On ICE

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Attribution: The Chilling Effect by Milt Priggee, Oak Harbor, WA

[Milt Priggee is a freelance editorial cartoonist from northwest Washington State. His work has been reprinted in Time, Newsweek, U.S. News & World report, The New York Times, Washington Post and USA Today.]
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69 thoughts on “On ICE”


  1. Jan 16, 2026
    Federal officers in the Minneapolis-area participating in its largest recent U.S. immigration enforcement operation can’t detain or tear gas peaceful protesters who aren’t obstructing authorities, including when these people are observing the agents, a judge in Minnesota ruled Friday.

    U.S. District Judge Kate Menendez’s ruling addresses a case filed in December on behalf of six Minnesota activists. The six are among the thousands who have been observing the activities of Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol officers enforcing the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area since last month.

  2. a little more on that hold-the-ICE order


    Jan 16, 2026 Bulwark Takes
    Sam Stein takes on the breaking news that a federal judge has set limits on ICE’s violent tactics against peaceful protesters in Minnesota. Also breaking, the DOJ has reportedly launched an investigation into Gov. Tim Walz and Mayor Jacob Frey, claiming conspiracy to impede federal officers.

  3. A small win for free speech. WaPo

    Minneapolis judge bars DHS agents from arresting peaceful protesters

    The order comes in response to a lawsuit from residents alleging that their rights were violated while they were observing or protesting immigration raids.

    By Gaya Gupta, Mariana Alfaro and Marisa Iati

    A federal judge on Friday night prohibited Department of Homeland Security agents from arresting people who are peacefully protesting immigration officers in Minneapolis unless they are suspected of criminal activity or obstructing the agents.

    U.S. District Judge Katherine Menendez in Minneapolis said her order will remain in effect until the operation concludes or “conditions change such that it is no longer necessary.” It also bars federal agents from retaliating against peaceful protesters, using pepper spray and other nonlethal munitions against demonstrators, and stopping or detaining people in cars for following agents’ vehicles.

    Menendez issued the order in response to six Minneapolis-area residents who alleged that Immigration and Customs Enforcement and other federal agents violated their constitutional rights while they were observing or protesting immigration raids in their neighborhoods.

    “Plaintiffs allege they have been subject to a variety of retaliatory behavior by Defendants, including traffic stops, arrests, the indiscriminate use of chemical irritants, and pointing of firearms,” Menendez wrote in her order. “These kinds of conduct are those that undoubtedly give rise to an objective chill of First Amendment rights.”

    The ruling came after a hearing Tuesday in the case and the death this month of Renée Good, a 37-year-old mother of three, who was fatally shot by an ICE officer while witnessing federal enforcement actions on a residential street in Minneapolis.

    In an emailed statement, DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said the agency is “taking appropriate and constitutional measures to uphold the rule of law and protect our officers and the public from dangerous rioters.”

    “Assaulting and obstructing law enforcement is a felony,” she said, adding that officers have “followed their training and used the minimum amount of force necessary to protect themselves, the public, and federal property.”

    She did not say whether DHS planned to appeal the ruling.

    The Minnesota residents who filed the lawsuit are among those who have sought to monitor and record immigration enforcement activity in their communities since the Trump administration began deploying large numbers of immigration officers to the state last month.

    One plaintiff, Susan Tincher, who intended to observe and record an immigration arrest she heard was occurring in her neighborhood, was arrested and pinned to the ground by agents after she asked whether they were part of ICE, according to the lawsuit. Two other plaintiffs said that after following an unmarked vehicle they suspected belonged to ICE, multiple masked agents surrounded their car and pointed semiautomatic weapons at them, according to court documents.
    [continues]

    Doesn’t sound like the “minimum amount of force necessary to protect themselves, the public, and federal property” since the only threat to themselves seems to be to their fragile egos and the only threat to the public is them. And threats to federal property? What, black SUVs driving being followed? Tricia McLaughlin should STFU and stop recycling talking points written by lawyers.

  4. songs sung blue …. maybe black and blue

    Protestors meet state terror with harmony and courage. The result is powerful, emotional, and unforgettable.


  5. Jan 16, 2026 MINNEAPOLIS
    Independent reporter Zach D Roberts was LIVE ON THE GROUND on January 15th, 2026 from ICE protests in Minneapolis outside the Whipple Federal Building. As ICE agents continued attacking unarmed protesters, Native Americans from the Oglala Sioux Tribal Council arrived looking in the ICE prison for three Minneapolis Oglala Sioux tribal members who were taken by ICE in the Little Earth community. Status Coup has reported ON THE GROUND THROUGHOUT 2025 and 2026 covering Trump’s ICE terror and protests against fascism in LA, NYC, Alligator Alcatraz, Chicago, Charlotte, and now Minneapolis.


  7. Experience Jesse Welles’ powerful live performance of “Join Ice” on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.

    Join ICE today. No education, fitness test, or accountability required.

    Originally seen on: CBS The Late Show with Stephen Colbert

  8. https://www.theguardian.com/

    The Guardian view on ICE and Renee Good’s killing: Trumpism’s brutal tactics don’t end with migrants
    Editorial
    The US president wants Americans to believe they are facing an emergency. The real danger is from his administration
    […]
    In Trumpism, rules and restraint are portrayed as a corruption of the people’s will instead of the essence of American democracy. A man who pardoned supporters for an actual insurrection seeking to keep him in power now threatens to invoke the Insurrection Act to quell protests. In October, the president told generals: “It’s a war from within.” ICE has been transformed into a paramilitary force apparently answerable only to Mr Trump. Imagine its potential uses in future.

    Little wonder that Minnesotans say this feels like an invasion, and the state’s governor, Tim Walz, describes it as an occupation. The communities who are now defending and supporting each other are not only challenging the demonisation, mistreatment and removal of undocumented migrants. They are pushing back against the fear on which Trumpism feeds and the manufacturing of a crisis which would consume many more victims.

  11. when an abusive husband wants to control a spouse, a common tactic is to alienate the spouse from all their friends and allies.

    everything Trump does can be viewed through the lens of him as an abuser

    The violence against others is scare you into compliance

    The veneration of physical strength is to convince you you have no resort

  12. I see these ICE cases slowly going the way of the National Guard cases — fits and starts from lower courts until the Supreme Court finally tells Trump to chill. Not as much as I’d like, but not a rubber stamp.

  14. Good morning. We’re live from ELEVEN TO NOON ET today for the daily broadcast. Come hang out in the chat, share your own links, or just listen in while you work. Join the Digital Diner here.

    What America is Clicking: January 17, 2026

    1. Politics: Abigail Spanberger is sworn in as Virginia’s first female governor, marking a shift in the state’s executive power. Washington Post
    2. World: President Trump threatens new tariffs on countries that oppose his plans to acquire Greenland. ITV News
    3. Scandal: Former Senator Kyrsten Sinema is sued for allegedly breaking up a bodyguard’s marriage. AP News
    4. Media: The FBI raids the home of a Washington Post reporter, seizing laptops in a leak investigation. The Guardian
    5. Science: An ailing astronaut is returned to Earth early in NASA’s first-ever medical evacuation from the ISS. AP News
    6. Economy: Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley beat profit estimates as dealmaking surges. Virginia Business
    7. Society: A look at the rising trend of “Stay-at-Home Sons” and the economic factors keeping them there. Washington Post
    8. Immigration: Small businesses in Minneapolis report taking a hit amid ongoing ICE enforcement raids. Fidelity / Reuters
    9. Policy: Details of a compensation plan for owners of banned firearms are set to be announced in Canada. CityNews Halifax
    10. Weird: Hundreds of mysterious old shoes wash up on a Welsh beach, baffling locals and officials. Fox News

    – Silas

    Open Thread: What did we miss?.

  15. “winter seems colder and darker with a fascist authoritarian government”

    anon, particularly for those who were conned into thinking otherwise.
    your observation echoes a similar sentiment from an old movie:
    “Winter must be cold for those with no warm memories.”
    [1957’s an affair to remember]

  16. silas, yep you forgot those poor horses in Spain, but then with Dodo’s inflammatory behavior globally who isn’t having to face fearsome fires?
    https://apnews.com/video/

    Horses leap through flames as part of Spanish ritual to honor St. Anthony, AP explains
    Hundreds of Spaniards on Friday evening watched horses gallop through towering flames in a centuries-old tradition called Las Luminarias. It is a centuries-old tradition that takes place in the Spanish village of San Bartolome de Pinares — population 500 — about 100 kilometers (60 miles) outside Madrid. (AP Video: Iain Sullivan)
    Published 10:09 PM EST, January 16, 2026

  17. the current animal story most enjoyable though was
    https://apnews.com/video

    Tiny male muntjac in Polish zoo puts aside all fears and valiantly charges adult rhino
    A tiny male muntjac in a Polish zoo put aside all his fears and valiantly charged at a sizeable adult rhino, in a scene reminiscient of a David versus Goliath battle. The incident unfolded as the rhino strayed too close to the Chinese muntjacs’ area while the female was on heat, with the male proving that he was ready to risk his life to defend his beloved.
    Published 10:11 AM EST, January 13, 2026

  18. https://abc7chicago.com/post/broadview-ice-protest-today-expected-draw-thousands-renee-good-shooting-minneapolis-minnesota/18421001/

    Thousands of demonstrators are expected to gather for a peaceful protest near the Immigration and Customs Enforcement processing facility in west suburban Broadview on Saturday morning.

    Minneapolis police say they are “hyper aware” that a weekend protest could spill into the Cedar‑Riverside area, and the department has already shifted officers into the West Bank in an effort to head off harassment.

    *These are the good guys aka Antifa

    ***

    https://hoodline.com/2026/01/cedar-riverside-on-edge-as-fraud-march-puts-cops-on-alert/

    The march, billed online as the “March Against Minnesota Fraud” and organized by conservative influencer Jake Lang, is set to kick off at Minneapolis City Hall on Saturday, with Lang urging supporters to “take back” Minnesota.

    *This is the white supremacist March from 1-3pm. May black ice line their route.

    A Tale of Two Rallies: It was the best of humanity. It was the worst of humanity.

  19. particularly for those who were conned into thinking otherwise.

    i think the low-info trumpies are more than happy to cut off their nose to spite their face

    misery loves company, the politics of positivity won’t win those people over

  21. https://newrepublic.com/post/205376/ice-attack-car-kids-six-month-old-unconscious

    ICE Attacks Car Full of Kids, Leaving 6-Month-Old Baby Unconscious

    A 6-month-old baby was hospitalized after federal law enforcement agents in Minneapolis struck a car full of children with a flash bang, before flooding it with tear gas.

    Parents Shawn and Destiny Jackson told Kare11 that they were driving their six children home from a basketball game Wednesday when a protest stopped them in their tracks.

    Destiny told Kare11 that she watched a law enforcement officer throw a flash bang under her car, and it detonated. “Literally, all we heard was boom, and our car went up and we came down, and every air bag deployed out of the car,” she said.

    As the parents urged their children to get out of the trapped vehicle, tear gas began to seep into the car. Destiny recalled her eldest telling his mom, “I can’t, Mom, and I can’t breathe.”

    As bystanders rushed the children to the safety of a nearby house, they had to go back for the 6-month old who had stopped breathing. “He was the last person to come in, he was just like, lifeless, like, he had like, foam, like, around his mouth, and you can, he had tears coming out of his eyes,” Destiny told Kare11.

    Destiny said she performed CPR on the child while others called emergency services, who arrived shortly after. “While we were in the ambulance, they were still throwing those bombs,” Destiny told Kare11.

    “My 11-year-old, who is autistic, keeps talking about it,” Destiny told Kare11. “He was talking about it all night. I couldn’t sleep because I was scared.”

    The Trump administration has been actively provoking unrest in Minnesota, deploying an additional 1,000 federal immigration officers after an ICE agent shot and killed Renee Good, a mother of three. After the protest Wednesday, President Donald Trump threatened to invoke the Insurrection Act in order to deploy the U.S. military to Minnesota—a move sure to escalate tensions, not assuage them.

  22. https://factually.co/fact-checks/justice/can-ice-agents-carry-personally-owned-firearms-or-only-agency-issued-weapons-bcc7bc

    ICE permits certain officers and agents to carry personally owned firearms (POFs) for official duty and off‑duty carry, but only from an agency‑approved list and after inspection, authorization, and regular qualification; agency policy also reserves the right to amend that list and imposes use‑of‑force constraints on when any weapon may be fired [1] [2] [3]. Public transparency around ICE’s detailed firearms and use‑of‑force rules is limited by redactions and internal directives, leaving gaps about some application details [4] [5].

    Did Ross murder Good with his personal weapon? Where are forensics? Oh, yeah. There are bullets but matching them to the gun is prohibited by the federal government. Zero state’s rights in this instance.

    Good had one gunshot wound in her left forearm. That was the one that went through the far-left edge of the windshield. She would have survived that wound.

    But Ross was angry (based on his parting words to her) and the subsequent shots through her open window. He murdered her.

    ICE who refused her medical help from a bystander should also be charged for something.

  25. https://wfmediengestaltung.bandcamp.com/track/klotser-garde-von-gr-nland

    *The last verse is sung in English.

    “Across the ice the armies rise,
    bright-coloured shields of plastic might.
    The Arctic roars beneath their feet as brick-warriors march in perfect lines.
    They guard the coasts where ancient spirits sleep, from Inuit dawn to Viking dusk.
    And when the orange madman sends his shadow northward,
    the bricks ignite like northern fire.

    Forward, little warriors!
    Denmark prevails, for we hold the most bricks!
    Forward, little warriors!
    Denmark prevails, for we hold the most bricks!
    For Gronland!!
    Für Grönland!
    For Green land!”

  28. https://meidasnews.com/news/doj-moves-to-block-independent-monitor-in-maxwell-case-says-courts-cannot-force-epstein-file-disclosures

    “An amicus cannot initiate, create, extend, or enlarge issues,” the DOJ writes, citing longstanding federal precedent. Because no party to the case has raised compliance with the Act as a live issue, prosecutors argue there is nothing for amici to assist the court with.

    The government’s argument goes further: even if the court were inclined to entertain the request, it could not do so constitutionally.

    The DOJ asserts that Reps. Khanna and Massie lack Article III standing because they have not suffered a concrete, particularized injury. The Epstein Files Transparency Act, prosecutors note, does not create an individual right to obtain information, unlike the Freedom of Information Act. Nor does the Act authorize lawmakers—or anyone else—to sue the DOJ for alleged noncompliance.

    The letter also rejects the idea that congressional authorship of the statute confers standing. Citing Supreme Court precedent, the DOJ argues that individual legislators cannot litigate generalized institutional grievances absent a vote nullification or comparable injury—conditions plainly not present here.

    Even more fundamentally, prosecutors maintain that the Act provides no cause of action at all. Where Congress has not explicitly authorized judicial enforcement, federal courts are barred from inventing one. As the DOJ puts it, courts “cannot reach out to award remedies” where neither the Constitution nor a statute authorizes them.

    In short, the government’s filing makes clear that—absent new legislation explicitly authorizing court enforcement—the DOJ believes no court can force it to produce the Epstein files, regardless of public pressure or congressional intent.

  34. A Democrat quoting the Bible is surging in Texas, while ICE just got frozen out of a crackdown in Minnesota.

    We break down James Talarico’s massive 17-point swing against the establishment and dig into the actual data on deportations (spoiler: the numbers don’t match the noise).

    FULL RUNDOWN
    00:00 Intro: 5,000 Subscribers & The Editorial Board
    01:52 Minnesota Ruling: Judge Blocks ICE Tactics
    02:30 Texas Senate Shock: Talarico Swings 17 Points
    03:36 The “Jesus Strategy”: A Democrat Reclaims Faith
    10:50 The Data: Trump vs. Obama Deportation Stats
    15:35 The Dunning-Kruger Effect & Loud Voices
    22:38 Wrongful Deportations of US Citizens
    33:05 Weird News: Old Shoes Wash Up in Wales
    38:35 Talarico’s Economic Message vs. Crockett’s Style

    Watch the full replay here:

  36. Good question: Pulitzer Prize winner Kyle Whitmire asks what’s the purpose of wearing camouflage on American streets?

    When did police start dressing like characters from Fortnite and Call of Duty? When did MRAPs become police cars? And what is camouflage good for on an urban street?

    These things exist to induce fear.

    There’s a word for things that look like the military, act like the military, but aren’t the military.

    They’re called paramilitaries.

    We need good police — present in and part of our communities. But you can’t do that from behind a mask.

    Video reel on Kyle’s FB.

  37. The camoflage is because it’s insane.
    Why the masks? Because it’s insane.

    Want to do well in the gop just work to develop your insanity level.

  38. Veshi’s Saturday morning show is a beacon of sanity, especially his interviews with banned book authors. Today featured Emily St. John Mandel Station Eleven and forthcoming Exit Party. Expanding my reading list with a new (to me) author.

  41. Ms Bronc, you beat me to the tariff BS. I had to ask how fucking stupid he is, but what’s the point? As soon as you ask, the question, he’s doing something that proves that any answer is a ridiculous understatement.

  42. Dunning-Kruger effect is the total opposite of what intelligent people know for certain:

    The more intelligent you are, particularly as you age, is not only how much you don’t know but have no hope of ever learning. It is a special kind of grief.

  43. https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2026/jan/17/hands-off-greenland-protests-denmark-us-donald-trump-europe-latest-news-updates

    In a lengthy Truth Social post, he said “Denmark, Norway, Sweden, France, Germany, The United Kingdom, The Netherlands, and Finland have journeyed to Greenland, for purposes unknown”, adding: “This is a very dangerous situation for the Safety, Security, and Survival of our Planet.”

    The US president said 10% tariffs will be imposed on all goods the countries export to the United States from 1 February, followed by a 25% rate from 1 June.

    “This Tariff will be due and payable until such time as a Deal is reached for the Complete and Total purchase of Greenland,” he added.

    Former UK national security adviser and retired senior diplomat, Lord Peter Ricketts, has told BBC Radio 4’s PM programme that “the right thing for the European countries is to react very calmly” and “go on making the case that America can have all its security interests served by working with Denmark and with Nato”.

    “Remember that in the cold war, America had 10,000 troops in Greenland, so it’s entirely open to the Americans to increase their military presence without going unilateral and these kind of threatening approaches,” he said.

    He added that European leaders could in private make clear that “this tariff business isn’t going to work – for one thing, the European Union has a single tariff, so he will find he can’t put tariffs on individual EU countries; it’s the EU as a whole”.

    “Rather than threatening tariffs, we need to be working together to work out the very legitimate issues about Greenland security – not that China is about to take it over, but that all of us in Nato have Arctic security as a priority,” Ricketts said.

    *Orange Adolf is used to having folks suck-up or cower, and give him what he wants. Just look at Machado giving him a Nobel medal he didn’t earn.

  45. Just in case you do not know, the tariffs on russian imports is still zero. 0, nada, zip, nothing.

    Pog – there is one thing about sfb that is often overlooked or deliberatly covered over by the oligarch media, he is insane. What used to be a tiny brain is now chocolate pudding. He lives in an alternate world and a lot of people want that to advance their agendas. Listening to him for a minute, usually less, is all it takes to know something is very wrong inside that bald head.

    The big question is how soon he reaches a point that allowing him in public is so detrimental to the various agendas that he has to be put in a padded room. The little performance with the oil execs and him getting up to look out the window seems real close. There was the chance he could have dropped his pants and diaper and peed on the wall. That would be very close to time to lock him up.

  46. A Texas Democrat using scripture to demand higher taxes on the rich? We found a unicorn in the wild.

    James Talarico is flipping the “faith” script in the Texas Senate race. We broke down this strategy (and whether it can actually win) during the ELEVEN TO NOON livestream today.

    Watch the clip here:

  48. That darn Talarico is reading the red words again. Can’t do that and be a racist who refuses to care for the sick or needy and all that libtard stuff.

  53. https://nypost.com/2026/01/17/us-news/minneapolis-protesters-attack-jake-lang-as-he-shouts-we-deserve-a-future-for-white-americans/

    “You’re being replaced! Do you not understand you’re being replaced!” Lang screamed into the microphone, later yelling, “We deserve a future for white Americans” and “send the Somalis back.”

    *Extinction burst. Poof!

    Leftwing protesters attacked and allegedly stabbed pardoned Jan. 6 rioter and Florida Senate candidate Jake Lang Saturday after his “March Against Fraud” was met with violent pushback in Minneapolis, video showed.

    Photos showed a bloodied Lang, 29, bleeding from the back of the head with snow in his hair, as one X user claimed he’d been “beaten” following the clash on the steps of City Hall.

    As Lang attempted to get away from the scene in a red sedan, video posted to X showed counter protesters ripping open the door of the car — throwing kicks and attempting to pull him back out onto the street.

    Lang posted on X that he was stabbed by “a crazie white commie leftist rioter” and wrote that the tactical vest he was wearing “blocked it.”

    *Do we know that wasn’t an inside job to make the “lefties” look violent, because it’s usually them.

    *There is a Jake Lang in a wrestling database, but can’t confirm it’s the same one. In addition to being a J6er, he’s running for Senate.

    On Saturday, Lang arrived with a handful of people, while a different demonstration from the George Soros-funded People’s Action Coalition Against Trump took place across the street.

    *Ah, yes. Yellow journalism at its lowest; the NY Post failing to highlight that only a few showed up for the white power event. Soros isn’t paying folks; real Americans hate N&zis for free.

    ***

    https://www.mprnews.org/story/2026/01/17/tensions-high-in-minneapolis

    Jake Lang, a conservative social media influencer, organized the rally downtown. He arrived with several other right-wing protesters, carrying anti-Islam signs and chanting.

    Lang and several of his supporters pushed through the crowd around 1:30 p.m. and left the scene, tailed by counter-protesters who followed them for several blocks through downtown, yelling at them to leave town.

    *Do Jake and his back-up singers have a problem with Orange-itis getting a plane from Qatar? Whatever happened with the Qatari airbase supposedly being built in the US?

  54. Craig, I got it fixed. Thank you. To me, he was just Uncle Don, the man who made nursery rhyme cutouts for my bedroom wall, taught me to love classical music, decorated Christmas trees, stirred divinity candy, bought the first TV on the block, took and developed pictures in his dark room, and invented an underwater camera for photographing the Baja (yes he knew Cousteau, Steinbeck and Doc Ricketts. He led quite a life.

  56. How a Billionaire with interests in Greenland encouraged Trump
    to acquire the territory

    One day during his first term, Donald Trump summoned a top aide to discuss a new idea. “Trump called me down to the Oval Office,” John Bolton, national security adviser in 2018, told the Guardian. “He said a prominent businessman had just suggested the US buy Greenland

    It was an extraordinary proposal. And it originated from a longtime friend of the president who would go on to acquire business interests in the Danish territory.

    The businessman, Bolton learned, was Ronald Lauder. Heir to a makeup fortune – the global cosmetics brand Estée Lauder – he had known Trump, a fellow wealthy New Yorker, for more than 60 years.

    Bolton said he discussed the Greenland proposition with Lauder. After the billionaire’s intervention, a White House team began to explore ways to increase US sway in the vast Arctic territory controlled by Denmark.

    Trump’s renewed pursuit of Lauder’s idea during his second term is typical of how the president operates, Bolton said. “Bits of information that he hears from friends, he takes them as truth and you can’t shake his opinion.”

    The proposal seems to have stirred Trump’s imperialist ambitions: eight years on, he is mulling not just buying Greenland but perhaps taking it by force.

    Like many of those around the president, Lauder’s policy suggestions appear to intersect with his business interests. As Trump has ratcheted up his threats to seize Greenland, Lauder has acquired commercial holdings there. Lauder is also part of the consortium whose desire to access Ukrainian minerals appears to have spurred Trump to demand a share of the war-torn country’s resources.

    Lauder has said he met Trump in the 1960s when they went to the same prestigious business school. After working for the family cosmetics business, Lauder served under Ronald Reagan at the Pentagon, then as ambassador to Austria, before running unsuccessfully for mayor of New York in 1989.

    When Trump won the presidency in 2016, Lauder donated $100,000 to the Trump Victory fundraising committee. When Trump’s sanity was questioned in 2018, Lauder called him “a man of incredible insight and intelligence”.

    That same year, Lauder said he was assisting Trump with “some of the most complex diplomatic challenges imaginable”. This seems to have included sowing the idea of Arctic expansion. The following year, the Wall Street Journal revealed Trump’s interest in Greenland. Denmark’s rulers expressed outrage. Trump responded by tweeting an image of a golden Trump Tower looming over a village, beside the caption: “I promise not to do this to Greenland!”

  57. US government entering US banking with a tRUMP credit card?

    https://money.usnews.com/credit-cards/articles/could-trumps-rate-cap-kill-your-credit-card

    The Electronic Payments Coalition released a study this week in response to Trump’s proposed 10% cap, stating that “90% of current cardholders – between 175 (million)-190 million Americans – would effectively lose access to credit. Essentially, any American with a credit score of less than 740 would see their card eliminated or credit limit drastically reduced.”

    According to the most recent Federal Reserve data, credit card rates on all accounts assessed interest average 22.3%.

    EPC Executive Chairman Richard Hunt said in a statement, “A one-size-fits-all government price cap may sound appealing, but it wouldn’t help Americans – it would do the exact opposite, harming families, limiting opportunity and weakening our economy.”

    “If profit is squeezed in one place, where does it make up? Historically, it’s not just within the credit card space itself, it can be other places in the company as well,” Winslow says, referencing the reduction in free checking after the CARD Act was passed in 2009. “Before the CARD Act was passed, many consumers had free checking accounts. After that amendment passed, we saw free checking go away for a lot of people. Now, if you don’t want to pay for your checking account, you either have to keep a certain amount of money in your account, sign up for direct deposit or certain other qualifiers.”

    Banks still would be making money on credit cards, Rust says.

    Rust says that “even with a rate cap, credit cards are still going to be enormously profitable. With over $150 billion in swipe fees in 2024, and tens of billions of dollars in other fees, no rational CEO is going to abandon that kind of business to make more mortgages at 6%.”

    *He understands nothing except grift and outright theft.

  58. https://www.timesnownews.com/business-economy/economy/why-tech-titans-like-sam-altman-bill-gates-peter-thiel-jeff-bezos-are-betting-big-on-ai-driven-rare-earth-drilling-in-greenland-article-153441512

    In a move that blends cutting-edge technology with geopolitics, some of the world’s most influential billionaires—Sam Altman, Bill Gates, Peter Thiel, and Jeff Bezos—are making major bets on AI-powered exploration and drilling for rare earth elements (REEs) in Greenland.

    As of January 2026, these investments—primarily routed through the AI-driven mining startup KoBold Metals—highlight an intensifying global race to secure critical minerals essential for artificial intelligence, renewable energy, electric vehicles (EVs), and national security.

    Greenland, the world’s largest island, is estimated to hold around 12% of global rare earth reserves, including major deposits at sites such as Kvanefjeld and Tanbreez.

    Climate change has made these resources increasingly accessible, as melting ice reveals mineral-rich terrain once considered unreachable.

    By late 2024, KoBold had raised hundreds of millions of dollars to fund global expansion. In Greenland, the company has been active since 2021 through a partnership with Bluejay Mining at the Disko–Nuussuaq project on the island’s west coast.

    The deal grants KoBold a controlling stake and targets nickel, copper, cobalt, platinum-group metals—and increasingly, rare earth elements. AI-guided drilling began in 2022, optimizing site selection in Greenland’s extreme terrain. By January 2026, KoBold’s Greenland operations are expanding further, supported by new consortium-backed funding.

    What Drives Each InvestorEach of the tech billionaires involved brings a distinct motivation tied to their broader vision.

    Ultimately, these tech titans are not just investing in mines—they are investing in control over the foundations of future technology. As AI, clean energy, and defense systems reshape the global order, access to critical minerals may determine which nations and companies lead.

  61. I’m in the limit interest. If 10% is good enough for God, it’s good enough for the bank. Low income people can get into horrid trouble with 26% interest compounded so they are paying interest on interest which is Usury and crippling to financial health. A cash card works for most purposes.

    I know it sounds good to have credit unlimited but banks are really gouging when it is compounded and only minimum payments made. That leads to bankruptcy and ruined credit for seven years.

    I can see a higher allowable interest but only on the principle debt not on top of the added interest compounded.

  65. https://www.newsweek.com/donald-trump-approval-rating-gen-z-2-11371034

    Speaking on air on Wednesday, Harry Enten pointed to CBS News data showing it has fallen from +10 points one month into the administration in February 2025 to -32 points today.

    Gen Z, made up of those born between 1997 and 2012, played a pivotal role in the 2024 election when Trump improved his margin with young voters and returned to the White House.

    He noted that while the overall electorate also moved, this increase was more than double the change seen nationwide and represented a significant swing toward Democrats.

    “That was, in fact, the largest shift—considerably more so than any other group,” Enten said.

    *Minus 42

  67. https://www.dnaindia.com/world/report-eu-suspends-trade-deal-with-us-amid-donald-trump-s-greenland-tariff-threats-says-ratification-will-have-to-wait-3197419

    EU suspends trade deal with US amid Donald Trump’s Greenland tariff threats, says, ‘ratification will have to wait’
    The deal announced in July 2025, between the US and the EU, comprising 27 member states, unveiled a bilateral framework agreement aimed at resolving various tariff and trade issues.

    Vice-President of the European People’s Party, Siegfried Muresan, in a post on X, confirmed the pause in the ratification process, stating, “We were supposed to ratify the EU-US trade deal from last July very soon, reducing tariffs for imports from the US into the European Union to 0%. However, in light of recent developments, this ratification will have to wait a little longer in this new context.”

    On Saturday, Trump threatened to impose tariffs on Denmark and other European countries unless they agree to sell Greenland.

    “Starting on February 1st, 2026, all of the above mentioned Countries (Denmark, Norway, Sweden, France, Germany, The United Kingdom, The Netherlands, and Finland), will be charged a 10% Tariff on any and all goods sent to the United States of America. On June 1st, 2026, the Tariff will be increased to 25%. This Tariff will be due and payable until such time as a Deal is reached for the Complete and Total purchase of Greenland,” Trump posted.

    *It’s an IMPORT TAX. WE pay the tariffs. Donald H. tRUMP is so gd F-ing stupid!

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