Murder in Minneapolis

Greg Mitchell has authored more than a dozen books (see most of them here) and directed four recent PBS films, including the current “The Atomic Bowl.” Subscribing to this newsletter is still FREE—so if you want to help fund, maybe purchase one of those books, thanks. Or recommend this Substack to a friend!

Kimmel last night:

Rather than the usual Colbert monologue, his interview with Chris Hayes about the execution in Minneapolis:

Now let’s continue with the murder. Beyond the revealing video evidence, photo below gives lie to claims of “run over” officer as he fires at point blank range, from the side. Here is a new in-depth NY Times analysis of all videos.

I could sit here all morning and post chilling and accurate responses but others are doing that and frankly it is too enraging and I’d like to get this edition published soon. So this concise reaction from former Obama speechwriter Jon Favreau:

Renee Good was trying to drive away. The ICE agent shot her twice through her side window. The ICE agent walked away uninjured. We all saw this on video. They all know we saw this on video. They're lying about it for the same reason they lie about everything: they think they can get away with anything, even murder. They are despicable, garbage human beings.

Heather Cox Richardson:

Video taken by another eyewitness shows ICE agents refusing to allow a self-identified physician to tend to the victim and telling him to back up. Although there is no one tending the clearly visible woman in the car, an agent says: “We have medics on scene. We have our own medics.” When another bystander screams: “Where are they? WHERE ARE THEY?!” an agent tells her, “Relax.” “How can I relax?” she shouts. “You just killed my f*cking neighbor.”

That both DHS and Trump posted false accounts of the shooting even as there are four videos circulating that reveal those accounts to be lies shows they no longer are making any attempt to justify their actions. Instead, they are demanding Americans abandon reality in favor of whatever the administration says. If this works, it would be a demonstration of totalitarian power, the ability to control how people think. Accepting that lie is a loyalty test.

But it is not working.

First of all, Sarah Jeong of The Verge noted that the reason there are so many videos is because “people cared enough to show up where ICE was and record them. It wasn’t just one or two legal observers, and when Good was shot, they didn’t abandon her.”

A series this morning from our regular contributor Steve Brodner:

And from Michael deAdder:

Trump sat down for a rare lengthy interview with NY Times reporters last night where he repeated his claim that the victim had run over ICE officers. To “prove” it he played for them a video on a laptop.

As a slow-motion surveillance video of the shooting played on the laptop, we told him that this angle did not appear to show an ICE officer had been run over.

“Well,” Mr. Trump said. “I — the way I look at it …. ”

New music pretty thin to start the year so here a recent version of my 2025 “Song of the Year,” with a special twist and incredible harmonies: granddaughter and great-granddaughters of Woody Guthrie singing his “Deportee.”

From Tunes to Toons

Barry Blitt with next week’s New Yorker cover:

Goris:

Ohman:

Matson:

Sheneman:

Photo Finish

“Ice Skater, Mohonk, New Paltz, N.Y.”