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Paul Rykoff (1:00)
People continue to come forward who know Alex Preddy and they share the stories of his service, his character and his heroism. And when it comes to the spin around Alex Pretty, do not believe the government. Believe your eyes and believe your ear. Welcome to Independent Americans. Welcome to episode 427. I'm your host Paul Reikoff and I am coming to you from New York City, USA. It is Wednesday, January 28th and the weather is cold. Damn cold. It's like 11 degrees here as it is across much of the country right now. But we are dug out, we're digging out, we're enduring the storm and we know it's much colder in Minneapolis, it's much colder in Portland, Maine, it's much colder in Ukraine and we're getting ready for the next storm. There's another storm supposedly coming in this weekend in Northeastern and that's a good plan for the rest of America. We should all be ready for the next storm because Minneapolis was just the first city hit with an ice storm and Portland, Maine was next. And maybe Phoenix, Arizona might be next. More on that coming up. But now that America has dug out, it is time to get ready for the next storm. And that's what I want to do on this show. Get you ready for the next storm. And when you stay ready, you don't have to get ready. And I'm going to bring you the five eyes that I bring you in every single episode. Independence, integrity, information, inspiration and impact. And I'm doing that with no guest today. It's just me and you because I'm going to help you Breeze through it quickly and stay vigilant. All right. On this Wednesday, on this hump day, there is a lot happening and a lot that you need to focus on, a lot that if you're not angry about, you're not paying attention. And let's start with our top topics. All right. The unfolding and escalating situation around Minneapolis and ICE nationwide continues to be our number one story. And there was breaking news last night that Representative Ilhan Omar, Democrat from Minnesota, was assaulted during a town hall meeting. She was giving a speech at a town hall and a man ran up and sprayed her with something we now hear maybe some kind of vinegar, but she was okay. And she actually went back and almost tried to swing at him. And she said, here's the reality that people like this ugly man don't understand. We are Minnesota strong, and we stay resilient in the face of whatever they might throw at us. Look, thankfully and most importantly, she's okay. But this is a dangerous reminder that the threat of political violence in America is sky high and rising by the day from threats domestic and foreign. Don't forget, there are plenty of other enemies around the world who want to kill our elected leaders. And this comes after an attack that may not have gotten enough attention. Representative Frost of Florida was at Sundance this weekend when a guy hit him in the face. Now, Capitol Hill police told NPR last year that its agents were on track to work through roughly 14,000 threat assessment cases by the end of 2025. 14,000. And those are just the ones that are recorded. Here's the thing I want us to think about. It's much bigger than politics, as I've recommended for many months. This should be a national security priority, not just a political issue. But it's not. Now, not only is Trump stoking the fire daily, he and all of Congress are also failing to provide a strategy and resources to meet with what is a national security threat. We need a national plan to protect all electeds and judges from violence as we push deeper into a perilous new normal. It should be a priority element for our national defense plan. And until we have one, our electeds of all parties and no party, everyone near them, our politics, our democracy, and all Americans will be less safe and our enemies will be celebrating. That is front and center. But so is the ongoing developments around the murder of VA nurse Alex Preddy. I went deeper yesterday with Dr. Vin Gupta. If you didn't check out that episode, please do. We did a tribute to Alex Pretty and all the people who do the work that he does. We defended his good name while it continued to be under attack. People continue to come forward who know Alex Preddy and they share the stories of his service, his character, and his heroism. And when it comes to the spin around Alex, do not believe the government. Believe your eyes and believe your ears. And believe yesterday what you heard from Trump who threatened gun owners. Remember, Alex Preddy had a gun legally. He was exercising his Second Amendment right. He was exercising his First Amendment right in speaking out, and he was exercising his constitutional rights to protest. But despite that, ICE continues to run rampant across America, especially in Minneapolis, in. In Maine and in Phoenix every day. More disturbing videos and more disturbing news. More on that in a second. But there is breaking news. Two federal agents who shot and murdered Alex Preddy in Minneapolis have now been placed on leave. It was just announced within the last few hours. It was disclosed by administration official. As more Republicans continue to break with the White House on the handling of the shooting, as outrage continues to grow all around the world. Now, of course, the police, Capitol Hill police are also investigating the attack on Ilhan Omar. And on Sunday, Bevino, who is overseeing Trump's Border Patrol operations, said the agents involved in the shooting had been moved to other cities and, quote, more than likely would be on administrative duty. Now, he and others continue to defend the killing, though falsely describing Preddy as a terrorist, as an assassin, and as an aggressor. None of that was true. And interestingly, also, Stephen Miller, top aide to Trump and diabolical planner, suggested that the agents who killed Preddy after he was restrained, quote, may not have been following protocol, you think? But the fact that Miller even admitted that is a walk back on some levels. I want to underscore something. We do not know the names of the agents that shot Preddy. We don't know who they are. We don't know their names. If this was any other kind of police shooting, we would know their names. They would be put on administrative leave, and then we would have a full, thorough investigation. Of course, there's no body cam footage, as all agents should have, as something I've called for before. All ICE agents should immediately have body camera footage, but they do not. And let me underscore something. ICE agents are not Delta operators. They are not Navy SEALs. They are not entitled to have their identities protected like our special operators are. Law enforcement should be public. They should be named. They should not be masked in their interest as well. So I want to follow this issue. In particular, why is it taking so long to release the names of the people who killed, who murdered Alex Preddy. ICE continues to be reckless, unencumbered, unaccountable, and unconstitutional. And I want to continue to bring you examples that underscore it. Because every day we get new examples. Check this out. Now that's video and audio, if you're listening. That shows ICE agents deploying tear gas outside a Minneapolis preschool. This has nothing to do with law enforcement. This has nothing to do with keeping us safer. People are yelling. You can hear them say, this is a preschool. There are kids here. What the fuck are you doing? That's the question that more and more Americans are asking all across the country. What the fuck are you doing? And stop doing it because. Because it's un American and it's unconstitutional. Here's another clip I want to show you that I think is also important. Check this out. I will tell you this, brother, what you know, I will tell you this. You raise your voice, I raise your voice. If I raise my voice, you'll erase my voice.