I woke up to the news that there’s been another local shooting by ICE. Oh wait. It might not be ICE. It might be Border Patrol. At any rate, it’s federal assholes. This time, it was K messaging me. which meant I had to be angry, upset, depressed, enraged, heartbroken, and a whole mess of other complicated emotions upon waking. Once again, I’ve spent all day in a daze, avoiding the video and the pictures, but reading what happened to the young man. I’m numb, yes, but there’s a rage burning in my heart, and it’s only growing stronger. There was a sliver of hope after the peaceful economic blackout yesterday–and now? We’re back in the terribleness we were in two weeks ago.
Before I continue on my rant, I want to say yet again that while I’m not happy with the increase of filming in public in general, I’m beyond grateful that it’s a staple in all the protests. Because without the video footage from ordinary people, ICE, DHS, and all the other presidential shills would be able to spin the narrative much more readily. Lord knows they’re doing their best to do it, anyway, but with all the video footage of what actually happened, it’s a much harder task for them.
Oh, I know MAGA will believe whatever their dear leader tells them, no matter what he says. Even when he changes his mind two minutes later, they agree unthinkingly.
Side note to the side note: This is a drum I’ve been banging for decades to the Democrats. Fuck that group. No, serious. Fuck them. Write them off. You will never ever ever win them over. I’m talking about that thirty percent of the population (roughly twenty percent, that’s an ass number, of the voters) who are just gonna be the way they are.
Stop ppandering to them. Stop trying to lure them to the dark side. Just. Fucking. Let. Them. Go. The ones you want to try to win over are the moderates and the independents. Oh, and by the way, you’re losing me as well because I’m tired of being put dead last every year. And not even consciously–but just by omission. That’s more insulting than being deliberately ignored.
Here’s the thing. The Democrats are shitty at messaging. And, for decades, they’ve tried to define themselves as the ‘not-Republicans’. The Dems were always reacting and never being proactive. They’re too nerdy and wonky for the gen pop. one of the big reasons Obama won was beacuse he had a simple message that connected with a vast swathe of people. He saved his wonkiness for when he got elected, which was a smart move. Oh, and he mobilized the online youth like none other. He internet savvy, and he used that to his advantage.
Back to my post.
The victim was an ICU nurse who worked with vets. He was legal gun owner, which, by the way, boy. The feds and MAGA are now not as pro-carrying as they were before today. The feds tried to portray him as a would-be assassin who ‘came at’ the agents with a semi-automatic and two clips. Guess what, though? Go on, guess! I’m sure you won’t be surprised to find out that the protesters told a very different story.
Here’s what I read/heard. There was a woman who had fallen/slipped/tossed to the ground. Then, Alex Pretti (the victim) went over to help her up. Some things are murky, but it ended with him getting shot several times after being sprayed with pepper spray and tackled to the ground (not sure on the order of those two).
Many accounts say that he was already subdued by the time the shooting started. Again, I did not watch the video because I do not need that in my mind forever. I still can see a scene from Girl, Interrupted that gave me nightmares for months. Even now when I conjured it up in my mind, I had a physical reaction to it.
Is this the line? I am not sure .I was trying to find a video by Rachel Maddow in which she talked about how the breaking down of the lies that the feds are throwing around is the start of the end for Trump (I’m vastly simplifying what she said), but I can’t find the video. I hate looking for a specific video, by the way, because the algorithms are such trash. Finding a specific video is nearly impossible at times. Maddow has been clear about this, though. She has done several videos on how the cracks are starting to show.
One the lies are shown to be what they are, it’s really hard to put that back genie back in the box. It’s the old Wizard of Oz trope, or the fable of the emperor’s new clothing. Once people see that there is no man behind the curtain or that the emperor does not wear any clothing,
In that video I swear I saw, Maddow said that it’s easy to cry out fake when something is theoretical or far away. It’s much harder when people can see with their own eyes what is happening. Yes, there will be that subset of people who say it’s fake (as with all the mass shootings), but there are more people who are starting to question WTF is going on.
The unrest keeps going. My two besties live in Philly (well, one does and the other half an hour out). ICE is supposedly headed their way. I had to tell both of them to stay safe if ICE does end up in Philly. But, you know what? I’m watching a video of my fellow Minnesotans protesting earlier after the shooting in the bitter cold. They are standing up for rtheir neighborhood, for MN, and for America in general.
There are vigils all across the country to stand in solidarity with Minneapolis. It’s gratifying to see the support, but my god, I wish it weren’t necessary. I’m so tired. So very tired. This should not be–I can’t even finish that sentence.
I have watched several of Heather Cox Richardson’s videos. She is an American historian professor at Boston College. In the video I’ve included above, she’s talking about what happened. She’d seen the videos, and she describes what happened. She warns people not to watch the videos, by the way, which I appreciate.
I willl have more to say, obviously, but I’m done for tonight. I have only watched the first ten minutes of the video, but I’m sure the rest will piss me off even more.