Wait, Zelensky Fly's To Switzerland On Don't Forget Me Tour

Zelensky Blasts Europe's Inaction, Paralysis As Greenland Sideshow Consumes Attention

"Europe loves to discuss the future but avoids taking action today." As Bloomberg has described it, a visibly angry Zelensky Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky tore into European leaders at the World Economic Forum in Davos on Thursday. "Where is the line of leaders who are ready to act?" he questioned.

Highlighting that his own capital is in the midst of a power and water crisis after nightly Russian bombardment, Zelensky shamed European capitals for being unwilling to stop Putin, now nearly four years into the war. This included emphasis on the failed push to outright seize frozen Russian assets in Europe. Is he taking a page from Trump's playbook, taking the opportunity to blame and lash out at Europe? The talk had themes of a fragmented Europe which looks lost in the face of much stronger and more decisive US power and Trump's demands.

Zelensky in Davos, Shutterstock/BBC

"Why can President Trump stop tankers from the shadow fleet and seize oil, when Europe doesn't?" Zelensky posed. "If Putin has no money, there is no war for Europe."

"We should not accept that Europe is just a salad of small and middle powers, seasoned with enemies of Europe," Zelensky continued. "When Ukraine is with you, no one will wipe their feet on you. And you will always have a way to act – and act in time."

"To defend our land is a very expensive task," he had also said during the later Q&A session. Zelensky mentioned that in his meeting with President Donald Trump earlier in the day, which lasted about an hour, he left as his final communication to Trump that Ukraine desperately needs more anti-air defenses, especially Patriot missiles.

Trump for his part had said it was a good meeting, and that "Everybody wants to have the war end," - but that he'll have to "see what happens," adding that the US is meeting with Russia tomorrow.

In Zelensky's speech he interestingly alluded to distractions currently facing global leaders, including Greenland and Iran. He paralleled the deadly Iran protests with the world's 'inaction' in Ukraine. He went so far as to charge global leaders of not wanting to extend support for Iranians, "and the democracy they need".

"When you refuse to help people fighting for freedom, the consequences return - and they are always negative," Zelensky said. According to more:

Zelensky then moves on to international discussion about the Iranian protests, which he says has "drowned in blood".

Linking the example of the US's capture of Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro, he comes back to the impasse over Ukraine, saying that while Maduro is in New York awaiting trial, "Putin is not".

On Greenland, he said European leaders seem to believe someone else will do something to resolve the issue. Still, everyone is "waiting for America to cool down on this topic, waiting for it to pass away," he said.

One interesting moment came in Zelensky's introductory remarks, in which he referenced the early 1990s film Groundhog Day - where the lead character repeats the same day over and over again.

"No one wants to live like that," Zelensky observed, "repeating the same thing for weeks, months, years. And that's how we live now."

Meanwhile, while Zelensky spoke in Davos...

Broke As A Joke

 

Ukraine Is Defending Itself With Money Europe Doesn't Have

Authored by Ian Proud,

The ugly truth is that an end of the Ukraine war may have as devastating economic and political consequences for Europe as its continuance...

Ukraine already faces a $63 billion U.S. dollar funding shortfall in 2026 and I would be surprised if this figure doesn’t increase if the war continues. Ukraine’s massive fiscal splurge is driven by two factors

• The enormous cost of maintaining a standing army of almost one million people;

• The vast expense of importing weapons from the west to fight the war.

Weapon purchases are not sources of productive investment as they are literally burned in the heat of battle.

The same, of course, is true for Russia.

Both countries saw reducing economic growth in 2025, with Ukraine’s at 2.1% and 1.5%.

And, western pundits would point to this as evidence that Ukraine’s economy is performing better.

But the opposite is true.

Russia’s economy is around twelve times larger than Ukraine’s nominally and just over ten times larger when you look at GDP using purchasing power parity.

You can see this in the defence spending numbers.

Russia spent a record $143 billion on defence in 2025 compared to around $60 billion for Ukraine, so around 2.3 times higher. Yet, Russian defence spending amounted to just 6.3% of its GDP whereas for Ukraine it was 31.7%. So, massive spending on defence is a much less pivotal issue for Russia in terms of its economic fortunes.

Defence spending represents a far smaller proportion of total economic activity than it does for Ukraine. And Russia can afford to pay for its defence needs with its own finances, while Ukraine is entirely dependent on money from western donors to keep the war going.

Despite the massive cost of war, Russia ran a fiscal deficit of just 1.7% of GDP in 2025.

That is still well below the EU fiscal rule of 3% of GDP with some countries like France and Poland having deficits at or more than double that figure.

Ukraine’s fiscal deficit on the other hand was around 20% of GDP.

That gap had to be filled by foreign funding as it has debt of 107% of GDP and is cut off from foreign lending.

So, hence the EU stepping up with a loan of 90 billion Euros, two thirds of which is earmarked for defence.

Russia on the other hand has debt of around 15% of GDP and doesn’t really need to borrow heavily to keep its war effort afloat. By the way, 15% of GDP is far lower than the U.S. or any European nation, many of which, like Ukraine, have debt levels of over 100% of GDP.

Ukraine is defending itself with money Europe doesn’t have.

Despite the shock of sanctions, Russia doesn’t have to break the bank nor boost its lending significantly.

This also means that when the war eventually ends, Russia will be able to make the economic transition back to peace in a less painless way.

Russia will be under no pressure to impose massive cuts to defence spending to live within its means and can instead do so gradually.

Ukraine on the other hand faces a massive financial cliff edge when the war ends.

Ukrainian economic growth according to the OECD is set to fall further to 1.7% in 2027 if the war continues.

And that assumes continued large injections of capital from outside countries. In 2025, Ukrainian defence spending made up 31.1% of Ukrainian GDP, and two thirds of state budgetary expenditure. None of that spending goes into improving Ukraine’s weak economy.

With all of the support that it receives, Ukraine’s GDP in 2025 amounted to just under $210 billion according to the IMF.

Bear in mind here that Ukraine received $52.4 billion in external financing in 2025, or around one quarter of its GDP at the end of the year.

Take away foreign funding and Ukraine suddenly sees its economy shrink by over 20%.

Or, put it another way, take away the war and Ukraine sees its economy shrink by over 20%.

Russia simply does not face the same problem.

Rather, an end to the war may help Russia to get inflation – perhaps its biggest economic challenge – under control as economic activity returns to its normal rhythm.

But still the question arises, how come Ukraine has grown so little when it received so much foreign funding?

One big reason is that Ukraine recorded a trade deficit of $30 billion over the same period, a record according to the National Bank of Ukraine.

So, $52 billion in foreign money came into Ukraine during the year and $30 billion went straight back out again.

Because Ukraine’s massive trade deficit is fuelled by two things.

• First, a huge increase in the import of weapons from western suppliers which have doubled since 2022, not least as they are no longer being provided free of charge.

• Second, Ukraine has increased its imports of natural resources, in particular a massive increase in gas imports, because domestic production has been hit hard by the war. Coal is another area, as Russia has swallowed up important coal mines in the Donbas.

Not all of that deficit in trade will be recoverable even after the war ends, even if Ukraine was able to reduce the overall size of its trade deficit.

By comparison, Russia’s surplus of trade in goods was already at over $100 billion by October 2025, although the overall trade picture is narrower, at around $36 billion because of a significant deficit in services trade, including from large numbers of Russians who have moved overseas since the war started.

An end to the war, if anything, may allow Russia’s trade surpluses to grow further. A future relaxation on the import of natural resources into Europe could mean that Russia benefited from already increased trade with Asia and renewed trade with Europe.

In any case, the consistent surpluses that Russia pulls in both help shore up economic growth and foreign exchange reserves, which in 2025 grew by over $135 billion to a whopping $734 billion.

And just to be clear, Russia put their reserve funds almost completely into gold which now stand at over $310 billion.

One big reason for Russia storing its reserves in gold is to keep them clear of the stealing hands of western bureaucrats, who froze around $300 billion in reserves at the start of the war.

This means that Russia has a surplus of $434 billion in foreign exchange reserves which is almost completely insulated from western expropriation. The $10 billion rise in foreign currency reserves in 2025 was undoubtedly caused by an accumulation of reserves in non-dollar, Euro and sterling

What Is Wrong With Kansas?

 

Kansas School Bans Students From Naming Kirk, Trump Or Jesus As Role Models

Yet another example of why American parents are increasingly pulling their kids out of public institutions and turning to home schooling.  Parents at an elementary school in Kansas are upset after students were reportedly told that they were not allowed to list President Donald Trump, late conservative activist Charlie Kirk and even Jesus Christ as their role models for an assignment. 

The incident at Marshall Elementary School in Eureka, Kansas occurred in October and only recently came to light because students were originally instructed not to tell their parents about what happened.  The American Center for Law & Justice, described as “a politically conservative, Christian-based legal organization,” has filed a formal civil rights complaint with the school.

The complaint accuses the district and Marshall Elementary School of religious discrimination, political or viewpoint discrimination, violation of free speech rights and retaliation.  Students say a school guidance counselor, Kacey Countryman, gave sixth-graders an assignment called “Find Your Voice” as part of their "Leader In Me" program.  They were asked to identify their role models, but conservative role models were apparently not allowed.  

“When a student identified Charlie Kirk as a role model, the guidance counselor got very uncomfortable and refused to allow this name to be written on the board, yelling that he was ‘not a hero,’ and that he was not a role model,” the complaint says.  When a student chose Trump as their role model, the guidance counselor reportedly had the same response.

Another parent says their child picked Jesus and was also denied.

The complaint notes that “When a student selected President Donald J. Trump as a role model, the guidance counselor reiterated her prohibition even more angrily, stating that students could not write political or religious figures on the board, and in fact excluded political and religious topics altogether."

Reports note that children picking secular and potentially controversial figures did not receive the same backlash from the counselor.

The ACLJ has investigated a number of similar incidents in the past involving public school officials, including a recent controversy involving a Hawaiian school teacher who was punished by the district for allowing her students to talk about the assassination of Charlie Kirk during a Constitution Day discussion on free speech. 

Adminstrators placed a disciplinary memo in her file threatening future sanctions and told her she must immediately “shut down” any spontaneous student discussions on undefined “controversial issues.”

These kinds of censorious policies run completely contrary to the spirit of the First Amendment and basic civics once taught in US schools in previous generations.  The common conservative accusation that public schools have become poisonous indoctrination centers for the political left is proved correct weekly by similar stories of students being silenced for normal speech.  

The crackdown accelerated during the Biden Administration, along with the invasion of woke political propaganda into many taxpayer funded schools.  The agenda is clear:  Children are being bullied and extorted into abandoning conservative ideals.  They are forced to embrace progressive talking points as a way to keep peace in their academic lives.

There is no doubt that the rise of woke insanity in American society directly coincides with the decline of parental rights and participation in educational institutions.  School officials believe their job is not to simply teach basic academic mastery; they think their job is to program the next generation with far-left software.  Activist teachers and administrators believe their mission is to "correct" the principles instilled in children by their parents, and condition students to join the liberal hive mind.   

via zer0hedge

African Fraudsters Everywhere

Nigerian King Must Pay $72k Restitution For Defrauding NC Medicaid During Pandemic

Authored by Stephen Horn via The Triangle Trumpet,

Ekelekamchukwu Alphonsus Ngwadom, 61, received a suspended sentence requiring three years probation and $72,014.66 in restitution after pleading guilty to twenty-seven felonies in regards to hundreds of Medicaid claims for children’s therapy he fraudulently filed in 2020 and 2021 at his Raleigh practice, Almarch Counseling. (¹, ², ³)

Mugshot: Ekelekamchukwu Alphonsus Ngwadom

It was during this same period that Ngwadom was crowned King or “Eze” of the Mbubu-Amiri kingdom in Nigeria’s Imo State, according to a local news source which also identified him as the Chairman of African Diaspora Coalition of North Carolina and Professor of Psychology and Sociology at the University of Mount Olive. (There are many such “traditional rulers“ recognized by and holding limited power under the Federal Republic of Nigeria).

Ngwadom is listed as the Director of Partnerships and Development for Nigerian Mental Health Practitioners USA and a member of the Board of Trustees of the Nigeria-American Institute for Mental Health.

Records show Ngwadom resides at a Garner address and has voted in Johnston County since 2008.

Investigation and prosecution

According to a search warrant obtained by the Medicaid Investigation Division of the North Carolina Department of Justice, Ngwadom’s practice was flagged by Alliance Health, the manager of the NC Medicaid plan for counties including Wake, Johnston, and Durham.

Ngwadom’s fraud was revealed when a legitimate claim for therapy was submitted for one of the children for which he had filed fraudulent claims, and it was discovered that the family had never received services from Ngwadom or Almarch Counseling.

In the ensuing investigation into the “overlapping services,” a total of 210 fraudulent claims were identified involving children from three families who never receiving services from Ngwadom or Almarch Counseling:

• fifty-two claims for two minor children for a total of $3,037.28

• one hundred and three claims for three minor children for a total of $8,476.88

• fifty-five claims for two minor children for a total of $3,529.46

At sentencing, the state prosecutor explained that Ngwadom had met these families through an after-school program in the years prior to the pandemic, as reported by the News & Observer.

Although the search warrant was obtained and executed in 2022, the charges were not filled until January 2025.

The total amount of fraudulent claims submitted by Ngwadom totaled $72,014.66 across 27 Medicaid recipients between February 18, 2020, and March 18, 2021, according to a press release by Attorney General Jeff Jackson.

Ngwadom plead guilty to twenty-seven counts of obtaining property by false pretenses, a Class H felony, and received a sentence of 6-17 months incarceration, which was suspended with the following conditions:

• three years probation

• ninety days house arrest

• surrendering professional license

• one hundred hours community service

• $72,014.66 in restitution

Zero stars: state inspections find repeat deficiencies at adult care facility

Outside of his counseling practice, Ngwadom’s five-bed adult residential care facility Almarch Family Care in Rocky Mount has racked up numerous statements of deficiency and penalties from the NC Division of Health Service Regulation which licenses and inspects such facilities, which assigned AFC a rating of zero out of four stars at seven out of the last eight inspections.

The NCDHSR website only lists penalties for the past 36 months, in which time AFC has racked up $35,200 in penalties, with $16,700 paid in full and the most recent $18,500 under appeal.

Sixteen statements of deficiencies are listed for the nineteen inspections since 2015, with the most recent statement consisting of eighty-four pages detailing how the facility violated at least nine rules, including by failing to have certified staff, failing to meet health care needs, failing to properly store and administer prescribed medication, and failing to implement an activity program.

AFC is located at an 1825 sq. ft. home in a residential neighborhood in east Rocky Mount; although Ngwadom’s lawyer cited his need to take out a second mortgage in order to pay the $72k restitution, Edgecombe County records show that Ngwadom and his wife Ngozichukwuka Mary Ngwadom sold the AFC property for $10 to a “Chukwuebuka Michael C Ngwadom” less than two months before his sentencing. (The property has a tax valuation of $113,866.00).

Google Streetview: the Rocky Mount residence listed as the location of Ngwadom’s deficient adult care facility

Raleigh provider recruited refugees for Medicaid scam

Although perhaps not as prevalent as the recently publicized Somali scams in Minnesota, Ngwoma is not the only Nigerian to be charged with Medicaid fraud relating to “therapy” services in the Raleigh area, with a recent case matching a pattern of fraud enabled by modern immigration and welfare policy.

An investigation into the billing practices of “Our Treatment Center,” a Medicaid provider in Raleigh, resulted in the conviction of seven “mental health practitioners,” according to a June 2025 press release by the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Eastern District of North Carolina, with at least three of the fraudsters appearing to have African origins:

• Pius Ondachi (Kenya), Licensed Clinical Mental Health Counselor

• Ifeoma Ezugwu (Nigeria), Licensed Clinical Social Worker Associate

• Queensly Onuzulike (Nigeria), Licensed Clinical Social Worker

The charging documents allege that OTC recruited “refugees” in North Carolina in order to fraudulently bill Medicaid for providing “social assistance” to the “indigent” foreigners for services not covered by the welfare program, including:

• assistance with reading and understanding mail

• understanding the American legal system

• assistance with English as a second language

• transportation to grocery stores, the Division of Motor Vehicles, and other appointments

Ondachi and Onuzulike are alleged to have helped recruit the refugees, obtaining Medicaid Identification Numbers and personally identifiable information from entire households of refugees with the promise of this “assistance with social needs.”

King Fredrick X Is Pissed

 

EU Hosts Emergency Meeting Over Trump's Greenland Tariffs, Germany Threatens World Cup Boycott

"Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent clarified Trump's positioning on Greenland overnight, stating that "we are not going to outsource our national security."

The elites of The European Union are not best pleased at Trump's tariff threat (on some European allies that oppose the United States’ efforts to acquire Greenland) and immediately called an emergency meeting of ambassadors from the bloc’s 27 nations to discuss just how sternly worded their email response would be.

As we detailed yesterday, Trump has reiterated numerous times that the United States needs Greenland for national security purposes and warned that “world peace is at stake” if the United States does not succeed in obtaining Greenland.

Meanwhile, the eight European nations, which are already subject to 10 percent or 15 percent tariffs by the United States, have sent a small military presence to Greenland.

“Tariff threats undermine transatlantic relations and risk a dangerous downward spiral,” the group of eight countries said in a joint statement on Jan. 18.

As Jacob Burg reports below for The Epoch Times, the military deployment is intended to bolster Arctic security “as a shared transatlantic interest” and poses no threat to anyone, the nations said, adding that they are ready for dialogue with the United States “based on the principles of sovereignty and territorial integrity that we stand firmly behind.”

“We stand in full solidarity with the Kingdom of Denmark and the people of Greenland,” the eight countries said, adding, “We are committed to upholding our sovereignty.”

In an English translation of her written statement, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said, “Since the U.S. President’s announcement of tariffs, the [Danish] government has been in intensive dialogue with our allies.”

“It is all the more important that we stand firm on the fundamental values ​​that created the European community. We want to cooperate, and we are not the ones seeking conflict,” she said.

“And I am pleased with the consistent messages from the rest of the continent: Europe will not be blackmailed.”

Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson echoed Frederiksen in a social media post on Saturday, adding, “Only Denmark and Greenland decide on issues concerning Denmark and Greenland.”

“This is an EU issue that affects many more countries than those now being singled out,” he added.

“Sweden is now having intensive discussions with other EU countries, Norway, and the United Kingdom for a coordinated response.”

Germany’s vice-chancellor and finance minister Lars Klingbeil said that “a line had been crossed”, adding that the affected nations “must not allow ourselves to be blackmailed”.

“There will be a European response to this threat,” he said.

“It is unacceptable to hit countries that are now taking more responsibility for our common security in Nato,” said Troels Lund Poulsen, Denmark’s defence minister, who will meet Nato secretary-general Mark Rutte on Monday.

Not to be outdone, France’s Emmanuel Macron has called for the EU to activate its so-called anti-coercion instrument that can restrict access to the single market for American companies.

“He will be in contact throughout the day with his European counterparts and will request, on France’s behalf, the activation of the anti-coercion instrument,” said an Élysée official.

Greenland Governance

U.S. Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio met with Denmark’s Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen and Greenland’s Foreign Minister Vivian Motzfeldt at the White House on Jan. 14.

Rasmussen described the talks as a “frank but also constructive discussion.”

Trump said on Jan. 16 that he was considering a wave of tariffs on European allies “if they don’t go along” with allowing the United States to purchase the Danish territory.

The U.S. president noted on social media that attempts by the United States to “do this transaction” for Greenland date back “over 150 years.” U.S. President Andrew Johnson’s administration first floated the idea of expanding American influence in the Arctic in the 1860s.

Trump has also previously signaled that Greenland would be a wise investment for the United States due to estimates of high quantities of rare earth mineral deposits on the Arctic island.

While the island was under formal Danish control since the era of colonization in the early 1700s, Greenland was granted self-governance in the 1970s with the creation of a parliament and the Self-Government Act of 1979, expanding the island’s autonomy. However, the island didn’t gain full self-governance until 2009.

On Jan. 9, the officials from Greenland, including Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen and multiple political party leaders, released a statement reaffirming Greenland’s sovereignty and rejecting any claims that would impede the island’s autonomy.

“We don’t want to be Americans, we don’t want to be Danes, we want to be Greenlanders,” the statement said. “The future of Greenland must be decided by the Greenlandic people. ... No other country can interfere in this.”

World Cup Boycott

German politician Jurgen Hardt (CDU) spoke to newspaper BILD recently to suggest that Germany could withdraw from football's biggest competition in response to Trump's threats against Greenland. "Dropping out of the tournament would, however, only be considered as a last resort in order to get Trump to see sense on the Greenland issue," he said.

Euro Troubles

 

UK Migrant Crime Surge: Foreigners Top 79% Of Theft Arrests, 40% Of Violent Suspects On Trains

Authored by Thomas Brooke via Remix News,

Foreign nationals accounted for 79 percent of all arrests for theft on trains in Britain last year, and 40 percent of all railway arrests, new data from British Transport Police has revealed.

The figures were published as part of a Freedom of Information (FOI) request submitted by the Centre for Migration Control (CMC) think tank.

They showed that, despite comprising a minority of the overall population, foreign nationals were disproportionately responsible for several categories of offenses, including theft, drug violations, sexual offenses, and violent crime.

“Of the 9,771 arrests in England, Wales, and Scotland, nearly 3,700 were foreign nationals. We have imported a huge problem,” the organization wrote in an X post on Thursday.

EXC: Data from the BTP shows that foreign nationals accounted for 40% of all railway arrests last year.

This includes:
79% of arrests for theft
40% of arrests for drug offences
37% of arrests for sexual offences
36% of arrests for violent crime

Read more below 👇 pic.twitter.com/NGDFNaw8cC

— Centre for Migration Control (@migrationCtrl) January 15, 2026

It noted that 79 percent of those arrested in 2025 for theft on British trains were foreigners, while migrants arrested for drug offenses, sexual offenses, and violent crime comprised 40 percent, 37 percent, and 36 percent of all detentions, respectively.

For all offenses, foreign nationals were involved in 37.7 percent of arrests.

Speaking to GB News, CMC’s research director Robert Bates said of the British government, “They have made our trains unsafe. It is the responsibility of any sane government to end immigration and begin a programme of mass deportations to protect the British people.”

Last week, the CMC published its findings from multiple other FOI requests to police forces across England and Wales, and found that 172,889 foreign national arrests had been made for the year ending March 31, 2025.

This, it noted, equated to 474 arrests every day, or an arrest every 183 seconds.

Of those arrests, 51,212 were for violent offenses, while 11,264 were in connection with a sexual offense.

🚨 Julia Hartley-Brewer BANGS her head on the table in disbelief over the "incompetence" of Britain's detention facilities.

Migration expert Robert Bates explains that, after a certain period of time, illegal migrants are let out if they can't be deported.@JuliaHB1 pic.twitter.com/TijZQ88HuD

— Talk (@TalkTV) January 13, 2026

In several recommendations the think tank made to the government following its findings, the CMC called for Britain to “follow the example set by [U.S. President] Donald Trump and introduce a ‘red list’ of countries that are unable to obtain visas.”

It also called for the government to “amend legislation so that any foreign national convicted of a crime immediately becomes liable for deportation and, crucially, actually begin deporting them.”

This reality is not just seen in Britain but across wider Western Europe.

In September last year, the French statistics agency INSEE revealed that 64 percent of violent robberies, physical and sexual violence on public transport in Paris are committed by foreigners, with 43 percent of this number being North African, who represent only 3.4 percent of the population.

Similarly, in the German state of Baden-Württemberg, foreigners are responsible for 62 percent of all crimes in the German state on public transport, despite being only 16 percent of the population, according to data published following an inquiry for the Alternative for Germany (AfD) state lawmakers in June last year.

AFL-CIO Calls For Strike

 

America's largest labor movement says ICE is a danger to 'innocent working people'

The AFL-CIO, the country's largest network of labor unions representing some 15 million workers, says ICE is a threat to workers.

"The Trump administration's militarized immigration enforcement is putting innocent working people in danger," the AFL-CIO said in a post on X on Saturday. "America's unions have your backs."

A group of local unions in Minnesota, meanwhile, has endorsed a planned statewide economic blackout in response to ICE actions in the state.

The Minneapolis Regional Labor Federation, which is affiliated with the AFL-CIO, first announced its endorsement alongside other regional bodies on Friday.

"The Minnesota labor movement is united against the violent ICE occupation of our beloved cities that has directly impacted union members, our workplaces and our families," the group said in a press release.

Dozens of community, faith, and union groups are organizing the Day of Truth and Freedom, a call to action asking Minnesotans to avoid work, school, and shopping on January 23 to pause the economy. There will also be a rally and march in downtown Minneapolis at 2 p.m. local time.

"We will gather with family, neighbors, and community to show Minnesota's moral heart and economic power," organizers said in a Facebook post.

Organizers listed several demands, including that ICE leave Minnesota and that federal funding for ICE be scrapped in the upcoming congressional budget.

The Minneapolis Regional Labor Federation told Business Insider that ICE's presence is disrupting residents' daily lives.

"Working people from across sectors — hospitality, healthcare, education, custodial, construction, public works — are being targeted," the group said in a statement.

Thousands of ICE officers have descended on Minnesota as part of Operation Metro Surge, launched on December 1. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said in a press release earlier this month that the operation was targeting criminal activity among immigrants in the state.

"Under President Trump, we will expose and deliver accountability for the rampant fraud and criminality happening in Minnesota. You won't steal from Americans or break our laws and get away with it," she said.

The Trump administration has criticized cities like Minneapolis that have passed so-called "sanctuary" laws preventing city resources and police from supporting federal immigration agents. In a statement shared on Friday, the White House said sanctuary cities create "a climate of hostility that endangers federal officers and incites violence." Earlier in the week, the administration said it would cut federal funding to sanctuary cities.

Business Insider reached out to ICE, the Department of Homeland Security, and the White House for comment.

Many residents, meanwhile, have criticized the tactics that federal agents are using to locate and detain individuals. Tensions in the state skyrocketed after ICE officer Jonathan Ross fatally shot Renee Good, a 37-year-old American citizen from Minneapolis, on January 7, leading to a wave of protests and outcry.

Days after the shooting, Minnesota's attorney general filed a lawsuit on behalf of Minneapolis, St. Paul, and the state against Homeland Security, which oversees ICE, seeking to end the operation.

"As a result of this surge, municipalities have been forced to divert local law enforcement resources away from their normal public safety duties, emergency responder resources have been strained, schools have been forced into lockdowns and closures, businesses have been forced to close, and the rights of Minnesotans have been violated time and time again," a press release from the Minnesota Attorney General's Office said.

Homeland Security said officers have arrested over 2,500 individuals during Operation Metro Surge so far.

Correction: January 17, 2026 — Due to an editing error, an earlier version of this story misstated that the AFL-CIO had endorsed the January 23 economic blackout in Minnesota. It has not publicly expressed a position.

Doh!

 

Sacrifice

 

Rape Ensues After Dutch Students Forced To Live With 125 Refugees In Woke 'Integration' Experiment

"Dutch students forced to live side-by-side with 125 refugees in a woke government plan to aid the refugees' 'integration' were subjected to years of sexual assault and violence, according to an investigation. 

The experiment - held at Stek Oost located in the Watergraafsmeer district of Amsterdam - placed a total of 125 students and 125 refugees together, where they were encouraged to 'buddy up' so that the migrants would quickly assimilate into life in the Netherlands.

Instead, the refugees started raping. 

Students told the Dutch investigative documentary program Zembla that they faced frequent sexual assault, harassment, violence, stalking, and gang rape.

One woman said she regularly saw "fights in the hallway and then again in the shared living room," while a man told the investigators that a refugee threatened him with an eight-inch kitchen knife. 

In another case fro 2019, a female student said she was raped by a Syrian refugee after he invited her to his room to watch a film, and then refused to let her leave. 

"He wanted to learn Dutch, to get an education. I wanted to help him," said the woman, who identified only as Amanda. She described how he asked her several times to come to his room. After she eventually agreed, she became extremely uncomfortable being alone with him and asked to leave, only for him to trap her in his room and rape her.

The students - including Amanda - said that authorities ignored multiple reports. 

Six months after Amanda reported her rape, which authorities dropped for lack of evidence, another woman living in Stek Oost reported the same Syrian, telling the housing association that runs the complex that she was concerned for her safety and the safety of other women living there. 

According to the Zembla documentary, the local authority claimed it was impossible to evict the man. 

In March, 2022 he was formally arrested after having left the housing complex and was later convicted of raping Amanda and another resident, for which he received just three years in prison in 2024. 

"You see unacceptable behaviour, and people get scared," said Carolien de Heer, district chair of the East district of Amsterdam. "But legally, that's often not enough to remove someone from their home or impose mandatory care. You keep running into the same obstacles."

The firm that runs the complex, Stadgenoot, suspected that a 2023 gang rape took place. 

Since opening in 2018, Stek Oost has faced multiple similar allegations. In 2022, Dutch TV station AT5 reported that a refugee had been accused of six sex attacks between 2018 and 2021.

He was involved in a protracted legal battle with local authorities, who fought to force him to leave Stek Oost.

For its part, Stadgenoot wanted to shut the complex down as early as 2023, but the local authority refused.

It will, however, be shut down by 2028 after the contract to run the site expires. -Daily Mail

The staff at Stek Oost, meanwhile, are reportedly exhausted from their experience living and working there. 

"We were completely overwhelmed. We no longer wanted to be responsible for the safety of the complex," said Mariëlle Foppen, who works for Stadgenoot. "It was just too intense. As the manager of these colleagues, I would say: "If I can't guarantee their safety, I'm going to have a really bad night's sleep."