I am an Australian, sitting thousands of miles away. I am sitting by myself, still crying, and feeling almost ridiculous for it. The last courageous moments of Alex Pretti are seared into my mind and heart. I took a day away from social media, yet I cannot escape.
Watching the protesters in Minnesota, I realize just how profoundly brave they are.
I have not spoken much about America’s decline this past year under the administration of trump and his cabal of deplorables —not as much as I did during his first term. I told myself this was self-care: that the anger and upset which consumed me then did no good, only harm.
But there was another reason: fear. Fear of negative comments, of losing the paltry number of followers I have, of criticism, of making family and friends uncomfortable, of confronting the apathy of those around me. I was afraid of being asked, again and again, why I couldn’t let it go. Why bother? It’s not your country. Why can’t you just be quiet and get along? Of such trivial, puny things was I fearful.
And that is when I understood the monumental bravery of those Americans showing up to protest. Especially after Rene Good. After the abducted five-year-old, the six-month-old who stopped breathing from ICE gas, the old man taken virtually naked into the freezing cold. And now, Alex Pretti, whose last words were, “Are you okay?”—spoken to a woman he was defending against unimaginable malice.
"Are you ok?"
~ Alex Pretti ~
These protesters are beyond brave. They leave home not knowing if they will return. They carry that very real fear, and they show up anyway—for themselves, for humanity, for their children, for their values, for their neighbours, for America itself.
But that is not why I am writing.
Today, I read a snippet of conversation. The anger and confusion over Alex Pretti’s murder, over the recent explosion of unchecked violence—orchestrated by the abominations in the White House and channeled through the sociopathic cruelty of the yellow-bellied, masked thugs —is, to most sane people, incomprehensible. The visceral “why, why?” is utterly understandable.
I am not a conspiracy theorist. I have barely followed the intricacies of the Epstein files, and I know only the general tenor of that case. I have heard of, but not listened to, Sasha Riley’s interviews.
I have also been confused. Why would his minders let him out—to international events, to Davos—when it is patently clear to the world that he is in precipitous decline, mentally and physically? Only the wilfully blind and the complicit pretend otherwise. So why let him babble incoherently on the global stage?
And why this unchecked violence on Americans, regardless of colour or city?
Why?
And why Alex Pretti? Why choose a man acting heroically and non-violently, and not someone aggresively resistant or of the “wrong” colour?
I think that was exactly the plan.
They wanted a murder that would incite maximum outrage, consume our attention, and devastate our spirit. They may have been looking for a child, a vulnerable woman, a patently “good guy” to attack as blatantly as possible—with enough shots to dominate the news cycle, with arrogant openness. They found Alex. For anyone with eyes to see, it was not just murder; it was a deliberate, blatant execution. And then, almost immediately, trump and his minions stoked the fires with their outright lies. Their goal wasn’t to fool you (though some choose to be fooled). It was to enrage you. To enrage all of us.
But why?
Because the stronger your anger, the more turbulent your emotions, the more you are distracted.
Rene Good. The toddler. The old man. Alex Pretti. The ICE brutalities. The illegality. Davos. Greenland (or Iceland for him who knows no better). Venezuela. Jack Smith. The Clintons. The Kennedy Center. The Pulitzer Prize. On and on.
What if the main reason for all of it is to distract us?
Distract us from the #EpsteinFiles and now #SashaRiley.
I’ve heard this theory before. I’ve even heard it from (ex?)pro-Trump voices like Joe Rogan. I never gave it much thought. But what if it’s exactly that? Distraction. So simple. So deadly. So obvious.
The terrifying—and crucial—question then becomes: What is in those files that is so much worse than anything we are seeing now? No amount of rambling, kidnapping, erratic tariffs, murdering Americans in broad daylight, or trying to seize Greenland is as bad as what is hidden there.
If this is true, then the contents must be so devastating that they know it would end their reign of terror. It could turn a significant proportion of the MAGATS back into humans again. It could pull their entire house down on all of them.
So to the brave and sane Americans, while you continue to valiantly protest, and as the cruelty, violence, lies, and atrocities escalate, as surely they must to keep you distracted, do not lose sight of the #EpsteinFiles and #SashaRiley.
That may be your enemies’ kryptonite.
