As I compose this in late January, 2026, more than 3000 armed and masked thugs from the United States Department of Homeland Security are trying to turn Minnesota into a dystopian nightmare.

They will fail. Here is a grass-roots story illustrating why.

I was talking to a friend the other day and he mentioned his wife is from Ecuador. I asked what he and his wife think about the 3000 U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents invading the Twin Cities. He gave me an earful. I told my friend I wanted to capture his story. He agreed. Bob and Alice are not their real names.

Alice and Bob

Alice is a director in a Spanish immersion day-care center. A few weeks ago, one of the teachers was coming home at night from her second job. Her husband spoke with her while she was on the bus and knew to expect her home soon. When she didn’t show up, he feared for the worst and went to the bus stop to check on her. That was when ICE also grabbed him. The teacher and her husband were in the United States legally. But ICE hauled them to a detention center in Texas and deported them anyway.

Alice is now coordinating with the parents and remaining teachers, and with the family of the teacher who was taken, to provide transportation, guard the school to warn teachers and students of future ICE raids, help with grocery deliveries, and provide moral support. Alice is also now afraid to leave her home, because ICE could target her as easily as her teachers. The school is at risk of closing because ICE makes the teachers afraid to teach and students afraid to learn.

The school community stays interconnected over the internet. Next time ICE or CBP thugs show up, the community will hear about it and witnesses will record and upload the videos.

Some of Alice’s coworkers have long term work permits. Others are legal permanent residents. At least one is married to an American citizen. But ICE is grabbing any immigrants it can find and immediately whisking them away to Texas. The ones with enough money to fight in court might win their cases and return. Nobody knows what happens to the others.

Alice’s school’s daycare families include doctors and attorneys, with at least one immigration attorney, all upset that our government is attacking their kids’ teachers. They took legal action to defend this teacher, but were not successful. They’re evaluating ways to defend the remaining teachers.

Bob said, “My own family and friends are Trump supporters and they say ICE is doing a great job. They don’t believe me when I tell them what’s really going on here.”

How do they get along with Alice? “They get along just fine. They love her.” How do you reconcile that? “We don’t. I just don’t talk about it because it only starts arguments.”

“Remember those cases where an illegal immigrant murdered an American? We want murderers and drug dealers out of the country as much as anyone. But ICE is grabbing people who are here legally and did not commit any crime and deporting them. There’s no reason for that, except maybe to fill a quota.”

“I do what I can. I try to bring groceries and shovel driveways and sidewalks. So do other families. We all try to look out for each other. We rotate keeping an eye on the school to warn everyone if ICE shows up. Which pisses me off because we shouldn’t have to guard our schools from our own government.”

Paid agitators, huh? We both chuckled. Except it’s not funny.

“But we need a break. We’re leaving town for a few days. We’ll do some fishing and spend time with my family, away from ICE and everything going on here.”

Similar stories play out across the Twin Cities every day. Neighbors helping neighbors, guarding homes and schools, making video records of ICE and CBP atrocities, staying in touch over encrypted chat messages. These are ordinary people who stepped up when called to protect their homes, families, and schools. Most never make the news, but just like the in 1770s, together they all make a difference. Sooner or later, ICE and CBP will leave town. Maybe with their tails between their legs. Because Twin Cities residents are not backing down, especially after thugs murdered two of our own. Our families and friends are too important.

Thugs Murder Alex Pretti

Bob and I had our talk on Friday, January 23. Saturday morning, January 24, less than three weeks after ICE thugs gunned down Renee Good on a Minneapolis street in broad daylight in front of witnesses, a different band of thugs employed as United States federal agents murdered Alex Pretti on another Minneapolis street in broad daylight in front of witnesses.

Here is the sequence of events, documented in several videos and eye-witness affidavits.

• In a chaotic scene on Nicollet Avenue just South of 26^th Street in front of Glam Doll Donuts, car horns honked while Alex Pretti and others recorded cell phone video of federal agent thugs disrupting life again.
• Alex moved from the West side of Nicollet Avenue to the middle of the street to wave a vehicle moving southbound through the scene.
• CBP agents moved from the East side of the street and shoved two women back to the sidewalk on the West side. One woman fell into the curb.
• Alex moved to help the woman to her feet.
• Several CBP agents attacked Alex. One pulled Alex’s holstered handgun from its holster in the back of his pants.
• Two CBP agents emptied ten bullets into Alex, killing him.
• Several agents turned his dead body over and counted bullet holes.

Some of my friends tell me I should not use the word, murder, until a jury decides. They’re right. It’s not murder until a jury says so. But they’re also wrong, because these so-called federal law enforcement agents defied a court order and physically blocked Minnesota law enforcement from the crime scene. The men who killed Alex Pretti scooped up evidence and left the scene. Their boss, Greg Bovino, Bovino’s boss, Kristi Noem, and her boss, the President of the United States, Donald Trump, called Pretti an armed terrorist and claimed he tried to massacre law enforcement agents. Trump’s loyal MAGA supporters joined that chorus. But widely shared videos from multiple angles show the Trump narrative is a lie. Pretti legally carried a weapon in a holster. He never drew it. One agent grabbed Pretti’s weapon from its holster. Two others fired ten bullets into his body.

Trump’s FBI Director, Kash Patel told us, “You cannot bring a firearm loaded with multiple magazines to any sort of protest that you want. It’s that simple. You don’t have the right to break the law and incite violence.” Maybe Kash forgot about the Kyle Rittenhouse case a few years ago. Or the dozens of times his commander-in-chief told Americans he supported the second amendment to our constitution. MAGA rantings about firearms prompted the National Rifle Association (NRA) to post on X (formerly Twitter) “The NRA unequivocally believes that all law-abiding citizens have a right to keep and bear arms anywhere they have a legal right to be.”

The world learned later that Pretti was an ICU nurse at the Minneapolis Veterans Administration hospital. Pretti took care of American veterans for a living. American thugs killed him in cold blood, in broad daylight, in the middle of a busy street in Minneapolis.

As I compose this almost a week later, the shooters are still on active duty and the public does not know who they are. History will judge this a murder, followed by clumsy coverup. That should scare all Americans.

Lies, Bullies and Thugs

250 years ago, when the first Americans stood up to tyranny, agents of tyranny called them rabble and sent the world’s most powerful military to force them into submission. The agents of tyranny failed. Americans earned respect around the world. The world changed.

In early 2026, Trump and his MAGA crowd call Minneapolis residents far-left agitators, socialists, and communists, and paid agitators who interfere with law enforcement. And then, under the guise of protecting us, today’s agents of tyranny sent the United States Department of Homeland Security to subdue us.

When Trumpworld claims that Minnesota wants to keep murderers, drug dealers, and child molesters on the streets, they lie. When Trumpworld shouts that the people Trump’s henchmen murdered were terrorists, they lie again. When Trumpworld launches criminal investigations against a governor and a state who stand up to him, they become bullies. When Trumpworld demands that Minnesota hand over personal information about millions of voters as the price to withdraw thugs from our streets, they practice extortion.

Now, it’s our turn to stand up to tyranny. The people of Minneapolis and greater Minnesota are leading this fight. Not by choice, but by necessity. But this time, we will fight back with our voices, in court, and with our votes.

Some have argued that this is not our country anymore, because Trump and his cronies are trying to make it unrecognizable. I disagree. This **is** our country, and the people in Minneapolis are teaching us how to protect it from thugs invading our streets.

As angry as we are – and we are angry – we will not match hate for hate. But we will not accept lies, we will not cave in to extortion, and we will not back down to bullies. We will defend our families, our homes, and our neighbors. We are proud Americans. We will win.

*You* help protect us by speaking up. *Our* collective voices matter.

Enabling Thugs By Defying the Court 100 Times in 28 days

Thugs roaming our streets are only part of the problem. People who wear nice suits enable them.

On January 8, 2026, the top federal judge in Minneapolis, Chief Judge Patrick Schiltz, ordered ICE to release an Ecuadorian man named Juan Tobay Robles. ICE defied the court, and so Judge Schlitz ordered acting ICE Director, Todd Lyons, to appear in his court on January 28. ICE then reported it had released Robles, making Lyons’ court appearance moot. But then Judge Schlitz issued this order.

That does not end the Court’s concerns, however. Attached to this order is an appendix that identifies 96 court orders that ICE has violated in 74 cases. The extent of ICE’s noncompliance is almost certainly substantially understated. This list is confined to orders issued since January 1, 2026, and the list was hurriedly compiled by extraordinarily busy judges. Undoubtedly, mistakes were made, and orders that should have appeared on this list were omitted.

This list should give pause to anyone—no matter his or her political beliefs—who cares about the rule of law. ICE has likely violated more court orders in January 2026 than some federal agencies have violated in their entire existence. The Court warns ICE that future noncompliance with court orders may result in future show‐cause orders requiring the personal appearances of Lyons or other government officials. ICE is not a law unto itself. ICE has every right to challenge the orders of thisCourt, but, like any litigant, ICE must follow those orders unless and until they are overturned or vacated.

This is how Trumpworld demonstrates its respect for law and order. By defying court orders it does not like.

Facts and links about recent events in Minnesota.

Millions of Minnesotans have no ability to call press conferences and tell our story. So here is first-hand information about what’s going on in Minnesota. If you find this information useful, please consider sharing it widely.

First, an eye-witness sworn statement filed in US District Court, Minnesota District, case number 25-cv-04669, about what happened Saturday morning, January 24, 2026, in front of Glam Doll Donuts shop located at 2605 Nicollet Avenue, Minneapolis, MN 55408.

A few days after filing this affidavit, Stella Carlson identified herself and offered a powerful interview with Anderson Cooper of CNN about what she saw and experienced that morning. She is the lady in the pink coat who captured the video with the best angle of armed and masked thugs killing Alex Pretti on Nicollet Avenue that morning. She showed way more guts and poise, both on the street and in the interview, than I would have. Follow the link to her interview. It’s worth ten minutes of your time.

Shortly after I first posted this, Kayla Schultz also gave a powerful CNN interview with Anderson Cooper. Kayla recorded the shooting from a different angle through her car windshield.

If more people with relevant information come forward, I will add them here. Keep checking back.

Real superheroes are ordinary people who step up when called. I came up with that slogan after I published my second novel, “Virus Bomb.” In the real world, Stella Carlson, Kayla Schultz, and others live it.

Stella is a face painter. Kayla put her career at risk by coming forward.

Stella and Kayla, if you happen to see this, I want to say thanks. I would love an opportunity to shake hands with you and say thanks in person.

Next is a sworn affidavit from a doctor who lives in an apartment near the scene and tried to render first aid to Alex Pretti. Pretti’s killers at first refused to let him render assistance.

These are sworn affidavits, People who lie in sworn affidavits go to jail. Which means the people who gave them have a powerful incentive to tell the truth.

These statements, along with widely shared video evidence, present a compelling case that Kristi Noem, Greg Bovino, and President Trump lied and continue to lie about this incident. Contrary to Trump administration public statements and social media posts, the evidence shows that ICE agents murdered Alex Pretti that morning.

Which leads to this Minnesota Department of Corrections information hub website. Trumpworld spews lies faster than anyone can counter them. This Minnesota website curates verifiable facts, with references. Anytime Trumpword spews a lie about Minnesota, check this website for facts.

Turning the Tide

Former commerce secretary, Robert Reich, regularly posts on Substack and sends daily emails to subscribers. This is from his January 27, 2026 email.

This morning, I was at a restaurant counter finishing my breakfast when a middle-aged man sat down next to me, turned to me, and said, “I don’t want to intrude.”

He just had just done so, so I put down my knife and fork, wiped my mouth with my napkin, turned toward him, and asked, “May I help you?”

“I’ve been a life-long Republican,” he said, “but the events of the past weeks have caused me to leave the Republican Party.”

“I’m happy to hear that,” I said with a smile and turned to finish my breakfast.

“I’m from New Hampshire, and many of my Republican friends are leaving the party, too,” he said. “Minneapolis was the last straw.”

I put down my fork and turned toward him again. “I assume you’re talking about the behavior of ICE and Border Patrol agents there, and the killings?”

“All terrible, of course,” he said, shaking his head. “But what really finis me were the lies — Noem. Miller, Bovino, Vance, Trump.” He frowned. “They all lied through their teeth. I saw the video! They’re a pack of liars.”

One by one, Americans are finally waking up.

As of January, 27, 2026, Greg Bovino is gone from Minnesota. Apparently, he is now locked out of his government social media accounts after a late night conspiracy theory posting spree. Good riddance.

Trump sent his border czar, Tom Homan, to Minneapolis to replace Bovino. Homan said ICE will focus on targeted enforcement from now on, instead of neighborhood sweeps, and will only go after people with real criminal records.

“We can do better,” he said, in a rare acknowledgment from a Trump official that the operation has not been perfect. “We made some significant gains, significant coordination and cooperation, and you’re going to see some massive changes occurring here in this city.”

Instead of masked and armed federal agents routinely throwing tear gas at protesters outside the Whipple federal building near Fort Snelling in Minneapolis, Minnesota National Guard members now guard the outside of the building. They’re unarmed and wear bright yellow vests to distinguish themselves from ICE and CBP agents. They handed out coffee, hot chocolate, and doughnuts to protesters recently. Protesters set up a rotation to bring food to Guard members because the Guard members are away from their own families and homes.

But US Attorney General, Pam Bondi, is still trying to extort voter lists to usurp election power from the states. She will fail. Trump and his cronies, trapped by their own lies, are finger-pointing about the PR disaster they created. But when support for Trump finally dwindles away, his rantings will become irrelevant.

I want to thank Americans and the world for the outpouring of support for us in Minnesota. Keep it up. Minnesotans did not ask for this fight. Your support will help help us finish it. This nightmare will end,

From Psalm 82

1 God presides in the great assembly;
he renders judgment among the “gods”:
2 “How long will you[a] defend the unjust
and show partiality to the wicked?[b]
3 Defend the weak and the fatherless;
uphold the cause of the poor and the oppressed.
4 Rescue the weak and the needy;
deliver them from the hand of the wicked.