Gabbard Confirms FBI Raid on Georgia Election Office Was Ordered by Trump

(Vincent Albans/Reuters)

After the FBI raided a Georgia election office situated in Fulton County to seize ballots, I concluded this was a Trump operation:

Although the raid was conducted by the FBI, it was the Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard who was personally present for the operation.

Yet none of this happens without President Trump who continues to insist he did not lose the 2020 presidential election much less lose Georgia. After all, more than 5 years ago it was Trump who demanded Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to find him 11,780 votes. It would seem that Trump has now formally set this search into motion.

Of course, this is more than about 2020. It is about 2026 and, more importantly, 2028.

Trump wishes to federalize our elections and the Constitution be damned. Most likely, this federalization will be limited to blue states or in state which could vote blue (i.e. Georgia). After it was Attorney General Pam Bondi who offered to have ICE leave Minnesota if Governor Walz provided her with their election rolls. 

Today, Gabbard confirmed that Trump had asked her to accompany the FBI on the raid and also arranged for FBI agents conducting the raid to speak directly with Trump by phone. 

So, why Gabbard and not FBI Director Kash Patel? Because Trump probably thinks Gabbard looks better on TV than Patel. The same could have probably been said for Pam Bondi or Kristi Noem if that pair wasn't so toxic. Then again, last July, Trump himself described Gabbard as the "hottest" member of his Administration. Well, at least we know which head Trump thinks with when it comes to Gabbard.

The point here is that there is no FBI raid on the election office in Georgia without Trump. He set the wheels in motion. And because of that, Trump sees fit to pick any cabinet member he likes to go along on the raid. The FBI, like ICE and the Border Patrol, has ceased to be an independent agency and now operates upon Trump's whims and obsessions namely the 2020 election and his desire to federalize the 2028 election.

Had either President Obama or President Biden directed such an operation much less spoken with FBI agents amid a raid Republicans would be up in arms about it and rightly so. But don't expect Republicans to say boo about Trump initiating this raid much less one of his cabinet members confirming that he directed her to be present at the proceedings. They are not even interested in the appearance or pretense of democracy. 

My Thoughts on Recent Comments by JD Vance & Tim Walz About The Holocaust

Both Vice-President JD Vance and his 2024 opponent in the U.S. presidential race, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, made remarks concerning the Holocaust over the past week which warrant some examination.

First, I will focus on Vance's statement on International Holocaust Remembrance Day last Tuesday:

Today we remember the millions of lives lost during the Holocaust, the millions of stories of individual bravery and heroism, and one of the enduring lessons of one of the darkest chapters in human history: that while humans create beautiful things and are full of compassion, we’re also capable of unspeakable brutality. And we promise never again to go down the darkest path.

Vance makes no mention of Jews or the anti-Semitic ideology of Nazis who sought to exterminate Jews from the face of the Earth. Sadly, this should come as no surprise as Vance has repeatedly sought fit dismiss and minimize the surge of anti-Semitism in the United States since October 7th. Now Vance is hardly the first elected official to omit mentioning the Jews on International Holocaust Remembrance Day. President Trump himself did so in 2017. Former Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau did the same in 2016.

In Vance's case, he has a demonstrated history of dismissing and minimizing anti-Semitism while tolerating those who express anti-Semitic views within MAGA namely his mentor Tucker Carlson and turning a blind eye to his willingness to give Nick Fuentes legitimacy dismissing such concerns as "self-defeating purity tests."

Simply put, there is no way Vance is Trump's running mate without Carlson's blessing. And if he wants to keep Carlson's blessing he cannot condemn either anti-Semitism or Nazis. 

Now let me turn my attention to Vance's 2024 VP rival, Tim Walz. A week ago, following the execution of Alex Pretti, the Minnesota Governor invoked Anne Frank when discussing the ICE surge in his state:

We have got children in Minnesota hiding in their houses, afraid to go outside. Many of us grew up reading that story of Anne Frank.

Somebody’s going to write that children’s story about Minnesota.

Walz's comment drew a rebuke from the U.S. Holocaust Museum:

Anne Frank was targeted and murdered solely because she was Jewish. Leaders making false equivalencies to her experience for political purposes is never acceptable. Despite tensions in Minneapolis, exploiting the Holocaust is deeply offensive, especially as antisemitism surges.

While I am generally inclined to agree that casual comparisons to the Holocaust are wildly inappropriate, let us consider the statement Rabbi Yehuda Kaploun, recently appointed by President Trump as his administration's new envoy on anti-Semitism. Kaploun stated, “Anne Frank was in Amsterdam legally and abided by Dutch law.” 

This is rubbish. Jews had virtually no legal status in the Netherlands by the time Anne Frank and her family went into hiding in the summer 1942. Under Nazi control, Jews were forced to turn in their radios and telephones, were prohibited from nearly all employment and public places with their movements severely restricted. The Frank family went into hiding after Anne's older sister Margot was summoned to report to a German labor camp which meant certain death.

If Governor Walz's comments are out of line, then why have Holocaust survivors living in a Florida retirement home offered to hide their Haitian caregivers from ICE? Why are immigrant families in Minnesota now in hiding? And why exactly are both the White House and DHS using a neo-Nazi song to recruit ICE agents?

Let me put this way. If ICE and Border Patrol agents are prepared to execute U.S. citizens in broad daylight, is it really a stretch of the imagination that they wouldn't do the same to the people they round up to be deported whether they are here legally or not?

This isn't to say the United States is now a modern-day Nazi Germany let alone a totalitarian state. Our democratic institutions (i.e. courts and the press) still have enough strength to free a father and a 5-year-old boy from their unjust detention. But will that still be the case in a year from now? Two years? After the 2028 election, if there is one?

While I am uneasy with Walz's comments, I am uneasy not because I believe he is trivializing the Holocaust. I am uneasy with Walz's comments because he might be proven right. That is unless, ICE leaves Minneapolis and its present form abolished and replaced by a new agency which doesn't wantonly ask people for their papers and execute those who get in their way.

Could Luis Arraez Win His Fourth Batting Title with His Fourth Different Team?

 

Yesterday, infielder Luis Arraez signed a 1-year contract with the San Francisco Giants for $12 million.

The Giants are the Venezuelan born infielder's fourth big league stop. Arraez previously played with the Minnesota Twins, Miami Marlins and the San Diego Padres.

With each of these teams, Arraez won a batting title. In fact, Arraez won three consecutive batting titles. In 2022, Arraez won the AL batting title hitting .316. Following that season, the Twins traded Arraez to the Miami Marlins in a deal which included starting pitcher Pablo Lopez. Arraez then hit a career high .354 in 2023 to win his second consecutive batting title and first NL batting crown.

Just over a month into the 2024 season, the Marlins dealt Arraez to the San Diego Padres in exchange for four players including Jakob Marsee who is now the Marlins' centerfielder. Arraez won his third consecutive batting title and back-to-back NL batting crowns hitting .314 while leading the NL with 200 hits.

In 2025, Arraez again led the NL in hits with 181 but his average fell to .292 although that was good enough to rank 4th in the NL as Philadelphia Phillies shortstop Trea Turner was the only .300 hitter in the Senior Circuit winning his second NL batting title with a .304 mark. The NL came dangerously close to having a batting champion with a sub-.300 average.

What is fascinating to me is that Arraez is so well-travelled. You would think three batting titles would make one a fixture in someone's lineup a la Ty Cobb, Stan Musial, Rod Carew, Wade Boggs or Tony Gwynn. Alas, Arraez is viewed as a liability for not having sufficient power, drawing few walks and subpar defensive skills despite his three batting titles and rarely striking out. Evidently, MLB frowns upon contact hitters.

So even if Arraez wins his fourth batting title with the Giants, he will likely be on the move albeit with a lucrative free agent contract although that could be jeopardized by a lockout of the 2027 season when the present MLB collective bargaining agreement expires at the end of this year.

Have perennial batting champion will travel.

In the FBI Raid of Georgia Election Office, Trump is Looking for Those 11,780 Votes & A Whole Lot More

Amid all the chaos in Minnesota with ICE, President Trump renewed another front of the war against America on Wednesday with a raid of a Georgia election office situated in Atlanta's Fulton County seeking ballots from the 2020 election.

Although the raid was conducted by the FBI, it was the Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard who was personally present for the operation.

Yet none of this happens without President Trump who continues to insist he did not lose the 2020 presidential election much less lose Georgia. After all, more than 5 years ago it was Trump who demanded Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to find him 11,780 votes. It would seem that Trump has now formally set this search into motion.

Of course, this is more than about 2020. It is about 2026 and, more importantly, 2028.

Trump wishes to federalize our elections and the Constitution be damned. Most likely, this federalization will be limited to blue states or in state which could vote blue (i.e. Georgia). After it was Attorney General Pam Bondi who offered to have ICE leave Minnesota if Governor Walz provided her with their election rolls. 

Where it concerns Georgia, we can expect charges to follow most likely against Fani Willis who launched the Georgia election interference case after Trump's call to Raffensperger came to light in 2021. At present, Trump is seeking in excess of $6 million in legal fees from the Fulton County DA after Willis was removed from the case due to personal misconduct although several of Trump's co-defendants had plead guilty in the charges she brought against them.

Trump plays for keeps and this is part of his retribution. These are the acts of man who does not intend to leave the White House in January 2029.

In setting these events into motion, Trump and his cohorts are seeing to it that we are not free to choose who see fit to represent us in the White House and elsewhere - unless, of course, we choose him.

That is no choice at all.

ICE Officer Who Pointed Gun at Observer in St. Peter, MN: "I'm Not Getting into The Legality of Everything"

 

On Thursday, White House Border Czar Tom Homan claimed the Trump Administration would "draw down" operations by ICE and CBP in Minnesota noting, "Members of the community are not the targets of our operations." 

Evidently, the ICE and CBP agents in the field did not get Homan's memo or perhaps they simply disregarded it. The same day Homan spoke, an incident took place in St. Peter, Minnesota - about 70 miles southwest of Minneapolis:

The resident, a woman, had been observing and recording video of immigration enforcement actions from her car Thursday afternoon when agents took her into custody.

The woman, who did not want to be identified because she fears for her safety, is a U.S. citizen and a resident of St. Peter. She told MPR News in an interview that she was out in the community in her car, tracking the movements of federal agents, and recording them on a dash cam.

She shared that video with us. Agents in three vehicles began chasing her and trying to force her to pull over. Eventually they box her in, three agents get out of the car in front of her, with their guns drawn and they try to force her out of her vehicle.

“Get out of the car! Get out of the car,” the agents scream at her repeatedly, while she calmly responds, “No. I will not get out of the car.”

While she's alone in the car, the woman can be heard talking with other observers on speaker phone and she tells them to call 911. The agents open the door, which unlocked automatically when she put the gearshift in park, they drag her out and force her to the ground. She said the agents were overly aggressive and physical as they pinned her down and handcuffed her, leaving her with multiple cuts, scrapes and bruises.

The woman’s husband eventually arrives and tries to intervene, and he made a separate recording of the interaction on his phone. He tells the agents not to search her car because they don't have a warrant and it would be an illegal search. The agents appear dismissive of his constitutional concerns.

"I'm not getting into the legality of everything," one agent responds tersely.

MPR News interviewed the woman and her husband, who also doesn't want to be identified, fearing retaliation.

So only hours after Honan publicly assures that members of the community are not the target of ICE operations, ICE agents pull their guns on a woman observing them from their car, forcibly remove her from her vehicle and place her under arrest. When the woman's husband tells them not to search the car without a warrant, one of the ICE officers replies, "I'm not getting into the legality of everything."

What this statement tells me is that ICE continues to operate in Minnesota with impunity. The fact one of their officers feels comfortable saying he will not get into "the legality of everything" means that they have been told they are not bound by the law and that Honan's statement is meant only for public consumption and has no bearing on policy and procedures.

All things considered, this woman is quite lucky as the husband got hold of the St. Peter chief of police who evidently intervened because ICE turned her over to him shortly after her arrest. Under other circumstances, however, she could have easily become another Renee Good or Alex Pretti.

If the incident in St. Peter is any indication; ICE will continue to rough up members of the community who see fit to scrutinize their actions.  

In which case, it is only matter of time before ICE executes another U.S. citizen in Minnesota.

In Arresting & Charging Don Lemon, The Trump is Now Officially TreatingJournalists as "The Enemy of The People"

Former CNN anchor Don Lemon was arrested on Friday morning along with six other individuals and subsequently charged with "conspiracy against the rights of religious freedom at a place of worship and injuring, intimidating, and interfering with the exercise of right of religious freedom at a place of worship."

U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi stated on X that Lemon and others were arrested "in connection with the coordinated attack on Cities Church in St. Paul, Minnesota."

Coordinated attack?

A coordinated attack took place on September 11, 2001.

This was not a coordinated attack.

It is true that services at the church were disrupted by protesters angered by the execution of Renee Good by ICE earlier this month. The pastor of the church is alleged to be currently working as an acting director for an ICE area field office.

Now, it is reasonable to argue that disrupting church services is in poor taste and could warrant charges of trespassing and other charges if the protesters behaved in a menacing manner towards the congregants. However, it is clear that Lemon was covering the event as a journalist

But such things do not matter to the Trump Administration. The last thing the Trump Administration wants is a thriving free press and independent journalism. Let us never forget it is Trump who has repeatedly stated the media is "the enemy of the people."

In arresting Lemon, the Trump Admin is putting the President's mantra into practice.

In which case, Lemon won't be the last journalist to be arrested by the Trump Administration.

A Few Words for Catherine O'Hara

While I was at lunch this afternoon, I learned of Catherine O'Hara's sudden passing at the age of 71.

Her passing is one of those gut punches. O'Hara was an exquisitely funny woman with enormous and endearing charm. For many people, she is best remembered for her flamboyant portrayal of Moira Rose alongside her longtime friend Eugene Levy in Schitt's Creek. She had just completed a season of the Apple TV sitcom The Studio co-starring with Seth Rogen. O'Hara had remarkable success after the age of 60, an age when most actresses are cast aside. That success is a tribute to her talent and personability. 

While O'Hara will be remembered for her more recent successes along with roles in Home Alone and Beetlejuice films, I remember her first and foremost from her days in SCTV. When she was accepted into Second City, she had the unenviable task of replacing Gilda Radner who had become a Not Ready for Primetime Player on Saturday Night Live. 

Yet alongside John Candy, Joe Flaherty, Harold Ramis, Andrea Martin, Rick Moranis, Dave Thomas, Martin Short and, of course, Eugene Levy, this ensemble produced some of the greatest comedy TV has ever known and this is saying a great deal.

O'Hara's characters were often the aristocratic, straight woman who was about to come apart at any moment. Her chemistry with Levy was undeniable. After SCTV and before Schitt's Creek, the pair co-starred in a series of mockumentary films directed by Christopher Guest (Waiting for Guffman, Best in Show, A Mighty Wind and For Your Consideration). Of these films, A Mighty Wind was my favorite for spoofing the 1960s folk music movement. O'Hara and Levy play an estranged husband and wife folk duo, Mitch and Mickey. Not only are they hilarious but have the musical chops to convince you that Mitch and Mickey were a seminal part of American folk music. O'Hara possessed a beautiful singing voice. It is entirely under a different set of circumstances that O'Hara could have enjoyed a career as a singer. 

In the circumstances under which she lived, Catherine O'Hara was one of the funniest people the world has saw and heard and the world laughed with her. R.I.P.