2026 Political Thread

[bjdeming]

For background, I really loathe the Clintons. Back in the 90s, in Troy, NY, I wrote letters to the editor about them, supported Second Amendment rights (I still do, but don't own guns any more for religious reasons), etc.

That's just to show that I never ever thought I'd like something Bill Clinton said and also to show how important bridging is.

The man is right:

 

[bjdeming]

I'd like to repost a Republican tweet of equal strength. I'm not finding any, and that isn't a criticism.

It's compassion. As a geonerd I know that big things happen slowly at first, then fast. The slow collapse of the Trumpeteers is happening now -- who could tweet about that?

The strong, positive statements will come during the last stages of the collapse and early in the GOP's rebuilding stages. I look forward to them.

And I'm really glad to see America reacting. If it hadn't (as that tie vote on DHS funding last week seemed to suggest), and if Minneapolis had gone up in flames, that nightmarish Greenland scenario, I truly believe, was on the table.

Instead, there is this and much more along the same lines. I hope.

 

[thundersnow]

Just seeing this reported by CNN: “Alex Pretti broke rib in confrontation with federal agents a week before death, sources say.”

That suggests there’s more to this story. There had been an altercation a week before his death. Not sure if the same agents involved in the previous encounter. The story is behind a wall, so I have not read it, admittedly.

 

[TH2002]

Never thought I'd see the day that defending gun rights would be considered "woke" by right-wing populists... but that day has come.

As usual, many Trumpists are digging their heels in and prioritizing loyalty to their leader over standing up for what they supposedly support.

Also can't help but notice their hypocrisy when you compare their reactions to Alex Pretti vs. Kyle Rittenhouse. A 17-year old who shot three people while illegally open carrying an AR (ok, Rittenhouse's self-defense argument was fair, but he was still illegally carrying while underage) is somehow a patriot and national hero, but a 37-year old nurse legally carrying a concealed pistol (who never even reached for it and had literally been disarmed before being murdered) is somehow a 'domestic terrorist'.

On the other hand, I'm glad to see the NRA (never been a fan of them, but they're slowly earning my respect post-LaPierre), Gun Owners of America, and other pro-2A organizations and people taking a stand against this administration's blatant lies about what happened in Minneapolis.

God bless your soul, Alex. A man murdered by the very government whose veterans he cared for.

 

[bjdeming]

Reuters has an analysis up on the discrepancies in all six violent encounters.

Something else, too.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer will arrive in Beijing on Wednesday evening for a visit aimed at strengthening political and business ties with China as relations between Western countries and the U.S. become more volatile.

On the plane to China for the first visit by a British leader since 2018, Starmer said the country cannot afford to ignore the economic opportunities presented by China, the world's second-largest economy, while it must remain vigilant about potential security threats...

Well, it's better than a nuke. As far as I know, those troops the Pentagon ordered to prepare to deploy, including the 11th Airborne -- the Arctic Angels -- are still prepared.

C'mon, Minnesota isn't that cold. And Minneapolis is urban, not tundra and glacier country.

If I understand this (a big if), the FAA advisory re: airspace to our south is no longer in effect.

So if we move, it likely will be to the north.

Trump means what he says about some things, as mentioned. I'm still worried about Greenland, but with his administration under heavy fire because of Saturday's tragedy, he might be holding back right now.

If so, it doesn't sound like Starmer has let down his guard.

Meanwhile other nations are working out trade deals of various sorts. The damage that Trump and everyone who yes-es him have done to our economy, which will run into trillions probably, will outlast him, whether he's impeached, gets another three years to abuse us, or succeeds in what really seems like a plan to provoke up an excuse for martial law so all of us who aren't on the inside with him and his buddies will fear the knock at the door, the door crashing in, the windshield smashed and us used as a floor wipe, etc.

Regardless of skin color or ethnic descent. Finally, equal opportunity...

Speaking of impeachment, the Noem articles are gaining a lot of support, but I don't think it yet is bipartisan, which it needs to be. And should be.

 

[bjdeming]

Starmer's "volatile" was British understatement.

A couple of thought-provoking things from my X feed just now (no news today more terrible than Noem's Goon Squad invading the Ecuadorian embassy and Ilhan Omar getting attacked -- nothing nationally gut-wrenching so far today; are we all sufficiently nerved up and numbed from this year-long shock-and-awe administration campaign yet?):

An article from a chess master (AND political activist) who knows something about authoritarianism, being Russian:

...Trump appears committed to wrecking the alliances that elevated US power in the last 80 years.

Because he has chosen retreat abroad, he needs another way to project strength. After all, a strongman must look strong in order to live up to the moniker. A demagogue needs enemies.

So the administration wages war on his own country. Authoritarians often cut their teeth on weaker opponents. Before Russia overplayed its hand in Ukraine, Vladimir Putin savaged tiny Chechnya and Georgia.

War is also an opportunity to consolidate power. Trump’s war on Americans is a manufactured crisis aimed at compromising the upcoming midterms. Demands for voter rolls and intimidation by armed men all point to an effort to influence the outcome of November’s elections. Every crime the president’s lieutenants commit opens them up to prosecution should they lose power, so each escalation in this war creates new perverse incentives to interfere in the democratic process...

Emphasis added. I think Kasparov has hit it. That is one major reason why things keep going from bad to worse.

But how can we open the minds of our fellow Americans who are happy with the power-tripping vibes in their small electronic cocoons and get mad when we point out some unpleasant realities of the actual world.

These decent but self-blinded people still outnumber the ones who are in this for the cruelty and other sick thrills, but that proportion is likely to change if things continue to go downhill.

We've already seen federal officers, masked and still unidentified, kill a nonviolent, legal, and peaceful protestor in broad daylight and, thus far, get backed up by their bosses.

Just how much farther downhill will it go?

Short answer: As far as We The People let it.

And I must say, modern America's tolerance for such things is much higher than it was back in the day.

I never thought I'd consider Nixon's "imperial presidency" quaint.

What will be tolerable next week? Next month? Next year? For our children, on both giving and receiving ends?

Longer answer: A Minneapolis paralegal's opinion on one facet of the possible future America (I don't agree with all the positions she takes on X, but she's on point here; I thought Project 2025 was some extreme right-wing fantasy that would never go anywhere; it is being enacted right now):

 

[bjdeming]

In last year's thread, some folks mentioned, when deportations started, that what could be done to those people could be done to anyone.

What that paralegal is describing in the above tweet is the systematic laying of the legal structure and machinery to do exactly that: strip anyone, including citizens by birth, eventually, of their citizenship.

And Trump, the great distractor, keeps our attention focused elsewhere while we are paralyzed by said shock-and-awe campaign since he took office and also by cognitive dissonance:

1. It can't happen in America.
2. It is happening right in front of us.

Does this sound or feel familiar?

Sigh.

 

[bjdeming]

That suggests there’s more to this story. There had been an altercation a week before his death. Not sure if the same agents involved in the previous encounter. The story is behind a wall, so I have not read it, admittedly.

I read something about it on X but only the one mention, and given how DHS smeared Mr. Pretti and tried out what certainly seems like a false narrative, am going to try to keep an open mind until Minnesota reports its investigation results -- if the feds cooperate.

Prior contact might actually work as a legal defense for the agents, if and when they are identified, arrested by state authorities, and put on trial...and it can be proven.

My dream of a workable American justice system -- it will not die.

 

[Central Ohio Wx]

You will see numerous AI-generated videos come out in the coming days in an attempt to justify his murder - use common sense for every piece of media you see relating to this. I am already seeing one clearly-AI "reporter video" posted by the totally-reliable DJT Jr. blowing up that shows an AI-generated Pretti breaking the taillight off a DHS vehicle on January 13th.

 

[thundersnow]

These are scary times. The flip side of this new era of AI is… not only can fake evidence be fabricated, but no one will be convinced by real evidence for the same reason.

People are truly going to believe what they want to believe.

 

[Central Ohio Wx]

You will see numerous AI-generated videos come out in the coming days in an attempt to justify his murder - use common sense for every piece of media you see relating to this. I am already seeing one clearly-AI "reporter video" posted by the totally-reliable DJT Jr. blowing up that shows an AI-generated Pretti breaking the taillight off a DHS vehicle on January 13th.

Actually, I’m not sure if that video is AI or not, but it hasn’t been proven to even be Pretti.

 

[TVILLE96]

I read something about it on X but only the one mention, and given how DHS smeared Mr. Pretti and tried out what certainly seems like a false narrative, am going to try to keep an open mind until Minnesota reports its investigation results -- if the feds cooperate.

Prior contact might actually work as a legal defense for the agents, if and when they are identified, arrested by state authorities, and put on trial...and it can be proven.

My dream of a workable American justice system -- it will not die.

Ice recipes ,page two

 

[Evan]

Actually, I’m not sure if that video is AI or not, but it hasn’t been proven to even be Pretti.

His family has confirmed that it is him. BBC Verify has the story and a quote from his family providing said confirmation:

How Alex Pretti shooting led Trump to shift course in Minneapolis

BBC analysis editor Ros Atkins looks at why tensions have been running so high in the city - and how we got here.

www.bbc.com

Doesn't change what happened that day or the fact that law enforcement made an egregious error. Nonetheless, it will certainly put some wind back into the sails of this administration's activities.

 

[Mike S]

His family has confirmed that it is him. BBC Verify has the story and a quote from his family providing said confirmation:

How Alex Pretti shooting led Trump to shift course in Minneapolis

BBC analysis editor Ros Atkins looks at why tensions have been running so high in the city - and how we got here.

www.bbc.com

Doesn't change what happened that day or the fact that law enforcement made an egregious error. Nonetheless, it will certainly put some wind back into the sails of this administration's activities.

Being a typical left-wing extremist protester - spitting at people, destroying property - still shouldn't be a death sentence. There are other protesters out there not acting so vile.

Maybe he's not the angel he's been made out to be, and maybe he did have a pistol on him, but unless there is something I simply can't see, I haven't seen anything in his hand other than a cell phone when he was killed. There should be repercussions, and I think there might be because Trump has no problem appointing a scapegoat when the heat gets too hot for him.

 

[Central Ohio Wx]

Maybe he's not the angel he's been made out to be, and maybe he did have a pistol on him, but unless there is something I simply can't see, I haven't seen anything in his hand other than a cell phone when he was killed. There should be repercussions, and I think there might be because Trump has no problem appointing a scapegoat when the heat gets too hot for him.

This exactly - I could (hypothetically, of course) hit a DHS agent over the head with a baseball bat on January 13 (for the FBI agent watching me I would never assault an officer); that would not justify my unrelated murder a week later. What people are failing to realize is that no matter what happened before the shooting, it is not justifiable by any remotely-humane standard.

What's making me suspicious is that the DHS has zero record the January 13 incident ever occurred. There are possibly other incidents involving violence from officers that have not been documented officially, and thus they are possibly getting away with other assaults on people.

 

[TH2002]

Sure, the dude was no saint, but that doesn't change the fact that he was literally shot AFTER another agent had already disarmed him.

I mean yeah, Pretti committed a crime himself by spitting at ICE agents and kicking out a tail light, but does that really justify killing him a week or so after the fact? Unless I missed something, he hadn't actually committed any crime on the day of his murder.

Now, if Alex Pretti had been shot due to kicking out a tail light WHILE brandishing his firearm, it would be a different situation entirely.

 

[Central Ohio Wx]

Now, if Alex Pretti had been shot due to kicking out a tail light WHILE brandishing his firearm, it would be a different situation entirely.

Even if he had kicked the taillight out and then was shot I still would see is as an unjustified murder. Unless the agents were actively having their lives threatened by a firearm (which they weren't), nothing did or will justify it.

I think I have a theory as to how this went down - while being disarmed his Sig P320 might have accidentally discharged (horrible timing but it's Sig so what can I say) and that led the agents to believe he had opened fire and as a result they fired back. What crumbles this as self-defense, however, is that nowhere in the video was it indicated by the agent that took his pistol that he had been disarmed, and thus they had shot at a disarmed subject about ~10 times.

 

[TH2002]

Even if he had kicked the taillight out and then was shot I still would see is as an unjustified murder. Unless the agents were actively having their lives threatened by a firearm (which they weren't), nothing did or will justify it.

I think I have a theory as to how this went down - while being disarmed his Sig P320 might have accidentally discharged (horrible timing but it's Sig so what can I say) and that led the agents to believe he had opened fire and as a result they fired back. What crumbles this as self-defense, however, is that nowhere in the video was it indicated by the agent that took his pistol that he had been disarmed, and thus they had shot at a disarmed subject about ~10 times.

To be fair, if someone was actively kicking my truck, I (and probably most people) would interpret that as a threat. In a situation where I did have a gun on me (ignoring California's bs firearm carry laws) I wouldn't hesitate to point it at them and demand for the person to step away from my vehicle. Would I pull the trigger before they threatened me with their own gun or approached me with some other sort of weapon? Probably not.

With that said, that's not what happened on the day of Pretti's murder. His killing was unjustified, and Second Amendment advocacy groups are right to push back against the Trump administration's narrative.

Speaking of which... It's also amazing how many Trumpists who have historically been a huge part of the "don't tread on me" anti-big government crowd, suddenly love authoritarianism when their team is the one calling the shots - literally, in this case.

 

[slenker]

This newest wave of files being released is the most sickening, vile and unbelievable s*** I’ve seen in my life. Removing Trump as soon as physically possible needs to happen and people need to be behind bars and investigated now. Nixon was removed for far less.

 

[andyhb]

To be fair, if someone was actively kicking my truck, I (and probably most people) would interpret that as a threat. In a situation where I did have a gun on me (ignoring California's bs firearm carry laws) I wouldn't hesitate to point it at them and demand for the person to step away from my vehicle. Would I pull the trigger before they threatened me with their own gun or approached me with some other sort of weapon? Probably not.

With that said, that's not what happened on the day of Pretti's murder. His killing was unjustified, and Second Amendment advocacy groups are right to push back against the Trump administration's narrative.

Speaking of which... It's also amazing how many Trumpists who have historically been a huge part of the "don't tread on me" anti-big government crowd, suddenly love authoritarianism when their team is the one calling the shots - literally, in this case.

Because they actively want others to suffer that they deem lesser than them.