Videos analyzed by The New York Times contradict the accounts of Homeland Security officials, who said that the man approached Border Patrol agents with a handgun and the intent to 'massacre' them. Footage of the encounter shows the man was holding a phone in his hand, not a gun, when federal agents took him to the ground and shot him."
"But the stars burn on overhead,
Unconscious of final ends,
As I walk home to bed,
Asking what judgment waits
My person, all my friends,
And these United States." --W.H. Auden
From PBS: Man identified who was shot and killed amid Minneapolis immigration operation
ReplyDeleteThe man who was shot and killed by a federal officer during an immigration operation has been identified as 37-year-old Alex Pretti. His parents told The Associated Press that Pretti was an intensive care unit nurse.
Possumlady
Tell every single Democrat in Congress to NOT fund this regime. Period. Shut the government down. Not one human being should fund a regime that uses state violence against its own people. This regime lies to our faces about ICE murdering people in cold blood. ZERO funding for this!
ReplyDeleteI suspect the MN thing will continue to escalate. Perhaps the breaking point between democracy and totalitarianism. How can 35% of the populace control the majority - check with Goebbels, I guess.
ReplyDeleteHow is your son and family?
DeleteOnly dictators kill people for engaging in their right to free speech.
ReplyDeleteBe prepared for MUCH more and likely mich worse Terror at the hands of Trump's fascist government. A government the hateful ignorant MAGAts cheer on on a daily basis. They are totally and completely responsible for the hte and division in this nation.
ReplyDeleteICE is now responsible for 66% of the homicides in Minneapolis this year.
ReplyDeleteJust don't call them Nazis.
Okay then, MURDERS it is.
ReplyDeleteIt has been confirmed that Pam Bondi sent a letter to Walz today saying they’d leave Minnesota if Walz would turn over their voter registration data. Isn’t this extortion? It never did have anything to do with law and order.
ReplyDeletePossumlady
This dark chapter of American and indeed world history will pass, because everything passes, but I don't think we will ever get over the sheer breathtaking stupidity, the immorality, the venality, the corruption, the criminality, and the cruelty, all put in the service to one of the worst, most repugnant and pathetic people ever to walk the earth. This just is not something that decent, conscientious people can overcome in their hearts and minds.
ReplyDeleteI live in Minneapolis. I've lived here most of my 71 years. Whatever FJ, Skud and the crew on the Mothership think they know about my city and state, they are wrong. What some of them think they know about what makes America great, it ain't what is happening here.
ReplyDeleteI've watched, like the rest of you, the videos of another cold blooded murder by Trump's, Noem's and Bovino's trigger happy goons and then watched them smear those they murdered.
Tonight my daughter, a neighbor and myself walked to a nearby park where an impromtu candle light vigil was held. I expected a few people from our southside neighborhood would show. We stayed for about an hour, it's a bit chilly, and by the time we left there were at least 700 people. These vigils are being held all over the city. I don't know if it will change anything but it gave me , at least, a respite from the anger and grief of living in a police state.
Make America America again. Still wanna see the Epstein files.
Craig, please know that we Bostonians support and stand in solidarity our brave brothers and sisters in Minnesota. I can’t take my eyes away from what is happening in your beautiful state, and understand that this lawless regime will do the same when they come to Boston. We’re ready for them. Believe me.
DeleteStay strong, my friend, and keep the knowledge that a majority of Americans are with you and all Minnesotans, and will see those who have committed these atrocities will be brought to account for their crimes. The arc of the universe is long, but it bends toward justice.
Craig,
DeleteI and every decent American of conscience stands with and supports everyone protesting the racist MAGA jackbooted thugs.
Craig... stay strong up there. Today, even FOX News is reporting that ICE "disarmed Pretti before he was shot" and killed. When the MAGA crowd has lost Fox, it shows how low a certain segment of our country's population has fallen.
DeleteAnd through it all, as he did while the Capitol was under attack, our President sits in his office, simultaneously fuming and gleeful, watching the news and doing nothing except disregarding his oath to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution.
No calls for peace, no calls for ICE to stand down. No statement that we, the ppl, will investigate. Nothing. Nary a direct statement up to this point.
We've not only elected an immoral brut, we've elected a feckless coward, and man unable to act in a crisis, and man who currently is sitting in the White House watching Rome burn while he fiddles.
Here's the link... sorry, I was lazy today.
https://www.foxnews.com/us/narratives-clash-after-trump-victims-family-react-second-minneapolis-shooting
The collective heart (and mind) of America has shifted. Shifted towards the arbitrary authoritarian mindset it once rebelled against to win its independence and establish effective self rule.
ReplyDeleteFollowing WW II it single handedly rebuilt Europe and their devestated economies through the Marshal Plan. It established, through the UN a new and cooperative world order in the west. Ultimately bringing down the corrupt authoritarian Soviet Union. When America had a conscience and understood cooperation among friends was of great value to our national interests.
Trump, with his authoritarian and arbitrary mental process is changing America and its policies to that of pre WW II Nazi Germany and its fascist allies.
As the rest of the western allies begin to disengage with the USA and begin realign and form new relationships that better benefit their national interests America will ultimately find itself alone. Without friends or allies it will find itself without the strength it once enjoyed. Partially because of the very relationships the Dunce Presnit of America, Donald J. Trump is working very hard to destroy.
America is definitely witnessing its golden years rapidly fleeing its shores in real time. Thanks to the "man" it foolishly twice put into power.
History will be the ultimate judge of the narcissist authoritarian Trump and his destructive efforts to remake America (and the globe) into the deluded fever dreams of diseased mind.
The arc bends towards justice only when the majority in power are just. Right now the arc is being bent away from justice. And with a fever pitch that is incredibly dangerous to Americans and the world at large.
ReplyDeleteWisdom:Justice are opposed virtues. When the arc bends AWAY from Justice, it bends TOWARDS Wisdom. Just sayin'....
Delete“The chief task in life is simply this: to identify and separate matters so that I can say clearly to myself which are externals not under my control, and which have to do with the choices I actually control. Where then do I look for good and evil? Not to uncontrollable externals, but within myself to the choices that are my own” — Epictetus
Delete...else practicing Virtue wouldn't be characterized as a "struggle"...
DeleteThe name Israel originates from Biblical Hebrew (Yisra'el), traditionally interpreted as "one who struggles with God" or "God strives". It derives from sarah (to struggle, fight, or persevere) and El (God). The name is famously conferred on Jacob in Genesis 32:28 after he wrestling with a divine being, symbolizing spiritual struggle.
Etymological Breakdown and Meaning
Structure: The name is a combination of Yisra (derived from the root śrh - to fight, strive, or rule) and El (God).
Biblical Context: In Genesis 32:28, Jacob is told, "...you have struggled with God and with men, and you have prevailed".
Alternative Interpretations:
Some scholars suggest alternative interpretations based on the root śrh, including "God rules," "God judges," or "Prince of God" (if sar is used).
Alternative Root: Some interpretations link it to yashar (straight), contrasting it with Jacob's original name, which implies crookedness.
Just wondering if -FJ/ JoeCon can look at what is happening to our country in real time and give us their thoughts without having to resort to someone else’s philosophy. Either what they see happening is just or evil should be easy to understand without quoting someone else’s ideas.
DeleteI’ve read enough and seen enough in my life to know that what Trump’s government is doing is evil. And those who do evil eventually pay a price for it.
How’s this for philosophical idea: “ Be straightforward. Look at things like a man, like a human being, like a citizen, like a mortal.” — M. Aurelius, Meditations
We can expect racist sociopaths to twist words to suit their bias.
DeleteLet's put a term to the "arc".
"When the arc of racist lynching and the Holocaust bends AWAY from Justice, it bends TOWARDS Wisdom. Just sayin'...."
This better suits -FJ's white nationalist and neo-Nazi allies. This is "Stephen Miller wisdom".
"The powers of the president to protect our country are very substantial and will not be questioned".
“We live in a world in which you can talk all you want about international niceties and everything else,” deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller told CNN’s Jake Tapper. “But we live in a world, in the real world … that is governed by strength, that is governed by force, that is governed by power”.
“These are the iron laws of the world.” “We’re a superpower. And under President Trump, we are going to conduct ourselves as a superpower.”
Ach, so! "Today America, tomorrow the world!"
How did that kind of "wisdom" work out?
I see.
DeleteAs Trump bends away from justice, he bends towards wisdom.
Didn't Steely Dan name an album after this pretzel logic?
Marcus Aurelius was never a slave like Epictetus. So naturally, he had a different perspective. Master vs Slave moralities (Nietzsche) Aurelius internalized "thesis:antithesis::synthesis" of the opposition differently (like Hegel and with a disappearing mediator). In Epictetus, the internalized mediator (slave) can't be externalized.
Deletefrom Google AI:
Marcus Aurelius had a slave serve as a living reminder of mortality during triumphs, whispering "Memento mori" (remember you are mortal) to prevent hubris, but his primary connection to slavery was through the Stoic philosopher Epictetus, a former slave whose teachings on self-control and virtue profoundly shaped Aurelius's philosophy, though Aurelius didn't abolish the institution itself, he did legislate to improve slaves' rights.
...and I try and live "Beyond Good & Evil". I try and live with "Good and Bad" (not "Evil", which is a slave moralist's biased attitude towards Master (vs Slave) moralities)
DeleteThis was posted on Facebook.
ReplyDelete”A 37-year-old ICU nurse named Alex Pretti helped a woman that federal agents had shoved. For this crime - helping someone - several agents sprayed pepper spray into his face - then they beat him until he collapsed. They pistol whipped him while he was on his knees. Both hands on the ground. Not resisting. Just existing.
They took his gun from his back waistband - he never touched it - but he had a legal permit to carry. The Second Amendment one. The constitutional right one.
And then they shot him.
After he was already down, already gone, they shot him nine more times. Nine. I want you to picture that. A man on the ground, motionless, and nine more bullets.
This is the same government that told us he was a “criminal illegal alien with a string of violent offenses.” He was an American citizen. He was a nurse who worked in the ICU at the VA - the guy who takes care of your grandfather who served in Vietnam, your uncle who came back from Iraq. His criminal record was traffic tickets.
They lied. They executed him in broad daylight on an American street. And then they lied about who he was to make you feel okay about it.
This is the third shooting by federal agents in Minneapolis in three weeks. Three weeks. Three people. One was a woman named Renée Good. One was a Venezuelan man shot in the leg. And now Alex Pretti, American citizen, legal gun owner, VA nurse who spent his days caring for veterans, dead on the pavement at 26th and Nicollet because he tried to help someone.
The same government that wraps itself in “support our troops” shot the guy who actually supported our troops. Nine times. While he was on the ground."
January 25, 2026 at 10:24 AM
Sort of a Broadway buff, I recall when Reagan hosted the Austrian Premier with 'Eidelweiss', hoping to please them with their National Anthem. It wasn't of course, but they liked it. With that in mind, and not as good as Dave M. at satire, hum along to -
ReplyDeleteICY guys
Dicey guys
Day and night you beat me
Small and trite, ready to fight
You are happy to kill me
May you quit and go
Quit and go for ever
-Pretti and Good
and apologies to Rogers and Hammerstein
The blood thirst of the Trump regime now defines this Nation across the globe. An uncaring pathetic government assembled and led by a filthy narcissist who has corrupted this nation beyond belief. America, in short order, will soon be no better than Hitler's Germany ir Stalin's USSR.
ReplyDeleteIt is happening as we watch im real time.
Boston showed up in 7° weather last night and chanted “we’re not cold, we’re not afraid, MN taught us to be brave” after another life was lost in Minneapolis. Rest in peace, Alex Jeffrey Pretti.
ReplyDelete🎥 @rob7908
Another amateur agitator bites the dust... lesson - Don't bring guns to a protest and subsequently resist arrest unless you want to be shot by law enforcement.
DeleteYou’re wrong. The man Trump’s thugs murdered carried his gun legally, never touched it during his beatings by Trump’s gunmen. Video exist proving this. It is also a fact that you are nothing more than a government lackey who is spreading the vicious lie that Pretti was an agitator. Like all the other conspiracies and lies you’ve written in support for this lawless regime, this lie, posted here, will be remembered as a hideous slur against an American exercising his Constitutional rights and being murdered by the state led by a criminal president.
DeleteYou’re the minority supporting evil.
-FJ has a Nazi mentality where summary execution of a non-violent person, after assaulting and beating him on the ground, is acceptable, even praiseworthy. Then he takes delight in smearing and blaming the victim just to make him FEEL better about it.
DeleteYeah, this is what evil looks like in sociopaths.
Here's how JV Last described the killing of Pretti in Minneapolis Saturday night. I'm open to anyone contesting this interpretation, provided they bring receipts that bear on the facts visible and now accepted by multiple news outlets around the country.
ReplyDeleteFrom Last...
So here are the things we know:
-On Saturday morning, Alex Jeffrey Pretti was observing DHS agents on a public street. He was using his phone to record their actions.
-At some point a DHS agent approached Pretti and began pushing him backward.
-More DHS agents mobbed Pretti and began beating him. In multiple videos you can see Pretti, on the ground, with a scrum of agents assaulting him.
-One agent appears to pistol whip Pretti about the head.
-Then an agent shoots Pretti from point-blank range.
-Other agents begin shooting Pretti.
-Quickly, Pretti is motionless on the ground while at least one agent continues firing his weapon at him from a short distance away.
-Pretti was quickly pronounced dead.
If this were all that had happened it would have been bad enough. But it got worse.
-At least some of the DHS agents involved in the killing attempted to leave the scene.
-When local law enforcement arrived to begin an investigation, the DHS agents attempted to send them away and deny them access to the crime scene.
-Someone—presumably within DHS—leaked to Fox that Pretti had a gun.
-DHS put out a statement (repeated by Border Patrol official Greg Bovino in his press conference) claiming that “an individual approached US Border Patrol officers with a 9 mm semi-automatic handgun. . . . The officers attempted to disarm the suspect but the armed suspect violently resisted. . . . Fearing for his life and the lives and safety of fellow officers, an agent fired defensive shots. . . . The suspect also had 2 magazines and no ID—this looks like a situation where an individual wanted to do maximum damage and massacre law enforcement.”
These statements seem to be lies.
-According to local law enforcement, Pretti had a concealed-carry permit and so was legally allowed to possess a firearm in public.
There is no evidence to suggest that Pretti brandished—or even touched—his weapon.
-Instead, the available video evidence shows him holding his phone in front of him, in his right hand, and his left hand empty before being pepper-sprayed while attempting to help a fellow observer.
-The deputy White House chief of staff, Stephen Miller, called Pretti a “domestic terrorist” and an “assassin.” In fact, Pretti was a registered nurse working in intensive care at a Department of Veterans Affairs hospital.
So the government didn’t just use masked, armed, unidentified agents of the state to execute a citizen on the street, in broad daylight and in front of dozens of witnesses—it lied about the victim and what happened in the most brazen manner possible.
The government killed him. Then it smeared him.
Minnesota Nice has had enough -
ReplyDeletehttps://www.cnbc.com/2026/01/25/alex-pretti-ceo-minneapolis-minnesota.html?utm_source=firefox-newtab-en-us
The American people have had enough. Trump is responsible for murdering Americans on their streets. He is pure evil.
DeleteAs MAGAt Amerika continue to support the narcissistic POS.
ReplyDeleteTell me this isn’t fascism…
ReplyDeletehttps://bringmethenews.com/minnesota-news/st-paul-toy-store-hit-with-ice-audit-after-abc-news-story-about-handing-out-whistles
Possumlady