“WHEN IT RAINS, IT POURS”

JANUARY 7, 2026 – From my earliest days I remember the Morton Salt logo—a long-striding girl walking in a downpour and carrying an umbrella gracefully supported by one arm and under the other arm, an upside-down container of Morton Salt “pouring down” behind her. When I was old enough to read, I puzzled over the slogan, “When it rains, it pours,” until my mother explained the science behind ambient humidity, the chemical properties of sodium chloride, and the flow of table salt. Later, when I came to see marketing as the life blood of American capitalism, I thought the Morton label—logo + slogan—was a work of simple creative genius.

Today, as I sat down to pound out the 2,399^th post on this blog site, I thought of that age-old adage adopted and amplified by generations of Morton Salt. Now and again, staring at a blank screen, I have to dig deep for a suitable subject, but this morning, potential topics filled my thoughts like stormwater pouring into a rain barrel.

And that was before our son called me on his way to Minnetonka to pick up tint film for work. “Dad,” he said with concern in his voice. “Did you hear that an ICE agent shot and killed a protester in Minneapolis?”

“What?!”

“I just heard. In fact, coming down 35W, I came close to the site near 34^th and Portland. Minneapolis is crawling with ICE agents. In fact, right now on the freeway an unmarked ICE vehicle is right ahead of me and another is right behind me.”

“How can you tell?”

“They’re Durangos with out-of-state plates, special rooftop antennas, and “Lyft” and “Uber” stickers.”

I quickly checked online to see what information was available. Local news outlets were reporting that yes, someone had been shot in connection with a protest against ICE operations in south Minneapolis.

Just an hour earlier, Cory had called to tell me how wary he’s become as a result of the current ramp-up of ICE raids in the Twin Cities. “ICE is everywhere,” he’d said on the first call. “Many people I know are afraid to leave their homes. Should I be worried?”

Only yesterday Beth had (again) wondered aloud if our sons and Korean-born niece are at risk of detention—or worse, given Trump (and Republican) attacks on birthright and naturalized citizenship.

“Of course,” Cory continued, “I’m a citizen, but other people I know are citizens are being harassed, simply because they aren’t white. Will they harass me because I look Asian? And what do I tell Illiana? Just yesterday, when I was helping her fill out a form for school and it asked about her race, she asked about ICE, and whether she should put down ‘white’ or ‘Asian’ or ‘bi-racial.’”

This all had a chilling effect on me. On Monday, we’d visited with “Marco” (not his real name), a highly skilled craftsman who’d done renovation work for us two years ago. The nicest guy you’d want to meet, with a wonderful family, he’s now living day by day, looking over his shoulder—until he leaves the country later this month, and leaves his wife and one of their sons (a birthright citizen), a high school student, behind. The son, who assisted his dad, inherited his father’s work ethic and good cheer. When the son first set foot in our house and saw our piano, his eyes lit up. He asked if he could play, and of course we said “Yes!” As his proficiency at the keyboard flowered through our living room on that cold January day, the surrounding plants perked up, I swear. Now the family’s future–and contributions to American life–are in jeopardy.

Cory and I discussed the likely fallout from the shooting. Our speculation turned to the strategy of dark forces that this country has unleashed upon itself: stir up the already fuming protesters; prompt agitators to transform peaceful demonstrations and law-based challenges into violent resistance, which, in turn, is used to justify repressive measures in furtherance of the police state that now prevails.

Democracy isn’t threatened in the peace and tranquility of a white, predominantly professional, upper middle class neighborhood—let alone in the gated community of billionaires. Democracy is endangered by what’s occurring in immigrant neighborhoods, especially those with Latino backgrounds—irrespective of their legal status. But note how our Korean-born son now worries. Should Cory and his brother and cousin carry their passports at all times? (Later in the day my wife told me that the Korean-born (American citizen) adoptive daughter of Beth’s high school friend had been caught up in a recent ICE raid in Chicago. “Be careful,” was the friend’s admonishment to Beth.) And should Beth and I now worry too? After how many baby steps and giant leaps in ICE tactics are we all in danger—all of us who’ve created an online record of our dissent? And when close relatives excoriate us for our “disgusting politics,” should we worry that the very people we should rely on most now view us as the enemy? If so, what mercy can we expect from goons in disguise, no badges, and armed to the teeth with lots of back-up—and $50,000 signing bonuses in the bank?

Later in the day, I thrice heard Secretary Noem’s narrative of the incident. She claimed that with the intent to do serious bodily harm, the victim had driven her car straight toward an ICE agent; that he shot her in self-defense.  The Secretary further asserted that this occurred while agents were trying to free one of their vehicles from a snowbank, as the result of recent “adverse weather.” (A three-day thaw—today the mercury hit 41F—has turned our snow to slush.) To spin things further, without context, scale or evidentiary relevance to today’s facts, she added that across the country, there have been “hundreds [sic] of car rammings of ICE agents just doing their jobs.

I also watched half a dozen times, however, one particular video obtained by CNN that sharply contradicts Noem’s account. For starters, nowhere in sight of were ICE agents “pushing a vehicle out of the snow.” Moreover, at no point was the car aimed at an ICE agent. The poor woman was desperate to flee the ICE agent who was threatening while standing next to her open window.

Bolstering the video clip was the detailed account of an eye-witness resident of the neighborhood interviewed by Chris Hayes on MSNBC. If I were a lawyer suing the ICE agents (after considerable effort, no doubt, to identify them) and Kristi Noem for all the money in hell, I’d want that smart, alert, mature, articulate, observant, disinterested (i.e. a non-protester), white American woman as my primary witness. She would have instant and thorough credibility with judge and jury—and any member of the public watching the televised jury trial. Let’s await the full investigation—by local law enforcement; how . . . pray, tell . . . are we to trust anything controlled by the current federal regime?—but as things now sit, the evidentiary scale tilts heavily in support of Mayor Frey’s vehement indignation, echoed by Governor Walz—say whatever you otherwise wish about their records or politics.

In a chilling sequel to all this, after Illiana climbed into my car after school this afternoon, she told me that family members of a good friend and fourth-grade classmate of hers were arrested last night by ICE agents. An hour later, Beth informed me that our other trusted renovator, also an immigrant, unexpectedly canceled today’s appointment to discuss critical additional work we need done. His message was cryptic. We’re now afraid for him and his family.

In short, the ICE raids are now hitting close to home. Armed goons in disguise and wearing no identification do as they please to the extent of their raw physical power, unrestrained by law or legal process. They and their supporters and apologists, let alone their enthusiasts, are on the vanguard of an authoritarian transformation of American democracy.

Suddenly, the pot full of frogs is boiling over on the stove of a full-on police state. Except it’s not “suddenly.” It’s been simmering for years, and if a certain dedicated coterie of ill-intentioned people purposefully worked the stove controls, a good many others by their impatience, their susceptibility to mis- and disinformation, or their complacency—or a combination of those factors—allowed the pot to boil over.

Then there’s the raw power play in Venezuela and on the high seas; perhaps next, on the island of Greenland. In addition to being a police state, we are a rogue nation, led by a perverted narcissist who will do most anything to distract us from whatever unsavory truths lurk inside the Epstein Files.

What now are the responsible adults in the kitchen called to do? Harangue? Protest? Organize? Cross our fingers and hold our breath until next November, hoping that the election isn’t suspended indefinitely in the interest of public safety? Or just complain in the safe company of like-minded people in the comfort of our living rooms?

Our mettle and courage—as measured by what we do and what we refrain from doing—are now in the crucible, whether we choose to acknowledge this raw and simple truth or not. All that our citizenship means is now on the line; but more important, so are empathy, decency, integrity, self-respect, and a desire for the common good.

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© 2026 by Eric Nilsson