☕️ OVER HEATED ☙ Saturday, January 17, 2026 ☙ C&C NEWS 🦠

Process servers seek Gov. Walz for grand jury subpoenas; Dems under investigation yet media silent; Newsom preps 2028 bid; Trump outdoes Canada on China/Taiwan; U.S. economy booms; much, much more.

Good morning, C&C, it’s Saturday! Welcome to the Weekend Edition. We have a lot to cover today; strap yourself in. Your jam-packed roundup includes: process servers seek Governor Walz and Mayor Frey to serve DOJ grand jury subpoenas, which WaPo calls “unprecedented;” historic list of Democrats under investigation or prosecution, but media weirdly non-complaining; Governor Newsom lines up 2028 presidential bid with Clinton-like triangulation strategy and progressive fume as he supports ICE; federal judge berates DOJ lawyers over ICE face masks, but misses the irony of doing so in a state that mandated masks just about ten minutes ago; Canadian Prime Minister tries to make Trump jealous by making a dud deal with China, but Trump immediately out-does him with Taiwan deal; quality of life booming in U.S.; Truflation shows “real” inflation rate headed for the floor, maybe even too fast, if that’s possible; auto prices remarkably fall even while worker wages increase; U.S. automakers start running their plants 24x7, while European factories are closing up shop; fentanyl deaths plummet as Trump’s crackdown on Chinese precursors starves the world of illegal ingredients; Axios exclusive admits that the job market is exploding to the point of causing a worker SHORTAGE; and Musk offers help from a surprising source.

🌍 ESSENTIAL NEWS AND COMMENTARY 🌍

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Minnesota Governor Tim Walz is feeling the pinch a bit, no? Having covered his political tracks by withdrawing from re-election —but defiantly not quitting— he’s now getting special attention from DOJ in the form of a couple of pending grand jury subpoenas. He might be under looming indictment. Then again, he might not. One hires the criminal defense lawyer anyway, doesn’t one? The Washington Post reported, “Justice Dept. launches criminal investigation of Minnesota governor.”

Unnamed sources said two Grand Jury subpoenas —one for Walz and one for Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey— are out for service. “The subpoenas, which are without recent precedent,” the Washington Post noted, drily, “escalate an already bitter political battle between the Trump administration and state officials.” Haha, one can think of a recent escalatory precedent if one tries hard enough. Offstage, the Trump prosecutions coughed politely.

Walz finds himself pinned between a cleft stick, or whatever the saying is. He’s never been particularly attractive, at least not to me, and I’m not just talking about his ghastly ideological views. If you ask me, the man has a mug like a bloated catfish some Chinese fisherman dragged out of the river in a net, and probably afflicted with a bad fungal infection, by the looks of him. You could sketch him into a Simpson’s episode without modification; he looks like a caricature of a governor. Not very Minnesotan, so far as I can tell. But I digress.

There’s an unreported but much bigger story here. I penciled out a quick list of all the public officials that are or have been under DOJ investigation or prosecution. The Devil’s inventory is swelling:

1. Tim Walz, catfish-like governor of Minnesota

2. Jacob Frey, slimy mayor of Minneapolis

3. Jerome Powell, chairman of the Federal Reserve and palace-builder

4. Lisa Cook, Federal Reserve governor (diversity hire)

5. James Comey, former FBI Director and Russiagate architect

6. Letitia James, trash-talking New York Attorney General

7. Adam Schiff, shifty U.S. Senator

8. John Bolton, former National Security Advisor and deep-state crocodile

9. Elissa Slotkin, U.S. Senator (for her reckless “defy illegal orders” video)

10. Mark Kelley, U.S. Senator (same)

11. Jack Smith, pencil-necked former Special Counsel on Trump prosecutions

12. Dana Williamson, shady former Chief of Staff to Governor Newsom (swamp operator)

13. Sean McCluskie, top aide to former HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra (and vaccine mandate architect)

14. Greg Campbell, heavyweight Sacramento Democrat lobbyist and fundraising bundler, now jailbird

There are more in the crosshairs. Fani Willis is probably wondering when she’ll get a visit from the process server, for example. Trump has teased investigations of Governor Newsom himself, for another.

I ask you— have you ever seen anything like this?

It shows no sign of slowing down. If anything, it is picking up pace. As I’ve previously reported, last week on January 8th, the White House created a new Division for National Fraud Enforcement, homed in the West Wing and not the DOJ, which is rapidly ramping up to focus on welfare and benefits fraud, and its website suggests a plethora of new fraud prosecutions coming soon.

While Democrats aren’t silent, they are eerily quiet. Why aren’t all these prosecutions of Democrat officials bigger news? Why aren’t there Watergate-style front-page headlines in the big platforms about it every day? Why aren’t the op-eds packed with outraged protests about politicized justice? Why aren’t Democrats mounting a Joe McCarthy-style pushback operation? Why isn’t this their main campaign theme for the 2026 midterms? Why, of all things, is the big issue affordability?

This is the harvest of the Trump prosecutions. His time in the dock immunized him against the “revenge” narrative that corporate media tried to ignite but which sputtered out in the torrential downpour of anti-elite populism, even within the Democrat base itself. There is a general consensus, ironically reinforced by corporate media itself, that no one is above the law.

Without control of Congress or the Senate, Democrats can’t initiate investigations and mug for cameras at outraged committee meetings. They are also wary of loudly promoting the prosecutions because it could energize MAGA and increase turnout. And so a purge ten times bigger than Watergate is underway, and the Democrats have no effective counter.

Don’t miss how historic this moment is. Be energized.

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Speaking of skink-like Gavin Newsom; the oily governor oozed onto his podcast this week with fast-talking Ben Shapiro, and when it came to immigration, couldn’t stick the heat. Under withering cross-examination over an official government tweet calling ICE agents “terrorists,” Newsom climbed down like a chagrined chimpanzee, de-treed by clever zookeepers offering him his favorite banana. The Sacramento Bee ran the story under the headline, “Gov. Gavin Newsom: ‘I disagree’ with calls to abolish ICE.”

Newsom made news by mumbling his disagreement to abolishing ICE, and appeared to even endorse deportations. He wasn’t exactly pounding the table, mind you, but once again, having hauled a conservative on his show, the oleaginous governor wrapped his arms around the ’80’ part of the ’80/20’ issue, demonstrating a spark of intelligence rare amongst his progressive peers. Talk, as they say, is cheap. Talk is the most affordable thing there is, at least it is when the Democrats aren’t weaponizing the government to cancel you for it.

“When it comes to the issues of violent criminals, when it comes to felons, people that are being released from the largest state system in the United States of America, California cooperates,” Newsom told the conservative podcaster, immediately infuriating progressives. Well! How about that. It wasn’t so long ago that Newsom compared ICE to “secret police,” called them “authoritarian,” and encouraged people to “push back.”

Back when Newsom was mayor of San Francisco (2004-2011), he took heat for a controversial policy requiring city officials to report undocumented juveniles charged with felonies to ICE. (He later called it a “regrettable compromise.”) He learned his lesson. Now, even on this week’s podcast, he cautiously defended California’s “sanctuary state” status.

Gavin Newsom has termed out of the governorship. He can’t run for re-election this fall. So he must find something else to do. Podcasting? Or will he move straight to campaigning for a 2028 presidential run?

The 2026 California gubernatorial election —primary in about four months on June 2, 2026— is wide open. The Democratic field is crowded and fragmented, with many high-profile names including Representative Eric Swalwell (D-CA-14) and Biden’s former HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra, but with none yet emerging in the polls. A Republican governor is improbable (but possible if Democrats implode).

🔥 The Golden State’s current governor enjoyed a similar controversial moment —with similar progressive backlash— when he interviewed assassinated Turning Point founder Charlie Kirk. For the debut episode of This Is Gavin Newsom, Newsom hosted Kirk and, instead of treating him purely as a foil, as his supporters had hoped, explicitly agreed with Charlie on some culture‑war issues, including agreeing that the trans‑athlete debate was an issue of fairness to girls.

Purity-spiraling progressives then circulated clips of those concessions, and accused Newsom of platforming Kirk and validating right‑wing narratives, very similar to the current criticism that he is validating ICE’s legitimacy while only nominally opposing “abuses.” Of course, the ‘progressive outrage’ at his mild, pragmatic comments only helps elevate the governor with independent voters. He makes everyone mad, so he must be good.

Objectively, the podcast with Shapiro wasn’t bad. I’m not recommending it or anything; I’m just trying to be fair. The governor seems to be getting the hang of it. But his two-facedness cannot be denied. Newsom is a deranged leftist at the press conference and the signing table, but a totally different, much more moderate man in the podcast studio.

Will Democratic primary voters tolerate a candidate who reassures ICE‑adjacent audiences one week and stands with protesters the next? Whether Newsom can win the presidency in 2028 with his Clintonesque ‘triangulation’ remains to be seen.

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But possibly the most hilarious and frustrating progressive about-face this week appeared in a headline about one of the left’s ten thousand lawsuits— this one complaining about ICE agents wearing masks. A California judge is pondering whether it’s legal for law enforcement officers to wear masks. The LA Times reported, “Judge is skeptical on ICE agents wearing masks; case could have national implications” Now, wait just one moment. Hang on for a second.

I’m sure you remember. It wasn’t so dashed long ago when Democrats were literally forcing everyone to wear masks. Only a year or two back, not wearing a mask was illegal. But now, suddenly, they’re asking a federal judge to hold that mask wearing is illegal? You can’t make this stuff up. Which is it, morons? I swear, if it weren’t for double- or triple-standards, you be tempted to think they had no standards at all.

The politics of convenience are shifting faster than lightning these days.

Obviously, ICE agents should be allowed to wear masks to protect themselves from covid. Duh. But I suppose we’d better get into the details a little.

In September, triangulating governor Newsom signed a law called the “No Secret Police Act” (SB 627). It was the nation’s first law banning “extreme masking” (defined as obscuring the face) for law enforcement officers. Not, say, Antifa, or Tren de Aragua. Just cops. (Actually, the Tren guys don’t like to wear masks anyway, because they obscure facial tattoos. But never mind.)

On the other hand, California’s mandatory masking laws during the pandemic were among the strictest and longest-lasting in the US (2020-2023). Businesses could be shut down. Citizens could be fined or even jailed for repeat ‘offenses.’ The state insisted that wearing masks saved lives. The Golden Governor himself wore masks religiously in public appearances (but not during fine dining), and repeatedly defended the mandates as science-based and necessary— even as every other state dropped them earlier.

The state still recommends universal mask wearing during flu season.

But in California, the rules shift faster than an oscillating fan. Now, the same state says masking federal officers —who face documented death threats, doxxing attempts, and cite a 1,000%+ spike in agent assaults— creates more danger than it prevents, and therefore must be prohibited under penalty of law.

Wear masks at all times — now don’t wear masks! Now wear them again! Haha!

In November, the DOJ sued California, arguing (correctly) that ICE agents fall under federal jurisdiction— and therefore are not subject to vacillating state laws saying what they can or cannot wear on their faces. At the time, the Judge stayed the law while the case proceeded. At a hearing yesterday, as the Bee reported, the judge seemed “skeptical” that ICE agents really need to cover their faces for their own personal safety.

“Why can’t they perform their duties without a mask? They did that until 2025, did they not?” Judge Christina Snyder asked, pretending to have forgotten all the reasons that the government had already briefed in the pleadings. She sneered, “How in the world do those who don’t mask manage to operate?”

The DOJ lawyer pushed back. He responded, “If the federal government suddenly quadrupled the number of FBI raids in high-crime neighborhoods tomorrow, would we say agents don’t need body armor because they didn’t need it last year?” He might also have mentioned how local officials are routinely calling ICE agents “terrorists,” “secret police,” “Gestapo,” and encouraging citizens to “push back.”

Legal issues aside —and ICE is on solid constitutional ground— the hypocrisy of California’s cartoonish in-and-out masking policies is stunning. At least it provides vast material for mocking.

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Canada’s new Prime Minister is mad at us. So he is trying to put one over. For years, Canada has been flirting with China, which they know annoys President Trump— ever since the Trump 1.0 days. Now that Trump cracked a few jokes about Canada becoming the 51st state, and tariffed Canadian whiskey and automobile parts, the dandy élite bankster PM went to Beijing and did a tariff deal with the Great Red Dragon. Just to spite us. The New York Times reported the story, “Canada Strikes Tariffs Deal With China, as Carney Looks to Diversify From U.S.”

Everybody thinks the tariff game is easy, because Trump pulled it off. And, they think, if the Orange Man can do it, well, anybody can. But this Canadian deal proves it’s not as easy as it looks.

The breathless New York Times article announced the wonderful deal. Ready? Canadian Prime Minister Mark “Big Top” Carney ‘negotiated’ a deal with the Chinese to zero out their respective tariffs on two products: Canadian canola oil and Chinese electric cars. You can’t make this stuff up. Despite the Times’s glowing rhetoric, it’s a dud.

Canola oil is an industrial byproduct derived from otherwise useless agricultural waste— rapeseeds. It’s meant to replace butter and natural oils. It is the original seed oil. Nobody wants their stupidly named “Canada-oila” anyways. Fine! Let the Chinese have it.

In return, the Chinese get to sell Canadians their subsidized $60,000 rolling surveillance vehicles for $10,000 or something, which will murder Canada’s domestic automobile industry. The provinces —especially the automaking ones— are already expressing derisive protest. Only later in the story did the Times reel its enthusiasm back in, a little, referring to the “landmark” deal as “modest.”

“President Xi and I are announcing that Canada and China are forging a new strategic partnership,” Prime Minister Carney boasted, slightly exaggerating the ‘modest’ tariff swap. We’re dating China now! Are you jealous? (While campaigning last year to replace disgraced PM and Fidel Castro-lookalike Justin Trudeau, Carney called China “the biggest security threat to Canada.” More pivoting!)

President Trump was completely untroubled. “That’s OK, that’s what he should be doing,” the President said at the White House yesterday. “It’s a good thing for him to sign a trade deal. If he can get a trade deal with China, he should do that.”

Meanwhile, on the same day, President Trump negotiated a tariff deal with Taiwan. Under Trump’s deal, we get to tariff Taiwan +15% on nearly everything the island nation ships here —down from 20%, which Trump imposed last year— and in return, they get to invest $500 billion dollars in America’s chipmaking industry. New York Times, also yesterday:

The Times didn’t even try to pretend Taiwan got a good deal. “Taiwanese officials now face another challenge,” the article admitted, “which is selling the deal at home to a public concerned that it would hollow out an industry that is the centerpiece of Taiwan’s economy.”

That sentence illustrated the unspoken but obvious part of the deal, which is that we’ll help hold the Chinese at bay for a little while longer, at least until we get our own domestic chipmaking industry off the ground— which Taiwan is helping pay for and build for us. Win-win!

You tell me: who made the better deal— Trump or Carney?

It always seems easier when you’re watching somebody else who knows what they’re doing.

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A quick check-up on quality-of-living, in a handful of headlines and charts. First, inflation is falling fast. So fast that it threatens an “overheated” economy. Yesterday’s inflation chart from Truflation showed improvements in the key affordability areas of housing, food, and household items:

Meanwhile, auto prices didn’t just benefit from reduced inflation. Auto prices are actually falling. At the same time —and paradoxically— autoworker wages are going up. You would think automakers stressed by lower prices would be cutting workers’ wages, not increasing them. CNBC clip, yesterday (0:37):

📈 U.S. corporate media’s economic headlines are relentlessly stingy; we must travel to international media to find the good economic news. Consider this headline from India’s International Business Times, Thursday:

In a CBS interview at a Ford plant this week, President Trump announced that the automaker has started running its production around the clock, twenty-four hours a day. That’s in spite of lower auto prices. And it’s not just Ford. “This is a Ford plant, but GM’s the same, Stellantis is the same,” the President told reporters.

“They’re enlarging every plant in this country,” President Trump said. “We’re building more plants in the country than we’ve ever built.” (Hilariously, he also said layoffs in the federal workforce were helping push those workers into higher-paying private sector jobs. “Those workers are being retrained to go into the private sector at a much higher salary,” the President quipped.)

Remember how European automakers are closing their carmaking plants? It’s quite a difference, isn’t it? I wonder what could account for it.

📉 In what might be the best quality-of-life news of all, fentanyl deaths have suddenly and unexpectedly plummeted (Psychology Today: “At last, some good news regarding the opoid epidemic”:

The article reported on a study published last week, on January 8, in the journal Science. Experts from the University of Maryland, University of Chicago, and Stanford University concluded that opioid death declines were driven by a major disruption in the global supply of illicit fentanyl. Somebody remind me: who’s been harping on fentanyl supplies since he was inaugurated last year?

📈 Yesterday, Axios ran the most incredibly encouraging article under the most depressing headline it could come up with: “Worker shortage could hurt AI construction boom, BlackRock warns.” Defying corporate media claims, and defying blackpill AI predictions, a new BlackRock economic analysis predicted massive job demand across the board:

“The world,” Axios reported, “is entering what could be the greatest period of construction in human history.” The expected growth so surpasses economists’ expectations that they can’t believe it could even happen. “The U.S. may not have enough workers to make it happen, BlackRock warns in a new paper,” Axios said, reporting the story as an exclusive.

In fact, things are surging so fast that, since the paper was written, the numbers are now probably even better. “Even that estimate is probably understated,” BlackRock admitted, explaining that “the growth rate is likely higher now, given how quickly demand for AI-related infrastructure has accelerated since these estimates were produced in 2024.”

That’s a booming job market. Or maybe something beyond booming. Worker shortages are negative unemployment. We may be about to have the happy problem of an overheated economy.

🔥 There’s a ready answer to what appears to soon be the biggest worker shortage in history, and the inarguable solution is something that would have made you laugh out loud just two years ago: robots. Article from the Wall Street Journal, two weeks ago:

Elon Musk just negotiated a record-shattering $1 trillion pay package. To earn it, he has 10 years to make Tesla an $8.5 trillion company, including selling at least one million robots (among other product and financial goals). If he fails, he gets nothing.

So far, the videos of prototype robots are fascinating— but far from consumer-ready. Still, this week Elon Musk advised students, “it’s pointless; don’t go to medical school.” Why not? “In four years,” Musk said in a viral video clip, “there will probably be more Optimus robots that are great surgeons than there are all surgeons on Earth.” (He walked it back slightly, allowing students could still go to medical school for “social reasons.”)

I thought the space billionaire was about to discourage medical school because students are being taught that men can get pregnant. Or possibly because of the astronomical rates of deadly malpractice. But Musk was looking far beyond that particular problem. Frankly, I can’t see robots coming online that quickly; but Musk is much closer to it than I am. And he has a massive incentive.

What we’re watching is nothing less than the development of a fantastical near-term future where human workers are fully employed, with the slack taken up by AI-powered robotic helpers, whether humanoid, box-shaped, or resembling the robo-butler from The Jetsons.

Think about this very carefully: four years ago, none of this would have seemed possible; it would have been the sole province of science fiction. Now it’s actually happening, faster than real-time.

Have a wonderful weekend! Coffee & Covid will return on Monday morning, as usual, with another terrific roundup of essential news and commentary to start the week off right.

Don’t race off! We cannot do it alone. Consider joining up with C&C to help move the nation’s needle and change minds. I could sure use your help getting the truth out and spreading optimism and hope, if you can: ☕ Learn How to Get Involved 🦠

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