It’s all weaponized virtue, where one side acts like a barbarian and counts on a civilized response from the other side. It works until the “civilized” side gets tired of getting kicked in the crotch.
When I see the degree of violence in Minneapolis protestors, I think that they will not stop until they have some actual engagement with real violence. Since it seems that ICE agents cannot provide the level of violence protestors need, it must be provided by regular citizens. When regular citizens respond in kind, the violence might stop-—however, the first thought of the regular citizen is: Will I be punished by the authorities for my actions? And the answer is always: Yes, you will be punished. That seems to be the tipping point. Once citizens perceive that they can respond in kind without punishment, and both sides are engaged with real violence, with neither side relenting, that is when the civil war begins. At that point, the war could be very short, and one-sided. But something tells me that things will never reach that point. Out and out civil war does not favor protestors—and so they will try to keep things in the gray zone where ambiguity is on their side.
The purpose of having a gun is not to use it. Its purpose is to defend yourself and to occasionally practice using it but to do everything in your power not to use it. Many young men don’t understand that the purpose of a gun is not to use it and they need to be taught that the true purpose of a gun is not to use it. Parents are a good source of that information. Parents of young men should try doing that.
A pissed off farmer in a category 2 or 3 tractor with a front loader can, and probably eventually will, shred those barriers in seconds flat. It's highly unlikely most of the urbanites behind those barriers have any idea how much power a tractor actually has. Hitting one of those piles of junk at, say, 8-10 mph, is going to shove all those piled up pieces of whatever forward in a rough cone shape. Some pieces will be contained by the bucket and will start traveling down the road with the tractor. Unfortunately, anyone hiding behind the barricade is going to be among the items being scattered and scraped down the street. Even those standing to one side, but on the other side of the barricade from the tractor, are likely to be smashed by the spreading debris. The odds are very good they will die, and quite painfully as well. Shoot at said farmer, and there is a very good chance said farmer will shoot back. And probably accurately, and with a shot gun, or long gun of some flavor. A tractor is not an armored car, to be sure. But if it is carrying a large, heavy steel front loader blade before it (which, if one were going to ram barricades, one would), there is a very good chance that most 9mm, .380, or even .45 will not even be penetrating the steel bucket's walls. If the farmer has run flat tires on his tractor (and many industrial tractors do use run flats) even "shooting out a tire" becomes ineffective. The odds on a street protestor and would be barricade guard stopping a determined tractor driver are at best very low.
Concur that most Americans, particularly affluent white females but increasingly men as well, have no comprehension of genuine individual violence. Heck, most Millennials and Gen Z weren't even allowed to play dodge ball as a kid, due the "violent" nature of the game. Heaven forbid!
Getting into a fist fight with the bully who has been bullying you for an extended period of time at school used to be almost a rite of passage to manhood for most normie males. Now, standing up to a bully with a punch in the nose gets an 11 year old in cuffs and in many cases, in jail (albeit briefly.) You're right, Max, they have no idea. They are going to push, and push, and push, and at some point, as the old saying goes, push will come to shove. Bullies bully, until that day they discover that the punk kid they've been picking on doesn't always cower. When the punk kid finally has enough and explodes in a flurry of very real violence against said bully, suddenly the bully is the "victim". That's poppycock, of course. They are just getting their well earned just desserts. If the bully is lucky, they suffer no serious permanent physical injuries. For a culture that is fed a seemingly unending stream of violent movies and TV shows, actual blood shedding violence, even the basic bare knuckle fist fight punch in the face version, is as if from another world.
Same goes for many who have taken martial arts classes of various types, especially as young people. While those might be good exercise, such students rarely come home with shiners, fat lips, and bloody noses. Mike Tyson's full November 2012 explanation of his famous quote is as follows: ‘Everybody has a plan until they get hit. Then, like a rat, they stop in fear and freeze.’ (citation: https://www.sun-sentinel.com/2012/11/09/mike-tyson-explains-one-of-his-most-famous-quotes-3/)
There is a reckoning coming due, Max. "And some things that should not have been forgotten were lost." Unfortunately, although many have forgotten much, humans do have an innate capacity for violence, even if it has been culturally suppressed. Those who stop in fear and freeze when hit will get hit again. But not all will freeze, and at that point, violence is prone to escalate.
May God have mercy on our nation. Perhaps if we undergo a national period of earnest fasting, prayer and repentance, we will be able, like Nineveh, to turn from our evil ways. But I wouldn't bet on that happening at this point in time until a good deal of blood has been shed.
Most Americans aren't familiar with the kind of violence where someone is really trying to hurt or kill them. Like they're not even trying to fight - they're deliberately attempting to cause injury or end them. Most fellas who get into a fight will claim they weren't trying to severely injure someone, just "teach them a lesson." And they're probably right, they know they can't deliberately break someone's bones, deliberately cause a concussion, or kill them. But there are people out there who'll do something guaranteed to cause serious injury or death, such as swing a pipe at someone's head.
People who aim to injure or kill act differently from those simply fighting. They don't square up, they don't even try to avoid getting hit. They're prepared to get hit, in fact. They're singularly focused on one thing: causing maximum damage to their target. That's a whole different level of violence. It's the kind of violence you can trigger if you back someone into a corner, if you threaten their lives or that of their family.
I’m pretty sure Pretti was armed in the second video, where he kicks out the taillight? You can see something tucked into his waistband after he’s tackled and retreats from the cops. Could’ve been his phone, but I’m not so sure.
The takeaway for me is to not live in an intolerantly leftwing place like Minneapolis. Every city will have some protesters, big deal. But when you reach a critical mass of partisan lunacy, it distorts the social dynamics of the city. There’s such a dense concentration of social justice warriors that the mayor capitulates to them, the sheriff kowtows to them, the businesses have to put up anti-ICE signs or risk getting boycotted, residents have to put up with disruptions, roadblocks, the occasional riot… I’ve even read stories about people with out-of-state license plates getting interrogated by protesters—talk about Minnesota nice!
Forget violence for a moment. As a citizen, I’m far more worried about the anti-social behavior in the below article:
Long story short, a yoga studio’s staff put up anti-ICE signs at the height of the protests, corporate told them to take them down after the protests waned, and a bunch of yoga-clad protesters (presumably the company’s clientele) staged a public shaming of the employees for taking down the signs. It’s not violent, but it’s mob rule. And it’s not like they were even pro-ICE! They were just following a corporate policy of neutrality. But it’s enough to stage a protest? Crazy people.
A culture where behavior like that is widely tolerated is a culture that’s descending to barbarism, no matter how rich or educated its people are.
I’ve been beating this drum for a while, but most people’s idea of violence is a hollywood action movie.
Most people haven’t even gotten into a fistfight before, let alone seen lethal levels of violence. Hell most people haven’t even seen real violence through a screen, such as ISIS or cartel executions and front line footage from Ukraine or even the GWOT era. Most normies have no idea what it even looks like. Their perceptions and understanding of shit getting real is more warped than any other group in history.
To them its all hyperreal violence, rather than actual real world violence.
Actually he WAS armed in the first encounter. His pistol is quite visible in the video. And it is certainly possible that the agents who had to deal with his second tantrum were there for the first one and knew he was armed. Otherwise all your points are right on target/
Yes, these checkpoints are nuts and 100% rely on the drivers to be passive about it. It's cosplay from people who don't understand just how risky and totally illegal their actions are.
The whole situation is a total dereliction of duty from the authorities in Minneapolis and in any sane society they'd be voted out (or thrown out) immediately. But the people in Minneapolis aren't sane. if I were a rural Minnesotan, I'd be PISSED, for the way these people are ruining the state that they share.
These idiots at these checkpoints are just asking for trouble and they are eventually going to find some.
I keep thinking “what if there was a fire or a medical emergency and the barricades delay responders”. Everyone on both sides of the barricades were extremely fortunate that nothing like that occurred.
Hopefully, they find that trouble from the right person. By that, I mean someone who isn't viewed as being "right-wing," ideally a member of the leftist coalition, like a black person.
That's the thing with this, they know that if some right wing white guy didn't comply to an illegal detention and it turned violent, the system would effectively end his life while they'd get off.
Terrific points. The canonization and the faux violence is abetted by a media and politicians that encourage it, protect it, and profit from it.
It’s all weaponized virtue, where one side acts like a barbarian and counts on a civilized response from the other side. It works until the “civilized” side gets tired of getting kicked in the crotch.
When I see the degree of violence in Minneapolis protestors, I think that they will not stop until they have some actual engagement with real violence. Since it seems that ICE agents cannot provide the level of violence protestors need, it must be provided by regular citizens. When regular citizens respond in kind, the violence might stop-—however, the first thought of the regular citizen is: Will I be punished by the authorities for my actions? And the answer is always: Yes, you will be punished. That seems to be the tipping point. Once citizens perceive that they can respond in kind without punishment, and both sides are engaged with real violence, with neither side relenting, that is when the civil war begins. At that point, the war could be very short, and one-sided. But something tells me that things will never reach that point. Out and out civil war does not favor protestors—and so they will try to keep things in the gray zone where ambiguity is on their side.
Pretti was carrying two spare magazines when he was killed.
It’s all speculation, but I maintain that the real tragedy was averted that day.
The purpose of having a gun is not to use it. Its purpose is to defend yourself and to occasionally practice using it but to do everything in your power not to use it. Many young men don’t understand that the purpose of a gun is not to use it and they need to be taught that the true purpose of a gun is not to use it. Parents are a good source of that information. Parents of young men should try doing that.
It’s performative cosplay at being martyrs. All fun and games until they become real martyrs. Then tshtf.
A pissed off farmer in a category 2 or 3 tractor with a front loader can, and probably eventually will, shred those barriers in seconds flat. It's highly unlikely most of the urbanites behind those barriers have any idea how much power a tractor actually has. Hitting one of those piles of junk at, say, 8-10 mph, is going to shove all those piled up pieces of whatever forward in a rough cone shape. Some pieces will be contained by the bucket and will start traveling down the road with the tractor. Unfortunately, anyone hiding behind the barricade is going to be among the items being scattered and scraped down the street. Even those standing to one side, but on the other side of the barricade from the tractor, are likely to be smashed by the spreading debris. The odds are very good they will die, and quite painfully as well. Shoot at said farmer, and there is a very good chance said farmer will shoot back. And probably accurately, and with a shot gun, or long gun of some flavor. A tractor is not an armored car, to be sure. But if it is carrying a large, heavy steel front loader blade before it (which, if one were going to ram barricades, one would), there is a very good chance that most 9mm, .380, or even .45 will not even be penetrating the steel bucket's walls. If the farmer has run flat tires on his tractor (and many industrial tractors do use run flats) even "shooting out a tire" becomes ineffective. The odds on a street protestor and would be barricade guard stopping a determined tractor driver are at best very low.
Concur that most Americans, particularly affluent white females but increasingly men as well, have no comprehension of genuine individual violence. Heck, most Millennials and Gen Z weren't even allowed to play dodge ball as a kid, due the "violent" nature of the game. Heaven forbid!
Getting into a fist fight with the bully who has been bullying you for an extended period of time at school used to be almost a rite of passage to manhood for most normie males. Now, standing up to a bully with a punch in the nose gets an 11 year old in cuffs and in many cases, in jail (albeit briefly.) You're right, Max, they have no idea. They are going to push, and push, and push, and at some point, as the old saying goes, push will come to shove. Bullies bully, until that day they discover that the punk kid they've been picking on doesn't always cower. When the punk kid finally has enough and explodes in a flurry of very real violence against said bully, suddenly the bully is the "victim". That's poppycock, of course. They are just getting their well earned just desserts. If the bully is lucky, they suffer no serious permanent physical injuries. For a culture that is fed a seemingly unending stream of violent movies and TV shows, actual blood shedding violence, even the basic bare knuckle fist fight punch in the face version, is as if from another world.
Same goes for many who have taken martial arts classes of various types, especially as young people. While those might be good exercise, such students rarely come home with shiners, fat lips, and bloody noses. Mike Tyson's full November 2012 explanation of his famous quote is as follows: ‘Everybody has a plan until they get hit. Then, like a rat, they stop in fear and freeze.’ (citation: https://www.sun-sentinel.com/2012/11/09/mike-tyson-explains-one-of-his-most-famous-quotes-3/)
There is a reckoning coming due, Max. "And some things that should not have been forgotten were lost." Unfortunately, although many have forgotten much, humans do have an innate capacity for violence, even if it has been culturally suppressed. Those who stop in fear and freeze when hit will get hit again. But not all will freeze, and at that point, violence is prone to escalate.
May God have mercy on our nation. Perhaps if we undergo a national period of earnest fasting, prayer and repentance, we will be able, like Nineveh, to turn from our evil ways. But I wouldn't bet on that happening at this point in time until a good deal of blood has been shed.
Most Americans aren't familiar with the kind of violence where someone is really trying to hurt or kill them. Like they're not even trying to fight - they're deliberately attempting to cause injury or end them. Most fellas who get into a fight will claim they weren't trying to severely injure someone, just "teach them a lesson." And they're probably right, they know they can't deliberately break someone's bones, deliberately cause a concussion, or kill them. But there are people out there who'll do something guaranteed to cause serious injury or death, such as swing a pipe at someone's head.
People who aim to injure or kill act differently from those simply fighting. They don't square up, they don't even try to avoid getting hit. They're prepared to get hit, in fact. They're singularly focused on one thing: causing maximum damage to their target. That's a whole different level of violence. It's the kind of violence you can trigger if you back someone into a corner, if you threaten their lives or that of their family.
I’m pretty sure Pretti was armed in the second video, where he kicks out the taillight? You can see something tucked into his waistband after he’s tackled and retreats from the cops. Could’ve been his phone, but I’m not so sure.
The takeaway for me is to not live in an intolerantly leftwing place like Minneapolis. Every city will have some protesters, big deal. But when you reach a critical mass of partisan lunacy, it distorts the social dynamics of the city. There’s such a dense concentration of social justice warriors that the mayor capitulates to them, the sheriff kowtows to them, the businesses have to put up anti-ICE signs or risk getting boycotted, residents have to put up with disruptions, roadblocks, the occasional riot… I’ve even read stories about people with out-of-state license plates getting interrogated by protesters—talk about Minnesota nice!
Forget violence for a moment. As a citizen, I’m far more worried about the anti-social behavior in the below article:
https://nypost.com/2026/02/06/us-news/minneapolis-yoga-students-berate-instructors-demand-they-condemn-ice-in-wild-video-and-company-caves/
Long story short, a yoga studio’s staff put up anti-ICE signs at the height of the protests, corporate told them to take them down after the protests waned, and a bunch of yoga-clad protesters (presumably the company’s clientele) staged a public shaming of the employees for taking down the signs. It’s not violent, but it’s mob rule. And it’s not like they were even pro-ICE! They were just following a corporate policy of neutrality. But it’s enough to stage a protest? Crazy people.
A culture where behavior like that is widely tolerated is a culture that’s descending to barbarism, no matter how rich or educated its people are.
I’ve been beating this drum for a while, but most people’s idea of violence is a hollywood action movie.
Most people haven’t even gotten into a fistfight before, let alone seen lethal levels of violence. Hell most people haven’t even seen real violence through a screen, such as ISIS or cartel executions and front line footage from Ukraine or even the GWOT era. Most normies have no idea what it even looks like. Their perceptions and understanding of shit getting real is more warped than any other group in history.
To them its all hyperreal violence, rather than actual real world violence.
Actually he WAS armed in the first encounter. His pistol is quite visible in the video. And it is certainly possible that the agents who had to deal with his second tantrum were there for the first one and knew he was armed. Otherwise all your points are right on target/
That means Pretti dodged a bullet the first time, literally, and was beyond reckless to show up a second time.
I can't have any sympathy for the guy. First time was bad enough.
Yes, these checkpoints are nuts and 100% rely on the drivers to be passive about it. It's cosplay from people who don't understand just how risky and totally illegal their actions are.
The whole situation is a total dereliction of duty from the authorities in Minneapolis and in any sane society they'd be voted out (or thrown out) immediately. But the people in Minneapolis aren't sane. if I were a rural Minnesotan, I'd be PISSED, for the way these people are ruining the state that they share.
These idiots at these checkpoints are just asking for trouble and they are eventually going to find some.
I keep thinking “what if there was a fire or a medical emergency and the barricades delay responders”. Everyone on both sides of the barricades were extremely fortunate that nothing like that occurred.
Hopefully, they find that trouble from the right person. By that, I mean someone who isn't viewed as being "right-wing," ideally a member of the leftist coalition, like a black person.
That's the thing with this, they know that if some right wing white guy didn't comply to an illegal detention and it turned violent, the system would effectively end his life while they'd get off.