January 26, 2026

"Murderers on the Loose." -- RAS 

NBC News on Bluesky: "The federal immigration agents who were at the scene of Alex Pretti’s shooting in Minneapolis are still working, and not on administrative leave, Border Patrol commander Gregory Bovino tells reporters." 

Radley Balko on Bluesky: "Still can't believe they immediately put the officers who killed Pretti back in the field. Even if the shooting had been justified (it wasn't), it's just incredibly callous and reckless -- to the public, but also to the officers themselves. Just a sociopathic dearth of humanity." Both Bluesky posts via Scott Lemieux in LG&$. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Were I the Minneapolis police chief, I would demand to know the identities of Alex Pretti's killers. These lunatics are out on the streets, armed and extremely dangerous. I would arrest them, charge them, and lock them up. If the feds did not immediately provide the names of the killers, I would arrest Greg Bovino and lock him up till he released their names. The charge against Bovino: obstruction of justice. Reason for incarceration: flight risk. I think there's a good chance Bovino is being moved out of Minneapolis not to turn down the heat in the Twin Cities but to keep him from talking.

Marianna Sotomayor of the Washington Post: “House Democrats are set to open an investigation into Homeland Security Secretary Kristi L. Noem as early as next week, laying the groundwork for a push to impeach her. Unlike a typical congressional impeachment inquiry, Democrats plan to conduct their investigation without Republicans, citing the majority’s reticence to conduct robust oversight of the Trump administration and the unlikelihood of GOP support for impeaching a Cabinet official. Democrats acknowledge they are unlikely to remove Noem in the short term, but they believe launching an official investigation will signal they are taking seriously concerns about what has transpired during a deadly immigration crackdown in Minnesota in recent weeks.” ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: The investigation could be useful. The next Congress, if Democrats control it, could adopt the findings of the investigation and move forward from there. An investigation largely done this year would shave months off the beginning of impeachment proceedings next year. 

The New York Times live updates for today re: the Trumpian murder and mayhem in Minnesota are here. This from the pinned item at 2:30 pm ET: Donald “Trump appeared to be trying to quell the outcry over his immigration crackdown in Minneapolis on Monday, deploying his border czar to oversee operations there and taking a cooperative tone with the governor he has blamed for the killings of two U.S. citizens by federal agents.... His tone was a marked change from his previous attacks on the governor, whom he has repeatedly blamed for inflaming protests.... Mr. Trump has faced intensifying criticism since the killing of Mr. Pretti.... Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, sought to distance the president from the attacks on Mr. Pretti — even though Mr. Trump referred to him as a 'gunman' on social media only hours after he was killed — but continued to cast blame on Democrats, including Mr. Walz.” ~~~

~~~ Update: From the pinned item at 6:00 pm ET: “The Trump administration is expected to reassign Gregory Bovino, the official in charge of ... [Donald] Trump’s Border Patrol operations and the face of on-the-ground immigration enforcement in Minneapolis, according to two U.S. officials. The decision to move him out of the city came two days after he made the unsubstantiated claim that a man who was shot and killed there by federal agents was planning to 'massacre' law enforcement officers. Some of the federal agents in the city are also expected to begin leaving on Tuesday, Mayor Jacob Frey of Minneapolis said after a phone call on Monday with [Mr.] Trump, without providing details.” ~~~

~~~ Requiem for a Little Fascist (and an acknowledgment that a lot of 1950s pop music was truly awful): ~~~

Trump & KKKaroline Toss Everybody Under the Bus. Luke Broadwater & David Sanger of the New York Times: “Faced with broad outcry over the killing of a protester on Saturday in Minneapolis, the White House on Monday tried to distance ... [Donald] Trump from the response of his most senior officials, who had immediately characterized the man fatally shot by federal agents as a 'domestic terrorist' who was 'brandishing' a gun, before video evidence undercut their charges. Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, notably did not defend the rhetoric of White House officials, including Stephen Miller, the deputy chief of staff, and Kristi Noem, the homeland security secretary, who were the most vocal in spreading false accusations against the victim, Alex Pretti.... White House officials clearly understood that the killing ... posed one of the gravest political threats to Mr. Trump since his inauguration.... Yet they seemed frozen in place, unwilling to walk back the statements by Mr. Miller and Ms. Noem.... While Ms. Leavitt would not contradict the two officials..., she also declined to defend the attacks on Mr. Pretti.... But even as Mr. Trump tried to mend fences with [Minnesota Gov. Tim] Walz, Ms. Leavitt continued the administration’s previous strategy of arguing that the governor and Democrats in Minnesota bore the blame for the chaos.” ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: That is, even in this Gawd-Save-the-King moment, where drastic measures are adopted, where the heads of the privy council must roll to preserve the monarch, the effort is helter-skelter. There is no clear plan, no coordination, the message is muddled. At first light, Trump 2.0 looked far more competent than Trump 1.0. Maybe not.

Devlin Barrett, et al., of the New York Times: “The Trump administration appeared to acknowledge on Monday that its investigation into the killing of a Veterans Affairs nurse, Alex Pretti, by federal agents this weekend was limited to a 'use of force' review meant to establish whether government employees had violated training standards.... That is distinct from a criminal investigation.... Such a move, disclosed in court filings, would represent a much narrower inquiry focused on tactics and conduct than one that would examine whether federal agents should face criminal charges.... Minnesota state officials have sought a court order to preserve evidence for their own investigation of the killing of Mr. Pretti.... The Trump administration is fighting such an order, claiming that it is already preserving the relevant evidence.... There is no indication yet that the F.B.I. is [conducting any investigation].... Court filings suggest that, so far, the F.B.I.’s involvement is limited to assisting the Department of Homeland Security in its use-of-force review.”

Copied from Instagram. Click on the picture to activate. Apparently this ceremony is standard for veterans who die at Minneapolis's VA hospital. There is video on YouTube of Alex Pretti himself officiating at such a service honoring a veteran:

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~~~ Update. Marie: I saw this video first on a Meidas Touch podcast, then found it on Instagram. I have not seen it elsewhere, though I have looked for it, so I think it may be fake. That is, it truly portrays nurses and staff at the VA hospital honoring someone, but that person is not Alex Pretti. I think if it were real, it would have gone viral by now, at least 12 hours after I first saw it. I apologize.  

Marie: We may be having another TACO moment, this time at the cost of American lives -- Americans murdered by Trump SS: ~~~ 

~~~ Eric Bazail-Eimil & Jacob Wendler of Politico: “The White House said Monday that border czar Tom Homan will oversee Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations in Minnesota and head to Minneapolis after immigration officers shot and killed a second U.S. citizen protesting enforcement operations.... Donald Trump said later he spoke directly with Gov. Tim Walz about Homan’s assignment.... The president added: 'Tom is tough but fair, and will report directly to me.'... Writing on Truth Social, Trump called the conversation 'a very good call' and said Walz was 'happy' about Homan’s trip to Minnesota. 'I told Governor Walz that I would have Tom Homan call him, and that what we are looking for are any and all Criminals that they have in their possession,' Trump wrote. 'The Governor, very respectfully, understood that, and I will be speaking to him in the near future.'... 

“Walz’s office said in a statement that he had a 'productive call' with the president Monday, adding that he asked Trump for impartial investigations into the Minneapolis shootings involving federal agents and for a reduction in the presence of federal agents in the state. 'The President agreed that he would talk to his Department of Homeland Security about ensuring the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension is able to conduct an independent investigation, as would ordinarily be the case,' the statement said. 'The President also agreed to look into reducing the number of federal agents in Minnesota and working with the state in a more coordinated fashion on immigration enforcement regarding violent criminals.'” ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Oh, and here's a funny part: "Homan’s role will also see him coordinate with investigations into lleged graft by charities in Minneapolis with ties to the state’s large Somali diaspora, per [Karoline] Leavitt." This seeker of justice against the perpetrators of acts of graft and corruption is the same Tom Homan caught on tape taking $50K in a paper bag for a promise of favors when he became border czar. ~~~

     ~~~ As to that part where Trump writes, "The governor, very respectfully, understood that," this is similar to remarks Trump has made before. These references to respect are peculiar; you don't often hear politicians discussion their negotiations in terms of respect. I don't think I've ever heard a legislator say something like, "Well, he treated me very respectfully, so I agreed to support his amendment." Those you do hear incorporating "respect" into their dealings -- at least in the movies -- are mafiosi: ~~~

~~~ Marcie Jones of Wonkette also thinks maybe she sees a light at the end of the tunnel: "So then what do you know, after many grown rich white men pleaded with him, surely with tears in their eyes, on Monday afternoon Trump finally struck a more conciliatory tone, as if his TACO, his backdown, his get-down, the get-out, may finally be on its way, alabado sea Dios.... So let this be the beginning of the end, although we won’t believe it until we see it." Jones provides a good deal of background suggesting what-all may have led Col. Chickenshit to the down escalator. ~~~

~~~ Marcie Jones of Wonkette, in another excellent column: "Instead of repeating any of the disgusting lies and depraved spin that the regime and Fox News are spinning about the execution of Alex Pretti and the other two shootings in Minnesota over the past three weeks, let’s check in with Minnesota Governor Tim Walz and his barnburner press conferences on Saturday and Sunday. He is saying what we all need to hear right now: they’re not going to get away with this, the murder, the coverup, the takeover, or Pam Bondi’s attempt to extort the state into letting her access to its voter rolls. Not if Minnesota can help it!" Do read on.

Nick Corasaniti of the New York Times: “After federal immigration agents shot and killed an American citizen in Minneapolis for the second time this month, Attorney General Pam Bondi sent a letter to Gov. Tim Walz ... that outlined what she described as three 'simple steps' to 'bring back law and order.' Her final step, however, seemed to have little to do with immigration or the state’s fraud scandal, the stated reasons for the federal government’s presence in Minnesota. 'Third, allow the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice to access voter rolls to confirm that Minnesota’s voter registration practices comply with federal law,' she wrote. Minnesota’s secretary of state, Steve Simon, a Democrat, swiftly rejected the demand, calling it an 'outrageous attempt to coerce Minnesota into giving the federal government private data on millions of U.S. citizens in violation of state and federal law.' 

“Ms. Bondi’s request was part of a nearly yearlong fight in which the Trump administration has sought voters’ private data from states across the country. Numerous states, including Minnesota, have not complied, and the Justice Department has sued them.... For many election officials and voting rights experts, the main concern is that the Justice Department’s effort is led by Trump allies who long falsely denied that former President Joseph R. Biden Jr. won the 2020 election.” ~~~

~~~ Marie: One of those election deniers is Pam Blondie herself. 

I cannot support the national Republicans’ stated retribution on the citizens of our state. Nor can I count myself a member of a party that would do so. -- Chris Madel, on why he is dropping out of the Minnesota gubernatorial race ~~~ 

~~~ Scott Bauer of the AP: “A lawyer for the immigration officer who shot and killed Renee Good dropped out of the Minnesota governor race Monday, breaking with many fellow Republicans and calling ... Donald Trump’s immigration operation in the state an 'unmitigated disaster.' Chris Madel’s surprise move comes amid growing calls from Republicans to investigate federal immigration tactics in Minnesota after a U.S. Border Patrol agent fatally shot Alex Pretti in Minneapolis on Saturday. Madel went a step further than most Republicans in his video, saying that while he supports the goal of deporting 'the worst of the worst' from Minnesota, he thinks the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement operation in the Twin Cities has gone too far.”

Miriam Jordan & Hamed Aleaziz of the New York Times: “Dozens of refugees with [no criminal records and] valid [legal] status have been sent from Minnesota to Texas to be revetted, prompting a lawsuit. Those released have had to pay their way back.” 

Feds Cry Uncle! Alan Feuer of the New York Times: “Federal prosecutors dropped assault charges on Monday against a man accused of ramming his vehicle into federal agents during an immigration operation outside a Mexican restaurant in Minnesota this month. The dismissal of the charges against the man, Jose Espinoza-Espinoza, came at a five-minute hearing in Federal District Court in Minnesota where prosecutors did not present any witnesses to establish probable cause that an assault had been committed. The dismissal appeared to be the first time that the Justice Department has backed away from pursuing an assault case against a federal agent in Minnesota since the Trump administration ramped up an immigration crackdown in the state.” 

Monday's New York Times liveblog on the massive winter storm is here. From the pinned item: “After a powerful winter storm dumped heavy snow, sleet and ice across wide swaths of the U.S., millions of people on Monday were facing new dangers: Perilously cold temperatures and widespread power outages that forecasters and local governments warned could last for days.... At least 21 deaths were reported across the country, including several from hypothermia and medical emergencies associated with clearing snow. At least nine other deaths were being investigated to determine whether they were linked to the storm. The worst of the weather may not be over. More than 70 million people remained under an extreme cold warning on Monday, with below zero temperatures expected to sweep from the Northern Plains to the Northeast and freezing temperatures expected to reach as far south as the Gulf Coast throughout the week.” ~~~

My Bug in Winter.

~~~~~~~~~~ 

Marie: All right. Done for the morning. More later. After I shovel some snow. My VW is almost invisible. The snow on the roof covers the windows and meets the drifts of snow on the ground, which come up high enough to cover the door handles. And it's still snowing.

Here is Sunday's New York Times liveblog of the storm that blanketed much of the U.S. From the pinned item: “A dangerous winter storm shattered temperature records, knocked out power to about 830,000 homes and businesses.... Over 70 million people from New Mexico to Illinois were under an extreme cold warning early Monday, and forecasters warned that dangerously cold conditions would remain for days in some areas even as the storm system began to ease.... Millions of Americans are stuck inside, possibly for days. More than 15,000 flights were canceled this weekend, according to FlightAware.” Several states reported deaths caused by the cold. ~~~

~~~ Andy Newman of the New York Times: “The weekend’s gigantic snowstorm dumped a foot or more of snow in at least 17 states from New Mexico to New Hampshire, according to preliminary figures from the National Weather Service.... Nine other states and the District of Columbia did not quite reach a foot of snow but received substantial amounts[.] The report gives totals for numerous towns and cities throughout the U.S.

Tyler Pager & Hamed Aleaziz of the New York Times: “Not long after federal agents shot and killed a 37-year-old Minneapolis resident on Saturday, senior members of the Trump administration were ready with their conclusions about what had happened and who was to blame. Stephen Miller..., [Donald] Trump’s homeland security adviser, called the victim, Alex Pretti, who was filming Border Patrol agents in Minneapolis, a  'domestic terrorist.' Gregory Bovino, the official in charge of Border Patrol operations, said Mr. Pretti was out to 'massacre law enforcement.' The Department of Homeland Security said an agent had fired 'defensive shots' because he was 'fearing for his life and the lives and safety of fellow officers.' Even as videos emerged that contradicted the government’s account, the Trump administration was in a race to control the narrative around the killing of Mr. Pretti, a registered nurse with no criminal record who was pinned down when immigration agents opened fire and killed him. 

“The rush to blame Mr. Pretti and exonerate the immigration agents — even while officials were still gathering the facts — deviates entirely from the way law enforcement investigations are normally carried out. But it also underscores what has become a pattern by Mr. Trump and top administration officials to justify an increasingly violent crackdown: immediately going on the offensive and demonizing the victim, often distorting the facts in the process. On Sunday, Mr. Trump said Democrats were to blame for the killings, not federal agents. His reasoning, which he laid out on social media, was that Democrats were not cooperating with the ICE operation in Minneapolis, which has created 'dangerous circumstances for EVERYONE involved.'”

      ~~~ Marie: What's most remarkable about this article is that Pager & Aleaziz have abandoned both-sides journalism. They write that "videos ... contradicted the government’s account" and that "Mr. Pretti ... was pinned down when immigration agents opened fire and killed him." No qualifiers. No "some analyses indicate...." No "Democrats say...." It's just flat-out the facts contradict the false claims. This is how you know Trump has gone too far. He cannot just "shoot somebody on Fifth Avenue." At least for now, in this moment of bright, shining clarity, the Paper of Record has not let Donald Trump get away with murder. ~~~

     ~~~ Politico, on the other hand, uses the execution of Alex Pretti to demonstrate how to excel in both-sider "journalism." If you rely on Politico's story, you'll need your decoder ring to figure out what actually happened. 

Katie Rogers of the New York Times: “In the hours after a man was brought to his knees and fatally shot by Border Patrol officers in Minneapolis on Saturday..., [Donald] Trump was in the Oval Office, where an aide, Natalie Harp, sat close by with a laptop. Along with input from aides who called throughout the day by phone, the two pumped out several presidential social media posts that blamed local law enforcement officials and the victim for the killing and accused Minnesota officials of covering up an unrelated fraud scandal.... So at a moment when the scene in Minneapolis is a result of the hard-line policies and pugilistic politics that brought him twice to the White House, Mr. Trump is only encouraged to double down and blame others for not making it easier for thousands of masked agents to enact a military-style occupation of an American city.”

Peter Baker of the New York Times: “Many questions about exactly what happened [in the murders of Renee Good and Alex Pretti] remain..., but the administration is blocking independent inquiries. Mr. Trump has found that putting out a story line early and repeating it often can, with the help of an ideological media and online surround-sound machine, convince a sizable share of the public that does not credit contrary evidence.... And so Mr. Trump and his team have taken the same reality-bending approach to the violence in Minneapolis [as Trump took to the 2020 election] in evident hopes of persuading the president’s political base, at least, that the protesters were responsible for their own deaths and that 'the victims are the Border Patrol agents,' as Gregory Bovino, the official in charge of Mr. Trump’s Border Patrol operations, put it on CNN on Sunday.... Mr. Trump has a long record of dishonesty.... The challenge for Mr. Trump at this point is the modern cellphone.... One of the central questions in American life today is whether a picture is worth more than a thousand of Mr. Trump’s words.” Update: The link has been changed to one that appears to be a gift link. ~~~

~~~ Marcy Wheeler revisits some of the lies told by the Trump administration and "state news" about Alex Pretti's murder. Some of the lies were first disseminated by "Bill Melugin, whom I call the Fox News Chief Deportation Propagandist." Her analysis is worth reading. MB: One of the less important probable lies she covers is one that has bothered me from the get-go: "... there’s no sign that CBP ever looked for an ID, so I suspect we may one day confirm that DHS claims Pretti had no ID will be proven false." As I recall, within a few hours of the time Pretti's body arrived at the hospital, the Star Tribune (I think it was) reported that it had learned Pretti's identity from hospital personnel. Pretti was a nurse, but he didn't work at the hospital where his body was taken. Did someone on hospital staff see his body and recognize him from outside of work? It's possible. Maybe Pretti and that someone belonged to the same union & socialized at some union function. But the Twin Cities has a population of nearly 3 million people, so the likelihood of hospital staff recognizing Prezzi is mighty low. That means somebody at the hospital learned his name by checking his ID -- the one that was in his pocket or wallet or wherever. ~~~

~~~ Carol Leonnig of MS NOW: on “four statements made by DHS about Alex Pretti’s shooting — and what these videos show that contradict them. Kristi Noem made public statements about Alex Pretti and details surrounding his fatal shooting. But the videos tell a dramatically different — and tragic — story.” Leonnig systematically debunks Noem's statements one-by-one. MB: Leonnig includes a bit of professional advice for Trump's murderous thugs: “Former FBI agent Rob D’Amico said that simply hearing the word 'gun' does not authorize an officer in a scuffle to shoot to kill. 'You have to see that gun be in a position for it to be used,' D’Amico said. 'Many, many times I’ve been in situations like this, the gun has fallen on the ground and someone yelled “gun,” and we didn’t just blindly shoot the person.” MB: This advice would be especially applicable if six or seven officers had the person with the supposed “gun” subdued, face-down on the pavement. Since these CBP officers were idiots, I'm not sure they had restricted Pretti's use of his hands, but real peace officers cuff a suspect ASAP for obvious reasons.   

Catie Edmondson of the New York Times: “The fatal shooting of a 37-year-old man by a federal agent in Minneapolis has set off alarm bells among Republicans, fueling worries within the party about a potential backlash to violent tactics by the Trump administration.... Senator Bill Cassidy, the Louisiana Republican who is facing a primary challenger backed by Mr. Trump, called for a 'full joint federal and state investigation' into the fatal shooting of Mr. Pretti.... Representative Andrew Garbarino of New York, the Republican chairman of the Homeland Security Committee, said in a statement on Saturday night that he had requested testimony from the heads of ICE, Customs and Border Protection, and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Even Representative James Comer of Kentucky, a staunch ally of the president’s, appeared to concede that federal agents were killing innocent people in the immigration crackdown, as he suggested on Fox News’s 'Sunday Morning Futures' that Mr. Trump should consider removing ICE agents from Minneapolis.... 'The death of Americans — what we’re seeing on TV — it’s causing deep concerns over federal tactics and accountability,' Gov. Kevin Stitt of Oklahoma, a Republican, told CNN on Sunday.” ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: To be clear, these are not Republicans who have found their spines. Rather, they are Republicans who -- for the moment -- are more afraid of their constituents than they are of Donald Trump. But history tells us they'll get over it and fall back into Trump's fold when it serves their interests. ~~~

     ~~~ Max Rego of the Hill has a story on Gov. Stitt's remarks: “'We believe in federalism and state rights,' the GOP governor and chair of the National Governors Association (NGA) said. 'And nobody likes feds coming into their state.' Also Sunday, Stitt and Maryland Gov. Wes Moore (D), the vice chair of the NGA, issued a joint statement urging the federal government to work with, instead of usurp, state and local authorities on immigration matters.” MB: It's true that the NGA is an organization that encourages cross-party cooperation and problem-solving because governors confront many of the same types of issues, no matter what their party. In addition, they do not sit in the same chamber fighting over issues with one another, so they have less reason to challenge one another than do, say, U.S. senators. 

~~~ SO. See Trump Equivocate. Guardian: “Donald Trump ... did not directly answer [a Wall Street Journal reporter] when asked twice whether the officer who shot [Alex] Pretti ... had done the right thing. Pressed further, he said: 'We’re looking, we’re reviewing everything and will come out with a determination.' [The WSJ article] said Trump criticised Pretti for carrying a gun during protest activity, quoting the president as saying: 'I don’t like any shooting. I don’t like it. But I don’t like it when somebody goes into a protest and he’s got a very powerful, fully loaded gun with two magazines loaded up with bullets also. That doesn’t play good either.' Trump signalled a willingness to eventually withdraw immigration enforcement officials from the Minneapolis area, saying: 'At some point we will leave. We’ve done, they’ve done a phenomenal job.'” ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Here Trump realizes that he is losing some GOP support because elected Republicans have calculated that they can't all get away with telling their constituents baldfaced lies. He also knows his cover story is an incredible lie. AND he knows he's talking to reporters -- as opposed to Fox lackeys -- who will call out his lies. So -- like the MSM itself -- he both-sides it in his childish, ungrammatical way: "I don't like shooting; loaded gun doesn't play good." ~~~

~~~ BUT Wait! In line with his standard fall-back/somebody else's-fault standard, Trump has another idea! ~~~

Jacob Wendler of Politico: “In a Sunday evening Truth Social post, Trump wrote that he was 'calling on the United States Congress to immediately pass Legislation to END Sanctuary Cities' and asking for Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey and all Democratic mayors and governors 'to formally cooperate with the Trump Administration to enforce our Nation’s Laws, rather than resist and stoke the flames of Division, Chaos, and Violence.'... Earlier Sunday, Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara previewed what will likely be city officials’ response, telling CBS’ 'Face The Nation' of the city’s sanctuary policies: 'It’s not on the Minneapolis Police Department or local law enforcement to hand folks over that are in jails.... The city police do not operate a jail that’s at the county level and the prisons are at the state level, so we are complying with the law as we have been for many years.'...” 

Jonathan Allen of NBC News: "A war of words over deeply held beliefs erupted on the political right in the hours after a federal agent shot and killed Alex Pretti on a Minneapolis street Saturday, pitting top officials in ... Donald Trump’s administration against Second Amendment defenders in his electoral base. At the core of the debate is that Pretti — who was permitted to carry a gun in public in Minnesota — had a concealed firearm on his person that eyewitness videos show federal agents apparently discovering and removing during the altercation that led to his death. Videos do not appear to show Pretti holding the weapon during that confrontation. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem sought to justify the killing by asserting at a news conference that Pretti 'attacked those officers, had a weapon on him, and multiple dozens of rounds of ammunition, wishing to inflict harm on these officers coming, brandishing like that and impeding their work that they were doing.' No evidence has been provided to back up this account....

“The attempt to explain Pretti’s killing by noting that he had a gun has also been mentioned by Trump, FBI Director Kash Patel, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and others.... [This all] appeared to serve as a wake-up call for gun-rights activists that a Republican-run government, not just a Democratic-run one, could infringe on the Second Amendment.”

New York Times Editors: “...  the Trump administration is once again engaged in a perversion of justice.... The administration is urging Americans to reject the evidence of their eyes and ears.... They are lying in the manner of authoritarian regimes that require people to accept lies as a demonstration of power. Even worse is that all of this feels so terribly familiar.... [Donald] Trump and his appointees have demonstrated themselves to be unconcerned with truth and willing to lie to serve their own interests. Congress therefore must step in. The Constitution vests it with the power to hold hearings, issue subpoenas and demand answers. Congress ought to investigate both the circumstances of the recent killings in Minneapolis and the broader conduct of the federal agencies engaged in Mr. Trump’s immigration crackdown, including their treatment of peaceful protesters. The video evidence shows that the incident that ended in Mr. Pretti’s death began when a federal agent lunged at a protester and knocked her to the ground.”

Here are a few ways to understand the intent and purpose of Trumpian lies: ~~~ 

(1) Radley Balko in a New York Times op-ed: “The Department of Homeland Security’s response after the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent Jonathan Ross shot and killed Renee Good in Minneapolis this month is something ... entirely [different from the usual exonerative statements police departments make].... From the moment the world learned about her death, the administration pronounced the shooting not only justified but an act of heroism worthy of praise and celebration. It isn’t just the lying; it’s that the lies are wildly exaggerated and easily refutable.... The lies this administration is telling about Ms. Good aren’t those you deploy as part of a cover-up. They’re those you use when you want to show you can get away with anything. They’re a projection of power.

“The surge of federal forces [into U.S. cities] ... is about an administration declaring — explicitly, at times — that the purpose of federal law enforcement isn’t to uphold the rule of law or promote public safety but to enforce the will of a single man.... In addition to [dehumanizing the victims of its agents' crimes], the administration has embraced fear tactics long associated with totalitarian regimes....This is no longer a conversation about law enforcement or immigration policy. This is about authoritarianism.”

(2) Noah Berlatsky of Public Notice: Minnesota Gov. Tim "Walz is correct that video testimony and eyewitness accounts are important in debunking fascist lies. But it’s also true that those lies are not necessarily meant to be believed. The regime’s mind-blowing dishonesty is ultimately a way to demean and mark those who resist. They function as fascist solidarity, signaling that partisans can and should do anything and everything to political enemies, no matter how violent, cruel, or unnecessary.... Often Trump and his minions lie not just to stoke his ego, but as a deliberate tactic to justify and escalate fascist violence. Lies give the president’s followers excuses and justifications to target, harass, and murder the regime’s enemies.... Some commenters have pointed out that the administration lies are a display of dominance.... 

"In Minneapolis..., the city as a whole has declared its support for nonwhite people, including immigrants. The white supremacist administration, in an excess of bloodlust and rage, has therefore decided to treat white people in the city as race traitors, subject to the same kinds of violence and smears as non-whites. Fascists are terrified of the growing support for marginalized people, in part because it means their lies are less and less effective." 

(3)⭐The Dual State. Kyle Varner, the Unpopulist: Alex Pretti "was shot and killed in broad daylight by federal Border Patrol agents while filming them with his phone, an act of documentation that the state immediately reframed as an act of war. Within hours, the highest levels of the government had reflexively defamed him, branding a man who had been helping a fallen bystander as a violent domestic terrorist.... This pattern of postmortem character assassination functions as a foundational tactic of modern autocracy.... This is the hallmark of a regime that does not investigate its violence, but celebrates it.... [The administration's attack on Minnesota & Minnesota's minority communities] represents the emergence of the Dual State in its most predatory form.... On one side is the Normative State — the administrative body that handles the routine, non-political business of a nation through predictable laws and courtrooms.... But coexisting within that shell is the Prerogative State, a domain of absolute executive power that operates with unlimited arbitrariness, unchecked by any legal guarantee.... The regime can point to the Normative State to prove it is still a democracy, while using the Prerogative State to crush resistance. ”   

The New York Times' liveblog of developments Sunday in the execution of Alex Pretti is here. From the pinned item: “As a growing number of Republican officials called for an investigation into the death of Alex Pretti..., [Donald] Trump blamed Democrats for his 'tragic' death in a series of social media posts on Sunday. The president accused Democratic state and local leaders of refusing to cooperate with federal immigration agents, and encouraging 'Leftwing Agitators to unlawfully obstruct their operations,' which has 'created dangerous circumstances for EVERYONE involved.'... The Trump administration’s immediate characterization of the incident drew widespread condemnation from Democratic officials, deepened a rift between state and federal leaders and spurred a fresh round of protests on Sunday.”

Ernesto Londoño of the New York Times: “For the second time in three weeks, local and state authorities in Minnesota say they have been impeded from investigating how federal agents shot and killed someone, cutting off access to crucial evidence and basic facts. In both cases, Minnesota officials said they sought to have their Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, which typically takes the lead in police shootings, work in partnership with the federal government. Yet the Department of Homeland Security has blocked local investigators from reviewing evidence gathered following the fatal shootings of Renee Good and Alex Jeffrey Pretti, both Minneapolis residents and U.S. citizens.”

Megan Lebowitz of NBC News: "Eight more Democrats have joined an impeachment resolution against Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem after the latest fatal shooting by a federal agent." Several U.S. senators also called for her resignation or impeachment. ~~~

~~~ Andrew Solender of Axios: "The Department of Homeland Security is coming under unprecedented scrutiny from Congress in the wake of the fatal shooting of Alex Pretti, with Democratic attacks more strident and Republican defenses more muted than ever before.... While many Republican leaders and loyal Trump allies leapt to DHS' defense in the wake of the shooting, a noticeably large group of GOP lawmakers offered more equivocal statements than in the aftermath of the Renee Good shooting weeks earlier." Solender includes specific actions & statements from a number of representatives and senators.  

Jennifer Rubin of the Contrarian: "... Americans must continue to build on the magnificent showing of solidarity we have seen in Minneapolis where local community networking — building trust, fostering familiarity, and finding purpose in a shared sense of crisis — has resulted in enormous peaceful demonstrations and ongoing citizen documentation/filming of DHS atrocities.... The horror of DHS’s murders and lawless rampages must not be allowed to dissipate into the ether of nonstop Trump scandals. Minneapolis can be an historic inflection point, not only to disable Trump’s brutal immigration approach but to defeat his authoritarian project more broadly. What the Shirtwaist Triangle Fire was to the Labor Movement and Bull Connor’s dogs were to the Civil Rights Movement, the two Minneapolis murders could be to the democracy movement — the spark that ignites every American’s conscience and super-charges pro-democracy activism." 

Marie: Over the past weeks, several hosts & commentators on MS NOW have asked where the CEOs are. Why is it only ordinary people who are calling out DHS atrocities? Why are citizens standing up for workers being hauled out of their places of work while corporate leaders say nothing? Well, at long last, some noble CEOs have come forward: ~~~  

~~~ Brave CEOs Urge Kumbaya. Mae Anderson of the AP: “More than 60 CEOs of Minnesota-based companies including Target, Best Buy and UnitedHealth signed an open letter posted on the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce website on Sunday calling for state, local and federal officials to work together, as businesses grapple with how to address tensions in the state and across the country following two fatal shootings by federal agents amid a massive immigration enforcement operation that has spurred protests.” A New York Times story is here; the link appears to be a gift link. 

Talya Minsberg, et al., of the New York Times: “This weekend, the family, co-workers and friends of Alex Pretti, who was killed by immigration agents in a confrontation after he was apparently filming them, remembered his life.... They shared photos of the Alex they knew: a smiling, bearded Mr. Pretti in the powder-blue scrubs he wore at his job as an intensive-care nurse at the Veterans Affairs hospital, an outdoors lover posing with his mountain bike on a wooded trail.... And they denounced what they saw as smear campaigns in the aftermath of Mr. Pretti’s death.... Through their own shock and grief, people who knew him struggled to rise above the lies and insults, they said, to describe who he was.... As an ICU nurse, he was accustomed to people in crisis, said Elissa Todd, a colleague and friend. He was also trained in de-escalation, she noted. Ms. Todd said it was painful to see his last moments knowing personally how calmly Mr. Pretti was able to manage the chaos and stress that came with his job.” ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Now, these Times reporters lean heavily on the qualifiers: Pretti was "apparently filming" federal agents; "what they saw as smear campaigns"; "lies and insults, they said." Shame on the reporters. Their equivocation is entirely unjustified. Pretti was filming the agents' actions; those are smear campaigns, the administration has been spewing out lies and insults. 

Say What? Moments of Dissent on State Teevee? Ken Bensinger of the New York Times: “...  on Fox News, the nation’s top-rated cable news network..., most of its hosts, reporters and guests appeared laser focused since the shooting late Saturday morning on supporting the Trump administration’s official narrative: that Alex Pretti, a 37-year old intensive care nurse, brought the violence upon himself.... Not all voices on the network joined the narrative. On Saturday evening, Ted Williams..., a Fox News contributor, told Fox that he saw no evidence of Mr. Pretti drawing his weapon and called for a thorough investigation of the shooting. And on Sunday, Maria Bartiromo ... disputed statements by [Kash] Patel that Mr. Pretti had attacked the Border Patrol agents.... Ms. Bartiromo asked..., 'How was he using that handgun in terms of threatening Border Patrol? What was that threat? He had his camera, right, he was filming it.'' In an interview with [Kristi] Noem, also on Sunday, Peter Doocy, the senior White House correspondent for Fox News, questioned her claim that the agents had followed protocol when confronting Mr. Pretti. 'If he was disarmed,' Mr. Doocy asked, 'is it the protocol to use deadly force?'”

Tiffany Hsu, et al., of the New York Times: “Across social media, pro-Trump influencers and others muddled the evidence of the killing of a nurse in Minneapolis on Saturday with social media posts that included misdirection and fabricated content. While verified videos and witnesses showed how federal immigration agents tackled and shot Alex Pretti, 37, the posts tried to warp the events, including in ways intended to support the Trump administration’s claims that Mr. Pretti was at fault for his own death. Some posts smeared him or portrayed him as a radical activist. Nick Sortor, a pro-Trump influencer with 1.4 million followers on X, incorrectly identified Mr. Pretti, a U.S. citizen, as an unauthorized immigrant. Jack Posobiec, a Trump loyalist with 3.3 million followers on X, falsely described Mr. Pretti as having 'run up on police' and drawn a gun — claims that other users on X corrected in an appended note. Photos of different men — dressed in drag or shirtless at a street festival — were wrongly identified as Mr. Pretti and shared widely.”

Here's another reminder -- we linked a story on this a few weeks ago -- that Trump's DHS screws up in many, many ways. ~~~

~~~ Angie Hernandez of the Washington Post: “A suspect in what federal authorities consider the largest jewelry heist in United States history might avoid a criminal trial because he was deported to Ecuador, bringing further disarray to the victims affected by the multimillion dollar robbery, their lawyer says. Jeson Nelon Presilla Flores ... faced up to 15 years in prison, but his deportation in late December, which, according to court filings, occurred without consulting his attorney or federal prosecutors, has temporarily thwarted any potential resolution.” MB: I blame the ICE Barbie's oversized cowgirl hat. It's a symbol of her oversized ego, of her belief that she can do whatever she wants. She doesn't have to even think about the needs and wishes of other departments, much less accommodate them. She -- under the aegis of the Great White Dope -- is the law. When asked for comment on the screw-up, DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin wrote in a statement, “Under President Trump and Secretary Noem, criminal illegal aliens are not welcome in the U.S.” And that's that.

Dan Diamond & Jonathan Edwards of the Washington Post: “... Donald Trump on Sunday insisted his proposed ballroom is a done deal — even as Justice Department lawyers in court present the plans as flexible and subject to federal reviews. In a lengthy post to his Truth Social platform, Trump said the project could not realistically be reversed..., writing that 'there is no practical or reasonable way to go back' and declaring: 'IT IS TOO LATE!'... 'Stoppage of construction, at this late date, when so much has already been ordered and done, would be devastating to the White House, our Country, and all concerned,' Trump wrote in a late-morning note that published as much of the United States was under a weather alert connected to a significant winter storm. He also listed materials that he said had either been ordered or were 'ready' to be obtained: 'All of the Structural Steel, Windows, Doors, A.C./Heating Equipment, Marble, Stone, Precast Concrete, Bulletproof Windows and Glass, Anti-Drone Roofing, and much more.'... 

“Three days earlier Justice Department lawyers told a judge that the ballroom plans can be modified and that the White House intends to wait for two federal advisory panels to review the project before beginning aboveground construction in April. U.S. District Judge Richard Leon, an appointee of President George W. Bush, said he intends to rule in the coming weeks on whether the project may advance.” MB: Obviously, Trump's argument is insane. Yet there is still a question of whether or not he will get away with fulfilling his insane plans. ~~~

New York Times photo.

~~~ Ashley Wu, et al., of the New York Times: “... in just a year of his second term..., [Donald] Trump has overseen a collection of changes that is unprecedented in scale, speed and cost.... Here are the 10 areas he transformed.” Thanks to akaWendy for this gift link.

~~~~~~~~~~

Washington, D.C., Congressional Race. Annie Karni of the New York Times: “The campaign of Representative Eleanor Holmes Norton, the 88-year-old Democrat who has served for three decades as the nonvoting delegate for Washington, D.C., officially filed a termination notice for her re-election with the Federal Election Commission on Sunday, the strongest signal yet that Ms. Norton will retire after 18 terms in Congress. Her departure would be a bow to the reality that her age and deteriorating health have rendered her unable to continue in the job.... It was not clear whether Ms. Norton had authorized the termination of her campaign, or whether she even knew about it.”