The murder of Alex Pretti in Minneapolis on Saturday morning at the hands of federal agents has put wind in the sails of those trying to rein in the Trump administration at the same time it has sent the administration scrambling to regain its course.
Heather's best here keeps touching on how obviously institutional America is committing suicide.
Yes, Donald cannot stand for any level of government to have any parts that might hold him to account for his pedophile days with pals Jeffrey and Ghislaine. Or might indict him for his having Stephen Miller, Kash Patel, Kristi Noem, Tom Homan and others ramp up their terrorism, cruelty, and murder campaign. Or for his rampant violations of the Constitution's emoluments clause. His extortions. His taking bribes for pardons.
The world sees him as the low-class criminal, mobster he is. But by extension the world seems ready to distance itself from this new land of terror, criminality, and thuggish federal agents undisciplined, untrained, and totally out of control.
Many nations to boycott the FIFA World Cup in the U.S.? I hope so. Republicans doing nothing in Congress and corrupt fascists on what was the supreme court need some world-class snubs.
I was influenced by a professor who was also a licensed lawyer who said that the public's acceptance of "the legitimacy" of law is key to the effectiveness of law. I think there are historical examples of how that is true. His point was to treat legitimacy with thought and care. That's what the lawlessness of the now thoroughly corrupted Republican Party has currently been destroying.
We should recognize the sexual victimization of terrorized children by the Trumpstein Cult -- let's start calling it what it is -- is the direct ancestor of the terror the MAGAstapo is now unleashing on anyone who refuses to kowtow to the ChristoNazi theocracy. Thus the vital, know-our-enemy relevance of the full text of the Jane Doe lawsuit against Trump and Epstein -- later withdrawn in response to credible death threats against the plaintiff: https://cdn.factcheck.org/UploadedFiles/Johnson_TrumpEpstein_Lawsuit.pdf Please let us ensure this text is linked early (and therefore prominently) on as many Resistance sites as possible every day until the traitorous regime of ecogenocidal ChristoNazi pedophiles is no more. (I'll do my best to be responsible for this posting, but I am 85 years old and terminally ill, which means others need be ready to pick up the torch on days I am absent and after I am no more.)
Loren, my heart is with you and I am in total agreement with you about the children. Let’s remember when Miller and Sessions stole children and babies right out of the hands of their desperate parents. We still do not know where most of them are! This regime keeps no notes on their cruelty but we do and I bet there are some who are imbedded who do also. We are in the streets daily protesting peacefully and we will continue to do so. I promise you that. My very best to you and may your new journey find you contentment.
At least Nazis kept great records, with IBM’s help. I, too, am old and worry that no one will care about the things I see as critical for the future. But plod on with the hope for others to stop watching “the Kardashians.” Digressions can give space for breath or space to “turn tail.”
Benjamin Ferencz was an investigator of Nazi war crimes for the Nuremberg trials and successfully pushed for what I believe was the last of the Nuremberg trials (added only after the Einsatzgruppen reports were discovered), Ferencz pushed for a trial based on their evidence. When confronted with a lack of staff and resources, he personally volunteered to serve as the prosecutor. Later he became an advocate of international rule of law and for the establishment of an International Criminal Court. According to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ben_Ferencz
I've lost the series of stories he wrote but do recall one about his getting Ossip Flectheim as his research assistant, I think during the time the damning Einsatzgruppen reports were discovered. I think the reports made the convictions pretty much a slam dunk for Benjamin's first effort as a prosecutor. During the research, Ferencz noticed Flectheim stayed late and worked very long hours doing additional research to try to find out why the German politics ended up with such evil forces over the years after WWI.
Though born in what is now part of Ukraine, Flechteim had wanted to do his doctoral thesis under Carl Schmitt in 1933 but was rejected as a Jew. I don't know the timing but think Ferencz suspected Flechtheim's overtime involved a lot of extra research for his eventual doctoral thesis as Ferencz turned a blind eye. This comes after finding the relatively recent:
Should theoretical discourse supporting state crimes be protected as free speech or prosecuted as atrocity speech? The relationship between Neo-Hobbesian Nazi collaborator Carl Schmitt and progressive Futurology founder Ossip Flechtheim provides a fascinating framework for exploring that question. In 1933, Schmitt rejected Flechtheim as a PhD student, on antisemitic grounds. Meanwhile, becoming Nazism’s “Crown Jurist,” he helped force Jewish lawyers, including Flechtheim, into exile. Post-war, Flechtheim, now on the US Nuremberg prosecution staff, arrested Schmitt. Through Flechtheim’s experience, this article explores how Schmitt’s prosecution, within a contemplated “Propaganda and Education Case” (PEC), might have determined how to treat atrocity-complicit academic propagandists. It chronicles how the PEC/Schmitt case collapsed when Flechtheim’s investigation was curtailed due to resource constraints, equivocal precedent, and prosecutor Robert Kempner’s botched interrogations. Nonetheless, Flechtheim contributed to the Ministries Trial conviction of propagandist Otto Dietrich. The article concludes by juxtaposing that case with Schmitt’s near-prosecution to contemplate norms for charging theorists laying needed groundwork for atrocity, via sufficiently proximate speech, even absent direct incitement. Such an international justice future would mirror immediate post-Cold War intellectual developments, which vindicated Flechtheim’s vision, not Schmitt’s. Exploring this topic is timely, as Russian academic discourse has enabled/fueled Ukraine’s invasion and related atrocities..."
My major concern is that our current regime wants to eliminate as many records as possible that can be used against them, but gathers massive data through data breaches already there. We should be saving every bit of evidence we can, to at least get the worst of the criminals before they give up trying to get too many small fish.
The likelihood that the Social Security records of 300 million plus Americans were illegally uploaded to an unsecure cloud repository of some sort by DOGE should be a 5-alarm fire for every American. Yet, of course, the Republicans are obstructing the Democrats call for a criminal investigation into DOGE.
Congressmen John Larson (CT) and Richard Neal (MA) are calling for the investigation: "Musk and his ‘DOGE’ believe they are above the law and refused to appear before Congress. Republicans have blocked every effort to hold this administration accountable, voting down our resolutions demanding documents, even changing House Rules to shield ‘DOGE’ from accountability and protect themselves from having to take another vote on the issue,” Larson and Neal said.
Everyone here represented by a Republican in the House should contact their representative to demand Congress determine exactly how many records were pirated by DOGE and that DOGE staff and leadership be criminally charged. The release of SS information without one's permission is illegal. Republicans can defend virtually all the illegal, immoral acts of the tRump monarchy by claiming that's what their constituents voted for, but that argument won't work for theft of SS records (or will it, as there seems to be no limit to Trumpist cognitive dissonance).
Elon Musk et al. should already be in jail for the DOGE travesty, along with the Extremes who stayed the injunction against DOGE with one of their many shady shadow dockets.
Wow, this makes my head explode. Just knew the cursory details and this is hard for my pea brain to follow. But I appreciate it. I had a prof in grad school that supposedly had a part in the trials as a psychology consultant. Can’t remember his name but he was old in the 70’s. Yes, by all means, preserve.
Jim Young Freeport, ME - Thanks for the amazingly detailed historical info you've provided here. If you have time to respond, how did you become so interested in and informed about the Nuremberg trials?
Or he should not have had his gun at a protest or he should have obeyed the "authorities", quotation marks mine. It was also a "stupid" protest, once again quote marks are mine. It is amazing to me in a way, although it should not be, how people can see murder and blame the victim.
Such a chicken-Schitt comment. The repubs are ruthless deliberately and with malice. Dems can’t even mount an effective, truthful offense because repubs paint them with wall-to-wall toxic spray. Has been their strategy since Rupert and idiots just lap it up. And Dems just shrug when a responsive megaphone is needed.
People are taking trump et al to task for their brutality; no one denies the power of his dark vision. He has created a world where hope is nearly moribund and life is being lived in extremis for many.
“The Trump administration’s immigration crackdown over the last year has gone from uncomfortable to untenable for Ileana Garcia, a Republican state senator in Florida.
A Transportation Security Administration officer at the Tallahassee airport overheard her speaking Spanish and asked whether Ms. Garcia, who was born in Miami, was an American citizen. She worried for the first time that Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents might stop her son, a young adult, because he looks Hispanic. Constituents have asked her for help finding immigrant relatives arrested by ICE.
Ms. Garcia, 56, has had enough. The Republican Party is in trouble, she said in an interview, predicting that it will lose this year’s midterm elections if the White House does not soon reconsider its harsh immigration enforcement tactics.”
I have family in a foreign country and I told them not to come to the US because it is not safe. I fear that even within their country, Trump and his minions will begin to harm them in some way!!!!
It is not safe for anyone who is not a "yes" person to this current group of "crooks and thieves".
My major concern is for the education of our children and the hope to become successful citizens in their future.
My concern is also for the safety of the air we breathe and the quality of our water.
Our current administration esp. one political party is out to accomplish two goals: to gather as much power and money and to control the development of the riches they can find and control in other countries for themselves as quickly as possible!!!!
Oh, and there's more. Wyles is blaming Miller and Noem and they're blaming her. In the meantime, Melania is pissed off because this is her documentary debut (which I understand is kind of a flop), and she is being overshadowed.
And by doing these things, he is showing us his interior landscape. May we do all in our power to prevent ourselves and our fellow humans from turning out like him.
Indeed. He is trapped inside a mind that is beyond repair. He will soon be closeted with his madness. Hope it's not contagious, as you suggest, and spread.....
Actually 75% of the children separated from their families during trump's first term have been re-united. Hardly comforting, but let's stick to the facts.
While people are discussing the 5-year old boy that Federal agents took as a lure to get his father, they are not discussing the two-year-old girl that was taken and sent away with her father, even thought a Minnesota judge said not to transport them and to give the girl back to her mother.
The deal made in hiring these thugs was that they must fulfill numbers not unlike Jeff Bezos fulfillment centers in which employees must handle so many packages per hour or they are fired. Same thing with the thugs many of whom were likely hired from the attack on the capital.
Taking them to trial is a way to let them know that Trump cannot have their back, can he even pardon them in Minnesota if they are brought to trial there? Isn't that why he is sending in federal agents to investigate so whatever the outcome it becomes a federal crime and he can then pardon them?
From what I understand, these shootings are indeed federal crimes and should properly be investigated by the FBI, not the DHS. However, it is customary in these circumstances (which let's be honest haven't occured that often) for the FBI to seek the cooperation of the local law enforcement agencies. In this case, for obvious reasons, that has been forbidden by the administration. In fact, Patel seems more concerned about following up a right-wing podcaster's reports of Signal messages between protesters than investigating crimes.
In the meantime, the ICE raids continue unabated despite Trump's statement that he would consider winding down Operation Metro Surge.
Some of the videos emerging (links in the article) are almost as horrifying as anything that has transpired to date.
The administration continues to defend Noem and Miller and the hapless Bovino (the instrument of their cruelty) has been scapegoated for the horrors being perpetrated.
Yes, that is true. And the same goes for the private prisons that MUST be filled. It all has to do with quotas. I wonder what is truly happening in these private prisons and detention centers. Not anything good.
We will not know. Given that he had already been attacked by them, and we read that they are gathering data on people, who knows. It looked spontaneous, though. Also, in my book club last night we were discussing that the reason one heard so many shots is that agents have been told to all fire into a person so that no one person gets the blame for their death. It is truly a lawless federal government Trump is running. It is starting to seem less cool to the people that wanted him to be a chaos maker. They forgot how stressful and exhausting constant chaos is.
I do think the plan to hurt or kill protesters and turn the blame back on them makes sense. They wanted us to be afraid. They were probably told not to hold back..they wanted control.
Just heard discussed today that Palantir has been gathering data on protestors and may have given out information on Alex Pretti, but still, these people did not come across that organized in what I saw. What do you think?
Bill, it occurs to me that I have seen no one trying to compare the numbers of arrests Stephen Miller has set as quotas in any way matches the numbers of immigrants convicted of crimes that are on record i a specific area, say, all of Minnesota let alone in Minneapolis-St Paul. A comparison might reveal just how absurd Stephen Miller’s arrest quotas are.
Miller is not trying to rid the nation of criminals; he is attempting to criminally "cleanse" the nation of all non-ChristoNazi humans. (The deportation of citizens of color is clearly [not] an accident.)
The regime, under Miller's direction, is facilitating the race war and ethnic cleansing the far right has been yearning for for years - armed and paid the goons, and given them the government stamp of approval.
It's admittedly a horrible thought -- grotesquely so -- but given the proven Trumpstein inclinations, what's to prevent this infinitely evil Regime of anything-for-profit moral imbeciles from selling some of its captives to sex traffickers -- or worse, to makers of snuff films? (Sorry for suggesting such awfulness, but it is precisely my ability to look unflinchingly at such unthinkable possibilities that made me a sometimes-effective, occasionally award-winning investigative reporter. And I would dearly hope the suggestion would prompt some courageous journalist still at work to begin pursuing an answer to what given what we already know seems an obvious, entirely legitimate question.)
I did not hear that Mimi, but I did read that that was the lie told about why they did not return the 2-year-old girl to her mother right away, even though the courts told them to. Instead they spirited her and her dad to Texas from Minnesota. They lie, lie, lie and become like the boy who cried wolf, No one believes anything they say, which is for the best, because they don't even know what truth is. Ayatollah Trump throws one lie after the other at a story to see which one can stick. Then people excuse him by saying he has dementia. My mom has dementia and I can tell the difference between a lie and a story the person believes because their brain is wonky. Trump does both.
Oh, you mean the 2-year-old Ayatollah Trump's jackbooted thugs abducted and spirited to Texas after a judge said not to take her from Minnesota and to give her back to her mom? I just cannot believe this. We have really joined the bad countries, but that happened the moment that Trump took office again.
Keep fighting physically and mentally. God has you here because you are very needed at this moment in American history. We must continue to fight for our country. Everyone who doesn't bow down and kiss his ring he calls domestic terrorist. I figure there are 300 million people he doesn't like. Be glad we aren't his cabinet who have to kiss his ass several times a day. Remember the businesses of the oligarchs who are financially supporting Trump's cause. We control how we spend our money.
By doubling and quadrupling down the MAGA party is effectively committing electoral suicide. I suspect the next trick is that Mike Johnson will refuse to seat them.
My hope Russell John, is that we take the House back in the midterms, and then impeach Ayatollah Trump and his Mullah Vance. Once we have the house, we get the 3rd in line for the presidency in the Speaker of the House. Let that be someone who has not wussed out on leadership during these times.
If he is so dead set against releasing the Epstein files despite a law requiring him to, then why shouldn't we think he was Epstein's partner, rather than his client? He doesn't care about being accused of rape or convicted of sexual assault, but maybe he's less sanguine about people finding out he was pimping children to his oligarch friends.
Actually Loren, I think we should send a copy of the lawsuit to EVERY republican “lawmaker “ who still supports this pedophile! What do you think? BTW, I’m 75 and I don’t think that I am terminally ill but I have seen so much and frankly I don’t care if my self righteous “representative “ likes it.
Bingo - me too but I am in a different circumstance than you I suspect. I am from Massachusetts - the entire congressional delegation speaks out against the Maga party.
For sure you are. Our jackass, self righteous jerk of a representative, Bill Huizenga won’t have a town hall, is one of the congressmen fighting for first place in the line to kiss you know whose derrière and is only calling for an investigation because he thinks it looks good. I love Michigan but Massachusetts ROCKS!
I am sorry but we can be frustrated and angry together. I have many Michiganer friends and love the Un of Michigan and your governor, so I am pulling for you all, big time!
Thank you for posting this, I had seen references to this lawsuit but not read it. I appreciate your commitment to saving our democracy and your effort to stay engaged in spite of what must be considerable discomfort. I just wish more Americans were similarly committed. You have my admiration and respect.
I recall a professor beginning a lecture saying the Framers gave the purse to Congress and the sword to the President and then asked, "What did the Supreme Court get?" Then the lecture started off with "Dred Scott v. Sandford," 60 U.S. 393 which pushed America into Civil War holding that a person, a slave, is property with no rights. Then came the 14th Amendment after the War to overturn the Dred Scott. We then learned about "Plessy v. Ferguson," 163 U.S. 537 (1896) where the Court held racial segregation laws did not violate the 14th Amendment's Equal Protection Clause as long as the facilities for each race were equal in quality. Thus the "separate but equal" doctrine giving a hand to the "Jim Crow laws." Less than a decade earlier the Court gave us "Pembina Consolidated Silver Mining Co. v. Pennsylvania," 25 U.S. 181 (1888) where the Court held the same clause, “Under the designation of person there is no doubt that a private corporation is included. Such corporations are merely associations of individuals united for a special purpose...” Oh, well, uh... We covered also, "Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka," 347 U.S. 483 (1954). The Court there concluded that segregating black children in public schools made them feel inferior and that interfered with their education. Thus the Court held that even if the schools were otherwise equal the law still violates the 14th Amendment's Equal Protection Clause and therefore in public education separate but equal is not equal.
At the end of an hour we were asked again, "What did the Court get?" It was a great Socratic discussion in which we learned that the Court was given more a responsibility than a power. The Court's power is earned by respect and thus respect for the law. If the Court fails then law fails. Fast forward to the Robert's Six. This group of corporatist fascist has zero respect and are leading us to a new amendment with a few major sections and many clauses to get back to the Republic intended by the Framers. I hope a war is not required to move forward with the amendment.
This IS the republic intended by the Framers. A white, ethnic state where anyone can live (unless you’re black) but only rich white Protestant men can have any political power. Read the Federalist Papers. Especially number 10. They acknowledge the Constitution as written could produce a tyrant. They gave the President more power than King George III had. There was no American Revolution in 1776. There was a War for Independence from Britain, but name one other time in all of recorded history where a Revolution was created by the wealthiest elites in a Nation. You can’t because it makes no sense. When Adams, near the end of his life, one of the few Framers who didn’t own other humans, was asked what the Revolution meant, his answer was it meant nothing. Because nothing had really changed except the oligarchy was now run by US citizens instead of Parliament. The Declaration was cheap propaganda to incite the populace to fight and die so these men could tax themselves and keep their slaves, which everyone knew the British would eventually outlaw and was already illegal in England itself.
Stop the Patriot Myth and understand who founded this nation and why. The America we live in was born at Gettysburg and carried to term by the Civil War. The end of reconstruction delayed the progress for another 80 years. The current moment is a reaction to poor whites angry they have no prospects while black and brown citizens have made real progress over the past 30 years. And that’s it, only 30 years. This is what happens when a majority begins to lose economic and political power. Look at every civil war over the past 120 years; it’s all the same.
We have a very small chance to fix this. But it won’t happen if we don’t reckon with who created this nation, why and for whom. We need to bury the Patriot Myth once and for all.
Perhaps because the framers were not a monolith of ideology? That the Bill of Rights did not extend to slaves, let alone women, should tell you all you need to know. "We the people" were White landowners, for whom, in subsequent years, GERMANS were considered too "swarthy" to find a home in USA.
But they did extend to Blacks and women. Read the amendments, they did not 'grant' the right to vote to Blacks and women, they prohibited their exclusion from the established right.
It is entirely plausible that the underlying motive for the War for Independence -- at least amongst the Southron planters and their New England financiers -- was the terror and fear of financial loss induced by the 1772 Somerset case: https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/places/kenwood/history-stories-kenwood/somerset-case/ The decision was understood by the owners and financiers of the slave economy to be a ruling that Blacks are fully human, which they recognized marked the beginning of the end. Hence their response: secession first from the British Empire, next from the Federal Union and now -- under ChristoNazism, from civilization itself. And, yes, as Mr. Gutstein so courageously asserts, it is long past time we acknowledge this most vile of our hidden historical evils. Failing that, we are doomed to never be anything better than a vindictively Failed State, or worse -- quite possibly the vector of apocalypse.
.... but your Bill of Rights was only for white men.
Slavery didn't end until the 13th Amendment.
Citizenship didn't happen until the 14th Amendment.
Men refused to pass the Equal Rights Amendment.
So even in 2026, no woman of any color has any rights except the right to vote under the 19th Amendment. Federal law has expanded their 'protections' but as MAGA is quick to point out.. the Constitution gives woman nothing and that is exactly what they want.
Please cite wording from the Constitution supporting this claim.
Indeed, read the amendments, they do not grant the franchise to Blacks and women, they prohibit their exclusion of a right in the Constitution. Those are very different things.
But Slavery did end, right? Is that not an admission of past wrongs? I recall Phyllis Schlafly and her movement played a major part in dooming the ERA. We still do have the amendment process and a new ERA can be written. I wrote one for discussion myself which includes the repeal of Citizens United. The first section of my model Amendment is,
"We hold these truths to be self-evident, All individual persons are endowed with equal non-transferable rights, To secure these rights the Government of the United States of America has been granted just powers from the consent of the people, The Governments of the United States, every State, and every insular area within the jurisdiction of the United States has no powers to create, grant, apply or transfer any of these equal non-transferable rights of individual persons to an assembly thereof, or to property, private sector enterprises, creatures of the state, anything manufactured, artificial intelligence, or to allow any property, private sector enterprises, or creatures of the state to endorse or provide support for, or against, any candidate for public political or judicial office or ballot measure, or to engage in any form of political expression.
The legislative, executive, and judicial branches of the Government of the United States of America shall jointly and severally assure that this government, and all governments within the jurisdiction of the United States of America, are a Republican Form of Government in which power is held by the citizens thereof, and the powers granted to these governments by the people thereof shall be separated among a legislative, executive and judicial branches, to the end it shall be a government of laws and not of any persons, thus no monarch, dictator, or tyrant shall exist therein, and through permanent, fair, open and transparent democratic elections elect officials to make laws, and the enforcement and application of the laws are to be of Blind and equal justice under the law, and this Constitution and the Courts of the United Sates Shall secure the equal non-transferable rights of all individual persons within the jurisdiction of the United States against any majority vote.
All laws and judicial holdings and decisions of the United States, every State and every insular area within the jurisdiction of the United States inconsistent with this section are hereby repealed. Neither the United States nor any State or any insular area within the jurisdiction of the United States shall assume or pay any claim of loss by this repeal; but all such asserted debts, obligations and claims shall be held illegal and void. Nothing in this section shall be construed to interfere with or deny any of the equal non-transferable rights of individual persons enumerated in this Constitution or disparage other equal fundamental non-transferable substantive rights including all the rights of life – the pursuit of happiness, the right to be let alone and not be criminally profiled by personal attributes, location, or occupation unless pursued as a specific suspect of a known past offense.
The Bill of Rights was added to the Constitution by the Anti-Federalists, who refused to sign onto the Constitution without them. Their argument was that the tyrannical power of government needed to be checked and the first 10 amendments were meant to do just that. To protect the people's rights from being trampled by a strong central government.
The Anti-Federalists recognized the Bill of Rights as a 'fire bell' to be rung when the government overstepped and threatened the peoples' freedoms.
They did the best they could with the situation they were in. It wasn’t like the bulb lit up and all was clear. They fumbled like every generation, trying to deal with the past, the in-your-face present, and the baby steps that could advance a position. We’re still caught in this miasma…. There are few Ike’s who can deal a critical blow to tyranny. But he stood on the shoulders of many, as do we.
If this is your contention, please cite the references within the Constitution to support your position.
The confusion is equating the characteristics of the Framers with their intent.
It is essentially arguing unless someone is a member of a specific group they are unable of promoting a just and equitable government.
Witness the White people fighting, and dying for the rights of others than themselves in Minneapolis. By your reasoning Good and Pretti died for White people only.
Thanks Gary, it’s so easy to take where we are today and criticize those who lived 250 years ago. False equivalence. Any serious reading of the formation of our country is chock full of the struggles between those who aspired to create a society where “all men and women were deemed equal” and those, just like today, who wanted only white, male, straight, christian supremacy. Bashing the founders of this country and blaming them for what ails us today is, in a word, bullshit.
A little bit of revisionist history, John? The original document does NOT declare that "all men and women are deemed equal." The Declaration states very clearly, "all men are created equal."
I reject the apologists' unfounded rationalization that the framers meant "everyone" when they agreed on "men." Words like "persons" and "everyone" and "women" existed when our founding documents were written, but the authors chose not to use those words.
When the framers wrote "men," they meant men. Moreover, in the context of colonial culture, "men" meant "gentlemen." That is, white men of an elevated social standing afforded by possession of wealth.
These documents excluded women, who could not vote or own real property, and they excluded the darker-skinned Indigenous peoples from whom they stole the land on which they were forming a European-style government minus a king. That exclusion was later extended to the Black persons who would be enslaved in the Southern states.
The "struggles" you write of didn't start until almost 100 years later.
Madison and others were closer to being a Deist. It was the age of Enlightenment. Yet its true the persons among “We the People” who were allowed to vote under the new Constitution were only a narrow subgroup of the States: landowning white adult males; self-evident hard truths. Yet still, our independence was based upon the revolutionary age of Enlightenment truths we hold to be self-evident which along with our independence and freedom is now recognized as all individual persons are endowed with equal non-transferable rights.
Well aware that no government is perfect, Jefferson wrote to “Henry Tompkinson” (Samuel Kercheval), in 1816 saying, “I am certainly not an advocate for frequent & untried changes in laws and constitutions ... but I know also that laws and institutions must go hand in hand with the progress of the human mind ... we might as well require a man to wear still the coat which fitted him when a boy, as civilized society to remain ever under the regimen of their barbarous ancestors.” A little over 70 years after George Washington was first sworn as President in 1789 the country was at war with itself. In the years after the Civil War there was rapid growth of industrialization, rail roads, a westward movement, a surge in business incorporations, and new Amendments to the Constitution which the Supreme Court of the United States interpreted in ways which began chipping away at the truths we hold to be self-evident giving those corporations rights. That is what I mean when I say we must get back to the Republic intended by the Framers.
Our “Founding Fathers” had a good grasp that ever since 1773, as in this present crisis with our modern Tory/Nazis of today, lowering taxes and regulations on powerful corporations is not the solution to our problem, it has always been our problem. Imagine Chief Justice John Marshall in 1801, holding the British East India Company, which owned those three tea ships docked in Boston Harbor in1773, to be a person with equal protection of the laws. It’s very likely the entire Court would have been hot tarred, feathered and run out of town on a rail by the Sons of Liberty.
Moreover, I am a big fan of The Who and their “My Generation” too, but any notion of believing it good to make being a “patriot” all f-f-fade away will never work. Every generation may think certain ideas of their parents held should be trashed and may well do so. As a country we have done so, and in most cases we did it peacefully by amendment only. But we have gave a prior generation good cause to sing “Kids” from “Bye Bye Birdie”. The Eighteenth Amendment prohibited the manufacture, sale, and transportation of alcoholic beverages. That made poorly managed criminal gangs into highly structured and well-organized criminal enterprises which are still out of control.
Explain how Federalist 10 supports the idea of the rise of a tyrant? Madison is relying on the works of Polybius to argue that the republic as instituted would be a safeguard against such an outcome. In fact it has been the amending of the Constitution away from a republic toward a more direct democracy that has laid the path to Trump. It is the same argument made by Aristotle, Ploybius and Montesquieu.
The idea that there was "no revolution" is meritless, it was not only a break from Britain but from the idea of monarchy, birthright class, and kingship, the norm not just in Europe but globally.
It was the foundation of the application of Enlightened principles found no where else.
Lincoln made clear that the fight was not to establish a new nation but to give new life to and further the ideals of the Founders;
"Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.
Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure."
"...we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain, that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth."
That's an affirmation of the the ideals of the Founders, not a denial of their ideals.
And then there was Citizens United in 2010 in which separate but equal was transformed into rich and poor. The rich can now buy our elections. It'll go down in future history books in the same chapter as Dred Scott. And Roberts as the modern day Taney.
Roberts has parlayed responsibility into power, has he not. Becoming the arbiter of all things congressional or presidential, seems to me. A long, not so subtle goal, of the Reaganite’s, and even before.
I respect your decision to boycott, but it is extremely unfair to expect these athletes to not attend.
These young people have given years of their lives to training and working toward this goal. The commitment and discipline that is demanded to reach such a level is incredible - and putting off this chance for 4 more years would mean that many would not ever have the opportunity of compete. It is hardly their fault that ICE has been involved. It is not their fault that the USA is now so despised by many in Europe although they may have to face a lot of criticism because of the horrors of the Trump administration.
Eleanor, I'm thinking of Colin Kaepernick, a talented professional football player who gave years of his life to train and work toward his goal of playing pro football.
It was not his fault that racial injustice prevails across the U.S. and it motivates some police officers to use excessive force when interacting with persons of color. But this inhumanity troubled him so much that he was compelled to kneel during the National Anthem. That simple, peaceful protest drew the rage of the current president and cost him his job. He paid a high price for his integrity, but he did what was right. He doesn't have the career he'd hoped for, but he's doing other things and his life has meaning.
It's not Alex Pretti's fault that Donald Trump has deployed untrained fascist thugs into U.S. cities, but Alex stood up for what is right and was executed for coming to the aid of a woman who'd been attacked by Trump's goons. He lost not only his career, but his life.
In the past, U.S. athletes have protested injustice. It's not unreasonable to expect this generation to do the same. They might miss out on this opportunity, but at least they'll survive and live to pursue other opportunities, as well as garner admiration for making a sacrifice for the betterment of humanity.
Eleanor, I respect both yours and Martha's opinions, but I side with her. I can't say that democracy and the rights of 340 million people should step aside so athletes can have their possible last crack at a medal. You are correct, it isn't their fault, but life is OFTEN very unfair, and I am confident every single person on this forum can cite times when life has been extremely unfair to them.
Life wasn't very fair to the Epstein victims, and continues to be so.
I didn't say it was their fault. I believe if they refused to go they would actually have impact, be real heroes. Also, I thought they represent the USA at the games. Which they are…… games. They aren't being asked to die for their country, or be victims…just take a stand like the people in Minnesota. Be real heroes. For sure they won't raise their fists on the podium…ICE will be there to be sure they don't. People get disappointed every day. This isn't the time for indulging dreams. Europe would see it and maybe thinkwe aren't all toxic. lWhat would the MAGA Senators have to say? “Let's hear it for the RW&B and pretend for two weeks that everything is just swell back home in Democracyville.” I will not watch. I will not cheer. I will not listen to the commentators calling them heroes, if they win gold. I can't even name the last gold medalists. It's a vanity project after all. But they could do something good if they threaten to embarrass the Trump administration on the international stage.
Professor Goldberg (RIP) was the leader of the Academic Senate at CSU, LA. He was outstanding. I wrote with my mind looking to what must come to past for the American Revolution to move forward. My Memo on topic includes a model amendment as an example of what IMO must be included. It is 99% completed but needs a good proofread of its 30+ pages. Now I am dealing with a total knee replacement. Soon however, I hope to make a PDF.
Sorry, I wrote with my mind looking to what must come to past for the American Revolution to move forward. My Memo on topic includes a model amendment as an example of what IMO must be included. It is 99% completed but needs a good proofread of its 30+ pages. Now I am dealing with a total knee replacement. Soon however, I hope to make a PDF.
Thanks for brining up Mr Dred Scott . His one lawyer was Roswell Field father of the poet Eugene Field. Mr Scott’s case initially included his wife Harriet and their two daughters. There is a site that has the entire history of the Scott family. I can’t recall by I found it during one of my searches.
SCOTUS has been a problem for awhile abd Heather’s dialogue about the history of Citizens z United compelling. For awhile folks were trying to repeal it by use of city legislation. It didn’t work but the new initiative sounds hopeful.
Morning Update per Ali Vitali, Jackie Alemani & Mychael Schnell confirm their facts come "camera worn footage & CBP documentation" made by the OFFICE of PROFESSIONAL RESPONSIBILITY.
Context:
DHS is legally obligated to make a Preliminary Report to Congress using in part the body cameras of the shooters, two (2) CPB shooters, who murdered Alex Pritti.
There were two (2) killers. One federal agent fired a GLOK 19 & the other killer fired his GLOK 47. 10 shots in total confirmed, 3 in the Pritit's back. confirmed. Pritti never "brandished" nor "reached" for a gun.
'The Intercept' published the DHS' legally required "death notice" to Congress yesterday, 1/27/26.
Both CNN & ABC World News have good summary reporting of the DHS' report that went to Congress. See, also the YouTube URL: https: www.youtube.com/watch.
Not a penny more to DHS. Justice for Renee & Alex!
And who in today's America, can feel any confidence at all in getting a free and fair investigation out of Kash Patel's FBI? The country needs to turn it all over, all the camera videos etc, and the responsibility, to Minnesota's BCA.
Ironically, the great weapon used so often by arch conservatives to defeat the liberal agenda is now the best weapon to use against Trump's fascist war on America. States Rights!
The 2nd Amendment gives to each State the right to keep an armed militia to protect people's freedom in its State. Today the " armed militia" is the National Guard. The undisputed threat to freedom in the States is Trump and his private army; ICE and CBP.
We cannot expect private protestors to stand up to fully armed, undisciplined agents of the Federal government.
I agree the national guard should stand beside the American citizens and help defend us. The administration calls protesters terrorists BUT they are the ones aiming guns at American citizens
We know the most criminal were Oath Keepers, Proud Boys, and Three Percenters. We also know they've likely now folded in to Donald's criminal gangs of thugs and murderers, ICE and CBP. We know the six justices on what used to be the Supreme Court since 2000 (Bush v. Gore) threw the national election for the U.S. fossil fuel hegemons, since 2010 (Citizens United) threw all elections to dark money, and since more recently ruled for Donald and all his corruption and criminality to rule as fascist-in-chief.
Goes without saying that the Republican party followed the Jan. 6, 2021 thug militias in standing back and standing by. And that Dems . . . ?
Yes the trump proud boys, oath keepers, and racist stormed the capitol and killed and beat the capitol police. Trump wanted Pence hung. Trump pardoned them, many went on to commit more crimes and now he's given them jobs to kill people. As the beloved supreme court justice, Ruth Bader Ginsberg repeated said END CITIZENS UNITED!!! Roberts's 6 need to read the constitution and follow it.
100% Untrue. Trum did not want Pence hung. The Feds had over 250 Uncover Agents at J6. If only the Left would get this Upset about the Innocent American Girls and Women Illegals have killed, or the Innocent Girls and Women killed from violent criminals constantly being let out of jail by Leftwing Suicidal Empathic Judges. How ever tragic and it is tragic the death of both Good and Pretti are, it is still the fault of weak corrupted Democrat MN Leadership that caused their death. Walz should have called in the National Guard at the beginning of ICE Operations for the dual purpose of Protecting ICE Officers and the Citizens who have been brainwashed to thinking protecting Double and Triple Criminal Violent Illegals are worth risking their life over. And I blame Trump for not already using the Insurrection Act to do the same thing but with Elite Special Forces who will not be careless to overreact the way that ICE Officer may have overreacted in the Pretti shooting.
Surely someone here can help me out with this, not sure where I read this, but there is the assertation that a fascist government would take the guns away from all people so as to prevent an uprising against them.
Maybe Tim Snyder said that?
These horrific murders might be a wake up call to some of those Second Amendment fans.
"I was influenced by a professor who was also a licensed lawyer who said that the public's acceptance of "the legitimacy" of law is key to the effectiveness of law."
I was influenced by a rabbi - Harry Halpern of East Midwood Jewish Center - who was also a lawyer and advocate for civil rights. (He was also the young Ruth Bader Ginsburg's rabbi.) Acceptance of the law at Sinai is central to the story of the Torah. And the story of 'God grows up.' From the destructive autocratic power of the banishment from Eden and The Flood to an agreed framework of how to work and live together. Much as in the history of nations, the rejection of The Divine Right of Kings and the allegiance to the institutions of democracy.
I have posted this before, but Lincoln is much like fine music:
"That is the issue that will continue in this country when these poor tongues of Judge Douglas and myself shall be silent. It is the eternal struggle between these two principles -- right and wrong -- throughout the world. They are the two principles that have stood face to face from the beginning of time, and will ever continue to struggle. The one is the common right of humanity and the other the divine right of kings."
The actions necessary to rediscover and disseminate all of our lost wisdom will be immense amid the calamities of these doomed times, as we all hope that a better age will follow, where communities will be governed by consent rather than by force. In the meantime, we are living under the reign of a tyrant whose malignancy will be difficult to eradicate - at least in the short term.....
Steven Miller is not only trying to control the tearing down of law’s legitimacy on behalf of Project 2025, he’s following Trump’s order to do anything to distract attention to the Epstein/Ghislaine files.
J L, the Republican Party is not only trying to destroy the rule of law, they’re trying to destroy the belief that elections are legitimate if Republicans don’t win. That’s very likely the reason that Pam Bondi is demanding the Minnesota voter rolls. When she doesn’t get them, she’ll double down on stating that the state is allowing ineligible people to vote. https://www.cnn.com/2026/01/27/politics/pam-bondi-voter-rolls-minnesota-ice
The founders/framers were human and imperfect, and products of their time, a fact they recognized calling for MORE perfect union and a process for amending the Constitution. Knowing what had gone wrong and what could go wrong, they tried to get ahead of it, but in my view failed to adequately state the primacy of full and free voting as the ultimate precondition for a just democratic republic. It seems to me that it's not just an "oopsie" when a qualified citizen is carelessly of maliciously prevented from voting, it is a breach of a human right, worthy of vigilant prevention and redress. The Electoral College, about which I thought the equivalent of WTF in 7th or 8th grade when I was first told of it, is a denial of, to me essential, one person, one vote, especially in the contest for president, for whom ALL Americans are constituent (even if MAGA doesn't think so). Equal justice and equal protection are in large part dependent on equal representation, and that isn't happening. Just isn't. Is that not self-evident, especially with Republicans finding so many ways to impede fair and free elections, or even wondering aloud whether to support them at all?
“The things they had in there were crazy. They had things, levels of voting that if you’d ever agreed to it, you’d never have a Republican elected in this country again,” - Mad King Donny
Your professor was probably referring to Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., who observed that, “The first requirement of a sound body of law is, that it should correspond with the actual feelings and demands of the community, whether right or wrong.”
Trouble is, Joseph, isolating "the actual feelings and demands of the community."
If American schools hadn't been snickered into dropping humanities, and pushing instead testing's neutered, dehumanized assembly lines -- if these twin histories hadn't happened -- American politicians, pundits, and other elites could have been equipped with the necessary humanities to gauge feelings across the land on the damages other elites did with their wholescale wrecking of hundreds of U.S. communities by offshoring their working class jobs.
Politicians, pundits, and other elites never got equipped by the visions American artists recorded of those damages.
Although those feelings, and it seems to me that feelings and how we sort them has as much to do with wisdom as evidence and logic. Significance implies a value as well as an accurate observation, and I think that discovery, even in the hard sciences, has as much to do with what one selects to pay attention to as well as the factual fecundity of the chosen direction. As in forensic science, which details are likely to be telling, and which distracting? That implies a goal. I think AND care, therefore I am. And we do care. An infant cares about infant things and let's you know it.
It seems to me that "unalienable rights" in the Declaration of Independence is an appeal, that when we reach for fundamentals, enough of us agree to in common. Adequately shared deathbed, bottom line, human values. More casual public sentiment is more fluid, and I think the Constitution is something of a flywheel on that, to sort out some of the more ephemeral variations. Despite the Declaration, slavery was considered acceptable enough that 12 presidents were said to have held slaves at one time or another two thirds while in office. And then came enough support for abolition.
“In this age, in this country, public sentiment is everything. With it, nothing can fail; against it, nothing can succeed. Whoever molds public sentiment goes deeper than he who enacts statutes, or pronounces judicial decisions.” - Lincoln
Exactly, though circumstance can make that complicated. Money, political favors and coercions, and various forms of violence can profoundly influence human behavior, one way or another. Money is an easy way to get what you want, if you have it. Violence is another, and money can be gained and used in violent ways.
Violence robs us of liberty and justice, although I think, as a last resort, acts of violence are legitimately met with force, WWII as an example. It seems to me that the mark of good governance is sparing and proportionate use of force and deescalation of potential violence whenever practical.
There are points in human history where the carrot and stick is not sufficient to to sway actions for survival of the soul.
Players from the list of nations on Trump's no immigrant visa list should refuse to participate in games in the US and should tell FIFA they are boycotting unless the games are moved to Canada and Mexico for their safety. Perplexity turned up a list of 9 countries so take it with a grain of salt: Iran, Haiti, Senegal, Cote D'Ivoire, Algeria, Cape Verde, Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia. That should give other countries motivation to boycott. Who would want a cup won under that cloud?
It will be interesting to see what FIFA does after giving Trump its bogus FIFA Peace Prize. The consequences of obeisance in advance...
I would hope US players would boycott on the safety issue. The US team is scheduled to play 3 games in the US. The first two games are against Paraguay and Australia.
And for ALL of the people Trump and the Republican politiicians have murdered through violence, starvation and lack of health care and affordable prescriptions.
123 Venezuelans and Cubans have died at the hands of Trump and Kegsbreath. All of these murders are illegal.
Not to mention immigrants sent to hell-hole prisons without due process. And families from Trump's first reign of terror, many of whom, so far as I know, have yet to be reunited with their children.
Boycotting the World Cup and the US part of the Olympics is being discussed here in Germany and in many of the other Indivisible Abroad countries.
I think we should be calling Trump "the Ayatollah Trump." It will better illustrate where his tactics hail from with the citizens, and can hopefully alienate part of his base.
Heather mentioned Republican Chris Madel's withdrawal from the Minnesota gubernatorial race in her politics chat yesterday. Madel denounced the ICE Gestapo and the Republican Party. Heather sounded hopeful about it. I definitely needed to focus on something hopeful.
I dug around and found a video of his whole speech and did a deep dive on it. I wanted to see if it really was a rare example of public integrity by a Republican.
In politics, there is always a balance between altruism and self-interest. I wanted to get past the sound bites because I believe that we need to see a new group of Republicans turn their back on Trump if we have a chance at saving democracy. There haven't been any for a long while.
Essentially, yes, we are. But it is better than nothing. It has to start somewhere. We have to peel away at least 10% of the remaining Republicans to get to a large enough majority to get to veto-proof, so there can be major reforms quickly.
Madel was a political neophyte, a veritable babe in the woods. He wasn't beholden to anyone yet. He wasn't a career pol. He still had some sense of ethical standards, but he drank the Kool-Aid on several things, like the YouTuber on the fraud allegations.
Georgia, you are such a disciplined investigator. I admire you.
You've confirmed my impression of the current "change of heart" among a few Republicans. Color me cynical, but all I've read suggests that Republicans who've voiced timid objections to Donald's actions are decidedly preoccupied with his negative influence on their chances for electoral success; they're not too bothered by the inhumanity or damage to democracy.
This supports the Republican mantra: "Winning is Everything."
Winning is the primary goal of every politician. The question is can you find ones who can win with integrity and values intact and policies that help their constituents?
It will always be a balance of altruism and self-interest with politicians.
And that requires a constituency that is educated enough to recognize what is in their own best interests.
Once the educated constituency is lost, altruism is no longer relevant and we are in the realm of pure corruption.
2026 is not a slogan. It is a reckoning. From Minneapolis to cities across the country, public outrage has transformed grief into a democratic force. This essay argues that Americans are rediscovering their sovereignty, compelling political response, and reclaiming the original meaning of democracy: rule by the people.
''2026: Is the Year of the People''
2026 is the year of the people because the public is no longer absorbing loss in silence. The outrage following the killings of Rene Good and Alex Petti is not fading. It is intensifying. It is organizing. It is forcing the country to confront the gap between what democracy claims to be and how power actually operates.
These deaths are not being quietly processed through official channels and forgotten. They are producing a sustained public response. People are in the streets. They are filling council chambers. They are confronting officials directly. Grief is no longer being managed. It is being transformed into action.
This is the moment where democracy stops being theoretical.
Minneapolis sits at the center of this shift, not because they seek to lead, but because they expose a pattern that exists everywhere. When institutions respond to killing with delay, deflection, and lies, legitimacy erodes. Authority that cannot justify itself loses its claim to obedience. That is not disorder. That is democratic logic.
Democracy does not mean calm. It means rule by the people. It means that power originates in the public, not in agencies, offices, or political careers. Consent is not permanent. It is conditional. When consent is violated repeatedly, people are not required to wait quietly for correction. They are entitled to intervene.
That understanding is spreading right now.
The outrage surrounding these killings is not just about two lives, although those lives matter deeply. It is about a system that repeatedly asks the public to trust processes that protect themselves first. People recognize the pattern. Recognition changes behavior. Once legitimacy collapses, power must be earned again, or it will be challenged.
That challenge is underway.
Across communities, protest is becoming durable rather than reactive. This is not a weekend response or a social media surge. It is a sustained insistence that accountability is not optional. People are no longer accepting symbolic gestures, task forces, or carefully worded statements as substitutes for change.
This persistence is what forces a political response.
Politicians are turning a corner not because of sudden courage, but because public pressure is now unavoidable. Silence is no longer safe. Neutral language is no longer sufficient. Elected officials are being pushed to declare where they stand, to demand investigations, to distance themselves from unaccountable force, or to risk being seen as complicit.
This is democracy working in real time.
For years, Americans were told that protest was disruptive and patience was responsible. Meanwhile, the costs of that patience were borne by communities, families, and individuals whose lives were treated as collateral. In 2026, that logic is breaking down. People are rejecting the idea that stability matters more than justice.
The killings of Rene Good and Alex Petti make the stakes unmistakable. They demonstrate that unchecked authority and democratic ideals cannot coexist. They expose the lie that accountability will arrive on its own if people wait long enough.
People are no longer waiting.
This moment also marks a shift in how democracy is understood. Voting remains essential, but it is no longer treated as the limit of participation. People are exercising sovereignty through collective action, public refusal, and moral clarity. They are reminding institutions that democracy is not something granted from above. It is practiced from below.
Power is responding because it has to.
Officials now operate under conditions where public memory is longer and tolerance for evasion is thinner. Communities are tracking outcomes, not promises. They are refusing to let grief be pacified by procedure. This is not emotional volatility. It is civic maturation.
Critics call this dangerous. History shows that every meaningful assertion of democratic power is labeled dangerous by those who benefit from insulation. What is truly dangerous is a system that demands obedience while avoiding accountability.
2026 feels different because people feel different. They are no longer confused about where power originates. They are no longer mistaking authority for legitimacy. They are acting on the understanding that sovereignty begins with the people and only continues with their consent.
This is not chaos. It is correction.
The people are not asking to be reassured. They are demanding change. They are asserting that democracy is not a performance but a responsibility. And they are making it clear that when institutions fail, the public does not disappear.
It rises.
That is what is happening now. That is why 2026 is the year of the people.
If only the Left would get this Upset about the Innocent American Girls and Women Illegals have murdered, or the Innocent Girls and Women killed from violent criminals constantly being let out of jail by Leftwing Suicidal Empathic Judges. How ever tragic and it is tragic the death of both Good and Pretti are and the death of innocents anywhere, it is still the fault of weak corrupted Democrat MN Leadership that caused their death. Walz should have called in the National Guard at the beginning of ICE Operations for the dual purpose of Protecting ICE Officers and the Citizens who have been brainwashed to thinking protecting Double and Triple Criminal Violent Illegals are worth risking their life over. Walz should have already turned over illegals in the MN Prison System to the Feds. And a small amount of blame is on Trump for not already using the Insurrection Act to do the same thing of dual protections but with Special Forces who will not be careless to overreact the way the ICE Officer may have overreacted in the Pretti shooting. In any case a strong case can be made that the Democrat Party only cares about power and criminals, illegals, agitators, and destroying America to rule over the ashes.
Phil, excellent post to start my am. Thank you. I had a round with a MAGA yesterday on the thread of a friend. I hated to respond in a way, but the poster was blaming Pretti for his death and it was a "stupid" protest. Basically, it was a clone of what we are hearing from the right wing. I answered with a fairly long post where I pointed out several things. The reply came, as I knew it would, with no response to what I had mentioned, but name calling and insults which is basically all they have. I told her she is on block watch, so far no reply. I would love to see the World Cup game moved elsewhere. I would love to see enough people in Congress stand up. It would not take many. As for the Supremes, pfft.
Phil, I hope the people of Italy and Milan in particular keep their refusal in place, to allow ICE or any other US DHS officials into their communities for the Olympic games. DHS has proven their incompetence and utter cruelty against our own people. What might they do to other people?
Hard to read that statement from Biden, so full of patriotism and common sense, and realize that that era seems to be gone in the petty, vicious, ego-driven Trump regime.
America has lost its greatness to a fascist felon and graft expert.
Remember when we were not afraid to turn on the news? Seems like such a simpler time, tho the issues still existed…now it’s how those issues are being handled, or rather terribly mishandled.
I had to look up the definition of “institutional America” because your question deserves much thought. Looking at the AI Overview answer (because it’s a massive concept), I think your question is too big to give a sweeping generalization as to murder or suicide.
But I think neither. Our core pillars, scope, and functions remain. In some form, they always will and so will the Purpose. Again, looking at it collectively as Institutional America.
In the current state though, I think it is neither murder or suicide but an implosion. A generational shrapnel bomb. If history repeats itself, does this not resemble a great deal of the late 1960’s and even early 70’s? Is it possible that this immigration push is a modern day civil rights movement?
History repeats but there isn’t necessarily an event-to-event correlation. We don’t have to necessarily have an actual Vietnam, MLK, or Nazi Germany to be experiencing a generational event. Heather of all people has the magnificent ability to take the necessary steps back and view with broader perspective while we are waist-deep in the rivers and unable to.
What I do see is scrambling and panic at our White House as everyone points a finger now. Noem says she acted only on direction from Trump and Miller but we know that means Miller because Trump was wholly unaware of the events as they were happening; not possible for him to have directed Noem’s response.
Which means 1) Noem is incapable or prohibited from controlling her department and 2) Miller makes decisions, acts, and informs the President and heads much later.
So is the better question who is the responsible authority of our country?
I hope the Italians deny visas to any ICE or border patrol agents and I hoe that JD Vance and his entourage are given NO recognition at the Winter Olympics.
"The World" actually sees the neofascist GOP as the very cause of the problem here.
Yes, foreign newspapers laugh at Trump. But they're not as ignorant as US legacy media. They know that a highly manipulable man as Trump (fact that Kamala Harris has proven beyond any doubt during the president debate) is manipulated by people. By NEOFASCIST REPUBLICANS.
This is not "institutional America committing suicide". It's one of America's two major parties, the Grand Old Party, that is now neofascist so it wants to MURDER DEMOCRACY and replace it with fascism.
The reason why the Republican Congress isn't taking any initiatives (as a normal, democratic Congress does) is not that they want to "do nothing". It's because they believe, as Mike Johnson said, that from now on, the role of Congress is to "codify the executive orders signed by the president". That is the very definition of fascism. Letting the executive write the bills, rather than people representing their own constituents in Congress, that IS a fascist way of governing. It IS what the GOP itself today actively believes is best for America and what it wants.
The problem is SO much worse than just Trump and a few other guys and gals. It's amazing that one year in, so many well-intentioned Americans still don't see this fact.
Damn right. With all due respect to former President Biden the world does indeed know what the USA is about and they are holding us ( not just one party) accountable. American exceptionalism? Our allies or former allies are having none of it.
I'm a big soccer fan, who has traveled abroad to support our country’s national team in World Cup matches and qualifiers. I will not be watching one minute of this year’s World Cup.
Trump is at war with American Citizens. Miller is an architect of war in international and domestic relations. Congress has declared itself dead, and hasn’t exercised any single function that the Constitution gives it. Is the Supreme Court going to allow this complete lawlessness? It’s the job of the Supreme Court to hold up the Constitution.
‘SLOGANs….Repetition Creates Truth Without Evidence” (see Sachs frustration in the YouTube interview with the Judge above - Trump is using ‘slogans’ to con the MAGA)
“Slogans, then, are not intellectual shortcuts taken by people who lack the capacity for deeper reasoning. They are tools used precisely because deeper reasoning would threaten the coherence of the moral system being defended.
Authoritarian language has long relied on this mechanism. 🆘
✅ Their purpose is not to assess what occurred, whether force was justified, or whether legal authority was exceeded. Their purpose is to foreclose those questions entirely.
✅ The same pattern appears when protest is labeled as “domestic terrorism” or dissent is framed as rebellion. These phrases do not clarify the nature of the action or its legality.
✅ Once the label is applied, debate is no longer about proportionality, legality, or ethics. It is about loyalty versus danger.
✅ If slogans function as stop-signs, ritual language functions as rhythm. Its power lies not in what is said, but in how often, how simply, and how emotionally it is delivered.
✅ Participation, in this sense, becomes a substitute for understanding. Chanting, repeating, and affirming shared phrases synchronize emotion across the group, producing a feeling of unity that mimics conviction.”
“This is why the problem cannot be addressed solely at the level of fact-checking or policy debate. The deeper issue is linguistic conditioning that reshapes moral perception itself.”
Why MAGA Keeps Saying Things That Don’t Make Sense, and Why It Works
Clearly, although repetition is often involved in legitimate learning. That is one of the ways protest works, focusing sustained attention on injustice when it might (temporarily) easier to look the other way. Neurons that fire together wire together.
"If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it," attributed to Joseph Goebbels, Nazi Minister of Propaganda
Hitler used the 'Big Lie' that he first mentioned in Mein Kampf to describe how the masses could be manipulated. Psychologically, it's the "illusory truth effect" a propaganda technique and a form of cognitive manipulation where a falsehood of extreme magnitude is repeated constantly and relentlessly until the public accepts it as truth. Hitler, Goebbels, and the Nazis found that successful propaganda spoke to people’s emotions more than their intellect, limiting it to a few points, and harped on slogans. He said repeating simple slogans was necessary for the masses to retain them.
Trump does this consistently, lying constantly, while the legions of MAGA just swallow the spoon fed lies, propaganda, disinformation and drivel without ever questioning it(it seems).
After WWII, Hannah Arendt researched the effects of Nazi propaganda extensively. Trimp and Miller and not even the Soviets invented this. It's been around forever. The good news is we can inoculate ourselves and society so we're not susceptible.
The Democrat Party and its Elite Handlers control the means of production for 80% of all media. It controls the legacy networks, the legacy newspapers, most of Hollywood. It controls almost all of Social Media and Big Tech. It has far more Wealth and Billionaires on its side. The Left is not fighting for the People. It is fighting to create a Another Marxist Utopia controlled by another set of Elite, by brainwashing the People to thinking this version of Utopia will be the one. But in reality it will end in abject failure like all the rest of them.
Highly recommend Rational League. On my daily read list. I always find it interesting and insightful, useful and fresh--never the 10th rehash of the same click bait.
“(T)he rank and file are usually much more primitive than we imagine. Propaganda must therefore always be essentially simple and repetitious. In the long run only he will achieve basic results in influencing public opinion who is able to reduce problems to the simplest terms and who has the courage to keep forever repeating them in this simplified form despite the objections of the intellectuals.”—NAZI Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels, January 1942
Remember the republican convention with all those diaper and ear pad wearing sycophants waving the pre-printed signs that said ‘mass deportations now’? Yea, they didn’t seem to even WANT a ‘capacity for deeper reasoning’.
JaKsaa, in just the past few days, I dissected Donald's "Make America Great Again" slogan and realized he told us everything when he (or a staffer) coined it. Breaking it down in reverse order ...
"Again" implies that the U.S. was once great during some time period. The 1950s? The 1890s? In truth, the U.S. has aspired to greatness, but has never achieved it. Not as long as discrimination has been integral to our existence. We've had brief, historical moments of goodness, but they didn't last. There is no "again" for the U.S.
"Great" is a subjective adjective. Who gets to decide what is "great?" We the People? Republicans? Donald has made it crystal clear that only he is the arbiter of what is great. Given his wealthy white trash background, his definition of "great" is not very appealing.
"America" is typically understood to mean The United States, which is rather arrogant and presumptive. There are three continents bearing the name of "America." As it turns out, Donald thinks he should own all of them. He told us and we didn't pay attention.
"Make" is a verb that means "to create" or "to force." Donald is using the word in the "force" context, meaning he intends to force the American people to be the subjects of whom he demands worship and obedience.
And yet the American people are fighting back. And Congress may be showing signs of real life. Noem may well be tomorrow’s roadkill, and Trump is engaging in more tactical retreats faster than he can continue rage-tweeting at night. Judges are increasingly issuing orders and holding ICE and other agencies in contempt.
You can use these pages to re-state the obvious — over and over again — preaching to the already converted — or you can search (and find) the light coming in through the deepening cracks faster than they can keep patching it all up again.
Many (most) of us write or call our worthless Republican elected officials, We peacefully protest. We write letters to my local papers. We boycott Walmart, Amazon, The Home Depot and other national chains including every chain restaurant. We attend town hall meetings even though every fucking Republican politician is too cowardly to host one.
And yes, I bitch and moan and whine out here everyday-- not because I think that it will change anything, but because it gives me the courage to do all of the above and because it is therapeutic to my mental health.
I am grateful for each and every one that comments here and takes the time and effort to read the LFAA and the comments.
Many of us are domestic terrorists according to Trump's definition of terrorist. One of the big differences between Hitler's regime and Trump's is that almost all of us have smart phones to video tape and warn others about the Trump SS. We also still have the Internet and some corporate media outlets. We also have several governors and state legislatures that are fighting back on our behalf.
If DHS is really putting together a database of protesters, a/k/a "domestic terrorists," it's going to include half the country. Homan says, "We’re going to let their employers, in their neighborhoods, in their schools, know who these people are.” Big f*%& deal!!
Hear, hear! Where there is light, there is no darkness.
Thank you, ICTT.
Today from Heather, who always points out the light in the cracks: "The anger has been so overwhelming that it has changed the course of national politics."
Call your reps, everybody. Take care of yourselves and call your reps.
I remarked to my wife 2 days ago, that maybe, just maybe, we have reached the turning point. But it is up to all of us to make sure that is the case. We need to stay angry, stay motivated, and push hard on the softest pressure points. We need to nominate fighters this primary season and we need harden our general elections this fall. We don't know what kind of tomfuckery the GOP will attempt to destroy the elections, but it is coming and we need to be ready. We need to knock on the doors, send the postcards, make the phone calls (I hate phonebanking, too), write letters to the editor, and if you have the opportunity, work as a paid election observer. It's a long day and it's mostly boring monotonous work, but the fact you are there makes a big difference. Don't let this new-found momentum go to waste, and don't let those 9 lives who have already been lost in 2026 to ICE violence and cruelty be in vain. We owe them and our country our very best.
How about both? I get a great deal of both comfort and motivation from reading the Letters and interacting with other commenters. A very specific example is Megan's spreadsheet, which I use and share. Another is the motivation and support for going out and protesting, and different ways to engage in both action and conversation.
ICCT---agreed! I had lunch yesterday with a very long time friend, whose politics I would term as MAGA-Light. (She is a Trump voter but differed with MAGA on a number of issues). Anyhow, my take from yesterday: she is appalled at ICE; she hates Vance, Noem and Miller; doesn't think Trump has dementia but has "old person disease" which she defines as slowing down, like Biden; recognizes we need immigrants as the population is going down; and questioned me extensively about vaccines (I'm retired healthcare) but herself said that herd immunity comes about after a great deal of non-immune die.
I continue to reach out to those I consider persuadable.
Theoretically. I keep chaffing against the notion of permitting judges to rule on the behavior of the very person who personally selected and seated by that person. Does that not scream "conflict of interests" if not blatant corruption??
SCOTUS installed the nitwit in the Oval Office over the objections of the Florida Supreme Court, which the Florida court expressed in their ruling on the counting of votes. If SCOTUS had not interfered with the the counting of votes, the nitwit would never have been president, and the world would be a much better place today (maybe even in a position to curtail global warming and probably without the catastrophy of two unnecessary, 20-year wars in Iraq and Afghanistan). Scalia corrupted the court beyond repair. He was a partisan activist, not a balanced jurist. Rehnquist was just as bad. Yes, SCOTUS and much of the rest of the federal judiciary is much worse now, but SCOTUS has been acting corruptly for a long time.
And even now the The Nitwit looks comparatively lawful compared to sociopath, his lies and use of the outrage over a genuine terrorist attack to depart from established constitutional constraints, precedent which The Sociopath pushes even further, and much closer to home.
And don't forget that Nitwit was warned in advance that a potential terrorist plot was brewing, and appeared to dismiss it.
Scalia implied that he could read the minds of the framers, but the framers graciously bequeathed a rational set of principles, not commandments on divine-right personal authority; and you can make an Ouija Board say anything. In the end, legitimate governmental authority rests with collective wisdom of We the People, but the Constitution prescribes orderly protocols for doing so, and protects individual rights, along with the collective general welfare. De facto impunity for ICE is as unconstitutional as hell. We will see if $COTUS is as shameless on that given the current public uproar as they were on defining an unaccountable president.
Certainly some federal justices appointed by Trump have drawn a line on some of his overreach, as well as justices appointed by other Republicans. J. Micheal Luttig, appointed by Bush the First has been an ally of Ted Cruz and and Clarence Thomas was furious about the claim of presidential immunity for which he finds no basis whatever in the text of the Constitution. On that subject he said:
“America’s democracy and rule of law are this country’s heart and soul,” he continued. “Our democracy and the rule of law are what had made America the envy of the world and the beacon of freedom to the world for almost 250 years now. Today, the Supreme Court cut that heart and soul out of America.”
And Judge Cannon has certainly proved to be a shameless Trump toady. Republicans in $COTUS are more nuanced as they serve Trump per se less than plutocracy; as in denying the right to class action suits to Walmart employees, but play a major role in creating an authoritarian presidency that claims to be accountable only to it's own fictitious "conscience". Follow the money.
The bloodthirsty regime and depraved Republicans seem poised to ignite a civil war. They work daily to destroy any vestige of America that remains from the end of 2024. Alas.
There is a red line that Trump and Miller dare not cross. They may have already crossed it, but eventually we will find out. If Putin dies or is deposed, Trump and the US have virtually no allies except perhaps Bibi and a few other autocrats.
I hope you’re right, but all such expectations like that, so far, have proven to be far too optimistic. About half of our fellow Americans (60% if you limit the observation to the dominant cohort, namely white Americans) are very bad bunch. I would call them deeply unAmerican if being American could be regarded as a generally good thing, but that notion was proven false in 1968, and it’s been getting steadily, since then, more and more obviously false.
The Montana Plan of the Transparent Election Initiative can emasculate Citizens United. If you want to bring down Citizens United, put your effort and money into that project.
Writing again from Minneapolis, and as per usual I can’t get to sleep at a decent hour…
Although in some ways today felt a little lighter with Bovino gone, in other ways concern continues to grow. I feel it’s appropriate to note that yesterday was Holocaust Remembrance Day. I’m a 3rd Generation Holocaust Survivor, and daily I’m reminded why “Never Again” are the most powerful words to live by for me during this time. Also for anyone wondering, I do NOT believe Tim Walz was out of line with his Anne Frank comparison. I can’t prove it, but I’m guessing that messaging came from Trump’s appointees.
To begin with, seeing Tim Walz in an interview today speak about his conversations with Tim Homan being more grounded in reality feels like it should be a positive. However in actuality it makes me think that this administration is just trying to get us to put our guard down and dampen the media pressure. I do not want us to fall into that trap.
Heather’s comments about Patel investigating Signal communication really struck a nerve. I received a notification in my Signal chat today about compromised access, and it was advised to update our security protocols. This is so fucking scary to me as these groups are literally there so we can coordinate support and protection. The idea that this would be construed as domestic terrorist behavior that needs to be criminally investigated is some serious Gestapo shit.
Finally Ilhan Omar who represents my district was sprayed with an “unknown substance” while discussing the need to disband ICE. Afterwards she stood her ground like a bad ass and continued her speech.
“Possible” baby steps forward, but speaking for myself and I believe many here in the Twin Cities it is far too early to let our foot off the gas.
Everything you feel makes perfect sense — both the cautious hope as well as the deep trepidation, knowing their long history of deceit and deception.
Yesterday, International Holocaust Remembrance Day, deserves its own special recognition. In 1933, a few weeks after the Nazis took power and Propaganda Minister Gõbbels issued his plea to German students to “cleanse” the country of “unclean” Jewish culture, and deranged students complied by burning some of the world’s greatest literature, science and history, Helen Keller found out her books had been in those bonfires, too. She wrote an ‘Open Letter to German Youth’ in May — the New York Times published it on its front page.
‘You can burn ALL of my books’ she said, ‘and destroy the works of the finest minds in America and Europe,’ she added. ‘But you will never be able to destroy ideas, for they “blossom like flowers after a spring rain.” She then added something deeply prophetic. Don’t think your treatment of the Jewish people has gone unnoticed by the civilized world, she wrote.
As far as I know, Helen Keller never set foot in Germany her whole life. But one blind and deaf lady in America figured out who these people were the very moment they came to power — and I suspect a good deal earlier than that.
The unambiguous message from World War II on this somber anniversary — bullies can never be allowed to own the playground. Never. You must resist them. No matter how hard, or lonely, or for how long the struggle. You must resist. The spirits of millions beckon from their graves today. We cannot afford not to hear.
Daniel, thank you for your comment. You stated exactly what I felt as I was reading tonight’s letter.
We cannot let our guard down on these conniving, lying individuals. They have a mission that they must achieve, no matter the cost to our democracy and the lives of We the People (and all others).
Our resistance is not only about Minnesota. It’s about protecting all who live in our wonderful country, following the rule of law.
…I guess all of us who follow these Letters From An American are now on the “Database LIST!?”
I honestly have found myself thinking more about where my name shows up lately. It feels astounding to me that I should even have to worry about something like that. There’s nothing exceptional about me beyond living in Minneapolis, and like so many completely fed up with everything Trump and MAGA has done over the past decade-plus. Although I probably should be more cognizant of what I post on social media, I refuse to allow myself let fear drive my decision making.
We have the right to use our critical thinking skills to evaluate our lives families and country. What you wrote is why many people have dropped off of Facebook. Zuckerberg is selling/giving our information to Palandir (Peter Thiel) which was why Elon musk Doge rummaging through all the government agencies was to steal all of the private American citizens information so they can spy on us. Elon stole our information in the biggest hack ever. A class action lawsuit should be filed against Musk and Trump for allowing our private information to be stolen. Which will never be private again. Ever single American was violated.
Good for you, Daniel! Thank you and everyone in Minneapolis, for answering when you were called. Take very good care of yourself. Alex Pretti will not die in vain. Thank you! "I refuse to allow myself let fear drive my decision making." Beautiful. Inspiring.
Daniel, it has been reported here and elsewhere, that all it takes to be labeled a domestic terrorist now is to oppose the policies and tactics of the regime. So, it is likely that every one of Heather's subscribers is on that list. You are in good company.
I stand with you Daniel, I don't give a darn about what they think of what I say. I could be a lot worse in words, but I also know what they are looking for so I don't go there. We all need to stand tall and NOT back down. I'm happy to know you and I are one of 210,000,000 million domestic terrorists, i.e., 350mill at 60% = 210mil who don't support this mal administration.
Ilhan is a badass, bless her! Believe me, Daniel, there’s plenty of us around the country who aren’t sleeping either. We are fighting the good fight with you Minnesotans.
Holocaust Remembrance Day is one where I honor my parents as Holocaust victims and my maternal grandparents, who perished at the hands of the Nazis.
Morning, Marlene! Good on you for honoring your family members who suffered so much.
Though Mussolini and Italy is not talked about as much, I suppose I have him to thank for being a U.S. citizen, since my maternal grandfather took his family and fled to the USA back in the day.
Daniel I live in the same district as you. It absolutely confounds me the number of people I know that support trump and criticize the protestors for getting in the way of ice agents. I've been wondering if Tom Homan has a new job description. He's going to handle ice agents and the fraud cases in Minnesota? Not sure how that works. One of the local news stations was trying to dig up more fraud stories. The federal employee they spoke with that not much new had come out because fraud is the hardest crime to sort out. The station has not let up on Walz' responsibility for all of the fraud here. The stations mantra is to keep all our leaders accountable. How do you think they're doing with trump and Bondi?
I don’t even know how to address that question, because there’s no clear reason why ICE is here. Minnesota is not a hotbed for illegal immigration. Trump is intentionally ignoring states with illegal immigrants because they’re red. Who in their right mind would have picked Minnesota and Maine as top targets to attack. Also WTF is the fraud angle? I’m not going to pretend like I’m an expert, but my understanding is that the Somali fraud in question is years old, already being/been investigated and was actually led by a white woman. It has no connection to ICE, but every devout MAGA won’t shut up about it. This despite no longer talking about the Epstein files not being released which was supposed to be their holy grail for as long as I can remember. Ultimately I don’t know how to judge any new leadership or objective, because it all feels like a total charade.
For MAGA, hell bent on proving their victimization, stringing together all kinds of unconnected facts and events in preposterous, outlandish ways is a requirement — an urgent necessity. Everything must be twisted to prove the conspiracy, not to search for any truth. Hence — “Somali” fraud must be linked to “vermin” — to voter fraud, to coming to America to “infect” it with non-white, non-Christian culture, etc.
It all makes sense if you’re an unhinged loon bent on staying one. For the rest of us? Not so much.
Like the Galloping Gish technique used by Trump in the debate against Biden. I just looked it up. It was named for a creationist debater, Gish, who used it to argue against evolution.
And not just unconnected facts... also lies. Eating pets, e.g.
G mail has A I reading all your emails where they are going and to whom is a question. Go into your settings, down to manage your settings "smart phone sharing and turn it off, then click save
Homan is no step forward. He is still the monster he has always been. As someone put it crudely: putting Homan in is like crapping your pants and changing your shirt instead
Grateful thanks for your efforts and those of your fellow Minnesotans. You have shown Americans the way if they will now just follow your inspiring example.
Very true about letting our foot off the gas. The Trump regime says they have a list of over 1000 people in Maine they intend to deport. As it turns out, 3 of them are in the Maine legislature. They are all citizens and are all from Somalia.
They have taken over 200 people so far and they have disappeared most of them.
How can they deport U.S. citizens?! 😠 (You don't need to respond.)
I read the other day about a civil engineer in Maine, employed by a big engineering firm, in the U.S. on a work visa. I can't remember what country he's from - it doesn't matter. Federal agents smashed his car windows, pulled him out of the car, and took him to God knows where, leaving the car running in the street. Neighbors were eventually able to move his car. This case really gets to me because I know a lot of engineers, and I have the greatest respect for them. We NEED more engineers. This man has a job. WTF?!
omg, Heather, Alex Pretti had a broken rib on Saturday when agents pushed him to the ground. Have you ever had broken ribs? Do you know how much it hurts to talk or sleep with a broken rib, let alone be pushed onto it on the ground? They tortured him before shooting him. God save his mom and dad, even thinking of it. And he still tried to help that fallen woman, even though the agents were throwing him onto the ground on his broken rib. omg We owe Alex a medal.
He certainly deserves much more than the divisive Charlie Kirk did. I am, though, a little saddened that with his meritorious service we seem to have let Renee Good fade away. She too has a family in mourning.
And we're not talking about the Trump/Epstein Pedo Files anymore, are we? Mission accomplished, even if they had to kill a couple of white folks to do it.
Yes, ICE has been directed to persecute black and brown people, and those people take the brunt of it. White people get in the crosshairs when they show up to help the targeted population. The reason there is such an outrage now is because, despite the best efforts of a minority of white Americans, black (and brown) people don’t matter. Always been that way. White people shut down the desegregation of K12 schools only a few years after it started. That is a big part of why we are where we are today.
Excellent statement by Biden. Obama's yesterday was also good, pretty strong for the mild-mannered ever-so-cautious Barack. And Clinton's was good. OK, so when is George W. Bush going to stand up for country over party? If there was a time to do so, Mr. Bush, now that time. Let your fellow Republicans see your example of courage and genuine patriotism.
You expect a Republican to stand for country over party? Be serious. Every Republican since Nixon has been clear that what happened to Nixon, being impeached because even some of his own were going to push him out, will never happen again. The Republican party has been in full goosestep since Reagan was negotiating with terrorists to keep American hostages on board the Achillie Lauro until he was in office.
The last Republican worthy of the Oval Office was Eisenhower. I agree with your assessment. I don't want the Executive branch to be dismantled; I just want every gd Republican removed from it. That party has shown itself to be a clear and present danger to the republic in its indifference to the murder of citizens and its indifference to immigrants whether they be 'legal' or not. It is, by its own definition, a domestic terrorist organization.
TC, you remind me of a trial I once sat in on. The defense had not objected to my presence in the courtroom. It was a sodomy case (forced fellatio) that was initial denial that changed to consensual when the DNA came back with a match. One of the witnesses was not briefed on the change when he testified. It was all defense counsel could to to not jump up and yell "wrong alibi" to the witness.
And he was only following in Nixon’s footsteps, as it were. Extending a hostage crisis to get elected and extending a war to get elected are pretty similar activities. Anyone see a pattern yet?
Sure, I know the Republican history and the odds against Bush stepping up. But this is a threat to our country unprecedented in you lifetime and mine. And Trump's fortress is beginning to crack. So I'm not giving up that hope quite so readily.
From the New Republic, “From the “fucking bitch” comment after Renee Good’s shooting to this news about Pretti, it seems clear that federal immigration agents aren’t simply good guys who are operating under duress of the mob—they’re vindictive, trigger-happy, and they’re remembering the faces of anyone who stands up to them”
Further, “It’s not clear whether Border Patrol agents recognized Pretti before killing him this past weekend. But a DHS memo earlier this month told agents in Minneapolis to “capture all images, license plates, identifications, and general information on hotels, agitators, protestors, etc., so we can capture it all in one consolidated form.” A source also told CNN that federal agents knew Pretti’s name, without clarifying if he was in this database.
“One thing I’m pushing for right now … we’re going to create a database where those people that are arrested for interference, impeding and assault, we’re going to make them famous,” border czar Tom Homan said two weeks ago. “We’re going to put their face on TV. We’re going to let their employers, in their neighborhoods, in their schools, know who these people are.”
Furthermore they will use this information to go after your right to vote They will “vigilante challenge” registered voters So be prepared America Continue to courageously protest and vote early WE the People will not be intimidated and stand down This is the beginning of the French Revolution 2.0 American style
Many independent journalists who have been covering the Proud Boys et al are saying they think many of these guys are J6 rioters, which is why they're masked an unidentified. The two who assassinated Alex Pretti have been disappeared back into ICE elsewhere and remain unidentified. That they do this with them while they identified Ross lends some to the idea they're from the Trump Private Army of Traitors. As one reporter said, the Proud Boys and the rest used to demonstrate support during events like these, but where are they? "It's like Superman and Clark Kent."
I believe that too, get pardoned, get a 50,000 bonus and a job doing what you love (intimidating, violating, assaulting and hating) , tailor made for proud boys , J6 rioters and the rest of the traitors.
That DHS memo about their “nice little database” is pretty much the revival of the SicherheitsStaffel. Especially when coupled with all the stolen data Muskolini has on all American citizens. The Rump administration has gone full-blown Nazi regime…
Der neu Führer now claims he never read "Mein Kampf." Probably this is preparation for his ultimate defense before the International Criminal Court, an entirely plausible assertion he cannot read at all. (With a tip of the hat to H.L. Mencken: "As democracy is perfected, the office of the President represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. On some great and glorious day, the plain folks of the land will reach their heart's desire at last, and the White House will be occupied by a downright fool and a complete narcissistic moron." [https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/mencken-white-house-quote/])
Absolutely critical. Not everybody learned, but enough learned from the intelligent, informed, courageous, disciplined example of the Civil Rights Leaders. The only true power is non-violent. Otherwise, it's a cycle of violence.
This is essential. Thank you, Barbara: "One historical hallmark of the success of the Minneapolis protest movement is its non-violence."
The American military knew this after WWll. Churchill, whose perseverance and leadership helped save the Allies, who Eisenhower said was the greatest man he'd ever met... Churchill wanted to execute all the Nazi "bastards." The Americans said no, we need to put them on trial. We need to find a way to prevent more wars.
Violence leaves scars. We still carry the scars of the Civil War, the Nazis of WW2, the Civil Rights murders, and the January 6 insurrection. We see them in full measure at this time. They have all come to call rolled up in the madness visited upon America today.
The company that makes the only "certified" electronic roll book for checking voter registrations at polling places is an election denier who also bought Dominion Voting Systems, the voting machine company that won the defamation suit against FOX. It lost most of its business afterwards and was in financial trouble. It has been renamed Liberty Votes. So an election denier owns both voting machines and voter registration roll checkers at the polls, and Pam Bondi wants the state voter registration data while Homan is putting together his list of domestic terrorists...
The move that is underscored by Greg Palast(bit.ly/41UelTx) are vigilante challenges where any voter can challenge any other voter as to their legitimacy WE need to talk to local legislators secty of states in every state to be on the alert or get this law off the books
We've seen with our own eyes, brave Minnesotans—no matter their race, origin, faith, or gender—demonstrating peacefully in the bitter cold, showing all of us how to stand WITH and FOR one another.
This, despite a cowardly, corrupt MAGA regime who is escalating their attacks, assaulting families in the streets, invading homes, kidnapping children, and executing Alex Pretti and Renee Good as they looked out for their neighbors. Their fascist end game is clear: they want to control and silence all of us, blackmailing Minnesota to turn over its voter rolls, so a wealthy, well-connected few can keep their illegitimate power, no matter the will of the people.
But everyday Minnesotans are showing how we free America by organizing mutual aid for families, standing guard on streets, and turning out in the tens of thousands to get #ICEOutforGood—abolishing these masked paramilitary terrorists and making our government one of, by, and for the people.
Even the Italian people are seeing ICE for what it is! If a person is saying it’s not like the SS is coming? Then you understand what is truly happening in Minneapolis. It is the SS. So scary to stand up to ICE. I’m so amazed at the people who take a stand and are fighting back. If the second amendment wasn’t made for this moment, I don’t know what it was meant for! Hopefully the Minnesotans can continue to keep it peaceful.
The Italians had the nightmare of Mussolini. They haven't forgotten. The people of Minnesota are writing the manual on how well-organized, peaceful protests work.
Biden said: "We are not a nation that guns down our citizens in the street." But we are now and will remain so just as long as Trump remains in office.
Earlier this month, ICE announced that Cuban immigrant Geraldo Lunas Campos, 55, died on January 3 at the agency’s largest detention facility – Camp East Montana in Texas.
Since then, contradicting details have emerged about his death, which a medical examiner has ruled as a homicide – meaning caused by another person.
ICE initially said Lunas Campos “became disruptive while in line for medication and refused to return to his assigned dorm” and was placed in segregation.
He then became distressed, according to the agency.
“Medical staff responded, initiated lifesaving measures, and requested emergency medical services. Lunas was pronounced deceased by EMS,” ICE said in a January 9 statement.
The agency repeatedly highlighted Lunas Campos’s criminal record.
The authorities later changed their own story, claiming that Lunas Campos tried to kill himself.
“Campos violently resisted the security staff and continued to attempt to take his life,” DHS’s McLaughlin said. “During the ensuing struggle, Campos stopped breathing and lost consciousness.”
But an autopsy report found that Linas Campos was killed by someone.
“Based on the investigative and examination findings, it is my opinion that the cause of death is asphyxia due to neck and torso compression,” Adam Gonzalez, deputy medical examiner for El Paso County, said in the report, according to The Washington Post.
“The manner of death is homicide.”
Lunas Campos’ three children have filed a legal petition aiming to block the deportation of any detainees who may have witnessed the incident, as they prepare to file a wrongful death lawsuit.
“According to an eyewitness to Mr Lunas Campos’s death, guards at the facility choked him to death,” the petition said.
They also report the number of ice-related deaths over the years. Interesting graph. The 4 years of the Biden administration had 26 ICE-related deaths over all 4 years combined. Trump had 32 in just 2025, and now 8 so far in not even a month.
Always interesting to see what the foreign press covers that is not widely circulated here these days.
I was impressed with Omar. After getting assaulted by that scumbag, she went after him with fists balled. Good thing security beat her to him. One tough woman.
Hmmmm. I think I need to get a sling for mine. Maybe a bandolier with spare batteries. Maybe paint everything camo so that the DeWalt yellow isn't so prominent.
We're at the point where the question of civil war has been answered. The government has declared war on us. Calling for "reform" of ICE or DHS is useless. Would "reforming" the way the Brownshirts attacked Jews in the streets or making the Gestapo get warrants for their arrests have stopped Hitler and the Nazis? "Reform" makes it easy for the Vichyites to tiptoe away - "What can we do? They're acting legally." Meantime the crimes against humanity continue.
Vance (channeling his mentor, Thiel) says that Democrats must be stopped and cannot be stopped by ordinary means. ICE represents the approach Vance advocates. It’s Gestapo all the way down.
TC, I've gotten through more comments than I usually allow myself time to read, and I have yet to see if this got posted. I am so grateful for discovering it on your Substack comment forum yesterday. I am really hoping anyone seeing this will take the time to listen and to forward this BRILLIANT piece of protest art into the world!
So, if Alex Pretti was attacked and hurt before, the possibility exists that this was literally a planned execution. They might have recognized him and decided to teach him and others a lesson. It sounds absurd until you hear the actual recorded statements of ICE: "And now you are a domestic terrorist" "You raise your voice, I'll erase your voice""Have y’all not learned from the past couple of days?” Sounds like war rhetoric to me.
And they would have known that he had a carry permit. Maybe even Noem knew that they were going to make an example out of him to justify claiming that there was an emergency.
Thank God, you can feel the tide turning. Trump’s inner circle of sycophantic sadists are pointing fingers at each other. When you send out the Gestapo to terrorize and execute citizens in our streets phone cameras are watching. Don’t bother with the lies of assassin, terrorist, agitator. You are killing an American citizen just because you can. You will pay for your crimes and this will not stand in America.
The "tide" is (not) turning; our assailants are merely (slightly) modifying their assault. Obviously, given the vast numbers of us who are unaware of the lessons of Oklahoma City, 9/11, the Battle of the Bulge, Pearl Harbor and Munich (and are thus forever entrapped in USian-capitalism's cult of mandatory optimism), the ignorance of history inflicted on us by our public K-12 schools is so far beyond abysmal, there are no words in English to describe its depth. Thus our recovery is by far amongst the most vital functions of Dr. Richardson's work: she teaches us -- if we open ourselves to it -- the compelling lesson that history is the thoroughly fascinating epic of our species' survival, the antithesis of the rote-memory drudgery taught by the football coaches and other athletic-department dullards who are chosen to teach K-12 history precisely because their anti-intellectual ferocity deliberately taints the subject with the odium of utter meaninglessness. (Had my high school history classes functioned as intended, I too would have been so afflicted, but I was already inoculated against that particular disease of capitalism by my history-minded father and our extensively historical household library, for which I am grateful beyond my abilities of expression.)
What if Dems sweep the election in 2026: It is constitutionally possible to impeach and remove the President and Vice President at the same time. Article II, Section 4 of the Constitution specifically states that both the President and Vice President shall be removed from office upon impeachment and conviction of treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors.
Key points regarding this process:
House Authority: The House of Representatives holds the sole power of impeachment, meaning they could vote to impeach both officials simultaneously.
Senate Trial: The Senate would then hold trials for both, requiring a two-thirds vote for conviction and removal of each.
Order of Succession: If both were removed, the Presidential Succession Act dictates that the Speaker of the House would become the President.
Rare Occurrence: While legally permissible, this has never occurred in U.S. history, and no vice president has ever been formally impeached, although one faced an inquiry.
In a scenario where both are removed, the executive branch would face a "dual incapacity" situation, prompting the Speaker of the House to assume the presidency.
This interpretation keeps coming up. It is incorrect. If you google one of the reference websites on the interpretation of the Constituion you should find it. Individuals have to be impreached separately. After I have my coffee I will post the link
FYI The currently operative "codified" Senate rules of impeachment were passed in 1986. Additional "organizing resolutions" for how the trial will be run were approved for the Clinton and Trump impeachments for the specific trials. Organizing resolutions can be passed by unanimous consent, or by simple majority after the articles of impeachment have been presented.
There is hope. You sound exhausted and depressed and sad. Sleep, share a good meal with a friend, walk, do what you need to do to heal mentally and physically. We are all traumatized by what we have seen. Go on a news fast. Breathe.
The first step in any project is understanding what the real metric for success needs to be to overcome the obstacles in your path. The obstacle to reform is Trump's veto power. We know how many seats we need to win in the House and the Senate to reach veto-proof majorities. Winning the House gets us control over the budget process. It gets us investigations and subpoena power. Trump is doing a lot of the work for us in terms of his disastrous policies and his cruelty and disregard for human life. Those tanking favorability ratings are real. If we get to a veto-proof majority in the Senate, we can also impeach and block appointments.
We are also seeing our former allies exert external economic pressure on us. Davos and the trade and defense deals being done that do not include the US mean the broligarchs' bottom lines will be hit. The big money will start to flow away from Trump.
Now we need to get the best possible candidates in every district up and down the ballot, and we need to draft a platform that speaks to the people's needs. You can't have hope unless you have a vision to inspire you.
What are the characteristics you want the ideal candidate in your district to have? What would make life in your district better? What do you want to see change?
Start a community forum on social media. Meet with a group of friends for Saturday morning coffee to brainstorm what better looks like. Start really local. Minneapolis is showing us the way. It is about community.
I am not saying it will be easy. It may not happen at the midterms, It may get worse before it gets better.
Trump is not invincible. He is a sick old man who is failing. He has made some serious mistakes in the last couple of weeks. He is alienating what is left of his support. He is weaker than he was a month ago. We need to keep up the pressure.
This is not accurate. It is for good reason that we would not want to essentially dismantle the Executive Branch. It is imperative that we maintain our security surrounding this Branch. Remember we are not operating in a vacuum. The world is watching. Our enemies are watching.
There are green card applicants, asylum applicants, temporary protective status folks, visa applicants, and others in the system awaiting legal status, which is legal in itself. When they show up to report, as required, CPB and ICE haul them away for doing the right thing.
Trump changes the rules to justify the round up of people seeking legal status.
Heather's best here keeps touching on how obviously institutional America is committing suicide.
Yes, Donald cannot stand for any level of government to have any parts that might hold him to account for his pedophile days with pals Jeffrey and Ghislaine. Or might indict him for his having Stephen Miller, Kash Patel, Kristi Noem, Tom Homan and others ramp up their terrorism, cruelty, and murder campaign. Or for his rampant violations of the Constitution's emoluments clause. His extortions. His taking bribes for pardons.
The world sees him as the low-class criminal, mobster he is. But by extension the world seems ready to distance itself from this new land of terror, criminality, and thuggish federal agents undisciplined, untrained, and totally out of control.
Many nations to boycott the FIFA World Cup in the U.S.? I hope so. Republicans doing nothing in Congress and corrupt fascists on what was the supreme court need some world-class snubs.
I was influenced by a professor who was also a licensed lawyer who said that the public's acceptance of "the legitimacy" of law is key to the effectiveness of law. I think there are historical examples of how that is true. His point was to treat legitimacy with thought and care. That's what the lawlessness of the now thoroughly corrupted Republican Party has currently been destroying.
We should recognize the sexual victimization of terrorized children by the Trumpstein Cult -- let's start calling it what it is -- is the direct ancestor of the terror the MAGAstapo is now unleashing on anyone who refuses to kowtow to the ChristoNazi theocracy. Thus the vital, know-our-enemy relevance of the full text of the Jane Doe lawsuit against Trump and Epstein -- later withdrawn in response to credible death threats against the plaintiff: https://cdn.factcheck.org/UploadedFiles/Johnson_TrumpEpstein_Lawsuit.pdf Please let us ensure this text is linked early (and therefore prominently) on as many Resistance sites as possible every day until the traitorous regime of ecogenocidal ChristoNazi pedophiles is no more. (I'll do my best to be responsible for this posting, but I am 85 years old and terminally ill, which means others need be ready to pick up the torch on days I am absent and after I am no more.)
Loren, my heart is with you and I am in total agreement with you about the children. Let’s remember when Miller and Sessions stole children and babies right out of the hands of their desperate parents. We still do not know where most of them are! This regime keeps no notes on their cruelty but we do and I bet there are some who are imbedded who do also. We are in the streets daily protesting peacefully and we will continue to do so. I promise you that. My very best to you and may your new journey find you contentment.
At least Nazis kept great records, with IBM’s help. I, too, am old and worry that no one will care about the things I see as critical for the future. But plod on with the hope for others to stop watching “the Kardashians.” Digressions can give space for breath or space to “turn tail.”
Benjamin Ferencz was an investigator of Nazi war crimes for the Nuremberg trials and successfully pushed for what I believe was the last of the Nuremberg trials (added only after the Einsatzgruppen reports were discovered), Ferencz pushed for a trial based on their evidence. When confronted with a lack of staff and resources, he personally volunteered to serve as the prosecutor. Later he became an advocate of international rule of law and for the establishment of an International Criminal Court. According to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ben_Ferencz
I've lost the series of stories he wrote but do recall one about his getting Ossip Flectheim as his research assistant, I think during the time the damning Einsatzgruppen reports were discovered. I think the reports made the convictions pretty much a slam dunk for Benjamin's first effort as a prosecutor. During the research, Ferencz noticed Flectheim stayed late and worked very long hours doing additional research to try to find out why the German politics ended up with such evil forces over the years after WWI.
Though born in what is now part of Ukraine, Flechteim had wanted to do his doctoral thesis under Carl Schmitt in 1933 but was rejected as a Jew. I don't know the timing but think Ferencz suspected Flechtheim's overtime involved a lot of extra research for his eventual doctoral thesis as Ferencz turned a blind eye. This comes after finding the relatively recent:
https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/B9E48B6FEC46732191DC875DEC9F9764/S2071832223001074a.pdf/carl_schmitt_and_ossip_flechtheim_at_nuremberg_a_crossroads_for_international_justice_and_intellectual_history.pdf
"...Abstract
Should theoretical discourse supporting state crimes be protected as free speech or prosecuted as atrocity speech? The relationship between Neo-Hobbesian Nazi collaborator Carl Schmitt and progressive Futurology founder Ossip Flechtheim provides a fascinating framework for exploring that question. In 1933, Schmitt rejected Flechtheim as a PhD student, on antisemitic grounds. Meanwhile, becoming Nazism’s “Crown Jurist,” he helped force Jewish lawyers, including Flechtheim, into exile. Post-war, Flechtheim, now on the US Nuremberg prosecution staff, arrested Schmitt. Through Flechtheim’s experience, this article explores how Schmitt’s prosecution, within a contemplated “Propaganda and Education Case” (PEC), might have determined how to treat atrocity-complicit academic propagandists. It chronicles how the PEC/Schmitt case collapsed when Flechtheim’s investigation was curtailed due to resource constraints, equivocal precedent, and prosecutor Robert Kempner’s botched interrogations. Nonetheless, Flechtheim contributed to the Ministries Trial conviction of propagandist Otto Dietrich. The article concludes by juxtaposing that case with Schmitt’s near-prosecution to contemplate norms for charging theorists laying needed groundwork for atrocity, via sufficiently proximate speech, even absent direct incitement. Such an international justice future would mirror immediate post-Cold War intellectual developments, which vindicated Flechtheim’s vision, not Schmitt’s. Exploring this topic is timely, as Russian academic discourse has enabled/fueled Ukraine’s invasion and related atrocities..."
My major concern is that our current regime wants to eliminate as many records as possible that can be used against them, but gathers massive data through data breaches already there. We should be saving every bit of evidence we can, to at least get the worst of the criminals before they give up trying to get too many small fish.
The likelihood that the Social Security records of 300 million plus Americans were illegally uploaded to an unsecure cloud repository of some sort by DOGE should be a 5-alarm fire for every American. Yet, of course, the Republicans are obstructing the Democrats call for a criminal investigation into DOGE.
Congressmen John Larson (CT) and Richard Neal (MA) are calling for the investigation: "Musk and his ‘DOGE’ believe they are above the law and refused to appear before Congress. Republicans have blocked every effort to hold this administration accountable, voting down our resolutions demanding documents, even changing House Rules to shield ‘DOGE’ from accountability and protect themselves from having to take another vote on the issue,” Larson and Neal said.
Everyone here represented by a Republican in the House should contact their representative to demand Congress determine exactly how many records were pirated by DOGE and that DOGE staff and leadership be criminally charged. The release of SS information without one's permission is illegal. Republicans can defend virtually all the illegal, immoral acts of the tRump monarchy by claiming that's what their constituents voted for, but that argument won't work for theft of SS records (or will it, as there seems to be no limit to Trumpist cognitive dissonance).
Elon Musk et al. should already be in jail for the DOGE travesty, along with the Extremes who stayed the injunction against DOGE with one of their many shady shadow dockets.
Wow, this makes my head explode. Just knew the cursory details and this is hard for my pea brain to follow. But I appreciate it. I had a prof in grad school that supposedly had a part in the trials as a psychology consultant. Can’t remember his name but he was old in the 70’s. Yes, by all means, preserve.
Jim Young Freeport, ME - Thanks for the amazingly detailed historical info you've provided here. If you have time to respond, how did you become so interested in and informed about the Nuremberg trials?
Ben Ferencz died just a few years ago, in 2023. He was my friend's grandfather! I was moved to read your comment. Thank you.
If one more person tells me 'all politicians lie' as an excuse for this regime I am gonna go nutz. OH! Or 'accidents happen' is another one.
Or he should not have had his gun at a protest or he should have obeyed the "authorities", quotation marks mine. It was also a "stupid" protest, once again quote marks are mine. It is amazing to me in a way, although it should not be, how people can see murder and blame the victim.
Such a chicken-Schitt comment. The repubs are ruthless deliberately and with malice. Dems can’t even mount an effective, truthful offense because repubs paint them with wall-to-wall toxic spray. Has been their strategy since Rupert and idiots just lap it up. And Dems just shrug when a responsive megaphone is needed.
Or everyone does it or it's only human or it's not my fault, they made me do it......or other b-s reasoning.
People are taking trump et al to task for their brutality; no one denies the power of his dark vision. He has created a world where hope is nearly moribund and life is being lived in extremis for many.
“The Trump administration’s immigration crackdown over the last year has gone from uncomfortable to untenable for Ileana Garcia, a Republican state senator in Florida.
A Transportation Security Administration officer at the Tallahassee airport overheard her speaking Spanish and asked whether Ms. Garcia, who was born in Miami, was an American citizen. She worried for the first time that Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents might stop her son, a young adult, because he looks Hispanic. Constituents have asked her for help finding immigrant relatives arrested by ICE.
Ms. Garcia, 56, has had enough. The Republican Party is in trouble, she said in an interview, predicting that it will lose this year’s midterm elections if the White House does not soon reconsider its harsh immigration enforcement tactics.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/27/us/ileana-garcia-trump-immigration-crackdown.html
Faux News #1 host⬇️
Hannity: ICE raids at Home Depot not ‘good idea’
https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/5708127-sean-hannity-immigration-enforcement-home-depot-trump-admin/
Kathy,
I have family in a foreign country and I told them not to come to the US because it is not safe. I fear that even within their country, Trump and his minions will begin to harm them in some way!!!!
It is not safe for anyone who is not a "yes" person to this current group of "crooks and thieves".
My major concern is for the education of our children and the hope to become successful citizens in their future.
My concern is also for the safety of the air we breathe and the quality of our water.
Our current administration esp. one political party is out to accomplish two goals: to gather as much power and money and to control the development of the riches they can find and control in other countries for themselves as quickly as possible!!!!
The Republican Party should be disbanded and its adherents jailed.
Methinks the dark vision is not Trump's but Miller's.
Oh, and there's more. Wyles is blaming Miller and Noem and they're blaming her. In the meantime, Melania is pissed off because this is her documentary debut (which I understand is kind of a flop), and she is being overshadowed.
True, but our Violator-in-Chief has bought into it, totally.
And by doing these things, he is showing us his interior landscape. May we do all in our power to prevent ourselves and our fellow humans from turning out like him.
Indeed. He is trapped inside a mind that is beyond repair. He will soon be closeted with his madness. Hope it's not contagious, as you suggest, and spread.....
Wasn't there a concentration camp with thoughts about hope inscribed over its entrance?
The slogan displayed over several Nazi concentration camps was "Arbeit macht frei", translated as "work sets you free".
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arbeit_macht_frei
I don't know....Seems like a kind of morbid inscription over such a diabolical place.
Actually 75% of the children separated from their families during trump's first term have been re-united. Hardly comforting, but let's stick to the facts.
Even if true, that leaves 25% of those families still separated lo these years later
While people are discussing the 5-year old boy that Federal agents took as a lure to get his father, they are not discussing the two-year-old girl that was taken and sent away with her father, even thought a Minnesota judge said not to transport them and to give the girl back to her mother.
https://www.kplctv.com/2026/01/26/father-2-year-old-daughter-taken-into-ice-custody-minnesota-flown-texas/
Luckily for her the courts prevailed for her, but not her father.
The deal made in hiring these thugs was that they must fulfill numbers not unlike Jeff Bezos fulfillment centers in which employees must handle so many packages per hour or they are fired. Same thing with the thugs many of whom were likely hired from the attack on the capital.
Taking them to trial is a way to let them know that Trump cannot have their back, can he even pardon them in Minnesota if they are brought to trial there? Isn't that why he is sending in federal agents to investigate so whatever the outcome it becomes a federal crime and he can then pardon them?
From what I understand, these shootings are indeed federal crimes and should properly be investigated by the FBI, not the DHS. However, it is customary in these circumstances (which let's be honest haven't occured that often) for the FBI to seek the cooperation of the local law enforcement agencies. In this case, for obvious reasons, that has been forbidden by the administration. In fact, Patel seems more concerned about following up a right-wing podcaster's reports of Signal messages between protesters than investigating crimes.
In the meantime, the ICE raids continue unabated despite Trump's statement that he would consider winding down Operation Metro Surge.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jan/27/minnesota-ice-raids-alex-pretti-killing-dhs-report
Some of the videos emerging (links in the article) are almost as horrifying as anything that has transpired to date.
The administration continues to defend Noem and Miller and the hapless Bovino (the instrument of their cruelty) has been scapegoated for the horrors being perpetrated.
Yes, that is true. And the same goes for the private prisons that MUST be filled. It all has to do with quotas. I wonder what is truly happening in these private prisons and detention centers. Not anything good.
The assembly-line, mechanized approach to human beings, as dictated by Stephen Miller. He can’t kill people fast enough.
Was Alex Pretti the subject of a targeted assassination? https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2026/01/28/pxko-j28.html?pk_kwd=wsws-daily-newsletter
We will not know. Given that he had already been attacked by them, and we read that they are gathering data on people, who knows. It looked spontaneous, though. Also, in my book club last night we were discussing that the reason one heard so many shots is that agents have been told to all fire into a person so that no one person gets the blame for their death. It is truly a lawless federal government Trump is running. It is starting to seem less cool to the people that wanted him to be a chaos maker. They forgot how stressful and exhausting constant chaos is.
I do think the plan to hurt or kill protesters and turn the blame back on them makes sense. They wanted us to be afraid. They were probably told not to hold back..they wanted control.
I don’t think so these thugs react like children.
Connecting the dots to the Death Squad data base would truly be incredible; however MAGA would still not recognize the danger
Just heard discussed today that Palantir has been gathering data on protestors and may have given out information on Alex Pretti, but still, these people did not come across that organized in what I saw. What do you think?
Bill, it occurs to me that I have seen no one trying to compare the numbers of arrests Stephen Miller has set as quotas in any way matches the numbers of immigrants convicted of crimes that are on record i a specific area, say, all of Minnesota let alone in Minneapolis-St Paul. A comparison might reveal just how absurd Stephen Miller’s arrest quotas are.
Miller is not trying to rid the nation of criminals; he is attempting to criminally "cleanse" the nation of all non-ChristoNazi humans. (The deportation of citizens of color is clearly [not] an accident.)
The regime, under Miller's direction, is facilitating the race war and ethnic cleansing the far right has been yearning for for years - armed and paid the goons, and given them the government stamp of approval.
Of course they were! Trump pardoned them so he could have a devoted Gestapo at his command--no other reason.
Absolutely!
(Welcome to this forum, Linda.)
That does seem to have been the intention of the DHS's recent 'wartime recruitment' drive.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/dec/31/ice-recruitment-media-campaign
> hired from the attack on the Capitol — or from Amazon…
Apparently, the current lie about the 5-year old boy is that when agents tried to return him to his family, the family didn't want him. Outrageous!
It's admittedly a horrible thought -- grotesquely so -- but given the proven Trumpstein inclinations, what's to prevent this infinitely evil Regime of anything-for-profit moral imbeciles from selling some of its captives to sex traffickers -- or worse, to makers of snuff films? (Sorry for suggesting such awfulness, but it is precisely my ability to look unflinchingly at such unthinkable possibilities that made me a sometimes-effective, occasionally award-winning investigative reporter. And I would dearly hope the suggestion would prompt some courageous journalist still at work to begin pursuing an answer to what given what we already know seems an obvious, entirely legitimate question.)
I did not hear that Mimi, but I did read that that was the lie told about why they did not return the 2-year-old girl to her mother right away, even though the courts told them to. Instead they spirited her and her dad to Texas from Minnesota. They lie, lie, lie and become like the boy who cried wolf, No one believes anything they say, which is for the best, because they don't even know what truth is. Ayatollah Trump throws one lie after the other at a story to see which one can stick. Then people excuse him by saying he has dementia. My mom has dementia and I can tell the difference between a lie and a story the person believes because their brain is wonky. Trump does both.
I am talking about the toddler wearing her pink fuzzy jacket Linda.
Oh, you mean the 2-year-old Ayatollah Trump's jackbooted thugs abducted and spirited to Texas after a judge said not to take her from Minnesota and to give her back to her mom? I just cannot believe this. We have really joined the bad countries, but that happened the moment that Trump took office again.
It’s hard to keep up with all these cases. 🙁
I agree. Is there a website where everyone is listed with their circumstances? We need this information. We need to know so we are not complacent.
Not that I’ve heard of. I’ll let you know if I do.
I entered into my search engine:
"Is there a web site listing victims of ICE & CBP?"
Answer is yes, several.
Keep fighting physically and mentally. God has you here because you are very needed at this moment in American history. We must continue to fight for our country. Everyone who doesn't bow down and kiss his ring he calls domestic terrorist. I figure there are 300 million people he doesn't like. Be glad we aren't his cabinet who have to kiss his ass several times a day. Remember the businesses of the oligarchs who are financially supporting Trump's cause. We control how we spend our money.
Agree, Patty.
I already posted that Alex and Renee's name will echo through history, just like Rosa Parks.
By doubling and quadrupling down the MAGA party is effectively committing electoral suicide. I suspect the next trick is that Mike Johnson will refuse to seat them.
In that event, Mike Johnson would be consigned to the litter bin of US congressional history, where he belongs.
My hope Russell John, is that we take the House back in the midterms, and then impeach Ayatollah Trump and his Mullah Vance. Once we have the house, we get the 3rd in line for the presidency in the Speaker of the House. Let that be someone who has not wussed out on leadership during these times.
If he is so dead set against releasing the Epstein files despite a law requiring him to, then why shouldn't we think he was Epstein's partner, rather than his client? He doesn't care about being accused of rape or convicted of sexual assault, but maybe he's less sanguine about people finding out he was pimping children to his oligarch friends.
The term "Trumpstein" implies that, which is why its use is becoming commonplace.
Ah. I hadn't heard that one. Thanks for letting me know.
Actually Loren, I think we should send a copy of the lawsuit to EVERY republican “lawmaker “ who still supports this pedophile! What do you think? BTW, I’m 75 and I don’t think that I am terminally ill but I have seen so much and frankly I don’t care if my self righteous “representative “ likes it.
Bingo - me too but I am in a different circumstance than you I suspect. I am from Massachusetts - the entire congressional delegation speaks out against the Maga party.
For sure you are. Our jackass, self righteous jerk of a representative, Bill Huizenga won’t have a town hall, is one of the congressmen fighting for first place in the line to kiss you know whose derrière and is only calling for an investigation because he thinks it looks good. I love Michigan but Massachusetts ROCKS!
I am sorry but we can be frustrated and angry together. I have many Michiganer friends and love the Un of Michigan and your governor, so I am pulling for you all, big time!
MAGAstapo: that's perfect, Loren.
Thank you for posting this, I had seen references to this lawsuit but not read it. I appreciate your commitment to saving our democracy and your effort to stay engaged in spite of what must be considerable discomfort. I just wish more Americans were similarly committed. You have my admiration and respect.
Thank you.
Bless you for spending your time on this work. I’ll help spread the text around.
Could you get any more ignorant? It’d be really hard
I recall a professor beginning a lecture saying the Framers gave the purse to Congress and the sword to the President and then asked, "What did the Supreme Court get?" Then the lecture started off with "Dred Scott v. Sandford," 60 U.S. 393 which pushed America into Civil War holding that a person, a slave, is property with no rights. Then came the 14th Amendment after the War to overturn the Dred Scott. We then learned about "Plessy v. Ferguson," 163 U.S. 537 (1896) where the Court held racial segregation laws did not violate the 14th Amendment's Equal Protection Clause as long as the facilities for each race were equal in quality. Thus the "separate but equal" doctrine giving a hand to the "Jim Crow laws." Less than a decade earlier the Court gave us "Pembina Consolidated Silver Mining Co. v. Pennsylvania," 25 U.S. 181 (1888) where the Court held the same clause, “Under the designation of person there is no doubt that a private corporation is included. Such corporations are merely associations of individuals united for a special purpose...” Oh, well, uh... We covered also, "Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka," 347 U.S. 483 (1954). The Court there concluded that segregating black children in public schools made them feel inferior and that interfered with their education. Thus the Court held that even if the schools were otherwise equal the law still violates the 14th Amendment's Equal Protection Clause and therefore in public education separate but equal is not equal.
At the end of an hour we were asked again, "What did the Court get?" It was a great Socratic discussion in which we learned that the Court was given more a responsibility than a power. The Court's power is earned by respect and thus respect for the law. If the Court fails then law fails. Fast forward to the Robert's Six. This group of corporatist fascist has zero respect and are leading us to a new amendment with a few major sections and many clauses to get back to the Republic intended by the Framers. I hope a war is not required to move forward with the amendment.
This IS the republic intended by the Framers. A white, ethnic state where anyone can live (unless you’re black) but only rich white Protestant men can have any political power. Read the Federalist Papers. Especially number 10. They acknowledge the Constitution as written could produce a tyrant. They gave the President more power than King George III had. There was no American Revolution in 1776. There was a War for Independence from Britain, but name one other time in all of recorded history where a Revolution was created by the wealthiest elites in a Nation. You can’t because it makes no sense. When Adams, near the end of his life, one of the few Framers who didn’t own other humans, was asked what the Revolution meant, his answer was it meant nothing. Because nothing had really changed except the oligarchy was now run by US citizens instead of Parliament. The Declaration was cheap propaganda to incite the populace to fight and die so these men could tax themselves and keep their slaves, which everyone knew the British would eventually outlaw and was already illegal in England itself.
Stop the Patriot Myth and understand who founded this nation and why. The America we live in was born at Gettysburg and carried to term by the Civil War. The end of reconstruction delayed the progress for another 80 years. The current moment is a reaction to poor whites angry they have no prospects while black and brown citizens have made real progress over the past 30 years. And that’s it, only 30 years. This is what happens when a majority begins to lose economic and political power. Look at every civil war over the past 120 years; it’s all the same.
We have a very small chance to fix this. But it won’t happen if we don’t reckon with who created this nation, why and for whom. We need to bury the Patriot Myth once and for all.
If this is the government the framer's wanted, then why was the Bill of Rights added to the Constitution?
Why would they add freedom of speech, the right to bear arms, no entry to property without a search warrant, no cruel or unusual punishment, etc.?
Perhaps because the framers were not a monolith of ideology? That the Bill of Rights did not extend to slaves, let alone women, should tell you all you need to know. "We the people" were White landowners, for whom, in subsequent years, GERMANS were considered too "swarthy" to find a home in USA.
But they did extend to Blacks and women. Read the amendments, they did not 'grant' the right to vote to Blacks and women, they prohibited their exclusion from the established right.
Not all the Founders were landowners just an FYI.
It is entirely plausible that the underlying motive for the War for Independence -- at least amongst the Southron planters and their New England financiers -- was the terror and fear of financial loss induced by the 1772 Somerset case: https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/places/kenwood/history-stories-kenwood/somerset-case/ The decision was understood by the owners and financiers of the slave economy to be a ruling that Blacks are fully human, which they recognized marked the beginning of the end. Hence their response: secession first from the British Empire, next from the Federal Union and now -- under ChristoNazism, from civilization itself. And, yes, as Mr. Gutstein so courageously asserts, it is long past time we acknowledge this most vile of our hidden historical evils. Failing that, we are doomed to never be anything better than a vindictively Failed State, or worse -- quite possibly the vector of apocalypse.
.... but your Bill of Rights was only for white men.
Slavery didn't end until the 13th Amendment.
Citizenship didn't happen until the 14th Amendment.
Men refused to pass the Equal Rights Amendment.
So even in 2026, no woman of any color has any rights except the right to vote under the 19th Amendment. Federal law has expanded their 'protections' but as MAGA is quick to point out.. the Constitution gives woman nothing and that is exactly what they want.
Please cite wording from the Constitution supporting this claim.
Indeed, read the amendments, they do not grant the franchise to Blacks and women, they prohibit their exclusion of a right in the Constitution. Those are very different things.
But Slavery did end, right? Is that not an admission of past wrongs? I recall Phyllis Schlafly and her movement played a major part in dooming the ERA. We still do have the amendment process and a new ERA can be written. I wrote one for discussion myself which includes the repeal of Citizens United. The first section of my model Amendment is,
"We hold these truths to be self-evident, All individual persons are endowed with equal non-transferable rights, To secure these rights the Government of the United States of America has been granted just powers from the consent of the people, The Governments of the United States, every State, and every insular area within the jurisdiction of the United States has no powers to create, grant, apply or transfer any of these equal non-transferable rights of individual persons to an assembly thereof, or to property, private sector enterprises, creatures of the state, anything manufactured, artificial intelligence, or to allow any property, private sector enterprises, or creatures of the state to endorse or provide support for, or against, any candidate for public political or judicial office or ballot measure, or to engage in any form of political expression.
The legislative, executive, and judicial branches of the Government of the United States of America shall jointly and severally assure that this government, and all governments within the jurisdiction of the United States of America, are a Republican Form of Government in which power is held by the citizens thereof, and the powers granted to these governments by the people thereof shall be separated among a legislative, executive and judicial branches, to the end it shall be a government of laws and not of any persons, thus no monarch, dictator, or tyrant shall exist therein, and through permanent, fair, open and transparent democratic elections elect officials to make laws, and the enforcement and application of the laws are to be of Blind and equal justice under the law, and this Constitution and the Courts of the United Sates Shall secure the equal non-transferable rights of all individual persons within the jurisdiction of the United States against any majority vote.
All laws and judicial holdings and decisions of the United States, every State and every insular area within the jurisdiction of the United States inconsistent with this section are hereby repealed. Neither the United States nor any State or any insular area within the jurisdiction of the United States shall assume or pay any claim of loss by this repeal; but all such asserted debts, obligations and claims shall be held illegal and void. Nothing in this section shall be construed to interfere with or deny any of the equal non-transferable rights of individual persons enumerated in this Constitution or disparage other equal fundamental non-transferable substantive rights including all the rights of life – the pursuit of happiness, the right to be let alone and not be criminally profiled by personal attributes, location, or occupation unless pursued as a specific suspect of a known past offense.
The Bill of Rights was added to the Constitution by the Anti-Federalists, who refused to sign onto the Constitution without them. Their argument was that the tyrannical power of government needed to be checked and the first 10 amendments were meant to do just that. To protect the people's rights from being trampled by a strong central government.
The Anti-Federalists recognized the Bill of Rights as a 'fire bell' to be rung when the government overstepped and threatened the peoples' freedoms.
Whew! Thank you, Gary.
They did the best they could with the situation they were in. It wasn’t like the bulb lit up and all was clear. They fumbled like every generation, trying to deal with the past, the in-your-face present, and the baby steps that could advance a position. We’re still caught in this miasma…. There are few Ike’s who can deal a critical blow to tyranny. But he stood on the shoulders of many, as do we.
Very well stated and so briefly. The American Revolution is not over, not close. Long live the Revolution.
Nonsense. The Constitution is the foundation of a just and equitable society. It is myopic to view it as exclusionary. History has proven that.
The Constitution was the foundation of a just and equitable society as long as it consisted of only white men.
If this is your contention, please cite the references within the Constitution to support your position.
The confusion is equating the characteristics of the Framers with their intent.
It is essentially arguing unless someone is a member of a specific group they are unable of promoting a just and equitable government.
Witness the White people fighting, and dying for the rights of others than themselves in Minneapolis. By your reasoning Good and Pretti died for White people only.
Thanks Gary, it’s so easy to take where we are today and criticize those who lived 250 years ago. False equivalence. Any serious reading of the formation of our country is chock full of the struggles between those who aspired to create a society where “all men and women were deemed equal” and those, just like today, who wanted only white, male, straight, christian supremacy. Bashing the founders of this country and blaming them for what ails us today is, in a word, bullshit.
A little bit of revisionist history, John? The original document does NOT declare that "all men and women are deemed equal." The Declaration states very clearly, "all men are created equal."
I reject the apologists' unfounded rationalization that the framers meant "everyone" when they agreed on "men." Words like "persons" and "everyone" and "women" existed when our founding documents were written, but the authors chose not to use those words.
When the framers wrote "men," they meant men. Moreover, in the context of colonial culture, "men" meant "gentlemen." That is, white men of an elevated social standing afforded by possession of wealth.
These documents excluded women, who could not vote or own real property, and they excluded the darker-skinned Indigenous peoples from whom they stole the land on which they were forming a European-style government minus a king. That exclusion was later extended to the Black persons who would be enslaved in the Southern states.
The "struggles" you write of didn't start until almost 100 years later.
Madison and others were closer to being a Deist. It was the age of Enlightenment. Yet its true the persons among “We the People” who were allowed to vote under the new Constitution were only a narrow subgroup of the States: landowning white adult males; self-evident hard truths. Yet still, our independence was based upon the revolutionary age of Enlightenment truths we hold to be self-evident which along with our independence and freedom is now recognized as all individual persons are endowed with equal non-transferable rights.
Well aware that no government is perfect, Jefferson wrote to “Henry Tompkinson” (Samuel Kercheval), in 1816 saying, “I am certainly not an advocate for frequent & untried changes in laws and constitutions ... but I know also that laws and institutions must go hand in hand with the progress of the human mind ... we might as well require a man to wear still the coat which fitted him when a boy, as civilized society to remain ever under the regimen of their barbarous ancestors.” A little over 70 years after George Washington was first sworn as President in 1789 the country was at war with itself. In the years after the Civil War there was rapid growth of industrialization, rail roads, a westward movement, a surge in business incorporations, and new Amendments to the Constitution which the Supreme Court of the United States interpreted in ways which began chipping away at the truths we hold to be self-evident giving those corporations rights. That is what I mean when I say we must get back to the Republic intended by the Framers.
Our “Founding Fathers” had a good grasp that ever since 1773, as in this present crisis with our modern Tory/Nazis of today, lowering taxes and regulations on powerful corporations is not the solution to our problem, it has always been our problem. Imagine Chief Justice John Marshall in 1801, holding the British East India Company, which owned those three tea ships docked in Boston Harbor in1773, to be a person with equal protection of the laws. It’s very likely the entire Court would have been hot tarred, feathered and run out of town on a rail by the Sons of Liberty.
Moreover, I am a big fan of The Who and their “My Generation” too, but any notion of believing it good to make being a “patriot” all f-f-fade away will never work. Every generation may think certain ideas of their parents held should be trashed and may well do so. As a country we have done so, and in most cases we did it peacefully by amendment only. But we have gave a prior generation good cause to sing “Kids” from “Bye Bye Birdie”. The Eighteenth Amendment prohibited the manufacture, sale, and transportation of alcoholic beverages. That made poorly managed criminal gangs into highly structured and well-organized criminal enterprises which are still out of control.
"My Generation" (1965) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qN5zw04WxCc
“Kids” (1960) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1wCXr_6wgns
And how about this version of Revolution 1 from the Beatles 1968 -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JKesrhqYpUQ&list=RDJKesrhqYpUQ&start_radio=1
Great. We need more poets now.
My fav from the Who, Won't Get Fooled Again, applicable today.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_NzLs-xSss0&list=RD_NzLs-xSss0&start_radio=1
Maybe Pete Townshend needs to write again. He is 80 and has some wisdom now too.
Explain how Federalist 10 supports the idea of the rise of a tyrant? Madison is relying on the works of Polybius to argue that the republic as instituted would be a safeguard against such an outcome. In fact it has been the amending of the Constitution away from a republic toward a more direct democracy that has laid the path to Trump. It is the same argument made by Aristotle, Ploybius and Montesquieu.
The idea that there was "no revolution" is meritless, it was not only a break from Britain but from the idea of monarchy, birthright class, and kingship, the norm not just in Europe but globally.
It was the foundation of the application of Enlightened principles found no where else.
Lincoln made clear that the fight was not to establish a new nation but to give new life to and further the ideals of the Founders;
"Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.
Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure."
"...we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain, that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth."
That's an affirmation of the the ideals of the Founders, not a denial of their ideals.
And then there was Citizens United in 2010 in which separate but equal was transformed into rich and poor. The rich can now buy our elections. It'll go down in future history books in the same chapter as Dred Scott. And Roberts as the modern day Taney.
Roberts 6 are an embarrassment to the American people. Maybe they don't remember the constitution
Roberts has parlayed responsibility into power, has he not. Becoming the arbiter of all things congressional or presidential, seems to me. A long, not so subtle goal, of the Reaganite’s, and even before.
Bravo ~
I'll be boycotting the Olympics. Mostly because our Olympians aren't taking a public stand by not going. Instead they will be protected by ICE.
I respect your decision to boycott, but it is extremely unfair to expect these athletes to not attend.
These young people have given years of their lives to training and working toward this goal. The commitment and discipline that is demanded to reach such a level is incredible - and putting off this chance for 4 more years would mean that many would not ever have the opportunity of compete. It is hardly their fault that ICE has been involved. It is not their fault that the USA is now so despised by many in Europe although they may have to face a lot of criticism because of the horrors of the Trump administration.
Eleanor, I'm thinking of Colin Kaepernick, a talented professional football player who gave years of his life to train and work toward his goal of playing pro football.
It was not his fault that racial injustice prevails across the U.S. and it motivates some police officers to use excessive force when interacting with persons of color. But this inhumanity troubled him so much that he was compelled to kneel during the National Anthem. That simple, peaceful protest drew the rage of the current president and cost him his job. He paid a high price for his integrity, but he did what was right. He doesn't have the career he'd hoped for, but he's doing other things and his life has meaning.
It's not Alex Pretti's fault that Donald Trump has deployed untrained fascist thugs into U.S. cities, but Alex stood up for what is right and was executed for coming to the aid of a woman who'd been attacked by Trump's goons. He lost not only his career, but his life.
In the past, U.S. athletes have protested injustice. It's not unreasonable to expect this generation to do the same. They might miss out on this opportunity, but at least they'll survive and live to pursue other opportunities, as well as garner admiration for making a sacrifice for the betterment of humanity.
Eleanor, I respect both yours and Martha's opinions, but I side with her. I can't say that democracy and the rights of 340 million people should step aside so athletes can have their possible last crack at a medal. You are correct, it isn't their fault, but life is OFTEN very unfair, and I am confident every single person on this forum can cite times when life has been extremely unfair to them.
Life wasn't very fair to the Epstein victims, and continues to be so.
I didn't say it was their fault. I believe if they refused to go they would actually have impact, be real heroes. Also, I thought they represent the USA at the games. Which they are…… games. They aren't being asked to die for their country, or be victims…just take a stand like the people in Minnesota. Be real heroes. For sure they won't raise their fists on the podium…ICE will be there to be sure they don't. People get disappointed every day. This isn't the time for indulging dreams. Europe would see it and maybe thinkwe aren't all toxic. lWhat would the MAGA Senators have to say? “Let's hear it for the RW&B and pretend for two weeks that everything is just swell back home in Democracyville.” I will not watch. I will not cheer. I will not listen to the commentators calling them heroes, if they win gold. I can't even name the last gold medalists. It's a vanity project after all. But they could do something good if they threaten to embarrass the Trump administration on the international stage.
I love your professor
But I do not know of this amendment of which you soeak.
Professor Goldberg (RIP) was the leader of the Academic Senate at CSU, LA. He was outstanding. I wrote with my mind looking to what must come to past for the American Revolution to move forward. My Memo on topic includes a model amendment as an example of what IMO must be included. It is 99% completed but needs a good proofread of its 30+ pages. Now I am dealing with a total knee replacement. Soon however, I hope to make a PDF.
You need a whole new Constitution written in modern language. This shit requires an Augean Stables approach.
Bad idea. Real bad.
Excellent summary, sir. But which amendment do you refer to?
Sorry, I wrote with my mind looking to what must come to past for the American Revolution to move forward. My Memo on topic includes a model amendment as an example of what IMO must be included. It is 99% completed but needs a good proofread of its 30+ pages. Now I am dealing with a total knee replacement. Soon however, I hope to make a PDF.
I'm about 6 weeks behind you on the knee replacement. March 4th.
I'd volunteer to proof read, but I suck at it.
Thanks for brining up Mr Dred Scott . His one lawyer was Roswell Field father of the poet Eugene Field. Mr Scott’s case initially included his wife Harriet and their two daughters. There is a site that has the entire history of the Scott family. I can’t recall by I found it during one of my searches.
SCOTUS has been a problem for awhile abd Heather’s dialogue about the history of Citizens z United compelling. For awhile folks were trying to repeal it by use of city legislation. It didn’t work but the new initiative sounds hopeful.
Morning Update per Ali Vitali, Jackie Alemani & Mychael Schnell confirm their facts come "camera worn footage & CBP documentation" made by the OFFICE of PROFESSIONAL RESPONSIBILITY.
Context:
DHS is legally obligated to make a Preliminary Report to Congress using in part the body cameras of the shooters, two (2) CPB shooters, who murdered Alex Pritti.
There were two (2) killers. One federal agent fired a GLOK 19 & the other killer fired his GLOK 47. 10 shots in total confirmed, 3 in the Pritit's back. confirmed. Pritti never "brandished" nor "reached" for a gun.
'The Intercept' published the DHS' legally required "death notice" to Congress yesterday, 1/27/26.
Both CNN & ABC World News have good summary reporting of the DHS' report that went to Congress. See, also the YouTube URL: https: www.youtube.com/watch.
Not a penny more to DHS. Justice for Renee & Alex!
And People magazine, of all places. What a brilliant letter by Heather today. Using cats as bongos? What? Heather is so collected.
The people get this. The world gets this. Alex Pretti is standing in for all who have been hurt by government bullies.
Thank you, Bryan, and all here who continue to keep eyes on the prize of a more perfect union.
And who in today's America, can feel any confidence at all in getting a free and fair investigation out of Kash Patel's FBI? The country needs to turn it all over, all the camera videos etc, and the responsibility, to Minnesota's BCA.
The BCA did get late access to the Crime Scene where they could be scene to carefully examine a bullet hole in a street building.
I. trust the BCA got a bullet fragment and/ or other admissible evidence for STATE prosecution.
Counselor, where did the other 7 shots go?
Good Q Sheriff. I want that admissible questioned answered as well.⚖️
I've had a small part in several OIS shootings, mostly from a peer support standpoint, but a couple times on scene.
That was not any sort of scene investigation. Not. At. All.
Slipshod at best but not surprising.
Bush-league
Tell that to the Schumer crowd
No need, they're on it...
https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/5706856-schumer-democrats-funding-bills-shutdown/
https://www.wfyi.org/news/articles/senate-democrats-and-republicans-call-for-investigation-into-killing-of-alex-pretti
The Hill & fyi.org/nes ae both excellent sources. Good one Gary.
I called Massie’s DC office to thank him for what he is doing for the Trumpstein victims and his response re: illegal gun violence.
Will they cave is the Q. They start out strong, but repubs laugh at their wavering (ifs, ands, buts, and maybes)
Ironically, the great weapon used so often by arch conservatives to defeat the liberal agenda is now the best weapon to use against Trump's fascist war on America. States Rights!
The 2nd Amendment gives to each State the right to keep an armed militia to protect people's freedom in its State. Today the " armed militia" is the National Guard. The undisputed threat to freedom in the States is Trump and his private army; ICE and CBP.
We cannot expect private protestors to stand up to fully armed, undisciplined agents of the Federal government.
I agree the national guard should stand beside the American citizens and help defend us. The administration calls protesters terrorists BUT they are the ones aiming guns at American citizens
And, Patty, who stormed the Capitol?
We know the most criminal were Oath Keepers, Proud Boys, and Three Percenters. We also know they've likely now folded in to Donald's criminal gangs of thugs and murderers, ICE and CBP. We know the six justices on what used to be the Supreme Court since 2000 (Bush v. Gore) threw the national election for the U.S. fossil fuel hegemons, since 2010 (Citizens United) threw all elections to dark money, and since more recently ruled for Donald and all his corruption and criminality to rule as fascist-in-chief.
Goes without saying that the Republican party followed the Jan. 6, 2021 thug militias in standing back and standing by. And that Dems . . . ?
Yes the trump proud boys, oath keepers, and racist stormed the capitol and killed and beat the capitol police. Trump wanted Pence hung. Trump pardoned them, many went on to commit more crimes and now he's given them jobs to kill people. As the beloved supreme court justice, Ruth Bader Ginsberg repeated said END CITIZENS UNITED!!! Roberts's 6 need to read the constitution and follow it.
100% Untrue. Trum did not want Pence hung. The Feds had over 250 Uncover Agents at J6. If only the Left would get this Upset about the Innocent American Girls and Women Illegals have killed, or the Innocent Girls and Women killed from violent criminals constantly being let out of jail by Leftwing Suicidal Empathic Judges. How ever tragic and it is tragic the death of both Good and Pretti are, it is still the fault of weak corrupted Democrat MN Leadership that caused their death. Walz should have called in the National Guard at the beginning of ICE Operations for the dual purpose of Protecting ICE Officers and the Citizens who have been brainwashed to thinking protecting Double and Triple Criminal Violent Illegals are worth risking their life over. And I blame Trump for not already using the Insurrection Act to do the same thing but with Elite Special Forces who will not be careless to overreact the way that ICE Officer may have overreacted in the Pretti shooting.
And we know Kash Patel's investigations will be hopelessly tainted by their mandate to serve up MAGA-friendly folderol.
Surely someone here can help me out with this, not sure where I read this, but there is the assertation that a fascist government would take the guns away from all people so as to prevent an uprising against them.
Maybe Tim Snyder said that?
These horrific murders might be a wake up call to some of those Second Amendment fans.
A fascist government would definitely prefer an unarmed populace. But I don’t think Trump could manage that. Too many MAGA are gun nuts.
He was right, acceptance of the law is what rules us, and it is slip-sliding away.
"I was influenced by a professor who was also a licensed lawyer who said that the public's acceptance of "the legitimacy" of law is key to the effectiveness of law."
I was influenced by a rabbi - Harry Halpern of East Midwood Jewish Center - who was also a lawyer and advocate for civil rights. (He was also the young Ruth Bader Ginsburg's rabbi.) Acceptance of the law at Sinai is central to the story of the Torah. And the story of 'God grows up.' From the destructive autocratic power of the banishment from Eden and The Flood to an agreed framework of how to work and live together. Much as in the history of nations, the rejection of The Divine Right of Kings and the allegiance to the institutions of democracy.
I have posted this before, but Lincoln is much like fine music:
"That is the issue that will continue in this country when these poor tongues of Judge Douglas and myself shall be silent. It is the eternal struggle between these two principles -- right and wrong -- throughout the world. They are the two principles that have stood face to face from the beginning of time, and will ever continue to struggle. The one is the common right of humanity and the other the divine right of kings."
The actions necessary to rediscover and disseminate all of our lost wisdom will be immense amid the calamities of these doomed times, as we all hope that a better age will follow, where communities will be governed by consent rather than by force. In the meantime, we are living under the reign of a tyrant whose malignancy will be difficult to eradicate - at least in the short term.....
Steven Miller is not only trying to control the tearing down of law’s legitimacy on behalf of Project 2025, he’s following Trump’s order to do anything to distract attention to the Epstein/Ghislaine files.
J L, the Republican Party is not only trying to destroy the rule of law, they’re trying to destroy the belief that elections are legitimate if Republicans don’t win. That’s very likely the reason that Pam Bondi is demanding the Minnesota voter rolls. When she doesn’t get them, she’ll double down on stating that the state is allowing ineligible people to vote. https://www.cnn.com/2026/01/27/politics/pam-bondi-voter-rolls-minnesota-ice
The founders/framers were human and imperfect, and products of their time, a fact they recognized calling for MORE perfect union and a process for amending the Constitution. Knowing what had gone wrong and what could go wrong, they tried to get ahead of it, but in my view failed to adequately state the primacy of full and free voting as the ultimate precondition for a just democratic republic. It seems to me that it's not just an "oopsie" when a qualified citizen is carelessly of maliciously prevented from voting, it is a breach of a human right, worthy of vigilant prevention and redress. The Electoral College, about which I thought the equivalent of WTF in 7th or 8th grade when I was first told of it, is a denial of, to me essential, one person, one vote, especially in the contest for president, for whom ALL Americans are constituent (even if MAGA doesn't think so). Equal justice and equal protection are in large part dependent on equal representation, and that isn't happening. Just isn't. Is that not self-evident, especially with Republicans finding so many ways to impede fair and free elections, or even wondering aloud whether to support them at all?
“The things they had in there were crazy. They had things, levels of voting that if you’d ever agreed to it, you’d never have a Republican elected in this country again,” - Mad King Donny
Starting with the Roberts court, which told Trump he was free to commit crimes.
Your professor was probably referring to Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., who observed that, “The first requirement of a sound body of law is, that it should correspond with the actual feelings and demands of the community, whether right or wrong.”
Trouble is, Joseph, isolating "the actual feelings and demands of the community."
If American schools hadn't been snickered into dropping humanities, and pushing instead testing's neutered, dehumanized assembly lines -- if these twin histories hadn't happened -- American politicians, pundits, and other elites could have been equipped with the necessary humanities to gauge feelings across the land on the damages other elites did with their wholescale wrecking of hundreds of U.S. communities by offshoring their working class jobs.
Politicians, pundits, and other elites never got equipped by the visions American artists recorded of those damages.
Enter fascism.
Although those feelings, and it seems to me that feelings and how we sort them has as much to do with wisdom as evidence and logic. Significance implies a value as well as an accurate observation, and I think that discovery, even in the hard sciences, has as much to do with what one selects to pay attention to as well as the factual fecundity of the chosen direction. As in forensic science, which details are likely to be telling, and which distracting? That implies a goal. I think AND care, therefore I am. And we do care. An infant cares about infant things and let's you know it.
It seems to me that "unalienable rights" in the Declaration of Independence is an appeal, that when we reach for fundamentals, enough of us agree to in common. Adequately shared deathbed, bottom line, human values. More casual public sentiment is more fluid, and I think the Constitution is something of a flywheel on that, to sort out some of the more ephemeral variations. Despite the Declaration, slavery was considered acceptable enough that 12 presidents were said to have held slaves at one time or another two thirds while in office. And then came enough support for abolition.
“In this age, in this country, public sentiment is everything. With it, nothing can fail; against it, nothing can succeed. Whoever molds public sentiment goes deeper than he who enacts statutes, or pronounces judicial decisions.” - Lincoln
One does not have power unless those around them allow it.
Exactly, though circumstance can make that complicated. Money, political favors and coercions, and various forms of violence can profoundly influence human behavior, one way or another. Money is an easy way to get what you want, if you have it. Violence is another, and money can be gained and used in violent ways.
Violence robs us of liberty and justice, although I think, as a last resort, acts of violence are legitimately met with force, WWII as an example. It seems to me that the mark of good governance is sparing and proportionate use of force and deescalation of potential violence whenever practical.
There are points in human history where the carrot and stick is not sufficient to to sway actions for survival of the soul.
You need to go back to school obviously
Netherlands is discussing a boycott.
Let us hope the Dutch are joined by the entire European Union and its social-democratic allies elsewhere.
Players from the list of nations on Trump's no immigrant visa list should refuse to participate in games in the US and should tell FIFA they are boycotting unless the games are moved to Canada and Mexico for their safety. Perplexity turned up a list of 9 countries so take it with a grain of salt: Iran, Haiti, Senegal, Cote D'Ivoire, Algeria, Cape Verde, Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia. That should give other countries motivation to boycott. Who would want a cup won under that cloud?
It will be interesting to see what FIFA does after giving Trump its bogus FIFA Peace Prize. The consequences of obeisance in advance...
I would hope US players would boycott on the safety issue. The US team is scheduled to play 3 games in the US. The first two games are against Paraguay and Australia.
"It will be interesting to see what FIFA does after giving Trump its bogus FIFA Peace Prize. The consequences of obeisance in advance..."
A blatant breach of integrity that should live in infamy.
If you're worried about your retirement funds being wiped out, there are plenty of International funds and investment opportunities outside of the US.
As Paul Krugman pointed out, international funds outperformed domestic funds in 2025.
The value of the US dollar is declining under Trump.
That will be fine as well.
What does this comment mean?
Take a guess.
General Strike"ICE Out" across the entire USA. this FRIDAY, January 30, 202.........
Strike for Renee & Alex!
And for ALL of the people Trump and the Republican politiicians have murdered through violence, starvation and lack of health care and affordable prescriptions.
123 Venezuelans and Cubans have died at the hands of Trump and Kegsbreath. All of these murders are illegal.
Not to mention immigrants sent to hell-hole prisons without due process. And families from Trump's first reign of terror, many of whom, so far as I know, have yet to be reunited with their children.
I need to find out if our state capital or federal building is the place and the massive snows will make it a challenge.
What would a boycott include? Others should join them…
Great
Boycotting the World Cup and the US part of the Olympics is being discussed here in Germany and in many of the other Indivisible Abroad countries.
I think we should be calling Trump "the Ayatollah Trump." It will better illustrate where his tactics hail from with the citizens, and can hopefully alienate part of his base.
Great idea for my next sign: The Ayatollah Pedophile Trump Regime at Your Service
He definitely IS a low-class criminal and mobster. That he has corralled so much hate in a large portion of the American public is deeply disturbing.
Remember : RED HAT. HATRED.
Trump’s motto.
So obvious, but I'd never seen this before. Kudos.
Sigh, remember, Craig, when a red hat was just a red hat? Miss those days…
As with the MOB;
Mob boss John Gotti had tons of money, many many followers, and the best attorneys money could buy.
Gotti won so many of his court cases that he was dubbed The Teflon Don.
BUT...it still didn't stop him from dying in PRISON in Missouri!
🤞🤞🤞🤞🤞🤞
https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/05/donald-trump-2016-mob-organized-crime-213910/
Heather mentioned Republican Chris Madel's withdrawal from the Minnesota gubernatorial race in her politics chat yesterday. Madel denounced the ICE Gestapo and the Republican Party. Heather sounded hopeful about it. I definitely needed to focus on something hopeful.
I dug around and found a video of his whole speech and did a deep dive on it. I wanted to see if it really was a rare example of public integrity by a Republican.
In politics, there is always a balance between altruism and self-interest. I wanted to get past the sound bites because I believe that we need to see a new group of Republicans turn their back on Trump if we have a chance at saving democracy. There haven't been any for a long while.
Madel is a political newcomer who is an attorney.
You can read the details at
https://georgiafisanick.substack.com/p/is-chris-mandel-a-beacon-of-republican
Madel is a pre-Trump conservative. The balance tips slightly to the altruistic in my opinion, but not as much as I had hoped.
In the end, it's a start in the right direction.
I wonder if we are forced to grasp at straws here, since the bar is so low in terms of our expectations for the GOP?
Essentially, yes, we are. But it is better than nothing. It has to start somewhere. We have to peel away at least 10% of the remaining Republicans to get to a large enough majority to get to veto-proof, so there can be major reforms quickly.
Madel was a political neophyte, a veritable babe in the woods. He wasn't beholden to anyone yet. He wasn't a career pol. He still had some sense of ethical standards, but he drank the Kool-Aid on several things, like the YouTuber on the fraud allegations.
Georgia, you are such a disciplined investigator. I admire you.
You've confirmed my impression of the current "change of heart" among a few Republicans. Color me cynical, but all I've read suggests that Republicans who've voiced timid objections to Donald's actions are decidedly preoccupied with his negative influence on their chances for electoral success; they're not too bothered by the inhumanity or damage to democracy.
This supports the Republican mantra: "Winning is Everything."
Winning is the primary goal of every politician. The question is can you find ones who can win with integrity and values intact and policies that help their constituents?
It will always be a balance of altruism and self-interest with politicians.
And that requires a constituency that is educated enough to recognize what is in their own best interests.
Once the educated constituency is lost, altruism is no longer relevant and we are in the realm of pure corruption.
Like now.
Precisely.
Agree Dale, Georgia does the deep dives,
2026 is not a slogan. It is a reckoning. From Minneapolis to cities across the country, public outrage has transformed grief into a democratic force. This essay argues that Americans are rediscovering their sovereignty, compelling political response, and reclaiming the original meaning of democracy: rule by the people.
''2026: Is the Year of the People''
2026 is the year of the people because the public is no longer absorbing loss in silence. The outrage following the killings of Rene Good and Alex Petti is not fading. It is intensifying. It is organizing. It is forcing the country to confront the gap between what democracy claims to be and how power actually operates.
These deaths are not being quietly processed through official channels and forgotten. They are producing a sustained public response. People are in the streets. They are filling council chambers. They are confronting officials directly. Grief is no longer being managed. It is being transformed into action.
This is the moment where democracy stops being theoretical.
Minneapolis sits at the center of this shift, not because they seek to lead, but because they expose a pattern that exists everywhere. When institutions respond to killing with delay, deflection, and lies, legitimacy erodes. Authority that cannot justify itself loses its claim to obedience. That is not disorder. That is democratic logic.
Democracy does not mean calm. It means rule by the people. It means that power originates in the public, not in agencies, offices, or political careers. Consent is not permanent. It is conditional. When consent is violated repeatedly, people are not required to wait quietly for correction. They are entitled to intervene.
That understanding is spreading right now.
The outrage surrounding these killings is not just about two lives, although those lives matter deeply. It is about a system that repeatedly asks the public to trust processes that protect themselves first. People recognize the pattern. Recognition changes behavior. Once legitimacy collapses, power must be earned again, or it will be challenged.
That challenge is underway.
Across communities, protest is becoming durable rather than reactive. This is not a weekend response or a social media surge. It is a sustained insistence that accountability is not optional. People are no longer accepting symbolic gestures, task forces, or carefully worded statements as substitutes for change.
This persistence is what forces a political response.
Politicians are turning a corner not because of sudden courage, but because public pressure is now unavoidable. Silence is no longer safe. Neutral language is no longer sufficient. Elected officials are being pushed to declare where they stand, to demand investigations, to distance themselves from unaccountable force, or to risk being seen as complicit.
This is democracy working in real time.
For years, Americans were told that protest was disruptive and patience was responsible. Meanwhile, the costs of that patience were borne by communities, families, and individuals whose lives were treated as collateral. In 2026, that logic is breaking down. People are rejecting the idea that stability matters more than justice.
The killings of Rene Good and Alex Petti make the stakes unmistakable. They demonstrate that unchecked authority and democratic ideals cannot coexist. They expose the lie that accountability will arrive on its own if people wait long enough.
People are no longer waiting.
This moment also marks a shift in how democracy is understood. Voting remains essential, but it is no longer treated as the limit of participation. People are exercising sovereignty through collective action, public refusal, and moral clarity. They are reminding institutions that democracy is not something granted from above. It is practiced from below.
Power is responding because it has to.
Officials now operate under conditions where public memory is longer and tolerance for evasion is thinner. Communities are tracking outcomes, not promises. They are refusing to let grief be pacified by procedure. This is not emotional volatility. It is civic maturation.
Critics call this dangerous. History shows that every meaningful assertion of democratic power is labeled dangerous by those who benefit from insulation. What is truly dangerous is a system that demands obedience while avoiding accountability.
2026 feels different because people feel different. They are no longer confused about where power originates. They are no longer mistaking authority for legitimacy. They are acting on the understanding that sovereignty begins with the people and only continues with their consent.
This is not chaos. It is correction.
The people are not asking to be reassured. They are demanding change. They are asserting that democracy is not a performance but a responsibility. And they are making it clear that when institutions fail, the public does not disappear.
It rises.
That is what is happening now. That is why 2026 is the year of the people.
https://essayx.substack.com/p/2026-is-the-year-of-the-people
If only the Left would get this Upset about the Innocent American Girls and Women Illegals have murdered, or the Innocent Girls and Women killed from violent criminals constantly being let out of jail by Leftwing Suicidal Empathic Judges. How ever tragic and it is tragic the death of both Good and Pretti are and the death of innocents anywhere, it is still the fault of weak corrupted Democrat MN Leadership that caused their death. Walz should have called in the National Guard at the beginning of ICE Operations for the dual purpose of Protecting ICE Officers and the Citizens who have been brainwashed to thinking protecting Double and Triple Criminal Violent Illegals are worth risking their life over. Walz should have already turned over illegals in the MN Prison System to the Feds. And a small amount of blame is on Trump for not already using the Insurrection Act to do the same thing of dual protections but with Special Forces who will not be careless to overreact the way the ICE Officer may have overreacted in the Pretti shooting. In any case a strong case can be made that the Democrat Party only cares about power and criminals, illegals, agitators, and destroying America to rule over the ashes.
We should peg trump as what he is - a tedious mythomaniac. Everyone knows he is the enfant terrible who speaks for the new barbarians.
Ha, like “mythomaniac” Stephanie!!!! A con-fabulist and legend in his own mind.
Phil, excellent post to start my am. Thank you. I had a round with a MAGA yesterday on the thread of a friend. I hated to respond in a way, but the poster was blaming Pretti for his death and it was a "stupid" protest. Basically, it was a clone of what we are hearing from the right wing. I answered with a fairly long post where I pointed out several things. The reply came, as I knew it would, with no response to what I had mentioned, but name calling and insults which is basically all they have. I told her she is on block watch, so far no reply. I would love to see the World Cup game moved elsewhere. I would love to see enough people in Congress stand up. It would not take many. As for the Supremes, pfft.
Phil, I hope the people of Italy and Milan in particular keep their refusal in place, to allow ICE or any other US DHS officials into their communities for the Olympic games. DHS has proven their incompetence and utter cruelty against our own people. What might they do to other people?
Hard to read that statement from Biden, so full of patriotism and common sense, and realize that that era seems to be gone in the petty, vicious, ego-driven Trump regime.
America has lost its greatness to a fascist felon and graft expert.
Remember when we were not afraid to turn on the news? Seems like such a simpler time, tho the issues still existed…now it’s how those issues are being handled, or rather terribly mishandled.
Is institutional America committing suicide, or is it being murdered as Good and Pretti were?
I had to look up the definition of “institutional America” because your question deserves much thought. Looking at the AI Overview answer (because it’s a massive concept), I think your question is too big to give a sweeping generalization as to murder or suicide.
But I think neither. Our core pillars, scope, and functions remain. In some form, they always will and so will the Purpose. Again, looking at it collectively as Institutional America.
In the current state though, I think it is neither murder or suicide but an implosion. A generational shrapnel bomb. If history repeats itself, does this not resemble a great deal of the late 1960’s and even early 70’s? Is it possible that this immigration push is a modern day civil rights movement?
History repeats but there isn’t necessarily an event-to-event correlation. We don’t have to necessarily have an actual Vietnam, MLK, or Nazi Germany to be experiencing a generational event. Heather of all people has the magnificent ability to take the necessary steps back and view with broader perspective while we are waist-deep in the rivers and unable to.
What I do see is scrambling and panic at our White House as everyone points a finger now. Noem says she acted only on direction from Trump and Miller but we know that means Miller because Trump was wholly unaware of the events as they were happening; not possible for him to have directed Noem’s response.
Which means 1) Noem is incapable or prohibited from controlling her department and 2) Miller makes decisions, acts, and informs the President and heads much later.
So is the better question who is the responsible authority of our country?
Many (interlocked, interdependent) institutions, Marybeth.
The universities. K-12 state agencies. Elite law. Social media. Mainstream media.
Both, Gary.
I hope the Italians deny visas to any ICE or border patrol agents and I hoe that JD Vance and his entourage are given NO recognition at the Winter Olympics.
They deserve to be shunned.
"The World" actually sees the neofascist GOP as the very cause of the problem here.
Yes, foreign newspapers laugh at Trump. But they're not as ignorant as US legacy media. They know that a highly manipulable man as Trump (fact that Kamala Harris has proven beyond any doubt during the president debate) is manipulated by people. By NEOFASCIST REPUBLICANS.
This is not "institutional America committing suicide". It's one of America's two major parties, the Grand Old Party, that is now neofascist so it wants to MURDER DEMOCRACY and replace it with fascism.
The reason why the Republican Congress isn't taking any initiatives (as a normal, democratic Congress does) is not that they want to "do nothing". It's because they believe, as Mike Johnson said, that from now on, the role of Congress is to "codify the executive orders signed by the president". That is the very definition of fascism. Letting the executive write the bills, rather than people representing their own constituents in Congress, that IS a fascist way of governing. It IS what the GOP itself today actively believes is best for America and what it wants.
The problem is SO much worse than just Trump and a few other guys and gals. It's amazing that one year in, so many well-intentioned Americans still don't see this fact.
Damn right. With all due respect to former President Biden the world does indeed know what the USA is about and they are holding us ( not just one party) accountable. American exceptionalism? Our allies or former allies are having none of it.
I'm a big soccer fan, who has traveled abroad to support our country’s national team in World Cup matches and qualifiers. I will not be watching one minute of this year’s World Cup.
Phil. Visions of the Soup Nazi appear as the voice rings true
Shun them on the World Stage
“You are not welcome here”
The White House is ordering murders on innocent people, and no commitment to the truth.
Prof.Jeffrey Sachs-Trump Using the Economy as a Weapon | JudgeNap (01/27/26)
https://www.youtube.com/live/oOF-7H3xXxk?si=yYOswlr-3dWVOXte
Trump is at war with American Citizens. Miller is an architect of war in international and domestic relations. Congress has declared itself dead, and hasn’t exercised any single function that the Constitution gives it. Is the Supreme Court going to allow this complete lawlessness? It’s the job of the Supreme Court to hold up the Constitution.
.
‘SLOGANs….Repetition Creates Truth Without Evidence” (see Sachs frustration in the YouTube interview with the Judge above - Trump is using ‘slogans’ to con the MAGA)
“Slogans, then, are not intellectual shortcuts taken by people who lack the capacity for deeper reasoning. They are tools used precisely because deeper reasoning would threaten the coherence of the moral system being defended.
Authoritarian language has long relied on this mechanism. 🆘
https://open.substack.com/pub/therationalleague/p/why-maga-keeps-saying-things-that?r=kxzps&utm_medium=ios&shareImageVariant=overlay
✅ Their purpose is not to assess what occurred, whether force was justified, or whether legal authority was exceeded. Their purpose is to foreclose those questions entirely.
✅ The same pattern appears when protest is labeled as “domestic terrorism” or dissent is framed as rebellion. These phrases do not clarify the nature of the action or its legality.
✅ Once the label is applied, debate is no longer about proportionality, legality, or ethics. It is about loyalty versus danger.
✅ If slogans function as stop-signs, ritual language functions as rhythm. Its power lies not in what is said, but in how often, how simply, and how emotionally it is delivered.
✅ Participation, in this sense, becomes a substitute for understanding. Chanting, repeating, and affirming shared phrases synchronize emotion across the group, producing a feeling of unity that mimics conviction.”
“This is why the problem cannot be addressed solely at the level of fact-checking or policy debate. The deeper issue is linguistic conditioning that reshapes moral perception itself.”
Why MAGA Keeps Saying Things That Don’t Make Sense, and Why It Works
THE RATIONAL LEAGUE
JAN 28 2026 | Substack
https://open.substack.com/pub/therationalleague/p/why-maga-keeps-saying-things-that?r=kxzps&utm_medium=ios&shareImageVariant=overlay
Repetition creates the impression of truth, not truth itself. There is a difference!
Clearly, although repetition is often involved in legitimate learning. That is one of the ways protest works, focusing sustained attention on injustice when it might (temporarily) easier to look the other way. Neurons that fire together wire together.
My neurons need repetition these days.
"If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it," attributed to Joseph Goebbels, Nazi Minister of Propaganda
The Repub mantra
Hitler used the 'Big Lie' that he first mentioned in Mein Kampf to describe how the masses could be manipulated. Psychologically, it's the "illusory truth effect" a propaganda technique and a form of cognitive manipulation where a falsehood of extreme magnitude is repeated constantly and relentlessly until the public accepts it as truth. Hitler, Goebbels, and the Nazis found that successful propaganda spoke to people’s emotions more than their intellect, limiting it to a few points, and harped on slogans. He said repeating simple slogans was necessary for the masses to retain them.
Trump does this consistently, lying constantly, while the legions of MAGA just swallow the spoon fed lies, propaganda, disinformation and drivel without ever questioning it(it seems).
Well said. Our country with the blessed exception of the protesters- the majority thank god - is starting to look like Jonestown.
After WWII, Hannah Arendt researched the effects of Nazi propaganda extensively. Trimp and Miller and not even the Soviets invented this. It's been around forever. The good news is we can inoculate ourselves and society so we're not susceptible.
See: https://www.openculture.com/2026/01/hannah-arendt-explains-how-propaganda-uses-lies-to-erode-all-truth.html
The Democrat Party and its Elite Handlers control the means of production for 80% of all media. It controls the legacy networks, the legacy newspapers, most of Hollywood. It controls almost all of Social Media and Big Tech. It has far more Wealth and Billionaires on its side. The Left is not fighting for the People. It is fighting to create a Another Marxist Utopia controlled by another set of Elite, by brainwashing the People to thinking this version of Utopia will be the one. But in reality it will end in abject failure like all the rest of them.
Oh the ‘Democrat’ Party…really didn’t have to read anything after that cause you said it all with that misnomer.
Highly recommend Rational League. On my daily read list. I always find it interesting and insightful, useful and fresh--never the 10th rehash of the same click bait.
It is an analysis rather than report. Highly recommend!!
“(T)he rank and file are usually much more primitive than we imagine. Propaganda must therefore always be essentially simple and repetitious. In the long run only he will achieve basic results in influencing public opinion who is able to reduce problems to the simplest terms and who has the courage to keep forever repeating them in this simplified form despite the objections of the intellectuals.”—NAZI Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels, January 1942
Remember the republican convention with all those diaper and ear pad wearing sycophants waving the pre-printed signs that said ‘mass deportations now’? Yea, they didn’t seem to even WANT a ‘capacity for deeper reasoning’.
JaKsaa, in just the past few days, I dissected Donald's "Make America Great Again" slogan and realized he told us everything when he (or a staffer) coined it. Breaking it down in reverse order ...
"Again" implies that the U.S. was once great during some time period. The 1950s? The 1890s? In truth, the U.S. has aspired to greatness, but has never achieved it. Not as long as discrimination has been integral to our existence. We've had brief, historical moments of goodness, but they didn't last. There is no "again" for the U.S.
"Great" is a subjective adjective. Who gets to decide what is "great?" We the People? Republicans? Donald has made it crystal clear that only he is the arbiter of what is great. Given his wealthy white trash background, his definition of "great" is not very appealing.
"America" is typically understood to mean The United States, which is rather arrogant and presumptive. There are three continents bearing the name of "America." As it turns out, Donald thinks he should own all of them. He told us and we didn't pay attention.
"Make" is a verb that means "to create" or "to force." Donald is using the word in the "force" context, meaning he intends to force the American people to be the subjects of whom he demands worship and obedience.
It was all there, and nobody paid attention.
And yet the American people are fighting back. And Congress may be showing signs of real life. Noem may well be tomorrow’s roadkill, and Trump is engaging in more tactical retreats faster than he can continue rage-tweeting at night. Judges are increasingly issuing orders and holding ICE and other agencies in contempt.
You can use these pages to re-state the obvious — over and over again — preaching to the already converted — or you can search (and find) the light coming in through the deepening cracks faster than they can keep patching it all up again.
Myself, I’m going for the latter, not the former.
Many (most) of us write or call our worthless Republican elected officials, We peacefully protest. We write letters to my local papers. We boycott Walmart, Amazon, The Home Depot and other national chains including every chain restaurant. We attend town hall meetings even though every fucking Republican politician is too cowardly to host one.
And yes, I bitch and moan and whine out here everyday-- not because I think that it will change anything, but because it gives me the courage to do all of the above and because it is therapeutic to my mental health.
I am grateful for each and every one that comments here and takes the time and effort to read the LFAA and the comments.
Many of us are domestic terrorists according to Trump's definition of terrorist. One of the big differences between Hitler's regime and Trump's is that almost all of us have smart phones to video tape and warn others about the Trump SS. We also still have the Internet and some corporate media outlets. We also have several governors and state legislatures that are fighting back on our behalf.
If DHS is really putting together a database of protesters, a/k/a "domestic terrorists," it's going to include half the country. Homan says, "We’re going to let their employers, in their neighborhoods, in their schools, know who these people are.” Big f*%& deal!!
This fellow ‘domestic terrorist’ salutes you and stands with you!
Nothing makes my blood boil as much as this crap we are all neck-deep in but I refuse to shut up and sit down!
Hear, hear! Where there is light, there is no darkness.
Thank you, ICTT.
Today from Heather, who always points out the light in the cracks: "The anger has been so overwhelming that it has changed the course of national politics."
Call your reps, everybody. Take care of yourselves and call your reps.
I remarked to my wife 2 days ago, that maybe, just maybe, we have reached the turning point. But it is up to all of us to make sure that is the case. We need to stay angry, stay motivated, and push hard on the softest pressure points. We need to nominate fighters this primary season and we need harden our general elections this fall. We don't know what kind of tomfuckery the GOP will attempt to destroy the elections, but it is coming and we need to be ready. We need to knock on the doors, send the postcards, make the phone calls (I hate phonebanking, too), write letters to the editor, and if you have the opportunity, work as a paid election observer. It's a long day and it's mostly boring monotonous work, but the fact you are there makes a big difference. Don't let this new-found momentum go to waste, and don't let those 9 lives who have already been lost in 2026 to ICE violence and cruelty be in vain. We owe them and our country our very best.
So true. Real democracy at work is generally as exciting as brushing your teeth. The really interesting stuff only starts when you stop brushing....
We certainly have some cavities right now. We might even need a root canal.
How about both? I get a great deal of both comfort and motivation from reading the Letters and interacting with other commenters. A very specific example is Megan's spreadsheet, which I use and share. Another is the motivation and support for going out and protesting, and different ways to engage in both action and conversation.
ICCT---agreed! I had lunch yesterday with a very long time friend, whose politics I would term as MAGA-Light. (She is a Trump voter but differed with MAGA on a number of issues). Anyhow, my take from yesterday: she is appalled at ICE; she hates Vance, Noem and Miller; doesn't think Trump has dementia but has "old person disease" which she defines as slowing down, like Biden; recognizes we need immigrants as the population is going down; and questioned me extensively about vaccines (I'm retired healthcare) but herself said that herd immunity comes about after a great deal of non-immune die.
I continue to reach out to those I consider persuadable.
Theoretically. I keep chaffing against the notion of permitting judges to rule on the behavior of the very person who personally selected and seated by that person. Does that not scream "conflict of interests" if not blatant corruption??
It didn't used to. Now...? There are a number of Trump-appointed judges who have ruled against Maladministration II.
SCOTUS installed the nitwit in the Oval Office over the objections of the Florida Supreme Court, which the Florida court expressed in their ruling on the counting of votes. If SCOTUS had not interfered with the the counting of votes, the nitwit would never have been president, and the world would be a much better place today (maybe even in a position to curtail global warming and probably without the catastrophy of two unnecessary, 20-year wars in Iraq and Afghanistan). Scalia corrupted the court beyond repair. He was a partisan activist, not a balanced jurist. Rehnquist was just as bad. Yes, SCOTUS and much of the rest of the federal judiciary is much worse now, but SCOTUS has been acting corruptly for a long time.
I have wondered if more balanced Kennedy has ever regretted handing his replacement to the whims of Trump?
And even now the The Nitwit looks comparatively lawful compared to sociopath, his lies and use of the outrage over a genuine terrorist attack to depart from established constitutional constraints, precedent which The Sociopath pushes even further, and much closer to home.
And don't forget that Nitwit was warned in advance that a potential terrorist plot was brewing, and appeared to dismiss it.
Scalia implied that he could read the minds of the framers, but the framers graciously bequeathed a rational set of principles, not commandments on divine-right personal authority; and you can make an Ouija Board say anything. In the end, legitimate governmental authority rests with collective wisdom of We the People, but the Constitution prescribes orderly protocols for doing so, and protects individual rights, along with the collective general welfare. De facto impunity for ICE is as unconstitutional as hell. We will see if $COTUS is as shameless on that given the current public uproar as they were on defining an unaccountable president.
Only to be overridden by the Fascist arm of SCOTUS.
Many of those judges, Mr. Graham, have ruled against the don who appointed them.
Certainly some federal justices appointed by Trump have drawn a line on some of his overreach, as well as justices appointed by other Republicans. J. Micheal Luttig, appointed by Bush the First has been an ally of Ted Cruz and and Clarence Thomas was furious about the claim of presidential immunity for which he finds no basis whatever in the text of the Constitution. On that subject he said:
“America’s democracy and rule of law are this country’s heart and soul,” he continued. “Our democracy and the rule of law are what had made America the envy of the world and the beacon of freedom to the world for almost 250 years now. Today, the Supreme Court cut that heart and soul out of America.”
And Judge Cannon has certainly proved to be a shameless Trump toady. Republicans in $COTUS are more nuanced as they serve Trump per se less than plutocracy; as in denying the right to class action suits to Walmart employees, but play a major role in creating an authoritarian presidency that claims to be accountable only to it's own fictitious "conscience". Follow the money.
I admit to only knowing Judge Luttig in his more recent pronouncements which have been against the current regime.
In ordinary times, no. Today? The constant favoring of the policies of ffpotus in spite of already established law leans in that direction.
When discussing $COTUS, I think the corruption is on display, specifically with Kavanaugh and Barrett.
I think it's pretty blatant with Gorsuch, Thomas and Alito too.
The bloodthirsty regime and depraved Republicans seem poised to ignite a civil war. They work daily to destroy any vestige of America that remains from the end of 2024. Alas.
There is a red line that Trump and Miller dare not cross. They may have already crossed it, but eventually we will find out. If Putin dies or is deposed, Trump and the US have virtually no allies except perhaps Bibi and a few other autocrats.
Do they know where that line is, or if there is one. Nah, they just accelerate…
I hope you’re right, but all such expectations like that, so far, have proven to be far too optimistic. About half of our fellow Americans (60% if you limit the observation to the dominant cohort, namely white Americans) are very bad bunch. I would call them deeply unAmerican if being American could be regarded as a generally good thing, but that notion was proven false in 1968, and it’s been getting steadily, since then, more and more obviously false.
IMHO...Sadly, Citizen's United took care of that last check fairly sufficiently a while ago.
The Montana Plan of the Transparent Election Initiative can emasculate Citizens United. If you want to bring down Citizens United, put your effort and money into that project.
Thy name isCorruption!
Yes, JaKsaa -- "to hold up the Constitution.
As only fascists and Putin agents would.
Writing again from Minneapolis, and as per usual I can’t get to sleep at a decent hour…
Although in some ways today felt a little lighter with Bovino gone, in other ways concern continues to grow. I feel it’s appropriate to note that yesterday was Holocaust Remembrance Day. I’m a 3rd Generation Holocaust Survivor, and daily I’m reminded why “Never Again” are the most powerful words to live by for me during this time. Also for anyone wondering, I do NOT believe Tim Walz was out of line with his Anne Frank comparison. I can’t prove it, but I’m guessing that messaging came from Trump’s appointees.
To begin with, seeing Tim Walz in an interview today speak about his conversations with Tim Homan being more grounded in reality feels like it should be a positive. However in actuality it makes me think that this administration is just trying to get us to put our guard down and dampen the media pressure. I do not want us to fall into that trap.
Heather’s comments about Patel investigating Signal communication really struck a nerve. I received a notification in my Signal chat today about compromised access, and it was advised to update our security protocols. This is so fucking scary to me as these groups are literally there so we can coordinate support and protection. The idea that this would be construed as domestic terrorist behavior that needs to be criminally investigated is some serious Gestapo shit.
Finally Ilhan Omar who represents my district was sprayed with an “unknown substance” while discussing the need to disband ICE. Afterwards she stood her ground like a bad ass and continued her speech.
“Possible” baby steps forward, but speaking for myself and I believe many here in the Twin Cities it is far too early to let our foot off the gas.
Everything you feel makes perfect sense — both the cautious hope as well as the deep trepidation, knowing their long history of deceit and deception.
Yesterday, International Holocaust Remembrance Day, deserves its own special recognition. In 1933, a few weeks after the Nazis took power and Propaganda Minister Gõbbels issued his plea to German students to “cleanse” the country of “unclean” Jewish culture, and deranged students complied by burning some of the world’s greatest literature, science and history, Helen Keller found out her books had been in those bonfires, too. She wrote an ‘Open Letter to German Youth’ in May — the New York Times published it on its front page.
‘You can burn ALL of my books’ she said, ‘and destroy the works of the finest minds in America and Europe,’ she added. ‘But you will never be able to destroy ideas, for they “blossom like flowers after a spring rain.” She then added something deeply prophetic. Don’t think your treatment of the Jewish people has gone unnoticed by the civilized world, she wrote.
As far as I know, Helen Keller never set foot in Germany her whole life. But one blind and deaf lady in America figured out who these people were the very moment they came to power — and I suspect a good deal earlier than that.
The unambiguous message from World War II on this somber anniversary — bullies can never be allowed to own the playground. Never. You must resist them. No matter how hard, or lonely, or for how long the struggle. You must resist. The spirits of millions beckon from their graves today. We cannot afford not to hear.
Beautifully said... thank you...
Thank you.
Daniel, thank you for your comment. You stated exactly what I felt as I was reading tonight’s letter.
We cannot let our guard down on these conniving, lying individuals. They have a mission that they must achieve, no matter the cost to our democracy and the lives of We the People (and all others).
Our resistance is not only about Minnesota. It’s about protecting all who live in our wonderful country, following the rule of law.
…I guess all of us who follow these Letters From An American are now on the “Database LIST!?”
I honestly have found myself thinking more about where my name shows up lately. It feels astounding to me that I should even have to worry about something like that. There’s nothing exceptional about me beyond living in Minneapolis, and like so many completely fed up with everything Trump and MAGA has done over the past decade-plus. Although I probably should be more cognizant of what I post on social media, I refuse to allow myself let fear drive my decision making.
We have the right to use our critical thinking skills to evaluate our lives families and country. What you wrote is why many people have dropped off of Facebook. Zuckerberg is selling/giving our information to Palandir (Peter Thiel) which was why Elon musk Doge rummaging through all the government agencies was to steal all of the private American citizens information so they can spy on us. Elon stole our information in the biggest hack ever. A class action lawsuit should be filed against Musk and Trump for allowing our private information to be stolen. Which will never be private again. Ever single American was violated.
Good for you, Daniel! Thank you and everyone in Minneapolis, for answering when you were called. Take very good care of yourself. Alex Pretti will not die in vain. Thank you! "I refuse to allow myself let fear drive my decision making." Beautiful. Inspiring.
Daniel, it has been reported here and elsewhere, that all it takes to be labeled a domestic terrorist now is to oppose the policies and tactics of the regime. So, it is likely that every one of Heather's subscribers is on that list. You are in good company.
I stand with you Daniel, I don't give a darn about what they think of what I say. I could be a lot worse in words, but I also know what they are looking for so I don't go there. We all need to stand tall and NOT back down. I'm happy to know you and I are one of 210,000,000 million domestic terrorists, i.e., 350mill at 60% = 210mil who don't support this mal administration.
This is the continuing relevance of a conversation begun last night by Albert R. Killackey, Esq. It starts here: https://open.substack.com/pub/heathercoxrichardson/p/january-26-2026-273?utm_campaign=comment-list-share-cta&utm_medium=web&comments=true&commentId=205792948 And gets back on topic here: https://open.substack.com/pub/heathercoxrichardson/p/january-26-2026-273?utm_campaign=comment-list-share-cta&utm_medium=web&comments=true&commentId=205800218
Ilhan is a badass, bless her! Believe me, Daniel, there’s plenty of us around the country who aren’t sleeping either. We are fighting the good fight with you Minnesotans.
Holocaust Remembrance Day is one where I honor my parents as Holocaust victims and my maternal grandparents, who perished at the hands of the Nazis.
Morning, Marlene! Good on you for honoring your family members who suffered so much.
Though Mussolini and Italy is not talked about as much, I suppose I have him to thank for being a U.S. citizen, since my maternal grandfather took his family and fled to the USA back in the day.
Daniel I live in the same district as you. It absolutely confounds me the number of people I know that support trump and criticize the protestors for getting in the way of ice agents. I've been wondering if Tom Homan has a new job description. He's going to handle ice agents and the fraud cases in Minnesota? Not sure how that works. One of the local news stations was trying to dig up more fraud stories. The federal employee they spoke with that not much new had come out because fraud is the hardest crime to sort out. The station has not let up on Walz' responsibility for all of the fraud here. The stations mantra is to keep all our leaders accountable. How do you think they're doing with trump and Bondi?
I don’t even know how to address that question, because there’s no clear reason why ICE is here. Minnesota is not a hotbed for illegal immigration. Trump is intentionally ignoring states with illegal immigrants because they’re red. Who in their right mind would have picked Minnesota and Maine as top targets to attack. Also WTF is the fraud angle? I’m not going to pretend like I’m an expert, but my understanding is that the Somali fraud in question is years old, already being/been investigated and was actually led by a white woman. It has no connection to ICE, but every devout MAGA won’t shut up about it. This despite no longer talking about the Epstein files not being released which was supposed to be their holy grail for as long as I can remember. Ultimately I don’t know how to judge any new leadership or objective, because it all feels like a total charade.
For MAGA, hell bent on proving their victimization, stringing together all kinds of unconnected facts and events in preposterous, outlandish ways is a requirement — an urgent necessity. Everything must be twisted to prove the conspiracy, not to search for any truth. Hence — “Somali” fraud must be linked to “vermin” — to voter fraud, to coming to America to “infect” it with non-white, non-Christian culture, etc.
It all makes sense if you’re an unhinged loon bent on staying one. For the rest of us? Not so much.
Like the Galloping Gish technique used by Trump in the debate against Biden. I just looked it up. It was named for a creationist debater, Gish, who used it to argue against evolution.
And not just unconnected facts... also lies. Eating pets, e.g.
It is a total charade
Pretty hard to trust a grifter like Tom who accepted 50K in a bag.
See my earlier comment https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/january-27-2026/comment/206338368?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android&r=6q4zp
Someone on Bluesky is trying really hard to crack into private Signal chats. We must be alert and careful.
Well that didn't do what I wanted, but just know that jasperinca or patriotmocha on Bluesky might be a fed. Be careful on Signal.
G mail has A I reading all your emails where they are going and to whom is a question. Go into your settings, down to manage your settings "smart phone sharing and turn it off, then click save
I’m in Connecticut and my heart breaks seeing what’s unfolded in the last few weeks in Minnesota. I stand by you and see you”
Homan is no step forward. He is still the monster he has always been. As someone put it crudely: putting Homan in is like crapping your pants and changing your shirt instead
Thanks for this comment, Daniel. Not just "...foot off the gas" but time for unrelenting opposition.
Grateful thanks for your efforts and those of your fellow Minnesotans. You have shown Americans the way if they will now just follow your inspiring example.
And we won't. General strike on Friday I believe.
Very true about letting our foot off the gas. The Trump regime says they have a list of over 1000 people in Maine they intend to deport. As it turns out, 3 of them are in the Maine legislature. They are all citizens and are all from Somalia.
They have taken over 200 people so far and they have disappeared most of them.
But we have a secret weapon -- Susan Collins. /S
How can they deport U.S. citizens?! 😠 (You don't need to respond.)
I read the other day about a civil engineer in Maine, employed by a big engineering firm, in the U.S. on a work visa. I can't remember what country he's from - it doesn't matter. Federal agents smashed his car windows, pulled him out of the car, and took him to God knows where, leaving the car running in the street. Neighbors were eventually able to move his car. This case really gets to me because I know a lot of engineers, and I have the greatest respect for them. We NEED more engineers. This man has a job. WTF?!
Oh, my! Deploy the pearls, and emphasize the concern!! (please note sarcasm font)
omg, Heather, Alex Pretti had a broken rib on Saturday when agents pushed him to the ground. Have you ever had broken ribs? Do you know how much it hurts to talk or sleep with a broken rib, let alone be pushed onto it on the ground? They tortured him before shooting him. God save his mom and dad, even thinking of it. And he still tried to help that fallen woman, even though the agents were throwing him onto the ground on his broken rib. omg We owe Alex a medal.
He certainly deserves much more than the divisive Charlie Kirk did. I am, though, a little saddened that with his meritorious service we seem to have let Renee Good fade away. She too has a family in mourning.
And we're not talking about the Trump/Epstein Pedo Files anymore, are we? Mission accomplished, even if they had to kill a couple of white folks to do it.
So too have the black and brown people who have died in ICE/CCBP related already in 2026
incidents.https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/1/27/us-witnessed-many-ice-related-deaths-in-2026-here-are-their-stories
Yes, ICE has been directed to persecute black and brown people, and those people take the brunt of it. White people get in the crosshairs when they show up to help the targeted population. The reason there is such an outrage now is because, despite the best efforts of a minority of white Americans, black (and brown) people don’t matter. Always been that way. White people shut down the desegregation of K12 schools only a few years after it started. That is a big part of why we are where we are today.
Your point is well taken, at least with me, and that is, no one is safe with this administration in power. That includes the whole world.
And so much more.😢
I have had a total of three broken ribs, and yes, it hurts like hell. I can’t imagine what this poor soul went through Saturday morning.
Excellent statement by Biden. Obama's yesterday was also good, pretty strong for the mild-mannered ever-so-cautious Barack. And Clinton's was good. OK, so when is George W. Bush going to stand up for country over party? If there was a time to do so, Mr. Bush, now that time. Let your fellow Republicans see your example of courage and genuine patriotism.
You expect a Republican to stand for country over party? Be serious. Every Republican since Nixon has been clear that what happened to Nixon, being impeached because even some of his own were going to push him out, will never happen again. The Republican party has been in full goosestep since Reagan was negotiating with terrorists to keep American hostages on board the Achillie Lauro until he was in office.
The last Republican worthy of the Oval Office was Eisenhower. I agree with your assessment. I don't want the Executive branch to be dismantled; I just want every gd Republican removed from it. That party has shown itself to be a clear and present danger to the republic in its indifference to the murder of citizens and its indifference to immigrants whether they be 'legal' or not. It is, by its own definition, a domestic terrorist organization.
The hostages were in Tehran, not a ship. The Achille Lauro was a separate - unrelated - terrorist incident
You are correct.
It's hard keeping track. :-)
Haha, yes!
TC, you remind me of a trial I once sat in on. The defense had not objected to my presence in the courtroom. It was a sodomy case (forced fellatio) that was initial denial that changed to consensual when the DNA came back with a match. One of the witnesses was not briefed on the change when he testified. It was all defense counsel could to to not jump up and yell "wrong alibi" to the witness.
And he was only following in Nixon’s footsteps, as it were. Extending a hostage crisis to get elected and extending a war to get elected are pretty similar activities. Anyone see a pattern yet?
Sure, I know the Republican history and the odds against Bush stepping up. But this is a threat to our country unprecedented in you lifetime and mine. And Trump's fortress is beginning to crack. So I'm not giving up that hope quite so readily.
Wrong incident but Reagan was a cheater from the gitgo
W Bush? The ambush pappy and junior and their Supreme Court appoints has led to the modern destruction of this nation.
Now is the time to speak up while the smell of fear is so strong in the White House. There's a reason they're all living on military bases.
Yes! We need to fight back with every lever we have, both local and national.
Trump's overall avg approval has dropped to 39%. He's weak. Now is our chance to drive back the fascists.
That jackass is too busy painting away.
ICE Can’t Shoot All 330 Million Of Us
From the New Republic, “From the “fucking bitch” comment after Renee Good’s shooting to this news about Pretti, it seems clear that federal immigration agents aren’t simply good guys who are operating under duress of the mob—they’re vindictive, trigger-happy, and they’re remembering the faces of anyone who stands up to them”
Further, “It’s not clear whether Border Patrol agents recognized Pretti before killing him this past weekend. But a DHS memo earlier this month told agents in Minneapolis to “capture all images, license plates, identifications, and general information on hotels, agitators, protestors, etc., so we can capture it all in one consolidated form.” A source also told CNN that federal agents knew Pretti’s name, without clarifying if he was in this database.
“One thing I’m pushing for right now … we’re going to create a database where those people that are arrested for interference, impeding and assault, we’re going to make them famous,” border czar Tom Homan said two weeks ago. “We’re going to put their face on TV. We’re going to let their employers, in their neighborhoods, in their schools, know who these people are.”
Furthermore they will use this information to go after your right to vote They will “vigilante challenge” registered voters So be prepared America Continue to courageously protest and vote early WE the People will not be intimidated and stand down This is the beginning of the French Revolution 2.0 American style
Many independent journalists who have been covering the Proud Boys et al are saying they think many of these guys are J6 rioters, which is why they're masked an unidentified. The two who assassinated Alex Pretti have been disappeared back into ICE elsewhere and remain unidentified. That they do this with them while they identified Ross lends some to the idea they're from the Trump Private Army of Traitors. As one reporter said, the Proud Boys and the rest used to demonstrate support during events like these, but where are they? "It's like Superman and Clark Kent."
My husband has been saying the same about the Proud Boys, etc,, being members of ICE, Border Patrol, etc.
Morning, Lynell. I agree with your husband; they probable make up the "upper echelon" of FF troops. (First Felon rather than the SS).
I believe that too, get pardoned, get a 50,000 bonus and a job doing what you love (intimidating, violating, assaulting and hating) , tailor made for proud boys , J6 rioters and the rest of the traitors.
They are there, and I would lay a $1000.00 on the table right now on that bet and I would win.
That DHS memo about their “nice little database” is pretty much the revival of the SicherheitsStaffel. Especially when coupled with all the stolen data Muskolini has on all American citizens. The Rump administration has gone full-blown Nazi regime…
Dutch Mike, a good time to remember that “Mein Kampf” is the only book the don has read.
Der neu Führer now claims he never read "Mein Kampf." Probably this is preparation for his ultimate defense before the International Criminal Court, an entirely plausible assertion he cannot read at all. (With a tip of the hat to H.L. Mencken: "As democracy is perfected, the office of the President represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. On some great and glorious day, the plain folks of the land will reach their heart's desire at last, and the White House will be occupied by a downright fool and a complete narcissistic moron." [https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/mencken-white-house-quote/])
I don't think he'll ever make it to the ICC. He's going to decompose as he decompensates.
According to Ivanna the book was Hitler’s speeches, not Mein Kampf.
Makes sense. Perfect examples for an another criminal. Too bad he’s incapable of thought.
That ship has sailed!
🤭😁😂🤣
Why is the ChristoNazi onslaught so relentlessly effective? Because it is the fulfillment of a multi-generation, bi-partisan scheme more than a century in the making. To discover the carefully hidden, poisonously Nazi roots of Trump's "Unified Reich," go here: https://open.substack.com/pub/heathercoxrichardson/p/january-25-2026?utm_campaign=comment-list-share-cta&utm_medium=web&comments=true&commentId=205274486
They started out that way…
"This is the beginning of the French Revolution 2.0 American style"
I am assuming this means non-violent protests. One historical hallmark of the success of the Minneapolis protest movement is its non-violence.
Absolutely critical. Not everybody learned, but enough learned from the intelligent, informed, courageous, disciplined example of the Civil Rights Leaders. The only true power is non-violent. Otherwise, it's a cycle of violence.
This is essential. Thank you, Barbara: "One historical hallmark of the success of the Minneapolis protest movement is its non-violence."
The American military knew this after WWll. Churchill, whose perseverance and leadership helped save the Allies, who Eisenhower said was the greatest man he'd ever met... Churchill wanted to execute all the Nazi "bastards." The Americans said no, we need to put them on trial. We need to find a way to prevent more wars.
Violence leaves scars. We still carry the scars of the Civil War, the Nazis of WW2, the Civil Rights murders, and the January 6 insurrection. We see them in full measure at this time. They have all come to call rolled up in the madness visited upon America today.
There are more of us than them. And we will win.
Exactly WE the People will rise like the French peasantry did in the 1890s but non violence doesn't mean WE can't hurl vocal insults to these goons
The company that makes the only "certified" electronic roll book for checking voter registrations at polling places is an election denier who also bought Dominion Voting Systems, the voting machine company that won the defamation suit against FOX. It lost most of its business afterwards and was in financial trouble. It has been renamed Liberty Votes. So an election denier owns both voting machines and voter registration roll checkers at the polls, and Pam Bondi wants the state voter registration data while Homan is putting together his list of domestic terrorists...
Scary sh*t to me.
The move that is underscored by Greg Palast(bit.ly/41UelTx) are vigilante challenges where any voter can challenge any other voter as to their legitimacy WE need to talk to local legislators secty of states in every state to be on the alert or get this law off the books
Can't come soon enough. And its decades overdue.
We've seen with our own eyes, brave Minnesotans—no matter their race, origin, faith, or gender—demonstrating peacefully in the bitter cold, showing all of us how to stand WITH and FOR one another.
This, despite a cowardly, corrupt MAGA regime who is escalating their attacks, assaulting families in the streets, invading homes, kidnapping children, and executing Alex Pretti and Renee Good as they looked out for their neighbors. Their fascist end game is clear: they want to control and silence all of us, blackmailing Minnesota to turn over its voter rolls, so a wealthy, well-connected few can keep their illegitimate power, no matter the will of the people.
But everyday Minnesotans are showing how we free America by organizing mutual aid for families, standing guard on streets, and turning out in the tens of thousands to get #ICEOutforGood—abolishing these masked paramilitary terrorists and making our government one of, by, and for the people.
If we can get this agitated in Minneapolis, imagine what we can do if the GOP tries to mess with the midterms!
Even the Italian people are seeing ICE for what it is! If a person is saying it’s not like the SS is coming? Then you understand what is truly happening in Minneapolis. It is the SS. So scary to stand up to ICE. I’m so amazed at the people who take a stand and are fighting back. If the second amendment wasn’t made for this moment, I don’t know what it was meant for! Hopefully the Minnesotans can continue to keep it peaceful.
The Italians had the nightmare of Mussolini. They haven't forgotten. The people of Minnesota are writing the manual on how well-organized, peaceful protests work.
Exactly! They’re showing the nation a blueprint of how to fight this regime.
The importance of non-violent protests is something that must be emphasized.
Why should ICE even be in Milan?
Biden said: "We are not a nation that guns down our citizens in the street." But we are now and will remain so just as long as Trump remains in office.
And have done this to black & brown citizens for centuries.
…and Native Americans…
Thank you - absolutely.
Not only in the streets, sometimes they are killed behind the doors of deportation camps.
Geraldo Lunas Campos
Earlier this month, ICE announced that Cuban immigrant Geraldo Lunas Campos, 55, died on January 3 at the agency’s largest detention facility – Camp East Montana in Texas.
Since then, contradicting details have emerged about his death, which a medical examiner has ruled as a homicide – meaning caused by another person.
ICE initially said Lunas Campos “became disruptive while in line for medication and refused to return to his assigned dorm” and was placed in segregation.
He then became distressed, according to the agency.
“Medical staff responded, initiated lifesaving measures, and requested emergency medical services. Lunas was pronounced deceased by EMS,” ICE said in a January 9 statement.
The agency repeatedly highlighted Lunas Campos’s criminal record.
The authorities later changed their own story, claiming that Lunas Campos tried to kill himself.
“Campos violently resisted the security staff and continued to attempt to take his life,” DHS’s McLaughlin said. “During the ensuing struggle, Campos stopped breathing and lost consciousness.”
But an autopsy report found that Linas Campos was killed by someone.
“Based on the investigative and examination findings, it is my opinion that the cause of death is asphyxia due to neck and torso compression,” Adam Gonzalez, deputy medical examiner for El Paso County, said in the report, according to The Washington Post.
“The manner of death is homicide.”
Lunas Campos’ three children have filed a legal petition aiming to block the deportation of any detainees who may have witnessed the incident, as they prepare to file a wrongful death lawsuit.
“According to an eyewitness to Mr Lunas Campos’s death, guards at the facility choked him to death,” the petition said.
from the Al Jazeera article.
This month's list
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/1/27/us-witnessed-many-ice-related-deaths-in-2026-here-are-their-stories
They also report the number of ice-related deaths over the years. Interesting graph. The 4 years of the Biden administration had 26 ICE-related deaths over all 4 years combined. Trump had 32 in just 2025, and now 8 so far in not even a month.
Always interesting to see what the foreign press covers that is not widely circulated here these days.
I was impressed with Omar. After getting assaulted by that scumbag, she went after him with fists balled. Good thing security beat her to him. One tough woman.
She actually lived through war and suffering, unlike the Nazi co-splaying Trump idiot who went after her.
Apropos coping with stuff sprayed by ChristoNazis, here for the forces of Liberation is a legal, non-violent weapon said to have proven extremely effective in the battles of Portland: https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!n0kd!,w_568,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fcb28deee-afca-41b1-ba93-aa5111f4cf3b_1170x841.jpeg (With thanks and a salute to Adrienne.)
Hmmmm. I think I need to get a sling for mine. Maybe a bandolier with spare batteries. Maybe paint everything camo so that the DeWalt yellow isn't so prominent.
Can you imagine the headline, Omar subdues attacker!
My husband cheered. I came into the room to see what was going on and he rewound the tv. We both cheered.
We're at the point where the question of civil war has been answered. The government has declared war on us. Calling for "reform" of ICE or DHS is useless. Would "reforming" the way the Brownshirts attacked Jews in the streets or making the Gestapo get warrants for their arrests have stopped Hitler and the Nazis? "Reform" makes it easy for the Vichyites to tiptoe away - "What can we do? They're acting legally." Meantime the crimes against humanity continue.
I agree TC. Reform is not enough. The total existence of these organizations need to be questioned and DOGED!
Vance (channeling his mentor, Thiel) says that Democrats must be stopped and cannot be stopped by ordinary means. ICE represents the approach Vance advocates. It’s Gestapo all the way down.
TC, I've gotten through more comments than I usually allow myself time to read, and I have yet to see if this got posted. I am so grateful for discovering it on your Substack comment forum yesterday. I am really hoping anyone seeing this will take the time to listen and to forward this BRILLIANT piece of protest art into the world!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SfJy4BCJjwo
Yup.
Love from Minneapolis.
A Minneapolis protest song
ICE F You! – Get out of our towns!
ICE F You! – Get out of our towns!
Back under your rocks, jack-booted clowns
ICE F You! – We won’t back down
Say their names – Say them loud
ICE F You! – Hands off our lives
We will remember and survive
ICE F You!
Minneapolis
Say it now
White hoods traded for flags and shields
Paroled-up thugs in a kill-zone field
They stir the pot then cry “Chaos”
Light the fuse then play the boss
Gas the block roll the cams, Call it “order,” beat the damned
Nazi coat, cosplay king
History screams – same damn thing
You film – (they shove) You help – (they strike)
You stand – (they panic)
At the very sight
ICE! F you – Get out of our towns
Back under your rocks, jack-booted clowns
ICE F You! – We won’t back down
Hundred cities – same damn sound
ICE! F you – no normalize
We’re not numb – we’re F’ing here
ICE F you – hear this crowd
Pull that trigger – We get loud!
Say their names
Not statistics
Say their names
Renee Good
Say their names
Not statistics
Flesh and blood
Nurse down, camera still
Truth got shot – power thrilled
Help a car, help clear a lane
End up dead – (ICE has no shame)
You can’t tear gas this memory
Your fog can’t hide (what people see)
ICE! F you
Get out of our town
Back under your rocks, jack-booted clowns
ICE F You! – We won’t back down
Hundred cities – same damn sound
ICE! F you – no normalize
We’re not numb – we’re F’ing here
ICE F you – Pull that trigger, We get loud
F Trump – F ICE, we’re done with “nice”
See this? – Our fists, Built to resist
We got two eyes, We see your lies
Truth won’t die – It multiplies
ICE F You! – Get out of our towns!
ICE F You! – We won’t back down
Say their names, Say them loud
ICE F You! – Hands off our lives
We will remember and survive
ICE! – F You - Minneapolis
Sing it now!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4PUOhAJG5EU
scaredketchup
Thanks for the lyrics to this great music. I think this protest song should become our anthem not just pointed at ICE but at their ultimate boss.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SfJy4BCJjwo
So, if Alex Pretti was attacked and hurt before, the possibility exists that this was literally a planned execution. They might have recognized him and decided to teach him and others a lesson. It sounds absurd until you hear the actual recorded statements of ICE: "And now you are a domestic terrorist" "You raise your voice, I'll erase your voice""Have y’all not learned from the past couple of days?” Sounds like war rhetoric to me.
And they would have known that he had a carry permit. Maybe even Noem knew that they were going to make an example out of him to justify claiming that there was an emergency.
Thank God, you can feel the tide turning. Trump’s inner circle of sycophantic sadists are pointing fingers at each other. When you send out the Gestapo to terrorize and execute citizens in our streets phone cameras are watching. Don’t bother with the lies of assassin, terrorist, agitator. You are killing an American citizen just because you can. You will pay for your crimes and this will not stand in America.
The "tide" is (not) turning; our assailants are merely (slightly) modifying their assault. Obviously, given the vast numbers of us who are unaware of the lessons of Oklahoma City, 9/11, the Battle of the Bulge, Pearl Harbor and Munich (and are thus forever entrapped in USian-capitalism's cult of mandatory optimism), the ignorance of history inflicted on us by our public K-12 schools is so far beyond abysmal, there are no words in English to describe its depth. Thus our recovery is by far amongst the most vital functions of Dr. Richardson's work: she teaches us -- if we open ourselves to it -- the compelling lesson that history is the thoroughly fascinating epic of our species' survival, the antithesis of the rote-memory drudgery taught by the football coaches and other athletic-department dullards who are chosen to teach K-12 history precisely because their anti-intellectual ferocity deliberately taints the subject with the odium of utter meaninglessness. (Had my high school history classes functioned as intended, I too would have been so afflicted, but I was already inoculated against that particular disease of capitalism by my history-minded father and our extensively historical household library, for which I am grateful beyond my abilities of expression.)
What if Dems sweep the election in 2026: It is constitutionally possible to impeach and remove the President and Vice President at the same time. Article II, Section 4 of the Constitution specifically states that both the President and Vice President shall be removed from office upon impeachment and conviction of treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors.
Key points regarding this process:
House Authority: The House of Representatives holds the sole power of impeachment, meaning they could vote to impeach both officials simultaneously.
Senate Trial: The Senate would then hold trials for both, requiring a two-thirds vote for conviction and removal of each.
Order of Succession: If both were removed, the Presidential Succession Act dictates that the Speaker of the House would become the President.
Rare Occurrence: While legally permissible, this has never occurred in U.S. history, and no vice president has ever been formally impeached, although one faced an inquiry.
In a scenario where both are removed, the executive branch would face a "dual incapacity" situation, prompting the Speaker of the House to assume the presidency.
This interpretation keeps coming up. It is incorrect. If you google one of the reference websites on the interpretation of the Constituion you should find it. Individuals have to be impreached separately. After I have my coffee I will post the link
I didn’t stipulate they’d have to be impeached together. President Nixon and Vp Agnew risked double impeachment, but each chose to resign separately.
https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/SMAN-104/pdf/SMAN-104-pg177.pdf
FYI The currently operative "codified" Senate rules of impeachment were passed in 1986. Additional "organizing resolutions" for how the trial will be run were approved for the Clinton and Trump impeachments for the specific trials. Organizing resolutions can be passed by unanimous consent, or by simple majority after the articles of impeachment have been presented.
Got you. I see your point.
Moreover, as Chris Hedges warns us, it remains profoundly dangerous to assume we will be allowed another election: https://chrishedges.substack.com/p/the-last-election
You might find this intriguing:
https://gregolear.substack.com/p/the-section3-removal-plan-another
If wishes were horses beggars would ride. Sigh…
This is true, and I realize that, but if I lose all hope, I might as well be dead.
There is hope. You sound exhausted and depressed and sad. Sleep, share a good meal with a friend, walk, do what you need to do to heal mentally and physically. We are all traumatized by what we have seen. Go on a news fast. Breathe.
The first step in any project is understanding what the real metric for success needs to be to overcome the obstacles in your path. The obstacle to reform is Trump's veto power. We know how many seats we need to win in the House and the Senate to reach veto-proof majorities. Winning the House gets us control over the budget process. It gets us investigations and subpoena power. Trump is doing a lot of the work for us in terms of his disastrous policies and his cruelty and disregard for human life. Those tanking favorability ratings are real. If we get to a veto-proof majority in the Senate, we can also impeach and block appointments.
We are also seeing our former allies exert external economic pressure on us. Davos and the trade and defense deals being done that do not include the US mean the broligarchs' bottom lines will be hit. The big money will start to flow away from Trump.
Now we need to get the best possible candidates in every district up and down the ballot, and we need to draft a platform that speaks to the people's needs. You can't have hope unless you have a vision to inspire you.
What are the characteristics you want the ideal candidate in your district to have? What would make life in your district better? What do you want to see change?
Start a community forum on social media. Meet with a group of friends for Saturday morning coffee to brainstorm what better looks like. Start really local. Minneapolis is showing us the way. It is about community.
I am not saying it will be easy. It may not happen at the midterms, It may get worse before it gets better.
Trump is not invincible. He is a sick old man who is failing. He has made some serious mistakes in the last couple of weeks. He is alienating what is left of his support. He is weaker than he was a month ago. We need to keep up the pressure.
This is not accurate. It is for good reason that we would not want to essentially dismantle the Executive Branch. It is imperative that we maintain our security surrounding this Branch. Remember we are not operating in a vacuum. The world is watching. Our enemies are watching.
This would be a great topic for Heather to discuss during her Politics Chats. I’m sure she could clarify.
I'd like to see her discuss this:
https://gregolear.substack.com/p/the-section3-removal-plan-another
Great idea!
https://gregolear.substack.com/p/the-section3-removal-plan-another
read this. Perhaps an impossible dream.
Who is “illegal?”
There are green card applicants, asylum applicants, temporary protective status folks, visa applicants, and others in the system awaiting legal status, which is legal in itself. When they show up to report, as required, CPB and ICE haul them away for doing the right thing.
Trump changes the rules to justify the round up of people seeking legal status.
That is not my America.
No one is illegal on stolen land.