Timothy Snyder

Photos of Alex Pretti with Sara’s caption: On August 16th at approximately 10:00 pm I received a call from the ICU at the VA saying my Dad had sepsis and needed to be intubated to stay alive so Josh and I headed in. We were greeted by the kindest, most calming and warm soul who helped us understand what was happening and showed deep care for us and my Dad. He continued to show utmost patience and kindness over the next few days as my Dad remained in the ICU and we were there continually. It was Alex Pretti, the man shot today by ICE. If you see this video and don't think it's murder, I don't understand your thinking and ask you to question your heart. He was out there trying to help and protect and from the little we knew of him, it doesn't surprise me he was not afraid to be on the front lines of this horrible scene in our Minneapolis. Weeping for his family and all those at the VA who no longer get to work with him or receive his care.

My friend Sara posted this about the superb care her father received from with Alex Pretti

Absolutely heartbreaking

Hundreds of clergy descend on Minneapolis and go on lookout for ICE MINNEAPOLIS (RNS) — The faith leaders, who hail from across the country and represent a range of religious traditions, deployed to neighborhoods with significant immigrant populations, where DHS agent...

"'What did we learn from the Holocaust? We have to act and we have to resist,' Tracht said, running out of breath as the car turned the corner. 'If I’m not going to act and resist now, then I shouldn’t call myself a rabbi and I can’t be a proud Jew.'"
religionnews.com/2026/01/22/h...

The president should be impeached and convicted, as should everyone responsible for these outrages. ICE should be disbanded. So should the Department of Homeland Security. And the people who have killed should be investigated and brought before judges and juries.

Seen in Los Angeles

(Credit: Zurita Carpio)

The video evidence is clear: Alex Pretti was not armed when he was shot. An agent removed Pretti's firearm from his waist before the shooting.

See for yourself here: www.bellingcat.com/news/2026/01...

If you’re just figuring out now that yes, it really is fascism, that’s fantastic & I think you’re great & I’m glad we’re on the same side. I don’t need to scold you. My desire for “told-ya-so” is as useless as your denial was. Let’s move on together to the fight at hand, each as we feel called. 1/2

By the way this is the crime that they executed him for. They abhor being watched and they think if you do anything they dislike you must be crushed under their boot.

If it is fascism now it was fascism then but if you were wrong no need to pause to make a special effort to admit your error -- we don't have that much time now, please act right away, get organized, and then tell your followers what you are doing to stop fascism and what they too can do.

Lies and Lawlessness The Camps, the Executions, and the Future

We have to see the logic of the killings as well as the killings themselves. The horror is a truth in itself. But it is also a sign of a political logic, one known from the totalitarian regimes of the twentieth century.
snyder.substack.com/p/lies-and-l...

A video of Alex Pretti reading out the final salute of an unnamed veteran he cared for until the end of his life in the ICU, posted to Facebook by his son.

In the early 1930s the SA was roughing people up, creating chaos in neighborhoods, seeking to terrorize with the occasional killing. By the late 1930s it had been supplanted by the SS, which was much better trained.

Solidarity, particularly across race and class, is Kryptonite for authoritarian regimes. They can only thrive when their us v. them framing is adopted by society at large, and they join as active or passive collaborators with the regime. So the only response they have is to raise the cost of unity

Alex Pretti "used to tell people off when they made sexist comments to female physicians. He bought me coffee when I had a really bad day as an intern...I laughed alongside him daily. He made a point to teach medical residents without judgement, but with a smile on his face and a joke."

So important. What they say is not the story. That is never the story. What happened is the story. Write what happened.

Vielleicht sollten sich deutsche Nachrichtenmedien die kursierenden Videos aus #Minneapolis, die verschiedene Blickwinkel zeigen, erst einmal anschauen, bevor sie die Lügen des US-Heimatschutzministeriums als ganz normale Aussage wiedergeben.

Today, we lost another Minneapolis neighbor after multiple ICE agents pummeled him and shot him to death.

How many more people need to die or get shot before this ends?

President Trump, I am calling on you to put the American people and this American city first and get ICE out.

The federal government is gunning people down in the streets, lying about what happened and then preventing any independent investigation of the killings

Alex Pretti from his early days working at the VA

Alex from our time working together, while he was in nursing school. Later, he moved to ICU, working as a nurse to support critically ill Veterans. He had such a great attitude. We’d chat between patients about trying to get in a mountain bike ride together. Will never happen now

The term “law enforcement” should not be used by media, except perhaps in quotations. It has sadly become an Orwellian term that is used to magically sanctify violence. Language matters. Be specific. Describe individuals with names and ranks. Say exactly what they did. Don’t repeat fascist hocum.

They are going down the list of amendments now. And the entire ICE action is the most obvious violation of the Fourth Amendment this country has ever seen.

Gov. Tim Walz: "Thank God we have video, because according to DHS, these seven heroic guys took an onslaught of a battalion against them or something. It's nonsense, people. It's nonsense and it is lies."

Abolish ICE, abolish DHS, redistribute the other agencies, prosecute actual criminals, such as people who commit execution-style murders of Americans in broad daylight.

It may not have the hot clang of the Book of Revelation, but when the Danes are selling your bonds it has not been a good day.

Well, Davos was founded as a big sanatorium complex, so perhaps he could stay until he feels better.

Not just the view from Denmark. The view from anywhere in the universe where logic works.

Russia loves Trump’s message on Greenland, as Putin has openly said. It is worth asking whether this was a Russian idea. It certainly divides and could destroy NATO, and it distracts from Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine.

Nuclear defense is why we built a base on Greenland in 1951. We had this idea 75 years ago. The base has been there since then. You don’t have to invade a country where you already have everything. Invasion just destroys what you have and much else besides.

A US early-warning radar of one sort or another has been on Greenland for nearly 70 years—without the need for US sovereignty. Greenland is also covered by Article Five & US could protect it v Russia or China. Conflating Greenland's military importance with the issue of US ownership is dishonest.

Having seen several abductions up close, it is really hard to convey how much the thing they’re doing is roaming in military convoys until they see someone who is alone and isn’t white, and then jumping out in large numbers, pulling them into a van, and screeching off, all in 90 seconds or so.

Video Analysis of ICE Shooting Sheds Light on Contested Moments

Important work here from the NYT. Ross wasn’t run over. He dropped his cell phone, which he had shifted to his left hand to draw his weapon. And then he shot and killed a person with the gun in his right hand.
www.nytimes.com/2026/01/15/v...