The ICE/CBP/National Guard war against The People spreads like a skunk’s stench. (Photo credit The Weekly Opine with National Geographic and iStock graphics)

American tyranny

(Today’s opine includes graphic photos.)

Whether during the Jim Crow-era, Vietnam War protests, or current protests against mass deportation, American state-sanctioned mayhem displays a level of barbarism – including executions – usually associated with unhinged authoritarian regimes.

Last weekend, for the third time since September, ICE and/or Customs and Border Protection thugs committed cold-blooded murder. Two of the murders occurred in Minneapolis in just the past few weeks. For context, Minneapolis officials noted the city has suffered three murders so far in 2026. Which means two of the three murders in Minneapolis have been carried out by Trump administration ICE/CBP animals. Minneapolis’ police chief said last year his department recovered 900 guns off the streets and “we did not shoot anyone.” Clearly, Minnesotans are less safe with the presence of ICE/CBP.

Now, finally, someone has the guts to say it out loud. American citizens have the right to protect themselves – by any means necessary – from being kidnapped by warrantless, masked goons masquerading as law enforcement. That sentiment was expressed last weekend by Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes. Mayes told residents the state’s Stand Your Ground self-defense law gives them the right to shoot masked ICE hoodlums if residents believe they are in danger.

(L) During the Jim Crow-era Blacks feared lynching. On January 6, 2021, MAGAs wanted to lynch Mike Pence. (R) The 1970 murder of Kent State students shocked our sensibilities. Adding to the travesty, National Guardsmen were acquitted. (Photos credit AP News / New York Times)

Mainstream, so-called legacy media have accommodated Trump at nearly every turn, going back to his first administration. This second time around, the accommodation has reached dizzying lows. The media tippy toes around Trump’s obvious mental decline. Whereas they peppered the Biden administration with questions, and sometimes simple-minded speculation, about President Biden’s mental acuity, many media mostly skip over Trump’s deadly mental decay. However, Trump ally, Slovakia Prime Minister Robert Fico, worries about Trump’s “psychological state” and unpredictability. Fico says Trump is dangerously “out of his mind.”

With blood on Trump’s hands and in the street, it’s time for all media to channel Mamie Till. Ms. Till, the mother of Emmitt Till, supercharged the civil rights movement in 1955. After the brutal murder of her 14-year-old son at the hands of Mississippi Klansmen, Ms. Till left Emmitt’s casket open during his wake and funeral so the world could see her son’s grotesquely disfigured face.

Over 50,000 mourners saw Emmitt Till’s mutilated body. Jet magazine, a national magazine dedicated to Black lifestyle, published photos of Till in his open casket. The nation (except MAGA-like Klan supporters) was outraged.

Keep up the pressure

Just like Jet magazine did, the media should continue using their platforms – broadcast, print, digital, social media – to prominently display the executions of Silverio Gonzalez, Renee Good and Alex Pretti. (Including the coverups and revisionist, cover-their-ass stories coming from Trump and DHS.) And forcefully highlight the unwarranted beatings and pepper-spraying ICE/CBP cowards administer on peaceful protesters. Show Trump/Republican savagery today, tomorrow, next week, all the way up to the midterm elections.

After peacefully intervening to protect two women from ICE/CBP, Alex Pretti was executed by Trump’s Gestapo. (Photos credit Bluesky social media users)

A claim made by the Department of Homeland Security that the Gestapo, err, ICE/CBP are in Minneapolis to root out healthcare fraud committed by Somalis has been proven a big lie. The answer to solving alleged fraud is not to terrorize an entire city and murder peaceful American citizen protesters. Wouldn’t law-abiding forensic accountants be better suited to determine if fraud exists?

(Note: Texas has 2.1 million undocumented immigrants = 6.7% of the population. Florida has 1.6 million undocumented = 6.9% of the population. Minnesota has 130,000 undocumented = 2.2% of the population. Why are Minnesotans being harassed? Here comes the answer…)

In a stunning admission of the Trump administration’s real intent, Kristi Noem’s dimwitted twin of stupidity, U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi, said the quiet part aloud. If Minnesota Governor Tim Walz turns over the state’s voter rolls to the federal government, then ICE and CBP will leave the state. Bondi’s request proves beyond doubt the invasion of Minneapolis was never about fraud or rooting out dangerous immigrants. This is about Republicans cheating to win the 2026 and 2028 elections in Minnesota.

Trying to reverse public opinion, Trump sent border czar Tom Homan to Minneapolis to replace the trash, a.k.a., Greg Bovino. Recall Homan has been credibly alleged – captured on video – of taking a $50,000 bribe from undercover FBI agents. (Somehow, Homan hasn’t been investigated.) Homan also agreed with Kristi Noem’s assessment that Renee Good’s actions could “fall within the definition of domestic terrorism.” Who besides the Trump administration feels good about Homan going to Minneapolis?

No matter. Nationwide outrage, coming from all corners including political, business, sports, and entertainment, is real. The People must sustain and vote on their rage come November 3.

Mankind moves closer to the end. (Photo credit Bulletin of Atomic Scientists / YouTube)

Doomsday?

On Tuesday, the Doomsday Clock was set at 85 seconds until midnight (the closest ever), moving forward four seconds from last year. The Science and Security Board listed nuclear proliferation, climate change and disruptive technologies as the determining factors.

Considering the clock jumped forward from five minutes to three minutes in 2015 (a 40% move), I am surprised at SASB’s decision to move forward only four seconds. The same items were listed as key factors in 2015, along with “failures in leadership.” In my opinion, those factors have intensified, along with the world tilting toward lethal authoritarian leadership. Factor in out-of-control AI development and the threats we face appear more significant than a move forward of a mere four seconds (a 4% move).

“Humanity has not made sufficient progress on the existential risks that endanger us all,” said Alexandra Bell, president and CEO of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. “The risks are all growing [and] we are running out of time,” added Bell. Echoing Bell, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei said, “Humanity is about to be handed almost unimaginable power, and it is deeply unclear whether our social, political, and technological systems possess the maturity to wield it.”

We are all Cinderella. It’s 85 seconds until midnight.

DON'T LOOK AWAY