This week’s column looks into what happens when City Council members try to use a bad practice to serve the public good, and the beginning of Pennsylvania’s gubernatorial race.
Good intentions
In the first few months of this column, much of the toughest criticism has been leveled at Councilmembers Jeffrey “Jay” Young and Cindy Bass. While every district legislator participates in the tradition to some degree, these two have been the most egregious practitioners of councilmanic prerogative, which gives district Council members absolute discretion over land use and transportation questions within their districts.
Even worse, Young and Bass often struggle to offer coherent explanations for their actions. Over the past few years, I have spoken with a range of community members, local politicos, and development experts who have expressed total bewilderment about what exactly it is the pair is seeking to accomplish.
That’s not the case with 3rd District Councilmember Jamie Gauthier. Her values are clear. When Gauthier leans into prerogative, she’s not seeking to micromanage minor decisions. She even went as far as creating an exemption for her entire district that removes the need to secure a city ordinance for outdoor dining. Gauthier legislates because she wants to produce more affordable housing and prevent displacement. In many ways, it is a bold and admirable approach.
Still, when it comes to public policy, good intentions are not enough.
University Place Associates is planning a 495-spot parking garage in Councilmember Jamie Gauthier’s district in West Philadelphia.
Middling MIN
Gauthier’s signature policy is her push for what she’s called the Mixed Income Neighborhoods overlay, or MIN. The policy, enacted in parts of both Gauthier and Councilmember Quetcy Lozada’s 7th District, builds off an existing city program, the Mixed Income Housing Bonus. Under the bonus program, developers could exceed current zoning limits in exchange for supporting affordable housing. This could be done either by building affordable units or by making a payment to the city’s housing trust fund.
MIN, however, is mandatory. It also does not come with any bonuses. For larger development projects (10 or more units), builders are required to set aside 20% of the units for low-income households. The idea is to increase the city’s stock of statutorily affordable housing, promote income integration, and allow poorer households to move to and remain in high-opportunity areas, all without costing the city a dime.
All of that sounds wonderful … in theory.
In practice, things have not panned out the way advocates had hoped. Instead of producing significant amounts of affordable housing, the zoning requirements have stifled development overall. Of the 18 major projects considered by the city’s Civic Design Review Board, only two are located within the boundaries restricted by the policy. One of those projects doesn’t include any housing at all, instead supplying nearly 500 parking spots adjacent to the Market-Frankford Line.
In an interview with Gauthier last fall, she told me she would stand by the results of MIN against the voluntary program or any other zoning program in the city of Philadelphia. Planning Commission data, however, tells a different story. In 2024, the most recent year studied, the MIN resulted in the completion of just five affordable units. The bonus program, on the other hand, created 63 affordable units and generates millions of dollars in bonus payments.
This, of course, only looks at one factor, which is the impact on affordable housing programs. It doesn’t answer the question of how many market-rate units would have been built without the requirement. Housing costs no longer affect just the poorest, as 90% of Americans live in counties where home prices and rents rose faster than income. For most people, whether they are University of Pennsylvania students or longtime residents, this private market is where they will find housing. Without enough construction to meet demand, prices will continue to rise.
The experience of cities like Austin, Texas, where rents are falling despite a surging population, demonstrates that new construction can help alleviate that pressure.
There’s also the economic impact. Development projects employ skilled workers and provide money for the city’s affordable housing programs. Without more research, we have no idea how much MIN has impacted city coffers. Before Gauthier’s program expands to more communities, the city should undertake a comprehensive investigation.
State Treasurer and Republican candidate for governor Stacy Garrity holds a rally in Bucks County at the Newtown Sports and Events Center in September.
Maximum meh
With State Sen. Doug Mastriano officially out and Gov. Josh Shapiro officially in, the Pennsylvania governor’s race has begun. With no other Republicans or Democrats expressing an interest in the position, a November matchup between Shapiro and State Treasurer Stacy Garrity looks certain.
Shapiro’s campaign launch video begins as you’d expect, with the rapid reconstruction of I-95 after a fire damaged several lanes in 2023 — a reminder of how the governor gets, uh, stuff done.
Garrity, who announced all the way back in August, has a steep challenge on her hands. Besides Tom Corbett, no Pennsylvania governor has lost a reelection bid since the ban on consecutive terms was dropped from the state constitution in 1967. Shapiro has a record $30 million on hand for his reelection bid, three times more than what he started with four years ago, the previous record. He also has a 3-0 record in statewide elections and a 60% approval rating.
This means Garrity will need to sell voters on her own ideas, rather than just banking on people souring on Shapiro. So far, it is worth asking what those ideas are.
As treasurer, Garrity’s main job is to manage the commonwealth’s bank accounts, not exactly the kind of thing that stirs the electorate. Garrity’s campaign video focuses on her biography, which notes her service in Iraq. It also lines up multiple hits on Shapiro, including on his not-entirely subtle pining for the presidency. But when it comes to the biggest issues facing Pennsylvanians, Garrity has yet to supply any answers.
Instead, the challenger used an interview with CBS 21 in Harrisburg to declare that Pennsylvania is “mediocre.” So far, that label seems more appropriate for Garrity’s campaign consultants than the commonwealth.
As a former city councilwoman in Easton, Pa., I believe moments of national crisis require serious reflection on how policy choices at every level of government contribute to real-world outcomes.
The killing of a woman, who was a U.S. citizen, during a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement operation in Minneapolis has prompted renewed scrutiny of the White House’s policies toward migrants nationwide. That scrutiny should extend to state legislatures that expanded ICE’s authority without sufficient accountability.
In Pennsylvania, this expansion was not limited to one vote or one year. In 2018, lawmakers advanced bills aimed at penalizing municipalities labeled as “sanctuary cities” by withholding state funding unless they cooperated with ICE. Despite warnings from civil rights advocates and law enforcement leaders that such measures would erode public safety, State Sen. Lisa Boscola was among a small number of Democrats who voted with Republicans to support them.
That pattern persisted. In 2024 and again in 2025, the legislature passed bills expanding cooperation with federal immigration authorities, including a measure requiring district attorneys to notify ICE when they encounter someone without legal status, even in nonviolent cases. Only four Democrats supported the 2025 bill. State Sen. Boscola was one of them.
These decisions matter. Expanded enforcement fuels detention systems now planning warehouse-style facilities in Pennsylvania, while public investment in wages, housing, and healthcare lags behind.
Public safety should be rooted in accountability, dignity, and community trust, not unchecked enforcement.
Taiba Sultana, former city councilwoman, Easton, Pa.
Share the wealth
So the Affordable Care Act subsidies have officially expired. Here’s what I don’t understand: Congress gets subsidies from the federal government (in other words, you and me) up to 75% of the cost of their “gold” plan health insurance. Why won’t Republican lawmakers provide the same for their fellow Americans?
Penny Stanger,Phoenixville
Join the conversation: Send letters to letters@inquirer.com. Limit length to 150 words and include home address and day and evening phone number. Letters run in The Inquirer six days a week on the editorial pages and online.
Renee Nicole Good, 37, was shot and killed by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents on Wednesday in Minneapolis. She is the second person killed after the Trump administration unleashed masked, armed, and increasingly unaccountable federal forces upon U.S. cities.
Unless the government immediately changes course, she will not be the last.
Several videos posted to social media show the deadly encounter. If you believe your eyes, Good was fatally shot as she attempted to drive away from agents who were yelling obscenities at her and violently trying to open her vehicle’s door.
If you believe the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Good was part of a group of “violent rioters” who “weaponized her vehicle” and tried to “run over our law enforcement officers in an attempt to kill them.” Good, according to DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin, was engaged in an act of “domestic terrorism.”
The stark disconnect is telling. The administration’s reflexive lying is emblematic of the moral rot at the heart of President Donald Trump’s militarized mass deportation efforts. It reflects a worldview where all immigrants are criminals, and all dissenters are rioters or terrorists.
By all accounts, Good was neither. She was a mother, a neighbor, a self-described poet, writer, and poor guitar player. In death, she joins Silverio Villegas-Gonzalez, a 38-year-old Chicago resident who was killed by ICE in September during a similar incident. The Mexican immigrant was shot in the neck shortly after he dropped off one of his children at school and another at daycare.
These deaths were as preventable as they were foreseeable.
People gather for a vigil after a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent shot and killed a motorist earlier in the day.
In her Nov. 20 ruling ordering federal agents to limit aggressive tactics in Chicago, U.S. District Judge Sara Ellis wrote that “agents have used excessive force in response to protesters’ and journalists’ exercise of their First Amendment rights, without justification, often without warning, and even at those who had begun to comply with agents’ orders.”
Dozens of videos, from cities around the nation, have shown federal agents engaging in violent behavior during their enforcement duties. Any one of those incidents could have turned deadly. That more people have not been killed in the administration’s reckless and ill-advised efforts can best be attributed to providence.
Reported close calls in California include Border Patrol agents smashing windows and firing on a truck as it drove away during a traffic stop, a man who claimed he wanted to warn agents there were children nearby was shot in the back by an ICE agent, and a TikTok streamer was shot as ICE agents smashed his car window.
In Chicago, a woman was shot multiple times after she allegedly rammed the vehicle of a U.S. Customs and Border Protection agent. The charges against her were dismissed in the face of glaring inconsistencies in the government’s story.
Federal agents confront protesters outside the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building on Thursday in Minneapolis.
On Thursday, a day after Good’s killing, two people were reportedly shot by Border Patrol agents in Portland, Ore., after a vehicle stop. DHS once again claimed the driver “weaponized his vehicle” and attempted to run over the agents.
The conduct of too many federal agents involved in immigration enforcement not only violates the norms of decency and order but also goes against the various agencies’ use-of-force policies and rights enshrined in the Constitution.
All of that is meaningless, however, to an administration that has repeatedly shown disdain for the law and which has overtly condoned violence as an acceptable response to nonviolent behavior.
It may be too late for Congress to use its power of the purse to rein in these out-of-control agencies. Republicans have already given the president $30 billion to recruit thousands more ICE agents, even as hiring requirements are lowered and training time is reduced — a recipe for disaster.
Legislators not in thrall to the Trump administration must use every oversight opportunity they can muster to shine the spotlight on abuse and hold rogue officials accountable.
Local and state governments must lawfully push back and protect their residents — including investigating and charging federal law enforcement with crimes. In the Good case, the former is already proving to be a challenge, as Minnesota’s attorney general notes that state law enforcement officials are being pushed aside, and that the investigation will be conducted solely by the FBI.
Even as the president puts his thumb on the scales, the courts must stand firm and uphold the law.
And in communities across the country, everyday Americans like Renee Nicole Good must continue to peacefully exercise and defend our civil rights against those who would use fear and intimidation to gain control. The risk has never been greater, but the stakes have never been higher.
The Honda Pilot family SUV with the glove compartment crammed with a 6-year-old’s adorable stuffed toys and its deployed airbag and headrest drenched in fresh red blood hadn’t even been towed from the Minneapolis murder scene on Wednesday before the full force of the U.S. government attacked Renee Nicole Good a second time.
After the three deadly bullets came a fusillade of outrageous and morally reprehensible lies.
Tricia McLaughlin, the already notoriously fact-averse spokesperson for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, didn’t even know the identity of the 37-year-old Colorado native — let alone any details of her intricate life or her beautiful, award-winning poetry — when the DHS flack smeared Good as “one of the violent rioters” who’d “weaponized” her SUV against the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent who shot and killed her, and called it “an act of domestic terrorism.”
Just moments later, DHS Secretary Kristi Noem — the absurdity of her words only ratcheted up by her ridiculously oversized cowboy hat at a Texas border press hit — joined the verbal pile on and amplified the “domestic terrorism” angle, even though the investigation of what had actually happened on snowy Portland Avenue had barely begun. This was all just a warm-up for America’s prevaricator-in-chief.
President Donald Trump took to his so-called Truth Social to offer his own, further-embellished version — insisting to the nation that the still-at-that-moment unidentified woman had “violently, willfully, and viciously ran over” ICE officers, blaming “the Radical Left,” and even claiming that the ICE gunman was recovering in the hospital.
A deployed airbag and blood stains are seen in a crashed vehicle on at the scene of a shooting in Minneapolis on Wednesday.
But this time, millions of Americans could see what really happened to Good, thanks to multiple videos taken on that south Minneapolis street by everyday citizens with a righteous distrust of their own government. It’s the deep skepticism that began with three gunshots and a blurry home movie in Dallas’ Dealey Plaza on Nov. 22, 1963. Now, the digital clarity of three gunshots at 9:30 a.m. on Jan. 7, 2026, may have marked a kind of Waterloo, a righteous turning point in our existential war over the truth.
The citizen videos showed Good — it’s unclear whether she was a volunteer observer of the amped-up ICE raids in Minneapolis, or just filming the agents on a whim — parked at an angle across Portland Avenue when an ICE SUV approached. Two agents hopped out and approached Good’s Honda while a third — the soon-to-be shooter — moved in from the opposite side. One agent screamed, “Get out of the f— car,” but Good, with her window now open and her partner in the passenger seat, slowly backed up and then started a sharp right turn, seeking to leave the scene.
But the third federal officer, seen adjacent to the left front fender, had already drawn his gun and fired a shot through the windshield as Good turned her Honda away from him. The videos then show the agent — now a few feet from the vehicle and clearly not in danger — firing two more times into the open window, as the vehicle and the mortally wounded Good traveled halfway down the block and into a parked car.
Must watch: NYT just released a damning forensic analysis of the ICE shooting in Minneapolis.
It flatly refutes Trump administration claims — confirming the motorist was driving away, not toward the officer, and the officer was not hit by the vehicle.https://t.co/n8opkxbtmUpic.twitter.com/jJ0ttyr34R
The shooter — the agent the president claimed had been run over and hospitalized — was filmed walking around the murder scene, apparently unharmed. Meanwhile, the government’s crusade to dehumanize Good was already well underway, as agents were shown blocking a physician who pleaded to aid the dying woman before they finally dragged her away by her limbs.
The senseless killing of Good was exactly the tragedy that state and city officials had feared when DHS declared at the start of the new year that it was flooding Minnesota — whose large community of Somali American refugees had been viciously slurred by Trump as “garbage” — with some 2,000 armed, masked immigration agents.
The national spotlight ensured wall-to-wall cable news coverage when agents killed a white U.S. citizen and a mother of three on the second day of the surge in and around Minneapolis, but all of this has happened before. In the last four months, according to the New York Times, federal agents have fired their weapons in nine separate incidents — each time into a vehicle. And often the initial story from DHS collapses under the weight of truth.
In October, U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents involved in Chicago’s “Operation Midway Blitz” claimed they were boxed in by as many as 10 cars — again, not supported by video — and fired at least five shots at Mirimar Martinez, who was not seriously injured, but was then indicted, along with her passenger, on assault and attempted murder charges. Martinez was not charged with a gun crime — despite an initial DHS claim that she’d brandished a semiautomatic weapon — and soon the entire case crumbled, and now all charges have been dismissed.
Federal agents are only allowed to fire into a moving car when they believe the driver is trying to kill or maim them or other bystanders. As videos of Good’s killing circulated Wednesday afternoon, an unnamed DHS official told NBC News that the agents’ actions — from approaching the vehicle from the front to firing the fatal shots — went against their training. But how can the public expect sound decision-making from a surge of inexperienced new hires that ICE recruits on social media, or in slick ads during NFL games, with plans to target gun shows and military enthusiasts?
People gather for a vigil on Wednesday evening after a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer shot and killed a woman hours earlier in Minneapolis.
What’s more, why would the Trump regime tell the truth about killing Good when its entire Minnesota operation — along with everything else about its immoral mass deportation drive — is built atop a foundation of despicable lies, from the White House racist slander of Somali refugees seeking a better life in Minnesota to the gross exaggerations (spiked by a dishonest viral video) about a childcare fraud scandal?
“GOOD MORNING MINNEAPOLIS,” DHS tweeted from its official account Monday as it began an unwarranted, unwelcome operation that is making no one safer, especially not the children of Minnesota. A local coalition of childcare operators called Kids Count on Us reported Wednesday that ICE agents have been swarming their facilities as operators report that little kids are frightened, adding, “We are terrified.” After Good’s death, protesting students at nearby Roosevelt High School were pepper-sprayed by federal agents. And now a 6-year-old child, whose military veteran father had already died in 2023, is an orphan.
Exactly who are the violent rioters committing acts of domestic terrorism here?
Minneapolis is a great American city that has been bombarded with needless tragedies throughout the 2020s, beginning on May 25, 2020, when George Floyd was murdered under the knee of police officer Derek Chauvin, just 0.7 miles from where Good was killed. That homicide also began with official lies that were absurdly false, until a brave citizen’s video showed America what really happened.
Wednesday’s ICE murder carried the grim echoes of past government killing across the upper Midwest — an icy wind that blows from the massacre at Wounded Knee through the 1969 assassination of Black Panther Fred Hampton and over Floyd’s senseless demise. Yet, there is also reason to feel that, this time, a change is in the air.
For one thing, true leaders like Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey — who stunned a national TV audience when he bluntly told ICE, “Get the f— out of Minneapolis” — and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz made it clear they are fed up with the performative violence and the blatant lies. “Maybe we’re at their McCarthy moment,” Walz told a news conference. “Do you have no decency? Do you have no decency? We have someone dead in their car for no reason whatsoever. Enough. Enough is enough.”
But there was something even more critical on this frigid prairie morning: brave everyday citizens willing to put their lives on the line for neighbors they don’t even know, and to risk everything in pursuit of the truth. America knows what really happened to Good because courageous people ran toward the scene with their phones aloft to bear witness, not knowing if ICE would kill again.
It’s the revolutionary spirit we’ve been seeing all across America for months — regular folks from the community blowing whistles, filming ICE raids, and telling the world that our citizens will defend their communities even when all the big institutions and their overpaid leaders will not. Authoritarian governments only thrive in their own manufactured reality, gaslighting the masses that their hardworking, brown-skinned neighbor is a rapist, or that an uninjured federal agent is instead in the emergency room.
Mark down Jan. 7, 2026, as the day America started turning off the gas, and the masks came off. No wonder it came out Thursday morning that the FBI is not cooperating with Minnesota state authorities on the investigation, in a pathetic, too-late effort at covering this mess up.
I was one of many on Wednesday who couldn’t stop thinking about another unprovoked government killing: the Kent State Massacre and the murder of four college students on May 4, 1970. That moment caused Neil Young to write these words that still feel so relevant: “What if you knew her and found her dead on the ground?/ How can you run when you know?”
Good Americans who still believe in truth and justice ran into the danger on Portland Avenue, and we are a better place for that. Some day, and probably soon, there will be a statue on that spot in honor of Renee Nicole Good, an American hero whose bigger freedom fight could not be murdered by tyrants.
A protest at an event honoring Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis over his antigay policies. The right has targeted trans people, in particular.
Meanwhile, the abundance of research demonstrating that transgender people suffer disproportionate violent victimization, homelessness, and suicide has remained largely unaddressed.
Moderate politicians’ concern with appealing to wider audiences in thesedivisive times exacts a cost: to trans kids’ health, safety, and dignity in their schools and communities.
Ambivalent Democrats
Rather than forging alliances to protect the safety and constitutional rights of transgender citizens, some of the most influential members of the Democratic Party — from Kamala Harris to Pete Buttigieg to Rahm Emanuel to Gavin Newsom — have at least partially capitulated before the political tidal wave of anti-transgender disinformation, complete with all of the red herrings it washes ashore.
More importantly, by keeping to the intentionally distorted discourse about transgender people — rather than countering sensationalized falsehoods and vitriolic rhetoric with integrity and conviction — politicians end up appealing to and emboldening constituencies who lean into disinformation out of fear. This isn’t only cynical, it’s dangerous. FBI hate crime statistics tell a bleak story of the rise in vigilante violence against transgender Americans, coinciding with a steep rise in political antagonism and targeted scapegoating.
A recent effort led by U.S. Reps. Sarah McBride (D., Del.), Mark Takano (D., Calif.), and members of the Congressional Equality Caucus calls upon House Speaker Mike Johnson (R., La.) to enforce the rules of decorum in Congress by holding those who defame and denigrate the trans community to account. As of this writing, no response has been issued.
A path forward
The only ethical and effective path forward demands that we fundamentally reframe the political conversation about transgender people in factual terms that are grounded in foundational democratic principles, credible science, and a commitment to the protection of civil rights and civil liberties of all Americans.
There is some hope to be found in the lawsuit filed this week by 19 Democratic states to block the federal government’s efforts to ban gender-affirming care nationally.
Ideally, we would see more leadership on both sides of the aisle to protect the safety, freedom, and human dignity of all LGBTQ+ people, as demonstrated in the introduction of the bipartisan Global Respect Act by McBride and U.S. Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R., Pa.) to protect LGBTQ+ people around the world from identity-based violence, torture, and persecution.
Regressive political forces have always sought to isolate and villainize minoritized groups, to paint them as threats to the majority by virtue of whatever marks them as somehow “different” from those in power — and therefore less deserving of the same rights and protections.
Consider that during the civil rights movement in the 1960s, boycotts of segregated lunch counters and department stores were underway in Southern communities when New York U.S. Rep. Adam Clayton Powell famously corrected a reporter who queried if he was advocating for “Negroes” to stay out of segregated national chain stores in solidarity with the boycotts.
A genuine commitment to our democracy demands that we shift our discursive paradigm from one that impugns the existence of transgender people to one that impugns the de jure and de facto denial of transgender people’s humanity, dignity, civil rights, and personal safety.
It is long past time to reset the terms and reclaim the narrative on the equal protections and constitutional rights of transgender Americans. The political leadership we need in this moment requires the clarity, intentionality, and fortitude to do just that.
Ashley C. Rondini is an associate professor of sociology at Franklin and Marshall College.
In Pennsylvania, just over 2% of Gen Z students believe elected officials act in their best interests. Three-quarters say they don’t.
These findings come from more than 2,800 conversations across 16 colleges and universities in the state. Project 26 Pennsylvania collected them without a script, giving students space to speak freely.
Young Pennsylvanians believe the commonwealth’s institutions are slow to respond and are detached from daily realities. They pointed to artificial intelligence and its workforce implications, social polarization, and global issues that feel increasingly vital to confront on a local and regional level.
In my role withthe United Nations Association of the USA, I meet regularly with young Americans across the country. They’re not apathetic — far from it. They know what it looks like when institutions function — and when they drift.
A few weeks ago, I visited a campus in Bethlehem and heard from students who were deeply engaged and informed. They focused on conservation, economic growth, healthcare access, and local governance. But when the conversation turned to institutional performance, their confidence plummeted.
They described government bodies that move slowly, communicate inconsistently, and prioritize politics over problem-solving.
There is a clear contrast between what they see at home and what I see globally.
The U.N. has expanded youth engagement at a historic pace. It created a dedicated Youth Office and invited young people into negotiations. Leaders expect a direct report on the concerns and ideas of young Americans.
Pennsylvania’s institutions should view this as a model if they want to start restoring trust.
That’s because the risk of inaction is more than disengagement; it’s dislocation. Young adults are moving to places that do pay attention to and meet their needs.
A Pennsylvania State Data Center analysis found that almost half of Pennsylvanians moving out of state were between the ages of 18-34. Many of them are opting for faster-growing places like Florida, North Carolina, and Texas.
If a global system of 193 member states that agree on little else can coalesce around the need to build structured pathways for youth involvement, then Pennsylvania’s agencies and local governments can do the same.
This shift does not require a redesign of government — just consistency and intention. There are steps the Keystone State can take now.
Several Pennsylvania cities already show what youth engagement can look like.
Allentown created a Council of Youth by resolution, though all 16 seats appear vacant. Pittsburgh has a youth coordinator who runs its Youth Commission, and Philadelphia operates a Youth Commission of its own. These are promising starts, and all townships and boroughs should follow. But they are often tucked deep into municipal websites rather than positioned as visible civic priorities.
Gov. Josh Shapiro should create a statewide youth advisory cabinet with a direct line to major agencies. States like Iowa, North Carolina, and Massachusetts already run strong statewide youth councils.
In fact, Pennsylvania does have a strong model already in the NextGen Advisory Council, which brings young leaders into decision-making on conservation and public lands. That same approach should be extended across agencies.
These steps are practical. They also reflect respect for young people, who are not the “next” generation, but are active contributors shaping our commonwealth.
They organize events, testify at meetings, vote in local elections, and devote time to issues that affect their communities. They have shaped mental health advocacy, launched small businesses, and pushed for housing initiatives in cities across the state.
If institutions want to restore trust, they need to match that level of seriousness.
Trust does not return through campaign outreach or social media posts. It grows when young people see their work is taken seriously and leads to outcomes — and when institutions welcome their involvement with regularity and purpose.
Pennsylvania has a window to rebuild confidence. The Project 26 findings should not be dismissed as youth discontent, but read as a statement of expectations — and an opportunity.
Half of the students surveyed said they would be motivated to take political action “if they felt it would make a difference.” They are engaged, ready, and eager to help build a stronger Pennsylvania.
The question is whether the commonwealth’s leaders will invite them into the process.
Jarrett James Lash serves as the 14th UNA-USA youth observer to the United Nations and is a municipal planner in Montgomery County.
It is now time for our representatives in Congress to discuss when, by whom, and how they will proceed with a motion to remove the president from his position. The 25th Amendment explains exactly how to do this. The vice president is supposed to initiate this process, but we know in this case that won’t be happening.
Donald Trump’s reckless and delusional words and actions are not only endangering the safety of millions of U.S. troops stationed around the globe, but they also threaten the sense of peace and security that the entire world has enjoyed since the end of World War II.
Let’s look at what Trump has done in the past seven days alone:
He took over Venezuela without any congressional approval — then said the U.S. will come in and send our companies to take over the oil drilling, which is worth billions in annual revenue.
He threatened Iran, Colombia, Mexico, and Cuba with similar actions in their countries when they criticized his invasion of Venezuela.
He stated that the U.S. needs to own Greenland for reasons of “national security.” What kind of “national security” threat does he think exists in Greenland? Polar bears?
When the emperor not only has no clothes but also seems unhinged, it’s time for our representatives to do what our Constitution has given them the power to do.
Write to your members of Congress today and ask them to insist on rational leadership for our wonderful country by starting this process.
Francine Mulligan, Philadelphia
Anything but Epstein
I will do anything to stop the release of the Jeffrey Epstein files. I have subverted the work of the FBI and compelled officials in the U.S. Department of Justice to perjure themselves on my behalf. But don’t worry — if Congress ever indicts them, I will pardon them.
I will blow up boats and kill civilians in international waters and claim they are smuggling drugs, but I won’t provide any proof. My word is enough.
I will seize oil tankers in international waters and claim they are running illegal oil.
I will start a war with a sovereign country, depose its leader, destabilize the government, and claim its oil riches for the United States.
I’ll do just about anything to prevent, slow down, or redact any information that may reference me in those Epstein files.
Where is Congress? Donald Trump has defied the deadline to release the Epstein files, committed war crimes in the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific against unknown suspects, seized ships at sea, and is now starting a war. All because of the Epstein files? What could be in those files?
Susan Thompson, Media
On this day
An interesting coincidence, perhaps. It’s curious that Manuel Noriega was taken into custody in Panama by U.S. forces in 1990 on the same date as Nicolás Maduro: Jan. 3. Any political symmetry intended?
Richard Wertime, Merion Station
Join the conversation: Send letters to letters@inquirer.com. Limit length to 150 words and include home address and day and evening phone number. Letters run in The Inquirer six days a week on the editorial pages and online.
Why doesn’t Donald Trump direct his boat strike/invasion show toward Colombia, Bolivia, and Peru, where most of the cocaine is manufactured, or China and Mexico, where the majority of fentanyl comes from, if his intention to rid the U.S. of illegal drugs killing Americans were true?
K. Mayes, Philadelphia
. . .
Donald Trump’s “special military operation” in Venezuela puts him squarely in the same category as Russia’s Vladimir Putin, who used the same phrase to describe his invasion of Ukraine, and China’s Xi Jinping. It was all about oil from the beginning. Bombing boats in the name of “narco-terrorism” was just a cover and a distraction. And he intends to “run” Venezuela? Trump has injected himself and the United States into a big mess in which I don’t believe he has any idea how to actually “run” the country, or any idea of the enormous cost involved. This adventure is simply another episode of self-glorification and probably self-enrichment somewhere down the line, as well. It’s all about himself as usual, not for the good of the United States and our people or our standing in the world. This is hardly making America great again.
Elsbeth Wrigley,Wyndmoor
. . .
Your recent editorial on Donald Trump’s illegal invasion raises many valid objections to our president’s headlong rush to remove Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro without any advice or consent from Congress, let alone the United Nations. I never voted for Trump, and I agree in general with most of your points about where we are with Venezuela. But I was gravely disappointed in your statement that “[f]ormer President George W. Bush at least sold a phony story about weapons of mass destruction to get Congress to go along with his reckless invasion of Iraq.”
Authorities with more expertise on the Iraq War than The Inquirer Editorial Board beg to differ. I refer you to a 2015 op-ed from the Wall Street Journal headlined, “The Dangerous Lie That Bush Lied.” It was written by Laurence H. Silberman, who served as cochairman of the Commission on the Intelligence Capabilities of the United States Regarding Weapons of Mass Destruction, a bipartisan body. The gist of what Judge Silberman and others have written is that the motivations for the invasion were much broader than WMDs, and that Mr. Bush’s decision was unduly colored by woefully inadequate intelligence. Hindsight is always 20/20.
While your concerns about how the invasion of Venezuela might affect Ukraine and even Taiwan are also worth stating, the Editorial Board needs to remember that even the noninterventionist Biden administration had put a substantial price on the head of Mr. Maduro. So there is little doubt he is just as bad a character as Mr. Trump portrays him to be. Thus, in the end, though we have probably (to paraphrase former Secretary of State Colin Powell) bought something because we broke it, the invasion may, after a long struggle, advance democracy in the Western Hemisphere.
John Baxter, Toano, Va.
Illegal invasion
Without the consent of Congress, the invasion of Venezuela was both illegal and unconstitutional. Without a follow-up plan, it was also incredibly reckless. It clearly was not about drugs or democracy, but about wealth, power, and greed. It was about oil. This disaster not only negatively affects the U.S. but has the potential to change the world order. It gives other countries permission to do the same. Do we want China to take over Taiwan? Do we want to legitimize Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine? I think not. Now, more than ever, we need Congress to step up to the plate and put a stop to this insanity. And it is the job of We the People to make sure that happens. Each and every voice needs to be heard. We are in a mess.
Anne B. Zehner,Palm City, Fla.
Abortion protesters
Having observed the behaviors of protesters at Planned Parenthood’s location at 11th and Locust Streets over the past year, I would encourage the people and/or organizations that pay or otherwise support some or all of the repeat protesters to evaluate their performance and outcomes. Weekday protesters are usually a small number of older men whose dress and loud manner are difficult to ignore. They approach most patients with a brochure and candy, and most often call out loudly to not kill the baby, followed by offers to “help.” Their appearance and boisterous behaviors appear counterproductive. The Planned Parenthood facility provides a variety of healthcare services, so not every woman who arrives is seeking an abortion. I have yet to observe a single woman turn away from an appointment. We should respect the right of the protesters to express their beliefs. But if they hope to influence patients, they could be more respectful. Supporters of the protesters should more carefully monitor conduct and results.
L. David Wise, Philadelphia
Protect clean water
As children learn in grade school, “We all live downstream.” That premise is at the heart of the federal Clean Water Act. If you want clean water for fishing, swimming, and drinking, you need to protect from pollution not just lakes and rivers, but the upstream waters that feed them. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin is currently pushing new, polluter-friendly rules that would exclude 80% of the nation’s headwater streams and wetlands from pollution protection. The proposal would go beyond recent U.S. Supreme Court decision-making in narrowing the scope of federally protected waters. Even in Pennsylvania, with its own state-level protections, this cutback in the Clean Water Act would make it harder for an already stretched state Department of Environmental Protection to hold the line against more pollution dumping. Americans must tell the EPA to abandon this assault on our nation’s waters.
Robin Mann,Rosemont
The troops are coming?
A recent article in The Inquirer poses an intriguing question: Why has Philly, an overwhelmingly Democratic city, so far been spared the federal troop deployments President Donald Trump has inflicted on several other Democratic-led cities?
To the list of possibilities explored in the article, I’d add one more: the central role of Philadelphia in the ongoing celebrations of our nation’s 250th birthday. President Trump, ever hungry for the media spotlight, has sought to make himself a focus of these celebrations. (A “fact sheet” on the official White House website is titled, “President Donald J. Trump previews plans for the Grandest Celebration of America’s Birthday.”)
If so — and if they show up in Philly — how will it play across the nation, and to the increasing number of Americans disenchanted with the president, if federal troops occupy the city where our grand experiment in democracy began? Does the Trump administration really want viral videos of National Guard troops carrying weapons, or anonymous masked immigration agents bundling people into unmarked vans, with Independence Hall as a backdrop?
Shobhana Kanal,Bala Cynwyd
Safeguard digital environment
As a pediatrician, I see every day how social media is shaping our children’s and adolescents’ lives long before their brains are ready to handle it. My patients tell me about sleepless nights, bullying that doesn’t end when the school day does, and algorithmic “rabbit holes” that amplify their anxiety and depression. I see the toll in headaches, weight changes, panic attacks, and exhaustion. These aren’t isolated cases; they’re part of a public health crisis affecting young people across Pennsylvania.
Families and doctors can provide support, but we can’t prescribe much for an algorithm or a billion-dollar company taking advantage of kids. Other states have already passed Kids Code legislation that requires tech platforms to design their products with children’s well-being in mind. Pennsylvania can and should do the same.
Our kids deserve digital environments that are as carefully protected as the homes, classrooms, playgrounds, and pediatric clinics where they spend the rest of their lives. Lawmakers must step up and pass a Kids Code now.
Joey Whelihan, Philadelphia
Join the conversation: Send letters to letters@inquirer.com. Limit length to 150 words and include home address and day and evening phone number. Letters run in The Inquirer six days a week on the editorial pages and online.
From removing protections from newly resurgent communicable diseases to investing good money after bad into industries that will make the planet more inhospitable during their lifetimes, we adults have wholly abdicated our responsibilities to Gen Alpha (and the infant Gen Beta). We’ve especially failed them by ceding to our own most juvenile inclinations — we elect the irresponsible and reward the feckless — and abandoning them to what we’ve wrought.
You grok? Yeah, that used to mean “to understand profoundly and intuitively,” but thanks to the sots that run the social media site X, it now refers to the artificial intelligence assistant that is, as we speak, actively degrading children by allowing users to take any innocently posted photo and, via prompt, have Grok edit and return the same image with the children stripped of their clothing, sometimes with other sexually suggestive details added.
When first called out, the AI assistant itself claimed the offending, nonconsensual, manipulated images were isolated cases.
I've reviewed recent interactions. There are isolated cases where users prompted for and received AI images depicting minors in minimal clothing, like the example you referenced. xAI has safeguards, but improvements are ongoing to block such requests entirely. (214 chars)
Hey @FBI did you know that Grok has been generating CSAM for a few days now? I've been documenting it in this thread, obviously leaving out the actual generated images because they were very sexual but leaving in the Grok reply previewhttps://t.co/vJIJxsyzac
Nevertheless, as of yesterday, the degrading images were still being generated and posted, the Guardian noted.
It’s not only children. The majority of the nonconsensual AI manipulated images created this way between Dec. 25 and Jan. 1, according to ananalysisby a French forensic nonprofit, are of women under the age of 30, with only 2% involving minors under the age of 18. Still, it is particularly troubling that some of the minors subjected to this kind of image editing are allegedly as young as 5 years old.
The creation of these deepfakes isn’t, unfortunately, limited to X. According to a recent article by Wired, Google’s and OpenAI’s chatbots also enable users to manipulate existing images nonconsensually this way.
As the adults in the room, our gravest fault in all this isn’t that we’ve given puerile middle-aged tech leaders like Musk the space to ply generative products that retcon our children’s images in gross and nonconsensual ways, though that’s certainly bad enough. No, it’s the cumulative harms to our children we’re enabling across the board and right under our noses.
Elon Musk holds up a chain saw he received from Argentina’s President Javier Milei (right) as they arrive to speak at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) at the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center in Oxon Hill, Md., in February.
It’s an administration that has thwarted the release of the Jeffrey Epstein files, despite the calls to do so from the women who were preyed upon and victimized when they were young girls. The same administration that has cut the SNAP benefits that feed millions of young people, and has dismantled educational resources for disabled students. An administration that, under Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s direction, has narrowed access to healthcare, blamed Tylenol for autism, and curtailed gold-standard vaccines for children rather than expanded them.
In the longer term, the same Big Tech responsible for the development of generative AI is responsible for the explosion of data centers, which we adults welcome because, sure, they create jobs for us now. But since each one consumes up to five million gallons of freshwater per day, the world we are shaping for Gen Alpha and Gen Beta children to inhabit will have drastically diminished, or contested, capacity to support human life.
There are so many other examples of how we, the adults in the room, are choosing to be callow and cavalier about the future. So can we really bristle when we hear members of Gen Alpha (or even Gen Z) say we’ve ruined the world?
If we want the younger generations to be mistaken about that, we must changecourse now. And the opportunity to flex on the Grok grotesquerie is staring us in the face. Let’s push to close it down altogether until the coding is modified, and no one can prompt the AI assistant to strip our children of their clothes, their dignity, and their agency. We owe them that.
In the beginning, God created the 12 days of Christmas and the bacchanalia of New Year’s Eve to get us through the dark and frigid endless nights of winter. That wasn’t nearly enough for us shivering and depressed humans, so God sent us the NFL playoffs. The hope is that the Eagles last long enough to get us to the balmy breezes of baseball’s spring training.
Delay, deny, distract, divert attention: Inside the Epstein Files coverup
Pages from a totally redacted New York grand jury file into Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, released by the U.S. Justice Department, are photographed last month in Washington.
I want you all to stonewall it, let them plead the Fifth Amendment, cover up or anything else if it’ll save it — save the plan.
The newish word that best captures the 2020s is one that I’m not allowed to use in a family newspaper like The Inquirer. In 2022, the social critic Cory Doctorow coined this scatological term that I’m calling “en(bleep)ification” (it won’t take much imagination) to describe the way that products, but especially consumer-facing websites, gradually degrade themselves in pursuit of the bigger goal, higher profits.
For example, writer Kyle Chayka wrote a popular New Yorker essay in 2024 about what he called the, um, en(bleep)ification of the music site Spotify as it devolved, in his opinion, from a place for the songs and albums you want to hear to pushing playlists that they want you to hear.
In the political world, no product rollout had been more anticipated than the December release, forced by law upon the Donald Trump regime’s Department of Justice, of the Jeffrey Epstein Files — the investigative trail of documents about the late financier and indicted sex trafficker who also palled around with Trump in the 1990s and early 2000s.
No one with any familiarity of Trump’s modus operandi should have been shocked by what happened when the congressionally mandated deadline for release of all of this massive cache of paperwork finally arrived on Dec. 19 — or by what has happened in the two-and-a-half weeks since then.
Needless to say, the Epstein Files have not offered the seamless user experience that its readers — especially those hoping for bombshells that would expose the tawdry secrets of Trump’s friendship with a man who allegedly abused more than 1,000 young and sometimes underaged women — had anticipated. In the hands of the president’s minions at Justice, the Epstein Files have been en(bleep)ified.
How so? Here’s the diabolical part. The MAGA Gang that normally can’t shoot straight managed to hit the coverup bullseye this time, not with one dramatic act to rile people up — like Nixon during Watergate with his notorious Saturday Night Massacre — but with a blend of tactics and dodges designed to frustrate and exhaust truth-seekers.
Delay. The law, which Trump signed to avoid an embarrassing defeat on Capitol Hill, required the release of every single document — with appropriate blacked-out redactionsto protect things like the names of Epstein’s victims — by that December deadline. But suddenly the Justice Department — which once had as many as 200 staffers combing the papers last spring before its original botched plan to squelch the files — lacked energy and manpower, claiming it was working as fast as it could in an initial release of just about 40,000 pages, which would seem to be a tiny fraction of more than 5 million pages believed to exist.
The DOJ’s small-batch cooking came in two small servings right before Christmas, when most Americans consume the least news, and information about any new releases in the new year has suddenly dried up, with maybe 99% of the files still outstanding.
Deny. The papers that have been released have included major redactions — including the completely blacked-out pages of Manhattan grand jury testimony pictured above — that violate the spirit if not the letter of the law, which demanded that any hidden passages only protect victims and not Epstein’s powerful associates and clients.
Stunningly, DOJ actually took back and attempted to bury some 16 files from the first release, including a photo of a photo that included Trump, before a public outcry led to that file’s republishing. Meanwhile, the department also claimed that 1 million additional Epstein files were discovered in New York after the legal deadline — an incredible claim that was immediately punctured by experts.
Deflect. The initial batch was also larded with photos of Epstein with celebrities like Michael Jackson, Diana Ross, and Walter Cronkite as well as several of a Trump predecessor and longtime enemy, Bill Clinton. The pictures were dumped without any explanation and seemed to prove only that there’s a good reason the government normally doesn’t release raw investigatory files, especially about those not charged with any crime.
The second batch also included a lurid and bizarre apparent letter from Epstein to a fellow famed accused sex offender, the gymnastic coach Larry Nassar, penned right around the time of his August 2019 jail-cell death. It seemed unbelievable, and just hours later the FBI said: Oh yeah, we looked at this and it’s a fake. The not-subtle subtext was essentially: “We don’t know what to believe in these files, and neither should you.”
Nearly 53 years ago, Nixon’s plan to cover up Watergate with a mix of denials, delays, purchased silence and outright lies didn’t work. But Team Trump’s efforts to “save it — save the plan” by stonewalling the Epstein files is going just swell so far.
If this moment feels familiar, it is very much like 2018 and the long-awaited Robert Mueller report on Russian influence in the 2016 presidential campaign and potential links to Moscow’s preferred candidate, Trump. There was a Mueller Report — much like there has been a “release” of the Epstein Files — that contained damning evidence, especially about potential obstruction of justice. But the information was dribbled out, downplayed, denied, and ultimately went nowhere.
The Epstein Files have been destined to fail from Day One. It was always what Trump himself might call a “rigged deal” — with the papers in the possession of those with the most to lose, with many ways to make sure the worst stuff stays buried until at least 2029, if it hasn’t already been shredded. But the biggest truth has already been revealed.
The outright defiance of the law demanding full release of the Epstein Files has exposed the utter brokenness of our democracy.
The reason that Nixon’s coverup plan failed is because America had institutions stronger than his lies, including a Congress that cared more about its strength and independence than party ID, newspapers that were not just widely read but believed, and Supreme Court justices with an allegiance to the law and not the man who appointed them.
Trump and his DOJ are daring a comatose Congress, a cowed news media, and a judiciary already in their back pocket to do something, but so far there is no indication that the en(bleep)ification of the Epstein Files can be undone. For now, they are more like the X Files, because the truth about Trump and his Palm Beach pal is out there…but beyond our weakened grasp.
Yo, do this!
These days I find “vacation” is often just another word for catching up on household chores, but during my long December break I did watch a slew of movies, including some of the ones I’d recommended previously like One Battle After Another (very good, but flawed) and Eddington (meh). I ventured to an actual theater on New Year’s Eve and saw probably my favorite movie of 2025: Song Sung Blue, the bittersweet, based-on-a-true-story saga of a Neil Diamond cover band at the end of the 20th century. As the title implies, the movie is more than just a rousing feel-good pop musical, despite cathartic moments of exactly that. Kate Hudson deserves an Oscar for her Wisconsin Nice accent.
If you miss the glory days of not-formulaic-or-cartoonish movies — in the spirit of Song Sung Blue or One Battle After Another, only better — you should check out a new documentary on Netflix called Breakdown: 1975, by filmmaker Morgan Neville. The film spotlights an all-too-brief golden age of the mid-1970s with clips from the era’s classics like Taxi Driver, Dog Day Afternoon, and Network, and interviews with the likes of Martin Scorsese and Albert Brooks. They could have done much more with this, but I’d still recommend it.
Ask me anything
Question: Do you think that there is enough of a media firestorm over Grok’s nude filter to kill it? — BCooper (@bcooper82.bsky.social) via Bluesky
Answer: The recent, shocking news about the artificial-intelligence tool called Grok that was created for Elon Musk-owned X (formerly Twitter) is a classic example of an important story that so far has befuddled and fallen through the cracks of the mainstream media. In recent days, X users have been asking Grok to create partially clothed and sexualized AI photos of real, everyday people, including images of underage adolescents. And Grok has complied, in what would seem to be a violation of laws regarding child pornography, among other legal and ethical problems. Musk needs to shut down Grok immediately — arguably for good — but that is not enough for the harm that’s already been caused. In a nation that routinely prosecutes citizens for having this kind of material on their computers, Musk, his co-creators of Grok, and X as a corporation need to be hauled before a judge.
What you’re saying about…
The half-dozen or so of you who responded to December’s open-ended call for 2026 predictions had one big thing in common: Boundless pessimism. Readers of this newsletter expect the new year to bring economic collapse and a disastrous midterm election in November, either from Donald Trump stealing it to Democrats somehow blowing it in the ways that only Democrats can. Stephen R. Rourke predicted: “I believe that the American economy, and perhaps the world economy, will slide into a second Great Depression, the almost inevitable consequence of an over leveraged economy, and a lack of willingness across the board to make tough choices about how to address the American addiction to borrowed money…” Oof. Nonetheless, Kim Root stole my heart with this: “I think the Philadelphia Union will rise even with the personnel changes because they are a developer of young talent. DOOP.”
📮 This week’s question: A no-brainer: Donald Trump’s lethal assault on Venezuela and his seizure of that country’s strongman leader, in defiance of U.S. and international law, marks a turning point in American foreign policy. Are you OK with Trump’s actions because a bad guy has been removed from power, or are you alarmed by a military assault with the stated goal of pumping more oil? Please email me your answer and put the exact phrase “Venezuela attack” in the subject line.
Backstory on the growing crisis of ICE custody deaths
The Federal Detention Center in Miami.
Marie Ange Blaise, a citizen of Haiti, was 44 years old when she was arrested last February by Customs and Border Patrol officers as she attempted to board a commercial flight in Charlotte — one of the thousands swept up during 2025 amid the mass deportation drive of the Donald Trump regime.
Just 10 weeks later, Blaise died inside a federal immigration detention center in Broward County, Fla. A South Florida public radio station reported that the Haitian woman had spoken to her son, who later told the medical examiner that “she complained of having chest pains and abdominal cramps, and when she asked the detention staff to see a physician, they refused her.” Another detainee reported Blaise’s care was “severely delayed,” even as Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) insisted she’d been offered blood-pressure medication but refused.
Blaise’s death was not an isolated incident. There was a sharp spike in ICE custody deaths during 2025, with the final tally of 31 fatalities nearly triple the 11 deaths posted during 2024, the last year of the Biden administration. Given the surge in immigration arrests after Trump took office last January, some increase was inevitable. Two of the 31 were killed by the gunman who fired on an ICE facility in Dallas. But immigration advocates say the crisis has been greatly exacerbated by inadequate medical care, bad food, and unsanitary conditions at detention centers.
“This is a result of the deteriorating conditions inside of ICE detention,” Setareh Ghandehari, advocacy director at Detention Watch Network, told the Guardian, which recently published a comprehensive rundown of all 31 custody deaths. Many died from heart attacks or respiratory failure, with a few apparent suicides — although, in a number of cases, family members are disputing the official account. Only a few of those who died were senior citizens.
There’s a bigger picture here. History has shown that authoritarian regimes can be hazardous to your health, and there is no American Exceptionalism. The MAGA movement’s low regard for the sanctity of human life is breaking through on multiple fronts, from the more than 100 deaths of South Americans on boats blown up by U.S. drones to the global crisis caused by the decimation of foreign aid through USAID (blamed for as many as 600,000 deaths by health experts) to the rising concern about fewer vaccinations and shrinking health insurance. A new generation is witnessing a grim reality: Dictatorship can be deadly.
What I wrote on this date in 2021
Jan. 6, much like Dec. 7 or Sept. 11, is a date which will live in infamy for most Americans. I had some health concerns five years ago that kept me from traveling to Washington to report on the insurrection — which I’ll always regret — but I did dash off an instant column before the smoke from Donald Trump’s failed coup had dissipated. I wrote, “When the future 45th president of the United States egged on the most violent thugs at his Nuremberg-style campaign rallies, when he yelled “get him the hell out of here” as white supporters roughed up a Black man in Birmingham, when he promised to pay the legal fees of brownshirts who beat up anti-Trump demonstrators, and when he said “I’d like to punch him in the face” to one rally insurrectionist, why are people still shocked when a riled-up mob takes Trump up on his own toxic words?” Read the rest: “Trump told us he would wreck America. Why didn’t we believe him the first time?”
Recommended Inquirer reading
I returned from a long Christmas break this weekend with something brand new to write about: the Trump regime’s illegal attack on Venezuela, which killed as many as 80 people, including civilians, and resulted in the capture of that nation’s strongman leader, Nicolás Maduro, and his wife. I wrote that Trump’s war without the required constitutional approval or public support, in violation of international law against unprovoked military aggression, fulfills his ambitions to rule as a dictator. And a new world order based not on the rule of law but brute force makes all of us less safe.
Last June, the partially unclothed body of a young woman was discovered by police under a pallet in an overgrown lot in Philadelphia’s Frankford neighborhood. For weeks, the identity of this murder victim was unknown, which didn’t deter one determined homicide detective, the missing woman’s anguished family who’d been initially told not to file a missing-person report — or The Inquirer’s Ellie Rushing, who has written a moving account of the life and death of the woman eventually learned to be Anastasiya Sangret. This kind of essential local reporting takes time and resources, which means it needs your support. You do exactly that, and unlock all the journalism of one of America’s best newsrooms, when you start 2026 with a subscription to The Inquirer.
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