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maplemoss.bsky.social
Nikola
@maplemoss.bsky.social
330 followers 480 following 21 posts
Meditator, tree lover, software engineer
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Reposted by Nikola
reichlinmelnick.bsky.social
You have to read this. Firsthand affidavit from one of the women who was there and recording the video. She talks about how Alex Pretti was directing traffic when she arrived. She watched him be killed in front of her. She's afraid to go home, worried she'll be arrested.
1. I am a resident of the Whittier neighborhood of Minneapolis, Minnesota. I am over 18 years of age. I am a children's entertainer who specializes in face painting. 2. On Saturday, January 24, 2026, at about 8:50 am, I was getting ready to go to work when I heard whistles outside. I knew the whistles meant that ICE agents were in the area, so I decided to check it out on my way to work. I've been involved in observing in my community because it is so important to document what ICE is doing to my neighbors. Connecting to your local community and knowing who your neighbors are is something I profoundly value. 3. I drove to Nicollet Ave. and 26th where I could hear the whistles coming from. I turned south onto Nicollet. There were already several ICE agents there and they'd set up a sort of vehicle convoy on Nicollet and 28th. There were also about 15 observers there, recording and observing ICE. 4. I saw ICE agents surrounding cars and punching car windows. I also saw them stopping vehicles further down Nicollet, so I backed up because I didn't feel safe continuing on. 5. I noticed a man sort of acting to help traffic move more smoothly. He helped me find a place to park. I got out with my whistle and my camera. I went over to him and said something like, "I'm going to film and use my whistle." 6. It seemed like most ICE activity was happening a little farther down the street from us, near 27th. Someone was being thrown to the ground. 7. I started recording. There was an agent by a car across the street. Two observers were a few feet away from the agent, blowing their whistles. One was wearing a backpack. 8. I and the man who was observing and helping direct traffic were standing in the street. There was a phone in the man's hand recording a video. 9. An agent approached and asked us to back up, so I moved slowly back onto the sidewalk. 10. The man stayed in the street, filming as the other observers I mentioned earlier were being forced backward by another ICE agent threatening them with pepper spray. The man went closer to support them as they got threatened, just with his camera out. I didn't see him reach for or hold a gun. 11. Then the ICE agent shoved one of the other observers to the ground. Then he started pepper spraying all three of them directly in the face and all over. The man with the phone put his hands above his head and the agent sprayed him again and pushed him. 12. Then the man tried to help up the woman the ICE agent had shoved to the ground. The ICE agents just kept spraying. More agents came over and grabbed the man who was still trying to help the woman get up. All three of the observers looked to have been badly affected by the pepper spray. I could feel the pepper spray in my eyes. 13. The agents pulled the man on the ground. I didn't see him touch any of them-he wasn't even turned toward them. It didn't look like he was trying to resist, just trying to help the woman up. I didn't see him with a gun. They threw him to the ground. Four or five agents had him on the ground and they just started shooting him. They shot him so many times. 14.1 don't know why they shot him. He was only helping. I was five feet from him and they just shot him. 15. The video I recorded of what happened accurately depicts the events leading up to the agents shooting him and several minutes afterwards. The video is attached as Exhibit 1. 16. I have read the statement from DHS about what happened and it is wrong. The man did not approach the agents with a gun. He approached them with a camera. He was just trying to help a woman get up and they took him to the ground. 17. I feel afraid. Only hours have passed since they shot a man right in front me and I don't feel like I can go home because I heard agents were looking for me. I don't know what the agents will do when they find me. I do know that they're not telling the truth about what happened. I've heard that other witnesses might have been arrested and taken to the Whipple Building. 18. I am disgusted and gutted at how they are treating my neighbors and my state. I keep alternating between crying and feeling determined it is important to remember the value of documenting injustice. We show up for the people who need us to bear witness, because it can't just be one group of people bearing the brunt of their tyranny. This is a struggle to protect our freedom and democracy, those things are on the line. He lost his life for those values. I declare under penalty of perjury that everything I have stated in this document is true and correct. Dated and signed on Jan 24, 2026 in Hennepin County, State of Minnesota.
January 25, 2026 at 1:15 AM
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robertscotthorton.bsky.social
January 25, 2026 at 12:49 AM
Reposted by Nikola
jeffrueter.bsky.social
Kare 11 local news just read, in full, this statement from Michael and Susan Pretti, the parents of Alex Pretti.

"Please get the truth out about our son."
Statement from Michael and Susan Pretti Parents of Alex Jeffrey Pretti “We are heartbroken but also very angry. Alex was a kindhearted soul who cared deeply for his family and friends and also the American veterans whom he cared for as an ICU nurse at the Minneapolis VA hospital. Alex wanted to make a difference in this world. Unfortunately, he will not be with us to see his impact. I do not throw around the ‘hero’ term lightly. However, his last thought and act was to protect a woman. The sickening lies told about our son by the administration are reprehensible and disgusting. Alex is clearly not holding a gun when attacked by Trump’s murdering and cowardly ICE thugs. He had his phone in his right hand and his empty left hand is raised above his head while trying to protect the woman ICE just pushed down, all while being pepper sprayed. Please get the truth out about our son. He was a good man. Thank you.
January 25, 2026 at 12:43 AM
Reposted by Nikola
contrapoints.bsky.social
The American Revolution started over less
January 25, 2026 at 12:54 AM
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atrupar.com
"They say they're coming to save us from some evil? They're talking about our neighbors who take care of us ... Alex was murdered while he was helping. Mr Rogers said look for the helpers, & right now the helpers have a target on our forehead ... Mr Rogers would be here right now too, so I'm here."
January 24, 2026 at 9:14 PM
Reposted by Nikola
atrupar.com
Minneapolis protester as he's being brutalized by feds: "You're gonna have to kill me! You're gonna have to kill me! I've done nothing wrong! My name is Matthew James! I'm a US citizen! You're gonna kill me! Is that what you want?" (You can hear his wife screaming)
January 24, 2026 at 5:37 PM
maplemoss.bsky.social
Watching Trump's speech at Davos hoping the Oscar music starts playing.
January 21, 2026 at 2:40 PM
maplemoss.bsky.social
We've got to face the fact that some people say you fight fire best with fire, but we say you put fire out best with water. We say you don't fight racism with racism. We're gonna fight racism with solidarity.

- Fred Hampton
January 19, 2026 at 3:56 PM
maplemoss.bsky.social
You're not to be so blind with patriotism that you can't face reality. Wrong is wrong, no matter who does it or says it.

- Malcom X
January 19, 2026 at 3:54 PM
maplemoss.bsky.social
Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.

Martin Luther King Jr.
January 19, 2026 at 3:53 PM
Reposted by Nikola
muellershewrote.com
Men who defend Jonathan Ross for murdering Renee Good are not safe to be around. End those relationships.
January 19, 2026 at 3:10 PM
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bencollins.bsky.social
Half the battle with this guy is just reiterating government can and already does good things that are so ubiquitous they’ve become invisible. He’s able to remind you in a way that you understand that good government can exist outside of a 24/7 vengeance operation, and in NYC already does.
mayor.nyc.gov Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani @mayor.nyc.gov · 7d
Stay warm, stay safe New York.
January 18, 2026 at 10:47 PM
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chriswarcraft.bsky.social
“Do not engage in a winter campaign in bitterly cold areas. You will lose not just your army, but most likely your throne.” - literally every military historian ever

“GET IN THE CAR, LOSERS, WE’RE GONNA INVADE MINNESOTA IN LATE JANUARY” - the Trump administration
January 17, 2026 at 5:01 PM
Reposted by Nikola
john-abernathy.bsky.social
Photo by Pierre Lavie. Yes this is me. And I threw my Leica. It landed on the bass plate with hardly a scratch. Another Photographer grabbed it along with my phone and I was able to track him later. I was held face down tear gas deployed right in front of me and pepper sprayed directly into the eye.
January 17, 2026 at 2:57 PM
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donmoyn.bsky.social
When the racist meme becomes national policy
Family Guy - officer holds up color palette to determine American or foreignness Minneapolis: facial recognition app being used to detect brown skinned man
January 17, 2026 at 4:53 AM
Reposted by Nikola
atrupar.com
Walz: "I couldn't help but think, and it scares me a bit -- 'The party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most important directive.' It certainly feels like that in this moment."
January 8, 2026 at 5:57 PM
Reposted by Nikola
sifill.bsky.social
Make it viral.
January 8, 2026 at 3:22 AM
Reposted by Nikola
katmabu.bsky.social
You and your wife drop your 6-year-old off at school. You just moved here. You see ICE terrorizing your new neighbors. You film them, as is your legal right. Your wife complies with orders. She is then shot in the head. You still have to pick up your child later today.

This could be you.
Distraught woman says ICE killed her wife in video after deadly Minneapolis shooting "They killed my wife," the distraught woman says, adding, "They shot her in the head." An ICE agent shot and killed a 37-year-old woman who was driving an SUV in Minneapolis on Wednesday. / Screenshot/@Breaking911 "They killed my wife. I don't know what to do," the woman says through sobs in the footage, with a damaged SUV visible in the distance behind her. "We stopped to videotape, and they shot her in the head," the woman cries. "We have a six-year-old at school," she says, almost unable to breathe, as a chaotic scene in which federal officers prevented at least one doctor who was on the scene from assisting the shot victim unfolds. "We're new here," the distraught woman says in despair.
January 8, 2026 at 12:15 AM
Reposted by Nikola
editorialboard.bsky.social
It looks like Tim Walz is not playing.

"I've issued a warning order to prepare the Minnesota National Guard… these National Guard troops are our National Guard troops. Minnesota will not allow our community to be used as a prop in a national political fight."
January 7, 2026 at 10:46 PM
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chrislhayes.bsky.social
It has been an obvious, sometimes even almost stated project of Trump 2.0 to engineer a redo of the post George Floyd protests of 2020, this time with much more state violence. And now a federal agent has shot and killed a woman in a car at point blank range a mile from where Floyd was murdered.
January 7, 2026 at 9:29 PM
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governorwalz.mn.gov
January 7, 2026 at 8:02 PM
Reposted by Nikola
hakeem-jeffries.bsky.social
Kristi Noem is a stone-cold liar who has zero credibility.

There is nothing to suggest the shooting of an unarmed woman in Minneapolis was justified.

This heinous killing must be criminally investigated to the full extent of the law.
January 7, 2026 at 9:32 PM