Will we stand with the generations who expanded freedom through resistance and sacrifice or surrender self-government to fear, force, and authoritarian power?
We, meaning 99.9% of those reading this, HAVE ALREADY DECIDED what kind of nation we want to become. We can't let ourselves lower our guard because we had one victory with the replacement of Bovino with Homan. Read: "So what. Trump replaced one sadistic psychopath with another to be his ass-stomping jackboots wearing enforcer on the ground horrifying head honcho in Minneapolis.
Maybe not, Alex probably would have liked it. Nurses have to have a sense of humor. That man was taking care of someone in the minute they murdered him.
Apparently in the Trump Gestapo's eyes it's as bad (or worse) than openly carrying an Uzi and hand grenades/
FYI: Here's my Substack for today
So what. Trump replaced one sadistic psychopath with another to be his ass-stomping jackboots wearing enforcer on the ground horrifying head honcho in Minneapolis. There’s nothing Trump won’t try to do to stop us leftie snowflakes from winning.>>
Words are cheap, anyone can talk big. Instead of standing in front of a microphone and telling ICE to go home. Walz should have sent in the State Police, Frey the Municipal Police and the Hennepin County executive the Sheriff, to protect the protesters.
These Federal agents, and they are now law enforcement and should not be carrying arms, have been breaking state, county and municipal law and law enforcement has been standing by, a handful of federal employees have stood by and denied access to a crime scene (the Pretti murder) and the police stood by and let them.
This is weakness. The law is on the side of Walz, Moriarty, Frey but they don't use it, instead they stand on courthouse steps and bluster.
No Federal employee, be it one, regardless of their employment in an alphabet agency, has the right or permission to harm a citizen., and I repeat they are not law enforcement., they don't even have badges.
Any federal employee or service member that violates the laws of a state or municipality is subject to the arrest of that jurisdictions police.
Just because they wear a vest and claim to be from ICE, DEA, FBI, ATF, DHS, doesn't give them permission to commit murder. beat up or kidnap people or destroy property,
By not arresting the perps, by not ordering real law enforcement to intercede and protect citizens, Walz, Ellison, Moriarty, Frey have given their consent to the criminal. and thus complicit.
Or does states rights only matter when it comes to guns and racism.
Words are cheap, action costs and is risky. That is why I quote the old southenr saying about and alligator mouth and a humming bird ass.
One other thing. Much is being made of Trump's supposed retreat from Minneapolis.
The Sarmatians had a tactics, which the Normans learned from those that settled in Brittany. The feigned retreat. He employed it at Hastings, the Norman cavalry broke and appeared to run away, the Saxon shield wall broke and followed them, the Cavalry turned and annihilated the Saxons.
It is possible that this whole thing was planned. Bovino was told to go in rough them up, see what he could get away with. Now the boss is going to come in, to "clean up the mess" but business will carry on as usual, because the lightning rod has done its purpose.
The lightning rod is simply being sent back to it's home in El Centro, along with the agents that committed the murders.
One other though, the rough house comes from CBP, it iis the tactics that they use on the border and in the desert, now they have been used to train ICE, and the CBP culture has now infected ICE. ICE are not police, not law enforcement, they are civil servants, agents and carry weapons onlyin self defense, handguns not long guns, grenade launchers.
They are acting like criminals and should have been arrested, if there aren't enough local cops, then Walz should have activated the National Guard to restore order.
Trump (read Miller, Vought, Bannon) WANTED conflict with local authorities. "Resisting Federal law". It would be the legal basis for declaring martial law. They set a trap. We are lucky that they did not follow your advice and step into that trap.
Here is the difference between invoking the Insurrection act (and by the way I already am quite aware), and the status quo.
The destination of the train we are on is a totalitarian state. The train was moving too slowly, so they wanted to accelerate it. So the people didn't fall into the trap, guess what we are still going to arrive at the destination, it might take a year instead of a week, but we will be there the same.
By the way I am not and did not advocate violence by the citizens. I am saying the the Mineapolis Police, the State police should have been ordered to protect their citizens and arrest the people who beat, harras,and kill them, instead they are standing by and watching while their tax paying citizens are being deprived of their rights and life.
So you are saying that if the police do their job, then Trump will invoke martial law. think about that. You are actually saying that we already live in a GESTAPO state.
Easy. Less gestapo is better than more gestapo. Your advice would have accelerated the Trump plan so that he could declare martial law before the midterms. Do not engage the enemy at a place and time chosen by them. Art of War, Sun Tzu.
The train is going to arrive at the destination, whether it goes slow, or the accelerator is depressed. If we sit by slowly, we become accustomed, federal violence is normalized, if we act now we have a chance.
What I propose was not engaging the enemy. I propose that the Governor and Mayor fulfill their duties of protecting their citizens against armed and masked thugs (they are not law enforcement).
My take away from you Bruce, is do resist, go peacefully into the dark night.
Germans had a chance to resist, until the GESTAPO herded them into box cars.
Apparently you don't know that the train going slower means a better chance of the Dems capturing the House and the Senate. They can then impeach and prosecute Trump, and others. "Governor and Mayor fulfill their duties of protecting their citizens against armed and masked thugs" IS engaging the enemy, The Trump regime WANTS that. "Sit by"? Strawman argument. Was Good sitting by? Was Pretti? Their blood stopped ICE in Minneapolis. It will require more citizen blood before Trump is gone. ICE is federal law enforcement. Their charter is restricted to immigration enforcement within 100 miles of a US border. They break the law on a daily basis. If local police obstruct Federal law enforcement, that is grounds for martial law. See Little Rock, 101st Airborne, sent by Eisenhower in 1957.
Winning the house and senate in Nov this year has nothing to do with the runaway freight train. You are assuming, you are gambling that the Democrats will take the House and the Senate in November.
What with redistricting, voter caging, voter restriction laws, voter ID laws, removal and adversial placement of ballot boxes, the war on mail in voting, MAGA election commissions, in Blue states, like San Bernardino Co, CA, armed poll watchers, and now a Republican operative owns Dominion Voting machines.
Maybe a miracle and Dems win the house, but unless they have 67 votes in the Senate they can't remove anyone.
At present there are 45 Democratic seats that are filled, and 2 independents that caucus with the Democrats, that makes 47,
Democrats need 67 votes to remove anyone from office.
This year there are 13 Democrats up for re election and 20 Republicans.
Dem's are going to have to hold all 13, plus pick up all Republican seats to have the 67 needed to remove.
So there goes your impeach and remove dream. What's next.?
Oh it is CBP whose charter is restricted to 100 miles of the border, not ICE, and CBP is not obeying their charter.
The Trump regime does not obey any laws, it is a rogue regime, it pulled off a self coup and now is engaged in a mixed war against the populace, it doesn't retreat, it doubles down or it feints a retreat, only to turn and attack with more vengeance.
We are headed into a full throated fascist regime, we will get there gradually and peacefully without violence or having to enact the Insurrection . act and it will be too late to do anything about it, except climb into the box cars that haul our asses off to the concentration camps that are being built with our money, by the OBBB, that Schumer, et al joined with the Republicans to authorize. by passing the Continuing resolution.
So what is your advice, sit on our hands and let the chain get fastened around our neck slowly, or stand up and fight back while we still have a chance.
Insurrection act or not, the destination is the same, and removal by Congress is not even remotely possible, save for the hand of some god coming down and intervening.
I can’t say I agree with ordering our local police or even the local national guard to go to war with ICE, and that’s what it amounts to.
These people are crazed animals and yes the people of the United States do need protection from them. They are paid henchmen working for organized crime. However, I do agree that it is a ploy to initiate the Insurrection Act.
This is new territory for all of us living today, including our truly elected local officials.
Once National Guard is called in, it will be National Guard against imported National Guard, then escalate into local National Guard against armed troops and tanks. WE CANT HAVE THIS. This is war on US soil again. We still haven’t fully recovered from our Civil War, mentally or emotionally. This proves it.
This would mean generations till we get some semblance of democracy back. We have to protect ourselves within our laws and not declare war on each other. There has to be a way.
Wars don’t solve the basic problems within human beings that caused them. That’s why we are such a warlike people and also hypocrites since we cringe and deny this fact.
I completely agree with the paragraphs about "by not arresting the perps..." Why were they not arrested? There's obviously more behind the lines than we will know. I'm truly surprised that everything has been left to "We the People" to rid ourselves of this plague.
Consider how long it takes to prosecute, Feldman. The Hennepin County Attorney, Mary Moriarty and Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison have started. It has to be done by the book, just like they did in the George Floyd case.
Arresting a murderer is not the same as the lengthly prosecuting of the crime. But it is removing, at least a little, the perpetrator of that crime for a little while. So, right now, those ICE perpetrators are still out there doing their ICE perpetrating thing on "We the People."
Also, a big guess, the powers that be that we elected are somehow in on it through omission - the omission of their duty to protect the people who elected them for whatever personal or nefarious reasons. Yes, nefarious. Seven Dems vote in the House for ICE money - WTF.
So sorry everyone who "doesn't buy" behind the scenes. Nothing happens out front.
They don't even have perp names thanks to the Republican psychopaths running the show, but Minnesota authorities will find out. Here is a Bulwark interview with Gov. Walz from a few minutes ago (20 minutes):
They will get these bastards eventually. In the meantime, these murderers have caused some major trouble. And their lives are never going to be the same after a prosecutor, judge and jury are done with them. Aiding and abetting criminals gets added to the list for anyone that helps them move to a non-extradition country.
There is a number posted for info. Someone knows these guys or one of THEM will try to cut a deal. Make the reward a couple million and TRump will turn them over.
Sorry Feldman. I don't buy the "more behind the scenes, that we don't know" excuse.
Either the police protect the people or that serve the powers that be. I don't accuse Frey of bad faith, but I do sense hesitatancy and I am being generous in my choice of adjectives.
Here is how it plays out, the local authorities, Walz, Moriarty, Frey, O'Hara are afraid of Trump, despite the fact that the constitution recognizes the sovereignty of the states. A sovereignty that applies when it coes to the 2nd Amendment,but not the 1st and 4th.
William,when will these people like Walz,Ellison,Morirty and Frey really stand up. My guess is the "NeoNazis" perceive all of these people as weak,not up for a fight.Rather talk than fight,words are cheap.
Walz and Frey feel that they are obligated to not use force for fear of intensifying the conflict, and bringing further federal actions down upon their people, but since it is obvious that trying to cooperate with Trump's goon squads is of no avail, maybe it is now time to act.
I don't care what Walz and Frey feel, they are obligated to protect and serve their citizens. This they failed o do. They are not the leaders we need, standing on the courthouse steps, bloviating into a microphone is not leadership. I don't propose violence against these federal thugs. I do propose that municipal and state police do their jobs, to protect and serve, defend their people against masked, anonymous and armed thugs who are violating their constitutional rights
What an opportunity, all a white racist or motorcycle gang has to do, is carry an AR-15, a handgun, mask up and go around killing people, harassing them, car jacking.
William,I think you know what the solution is,it is not sitting around bemoaning what is going on. Do you remember the schoolyard bullies,kept beating up kids until some kid decided he was going to stop being a punching bag,learned how to fight and one day goes after the bully and beats him to,within an inch of his life.
Thanks for the link. I take the liberyy of copy and paste a bit from jared
The party is preparing for negotiations heading into a potential shutdown this weekend following the administration removing Greg Bovino as head of ICE and this is what they’re settling on.
Restrain.
Reform.
Restrict.
Tell me how you’re supposed to restrain these animals.
Tell me what kind of reform you’re support to carry out.
Tell me how you’re going to restrict a group that is stealing children and murdering us in broad daylight.
Schumer is a pussy, he is going to negotiate with the devil. Guess who wins in such a negotiation.
He is like Biden, and too many who have spent too much time in the Senate, raised on the myth of compromise and bipartisanship, their real goal is to keep getting elected, not to look out for their constitutents.
Even the liberal Patty Murray, said , before the killing of Good and Pretti, that she would vote to fund ICE, because it does some good, or something like that. I told her via the website, that if she did she would lose my vote, evidently others have as well, she backed off.
Just last week, Musk was telling an audience that there would be no need to save for their retirement. They were going to be taken care of. Also, people would have a human-like robot that would take care of the children, elderly parents, and maintain the home. EVERYBODY will want one of those.
This is his vision of paradise. What he doesn't say in his sales pitch is it's the end of democracy. This is not a country of We The People. It's a country of the rich Board of Directors and a CEO that makes all the decisions. In fact, it's not really a country, it is the whole Western Hemisphere.
Hmmm, who does he thinks should be the first CEO? My nephew and I were laughing about "time to get out your pitchforks and torches". Look-up Technate of America. Musk's grandfather too, Joshua N. Haldeman. This is the same NAZI racist movement fought 80 years ago. TRump loves his bombers. My dad did not during his "turning". See you in the streets.
It also echoes Wells's "Time Machine" prediction of a future where all of us WHITE Eloi will be taken care of by our generous carnivorous Morlock billionaire techbros - burp.
These eras of crisis mark our progress like tree rings. There is escalating resistance and oppression from those with the most to lose meeting escalating resistance and expression from those with the least to lose. The more out of balance society becomes, the more irrational the existing order becomes, and the more likely it is that it will collapse upon itself.
Human dignity has been spat upon. It has been recorded and played back on TV thousands of times. Watching people being shot down in cold blood is an attack on every life. Thousands of people hit the streets in disgust, disgusted with the human condition, unhappy with themselves. The media and politicians use blame because it is a quick and easy approach. It makes money! What moved those thousands of people to protest was dignity, not blame.
It wasn’t a choice to demonstrate, and it wasn’t a choice to cry. It was a reflex that required no reason. That made it sacred to me. Thank you for being a human. Thank all the thousands who stood up for humanity while freezing.
Well reported, Thom! Almost 30 years ago I read the first "Fourth Turning"--twice!-- and am sickened by the fact that almost everything they predicted has come true within the expected time frame. America was given a choice in 2024 and made the wrong one. I'd be interested to read the latest in the series.
Thank you for sharing this history: it's so important to remember the past as we make decisions about our future. It's painful and will be very hard, but we must acknowledge what's happening around us and make known what we want our future to look like. I turned 80 this year, so I'm on the cusp of the beginning of the next phase. Let's make it a good one!!
Voting is everything in a democracy, and Trump knows it. So, yeah, he'll be going after the midterms like a cornered rat. That is just a political reality.
But rather than succumbing to despair, let his attacks inspire you to vote. Become part of the blue wave in November — in big enough numbers to overwhelm Republican dirty tricks and Trump's Orwellian psychopathy.
We have several ways to defeat Trump's fascism. GOP loses big in midterms. Significant defections of republican house and senate members. Obvious debilitating cognitive decline in Trump that even MAGA's admit. Release of Epstein Files. Release of Jack Smith's Vol II. An egregiously poorly handled natural disaster. Recession. Another poorly handled pandemic. A failed military adventure resulting in many service member deaths. Mass casualty event caused by ICE. Trump and his appointees are incompetents, a major problem will arise and they will screw it up to such an extent that no one will be able to ignore or spin it otherwise.
Kinda think that last bit happened with Alex Pretti's murder. And now the cover-up is well underway. Here's todays Bulwark interview with Gov. Walz (20 minutes):
Walz is sayin' if it takes three yrs, so be it. I don't think it will. People rarely keep these secrets, and I saw how folks (relatives/neighbors) turned in the J6-ers.
Big possibility someone from that scrum that didn't shoot will try for a deal some day.
“Outside of a few real stars including Walz, Pritzker, Frey, Ellison, and Newsome, Democrats — particularly national Democratic leadership — have failed to meet the moment.”
The “leadership” that runs away from AOC, Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, the FDR-like Zorhan Mamdani, and other actual Democrats has to go. The Federalist Society/Heritage Foundation Supreme Court must be rebuilt, Citizens United reversed, campaign finance contained. Citizens must re-learn the importance, the responsibility, of citizenship, starting in the schools where those things were once taught and including the derelict corporate media.
I wish I could be less cynical about our history. My university history studies taught me that beneath the highfalutin' rhetoric, much of the American story's subtext is the triumph of economics. The quote from a professor I remember most clearly was about the bloodletting of the 1860s. Reunification and emancipation notwithstanding, in a reference to the influence of commerce with Britain, "The Civil War was the triumph of King Corn over King Cotton."
NYT: New Video Analysis Reveals Flawed and Fatal Decisions in Shooting of Pretti
A frame-by-frame assessment of actions by Alex Pretti and the two officers who fired 10 times shows how lethal force came to be used against a target who didn’t pose a threat.
By Devon Lum, Haley Willis, Alexander Cardia, Dmitriy Khavin and Ainara Tiefenthäler.
Even Republicans are asking for an investigation.
They're also working on a way to excise ICE to avoid another government shutdown.
2. Wiki: On January 26, 2026, University of Minnesota Student Unions called for a second general strike on January 30, 2026.
Called the 'National Shutdown'
3. "Judge threatens to hold acting ICE director in contempt for flouting court orders
The judge ordered Lyons to either appear in court and explain why ICE is violating a Jan. 14 court order to give a detainee a bond hearing or release the detainee." NBC
Minnesota’s chief federal district court judge is ordering the head of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to appear personally in a Minneapolis courtroom on Friday, with the judge saying that ICE has failed to comply with dozens of court orders.
That’s amid the agency’s ongoing surge of agents to Minnesota.
Chief Judge Patrick Schiltz in a Monday court filing, ordering acting ICE director Todd Lyons to appear in court, wrote that “the Court’s patience is at an end.”
4. US to send ICE agents to Winter Olympics, prompting Italian anger!
5. Gun rights groups blast Trump over Minnesota response
Gun ownership advocates are pushing back against the Trump administration over its response to the killing of Alex Pretti. Politico.
From AI Overview: "Former FIFA President Sepp Blatter and Swiss attorney Mark Pieth are leading calls for fans to boycott or move the 2026 World Cup from the U.S. due to safety fears, political tensions, and immigration policies, citing concerns over the shooting of a protester by federal agents. Additionally, UK politicians from four parties have signed a motion urging the relocation of games."
Alis-boycotting the World Cup is a great idea,can americans do that? Most seem to think it is to inconvenient to boycott. It's to hard. If Americans had any guts @ all there would have been boycotts against the advertisers on Fox,the advertisers on CNBC,boycott large financial institutions that support Trump.But to think that 80 % of americans have any guts for any of that is laughable.The : Nazis" know that Americans are " pussies" .
As a psychologist, Thom's post today begs the question of what is wrong with US?
I am less interested in why political history repeats than in why people, en masse, repeat it. Trump is not the first autocrat-wannabe president. Richard Nixon has only been dead a little over 3 decades. I think what sets Trump apart from other candidates is his magnetic ability to animate fear and loathing among voters and convince them that he alone can restore their naive vision of personal wealth and dominance. Psychologically, when you rile up mob emotions, you shut down their critical reasoning (cognition).
What sets Trump apart from all prior US presidents is his insight that total dominance can only be achieved if he surrounds himself with psychopathic sycophants who all lie, cheat, steal, and brutalize without remorse - every single one of them. And, every single one of them was approved by an enabling Republican Congress that puts greed for power and dominance above governing for the people who elected them.
So how did this happen? Was it mass greed, or simply racist fear and loathing as the late Hunter Thompson asserted?
IMHO we have come close to this several times. After all, we had a bloody civil war. After WWI, red scare. During the depression, several would be deomogogues emerged. Lucky Lindy. Father Coughlin. When I was in Vietnam, 66-67, we were told there was an ongoing civil war at home. Home, I was part of the occupation of the south. Assasinations. Riots. In 1968 troops in every major city. The scars remain from that in many places, physically and psychologically.
As I've said many times, as someone who was exposed to this mentality, looks like psy ops. Same stuff we did to several foreign countries. Iran. Guatemala. Most of western Europe.
The Krasnov story should be compelling. Trump's first wife's father was a Commie who reported to the Czech equivalent of the KGB. Trump in Moscow in 1987. Mysterious funding. Money laudering? Trump was working on a Moscow project into the 2016 election cycle. His campaign manager had a Russian connection. A convicted foreign agent, pardoned by Krasnov.
Those money boys, co dependents, are NOT ideologues.
We'll stand. The wheels of the regime are wobbling. Instead of pulling over and making repairs, they hit the gas. That's how they roll. And it's how they're going to crash and burn. We'll be left standing taller and stronger when the smoke clears.
Thanks Alis, and I know you're right when you say, "...not just here in the States. I've been living along the west coast of Europe for the last six years. Solidarity is in the air here, and it's intoxicating.
I think, I hope because the EU countries have their own right-wing crazies they will forgive us faster than people expect. However, the leaders there and in Canada will not be jerked around anymore. We better bring them flowers when we come home.
Been to some beautiful areas there. Glad they get to see the protests in real time and we see theirs.
We, meaning 99.9% of those reading this, HAVE ALREADY DECIDED what kind of nation we want to become. We can't let ourselves lower our guard because we had one victory with the replacement of Bovino with Homan. Read: "So what. Trump replaced one sadistic psychopath with another to be his ass-stomping jackboots wearing enforcer on the ground horrifying head honcho in Minneapolis.
There’s nothing Trump won’t try to do to stop us leftie snowflakes from winning." https://halbrown.substack.com/p/so-what-trump-replaced-one-sadistic
And here I thought Minnesota was an open-carry State for phones.
Too soon?
Maybe not, Alex probably would have liked it. Nurses have to have a sense of humor. That man was taking care of someone in the minute they murdered him.
ALEX PRETTI.....say his name.
Kindness has become a crime.
Apparently in the Trump Gestapo's eyes it's as bad (or worse) than openly carrying an Uzi and hand grenades/
FYI: Here's my Substack for today
So what. Trump replaced one sadistic psychopath with another to be his ass-stomping jackboots wearing enforcer on the ground horrifying head honcho in Minneapolis. There’s nothing Trump won’t try to do to stop us leftie snowflakes from winning.>>
https://halbrown.substack.com/p/so-what-trump-replaced-one-sadistic
In a sense it is more of a threat because a phone will spread information and that is one of the greatest threats to autocracies.
Words are cheap, anyone can talk big. Instead of standing in front of a microphone and telling ICE to go home. Walz should have sent in the State Police, Frey the Municipal Police and the Hennepin County executive the Sheriff, to protect the protesters.
These Federal agents, and they are now law enforcement and should not be carrying arms, have been breaking state, county and municipal law and law enforcement has been standing by, a handful of federal employees have stood by and denied access to a crime scene (the Pretti murder) and the police stood by and let them.
This is weakness. The law is on the side of Walz, Moriarty, Frey but they don't use it, instead they stand on courthouse steps and bluster.
No Federal employee, be it one, regardless of their employment in an alphabet agency, has the right or permission to harm a citizen., and I repeat they are not law enforcement., they don't even have badges.
Any federal employee or service member that violates the laws of a state or municipality is subject to the arrest of that jurisdictions police.
Just because they wear a vest and claim to be from ICE, DEA, FBI, ATF, DHS, doesn't give them permission to commit murder. beat up or kidnap people or destroy property,
By not arresting the perps, by not ordering real law enforcement to intercede and protect citizens, Walz, Ellison, Moriarty, Frey have given their consent to the criminal. and thus complicit.
Or does states rights only matter when it comes to guns and racism.
Words are cheap, action costs and is risky. That is why I quote the old southenr saying about and alligator mouth and a humming bird ass.
One other thing. Much is being made of Trump's supposed retreat from Minneapolis.
The Sarmatians had a tactics, which the Normans learned from those that settled in Brittany. The feigned retreat. He employed it at Hastings, the Norman cavalry broke and appeared to run away, the Saxon shield wall broke and followed them, the Cavalry turned and annihilated the Saxons.
It is possible that this whole thing was planned. Bovino was told to go in rough them up, see what he could get away with. Now the boss is going to come in, to "clean up the mess" but business will carry on as usual, because the lightning rod has done its purpose.
The lightning rod is simply being sent back to it's home in El Centro, along with the agents that committed the murders.
One other though, the rough house comes from CBP, it iis the tactics that they use on the border and in the desert, now they have been used to train ICE, and the CBP culture has now infected ICE. ICE are not police, not law enforcement, they are civil servants, agents and carry weapons onlyin self defense, handguns not long guns, grenade launchers.
They are acting like criminals and should have been arrested, if there aren't enough local cops, then Walz should have activated the National Guard to restore order.
Trump (read Miller, Vought, Bannon) WANTED conflict with local authorities. "Resisting Federal law". It would be the legal basis for declaring martial law. They set a trap. We are lucky that they did not follow your advice and step into that trap.
Here is the difference between invoking the Insurrection act (and by the way I already am quite aware), and the status quo.
The destination of the train we are on is a totalitarian state. The train was moving too slowly, so they wanted to accelerate it. So the people didn't fall into the trap, guess what we are still going to arrive at the destination, it might take a year instead of a week, but we will be there the same.
By the way I am not and did not advocate violence by the citizens. I am saying the the Mineapolis Police, the State police should have been ordered to protect their citizens and arrest the people who beat, harras,and kill them, instead they are standing by and watching while their tax paying citizens are being deprived of their rights and life.
So you are saying that if the police do their job, then Trump will invoke martial law. think about that. You are actually saying that we already live in a GESTAPO state.
How can you live with that.?
Easy. Less gestapo is better than more gestapo. Your advice would have accelerated the Trump plan so that he could declare martial law before the midterms. Do not engage the enemy at a place and time chosen by them. Art of War, Sun Tzu.
The train is going to arrive at the destination, whether it goes slow, or the accelerator is depressed. If we sit by slowly, we become accustomed, federal violence is normalized, if we act now we have a chance.
What I propose was not engaging the enemy. I propose that the Governor and Mayor fulfill their duties of protecting their citizens against armed and masked thugs (they are not law enforcement).
My take away from you Bruce, is do resist, go peacefully into the dark night.
Germans had a chance to resist, until the GESTAPO herded them into box cars.
Apparently you don't know that the train going slower means a better chance of the Dems capturing the House and the Senate. They can then impeach and prosecute Trump, and others. "Governor and Mayor fulfill their duties of protecting their citizens against armed and masked thugs" IS engaging the enemy, The Trump regime WANTS that. "Sit by"? Strawman argument. Was Good sitting by? Was Pretti? Their blood stopped ICE in Minneapolis. It will require more citizen blood before Trump is gone. ICE is federal law enforcement. Their charter is restricted to immigration enforcement within 100 miles of a US border. They break the law on a daily basis. If local police obstruct Federal law enforcement, that is grounds for martial law. See Little Rock, 101st Airborne, sent by Eisenhower in 1957.
Winning the house and senate in Nov this year has nothing to do with the runaway freight train. You are assuming, you are gambling that the Democrats will take the House and the Senate in November.
What with redistricting, voter caging, voter restriction laws, voter ID laws, removal and adversial placement of ballot boxes, the war on mail in voting, MAGA election commissions, in Blue states, like San Bernardino Co, CA, armed poll watchers, and now a Republican operative owns Dominion Voting machines.
Maybe a miracle and Dems win the house, but unless they have 67 votes in the Senate they can't remove anyone.
At present there are 45 Democratic seats that are filled, and 2 independents that caucus with the Democrats, that makes 47,
Democrats need 67 votes to remove anyone from office.
This year there are 13 Democrats up for re election and 20 Republicans.
Dem's are going to have to hold all 13, plus pick up all Republican seats to have the 67 needed to remove.
So there goes your impeach and remove dream. What's next.?
Oh it is CBP whose charter is restricted to 100 miles of the border, not ICE, and CBP is not obeying their charter.
The Trump regime does not obey any laws, it is a rogue regime, it pulled off a self coup and now is engaged in a mixed war against the populace, it doesn't retreat, it doubles down or it feints a retreat, only to turn and attack with more vengeance.
We are headed into a full throated fascist regime, we will get there gradually and peacefully without violence or having to enact the Insurrection . act and it will be too late to do anything about it, except climb into the box cars that haul our asses off to the concentration camps that are being built with our money, by the OBBB, that Schumer, et al joined with the Republicans to authorize. by passing the Continuing resolution.
So what is your advice, sit on our hands and let the chain get fastened around our neck slowly, or stand up and fight back while we still have a chance.
Insurrection act or not, the destination is the same, and removal by Congress is not even remotely possible, save for the hand of some god coming down and intervening.
I can’t say I agree with ordering our local police or even the local national guard to go to war with ICE, and that’s what it amounts to.
These people are crazed animals and yes the people of the United States do need protection from them. They are paid henchmen working for organized crime. However, I do agree that it is a ploy to initiate the Insurrection Act.
This is new territory for all of us living today, including our truly elected local officials.
Once National Guard is called in, it will be National Guard against imported National Guard, then escalate into local National Guard against armed troops and tanks. WE CANT HAVE THIS. This is war on US soil again. We still haven’t fully recovered from our Civil War, mentally or emotionally. This proves it.
This would mean generations till we get some semblance of democracy back. We have to protect ourselves within our laws and not declare war on each other. There has to be a way.
Wars don’t solve the basic problems within human beings that caused them. That’s why we are such a warlike people and also hypocrites since we cringe and deny this fact.
I completely agree with the paragraphs about "by not arresting the perps..." Why were they not arrested? There's obviously more behind the lines than we will know. I'm truly surprised that everything has been left to "We the People" to rid ourselves of this plague.
Consider how long it takes to prosecute, Feldman. The Hennepin County Attorney, Mary Moriarty and Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison have started. It has to be done by the book, just like they did in the George Floyd case.
Arresting a murderer is not the same as the lengthly prosecuting of the crime. But it is removing, at least a little, the perpetrator of that crime for a little while. So, right now, those ICE perpetrators are still out there doing their ICE perpetrating thing on "We the People."
Also, a big guess, the powers that be that we elected are somehow in on it through omission - the omission of their duty to protect the people who elected them for whatever personal or nefarious reasons. Yes, nefarious. Seven Dems vote in the House for ICE money - WTF.
So sorry everyone who "doesn't buy" behind the scenes. Nothing happens out front.
They don't even have perp names thanks to the Republican psychopaths running the show, but Minnesota authorities will find out. Here is a Bulwark interview with Gov. Walz from a few minutes ago (20 minutes):
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&opi=89978449&url=https://www.thebulwark.com/p/breaking-gov-walz-to-meet-with-homan
They will get these bastards eventually. In the meantime, these murderers have caused some major trouble. And their lives are never going to be the same after a prosecutor, judge and jury are done with them. Aiding and abetting criminals gets added to the list for anyone that helps them move to a non-extradition country.
There is a number posted for info. Someone knows these guys or one of THEM will try to cut a deal. Make the reward a couple million and TRump will turn them over.
Sorry Feldman. I don't buy the "more behind the scenes, that we don't know" excuse.
Either the police protect the people or that serve the powers that be. I don't accuse Frey of bad faith, but I do sense hesitatancy and I am being generous in my choice of adjectives.
Here is how it plays out, the local authorities, Walz, Moriarty, Frey, O'Hara are afraid of Trump, despite the fact that the constitution recognizes the sovereignty of the states. A sovereignty that applies when it coes to the 2nd Amendment,but not the 1st and 4th.
William,when will these people like Walz,Ellison,Morirty and Frey really stand up. My guess is the "NeoNazis" perceive all of these people as weak,not up for a fight.Rather talk than fight,words are cheap.
They are on OUR side. You guys can't ell who's on first.
Daniel,I'd like to be wrong,but after 1 yr,it is very hard to believe the Dems will get some guts. Hope you're right but am not optimistic.
That "no guts" is a false assumption. It's used to divide us. With unity, we win.
We were screwed.
Walz and Frey feel that they are obligated to not use force for fear of intensifying the conflict, and bringing further federal actions down upon their people, but since it is obvious that trying to cooperate with Trump's goon squads is of no avail, maybe it is now time to act.
I don't care what Walz and Frey feel, they are obligated to protect and serve their citizens. This they failed o do. They are not the leaders we need, standing on the courthouse steps, bloviating into a microphone is not leadership. I don't propose violence against these federal thugs. I do propose that municipal and state police do their jobs, to protect and serve, defend their people against masked, anonymous and armed thugs who are violating their constitutional rights
What an opportunity, all a white racist or motorcycle gang has to do, is carry an AR-15, a handgun, mask up and go around killing people, harassing them, car jacking.
William,I think you know what the solution is,it is not sitting around bemoaning what is going on. Do you remember the schoolyard bullies,kept beating up kids until some kid decided he was going to stop being a punching bag,learned how to fight and one day goes after the bully and beats him to,within an inch of his life.
Bully moves to another town.
Also, let's not forget Dem leadership. What a joke.
https://jaredyatessexton.substack.com/p/get-out-of-the-way-the-democratic?utm_source=post-email-title&publication_id=289155&post_id=185977346&utm_campaign=email-post-title&isFreemail=true&r=2g7cs&triedRedirect=true&utm_medium=email
Thanks for the link. I take the liberyy of copy and paste a bit from jared
The party is preparing for negotiations heading into a potential shutdown this weekend following the administration removing Greg Bovino as head of ICE and this is what they’re settling on.
Restrain.
Reform.
Restrict.
Tell me how you’re supposed to restrain these animals.
Tell me what kind of reform you’re support to carry out.
Tell me how you’re going to restrict a group that is stealing children and murdering us in broad daylight.
Schumer is a pussy, he is going to negotiate with the devil. Guess who wins in such a negotiation.
He is like Biden, and too many who have spent too much time in the Senate, raised on the myth of compromise and bipartisanship, their real goal is to keep getting elected, not to look out for their constitutents.
Even the liberal Patty Murray, said , before the killing of Good and Pretti, that she would vote to fund ICE, because it does some good, or something like that. I told her via the website, that if she did she would lose my vote, evidently others have as well, she backed off.
Sure looks like Trump intended/intends to invoke the insurrection Act and declare marshal law.
We know who the monsters are.....
Just last week, Musk was telling an audience that there would be no need to save for their retirement. They were going to be taken care of. Also, people would have a human-like robot that would take care of the children, elderly parents, and maintain the home. EVERYBODY will want one of those.
This is his vision of paradise. What he doesn't say in his sales pitch is it's the end of democracy. This is not a country of We The People. It's a country of the rich Board of Directors and a CEO that makes all the decisions. In fact, it's not really a country, it is the whole Western Hemisphere.
Hmmm, who does he thinks should be the first CEO? My nephew and I were laughing about "time to get out your pitchforks and torches". Look-up Technate of America. Musk's grandfather too, Joshua N. Haldeman. This is the same NAZI racist movement fought 80 years ago. TRump loves his bombers. My dad did not during his "turning". See you in the streets.
Musk and Trump are highly conflicted. If Tesla sales are in the gutter, Trump had a lot to do with it.
The NYT Dealbook has been quoting CEOs who are protesting ICE in Minnesota, including Altman, who is in litigation with Musk over Open AI.
It also echoes Wells's "Time Machine" prediction of a future where all of us WHITE Eloi will be taken care of by our generous carnivorous Morlock billionaire techbros - burp.
LOL
Hope I would give them indigestion---that's what I'm already trying to do.
Those Minnesotan soldiers helped win the Civil War.
Their cameras, blowhorns, and their commitments to freedom from fear are saving us from another!
Thank you Minnesotan Americans. And thank you Thom for your visions of the same.
These eras of crisis mark our progress like tree rings. There is escalating resistance and oppression from those with the most to lose meeting escalating resistance and expression from those with the least to lose. The more out of balance society becomes, the more irrational the existing order becomes, and the more likely it is that it will collapse upon itself.
Human dignity has been spat upon. It has been recorded and played back on TV thousands of times. Watching people being shot down in cold blood is an attack on every life. Thousands of people hit the streets in disgust, disgusted with the human condition, unhappy with themselves. The media and politicians use blame because it is a quick and easy approach. It makes money! What moved those thousands of people to protest was dignity, not blame.
I really like your comment, David.
We protested Sunday and there were some dignified tears.
It wasn’t a choice to demonstrate, and it wasn’t a choice to cry. It was a reflex that required no reason. That made it sacred to me. Thank you for being a human. Thank all the thousands who stood up for humanity while freezing.
Well reported, Thom! Almost 30 years ago I read the first "Fourth Turning"--twice!-- and am sickened by the fact that almost everything they predicted has come true within the expected time frame. America was given a choice in 2024 and made the wrong one. I'd be interested to read the latest in the series.
What we have here are 77.3 M zombies who voted for a racist pedo.
6 out of 10 Whites.
1 out of 2 Hispanics (6% of all voters, so 3% Rs).
1 out of 5 Black males (4% of voters, 0.8 % Rs, but go figure anyway)
What we have to ack is that we share a nation where 50% of us are as batshit crazy as the racist pedo.
So? . . . So effin' vote.
Stop banging the couch like the coward Vance and effing VOTE.
Sir,don't you think you should have included all the religions that voted for Trump,Catholics 57%,Jews 38% and White Christian Nationalists 100%.
Thank you for sharing this history: it's so important to remember the past as we make decisions about our future. It's painful and will be very hard, but we must acknowledge what's happening around us and make known what we want our future to look like. I turned 80 this year, so I'm on the cusp of the beginning of the next phase. Let's make it a good one!!
Voting is everything in a democracy, and Trump knows it. So, yeah, he'll be going after the midterms like a cornered rat. That is just a political reality.
But rather than succumbing to despair, let his attacks inspire you to vote. Become part of the blue wave in November — in big enough numbers to overwhelm Republican dirty tricks and Trump's Orwellian psychopathy.
We have several ways to defeat Trump's fascism. GOP loses big in midterms. Significant defections of republican house and senate members. Obvious debilitating cognitive decline in Trump that even MAGA's admit. Release of Epstein Files. Release of Jack Smith's Vol II. An egregiously poorly handled natural disaster. Recession. Another poorly handled pandemic. A failed military adventure resulting in many service member deaths. Mass casualty event caused by ICE. Trump and his appointees are incompetents, a major problem will arise and they will screw it up to such an extent that no one will be able to ignore or spin it otherwise.
Kinda think that last bit happened with Alex Pretti's murder. And now the cover-up is well underway. Here's todays Bulwark interview with Gov. Walz (20 minutes):
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&opi=89978449&url=https://www.thebulwark.com/p/breaking-gov-walz-to-meet-with-homan
Rock meets hard place.
The court may/may not order an investigation on Friday.
Which court, Daniel?
Walz is sayin' if it takes three yrs, so be it. I don't think it will. People rarely keep these secrets, and I saw how folks (relatives/neighbors) turned in the J6-ers.
Big possibility someone from that scrum that didn't shoot will try for a deal some day.
G2's list is spot on for what's in store too.
USDC Friday.
Yes it appears so. I have full confidence that they can screw up several things at the same time.
“Outside of a few real stars including Walz, Pritzker, Frey, Ellison, and Newsome, Democrats — particularly national Democratic leadership — have failed to meet the moment.”
The “leadership” that runs away from AOC, Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, the FDR-like Zorhan Mamdani, and other actual Democrats has to go. The Federalist Society/Heritage Foundation Supreme Court must be rebuilt, Citizens United reversed, campaign finance contained. Citizens must re-learn the importance, the responsibility, of citizenship, starting in the schools where those things were once taught and including the derelict corporate media.
I wish I could be less cynical about our history. My university history studies taught me that beneath the highfalutin' rhetoric, much of the American story's subtext is the triumph of economics. The quote from a professor I remember most clearly was about the bloodletting of the 1860s. Reunification and emancipation notwithstanding, in a reference to the influence of commerce with Britain, "The Civil War was the triumph of King Corn over King Cotton."
1. The fight today is in the Senate.
NYT: New Video Analysis Reveals Flawed and Fatal Decisions in Shooting of Pretti
A frame-by-frame assessment of actions by Alex Pretti and the two officers who fired 10 times shows how lethal force came to be used against a target who didn’t pose a threat.
By Devon Lum, Haley Willis, Alexander Cardia, Dmitriy Khavin and Ainara Tiefenthäler.
Even Republicans are asking for an investigation.
They're also working on a way to excise ICE to avoid another government shutdown.
2. Wiki: On January 26, 2026, University of Minnesota Student Unions called for a second general strike on January 30, 2026.
Called the 'National Shutdown'
3. "Judge threatens to hold acting ICE director in contempt for flouting court orders
The judge ordered Lyons to either appear in court and explain why ICE is violating a Jan. 14 court order to give a detainee a bond hearing or release the detainee." NBC
Minnesota’s chief federal district court judge is ordering the head of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to appear personally in a Minneapolis courtroom on Friday, with the judge saying that ICE has failed to comply with dozens of court orders.
That’s amid the agency’s ongoing surge of agents to Minnesota.
Chief Judge Patrick Schiltz in a Monday court filing, ordering acting ICE director Todd Lyons to appear in court, wrote that “the Court’s patience is at an end.”
4. US to send ICE agents to Winter Olympics, prompting Italian anger!
5. Gun rights groups blast Trump over Minnesota response
Gun ownership advocates are pushing back against the Trump administration over its response to the killing of Alex Pretti. Politico.
From AI Overview: "Former FIFA President Sepp Blatter and Swiss attorney Mark Pieth are leading calls for fans to boycott or move the 2026 World Cup from the U.S. due to safety fears, political tensions, and immigration policies, citing concerns over the shooting of a protester by federal agents. Additionally, UK politicians from four parties have signed a motion urging the relocation of games."
Alis-boycotting the World Cup is a great idea,can americans do that? Most seem to think it is to inconvenient to boycott. It's to hard. If Americans had any guts @ all there would have been boycotts against the advertisers on Fox,the advertisers on CNBC,boycott large financial institutions that support Trump.But to think that 80 % of americans have any guts for any of that is laughable.The : Nazis" know that Americans are " pussies" .
As a psychologist, Thom's post today begs the question of what is wrong with US?
I am less interested in why political history repeats than in why people, en masse, repeat it. Trump is not the first autocrat-wannabe president. Richard Nixon has only been dead a little over 3 decades. I think what sets Trump apart from other candidates is his magnetic ability to animate fear and loathing among voters and convince them that he alone can restore their naive vision of personal wealth and dominance. Psychologically, when you rile up mob emotions, you shut down their critical reasoning (cognition).
What sets Trump apart from all prior US presidents is his insight that total dominance can only be achieved if he surrounds himself with psychopathic sycophants who all lie, cheat, steal, and brutalize without remorse - every single one of them. And, every single one of them was approved by an enabling Republican Congress that puts greed for power and dominance above governing for the people who elected them.
So how did this happen? Was it mass greed, or simply racist fear and loathing as the late Hunter Thompson asserted?
IMHO we have come close to this several times. After all, we had a bloody civil war. After WWI, red scare. During the depression, several would be deomogogues emerged. Lucky Lindy. Father Coughlin. When I was in Vietnam, 66-67, we were told there was an ongoing civil war at home. Home, I was part of the occupation of the south. Assasinations. Riots. In 1968 troops in every major city. The scars remain from that in many places, physically and psychologically.
As I've said many times, as someone who was exposed to this mentality, looks like psy ops. Same stuff we did to several foreign countries. Iran. Guatemala. Most of western Europe.
The Krasnov story should be compelling. Trump's first wife's father was a Commie who reported to the Czech equivalent of the KGB. Trump in Moscow in 1987. Mysterious funding. Money laudering? Trump was working on a Moscow project into the 2016 election cycle. His campaign manager had a Russian connection. A convicted foreign agent, pardoned by Krasnov.
Those money boys, co dependents, are NOT ideologues.
I'm half kidding, but the antidote for most MAGA"
1. Realization that Trump hates dogs.
2. ICE opposes the 2nd Amendment.
We'll stand. The wheels of the regime are wobbling. Instead of pulling over and making repairs, they hit the gas. That's how they roll. And it's how they're going to crash and burn. We'll be left standing taller and stronger when the smoke clears.
Excellent assessment, Ian. There is a solidarity among the decent people.....not just here in the States.
Thanks Alis, and I know you're right when you say, "...not just here in the States. I've been living along the west coast of Europe for the last six years. Solidarity is in the air here, and it's intoxicating.
I think, I hope because the EU countries have their own right-wing crazies they will forgive us faster than people expect. However, the leaders there and in Canada will not be jerked around anymore. We better bring them flowers when we come home.
Been to some beautiful areas there. Glad they get to see the protests in real time and we see theirs.