CIVIL BEHAVIOR: A federal judge in Minnesota placed restrictions on how Customs and Immigration Enforcement agents deal with protesters as the Justice Department opened a criminal investigation inquiring whether Gov. Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey have conspired to impede immigration enforcement.

  Both have strenuously objected to the army of immigration officers working over the city.

  “Weaponizing the justice system and threatening political opponents is a dangerous, authoritarian tactic,” Walz said in a statement. Referencing last week’s fatal ICE shooting he said, “The only person not being investigated for the shooting of Renee Good is the federal agent who shot her.”

  The legions of immigration officers have been wrestling both immigrants and protesters to the ground, hauling people out of their cars, and using pepper spray. In court, Judge Kate Menendez ordered agents not to retaliate against people “engaging in peaceful and unobstructive protest activity,” and not to use pepper spray or other “crowd dispersal tools” in retaliation for protected speech. The judge also said agents could not stop or detain protesters in vehicles who were not “forcibly obstructing or interfering with” ICE operations.

  The order came as the result of a lawsuit filed by activists who claimed their rights were being violated.

  President Trump claimed on social media … without evidence … that, “In Minnesota, the Troublemakers, Agitators, and Insurrectionists are, in many cases, highly paid professionals.”

  ICE also has been accused of racial profiling, targeting nonwhite people and sweeping up US citizens, even native Americans along with illegal immigrants. Patricia McLaughlin, a spokeswoman for the Department of Homeland Security, called the claims of racial profiling a “disgusting charge.”

THE MOUSE THAT ROARED: Token numbers of troops from several European countries have been deployed to Greenland as a thumb in the eye to President Trump’s desire to take over the island territory of Denmark. Troops are being sent from France, Germany, the U.K., Norway, Sweden the Netherlands, and, of course, Legoland.

  Trump said yesterday, “I may put a tariff on countries if they don’t go along with Greenland because we need Greenland for national security.”

EYE ON NEWS: CBS’s new Evening News anchor Tony Dokoupil wrapped up his introductory tour of America last night excitedly hawking “breaking news.” The breaking news for CBS is that they lost a million viewers in the first week of  Dokoupil’s tenure.

   Under the editorial direction of Bari Weiss, who was installed by the network’s conservative owner, The Evening News has injected a MAGA sensibility into its reporting of products “made in America” and signing off, “And that is another day in America.” 

  The broadcast has been reporting less actual news while interviewing everyone from average Americans to senators and the president about what they think. They plan to spend more time on the road, doing moreof same. Weiss issued a memo to staff telling them, “Let’s make sure every single night has something with viral potential.” Like an internet influencer she wrote. “The goal for this road show is not to deliver the news so much as it is to ‘drive the news’.” But so far, another day in America for Dokoupil is another day with fewer people watching.

THE REGIME:

— President Trump quietly pardoned a political donor convicted of fraud … for the second time.

  During his first term Trump pardoned Adriana Camberos, who had been serving a 26-month sentence in federal prison for a scheme to sell millions of counterfeit bottles of the caffeinated drink 5-hour Energy. In 2021 her family successfully appealed for clemency.

  Not long after Camberos got out of prison she and her brother Andres were busted for a second fraud scheme. Both were convicted and this week Trump pardoned them, ignoring Justice Department guidelines on pardons for people who have completed their prison sentences, are remorseful, and show a low likelihood of committing another crime. 

— President Trump installed four loyalists on the Commission of Fine Arts, the seven member body that is one of two that will review his plans for a new White House ballroom. The fine arts commission is tasked by Congress with advising the president on major design projects in Washington.

— Trump told Reuters this week that, “It’s some deep psychological thing, but when you win the presidency, you don’t win the midterms,” and “when you think of it, we shouldn’t even have an election.”

  He’s said that many times. The White House says he was joking, but he was also joking about putting his name on the Kennedy Center.

— Secretary of Health Robert F. Kennedy Jr. told an interviewer that President Trump “eats really bad food, which is McDonalds” but that “he has the constitution of a deity.”

THE SPIN RACK: South Carolina is now the hotspot for measles, reporting 124 new cases in the last three days, bringing the total number to 558. The epicenter is Spartanburg County in the northwest part of the state where there’s a growing number of school children with non-medical exemptions from vaccination. —Former US senator Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, a Democrat who turned independent before leaving politics is being sued by the ex-wife of a man on Sinema’s security detail, accusing her of having an affair with the woman’s then husband. Heather Ammel is suing for more than $75,000, accusing Sinema of causing her “severe emotional pain.” — Democrat Abigail Spanberger is set to be inaugurated today as Virginia’s 75^th governor and first woman to hold the office. She’s a former CIA case officer. — Ted Chen, a familiar face on NBC4 local news in Los Angeles since 1995, has left the anchor chair to occupy the pulpit as a Christian minister. 

BELOW THE FOLD: Former FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino is returning to the podcast world of conspiracy theories where he’s going to have to explain to his audience why as a short-term member of the deep state he was unable to expose any deep state conspiracies.

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