On Federalized Murder and the Erosion of Language

Renee Good. Alex Pretti. It's a sickness.

Fuck this shit.

These current events transcend politics. It is not a "left" or a "right" issue; it is an American issue. For this Administration to immediately come out after each of these killings with their "narrative" of easily disputed "facts" that blindly support Federal agents is fundamentally un-American.

It is incredibly disconcerting that this Administration has no interest in investigating these tragedies. Rather, such blind support operates to instead encourage future attacks.

In a sane government, facts would be collected and a thorough investigation would be completed before any official statement is made. While the outcome of such investigations has historically been met with mixed reception (i.e., depending on one's political leaning), it is critical that these investigations be undertaken. The Federal government cannot be permitted to execute people with no due process and no oversight.

Instead, Donald and his Toadies have characterized both Renee Good and Alex Pretti as domestic terrorists. The Department of JuStIcE even declined to investigate Good's killing, instead attempting to launch an investigation into Good's partner. How asinine.

I write this as I watch a steady stream of shit flow from Greg Bovino's lips, dodging questions by claiming that there will be an investigation. And yet, he already characterizes Pretti as a "suspect" and not a "victim". Even in the face of the utter absence of evidence (and, indeed, ample evidence to the contrary), Bovino repeatedly asserts Pretti was there to assault ICE agents and commends the ICE agents for moving quickly to preserve their own lives. Righteous mag dump, maaan! So strange that the "life-saving aid" administered to Pretti was ineffective. Fuck all these assholes.

You'll have to forgive me if I don't trust this Administration to effectuate a thorough, unbiased investigation. This Administration has given us reason to distrust them at literally every turn.

Which brings me to the continued disintegration of our shared lexicon.

The first time I heard the word "insurrection"? Following Donald's "Day of Love" 😍™ on January 6, 2021. I spent the entire day glued to coverage of the US Capitol. You don't even have to take my word for it (or Donald's) that it was not a spirited tour of the Capitol.

That day was fundamentally un-American and should have disqualified Donald from Office. But heaven forbid his army of delicate snowflakes be offended that their Orange Jesus be prohibited to run again for attempting to interrupt the peaceful transfer of power. Very legal and very cool.

Now? Donald characterizes people as "seditious" or "insurrectionists" with abandon. The video reminding Service Members of their obligation to disobey illegal orders is factual and, in a sane environment, should not be contentious. And yet, Donald characterized those that participated in the video as seditious insurrectionists. Hang them! But pardon those involved in Donald's Day of Love and settle with Ashli Babbitt's family (who was, rightly, killed while she tried to attack members of Congress). The facts surrounding the killings of Ashli and Renee could not be more different, and yet Ashli apparently should be revered while Renee is villainized? Guess Renee wasn't driving for the benefit of DJT, bummer.

Even yesterday, as Minneapolis leadership spoke out against the Federal occupation of their state, Donald similarly asserted these leaders are "inciting insurrection" (something with which Donald is, in fact, uniquely familiar).

"Domestic terrorism" and "enemies from within" are also terms that have been bastardized by this Administration. Forgive me if I find it hard to believe that the unarmed victims who were brutally murdered by the Federal government are the "domestic terrorists" in these tragedies.

Are people scared to go to the grocery store and get haircuts because of Renee Good and Alex Pretti? Are they really the "terrorists" here?? Or are people staying in because of the current Federal occupation of their city? Gee hmm, I guess it is really hard to say until Bovino finishes his investigation of Pretti's aCtS of TeRrOr. We had best wait with bated breath.

But don't worry, you can't get shot if you stay indoors. Except maybe now you can, since ICE has decided to not only flout the First and Second Amendments, but now to also, allegedly, flout the Fourth Amendment. I fear next we'll see someone get shot for having a gun in their own house during a Donald-sponsored attempted-kidnapping-turned-murder.

In closing, I will acknowledge that I, too, have been using loaded language. "Suspect" versus "victim" and, indeed, "killing" versus "murder". As an aside, Babbitt was not just a killing, but actually even a justified "execution" (i.e., having a legal basis). Having cognized videos of these most recent events from many angles, which is more than it seems Donald, Bovino, and Noem have done, I feel at least somewhat more qualified to call Good and Pretti "victims" and these tragedies "murders". There sure is a dearth of facts to support an opposite conclusion.

We are due investigations that will bear out more facts (even as Bovino decries the "freeze-frame adjudication of a crime scene" that counters his entirely fictitious narrative). I am hopeful Minnesota can effectuate these investigations, as this Administration cannot be trusted. I am comforted that murder does not have a statute of limitations, nor can a State murder charge be pardoned by our malignant-narcissist-in-chief. The pendulum will swing the other way eventually, and I hold out hope for inevitable Justice (not JuStIcE, as Bondi, Noem, and this Administration at large are wont to dispense).

Do not kid yourself: Good and Pretti are not "domestic terrorists". These people are you, and these people are me. They are US citizens who were documenting a tyrannical government as it continues to violate constitutional rights (which are inherent in people, citizens or otherwise), as enabled by a complicit, spineless Congress. We should all aspire to be so courageous as Good and Pretti.

So fuck Donald. Fuck Hegseth. Fuck Bondi. Fuck Noem. And fuck Bovino.

These people are dishonest in the worst way (as much as I like to believe that Donald is also incompetent) and are entirely divorced from reality, as it does not serve them. We must reject their fictitious, curated "narrative" and must not lose footing in our shared, fact-based reality, especially as their language is specifically engineered to erode the very words we rightly use to describe them and their abhorrent actions.

Donald is an insurrectionist, these people are seditious, they do encourage domestic terrorism, Congress is complicit, and Good and Pretti were murdered. May we not be next.