Schuyler Mitchell
LightNews LightNews
banner
schuylermitchell.bsky.social
Schuyler Mitchell
@schuylermitchell.bsky.social
1.5K followers 88 following 18 posts
assistant editor at mother jones 🌀
bylines in the intercept, truthout, the lever, the baffler, and more / signal: schuyler.78
Posts Replies Media Videos
Reposted by Schuyler Mitchell
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
Reposted by Schuyler Mitchell
motherjones.com
“If Minnesota falls, everything falls. We’re done as a nation.”

Fury. Grief. Anguish. Locals on the frontlines of Trump’s attack on Minneapolis are speaking out following the killing of another one of their neighbors. We’re on the ground with @samveep.bsky.social tracking the aftermath.
January 24, 2026 at 11:55 PM
Reposted by Schuyler Mitchell
melodyschreiber.com
Alex Pretti took care of veterans as an ICU nurse. “He was a super nice, super helpful guy – looked after his patients," said @dimitridrekonja.bsky.social, who worked with Pretti both at the hospital and on scientific research. "I’m just stunned.”
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...
Man shot in Minneapolis by federal agents identified as VA nurse: ‘He wanted to help people’
Alex Pretti, 37, worked in the ICU at the Minneapolis VA Health Care System and had assisted on scientific research
www.theguardian.com
January 24, 2026 at 9:18 PM
Reposted by Schuyler Mitchell
motherjones.com
The Trump administration is using an anti-Ku Klux Klan law to prosecute Minnesota activists for demonstrating against ICE at a St. Paul church.
Trump DOJ uses anti-KKK law to charge ICE protesters with felony
Federal prosecutors allege that Twin Cities organizers violated an ICE official's civil rights.
www.motherjones.com
January 24, 2026 at 4:04 PM
schuylermitchell.bsky.social
ICYMI: The Trump administration is using an anti-KKK statute to prosecute two Black anti-ICE protesters for federal conspiracy to deprive civil rights. They are accused of terrorizing churchgoers with chants such as, "This is what community looks like."
motherjones.com/politics/202...
Trump DOJ uses anti-KKK law to charge ICE protesters with felony
Federal prosecutors allege that Twin Cities organizers violated an ICE official's civil rights.
motherjones.com
January 24, 2026 at 1:03 AM
Reposted by Schuyler Mitchell
jacobrosenberg.bsky.social
Here is ICE's own data on the leading causes of death for officers—the top is Covid (from @nlanard.bsky.social)

www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
January 8, 2026 at 9:12 PM
schuylermitchell.bsky.social
Big crowd celebrating the inauguration of Seattle's new millennial socialist mayor, Katie Wilson.
"We need bread, but we need roses too."
January 2, 2026 at 8:51 PM
schuylermitchell.bsky.social
loved blogging about SLOP for Mother Jones
December 19, 2025 at 5:56 PM
Reposted by Schuyler Mitchell
motherjones.com
"Is anybody actually hungry for the slop? Of course not! But you don’t get to pick what’s served up in your trough."

Read @schuylermitchell.bsky.social on AI slop, a monster of 2025.
Monster of 2025: AI slop
The drive for a frictionless existence has sloppified our offline lives, too.
www.motherjones.com
December 18, 2025 at 2:02 PM
schuylermitchell.bsky.social
How John Roberts made Donald Trump’s imperial presidency: www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
This is all John Roberts’ fault
Trump owes his corrupt and abusive reign to one man.
www.motherjones.com
November 19, 2025 at 3:15 PM
Reposted by Schuyler Mitchell
motherjones.com
The right seeks to cast gender identity not as something you are, but as something dangerous that you believe.
How the right uses "gender ideology" to blame trans people for everything
MAGA learned from global autocrats the language needed to push fear.
www.motherjones.com
November 17, 2025 at 9:00 PM
Reposted by Schuyler Mitchell
hencarnell.bsky.social
"The right’s gripe isn’t just that trans people exist, but that their existence is tearing down the old world—of good men, obedient women, traditional family structures—and unleashing a new, godless age of chaos and precarity on you."

Banger from @schuylermitchell.bsky.social
How the right uses "gender ideology" to blame trans people for everything
MAGA learned from global autocrats the language needed to push fear.
www.motherjones.com
November 17, 2025 at 5:14 PM
schuylermitchell.bsky.social
For @motherjones.com's upcoming print issue, I unpacked the insidious phrase driving MAGA's campaign against trans lives: "Gender Ideology"
www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
How the right uses "gender ideology" to blame trans people for everything
MAGA learned from global autocrats the language needed to push fear.
www.motherjones.com
November 17, 2025 at 5:09 PM
Reposted by Schuyler Mitchell
juliannemcshane.bsky.social
"The right’s gripe isn’t just that trans people exist, but that their existence is tearing down the old world—of good men, obedient women, traditional family structures—& unleashing a new, godless age of chaos & precarity on you."

smart piece by @schuylermitchell.bsky.social
How the right uses "gender ideology" to blame trans people for everything
MAGA learned from global autocrats the language needed to push fear.
www.motherjones.com
November 17, 2025 at 3:44 PM
Reposted by Schuyler Mitchell
jacobrosenberg.bsky.social
This week's Big Feature @motherjones.com: A look at how Dreamers—who came to the US as kids—went from being protected by the government to being targeted by it.

www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
Then they came for the Dreamers
Immigrants brought here as children were told they wouldn’t be deported. Now, they’re being targeted anyway.
www.motherjones.com
November 11, 2025 at 12:42 PM
schuylermitchell.bsky.social
In my Curtis Sliwa party report for @motherjones.com: the word “genderologies,” right-wing vigilantes, an energy healer with a pet chihuahua, universal hatred for Andrew Cuomo, and several people complimenting my bangs for some reason
November 6, 2025 at 2:47 PM
Reposted by Schuyler Mitchell
clarajeffery.bsky.social
"The number one thing everyone at the Curtis Sliwa election night watch party could agree on was loving Curtis Sliwa. The number two thing was hating Andrew Cuomo. Aside from that, it was kind of a mixed bag." Fun read from @schuylermitchell.bsky.social www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
My night with Sliwa superfans
At the Republican watch party, there was one point of political agreement: Andrew Cuomo sucks.
www.motherjones.com
November 5, 2025 at 10:42 PM
Reposted by Schuyler Mitchell
jacobrosenberg.bsky.social
a great report from @schuylermitchell.bsky.social at the sliwa mayoral party

www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
My night with Sliwa superfans
At the Republican watch party, there was one point of political agreement: Andrew Cuomo sucks.
www.motherjones.com
November 5, 2025 at 10:40 PM
Reposted by Schuyler Mitchell
ariberman.bsky.social
North Carolina already one of most gerrymandered states. Now GOP passing new gerrymander giving Rs nearly 80% of seats in state where Trump got 51%. Specifically targets Black Dem Don Davis. This is preview of what post-Voting Rights Act America will look like www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
Republicans are making one of the most gerrymandered states in the nation even more rigged
North Carolina Republicans just passed a new Trump-inspired congressional map to oust a Black Democrat.
www.motherjones.com
October 21, 2025 at 7:49 PM
Reposted by Schuyler Mitchell
h-lev.bsky.social
This July, @acleek.bsky.social & I made a radio show about a major hospital landlord named Medical Properties Trust.

Now, we’ve unraveled MPT's aggressive effort to silence and surveil its critics as they tried to raise alarm, using docs leaked to @occrp.org www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
The secret campaign to silence critics of a hospital real estate empire
When skeptics called out Medical Properties Trust, they found themselves harassed—and surveilled.
www.motherjones.com
October 20, 2025 at 7:16 PM
Reposted by Schuyler Mitchell
idgordon.bsky.social
While hospitals across the country were falling apart, leaving patients in crisis and facilities severely understaffed, a shocking campaign to silence and surveil critics was underway.

Read @h-lev.bsky.social and @acleek.bsky.social's latest investigation into Medical Properties Trust.
The secret campaign to silence critics of a hospital real estate empire
When skeptics called out Medical Properties Trust, they found themselves harassed—and surveilled.
www.motherjones.com
October 20, 2025 at 6:07 PM
schuylermitchell.bsky.social
We uncovered a vast surveillance empire whose untraceable tech has been used to target people in more than 100 countries, including the US. It has operated under the radar for decades. Until now.
www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
The surveillance empire that tracked world leaders, a Vatican enemy, and maybe you
We uncovered a massive data trove. It revealed the hidden world of First Wap, whose untraceable tech has targeted politicians, journalists, celebrities, and activists around the globe.
www.motherjones.com
October 14, 2025 at 3:31 PM
Reposted by Schuyler Mitchell
motherjones.com
“It’s too late for preventative antifascism. I think we’re in a new era.”

After death threats for his work on antifascism, a Rutgers University professor fled the United States.

The latest from @schuylermitchell.bsky.social:
He studies fascism. Is he now living through it?
After death threats for his work on antifascism, a Rutgers University professor fled the United States. "It's too late for preventative antifascism," he said. "I think we're in a new era."
www.motherjones.com
October 14, 2025 at 3:08 PM
schuylermitchell.bsky.social
A professor had to flee the country last week after receiving death threats for his work on antifa. I spoke with historian @mark-bray.bsky.social about his experience being targeted by the far-right and what the history of fascism can teach us about this moment.
www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
He studies fascism. Is he now living through it?
After death threats for his work on antifascism, a Rutgers University professor fled the United States. "It's too late for preventative antifascism," he said. "I think we're in a new era."
www.motherjones.com
October 14, 2025 at 3:07 PM
Reposted by Schuyler Mitchell
kieraevebutler.bsky.social
New from me: I wrote about how increasingly Israel's most important American allies are not Jews but evangelical Christians. www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
God's "blank check": Christian Zionists are pouring billions of dollars into Israeli extremism
Evangelicals have become Israel's most important American allies.
www.motherjones.com
September 25, 2025 at 1:37 PM