Tag: trump

The Trump DICTATORSHIP – Stupidity, Cruelty, Corruption, Craziness, CXXXVII – “Nicht Schuldug”

~ tomdolen


*** “Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil, who put darkness for light, and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter! Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes, and shrewd in their own sight!”
[ Isaiah 5: 12-113 ]

In the Nuremberg Trials, 22 top Nazis were on trial for their part in “Crimes against peace, War crimes, Crimes against humanity, committed by the infamous Nazi regime. Many responded “Nicht Schuldig” to accusations of their own guilt.

In more recent times, many top executives of the tobacco industry, when asked about harmful effects of tobacco – essentially replied “Nicht Schuldig.”

Currently, trials are beginning for the social media industry. In the past, top executives have responded, essentially, “Nicht Schuldig”. to accusations their products might be harming people, especially young people.

This post concerns the effort by top officials of the Trump DICTATORSHIP to declare. “Nicht Schuldig” when questioned about the conduct of ICE thugs on American streets. Please consider excerpts below”

A]. “Not giving an inch. Even as an American is killed.” [Ramesh Ponnuru: Washington Post Weekly; 2/1/26]

7] “…putting the administration’s enemies in their place is what the surge of immigration enforcement in Minnesota was always about.”

1] Normally, a government would express condolences to the family, promise the public a full investigation. “But the Trump administration views such niceties as weakness. Looking weak, giving an inch to the critics, must be avoided at all costs.”

6] “.. the statements are also signs of moral rot and civic irresponsibility.”

*** “If he does really think that there is no distinction between virtue and vice, when he leaves our houses let us count our spoons.” [ Samuel Johnson ]

2] “so Homeland Security Secretary Kristi L. Noem…described the victim, Alex Pretti, as someone who “arrived at the scene to inflict maximum damage on individuals and to kill law enforcement.” He had, she said, been “brandishing” a gun.”

3] “All available videos suggest otherwise. Noem was either lying or speaking with an indifference to truth that is morally indistinguishable from lying..”

4]. “In November, a federal judge concluded that Bovino had “lied multiple times”…”

5] “FBI Director Kash Patel contributed false statements about the law..”

8]. “On the day of this latest shooting, Attorney General Pam Bondi sent Walz a letter listing the administration’s demands..”

9] “If the administration were consciously pursuing a strategy optimized for producing confrontation rather than for bringing down the number of illegal immigrants, it would be proceeding just as it has been.”

*** “The soul and spirit that animates and keeps up society is mutual trust.” [ Robert South ]

B} “ICE chief: No apologies for deaths”. [Madeleine Ngo, Michael Gold; New York Times; 2/11/26]

1] “Top immigration officials defended the administration’s mass deportation campaign during a congressional hearing Tuesday and repeatedly declined to answer questions about the fatal shootings of two U.s. citizens in Minneapolis.”

2] “Despite bipartisan outrage last month after federal agents killed Alex Pretti, House Republicans have largely returned to a staunch defense of federal immigration enforcement.”

3] “Pressed by Democrats to apologize to the families of two people killed in Minneapolis – Pretti and Renee Good – Todd Lyons, the acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said he welcomed the opportunity to speak with their families in private. But he said he would not apologize or comment on the shootings.”

4] “Asked whether he thought Pretti deserved to die, Rodney S. Scott, the commissioner of Customs and Border Protection, also said he would not comment on open investigations.”

5] “During the hearing, Lyons declined to say how many ICE agents had been fired or dismissed for misconduct on the job.”

6] “Scott also declined to tell lawmakers how many agents had been disciplined for misconduct in recent immigration crackdowns.”

*** “Free governments have committed more flagrant acts of tyranny than the most perfectly despotic governments we have ever known.” [ Edmund Burke ]

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

~ tomdolen


***. “Human dignity, economic freedom, individual responsibility. These are the characteristics that distinguish democracy from all other forms devised by man.” [ Dwight D. Eisenhower; Republican; 34th U.S. President ]

“How ICE has upended life in Minnesota” [Following are excerpts from an address given by Edina Mayor James b. Hovland. at the U.S. conference of Mayors; Minnesota Star Tribune; 2/6/26 ]

10] “If enforcement continues as it has, we will not be debating immigration alone. We will be confronting the long-term damage done to the relationship between government and the governed. And that is a reckoning no republic should take lightly.. [ “…the relationship between government and the governed.” ]

6]. “In just a few short weeks, this is what we have learned: No city can thrive without the rule of law and no nation can govern without borders; but enforcement, as currently practiced, is not merely removing individuals, it is hollowing out civic life, undermining public safety and leaving local leaders to pick up the pieces.. A democracy cannot prosper when enforcement is divorced from proportionality, clarity and humanity.. The strength of our country has never rested solely in the rigor of its laws; but in the confidence of its people that those laws are carried out with fairness and wisdom.”

2] “We have observed, first, a deep chill of uncertainty settle over many lawful, hardworking residents – citizens and noncitizens alike, and we have seen enforcement as visible, sudden and physical; it does not stop neatly at the door of those it seeks. It spreads outward…”

9]. “So this, then, is the message from Minnesota: Immigration enforcement, when conducted without close coordination with local realities and respect, does not merely remove individuals – it reshapes communities. It alters behavior, weakens trust, and imposes costs that towns and cities will carry long after the headlines fade.”

*** “This is what I call the American idea, a government of the people, by the people, and for the people. – a government of the principles of eternal justice, the unchanging law of God.” [ Theodore parker ]

1]. “We are told the actions are precise. – they are not. We are told their effects are contained. they are not. Fear has not confined itself to a single household or status. Citizens withdraw alongside noncitizens. Law-abiding residents learn that invisibility feels safer than participation.”

3] “Second, there is an economic reckoning. In Minnesota, our restaurants, food-processing plants, construction sites, elder-care facilities and hospitals rely on immigrant labor. When enforcement actions are abrupt, entire workforces can vanish overnight. – not only undocumented workers, but legal employees who choose silence or absence over risk.”

4] “Third, we face the paradox of public safety. Local law enforcement, sworn to protect all residents, finds its work harder when communities fear that any interaction may carry federal consequence.”

5]. “Finally, there s the burden placed on local government. Mayors and city council members are left to explain federal actions we do not control, to calm fears we did not create, and to mend relationships strained by forces beyond our municipal boundaries.”

***. “No government is respectable which is not just. Without unspotted purity of public faith, without sacred public principle, fidelity, and honor, no mere forms of government, no machinery of laws, can give dignity to political society.” [ Daniel Webster ]

7] “In these trouble-filled days, the nation should know that Minnesota has no resisted legal immigration enforcement; it has resisted excess. it does not reject law; it rejects lawlessness clothed in authority. It does not deny the nation’s right to govern its borders; but it insists that such governance be worthy of and deferential to a free people.”

8]. “The future of immigration policy in America will not be shaped by those who merely cheer or condemn; but by those who demonstrate. – through practice and wisdom. – that security and humanity can coexist; that enforcement can be both firm and lawful; and, that the dignity of persons need not be a casualty in the implementation of policy.”

11] “In time, when this chapter in Minnesota history is read, not in the headlines, but in history, I hope it may be said that when the nation faltered between fear and fairness regarding who deserves to live in our country, that Minnesota chose the harder path; not merely to oppose what was wrong but to help build what is right.”

***. “This will remain the land of the free only so long as it is the home of the brave.” [ Elmer Davis ]

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

~ tomdolen


***. “Justice is itself the great standing policy of civil society; and any departure from it, under any circumstance, lies under the suspicion of being no policy at all.” [ Edmund Burke ]

This post is the 16th in a series of stories about the impact of the Trump DICTATORSHIP’s ICE thugs on the lives of ordinary people – like YOU. The trauma inflicted on people, neighborhoods, communities, cities throughout Minnesota will. NOT. end when the ICE thugs and Trump DICTATORSHIP end their cruelties.

This post presents comments by ordinary Minnesotans: “We need recourse to this lawlessness” [letters to the editor’. Minnesota Star Tribune; 2/7/26]. Excerpts follow:
1] “If you want to do something about lawless immigration enforcement…Call your congressional representatives and tell them to support the Bivens Act and the ICE and CB Constitutional Accountability Act. The Bivens Act would allow citizens to recover damages for constitutional violations by federal officials. The Constitutional Accountability Act would recognize that federal, state and local law enforcement agencies should have the same civil liability for officer misconduct that private employers have for their employees under the legal doctrine “respondeat superior.” [H.R.]

2] “In the rush to destroy the personal lives of individuals it seems the bosses at the Department of Justice are destroying due process and the rule of law….This collateral damage threatens everyone, regardless of political affiliation.” [ G.H. ]

3] “The problem is that federal immigration agents continually break the laws they are supposed to uphold, defying the Constitution and courts that protect us all. When Immigration and Customs Enforcement and border Control agents assault, arrest or deport U.S. citizens, they break the law….ICE even breaks the law and its own policies when undocumented immigrants it detains are denied access to attorneys or due process.” [ R.C. ]

4] “Minnesotans won’t forgive that easily”…….”Maybe Homan’s expectation is that Minnesotans will forgive that one of his own shot a nonimmigrant citizen who was pulling away when he stepped in front of her vehicle. Shot in the head. According to our highest officials, her killer is “immune” from prosecution. We won’t forget that or the videoed killing of a disarmed protestor lying facedown on the ground, by a cohort of Border Patrol agents. Ten shots in his back. We won’t forget the brutal weeks of masked gunmen roaming throughout our state…. Frozen in our memories are the taunts, the shoving, the teargassing of nonviolent protestors and constitutional observers by these thugs, the many cruel acts of lawless vengeance on the people of our state.” [ S.U. ]

5] “The political theater is the goal itself”…..”The policies that are tearing our state apart were cooked up by an aging narcissist who brags about his wildly inconsistent dictates [President Donald Trump]; lying and immoral opportunists who embrace cruelty [Vice President JD Vance and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem]; and a trio of jingoist sadists who proudly trumpet their hatred of nonwhite immigrants [White House advisor Steven Miller, Corey Lewandowski and Border Patrol Cmdr. Greg Bovino]. Oh, and then there are the “influencers” who alter video and post laughable lies [whistles are dangerous weapon, etc.]….The “policy” is to grow their power by whipping up a MAGA base with fear and hatred of immigrants….The surge’s only purpose is performance cruelty.” [P.D. ]

6] “My grandma would be swearing, too” …”The occupants of ..]the Whipple Building].. need to understand that we are not going anywhere, and we will protest them to our last breath. These jackbooted thugs have brought it on themselves. I’m sorry if this writer’s delicate sensibilities were offended, but he should realize that if ICE agents had showed up at his polite, uplifting protest, the crowd would have turned on them with the same language as they were using at the Whipple Building.” [ P.S. ]

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

The Trump DICTATORSHIP – Stupidity, Cruelty, Corruption, Craziness, CXXXII. – ‘PRESIDENT. FOR. LIFE..

~ tomdolen

*** “For one person alone to have the Government of a people in his hands, would be too great a Temptation. It tends to excite and draw forth the Pride of man, to make him unsufferably haughty; it gives him too much liberty to exert his corruption and it encourages him to become a Tyrant and an oppressor, to dispense with Laws and break the most solemn oaths.” [ John Barnard ]

This post presents excerpts from. “PRESIDENT FOR LIFE….Donald Trump is trying to amass the powers of a king.” [ J. Michael Luttig; The Atlantic; December, 2025]. Mr. Luttig is a former federal judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth District. He was appointed by President George H.W. Bush in 1991.

4] “..Trump is different from all prior presidents in his utter contempt for the Constitution and America’s
democracy.” [Read this again – think what this says]

3] “Trump proved in 2021 that he would do anything to remain in the White House.”

11]. “Trump has turned the federal government against the American people.”
[*** This is written BEFORE the ICE terrorism unleashed against Minnesota***]

8] “For anyone who doubts that Trump is contemplating a monarchical reign, consider how very far down that road he already is. Since returning to office, he has sought absolute power, unchecked by other branches of government, the 50 states, or the free press. On the first day..he launched a direct attack on the Constitution’s Fourteenth Amendment……. He has arrogated to himself Congress’ power to levy tariffs…….. He has usurped Congress’ spending and appropriation powers……. He has likewise usurped Congress’ power to establish executive-branch departments and agencies….unilaterally overhauling the U.S. government.”

***. “Uncontrolled power, in the hands of an incensed, imperious and rapacious conquerer, is an engine of dreadful execution; and woe be to that country over which it can be exercised.” [ Thomas Paine ]

1] “The 47th president prefers to stir feelings of fear, vulnerability, hopelessness, and political inevitability – the sense that he, and only he, can rescue the nation from looming peril.”

2] “The Founders of our nation foresaw a figure like Trump, a demagogue who would ascend to the presidency and refuse to relinquish power to a successor chosen by the American people in a free and fair election.”

5] “Witnesses before the January 6 committee testified that Trump expressed support for hanging Pence while the attack was under way.”

6] “among his first acts after being sworn in again was pardoning or commuting the sentences of every person convicted in connection with January 6. He then set about exacting revenge on the American justice system.”

***. “Every tyrant who has ever lived has believed in freedom – for himself.” [ Elbert Hubbard ]

7]. “Today, Trump has vastly greater powers than he did in 2020…a willing vice president….Trump’s party controls both houses of Congress…The Supreme Court, meanwhile, has paved the way for a third Trump term, by essentially granting him absolute immunity..”

9] “The Supreme court..has largely given the president its imprimatur to continue his power grab. It has either effectively reversed lower-court rulings against the president using the so-called shadow docket, or allowed the administration to proceed until the Court determines the constitutionality of various actions, by which time the damage to the Constitution, the U.S. government, and American society will have been done, as the justices well know.”

10] “The Founders built layers of safeguards into the American system of government to constrain a president…But Trump has run roughshod over these fail-safes too.”

***. “The technique of acquiring dictatorship over what has been a democracy…always involves the same mixture of bribery, propaganda and violence.” [ Bertrand Russell ]

12] “Trump has always told us exactly who he is. We have just not wanted to believe him. But we must believe him now..
– “This is the man who said in January 2016, “I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot sonebody, and I wouldn’t lose any voters..”
– “The man who proposed in 2022 that the “Massive Fraud” he alleged in the 2020 election “allows for the termination of all rules, regulations, and articles, even those found in the Constitution,” and who proclaimed, soon after reassuming office, “He who saves his Country does not violate any law.”
– “The man who, when asked the question “Don’t you need to uphold the Constitution as president?,” answered, “I don’t know.”
– “The man who said in August that he can “do anything I want to do,” because he’s president.”
– “The man who has demanded that his attorney general and Department of Justice immediately prosecute his enemies..”
– “and the man who summoned American military generals from around the world to Quantico, Virginia, to tell them that “America is under invasion from within.” repeatedly describing the enemy invasion as being by the “radical left,” a term he now seemingly uses to characterize all of his political opponents.”

13] “We have been given the high charge of our forebears to “keep” the republic they founded a quarter of a millennium ago. If we do not keep it now, we will surely lose it.”

***. “The darkest places in hell are reserved for those who maintain neutrality in times of moral crisis.”
[ Dante Alighieri ]

So – what are YOU going to do???????? YOU may have one last chance to end the Trump DICTATORSHIP – on November 3, 2026. – vote out. EVERY REPUBLICAN. WHY?? Because they have NOT honored their oath to defend the Constitution. they’ve been to busy defending Donald Trump – and they’ll do it more.

The Trump DICTATORSHIP – Stupidity, Cruelty, Corruption, Craziness, CXXX – Time for Tom Homan to. PUT. UP. OR. SHUT. UP!!!!

~ tomdolen


*** “One lie engenders another – Once committed, the liar has to go on in his course of lying; it is the penalty of his transgressions.” [ Francis Jacox ]

On Thursday, February 12, 2026. – Trump “border Czar” Tom Homan said Operation Metro Surge had yielded “successful results” in the Twin Cities, including the arrests of 4,000 people. [“an end in sight”; Sarah nelson; Minnesota Star Tribune; 2/13/26]

PROVE IT!!!! PUBLICLY release the mug shots, the names, the addresses, the criminal records of the 4,000 “worst of the worst.” Every police department n America would have specific details.

Homan claimed “..we’re leaving Minnesota safer.” PROVE. IT!!!!! Show us who the 4,000 “worst of the worst” are the Trump DICTATORSHIP claims to have taken off Minnesota streets.

If Homan refuses to give the American public the. PROOF. of taking 4,000. “worst of the worst” off American streets. – then this question arises: Do “we” have a democracy, where government is accountable to its citizens or not????? If government, ANY government, claims to have done something like arrest 4,000 people – back it up with PROOF – the REAL mug shots, names, etc.

Ronald Reagan used to say – “Trust, but verify.” The Trump DICTATORSHIP wants Americans to believe them. – give us REASONS TO BELIEVE: produce the proof ‘our” government really did arrest 4,000 “worst of the worst” in Minnesota. – show America the 4,000 mug shots, real names, etc.

Tom Homan. – PROVE IT. Prove you are not a liar. – give America the identification of the 4,000. “worst of the worst”. you claim to have taken off Minnesota streets in “Operation Metro Surge.”

Consider this “letter to the editor: “When truth becomes optional, a nation loses its shared foundation. Democracies don’t collapse overnight. They fade when leaders decide accuracy doesn’t matter and citizens are told to ignore what they know to be real.”

“If we can’t trust our government to speak truthfully and act transparently, America as we know it cannot endure. The only safeguard left is a public that insists facts matter, even when they’re uncomfortable. Because once the lie becomes the point, democracy has already begun to slip away.” [ P.N.: “Hold fast to the truth”; Minnesota Star Tribune; 1/29/26]


*** “There is but one straight course, and that is to seek truth and pursue it steadily.” [ George Washington: 7/31/1795 ]



What are YOU going to do????? Will YOU make YOUR voice heard – DEMAND ICE release the names of the 4,000 “worst of the worst” it. CLAIMS. to have arrested off Minnesota streets in “Operation Metro Surge”. Otherwise, WHY can YOU trust the Trump DICTATORSHIP to EVER tell YOU the TRUTH on ANYTHING??????
this should be easy – they claim to have arrested 4,000 “criminals”. – PROVE. IT. !!!!!!!!!!!!

The Trump DICTATORSHIP – Stupidity, Cruelty, Corruption, Craziness, CXXVIII. – The White House social media posts “echo white supremacy messaging”

~ tomdolen

***. “This is probably the first time and this is the first country in which people are being taught to realize that, of all the tasks which we have to face, the noblest and most sacred for mankind is that each racial species must prove the purity of the blood which God has given it.” [ Adolf Hitler; 1/30/1937 ]

This post presents excerpts from. “Administration social media posts echo white supremacist messaging” [ Evan Gorelick; New York Times; 2/1/26 ]:

10] “Also this month, the Labor Department posted a video captioned “One Homeland. One People. One Heritage.” That phrase resembled a German slogan used by Nazis during World War II, “Ein Volk, Ein Reich, Ein Fuhrer,” or “One People, One Realm, One Leader.”

1] “The posts have referred to Neo-Nazi literature, ethnic cleansing and QAnon conspiracies, mused about deporting nearly a third of the U.S. population, and promoted lyrics from an anthem bellowed by the far-right militants of the Proud Boys.
“Their authors are not on society’s fringe. They are in the White House and the departments of Homeland Security and Labor, using official government accounts.”

2] “To some people, the administration’s posts sound patriotic. Others might sense at most a faint dog whistle to extremists. Some posts may just look odd. But those well-versed in the abstruse codes of right-wing extremism hear klaxons.”

*** “Prejudice is the reason of fools.” [ Voltaire ]

3]. “This month, the White House and the Department of Homeland Security jointly posted a recruitment ad for Immigration and Customs Enforcement on Instagram, Facebook and X, overlaid with the words “WE’LL HAVE OUR HOME AGAIN.”

4]. “They do everything up to the line; it’s kind of clever,” he said. “We’ll Have Our Home Again’. is a white nationalist song.” He added that to his knowledge, no other groups would use it.”

5] “In the past month, government agencies have made dozens more social-media posts that include iconography associated with far-right extremist groups.”

*** “Racism remains in the eyes of history…merely another instance of the persecution of minorities for the advantage of those in power.” [ Ruth Benedict ]

6] “The slogans echo the title of a 1978 book – “Which Way Western Man?” – that white supremacist groups treat as “foundational,” said Robert Futrell, a sociologist at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. The book claims that Jewish people are plotting to destroy Western civilization, that Adolf Hitler was right and that violence against Jews is justified.”

7] “This month, the Labor Department posted a noir-style image with the words “TRUST THE PLAN.” That’s also a central catchphrase of QAnon, an internet conspiracy theory that falsely claims the world is run by a cabal of Satan-worshipping pedophiles, and that Trump has been chosen to sunder it.”

8] “On New Year’s Eve, the White House’s X account posted a photo of Trump alongside the word ‘remigration.” That is a decades-old European concept centered on. the expulsion of nonwhite people and immigrants deemed “unassimilated,”…”

9] “Tens of thousands of Germans protested the concept two years ago after the country’s far-right Alternative fur Deutschland party secretly met with neo-Nazis to discuss plans to implement it.”

*** “If I wanted to punish an enemy it should be by fastening on him the trouble of constantly hating somebody.”
[ Hannah More ]

11] “Those who study the online right said one or two posts might be coincidental. But “when you add it all together,” said William Braniff, director of the Polarization and Extremism Research and Innovation lab at American University, “it’s much harder to dismiss.”

12] “For years, Trump and his campaign have dealt with and rejected accusations that officials in the Trump inner circle were surreptitiously appealing to racists and antisemites.”

13] “Trump’s final campaign commercial that year featured grainy images of George Soros, the liberal American financier; Janet L. Yellen, then the chair of the Federal Reserve; and Lloyd c. Blankfein, then the chair of Goldman Sachs. – all of them Jewish. – as Trump warned darkly about the “global special interests.”

This is only one incident. If you need more info on Trump’s prejudices, etc. – research his business career, his statements about Obama, etc.

*** “Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots?” [ Jeremiah 13: 23 ]

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

~ tomdolen


***. “When men are most sure and arrogant, they are commonly most mistaken, giving views to passion without tht proper deliberation which alone can secure them from the grossest absurdities.” [ David Hume ]

A] “Trump’s ICE push seeks to remake state’s population” [Evan Ramstad; Minnesota Star Tribune; 1/18/26].
This post presents excerpts from analysis of. NUMBERS – NOT rhetoric; NOT fantasies; NOT xenophobic racism; NOT campaign propaganda; NOT lies. THE number one NUMERIC FACT: America, following other endangered advanced countries, will shrink without immigration. But first, YOU will begin to feel slowing growth, labor shortages, maybe lose YOUR job. The Trump DICTATORSHIP is not only crazy, they are INCOMPETENT. And, YOU will pay the price.

7] “..the nation’s population will begin to shrink in 2030 without immigration..”

5] “>>the administration’s entire approach on immigration – including provisions in the “One Big Beautiful Bill” that slowed legal immigration – will end up hurting economic growth for the country and Minnesota in coming years.
“And unfortunately for Trump, he is trying to change the source of population growth at the last possible moment.”

10] “..ICE agents came to Minnesota because of this idea that America must grow through larger families instead of immigration. Renee Good, a mother of three, paid for that idea with her life.”

***. “Ignorance is not so damnable as humbug, but when it prescribes pills it may happen to do more harm.”
[ George Eliot ]

1] “Here’s the cold economic way to look at the deployment of ICE officers in Minnesota this month. President Donald Trump sent thousands of them to one of the nation’s slowest-growing states, and one of the farthest from the southern border, in search of undocumented immigrants he thinks are harming the American economy.”

2]. “He sent the masked federal agents to a state that has relied on international immigrants for the majority of its population growth of 131,000 this decade, the slowest-growing period in its history.”

3]. “Seeing [Good’s] death and hundreds of people being snatched up until they can prove citizenship, the analytical part of my brain moves beyond horror and terror to a rather banal question: Does Donald Trump want Minnesota to shrink?”

4]. “What is clear is Trump and his acolytes want Minnesota and the United States to rely far less on immigrants for population and economic growth. They will sacrifice population growth and the economic growth that comes with it – if too much of it comes from immigrants.”

*** “Fanaticism is the child of false zeal and superstition, the father of intolerance and persecution.” [Samuel Fletcher]

6] “On the day ICE agent Jonathan Ross shot and killed Renee Good in Minneapolis, the Congressional Budget Office updated its 30-year population forecast for the U.S., saying annual growth would slow from 0.3% over the next decade to an average of 0.1% from 2037 to 2056….net immigration…will soon become even more important to population growth because the annual number of deaths in the U.S. will begin to exceed the annual number of births in 2030.”
[NUMBERS – not rhetoric, fantasies, campaign propaganda, xenophobic racism, lies ]

8] “The day after the ICE shooting in Minneapolis, the Heritage Foundation, a right-wing think tank with enormous sway in the Trump administration, published a report decrying the decline of marriage and the natural family and two-parent households in the U.S. for its role in population decline.”

9] “The report takes a sweeping approach to “restoring the American Dream…Heritage wants government agencies to direct grants to cities and towns with high marriage rates and give bigger tax credits to families with three or more children. Other slow-growing countries have tried similar ideas to increase fertility rates among their citizens. No one has succeeded yet.”

***. “Dictatorships usually present a formidable exterior. They seem, on the outside, to be hard, glittering, and irresistible. Within, they are full of rottenness.” { John Foster Dulles ]

{NOTE: We have said, many times, our criticism of the Trump DICTATORSHIP, or ANY American government, is based on success or failure of that government meeting the tests of the Founders in the Constitution’s Preamble: “We the People,” formed a government to achieve. “Union…Justice…Tranquility…the common defence, promote the general Welfare..”
YOU tell us – in SPECIFIC DETAIL – which, if any Trump DICTATORSHIP policies and laws have done ANY of this???????? Not just for a moment, but for years, decades……………..

How does sending masked ICE thugs through peaceful neighborhoods, scooping up ANYBODY who looks like, or sounds like. “a suspicious person;” 70-90%. having NO criminal record, no “crime” other than wanting to work. – will ‘…promote the general Welfare..” of America??????????

WHY – are Americans, like many/most people in other advanced nations. – having fewer children??????? WHY. – did millions of American couples decide, on. their own, to have 0, 1, 2 children??????????

WHAT has happened to and in, America since 1980??????????

***. “Truth is the foundation of all knowledge and the cement of all societies.” [ John Dryden ]

The Trump DICTATORSHIP – Stupidity, Cruelty, Corruption, Craziness, CXXV. – The REALLY. BIG. ICE Lie. About Their “Arrests” !!!!!!!!!!

~ tomdolen


*** “Nothing is rarer than a solitary lie; for lies breed like toads; you cannot tell one but it comes with a hundred young ones on its back.” { Washington Allston ]

A] “Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said this week that Immigration Enforcement has arrested “over 10,000 criminal illegal aliens who were killing Americans, hurting children and reigning terror in Minneapolis, since President Trump took office a year ago, including 3,000 in the past six weeks.” Those numbers were then repeated by Greg Bovino and Marcos Charles. [Deena Winter: “Little Proof to back up ICE claim of 10K arrests”; Minnesota Star Tribune; 1/24/26]
[Put Up or Shut Up!!! – show us the 10,000 mug shots & court records !!!!!!!!!!!]

2] “But if ICE has arrested 10,000 people in the last year, a majority of the arrests would have had to occur before Dec. 1, when it began sending officers into the state. The 10,000 figure is a substantial increase from what officials have said previously. [ Winter ]

3]. “It’s not clear when and where the additional 7,000 arrests occurred.” [ Winter ]

4]. “Their latest report found 1,677 arrests in Minnesota from when Trump took office through Oct. 15.” [ Winter ]

5] “If their numbers are accurate, the only way ICE could have arrested 10,000 people since Trump took office is if they arrested over 5,300 people in the six-week period before Operation Metro Surge began. That’s 2,000 more than they say they arrested during the surge over the past six weeks.” [ Winter ]

***. “Sin has many tools, but a lie is the handle that fits them all.” [ Oliver Wendell Holmes ]

B] “The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has released the names of only about 240 immigrants it arrested as of Jan. 19….About 80% of the 240 people on the “worst of the worst” list have felony convictions…. but nearly everyone of the list has gone through the court system, served time for their crimes and was not actively wanted by police..” [Christopher Magan, Jeff Hargarten: “Gaps in ICE ‘worst’ case”; Minnesota Star Tribune; 1/22/26]

2] “In many instances, ICE didn’t detain these individuals in the military-style raids…Public records show they were picked up after being released from jail or prison and put on parole. More than a quarter also have no criminal connection to Minnesota except for being held in one of the state’s four federal prions.” [Magan, Hargarten]

3]. “ICE has declined repeated requests to provide names of people detained in Minnesota.” [Magan, Hargarten]

PUT UP or SHUT UP !!!!!! – PROVE ICE arrested 3,000 “worst of the worst”. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

C] “Prisons chief accuses Homeland Security of ‘misinformation’….Schnell believes DHS has repeatedly skewed numbers in reports.” {Deena Winter; Minnesota Star Tribune; 1/24/26]

1]. Paul Schnell said DHS spread “”misinformation” by falsely saying the state releases “criminal illegal aliens” to the public rather than turning them over to immigration officials.” [Winter]

2] “At a news conference Jan. 22, Corrections Commissioner Paul Schnell played videos of inmates being handed over to federal agents to refute the DHS’ accusation.” [ Winter ]

3] “This is no longer a simple misunderstanding,” he said. “at best, DHS fundamentally misunderstands Minnesota’s correctional system. At a minimum, this reflects systematic data management inadequacies or incompetence as it relates to DHS tracking of detainers in custody. At worst. it is pure propaganda, numbers released without evidence to stoke fear rather than inform the public.” [Winter]

4]. “A state survey of jails found 94 noncitizens in jail with ICE detainers, and 207 in prison, for a total of about 300 people. That’s about 1,000 fewer than Homeland Security’s claim, which correction officials called “categorically false, unsupported by facts, and deeply irresponsible.” [Winter]

5] “Schnell said his department has not found a single case where the state failed to honor an ICE detainer.” [Winter]

6]. “Schnell accused Homeland Security of falsely claiming to have arrested two undocumented immigrants off the streets as part of Operation Metro Surge when, in reality, they were released to ICE by the prison system. He showed reporters a video of the transfer as proof.” [Winter]

7] “This isn’t the first the DHS has claimed to have picked up violent, undocumented criminals off the streets as part of Operation Metro Surge, even though they were released by the prison system to ICE, Schnell said.” [Winter]

8]. “Schnell said some on the DHS’ lists were released to ICE years ago – as far back as the 1990s. DOC officials say the “worst of the worst” list includes many people who were never in Minnesota prisons and often had no criminal record in Minnesota.” [Winter]

9] “Schnell said some of the people on the DHS “worst of the worst” list are people the corrections department had turned over to ICE, and ICE released them back into the community…”
[NOTE: go back over the 9 corrections above – EACH. ONE. REFUTING. AN. ICE. LIE!!!!!!!!!!]

*** “The more lies are told, the more important it becomes for the liars to justify themselves by deep moral commitments to high-sounding objectives that mask the pursuit of money or power.” [Bertram Gross: “Friendly Fascism The New Face pf Power in America”]

And then, there’s Maine!!!!! YOU can read about this Trump DICTATORSHIP farce in Associated Press stories of Jan. 23rd and Jan. 25th – “Court records conflict with claims made by ICE” and the Governor demands ICE data. !!!!!

*** “Great liars are also great magicians.” [ Adolf Hitler ]

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

~ tomdolen


*** “Oppression is but another name for irresponsible power.” [ William Pinckney; U.S. Attorney General ]

This post is the 11th in a series describing to YOU the effects of ICE thugs on ordinary people. Outside 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.

This series is 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.

Presented below are just SOME of the stories discovered 2/1 and 2/2/26. Excerpts folow:

1] “Intensive care nurses immediately doubted the word of federal immigration officers when they arrived at a Minneapolis hospital with a Mexican immigrant who had tried to flee while handcuffed and “purposely ran head first into a brick wall,”….But staff members..determined that could not possibly account for the fractures and bleeding throughout the 31-year old’s brain….”It was laughable….ICE insisted on using handcuffs to shackle his ankles to the bed….He appears to have no criminal record….He has significant memory loss and a long recovery ahead. He won’t be able to work..” [ Jack Brock. Jim Mustian, Michael Biesecker: “Detainee’s injuries met with skepticism”; Associated Press; 2/2/26 ]

2] “..my 80-year old Asian-American parents have started to carry their passports each time they leave their suburban townhouse….Federal agents have been recorded on video, acknowledging that they’re homing in on individuals who speak with foreign accents…” Laura Yuen: “In a game of ‘cat and mouse,’ now we carry papers”; Minnesota Star Tribune; 2/1/26]

3] “In fact, for six CVT clients – all here legally, seeking asylum, with work permits – their Orwellian ordeals recurred after they were swept up by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents as part of the Department of Homeland Security’s Operation Metro Surge, which was falsely predicated on arresting the state’s “worst of the worst.”…….”One of the keys to the healing is feeling safe,”…Now they’re terrified…..”The majority of our clients are essentially under house arrest….Making them fearful of being sent back to their torturers isn’t only immoral, it’s illegal under the international principle of non-refoulement….”this is setting up a climate of fear, and the climate of fear is what is being desired….”We have utterly lost whatever moral standing we might have had,’..” [ John Rash: “They fled terror in their home countries. then ICE detained them”; Minnesota Star Tribune; 2/2/26 ]

4]. “When he shared that his asylum case was pending, the agents arrested him, with handcuffs on his arms and legs….”What’s happening now is the government is just unplugging pending asylum cases by grabbing people, haphazardly, without thinking whether it makes sense…..When Duglof was detained, he tried to explain his condition to the agents..but few seemed to care….did not receive the care needed for his condition…..Duklef said he believes the Trump administration is targeting immigrants with pending asylum cases because it’s easier to find them…” [ Talia McWright: “Scared To Go Out”; St. Paul pioneer Press; 2/2/26 ]

5] “[F]or some among us, the perfidious lust for unbridled power and the imposition of cruelty in its quest know no bounds and are bereft of human decency.” These words were written by a district judge in Texas who ordered the release from detention of 5-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos and his father….They pertain to more than this particular case; they aptly describe the force that motivates the Trump administration and the moral vacuum at its core.” [ R.D.: “It’s not just this case”; letter to the editor; Minnesota Star Tribune; 2/2/26 ]

6] “The ramped-up presence of federal immigration agents in the Twin Cities – and the fear it’s created – has for nearly a month now, disrupted normal school day routines for thousands of students across Minnesota…..”I’ve been teaching in the Columbia Heights Public Schools for 33 years…and I’ve never experienced any disruption or danger to students like the current ICE occupation of Minnesota.”…..”Students are struggling,’ said one social worker. “and this community stress is affecting them in ways they maybe don’t recognize.” [ Mara Klecker, Anthony Lonetree” “ICE surge thrusts schools into the front line”; Minnesota Star Tribune; 2/2/26 ]

*** “Of all the animals, man is the only one that is cruel. He is the only one hat inflicts pain for the pleasure of doing it. It is a trait that is not known to the higher animals.” [ Mark Twain ]

The Trump DICTATORSHIP – Stupidity, Cruelty, Corruption, Craziness, CXXIII. – Kristi Noem and Stephen Miller MUST. GO !!!!!!!

~ tomdolen


***. “Human beings are perhaps never more frightening than when they are convinced beyond doubt that they are right.”
[ Laurens vander Post ]

As long as Kristi Noem and Stephen Miller have ANY authority in the Trump DICTATORSHIP, there will be NO doubt of the contempt the Trump DICTATORSHIP has for Americans like YOU; that these people will change, that they will continue their unbelievable LIES, that they will continue their monstrous CRUELTIES, that they will continue to injure innocent Americans, that this administration will continue to make enemies around the world, that this administration will continue to damage American society; that this DICTATORSHIP will continue to damage America’s economy; and much, much more…

Even worse, perhaps THE worst damage the Trump DICTATORSHIP has done, is doing, will do, is this: the damage they have DELIBERATELY inflicted on the American soul. Will the United States ever be the country, the society, we were before 2016???

Now, like Germany, America has a very dark chapter that it will. NEVER, EVER, be able to completely erase. The Nazi reign of terror, cruelty, corruption lasted 1933-45. Ever since, Germany has tried to make amends.. How long will the Trump DICTATORSHIP stain last in America??? Will America make an effort to make amends???

Kristi Noem and Stephen Miller are but two of the many people encouraging and enabling the CRUELTY, often un-Constitutional, to be perpetrated by ICE thugs parading through American streets with impunity, having been told they have “immunity” for their cruel actions – many of which have been captured on numerous CITIZEN videos.

Nazi Cruelty and Corruption went on trial at Nuremberg. America should NOT have to wait for another such trial. Kristi Noem, Stephen Miller, and others like them should resign or be fired.

For a rational perspective, consider the folowing:
“ICE action would be a business disaster” [ Evan Ramstad; Minnesota Star Tribune; 1/24/26 ]:
1] “Anyone can walk into a police department anywhere in America, ask to see the day’s blotter and be presented with a record of what every officer has done. Every cat they got out of a tree, every speeding driver they pulled over, every person arrested on charges minor and major.”
2]. “ICE and related agencies prefer secrecy. What little data they’ve disclosed about Operation Metro Surge shows that what they do – and how they do it. – doesn’t hold up to scrutiny.”
3] “Marcos Charles, acting executive associate director at ICE, began a separate news conference Thursday proclaiming the agency had arrested 10,000 undocumented immigrants in Minnesota in the last year and 3,000 since Operation Metro Surge began in early December. He then held up a handful of photos of newly arrested undocumented immigrants with criminal records. That added fove or so names to the 240 criminal arrests disclosed as of earlier in the week. So that’s a criminal catch rate of less than 1 in 10 arrests, at least that they’ve said in their data.

4] “If this so-called “largest immigration action ever” operation was a business venture, it would be a utter failure.”

5] “Bovino’s problem is more and more Americans think what he’s doing is government in its worst state. – and intolerably evil.”

*** “The first evil choice or act is linked to the second; and each one that follows, both by the tendency of our evil nature and by the power of habit, which holds us as by a destiny. As Lessing says, “Let the devil catch you but by a single hair, and you are his forever.” [ Tyron Edwards ]

then think on numbers. Texas and Florida have an estimated 3.7 million undocumented immigrants. There are no “Operation Metro Surge” invasions occurring in those Republican states. Georgia, North Carolina, Arizona all have more undocumented immigrants than Minnesota – there are NO “Operation Metro Surge” invasions in THOSE states. Minnesota has an estimated 130,000 undocumented immigrants – so WHY does it have an ICE thug invasion???