Facebook Follies of Friends and Families

[Jacob]

It seems to me "bad arrests" and "complete and  utter shit show" is another way of saying arrests made outside jail or prison.

Probably fewer killings of observers and protesters as well.

[Syt]

Shared by my sister:



And of course it's fake:

https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/alex-pretti-fired/

After 37-year-old intensive care unit nurse Alex Pretti died at the hands of U.S. Border Patrol agents on Jan. 24, 2026, numerous social media users claimed he had been fired from his job over allegations of misconduct.

The rumor primarily spread on Facebook, where users claimed that Pretti's alleged misconduct ranged from "unwanted contact to invasive, predatory behavior." For example, one post read, in part:

"At the Minneapolis VA Health Care System, patient safety comes first — and every complaint is taken seriously," said Executive Director Dr. Elena Vasquez.

Now, that statement carries chilling weight. Alex Pretti, 37, a former senior ICU nurse, has been accused by patients' families of deeply disturbing, alleged misconduct toward the most vulnerable.

The claims — ranging from unwanted contact to invasive, predatory behavior — were serious enough to trigger his immediate termination and the involvement of authorities.

Numerous Snopes readers also searched the website to verify the story. Some asked whether Pretti was fired from "Lakeshore Medical Center," whereas others asked if he was fired from the Minneapolis Veterans Affairs hospital.

In short, the claim originated from a disreputable artificial intelligence slop website. Pretti did work as an ICU nurse at the Minneapolis VA hospital at the time of his death, as the union representing Minneapolis VA hospital staff confirmed, as did credible reported statements by Pretti's parents, friends, colleagues and patients. However, numerous search engine results uncovered no examples of reputable news outlets reporting on him being fired for misconduct. As such, we have rated this claim false.

CNN and The New York Times reported that those who knew Pretti believed he had become the target of a smear campaign. Neither outlet directly addressed the false claim about him being fired for misconduct, which began widely circulating after their reports.

The Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party shared a statement from Pretti's parents saying they denounced the "sickening lies" President Donald Trump's administration had told about their son. (Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, for example, claimed, without evidence and before DHS began investigating the incident, that Pretti was a "domestic terrorist.") Multiple reputable news media outlets, including The Associated Press, also reported on the statement, which included the line: "Please get the truth out about our son. He was a good man."

According to The Minnesota Star Tribune and other reputable outlets, Pretti's sister released a statement saying: "Hearing disgusting lies spread about my brother is absolutely gut-wrenching, and my family is deeply grateful so many people have stood up and helped tell his truth."

Debunking the rumor

There were numerous indicators that the claim about Pretti being fired for misconduct were false, as outlined below.

Details of claim don't add up
One popular post featuring the fabricated rumor included an alleged quote from a woman named "Dr. Elena Vasquez," who, it claimed, was the executive director of the Minneapolis VA hospital. Meanwhile, the caption included a link to a webpage that said Vasquez was the executive director of "Lakeshore Medical Center."

No one in the Minneapolis VA hospital's leadership was named Elena Vasquez at the time of publication and a search for any providers with the last name "Vasquez" in the Minnesota VA system also returned no results.

The only facility named "Lakeshore Medical Center" that appeared in an online search was the McLaren Macomb-Lakeshore Medical Center in a different state — Michigan. Based on its description, it does not appear to have an intensive care unit. The McLaren health care executive team also included no person named Elena Vasquez on staff as of this writing.

David Jones, a spokesperson for McLaren Health Care, confirmed via email that neither Alex Pretti nor an Elena Vasquez has ever been employed at Lakeshore Medical Center.

Snopes also contacted the Minneapolis VA to confirm that the institution does not employ someone named Dr. Elena Vasquez. We will update this article if it replies.

Claim originated from AI slop site

The webpage featured in the Facebook post's caption was a WordPress blog full of advertisements, a typical feature of AI slop websites, as Snopes previously reported. The blog also featured a "Sample Page" showing its creator what to write on the site and recommending the page be deleted. Such pages would not likely appear on authentic news media websites, as Snopes previously reported.

The sample page and a privacy policy section were the only two sections of the site. Meanwhile, the social media icons at the top right of the page did not lead to any social media accounts and every article was "uncategorized," instead of categorized into news, politics and other topics.

Many of the articles on the Wordpress blog also used emojis in headlines and the text of the stories, which can be an indicator of AI-generated text. GPTZero, a tool for detecting AI-generated text, gave the Pretti story a 100% likelihood of being AI-generated. (While these tools are not foolproof, a rating that definitive in favor of AI generation provides additional evidence indicating the webpage was AI slop.)

The story itself also included multiple errors, indicating it was AI-generated. For example, the page read: "Pretti, 42, has not responded to requests for comment." Pretti was 37 at the time of his death, according to numerous reputable news media outlets, and, for obvious reasons, would not be able to respond to a request for comment.

The Wordpress blog claimed in a separate article that Patrick J. Kelly, the actual executive director of the Minneapolis VA hospital, held an impromptu news conference to comment on allegations about Pretti's supposed misconduct. However, a Google search for this supposed news conference returned no results from reputable news outlets — and it would have certainly been newsworthy if it happened.

Issue with photo in Facebook post and blog site

The Facebook post and the Wordpress webpage both included a photo of a man wearing a pink dress, suggesting it was Pretti.

However, this was not a picture of the late ICU nurse. Instead, it showed what appeared to be a digitally altered image of comedian Ben Taylor from a reality show called Fishtank Live.

The show's X account sarcastically commented on the photo, writing (archived):

Ben bravely stood up to the injustice in Minnesota and paid the ultimate price. He will not be joining us for season 5. Please respect our privacy during this time of grieving.

As fact-checking site Lead Stories first reported, the staircase, door, floormat and doormat in the picture matched a room shown on Fishtank Live (see 5:10). The face of the person in the image visually matched Taylor's Season 2 picture on the Fandom website, a Wikipedia-style source for entertainment content.

Pretti was employed as ICU nurse at time of death

The union representing VA hospital staff, the American Federation of Government Employees, released a statement "mourning the loss of one of our own" and referring to Pretti as an ICU nurse at the Minneapolis VA hospital, thus confirming he was employed there at the time of his death.

In Pretti's parents' statement, they called their son 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."

Friends, colleagues, patients and the loved ones of Pretti's patients also reportedly came forward to share stories about him working at the hospital that were incongruous with the allegations of misconduct; for example, people remembered him as "kind-hearted" and the "best of us."

Numerous news media outlets also reported stories of several patients who said Pretti treated them just weeks before he was shot, indicating that he was working at the VA hospital at the time of his death.

[Admiral Yi]

It seems to me "bad arrests" and "complete and  utter shit show" is another way of saying arrests made outside jail or prison.

Probably fewer killings of observers and protesters as well.

So you concede that up until the two killings they were synonymous?

[Tamas]

It seems to me "bad arrests" and "complete and  utter shit show" is another way of saying arrests made outside jail or prison.

Probably fewer killings of observers and protesters as well.

So you concede that up until the two killings they were synonymous?

That should be a very easy point to concede if you could procure any video footage of masked armed ICE agents in civilian vehicles ambushing random coloured people on the street during the tenure of those previous Presidents.

[Tamas]

Shared by my sister:

<snip>

Hey, at least it bothers them enough that they need to find a copium like that. That's half a notch better than just saying "well if you protest ICE you should be shot in the back for it"

[Admiral Yi]

It seems to me "bad arrests" and "complete and  utter shit show" is another way of saying arrests made outside jail or prison.

Probably fewer killings of observers and protesters as well.

So you concede that up until the two killings they were synonymous?

That should be a very easy point to concede if you could procure any video footage of masked armed ICE agents in civilian vehicles ambushing random coloured people on the street during the tenure of those previous Presidents.

You're making my point for me. It's either legal for ICE agents to wear masks, carry firearms, and ride in civilian vehicles or it's illegal. If those are illegal, we have a functioning court system with the authority to make that determination.

If they are legal, then "complete and utter shit show," "thug," and "Freikorps" reduce down to an expression of your preferences, nothing more.

[The Brain]

Is the legality of randomly ambushing non-whites in the streets relevant or irrelevant?

[Admiral Yi]

Is the legality of randomly ambushing non-whites in the streets relevant or irrelevant?

The legality of everything is relevant.

[Razgovory]

Shared by my sister:

<snip>

Hey, at least it bothers them enough that they need to find a copium like that. That's half a notch better than just saying "well if you protest ICE you should be shot in the back for it"

It's coming out of Vietnam.

[HVC]

Does crossing the line from where they used to wear masks, carry firearms, and ride in civilian vehicles* and didnt intimidate, attack,  and murder civilians to now where they wear masks, carry firearms, and ride in civilian vehicles and intimidate, attack and murder civilians deserve any outrage?

At the very least you should be calling out their poor efficiency and government waste.  Their budget is way up, but their deportations aren't keeping up with past presidents. If one were so inclined that could lead one to believe that the increase in untrained personel has less to do with deportations and more to do with intimidation part. Again, if someone was so inclined.


*assuming that part is true I don't know personally.

[Jacob]

So you concede that up until the two killings they were synonymous?

No?

[The Minsky Moment]

It seems to me "bad arrests" and "complete and  utter shit show" is another way of saying arrests made outside jail or prison.

I was thinking more of gangs of agents strutting down residential streets harassing people.  Smashing down residential doors and dragging citizens out because you got the wrong name AND the wrong address AND can't be bothered do an ID check.  Tackling people and detaining people who state they are citizens and proffer ID. 

Routinely engaging in violence against protestors who are not using force.  Spraying chemicals in their faces and eyes, tackling them, pushing them, beating and kicking them.

And yes shooting lots of holes in people who pose no serious threat and then blocking medical assistance because it's more fun to count the holes. 

That kind of shit show.
And no, none of those things are lawful activities, whether or not you wear a badge or an agency name on your body armor.

[Valmy]

And how they ship people they arrest down to Texas for processing, determine they did nothing wrong, and release them in Texas with no way to get back home. I was always nervous about how the police had the theoretical power to lock you up for 24 hours for no reason, but this takes it to a whole new level.

[The Minsky Moment]

"The Pacification of Humanity" sounds dystopian.

Dystopian is no accident, as the use and application of 8 USC 1325 is truly Orwellian.  By treaty (which is part of US law) asylum applicants that establish their entitlement for asylum cannot be deported or criminally punished for asserting their asylum rights, regardless of method of entry. In 2015, the DHS Inspector General specifically flagged this issue, noting that pursuing 1325 criminal cases against asylum applicants likely violated US treaty obligations.

Nonetheless, Trump I did pursue 1325 cases against asylum applicants. Trump II has made that a matter of policy.  Which is why we find ourselves in the insane situation where asylum applicants doing the right thing and showing up for their hearings are being arrested on the courthouse steps and lobbies and bundled into INS detention and even planes out of the country.

The argument is made that asylum applicants can just declare themselves as a port of entry, thus avoiding 1325 prosecutions.  But that ignores several massive problems, most notably: (1) Trump I admin put sharp quotas on the number of asylum applicants that would be processed at a POE, violating treaty obligations.  (2) Recently, Trump II put a hold on ALL asylum applications (though white Afrikaners may be excepted).

Thus, asylum applicants who try to follow lawful procedures will be turned away.  Those that enter anyways will be prosecuted under 1325.  Heads ICE wins, tails asylee loses.

The 1325 charges can then be leveraged. The threat of criminal charges and jail time can be used to coerce the applicant into waiving their asylum rights and/or stipulating that they don't satisfy the criteria.  They can be coerced into plea deals admitting guilt in return for suspending sentence.  If they agree, they are permanently ineligible to return.

Basically 1325 has been used as a mechanism to tear up the Refugee and Torture Convention and circumvent the treaties.

[viper37]

If those are illegal, we have a functioning court system with the authority to make that determination.

How many times has the Trump administration stopped doing something and changed its ways because the court told them to do so?