Noon Wednesday: I just returned from car repair – an errant nail and resulting flat tire have occupied my morning.

In the waiting room at the shop came Breaking News – somebody was shot down between 33rd and 34th on Portland Avenue South, related to part of the massive presence of ICE descending on Minnesota.  There are no confirmed details as yet.  Here was a screen shot I took of the TV where I got the news.

January 7, 2026 Minneapolis MN

I have no confirmed details as yet.  The TV will doubtless be filled, as it should be, with reporting, and I will weigh in more, as I know more.

The scene is well known to myself.  Indeed, my first weeks in Minneapolis, in 1965, were about 4 blocks away, on Portland Avenue South.  I will only say in addition, at this moment, that the Twin Cities Metropolitan Area, which includes Minneapolis and St. Paul, is a city estimated population of over 3 million in a state with about 5.5 million residents.

Stay tuned.  Check in at this site.  I have other things to discuss as well.  I will go by official facts released by local sources – Minneapolis and state.  You can see the same on television.

POSTNOTE 5;15 a.m. Thursday Jan. 8:  This is major international news, now.  I can add a tiny but relevant note from personal experience. within the last 24 hours.  Yesterday at 7 a.m. I was sitting at my coffee shop, making a call to Triple A (American Automobile Association).  I’ve been a member for years, and I had a flat tire between home and the coffee shop about 4 miles away.  Road service.  Nail.  This is the reason why I was at the repair shop when I saw the first news of the Portland Avenue incident which, if I recall correctly, did mention somebody had been shot with no details.

Cars are very familiar to me.  Occasions interacting with police very rare, never serious, but always nerve-wracking “what did I do?”

To get Triple A road service is simple – if you are a member.  But even with a membership, each. caller is vetted before a driver is assigned.  In my recollection, they said they’d want identification; they had a description of my vehicle; they wanted to know if it had valid license plates, and, of course, what was the problem.  When the AAA driver arrived, certainly not anonymous, I had to show my drivers license, and they photographed everything, including the vehicle identifier, and once concluded, the rest was simple.  The spare was installed, and I drove the car to the repair place where I could drop off the tire and come back later to get it reinstalled.  For me, this was a matter of three hours, zero issues.  The repair guy was dressed for winter, no mask, of course.  All cordial.  Maybe a half hour on site.  On went life….

FLASHBACK: Today I think back to the end of May, 2020, when the George Floyd murder aftermath dominated the news.  I archive all of my posts, and here is the access to 4 of the posts from that week.  The murder was on Monday, Memorial Day.  It became news on Wednesday, and the aftermath basically was the rest of the week.  It was a terrifying time, and I remember personal fear that outside agitators were coming to town from Chicago.  It was misinformation, but I bit at the time.   This time, no question there are outside agitators.  They’re called ICE.

COMMENTS (also see below):

There are a few comments on Jan. 6 post, and doubtless there will be more content at the Venezuela post.  I value comments as they all contribute to the conversation.

from Gramee: ICE related murder. And Noem MADE UP a whole pro-ICE story about what happened and shot her big mouth off  (again) online.

from Remi: Horrifying news from Minneapolis, so near the site where George Floyd was murdered.

from Jeff Jan 8 (other comment from Jeff at end of post): Noem just parrots what her master, Stephen Miller, tells her what to say.  So its essentially propaganda, voiced forcefully and loudly with a bully’s bravado.