Blog Credo

The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary.

H.L. Mencken

Saturday, January 24, 2026

ICE Just Executed A Man On The Streets Of Minneapolis

 You can find the video if you want. It's disturbing. If you can stomach it, watch it. Bear witness. ICE tackled a guy to the ground, beat him ruthlessly and then one guy shot him multiple times as he was lying on the ground. 

If I were Walz, I would be faced with an impossible dilemma. My gut would say that I need to mobilize the National Guard and bring them onto the streets of the Twin Cities and interpose themselves between ICE and the populace. My brain would recognize that as soon as I do that, Trump would invoke the Insurrection Act. 

If this act stands, if ICE is not removed from Minnesota, then we are reasonably looking at the end of America as an idea. The idea that consent of the governed matters, that civil liberties matter, that the Constitution matters is on a knife's edge and this event could tip if off. 

We are approaching a place where "Blue" states need to seriously consider whether remaining in a polity with the states that are OK with "comply or be shot" is tenable. If America "pukes up her ancient soul" then it is no longer America.

UPDATE: Good take from Josh Marshall, as always.

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