In a victory for the fossil fuel industry, a set of Obama-era rules that required the federal government to regulate the emissions of six greenhouse gases is being reversed by the Trump administration. The changes would undo the legal basis of the fight against global warming, as well as remove industrial reporting obligations and roll back emissions standards for cars and trucks. Environmental engineer Gretchen Goldman helped author those emission standards while working for the Department of Transportation under the Biden administration. Now as the president of the Union of Concerned Scientists, she says their repeal will not only increase what drivers pay at the pump but also set U.S. innovation back on the world stage. “We’re really seeing the abdication of U.S. leadership on climate, and that has huge implications, both for our immediate ability to reduce heat-trapping emissions globally. . .but also in terms of our standing and contribution in the world.”
Transcript
This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
AMYGOODMAN: This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org. I’m Amy Goodman.
We turn now to the Trump administration’s sweeping rollback of climate change policy. On Thursday, the Environmental Protection Agency plans to overturn its own conclusion that greenhouse gases endanger public health and cause global warming. Known as the endangerment finding, the Obama-era rules from 2009 required the federal government to regulate the emissions of six gases, including carbon monoxide and methane, which are released from the burning of oil, gas and coal. The Trump administration’s reversal of this decision would undo the legal basis of the fight against global warming and remove emissions standards for cars and trucks and reporting on obligations for power plants and industries. The EPA’s draft version the new rule says the endangerment finding overstated the risk of heat waves and underplayed the benefits of increased carbon pollution.
In a post on X on Tuesday, the EPA Secretary Lee Zeldin wrote, quote, “This week, we make history. Getting ready to join President Trump to announce the single largest act of deregulation in the history of the USA,” unquote.
For more, we go to Washington, D.C., where we’re joined by Gretchen Goldman, president and CEO of the Union of Concerned Scientists, also an environmental engineer, formerly worked on environmental policy in the Biden White House and at the Department of Transportation.
Gretchen, thanks so much for being with us. Talk about the significance of what’s happening now.
GRETCHENGOLDMAN: It’s quite significant, and it was quite devastating to see, even though we expected that this was coming. The impacts of this action will be vast, both in terms of our immediate ability to protect people from the harms of climate change, economic harms, health harms, and also in terms of our ability to meet U.S. climate goals, to meet global climate goals.
And this is all happening with time that we don’t have. We know we need to swiftly and dramatically reduce heat-trapping gas emissions now, as year after year we see devastating harm from climate-driven extreme weather events. And this is now something we really need to take action on, and so it’s quite devastating to see this week.
AMYGOODMAN: The Trump administration initially attempted to undermine the science behind the endangerment finding. And again, for people to understand, explain exactly what that is and what that report was, based at the Department of Energy.
GRETCHENGOLDMAN: As part of their broader attacks on climate science and climate action, the Trump administration secretly convened a group of climate contrarians under the Department of Energy to produce a report that reiterated many of the long-debunked climate denial talking points and tried to pass it off as a science-based report. We won in court, the Union of Concerned Scientists and the Environmental Defense Fund together. We won, and the administration disbanded that group of climate contrarians and have had to turn over more than 100,000 pages of documents related to that. We’re seeing that they are being slowed down by these efforts and our ability to push back.
AMYGOODMAN: Can you talk about President Trump’s personal connections to fossil fuel executives and how exactly that is affecting what is expected to be announced on Thursday, again, what many are calling the single — including Zeldin, the single biggest attack in U.S. history on federal authority to tackle the climate crisis? He calls it the single largest deregulation act in U.S. history.
GRETCHENGOLDMAN: This is their holy grail. They’ve been focused on this for a long time, because the reality of climate change and its impacts are very inconvenient if you’re someone who wants to give handouts to the fossil fuel industry and wants to ensure that these industries can continue polluting communities across the country. And so, we’re seeing them really take steps to give handouts to connections to the fossil fuel industry and others. And that’s harming communities, especially Black and Brown communities, where we know already face disproportionate impacts and harms from toxic air pollution.
AMYGOODMAN: This comes a month after President Trump pulled the U.S. out of the UNFCCC — right? — the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. Talk about the significance of these two acts together.
GRETCHENGOLDMAN: We’re really seeing the abdication of U.S. leadership on climate, and that has huge implications, both for our immediate ability to reduce heat-trapping emissions globally, as we know is desperately needed, but also in terms of our standing and contribution in the world. The U.S. has long exhibited climate leadership in terms of innovation, in terms of reduction in emissions and in terms of providing that urgency around what we need to do to take action on climate change. And this, unfortunately, is going to set us back a long time in terms of that diplomacy, those international relationships and the U.S.’s ability to help lead the world in taking action on climate change.
AMYGOODMAN: Karoline Leavitt, the White House press spokesperson, emphasized auto standards being an area where regulation will be rolled back. You used to work, Gretchen Goldman, at the Department of Transportation. Can you talk about emissions standards and what’s been achieved by these standards, and the incredible effect of a rollback?
GRETCHENGOLDMAN: I was at the Department of Transportation working on climate and transportation issues, and so this is very devastating to me personally, as well. Under the previous administration, we issued the strongest standards to reduce dependence of cars and trucks on fossil fuel, and this was saving people money at the pump. It was helping us with climate emissions reductions, and it was reducing toxic air pollution in communities. It was one of the strongest climate actions that this nation has taken. But now, tomorrow, it’s expected to be announced that they’re repealing those standards, and that’s going to set us back. It’s going to cost consumers more money, and it’s really going to stifle innovation and our ability to meet the moment and reduce climate emissions everywhere.
AMYGOODMAN: Well, I want to thank you very much for being with us, Gretchen Goldman, president and CEO of the Union of Concerned Scientists, speaking to us from Washington, D.C.
On Monday, February 23rd, once again, Democracy Now! will be celebrating our 30th anniversary at the historic Riverside Church here in New York City. Guests will include Angela Davis and Naomi Klein; Maria Ressa, the journalist who won the Nobel Peace Prize; Michael Stipe, the singer, the songwriter, the activist; the jazz legend Wynton Marsalis; the Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Mosab Abu Toha; V., the renowned playwright; Hurray for the Riff Raff; and so many more. Go to democracynow.org for details and to get tickets. The seats are filling up fast.
The original content of this program is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License. Please attribute legal copies of this work to democracynow.org. Some of the work(s) that this program incorporates, however, may be separately licensed. For further information or additional permissions, contact us.
From Al Jazeera: Trump Climate Rollback
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Join us on Wings of Change. We still have much work to continue to do as many activists and organizations address current threats to our democracy and unjust actions against people of color and activists and make plans for the upcoming years. Wings of Change is pleased and excited to be a part of that work through education, information, and inspiration. Here in Minnesota we are particularly targeted by the Trump regime with ICE immigrant law enforcement illegally arresting and deporting our neighbors who are mostly people of color.
“We don’t have to engage in grand, heroic actions
to participate in the process of change. Small acts, when multiplied by millions of people,
can transform the world.” — Howard Zinn
“The New World Order is a newly established set of arrangements governing relations between the powerful countries of the world.” (Dictionary)
“The New World Order is a term often used in conspiracy theories which speculate about a secretly emerging totalitarian world government.” (Wikipedia)
Wings of Change is entirely reader supported.
Wings invites you to subscribe. Join us on Wings of Change
In this critical time hearing voices of truth is all the more important although censorship and attacks on truth-tellers are common. Support WingsofChange.me as we bring you important articles and journalism beyond the mainstream corporate media on the Wings of Change website and Rise Up Times on social media.
Join us on Wings of Change. We still have much work to continue to do as many activists and organizations address current threats to our democracy and unjust actions against people of color and activists and make plans for the upcoming years. Wings of Change is pleased and excited to be a part of that work through education, information, and inspiration. Here in Minnesota we are particularly targeted by the Trump regime with ICE immigrant law enforcement illegally arresting and deporting our neighbors who are mostly people of color.
“We don’t have to engage in grand, heroic actions
to participate in the process of change. Small acts, when multiplied by millions of people,
can transform the world.” — Howard Zinn
An authoritarian president consolidates executive power by weakening democratic checks and balances, often suppressing opposition, attacking independent media, and using state institutions for personal or political agendas. Such leaders prioritize centralized control, frequently challenging constitutional norms and, in competitive systems, eroding democratic processes from within. (Google AI)
Editor’s Note: These videos are from last year, but explain how the Trump administration has set about creating a database with centralized detailed information on all Americans so they can control it. The history of the idea of total control by some proponents, including some Congressional members, goes back to Trump’s first presidency, and even further, as Greenwald discusses.
Databases regarding immigration already exist and are being used. They don’t even hide their attempts to centralize data anymore by hiding behind slippery words. In Minnesota they have said they will remove all the ICE Gestapo in Minnesota if Gov. Walz and state officials turn over the whole state’s voter rolls, Trump might be calling it “making a deal” but I call it extortion.* Gov. Walz refused of course. So although as a panacea they have removed 700 ICE enforcers from Minnesota, we still have a minimum of 2000 in the state.
It’s similar to extortion of the colleges and universities by threatening to withdraw federal funds unless their administrations ordered attacks on and punished students who were protesting the genocide in Palestine.
Using threats, intimidation, or coercion (including violence, property damage, or business harm) to force someone to give money, property, or perform an act. (Google AI)
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In this critical time hearing voices of truth is all the more important although censorship and attacks on truth-tellers are common. Support WingsofChange.me as we bring you important articles and journalism beyond the mainstream corporate media on the Wings of Change website and Rise Up Times on social media.
Join us on Wings of Change. We still have much work to continue to do as many activists and organizations address current threats to our democracy and unjust actions against people of color and activists and make plans for the upcoming years. Wings of Change is pleased and excited to be a part of that work through education, information, and inspiration. Here in Minnesota we are particularly targeted by the Trump regime with ICE immigrant law enforcement illegally arresting and deporting our neighbors who are people of color.
“We don’t have to engage in grand, heroic actions
to participate in the process of change. Small acts, when multiplied by millions of people,
can transform the world.” — Howard Zinn
Part of the unveiling that has to happen in our special moral moment is for members of the military to claim their common humanity in spite of the intentional conditioning to kill.
Normalizing Violence Kills Community
By Amy Blumenshine / Original to Wings of Change / February 3, 2026
How did we get to this commonality of high profile and mass shootings in our country? I am among those who opine that our “forever wars” for “full spectrum dominance” play a role. Mass killing is normalized and even saluted. Our most prominent leader encourages making war on American civilians, mostly those who vote against him. Part of the unveiling that has to happen in our special moral moment is for members of the military to claim their common humanity in spite of the intentional conditioning to kill.
Sadly the highest domestic consequence of this conditioning is the high rate of suicides among veterans and active duty. It is telling that too many veterans refuse to connect with VA services because they have such distrust and even hate for their government due to their experiences. (“Bodyguard of Lies” is a documentary exploring official lies that continued the war in Afghanistan.) Many have serious family difficulties. Another lethal consequence are the mass shootings.
Whenever discussing veterans, it’s important to recognize that there are wide varieties of experiences among the 19 million veterans. People respond to the training and trauma differently as well. Some flourish. Yet, one in three have been arrested and jailed at least once, and at last count, more than 181,000 were in US prisons and jails. Imagine how betrayed and angry you’d feel if you risked your well-being, saw comrades hurt, and ended innocent lives based on lies. Many veterans, because of their experiences, have found common cause with those seeking to prevent wars.
We’re currently in yet another news cycle reporting US mass shootings allegedly committed by military veterans (as I noted in my January 2025 Sentinel article.) The alleged destroyer of the LDS members and church in Michigan as well as the alleged boat assailant of the North Carolina crowd had been deployed in Iraq. (Both atrocities were committed within 24 hours of each other.) Some commentators call it “the war comes home.”
The North Carolina suspect has written a book with a title indicating moral injury: Headshot: Betrayal of a Nation. Many military veterans feel that their virtue has been exploited and their character corrupted by what they were sent to do.
Other “senseless violence” mass shooters act like military mimics. Note that the alleged assassin of Speaker of the House Melissa Hortman said he was ‘Going to war,” as well as claiming covert “security” employment in various parts of the world where the US has committed lethal violence.
Former FBI agent and Time Person of the Year Coleen Rowley has been raising these issues for decades—since different decorated vets committed the Oklahoma City bombing, DC serial sniping, and Arizona murder of three nursing professors. She names desensitization as the most significant factor.
In our US society, we are steeped in stories of good killing, not just glorification of US wars fought for noble causes but also covert skull-duggery. Such shooter video games are very popular as are a plethora of movies, many “guided/consulted” by the Pentagon at our expense. Such stories reinforce the myth of regenerative violence—not just that violence brings good but that violence is necessary for individual and societal renewal. In this myth, we can recognize the Western frontier impetus to “kill the savages” to create civilization.
Rowley knows from her career interviewing murderers that nearly all murderers “seek to protect their own psyches with ego defense rationalizations that normalize their actions.”
And indeed, what a president does—like bombing boats and facilities in other countries without the pretext of war—tends to normalize such behavior. Commanding others to kill pointlessly can cause them and their community a lifetime of suffering.
“I can kill you if I consider you an enemy,” puts all of us at risk.
As one Vietnam vet explained to me, “I felt that since I’d been given license to kill by our highest authority, why should I care what the county sheriff wanted.”
In truth, violence erodes trust between neighbors and family members. Human flourishing is related to character and virtue—individually and societally. People with the orientation to promote good tend to be more satisfied with life and happier, report better mental and physical health, and feel more socially connected and purposeful.
The way citizens of Los Angeles rose to challenge the invasion by an outside lethal force has been called a nonviolent truth-force that can expose lies and bring us together. I also look forward to hearing of the humane actions conducted by many of those commanded to LA. We all can connect with that stream of divine love and channel it to others—letting our lights shine which not only drives out darkness but truly serves to regenerate/flourish community.
May our brothers and sisters in the military also hold onto their humanity during this trial – and may we all hold them in our prayers.
Amy Blumenshine, MSW, MART, PhD, is a Lutheran (ELCA) deacon. She founded the Coming Home Collaborative to address the suffering of military veterans and their families, and has come to focus her scholarship on military moral injury. She co-authored the book Welcome Them Home, Help Them Heal: Pastoral care and ministry with service members returning from war. She wrote a version of this article for her church newsletter shortly after September 27 & 28 when two states suffered mass shootings by veterans. A few months earlier she’d written about the two mass killings intended by veterans in different states at New Year’s time.
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In this critical time hearing voices of truth is all the more important although censorship and attacks on truth-tellers are common. Support WingsofChange.me as we bring you important articles and journalism beyond the mainstream corporate media on the Wings of Change website and Rise Up Times on social media
Join us on Wings of Change. It’s only the beginning as we still have much work to continue to do as many activists and organizations address current threats to our democracy and unjust actions against people of color and activists and make plans for the upcoming years. Wings of Change is pleased and excited to be a part of that work through education, information, and inspiration. Here in Minnesota we are targeted by the Trump regime with ICE immigrant law enforcement particularly illegally arresting and deporting our neighbors who are people of color.
“We don’t have to engage in grand, heroic actions
to participate in the process of change. Small acts, when multiplied by millions of people,
can transform the world.” — Howard Zinn
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Wings of Change is entirely reader supported.
Wings invites you to subscribe. Join us on Wings of Change
In this critical time hearing voices of truth is all the more important although censorship and attacks on truth-tellers are common. Support WingsofChange.me as we bring you important articles and journalism beyond the mainstream corporate media on the Wings of Change website and Rise Up Times on social media
Please join me on Wings of Change. It’s only the beginning as we still have so much work to continue to do as many activists and organizations address current threats to our democracy and unjust actions against people of color and activists and make plans for the upcoming years. Wings of Change is pleased and excited to be a part of that work through education, information, and inspiration.
“We don’t have to engage in grand, heroic actions to participate in the process of change. Small acts, when multiplied by millions of people, can transform the world.” — Howard Zinn
Minneapolis ICE Shooting: Glenn Shares His Thoughts
This is a clip from our show SYSTEM UPDATE, now airing every weeknight at 7pm ET on Rumble. You can watch the full episode for FREE here: https://rumble.com/v743ucq-system-upd…
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Does what I saw make Agent Jonathan Ross, like Derek Chauvin, guilty of murder?
Renee Good is the Next George Floyd
By Susu Jeffrey / Original to Wings of Change / January 10, 2026
And how many more will there be? Is this about a woman murdered by a federalized cop? Is this about national powers versus states’ rights—a judicial Civil War?
There are several videos of the crucial seconds taken from slightly different angles where the view is significantly different. The video that I saw repeatedly on WCCO 4 News, the video with the widest view of the back and drivers’ side of the car showed ICE Agent Jonathan Ross’ right hand pulling out his pistol before Renee Good’s car moved.
Agent Ross was in the background facing toward the front of the car with another agent standing foreground at the drivers’ side window. That placement was the focus of the view. I did not notice Ross’ hand movement at first. At my second viewing I noticed Agent Ross’ right hand unholster his gun. OMG! On my third viewing, yes, I absolutely saw the gun pulled out and then heard shots.
The car slowly curves away from the shooter who may have been brushed lightly by the outside rounded left headlight. He was not hit or knocked down or unbalanced. The car accelerates down the street and bashes into a parked car. Agent Ross runs after the car, not limping. You have to pay to see that video now. He shot Renee Good point blank in the face.
Congress shall
make no law abridging the
freedom of speech or the right of the people peaceably to assemble.
Peaceably may include yelling, cursing, chanting and waving flags but not throwing snowballs or touching. Spitting on someone equals assault. Police training includes crowd control but apparently not enough police control. The problem with hurling verbal insults at poorly trained ICE agents sometimes results in violent responses from them.
Does what I saw make Agent Jonathan Ross, like Derek Chauvin, guilty of murder? Yes, from what I saw with my own eyes, burned into my visual memory. Could the ICE agent have stepped away from the car? Probably since he had time to aim and fire repeatedly. Did Agent Ross think before he shot Renee Good or was he out of control? Since he drew his weapon and fired quickly before the car rolled away, I saw someone who acted without thinking. Does the ubiquitous arming of police promote everyday violence? Duh!
So now Minneapolis will live through another paroxysm of grief, hate, despair, loathing and probably miss any sweet milk of forgiveness via justice since President Trump will undoubtedly pardon murderer Ross. There will be a judicial war between the state and the nation to further shake our pillars of democracy in this 250th birthday year of our experiment in self-governing. We’re on a teeter totter.
The Supreme Court has refused to grant Trump total immunity. Discussion of what this action means and how it stands with the US Constitution and its effect on democracy in a bipartisan ruling.
Something unusual is happening inside Washington — and it’s not coming from the opposition. In this video, we break down the growing internal revolt inside the Republican Party as lawmakers begin pushing back against Donald Trump’s expanding use of power.
Something unusual is happening inside Washington — and it’s not coming from the opposition. In this video, we break down the growing internal revolt inside the Republican Party as lawmakers begin pushing back against Donald Trump’s expanding use of power. From emergency declarations to congressional resistance, this is a behind-the-scenes political showdown that goes far beyond daily headlines.This analysis explores why Republican senators are drawing new lines, how constitutional checks like the War Powers framework are suddenly back in focus, and what this moment reveals about leadership, authority, and accountability in modern American politics. Rather than partisan outrage, this video focuses on process, power, and the long-term consequences for governance.
“In the end there is no democracy without informed citizens, no justice without a language critical of injustice, and no change without a broad-based movement of collective resistance.”
—Henry Giroux
RELATED
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What it is: A time of intense violence and fear, often by a ruling group against its own people.
A “Reign of Terror” is a period of extreme violence and political repression where those in power use fear, mass arrests, and executions to eliminate perceived enemies and enforce control [as] famously seen during the French Revolution when thousands were guillotined for opposing the revolutionary government. It’s characterized by arbitrary trials, paranoia, and the suppression of rights to maintain power and revolutionary ideals.
(Definition GoogleAI)
Unlike the French Revolution when the ruling elite (aristocracy) were guillotined by the revolutionaries, in the US those being oppressed are in opposition to an authoritarian neo-fascist takeover and support immigrant rights and condemn the presence of ICE agents making arrests and putting people in unsafe and often inadequate of even the most basic needs such as clean water. Often they are beaten and abused as well. Many are then deported to their country of origin or sometimes to a country they are not familiar with at all. American citizens are sometimes arrested as well.
The policies that support aggression internationally and backed by hyper-militarism with a goal of world domination characterized by neo-colonialism pursued by the Trump regime are opposed.
Building a Reign of Terror at Home and Abroad
In recent years the hot wars and bombings are conducted by proxies as in Ukraine and some African countries, and in Palestine/Gaza while financially supported by the US. The war against Venezuela is now a hot war with the recent bombing and the kidnapping of President Maduro and his wife. This escalation is of concern worldwide as it signals the intent of Trump and his administration to move into a hot-war mode.
Trump’s reign of terror against people within the United States is not always a literal bloody one. Trump’s assault on the United States continues in several forms.
Bruce Springsteen sums up well the travesties of the Trump administration as millions step forward to save Democracy. MEGA? I think not.
Instead for the Trump regime it means pursuing worldwide hegemony and empire in a new neo-colonialism that robs the resources of other countries and puts money into the coffers of multinational corporations with no conscience and where the only Green revolution acceptable is the US dollar. At the same time the Trump administration is attacking America as Springsteen’s video enumerates its many crimes against humanity and the American people.
Climate Crisis
While other countries worldwide are creating new innovations to reduce the results of human-created climate change by the greedy, the US moves backward into promoting fossil fuel and remains the largest polluter of fossil fuel (CO2) worldwide with its over 1000 military bases. The claim is that the US is second to China in CO2 pollution, but that is only the territorial United States and does not include the worldwide bases.
In a vicious circle the polluting of military bases relates to the mistaken hyper-military buildup of the US that leads to the US government’s domination by oil and gas industry and also the weapons industry. The bombing of Venezuela and the attempt to take it over is all about oil of course. To remind you, Venezula has the largest oil resources in the WORLD. US-based multinational corporations like Chevron, Citco, and more have been lusting after it for years.
In the meantime, in the US energy costs increase and Trump tries to destroy any other energy source, no matter how Green, such as the turbine windmills on the East Coast he has had shut down as part of the reign of terror inside our country, as fossil fuel and CO2 prevail, threatening our planet.
Google AI: DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) in education is facing significant challenges, with numerous state laws banning DEI offices, trainings, and curriculum, alongside federal actions from the U.S. Education Department and Justice Department targeting related programs, leading to college restructuring, funding cuts, and legal battles over free speech and equity initiatives. This wave of anti-DEI efforts aims to curtail efforts supporting marginalized students, sparking debates about educational access, inclusion, and the future of campus diversity initiatives.
Much of the resistance began on college campuses such as Columbia University with students protesting genocide in Palestine/Gaza. In a weaponization of antisemitism these students were punished for their opposition to genocide and their college administrations were told their federal funding would be cut under the auspices of the Trump administration if they did not shut the student protests down. Academic freedom and freedom of speech were debated and questions raised, but most college administrations caved to the Trumpites because losing the federal funding for research and other programs seemed too much. Essentially they were blackmailed. (I thought that was against the law.)
Only Harvard, with a huge endowment, held out. With the court cases going back and forth between Harvard and the Trump administration, on January 5, 2026 a ruling considered favorable to Harvard was issued regarding research expenses. The ruling may prove important for other colleges as well.
Healthcare and Social Security
The reign of terror also includes the planned cutting of Medicare and Medicaid and shutting down of Obama Care. Ridiculously high rates proposed for healthcare hover around us. Serious cuts to social security are also being proposed.
Immigrant Rights and the Creation of ICE
Where is all this money from the cuts going? In great measure to fund ICE and into the pockets of corporations and billionaires, including the president’s family. Meanwhile the news is saying 500,000 immigrants have been detained or deported although the worst crime of many was getting a parking ticket, or maybe it was a headlight out on a car. Modeled after the Nazi Gestapo, ICE so far has operated with impunity, arresting people off the street or even invading schools and other public areas. These arrests often involve unnecessary violence on the part of the ICE agents.
It is the kind of thing happening to immigrants nationwide, these so-called criminals. Some hold green cards, others are US citizens. They clean our office buildings and hotels, work in construction, all kinds of jobs. Some own shops, are small business owners, and in one way or another contribute to the economy.
Are they taking jobs away from US citizens? Probably not, because all those disgruntled workers, many men who support Trump, don’t do those jobs anyway, or if they do their whiteness gives them priviledge. I don’t like to say it, but even with the gains in feminism, women are used to getting short-shrift with lower wages and being discriminared against in jobs although clearly there has been progress with women who are governors, legislators, managers, heads of departments, etc.
Making America Great Again translates into one simple goal: white male supremacy. Not all men are falling for that, of course, but some still just don’t get it. Why suddenly are they no longer supreme no matter what? Between feminism and DEI they feel attacked.
Women’s Rights
Men traditionally have been taught that they are superior to women in brain power and at performing most jobs. Although that is not true as women have proved their equality in many areas again and again although men have ruled the roost. The shadow of this belief still hangs over us. I am old enough that I remember it, suffered from it.
For example, I was talking to a young helper I had and mentioned to her that women could not get charge cards at stores; they had to be in their husband’s or father’s name. She was flabbergasted.
Similarly, women could not dine in certain restaurants such as the Oak Room in Dayton’s Department Store. Until women broke that taboo, too.
Even as I was effected by discrimination, I also benefited from white supremacy. I could always find a job, even if only a job that was part of shuffling women into low-paying clerical-type work.
These may seem like small things in what was a major women’s revolution, but they illustrate what is part of a larger picture.
Once a man about ten years younger complained to me that his girlfriend was going to a meeting at which no men were allowed He was very hurt by that, having no idea of the centuries of that kind of treatment of women as they were also barred from professions such as doctors and lawyers, even managers, and more.
Trump has created a list of 66 organizations he is withdrawing from; 31 are part of the UN, including UN Women. Trump’s disdain for women is well known. If he is unhappy with men he does criticize them and cut them out of his favored advisors, but he attacks women verbally using disparaging and degrading language. He goes after reporters who ask him hard questions about the Epstein files, but other woman as well. For a number of years he has verbally abused Congressional Representative Ilhan Omar. Born in Somalia, she is of course a US citizen. He derides her for her political positions and her origins and religion in racist rants against her.
International Politics
The United States is now the main threat to the sovereignty of Nations. —David Miller
A short satirical poem about international politics, by Susu Jeffrey.
Let’s Be Consistent (a poem)
If Israel gets Palestine
then Russia gets Ukraine
and China gets Tiawan
and the U.S. gets Greenland.
Susu’s poem is not necessarily logical. Not much is now logical internationally, and Trump is anything but consistent. His vision is to go back to the unilateral domination of the world by the US which has been lost. These greedy men, with Trump at the top, want it all. They have a neo-colonial vision. MEGA. Much of the rest of the world is not in agreement. The battle for hegemony goes on, as does the struggle of nations to be sovereign. Trump and Company will not accept that US empire just is not predominant anymore. They think the way to retain their power and control is through a hyper-military, which uses massive amounts of oil/fossil fuel (CO2), and is destroying the planet, that vicious circle.
Trump’s inconsistency whether in foreign or domestic policy is very common. He often says one thing one day and the next day contradicts himself. Or he pardons a drug lord in a US prison while accusing Maduro of drug trafficking and also now attacking the president of Colombia for the same reason. He kept declaring at one time that the targeting of Venezuela was about sending drugs to the United States but immediately after the attack he declares it is all about oil, not drugs. On and on…
The bombing of Venezuela also serves as a distraction from the release of the Epstein files. Whether this timing was planned is unclear, but certainly is at mimimum specious.
Not only are peoples worldwide suffering, the current “ruling elite” and their cronies are attacking us, their own people, to satisfy their greed and their beliefs with their big egos; somehow they think they are superior to others, especially people of color. The evidence is definitely there in the history of the world, including present day ramifications: Genius does not belong to any one race or gender or any one nation. Intelligence does not belong exclusively to any race or gender or nation. Unfortunately, at the same time no race or gender in the history of the world lacks its villains or cruel people who crave and sometimes attain power.
On the Democracy Now! January 6, 2026 program Amy Goodman talks with Wall Street Journal reporter David Uberti in a three-part interview. Evidently in the year since Trump took office he has acquired $4 billion dollars for his family through Crypto. That us what is known, There may be more.
Data Centers
On January 6 Amy continues what is a three-part interview with David Uberti of the Wall Street Journal. The third segment is about Data Centers and AI. These Data Centers are being built across the country.
What are they? Google AI: A data center is a physical facility that houses an organization’s critical IT infrastructure, including servers, storage systems, and networking equipment. Essentially, data centers are the hardware backbone, and AI provides the software intelligence to optimize these facilities, creating a symbiotic, high-demand relationship.
Data Centers are controversial across the country because of their high energy use. Another threat is to water; these centers require water to cool them. From Google AI: “Data centers consume massive amounts of water, primarily for cooling servers, with large facilities using millions of gallons daily, comparable to towns of thousands of people, raising concerns in water-stressed areas.”
There are already at least 61 data centers in Minnesota. What is frightening is that several megacenters are being proposed for Minnesota. “With at least 10 planned, these Big Tech projects could consume as much electricity as every home in Minnesota.”
Some communities have succeeded in banning them or putting restrictions on them. Donald Trump is a great supporter of these AI and Data Centers. He is now talking about creating nuclear fusion to power both. While the technology has not yet been developed, he is setting up investments although a usuable product may be decades away. He has now banned individual states from exercising control over Data Centers in their states with an executive order.
Also of concern is their use of water. From Google AI: “Data centers consume massive amounts of water, primarily for cooling servers, with large facilities using millions of gallons daily, comparable to towns of thousands of people, raising concerns in water-stressed areas.”
Minnesota has a lot of water, more than many states. But that does not mean that water should be squandered. It is important to provide drinking water and water for recreation on the Boundary Waters and the many smaller lakes throughout the state, including in Minneapolis. The Mississippi River also starts in northern Minnesota and flows through Minneapolis/St. Paul. It is still an important route for transportation of goods on barges in addition to recreational uses.
David Uberti is predicting that Data Centers will be an important issue in the 2026 election because of their connection to the economy as they can create jobs and boost economies, particularly in rural areas. The question is at what cost to the environment.
Google AI:
Proposed National Moratorium:Over 230 environmental groups (including Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth) have called on the U.S. Congress to pass a national moratorium on new data center construction.
Hyper-Militarism
One topic I have touched on but not addressed directly is Trump’s fascination with and glorification of militarism as the solution to everything. The Trump regime’s recent attacks on the boats off Venezula supposedly carrying drugs and the recent bombing and capture of President Maduro proves he can pick on small countries that have limited resources to resist. He can be the bully on the playground. He did not contact Congress, who are supposed by US law to be consulted for approval for all war; instead he contacted the oil barons, Congress is rightfully upset with him: another flagrant violation of the US Constitution.
Trump started building the military in his first term and has continued with vengeance in his second. Most recent is the passing of the trillion dollar bill for money for the military. Chris Hedges discusses what this means as he interviews veteran military political commentator William Hartung.
Chris Hedges: The historian Arnold Toynbee cites an unchecked rampant militarism as the key factor in the collapse of a civilization. This militarism disembowels a society. It fosters social breakdown, the rise of authoritarian governments and demagogues. It deforms a society until it is unable to respond to existential crises, in our case the climate crisis and a growing social inequality. The ruling elites, Toynbee warns, abandon the common good and become sycophantic appendages of oligarchs and a military machine that functions as a state within a state. The United States now spends nearly a trillion dollars a year on its military.
Trump’s hyper-militarism fits with the strong-man theory on the road to fascism and is related to creating fear.
FEAR
Building fear is one of the main attributes of neo-fascism. Once that fear is built, people look for a strong leader to “save” them. So Trump, although he is personally weak, has to put forth the strong-man image that Stephen Miller has chosen to glorify through hyper-militarism. He is going to Make America Great Again (MEGA). While Trump’s popularity is at an all-time low in the polls, and the myth of MAGA is fading, the reign of terror continues. And it expands after the DOGE cuts of essential jobs and of funding for essential services like FEMA nationally to the cutting of USAID internationally.
On Democracy Now! January 7, 2026 there are several excellent speakers, one addressing the attack on Venezuela and what that means for Latin American countries, especially Colombia. The next speaker discusses Trump’s threats to take over Greenland and what that means, particularly for NATO as Denmark a member., Greenland is a self-governing autonomous territory within the Kingdom of Denmark. Another speaker represents the Inuit population of Greenland and their call for sovereignty. The final speaker is the author of a new book about the LA fires.
These informative speakers have a common theme: FEAR. Fear of bringing the world to the brink of and into war in their respective areas of expertise. In the case of Venezuela it has already resulted in a bombing, the dealth of at least 80 Venezuelan people and the abduction of a leader of a sovereign nation to get control of their resources, especially their oil. Each speaker made the connections of their particular topic to what that means nationally and internationally and expressed concern and fear of situations escalating or hampered by lack of resources due to the Trump administration cuts of programs such as FEMA for disaster relief.
Also included is a clip of Stephen Miller, one of Trump’s policy drivers, glorifying US military strength and how the rest of the world fears the US because of it. I don’t know what history books he has read. As far as I can see none, or he would know that ultimately the use of force in the history of the world always eventually leads to disaster. In the meantime it leads to the death of many innocent people as it did during both WWI and WWII and many wars that preceeded them and as it did in Vietnam and has in Ukraine and Palestine/Gaza. Somalia is also periodically bombed by the U.S. Yemen is another example.
Our Rogue governent under Trump is a government of death and destruction. It has not only continued policies that also were part of death and destruction under different US presidents, it has escalated them.
The attack on America, the flagrant violations of the US Constitution, has escalated exponentially from the abolishing of important agencies to the rise of ICE raids, especially in targeted cities, and the deportation of essential immigrant workers who are important to keeping the US economy functioning. That is, of course, part of the current reign of terror and the neo-fascism that characterizes the Trump regime.
We are manipulated into being afraid. For many it is the threatened cuts to social security, the cuts to programs that are essential to many Americans, such as Medicare and Medicaid, as SNAP (food to survive), and now child care for low-income families. If not affected by those cuts many working US citizens are seeing a significant rise in the cost of their healthcare, a doubling and tripling of rates.
All of these actions are part of the Trump regime’s reign of terror inside the United States and directed at US citizens. Trump’s propaganda then blames the Democrats, and targets Democratic states; Minnesota is one. California, also targeted, has many more more Electoral College votes than Minnesota, as well as more representatives in Congress. But it does not have Ilhan Omar, Somali-born representative for the 5th District in Congress, who Trump has consistently attacked for years. Now he is including the whole Somali population in Minnesota (most are naturalized citizens), which is the second largest group of Somalians in the world after Somalia itself. Trump has declared war on Minnesota where large populations of Hmong and Hispanics also live, especially in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis/St. Paul.
As I write this:
ICE in Minneapolis has crossed the line. On January 7, 2026: With Trump sending 2000 more ICE agents into Minnesota, in Minneapolis today a woman was shot and murdered by ICE. Although there has been violence by ICE agents before, no outright arbitrary shootings such as this naked travesty have previously occurred ln Minnesota. The woman was shot in the head through her car window as she was trying to trying to move her car out of the way. Her behavior was at no time violent.
The outright murder of Renee Nicole Good could be seen as an attempt to create FEAR in Minneapolitans and other Minnesotans if they continue to protest ICE’s presence. As Gov. Walz says in the related video from MeidasTouch below, do not give in to the hope of Trump and Kristi Noem for violence so they can send in the military.
Instead of Democrats vs, Republicans what is at stake is Democracy as Bruce Springsteen describes.Trump and his cronies ignore the Constitution.
Although the US Constitution may not always be perfect, it is still the law of the land and very much better than a fascist state. And so very much better than the reign of terror the Trump regime has inflicted upon US citizens and the world.
Coming back to Democracy Now!, I recommend viewing or listening to the very informative speakers on the January 7 program on democracy now.org or on YouTube, radio,or as a podcast They are also available individually as videos on YouTube.
Each if us continues what Roger Waters calls ‘steadfast perseverance’ in our own way, as do many around us, to oppose what is happening in the world, in the nation, and closer to home in our own world of Minnesota.
Today (January 10, 2026) I witnessed thousands gather in my neighborhood with NO FEAR even after the murder of Renee Good as we marched down Lake Street in Minneapolis. I drove through the traffic jam that preceeded the march as people gathered. I watched sidewalks full of people walk with determination and in collaboration and solidarity speak out with signs and with their walking bodies on another cold and windy day in Minneapolis.
Actions can speak louder than words. High above them an American flag flew from the Midtown building and as the wind unfurled the flag seemed to say these are my people and I am proud. It was a change from the shame I and others have so often felt when America exercises its neo-colonialism and disregard for so many people of the earth and for our own citizens, while other countries often hate the American flag.
As ICE haunts our streets we stand together in nonviolent protest against a tyrant, a Rogue regime creating a Reign of Terror. As others around the country join in protest of the murder of Renee Good and the invasion of our city and state we also stand with other cities that have been targeted and with our new neighbors who have become part of the fabric of America, We are all immigrants. We took the land from the Native Americans but now stand with them—Standing Rock, the pipelines Line 3 and now Line 5—as they stand with us.
I have always struggled to understand Robert Frost when he said “The land was ours before we were the land’s” from his poem The Gift Outright. But now I understand.
The land was ours before we were the land’s.
She was our land more than a hundred years
Before we were her people. She was ours
In Massachusetts, in Virginia,
But we were England’s, still colonials,
Possessing what we still were unpossessed by,
Possessed by what we now no more possessed.
Something we were withholding made us weak
Until we found out that it was ourselves
We were withholding from our land of living,
And forthwith found salvation in surrender.
Such as we were we gave ourselves outright
(The deed of gift was many deeds of war)
To the land vaguely realizing westward,
But still unstoried, artless, unenhanced,
Such as she was, such as she would become.
Frost recited this poem at John Kennedy’s presidential inauguration. Kennedy asked him to change the word ‘would’ in the last line to ‘will.’
America is still becoming,
Woody Guthrie
This Land is Your Land: Woody Guthrie many years after the American Revolution wrote a new song, what many call a national anthem instread of the Star Spangled Banner’s “bombs bursting in air.” Written during the great depession, it still stands as the land has claimed us.
First Verse
This land is your land, this land is my land From California to the New York island, From the redwood forest to the Gulf Stream waters; This land was made for you and me.
Sixth Verse
As I went walking I saw a sign there, And on the sign it said “No Trespassing.” But on the other side it didn’t say nothing. That side was made for you and me.
Seventh verse
In the shadow of the steeple I saw my people, By the relief office I seen my people; As they stood there hungry, I stood there asking Is this land made for you and me?
Eighth verse
Nobody living can ever stop me, As I go walking that freedom highway; Nobody living can ever make me turn back This land was made for you and me.
Sue Ann
RELATED — One of many media responses to the shooting in Minneapolis with filmed clips from Kristi Noem, from a person living in the area, and from members of Congress in Washington DC, along with a response from Gov. Walz.
I have not discussed the role of the media in this Reign of Terror. It is a very important role and of course touches all else I have written here. Here is an revealing commentary from FAIR about the coverage of many mainstream corporate media responses to the video of the death of Renee Good that is a critique of the effect of much of their coverage that illustrates how they operate. They may not lie, but they often waffle the truth.
It’s the law, it’s your oath, it’s your duty. You can, you must refuse illegal orders.
They say empires last about 250 years so it’s time for the United States of America to retire from assumed global democratic leadership, or re-up.
It is difficult to believe that out of more than 150 U.S. “manned” aircraft not one reported crew member failed to refuse to fly the illegal mission to bomb Venezuela and kidnap its president in January 2026. An unlawful order is one that violates human rights including harming civilians (not to mention the land). The Geneva Convention is a part of every service member’s education. One hundred civilian and military deaths have so far been reported since the U.S. military invasion of Venezuela.
In addition to violating international human rights President Trump’s ordered incursion into Venezuela violates the Constitution because only Congress can declare war. The president failed to inform Congress before sending-in American troops — an impeachable offense. Furthermore he never requested an AUMF, authorization to use military force against a nation not attacking the U.S. The president claimed fentanyl is killing Americans however fentanyl is imported from Mexico in Central America, not from Venezuela in South America.
Perhaps former geography instructor and former vice-presidential candidate, Tim Walz, Governor of Minnesota could have clarified the China-Mexico-fentanyl (not cocoaine) drug connection for Mr. Trump. The president just sent 2,100 federal ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) agents into Minneapolis on “Operation Metro Surge” where one Latin American man was arrested on January 6 and one white neighborhood woman was shot dead on January 7.
Confusion about the legality of war, what drug is what and where and how a drug kills Americans who actually buy, use and are victims of drugs, adds to the muddy responsibility and consequences of officials being ordered to do something illegal, or simply acting illegally because they are poorly trained and pissed off.
It’s the law, it’s your oath, it’s your duty. You can, you must refuse illegal orders.
Six Democratic congressmen and women, all U.S. veterans, released a video in November 2025 to educate military and intelligence officers about illegal airstrike orders on boats in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific seas.
Sen. Mark Kelly, 61, of Arizona, former Navy pilot and U.S. astronaut, married to former congresswoman Gabby Giffords who was shot in the head in an assassination attempt in 2011, is the most well-known of the six.
Sen. Elissa Slotkin, 50, of Michigan, former CIA analyst and Department of Defense international security expert was inspired to run for a House seat in 2019 when she saw her opponent smiling at a White House celebration over the repeal of the Obama Affordable Care Act. After two terms as a Representative Slotkin won her Senate seat in 2025. She is remembered for her response to Trump’s State of the Union address when she said Ronald Reagan would be “rolling in his grave” over the American president’s cozying up to Putin. Slotkin assesses America’s greatest security threat as the decline of the middle class.
Two Pennsylvania House members and military veterans spoke on the Refuse Illegal Orders video. President Trump called all six speakers traitors who should be charged with sedition, punishable by death and hanged.
Chrissy Houlahan, 59, represents part of the Philadelphia area. She is an engineer and former Air Force officer who grew up as a Navy brat and was first elected to Congress in 2019. Houlahan, on the Armed Services and Defense Intelligence committees, lobbies for better military technology, trans military rights and same sex marriage in addition to single payer healthcare and negotiated drug prices. She opposed President Biden’s troop withdrawal in Syria, is concerned about Netanyahu’s war in Palestine and wanted to give fighter jets to Ukraine.
Chris Deluzio, 42, from Pittsburgh, went to the U.S. Naval Academy and Georgetown Law. He served in the Iraq War and is in his second House term. Deluzio is a member of the Labor and Progressive caucuses, focusing on suppression of voters’ rights, labor union rights and veterans affairs.
Maggie Goodlander, 40, of New Hampshire, is a first term congresswoman serving on the Armed Services Committee. With a law degree from Yale she worked in Naval intelligence on terrorism for over a decade and advised the House Judiciary Committee during the first Trump impeachment. She leads the No Unauthorized War with Venezuela move to prohibit any federal funds for military force unless Congress passes an AUMF. In addition to working on congressional war powers she is active in abortion rights since experiencing a horrible natural stillbirth in a hotel bathtub while awaiting a medical procedure. Goodlander, from a prominent political family, is married to Jake Sulllivan who was President Biden’s National Security Advisor.
Jason Crow, 46, is in his third term representing the eastern Denver, Colorado area. He was an Army ranger working in counter insurgency with three tours in Iraq and Afghanistan earning a bronze star. After military service he went into law and politics. Crow is on the House Foreign Affairs and Intelligence committees. He has been criticized for accepting campaign donations from a company that does business with Israeli Defense Forces but lately called for pressure on Netanyahu over humanitarian violations in Gaza. Crow urged President Biden to send fighter jets to Ukraine noting that “Russia is not our friend” and we have 60,000 American troops in harm’s way in Europe. He sees Ukraine as an American security issue rather than a political issue.
So it’s a birthday year in the U.S. with affordability the top domestic concern but Venezuela and whether to buy or conquer Greenland on the president’s menu. Sounds like the two parties are not listening to each other.
Susu Jeffrey is a poet and political activist living in Minneapolis. Her father, Harry Jeffrey (R-Ohio), was co-author of the “G.I. Bill of Rights” in the House of Representatives in 1944.
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Editor’s Note: These videos are from last year, but explain how the Trump administration has set about creating a database with centralized detailed information on all Americans so they can control it. The history of the idea of total control by some proponents, including some Congressional members, goes back to Trump’s first presidency, and even further, as Greenwald discusses.
Trump started building the military in his first term and has continued with vengeance in his second. Most recent is the passing of the trillion dollar bill for money for the military. Chris Hedges discusses what this means as he interviews veteran military political commentator William Hartung.
ICE in Minneapolis has crossed the line. On January 7, 2026: With Trump sending 2000 more ICE agents into Minnesota, in Minneapolis today 
As ICE haunts our streets we stand together in nonviolent protest against a tyrant, a Rogue regime creating a Reign of Terror. As others around the country join in protest of the murder of Renee Good and the invasion of our city and state we also stand with other cities that have been targeted and with our new neighbors who have become part of the fabric of America, We are all immigrants. We took the land from the Native Americans but now stand with them—Standing Rock, the pipelines Line 3 and now Line 5—as they stand with us.
