Tag: news

The Trump DICTATORSHIP – Stupidity, Cruelty, Corruption, Craziness, CXX. – “When ICE comes for our kids’ caregivers, no one is safe”, IX

~ tomdolen


*** “Here in America we are descended in blood and spirit from revolutionaries and rebels – men and women who dared to dissent from accepted doctrine. As their heirs, may we never confuse honest dissent with disloyal subversion.” [ Dwight D. Eisenhower; WW II General; Republican; 34th U.S. President ]

This post is the 9th in a series to describe to YOU effects of ICE thugs on ordinary people. Away from the MURDER videos of Renee Good and Alex Pretti. Effects often invisible – but the trauma inflicted on people, neighborhoods, communities, cities will NOT end when ICE thugs and Trump DICTATORSHIP cease to DELIBERATELY cause 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 are excerpts from “letters to the editor” from ordinary Minnesotans. [“Letters to the editor”; St. Paul Pioneer Press; 1/18/26]:

A] “I don’t understand why we tolerate this”
1] “I am writing not to argue policy, but to ask a human and moral question that I cannot stop asking: How are we tolerating this?….watching parents taken from their homes, children left in shock and confusion, neighbors disappearing overnight. – and not be disturbed enough to demand something better?”
2] “I am trying, sincerely to understand how people of good will – people who care about family, order and the rule of law – can witness scenes of armed agents taking someone away in front of their children, or read about a woman killed in the course of enforcement, and do not feel compelled to say: This is not how a humane society should function.”

3] “do the supporters of our current system know anyone outside their own social or economic circles who is being affected? Do they know what it looks like when a child comes home from school and their parent is simply gone? Do they know what it does to a community when people are afriad not only of being taken, but even leaving their homes – afraid to go to work, to school, to the doctor, or to church – and when enforcement actions are disrupting staff and children in our schools?

4] “I find myself thinking about Anne Frank’s words describing how people simply “disappeared,”…I am troubled by how familiar the pattern feels: people removed, families silenced by fear, the rest of society slowly learnig not to look too closely..”

5]. “I understand immigration is complex…But the way we enforce the law also matters….A system that relies on fear, force and family separation as tools cannot be called orderly or just – only cruel.”

6] “What troubles me most is not disagreement. It is indifference. It is the sense that many have become so accustomed to this machinery that they no longer see the human cost, or no longer feel responsible because it is being done “legally,” “federally,” or “by someone else.” But moral responsibility does not disappear just because harm is bureaucratized.’

7] “..we can refuse to normalize what is happening. We can refuse to accept this is the best we can do. We can demand accountability, transparency, restraint and above all, humanity.”
8] “..I am deeply grateful to all who are standing up in protest – peacefully, courageously and publicly – to insist that our neighbors’ lives and families matter and that we can do better than this.”

9] “I am asking how anyone can watch families being torn apart, children traumatized, communities destabilized, and now people being killed – and not feel called to say: This must change. If we cannot feel that, then something more dangerous than any immigration crisis is happening to us.” [ J. W. S. ]

B]. “For decent and lawful enforcement, but not this”
1] “Last week a neighbor of my friend in St. Paul was picked up and detained by ICE. The spouse of a teacher at the school where I volunteer was also picked up and detained by ICE. Both were born in America and have no criminal history. They are NOT illegal immigrants and NOT the “worst of the worst’ of illegal immigrants purportedly being targeted by ICE agents at the direction of President Trump.”

2]. “I believe ICE is in Minnesota to terrorize and traumatize our citizens because President Trump hates Rep. Ilhan Omar and Gov. Tim Walz….Disagreeing with your political opponents is one thing, terrorizing their constituents is quite another.”

3] “..President Trump’s blatant prejudicial violation of the 4th Amendment of the Constitution to punish political enemies and law-abiding citizens is, very simply wrong.”

C] “The Risk”
1] “My family has realized that no one, especially innocent people, is immune from the ongoing negative interactions and complications caused by the ICE presence in Minneapolis. I want to present the fear, daily life routines needing to be changed and adjustments we are dealing with, realizing that many have it far worse.”

2] “We have been alerted to the risk that one of our family members faces based on a learning disability that makes it difficult for her to deal with complex issues requiring lengthy explanations. Several years ago my husband and I decided to complete our family with a fourth child, who would be a special needs child adopted from Korea.”

3] “Her limitations make it difficult for her to comprehend and address complex issues and reply in a perceived timely manner. If her bus or Lyft transportation is detained by ICE because of other passengers or because many of the drivers appear to be Muslim or because she looks Asian or for any reason and she would be questioned, she would be at great risk to be taken to a facility for “further interrogation” and because she would not have been able to explain that she is a U.S. citizen or answer rapid questioning.” [ J.G. ]

NOTE: These are NOT isolated, “one off” stories. Stories like these continue to become public. American CITIZENS picked up, ordered to present identification. [ including disabled U.S. veterans, out of uniform police officers, etc. ], detained for hours, dropped off somewhere with NO apology, perhaps their unlocked vehicle still running; property damaged, people standing and watching DELIBERATELY sprayed with chemicals, CITIZENS exercising Ist Amendment rights to photograph having phones knocked out of their hands, sprayed with chemicals, people following ICE thugs having vehicles surrounded – perhaps being put into an “accident,” perhaps dragged out of their vehicle, perhaps roughed up and threatened, etc., etc. etc…………..

this site has now posted 9 of these stories – more will likely follow – because ICE thugs continue to create these atrocities – to UNARMED American CITIZENS, on. a daily basis.

*** “It is the first responsibility of every citizen to question authority.” [ Benjamin Franklin ]

***. “Loyalty to country always. Loyalty to government, when it deserves it.” [ Mark Twain ]

The Trump Dictatorship – Stupidity, Cruelty, Corruption, Craziness, CXIX – “When ICE comes for our kids’ caregivers, no one is safe”, VII

~ tomdolen


***. “There never was any heart truly great and generous, that was not also tender and compassionate.”
[ Robert South ]

This post is the 7th in a series to describe to YOU the effects of ICE thugs on ordinary people. Away from the MURDER videos of Renee Good and Alex Pretti. Effects often invisible – but – trauma inflicted on people, neighborhoods, communities, cities will NOT end when ICE thugs and Trump DICTATORSHIP cease DELIBERATELY causing chaos and fear.

These posts are a WARNING – what is happening in Minnesota can easily come to YOUR state, if “our’ 13-year old president and Rasputins around him decide they ‘NEED” to do it.

Below are some “letters to the editor,” published January 9, 2026 [Minnesota Star Tribune] under this heading: “Despairing our fractured reality.” Some excerpts:

1] “We are in the middle of some kind of Shakespearean tragedy. If you doubt this, just listen to..Kristi Noem and President Donald Trump’s version…..The three witches in Shakespeare’s “Macbeth”…fog and filthy air…..In another Shakespearean tragedy, “Hamlet,”…words, words, words…….Thus January 6, 2021 becomes a “love fest,” the Minneapolis ICE killing is prompted by “an act of domestic terrorism”…….. [V.A.]

2] “an abrupt about-face by the FBI to exclude Minnesota bureau of Criminal Apprehension from a joint investigation…does not bode well for my trust..” [S.W.}

3] “To our brothers and sisters in blue: You have my deepest sympathy. You have been placed in the crosshairs of this crisis not of your making.” [M.J.C.]

4] “So thankful for Gov. Tim Walz, Frey and Police Chief Brian O’Hara. Thank you.” [l.K.]

5] “Who aren these guys…2,000 ICE “officers” descend on our state………… Who are these people? What training do they have……..how many are actually felons or criminals?” [J.C.]

6] “They said they were sending an additional 2,000 ICE agents to address “fraud’ in Minnesota. Did they send auditors? Did they send CPAs? No. They sent armed thugs……” [P.B.]

7] “On Jan.7, ICE agents swarmed an elementary school in south Minneapolis attended by my grandchildren…..As children watched. and they took parents and staff into custody – with no regard for the children’s welfare….this operation was about power and intimidation, sowing chaos….Is this really the America we wanted…. [D.F.]

*** “I have one yardstick by which I test every major problem – and that yardstick is: is it good for America?”
[ WW II General; Republican; 34th U.S. President. Dwight D. Eisenhower ]

The Trump DICTATORSHIP – Stupidity, Cruelty, Corruption, Craziness, CXIII. – “When ICE comes for our kids’ caregivers, no one is safe”, VI

~ tomdolen


“Give me your tired, your poor. Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeminh shores, Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed, to me. I lift my lamp beside the golden door.”
[ Emma Lazarus: Inscription on The Statue of Liberty ]

This post is the 6th 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, much other abuse is bveing done to ordinary people. Effects often invisible – but the trauma inflicted on people, neighborhoods, communities, cities will NOT end when ICE thugs & Trump DICTATORSHIP cease to DELIBERATELY cause 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 & Rasputins around him decide they ‘NEED’ to do it.

This is the story of one woman, a child refugee, now deported: “One Minnesota woman’s deportation story”. [ Ka Vang; Minnesota Star Tribune; 1/11/26 ]. Excerpts below:

9] “The deportation system is like brain fog: paperwork no one explains, flights no one sees, lives erased quietly enough to avoid scrutiny. It assumes the public will stop paying attention once someone disappears..”

3] “I feel betrayed byAmerica,’ she told me. Though she never became a citizen, she was a lawful permanent resident with the right to work and reside in the U.S.”

6]. “She described a deportation process that was confusing and deeply dehumanizing. “I wasn’t sure of my rights because no one clearly explained them to me,’ she told me. She was shackled at her wrists and ankles in detention centers and while being transported. Her journey took her from the U.S. to Georgia, then to South Korea, and finally to Laos. Along the way she traveled with others being deported to India and other parts of Asia.”

***. “Foreign immigration, which in the past has added so much to the wealth, development of resources, and increase of power to this nation, the asylum of the oppressed of all nations, should be fostered and encouraged by a liberal and just policy.” [ Platform plank of the National Union {Republican} Party, 1864 ]

1]. “She grew up here and lived most her life here. her family is here. And yet, last year, she was deported to Laos….a country she barely knows.”

2] “I am telling her story because Minnesotans deserve to understand what deportation actually does to a human life..”

4] “Asian Americans are often missing from immigration debates, squeezed between simplistic narratives of “good immigrants” and “criminals.” Yet, since 2002, more than 17,000 southeast Asians have received final orders of removal..”

5] “Many arrived as refugee children fleeing war and genocide. They built lives here, paid taxes here, raised families here. Decades later, they were marked for deportation over old convictions – often nonviolent offenses tied to poverty, trauma and youth.”

7] “When she landed in Laos, she was told she needed a local sponsor to leave the detention center…She had no one in Laos to help her.”

8] “She spent a month in a hotel, then moved closer to the area where her ancestors once lived – not because her family is there, but because it feels faintly familiar. Her entire immediate family remains in the U.S.. She is lonely. She is afraid. Trust comes slowly….She survives now on money sent from family in the U.S. when they can manage it.”

*** “In the name of noble purposes men have committed unspeakable acts of cruelty against one another.”
[ Senator J. William Fulbright ]

The Trump DICTATORSHIP – Stupidity, Cruelty, Corruption, Craziness, CXII – Moral Clarity in Minnesota on MLK Day

~ tomdolen


***. “I am very doubtful whether history shows us one example of a man, who having stepped outside rational morality and attained power, has used that power benevolently.” [ C. S. Lewis ]

this post presents excerpts from. “On this MLK Day, a letter from Minnesota” [Haley Taylor Schlitz; Minnesota Star Tribune; 1/19/26 ]: “To Dr. King and my fellow Minnesotans..” :

3]. “We are encouraged to treat what is happening here as a local disturbance. A Minnesota problem. A protest problem. Something to be managed. But what is happening here is not simply “tension.” It is an argument about the character of public power. When a president threatens a state with “reckoning and retribution,” he is not using the language of neutral law. he is using the language of punishment. A government can enforce laws without promising vengeance. When it promises vengeance, it tells you what it believes the law is for.””

5] ‘..power does not only suppress through force. It also suppresses through framing. It trains the public to treat discomfort as disorder, and disorder as the real threat. It persuades decent people that their primary civic duty is to keep things calm, even if the calm is purchased with someone else’s fear.”

8] “You insisted on the interrelatedness of communities, and you rejected the narrow “outside agitator” idea. You insisted that no one in this country should be treated as an outsider anywhere within it….But this is not a Minnesota-only problem. It is a national test with a Minnesota address.”

11] “So what does moral clarity look like in Minnesota this MLK Day? It looks like refusing to confuse quiet with peace, and refusing to treat fear as normal. It looks like insisting that investigations be credible, independent and transparent enough to earn public trust, not simply being declared trustworthy by authority. It looks like leaders who speak with discipline and courage, and citizens who do not outsource their conscience.”

*** “Our character is but the stamp on our souls of the free choices of good and evil we have made through life.”
[ Cunningham Geikie ]

1] “This year, MLK Day arrives with masked federal agents fanning out across theTwin Cities and beyond, with unmarked vehicles and street-level operations reshaping daily life. and with a growing chill…”

2]. “Dr. King, we are not living in your era, but we are facing a familiar question: “Is ‘order” being used to protect the public, ot to protect power from accountability?”

4] “whatever your politics, you can feel the difference between a justice system that invites public trust and a justice system that treats the public concern as something to be contained.”

6] “Minnesota is drowning in effects-talk. We are being pulled into arguments about tone, about disruption, about whether grief is being expressed the “right” way. You can hear it…..You can see it…..And you can feel it…..what it means to live in a state where daily life is being deliberately reshaped by fear.”

7] “But the cause is what keeps demanding attention. The integrity of an investigation….The fear many communities feel….and when citizens and lawful residents begin to move through public life as if visibility itself is risk.”

9] “If a president can promise retribution against a state for its politics, that is not just rhetoric. it is a message to every other state. if federal institutions can be pressured into secrecy or political targeting, and the public is told to accept silence as a strategy, that is not just an internal dispute. It is an instruction about what accountability will look like from here forward.”

10] “If the new dream is a nightmare, it is not because people are speaking out. It is because trhe public is being trained to accept intimidation as governance, and to accept silence as legitimacy.”

***. “The Aggregate happiness of the society, which is best promoted by the practice of virtuous policy, is, or ought to be, the end of all government.” [ George Washington; 11/1/1790 ]

The Trump DICTATORSHIP – Stupidity, Cruelty, Corruption, Craziness, CXI. – “When ICE comes for our kids’ caregivers, no one is safe”, V

~ tomdolen


***. “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 ]

The Trump DICTATORSHIP – Stupidity, Cruelty, Corruption, Craziness, CVIII – “When ICE comes for our kids’ caregivers, no one is safe”, III

~ tomdolen

*** “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 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

~ tomdolen


*** “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”

~ tomdolen


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

~ tomdolen


***”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

~ tomdolen

*** “…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 ]