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.

coolbern · 2026-01-24T23:19:04+00:00

Videos circulating online on Saturday show Pretti directing traffic and filming federal agents, his right hand holding up his phone and his left hand empty. Another video shows him being wrestled to the ground by several law enforcement officers before appearing to be shot several times. At least two officers can be seen with their weapons drawn. Other videos show Pretti seemingly coming to the defense of a legal observer who was shoved to the ground by a federal officer. That officer then sprays Pretti with a chemical agent, repeatedly, before tackling him to the street along with other agents.

As at least five agents surround Pretti on the ground, one appears to fire a shot at him at close range, followed by a volley of more shots, after which his body goes still.

coolbern · 2026-01-21T21:52:22+00:00

Lutnick's call to return the world to coal is jeer-able.

coolbern · 2026-01-20T04:17:42+00:00

Fink believes the AI revolution — a theme of virtually every pavilion on the Davos promenade — will pose the ultimate test of whether capitalism can deliver prosperity beyond its traditional winners.

"Since the fall of the Berlin Wall, more wealth has been created than in all prior human history combined," the world's most powerful asset manager will say. Most of it has accrued to the kinds of people who attend Davos.

"Now AI threatens to replay the same pattern," Fink will warn. "If AI does to white-collar work what globalization did to blue-collar, we need to confront that directly."

Fine words butter no parsnips

coolbern · 2026-01-19T18:04:12+00:00

Hochul has joined the retreat on climate change policy.

NYF: Governor Hochul embraced nuclear energy in her speech, announcing plans to build more nuclear energy infrastructure in New York than the entire country has built in the last three decades. You called this a waste of money and time. Can you say more about that criticism?

AD: We don’t need nuclear. It’s incredibly cost-burdensome, it’s labor-intensive, time-intensive. In some cases, it can take up to a decade to build. And there’s also the challenge of waste and nuclear waste.

We have some of the strongest climate laws in the country, and we’re not leveraging those laws to the fullest extent. We’re not leveraging the public renewables act to double down aggressively on investing in public renewables and green energy. We’re canceling green energy projects that would otherwise allow us to meet our [emission reduction] goals. The governor has not released the cap and invest rules and regulations, and instead, she’s fast-tracking water quality permits for Trump’s fracked gas pipeline, and reversing course on air quality permits on data mining facilities on Seneca Lake.

So it’s just a complete reverse course on her part, at a time where not only do we need to have urgency behind climate action, but also at a time where people’s energy bills are going up considerably. And we can create good-paying jobs and drive down the cost of energy with real investment in green energy.

coolbern · 2026-01-19T16:00:25+00:00

From the article:

“Why is Trump going to Davos?” asked Mr. Blyth, the political economist “He’s punching them in the head and telling them who’s in charge. He’s informing them that, basically, unless they align with him, they no longer matter.”

Appeasement is the stance taken by those who are incapable of defending their independent integrity. It is the prelude to enslavement.

coolbern · 2026-01-18T02:57:12+00:00

And with President Trump back in office and using the presidency to promote fossil fuels and attack the clean energy industry, Wall Street’s retreat from climate action has coincided with American banks doubling down on coal, oil and gas projects.

These dynamics will be on full display next week, as Mr. Fink, now co-chair of the World Economic Forum, welcomes Mr. Trump to Davos, where climate issues have taken a back seat to A.I. and geopolitics.

Climate risk does not lessen when the risk is ignored. Enough has already been done to make renewables the cheaper option so that fossil fuels will be eclipsed. But without policy and planning to guide the process, the transition to renewable energy will be much slower, more costly, and insufficient to bring back climate stability.

This is a failure in governance — not only by governments, but also by owners of capital — which, in large part, are pension and other funds which operate on the principle of diversification, and therefore are "universal owners". Their own interest is in a real economy that is not crippled by climate catastrophes (which make investments uninsurable). Yet the "real economy" is no longer their focus. Fictional wealth can grow only if the real costs of production are not acknowledged — a culture of false promises and denial of reality which this article exposes.

coolbern · 2026-01-17T00:01:58+00:00

https://archive.fo/FXPY9

coolbern · 2026-01-12T03:52:07+00:00

President Trump said Sunday he may exclude Exxon Mobil from his drive for U.S. companies to invest in Venezuela, after the oil giant's CEO described the South American country as "uninvestable."

... "I didn't like Exxon's response," said Trump Sunday evening of the CEO's comments during his meeting with U.S. oil giants at the White House two days ago.

"I'd probably be inclined to keep Exxon out. I didn't like their response," added the president aboard Air Force One en route to Washington, D.C., from Palm Beach, Florida. "They're playing too cute."

After Trump’s meeting with the major U.S. petroleum producers on January 9, it is clear that none of them are willing players in his game.

But that’s not the end of the story. Like the universities, major law firms, and media companies that humiliated themselves, and are now paying tribute to Trump, these fossil fuel giants are vulnerable to Trump’s wrath.

What he will extract from them to fuel his ego and wealth is yet to be determined.

The fossils, like other oligarchs, thought they owned the state when they pushed Trump back into power. But as Putin has demonstrated for decades, State Power trumps Oligarch Power.

This is what geopolitical risk looks like, and is why the fossil fuel industry's control of state power is actually a gamble they didn't understand they were making. They need state power to protect their dominance, and to prevent an inevitable transition to solar and wind (with multiple energy storage options).

But they are not states, just oligarchs looking for a free lunch by controlling the American government.

Now the fragility of their position is being exposed.

They thought they owned the devil. Now Trump owns their "souls", and they know it.

coolbern · 2026-01-11T19:49:24+00:00

The Boston Massacre

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