F. Left News

The Pennsylvania Working Families Party rolled out an online "hub" on Friday to support a primary challenger to the state's US senator, John Fetterman.

The WFP, an independent party that often supports Democrats with a populist economic agenda, backed Fetterman's 2022 Senate bid when he ran in the general election as a champion of many progressive causes. But the group now says he "sold out working Pennsylvanians" after pivoting hard to the right on key issues.

It launched the campaign to oust him in November after he voted with Republicans to reopen the government without an extension of Affordable Care Act (ACA) subsidies, which is expected to spike health insurance premiums for over 22 million Americans this year.

“While Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) is supporting Trump’s use of American tax dollars to ‘run’ Venezuela or buy Greenland, 500,000 Pennsylvanians are about to see their healthcare premiums rise because of the Republican budget bill he supported,” said Nick Gavio, mid-Atlantic communications director for the Working Families Party and a former Fetterman staffer. “People across Pennsylvania did not put time, money, and energy into supporting his campaign just to elect a Democrat who votes against our interests time and time again. We need new leadership.”

The website provides past Fetterman donors who feel betrayed by the senator with a form letter to "request a refund" of past contributions from the campaign. It also contains a "Sell-out Tracker," which seeks to "track every bad position" he has taken.

In addition to his vote to reopen the government, the group notes that Fetterman has voted to confirm 50% of Trump's Cabinet picks. He was the only Democrat who voted to confirm Attorney General Pam Bondi and Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee, and one of the very few to vote in favor of Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem.

It also accuses him of "betraying vulnerable people" by supporting Republican legislation that eliminates due process for undocumented immigrants, cheering US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) amid its mass deportation crusade, and giving full-throated support to Israel's genocidal war in Gaza and Trump's strikes on Iran.

The site also highlights Fetterman's tendency to neglect the basic duties of his job as a senator, which he has admitted he skips to spend more time with his family and because he finds them “overwhelmingly procedural.”

Fetterman has one of the worst attendance records in the Senate, having missed over 100 votes since April 2024 and skipped 44 out of 45 meetings for committees he was assigned to between January and May 2025.

He has also said he hosts very few town halls in order to avoid protesters, who have shown up to voice their discontent with his support for Israel, among other controversial positions.

As the site points out, while some other Democrats fought tooth and nail in a losing effort to stop Republicans from passing massive safety-net cuts in this summer's budget reconciliation package, Fetterman told Politico, "I just want to go home" and complained that he'd missed his family's trip to the beach.

So far, no prominent Pennsylvania Democrats have offered themselves up as potential primary challengers for Fetterman, who comes up for reelection in 2028.

Top names, including former Rep. Conor Lamb, who ran against Fetterman in the 2022 Democratic primary, and Philadelphia area Rep. Madeleine Dean have said they would not challenge Fetterman if he ran for another term.

Meanwhile, Rep. Brendan Boyle (D-Pa.), who called Fetterman "Trump's favorite Democrat" last year, told NOTUS he'd be open to running against him.

The Pennsylvania Working Families Party said it is collecting donations that it will use to help "identify, recruit, and elect a real working class champion to replace Fetterman in the US Senate."

The group told NBC News that it has already amassed more than 425 people interested in either running against Fetterman themselves or volunteering their time or donating to help the effort to unseat him.

Amid unprecedented backlash against US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, California Gov. Gavin Newsom—considered a leading contender for the 2028 Democratic presidential nomination—is being accused of giving the increasingly violent agency a pass after an interview with right-wing pundit Ben Shapiro in which he softened his criticism of ICE.

In recent days, following an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent’s fatal shooting of 37-year-old mother of three Renee Good last week in Minneapolis, officers of ICE and other federal agencies have been documented engaging in blatant racial profiling, unconstitutional “citizenship checks,” and extreme uses of physical force, including dragging a disabled US citizen from her car on the way to a doctor's appointment, as the Associated Press reported Friday.

It is part of a pattern of behavior by ICE that Newsom's press office described as "state-sponsored terrorism" as recently as January 7, when he used the term to describe Good's killing by agent Jonathan Ross, who was recorded shooting Good in the head after stepping in front of her vehicle and referring to her as a "fucking bitch." Agents also obstructed emergency medical services from arriving at the scene of the shooting to assist Good, according to video and eyewitness accounts.

But when questioned by the cantankerous debater Shapiro on his podcast, This is Gavin Newsom on Thursday, the governor backed off that forceful description of the agency.

“Your press office tweeted out that it was state-sponsored terrorism, which, I mean, Governor, I just have to ask you about that. That sort of thing makes our politics worse, and it does,” said Shapiro, to which Newsom responded, “Yeah.”

Shapiro continued: “Our ICE officers obviously are not terrorists. A tragic situation is not state-sponsored terrorism.”

“Yeah, I think that’s fair,” agreed Newsom.

A short clip of that exchange, shared in celebration by Shapiro's outlet, the Daily Wire, was met with widespread criticism on social media from those who wanted to see one of the Democratic Party's most prominent leaders take an unapologetic stance against ICE.

Mehdi Hasan, founder of the news outlet Zeteo, questioned why "Newsom is trying to wreck his otherwise very strong chance of winning the 2028 Democratic presidential nomination by doing this self-destructive podcast where he allows right-wing guests to walk all over him and then promote clips online of them walking all over him."

But this clip showed only one of several instances during the nearly two-hour interview in which Newsom rolled over to his guest's pro-ICE framing.

When Shapiro interrogated Newsom about California's supposed "sanctuary state" policy and suggested the state should “cooperate with ICE in the vast majority of cases,” Newsom responded: “That's exactly what they do in California.”

Newsom then boasted that there have been “over 10,000” deportations he’s cooperated with since he became governor of California. Though he emphasized that the sanctuary law only allows for the state’s correctional facilities to cooperate with ICE, advocates have criticized it for allowing the deportation of those who were never convicted and those who’ve had their cases dropped.

“California has cooperated with more ICE transfers, probably, than any other state in the country,” he continued. “I vetoed multiple pieces of legislation that have come from my legislature to stop the ability for the state of California to do that.”

Newsom has indeed vetoed at least two pieces of Democratic legislation that sought to further limit the state’s cooperation with ICE—one in 2023, which would have repealed requirements allowing prisons to transfer noncitizens to ICE custody after they leave prison, and another in 2019, which would have banned private security companies from entering California prisons to transfer people to ICE custody.

Shapiro later questioned Newsom on whether he agreed with calls from some Democrats to “abolish” ICE in the wake of the shooting, including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), another potential favorite for the 2028 nomination.

Newsom said, “I disagree,” adding, “I believe a candidate for president by the name of Harris said that in the last campaign. I remember being on [All In with Chris Hayes] hours later saying, ‘I think that’s a mistake.’”

While she has been critical of the agency and suggested changing its enforcement priorities, it is untrue that former Vice President Kamala Harris has ever called to “abolish ICE,” even saying as far back as 2018 that “ICE has a purpose. ICE has a role, ICE should exist.”

She did not call for ICE to be abolished during the 2024 campaign for president as Newsom suggested, and was criticized by immigrants’ rights activists for running further to the right on immigration than in years past.

By rejecting calls to abolish ICE, critics noted that Newsom was expressing a position far out of touch with the Democratic base and with a widening segment of the country, which has grown increasingly hostile toward ICE over the past year, and especially in the wake of its actions in Minnesota, which have led many to see it more as President Donald Trump's personal paramilitary force than a legitimate law enforcement agency.

A poll earlier this week by the Economist/YouGov revealed that for the first time ever, “abolishing ICE” had more support (46%) than opposition (43%) among American adults. Among those who said they leaned Democratic, 80% favored abolishing the agency, compared with just 11% who opposed it.

“This is an unbelievably stupid move from Gavin Newsom,” wrote the host of the left-wing talk show One Hand Politics, who goes by Mason, in response to the governor's rejection of the call to abolish ICE.

He implored Newsom to “grow a fucking spine and stop chasing Republican moderates that don’t exist. They all hate you.”

Brian Tashman, a political researcher and strategist at the ACLU, noted that Newsom is “not willing to push back against Ben Shapiro but will push back against labor organizers trying to enact a billionaire tax that would affect a few hundred people."

Left-wing commentator Joe Mayall saw the interaction as a window into how Newsom might perform in a possible 2028 presidential debate against Vice President JD Vance, widely seen as the Republican who would succeed Trump.

He wrote: “If you get cooked by Ben Shapiro, you don’t have a chance against Vance."

A Texas medical examiner is reportedly planning to classify the recent death of Geraldo Lunas Campos, who was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement last summer, as a homicide, marking the latest apparent abuse at the hands of an agency that has been rampaging lawlessly through US communities at the behest of President Donald Trump.

As the Washington Post reported Friday, "An employee of El Paso County’s Office of the Medical Examiner told Lunas Campos’ daughter this week that, subject to results of a toxicology report, the office is likely to classify the death as a homicide, according to a recording of the conversation."

"The employee said a doctor there 'is listing the preliminary cause of death as asphyxia due to neck and chest compression,' which means Lunas Campos did not get enough oxygen because of pressure on his neck and chest," the newspaper added.

In an interview with the Post, one detainee at the sprawling El Paso detention center known as Camp East Montana said he witnessed "at least five guards struggling with Lunas Campos after he refused to enter the segregation unit, complaining that he didn’t have his medications."

The eyewitness, according to the Post, "said he saw guards choking Lunas Campos and heard Lunas Campos repeatedly saying, 'No puedo respirar'—Spanish for 'I can't breathe.' Medical staff tried to resuscitate him for an hour, after which they took his body away."

Jeanette Pagan Lopez, the mother of two of Lunas Campos' children, told the Post that she was contacted by agents from the FBI who said they were investigating Lunas Campos' death.

“I know it’s a homicide,” Lopez told the newspaper. “The people that physically harmed him should be held accountable.”

US Rep. Nanette Barragán (D-Calif.), co-chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, wrote in response to the Post's reporting that "Geraldo Lunas Campos may have been murdered."

"So disturbing," Barragán added. "Republicans’ excessive funding of ICE and DHS, along with Trump’s pardons and claims of absolute immunity, are literally killing people. Republicans remain silent or are openly OK with this."

A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security, which has lied relentlessly about recent killings and other incidents involving ICE, claimed in a statement that Lunas Campos died after trying to take his own life.

“Campos violently resisted the security staff and continued to attempt to take his life,” said DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin. “During the ensuing struggle, Campos stopped breathing and lost consciousness. Medical staff was immediately called and responded. After repeated attempts to resuscitate him, EMTs declared him deceased on the scene.”

Lunas Campos, a 55-year-old Cuban immigrant, was detained last summer and died on January 3. Citing court records, the Post noted that "Lunas Campos was convicted of several crimes, including for aggravated assault with a weapon and, in 2003, first-degree sexual abuse involving a child under 11 years old."

"Be ready for the Trump admin to highlight this guy's lengthy criminal record to eliminate any sympathy for him, even though none of that justifies being choked to death by guards at a detention center," said Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, a senior fellow at the American Immigration Council.

Lunas Campos is one of four people to die in ICE custody so far in 2026.

“ICE kills—full stop," said Setareh Ghandehari, advocacy director at Detention Watch Network. "Whether ICE is targeting people in the streets, where they work or live or behind closed doors in one of its nearly 200 abuse-ridden detention centers across the country—ICE is an inherently violent agency jeopardizing families and community safety."

Camp East Montana, where Lunas Campos was reportedly killed, is a huge makeshift tent camp at the Fort Bliss military base in El Paso, Texas.

Last month, the ACLU and other human rights groups demanded the immediate closure of the facility for immigrant detention, citing "accounts of horrific conditions, including beatings and sexual abuse by officers against detained immigrants, beatings and coercive threats to compel deportation to third countries, medical neglect, hunger and insufficient food, and denial of meaningful access to counsel, among other rights violations."

Today, President Donald Trump unveiled a healthcare plan which his administration claims will lower drug costs and insurance premiums.

Public Citizen Health Care Policy Advocate Eagan Kemp issued the following statement:

"Trump's Great Healthcare Plan is impressive only in the fact that it isn't great, wouldn't substantively improve healthcare, and isn't even detailed enough to be considered a plan.

“Trump and his cronies have had more than a decade to come up with something beyond 'concepts of a plan' but have failed time and time again. The American people are suffering under a broken health care system that has been made worse by Trump and his MAGA allies.

“By passing tax cuts for billionaires and paying for them through health care cuts for tens of millions of people, Trump and Republicans showed their disdain for everyday Americans. In the short run, the Senate must follow the lead of the House and pass a clean three-year extension of the ACA subsidies.

“In the longer term, we must finally pass Medicare for All, an actually great healthcare plan, to finally guarantee everyone in the U.S. can get the care they need throughout their lives without financial barriers."

The American Civil Liberties Union, ACLU of Minnesota, Covington & Burling LLP, Greene Espel PLLP, and Robins Kaplan LLP filed a class-action lawsuit today against the Trump administration on behalf of three community members — and a class of similarly situated people — whose constitutional rights were violated by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Customs and Border Protection(CBP), and other federal agents.

Over the past six weeks, the Trump administration has increased its deployment of federal forces by the thousands. Masked federal agents in military gear have ignored basic human rights in their enforcement activity against Minnesotans, especially targeting Somali and Latino communities.

The Trump administration has been clear in its targeting of the Somali and Latino communities through Operation Metro Surge. President Trump called people from Somalia “garbage,” said “we don’t want them in our country,” and told them to “go back to where they came from.” Following Trump's comments, ICE and CBP agents have indiscriminately arrested — without warrants or probable cause — Minnesotans solely because the agents perceived them to be Somali or Latino.

In their lawsuit, the three Minnesotans challenge the administration’s policy of racially profiling, unlawfully seizing, and unlawfully arresting,people without a warrant and without probable cause. This is a violation of Minnesotans’ constitutional rights to equal protection and against unreasonable seizures.

Plaintiff Mubashir Khalif Hussen is a 20-year-old U.S. citizen. On Dec. 10, 2025, he was walking to lunch in the Cedar-Riverside neighborhood when he was stopped by multiple masked ICE agents. When Hussen realized he was being stopped by ICE, he began repeating, “I’m a citizen. I’m a citizen.” But the agents refused to look at Hussen’s ID.

ICE agents put Hussen into an SUV and drove him to the Whipple building in south Minneapolis. Only after being shackled, having his fingerprints taken, and showing a photo of his passport card to an individual at the Whipple building was Hussen let go.

“At no time did any officer ask me whether I was a citizen or if I had any immigration status,” said Hussen. “They did not ask for any identifying information, nor did they ask about my ties to the community, how long I had lived in the Twin Cities, my family in Minnesota, or anything else about my circumstances.”

“ICE and CBP’s practices are both illegal and morally reprehensible,” said Catherine Ahlin-Halverson, staff attorney with the ACLU of Minnesota. “Federal agents’ conduct — sweeping up Minnesotans through racial profiling and unlawful arrests — is a grave violation of Minnesotans’ most fundamental rights, and it has spread fear among immigrant communities and neighborhoods. No one, including federal agents, is above the law.”

“The government can’t stop and arrest people based on the color of their skin, or arrest people with no probable cause,” said Kate Huddleston, senior staff attorney with the ACLU’s Immigrants’ Rights Project. “These kinds of police-state tactics are contrary to the basic principles of liberty and equality that remain a bedrock of our legal system and our country.”

“The people of Minnesota are courageously standing up to the reign of terror unleashed by the Trump administration,” said Robert Fram, senior counsel with Covington & Burling. “We are proud to stand with them and assist in any way that we can.”

“The massive presence of ICE agents as part of Operation Metro Surge has disrupted civic life in the Twin Cities. Minnesotans are at risk of being stopped by ICE while going to work or shopping for groceries,” said Greene Espel attorney Kshithij Shrinath. “We will continue to stand with our community and the rule of law.”

If you have been questioned, stopped, arrested, or detained by ICE where the officers did not have a warrant or where the encounter appeared to be the result of racial profiling, visit aclu-mn.org/ice-feds-form.

The complaint is here: https://assets.aclu.org/live/uploads/2026/01/COMPLAINT-HUSSEN-v.-NOEM-1.pdf

Today, in a split 2-1 decision, the Third Circuit Court of Appeals overturned a district court ruling that found Mahmoud Khalil’s detention and removal likely unconstitutional. Today's order does not weigh in on the core First Amendment arguments in his case but holds that the district court did not have subject matter jurisdiction over Mr. Khalil’s immigration proceedings.

The opinion does not go into effect immediately and the Trump administration cannot lawfully re-detain Mr. Khalil until the order takes formal effect, which will not happen while he has the opportunity to seek immediate review. Mr. Khalil’s legal team has several legal avenues they may pursue, including seeking review en banc from the Third Circuit Court of Appeals, which would allow all judges from the Third Circuit to weigh in.

“Today’s ruling is deeply disappointing, but it does not break our resolve,” said Mahmoud Khalil. “The door may have been opened for potential re-detainment down the line, but it has not closed our commitment to Palestine and to justice and accountability. I will continue to fight, through every legal avenue and with every ounce of determination, until my rights, and the rights of others like me, are fully protected.”

In June 2025, a federal judge district court judge Michael E. Farbiarz granted Mr. Khalil’s request for a preliminary injunction after concluding that he would continue to suffer irreparable harm if the government continued efforts to detain and deport him on the basis of Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s determination under the “foreign policy ground,” a rarely used deportation provision of the federal immigration statute, that Mr. Khali’s lawful protected speech would “compromise a compelling U.S. foreign policy interest.” Judge Farbiarz also found that Mr. Khalil was likely to succeed on the merits of his constitutional challenge to his detention and attempted deportation on the “foreign policy ground.” In a separate order, Judge Farbiarz released Mr. Khalil on bail after determining that he presented neither a danger nor a flight risk and that extraordinary circumstances justified his temporary release while his habeas case proceeded.

“Today’s decision is deeply disappointing, and by not deciding or addressing the First Amendment violations at the core of this case, it undermines the role federal courts must play in preventing flagrant constitutional violations,” said Bobby Hodgson, deputy legal director at the New York Civil Liberties Union. “The Trump administration violated the Constitution by targeting Mahmoud Khalil, detaining him thousands of miles from home, and retaliating against him for his speech. Dissent is not grounds for detention or deportation, and we will continue to pursue all legal options to ensure Mahmoud's rights are vindicated.”

The Trump administration and Department of Homeland Security illegally arrested and detained Mr. Khalil in direct retaliation for his advocacy for Palestinian rights at Columbia University. Shortly after, DHS transferred him 1300 miles away to a Louisiana detention facility — ripping him away from his then eight-months pregnant wife and legal counsel. During the 104 days he remained in ICE custody, Mr. Khalil missed the birth of his first child, among other important moments.

Mr. Khalil is represented by Dratel & Lewis, the Center for Constitutional Rights, CLEAR, Van Der Hout LLP, Washington Square Legal Services, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), the New York Civil Liberties Union (NYCLU), the ACLU of New Jersey, and the ACLU of Louisiana.

The order and dissent can be read here. All case materials can be found here, here, and here.

This press release is available online here.

Today, President Trump threatened to invoke the Insurrection Act to send military troops to Minneapolis. The threat comes a week after an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent shot and killed Renee Nicole Good, a 37-year-old mother in a south Minneapolis neighborhood, and hours after reports that ICE shot two additional Minneapolis residents.

The following is a statement from Hina Shamsi, director of the American Civil Liberties Union’s National Security Project:

“Invoking the Insurrection Act is unnecessary, irresponsible, and dangerous. President Trump is continuing to stoke fear in a situation his administration created by unleashing lawless, armed federal agents against our communities. It’s hard to think of another instance in which a president would deploy troops to enable further federal deprivation of people’s rights.

“The real risk to people’s safety comes from ICE and other federal agents’ violence against our communities, and the killing of Renee Good starkly shows what happens when ICE operates without accountability. But no matter what uniform they wear, armed federal agents and military troops are bound by our constitutional rights to peaceful assembly, freedom of speech, and due process. If troops or federal agents violate these boundaries, they and their leadership must be held accountable.

“What’s needed now is not federal escalation, but deescalation. Congress must demand these mass federal law enforcement forces leave Minneapolis and refuse to fund ICE and CBP until the administration backs down.”

Senate Banking Committee Chair Tim Scott (R-S.C.) delayed the committee vote on the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act that addresses cryptocurrency, which was originally scheduled for today at 10 a.m. ET. This decision followed a tweet by Brian Armstrong, CEO of Coinbase, the largest U.S.-based crypto exchange, withdrawing his support for the bill. In a letter to senators, Public Citizen opposes the bill. Bartlett Naylor, economist for Public Citizen, released the following statement:

“This bill deserves far more consideration so that any final law will block scams, prevent illicit finance, and expel Trump from his massive crypto grift. It is chilling that, at least on the surface, Chair Scott’s decision follows the direction of a single industry player whose company plowed tens of millions of dollars into political spending, documented in numerous Public Citizen reports, and isn’t getting 100% of what the crypto bros want.”

A new Data for Progress poll, fielded after the U.S. invasion of Venezuela, finds that a majority of voters (57%) view Trump as a pro-war president.

Additionally, voters think the U.S. should be less involved in foreign conflicts and believe that U.S. regime change usually turns out for the worse.

• 62% of voters say the U.S. should prioritize spending on social welfare programs over the military, including 61% of Independents.
• Only 29% think U.S.-backed regime change usually turns out for the better.
• 69% of persuadable voters think the Trump administration is more focused on intervening in Venezuela than on lowering costs.

“Despite Trump’s desperate attempts to be rewarded for his supposed peacemaking, a majority of voters still view him as a pro-war president,” said Ryan O'Donnell, Executive Director of Data for Progress. “Voters are frustrated over not being able to afford groceries and rent. They would much rather see our government focus on bringing costs down at home instead of sending our military abroad to capture oil resources and kidnap foreign leaders.”

A majority of voters also say that the invasion was primarily motivated by the U.S. wanting to increase its control over Venezuelan oil resources. However, only 37% of voters think this should be a higher priority than investing in the development of clean energy like solar and wind in the U.S. (59%).

Read the full poll here.

Ahead of attending the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting in Davos, which begins on 19 January, Amnesty International’s Secretary General, Agnès Callamard, said:

“The ‘spirit of dialogue’, the theme for this year’s meeting in Davos, has been painfully and increasingly absent from international affairs of late. President Trump’s first year back in office has seen the United States withdraw from multilateral bodies, bully other states and relentlessly attack the principles and institutions that underpin the international justice system. At the same time, the likes of Russia and Israel have continued to make a mockery of the Geneva and Genocide Conventions without facing meaningful accountability.

“A few powerful states are unashamedly working to demolish the rules-based order and reshape the world along self-serving lines. Unilateral interventions and corporate interests are taking precedence over long-term strategic partnerships grounded in universal values and collective solutions. This was evident in the Trump administration’s military action in Venezuela and its stated intent to ‘run’ the country, which the president himself admitted was at least partially driven by the interests of US oil corporations. Make no mistake: the only certain consequence of vandalizing international law and multilateral institutions will be extensive suffering and destruction the world over.

“When faced with diplomatic, economic and military bullying and attacks, many states and corporations have opted for appeasement instead of taking a principled and united stand. Humanity needs world leaders, business executives and civil society to collectively resist or even disrupt these destructive trends. It requires denouncing the bullying and the attacks, and strong legal, economic, and diplomatic responses. What should not happen is silence, complicity and inaction. It also demands engaging in a transformative quest for common solutions to the many shared and existential problems we face.

“We need UN Security Council reform to address abuse of veto powers, robust regulation to protect us against harmful new technologies; more inclusive and transparent decision-making on climate solutions; and international treaties on tax and debt to deliver a more equitable, rights-based global economy. But this will only be achievable through cooperation and steadfast will to resist those who seek to strongarm and divide us.”

Agnès Callamard will be attending the World Economic Forum’s Annual Meeting in Davos throughout its duration from 19 to 23 January. She will be available for media interviews on a range of human rights issues, including:

• Israel’s ongoing genocide against the Palestinians in Gaza
• The USA’s military action in Venezuela, Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, and the conflicts in Sudan, DRC and Myanmar
• The importance of revindicating and revitalizing multilateralism
• The need for global tax and debt reform and universal social protection
• The urgent need for a full, fast, fair and funded fossil fuel phase-out
• The need to massively scale up climate finance, including to address loss and damage
• Big Tech, corporate accountability and the risks of deregulation
• How to limit the harmful impact of artificial intelligence on human rights, including the right to a healthy environment

On social media today, Donald Trump threatened to invoke the Insurrection Act, which would allow him to deploy military forces in Minnesota.

Lisa Gilbert, co-president of Public Citizen, issued the following statement in response:

“Invoking the Insurrection Act to deploy military forces against the American people is the exact opposite of what Minneapolis — and the country — needs right now.

“The violence in Minneapolis is being perpetrated by ICE. The solution is to end the ICE surge, not to further militarize the city. Deploying military forces against the city and its citizens would be a doubling down on the threat Americans are facing from their own government.

“Trump should abandon this idea immediately and stop threatening to use the military against the American people.”

A new report by the Copernicus Climate Change Service shows that 2025 was the third hottest year on record, marking the first time that a three-year period has exceeded the 1.5°C limit. Experts warn that based on the current rate of warming, the 1.5°C heating threshold will likely be breached by the end of 2030, or over a decade earlier than predicted.

The report notes that air temperature over global land areas was second warmest, while the Antarctic saw its warmest annual temperature on record. Temperature rise in 2025 was mainly due to “the build-up of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, from continued emissions and reduced uptake of carbon dioxide by natural sinks”–underscoring the urgent need for a fossil fuel phaseout.

Just two weeks into 2026, wildfires ravaged parts of Australia and Argentina, and South Africa, a snowstorm brought disruption in Europe, and floodwaters inundated Indonesia.

Savio Carvalho, 350.org Managing Director for Campaigns and Networks, said:

“Another year in the top three hottest on record, and communities everywhere are feeling it. Extreme weather isn’t rare anymore—it’s driving up food prices, insurance premiums, water shortages, and upending daily life across the globe.

Governments know fossil fuels are the cause of climate breakdown, yet they keep stalling on the transition. We don’t have the luxury of wasting time or taking side paths – we are running out of time. We need to do what’s right now: a global phase out of fossil fuels is urgent. We already have the renewable energy solutions we need–what’s missing is the political will. We can prevent the worst if we act now.”

Fenton Lutunatabua, 350.org Program Manager Pacific & Caribbean, said:

“We cannot afford to let the 1.5 degree target slip away. We literally cannot afford the financial cost of it. In the Pacific, climate disasters are costing us billions of dollars in recovery and rebuilding. A world beyond 1.5 degrees would devastate our resources even more. The cost of this trajectory extends beyond finances, it threatens the very existence of our people. Entire villages in Fiji are being uprooted and relocated, losing connection to traditional lands and fishing grounds. Atoll nations like Tuvalu and the Marshall Islands are grappling with both adaptation and addressing the reality of potential forced migration. To give up on 1.5 degrees is to say that any of these realities are acceptable. Every fraction of a degree we can save is a chance at a livable future for our people. We can only do that by moving beyond fossil fuels as rapidly as possible.”

Meanwhile, Indonesia experienced some of the worst climate-fueled disasters in 2025. More than 1,100 lives were lost in Sumatra after a rare tropical cyclone triggered flash floods, while 18 were killed in Bali’s worst flooding in decades. Bali flood victims, including a 350.org organizer, are suing the Indonesian government for damages, following an International Court of Justice ruling on state accountability for climate harms.

Suriadi Darmoko, 350.org Organizer and plaintiff in Bali climate lawsuit, said:

“Entire communities are still buried in mud. Thousands of families are still grieving and struggling to have their basic needs met. We refuse to be treated as mere climate disaster victims. Our leaders have kept the world hooked on fossil fuels even as they knew decades ago it would lead to such tragedies. The Indonesian government must honour its commitments to limit temperature rise below 1.5 C and take immediate action to phase out fossil fuels. Science and justice is on our side — we’ll make sure that big polluters pay for climate devastation.”

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.

Sorrowfully, we are hereArt/photo by Mr. Fish

This evening, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell released a video statement revealing that Trump’s Department of Justice issued grand jury subpoenas to the Federal Reserve “threatening a criminal indictment” related to his testimony to the Senate Banking Committee over the summer. In the message, Chair Powell said he would refuse to be intimidated and would “stand firm in the face of threats.” In response, Lisa Gilbert, co-president of Public Citizen, issued the following statement:

“Tonight, Jerome Powell called out the Trump administration in a bold defense of the rule of law. The Federal Reserve decisions should not be subject to intimidation and bullying by Trump loyalist prosecutors.The Department of Justice should serve the rule of law, not the vindictive instincts of an authoritarian president. And it should never misuse its criminal enforcement powers to pursue pretextual prosecutions against the president’s political opponents or those who show a modicum of independence.”

It was shocking how quickly the psychopaths in power launched their vicious lies about Renée Good—"violent rioter," "domestic terrorist," "self-defense"—shot in the face for trying to drive away from ICE. It's all bullshit, proven by stunning new video from the killer's own phone. Bafflingly, JD Vance posted it, thinking it proved his smears. How sick is he? Good was "pure sunshine ...kindness radiated out of her," says her wife. "We stopped to support our neighbors. We had whistles. They had guns."

Renée Nicole Macklin Good, a 37-year-old mother of three and widow of a veteran, was dropping off her youngest child, 6, at a Minneapolis school when she encountered an ICE raid at 34th Street and Portland Avenue; it was the second day of a 30-day "surge" of siccing America's Gestapo on the state's Somali-American population. On Instagram, Good described herself as "a poet and writer and wife and mom and shitty guitar strummer from Colorado"; she and her wife Becca had recently moved there, finding what Becca called "a vibrant and welcoming community" with a strong sense of people "looking out for each other."

Horrific, widely viewed footage shows what happened next: The sirens and unmarked cars, masked thugs getting out, Good's car straddling the road, protesters shouting and then, suddenly, screaming as one goon approaches her window, yells "Get out of the fucking car," and fires off three shots through the windshield as Good's car careens wildly off and crashes. Multiple cellphone videos and eyewitness accounts concur: Good was trying to turn around, let one ICE car pass ahead, backed up slightly to turn to the right, pulled forward and around the agent - a few feet away - as he shot her three times in the face.

The horror kept coming. Witnesses said Good slumped in her car onto a blood-soaked air bag for up to 15 minutes with no medical attention as protesters yelled and wept. One man asked agents if he could check her pulse. They said no. "I'm a physician," he pleaded. "I don't care," said the thug, claiming "we have our own medics." "Where the fuck are they?" shrieked a distraught woman. Emergency responders finally arrived without a stretcher; they carried Good away, said one woman, "like a sack of potatoes." Mayor Jacob Frey was livid: "To ICE, get the fuck out of Minneapolis. We do not want you here."

Despite the clear, stark evidence, the fascist propaganda machine shot into high gear. In Texas, ICE Barbie, cosplaying in a ludicrous cowboy hat, proclaimed "an act of domestic terrorism...a woman attacked (ICE) and attempted to run them over." Dead-eyed DHS spokesbot Tricia McLaughlin raved about "a violent rioter” who "weaponized her vehicle, attempting to run over law enforcement officers." Vance called Good "a deranged leftist." In an incendiary post, Trump ripped a "disorderly" woman "obstructing and resisting" who "then violently, willfully, and viciously ran over the ICE officer...It is hard to believe he is alive."

More to the point, it is hard to believe how brazenly, brutishly, remorselessly these motherfuckers can spew their fucking lies in the face of demonstrable, overwhelming reality, demanding we not see what we see or hear what we hear. Eventually, even Trump had to back down, slightly, after both the Washington Post and New York Times committed a rare act of journalism - the Times, to his face - and declared the video entirely contradicted his vile fantasy. Then, on Friday, the right-wing, Minnesota-based Alpha News released 47-second footage of the scene from the phone of ICE agent Jonathan Ross, Renée Good's murderer.

An Iraq War veteran, Ross has worked for ICE since 2015 and is also a firearms instructor and SWAT team member; he was injured last summer when he was dragged by the vehicle of a fleeing suspect. The footage shows Ross arriving and walking around Renée Good's red Honda recording with his phone; he circles back to her window as another agent curses and tries to open her door. Sitting behind the wheel, her dog in the back, Good smilingly tells the agent, "It's fine, dude, I'm not mad at you." Seconds later, shots ring out. Ross stands safely away as her car veers off. Audio catches a man muttering, "Fucking bitch."

Inexplicably, both Fox News and J.D. Vance posted the footage. "Watch this, as hard as it is," Vance wrote. "Many of you have been told (Ross) wasn’t hit by a car, wasn’t being harassed, and murdered an innocent woman." The footage, he said, proves Ross "fired in self-defense” when his "life was endangered” by Good. What the ever-loving fuck. Ross, he adds, "deserves a debt (sic) of gratitude. This is a guy who’s actually done a very important job for the United States of America." AOC speaks for us all: "I understand that Vance believes shooting a young mother of three in the face three times is an acceptable America that he wants to live in, and I do not... I do not believe the American people should be assassinated in the street."

Good was ICE's ninth victim. Her murder - a white woman, not brown guy, it must be noted - has prompted nationwide outrage, and a GoFundMe that aimed to raise $50K is now at over a million. “This is an execution plain and simple,” said journalist Krystal Ball. "If your Trump love or immigrant hatred has you justifying murder, please seek help.” "We're a Third World country now," said Jesse Ventura, citing the history of 1930s Germany. "That's what happens in a dictatorship - in comes the military." And on the "giddy sadism" we see daily, "All of us, citizens and immigrants alike, are being ruled by people who think life is a privilege bestowed by authority, and death is a fair penalty for disobedience."

Still, it goes on. They are still assaulting people, usually brown, sometimes citizens. In a clumsy, nasty encounter in North Carolina, they attacked two U.S. citizens in their car and only gave up when both guys kept filming the abuses. The lesson: "Film them. Always." In Minneapolis, they blithely moved on from murdering Renee Good to terrorize workers at a nearby childcare center and students at a high school, tackling people, handcuffing two staff members and firing teargas at bystanders until the schools were forced to shut down. "They're just animals," said one school official. "I've never seen people behave like this."

Meanwhile, Renée Nicole Good is being mourned, in the words of her mother, as "an amazing human being" and "one of the kindest people I’ve ever known.." On Friday, Renée's wife Becca Good released a moving statement thanking all the people who have reached out to support their family: "This kindness of strangers is the most fitting tribute because if you ever encountered my wife, Renée Nicole Macklin Good, you know that above all else, she was kind. In fact, kindness radiated out of her...Renee lived by an overarching belief: there is kindness in the world and we need to do everything we can to find it where it resides and nurture it where it needs to grow."

She described moving to Minnesota, "like people have done across place and time...to make a better life for ourselves. Here, I had finally found peace and safe harbor. That has been taken from me forever... We were raising our son to believe that no matter where you come from or what you look like, all of us deserve compassion and kindness. Renée lived this belief every day... We thank you for ensuring that Renee’s legacy is one of kindness and love. We honor her memory by living her values: rejecting hate and choosing compassion, turning away from fear and pursuing peace, refusing division and knowing we must come together to build a world where we all come home safe to the people we love."

CODEPINK condemns President Donald Trump’s dangerous threat to “start hitting land” inside Mexico, a sovereign nation, a major U.S. ally, and home to 130 million people.

By declaring, “we are going to start now hitting land… The cartels are running Mexico,” Trump is openly threatening U.S. strikes and special operations on Mexican soil under the same failed “war on drugs” logic that has already devastated Latin America.

For more than 20 years, Washington has sold militarized drug policy as the solution. Plan Colombia, for example, poured billions of U.S. dollars into the Colombian military and police under the promise of cutting cocaine at the source. Yet even the U.S. Government Accountability Office review found that potential cocaine production in Colombia was higher in 2006 than in 2000.

The pattern is always the same: more troops, more weapons, more funding for security forces, and in return, more violence, more displacement, more human rights abuses. And the more weapons the U.S. pumps into the region, the more cartels acquire military-grade firepower of their own, often trafficked or diverted from the very same U.S. weapons pipeline. The only thing that doesn’t disappear is the drug trade.

Mexico’s President Claudia Sheinbaum has categorically rejected U.S. military intervention in Venezuela and Mexico, insisting that Mexico is a “free and sovereign country” and that foreign armies will not be allowed to operate on its territory. She has insisted that cooperation on security is possible, but only without violations of sovereignty: “Cooperation, yes; subordination and intervention, no.”

Trump claims cartels are “killing 250,000 to 300,000 Americans a year” and uses that to justify escalation. But we know that what actually drives the overdose crisis is a U.S. health system built around profit, not care, pharmaceutical companies and distributors that flooded communities with opioids and domestic demand, economic despair, and lack of treatment, not a lack of foreign bombs. The war on drugs has been a political cover to avoid confronting Wall Street pharma, poverty, racist policing, and a deadly health system at home.

We reject Trump’s attempt to dehumanize an entire nation, to normalize violations of the U.N. Charter, which explicitly prohibits the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state, and to turn Latin America, historically a zone of peace, into a battleground for U.S. military experiments, fresh off the operation in Venezuela and open threats toward Cuba and Colombia.

If the U.S. can bomb Mexico under the excuse of “cartels,” then no country in the region is safe.

We stand with the people of Mexico, with President Claudia Sheinbaum’s rejection of intervention, and with all those in the region who say:

• No to U.S. wars. NO TO U.S. intervention
• No to the militarization of Latin America
• Yes to sovereignty, solidarity, and life.

The following is a statement from Nancy Altman, President of Social Security Works, in response to the Social Security Administration’s reported plans for a nationwide system:

“Before Donald Trump was elected in 2024, the number of Social Security beneficiaries was at an all-time high, while staffing to administer our earned Social Security benefits was at a fifty-year low. So how did the Trump administration respond? It forced out thousands of the Social Security Administration’s most experienced employees.

Scrambling to address this self-inflicted wound, the administration has announced plans to cut field offices in half and is rushing out a new way of dealing with workload that is designed to fail. If implemented, it will have catastrophic consequences for Social Security beneficiaries, and the public more generally.

Essentially, it would mean that someone who needs help with their Social Security could get directed to a SSA staffer across the country, instead of at their local field office. For example, someone in Richmond, Virginia seeking to claim survivor benefits after the loss of a loved one might be helped by someone in New Orleans, Louisiana.

Once the claim is initiated, if there is suspicion that you may not be who you say you are, and you are asked to come into an office and prove your identity, must you fly to New Orleans? Must someone who has not worked on your case take it over? Must you start the application process all over again?

This plan is massively inefficient and will create numerous problems, including:

1. Social Security often interacts with state laws. For example, eligibility for Social Security spousal benefits can depend on how a state treats common law marriages. The same with the need to understand worker compensation laws, which differ in every state.
   
   Already overworked SSA staffers can’t realistically become experts in the laws of all 50 states. Is the plan to rely on artificial intelligence rather than a trained civil servant who has been processing claims in their community for decades?
   
2. The law requires the public to provide original documents for certain claims, not just uploaded or xeroxed copies. To change this would require an act of Congress. Moreover, the documents, like green cards or driver’s licenses, are not ones that people can easily mail and be without for even a day. How will that work if the staffer handling the case is across the country?
   
3. If people have difficulties resolving Social Security issues, they may contact their member of Congress for help. Constituent services staffers are trained to deal with the local SSA office, and would have a far harder time helping resolve cases that are being handled across the country.

A nationwide system might have superficial appeal and sound efficient to someone who has to google what Social Security is. The reality is that field offices have been the backbone of our successful Social Security system for almost a century. They are part of our communities.

The reason for this poorly thought-through idea seems to be the self-inflicted problem of an understaffed agency. There’s a much better solution: Reverse last year’s cuts and fully staff our Social Security field offices.”

On behalf of Common Cause and three Wisconsin voters, attorneys from Law Forward, the ACLU’s national Voting Rights Project, and the ACLU of Wisconsin filed a motion Thursday to intervene in the Trump administration’s lawsuit against the Wisconsin Elections Commission (WEC) over its refusal to hand over confidential information about registered state voters.

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) seeks to force WEC to turn over voters’ sensitive personal information, including driver’s licenses and partial Social Security numbers. Law Forward and the ACLU are representing Common Cause and individual voters potentially impacted by the Trump administration’s case.

The DOJ’s request for this data is reportedly in connection with never-before-seen efforts by the Trump administration to construct a national voter database that could be used to disenfranchise eligible voters across the country.

“The Trump administration’s intrusion into state election administration is unprecedented in the history of the United States and entirely unwarranted,” said Doug Poland, Law Forward’s Director of Litigation. “WEC is acting within its authority to withhold this information, which is clearly protected under state law. The data being sought is also protected by federal law that prohibits the creation of a national voter database of the type that the administration appears to be assembling.”

According to news reports, these efforts are being conducted with the involvement of the Department of Homeland Security and individuals who have previously sought to compel states to engage in aggressive purges of registered voters or have abused voter data to mass challenge voters in other states.

“The DOJ has made no secret about its intent to share sensitive information gathered from state voter rolls with agencies like ICE and DHS. If provided this data, the Justice Department could easily manipulate the data to spread disinformation about voting and attempt to baselessly target eligible voters and remove them from the rolls,” said Ryan Cox, legal director at the ACLU of Wisconsin. “We’ve seen this play out in numerous other states, and there is no reason to believe that this administration wouldn’t weaponize Wisconsinites’ private data toward those same ends. We must prevent this federal power grab and protect our democracy from these corrupt partisan stunts.”

Common Cause is asking the federal court to allow it to intervene as a defendant in the case to protect the voting and privacy rights of its members and all Wisconsin voters. Others seeking to intervene as defendants include members of groups at risk of disenfranchisement, including voters who are naturalized citizens or who have a prior felony conviction. These registered voters could have inaccurate or out-of-date information in state and federal data sets.

"Unelected Washington bureaucrats obsessed with spreading election conspiracies have no right to your private data,” said Bianca Shaw, Common Cause’s Wisconsin State Director. “This directive recklessly puts voters’ private data at risk so the Trump administration can score cheap political points. Common Cause will keep fighting to protect voters’ data privacy.”

“The federal government’s request for sensitive voter data jeopardizes not only Wisconsinites’ right to vote, but also their right to privacy, which is protected by state and federal law,” said Megan Keenan, staff attorney with the ACLU’s Voting Rights Project. “USDOJ’s lack of transparency about safeguards, access, and uses of sensitive voter data raises serious concerns about misuse or abuse — including risks that this information could be weaponized to justify aggressive voter purges that wrongfully remove eligible voters from the rolls. We stand with Wisconsin voters and against this unlawful federal overreach.”

The DOJ lawsuit was filed in federal court in Madison on December 18, 2025, one week after the bipartisan WEC voted against releasing this information, citing state law. In addition to filing its complaint, the DOJ also filed a motion asking the federal court to order WEC to turn over the requested voter data. Wisconsin is among the 21 states, as well as the District of Columbia, that the Trump administration has sued to obtain voter data, according to the Brennan Center for Justice. Before the case proceeds, the federal court will likely rule on various motions, including the motions to intervene and, if Common Cause is permitted to intervene, on its motion to dismiss the lawsuit.

Common Cause previously filed a lawsuit in Nebraska to protect state voter data and has joined with the ACLU Voting Rights Project to file motions to intervene as defendants in DOJ lawsuits against Colorado, Georgia, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Washington D.C. to protect voters’ sensitive data.

The latest jobs report shows the United States added 50,000 jobs in December 2025, and prior months revised down by a combined 76,000 jobs. The unemployment rate remains elevated at 4.4% and is near its highest levels of the past four years. The December report caps a year of sluggish job growth, with the fewest number of jobs added outside of a recession since 2003. Hiring slowed sharply over the course of 2025 as Trump’s erratic economic policies froze the labor market.

Groundwork Collaborative’s Chief of Policy and Advocacy Alex Jacquez released the following statement:

“December’s job report confirms that Trump’s reckless trade policies and lifeless economy are costing Americans dearly. Working families face sluggish wage growth, fewer job opportunities, and never-ending price hikes on groceries, household essentials, and utilities. Despite the President’s endless attempts to deflect and distract from the bleak economic reality, workers and job seekers know their budgets feel tighter than ever thanks to Trump’s disastrous economic mismanagement.”

Job growth in 2025 fell far behind last year’s pace. Total job growth in 2025 was just 584,000, compared to 2 million jobs added in 2024 — a 71% slowdown.

Job gains remain narrowly concentrated in a small number of sectors. In December, job gains were concentrated in education and health services. Retail trade lost 25,000 jobs this holiday season, as budgets continue to be squeezed. The U.S. is shedding blue-collar jobs for the first time since the pandemic, with roughly 60,000 job losses in manufacturing, transportation and warehousing, and mining in 2025 while construction jobs stall out.

Long-term unemployment remains elevated. The number of people unemployed for six months or more remains at 1.9 million, increasing by roughly 400,000 compared to the year before. This points to rising financial strain for job seekers and growing unease among workers about job stability.

Official payroll statistics may overstate the number of jobs the economy is creating. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell warned in December that headline job gains may be overstated by as many as 60,000 jobs per month. This is because the Bureau of Labor Statistics has to estimate job gains and losses at new and closing businesses that are difficult to survey directly. The lackluster jobs reports throughout 2025 may paint an overly rosy picture of the labor market.

New hiring has ground to a halt. The latest Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey data show that job openings fell to about 7.1 million in November from nearly 7.5 million in October, while the hiring rate dropped to 3.2 percent, one of the lowest levels since April 2020, when the pandemic-induced recession was underway. According to data from Challenger, Gray & Christmas, U.S. employers sharply pulled back on hiring plans in 2025. Announced hires fell to about 508,000, down 34 percent from nearly 770,000 in 2024, the lowest annual total since 2010, signaling much weaker employer confidence in expanding their workforce.

President Trump is expected to meet with oil industry executives today to discuss their cooperation with his plans to take over Venezuela’s oil industry. Representatives from Chevron, Exxon, ConocoPhillips, and Continental Resources are expected to attend.

Chevron is the last remaining U.S. oil company in Venezuela, and widely seen as best positioned to profit from U.S. aggression in the country. Exxon and ConocoPhillips left the country after former Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez’s renegotiation of their contracts in 2007. If a U.S.-friendly government were installed in Venezuela, it is more likely that their claims would be paid. Continental Resources is run by major Trump ally Harold Hamm, and is one of the few oil companies to have publicly expressed interest in investing in Venezuela since Trump’s strikes.

Oil Change International U.S. program manager Allie Rosenbluth said:

“American fossil fuel companies who’ve bought access to the Trump administration stand to benefit most from Trump’s illegal acts of aggression in Venezuela. Today’s meeting is meant to ensure the future of Venezuela is being shaped in a way that maximizes Big Oil profits and Trump’s power.

“Meanwhile, the Venezuelan people, U.S. taxpayers, and our climate are being set up to pay the price. At least 75 people in Venezuela have already been killed by the Trump administration’s strikes. Many others stand to be harmed by the chaos created by Trump’s fossil-fueled imperialism.

“U.S taxpayers are already footing the bill for Trump’s attacks on Venezuela, as well as for $35 billion worth of giveaways to the fossil fuel industry each year. If U.S. government agencies are pulled in to provide guarantees and financing for U.S. companies to continue oil production in Venezuela, U.S. taxpayers will be forced to pay even more, even as this administration refuses to fund healthcare, housing, and other necessities for working people.

“Our climate can’t afford any new oil and gas development, let alone on the scale Trump envisions for Venezuela, and our world can’t afford new wars. Existing oil and gas reserves are enough to push us past 1.5 degrees of warming, putting communities across the world in danger from climate-fueled hurricanes, fires, and droughts.

“Trump’s aggression in Venezuela is leading us to a hotter, more polluted, and more dangerous world – all to enrich himself and his fossil-fuel donors. Today’s meeting is proof of that. To protect our communities from climate disasters and more wars for oil, we need to reject extractive energy models and build democratic systems that prioritize community health and safety.”