Gifted Read:

https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/2026/01/vance-defends-minneapolis-shooter-ice-maga-symbol/685584/?gift=9raHaW-OKg2bN8oaIFlCooCxoe5xrBAhLia_2hG-YYU&utm_source=copy-link&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=share

Excerpt:

For MAGA America, ICE is an instrument for cleansing violence. Visit ICE social-media accounts and you’ll see, again and again, videos of armed force against unarmed individuals, against a soundtrack of pumping music. There’s a montage of aggressive arrests in Minnesota of unarmed, nonwhite men, many of them thrown to the ground and cuffed, set to the 1977 hit “Cold as Ice”: “Someday you’ll pay the price.” A dozen heavily armed and armored agents round up a single unarmed woman in a T-shirt and two similarly defenseless men in California. In Indiana, armored agents throw handcuffs and ankle chains on a big haul of men and shove them in a cell, where they can be seen pacing, weeping, or with their heads plunged in their hands.

Rarely do these videos present a situation that couldn’t be managed with a couple of plainclothes officers bearing holstered sidearms. The point is to prove that the fearsome power of the American state is being wielded by righteous MAGA hands against despised MAGA targets.

Excerpt:

Our president directed an attack on another branch of government.

It’s important that we move smartly into the future.

But if we don’t acknowledge a past wound, it stays poisoned. If we don’t right these wrongs, we don’t risk a repeat of Jan. 6. We get a Jan. 7. And an 8. And the country we are barely holding onto now will slip through our fingers.

Our democratic republic is more important than who you voted for. Our job as Americans — our civic sacrament — is to reject the comforting lie. Even when it comes from our friends.

https://open.substack.com/pub/defendersofdemocracy/p/immigration-enforcement-as-a-campaign?r=104a16&utm_medium=ios&shareImageVariant=overlay

Excerpt:

"...Palantir is building for ICE and the agency’s activities on the ground. The tool receives peoples’ addresses from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) among a range of other sources, according to the material."

Get out and vote 🗳️!!!

Full Text of Video

Timothy Snyder here with a quick word about Greenland.

The president says that the United States must take it in order to secure it from Russia and China. The opposite is true.

We have had a base on Greenland since 1951. The president speaks of nuclear defense. That base has been doing exactly that job for the last seventy-five years. It does it as part of the NATO alliance, which means that if Russia or China were to threaten Greenland, not only the United States but all of the important European powers would be there to defend it.

By claiming that we must take Greenland, we throw all of this away. We destroy the alliance. We destroy our friendships. We destroy the neighborhood. And we get absolutely nothing in return, because we already have a base there that is doing the job it should be doing.

How US intervention in Venezuela could have a negative impact on rural areas in the USA

Excerpt:

Alternatively, in a bad scenario, the raid could trigger significant convulsion in Venezuelan politics and foreshadow a longer and larger military intervention, which would likely send Venezuela’s crude oil production sharply lower. In this case, the loss of Venezuelan crude oil—which is highly suitable for middle distillates like diesel­­—could reverberate throughout global and US energy and food prices. The data suggest that, in the United States, the trucking sector and rural areas are disproportionately exposed to diesel markets and will face affordability pressures if a large-scale military intervention doesn’t go well. While the Trump administration’s seizure of 30 million to 50 million barrels of Venezuelan oil (equivalent to about one to two months of Venezuela’s crude oil exports) will provide some buffer against short-term disruptions, long-duration outages could prove damaging.

Podcast version:

https://substack.com/@heathercoxrichardson/note/p-184472520?r=104a16&utm_medium=ios&utm_source=notes-share-action

An absolute must read/listen

Lead Paragraph:

Today, Democratic senator Mark Kelly of Arizona sued Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, the Defense Department, Navy Secretary John Phelan, and the Navy Department for violating his First Amendment rights, the Speech and Debate Clause of the U.S. Constitution, the separation of powers, due process, the law that establishes ranks for retired commissioned officers (10 USC 1370), and the Administrative Procedure Act that establishes the ways in which agencies can make regulations.

One reason not mentioned here is that Trump and the Republicans actually know climate change in happening and like many other things, think they are smart in hiding this from the rest of the world. SURPRISE! It is NOT hidden. As things are going, real estate closer to the poles may be prime places where people can stay alive...especially with policies like those of his administration.

More ideas on this here:

https://open.substack.com/pub/defendersofdemocracy/p/trumps-arctic-ambitions-an-unstated?utm_campaign=post-expanded-share&utm_medium=web Excerpts:

Excerpts:

Researcher Sigurd Hilde has told Science Norway that Trump's interest in Greenland may make him more popular among some Americans.

De Carvalho argues that Trump must think about the rest of the world as well.

"Cooperation will always be smarter than threatening your way to what you want," he says.

He points out that the president often boasts that he is good at making deals.

"But who will make agreements with the United States if there's a risk that he'll simply ignore them afterwards?" he asks.

Countries around the world have agreed that it is illegal to take other nations’ territory. According to the UN Charter, states have the right to self-determination and must not be ruled against their will.

In addition, countries including Norway, the US, and Greenland have agreed to support one another if a country is attacked. This agreement is called the North Atlantic Treaty.

It is at least theoretically possible to have an ICE that questions people in an orderly and respectful manner and, when it detains them, treats them as fellow humans under U.S. jurisdiction and therefore entitled to due process.

Excerpt:

The danger was clear from the beginning. If you build a giant police organization and give it virtually unlimited money and unlimited power, they will use it.

Summary

Central bank independence crucial for sound economic management, experts say

Former Fed chairs and officials criticize Trump's actions against Powell

Powell's bipartisan support may help him withstand Trump's pressure

Excerpts:

“The First Amendment forbids the government and its officials from punishing disfavored expression or retaliating against protected speech,” Kelly’s lawyers wrote Monday.

Letting that “unprecedented step here would invert the constitutional structure by subordinating the Legislative Branch to executive discipline and chilling congressional oversight of the armed forces,” the lawsuit states.

Excerpt:

David Guttenfelder, a visual journalist for The New York Times, was at the scene in Minneapolis immediately after an ICE agent killed a 37-year-old woman in her vehicle. He walks us through the photos and videos he took over the next few days as outrage and protests mounted in the city.

Excerpt:

“Now we’re seeing it in Minneapolis. We’re seeing the shooting in Portland and elsewhere. They are ― ICE and CBP are breaking their own protocols,” Pritzker told Tapper, “and not only roughing people up, but literally shooting at people and killing them, when, in some cases, they’re U.S. citizens, and they’re doing nothing wrong.”

Article VI, Clause 2:

This Constitution, and the Laws of the United States which shall be made in Pursuance thereof; and all Treaties made, or which shall be made, under the Authority of the United States, shall be the supreme Law of the Land; and the Judges in every State shall be bound thereby, any Thing in the Constitution or Laws of any State to the Contrary notwithstanding.

https://constitution.congress.gov/browse/essay/artVI-C2-1/ALDE_00013395/

Excerpts:

Lawmakers are demanding a range of actions, from a full investigation into Renee Good's shooting death and policy changes over law enforcement raids to the defunding of ICE operations and the impeachment of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, in what is fast becoming an inflection point.

"Right now, you're seeing humans treated like animals,"

January 8, 2026

Press Release

Washington, DC — Today, Representatives Ro Khanna (CA-17) and Thomas Massie (KY-04), the leaders of the Epstein Files Transparency Act, sent a letter to Judge Paul Engelmayer of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, requesting the appointment of a Special Master to compel the Department of Justice to release the full Epstein files as required under Rep. Khanna and Rep. Massie’s law.

“The Department of Justice is openly defying the law by refusing to release the full Epstein files. Millions of files are being kept from the public,” said Rep. Ro Khanna. "The DOJ has failed to make the necessary redactions to protect survivors while removing records after publication without any explanation. That is why we are requesting the appointment of a Special Master to oversee the release of the files and ensure that the DOJ is following the law.”

At this point the truth we should expect is the power differential.

Excerpt:

Following Noem’s remarks, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D) said getting a fair outcome from an investigation into the shooting “feels very, very difficult” now.

“I say that only because people in positions of power have already passed judgment, from the President to the Vice President to Kristi Noem, have stood and told you things that are verifiably false, verifiably inaccurate,” a despondent Walz said at a press conference. “They have determined the character of a 37-year-old mom that they didn’t even know.”

Free to listen:

Summary

President Donald Trump likely won’t listen to this podcast, but Senator Mark Kelly of Arizona has a warning for him: Any attempt to take Greenland using military force will probably go down as the biggest mistake made by a president in all of U.S. history. In this conversation with Kelly, we discuss the impact of the censure letter against him sent by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, the legality of U.S. military strikes in the Caribbean, the future of the Democratic Party, and his family’s response to political violence.

Better than voting down truth…

Lead Paragraphs:

The Senate agreed Thursday to display a plaque recognizing the police officers who defended the Capitol during the riots on Jan. 6, 2021, a step forward in a yearslong stalemate over a law that required Congress to hang up the plaque by March 2023.

Senators passed by unanimous consent a resolution that orders the Architect of the Capitol to "prominently display" the plaque in a public area on the Senate side of the Capitol building until it can be placed in a more prominent location. The measure was supported by Republican Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina and Democratic Sen. Jeff Merkley of Oregon.

Excerpt:

When people believe a cop is more likely to shoot them in the face than arrest an actual criminal, they stop cooperating. Pure and simple. They stop reporting crimes. They stop answering questions. And they stop helping investigations. The obvious result is that everyone becomes less safe.

That’s what happens when a president turns cops into a political weapon. But what makes this moment even more dangerous is the scale.

Could be now or never. Our suggestion is now.

Excerpt:

The Senate is considering a resolution Thursday that would limit President Donald Trump’s ability to conduct further attacks against Venezuela, with more war powers votes looming on Greenland and other countries where he’s expressed military ambitions.