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Report: More Than 40 Recent Cases of ICE Agents Using Banned Chokeholds

(ProPublica) After George Floyd’s murder by a police officer six years ago in Minneapolis — less than a mile from where an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent shot and killed Renee Good last week — police departments and federal agencies banned chokeholds and other moves that can restrict breathing or blood flow. ProPublica found more than 40 cases over the past year of immigration agents using these life-threatening maneuvers on immigrants, citizens and protesters. About two dozen videos show officers kneeling on people’s necks or backs or keeping them face down on the ground while already handcuffed.

​Trump's budget chief brazenly broke the law to punish blue states: judge

(Raw Story) A federal judge in Washington, D.C. has found that President Donald Trump's top budget official violated the Constitution by terminating environmental grants during the federal government shutdown, but exclusively to states that voted for former Vice President Kamala Harris. Judge Amit Mehta issued the ruling on Monday, siding with a group of companies and organizations that were awarded these grants before having them terminated by Trump's Department of Energy.

Trump's FBI investigates victim of Minnesota shooting

(NY Times) Federal investigators assigned to the fatal shooting of a 37-year-old Minneapolis woman are looking into her possible connections to activist groups protesting the Trump administration’s aggressive immigration enforcement, in addition to the actions of the federal agent who killed her, people familiar with the situation said. It seems increasingly unlikely that the agent who fired three times at the unarmed woman, Renee Nicole Good, will face criminal charges, although that could change as investigators collect new evidence, the people added. On Sunday, President Trump described Ms. Good and her wife, Becca Good, as being “professional agitators,” adding that the authorities would “find out who’s paying for it.” He offered no evidence to support his claims.

Trump Has Another Justification for the Shooting of Renee Good: Disrespect

(NY Times) President Trump has added another justification for the fatal shooting of Renee Good by an ICE agent in Minnesota: She behaved badly. “At a very minimum, that woman was very, very disrespectful to law enforcement,” Mr. Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One on Sunday evening. While Mr. Trump still says the ICE agent was acting in self-defense, his latest comments suggest that disrespecting law enforcement could help to justify the killing.

Killer ICE Agent Made Bonkers Lie to Neighbors About His Job

(Daily Beast) The ICE agent who killed Renee Nicole Good reportedly lied to his neighbors about what he does for work. Jonathan Ross, 43, revealed at a 2020 neighborhood garage party during the Covid pandemic that he was a botanist, one of Ross’ neighbors told People. “He said he worked with plants, as a botanist, so he lied about what he did,” the neighbor told the outlet. Ross has worked for ICE since 2015, when he joined the agency as a deportation officer.

Tom Morello Calls Out Trump Administration for Using Alleged Nazi Mass Murder Slogan

(Billboard) Sharing an Instagram photo on Monday (Jan. 12) of U.S. Department of Homeland Security secretary Kristi Noem addressing press a few days ago, the Rage Against the Machine musician accused her of standing behind a podium that displayed a “verbatim” quote of a “Nazi mass murder slogan” on the front. The exact phrase printed on the podium was, “One of ours, all of yours.” “Coined when an SS officer was killed and the Nazis murdered every male resident of the village in response,” Morello claimed. “If there are any MAGA left after THIS, you have made an irrevocable choice.”

Tuesday's Condensed News Cartoons

Karoline Leavitt Called Out Over Ironic Pedophile Protector Comments

(Daily Beast) Gavin Newsom was among the many critics of White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt’s wild assertion that Democrats are protecting pedophiles. (Renee) Good was “a lunatic who was a part of a group, an organized group to interject and to impede on law enforcement organizations,” Leavitt, 28, asserted. “It’s disgusting what we have seen from the left, and I think it just shows you where the modern-day Democrat [sic] Party stands today, in protecting illegal alien pedophiles and rapists and murderers over law-abiding American citizens..." Newsom, 58, honed in on Leavitt’s line about pedophiles, reminding everyone that the Justice Department has only released a fraction of its files on Jeffrey Epstein, the dead sex offender who said he was once Trump’s closest friend, despite the legally mandated deadline of Dec. 19.

Mamdani 'outraged' after New York City council employee detained by ICE

(ABC News) A New York City Council employee was detained during a "routine" immigration appointment on Long Island on Monday, according to city officials, who called the incident an "egregious government overreach." Mayor Zohran Mamdani said he is "outraged" by the worker's arrest. "This is an assault on our democracy, on our city, and our values," he said in a statement on X. "I am calling for his immediate release and will continue to monitor the situation."

"Homeland security" has become the repressive domestic police force we were warned about

(Salon) While the War on Terror may be something of an anachronism today, the bureaucratic relics of that time are still with us — and they have become exactly what we feared it would be: a domestic police force that has led not only to the repression of basic rights and liberties, but also to a creeping authoritarian state.