JANUARY 13, 2026 – If the fascist raiders now on the (ice)-covered ground of Minnesota weren’t a distressing flashback to Germany in the Nazi era—or Norway during the German occupation from April 1940 to V-E Day in 1945 (see yesterday’s post)—we all could laugh at the BlackICE[1]-analog to the Brownshirts of Nazi Germany.
Take for example the widely circulated video of earnest Minnesotans on their way to a large-scale protest in Powderhorn Park near the site Renée Good’s murder—yes, murder—last week. To navigate an ice-covered hill sloping down to the small lake[2] that people needed to cross to reach the demonstration, hordes of the Resistance did their quintessentially Minnesota thing: they slapped their cardboard signs down on the ice and used them as sleds and saucers to slide harmlessly to the bottom. You couldn’t help but cheer the crowd’s spontaneous resourcefulness—taking full advantage of . . . the ice.
In a second broadly shared video, a BlackICE agent strutting down the street to his post of intimidation stepped on a large, shining patch of glare . . . ice . . . and landed his ignoble butt unceremoniously onto the cold cruel Minnesota ice. The poetic justice made me laugh out loud. Any self-respecting Minnesotan would know that the slippery patch of Zamboni-quality ice had “GREASED BANANA PEEL!!” written all over it. Clearly, the agent was not from this neck of the woods. One is left to wonder if he had ties even to a state of common sense.
But with these bursts of hilarity, the humor ends. We now know that BlackICE platoons are targeting schools across the metro region, and in the era of my youth, these thugs would’ve been sent to the principal’s office for corporal punishment, once the remitting teacher had learned of the bully tactics used by BlackICE on the playground: shooting pepper spray point blank at protesting students and lying in ambush to arrest parents picking up their kids after school. School authorities are reporting widespread absences, reflecting families’ very real fear of BlackICE tactics.
Meanwhile, people with whom we are closely associated share stories of BlackICE actions and confrontations that send shivers up and down our spines; stories that reveal contemptuous disrespect for human dignity, not to mention utter disregard for First Amendment rights and other Constitutional guarantees.
Let me say—nay, shout—still, again, repeatedly, continually: explicit, organized, government-perpetrated fascism is in our streets and neighborhoods and in our public and private spaces—unchecked except by passers-by blowing whistles, filming with their phones, and sign-bearing demonstrators bundled up for as long as it takes for the Republicans in Congress to abandon the cowardice of their party and honor the Constitutional duty and traditions of their institution.
We are at an historical crossroads, but we didn’t arrive here overnight or by a mistaken turn along our nation’s journey. We took our eye off the ball; we allowed a small group of religious and dogmatic zealots to join forces with über-rich power-mongers, who stirred propagandists to do their bidding; and among progressives, we allowed perfect to undermine good. The writing was on the wall long ago, but distracted by our own set of bright shiny objects and crushing demands in the dog-eat-dog world of our times and culture, we let bad people do bad things until “bad” has become much worse.
On the opposite side of this coin, however, are many tens of millions of people who are willing and able—I’m convinced—to take the country back; a country, which despite its innumerable flaws, remains a place where the common good can prevail over fear-driven hate, racism, prejudice, and xenophobia.
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© 2026 by Eric Nilsson
[1] A reference to the Minnesota phenomenon of “black ice” that forms on roadways, especially at intersections, in extreme cold when exhaust from idling (non-EV) vehicles freezes on the pavement. It’s called “black ice” because it’s too thin to be visible, yet thick enough to be hazardous. Most of the masks worn by ICE agents are black, hence my pejorative, “BlackICE” for these agents of fear and violence.
[2] Our dad’s favorite ice-skating venue when we were kids—and even further back when he was a kid.
