JIM: Due to recent events in Minneapolis, we at Making Our Way feel this is not the best moment for light-hearted discussions about vacations in Central Europe, such as those we’ve enjoyed in our three latest episodes. So, we are pausing for a moment as we collect ourselves and tend to our grief.
Jan, Rob, and Dee are unavailable for comments just now, but each has expressed confidence that I will not overstep our common purposes with this podcast. So, to be clear, in this brief statement I am speaking for myself.
Renée Nicole Good, Alex Pretti. For my part, I cannot reconcile the video evidence I’ve seen of their deaths with what certain federal officials are requiring us to believe about what happened. President Trump initially claimed that Renée Good ran over an ICE agent, which, as video evidence shows, is untrue. The president, not known for apologies or retractions, modified his statement to this, and I’m quoting, “At the very minimum,” he said, “that woman was very, very disrespectful to law enforcement,” close quote, which, as video evidence shows, is also untrue. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Nome said that Alex Pretti, quote, “committed an act of domestic terrorism.” Border Patrol commander Gregory Bovino said Alex wanted to, quote, “massacre law enforcement.” White House aide Stephen Miller called Alex a, quote, “would-be assassin.”
I am referring to the victims by name, something that Trump, Nome, Bovino, and Miller did not do. They somehow claimed knowledge of the victims’ motives, yet they didn’t know their names, or for some reason would not speak them. To Nome, Bovino, and Miller, Alex Pretti was an anonymous individual. To President Trump, Renée Nicole Good was merely “that woman.”
As I record this, it is Tuesday morning, January 27th, and the Associated Press is reporting that Border Patrol commander Gregory Bovino is expected to leave Minneapolis as the administration scales back the federal presence there. A sacrificial lamb, perhaps? And will there be others? Kristi Nome and Stephen Miller are names that come to mind. I know at least that Karoline Leavitt will perform the verbal gymnastics necessary to keep President Trump above the fray. Listen closely for the next names we hear.
This podcast belongs to the four of us, and these events require that all of us be at this microphone. Jan, Rob, and Skye are wending their way back home from some much-needed vacation time out west. This evening, Dee, Brigus, Pip, and I will sit by our fireplace against this latest Florida chill.
Then we all return next week with Lillian and Larry to conclude their adventures along the beautiful blue Danube, after which we will continue Making Our Way.
Please take good care of each other.
Until next time.
