Social network Unscrolled hit #11 in the App Store this weekend and is being framed as a TikTok alternative. The app is owned by a Palestinian-Australian founder and is being embraced by users looking to route around Israel-controled TikTok. If you’re testing the waters, I’m there too!@natalimorris
Photo credit: UnScrolled
MARKETS
Gold
$5,081.11
+2.05%
Silver
$108.70
+7.59%
Bitcoin
$87,542.35
-1.67%
Dow
49,098.71
-0.58%
S&P
6,915.61
+0.03%
Nasdaq
23,501.24
+0.28%
*Stock data as of market close, cryptocurrency data as of 5:00 a.m.
Lead: Minneapolis Shooting Exposes the Limits of Partisan Narratives
A U.S. citizen was shot and killed by federal immigration agents in Minneapolis this weekend, and once again the usual partisan narratives are insufficient to explain this unnecessary loss of life.
A 37-year-old ICU nurse named Alex Pretti was killed during an immigration enforcement operation. Federal officials say he “approached agents with a handgun and resisted attempts to disarm him,” claims that video evidence and bystanders contradict.
Trump administration spokespeople condemned Pretti for bringing a gun to a protest. That was his right according to the Second Amendment of the Constitution. It is also ironic that the same party that championed Kyle Rittenhouse for bringing a gun to a Black Lives Matter protest would condemn this person for the same action.
Democrats have found themselves in the unusual position of defending legal firearm possession. This is also interesting given their condemnation of Kyle Rittenhouse.
The media is also offering an excuse to the firearm. They say that the Sig Sauer P320 9mm has a propensity to fire accidentally and that the agents may have fired as a result of hearing the unintended discharge. That explanation shifts responsibility away from the agents while failing to address the core questions: whether force was justified, whether agents were properly trained, and what rights protesters retain when federal law enforcement is involved.
Even conservative voices and gun rights groups have condemned the federal actions and official explanation. The National Rifle Association blasted comments by a Trump-appointed federal prosecutor suggesting armed civilians who approach law enforcement could be “likely justified” targets, calling that sentiment “dangerous and wrong” and urging officials to await a full investigation rather than demonize law-abiding citizens.
The Wall Street Journal reports that President Trump will review this shooting and is willing to withdraw ICE from Minnesota perhaps sooner than planned.
Nipah Has “Pandemic Potential.” There’s Already an mRNA Vaccine.
Photo credit: AI-generated image (ChatGPT/OpenAI)
Authorities in India are warning that Nipah virus has “pandemic potential” following new outbreaks and quarantines. and renewed concern about human-to-human transmission.
Nipah is a rare but extremely lethal bat-borne virus first identified in the late 1990s. It has no approved treatment, no licensed vaccine, and a fatality rate that has ranged from 40 to 75 percent in past outbreaks.
Perhaps not coincidentally, Moderna has a Nipah vaccine already in development and recently reported to demonstrate a “safe” immune response. The vaccine, known as mRNA-1215, entered human trials under the auspices of the U.S. National Institutes of Health in 2022. It is an mRNA-based vaccine, using the same platform Moderna employed for COVID.
mRNA? Wasn’t that outlawed by the U.S. government last year?
Sort of.
In 2025, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced it was winding down mRNA vaccine development under BARDA, the agency responsible for funding new pandemic countermeasures. The policy explicitly halted new mRNA vaccine projects going forward. What it did not do was cancel or prohibit projects that were already underway.
The Nipah vaccine falls into that latter category. Because it was launched before the BARDA cutoff and is being run through NIH clinical research channels, it was effectively grandfathered in. That means it can continue through trials and, if regulators choose, could still be deployed.
Which raises an uncomfortable but obvious question: When officials warn that a virus has “pandemic potential,” and a ready-made mRNA vaccine already exists — one that survived a federal mRNA funding shutdown — is this about preparedness or about timing?
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President Trump confirmed that the U.S. used a directed energy weapon when it captured Venezuelan President Maduro. We did a segment about that two weeks ago! Learn more about it here!
What’s Trending
Photo credit: @gregtheig on Instagram
This videois trending of a dog walking awkwardly in snow boots. It’s good fun!
TikTok is trending because of an outage that happened on Sunday.
The Super-bowl is trending now that we know which teams will play in the game on Sunday, February 8.
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This newsletter is written and researched by Natali Morris. Please feel free to reach Natali at [email protected] for any editorial feedback.
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