Well, he floated the idea of exchanging Greenland for Puerto Rico, so the Greenlanders could be moved there. If we follow BP, there is a large walrus population in the Caribbean.
(as a reminder: https://www.csmonitor.com/From-the-news-wires/2010/0609/BP-s-gulf-oil-spill-response-plan-lists-the-walrus-as-a-local-species.-Louisiana-Gov.-Bobby-Jindal-is-furious)
Why not let him speak for himself? If by "what happened" CharlesWT meant "Jonathan Ross shot Renee Good in fit of fascist pique", then maybe he was.
Michael Cain: ICE believes they are law enforcement. So far, the courts seem to agree with them. ... I’m slightly amazed that we know who the ICE person behind the mask was.
I say "ICE believes" that they are The Law, but never mind. I'm sincerely curious about the courts. Are there particular cases you're thinking of? (This is not a "cite, please"; I can look things up myself if I have a hint to start with.) It would not surprise me, BTW, if some court somewhere ruled that ICE "agents", do in fact have the authority to write traffic tickets as "LEOs".
...and demand that South American countries also enforce it in their territories and expect them to obey under Maduress.
I've mentioned before that Trump's view of South America is hopelessly Caribbean-centric. Most South American countries' top international trading partner is either already China, or China's share is within reasonable distance of the #1 partner. And it's getting worse: as soon as Chancay opened and knocked 20% off the shipping costs, three different Chinese companies began selling EVs in Peru; Tesla doesn't sell EVs in Peru.
This is typical of Trump's general world view. During his first term, he visited six foreign countries before he set foot in a state west of the Mississippi River (Cedar Rapids, IA). It was more months before he went farther west than Iowa.
I like Talarico. He entered the race before Crockett, so no conspiracy against her by evil white liberals--despite the rumors on Bluesky. I think Talarico's reclaiming of Christianity is hugely beneficial. Also, he is clear spoken and makes the moral issues front and center--the morality of Dem policies and the immorality of so many Texas Republican actions and policies. He isn't defensive. He is attacking and moving the Overton Window.
I like Crockett, too, but I don't think she has the ability to change the terms of the conversation the way Talarico can.
That change in the terms of the convo seems important since it is unlikely that either will win a Senate seat. The goal needs to be to change TX politics over the long term by changing hearts and minds and that means reframing perceptions.
Of course I don't live there, so I won't be voting and likely don't have sufficient local knowledge to support my opinions.
Maybe His Orangeness' whisperers will soon call for a renewal of the Chinese Exclusion Act (and SCOTUS wil overturn its overturning of the same) and demand that South American countries also enforce it in their territories and expect them to obey under Maduress. Since Greenlanders are genetically East-Asian too (essentially Mongols in kayaks), that would also serve as legal basis for their eviction once Greenland has come Heim ins Reich. [/s???]
There’s some speculation there that China is not ready and willing yet to take on the US in South America, and this move by the US has shown the rest of the continent that Xi is mostly talk.
The new deep-water port China funded at Chancay, Peru has entered the conversation. Peru has increased its seafood exports to China via Chancay. Bolivia has signed a deal to increase its lithium production and ship it to China via Chancay. Brazil is making noises about exporting semi-refined rare earth metals to China via Chancay. The truly paranoid are already muttering about China leasing adjacent space for a naval base.
When Donald Trump took office, ICE numbered approximately 10,000. Despite this event’s lackluster attendance, their recruitment push is reportedly going well; the agency reported 12,000 new recruits in 2025, which means the agency has more new recruits than old hands. That’s the kind of growth that changes the culture of an agency.
This reminds me of a maxim about doing large projects: "Three things everyone wants - fast, cheap, and good. But you can really only have any two of them."
The tRump admin has broken this rule and has chosen "fast" twice.
David Brooks is too much of a coward to actually look at the evidence and try to render any judgment. Doing that would destroy his ability to find the right angle to flatten any difference and equivocate.
Meanwhile, since we were discussing who these people in masks are, and what motivates them...
Nine days later, impatience got the best of me. For the first time, I logged into USAJobs and checked my application to see if my drug test had come through. What I actually saw was so implausible, so impossible, that at first I did not understand what I was looking at.
Somehow, despite never submitting any of the paperwork they sent me—not the background check or identification info, not the domestic violence affidavit, none of it—ICE had apparently offered me a job.
According to the application portal, my pre-employment activities remained pending. And yet, it also showed that I had accepted a final job offer and that my onboarding status was “EOD”—Entered On Duty, the start of an enlistment period. I moused over the exclamation mark next to “Onboarding” and a helpful pop-up appeared. “Your EOD has occurred. Welcome to ICE!”
The other gem in this piece:
When Donald Trump took office, ICE numbered approximately 10,000. Despite this event’s lackluster attendance, their recruitment push is reportedly going well; the agency reported 12,000 new recruits in 2025, which means the agency has more new recruits than old hands. That’s the kind of growth that changes the culture of an agency.
I never really understood why the National Review was able to recover from being unapologetically racist
https://theintercept.com/2020/07/05/national-review-william-buckley-racism/
but you can see that deep down, they never really changed.
I am reminded of an acquaintance who was in Chicago in 1968, and his advice for protesters.
If you have to drive to the site, leave your car well away from the action because any moving car is threatening.
Don't carry a sign on a stick, because sticks are threatening.
If people around you start throwing baggies full of sh*t at the law enforcement personnel, leave. Immediately. Because baggies full of sh*t are threatening.
If you're going to stand in front of advancing law enforcement, whether one officer or a line, be prepared to be hit in the head with a solid baton. Being hit in the head with a solid baton can be fatal.
He showed me the scar where the baton split his scalp open.
ICE believes they are law enforcement. So far, the courts seem to agree with them. They don't have batons, they have guns, which are much more dangerous (any fool can point and pull a trigger; batons take at least minimal training). They have less training about crowds than riot police, are milling around, lack explicit shields, so are more dangerous. The biggest difference I see is that the Chicago PD in riot gear were actually anonymous. I'm slightly amazed that we know who the ICE person behind the mask was.
Charles was actually agreeing with you. If these thugs were real law enforcement, they would routinely wear body cams. (Which, be it noted, are also real useful if there's an actual court case to be made in these situations.). The reason they weren't wearing them is that they are nothing like real law enforcement.
That timing of the snatch happening just after meeting with the Chinese has been taken by some as a warning to China, and it is difficult to imagine that the US didn’t know Maduro’s schedule, however, I would have expected Trump to crow about it in some way, so maybe it was dumb luck?
I would expect that, if the timing was dumb luck, Trump would be crowing like it was his brilliant planning. Neither do I think it likely it was a warning -- that would be a level of subtlety the current administration seems incapable of.
I think a more likely possibility is that it was carefully timed out of (absolutely never under any circumstances to be admitted!) fear of the possible Chinese reaction. Trump might (probably did) warn his buddy Putin, so Russians would be moved out of harms' way. But, not having that kind of BFF relationship with Xi, what was left was careful timing.
CharlesWT: There’s a reason for LEOs to wear body cams. Had he been wearing one, it might be clearer exactly what happened.
"LEOs" and storm troopers are not the same thing.
"LEOs" don't wear masks.
"LEOs" have limits on their authority and their jurisdiction.
"LEOs" who work for ICE don't have the authority to write you so much as a parking ticket, let alone order you out of your car.
"LEOs" do things like execute arrest warrants, not execute civilians.
If it's not clear to you "what happened", seek help. If you think the murderous Jonathan Ross was just trying to do his job, ask your favorite AI what his assigned job was, that day, because I doubt that body cam footage would tell you.
I'm sure there were Americans in the 1930s who would have defined the Gestapo as "Law Enforcement Officers", but I like to think those Americans would not have called themselves Libertarians(TM).
Even the science guy didn't mention that she backed up before going forward (going forward while steering to the right, which he does mention).
If Renee Good was trying to kill the guy, she was really bad at it and had very little idea of how to operate a vehicle. Also, too, Ross was really bad at getting out of the way if that's was he was trying to do.
normally apolitical YT science guy, Hank Green, has some thoughts about how certain peoples' reaction to Good's shooting says something about their relationship to truth.
Maybe they thought they would simply make their escape after having had their activist fun.
Yeah. "Activist fun." I'm sure that there are some thrill seekers sprinkled through those crowds - mostly energy drink aged males looking to prove their courage - but given all we have seen of this administrations violence and disregard for civil rights and the rule of law, most all of those folks who are showing up are there despite the danger.
Moms with young kids being so well known for seeking out potentially deadly encounters just for fun because they saw it on the internet...
Fuck that guy and his glib dismissiveness. Fuck his lack of empathy for anyone outside of his own in-group. I wish him a heavy lesson in karma.
It's a simple statement that has outsized explanatory value, unfortunately.
so… mind reading is bad, except when it’s a hippy ?
It's odd that, while I'm sure there have always been people upset about what ICE has been doing, there are now far more. It seems to have coincided with ICE doing more and worse things in places where they used to do much less. It appears that ICE has increased fear and chaos in places that were relatively peaceful before ICE got there.
Maybe there's a cause-and-effect thing going on here.
speaking of mind reading... more from the guy over at NRO who brought us "To hell with Minnesota":
Unlike the rest of the internet’s commentators, I am not so gifted a reader of souls as to draw conclusions from a 30-second encounter.
a glimmer of hope!
What I see instead is a “scissors statement” event: A moment almost purpose-designed to divide viewers by their partisan priors rather than their analytical instincts. And I have mine: My sympathy instinctively tends toward the ICE officer, dealing with yet another vacant-eyed, internet-primed activist blocking traffic, unaware of what a fraught situation she is interfering with.
alas.
...
The wife, realizing that arrest might be imminent, shouted, “Drive, baby, drive!” at Good as Good hit the accelerator. Maybe they thought they would simply make their escape after having had their activist fun. I have no idea what the officer thought, having only his cellphone footage to go by, though I do not think that using the word “bitch” after such an instantaneous and fatal shooting means anything other than his adrenaline was up.
But there I go, attempting to read minds.
but... ok. 2nd chance!
And that is decidedly above my pay grade. I do know this much: There currently exists a vast swath of people on the activist left who either implicitly or explicitly deny the legal authority of ICE to exist and do what it does — out of ignorance, or, more often, simply because they believe it to be “unrighteous.”"
so... mind reading is bad, except when it's a hippy ?
I don’t know. It’s crazy and exhausting. I’m becoming increasingly disgusted by human nature. I was starting think we were in the early stages of turning away from this bullsh*t, but that’s been put to rest.
Going on a tangent here, but I have a hard time wrapping my head around what animates these militia, white power, and Christian nationalist types. Is it that hard to be happy and chill the f**k out?
I'm sure it's the fault of all the woke social justice warriors who get upset when right-wingers try to make vulnerable people's lives worse. Maybe don't f**k with other people so much?
I don't know. It's crazy and exhausting. I'm becoming increasingly disgusted by human nature. I was starting think we were in the early stages of turning away from this bullsh*t, but that's been put to rest.
Happy New Year...
*Comment archive for non-registered commenters assembled by email address as provided.
On “¿Qué quieres decir cuando dices China, por favor?”
Well, he floated the idea of exchanging Greenland for Puerto Rico, so the Greenlanders could be moved there. If we follow BP, there is a large walrus population in the Caribbean.
(as a reminder: https://www.csmonitor.com/From-the-news-wires/2010/0609/BP-s-gulf-oil-spill-response-plan-lists-the-walrus-as-a-local-species.-Louisiana-Gov.-Bobby-Jindal-is-furious)
On “An open thread”
wj: Charles was actually agreeing with you.
Why not let him speak for himself? If by "what happened" CharlesWT meant "Jonathan Ross shot Renee Good in fit of fascist pique", then maybe he was.
Michael Cain: ICE believes they are law enforcement. So far, the courts seem to agree with them. ... I’m slightly amazed that we know who the ICE person behind the mask was.
I say "ICE believes" that they are The Law, but never mind. I'm sincerely curious about the courts. Are there particular cases you're thinking of? (This is not a "cite, please"; I can look things up myself if I have a hint to start with.) It would not surprise me, BTW, if some court somewhere ruled that ICE "agents", do in fact have the authority to write traffic tickets as "LEOs".
As for the outing of Jonathan Ross, it was Kristi Noem that did it. He may be grateful for that, BTW.
On a general note, "LEO" always sounds to my ear like "WMD" -- a conflation of disparate things for propaganda purposes.
--TP
On “¿Qué quieres decir cuando dices China, por favor?”
Greenlanders are genetically East-Asian too (essentially Mongols in kayaks)
Well, if you want to get technical about it, all Native Americans (First Nations) are genetically East Asians, too.
Hmmm, wonder where they'll decide to put the reservations this time. (Well, except for those like Miller, who will go for a "final solution")
"
...and demand that South American countries also enforce it in their territories and expect them to obey under Maduress.
I've mentioned before that Trump's view of South America is hopelessly Caribbean-centric. Most South American countries' top international trading partner is either already China, or China's share is within reasonable distance of the #1 partner. And it's getting worse: as soon as Chancay opened and knocked 20% off the shipping costs, three different Chinese companies began selling EVs in Peru; Tesla doesn't sell EVs in Peru.
This is typical of Trump's general world view. During his first term, he visited six foreign countries before he set foot in a state west of the Mississippi River (Cedar Rapids, IA). It was more months before he went farther west than Iowa.
On “Talarico”
I like Talarico. He entered the race before Crockett, so no conspiracy against her by evil white liberals--despite the rumors on Bluesky. I think Talarico's reclaiming of Christianity is hugely beneficial. Also, he is clear spoken and makes the moral issues front and center--the morality of Dem policies and the immorality of so many Texas Republican actions and policies. He isn't defensive. He is attacking and moving the Overton Window.
I like Crockett, too, but I don't think she has the ability to change the terms of the conversation the way Talarico can.
That change in the terms of the convo seems important since it is unlikely that either will win a Senate seat. The goal needs to be to change TX politics over the long term by changing hearts and minds and that means reframing perceptions.
Of course I don't live there, so I won't be voting and likely don't have sufficient local knowledge to support my opinions.
On “¿Qué quieres decir cuando dices China, por favor?”
Maybe His Orangeness' whisperers will soon call for a renewal of the Chinese Exclusion Act (and SCOTUS wil overturn its overturning of the same) and demand that South American countries also enforce it in their territories and expect them to obey under Maduress. Since Greenlanders are genetically East-Asian too (essentially Mongols in kayaks), that would also serve as legal basis for their eviction once Greenland has come Heim ins Reich. [/s???]
"
There’s some speculation there that China is not ready and willing yet to take on the US in South America, and this move by the US has shown the rest of the continent that Xi is mostly talk.
The new deep-water port China funded at Chancay, Peru has entered the conversation. Peru has increased its seafood exports to China via Chancay. Bolivia has signed a deal to increase its lithium production and ship it to China via Chancay. Brazil is making noises about exporting semi-refined rare earth metals to China via Chancay. The truly paranoid are already muttering about China leasing adjacent space for a naval base.
On “An open thread”
Itshould be noted that two is only the maximum. This administration demonstrates that you might get only one. Or, more often with them, none.
"
This reminds me of a maxim about doing large projects: "Three things everyone wants - fast, cheap, and good. But you can really only have any two of them."
The tRump admin has broken this rule and has chosen "fast" twice.
"
David Brooks is too much of a coward to actually look at the evidence and try to render any judgment. Doing that would destroy his ability to find the right angle to flatten any difference and equivocate.
Meanwhile, since we were discussing who these people in masks are, and what motivates them...
https://web.archive.org/web/20260113135117/https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2026/01/ice-recruitment-minneapolis-shooting.html
The other gem in this piece:
When Donald Trump took office, ICE numbered approximately 10,000. Despite this event’s lackluster attendance, their recruitment push is reportedly going well; the agency reported 12,000 new recruits in 2025, which means the agency has more new recruits than old hands. That’s the kind of growth that changes the culture of an agency.
Enjoy!*
*If you are a masochist.
"
Disgusting as that NRO pos is, David Brooks got their first, flying his flag
https://youtu.be/QQiiNa-X_eU?si=GmdEkMAJZmN1qGad&t=141
I never really understood why the National Review was able to recover from being unapologetically racist
https://theintercept.com/2020/07/05/national-review-william-buckley-racism/
but you can see that deep down, they never really changed.
"
I am reminded of an acquaintance who was in Chicago in 1968, and his advice for protesters.
He showed me the scar where the baton split his scalp open.
ICE believes they are law enforcement. So far, the courts seem to agree with them. They don't have batons, they have guns, which are much more dangerous (any fool can point and pull a trigger; batons take at least minimal training). They have less training about crowds than riot police, are milling around, lack explicit shields, so are more dangerous. The biggest difference I see is that the Chicago PD in riot gear were actually anonymous. I'm slightly amazed that we know who the ICE person behind the mask was.
"
Fuck that guy and his glib dismissiveness. Fuck his lack of empathy for anyone outside of his own in-group. I wish him a heavy lesson in karma.
Seconded
"
Take a deep breath, Tiny. A slow deep breath.
Charles was actually agreeing with you. If these thugs were real law enforcement, they would routinely wear body cams. (Which, be it noted, are also real useful if there's an actual court case to be made in these situations.). The reason they weren't wearing them is that they are nothing like real law enforcement.
On “¿Qué quieres decir cuando dices China, por favor?”
That timing of the snatch happening just after meeting with the Chinese has been taken by some as a warning to China, and it is difficult to imagine that the US didn’t know Maduro’s schedule, however, I would have expected Trump to crow about it in some way, so maybe it was dumb luck?
I would expect that, if the timing was dumb luck, Trump would be crowing like it was his brilliant planning. Neither do I think it likely it was a warning -- that would be a level of subtlety the current administration seems incapable of.
I think a more likely possibility is that it was carefully timed out of (absolutely never under any circumstances to be admitted!) fear of the possible Chinese reaction. Trump might (probably did) warn his buddy Putin, so Russians would be moved out of harms' way. But, not having that kind of BFF relationship with Xi, what was left was careful timing.
On “An open thread”
CharlesWT: There’s a reason for LEOs to wear body cams. Had he been wearing one, it might be clearer exactly what happened.
"LEOs" and storm troopers are not the same thing.
"LEOs" don't wear masks.
"LEOs" have limits on their authority and their jurisdiction.
"LEOs" who work for ICE don't have the authority to write you so much as a parking ticket, let alone order you out of your car.
"LEOs" do things like execute arrest warrants, not execute civilians.
If it's not clear to you "what happened", seek help. If you think the murderous Jonathan Ross was just trying to do his job, ask your favorite AI what his assigned job was, that day, because I doubt that body cam footage would tell you.
I'm sure there were Americans in the 1930s who would have defined the Gestapo as "Law Enforcement Officers", but I like to think those Americans would not have called themselves Libertarians(TM).
--TP
"
Even the science guy didn't mention that she backed up before going forward (going forward while steering to the right, which he does mention).
If Renee Good was trying to kill the guy, she was really bad at it and had very little idea of how to operate a vehicle. Also, too, Ross was really bad at getting out of the way if that's was he was trying to do.
"
normally apolitical YT science guy, Hank Green, has some thoughts about how certain peoples' reaction to Good's shooting says something about their relationship to truth.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FyStPztM7eo
"
Maybe they thought they would simply make their escape after having had their activist fun.
Yeah. "Activist fun." I'm sure that there are some thrill seekers sprinkled through those crowds - mostly energy drink aged males looking to prove their courage - but given all we have seen of this administrations violence and disregard for civil rights and the rule of law, most all of those folks who are showing up are there despite the danger.
Moms with young kids being so well known for seeking out potentially deadly encounters just for fun because they saw it on the internet...
Fuck that guy and his glib dismissiveness. Fuck his lack of empathy for anyone outside of his own in-group. I wish him a heavy lesson in karma.
"
It's a simple statement that has outsized explanatory value, unfortunately.
It's odd that, while I'm sure there have always been people upset about what ICE has been doing, there are now far more. It seems to have coincided with ICE doing more and worse things in places where they used to do much less. It appears that ICE has increased fear and chaos in places that were relatively peaceful before ICE got there.
Maybe there's a cause-and-effect thing going on here.
"
"..., having only his cellphone footage to go by, ..."
There's a reason for LEOs to wear body cams. Had he been wearing one, it might be clearer exactly what happened.
"
speaking of mind reading... more from the guy over at NRO who brought us "To hell with Minnesota":
a glimmer of hope!
alas.
but... ok. 2nd chance!
so... mind reading is bad, except when it's a hippy ?
"
"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.
"
I don’t know. It’s crazy and exhausting. I’m becoming increasingly disgusted by human nature. I was starting think we were in the early stages of turning away from this bullsh*t, but that’s been put to rest.
i approve this message
"
Going on a tangent here, but I have a hard time wrapping my head around what animates these militia, white power, and Christian nationalist types. Is it that hard to be happy and chill the f**k out?
I'm sure it's the fault of all the woke social justice warriors who get upset when right-wingers try to make vulnerable people's lives worse. Maybe don't f**k with other people so much?
I don't know. It's crazy and exhausting. I'm becoming increasingly disgusted by human nature. I was starting think we were in the early stages of turning away from this bullsh*t, but that's been put to rest.
Happy New Year...
*Comment archive for non-registered commenters assembled by email address as provided.