The Trump Administration’s $3 Meal: ‘A Piece of Chicken, a Piece of Broccoli, Corn Tortilla, and One Other Thing’

Maybe they expect you to add roadkill and lard

Jessica Corbett

The Trump administration was again blasted for grocery prices this week after Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins discussed the new federal dietary guidelines during a NewsNation appearance.

“We’ve run over 1,000 simulations,” Rollins said in a clip shared on social media by journalist Aaron Rupar on Wednesday. “It can cost around $3 a meal for a piece of chicken, a piece of broccoli, corn tortilla, and one other thing.”

“So there is a way to do this that actually will save the average American consumer money,” Rollins continued, pushing back against host Connell McShane’s inquiry about whether the new guidelines expect people to spend more money on food.

The Guardian noted that “data from the consumer price index, as referenced by McShane, showed that food prices kept rising in December, increasing by 0.7%, the biggest month-to-month jump since October 2022. Prices for produce rose 0.5%, coffee increased by 1.9%, and beef went up 1% over the month and 16.4% compared with a year earlier.”

Responding to the clip, Chasten Glezman Buttigieg, an author and teacher married to former Democratic Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, said, “Private jets and tax breaks for them and their rich friends, and one piece of broccoli *AND* a tortilla for you!”

Fact check: Here’s what’s really happening with child care fraud in Minnesota

Another MAGA distraction

This story was originally reported by Chabeli Carrazana of The 19th. Meet Chabeli and read more of their reporting on gender, politics and policy.

Are you concerned about child abuse? Start here.
Release the Epstein files. All of them.

A viral video posted just after Christmas spurred an avalanche of news coverage, changes from the Trump administration, and congressional hearings that appeared to indicate that a massive trove of child care fraud was just uncovered in Minnesota. 

Much of it has been misleading. 

The video by right-wing YouTuber Nick Shirley posted on December 26 purports to show that various Minneapolis day cares run by Somali Americans are not providing services to children despite receiving public funding. 

Although the video has already been debunked by investigators, the Trump administration and Republicans in Congress have seized on it. Vice President JD Vance said Shirley “has done far more useful journalism than any of the winners of the 2024 [Pulitzer Prizes].”

The fallout has been massive. In the past week, the Trump administration has frozen child care payments to five Democratic-run states and ramped up reporting requirements for all states receiving child care funds to cover services for the lowest-income kids. Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, a Democrat, has suspended his reelection campaign over it. 

But the real story behind child care fraud in Minnesota is far less nefarious. 

Here’s what we actually know about child care fraud in Minnesota and elsewhere, and how day cares and families may be impacted by the new changes.

What does Nick Shirley uncover in his video? 

Nothing conclusive. The video shows Shirley visiting day cares run by Somali Americans, sometimes under the false pretense of trying to enroll a child. In a couple of instances, workers do open the door but seem immediately suspicious when it’s clear Shirley is recording them and refuse to let him in or give him more information. 

Because some of the sites appear closed and Shirley doesn’t see any children, he declares this as proof of fraud at these facilities. 

Most child care centers are locked and have obscured doors or windows for children’s safety. Children are also kept in classrooms and would not likely be visible from a reception area. One of the day cares in the video told several news outlets that it did not grant Shirley entrance because he showed up with a handful of masked men, which raised suspicions that the men were agents with Immigration and Customs Enforcement. At least one of the centers was closed at the time Shirley arrived because it opens later in the day to serve the children of second-shift workers.

When an ICE Agent Shot Two Bullets Into Renee Good Through the Driver’s Side Window, He Was Not Engaged in Self-Defense

Kristi Noel’s Preposterous Lies About the Killing Confirm That ICE Encourages Agent Violence

Mitchell Zimmerman

Three images taken from videos of the slaying of Renee Nicole Good make it clear that she was not trying to run down an ICE agent when he shot her three times and killed her.

Videos taken by different people from various angles (see CNN, ABC and the New York Times) show what happened, including one in slow motion.

We see ICE agents apparently attempting to force Good out of her vehicle, Good backing up, then Good trying escape by turning the wheels to the right and driving forward. And we see ICE agent Jonathan Ross firing a first shot at Good from near the front of the car, then firing two more shots from alongside the car.

Common sense tells us that ICE shooter Ross never considered himself in danger of being run over, since he deliberately stepped in front of the car.

Consider these two screen captures from seconds 9 and 10 of the video.

 

In the first, Ross appears to be in front of the vehicle and he is drawing his gun.

The vehicle had been moving backward just one second earlier, so the vehicle’s forward movement was still slow. If Ross thought the car might hit him, he had only to step to his right (our left) to get out of the car’s path. Instead he draws his gun, aims and fires.

In the second photo we see the puff of vapor that accompanies the first shot. We also see that both of Ross’s feet are to the left of the car. Ross is not in the path of the car when he takes his first shot. He is not saving himself from being run down.

Shots two and three are even more obviously not in “self-defense.” As shown in the slow motion video and the screen shot below, the car has moved forward and the ICE agent is alongside the vehicle when he stretches out his arm and shoots Renee Good in the head. He fires at point-blank range, through the driver’s side window.

What you see is not a man being run down. What you see is not self-defense. It’s an execution.

Neither President Trump nor Homeland Security head Kristi Noem have acknowledged that agent Jonathan Ross should not have taken out his gun and killed a law-abiding citizen who only sought to escape from aggressive ICE agents. Neither even said a terrible mistake had been made. They endorsed and excused the killing.

The execution of Renee Nicole Good was part of a practice of unnecessary and excessive force which Trump and Noem approve of and support. ICE agents have fired their guns at people in cars at least ten times, and short of murder, ICE agents routinely attack and brutalize those they seize. Violence against observers and reporters is an attempt to conceal such lawless ICE conduct.

The contention that an ICE shooting victim tried to run them over has become the ICE equivalent of the German Nazi claim that slain opponents were shot while attempting to escape.

No evidence supports any terrorism claim, but Noem asserted that Good had been “stalking” ICE. President Trump pointed to a further “wrong”: “At a very minimum,” said Trump, “that woman was very, very disrespectful to law enforcement.”

Citizens of a democracy are entitled to observe ICE agents, to deter them from lawless activity, and citizens of a democracy are not required to be respectful of law enforcement.

If the Department of Homeland Security can with impunity kill citizens for exercising those rights, America will not long remain a free nation.

Subscribe to Reasoning Together with Mitchell Zimmerman. Launched 2 years ago. Engaging, evidence-based arguments on democracy, racism and justice. From a 1960s civil rights veteran, an opponent of two lies-based wars, and and a long time social justice attorney and author. Since 1964.

Vandal in Chief

Getting ready to fight invaders

ICE says hello to my little friend

$270K Available for Local Farms & Food Organizations

Grant application deadline is February 28

The Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management (DEM) announced that $270,000 in Specialty Crop Block Grant Program (SCBGP) funds are available for projects that enhance the competitiveness of local specialty crops that are vital to Rhode Islanders’ health and well-being. Specialty crops are fruits and vegetables, dried fruit, tree nuts, horticulture, and nursery crops, including floriculture.

“When I’m at the grocery store or walking through my local farmers’ market, I’m drawn to fruits and vegetables, dried fruits, and nuts, the kinds of foods I rely on to eat healthy,” said DEM Director Terry Gray. 

“I know many Rhode Islanders are looking for those same options, along with local flowers. That’s why DEM is committed to promoting RI Grown crops by helping local farmers and businesses become more competitive.”

Rhode Island’s USDA-funded SCBGP supports local crops by increasing consumer awareness and demand for RI Grown produce and plants. Since 2016, DEM has awarded more than $1 million through the program. There is no maximum grant award or matching requirement. 

Applications are due Feb. 28, 2026. Learn more and apply at https://dem.ri.gov/agriculture/grants/specialty-crop. Questions should be directed to DEM.SpecialtyCrop@dem.ri.gov or (401) 222-2781.

Home care providers call out McKee Administration for cutting care hours to pay for state minimum wage increase

Workers charge McKee gives with one hand, takes with the other

Steve Ahlquist

Noris Fernandez, Liliana McPherson, and Ercilia De Leon

On January 1, 2026, Rhode Island increased its state minimum wage to $16 per hour, up from $15 in 2025. But for hundreds of consumer-directed home healthcare providers across the state, this wage increase comes at the expense of fewer care hours for the vulnerable individuals they serve. With little to no notice, home care workers are seeing the number of approved care hours slashed alongside the wage increase, resulting in less overall income.

On Tuesday, before Rhode Island Governor Daniel McKee began his 2026 State of the State Address, home care workers gathered at the State House to call on his Administration to fulfill its promise to raise incomes and improve healthcare outcomes for every Rhode Islander by not balancing the budget on their backs. At the same time, they are demanding EOHHS (Executive Office of Health and Human Services) resume bargaining a new contract after a five-month hiatus with home care providers who recently joined SEIU 1199NE.

Just 4% of Americans Support Trump Seizing Greenland by Military Force

No public support for Trump's latest demented fantasy

Jake Johnson for Common Dreams

This is an actual, official White House social media post.
WTF is wrong with these people?

A survey released January 14 shows that just 4% of US voters think it would be a “good idea” for President Donald Trump to seize Greenland by military force, data that came ahead of a closely watched White House meeting between Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and the foreign ministers of Greenland and Denmark.

More broadly, according to the new Reuters/Ipsos poll, only 17% of Americans approve of Trump’s push for the US to acquire Greenland by any means.

The White House has said it is considering a “range of options” to seize Denmark, from buying the mineral-rich island to acquiring it through military force. 

Just one in 10 Republican voters and virtually no Democrats said they believe it’s a good idea for the Trump administration to forcibly take Greenland, which is currently an autonomous territory of Denmark.

Greenland residents have overwhelmingly voiced opposition to US control.

In an early morning Truth Social post ahead of Wednesday’s White House meeting, Trump declared that the US “needs Greenland for the purpose of National Security”—a view that military experts have rejected.

“It is vital for the Golden Dome that we are building,” Trump added, referring to his proposed missile defense boondoggle. “NATO should be leading the way for us to get it. IF WE DON’T, RUSSIA OR CHINA WILL, AND THAT IS NOT GOING TO HAPPEN!”

Trump’s latest Greenland rant came a day after the territory’s prime minister, Jens-Frederik Nielsen, said during a press conference that “we are now facing a geopolitical crisis, and if we have to choose between the United States and Denmark here and now, we choose Denmark.”

“One thing must be clear to everyone,” said Nielsen. “Greenland does not want to be owned by the United States. Greenland does not want to be governed by the United States. Greenland does not want to be part of the United States.”

Trump Sees Women as the Enemy

Trump's deep and abiding contempt for females has taken a giant leap forward

Karen Greenberg for the TomDispatch

Trump does make an exception when they're very young

“Quiet, Piggy.” The president was intent on silencing Catherine Lucey. The Bloomberg reporter had provoked him with a question about the release of the Epstein files. His insult caught the public’s attention. But Donald Trump’s tongue-lashing lexicon against women has a long history. Other female journalists have been dubbed “obnoxious,” “terrible,” “third-rate,” and “ugly.” 

Vice President Kamala Harris, opposing him in the 2024 presidential election, was labeled “retarded” and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi “crazy as a bedbug.” The list goes on (and on and on). And who knows what was redacted from the Epstein files along those very lines?

Mind you, those Trumpian insults hurled at women (and regularly offered about them) are anything but performative throwaways. They reveal Donald Trump’s deep and abiding contempt for females, an attitude that has taken a giant leap forward (or do I mean backward?) in policy terms in the Trump 2.0 years. Well beyond a simple cascade of insulting words, the commander-in-chief and his allies have deemed women the enemy. And not surprisingly, under the circumstances, they are now distinctly under attack.

The Purges

From day one of his second term as president, Trump has made his intention to rid the government of women crystal clear—with some window-dressing exceptions. Without mentioning women per se, he nonetheless targeted them on his very first day in office. Executive Order 14151 vowed to end the “forced illegal and immoral discrimination programs” of the Biden era. (On his first day in office, Biden had issued an executive order opening the door for “underserved communities” via a “whole of government equity agenda.”). 

Trump’s EO, however, decreed an end to DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion) and to any appointments that were meant to reflect diversity hiring, claiming that such policies “demonstrated immense public waste and shameful discrimination.”

Immediately, women began to be flung from their government perches. Those holding high positions were the first to go. US Archivist Colleen Shogan was removed, as were the three top women at the National Labor Relations Board. Head of the Federal Trade Commission Rebecca Slaughter was promptly fired, a case still under review by the Supreme Court (though it’s hard to expect good news from SCOTUS these days). 

The Pentagon cleaned house early and fast, removing women from positions of leadership, including the head of the US Naval Academy in Annapolis; the commandant of the Coast Guard, the chief of naval operations, and the only woman flag officer on NATO’s Military Committee. All had been the first females to occupy those posts. Also sent packing was the woman serving as the senior military assistant to the secretary of defense.

Black women in particular found themselves under attack. Early removals of Black women included Carla Hayden, the librarian of Congress; Gwynne Wilcox, the first Black woman to serve on the National Labor Relations Board; and Lisa Cook, the first Black woman to serve on the board of governors of the Federal Reserve Board. Meanwhile, Peggy Carr, the first Black person and the first woman to be commissioner of the National Center for Education Statistics, was cruelly and unexpectedly escorted out of the building in front of her staff.

The circumstances surrounding the ouster of the first female to lead the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), acting administrator Janet Petro, highlighted the conviction that emptying offices of women occupants took precedence over quality, efficiency, or overall professionalism. Petro was replaced by an interim appointee, Sean Duffy, who continued to serve in the demanding job of secretary of transportation even as he assumed the leadership of NASA. Better, it seems, to overtax a man than allow a woman to lead anything whatsoever.

The Pentagon

The Pentagon took an early lead in the crusade against women. Even before he was confirmed as secretary of defense (now the Department of War), nominee Pete Hegseth signaled the changes to come under his leadership. Former President Barack Obama’s Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta had opened up combat roles to women in 2015. Hegseth promised to change that. 

Doctor Robby's medical advice

Make big bucks

Rhode Island joins states, health organizations in rejecting new CDC vaccine guidance

Saying "NO" to Bobby Jr.'s phony science

Liz Szabo, MA

Fighting for the right to die from a preventable disease

A growing number of states are pushing back against sweeping changes to the US childhood vaccine schedule.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced an overhaul of the immunization schedule January 5, paring the number of universally recommended immunizations from 17 to 11.

Since then, at least 17 states have announced that they won’t follow new CDC vaccine schedule: California, Colorado, Connecticut, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Vermont, Washington, and Wisconsin.

Instead, these states say they plan to follow vaccine guidance from the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), which continues to recommend immunization plans approved by the CDC prior to the Trump administration.

EDITOR'S NOTE: On Jan. 12, the RI Department of Health sent out a news release stating: 

"The CDC's changes to the U.S. childhood vaccine schedule did not follow established procedures for vaccine recommendations. This change also creates confusion for families already trying to navigate a complex system and sows doubt about the effectiveness and science behind vaccines.."

Further, "Rhode Island's school immunization schedule is not affected by this change. All current immunization requirements for school and childcare attendance remain in effect, and schools should continue to follow existing state regulations and guidance issued by RIDOH."

- Will Collette

Despite being a top priority for Bobby Jr., artificial food coloring is still abundant

Synthetic Dyes Still Found in One in Five U.S. Foods, Study Finds

By George Institute for Global Health

Almost one in five packaged foods and drinks available in U.S. grocery stores contain synthetic food dyes, according to a new analysis of 39,763 products. The research was recently published in the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.^[1]

Synthetic dyes are frequently added to make foods look more appealing, especially those sold to children. However, a growing body of research suggests these additives may contribute to or worsen behavioral problems such as hyperactivity and inattention.^[2]

If approached by ICE, you have legal rights even though ICE may not honor them

No one is safe from an unrestrained secret police force

Native American Rights Fund

IF YOU ARE APPROACHED BY ICE AT YOUR HOME:

Do not open the door unless ICE presents a valid judicial warrant signed by a judge. Most ICE warrants are administrative and do not allow them to enter your home without permission.

A valid judicial warrant: 1. Names a person in your residence and/or what specific areas are to be searched at your residence and 2. Is signed by a judge (must be a judge that is not an immigration judge)

An administrative warrant is: signed by an ICE officer

(If you need help determining what is a valid judicial warrant you can review this resource: https://www.nilc.org/resources/know-your-rights-warrants/)

Ask ICE to slide the warrant under the door for you to review. Do not open the door to receive the warrant.

If an ICE agent enters your home without your permission or a valid judicial warrant, do not physically resist as that could subject you to potential criminal charges. But make it clear that you did not provide consent.

If ICE begins to search your home, make it clear that you do not consent to the search.

You do have a right to remain silent or state clearly: “I am exercising my right to remain silent.”

If you do not remain silent, do not lie to ICE agents as that may impact you in the future.

Record the interaction if it is safe to do so or ask someone else to record it. If you record, do not interfere with the ICE operation.

IF YOU ARE APPROACHED BY ICE AT WORK:

ICE can enter the public space of any workplace without any type of warrant.

Public spaces can include an office lobby, a supermarket, retail store, or dining area of a restaurant.

ICE cannot legally enter the private space of a workplace unless they have the permission of your employer or a judicial warrant. Private spaces include employee-only areas.

If approached, do not panic. Stay calm and avoid running or making sudden movements.

Ask if you are free to leave. If yes, calmly walk away. If you are not free to leave, ask if you are being detained. If you are being detained, you do not have to answer any questions. You always have the right to remain silent.

If you are asked about another person’s identification or for information pertaining to another person’s whereabouts, you do not have to answer those questions.

If you are being detained, you must show a form of identification. You can use your non-expired state-issued ID or Tribal ID to show your United States citizenship.

If an ICE agent does not accept your Tribal ID, request to speak with their supervisor. Not all ICE agents are aware that a Tribal ID is a legal form of identification in the United States.

Do not sign anything without consulting an attorney.

If it is safe to do so, record the interaction or ask someone else to record it. Do not interfere with the operation.

IF YOU ARE APPROACHED BY ICE IN PUBLIC:

ICE can enter public spaces without any type of warrant.

Public spaces include an office lobby, a supermarket, retail store or dining area of a restaurant.

If approached, do not panic. Stay calm and avoid running or making sudden movements.

Ask if you are free to leave. If yes, calmly walk away. If you are not free to leave, ask if you are being detained. If you are being detained, you do not have to answer any questions. You always have the right to remain silent.

If you are being detained, you must show a form of identification.

You can use your non-expired state-issued ID or Tribal ID to show your United States citizenship.

If an ICE agent does not accept your Tribal ID, request to speak with their supervisor. Not all ICE agents are aware that a Tribal ID is a legal form of identification in the United States.

If it is safe to do so, record the interaction or ask someone else to record it. Do not interfere with the operation.