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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.

Developers behind two of the five offshore wind projects recently targeted by the Trump administration took action in federal court this week, seeking preliminary injunctions that would enable construction to continue while the legal battles play out.
Empire Offshore Wind LLC filed a civil lawsuit in the US District Court for the District of Columbia on Friday, challenging the Department of the Interior's (DOI) December 22 stop-work order, which the company argued is "unlawful and threatens the progress of ongoing work with significant implications for the project" off the coast of New York.
"Empire Wind is more than 60% complete and represents a significant investment in U.S. energy infrastructure, jobs, and supply chains," the company highlighted. "The project's construction phase alone has put nearly 4,000 people to work, both within the lease area and through the revitalization of the South Brooklyn Marine Terminal."
The filing came just a day after a similar one in the same court on Thursday from the joint venture between Skyborn Renewables and the Danish company Ørsted, which is developing Revolution Wind off Rhode Island and Connecticut. That project is approximately 87% complete and was expected to begin generating power as soon as this month.
"Sunrise Wind LLC, a separate project and wholly owned subsidiary of Ørsted that also received a lease suspension order on December 22, continues to evaluate all options to resolve the matter, including engagement with relevant agencies and stakeholders and considering legal proceedings," the Danish firm said. That project is also off New York.
As the New York Times noted Friday: "At stake overall is about $25 billion of investment in the five wind farms. The projects were expected to create 10,000 jobs and to power more than 2.5 million homes and businesses."
Trump’s attack on offshore wind is really an attack on our economy. He’s jacking up energy bills, firing thousands of union workers, & leaving our nation behind. We need more energy in order to bring down costs. Trump is leading us in the wrong direction.
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— U.S. Senator Jack Reed (@reed.senate.gov) January 2, 2026 at 4:37 PM
The other two projects targeted by the Trump administration over alleged national security concerns are Vineyard Wind 1 off Massachusetts and Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind. The developer of the latter, Dominion Energy, launched a legal challenge in federal court in Virginia the day after the DOI's lease suspension order, and a hearing is scheduled for this month.
"Delaying the project will lead to increased costs for customers and threaten long-term grid reliability," Dominion spokesperson Jeremy Slayton told NC Newsline on Tuesday. "Given the project's critical importance, we have a responsibility to pursue every available avenue to deliver the project as quickly and at the lowest cost possible on behalf of our customers and the stability of the overall grid."
President Donald Trump's public opposition to offshore wind energy dates back to before his first term as president, when he unsuccessfully fought against the Aberdeen Bay Wind Farm near his golf course in Scotland. Since entering US politics, the Republican has taken money from and served the interests of fossil fuel giants while waging war on renewable power projects and lying about the climate emergency.
As the Times detailed:
Mr. Trump has falsely claimed that wind farms kill whales (scientists have said there is no evidence to support that) and that turbines "litter" the country and are like "garbage in a field"...
This week President Trump posted on social media a photo of a bird beneath a windmill and suggested it was a bald eagle killed in the United States by a wind turbine. "Windmills are killing all of our beautiful Bald Eagles," the president wrote. It was also posted by the White House and the Department of Energy.
The post turned out to be a 2017 image from Israel, and the animal was likely a kestrel. On Friday Mr. Trump posted on Truth Social again, this time an image of birds flying around a wind turbine, that read, "Killing birds by the millions!"
While the DOI did not respond to the newspaper's request for comment, and the department referred the Hill to its December statement citing radar interference concerns, White House spokesperson Taylor Rogers told NC Newsline earlier this week that Trump has made clear that he believes wind energy is "the scam of the century."
"For years, Americans have been forced to pay billions more for the least reliable source of energy," Rogers said. "The Trump administration has paused the construction of all large-scale offshore wind projects because our number one priority is to put America First and protect the national security of the American people."
Meanwhile, climate campaigners and elected Democrats have blasted the Trump administration's attacks on the five offshore projects, warning of the economic and planetary consequences. Democratic senators have also halted permitting reform talks over the president's "reckless and vindictive assault" on wind power.
Additionally, as Common Dreams reported Monday, the watchdog group Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility warned congressional committees that the DOI orders are "not legally defensible" and raise "significant" questions about conflicts of interest involving a top department official's investments in fossil gas.
The European Union appears to be done trying to appease US President Donald Trump over his demands to be given control of Greenland.
The New York Times reported on Sunday that the EU is considering deploying what has been described as an economic "bazooka" at the US after Trump threatened European countries with new tariffs because of their refusal to cede Greenland, which has been part of the Danish kingdom for hundreds of years.
Specifically, the EU has an "anti-coercion instrument" that the Times writes "could be used to slap limitations on big American technology companies or other service providers that do large amounts of business on the continent."
Enacting this policy would dramatically escalate tensions between the US and its European allies, but some international relations experts think the EU might have little choice given Trump's fixation on seizing the self-governing Danish territory.
"This is just all brute force,” Penny Naas, an expert on European public policy at the German Marshall Fund, told the Times. “The president really wants Greenland, and he's not backing off of it.”
Bernd Lange, a German member of European Parliament, said in a social media post that European leaders could no longer try to appease Trump with concessions given his overt aggression and urged the EU to respond with maximum retaliation.
"New US tariffs for several nations are unbelievable," he wrote. "This is no way to treat partners. A new line has been crossed. Unacceptable. POTUS is using trade as an instrument of political coercion. The EU cannot simply move on to business as usual."
German Finance Minister Lars Klingbeil also signaled on Monday that European nations are at the end of their rope when it comes to Trump's relentless threats against them, reported Bloomberg.
“We are constantly experiencing new provocations, we are constantly experiencing new antagonism, which President Trump is seeking, and here we Europeans must make it clear that the limit has been reached," said Klingbeil. "There is a legally established European toolbox that can respond to economic blackmail with very sensitive measures, and we should now examine the use of these measures."
European officials said in a report published by Politico on Monday that they were considering fully breaking with the US over Trump's demands of territorial concessions, as they no longer feel that the US can be a trusted international partner.
"There is a shift in US policy and in many ways it is permanent," said a senior European government official. "Waiting it out is not a solution. What needs to be done is an orderly and coordinated movement to a new reality."
Europeans aren't the only ones criticizing Trump's latest actions, as Melinda St. Louis, director of Global Trade Watch at US-based government watchdog Public Citizen, said the president's latest tariffs over Greenland show that he has never cared about protecting American jobs, but only about exerting power.
"Misusing tariff authority over his wildly unpopular and head-scratching imperial claim of right to Greenland shows just how little he cares for the everyday struggles of Americans and undermines the legitimate uses of tariffs," said St. Louis.
After flirting last year with forming his own political party, far-right billionaire Elon Musk is funding Republican political candidates once again.
Axios reported on Monday that Musk recently made a massive $10 million donation to bolster Nate Morris, a MAGA candidate who is vying to replace retiring US Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.).
Axios described the massive donation, the largest Musk has ever given to a Senate candidate, as "the biggest sign yet that Musk plans to spend big in the 2026 midterms, giving Republicans a formidable weapon in the expensive battle to keep their congressional majorities."
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) reacted with disgust to the news, and said that Musk's enormous donation was indicative of a broken campaign finance system.
"Are we really living in a democracy when the richest man on earth can spend as much as he wants to elect his candidates?" Sanders asked in a social media post.
"The most important thing our nation can do is end Citizens United and move to public funding of elections," he added, referring to the 2010 Supreme Court decision that cleared the way for unlimited spending on elections by corporations. "Billionaires can’t be allowed to buy elections."
Democratic Maine State Auditor Matt Dunlap, currently running to represent Maine's second congressional district, also denounced Musk for throwing his weight around to buy politicians.
"Billionaires buy our elections, rig the tax code, and undermine our democracy," wrote Dunlap. "Working people deserve a government that works for them—not for billionaires like Elon Musk."
Musk is no stranger to spending big to help elect Republicans, having spent more than $250 million in 2024 to help secure President Donald Trump's victory.
However, his riches are no guarantee of a GOP win. Last year, for example, Musk spent millions to elect former Wisconsin Attorney General Brad Schimel to a seat on the Wisconsin Supreme Court, only to wind up losing the race by 10 points.
Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell reportedly plans to attend Wednesday's US Supreme Court oral arguments in the case involving President Donald Trump's attempt to fire Fed Gov. Lisa Cook.
A "person familiar with the matter" told the Associated Press on condition of anonymity that Powell would attend the high court session in the face of Trump's unprecedented effort to oust one of the seven members of the Fed's governing board.
Last August, Trump announced his termination of Cook—an appointee of former President Joe Biden—for alleged fraud, accusing her of signing two primary residence mortgages within weeks of each other. An investigation published last month by ProPublica revealed that Trump did the same thing that he's accusing Cook of doing.
Cook denies any wrongdoing, has not been charged with any crime, and has filed a lawsuit challenging Trump’s attempt to fire her. In October, the Supreme Court declined to immediately remove Cook and agreed to hear oral arguments in the case.
In what many critics allege is an attempt by Trump to strong-arm the Fed into further interest rate cuts, the US Department of Justice (DOJ) earlier this month served the central bank with grand jury subpoenas related to Powell's congressional testimony on renovations to Fed headquarters in Washington, DC.
Powell—who was nominated by Trump in 2017 and whose four-year term as Fed chair ends May 15—responded by alleging that “the threat of criminal charges is a consequence of the Federal Reserve setting interest rates based on our best assessment of what will serve the public, rather than following the preferences of the president."
"This is about whether the Fed will be able to continue to set interest rates based on evidence and economic conditions—or whether instead monetary policy will be directed by political pressure or intimidation," he added.
Trump is trying to install his puppets at the Fed.First by trying to fire Lisa Cook and rushing in his top econ adviser.Now by abusing the law to try to push Jerome Powell out for good.Next he'll nominate a new Chair—and Trump says “anybody that disagrees" with him is out.
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— Elizabeth Warren (@warren.senate.gov) January 15, 2026 at 7:54 AM
In addition to Cook, Trump has targeted a number of Democrats with what critics say are dubious mortgage fraud claims.
Last November, a federal judge dismissed a DOJ criminal case against New York Attorney General Letitia James, who was charged with bank fraud and false statements regarding a property in Virginia. Critics called the charges against James—who successfully prosecuted Trump for financial crimes—baseless and politically motivated. A federal grand jury subsequently rejected another administration attempt to indict James.
The president has accused other political foes, including US Sen. Adam Schiff and Rep. Eric Swalwell—both California Democrats who played key roles in both of the president’s House impeachments—of similar fraud. Swalwell is currently under formal criminal investigation. Both lawmakers deny the allegations.
A day after receiving the remains of the 32 Cubans killed during the Trump administration's invasion of Venezuela and abduction of its leader, Cuba's president, Miguel Díaz-Canel, addressed thousands gathered outside the US Embassy in Havana on Friday.
"The current US administration has opened the door to an era of barbarism, plunder, and neo-fascism," Díaz-Canel declared to a massive crowd protesting the recent killings and demanding the US release Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.
Participants in the "anti-imperialist" action, including members of the armed forces, waved Cuban and Venezuelan flags, and held signs honoring the 32 people who were killed while carrying out missions representing Cuba's Revolutionary Armed Forces and the Ministry of the Interior.
"No one here surrenders," the Cuban leader said Friday, according to the Associated Press. "The current emperor of the White House and his infamous secretary of state haven't stopped threatening me."
While the Biden administration aimed to remove Cuba from the State Sponsors of Terrorism list, President Donald Trump reversed that decision after returning to office last January and restored a list of "restricted entities" created during his first term. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, the son of Cuban immigrants, also expanded a visa restriction policy that targets Cuba's medical missions around the world.
Since US forces slaughtered dozens of Cubans while seizing Maduro, Trump and Rubio have warned that Cuba, Mexico, and Colombia could also be targeted by the US military. Trump has also urged the Cuban government to make a deal with him and pledged to prevent oil and other resources from reaching the island nation, which has been subjected to US sanctions for decades.
"No, imperialists, we have absolutely no fear of you... and we don't like to be threatened," Díaz-Canel said Friday, waving his finger at the embassy, according to Reuters. "You will not intimidate us."
"Cuba does not have to make any political concessions, and that will never be on the table for negotiations aimed at reaching an understanding between Cuba and the United States," he asserted. "It is important that they understand this. We will always be open to dialogue and improving relations between our two countries, but only on equal terms and based on mutual respect."
The demonstration in Havana came a day after Venezuelan workers led a march through Caracas, chanting, "Free Maduro!"
"He is our president and we want him back, we are in the streets, and we will not rest," said labor leader Anais Herrera. "The president prepared us for this, and that is why we are in combat, in the streets with the Venezuelan working class."
Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, were brought to New York City after their abduction. They were arraigned last week, and both pleaded not guilty to federal narco-terrorism charges. At the time, Maduro said in Spanish that "I am the president of Venezuela, and I consider myself a prisoner of war."
At the arraignment, Maduro's lawyer, Barry Pollack, said that he "is the head of a sovereign state and is entitled to the privileges and immunities that go with that office... In addition, there are issues about the legality of his military abduction."
Federal prosecutors and Trump have given no indications that they are willing to free Maduro or Flores. The US administration is also continuing its efforts to take control of Venezuela's oil resources.
"Democrats have no obligation to support a bill that not only funds the dystopian scenes we are seeing in Minneapolis but will allow DHS to replicate that playbook of brutality in cities all over this country."
As congressional negotiators on Tuesday released a proposed spending bill for the US Department of Homeland Security, with the January 30 funding deadline rapidly approaching, critics of President Donald Trump's deadly immigration operations renewed calls for Democrats to oppose any new money for Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
"You can't count on Dem leadership to do much, but you can for sure trust these warriors for democracy to hustle like hell to pass a bipartisan deal to fully fund the Gestapo currently attacking our cities, rather than using this one moment of leverage to try to stop them. Bravo!" quipped progressive organizer Aaron Regunberg on social media.
Since an immigration agent fatally shot Renee Good in Minneapolis earlier this month, congressional Democrats have faced mounting pressure to significantly rein in DHS and its agencies, including ICE and Customs and Border Protection (CBP). While some progressive lawmakers have embraced such calls, neither Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) nor House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) has shown serious interest in using the appropriations process to that end.
Both Senate Appropriations Committee Vice Chair Patty Murray (D-Wash.) and House Appropriations Committee Ranking Member Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) tried to frame the DHS bill released on Tuesday as taking "several steps in the right direction," in the words of DeLauro, who also acknowledged that "it does not include broader reforms Democrats proposed."
"I understand that many of my Democratic colleagues may be dissatisfied with any bill that funds ICE. I share their frustration with the out-of-control agency," DeLauro said, while also stressing that the bill "is more than just ICE." She specifically pointed to funding for the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Transportation Security Administration, and the US Coast Guard.
As a bill summary from Murray's office states, the legislation funds those and "other critical programs Americans count on" while cutting "funding for CBP by $1.3 billion relative to fiscal year 2025, providing $18.3 billion in total."
It also "flat-funds ICE at $10 billion, preventing any growth to ICE's annual budget, and it cuts ICE's enforcement and removal budget," the document details. "The bill provides $949 million (-15%) less in funding for ICE enforcement and removal operations than House Republicans' and $708 million (-11%) less than Senate Republicans’ proposed bills—and $114 million less than the fiscal year 2025 level."
After the murder of Renee Nicole Good, some influential Democrats seem to finally be willing to throw down. They're saying they'll vote NO on the upcoming DHS funding bill.Email and call your Senators right now. Tell them to block funding for ICE!!!www.fightforthefuture.org/actions/no-f...
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— Evan Greer (@evangreer.bsky.social) January 20, 2026 at 11:20 AM
Taking aim at the DHS secretary, Murray said in a statement that "what we have seen from Kristi Noem's Department of Homeland Security is frankly sick and un-American. ICE is out-of-control, terrorizing people, including American citizens, and actively making our communities less safe."
Sometimes, when members of Congress can't strike a deal before a funding deadline, they'll pass a continuing resolution that provides short-term funding to prevent a federal government shutdown and keep up negotiations. However, Murray suggested in a Tuesday statement that a CR is not a viable option because of the $75 billion for ICE included in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act that Trump signed last July.
"ICE must be reined in, and unfortunately, neither a CR nor a shutdown would do anything to restrain it, because, thanks to Republicans, ICE is now sitting on a massive slush fund it can tap whether or not we pass a funding bill," Murray said. "The suggestion that a shutdown in this moment might curb the lawlessness of this administration is not rooted in reality: Under a CR and in a shutdown, this administration can do everything they are already doing—but without any of the critical guardrails and constraints imposed by a full-year funding bill."
Murray also nodded to Republican control of Congress that the November midterms, arguing that "the hard truth is that Democrats must win political power to enact the kind of accountability we need... "If you believe that we should be putting more of our taxpayer dollars towards healthcare and that our immigration enforcement should be focused on actual criminals instead of tear-gassing American children, then we need to speak up again and again—and we must take our fight to the ballot box."
Other Democrats in Congress swiftly rejected the proposal. Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) said that it "puts no meaningful constraints on the growing lawlessness of ICE, and increases funding for detention over the last appropriations bill passed in 2024."
"I understand Democrats in these negotiations had a hard job—no new budget for DHS is going to cure all the rampant illegality happening within the department. But this bill doesn't put CBP agents back at the border where they belong and doesn't put checks on ICE’s out-of-control arrest and enforcement operations," he explained. "Democrats have no obligation to support a bill that not only funds the dystopian scenes we are seeing in Minneapolis but will allow DHS to replicate that playbook of brutality in cities all over this country."
The leadership of the nearly 100-member Congressional Progressive Caucus last week vowed to "oppose all funding" for US immigration enforcement in any upcoming appropriations bills without substantial reforms. CPC Chair Emerita Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) made her personal opposition to Tuesday's proposal clear, declaring that "it simply does not meet the moment we face in this country with the lawlessness" of ICE and CBP agents.
"We have seen ICE and DHS descending on cities across this country, racially profiling, and rounding up immigrants and US citizens alike—many of whom have committed no crimes," said Jayapal, an immigrant herself. "We have watched in horror as they have dragged people out into the snow and as they have shot and killed US citizens. As they foment this terror and chaos on our streets, 37 people have died in ICE custody since Trump came back to office."
"Meanwhile, across the country, over 70,000 people are being incarcerated in immigration jails run by private, for-profit prison contractors and being denied due process and bond hearings in Trump's mass detention effort that dozens of judges have said is not lawful," she stressed. "All of this is dangerous—not just for immigrants but for every single American worried about the erosion of Constitutional rights."
Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.), one of several Democrats expected to run for president in 2028, also spoke out against the bill, telling NBC News that "it is a surrender to Trump's lawlessness. I will be a strong no and help lead the opposition to it."
The progressive group Indivisible has urged voters across the country "to light a fire under Democrats to demand they use their leverage on the DHS appropriations bill to rein in ICE and deny the Trump regime one penny more for its mass deportation machine."
"While most Republicans continue to rubber-stamp Trump's atrocities, some are becoming bolder in criticizing ICE's lawlessness and pattern of shredding constitutional protections," notes the group's webpage on reining in ICE. "The louder we are and the more we organize our communities to take action, the harder it will be for Republicans to continue backing Trump's terror campaign."
"Democrats need to stop whining about the limits of minority power and start fighting as hard as their constituents are to stop this regime’s mounting atrocities," the Indivisible page adds. "We're not accepting excuses, and we will hold every member of Congress accountable who chooses complicity and cowardice over courage."
Some critics of recent immigration actions have suggested that any Democrat who still supports funding ICE should be primaried. Philadelphia Inquirer columnist Will Bunch made that case Tuesday, writing that "the lack of appetite for utterly dismantling the DHS regime—despite its culture of violence and disrespect for law-abiding refugees—reminds too many voters of the cowardice that branded the Dems as losers in the first place."
"Dismantling the ICE regime needs to be the floor, not the ceiling" he added, "and any Democrat in Congress who doesn't get with the program can—and should—be replaced in the primaries to avoided another debacle with alienated or apathetic voters in November."
The MV Sagitta is at least the second Chinese-owned tanker seized during Trump's nearly monthlong "quarantine."
US forces on Tuesday seized a seventh oil tanker in the Caribbean Sea linked to Venezuela as President Donald Trump's military campaign to control the source of the world's largest petroleum reserves continued.
According to US Southern Command (SOUTHCOM), troops boarded and seized the MV Sagitta Tuesday morning "without incident."
"The apprehension of another tanker operating in defiance of President Trump’s established quarantine of sanctioned vessels in the Caribbean demonstrates our resolve to ensure that the only oil leaving Venezuela will be oil that is coordinated properly and lawfully," SOUTHCOM said.
The Sagitta is a Liberian-flagged vessel owned and managed by a company in China. It is at least the second Chinese-owned tanker taken by US forces since Trump's announcement last month of a "quarantine" on Venezuelan oil exports. Regional and world leaders have condemned the seizures as acts of "piracy."
International law experts contend that the blockade, sanctions, and strikes on boats allegedly transporting drugs—which have killed more than 120 people—are all illegal, as are the US bombing and invasion of Venezuela and kidnapping of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores.
The US Department of Justice 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.”
"Don't tell me you can't provide a good nurse-staff ratio when you're paying your CEO at New York Presbyterian $26 million a year, the CEO at Montefiore $16 million a year, Mount Sinai $5 million a year," said Sen. Bernie Sanders.
As the largest nurses strike in the history of New York City marched into its second week with no resolution in sight, US Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Mayor Zohran Mamdani joined hundreds of picketers in the bitter cold on Tuesday to support their fight for better pay and workplace protections.
Last week, the New York State Nurses Association (NYSNA) announced that nearly 15,000 NewYork-Presbyterian, Mount Sinai, and Montefiore hospital employees had "no choice" but to go on strike after the hospitals failed to meet their demands for safe staffing, workplace violence protections, safeguards against the use of artificial intelligence in healthcare, and to maintain 100% of their healthcare benefits.
Outside Mount Sinai West on 10th Avenue, Mamdani, attending his second picket, called for a "swift and urgent resolution" to the workers' demands after negotiations with the hospitals stalled last week and the chains began hiring replacement workers.
"This is about safe working conditions. This is about a fair contract. This is about dignity. And today is day nine—day nine—of those demands, and I want you to know that wherever I go in New York City, I hear about the plight of our nurses," the democratic socialist mayor said. "Now is your time of need, where we can ensure that this is a city that you don't just work in but a city that you can also live in."
In comments to CBS News New York, the hospital chains have scoffed at the NYSNA's demands for a 25% pay increase, especially in the wake of massive healthcare funding cuts from President Donald Trump's One Big Beautiful Bill Act last year.
A spokesperson for NewYork-Presbyterian said its nurses—who it said earn $163,000 on average—are among the highest-paid in the city, calling demands for a pay increase "unrealistic." A Montefiore spokesperson told the network that progress on negotiations will be impossible until the nurses "back away from their reckless and dangerous $3.6 billion demands."
But New York is also one of the most expensive cities in the world to live in. According to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Living Wage calculator, the nurses' wages are often barely enough to meet a family's basic needs, especially for single parents with children.
NYSNA, meanwhile, has said management "is threatening to discontinue or radically cut nurses’ health benefits" and has done nothing to combat severe understaffing.
"We’re talking an emergency room filled to the brink,” said one of the strikers, staff nurse Morgan Betancourt. “Ninety patients, and we have maybe nine nurses.”
On Tuesday, Sanders (I-Vt.) emphasized that the hospitals' sudden frugality has been of little concern when it comes to compensating hospital executives.
"Don't tell me you can't provide a good nurse-staff ratio when you're paying your CEO at NewYork Presbyterian $26 million a year, the CEO at Montefiore $16 million a year, Mount Sinai $5 million a year," Sanders shouted to applause from the strikers. "Don't tell me you can't treat nurses with dignity when you're spending hundreds of millions of dollars on traveling nurses."
According to the Greater New York Hospital Association, the three hospitals combined had spent approximately $100 million to pay temporary nurses as of the fourth day of the strike. Temporary staffing agencies have required hospitals to pay scabs two to three times as much as they'd pay their regular nurses, Bloomberg reported.
Negotiations remain at a total standstill after breaking down last week. While the hospitals claim the union refused to budge on unreasonable demands, Jonathan Hunter, a negotiator for Mount Sinai nurses, told Spectrum News NY1, "They basically stonewalled us, presented us with nothing, and we left with nothing."
The strike has left the hospital system in a state of upheaval, forcing some patients to be moved and nonemergency surgeries to be canceled. Mamdani said it's all the more reason for the hospitals to reach an agreement with their workers.
"Too often when we see a strike, people forget that that is not where workers want to be," Mamdani said. "A strike is an act of last resort. What workers want is to be back at work. So what this will mean is making that possible. And so we call on every side to come back to that negotiating table. Have a swift and urgent resolution."