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Charismatic Figure Like Me

@chaptal.bsky.social

1K followers 290 following 7.1K posts

Works in a library. Socially awkward. I yell at the TV during baseball, soccer and hockey games. Autism father. Haver of unpopular opinions. Griller of sacred cows. Epic force behind Authority Control.

https://edmusic13.bandcamp.com/

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Charismatic Figure Like Me @chaptal.bsky.social · Aug 8

I've removed Authority Control's music from Spotify. To do that it had to leave all streaming platforms, for now I hope. Here's where the art is parked now.

edmusic13.bandcamp.com

Authority Control

Just a guy in a basement with guitars, gumption and GarageBand.

edmusic13.bandcamp.com

Reposted by Charismatic Figure Like Me

Billy Bragg

@billybragg.bsky.social

I wrote this yesterday about the hero city of Minneapolis

www.youtube.com/watch?v=IKOW...

BILLY BRAGG - CITY OF HEROES

YouTube video by Billy Bragg

www.youtube.com

January 26, 2026 at 10:42 PM

Charismatic Figure Like Me

@chaptal.bsky.social

Is he being sent to a farm upstate, where he can run and play with the other cosplaying nazis?

Nick Miroff @nickmiroff.bsky.social · 18h

BREAKING Greg Bovino has been removed as Border Patrol "commander at large" and will return to El Centro Calif, where he is expected to retire soon. A stunning turnaround after Pretti killing. Bovino's traveling blue city crackdown is over www.theatlantic.com/politics/202...

Gregory Bovino Gets Demoted

The Border Patrol chief was the public face of a traveling immigration crackdown on cities governed by Democrats.

www.theatlantic.com

January 27, 2026 at 12:04 AM

Reposted by Charismatic Figure Like Me

Adam Serwer

@adamserwer.bsky.social

I am just gonna say it, these guys are completely emasculated by the knowledge that they have been out-organized by a group that is significantly made up of women, and all the bullshit call of duty nonsense is cope for their wounded egos bsky.app/profile/jeet...

Jeet Heer @jeetheer.bsky.social · 1d

MAGA military geniuses are talking about Minnesota protestors like they are the Iraqi insurgency, the Taliban, and the Viet Cong all rolled into one.

January 26, 2026 at 6:12 PM

Charismatic Figure Like Me

@chaptal.bsky.social

It's still bad out there. How bad? Hockey is postponed.

www.nhl.com/news/los-ang...

Kings-Blue Jackets game postponed, rescheduled for March 9 | NHL.com

NEW YORK -- Tonight’s game between the Los Angeles Kings and Columbus Blue Jackets(NHL Game No. 828) at Nationwide Arena has been postponed due to severe winter weather in Columbus. The game is resche...

www.nhl.com

January 26, 2026 at 5:39 PM

Charismatic Figure Like Me

@chaptal.bsky.social

ALERT FC: Sheriff Baldwin has downgraded the Snow Emergency to a level 2 for Franklin County effective 01-26-2026 12:00 PM. nixle.us/H2657

Snow Level Alert from Franklin County, OH : Nixle

Sheriff Baldwin has downgraded the Snow Emergency to a level 2 for Franklin County effective 01-26-2026 12:00 PM. Level 2 Snow Emergency: Roadways are hazardous with blowing and drifting snow. Only ....

nixle.us

January 26, 2026 at 5:04 PM

Reposted by Charismatic Figure Like Me

Don Moynihan

@donmoyn.bsky.social

From the NY Post. You know they are really scrambling when they are running "The gun was no angel" stories.

Alex Pretti’s Sig handgun has history of accidentally firing — offering possible clue to why Border agent shot him

January 25, 2026 at 1:53 PM

Reposted by Charismatic Figure Like Me

Aaron Reichlin-Melnick

@reichlinmelnick.bsky.social

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.

January 25, 2026 at 1:15 AM

Charismatic Figure Like Me

@chaptal.bsky.social

All score! #CBJ

January 25, 2026 at 12:52 AM

Reposted by Charismatic Figure Like Me

Jeff Rueter

@jeffrueter.bsky.social

Kare 11 local news just read, in full, this statement from Michael and Susan Pretti, the parents of Alex Pretti.

"Please get the truth out about our son."

Statement from Michael and Susan Pretti
Parents of Alex Jeffrey Pretti

“We are heartbroken but also very angry.

Alex was a kindhearted soul who cared deeply for his family and friends and also the American veterans whom he cared for as an ICU nurse at the Minneapolis VA hospital. Alex wanted to make a difference in this world. Unfortunately, he will not be with us to see his impact.

I do not throw around the ‘hero’ term lightly. However, his last thought and act was to protect a woman. The sickening lies told about our son by the administration are reprehensible and disgusting. Alex is clearly not holding a gun when attacked by Trump’s murdering and cowardly ICE thugs. He had his phone in his right hand and his empty left hand is raised above his head while trying to protect the woman ICE just pushed down, all while being pepper sprayed.

Please get the truth out about our son. He was a good man. Thank you.

January 25, 2026 at 12:43 AM

Charismatic Figure Like Me

@chaptal.bsky.social

But goddamn it I did not like Harris…

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 3d

Minneapolis protester as he's being brutalized by feds: "You're gonna have to kill me! You're gonna have to kill me! I've done nothing wrong! My name is Matthew James! I'm a US citizen! You're gonna kill me! Is that what you want?" (You can hear his wife screaming)

January 24, 2026 at 7:59 PM

Charismatic Figure Like Me

@chaptal.bsky.social

I’m 62 and want to buy this man a drink.

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 3d

Protester in Minneapolis just before disappearing in gas: "Fuck you! Stop. Damn! I'm 70 years old and I'm fuckin' angry!"

January 24, 2026 at 5:25 PM

Reposted by Charismatic Figure Like Me

sydder

@sydder.bsky.social

We had 50K people downtown yesterday, no ICE and zero incidents. ICE is the fucking problem.

January 24, 2026 at 4:20 PM

Charismatic Figure Like Me

@chaptal.bsky.social

I've been rewatching Barney Miller for a couple of years and I'm finally up to season 7.

Season six was tense. Nick was gone. His desk was removed and Levitt was furious about it. They were all at each others throats. Luger was demoted. Blood on the Badge caused a lot of division.

January 24, 2026 at 3:31 PM

Reposted by Charismatic Figure Like Me

Thomas Leeper

@thosjleeper.bsky.social

I really can't state this enough.

Federal agents have been teargassing parks and residential neighborhoods for weeks but didn't show up for a fight downtown today and look what didn't happen.

Wishing absolute worst wishes to our occupying forces. GTFO of Minnesota.

Thomas Leeper @thosjleeper.bsky.social · 3d

Note how there's no violence or chaos when the cops aren't rioting.

Conrad Lange Zbikowski @czbi.org · 3d

Demonstrators as far as the eye can see. Current status of the march in Downtown Minneapolis, Minnesota for Ice Out of Minnesota. They are turning onto 3rd Street from 5th Avenue.

January 24, 2026 at 3:11 AM

Charismatic Figure Like Me

@chaptal.bsky.social

Glad I did not pay to see Spinal Tap 2 in a theater. It was good to see them together but too much of the humor was tired. There was one terrific merchandising joke. The loss of Reiner was even more poignant.

January 24, 2026 at 2:10 AM

Charismatic Figure Like Me

@chaptal.bsky.social

January 23, 2026 at 7:06 PM

Reposted by Charismatic Figure Like Me

jamelle

@jamellebouie.net

“and then our goons will kidnap that life and send it to a concentration camp if we deem them the wrong color”

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 4d

JD Vance: "To our fellow Americans we say, you're never gonna find great meaning in a cubicle or in front of a computer screen. But you will find great meaning if you dedicate yourself to the creation and sustenance of human life."

January 23, 2026 at 6:27 PM

Charismatic Figure Like Me

@chaptal.bsky.social

I see they’ve captured another mass murderer.

LongTime🤓FirstTime👨‍💻 @longtimehistory.bsky.social · 4d

ICE detain yet another minor child—chase him down his own street and tackle him to pavement.

"I am legal! I am legal!" he cries over and over in Spanish.

Agent pins the boy down in snow—he desperately tries to keep his exposed hands from freezing at -25°F wind chill temperature.

Minneapolis, MN

January 23, 2026 at 6:01 PM

Charismatic Figure Like Me

@chaptal.bsky.social

smdh

The New York Times @nytimes.com · 4d

From @theathletic.com: Philip Rivers, who came out of retirement last month to play quarterback for the Indianapolis Colts, is interviewing for the Buffalo Bills' head coaching job, according to a league source.

Philip Rivers interviewing for Bills’ head coaching job: Source

Just weeks after returning to the NFL as a quarterback and then retiring again, the 44-year old Rivers will take a head coaching interview.

nyti.ms

January 23, 2026 at 5:27 PM

Charismatic Figure Like Me

@chaptal.bsky.social

WTF is this prissy elite weirdo on about now?

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 4d

Bessent pushes Albertan independence from Canada: "Albertans are very independent people. There's a rumor they may have a referendum on whether they want to stay in Canada or not. People are talking. People want sovereignty. They want what the US has got."