Sunny this morning--so far. We got somewhere between 6 and ten inches of snow. The crews have made a good start on removing it from the streets, driveways and sidewalks. Someone came along with a little tractor and cleared part of our sidewalks but the part of the pavement from the door to where it joins the path to the street still remains snow packed. I swept the snow away from the patio door step. I started the chili just now. The meat is browning with the beans and tomatoes on the side waiting to be added. That should do nicely for the rest of the week which is expected to be very cold.

One of the commentators on the morning talk/news/commentary shows was discussing a perceived split in the ICE/Homeland Security Agency on the increasing brutality of their operations. The comment that stood out was that Christi Noem and Steven Miller wanted/approved of the "spectacle of violence" they see in the news from Minneapolis. It brought to mind what the agent who shot Renee Good was doing while he confronted her--he was using his phone to "make content" of what was going on. That seems to be a common activity among Trump's minions--making content to push out their, usually fraudulent, story. The Romans had their "circuses" where gladiators fought til bloody or dead. Those "spectacles of violence" were routine parts of Roman life. Every inauguration of newly elected consuls, every military triumph, and other significant event was celebrated with celebratory bloodletting. Our city streets are now the scene of our government's gladiatorial contests but it is pitting combat equipped thugs against citizens with signs and cell phones.

Attorney General Pam Bondi laid bare the real reason for the Administration's brutality in Minnesota (and probably for the rest of ICE actions): political extortion. Her letter to Minnesota's governor says ICE might be withdrawn IF he gives the Feds their voter data, their lists of everyone receiving SNAP or Medicaid benefits, cancels the "sanctuary city" programs, and generally "aid" ICE/CBP in their efforts to round up immigrants. The Founders of this Republic divided sovereignty between a Federal government and the several States. Here the Federal power is trying to erase the state sovereignty. Some time ago, a couple of decades actually, I expressed the thought that the U.S. was at a fork in the road where one road would lead to a cutting back of the Federal power and restoration of sovereign states and the other would see the Federal government all powerful with the States reduced to mere provinces. Trump loves the Second Article of the Constitution which he and his enablers insist give him absolute power. They forget the 10th Amendment  which restricts the powers of the federal government to specific actions and reserves the rights of the states and the people to all other actions.

Timothy Snider has an interesting re-writing of the Bill Of Rights reflecting the Age of Trump. The calls it the Bill Of Wrongs and I can't disagree.