Tea at Trianon: SignalGate and the Myth of the Peaceful ICE Protester

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Friday, January 30, 2026

SignalGate and the Myth of the Peaceful ICE Protester

From Amuse on X:

Based on what is now known, it is far more accurate to say that Alex Pretti functioned as an active participant in the ICE Watch insurgency in Minnesota. He was not a bystander. He was not merely present. He was trained, coordinated, armed, and operational. He provided actionable intelligence. He accepted assignments. He moved toward enforcement scenes in response to real time direction. And on the day of his death, he inserted himself physically into a confrontation with federal officers while carrying a loaded firearm and additional magazines, in violation of Minnesota law, after being warned by his own parents not to engage officers because of his anger.
To see this clearly, it helps to distinguish protest from direct action. Protest expresses opposition. Direct action seeks to obstruct. Protest communicates. Direct action intervenes. Protest attempts to persuade an audience. Direct action attempts to impose costs. ICE Watch was not organized around persuasion. It was organized around disruption. Its purpose was to locate, track, and interfere with immigration enforcement operations in real time.
Alex Pretti attended ICE Watch training. He participated in Signal groups used to coordinate these operations. He did not merely observe these channels. He contributed to them. He provided location updates. He responded to calls for support. He moved to spot ICE vehicles. He accepted assignments to go to enforcement scenes. That is not expressive dissent. That is operational participation. (Read more.)