Apparently, a licensed male nurse in Minneapolis was taken to the ground by three ICE agents, then shot to death with around ten shots. I can’t see how anyone can’t see what is happening here. The government won’t stop this, none of the three branches. The Democrats are a joke. ICE must disappear but that won’t happen. Trump is enjoying all this chaos. But we are on our own. All the political processes that could bring us back are enclosed. The opposition party are nothingburgers. I could continue with many points showing why this ICE incursion is political violence but I really am tired of wasting my time.
The only thing that can bring this down is a nationwide general strike, not this one-day crap but ongoing until we get results.
ReplyDeleteI have been listening to some coverage and have seen some videos. The man who was shot was a US citizen. From his picture he looked white. He had a gun and a license to carry, but he didn't draw the gun or threaten an agent with it. An ICE agent took the victim's gun out of its holster after he was on the ground. Prior to being shot the man stepped between ICE and the woman they had just knocked down to try and help her. Both he and she were pepper sprayed and couldn't see at that point, they were no threat to ICE. He was on the ground already when they shot him multiple times. His last act on earth had been to try and help the woman who had been knocked down by ICE. And the response from federal officials has been a fire hose of lies about him being a domestic terrorist.
ReplyDeleteOstensibly the reason for ICE being in the twin cities area was misappropriation of funds by agencies run by people of Somalian ethnicity. I think the real reason was revenge on the state for voting against trump three times, revenge against Democratic mayor, and revenge against Tim Walz for running against him with Kamala Harris.
We seem to be in the midst of Trump's revenge tour against America.
DeleteBetween the five year old with his bunny ears hat and this cold-blooded execution, I can't deal with the news right now.
DeleteHe was an ICU nurse. Died helping someone. Alex Jeffrey Pretti. 37 yo.
Deletehttps://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/22/upshot/trump-poll-analysis-times-siena.html
ReplyDeleteWhen President Trump took office for his second term one year ago, he was — at least compared with his usual polling — relatively popular.
is approval rating was above 50 percent, and he had made enormous breakthroughs among groups that have traditionally voted Democratic, like young, nonwhite and lower-turnout voters. It had some of the markings of a potential political realignment. It even brought a much-noted vibe shift.
One year later, the vibe has shifted back. The results from today’s New York Times/Siena University poll would have looked fairly typical during his first term. Only 40 percent of registered voters say they approve of Mr. Trump’s performance, and the familiar patterns of American politics have returned. The second Trump coalition has unraveled.
Similarly, Democrats have regained their usual advantage among young, nonwhite and low-turnout voters in the race for control of Congress. Overall, Democrats lead by five percentage points among registered voters nationwide — a tally that would easily be enough for the party to take back the House of Representatives. It’s the largest lead for the Democrats in a Times/Siena national poll since 2020, and it’s similar to Joe Biden’s eventual 4.5-point popular vote victory that year.
Still, there’s more evidence that the economy is driving voters away from Mr. Trump than anything else. On question after question, voters give him negative marks on his handling of that issue, including just 34 percent who approve of his handling of the cost of living, compared with 64 percent who disapprove.
DeleteThis is a familiar story. The economy was one of the biggest reasons these same voters flipped to supporting Mr. Trump in the first place.
But on balance, the poll suggests that Mr. Trump is held back as much or more by the usual laws of political gravity as by a backlash against his extraordinary conduct. This is not necessarily a huge surprise. He won the presidency despite facing criminal charges and a felony conviction, after all
In other words, "its the economy, stupid." Democrats need to avoid falling into the trap of making Trump the issue.
DeleteSadly, Americans no longer care about morality or character, the Constitution or NATO, if they ever did. Clinton had it right then and the same applies today. I fear that too many anti- Trumpers are celebrating too early because of the cracks in his coalition.
DeleteLike the Roman Empire we are in a period of decline. For them government became "Bread and Circuses." For us it is the "Economy and the Media." Trump has mastered the art of entertaining the Media, and therefore most of the American people whether they like him or not. His Economy is mainly Bread for the wealthiest.
DeleteJournalist Pepe Escobar calls Trump neo-Caligula. It seems to fit very well. But empires in ancient days went through their lifecycle more slowly. Hard to believe that I was born at the peak of empire and am already watching its precipitous decline, all in my little life span. Oh, how I miss the factories and steel mills. I remember their size and energy. I remember accompanying my mother waiting in the car to pick up my father after work. I watched huge ingots, still red hot from the hearth, being loaded onto railroad flat cars. I love nature but I also found beauty in the industrial works of man and the people who fashioned them.
DeleteI used to think that the British parliamentary system was an odd and inefficient way of government. But now I wish we had the ability for a " vote of no confidence". They got shut of Boris Johnson and Liz Truss in fairly short order.
DeleteStanley When I was a kid in school in California we took a field trip to the Kaiser steel plant n Fontana ( now gone). it was awesome - literally - but also terrifyingly awe-full. Those enormous white hot, red hot pieces of steel. I never wanted to get that close again. It’s the same way I feel about forest fires. There were more than one huge wildfire on our mountain when I was growing up. Terrifying. I can’t imagine how people worked in that environment every day! Your dad was a brave man if he worked with the steel
DeleteKatherine, the parliamentary system in England and in most EU systems also forces the different groups to compromise by forming coalitions or else nothing would ever get done. Some definite advantages there. But more complicated. They also mandate SHORT election seasons ( weeks, not months and years) and some -France at least but I think others- , probably more) ban corporate political campaign contributions - in fact they ban all private contributions. The government gives them funding with limits.
DeleteAnne, my Polish immigrant grandfather worked in a steel mill. After the open hearth was drained, he put thick wooden clogs over his regular shoes and walked around the floor of the hearth scraping away scale as the clogs burned away under his feet. They’re all torn down in Conshohocken, PA. Bethlehem’s mill is still standing but part of an entertainment/museum “Stacks”.
DeleteI saw an announcement earlier today that the White House is sending Tom Homan to Minneapolis. This may actually constitute a veiled acknowedgement that the federal agents are out of control, and someone needs to step in and re-establish some basic standards. I wouldn't expect a miraculous transformation to high professional standards, but it may represent some incremental improvement. We'll have to wait and see.
ReplyDeleteI have no more faith in Tom Homan than I do in Noem or trump himself.
ReplyDeleteSomeone needs to come in and hold agents accountable. I don't know if Homan is that person. Noem certainly is not.
DeleteNOBODY in the trump administration can be trusted to hold agents accountable. The DHS now says that agents on the scene had body cams ( not previously mentioned. I have read that many of these agents won’t wear body cameras even though they are supposedly required) and that they will “ review” the body cam videos. They have been ordered by a judge to not destroy evidence, but of course there is nobody to ensure this. The Republicans claim that the Democrats are responsible for the chaos because they encourage people to go out and protest. Freedom of speech? Freedom of assembly? Apparently they’ve not remembered peoples First Amendment rights. The WH has altered videos and then put them on social media to go viral to their idiot fans.
DeleteA responsible govt would have immediately announced after the shootings - two in two weeks- that the agents involved would be suspended with pay until an investigation is completed, and that an investigation would be started immediately that includes the city and state law enforcement agencies - who have been shut out.
I think the short-term driver for this change (Bovino pulled out; Noem pulled out; Homan inserted into Minneapolis) is the threat of an upcoming government shutdown this Friday. I am guessing that the White House counted votes and can't make the math work to avoid a shutdown unless it changes course.
DeleteIn turn, a shutdown probably would further dim the GOP's chances of maintaining congressional majorities this fall. So we see the American political system doing its job here of putting pressure on the points that need it. It's not perfect, and it's not fine-tuned, but it is driving some change in behavior.
I think it's a mistake to reduce everything to the economy. There's kind of a zombie hive mind about Trump. The Democrats have to keep pointing out the actors behind the curtain who are pulling the strings. They're blowing through the Constitution. And Trump isn't invincible.
ReplyDelete