Just a couple weeks after an ICE agent shot and killed Renee Good in Minneapolis, we have another incident where Border Patrol and/or ICE agents shot and killed a Veterans Affairs ICU nurse named Alex Pretti yesterday.
He was at a protest in Minneapolis where others can be heard blowing whistles and denouncing federal agents, but he appeared to be a peaceful observer. If he weren't a peaceful observer, footage would have been released clearly showing him as an agitator, but nothing has been released. Instead, we see a man filming, helping other victims of fed violence stand up again, and then being attacked.
Once again, the government declared him a murderous terrorist intent upon inflicting death after they killed him.
Once again, and even more so than for Good, cell phone footage from other bystanders disproves the official claims.
Once again, partisan sycophants ignore evidence and eagerly lick boots.
"He was carrying a gun!"
Yes, in a holster, with proper Minnesota permits and everything. He didn't even draw, much less attack the feds like the government asserted. Besides, one does not surrender the second amendment to exercise the first.
"He could have just stayed home!"
Same for his killers. He still had every right to witness public protests, record what happened, and yes, carry a weapon while doing so. People have a right to protest the government, observe protesters, record the event, and not get attacked as a "consequence."
"He was resisting!"
Resisting what? He was helping a woman stand up after federal agents committed assault and battery against bystanders. They then pepper sprayed him and her. Why? I saw no video evidence for any probable cause to justify detention or arrest. Further, setting aside questions of jurisdiction, I heard no statements from his assailants that he was being placed under arrest, although audio is admittedly dodgy in the footage I have seen.
"He fucked around and found out!"
What was he doing to "fuck around," pray tell? How does being shot in the back after being dogpiled by government thugs find out anything? He was holding a cell phone. When he stood in the street, it looked like he was directing traffic through the area instead of impeding it. He had the audacity to help a woman who had been pushed to the ground by the feds and ask her if she was OK. And then he was pepper sprayed, tackled, and executed.
It's been 250 years this July since the founding fathers approved the Declaration of Independence in the Continental Congress. It's been almost 251 years since the first shots of the American Revolution were fired at Lexington and Concord. I fear American Revolution 2: Electric Boogaloo is around the corner. And I don't know which is worse, the present creeping escalation of bipartisan tyranny, or overthrowing it so a new faction can take over instead. It's the old idiomatic question of "the devil you know."
The US is divided almost evenly between two major political parties. Both proclaim themselves defenders of underdogs and enemies of oppression. Both justify their own plunder and tyranny when in power, while denouncing the other party building on their own precedents when their candidates are in the minority. The "slippery slope" may be a logical fallacy, but the ratchet effect of politics is very real. The only spot of hope is that society is not the State, and community resilience has held things together despite the escalating tension.
We survived the cold war, the Clinton police state escalation, the Bush war on terror, the Obama war on terror escalation, the 2007/2008 market crash, the first term of Trump, COVID, civil unrest following the police murder of George Floyd, Biden's dementia, and now Trump's unhinged second term foreign and domestic policies. Those are just the highlights from the past few decades, mind you. But something must inevitably snap. When it does, the collateral damage could be catastrophic.
As I have frequently said, in a real emergency, you are your own first responder. Keep your ear to the ground, so to speak. Build your local community and connect with your neighbors. Have food and supplies on hand to withstand the infrastructure disruptions of civil unrest. Have an evacuation plan. Build an emergency kit and know how to use what you put in it. I hope society can withstand chaos, but collapse is possible. Social unrest, fiscal instability, and foreign war all loom as potential black swan events. Stay safe out there as much as you can, and don't be a sucker for police state propaganda. There is no law so trivial that government goons won't kill you to enforce it, and no overreach so egregious that bootlickers won't blame the victim for police abuse.
Image credit: public domain VA photo via Wikipedia
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