Week 53
By 
ICE, or it’s looking more like CBP, murdered another Minnesotan this morning, this time a nurse named Alex Pretti. They are lying about it, of course.
The available videos, which are said to be extremely disturbing, show that the man was complying with the goons when they started beating him and then shot him. He was directing traffic and helping people. Bellingcat is analyzing the videos in the thread that starts here.
Please do not watch the videos unless you have mental health training and support.
Naturally the goons are now releasing tear gas and rioting. Citizens are blocking off the street.
I was planning to write about the success of yesterday’s general strike in Minnesota and Donald Trump’s breaking of relations with allies. I’ll say less than I planned but will touch on both.
I’m not sure whether what Minnesotans did yesterday qualifies as a general strike, and I’m not sure what effect it will have. Clearly it pissed off the goons, resulting in today’s murder. I think it contributed to solidarity and awareness, but we’ll never be able to separate that effect from the effect of today’s unprovoked attack. Minnesotans are brave and need our full support.
I’ve stayed out of the calls for Democratic leadership to do more. I probably won’t make it a large part of what I have to say, but it’s hard to watch the events of the last week and then the bleats about affordability. Elected Dems are trying to run an election campaign – that is what lets the affordability thing make sense – but one of our 50 states is occupied by armed goons who are killing people and kidnaping children in bunny-ear hats to concentration camps. Dealing with that has priority.
Donald Trump this week managed to convince the nations that have considered themselves our allies to reconsider that relationship. He is now having a tantrum because they (particularly Canada) are doing that. His tactic throughout the Greenland fiasco was one that he has long favored: Make outrageous demands, insult everyone within hearing, and then back off. I’ll probably write about this separately. This thread is a very good explainer for why nations can’t blow off Trump’s threats.
Here’s some footage from yesterday:
Follow the court-watchers for the details of the lawsuits. Chris Geidner (LawDork, Bluesky), Roger Parloff (Lawfare, Bluesky), and the Just Security tracker.
As usual, keep it to things that have actually happened, not hypotheticals. What is actually happening is plenty..
Caring for yourself and loved ones is resistance too. Post your pets. Take care of yourselves during the storm. Stay home, don’t go out unless you have to. Even in a more temperate climate, we’ve had our water supply freeze and are working to get it back again. The water stopped when I was rinsing my hair of shampoo, and I’ve still got soap in it.
155 more weeks to go. What are you doing? As Jane Goodall often put it: Do what you can, where you are, when you are able. It’s getting more important to participate.
Previous weeks: Week 10, Week 20, Week 30, Week 40, Week 50, Week 51, Week 52