Saturday, January 10, 2026

THE CASH COMMENTARY FOR JAN. 15, 2026

                                                                   CASH MICHAELS
    


            A COLD-BLOODED ABUSE OF POWER

            by Cash Michaels

   

This is not a commentary I want to write, yet I am desperately compelled to tell the truth as I see it.

The ICE agent killing of Minneapolis, Minnesota motorist and mother, 37-year-old Renee Nicole Good on January 7th of last week was, in my opinion, nothing short of a cold-blooded and senseless abuse of power.

No, I’m not stating that as a liberal ideologue, or purely because I’m someone who wants to stick it to the Trump Administration so bad I’m willing to reach long and hard for any outrage I can to make a point.

A precious life was lost here, in a perfect storm situation that literally forced me, after watching various angles of the tragic incident repeatedly, and then synchronizing the vital pieces together, to conclude that Renee Good wasn’t attempting to kill anyone with her vehicle, let alone a masked federal agent of the United States government. 

She was trying to flee a situation where two angry masked ICE agents had just pulled up, coming towards her in her vehicle, with one of them then grabbing her car door with one hand, while reaching inside through the open driver’s side window with the other.

Ms. Good did all she could immediately to get away from the ICE agents by quickly turning her wheel to the right AWAY from them on the left while they demanded that she “get out of the f--king car."

She wasn’t interested in hitting or harming the ICE agent directly in front of her. In fact, she even backed up in order to give herself room to make a sharp right turn away from the other ICE agents' threats.

Here are some facts the world already knows, based on various videos that have been released and can be found online on YouTube.

Ms. Good’s vehicle was partially blocking traffic on a snowy, one-way neighborhood, ice covered street. Some speculate that she had just dropped someone off. Others say that she was blocking ICE vehicles operating in the neighborhood, and on that block. Whatever the reason, when we first see the situation from behind in the first video, a silver pickup vehicle with lights and siren is just pulling up to the scene where Ms. Good’s maroon SUV is sitting in the street, motor running.

At least two masked ICE agents get out and immediately walk towards Ms. Good’s vehicle, sternly ordering her to get out. She remains behind the wheel, apparently refusing to comply. One of the ICE agents then grabs Good’s driver’s side door handle and pulls, while also reaching in the driver’s side window to grab her. Apparently frightened, we see Ms. Good’s vehicle suddenly back up slightly, then make a sharp right to get away.

By this time, a third ICE agent, who apparently came out of a gray SUV with an open driver’s door parked right next to Ms. Good’s vehicle, suddenly appears in front of her vehicle as she is attempting to get away.

As her vehicle backs up, then turns right, he has pulled a gun and begins firing three shots as Ms. Good’s vehicle continues to traverse right in front of him, ultimately speeding uncontrollably down the street, veering left, and crashing into the rear of a parked car.

So ends the first video the world saw, apparently taken by a bystander on the street who watched and taped the tragic incident on his cellphone.

But that first video raised a lot of questions.

What happened before those ICE agents pulled up and engaged Ms. Good in her vehicle?

Was she traveling alone?

The gray vehicle with the driver’s door left opened and parked parallel to Ms. Good’s in the middle of the street, who did that belong to?

Were words exchange between Ms. Good and any of the masked ICE agents, and what was the tenure and tone of those remarks?

When at least one of the ICE agents grabs for the driver’s door, is he trying to grab her or gain control of her vehicle?

Where did that third masked ICE agent who seemingly appeared out of nowhere in front of Ms. Good’s vehicle and fired his weapon come from? Did he ever order her to stop before discharging his weapon?

If there was another person riding in Ms. Good’s vehicle, where were they during this incident?

Some, but not all of those pertinent questions, were answered with the release of video January 9th from the ICE agent who fatally shot Ms. Good. When that ICE agent’s cellphone video begins, we actually see him, from his perspective, swing open his driver’s door and walk over to Ms. Good’s vehicle on his left.

So he was driving the gray vehicle that was parked next to Ms. Good’s maroon SUV on the right, having arrived there before the other two ICE agents, who had pulled up on her left.

The ICE agent is using a cellphone, not a body cam, to record Good’s car, which means he’s using one of his hands to hold the cellphone up to look through. That fact becomes very important seconds later when he feels forced stop holding his cellphone and grab for his weapon.

The ICE agent walks in front of the vehicle, taping Ms. Good behind the wheel. She has her driver’s window down with her arm outside and is smiling in good spirits.  The ICE agent continues to walk past Ms. Good, taping the rest of her vehicle, moving to the back where he tapes the license plate. Good’s wife meets him behind the vehicle, and says something else to him as she tapes the officer. for the record, she is talking a lot od smack to the ICE agent, seemingly trying to get on his nerves. Ms. Good, however, never takes that posture.

The ICE agent continues to work his way up towards the front of Ms. Good’s vehicle on the right passenger side still taping with his cell.. Good’s wife says something else to him and then turns to grab the passenger-side door handle to get in the front seat. 

By this time the second vehicle with more masked ICE agents has already pulled up while he was on the right side of Good’s vehicle walking and taping his way to the front.

It is when the ICE agent has reached the front and positions himself directly facing Ms. Good behind the wheel, that one of the other ICE agents has already begun to reach in and seem to grab both the door and inside.

Ms. Good panics, reverses her vehicle, then furiously begins turning the front wheels to the right to get away from the agent grabbing into her window.

It’s then that the ICE agent stops holding his cellphone, pulls his weapon, fires at least once through the front windshield, and then twice more as Ms. Good’s vehicle complete’s its turn, and careens down the street and crashes. she's been hit in the head.

How do I know Ms. Good panicked?

Let’s go back to the first bystander video.

The last time we saw Good’s wife, she is reaching to open the front passenger door to take her seat. Except she never makes it inside the vehicle.

By the time Good’s wife attempts to open the front passenger door, the ICE agent on the driver’s side has engaged Good and is reaching for the door and inside in an attempt to get her out of her SUV. Meanwhile the ICE agent the wife has to talking with has already made his way back in front of Good, sees her put her vehicle in reverse, then furiously turn her wheel to the right in an attempt to get away from the other ICE agent trying to apprehend her. He pulls his weapon and fires.

All of this is literally happening in three seconds or less. Good is fatally shot as her vehicle lurches to the right, and her wife never gets in. We know this because in the first video, we see the wife still standing where Good’s vehicle was. Upon seeing Good’s vehicle race down the road and crash, she runs towards the accident, realizing that her significant other must be injured.

On the second video, we see ICE agents not doing much in response to an obvious serious accident, and we hear one of the agents say matter-of-factly, “ f—king b—ch.”

I challenge anyone and everyone to review those two videos of the incident, match up the actions of everyone as I described them here, and maintain that Renee Nicole Good, mother of three, was trying to kill anybody.

In fact, if she was really the dangerous left-wing terrorist the Trump Administration is working so hard to make her out to be in death, then why didn’t she try to run the ICE agent over the first time he walked in front of her vehicle? When he was standing directly in front of her, why not just gun the car forward, instead of frantically turn her wheel away from him and the other ICE agents? Why didn’t she try to back over him when he was standing behind her vehicle with his cellphone recording her license plate? A true terrorist wouldn’t miss opportunities like those.

No, she was trying to get away from aggressive ICE agents, the same kind of federal agents who were known to break the driver’s side window of someone’s vehicle in Charlotte weeks ago, and drag him out to the ground before taking him away to GOD knows where.

One ICE agent may have pulled the trigger, but Renee Good found herself being aggressively confronted by several ICE agents, and panicked so much, she even pulled off before her wife could safely get in the car.

That’s how afraid she was!

The same way one of those ICE agents verbally and cold-heartedly spit on Renee Good’s grave moments after she had fatally crashed her vehicle after being  shot. Pres. Donald Trump, Vice Pres. J.D. Vance and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem slandered the dead woman, calling her a “domestic terrorist,” “radical leftist” and “professional agitator.”

None of these people bothered to use a term the rest of the world quite frankly would prefer - human being.

Absolutely the state of Minnesota should be allowed to investigate this tragic crime that occurred within its borders. How else are we to really get the truth?

But it is a damn shame that during a week where Trump already had blood on his hands per the illegal invasion of Venezuela, and was angling to further use U.S. military force to keep his hands bloody, that a young, American woman should lose her precious and innocent life because of his madness.

Go ahead, watch the first and last videos. Take notes. See if you see what I see. An American citizen, her young life senselessly taken from her, simply because she was trying to escape the clutches of Trump’s masked strongmen.

I see a crime. A cold-blooded abuse of power, followed by a shameful smear campaign launched by cowards of the highest order, long, long before a professional and objective criminal investigation can be conducted by any honest fact-finding agency the Trump Administration doesn’t already have its claws into.

Please pay attention, because what has happened to Renee Nicole Good can now happen to any one of us - dastardly smear and all!

And 2026 has only just begun!

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Monday, January 5, 2026

THE CASH COMMENTARY FOR JAN. 8, 2026

                                                                  CASH MICHAELS

   


  RESOLUTIONS

by Cash Michaels


And how were your holidays?

For my family and me, not bad. As always, I personally take the last two weeks of every year off so I can use that time to rest and reflect. I value that, because one thing is for sure  - I have more days behind me than in front of me, so fine-tuning the time I have left doing things that keep me fulfilled is a very high priority, right behind making sure that my adult children are doing well and managing life in the most constructive way possible.

One of the things I resolved to do during the holidays was to ignore all things Trump so that I could truly enjoy time with family. It was great for my mental and emotional health, to say the least. That’s how much what that man is doing to the country and the world disturbs me, and I must say, not having to pay attention to his disturbing power grabbing antics was truly refreshing.

This is until Saturday, January 3rd…my birthday!

That’s when, along with the rest of the world, I woke up to news that Trump sent in U.S. military forces, acting under the cover of federal law enforcement, to arrest (some say kidnap) both Venezuelan Pres. Nicolas Maduro and his wife (reportedly dragging them from their bedroom, for goodness sakes), and charging them with narco-terrorism, among other drug trafficking-related crimes.

I have no problem with bad guys (and their wives) being bagged, but I just hope that this one is legal, because the folks in Trump’s administration are famous for cutting corners with the rule of law - domestic, international or otherwise.

         Did you see the ignorant clowns on Fox News like Jesse Watters and Hannity trying to justify Trump doing whatever the hell he wanted when it came to invading another country for whatever reason? As far as those bozos were concerned, there is no international law to respect, only what Trump wants, when he wants it. 

        That's the kind of crazy talk world wars are made of. I pray we never find that out.

        I thought Democratic Texas Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett made an excellent point during her appearance on “The View” a few days ago. 

Trump supporters are quick to point out that Maduro actually lost his election for president the last time he ran, but was able to muscle his way to take power anyway. So he wasn’t the legitimate elected leader of Venezuela.

But, as Congresswoman Crockett reminds us, didn’t our own leader try to pull a “Maduro” five years ago this week on January 6th, 2021, only to have his own vice president, Mike Pence, who was in charge of certifying the results of the 2020 presidential election, not go along?

Former prosecutor Jack Smith testified before the House Judiciary Committee late last month (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lR-bhPzQYUEthat based on the evidence, there was no doubt that Trump was the reason for the January 6th insurrection. Smith felt he would have proven that, and if it wasn’t for the fact that Trump was reelected, he would have been convicted and sent to jail. 

        This week, the White House had the unmitigated gall to blame the Jan. 6th insurrection on law enforcement and Democrat Nancy Pelosi "inciting violence" among "peaceful protestors."

        It’s "facts" like that which make most of us not trust a damn word this administration says or does about anything!!! Trump is a used car salesman on steroids!!!

By the way, raise your hand if you’re comfortable with Trump telling us, now that we’ve raided Venezuela and grabbed its president, that he and his cronies are going to run that sovereign nation and bring oil companies in to control the resources until further notice. In fact, Trump has since announced that Venezuela will "be turning over between 30 and 50 million barrels of oil to the United States (worth at least $3 billion), which will be sold to benefit both Venezuela and the United States" indefinitely.

         What exactly does this mean, folks aren't sure, but it sounds like Trump will be creating his own slush fund from oil that legally belongs to some other country, which is constitutionally illegal, since Congress has the sole power of the purse, not the president. So once again, the rule of law gets dipped in acid just to suit Trump's every whim.

Now aren’t you proud? Venezuela is Trump’s 51st state, and to add insult to injury, he warns Columbia, Cuba and Nigeria to pay close attention to his military muscle flex! Hey Greenland, think all of this has nothing to do with you?

Think again! 

        And if all of that isn't enough, the nation is still shocked after an ICE agent in Minneapolis fatally fired on a woman in her car at close range, only to have Trump afterwards shamefully smear the dead motorist as a "professional agitator" of  "the Radical Left." Notice the immediate judge, jury and executioner position before an honest investigation could take place. Various video angles seem to show that the victim was trying to get away from agents grabbing at her passenger side door to stop her from pulling away. This, after Trump inexplicably sent 2,000 ICE agents into Minneapolis.

         During a viciously disgraceful White House press conference the next day, a ranting J.D. Vance called the victim's actions "a classic case of terrorism."

         Trumpism at its worst. Trumpism unleashed.

         Tragically, it's what many of us feared would happen when federal agents were unleashed here in North Carolina a few weeks ago.

        Another thing that I did that gave me much pleasure (beyond spending time with my two daughters, who came home to celebrate my seventieth birthday with me), was binging on old episodes of “The West Wing” on Netflix. I couldn’t get away from it, especially now that I’m much older than when I first began watching it 25 years ago.

I was amazed at how well each episode has held up over time, and how deep each episode was, especially when it came to the inner workings of our federal government. Of course, many of the scenarios were fantasy because after all, West Wing was originally a political drama on network television.

But what most fans of the show appreciated was how those fantasy scenarios were ultimately resolved by real world political solutions, courtesy of writer/producer Lawrence O’Donnell, who has since become a heralded political commentator on MS NOW (formerly MSNBC for the past 20+ years).

What a lot of people don’t realize is that West Wing was a precursor to the election of Barack Obama, our first American president of color, and some of the people who were consultants on the show later worked to get Obama elected in 2008.

Many people who watch “The West Wing” today and enjoy it, all say the same thing: they wish our country had a West Wing administration leading the nation, instead of what we have now.

That’s a shame, but that sentiment speaks to the kind of country many of us believe we should be - one that is always striving to be better, to be inclusive, to be strong on principles, to be leaders of the global community in education, scientific discovery, freedom, opportunity, and prosperity.

        Doesn’t mean our problems would just disappear, but that we would be better suited to deal with them, and do so with a greater sense of unity, honesty and resolve.

The West Wing - another case of popular culture in our country reflecting our best values and vision.

Then, of course, everyone is anxious about the upcoming 2026 midterm elections, and whether the Democrats can hold it together long enough to retake the U.S. House of Representatives and put a stop to much of Trump’s free-for-all madness. Mind you, unless Dems are also able to increase their numbers in the U.S. Senate, all they can hope to accomplish is to put a stop to the rubber stamp foolishness of the current Republican-led House majority and Speaker Mike “MAGA Mouse” Johnson.

But for my money, that would be enough until we were able to truly get the Senate back.

Make no mistake, however, if the Dems do take back the House for the midterms, they must try to do everything in their power to finally fix the health insurance crisis, and affordability problem - two things that Americans definitely want solid action on.

I pray that my fellow citizens finally realize that governing is really a numbers game. Only when your party has the numbers can good things get done. Only when your political party has the numbers and has won control can it bring about the change you seek legislatively.

Yes, at the end of the day, I sincerely hope that my fellow citizens wake up and realize that electing Trump and his dangerous clown show to run OUR government was the biggest mistake we’ve ever made, and that we seriously must resolve to fix that problem incrementally so that by the time 2028 rolls around, and Trump protege Vice President John David Vance starts hanging his “for President” banners in our faces, we’re ready, willing and able to collectively say, “get the hell outta here” with a sense of unity, duty and purpose.

That is my greatest New Year’s resolution - to do everything I can, with the time I have left, to make sure that in 2026 AND 2028, the deep stench of Donald Trump and J.D. Vance is removed from our government, and that we can return to being the bright, principled and hopeful country we used to be.

Are you with me?

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THE CASH STUFF FOR JAN.8, 2026

                                                       CHRISTIAN STURDIVANT

HOW BLACK YOUTH FALL 

PREY TO FOREIGN TERRORIST 

RADICALIZATION

By Cash Michaels

Contributing writer


If you were one of the many to be surprised by news from federal authorities that an 18-year-old alleged ISIS-inspired American terrorist had been stopped before he could kill people in a Charlotte grocery store and a Burger King restaurant on New Year’s Eve, and he happened to be black, don’t be.

Foreign radicalization of African-American youth has long been a tool of terrorist organizations like ISIS (Islamic State in Iraq and Syria) and al-Qaeda, as well as foreign governments like Vladimir Putin’s Russia, published reports show.

During their January 2nd press conference, federal authorities identified Christian Sturdivant, 18, of Mint Hill, a suburb of Charlotte, as an ISIS-inspired terrorism suspect who had been arrested and charged with attempting to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization.

Sturdivant was stopped before he could carry out his alleged plot to commit mass killings at the fast food restaurant where he worked, and an unknown grocery store. After a search of his home, federal authorities determined that the black youth had long been planning an attack  on non-Muslims, LGBTQ people, law enforcement and military personnel with the hammers and knives in his possession. Sturdivant reportedly spent a lot of time online reading ISIS material and creating TikTok videos about his fealty to ISIS.

Also found during a search of his home, a Kevlar vest and a handwritten note expressing how he hoped to die in a battle with police.

Sturdivant was stopped after communicating with undercover NY City police officers and FBI agents posing as ISIS followers, but it wasn’t the first time.

In 2022, federal authorities allege, Sturdivant, then a minor, was stopped by his grandfather from killing his neighbor with a hammer and knife. The black youth reportedly received psychological treatment after that incident.

Federal authorities allege that Sturdivant was planning an ISIS-inspired jihad. Had he succeeded, the Charlotte black youth would have been the second in exactly a year to commit such a deadly act.

The January 1st New Year’s 2025 New Orleans truck attack that killed fourteen people, and injured 57 others on a crowded Bourbon Street was perpetrated by Shamsud-Din Jabbar, a 42-year-old African-American man who drove from Houston, Texas to commit the deadly terrorist attack. He was killed during a gun battle with police.

In his truck was found an ISIS flag, and on social media, Jabbar had posted several videos declaring his allegiance to ISIS. It is not known how long Jabbar had been an ISIS follower.

Beyond the ISIS flag and perpetrator’s videos, the FBI determined that the New Orleans 2025 attack was an instance of domestic terrorism inspired by, but not committed by the foreign terrorist group, since no direct connection could be determined.

These are just two recent so-called ‘lone wolf attacks” involving young black males inspired by foreign terrorist or anti-American groups.

In a March 2015 online article titled, “The Allure of ISIS Recruits," it’s explained that the reasons why ISIS is able to attract young people from across the world vary:

Poverty and oppression may explain why people in some countries embrace violent extremism, but it does not account for the flow of Western volunteers or the dreamy allure of fighting for a faraway cause. Biographies of those who have reached out to participate in jihad suggest a variety of motives, including alienation, personal crises, dissatisfaction with empty spiritual lives — and adolescent rebellion.

However, when it comes to African-Americans, significant factors can lead to recruitment, such as feelings of disenfranchisement, social grievances, and oppression. 

Experts say terrorist groups exploit these feelings online in order to recruit, if not inspire, new followers of color.

This is also how Russian operatives, during the 2016 elections, used black grievances, like a deadly police shooting in Charlotte then, to exploit the black-white racial divide for the purpose of starting a race war.

According to the University of Michigan Law School article “Virtual Hatred: How Russia Tried to Start a Race War in the United States,” Throughout the [2016] campaign, Russian operatives created hundreds of fake personas on social media platforms and then posted thousands of advertisements and messages that sought to promote racial divisions in the United States. This was a coordinated propaganda effort.”

Inciting racial differences made the national environment ripe for violence, and while several other fatal shootings occurred, the Russian-inspired race war never happened.

Because of the insidious nature of foreign-inspired terrorism, experts say it’s hard to know how many young African-Americans have been or are being indoctrinated. Published reports say federal authorities normally track these young people’s movements, internet and phone usage whenever possible in hopes of heading off any possible plots that may be underway.

Normally, when those efforts are successful, authorities are able to either arrest ISIS-inspired young people at airports on their way to join the terrorist organization, or, as in the case of Christian Sturdivant, just before they commit a violent terrorist act.

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 HOW BLACKS IN NC

LOST GROUND IN 

2025 (PART 1)

By Cash Michaels

Contributing writer


As 2026 proceeds, a look back at 2025 raises important questions for African-Americans in North Carolina about how much social, political and human capital was lost last year, and whether much, if any of it, can be regained in the future.

At the top of the list of social and political ground lost to blacks in 2025 has to be the destruction of DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) policies and programs not only in state government, but private industries as well, affecting hiring, education and small business opportunities.

Even though Democratic Gov. Josh Stein vetoed measures ratified by the NC General Assembly that dismantled DEI in state government, many agencies began ending the policy and practice on their own. And those vetoes can still be overridden by the NC General Assembly in 2026.

Tens of millions of dollars of federal education grants used to “strengthen teacher recruitment and retention, reduce vacancies, and improve hiring processes” for at-risk student needs in schools across North Carolina were also cut off by the Trump Administration, according to published reports. As a result, recruiting efforts for more teachers of color have been hurt, and those already on the job are at risk of losing their employment.

In their termination letter, those teachers were told the special program they were working under “…includes diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives.” The letter also alleged that teachers were being trained in “divisive ideologies.”

Amid President Donald Trump’s promise to close the U.S. Department of Education (DOE), Rep. Alma Adams (D-NC-12)  blasted the administration for essentially installing a tip line, otherwise known as an “End DEI portal," “…where the public could make complaints about diversity, equity and inclusion practices in K-12 public schools as the Trump administration works to purge DEI from the government,” according to The Hill.

“The Trump Administration is once again using the federal government to attack teachers, students, and schools that dare to promote fairness and inclusion,” Congresswoman Adams, founding chairwoman of the Bipartisan Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) Caucus, said in a statement. “This so-called ‘tip line’ is a shameless attempt to silence educators and dismantle programs that ensure every child—no matter their race, gender, or background—has a fair shot at success. Instead of working to strengthen our public schools, Trump is weaponizing the Department of Education to push a political agenda.”

In an effort to intimidate over 50 private and public universities across the nation to cease their DEI programs and practices, the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) under the Trump Administration began investigating them for allegedly violating  Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

One of the universities accused was Duke University in Durham.

The DOE’s Office of Civil Rights accused Duke and over 50 other major institutions of racially discriminating against white and Asian-American students…

The state's onslaught against DEI continued as the NC House voted 69-45  to ban state and local government agencies (including schools) from promoting, supporting, funding, implementing or maintaining workplace DEI programs, policies, or initiatives.

All House Republicans present voted for the measure.

House Bill 171 also instructed Republican State Auditor Dave Boliek, to audit state agencies periodically to determine if they are in compliance with the new law once it’s ratified by the NC Senate.

Any state employee that violates HB 171 could lose their job. There are civil penalties of up to $10,000 per violation.

A previous version of HB 171 would have mandated criminal punishment for violations.

House Majority Leader Rep. Brenden Jones (R-Columbus), primary sponsor of the bill, said that it was needed to prevent discrimination and restore hiring practices.

The war on DEI in 2025 extended to scientific research in North Carolina as well, setting back work done curing sickle cell anemia and other diseases that primarily affect black people.

Plus, the Trump Administration announced the dismantling of the Dept. of Education, and three notable figures of North Carolina black history, who unquestionably did much to inspire and uplift the community died. 

        All of that and more in part 2 next week.

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