This Used to Be Such a Quiet Town

 

     Stella: "Some people think because they're stronger, or meaner, that they can push you around. I've seen a lot of that. But it's only true if you let it be. The world is what you make of it."

     Paden: "I like your attitude. But it can be risky." 

     I keep thinking of that snatch of dialogue from the 1985 movie, Silverado. It's a brilliant piece of binary dialogue. Neither Stella's nor Paden's lines would've been very memorable by themselves but together, they give each other power, resonance. Relevance.

     We're seeing that defiant spirit in Minneapolis these days. The risk of standing up to power had cost two 37 year-old Minnesotans their lives. And, still, they refuse to stand down. If you're a dittohead MAGAt who's incapable of thinking for yourself beyond Trump's Truth Social feed, then they're domestic terrorists. However, if you live in the reality-based community, they're heroic patriots.

     When Joe Biden took over the presidency in 2021, he'd inherited a dying war in Afghanistan in which we had just 2500 troops. That's 500 fewer than the number of federal agents in Minnesota these days. It's not quite a standing army, which would have horrified the Founding Fathers who were distrustful of such things, but it does count as an occupation and an invasion.

      The reasons for ICE being in Minneapolis-St. Paul were farcical from the beginning. Because of one low octane right wing vlogger alleging day care fraud carried out by Somalis, Donald Trump, acting purely out of an animus against Rep. Ilhan Omar and Governor Tim Walz, dispatched 2000 ICE and Border Patrol agents. Since Renee Good's murder at the hands of Jonathan Ross, he's added 1000. The Minneapolis Police Department, by contrast, numbers just 600.

     The completely worthless mainstream media still haven't asked the obvious question of why an immigration enforcement body like ICE is even postured to act as if they're investigating day care fraud. If it's federal funds we're talking about, you'd send in the FBI, bring in forensic accountants. Or let Minnesota's law enforcement spearhead the investigation.

     You wouldn't send in thousands of masked shock troops carrying fully automatic machine guns and chemical weapons.

     And you wouldn't use them to murder unarmed civilians. (Yes, Pretti was disarmed just seconds before an ICE agent filled him with 10 bullets).

     One of the many ironies during this illegal occupation is that, according to the Ohio Immigrant Alliance and the Pacific Antifascist Collective, a report they issued just hours ago discovered that 30 or more ICE and Border Patrol agents both past and present have been accused of or prosecuted on a vast raft of charges. They consist of gunpoint sexual assault, child sex trafficking, aggravated assault, robbery, rape, torture, kidnapping, sexual abuse of a minor, and possession, and production of child sexual abuse materials.

     And those are just the ones who have been caught.

     We know for a fact that many of the ICE agents in Minnesota right now are neo Nazi skinheads, people awaiting trial on drug charges and, likelier than not, some January 6 rioters. When ICE and DHS last year put out the cattle call for recruits to help the government purge the nation of brown people, these brain-dead goons saw it as a chance to float up to the mother ship. The $50,000 signing bonus and illusion of complete impunity didn't make it any less attractive.

    And the reality that all too many of us refuse to confront is that our government is actively killing us. Then they smear the dead, lie about their crimes and sneer at their critics. Criminals with homicidal intent, arrogance and institutionalized impunity from an equally criminal junta posing as an actual functional government never promises a good outcome. We saw it in Germany in the heyday of the SA.

     When Trump vowed to be a dictator on day one, 77,000,000 didn't believe him or didn't care or thought that their votes would somehow immunize them from his thrashing around to injure his self-perceived enemies. And now we have a lame duck "president" in the twilight of life and relevance and power who's being reminded daily that he can no longer alter reality to suit his agenda.

     That, too, is not a good combination. And don't be fooled by Trump walking back his prior statements on Minnesota and distancing himself from DHS. Don't be fooled by Trump bemoaning the shooting death of another Minnesota resident. Don't be fooled by his suddenly singing Tim Walz's praises after a phone call. Don't be fooled by his criticisms of ICE. He doesn't care about Renee Good or Alex Pretti any more than he cares about anyone not named Donald Trump. That guy only looks at events in his orbit through the lenses of poll numbers and ratings. This makes him look bad. And he can't have that.

     So, for the second time in five and a half years, Minneapolis looks like a war zone, with tear gas replacing what used to be the pristine air of Minnesota, with barricades made of dumpsters blocking city streets, a populace enraged over the violation of their sovereignty and civil rights, their very right to life.

    Or, as Brian Dennehy's character Cobb bemoaned in Silverado, "This used to be such a quiet town."