Wednesday, January 28, 2026

It’s Just a Damn Shame…

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 inefficiency; 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://jonathanturley.org/2026/01/25/mobocracy-democratic-politicians-compete-in-race-to-the-bottom-over-ice-shooting/

 

https://amgreatness.com/2026/01/28/the-tragedy-of-alex-pretti/

 

https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/alternative-answers-in-the-political-rorschach-test-of-alex-prettis-death/

 

https://justthenews.com/nation/states/bring-country-halt-sarsour-singham-network-students-vow-nationwide-anti-ice-shutdown

 

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/

 

https://amgreatness.com/2026/01/28/morning-greatness-ice-agents-their-families-face-8000-increase-in-death-threats/

 

https://reason.com/2026/01/28/after-alex-prettis-death-the-administration-signals-a-shift-on-immigration-enforcement/

 

https://nypost.com/2026/01/27/opinion/michael-goodwin-trumps-stance-on-immigration-key-to-de-escalating-minnesota/

 

https://thefederalist.com/2026/01/28/trump-has-failed-his-nullification-crisis-other-states-will-follow-minnesotas-example/

 

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…

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aYTKYpnRnAQ

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It’s Just a Damn Shame…

The recent events in Minnesota…where lives have been lost, people and property have been severely damaged, and politicians have egotisticall...