What They Are Saying

 

ICE says violent mob helped criminal escape and left ICE agent permanently maimed

That's the headline on Fox News website Sunday at 5:17pm.  I went there out of curiosity.  The videos are clear - Alex Pretti was shot to death while lying on his face on the ground.  The assailant stood over him and pumped bullets into his back.  

According to Homeland Security officials, Pretti approached Border Patrol agents while armed with a 9 mm pistol and "violently resisted" when agents attempted to disarm him.

That's their description of the event.

As for the permanently maimed agent?  Someone bit off a piece of his finger. 

DHS thoughtfully put checkered blurry things over this photo they released of the poor fellow.

Digging further, clicking a link or two, I came upon some fairly sympathetic content.

The family said they did not know about the shooting until they were contacted by a reporter and couldn't get any information from Border Patrol or local hospitals.

.....his parents said they had not heard from any federal law enforcement agencies as of Saturday night.

"The sickening lies told about our son by the administration are reprehensible and disgusting," the family wrote in a statement obtained by the AP. "Alex is clearly not holding a gun when attacked by Trump’s murdering and cowardly ICE thugs.... 

My positive impression of the site quickly vanished when I noticed this between those quotes:

BONDI BLAMES MINNEAPOLIS LEADERS AFTER ARMED SUSPECT KILLED, UNREST ERUPTS DURING ICE OPERATION

I spent some time thinking about alternative facts and character assassination and The Ministry of Truth and then totally lost it when I remembered the headline JannyLou showed me before she drove home this afternoon:

Minneapolis shooting: Judge rules DHS can't destroy scene evidence

This is Fox's interpretation of the headline she read to me.

We said the same thing at the same time - DUH!

I think I'll go on believing in the Constitution and the rule of law and what I see with my own eyes even as my country sinks further and further into disastrophe.

Call your Senators.  Have them remove the DHS funding piece from the spending bill.  Let the business of governing continue while voters can consider their representatives' opinions on masked murderers roaming our streets.  There need not be a shut down.  There is a way around it.  Make the calls.  This cannot be allowed to continue.

US Senate Switchboard:  202-224-3121