We apologize for being off a few days, but one of us caught a bad cold, and that delayed things a bit.
Unfortunately, in Trump’s America, there are all kinds of sicknesses in the air. Whether it’s an increase in colds, or that nasty new flu variant, or the massive surge in measles cases (thanks to RFK Jr. & his anti-vaccine friends), illnesses seem to be everywhere.
There’s also a sickness that clearly most of the Trump regime has, especially members of DHS & ICE: the sickness of hubris - excessive arrogance that will eventually lead to their own brutal accountability.
Unfortunately, the entire world saw that kind of sickness on display again today, as one of Donald Trump & Stephen Miller’s ICE monsters killed an innocent 37-year old white man in Minneapolis. Their target was Alex Pretti, an ICU nurse who served veterans, who was a trained observer recording ICE agents on his phone, while trying to help someone who had fallen in the street after being pushed by an ICE agent. Without cause or provocation, Pretti was approached and attacked by six or seven ICE agents, who first pummeled him, and then shot him to death. You can see for yourself, if you choose. [WARNING - GRAPHIC VIDEO]
As if the murder of an innocent U.S. citizen by severely under-trained taxpayer-funded terrorists cosplaying as legitimate law enforcement isn’t sick enough, then the Trump regime rolled out the same disgusting playbook they used when ICE agent Jonathan Ross recently killed 37-year-old Renee Good without cause. In the same way as they did Ms. Good, Trump’s fascist officials slammed Mr. Pretti as a terrorist, then blamed local and state officials for the chaos Trump’s own ICE monsters had caused in Minneapolis. Unsurprisingly, the ICE goons also blocked access to the crime scene by the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension - effectively Minnesota’s state FBI - just as Trump’s regime had blocked a legitimate investigation when they killed Renee Good.
To top all of this off, U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi says that if the state of Minnesota wants access to the evidence from these two murders by DHS employees, all the state has to do is turn over their voter rolls, a sick action that has nothing to do with these two murders. It is, however, something the Trump regime has been scheming to get since last year. and that Trump’s team seems desperate to get ahead of the 2026 Congressional elections.
All of this sick behavior by Trump officials a week after he ordered the 11th Airborne Division in Alaska to potentially be deployed to Minnesota, a threat he has yet to follow through with.
Meanwhile, due to the chaos, death, and destruction Trump’s ICE monsters have caused, Gov. Tim Walz has activated the Minnesota National Guard to help local and state law enforcement be able to do their jobs. Since Trump’s ICE monsters invaded Minnesota, local and state law enforcement has had to waste huge amounts of time fielding calls about lawless ICE monsters causing car crashes, kidnapping 2 year olds, kidnapping 5 year olds and using them as bait, and of course killing innocent U.S. citizens. So we support Gov. Walz using the Guard to actually help law enforcement, unlike what ICE is doing.
Gov. Walz & Attorney Gen. Ellison have also promised state level investigations into both the murder of Alex Pretti and the murder of Renee Good, which is correct and proper, since clearly Trump’s DOJ can’t be trusted to do the job.
There’s obviously a lot of sickness when it comes to the unconstitutional & illegal actions of the second Trump regime. And we understand how many people can feel ill themselves, when faced with this much rampant fascism.
Thankfully, there’s also a cure that’s been on display in Minnesota, for the whole world to see.
On Friday, potentially as many as 50,000 people, in -20F temperatures & -35F wind chill, all marched together peacefully through the streets of the Twin Cities. At the same time, hundreds of Twin Cities businesses closed in solidarity with the protestors, in the closest thing to a true general strike the United States has seen in the last 80 years, While impressive, that’s just the resistance you can see easily.
During this occupation of their state by Trump’s ICE monsters, literally millions of Minnesotans have quietly mobilized their neighbors, friends, and co-workers in the most amazing show of bravery and solidarity since the French Underground in World War II. Former Minnesotan (and former Nebraskan) Ana Maria Cox wrote about it this week, noting the key to Minneapolis’s successful ICE resistance may not be as visible as 50,000 people in the streets, its power shouldn’t be ignored. While we highly recommend you read the whole piece, one of the biggest keys to the success of Minnesotans vs the ICE monsters was one Ana Marie noted on social media last week: “I have never ever seen anything like this. I have seen communities organize around natural disasters in a somewhat similar way but obv that wasn’t 80% SECRET.” People from all backgrounds are all working together, as one, and doing it quietly, neither asking for or expecting public praise. They’re working together as one Minnesota, across 10,000 lakes, from the Boundary Waters with Canada to the boundary with Iowa, as a single community.
If you had to sum up briefly what the cure is for fighting fascism successfully, it’s mobilizing your community, as Minnesotans have done, around a common set of ideas, like democracy, rule of law, and the U.S. Constitution. Just as important to mobilizing that community is having faith in each other, as good people, who simply want for their neighbors what they also want for themselves: freedom, safety, security, opportunity, and peace.
Donald Trump may have the 11th Airborne Division as his backup. But Minnesotans have their “aunties” Agnes, Irene, Emily, and every other good person in the U.S. too.
And there are FAR more of us than there are the ICE monsters.
Never bet against a strong community.