Melissa Bynes-Brooks, MBA, CRT

Chicago teen whose father was detained by ICE while she fought cancer dies The Torres family story came to public attention after the teen’s father was detained at a Home Depot in Niles.

Chicago teen whose father was detained by ICE while she fought cancer dies www.chicagotribune.com/2026/02/14/c...

YouTube video by Brian Tyler Cohen Barack Obama BREAKS SILENCE on Trump's ape video, Bad Bunny, and 2028 election

Brian Tyler Cohen and Barack Obama talk Bad Bunny, Trump's ape video, and the 2028 election.

youtu.be/uI-hgSE5QIw?...

www.youtube.com

📽️NEW: We’ve already seen the steps Trump is willing to take to rig the election: gerrymandering, political prosecutions. But that’s not all.

In this video, Marc Elias unpacks how Republicans are passing bills that make it harder for you to vote and easier for them to cheat👇
https://bit.ly/3MJoleT

Judge dismisses California deportation case for Mexican father of 3 US Marines An immigration judge has dismissed the deportation case against a landscaper who was arrested in California last year. Now the father of three U.S.

apnews.com/article/narc... dismisses California deportation case for Mexican father of 3 US Marines

Josephine Baker: How The First Global Pop Star Broke The Rules A century before Beyoncé, Josephine Baker became America’s first global pop star. She broke barriers, built a brand, and never asked permission.

One hundred years ago, Josephine Baker left America and changed the world. How Black genius shaped global culture.

#GoodTrouble
#BlackHistoryMonth2026

www.forbes.com/sites/sonari...

Opinion | The Real Threat Isn’t Trump. It’s the MAGA Apparatus.

Can President Trump really nationalize elections? This week at the round table for “The Opinions,” the Times Opinion national politics writer Michelle Cottle, and columnists David French and Jamelle Bouie. Explore this gift article from The New York Times.
www.nytimes.com/2026/02/07/o...

WATCH: Trump says he will revoke church tax exempt status if leaders 'say something bad about' him President Donald Trump on Thursday falsely claimed he had eliminated a provision of the U.S. tax code that bans 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations, including churches, from endorsing or opposing politi...

President Donald Trump falsely claimed he had eliminated a provision of the U.S. tax code that bans 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations, including churches, from endorsing or opposing political candidates. https://to.pbs.org/3ZmLXsx

Florida court tosses GOP suit attempting to influence elections by challenging U.S. census The case was part of a broader Republican effort to increase the power of GOP-controlled states by changing how the U.S. population is counted.

In a win for voters, a Florida court dismissed an anti-voting lawsuit challenging some of the Census' methods for estimating the population, a critical process that determines U.S. House votes.

The case was part of a broader effort to increase GOP representation by changing population count.

Opinion | I Was Arrested for Doing My Job as a Reporter. Who’s Next?

I Was Arrested for Doing My Job as a Reporter. Who’s Next?
~ Georgia Fort is a three-time Upper Midwest Emmy Award-winning independent journalist based in Minnesota.
Explore this gift article from The New York Times. You can read it for free without a subscription. www.nytimes.com/2026/02/05/o...

Black and Jewish America: An Interwoven History Black and Jewish America explores the ties between Black Americans and Jewish Americans.

www.pbs.org/show/black-a...

#BlackHistoryMonth2026
#PBS

Lemon LIVE at 5 | White House Targets Black Journalists & Freedom Of The Press! YouTube video by Don Lemon

Don is joined by Joy Reid for a conversation about the Trump administration’s attacks on free speech and Black journalists.

"Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that." ~ Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

www.youtube.com/live/qc-0PSL...

Making Black America This four-hour series introduces a vibrant world at the heart of the Black experience.

Making Black America: Through the Grapevine is a four-part series hosted by Henry Louis Gates, Jr., that chronicles the vast social networks and organizations created by and for Black people—beyond the reach of the “White gaze.”

#BlackHistoryMonth2026
#PBS

www.pbs.org/show/making-...

As the U.S. bids adieu to the World Health Organization, California says hello In the wake of the U.S. withdrawal from WHO, California is the first state to participate in the agency's disease monitoring network. Are others following?

In the wake of the U.S. withdrawal from WHO, California is the first state to participate in the agency's disease monitoring network. Are others following?

Note from the editors: ProPublica is publishing the names of the two federal immigration agents involved in the fatal shooting of Minnesota protester Alex Pretti. We believe there are few investigations that deserve more sunlight and public scrutiny than this one, in which two masked agents fired 10 shots at Pretti as he lay on the ground after being pepper-sprayed. The Department of Justice said it is investigating the incident, but the names of the two agents have been withheld from Congress and from state and local law enforcement. The policy of shielding officers’ identities, particularly after a public shooting, is a stark departure from standard law enforcement protocols, according to lawmakers, state attorneys general and former federal officials. Such secrecy, in our view, deprives the public of the most fundamental tool for accountability.

A note from our editors:

Two CBP Agents Identified in Alex Pretti Shooting The two federal immigration agents who fired on Minneapolis protester Alex Pretti are identified in government records as Border Patrol agent Jesus Ochoa and Customs and Border Protection officer Raym...

BREAKING: The two federal immigration agents who fired on Minneapolis protester Alex Pretti are identified in government records as Border Patrol agent Jesus Ochoa and Customs and Border Protection officer Raymundo Gutierrez.

YouTube video by PBS Becoming Thurgood: America’s Social Architect | Full Documentary | PBS

Explore the life and legacy of the nation’s first African American Supreme Court justice, Justice Thurgood Marshall, known as “Mr. Civil Rights,” from his legal career with the NAACP to his 1967 appointment to the nation’s highest court.

#GoodTrouble
#BlackHistoryMonth2026

youtu.be/ICr6sG8EGvA?...

CN The FBl's arrest of our former CNN colleague Don Lemon raises profoundly concerning questions about press freedom and the First Amendment. The Department of Justice already failed twice to get an arrest warrant for Don and several other journalists in Minnesota, where a chief judge of the Minnesota Federal District Court found there was "no evidence" that there was any criminal behavior involved in their work. The First Amendment in the United States protects journalists who bear witness to news and events as they unfold, ensuring they can report freely in the public interest, and the DO's attempts to violate those rights is unacceptable. We will be following this case closely.

Statement from CNN on the Don Lemon arrest:

Journalist Don Lemon arrested after protest that disrupted Minnesota church service Journalist Don Lemon has been arrested after he entered a Minnesota church and recorded anti-immigration enforcement protesters who disrupted a service.

apnews.com/article/don-... 
Journalist Don Lemon was arrested after a protest that disrupted a Minnesota church service.
#TheFirstAmendment of the U.S. Constitution guarantees freedom of the press, prohibiting the government from controlling, punishing, or censoring journalists.
#GoodTrouble

A former Illinois deputy is sentenced to 20 years in prison for killing Sonya Massey A former Illinois sheriff’s deputy has been sentenced to 20 years in prison for fatally shooting Sonya Massey, a Black women who dialed 911 asking for help.

BREAKING: A former Illinois deputy has been sentenced to 20 years in prison for fatally shooting Sonya Massey, who had called 911 for help.

Donny Evans (@iamdonnyevans) 🚨BREAKING: Alex Pretti’s parents have retained Steve Schleicher, a former federal prosecutor who helped Minnesota’s AG team convict Derek Chauvin in the George Floyd murder case. Schleicher—now at Mas...

Alex Pretti’s parents have retained Steve Schleicher, a former federal prosecutor who helped Minnesota convict Derek Chauvin in the George Floyd murder. Schleicher is taking the case pro bono. Renee Good’s family retained Romanucci & Blandin, the firm that represented Floyd’s family.
✊🇺🇸

Join us as we honor the memory of union member Alex Pretti and stand in solidarity with the people of Minnesota.

North Carolina cut voting sites at nation’s largest HBCU. Students are suing The board cut the sites weeks before the state’s 2026 primary election.

A group of North Carolina students sued Republican state officials Tuesday to restore early voting sites on three college campuses across the state, including North Carolina A&T, the United States’ largest historically Black college.
www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/...

Catholic Church emerges as a bulwark of resistance https://www.axios.com/2026/01/28/trump-immigration-pope-leo-catholic-church https://www.axios.com/2026/01/28/trump-immigration-pope-leo-catholic-church

BREAKING: Ilhan Omar attacked at her own town meeting. Man sprayed some kind of chemical in her direction while she was speaking and was quickly taken down by her security. The Congresswoman refused to stop her town hall.
Sara Sidner reporting.

Stop ICE's Attack On Our Communities An ICE agent shot and killed Renee Nicole Good in Minneapolis. This news is devastating. ICE must immediately withdraw its 2,000 agents from Minnesota and Congress must block any new funding to immigr...

Reckless ICE and Border Patrol enforcement operations in Minneapolis and across the country are hurting children, families, and our communities. Join me and call on Congress to demand an end to the immigration raids, and oppose any bill that funds the budget for ICE.
action.aclu.org/send-message...

Democrats vow to block Homeland Security funding after Minnesota shooting The latest deadly shooting during the Trump administration's immigration operation is having direct consequences on Capitol Hill, and potentially for much of the government. Democratic leaders say the...

The latest deadly shooting during the Trump administration's immigration operation is having direct consequences on Capitol Hill, and potentially for much of the government. https://to.pbs.org/4abWwVr

Shutdown Risk Rises as GOP Dismisses Threat to Block DHS Funds Senate Republican leaders plan to reject Democratic demands to split off funding for the Department of Homeland Security and pass the rest of a giant funding package needed to avert a partial government shutdown this week, a Senate GOP aide said.

Senate Republican leaders plan to reject Democratic demands to split off funding for the Department of Homeland Security and pass the rest of a giant funding package needed to avert a partial government shutdown this week, a Senate GOP aide said

Lies and Lawlessness The Camps, the Executions, and the Future

Lies and Lawlessness
open.substack.com/pub/snyder/p...

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