January 27, 2026

Rob Gillies of the AP: “Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said Tuesday he told ... Donald Trump that he meant what he said in his speech at Davos, and told him Canada plans to diversify away from the United States with a dozen new trade deals. Carney rolled his eyes and rejected U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent’s contention to Fox News that he aggressively walked back his comments at the World Economic Forum during a phone call with Trump on Monday. 'To be absolutely clear, and I said this to the president, I meant what I said in Davos,' Carney said to reporters as he arrived for a Cabinet meeting in the capital, Ottawa. 'Canada was the first country to understand the change in U.S. trade policy that he initiated, and we’re responding to that.'”

Marie: Did CBP target Alex Pretti? If you read Adam Serwer's report in the Atlantic (linked below), then you know that Pretti and Renee Good were on "ICE Watch": people who call themselves "observers," "watch" for ICE/CBP agents, and warn others of the agents' presence. "Trump-administration officials and MAGA influencers have repeatedly called these activists 'violent' and said they are involved in 'riots.'" Serwer travelled around Minneapolis with two of these "observers" and both told him that ICE agents made efforts to find out who they were, then showed up at their homes and harassed them. ~~~

     ~~~ Now we learn from Jeff Winter & Priscilla Alvarez of CNN: “Federal immigration officers have been collecting personal information about protesters and agitators in Minneapolis, sources told CNN – and had documented details about Alex Pretti before he was shot to death on Saturday.... A memo sent earlier this month to agents temporarily assigned to the city asked them to 'capture all images, license plates, identifications, and general information on hotels, agitators, protestors, etc., so we can capture it all in one consolidated form.'... Sources told CNN that about a week before his death, [Pretti] suffered a broken rib when a group of federal officers tackled him while he was protesting their attempt to detain other individuals.... [Pretti had] stopped his car after observing ICE agents chasing what he described as a family on foot, and began shouting and blowing his whistle. Pretti later told a source that five agents tackled him and one leaned on his back – an encounter that left him with a broken rib. The agents quickly released him at the scene. 'That day, he thought he was going to die,' said the source. Pretti was later given medication consistent with treating a broken rib, according to records reviewed by CNN.... Pretti’s name was known to federal agents, according to a [federal] source....” ~~~

     ~~~ Maybe this explains why agents seemed so pumped after murdering Good & Pretti: they had killed targets. One thing is certain now: ICE & CBP are targeting Minnesotans. It's a policy.

Marie: During the past couple of days, contributors have posted a number of links that look very promising to me, but I have just not been able to get to them. I recommend that as a matter of course you check the Comments both for commentary and for the articles commenters link. ~~~ 

     ~~~ Jonathan Ross shot Renee Good three times, the second and third time through a side window -- so that he could not possibly have thought he was in harm's way. The vehicle was past him. A few days later, when I saw video of Ross walking around (seemingly completely unharmed) right after killing Good, I commented that he looked "pumped." Saturday, a CBP agent shot Alex Pretti, after another agent had already disarmed Pretti. Pretti fell to the pavement, possibly dead. But the shooter and one of his cohort shot the dead or dying Pretti nine more times as other agents backed away. Again, they could not possibly have thought anyone was in danger. Anderson Cooper pointed out yesterday that one of the agents was clapping as the nine shots rang out. I thought that when the clapping agent turned around to face the camera, he too seemed pumped. Murder -- real murder -- taking the lives of who? -- "woke" people? -- seems to thrill these federal agents. 

Paul Krugman sees Pretti's murder as a possible tipping point for a number of good reasons, which he shares. BUT. The brutality will continue. "Because these people are malignant narcissists, whose lives are all about displaying dominance. The sheer horror of what they’ve already done makes it impossible for them to change course, because climbing down after you’ve murdered people and lied about it would be humiliating — and humiliation is their greatest fear.... One safe prediction is that Trump will try to subvert the November elections: in a clear example of a shakedown, Bondi has demanded that Governor Tim [Walz] hand over the Minnesota voter rolls. 

~~~~~~~~~~ 

Das TrumpLand. On Bluesky, here; via Marcie Jones.

Tyler Pager & Hamed Aleaziz of the New York Times: Donald “Trump met Monday evening in the Oval Office with Kristi Noem, the homeland security secretary, and Corey Lewandowski, her top aide, for nearly two hours, as his administration tries to shift its strategy after federal agents killed a second Minneapolis resident over the weekend, according to two people.... The meeting came after Ms. Noem requested to see the president, the people said.... It was the latest sign the president is concerned about the bipartisan criticism of the administration’s response to the killing of Alex Pretti.... Ms. Noem has been the face of the administration’s immigration crackdown, and she has been among the most vocal in spreading false accusations against Mr. Pretti, including labeling him a 'domestic terrorist.' The Oval Office meeting also included several of Mr. Trump’s top aides, including Susie Wiles, his chief of staff, Karoline Leavitt, his press secretary, and Steven Cheung, his communications director. Stephen Miller, a top aide to Mr. Trump who oversees the administration’s immigration strategy, was not part of the meeting.” ~~~

~~~ Trump & KKKaroline Toss Everybody Under the Bus. Luke Broadwater & David Sanger of the New York Times: “Faced with broad outcry over the killing of a protester on Saturday in Minneapolis, the White House on Monday tried to distance ... [Donald] Trump from the response of his most senior officials, who had immediately characterized the man fatally shot by federal agents as a 'domestic terrorist' who was 'brandishing' a gun, before video evidence undercut their charges. Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, notably did not defend the rhetoric of White House officials, including Stephen Miller, the deputy chief of staff, and Kristi Noem, the homeland security secretary, who were the most vocal in spreading false accusations against the victim, Alex Pretti.... White House officials clearly understood that the killing ... posed one of the gravest political threats to Mr. Trump since his inauguration.... Yet they seemed frozen in place, unwilling to walk back the statements by Mr. Miller and Ms. Noem.... While Ms. Leavitt would not contradict the two officials..., she also declined to defend the attacks on Mr. Pretti.... But even as Mr. Trump tried to mend fences with [Minnesota Gov. Tim] Walz, Ms. Leavitt continued the administration’s previous strategy of arguing that the governor and Democrats in Minnesota bore the blame for the chaos.” (Also linked yesterday.) A related Politico story is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: That is, even in this Gawd-Save-the-King moment, where drastic measures are adopted, where the heads of the privy council must roll to preserve the monarch, the effort is helter-skelter. There is no clear plan, no coordination, the message is muddled. At first light, Trump 2.0 looked far more competent than Trump 1.0. Maybe not.

Myah Ward & Dasha Burns of Politico: “The Trump administration is rushing to contain the political fallout after a second person was killed by a federal immigration agent in Minneapolis. Republicans across the spectrum have for weeks warned the White House that its implementation of the president’s immigration agenda had Americans increasingly anxious about the federal government’s heavy-handed role. The backlash exploded this weekend following the shooting of 37-year-old Alex Pretti in Minneapolis.... Normally loyal Republicans criticized the president, a partial-government shutdown over Immigration and Customs Enforcement tactics seems possible, and polling shows that the president is losing ground on immigration — including among voters who backed him in 2024.... [The sudden pivot] ... could prove to be a turning point for how the White House implements Trump’s promise to deport the millions of unauthorized immigrants living in the country.” ~~~

~~~ Matt Dixon & Peter Nicholas of NBC News: “The fatal shooting of Alex Pretti by a Border Patrol agent over the weekend has Donald Trump 'concerned' about the sustainability of his administration’s ongoing Minneapolis operations, according to Trump administration officials and allies. These individuals acknowledged to NBC News that they needed a strategic shift amid a public uproar over Pretti’s killing, though the White House is still very much focused on its original agenda of cracking down on immigration and fraud.”

~~~ Marc Caputo & Brittany Gibson of Axios: "'It's f**ked, and POTUS knew he needed to unf**k it,' an administration adviser told Axios.... Trump's most significant move came Monday morning, when he dispatched White House border czar Tom Homan to the Twin Cities — and essentially cut Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem out of the shambolic Minneapolis operation. Soon after Homan's appointment, DHS announced that the hard-charging head of the controversial immigration efforts, U.S. Border Patrol commander Greg Bovino, would leave the state and return to his old job leading his sector in El Centro, Calif.... Trump spent Sunday lamenting his administration's botched response to Pretti's shooting, including news conferences by Bovino and Noem in which they seemed 'callous' about the man's death.... Trump wants a peace-with-honor withdrawal from Minnesota that doesn't look like his immigration surge was a loss...." ~~~

~~~ Josh Marshall of TPM: "Everywhere we’re seeing signs that ICE, the White House and its virtual army of influencers, agitators and generalized degenerates are losing control of the public narrative surrounding the murder of VA ICU nurse and activist Alex Pretti. These things don’t come in one coherent motion. You see it more in a kind of fragmentation, a general loss of a coherent and aggressive message. Individual players and factions start groping for their own climb down and then often at one sudden point run rapidly for the hills. The White House and ICE have over the last 48 hours simultaneously been claiming that Pretti was there for a mass shooting of ICE agents, so thank god they killed him, and, also, that Pretti’s death is a terrible tragedy and it’s all Governor Tim Walz’s fault because Minneapolis is a sanctuary city. Those two messages don’t really hold together. Things accelerated from there." ~~~

~~~ Trump Always Chickens Out. Aamer Madhani & Steve Karnowski of the AP: “ ... Donald Trump shifted toward a more conciliatory approach with Democratic leaders in Minnesota on Monday, a sudden change in tack following an outcry over the second fatal shooting by federal agents in the state this month.... It’s just the latest in a string of moments where Trump has first taken a maximalist position only to appear to later retreat. Earlier this month, Trump repeatedly threatened Iran with military action if his administration found the Islamic Republic was using deadly force to squelch recent antigovernment protests. Human rights groups said thousands were killed, but Trump says he’s holding off on acting after he received assurances Tehran was suspending hundreds of planned executions.... Last week, Trump first announced plans to impose new tariffs on European allies that refused to go along with his calls for the U.S. to take control of the Arctic territory of Greenland — only to abruptly cancel the tariffs after saying he’d come to terms of the 'framework' of an agreement.” 

⭐New York Times staff have done a new analysis of the actions surrounding the murder of Alex Pretti. The analysis includes some new video. According to the caption accompanying the video, “A frame-by-frame assessment of actions by Alex Pretti and the two officers who fired 10 times shows how lethal force came to be used against a target who didn’t pose a threat.” At 4:15 am ET, the video also is on the front page of the Times, so available to nonsubscribers. ~~~

     ~~~ Mark Scheffler of the New York Times on how the paper's Visual Investigations Team works: “Our job is to assemble and analyze visual material — including video footage taken by both witnesses and security cameras — to piece together chaotic events and present as full a picture of what happened as we can. Our goal isn’t to establish guilt or innocence.... Instead, we establish what we call ground truth: what happened, how it happened and who might be responsible. We follow the visuals wherever they take us, not to a predetermined conclusion. In doing so, this work can start to establish accountability.”

Marie: Yesterday I republished a video of what purported to be staff at the Minneapolis VA hospital honoring Alex Pretti. I first saw this video when Ben Meiselas played it on a Meidas Touch podcast, then found it on Instagram. I have not seen the video elsewhere, though I have looked for it, so I think it may be fake. That is, it truly portrays nurses and staff at the VA hospital honoring a person, but that person is not Alex Pretti. I think if it were truly Alex Pretti in the casket, the video would have gone viral by now, at least 12 hours after I first saw it. I apologize. 

⭐Basta! Jeremy Roebuck of the Washington Post: “Minnesota’s chief federal judge has demanded the acting head of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement personally appear in court Friday to explain what the judge described as repeated failures to comply with dozens of court orders amid its enforcement efforts in the state. 'The court’s patience is at an end,' U.S. District Judge Patrick J. Schiltz wrote in a remarkable filing late Monday, summoning acting ICE director Todd M. Lyons to his courtroom. The judge threatened possible contempt proceedings against Lyons over several instances in which Schiltz said the agency failed to grant detained immigrants bond hearings that had been ordered by judges in Minneapolis.... It was not clear Tuesday whether Lyons would comply with the order to appear or whether Justice Department attorneys would seek to block it in court.” The link is a gift link.

Adam Serwer of the Atlantic: “This weekend, [Donald Trump] posted on social media that [immigration enforcement] agents were [in Minnesota] because of 'massive monetary fraud.' The real reason may be that a majority of Minnesotans did not vote for him. Trump has said that 'I won Minnesota three times, and I didn’t get credit for it. That’s a crooked state.' He has never won Minnesota. Perhaps the Trump-administration officials had hoped that a few rabble-rousers would get violent, justifying the kind of crackdown he seems to fantasize about.... Instead, what they discovered in the frozen North was something different: a real resistance, broad and organized and overwhelmingly nonviolent, the kind of movement that emerges only under sustained attacks by an oppressive state.... f the Minnesota resistance has an overarching ideology, you could call it 'neighborism' — a commitment to protecting the people around you, no matter who they are or where they came from.” Thank you to akaWendy for this gift link.  

This Was the News Yesterday. 

Marie: Yesterday I suspected we might be having another TACO moment, this time at the cost of American lives -- Americans murdered by Trump SS: ~~~ 

~~~ Eric Bazail-Eimil & Jacob Wendler of Politico: “The White House said Monday that border czar Tom Homan will oversee Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations in Minnesota and head to Minneapolis after immigration officers shot and killed a second U.S. citizen protesting enforcement operations....Donald Trump said later he spoke directly with Gov. Tim Walz about Homan’s assignment.... The president added: 'Tom is tough but fair, and will report directly to me.'... Writing on Truth Social, Trump called the conversation 'a very good call' and said Walz was 'happy' about Homan’s trip to Minnesota. 'I told Governor Walz that I would have Tom Homan call him, and that what we are looking for are any and all Criminals that they have in their possession,' Trump wrote. 'The Governor, very respectfully, understood that, and I will be speaking to him in the near future.'... 

“Walz’s office said in a statement that he had a 'productive call' with the president Monday, adding that he asked Trump for impartial investigations into the Minneapolis shootings involving federal agents and for a reduction in the presence of federal agents in the state. 'The President agreed that he would talk to his Department of Homeland Security about ensuring the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension is able to conduct an independent investigation, as would ordinarily be the case,' the statement said. 'The President also agreed to look into reducing the number of federal agents in Minnesota and working with the state in a more coordinated fashion on immigration enforcement regarding violent criminals.'” (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Oh, and here's a funny part: "Homan’s role will also see him coordinate with investigations into lleged graft by charities in Minneapolis with ties to the state’s large Somali diaspora, per [Karoline] Leavitt." This seeker of justice against the perpetrators of acts of graft and corruption is the same Tom Homan caught on tape taking $50K in a paper bag for a promise of favors when he became border czar. ~~~

     ~~~ As to that part where Trump writes, "The governor, very respectfully, understood that," this is similar to remarks Trump has made before. These references to respect are peculiar; you don't often hear politicians discussion their negotiations in terms of respect. I don't think I've ever heard a legislator say something like, "Well, he treated me very respectfully, so I agreed to support his amendment." Those you do hear incorporating "respect" into their dealings -- at least in the movies -- are mafiosi: ~~~

~~~ Marcie Jones of Wonkette also thought maybe she sees a light at the end of the tunnel: "So then what do you know, after many grown rich white men pleaded with him, surely with tears in their eyes, on Monday afternoon Trump finally struck a more conciliatory tone, as if his TACO, his backdown, his get-down, the get-out, may finally be on its way, alabado sea Dios.... So let this be the beginning of the end, although we won’t believe it until we see it." Jones provides a good deal of background suggesting what-all may have led Col. Chickenshit to the down escalator. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Subsequent events make it appear Jones and I were right. This won't be the end of the story, though. Other fascist leaders have had setbacks, I'm sure, but the setbacks weren't fatal to their projects. Megalomania is an incurable disease.  

Here's an AP review by Meg Kinnard & Hannah Fingerhut of what Trump administration officials have said about Alex Pretti and the incident in which Customs & Border Patrol agents shot him at least ten times while some agents held him down on the pavement. 

~~~ Marcie Jones of Wonkette, in another excellent column: "Instead of repeating any of the disgusting lies and depraved spin that the regime and Fox News are spinning about the execution of Alex Pretti and the other two shootings in Minnesota over the past three weeks, let’s check in with Minnesota Governor Tim Walz and his barnburner press conferences on Saturday and Sunday. He is saying what we all need to hear right now: they’re not going to get away with this, the murder, the coverup, the takeover, or Pam Bondi’s attempt to extort the state into letting her access to its voter rolls. Not if Minnesota can help it!" Do read on. (Also linked yesterday.)

Devlin Barrett, et al., of the New York Times: “The Trump administration appeared to acknowledge on Monday that its investigation into the killing of a Veterans Affairs nurse, Alex Pretti, by federal agents this weekend was limited to a 'use of force' review meant to establish whether government employees had violated training standards.... That is distinct from a criminal investigation.... Such a move, disclosed in court filings, would represent a much narrower inquiry focused on tactics and conduct than one that would examine whether federal agents should face criminal charges.... Minnesota state officials have sought a court order to preserve evidence for their own investigation of the killing of Mr. Pretti.... The Trump administration is fighting such an order, claiming that it is already preserving the relevant evidence.... There is no indication yet that the F.B.I. is [conducting any investigation].... Court filings suggest that, so far, the F.B.I.’s involvement is limited to assisting the Department of Homeland Security in its use-of-force review.” (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Maria Sacchetti & Jeremy Roebuck of the Washington Post: “A Trump administration lawyer assured a federal judge Monday that investigators have preserved body-camera footage and other evidence from the fatal shooting of Minnesota resident Alex Pretti, but he stopped short of promising to share that evidence with state investigators. State officials have asked U.S. District Judge Eric C. Tostrud to extend an emergency order he issued Saturday prohibiting the government from destroying or altering evidence after the Border Patrol shot Pretti. Justice Department lawyer Friedrich A.P. Siekert said the Trump administration opposes extending the order.... Siekert said, however, that he did not know if the federal government would preserve evidence once the federal investigation ended so that officials could share it with Minnesota investigators.... 'Seems like that’s the most important question,' Tostrud said. Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison (D) and other officials have alleged 'serious irregularities' with the evidence-gathering process in Pretti’s death.”

Reis Thebault & Maia Coleman of the New York Times: “In the chaotic moments leading up to the killing of Alex Pretti in Minneapolis on Saturday, federal immigration agents had already acted in ways that raised serious questions among law enforcement experts, former police officers and legal analysts. Videos show the agents shoving bystanders and showering them with pepper spray at close range. Experts said their directives appeared to be muddled and they passed up opportunities to de-escalate the situation — missteps and breaks with protocol that culminated in a barrage of gunfire.... The use of deadly force is justified only when there is an immediate, lethal threat to the safety of officers or others, said six policing experts interviewed by The New York Times. Analysts similarly scrutinized the actions of Jonathan Ross, the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent who killed Renee Good on Jan. 7. They questioned Mr. Ross’s decision to stand in front of Ms. Good’s car, and they said his profane remarks about Ms. Good, captured on video after the shooting, could be used in a legal case against him, though such a prosecution would face several hurdles.” ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: What we're seeing is that Alex Pretti did everything rights and federal agents did everything wrong. Yet Pretti paid the ultimate price for their vicious incompetence. 

Nick Miroff of the Atlantic: “Gregory Bovino has been removed from his role as Border Patrol 'commander at large' and will return to his former job in El Centro, California, where he is expected to retire soon, according to a DHS official and two people with knowledge.... Bovino’s sudden demotion is the clearest sign yet that the Trump administration is reconsidering its most aggressive tactics after the killing Saturday of 37-year-old Alex Pretti by Border Patrol agents under Bovino’s command.” Thanks to RAS for the lead. The link is a gift link.

The New York Times live updates for Monday re: the Trumpian murder and mayhem in Minnesota are here. This from the pinned item at 2:30 pm ET: Donald “Trump appeared to be trying to quell the outcry over his immigration crackdown in Minneapolis on Monday, deploying his border czar to oversee operations there and taking a cooperative tone with the governor he has blamed for the killings of two U.S. citizens by federal agents.... His tone was a marked change from his previous attacks on the governor, whom he has repeatedly blamed for inflaming protests.... Mr. Trump has faced intensifying criticism since the killing of Mr. Pretti.... Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, sought to distance the president from the attacks on Mr. Pretti — even though Mr. Trump referred to him as a 'gunman' on social media only hours after he was killed — but continued to cast blame on Democrats, including Mr. Walz.” ~~~

~~~ Update: From the pinned item at 6:00 pm ET: “The Trump administration is expected to reassign Gregory Bovino, the official in charge of ... [Donald] Trump’s Border Patrol operations and the face of on-the-ground immigration enforcement in Minneapolis, according to two U.S. officials. The decision to move him out of the city came two days after he made the unsubstantiated claim that a man who was shot and killed there by federal agents was planning to 'massacre' law enforcement officers. Some of the federal agents in the city are also expected to begin leaving on Tuesday, Mayor Jacob Frey of Minneapolis said after a phone call on Monday with [Mr.] Trump, without providing details.” (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Requiem for a Little Fascist (and an acknowledgment that a lot of 1950s pop music was truly awful): ~~~

"Murderers on the Loose." -- RAS 

NBC News on Bluesky: "The federal immigration agents who were at the scene of Alex Pretti’s shooting in Minneapolis are still working, and not on administrative leave, Border Patrol commander Gregory Bovino tells reporters." 

Radley Balko on Bluesky: "Still can't believe they immediately put the officers who killed Pretti back in the field. Even if the shooting had been justified (it wasn't), it's just incredibly callous and reckless -- to the public, but also to the officers themselves. Just a sociopathic dearth of humanity." Both Bluesky posts via Scott Lemieux in LG&$. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Were I the Minneapolis police chief, I would demand to know the identities of Alex Pretti's killers. These lunatics are out on the streets, armed and extremely dangerous. I would arrest them, charge them, and lock them up. If the feds did not immediately provide the names of the killers, I would arrest Greg Bovino and lock him up till he released their names. The charge against Bovino: obstruction of justice. Reason for incarceration: flight risk. I think there's a good chance Bovino is being moved out of Minneapolis not to turn down the heat in the Twin Cities but to keep him from talking.

Nick Corasaniti of the New York Times: “After federal immigration agents shot and killed an American citizen in Minneapolis for the second time this month, Attorney General Pam Bondi sent a letter to Gov. Tim Walz ... that outlined what she described as three 'simple steps' to 'bring back law and order.' Her final step, however, seemed to have little to do with immigration or the state’s fraud scandal, the stated reasons for the federal government’s presence in Minnesota. 'Third, allow the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice to access voter rolls to confirm that Minnesota’s voter registration practices comply with federal law,' she wrote. Minnesota’s secretary of state, Steve Simon, a Democrat, swiftly rejected the demand, calling it an 'outrageous attempt to coerce Minnesota into giving the federal government private data on millions of U.S. citizens in violation of state and federal law.' 

“Ms. Bondi’s request was part of a nearly yearlong fight in which the Trump administration has sought voters’ private data from states across the country. Numerous states, including Minnesota, have not complied, and the Justice Department has sued them.... For many election officials and voting rights experts, the main concern is that the Justice Department’s effort is led by Trump allies who long falsely denied that former President Joseph R. Biden Jr. won the 2020 election.” (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Marie: One of those election deniers is Pam Blondie herself. ~~~

     ~~~ Patrick Marley & Karen Tumulty of the Washington Post: “Bondi’s approach has led Democrats in Minnesota and other states to accuse the administration of blackmailing and bullying them into ceding more power to the administration. It comes as she tries to extract similar data from dozens of other states.... The federal government has sweeping authority to enforce immigration laws.... The administration has far less power when it comes to elections because the Constitution gives states the primary responsibility for voting policies. Bondi’s letter to Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D) appeared to try to leverage immigration enforcement to get the state’s voter list.... In court..., U.S. District Judge Katherine Menendez asked a Justice Department attorney whether Bondi ... was trying to 'achieve a goal through force, which it can’t achieve through the courts.' Justice Department attorney Brantley Mayers waved off the possibility.... Georgetown University law professor Stephen I. Vladeck said Minnesota officials ... were testing a legal theory about the limits of the federal government’s power that is 'designed for novel times.... Our existing legal doctrines were not designed for rampant lawlessness on the part of the executive.'...” 

I cannot support the national Republicans’ stated retribution on the citizens of our state. Nor can I count myself a member of a party that would do so. -- Chris Madel, on why he is dropping out of the Minnesota gubernatorial race ~~~ 

~~~ Scott Bauer of the AP: “A lawyer for the immigration officer who shot and killed Renee Good dropped out of the Minnesota governor race Monday, breaking with many fellow Republicans and calling ... Donald Trump’s immigration operation in the state an 'unmitigated disaster.' Chris Madel’s surprise move comes amid growing calls from Republicans to investigate federal immigration tactics in Minnesota after a U.S. Border Patrol agent fatally shot Alex Pretti in Minneapolis on Saturday. Madel went a step further than most Republicans in his video, saying that while he supports the goal of deporting 'the worst of the worst' from Minnesota, he thinks the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement operation in the Twin Cities has gone too far.” (Also linked yesterday.) The New York Times story is here.

Miriam Jordan & Hamed Aleaziz of the New York Times: “Dozens of refugees with [no criminal records and] valid [legal] status have been sent from Minnesota to Texas to be revetted, prompting a lawsuit. Those released have had to pay their way back.” (Also linked yesterday.) 

Feds Cry Uncle! Alan Feuer of the New York Times: “Federal prosecutors dropped assault charges on Monday against a man accused of ramming his vehicle into federal agents during an immigration operation outside a Mexican restaurant in Minnesota this month. The dismissal of the charges against the man, Jose Espinoza-Espinoza, came at a five-minute hearing in Federal District Court in Minnesota where prosecutors did not present any witnesses to establish probable cause that an assault had been committed. The dismissal appeared to be the first time that the Justice Department has backed away from pursuing an assault case against a federal agent in Minnesota since the Trump administration ramped up an immigration crackdown in the state.” (Also linked yesterday.)

Sarah Fortinsky of the Hill: “Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem agreed to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee in early March, a spokesperson for the committee’s chair, Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), confirmed to The Hill on Monday. Noem is expected to testify on March 3, according to Grassley’s office, for one round of questioning, and senators will each be allotted 10 minutes for questions.” MB: The uselessness of this upcoming hearing will be matched only by the uselessness of almost every hearing featuring Trump administration officials. They are all a bunch of evasive, obfuscating, lying Trumpbots.

Marianna Sotomayor of the Washington Post: “House Democrats are set to open an investigation into Homeland Security Secretary Kristi L. Noem as early as next week, laying the groundwork for a push to impeach her. Unlike a typical congressional impeachment inquiry, Democrats plan to conduct their investigation without Republicans, citing the majority’s reticence to conduct robust oversight of the Trump administration and the unlikelihood of GOP support for impeaching a Cabinet official. Democrats acknowledge they are unlikely to remove Noem in the short term, but they believe launching an official investigation will signal they are taking seriously concerns about what has transpired during a deadly immigration crackdown in Minnesota in recent weeks.” (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: The investigation could be useful. The next Congress, if Democrats control it, could adopt the findings of the investigation and move forward from there. An investigation largely done this year would shave months off the beginning of impeachment proceedings next year.  

If you are wondering how Trump got so "reasonable," how he moved from cover-up to cover-your-ass, this next linked story should clue you in: ~~~ 

~~~ Everybody Is Outraged. Drew Harwell & Scott Nover of the Washington Post: “The intensity of outrage over [Alex] Pretti’s death has broken through the internet’s tribal barriers, transforming traditionally apolitical online spaces into sounding boards for fierce criticism of the administration’s immigration crackdown. On Instagram, Reddit, TikTok and YouTube, influencers who have built vast and politically neutral audiences with content about cooking, sports and fashion have suddenly opted to speak out in fury about the clashes in Minnesota, bringing many of their fans along for the ride.... [For instance,] on YouTube, Charlie White, a video game influencer, posted an 18-minute video about the killing, titled, 'This Should Make You Very Angry,' that has been viewed more than 3.7 million times in a day. And on TikTok, the fitness influencer Scotty Flynn posted an expletive-filled commentary that has been viewed more than 14 million times. 'F--- getting political, that was murder,' Flynn said. 'I'm done playing the middle ground. … We are not mad enough.'”

Andrew Howard of Politico: “Multiple national gun-rights organizations, as well as a prominent Minnesota gun rights group, have expressed horror at top Trump administration officials’ criticism of Pretti for being armed with a handgun that he had a legal permit to carry.” MB: Some of these organizations don't seem as sure as Trump administration officials are that only the MAGA faithful have Second Amendment rights. A related Independent story is here.

Jon Seidel of the Chicago Sun-Times: “The woman who survived five gunshots from a Border Patrol agent in Chicago last fall, only to be criminally charged and then cleared, now wants a judge’s permission to share evidence that shows how the feds respond when 'their agents use deadly force against U.S. citizens.' Marimar Martinez’s lawyer argued Monday that top Trump administration officials continue to smear her name, and that the White House’s false narrative about her arrest has even seeped into writings by U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito.... Martinez’s hands are tied by what’s known as a 'protective order'  issued in October by U.S. Magistrate Judge Heather McShain. It’s routine and meant to govern the handling of evidence in a criminal case. [Martinez's lawyer Chris] Parente did not object to it at the time. But now, he said it’s  'become an albatross' around Martinez’s neck and 'keeps the entire country in the dark about how [Homeland Security] responds to lethal force incidents by their agents, which have now unfortunately become a weekly occurrence.'”

Monday's New York Times liveblog on the massive winter storm is here. From the pinned item: “After a powerful winter storm dumped heavy snow, sleet and ice across wide swaths of the U.S., millions of people on Monday were facing new dangers: Perilously cold temperatures and widespread power outages that forecasters and local governments warned could last for days.... At least 21 deaths were reported across the country, including several from hypothermia and medical emergencies associated with clearing snow. At least nine other deaths were being investigated to determine whether they were linked to the storm. The worst of the weather may not be over. More than 70 million people remained under an extreme cold warning on Monday, with below zero temperatures expected to sweep from the Northern Plains to the Northeast and freezing temperatures expected to reach as far south as the Gulf Coast throughout the week.” (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

My Bug in Winter -- January 27.

Patricia Cohen of the New York Times: “For decades crushing debt has spread misery in the world’s poor and lower-income nations. But the menace of unsupportable borrowing that now hangs over the global economy emanates from some of the richest countries. Record or near-record debt in the United States, Britain, France, Italy and Japan threaten to hamstring growth and sow financial instability around the globe. At home, it means countries must make interest payments with money that otherwise could have paid for health care, roads, public housing, technological advances or education. The hunger for more and more loans has also pushed up borrowing costs, gobbling up a bigger share of taxpayer money. It can also push up rates on business, consumer and car loans, as well as mortgages and credit cards; and drive up inflation. And perhaps most worrisome, overhanging debt — pumped up even when an economy is relatively sound and jobless rates are low, like the United States — gives governments less room to respond when things sour.”

Trump, Making Other Countries Great Again. Again. Alex Travelli & Eshe Nelson of the New York Times: “The leaders of the European Union and India announced a trade agreement on Tuesday after nearly two decades of negotiations, striking a deal that has become more urgent for both sides as ... [Donald] Trump continues to upend the global order and test longstanding alliances. While the final free-trade agreement must still clear legal scrutiny in Brussels and New Delhi, the deal brings together the world’s largest economic bloc and India, the fastest-growing major economy, at a time when the United States is seen as a less-reliable economic partner and China is flooding the world with inexpensive goods.” ~~~

~~~ And Yet. And Yet. Trump Can't Control Himself. Choe Sang-Hun of the New York Times: “South Koreans got a fresh reminder of ... [Donald] Trump’s unpredictability when they woke up on Tuesday morning to see that he was increasing tariffs on South Korean exports, like cars, back to 25 percent. Only recently it seemed that South Korea had resolved its worst trade dispute with the United States, its only treaty ally. After months of talks, Mr. Trump in October agreed to lower tariffs on South Korean products to 15 percent after winning a pledge that Seoul would invest $350 billion in the United States. At the time, the South Korean leader, Lee Jae Myung, flattered Mr. Trump with gifts like a replica of an ancient golden crown. Mr. Trump extended the bonhomie with a surprising policy reversal, allowing South Korea to pursue a long-held goal of building nuclear-powered submarines.Now the uncertainty that dogged relations between the two allies for months is back. Mr. Trump did not say when the new duties would go into effect, but he remarked that South Korea’s National Assembly was taking too long to implement the investment deal​....”

Jonah Bromwich & Tracey Tully of the New York Times: “A New Jersey appeals court on Monday said it would not reconsider its decision that found Alina Habba was serving unlawfully as the U.S. attorney in New Jersey, dealing a blow to the Trump administration’s efforts to keep its preferred federal prosecutors in power. Ms. Habba, a former personal lawyer to ... [Donald] Trump, left the office in December, a week after the decision came down. She is now a senior adviser to Attorney General Pam Bondi and oversees U.S. attorneys across the country. But the Justice Department had asked for a full panel of judges on the Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit to review that court’s December decision....”

Jake Spring of the Washington Post: “Trump officials have ordered national parks to remove dozens of signs and displays related to climate change, environmental protection and settlers’ mistreatment of Native Americans in a renewed push to implement ... Donald Trump’s executive order on 'restoring truth and sanity to American history.' Park staff have interpreted Trump’s directive — which seeks to scrub federal institutions of what it calls 'partisan ideology' and remove any content deemed to 'disparage Americans past or living' — to include any references to historic racism and sexism, as well as climate change and LGBTQ rights.”

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