Vogue wrote an embarrassingly gushing article about Gavin Newsom, the man who single-handedly ruined California. The first paragraph: “Let’s get this out of the way: He is embarrassingly handsome, his hair seasoned with silver, at ease with his own eminence as he delivers his final State of the State address,” the opening line read. And […] The post The Unbelievable Fraud in Newsom’s California appeared first on www.independentsentinel.com.

Tyler Robinson’s defense team suggested during a Tuesday hearing that the Utah County Attorney’s Office had only moved to seek the death penalty because it was clear that was what President Donald Trump wanted. Richard Novak, an attorney for Robinson (who is accused of assassinating the late Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk), questioned Utah County Attorney Jeffrey S. Gray during a pre-trial hearing aimed at having Gray’s office removed from the case due to a perceived conflict of interest. At issue was Gray’s decision to seek the death penalty — and the fact that he announced his plan to do so early in the investigation — a move that Novak attributed to “strong emotional reactions” within the prosecutor’s office. Novak raised several issues that he argued could have driven such an emotional response from the prosecution: the fact that Gray had campaigned on a promise to seek the death penalty in cases he deemed “appropriate,” the fact that the adult child of a prosecutor in Gray’s office had been present at the time of Kirk’s assassination, and the knowledge that President Trump had already declared his wish to see Kirk’s killer face the death penalty. Gray, under questioning from Novak, said that he’d become aware at some point that a prosecutor in his office had an adult child who had witnessed the shooting, but that they had not discussed it and it had not been a factor in his decision-making process. Gray also said in a previous filing that the adult child in question had returned to classes after the shooting and had not experienced lasting trauma outside of being scared in the moment. “Under these circumstances, there is virtually no risk, let alone a significant risk, that it would arouse such emotions in any father-prosecutor as to render him unable to fairly prosecute the case,” Gray said in the filing, arguing that the defense’s claims were rooted in a desire to delay proceedings rather than to pursue justice. When Novak asked whether Gray had been aware that Trump had posted about the suspect, “I hope he gets the death penalty,” Gray said he knew the president had said that, but that he had not taken Trump’s social media posts into consideration when determining whether or not to seek capital punishment. Novak also raised the question of campaign promises, and, noting that Gray had run on a promise to seek the death penalty, wondered whether he’d simply been in a hurry to check that off his to-do list. Gray corrected Novak then, saying that he’d promised to seek the death penalty in cases where it was appropriate to do so — and that both he and Governor Spencer Cox (R) had determined it was appropriate in this case regardless of promises he’d made during his 2022 campaign. When given a chance to explain why he’d announced the decision to seek the death penalty as early as he did — noting that he had until arraignment to do so — Gray said that his goal had been to limit speculation from social media and the press and to lessen the anxiety felt by the victims, specifically, Charlie’s widow Erika Kirk. “The longer you delay that decision … the more delay, then it just creates all this unnecessary speculation and everything else,” Gray said, adding that he did it to prevent “unnecessary angst with the families of victims … so Erika Kirk didn’t have to deal with that uncertainty.” The defense also petitioned the court to bar all video recordings and still photography in the courtroom during the trial.

President Donald Trump signed bills to reopen the federal government on Tuesday evening, after a partial shutdown that started over the weekend, in an Oval Office ceremony surrounded by GOP lawmakers, including House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA). The House voted by a narrow bipartisan margin to fund the government following its closure on Friday. The Senate previously approved the five funding bills that will last until September, as well as a continuing resolution that will fund the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) through Feb. 13. “This bill is a great victory for the American people. Instead of a bloated and wasteful omnibus monstrosity full of special interest handouts, we’ve succeeded in passing a fiscally responsible package that actually cuts wasteful federal spending, while supporting critical programs for the safety, security, and prosperity of the American people,” Trump said. Many Democrats called for DHS funding to be split from the other appropriations bills to prevent a prolonged shutdown, as they want restrictions on the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement policies following the shooting of Alex Pretti in Minneapolis. Even after the White House reached an agreement with Senate Democrats, there were still hiccups in the House to get the spending package through, including some GOP lawmakers who wanted the SAVE Act — a bill to require documentary proof of citizenship in order to register to vote — thrown into the package. The SAVE Act legislation has already passed the House, but it has yet to be voted on in the Senate. On Monday, Trump posted to Truth Social that “there can be NO CHANGES at this time” to the bill, as Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) also said that the SAVE Act would be a dealbreaker if it were placed into the spending package. As for the negotiations on immigration enforcement, a lively debate is expected to unfold in Congress as Democrats want to see reforms, like the end of masking for immigration officers and changing the types of warrants used, but the proposals could face an uphill battle with the Republican trifecta. Much of the Trump administration’s immigration agenda, including hiring more ICE agents, was already signed into law by the president in July as part of the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act.” “Democrats want commonsense reform for ICE: End the roving patrols and racial profiling. Take accountability and abide by the same rules as local police. Masks need to come off, body cameras need to stay on—no secret police in the United States of America,” Schumer posted to X on Tuesday. The government was only funded for a short period of time following the 43-day-long shutdown last year over Affordable Care Act subsidies, which meant that Congress would have to go back to the drawing board in January anyway. The federal government’s fiscal year ends on Sept. 30.

Republicans are beginning to sound the alarm about the 2026 elections. The concern stems from a Texas state Senate race in a district President Trump won by 17 points in 2024, but which shifted 14 points toward Democrats. That’s a 31-point swing. Republicans closely watching these races have noticed that a bunch of special elections, ranging from Texas to Mississippi to Georgia, deep red areas, are moving toward Democrats. According to the markets, 63% of people say the Republican Party will retain control of the Senate. 37% believe the Democrats will take control. But those are the worst numbers for the Republican Party this cycle. Those numbers seem to be converging, and the hopes for the Democratic Party in this election cycle are rising.  The markets also suggest 78% of people believe Democrats will win the House, with only 22% saying Republicans will retain control. A Harvard-Harris poll shows that Democrats are +4% on the generic congressional ballot, which is a bad number for Republicans. In the Senate, there are a bunch of vulnerable seats for Republicans, including Maine, where, according to various betting markets, Susan Collins is now the underdog in that race. In North Carolina, a Republican Senate seat that will be vacated by Thom Tillis appears to lean toward the Democrats. In Ohio, Sherrod Brown could easily pull that race off. So the Democrats could get to 50 seats in the Senate before you know it. There are other seats in Alaska, Iowa, and Texas, which are normally a reach for Democrats, but in a really bad year, you could see them move in the direction of the Democrats. What can Republicans do about it? There is some mildly encouraging news for Republicans in the Harvard-Harris poll. According to the poll, 56% of Americans say that the economy is shrinking. It is not. 66% say inflation is above 3%, which it is not. Only 38% of Americans say the economy is on the right track. Yet Americans are split roughly 50/50 on whether the economy is weak or strong. There’s a serious informational gap here. The administration needs to do a better job of fighting that informational gap. The most unpopular Trump policies with regard to the economy are on tariffs and inflation. Those two things are related because the president keeps shouting over and over and over about lowering the interest rates. That leads people to worry about inflation, because inflation has not yet been fully conquered, and because the president keeps touting his tariffs, and they have had an impact on businesses in the United States, that’s unpopular, too. If the president simply stopped talking about tariffs so much, or if he were to stop putting such public pressure on the Federal Reserve to shift the interest rates, it would probably have some impact on how Americans think about the future of inflation in the country. But there’s something else here: If you want to know why Democrats are creating absolute chaos in places like Minneapolis, the answer is they are trying to undermine President Trump’s top issue. President Trump is most popular on the immigration issue. 51% of Americans still approve of President Trump’s response to the anti-ICE protests. 47% still approve of his crime policy when it comes to his most popular policies. Deporting criminal illegal immigrants is approved by 73% of Americans. 67% of Americans oppose sanctuary city policies. 60% of Americans say Democrats are encouraging resistance to ICE, and 57% of Americans oppose them doing that. Americans are pretty evenly split on whether they want to see only criminal illegal immigrants targeted or whether they want to see broader sweeps. With that said, targeting criminal illegal immigrants is what most Americans approve of , which is why, of course, Democrats are trying to necessitate that ICE and Border Patrol go after illegal immigration more broadly. When it comes to PR efforts, trotting out various members of the administration to say over and over and over again that every single person is going to be caught and deported from Home Depot is bad politics. Forget about whether it’s right or wrong for a second. It is not smart politics. But the Trump administration is starting to do the right things on PR with regard to Minnesota. Tom Homan has made an offer to Minneapolis, saying, “Give us your criminals,” which is the right policy. From a PR perspective, targeting criminal illegal immigrants in the United States is an 80/20 issue with Republicans on the side of the 80 and Democrats on the side of the 20. Democrats are trying to drive the perception that the Trump administration is focused indiscriminately on everyone across the country who is an illegal immigrant. They’re trying to instill the belief in Americans that tyranny is upon us. The plan for the Democrats is to up the ante, to undermine President Trump’s popularity on his most popular issue. Watching the legacy media and so much of our culture attempt to foster what feels like BLM summer part II, that you have to demonstrate solidarity with criminally illegal immigrants, is not going to work because the BLM issue in 2020 had more purchase in the American imagination, given America’s racial past, then the idea that criminal illegal immigrants are somehow victims of a system that’s trying to pick them up and deport them. The winning issue for President Trump is immigration. And if he can take control of the narrative, the GOP will bear the fruit.

A controversial new bill in Illinois would ban federal immigration agents hired under the Trump administration from ever working as local police in the sanctuary state. Democratic Illinois State Senator Laura Fine, who is also running for Congress, introduced the legislation after the two recent fatal shootings in Minneapolis involving federal immigration authorities. Fine called the deaths of Renee Good and Alex Pretti “a glass break moment,” adding, “enough is enough.” “It is blatantly obvious that ICE officers are not going through extensive training. Hiring ICE agents for our local and state police force is not a priority, keeping our communities safe is. And my bill aims to do just that,” Fine said in a separate post. “The message is simple: If you enabled the cruelty of the Trump administration, you don’t get to wear a badge in Illinois,” she earlier said. The bill lays out “that a law enforcement agency may not hire … any person who was hired as a federal immigration officer by the U.S. Department of Immigration and Customs Enforcement between January 20, 2025 and January 20, 2029.” I’m headed to Springfield to urge my colleagues to support my bill banning Trump’s unqualified ICE hires from ever serving in state and local law enforcement in Illinois. Enough is enough. I’m doing this for the safety of all Illinoisans. In Congress, I will continue to fight to… pic.twitter.com/rd5OMfFlj8 — Laura Fine for Congress (@laurafineforIL9) January 13, 2026 The Department of Homeland Security hit back at Fine’s proposal, with Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin telling The Daily Wire that the Democratic lawmaker is wrongly villainizing ICE agents who are taking criminal illegal immigrants off the streets after they were released under sanctuary policies. “Illinois sanctuary politicians are falsely casting federal law enforcement as villains while ICE officers are being targeted, threatened, and doxxed simply for doing their jobs and enforcing our nation’s laws. Under President Trump and Secretary Noem, ICE is held to the highest professional standard and officers regularly receive ongoing training,” McLaughlin said. “As our brave law enforcement arrests and removes dangerous criminal illegal aliens, including murderers, rapists, and gang members from our communities, America can be proud of the professionalism our officers bring to the job day-in and day-out. Instead of working with us, Illinois sanctuary politicians RELEASE violent criminals from their jails directly back into our communities to perpetrate more crimes and create more victims,” she added. Since January 20, Illinois authorities have released 1,768 criminal illegal immigrants who account for 5 homicides, 141 assaults, 23 burglaries, 4 robberies, 24 drug offenses, 15 weapons offenses, and 10 sexual predatory offenses, according to McLaughlin. There are 4,015 illegal immigrants in Illinois with ICE detainer requests for a transfer to federal custody. Those targets account for 51 homicides, 1,134 assaults, 107 burglaries, 36 robberies, 275 dangerous drugs offenses, 120 weapons offenses, and 813 sexual predatory offenses. The sanctuary state currently allows noncitizens to serve as police officers. ICE nabbed an illegal immigrant from Montenegro in October who was working as a police officer for the Hanover Police Department in Illinois. A judge subsequently granted his immigration bond, leading the police department to bring him back on.

President Donald Trump and Colombian President Gustavo Petro held face-to-face talks at the White House on Tuesday following a year of frayed relations. The meeting was the first between a South American head of state and Trump following the January 3 U.S. raid in Caracas that resulted in the capture of Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro.  Unlike most of Trump’s meetings with heads of state this past year, this meeting was closed to the press. Photos released by the White House and Petro show Vice President JD Vance also attended the meeting.  At a separate event on Tuesday, Trump told reporters that he “got along very well” with Petro. “He and I weren’t exactly the best of friends, but I was never insulted because I never met him at all,” he said. “We get along great.” President Trump said he got along “very well” with Colombian President Gustavo Petro during their meeting today, despite months of insults. “He and I weren’t exactly the best of friends, but I was never insulted because I never met him at all,” Trump said. pic.twitter.com/ETtljfwklz — Kassy Akiva (@KassyAkiva) February 3, 2026 After the meeting, Petro posted a photo of a certificate folder featuring an image of the two leaders on one side and, on the other, a note signed by Trump that read, “Gustavo — A great honor,” and “I love Colombia.” “Gustavo: Un gran Honor. Amor a Colombia”. Donald Trump. pic.twitter.com/1Tl7eIbAPr — Gustavo Petro (@petrogustavo) February 3, 2026 In a separate post, Petro shared that Trump had given him an autographed copy of Trump’s book “The Art of the Deal.” Petro spoke about the meeting in a press conference shortly after, describing his meeting with Trump as “positive.” Petro said the president also gave him a red Make America Great Again hat, adding that he and the president share a pact “for life.” A day after the capture of Maduro, Trump said that Colombia is “very sick too” and “run by a sick man who likes making cocaine and selling it to the United States.” He added that Petro is “not going to be doing it for very long.” Asked whether U.S. forces might operate in Colombia as well, Trump responded, “Sounds good to me!” Petro responded to the U.S. raid, calling it an “assault on sovereignty” and an “illegal kidnapping.” In a later post, he implied that he would take up arms if the U.S. military intervened in his country. “I swore not to touch another weapon since the 1989 peace agreement, but for the sake of the homeland, I will take up arms again, even though I don’t want to,” Petro, who is a former Marxist revolutionary, posted on X. A few days later, Trump posted that he received a call from Petro, claiming he “appreciated his call and tone.” “It was a Great Honor to speak with the President of Colombia, Gustavo Petro, who called to explain the situation of drugs and other disagreements that we have had,” Trump said, adding that they were planning a visit to the White House by Petro. On Monday, Trump signaled the primary topic in the meeting would be about the “tremendous amount of drugs” being trafficked from Colombia, the world’s largest producer of cocaine. He added that Petro has become “very nice” after the U.S. arrested Maduro. “He changed his attitude very much,” Trump said. Petro is term-limited and set to vacate his office in August. Relations between the two leaders were already severely strained prior to Maduro’s arrest.  At the United Nations General Assembly in September, Petro delivered a sharply anti-American address that prompted the U.S. delegation to walk out of the chamber.  In his speech, Petro accused Trump of complicity in genocide in Gaza and called for criminal charges to be brought against U.S. officials. “This hall is a mute witness, and an accomplice, to genocide in today’s world. When we believed it was only the property of Hitler, Trump does not speak of democracy, he does not speak of the climate crisis, he does not speak of life – he only threatens, kills, and lets tens of thousands be killed,” Petro said. Petro went after Trump for authoring drone strikes on boats in the Caribbean that the U.S. government accused of belonging to narco-terrorists who were trafficking narcotics. Petro said the passengers of the boats were only young people fleeing poverty. “There must be criminal charges opened against those officials of the United States, including the senior official who gave the order – President Trump, who allowed missiles to be fired against young people who simply wanted to escape poverty,” he said. During the same visit to the United States, Petro also attended an anti-Israel protest, where, according to the U.S. State Department, he encouraged U.S. soldiers to disobey orders and incited violence. The State Department said it revoked Petro’s visa due to what it described as his “reckless and incendiary actions.” During the New York City protest, Petro reportedly said, “I ask all the soldiers of the United States’ army, don’t point your rifles against humanity,” and “disobey the orders of Trump.” Petro responded, claiming he has “immunity to go to the U.N.” and that he is also a European citizen who does not need a visa to travel to the United States.

'Advertised as a Red Hot Chili Peppers documentary, which it is not'

'without identifying themselves, everyone is at risk'

'Protect the identity of Planned Parenthood'

Democratic Illinois Rep. Delia Ramirez vowed that the Department of Homeland Security would be “dismantled” during a Tuesday press conference, adding that “every fascist” in the Trump administration would face “justice.” Democrats blocked a “minibus” spending bill that included funding for DHS, demanding reforms to United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) that would severely restrict their enforcement operations following the fatal shootings of Alex Pretti and Renee Nicole Good in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area. Ramirez claimed the cabinet agency was “the greatest threat to the homeland” before she targeted Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem, White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy Stephen Miller and border czar Tom Homan. “Americans are past reforms of a department that has used your taxpayer dollars to execute people in broad daylight,” Ramirez claimed. “This is why the Melt ICE Act ends the Department of Homeland Security’s funding to detain and monitor pregnant women, children, neighbors, disrupting immigration enforcement and then redirecting that money, your money, into the communities that have been impacted, whether that’s in Minnesota, in Chicago, in Portland, and all over the country.” “Here’s the bottom line, folks, that I’m getting off before [Democratic Rep.] Bonnie [Watson Coleman] pushes me out,” Ramirez continued. “We must have accountability and we must bring justice to every fascist in the administration, and that includes Kristi Noem, that includes Stephen Miller, and that includes Tom Homan. ICE will be abolished, DHS will be dismantled, and together we will get it done.” Democrats have repeatedly accused Trump of pushing fascism, and have extended those accusations to ICE, with Democratic Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota labeling ICE “Trump’s modern-day Gestapo” during a May 17 commencement address at the University of Minnesota. Democratic Rep. Jasmine Crockett of Texas compared the agency to pre-Civil War “slave patrols” during a September appearance on “The Breakfast Club.” Democratic Rep. Jerrold Nadler of New York claimed Tuesday that the Trump administration’s “ICE goons” had brought “fascism in our streets,” adding that shooting such “masked hoodlums” who “kidnapped” people would be “justified.” Assaults against ICE agents have increased by 1,300%, a Jan. 8 DHS release says. The DHS also noted that vehicular ramming attacks climbed by 3,200% and death threats targeting agents rose by 8,000%. ICE agents have been fired upon in Illinois and California, while two individuals lost their lives during a shooting at an ICE office in Dallas on Sept. 24, after which the gunman committed suicide. In Texas, at least two incidents occurred in July where gunshots were directed at ICE or Border Patrol facilities, with ten people being indicted on conspiracy charges over the attack on the ICE facility in Alvarado. Originally published by the Daily Caller News Foundation The post Dem Rep Goes Beyond Abolishing ICE, Seeks To Dismantle DHS appeared first on The Daily Signal.