The weight of political fealty now burdens every public action, or, in this case, tragedy, in the United States. The center absolutely does not hold and might never again. Casualties include truth, reason, facts and common sense, the trusted accompaniment to reason.

We are struggling and spinning in wildly different and unwanted directions.

According to the Trump administration, Renee Nicole Good, 37, shot to death during a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement operation in Minneapolis, was a domestic terrorist who weaponized her vehicle with the intention to mow down an ICE agent.

According to Mayor Jacob Frey and Gov. Tim Walz, Good was the victim of Gestapo enforcement tactics used to cleanse the country of cleaners, chefs, parking lot attendants and gardeners.

Where that leaves Good is very dead, shot multiple times, either legitimately or not, depending not on facts, but on fealty.

Whether by design or happenstance, Good found herself in the middle of an ICE swoop. She was asked to get out of her car. She refused. She was told to leave. She then turned her wheels to the right, the path of leaving. She was leaving. An ICE agent, standing off her front left headlight, appeared to get out of her way and then leaned forward into the car to take his shots. The ICE agent then walked away — he did not appear at all injured — and was taken from the scene, reportedly to a hospital.

Good was dead.

The cellphone videos were plentiful. There was no suspicion of AI or trickery of any kind. The shooting could be seen from multiple angles. It wasn’t a matter of suspecting the motives of a so-called citizen journalist. It was video. It was real.

Frey and Walz minced no words expressing their disgust. Cooler heads, when the center held, might not have encouraged their constituents to hold ICE in contempt. In fact, and precisely because of their particular allegiance, they vowed to not allow local law enforcement to help ICE, save with traffic behavior. Upon Good’s death, Frey — virally, it turns out — told ICE to get the f— out of our town.

The Trump administration sent U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem to town. She said, “it is very clear this individual was harassing and impeding law enforcement operations.”

Noem was asking me to disbelieve my own eyes.

Moments later at the same press conference, Noem said, “we’re following the standard protocol procedures we do in situations like this. When there is an officer-involved shooting, we make sure that we get all the facts and that we’re getting the statements of everyone involved and make sure investigators are handling the decisions.”

But wait a minute. You said previously that Good was harassing and impeding law enforcement. Maybe those were the facts Noem was confident she would learn based on her fealty to the Trump administration.

If the country had sustained a center and not fallen into warring camps, here is what would have happened in the last year.

ICE would not be a theatrical gumshoe operation. Select ICE teams would target serious criminals here illegally — we’re not going to get rid of every house cleaner and gardener — and quietly get dispatched to whatever city to make their arrests.

Frey and Walz, acting in concert, would have made local law enforcement available to ICE.

Noem would not be putting carts in front of horses.

Residents would not be in the streets protesting because they wouldn’t know anything was going on.

Renee Nicole Good would be alive.

But we don’t have a center, a moral and ethical high ground. We are adrift, with a foul, indescribably difficult president at the helm and, locally, a government that we would be foolish to trust.

Joe Soucheray can be reached at jsoucheray@pioneerpress.com. Soucheray’s “Garage Logic” podcast can be heard at garagelogic.com.

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Kids ‘n Kinship provides friendships and positive role models to children and youth ages 5-16 who are in need of an additional supportive relationship with an adult. Here’s one of the youth waiting for a mentor:

First name: Nate

Age: 13

Interests: Nate loves football- watching it and playing it. He is a big gamer and his favorite game is Madden.

Personality/Characteristics: Nate has a tough exterior. He can be skeptical and incredibly witty. He loves to debate and has a great memory. Get him talking about something he is interested in, and you’ll learn a lot. At school, he is often the class clown!

Goals/dreams:  If he had 3 wishes it would be 1) For school not to exist. 2) To have infinite money. And 3) To play in the NFL. His guardian hopes a mentor can break through his tough exterior and open up his sensitive side. She hopes a male mentor will help to get out of the house, off of video games and open him up to new fun experiences! He’s faced a lot of disappointment in his life so someone who will stick with him is important.

For more information: Nate is waiting for a mentor through Kids n’ Kinship in Dakota County. To learn more about this youth mentoring program and the 39+ youth waiting for a mentor, sign up for an Information Session, visit www.kidsnkinship.org or email programs@kidsnkinship.org. For more information about mentoring in the Twin Cities outside of Dakota County, contact MENTOR MN at mentor@mentormn.org or fill out a brief form at www.mentoring.org/take-action/become-a-mentor/#search.

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Today is Saturday, Jan. 10, the 10th day of 2026. There are 355 days left in the year.

Today in history:

On Jan. 10, 2013, a series of bomb blasts in Pakistan killed more than 100 people, including dozens who died in a sectarian attack in the southwest city of Quetta. Hundreds of others were injured.

Also on this date:

In 1776, Thomas Paine anonymously published his influential pamphlet, “Common Sense,” which argued for American independence from British rule.

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In 1860, the Pemberton Mill in Lawrence, Massachusetts, collapsed and caught fire, killing as many as 145 people.

In 1861, Florida became the third state to secede from the Union prior to the Civil War.

In 1863, the London Underground was born when the Metropolitan Railway, the world’s first underground passenger railway, opened to the public with service between Paddington and Farringdon Street.

In 1920, the League of Nations was established as the Treaty of Versailles (vehr-SY’) went into effect.

In 1946, the United Nations convened its first General Assembly session in London with 51 nations represented. The proceedings defined the scope and purpose of the world body.

In 1982, San Francisco 49ers receiver Dwight Clark caught a touchdown pass from Joe Montana with 58 seconds left in the NFC Championship Game; one of the most famous plays in NFL history, “The Catch” led the 49ers to a 28-27 victory over the Dallas Cowboys and a berth in Super Bowl XVI, where they defeated the Cincinnati Bengals for their first Super Bowl victory.

In 2017, President Barack Obama delivered his farewell address in Chicago, in which the two-term Democrat urged national unity and highlighted achievements of his presidency including the Affordable Care Act. Republican Donald Trump took office days later after a 2016 election in which Trump defeated Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Today’s birthdays:

Olympic decathlon gold medalist Bill Toomey is 87.
Singer Rod Stewart is 81.
Rock singer-musician Donald Fagen (Steely Dan) is 78.
Singer Pat Benatar is 73.
Hall of Fame racing driver and team owner Bobby Rahal is 73.
Actor-comedian Jemaine Clement is 52.
Actor Sarah Shahi is 46.
Business owner Jared Kushner is 45.
Actor and singer Reneé Rapp is 26.

By JON GAMBRELL

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Protests sweeping across Iran neared the two-week mark Saturday, with the country’s government acknowledging the ongoing demonstrations despite an intensifying crackdown and as the Islamic Republic remains cut off from the rest of the world.

With the internet down in Iran and phone lines cut off, gauging the demonstrations from abroad has grown more difficult. But the death toll in the protests has grown to at least 72 people killed, with over 2,300 others detained, according to the U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency. Iranian state TV is reporting on security force casualties while portraying control over the nation.

Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has signaled a coming clampdown, despite U.S. warnings. Tehran escalated its threats Saturday, with the Iran’s attorney general, Mohammad Movahedi Azad, warning that anyone taking part in protests will be considered an “enemy of God,” a death-penalty charge. The statement carried by Iranian state television said even those who “helped rioters” would face the charge.

“Prosecutors must carefully and without delay, by issuing indictments, prepare the grounds for the trial and decisive confrontation with those who, by betraying the nation and creating insecurity, seek foreign domination over the country,” the statement read. “Proceedings must be conducted without leniency, compassion or indulgence.”

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio offered support for the protesters.

“The United States supports the brave people of Iran,” Rubio wrote Saturday on the social platform X. The State Department separately warned: “Do not play games with President Trump. When he says he’ll do something, he means it.”

State TV split-screen highlights Iran’s challenge

Saturday marks the start of the work week in Iran, but many schools and universities reportedly held online classes, Iranian state TV reported. Internal Iranian government websites are believed to be functioning.

State TV repeatedly played a driving, martial orchestral arrangement from the “Epic of Khorramshahr” by Iranian composer Majid Entezami, while showing pro-government demonstrations. The song, aired repeatedly during the 12-day war launched by Israel, honors Iran’s 1982 liberation of the city of Khorramshahr during the Iran-Iraq war. It has been used in videos of protesting women cutting away their hair to protest the 2022 death of Mahsa Amini as well.

“Field reports indicate that peace prevailed in most cities of the country at night,” a state TV anchor reported. “After a number of armed terrorists attacked public places and set fire to people’s private property last night, there was no news of any gathering or chaos in Tehran and most provinces last night.”

That was directly contradicted by an online video verified by The Associated Press that showed demonstrations in northern Tehran’s Saadat Abad area, with what appeared to be thousands on the street.

“Death to Khamenei!” a man chanted.

The semiofficial Fars news agency, believed to be close to Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard and one of the few media outlets able to publish to the outside world, released surveillance camera footage of what it said came from demonstrations in Isfahan. In it, a protester appeared to fire a long gun, while others set fires and threw gasoline bombs at what appeared to be a government compound.

The Young Journalists’ Club, associated with state TV, reported that protesters killed three members of the Guard’s all-volunteer Basij force in the city of Gachsaran. It also reported a security official was stabbed to death in Hamadan province, a police officer killed in the port city of Bandar Abbas and another in Gilan, as well as one person slain in Mashhad.

State television also aired footage of a funeral service attended by hundreds in Qom, a Shiite seminary city just south of Tehran.

More weekend demonstrations planned

Iran’s theocracy cut off the nation from the internet and international telephone calls on Thursday, though it allowed some state-owned and semiofficial media to publish. Qatar’s state-funded Al Jazeera news network reported live from Iran, but they appeared to be the only major foreign outlet able to work.

Iran’s exiled Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi, who called for protests Thursday and Friday, asked in his latest message for demonstrators to take to the streets Saturday and Sunday. He urged protesters to carry Iran’s old lion-and-sun flag and other national symbols used during the time of the shah to “claim public spaces as your own.”

Pahlavi’s support of and from Israel has drawn criticism in the past — particularly after the 12-day war. Demonstrators have shouted in support of the shah in some protests, but it isn’t clear whether that’s support for Pahlavi himself or a desire to return to a time before the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

The demonstrations began Dec. 28 over the collapse of the Iranian rial currency, which trades at over 1.4 million to $1, as the country’s economy is squeezed by international sanctions in part levied over its nuclear program. The protests intensified and grew into calls directly challenging Iran’s theocracy.

Airlines have cancelled some flights into Iran over the demonstrations. Austrian Airlines said Saturday it had decided to suspend its flights to Iran “as a precautionary measure” through Monday. Turkish Airlines earlier announced the cancellation of 17 flights to three cities in Iran.

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