Nick Berning

Strategy, comms campaigning & org mgmt in service of climate solutions, progressive politics & basic kindness. @DrewCourt's boo, @RenlyDog's pal, fan of NE DC.

[Jason DeRusha @DeRushaJ]

Independent Twin Cities journalist Georgia Fort says federal agents came to her door at 6:30am and arrested her for filming the protest at that St. Paul church. Via her Facebook:

[MeidasTouch @MeidasTouch]

TMZ's Harvey Levin goes nuclear on Trump over the arrest of Don Lemon:

Arresting Don Lemon, who covered a protest in Minneapolis, is just insane. Ridiculous. Dictator-like. This is the playbook that dictators use to destroy democracies and take the will of the people away. It is as simple as that.

Watch that video. He is covering the protest. That is what journalists do.

I covered riots. I was a local reporter in Los Angeles for 15 years, and I covered riots and floods and earthquakes and all sorts of things where I had to step into areas where there were police, where there was activity, private property. When you're covering an event like this, like a protest, which I have covered many, you step into it. That's what journalists do. And that's what Don Lemon did.

It is insane that they are making this stupid argument. This is a ridiculous assault, and I don't want to say just on the First Amendment. It's a ridiculous assault on democracy. The Trump administration should be ashamed of itself, but they're not. And they will continue to do this. And they are going after journalists. They're getting search warrants for their homes.

It is obvious what's happening in this country. So wise up, everybody. This is an outrage.

[Republicans against Trump @RpsAgainstTrump]

Don Lemon: “You know what Donald Trump? Fuck you. Just fuck all the way off. What an asshole and a small-minded, small dick shit to do. You are an immature child. You are a bigot, a fucking racist, and a small penis asshole”

[Rep. Mike Flood @USRepMikeFlood]

This is not what we do in Nebraska - this is not ok. The video of the girl being hit by a car at the school protest is disturbing.

While initial reports say that the girl was alert and talking when she was taken away, we are praying for her and her well being.

The incident needs to be fully investigated by law enforcement. It is critical that our country preserve the ability of people to safely protest.

[Molly Jong-Fast @MollyJongFast]

“Now, the volunteers in Maine say federal agents have started showing up at their homes and intimidating them or threatening arrest. Some of them, masked and wearing tactical gear, have issued stark warnings not to follow them.”

[Alex Tabarrok @ATabarrok]

An incredible interview. The quiet dignity.

[Joe Walsh @WalshFreedom]

ICE pointed semi-automatic weapons at a retired American couple in a church parking lot. No warrant. No rights read. Just terror.

This is not law enforcement. This is unconstitutional intimidation.
Under the Fourth Amendment, ICE cannot detain or search without a judicial warrant. "We don’t need one," is a lie.

PAXIS is here to hold that line:
— Lawful speech, not escalation.
— Shared truth, not fear.
— Human dignity, always.

🛑 If ICE appears at your place of worship: You have the right to remain silent. You have the right to see a judicial warrant. You have the right to not open the door.

📚 Learn more, stand firm and help develop: https://t.co/I9Jo0cjo4J
PAXIS holds. The Constitution holds. We do not run. We respond.

[Ken Klippenstein @kenklippenstein]

I interviewed over half a dozen ICE and Border Patrol agents who describe an agency that sounds like Reno 911!

“I thought federal agents were supposed to be clean cut but some of them pass around a flask as we are watching a suspect,” one told me:
https://t.co/lvBEGegvKz

[Joe Biden @JoeBiden]

What has unfolded in Minneapolis this past month betrays our most basic values as Americans. We are not a nation that guns down our citizens in the street. We are not a nation that allows our citizens to be brutalized for exercising their constitutional rights. We are not a nation that tramples the 4th Amendment and tolerates our neighbors being terrorized. The people of Minnesota have stood strong — helping community members in unimaginable circumstances, speaking out against injustice when they see it, and holding our government accountable to the people. Minnesotans have reminded us all what it is to be American, and they have suffered enough at the hands of this Administration. Violence and terror have no place in the United States of America, especially when it’s our own government targeting American citizens.

No single person can destroy what America stands for and believes in, not even a President, if we — all of America — stand up and speak out. We know who we are. It's time to show the world. More importantly, it's time to show ourselves.

Now, justice requires full, fair, and transparent investigations into the deaths of the two Americans who lost their lives in the city they called home. Jill and I are sending strength to the families and communities who love Alex Pretti and Renee Good as we all mourn their senseless deaths.

[Bill Clinton @BillClinton]

Over the course of a lifetime, we face only a few moments where the decisions we make and the actions we take will shape our history for years to come.  This is one of them.

[Ed Krassenstein @EdKrassen]

BREAKING: @AOC just completely went off on Trump after ICE murdered Alex Pretti.

"Donald Trump [is] accusing a Veteran Affairs ICU nurse (Alex Pretti) as being a terrorist against the United States. A man who was treating services members to our country, who was dedicating his life to serving Americans. Who in his final act on this earth was helping a woman pushed to the ground. And they are calling him a Domestic Terrorist, in order to defend their gross abuse of power, their absolute breaching of the law and in order to precipitate greater conflict."

[Jim Sciutto @jimsciutto]

Statement from the family of Alex Pretti, Michael and Susan 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 has 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”

[Nicholas Kristof @NickKristof]

Take a moment to look at the inhumanity captured in this extraordinary photo running on the front page of tonight's Minneapolis @StarTribune. It shows federal immigration agents immobilizing a protester on the ground and spraying chemical irritant directly into his face. The scene reminds me of the brutality used against civil rights protesters in the 1960s. We look back at those old photos and wonder how the authorities could have behaved so savagely; many years from now, young Americans will look at these photos from 2026 and wonder how anyone could have justified shooting a woman in the head as she tried to drive away, arresting 5-year-old schoolchildren on the street, or holding a man down and spaying chemicals into his face. Thanks to the Star Tribune reporters and photographers for documenting this work; they create accountability, they make democracy work, and they make all of us in journalism proud.

[Ed Markey @SenMarkey]

These are not rogue agents. This is an all out assault on American life. ICE is a criminal organization that is entering homes without judicial warrants, detaining witnesses, and killing people. All at the direction of Trump. We must stop funding DHS. There is no other path forward.

[Stephen King @StephenKing]

ICE is the American Gestapo.

[Jesse Rodriguez @JesseRodriguez]

AP: College freshman is deported flying home for Thanksgiving surprise, despite court order https://t.co/0wcmxcpYz7

[Nick Berning @nickberning]

@kenvogel @SteveSchmidtSES @SaveAmericaMvm More than one — spotted this last night near 1st and m nw

[Jesus Freakin Congress @TheJFreakinC]

By far the most disturbing ICE video I’ve seen from Evanston, IL today.

An ICE agent points his gun at unarmed citizens. Twice.

Then, he goes around the SUV, drops to his knees, and presses his full weight onto a man’s back. Moments later, that same man’s head is beaten into the pavement while the agent holds his head down.

When they finally pull him up, his face is swollen and dazed… clearly concussed… and then they slam his head into the SUV and pin it there with their shoulder.

You can’t watch this and call it law enforcement. This is excessive force and criminal assault.

[Barack Obama @BarackObama]

This commentary offers a clear, powerful statement of why freedom of speech is at the heart of democracy and must be defended, whether the speaker is Charlie Kirk or Jimmy Kimmel, MAGA supporters or MAGA opponents.

[Nick Berning @nickberning]

@grok @aseoane123 @adamscochran @Angry_Staffer But he’s the commander in chief. If he orders it the plane will fly. It’s not really a question of what he is allowed to do.