Democratic Underground: Forums for U.S. Liberals and Democrats

Woman shot by Border Patrol in Chicago asks judge to let her release evidence

(Chicago Sun-Times) The woman who survived five gunshots from a Border Patrol agent in Chicago last fall, only to be criminally charged and then cleared, now wants a judge’s permission to share evidence that shows how the feds respond when “their agents use deadly force against U.S. citizens.” Marimar Martinez’s lawyer argued Monday that top Trump administration officials continue to smear her name, and that the White House’s false narrative about her arrest has even seeped into writings by U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito.

BumRushDaShow

Major news outlets under fire for 'tiptoeing' around Trump admin lies after Pretti killing

(Raw Story) Two prominent critics warned on Monday that the US corporate media is not being aggressive enough in calling out the Trump administration’s lies about Alex Pretti, the Minneapolis resident who was slain by federal immigration agents over the weekend. Writing on her Substack page, former New York Times public editor Margaret Sullivan expressed concern that many mainstream media publications were taking a wait-and-see approach in the wake of Pretti’s shooting, even as the Trump administration, Fox News, and other right-wing media websites were pumping out false claims about Pretti brandishing a weapon at federal officials and being a “domestic terrorist.”

surfered

Jon Stewart perfectly sums up the Administration's lies after the shooting of Alex Pretti

(Huff Post) Stewart called the administration’s attempt to claim Pretti was a threat despite all the footage showing otherwise to be “the denial of the reality that we all witnessed.” “They’re lying,” Stewart said. “We saw it. And that’s how brazen they lie when they know we’ve seen the truth. That’s how they lie when they know we know. Imagine how they lie when there’s no evidence to contradict them.”

justaprogressive

Organized Labor Escalates Against ICE Summary Executions

(American Prospect) Unions in Minnesota and across the country are gearing up for new mass actions after the public execution of one of their own, ICU nurse and American Federation of Government Employees Local 3669 member Alex Jeffrey Pretti. Federal immigration agents shot Pretti in the back ten times in five seconds on Saturday as he attempted to help a woman they had thrown to the ground. His last words were to her: “Are you OK?”

UpInArms

US Consumer Confidence Fell Sharply in January

(Conference Board) The Present Situation Index—based on consumers’ assessment of current business and labor market conditions—dropped by 9.9 points to 113.7 in January. The Expectations Index—based on consumers’ short-term outlook for income, business, and labor market conditions—fell by 9.5 points to 65.1, well below the threshold of 80 that usually signals a recession ahead. The cutoff for preliminary results was January 16, 2026.

KS Toronado

Tuesday's Condensed News Cartoons

turbinetree

Trump whines that he's facing possible midterm losses: 'Doesn't make sense'

(Raw Story) President Donald Trump complained Tuesday that he could lose control of Congress in the upcoming midterm elections. During a Tuesday interview with WABC's Sid & Friends, Trump argued that Democratic leaders opposing his immigration policies were "not good people."

BumRushDaShow

Cruz reportedly says Trump yelled and cursed over warning of midterm election 'bloodbath'

(The Guardian) Ted Cruz warned Donald Trump, his fellow Republican, that he would face a “bloodbath” in the November midterm elections if prices continued to rise, prompting the president to respond, “fuck you, Ted,” the US senator told donors, according to a secret recording of the private conversation obtained by Axios. Cruz reportedly delivered the reality check to the president in a phone conversation after Trump presented sweeping tariffs a few months after returning to the Oval Office in early 2025. The president was unhappy, Cruz said – and yelled and cursed in a conversation with Republican senators.

demmiblue

After rocky start, Bari Weiss to cut staff, add commentators at CBS News

(NPR) CBS News Editor-in-Chief Bari Weiss has scheduled an all-staff meeting for late Tuesday morning at which she intends to announce the strategic path she wants the troubled news division to take. Weiss is planning to tell her newsroom Tuesday that she intends to hire approximately 18 paid commentators and that she only wants top-flight performers committed to her approach to stick around. Weiss is also expected to make significant cuts to the newsroom.

highplainsdem

Palantir Defends Work With ICE to Staff Following Killing of Alex Pretti

(Wired) After federal agents shot and killed Minneapolis nurse Alex Pretti on Saturday, Palantir workers pressed for answers from leadership on the company’s work with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)—and many questioned whether Palantir should be involved with the agency at all. Leadership defended its work as in part improving “ICE’s operational effectiveness.”

Expand Featured Stories

Issue Forums

Alliance Forums

Region Forums

Latest Breaking News

Meta Is Blocking Links To ICE List on Facebook, Instagram, and Threads

6 min ago - Meta has started blocking its users from sharing links to ICE List, a website that has compiled the names of what it claims are Department of Homeland Security employees, a project the creators say is designed to hold those employees accountable. Dom ... (Wired)

American Academy of Pediatrics releases childhood vaccine recommendations that differ from CDC

8 min ago - Updated on: January 27, 2026 / 9:25 AM EST / CBS News The American Academy of Pediatrics released its recommendations for childhood vaccines on Monday, breaking significantly with the guidance released by the Centers for Disease Control and Preventio ... (CBS News)

Trump aides declared 16 DHS shootings since July justified before probes completed

12 min ago - Trump aides declared 16 DHS shootings since July justified before probes completed The Trump administration's rush to defend the officers and accuse the victims of attacking them has sparked widespread outrage and demands for accountability. January ... (Washington Post)

TikTok settles just before social media addiction trial to begin

38 min ago - TikTok has reached a settlement to avoid it being involved in a landmark social media addiction trial - a matter of hours before jury selection was due to begin in California. The plaintiff, a 20-year-old woman identified by the initials KGM, alleges ... (BBC)

Alex Pretti broke rib in confrontation with federal agents a week before death, sources say

49 min ago - Federal immigration officers have been collecting personal information about protesters and agitators in Minneapolis, sources told CNN - and had documented details about Alex Pretti before he was shot to death on Saturday. It is unclear how Pretti fi ... (CNN)

Joe Biden Decries Shooting Deaths By Federal Agents: "We Are Not A Nation That Guns Down Our Citizens In The Street"

1 hr ago - January 27, 2026 8:42am Joe Biden is the latest former president to condemn the shooting of Alex Pretti by federal agents, as he said that residents of Minnesota “have suffered enough at the hands of this administration.” Biden’s state ... (Deadline)

ICE condemns "death cards" left in vehicles of Colorado residents detained by agents

1 hr ago - Immigration and Customs Enforcement has released a statement condemning the actions of those leaving ace of spades cards, or "death cards," in the vehicles of people detained in a county in Colorado's mountains. Immigration advocacy group Voces Unida ... (CBS News)

Kash Patel Clarifies Position on Gun Rights After Backlash

1 hr ago - Published Jan 27, 2026 at 06:57 AM EST updated Jan 27, 2026 at 06:58 AM EST Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Director Kash Patel said the bureau "fully" supports the Second Amendment but urged armed Americans to avoid bringing loaded weapons to ... (Newsweek)

DHS Says Critical ICE Surveillance Footage From Abuse Case Was Actually Never Recorded, Doesn't Matter

1 hr ago - The Department of Homeland Security now says that two weeks of critical surveillance footage from within Immigrations and Customs Enforcement's Broadview detention center wasn't actually lost in a "system crash," but rather, was never recorded in the ... (404 Media)

Power Grid for 67 Million on Edge as Dire Cold Follows Storm

1 hr ago - (Bloomberg) -- A deep freeze is gripping the US in the wake of the worst storm so far this season, leaving the country's biggest electric grid in emergency status and bracing for record wintertime demand. PJM Interconnection LLC, which serves 67 mill ... (Bloomberg)

Philip Glass pulls world premiere from Kennedy Center

2 hrs ago - Composer Philip Glass has joined the list of artists, musicians and performers pulling back from previously scheduled engagements at the Kennedy Center, withdrawing his anticipated Symphony No. 15: "Lincoln" from the National Symphony Orchestra, whic ... (WaPo)

US Consumer Confidence Plummets to Lowest Level Since 2014

2 hrs ago - US consumer confidence declined in January to the lowest level in more than a decade on more pessimistic views of the economy and labor market. The Conference Board's gauge decreased to 84.5, from an upwardly revised 94.2 last month, data out Tuesday ... (Bloomberg News)

Key legislators seek Justice Department records on Alex Pretti and Renee Good killings by next week

2 hrs ago - Updated on: January 27, 2026 / 9:02 AM EST Congress is ratcheting up its scrutiny of the killing of Alex Pretti by Border Patrol in Minneapolis on Saturday. Top Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee on Monday asked Justice Department officials ... (CBS News)

Apple, Google host dozens of AI 'nudify' apps like Grok, report finds

3 hrs ago - The Apple and Google Play app stores are hosting dozens of “nudify” apps that can take photos of people and use artificial intelligence to generate nude images of them, according to a report Tuesday from an industry watchdog. A review of th ... (CNBC)

'A militia that kills': uproar in Italy over ICE security role at Winter Olympics

3 hrs ago - [snip] Speculation in Italy over ICE’s involvement in the games, which begin on 6 February, had been brewing for days and mounted further on Monday after the president of Lombardy region, Attilio Fontana, said on Monday that the US vice-presiden ... (The Guardian)

Families of two men killed in Trump's military boat strikes sue US government

3 hrs ago - Civil rights attorneys filed a federal lawsuit against the United States government on Tuesday on behalf of the families of two men from a small fishing village in Trinidad who were killed in a US military airstrike on a small boat in the Caribbean S ... (The Guardian)

Katy Perry, other celebrities urge citizen action after Minnesota shootings

3 hrs ago - January 27, 202 63:01 AM EST Updated 6 hours ago WASHINGTON, Jan 26 (Reuters) - Singer Katy Perry and other U.S. celebrities have called for citizens to contact lawmakers and speak out against federal immigration officials' killing of two U.S. citize ... (Reuters)

Police Told to Be 'as Vague as Permissible' About Why They Use Flock

3 hrs ago - Police officers are being told to "be as vague as permissible" about why they are using the Flock surveillance system in order to not leak sensitive information via public records requests, according to records obtained using a public records request ... (404 Media)

ICE agents will have a security role at Milan Cortina Olympics

3 hrs ago - By TRISHA THOMAS and DAVID BILLER Updated 8:09 AM CST, January 27, 2026 Leer en español MILAN (AP) — U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents will have a security role during the upcoming Milan Cortina Winter Games, according to i ... (AP)

DOJ Abandons Request for Don Lemon Arrest Warrant Over Church Raid -- But Can Still Try to Bring Charges

4 hrs ago - The Department of Justice has reportedly withdrawn its request for an arrest warrant for ex-CNN anchor Don Lemon in connection with a Minnesota church protest, but he may not be out of the woods yet. Prosecutors dropped the bid to charge Lemon and fo ... (Mediaite.com)