Report: Bye Bye, Baby Bitch Bovino

Welcome back to The Flyover, your daily digest of important, overlooked, and/or interesting Minnesota news stories.

Sources: We're Winning?

Monday morning, President Trump signaled a tonal shift around Operation Metro Surge, posting to Truth Social: "Governor Tim Walz called me with the request to work together with respect to Minnesota. It was a very good call, and we, actually, seemed to be on a similar wavelength."

Then, this afternoon, Walz tweeted the following about his call with Trump: "The President agreed to look into reducing the number of federal agents in Minnesota and to talk to DHS about ensuring the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension is able to conduct an independent investigation, as would ordinarily be the case."

A little later, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey put out a statement about his conversation with Trump. "The president agreed that the present situation cannot continue," Frey says. "Some federal agents will begin leaving the area tomorrow, and I will continue pushing for the rest involved in this operation to go."

And just now, sources are telling CNN that Border Patrol Chief Greg Bovino "and some of his agents" are expected to withdraw from Minnesota on Tuesday "and return to their respective sectors." Door, meet asses. The Trump administration was reportedly "deeply frustrated" with how Bovino and DHS Secretary Kristi Noem handled the Border Patrol killing of Minneapolis man Alex Pretti this Saturday, those same sources tell CNN; it displeased the White House when Bovino suggested Pretti was plotting a "massacre," and also when Noem labeled him a "domestic terrorist."

After spending "hours" watching TV throughout Sunday and Monday (not news), Trump was said to be "personally unhappy by how his administration was coming across" (OK, there's news). The Daily Beast has more on the brouhaha under its characteristically reserved headline: "ICE Barbie on Thin Ice With Trump and Miller Over Bovino ‘Miscalculation’."

White House border honcho Tom Homan is expected to take over ICE operations in Minnesota, while Bovino will retain his post as national commander; it must be noted that Homan also sucks. Bovino taking a hike was a “mutual decision," one official tells CNN. Whatever you gotta tell yourself, lil fella. Interestingly, three sources tell The Atlantic that "Bovino has been removed from his role as Border Patrol 'commander at large' and will return to his former job in El Centro, California, where he is expected to retire soon."

Don't get too excited, though: Professional liar Karoline Leavitt told reporters Monday that thousands of immigration agents are still needed in Minnesota, per the Times. Still, to hear New York Magazine political columnist Ross Barkan tell it, Trump is indeed losing his "war on Minneapolis.” This Politico report echoes that, with one "person close to the administration" stating, "It’s starting to turn against us.”

RIP Alex Pretti

You can look at all the minute-by-minute video analysis you’d like—federal immigration officers beat, shot, and killed Minneapolis man Alex Pretti along Nicollet Avenue this past Saturday, and the Trump administration has issued outrageous lie after outrageous lie about the killing ever since.

Pretti, 37, was not a “domestic terrorist,” as DHS Secretary Kristi Noem maliciously labeled him; he wasn’t plotting to “massacre law enforcement,” as Border Patrol head Greg Bovino claimed. He’s not anything the craven MAGA propagandists say he is. He was an ICU nurse who served veterans. He was a “kindhearted” lover of the outdoors. He was a permitted firearm carrier with no criminal record. He was a brave ICE observer who, in his final seconds, aided a woman who was being physically assaulted by Border Patrol. Pretti, who leaves behind a “very angry” grieving family and city, was the best of us. History won’t forget the real Alex Pretti.

AP reporters captured this beautiful portrait of Pretti by talking to those who loved him. “He was an outdoorsman. He took his dog everywhere he went,” says his mother, Susan Pretti. “You know, he loved this country, but he hated what people were doing to it.” Originally from Green Bay, Wisconsin, Pretti is survived by two parents in Colorado, a sister, and an ex wife, according to info compiled by People magazine.

KFAN Faces Boycott Calls Over Paul Allen's “Paid Protesters” Line

Listeners appear finished with KFAN DJ/Minnesota Vikings announcer Paul Allen, who last week riffed about “paid protesters” in Minnesota.

Da ‘FAN’s subreddit, which for years has collectively groaned over Allen’s increasingly outspoken religiosity, is ready to boycott the station; ditto for the folks over at the Vikings subreddit. And after getting bad publicity in the PiPress, Allen said on air Monday that his paid protester line was “a misguided attempt at humor... I'm taking a few days off."

Elsewhere in the wide world of sports: "FUCK ICE" chants broke out over the weekend at Minnesota Timberwolves and Frost games, Bring Me the News reports.

Oh Yeah, About Friday's Historic Day of Protest, Work Stoppages, Spending Freezes, and Solidarity...

We love this state. We're gonna get through this together.