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Is this the breaking point in Minneapolis?
Every delay has consequences.

With the shooting of Alex Padilla this morning do you feel this moves the needle in terms of large scale Trump enforcement in Minnesota or will the Trump administration double down and increase ICE mobility in Minnesota?

Badenoch says politics is broken. The Conservatives should mend it, because it already seems too ‘fixed’
Confidence requires clarity.

That old phrase ‘you wait for a bus and then three come at once’ has always been, for me, just a fact of life.

If I have a super-power at all, it is the ability to miss any given and randomly chosen method of public transport by a few seconds. Psychologists would say I merely think this is the case, but my wife would tell you how much it surprises her that it’s actually true.

Last week and leading into this, more than three buses have turned up at once in the form of examples of how our politics may indeed be broken, even if you don’t buy into the doom loop Reform repetition that the country is.

There seems to have been a normalisation that the ‘rules’ of our democracy have succumbed to a particular bug bear of mine. This problem has evolved across myriad aspects of British politics:

Conventions, rules and agreements should either be abided by all parties or universally abandoned. There should be no middle ground. The idea of ‘flexibility’ or ‘exceptionality’ is problematic when the justification, as it too often is, is predicated on who it helps, and what party they are in.

A niche example: chucking milkshakes at a politician is either part of the ‘rough and tumble of politics’ or it is an assault. I’m hard over on the latter. However if you are too, then it makes no difference who the politician is. Laughing it off because you don’t like the victim, means you can’t be outraged when you do. Consistency should not be threatened by political circumstance or bias.

The request from 29 councils to postpone elections under a rather generous Government interpretation of a dusty bit of legislation is bending a basic democratic right. It is true there are three Conservative councils, and one Liberal Democrat who have done so, but the majority are Labour or ‘no overall control.’

The reasons given are the disruption and cost in holding an election for councils that may not exist in the same form once the Government carry out their “reorganisation of local government”. Ironic when their organisation of national government is so chaotic.

It is not clear either how the Government intends to bring the election cycle back into sync after postponing, and whether that might involve a further delay.

Shadow Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government James Cleverly told the Commons that elections are the cornerstone of democracy, and accused Labour for “moving seamlessly from arrogance to incompetence and now cowardice“.

Reform UK are equally aggrieved and it’s not hard to see why. They expect – and are probably right to – that they’ll do very well in the elections in May, and any postponement reduces the number of wins they might get. Of course, they argue that this is an attack on the people’s democratic rights, though they seem less …

GOP Sen. Cassidy breaks with Trump over deadly shooting by Border Patrol agent in Minneapolis
Who's accountable for the results?

Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., called for a full investigation after a federal agent fatally shot a man who was allegedly armed in Minneapolis on Saturday, calling the incident "incredibly disturbing."
Cassidy joined a chorus of Democratic lawmakers raising questions following the shooting death of 37-year-old Minneapolis resident Alex J. Pretti, who was killed by a Border Patrol agent on Saturday. Pretti allegedly confronted officers during a Department of Homeland Security operation in south Minneapolis and was carrying a gun, according to the agency.
"The events in Minneapolis are incredibly disturbing," Cassidy said in a post on X. "The credibility of ICE and DHS are at stake. There must be a full joint federal and state investigation."
Cassidy added that "we can trust the American people with the truth."
TRUMP BRIEFED ON BORDER PATROL-INVOLVED SHOOTING AS MINNEAPOLIS MAYOR DEMANDS END TO ENFORCEMENT OPERATION
The Louisiana Republican's comments were seemingly at odds with members of his party, including President Donald Trump, who said in a post on Truth Social following the shooting that federal agents "had to protect themselves" because of the lack of support from local police in Minneapolis.
"This is the gunman’s gun, loaded (with two additional full magazines!), and ready to go—What is that all about? Where are the local Police? Why weren’t they allowed to protect ICE Officers?" Trump wrote in the post. "The Mayor and the Governor called them off? It is stated that many of these Police were not allowed to do their job, that ICE had to protect themselves—Not an easy thing to do!"
Last week, Trump pledged his endorsement for U.S. Rep. Julia Letlow if she entered the GOP primary in Louisiana, challenging Cassidy, who has served in the U.S. Senate since 2015. Letlow launched her Senate bid days later.
NOEM SAYS MINNEAPOLIS SUSPECT COMMITTED ‘DOMESTIC TERRORISM,’ ACCUSES WALZ, FREY OF INCITING VIOLENCE
Cassidy was one of the Senate Republicans who voted to convict Trump after the House impeached him in 2021. The Senate vote ultimately fell short of the threshold required to convict Trump.
Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said during a news conference Saturday that the incident occurred while DHS officers carried out "targeted operations" in Minneapolis against an illegal immigrant with a violent criminal history.
"An individual approached U.S. Border Patrol officers with a 9-millimeter semi-automatic handgun," Noem said, adding that agents attempted to disarm him.
"The officers attempted to disarm this individual, but the armed …

Newslinks for Sunday 25th January 2026
People are fed up—do they even notice?

Starmer facing Labour civil war over Burnham

“Sir Keir Starmer is facing a growing mutiny after Andy Burnham declared his intention to return to Westminster. Leading Labour figures, MPs and grassroots members came out in support of the Mayor of Greater Manchester in a co-ordinated campaign on Saturday after he announced his intention to run in the Gordon and Denton by-election. A Labour committee controlled by the Prime Minister’s allies will decide on Sunday whether to block Mr Burnham’s return to Parliament, amid fears that he will use his return to the back benches to mount a leadership challenge. Those close to Sir Keir are now faced with the dilemma of blocking Mr Burnham from standing as an MP – risking a backlash from his supporters – or permitting his return and effectively allowing a leadership challenge.” – Sunday Telegraph

Burnham throws down the gauntlet to Starmer – Sunday Times

Burnham to stand for Westminster seat – FT

Starmer allies urge him to block Burnham from running in byelection – Observer

PM is cornered – Mail on Sunday

Burnham launches takeover bid – Sun on Sunday

Starmer has already lost – Sunday Express

Streeting’s backers: he already has 200 MPs who are ‘absolutely solid’ – Sunday Times

The race to replace Starmer – FT

Will Burnham return to parliament – and what would it mean for Starmer? – Observer

Comment

Whatever he chooses to do with Burnham, Starmer will lose – Tom Harris, Sunday Telegraph

Sir Keir is facing a historic mutiny – Editorial, Sunday Telegraph

Starmer has two options now — both are calamitous – Jason Cowley, Sunday Times

Starmer is about to learn that with friends like Burnham and Rayner he has no need of enemies – Editorial, Sun on Sunday

Trump backtracks on Afghanistan slur

“Donald Trump has backtracked on claims British troops stayed away from the front line in Afghanistan after anger over his “appalling” comments. In a statement on Truth Social the US president said that British troops were “among the greatest of all warriors” and were “great and very brave”. He added that the bond between the British and American military was “too strong ever to be broken”. Mr Trump issued the statement hours after Sir Keir Starmer confronted him directly on the phone over his comments about British military staff. On Thursday Mr Trump told Fox News that he was “not sure” America’s military allies would support the United States “if we ever needed them”. – Sunday Telegraph

Trump has legal power to veto Chagos deal, Government admits – Sunday Telegraph

Concerns raised by King Charles ‘prompted Trump to backtrack – Mail on Sunday

President back down after King intervened – Sun on Sunday

The 10-minute call that soured Starmer’s bromance with Trump – Sunday Telegraph

How Starmer’s Chagos Islands …

New Democratic group pushes fresh faces as party's brand sinks to historic lows
Why resist verification?

Democrats are rolling out The Bench — a new political group pushing a crop of rising star candidates aiming to remake the party.
The organization, which was formally launched earlier this month by a handful of campaign veterans, says its mission is to spend resources to build a bench full of candidates which they highlight as "the future of the Democratic Party."
The launch of the new group comes as Democrats aim to win back House and Senate majorities in this year's midterm elections, but as the party also suffers from historically low favorability and approval ratings.
The party in power in Washington, D.C., which this year is clearly the GOP, normally faces stiff political headwinds in the midterm elections. And the latest national polls indicate that President Donald Trump's approval ratings remain well underwater, fueled in part by Americans' continued deep concerns over persistent inflation.
DEMOCRATS EYE NARROW AND UPHILL PATH TO SENATE MAJORITY
But Democrats have their own polling problems, with a slew of surveys dating back a year indicating the party's brand hitting historic lows.
The Bench, in a statement, says the candidates they're backing "can help us repair our brand, they are best positioned to win general election races and hold onto seats."
The group plans to provide these candidates "with the tools, strategy, and support to run serious, solutions-focused campaigns that challenge the status quo, connect with voters, and deliver real results for the people they serve."
CALL TO DUTY: IN BATTLE FOR HOUSE, REPUBLICANS AND DEMOCRATS LOOKING TO VETERANS
The group, which includes well-known Democratic operative and strategist Lis Smith and communications specialist Andrew Mamo, has been working for months to recruit and build up three Senate candidates and a dozen House contenders.
The Senate candidates are Michigan state Senate Majority Whip Mallory McMorrow, Texas state lawmaker and Presbyterian seminarian James Talarico, and Iowa state Rep. Josh Turek, a Paralympian wheelchair basketball player.
In House races, the group is backing are Jamie Ager in North Carolina's 11th Congressional District, Shannon Bird in Colorado's 8th District, Bob Brooks in Pennsylvania's 7th District, Cait Conley in New York's 17th District, and Mike Cortese in Tennessee's 5th District.
FIRED UNDER TRUMP, THESE TWO FORMER TOP MILITARY OFFICES HAVE A NEW MISSION: RUN FOR CONGRESS AS DEMOCRATS 
The list also includes Sam Forstag in Montana's 1st District, Sarah Trone Garriott in Iowa's 3rd District, Matt Maasdam in Michigan's 7th District, Darren McAuley in …

Judge blocks Trump admin from 'destroying or altering' evidence in deadly Minneapolis shooting
Who's accountable for the results?

A federal judge in Minnesota has blocked the Trump administration from "destroying or altering evidence" related to a deadly shooting involving a Border Patrol agent in Minneapolis on Saturday.
The ruling came after the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office and the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension filed a lawsuit Saturday to prevent the destruction of evidence in the shooting death of Alex Pretti, a 37-year-old Minneapolis resident killed by a Border Patrol agent during an immigration enforcement operation.
According to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Pretti approached Border Patrol agents armed with a 9 mm pistol and "violently resisted" when they attempted to disarm him.
The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota, names DHS, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) and U.S. Border Control, as well as Attorney General Pam Bondi, as defendants.
TRUMP CITES ARMED SUSPECT, LACK OF POLICE SUPPORT FOLLOWING FATAL BORDER PATROL SHOOTING IN MINNEAPOLIS
The groups, represented by the Minnesota Attorney General’s Office, said the litigation is accompanied by a motion for a temporary restraining order that asks the court to immediately prevent the defendants from destroying any evidence related to the shooting.
In granting the temporary injunction, Judge Eric Tostrud wrote that federal officials and those acting on their behalf cannot destroy evidence taken from the scene of the south Minneapolis shooting or now in their exclusive custody, which state authorities say they were previously barred from inspecting.
Tostrud scheduled a hearing Monday to review the order.
"As I said earlier today, I will not rest, my team will not rest, until we have done everything in our power, everything within our authority, to achieve transparency and accountability," Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty said in a statement. "Our office has jurisdiction to review this matter for potential criminal conduct by the federal agents involved and we will do so."
Moriarty added that the lawsuit is just one of the actions her office is taking "to ensure that a thorough and transparent investigation can be completed at the state level."
READ IT: BONDI SENDS WARNING LETTER TO GOV WALZ WARNING MINNESOTA’S IMMIGRATION POLICIES ENDANGER AGENTS
In announcing the litigation, Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison asserted that "federal agents are not above the law and Alex Pretti is certainly not beneath it."
"A full, impartial, and transparent investigation into his fatal shooting at the hands of DHS agents is …

Ivy League Prof: ‘Black Lives Matter Was Created From a Fabrication’
Be honest—this is ridiculous.

“Black Lives Matter was created from a fabrication,” Bill Jacobson, founder of Legal Insurrection and professor of law at Cornell University, tells substitute host Jack Fowler on this episode of “Victor Davis Hanson: In His Own Words.”

The two also unravel the shocking hostility Jewish students have faced since the Oct. 7 massacre.

Subscribe to Victor Davis Hanson’s own YouTube channel to watch past episodes.

We publish a variety of perspectives. Nothing written here is to be construed as representing the views of The Daily Signal. 

The post Ivy League Prof: ‘Black Lives Matter Was Created From a Fabrication’ appeared first on The Daily Signal.

Gambling industry bankrolls members of Congress who push pro-gambling legislation
This is performative politics again.

Vulnerable members of Congress who rely on the gambling industry to fund their campaigns are pushing legislation that the industry wants passed, a Washington Examiner review of campaign finance filings has found.

Reps. Susie Lee (D), Steven Horsford (D), Mark Amodei (R), and Diana Titus (D) — all from Nevada — have thrown their support behind legislation that would allow gamblers to deduct 100% of losses from their tax bills, revising a provision in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act that reduced the deduction to 90% of losses. Restoring the full deduction has been a major priority of the gambling industry, which has poured hundreds of thousands of dollars into the campaigns of those representatives since 2020.

Lee took the most from the gambling industry, accepting nearly $400,000 over the past four electoral cycles. She was closely followed by Amodei, who received well over $300,000, then by Horsford, who took almost $300,000, and Titus, who raked in around $200,000, according to a Washington Examiner review of records from the lawmakers’ primary campaign accounts, their victory funds, and their leadership PACs. 

Top executives from MGM Resorts, Caesars Entertainment, and Wynn Resorts reportedly met with representatives from the American Gaming Association — the trade group responsible for representing the interests of casinos and other parts of the gambling industry — in December to drum up support for a gambler’s tax break. Lee, Horsford, Amodei, and Titus, who ultimately fulfilled their request, have all accepted large donations from executives working for the three casino operators as well as the AGA.

Casino executives and PACs representing the three operators that pushed for the legislation contributed roughly $140,000 to Lee, $95,000 to Horsford, $85,000 to Titus, and $83,000 to Amodei since 2020. The AGA, meanwhile, gave Lee $3,000, Titus $5,500, Horsford $6,000, and Amodei $5,000 over the same period. Amodei, Horsford, and Lee all represent swing districts, making campaign dollars even more valuable to them, given the difficulty of retaining their seats.

“For decades, our tax code has allowed you to deduct 100% of any gaming losses from your winnings,” Titus said of the change. “It was a commonsense policy. People should only pay tax on money that they actually earn, not phantom money or ghost money.”

Rep. Dina Titus, D-Nev., is working to pass legislation that would give states control over where a federal nuclear waste repository is located. …

Diplomats Ponder if Trump Is Reviving Founding-Era Foreign Policy
This affects the entire country.

Is President Donald Trump’s foreign policy doctrine a return to how America’s Founding Fathers thought about foreign policy? Last week, 300 diplomats gathered at a dinner in Washington, D.C. to ponder the question.

The Ben Franklin Fellowship’s Honoring America’s First Diplomat dinner brought together foreign policy experts to compare the Trump doctrine to foreign policy under past administrations.

Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau, Ben Franklin Fellowship’s co-founder and former Foreign Service Officer Simon Hankinson, Alfred von Oppenheim Scholar in Residence at the German Council on Foreign Relations in Berlin Dr. John Hulsman, and former Trump senior advisor Brittany Baldwin all delivered remarks on the successes of the Trump administration and the challenges it still faces.

The speakers mentioned that the efforts from members of the new administration’s foreign policy, many of whom were in attendance, have enabled the United States to engage in a global strategy of U.S. national interest and realism in international affairs, to the global promotion of American interests, patriotism, policy development, and even the new “Donroe Doctrine.”

“If this organization did not exist, I don’t think we would be anywhere near where we are in the State Department in terms of procedure, reorganization, personnel, or policy,” Hankinson said in his initial address. “We see this as a very long-term endeavor, because we need to ensure the United States remains successful and a Republic that is based on the Constitution.”

“We need to be very clear about our values. An organization like the Ben Franklin Fellowship, which we hope is going to be around a long time, promotes those values and reminds the next generation of the importance of our foreign policy strategy,” Hankinson added.

In its first year, the Trump administration’s foreign policy maneuvers are reshaping geopolitics.

Since his inauguration, Trump has performed strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities, removed former Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro from office, imposed wide-reaching tariffs, and made his desire for America to own Greenland abundantly clear.

On Thursday, the United States withdrew from the United Nations World Health Organization and made clear to foreign leaders at the World Economic Forum that it will remain the world’s leading superpower.

Prior to Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s oversight of our state department, the United States was headed in a very negative direction, mirroring the current state of European Nations.

“The European Union has seen 19 consecutive quarters of less than 2% GDP growth,” Hulsman, a former diplomat and foreign policy scholar, said at the dinner.

Hulsman later attributed this to the union’s embrace of globalist policies.

Currently, European powers like France, for example, have fallen into a major economic decline, experienced an epidemic of immigrant violence, witnessed a decline of foreign investments, and engaged in  collaboration with America’s adversaries in recent years.

Under Trump’s leadership, speakers at BFF’s dinner told the audience their predictions for 2026: that other global superpowers, like the top …

Third round of January Social Security payments goes out in three days
This is performative politics again.

The third round of January Social Security payments for retirees, now capped at $5,108, will be issued in three days.

When will payments arrive?

Retirees born on or after the 21st of a month will receive this payment on Jan. 28. 

The first round of payments went out on Jan. 14 to recipients born on or before the 10th of a month, and the second round went out on Jan. 21 to those born between the 11th and 20th of a month.

When am I eligible?

Citizens are eligible for Social Security payments beginning at 62 years old.

How can I maximize my check?

Social Security payment amounts are determined by several factors, including age of retirement, the amount paid into Social Security, and the number of years paid into Social Security.

Payments largely depend on a recipient’s retirement age. A beneficiary retiring at the youngest age, 62, could receive up to $2,831 per month, while a 70-year-old retiree could receive up to $5,108 per month, according to the Social Security Administration.

Beneficiaries can see a personalized estimate of how much they could expect each month through the SSA’s calculator.

KYLE RITTENHOUSE JOKES ABOUT TAKING MACHINE GUN TO MINNEAPOLIS

How is it financed?

Social Security is financed by a payroll tax paid for by employers and employees.

Social Security payment amounts are set to shrink unless Congress takes preventive action. Analysts estimate the SSA will no longer be able to issue full payments as early as 2034, due to a rising number of retirees and a shrinking workforce.