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Good morning and Happy Friday! Thanks for being here today. I’m resisting the urge to say “Whew! What a week!” as I usually do, but I will remind all of us that we’re only a month into 2026. (insert melting face emoji)
This morning, I was thinking about the extraordinary pushback we’ve seen against ICE/CBP from “regular” Americans these last few weeks. Moms’ Groups on Facebook are full of people who “don’t care about politics” yelling about Minneapolis. Booktok has been overrun by women trying to convince other women that their romantasy heroes would never stand for mass deportations. Even sports sites are cataloging which athletes have spoken out against ICE and which haven’t.
Democrats have never had momentum like this behind them in my lifetime. Yet, as we are assaulted daily with horrifying images of parents being ripped away from their children all over the country, the best Democrats have been able to do is this:
What a waste. No one would have faulted Dems for causing a government shutdown over ICE’s behavior, as Trump’s approval rating on immigration has fallen to 39 percent. And yet, Democrats haven’t even been able to bring themselves to coalesce behind abolishing ICE, despite the sentiment becoming the default centrist position over the last few weeks. Once again, Chuck Schumer et al have snatched a “compromise” from the jaws of almost certain victory. Nothing proves to the country that you do, indeed, have a backbone like consistently backing down, even on the issues that are dead-bang winners.
Depending on your age, you may not remember this (at the time, I was knee-deep in A-HA, Wham, and Whitney Houston), but in 1986, Ronald Reagan signed a sweeping immigration amnesty bill, which made anyone who had entered the country prior to 1982 eligible for permanent residence. Over three million people applied under the bill, and about 2.7 million were ultimately approved.
There are many more undocumented immigrants in America today (around 14 million, by the latest estimate), but if Operations Midway Blitz and Metro Surge have taught us anything, it’s that Americans do not like seeing their hardworking neighbors hauled off to Texas detention centers. How many Trump voters have we seen wailing, “I didn’t vote for this!” despite those “mass deportation” signs they were waving at the Republican National Convention? A whole lot. And while it’s fun to remind reformed Trump voters that they absolutely did vote for this, aren’t we missing the chance to push for another amnesty for undocumented Americans?
Though Trump and Kristi Noem keep insisting they’re going after “the worst of the worst,” it’s become clear to anyone with eyes that this is not the case. Instead, ICE/CBP are snatching anyone who doesn’t present as white off the street and whisking them away to God-knows-where. Maybe they’ll be released, maybe they won’t. But it takes all my fingers and all my toes to count the number of “X Community voted 70 % for Donald Trump — then the beloved town (insert profession) was deported” we’ve seen from the national media. If Americans were ever reconsidering what they’ve been told about immigration, it’s now.
On Thursday, Wyoming Rep. Harriet Hageman peaced out of her town hall early because her constituents were screaming at her about ICE and immigration.
CASPER—U.S. Rep. Harriet Hageman abruptly ended a town hall session here Tuesday evening and walked off the stage to booing and shouting from her constituents while others in the audience attempted
A series of impassioned questions regarding recent killings in Minneapolis at the hands of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and other federal officers, as well as other ICE actions, prompted an escalating back-and-forth between questioners, the congresswoman and the audience at Casper College’s Wheeler Concert Hall while a half-dozen policemen stood guard.
A tall, dark-haired young man who said he was a Casper College student quizzed her about the killings. Hageman responded, “I haven’t talked about that. I spoke about the Laken Riley Act because it was one of the bills that we passed. I haven’t talked about what was going on in Minnesota.”
“Yeah. Why is that?” the student asked. “Why haven’t you said that you condemn the violence or given condolences to the families of the victims?”
This is in WYOMING, the state Trump won by the largest margin in 2024. If Wyoming is mad about the way Trump is handling immigration, imagine how the rest of the country feels.
At this point, promising to abolish ICE and provide some kind of amnesty for undocumented immigrants who work, pay taxes, and contribute to our society seems like a no-brainer. Dems could even limit it to those with no violent criminal history in the last 10 years, to get around the “worst of the worst” argument. The bottom line is that there are millions of people living among us, paying taxes, and having a positive impact on our communities, who are Americans in everything but name. Why not give them an off-ramp to escape the madness? My great-grandparents got one. Maybe yours did, too.
It’s clear that millions of Americans are rethinking their stance on immigration. Isn’t it time that Democrats did the same? Being Republicans-lite is part of how we got here in the first place. This moment calls for brave people and big ideas. Democrats must meet the moment.
Before we move on, I’d be a monster if I didn’t include this update on little Liam Cornejo Ramos, the five-year-old who was grabbed by ICE at his preschool and used to lure out his other family members:
Liam is in ICE custody and his health is deteriorating. Joaquin Castro says Liam is depressed, lethargic, sleeping excessively and barely eating, repeatedly asking about his mom, and when he can go home. He’s withdrawn and not the bright preschooler he was just days ago. LIAM NEEDS A DOCTOR 1/2
— Christopher Webb (@cwebbonline.com) 2026-01-29T12:40:04.495Z
You can contribute to the GFM to bring Liam home here.
In other news: New Mexico sues Meta over allowing kids access to AI sex-bots; A man rode to Luigi Mangione’s rescue…with a pizza cutter; ICE is headed to the Olympics; and The High Note.
Clicking on the link below helps offset beehivv’s monthly fee:
Wall Street Isn’t Warning You, But This Chart Might
Vanguard just projected public markets may return only 5% annually over the next decade. In a 2024 report, Goldman Sachs forecasted the S&P 500 may return just 3% annually for the same time frame—stats that put current valuations in the 7th percentile of history.
Translation? The gains we’ve seen over the past few years might not continue for quite a while.
Meanwhile, another asset class—almost entirely uncorrelated to the S&P 500 historically—has overall outpaced it for decades (1995-2024), according to Masterworks data.
Masterworks lets everyday investors invest in shares of multimillion-dollar artworks by legends like Banksy, Basquiat, and Picasso.
And they’re not just buying. They’re exiting—with net annualized returns like 17.6%, 17.8%, and 21.5% among their 23 sales.*
Wall Street won’t talk about this. But the wealthy already are. Shares in new offerings can sell quickly but…
*Past performance is not indicative of future returns. Important Reg A disclosures: masterworks.com/cd.
Let’s get to it.
Mark Zuckerberg approved allowing kids access to sex bots
I fear we’ve forgotten how terrible Meta and Mark Zuckerberg are lately. But, right on time, here is Zuck to remind us.
Jan 27 (Reuters) - Meta Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg approved allowing minors to access AI chatbot companions that safety staffers warned were capable of sexual interactions, according to internal Meta documents filed in a New Mexico state court case and made public Monday.
The lawsuit – brought by the state’s attorney general, Raul Torrez, and scheduled for trial next month – alleges that Meta "failed to stem the tide of damaging sexual material and sexual propositions delivered to children" on Facebook and Instagram
Am I the only one who remembers Zuckerberg sitting there like a deer in the headlights while apologizing to parents for not doing more to keep their children safe from exploitation on his platforms? Did I dream that?
Wait, nope. Here it is:
I am entertained, but also offended on behalf of Italian-Americans
I don’t know whether to laugh or cry:
A Minnesota man was charged Thursday with impersonating an FBI agent after he showed up at a federal prison in New York City claiming to have a court order to release an inmate, identified by a law enforcement source as accused killer Luigi Mangione.
Mark Anderson, 35, was arrested at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn late Wednesday after prison workers asked to see his credentials and he produced a Minnesota driver’s license and “claimed to be in possession of weapons,” according to a complaint filed in the U.S. District Court for thr Eastern District of New York.
Anderson also claimed “that he was an FBI Agent in possession of paperwork ‘signed by a judge’ authorizing the release of a specific inmate,” the complaint states.
***
In his backpack, BOP workers found a barbecue fork and a “round steel blade” that resembled a pizza cutter.
I fully support the idea that, if your alleged crime is funny enough, you should not be convicted of a crime (see, e.g., the DC Sandwich Thrower). But come ON. Did you have to try to spring a guy named “Luigi Mangione” with a pizza cutter??? Was he also dressed like Super Mario and wearing a fake mustache?
I give him points for nerve, though. Here’s how I imagine it went down:
Boring conversation, anyway.
ICE is headed for the Olympics and other international tragedies
The Trump administration has caused three international incidents in a week. First, as you may have heard, ICE is going to the Winter Olympics in Milan-Cortina. To say the Italians are not happy is an understatement.
ICE will accompany the U.S. delegation to the Winter Olympics in Italy next month, the Department of Homeland Security confirmed on Tuesday, stoking a backlash among Italians angered by the conduct of ICE agents in Minneapolis.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents will join a security team from the State Department at the Olympics “to vet and mitigate risks from transnational criminal organizations,” D.H.S. said in a statement attributed to Tricia McLaughlin, the department’s assistant secretary for public affairs.
According to those familiar with the matter, it’s not unusual for the federal government to deploy agents from various agencies to assist the Secret Service with the large delegation of US officials traveling to the Games. But to send ICE agents, as unqualified as they are, at a time when the US’s image abroad is in shambles, feels like a real “fuck you” to our European allies.
The Trump administration also promised that ICE will not carry out immigration activities while at the Olympics. Oh really? Thanks a lot. What kind of immigration activities would they take part in in a foreign country? I’d also like to announce that I will not be accepting questions about my candidacy for President of Lichtenstein. My God.
What are the other two incidents, you’re probably wondering?
First, there was ICE/CBP attempting to access the Ecuadorian Embassy in Minneapolis without the permission of the Ecuadorian ambassador, which is in violation of the Geneva Convention. That caused Ecuador to file an official complaint. You know that these numbskulls just saw “Ecuador” and figured, “Hey, Ecuador! There’s probably some brown people in there!” Fascist idiots.
And secondly, the FBI took part in an operation in Mexico…and then blabbed about it, and maybe lied to Mexico’s president.
An FBI operation to capture former Olympian turned suspected cocaine trafficker Ryan Wedding in Mexico has shaken relations between the U.S. and its southern neighbor.
Last week, the U.S. deployed the FBI’s Hostage Rescue Team to Mexico to capture Wedding, who once was protected by the powerful Sinaloa cartel. But that was supposed to be kept secret, especially since Mexican law prohibits foreign law enforcement officers from being physically present in operations on Mexican soil, let alone take part in raids and arrests.
Of course, Kash Patel bragged about it on X, blowing the whole thing up and forcing Mexico to do damage control. Apparently, the FBI told Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum that the operation was a “voluntary surrender,” a characterization hotly disputed by Wedding’s attorney.
Kash is incapable of keeping his mouth shut. It’s like having Kanye in charge of the FBI.
The High Note
Each Day, I do my best to leave you with a smile on your face, a song in your heart, and the will to fight another day.
Continuing our series of “ICE is making folk music great again,” here’s Billy Bragg’s tribute to Minneapolis.
It’s also worth mentioning that Bruce Springsteen’s “On the Streets of Minneapolis” is currently the number one song in 19 countries, including the US, UK, Australia, Spain, France, and Germany.
Hey, survive and advance out there today, kids. Don’t let the bastards get you down.
Follow Julie on Bluesky and Instagram so she can get another book contract. Tips? JulieDiCaro.46 or [email protected].
