I want to say something very plainly - given what we've all witnessed with our own eyes somehow believing that the bad guy in all this are Democrats, while understandable, is ridiculous and getting very, very far off mission.
Democrats have not enabled ICE. We are not killing people in the street. Not one voted for the increased budget for DHS. While you can be frustrated by a response that should of course been more vigorous the impulse here this morning to attack Democrats is incredibly misguided in my view.
You misunderstand, I think, the revulsion many feel about the response of our leaders. No one is saying Dems are the bad guys or responsible -- just that twe need differenct leadership for this moment.
I don't misunderstand. I disagree. They are our leaders. They are not going anywhere. We need to encourage them to keep reaching higher and doing more, and when they do the first impulse just cannot be to shit all over them. Everything we do here is to take steps that make it more likely we prevail in this fight. Constant unrelenting attacks on our leaders I do not believe helps with this. Democrats must learn how to resist the urge to turn victories into defeats. We had a big win last night. Let's build on it to get more.
I am consistently calling my reps because they are my reps. However, today I joined my county Democratic Committee so that I may have more say in who gets to run in the next election. At the least, this may give me a little more leverage to motivate my reps to take the bold actions needed.
What else are people doing to increase their leverage?
To be very, very clear - if we spend our time fighting with one another and not fighting MAGA we are doing MAGA's work for them. As I've been writing there are two big lessons from history in fighting authoriarianism:
- appeasement never works, only strength
- we hang together or we hang separately. If we split they stay in power for decades
I am not asking you to love our leaders but I am asking that we keep our focus on defeating Trump-Vance-Miller-Bovino-Witkoff-Kushner and not beating each other up. I know this is hard, and it is not how we often feel. But it is critical if we want to win.
Exactly. Some pretty amazing things are happening in Minnesota and Maine. Regular people are coming together to help those at risk. We need more of this. The people are supposed to be the backbone of democracy. We need to learn to be leaders in our own right. We need to build our courage and our power with one another. Quite a few people who have worked for ICE for years are leaving as they see how the Trump administration is corrupting the agency. We need folks like that on our side. This is bigger than party politics.
Gerri, Those who completely miss the central issue - the murder of a citizen by government paramilitary forces and choose, instead, to criticize the Democrats are silly, but dangerous fools. Criticizing the Democrats will only encourage more people to not to bother voting. 'Hey, why vote? The Democrats do nothing anyway!' That didn't work out well in the 2024 election. Your comments are not helpful. In fact, they are harmful.
I want to be clear about something. I have taken two posts down today not because of their argument or expressed disappointment in our leaders but because they insulted and denigrated them. This is a line we do not cross here. We treat everyone on our side, with respect, at all times. We can argue, disagree but we do not fight, denigrate, and attack.
I ask everyone here to do their best to rise to the moment and not descend. We live in fraught and challenging times. Come here to make them better and please do everything you can to refrain from spreading negative sentiment and frustration. It's not productive, and not what we do here.
Agreed, Simon re: not spreading negative sentiment. I appreciate how hard you try in that regard and inspire others to do so.
Still, there are many people hurting right now who don't always have a place to share their hurt and sense of despair. I don't think that's what you mean by frustration, but if it is, so be it. As you call this a family -- and I believe it is -- we sometimes need that family in these times when our biological family fails to rise to the occasion.
I'm ready to make calls to Congress first thing tomorrow morning, as I'm sure many others are.
I have posted frustration and despair here, and it has always been treated gently. If I say that I am so upset that I am shaking, or that I am deeply angry with a Democratic leader over something, I have absolute confidence the kind people here will be sympathetic and supportive. They have many times.
But it is Simon’s Substack and he has made it clear that he doesn’t want Hopium to host unhelpful attacks on Democratic leaders. (I say unhelpful because there are obviously people like Eric Adams.) All families have rules.
There are many other places online for vitriolic attacks.
I agree with you, Jenny. In the past, I have called out some folks who have unkind or combative, especially toward Simon during our Wednesday night meetings.
I have also been met with compassion here in the chat and I hope that continues.
I want to make clear that I think this is important for 4 reasons: 1) to be in a growing coalition we must learn to work with people we don't agree with, who disappoint us etc. Casting people out, believing that there good ones and bad ones, instead of all of us just working hard to making things better, makes it far harder for us to win 2) civility, respect, dignity has to be a critical part of who we are. 3) this is a discipline issue. Feel however you want. Be angry, frustrated, excited, whatever. But when you engage with others here, and other places, bring your best self. Lift up not tear down. Lead, don't yield to corrosive debilitating anger and rage. For anger and rage is who they are. We need to counter their dark view of the world with ours, that is full of light, and promise, and love, and a belief in the future. For here we believe in Hopium - hope with a plan. We don't just hope tomorrow will be better than today. We do the work to make it so. 4) The thing they want more than anything else, the thing that Trump/Putin/Miller want is us fighting with each other and not with them.
The boundaries actually make me work harder and encourage me to innovate my own actions, in ways that feel right, genuine for me.
It gets me acting vs kvetching.
I have some people around me who do nothing but kvetch; including someone who believes reading a particular publication is their act of political defiance. Does nothing. Gives nothing. Wonders why I shy away from speaking to them (because it's exhausting -- I mean, I only have so much energy and money to give - why don't YOU pony up something, I want to say?).
I think we all sometimes come here for some therapeutic venting and extend grace for those interactions. But then we hopefully balance it out with something constructive, which we very frequently get from one another.
Thanks Jenny! Me too. There are ways to share feelings that are NOT attacking/blaming/shaming. It's about taking responsibility for my own experience and if it's hard, ask for support and help. Simon is asking that we STOP the blame game and finger pointing, not stop feeling our feelings. Feelings mobilize us! They are what make us human. Opinions are just that: opinions. In order to be part of NonViolent resistance, I have had to learn the difference. Very profound.
Love how you word this. Yes I am not asking any one to not believe, feel, have strong opinions but to take responsibility for the sentiment we put out into the world, and understand that creating negative sentiment is one of MAGA's central strategies. Rejecting the pessimism, the darkness, is part of how we stay together during challenging times and how we win.
they should reach out to their clergy or local mental health hotline or friends and family. me, i'm tracking the big storm to take my mind off things, along with the other snow weenies; getting ready to clean a foot or so of the white stuff. i have shared the video simon posted. i worked with a veteran's service organization post retirement, walk with a retired VA physician several days a week, and i can tell you the people who take care of our veterans do it out of a sense of duty; they can all make more money doing something else. i never felt prouder than when a veteran called me 'brother ' even though i never served, because i was providing therapy to them. this murder will reverberate in the veterans' community; they do not take kindly to the killing of people who have helped them.
While it is encouraging to see that statement from Senator Cassidy, I respectfully disagree. Minnesota and the American people need an independent state investigation into the ICE killing of Alex Pretti – NOT a joint state-federal investigation. None of the agencies answerable to the Trump Regime can be trusted with an fair investigation.
The fact that ICE has been actively obstructing crime scene access and investigation by Minnesota law enforcement authorities speaks volumes. As does the fact that Trump’s Vice President and Cabinet members are spreading lies and engaging in downright libel of Mr Pretti. It’s a disgrace! It is an outrage that cannot stand!
Fortunately, it is increasingly clear that the American people will not tolerate it.
(I still find it impossible to forgive Bill Cassidy for voting to certify RFK Jr as Secretary of Health and Human Services. As a trained physician, Senator Cassidy knew better!)
"When they're killing 2 constituents in my state, and they're taking 2 year olds out of the arms of their mom, and they're taking an elder Hmong man out of his house & putting him out there in his underwear & then figuring out the have the wrong man -- no, I'm not voting for this funding."
– Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) on "Meet the Press"
"People have had enough. This is the third shooting in less than three weeks. The MPD went the entire year last year recovering about 900 guns from the street, arresting hundreds of violent offenders street, and we didn't shoot anyone."
Bill Cassidy should announce that he’s not running for reelection, since he’s already been stabbed in the back by Trump in the primaries, and make it his mission to spend the next year trying to un-fuck all the things he helped to fuck up… Starting with RFK Jr. People like him are the ones that I hold in the absolute highest degree of contempt for where we are… He clearly knew better. But I guess I’ll take whatever we can get from him.
Thank you as always Simon for writing so diligently and poignantly about the horror that has descended upon our beloved country. Much hard work and courage is required to save our Democracy…
Any news on other dem initiatives? Bill Krystol suggesting on bulwark a one sentence provision that no funding for boarder patrol in operations more than 10 Miles from an international border. Simple - puts r’s on their heels - easy for media to cover
All of this is going to be vigorously debated in the coming days. To me the single most important thing we need to be fighting for is an end to the lawlessness and impunity, however that happens. Watch my conversation with Glenn Kirschner this week for more on the centrality of this to whatever happens next, as it also allows us to make the regime's broader lawlessness and corruption central to the big 2026 conversation.
Great idea. I realize MN is a border state, but wondering why CBP was in Minneapolis in the first place since it is 300+ miles to the Canadien border. Seems like a clear intention to stir trouble in order to incite riots. They and ICE need to go.
CBP was in there because it's a huge Democratic city and trump hates Democrats, so his intent is to go after what he perceives as his enemies. He's a thug, not a president.
Please post best place to donate to help the Minnesotan resistance. People there are in need of groceries, safe ways to get to work via volunteer drivers, etc. Minnesotan readers, what do you recommend?
I've already called and emailed my senators last night about DHS funding. One my senators Ruben Gallego, has already come out against the funding package. I'll continue to do my part in keeping the pressure on my elect-ed's. Tonight I will be attending a vigil for Alex on a pedestrian bridge over a major freeway here in AZ. One of the local Indivisible chapters goal is light up the bridge as we did two weeks ago for Renee Good. Why does it take senseless tragedy to get people's attention to the harm this regime is doing to our nation? My WWII vet father is crying in his grave.
Thanks for staying on top of this important story this weekend, Simon. There's a rally near Burlington, Vermont that statewide Indivisible chapters are invited to attend this afternoon. As much as my heart is with them, I decided that the snow, cold, and my age were facts I couldn't ignore. Instead, I will be using that time to resist in a different way, by fighting one of the "pillars of support" an authoritarian regime must rely on to succeed. That's the corporate world, and in this case, the many many businesses that profit from their government contracts with DHS. So I'm writing emails to Delta Airlines, Dell, and Hilton Inns demanding that they end their contracts with DHS and ladling out a big whopping dose of shame on top of it! While public awareness and outrage is running high, our voices are being heard, peeps, so use them!!
Thank you, Simon, as always. I'm surprised that the latest insanity from Bondi (and what the offer implies -- "We'll stop executing American citizens in broad daylight if you turn over the voter rolls so we can rig the 2026 election") is not getting more coverage. I will keep asking, What is in the Epstein files that is making this despicable regime be willing to burn it all down to hide them? https://www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/attorney-general-bondi-minnesota-voter-rolls-border-patrol-fatal-shooting/
I will write about this more tomorrow, but I also want to state this meme that he is escalating in MN, VZ and Europe to distract from the Epstein files to be incredibly unhelpful, for it implicitly diminishes the gravity of these actions.
I know there are some in this group old enough to remember the Democratic National Convention in 1968, where Chicago cops (egged on by Mayor Daley) beat the crap out of mostly peaceful demonstrators protesting the war in Vietnam. Yes, some of the protestors verbally taunted the cops. It's called free speech. It's called freedom of assembly. It's called the First Amendment. Bloodied and running from tear gas, the protestors' rallying cry became, "The whole world is watching."
And so now, all of America is watching what's happening in Minnesota, Maine and elsewhere.--both the lawlessness of ICE/CBP and the courage of those protesting. Second Amendment activists are also watching how a person legally carrying a firearm can have that used as an excuse for murdering him. And, yes, the whole world is watching--beginning to wake up and stand up. At Hopium, we don't just "watch," we act. Gear up this week. Be loud and demanding.
A glimmer of good news from Knoxville, TN, where ICE arrested a person legally in this country and legally authorized to work. They used the standard propaganda line--that he rammed one of their vehicles with his to prevent their arresting people on a construction site. Witnesses said it was the opposite. A federal prosecutor tried to convince a Trump-appointed federal judge that the young man arrested was a member of Antifa, a Trump-designated "domestic terrorist organization." The prosecutor's argument rested on a single social media post made by a person the arrestee didn't even know. The judge refused to buy the propaganda. One more little crack. One more judge standing up for the rule of law.
KBH - I'm old enough to remember. It was shameful then and it's shameful now. How dare our government decide they have the right to murder citizens in broad daylight. I'm so angry I could spit nails.
Me too, and the slaughter of American students protesting the war as memorialized by Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young in their song "(Four Dead in) Ohio." https://youtu.be/MN_9VqfVQ9c
Students in NM were attacked with bayonettes by National Guard troops while protesting the war on campus, thanks to a republican governor.
... and of course, the brutality against the civil rights movement, which others have posted in Sam Cooke's song - A Change Is Gonna Come https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BYiN-8NSCCI
Yup, I went to college in Ohio shortly after the Kent State massacre of peaceful students by Ohio National Guard. It further energized the anti-war movement and got a lot of middle-aged folks thinking that could have been their sons and daughters gunned down while walking across a college campus. In addition to the horrors you noted, there was the killing of protesting students at Jackson State College, an HBCU, shortly after Kent State. A very sordid history repeating itself.
And remember the murder of four innocent young people at Kent State by national guard troops. The Republican governor prevented any investigations into the murders.
Simon... Thank you for the updates.. so helpful to stay close to the news through Hopium. Also... PEOPLE OF THE RESISTANCE - here's a thought:
Those of us who were fighting during the 60s in the Civil rights movement, please, post your inspiration and patience during this time. We lived through incredible cruelty, brutality, murders/assassinations, Kent state, multiple riots, and enormous fear that our country was unraveling. Thomas Friedman describes this time now, as our "third" civil war, the second one being the fights during the 60s. Let's hold it together in anyway that we can. We will win. And it could get worse before it gets better. But let's fight in all the ways we know: on the ground, in our prayer places, by our calling our reps, by our stand outs... all of it. This is a "Kent state moment" or beyond. People are actually giving their lives now. The great state of MN is leading us. Did you see how many clergy showed up and got arrested at the airport yesterday!!!! ???
Old White Women protesting has become a meme here in MPLS. As one of them, I see two reasons: 1. We did it on the 60s and 70s and have the “muscle memory “ for protesting. 2. Our grief at the loss of the America we love and our concerns for the futures of
our children and grandchildren. Rise up, OWW, we can do this!
This young man in the video is only wrong about one thing. We're doing this throughout the U.S., not just Minnesota. We've been activists our entire life, and this is the fight of our lifetime!!
Texted and emailed extended family and friends around the country, summarizing yesterday’s horrific murder and imploring them to call their Senators to oppose DHS funding until funding is cut, strong, enforceable restrictions are placed on ICE, and agents are held accountable and prosecuted for lawless behavior. Included Senate switchboard number to make it easy for them to do. 202-224-3121. Many have already replied that they did so.
People are appalled and want to take action.
Please encourage your family and friends to do the same and to reach out to their networks as well.
I asked my 23-year-old daughter to call this morning and she replied, "I called twice yesterday and will do so again today." She never would have done that a year ago, but she, like so many others, has been activated! Now I'll work on my 21-year-old son and send him Coleman Rogers's excellent ResistBot scripts.
Simon, thank you for the video of Alex Pretti. It is evident he loved working with the veterans at the VA hospital. What a loss of a wonderful human being.
I, too, worked for the VA. It was in Dayton, Ohio on a cancer unit where many of the patients came in to be diagnosed and later passed away. Many had no visitors, so it was the loving staff who gave them TLC.
I wonder if the VA, a federal agency, will have any condolence messages. Hopefully, the MN VA will so so.
I am taking this post down. People need to keep it civil today.
I want to say something very plainly - given what we've all witnessed with our own eyes somehow believing that the bad guy in all this are Democrats, while understandable, is ridiculous and getting very, very far off mission.
Democrats have not enabled ICE. We are not killing people in the street. Not one voted for the increased budget for DHS. While you can be frustrated by a response that should of course been more vigorous the impulse here this morning to attack Democrats is incredibly misguided in my view.
You misunderstand, I think, the revulsion many feel about the response of our leaders. No one is saying Dems are the bad guys or responsible -- just that twe need differenct leadership for this moment.
I don't misunderstand. I disagree. They are our leaders. They are not going anywhere. We need to encourage them to keep reaching higher and doing more, and when they do the first impulse just cannot be to shit all over them. Everything we do here is to take steps that make it more likely we prevail in this fight. Constant unrelenting attacks on our leaders I do not believe helps with this. Democrats must learn how to resist the urge to turn victories into defeats. We had a big win last night. Let's build on it to get more.
I am consistently calling my reps because they are my reps. However, today I joined my county Democratic Committee so that I may have more say in who gets to run in the next election. At the least, this may give me a little more leverage to motivate my reps to take the bold actions needed.
What else are people doing to increase their leverage?
I fully agree with Simon. And this is crucial: we have limited ammo. Let’s save it for the enemy – and not waste it on a circular firing squad.
To be very, very clear - if we spend our time fighting with one another and not fighting MAGA we are doing MAGA's work for them. As I've been writing there are two big lessons from history in fighting authoriarianism:
- appeasement never works, only strength
- we hang together or we hang separately. If we split they stay in power for decades
I am not asking you to love our leaders but I am asking that we keep our focus on defeating Trump-Vance-Miller-Bovino-Witkoff-Kushner and not beating each other up. I know this is hard, and it is not how we often feel. But it is critical if we want to win.
As someone who studies and teaches about fascism for a living, I can confirm the veracity of these two big lessons.
Thank you, Simon!
Exactly. Some pretty amazing things are happening in Minnesota and Maine. Regular people are coming together to help those at risk. We need more of this. The people are supposed to be the backbone of democracy. We need to learn to be leaders in our own right. We need to build our courage and our power with one another. Quite a few people who have worked for ICE for years are leaving as they see how the Trump administration is corrupting the agency. We need folks like that on our side. This is bigger than party politics.
Gerri, Those who completely miss the central issue - the murder of a citizen by government paramilitary forces and choose, instead, to criticize the Democrats are silly, but dangerous fools. Criticizing the Democrats will only encourage more people to not to bother voting. 'Hey, why vote? The Democrats do nothing anyway!' That didn't work out well in the 2024 election. Your comments are not helpful. In fact, they are harmful.
I want to be clear about something. I have taken two posts down today not because of their argument or expressed disappointment in our leaders but because they insulted and denigrated them. This is a line we do not cross here. We treat everyone on our side, with respect, at all times. We can argue, disagree but we do not fight, denigrate, and attack.
I am taking this post down for it's insulting and uncalled for.
I ask everyone here to do their best to rise to the moment and not descend. We live in fraught and challenging times. Come here to make them better and please do everything you can to refrain from spreading negative sentiment and frustration. It's not productive, and not what we do here.
Agreed, Simon re: not spreading negative sentiment. I appreciate how hard you try in that regard and inspire others to do so.
Still, there are many people hurting right now who don't always have a place to share their hurt and sense of despair. I don't think that's what you mean by frustration, but if it is, so be it. As you call this a family -- and I believe it is -- we sometimes need that family in these times when our biological family fails to rise to the occasion.
I'm ready to make calls to Congress first thing tomorrow morning, as I'm sure many others are.
I have posted frustration and despair here, and it has always been treated gently. If I say that I am so upset that I am shaking, or that I am deeply angry with a Democratic leader over something, I have absolute confidence the kind people here will be sympathetic and supportive. They have many times.
But it is Simon’s Substack and he has made it clear that he doesn’t want Hopium to host unhelpful attacks on Democratic leaders. (I say unhelpful because there are obviously people like Eric Adams.) All families have rules.
There are many other places online for vitriolic attacks.
I agree with you, Jenny. In the past, I have called out some folks who have unkind or combative, especially toward Simon during our Wednesday night meetings.
I have also been met with compassion here in the chat and I hope that continues.
I want to make clear that I think this is important for 4 reasons: 1) to be in a growing coalition we must learn to work with people we don't agree with, who disappoint us etc. Casting people out, believing that there good ones and bad ones, instead of all of us just working hard to making things better, makes it far harder for us to win 2) civility, respect, dignity has to be a critical part of who we are. 3) this is a discipline issue. Feel however you want. Be angry, frustrated, excited, whatever. But when you engage with others here, and other places, bring your best self. Lift up not tear down. Lead, don't yield to corrosive debilitating anger and rage. For anger and rage is who they are. We need to counter their dark view of the world with ours, that is full of light, and promise, and love, and a belief in the future. For here we believe in Hopium - hope with a plan. We don't just hope tomorrow will be better than today. We do the work to make it so. 4) The thing they want more than anything else, the thing that Trump/Putin/Miller want is us fighting with each other and not with them.
The boundaries actually make me work harder and encourage me to innovate my own actions, in ways that feel right, genuine for me.
It gets me acting vs kvetching.
I have some people around me who do nothing but kvetch; including someone who believes reading a particular publication is their act of political defiance. Does nothing. Gives nothing. Wonders why I shy away from speaking to them (because it's exhausting -- I mean, I only have so much energy and money to give - why don't YOU pony up something, I want to say?).
I think we all sometimes come here for some therapeutic venting and extend grace for those interactions. But then we hopefully balance it out with something constructive, which we very frequently get from one another.
Thanks Jenny! Me too. There are ways to share feelings that are NOT attacking/blaming/shaming. It's about taking responsibility for my own experience and if it's hard, ask for support and help. Simon is asking that we STOP the blame game and finger pointing, not stop feeling our feelings. Feelings mobilize us! They are what make us human. Opinions are just that: opinions. In order to be part of NonViolent resistance, I have had to learn the difference. Very profound.
Love how you word this. Yes I am not asking any one to not believe, feel, have strong opinions but to take responsibility for the sentiment we put out into the world, and understand that creating negative sentiment is one of MAGA's central strategies. Rejecting the pessimism, the darkness, is part of how we stay together during challenging times and how we win.
they should reach out to their clergy or local mental health hotline or friends and family. me, i'm tracking the big storm to take my mind off things, along with the other snow weenies; getting ready to clean a foot or so of the white stuff. i have shared the video simon posted. i worked with a veteran's service organization post retirement, walk with a retired VA physician several days a week, and i can tell you the people who take care of our veterans do it out of a sense of duty; they can all make more money doing something else. i never felt prouder than when a veteran called me 'brother ' even though i never served, because i was providing therapy to them. this murder will reverberate in the veterans' community; they do not take kindly to the killing of people who have helped them.
While it is encouraging to see that statement from Senator Cassidy, I respectfully disagree. Minnesota and the American people need an independent state investigation into the ICE killing of Alex Pretti – NOT a joint state-federal investigation. None of the agencies answerable to the Trump Regime can be trusted with an fair investigation.
The fact that ICE has been actively obstructing crime scene access and investigation by Minnesota law enforcement authorities speaks volumes. As does the fact that Trump’s Vice President and Cabinet members are spreading lies and engaging in downright libel of Mr Pretti. It’s a disgrace! It is an outrage that cannot stand!
Fortunately, it is increasingly clear that the American people will not tolerate it.
(I still find it impossible to forgive Bill Cassidy for voting to certify RFK Jr as Secretary of Health and Human Services. As a trained physician, Senator Cassidy knew better!)
Definitely.👍
"I can't vote for a bill that includes ICE funding under these circumstances."
– Senator Angus King (Independent–Maine) on "Face the Nation"
Yeah, I saw that. And he was adamant when he said it. Not stone-faced.
He violated his oath to first do n harm
I have called his office and expressed this
"When they're killing 2 constituents in my state, and they're taking 2 year olds out of the arms of their mom, and they're taking an elder Hmong man out of his house & putting him out there in his underwear & then figuring out the have the wrong man -- no, I'm not voting for this funding."
– Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) on "Meet the Press"
"People have had enough. This is the third shooting in less than three weeks. The MPD went the entire year last year recovering about 900 guns from the street, arresting hundreds of violent offenders street, and we didn't shoot anyone."
– Brian O'Hara, Police Chief of Minneapolis
Link for people to share: https://www.cbsnews.com/amp/news/brian-ohara-minneapolis-police-chief-face-the-nation-transcript-01-25-2026/
Thank you! (I just fixed the quote; I had inadvertently omitted that the Minneapolis did all this – without shooting anyone.)
Bill Cassidy should announce that he’s not running for reelection, since he’s already been stabbed in the back by Trump in the primaries, and make it his mission to spend the next year trying to un-fuck all the things he helped to fuck up… Starting with RFK Jr. People like him are the ones that I hold in the absolute highest degree of contempt for where we are… He clearly knew better. But I guess I’ll take whatever we can get from him.
My biggest fear is that Trump plans to use ICE to confiscate ballot boxes next November.
Thank you as always Simon for writing so diligently and poignantly about the horror that has descended upon our beloved country. Much hard work and courage is required to save our Democracy…
Any news on other dem initiatives? Bill Krystol suggesting on bulwark a one sentence provision that no funding for boarder patrol in operations more than 10 Miles from an international border. Simple - puts r’s on their heels - easy for media to cover
All of this is going to be vigorously debated in the coming days. To me the single most important thing we need to be fighting for is an end to the lawlessness and impunity, however that happens. Watch my conversation with Glenn Kirschner this week for more on the centrality of this to whatever happens next, as it also allows us to make the regime's broader lawlessness and corruption central to the big 2026 conversation.
Take off the masks, wear i.d. and bring a warrant. Act like a f*ing immigration officer!
No more brute squad, violence or intimidation. Give these guys workshops on The Bill of Rights.
Noem, Homan, Miller, Bongino, Bondi…. all need to go… all need to suffer consequences.
I would love (but then again, maybe not) someone to leak unidentified personnel/recruiting files.
Wonder how many of these ICE officers have domestic battery complaints/inter-personal violence complaints, past or current drug issues, etc.
It probably says something like $50k signing bonus to join ICE. High School diploma required. Goons preferred.
Great idea. I realize MN is a border state, but wondering why CBP was in Minneapolis in the first place since it is 300+ miles to the Canadien border. Seems like a clear intention to stir trouble in order to incite riots. They and ICE need to go.
CBP was in there because it's a huge Democratic city and trump hates Democrats, so his intent is to go after what he perceives as his enemies. He's a thug, not a president.
Please post best place to donate to help the Minnesotan resistance. People there are in need of groceries, safe ways to get to work via volunteer drivers, etc. Minnesotan readers, what do you recommend?
Also is there anything similar starting in Maine?
Here's a comprehensive list of organizations helping in Minn.
https://www.standwithminnesota.com/?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email
I've reached out to a friend in Portland area and will post what I learn so we can donate.
Sled to winning finish!!!! Always start and finish with GOOD, PRETTI,...EPSTEIN!!!!
Not just democrats, it is Americans that must come together to show ourselves to be worthy of the sacrifices of the veteran in the opening video.
I've already called and emailed my senators last night about DHS funding. One my senators Ruben Gallego, has already come out against the funding package. I'll continue to do my part in keeping the pressure on my elect-ed's. Tonight I will be attending a vigil for Alex on a pedestrian bridge over a major freeway here in AZ. One of the local Indivisible chapters goal is light up the bridge as we did two weeks ago for Renee Good. Why does it take senseless tragedy to get people's attention to the harm this regime is doing to our nation? My WWII vet father is crying in his grave.
Mine too. Thanks.
My father also ...in Arlington Cemetery.
Thanks for staying on top of this important story this weekend, Simon. There's a rally near Burlington, Vermont that statewide Indivisible chapters are invited to attend this afternoon. As much as my heart is with them, I decided that the snow, cold, and my age were facts I couldn't ignore. Instead, I will be using that time to resist in a different way, by fighting one of the "pillars of support" an authoritarian regime must rely on to succeed. That's the corporate world, and in this case, the many many businesses that profit from their government contracts with DHS. So I'm writing emails to Delta Airlines, Dell, and Hilton Inns demanding that they end their contracts with DHS and ladling out a big whopping dose of shame on top of it! While public awareness and outrage is running high, our voices are being heard, peeps, so use them!!
Thank you, Simon, as always. I'm surprised that the latest insanity from Bondi (and what the offer implies -- "We'll stop executing American citizens in broad daylight if you turn over the voter rolls so we can rig the 2026 election") is not getting more coverage. I will keep asking, What is in the Epstein files that is making this despicable regime be willing to burn it all down to hide them? https://www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/attorney-general-bondi-minnesota-voter-rolls-border-patrol-fatal-shooting/
I will write about this more tomorrow, but I also want to state this meme that he is escalating in MN, VZ and Europe to distract from the Epstein files to be incredibly unhelpful, for it implicitly diminishes the gravity of these actions.
For MN donations, see standwithminnesota.com.
My favorites are Sisters Camelot for food, Immigrant Law Center of MN for legal.
Thanks, Chuck.
I can't find Sisters Camelot on the list. Where is it, please?
I know there are some in this group old enough to remember the Democratic National Convention in 1968, where Chicago cops (egged on by Mayor Daley) beat the crap out of mostly peaceful demonstrators protesting the war in Vietnam. Yes, some of the protestors verbally taunted the cops. It's called free speech. It's called freedom of assembly. It's called the First Amendment. Bloodied and running from tear gas, the protestors' rallying cry became, "The whole world is watching."
And so now, all of America is watching what's happening in Minnesota, Maine and elsewhere.--both the lawlessness of ICE/CBP and the courage of those protesting. Second Amendment activists are also watching how a person legally carrying a firearm can have that used as an excuse for murdering him. And, yes, the whole world is watching--beginning to wake up and stand up. At Hopium, we don't just "watch," we act. Gear up this week. Be loud and demanding.
A glimmer of good news from Knoxville, TN, where ICE arrested a person legally in this country and legally authorized to work. They used the standard propaganda line--that he rammed one of their vehicles with his to prevent their arresting people on a construction site. Witnesses said it was the opposite. A federal prosecutor tried to convince a Trump-appointed federal judge that the young man arrested was a member of Antifa, a Trump-designated "domestic terrorist organization." The prosecutor's argument rested on a single social media post made by a person the arrestee didn't even know. The judge refused to buy the propaganda. One more little crack. One more judge standing up for the rule of law.
Thanks for this report.
KBH - I'm old enough to remember. It was shameful then and it's shameful now. How dare our government decide they have the right to murder citizens in broad daylight. I'm so angry I could spit nails.
Me too, and the slaughter of American students protesting the war as memorialized by Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young in their song "(Four Dead in) Ohio." https://youtu.be/MN_9VqfVQ9c
Students in NM were attacked with bayonettes by National Guard troops while protesting the war on campus, thanks to a republican governor.
https://timeline.unm.edu/item/eleven-bayonetted-and-131-arrested-at-student-union-building.html
... and of course, the brutality against the civil rights movement, which others have posted in Sam Cooke's song - A Change Is Gonna Come https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BYiN-8NSCCI
Yup, I went to college in Ohio shortly after the Kent State massacre of peaceful students by Ohio National Guard. It further energized the anti-war movement and got a lot of middle-aged folks thinking that could have been their sons and daughters gunned down while walking across a college campus. In addition to the horrors you noted, there was the killing of protesting students at Jackson State College, an HBCU, shortly after Kent State. A very sordid history repeating itself.
And remember the murder of four innocent young people at Kent State by national guard troops. The Republican governor prevented any investigations into the murders.
Simon... Thank you for the updates.. so helpful to stay close to the news through Hopium. Also... PEOPLE OF THE RESISTANCE - here's a thought:
Those of us who were fighting during the 60s in the Civil rights movement, please, post your inspiration and patience during this time. We lived through incredible cruelty, brutality, murders/assassinations, Kent state, multiple riots, and enormous fear that our country was unraveling. Thomas Friedman describes this time now, as our "third" civil war, the second one being the fights during the 60s. Let's hold it together in anyway that we can. We will win. And it could get worse before it gets better. But let's fight in all the ways we know: on the ground, in our prayer places, by our calling our reps, by our stand outs... all of it. This is a "Kent state moment" or beyond. People are actually giving their lives now. The great state of MN is leading us. Did you see how many clergy showed up and got arrested at the airport yesterday!!!! ???
Old White Women protesting has become a meme here in MPLS. As one of them, I see two reasons: 1. We did it on the 60s and 70s and have the “muscle memory “ for protesting. 2. Our grief at the loss of the America we love and our concerns for the futures of
our children and grandchildren. Rise up, OWW, we can do this!
Awww. Cheryl! You go GIRL! We HAVE to do this. And you are right. Muscle memory AND granddaughters!!! Stay warm. Keep posting. Tell us what you need.
Saw this post this morning and connected the dots with yours just now. Enjoy this young man's perspective and appreciation for you.
https://substack.com/@rosemaryseppi/note/c-204468125?utm_source=notes-share-action&r=2ia0gw
LOVE this! Thanks for sharing.
This young man in the video is only wrong about one thing. We're doing this throughout the U.S., not just Minnesota. We've been activists our entire life, and this is the fight of our lifetime!!
Amen, agreed. Certainly true here in Sacramento.
Kate, do you have links to the story about clergy protesting at the airport and getting arrested for it? I am very curious!
Here's one https://www.mprnews.org/story/2026/01/23/clergy-and-protesters-gather-at-msp-airport-to-demonstrate-against-ice
https://www.cbsnews.com/minnesota/news/clergy-members-arrested-minneapolis-st-paul-international-airport/
Thank you!
Here's a gift link to an article in the Minneapolis Star Tribune about it
https://www.startribune.com/minnesota-gears-up-for-anti-immigration-enforcement-protest-friday-despite-dangerous-cold/601568941?utm_source=gift
Thank you!
Texted and emailed extended family and friends around the country, summarizing yesterday’s horrific murder and imploring them to call their Senators to oppose DHS funding until funding is cut, strong, enforceable restrictions are placed on ICE, and agents are held accountable and prosecuted for lawless behavior. Included Senate switchboard number to make it easy for them to do. 202-224-3121. Many have already replied that they did so.
People are appalled and want to take action.
Please encourage your family and friends to do the same and to reach out to their networks as well.
I asked my 23-year-old daughter to call this morning and she replied, "I called twice yesterday and will do so again today." She never would have done that a year ago, but she, like so many others, has been activated! Now I'll work on my 21-year-old son and send him Coleman Rogers's excellent ResistBot scripts.
Simon, thank you for the video of Alex Pretti. It is evident he loved working with the veterans at the VA hospital. What a loss of a wonderful human being.
I, too, worked for the VA. It was in Dayton, Ohio on a cancer unit where many of the patients came in to be diagnosed and later passed away. Many had no visitors, so it was the loving staff who gave them TLC.
I wonder if the VA, a federal agency, will have any condolence messages. Hopefully, the MN VA will so so.
I cried watching the video, and am crying again now reading your message.