ICE STORM RAGING

Donald Trump’s goons are inflaming tensions in Minnesota. They’re setting a dangerous precedent, with potential far-reaching consequences for citizens’ rights.

• Just when you think President Donald Trump’s goons can’t go any lower in Minnesota, they find a way to act even more recklessly. Weeks after a federal agent gunned down a mother of three, Trump’s feds are arresting protestors, sweeping up schoolchildren, probing local Democratic officials for possible criminal charges, and allowing agents to stomp into people’s homes and arrest them without a judicial warrant. There’s no sign that the Trump administration will take actions to lower the temperature — or protect the rights of residents.

• Instead, the White House is stoking the flames. Vice President JD Vance deployed to Minneapolis today to blame locals for the tensions. “Do we want these things to happen? Do we want these arrests to be so chaotic? No we don’t,” Vance told reporters. “But if we had a little cooperation from local and state officials, I think the chaos would go way down.”

• The crackdown on protestors is in full force. The Trump administration arrested three activists who interrupted a church service in St. Paul last week, chanting “ICE out” and “Justice for Renee Good.” The White House posted an apparently digitally altered photograph to social media, which transformed the face of an arrested activist to make it look like she was crying. I asked the White House for comment. They directed me to this tweet from a top Trump official: “The memes will continue.”

• The Department of Justice also tried to charge journalist Don Lemon for attending the protest, but a federal judge declined to sign off on the charges.

• The Minneapolis community is standing strong. “We’re resolute,” one resident told What A Day. “Basically every coffee shop, restaurant, grocery store, co-op, my hair dresser, etc. has anti-ICE signs up. Most businesses have clearly marked areas inside that are for employees only, private, and no ICE allowed.”

While ICE continues to rampage through Minnesota, there are fresh signs that soldiers may soon join them.

• ICE officials are asserting the power to send agents into peoples’ homes without a judicial warrant, according to an internal agency memo. That’s concerning because of a little thing called… what is it again? Oh yeah, the Constitution. Specifically, the Fourth Amendment, which protects people from unreasonable searches. DHS says that agents can now enter homes after they draw up their own “administrative warrants,” versus the normal requirement for a judge’s approval for a raid on that specific property.

• Meanwhile, the Army reportedly ordered dozens of active-duty soldiers to prepare for possible deployment to Minneapolis. Another 1,500 soldiers in Alaska are also on standby, in case Trump follows through on his threat to invoke the Insurrection Act.

• Minnesotans of all ages are being targeted. ICE has detained at least four children, including a 5-year-old boy, from one school district near Minneapolis in the past month, according to school officials. The boy and his father were detained as they returned from preschool. Agents weren’t targeting the kid, DHS said.

Locals are digging in. “I don’t know a single [protestor] who is feeling intimidated by them,” the Minneapolis resident said. “We’re seeing first hand how goofy these men are, how uncoordinated their operations are.”

WHAT ELSE? 👀

House Republicans grilled former special counsel Jack Smith over his investigation into Donald Trump’s attempt to overturn the 2020 election. The hearing was blatantly political, with GOP lawmakers trying to delegitimize Trump’s perceived foe. But Smith stood strong: “If we do not hold the most powerful people in our society to the same standards of the rule of law, then it can be catastrophic,” Smith said. “Because if they don’t have to follow the law, it’s very easy to understand why people would think they don’t have to follow the law as well.” Smith said he thinks Trump’s minions will probably try to find a way to charge him with a crime.

The U.S. is actively seeking regime change in Cuba, aiming to push out the Communist leadership by the end of the year, according to the Wall Street Journal. Trump’s team isn’t even denying it: It’s in the U.S.’s interest for Cuba “to be competently run by a democratic government and to refuse to host our adversaries’ military and intelligence services,” the State Department told the outlet.

Trump is suing JPMorgan and CEO Jamie Dimon for $5 billion, alleging that the bank dropped him for political reasons in 2021. The lawsuit comes shortly after Dimon publicly criticized Trump’s economic and immigration policies. A bank spokesperson said the suit has “no merit.”

Trump is feeling extra litigious today. He also announced that he’s expanding his defamation suit against the New York Times, after the outlet published a poll showing that his approval ratings are in the toilet. “The New York Times, and so many others, print Polls that are knowingly false,” he wrote on social media.

The FCC will begin enforcing a rule requiring entertainment talk shows to offer the same amount of airtime to all candidates running for a specific office. It’s widely viewed as an attack on late night television hosts, who frequently speak out against Trump. The move will make it more difficult for shows to “interview politicians they don’t agree with,” Jimmy Kimmel said on his show last night.

Trump’s luxury Qatari superjet is expected to be flying as Air Force One by this summer. Just in time for Donald’s 80th birthday… err, America’s 250th birthday!

Barron Trump may have saved a woman’s life by calling the British police. Barron reportedly told cops that he was on Facetime with a friend when he saw that she was being assaulted by her ex-boyfriend. “He helped save my life. That call was like a sign from God at that moment,” the woman later said.

LIGHT AT THE END… ☀️

The U.S. murder rate dropped by 21 percent across major cities since last year. It’s likely at its lowest level since 1900. The White House is taking credit for the good news, but the reality is more complicated. “It’s extremely difficult to disentangle and pinpoint what’s actually driving the drop,” Council on Criminal Justice Adam Gelb said in a statement.

The U.S. economy grew faster than originally thought at the end of last year, according to revised government data. Here’s the catch: the economy’s health is increasingly dependent on how much wealthy people spend, in a phenomenon dubbed the K-shaped economy (because one line of the chart goes up, and the other goes down, like a K).

The NASA astronauts who had to cut their mission short last week due to a medical emergency said that the portable ultrasound machine on board was “super handy.” As terrifying as that situation was, the astronauts are looking on the bright side: “We can handle any kind of difficult situation,” one of them said. “This is actually [a] very, very good experience for the future of human spaceflight.”

Two Maryland birders have been on a quest to identify every living organism in their state. Fifteen years after being unable to identify a flower they saw on a walk, their website has catalogued more than 22,000 species of all kinds across Maryland. I think we found the solution to the male loneliness epidemic, folks.

A 25-pound pug-chihuahua mix named Mo Bamba was elected as the 37th mayor of a neighborhood in Austin, Texas. Mayor Bamba won by only 130 votes, beating out several other animal candidates and becoming the first dog ever elected to the post. His slogan was compelling: “He won’t just fight for you, he will bark at you.”

A rare printing of the Declaration of Independence, an edited draft of the Constitution, and other iconic pieces of American history will hit auction on Friday. Let’s not tell Nichols Cage how easy it’s become to obtain historical U.S. documents….

Speaking of American history, The Eagles’ greatest hits album from 1976 became the first album in the U.S. to sell over 40 million units. “In an age, in a culture, where everything seems to become more ephemeral, by the day, it is gratifying to have been part of something that endures, even for fifty years,” founding member Don Henley told the Associated Press. “We are amazed and grateful.” This just gives me another excuse to unwind with a tequila sunrise after a long week. (Sorry to those of you who agree with The Dude, who famously didn’t like the Eagles.)