A Sense of Doubt blog post #3999 - Listening to all the David Bowie Albums This Month (and how this activity is still about writing...)

A Sense of Doubt blog post #3999 - Listening to all the David Bowie Albums This Month (and how this activity is still about writing...)

This is David Bowie Month because of his birthday (January 8th) and the day of his death (January 10th).

And because David Bowie is my single favorite artist in all of the arts.

So, this month, I am listening to all the Bowie albums. I am pretty much done with that project. I am listening to Space Oddity now, which was the last one, not counting the live albums, which will be the final listens.

Usually Wednesday is WRITING WEDNESDAY. And this post is SORT OF about writing because I have always learned a great deal about writing and art from David Bowie's music.

He was a fascinating thinker and creator with a rich literary experience of reading hundreds and hundreds of books, seeing films, engaging in the world of art within and outside of music.

And everyone has opinions, like this bloke who made the graphic below.

I don't agree with these ratings.

Albums like Scary Monsters and Super Creeps and Outside belong in the iconic category, which I see a synonymous with "masterpiece." Though I can see the argument that 1. Outside would not qualify in the same list of masterpieces as The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars and Low.

I would move all but those two and Blackstar to the great or good categories (which I would split). I also acknowledge that my assessment of Blackstar may be colored by it being his last album. It's surely great, but is it only a masterpiece because it's his last words?

Diamond Dogs is definitely great, and one could argue that it is a masterpiece.

I would also rank Hunky Dory, Lodger, and Buddha of Suburbia above Young Americans or The Man Who Sold the World.

But I am biased. I love all the Bowie albums; I just love some of them more than others.

Yes, even Never Let Me Down.

This bloke's "what was he thinking" category is stupid. Let's Dance??? I can tell you what he was thinking. He made a boat load of money. And though I felt it was a let down after Scary Monsters and Super Creeps, I have come to respect how Bowie reversed direction, read the signs of the times, and exploded at the dawn of the MTV era. Brilliance also seen by Bruce Springsteen, Dire Straits, and, a bit sadly, Van Halen among several others.

...Hours has grown on me and continues to grow on me to the point that I feel it's one of Bowie's bast and most underrated albums.

When I did this post two years ago, I ranked ...Hours seventh.

Thursday, January 18, 2024

A Sense of Doubt blog post #3257 - All the Bowie Albums and my TOP TEN

TOP TEN FAVORITE ALBUMS BY DAVID BOWIE

1. Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps)

2. Low

3. Buddha of Suburbia

4. 1. Outside: The Nathan Adler Diaries-A Hyper Cycle

5. The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars

6. Diamond Dogs

7. ...Hours

8. Heathen

9. Station to Station

10. Blackstar

I might revise this list today. My re-discovery of 1. Outside: The Nathan Adler Diaries-A Hyper Cycle

prompted me to over-value it.

And likewise, Buddha of Suburbia ranked highly because like Low I listen to it A LOT.

However, I listen to ...Hours and Heathen  just as much and more than Ziggy. This is a very personal list as you can see.

This year I have been listening to Diamond Dogs many times and have actually applied myself to multiple listens of Young Americans and Heroes.

Listening to Bowie's music but the albums as unique art works start to finish always spark my imagination, illuminate new ideas, prompt me to wonder how he composed those lyrics and the music to deliver them.

In a not quite related thought but on writing, I have said many times, any progress is progress. I just literally wrote a couple of lines in two chapters as the minimum of today's output. I might not be able to do more later as I am writing a final project due tomorrow, but at least, I did something.

Thanks for tuning in.

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- Bloggery committed by chris tower - 2601.28 - 10:10

- Days ago: MOM = 3862 days ago & DAD = 517 days ago

- New note - On 1807.06, I ceased daily transmission of my Hey Mom feature after three years of daily conversations. I post Hey Mom blog entries on special occasions. I post the days since ("Days Ago") count on my blog each day, and now I have a second count for Days since my Dad died on August 28, 2024. I am now in the same time zone as Google! So, when I post at 10:10 a.m. PDT to coincide with the time of Mom's death, I am now actually posting late, so it's really 1:10 p.m. EDT. But I will continue to use the time stamp of 10:10 a.m. to remember the time of her death and sometimes 13:40 EDT for the time of Dad's death. The blog entry numbering in the title has changed to reflect total Sense of Doubt posts since I began the blog on 0705.04, which include Hey Mom posts, Daily Bowie posts, and Sense of Doubt posts. Hey Mom posts will still be numbered sequentially. New Hey Mom posts will use the same format as all the other Hey Mom posts; all other posts will feature this format seen here.

A Sense of Doubt blog post #3998 - MURDER - Call it what it is - Veteran ICU RN Alex Pretti MURDERED by ICE Agent in Minneapolis

A Sense of Doubt blog post #3998 - MURDER - Call it what it is - Veteran ICU RN Alex Pretti MURDERED by ICE Agent in Minneapolis

We need to call it what it is.

Alex Pretti was murdered.

Renee Good was murdered.

Wael Tarabishi was murdered when ICE arrested his father, Wael's sole care giver, and then refused to let him (father Maher Tarabishi) attend his son's funeral.

https://www.star-telegram.com/news/politics-government/article314464345.html

The actions of the Trump administration and its ICE gestapo are cruel and unhuman. They literally dehumanize people constantly with their racist and hateful language.

They are behaving exactly like Nazis.

It's time for rational people who care about other humans and believe in American democracy to stand up and keep standing up to object, to resist, and to fight.

In Trump's own words: "Fight like Hell or you're not going to have a country anymore."

This is not even thinly veiled racism. It's pretty outright and directly racism.

It must stop.

I had been planning a post about Renee Good, which I had not finished yet, when someone else was murdered by ICE agents.

There's been three murders in Minneapolis since January First, two of them were by federal agents.

The material below from The New York Times breaks down video evidence of Pretti's murder proving that the Trump administration, especially DHS, is LYING about what happened, lies that are easily disproven by what we can see with our own eyes.

These lies about Renee Good's murder and her alleged use of a car as a lethal weapon were also disproven by the video footage.

And both of these people murdered were white.

White people opposing the brutal, racist, cruel, and inhuman tactics of the gestapo-like ICE agents against their neighbors and community.

Investigate both murders INDEPENDENTLY.

ABOLISH ICE.

Kristi Noem must resign or be impeached.

JUSTICE is the American way.

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2026/01/24/us/minneapolis-shooting-alex-pretti-timeline.html

Timeline: A Moment-by-Moment Look at the Shooting of Alex Pretti

By Bora Erden, Devon Lum, Helmuth Rosales, Elena Shao, Haley Willis and Ashley Wu 

Updated Jan. 25, 2026, 5:50 p.m. E.T.

Federal agents shot and killed a 37-year-old Minneapolis resident, Alex Jeffrey Pretti, at about 9 a.m. Central time on Saturday morning. A video shared with The New York Times by a witness and her lawyer, as well as other video footage posted on social media, documents the violent scene, where agents appear to fire at least 10 shots in a span of five seconds.

The footage seems to contradict the Department of Homeland Security’s account of the encounter, which the agency said began after an individual armed with a handgun approached the federal agents with the intent to “massacre” them.

48 seconds before shooting

Mr. Pretti filming the scene

Immigration agent

Civilian with orange backpack

Civilian in brown coat

Still from video shared with The Times. The New York Times

Videos show a small group of civilians standing in the middle of a street where a person was detained on the ground; the civilians are speaking to federal agents. Mr. Pretti appears to be filming the scene, and he walks closer to the federal agents while holding his phone.

Then an agent shoves two civilians from one side of the street to the other, pushing them toward a white S.U.V.

28 seconds before

Mr. Pretti

Agent pushing civilian to the ground

Civilian with orange backpack

Civilian in brown coat

White S.U.V.

Still from video shared with The Times. The New York Times

For a second time, the agent pushes the civilian with the orange backpack. The civilian falls to the ground near the white S.U.V.

25 seconds before

Mr. Pretti holding a phone

Agent pepper-sprays the group

Civilian with orange backpack

Civilian in brown coat

Still from video by Philophon via Reddit. The New York Times

Mr. Pretti tries to put himself between the D.H.S. agent and the two civilians. Footage shows the same agent squirting pepper spray in the direction of Mr. Pretti’s face. (This agent will later fire shots at Mr. Pretti.)

Mr. Pretti is holding his phone in one hand, and he holds his other hand up to shield himself from the spray.

23 seconds before

Mr. Pretti

Agent

Civilian with orange backpack

Civilian in brown coat

Still from video shared with The Times. The New York Times

Mr. Pretti appears to be trying to help the civilian with the orange backpack stand back up as the agent continues to pepper-spray the group.

17 seconds before

1

Mr. Pretti holding his phone

Still from video by witness shared with The Times. The New York Times

Several agents grab Mr. Pretti, who is still holding his phone. Additional agents approach and try to pin Mr. Pretti to the ground.

11 seconds before

Mr. Pretti is restrained by multiple agents

Agent in gray coat

Still from video by Philophon via Reddit. The New York Times

Mr. Pretti is surrounded by a group of seven agents, some of whom have wrestled him to the ground. One of the agents, who wears a gray coat, gets closer to Mr. Pretti. The agent’s hands are empty as he reaches for Mr. Pretti, while the other agents hold Mr. Pretti down on his knees. At the same time, another agent strikes Mr. Pretti repeatedly with a pepper spray canister.

1 second before

Agent in gray coat appears to remove a gun

Agent unholsters his weapon

Civilian in brown coat

Civilian with orange backpack

Still from video shared with The Times. The New York Times

An eighth agent joins the group. The agent in the gray coat appears to pull a gun from near Mr. Pretti’s right hip. The agent then begins to move away from the skirmish with the weapon.

At the same time, another agent unholsters his firearm and points it at Mr. Pretti’s back.

First shot fired

Agent in gray coat removes gun from skirmish

Still from witness video via Associated Press. The New York Times

The agent in the gray coat removes the weapon from the scene. It matches the profile of a gun that D.H.S. says belonged to Mr. Pretti. Then, while Mr. Pretti is on his knees and restrained, the agent standing directly above him appears to fire one shot at Mr. Pretti at close range. He immediately fires three additional shots.

The diagram below shows the position of the agents, Mr. Pretti and other civilians at this moment.

Sidewalk

Agent who shoots first

Agent who shoots second

Two agents kneeling next to Pretti

White S.U.V. seen in videos

Agent removing gun

Witness

Two civilians who had been pushed by agents

Lamppost

Tree

Pretti on ground

Nicollet Avenue

The New York Times

Additional shots fired

Mr. Pretti lying on the ground

Two agents who fired shots

Still from video shared with The Times. The New York Times

Several agents have moved away from Mr. Pretti, who has collapsed. Another agent — the same one who shoved the civilians into the street and pepper-sprayed Mr. Pretti — unholsters his gun and fires at Mr. Pretti. The first agent also fires additional shots. Together, they fire six more shots at Mr. Pretti while he lies motionless on the ground.

At least 10 shots appear to have been fired within five seconds. By the moment of the 10th shot, the agent who moved away with the weapon has crossed the street.

Mr. Pretti is the second person to be shot and killed by a federal agent in Minnesota in recent weeks. Footage of Mr. Pretti’s death in Minneapolis was posted on social media almost immediately after the shooting.

The Homeland Security Department said that the episode began after a man approached Border Patrol agents with a handgun, and that an agent fired “defensive shots.” Another encounter in Minneapolis this month, in which a Venezuelan man was shot in the leg by a federal agent, was also characterized as “defensive” by the department.

Gov. Tim Walz, Democrat of Minnesota, disputed the claims by federal officials that Mr. Pretti had posed a threat. He accused “the most powerful people in the federal government” of “spinning stories and putting up pictures.”

Chief Brian O’Hara of the Minneapolis Police Department said that Mr. Pretti was an American citizen with no criminal record and that he had a valid firearms permit. Under Minnesota law, citizens can legally carry a handgun in public, either openly or concealed, if they have a permit.

As with the fatal shooting of Renee Good, local and state authorities in Minnesota say that they have been impeded by D.H.S. from investigating the killing of Mr. Pretti, and that they have been cut off from access to crucial evidence and facts.

Large crowds of protesters gathered throughout Saturday at the site of Mr. Pretti’s shooting. On Sunday afternoon, around 1,000 people packed Government Plaza in downtown Minneapolis to protest the presence of federal agents in the city and to call for justice for Ms. Good and Mr. Pretti.

MORE COVERAGE

Here is what we know about the second fatal shooting by federal agents in Minneapolis. →

Democrats vowed not to fund ICE after the shooting, imperiling a spending deal. →

Alex Jeffrey Pretti, the man shot by agents, was a nurse and a U.S. citizen. →

https://www.nytimes.com/video/us/100000010668660/new-video-analysis-reveals-flawed-and-fatal-decisions-in-shooting-of-pretti.html

transcript

New Video Analysis Reveals Flawed and Fatal Decisions in Shooting of Pretti

A frame-by-frame assessment of actions by Alex Pretti and the two officers who fired 10 times shows how lethal force came to be used against a target who didn’t pose a threat.

When federal agents shot and killed 37-year-old Alex Pretti in Minneapolis on Saturday, officials said he approached agents with a handgun, intending to massacre them. “An individual approached U.S. Border Patrol agents with a 9 mm semiautomatic handgun.” “This looks like a situation where an individual arrived at the scene to inflict maximum damage on individuals and to kill law enforcement.” But a Times analysis of video footage from the scene in the moments when two officers opened fire, clearly contradict federal government statements. Pretti does not appear to pose a threat to agents. In fact, at several critical junctures, he is outnumbered and under their control. Here are the key moments that reveal what happened. We see Pretti walking about, filming a group of protesters who are speaking with a federal agent. He’s holding a cell phone in one hand. The other hand is empty. It’s just over 30 seconds before the shooting when a protester is pushed to the ground. Pretti steps between her and the agent who’d shoved her, briefly putting his hand on the agent’s waist. The agent pepper-sprays Pretti’s face. We can see Pretti is still holding his phone in one hand while holding his other hand up to protect himself against the spray. Contrary to statements by federal officials, he’s made no threatening movements towards agents. Pretti, who had a firearms permit, carries a gun holstered on his right hip, but he doesn’t reach for it. And it appears agents are unaware the gun is even there. He reaches toward the protester, apparently trying to help her up, while agents begin grabbing him from behind. He tries to pull away, and again he makes no threatening movements towards the agents. But agents pull him backwards and force him to the ground. Then shots ring out. [gunfire] Now we’ll slow things down, so each moment is clear. Here is Pretti. Several agents are restraining him. And this is the Border Patrol agent who will shoot him first. This appears to be when agents first notice that Pretti is carrying a firearm and yell that he has a gun. Watching the same moment from a different angle, the agent who first pepper-sprayed Pretti beats him several times with the spray canister. We can see that both of Pretti’s arms are pinned down by his head. This agent in gray reaches to remove Pretti’s weapon from his hip, as this agent unholsters his gun, nudges the agent in gray out of the way and fires. [gunfire] Let’s rewind and focus on the agent who shoots first. Just seconds before he fired, he was facing away from Pretti and focusing on an entirely different situation as he tries to spray a nearby woman with an irritant. The spray appears to malfunction, and the agent turns as he adjusts it. That’s when someone yells that Pretti has a gun. And around five seconds after fully turning his attention toward Pretti, the agent draws his weapon and shoots. [gunfire] His arm visibly recoils at the first shot. The firearm has clearly been removed from the scrum when the first shots are fired toward Pretti at close range. [gunfire] The officer who disarmed Pretti can be seen reacting to the sound of the first shot, looking back toward the skirmish. The shooter was standing behind Pretti and not under direct threat, contradicting statements from Homeland Security officials that he fired defensive shots. He also has a vantage point to see the gun pulled from the scene, but it’s unclear if he did and whether he thought a weapon was still on Pretti. He then fires three more shots from behind Pretti, whose arms are down as he appears to brace himself against the pavement. In one hand, he still holds his phone, and in his other, his glasses. The agent in gray, who removed Pretti’s gun, carries it across the street. Pretti is disarmed and falling to the ground. But the agent who first pepper-sprayed Pretti and later beat him with a canister, also pulls out his gun. From a distance, despite the fact that Pretti is lying motionless on the ground, these two agents fire six more shots. Neither is under threat. [screaming] [gunfire, screaming] In total, the agents fire 10 shots in five seconds. After the shooting, an agent kneeling next to Pretti’s body asks where the gun is — — showing that not all of the officers seem to know the weapon had been removed. Agents appear to begin giving medical aid. About 31 seconds elapsed from the time agents first physically engaged Pretti to the moment the last shot was fired.

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- Bloggery committed by chris tower - 2601.27 - 10:10

- Days ago: MOM = 3861 days ago & DAD = 516 days ago

- New note - On 1807.06, I ceased daily transmission of my Hey Mom feature after three years of daily conversations. I post Hey Mom blog entries on special occasions. I post the days since ("Days Ago") count on my blog each day, and now I have a second count for Days since my Dad died on August 28, 2024. I am now in the same time zone as Google! So, when I post at 10:10 a.m. PDT to coincide with the time of Mom's death, I am now actually posting late, so it's really 1:10 p.m. EDT. But I will continue to use the time stamp of 10:10 a.m. to remember the time of her death and sometimes 13:40 EDT for the time of Dad's death. The blog entry numbering in the title has changed to reflect total Sense of Doubt posts since I began the blog on 0705.04, which include Hey Mom posts, Daily Bowie posts, and Sense of Doubt posts. Hey Mom posts will still be numbered sequentially. New Hey Mom posts will use the same format as all the other Hey Mom posts; all other posts will feature this format seen here.