dag

A reminder to the news media: “conflicting accounts” is what you say BEFORE the incontrovertible video evidence appears. After that, your job is to ask why one side is lying, not to repeat the lie and pretend no one knows the truth.

thoughts and prayers

That‘s not a bad point.

That‘s not quite right, in my view. Though it is a good book.

Those I am talking about switch fluently to truth-based stuff when it suits them.

See also: the UK’s documented use of torture in Northern Ireland, Kenya, Afghanistan and Iraq is not who we are.

One may say this is “post-truth” but that may not be correct.

When something is true, and it suits them tactically, then they use the truth in their favour.

And this makes it worse: they know the difference between truth and untruths.

But they say, repeat and believe untruths anyway.

15 years ago I borrowed a bulletproof vest from a reporter so I could report from a war zone. I held onto it after I returned.

Last week the reporter finally asked for it back because he is headed to Minneapolis.

Always happy to promote public libraries. I owe them a great deal.

Glass display case showing Christopher isherwood’s school trunk - it’s a solid looking dark wood trunk with white painted writing on it

The Stockroom (Stockport libraries) has Isherwood’s school trunk, and a collection of archives from his early life.
They’re doing readings and film showings in LGBTQ+ history month in Feb:
www.stockrm.org/lgbt-history...

I gave up public speaking long ago!

Great stuff! Thank you for sharing.

How people laughed when it was ‘Comical Ali’ telling us to disbelieve the truth of what we could see.

The shooting of Alex Pretti was (US) state sanctioned murder and has been followed up by attempts to destroy evidence and stop local police (and even the FBI) from investigating.

Minnesota police are trying to counter the lies and illegality.

Terrifying

open.substack.com/pub/heatherc...

Video contradicts Trump’s claim man killed in Minneapolis was a ‘gunman’ Video evidence reviewed by Guardian shows Alex Pretti, killed by agents in Minneapolis, held a phone, not a gun

Trump’s government has unequivocally crossed a threshold now where even well -documented truth is irrelevant and the murder of US citizens by the state is formally sanctioned.

www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...

Opinion | State Terror Has Arrived

"There is a logic, and this logic has a name. It’s called state terror."

www.nytimes.com/2026/01/24/o...

Video contradicts Trump’s claim man killed in Minneapolis was a ‘gunman’ Video evidence reviewed by Guardian shows Alex Pretti, killed by agents in Minneapolis, held a phone, not a gun

Video recorded by witnesses to the fatal shooting of Alex Pretti by federal agents in Minneapolis shows that he was holding a phone, not a gun, when he was tackled and shot, directly contradicting the claims of senior Trump administration officials www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...

Well done you

Don’t let this White House lie to you. Believe what you see.

Alex Pretti was trying to help a woman off the ground. Then immigration agents tackled, shot, and killed him.

It’s time for them to get the hell out of MN.

The ICE killing of Alex Pretti, the second in Minneapolis, prompts quick legal responses After ICE agents killed Alex Pretti on Saturday, lawyers took quick action in cases challenging the Trump administration's increasingly deadly efforts.

NEW: The ICE killing of Alex Pretti, the second in Minneapolis, prompts quick legal action.

After ICE agents killed Alex Pretti on Saturday, lawyers responded quickly — leading to one TRO issued before the night's end aimed at preserving evidence of the killing.

My report at Law Dork:

Shooting a nurse and former Boy Scout in the back while he was helping/shielding a woman knocked down by the paramilitary secret police.

Seems a little tricky to spin that.

If this is what they do when they're out on the street with people pointing cameras at them, what do you think is happening inside the ICE prison camps that they keep denying Members of Congress access to?

I am past 'retrain ICE.' I am past 'reform ICE.' I am past 'abolish ICE.'

I am at 'imprison ICE.'

JUST IN: In a new lawsuit, Minnesota officials say DHS mishandled evidence from today's crime scene and made "astonishing" law enforcement decisions. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

The task for political leadership now is not just to tell the truth, but to make people care about what is true and what is not.

They know what they say is untrue, they do not care it is untrue.

The media know that what they repeat is untrue, they do not care it is untrue.

Their supporters know what they are told is untrue, they do not care it is untrue.

Telling the truth is not enough, unless people care about the truth.

Precision is precision, and evidence and proof is evidence and proof, whether in the sciences or the humanities.

Exactness and critical thinking are the things.

We can have ICE or we can have democracy but we can't have both and it's obvious which side Trump has chosen.

Ha ha.

I almost did a PhD on the fellow’s writing but became a lawyer instead.

Would be too easy: it should be a challenge.