Good evening. I’m British Chris, and this is Raw America.
ICE agents questioned an election worker at her polling place for simply posting the name of the agent who shot Renee Good in Minneapolis. One of the most powerful Republicans in Utah lost his primary for supporting a data center. Mike Johnson is scrambling to save his party’s midterm hopes after Trump torpedoed a bipartisan affordable housing bill. And a bombshell new report reveals that deaths in ICE custody surged 140 percent during the first year of Trump’s second term.
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ICE Harasses Election Worker at Polling Place Over Social Media Post
ICE agent Jonathan Ross shot Renee Good to death in broad daylight in Minneapolis, Minnesota earlier this year, before calling her a slur on camera. None of this is a secret. News outlets reported it. It’s been out there for months.
But when a Syracuse woman named Paigelynne Gonyea posted his name on Instagram and wrote that she thought it was “a great day for Jonathan to be indicted,” ICE came to her workplace. And her house.
On Tuesday, two federal agents showed up to the Central Library on Salina Street in Syracuse while Gonyea was a poll worker during a primary election. They handed her an unsigned form letter saying she was under investigation for threatening federal agents.
She invited them inside because she didn’t want to meet them alone outside.
The agents had copies of her social media posts and her driver’s license. They pressured her to sign the document and delete her Instagram account while she was on the clock, trying to run an election.
Gonyea refused. She’s since contacted her member of Congress, her mayor, the New York Civil Liberties Union and the New York state attorney general’s office.
She also posted the whole thing to her Instagram.
Quoting a news report and calling for an indictment isn’t doxxing. And showing up to a polling place to intimidate an election worker is almost certainly illegal under state election law, which limits who’s even allowed to be inside a voting precinct. Gonyea said the incident “feels very 1984.” She’s not wrong.
Utah Senate President Loses Primary Over Data Center Outrage
J. Stuart Adams is the president of the Utah Senate, and is one of the most powerful politicians in the state. He lost his Republican primary Tuesday night over one issue: his support for a massive AI data center next to the drought-stricken Great Salt Lake.
His challenger, Stephanie Hollist, a former university lawyer, made transparency and accountability the centerpiece of her campaign. Many voters in Adams’s district — including llifelong Republicans and members of the Church of Latter-Day Saints — were furious about the Stratos data center project, backed by “Shark Tank” billionaire Kevin O’Leary.
Voters were worried about the impact on their water supply and a potential increase in utility bills. And they were mad that state officials greenlit generous tax breaks without listening to the public.
Adams tried to save face in recent weeks, sending O’Leary a letter demanding the project be scaled back. His campaign even mailed out a flyer showing O’Leary underwater inside a Utah-shaped shark tank. The image appears to have been AI-generated, which is uniquely ironic. Voters didn’t buy it.
Hollist said her victory proved local voters are “tired of feeling like they’re not seeing themselves represented in government.”
This isn’t just a story about Utah. Voters in deep-red Festus, Missouri ousted four of their own city council members over a $6 billion data center. Wisconsin elected a new mayor who ran on opposing one. This is broad, bipartisan national backlash, from the working class, against the billionaires.
Mike Johnson Scrambles to Save Housing Bill After Trump Refuses to Sign It
Congress was about to send a genuinely popular, bipartisan housing affordability bill to Trump’s desk that would have given Republicans a huge win heading into the midterms. The bill cuts red tape for building new homes, modernizes federal housing programs, expands financing options and stops large institutional investors like BlackRock from snapping up single-family homes. Both parties called it the most significant federal housing bill in decades.
Then Trump canceled the signing ceremony.
His reason? He wants the Senate to pass a stringent voter ID bill that would make it much harder for millions of Americans to cast ballots. Trump framed it as a national emergency, repeating his baseless and repeatedly debunked claims about rigged elections. Republicans who spent months working on the housing bill were blindsided.
This is widely seen as a political disaster for Republicans, as affordability is the central issue of the midterm elections. Republicans needed this bill to prove they’re doing something about high prices. Now Trump has possibly killed it to chase unfounded conspiracy theories.
House Speaker Mike Johnson rushed to the White House Thursday to try to “unsnarl the knot.” Now, Republicans on Capitol Hill are stuck just months out from the midterms, with no major legislative wins to show their voters and a president who keeps blowing up their plans.
Deaths in ICE Custody Surge By 140 Percent Under Trump’s Second Term
A new report from Human Rights Watch found that 52 people died in ICE custody during the first 500 days of Trump’s second term. That’s a 140 percent increase compared to the same period previously.
The details are harrowing. A Ukrainian man named Maksym Chernyak suffered a stroke while detention staff watched without providing medical care. A Guatemalan man named Lorenzo Antonio Batrez Vargas died after spending 12 days in isolation following a COVID-19 diagnosis. As of this spring, his family still had no answers.
Mohammad Paktiawal, who was A former member of Afghanistan’s special forces, died in March just days after agents seized him in a Dallas suburb. ICE’s statement announcing his death led with his criminal record.
And at Florida’s “Alligator Alcatraz” facility in the Everglades, which just recently shut down amid a flood of lawsuits, detainees are reportedly punished by being shackled inside a 2x2-foot cage where they can’t sit or move. Legal and human rights experts say the method echoes torture techniques used at CIA black sites after September 11.
The Department of Homeland Security says it provides “comprehensive medical care from the moment individuals arrive.” But all of the deaths in ICE detention facilities suggest none of that is true.
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In this newsletter, we just covered how ICE is already violating federal law by walking into polling places to intimidate U.S. citizens. We pointed out how no politician is safe from the nationwide backlash to AI data centers, even powerful Republicans in a deep-red state. And we delved into the heartbreaking human cost of Trump’s draconian immigration policies. Raw America is able to bring you stories like these because we don’t have a billionaire or a corporate parent censoring us. But we can only keep this up if readers on the free list make today the day they become paying subscribers. If that’s you, don’t wait. Subscribe now. We’re counting on you.
Thanks for watching. I’m British Chris. We’ll see you tomorrow.
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Bipartisan Housing Bill Accused of Not Doing Enough to Help Struggling Renters. Several housing affordability experts say that while the legislation that just passed through both chambers of Congress with bipartisan support is a step in the right direction, it doesn’t go far enough to help cost-burdened renters. The bill eliminates bureaucratic obstacles toward building new housing, while also preventing large institutional investors from buying single family homes. However, experts say the bill doesn’t include any additional help for low-income tenants who have difficulty making monthly rent payments.
Luigi Mangione Attorneys Discussed Potential Plea Deal Before Monday’s Hearing. Luigi Mangione — who has been charged with the 2024 murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson — is reportedly open to negotiating a plea deal with federal prosecutors. NBC 4 New York reported Thursday that Mangione’s attorneys were apparently “close” to cutting a plea deal before talks were scuttled this week. Mangione’s legal team also withdrew its intent to pursue a defense based on their client dealing with “extreme emotional disturbance.” Mangione attorney Karen Friedman Agnifilo denied the reports, and suggested NBC 4’s anonymous sources were trying to “prejudice Luigi, manipulate public opinion, and violate his constitutional right to a fair trial and impartial jury.”
