Murder in Minneapolis

Caution: using your First Amendment right to document the brutality of a masked paramilitary invasion force may be hazardous to your life. And beware of exercising your Second Amendment right to bear arms.

dangjessie, via Instagram

The ICE assassination of Alex Jeffrey Pretti on a Minneapolis street was simply the latest assault on the Constitution by a poorly trained gang of thugs masquerading as “law enforcement.”

Pretti was armed with a cellphone camera to document an encounter where agents began shoving observers and firing pepper spray at him and a woman who had been pushed to the ground.

The intensive care nurse was also legally carrying a weapon but a New York Times video analysis suggests the weapon remained concealed until federal agents found and took it from him. Concealed and open carry is legal for permit holders in Minnesota.

The Times analysis continues:

“A small group of protesters stands in the street, speaking to a federal agent as whistles sound. Pretti appears to be filming the scene with his phone and directing traffic. An agent begins shoving the demonstrators, and squirts pepper spray at their faces.

At this moment, Pretti has both hands clearly visible. One is holding his phone, while he holds the other up to protect himself from pepper spray. He moves to help one of the protesters who was sprayed, as other agents approach and pull him from behind.

Several agents tussle with Pretti before bringing him to his knees. He appears to resist as the agents grab his legs, push down on his back and strike him repeatedly.

The footage shows an agent approaching with empty hands and grabbing at Pretti as the others hold him down. About eight seconds after he is pinned, agents yell that he has a gun, indicating that they may not have known he was armed until he was on the ground.

The same agent who approached with empty hands pulls a gun from among the group that appears to match the profile of a firearm DHS said belonged to Pretti. The agents appear to have him under their control, with his arms pinned near his head.

As the gun emerges from the melee, another agent aims his own firearm at Pretti’s back and appears to fire one shot at close range. He then appears to continue firing at Pretti, who collapses.

A third agent unholsters a weapon. Both agents appear to fire additional shots into Pretti as he lies motionless. In total, at least 10 shots appear to have been fired within five seconds.

But to Kristi Noem, the Homeland Security Secretary who proudly recounted how she shot her dog in the face, Pretti was a domestic terrorist.

“This looks like a situation where an individual arrived at the scene to inflict maximum damage on individuals and to kill law enforcement,” she said, despite no known evidence of his intent. She called her assertion of “domestic terrorism” just “the facts.”

Gregory Bovino, the strutting bantamweight Border Patrol agent whose wardrobe favors Nazi-like outerwear, said the man with a camera and not a gun in his hand “wanted to do maximum damage and massacre law enforcement.”

Which is why multiple armed agents who had already pepper sprayed him and wrestled him to the ground and pinned his arms near his head, shot him in the back and fired at least 10 rounds in five seconds.

Who ya gonna believe — a dog killer or your own lyin’ eyes?

Just as with the previous assassination of Renee Nicole Good, the feds were quick to chase away state and local law enforcement who might conduct an honest investigation instead of ICE and Border Patrol officials intent on being judge, jury and executioner.

Of course, Attorney General Pam Bondi said Minnesota has an option to end this armed invasion: turn over the state’s voter registration records; repeal its "sanctuary policies:" and share its records on Medicaid, and Food and Nutrition Service programs.

Can you say extortion? I knew that you could.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer may finally have grown a spine after the latest shooting, taking aim at legislation to fund Noem’s DHS:

“What’s happening in Minnesota is appalling —and unacceptable in any American city. Democrats sought common sense reforms in the Department of Homeland Security spending bill, but because of Republicans’ refusal to stand up to President Trump, the DHS bill is woefully inadequate to rein in the abuses of ICE. I will vote no. Senate Democrats will not provide the votes to proceed to the appropriations bill if the DHS funding bill is included.”

The far right has long railed against what they called excesses of federal agents at armed showdowns like Waco and Ruby Ridge.

And the Trump regime currently likes to tout its “pro-children” policies. While using five-year-olds as bait to lure parents out of their home so parent and child can be shipped off to a detention center.

Yet to many on the far right fringe, the January 6, 2021 failed insurrection to keep Trump in office was a “normal tourist visit.” And Ashli Babbit, who was shot and killed by a Capitol Police officer as she tried to crawl through a broken window and into the House Chamber was a martyr whose family was entitled to a multi-million dollar settlement for being killed while breaking the law.

Unlike Pretti and Good, who were exercising their First Amendment rights to record worse violence than that displayed by the far right during that “normal tourist visit.”