I'm stunned and angry, but not surprised that ICE has killed someone else. Alex Pretti, 37, was shot 5 times after being pinned to the ground, this has got to stop, immediately. I'm nauseous and light headed and trying to find my peace but realizing there won't be peace for anyone any time soon.
We are entering the next phase of class war where the machinery of the state that has long been used against poor people of color here and around the world is now being turned against middle class white people. The ICE agents are saying he "brandished" a weapon at them, but we can see clearly in the multiple camera angles that are flooding our feeds that they disarmed him and then murdered him in cold blood.
The Trump regime has been acting like they aren't afraid of electoral consequences and that is absolutely terrifying. I still think their ultimate goal is to shut down the government. The democrats are calling for the defunding of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), something that is long overdue in my opinion, but the only way to achieve this in the immediate term is through a government shutdown.
We're well past the point of no return here, Stephen Miller and his cronies have to know that if they fail to completely pull off this self-coup they are going to jail, so at this point they are all-in. The popular line is that they plan to just ignore the results of the midterm elections but I think that's just plan B if the coup fails.
I've been listening a lot lately to Robert Reich, Professor Joanne Freeman, Professor Hilary Cox Richardson, etc, and their optimism is helping me get through this. They believe that things will get worse before they get better, but they really believe in America and that our values and systems will hold against this onslaught.
I'm more pessimistic, granted way less knowledgeable than all of these people! I think the difference in perspective comes from my background growing up as a poor Black man where I've had a front row seat to state violence since I was a child vs their upbringings where I can only presume by listening to them talk in reverent tones about what is and what isn't "American".
Police brutality is as American as apple pie.
I remember when Philando Castile was murdered by the police, he was a registered gun owner and he let the cops know that he had a gun in his glove box and they still murdered him in front of his child. The officer was acquitted on all charges. I'm not surprised that the same sorts of thugs, now empowered with federal immunity, are even more brazen, more disgusting.
I'm posting this early because as I write a major snowstorm is tearing across the south eastern US and here in the DC metro we're supposed to get around 11 inches of snow followed by sleet/freezing rain, so sustained power outages are likely, I hope everyone stays safe out there.