20 votes

Weekly US politics news and updates thread - week of January 12

Automatically posted
Tags: politics.usa, usa, recurring.weekly

This thread is posted weekly - please try to post all relevant US political content in here, such as news, updates, opinion articles, etc. Extremely significant events may warrant a separate topic, but almost all should be posted in here.

This is an inherently political thread; please try to avoid antagonistic arguments and bickering matches. Comment threads that devolve into unproductive arguments may be removed so that the overall topic is able to continue.

21 comments

  1. [2]
    unkz
    Link
    https://apnews.com/article/ice-minneapolis-tribal-citizens-immigration-detention-29ac43de85569b80bd64875388097ab6 ICE is now kidnapping US citizens and holding them as hostages over some kind of...

    https://apnews.com/article/ice-minneapolis-tribal-citizens-immigration-detention-29ac43de85569b80bd64875388097ab6

    ICE is now kidnapping US citizens and holding them as hostages over some kind of immigration agreement they want.

    In the memorandum sent to Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, Star Comes Out said the when tribal nation reached out to the agency it was provided with only the first names of the men. Homeland Security refused to release more information, unless the tribe “entered into an immigration agreement with ICE.”

    16 votes
    1. DefinitelyNotAFae
      Link Parent
      Not only US citizens, tribal citizens. Of sovereign tribes. Political hostages. Ugh.

      Not only US citizens, tribal citizens. Of sovereign tribes.

      Political hostages.

      Ugh.

      13 votes
  2. [8]
    DefinitelyNotAFae
    (edited )
    Link
    Edit: see below, additional resignations now Three federal prosecutors quit after pushed to investigate Renee Good's widow for ties to activist groups gift link

    Edit: see below, additional resignations now
    Three federal prosecutors quit after pushed to investigate Renee Good's widow for ties to activist groups gift link

    Mr. Thompson’s resignation came after senior Justice Department officials pressed for a criminal investigation into the actions of the widow of Renee Nicole Good, the Minneapolis woman killed by an ICE agent last Wednesday.

    Mr. Thompson, 47, a career prosecutor, objected to that approach as well as to the Justice Department’s refusal to include state officials in investigating whether the shooting itself was lawful, the people familiar with his decision said.

    Two other senior career prosecutors, Harry Jacobs and Melinda Williams, also resigned on Tuesday. Mr. Jacobs had been Mr. Thompson’s deputy overseeing the fraud investigation, which began in 2022. Mr. Thompson, Mr. Jacobs and Ms. Williams declined to discuss the reasons they resigned.

    15 votes
    1. [2]
      AnthonyB
      Link Parent
      Ken Klippenstein has done a lot of reporting on the Trump Administration's move to investigate groups and individuals who oppose ICE. It's frustrating that the NYT doesn't offer more information...

      Ken Klippenstein has done a lot of reporting on the Trump Administration's move to investigate groups and individuals who oppose ICE. It's frustrating that the NYT doesn't offer more information related to NSPM-7 and its role in the investigation. This isn't a one-off thing. From Klippenstein's initial reporting on Renee Good's killing:

      It’s likely we’re about to hear a lot more about the incident in the coming days. But what you won’t hear about is the role of Trump’s national security directive NSPM-7 in all of this.

      Signed last September following the murder of Charlie Kirk, NSPM-7 directs the federal government to focus on rooting out domestic terrorism. The directive singles out violence against ICE in particular as a leading domestic terror threat.

      Four days later, Attorney General Pam Bondi signed her own directive building upon NSPM-7 and titled “Ending Political Violence Against ICE.”

      Bondi’s order directs federal law enforcement to crack down on threats to ICE officers, which it defines broadly to include things like “doxing” as well as impeding their enforcement actions. Homeland security, to which ICE reports, says that there have been a “1,000 percent increase in attacks on U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers since" Trump’s inauguration.

      The directive goes on to direct prosecutors to target those interfering with or impeding ICE actions. “The U.S. Attorney’s Office for each district shall prosecute any individual who assaults or forcibly impedes or intimidates these officers, who interferes with the performance of these officers’ official duties, or who attempts to do so, consistent with 18 U.S.C.§ 111 and other applicable federal laws,” the document says.

      9 votes
      1. DefinitelyNotAFae
        Link Parent
        I have lots of criticisms of the Times though I'll grant it's possible it's a developing story and the person covering it isn't up on the connection but a follow up story could come out .... That...

        I have lots of criticisms of the Times though I'll grant it's possible it's a developing story and the person covering it isn't up on the connection but a follow up story could come out ....

        That said I appreciate this very much. I recall flagging this when it came out and how it wasn't getting enough attention.

        This year sucks already.

        7 votes
    2. [4]
      LukeZaz
      Link Parent
      This still isn't a tactic I like. As far as I see it, unless this happens on a very large scale – as in, enough prosecutors quit that the system grinds to a halt – this feels like it's just paving...

      This still isn't a tactic I like. As far as I see it, unless this happens on a very large scale – as in, enough prosecutors quit that the system grinds to a halt – this feels like it's just paving the way for sycophants to take their place.

      "I quit" is better than "Fine, I'll do it" by a long shot, don't get me wrong. I just wish people considered more options when faced with situations like these.

      9 votes
      1. DefinitelyNotAFae
        Link Parent
        Unfortunately it's usually I quit or you're fired, and the latter tanks your ability to return in a saner society (and possibly your benefits) It also crippled their other...

        Unfortunately it's usually I quit or you're fired, and the latter tanks your ability to return in a saner society (and possibly your benefits)

        It also crippled their other prosecutions/investigations, like the (actual not the hyperbolized) fraud issues.

        But I get it. Idk what the other choice is though if you'll be out tomorrow either way.

        10 votes
      2. [2]
        nukeman
        Link Parent
        The one upside of the resignations is that the replacements have been incompetent and unable to effectively prosecute the cases and increasing judicial skepticism of federal indictments.

        The one upside of the resignations is that the replacements have been incompetent and unable to effectively prosecute the cases and increasing judicial skepticism of federal indictments.

        9 votes
        1. nic
          Link Parent
          It also likely increases the pool of incredibly talented and experienced defense attorneys.

          It also likely increases the pool of incredibly talented and experienced defense attorneys.

          4 votes
    3. DefinitelyNotAFae
      Link Parent
      This is now up to six prosecutors who have resigned, same link, a bit longer of an article now.

      This is now up to six prosecutors who have resigned, same link, a bit longer of an article now.

      After Ms. Good was shot, the Justice Department decided to forgo a civil rights investigation that would establish whether the ICE officer’s use of deadly force was justified. That decision led several career prosecutors at the department’s civil rights division in Washington to resign in protest, MS Now reported on Monday.

      Instead, the Justice Department launched an investigation to examine ties between Ms. Good and her wife, Becca, and several groups that have been monitoring and protesting the conduct of immigration agents in recent weeks. Shortly after Wednesday’s fatal shooting, Kristi Noem, the secretary of homeland security, referred to Ms. Good as a “domestic terrorist.”

      The other senior career prosecutors who resigned include Harry Jacobs, Melinda Williams and Thomas Calhoun-Lopez. Mr. Jacobs had been Mr. Thompson’s deputy overseeing the fraud investigation, which began in 2022. Mr. Calhoun-Lopez was the chief of the violent and major crimes unit.

      Mr. Thompson, Mr. Jacobs, Ms. Williams and Mr. Calhoun-Lopez declined to discuss the reasons they resigned. The Justice Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

      6 votes
  3. DefinitelyNotAFae
    Link
    CBS News report on ICE officer’s injuries drew ‘huge internal concern’ I love that CBS staff keep talking

    CBS News report on ICE officer’s injuries drew ‘huge internal concern’

    The report, which was not extensively covered by other news organizations, drew an immediate response on social media from critics who questioned the network’s sourcing – and whether it aligned with the Trump administration’s preferred focus.

    The network’s top editor, Bari Weiss, expressed a high level of interest in the story on an editorial call Wednesday morning, according to staffers who listened.

    “There was big internal dissension about the ‘internal bleeding’ report here last night,” the CBS News staffer, who was not authorized to speak publicly, said . “It was viewed as a thinly-veiled, anonymous leak by [the Trump administration] to someone who’d carry it online.”

    “Felt to many here like we were carrying water for the admin’s justifying of the shooting to keep our access to our sources,” said a second network staffer, who was also not authorized to comment.

    I love that CBS staff keep talking

    13 votes
  4. AnthonyB
    Link
    Trump threatens to invoke the Insurrection Act in Minnesota after protests Under normal circumstances, this would probably warrant a full post, but I guess we'll save that for when he actually...

    Trump threatens to invoke the Insurrection Act in Minnesota after protests

    Under normal circumstances, this would probably warrant a full post, but I guess we'll save that for when he actually does it.

    12 votes
  5. [2]
    unkz
    Link
    Interesting look at the ICE recruitment process by a journalist who made it basically all the way through. https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2026/01/ice-recruitment-minneapolis-shooting.html

    Interesting look at the ICE recruitment process by a journalist who made it basically all the way through.

    https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2026/01/ice-recruitment-minneapolis-shooting.html

    9 votes
    1. Interesting
      Link Parent
      I kind of wish that reporter had done everything short of showing up to their first day of work, just to see how far they could get. There's more actual checking to adopt an animal than for the...

      I kind of wish that reporter had done everything short of showing up to their first day of work, just to see how far they could get. There's more actual checking to adopt an animal than for the government to give you a gun and enforcement powers...

      9 votes
  6. [2]
    skybrian
    Link
    Personal information of 4,500 ICE and Border Patrol agents is leaked online [...]

    Personal information of 4,500 ICE and Border Patrol agents is leaked online

    The identities of around 4,500 federal agents were shared with the ICE List website by a Department of Homeland Security whistleblower, according to a report.

    The dataset includes information on around 2,000 agents and 150 supervisors, according to Dominick Skinner, who launched ICE List. Early analysis from the volunteer-led organization suggests that around 80 per cent of those identified are still employed by the DHS.

    [...]

    McLaughlin added that law enforcement is currently facing a 1,300 percent increase in assaults against them, a 3,200 percent increase in vehicular attacks against them, and an 8,000 percent increase in death threats against them.

    9 votes
    1. DefinitelyNotAFae
      Link Parent
      Yeah, if you believe their interpretation of "assault." The government has really tanked their credibility on this IMO. I am hard pressed to be worried about the people literally telling citizens...

      Yeah, if you believe their interpretation of "assault."

      The government has really tanked their credibility on this IMO.
      I am hard pressed to be worried about the people literally telling citizens that they should have learned the lesson from [1/7/26]. I have watched them brutalize multiple US citizens for being near them, not counting the people who have died or been raped in their custody.

      At this point, make a different job choice.

      18 votes
  7. [2]
    nic
    Link
    US gets first $500 million Venezuelan oil deal, holding some proceeds in Qatar Trump just set up a slush fund that he directly controls.

    US gets first $500 million Venezuelan oil deal, holding some proceeds in Qatar

    “There is no basis in law for a president to set up an offshore account that he controls so that he can sell assets seized by the American military,” Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., the party’s top Banking Committee member, told Semafor last week. “That is precisely a move that a corrupt politician would be attracted to.”

    Trump just set up a slush fund that he directly controls.

    9 votes
  8. DefinitelyNotAFae
    Link
    Claudette Colvin, US civil rights pioneer arrested for not giving up bus seat, dies aged 86 | US news | The Guardian Rest in peace

    Claudette Colvin, US civil rights pioneer arrested for not giving up bus seat, dies aged 86 | US news | The Guardian

    US civil rights pioneer Claudette Colvin, arrested at age 15 for refusing to give up her bus seat to a white woman in Montgomery, Alabama, nine months before Rosa Parks’s similar but more famous act of defiance, died on Tuesday at age 8

    In the lead-up to the boycott, which started in December 1955, issues of social class and even “colorism” – Colvin came from a poorer background and Parks was lighter-skinned – led civil rights leaders to shy away from the teenager as a standard bearer for the movement, according to Roseboro.

    Rest in peace

    8 votes
  9. patience_limited
    Link
    Active-duty Army troops prepare for Minnesota deployment, defense officials say: reports Pentagon readies 1,500 troops to possibly deploy to Minnesota, US media say The Insurrection Act is a legal...

    Active-duty Army troops prepare for Minnesota deployment, defense officials say: reports

    Pentagon readies 1,500 troops to possibly deploy to Minnesota, US media say

    The Insurrection Act is a legal mess and there's really no restraining the deployment of military forces in Minnesota at Trump's command, other than Congressional intervention. Governor Walz could order out the Minnesota National Guard and claim he doesn't need Federal intervention, but that's not going to stop Orange Nero.

    5 votes
  10. nic
    Link
    Trump Wants Nations to Pay $1 Billion to Stay on His Peace Board I wonder how many slush funds Trump has that we are unaware of.

    Trump Wants Nations to Pay $1 Billion to Stay on His Peace Board

    The draft appears to suggest Trump himself would control the money, something that would be considered unacceptable to most countries who could have potentially joined the board, said the people, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss private matters.

    I wonder how many slush funds Trump has that we are unaware of.

    3 votes