Meanwhile, Back in Minneapolis

 Only federal officers are upholding the law. (in Minneapolis and perhaps St. Paul and the rest of Minnesota) Local and state police have been ordered to stand down and surrender 

Stephen Miller, Donald Trump's low rent Levrentiy Beria

In order to prove how much federal, "officers," are upholding the law, the other day ICE agents dragged a disabled woman who is a U.S. citizen named Aliya Rahman from the front seat of her car then hauled her away. The DHS immediately claimed Ms. Rahman was an agitator who was attempting to obstruct ICE agents who were simply performing their duties. You know, upholding the law. 

Aliya Rahman has a different story. She says she turned onto the street as she headed to a medical appointment. She found it blocked by the agents who approached her car shouting obscenity laced commands at her. She attempted to complain to them about her impending doctor's appointment and told them she needed to get through. By then, the ICE agents had surrounded her car and at least one was standing in front of it. Knowing what happens in Minneapolis when women try to get their vehicles around an armed ICE enforcer, Rahman told them she couldn't move.

A video of the incident shows one Ice agent smashing out her passenger side window. Then others physically dragged the crying and screaming woman out on the street where she was cuffed and taken to a local detention center. She wasn't allowed to bring her cane and later was denied medical treatment. She eventually passed out while in custody. 

Then we come to Chongly, "Scott," Thao. Scott is a 56 year old naturalized U.S. citizen of Hmong descent who immigrated to the United States from Laos when he was four years old. He took the oath of citizenship in 1991. That would mean he became a citizen before most of the clowns who dragged him out of his home were born. On Sunday Mr. Thao was at his house with various family members singing karaoke. ICE agents with weapons drawn busted through his door without warning, or a warrant, or at least one they were willing to show. They dragged Scott out of his place into the 14-degree F. weather while he was wearing nothing but a tee-shirt, boxer shorts, slippers, and a thin blanket he had been handed by his grandson. 

After hanging on to Mr. Thao for a while the ICE agents brought him back. They offered no apology or reason for his detention. The official ICE excuse for this NKVD type behavior was that Scott Thao was living with two accused child traffickers and that he, "looked like one of them." Well yeah. He is Asian and to the average ICE guy, all Asians look alike--not to mention Hispanics, Somalis, and anyone else who isn't Aryan in appearance. Scott's family told the media the grandfather has never known the two alleged illegal immigrant child traffickers, and they had never lived in his house. 

It looks like the whole thing was just a merry mix up. Hey, shit happens when you are upholding the law. Just ask the ghost of Renee Good. 

Speaking of which, in the case of Ms. Good, demands for an investigation into her execution aren't going anywhere. The DHS and DOJ say there is no reason for one. According to the DOJ that isn't the case with Good's wife, Becca, or Governor Tim Walz, and Minneapolis Mayor, Jacob Frey. Reports are the Justice Department has launched criminal investigations of all three. Rumors are the charges will include obstruction, or maybe instigating an insurrection, or perhaps, the most serious of all, they just won't shut up. These days all three options are on the table.    

While all this was going on the Washington Post reported 1,500 members of the American 11th Airborne have been alerted to stand by for possible deployment to Minnesota. The fighting 11th is based in Alaska and is specifically trained for cold weather warfare, something those 3,000 federal officers in Minnesota aren't. (Although, to be honest, right now, those deadly goofs don't look like they've been trained at all.)

MS NOW's Lawrence O'Donnell, the most unabashed Trump hater on any cable news network, claims the nightmare in Minneapolis and yes, the chest thumping, saber rattling over Greenland are both distractions. He maintains they are loud and elaborate ruses to keep the media and public from thinking about the Epstein files. 

Unless the wild and baseless accusation bounding around unsavory parts of the internet that the files contain proof Trump once gave Bill Clinton a blow job is true, that's a bit of a stretch. 

The thinking here is it's far more likely the President of the United States has simply gone bat shit crazy. Not only that, but since he managed to surround himself with a bunch of fascist Rasputin types, none of them are willing, or even want to reign him in. 

Donald J. Trump began his second term exactly one year ago today. It is now completely uncertain whether this nation, as a constitutional republic, can survive three more years of him.

1-20-26