3554 - ICE Murders Observer, Labor Fights to Expect in 2026 w/ Keith Brower Brown

Summary

The Majority Report with Sam Seder

Episode 3554 (Jan 7, 2026): ICE Murders Observer, Labor Fights to Expect in 2026
Guest: Keith Brower Brown (Labor/Climate Organizer, Labor Notes)

---

Overview

This episode centers around two major themes: the state-sponsored violence by ICE agents in Minneapolis—including the murder of a legal observer—and a deep dive into the most consequential labor contract fights expected across the U.S. in 2026. Sam Seder and Emma Vigeland dissect the political climate, the ongoing revisionism about January 6th, and host a detailed interview with labor organizer Keith Brower Brown, previewing upcoming union contract struggles amid increasingly hostile government and corporate environments.

---

Main Segments & Key Topics

1. Reaction to ICE Killing of a Legal Observer (00:00–22:00, 59:33–70:48)

• Context & Reports from Minneapolis:
  Sam and Emma open with urgent breaking news: ICE agents shot and killed a legal observer during a protest against federal law enforcement actions in South Minneapolis.
  • Eyewitness Account:
    • “She was trying to turn around and the ICE agent was in front of her car and he pulled out a gun...and he reached across the hood of the car and shot her in the face like three, four times.” (Emma Vigeland, reading from NPR, 62:04)
  • Violent ICE Expansion:
    • 2,000 ICE agents deployed—more than triple the police in Minneapolis (Sam, 61:14).
    • “ICE is holding over 68,000 people in detention in mid December, and nearly 75% of them have no criminal convictions. And that same month, six people died in ICE custody. It’s the deadliest month so far, and the deadliest year, of course, for ICE in custody.” (Emma, 67:43)
  • Political Analysis:
    • Trump’s focus on demonizing Somali communities for political gain.
    • “Not one single story, not one single story of these ICE thugs apprehending a supposed criminal element... All the violence has gone in exactly one direction, and it has emanated from these fascist thugs.” (Sam, 65:31)
  • First Amendment Concerns:
    • Emma: “This legal observer was killed for practicing her First Amendment rights. The First Amendment isn’t just getting to say racial and ethnic slurs on the internet... It’s actually about protest and standing up to the government.” (69:40)
  • Reframing the Stakes:
    • “These are fascist death squads. And the idea that there’s deaths in ICE custody, of course, because that’s... it’s too uneconomical to make sure that nobody actually dies when you start concentrating people in camps.” (Guest/Contributor, 67:31)
    • Host skepticism over ICE excuses: “If you don’t want to be afraid for your life, don’t be in a death squad.” (Guest/Contributor, 70:32)

2. Right-Wing Revisionism: January 6 and Political Lies (06:21–22:00)

• Revisionist Narratives:
  Sam and Emma focus on GOP attempts to trivialize January 6th as “grandmothers on a tour.”
  • “Thousands of peaceful grandmothers and others gathered in Washington D.C. to take a self guided, albeit unauthorized tour of the Capitol building.” (Mike Collins, quoted by Sam, 08:12)
• Gaslighting as Base Mobilization:
  • Emma: “What the lie about January 6 provides them is the thrill that they get from feeling superior... It’s about wanting to be on top.” (17:06)
• Media Collusion:
  • Clips and references to Greg Gutfeld and others performing ritualistic outrage, positioning Republicans as “consistent” and more righteous than opposition.
  • “We must remain consistent. That's what makes us different from the rest... We don’t play favorites with mobs.” (Greg Gutfeld clip, 15:52)
• The Power of Revisionism:
  • Sam: “They are so committed to this revisionist history that that’s what the history is going to be.” (06:21)
  • Comparison to “myth of the lost cause of the Confederacy.”

3. Preview: The Biggest Labor Fights of 2026 (25:18–58:58)

Guest: Keith Brower Brown (Labor Notes)

• General Context:

  • Year marked by numerous major union contracts expiring.
  • Battles occur as the National Labor Relations Board is non-functional, pushing unions to flex muscle outside formal legal channels.

• Key Sectors Facing Showdowns:

  a. Telco ("Fiber and Wires"): Verizon, AT&T (26:27–31:17)

  • 20K Verizon workers (Northeast) contract up—first fresh bargaining in a decade, with potential for strike.
  • Management’s tech upgrades as union-busting: “Anytime you see a lot of management hype around new technology, you can bet the reason they're excited is getting the union out of the business as much they can.” (Keith, 28:02)
  • Healthcare for retiring workers is the central fight.

  b. Teamsters: DHL and School Bus Drivers (31:17–32:52)

  • Teamsters’ budget for strike funds is significant.
  • 17,000 school bus drivers nationwide in one contract, with the potential to “raise the floor across its sector.”

  c. Lining Up for May 1, 2028: Coordinated Strikes (32:52–34:51)

  • “Something like 800,000 different workers who are lined up three months either side of May 1 [2028]... could be a real season of worker power flexing itself this year.” (Keith, 34:13)

  d. Healthcare: Nurses' Unions & Hospital Closures (34:54–37:41)

  • Looming strike by 20K New York State Nurses Association members across 12 NYC hospitals (strike deadline: Jan 12).
  • Massive layoffs, hospital closures due to Medicaid cuts and ACA subsidy rollbacks.
  • Fight for “safe staffing ratios” and funding restoration.

  e. Manufacturing: Steelworkers, Oil, Aluminum, Rubber (37:41–45:01)

  • Pattern agreements explained: “You pick your target to set the pattern... then you go to all the other companies and say, hey, Chevron gave us 12% raise... If Chevron can do it, why can't you?” (Keith, 38:11)
  • Upcoming contracts: Oil (Chevron et al), Aluminum, Tires, Steel.

  f. USPS/Letter Carriers: NALC (43:21–45:01)

  • 200K letter carriers up for contract.
  • Ongoing pressure from privatization and Trump-appointed Postmaster General, Louis DeJoy.

  g. Grocery/Retail: UFCW at Fry’s, Stop & Shop (45:01–46:26)

  • 75K workers’ contracts up; some regional strike momentum but broader coordination needed.
  • Arizona, Ohio, Michigan, New England all with major deals expiring.

  h. Higher Education: TAs, GAs, University Staff (46:26–50:25)

  • UC system (California), University of Illinois, Oregon State, Brown, and many more.
  • Fight extends beyond wages: “Fights over free speech are really huge on campus... and this huge crackdown on research funding.” (Keith, 48:14)

  i. WGA and AI Limits in Contracts (50:25–53:12)

  • Writers' Guild (WGA) to negotiate around AI—protecting creative work from automation.
  • AI and automation a cross-sector issue: "This is an important moment in labor history to have a union that fights and says we're not letting AI take more of our work." (Keith, 53:12)

Overall Labor Movement Analysis:

• Post–Labor Law America:
  • NLRB is “basically... on ice.”
  • “This sort of lineup of contract fights is like the playoff schedule for working-class power this year.” (Keith, 58:34)
• Union Strategy and Coordination:
  • Movement to push contracts to line up for big, coordinated action (May 1, 2028 strategy).
  • Strike activity is when “most members pay attention and get active."
• UAW and Internal Struggles:
  • Internal discipline and reform movements ongoing, with hope to revive militant unionism despite federal interference.
  • Focus on auto parts contracts for UAW rank-and-file after the successful 2023 “big three” strike.

---

Notable Quotes & Time Stamps

• On ICE Killing:
  • “She was trying to turn around and the ICE agent... reached across the hood... and shot her in the face like three, four times.” (Emma reading eyewitness, 62:04)
  • “Not one single story... of these ICE thugs apprehending a supposed criminal element... All the violence has gone in exactly one direction, and it has emanated from these fascist thugs.” (Sam, 65:31)
• On Jan 6 Revisionism:
  • “What the lie about January 6 provides them is the thrill that they get from feeling superior... But it’s about wanting to be on top.” (Emma, 17:06)
  • “We must remain consistent. That's what makes us different from the rest... We don’t play favorites with mobs.” (Greg Gutfeld, 15:52)
• On Labor, Upcoming Fights:
  • “Anytime you see a lot of management hype around new technology, you can bet the reason they're excited is getting the union out of the business.” (Keith, 28:02)
  • “800,000 different workers... lined up three months either side of May 1, [2028]... could be a real season of worker power flexing itself.” (Keith, 34:13)
  • “This sort of lineup of contract fights is like the playoff schedule for working-class power this year.” (Keith, 58:34)

---

Episode Structure & Timestamps

| Time (MM:SS) | Segment / Topic | |--------------|-----------------------------------------------------------------| | 00:00–04:36 | Cold Open, Light Banter & Headlines | | 04:36–22:00 | Reflection on Jan 6, GOP Revisionism, Media Lies | | 22:00–25:18 | Transition, Announcements, Introduction of Keith Brower Brown | | 25:18–58:58 | Keith Brower Brown Interview: Major Labor Fights in 2026 | | 59:33–70:48 | ICE Killing in Minneapolis: Details, Reactions, Political Stakes| | 70:48–End | End-of-show Banter, Fun Half Teasers, Membership Promos |

---

Tone & Style

The episode is characterized by a mix of sharp, irreverent political analysis and occasional humor. Sam and Emma’s tone is skeptical, direct, and passionate, especially regarding state violence and labor rights. The guest segment is thorough, educational, and strategic in orientation, with Keith providing complex context in accessible terms.

---

For Further Exploration

• Full Labor Notes Article (to be linked in show notes) for detailed contract timelines and union strategies.
• Majority Report Archives for ongoing updates on labor actions and ICE state violence.
• Local news and advocacy orgs (Minneapolis, ICE accountability, Labor Notes network).

---

Summary Prepared for Listeners Who Missed the Episode
This episode delivers a sobering look at authoritarian violence under ICE while offering a detailed roadmap for the year’s biggest labor struggles. For activists, union members, and concerned citizens, it’s both a call to vigilance against state violence and an urgent canvas of where collective action could turn the tide in 2026.

Transcript

[Sam Cedar]

Hey folks, holidays are behind us. Still got a lot of winter ahead of us. And let's be honest, it's rough, it's a little bit cold, it's dark. I mean, at least in these parts, right?

[Emma Vigeland]

Yeah.

[Sam Cedar]

Although I literally had to say to my son today, hey dude, don't worry, there's 62 seconds extra of light today. He wasn't terribly impressed. Some people are doing dry January, which is probably the hardest month of the year to get through and but going dry. But maybe you're also looking to make some healthy habit changes. So stopping drinking, not a bad idea. Well, our [e-mail] are trying to help you out and making it a little bit easier to get through this month. Right now they're offering 25% off of all their gummies. When you use the code JAN26. That's J A N numbers 2 and 6, no spaces. You can try their, their good night gummies or their gummies with some thc. Just a little bit. Just enough to make things a little bit fun. Also just some straight saba day sour gummies. All of their gummies are great. They have ones that help you relax. They have ones that help you focus. And right now 25% off of all of those gummies. Head over to sunsetlakesabad.com use the code JAN26 and save 25% on their full lineup of gummies to support your new wellness goals and maybe even your dry January aspirations. And also just want to thank Sunset Lakes. They sent us a big care package.

[Emma Vigeland]

Yes.

[Sam Cedar]

Of a ton of gummies and a bunch of goodies from up in Vermont.

[Emma Vigeland]

Thanks so much.

[Sam Cedar]

They're a great company. They got great politics, they have great farming practices and great business practices all around. Great company if you want to support a great and have some fun while you're at it. Sunsetlakesabade.com the sale ends tonight at 11:59pm Eastern. See their site for full terms and conditions. So check it out. Get there now. And now the show the Majority Report with Sam Cedar. It is Wednesday, January 7, 2026. My name is Sam Cedar. This is the five time award winning Majority Report. We are broadcasting live steps from the industrially ravaged Gowanus Canal in the heartland of America, downtown Brooklyn, usa. On the program today, Keith Brower Brown, labor climate organizer and writer at Labor Notes on the things to look for this year in labor in terms of contracts that are expiring a ton of them. Also on the program today, US Pirates, two more Venezuelan originated tankers One flying a Russian flag. Meanwhile, Rubio says Trump only wants to buy Greenland. New York, Excuse me. Wyoming Supreme Court finds the abortion pill ban unconstitutional. Utah, meanwhile, launches a pilot program allowing AI to prescribe medication. Job openings slide to second lowest level in five years as hiring grows sluggish. It's even worse for blue collar workers. Democratic leadership says no to a shutdown. This as the window nearly closes on an ACA fix. Good news. Chicago's violence falls to a historic low in 2025. Can you imagine? Murders down more than they have been in decades. It's almost as if we had a rise in crime from the once in.

[Emma Vigeland]

A lifetime, once in a lifetime pandemic.

[Sam Cedar]

Hopefully once a lifetime pandemic. Texas AFT union sues the state over the 350 investigations of teachers over there. Charlie Kirk social media posts. Trump freezes $7 billion in funding for Temporary Assistance for Needy Families and 2.5 billion for working parents, all in five blue states. And former Turning Point official. Negotiates a deal over voter fraud. All this and more on today's Majority Report. Welcome, ladies and gentlemen. Thanks so much for joining us.

[Emma Vigeland]

It is hump day.

[Sam Cedar]

It is, in fact, hump day says Emma Vigland. Welcome. Thanks for joining us. I knew that the real problem I'd have with 2026 would not come in the first two days. I knew, like, it's starting now, right?

[Emma Vigeland]

Right, yeah. Comfortable?

[Sam Cedar]

Yeah. Well, it's just like on the first two days, you're, you're really thinking about it and then you, you.

[Emma Vigeland]

Yeah. Is this like now it's a week since January 1st. Then you don't get to say happy New Year anymore. Right. There was a whole Larry David bit about this, but I'm pretty sure I think those are the rules. Right? No more.

[Sam Cedar]

Not the way I do it. I do it whenever I see somebody for the first time of the year. So it could be as late as September.

[Emma Vigeland]

Okay. Well, that is psychotic.

[Sam Cedar]

I mean, it's called being polite. Anyways, Yesterday was the anniversary of January 6th. We talked about a little bit, but it took a while for me to catch up with just the level of delusion and intense like, and I imagine this is somewhat comedic. I mean, Donald Trump was out there too, though, laughing at us, pushing, pushing this, but because at one point you're like, look, I know what reality was. And they keep saying this sort of fake revisionist history. But at one point you also realize, like, they're just so committed to this revisionist history that that's what the history is going to be. I mean, I remember when there were people saying like, it was just a bunch of boomers, like Glenn Greenwald was saying, was claiming that it was just a bunch of boomers who were walking through like as if 50 year olds can't commit violent acts or whatnot. But it was a very violent day. I mean, you had, you know, one of the cops was like tased in his brain and had a heart attack, died. You know, a woman was shot who was trying to bust through the door to get to members of Congress.

[Emma Vigeland]

AOC was barricading herself in her office because of rape threats.

[Sam Cedar]

I mean, you have images of Josh Hawley running full speed to get the hell out of there. They were all afraid. But here's Representative Mike Collins. Where is he from? Georgia. Is he?

[Emma Vigeland]

Yeah.

[Sam Cedar]

I mean, this is after Donald Trump is at a January 6th, I don't know, memorial or whatever it was, but listen to what Mike Collins said yesterday. On this day in history in 2021, thousands of peaceful grandmothers and others gathered in Washington D.C. to take a self guided, albeit unauthorized tour of the Capitol building.

[Emma Vigeland]

Grandmothers, this is a joke, not grandfathers.

[Guest/Contributor (possibly a commentator or co-host)]

This is comedy right here.

[Emma Vigeland]

Yeah, there are elders.

[Sam Cedar]

But here's the thing. He's, he's, it's working in two different ways. He can slough it off as some type of joke. I'm not sure exactly what the joke is, I mean, because he surely isn't being sort of like hyper sarcastic and making fun of the people who minimized it, but he is hoping that he knows that a significant portion of the people who read his tweet will buy that reality. And earlier that day, Trump had held a rally where supporters walked to the Capitol to exercise their First Amendment right about the irregularities of the 2020 election. Incidentally, there were no irregularities.

[Guest/Contributor (possibly a commentator or co-host)]

Republican lie.

[Sam Cedar]

That is also just total lie. All of it was adjudicated in court.

[Emma Vigeland]

Dozens and dozens of court cases. And all the judges, every judge threw it out. Remember Sidney Powell?

[Sam Cedar]

During this time, some individuals entered the Capitol, took photos and explored the building before leaving. Some individuals in this case meant thousands. And explored the building involved defecating, literally shitting in multiple, you know, places on Nancy Pelosi's desk. The only guy, again, pardon me, beating cops in some instances to death. Yeah, that ultimately led to their death. Trashing the place, smashing windows. But we'll get to that. Getting one of them shot, held in solid. Afterwards, hundreds of peaceful protesters were hunted down, arrested, held in solitary confinement, treated unjustly and crucified in the media. Countless hours and Taxpayer dollars were spent pursuing grandmothers and raiding Trump's home while, while terrorists and millions of illegal immigrants crossed our nation's borders, causing havoc in our communities. Fortunately, this version of the DOJ exists only in history. I mean, so all of this is bullshit. And in fact, you know, Jack Smith gave some testimony in the past couple of weeks and it's. Most of that's been buried. But maybe we'll try and find some of the deposition and talk about it. But just to give you a sense of how people responded in that time who other you know now have completely changed their story. Marco Rubio there's nothing patriotic about what is happening on Capitol Hill.

[Emma Vigeland]

This is a tweet 3pm so as this is happening, this is third world.

[Sam Cedar]

Style anti American anarchy.

[Guest/Contributor (possibly a commentator or co-host)]

He's like, because it was happening right as we were ending our show.

[Sam Cedar]

That.

[Emma Vigeland]

Yeah, I remember. And just that Mike Collins thing. Can you go back to really briefly that first line of it? It just stands out to me like thousands of peaceful grandmothers and stuff. He's relishing in lying about this.

[Sam Cedar]

It's like when Trump says put up number six.

[Emma Vigeland]

Well, I mean my point is, is just that when I talk about, when we've spoken about how Trump provides some sort of, it's like catharsis for his supporters. This is what the whole MAGA movement is about. Whether it's like about racism or transphobia or homophobia or whatever. They relish in the idea that, that these politicians align with Trump and Trump himself can lie all the time and get away with it. It's it and say horrific things and get away with it. And they've been doing, I mean they were denying that Elon Musk did that Nazi salute. This has been over and over again the character of this movement and it.

[Sam Cedar]

Gives the followers license to have a revisionist history. So they sort of know that there's maybe a lie that's going on, but it's a lie that allows them to, to live in the history they want. I mean we were talking about. That's why the whole Carl Reiner thing, Rob Reiner rather, when he was murdered in the way that Trump reacted, did not allow for Trump followers to have that sort of like air cover.

[Emma Vigeland]

Right.

[Sam Cedar]

In which they.

[Emma Vigeland]

Plausible deniability.

[Sam Cedar]

Exactly.

[Emma Vigeland]

About his cruelty. Cuz it was not related to policy that they can hide behind or something like that. It was just who we look nasty. Yes.

[Guest/Contributor (possibly a commentator or co-host)]

We're not the superior people.

[Sam Cedar]

And so when Collins or when Trump or whatever, whomever spouts these sort of like lies, these Revisionist history. I mean, it's. It's really. I mean, you know, maybe the model is, at least for this country, the myth of the lost cause of the Confederacy. Yeah.

[Guest/Contributor (possibly a commentator or co-host)]

These are just modern Klansmen, basically.

[Sam Cedar]

And. But here is. I mean, here's some images from that time just to remind you that in fact, no, it was not just a bunch of grandmothers, or very well, they could be grandmothers, but not just a little bit of like sort of gentle old ladies. In that instance, it's over. You better run, cops.

[Guest/Contributor (possibly a commentator or co-host)]

These grandmothers are in good shape.

[Emma Vigeland]

Oh, well, they're all Maha. Right.

[Sam Cedar]

See how fast the cops turn around once they saw the numbers game?

[Guest/Contributor (possibly a commentator or co-host)]

Confederate flag in the bottom, right?

[Sam Cedar]

Yeah. You can see cops are being beaten down there. Put. Put up. What was the other one that we had there? Six. What was that? Six or eight. Or eight, yeah. Number eight. This is when you had rioters. This is. That is the chamber of the. The house, and people have smashed the windows, and you can see Congress people inside there. Good.

[Guest/Contributor (possibly a commentator or co-host)]

They're just exploring.

[Sam Cedar]

Oh, look at that grandma wearing that helmet. Socialist scum. That door, incidentally, is barricaded.

[Guest/Contributor (possibly a commentator or co-host)]

Is that the one that Baba got shot through?

[Sam Cedar]

No, no, the one that she got shot through was upstairs in a. It was on another level in a different wing where they had barricaded. You know, people had escaped to. And they were pursuing them. I mean, you know, unlike a tour where they were actually pursuing other individuals. And in fact, we showed you what. Marco Rubio, how he responded to. He was really offended. And here is Greg. What's his last name, Greg Gutfeld, telling us about how not only is this a horror, but it's also an opportunity for people to understand that Republicans are more morally righteous than anyone else because of how much they perceive this to be wrong.

[Greg Gutfeld]

So we must remain consistent. That's what makes us different from the rest. We don't play favorites with mobs. The other side does, but we don't. It's hard for me personally, because I was outraged over violence. Every single day this summer, I saw my neighborhood trashed. Still, I condemn this equally because we aren't them. We are better than them. To this point, I heard a pundit say that even Republicans are outraged by this behavior. Duh. Republicans are always outraged by bad behavior because they consistently, consistently embrace law and order and condemn the destruction of private and public property. I do believe the Capitol is a sacred place. I also believe that the guy who invested his life savings in a small business, to him, that was a sacred place.

[Sam Cedar]

Too.

[Greg Gutfeld]

So it's consistency. By pointing out Republic.

[Sam Cedar]

I mean, you know, I mean, I can only imagine what Gutfeld was saying yesterday. I did. Does anybody want to bet that he was not talking about how horrific it was five years ago yesterday?

[Emma Vigeland]

But we are better than them. That's the money quote. It's, it is the, the. What the lie about January6 provides them is the thrill that they get from feeling superior. Like the, that's what the racist lies do. That's what the homophobic and transphobic lies do. It's the thrill of feeling superior and not really having your material conditions change at all. But it's about wanting to be on top. And at the time, I think it might have been Glenn Greenwald or other people saying, like these were working class Trump supporters there. Whatever they did an analysis of these people, I think it was the Washington Post. I mean, some of these people chartered private planes. A lot of them were small business, like pool owners, pool cleaning, whatever owners from whatever Missouri. Like, they flew in to do this. Many of them had these resources. And so the character of the people that they're talking about here as these victims, it doesn't match the reality.

[Sam Cedar]

Let's look in on one of just one of the lucky people that. Well, I guess you didn't really have to be lucky. All you had to have been was to actually be prosecuted for the beating up of cops or the destruction of the property or the federal offense of interfering with an election, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. They all got pardoned. Every single one of them got pardoned by Donald Trump. And here is one of the. I mean, and you know, every now and then you hear about a story about one or two of them getting arrested for pedophilia or fraud or whatever it is. I mean, I suppose, which is sort of shocking just in terms of law of averages, because if there were so few people walking in there and they were all grandmothers, just the rest of the people with the grandmothers, the sweet little old ladies, must have been criminals for that many people to get rearrested. But here is one of those sweet little old grandmas out in front of. Where was he is in front of AAPAC headquarters in D.C. yes. Throwing chocolate coins at APAC. At APAC. And. And so here he is because. Probably because of his. Well, it's either he's here because of his deep seated concern about the Palestinian people or maybe just, you know, it's the Jews.

[Guest/Contributor (possibly a commentator or co-host)]

Go back.

[Sam Cedar]

Apac. Go back. That's the apac. Pause. It For a second. Incidentally, he's a big Elon Musk.

[Guest/Contributor (possibly a commentator or co-host)]

My heart goes out to you guys.

[Sam Cedar]

Yes. First he's saying to the camera, my heart giving the Elon Musk. My heart goes out to the camera. Salute. My heart goes out to you. The Elon Musk salute. And a mixed signal protesting apex. But he's giving him his heart also.

[Guest/Contributor (possibly a commentator or co-host)]

He's an apex for being too pro race mixing, which you should look at.

[Sam Cedar]

What?

[Guest/Contributor (possibly a commentator or co-host)]

Green bots.

[Emma Vigeland]

I'm sorry, but, but, but grandmothers are always loving like this. We should, we should, we should get.

[Sam Cedar]

My heart goes out to you, Sonny. Yeah. Knitted you at Afghan. Here we go.

[Guest/Contributor (possibly a commentator or co-host)]

There's going to be some on the fly censorship.

[Sam Cedar]

Yes. We're going to have to do this on the fly because the guy drops the N word. Go back. Apac. Go back. That's the APAC building right there. White Christian men are not going to sit around while you turn our children into. So basically said white Christian men are not going to sit around while you turn our children into a bunch of N word lovers. Just one of the many that Donald Trump pardoned on that day. One of the many tourists who went in to just see the Capitol, albeit in an authorized, unauthorized manner.

[Emma Vigeland]

Well, some of them also, to be fair, were bussed in by Charlie Kirk.

[Sam Cedar]

That's right.

[Emma Vigeland]

So some had free transition who did.

[Guest/Contributor (possibly a commentator or co-host)]

Politics the right way.

[Emma Vigeland]

Yeah. Thanks, Ezra.

[Sam Cedar]

In a moment, we're gonna be talking to Keith Brower Brown, labor climate organizer and a writer at Labor Notes, about the contracts that are coming up. This here to look out for. In the meantime, this episode brought to you by IQ Bar, our delicious low sugar snack sponsor. IQ Bar protein bars are the brain and body fuel you'll need to win your day. I literally just. I literally just had one right here. Oh, my gosh, it was delicious. All IQ products are packed with clean, delicious ingredients that keep you physically and mentally fit, like magnesium, lion's mane, and none of the stuff you want to avoid. No gluten, no dairy, no soy, no artificial ingredients or GMOs. Start carrying IQ bar. Plant protein bars in your bag. They're a smarter snack choice. Plenty of plant protein, tons of fiber, and no added sugar. New year gives us all a chance to reset. These are fantastic. They taste great. And I am constantly, like, particularly this time of year, I am constantly craving food. We had a cookie in here the other day and it basically sent me into a spiral. And so these things protect me. When you feel like you need a snack or a little pick me up they're delicious. They got a bunch of different flavors. This one's almond butter chip, but I had a wild blueberry the other day. I mean, they got ones with, you know, peanut butter. They're all delicious. Thanks to IQ Bar for sponsoring today's episode. Right now, IQ Bar is offering our audience 20% off of all IQ Bar products, including the Ultimate Sampler Pack, plus free shipping. To get your 20% off, text majority to the number 64,000. That's text majority to the number 64,640. That's majority to 64,000. Message and data rates may apply. See Terms for details. We will put that link or the text number in the podcast and YouTube description. Quick break. When we come back, Keith Brown, Keith Brower Brown, Be right back, Sam. We are back. Sam Cedar on the Majority Report with Emma Viglin. Sorry, Sam Cedar, I'm a vigilant on major report. Joining us now, Keith Brower Brown, labor and climate organizer writer at Labor Notes and Full Disclosure. I am a subscriber to Labor Notes as well. Happy to great resource support that publication. It's a great, great resource. Keith, welcome to the program.

[Keith Brower Brown]

Glad to be here.

[Sam Cedar]

So you've written a piece of one battle after another. There are big contracts fights coming in 2026. And this is, you know, these are going to be coming in an era where we don't really have a functioning national labor relations board. There's, you know, the state boards are in some instances more functioning than others. But let's, let's go through the different sort of sectors where we anticipate, where we know contracts are expiring and maybe get a sense of what we anticipate in terms of what union members are going to do there. You start with fiber and wires and a big contract coming up for Verizon. And I seem to remember what was it like four, five, six years ago, maybe more. The rise in workers were striking just down the street from us here. So give us a sense of what's happening on that end for sure.

[Keith Brower Brown]

So when a contract expires for a union is the most common time that a union is going to go on strike in the US Their legal rights to strike open up big time. And it's the time when the most union members are kind of paying attention to what's happening with their contract for the next four or five years, maybe. Verizon workers in the Northeast went on this huge strike, 20,000 members in 2016. And since then, the union officers have just kind of rolled over the contract. They Won then two cycles over. This is the first time they're bargaining a whole new contract and a strike is totally possible. Last time was seven weeks. This also is not just communication workers, but also electrical workers have a contract with Verizon coming up at the same time. So these are the workers who actually run the wires, build the physical infrastructure of Verizon's network.

[Sam Cedar]

If I remember correctly. I guess it was 2016, 10 years now. It's crazy, but at that time, if I remember correctly, the issue was that Verizon wanted to sort of like shift its business towards wireless more because there was the wireless workers did not have, were not unionized in the same way. And so they were trying to sort of basically take all the people who worked on copper and who worked on the lines and slowly make them irrelevant in the context of their business. Where, where are we do you know in terms of that dynamic?

[Keith Brower Brown]

Yeah. Anytime you see a lot of management hype around new technology, you can bet the reason they're excited is getting the union out of the business as much they can. And with the switch to more wireless network and more fiber optics for Verizon, that's been a big part of the strategy. So it's the older physical cable network, pre fiber optic tech that was heavily unionized thanks to years and years of union fights to organize their fiber and wireless is less workers needed overall. There's been declining kind of workforce in general at Verizon as they switch over to those technologies. And that means a really big fight this year is with all these older workers, like the bulk of the workforce are getting closer to retirement age. What kind of health care are they going to get when they retire? Is a huge battlefield in this contract coming up.

[Sam Cedar]

Right. Because there's a significant number of them who are not, who are eligible for retirement prior to age 65 when they would otherwise be on Medicare. So that gap in between, and this is coming at, of course, at a time where like literally we are a week away from the ACA subsidy window to be completely closed. And you're going out there as a 55 year old, you know, man or woman or 60 year old, your insurance rates are going to be about as high as anybody's could possibly be. You know, you're talking possibly, you know, a couple of thousand dollars a month. And so like getting past that sort of, I guess, gap is a big, big issue there. What is the likelihood of them staying out on strike or going on strike?

[Keith Brower Brown]

I'm not starting a betting pool here, but there are definitely some Pretty organized units and a relatively organized membership in that union compared to lots of unions that would like to see that happen is all I think we can say for now.

[Sam Cedar]

All right, that sounds like we may see some activity there. There's other, I guess, contracts coming up with the communication workers, cwa. What else in that sector do you think is one that we're gonna hear a lot about?

[Keith Brower Brown]

Let's see, there's a big AT&T contract covering this Orange Mobility division that they have with about 9,000 workers. And then there's another 5,000 in the Midwest doing landline and fiber that's coming up. All of these. It's a little soon to say whether we're going to see a strike in that sector, but there's a lot at stake for these workers to both win stronger benefits, wages that keep up with cost of living, as well as take on some control over these technological changes they're seeing in their industry.

[Sam Cedar]

Teamsters have two other two major contracts coming up. One is, in a couple of months, just at the end of the first quarter on March 31st, 3,500 Teamsters at DHL, you write, and Teamsters first student contract expires. 17,000 school bus drivers. That's on that same day. How much does the fact that they're all Teamsters implicate their ability? I mean, you know, DHL schools, there's no, you know, like, obvious sort of connection there, other than maybe it's Teamsters. But does that in any way implicate what they're going to do or what?

[Keith Brower Brown]

I don't think one going on strike will affect the other. The Teamsters have a big budget for strike funds, and they've been, you know, amid all else, willing to use it a lot more in recent years to their credit, with the international backing locals to go out on strike. That school bus contract, 17,000 school bus drivers and other workers across the country. I'm always excited to see a national contract where a union can kind of raise the floor across its sector and all these different states at once.

[Sam Cedar]

How many states does that include? Does that include all states? I mean, that's not. 17,000 school bus driver. That can't be all the, The. The, you know, The. The school bus drivers. Right. I mean, that's a specific states that.

[Keith Brower Brown]

That I would have to dig into some fine print for you.

[Sam Cedar]

Okay. All right, no problem. I mean, these are, you know, what's been really helpful about this for us, too, is these are things that we're going to look for and anticipate and you know, I guess I'll ask you, this is sort of general question too. In the back of my mind is May 1, 2028 and two years out, like are there, do you have a sense. And that's the UAW date that Sean Fain said, you know, encouraged other unions to negotiate towards and have their, their, their contracts come up. Then how much as we go through this stuff and we got a lot of other sectors to cover here, but how much, how much of that is in play? Like are there unions out there going like we're not going to end up getting a contract this, this go around, we're going to end up having a punt maybe, but if we punt, we're going to punt, we're going to, we're going to punt to May 1st or you know, we're going to create a cycle where we'll punt to May 1, 2027 then to May 1, 2028 type of thing.

[Keith Brower Brown]

Great question. Yeah. So this is in 2026, probably the last chance we'll see unions intentionally line up for May 1, 2028.

[Sam Cedar]

And.

[Keith Brower Brown]

Sneak preview Labor Notes is about to launch in the next few weeks a contract expiration tracker for 2028. Looking at the big contracts that are lining up in the first part of the year through the summer, there are something like 800,000 different workers who are lined up and three months either side of May 1, it's not only going to be that day, but could be a real season of worker power flexing itself this year there are a few contracts I think might be interested in lining up with that. Although a two year contract is pretty short for.

[Sam Cedar]

That sounds pretty short, but yeah, in.

[Keith Brower Brown]

Healthcare it's a lot more common to take a short contract for nurses especially who are pretty powerful. Fastest growing segment of the workforce is in healthcare for many years now and so there's some, some real leverage to flex there. And this year is a big one for healthcare. We've got right in the next week, the New York State nurses association, about 20,000 workers potentially going on strike across 12 hospitals in NYC.

[Sam Cedar]

That's the 12th, I believe is the, is the date that they've set and we're, we're out to them and hopefully we're going to hear from them one way or another. We'll be talking to them in the next week or two.

[Keith Brower Brown]

Awesome. Yeah, glad to hear it.

[Emma Vigeland]

And I guess just on the health care, just one more question on that front. How are these like hospital closures that are happening throughout the country playing into that? Because I'd imagine that that's a flashpoint for these negotiations.

[Keith Brower Brown]

Absolutely. Yeah. So healthcare workers for many years now have fought to get safe staffing ratios in their contracts, which I think is sort of similar to teachers fighting for smaller class sizes to benefit their students nurses. Other healthcare workers fight for safe staffing ratios to protect their patients and ensure good care. Well now all of a sudden, with massive cuts coming down from Medicaid and then private insurance rates jacking up with the end of the Affordable Care act subsidies, you're seeing this crisis across hospitals all over the country, especially rural ones, and hospitals that serve more kind of working class, low income people have this huge pool of funding pulling out. So you're seeing layoff threats all over the country rolling in in the last few weeks in these hospitals as management starts to try to prepare for them. So drawing a line against that and trying to reinforce safe staffing lines and their contracts will be a fight. Ultimately filling that funding gap in a lot of places is going to be a battle to say, chop from the top, take it out of management's cut, stop pulling out all this profit, even if you don't call it that. Kaiser has a big contract up this year in Northern California. 25,000 nurses come up in August. And you know, Kaiser says they're a non profit, it's all about patient care. But they siphon out billions of dollars every year out of their healthcare business into a foundation or, you know, into benefits for upper management. So chopping from the top will be important as well as trying to push the state in a lot of cases to come in and help fill that gap. And in California, lots of other states, there's plenty of money to do it if workers can force, you know, fickle friends in office to do so.

[Sam Cedar]

Let's turn to manufacturing. 30,000 steelworkers have a national oil refinery pattern agreement. I'm not sure I follow what that is. You can tell us, but that's going to expire in three weeks.

[Keith Brower Brown]

Yeah, I'm excited about this one and a few other pattern agreements in the heart of kind of basic manufacturing in this country coming up this year, most of them with the United Steelworkers, who.

[Sam Cedar]

What does that mean? Pattern agreement?

[Keith Brower Brown]

Yeah. So a pattern agreement is instead of one national agreement like say the auto workers, UAW had a national agreement for everybody in one company. Everybody bargains at once. And then you figure out other stuff locally. A pattern agreement is you do one company and that sets the pattern for a chain of other companies down the line in oil for Example, there's Chevron, there's a bunch of other companies in it. You don't literally bargain them all in the exact same document at once, but you pick your target to set the pattern. You put a lot of pressure on them. You negotiate that first and then you go to all the other companies and say, hey, chevron gave us 12% raise over the next two years. If you don't do that, you could be in trouble. If Chevron can do it, why can't you? So this is a way to sort of flex solidarity across a whole industry at once. And yeah, the steelworkers are doing that this year in oil and aluminum, in big rubber and tire and in steel.

[Sam Cedar]

And when a union determines like how I imagine, my guess is, I mean, because this happens, actually that's sort of analogous to what we see in mass tort cases. There'll be a plaintiff case and a defendant case and they'll average the sort of the outcomes of those two. And that's how they'll set sort of at least the negotiation for, you know, what the award's going to be for the entire class. How much does the union sort of say like, okay, we're going to go after a specific, specific plants or specific producers, specific companies, because we have the most leverage there. And then that sets a baseline, hopefully for these other companies where we may not have the same amount of leverage, but we gain the leverage because we have a real world example of like, you know, if Alcoa can do it, then you guys can do it.

[Keith Brower Brown]

Yeah, you nailed it. So unions typically have a whole research department that's looking at how much is this company bragging to its shareholders about how much they're pulling in in revenue and profit from different facilities. And then they can turn that back on them and say, using public and private data, we know you're making this much money off our backs, we know you're sending this much off to shareholders and stock buybacks or whatever else you can cut us in too. And so you pick a target based on who's most flush, usually as well as where workforce is growing or you're your assessment of like, what are critical points in the supply chain where it's going to be really hard for this company to give up. So for oil, for example, in the last round of national oil bargaining, pattern bargaining in 2022 with the steelworkers, this big Chevron refinery right near me in Richmond, California is one of Chevron's oldest facilities, its biggest. It has this deep water port that's pretty Special to have that in on the bay in Northern California. And they knew like Chevron's going to hurt if we shut down this facility. That ended up having the longest of the strikes, if I recall correctly. So they tried to set a pattern based on these facilities that are going to be really hard to lose and pull in a lot of money for the companies.

[Sam Cedar]

You write that in May, thousand UAW members building heavy agricultural machines at Case New Holland. In Iowa and Wisconsin, their contract comes up. I would imagine UAW members are the most attuned to the May 1, 2028 thing. Also, you said expiring in May is the three year contract for 200,000 city letter carriers. The NALC who it felt like just finished their last negotiations and everything was retrospective. I guess there are two letter carrier unions at least as far as I know, one dealing with more urban situations, one dealing with more rural situations. So what, what do you anticipate with those letter carriers? Because I would imagine when they settled, whatever it was a year or two ago, anticipating, you know, there was an anticipation that the Postmaster General would be a different guy. Biden never really came through in getting rid of Louis Dejoy and now we're back in Trump world. Give us your sense on what's going on with that.

[Keith Brower Brown]

Yeah, so the national association of Letter Carriers, one of about five different unions within the Postal workers, but as I recall, the second biggest really important union or no, it's tied for the biggest with the apwu, the Postal Workers union. And they just finally finished negotiating a contract that had been dragging on in negotiations last year for a few years already. And now they have a new one coming up. And you've seen a member movement rise up in pretty quick fashion around that last contract to say we're getting a raw deal at the table here. Union officers should be organizing and pushing for more instead of taking this deal from a very hostile management that yeah, as you said, still stems from a guy that Trump put in in his first term. So now it's coming up again. Obviously there are all sorts of logistics business magnates who want to sort of strangle the USPS and replace it with Amazon and with other sort of non union carriers. USPS is under a lot of sort of financial pressure from that outside of government as well as inside government now has a bunch of allies for that strategy. So trying to both hold the line to keep these good jobs that are worth fighting for for members and trying to help fight on the sort of reorganization of the system and automation in the system that the Administration has been trying to push will be pretty important fights for them.

[Sam Cedar]

And let's go to, I guess There are almost 20,000 UFCW Local 99 members across 123 Fry stores. Fry's is like a, like a Best Buy type of situation, right?

[Keith Brower Brown]

That's what I thought.

[Sam Cedar]

Yeah.

[Keith Brower Brown]

There's a fries in the Northwest. That's electronics. This is grocery, as I. Yeah. So ufcw, huge private sector union in the grocery sector especially. There are about 75,000 workers on different contracts coming up this year, including in New England at Stop and Shop who had a big strike in 2019, as many of us remember that successfully beat back management attempt to bump up health care costs by 90% for members. Arizona, Ohio, Michigan, all from February to June have these huge contracts, like 15, 20,000 workers at a go that come up across huge grocery chains. So this union has recently started, as in Colorado last year in pockets, striking a lot more, but still kind of uneven. There is a reform movement working on getting a kind of more fighting approach in this grocery sector because there's so many members in these big coordinated grocery chains that could yield a lot of leverage if they got their act together.

[Sam Cedar]

Let's turn to education, particularly like universities. There's been a lot of. There's a lot of issues here, obviously not just the sort of like classic underpay for, you know, adjunct professors, which is been a big part of a lot of our like, union and labor activity over the past, I want to say decade and a half as far back as like Wisconsin in 2010, a lot of University of Madison adjuncts and TAs, I think were sort of involved in a lot of like the activity then. Now we have a sort of another sort of like element of the Trump administration attacking these universities and workers looking for protection. You've got University of Illinois, 6,000 people who are going to be up for a contract. University of California, almost 30,000. That's a UAW represented 7,000 research and public service professionals, 4,800 student service professionals fighting for first contracts at Brown, 1,000 grad student workers in June, another couple of thousand in Oregon. Across some community colleges, there's and then 3,000 library technicians and others working at seven state universities. Like, how are we going to get a lot of activity this summer or what?

[Keith Brower Brown]

I think these campus ones are some of the most likely to see strikes and those, you know, there's some constraints on the leverage you have as a campus worker, you might think, but these are in many towns and even states. The biggest employer around are these Public universities, these are big campuses. And for example, the University of California system, easily one of the biggest employers in the state of California. And this union, which I was actually a steward in, that was my picket sign from the last time we went on strike in 2022. Huge set of workers, 29,000 grad workers who do a majority of the instructional hours for the university. So if you actually care about education happening at universities, they're really doing the lion's share of the work. And then there have been about 12,000 other categories of campus workers who have been organized and are fighting for first contract at the same time. So yeah, you know, over 40,000 people pushing in this one huge employer at once. These are fights not just for raising the floor of wages and benefits and job security, but also right now, fights over free speech are really huge on campus where tons of people in the education sector have been fired for social media posts about saying the wrong thing about Charlie Kirk. And you also see this huge crackdown on research funding from the federal government right now, which is really the sustaining mainstay of a huge amount of this workforce that is the biggest workforce in a lot of states and cities. So this fight for, you know, academic freedom, both to be have the same free speech rights as anybody else in society when you're working on a campus, as well as to do research in the public interest, not just whatever is trendy with Stephen Miller is pretty important and something that these workers on campuses, whether they're grad workers or long term campus workers, are taking on.

[Sam Cedar]

Lastly, I gotta ask you about the WGA contract. I used to be a member of the wga. It's been a while. I think it was honorably discharged, as it were, after it's been over a decade since I wrote a script under wga or wrote a script for that matter. But I can't believe this is. We're coming back up on this. On one hand, I mean, it seems crazy to me. On the other hand, based upon everything that's happened over the past couple of years, I can completely understand how like it's a totally different terrain right now. And it's good the WGA is looking at this, but I also got to imagine, based upon what I know in terms of how much work there is, that that it's going to be tough for people to take action in this instance.

[Keith Brower Brown]

Yeah. So WGA went on strike three years ago now and, you know, really captured a lot of public attention. A lot of other Hollywood workers were out at the same time. And this push against the incursion of AI and management saying we can use your likeness or we can use anything you've ever created for us to, to make new material was a big fight at the time. And WGA to their credit, stayed out on strike and won some significant first time contract language saying we're drawing the line and how much of our material you can regurgitate as AI slap Netflix content in the future. This time around they're trying to go even further and drawing the line on AI what exactly that'll look like. Sell a bit up in the air. This is a fight we're seeing in multiple sectors right now around drawing lines on AI. The News Guild, representing newsroom workers across the country, it's been fast growing and just did a launched a big campaign around getting limits on AI slap as news content, as demands. They're going to push in their contracts and even coming full circle to manufacturing. Back in the oil workers we were talking about earlier, those 30,000 oil workers nationally with the steel workers are pushing for limits on AI use as a surveillance tool in the workplace. So this is an important moment in labor history to have a union that fights and to have a union contract that's going to draw the line and say we're not letting AI take on more of our work, take on more of our creativity, or be used to discipline us in some sort of automated totalitarian way.

[Emma Vigeland]

Great.

[Sam Cedar]

Well, I mean, I think that, I mean, doesn't fully cover it, but it covers a lot of it. And we'll of course link to this piece so that people can get a sense of what might be happening in their part of the world overall. Like, do you, do you have a sense of like where the union movement is in the context of like, of, of a world where we are sort of almost like post. We're almost like post labor law at this point. Right? I mean like the National Labor Relations Board is, you know, basically been put on ice. There is no, it is a hostile administration. Fain and some of the UAW seem to have been like, you know, are sort of like almost turned inward a little bit as there was a lot of like sort of turmoil, I guess, particularly around Neil Barofsky who was assigned to sort of oversee the uaw. And then this guy turns around and says, just as a buddy, you shouldn't be taking a position in terms of Gaza. I mean there's a lot of stuff happening in that area. And Fain was the most prominent union leader I feel like we've had in decades. So what's your sense where labor is right now?

[Keith Brower Brown]

Well, I'll start with the uaw, which I agree is really important and not just because I was a steward and active in trying to help get faint elected back when I was a member. But this year is the first big battle in the auto sector in terms of new contracts since the big three strike that happened in 2023. So auto parts used to be made by the Ford gm, by the companies themselves. This year they've split off for decades into these much lower paid positions. And in 2008, in the recession, the really lousy UAW officers at the time agreed to concessions that cut wages from, say, $28 an hour to $18 an hour in a lot of these positions. And they still haven't caught up. So this is the first time since fame has been in office and since there's been this revival of fighting democratic spirit in a lot of the UAW, that those contracts come up across about 5,000 different auto parts workers. Seven different workplaces will come up this year. So that that'll be a chance to really raise the floor for the, the lowest paid part of the auto industry. So I'm excited to see that sort of revive a focus on, you know, bringing the fight to the bosses. I think that has been a real, you know, continue to be a focus for the UAW in terms of doing new organizing. But there has been this whole federal interference into the union that's trying to make a mountain out of a molehill over internal discipline of officers who, in my personal view, were not doing their job and were trying to get jobs from family members. Disciplining people for doing that is not the same as the corruption and authoritarian culture that was there for many decades before. So that's a load of BS to me, what the feds have done. And I'm excited to see the UAW back on the fighting path. In general, I think a lot of union officers across the union movement were not super prepared for this moment of intense both corporate offensive and federal attacks on union workers. Really disappointing to see that with a million workers in the federal workforce declared no longer union, supposedly by Trump's executive orders saying to ignore contracts, you'd hope to see both those unions have this militant fighting response. You've seen pockets of that. And you'd hope to see other unions really having their back and saying, we're going to find ways to push the federal government to still honor those contracts. There are pockets of new kind of coordination. You see across the labor movement. There's this effort called Mayday Strong that a lot of teachers, unions especially, but others across the labor movement are helping out with labor notes is a space for a lot of more members and stewards across the labor movement. Increasingly, officers get together at this big conference we're doing in June, as well as online workshops and local ones. And I think that the big question is going to be flexing these strike muscles and flexing other sorts of contract fights is when the most members pay attention and get active. So that's why this article, looking at all these big manufacturing, education, health care, public sector, telecom, these are sectors where unions could draw the line and say whatever the feds are doing, whether they're going to pick up the phone or not. When we say there's an unfair labor practice, they still are sometimes. The point is we can force our employer to write new terms for a deal with us because we have leverage. They need us for this work. So that's why to me, this sort of lineup of contract fights is like the playoff schedule for working class power this year. It's like this is where we don't have to depend on representatives in Washington. It's about workers getting organized with direct kind of power we have our hands on.

[Sam Cedar]

Keith Brower Brown, we'll put a link to that article. Really appreciate you coming in and laying this out for us. At the beginning of 2026, labor movement's going to be huge. If we're going to push back upon this stuff, we're going to take a break and you know, just 2,000 ICE workers, I should say thugs sent to Minneapolis and they've already apparently killed now an observer. So, you know, this is we're going to be entering 2026, I think is going to be a period where.

[Guest/Contributor (possibly a commentator or co-host)]

All.

[Sam Cedar]

Sorts of organizing, whether institutionalized in the context of a union or just amongst labor or just amongst people in other ways, is going to be really important. Really appreciate your time today.

[Keith Brower Brown]

Anytime.

[Emma Vigeland]

Thanks so much.

[Sam Cedar]

Thanks, Keith. All right, folks, let's go over what we know. I mentioned before we broke that the as of like the beginning of the year, I sent in 2,000, 2,000 thugs. Bovino, my understanding was either was slated to come there today or sometime this week. I mean, just to give you a sense of like, like how big of a presence that is, 2,000 people. We've got 10,000 Marines off the coast of Venezuela, ostensibly as a threat to a country of 23 million people that is also heavily armed in terms of militias and whatnot. Like, there were there were reports of people, you know, of On Caracas, armed, sort of like a paramilitary on the streets of Caracas. Minneapolis is how many people.

[Emma Vigeland]

I'm looking at this now. It's in the hundreds.

[Sam Cedar]

Hundreds of thousands.

[Emma Vigeland]

Oh, no, in terms of people. But I'm sorry, hundreds of police officers.

[Sam Cedar]

Like, yes, there's 3,000 feds brought in to a city. 128,000. 428,000. So, I mean, it's a huge, huge force on the ground now.

[Emma Vigeland]

More than. My point is just more than double the entire police force of the city.

[Sam Cedar]

Wow. Really? The police force that's.

[Emma Vigeland]

I mean, a cursory Google search basically says that, yeah, there were more than 800 sworn officers at the beginning of 2020. Now city officials say the number is currently 570. And that's 2024. So that's so not. I mean, my math, almost four times more, at least three times more than the cops that are in the city.

[Sam Cedar]

And apparently Bovino is on the site of the killing.

[Emma Vigeland]

And it seems like this woman was a legal observer. We have two eyewitness accounts just there in the.

[Sam Cedar]

Do we have video here?

[Emma Vigeland]

There's one video and one statement. Maybe we'll just read the statement really quickly. I have it here. Evan Hill has this of the Washington Post, but I think this is from local reporting. A witness to Wednesday's shooting in South Minneapolis told NPR News. That's local in Minneapolis. It's the first link I sent as well. I sent to that she saw a federal agent shoot a woman several times. She lives near this eyewitness here, 33rd in Portland, and said she woke up to commotion outside her home. She said she saw a car blocking traffic on Portland Avenue that appeared to be a part of a protest against federal law enforcement operations. Heller said she heard ICE agents telling the driver, a woman, to get out of here. She was trying to turn around and the ICE agent was in front of her car and he pulled out a gun and put it right in like his midriff was on her bumper. And he reached across the hood of the car and shot her in the face like three, four times, Heller said. Heller said it appeared the woman then accelerated and traveled about 100ft before striking a utility pole and some other vehicles. She could be seen slumped over inside her car. And this echoes this video, too.

[Sam Cedar]

You have another video? Yeah, let's, let's.

[Emma Vigeland]

This is from a Facebook live. And then the attorney, Ben Crump, tweeted this out, shot her in the face. And then she, her, the foot just went down to the, down to the gas. And she Slammed into those, slumped over. They wouldn't let EMS through. They wouldn't let anybody through. They wouldn't.

[Guest/Contributor (possibly a commentator or co-host)]

There was a position. So murdered her.

[Emma Vigeland]

Can I take the pulse? Can I please take a pulse? They wouldn't let him through. They wouldn't let anybody through. And then when EMS did get here, 10, 15 minute murder, they carried her out like a.

[Sam Cedar]

Dead.

[Emma Vigeland]

I just watched the murder outside of my house.

[Sam Cedar]

I mean, this is, you know, we were saying throughout much of the second half of last year that this was inevitable and there's going to be more. You cannot have a bunch of poorly trained crypto, you know, fascist, maybe not crypto, you know, bounty hunters, whatever. They are running around with absolutely no constraints on them, no accountability, weaponed up, buffed up with all sorts of, like, gear they can. They can buy to make themselves feel like they're commandos and not have them going and shooting people. And the amazing thing is, is, like, when have we heard in all these supposed, sort of like, you know, and it's not even worth, at this point taking at face value the idea that they're going after the most dangerous people. It's absurd.

[Emma Vigeland]

No, the whole thing.

[Sam Cedar]

Seen them go after grandmothers, we've seen them go after parents and kids, and.

[Emma Vigeland]

And the largest percentage increase has been people with no criminal record in terms of who they're detaining. It's a lie. It's a Nazi, Nazi lie.

[Sam Cedar]

Not one single story, not one single story of these ICE thugs apprehending a supposed criminal element. Where these ICE thugs lives were in jeopardy because one of these, you know, hardened criminals was firing at them. All of the violence has gone in exactly one direction, and it is emanated from these fascist thugs. And make no mistake about it, like, they sent in Trump, sent in these fascist thugs into Minneapolis because they're on a roll with demonizing Somalis. I mean, that, you know, like, this is. Yeah, he doesn't have Colin Kaepernick to. To, you know, to incite the sort of, like, racist, Racist fantasies of his followers. So now they have the Somali population in Minneapolis.

[Emma Vigeland]

I mean, 32 people died in ICE custody last year. There was a story that I saw over the break about, I believe there was somebody that was working at one of these detention facilities who ended up getting fired because he was having sex with a. I think it was a. She might have been Guatemalan, but a detainee there. And she was tra. He was. She was asking for photos of her daughter. And that's what was, you know, the sex that he was part of the trade and other things, and, you know, he was fired. I mean, that's rape because it's coercive. It's assault at the very least. But, you know, just like this is what's happening to people all across this country right now.

[Guest/Contributor (possibly a commentator or co-host)]

These are fascist death squads. And the idea that there's deaths in ICE custody, of course, because that's, you know, it's too uneconomical to make sure that nobody actually dies when you start concentrating people in camps.

[Emma Vigeland]

Here it is. I mean, the Guardian. ICE is holding over 68,000 people in detention in mid December, and nearly 75% of them have no criminal convictions. And that same month, six people died in ICE custody. It's the deadliest month so far, and the deadliest year, of course, for ICE in custody.

[Guest/Contributor (possibly a commentator or co-host)]

Remember about a year ago, Cenk Uyghur of the Young Turks was like, well, if it is just the criminals, then of course I want to see the criminals out. Has he, like, appended his statement on that?

[Emma Vigeland]

The one he fired Francesca Fiorentini?

[Sam Cedar]

Oh, that was over this exact same thing.

[Emma Vigeland]

It was when she called it a gulag and she said that, you know, he was being a little. Or something.

[Guest/Contributor (possibly a commentator or co-host)]

How about a mea culpa?

[Emma Vigeland]

Yeah, yeah. Well, I mean, made a big spectacle about it, too. Friend of the show, Francesca Fiorentini, who was dead on. Completely. Right.

[Sam Cedar]

Just unbelievable. All right, we will. We're gonna take a break. We will be back with more as this develops. But this is where we're at. This is what, you know, I mean, in many respects, this is all going to be part of 2026. We're going to see more of this. They're going to get increasingly, increasingly desperate because Stephen Miller, Donald Trump, bovine, all of these scumbags, Homan, they all know that if the Democrats take control of the House, at the very least, their job gets marginally harder and more difficult. Not necessarily. You know, I don't have a tremendous amount of faith in the Democrats to go super hard on these things. They may or may not. Certainly some will, but they know it's not gonna get easier. So there's gonna be a. The intensity of all this stuff is gonna be at its peak over the course of the next 1112 months.

[Emma Vigeland]

I mean, she. This. This. This legal observer was killed for practicing her First Amendment rights. The First Amendment isn't just getting to say racial and ethnic slurs and the R word on the Internet. Just hate to break it to the MAGA movement. It's Actually about protest and standing up to the government. And legal observers in protest movements have served that purpose historically over and over again. This woman was murdered for practicing her First Amendment rights, full stop. By the way, ICE is of course saying, you know, feared for his safety, blah, blah, blah. An ICE officer fearing for his life, the lives of fellow law enforcement and the safety of the public fired defensive shots. We're also hearing potentially that they were. And that was what that eyewitness account said. Blocking somebody who was trying to provide her with medical attention from.

[Guest/Contributor (possibly a commentator or co-host)]

Don't be in a death squad if you don't want to be afraid for your life is. Don't be doing things that, you know, people perceive you as a threat.

[Sam Cedar]

All right, we're gonna take a quick break, head into the so called fun half of the program.

[Emma Vigeland]

He used his training and saved his own life and that of his fellow officers. That's what ICE is publicly claiming right now.

[Guest/Contributor (possibly a commentator or co-host)]

I mean, this is like the sovereignty of America's being hurt by Venezuela. It's like the Grandma is a gen 6. They know that what they're saying is a joke.

[Sam Cedar]

Folks, your support that makes the show possible. You can become a member. Join the MajorityReport.com Also, don't forget, just coffee, co op, fair trade coffee, hot chocolate. Use the coupon code. Majority get 10% off. Matt, left reckoning.

[Guest/Contributor (possibly a commentator or co-host)]

Yeah, Left reckoning. Venezuela yesterday, Jose Granada. Jose Luis Granada. Sea and Nick Estes of the Red Nation. Couple interviews. Stick it up.

[Sam Cedar]

All right, folks, see you in the second half of the show. Three months from now, six months from now, nine months from now. And I don't think it's going to be the same as it looks like in six months from now. And I don't know if it's necessarily going to be better six months from now than it is three months from now, but I think around 18 months out, we're going to look back and go like, wow. What? What is that going on? It's nuts.

[Keith Brower Brown]

Wait a second.

[Sam Cedar]

Hold on. Hold on for a second. Emma, welcome to the program.

[Keith Brower Brown]

Fun Half.

[Sam Cedar]

Matt. Boo. Fun pack. What is up, everyone?

[Keith Brower Brown]

Fun Path.

[Sam Cedar]

No, Me.

[Keith Brower Brown]

Keen, you did it.

[Sam Cedar]

Fun Path.

[Emma Vigeland]

Let's go, Brandon.

[Sam Cedar]

Let's go, Brandon. Fun path. Bradley, you want to say hello? Sorry to disappoint everyone.

[Guest/Contributor (possibly a commentator or co-host)]

I'm just a random guy.

[Sam Cedar]

It's all the boys today.

[Emma Vigeland]

Fundamentally false. No. I'm sorry.

[Sam Cedar]

Women. Stop talking for a second.

[Emma Vigeland]

Let me finish. Where is this coming from, dude?

[Sam Cedar]

But. Dude, you want to smoke this? 7A. Yes. Hi, me. This thing. Yes.

[Greg Gutfeld]

Is this Me?

[Sam Cedar]

Is it me? It is you. Is this me?

[Guest/Contributor (possibly a commentator or co-host)]

Hello?

[Sam Cedar]

It's me. I think it is you. Who is you. No sound. Every single freaking day. What's on your mind?

[Emma Vigeland]

Sports.

[Sam Cedar]

We can discuss free markets and we can discuss capitalism. I'm libertarians. They're so stupid. Though common sense says of course.

[Emma Vigeland]

Gobbledygook.

[Sam Cedar]

We fucking nailed him.

[Emma Vigeland]

So what's 79 plus 21?

[Sam Cedar]

Challenge. Man.

[Keith Brower Brown]

I'm positively quivering.

[Sam Cedar]

I believe 96. I want to say 8, 5, 7, 2, 1 0, 35, 5 0, 11 half. 3, 8, 9, 11. For instance.

[Emma Vigeland]

$3,400. $1900.

[Sam Cedar]

5, 4, $3 trillion. Sold. It's a zero sum game. Actually.

[Emma Vigeland]

You're making me think less.

[Sam Cedar]

But let me say this. We're gonna call it satire.

[Greg Gutfeld]

Sam goes satire.

[Keith Brower Brown]

Tired. On top of it all.

[Sam Cedar]

My favorite part about you is just.

[Emma Vigeland]

Like every day, all day, like everything you do.

[Sam Cedar]

Without a doubt. Hey, buddy. We see you. All right, folks, folks, folks.

[Emma Vigeland]

It's just the week being weeded out. Obviously.

[Keith Brower Brown]

Yeah.

[Sam Cedar]

Sun's out, guns out. I, I, I don't know.

[Emma Vigeland]

But you should know.

[Sam Cedar]

People just don't like to entertain ideas anymore. I have a question. Who cares?

[Guest/Contributor (possibly a commentator or co-host)]

Our chat is enabled, folks.

[Sam Cedar]

I love it.

[Emma Vigeland]

I do love that.

[Sam Cedar]

Gotta jump. Gotta be quick. I gotta jump. I'm losing it, bro. Two o', clock, we're already late and the guy's being a dick. So screw them. Sent to a gulag.

[Emma Vigeland]

Outrageous.

[Sam Cedar]

Like, what is wrong with you? Love you.

[Keith Brower Brown]

Bye.

[Sam Cedar]

Love you.

[Emma Vigeland]

Bye.

[Sam Cedar]

Bye.