Some Good News to End Your Week
A New Video of the ICE Shooting. A Q & A with House Minority Whip Katherine Clark. Plus: Cheese Wins, Renewables Surprise and a Major Vision Breakthrough in News That Doesn’t Suck
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We're nine days into 2026 and I've already stress-eaten my way through my cheese budget. (Good news: that might prevent dementia. More below.)
Today, I’m bringing you a conversation with House Minority Whip Katherine Clark of Massachusetts.
She’s the one who counts votes and keeps Democrats in line — and yesterday she got ACA subsidies extended, with 17 Republicans voting yes. That’s a rare bipartisan win. The Senate still needs to act, and so far Majority Leader Thune appears ready to let the measure die. We discuss this.
We also talked about Congressional oversight of ICE (she says not a single Republican colleague has broken with the White House), US military action in Venezuela, and how Democrats aim to win back the House in the midterms.
Watch that here:
At the end of the newsletter we have lots of News That Doesn’t Suck— because sometimes the world still works. We bring you positive news about cheese, plastic, power, eyeballs, and fingertips. I’ll explain. First your headlines.
Here are your headlines
New Angle, More Spin: New video from an ICE agent’s cell phone offers another damning perspective on the fatal shooting of Renee Good. In it, Good is seen saying in a calm voice “That’s fine, dude I’m not mad at you.” Her wife, standing outside the SUV, taunts the ICE agents before they shoot Good three times. After the shooting a man can be heard saying “fucking bitch.” The White House reposted the video and so did Vice President JD Vance, insisting it shows the officer’s “life was in endangered.” Here’s my take on that.
As Raids Spread, So Do Protests: ICE raids continue in Minneapolis as protests grow in the city and across the country.
Feds In, Locals Out The FBI has taken control of the investigation, cutting out local law enforcement. I spoke with a former ICE Acting Director and DHS General Counsel about the legality of this choice and the legal realities of this case. You can watch that conversation here. (Paywall.)
Two Shot in Portland Border Patrol agents shot two people in Portland yesterday. Both are hospitalized. DHS says both are Venezuelan and in the country without papers.
Trump on Greenland, Ozempic, and Colonnade Expansion: President Trump gave a two hour interview to the New York Times. In it, he said of Renee Good “She didn’t try to run him over. She ran him over” (they pressed him on this). He said he “probably should” take obesity drugs but has not. He lowered expectations for the midterms saying “the president…always loses.” He discussed plans to make the new ballroom even bigger, add a second story to the White House colonnade, redo Lafayette Park and even renovate Dulles Airport. Because when you're remaking democracy, you might as well upgrade the departure lounge too. They also discussed Venezuela, NATO and sat in on a call with the President of Colombia. You can read more here.
Big Oil Says No Thanks: When Trump hosted oil executives at the White House today, he declared that he’ll decide which oil companies are allowed to “cut a deal” for Venezuelan oil. But the CEOs were decidedly unenthusiastic about the possibility of operating there. Darren Woods, the CEO of ExxonMobil called the country “uninvestable.”
Greenland on His Mind: At the same meeting, Trump made clear he hasn’t taken his sights off Greenland, insisting “we are going to do something on Greenland whether they like it or not” otherwise “Russia or China will take over Greenland,” adding “if we don’t do it the easy way we are going to do it the hard way.” Diplomacy.
Iran's Crackdown Intensifies: Protesters are braving prison and death in Iran, as the latest anti-government demonstrations stretch into nearly two weeks. According to the AP, the regime has killed at least 62 protesters, and has shut down the internet and telephone lines in Tehran — raising the prospect of a more lethal crackdown. Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, accused the protesters of trying to “please the president of the United States.” Speaking from the White House, Trump warned Iran’s leaders “better not start shooting, because we’ll start shooting too.” Khamenei told Trump to, “pay attention to the state of his own country instead.”
Weak Jobs Report: The latest numbers from the Bureau of Labor Statistics show the US economy added 50,000 jobs in December, lower than expected. Still, unemployment fell to 4.4%, down from 4.5% in November. Overall the US added just 584,000 jobs in 2025, compared to 2 million in 2024. The BLS says that’s the weakest annual job growth since 2003.
And Now for Something Completely Frivolous: This weekend is the Golden Globe Awards, the show where winners get tipsy and freelance their acceptance speeches. Nominees include Timothée Chalamet, Ariana Grande, Cynthia Erivo and Emma Stone. Presenters include NNNrs Kyra Sedgwick, Jennifer Garner, Orlando Bloom, and Jason Bateman. And more good news, the silver tongued Nikki Glazer is hosting. Prepare for chaos. 8pm ET Sunday night on CBS.
In the rest of the newsletter: Science has good news for cheese lovers, a possible fix for plastic pollution, clean energy had a surprisingly strong year — and medicine just delivered two quiet breakthroughs worth paying attention to. This is for our paying subscribers. If you’re not already a paid subscriber, you could become one today!
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