I was going to make some kind of structured argument. I’m not sure I have one beyond outrage. First Renee Good, now Pretti. Neither one a terrorist, neither one (despite Felon administration lies) a threat to the ICE officers who murdered them.
Normally when there’s a shooting, the officers are taken off the street until there’s a review. Not in this case. Nor are we hearing the usual promises that this will be investigated, it’s a terrible tragedy, etc., they will learn from it. Border Patrol head Greg Bovino says it’s all liberals fault for saying mean things about ICE. As JB Pritzker says, “free speech is still protected by the First Amendment under the Constitution.If you want folks to stop saying you’re the secret police who are kidnapping and killing people, maybe stop acting like the secret police who are kidnapping and killing people.”
Bovino and other members of the administration are screaming that Pretti and Good were fiendish supervillains, attacking the cops, etc., etc. All lies. All contradicted by the evidence. As noted at the link this can be seen as a display of dominance, or a solidarity exercise (if you’re loyal You Will Believe). It may also indicate they have no ideas other than retreat, and the Felon hates doing that, or admitting error in anyway. Megyn Kelly’s all-in. Kelly, who said those Venezuelan fisherman our government’s been murdering deserved torture as well unsurprisingly pretends Pretti deserved death.
As LGM points out, what we’re facing is not the kind of police state where if you obey the state, you’ll be okay: “In a totalitarian regime, comply or die eventually morphs into comply and die.” And far from the administration calling for law and order, “they’ve frequently ignored their own laws and guidance. They’ve wiped out status for a whole bunch of people arbitrarily. They’ve ground the legal process to a halt and pretty much nullified the asylum process, which is codified in law and supported by a long body of case law.”
(As several people have pointed out online, this is not new. Lots of black Americans have been murdered by cops. Police, like ICE, have faced little accountability. That doesn’t mean this fight is unwinnable).
In the fantasies/propaganda of some RWNJs (right-wing nut jobs), what’s happening isn’t innocent people getting shot on the street, ICE kidnapping kids and people protesting — it’s an armed insurgency, willing to die to drive out ICE. But “antifa” is overreaching, stretching its supply lines in a winter war. Which makes sense if the protesters were Napoleon’s forces invading Russia, not people who can simply run to Aldi’s or Target for supplies. Apparently the people making this argument can’t even imagine how free coffee could be made available to protesters without some sort of conspiracy.
It’s not working, though. Paul Krugman looks at the reasons this murder is getting traction.
While the NRA has embraced the government side, a lot of Second Amendment obsessives have not. This may be why.
Even Karoline Leavitt’s struggling with the official line: under pressure she complains there’s no liberal outrage over insurrectionist Ashlee Babbitt.
A Fox News host challenges Kash Patel about Kristi Noem’s bullshit.
The Senate Democrats are apparently going to shutdown the government again rather than fund ICE. Which is totally the right decision.
If you want to talk to your elected officials about ICE or to donate to help Minnesota, Naomi Kritzer has advice.
