On Thursday’s edition of Morning Joe, MS NOW reporter Josh Einiger claimed ICE arrests of previously convicted criminals did not fall under the Trump administration’s pledge to deport the ‘worst of the worst’ illegal immigrants. It was a blatant pivot from the media’s typical claim that those being arrested had no criminal record. The report came as the Department of Homeland Security began a new immigration enforcement operation in Maine titled ‘Operation Catch of the Day’ as part of the administration’s illegal immigration crackdown.     After being introduced by Morning Joe co-host Willie Geist, Einiger talked over a short video of ICE “targeting” a possible person of interest. Einiger did not report on the actual immigration or criminal status of the man in the car: This was on Tuesday morning, as about half a dozen federal agents surrounded a man who had been driving his car. They pulled him out of his car, put him in one of their cars and drove off, leaving his car on the side of the road. We don't know who he was, why they were targeting him, or how they found him.  Einiger then bizarrely claimed ICE detainment of at least three previously convicted criminals did not fall under the category of deporting the ‘worst of the worst’: We do know DHS released the pictures of four people they say they detained here in Maine over the past several days. They referred to them as the worst of the worst. But three of them actually were already convicted and adjudicated for crimes of various severity here in the state of Maine. Local officials say they weren't actually wanted for anything here in Maine. Previously, the elitist media’s go-to tactic was to claim those being arrested had no criminal record at all. Now, they’re fearing for those who were convicted. After playing a clip from the Mayor of Portland, Einiger interviewed a Somali activist who cried out against ICE operations in the Northeast. He ended his segment by fearmongering the residents of Maine: “And Willie and Mika, the - one of the biggest concerns here, is that people fear it's all just the beginning here in Maine” At the story’s conclusion, Geist and frequent Morning Joe guest Mike Barnicle complained over the clever naming of ICE operation by the DHS, while they also claimed ICE stopped people over skin color or accents: That’s it, you have an accent, you have - you have brown skin, everything like that. Pull them over. It's outrageous, and it's a daily, hourly basis that they're doing it. While Barnicle’s claims were nothing new, the report that tried to gloss over the previous criminal conviction of ICE detainees should not be forgotten. It would seem to be reasonable to many that those illegally in the United States with criminal records were pretty solid candidates for deportation. The transcript is below. Expand to Read: MS NOW’s Morning Joe January 22, 2026 7:43:39 a.m. Eastern WILLIE GEIST: As we were discussing earlier, the Department of Homeland Security says it has started to make immigration-related arrests now in the state of Maine in a new operation. Let's bring in MS Now reporter Josh Einiger, joins us live from Portland, Maine. Josh, good morning. How does it look on the ground there? JOSH EINIGER: Willie, good morning to you. We're here in front of Portland’s City Hall, where local leaders, much like their counterparts across the country, are basically in the dark about what ICE and DHS are doing here on the ground in the state of Maine. Sources tell MS NOW there are about 200 federal agents here for what they're now calling ‘Operation Catch of the Day’.  And we can show you cell phone video obtained by MS NOW, as this has started to ramp up. This was on Tuesday morning, as about half a dozen federal agents surrounded a man who had been driving his car. They pulled him out of his car, put him in one of their cars and drove off, leaving his car on the side of the road. We don't know who he was, why they were targeting him, or how they found him.  We do know DHS released the pictures of four people they say they detained here in Maine over the past several days. They referred to them as the worst of the worst. But three of them actually were already convicted and adjudicated for crimes of various severity here in the state of Maine. Local officials say they weren't actually wanted for anything here in Maine. We talked to the mayor yesterday. He spent 32 years in law enforcement before he went into politics. And he told me what concerns him the most is the tactics at play, or the lack thereof. [Cuts to video]   MARK DION (Portland Mayor): I'm concerned, I mean, I really would love to look at their training records. How much time did they spend preparing their people for the work they were going to be asked to do? I mean, we put Maine officers through 20 weeks of training in an academy. Most of them come back to their home agency. There's additional training. We add a year or year and a half of field - field training officer process. I mean, we invest a lot because those people are going to make serious decisions, life and death decisions. I don't know if that's been the same for all these new agents and ICE.   [Cuts to video] SAFIYA KHALID (Activist from Lewiston, ME): They're targeting Somali people. They are targeting immigrants. You know, if you're brown and you're black and you look like you may have an accent, they are stopping you. We are seeing what is happening in other parts of the country. So, Maine is just another target, you know? And right now we are being targeted. The Somali community is right now being targeted today, but tomorrow it can be another community. So no one is safe. We don't know their exact tactics and stuff, but it's really to put fear in people, right, to other us, and to intimidate us and say that we don't belong in this country.   [Cuts back to live]   EINIGER: And Safiya Khalid is a community activist in the Somali Community in Lewiston, which is about 45 minutes up the road from Portland and where Somalis, chiefly Somali Americans, by the way, make up about one-tenth of the population. But even though so many of that community are American citizens, they're just terrified. Most of them are staying home.  There's a main drag there of vibrant stores, of grocery stores, restaurants, a barber shop, and it's just been a ghost town the last few days. The owner of the ghost - of the barbershop told us, this is sort of like a second pandemic when it comes to his business. No one is going out knowing no one is spending money, people are just that concerned. And Willie and Mika, the - one of the biggest concerns here, is that people fear it's all just the beginning here in Maine. GEIST: MS NOW reporter Josh Einiger, live from Portland, Maine. Josh, thanks so much.   Mike, we can put to the side for a moment the clever, gleeful titles they’re giving these—   MIKE BARNICLE: Catch of the Day.   GEIST: — Operation Catch of the Day, talking about human beings. But also this idea that they are getting the worst of the worst. They keep saying that over and over again, when their own internal data shows that’s just not the case. If they're arresting rapists and murderers, do it. Get them all. But that's not what's happening.   BARNICLE: They're also doing something that is forbidden by nearly every major police department in the country, in that they go to places like Auburn, Maine, or Lewiston, Maine, and they will stop people based on skin color alone. That's it.   GEIST: Or you have an accent   BARNICLE: That’s it, you have an accent, you have - you have brown skin, everything like that. Pull them over. It's outrageous, and it's a daily, hourly basis that they're doing it.   GEIST: From Minnesota, now to Maine with perhaps more to come.

CBS’s Stephen Colbert welcomed “non-violence scholar” Maria Stephan to Thursday’s taping of The Late Show to continue his crusade against ICE. During the two-segment interview, Colbert and Stephan promoted the idea of a general strike, suggested that describing Renee Good as violent is a hallmark of authoritarianism, claimed that Christian ICE agents should resign, and praised people who wear frog costumes. Colbert put the ball on the tee for Stephan when he wondered, “Let's talk about things like a general strike. Has America—it's a very European thing to have a general strike. Has America ever engaged in a general strike, like, “That’s enough, we’re not showing up for work tomorrow”?   Stephen Colbert welcomes "non-violence scholar" Dr. Maria Stephan to advocate for a general strike. She says "this Friday on January 23rd, there is an ICE Out of Minnesota day of action, it’s a shutdown day where people will be staying home from work. They won't be going to… pic.twitter.com/sm1IAh8agw — Alex Christy (@alexchristy17) January 23, 2026   Stephan answered that we have not, but, “I can say what's happening this Friday on January 23rd, there is an ICE Out of Minnesota day of action, it’s a shutdown day where people will be staying home from work. They won't be going to school. They’ll be refusing to participate in economic activity. So, a power—and they are calling on Americans across the country to show solidarity.” Fact-check: Schools in Minnesota were closed on Friday due to weather, and Minneapolis had a pre-planned teacher work day. That aside, Colbert continued, “One of the problems with Minnesota right now is to have people like Kristi Noem or the people who are heading up ICE, saying that it's not nonviolent resistance. They are saying someone like Renee Good was actually a threat to those people or that filming an ICE agent, or they are saying filming an ICE agent, documenting, which is perfectly legal, is a form of threat and therefore it justifies use what they say is violence in return to the threat of violence from these people. What do you do when your nonviolent action is perceived of or called violent by the people who can use violence against you?” Driving your car at someone is a “threat of violence,” but, naturally, Stephan didn’t care about that any more than Colbert did, “Yeah, declaring peaceful protesters violent or domestic terrorists or outside agitators is what autocrats all around the world do. That is their playbook. Is to make people fearful and to try to undermine the legitimacy of protesters. That's their game.” She then went on to compare the current situation in Minnesota to the Civil Rights Movement of the 60s, “Think about the Civil Rights Movement. Profound state violence used against protesters. They prepared, they trained, they role-played, they organized, all to make that political violence backfire. Think of Selma. The peaceful march. So, when Peaceful discipline protesters confronted the, you know, dogs, the hoses, the response, it revealed the cruelty. When the discipline protesters were faced with this form of violence. And so that's how disciplined nonviolent resistance can make state violence, repression backfire.” Later, Colbert lamented and asked, “You know, many of the people who are in support of this sort of thing, even some of the people who are in ICE, actually cite their Christian faith as a justification for this. What would you say to those people? Is there anything from your experience of faith that you would say to them?” Stephan urged them to quit, “I mean, I think I would remind them of our shared humanity in this moment. I would remind them of the greatest commandment: to love thy neighbor. I would remind them of Matthew 25. What you do unto the least of thee, you do unto me. And I would remind them that they have agency in this moment and they can walk away.”   Later Colbert invites Stephan to consider "Is there anything from your experience of faith that you would say to them [Christian ICE agents]?"Stephan replied that "I would remind them of the greatest commandment: to love thy neighbor. I would remind them of Matthew 25. What you… pic.twitter.com/30OzikgK7p — Alex Christy (@alexchristy17) January 23, 2026   Of course, ICE agents believe they are simply protecting their community, and they are encountering violence more routinely than Colbert and Stephan want to admit. Nevertheless, Colbert agreed before moving on to frog costumes, “Yes, they’re not in the army. They’re allowed to quit. I love some of the things I've seen this past year, like all the frog costumes in Portland. The dinosaur costumes. Happened in Chicago too. You know, when the going gets tough, should the tough get silly?” Stephan affirmed the idea, “They absolutely should. Joy is resistance, Stephen, and there is such a powerful role for humor in this moment. Humor breaks through the fear. It inspires courage... So, the frog costumes, like, it has lit people on fire. Young people are inspired. It's a way for people to show up, to get involved.” The frog costumes also allow Colbert and Stephan to omit all the non-joyful aspects of the protestors. From violence to church stormings, if Colbert pretends like they don’t exist, it is easier for him and his guests to spin a tale of ICE being like the bad guys in Selma. Here is a transcript for the January 22-taped show: CBS The Late Show with Stephen Colbert 1/23/2026 12:18 AM ET STEPHEN COLBERT: Let's talk about things like a general strike. Has America — it's a very European thing to have a general strike. Has America ever engaged in a general strike, like, “That’s enough, we’re not showing up for work tomorrow”? MARIA STEPHAN: So, we've never had a general strike, but I can say what's happening this Friday on January 23rd, there is an ICE Out of Minnesota day of action, it’s a shutdown day where people will be staying home from work. They won't be going to school. They’ll be refusing to participate in economic activity. So, a power—and they are calling on Americans across the country to show solidarity. COLBERT: One of the problems with Minnesota right now is to have people like Kristi Noem or the people who are heading up ICE, saying that it's not nonviolent resistance. They are saying someone like Renee Good was actually a threat to those people or that filming an ICE agent, or they are saying filming an ICE agent, documenting, which is perfectly legal, is a form of threat and therefore it justifies use what they say is violence in return to the threat of violence from these people. What do you do when your nonviolent action is perceived of or called violent by the people who can use violence against you? STEPHAN: Yeah, declaring peaceful protesters violent or domestic terrorists or outside agitators is what autocrats all around the world do. That is their playbook. Is to make people fearful and to try to undermine the legitimacy of protesters. That's their game. And so what are we seeing in Minneapolis right now? What have we seen in our history in this country? Think about the Civil Rights Movement. Profound state violence used against protesters. They prepared, they trained, they role-played, they organized, all to make that political violence backfire. Think of Selma. The peaceful march. So, when Peaceful discipline protesters confronted the, you know, dogs, the hoses, the response, it revealed the cruelty. When the discipline protesters were faced with this form of violence. And so that's how disciplined nonviolent resistance can make state violence, repression backfire. … COLBERT: You know, many of the people who are in support of this sort of thing, even some of the people who are in ICE, actually cite their Christian faith as a justification for this. What would you say to those people? Is there anything from your experience of faith that you would say to them? STEPHAN: I mean, I think I would remind them of our shared humanity in this moment. I would remind them of the greatest commandment: to love thy neighbor. I would remind them of Matthew 25. What you do unto the least of thee, you do unto me. And I would remind them that they have agency in this moment and they can walk away. COLBERT: Yes, they’re not in the army. They’re allowed to quit. I love some of the things I've seen this past year, like all the frog costumes in Portland. The dinosaur costumes. Happened in Chicago too. STEPHAN: Yes. COLBERT: You know, when the going gets tough, should the tough get silly? STEPHAN: They absolutely should. Joy is resistance, Stephen, and there is such a powerful role for humor in this moment. Humor breaks through the fear. It inspires courage. COLBERT: Should you really make jokes about the news, though? Not everything is a joke, Maria. STEPHAN: So, the frog costumes, like, it has lit people on fire. Young people are inspired. It's a way for people to show up, to get involved. COLBERT: Also, people don’t look like a threat when they’re in an inflatable frog costume. It really drives home the whole thing, like, “they’ve got guns, I’ve got a little fan on my butt.”

POLL: What was the worst media quote of the week? (Vote below)   POLL: The Worst Media Quote of the Week, with @DavidBozell 1. Don Lemon: That kind of Christianity is White Supremacy 2. Jennifer Welch: [Don Lemon] is prime bait for Trump’s white nationalists 3. Jim Acosta: If ICE can murder a citizen, we’ve become a Putin-like thugocracy pic.twitter.com/qWQh1e74qE — Media Research Center (@theMRC) January 22, 2026   NOMINEES:    Don Lemon After Invading Church: That Type of Christianity Comes from White Supremacy “There is a certain degree of racism there and there’s a certain degree of entitlement. I think people who are, you know, in the religious groups like that, it’s not the type of Christianity that I practice, but I think that they’re entitled and that — that entitlement comes from a supremacy, a white supremacy…It’s religious freedom, but only if you’re a Christian and only if you’re a white male.”— Former CNN anchor Don Lemon on the I’ve Had It podcast, January 19.    Jennifer Welch to Don Lemon: You Are “Prime Bait” for Trump’s White Nationalists “That is one of those white evangelical churches that turn out to vote for Donald Trump, 80 plus percent of that sect of Christianity….These are the people who feel like America is for Americans and Americans only. These are white nationalists, and the DOJ got their panties in a wad because these protesters went straight to them and addressed their hypocrisy. You, a gay black journalist, are – I mean, prime bait for them to drum up these charges.”— Host Jennifer Welch to former CNN anchor Don Lemon on the I’ve Had It podcast, January 19.    Jim Acosta: If ICE Can “Murder” a Citizen, We’ve Become a “Putin-Like Thugocracy” “ICE has gotten to a point, I mean, take a look at what happened in Minneapolis. If we have a situation in this country where the government can go out and murder a U.S. citizen with no – without any investigation that is credible, then we’ve become a Putin-like thugocracy.” — Former CNN correspondent Jim Acosta on the I’ve Had It podcast, January 15.     Sponsored by James P. Jimirro

Since Roe v. Wade was overturned nearly four years ago, countless pro-life organizations have pushed new regulations on abortion. Many of those same groups have rushed to declare victory, claiming that conservative states are now “abortion-free.”But when pro-life organizations declare any state “abortion-free,” they celebrate a victory that does not exist — and drastically overstate the impact of pro-life laws.The preborn babies murdered under the cover of our laws deserve more than semantic victories. They deserve equal protection.These claims don’t just mislead. They undermine the cause these organizations claim to champion.Exaggerating victoriesThe claim that some states are “abortion-free” isn’t rare. It has become standard messaging.Students for Life published a map three years ago declaring that 14 states are now “abortion-free.” Frank Pavone, who leads Priests for Life, has made the same claim about Mississippi. National Right to Life called Kentucky “abortion-free” as recently as last summer. LifeNews has become notorious for amplifying inflated or misleading abortion claims from pro-life groups at the state level.These declarations suggest abortion has been eliminated in these states. The reality says otherwise.Pro-life leaders do not make clear that in every state labeled “abortion-free,” abortions remain legal for women who want to kill their preborn babies.Many conservative states shut down abortion clinics and imposed penalties on providers. At the same time, those states wrote explicit exemptions into law protecting women from prosecution for willfully obtaining abortions.That wasn’t a mistake. Pro-life organizations crafted and promoted that policy.Self-induced abortionsLegal immunity for women who murder their preborn babies created a massive loophole. It also opened the door to a surge in self-induced abortions.Women in “abortion-free” states can order abortion pills online from telehealth providers operating under shield laws in blue states or from overseas providers.In many cases, it remains perfectly legal to order these pills, possess them, and use them at home. The scale of this practice — even in conservative states — is staggering.Consider Kentucky, which National Right to Life called “abortion-free.”In Kentucky, more than 2,800 women in 2024 received mail-order abortion pills through telehealth providers alone, according to data from the Society of Family Planning.That does not include the more than 4,300 Kentucky women who traveled to other states for abortions in 2024, according to the Guttmacher Institute. It also does not capture self-induced abortions outside the formal medical system.Kentucky is not an outlier.RELATED: How a pro-life law in Kentucky lets mothers get away with murder Carl Lokko via iStock/Getty ImagesWhen all available data is considered, the 14 conservative states that have banned or mostly banned abortion — the same states pro-life groups often call “abortion-free” — saw at least 250,000 preborn babies murdered in 2024.That number represents a sharp increase from the 181,000 abortions recorded in those states in 2019.In other words, pro-life laws have not created states with fewer abortions. They have created states where abortion has shifted away from clinics and toward self-induced abortions at home — abortions that remain legal for the mother who commits them.How can abortion increase while pro-life organizations claim success? Because many have misrepresented what they mean by “abortion-free.”When these groups say “abortion-free,” they mean abortion clinics have closed. They do not mean abortions have stopped. It’s like calling a city “crime-free” because the district attorney refuses to prosecute criminals. The semantics conceal the reality.Opposing abolitionEven more troubling, major pro-life organizations often oppose the bills that would actually abolish abortion.When lawmakers introduce equal protection bills — proposals that would make abortion illegal for everyone, including pregnant mothers — pro-life organizations often mobilize against them.This has happened dozens of times across the country. The reasoning stays consistent: Pro-life groups insist women are victims of abortion and should not face legal consequences, even when they deliberately order abortion pills and self-induce abortions at home.When pro-life groups oppose equal protection bills and then claim their states are “abortion-free,” they don’t merely exaggerate. They sabotage.Everyday anti-abortion Americans hear “abortion-free” and assume the fight is over. Activism slows. Political pressure fades. Donations and support shift elsewhere. Meanwhile organizations that should be pressing for equal protection instead suppress the only laws that would actually end abortion.In the meantime, abortion continues unabated — simply moved from clinics to living rooms.The pro-life establishment has redefined victory to fit what it has achieved, not what it claims to seek. It has declared victory over a substitute target — abortion clinics — while the killing of preborn children continues through abortion pills and interstate travel.RELATED: Why the pro-life movement fails without a Christian worldview wildpixel via iStock/Getty ImagesDemanding honestyAmericans who oppose abortion deserve honesty from the organizations claiming to represent them.If abortion can still be performed legally in a state through mail-order pills, that state is not “abortion-free.” If abortion numbers rise rather than fall, victory has not arrived. If pro-life groups oppose laws that would make abortion illegal for everyone, they owe the public an explanation.Abolishing abortion requires equal protection under the law: making the killing of any human being illegal for everyone, without exception or compromise.Until major pro-life organizations support that principle, their claims of creating “abortion-free” states remain not just premature but dishonest.The preborn babies murdered under the cover of our laws deserve more than semantic victories. They deserve equal protection — and Americans who oppose abortion deserve leaders honest enough to admit when that goal remains unmet.

The Trump administration indicated in its National Security Strategy that "after years of neglect, the United States will reassert and enforce the Monroe Doctrine to restore American preeminence in the Western Hemisphere."Making abundantly clear to all that this was not empty rhetoric, the U.S. kicked off 2026 by militarily deposing Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro.Maduro was the first leftist dictator removed from power this year, but he may not be the last. Sources familiar with the matter told the Wall Street Journal that now with a blueprint for surgical governmental restructures in the region, the Trump administration is searching for well-placed insiders in Cuba who could help oust the island nation's communist regime by the end of the year.'I strongly suggest they make a deal, BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE.'That strategy appears, after all, to have worked in Caracas, Venezuela, where an asset within Maduro's inner circle furnished American intelligence personnel with critical information about the leftist leader's habits, travels, and whereabouts, according to administration officials. It's unclear if that asset was Maduro's vice president, now acting President Delcy Rodríguez, whom four sources familiar with the discussions told the Guardian signaled a willingness to cooperate with the Trump administration ahead of the military extraction.RELATED: The truth behind Trump's Venezuela plan: It's not about Maduro at all Photo by Horacio Villalobos#Corbis/Corbis via Getty ImagesOne U.S. official told the Journal that in recent meetings with Cuban exiles and civic groups, Trump administration officials have brainstormed possible individuals within the current Cuban regime who have an appetite for change and might want to make a deal.The sense is that the time is ripe for a shakeup in the Stalinist island nation in light of its economic instability and loss of a key ally in Caracas.Secretary of State Marco Rubio, the son of Cuban immigrants, said earlier this month, "I think Cuba is going to be something we'll end up talking about, because Cuba is a failing nation right now, a very badly failing nation, and we want to help the people.""If I lived in Havana, and I was in the government, I’d be concerned," added Rubio.Cuba — which has suffered rolling blackouts in recent months and years — has long relied on Venezuela for subsidized oil, which has made up around 70% of its total oil imports.In the wake of Maduro's removal, Pavel Vidal, a former Cuban central bank economist who teaches at Javeriana University, told NBC News, "If oil supply were to cease entirely, the Cuban economy would grind to a halt."Senior U.S. officials told the Journal that the U.S. plans to further undermine the Cuban regime by restricting its access to Venezuelan oil."Cuba lived, for many years, on large amounts of OIL and MONEY from Venezuela," Trump noted in a Truth Social post on Jan. 11. "THERE WILL BE NO MORE OIL OR MONEY GOING TO CUBA — ZERO! I strongly suggest they make a deal, BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE."The State Department said in a statement that it is in America's national security interests for Cuba "to be competently run by a democratic government and to refuse to host our adversaries’ military and intelligence services."Rubio made a point of noting last week that the Cuban regime was "illegitimate."Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

Labor and Delivery Nurse Takes 'Great Joy' at Thought of Karoline Leavitt Sustaining Childbirth Injury

Trump's Glorious Troll: 'Whatever Happened to Global Warming?' as Arctic Blast Threatens Millions

Morning Minute: Chill Out

New: Don Lemon Taunts the DOJ and Dares Them to Arrest Him - Harmeet Dhillon Gives Telling Response

The holes on the prongs of your electrical plugs may look random, but there's a clear reason they were created and why they still appear on modern appliances.