Flotsam and Jetsam - Another Death in Minneapolis

Well, so far, for us, Snowmaggedopacolypse 2026 (aka Winter Storm Fern) is going about as expected. It began snowing late last night, and by this morning we had about 3 inches of powdery snow, so loose it slide down between the deck boards. Around daybreak, it turned to sleet, and it is beating down the snow, but not as yet, contributing a whole lot of mass. The birds are going nuts at the feeder, and one Junco even figured out how to use it (they much prefer to take the food off a flat surface like the deck.) We're hoping it stays as sleet, and doesn't turn to freezing rain.

Yesterday was another tragic day in Minneapolis. An anti-ICE 'protester' tried to interfere with the arrest of an illegal alien criminal, got into a scuffle with Border Patrol agents, and ended up shot to death. He was apparently carrying a semi-auto pistol with two full magazines. It turns out, that he was a legal concealed carry license holder, but was not carrying ID. Agents claim they tried to disarm him, but in the brawl, he was shot. Videos exist, of course, but to me, they don't show much. One theory is that his gun fell to the ground, discharged, and started the shooting. I dunno. Dave Strom at Hat Hair, Another Shooting in Minneapolis at ICE Arrest; Clashes Begin; Rioting. Virginian-Pilot, Police chief calls for calm after a man is shot and killed during Minneapolis immigration crackdown. Jen O'Connell at RedState, Minneapolis ICU Nurse Identified As the Man Shot Saturday by Border Patrol Agents. CBS News @CBSNews, "The 37-year-old Minnesota resident, who was shot by federal authorities in Minneapolis Saturday morning, was identified as Alex Pretti, who worked as an ICU nurse. CBS News Minnesota reporter Jonah Kaplan reports Pretti worked for Veteran Affairs." Matt Vespa at TownHall The Anti-ICE Signal Chat in Minneapolis Has Reportedly Been Infiltrated...and *That* Name Looks Familiar (Alex Pretti) and hears Border Patrol Does Not Mince Words With Their Statement About the Recent Shooting in Minneapolis. Sundance at CTH hosts Border Patrol Commander Greg Bovino Holds a Press Conference to Discuss a Shooting During ICE Operations and DHS Secretary Kristi Noem Holds a Press Conference to Discuss Ongoing Minnesota Insurrection. Dave Strom, The Narrative™ Is Being Set on Minneapolis Shooting; Trump: INSURRECTION; Sheriff: National Guard. Gov. Walz, Mayor Fry and other Democrats wasted no time in politicizing it: Greg Price @greg_price11, "Tim Walz: "I want everyone to get in the faces of ICE agents and resist them." Leftist: *gets into the faces of ICE agents with a gun... gets shot* Tim Walz: "This is Donald Trump's fault! Get ICE out of here now."" Quote Governor Tim Walz @GovTimWalz, "I just spoke with the White House after another horrific shooting by federal agents this morning. Minnesota has had it. This is sickening. The President must end this operation. Pull the thousands of violent, untrained officers out of Minnesota. Now." Gina Milan @ginamilan_, "Mayor Frey on the shooting: “I’m done being told we are the problem!” This guy is an absolute clown and a disgrace." Steve Guest @SteveGuest, "OFFICIAL statement from the Senate Judiciary Democrats: Federal law-enforcement officers are “undisciplined, overweight, low IQ rent-a-cops.” Twitchy, 'We Dodged Such a Massive Bullet': Kamala's Alex Pretti Tweet Proves That Trump Saved America From Her: Kamala Harris @KamalaHarris, "Alex Jeffrey Pretti was an ICU nurse at a VA hospital. His life, through his profession, was dedicated to serving his community and our country. As so many have now seen on video, his final act before he was killed by federal agents was doing everything in his power to protect his community. Alex and tens of thousands of Minnesotans have boldly defended their neighbors against the murderous occupation of an American city by the federal government. I am enraged and heartbroken for Alex, his family, Minneapolis, and America." From News Wax, Trump: Gov. Walz, Mayor Frey Are 'Inciting Insurrection'. Matt Margolis at PJM, Did Trump Just Signal That He’s Going to Invoke the Insurrection Act?. GregGutfeld @greggutfeld, "Responsibility for the deliberately engineered chaos is on Walz and Frey. None of this happens in cities where cooperation and following the law exists. Debating this with agitators is a waste of your time, for this is exactly that they desire. Every tragedy is a win." Cynical Publius @CynicalPublius, "There are two ways the violence can stop in Minnesota: 1. ICE/Border Patrol can withdraw from Minnesota, abandon the rule of law, and thereby make Minnesota a haven nationally for millions of illegal aliens while also signaling that violence against civil authorities in the conduct of their lawful duties will be successful. -or- 2. Minnesota state and local officials can agree to assist ICE/BP in the lawful conduct of their missions like most other states, can stop inciting their citizens to violence and can stop cooperating with domestic terrorism organizers. Choose."

Valid reasons for getting shot according to the libs

✅Running for president
✅Speaking at a college campus
❌Trying run over an officer
❌Pulling a gun on an officer

— Carpe Donktum🔹 (@CarpeDonktum) January 24, 2026

UPI, 100 clergy arrested at Minneapolis-St. Paul airport during ICE protest. 6 News, Contractors accused of disrupting ICE raid at Hardin Valley construction site. Gateway Pundit has a GRAPHIC WARNING: Insane Leftist BITES FINGER OFF OF FEDERAL AGENT During Minneapolis Chaos. From Da Mail, Woke Karen, 63, lets VERY embarrassing detail slip to the Daily Mail after she mistook cops rushing to school for ICE ‘and tried to obstruct them’ just local police investigating a threat at a school. Twitchy, Not Even San Diego's Mayor Was Having Anti-ICE Protesters Barricade Themselves in His Office. From the Free Bacon, Nationwide Anti-ICE Protests Reveal How Unions and Organized Leftist Groups Aim To Rekindle the Anger and Disorder of Black Lives Matter. "Labor unions, which once helped coordinate BLM protests, have assumed a new role in organizing anti-ICE disruptions." NewsAlert, Chicago's Ruling Class Meet Up With Minnesota's Ruling Class : Chicago Teachers Union Go To Minnesota to Show Support "Chicago's ruling class went to Minnesota to help out their comrades in Minnesota. Chicago's government schools were closed because of cold weather but comrades travelled north to plot socialist strategy. Your taxes are for taking." From NYPo, DHS officials debunk viral claims ICE used 5-year-old boy as ‘bait’ — here’s what they say really happened. Teri Christoph at RedState hears JD Vance Schools Media After Reporter Pushes Debunked ‘5-Year-Old Arrested by ICE’ Hoax. Tony Kinnett @TheTonus, "Funny how right after the video of Democrats terrorizing children at a church went viral, these fake stories about "ICE arresting children" started going up on every Democrat account." Matt Margolis, Sen. Kennedy Schools Bill Maher, and I Bet He Hated That. 

Stacy McCain approves of The St. Paul Three  Anti-ICE Terrorists Now Facing Federal Felony Charges for the church invasion. From Da Caller, Gregg Jarrett Explains Why Don Lemon Could Still Face Charges and Harmeet Dhillon Tells Megyn Kelly DOJ Will Pursue Don Lemon Charges To ‘Ends Of The Earth’ After Judge Balks. Verbal Riot @verbalriotshow, "Don Lemon: "Being here illegally is not a crime, it's a misdemeanor." Ordinary Citizen: "Isn't a misdemeanor a crime?"" Trent Telenko @TrentTelenko, "This happened because the Chief Judge of the Federal District Court assigned it to this guy so none of the Federal District judges would take the heat for doing this. Chief Justice Roberts has got an "appearance of two-tier justice" credibility problem for the Federal judiciary." Quote Bill Melugin @BillMelugin_ "NEW: Multiple sources tell me & colleague @davidspunt that the federal magistrate in Minnesota who refused to sign off on an arrest warrant for Don Lemon is Douglas L. Micko and that his wife works as an Assistant Attorney General in Minnesota AG Keith Ellison's office." From Twitchy, Church-Invader Nekima Levy Armstrong Rushes to Democrat-Friendly CNN After Release by Activist Judge.

From the Orange County Register, DUI driver who killed 2 OC teens sentenced for illegally reentering U.S. Bo French @BoFrenchTX, "You get to pay this so 47 illegal aliens can have kids for free. It's racist to do otherwise." Quote BladeoftheSun @BladeoftheS "$9,114.99 in the USA to give birth, with full insurance. No wonder no one is having children."

Beege Welborn at Hat Hair Randall Flagg Lite Went to Davos and He Got Pwned, Uh-Huh. At Da Fed, Chuck Devore thinks ‘Sparkle Beach Ken’ Is Too Kind To Gavin Newsom. Sundance hears President Trump Threaten to Hit Canada with 100% Tariff if they Become a Transshipping Hub for Chinese Imports and Ukraine, Russia and U.S. Negotiators Assemble with Military Leaders from Each Nation. "The bad news is that nothing much visible has changed in language or action from the negotiations. The good news is that for the first time military leadership from Russia, Ukraine and the USA joined with the diplomatic negotiators. This could indicate they are trying to work out the details on just how a ceasefire could be executed." TNP calls it the Trump Effect: UK PM Starmer Suspends Surrender of Strategic Islands. Matt Vespa reports Venezuela's Acting President Pretty Much Confirms the US Said Play Ball With Us or Die. At NYPo, Trump reveals to The Post secret ‘discombobulator’ weapon was crucial to Venezuelan raid on Maduro. I love the name, they should keep it. Also, Trump says FEMA is ‘fully prepared’ for Winter Storm Fern as over 9,000 flights are canceled.

From NYPo, Ben Domenech says New govs expose ‘moderate’ Democrats’ true colors. "As her first official act this week, Spanberger rolled back former Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s order instructing state and local officials to cooperate with federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement and border patrol. In New Jersey, Sherrill compared current days to the Revolutionary War’s revolt against the king of England, argued that the duly elected President Donald Trump is “illegally usurping power,” and claimed ICE officers represent Trump’s “militia.”" I&I thinks Democrats Apparently Hate Western Civilization.

Da Caller hears Jack Smith Makes Four Big Admissions In Fiery Public Hearing "1. Cassidy Hutchinson wasn’t ruled out as a witness. . . 2. Former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy posed no risk that warranted hiding subpoenas for his phone records. . . 3. Smith doesn’t know how much money went to confidential human sources. . . 4. Smith doesn’t remember who swore him in." Also, Trump believed and still believes the election was stolen, which undercuts his whole prosecution.

At ET, Federal Judge Rules Virginia’s Felony Voting Ban Violated Law "The ruling blocks Virginia from denying voting rights for most felony convictions and comes as lawmakers advance a separate amendment for automatic restoration."

Dave Bernstein at Insty, I EXPECT A LAWSUIT FOR VIOLATING CALIFORNIA’S DRACONIAN PUBLIC ACCOMMODATIONS LAW IS COMING: "You can’t make this stuff up: “we aren’t political, and we don’t ask our performers their political views, but we won’t let an Israeli Jew perform unless he denies absurd libels against Israel. But that’s not political, and we don’t ask our performers their political views.”"

Matt Margolis is in disbelief as The New York Times Wonders Why Americans Are ‘Turning Against Gay People.’ Isn’t It Obvious? "Before 2020, they note, everything seemed to be moving forward together. Bigger Pride parades. Rainbow-lit landmarks. Federal legalization of same-sex marriage. Americans' bias against gay people was dropping so fast, faster than any other tracked prejudice, that the researchers even predicted that anti-gay bias would hit zero by 2022. That's possibly the dumbest prediction anyone could make about human nature and social attitudes. Bias hitting zero? Really? Heck, those who preach tolerance are some of the most biased people I’ve ever met. And these are supposed to be serious academics. . . they say they can rule out the idea that backlash against transgender rights spilled over into anti-gay sentiment, because their research shows no meaningful correlation. That second claim is laughable. The transgender movement is absolutely the reason for the shift, and anyone paying attention knows it. When the Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriage in 2015, conservatives warned it was a slippery slope, and we were right. Trans ideology got shoved down everyone's throats at warp speed. Children started getting butchered with hormones and surgeries in the name of "gender-affirming care.” Males invaded women's sports. Preferred pronouns exploded everywhere. Activists tried to redefine basic biology and erase the meaning of sex and gender. Schools began socially transitioning kids behind parents' backs. Parental rights got trampled. We literally have a Supreme Court Justice who, during her confirmation hearings, couldn’t define what a woman was, because, as she said, she’s “not a biologist.”"