***. “Is life so dear or peaceful so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take, but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!” [ Patrick Henry; 3/23/1775 ]
This post is thre 5th in a series to describe to YOU the effects of ICE thugs on ordinary people. Away from the Renee Good and Alex Pretti MURDER videos, others suffer indignities. Effects often invisible – but the trauma inflicted on people, neighborhoods, communities, cities will NOT end whern ICE thugs and Trump DICTATORSHIP cease to DELIBERATELY inflict chaos and fear.
These posts are a WARNING – what is happening throughout Minnesota can easily happen in YOUR state if “our” 13-year old president and Rasputins around him decide they ‘NEED’ to do it.
Following is the story of one man’s experiences on one day’s patrol: “My experience with ICE as a bystander, now in sharp relief” [Jaron Magstadt; Minnesota Star Tribune; 1/8/26]. Excerpts below:
3] “I then followed the sound of whistles to find two more unmarked vehicles back in front of the strip mall. I ran over to see a masked agent holding a can of pepper spray to my partner’s face, threatening to mace them.”
4]. “We followed the vehicles throughout the parking lot as they moved to a different store on the same lot. Before leaving the lot completely, on of the SUV’s, which was facing my partner and I, accelerated toward us in a perceived attempt to run us over, or at the very least a threat to do so.”
1]. “The events of Jan. 7, while a clear escalation, are just one example of ICE sowing fear and terror in our community. I was on patrol for ICE with my partner and other community members….There had been community reports of ICE being active in that area throughout the day, so we showed up in support of our neighbors.”
2]. “I was pacing up and down the sidewalk in front of the strip mall when I saw a blue SUV with no plates drive past me. I quickly followed it behind the building…where I witnessed two more unmarked vehicles pull up to surround a young man on an electric scooter. Four or five men in masks and vests labeled ICE jumped out. They asked him for his Social Security number, if he had a visa, and if he could prove his citizenship. I could not hear his response…but they held a phone camera to hid face and let him go.” [SO – YOU are walking – 4 masked men demand YOUR I.D. – to prove to THEM that YOU are an American citizen !!!!!!! – Nazi Germany, Soviet Russia, Communist China? – no, “America” ]
5]. “After the agents left, it was clear that fear was radiating throughout the strip mall. All of the shop doors were locked, with customers watching the events unfold through the window, looks of terror across their faces.”
6]. “I share this knowing that my experience is not an isolated event. My neighbors are living in fear of being taken from their families, and so are many across Minnesota because of ICE.”
***. “Neither democracy nor effective representation is possible until each participant in the group – and this is true equally of a household or a nation – devotes a measurable part of his life to furthering its existence.” [ Lewis Mumford ]
Tag: news
The Trump DICTATORSHIP – Stupidity, Cruelty, Corruption, Craziness, CVIII – “When ICE comes for our kids’ caregivers, no one is safe”, III
*** “Cruelty constitutes the greatest moral distance at which an intelligent creature can be removed from a God of forbearance and mercy.” [ Elica Cook ]
This post is the third to describe to YOU the effects of ICE thugs on ordinary people, especially on traumatized children. The effects are often invisible – but the trauma inflicted on individuals, neighborhoods, communities, cities will NOT end whrn ICE thugs and Trump DICTATORSHIP cease to DELIBERATELY cause chaos and fear.
If YOU are a caring, decent American – these posts are a WARNING to YOU – what is happening throughout Minnesota can easily happen in YOUR state. – if some Far Right “influencer” decides to stage something hat sets off ‘our’ 13-year old president and the Rasputins around him itching for a new “crisis” they can USE to carry out their agenda
***. “a Stalin functionary admitted, “Innocent people were arrested naturally – otherwise no one would be frightened. If people, he said, were arrested only for specific misdemeanors, all the others would feel safe.” [ Paul Johnson ]
“Who will be the villains and heroes in this story? There are ordinary people responding to fear and cruelty, and there are those with unchecked power.” [ Ka Vang; Minnesota Star Tribune; 1/9/26 ]; some excerpts:
2] “By the end of Wednesday, the impact of the expanded ICE presence moved through the Twin Cities like a tornado. Restaurants closed early. Small and large businesses sent workers home. Minneapolis schools closed for the week – not because of an official curfew or emergency, but because fear had settled over the city like a violent fog out of a Stephen King novel…the kind of fear that reshapes behavior. That rewrites the meaning of public safety.”
3] “Safety becomes conditional. Streets once neutral turn into sites of calculation. Is it safer to drive or to walk? To go to school or stay home? To shop in person or order online? To intervene or look away?”
4]. “This is how fear works. it redraws maps in our hearts and our heads.”
6]. “Trauma does not stay contained. It ripples outward – through families, workplaces and neighborhoods. It shows up as anxiety, exhaustion, distraction and grief.”
5] “The blood on the snow is red regardless of who it came from.”
7] ‘…the deeper truth. Her death did not just take a life – it altered how Minnesotans understand safety, power and proximity.”
1] “Renee Nicole Good was shot in the head and killed by an ICE agent in south Minneapolis – not while climbing a wall at the border, not during a hidden raid, not inside a remote detention facility…killed on a street where people walk their dogs, take their children to school and stop to greet their neighbors. A street lined with homes, meant to be ordinary. Until three shots rang out, and Good was dead.”
8] “One of my favorite writers is Stephen King, and what I love about his heroes is that they are always ordinary people responding to fear, power and cruelty that is unleashed. As for his villains, they are often embodiments of unchecked power. This sounds like Minnesotans and the Trump administration.”
9] “In King’s books, victory is not the absence of violence; it is the refusal to normalize it. When federal violence enters ordinary streets, the question is no longer whether we are afraid. The question is who we choose to be while living inside that fear.”
10]. “History will remember this moment and there will be no surprises at who the villains are. It will certainly not be Good and thse like her.”
*** “It is from numberless diverse acts of courage and belief that human history is shaped. Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring, those ripples can sweep down the mightiest walls of repression and resistance.” [ Robert F. Kennedy, SENIOR!!!!; 6/6/1966 ]
The Trump DICTATORSHIP – Stupidity, Cruelty, Corruption, Craziness, CVII. – The DAMAGE To America by the Trump DICTATORSHIP, As Reflected In ONE Day’s Headlines !!!!!!!!!!!!!!
*** “Nothing is more terrible tan ignorance in action.” [ Goethe ]
Below are headlines from ONE day. – discussing the STUPIDITY, INCOMPETENCE, CRUELTY, RECKLESSNESS. leading to undermining and damaging America by Trump DICTATORSHIP actions:
1]. “Justices cast doubt on bid to fire Cook”. – because it would “weaken, if not shatter, the independence of the Federal Reserve.” {Mark Sherman; Assoc. Press; 1/22/26]
2]. “In Ist year of his second term. Trump leaves economic stamp”. – “an all-out assault on many of the institutions and policy paradigms that have long been seen by leaders of both major parties as the foundation of American economic strength.” [ Ben Casselman; New York Times; 1/22/26 ]
3]. “Social Security data bared by DOGE”. – “confirms concerns among career government employees and data security experts that DOGE’s chaotic access to sensitive government data risks sharing this data broadly…without knowing what data was exposed or who has seen it..” [ Eileen Sullivan; New York Times; 1/22/26 ]
4]. “Off-duty police officer boxed in by federal agents”. – “Bruley and fellow law enforcement personnel spoke against what they say is a spate of racial profiling by federal immigration agents..” [ Allison Kitel; Minnesota Star Tribune; 1/22/26]
5]. “Gap in ICE ‘worst case'”. – “Homeland Security has released the names of only about 240 immigrants arrested”; nearly ALL had served time and were “not actively wanted by police..” [ total people arrested is about 3,000 !!!]. [Christopher Magan, Jeff Hargarten; Minnesota Star Tribune; 1/22/26 ]
6]. “Refugees with legal status being detained” – 5600 Minnesota refugees “who have gone through a robust screening process and are on a pathway to citizenship.” [ Susan Du; Minnesota Star Tribune; 1/22/26 ]
7]. “Russia observes Greenland with glee” – “state media praises Trump’s goal as historic…it weakens the European Union and NATO…takes some of the West’s attention away from Russia’s war in Ukraine.” [ Dasha Litvinova; Associated Press; 1/22/26 ] {Trump is sabotaging THE most effective alliance in world history}
8]. “Canada Elbows Up On Global Stage”. – “PM gets standing ovation at Davos for firm talk about the U.S….calling the current phase ‘a rupture..” [ Matina Stevis-Gridneff, Ian Austen; New York Times; 1/22/26 ]
9] “Immigration operation begins in Maine”. – “ICE official says nearly 1,400 “targets” in state…Some employers have begun looking to immigrants to fill labor gaps, as native-born employees have either left the state or retired.” [ Hamed Aleaziz; New York Times; 1/22/26 ]
Look over the above again, and THINK. – what this mea”coldns not only now but years from now. “Our” 13-year old P.R. performance president does NOT think long-term, cares little for details, and – as a Pulitzer Prize winner said – thinks ONLY of himself. And – reflect on the following:
A] “But economists from across the ideological spectrum warn that Trump is setting the country on a path hat will, in the long run, leave the economy less dynamic, the financial system less stable and Americans less prosperous in the decades ahead…. “We’re weakening the special sauce that made America great,” said Kimberly A. Clausing…. Vance Ginn, who was chief economist in the Office of Management and Budget during Trump’s first term…said the benefits of those moves are outweighed by the costs of its policies on trade and immigration, its failure to rein in the federal deficit and its intervention in the private sector.” [ Ben Casselman; New York Times; 1/22/26 ]
B] “Three top Catholic clerics decry U.S. foreign policy”….’..American “moral role in confronting evil” is put in jeopardy, they say.”… “is in question for the first time in decades..” [ Ruth Graham; New York Times; 1/22/26 ]
C] “Trump insults Minnesota Somalis at Davos” – “Trump directly questioned the intelligence of members of the community…Some near the front of the audience groaned loudly.” [ News Services; 1/22/26 ]
*** “A double-minded man is unstable in all his ways.” [ James 1:8 ]
THINK about other facts:
1] America was on the winning side of several 20th century wars, hot and “cold”. – BECAUSE we had friends and allies; BECAUSE. American treasure and blood were spent defending freedom and other nations
2]. American “soft power” conquered the world – music, movies, freedom, openness, accepting immigrants ans scientists, economic opportunity. We did NOT go out of our way to make enemies.
3] Look at NUMBERS. – not rhetoric. – expert, mainstream, bipartisan. analysis of many, if not most, Trump DICTATORSHIP. policies, shows they will NOT. ‘Make America Great Again.” But will, numerically, make America weaker, less prosperous, less stable. Listed above, YOU have only ONE day’s worth of the STUPIDITY, INCOMPETENCE, DESTRUCTIVENESS. of ‘our’ 13-year old president and the radical reactionary Rasputins around him. America has now endured 365 days of this INCOMPETENCE and STUPIDITY.
***. “Where there is no vision, the people perish.” [ Proverbs 29:18]
THINK also when the Founders created the United States, the goal was to have a government that was intended to “..promote the general Welfare..” This is NOT a goal of the Trump DICTATORSHIP.
“You shall love your neighbor as yourself…The stranger that dwells with you shall be to you as one born among you, and you shall love him as yourself.” [Leviticus 19: 18, 34] This is NOT a goal of the Trump DICTATORSHIP.
The Trump DICTATORSHIP – Stupidity, Cruelty, Corruption, Craziness, CVI – “When ICE comes for our kids’ caregivers, no one is safe”
THE symbol of the Trump DICTATORSHIP’s reckless INCOMPETENCE, deliberate CRUELTY, can be viewed by YOU live. Go to “Reuters via GoFundMe”. for a picture of U.S. citizen Chongly Scott Thao, age 57, being dragged out of his home, handcuffed, in shorts and Crocs – in a sub-zero Minnesota winter, hastily covered only by a checked red blanket – by ICE. THUGS.
Details so far are found in “St. Paul mayor ‘livid’ after ICE wrongly targets family friend” [Kim Hyatt; Minnesota Star Tribune; 1/21/26]. Excerpts below:
1]. “the jan. 18 incident in St. Paul stoked fresh outrage about ICE’s tactics as its agents spread across Minnesota. Thao is a U.S. citizen with no known criminal record in Minnesota.”
2] “Thao told Reuters that he was singing karaoke when there was a loud noise as agents broke down his door with guns drawn.”
3]. “Thao immigrated to the United States in 1974 and become a citizen in 1991.”
4] “He was placed into a SUV, and driven around for nearly an hour while be questioned…Only after fingerprinting and running his information did ICE confirm what should have been known from the start – he is a U.S. citizen and had NO criminal record. he was dropped back at home with no apology and no explanation.”
5]. “According to publicly available court records, Thao does not have a criminal history in Minnesota.”
6] “Her added that DHS said it was looking for sex offenders, but the mayor said the family had lived in that house for two years “and trhe person they are looking for does not live there anymore.”
7] “THis is an American citizen who has no criminal record. who was sleeping in his own house, that they broke a door down and put guns to his daughter-in-law’s head.”
8]. “This is happening across our city, across our state….ICE is not doing what it is they say they’re doing. They’re not going after hardened criminals. They’re going after anyone in their path. It is unacceptable. That is un-American.”
9] “Since the incident, Moua said, Thao’s health and emotional well-being have declined.”
Read this again. Laced throughout is DELIBERATE CRUELTY, rank INCOMPETENCE – known public records of citizenship, no criminal record. The ‘sex offender” thet supposedly were looking for hasn’t lived there for at least two years minimum.
QUESTION: would YOUR local police officers drag YOU out into sub-zero winter, half-naked, handcuffed – after they broke down YOUR door. – IGNORANT of known public records???????
How many MILLIONS of dollars could YOU easily get in a legal settlement for this kind of BLATANT, throughly UNPROFESSIONAL. treatment of an innocent American citizen???????
THIS. – is only one reason why this site has posted reports of. STUPIDITY, CRUELTY, CORRUPTION, CRAZINESS by a group of. FAR-RIGHT. zealots – the Trump DICTATORSHIP.
America is increasingly becoming viewed around the world as idiots – for electing this 13-year old as “our’ president. – who is surrounded bya CULT of CLOWNS. – doing one STUPID, DESTRUCTIVE, CORRUPT, CRUEL. thing after another – and then LYING. to us about it.
Chongly Scott Thao is now. THE symbol of EVERYTHING that is WRONG about the Trump DICTATORSHIP.
Get down on YOUR knees, pray that America will still have a FUNCTIONING democracy on January 20, 2029.
The Trump DICTATORSHIP – Stupidity, Cruelty, Corruption, Craziness, CV – “When ICE comes for our kids’ caregivers, no one is safe”, I
***”The children are always the chief victims of social chaos.” [ Agnes Meyer ]
This post is the first in a series to describe to YOU the effects of ICE thug activities on ordinary people. including children. The effects are often invisible – but the trauma inflicted on individuals, neighborhoods, communities, cities will NOT end when the ICE thugs and Trump DICTATORSHIP cease to DELIBERATELY cause chaos and fear.
If YOU are a decent, caring American – these posts are a WARNING TO YOU – what is happening throughout Minnesota can easily happen to YOUR state – if a FAR Right “influencer” decides to stage something that sets off “our” 13-year old president and the Rasputins around him itching for a new “crisis” they can USE to carry out their agenda.
*** “Over the past two years, we have watched politicians say and do things that are unprecedented in the United States – but we recognize as having been the precursors of democratic crisis in other places.” [Steven Levitsky, Daniel Ziblatt: “How Democracies Die.” ]
The following is from an article published January 9, 2026 [Minnesota Star Tribune] from a Minneapolis resident on consequences from the killing of Renee Good: “When ICE comes for our kids’ caregivers, no one is safe”:
8] “If the goal of immigration policy is public safety, then we must ask: safe for whom? Because my kids do not feel safer. My students do not feel safer. My neighbors do not feel safer. The trust that holds communities together is eroded every time ICE treats schools, day cares and family spaces as acceptable hunting grounds.” [ T. B. ]
5]. “As a teacher, I see the ripple effects immediately. Kids carry stress in their bodies before they can articulate it in words. Fear shows up in acting out, withdrawal or sudden academic struggles. When immigration enforcement operates with shock-and-awe tactics, children absorb the message that the adults in their lives can vanish at any moment. That is not safety. That is trauma.”
7] “Supporters of aggressive ICE actions often claim they are about law and order. But there is nothing orderly about ripping caregivers from children or conducting operations that blur the line between civil enforcement and criminal abduction in the eyes of the community. When people in my neighborhood say ICE “kidnapped” someone, they are not being hyperbolic. – they are describing the lived experience of sudden. unexplained disappearance enforced by armed authority.”
1] “The adults call it an “enforcement action.” My kids experienced it as something much simpler and more terrifying: a familiar, caring adult disappeared without warning. To them. – and to many of us parents. – it felt like a kidnapping.”
2] “I’ve spent my career teaching kids teamwork, trust and resilience. Yet nothing in my training prepared me to explain why someone who helped care for my children could be taken away in front of their workplace, with no regard for the children who depend on them.”
3] [This] ..”..is not happening at the border….It is happening at day cares, apartment buildings, job sites and on sidewalks. It is happening in places that are supposed to be safe.”
4] “The day care staff member who was taken is not a headline or a statistic. They are someone who greeted my kids by name, who wiped tears, tied shoes, and helped create the stable environment every child deserves. When ICE removes someone like that, they don’t just target an individual – they destabilize families, workplaces and entire neighborhoods.”
6] “Living in south Minneapolis, I have watched these tactics reshape the metro area. Parents are afraid to drive. Workers are afraid to report abuse and unsafe conditions. Families hesitate to attend school events, seek medical care or call for help in emergencies. This is not an unintended side effect. – it is the predictable result of an enforcement strategy built on fear.”
9]. “Immigration enforcement that traumatizes children and destabilizes communities is not a solution. – it is a moral failure.”
10] “Our kids are watching. They are learning what power looks like, and who it protects. We owe them better lessons than this.” [ T. B. ]
The Trump DICTATORSHIP – Stupidity, Cruelty, Corruption, Craziness, CIV – Trump’s ICE – Recruiting Authoritarians
*** “…authoritarianism happens when followers submit too much to the authorities in their lives. What is “too much,” then? When followers choose to believe a leader who demonstrably and repeatedly lies to them, ignore undeniable contradictions in his rationales, and back him to the max when he makes very bad decisions. – that’s “too much.” When they turn a blind eye to obviously immoral and outright unlawful acts he performs, support him when he places himself above the law and repeatedly tries to undermine the nation’s founding principles, and they genuinely think, feel, and do what he tells them to, because he is their leader, that is WAY TOO MUCH.” [ John W. Dean, Bob Altemeyer: “Authoritarian Nightmare…..Trump And His Followers” ]
This post is based around “ICE plans. ‘wartime recruitment’. push” [ Drew Harwell, Joyce Sohyun Lee; Washington Post Weekly; 1/4/26]. Americans have seen the results of Trump’s use of U.s. troops on American streets; now see armed, masked. ICE thugs routinely assaulting American citizens. – recorded in personal and in shared videos. WHO are these men??? WHY do they act this way???
1] One ICE recruitment site has an Uncle Sam pointing at the reader, with this caption: “America NEEDS YOU America has been invaded by criminals and predators. We need YOU to get them out. You do not need an undergraduate degree. You may be entitled to UP to these benefits $50,000signing bonus $60,000 student loan repayment $25,000 Premium Pay”
{Harwell, Lee: “ICE plans ‘wartime recruitment’ push”]
5] “On social media, administration accounts have mixed immigration raid footage with memes from action movies and video games to portray ICE’s mission as a fight against the “enemies…at the gates.” “Want to deport illegals with your absolute boys?” one post says. “are you going to cowboy up or just lay there and bleed?” says another.” [Harwell, Lee]
8] “ICE has hosted hiring events around the country, including at a Texas job fair last year, during which a
former mixed martial arts fighter told The Post he was eager to “work with these guys that are going to arrest you, slam your face on the pavement and send you home.”
***. “If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face – forever.” [ George Orwell: “1984” ]
10] “Americus Reed…said the ICE strategy reminded him of the “Army of One” campaign that the military once used to build up recruits as mighty warfighters critical to safeguarding the American way of life.”
“They’re aiming for that sweet spot of people who’ve got something to prove, who want to have that power, under the guise of patriotism,” he said.” [ Harwell, Lee ]
2] “U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials are planning to spend $100 million over a one-year period to recruit gun-rights supporters and military enthusiasts….through ads targeting people who have attended UFC fights…with calls for recruits willing to perform their ‘sacred duty” and “defend the homeland” by repelling “foreign invaders.” [ Harwell, Lee ]
*** “Authority has always attracted the lowest elements in the human race. All through history mankind has been bullied by scum.” [ P.J. O’Rourke ]
3]. “..Sarah Saldana, a director of ICE during ther Obama administration, who recalled filling its open positions through local police departments and sheriff’s offices with appeals to officers’ interests in federal public safety work.”
“She said she worries that the speed with which ICE is racing to bring on new hires – coupled with the ad campaign’s framing of the jobs as part of a war – will raise the risk that the agency could attract untrained recruits eager for all-out combat.” [ Harwell, Lee ]
4]. “The appeal to law enforcement should not be “the quicker we get out there and run over people, the better off this country will be,” she said. “That mentality you’re fostering tends to inculcate in people a certain aggressiveness that may not be necessary in 85 percent of what you do.” [ Harwell, Lee ]
6] “ICE recruitment ads, the plan said, would be shown to people with an interest in “military and veterans’ affairs,’ ‘”physical training” or “conservative news and politics”. and would target people whose lifestyles are “patriotic” or “conservative-leaning.”
“The strategy said to target listeners of conservative radio shows, country music and podcasts related to patriotism, mens’ interests and true crime, as well as any accounts that resemble users with an interest in “conservative thought leaders, gun rights organizations [and] tactical gear brands,’ the document said.’ [ Harwell, Lee ]
7]. “The war rhetoric is in line with the Trump administration’s broader efforts to push mass deportations as critical to American security and immigration officials’ work as heroic..” [ Harwell, Lee ]
*** “The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed [and hence clamorous to be led to safety]. by menacing it with endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary.” [ H.L Mencken ]
9] “… DHS has spent more than $1 million on “self-deportation’ ads in the last 90 days targeted to people interested in “Latin music,” “Spanish as a second language’ and “Mexican cuisine.” [ Haewrll, lee ]
Re-read the above – think about the thinking behind what Harwell and Lee have presented to YOU. Do YOU find this at all a little frightening – that ‘YOUR’ government has done this – in ‘YOUR’ name – supposedly for ‘YOUR’ security??? That most of the “enemies” said to be “threatening America’ are NOT “criminals.” That somebody has figured out a profile of people who would be attracted to do “the dirty work”???
Consider trhe following from trhe “SPLC Report – Winter, 2026”: “A Hatewatch review of Department of Homeland Security [DHS]. social media posts and web content found that the federal agency uses white nationalist and anti-immigrant images and slogans in recruiting materials. In some cases, the images and language appear to come from antisemitic and neo-Nazi publications and a white Christian nationalist website.”
“The increase in white nationalist content appears to originate with a June 11 post. DHS’ official X and Instagram accounts posted a graphic of Uncle Sam hammering a sign with the caption: “Help your country…and yourself…REPORT ALL FOREIGN INVADERS.” A hotline number for Immigration and Customs Enforcement [ICE] accompanied the post. Mother Jones reported the doctored graphic of Uncle Sam originated from an X user called “Mr. Robert,’ who is associated with white nationalist content.”
***. “When and if fascism comes to America it will not be labeled ‘made in Germany’; it will not be marked with a swastika; it will not even be called fascism; it will be called, of course, ‘Americanism’..” [Halford Luccock]
Dean and Altemeyer summarize their research findings on pages 172-173: “..decades of research reveal that, as a group authoritarian followers appear to have a lot of “hurt,” which they are looking to lay on others. These impulses are triggered by fear of a dangerous world…many released by their self-righteousness. When an authority approves the aggression…they find justification in attacking others…research reveals these people have a deep need to belong to a powerful movement they feel will safeguard them…are deeply dependent on others for social reinforcement…are more untethered and adrift than most people….this dependence makes them uniquely vulnerable to manipulators….”
[ “Authoritarian Nightmare…Trump And His Followers ]
FOOD FOR THOUGHT, #1: find Mike Luckovich’s cartoon of 1/14/26 – showing 3 armed, masked ICE thugs standing over a fallen “Statue of Liberty” with the caption. “SHE WAS BRANDISHING A TORCH”
FOOD FOR THOUGHT, #2: find the Minnesota Star Tribune front page, 1/15/26. for a picture of an ICE thug reaching out of a car window for a drive-by hit on an unarmed protestor. “with chemical spray”
FOOD FOR THOUGHT, #3: “The darkest places in hell are reserved for those who maintain their neutrality in times of moral crisis.” [ Dante Alighieri ]
TheTrump DICTATORSHIP – Stupidity, Cruelty, Corruption, Craziness, CIII – “No One Is Safe From ICE”
*** “If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stomping on a human face forever.” [ George Orwell: “1984”]
1]. “Tribal Leaders Say ICE Is Detaining Natives”. [Susan Du; Minnesota Star Tribune; 1/13/26]: “When ICE detained four homeless men who had been living under a bridge in Minneapolis, they took members of the Oglala Sioux Tribe, according to the tribe’s president….ICE detained a Red Lake descendant..after pulling him from his car..Roberto Ramirez was released after his mother..provided his birth certificate….On Friday, federal agents blocked her truck..tried to open her door, demanded she roll down her window and threatened to break it when she didn’t comply. Members of the Many Shields Society, a community security force, ran up blowing whistles and honking their car horns. The agents retreated. At one point in the altercation, which was recorded and widely shared, Dionne-Thunder’s husband, Vinny Dionne, told the agent they were on Native land, to which the agent pointed to himself and said no, it was their land..”
[ SO – ICE has the guns, ICE has Trump – therefore America is THEIR. land !!!!!!!! ]
*** “Illegal aliens have always been a problem in the United States. Ask any Indian.” [ Robert Orben ]
2] ICE agents broke down a door, entered a home in Minneapolis – without a warrant. [N.P.R.; 1/13/26] [NOTE: reports like this TRUTH explain why the Trump DICTATORSHIP defunded public media ]
3] “an 18-year old Guyanese U.S. citizen had just finished a quick stop at a gas station near Hamline University in St. Paul when federal immigration agents approached him and demanded identification….The December 12 encounter is among several in which U.S. citizens were stopped or detained by federal immigration agents despite asserting their citizenship…..”I think it’s the first time a population that’s overwhelmingly U.S. citizens are being harassed on U.S. streets..”…..U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar said a similar encounter happened to her 20-year old son, who was born in the United States, has had multiple prior encounters..” [Emmy Martin, Sofia Barnett, Louis Krauss: “As stops continue, fears of racial profiling are growing”; Minnesota Star Tribune; 12/18/25]
*** “There will be no loyalty, except towards the Party. There will be no love, except love of Big Brother.”
[ George Orwell: “1984” ]
4] “The killing of Renee Nicole Good, a mother of three and widow of a military veteran, tests that assumption. ICE, said Ellison, is all about telling people, “‘ You want to defend your neighbors, you’re going to do it at the risk of your own life.’ I think that’s the unmistakable message. Just looking at the tape, hey could have said, ‘You get out of here,’ right? And then she gets out of there. they don’t want her to get out of there. They wanted to either drag her out of that car or do what they did. And it was all about teaching lessons.” [Michelle Goldberg: “No One Is Safe From ICE”; New York Times; 1/11/26]
5] “Martinez survived, only for the Justice Department to charge HER with assaulting a federal officer. Her lawyers soon discovered that Exum had been boasting about the shooting in text messages. In one, he wrote, “I fired 5 rounds, and she had 7 holes. Put that in your book boys.” In another, he said, “Sweet. My fifteen mins of fame. Lmao.” [Goldberg]
6]. “All of us, citizens and immigrants alike, are being ruled by people who think life is a privilege bestowed by authority, and death is a fair penalty for disobedience.” [ Goldberg ]
7] “In the imagination of some on the right, Good quickly came to stand for all the grating Resistance moms they’d like to see crushed. Fox News sneered that Good was a ‘self-proclaimed poet”. – she’s the winner of a prestigious poetry award. – “with pronouns in her bio.” The conservative radio hst Erick Erickson described her as an ‘AWFUL,” or “Affluent White Female Urban Liberal.” [ Goldberg ]
8] “Exum’s giddy sadism shouldn’t have been surprising; it reflects the culture the administration is encouraging among its immigration enforcers. In one ICE recruiting ad, an agent mans a mounted gun atop some sort of militarized vehicle, with the words, “Destroy the flood.” It was a reference to the video game Halo, where players must kill hostile space aliens. Another shows sword-wielding knights with the words, “The enemies are at the gates.” [Goldberg]
9]. “Homeland Security’s social media feed is an unending stream of demented propaganda and bellicose Christian nationalism. An image posted on New Year’s Eve shows a classic car on an idyllic beach with the slogan, “America after 100 million deportations.” [ Goldberg ]
10] “In such a system, the relationship between citizens and their government is transformed by the constant demand for submission.” [ Goldberg ]
*** “Power is not a means; it is an end. One does not establish a dictatorship in order to safeguard a revolution; one makes a revolution in order to establish the dictatorship. The object of persecution is persecution. The object of torture is torture. The object of power is power. Now you begin to understand me.” [ George Orwell: “1984” ]
***. “The very first essential for success is a perpetually constant and regular employment of violence.” [Adolf Hitler]
The Trump Dictatorship – Stupidity, Cruelty, Corruption, Craziness, CII – The Death in Minneapolis, II – and More
*** “Crime is contagious. If the government becomes a lawbreaker, it breeds contempt for law.” [Justice Louis Brandeis]
Details and events are still unfolding in the Twin City area concerning the shooting of Renee Good by an ICE agent. Other effects and indignities continue to be imposed. Many AMERICAN CITIZENS are now carrying around passports and other official I.D. – as people continue to confronted by masked, armed thugs in unmarked cars. This post provides a few more – some of which have implications around America.
1] There is a growing problem created by ICE thug activities: state and local law enforcement are presented with a “no-win” situation. ICE has become. “TOXIC.” This toxicity threatens to undermine law enforcement all over America. Please consider some thoughts raised:
2] “Tensions Rise Among Law Enforcement Agencies”. [Shaila Dewan, Chris Hippensteel; New York Times; 1/11/26]
– “Normally, federal, state and local law enforcement are on the same side, investigating crimes, sharing leads, and tracking down suspects. But under the Trump administration, tensions between some local and federal officials have intensified
– “Cooperation between federal authorities and state and local enforcement is essential to holding drug gangs, other violent criminals and white-collar offenders accountable..”
– “More broadly, federal agents have traditionally notified local authorities of most planned operations, both as a matter of courtesy and safety.”
– “It’s breaking down not only, obviously, on the immigration side, but to the point where the ICE brand becomes so toxic that the state and locals don’t feel like they can cooperate even on the things where there would be widespread public support,” he said.”
– “Police leaders expressed fears that ICE tactics cast a shadow on the professionalism of their officers and would undo their efforts to gain public trust.”
[Read this again, then read the entire article.. Read the comments by PROFESSIONAL American law enforcement personnel.]
3]. “One of the major concerns many of us had when the FBI was ordered to join in on these immigration operations was that it would create an implicit conflict of interest if we ever had to conduct a use-of-force or civil rights investigation of the other involved agencies..” [Glenn Thrush: “Early Comments Cast Doubts Over ICE Inquiry”; New York Times; 1/11/26]
4] “Lawmakers are denied access to ICE facility” [Kristi Miller; St. Paul Pioneer Press; l/11/26]: Three U.S. Representatives were kicked out of a federal detention facility at Fort Snelling. They’d been granted permission, but “higher ups” ordered them kicked out!!! This in spite of a December court ruling affirming Congress’ authoroity to conduct oversight.
***. “When people are disappeared into the darkness, American democracy dies….they are disappearing U.S. citizens, people who have proper documentations..” [ U.S. Representative Ilhan Omar ]
5] “A close examination of the shooting of Renee Good”. [Greta Kaul, Jake Steinberg, Amanda Anderson, Anna Boone, Jake Lovett: Minnesota Star Tribune; 1/11/26]. On pages 8 and 9, a 12- frame sequence is presented with explanation. Photos “were source from. X. Satellite imagery is from Google Earth.” Picture #2 is Renee Good, her window down, one arm out the window, a smiling non-terrorist expression. If in ANY. doubt about what circumstances were and what happened, this will likely help YOU understand THE TRUTH.
6] “New video shows ICE agent’s view” {Mitch Smith, Hamed Aleaziz, Julie Bosman; New York Times; 1/11/26]: Minnesota State Representative Aisha Gomez “said the release of the footage was “clearly designed to be like, ‘Look at these terrible people who are interfering with law enforcement. Don’t they deserve to get executed in the middle of the street in the United States of America?” “The answer,’ she said, was, “no, they don’t”
SO – my fellow Americans – THIS. is THE. question: does an ordinary American citizen, when confronted by law enforcement. “deserver to get executed in the middle of the street in the United states of America?” Would YOU???
And, disruptive things keep happening, courtesy of ICE. A woman was videoed trying to talk to an ICE thug – he put his hand up against her phone, said something like this: “Haven’t you learned..” !!!!!! HAVEN’T YOU. LEARNED – we can do anything we want, no regular police practices, no law can stop us. After ICE thugs were on/around school grounds – local schools canceled classes for two days, games were canceled, a “Senior Night ” wrestling team celebration was canceled. “They’re a little confused as to why this is happening..They didn’t grow up with Jim Crow and institutionalized racism…” [ Joe Christensen: “High school athlete’s lives upended by ICE surge”; Minnesota Star Tribune; 1/12/26]
Perhaps – “all the criminals”. will soon be arrested and deported – so America will be “safe”?????
***. “The most odious of all oppressions are those which mask as justice.” [ Justice Robert Jackson ]
The Trump DICTATORSHIP – Stupidity, Cruelty, Corruption, Craziness, CI. – Ther Death In Minneapolis
*** “The Party told you to reject the evidence in your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command.”
[ George Orwell: “1984” ]
Nothing better illustrates the cruelty and dishonesty of the Trump DICTATORSHIP more than the ICE operation – in concept [based on the BIG LIE] that immigrants are all criminals and job-taking welfare recipients. And. – the manner in which armed, masked government thugs are assaulting American CITIZENS, smashing car windows, violating long established American police practices, creating chaos and fear among American CITIZENS. The murder in Minneapolis, the attempt to cover up all evidence. – stands as a monument to the EVIL the Trump DICTATORSHIP is daily perpetrating.
***. “Truth is the most precious thing. That is why we should ration it.” [ Lenin ]
Details are still being evaluated, but this is what is known on January 10 so far:
1] From a video evaluation by Devon Lum [New York Times; 1/8/26]: “The videos show the driver wave one vehicle by. When a truck with flashing lights approaches, she waves again, but the truck stops and federal agents emerge. Two step out and move toward the driver’s side door. The agents tell the driver to get out. {Question: why don’t they just tell her to drive away???] One ..tries to open the driver’s side door.. a third agent crosses in front of the Honda..the driver begins to reverse, turning away from the agents. Immediately after the Honda shifts from reverse to drive and begins to move ahead, hat agent at the front of the vehicle, standing near the driver’s side headlight, pulls out a gun…The Honda moves forward, turning to the right. The agent aiming the gunfires..continues to shoot as the vehicle moves past him.”
NOTE: The agent “in fear of his life” is standing by the LEFT side of the car, the car turns to the RIGHT, the agent fires as “the vehicle moves PAST HIM.” ]
*** “If the facts say otherwise, the facts must be altered.” [ George Orwell: “1984” ]
2] One prominent federal official immediately labeled all this as “an act of domestic terrorism.” Consider this: “Her ex-husband said she was no activist and that h had never known her to participate in a protest of any kind. He described her as a devoted Christian..” [Michael Biesecker, Jim Mustian: “‘Wife and mother’ died in new neighborhood”; Associated Press; 1/9/26]
*** “Orthodoxy means not thinking – not needing to think. Orthodoxy is unconsciousness.” [George Orwell: “1984”]
3] “Experts see questionable use of force”. [Jeffrey Meitrodt, Emmy Martin; Minnesota Star Tribune; 1/9/26]. The Star Tribune spoke to five legal experts on this case. “Four of the experts who spoke to the Star Tribune had seen the videos that documented the encounter. None of the experts said the available evidence proved the shooting was justified.” The article also contains expert commentary on standard police procedures in situations like this. Police officers are told to NOT shoot into a moving vehicle.
***. “If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face forever.” [George Orwell: ‘1984″]
4] “Feds block state BCA from shooting inquiry”. [Mara Gottfried, Alex Derosier; St. Paul Pioneer Press; 1/9/26]: “After the Wednesday morning shooting, there was consultation with the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office, the U.S. Attorney’s Office and the FBI, according to a BCA statement. It was decided the BCA’s Force Investigations Unit would conduct a joint investigation with the FBI.” The Minnesota BCA began investigating. – then that afternoon the FBI told the BCA the U.S. Attorney’s Office had reversed course – the Minnesota BCA was OUT!!!!! ONLY the federal government would “investigate” !!!!!
***. “Who controls the past controls the future. Who controls the present controls the past.” [George Orwell: “1984”]
5] All of the above occurred before another video [1/9/26], apparently shot by an ICE agent’s body camera. – shows the victim, Renee Good, and her partner – who was outside the car on foot. – smiling and relaxed, talking comfortably with ICE agents. A “domestic terrorist” does NOT do this, a person intending to hurt an ICE agent does NOT do this. There is NO. WAY. this video can be explained away. – BUT the Trump DICTATORSHIP will try mightily.
*** “They that can give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.”
[ Benjamin Franklin ]
SO. – YOU tell us. – what do YOU think the chances are for the REAL truth. – as told by several videos, by bystanders at the scene itself. – emerging from THE ONLY OFFICIAL REPORT being allowed, given to YOU by the same government that is responsible for the shooting????? From a ‘government” run by a person falsely claiming the 2020 election was “stolen”????? From the same person who dispensed 30,000 plus DOCUMENTED LIES in his first term????? From a president who demands “loyalty” above all else????? From a president who’s already tried to extinguish every bit of independent accountability in the federal government????? From a “government” that has already made its. – FALSE. – conclusions on he shooting?????
*** “the Party told you to reject the evidence in your eyes and ears.”
The Trump DICTATORSHIP – Stupidity, Cruelty, Corruption, Craziness, C. – “Jan. 6 Was Just The Start”
***. BUT – it wasn’t: “…the four ways in which Republicans have been hacking away at the foundations of democracy and civil society for a quarter century: their war on truth, their growing exploitation of racism and white supremacy, their sabotage of the institutions and norms of government, and their dehumanizing of opponents and stoking of violence….And in the process, they murdered democracy.” [ Dana Milbank: “The Destructionists’ ]
This post presents excerpts from “Jan. 6 Was Just The Start” [New York Times editorial; 1/4/26]. Please read the entire article. Please continue to support the TRUTH about January 6, 2021. Powerful forces want to RE-WRITE January 6 history. – an ambitious project because the world saw the actual events; perps confessed; even Mitch McConnell immediately laid the blame on Donald John Trump [before he recanted!!!]. In trials all over America, perps confessed, were given jail time. But then – this is what authoritarians do: re-write history [Jason Stanley: “Erasing History…How Fascists Rewrite The Past To control The Future”]
*** “The accumulation of all power, legislative, executive, and judiciary, in the same hands, whether of one, a few, or many, and whether hereditary, self-appointed, or elective, may justly be pronounced the very definition of tyranny.”
[ James Madison, Founder, 4th U.S. President ]
13] “Once..[Trump]..was elected, his post-Jan. 6 experience inspired his administration’s goals and methods. he and his aides concluded that intimidation and lawlessness could yield victories even in seemingly unwinnable and sometimes illegal circumstances.” [N.Y. Times editorial]
8] “THe shocking part of the story was the response of so many other people in government, media and business.”
6]. “Over the next several years, Jan. 6 became a “day of love” in Mr. Trump’s telling: The rioters were “patriots,” and those detained were “hostages’ whose suffering compared to that of Japanese Americans interned during World War II. He made common cause with the most extreme elements of his coalition to manipulate history. Together, they rallied right-wing media to their cause, silenced all but a few Republican critics and intimidated corporate leaders into complicity.”
15] “The pardons issue a message: If you break the law to protect me, you will be supported, and if you uphold the law to restrain me, you will be persecuted.”
*** “The Republican Party is held aloft by a large, powerful, and ever-growing industry of deceit. The purpose of much of conservative media is to lie to their audience. It is fitting that at the heart of the Trump presidency itself is a lie: Almost every Republican elected official in Washington knows Donald Trump is unfit to be president.” [ Stuart Stevens: “It Was All A Lie”]
1]. “It was a day that should live in infamy. Instead, it was the day President Trump’s second term began to take shape…was indeed a turning point, but not the one it first seemed to be. It was a turning point toward a version of mr. Trump who is even more lawless than the one who governed the country in his first term. It heralded a culture of political unaccountability, in which people who violently attacked Congress and beat police officers escaped without lasting consequences.”
2] “The politicians and pundits who had egged on the attack with their lies escaped, as well. The aftermath of Jan. 6 made the Republican Party even more feckless, beholden to one man and willing to pervert reality to serve his interests.”
3]. “All this would have been hard to conceive for many Americans five years ago. Disgust was bipartisan for a time because so many episodes of that day seemed unforgettable.”
4] “The victims who suffered the worst violence were the police officers protecting the Capitol.”
5]. “Mr. Trump made possible the lawlessness. After he lost the 2020 election, he spent weeks peddling the lie that he had rightfully won. He encouraged state officials to ‘find” votes for him or simply appoint electors loyal to him.”
*** “so long as men worship the Caesars and Napoleons, Caesars and napoleons will duly arise and make them miserable.” [ Aldous Huxley ]
7] “This behavior, though inexcusable, was not shocking. it fir with Mr. Trump’s character, as both a businessman and a politician who has long pursued his self-interest without legal or ethical restraint.”
9]. “..on Jan. 12, Senator Mitch McConnell, then the Republican leader, “has concluded that President Trump committed impeachable offenses…”
10] “…handed Republicans control of the House, and they abandoned any Jan. 6 accountability…Instead, they began investigating their colleagues who had attempted to bring justice to mr. Trump.”
11] “The legal system also took some steps to fill the accountability gap. But it moved slowly and ineffectively.”
12]. “With the political and legal systems failing to punish him, much of the rest of the country started to move on. Business leaders made excuses for him. The conservative media establishment promoted him again and cheered on the purge of Republicans who had criticized this role in Jan. 6.”
*** “Every time we turn our heads the other way when we see the law flouted, when we tolerate what we know is wrong, when we close our eyes and ears to the corrupt because we are too busy or too frightened, when we fail to speak out, we strike a blow against freedom and decency and justice.” [ Robert F. Kennedy, Senior ]
14]. “On the first day of his second term, Mr. Trump granted clemency to all of the nearly 1,600 people charged or convicted in connection with jan. 6. The group included hundreds of defendants found to have assaulted law enforcement officers.”
16] “The thuggishness extends far beyond the people who were directly involved in Jan. 6 cases. The legacy of that day has taught Mr. Trump how to use power more aggressively to advance his interests. In his second term, he has surrounded himself with officials who accede to his lawless demands.”
17]. “Mr. Trump has also learned that congressional Republicans will bow to him even when he treats them with contempt or ignores the Constitution.”
18] “Mr. Trump likewise plays the courts more successfully than in his first term. The Supreme Court has helped him..”
19]. “Again and again, Mr. Trump dares the system to stop him.”
*** “Liberty lies in the hearts of men and women; when it dies there, no constitution, no law…no court can save it..”
[Judge Learned Hand]
The question of IF America has a real democracy on January 20, 2029. – is up to. YOU. Speak up, protest, organize. Above all – vote out EVERY Republican on November 3, 2026. If Trump has control of Congress. – it may be over. The Far Right blueprint is there in “Project 2025,” some of its authors have power in theTrump DICTATORSHIP. They WILL NOT STOP. attempting to create a PLUTOCRATIC THEOCRACY. – the billionaires behind Trump will demand it; the Christian nationalists behind Trump will demand it; his fearful, misinformed base will demand it.
This site has now published 100 “The Trump DICTATORSHIP” posts in 350 days of Trump’s authoritarian, lawless, reckless, anti-democratic reign. We apologize for not doing more. if we did, besides sleep and eating, we’d pretty much have done nothing else in 2025 than provide YOU with factual evidence of the monstrous depravity of the Trump DICTATORSHIP.
The “Project2025′ strategy was to hit the ground running. They announced the writing of many “executive orders” prior to Trump taking office. Part of their known strategy is to “flood the zone” – do so many things that people can’t keep up. With a CORRUPT Roberts ‘supreme court” of Republican political hacks, there is only Congress to restrain the Trump DICTATORSHIP – and we already know they live in fear, for careers, for their and their family’s safety.
Fear is a BIG part of the “Project 2025” Trumpian strategy – they’ve announced it. Part of the plan is to use YOUR government against YOU. This has already been demonstrated in multiple ways. Fear of persecution. Fear of losing funding. Fear of having your business ruined. Fear of having your career/job lost. This is how DICTATORSHIPS operate.
So. – yes, January 6, 2021, was, “Only Just A Start.’ IF – YOU permit it. Are YOU going to permit it?????????
With Justice For All 
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