The recent events in Minnesota…where lives have been lost, people and property have been severely damaged, and politicians have egotistically preened at the expense of those who elected them…all of these things amount to a great tragedy. This situation should never have occurred…but it did. The question now is…where do we go from here?
Governor
Walz and Mayor Frey should immediately resign from their elected offices…but that will not happen. Through their personal beliefs and political
ambitions, they have betrayed the people they represent and caused great damage
to those they are pledged to serve.
Their stubbornness and conceit is unforgiveable. Whatever rational substance might exist in
their protestations, it has been lost in their stupidity of action…or lack thereof. They don Napoleonic
personas when in reality they are Lilliputian.
Our
American legal system is a complex and byzantine affair. The dynamic between federal law, state law,
and municipal law is sometimes puzzling and difficult to understand. Who
is in charge of enforcing what can
sometimes create a fog in the administration of the law. The solution to clearing these areas of
uncertainties lies first in the justice system and the judges who administer
it. But just as critical…perhaps more so…is the precious
obligation of elected officials to co-operate with each other for the good of
their people. In this instance, our
justice system has proven woefully inadequate due to its lack of character,
clarity, and efficiency; and the elected officials involved in this matter
have shown themselves to be egomaniacal, self-possessed ideologues.
While
it appears to be undeniably true that ICE and DHS have a legal mandate to
conduct their assigned duties within the mission, power, and authority granted
them; their leaders must also have the
wisdom and discretion to co-ordinate with states or cities when conflicts in
the administration of official duties rise up. Having the clear right to do something does
not require that all who oppose that right must be crushed. As difficult as it is to deal with, especially considering the plodding and
inconsistent legal system that must be accounted for, federal authority must
always go to the greatest extent possible to work with state and municipal
entities when federal law trumps state and local law and these conflicts arise.
An argument can be made that the
intransigence of Walz and Frey in this instance made such a federal effort at
cooperation unworkable.
The fact is that you cannot negotiate with an idiot; both Walz and Frey
are certainly guilty of some idiotic behavior.
But an argument can also be made that…President Trump through his
typical hyperbolic rhetoric, DHS
Secretary Noem through her inflammatory and premature public remarks,
and selected high-profile ICE commanders through their occasional
overly-aggressive actions…have also contributed to the worsening of this
situation. We would all like for our elected leaders to be better than they are,
but it is what it is. Elections have
consequences.
While
the blame game plays out and the fallout spreads accordingly, the reality is
that there are facts and there are opinions.
Opinions might analyze the “why
and the how”, but the facts must determine the “what”. The “what” tells us that no matter how tragic
the deaths of Good and Pretti were, the simple fact is that they willingly
placed themselves in bad situations and their poor judgment cost them their
lives. As regrettable as that loss is,
it is only fair to equally assess the damage done to the ICE personnel who are
injured or killed while doing their jobs and earning a living.
It
must be acknowledged that if Walz and Frey would simply cooperate with ICE…as apparently “nearly” all of the other
fifty states and their cities do…then the illegal immigration compliance
mission performed by ICE would not turn into public spectacles or violent conflicts.
The acquisition and custody exchange of
these bona fide illegal individuals
could then take place in an orderly, safe, non-violent, and PROPER fashion. If Walz and Frey had done/would do this…if Good and Pretti had used better personal judgment…then
this situation might not have occurred.
Those are the facts.
The
reality is that if Good’s front tires had not spun, she would have run over the
ICE employee standing in front of her vehicle and either killed or severely injured
him. If Pretti had taken his pistol out
of its holster, he might easily have killed or injured either himself or the
ICE employees he was struggling with. ICE employees are no different than you or
me…or those federal employees who work for the USDA, the SSA, or HUD. They are given a job to do, they earn a
paycheck, and they try to create good lives for themselves and their
families. They should not have to deal with this stupidity.
Governing
is difficult at best. Hard and unpopular
decisions are unavoidable. Pleasing all of the people all of the time is an
impossible task. But when you run for
elected office, you know these things.
It appears that all of the
political forces involved in this conflict are beginning to turn down the
rhetorical heat, initiate some clearly compromising actions, and are turning
ever so slightly towards a reasonable solution to this immediate crisis. We can only hope and pray that all of them, both federal and local, can find within
themselves the wisdom, strength, and courage to bring this unfortunate string
of events to a close. It is quite simply
a damn shame that it happened in the first place. Perhaps lessons will be learned and solutions
thus applied to prevent a repeat.
Here
are several articles that, taken in their
totality, can begin to give us a reasonably fair assessment of what went
down in Minneapolis.
https://amgreatness.com/2026/01/26/a-citizens-guide-to-violence-in-minneapolis/
https://amgreatness.com/2026/01/28/the-tragedy-of-alex-pretti/
https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2026/01/decoding-the-signals.php
https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2026/01/revolutionary-theater-in-minneapolis-2026.php
https://americanmind.org/salvo/the-revolution-is-on-in-minnesota/
https://americanmind.org/salvo/minnesotas-post-assimilation-reality/
Gotta
close out with some music…
These
first two were written about a different social struggle than that addressed
above, but much of the lyric applies. It
all boils down to all of us getting along somehow.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r6jKE6YIxmc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gb8JZ5wQGKI
As
long as people are running the show,
we are gonna have problems. But there is
one answer to What’s Going On and
this Ball of Confusion. Here it is…
