Tag: protests

Social Media Working to Protect ICE Clampdown in Minneapolis

There was a time, not terribly long ago, when the right claimed that the big social media companies weren’t just skewed to the left in terms of moderation, but that they were actually acting in the direct interests of the Democratic administration (House Judiciary Committee, 5/1/24).

When right-wing billionaire Elon Musk bought Twitter, eventually rebranding it as X, the right believed that he’d show the world that the popular site was a tool of the Democratic agenda (New Yorker, 1/11/23). The move increased Musk’s profile as a conservative crusader against social progress and economic populism before his brief stint as President Donald Trump’s federal jobs hatchet man in 2025 (Roosevelt Institute, 5/29/25).

Before a forced sale by its Beijing-based parent company, TikTok was attacked by both Democrats and Republicans because of its ownership, with both sides claiming that this not only gave the Chinese government the ability to spy on Americans, but also to skew political discourse away from Washington’s interests (FAIR.org, 11/13/23, 5/8/24, 1/3/25).

At Meta, founder Mark Zuckerberg quickly tried to distance his company from the notion that it acted in tandem with the Biden administration. Politico (8/26/24) reported:

Mark Zuckerberg says he regrets that Meta bowed to Biden administration pressure to censor content, saying in a letter that the interference was “wrong,” and he plans to push back if it happens again.

Zuckerberg told podcaster Joe Rogan (Joe Rogan Experience, 1/10/25) that the Biden administration had been “calling up the guys on our team and yelling at them and cursing and threatening repercussions if we don’t take down things that are true.” He asserted that Meta, and especially Facebook, “had gone too far in complying with such requests, and acknowledged that he and others at the company wrongly bought into the idea” (Axios, 1/10/25).

Keep reading

Engineering Iran’s Unrest

John Maynard Keynes famously wrote in The Economic Consequences of the Peace (1919): 

“There is no subtler, no surer means of overturning the existing basis of Society than to debauch the currency. The process engages all the hidden forces of economic law on the side of destruction and does it in a manner which not one man in a million is able to diagnose.”

The United States mastered this art of destruction by weaponizing the dollar and using economic sanctions and financial policies to cause the currencies of targeted countries to collapse. On Jan. 19, we published “The US–Israel Hybrid War Against Iran,” describing how the United States and Israel are waging hybrid wars on Venezuela and Iran through a coordinated strategy of economic sanctions, financial coercion, cyber operations, political subversion, and information warfare. 

This hybrid war has been designed to break the currencies of Iran and Venezuela in order to provoke internal unrest and ultimately regime change.

On Jan. 20, just one day after our article, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent publicly confirmed, without qualification, apology, or ambiguity, that our description is indeed the official U.S. policy.

“It is high time that the world’s nations face up to America’s rogue economic behavior… This lawlessness is illegal, reckless, harmful, destabilizing, and ultimately ineffective in achieving America’s own goals, much less global objectives.”

In an interview at Davos, Secretary Bessent explained in detail how U.S. Treasury sanctions were deliberately designed to drive Iran’s currency to collapse, cripple its banking system, and drive Iran’s population into the streets. This is the “maximum pressure” campaign to deny Iran access to international finance, trade, and payment systems.

Bessent explained:

“President Trump ordered Treasury and our OFAC division, Office of Foreign Asset Control, to put maximum pressure on Iran. And it’s worked, because in December, their economy collapsed. We saw a major bank go under; the central bank has started to print money. There is dollar shortage. They are not able to get imports, and this is why the people took to the street.”

This is the explicit causal chain whereby U.S. sanctions caused the currency to collapse and the banking system to fail.

Keep reading

Homan Promises ‘Justice is Coming’ to Those Funding and Organizing Interference with ICE Operations in Minneapolis

Border Czar Tom Homan told reporters Thursday that “justice is coming” for those who fund and organize efforts to disrupt immigration enforcement operations in Minneapolis.

Real America’s Voice reporter Ben Berquam asked Homan, “Can you talk to us about what’s being done with the leadership on these Signal chats, on these WhatsApp chats, that are organizing the attacks against you, the obstruction against you? Are we going to be arresting those individuals, as well?”

Homan responded, “About the organization and the funding of the attacks on ICE, I’m not going to answer a lot about that, because I’m not gonna show our hand, but they’ll be held accountable. Justice is coming.”

He went on to state, “We’ve got to all remember … what started this. Four years of an open border, when millions of people were let into this country, unvetted.”

“The politicians that are continually attacking us — where were they the last four years, when the number of women and children sex-trafficked went to an all-time high? Where were they when a quarter of a million Americans died from fentanyl coming across the border?” Homan said.

“Now, we’re just trying to respond to what happened the last four years, and keep this country safe. And we’re arresting a lot of public safety threats and taking them off the streets.”

Keep reading

Full known list of Alex Pretti’s battles with cops revealed before Minneapolis nurse was shot dead by DHS

Alex Pretti clashed at least twice with federal agents before one officer gunned him down, marking the second fatal shooting of a protestor in Minnesota this month. 

A Border Patrol agent shot the 37-year-old intensive care nurse during a scuffle at an a January 24 rally against Donald Trump‘s immigration crackdown in Minneapolis. 

It followed the fatal shooting of mother-of-three Renee Nicole Good by ICE agent Jonathan ‘Jon’ Ross in the same city on January 7. 

In the weeks before the deadly shooting, Pretti had violent skirmishes with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents on at least two occasions. 

January 13  

One clash came on January 13 when Pretti was shown on camera daring ICE agents who were carrying pepper spray to ‘soak me, motherf***er’. 

The video shows Pretti shouting ‘f*** you!’ at the agents, before yelling: ‘What the f*** is wrong with you? Every decision you’ve made in your life is f***ing wrong!’  

He also referred to one of the agents as a ‘pepper spray b****’ and ‘f***ing trash’ as the officers climbed into their SUVs to leave the premises. 

Keep reading

US Media Keen on Iranian Unrest—Less So on US and Israel’s Role in It

When protests against high inflation swept Iran in late December, the usual international suspects wasted little time in endeavoring to hijack the unrest—which prompted a violent government crackdown—for their own purposes.

On January 10, Donald Trump—fresh off his abduction of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro—took to his preferred social media platform to showcase his signature manic reliance on random capitalization and exclamation points: “Iran is looking at FREEDOM, perhaps like never before. The USA stands ready to help!!! President DONALD J. TRUMP.” A few days later, another encouraging message: “Iranian Patriots, KEEP PROTESTING—TAKE OVER YOUR INSTITUTIONS!!!… HELP IS ON ITS WAY.”

The protests have since dissipated, without any successful “help” thus far in the form of regime change or US/Israeli military attack, although Trump has dispatched a “massive fleet” to the Middle East “just in case.” The Iranian government, which blames the US and Israel for fueling the bloody upheaval, has put the death toll at 3,117 (Al Jazeera, 1/21/26), including state security personnel. The Canada-based International Centre for Human Rights—aptly described by prominent Mideast analyst Mouin Rabbani as a “faux human rights organization”—claims that no fewer than 43,000 Iranians were killed by government agents. In between those two extremes, all manner of other numbers have also been flung about.

Keep reading

Not Organic: Progressive Protest Industrial Complex Fueled by Professional Activist Class

Jason Rantz said activist groups operating in Seattle remain organized and strategically coordinated but are no longer attracting the same level of public participation seen during the Black Lives Matter protests of 2020, arguing that public rejection of radical anti-enforcement positions has limited their growth.

During an exchange with Andrew Kolvet, Rantz was asked to explain the current state of activism in Seattle and how organized and militarized those groups have become.

“So explain to us what is going on in Seattle. Then, related to Minnesota, you have been around these communist front groups longer than just about anybody in the country. You see it up close and personal in the Pacific Northwest. How big is this movement? How militarized are they? How organized are they? Explain it for our audience, please. Jason Rantz,” Kolvet said.

Keep reading

WEIRDOS: Anti-ICE Agitators Conducted ‘Healing’ Flap Sessions On Signal

As the Trump administration ramps up deportations, Minnesota’s anti-ICE networks—previously exposed for coordinating obstruction and harassment of federal agents—are now turning to laughable “healing” rituals to cope with the heat.

Undercover journalist Cam Higby, who infiltrated these groups and revealed their tactics, has dropped fresh footage from the Signal group showing the bizarre underbelly of these America Last activists.

In one video, Higby highlights how “The Signal network held a healing & meditation space for their ICE rapid responders. It’s the funniest thing I’ve ever seen.”

He adds: “At one point the “zen expert” begins violently shaking his head and flapping his cheeks like Jar Jar Binks.”

Keep reading

Disgusting Old Leftist Screams “You F***ing C*nt” At Woman Who Took Pics With ICE

The radical left’s unhinged hatred for border security erupted in a vile verbal assault Monday night, as an older leftist guy stalked and screamed obscenities at patriotic women simply for taking pictures with federal officers.

The hatred spilled over in a disturbing confrontation caught on video, where the old leftist and a group of others chased and harassed the women who had taken selfies with the agents. Labeling them “Nazis,” he escalated to screaming “f**ing c*nt” at one of them in a fit of rage.

This deranged outburst captures the left’s raw contempt for ordinary Americans who dare to stand with law enforcement against unchecked migration.

Such attacks reveal the glaring hypocrisy: while preaching “tolerance” and “inclusivity,” these agitators unleash vile venom on anyone who disagrees with them. It’s a nationwide pattern, fueled by desperation as ICE ramps up operations under Trump’s mandate.

Keep reading

Two Border Patrol agents opened fire at Alex Pretti in Minneapolis after he was disarmed, government report states

A new Border Patrol report says that two agents fired the ten shots at Alex Pretti that killed him and does not mention the gun owner taking out his gun.

Pretti, 37, was shot dead in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on Saturday during a targeted immigration enforcement operation.

Following the shooting, DHS and Border Patrol officials portrayed Pretti as an instigator who ‘brandished’ a weapon at officers. 

However, a new government report that was sent to Congress on Tuesday claims that while an officer shouted that Pretti had a gun, it does not mention Pretti having taken it out. 

The law requires the agency to inform relevant congressional committees about deaths in CBP custody within 72 hours. 

Investigators from CBP’s Office of Professional Responsibility conducted the analysis based on a review of body-worn camera footage and agency documentation, the notice said. 

The agency is required to report in-custody and certain other deaths involving its agents and officers to Congress. 

Officials said that at around 9am Saturday, CBP agents were faced with several protesters ‘yelling and blowing whistles’ at the officers, while also blocking the roadway at the intersection of 26th Street and Nicollet Avenue.

After making ‘several verbal requests’ for the protesters to stop, CBP claims two women confronted the agents while blowing whistles. They were ordered to get out of the roadway but refused. 

They said that the women were then ‘pushed away’ and one of the ran to Pretti, with both again refusing to leave the roadways. 

The officer then deployed pepper spray at both of them, while attempting to arrest Pretti.

‘CBP personnel attempted to take Pretti into custody. Pretti resisted CBP personnel’s efforts and a struggle ensued,’ the report claims. 

‘During the struggle, a (Border Patrol agent) yelled, ‘He’s got a gun!’ multiple times.’

The report continues: ‘Approximately five seconds later, a (Border Patrol agent) discharged his CBP-issued Glock 19 and a (Customs and Border Protection officer) also discharged his CBP-issued Glock 47 at Pretti.’ 

Within five seconds, one agent and one officer discharged the shots, with one using a Glock 19 and the other a Glock 47. 

An agent took possession of Pretti’s gun and cleared and secured it shortly after the shooting. 

Keep reading

Alex Pretti broke rib in violent confrontation with ICE just days before he was shot dead in Minneapolis

Alex Pretti had been injured in a scuffle with federal agents in Minneapolis just one week before he was shot dead, it has emerged.

Pretti, 37, was left with a broken rib after being tackled by a group of officers during a protest against Donald Trump‘s immigration crackdown, a source told CNN.

The alleged assault occurred after Pretti stopped his car after seeing Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers chasing a family on foot, the insider said. 

Pretti allegedly began shouting and blowing a whistle, and was then tackled to the ground by five agents. The source claimed one officer leaned on his back, causing his ribs to break. 

The ICU nurse, who allegedly ‘thought he was going to die’, was reportedly released at the scene – but allegedly remained on federal agents’ radar.

Agents deployed in Minneapolis were instructed earlier this month to ‘capture all images, license plates, identifications, and general information on hotels, agitators, protestors,’ according to documents obtained by the outlet. 

Federal officers are understood to have kept documented details about Pretti, although it is unclear when they first started collecting information on him. 

He was shot dead by a Border Patrol agent in Minneapolis on Saturday.

Keep reading