Trump's ICE Goons Detained a 5-Year-Old.  Then JD Vance Made It Worse. … In an administration that sometimes seems to lack a well-defined institutional role for JD Vance, he appears to be taking on a new function: Putting a softer, more reasonable face on Stephen Miller's authoritarian police state.

Trump leaves NATO allies “dumbfounded” and “disgusted” with remarks dismissing sacrifices in Afghanistan  —  Add CBS News on Google  —  London — European military veterans, families of the fallen, and politicians have voiced outrage after President Trump claimed the U.S. had “never needed” …

Minnesotans strike to protest ICE surge in state: ‘No work, no school, no shopping’  —  Organizers demand ICE leave state and agency be investigated for constitutional violations  —  A “no work, no school, no shopping” blackout day of protest was kicked off by community leaders …

Trump Owned Davos … European leaders worked themselves up into full-blown hysteria before President Trump spoke to the World Economic Forum this week with wild claims that Trump planned a U.S. invasion of Greenland that would destroy the NATO alliance and the rules-based international order.

D.H.S. Cited Foreign Students' Writings and Protests Before Their Arrests  —  Documents unsealed by a federal judge on Thursday include dossiers that investigators prepared on pro-Palestinian student activists before they were targeted for deportation.  —  Secretary of State Marco Rubio …

Iran's top prosecutor denies Trump's claim 800 prisoners were spared execution  —  Iran's top prosecutor on Friday called U.S. President Donald Trump's repeated claims that he halted the hangings of 800 detained protesters there “completely false.”  Meanwhile, the overall death toll …

Minnesota judges continue to reject arrest warrants in ICE protests  —  Sources say federal agents aren't providing evidence that protestors are committing the crimes of which they're accused.  —  Federal judges in Minnesota have several times in recent weeks rejected arrest warrants …

Patel ousts senior FBI agents linked to Trump probes, say sources  —  As many as six agents in Miami were forced out over their connection to the FBI search of Mar-a-Lago.  Special agents in charge in Atlanta and New Orleans were removed, as well as the acting assistant director in charge of the New York field office.

Hundreds of clergy descend on Minneapolis and go on lookout for ICE  —  MINNEAPOLIS (RNS) — Around 200 faith leaders fanned out across the city on Thursday (Jan. 22) to observe and document the actions of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, with some clergy confronting Department …

Rejecting Decades of Science, Vaccine Panel Chair Says Polio and Other Shots Should Be Optional  —  Dr. Kirk Milhoan, a pediatric cardiologist who leads the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, said a person's right to refuse a vaccine outweighed concerns about illness or death from infectious diseases.

Trump 0, Europe 1  —  Ignorance and contempt lose a round  —  As I wrote yesterday, Donald Trump and his team clearly went to Davos determined to demean and insult their hosts.  It was, one might say, a novel approach to diplomacy: “You're pathetic, your societies and economies are falling apart, now give us Greenland.”

The consent of the governed has been withdrawn  —  The Friday edition of Strength In Numbers is free to all readers.  If you'd like to support data-driven political journalism and get deep-dive analysis every Tuesday, become a paying subscriber today.  Your support also helps fund interactive data projects, like this one.

The Trump administration admits even more ways DOGE accessed sensitive personal data  —  For much of the last year, staffers who were initially part of the Department of Government Efficiency effort improperly accessed and shared sensitive personal data on millions of Americans.

What if we just stopped paying taxes?  —  In solidarity with the anti-ICE general strike in Minnesota, I am donating all proceeds from today's newsletter to People over Papers, the Midway-Hamline Diaper Bank, and Every Meal.  If you're not already a paid subscriber but would like to do so and support …

White House Posts Altered Photo Showing Arrested Minnesota Protester Crying  —  Got a Tip?  The Times offers several ways to send important information confidentially ›  —  Face to Face With History's Most Dangerous Painter  —  Jacques-Louis David, artist and politician of the French Revolution …

The People vs. ICE … For limited durations, in isolated contexts, it's a party.  On a Thursday morning the number of protesters outside the brutalist building from which ICE conducts its menace in Minneapolis swells from 25 to at least 100 by early afternoon.  Spirits are high.

Breaking the Fourth Amendment  —  Last night, we learned from a report in the Associated Press that ICE, contrary to longstanding Fourth Amendment jurisprudence, is taking the position that it can enter people's homes without a judicial warrant.  Instead, they believe that an administrative warrant suffices.

First Draft: Elder Abuse of Power  —  Donald Trump decays before our very eyes, Jared Kushner unveils his plan for ‘New Gaza,’ and Democrats vote to fund the president's junta of 4Chan fascists. … Good morning!  Peter here, back in your inboxes with some good news amid all the horrid headlines.

These Gen-Z Trump voters don't want JD Vance in 2028 … When the 18- to 24-year-olds were asked who else they would like to see as potential candidates in 2028, they named Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Ohio gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, Sen. Tom Cotton …

Defund Science, Distort Culture, Mock Education  —  It's not just about cuts to research.  It's about power.  —  Joan Brugge has worked for nearly 50 years as a cancer scientist, studying the earliest signs that someone might become sick.  Then the Trump administration canceled her lab's funding.

Canadian ex-Olympic snowboarder turned alleged drug kingpin arrested, NBC News reports  —  Ryan Wedding, a Canadian former Olympic snowboarder suspected of becoming a cocaine smuggling kingpin, has been arrested, NBC News reported on Friday, citing two law enforcement officials familiar with the U.S. investigation.

Trump administration weighs naval blockade to halt Cuban oil imports … The Trump administration is weighing new tactics to drive regime change in Cuba, including imposing a total blockade on oil imports to the Caribbean country, three people familiar with the plan said Thursday.

California becomes first state to join WHO disease network after US exit  —  California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) announced just one day after the U.S. officially withdrew from the World Health Organization (WHO) that his state would become the first to join the organization's Global Outbreak Alert …

Fox keeps repeating misleading talking point about ICE arrestees' criminal records  —  Around 7% of ICE arrestees have been convicted of a violent crime, but Fox's coverage falsely suggests the number is much higher  —  RESEARCH CONTRIBUTIONS FROM HARRISON RAY & ISABELLA CORRAO

Project 2025 director Paul Dans: ‘We are in a full-on scrimmage for the future of America First’  —  Behind its trim green shutters and colonial-style facade, the Monocle Restaurant has for decades played host to the Washington DC elite.  Signed pictures of presidents and senators who have lunched there adorn its walls.

1/23/26 ☀️ AM: … The race would start at the Supreme Court and cover a full lap around the National Mall, including the Lincoln Memorial.  “Pit Row” would be by the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool.  Organizers are targeting Aug. 21 for the event.

India's Sales of Treasuries Deepen Pivot Away From Dollar Assets  —  Follow Bloomberg India on WhatsApp for exclusive content and analysis on what billionaires, businesses and markets are doing.  Sign up here.  —  India's holdings of US Treasuries have fallen to a five-year low …

Trump supporters back bid to annex Greenland: ‘Our president is a negotiator’  —  Conservative communities accept president's arguments for why the US needs the Arctic island as genuine  —  Owen Strickland's life as mayor of a town of 568 people between Rocky Mount and Raleigh, North Carolina, is usually small-town politics.

Reviving The Specter Of Bond Vigilantes  —  The scare story is true this time.  Democrats should use it to warn Americans—even to oust Trump—BEFORE he wrecks the country.  But they'd have to stop being so scared.  —  Whoever coined the term TACO (Trump Always Chickens Out) was …

Jane Fonda: Authoritarianism now in ‘every single nook and cranny of our government’  —  Actress and activist Jane Fonda said Wednesday that authoritarianism has spread to “every single nook and cranny of” the federal government while talking about federal immigration enforcement raids.