MONDAY, JANUARY 26, 2026
Human error prevails: One day before the (latest) fatal shooting, Jesse Watters was at it again. He was sitting on the set of The Five, this nation's most-watched "cable news" program.
Parodically, the program assembles a five-member panel each day. Four of the panelists are overtly pro-MAGA. On days when Jessica Tarlov fills the fifth chair, one on the panelists isn't.
On such days, the program gains its high frisson from the way the four interrupt and assail the one. On Friday, January 23, the panel's two camps looked like this:
The Five: January 23, 2026
Paul Mauro: Fox News contributor
Jesse Watters: co-host, The Five
Martha MacCallum: anchor, The Story (Fox News)
Tyrus: former professional "wrestler"
Jessica Tarlov: twice-weekly co-host, The Five
Mercifully, Greg Gutfeld wasn't there.
The latest fatal shooting hadn't happened yet. Still, this imitation news program devoted its opening segment to a familiar task—to the task of debunking the types of "horrific smears" being directed at ICE.
When it came her time to attempt to speak, Tarlov began quoting statements in which established law enforcement officials have criticized behaviors by ICE. At one point in her presentation, Watters apparently decided that he, and the program's millions of viewers, had finally heard enough.
He interrupted Tarlov, describing one of the matters she had cited as the latest example of "fake news." He went on to make a set of improbable claims—claims which were subjected to something like ridicule in this report by Mediaite:
Jesse Watters Claims ICE Jails Are ‘Amazing’ and That Detainees Are ‘Lucky’ to Have ‘Healthcare Services’
Fox host Jesse Watters said that immigration detention centers were “amazing” on Friday, claiming detainees were “lucky” to receive healthcare services in ICE jails.
Watters spoke to co-hosts on The Five about allegations of abuse by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials, including the recent case of a Cuban immigrant who died in a Texas immigration facility after witnesses claimed he was choked by guards.
“It’s already been debunked weeks ago,” Watters said to co-host Jessica Tarlov when she mentioned the incident. “The guy was trying to commit suicide, and the people were trying to save his life.”
Tarlov's claim about the Cuban immigrant was "fake news," Watters said. He went on to conduct this silly exchange with Tarlov, as transcribed by Mediaite:
WATTERS: These detention centers are amazing! You get dental care.
TARLOV: Jesse–
WATTERS: You get free healthcare. Have you ever seen the kind of concierge healthcare services they have at these detention facilities?
TARLOV: I saw Alligator Alcatraz.
WATTERS: Where did this guy come from?
TARLOV: Jesse, then you go. Go live in there!
WATTERS: This guy came from Ecuador [sic[ without running water. He’s lucky to have these types of services.
In effect, exchanges like that function as a parody of serious news discussion. Mediaite was apparently struck by Watters' praise for the kind of "concierge healthcare services" provided at these detention facilities.
At this site, we decided to go one step further. We decided to fact-check Watters' initial claim—his claim about Tarlov's "fake news."
According to Watters, the immigrant to whom Tarlov referred had actually committed suicide, in spite of efforts by ICE personnel to save his life. As is typical on The Five, the facts of this matter never emerged from this pseudo-discussion.
That said, Tarlov had been referring to Geraldo Lunas Campos, a Cuban who did in fact die on January 3 at the Texas facility in question. Late on January 23, Watters was hotly insisting that Campos' death had actually been a suicide.
But two days earlier, the El Paso medical examiner had issued the autopsy report. His findings were described in this AP report reprinted by PBS:
Cuban immigrant in ICE custody died of homicide due to asphyxia, autopsy finds
A Cuban migrant held in solitary confinement at an immigration detention facility in Texas died after guards held him down and he stopped breathing, according to an autopsy report released Wednesday that ruled the death a homicide.
Geraldo Lunas Campos died Jan. 3 following an altercation with guards. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said the 55-year-old father of four was attempting suicide and the staff tried to save him.
But a witness told The Associated Press last week that Lunas Campos was handcuffed as at least five guards held him down and one put an arm around his neck and squeezed until he was unconscious.
His death was one of at least three reported in little more than a month at Camp East Montana, a sprawling tent facility in the desert on the grounds of Fort Bliss, an Army base.
The autopsy report by the El Paso County Medical Examiner's Office found Lunas Campos' body showed signs of a struggle, including abrasions on his chest and knees. He also had hemorrhages on his neck. The deputy medical examiner, Dr. Adam Gonzalez. determined the cause of death was asphyxia due to neck and torso compression.
The report said witnesses saw Lunas Campos "become unresponsive while being physically restrained by law enforcement." It did not elaborate on what happened during the struggle but cited evidence of injuries to his neck, head and torso associated with physical restraint. The report also noted the presence of petechial hemorrhages—tiny blood spots from burst capillaries that can be associated with intense strain or injury—in the eyelids and skin of the neck.
In this case, it almost sounds like those "concierge" services failed.
That official finding was two days old when Watters interrupted Tarlov to describe her report as "fake news." Aside from the Associated Press, the finding had been widely reported by an array of other major news orgs.
In fairness, everybody makes mistakes. That even seems to include the aforementioned Jesse Watters.
Watters is a regular co-host on The Five, the nation's most-watched "cable news" show. His own nightly show, Jesse Watters Primetime, is the second most-watched such program.
Everyone makes mistakes, but Watters' error on this day fits a familiar pattern—as did the apparent group assault reported in the case of the Cuban immigrant. Indeed, a somewhat similar type of group assault may imaginably seem to have taken place in Minneapolis the very next day.
Human error is a constant in human affairs. We refer to human intellectual error, but also to issues of moral judgment.
Human error is one thing, but undisguised lunacy leaped into view in the immediate wake of the latest fatal shooting. In group behavior straight out of Alice in Wonderland, Trump officials enacted this time-honored policy:
Verdict first! Investigation later!
Alex Pretti was fatally shot on Saturday January 24. The next morning, we were struck by what we saw and heard on the Fox & Friends Weekend program.
We've begun the week with what Watters said because it deserves recording. All in all, human error has been so widespread in the past two days that it's hard to know where to begin.
Tomorrow: Verdict first, they said
BalasPadamRight, Bob. Sure, sure.
I'll tell you what: if American detention facilities are not up to the high standard of the illegal aliens, there's a good, easy way to deal with it. It's called self-deportation! Capeesh?
Case solved! Next!
The guards killed the detainee. That isn't a complaint about the facilities (not enough blankets, coffee was not hot) but about the guards, who deliberately murdered a man they were restraining.
PadamThere's a better way to accomplish this too. Why not take the guy outside, hand him a whistle, tell him to blow, then shoot him in the back?
10:19 is only typing what his dark lord commands him to.
Padam
PadamLike I said, Soros-monkey: you don't like the guards, self-deport, mister.
You don't have the right to be here in the first place, much less whining and complaining about the facilities and the guards.
Good point Trumpbot! If these people didn't want to be strangled to death by guards in these ICE detention centers they should have self-deported before they were incarcerated. Case solved again by you!! You certainly for sure run circles around these idiotically retarded Soros-bots!!!??
PadamHe is saying that 5 year olds deserve to be treated however ICE agents want because they had the nerve to let their parents bring them to the USA. And what about all those citizens mistakenly detained and held for days or weeks before being let go. Are they responsible for what ICE did? If they had self-deported to Ireland, then it clearly wouldn't have happened, but that is true of a lot of things besides the "mistakes" being made when citizens are picked up (like that elderly man hauled into the snow in his underwear in front of his 5-year old grandson).
PadamWhen are these mistakes too much or too many for Somerby to tolerate. He didn't say.
"self-deport, mister."
PadamTough talk from an anonymous commenter.
Padam"And what about all those citizens mistakenly detained and held for days or weeks before being let go. "
Bullshit, Soros-monkey.
There are dozens of reports of citizens being picked up, held for several hours to several days to weeks, until their citizenship claims could be verified using something other than the citizen's own documents (such as a national ICE biometric database). Then they are told to leave by being shown the front door. It is left to the detainee to figure out where they are and find their own transportation home. Some were not taken with appropriate outdoor clothing, so they are "out in the cold" so to speak. No explanations, apologies, or instructions are given to those released.
PadamThis is the way CITIZENS are being treated, people who had no evidence against them and who raised no suspicions of illegal acts or immigration violations. They were taken by agents because they could. Their cars were abandoned (some with broken windows where the occupant was dragged out), pets were left tied to streetlights without anyone being informed to take care of them, children were either grabbed too or left with bystanders. There was no opportunity to take belongings with them. Most were not allowed phone calls to family or attorneys during their entire detention.
These are abuses that courts have forbidden in some areas. They are still happening in other places. This is not seeking illegals or criminals but harrassment of citizens by armed thugs who do not seek cooperation, but drag, throw to the ground, manhandle and physically threaten those they abduct. And yes, these are kidnappings.
PadamIf you need weeks to prove your citizenship, Soros-monkey, then you're not a citizen. You're an illegal alien, and you should be deported.
"Former President Bill Clinton has broken his silence to decry the “unacceptable” shooting death of Alex Pretti over the weekend as unrest grips Minnesota.
BalasPadamClinton’s social media post on Sunday evening came a day after Pretti, a VA nurse, was shot dead during a struggle with multiple Border Patrol officers during a protest against ICE’s presence in Minneapolis.
“Over the course of a lifetime, we face only a few moments where the decisions we make and the actions we take will shape our history for years to come,” Clinton posted to X alongside a lengthy statement. “This is one of them.”
“All of this is unacceptable and should have been avoided,” Clinton said of the actions of federal agents in the face of protests, including the deaths of Pretti and Renee Good.
“It is up to all of us who believe in the promise of American democracy to stand up, speak out, and show that our nation still belongs to We the People.”
Obama has also released a statement:
Padam“The killing of Alex Pretti is a heartbreaking tragedy. It should also be a wake-up call to every American, regardless of party, that many of our core values as a nation are increasingly under assault.”
His tweet included a lengthier statement from himself and Mrs Obama.
@BarackObama
it's a little too fucking late. we don't have a democracy anymore
PadamState sponsored murder of black people is yucky, but we won't stand for you fuckers murdering white people. Come on now.
PadamYes, no one made a fuss when that black guy died at the hands of a cop, amirite.
PadamObama was on MSNOW.
Padam10:19 is the kind of inhuman mutant TDH seems to attract nowadays.
BalasPadam"Human error" is an unacceptable explanation for Pretti's shooting. It is a term so trivializing and minimizing of a deliberate shooting that took an innocent man's life, that it does not belong anywhere near any description of this ICE shooting.
BalasPadamCalling deliberate murder a "human error" is offensive on Somerby's part. These shootings of Good and Pretti were not "oopsies" but crimes that must be investigated. ICE must be held accountable for escalating violence against people exercising their rights as US citizens.
If Somerby searched his mind for the most offensive thing he could say about these ICE crimes, he couldn't have come up with anything more demeaning than these words today.
Somerby maintains an elaborate plausible deniability that he is just talking about Watters and "the wake" of the shooting, but he goes out of his way to apply the term "human error" to moral judgment, not just misreporting facts. The way he interweaves the shooting with the reporting of a death in TX, implies that human error was involved in Pretti's murder when that was not a simple mistake but a frenzy of beating and shooting that killed a man who had done nothing wrong. If anythiing, there must be an investigation to determine how and why this group murder happened and to explain why the government coverup has been so blatant, including Somerby's belated suggestion that this was all just a terrible mistake because humans make errors. That answer is not good enough.
Essay like this one reveal a great deal about Somerby as a person. That he would write something like this suggests there is something seriously wrong with him, in the same way as there is something wrong with Noem and Hegseth and the other blood-lusting incompetents in Trump's administration. These are not good people, they aren't even trying to be good, and Somerby sits there among them, trying to gaslight his readers into thinking we shouldn't be too hard on these shooters because to err is human. This killing was part of ICE policy, not a slip of the finger by a scared agent. Somerby has a job too -- to excuse the objectionable doings of Trump and his minions. This damage control, after the fact, makes Somerby complicit. The premeditated nature of this essay suggests this isn't an excess of compassion on Somerby's part, but a purposeful excuse of an inexcusable crime against the American people, whose rights are being rolled back by Trump's govt, as well as against a man who was breaking no laws, threatening no one, and had a right to be doing what he was shot for doing.
"Calling deliberate murder a "human error" is offensive on Somerby's part."
PadamThis is why you're so stupid. Somerby didn't call the murder a 'human error.' He used that phrase in reference to Watters' characterization of the murder.
Do you see the difference, stupid?
You want to limit "error" to just Watters but Somerby himself widens it when he says this:
Padam"Everyone makes mistakes, but Watters' error on this day fits a familiar pattern--as did the apparent group assault reported in the case of the Cuban immigrant. Indeed, a somewhat similar type of group assault may imaginably seem to have taken place in Minneapolis the very next day.
Human error is a constant in human affairs. We refer to human intellectual error, but also to issues of moral judgment."
He is saying Pretti's death fits a pattern of error like that in TX which Watters mischaracterized as suicide. The govt tried to say that Pretti had a death wish and was going to use his gun to kill as many ICE agents as possible (suicide by cop).
That is pretty directly saying that Pretti's death was a human error. Some of us don't agree that it should be described that way. You say it wasn't, but Somerby's own quoted words contradict you.
PadamTime to stop calling other people stupid now.
anon 11:07 is either a troll (a bizarre one at that) or a crackpot - probably both. Day after day, it seems her life work is to distort and twist TDH's posts (not that they often aren't above criticism). She seems to have devoted her life in her zany.
PadamIt must be terribly frustrating to you AC/MA that you only get one opinion and then other people disagree with you. TDH has made it his life's work to distort and twist many things, but you don't call him zany or crackpot. What is the difference? Is it that you agree with Somerby but not with his critics? Does that justify calling other commenters names?
PadamGo easy on AC/MA. He probably just made an entirely human error in judgment. He kind of sort of resembles a type of mistake made by other commenters here, some of which may or may not be trolls.
PadamJagoff troll David is a fucking troll, anon11:07 not so much.
PadamGood news. Texas has deported ten times as many illegal immigrants as Minnesota without Minnesota's problems.
BalasPadamFlorida and many other states deported more than Minnesota without these problems. Cooperation with ICE keeps people alive.
Go take a flying fuck, Dickhead, you fucking fascist freak motherfucking racist cunt
Padam
Padam"Cooperation with ICE keeps people alive."
There's no need to keep explaining this, David. The fact that Soros&Co. produce all the ICE-related chaos and death on purpose is obvious and unenabled.
Could you perhaps comment on the notion that there is now supposedly a federal law enforcement agency that has, in the words of our Vice President, “absolute immunity”, and why the very thing that conservatives feared from a Democratic administration has now been realized by a supposedly “conservative” one, DiC? Would it be too much to expect right wingers to have actual principles?
PadamIt is hard to say how many TX has deported given that those detained are shuffled around the country from place to place before being actually deported outside the US. I suspect ICE does that to prevent lawyers and family (and aid organizations) for knowing where anyone is, but also to hide how many people are being handled at any point in time.
PadamThe numbers quoted by the govt are bogus, so we don't know how many people are held, deported or self-deporting, and we don't know how many are criminals, how many did nothing wrong, and how many are children, women, elderly, sick, as well as innocent.
David's gleeful repetition of bogus stats makes him sound foolish under the circumstances. I think a better source of info might be the groups trying to help those accused with their deportation, detainment and other legal claims.
Why can't these European troll farm commenters learn English before being sent to annoy others at blogs?
Padam"produce all the ICE-related chaos and death on purpose is obvious and unenabled"
unenabled? What the fuck does that mean? It looks like a bot screwed up, but why is the right sending bots to do a human's job?
Somerby would call that just another example of human error, like murder.
PadamTX has more than 10xs the number of folks in question you Nazi cunt.
PadamThe point is that people detained in MN are being sent to TX, and other parts of the country too, so of course they are counting more people there. Are they counting the same people twice? How would anyone know?
Padam"Cooperation with ICE keeps people alive."
PadamAn interesting phrasing. It almost sounds as if Alex Pretti died because he was uncooperative.
Is that why Alex Pretti died, DiC?
ICE was terribly, completely wrong to shoot this victim. But, the people who provoked this incident are also wrong. The people I'm talking about are Walz, Frey and other public official and radical organizations who, I believe, consciously and professionally create a situation where this sort of tragedy occurs.
Padam
PadamHector -- ICE deserves blame for shooting. But, the victim was worse than "uncooperative", according to what I heard. He was actively interfering with ICE in performing their duties. That's a felony. Again, his felony does not in any way excuse ICE or justify being shot.
DinC: You are discounting "Operation Metro Surge" and its seemingly punitive, illogical focus on Minneapolis.
PadamThe videos do not show him "actively interfering". They show him blowing a whistle and protesting. ICE approached him, not vice versa.
PadamSad to say, DiC, but the arc of the moral universe is bending well away from you.
Padam@1:10 -- Operation Metro Surge" was a reaction to MN's lack of cooperation and harassment of agents, not a cause of it. And, I don't see why the number of ICE agents matters. Whether there's 10 or 1000 of them, sensible people, people without an agenda, will just leave them alone and go about their lives.
PadamDavid, Trump has been itching to impose the Insurrection Act and bring regular troops into MN. He is not doing this because of any acts by MN but to target Democratic political opponents such as Granholm and Walz (who had the temerity to run as VP with Harris). This is about punishing blue states, just as it was in CA and OR, where the courts denied Trump the right to use National Guard against citizens peacefully protesting. Trump has upped the ante in MN by shooting protesters.
PadamIt appears that Trump is bowing to pressure from Republicans over the govt spending bill and making some changes, but that won't stop him from attacking those who he considers his political enemies. Pretti and Good were pawns in this game escalated by Trump, not anything Democrats or protestors have done.
'according to what I heard."
PadamInteresting that with at least 2 videos of the murder, you are relying on what you 'heard'.
On the videos, the only thing Pretti is interfering with is ICE's bullying of a female protestor.
"Operation Metro Surge" was a reaction to MN's lack of cooperation and harassment of agents, not a cause of it."
PadamThis is simply false.
This is how Operation Metro Surge was described at its inception on Jan 6.:
"The Trump administration has launched what officials describe as the largest federal immigration enforcement operation ever carried out, preparing to deploy as many as 2,000 federal agents and officers to the Minneapolis area for a sweeping crackdown tied in part to allegations of fraud involving Somali residents."
"HSI agents were going door-to-door in the Twin Cities area investigating allegations of fraud, human smuggling and unlawful employment practices, Lyons said.
No mention of a lack of cooperation as a cause of the operation.
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/2000-federal-agents-sent-to-minneapolis-area-to-carry-out-largest-immigration-operation-ever-ice-says
It has been reported that several of the agents had their body cams active during the encounter with Pretti. These are supposedly being reviewed. If they had anything exculpatory of ICE or showing Pretti with his gun out, they would have been released I think.
PadamI think they ended up sending 3000 officers.
PadamFuck you you fucking jagoff troll David. Get your slimy fucking ass out of here you fucking useless creep troll.
PadamPerhaps the resident right wingers here would like to opine about bovino, Patel, and so much of the right wing now claiming that you aren’t allowed to bring a gun to a protest.
BalasPadamRemember when the boy was going to be rewarded as a congressional page for his civic duty of mommy buying him a long rifle and driving him to the protest and killing him some darkies?
Padam" A Cuban migrant held in solitary confinement at an immigration detention facility in Texas died after guards held him down and he stopped breathing, according to an autopsy report released Wednesday that ruled the death a homicide."
BalasPadamThis too was a deliberate killing. Somerby dismisses it as a mistake. He jokes that concierge services "almost" failed. Yuk yuk yuk. That is bizarre writing by Somerby, whose attitude is that "these things happen" because humans make mistakes. That wouldn't fly as a defense in any court trying someone for murder of a spouse or business associate, so why does Somerby think it is acceptable applied to the treatment of a man in handcuffs being assaulted by guards in a prison?
Mistakes imply a benign intent that failed in the process of doing a task. That isn't what happened to Good or Pretti. It also isn't what happened to Watters, whose job is to whitewash the presidency and build up the right wing. It wasn't an error when he called the report of a man's death "a parody of serious news discussion". Watters was repeating the right wing narrative, the line about what happened, just as everyone repeated a single story about how Pretti was a terrorist bent on doing maximum damage by shooting agents. There was no mistake involved -- it was their intent to confuse the public by making a false report that justified the shooting and asphyxiation. Watters did his job as demanded by Fox and Trump. Who does Somerby do his job for today?
But most offensive in Somerby's essay is his mocking tone applied to calling a whitewash "a parody" and a killing "a moral failure in judgment". This isn't funny. It is infuriating. That Somerby expresses none of the outrage exhibited by our past presidents and every other Democrat and many Republicans, suggests there is something wrong with Somerby. He is either right wing or he is a ghoul. He can take his pick. Fraudulent sarcasm or fake irony or whatever he wants to call his lame "jokes" about these deaths is not a human response. It is the way Somerby typically denies saying anything real, leaving himself room to back out of anything he says. But this cutsie use of human error and moral judgment to refer to politically motivated murder is despicable. Not only does Somerby lack empathy, but he lacks basic humanity. Like those he serves on the right.
"It wasn't an error when he called the report of a man's death "a parody of serious news discussion".
Padam"he" refers to Somerby, not Watters. Sorry for any confusion.
"This too was a deliberate killing. Somerby dismisses it as a mistake."
PadamHow stupid can one person be? Seriously, is there any upper bound to your stupidity?
Somerby didn't dismiss the killing as a mistake, and any reasonably intelligent 3rd grader could see that. He dismissed Watter's characterization of the killing as a mistake.
Did I mention how stupid you are?
Third graders are excessively literal. They don't learn about metaphors and allegory and figurative language and finding parallels in writing so that a rose is more than a rose until middle school. That is because their brains have not developed the capacity for abstract thought and it is still hard for them to hold multiple ideas in mind at the same time so that they can compare them.
PadamWatters show appeared before the Pretti killing, so he was not characterizing that killing as a mistake. Somerby tried to juxtapose the two killings (one in TX and one in MN) and call them errors of judgment, even moral judgment. Yes, Somerby also called Watters judgment a mistake too. But that isn't where he stopped.
A better writer (or one with different purposes) would have clarified his own reaction to the Pretti killing instead of weirdly discussing errors, saying that all humans make them, calling Watters in error, and so on, until we conclude that all wrongdoing can be reduced to human error.
Go back and re-read Somerby's words, from the perspective of an adult. Try to go beyond the face meanings and consider what is implied. If that is hard for you, a course in literary criticism in community college might help you. If you are a foreign troll, just learning more English might be the ticket.
Someone who calls another commenter "stupid" is an obvious troll because most regular people would be more hesitant to draw such a conclusion about IQ based on a disagreement.
PadamThat is so stupid 12:46.
PadamThe people being deported are mostly vastly superior human beings than our President and his evil cabinet members.
BalasPadamThat is pretty obvious. There is irony that the wrong people are locked up.
PadamIt isn't hard to be "vastly superior" to the murdering scum working for ICE. There is irony that Trump is supposedly deporting murderers while hiring his own murderers to deport innocent people (and kill them too).
PadamBeing hired as an ICE agent, is the participation trophy of the national employment market.
PadamThis didn’t help the Minnesota Confederate Party. It has truly been fascinating to watch this unfold on X over the past several days.
Padam“A network of encrypted Signal group chats has been used by anti-ICE activists in Minnesota to coordinate efforts to monitor, track, and disrupt U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operations. These chats involve real-time sharing of ICE sightings, vehicle license plates, locations, and mobilization calls to confront agents during enforcement actions, such as arrests of individuals accused of serious crimes like child sex offenses. This system has been active for years, with neighborhood "ICE watch" groups patrolling areas like Lake Street in Minneapolis, feeding alerts into the chats to draw crowds to scenes. Recent leaks and infiltrations of these chats—dubbed "Signalgate" by some—have exposed the inner workings, posing significant threats to the protesters. An independent journalist reportedly gained access to the groups, revealing details such as admin roles held by Minnesota state officials, including Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan and Amanda Koehler (a campaign adviser to Gov. Tim Walz), who allegedly helped coordinate activities. Leaked messages show tactics like dispatching groups to follow suspected ICE vehicles, running plates through databases, and organizing protests that have escalated into confrontations, including blocking streets and verbal altercations.
One incident involved activists mistakenly targeting journalists' vehicles, leading to harassment.
The exposure threatens the protesters in several ways:
- **Compromised security and anonymity**: Signal's encryption was meant to protect communications, but the leaks have made participant identities, strategies, and real-time operations public, potentially allowing ICE or other authorities to anticipate and counter their actions. The revelations have sparked accusations of treason, insurrection, and interference with federal law enforcement, which could lead to investigations or charges under laws like 18 U.S.C. Past incidents have already resulted in arrests, such as a resident detained for refusing to back away from agents after responding to a chat alert. Escalating tensions and safety concerns**: The chats have been linked to high-profile events, including protests following fatal ICE encounters (e.g., the shootings of Alex Pretti and Renee Good), where activists disputed official accounts of threats to agents. This has fueled broader unrest, with some groups refusing to condemn violence, raising risks of further clashes or retaliation.
**Political fallout**: Involvement of state Democrats has drawn criticism from conservative outlets and figures, amplifying calls for accountability and potentially eroding support for the anti-ICE movement.
Progressive sources, like those from activists and Minnesota media, frame the chats as community defense against aggressive ICE tactics under the Trump administration, emphasizing resistance to deportations rather than threats to protesters.However, the leaks have undeniably disrupted the groups' effectiveness, with online discussions on platforms like X highlighting the breach as a major setback.”
Fuck you Trannysorostroll. Go away again.
PadamX is a really good source for facts, is that it?
PadamAnonymouse 2:36pm, are you keeping warm, my sweet?
PadamDiC and Cecelia are Trump dead enders and fascist enablers. No need to respond to them.
PadamAnonymouse 2:38pm, no, not always, but the change in rhetoric via the state government has been interesting.
PadamNotice that Cecelia cites no source for her unformatted mass of propaganda against protestors in MN. She is pretending that it is illegal to coordinate ICE sightings and inform people about them. The harm is that ICE agents have less anonymity, but isn't that a good thing? Transparency might eliminate some of the abuses of innocent people.
PadamCecelia's text says that progressives frame these surveillance activities as community defense. In view of the shootings of innocent people, that seems like a fair framing. Why shouldn't people in these communities be warned of the presence of ICE so they too can avoid being shot?
Cecelia appears to be defending the right of ICE to operate in secret. She is pretending that protest is a wrong, illegal or interfering activity instead of every citizen's right in our democracy. Her objection seems to be that protesters are organized and communicate with community members, as if that too were illegal when it clearly is not.
None of the activity listed justifies ICE agents shooting protestors in cold blood. It tends to support Tiedrich's essay in which DHS and the govt are telling victims that they brought their abuse upon themselves by not giving abusers a free hand. It boils down to: If you don't want to get shot, don't protest. That is unacceptable in our free society.
PadamSummary via Grok AI. You can go watch on X yourself…or not.
Padam“Treason”? Really?
PadamFuck you trannytroll. Get lost.
PadamWho cares about Tarlov and Watters when innocent people are being shot by ICE? Somerby, obviously, but who else?
BalasPadamFox is one of the places where the right wing loons get their false narratives. They end up firmly believing their false view of the world is what it is, never mind those four videos detailing the truth, as that is being shown on fake news sites. It is a big fucking problem with these fucking idiots, and good on Somerbay for placing attention towards it.
PadamThe false narratives are coming from the govt itself. Somerby says this particular error by Watters occurred before the Pretti shooting. But for some odd reason, Somerby discusses the TX homicide ruling today, instead of talking about the coverup of Pretti's death. That could be called a distraction, not "placing attention towards it." (Most native speakers would say "directing attention to it".) Some of us mentioned the TX homicide yesterday in comments. Good on us for doing that, even if Somerby is a bit late to the subject.
PadamThe problem has metastasized far beyond Fox News.
PadamI've seen nothing that tells me Republicans believe the bullshit Fox News tells them.
PadamMore likely, they use Fox's bullshit talking points which neither Fox News, nor Fox News viewers believe.
Agree. If you challenge their talking points, they shift the goalposts.
PadamThe asshole trolls here are a good example of the right wing group think. You can watch detailed video analysis from the NYT's, or you can rebroadcast bald faced administration lies and their media's spin. I just don't understand why these assholes pollute a center left blog with their fucking bullshit.
PadamThe idea that Watters is just making mistakes when he engages in his vile televised rants is itself an egregious mistake. That is, if Somerby genuinely believes what he writes here.
BalasPadamAgreed. 'Mistake' is not an apt term in this context.
Padam"Indeed, a somewhat similar type of group assault may imaginably seem to have taken place in Minneapolis the very next day."
BalasPadamHere are Somerby's weasel words: somewhat, similar, type, imaginably, seem. That many indefinite words in a single sentence may imaginably seem to make the sentence itself possibly sort of not eactly true.
What is Somerby doubting, that he needs to qualify a straightforward sentence this way? Does he doubt that Pretti died? Does he doubt that there were a group of agents, not a single one? Does he doubt that an assault took place? Does he doubt it happened in Minneapolis? Does he doubt the similarity between the assault in TX and the one in Minneapolis?
If the facts in this particular sentence are true, why the need for so many words qualifying that meaning?
Somerby dislikes saying things directly. He could have said that the assault in TX is similar to what happened in Minneapolis, but he doesn't feel safe enough to say that directly, perhaps out of concern for how similar the two attacks were. Or maybe Somerby would have to have witnessed both attacks himself before he could call them similar. But the problem with assuming he is just a cautious type of guy, is that he negates the idea of similarity between these attacks when he includes so many words expressing uncertainty.
Somerby is not giving sworn testimony in his essays here. No one will care if new info emerges that makes these two murders less comparable. But what if Somerby's purpose here is not to express opinions (which he evades routinely) but to promote the idea that what we liberals believe about such assaults may have problems with it, may be less reliable than we think. In that case, Somerby is doing his job by undermining the liberal narrative on behalf of Trump and the defenders of the ICE murderers who shot Pretti. Because Somerby pretends to be liberal, without showing any of the usual liberal attitudes, he is dissembling, lying, faking, just as much as those deep fake videos of Biden sitting on air did.
Liberals, and many Republicans too, are not afraid to say that Pretti's murder was wrong and that ICE needs to be stopped. Not Somerby. He wants to diddle around calling heinous acts "errors" instead of crimes. And no, he is not just talking about Watters in today's essay.
How about the personal accountability of Pretti and Scott. Love how liberals just skip over that part. They both purposely engaged in confrontations with ICE. That’s not protesting. Pettit was stupidly brought a gun with him. Why?
PadamWho is Scott? Pretti was doing nothing illegal. You are allowed to bring guns with you in the US. Just ask innumerable right wingers who have done so, and used to defend the right of citizens to do so. Fighting the tyranny of the government, donchaknow.
PadamThere wouldn't have been any confrontation if ICE had left them alone. We all saw the video and it was ICE who approached Pretti, not vice versa.
PadamThere is a law in MN allowing upstanding citizens to concealed carry guns with proper paperwork. Pretti had that. It was his legal right to carry a gun. His reasons are no one else's business. He did not draw his weapon or threaten ICE with it. It was found in its holster after Pretti was on the ground, and Pretti was shot after his gun had already been confiscated, meaning he was no danger to ICE when he was shot.
Given that the gun did not justify shooting Pretti and it was his legal right to carry it, how did he bring on his own death? Given the video evidence, it seems likely they would have shot Pretti without a gun too. Good didn't have a gun and they shot her.
Pretti was there to kill cops. Typical that Democrats defend assassins.
PadamYou’re the one defending assassins, 1:14. The ones who assassinated Pretti.
Padam"Pretti was there to kill cops."
PadamEasier top de-fund them, like the Republicans are always trying to do.
Democrats want ICE to be found guilty of murdering Pretti. Experience tells me that a jury decision of not guilty won’t be accepted by the Dem cult.
PadamOne of the many bright sides of Alex Pretti and Renee Good getting shot, Democrats are now pretending they care about white people.
PadamKeep the energy that all whites are evil and need to die please. We know your true colors
Only Nazis care about white people in the way you think they should @1:48. Democrats oppose fascism, as any intelligent person should.
PadamKyle Rottenhouse you fucking flip flopping jaggoffs.
PadamPretti was trying to inflict maximum damage on ICE.
PadamThat narrative is past its sell by date, 2:49. It isn’t working.
PadamThe non-criminals, who don't want top be stopped, harassed, and murdered by ICE, should have thought about that before they committed a civil offense akin to parking your car for two hours in a one-hour parking zone.
BalasPadamTiedrich captures the essence of this right wing position that whatever ICE does to us, we deserved it because we oppose what ICE and Trump and others have been doing in office. In other words, we deserve retribution and we have NO free speech.
BalasPadam"but that, my friends, is now the guiding principle of the MAGAsphere: ‘if you disagree with me, you’re the enemy — and if you’re mean to me, I can’t help what comes next.’
let’s watch as Obergruppenführer Greg Bovino — that adorable little Fascist In A Teacup™ — applies this principle to the death and chaos he’s perpetrated in Minneapolis.
“when politicians, community leaders and some journalists engage in that heated rhetoric we keep talking about, when they make the choice to vilify law enforcement, calling law enforcement names like ‘Gestapo,’ or using the term ‘kidnapping,’ that is a choice that is made. there are actions and consequences that come from those choices.”
Gestapo Greg says what?
I’m sorry, Greg — are we hurting your fragile fee-fees by calling you and your lawless masked thugs ‘Gestapo’? well, here’s a free clue: maybe don’t act like Nazis, and we won’t have any reason to call you Nazis. if the jackboot fits, wear it, am I right?
and while we’re on the subject, maybe also don’t dress like you’re in some dinner-theater production of Springtime for Hitler. [picture of Bovino in his long coat]
but let’s look at the darker side of Obergruppenführer Greg’s message: ‘there are actions and consequences that come from those choices.’
excuse me? we’re now being warned to expect ‘consequences’ from the ‘choice’ of calling a fascist a fascist? on what fucking planet? that ain’t the way it works in America, pal. name-calling is not a capital crime. at least not yet it isn’t.
but this is the rhetoric we’ve been hearing from the Donnyverse ever since Renee Good got gunned down in her car. ‘look at what you made us do.’
“we gotta stop the hateful rhetoric. saying this officer is a murderer is dangerous. it’s just ridiculous. it’s just gonna infuriate people more which means there’s gonna be more incidents like this.”
that was Tom Homan, in the days following Renee Good’s summary execution, warning us to keep our mouths shut, if we don’t want more of the same.
once again, this is classic abuser language: ‘look what you made us do.’
getting back to Obergruppenführer Greg’s soundbite, where he whines about‘vilifying law enforcement’ — let’s be clear about one thing: the actions of the masked ICE thugs can in no way be called ‘law enforcement.’ no actual laws are being ‘enforced’ by ICE on the streets of Minneapolis. it’s state-sponsored terrorism, is what it is."
https://www.jefftiedrich.com/p/dear-leader-is-nuts-and-his-flunkies
His substack piece today explains the 2nd and 1st amendment rights of protesters, including the armed anti-mask protesters who brought automatic weapons to the MN statehouse and DIDN'T get shot (with photo).
Trump in his genius puts Democrats on the 20 side of the 80-20 questions again, this time forcing them to defend protecting illegal alien rapists and murderers.
BalasPadamDemocrats had a moment of their propaganda noise edging the truth, but it's over and now thanks to platforms that are uncensored by mentally ill communists, Democrats will be shown be violent liars, terrorists attempting to conceal the truth with "nurse" and "taking her child to school" with the reality of these violent terrorist movements.
Karoline Leavitt just laid out the offer.
"One, Governor Walz, Mayor Frey and all Democrat leaders should turn over all criminal illegal aliens currently incarcerated in their prisons and jails to federal authorities along with any illegal aliens with active warrants or known criminal histories for immediate deportation."
"Number two, state and local law enforcement must agree to turn over all illegal aliens who are arrested by local police."
"And then thirdly, local police must assist federal law enforcement in apprehending and detaining illegal aliens who are wanted for crimes, especially violent crimes."
"We hope Governor Walz will continue will do the right thing and continue to work with President Trump to keep the American people safe following their call this morning."
Actually, Trump called Walz and they agreed that the State of MN could conduct an investigation of the shootings and that Trump would reduce the presence of ICE in the state. Leavitt undercut that agreement with her accusations, but perhaps she hadn't yet been informed of the outcome of Trump's call to Walz.
PadamWalz has stated that there are no documented incidents in which the state of MN failed to turn over or interfered in legitimate activities of immigration officials. In other words, MN has been cooperating with ICE.
More lies coming from the right wing.
More lies coming from the right wing. - You mean Leavitt opened her hateful anti-Christian mouth.
Padam