Courts and Trump

Peter Baker

History moments

Frank Woody -  One evening in October 1994, John F. Kennedy Jr. entered a small Italian restaurant in southern Manhattan and did something that the owner, Giovanni Russo, said he never forgot. Seeing that all the tables were occupied and that a young waitress, on her first night of work, was overwhelmed and on the verge of tears, John discreetly asked if he could help clear tables until the situation calmed down. Giovanni later told the New York Times that he had tried to politely refuse: “Mr. Kennedy, you are a guest, please have a seat and I’ll find you a table.”

But John smiled, rolled up his sleeves, and replied:

“I worked in a restaurant during law school and I remember how scary the first night can be. Let me help.” For the next forty-five minutes, he cleared tables, refilled water glasses, and made jokes to calm the waitress, Maria Sanchez. When the rush hour ended, he refused the free meal offered by Giovanni and instead left a hundred-dollar tip with a note: “For Maria — you’re doing great, and it gets easier, I promise.” Maria, who later became a restaurant manager, kept that note framed in every establishment where she worked for twenty-five years. In 2004, she told a journalist:

“That evening, Mr. Kennedy taught me that true class isn’t about where you sit, but about who you choose to stand beside when things get tough.”

Polls

InteractivePolls

Gallup Poll: The percentage of Democrats identifying as 'Liberal' or 'Very Liberal' has more than doubled over the last 30 years • 1994: 25% • 2005: 33% • 2025: 59% (New Record High)

Independent, UK -  A significant shift is underway in American politics, with new polling revealing that nearly half of U.S. adults now identify as political independents, rejecting affiliation with either the Democratic or Republican parties.

Nearly 15,000 nurses go on strike at NYC hospitals

NY Times -   Nearly 15,000 nurses went on strike Monday at some of New York City’s top hospitals, setting the stage for what could be one of the biggest labor showdowns in the city’s health care industry in decades.

The union representing the nurses says a strike is necessary to force hospitals to ensure minimum staffing ratios so that nurses aren’t overwhelmed with too many patients. They are also demanding higher wages and more security at hospitals to reduce violent episodes and shootings.

... For weeks, hospital executives had been preparing to keep hospitals running and medical care accessible in the event of a strike. They secured contracts with staffing agencies to provide travel nurses and reserved hotel rooms for them, according to officials at the Greater New York Hospital Association, a trade group.

Some hospitals canceled scheduled surgeries and accelerated discharges during the weekend to reduce patient counts because of the prospect of a strike. The affected hospitals arranged to transfer infants out of their neonatal intensive care units to units elsewhere, according to Elisabeth R. Wynn, an executive vice president at the hospital association.

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The state Department of Health on Saturday instructed hospitals not affected by the strike to be prepared to accept patients from the affected medical centers. The letter makes it clear that hospitals where nurses are on strike are free to transfer patients, even against the patients’ will.

Donald Trump says white men are discriminated against

Indpendent UK -  President Donald Trump said that landmark civil rights protections ushered in during the 1960s have resulted in white people being treated “very badly.”

The president was interviewed by The New York Times last week and was asked whether he believed civil rights protections that began in the 1960s with the passage of the Civil Rights Act “resulted ultimately in the discrimination against white men.”

“Well, I think that a lot of people were very badly treated,” Trump replied. “White people were very badly treated, where they did extremely well and they were not invited to go into a university or a college.”...Trump added the protections “accomplished some very wonderful things, but it also hurt a lot of people,” and claimed that “people that deserve to go to a college or deserve to get a job were unable to get a job.”

Meanwhile. . .

Axios - Miami Beach's Fisher Island (33109) was the priciest U.S. ZIP code in 2025, with a median sale price of $9.5 million, according to a PropertyShark analysis. ...Atherton, California (94027), near San Francisco, where the typical home sold for $8.3 million, came in second after eight straight years at the top. Sagaponack, New York, in the Hamptons (11962), followed at $5.9 million.  In all, California ZIPs made up 61% of the 120 ranked.

McDonald’s plans big menu changes in 2026 including its biggest burger ever

Business leaders affiliated with AI companiess were among those who made big donations to MAGA Inc.

Cuba has rejected Trump’s call for the country’s government to “cut a deal” with the U.S. on oil, responding, “No one dictates what we do.”

ICE

Raw Story - Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers in Minneapolis appeared to threaten the life of a man who claimed he was trying to get home Sunday.

According to WGTC, the agents referenced the lesson that was given to Renee Good when she was shot to death by an ICE officer...

"Sir! This is a warning!" the agent yelled as he punched the man's vehicle window. "Stop f—king following us! You are impeding operations! This is the United States federal government!"

"I live over here," the driver explained. "I got to get to my house."

"This is your warning!" the officer exclaimed.

"I serve the Lord; go to church," the resident replied.

"I will arrest you!" the officer threatened.

"Don't make a bad decision," another agent warned.

"I serve the Lord," the driver repeated. "Not a draft-dodging coward."

"Let these people go to church," the driver added. "Let these people serve the Lord and worship."

"You're not going to like the outcome of this, sir," the first officer said. "I guarantee that... Did you not learn from what just happened [when Renee Good was killed]?"

"Learn what?" the driver asked. "I serve the Lord, not a draft-dodging coward. I can't believe you'd take orders from a draft dodger."

"Make America safe again, brother," one of the officers quipped.

"Always," the driver agreed.

Robert Reich -   ICE is reportedly investing $100 million on what it calls “wartime recruitment” of 10,000 new agents, in addition to the 20,000 already employed. Its recruitment is targeting gun and military enthusiasts, people who listen to right-wing radio, who have gone to Ultimate Fighting Championship fights or shopped for guns and tactical gear, live near military bases, and attend NASCAR races. It’s calling for recruits willing to perform their “sacred duty” and “defend the homeland” by repelling “foreign invaders.”

Meanwhile, Trump has announced that he’ll ask Congress for a $1.5 trillion defense budget for the next fiscal year — a 66 percent increase over the 2026 defense budget Congress just authorized.

There’s coming to be no difference between Trump’s foreign and domestic policies.

Both are based on the same eight maniacal ideas: (1) Might makes right. (2) Law is irrelevant. (3) America is at war with the world’s “radical left,” who are defined chiefly by their opposition to Trump. (4) Fear and force are better weapons in this war than hope and compromise. (5) The U.S. stock market is the best measure of Trump’s success. (6) Personal enrichment by Trump and other officials is justified in pursuit of victory. (7) So are lies, cover-ups, and the illegal use of force. (8) Trump is invincible and omnipotent.

Labor Politics - ICE relies heavily on the private sector to help carry out its Gestapo-like crusade against immigrants and their allies. Without the logistical, financial, and political support of business, its capacity to terrorize our communities would crumble.

Over the past week, activists around the country successfully pushed Avelo Airlines to stop running deportation charter flights, and workers in Minneapolis pushed a local Hilton affiliate to stop renting rooms to ICE agents. But these wins are just a fraction of what could be achieved if the millions of people who are outraged by ICE’s thuggery organize to pressure all companies to stop working with ICE.

Anti-authoritarian scholars and organizers stress that the most important thing for pro-democracy movements to do is to peel away a regime’s “pillars of support.” Even the most despotic of regimes can’t rule without the backing or consent of powerful external institutions. Businesses are society’s most important non-state institutions, and most of the biggest ones in America are collaborating with Trump, making themselves a very steady pillar of support for his rule.

These mega-corporations have immense financial and political power. It may seem like there’s nothing to be done to bring them to heel. But the successes with Avelo Airlines and the Minneapolis Hilton—as well as earlier pressure campaigns like the #Tesla Takedown, the fight to force Disney to rehire Jimmy Kimmel, and the boycott of Target over its Trump-friendly anti-DEI moves—show the immense leverage that consumers and workers have when provided an opportunity. We are not powerless, and there are concrete actions anyone can take to start eroding Trump’s support from big business. More

ICE's real rules

The Contrarian -   State and local law enforcement have every right, indeed, they have the sworn obligation, to investigate an alleged murder under state law. They simply cannot declare, “The feds have made it too hard.”

We already have replete evidence available from bystander accounts, multiple videotapes about ICE’s training, and data collected about ICE practices to warrant a full investigation. Minnesota law enforcement needs to preserve that evidence and then provide a completely transparent report on their findings. Then the feds can try to explain why they are sweeping this under the rug. If they have exculpatory evidence, let them produce it.

NPR -  U.S. representatives have typically been allowed to visit ICE detention facilities unannounced, but Homeland Security now requires elected officials to provide a seven-day notice to enter. 

Over 100,000 Visas Revoked by Trump regime

Newsweek -  The Trump administration has revoked over 100,000 visas in less than a year, Tommy Pigott, the State Department's deputy spokesperson, said in a post on X on Monday.

"That includes revoked visas from thousands of foreign nationals charged or convicted with crimes, including assault, theft, and driving under the influence," he continued.

The number of visas revoked in 2025 is a record and more than double those revoked under President Joe Biden in 2024, according to a report from Fox News.

Greenland

NY Times -   Greenland is warming much faster than the global average, and its expansive ice sheet has been shrinking for decades.

These shifts, driven by climate change, have made the vast island a more appealing acquisition target for the Trump administration.

Controlling Greenland, an idea that was regarded as a punchline among Trump’s own advisers during his first term, is now viewed within the White House as a real strategic objective. Stephen Miller, a Trump aide, asserted on Monday that the U.S. had the right to “take” the territory, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio told lawmakers that President Trump planned to buy it from Denmark.

Greenlanders are not on board. Denmark’s prime minister has warned that military intervention would end the NATO alliance.

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But why focus on the Arctic at all? Climate change is rapidly transforming Greenland, turning it into a geostrategic asset that could be key to future shipping routes and the race for mineral resources.

“Trump talks about climate change as a hoax, but it’s partly climate change that is fueling the growing interest in the region because it’s making it more accessible,” said Sherri Goodman, distinguished fellow at the Atlantic Council and former deputy under secretary of defense under President Bill Clinton. ...

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As Schools Embrace A.I. Tools, Skeptics Raise Concerns

Why Israelis Are Leaving in Record Numbers

America's three economic classes

Axios - The nation is splitting into three distinct economic realities: the Have-Nots (stalling) ... the Haves (coasting) ... and the Have-Lots (rocketing to greater wealth)...

• This isn't just about "inequality." It's about a structural shift where the growing number of hyperwealthy are profiting wildly off the AI revolution — through exclusive access to private deals, massive investment power, governmental connections, and equity stakes "normal" investors can't touch.

This shift, if it holds, will rattle economics, politics and AI throughout 2026 and beyond. We're already seeing it in rising inequality, pessimism about the future and AI opposition.

• It's human nature to judge your personal economics and mood on how you feel, influenced heavily by conscious and subconscious comparisons to others. So it's possible President Trump is right: U.S. growth and stocks soar in 2026. But even then, because the AI-connected hyperwealthy do so much better than everyone else, f.ear and resentment still grow.
• It's also possible the AI bubble pops, and everyone suffers. But the Have-Lots will (mostly) still have lots.

Best and worst states to raise a kid

Health

Axios -  South Carolina's surging measles outbreak has brought cases to North Carolina and Ohio among families who traveled over the holidays to the outbreak area in the northwestern part of the state, AP reported.

It's proof that the hundreds of people in quarantine don't constitute everyone who was exposed, with potentially hundreds more unaware they should be isolating if they're not immune to the virus...

• The South Carolina Department of Public Health issued an alert to health providers about the importance of heightened awareness for measles and recommended measures for the use of masks and rapid isolation.
• The state has ruled out vaccine mandates to control the spread, emphasizing that vaccination is a personal choice.

South Carolina is one of two major outbreaks in the U.S., along with a region on the Utah-Arizona border. Both are outlying areas where vaccination rates were below the 95% threshold public health authorities say is necessary to contain the virus' spread.

• The risk of spillover has increased with holiday travel. North Carolina has logged five new measles cases since late December, and Ohio last week reported three infected individuals, all children from a single household, who traveled to the outbreak epicenter.

What's ahead: With more than 2,100 confirmed cases for 2025 and new cases rising, the U.S. could be on track to lose its measles "elimination status" by the end of January.

More 

• Measles response puts personal choice over orders

Trump suppressing Smithsonian

MS NOW -  After a period of relative quiet, the Trump administration is now bearing down upon the Smithsonian Institution, the steward of some of the nation’s greatest museums and research centers. The administration has given the institution a Tuesday deadline to comply with a “comprehensive internal review” of its museums and exhibits as the administration demands that it align itself with “American ideals.”

In August, the Trump administration sent a letter to the Smithsonian demanding that comprehensive review  in compliance with an executive order entitled, “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History.” That executive order is a radical edict to re-write history and deny, among other things, the existence of racism in America. 

The executive order lays out a clear agenda to purge the institution of its long-held independence from the executive branch.

The executive order accuses the Smithsonian of having come “under the influence of a divisive, race-centered ideology” that has “promoted narratives that portray American and Western values as inherently harmful and oppressive.” It lists as an example an exhibit at the Smithsonian American Art Museum that  explores the idea that “[s]ocieties including the United States have used race to establish and maintain systems of power, privilege, and disenfranchisement.” 

The executive order lays out a clear agenda to purge the institution of its long-held independence from the executive branch: It declares a mission to “restore the Smithsonian Institution to its rightful place as a symbol of inspiration and American greatness” by “seeking to remove improper ideology.” It also prohibits “expenditure on exhibits or programs that degrade shared American values, divide Americans based on race, or promote programs or ideologies inconsistent with federal law and policy.”  MORE

The Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery replaced a photo of Trump and reportedly a caption that accompanied it — erasing mentions of his two impeachments and the Jan. 6 insurrection.

Federal Reserve hit with DOJ criminal subpoenas

NBC News -  Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said that the Justice Department subpoenaed the central bank last week with the threat of a criminal indictment, the latest move in a yearlong pressure campaign from the Trump administration.

Powell said the threatened indictment related to his testimony before the Senate in June about the renovation of Federal Reserve office buildings. The subpoenas were just the latest way for the administration to exert control over the Fed, he added.

"The threat of criminal charges is a consequence of the Federal Reserve setting interest rates based on our best assessment of what will serve the public, rather than following the preferences of the President," the chair said.

Since before the start of his second term, President Donald Trump has demanded lower interest rates and has routinely attacked Powell and the central bank's other top officials, especially amid the affordability crisis. 

In an interview last night with NBC News, Trump denied having any knowledge of the DOJ's investigation.

Iran

Time -  Fears are growing that the number of protesters killed by Iranian security forces now reaches into the thousands. Despite an internet blackout, cell phone footage has emerged of truck-mounted machine guns strafing residential streets, hospitals swamped by shooting victims, and a morgue overwhelmed by hundreds of bodies after only the first night of assaults. 

To account for what it called a “significant” death toll, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps on Sunday raised the specter of ISIS, claiming in a statement that slain protesters were terrorists hired by Israel and the U.S. Two days earlier, a Guard official on state-controlled television had warned that anyone venturing into the street should be prepared to “take a bullet.”

NPR - President Trump says he is not ruling out strikes on Iran despite saying Tehran asked to negotiate with the U.S. Iran has seen significant protests for several weeks in the biggest challenge to the theocratic regime in years. In response, the Iranian government has cracked down hard. Around 500 protesters have been killed, according to the U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency. 

The regime’s knowledge of the U.S.’ capability to damage missile facilities and hit political targets may have led to the Iranians' request for talks with the Trump administration, Nader Habibi, who focuses on Middle East economics, tells NPR’s Jackie Northam. Iran said it would consider U.S. military bases and ships as targets for preemptive strikes if the U.S. looked like it would strike. Currently, Iran’s regime is vulnerable because its 12-day war with Israel last summer resulted in the deaths of many of the government’s senior leadership and weakened its military capabilities.

Trump to send ‘hundreds more’ federal agents to Minneapolis

MS NOW -   Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said Sunday that “hundreds more” federal officers are being sent to Minneapolis following the killing of a 37-year-old Minnesota woman by an ICE agent last week. 

Noem told Fox News that the surge of federal forces are being sent “in order to allow our ICE and Border Patrol individuals working in Minneapolis to do so safely.”

Trump approval by state

Via Spencer Hakimian

America's Second Civil War?

Sam Smith -  Although the media is treating current major events as it does normally, we should at least discuss whether we are in the midst of something we haven't seen since the Civil War. At no other time in our history has our status as a democratric republic been in so much danger. 

We have a convicted crook in the White House who is violating the Consitution and other laws. As during the Civil War, a key  issue is ethnic suppression and even good folk seem to be downplaying the significance of this rise of hatred in our official policy. In addition our president asserts that he gets to determine what is proper including the invasion of other countries. 

As a reporter now in his 70th year of journalism, I feel it is fair to say that I've seen nothing like this before. Not only is the president engaged in evil, he is winning the support of the Supreme Court and enjoying the failure of Congress to do anything about it. 

We have had evil leaders in the past but not since the Civil War have we had so many in our culture willing to accept such uncivility and illegality. If we continue to do so, America - and all it has stood for - will be gone.  We will have lost the Second Civil War. 

High school senor life changes

Word

Misssissippi synagogue burned

Beth Israel Congregation

Mississippi Today - A fire heavily damaged Mississippi’s largest synagogue before dawn Saturday – the same house of worship in northeast Jackson that the Ku Klux Klan bombed in 1967 because the rabbi supported civil rights.

The Jackson Fire Department, the FBI and the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives arrested a suspect Saturday night in the latest blaze after the fire department ruled it arson, according to chief fire investigator Charles Felton. Investigators did not immediately release the name of the suspect or the charges the person could face.

The fire was reported shortly after 3 a.m. at Beth Israel Congregation on Old Canton Road. No congregants were injured

Greenland

Daily Mail, UK -   Donald Trump has ordered his special forces commanders to draw up a plan for the invasion of Greenland - but is being resisted by senior military figures, The Mail on Sunday has learned.

Sources say that the policy 'hawks' around the US President, led by political adviser Stephen Miller, have been so emboldened by the success of the operation to capture Venezuela's leader Nicolas Maduro that they want to move quickly to seize the island before Russia or China makes a move.

British diplomats believe that Trump is also motivated by a desire to distract American voters from the performance of the US economy before the mid-term elections later this year, after which he could lose control of Congress to the Democrats.

Stupid Trump stuff

SlavicFreeSpirit - Trump: "We need to buy Greenland — we don't want Russia as our neighbor!" Thank God so many Americans flunked geography, or they'd remember that Alaska and Russia are already so close they can practically borrow a cup of sugar across the Bering Strait.

Donald Trump - “The fact that they [Denmark] had a boat land there [Greenland] 500 years ago doesn’t mean they own the land. I’m sure we had lots of boats go there also.”

Nobel Peace Prizes can't be transferred

NY Times - Sharing might be caring, but not, apparently, when it comes to the Nobel Peace Prize.

On Friday, the Norwegian Nobel Institute clarified the rules governing the award, writing that the facts were “clear and well established.”

“Once a Nobel Prize is announced, it cannot be revoked, shared or transferred to others,” the institute wrote. “The decision is final and stands for all time.”

The statement was released after María Corina Machado, Venezuela’s opposition leader and the winner of last year’s prize, offered this week to give her Nobel Peace Prize to President Trump, who has long coveted the award.

Trump supports 10 percent credit card cap as banks push back

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Just wondering. . .

Sam Smith - How many supporters of Trump immigration policies are descendents of American Indians? If they are not, shouldn't Trump want them deported?

Largest distributor of print books to public libraries to close

NPR - The imminent closure of Baker & Taylor, the U.S.’ largest distributor of print books to public libraries, has created a sense of urgency for librarians to stock their shelves with the latest releases. For nearly 200 years, the agency has played a significant role in getting new books into the hands of library cardholders. Here’s how libraries are handling the impending change.

Google removes some of its AI summaries after users’ health put at risk

The Guardian -  Google has removed some of its artificial intelligence health summaries after a Guardian investigation found people were being put at risk of harm by false and misleading information.

The company has said its AI Overviews, which use generative AI to provide snapshots of essential information about a topic or question, are “helpful” and “reliable”.

But some of the summaries, which appear at the top of search results, served up inaccurate health information, putting users at risk of harm.

In one case that experts described as “dangerous” and “alarming”, Google provided bogus information about crucial liver function tests that could leave people with serious liver disease wrongly thinking they were healthy.