typical for the Pentagon “to be prepared for any decision the President may or may not make.”
"I never thought in a million years that we would be invaded by our own federal government."
However, if they were deployed, Frey told Tapper it would be "ridiculous."
He noted that there are already around 3,000 Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers in the area compared with around 600 local police officers.
"The best way to get safety is not to have an influx of even more agents and, in this case, military in Minneapolis," he said.
Frey told Tapper that the situation that Minneapolis found itself in was "bizarre."
"I never thought in a million years that we would be invaded by our own federal government," he said.
However, he praised the response of ordinary people in the city: "One of the beautiful things that's taking place is that the people here in Minneapolis are not just resisting. They're standing up. They're standing up for their neighbors, they're loving people, they're making sure that they've got a ride to the grocery store, a safe walk to their car. They're making sure that they have those basic necessities that they need, because we've got a whole lot of people who are afraid to go outside at the risk of getting torn apart from their own families."
"In the face of a whole lot of adversity, I'm so proud to be from Minneapolis. I'm so proud to be the mayor of this awesome city with these extraordinary people," Frey said.
The news of the potential military deployment came the day after the revelation that the Department of Justice was investigating Frey as well as Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz over their criticism of federal immigration enforcement operations in the Minneapolis area.
Frey also spoke out against this second form of intimidation.
"If it were true, the targeting would be the product of performing one of the most basic responsibilities and obligations that I have as mayor, which is to speak on behalf of our great city, speak on behalf of our constituents," Frey told Tapper. "And that the federal government would be going after me because of that speech should be deeply concerning not just for people in Minneapolis, but for anybody throughout the country."
In addition to a potential federal deployment of the military, Gov. Walz also ordered the Minnesota National Guard to mobilize on Saturday.
"They are not deployed to city streets at this time, but are ready to help support public safety, including protection of life, preservation of property, and supporting the rights of all who assemble peacefully," the Minnesota Department of Public Safety wrote on Facebook.
Tapper asked Frey if he was worried about a situation in which ICE, CBP, and the military might end up physically fighting with the Minnesota National Guard and local law enforcement.
"We can't have that in America," Frey answered, adding that he hoped the judicial system would step up to restrict the Trump administration from invading American cities. Already, a federal judge has ruled that ICE must not retaliate against, pepper spray, or detain peace protesters and observers in Minnesota, and there are other lawsuits pending against the deployment.
Frey also appealed to people across the country.
"I know that you love your town, regardless of where you are," he said. "And just imagine what it would feel like if you suddenly had an administration deployment of troops, of agents come into you city by the thousands, vastly outnumber the police department, and cause chaos on your streets."
Frey added that there was a very simple way for ICE to resolve the situation.
"If the goal here is to create peace and safety and calm, there's a very clear antidote here, which is leave," he said.