As of today, the federal government no longer even acknowledges that greenhouse gases are linked to climate change and associated dangers.
New Jersey’s newly elected Governor Mikie Sherill is the latest Democratic state leader to take action to protect her state’s residents from President Donald Trump’s deadly federal immigration crackdown. Sherill signed an executive order Wednesday barring Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents from entering, accessing, or using nonpublic areas of state-owned property without first receiving a judicial warrant. Examples of nonpublic state property include government offices, childcare centers, residential medical facilities, and state university residence halls.While the Trump administration and federal law enforcement have tried to smear and threaten civilians monitoring ICE activities, Sherill doubled down on blocking their efforts. The governor also announced that she would launch a portal for residents to submit details of their interactions with ICE agents in New Jersey. The portal is intended to allow state investigators to hold ICE agents accountable for the kinds of illegal actions Americans have witnessed across the country, including the use of excessive force, warrantless searches or arrests, racial profiling, and wrongful detentions.“Today, we are making clear that the Trump administration’s lawless actions will not go unchecked in New Jersey. Given ICE’s willingness to flout the Constitution and violently endanger communities—detaining children, arresting citizens, and even killing several innocent civilians—I will stand up for New Jerseyans’ right to be safe,” Sherill said in a statement Wednesday.Earlier this month, Abigail Spanberger, Virginia’s new Democratic governor, ordered state agencies to stop cooperating with ICE.
One study showed that coal power plants led to nearly half a million US deaths over a 20-year period.
A MAGA lawmaker is blaming ICE’s heightened violence on local Minnesota leaders.Senator Ron Johnson tore into Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison during a Senate hearing Thursday, accusing him of causing the deaths of U.S. citizens Alex Pretti and Renee Nicole Good, both of whom were shot and killed last month by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents.“I, as a government official, would have said, ‘Back off. Let us work with ICE. Let’s cooperate with them. Let’s see if we can’t deescalate this,’” Johnson said. “But you, attorney general, did the exact opposite.“Two people are dead because you encouraged them to put themselves into harm’s way!” Johnson said. “And now you are exploiting those two martyrs. That was a tragedy. It never should have happened.”The Wisconsin Republican then claimed that activists in the region were being “trained” and “deployed” to escalate the situation with federal officers, citing instances in which protesters—such as Pretti—were captured on film kicking ICE vehicles.On the ground in Minneapolis, that level of fabricated insurgency doesn’t seem necessary—locals are so irate with federal law enforcement and immigration agents that they have literally chased agents out of town.But federal agents’ unwelcome presence, in Johnson’s view, not only precipitates but also apparently warrants the agents’ impulsive violence.“Is it any wonder they’re at hair-trigger alert?” Johnson continued. “A tragedy was going to happen, and you encouraged it, and you ought to feel damn guilty about it.”Then, after Johnson concluded his time speaking, he raised his voice again: “Yeah, sit there and smirk. Smirk. It’s sick! It’s despicable.” Given an opportunity to respond, Ellison said that Johnson’s “theatrical performance” was “all lies.”“You disgust me,” Johnson spat back.After more than a month of protest and pushback from residents and local officials alike, Donald Trump’s border czar Tom Homan announced Thursday that ICE would withdraw from Minnesota. But Homan warned that “quick reaction forces” would remain in the state to go after so-called “agitators.”Meanwhile, in Washington, Republicans and Democrats in Congress have come to another impasse over DHS funding, which is set to expire February 13. The two parties have been unable to reach a bipartisan consensus on whether to reform the violent agency. Democrats have agreed to pass the package so long as Republicans concede to 10 demands on how to reel in ICE agents, such as requiring them to identify themselves, take off their masks, and obtain judicial warrants before forcing their way onto private property.GOP congressional leadership, however, does not seem willing to change the status quo at all, decrying the seemingly bare minimum stipulations as “impossible” and “totally unrealistic.”
Experts and watchdog groups slammed the bill, which would also require states to share voter information with DHS.