ANS -- Rachel Hurley on what happened to Alex Pretti

Just for completeness, here is Rachel Hurley's take on what happened with today's murder by ICE.  Don't believe a word Crispy Gnome says, or Trump either.  

--Kim

Rachel Hurley 

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I've watched all of the videos dozens of times - here's what happened.

A 37-year-old ICU nurse named Alex Pretti helped a woman that federal agents had shoved. For this crime - helping someone - several agents sprayed pepper spray into his face - then they beat him until he collapsed. They pistol whipped him while he was on his knees. Both hands on the ground. Not resisting. Just existing.

They took his gun from his back waistband - he never touched it - but he had a legal permit to carry. The Second Amendment one. The constitutional right one.

And then they shot him.

After he was already down, already gone, they shot him nine more times. Nine. I want you to picture that. A man on the ground, motionless, and nine more bullets.

This is the same government that told us he was a "criminal illegal alien with a string of violent offenses." He was an American citizen. He was a nurse who worked in the ICU at the VA - the guy who takes care of your grandfather who served in Vietnam, your uncle who came back from Iraq. His criminal record was traffic tickets.

They lied. They executed him in broad daylight on an American street. And then they lied about who he was to make you feel okay about it.

This is the third shooting by federal agents in Minneapolis in three weeks. Three weeks. Three people. One was a woman named Renée Good. One was a Venezuelan man shot in the leg. And now Alex Pretti, American citizen, legal gun owner, VA nurse who spent his days caring for veterans, dead on the pavement at 26th and Nicollet because he tried to help someone.

The same government that wraps itself in "support our troops" shot the guy who actually supported our troops. Nine times. While he was on the ground.

That's the truth - don't believe any of the Trump Admin's lies about what happened.

#ratcclips

ANS -- The Murder of Alex Pretti

Here is what Rebecca Solnit has to say about the killing of Alex Pretti today.  I also heard that they held him down and shot him in the back to kill him. I don't know if that's true, but it sure looks like it from the picture that accompanied this piece. 

--Kim

Rebecca Solnit 

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Gift link. "An I.C.U. nurse shot by federal agents was an American citizen with no criminal record, the city police chief said. A New York Times video analysis shows he was holding a phone, not a gun."

More from Times reporting: Federal agents shot and killed a 37-year-old Minneapolis resident on Saturday morning, prompting renewed protests and clashes in a city where tensions have reached a breaking point after weeks of aggressive federal immigration enforcement. As dusk fell, Minnesota officials deployed the National Guard in an effort to prevent possible violence.

Colleagues and a senior law enforcement official identified the man who was shot as Alex Jeffrey Pretti, an intensive-care nurse. Videos analyzed by The New York Times appear to contradict the accounts of federal officials, who said Mr. Pretti approached Border Patrol agents with a handgun and the intent to "massacre" them.

Video footage shows Mr. Pretti stepping between a woman and an agent who is pepper spraying her. Other agents then pepper spray Mr. Pretti, who is holding a phone in one hand and nothing in the other. His concealed weapon is found only after he is restrained on the sidewalk, the videos show, and taken from him before the agents opened fire.

Federal officials posted images of the gun they said Mr. Pretti was carrying, and have blocked attempts by Minnesota law enforcement officers to investigate the encounter. Chief Brian O'Hara of the Minneapolis police said Mr. Pretti was an American citizen with no criminal record, and had a valid firearms permit, allowing him to openly carry a gun.

A colleague of Mr. Pretti, Dimitri Drekonja, said he worked in the intensive-care unit at the Veterans Affairs hospital in Minneapolis. "He was a really great colleague and a really great friend," Mr. Drekonja said. "The default look on his face was a smile."

ANS -- It's Over --from Rachel Hurley

Here is another opinion piece from Rachel Hurley.  I don't know who she is, but she seems to have some interesting opinions.  What do you think?

--Kim

Rachel Hurley 

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JFC.

So - I guess Europe finally snapped

And it's happening in real time. Today - literally hours ago - Danish pension fund AkademikerPension announced they're dumping all their US Treasuries by the end of the month. About $100 million worth. Their chief investment officer told Bloomberg: "The US is basically not a good credit and long-term the US government finances are not sustainable."

A Danish pension fund just called America a bad credit risk. To Bloomberg. On the record.

Another Danish fund, PFA, was even more brutal: "We believe in American companies, but we do not believe in the political United States."

This isn't some hypothetical "what if Europe sold our debt" scenario anymore. They're doing it. Right now. While Trump threatens tariffs because nobody will sell him Greenland.

Sen. Brian Schatz, Democrat from Hawaii: "He is not stable at all and his reality is warped. He was always a bit like this of course but now he's 80."

Former Republican Congressman Adam Kinzinger: "Guys. Republicans. It's time to move Gramps into a home. Let's adults govern again."

Senator Ed Markey: "Invoke the 25th Amendment."

Multiple House Democrats are now publicly calling Trump "extremely mentally ill." Rep. Yassamin Ansari of Arizona: "The president of the United States is extremely mentally ill and it's putting all of our lives at risk. The 25th Amendment exists for a reason - we need to invoke it immediately."

Even Rand Paul admitted on Meet the Press that there's no Republican support for military action against Greenland: "On the war powers, or on militarily invading Greenland, I've heard of no Republican support for that. Even the most hawkish members of our caucus have said they won't support that."

So let's talk about why Europe dumping our debt matters to you personally.

European investors are sitting on $8 trillion worth of US bonds and stocks - almost twice as much as the rest of the world combined. This money keeps our borrowing costs low and props up the dollar. It's why we can run up the national credit card without the interest payments becoming unmanageable.

Danish pension funds started quietly selling last year - about 10 billion kroner throughout 2025. But that was gradual. Professional. Part of the broader "Sell America" trade after Trump's first tariff tantrum.

Today they're doing it loud. And Ray Dalio - Bridgewater Associates, the biggest hedge fund in the world - went on CNBC from Davos this morning and said sovereign funds could start dumping US investments en masse. "On the other side of trade, deficits, and trade wars, there are capital and capital wars. Maybe there's not the same inclination to buy US debt."

The dollar fell 40 points today. Gold hit new all-time highs. Treasury yields spiked. The "Sell America" trade is back.

For regular Americans, here's what this means at the grocery store: a falling dollar makes everything imported cost more. Your iPhone. Your coffee. That IKEA furniture. The car parts your mechanic needs. One economist put it simply: "If you go online and buy a product that doesn't come from the U.S., the price is likely to go up."

So tariffs make imports expensive AND a weak dollar makes imports expensive. It's getting punched in both eyes simultaneously. Very efficient.

And guess what? Europe has even more weapons. They've got the Anti-Coercion Instrument - the so-called "trade bazooka" - built in 2023 for exactly this situation. Never been used. France is now pushing to deploy it. What could it do? Restrict American companies from operating in Europe. Ban US firms from public contracts across the entire bloc. Target tech giants - Meta, Google, the companies that actually print money over there.

The EU is also sitting on €93 billion worth of retaliatory tariffs they prepped last year but put on hold when they thought we had a deal. That deal? Dead. Manfred Weber, who leads the European Parliament's biggest party, said approval is "not possible at this stage."

Eight European leaders put out a joint statement calling Trump's tariffs "blackmail." Sweden's PM said they "will not be blackmailed." The Dutch foreign minister called it blackmail too. Even the German government - famous for rolling over on trade issues - is done.

Kaja Kallas, the EU's foreign policy chief, nailed it: "China and Russia must be having a field day. They are the ones who benefit from divisions among allies."

And Denmark just sent more combat troops to Greenland.

Three-quarters of Americans oppose taking over Greenland. Trump's own party is splitting. A bipartisan Senate delegation flew to Denmark this weekend to apologize. But Trump's at Davos this week, telling reporters Europe "won't push back too much."

A Danish pension fund just called America a bad credit risk on international television. Democrats are calling for the 25th Amendment. Adam Kinzinger is suggesting it's time for the nursing home. The Dow just posted its biggest drop in months. "Make America Go Away" hats are sold out in Denmark - a vintage clothing store owner made them as a joke last year and now he's ordering several thousand because, as he put it, "we started to realize this probably wasn't a joke - it's not reality TV, it's actually reality." A quarter of Nuuk showed up to protest. The EU is holding an emergency summit on Thursday. Macron showed up to Davos in aviator sunglasses and told a room full of billionaires that Europe "prefers respect to bullies" and "rule of law to brutality."

I think people are starting to push back.

#ratcclips