For years, gun nuts — er, enthusiasts — have told us they need all the weapons they own because an out-of-control tyrannical government might need to be put down, so the people could take it back.
Well. Here we are. And to judge from MAGA, they’re all perfectly happy to live in a police state.
Where are the people who spoke out so passionately against jackbooted thugs? Now they tell you to DO AS THE OFFICER SAYS, IMMEDIATELY, if you don’t want to get shot in the head. I ask you.
At least the so-called MSM has found a little bit of spirit. Both the NYT and WP have published detailed video analyses that clearly show the administration and its toadies are lying about what happened in Minneapolis Wednesday morning. And the Star-Tribune, the local paper, published the name of the gunman. Jonathan Ross.
Michelle Goldberg, in the NYT:
Keith Ellison, Minnesota’s attorney general, told me that since ICE ramped up its operations in Minneapolis, it’s felt “like we are being inundated with a hostile paramilitary group that is mistreating, insulting, terrorizing our neighbors.” And the residents of Minneapolis have responded: “People have got their whistles, and they’ve got their little alert system to tell people ICE is in the neighborhood. They’ve been protesting. They’ve been out there trying to protect their neighbors.”
Many of these people probably believed that even in Trump’s America, citizens still have inviolable liberties that allow them to stand up to the jacked-up irregulars who’ve descended on their communities. The civil rights of immigrants have been profoundly curtailed; even green card holders are on notice that this government may detain and deport them simply for protesting. But Americans — particularly, let’s be honest, white Americans — might have thought themselves immune from ICE abuses.
The killing of Renee Nicole Good, a mother of three and widow of a military veteran, tests that assumption. ICE, said Ellison, is all but telling people, “‘You want to defend your neighbors, you’re going to do it at the risk of your own life.’ I think that’s the unmistakable message. Just looking at the tape, they could have said, ‘You get out of here,’ right? And then she gets out of there. They didn’t want her to get out of there. They wanted to either drag her out of that car or do what they did. And it was all about teaching lessons.”
Yep. Oh well. More will be revealed.
But while we’re on the subject of Things That Are Infuriating, why is Elon Musk not chased through the streets by a raging mob? He should be:
Grok, the chatbot run by the social media platform X (formerly known as Twitter) is generating nonconsensual pornographic images of women with their clothes removed and wearing bikinis with swastikas on them.
This follows a recent wave of criticism directed against X for Grok’s weak moderation policies, which allow users to ask Grok to “strip” clothes from pictures of women, including minors.
Users of X can reply to a picture of someone, tag Grok, and write “put a swastika bikini on her” or a similar prompt. Grok will then reply with an image of that person wearing no clothes other than a swastika bikini.
Multiple accounts by women who’ve suffered this indicate that Grok, the chatbot, says “I’m sorry this happened to you without your consent” and then…does nothing. This is my shocked face: 🙄
Finally, Eric Zorn wrote a lovely tribute to his father, who died earlier this week:
My world is smaller and sadder than it was a week ago, but larger and more joyous for having had him as a father.
I have also heard from scores of readers of the Picayune Sentinel empathically relating to my loss and welcoming me “to the club that no one wants to join.”
Nearly all my friends are already in that club, having experienced the loss of at least one parent, if not a sibling, spouse or child. I’m conscious of wanting to share my experience here without suggesting that mine is in any way sadder or more deserving of attention than the experiences most of you have had and hopefully all of you will.
By hopefully, I mean that death will come to your family in the appropriate order — parents preceding their children in death, the elder preceding the younger. And not too soon.
Amen.
Now the weekend is nearly here. I’m planning an outing, destination unknown. Hope yours is great.
Mark P said on January 9, 2026 at 2:32 am
When my father died almost 26 years ago, my feeling was exactly what Zorn said, that I had joined a club, a club where the words “my father is dead” have an actual meaning. I looked at the rest of the world and saw people who were in the club, and understood what it meant, and people who were not in the club and could not really understand what it meant to join. It really was, “There are two kinds of people in the world …”
And you alluded to the fact that Grok is generating child porn at user requests. Musk should be in jail.
542 chars
Peter said on January 9, 2026 at 6:51 am
My Dad passed away just over six years ago. He missed Covid, the 2020 election, and this mess, and while I’m sorry and sad that he’s gone, whenever I feel sorry for myself, I’m grateful he isn’t around to see this.
216 chars
Alan Stamm said on January 9, 2026 at 7:34 am
Thanks for flagging Eric’s touching essay with more than a few relatable touchstones. He’s spot-on about the lasting tug of being unable to call a parent after doing so daily for several years.
And he delightfully crafts a verb that should exist: we will never again backfence over Michigan sports, politics, technology . . .
335 chars
Jeff Gill said on January 9, 2026 at 7:53 am
And the amazing persistence of “Dad will be amused to hear about…”
The time you think it shortens, the number of occasions starts to spread out, but with Peter I can report that at six years those moments keep coming.
Here’s a project from the fall semester, completed and posted yesterday, to give us all a bit of hope:
https://njdenisonu.shorthandstories.com/the-land-remembers/index.html
401 chars
Icarus said on January 9, 2026 at 9:45 am
I wish we could post pictures here…there is a bingo card called Bootlicker Bingo that could literally be taken from the comment threads about the Minnesota Homicides.
My wife and I were talking about it last night. We are sure that the entire side of her family is either blissfully unaware of what happened or aren’t getting accurate information from their news sources.
377 chars
Colleen said on January 9, 2026 at 12:30 pm
In keeping with the last thread about kindness….I am APPALLED by the number of posts I am seeing online from people who are A-OK with how Ms. Good died. From the “she was a paid agitator” crowd to the “she was trying to hit him” people to the “she should have listened to law enforcement” supporters. 1. Even if she was a paid agitator, don’t they also have first amendment rights to expression? Oh, and the right not to get shot in the face. 2. She was not trying to hit him, she was trying to leave, and anyone with two brain cells can see that by the way she backed up and had her wheels turned. And finally, 3. I would wager those same “respect authority” people were alllll up in arms about Ashli Babbit and her right to not comply on January 6th. (To be clear, I don’t think she should have been shot either)
It’s just disgusting to me how many people are ok with ICE’s actions. And the regime lying about it. It really is Orwellian, the way they present absolute lies that can be proven to be lies as the truth….and people buy their crap.
I think the people with TDS are his followers, so in love they are with Dear Leader.
1138 chars
Dexter Friend said on January 9, 2026 at 1:52 pm
Dad died in March, 2001. That week, “Six Feet Under”, the Alan Ball masterpiece, premiered. That show really helped me deal with Dad’s death, at age 86. I still have multiple online friends I made from the chatroom of that show. Joining the DD club is a rite of passage that steels a soul.
Of all the comments and reels, Jesse Ventura’s hit me hardest: Jesse was a Navy Seal at Subic Bay during the Viet Nam conflict. He states he has seen third world countries and we have become one. ICE has the budget greater that 3 of the US military branches, according to a report I heard but did not vet. Vance has promised to “get tougher” with ICE becoming immediately more-empowered, and Vance said “we are going to be knocking on doors…”, also, I heard this on MSNOW but I did not see it myself.
Today early, the Trump Crime Syndicate sent 500 more ICE into Minneapolis. This was the response to Mayor Frey’s call for ICE to “get the fuck out of Minnesota.”
963 chars
Dorothy said on January 9, 2026 at 1:55 pm
My Aunt Ruth and Uncle Tim died within 4 or 5 months of each other back in the early 90’s. Their six kids were my next door neighbor cousins until I was 11, and they moved an hour away from us. But we are still close cousins, more like siblings. We all share a goofy sense of humor and not everyone might think this is funny. But at the funeral home my cousin Timmmy (eldest son of Ruth and Tim) was heard to say wryly “Well I guess we can go to the Orphan’s Picnic this summer, huh?”
I think the Orphan’s Picnic used to be a ‘thing’ in Pittsburgh back in the day.
I miss my mother almost daily and think of things she used to say and do all the time. We quote her endlessly. I wonder if her ears are ringing up in heaven?
730 chars
Little Bird said on January 9, 2026 at 2:15 pm
About the whole “just do what they tell you to and you’ll be fine” is utter bullshit. Ms. Good was told different things by different agents damn near simultaneously, and they were conflicting orders. Which one would have prevented her from being shot multiple times IN THE FACE?
I’m angry. I’m furious. And I don’t have an outlet for my anger right now. I want to scream. I want to throw things. I know that neither option is helpful, and could actually be harmful, but it would help me blow off some of the pressure that just keeps building. Is it ever going to stop? What is it going to take?
614 chars
Deborah said on January 9, 2026 at 2:55 pm
I had a good cry this morning which helped like a valve letting off some steam. I was telling my husband a story and it triggered me to cry, I could hardly get the words out. It wasn’t on the subject of the murder in Minneapolis, it was related to homelessness and I just let it all out, sobbing. While it let me vent, I know it doesn’t really help the situation with all of the cruelty and violence happening now. I feel like I need to do something but except for calling representatives and giving money I feel helpless. Does it really help to do those things? I know what is happening is intended to make people feel helpless and turn away or give up and I don’t want to do that.
682 chars