Coffee Talk with Tiff

February 13, 2026 1:02 pm EST Tiff Coffee Talk with Tiff 0
Coffee. Photo by Jonathan Thursfield.

It’s…

Friday The 13th Friday Vibes Stickerfrom Friday The 13th Stickers

President Shitshow’s public schedule for…

02/13/2026-02/15/2026:

Friday:

One speech, then three days of ‘trust me bro.’


Free-For-All Friday

Odds, ends, and evidence that the adults have once again left the building.

You’ll be shocked to learn that DHS and ICE agents lied about an incident involving migrants. (I know. Try to contain your surprise.)

Summary of the events:

  • 1) After a car chase, feds pursue a man into an apartment complex where there is a physical altercation (the facts of which are in dispute). Feds say two men attacked them with a broom and shovel. An agent shoots a man in the leg amid the tussle. The two men are arrested and charged. Story makes national headlines.
  • 2) The same night, ICE sweeps the building where the incident occurs and arrests at least two witnesses to the alleged assault — and ships them to Texas. One of them, a 19-year-old woman and partner of one of the alleged assailants, is quickly bounced from Texas to New Mexico. She and one of the defendants have a one-year-old son.
  • 3) Judge Magnuson, who is presiding over the assault case, orders the defendants released on conditions while they await trial. But ICE picks them up immediately on immigration detainers, citing the Trump administration’s mandatory detention policy. The men demand – and Magnuson agrees — to bar the feds from deporting any of the witnesses they might call in their defense.
  • 4) On Thursday, the 19-year-old woman is ordered immediately released by Judge Strickland in New Mexico, who says her detention was likely unlawful — and more urgently, her one-year-old has suffered severe burns and was slated to undergo emergency surgery on Friday. A judge in Minnesota, Laura Provinzino, scolded the Trump administration for its “deeply troubling” effort to rush the woman out-of-state before she could seek release near her home.
  • 5) *Tonight* Judge Schiltz, who is presiding over the two defendants’ petition for release from ICE custody, agreed ICE had illegally detained them and ordered their release on the same conditions Magnuson previously set. He said he let the father of the one-year-old out a day earlier because of the emergency surgery.

Update as of last night:

The request to dismiss the charges is one pg. long.

The text:

The United States of America, by and through its undersigned attorneys, hereby respectfully moves the Court for an order to dismiss with prejudice the Complaint filed in this matter against the defendants, Alfredo Alejandro Aljorna and Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis, pursuant to Rule 48(a) of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure.

Newly discovered evidence in this matter is materially inconsistent with the allegations in the Complaint Affidavit, filed on January 16, 2026, as ECF 1-1, as well as the preliminary-hearing testimony (ECF 18, 19) that was based on information presented to the Affiant.

Accordingly, dismissal with prejudice will serve the interests of justice.

Storage.Courtlistener.com. 02/11/2026.

Another take on how the case was covered:

The charges have been dismissed.

Federal charges have been dropped against two men who had been charged with assaulting Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers in Minneapolis last month, including one Venezuelan defendant who was shot in the leg by an officer. The Justice Department’s motion cited “newly discovered evidence” that was “materially inconsistent” with the allegations against them.

The filing, entered Thursday by U.S. Attorney in Minnesota Daniel Rosen, moved to dismiss the charges against the men with prejudice, meaning the charges cannot be reintroduced. On Friday, a judge granted the request.

CBS News. 02/13/2026.

Speaking of DHS…

I’m gonna post some highlights. It’s a very detailed article.

WSJ: A Pilot Fired Over Kristi Noem’s Missing Blanket and the Constant Chaos Inside DHS (gift link–02/12/2026):

Kristi Noem knew she needed a reset. 

It was two days after federal agents had shot and killed Alex Pretti, and Noem was facing fire from all sides. Even some inside the administration were pushing President Trump to remove her from her position for her handling of the chaotic immigration enforcement operation in Minneapolis and comments she’d made saying Pretti committed an act of domestic terrorism.

So Noem’s top adviser, Corey Lewandowski, messaged Trump’s pollster with a request: They needed to cut an ad to help her, according to two people familiar with the episode. The pollster, Tony Fabrizio, who worked on Trump’s 2024 re-election campaign, ignored the entreaty, the people said.

[snip]

Within DHS, Noem and Lewandowski frequently berate senior level staff, give polygraph tests to employees they don’t trust and have fired employees—in one incident, Lewandowski fired a U.S. Coast Guard pilot after Noem’s blanket was left behind on a plane, according to people familiar with the incident. 

[snip]

For months, Noem and Lewandowski had demanded that ICE capture its arrests on video for social media—the more dramatic, the better. But more than a week after Pretti’s shooting, Noem and Lewandowski berated Todd Lyons, the acting ICE director, for videos that emerged in Minnesota showing federal officers continuing to tangle with protesters, according to people familiar with the conversation.

The president hated the continued stream of videos, they told Lyons, whom they pinned the blame on. They demanded that he draw up a new plan for ICE to carry out targeted enforcement, an approach Lyons had been advocating all along, according to ICE officials, but that the pair had previously eschewed. 

WSJ: A Pilot Fired Over Kristi Noem’s Missing Blanket and the Constant Chaos Inside DHS (gift link–02/12/2026).

Blanket and a Badge (I can’t even):

Within DHS, Noem and Lewandowski have cut employees or put them on administrative leave. The pair have fired or demoted roughly 80% of the career ICE field leadership that was in place when they started.

In the blanket incident, Noem had to switch planes after a maintenance issue was discovered, but her blanket wasn’t moved to the second plane, according to the people familiar with the incident. The Coast Guard pilot was initially fired and told to take a commercial flight home when they reached their destination. They eventually reinstated the pilot because no one else was available to fly them home.

The DHS spokeswoman didn’t address the episode but said the secretary has “made personnel decisions to deliver excellence.” 

In an incident last year that rankled some senior staff at the agency, Lewandowski made it known to top ICE officials that he wanted to be issued a law-enforcement badge and a federally issued gun, according to people familiar with his push. Officials are typically only issued a badge and a gun after undergoing law-enforcement training. 

The administration was preparing to bring on Tom Feeley, a former top ICE official in New York, as its new director when Lewandowski asked Feeley if he would be willing to issue him and several other political officials badges and guns. Feeley declined, and he was subsequently passed over for the top job at ICE. 

Lewandowski next turned to ICE’s legal office for help writing him a legal justification to be issued the badge and gun. A top ICE lawyer, Ken Padilla, also declined to sign off, and days later he was placed on administrative leave. He was later demoted and moved to FEMA, the people said. Padilla declined to comment. 

Lewandowski eventually persuaded other lawyers to sign off. The ICE director’s autopen was used to sign the paperwork, the people said.  

The DHS spokeswoman denied that Lewandowski made efforts to secure a federal gun or signed paperwork, adding that Lewandowski didn’t talk to Feeley and that Padilla was put on administrative leave for unrelated reasons. The spokeswoman didn’t address any efforts to get a badge.

Efforts to issue Lewandowski a gun stalled after The Wall Street Journal and other news organizations inquired about the incident last year, the people said. Still, Lewandowski has been spotted by DHS staff sporting a badge, emblazoned with the words “Homeland Security.” 

WSJ: A Pilot Fired Over Kristi Noem’s Missing Blanket and the Constant Chaos Inside DHS (gift link–02/12/2026).

With the midterms looming, new reporting shows a DHS program has inaccurately flagged citizens as noncitizens on state voter rolls.

This brings us full circle to the SAVE Act.

ICE at polling locations…

I replied this way…

Here’s the thing.

ICE has a proven record of using racial profiling and intimidation tactics against US citizens, up to and including murder.

As I explained to another Twitter Twat in response to this video clip.

Speaking of the Save Act…

Let’s once again talk about voter ID.

The argument from the right wing idiots is you don’t have to show ID to vote. That’s true in some areas. But and it’s a big but and cannot lie, you must show ID to register to vote. Forcing voters to obtain an additional form of ID to vote is called a poll tax.

Last night doom scrolling Twitter I heard a clip from that CNN show that hosts the likes of Scott Jennings.

He wasn’t the guest to defend the rights push for a poll tax.

Show more =’s

Borelli: You have to show some proof and then the government can match it against the database, I’m fine with that

Phillip: That’s exactly how the system works right now.

In the two-minute-plus exchange, Phillips continues explaining to Borelli that the system works exactly as he said he was “fine with,” before Borelli tosses out, “Not in New York.”

Oh, really?

New York Voter registration form (PDF).

For some reason, I can’t find the link to the portal that should this.

But my point is, even in New York, you must prove you are eligible to vote when you register.

I wish these idiots would do just a tiny amount of the heavy lifting.

As someone who leans more progressive now, I have no problem with states requiring IDs to vote. What I do have a problem with is requiring a separate form of ID to vote, which is essentially a poll tax. To be fair, I felt that way even before I shifted left and watched Fox News like it was my job.


The BLS released the consumer price index for January.

The chart:

I’d feel better about the cooling inflation, if we didn’t have so many blank spaces from Oct. and Nov.

I’m not saying the data is fudged, I’m saying the data is incomplete.

Food and Energy:


It’s Moronness is speaking at the press before departing D.C..

If we don’t make a deal with Iran, he plans to strike them again. Apparently.

He’s here to protect his brownshirts.

Asked about the shitshow over the closure of airspace in El Paso he said “People learn”.

Greenland is gonna want us.

He’s planning to visit Venezuela eventually.

Holy shit balls.

He was asked if he believed cartels or another nation is involved in the disappearance of Nancy Guthrie.

And people wonder how conspiracy theories are started.

I just stumbled on this very odd situation happening in AZ.

I did see this…

It still hasn’t started yet.


That’s a wrap.

I hope everyone has a great weekend.

This is an Open Thread

About the opinions in this article…

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About Tiff 3489 Articles
Member of the Free Press who is politically homeless and a political junkie.