By invoking Franklin D. Roosevelt’s warning about economic hardship and fascism, AOC is arguing that working-class populism isn’t just good policy — it’s democracy’s last line of defense.
There's a ruling class where the rules do not apply.
ICU nurse Alex Pretti was shot and killed by a swarm of ICE agents in Minneapolis moments after he assisted a couple of women. One of them, according to new reports, was also a health care professional—who was denied the chance to help Pretti in his final moments.In an exclusive interview with The Intercept, the emergency medical technician—whose credentials were reviewed by the outlet but who remained unidentified due to fear of retaliation by the government—claimed she tried to perform CPR on Pretti but was thwarted by a masked ICE agent who restrained her.“I could tell the second that I laid eyes on him that he was horrifically injured,” the EMT said. “I immediately said, ‘I’m an EMT! He has a brain injury! He has a serious brain injury! I need to help him right now.’”Moments before Pretti’s death, video captured from onlookers at multiple angles depicted the 37-year-old filming ICE activity before intervening between another protester and an agent who had violently shoved her to the ground. The two protesters were then sprayed with a chemical irritant, and Pretti was ripped away from the other demonstrator while she continued to slip on a mound of snow.At least seven officers were on top of Pretti, wrestling him to the ground, when one of them, standing above the situation and seemingly supporting the other agents, grabbed his gun and shot Pretti. Video footage captured the sound of 10 gunshots ringing out. Footage of the seconds that followed capture the EMT’s voice on audio, ringing out that Pretti was suffering “decorticate posturing,” a phenomenon in which the hands and legs curl into the body as a result of brain trauma.“I was literally begging the agent who was holding me back to let me do CPR,” she recalled. “Because I knew that if he wasn’t pulseless at that point already, he was going to become pulseless very, very soon.”Then Pretti died. His death was later ruled a homicide by the Hennepin County medical examiner.The government is constitutionally required to keep people safe once they are in custody. The legal principle is tied to due process, outlined in the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments. Parameters established by the Department of Justice also stipulate that officers are not allowed to ignore serious medical conditions or risk of harm, such as assault, that could jeopardize an individual’s life. Unfortunately, in Pretti’s case, agents appeared to ignore both of those tenets.“The responsibility of the government is to make sure that the person in their custody is cared for and alive,” Xavier de Janon, the director of mass defense at the National Lawyers Guild, told The Intercept. “If government agencies fail to keep someone alive and there is proof that it’s their fault, they could be liable for their actions.”
President Donald Trump doesn’t seem the slightest bit bothered by the buffoonery that closed the airspace over El Paso, Texas, earlier this week. CNN’s DJ Judd asked Trump if he was “pleased” with Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy’s handling of a humiliating incident, in which the Federal Aviation Administration briefly closed the airspace near the southern U.S. border because the military used a high-powered laser to shoot down what ultimately turned out to be a party balloon. “You mean the way it happened?” Trump pressed, and then splayed out his hands in a wide shrug. “People learn,” the president sighed. “People learn.” On Tuesday, FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford closed El Paso’s airspace “for special security reasons” without telling the White House, the Department of Defense, or the Department of Homeland Security—causing chaos in the surrounding area.Duffy, along with White House and Pentagon officials, claimed Wednesday that drones dispatched by a Mexican cartel had breached U.S. airspace. The same day, two officials briefed by the Trump administration said the airport had been shut down over security concerns related to DOD’s use of counter-drone technology. As it turned out, the Pentagon had sought to expedite testing for an anti-drone laser at Fort Bliss, which is next to El Paso International Airport—and reportedly ended up targeting a rogue balloon instead of an unmanned aircraft. After initially saying that airspace would be closed for 10 days, the agency reversed the decision and reopened the next day. “The FAA and DOW acted swiftly to address a cartel drone incursion. The threat has been neutralized, and there is no danger to commercial travel in the region,” Duffy wrote on X Wednesday. “The restrictions have been lifted and normal flights are resuming.”Duffy has yet to acknowledge that this statement was not actually true. But Trump’s laissez-faire attitude seemed to say it all: He messed up. What could Duffy possibly have learned from this incident? I guess he learned not to do it again—if he even knows what he did.
Ghislaine Maxwell is in another legal bind.The longtime girlfriend and sex-trafficking associate of Jeffrey Epstein was revealed Friday to have lied on her naturalization documents, potentially compromising her U.S. citizenship.The documents were uncovered in the Justice Department’s latest Epstein files document dump and first reported by Migrant Insider. They show that Maxwell ticked “no” on paperwork that required her to admit if she had ever committed a crime or if she had ever procured anyone for prostitution.The N-400 application that Maxwell submitted to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York asked: “Have you EVER committed a crime or offense for which you were NOT arrested?”“Have you EVER been a prostitute, or procured anyone for prostitution?”For both queries, Maxwell indicated on the form that she had not. In truth, the covert criminal had recruited and trafficked underage girls to Epstein’s operation as early as 1994. But despite her wide-ranging crimes, Maxwell’s application was approved, and she became a U.S. citizen on November 27, 2002.Legal experts argue that could bode poorly for Maxwell, as false statements can delegitimize a naturalized citizenship, even if the offense is discovered decades later. The catch could also extend Maxwell’s prison sentence by up to 25 years under 18 U.S. Code § 1425.“Lying on an N-400 form is a serious federal offense,” an unidentified immigration law expert told Migrant Insider. “Material misrepresentations—especially about criminal conduct—can be grounds for revocation of citizenship and potential criminal prosecution for immigration fraud.” Maxwell was sentenced in 2022 to 20 years in jail for playing an active role in Epstein’s crimes. Her attorneys have pressed the White House for a pardon for several months now, though the White House has not indicated it will grant one.But a July interview between Maxwell and the DOJ still proved incredibly fruitful for the convict, sparking concerns that she had been offered a quid pro quo in exchange for a revised “Epstein list.” At the time, the Trump administration was floundering to redirect public fury over the files.Shortly after she spoke with Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, Maxwell—one of the worst sex criminals of the century—received an extremely cushy transfer, shipping her from a Florida prison to a low-security prison camp in Texas where she has been granted many privileges not typically afforded to inmates. Her time behind bars has since included meal service in her cell, unlimited toilet paper, puppy access, and access to private visitations in a chaplain’s office outside standard visiting hours. Her requests to be separated from other inmates have also been granted, with tables and cellmates reportedly being relocated at her whim.