What is new with Renée Good and her case?

Scott Douglas Jacobsen asks Rick Rosner for updates on Renée Good’s killing. Rosner reports that FBI agent Tracee Mergen resigned after being blocked from investigating the January 7, 2026 Minneapolis shooting by ICE agent Jonathan Ross, despite widely shared video. He argues the pattern looks like institutional stonewalling, not evidence-hiding, as DOJ limits the matter to an internal review and declines a civil-rights probe, amid reported prosecutor resignations. Rosner notes Minnesota authorities and the family may still pursue action. Jacobsen pivots to polio, citing historic paralysis rates, warning about vaccine skepticism, and vents about Trump’s sagging approval this election season.

Scott Douglas Jacobsen: What is new with Renée Good and her case?

Rick Rosner: An FBI agent who tried to investigate the fatal shooting of Renée Good in Minneapolis by an ICE officer has resigned after being blocked from pursuing the matter, according to reporting that identified the agent as Tracee Mergen. Renée Good, a 37-year-old Minnesota resident and mother of three, was shot and killed on January 7, 2026, in Minneapolis by ICE agent Jonathan Ross while she was in her car.

Video of the shooting has circulated widely online. People are calling this a cover-up, but the dynamic looks less like hiding evidence and more like refusing to treat publicly available evidence as grounds for a serious, transparent investigation. In other words, it resembles stonewalling.

The Justice Department has said it is not pursuing a criminal civil-rights investigation of Ross and has described the matter as an internal review, a position that has drawn criticism. Reporting has indicated internal turmoil, including resignations by federal prosecutors over disagreements about how the case has been handled.

Can this continue indefinitely? I do not know. Minnesota authorities may still pursue action based on the evidence they can gather, and the family can pursue civil litigation.

Separately, on vaccines: HHS did not issue a blanket declaration that the polio vaccine is optional. The chair of the CDC’sAdvisory Committee on Immunization Practices publicly questioned broad vaccine recommendations, including those for polio, emphasizing individual autonomy rather than public health mandates.

The CDC’s recommendation that children receive the polio vaccine remains in place, and school vaccination requirements are set at the state level. Polio has been eliminated in many countries but continues to circulate globally, meaning reduced vaccination coverage increases the risk of its return.

In the 1940s and 1950s, polio paralyzed or killed more than half a million people worldwide each year. Before the 1955 vaccine, the disease caused more than 15,000 cases of paralysis annually in the United States alone.

Globally, cases have been reduced by more than 99 percent because of vaccination. Those 15,000 U.S. cases occurred when the country had less than half its current population.

If polio were to return at similar rates today—which is unlikely because most people will continue to vaccinate—that would translate to roughly 35,000 paralysis cases per year. These people are fuckheads.

Trump’s approval rating has fallen to the lowest levels of his current term. Many people are disgusted. He has done very little of what people voted for him to do. He has controlled the border, and that is about it.

Rick Rosner is an accomplished television writer with credits on shows like Jimmy Kimmel Live!, Crank Yankers, and The Man Show. Over his career, he has earned multiple Writers Guild Award nominations—winning one—and an Emmy nomination. Rosner holds a broad academic background, graduating with the equivalent of eight majors. Based in Los Angeles, he continues to write and develop ideas while spending time with his wife, daughter, and two dogs.

Scott Douglas Jacobsen is the publisher of In-Sight Publishing (ISBN: 978-1-0692343) and Editor-in-Chief of In-Sight: Interviews (ISSN: 2369-6885). He writes for The Good Men Project, International Policy Digest (ISSN: 2332–9416), The Humanist (Print: ISSN 0018-7399; Online: ISSN 2163-3576), Basic Income Earth Network (UK Registered Charity 1177066), A Further Inquiry, and other media. He is a member in good standing of numerous media organizations.

Photo by David Trinks on Unsplash

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