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Look for hope, even in small moments:
- @whiskeywhistle98 reacts, as a decent human, to last week’s Minneapolis killing and its immediate aftermath as a victim bleeds out:
Key exchange:
Doctor: Can I go check her pulse?
ICE officer: No! Back up! Now!
Doctor: I’m a physician.
ICE officer: I don’t care! - At The Moderate Voice Kathy Gill looks into rules and training, examines video evidence on the Minneapolis shooting of Renee Nicole Good, then explains how the ICE agent violated DOJ/DHS procedures and the law itself.
Joe Gandelman helps with the internet debate: Was it self‑defense or murder?
- We are alerted by Infidel753 to a find by Nan’s Notebook.
A retired law enforcement officer provides insight into several suspicious aspects of the shooting.Key after shooting action:
There is no way it is legal or within acceptable bounds for an officer to leave the scene of a shooting. This alone strongly suggests that not only does the officer involved know he was in the wrong, but that so do his colleagues, who did not stop him leaving the scene. - The Propaganda Professor posts his list of the Week in Stupid, beginning with the clumsy smears of shooting victim Renee Good.
The Professor ends with a few unbright quotes.
My pick:
“As a general rule, grown men should not go to therapy. Most therapists are liberal women who couldn’t possibly have any useful advice to give them. Most people who go to therapy are also women. That’s because sitting around and talking about your feelings is inherently feminine.” — Matt Walsh - In Hackwhackers is among those reporting on the DOJ investigation following the Minneapolis shooting of Renee Good.
No, it is not an investigation of the shooting, although (who knows?) the shooting may be investigated separately. Instead, this investigation is into the victim of the shooting. Can they find a way, any way, to make this mother of three into a less sympathetic character?
Oh my. We can forget any investigation by the feds into the shooting, and federal prosecutors are resigning in protest. The only investigation contemplated is into the background of victim and her family. The idea is to gather any indication that maybe she deserved to be killed.
- Disaffected and it Feels So Good suggests that, in going after her character following the shooting, the United States government is killing Renee Good multiple times.
- Dave Columbo hears JD Vance blame the driver of the car and is compelled to offer an alternative view:
- Sometimes humor is less about levity than irony.
At The Onion, JD Vance claims that Renée Good had no authority to be alive in the first place.
- Dave Dubya says the real culprit in the killing of Renee Nicole Good can be found in the Oval Office.
(He’s right) - In Rural Missouri, Jess Piper goes to a small town where she once taught, and attends a vigil for Renee Good and a rally attended by fellow retired educators.
She is not surprised to see teachers there.Teachers at rallies often hold signs that say “love your neighbor” and “be Good.” Their signs read, “Remember the Constitution” and “Peace.”
These teachers remind me of Mr. Rogers and Ms. Rachel. Gentle. Loving. Forgiving.
So what makes these teachers show up to rally and protest? The same thing that made them go into a classroom for decades.
Service to others and a love of community and children. A passion for justice. Fairness.
- Julian Sanchez speaks for most of us as Trump gives his spectacularly unsound opinion on the shooting:
In the background, the dead eyes of a woman who knows he'd excuse it with a lie without a second thought if her own children were orphaned by one of these goons.
— Julian Sanchez (@normative.bsky.social) January 12, 2026 at 12:07 AM
As an increasingly common confrontation occurs…
Big clash this afternoon between DHS agents and protesters in a residential street in Minneapolis, following a DHS agent hitting another vehicle. Tear gas was deployed in people’s yards and agents pepper prayed people.
— amanda moore 🐢 (@noturtlesoup17.bsky.social) January 12, 2026 at 2:20 PM
…Julian points to danger that should be obvious:
It’s been made clear to these goons that they can commit cold-blooded murder video, and the administration will shield them by lying and smearing the victim. No surprise they feel completely free to use lesser forms of violence against civilians just for sport.
— Julian Sanchez (@normative.bsky.social) January 12, 2026 at 5:28 PM
- Our favorite Earth-Bound Misfit considers the killing of Renee Good in Minneapolis and points out a largely unrecognized pattern.
Border Patrol track record:
…deliberately stepping in front of vehicles in order to justify killing the occupants. - PZ Myers gets an on‑the‑scene report from a friend on the chaos, other than shooting, enveloping the ICE occupation of Minneapolis.
- Journalist Marcy Wheeler at EmptyWheel notices one part of the Minneapolis shooting video that has escaped much of mainstream media, and how it reflects the shift from caring for veterans to using them for domestic violence.
- In Canadian satire, The Beaverton, Trump is enraged that the Minneapolis shooting has not yet sparked a civil war.
- I suspect Max’s Dad speaks for a sizable and growing segment of the American public as he reacts to the shooting:
ICE is a boil on America’s ass.
- North Carolina pastor John Pavlovitz makes the case.
Christians need to destroy ICE. - M. Bouffant at Web of Evil provides links to news about protests on two continents and asks What kinds of nations turn on their own people?
Can we guess?
- The Trump administration says that the act of recording ICE abuses is itself against the law.
Scotties Playtime links to legal research and finds the law says otherwise.
- Brian Beutler makes the case that ICE should be abolished whether or not Democrats explicitly campaign on it.
Key national peril:
The whole party, including frontline members, needs to be mentally clear about what makes bureaucratic reform so urgent: that ICE is no longer compatible with self-rule, and probably never was.I have a thought:
1/2
My only criticism of your well-reasoned article is that you may be underestimating the public reaction against ICE. An explicit campaign will, I think, be broadly popular.— burrland01.bsky.social (@burrland01.bsky.social) January 13, 2026 at 1:57 PM
2/2
My wife and I voted against a candidate who embraced "defund the police". Our reasoning was that, if it meant what it sounded like, it was dumb policy. If not, the necessity of explaining it made it a dumb slogan."Abolish ICE" does not share either flaw.
— burrland01.bsky.social (@burrland01.bsky.social) January 13, 2026 at 1:57 PM
- ICE, Homeland Security, and the Justice Department are insulted whenever some libtard refers to them as Nazis.
Fair enough.
Nobody likes to be the target of name-calling.tengrain at Mock Paper Scissors notices an odd series of coincidences.
- driftglass goes to a detailed but entertaining analysis of film genres, focusing on westerns, to make a point about MAGAs. It is a wonderful pre-digression.
Kind of like, as an elderly person once explained,
I told you all that so I can tell you all this…
(Okay, so ’twas I)driftglass applies the connection: MAGA is not an ideology. It is not firmly tied to any real system of beliefs or set of facts. It is not connected to facts at all.
What makes MAGAFolk MAGA:
MAGA is a genre. MAGA is a vibe.Contradictions are part of the game:
…the policies they’ll swear by on a Monday because Sean Hannity said so… and then drop like first period French on Wednesday because Sean Hannity said so…are just props. Just plot devices. - In Letters from an American, historian Heather Cox Richardson brings us a pamphlet, published by the US War Department for Army personnel in Europe, explaining fascism.
The same analysis is now available in audio format, as Richardson narrates in podcast.
- Tommy Christopher captures reaction from prominent personalities on social media after the invasion of Venezuela many contrasting the treatment of two Central American Presidents. This is representative:
And that’s how this will end too: Just like Hernandez, Maduro will buy himself a sweetheart pardon from Trump in 3 years. Book it. None of this has anything to do with drugs.👇 https://t.co/IH914HoefE
— Joe Walsh (@WalshFreedom) January 3, 2026
- Ted McLaughlin at jobsanger points to compelling public evidence Trump’s military attack on Venezuela is not about drugs.
More probable reasons are oil and Epstein.
- Author and educator Amanda Nelson compares what Trump is doing in Venezuela with interventions performed by past Presidents, and discovers important differences:
- Frances Langum has unusual news as the Senate passes a resolution telling Trump he has to follow the law and the Constitution, getting permission from Congress before engaging in any more military adventures in Venezuela.
Trump is especially furious at 5 Republicans who voted for the resolution. Seems when Trump is told not to break the law, and especially when Republicans vote against Trump, it is a danger to national security… or something.
Frances also brings us this from PBS:
Well, who would have guessed?
Two Republicans, including our own Josh Hawley, kissed the ground under Trump pressure and backed down.
- Wisconsin conservative James Wigderson, as usual these days, has this about right:
Do you understand that Trump acted without any prior authorization by Congress? https://t.co/sL2YdZXbHT
— James Wigderson (@jwigderson) January 3, 2026
Nobody is feeling sorry for Maduro. That's a straw man argument. But we want our president to obey the Constitution. Because if we're not a nation of laws, what are we?
— James Wigderson (@jwigderson) January 4, 2026
Republicans told me if I voted for Kamala Harris that we would be invading and bombing countries all over the world. I guess they were right. https://t.co/DG5n42ScpL
— James Wigderson (@jwigderson) January 3, 2026
- So why is opposition leader María Corina Machado not in charge of Venezuela?
Although it’s easy to believe most any deranged reasoning is possible when today’s major policy decisions may come from what Trump saw on yesterday’s late night television, Jason Linkins thinks US direction in Venezuela is more corrupt than is generally reported:
While I'm not surprised that people in the drooling, infirm president's company are saying such things, I don't actually believe this, especially in light of significant reporting indicating that the administration always intended to hand things off to the Chavismo faction they'd bought off.
— Jason Linkins (@dceiver.bsky.social) January 4, 2026 at 10:53 PM
I've followed the off and on interplay between Maduro and the stateside bagmen that have been trying to do a coup these past many years and if there's one thing everyone shares in common it's that none authentically have the Venezuelan people's interests at heart.
— Jason Linkins (@dceiver.bsky.social) January 4, 2026 at 10:53 PM
So if Machado sincerely has her peoples' best interests front of mind then she was always going to be on the outside, looking in as Marco Rubio and some pliant goons carved everything up for themselves. She should have gotten her palms greased! Too bad!
— Jason Linkins (@dceiver.bsky.social) January 4, 2026 at 10:53 PM
- News Corpse sees Trump’s attack on Venezuela as the beginning of US military adventurism in other countries.
- Journalist Arturo Dominguez looks at the evidence and speculates on whether Trump will next attack Cuba.
- Trump is threatening to invade and capture Greenland. The stated reason is national security which, on the surface, seems odd. Existing treaties, agreements, and current US military presence in Greenland pretty much make any other moves pointless as well as plainly wrong.
CalicoJack in The Psy of Life urges citizens to contact their representatives, providing information on who to call and what to say.
- Infidel753 carries what is known, not known, and informed but tentative speculation about resistance to the oppressive theocracy of Iran.
- Right Wing Watch brings us Christian Nationalist Joel Webbon, explaining that the Holocaust was probably not as bad as we have been told
- In The Life and Times of Bruce Gerencser, Bruce discusses a common Christian theme, one of exclusivity and exclusion: that my version is the only true Christianity:
In the past, Bruce allowed me to submit my version of belief. In my submission, I made mention of that unfortunate tendency:
In friendly argument with a friend, I mimicked traditional religious posture. After all, it seems to be the way of the world.
“We can agree to disagree,” I told him. “You worship God in your way. I’ll worship him in His.” - My longtime friend Darrell Michaels is back with a cite from a creationist site positing that evolution without a creator is a statistical impossibility.
Darrell himself is more modest:
This doesn’t “disprove” evolution—but it does highlight a gap between what random processes can easily explain and what we actually observe in biology. The remarkable organization, information content, and coordination found in life continue to raise thoughtful questions about whether undirected processes are the whole story. - Sarah Cooper is holding up at the beginning of a dry January
- In Happiness Between Tails, da-AL hosts Serbian writer Milena D. Lazić who regales us with satiric fiction about an immigrant, much like herself, making sense of a dinner party attended by intensely partisan Democrats and Republicans each conforming to extreme caricatures.
- The Borowitz Report has the details as a new study links the overuse of Botox …
Michael Gonzalez/Getty Images - Dave Barry ponders whether mobile phones are bad, beginning with a cautionary story about a small California town in a telling experiment.
- SilverAppleQueen has cats.
7 responses to “Week of ICE Attacks
Shoot to kill in Minneapolis, Smearing the victim (She had it coming), Time to ice ICE?, Don’t call them Nazis, Venezuela ‑ Drugs‑no drugs‑oil‑or Epstein, Greenland or Cuba next, Iran represses”
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Darrell Michaels’s post seems to be talking about the probability of the origin of life, a question which has almost no connection with evolution (evolution explains how life changes and develops over time, not how it originally got started). Evolution, of course, is not a random process. We don’t know, and probably will never know for sure, how life originated, but there are several hypotheses. Scientists who are familiar with the issues certainly don’t consider it an inexplicable mystery. It’s just that we don’t know which of the several possible ways it could have happened is what actually did happen.
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“…the policies they’ll swear by on a Monday because Sean Hannity said so… and then drop like first period French on Wednesday because Sean Hannity said so…are just props. Just plot devices.”
In this rare instance, I’ll disagree with driftglass: MAGA is not ‘a western genre’.
MAGA is weaponized kayfabe, honed by Trump’s years of association with WWE and ‘Reality’ TV.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kayfabe
MAGA has always looked just like the folks in the stands of a wrestling match.
The key tell is the staggering amount of time every part of this administration is engaged in superficial performance to maintain their complete fiction of a world view.
( if you have access to Vice on tv, there’s a really informative (and entertaining) series called “Tales from the Territories” where people who were in the professional wrestling world in the days before the dominance of WWE talk about their experiences in that world )
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Thank you for linking Scottie’s again this week, and for all your work here.
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It’s nice that Darrell is at his keyboard again. He’s still not up for a discussion though. He lectured me: “He (Trump) is a canonized saint in comparison to the congenitally corrupt and senile head of the Biden crime family who even denounced many of the main tenets of his own supposed faith through his governing actions. Oh, that’s right. He wasn’t senile. He just “had a stutter” I once recall you proclaiming in his defense.”
Unfortunately Darrell wasn’t interested in comparing EVIDENCE of Biden’s crimes to the overwhelming proof of Trump’s crime spree. I wonder why?
I expect him to also ignore my latest comment for follow-up:
—–I would be interested in what Biden said that would be more demented than annexing Canada, invading Greenland, and imposing tariffs (that WE PAY) to punish NATO countries that defend national integrity.
Now THIS toddler tantrum!
Considering your Country decided (It’s NOT the “country’s decision”) not to give me the Nobel Peace Prize for having stopped 8 Wars (He didn’t) PLUS, I no longer feel an obligation to think purely of Peace, although it will always be predominant, but can now think about what is good and proper for the United States of America.
“Denmark cannot protect that land from Russia or China, and why do they have a ‘right of ownership’ anyway? There are no written documents, it’s only that a boat landed there hundreds of years ago, but we had boats landing there, also. (We “land boats” all over the world. Does that mean Trump owns the world?)
“I have done more for (to undermine) NATO than any other person since its founding, and now, NATO should do something for the United States. The World is not secure unless we have Complete and Total Control of Greenland. Thank you! President DJT”
To summarize:
Trump: I need to invade and take over Greenland now, because if I don’t, Russia will.
Also, Trump: Vladimir will you please join my Board of Peace?
Trump must be quite impressed by Putin’s “peace mission” in Ukraine. Is it my “TDS” that keeps me from admiring this madness?
I hope you’re enjoying your demented dictator’s destruction of America. It wasn’t enough to terminate our tradition of peaceful transfer of power, was it?
My favorite hypocrisy: “Law and order” is for everyone but me and those who love me.
Storm and desecrate the Capitol, terrorize Congress, and beat cops bloody to overturn an election because Trump lied about it being “rigged”? (Get PRAISE and PARDONS!)
Convicted of fraud? Get TWO pardons for the price of one. (Thanks for the donations!)
Murder a protestor by shooting her in the face though a side window? (No problem, no investigation. But let’s indict the mayor and governor of Minnesota because they don’t like me!)
Smells like fascism. No wonder you approve, Darrell. It’s the authoritarian’s dream come true.
—-Is this more evidence that the right wing authoritarian personality is very uncomfortable with questions?
Don’t tell me. “What a STUPID question!”, amirite?
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Burr and fellow readers of Burr’s entertaining blog, I long ago decided not to engage with Dave Dubya anymore after years of attempting to do so, especially on my own blog. I ended up banning him from my blog after he repeatedly resorted to and engaged in uncharitable diatribes and name calling of me and other commenters on my site. (And yes, there have been other commenters that have been warned by me for similar behavior, but Mr. Dubya always insisted on taking things to the next level.)
I have no problem at all with someone disagreeing and offering differing opinions on my blog. In fact, I have always encouraged it. Indeed, trying to see an issue from another’s point of view is how we learn and sometimes even change our own opinions in the quest for truth. What I won’t tolerate is the constant bullying , name-calling, and hatefulness from anyone.
Mr. Dubya is not allowed on my site and I choose not to engage with him because it is not productive and a waste of time to try and have an adult conversation with him. It certainly is not because of his assertion of “facts” in his attempt to portray anyone to the right of him as a fascist and white supremacist.
As an example, he even chased one regular commenter from my site who was left-of-center and in agreement with Dave on many issues, but had the temerity to not agree with EVERYTHING Dave espoused.
I don’t need the equivalent of school yard bullies on my site. Come and engage in civil conversation and feel free to agree or disagree. If all you want to do is stamp your foot, hold your breath and have a tantrum because others don’t agree with you, then another venue for your views might be more appropriate.
With Dave, I use the old adage as my guide to not argue with a fool because others might not be able to tell the difference. 😉
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I get it Darrell.
You don’t want to face or admit to facts like Trump lost in 2020, LIED about a “rigged election”, and sent a mob of thugs to storm the Capitol, terrorize Congress, and beat cops bloody to overturn a fair election.
You are offended or annoyed when I mention Trump watched them on TV for HOURS before telling them to leave, despite the pleadings of family and advisors.
Maybe you get upset when I condemn the Criminal President for PRAISING and PARDONING his thugs. “Law and order for thee, but nor for me”.
I politely invited you to show evidence that Trump won more votes in 2020. I asked for evidence of Joe Biden’s “crimes”.
You evaded responding every time. No wonder you’re terrified of discussion, or answering questions, or providing evidence. You don’t have any. But you do have FEELINGS and BELIEFS that you hold as truth. One of those beliefs is behind your absurd accusation that I’m a communist.
I get it, Darrell. Just keep on believing Trump is an honest man fit for leading our country. And Venezuela. And Greenland. Perhaps Norway should be invaded so he can claim his Nobel Prize he BELEIVES is awarded by their government.
I truly appreciate you for showing us the delusional, dogged, duped MAGA mindset, though. Now we know why it CAN happen here.
All glory to the Magnificent, Malevolent, Mendacious Messiah! America is so great the world no longer trusts us and is turning away from us.
But hey, at least it WILL be whiter, as thousands of peaceful immigrants are brutalized and abused in privatized MAGA concentration camps. Take the win.
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I wonder if this fact has been brought to Darrell’s attention.
Trump has committed more CRIMES than the vast majority of immigrants he’s sending to be abused in privatized MAGA concentrations camps and to countries they’ve never seen.
Probably a “fake fact” fabricated in a “foolish commie” mind, amirite?
Nobody is more angered by facts than the MAGA crowd. They’re certain that anyone sharing such information “hates America”. (Meaning opposes Trump.)
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