50501 FRIDAY BRIEFING | JANUARY 9, 2026
A war without Congress. A memory under attack. A woman killed by ICE. And 11 days to the Walkout.
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January 10th-11th, 2026 (THIS WEEKEND!)
Nationwide Action: ICE OUT FOR GOOD!
HOST an Protest: https://bit.ly/iceoutforgood
FIND a Protest: https://bit.ly/justiceforgood
TL;DR
This week, we watched power act without oversight. Abroad, in memory, and on American streets. We demanded a War Powers vote after the U.S. captured Maduro without Congressional authorization. We held the line on January 6, five years later, against a revisionism machine that’s been working overtime to convince us we didn’t see what we saw. We laid out the history and mechanics of the Free America Walkout, tracing the tradition from East L.A. students in 1968 to Icelandic women in 1975. And then, on Thursday, ICE killed Renee Nicole Good in Minneapolis and the federal government called her a terrorist before any of us had seen the evidence.
By The Numbers From This Weeks Posts
5 years since January 6, 2021, when a mob breached the Capitol to stop certification
$787.5 million the Fox-Dominion settlement that proved the election lies were known lies
~1,583 people charged in January 6 cases, including 608 for assaulting officers
11 days until the Free America Walkout on January 20th
MONDAY: Venezuela Update
Over the weekend, the United States launched a major military operation in Venezuela and captured Nicolás Maduro without any Congressional authorization, and the administration immediately started framing it as routine law enforcement while simultaneously discussing how we might “run” Venezuela and control its resources.
When a single person can launch military action unilaterally, especially when domestic pressure is high, war becomes a tool of politics and power grabs.
Here’s What We Need to Understand
Maduro is a dictator who has caused tremendous suffering for the Venezuelan people, that’s why this moment is a test. Authoritarianism always sells itself as an exception, this is urgent, this person is evil, trust us, we had to break the rules just this once, and if we accept that logic when it’s convenient, we’ve handed away the principle entirely.
If it can be done to Venezuela without a vote, it can be done anywhere. And the next time, we might not agree with the target, the reason, or the outcome.
Read the full post with sources by clicking here.
We want to hear from you: Are you concerned about the Venezuela precedent? What worries you most, the constitutional issue, the international fallout, or the risk of escalation? Let us know in the comments:
TUESDAY: January 6, Five Years Later
Five years ago this week, Congress convened to carry out one of the most routine constitutional duties in our system: counting and certifying the Electoral College vote. It’s a procedural step that most Americans never think about, the kind of thing that happens quietly every four years while the rest of us go about our lives.
On January 6, 2021, a mob breached the Capitol, lawmakers evacuated or sheltered in place, and the constitutional process ground to a halt for hours while the world watched.
The Lie That Fueled It Has Been Rewarded
What makes this anniversary so difficult is watching this administration trying to cover and rewrite the story. The lie that fueled the mob has since been monetized, litigated, pardoned, and in many ways politically rewarded. Fox News paid $787.5 million to settle Dominion’s defamation lawsuit, an implicit acknowledgment that the fraud claims were known to be false even as they were broadcast to millions. And yet the revisionism continues.
What We Asked You To Do
We invited readers to participate in a Social Media Feed Flood, posting to social media on every platform you can tolerate to remind us of what happened on January 6th 2021. Not to win arguments or debate with internet trolls… it was to prevent laundering. When we collectively put information in public view, it becomes harder for this administration to pretend it wasn’t what it was, an insurrection.
Read the full post with sources by clicking here.
Did you participate in the January 6 “Social Media Feed Flood”? What did you post? We’d love to see it, drop your experience in the comments so others can learn what worked.
WEDNESDAY: The Free America Walkout: January 20th
On Wednesday, we published a deep dive into the history, mechanics, and practical details of the Free America Walkout scheduled for January 20th.
Why Walkouts are Different Than Rallies
A rally shows how many people care about an issue, but a walkout shows how much daily life depends on cooperation. When our daily routines pause at the same time, even briefly, institutions are forced to acknowledge what they usually take for granted.
We traced this tradition through history: the East Los Angeles student walkouts of 1968 that forced unequal education into the national civil rights conversation, Iceland’s Women’s Day Off in 1975 when 90% of women stopped both paid and unpaid labor and the country ground to a halt, Poland’s Solidarity strikes that helped destabilize communist control across Eastern Europe.
January 20th 2026
At 2 PM local time, wherever you are, we step away from work, school, and commerce together as an act of public noncooperation with the normalization of a coercive state.
If you can’t walk out safely, because of job risk, health, childcare, or any other reason, there are other ways to participate: step away during an official break, skip spending that day, help someone else attend safely, or simply spread the word so others can join.
Commit now at freeameri.ca
Read the full post with sources by clicking here.
THURSDAY: If It Was Self-Defense, Release the Full Record
And then there was Thursday..
Renee Nicole Good
Her name was Renee Nicole Good.
She was thirty-seven years old, a wife, a mother of three children who will now grow up without her. Her family described her as incredibly compassionate and non-confrontational, a poet, a guitarist, someone who loved to write, the kind of person her neighbors and friends could count on.
On Thursday morning, she was shot and killed by an ICE agent in Minneapolis during a federal immigration surge operation.
Within hours, before most of us had even learned her name, the Department of Homeland Security declared it self-defense and labeled her a “domestic terrorist.”
What the Evidence Shows
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey watched the footage. His response wasn’t diplomatic hedging or careful political language, he called the federal narrative “bullshit” and told ICE to get out of his city.
Governor Tim Walz criticized the surge operation and positioned the state in accountability mode rather than echoing DHS talking points.
Reuters reviewed and verified video that casts serious doubt on the federal account, describing Renee’s vehicle maneuvering away from agents as they crowded close to it, and then shots being fired.
Local officials don’t usually go to these lengths with federal agencies unless the evidence in front of them is fundamentally incompatible with what’s being claimed. Something doesn’t match, and they’re refusing to pretend otherwise.
What We Need to Say
There’s a narrative taking hold in certain corners of the internet, the idea that if you don’t comply fast enough with shouted commands from armed strangers, whatever happens next is your fault. That thinking is authoritarian to its core, and it’s how state abuse sustains itself across generations.
“She didn’t follow orders fast enough” is not a death sentence in a free country.
What We’re Demanding
If it was self-defense, release the full record.
Release all bodycam footage from every agent on scene. Release all surveillance video from nearby businesses and traffic cameras. Release all bystander recordings that have been collected. Let independent investigators, not DHS investigating itself, determine what actually happened.
Renee Nicole Good deserved due process. She deserved to see her children grow up. She deserved better than being labeled a terrorist by the agency that killed her before any of us saw the tape.
Until the full record is released, we remember her name.
Read the full post with sources by clicking here.
This Week was Heavy
If you step back and look at everything that happened this week, from Caracas to the Capitol to a snowy street in Minneapolis, what is happening in America is unmistakable: this administration is hurting our country.
An administration launched military action in another country without Congressional authorization, then told us to trust that it was necessary. It continued rewriting the history of an insurrection it incited, expecting us to forget what we watched with our own eyes five years ago. And its agents killed an unarmed woman in broad daylight and called her a terrorist before the public had seen a single frame of footage.
Each time, the demand was the same: trust us, comply, move on, stop asking.
Each time, our answer was the same: show the receipts.
Here’s What We Know To Be True
When citizens document what’s happening, apply pressure to institutions, and refuse to look away—things move. Charlotte built rapid response infrastructure in 48 hours after ICE raids because the community organized faster than the fear could spread. Congress voted 427-1 on the Epstein Files because constituents made calls that couldn’t be ignored. January 6 stays in the historical record because people keep putting it there, over and over, refusing to let the revisionism win.
That’s what we do. That’s what this movement is for.
We don’t look away. We push back.
What’s New 🎧
This week we tried something new: audio versions of our posts..
If you learn better by listening, or if you want to share this content with someone in your life who prefers audio, look for the 🎧 symbol on those posts. You can listen while you’re driving, cooking, walking, whatever works for you.
We’d genuinely love your feedback on this: Is the audio format useful? Does it make the content more accessible? Let us know in the comments if you have a preference.
(And yes, I’m still very much learning the editing side of audio production, so thank you for your patience as I figure out the technical pieces. We’re growing together.)
What You Can Do Now
This Weekend:
Put January 20th on your calendar right now: 2 PM local time, wherever you are
Message two people today with a message like this: “Jan 20, 2 PM local. Free America Walkout. I’m going. Will you?”
Download the ACLU Know Your Rights guides if you haven’t already, they’re available in English and Spanish at aclu.org/know-your-rights
ASAP:
Call your representatives: (202) 224-3121
Use a script like this: “I’m calling about the ICE shooting in Minneapolis. I want to know if the Representative/Senator will demand the release of all bodycam and surveillance footage from the scene. Renee Nicole Good deserved due process, and her family deserves answers. We need accountability.”
This Week:
Share the Free America Walkout information with your networks: text chains, Facebook groups, neighborhood groups, wherever people are
Listen to one of the new audio posts and tell me what you think
Check on the people in your life who might be scared or overwhelmed right now sometimes a phone call matters more than we realize
Before January 20th:
Confirm your walkout plan and make sure you know what you’re doing at 2 PM
Find a local action near you at freeameri.ca
Help us by making sure at least two other people in your life are committed to participating
Sources & Resources
For January 20th:
Free America Walkout hub: freeameri.ca
Find local actions near you: Mobilize
Connect with 50501 community groups: fiftyfifty.one/groups
Immigration Defense:
Capitol Switchboard: (202) 224-3121
ACLU Know Your Rights: aclu.org/know-your-rights
ICE Detainee Locator: locator.ice.gov
ICIRR Family Support Line: 1-855-435-7693
Crisis Support:
988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline: 988
Trans Lifeline: 1-877-565-8860
Trevor Project: 1-866-488-7386
💙 THANK YOU FOR BEING HERE
Whether you’re a paid subscriber who helps keep this publication running, a free subscriber who reads and shares every week, or someone discovering this newsletter for the very first time, thank you for being here.
This week was heavy. I know that. The news cycle moves so fast that it wants us numb; it wants us to scroll past Renee’s face and her children’s future like she’s just another story in an endless feed of stories.
She’s not just another story. She was a person with a life and people who loved her, and what happened to her matters—not just for her family, but for what it tells us about who we’re becoming as a country and what we’re willing to accept.
This work exists because you keep showing up. You read, you share, you comment, you build community with each other in the comments section and in your own lives. You’re the kind of people who check on your neighbors because you actually care about them.
We’ll see you on the 20th.
Drop one word in the comments that describes how you’re feeling after reading this week’s briefing.
I am worried about Trump Admin constantly breaking the law/eroding rights granted by the Constitution and Congress' inactuon to hold them accountable and prosecute to restrain or remove law breakers from their duty.
When we Focus we have Power. This isn’t a time to quiver in fear foolishly succumbing to this illegal, amoral unconstitutional GOP Power Grab. This IS a time to do everything you are capable of doing from calls to your Members of Congress, to petitions, to marches to writing letters to the editor to boycotting. Pull your quivering self together and just Do It! It will make you feel better and stronger! As an afterthought, I am currently partially paralyzed with an inoperable brain tumor and yes, I am doing all of the above except marching—just think what you can do and remember”can’t “ never could do anything!