‘Complete terror’ / A ‘difficult meeting’ / Dangerous line crossed

‘Complete terror.’ Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar tells HuffPost ICE agents are on “almost every single block,” operating as “an occupying force” in her Minneapolis community.

■ The Chicago law firm that represented the family of George Floyd, who was killed by a Minneapolis cop in 2020, is now representing the family of Renee Nicole Macklin Good, who was killed by an ICE officer last week.

■ Columnist Eric Zorn: “Sorry, wing nuts, but Renee Good was straight up murdered by ICE.”

■ The Onion: “Conservatives Say Renee Good Was Brainwashed By Bible Into Loving Thy Neighbor.”

■ About 4 1/2 miles from where she died, another federal officer yesterday shot a man in the leg.

■ Democrats across the country are proposing state laws to restrain federal immigration agents.

■ Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz appeals to citizens: “If you see ICE in your neighborhood, take out that phone and hit record.”

■ LateNighter reviews the fun late-night hosts have been having with “ICE Ice Capades” video …

■ … and yet, ICE is reportedly headed to another cold-weather state, Maine.

Trump’s threat. Whining that “professional agitators and insurrectionists” are “attacking the Patriots of I.C.E., who are only trying to do their job,” the president today (again) raised the possibiliy he’ll invoke the Insurrection Act …

■ … which the Brennan Center for Justice has ranked among the most “outdated and dangerous” antiquated laws from the 1700s and 1800s.

■ Investigative reporter Ken Klippenstein: Leaked documents reveal 21 secret programs and detail the dizzying scope of ICE operations.

■ Columnist/lawyer Robert Hubbell: “Mass protests are the last line of defense against ICE's assault on our peace, safety and security.”

■ After fizzling out before the Supreme Court, Justice Department lawyers tell a federal judge in Chicago they hope to settle a suit over Trump’s National Guard deployment efforts here.

‘No regrets whatsoever.’ A Michigan auto worker suspended after calling Trump a “pedophile protector” during the president’s tour Tuesday—prompting Trump to mouth “f--- you” and raise his middle finger—has the United Auto Workers’ support.

■ Stephen Colbert addressed the president directly: “You signed a law mandating that you would have to release the Epstein files by the middle of last month, but you still haven’t. It kind of makes you seem like a, what’s the phrase? Pedophile protector!”

■ Coming back to the suburbs after an eviction threat last year: The MAGA-themed “Trump Truth Store.”

A ‘difficult meeting.’ That’s how the AP characterizes U.S., Danish and Greenlandic officials’ face-to-face to discuss Trump’s coveting of Greenland.

■ The New York Times (gift link): “The fate of the world’s largest island has outsize importance for billions of people on the planet, because as the climate warms, Greenland is losing ice.”

■ A Senate bill that would have clamped down on Trump’s power to attack Venezuela further flopped yesterday after two Republican senators caved. (Cartoon: Jack Ohman.)

■ Columnist Jeff Tiedrich: “Once again, smack dab in the middle of a meeting—with cameras rolling, surrounded by people—Sundowning Grandpa Befuddlepants closed his weary eyes and drifted off to slumberland.”

Quick retreat. Hours after telling thousands of public service organizations nationwide that federal cash for treatment of substance abuse and mental health issues was about to disappear, Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s Health and Human Services Department reversed that decision.

■ Chicago-area leaders were among the cancellation’s loudest critics.

Snow fun. Brace for more wintry weather over the next few days.

■ Chicagoans who don’t shovel their walks could face fines of at least $50/day.

Apparently untroubled. Popular Information calls out at least 37 major brands—including Amazon, Google, Chipotle, Apple, Gatorade and the NFL—that’ve been advertising on Twitter X even as its chatbot ground out sexualized images of kids.

■ The Current offers guides for keeping your TV from spying on you and your internet router from sharing your Wi-Fi with strangers—on your dime.

Passages.

■ Chicago gay-rights champion Rick Garcia—who championed groundbreaking laws at the city, county and state levels—has died at 69.

■ The daughter of the founder of Chicago’s Harold’s Chicken chain—its CEO, Kristen Pierce-Sherrod—is dead at 55.

■ After seven years, Fulton Market’s Time Out Market food hall will close next week.

The Score on FM. As of Feb. 2, Chicago’s premier AM sports-talk radio station will begin simulcasting on WBMX-FM, which has been known as 104.3 Jams …

■ … a shift eerily foreshadowed by a 1980 TV commercial for a station that used those call letters to identify as Chicago’s “Black Music Experience.”

Dangerous line crossed. Poynter media writer Tom Jones says the FBI’s raid on a Washington Post reporter’s home stands to “intimidate sources and chill journalists’ ability to … hold the government accountable.”

■ A Post editorial vows that the raid “won’t stop reporters from continuing their important work.”

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■ Pitch in yourself and see your name in lights here.

Greenland or bust / ‘The Reich Stuff’ / ‘Misconduct hotspots’ / ‘Are You Dead?’

Greenland or bust. President Trump says anything less than U.S. ownership of Greenland “is unacceptable.”

■ Columnist Robert Hubbell: It’s time for Congress to defund Trump—including his ability to invade sovereign nations and NATO allies.

■ A bipartisan bill could do that.

■ The AP fact-checks Trump on Greenland.

■ Columnist Terry Moran—fired by ABC News after calling Trump a “world-class hater” (June link): “The world is learning how to live without America.”

■ Everyone Is Entitled to My Own Opinion proprietor Jeff Tiedrich on Trump’s profane gesture yesterday in Detroit: “Should anyone really be surprised by Dear Leader’s infantile behavior? … Donny’s been giving us the finger for years now.”

‘The agents’ mission increasingly looks as if it is to frighten opponents of the administration into submission.’ But historian Heather Cox Richardson says surges of federal agents into Democratic-led cities—including Chicago and Minneapolis—“appear to be sparking deeper and deeper opposition.”

■ Law professor Joyce Vance questions ICE agents’ wearing of masks: “The excuse … was that it was necessary to protect the agents. … But they’re the ones assaulting and killing people.”

■ The American Prospect’s Harold Meyerson (no relation): Congressional Democrats have the ability to curtail Trump’s thugs—at least partly.

■ Stephen Colbert: Trump’s “clearly invading Minnesota.”

■ Columnist Lyz Lenz—back from five days there, researching her next book—rips apart a Fox News contributor’s characterization of rapid response groups as “organized gangs of wine moms.”

‘Blatantly unconstitutional and immoral.’ That’s Mayor Johnson’s assessment of Trump’s vow to cut off federal funding to Chicago and other so-called “sanctuary cities” at the end of the month.

■ Block Club: It’s not the first time Trump’s played that card.

■ The Tribune: The family of a Chicago sandwich shop owner deported this month after his arrest in September by Border Patrol agents is grappling with how to preserve the restaurant—and his legacy.

■ The American Prospect: ICE has been altering contracts with private prison companies to remove “the scant protections in place for transgender people in immigration prison.”

‘The Reich Stuff.’ Pulitzer winner Gene Weingarten: Illinois-born Rage Against the Machine founder Tom Morello was right when he flagged Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem for taking to a podium displaying official policy of The Third Reich.

■ The Onion: “GOP Adds ‘ICE Kills Everyone’ Pillar To 2026 Platform.” (Cartoon: Jack Ohman.)

‘Air pollution denial is now EPA policy.’ Heated: Dirty air may kill people, but Trump’s Environmental Protection Agency won’t count the bodies.

■ The Trib: Almost a year after a toxic spill in the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal, the EPA’s left the cleanup undone.

■ Ready to declutter? One5c has guides for responsibly disposing of old clothes, spent electronics, used-up batteries, mushy mattresses and more.

Stuff’s getting Real (ID). Ahead of the end-of-the-month federal deadline for imposing a $45 fee on airline passengers without REAL IDs, the Illinois secretary of state is adding Saturday hours at its downtown office.

■ Learn what you need—and make an appointment—here.

‘Misconduct hotspots.’ Chicago’s inspector general has published a “Chicago Police Department Complaint Register Network” dashboard—letting you see complaints against cops in relationship to others with whom they’ve been co-accused.

■ Search for cops by name here.

Whoops. 404 Media: Police departments using Flock automated license plate readers across the country have unwittingly leaked details of millions of surveillance targets and a bunch of active police investigations. (Email address required to read for free. It’s worth it; 404’s doing important work.)

■ Check here to see if your plate was listed.

■ More from 404: A Colorado cop used Flock to accuse a woman wrongfully—then refused to look at evidence that exonerated her.

‘Intensely concerning.’ That’s how a First Amendment scholar describes an FBI search early today of a Washington Post journalist’s home.

■ The Post reports: “The search came as part of an investigation into a government contractor accused of illegally retaining classified government materials.”

‘A ratings dud.’ Status (mostly behind a paywall): Tony Dokoupil’s CBS Evening News looks like a flop.

■ Poynter’s Tom Jones: His interview with Trump was “much ado about nothing.”

■ Wonkette: “Bari Weiss Should Do CBS Town Hall On Whose Fault It Is She Sucks So Bad.”

■ On Weiss’ team at the network: Jerry Seinfeld’s daughter, who has virtually no news experience.

‘Are You Dead?’ That’s the name—translated from Chinese—of an app climbing Apple’s App Store charts.

■ Internationally, it’s known as “Demumu.”

■ Platformer’s Casey Newton: “What I learned while cloning my own voice”—to create an audio version of his columns.

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