The Time Is Now!

By Rob C.

Art by Rick McKee

TL;DR: Two U.S. citizens have now been killed by ICE agents in Minneapolis— The Trump administration has officially graduated from “rhetorical fascism” to “street-level execution.” Alex Pretti, a 37-year-old ICU nurse who spent his days saving lives, was gunned down by federal agents in Minneapolis with violent, and unnecessary force. Despite clear video evidence showing Pretti was unarmed and trying to assist a woman shoved by agents, the “Holy Trinity of Disinformation”—Noem, Miller, and Trump—have branded him a “domestic terrorist” and a “gunman.” Fox News is busy polishing the boots of the perpetrators, while the GOP remains silent. If we don’t stand up now, the only thing left of our freedoms will be the freedom to get shot.

America watched in horror as federal immigration agents executed 37-year-old Alex Pretti, a U.S. citizen and ICU nurse, on a Minneapolis street, the second such killing by federal agents in three weeks. Earlier in January, Renée Nicole Good, also a 37-year-old U.S. citizen, was fatally shot by an ICE agent while sitting in her vehicle during a massive immigration enforcement operation.

Welcome to the second year of the “Trump Reich,” where the “Law and Order” candidate has finally delivered on his promise to bring the battlefield to your front door. It took less than three weeks for the federal body count in Minneapolis to double. On January 7th, it was Renee Nicole Good; on January 24th, it was Alex Pretti. Mr. Pretti wasn’t an “invader” or a “shadowy agitator”; he was a Veterans Affairs ICU nurse. He was a man who took an oath to preserve life, which apparently made him the ultimate enemy of this administration. According to the video evidence—the kind that Kristi Noem and Stephen Miller are currently telling you to ignore—Pretti was simply trying to shield a fellow citizen from being mauled by a federal agency that has become a collection of untrained, high-testosterone thugs in masks.

The response from the “Trump Toadies” has been as predictable as it is revolting. Before Mr. Pretti’s blood was even washed off the Minneapolis pavement, DHS Secretary Kristi Noem and professional gargoyle Stephen Miller were on social media labeling a dead nurse a “domestic terrorist” and a “would-be assassin.” Greg Bovino, the Border Patrol commander whose relationship with the truth is purely coincidental, actually claimed that Pretti intended to “massacre law enforcement.” It’s a bold claim to make about a man who was pinned to the ground by six agents and shot repeatedly while holding nothing but a smartphone. They are literally telling us “don’t believe your lying eyes,” counting on the fact that the Fox News viewers have long since traded their critical thinking skills for a steady diet of xenophobic rage.

This isn’t just a “police shooting”; it is a systemic shift toward state-sponsored terror. The “FOX Effect” is in full swing, acting as the primary PR firm for a fascist takeover. They are working overtime to normalize the sight of masked, unnamed federal agents snatching people off the streets and executing them in broad daylight. The goal is simple: to make the American public so afraid of being labeled a “terrorist” that we stop filming, stop protesting, and start looking the other way when our neighbors are disappeared. They want us to accept that the Constitution is a “seasonal” document that expires whenever the President has a bad morning on Truth Social.

But let’s talk about the ultimate leverage. Why is Trump so desperate to flood the zone with this paramilitary violence? Because a domestic war is the perfect distraction from the files currently gathering dust in a DOJ vault. We know that if the Epstein files were released, the “Orange Baby Jesus” would be forced to step down before the ink on the front page dried. He isn’t protecting “the border” or “the suburbs”; he’s protecting a legacy of depravity that includes some of the most powerful and sick individuals on the planet. The violence in Minneapolis is the smoke screen for the rot at the top.

The time is now. We have reached the point where “thoughts and prayers” are just a form of complicity. If we stay on our comfortable asses while people are executed for the crime of being decent humans, we deserve exactly what we get. We need to demand an end to this rogue federal occupation of our cities. END ICE. PROTECT OUR NEIGHBORS. And for the love of the Republic, RELEASE THE DAMN FILES! The truth is the only thing that can burn this fascist house down, and it’s high time we lit the match.

Please like, share, and subscribe to help us keep the signal alive. Because at the rate we’re going, the “Secret Police” might decide that reading this is an act of “domestic terrorism.”

— Robert Cain, author of Democracy for Sale: How Corporate Greed Is Corrupting Democracy and Endangering the Planet.