Democrats talk a big game about ICE terrorizing communities. Then they hand the agency $10 billion anyway.

WHAT’S GOING ON: Despite months of outrage over ICE agents shooting civilians, rounding up U.S. citizens, and treating constitutional rights like suggestions, Democrats just backed a bipartisan spending bill that keeps ICE’s budget flat at $10 billion.

Party leaders defended themselves by pointing to “modest constraints” and warning that a shutdown wouldn’t stop ICE anyway—since Republicans already gave the agency a $75 billion slush fund last year.

“ICE must be reined in, and unfortunately, neither a continuing resolution nor a shutdown would do anything to restrain it,” said Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.). Translation: our hands are supposedly tied, so here’s your money.

THE DETAILS: So what did Democrats actually win? The bill includes $20 million for body cameras, some de-escalation training, and—get this—training reminding officers that Americans have a constitutional right to record them.

You know, that right that’s existed for centuries. They also cut CBP funding by $1 billion below Trump’s request. Victory?

BUT BUT BUT: Immigrant advocates aren’t buying the helplessness act.

“There’s nothing in the text of this bill that meaningfully puts constraints on what agents are actually doing in the street, which is engaging in lawlessness and violence,” Heidi Altman of the National Immigration Law Center told HuffPost.

She called it “imagined helplessness” and asked the obvious question: “Why don’t members just toss up their hands and close down their offices and go home?”

OF COURSE: This is the Democratic playbook now.

Talk tough—Rep. Ayanna Pressley called ICE “unconstitutional, unlawful, cruel…rogue, racist, and terrorizing communities.” Even Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey told ICE to “get the fuck out” of his city after agents shot and killed a woman there.

But when it comes to actually defunding the machine? Frey doesn’t want to abolish ICE. And Democrats keep signing the checks.

BOTTOM LINE: Democratic leadership’s strategy is clear: avoid a shutdown, keep the government running, focus on attacking Trump’s economy ahead of midterms. Rep. Rosa DeLauro warned a funding lapse would hurt TSA agents and delay FEMA assistance “while ICE continues functioning without any change.”

The logic is cynical but coherent. The problem? Democrats are now co-owners of the deportation machine. When ICE terrorizes the next community, the funding will have their fingerprints all over it. Body cameras or not.

Air Force One turned around mid-flight Tuesday—officially due to a “minor electrical issue”—forcing Trump to delay his trip to Davos, where European leaders are waiting to confront him over his threats to seize Greenland. The timing? Conveniently suspicious, given Trump’s about to face the diplomatic fallout from months of bullying America’s closest allies. Read the full story.

A “potentially catastrophic” ice storm is barreling toward the South this weekend—because what’s winter without power outages and roads that become slip ‘n slides of doom? The National Weather Service is warning of “great swaths” of heavy snow, sleet, and freezing rain from Texas to the Carolinas, with temperatures cold enough to keep that ice locked in place for days. Texas gets first dibs on the misery Friday, with the rest of the South joining the fun through Sunday. Read the full story.

The Trump administration just confessed in court that Elon Musk’s DOGE staffers had unauthorized access to Americans’ Social Security data—and one even signed an agreement with an outside group trying to overturn election results. The Justice Department admitted officials previously lied to the court, claiming DOGE had no access to personal information when they actually shared names and addresses of roughly a thousand people, and may have coordinated to match voter rolls against Social Security databases. Read the full story.

Israeli bulldozers demolished UNRWA’s headquarters in occupied East Jerusalem while government ministers waved flags and celebrated, escalating a campaign to destroy the agency that provides healthcare, schools, and humanitarian aid to 5.5 million Palestinian refugees. On the same day, Israeli forces fired tear gas at a vocational school, shot a 15-year-old in the eye with a rubber bullet, and continued systematically dismantling aid infrastructure—making clear their goal isn’t security, but erasing Palestinians entirely. Read the full story.

Masked ICE agents bashed down a door, pointed guns at a 4-year-old, and dragged ChongLy “Scott” Thao—a U.S. citizen for decades—out of his St. Paul home in subfreezing weather wearing only underwear and sandals, refusing to look at his ID even as he tried to prove they had the wrong person. After parading him past horrified neighbors and driving him “to the middle of nowhere” for photos, agents finally realized their mistake hours later and dumped him back home without apology—or fixing his broken door. Read the full story.

Yesterday we asked, should Trump be criminally prosecuted for failing to release the Epstein files? The decision was UNANIMOUS. 100% of you said yes.

Sfavreau said: “Once again, Trump is attempting to show he is above the law! ONCE again, he's proving how lying is his only friend! And once again, he's showing how lying is his only defense!”

Lori said: “He will do ANYTHING, even wage war, to avoid what will incriminate himself!”

Deb nailed it: “This is ridiculous, this man is not above the law, he is not worthy of any special treatment. He is a traitor to our constitution, destroyer of America, A danger to the world. He should be prosecuted for all his crimes.”

Here are some stories the algorithms may be keeping out of your feed.

Shanen Ebersole raises cattle in Kellerton, Iowa. She voted for Trump—twice. And now, one year into his second term, she’s done. Not angry-done, not disappointed-done. Open-to-voting-for-a-Democrat done.

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