Sound Off

Sound Off: January 26, 2026

By Sun Herald

January 26, 2026 4:00 AM

A photograph of 37-year-old Alex Pretti can be seen at a makeshift memorial in the area where he was shot dead by federal immigration agents in Minneapolis on Saturday. The second fatal shooting of a U.S. citizen during the Trump administration's unprecedented operation in the city sparked fresh protests and outrage from state officials. ROBERTO SCHMIDT AFP via Getty Images

Sun Herald readers weigh in on local and national topics.

Message to Americans

Don’t peacefully protest anything this government is doing, or you’ll risk getting shot if you help a fellow protester being pushed around by ICE agents. After you’re shot, the government will call you a terrorist. Watch the Minnesota videos and believe your eyes.

Minnesota showdown

I personally believe that President Trump should initiate martial law in Minneapolis in order to establish law and order in that city and any other city that follows. I personally feel that the paid protestors have done enough to disrupt law and order there and that the mayor and the governor have backed them in order to make President Trump and ICE look bad and become the fall guys. The democrats hate Trump so much that they don’t care if they destroy this country in order to get their way.

Another shutdown?

I just watched U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar put out that her party is considering shutting down the Government until ice is abolished. Good luck. And if you shut the government down, let’s keep it shut down indefinitely.

They straight killed him

Someone’s going to need to come up with an angle of that shooting that doesn’t make it clear that ICE had already disarmed the man before injecting him full of lead.

Begging for leadership

I voted for Donald Trump. Twice. I am increasingly dismayed by his actions, but he is my beloved country’s president and I pray for him every night. I also beg our political parties — I don’t care which one — to elevate some new leaders before our next election. Note: if the majority of his/her quoted comments are negative, hate-filled and critical, that’s not leadership. We have enough screeching naysayers.

What we voted for

What you’re seeing in Minnesota is what 77 million Americans voted for. And, the truth of the matter is that if that same election was held again tomorrow, President Trump would still beat Kamala Harris.

Epstein files

A bipartisan bill passed overwhelmingly by Congress and signed by the President required that all the Epstein files be released by December 19, 2025. To date, only 1% of the files have been released. Add in the dramatic increase in chaos initiated by the White House since 12/19, and it appears that there’s a concerted effort to stall or prevent the release of the files. This subject should be kept front and center, along with all of the other critical topics. I recommend that every national topic Sound Off, end with “…and where’s the Epstein files?”

Send your Sound Offs to soundoff@sunherald.com.