Never let a manufactured crisis go to waste

February 2, 2026

Andy Caldwell

OPINION by ANDY CALDWELL

There are two burning questions having to do with the chaos and violence happening in Minneapolis. First, how did so much fraud occur and nobody in the government caught it, unless the government was intentionally ignoring the same?

Second, why bring a gun with extra ammo to a peaceful protest? Like many Americans, I believe the answers to these two questions are related.

That is, every presidential administration in recent history has typically deported tens of thousands of illegal aliens per month without controversy! Hence, I believe the insurgency in Minneapolis is aimed at creating a crisis to deflect from the huge political and fiscal scandal.

Here is a chart showing immigration removals per recent presidential administrations:

Regardless, in the last couple of weeks, two activist protestors in Minneapolis have been shot by federal agents. Whereas, any death is a tragedy, every American needs to take a deep breath and realize what is going on in that state is dangerously anti-American.

One of our nation’s founders, John Adams, spoke about the importance of America being a nation of laws, not men. What did he mean by that? The phrase “government of laws and not of men” emphasizes the importance of the rule of law, ensuring that no individual is above the law and that governance is based on established laws rather than arbitrary decisions.

Certainly, the laws of America regarding enforcing “final orders to deport” aimed at arresting and deporting illegal aliens who have committed serious crimes in our country is unambiguous. That is, terrorists, murderers, rapists, child molesters, and swindlers have no right to claim asylum in our country if they came here illegally and nobody has a right to help them resist arrest. Period.

While it is an American right to peacefully protest just about anything in our country, it is a different thing altogether when a protestor brings a gun or any other weapon to a protest. Concealed weapon holders are instructed to inform law enforcement officials that they have a gun and to surrender that gun upon request.

Moreover, it is against the law to conceal and harbor an illegal alien in an effort to shield them while obstructing federal agents who are carrying out their appointed duties.

The truth is the mobs attacking our federal law enforcement agents in Minnesota are not mere protestors, they are trained insurgents, and that appears to include the likes of Renee Good and Alex Pretti.

As Eric Schwalm, who identified himself as a former U.S. Army Special Forces soldier wrote, “When your own citizens build and operate this level of parallel intelligence and rapid-response network against federal officers – complete with doxxing, vehicle pursuits, and harassment that’s already turned lethal – you’re no longer dealing with civil disobedience. You’re facing a distributed resistance that has learned the lessons of successful insurgencies: stay below the kinetic threshold most of the time, force over-reaction when possible, maintain popular support through narrative, and never present a single center of gravity.”

Here is the link to his article he wrote for Western Journal.

The federal agents in Minnesota were there to do their job which had nothing to do with Pretti and Good. If these two individuals had not interfered and not resisted while presenting a potential to harm our law enforcement agents, they would be alive today.

Andy Caldwell is the executive director of COLAB in Santa Barbara County and host of The Andy Caldwell Radio Show, weekdays from 3-5 p.m. on  FM 98.5, FM 99.5, AM 1240, AM 1290 and FM 96.9.