Source: Wired
by Lily Hay Newman, Maddy Varner, & Matt Burgess
“If federal immigration agents are coming to your area — or have already arrived — you may be frantically making plans to lay low at home, or perhaps grabbing your whistle and lacing up your sneakers to join a neighborhood watch. It’s a terrifying situation for undocumented residents and all American immigrants, and the climate has even become fraught for US citizens too. There are no simple answers for how to protect yourself and others in every scenario, but there are frameworks you can use for weighing your options.” (01/13/26)
“As Canadian leader Mark Carney arrives in China on Wednesday, his hosts see an opportunity to peel the longtime U.S. ally away from their rival, at least a bit. China’s state media is calling on the Canadian government to set a foreign policy path independent of the United States — what it calls ‘strategic autonomy.’ Canada has long been one of America’s closest allies, geographically and otherwise. But Beijing is hoping that President Donald Trump’s economic aggression — and, now, military action — against other countries will erode that longstanding relationship.” (01/13/26)
“After retiring from active service, [General Smedley Butler] was frank about what his role had been. Professing to being a ‘racketeer’ and ‘gangster for capitalism,’ he went on to explain how: ‘I helped make Mexico, especially Tampico, safe for American oil interests in 1914. I helped make Haiti and Cuba a decent place for the National City Boys to collect revenues in. I helped the raping of half a dozen Central American republics for the benefits of Wall Street.’ That was just a selection. With President Donald Trump in power, we do not need a Butler to give the game away or expose any frightful cabal. The empire is out of the closet, bolshie, bright and more thieving than ever.” (01/13/26)
“No government should pressure a bank to cut off customers innocent of any wrongdoing. Yet that is what happened with Operation Choke Point under the Obama administration and that is what happened again with ‘Operation Choke Point 2.0’ under the Biden administration. Even today, countless customers are debanked because the laws and regulations in place have made banks too cautious. It’s time to bring governmental debanking to an end.” (01/13/26)
“Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said the U.S. is ending Temporary Protected Status for Somali nationals and set a March 17 deadline for them to leave the country. The move came without an official announcement from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) or a notice in the Federal Register on Tuesday morning, with the latter generally required to officially terminate TPS. DHS later confirmed the decision to Newsweek but did not provide further background.” (01/13/26)
“Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth censured Sen. Mark Kelly, a retired Navy captain, last week for truthfully instructing service members in November that they ‘can refuse illegal orders.’ If anything, Kelly — who on Monday sued Hegseth for violating his First and Fifth Amendment rights –put the matter too mildly: Troops must disobey — and also report — illegal orders. … Last week, in the wake of the U.S. military’s capture of Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro, President Donald Trump spoke generally of his desire to obtain Greenland, while deputy White House chief of staff Stephen Miller and press secretary Karoline Leavitt explicitly raised the possibility of the United States seizing territory belonging to our ally Denmark by force. Such orders are precisely the kind that our military must refuse to obey.” (01/13/26)
“The recent removal of Nicolás Maduro from Venezuela’s presidency is a dramatic development after more than two decades of socialist experimentation under Hugo Chávez and Maduro, characterized by expropriation, macroeconomic mismanagement, and political repression. Although there is much uncertainty about the economic and political future of Venezuela, economics can offer some guidance — and warnings. One such lesson has to do with the dangerous temptation to base economic recovery solely on the oil sector. Venezuela’s prospects depend critically on the quality of its institutional and policy choices from now on.” (01/13/26)
“An independent counsel on Tuesday demanded the death sentence for former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol on rebellion charges in connection with his short-lived imposition of martial law in December 2024. Yoon, who was removed from office last April and is in jail, faces eight trials over various criminal charges related to his martial law debacle and other scandals related to his time in office. Charges that he directed a rebellion are the most significant ones. Independent counsel Cho Eun-suk’s team requested the Seoul Central District Court to sentence Yoon to death, according to the court, which is expected to deliver a verdict in February. Experts say the court will likely sentence Yoon to life in prison. South Korea hasn’t executed anyone since 1997, and local courts rarely issue the death penalty in recent years.” (01/13/26)
