I’ve taken a step back to look at the posts prior to my moderation and some of the counterpoints in thread, though next time please feel free to PM me (or another P&E mod) or put it in ATMB. Let’s make the guidance clear.
First, this thread is really prone to hijacks (see all the spinoffs) so I was probably overly cautious. I will apologize for that.
As such, I’ll reconsider the point on Noem/Miller - points that are related to the OP are very much allowed - such as Calls for their firing/resignation by parties in Minnesota, or their positions being called into question as a result of said actions.
However, do keep the commentary on Miller mostly on subject, and on topic - we really don’t need another thread to descend into an endless back and forth on who Trump will or won’t throw under a bus, especially as it likely changes by the hour.
A heartfelt thank you in advance to all who try to keep the conversation and new information throwing without getting stuck in the eddies of the river of information.
ETA - I see that @SenorBeef has created an ATMB thread for further discussion as I was typing this, which is their right.
I was thinking that earlier. The intention was to go into Minneapolis and just incite violence so they could respond to that with their own “justified” violence. But they are so incompetent about some things - here, sending stupid thugs to do the work - that it backfired on them. Apparently, they were incapable of seeing that stupid thugs were going to skip incitement and go straight to committing their own violence. I’m hoping they continue to be incompetent.
Slain Minneapolis protester Alex Pretti had his rib broken by ICE agents just one week before he was shot to death. He was also potentially part of a massive surveillance database that agents are rumored to be collecting on protesters in Minneapolis.
An unnamed source told CNN that Pretti’s earlier altercation with federal agents occurred when he pulled over and got out of his car to observe ICE agents running after a family. He immediately began blowing his whistle and yelling. He was later taken down by five agents, with one leaning on his back and breaking his rib, before they released him back into the street.
snip
It’s not clear whether Border Patrol agents recognized Pretti before killing him this past weekend. But a DHS memo earlier this month told agents in Minneapolis to “capture all images, license plates, identifications, and general information on hotels, agitators, protestors, etc., so we can capture it all in one consolidated form.” A source also told CNN that federal agents knew Pretti’s name, without clarifying if he was in this database.
Not doubting you for posting the link, but this sounds dubious to me. Numerous friends, work colleagues, and family members of Pretti have issued long statements and done interviews. I find it very unlikely that none of them would have mentioned this.
…
Sources told [Jeff] Winter and [Priscilla] Alvarez [of CNN] that federal agents had documented details about Pretti before Saturday. About a week before his death, Pretti stopped his car to observe federal agents chasing a family on foot, shouted, and blew a whistle. Five agents tackled him and one leaned on his back, breaking a rib, before they released him. Medical records confirm Pretti was treated for the injury. It is not clear if the agents on Saturday recognized him.
…
My bold.
I trust Richardson to vet the stories she repeats.
Wow, okay. “Medical records,” huh? This could be real, then. Odd it didn’t come up until now.
This could be spun various ways, but one is that Pretti’s bravery in filming the agents, and trying to help the woman they shoved to the ground, is even more admirable. Plus the physical pain he must still have been feeling, and risking more. And the restraint – he had every reason to be personally angry at those fuckers, but he kept his cool (yes, with a dash of understandable “resistance,” as the thugs forced him to stop helping that woman.)
Former president Joe Biden also weighed in on events in Minneapolis today. This morning, he posted on social media: “What has unfolded in Minneapolis this past month betrays our most basic values as Americans. We are not a nation that guns down our citizens in the street. We are not a nation that allows our citizens to be brutalized for exercising their constitutional rights. We are not a nation that tramples the 4th Amendment and tolerates our neighbors being terrorized. The people of Minnesota have stood strong—helping community members in unimaginable circumstances, speaking out against injustice when they see it, and holding our government accountable to the people. Minnesotans have reminded us all what it is to be American, and they have suffered enough at the hands of this Administration. Violence and terror have no place in the United States of America, especially when it’s our own government targeting American citizens.
“No single person can destroy what America stands for and believes in, not even a President, if we—all of America—stand up and speak out. We know who we are. It’s time to show the world. More importantly, it’s time to show ourselves.
“Now, justice requires full, fair, and transparent investigations into the deaths of the two Americans who lost their lives in the city they called home. Jill and I are sending strength to the families and communities who love Alex Pretti and Renee Good as we all mourn their senseless deaths.”
I think Joe did write that himself (maybe with Jill’s help).
And please don’t say that 83 is too old to write something that lucid. Plenty of people here at The Home are that age and older and perfectly articulate.
Miller Suggests Federal Agents May Have Diverted From ‘Protocol’ Before Pretti Shooting
The comments by Mr. Miller, the influential White House deputy chief of staff, came after days of blaming Alex Pretti, who was fatally shot by federal agents.
Stephen Miller, a top aide to President Trump, has suggested that federal agents “may not have been following” protocol before the fatal shooting of Alex Pretti, after days in which he and other Trump administration officials portrayed the shooting as justified.
Mr. Miller said in a statement that the White House had provided “clear guidance” to the Department of Homeland Security that federal agents deployed to Minnesota as part of the administration’s immigration crackdown be used to protect “arrest teams” from people he described as “disruptors.”
“We are evaluating why the CBP team may not have been following that protocol,” Mr. Miller said in the statement, referring to agents from U.S. Customs and Border Protection, a law enforcement agency under the department. The statement was provided to The New York Times on Wednesday by a White House spokesperson and was reported earlier by CNN.
…
No fucking joke.
…
Shortly after the shooting, Mr. Miller, the highly influential deputy White House chief of staff, characterized the 37-year-old Minneapolis resident in a social media post as a “domestic terrorist” and an “assassin” who had “tried to murder federal agents,” without providing evidence. He accused Democratic leaders who had condemned the killing of inciting insurrection.
Other Trump administration officials offered similar accounts. The homeland security secretary, Kristi Noem, claimed that Mr. Pretti had brandished a gun and appeared intent on inflicting “maximum damage on individuals and to kill law enforcement.”
A New York Times analysis of videos of the shooting contradicted those accounts.
…
Who you gonna believe? Stevie & crew or your lying eyes and a boatload of phone-camera videos?
Good grief, at this point what could it possibly be? Trump is already a pedophilic, grifting, traitorous, insurrectionist lying rapist and convicted felon and MAGA still idolizes him.
Higherups throwing street level officers under the bus will cause them to rethink whether they will actually get away with it or not next time. How much can they trust on support / not getting investigated / on that pardon.
I would say being prosecuted for gunning down a protester in a gang style killing is not being thrown under the bus. I’ll be happy if some of these thugs have to reevaluate what they thought were the rules.
On the one hand, it’s right and proper and appropriate to be investigated and prosecuted when you are filmed in what looks like an act of murder.
On the other hand, if your higher ups encouraged you to act that way, and then don’t support you when you are caught on tape following orders, it kinda also is being thrown under the bus.
I hope the takeaway lesson isn’t “attack all the people with cameras, first”. The news about the murdered man having videoed ICE previously suggests it might be. We need a LOT of people all simultaneously videoing everything they can, for there to be any hope.
The City of Philadelphia has introduced legislation to limited ICE in the city. The Federal Agents can not be masked, must have ID visible, must have arrested warrants signed by federal judges. They can’t attack people. If they can’t do this, they will be arrested.
