iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Reposted by Valerie Heath

Aaron Reichlin-Melnick @reichlinmelnick.bsky.social · 25/01/2026

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.

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Valerie Heath @valerieheathmbc.bsky.social · 23/01/2026

I was today years old when I heard “Keith” by Playlunch. If that song doesnt win #Hottest100 this country’s cooked Free Barry!

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Reposted by Valerie Heath

strongcuppatea.bsky.social @strongcuppatea.bsky.social · 06/01/2026

So what is Australia going to do when the USA says they need Australia for strategic reasons? Anyone? We are fucked. #auspol #trumpism #facism #imperialism

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Valerie Heath @valerieheathmbc.bsky.social · 22/12/2025

So i heard on Colbert the GOP thinks US healthcare wd be fixed if only it was sold by an emu. Wait until they see the HBF quokkas!Now if only they cd do universal single-payer healthcare and price-capped private insurance … #AustralianHealth #Medicare

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Valerie Heath @valerieheathmbc.bsky.social · 22/12/2025

In such a moment I wish all our political leaders and senior public servants wisdom, grace, courage and restraint. The ability to do bold things that are needful with dispatch but not haste, the humility to not make the moment abour them and the good sense not to overreach or oppress

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Valerie Heath @valerieheathmbc.bsky.social · 22/12/2025

Wishing our Jewish community all over Australia & all residents & workers of and visitors to Bondi, all police, emergency workers, volunteers & good Samaritans attending & all Australians touched by the horror and grief of the mass murder love, solace, justice, healing & action.

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Valerie Heath @valerieheathmbc.bsky.social · 03/11/2025

I know it’s exceedingly trivial given all the heavy things going on in the world rn but I don’t like the change in blue of the bluesky logo #BlueskyBlues

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Valerie Heath @valerieheathmbc.bsky.social · 25/10/2025

@maddow.msnbc.com thankyou for your coverage of the No Kings protests, it was heartening to see. Now I am seeing more & more about a general strike for Nov 25 - Dec 3. I wd love to see interviews with organisers & vox pops on the issue

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Reposted by Valerie Heath

Richoz❌👑 @richoz.bsky.social · 07/10/2025

It's as important then as it is now maybe even more important this is the journalism we need now 👀👇

youtube.com

When The Media Stood Up For Freedom

YouTube video by Robert Reich

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Reposted by Valerie Heath

Paul Eric @pauleric70.bsky.social · 25/10/2025

📸Behind this breathtaking shot of Hungary’s opposition rally marking the 1956 uprising: Viktor Orbán’s gov't banned drones to try conceal the crowd’s size. Yet a passenger on a landing plane caught the scene in Budapest from above — the photo hit Reddit and went viral instantly.

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Valerie Heath @valerieheathmbc.bsky.social · 12/10/2025

20,000 residents of Lithgow NSW without water for 3 days, yet not a big news story in Aus?? #Lithgow #Water #auspol

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Valerie Heath @valerieheathmbc.bsky.social · 02/09/2025

Highly recommend the excellent #PipFioretti #AusCrime historical mystery crime police procedural and psychological drama #BoneLands #booksky Boer War vet Gus Hawkins Mounted Trooper policing western NSW 1911

Book cover Bone Lands by Pip Fioretti red dirt desert with scattered bleached bones in the foreground and low scrub in the distance under pale sky at horizon with dark menacing dust storm closing in over rider in slouch hat in the middle distance

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Reposted by Valerie Heath

Allison Gill @muellershewrote.com · 23/08/2025

Here’s what was NOT released today: - the proffer agreement between Maxwell and the DoJ - the agreement transferring Maxwell to club fed - communications showing who waived Maxwell’s sex offender status allowing her transfer and possible work assignments outside prison - the Epstein files

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Reposted by Valerie Heath

LIV 🌻🍉😷 @mmechomski.bsky.social · 06/08/2025

Kate on Twitter today.

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Reposted by Valerie Heath

Kelly @broadwaybabyto.bsky.social · 18/07/2025

So Trump has been directly or indirectly responsible for canceling Colbert, PBS and NPR all in the span of one week? Are people awake to what’s happening yet?

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Reposted by Valerie Heath

mzletter1.bsky.social @mzletter1.bsky.social · 18/07/2025

Thank you Stephen Colbert for making wit, humor, knowledge, & empathy cool. Thank you Rachel Maddow for your authentic, brutal, and tireless hope. Thank you Chris Hayes for all your down to Earth fearless reporting. You all give us the strength to keep fighting the good fight in these dark times ✊

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Reposted by Valerie Heath

scarletbegonia @scarletbegonia67.bsky.social · 18/07/2025

Two exceptional humans; Stephen Colbert & Rachel Maddow. Two lanterns in this dark time. One makes me laugh and think. The other makes me think and laugh. #FreePress

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Reposted by Valerie Heath

dmcg201.bsky.social @dmcg201.bsky.social · 18/07/2025

You took that thought right out of my head, I guess great minds think alike. Bet we are not the only MSNBC fans who would watch!

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Reposted by Valerie Heath

Guncle John @hutchj.bsky.social · 18/07/2025

Hire him at MSNBC. Give him a late show, same format, and expand the type of programming that your network does

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Reposted by Valerie Heath

Dr Desirée Kozlowski @pleasurelab.bsky.social · 12/07/2025

I call on the Australian government to #RaiseTheRate of all support payments to a living wage. This would be the single most effective way to lift the productivity, quality of life, and well-being of the whole country. #CommitToALivingWage #DoIt

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Reposted by Valerie Heath

Ashraf Ghebranious @ashrafghebranious.bsky.social · 07/07/2025

As you watch this #abc730 about improperly trained childcare staff, just remember that the coalition policy when they were in govt was the push of unqualified staff being okay in both childcare and aged care. Mic drop. #auspol

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Reposted by Valerie Heath

Seth Abramson @sethabramson.bsky.social · 04/07/2025

I refuse to call an American concentration camp the same thing it calls itself at its attached gift shop Maybe American journalism should search in the garbage for its self-respect and start taking the same position?

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Reposted by Valerie Heath

The Atlantic @theatlantic.com · 02/07/2025

"One of the most important, and most overlooked, functions of protest is to prevent the dreaded 'spiral of silence,' which can begin when people wrongly believe that their own point of view is not widely shared," Betsy Levy Paluck writes: theatln.tc/cyHqCYsc

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Valerie Heath @valerieheathmbc.bsky.social · 02/07/2025

Is it just me? I am skeeved out by all these standing and walking news shows now. The news is anxiety-provoking enough without peripatetic delivery What’s wrong with a desk? #AusMedia #news #auspol

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Reposted by Valerie Heath

John Donegan @donegan.bsky.social · 29/06/2025

If you get pissed, crash your car spectacularly and there are no injuries, you’ll lead the ABC News. If you bash your partner it’ll go unreported unless you kill her. This has always been the rule in Australian newsrooms.

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Reposted by Valerie Heath

Glenn Plummer I👀U @glenntheplummer.bsky.social · 29/06/2025

Doug Cameron nails it on The Sunday Shot saying (paraphrased) the job of the ABC is not to provide balance by broadcasting both sides of an argument or a variety of alternative views whether factual or not but to broadcast the truth. Vis balance is not lies vs truth. Truth to Power.

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Reposted by Valerie Heath

Senator David Shoebridge @davidshoebridge.bsky.social · 23/06/2025

Australia criminalises courage. Richard Boyle exposed ATO abuse & faces prison. David McBride told the truth on war crimes & is in prison. That's not justice - it's a warning to stay silent. On World Whistleblowers Day, we call for laws that protect, not prosecute, truth-tellers.

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Reposted by Valerie Heath

Nick Higgins @nick-higgins.bsky.social · 04/06/2025

All part of the planned enshitification of the ABC: "See? No-one listens anymore. We may as well sell it for whatever we can get for it, and be rid of it." All a plan by the IPA and all other RW JunkTanks that *HATE* the idea of an impartial national broadcaster, to get rid of the ABC as it was.

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Reposted by Valerie Heath

The New Yorker @newyorker.com · 25/05/2025

Academic freedom in the United States has found itself periodically under siege, but the current attacks from the federal government raise a new level of alarm. nyer.cm/u405qvQ

“I’ve studied McCarthyism’s impact on higher education for 50 years. What’s happening now is worse.” -Ellen Schrecker, historian

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Valerie Heath @valerieheathmbc.bsky.social · 19/05/2025

Frank admission of what has been appallingly obvious for some time. Israeli govt is intent on genocide, “ethnic cleansing”, collective punishment of Palestinians (for the heinous acts of illegitimate terrorist actors) & starvation as a tool of war. Stand up for human rights Australia #Gaza #auspol

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Reposted by Valerie Heath

WeRateDogs @weratedogs.com · 14/05/2025

Here are my top 10 singing dogs!

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Reposted by Valerie Heath

Angelo von Möller @ihaveabluehat.bsky.social · 12/05/2025

A big loss to science and Australia’s continued growth in innovation and research with Ed Husic’s removal from Cabinet. The fact it was done out of pure factional play is incredibly disappointing.

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Reposted by Valerie Heath

emily blight 🐦‍⬛ @threnody.northsky.social · 12/05/2025

a 20yo trans woman washed her hands in the FL capitol women’s room. she spent 25 hours in men’s jail &, pending a trial, she may face 60 days in men’s jail. so far van hollen flew to el salvador & newark’s mayor got arrested. electeds need to be at least as brave as trans people using bathrooms.

nbcnews.com

Trans student’s arrest for violating Florida bathroom law is thought to be a first

Marcy Rheintgen, 20, faces a misdemeanor trespassing charge punishable by up to 60 days in jail and is due to appear in court in May.

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Valerie Heath @valerieheathmbc.bsky.social · 12/05/2025

Great explanation, thankyou. The world is ALL the colours. And why even do people fear/care what other people do/think/feel that does not involve or affect them in any way ? We shd give love and kindness or just mind our own damn business 🌈 💟 🌈 💟 🌈 💟 🌈

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Reposted by Valerie Heath

Phil Lewis @phillewis.bsky.social · 10/05/2025

Today is the 111th birthday of Viola Ford Fletcher, the oldest living survivor of the 1921 Tulsa race massacre

A photo of Viola Ford Fletcher with her hands clasped

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Reposted by Valerie Heath

Mitzi Macintosh 🌈🦄✊🏼🏳️‍⚧️ @graemebrowning.bsky.social · 05/05/2025

Amazing work from a youth ambassador that was rejected “Try painting a landscape” was the advice given Outrageous censorship from hawkesburyshowground.com.au/show/trade-e...

An image of an young , wounded angel with torn flags of countries in conflicts draped around them that has been banned from The Hawkesbury Show

Sixteen-year-old HART Youth
Ambassador, Matilda Emmerich was initially told her painting could not be included in the Open Art Category of the Hawkesbury Show because it was too heavy to hang. When she questioned the decision-given the painting's not-unusual weight and the absence of a weight limit in the Show's Rules and Regulations-she was then informed the content was inappropriate.
The oil painting, created specifically for the Show, features a young, wounded angel surrounded by the torn flags of countries currently in conflict. Titled
'Where Hope Sits' a poem is included within the frame emphasising the piece as a message of hope in a time of global uncertainty.

Where Hope Sits
With the weight of a world upon his wings, an Angel took a breath and sat back.
If it weren't for the bloody ruins, he might even look relaxed.
Death sat upon one shoulder, Power upon the other.
Any kindness Death showed, Power would smother.
With one last look across a broken world, he lay down like a wounded deer,
while Death held his hand, Power whispered in his ear
"At least we'll have Mars."
And though he was dying, the angel did laugh.
And laugh and laugh.
Until Death cut through the violence, then replaced the loud silence, and took its turn to whisper
"When you don't make the trip to Mars and you don't drive one of those flashy cars; when your prayers aren't answered —not by Jesus or Buddha; not even the Pope-there's something you will always have,"
and that thing is called hope.
By Matilda Emmerich

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