Open Thread

What’s on your mind?

Comments

[Kazinski]

There likely is no justification other than confusion poor training and human error for the Alex Pretti shooting.

But that is hardly new in Minnesota whether federal officers or local.

In the last few years you had the Philandro Castillo shooting, Officer panics and shoots CCW holder when he informs him he is armed as required by law."The Philando Castile shooting occurred on July 6, 2016, when he was fatally shot by police officer Jeronimo Yanez during a traffic stop in Falcon Heights, Minnesota."

The Noor shooting. "Mohamed Noor, a former Minneapolis police officer, fatally shot Justine Damond, an unarmed woman who had called 911 to report a possible sexual assault, on July 15, 2017."

George Floyd and Derick Chauvin.

the Daunte Wright shooting."Kim Potter, the former Minnesota police officer who said she mistook her gun for a Taser when she shot and killed Daunte Wright in 2021, was released from prison early Monday."

And now we have Alex Pretti.

Probably the closest to the Pretti shooting was the Castillo shooting, that officer was aqutted and served no time.

https://www.cbsnews.com/minnesota/news/jeronimo-yanez-teaching-license-appeal-denied-philando-castile/

Noor and Potter were convicted, but not of murder and neither served more than a couple of years. Neither of thise two victims were armed.

We know what happened to Chauvin.

[Dr. Ed 2]

No, the difference here is the likely accidental discharge.

It may be enough to get the Sig Sauer 320 recalled as defective, and what almost certainly will do is get police training adjusted to consider the possibility of an accidental discharge.

Accidental discharges are actually fairly common. https://raptorpublicsafety.com/2025/01/24/the-gun-just-went-off-i-didnt-pull-the-trigger-honest-part-1/

The NYPD had a special anti-something unit that accidentally shot a man when one of the officers accidentally fired. This happened about 20 years ago. I forget the victim’s name.

But the other thing that just came out Yesterday is the signal group conspiracy which he was involved in, that Good was involved in.

[not guilty]

"There likely is no justification other than confusion poor training and human error for the Alex Pretti shooting."

Justification??

Confusion, poor training and human error may help to explain that Keystone Cops fiasco, but no way in hell does any of that justify a damn thing!

I would add hiring thugs who don't give a damn whom they injure as an additional explanatory factor. The in terrorem effect as to black and brown immigrants (and as to those who sympathize with them) is likely intentional.

[Kazinski]

As I said "no justification".

Or as Hanlon said "Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity".

[Stephen Lathrop]

Kazinski — To explain the two recent killings in Minneapolis requires attribution of malice. Malice is the principle upon which they were organized. Malice delivered the agency which activated the killers. The killers' multiple displays of personal malice toward their victims were unmistakable.

[Kazinski]

Is that just personal malice toward the Trump administration or do you have a cite?

I could as easily say letting in the illegals that ICE is hunting was an act of malice towards America, but that could also be explained by stupidity, so I will go with that.

[not guilty]

Kazinski, you said "no justification other than confusion poor training and human error". The plain meaning there is that you regard "confusion poor training and human error" as indeed being a "justification". Don't crawfish away from the words that you chose.

You, sir, are a moral idiot.

[Brett Bellmore]

The concept of something being inadequately or poorly justified is alien to you?

[Commenter_XY]

Look in the mirror. Who is Pretti and the whack jobs trying to protect? Scumbag illegal aliens with rap sheets who victimize American citizens. Maybe you need to check your moral compass, counselor.

The detention and deportation of illegal aliens will not stop.

[Kazinski]

You are the lawyer, how does it usually work when someone tries to escape liability for some act pleading "confusion poor training and human error"?

My guess is its a poor defense, and it would be be better to just claim you did on purpose.

But the fact is its likely the truth.

[Frank Drackman]

In a Sane world Chauvin would have been given a promotion, maybe some coupons for Dinner at the Sizzler, and a few days off for ridding the world of a piece of Human Flotsam (or is it Jetsam? I can never remember which is which).
Which isn't even right, because it was Floyd George who got rid of Floyd George.

Frank

[Malika la Maize]

Deranged person who can’t write basic English decides who is worthy of life and death. MAGA in a nutshell.

[Commenter_XY]

Kaz...Is this your 'mistakes were made' moment? 🙂

[Kazinski]

Lots of mistakes have been made.

Likely one of the first was Jefferson accepting Minnesota as part of the deal in the Louisiana purchase in the first place.

But none were mine.

[Malika la Maize]

What a pathetic whataboutism.

[Dr. Ed 2]

An intrepid journalist has penetrated the criminal conspiracy in Minneapolis. https://redstate.com/jenvanlaar/2026/01/26/link-to-walzs-administration-in-anti-ice-signal-chats-n2198511

It really is organized, subversion, and both the individuals who have died were part of it.

What this says to me is that there’s going to be criminal liability for the people who organize this which includes, at the minimum, a key advisor to Governor Tampon. Reportedly, the FBI is investigating this, which may be why Tampon Tim is now willing to cooperate with Trump. And like Governor Bridgegate, they toss his staff under the bus to save himself.

And as to the two magazines, or clips, or whatever it is, I’m supposed to call the racks of ammo, what is the possibility than our late registered nurse might actually been looking for an opportunity to go out in the blaze of glory? To kill 10 or 20 iceman? Or like the BLM guy in Texas who killed five cops I would’ve gotten away with it except for an exploding robot, kill some iceman without dying himself?

What’s the possibility that the signal traffic may have him discussing doing this? And you know the NSA gets absolutely everything, and if Trump ordered the NSA to give him all of the Minnesota target traffic, he might have this…

I think we’re looking in our new ball game here.

[bloocow2]

"And as to the two magazines, or clips, or whatever it is, I’m supposed to call the racks of ammo, what is the possibility than our late registered nurse might actually been looking for an opportunity to go out in the blaze of glory?"

So, your argument is that the man who just got shot 9 times... wanted to die?

What on earth is wrong with you? You've seen the same videos as everyone else. Most people at this point at least want an investigation, and even administration officials are backing away from the position that this guy at all deserved to get killed.

You don't have to be against deportation, or what ICE is doing. You don't have to politically agree with the protestors, or personally like either of the American citizens who have died. You don't even have to say that the officers are definitely guilty of murder or whatever.

All you have to do is look at the videos of this thing. Forget about the guy's intent; it's completely irrelevant to what happened. Which is that he got involved in an altercation, pepper sprayed, tackled to the ground, had his gun taken off him, and THEN got shot 9 times. It's all right there! You can watch it!

Maybe you can argue that it was an accident, or that the guy's gun went off and the officers freaked out, or what have you. That will hopefully come out in an investigation. So how about you just say that it should be investigated, instead of wildly speculating that this guy wanted to commit suicide by cop? It makes you look like a crazy person.

Literally just look at what is in front of you. That's all you have to do.

[Kazinski]

You aren't an expert and don't know what the signs of "suicide by cop" are.

Even attacking over 20 unarmed congressmen playing baseball with an assault weapon (aka modern sporting rifle), which would seem to a mass assassination attempt or domestic terrorism, turned out to be "suicide by cop" when properly assessed by experts, despite almost fatally wounding a senior GOP congressman, and extensive history of political biases, and hate for the GOP.

[Brett Bellmore]

"It's all right there! You can watch it!"

This is true. It's not remotely like the Renee Good shooting where you can argue about how the cop should have responded to the threat, but the threat objectively existed. This was, simply, a bad shot. 9 of them.

[hobie]

"Literally just look at what is in front of you. That's all you have to do."

I appreciate that a fresh, neutral person has come in here to give a reminder of what a normal person thinks when they see MAGA thinking at work. Unfortunately, bloocow, trying to appeal to what these men were in the before times is simply impossible.

You're flabbergasted that we have one set of objective facts - filmed ad nauseum - with one group seeing sunshine and the other hell. America has already passed it's inflection point: J6.

Until last year, whether any of you want to believe this or not, the Europeans have always thought of America as the child they've birthed. They have been proud of watching us grow. In my expat groups, my European friends constantly and naively assume we're gonna snap out of it. But I've had to tell them that MAGA Americans are permanently lost. They're never coming back.

In other words, you're wasting your time.

[not guilty]

Criminal conspiracy in Minneapolis, huh?

A conspiracy is a partnership in crime. It has ingredients, as well as implications, distinct from the completion of the unlawful project. Pinkerton v. United States, 328 U.S. 640, 664 (1946). Mere knowledge of an illegal act or association with an individual engaged in illegal conduct is not enough to prove a person has joined a conspiracy. United States v. Raymond, 793 F.2d 928, 932 (8th Cir. 1986). The defendants need not have knowledge of every detail or part of a conspiracy as long as the evidence overall shows that the defendants agreed to the essential nature of the conspiracy. Blumenthal v. United States, 332 U.S. 539, 557 (1947).

"A conspirator must intend to further an endeavor which, if completed, would satisfy all of the elements of a substantive criminal offense." Salinas v. United States, 522 U.S. 52, 65 (1997). Agreement among the coconspirators to commit an unlawful act is the essence of the crime. Iannelli v. United States, 420 U.S. 770, 777 (1975).

Let's put some meat on those bones here, Dr. Ed 2. What federal statute criminalizes the agreement that you posit? What is the objective of the conspiracy? What federal statute(s), if any, criminalize the target offense?

Who are the conspirators? When did the conspiracy begin? Did any other conspirator(s) subsequently join the conspiracy? If so, when? What are the manner and means by which the conspiratorial objective was to be accomplished?

You have made the ipse dixit assertion that "It really is organized, subversion, and both the individuals who have died were part of it." What facts, if any, suggest that Alex Pretti was a party to any conspiratorial agreement? When did he join any such conspiracy?

What facts, if any, suggest that Renee Good was a party to any conspiratorial agreement? When did she join any such conspiracy?

[Dr. Ed 2]

The currently is turmoil and tumult is the middle kingdom.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/china-experts-raise-alarms-over-xi-s-sweeping-military-purge/ar-AA1V27LH

I’m wondering if this is the start of the second Chinese revolution, something I’ve been expecting for over a decade now.

The other thing here is it China depends on cheap, highly discounted oil from both Venezuela and Iran. China can’t afford to pay retail.

Even though Trump says he will sell Venezuelan oil to China. He’s not gonna sell it at a discount. They were able to get it before he’s gonna charge market prices which China can’t afford if China also loses the ability to buy discount sanctioned or any oil really serious trouble.

It may well be anyway because often times once you build a refinery that is able to deal with the sour high sulfur Venezuela crude, you have to have a certain sulfur level for the refinery to work. Don’t ask me why, but I’m told this is true.

So if we do the decent thing and help topple the Iranian dictatorship, we may solve most of the world’s problems.

[Kazinski]

Everyone likes a bargain, but the Chinese economy is not dependent on cut rate sanctioned oil. They are much more dependent on coal. Besides oil prices are actually low even at market rates as Hobie can tell you and adding Venezuelan oil now, and perhaps Russian and Iranian oil later to the global supply will just lower prices further. Oil prices are near the bottom of its post pandemic price range, and the spread between world market price and the dark fleet price was much lower during the Biden administration just a year ago, so its not like China's economy is built on sanctioned oil, they just take advantage of it when they can.

But yeah, take out the mullahs, but it has little to do with oil, other than hurting US oil producers, I don't care much about that.

[hobie]

I know you hayseeds don't think renewables work. But in less than twenty years, China will no longer need any oil and gas because of them things that don't work. And their gonna take the rest of the world with them.

[Martinned]

Senior Regime Figure makes a strategic withdrawal:

Border Patrol Commander Gregory Bovino will imminently leave Minnesota along with some of his agents, according to administration officials familiar with the matter.

https://www.lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com/2026/01/littlest-napoleon-flees-the-jurisdiction

[Kazinski]

He is being replaced by a former Obama apparatchik, Tom Hohman.

https://x.com/TimesNow/status/2013799962341978209

It does seem like there is somewhat of a power struggle, Bovino was Christies guy and CBP isn't charged with immigration enforcement, but border protection, hopefully Holman will be both more effective, and more professional.

[Stephen Lathrop]

Martinned — "Oh, for Pete's sake! For Pete's sake, he's fleeing the interview. He's fleeing the interview!"

[Frank Drackman]

Wonder how many hours Nurse Pretti spent treating the homeless, undocumented, mentally ill? Hope his Nursing skills were better than his judgement.

[Malika la Maize]

Costco is facing a class-action lawsuit accusing the warehouse retailer of falsely advertising that its Kirkland Signature Seasoned Rotisserie Chicken contains no preservatives, according to court documents.  

The lawsuit, filed Thursday in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California, alleges that Costco’s in-store signage and website "create an overall net impression that the Rotisserie Chicken does not contain added preservatives." But the suit further claims those representations are false, arguing that "the Rotisserie Chicken is made with two added preservatives—sodium phosphate and carrageenan."

"The presence of sodium phosphate and carrageenan, added preservatives which function as such in the Rotisserie Chicken, contradict the overall net impression that Costco’s ‘No Preservatives’ representations and advertisingcreate," the lawsuit, filed on behalf of Anatasia Chernov and Bianca Johnston, states.  

https://www.foxbusiness.com/lifestyle/costcos-popular-bargain-meal-center-new-lawsuit.amp

[hobie]

sodium phosphate and carrageenan are both natural products from natural sources. They may not occur naturally in a chicken, but neither does the olive etc. used to cook them. Yet we don't squirm about olive oil being on a chicken.

[Martinned]

We now know how the current US Regime wants to tell the story of the US war effort in World War II, or at least the part of the story that appears at the military cemetary at Margraten:

Ten new information panels have been unveiled for the American war cemetery in Margraten, including one focusing on the African-American soldiers who dug the original graves.

The other nine panels will be added to a rotating display featuring the stories of individual service members. They include two Black soldiers, one Native American and a woman who served as a nurse.
(...)
In November a row erupted over the removal of a previous panel describing how Black American soldiers faced discrimination in the segregated US army even as they fought to liberate Europe.

Relatives of soldiers buried at Margraten said the removal of the panels was “dishonouring” their memory and accused the Trump administration of trying to erase them from history.
(...)
The new panel details the units that created the first, temporary cemetery at Margraten, including the 611th Graves Registration Company and two Quartermaster Service Company units – segregated units that dug the graves – but without quotes or testimony from the service members themselves, or any mention of segregation.

Kees Ribbens, senior researcher at the Netherlands Institute for War, Holocaust, and Genocide Studies (NIOD), called it “unsettling and disappointing”. He told ANP: “The text of the new panel makes no mention whatsoever of segregation in the US Army. In that sense the image has been sanitised or whitewashed.”

Stichting Black Liberators, a Dutch foundation that commemorates the Black American soldiers who served in the Netherlands, said the panel was “a step in the right direction” but it would continue to work to highlight “a painful aspect of history for both the veterans themselves and their relatives who should never be forgotten.”

https://www.dutchnews.nl/2026/01/new-margraten-cemetery-panels-aim-to-quell-black-liberators-row/

[hobie]

You haven't noticed us erasing our blacks and slavery, Martin? It's been going on for over a year now. Go to Arlington, make a left at the Donald & Melania Trump Memorial Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, and you can see it all for yourself.