01/08/26

Good morning! It’s Thursday, January 8th.

National Bubble Bath Day

Let me tell you something – I love a bubble bath. A lot of people do. But it is a point of… not contention necessarily but my friends and family love giving me a hard time because I’m a big believer that you need to bleach your tub before you take a bath.

Not everyone needs to do this! But I have a cat who loves walking around in the tub. I take showers between the baths… I just feel like… am I wrong for wanting a clean tub??

And now, the news.

Minnesota

-via AP News

We start in Minnesota, where protests have started after an ICE agent shot and killed 37-year-old Renee Nicole Good during a traffic stop in front of a family member.

Videos from witness, from various vantage points, show an officer approaching an SUV that was stopped in the middle of the road, demanding that the driver open the door and grabbing the handle.

The SUV began to pull forward, and another ICE officer, standing in front of the SUV, pulled his weapon and immediately fired at least two shots before jumping back. The SUV then sped into two parked cars and came to a stop.

The administration says she was driving towards the ICE agent – the ICE agent did go to the hospital for injuries and has since been released. He gets so now spend some time with his family.

Witnesses, however, say she was driving away.

Here’s the problem – and understand that I’m not saying this politically, I’m stating a fact based on things we have already seen – this administration is an unreliable narrator. They are liars.

They want you to feel a certain way about ICE agents being in these cities, and so they will do whatever they can, say whatever they need, to try to manipulate your feelings. They will try to make you think you can’t believe your own eyes.

Whatever it takes.

Look at what they did on Tuesday with the truth about January 6th. They reinvented that entire timeline and posted it on the official White House website, all saying that the democrats were the real insurrectionists.

They will try to make you think you can’t believe your own eyes. We cannot let them.

Obviously an investigation will take place, but it’s worth noting that this is the fifth person killed since this immigration crackdown began.

Silverio Villegas González was killed September 12th, also during a traffic stop. Authorities allege he evaded arrest and dragged an officer with his vehicle.

Jaime Alanis fell from a roof and broke his neck, dying two days later, during a raid in Camarillo.

And on August 14th, a man running away from immigration authorities outside of a Home Depot died when he was hit by an SUV.

Five deaths.

Being in this country illegally is a misdemeanor. No different than a traffic ticket. We are talking about people that have risked everything to come here and make a better life for themselves. For their families. Or people who were brought here as children or babies, and don’t know any different. Many of the people ICE has picked up were already in the middle of their immigration process. How do we know? Because there are raids happening at the courthouses!

This administration, solely because of white nationalism, is scooping up as many brown people as possible. And treating them inhumanely. That is a documented fact.

And when people are attempting to evade this inhumane treatment, people are dying.

So of course there are protests happening. This area is not new to tragedies at the hands of law enforcement – the shooting took place just about a mile from where George Floyd was murdered. This is one to keep an eye on.

US Takes More Oil Tankers

-via NPR

On Wednesday, after a two-week chase (boats are… so slow), US forces have seized an oil tanker between Iceland and Britain with… a Russian flag.

Apparently, this tanker was granted temporary permission to sail under the Russian flag, according to the Russian Ministry of Transportation. And per international law, "no state has the right to use force against vessels duly registered in the jurisdictions of other states."

It should be noted that the UK was providing a base and other support.

So… I don’t know, but it sure sounds to me like people are going to be pretty mad that we took it!

This tanker was originally part of a “ghost fleet” that was transporting oil between Venezuela, Russia, and Iran.

Additionally, a second tanker, which the US says was stateless, operating in international waters, and conducting illegal activities, was intercepted.

And that’s it. That’s the news.

I think… we’re going to take a little bit of a shorter episode. Just to give ourselves a break.

We’ll be back tomorrow. We can afford to breathe just a little.

I’m proud of… bubble baths. Bath salts, a little candle, some bubbles, and some music? A delight!!

But more than bubble baths. Because you are also a soothing thought… I’m proud of you.