Editor,
Border Patrol Chief Gregory Bovino has announced that Border Patrol agents involved in shooting Alex Pretti in Minneapolis have been reassigned to, “other locations.” This stands in stark contrast to professional law enforcement protocols for officers involved in a shooting to immediately securing the scene, provide medical aid, notify supervisors, separate involved officers, and initiate both criminal and administrative investigations. Involved officers are typically required to surrender weapons for ballistics and placed on administrative leave. Apparently Chief Bovino never got the memo. There is no evidence any of these protocols were initiated during this shooting, the most egregious of which being the unconscionable indifference displayed by officers refusing to provide medical aid as Pretti bled out on the street. Bovino claimed ignorance regarding how many shots were fired, he never required officers involved to surrender their weapons. One thing is refutably clear, Pertti never fired. His holstered, legal concealed carry firearm was removed from his person prior to his execution. Bovino congratulated his agents on a “good job” adding Pretti “decided to inject himself” into the situation.
Kristi Noem, head of Homeland Security, said in a statement that federal officers were conducting an operation in Minneapolis and fired “defensive shots” after a man with a handgun approached them and “violently resisted” when officers tried to disarm him. Video of the incident shows him holding a phone, while he resisted letting go of a woman he was trying to protect from being assaulted by border agents.
Let us not forget Renne Good, who also fell victim to being shot dead by ICE officer Johnathan Ross. Federal agencies have impeded Minnesota state officials from examining evidence in her shooting and Pretti’s. FBI supervisor agent Tracee Mergen was forced to resign for attempting to investigate Ross’s shooting of Good. Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche concluded, “there is currently no basis for a criminal civil rights investigation.” They did, however, see fit to investigate Good’s widow, resulting in six federal prosecutors resigning in protest.
Stoking the flames of victim blaming and misinformation, Trump erroneously claimed Good, “violently, willfully, and viciously ran over the ICE Officer, who seems to have shot her in self-defense.” VP Vance joined in claiming, “the reason this woman is dead is because she tried to ram somebody with her car.” Bovino and Noem both claimed Pretti “brandished” a firearm. Disparaging, profane, deliberate lies. How long will MAGA believe this crap?
Jack Gribble
Oak Harbor
Editor,
Thank you for publishing two letters in your Jan. 28, edition: “Republicans must stand up to Trump” and “Nation founders feared tyranny as should we.” These letters perfectly capture the predicament that we are in: Republican representatives are in charge but are not good stewards of the founding principles of this country.
I find myself asking, why is our country so off track? Many Republicans I know are highly productive, family-centered people who ascribe to good values.
The answer to my question seems to be in terms of, “Choose your fear.” America First seems to emphasize fears that I don’t quite understand. “Immigrants are the worst of the worst. Washington D.C. is a self-serving, power hungry ‘swamp’ that must be drained and destroyed. People are not created equal whereby some must preside over the disloyal, unclean masses.”
I don’t get it. In the America First playbook, one instance of something you see constitutes an all-encompassing generalization of fear stuck in ideology. This, even if it is not supported by science or anything approaching the statistical rigor we need to understand natural variation in our lives.
A snowball brought into Congressional chambers is thought to prove that climate change is a hoax.
We all have fears. I ask America First to acknowledge embedded ideological fears and decide if they are well founded. If not, let’s wonder if there isn’t something else that should be on our agenda.
In the big picture, America First is making America last. Lost allies, raw power and wealth over people, God redefined, highest- ever gold and silver prices and national debt, weirdest weather from changing climate, erosion of time -tested values and relational civility – these are the real indicators for where we are today. Real fears are not carefully selected to manipulate you.
Let’s act on what we can demonstrably show to be real concerns – not ideologically- based fears that elevate before us, false saviors like Trump and Putin.
Lee B. James
Coupeville
Editor,
I was disappointed to see that the Whidbey News-Times has yet to run an article on the recent, very disturbing policy document that an ICE whistleblower recently brought to light. This news has been shared by some media outlets, but not widely enough and definitely not with the vigor and outrage that such an egregious and clear violation of the Constitution demands. The Department of Homeland Security has single handedly decided to ignore 250 years of legal precedent and will enter any home they choose at any time, with nothing more than an administrative arrest warrant, not signed by any judge. This should fill any American, left or right, with terror.
This should be the headline on every paper across the U.S., but it seems the rugged individualism of the U.S. is gone, replaced with complacency and respect of authority at any cost.
Matthew Jackson
Coupeville
Letter,
A couple of scriptures caught my attention in relation to our current president (who once staged a picture of himself holding up the Bible): Proverbs 6:16-19: “There are six things the Lord hates, seven that are detestable to God: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked schemes, feet that are quick to rush into evil, a false witness who pours out lies, and a person who stirs up conflict in the community.” And of course, Jesus in Matthew 25: “I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.”
Tom Walker
Langley
