Wednesday, January 28, 2026
Tuesday, January 27, 2026
Americans begin the week justifiably enraged. The brutal execution of Alex Pretti on Saturday, coupled with Donald Trump and his minions’ defaming the victim, lying about the facts, asserting that lawfully carrying a weapon made him a legitimate target (!), and refusing to undertake a serious investigation should horrify all decent people. But Americans are also frustrated with their elected leaders who have yet to halt the rogue operation, which the Trump regime lets on has very little to do with immigration.
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In that regard, Attorney General Pam Bondi’s letter to Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz seizing on ICE’s and CBP’s murders and inflicted chaos to make a series of unrelated, unlawful demands, should clarify their real aims. UCLA law professor Rick Hasen explained this is part of an effort to “extort” blue states:
Among the things that Bondi says “will help bring back law and order to Minnesota and improve the lives of Americans” is for Minnesota to release its voter rolls to DOJ (which no doubt will use it to fabricate more false claims of widespread voter fraud to justify more restrictive voting rules). . . .
This is outrageous and reprehensible. It suggests (but doesn’t quite promise) an ICE stand down in exchange for access to the voting rolls and meeting other DOJ demands. It shows ICE is not in Minneapolis for law enforcement or immigration purposes.
In the immediate aftermath of the last murder, Democrats, libertarian-minded Republicans such as Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), state and local leaders, and former military should warn against invocation of the Insurrection Act. On Friday, Vice President JD Vance, between lies (e.g., falsely blaming local officials for ICE-induced violence, whitewashing arrests without 4thAmendment-required judicial warrants, falsely claim Minneapolis has the highest concentration of undocumented immigrants), acknowledged he did not think the Insurrection Act was “necessary.” What has changed on the ground since then? (Walz’s activation of state national guard to keep order may help keep Trump at bay.)
We should not think Trump is immune from public opinion or indifferent to atrocious polling. TACO Trump can be compelled to reverse himself (as he did regarding Greenland) when he runs into a buzzsaw of criticism and/or sees markets sink. Public outcry, driven by his overreach, can force his retreat.
SubscribedOn Capitol Hill, Democrats have declared they will not vote for the DHS spending bill. Defunding ICE entirely, and building a responsible, law-abiding replacement may not happen until we have Democratic majorities in Congress and a Democratic president, but Democrats should nevertheless introduce legislation now and begin building public support for the redesign of the Department of Homeland Security and abolition/replacement of ICE and Customs and Border Patrol, where leadership and culture are irredeemably despicable. Replacing ICE and CBP is now a mainstream position, an essential step to reverse the goose-step into a police state.
In the short run, Democrats can advance a batch of proposals, for example, to cut off funds to the Minneapolis deployment absent a request from the governor; limit CBP operations to the border (as used to be the case); require body cameras, immediate suspension of any agent after firing his/her weapon, and full cooperation with local and state authorities; eliminate masks; install an Inspector General to review all DHS actions and recommend policy and personnel changes; and ban arrests without a judicial warrant.
Measures that even Republicans should be embarrassed to oppose — mandating that a parent or guardian must be present before children are taken into custody; ensuring protection of nonviolent First Amendment activities (including filming agents); and prohibiting agents from firing at moving vehicles and/or any person who does not pose an immediate threat to others — should garner bipartisan consensus.
Democrats should also seize on Republicans’ newfound interest in oversight hearings. Democrats must ensure these are serious and will call for testimony under oath from DHS secretary Kristi Noem and her senior advisors: Bondi, FBI director Kash Patel, and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. Democrats should demand top officials correct prior misrepresentations and inform agents they do not have “absolute immunity.”
The senior officials who direct this murderous operation should be grilled on existing procedures, standards for investigating agent shootings, use of national guard and U.S. military, and hiring and training protocols. Democrats should also demand they produce documentation on arrests (what percent of those arrested have violent criminal records?) and press them to acknowledge DHS is not equipped to conduct an impartial investigation into its agents’ killings.
Witnesses must understand that failure to respond fully and truthfully can be the basis, once Democrats regain power, for impeachment and other legal action. (Trump can pardon goons and department heads, but federal officials can be held liable under state criminal law in certain circumstances; e.g., Hegseth can be subject to military discipline.)
At public hearings, the victims’ families and eyewitnesses should be given time to address the country, while state law enforcement chiefs and officials from prior administrations should critique DHS’s performance and practices. If Republicans subvert the inquiry, Democrats will have yet another example of the spineless MAGA party’s unfitness to hold power.
Beyond that, Americans must continue to build on the magnificent showing of solidarity we have seen in Minneapolis where local community networking — building trust, fostering familiarity, and finding purpose in a shared sense of crisis — has resulted in enormous peaceful demonstrations and ongoing citizen documentation/filming of DHS atrocities. The adage “think globally, act locally” has never been more accurate when it comes to defeating a regime that seeks to divide and conquer. Around the country, the pro-democracy movement must first knit together cities and towns, then states and the country as a whole to scale up the Minneapolis experience.
The time is also ripe to engage the business community, among the worst Trump enablers at the national level. Minneapolis reminds us that when the rubber meets the road in specific locales, labor, clergy, schools, state and local politicians, and residents can draw local businesses (which have roots in the community and depend on the public’s good will) into the fight for democracy. Major companies may take note when they understand the potential for nationwide chaos and violence.
In short, the horror of DHS’s murders and lawless rampages must not be allowed to dissipate into the ether of nonstop Trump scandals. Minneapolis can be an historic inflection point, not only to disable Trump’s brutal immigration approach but to defeat his authoritarian project more broadly. What the Shirtwaist Triangle Fire was to the Labor Movement and Bull Connor’s dogs were to the Civil Rights Movement, the two Minneapolis murders could be to the democracy movement — the spark that ignites every American’s conscience and super-charges pro-democracy activism.
If Americans, inspired by Minneapolis, collectively refuse to allow politicians to treat this as business as usual, then Renee Good and Alex Pretti will rightly be remembered as martyrs who gave their lives to the cause of restoring democracy.
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Monday, January 26, 2026
View from Here and Some Observations
Winter Storm Fern has dumped a lot of snow on us. It's a foot and growing as I write this on Monday late morning.
Here's the view along our road as we came down into the Flat on Sunday at 1:00 pm after being in church in Hanover. Snow had started just after noontime.
Later on Sunday I took this video.
Monday views, from my desk,
out the kitchen window,
from the slider,
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the pile below is from the snow plowing. He may have done this twice already.
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Observations on what's happening.
1. At church our pastor shared what she'd learned from a fellow pastor in Maine. She said that to help children get to school they are given rides in the backs of cars hidden under blankets. People purchasing groceries are warned not to deliver them to houses because ICE is tailing people with large shopping orders. I'm not sure how the groceries are being delivered to those in need.
We received these large signs to hold up in church for a photo which our pastor sent to Maine pastors.
I've taped the sign to my front storm door for those passing by to see.
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2. Excerpts from Episcopal Bishop Rob's Reflection. See entire HERE
We are now engaged in a horrible battle that is eternal, that has gone on for millennia. As soon as the Christian church became linked to the empire by Constantine in the year 325 or so, the church immediately became corrupt. And the message of Jesus's love, compassion, and commitment to the poor, the outcast, was immediately compromised. And we have lost that voice, and we are now, I believe, entering a time, a new era of martyrdom.
I have told the clergy of the Episcopal Diocese of New Hampshire that we may be entering into that same witness. And I've asked them to get their affairs in order—to make sure they have their wills written, because it may be that now is no longer the time for statements, but for us with our bodies to stand between the powers of this world and the most vulnerable.
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3. He was holding a phone.
As the New York Times reported:
Videos analyzed by The New York Times contradict the accounts of Homeland Security officials, who said that the man approached Border Patrol agents with a handgun and the intent to “massacre” them. Footage of the encounter shows the man was holding a phone in his hand, not a gun, when federal agents took him to the ground and shot him.
Other video angles seem to show Pretti’s gun was taken before he was repeatedly shot dead. Eyewitnesses’ declarations confirmed the gruesome details and utter lack of provocation.
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A sheriff in Maine had harsh words about U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in the city of Portland.
Cellphone video shows ICE agents detain a corrections officer recruit in the middle of the street.
Cumberland County Sheriff Kevin Joyce confirmed it was one of his corrections recruits who was detained by ICE in Portland’s Bayside neighborhood on Wednesday evening.
“They all took off leaving his car with the windows down, the lights on, unsecured and unoccupied,” Joyce said. “They left it right on the side of the street. Folks, that’s bush league policing.”
The sheriff said the individual passed the rigorous application process to qualify as a Cumberland County corrections officer and was cleared to work in the U.S. until April 2029.
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Yesterday granddaughter #2 who is 9, asked about the We Stand With sign. I told her what was happening in Maine and Minnesota with ICE arresting people with dark skins. She wanted to know what's wrong with having a dark skin? We agreed there was nothing wrong. She asked can't the police stop ICE and I told her no because they are following the President's direction. She responded that it's time to do something about the President. (I won't be more specific than that.)
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One more. A must visit to this blog "FInd Your Brave."
Saturday, January 24, 2026
Stay Safe
Those of you in the path of this storm, please stay in.
Here's our temperature at 8 am with the sun shining!
I imagine it's been lower earlier today.
We were going to take one trip out to the recycle center but word came by email that it's closed today because of the temperatures.
We will stay in all day.
Now it's time to fire up the woodstove and make breakfast.
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