Ron A.
LightNews LightNews
ronangerer.bsky.social
Ron A.
@ronangerer.bsky.social
460 followers 580 following 1.7K posts
A lawyer, for better and worse. Committed progressive.
Posts Replies Media Videos
Reposted by Ron A.
newrepublic.com
“What’s that money for?” a reporter asked, and the president completely ignored it. trib.al/gXra3f6

Is the membership fee for a chunk of real estate in Jared Kushner’s “New Gaza” plan? Or is it going to Trump’s pocket via some offshore bank account based in Qatar? We may never know.
January 25, 2026 at 6:57 PM
Reposted by Ron A.
jacobtlevy.bsky.social
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0... by Jonathan Rauch
Yes, It’s Fascism
Until recently, I thought it a term best avoided. But now, the resemblances are too many and too strong to deny.
www.theatlantic.com
January 25, 2026 at 6:57 PM
Reposted by Ron A.
andycraig.bsky.social
Saying there must be trials isn't just an emotive aspiration.

Congress can:
- Create a new court (complying w/ 6A jury vicinage)
- Give it jurisdiction over defined category of crimes
- Also create dedicated prosecutors for the same
- Strip SCOTUS of appellate jurisdiction

It can be done.
January 25, 2026 at 7:28 AM
Reposted by Ron A.
earlymodjustice.bsky.social
The headlines in this article in the Economist (UK) are great—better than almost any newspaper in the US
The Economist → Weekly edition World in brief United States United States | Violence without consequence Another horrifying shooting by federal agents in Minneapolis What happens when armed men are given impunity
January 25, 2026 at 12:27 PM
Reposted by Ron A.
reichlinmelnick.bsky.social
You have to read this. Firsthand affidavit from one of the women who was there and recording the video. She talks about how Alex Pretti was directing traffic when she arrived. She watched him be killed in front of her. She's afraid to go home, worried she'll be arrested.
1. I am a resident of the Whittier neighborhood of Minneapolis, Minnesota. I am over 18 years of age. I am a children's entertainer who specializes in face painting. 2. On Saturday, January 24, 2026, at about 8:50 am, I was getting ready to go to work when I heard whistles outside. I knew the whistles meant that ICE agents were in the area, so I decided to check it out on my way to work. I've been involved in observing in my community because it is so important to document what ICE is doing to my neighbors. Connecting to your local community and knowing who your neighbors are is something I profoundly value. 3. I drove to Nicollet Ave. and 26th where I could hear the whistles coming from. I turned south onto Nicollet. There were already several ICE agents there and they'd set up a sort of vehicle convoy on Nicollet and 28th. There were also about 15 observers there, recording and observing ICE. 4. I saw ICE agents surrounding cars and punching car windows. I also saw them stopping vehicles further down Nicollet, so I backed up because I didn't feel safe continuing on. 5. I noticed a man sort of acting to help traffic move more smoothly. He helped me find a place to park. I got out with my whistle and my camera. I went over to him and said something like, "I'm going to film and use my whistle." 6. It seemed like most ICE activity was happening a little farther down the street from us, near 27th. Someone was being thrown to the ground. 7. I started recording. There was an agent by a car across the street. Two observers were a few feet away from the agent, blowing their whistles. One was wearing a backpack. 8. I and the man who was observing and helping direct traffic were standing in the street. There was a phone in the man's hand recording a video. 9. An agent approached and asked us to back up, so I moved slowly back onto the sidewalk. 10. The man stayed in the street, filming as the other observers I mentioned earlier were being forced backward by another ICE agent threatening them with pepper spray. The man went closer to support them as they got threatened, just with his camera out. I didn't see him reach for or hold a gun. 11. Then the ICE agent shoved one of the other observers to the ground. Then he started pepper spraying all three of them directly in the face and all over. The man with the phone put his hands above his head and the agent sprayed him again and pushed him. 12. Then the man tried to help up the woman the ICE agent had shoved to the ground. The ICE agents just kept spraying. More agents came over and grabbed the man who was still trying to help the woman get up. All three of the observers looked to have been badly affected by the pepper spray. I could feel the pepper spray in my eyes. 13. The agents pulled the man on the ground. I didn't see him touch any of them-he wasn't even turned toward them. It didn't look like he was trying to resist, just trying to help the woman up. I didn't see him with a gun. They threw him to the ground. Four or five agents had him on the ground and they just started shooting him. They shot him so many times. 14.1 don't know why they shot him. He was only helping. I was five feet from him and they just shot him. 15. The video I recorded of what happened accurately depicts the events leading up to the agents shooting him and several minutes afterwards. The video is attached as Exhibit 1. 16. I have read the statement from DHS about what happened and it is wrong. The man did not approach the agents with a gun. He approached them with a camera. He was just trying to help a woman get up and they took him to the ground. 17. I feel afraid. Only hours have passed since they shot a man right in front me and I don't feel like I can go home because I heard agents were looking for me. I don't know what the agents will do when they find me. I do know that they're not telling the truth about what happened. I've heard that other witnesses might have been arrested and taken to the Whipple Building. 18. I am disgusted and gutted at how they are treating my neighbors and my state. I keep alternating between crying and feeling determined it is important to remember the value of documenting injustice. We show up for the people who need us to bear witness, because it can't just be one group of people bearing the brunt of their tyranny. This is a struggle to protect our freedom and democracy, those things are on the line. He lost his life for those values. I declare under penalty of perjury that everything I have stated in this document is true and correct. Dated and signed on Jan 24, 2026 in Hennepin County, State of Minnesota.
January 25, 2026 at 1:15 AM
Reposted by Ron A.
annabower.bsky.social
A magistrate judge found no probable cause to support arrest warrants for 5 people involved in the St. Paul church protest.

DOJ appealed to the 8th Cir.

That appeal led to this remarkable letter from the Chief Judge of the Minnesota district court…

storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
Re: In Re: United States of America No. 26-1135 Dear Chief Judge Colloton, I apologize for addressing this letter to you, but, for reasons I will describe, I do not have any other option. I am working from home today, as the program that my mentally disabled adult son attends each day is closed because of the extreme cold At 11:34 am, I received an email regarding Case No. 26-1135, entitled "In re: United States of America." The order in its entirety read: The motion of the United States to seal is granted. The Chief Judge of the United States District Court for the District of Minnesota is invited to file a response, at his discretion, to the petition for writ of mandamus. Any response is due by 2:00 p.m. Friday, January 23. This is the first that I have heard of any petition for a writ of mandamus. The United States did not have the courtesy to tell me that they would be filing such a petition, nor did the United States serve the petition on me. I am unable to access any documents in Case No. 26-1135 because, at the request of the United States, the case is sealed-apparently even from me. So I have been given about two-and-one-half hours to respond to a mandamus petition that I have not read and cannot read. Apparently I am supposed to guess what the petition is about and guess what the mandamus petition says and then respond. I will do so. The Honorable Steven M. Colloton January 23, 2026 Page 2 On the evening of Tuesday, January 20, the United States presented an application for eight arrest warrants to Magistrate Judge Douglas Micko in connection with the disruption of a religious service at Cities Church on Sunday, January 18. Judge Micko was the magistrate judge who was on duty at the time. Judge Micko found there was probable cause to issue warrants with respect to three of the suspects but not with respect to the other five. Minutes after Judge Micko signed three arrest warrants, the U.S. Attorney notified me that his office wanted a district judge to review Judge Micko's decision -either by hearing an appeal of that decision or by considering the application de novo. The first thing I did is ask our Clerk's Office to randomly assign a district judge to consider the government's request. I was the judge who was randomly assigned. It is important to emphasize that what the U.S. Attorney requested is unheard of in our district or, as best as I can tell, any other district in the Eighth Circuit. I have surveyed all of our judges — some of whom have been judges in our District for over 40 years —and no one can remember the government asking a district judge to review a magistrate judge's denial of an arrest warrant. I have also surveyed the chief judges of all of the districts in the Eighth Circuit. I have heard back from almost all of them, and all of those responding have said that, to their knowledge, no district judge has ever reviewed the decision of a magistrate judge to deny an arrest warrant. The reason why this never happens is likely that, if the government does not like the magistrate judge's decision, it can either improve the affidavit and present it again to the same magistrate judge or it can present its case to a grand jury and seek an indictment. On Wednesday, January 21, I informed the U.S. Attorney that because he was asking me to do something that was unprecedented, and because m…
January 24, 2026 at 5:51 PM
ronangerer.bsky.social
Respect
January 24, 2026 at 8:49 PM
Reposted by Ron A.
ositanwanevu.com
This random online comment from 2018 remains one of the last half-century's most important works of political commentary. crookedtimber.org/2018/03/21/l...
Conservatism consists of exactly one proposition, to wit: There must be in-groups whom the law protectes but does not bind, alongside out-groups whom the law binds but does not protect. There is nothing more or else to it, and there never has been, in any place or time. For millenia, conservatism had no name, because no other model of polity had ever been proposed. “The king can do no wrong.” In practice, this immunity was always extended to the king’s friends, however fungible a group they might have been. Today, we still have the king’s friends even where there is no king (dictator, etc.). Another way to look at this is that the king is a faction, rather than an individual. As the core proposition of conservatism is indefensible if stated baldly, it has always been surrounded by an elaborate backwash of pseudophilosophy, amounting over time to millions of pages. All such is axiomatically dishonest and undeserving of serious scrutiny. Today, the accelerating de-education of humanity has reached a point where the market for pseudophilosophy is vanishing; it is, as The Kids Say These Days, tl;dr . All that is left is the core proposition itself — backed up, no longer by misdirection and sophistry, but by violence.
January 24, 2026 at 5:42 PM
Reposted by Ron A.
billchilds.bsky.social
“Federal agents briefly detained our reporter at the scene, who says he was tackled to the ground and had a gun put in his face.”
BREAKING: Federal agent shoots man in south Minneapolis
A Bring Me The News reporter was near the scene, and recorded multiple gunshots.
bringmethenews.com
January 24, 2026 at 3:46 PM
Reposted by Ron A.
hannahposts.bsky.social
After they'd murdered a man in the street, while firing on protesters, "It's like Call of Duty! So cool, huh?"
January 24, 2026 at 5:48 PM
Reposted by Ron A.
atrupar.com
ICE agent: "We're gonna come back for your whole family, okay?"
January 24, 2026 at 3:09 PM
Reposted by Ron A.
mtsw.bsky.social
"Everyone is 12 Now Theory" seen in the wild:
asharangappa.bsky.social Asha Rangappa @asharangappa.bsky.social · 1d
I am watching what is happening in Minneapolis on Ali Velshi and one of the ICE officers (off camera) literally says, “It’s like Call of Duty. Pretty cool huh?” as they shoot whatever it is they are shooting. Agents walking around, guns unholstered for no reason. This is insanity
January 24, 2026 at 5:32 PM
Reposted by Ron A.
asharangappa.bsky.social
I am watching what is happening in Minneapolis on Ali Velshi and one of the ICE officers (off camera) literally says, “It’s like Call of Duty. Pretty cool huh?” as they shoot whatever it is they are shooting. Agents walking around, guns unholstered for no reason. This is insanity
January 24, 2026 at 4:45 PM
Reposted by Ron A.
figgityfigs.bsky.social
They are transporting people to an immigration processing facility for the crime of having witnessed a fucking murder.
mattmfm.bsky.social Matt McDermott @mattmfm.bsky.social · 1d
ICE attempted to order local police from the scene of the Minneapolis shooting, but the police chief refused and instructed his officers to preserve the crime scene.

www.startribune.com/ice-raids-mi...
January 24, 2026 at 5:26 PM
Reposted by Ron A.
rincewind.run
Dems have to vote this down

this might not be the fight you want but this is the fight you have, they’re killing people in the streets and smearing the victims, they are totally out of control

meet the moment because it is coming to meet you whether you like it or not
sahilkapur.bsky.social Sahil Kapur @sahilkapur.bsky.social · 1d
Reminder: DHS legislation that funds ICE at current levels without policy restrictions is in the Senate and needs 60 votes to pass. Deadline is next Friday.
January 24, 2026 at 5:21 PM
Reposted by Ron A.
nikkimcr.bsky.social
MS NOW news crew capturing ICE/DHS agents firing pepper balls, flash bangs, and tear gas at non violent protesters.
file:///C:/Users/Nikki/Downloads/Velshi-2026-01-24.mp4
January 24, 2026 at 4:49 PM
Reposted by Ron A.
donmoyn.bsky.social
What we are watching is a paramilitary force learning that they can kill with impunity, that the regime will smear the victim and defend them. Unless politicians and the legal system exerts accountability, it will not stop. donmoynihan.substack.com/p/past-the-b...
And what are they learning? Experts on the formation of internal security services in authoritarian regimes point to a sense of impunity as a warning sign. Regime officials abuse their power when they know they will be protected, and even praised, for doing so. Over the course of weeks and months, we have seen images of DHS officials abusing American citizens and immigrants alike, including killing them. What we do not hear is regime officials calling for credible investigations into such abuses, or even expressing any concerns. Renee Good’s killer was announced innocent, and both Good and her wife was instead the subject of an investigation, a perversion of justice so obvious that an FBI agent and half-dozen career Department of Justice prosecutors assigned to Minnesota resigned.
January 24, 2026 at 4:32 PM
Reposted by Ron A.
mcsweeneys.net
One month ago today: Newly released Epstein documents contained references to Trump, and two subpoenas were sent to Mar-a-Lago. In one email from 2020, a federal prosecutor wrote that Trump had flown on Epstein’s private jet “many more times than previously had been reported.”
Lest We Forget the Horrors: An Unending Catalog of Trump’s Cruelties, Collusions, Corruptions, and Crimes: December 2025: Atrocities 581- 637
Early in President Trump’s first term, McSweeney’s editors began to catalog the head-spinning number of misdeeds coming from his administration. We...
buff.ly
January 24, 2026 at 3:00 AM
Reposted by Ron A.
carlquintanilla.bsky.social
“.. Perhaps you shouldn’t have dismantled the Department of Education so quickly.”

@mediaite.com
www.mediaite.com/online/white...
January 24, 2026 at 3:01 AM
Reposted by Ron A.
stewartprest.ca
It would happen no matter what. The US President is basically a Roomba. When he runs into opposition he turns and starts devouring in another direction. Sooner or later he always circles back, though.
January 23, 2026 at 4:36 PM
Reposted by Ron A.
premthakker.bsky.social
Wow — Newly-released State Department documents show that the Trump-Vance-Rubio administration literally only abducted Tufts student Rümeysa Öztürk because she co-wrote an op-ed urging Tufts to follow student resolutions to acknowledge genocide in Gaza & divest from companies tied to Israel.
January 23, 2026 at 2:51 PM
Reposted by Ron A.
jacobsoboroff.bsky.social
NEW: MN judges continue to reject arrest warrants in ICE protests. Sources tell @ms.now feds aren’t providing evidence that protestors are committing the crimes of which they’re accused. First byline with the great @carolleonnig.bsky.social and Alex Tabet. www.ms.now/news/minneso...
Minnesota judges continue to reject arrest warrants in ICE protests
Sources say federal agents aren’t providing evidence that protestors are committing the crimes of which they’re accused.
www.ms.now
January 23, 2026 at 3:51 PM
Reposted by Ron A.
inquirer.com
January 22, 2026 at 9:46 PM
ronangerer.bsky.social
This guy is such a loser man. Just an entitled moron who can’t conceive of there being consequences for his actions.
peark.es George Pearkes @peark.es · 3d
lol mate

*TRUMP: BIG RETALIATION IF EUROPE SELLS US ASSETS LIKE BONDS
January 22, 2026 at 1:40 PM
Reposted by Ron A.
newsjennifer.bsky.social
This is Liam Ramos. The five year old that ICE took from a Minneapolis school and sent BY HIMSELF WITHOUT HIS FAMILY to a detention facility in Texas. There are monsters among us and they are wearing masks, carrying guns, and work for the US government.
Liam Ramos bring taken by ice Liam Ramos sxhool picture
January 22, 2026 at 12:41 AM