Tuesday, January 20, 2026

Trump and Hegseth may have brought focus upon a solid no-bullshit Democrat who'd be trustworthy to be a sound President.

 Sen. Mark Kelly held a press conference.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6NXgor1MCiI 

Besides being a very promising man who is well spoken and NOT anyone's pushover, he just feels legit. Very legit. No Gavin Newsom about him. 

Stated differently, Kelly is no lightweight who already might be above his potential capability. 

And  Chris Murphy has already sparked interest among GOP hitmen. With reason. He'd be pushing uphill.

Murphy in return can get nasty with the hitmen, or seem so, and that's little help.

There are Andy Beshear and as a low profile but appealing person, Dan Rayfield.

Rayfield would be a great person for VP, the second spot on a ticket. An unknown whose bright ability would be quickly recognized, and not like the wealthy cranky Peter Thiel acolyte with a quite disagreeable public persona who Trump got stuck with. 

Rayfield would not be showing up a solid ticket first spot person either, but he'd be reasonable and sharp, a heartbeat away.

A Kelly - Beshear ticket appeals to Crabgrass much more than a Beshear - Kelly one, but keep Gavin far out of the way, please. The point is to win, not lose.

The hope is Ted Cruz muscles JD aside on the Republican front, and being disagreeable, loses big. But with MAGA GOTV, a Cruz chance has its fearful prospects. 

Hey, with real luck, the Republicans could run a Noem - Hegseth ticket. Even there, thought, there is a slight risk. Blowhard liars can win. We've seen that twice.

_______________UPDATE_____________

While unsure of the context the NYPost reported on the video which Kelly in the opening link is describing, it is put onto YouTube by the Post, and finding it there obviates the need to search further. The video underlying the Trump/Hegseth, improper reaction against rule of law, which is a video consonant with the Nuremberg trials and resultant international law, post WWII, this link

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Iux161DZAA 

 FURTHER: Helpful background PBS coverage:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JuovEO1UiV0 

CNN background

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nk_WaGy1aY4 

The White House position is clearly reported

https://www.deseret.com/politics/2025/11/20/trump-responds-as-democratic-lawmakers-direct-video-message-at-troops/ 

======================================== 

This is important since, Crabgrass believes, ICE employees take an oath of service, and as government agents with arrest powers, they should disobey unlawful orders, and eschew unlawful conduct. In effect, they should know better. Renee Good need not have been killed if Agent Ross had simply placed himself out of harms way throughout the interaction. Positioning unlawful? That's arguable, but the second and third shots into a vehicle as it passed Ross - he was not ordered, it was his initiative to keep firing away, shooting to kill. And at the end of his video, released to a right-wing outlet to be a posted video, "Fucking bitch" gets muttered.Why? That is a separate story, about Ross.

Crabgrass admits that content below the separation line is gratuitous as an addition to the main post content, but it is appended anyway. 

Monday, January 19, 2026

ABC News - "Lawyers allege Dept. of Homeland Security is denying legal counsel to Minnesota detainees"

https://abcnews.go.com/US/lawyers-allege-dept-homeland-security-denying-legal-counsel/story?id=129335914 

January 18, 2026, 8:22 PM

Thousands of people have been arrested during ICE operations in Minneapolis over the past two weeks. Multiple attorneys allege that for some of those detained, including at least one U.S. citizen, the Department of Homeland Security is denying their constitutional right to see an attorney.

Four attorneys told ABC News they have been denied access to their clients at the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building in Minneapolis, where they are being held, which they say would violate 5th and 6th Amendment rights to due process and the right to consult with counsel.

“ICE agents were physically restricting me from seeing them,” said one immigration attorney, who asked not to be identified. “I stood outside the attorney visitation room for about four hours on Thursday, trying to see one of my clients who had been there for multiple days. I kept saying, you got to let me see my client. And they just kept repeating, we don't do attorney visitation.”

 [...] All attorneys ABC News spoke to called the DHS denial a blatant lie, citing their own personal experiences as proof.

The immigration attorney also said access to an attorney by phone is different from access to an attorney in person.

“If ICE is trying to say, ‘Oh, it's fine, you can just have your client call you and you can talk and discuss their case over the phone,' that's absolutely unacceptable from an attorney-client standpoint. [Federal authorities] can and likely are listening in to those phone calls.”

[...] In recent months, other attorneys have raised similar claims in cities also grappling with a surge of immigration enforcement under the Trump administration. In September in New York City, a federal judge ordered that DHS provide detainees a way to make confidential calls to their lawyers within 24 hours of being detained at a holding facility at 26 Federal Plaza.

In October, detainees at the ICE facility in Broadview, Illinois, filed a lawsuit claiming they were being held in overcrowded and unsanitary conditions as well as being denied confidential and efficient access to counsel.

“It hurts your head the types of legal violations they are engaging in and the games they’re playing,” said the criminal defense attorney. “It’s disgusting.  This is not the America I love.”

Right to counsel has been recognized since the Warren Court, and it is even a part of the Miranda rights which persons arrested have to be given notice of, by set language. Do you guess that ICE people, conducting themselves as media report, read Miranda rights and accord their holding actions in line with them? I don't.

Smash the auto window, pull and torture the auto occupants with excessive force, handcuff them and force them into an unmarked vehicle - then read rights and honor those rights in practice? Get real. You've seen the reporting and video. 

UPDATE: It is a happy circumstances that in the image at the top of the post, all the signs are "FEDERAL AGENT" since it is what they are, and before they were giving the police a bad name. Truth in negative advertising, all that, a good idea. 

 

Today is a federal holiday, but there was court action set (likely not met) and readers are reminded of online information on Minnesota's suit against the ICE invasion.

 A reminder, docket following and downloadable .pdf filing copies are available online with this being the best coverage Crabgrass could find online, that way:

https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/72132615/state-of-minnesota-v-noem/

There is a Jan 14 minutes entry: 

(Text-Only) MINUTE ENTRY for proceedings held before Judge Katherine M. Menendez on 1/14/2026: Status Conference.Court Reporter: Paula RichterMinneapolis Courthouse, Courtroom Telephone ConferenceTime: 8:30 a.m./9:13 a.m.Total Time: 43 MinutesAPPEARANCES:For Plaintiff(s): Brian Carter; Kristyn Anderson; Kelsey McElveenFor Defendant(s): Andrew Warden PROCEEDINGS: The Court held a status conference in this matter. The status conference was held remotely to enable counsel for the defendants to appear. The Court declined to grant an ex parte TRO without giving the Defendants an opportunity to respond to the motion for injunctive relief. The Court will treat the Motion for a Temporary Restraining Order as a Motion for Preliminary Injunction, and will handle it on an expedited basis. The Defendants must file a response to the Motion on or before January 19, 2026, by 6:00 CST. The Plaintiffs may file a reply memorandum on or before January 22, 2026, by 6:00 CST. The Court will determine when to hold a hearing and whether an evidentiary hearing is necessary following review of the Defendants position. In addition, the Plaintiffs advised that they may seek expedited discovery regarding some of the matters at issue in this proceeding. The parties should meet and confer following January 19th to discuss this matter, and can approach the Court to address it after such a conference. The parties may also submit a Protective Order to enable the exchange of information. Ordered by Judge Katherine M. Menendez. (AJS) (Entered: 01/14/2026)

 So there will be a preliminary injunction hearing, and a status conference, and the latest item is Plaintiff's letter request to file an overlength brief. As of today.

Expedited discovery would be a sound thing, and it is the Plaintiffs who suffer from delay, since the TRO request was denied so that the intrusive federal siege continues. With that the case, time is of the essence. 

REMINDER: Keep track of the case from that URL given at the beginning of this post. Bookmarking it is recommended.

_________________UPDATE______________

The parallel Tincher case, which has reached a point where Defendants have filed a Notice of Appeal, is similarly tracked:

 https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/72047643/tincher-v-noem/

The item appealed is that which has been widely reported, curbing what ICE goons can do against constitutionally protected citizen tracking the ICE goons by auto, video documenting of ICE goon actions, and protesting ICE goon conduct - and with a bar against spraying poisons on citizens - all with constraints that citizen action be lawfulty conducted:

https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.mnd.229758/gov.uscourts.mnd.229758.86.0_1.pdf 

Presumably court listener will continue tracking the case, on appeal.  

 Readers on their own should search for appeal info online, while Crabgrass will post any links it locates that appear helpful.

A reminder, the constraints on ICE goon conduct remain controlling, despite how the lawful process may be ignored on the streets by them, unless or until the Appellate Court says otherwise. Expect no further action in the District Court, except perhaps filing of notices, where, I believe, violations of the District Court Order will need to be presented in Appellate filings. 

I may be wrong, but media reporting likely will follow the case and report about any court filings of or about breach of the injunction order.

 

 

Telephone Townhall Tom --- Perverse transition into just another self-agradizing DC mean and empty suit. Not much to start with, but worse now.

https://arc.stimg.co/startribunemedia/EESPD7CKS5ESRDWEGGDVNWMIGU.JPG

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uPV3seqvXpc 

https://talkingpointsmemo.com/gallery/what-the-federal-invasion-of-minneapolis-looks-like-on-the-ground-photos 

Just another DC empty suit. Worse than when he was losing his run for Governor.

Where he was actually in Minnesota and cared about the people here. Now all he does complain, while not holding townhalls in person. 

Telephone Townhall Tom is is phony as telephone townhalls are. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0A-YQlkhu24 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gcBWyQKM5Tg 

https://www.ag.state.mn.us/Federal-Action/ 

 

Saturday, January 17, 2026

GREENLAND? Ask Alice, when she's ten feet tall.

 The Internet yields many treasures, including food for extreme speculation. That said, you may not take this seriously, but it is multi-sourced, and spooky enough with ICE in Minnesota being weird enough, but figure if this fits the equation, with ICE.

Moving out of the INTRO - SO YOU KNOW QUITE CURRENT MAINSTREAM COVERAGE EXISTS, TO TRUST IT -

Joe Edwards
By

Live News Reporter

With the Trump administration repeatedly highlighting its intention to acquire Greenland, questions about a proposed libertarian‑style “freedom city” have resurfaced.

Newsweek has reached out to Peter Thiel via Palantir, Marc Andreessen via Meta, and Praxis via email for comment on Monday.

Why It Matters

President Donald Trump reiterated his desire to acquire Greenland either through purchase or occupation during a meeting at the White House on Friday where he said the Arctic island was critical for U.S. security given the threats posed by Russia and China.

However, Greenland is officially part of NATO-member Denmark’s territory and has wide-ranging autonomy with its own extensive local government.

A survey conducted last year by pollster Veria found 85 percent of Greenlanders rejected being part of the U.S. while Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said a U.S. military invasion would spell the end of NATO, which both countries are part of.

What To Know

In April, Reuters reported that some Silicon Valley tech investors had been advocating for the idea of a "freedom city" in Greenland, which the outlet described as “a libertarian utopia with minimal corporate regulation,” citing three individuals familiar with the matter.

According to the report, the vision for the island would include an artificial intelligence (AI) hub, autonomous vehicles, space launch operations, micro nuclear reactors, and a high‑speed rail network.

Two sources the outlet spoke two reportedly said PayPal co-founder Peter Theil and entrepreneur Marc Andreessen have been supportive of such an outpost on the island, though it added at the time that it was unclear whether either were actively lobbying the government.

“Peter isn’t involved in any plans or discussions regarding Greenland," a Theil spokesperson said, per Reuters.

New Scientist reported last week that Praxis—a company that was aiming to construct such a city— has raised hundreds of millions in seed funding and that its co‑founder, Dryden Brown, went to Greenland in 2023 in an attempt to negotiate a purchase of the territory.

On X, Brown wrote in 2024 that he wanted to create an early model of Terminus—the name Elon Musk has suggested for a future city on Mars. Forbes mentioned in a Friday report that Thiel helped fund the startup in 2021.

"We must build a prototype of Terminus on Earth before departing for Mars. I believe Greenland is the place," Brown posted.

Newsweek previously reported that a coalition of groups opposing regulation had called for “freedom cities” to be created throughout the U.S.

What People Are Saying

President Donald Trump recently told reporters: "If we don't take Greenland, Russia or China will take Greenland, and I am not going to let that happen...If we don't do it the easy way, we're going to do it the hard way."

Greenlandic Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen said earlier this month: "Our country isn't something you can deny or take over because you want to."

Anne Merrild, a professor of sustainability and planning at Aalborg University in Denmark said, according to New Scientist: “Greenland is not an empty space waiting to be experimented on. It has communities, democratic institutions and a strong sense of self-determination. Any proposals such as network cities or freedom cities would have to align with Greenland law, values and long-term social goals, and so far these ideas seem disconnected from reality.”

What Happens Next

The administration is expected to hold talks with Danish officials on Wednesday to address issues related to Greenland.

Other online items flesh out the notion -

 

https://www.insidehook.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Billionare-Cities-Hero-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C800

“I went to Greenland to try to buy it,” Dryden Brown posted on X a week after Donald Trump won reelection in November 2024. “Here’s what happened.”

That sounds like the setup to a joke, but Brown is entirely serious. He is part of a cadre of iconoclastic, very-online men looking to found the city of the future, with funding tied to crypto organizations, venture capital and libertarian billionaires. 

As the co-founder of Praxis, a theoretical city-state aiming to “restore Western Civilization,” Brown has had designs on Greenland as a home base since 2019, when President Donald Trump first started talking about buying the territory from Denmark. With the new administration bullying Danish diplomats on the phone and reiterating its interest in acquiring the island, Praxis finds itself in an enviable position relative to other futuristic city projects: with its goals and its financial backers aligning with the current administration.

The most prominent investor linked to Praxis is Peter Thiel. A member of the “PayPal Mafia” and erstwhile frenemy of Elon Musk, Thiel was one of the first Silicon Valley elite to support Donald Trump when he became a presidential candidate in 2016. He is also an outspoken supporter of “seasteading,” an effort to build floating city-states in international waters, and has gabbed with Joe Rogan about moving out of California to pay fewer taxes. So it’s no surprise that he backs Pronomos Capital, a venture which has become a hub for funding experimental cities, including Praxis.

 

From 2016: President-elect Donald Trump with Peter Thiel during a meeting with tech execs.  https://www.insidehook.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Thiel.jpg?w=1500

Founded by Patri Friedman — grandson of Milton Friedman, the libertarian economist — with seed funding from Thiel, Pronomos Capital has a portfolio of city projects in countries ranging from Palau to Nigeria. The most widely known is Próspera, located on the island of Roatán in Honduras. Developed as a Zone for Employment and Economic Development, or ZEDE, with a highly autonomous administrative structure and its own civil code, Próspera is far and away the leader in the “city of the future” category for the simple fact that it actually exists.

That may not be the case for very long, however, as the city has had several disagreements with its host country. As of September 2024, the top court in Honduras declared the legal underpinnings of ZEDEs unconstitutional. Another Pronomos investment is Itana, formerly known as “Talent City,” which is under development in Nigeria roughly 50 miles east of Lagos; it operates under a similar model as Próspera with backing from the Nigerian government. 

embedded video

All of the cities present some amalgam of laissez-faire principles, tech-evangelist mindsets and visions of a crypto-native economy. Lower taxes and fewer regulations, the artchitects behind them say, would promote innovation and foreign investment. Praxis goes a step further, calling itself “the world’s first Network State,” a concept developed by tech entrepreneur and former CTO of Coinbase Balaji Srinivasan. He called for a state that “crowdfunds territory around the world” before gaining recognition from existing countries. Praxis claims to have over 87,000 “Praxians” as part of its currently internet-only state. 

“As the warrior-kings once sought the sacred Grail,” reads Praxis’s so-called Declaration of Ascent, “so too shall we build an empire where true power flows from heroic courage and alignment with the divine order.” Brown’s description of Praxis builds on these pseudo-mythological themes: Praxian architecture would be “hero futurism,” with their first city on Earth a stepping stone to expanding to Mars for their “Network Empire.”

While all this gravitas has yet to translate into a definite location, it has translated into strong financial backing. Their newest financing round, announced in late October, totaled up to $525 million, to be released in tranches upon the development of “the next great city”; investors include Arch Lending (crypto-backed loans), GEM Digital (digital assets) and Manifold Trading (crypto trading). That’s a far cry from their 2021 funding round, which went to the tune of $4.2 million, according to The New York Times. In that announcement, Praxis thanked Thiel-backed Pronomos Capital as early investors.

Back to Greenland: According to his tweets, Brown and his Praxis co-founder, former hedge fund analyst Charlie Callinan, landed in the city of Nuuk in the summer of 2024, at which point they jogged around the capital before promptly going “Praxis mode” by jumping into the ocean. 

During the trip, he claims to have met with members of parliament and found that, despite a majority of Greenlanders desiring independence from Denmark, which has officially overseen the territory since 1953, there were several hurdles to his plan. As Rasmus Jarlov, a member of the Danish center-right party, tweeted back at Brown: “I can guarantee you that there is no way we would approve independence so that you could buy Greenland.” 

For Praxis, the negative response may seem insurmountable, but there are also tailwinds: President Trump has nominated Ken Howery, another member of the PayPal Mafia, to become the ambassador to Denmark. The official response from Denmark’s governing party to inquiries from Trump has been sullen as well, but the president’s efforts have landed a request for a meeting from the Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen amid attempts to ease security concerns in the region. Greenland’s Prime Minister Múte B. Egede also signaled he was ready to speak with Trump, though he drew a line in the sand on the issue: “We do not want to be Americans.”

Besides a reticent Danish government, one of the major impediments to buying the country is the roughly half-billion in annual block grants the country receives from its European benefactor. If Greenland were to come under U.S. control, however, the inconceivable prospect of Praxis becoming the newest, shiniest city of the future might become much more conceivable.

A brief Gizmodo post - January 10, 2025 - is on point, and a lengthy MJ post - 

Praxis (proposed city) has a Wiki

A failing mind.

 https://news.sky.com/video/donald-trump-threatens-tariffs-for-countries-opposed-to-greenland-takeover-13495173

 

The beat goes on.


Lawless DOJ idiots are harassing Walz and Frey for being human and showing care toward the fiducial duties they, as officials, owe the people: 

A DOJ spokesperson declined comment. 

Walz’s office said he hadn’t received any notice of investigation. 

Walz replied in a statement to the news: “Two days ago it was Elissa Slotkin. Last week it was Jerome Powell. Before that, Mark Kelly,” he said, referring to the U.S. senators who made a video telling U.S. servicemembers that they can and must refuse illegal orders, as well as the chairman of the Federal Reserve, who has refused to lower interest rates as quickly as Trump desires. “Weaponizing the justice system and threatening political opponents is a dangerous, authoritarian tactic,” Walz said. 

Frey called the investigation “an obvious attempt to intimidate me for standing up for Minneapolis, our local law enforcement and our residents against the chaos and danger this administration has brought to our streets.” 

He added: “I will not be intimidated.” 

The Post reported that “the subpoenas suggest that the Justice Department is examining whether Walz’s and Frey’s public statements disparaging the surge of officers and federal actions have amounted to criminal interference in law enforcement work.”

Walz, who announced earlier this month he won’t seek a third term, also used his statement to criticize the federal government for not properly investigating the killing of Renee Good by federal immigration officer Jonathan Ross. “The only person not being investigated for the shooting of Renee Good is the federal agent who shot her,” he said. 

[...]  Earlier this week, Trump said he would cut all federal funding to Minnesota and other states that have sanctuary cities beginning Feb. 1, but it’s unclear what that means and few details have been released.

In other news, the federal judge in the Tincher case, using differing language, issued and injunction effectively saying, top down, tell your ICE gorillas they can beat on their chest when they want to, but cannot beat on people that way; and stop releasing poisons on the public.

In a separate matter, Wikipedia, notes Roy Cohn was disbarred for looting an estate when he owed the public a clear fiducial duty to behave decently; Roy Cohn being a mentor of Donald Trump.  

 ______________UPDATE______________

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oEJF9HHvfGc 

 The totality of the video weaves many facts and thoughts - some already posted about by Crabgrass - into a convincing whole. The recommendation, watch it twice, with the overall impression in mind after the first viewing being something to weigh in mind for several moments before the second attentive viewing. It's as tight a showing as you may get of the mayhem Trump is inflicting on a city of Democratic Party people, because he is paranoid about non-sycophants. My way or the highway would be bad enough, but it's My way or brutality, costing much but Trump does not care of the expense, it's the suffering he can inflict, the power to hurt people that matters to him. He can say anything he wants, but words are cheap and actions are preserved in bystander video he cannot talk away. Facts are there. He's evil.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WW-Q7KbMjXw - Trump probably grooves on his forces acting as has been seen in video time and again. It is real and a threat to America. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4dR_a8PlmPg words can be cheap. Speakers too.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AROJENmi5x0 makes a case for questions of Noem and JD. JD is the one who should know better, yet his strident and beligerant tone when I was watching that one above thing had my brother-in-law saying, "Who is that asshole," just from hearing parts of things in the background. Noem is like a lower life form than an insect, but JD is a millionaire Yale Law School graduate and should behave better. That's just how it is. He's not the excuse of ignorance Noem has.