Monthly Archives: January 2026

THE VIDEOS OF ALEX PRETTI’S MURDER vs. OUTRIGHT LIES BY BOVINO AND NOEM

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[This post first appeared at Common Dreams on January 27, 2026.]

by Steven J. Harper

I was born and raised in Minnesota. One of my childhood homes in south Minneapolis is less than a mile from the scene of Saturday’s brutal Border Patrol killing. The victim was 37-year-old Alex Pretti, a US citizen born in Illinois and a registered ICU nurse at the Minneapolis Veterans Affairs hospital.

Pretti’s crime: He was “Minnesota nice.”

Before proceeding further, please watch this New York Times video. But be warned – IT IS VIOLENT, GRAPHIC, AND DISTURBING: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/24/us/minneapolis-shooting-federal-agents-video.html

A group of people in the snow AI-generated content may be incorrect.

1:02

A CNN compilation of bystander videos confirms that Border Patrol officers took Pretti’s gun before shooting him 10 times:·

https://www.cnn.com/2026/01/24/us/invs-videos-show-federal-officer-recovered-gun

A collage of several people in uniform AI-generated content may be incorrect.

And USA Today offers a second-by-second analysis: https://www.usatoday.com/story/graphics/2026/01/24/minneapolis-shooting-video-analysis-alex-pretti/88338183007/

Now contrast what you just observed with the Trump administration’s four-step playbook for avoiding accountability: Lie, double-down, deflect, and cover-up.

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SCOTT BESSENT’S TRAGIC TRANSFORMATION

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[This article first appeared at Common Dreams on January 22, 2026.]

by Steven J. Harper

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent’s job is to calm the economic fears that Trump creates. He has followed a curious journey to get there, and now he’s sacrificing his integrity and legacy to remain.

Stage 1 – Democratic Fundraiser

Born in a small South Carolina town, Bessent, 63, graduated from Yale College in 1984 with a bachelor’s degree in political science. Eventually he went to work for Soros Fund Management – founded by the Republicans’ favorite Democratic demon, George Soros.

Bessent is openly gay, married since 2011 to a former New York City prosecutor, and has been a strong advocate for gay rights and marriage equality. In 2000, he supported Democratic presidential candidate Al Gore, co-hosting a fundraiser for him in East Hampton, N.Y.. He donated $2,300 to Barack Obama’s campaign in 2007. Although he donated $25,000 to support Hillary Clinton’s presidential aspirations in 2013, by then he was a major donor to Republican candidates.

Stage 2 – Republican Oligarch

Bessent returned to work for Soros in 2011 as chief investment officer but left in 2016 to form his own fund for which Soros provided a $2 billion anchor. From 2018 through 2021, as the global stock market broke records, the performance of Bessent’s fund was mediocre. Still, he amassed an estimated wealth of $600 million, although some reports refer to him as one of “Trump’s billionaires.”

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TRUMP, VANCE, AND NOEM LAUNCH A PREEMPTIVE STRIKE AGAINST THE TRUTH

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[This article first appeared at Common Dreams on January 12, 2026.]

by Steven J. Harper

Please take five minutes to watch these two videos.

First, ICE officer Jonathan Ross’s video: https://www.washingtonpost.com/video/national/from-the-ice-agents-phone-video-of-renee-good-shooting/2026/01/09/813a4ca6-f441-4b8e-b7f5-a1e72d67e0f1_video.html

Video Cellphone video from officer ...

Then watch this New York Times compilation of bystanders’ videos prepared before officer Ross’s video was publicly available: 

https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/CQCvNExBDjE?rel=0&autoplay=0&showinfo=0&enablejsapi=0

:

Video shows moments before ICE officer ...

The Facts

Renee Nicole Good was a U.S. citizen, the mother of three, an award-winning poet, and the widow of a military veteran. On Wednesday morning January 7, she dropped her six-year-old son at school and proceeded in her Honda Pilot down Portland Avenue – a one-way residential street in south Minneapolis. Around 10:40 am, she had a brief encounter with ICE officers during which she smiled at officer Ross, who was filming the episode on his smartphone.

“That’s fine, dude. I’m not mad at you,” she told Ross.

Another officer yelled at her to “get out of the f*cking car” and grabbed her door handle. By then, Ross was standing near the front driver’s side of the Honda. Attempting to avoid him as she drove away, Good turned the steering wheel sharply to the right. Ross fired three shots, and the Honda careened toward a parked car before crashing into it.

ICE officers receive CPR training, but none went to Good’s aid. A physician nearby tried to help, but ICE officers blockedhim.

Fifteen minutes later, medics arrived. Shortly thereafter, she died at Hennepin County Medical Center.

The Lies Begin

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IF YOU LIKED LIBYA, IRAQ, AFGHANISTAN AND VIETNAM, YOU’LL LOVE WHAT TRUMP IS OFFERING IN VENEZUELA

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Meet the ‘Donroe Doctrine,’ a foreign policy created by the very worst US president ever.

[This article first appeared at Common Dreams on January 5 2026.]

by Steven J. Harper

During rambling remarks on January 3, President Donald Trump announced that the United States had bombed Venezuela, “captured” President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, and gained control of that country’s oil reserves.

Now what? Trump has no idea, but historical precedent portends disaster.

The Dubious Legal Basis

As with his bombing of alleged drug-smuggling boats that have killed at least 115 civilians, Trump offered no justification under international law for his actions:

· The operation was not “self-defense” because Venezuela did not “attack” the United States.

· Calling Maduro a “narco-terrorist” did not render him or his country an “imminent” national security threat. In fact, Venezuela is a relatively small player in the international cocaine market and has no role in fentanyl – the primary killer in overdose deaths.

· Trump used the word “oil” more than 20 times in his speech. Venezuela has the world’s largest proven oil reserves. Fifty years ago – in 1976 – it nationalized U.S. companies’ oil assets and facilities through a negotiated legal process that netted the firms more than $1 billion. Reversing that nationalization is an absurd – and dangerous – hook on which to hang the military attack in 2026.

Repeatedly, Trump invoked the Monroe Doctrine, saying that he had expanded it “by a lot.” But in fact, Trump has stood President James Monroe’s 1823 seminal proclamation on its head while emboldening China’s President Xi and Russia’s President Putin to follow Trump’s lead in dictating the affairs of sovereign countries.

Monroe v. “Donroe”

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