There were two special elections in Texas yesterday. In one, a Democrat won a runoff election to the U.S. House from a deep-blue Houston area district. In the other, a Democrat won a special election for a seat in the Texas state Senate in a district that voted for Trump by 17 points. And it wasn’t close. See G. Elliott Morris at Strength in Numbers:

Texas Monthly describes the district as a hub of far-right activism. In recent years it has swung from “a bastion of Bush-era conservatism into an uncompromising vehicle for their war on ‘woke.'” It was even redistricted awhile back to ensure a four-to-one Republican majority. Note that the quote below was written before yesterday’s election:

Legislatively, the outcome of the race is essentially meaningless: The winner will serve out the remaining term of Kelly Hancock, who resigned his Senate seat in June after being appointed by Governor Greg Abbott to Texas comptroller. A rematch is expected between Rehmet and Wambsganss during the November general election. (The Texas Legislature does not reconvene until January 2027.) But symbolically, one expert said, a Rehmet victory would represent a political earthquake—a stunning rebuke of a movement that has for years used the region as an incubator for far-right policies that are exported across the state and nation. 

“If he were to lose by six points, that’d be worth talking about,” Calvin Jillson, a political science professor at nearby Southern Methodist University, told me. “And if Rehmet were to win? You’d say, ‘Holy shit.’”  

What do you say when the district swung by 22 points? I take it this wasn’t necessarily a rebuke of Trump as much as a rebuke of the far-right Christian nationalist wackjobs that have dominated local government. But I’d say Democrats need to be looking to how Rehmet pulled this off.

As I understand it we are now in a shutdown, but it isn’t expected to last long. Remarkably, Trump called Chuck Schumer last week to initiate negotiations. As a result, most of the spending bill is expected to go to the House tomorrow. It’s expected that the House will vote on it on Tuesday. DHS funding has been held back in the Senate for two weeks for further negotiation. Conditions Dems are expected to push include “unmasking immigration agents, ending their indiscriminate sweeps and requiring them to obtain warrants as well as abide by strict use-of-force guidelines, among others,” according to the New York Times.

The NY Times also reported that before Trump called Chuck,

White House legislative affairs aides had reached out to some of the Democrats who had broken from Mr. Schumer last fall and crossed party lines in a vote to end a record-breaking shutdown. Would they like to attend a listening session at the White House to discuss a potential deal? They all declined.

News stories are calling this deal “fragile,” warning that it would yet break apart. The Dems have to stick together this time. See also the live reporting link at the NY Times.

Update: The two federal immigration agents who fired on Minneapolis protester Alex Pretti are identified in government records as Border Patrol agent Jesus Ochoa and Customs and Border Protection officer Raymundo Gutierrez.

Update Update: Trump has announced that the [Bleep] Kennedy Center will be closed for two years, beginning in July, for renovations. “I have determined that the fastest way to bring The Trump Kennedy Center to the highest level of Success, Beauty, and Grandeur, is to cease Entertainment Operations for an approximately two year period of time, with a scheduled Grand Reopening that will rival and surpass anything,” The Thing said. Most of the scheduled performers have canceled, although the National Symphony Orchestra and a few other random programs, including a screening of Sleepless in Seattle, were still listed as upcoming. I hate to see what kind of ghastly gilded atrocities he inflicts on the building.

See also ‘Their first instinct was to loot’: how Trump’s acolytes are plundering the Kennedy Center.

Stuff to Read: (In no particular order)

The Atlantic, ‘It’s a Five-Alarm Fire’: The FBI’s search and seizure of material from Fulton County election offices marks a major escalation.

Alexandra Petri, Hey you, hold onto your humanity. You’ll thank me later.

Heather Cox Richardson, January 31, 2026. I have to comment on this one. Stephen Miller posted,

“Plenty of countries in history have experimented with importing a foreign labor class. The West is the first and only civilization to import a foreign labor class that is granted full political rights, including welfare & the right to vote. All visas are a bridge to citizenship. In America, for generations now, the policy has been that anyone who would economically benefit from moving to the US can do so, exercise the franchise in the US and their children, the moment they are born, will be full American citizens with all the rights and benefits therein.”

HCR compares Miller’s comment to similar comments by antebellum advocates for slavery. But the “labor class” was more than enslaved people from Africa. Beginning in the colonial period and well into the 19th century, a lot of people from the UK and Germany came here as indentured servants and stayed after their contracts ended. Beginning in the mid-19th century Irish escaping the potato famine dominated industrial and construction labor for some time. When California became a state in 1850 there was already a substantial Chinese population there, which continued to grow. Chinese supplied most of the labor to build the intercontinental railroad. And when the bosses ran short of Chinese, they hired Irish.

In the early 20th century Southern and Eastern European immigrants supplied the cheap labor for factories and sweatshops. Nearly all of the 146 garment workers who died in the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire in 1911 were recent Italian or Jewish immigrants.  One of Stephen Miller’s great-grandfathers was a Jew who escaped poverty and oppression in Belarus, landing at Ellis Island in 1903 with $8 to his name. He made a living as a peddler and brought more of his family over.

I should note that European immigrants also imported the labor union movement, which IMO has benefited all of us. And their children who were born here went to public schools and assimilated and were citizens like everybody else. Was this ever a problem? Not that I’ve heard.

U.S. agriculture has a long history of depending on migrant labor from Mexico, going back at least to 1910. During World War II there was such a shortage of farm labor the U.S. ran a formal guest worker program. This program ended in 1964 and was replaced by the H-2A Temporary Agricultural Workers program, and I don’t know how that works. I’m seeing the ag industry wants significant reforms. But this is one reason we’ve enjoyed an abundance of food at reasonable prices (until recently) here in this country.

Does Stephen Miller seriously know nothing about U.S. history? Maybe he thinks White immigrants are different, somehow, but the Irish and Italian and other immigrants of the 19th and early 20th century faced a whole lot of discrimination for a long time. And by now a lot of ethnic Chinese Americans are more generations removed from China than Miller is removed from Belarus. And Black Americans have been part of U.S. history all along, even though their contributions were long ignored in the history books. But if you treat people fairly and give them opportunities to work and assimilate, most of them will. It doesn’t have to be a problem.

Everyone in media is having a ton of fun trashing the Melania documentary. It’s reported that the film cost Jeff Bezos $75 million to make and $35 million to promote. It has also been widely reported that nobody is buying tickets. A TPM writer watched the film “so you don’t have to,” and wrote,

At the concession stand, I noticed they were selling large commemorative popcorn buckets emblazoned with Melania’s face. It’s part of a massive marketing campaign that brought a distinctly fascistic flavor to city streets, with billboards featuring the first lady’s portrait looming over street corners. Yet, at my screening, this effort to cultivate a cult of personality wasn’t quite taking. When I asked the two women selling snacks if anyone had bought the buckets, I received an emphatic response.

“No — and I hope not,” one of them said, 

Meanwhile Bezos is laying people off at Amazon. I understand Amazon Prime deliveries are getting a bit slower. Lots of Prime items no longer offer free two-day delivery. Four to five days is the norm. Note also that the film has a single digit rating on Rotten Tomatoes. But the accompanying reviews are hilarious.

Regarding yesterday’s Epstein document dump — what was redacted, and what wasn’t? The names of alleged co-conspirators were redacted, which is kind of infuriating considering that exposing these people was the whole point. I’m reading the FBI has identified ten co-conspirators, but we still don’t know who they are. Likewise, the names of some federal prosecutors and law enforcement officers were redacted. According to this very helpful Time magazine article, some of these records date to the late 2000s, “when then-U.S. Attorney Alex Acosta approved a controversial deal that shielded Epstein from federal charges related to allegations of sexual abuse and sex trafficking of minors in Florida in exchange for a guilty plea to state charges.” But Acosta’s name was not redacted.

On the other hand, names of several of the survivors were not redacted. “One survivor, who had identified herself anonymously as “Jane Doe”, told CNN that she has received numerous unsolicited phone calls since her identity was revealed Friday,” per the Time article linked above.

A whole lot of people closely associated with the Trump Administration are named in the files, including Elon Musk. Another is Kevin Warsh, who just got named to be the new fed chair, and Brett Ratner, who directed the Melania movie. I don’t believe the files implicate anything about these people.

Election interference. Nothing worries me more than what Trump might do to interfere with the midterm elections. The New York Times has a good overview of the threat and how to address it.

Millions of pages of Epstein files have just been released. Todd Blanche, who appears to have taken over the role of speaking for the DoJ from Trump’s girl Pam, said the department was releasing 3 million pages, 2,000 videos and some 180,000 images. It’ll take awhile to go through all that, I suspect.

Blanch also announced that the DoJ has begun a civil rights investigation into the execution of Alex Pretti. This is a standard thing after federal agents have killed someone, I understand, although it wasn’t done for the death of Renee Good. And I’m not hearing that the DoJ is going to share evidence with authorities in Minnesota to do their own investigation, so I’m not too excited that justice will be done. The FBI is hanging on to Alex Pretti’s phone, for example. I’ll be surprised if what Pretti was recording before he was killed is ever seen by the public. Kash will have the phone destroyed first.

Maybe there’s a budget deal, and maybe there isn’t. There were reports that Chuck and Trump had agreed the Senate could separate out DHS funding from the rest of the budget bill. That would allow the rest of the budget to be approved and let the Senate argue over DHS reforms for a while. But Lindsey Graham threw a wrench in the works. “He refused to go along with the plan over a House-backed provision that would repeal a law allowing senators to receive cash payouts if they had phone records seized by former special counsel Jack Smith — the South Carolina Republican included,” it says here.

Don Lemon has been arrested for reporting at a protest that broke out at a church service. A federal magistrate judge had previously rejected a criminal complaint against Lemon. But the DoJ says they got an indictment from a Grand Jury. I am not a big Don Lemon fan, but this is obviously an attempt to send a warning to journalists to be careful what they report.

By now even Trump must have realized his march to absolute dominance took a wrong turn in Minneapolis. This doesn’t mean he’s ready to change course. I agree with Greg Sargent that all the media narratives about Trump’s “pivot” and “de-escalation” in Minnesota are so much hooey. He’s making some cosmetic changes — replacing Bovino with Homan, for example — and perhaps will tone down some rhetoric just a notch. But the basic ICE operation in Minnesota will not change. Not yet. Sargent:

Note the problem here. Trump does apparently want to minimize clashes between government security services and protesters. But he doesn’t appear to want those heavily armed government militias to stop doing the things that are causing those clashes in the first place.

What’s really going on here is this: Trump is looking to defuse anger among congressional Democrats for purposes that don’t portend a meaningful shift. An administration official gave away the game to Punchbowl News, admitting that these “de-escalatory measures” are about placating Senate Democrats so they don’t seize this moment to demand restrictions on ICE as part of any government funding package.

From what I’m reading, Senate Dems are still dug in and refusing to pass DHS funding without significant changes. Does this mean a shutdown? The Hill reported this morning that Senate Majority Leader Thune has thrown up his hands and declared the Dems need to be negotiating with the White House over what they want regarding DHS.

The budget bill in question has six parts. Dems are prepared to pass five of those six parts right now, but want DHS funding held back for more work. Thune is refusing to do that. Chuck Schumer “has called on GOP colleagues to work with him to ‘overhaul’ ICE and Customs and Border Protection, which are both funded through the Homeland Security appropriations measure,” says The Hill. So we’ll see who caves.

For the latest on what’s going on in the Senate, see live coverage at TPM. Just half an hour ago Chuck Schumer called for both The Gnome and Stephen Miller to be “removed.”  “It’s outrageous that Kristi Noem still has a job in the administration after federal officers murdered two American citizens in just two weeks,” Schumer tweeted. “Noem is incompetent and she must go. And her boss Stephen Miller must be removed as well,” he said.

Chuck is fired up. I didn’t know he had it in him.

Jamelle Bouie has a marvelous column up now comparing Minneapolis to the Battle of Gettysburg. (I have only one New York Times gift link remaining for the month and am hanging on to it, but if anyone can donate a gift link do put it in the comments.)

Gettysburg was supposed to be the blow that forced the United States to negotiate an end to the Civil War. Gen. Robert E. Lee would demonstrate the superiority of his Army of Northern Virginia — on Union soil, no less — and prove to key European powers that the Confederacy was here to stay so as to push them off the sidelines. The Gettysburg campaign was, in other words, a strategic offensive meant to advance the overall goals of the rebellion if not win the conflict altogether.

What Lee did not anticipate was the iron resolve, the ferocious tenacity, of the Union defenders. 

The history nerd in me loves this stuff. I’d say right now Trump et al. are in a place comparable to Robert E. Lee’s army after the second day of Gettysburg. They’d had some success but had failed to take key positions, in particular the high ground of Little Round Top. And they’d suffered terrible casualties. But they didn’t consider themselves defeated. Then the next day Bobby Lee ordered Pickett’s Charge. After that they considered themselves defeated, and skedaddled back to Virginia. That was July 1863, and the war didn’t end until April 1865. But for the remainder of the war Lee was strictly on defense.

So the question is, what will be Trump’s (or Miller’s) next move? Will he really dial things back in Minnesota? Will he change tactics, perhaps redeploy? Or will he order a Pickett’s Charge? There are a lot of news stories today claiming that Trump has changed course, but I will believe that when I see it. And I haven’t seen it yet.

Do see Quinta Jurecic at The Atlantic, ICE’s No. 1 Ally. That ally would be the Department of Justice. The Attorney General, aka Trump’s girl Pam, is doing everything she can to protect DHS in Minnesota, including blocking any real investigation into the killings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti. And that much doesn’t seem to be changing.

And today Trump’s girl Pam is in Minneapolis, vowing to stay the course.

Attorney General Pam Bondi is now in Minneapolis, where she says several protesters have been arrested.

“Federal agents have arrested 16 Minnesota rioters for allegedly assaulting federal law enforcement – people who have been resisting and impeding our federal law enforcement agents,” she wrote on X a few minutes ago.

She said more arrests can be expected.

“I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: NOTHING will stop President Trump and this Department of Justice from enforcing the law,” she added.

So Pam, at least, has raised her sword and is marching decisively toward the center of the Union line on Cemetery Ridge. How many will follow?

This is interesting — when the Trump Administration announced it was sending some ICE personnel to Italy to help with security at the Winter Olympics, Italy objected. “Tens of thousands of Italians have signed petitions demanding that ICE not be allowed at the Games, while opposition lawmakers have demanded that Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s government deny Trump’s ‘thugs’ entry to Italy.” So word gets around.

See also Clamor is growing in Europe to boycott Trump’s World Cup. Aw, poor baby. And after he got that nice FIFA peace prize. I bet Trump is planning to wear his medal to some World Cup games. But the stadiums may be half empty. I do feel bad for stadium vendors and any businesses hoping to pick up some tourist business from the World Cup. But I don’t feel bad for Trump.

Update: Check out Bruce Springsteen’s new song!

Shortly after Renee Good was killed by ICE agent Jonathan Ross, J.D. Vance claimed that Ross had “absolute immunity” because he was performing federal duties, CNN reported. And for this reason, Ross could not be prosecuted by the state of Minnesota. Vance later appeared to backtrack on that, after this remark was slammed by hosts of legal experts who disagreed. But I’m wondering if the Border Patrol agents who killed Alex Pretti had heard the backtrack.

A couple of weeks ago, writer Adam Serwer appeared on Chris Hayes’s Ms NOW show and said, “Their position is, if you disagree with us, we can kill you.” I was so struck by that I wrote it down at the time. I can’t find a video of that, but earlier that same day Serwer published a piece in The Atlantic in which he wrote,

The federal government now speaks with the voice of the right-wing smear machine: partisan, dishonest, and devoted to vilifying Trump’s perceived enemies rather than informing the public. Good’s mother, partner, and children have to cope not only with their unfathomable loss, but with a campaign designed to justify her killing. Their own lives will be subject to invasive scrutiny by the government and its allies, in a search for any derogatory information about Good that might somehow be used to justify her killing. For some, that won’t even be necessary. “I do not feel bad for the woman that was involved,” the Republican lawmaker Randy Fine told the right-wing network Newsmax. …

…The blatant lies about Minneapolis serve several purposes. They perpetuate the false narrative that federal agents are in constant peril and therefore justified in using lethal force at the slightest hint of danger. They assure federal agents that they can harm or even kill American citizens with impunity, and warn those who might be moved to protest Trump’s immigration policies of the same thing. Perhaps most grim, they communicate to the public that if you happen to be killed by a federal agent, your government will bear false witness to the world that you were a terrorist.

I recommend reading the whole thing; it’s not long. Among other things, he says Good’s murder was the ninth shooting by an ICE agent since September. I hadn’t realized there had been that many.

As soon as Alex Pretti’s death hit the news, Administration officials, including The Gnome and Stephen Miller (can we call him The Ghoul?), released statements calling Pretti a terrorist. Gregory Bovino claimed Pretti “wanted to do maximum damage and massacre law enforcement.” The smears had begun. But the blowback against the smears is even bigger now than it was for Renee Good. Paul Krugman is asking was this a murder too far?

Last week House Dems failed to challenge DHS funding in the current budget bill. (Not that they really tried; see Brian Beutler’s commentary on this; it’s brilliant.) Senate Dems appeared to have been prepared to pass the budget bill also, to avoid another shutdown. But now they appear to be putting up real resistance. They want DHS funding to be removed from the budget bill so they can pass the rest of the budget. But they are refusing to give more money to DHS until ICE and the Border Patrol are overhauled. So far, Republicans are refusing to cooperate.

Even so, Politico is reporting that Trump is feeling a “GOP backlash” over the murder of Alex Pretti. “Republican blowback surged this weekend after Pretti’s killing. Republican lawmakers called for probes into the incident, while others warned that the Department of Homeland Security and ICE risked losing credibility with the public.”

Also,

On Monday, President Donald Trump offered the first hint that the political crisis engulfing his administration would lead to changes on the ground. He deployed border czar Tom Homan to Minneapolis, a move viewed by some administration officials and Trump allies as a recognition that the president needed to change course. Homan, Trump said, will report “directly to me.”

“That is intentional,” said an administration official, granted anonymity to speak candidly. “Tom needs to be in charge.”

Trump also spoke to Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, a Democrat, on Monday and said they “seemed to be on a similar wavelength,” the latest sign that the president may be looking to deescalate tensions. It was a notable change in tone from late Sunday when he asked the governor to “cooperate with the Trump Administration to enforce our Nation’s Laws, rather than resist and stoke the flames of Division, Chaos, and Violence.”

Walz’ office said the call was “productive,” and said the president agreed to look into reducing the federal government’s presence in the state. The White House did not immediately respond to a request seeking to verify the president’s comments.

See also Republican calls are growing for a deeper investigation into fatal Minneapolis shooting of Alex Pretti. I’m also seeing a lot more stories about gun rights activists slamming the Administration over Pretti’s death, especially any suggestion that his being armed was the reason he had to be killed..

I don’t know if Homan is any less of a sociopath than Trump, The Gnome, Miller, and Bovino seem to be. And I think the whole problem with Trump’s “deportation” campaign from the beginning was that he was always less interested in actual deportation than in the optics of it, especially videos of nonwhite people being brutalized and humiliated. but it appears there’s less of a market for that sort of thing than Trump had assumed.

If nothing else, though the Administration has been put on notice that the smear tactics aren’t always going to work. We’ll see if they adjust.

After several hours have passed and several videos have surfaced, we know exactly how federal agents murdered Alex Pretti. Even the stupid New York Post has mostly backed off claiming that agents were forced to shoot Pretti in self-defense, although it’s still implying Pretti deserved to be shot, somehow. (Most recently, they’re blaming the firearm itself.) See video analysis from CNN,

Outside of the Trump Administration and Murdoch Media, there is near unanimity about what happened yesterday. As agents approached Alex Pretti, he was holding nothing but a phone. He did not try to interfere with the arrest they were making. Instead, he tried to come to the aid of a bystander who had been shoved to the ground. An agent sprayed pepper spray toward Pretti’s face. Then agents grabbed Pretti and shoved him to the ground, on his knees. Seven agents surrounded him. One agent struck Pretti several times with a pepper spray cannister. Then an agent pulled a gun that had been holstered on Pretti’s waistband. The agent walked away, holding Pretti’s gun. Pretti was completely restrained — and unarmed — and hunched over on his knees when an agent fired four shots into him at close range. Then another agent started firing. Together they fired at least ten shots. By that time the agent who had taken Pretti’s gun was across the street. And by that time, Alex Pretti must have been dead.

There really isn’t any ambiguity here. The federal agents had no reason to kill Alex Pretti, but they did.

Note that AG Pam Bondi reacted to the shooting by demanding that Minnesota turn over its voter registration rolls, now. Talk about not reading the room.

There has been an unexpected development, which is that a number of gun-rights organizations and activists are objecting to the Administration’s claim that Pretti must have been a bad guy because he was armed with a gun. (See also Gun Rights Advocates Want Answers About the Minneapolis Shooting at NOTUS.) In particular, a comment by U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli to the effect that federal authorities are “highly likely” to be “legally justified” in shooting anyone who is armed has set off some alarms. Their thing for years has been to “normalize” the sight of armed civilians in day-to-day life. And they see themselves on the side of law & order. And y’all probably already know I think this is hooey. But, as I said, it’s an interesting development.

For the perspective of a gun-rights activist, see Minneapolis Is a Second Amendment Wake-Up Call by Tyler Austin Harper at The Atlantic. Before reading it do note that Harper says a lot of things I find objectionable. The historical record does not support his belief that the “core purpose” of the Second Amendment is “to prevent government tyranny” but to protect the state militias. It was the decision to depend on state militias rather than a standing federal army for defense that was the protection against tyranny. But since the militia was self-armed — members were required to own their own muskets — the Second was written to be sure no authority interfered with the militia being armed. Since we now have a rather formidable standing military, the original purpose of the Second has evaporated.  Further, the Second Amendment has never done a bleeping thing to make the other amendments possible, as Harper writes.  And there is considerable data showing that having an armed population does not reduce crime or otherwise make us safer but just increases the likelihood of getting shot.

Still, Harper’s opinion may be representative of gun-rights activists, including the older ones who were radicalized by Ruby Ridge and Waco. They thought the Trump Administration was on their side. Now, they have doubts. And the Administration needs to learn to keep its propaganda stories straight.

Another interesting development is that, all of a sudden, DHS funding is being questioned again. House Dems failed to challenge DHS funding in the current budget bill and sent it on to the Senate. But now Senate Democrats are in revolt against DHS funding. Even Chuck Schumer has vowed that “Senate Democrats will not provide the votes to proceed to the appropriations bill if the DHS funding bill is included,” Don’t back down, Chuck.

The long-anticipated mega-snowfall started here in the early morning hours. It appears we’re not going to get the ice here, just snow. And yesterday the weather app was saying there could be two feet of accumulation, but now it’s saying six to eight inches. So I’m hopeful we won’t be snowed in here for very long. But the apartment complex show plough truck — which is parked just outside my apartment — won’t start. It’s 6 degrees outside. Some poor schmuck has been trying all morning to get it started, and failing. But since I’m too poor to own a car, I don’t have to worry about it. Nyah nyah.

Update: At some point another snow plough truck came along and gave the stalled truck a jump. The snow stopped about 5 pm EST, and I understand we got 14 inches. But no ice.

Border Patrol agents in Minneapolis shot and killed a man this morning. This is from Scripps News:

A man was fatally shot by a federal agent in Minneapolis on Saturday morning amid heightened tensions between the area’s immigrant community and Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the Star Tribune reported.

Witnesses told the Star Tribune that an ambulance crew performed CPR on the man. The newspaper reported that video footage showed agents wrestling the man to the ground before shooting him multiple times. The man’s condition is unknown.

Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara told the Star Tribune that the man has died.

 

I just spoke with the White House after another horrific shooting by federal agents this morning. Minnesota has had it. This is sickening.

The President must end this operation. Pull the thousands of violent, untrained officers out of Minnesota. Now.

— Governor Tim Walz (@governorwalz.mn.gov) January 24, 2026 at 11:04 AM

The Minneapolis Star-Tribune is posting updates to the story with no paywall. The DHS is saying the man who was shot approached ICE agents with a 9 mm semi-automatic handgun. But a video clearly shows that the federal agents wrestled him to the ground before shooting him.

The video is in this clip from MS NOW. It’s hard to see details but the man clearly was on the ground before he was shot.

Comments by Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey

That’s as much as I know for now. I’ll update if I see more information.

Update: The New York Post is running a headline claiming the man who was shot was waving a gun at the federal agents. It’s odd, then, then the federal agents were able to wrestle the man to the ground and appear to have roughed him up before shooting him. Those dots are not connecting.

It’s being reported that the man who was killed was 37-year-old Alex Pretti, a local intensive care unit nurse at a VA hospital. DHS has released a photo of a handgun said to be one that Pretti was carrying. The clear implication is that if he was carrying a gun he must have been up to no good. I recall a fellow named Kyle Rittenhouse who was held to a different standard.  Per the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara said that Pretti was a lawful gun owner with a permit. In Minnesota, open and concealed carry are legal with a permit. .

Update: The New York Times is reporting that Pretti was carrying a phone, not a firearm. They have a photo that clearly shows a phone in his hand.

Videos on social media that were verified by The New York Times appear to contradict the Department of Homeland Security’s account of the fatal shooting of Alex Jeffrey Pretti, 37, by federal agents in Minneapolis on Saturday morning.

The Department of Homeland Security said the episode began after a man “approached US Border Patrol officers with a 9 mm semi-automatic handgun” and they tried to disarm him. The statement did not specify whether the gun was in the man’s hands or merely on his body.

Footage shows Mr. Pretti was clearly holding a phone, not a gun, before the agents took him to the ground and shot him.

Jack Smith is testifying live to a House committee regarding his investigation into January 6. I keep turning the hearing on and off again because the Republicans are too annoying. There are also live updates at The Hill. There’s going to be special coverage on MS NOW tonight and maybe I’ll just watch that.

Trump’s speech at Davos yesterday was a disaster. If anyone on the globe hadn’t already realized Trump is a mentally addled and erratic despot who has no idea what he’s talking about regarding just about anything, they all know now. Yet he’s allowed to remain in office and in charge of the largest nuclear-armed military in the world. There could be no clearer demonstration that the entire political system of the U.S. is hopelessly corrupted.

Here’s a bit more, from Lawrence O’Donnell.

Regarding Trump’s “most favored nation” drug plan, which he believes has already delivered 800 percent lower drug prices to American consumers — apparently the pharmaceutical companies Trump thought he had a deal with haven’t cut any U.S. prices at all. However, they have raised the prices of some drugs sold elsewhere, just so they can they say are meeting Trump partway. Since drug prices in many other countries are set by law, they don’t have much room to maneuver in that regard.

There’s a piece at Wired by Garrett Graff headlined We Are Witnessing the Self-Immolation of a Superpower. It begins:

Imagine you were Vladimir Putin or Xi Jinping and you woke up a year ago having magically been given command of puppet strings that control the White House. Your explicit geopolitical goal is to undermine trust in the United States on the world stage. You want to destroy the Western rules-based order that has preserved peace and security for 80 years, which allowed the US to triumph as an economic superpower and beacon of hope and innovation for the world. What exactly would you do differently with your marionette other than enact the ever more reckless agenda that Donald Trump has pursued since he became president last year?

Nothing.

Right on cue, the NY Times is running an analysis headlined China Wins as Trump Cedes Leadership of the Global Economy. (Note: The NY Times is having some technical issues regarding gift links; I’ll try to get a gift link later today.)

In a long, rambling address that was by turns bombastic, aggrieved and self-congratulatory, President Trump pronounced last rites on American leadership of the liberal democratic order forged by the United States and its allies after World War II.

Mr. Trump used a keynote speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos on Wednesday — a pilgrimage site for adherents of globalization — to assert that the United States was done offering its markets and its military protection to European allies he derided as freeloaders. And he vowed to advance his trade war. He characterized tariffs as the price of admission to a land of 300 million consumers.

“The United States is keeping the whole world afloat,” Mr. Trump said. “Everybody took advantage of the United States.”

Of course, no country benefited more from the old arrangement than the United States, but Trump is too stupid to understand that.

Where is the Greenland issue, btw? Trump seemed to think he had made some kind of satisfactory deal, or at least had the framework of a deal, but what I’m reading today suggests this deal may exist only in Trump’s head. See the BBC, What we know about Trump’s ‘framework of future deal’ over Greenland. There were earlier stories leaked by somebody that somehow some areas of Greenland would be ceded to the sovereignty of the U.S. But Secretary General of NATO Mark Rutte, with whom Trump was negotiating, said that they didn’t discuss sovereignty at all. And Denmark/Greenland say that sovereignty is off the table and behind a red line and probably an impenetrable forest of thorns and ghosts and spells by several witches. Ain’t gonna happen. So nothing is settled.

I’m hearing that Trump is keenly interested in rights to Greenland’s mineral resources. The problem is that even if the U.S. had the “rights” to the minerals, actually extracting those minerals from Greenland would take more investment in money and time than the stupid oil in Venezuela and it’s unlikely any part of the private sector would take it on.

Let’s hope Trump doesn’t notice there really isn’t any more of a deal with Denmark than there is with the pharmaceutical companies.

Meanwhile, the Trump-made crisis in Minnesota appears to be escalating, with no end in sight. See David Kurtz at TPM for the latest.

I take it Trump gave a press conference at the White House yesterday in which he repeatedly confused Greenland with Iceland. But the only mainstream media I see reporting this is the Wall Street Journal.

That’s as much as I can read; the rest is behind a paywall. I’m just thinking of how it made many headlines every time Joe Biden mixed up a name.

I take it today Trump has been addressing Davos. This is the executive summary of the speech, courtesy of the New York Times:

Trump Speaks: President Trump used a speech at the World Economic Forum in Switzerland on Wednesday to criticize Europe and cast the world as almost entirely reliant on the United States for peace and prosperity. “Without us, most of the countries don’t even work,” Mr. Trump said in lengthy remarks that contained complaints that the United States had been mistreated by its allies, and could not rely on them for mutual defense. Read more ›

Greenland: Mr. Trump said the U.S. “won’t use force” to take Greenland, repeating that control of it was necessary for national and international security. He said he would be “appreciative” if the world acquiesced to his desire to take over the territory. “Or,” he added, “you can say no and we will remember.”

I’m sure that went over well. Most of the headlines are saying that Trump “ruled out use of force” to take Greenland,  As one NY Times reporter put it, “The contours of Trump’s challenge to Europe in this speech: ‘Give me Greenland, or I will tariff you into oblivion — though I won’t send troops to take it.'”

Paul Krugman must have anticipated what Trump would say. See MAGA Delusions of Economic Leverage.

… we can say something about the likely effects of his attempt to coerce Europe with tariffs — namely, that it won’t work. Only in Trump’s fantasies does America possess huge economic leverage over Europe. To the extent that we have any leverage over them, it’s matched by the leverage they have over us.

Krugman cites a new study from the Kiel Institute for World Economics. In 2025 American consumers paid 96 percent of the cost of the tariffs. Foreign businesses absorbed only 4 percent. The only people being “tariffed into oblivion” by Trump are Americans.

And Krugman goes on to say that the European economy is huge and diverse and the U.S. isn’t its only market. He thinks Trump’s tantrum tariffs will hurt the U.S. economy more than it will hurt Europe’s. He also notes the Supreme Court is still holding back its opinion on Trump’s tariffs. “At this point the Court’s cowardice is unmistakable; the justices’ robes must be drenched in flop sweat,” Krugman writes.

In another Great Moment in Diplomacy, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent called Denmark “irrelevant.”

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Wednesday offered some biting words about Denmark, which maintains territorial control over Greenland, after the European country’s pension fund announced it would unwind its investment in US government bonds.

Bessent said in response that Denmark and its investment in the United States were “irrelevant.”

“Denmark’s investment in US Treasury bonds – like Denmark itself – is irrelevant,” Bessent told reporters at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, when asked how concerned he is about institutional investors in Europe potentially pulling out of Treasuries.

There ought to be a way citizens of the U.S. could collectively send Denmark a note of apology for these assholes. I understand the bond market in general is in a volatile place. We are not in a good position to piss off the world right now.

Speaking of the economy — today the Supreme Court is hearing oral arguments over whether Trump can legally fire Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook. Trump fired Cook in August over extremely dubious claims of wrongdoing over a mortgage. She has remained on the Fed  board as one lower court after another ruled that Trump overstepped his authority when he fired her. Trump is desperate to get his hands on monetary policy so he can lower interest rates to provide a temporary “sugar high” to the economy. Which would lead to big inflation, all the financial people say.

Yesterday the New York Times published a Big Deal Report on how Trump is using the presidency to make himself a fortune. See How Trump Has Pocketed $1,408,500,000.

A review by the editorial board relying on analyses from news organizations shows that Mr. Trump has used the office of the presidency to make at least $1.4 billion. We know this number to be an underestimate because some of his profits remain hidden from public view. And they continue to grow.

Again, if this were Any Other President it would have absolutely overwhelmed the next several news cycles. With Trump, it appears hardly anyone noticed.

Update: Trump met with Mark Rutte, the secretary general of NATO, and came away deciding to not tariff the bejeezus out of Europe after all. So the threatened new tariffs are canceled, for now. Trump said there is a “framework” of a plan regarding Greenland and the broader arctic region. But there are no details yet what that framework might be. Since I doubt the secretary general of NATO has been authorized to negotiate a sale of Greenland to Trump, Rutte must have somehow found an acceptable off ramp for Trump’s demands. Let’s hope.

Another update: Jack Smith will be giving public testimony tomorrow, starting at 10 am EST.  I believe you can watch it on MS NOW and C-Span.

Update update: I’m hearing some of Trump’s speech. He seems to believe that the U.S. took Greenland from the Nazis, or somebody, but then stupidly “We gave Greenland back to Denmark.” WTF?

Last July Trump was really proud of his trade deal with the EU.

Trump said that the 27-member bloc also agreed to purchase $750 billion worth of U.S. energy and invest an additional $600 billion worth of investments into the U.S. above current levels.

He said that the bloc would also be “purchasing hundreds of billions of dollars worth of military equipment,” but did not provide a specific dollar amount.

You might remember that after his “liberation day” tariff announcement of almost a year ago, Trump promised the world would line up to make deals with him. 90 deals in 90 days, he said. And he was still bragging in April:

U.S. President Donald Trump said overnight that global leaders are willing to do anything to make a trade deal with him as American tariffs come into force.

“I am telling you, these countries are calling us up, kissing my ass,” Trump said during a speech at the National Republican Congressional Committee Dinner in Washington,

“They are dying to make a deal. ‘Please, please sir, make a deal. I’ll do anything sir,’” he imitated a begging foreign leader.

But by July, when the 90 days were up, he’d achieved only two — with the UK and with Vietnam. Which was making him look a bit stupid. But then the EU deal appeared to bail him out, although if you read beneath the headlines it was more of a framework than a firm deal. And enforcement was not part of the deal, so that the promises of purchases of energy or military equipment maybe would happen, but probably not. But Trump got his headlines about a major tariff deal success. He clearly was very proud of himself. You could say this was one of the biggest actual achievements of his first year back in office. Since, frankly, there weren’t many others other than his Big Ugly Bill.

And now Trump has thrown last year’s EU trade deal away with his push to acquire Greenland. Yesterday European leaders announced the trade deal is on hold. And now they are discussing among themselves how they will retaliate against Trump’s demands. Because they are absolutely not going to step aside and let Trump have Greenland. That’s irrational. See A stunned Europe gathers to respond after Trump increases pressure over Greenland. See also European nations weigh retaliation after Trump’s Greenland threats.

France is pushing for the bloc to use an instrument often dubbed its trade “bazooka,” which would allow for targeting or restricting American services in Europe, a major profit center for U.S. tech giants. That tool has not been triggered since its adoption in 2023. E.U. capitals shied away from using it last year during the tariff war with Trump to avoid a major escalation.

This will hurt the economy in Europe as much as the U.S., but what choice do they have? Because they’re not going to let Trump have Greenland.

Governing is hard, Donald. You should have noticed that your one Great Plan cancels out your other Great Plan.

I understand Trump has mused about offering $700 billion to buy Greenland. In comparison, the entire U.S. defense budget in 2024 was $872 billion. In 2024 the U.S. spent roughly $100 billion on SNAP food assistance. Apparently Trump thinks we can’t afford SNAP but we can afford Greenland? No wonder he thinks “affordability” is a hoax. He doesn’t grasp what it is.

And one of these days the Supreme Court is going to issue its tariff decision. What if, next week, they decide Trump really can’t just set tariffs by himself and has to go through Congress? That might save all of our asses, although I don’t trust the Roberts court to be that sensible. But if Europe found out Trump no longer has the authority to threaten anybody with tariffs, he’s got no leverage. Hmm.

A CNN poll found that 75 percent of Americans oppose Trump’s Greenland scheme. So why is he doing this? It’s not rational.

Many have wondered if Trump understands that Greenland really isn’t as big as it appears on maps.

This is such a cool illustration of how the Mercator map distorts the size of Greenland, which looks as big as the whole continent of Africa on that map but is actually the size of Mexico.

[image or embed]

— Helen Kennedy (@helenkennedy.bsky.social) January 18, 2026 at 2:43 PM

Yeah, he’s that stupid. See also Trump’s latest Western Hemisphere fixation: Canada.

In other news, Trump got the brilliant idea to organize a Board of Peace and invite other nations to join. This is apparently to rival the authority of the United Nations, which Trump is pissed at because its escalator stopped and he didn’t get a renovation contract back in 2008. Anyway, he invited 60 nations to join, saying their first job was to solve the Gaza problem. A permanent membership costs $1 billion, but nations can get a temporary position on the board without paying. Trump is chairman for life. (The Financial Times says the proposed charter seems to give Trump veto power over decisions of the board.)

So far the only world leader who has accepted is Viktor Orban of Hungary, although I don’t know if he’s coughed up the $1 billion. Nor is it clear to me who will collect the membership fees. other than Trump himself, and what he fees are for. I’ll be very surprised if any other nation takes this seriously, though, or at least not seriously enough to pay any money.

Regarding Minnesota — see Paul Waldman, The President of the United States Is at War With His Own Country. It’s really more than just Minnesota; Trump is trying to punish blue states for being blue states. “The Trump administration is engaged in a comprehensive war, and its enemy is half of America,” Waldman writes.. “This war is being waged in rhetoric and regulation, budget cuts and violence. Its aim is to tear the country in two.”

But Minnesota is really catching hell now. Trump has ordered 1,500 regular troops to be prepared to deploy to Minnesota in case they are needed to put down “violent” protests, which I take it would be any protests involving mouthy White women with whistles. Frightening stuff. There also are reports that Gov. Walz has “mobilized” the state Guard, but they haven’t yet been deployed.