Alex Pretti

The mind reels, about what has taken place in Minneapolis. 

It is sickening, and tragic, the killing of Alex Pretti on Saturday--the needless and brutal aggression by the Border Patrol agents, leading, within some thirty seconds, to Mr. Pretti's death.

The images of Renee Good, and Mr. Pretti, in their last moments, are deeply painful to see--along with so many other disturbing and hideous images of the tactics of federal agents in Minneapolis (and elsewhere).

And there was, indeed, the shameful rush by Trump officials to place the blame on Mr. Pretti (as took place following Renee Good's January 7th death, in labeling her a "domestic terrorist"): self-serving claims about Mr. Pretti, which were quickly called into question by various videos--claims that Mr. Pretti "attacked" the federal agents, and that he was "brandishing" a gun (Kristi Noem); that he was (without evidence put forth) "An assassin [who] tried to murder federal agents" (Stephen Miller); that "it looks like" he "wanted to do maximum damage and massacre law enforcement" (Border Patrol commander Gregory Bovino).  

On Saturday, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz said: "The federal government cannot be trusted to handle this investigation.  The state will handle it, period."

Secretary Noem said: "Who would trust Governor Walz at this point? The man has stood up and encouraged resistance.  He has refused to partner with us. He's sacrificed his citizens' safety and their well-being."

I would trust Governor Walz any day, over Ms. Noem, and her fellow officials in the Trump administration.

The Trump administration's legal response to the shooting of Ms. Good was despicable--shutting Minnesota out of any investigation, and declaring there was no need to look further into her killing. 

On January 20th, The Minnesota Star Tribune's Editorial Board wrote, in part, of Renee Good's death:

The U.S. Department of Justice says it has no interest in investigating Renee Good’s death by an ICE agent. Federal officials have already labeled the killing a defensive act and moved on. But if that conclusion is sound, it should withstand scrutiny beyond the walls of Washington.

What is unfolding in Minnesota is not merely a transparency dispute. It’s a breakdown in due process at a moment of intense national scrutiny. When federal authorities barred state investigators from reviewing evidence in a fatal shooting on a south Minneapolis street, they did more than limit access. They denied the public a credible and independent accounting of the federal killing of an American citizen.

The Trump Justice Department should reverse course, and allow Minnesota full access to the evidence concerning Renee Good's death.  They should do the same with evidence regarding the killing of Alex Pretti.

Martin Luther King, Jr.

I have often thought about Martin Luther King's age--that he was only thirty-nine years old when he was assassinated in 1968.

In his relatively short life--a life of immense courage, and vision--he had changed the world. 

Today, his birthday was commemorated in the U.S.   

Had he lived he would, on January 15th, have turned ninety-seven years old.

He gave his last speech the night of April 3, 1968.  He would be shot the next day, while standing on an outside balcony at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, near the room in which he was staying.

During his speech, the night before, he spoke about the subject of age, of longevity.  He had faced the possibility of death, of assassination, for years. I have watched the concluding part of the April 3rd speech many times, in recent decades.  Its suggestion of possible mortality--his mortality--remains haunting.

He said, at the end of the speech:

Well I don't know what will happen now. We've got some difficult days ahead. But it really doesn't matter with me now, because I've been to the mountaintop.

And I don't mind. Like anybody, I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place. But I'm not concerned about that now. I just want to do God's will. And He's allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I've looked over. And I've seen the Promised Land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the Promised Land! 

So I'm happy tonight. I'm not worried about anything, I'm not fearing any man!  Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord! 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QcJWWBIro00

The fears, and the threats

To add to the ongoing fear, and the trauma, experienced by residents of Minneapolis (and beyond), particularly following the terrible killing of Renee Good, President Trump is threatening to invoke the Insurrection Act, in order that he can send the military into Minneapolis, to police the city.

He certainly loves making threats.  The threats are endless--day after day, month after month. His is a presidency governed by threats.

He wrote on his social media platform on Thursday that he wanted to "stop the professional agitators and insurrectionists from attacking the Patriots of I.C.E..."

The insurrectionists.

I got an email on Thursday from The Lincoln Project, the anti-Trump, pro-democracy organization.

The title of the email was: "The insurrectionist wants to use the Insurrection Act."

Five years ago

President Trump's administration has created a page on the White House website about the attack on the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, five years ago today.

The President continues to claim that the election of 2020 was stolen.  He talks about it constantly.

The new web page, published today, says this about former Vice President Mike Pence, in a timeline of the events of January 6th:

Vice President Mike Pence, who had the opportunity to return disputed electoral slates to state legislatures for review and decertification under the United States Constitution, chooses not to exercise that power in an act of cowardice and sabotage [bold type added]. Instead, Pence presides over the certification of contested electors, undermining President Trump's efforts to address documented fraud and ending any chance to correct the election steal. 

The web page also says this:

As events unfold, President Trump repeatedly calls for peace, tweeting support for law enforcement and releasing a video telling supporters "go home in peace" while reiterating love for them and election concerns. He consistently promotes non-violence despite the attack on attendees and emotions running high. 

Trump, of course, released the video, referred to above, hours after the assault on the Capitol began.  During the attack, he had ignored pleas from Congressional Republicans, and others, to step in and act.  He watched the rebellion on television, apparently enjoying what he saw.  Notably, he never tried to get in touch with his Vice President, who was at the Capitol, and whose life was threatened by rioters ("Hang Mike Pence!").

I wrote this, in a 2024 post:

In February of 2021, Republican Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler, of Washington, recounted an angry phone call on January 6th between Mr. Trump and then-House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy; Mr. McCarthy, news reports at the time indicated, later shared details of the phone call with certain members of the House Republican caucus. 

I referred to the following 2021 news story:

“When McCarthy finally reached the president on Jan. 6 and asked him to publicly and forcefully call off the riot, the president initially repeated the falsehood that it was Antifa that had breached the Capitol,” Beutler said...“McCarthy refuted that and told the president that these were Trump supporters. That's when, according to McCarthy, the president said: ‘Well, Kevin, I guess these people are more upset about the election than you are.’”

CNN reported that multiple Republicans confirmed the contents of the phone call.

A New York Times story, today, concerned Trump's continuing efforts to distort and recast the events of January 6th.

The Times reporters wrote:

A New York Times review of Mr. Trump’s public statements found more than 150 instances in the past year in which he falsely claimed he had won the 2020 election, portrayed Jan. 6 rioters as victims and denigrated investigators of the Capitol riot.

His campaign to rewrite the history of Jan. 6 was often overshadowed by major policy moves: Sweeping tariffs on goods across the globe, troops dispatched into American cities, missile strikes on foreign lands.

But time and again, he would come back to 2020 — often unprompted.

“They didn’t assault,” Mr. Trump said of the Jan. 6 rioters on Feb. 9. “They were assaulted.” In reality, more than 150 police officers were injured during the Capitol violence.

The web page published today by the White House says the following:

The Democrats masterfully reversed reality after January 6, branding peaceful patriotic protesters as “insurrectionists” and framing the event as a violent coup attempt orchestrated by Trump—despite no evidence of armed rebellion or intent to overthrow the government. In truth, it was the Democrats who staged the real insurrection [the bold type appears in the White House text] by certifying a fraud-ridden election, ignoring widespread irregularities, and weaponizing federal agencies to hunt down dissenters, all while Pelosi’s own security lapses invited the chaos they later exploited to seize and consolidate power. This gaslighting narrative allowed them to persecute innocent Americans, silence opposition, and distract from their own role in undermining democracy.

The use of the term "gaslighting," in the above paragraph's last sentence, is, to say the least, rich.