If the (D)'s actually manage to turn off the DHS money, Trump et al will (a) bit h and moan and write a million Truth Social posts about it and (b) try to find a way around it.
FWIW and for the record, my issue with Brooks is probably much simpler than y'alls.
He seems to live in, and speak from, a pretty privileged place. Which is all well and good, I live in and speak from a pretty privileged place.
But a lot of his writing seems to be along the lines of "If everyone would just calm down and stop being so extreme they would see that everything is kind of OK".
Which is not really true for all the folks who don't live in or speak from a pretty privileged place.
I think the Trump years have kind of freaked him out and made him understand that we all don't live in the kind of well-groomed world that he does.
But I generally agree that if he thinks it's all down to Trump, he is mistaken and is still wearing his blinders.
And that's everything I have to say about Brooks.
On another topic, I encourage everyone reading this who lives in the US to get on the horn to your Senators and let them know you want them to NOT PASS funding for the DHS.
I think the (R)'s in the Senate are currently trying to figure out how to separate that stuff from the overall budget so that turning off the tap to DHS doesn't shut the whole government down (again). Which tells me that they are finally beginning to understand that the current ICE/CBP thing is fucking toxic and might well lose them a (R) majority in the Senate.
But one way or another, it's time to shut these fuckers down.
I try not to use bad language but the times are what they are.
When in high school, Miller ran for some class office - student council president or similar. His platform was that he would "say the things nobody else would say". The example he offered was that he sick and tired of being told to pick up his own trash, because they paid janitors to do that kind of thing.
What a funny guy! Such a comedian.
He was a malicious, shit-stirring, smart-assed little punk. It's not unusual, but most folks grow out of it. He has embraced it as his personal brand.
I'm not a mind-reader or a psychologist, so I can't really speak to whether he is clinincally sociopathic. That said, his public statements and actions are those of a sociopath.
If he's not one, he certainly does a great imitation.
I once had a long-ish conversation with a friend about whether everyone has some redeeming aspect - some spark of decency, no matter how deeply hidden, which could perhaps be brought to light.
No, my friend said. Some people are just bad people.
I think Miller is one of those people. I think he enjoys it.
"would we have the same time for the person who points to accepting white South Africans to the US as springing from the same sort of impulse?"
Russia is not dropping bombs on the heads of white South Africans.
And I'm not sure it's accurate to say there isn't a humanitarian motivation to let those Asian, black, and brown people in, then or now. The safety concern wjca mentions is tangible for many of those folks.
I think the Reagan administration was a negative tipping point for this country, but I absolutely give him credit for the amnesty he granted to folks who were here and contributing. I was living in a predominantly Dominican neighborhood in Salem at the time, and folks were getting booted out who were contributing to the commnity in huge ways.
I'd like to think we have somehow moved past the white supremacist legacy of our history, but I don't think we have. I'm not sure if it's a matter of re-remembering, I don't think it ever went away. Trump just gives it permission to come back out in the light of day.
can someone point to a transcript? I don't subscribe to the NYT but would be interested in reading. unfortunately I don't have time to watch the podcast.
"First and foremost, this is a tragic event, and I want to extend my sincere condolences to the family and loved ones of Renee Nicole Good," Kyle Milowski, a former ICE agent, told Newsweek. "It is inappropriate to judge an officer's actions during a dynamic and rapidly changing situation in hindsight through the lens of social media videos."
"Officers are trained to position themselves in front of a vehicle to create a 'contact and cover' environment, referred to as a tactical 'L-shape,' used to maintain control of a scene," he said.
The "L shape" thing caught my eye so I consulted our friend Dr. Google. It's a military ambush tactic, meant to trap an enemy in a crossfire.
ICE is using military tactics in a civilian context. That is going to continue to get people killed.
It needs to be shut down. I don't know who has the authority or the juice to make that happen, but until it does, people are going to continue to get killed.
I'll add that my niece works as a nurse in Phoenix AZ. She has contact with ICE and/or CBP officers who bring immigrants to the hospital, as well as with the folks they bring in.
In general, she says, the officers are kind to the folks they are handling. She hasn't met that many - 10 or 12? - but that's the pattern. So at least some of these people have retained some degree of their own humanity. That, perhaps, offers a path to de-escalating some of this bullshit. Things are so polarized that I don't how anyone. can make the kind of contact that would allow that to happen, but it is, perhaps, helpful to recognize that not all of these people are utter monsters.
Some no doubt are. And the prisons - the for-profit prisons - where the immigrants are being held suck.
This is the most fucked-up situation I've seen in my lifetime. Which includes some truly fucked-up times.
I don't know how we get out of it. Even if Trump keeled over dead tomorrow, the whole MAGA crazy train has been unleashed and it's not going anywhere.
When your personal wealth reaches a billion dollars, you are required to move to the seasteading platform of your choice. Your citizenship likewise transfers to the seasteading platform.
"If you take it, we take every single base of the Americans from Aviano to Ramstein, from Romania, to all the other military bases will be confiscated, and you will lose it, and the whole position of American power since World War II, if you take Greenland, you have to leave,"
Gunther Fehlinger, chair of Austria's NATO Enlargement Committee
"The killing of Renee Good is truly shocking – could this be a tipping point?"
I second cleek's "nah".
Based on the reaction so far, folks are generally responding to Good's killing exactly as you might predict.
MAGAs and right-leaning people in general respond with some mixture of "she tried to kill the cop", "she should have complied", "she had no business being there in the first place". Or just that old favorite, FAFO.
Folks holding, for lack of a better term, a progressive point of view see it as further evidence of an autocratic regime gone out of bounds.
Folks who, for whatever reason, don't want to line up on one side or the other generally think it's terrible, a shame that such things "happen".
Most news sources stick to a neutral stance. Either "this happened' with no further comment, or some version of "both sides".
I don't think this will move the needle, in any direction.
My own point of view is that ICE and the CBP in their current form need to be disbanded. They are a public menace. We need to manage immigration, but not like this. Shut it down and start over from a clean slate.
"Worth noting that a single US Wasp-class amphibious assault ship..."
I don't think the question on the table is whether the US could prevail in a military takeover of Greenland.
As Stephen Miller notes, rule by brute force and hegemonic domination by the strong has been the way things worked since the beginning of time. Among other things, this led to several centuries of almost continuous warfare in Europe and elsewhere, culminating in the two world wars of the 20th C.
After WWII we - "we" being most nations on the planet - attempted to establish a regime under which we would do things differently. It was imperfect and imperfectly successful. But we've had about 80 years of sort-of peace, at least relative to historical standards. In general, and with the exception of the Soviet Union, we haven't had a lot of wars that were based on "we want your stuff, we're bigger than you, so we're taking it".
Which has been a pretty good thing.
Trump is ripping that up.
I'm pretty sure that, were he to stop threatening to take Greenland by force of arms, folks there would be happy to discuss our security needs and accommodate them to a sufficient degree.
Trump is incapable of dealing with counterparties other than by threats and attempts at domination. With, of course, the notable exception of Russia under Putin. Other nations are not obliged to accept that.
Maduro was not the legitimate winner of the recent election in Venezuela. So a POTUS who exactly five years ago attempted a violent autogolpe to remain in power is going to remove him.
Maduro allegedly is involved in trafficing narcotics. So a POTUS who quite recently pardoned another corrupt leader who was in jail for the crime of trafficing narcotics is going to remove him.
This was an exercise in naked power. Folks around Trump have their own various reasons for championing it. Trump's own reasons are obscure, but could be as simple as his enjoyment of exercises in naked power. Most likely he thinks there is some upside for him, personally, most likely because one of his minions told him so. Good luck to him with that.
I am beyond confident that none of them - not one - is motivated by a desire for a free and peaceful Venezuela. Venezuela is just another example of, to quote Ledeen, a crappy little country that we can throw against the wall.
And Miller's observations about what makes the world go around is how we get world wars. The man is a cancer on the nation.
"The Danes, and the Canadians better get to work on a nuclear deterrent, and hope it’s ready in time."
France sent a nuclear sub to a port in the Maritimes back in the early days of Trump II. Both France and Canada are NATO nations.
As are we, for that matter. So who knows what was intended, or how any of it would play out. But my understanding is that it was... unusual for a French nuke to show up in North America .
Trump is basically flipping the tables. Who knows where it will all end up.
"Well, he just executed the arrest warrant from the Southern District of NY for among other things illegal possession of firearms and intent to acquire such."
What jurisdiction does the SDNY have over the president of another country?
*Comment archive for non-registered commenters assembled by email address as provided.
On “Moral insanity”
do. whatever. is. available.
the (D)'s are minority but they are not utterly without any power. use what you have.
the sternly worded letters are not working.
"
What hairshirt said.
If the (D)'s actually manage to turn off the DHS money, Trump et al will (a) bit h and moan and write a million Truth Social posts about it and (b) try to find a way around it.
They might be successful with (b).
But do it anyway. Do whatever is available.
"
yikes, the Brooks debate again!
FWIW and for the record, my issue with Brooks is probably much simpler than y'alls.
He seems to live in, and speak from, a pretty privileged place. Which is all well and good, I live in and speak from a pretty privileged place.
But a lot of his writing seems to be along the lines of "If everyone would just calm down and stop being so extreme they would see that everything is kind of OK".
Which is not really true for all the folks who don't live in or speak from a pretty privileged place.
I think the Trump years have kind of freaked him out and made him understand that we all don't live in the kind of well-groomed world that he does.
But I generally agree that if he thinks it's all down to Trump, he is mistaken and is still wearing his blinders.
And that's everything I have to say about Brooks.
On another topic, I encourage everyone reading this who lives in the US to get on the horn to your Senators and let them know you want them to NOT PASS funding for the DHS.
I think the (R)'s in the Senate are currently trying to figure out how to separate that stuff from the overall budget so that turning off the tap to DHS doesn't shut the whole government down (again). Which tells me that they are finally beginning to understand that the current ICE/CBP thing is fucking toxic and might well lose them a (R) majority in the Senate.
But one way or another, it's time to shut these fuckers down.
I try not to use bad language but the times are what they are.
"
When in high school, Miller ran for some class office - student council president or similar. His platform was that he would "say the things nobody else would say". The example he offered was that he sick and tired of being told to pick up his own trash, because they paid janitors to do that kind of thing.
What a funny guy! Such a comedian.
He was a malicious, shit-stirring, smart-assed little punk. It's not unusual, but most folks grow out of it. He has embraced it as his personal brand.
I'm not a mind-reader or a psychologist, so I can't really speak to whether he is clinincally sociopathic. That said, his public statements and actions are those of a sociopath.
If he's not one, he certainly does a great imitation.
I once had a long-ish conversation with a friend about whether everyone has some redeeming aspect - some spark of decency, no matter how deeply hidden, which could perhaps be brought to light.
No, my friend said. Some people are just bad people.
I think Miller is one of those people. I think he enjoys it.
On “Rememory”
"would we have the same time for the person who points to accepting white South Africans to the US as springing from the same sort of impulse?"
Russia is not dropping bombs on the heads of white South Africans.
And I'm not sure it's accurate to say there isn't a humanitarian motivation to let those Asian, black, and brown people in, then or now. The safety concern wjca mentions is tangible for many of those folks.
I think the Reagan administration was a negative tipping point for this country, but I absolutely give him credit for the amnesty he granted to folks who were here and contributing. I was living in a predominantly Dominican neighborhood in Salem at the time, and folks were getting booted out who were contributing to the commnity in huge ways.
I'd like to think we have somehow moved past the white supremacist legacy of our history, but I don't think we have. I'm not sure if it's a matter of re-remembering, I don't think it ever went away. Trump just gives it permission to come back out in the light of day.
On “Talarico”
can someone point to a transcript? I don't subscribe to the NYT but would be interested in reading. unfortunately I don't have time to watch the podcast.
On “An open thread”
"what animates these militia, white power, and Christian nationalist types"
I'll pretend to be a mind reader for a minute and take a guess.
For some, fear, that they are unable to acknowledge, so they compensate.
And some people are just fucking bullies.
"
In the words of Good's widow, we have whistles but they have guns.
"
From here:
https://www.newsweek.com/former-ice-agents-break-down-jonathan-rosss-actions-11334133
The "L shape" thing caught my eye so I consulted our friend Dr. Google. It's a military ambush tactic, meant to trap an enemy in a crossfire.
ICE is using military tactics in a civilian context. That is going to continue to get people killed.
It needs to be shut down. I don't know who has the authority or the juice to make that happen, but until it does, people are going to continue to get killed.
I'll add that my niece works as a nurse in Phoenix AZ. She has contact with ICE and/or CBP officers who bring immigrants to the hospital, as well as with the folks they bring in.
In general, she says, the officers are kind to the folks they are handling. She hasn't met that many - 10 or 12? - but that's the pattern. So at least some of these people have retained some degree of their own humanity. That, perhaps, offers a path to de-escalating some of this bullshit. Things are so polarized that I don't how anyone. can make the kind of contact that would allow that to happen, but it is, perhaps, helpful to recognize that not all of these people are utter monsters.
Some no doubt are. And the prisons - the for-profit prisons - where the immigrants are being held suck.
This is the most fucked-up situation I've seen in my lifetime. Which includes some truly fucked-up times.
I don't know how we get out of it. Even if Trump keeled over dead tomorrow, the whole MAGA crazy train has been unleashed and it's not going anywhere.
"
I'm not a mind reader, so I don't know the true answer to all of this.
That said, there is this:
https://hejon07.substack.com/p/the-man-who-learned-to-stop-worrying
"
A modest proposal:
When your personal wealth reaches a billion dollars, you are required to move to the seasteading platform of your choice. Your citizenship likewise transfers to the seasteading platform.
Optionally, you can move to Greenland.
Enjoy the fish!
"
So, I read the NRO article about Good belonging to ICE Watch. It includes a highly selective account of the events. Go figure.
Bullshit has eclipsed sensible discourse.
On “2026, as f**ked up as 2025”
"If you take it, we take every single base of the Americans from Aviano to Ramstein, from Romania, to all the other military bases will be confiscated, and you will lose it, and the whole position of American power since World War II, if you take Greenland, you have to leave,"
Gunther Fehlinger, chair of Austria's NATO Enlargement Committee
So, there's that.
"
"If this isn’t prodding, it’s the Art of the Deal"
You realize, I hope, that The Art Of The Deal was a ghost written piece of Trump fluffing bullshit.
Right? Just ask the guy that wrote it. Who now regrets it.
On “An open thread”
" I have to think the administration is betting on cleek’s step #3"
Stephen Miller has wet dreams about invoking martial law.
On “2026, as f**ked up as 2025”
'I don’t think anyone actually supports the CCP. Unless you voted for Bernie, Zohran, Waltz et.al"
I voted for Walz as VP.
Go ahead and try to claim I support thee CCP. Or that I'm a summer child, in any way, shape or from.
On “An open thread”
"The killing of Renee Good is truly shocking – could this be a tipping point?"
I second cleek's "nah".
Based on the reaction so far, folks are generally responding to Good's killing exactly as you might predict.
MAGAs and right-leaning people in general respond with some mixture of "she tried to kill the cop", "she should have complied", "she had no business being there in the first place". Or just that old favorite, FAFO.
Folks holding, for lack of a better term, a progressive point of view see it as further evidence of an autocratic regime gone out of bounds.
Folks who, for whatever reason, don't want to line up on one side or the other generally think it's terrible, a shame that such things "happen".
Most news sources stick to a neutral stance. Either "this happened' with no further comment, or some version of "both sides".
I don't think this will move the needle, in any direction.
My own point of view is that ICE and the CBP in their current form need to be disbanded. They are a public menace. We need to manage immigration, but not like this. Shut it down and start over from a clean slate.
On “2026, as f**ked up as 2025”
"The second point looks implausible"
Actually, Ross (the officer who shot Good) had been dragged alongside a car during a previous attempr to arrest an alleged illegal immigrant.
He ended up in front of Good's car because he was walking around it while recording the incident.
This is not a guy who should be walking around with a badge and a gun.
On “An open thread”
and now, Customs and Border Patrol shoots two people in Portland OR.
what the actual fuck is going on.
On “2026, as f**ked up as 2025”
"Worth noting that a single US Wasp-class amphibious assault ship..."
I don't think the question on the table is whether the US could prevail in a military takeover of Greenland.
As Stephen Miller notes, rule by brute force and hegemonic domination by the strong has been the way things worked since the beginning of time. Among other things, this led to several centuries of almost continuous warfare in Europe and elsewhere, culminating in the two world wars of the 20th C.
After WWII we - "we" being most nations on the planet - attempted to establish a regime under which we would do things differently. It was imperfect and imperfectly successful. But we've had about 80 years of sort-of peace, at least relative to historical standards. In general, and with the exception of the Soviet Union, we haven't had a lot of wars that were based on "we want your stuff, we're bigger than you, so we're taking it".
Which has been a pretty good thing.
Trump is ripping that up.
I'm pretty sure that, were he to stop threatening to take Greenland by force of arms, folks there would be happy to discuss our security needs and accommodate them to a sufficient degree.
Trump is incapable of dealing with counterparties other than by threats and attempts at domination. With, of course, the notable exception of Russia under Putin. Other nations are not obliged to accept that.
"
bc, which of the concerns you list justify seizing Greenland by fiat?
The comments by Trump, Miller, et al are far beyond stupid and unnecessary. They are threats.
The people in Greenland, by an overwhelming majority, don't want to be part of the US. That should be the end of the discussion.
"
"How can one be even-handed about this?"
Thank you.
Maduro was not the legitimate winner of the recent election in Venezuela. So a POTUS who exactly five years ago attempted a violent autogolpe to remain in power is going to remove him.
Maduro allegedly is involved in trafficing narcotics. So a POTUS who quite recently pardoned another corrupt leader who was in jail for the crime of trafficing narcotics is going to remove him.
This was an exercise in naked power. Folks around Trump have their own various reasons for championing it. Trump's own reasons are obscure, but could be as simple as his enjoyment of exercises in naked power. Most likely he thinks there is some upside for him, personally, most likely because one of his minions told him so. Good luck to him with that.
I am beyond confident that none of them - not one - is motivated by a desire for a free and peaceful Venezuela. Venezuela is just another example of, to quote Ledeen, a crappy little country that we can throw against the wall.
And Miller's observations about what makes the world go around is how we get world wars. The man is a cancer on the nation.
"
"Maduro is a narcoterrorist and was illegally importing cocaine"
What acts of terrorism has he committed?
"Panama, Grenada and Libya show this to not be so norm-crushing as some might think"
Precedent does not equal norm. Also, FWIW those are also not the greatest moments in our history.
"The US has wanted Greenland for a long time."
It's not our fucking island. Full stop.
"
"The Danes, and the Canadians better get to work on a nuclear deterrent, and hope it’s ready in time."
France sent a nuclear sub to a port in the Maritimes back in the early days of Trump II. Both France and Canada are NATO nations.
As are we, for that matter. So who knows what was intended, or how any of it would play out. But my understanding is that it was... unusual for a French nuke to show up in North America .
Trump is basically flipping the tables. Who knows where it will all end up.
"
"Well, he just executed the arrest warrant from the Southern District of NY for among other things illegal possession of firearms and intent to acquire such."
What jurisdiction does the SDNY have over the president of another country?
*Comment archive for non-registered commenters assembled by email address as provided.