'Grassroots' anti-ICE Campaigns Are Not Grassroots

From the New York Post: 'Grassroots' anti-ICE campaigns funded by left wing billionaire donors: sources

It is surprising that this appeared in a mainstream outlet, even the Post.

A so-called “ICE Out” march drew an estimated 15,000 left-wing political activists to a frozen, snow-covered Minneapolis on Friday, with attendees chanting “ICE out now” and demanding an end to federal immigration enforcement in the city.

Although framed as a spontaneous uprising of concerned, everyday people, the demonstration — like countless that have regularly metastasized during President Trump’s terms — featured a familiar cast of politically obsessed activists and terminally online characters.

Click thru for the details.

Hat tip Clayton Cramer: The Strongest Argument Against Billionaires

This is the downside of capitalism. It creates pockets of guilt-dominated wealth intent on making sure no one else gets that rich.

Minneapolis Shootings The Result of Sanctuary Policies

Police union leader says blocking ICE coordination led to deadly Minneapolis shootings | Alpha News MN

St. Paul Police Federation President Mark Ross said that if local police had been allowed to assist federal agents, the deadly encounters involving Renee Good and Alex Pretti could have been avoided.

This should surprise no one.

“Unfortunately, our local politicians would not allow us to do that,” Ross said.

Of course the violence and the shootings have been used to drive the Fraud Scandal in Minnesota right out of the headlines. Strange coincidence that. (Hat tip to INTERNED in Northfield!!!)

Anti-ICE Conspiracy Communications Exposed

From The Other McCain - Minnesota: @camhigby Exposes Communications of Anti-ICE Conspiracy

The Saturday morning shooting of an armed anti-ICE rioter in Minneapolis triggered still more mayhem in the city despite below-zero temperatures. It has become obvious to everyone paying attention that the so-called “protests” (which are, in fact, a conspiracy to obstruct federal law enforcement) are being carefully coordinated.

Details of the coordination, from a group called MN ICE Watch, as exposed by a journalist.

It seems that MN ICE Watch has some support from local and/or state law enforcement. Click thru for those details and more.

And of course, while all of this is going on, the Minnesota fraud story has dropped out of sight. Strange. I'm sure it is just a coincidence how the timing worked out.

Detective Richard "Angry Cops" Hy on Minnesota Shooting

This is from some time ago, but it is perhaps the clearest breakdown you will find of the ICE shooting in Minneapolis.

This is Angry Cop's video Minnesota ICE Incident: FACTS vs NARRATIVE

The Left Is Out of Touch with Reality

From Miguel Gonzalez we get the following. They will win because we let them, not because they are good or right.

These people have absolutely zero connection with the realities of a fight. Bleeding is something that occurs to women (Biological Females in their parlance) every 28 days or so. Pain is hearing Trump in their TikTok accounts and actions have no permanent consequences.

The thing that caught my attention was the screenshot of an X post. Here is the post, so you can listen to the audio.

After witnessing her wife's death, Rebecca is heard screaming, blaming the cops for carrying live ammo: "Why did you have real bullets?!"

Then Rebecca blames herself.

"It's my fault. I made her come down here. It's my fault."

/7 pic.twitter.com/OpQhZreOPa

— Matt Orfalea (@0rf) January 10, 2026

Say that again. The wife of the dead woman, who encouraged her to drive (toward the federal agent) screamed:

Why did you have real bullets?!

Why? For the same reason that every law enforcement officer, including federal agents, has real bullets. The reason that every concealed carry gun is loaded with real bullets. The reason that the military uses real bullets. The imaginary ones don't do anything.

There was a comment linked in a F*c*book post (I don't have a link) talking about how the wife was looking for that Kodak moment. She was recording video, and taunting the agents, in the hope of getting something "viral" for TikTok, Instagram, X, Bluesky, whatever. It worked, just not in the way she expected.

There is more, both on X, if you want to go down that rabbit hole, or at Miguel's post linked at the top.

If you assault police, including federal agents, you will probably be shot. Today that depends a lot on what jurisdiction you are in, but you should not count on police having imaginary bullets. (There are a couple of clips of Florida sheriffs Grady Judd (Polk County) and Wayne Ivey (Brevard County) using the term "Graveyard dead." Here is one link to Wayne Ivey discussing violent protestors. (Sheriff Ivey is probably my second-favorite, Florida sheriff.)

She Spoke Harshly to Them

You should be able to call police for issues like this, but in 2025 the police can't even drive by to see if anything is going on. Woman shot after reportedly confronting loud group outside her house - KSTP 5 Eyewitness News

There was a group of people in front of her house, making a lot of noise.

When she went to talk with them, however, the police said a man in the group pulled out a handgun and fired multiple shots at the woman, shooting her.

Her injuries are non-life-threatening, but it could have been otherwise. Before you go out to "confront" people consider what might happen to you or your family.

As for calling police, this took place in Minneapolis, the home of Defund the Police. You are on your own. After you get shot, cops will show up, not before.

I miss living in a civilized society.

University of Minnesota Students Are Shocked to Discover that They Live in The Real World™

They apparently thought that U of M was in Mayberry, and not Minneapolis. 5 years after COVID-19, Dinkytown crime takes its toll on University of Minnesota students who live, study there

This is a typical, "Oh my God, there's crime in the world" story, as told (mostly) from the point of view of university students.

Still, the level of cope is turned up to 11, from both the students and the helicoptering parents.

Runkel, along with other parents, students and community members, created a Facebook group in 2022 aimed at keeping students safe. The page has more than 2,600 members.

Information is always good, though I seriously question how many university students are using F*c*book more than to contact their parents for more spending money.

But a F*c*book group, no matter how apolitical, no matter how update-to-date, is not going to keep you safe. But that is the level of cope in a Deep Blue state, in a Deep Blue city, at a Left-of-Chairman Mao university.

Armed self-defense? Pepper spray? Bueller?

There is a section of article dedicated to getting more help from police, and having the university police pick up some of the slack from the city in the surrounding neighborhoods. Minneapolis was ground zero for the Defund the Police movement, after all.

Notably absent is any call for harsher penalties for criminals, letting legal-adult students defend themselves, though to be fair I don't know what the situation in Minnesotta/Minneapolis is with respect to concealed carry on campus. I know what my guess is.

Self-defense Is Legal in Minneapolis

Even if the DA doesn't want that to be true. Man who claimed self-defense acquitted of murder for shooting outside downtown Minneapolis bar

It took about a day of deliberation for the jury to reach a verdict of not guilty.

Gibbs, who testified in his defense, made "persistent and continual efforts to get his family away [from the others]. That's all he was doing for 15 minutes. Every time he got away, they kept pursuing him. It just kept getting more violent and more violent."

The DA's office made a statement (by way of a spokesman) that I won't repeat, but they basically said this guy is guilty, we just couldn't prove it. Except he isn't guilty unless you can prove it. But then DAs in Blue Cities hate self-defense.

Now I don't know what happened that night in June of 2021, but I do know that he is innocent until proved guilty. The lawyer/spokesman from the DA's office doesn't seem to believe that.

And in any event, self-defense is a human-right.

Chaos in the Streets of Minneapolis

This is exactly what the Democrats asked for. It remains to be seen if this is what they actually wanted. After July 4th shooting, Minneapolis braces for more gun violence - StarTribune

So no one wants to be a cop in Minneapolis. Are we shocked?

Due to the shortfall of officers, there were 80 officers to respond to calls on July 4th into the morning of the 5th. Which is a lot more than you would find on an average night.

"The Democrats' repeated cries to defund the police and their failure to act on critical public safety measures have turned Minnesota's largest city and surrounding communities into places where criminals feel emboldened to attack and injure law enforcement officers and the public, creating more chaos in our streets," Nick Majerus, spokesman for the Republican Party of Minnesota, said Tuesday in a statement. "This is unacceptable."

Of course nothing will change. The Democrats in Minneapolis will continue to vote for Progressive politicians and their Progressive, soft-on-crime policies. And the results of that shouldn't surprise anyone.

The number of homicides this year is just shy of 2019's year-end total, according to data tracked by the Star Tribune, which includes people killed by police. In a dozen years before the pandemic, the city averaged 17 homicides by this point in the summer — putting the violence of the past two years far above Minneapolis' baseline.

At the time the article linked above was published there had been 47 homicides in Minneapolis in 2022. And say it again - that was just shy of the year-end total for 2019. So no where near as bad as Chicago or Philadelphia or Baltimore, but not good.

As for the staffing shortfall, it won't get fixed soon.

[City Council Member Michael] Rainville, who was elected last year, said the city has struggled to find new officers who want to work in Minneapolis. "We allocated for four classes of 40 recruits; the first class we had 12," he said. "Young people do not want to become police officers. Police have been demonized so much, it's not an attractive career."

The state is trying to help out by assigning more state troopers, and the air division to help out in Minneapolis and crack down on things like street racing. The US attorney has also said he wants to help on certain crimes.

The Democrats wanted fewer cops. MPD went from a staff of 886 to 564 in 2 years. That is a 36% reduction in the force. You can't cut staff like that and not expect to see some result, like longer response time to 911 calls.

I am reminded of the quote from Ian Flemming, from Goldfinger. "Once is happenstance, twice is coincidence, three times is enemy action." I'm not sure why the Democrats are so intent on destroying law and order, but they certainly seem to be doing just that.

Prosecutors Hate the Very Idea of Self-defense

And that is particularly true in Blue Cities/Blue States. Prosecutors: No evidence thus far to charge Minneapolis woman who claimed self-defense in fatal shooting: The County Attorney's Office wants police to conduct further investigation.

There wasn't enough information to charge her after the police finished their investigation, so the prosecutors told the police to keep looking.

There is no video. There is the statement made by the woman who defended herself. Her "alleged" attacker is dead. I'm sure that even the Minneapolis police can competently search for bullets, casings, footprints, signs of break-in, etc.

Police last week forwarded their investigation into the Feb. 22 shooting of Martin L. Johnson, 30, for consideration of charges against the 53-year-old homeowner who told police that she killed the man after he broke into her attached garage, then approached her while reaching into his waistband.

What exactly is the DA hoping for? Is he hoping someone will manufacture some evidence? Or is hoping the whole thing goes away because he is up for election? Or does he just really, really, really hate the very idea of people defending themselves?

Hennepin County Attorney's Office is headed by Mike Freeman. He is currently in his 6th term. You won't find that info in the article, I had to search around in the website for his office. He didn't care to sign his own name to this, but had a spokesperson assure everyone that he hates self-defense.

Self-defense may be a human-right, but some DAs will work overtime to ensure that it is not your legal right.

Minneapolis Mayor - "Defund the Police" Was a Bad Idea

Who would have thought it was possible. Mayor Frey: Calls To Defund MPD Have Had An Impact As Crime Spikes.

A headline linked from another article reads "7 People Shot, 1 Fatally, In 8-Hour Span In Minneapolis." In the video at the link they say 12 hours, but either way it is awful for a city the size of Minneapolis.

He says the city does not have enough officers to respond to crime when needed. Community members at Monday’s gathering, including Pastor Dale Hume, believe calls for defunding the police have played a role in the spike in crime.

And of course the people who actually live in those communities, and are impacted by the rise in crime, are fed up with the Defund insanity. (See the video.) Hat tip to gregormendelblog.com and Dumb! Who notes...

Even Lefties are starting to figure it out! Democrats have made cities more dangerous.

Crime Is Out of Control in Minneapolis

Is anyone shocked? One Year After George Floyd, Minneapolis Is “Murderapolis” Again

Minneapolis recorded its second-most homicides ever in 2020 — after only 1995, when the city was ignobly dubbed “Murderapolis” in national media. And the trend has continued to escalate in 2021: between January 1 and April 25, the number of homicides increased by 92% compared to the same period in 2020. More than 80% of the shooting victims in 2020 were black.

St. Paul is in similar shape, and of course it isn't just murder, but other crime as well.

The Minneapolis Police Department didn’t specifically track carjackings as a unique category of crime until September 2020. A retroactive analysis showed a 537% increase in carjackings in one month — November 2020 — compared to November 2019. Yes, you read that correctly: 537%. (I haven’t independently corroborated this data, and it may well have been imperfectly collected, but a substantial increase seems beyond dispute.) Additional data given to me by police show that carjackings are up 180% year-to-date in 2021 between January 1 and April 25.

And if you pay attention to the dates above, some of that data is concentrated in a time of the year when the weather in Minneapolis is damn cold. Things won't be better in warmer weather.

But then if you clamour about Defunding the police, and limiting police, then it is clear that you don't want police to actually police anything. The result will be more crime.

Life In a Police-free Utopia? Or Not

What did they think would happen? "Staggering": Carjackings up 537% in Minneapolis for, er, some odd reason

Ho hum, just another couple of months in the reduced-policing utopia known as Minneapolis. With fewer police on the street, that must mean that residents in the city that made “abolish the police” official policy must be enjoying a more peaceful and free life, right? Well, some are — and the rest are paying for it:

The base story is at The Star Tribune.

Over the past two months, Minneapolis police have logged more than 125 carjackings in the city, a troubling surge that authorities had largely linked to small groups of marauding teens. But an increasing number of adults have been arrested in recent weeks for the same crime.

Within a one-hour period Saturday morning, police reported three separate carjackings in southeast Minneapolis, including one where an elderly woman was struck on the head. Such attacks are up 537% this month when compared with last November.

Carjacking was so rare in Minneapolis, that until this summer the PD didn't even see the need to track it separately from robbery or auto theft. But that changed, and they started tracking it in September of this year.

A retroactive count by analysts determined that Minneapolis has seen at least 375 carjackings this year — including 17 last week. That overall tally is more than three times higher than 2019.

The police spokesman seems shocked that civilization is breaking down.

“The numbers are staggering,” said police spokesman John Elder. “It defies all civility and any shred of common human decency.”

Life in a Blue City. As always it reminds me of Hobbes' State of War, in which life is nasty, brutish and short^‡. Where the worst elements are not held in check by fear of repercussions. Because there are none. It also brings to mind "The Second Coming by W. B. Yeats.

Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.

After genuflecting to Saint George of the Floyd, some of the citizens of Minneapolis are not thrilled with the idea of fewer police patrolling the streets.

“I am unsettled by the acceptance that carjacking and attempted murder is being normalized as a new way of life in our city,” Higgins Victor wrote. “Police are gone. Criminals are emboldened. City leaders are not working toward common goals.”

This is deep blue Minneapolis, so even though people are afraid, there is no mention of Concealed Carry, which is legal in Minnesota for the law-abiding. Because they don't want to admit the conditions that they have created demand that they take personal responsibility for their safety. The cops can clearly do nothing.

Hat tip to Wirecutter at Knuckledraggin My Life Away

‡ Thomas Hobbes describes the situation in which the uncivilized elements of society are not held in check by fear of police power as being a State of War. (That is in The Leviathan.) Why do you think that Justice holds a sword?

Hereby it is manifest that, during the time men live without a common power to keep them all in awe, they are in that condition which is called war, and such a war as is of every man against every man. For ‘war’ consisteth not in battle only or the act of fighting, but in a tract of time wherein the will to contend by battle is sufficiently known, and therefore the notion of ‘time’ is to be considered in the nature of war, as it is in the nature of weather. For as the nature of foul weather lieth not in a shower or two of rain but in an inclination thereto of many days together, so the nature of war consisteth not in actual fighting but in the known disposition thereto during all the time there is no assurance to the contrary. All other time is ‘peace.’

Whatsoever therefore is consequent to a time or war where every man is enemy to every man, the same is consequent to the time wherein men live without other security than what their own strength and their own invention shall furnish them withal. In such condition there is no place for industry, because the fruit thereof is uncertain, and consequently no culture of the earth, no navigation nor use of the commodities that may be imported by sea, no commodious building, no instruments of moving and removing such things as require much force, no knowledge of the face of the earth; no account of time, no arts, no letters, no society, and, which is worst of all, continual fear and danger of violent death, and the life of man solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short.

Liberals and Crime

Their policies encourage it. Minneapolis momentum is being crushed by the crime wave.

A 60-year-old woman at the grocery store is beaten and robbed in the parking lot in Minneapolis.

The store security chief, Scott Nelson, experienced with this kind of crime, immediately began reviewing film from monitoring cameras at nearby businesses.

Committed to pursuing justice for Elaine, Nelson laments that we “need police service and we need more of it. South Minneapolis is worse than I’ve ever seen it.” He describes the surge of 20-plus attacks a day that are now striking people just going about their daily business, people like Elaine.

Usually in a stolen car, perpetrators Nelson describes as “young teens, 12-to-14 years old” cruise from lot to lot in neighborhood business districts, waiting for a victim, “like a deer hunter sits in a tree.”

If the perpetrators of these crimes are caught, there is little punishment, and so they are back on the street doing more crime.

Now our city’s future hangs in the balance. As we teeter between proclamations and inaction, women are attacked while running daily errands. Carjackings are perpetrated in broad daylight; my daughter witnessed one the other day as she walked her dog. A North Side community group is suing the city for holding the concept of safety hostage to the concept of reform.

There is more that is worth your time.

Hat tip to The Other McCain and The Biden Agenda: ‘South Minneapolis Is Worse Than I’ve Ever Seen It’

As I explained yesterday (“The Vision of the Anointed Returns”) a nationwide crime wave is likely to be one consequence of a Biden presidency. Democrats are anti-police and pro-criminal, and what is happening in Minneapolis is an example of where such a policy leads.

There is also a lot more at The Other McCain, including a look at the carjacking situation in Minneapolis, of which there have been a few.