United States | News & Politics

With federal agents storming the streets of American communities, there's no single right way to approach this dangerous moment. But there are steps you can take to stay safe—and have an impact.

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I skipped the steps of the application process that would have clued the agency in on my lack of fitness for the position. I made no effort to hide my public loathing of the agency, what it stands for, and the administration that runs it. And they offered me the job anyway.

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cross-posted from: https://ibbit.at/post/149963

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ca/post/58534782

The purge began late Friday night, four days after Donald Trump returned to the White House. Seventeen inspectors general—internal watchdogs embedded throughout the federal government—received emails notifying them of their termination. Three weeks later came the Valentine’s Day Massacre: the ousting of tens of thousands of federal employees with little discernible pattern, across agencies and across the country. By April, entire departments—the U.S. Agency for International Development, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau—had been gutted.

Workers the administration couldn’t fire were coerced into leaving on their own. Toxicity became HR policy. Employees received an email with the subject line “Fork in the Road.” It offered eight months’ pay to anyone who resigned, and no assurances of job security to those who stayed. A follow-up email encouraged them “to move from lower productivity jobs in the public sector to higher productivity jobs in the private sector.” At the end of Trump’s first year back in office, roughly 300,000 fewer Americans worked for the government.

*🎁 link

MBFC

Archive

Leaked documents show Border Patrol needs volunteers for Minneapolis surge

https://archive.ph/VCpJJ

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/41540897

Last summer, these 75 Democrats voted with MAGA Republicans to “express gratitude to ICE.” These corporate Democrats then called for greater state and local collaboration with ICE fascists. Is your Democratic member of Congress on this list? If so, I provide a number and a script to help you call them and demand public retraction.

Bill Ackman gave $10,000 to a GoFundMe for ICE killer Jonathon Ross that was started by a man whose account who posted Nazi imagery online.

Archived version: https://archive.is/20260112223239/https://theintercept.com/2026/01/12/ice-gofundme-bill-ackman-jonathan-ross/

The testimony also calls into question whether Ross failed to follow his training during the incident in which he reportedly shot and killed Minnesota citizen Renee Good.

Archived version: https://archive.is/20260112221508/https://www.wired.com/story/fbi-agents-sworn-testimony-contradicts-claims-ices-jonathan-ross-made-under-oath/

cross-posted from: https://hexbear.net/post/7319868

cross-posted from: https://news.abolish.capital/post/19072

As the Trump administration increases the presence of federal agents in U.S. cities, a local group identifying as part of the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense has become more active in Philadelphia.

The group says it is a resurgence of the militant Black power group dating back to the 1960s, and has been trained by some of the original party's surviving members. Several attended an anti-ICE protest Wednesday at Philadelphia City Hall, carrying military-style weapons.

They say they're legally permitted to carry firearms and are showing up as a response to violence from the Trump administration.

The group has been holding regular weekly free food programs in North Philadelphia for several years, according to 39-year-old Paul Birdsong of West Philadelphia, who identifies himself as the Black Panther Party's national chairman.

Birdsong and others attended the Philly protest one day after Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer Jonathan Ross shot and killed 37-year-old Renee Nicole Good in Minneapolis.

"That wouldn't have happened if we were there," Birdsong said. "Not a single person would have gotten touched."

Jane Wiedman of Mt. Airy holds up a sign among the crowd of protesters at City Hall on Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, as they gather for a vigil to rally against the killing of Renee Good, who was shot by an ICE agent in Minneapolis, Minn.... Read moreAllie Ippolito / For The Inquirer

Millions of people have watched videos of the shooting online, sparking national protests. The Trump administration quickly defended the shooter, with J.D. Vance asserting Ross has "absolute immunity" and "was doing his job." Some have rejected Vance's suggestion that Ross couldn't be tried by the state, and Minnesota leaders Friday renewed their calls for state involvement in an investigation of the shooting.

Birdsong said the group wants to see ICE abolished and the Trump administration held accountable.

"You got people that are part of a cabal, that are self serving ... and they prey on the common folks of the United States," Birdsong said.

Philadelphia Black Panther Party for Self-Defense member Skiippy (right) hands soup to Yolanda Gray (center) and Roxanne Hart outside the organization in North Philadelphia on Friday, Jan. 9, 2026. The Philadelphia Black Panther Party for Self-Defense helps supply food and clothes for residents.... Read moreYong Kim / Staff Photographer

A free food program

Birdsong said he was recruited by members of the Black Panther Party in the wake of the 2020 police killing of George Floyd, and he listed several surviving elders of the group as mentors. The Philly chapter has "less than 100" members, he said, though he declined to provide more detail.

On Friday evening, Birdsong and several other Black Panther Party members set upa pop-up food pantry outside Church of the Advocate at the corner of 18th and Diamond Streets in North Philadelphia.

The members laid out bananas, grapes, salad, romaine lettuce, cherry tomatoes, apples, pears, celery, peppers, and mushrooms on folding tables.

They added bread, Tastykakes

immediately popular with passing children

canned food, and hygiene items like shampoo, COVID-19 test kits, and adult undergarments. On another table were children's clothes and a large pot of chicken soup, all near a banner with the Black Panthers logo.

Philadelphia Black Panther Party for Self-Defense member Sharon Fischer (left) hands a bag of food to Daren Robison outside the organization in North Philadelphia on Friday, Jan. 9, 2026. The Philadelphia Black Panther Party for Self-Defense supplies food and clothes for residents.... Read moreYong Kim / Staff Photographer

Birdsong said the money to buy the food comes from members' own paychecks, as well as donations from people in the community.

"It really helps out," said Dawn Henkins, 60, who lives nearby. She said it's especially helpful for older people who are living on a fixed income.

"The brothers can help people

they are here for the people," Henkins said.

The Black Panthers previously held food programs at 33rd and Cecil B. Moore, and at Jefferson Square Park, Birdsong said. More recently, the group was able to move into 2123 N. Gratz St.

a location that Birdsong says once was a headquarters for the original Black Panther Party Philadelphia chapter.

The original Black Panther Party was founded by Bobby Seale and Huey P. Newton in Oakland, California in 1966 and was active nationally until the early 1980s. The group formed to fight against police brutality and quickly evolved to promote other social changes including prison reform and access to education, food, and healthcare, according to the National Museum of African American History and Culture.

The group was soon targeted by the J. Edgar Hoover's FBI, which sought to "discredit, disrupt, and destroy" the Black rights movement, according to UC Berkeley Library. Two Black Panthers in Chicago, Fred Hampton and Mark Clark, were killed in a Chicago police raid that was later revealed to have been coordinated by the FBI.

The Philadelphia chapter was active from 1968 until 1973, according to a University of Washington website that maps U.S. social movements. Prominent local figures from this era include Sultan Ahmad, who went on to hold roles in city government, and Paula Peebles, a social activist who stayed involved in the Black Panthers for much of her life.

The Black Panther Party for Self-Defense headquarters in North Philadelphia on Friday, Jan. 9, 2026.Yong Kim / Staff Photographer

One person who stopped by for soup on Friday, Jerome Hill, 63, said he can distantly remember the days when Episcopalian pastor and social activist Rev. Paul Washington let the Black Panthers hold events at Church of the Advocate.

"They primarily were always community oriented," Hill said. He said he's glad to see the group handing out food, and added that they could serve as role models for younger people in the neighborhood.

While one member of the group served up chicken soup to several boys who stopped by the tables, another member stood at the corner holding an AK-47-style rifle.

"I feel like we're welcome," said one member, also carrying a firearm, who identified himself as Comrade Arch. He said he was a fan of the original group growing up, and he joined a few months ago. "I've always had a revolutionary spirit."

Under a canopy behind the tables, Birdsong moved back his jacket to reveal a modern MP5, a weapon that has its origins in German submachine guns. He also carried two semiautomatic handguns.

It's a controversial posture: Many pro-democracy advocates and experts on civil rights emphasize that nonviolence is essential to successful protest movements.

The law says you can carry a gun in Philadelphia

but only if you have a license to carry firearms, according to Dillon Harris, an attorney who focuses on gun rights.

"Open carry," or carrying a firearm in a way that it can be plainly seen by others, is "generally lawful" in Pennsylvania, except for in prohibited locations such as federal buildings, said Harris.

But Philadelphia is an exception to this rule, Harris said. A state law prohibits carrying firearms in "a first class city" without a license to carry firearms. That statute applies to Philadelphia.

But while many civil rights advocates argue that firearms tend to escalate violent confrontations, rather than prevent them, it's long been part of the Black Panthers' tactics, and Birdsong pushed back against that idea.

"We feel safe," Birdsong said. "No police, no drug dealers doing anything to us here."

Armed members of the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense march down Market Street with a crowd of protesters on Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, to rally against the killing of Renee Good, who was shot by an ICE agent in Minneapolis, Minn.... Read more

Allie Ippolito / For The Inquirer

https://archive.ph/CduMb

Really should be prosecuting ICE agents for treason, not asking for some sort of injunction

The FBI says in a court document that it has found no surveillance or other video of a Border Patrol agent shooting and wounding two people in a pickup truck during an immigration enforcement operation in Portland, Oregon, last week.

Ballot proposes one-time, 5% tax on anyone in state worth more than $1bn and grant a five-year period for payment

Whatever the stated reasons for doing this, we all know what this really is: another effort from the Trump regime to put as much distance between it and accountability.

Insider trading on prediction markets is lucrative. Finding and copying said insider trading, also.

Even accepting the Trump administration’s claim that there is an armed conflict with suspected drug runners, the laws of war bar “perfidy.”

NEW YORK (AP) — Thousands of nurses in three hospital systems in New York City went on strike Monday after negotiations through the weekend failed to yield breakthroughs in their contract disputes.

“Nurses on strike! ... Fair contract now!” they shouted on a picket line outside NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital’s campus in Upper Manhattan. Others picketed at multiple hospitals in the Mount Sinai and Montefiore systems.

About 15,000 nurses are involved in the strike, according to their union, the New York State Nurses Association. The hospitals remained open, hiring droves of temporary nurses to try to fill the labor gap.