National, Regional and Local News

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Adam Schwarz‬
‪@adamjschwarz.bsky.social‬
· 55m
When you spend $45 million of other people's money on your dictator chic birthday and it's still worse than a roadside Taco Bell value-package party.

[ti-amie]

‘No Kings’ rallies draw huge crowds to protest Trump and his policies
Across the country, relatively few disruptions were reported during protests and marches where the mood ranged from joyful to defiant.

June 14, 2025 at 5:41

By Annie Gowen


Liberty Plaza in Atlanta. (Elijah Nouvelage/AFP/Getty Images)

Americans turned out en masse in communities across the country Saturday, raucously pushing back on what they see as President Donald Trump’s widening authoritarianism, attacks on immigrants and deep cuts to scores of federal programs.

Organizers had said that they hoped the rallies in more than 2,000 cities — dubbed “No Kings Nationwide Day of Defiance” — would be peaceful and free of confrontation.

Yet the day was marred by the news of deadly violence overnight in Minneapolis, where two Democratic state legislators were shot with their spouses in what Gov. Tim Walz called a “politically motivated” attack. Rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband died, and the other couple were seriously wounded. Officials said they were “cautiously optimistic” about the couple’s prognosis.

Given that the gunman was still at large and that “No Kings” fliers had been found in his car, Walz urged protesters to stay away from the many related events planned statewide. At least one in Minneapolis was canceled.

Hours later, the Texas Department of Public Safety warned of “credible threats” to lawmakers planning to attend the evening rally at the state capitol in Austin. The building was evacuated soon after; the event organizer said it would proceed as planned.

Elsewhere in the country, relatively few disruptions were reported during rallies where the mood ranged from joyful to defiant. In Philadelphia, the crowd was accompanied by the notes and beats of a saxophone, drums and tambourines. In Los Angeles, which had seen a week of protests after federal immigration raids in the area, Indigenous dancers helped kick things off.

Couples came, families came, individuals who said they’d never before protested came. They carried hand-lettered signs focused on democracy, the rule of law and human rights. The scenes were a stark contrast to the one planned hours later in the nation’s capital, where Trump would preside over a grandiose display of military tanks and soldiers as part of a celebration of the Army’s 250th birthday — on a day that also happened to be his 79th birthday.

“No Kings” participants compared the parade in Washington to something more commonly seen in autocratic countries such as Russia and North Korea. Stephanie Henderson, who traveled to the Philadelphia rally from Smyrna, Delaware, carried a sign there with pictures of three men: England’s monarch during the U.S. Revolutionary War, Adolf Hitler and Trump.

“We fought a king in 1775. We fought a dictator in 1945,” the sign read. “We will fight whatever the hell this is in 2025.”

Henderson, a state employee, said she hoped a nationwide show of resistance would send a strong message to Trump. “We need to let him know he works for us,” she said.




https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2 ... allies-us/

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More images from around the US


The Benjamin Franklin Parkway in Philadelphia. (Yuki Iwamura/AP)


Bicentennial Capitol Mall State Park in Nashville. (George Walker IV/AP)


Downtown Houston. (Raquel Natalicchio/AP)


Downtown Chicago. (Dylan Martinez/Reuters)


Midtown Manhattan in New York City. (Charly Triballeau/AFP/Getty Images)

Detailed reports from each city are at the above link.

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‘No Kings’ Protests Across the United States
In Photos and Video


https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/14/us/p ... =url-share

Gift article no paywall

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‪Phil Williams‬
‪@philinvestigates.com‬
· 22m



From Metro Nashville Police:

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Beeninya
OP
•
35m ago
Yes, wearing a latex mask while impersonating at cop.

This image provided by the FBI on Saturday shows part of a poster with photos of Vance Boelter. (AP)

[dryrunguy]

A word of appreciation to all who represented at the protests today. My brother attended the one in San Francisco. I told him I was very proud of him.

And many thanks to Amie for sharing these images with us.

[ti-amie]

A word of appreciation to all who represented at the protests today. My brother attended the one in San Francisco. I told him I was very proud of him.

And many thanks to Amie for sharing these images with us.

Thank you Dry. The going narrative up to now has been that he's got the support of the majority of US citizens.
His approval rating is about 38% now and the number of people who turned out today shows that could be the case.

[ponchi101]

His people don't show up. They are not involved in his day to day. They only show up to vote.
I know people that do not like him, but voted for him because they hate the Dems. It is not the same, but the end result is what happened.
His voters simply say "I will never vote for a democrat". But they will not show up at his birthday parade either.

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Suspect in Minnesota Attacks Is Arrested, Ending Manhunt
The search for Vance Boelter put the state on edge. He has been charged with second-degree murder in the attacks, which killed a state lawmaker and wounded another.

Published June 15, 2025
Updated June 16, 2025, 4:16 a.m. ET


A SWAT vehicle in Green Isle, Minn., near where the suspect was detained on Sunday.Credit...Tim Gruber for The New York Times

Ernesto Londoño, Emily Cochrane and Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs

Here’s the latest.
A man suspected of assassinating a Minnesota state lawmaker and shooting another was arrested on Sunday, officials said, ending a two-day manhunt that rattled the state.

Investigators had pursued the suspect, identified as Vance Boelter, 57, throughout the weekend, as Minnesotans reeled from the killings of Representative Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark Hortman. In a separate attack, the gunman also wounded State Senator John A. Hoffman and his wife, Yvette Hoffman, at their home in the Minneapolis suburbs.

“One man’s unthinkable actions have altered the state of Minnesota,” Gov. Tim Walz said at a news conference on Sunday night.

The suspect was charged with two counts of second-degree murder and two counts of attempted second-degree murder, according to a criminal complaint obtained by The New York Times.

After what officials called the largest manhunt in the state’s history, investigators arrested him on Sunday near Green Isle, a small town about an hour southwest of Minneapolis, where he had a home with his wife and children. For much of Sunday, tactical teams had conducted searches in the area, where investigators found a vehicle and a hat that they believed belonged to the suspect. After one officer thought he saw Mr. Boelter running into the woods, the police converged on the area and found him in a field near his home.

Officials said that the suspect was armed when he was arrested, but that no force was used in the arrest.

The gunman had impersonated a police officer during the attacks, wearing a rubber mask and a bogus badge, officials said. He had a notebook that mentioned the names of about 70 potential targets that included both of the lawmakers. Officials said he had fired at officers responding to one of the homes before escaping.

2 hours ago
Jeff Ernst Reporting from Green Isle, Minn.

The authorities found Boelter by pursuing a resident’s tip that he had been seen on a trail camera on Sunday evening, said Elliot Faust, a deputy police chief in Brooklyn Park, Minn. After confirming that an image on the camera showed the suspect, SWAT team officers set up a one-square-mile perimeter around the spot where it had been taken and sent drones and police dogs inside, he said.

June 16, 2025, 2:00 a.m. ET2 hours ago
Jeff Ernst Reporting from Green Isle, Minn.

After officers spotted Boelter, they used a drone to track him as he crawled through an area with thick shrubs, Faust said. Then they moved in to apprehend him, and he surrendered.

Re the picture of the assassin above:

June 16, 2025, 12:26 a.m. ET4 hours ago
Ernesto Londoño

The sheriff of Ramsey County, Bob Fletcher, posted a photo on Facebook of the suspect being taken into custody in a field. The photo appears to be altered, with the officers’ faces obscured.

https://www.nytimes.com/live/2025/06/15 ... gs-manhunt

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Comparing the WaPo article to the NYTimes

Suspect in Minnesota shootings in custody after wide manhunt
The man suspected of shooting two Democratic lawmakers and their spouses was arrested and charged after a two-day manhunt involving more than 100 officers.

Updated
June 16, 2025 at 1:18 a.m. EDT today at 1:18 a.m. EDT


Dozens of law enforcement officials were in Green Isle, Minnesota, on Sunday, about 45 miles outside of Minneapolis. (Craig Lassig/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock)

By Patrick Marley and Meryl Kornfield
MINNEAPOLIS — The man suspected of shooting two Democratic lawmakers and their spouses in their homes in what officials describe as politically motivated attacks was arrested and charged Sunday evening after authorities scoured the rural area around where he had a home after a sprawling manhunt involving more than 100 officers.

For nearly two days, authorities had been searching for 57-year-old Vance Luther Boelter, a resident of Green Isle, Minnesota, a small town in Sibley County about 45 miles southwest of the Twin Cities.

The search began after a gunman opened fire on state Sen. John Hoffman and his wife in the quiet Minneapolis suburb of Champlin early Saturday before driving about 10 miles to the neighboring suburb of Brooklyn Park, home of state Rep. Melissa Hortman, the former speaker of the Minnesota House. Hortman and her husband, Mark, were shot and killed, while Hoffman and his wife, Yvette, survived and remain hospitalized in serious condition.

The suspect in the case posed as a police officer to gain entry to the homes of the two lawmakers, authorities have said. The gunman fled after a shootout with police following the second of the two predawn attacks, leaving behind a chilling trove of evidence and a sprawling police search.

Earlier on Sunday, law enforcement authorities in Green Isle found another car associated with Boelter and seized belongings they believed relevant.

At about 9 p.m. local time, law enforcement apprehended Boelter. A grim-faced Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D) said that violence cannot be the way the country deals with its political differences, after announcing the apprehension of Vance Boelter on suspicion of killing a lawmaker and her husband.

“One man’s unthinkable actions have altered the state of Minnesota,” Walz said.

Boelter was charged with two counts of second-degree murder and two counts of attempted second-degree murder, according to a complaint unsealed in Hennepin County District Court Sunday night. The FBI will review whether federal charges should also be issued, said Drew Evans, the superintendent of the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension.

Police said they have not found evidence of Boelter making previous threats to politicians. They have not found a “traditional manifesto” associated with Boelter laying out a motive for the crimes.

Still, authorities believe that the shootings were deliberate and targeted. Officials have said they found in one of Boelter’s cars a roster of dozens of names, including Democratic lawmakers and people who are supportive of abortion rights and other liberal causes. They also found “No Kings” fliers, sparking worries for law enforcement that the suspect may have wanted to attack one of Saturday’s gatherings protesting President Donald Trump.

The list included Sen. Tina Smith (D-Minnesota), prominent abortion rights advocates and, according to a Democratic lawmaker from Wisconsin, at least 11 Democratic legislators from that state. Other names on the list came from across the Midwest, including Michigan, Illinois and Iowa, according to Evans.

As part of their investigation, officials spoke with Boelter’s wife and family members, who were cooperative and were not taken into custody, Evans said earlier Sunday.

At a Minneapolis home where Boelter rented a room, his housemates also were interviewed by law enforcement.

Interviews and a review of Boelter’s online presence paint a picture of a man who had a hodgepodge of work experiences, embraced his born-again Christian faith, and split his time between his rural home and a place in Minneapolis. At times, he seems to have played up his security qualifications while paying his bills by working at funeral homes.

Boelter reveled in his plans to start a security firm, went to church weekly, offered to help anyone and sometimes complained about Democratic politicians, said David Carlson, his roommate and lifelong friend. Because of the distance from the Green Isle home Boelter shared with his wife, he had been staying at Carlson’s home in Minneapolis a couple of nights a week for the past year or so when he was working on-call shifts at funeral homes.

Boelter quit a few months ago so he could take a two-week trip to Africa, where he hoped to set up a security business. When he returned, he took a job extracting eyeballs from dead bodies for organ donation, Carlson said.

After returning from Africa, he seemed to be “struggling a little bit,” but he exhibited no signs he would commit violence, Carlson said.

“He wasn’t as cheerful as he used to be,” Carlson said. “He had a job and everything. He was doing okay.”

Boelter was trying to set up an armed home security company called Praetorian Guard Security Services, but he struggled to get the business off the ground, Carlson said. On its website, Praetorian touts that the firm uses vehicles that look like police SUVs.

“That was just Vance,” Carlson said. “He would just try to get things started. ‘Oh, I bought the two cars for security.’ But he had no clients, and he had no business. He had no employees. He wasn’t doing security for anybody. It wasn’t his job.”

Carlson said he did not recall ever hearing Boelter talk about Hortman or Hoffman, the two state lawmakers who were attacked. But Boelter sometimes disparaged other Democrats, Carlson said.

“He didn’t like Nancy Pelosi,” he said, referring to the California congresswoman and former speaker of the House. “He didn’t like [Tim] Walz. He didn’t like [former president Joe] Biden.”

Boelter’s comments were ordinary complaints about politicians, and he didn’t express extreme views, Carlson said. He said Boelter supported Trump and tuned in to programming from Alex Jones’s conspiracy-filled Infowars site. Boelter would be offended if anyone called him a Democrat, his roommate said.

Boelter became a born-again Christian in high school, Carlson said. “He just changed everything in his life, 100 percent,” he said. “Everything in his life, he just changed. And he was preaching in the park, living in the park in a tent.”

He remains religious and is a “very caring, loving person,” Carlson said.

According to a 2023 sermon that was streamed online, Boelter told a congregation he “met Jesus” when he was 17 and printed pamphlets about his experience so he could spread the word of God.

He told the congregation to recognize God’s plan for them. “When I die and go to heaven — and go to heaven — I don’t want to just listen to the other people tell their stories,” he said. “I want to have my own story to tell.”

Carlson said he last spoke with Boelter at about 7 p.m. Friday, when he talked to him through the door to his room. Boelter said he was already in bed so he would be well-rested for his overnight job, Carlson said. The shootings occurred several hours later.

Boelter returned to their Minneapolis home at about 6 a.m. Saturday, according to home security footage that Carlson described. He said one of Boelter’s car windows had been smashed out, and a hammer was left on the passenger side of the car.

That day, Boelter sent a text message to Carlson and another friend telling them he loved them, Carlson said.

“I made some choices, and you guys don’t know anything about this, but I’m going to be gone for a while,” Boelter wrote, according to Carlson. “May be dead shortly, so I just want to let you know I love you guys both and I wish it hadn’t gone this way.”

Carlson said he called Boelter but couldn’t reach him. He then called the police, he said. Saturday afternoon, officers in an armored truck broke down the door to Carlson and Boelter’s home and smashed out the windows.

At a news conference Saturday, Walz called Hortman’s killing “a politically motivated assassination.” As of Sunday afternoon, Walz had not received a call from Trump about the shootings, a person close to the governor said, speaking on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue. Biden and Vice President JD Vance called and spoke with the governor on Saturday.

Earlier in the day, Trump told an ABC News reporter that he thought Walz was “a terrible governor. I think he’s a grossly incompetent person.” He then was noncommittal on whether he would offer support. “But I may, I may call him. I may call other people too,” Trump said.

The White House did not respond to questions about whom the president had called about the shootings and search for a suspect. Trump said Saturday afternoon in a Truth Social post that he had been briefed on the shooting and promised the Justice Department would prosecute “anyone involved to the fullest extent of the law.”

“Such horrific violence will not be tolerated in the United States of America,” he wrote.

The Hoffmans were each shot multiple times and underwent emergency surgery, a relative, Mat Ollig, wrote in a Facebook post and confirmed to The Washington Post. Yvette Hoffman “threw herself on her daughter, using her body as a shield to save her life,” according to Ollig, the couple’s nephew. Yvette Hoffman said she was hit by eight bullets while her husband took nine. Her husband is having more surgeries but is “closer every hour to being out of the woods,” she wrote in a text message that Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minnesota) posted online.

Klobuchar described Hortman as a friend she grew close to as a fellow mother in politics and a public servant committed to bettering their state.

“Melissa Hortman is the most incredible person that I wish everyone in the nation knew,” Klobuchar said Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union.” She described the late Democratic leader’s work on landmark legislation to provide free school lunches and paid family leave and experiences as a Sunday school teacher and Girl Scout leader. “She was extraordinary.”

Walz ordered Minnesota flags to fly at half-staff Saturday in honor of Hortman, whom he described as “the most consequential Speaker in state history.”

On Sunday morning, two FBI agents and a state agent returned to the Minneapolis home where Boelter resided a couple of times a week. They were there for another round of interviews with Carlson and another roommate.

Afterward, Carlson spoke to reporters on his doorstep for about 25 minutes. He said he wanted the public to have a fuller picture of the caring person whom he still considers his best friend.

“I just want you guys to just not say ‘crazy right-winger gone nuts’ and that was all he is, you know,” he said. “It just bothers me that that’s his legacy, but I knew — I knew him my whole life. He was a good guy.”

He broke into tears and stepped back into his home.

Kornfield reported from Washington. Holly Bailey in Minneapolis, Niha Masih in Seoul, and Dylan Wells, Shannon Osaka, Kyle Rempfer and Praveena Somasundaram in Washington contributed to this report.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2 ... er-update/

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Paywalled but the headline says it all:

Boelter charged with murder, attempted murder; officers allegedly saw him kill one victim
The Hennepin County Attorney’s Office unsealed the criminal complaint charging Vance Boelter with two counts of second-degree murder...

https://www.startribune.com/boelter-cha ... /601373791

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[ponchi101]

I gather that I cannot ban myself so I can't post what I really want.