It began on the first day of his second term, with instructions to the Department of Justice (DOJ) to end the "weaponisation" of prosecutorial power. But with those first strokes of his pen, President Donald Trump instead launched a year of dramatic changes to the Justice Department, the government body responsible for enforcing federal law in the United States. Traditionally, the Department of Justice has cultivated an aura of "prosecutorial independence".
Trump is seeking a physical legacy, a collection of signs and structures that will pay eternal tribute to his greatness. Which is why it is so importantand why it will be so rewardingfor the next Democratic president to tear it all down and smash it to bits. This isn't just about petty revenge, even if there is undoubtedly some of that going on here.
Honestly, you knock on the door of a daycare center and you're like, Let me in, let me in.' What do you expect people to do? Phillip asked. She continued, You know, in some of those cases, there were children in there. What do you want people to do? Open the door and say, come on in.' When they know that the Somali community is under attack, is being threatened every single day. What is going on here?
More than a decade ago, Congress tried to pass SOPA and PIPA-two sweeping bills that would have allowed the government and copyright holders to quickly shut down entire websites based on allegations of piracy. The backlash was massive. Internet users, free speech advocates, and tech companies flooded lawmakers with protests, culminating in an "Internet Blackout" on January 18, 2012. Turns out, Americans don't like government-run internet blacklists. The bills were ultimately shelved.
A Miami federal judge has set a late January trial date for U.S. Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick and three co-defendants accused of stealing $5 million in government relief funds. In an order filed Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Darrin Gayles set a date in his downtown Miami courtroom for the two-week period starting Jan. 26, 2026. He also set a calendar call for Jan. 21.
DOGE supposedly served "higher purpose" Five allies granted anonymity to discuss DOGE's goals told The Guardian that the point of DOGE was to "fundamentally" reform government by eradicating "taboos" around hiring and firing, "expanding the use of untested technologies, and lowering resistance to boundary-pushing start-ups seeking federal contracts." Now, the federal government can operate more like a company, Musk's allies said.
The plan envisions forging bilateral agreements with dozens of countries to receive US health assistance in the wake of the administration's gutting of the US Agency for International Development (USAID). The Trump administration has maintained that US foreign aid policy has been inefficient and wasteful, saying that the bilateral agreements will create more accountability, oversight and eventual self-sufficiency. Experts have questioned the efficacy of the approach and raised alarm over its transactional nature.
The unassuming delta smelt, Trump said rather uncharitably, is an essentially worthless fish which had been lavished with water flows that should instead go to nearby farmers or help fight the devastating wildfires that were raging hundreds of miles south in Los Angeles. On his first day in office, Trump issued an eye-catching executive order titled Putting people over fish that demanded water be diverted from the smelt's habitat and towards needy people.
I want to issue a disclaimer. I'm not playing those clips because any of those men are heroic. I'm playing those clips because all three of them contributed to Donald Trump's victory in an important way, in a way that maybe people like me didn't appreciate, Wallace told her guests. She then singled out Rogan and his past talk about Trump's aging while admitting she likely didn't appreciate the influence he and other podcasters had in the last election.
Good morning. Gusty winds will make today's high of around 36 feel much colder. The strong breezes persist overnight, with snow flurries possible and a low near 26. You can find me on Bluesky, I'm @abeaujon.87 on Signal, and there's a link to my email address below. This roundup is available as a morning email newsletter. Sign up here. Here's some administration news you might have blocked out:
In 2012, while Swalwell was serving on Dublin's City Council, he knocked off 40-year incumbent Congressman Pete Stark for an Alameda County seat in the House of Representatives. Swalwell entered Congress contemporaneously with Hakeem Jeffries, and both ascended House leadership. Swalwell is often interviewed in the media, was a Trump impeachment manager and is often attacked by Donald Trump. I had hoped that Swalwell would stay in Congress.
A viral video alleging fraud at several Minnesota daycare centers has triggered intensified federal and state scrutiny of how public money is spent. At the same time, officials stress that the claims remain unproven and under active investigation. The clash between online allegations and official audits has put Governor Tim Walz's administration and the state's oversight systems under a national spotlight.
The suit, filed in circuit court earlier this month, claims that Multnomah County is unlawfully agreeing to hold individuals detained by the U.S. Marshals Service for violations of federal immigration law even after they have posted bail or a judge has ordered their release. In one case, the organizations filing the suit allege, Multnomah County held a man for three days for immigration-related reasons after a judge ordered his release.
It seems possible that what will ultimately emerge is a clarified sense of principles and a deeper commitment to them (which is why part of the conflict is over American history itself). On one hand, there are the heads of the federal government and their spokespeople, whose lies are part of their disdain for the electorate and the rule of law.
The Republican chair of the Minnesota Fraud Committee, state representative Kristin Robbins, accused Governor Tim Walz of ignoring her repeated warnings about widespread fraud in the state's taxpayer-funded daycare system. Robbins, a declared GOP candidate for governor seeking to challenge Walz next year, says she alerted his administration last year to serious concerns that some daycare providers were siphoning off public funds despite extensive compliance violations. According to Robbins, those warnings were met with inaction.
But Jeanine Pirro did. She want on social media and repeated the apparent miscitation of Cole's own words I laid out here, treating a comment made in the present tense this month - "I really don't like either party at this point" - as if it were a comment about his mindset on January 5, 2021.
The Democratic National Committee's decision to block the release of its own autopsy report on the 2024 election is stunning but not surprising. Averse to unpleasant candor, the Democrats' governing body functions more like a PR firm than a political organization devoted to grassroots capacities for winning elections. The party's leaders pose as immune from critique, even if they have led the party to disaster.
2025 was a tumultuous year that tested our resolve from federal funding cuts to local road safety and climate resilience projects, a lengthy government shutdown that caused federal workers to miss paychecks and suspended nutrition assistance programs and the loss of subsidies for health insurance premiums for those who buy their insurance through the Affordable Care Act marketplace. Marilyn Ezzy Ashcraft is the mayor of Alameda.
The great sports sociologist Dr. Harry Edwards has described athletes as "the canary in the coal mine," meaning that the politics and struggles in sports prefigure what will come elsewhere in society. Think of Jackie Robinson integrating baseball nearly a decade before the Montgomery bus boycotts or Billie Jean King signaling the coming of Title IX legislation by standing for women's liberation in a traditionally male and hostile space.
