I think tRump and his handlers are setting a stage… Americans will stand for overt brute force for only so long then someone somewhere will fight back and BOOM he and the MAGAs will feel justified in a military response. It’s then that we will immediately become a police state with a dictator at the helm. Just a question of time, sadly.
I hope they restrain themselves because you're right, they are looking for the tipping point. I'm sure they have agitators in the protests too. If you see someone obviously trying to raise tensions you should report them to the police who are bound to be at hand. They will know how to deal with it efficiently as that's what being trained is all about.
We cannot rule out that some police may be MAGA of course. Even Michael mentioned that in one of his essays. But to not try is not an option either is it? After this latest killing of an innocent I suspect that there's going to be a reevaluation about who their brother in arms really is.
Thank you Michael. I have a couple of thoughts: 1) these are not cops. Cops do not hide behind masks and body slam people to the ground, or shoot stuff into peoples' faces. 2) Why doesn't local law enforcement protect citizens from ICE's aggressive behavior? Is local law enforcement told to stand down? 3) the streets are not safe with ICE present, and since we can't rely on local law enforcement for protection, we must protect ourselves. The interaction between ICE and people is asymmetric: they have the force to do whatever the hell they want, and, they are barbarians. We don't. Not really fair, is it? Law and order is going out the window with these idiots.
I'm so pleased that the Senate has decided to finally put up the plaque honoring you and the other J6 defenders. It's a disgrace that the House has resisted all this time.
Michael, thank you for writing this. It's sickening and almost impossible to comprehend this is where we have moved to. A president who wants us to die by people who are salivating to kill Americans.
Thank you for your consistent insistence on truth in policing and your illumination of the grave tragedy we are living in today. Stay brave and keep your courage in force.
Even if you set aside the political realities at play undergirding all this, the shooting of Renee Good was the result of unprofessionalism, cowardice, and pure stupidity. If the ICE agents on that scene had even a shred of competence, that woman would still be alive.
It is infuriating to hear the administration and the people who support them to make excuses for that asshole and an insult of the highest order when they compare him and his colleagues to "brave law enforcement officers" defending the public.
YOU DON'T GET TO DO THAT. Not after you pardoned all the January 6th criminals, not after you decided you were going to hire whatever asshole with a bruised ego came crawling out of the cesspools for a job, not after you started sending said assholes out into cities that didn't want or need them without consulting with the cops who were already there, not after you allowed them to hide behind their cowardly masks, and on and on and on.
ICE is a disgrace to law enforcement and screw them and anyone defending them.
Oh Michael, Michael, Michael. For anyone who hasn't listened to you before, they better damn listen to you now. You always speak the truth. Always. I could quote you but don't want to fan girl out. As I've said many times, you didn't choose to be here in the public Spotlight. But here you are. Your words matter. They matter immensely. I couldn't shake your hand this week on Tuesday night at Jim's event because you ducked out quickly. I hope the day will come when I can shake your hand. As a fellow Virginian, I salute you.
Michael, you expertly explained the difference between good police training and ICE training. Honestly, I don't think ICE is really "trained" and should be let loose in our cities. They're causing havoc and now murder. Someone has to pay for this murder - whether it's the ICE agent or the idiots that stand behind them. Their aggressive behavior was going to lead to this type of ending. Unfortunately, a young 36 year old mother, doing nothing wrong, is dead. We have proof of the murder and now we have to make sure that responsibility is taken by this administration.
I totally agree with you all! Just asking but couldn’t it been avoided by them shooting her tires out or using tear gas? They went to the extreme and caused a life to be taken. She wasn’t dangerous but it seems they didn’t care. It’s murder without a doubt!
Here’s a question for those defending the ICE agent: He survived this “attack”; do you think he survived because he shot the driver, or because he stepped aside?
I consider your perspective extremely important in this situation and I am sharing this post. Thank you for what you do. It matters greatly. It helps us stay engaged. I will be on the protest line today.
You bring up something that has been bothering me, along with everything else that is going on. People went into professions because they wanted to better the community not because there was a signing bonus and you got a lethal weapon. You don’t see that anymore. I’m a teacher. Taught in SE DC during the 80s when the city was experiencing murder at unprecedented levels. Crack was rampant. But the people I taught with were dedicated, loved those middle school kids, and were there because they wanted them to have a better life. I left DC but am still teaching. The new teachers I work with see teaching as a gap year thing to do. There isn’t a love of the craft or dedication to the students, just a rest stop. Where do we find the people to dedicate themselves to community service and betterment? We need to teach that, not here’s your $50k bonus, black outfitted SUV, and a big gun, go terrorize the community. Community love and responsibility is in short supply today.
If the Capitol Police acted like Jonathan Ross on Jan 6, there would have been 500 people dead. Unfortunately for us, MAGA respects deadly force over professionalism.
I remember when there were TV ads telling children to look for a police officer if they needed help. While I know that the majority of State and Municipal police are responsible, professional officers, I can't imagine anyone promoting that now.
Mike: the natural outcome of continued abuse of power by federal law enforcement will be, I think, civilians arming them selves in order to protect themselves against these poorly trained, rogue members of Trump’s personal goon squad. Trump may very well be hoping for escalation in order to turn our country into a police state, but I believe that with over 350 million guns already in the hands of Americans, he does not understand how risky his plan is. We are not China, Russia, or Hungary, where only members of the military have guns. If this continues, the current interpretation of second Amendment could easily backfire on Trump, MAGA and the “conservative” members of the SCOTUS.
Another risk is that states like Minnesota, Illinois, California and any or all other blue states may call out their National Guards in order to support local police to protect their citizens against these federal thugs. When there is no transparency or cooperation between agencies after a civilian shooting occurs, the logical outcome is an adversarial relationship between them (didn’t Tim Walz already do this? I haven’t heard much about it, but it would explain why JD Vance is attacking him).
If the end game is for Trump to declare martial law in order to prevent the next election, I don’t see how this can work. The only states where this would make a difference are the 5 swing states, but many of them are run by dem governors (Shapiro in Pennsylvania and Whitmer in Michigan, for example) or moderate republican governors who are beholden to half their constituents. And I can certainly see voters in these states being furious with having their votes messed with.
The bottom line is, we need to remain ever vigilant and continue to document the transgressions of this administration. Trump is great at changing the conversation away from Epstein, but when that conversation becomes becoming the enemy of the American people in real time, I can’t help but think he is shooting himself in the foot (no pun intended)
I think tRump and his handlers are setting a stage… Americans will stand for overt brute force for only so long then someone somewhere will fight back and BOOM he and the MAGAs will feel justified in a military response. It’s then that we will immediately become a police state with a dictator at the helm. Just a question of time, sadly.
I hope they restrain themselves because you're right, they are looking for the tipping point. I'm sure they have agitators in the protests too. If you see someone obviously trying to raise tensions you should report them to the police who are bound to be at hand. They will know how to deal with it efficiently as that's what being trained is all about.
And if the police support ICE their law enforcement brothers?
We cannot rule out that some police may be MAGA of course. Even Michael mentioned that in one of his essays. But to not try is not an option either is it? After this latest killing of an innocent I suspect that there's going to be a reevaluation about who their brother in arms really is.
This is definitely what they're after. No doubt in my mind.
Thank you Michael. I have a couple of thoughts: 1) these are not cops. Cops do not hide behind masks and body slam people to the ground, or shoot stuff into peoples' faces. 2) Why doesn't local law enforcement protect citizens from ICE's aggressive behavior? Is local law enforcement told to stand down? 3) the streets are not safe with ICE present, and since we can't rely on local law enforcement for protection, we must protect ourselves. The interaction between ICE and people is asymmetric: they have the force to do whatever the hell they want, and, they are barbarians. We don't. Not really fair, is it? Law and order is going out the window with these idiots.
I'm so pleased that the Senate has decided to finally put up the plaque honoring you and the other J6 defenders. It's a disgrace that the House has resisted all this time.
Michael, thank you for writing this. It's sickening and almost impossible to comprehend this is where we have moved to. A president who wants us to die by people who are salivating to kill Americans.
Thank you for your consistent insistence on truth in policing and your illumination of the grave tragedy we are living in today. Stay brave and keep your courage in force.
Even if you set aside the political realities at play undergirding all this, the shooting of Renee Good was the result of unprofessionalism, cowardice, and pure stupidity. If the ICE agents on that scene had even a shred of competence, that woman would still be alive.
It is infuriating to hear the administration and the people who support them to make excuses for that asshole and an insult of the highest order when they compare him and his colleagues to "brave law enforcement officers" defending the public.
YOU DON'T GET TO DO THAT. Not after you pardoned all the January 6th criminals, not after you decided you were going to hire whatever asshole with a bruised ego came crawling out of the cesspools for a job, not after you started sending said assholes out into cities that didn't want or need them without consulting with the cops who were already there, not after you allowed them to hide behind their cowardly masks, and on and on and on.
ICE is a disgrace to law enforcement and screw them and anyone defending them.
Oh Michael, Michael, Michael. For anyone who hasn't listened to you before, they better damn listen to you now. You always speak the truth. Always. I could quote you but don't want to fan girl out. As I've said many times, you didn't choose to be here in the public Spotlight. But here you are. Your words matter. They matter immensely. I couldn't shake your hand this week on Tuesday night at Jim's event because you ducked out quickly. I hope the day will come when I can shake your hand. As a fellow Virginian, I salute you.
Michael, you expertly explained the difference between good police training and ICE training. Honestly, I don't think ICE is really "trained" and should be let loose in our cities. They're causing havoc and now murder. Someone has to pay for this murder - whether it's the ICE agent or the idiots that stand behind them. Their aggressive behavior was going to lead to this type of ending. Unfortunately, a young 36 year old mother, doing nothing wrong, is dead. We have proof of the murder and now we have to make sure that responsibility is taken by this administration.
I totally agree with you all! Just asking but couldn’t it been avoided by them shooting her tires out or using tear gas? They went to the extreme and caused a life to be taken. She wasn’t dangerous but it seems they didn’t care. It’s murder without a doubt!
Here’s a question for those defending the ICE agent: He survived this “attack”; do you think he survived because he shot the driver, or because he stepped aside?
I consider your perspective extremely important in this situation and I am sharing this post. Thank you for what you do. It matters greatly. It helps us stay engaged. I will be on the protest line today.
You bring up something that has been bothering me, along with everything else that is going on. People went into professions because they wanted to better the community not because there was a signing bonus and you got a lethal weapon. You don’t see that anymore. I’m a teacher. Taught in SE DC during the 80s when the city was experiencing murder at unprecedented levels. Crack was rampant. But the people I taught with were dedicated, loved those middle school kids, and were there because they wanted them to have a better life. I left DC but am still teaching. The new teachers I work with see teaching as a gap year thing to do. There isn’t a love of the craft or dedication to the students, just a rest stop. Where do we find the people to dedicate themselves to community service and betterment? We need to teach that, not here’s your $50k bonus, black outfitted SUV, and a big gun, go terrorize the community. Community love and responsibility is in short supply today.
If the Capitol Police acted like Jonathan Ross on Jan 6, there would have been 500 people dead. Unfortunately for us, MAGA respects deadly force over professionalism.
I remember when there were TV ads telling children to look for a police officer if they needed help. While I know that the majority of State and Municipal police are responsible, professional officers, I can't imagine anyone promoting that now.
Mike: the natural outcome of continued abuse of power by federal law enforcement will be, I think, civilians arming them selves in order to protect themselves against these poorly trained, rogue members of Trump’s personal goon squad. Trump may very well be hoping for escalation in order to turn our country into a police state, but I believe that with over 350 million guns already in the hands of Americans, he does not understand how risky his plan is. We are not China, Russia, or Hungary, where only members of the military have guns. If this continues, the current interpretation of second Amendment could easily backfire on Trump, MAGA and the “conservative” members of the SCOTUS.
Another risk is that states like Minnesota, Illinois, California and any or all other blue states may call out their National Guards in order to support local police to protect their citizens against these federal thugs. When there is no transparency or cooperation between agencies after a civilian shooting occurs, the logical outcome is an adversarial relationship between them (didn’t Tim Walz already do this? I haven’t heard much about it, but it would explain why JD Vance is attacking him).
If the end game is for Trump to declare martial law in order to prevent the next election, I don’t see how this can work. The only states where this would make a difference are the 5 swing states, but many of them are run by dem governors (Shapiro in Pennsylvania and Whitmer in Michigan, for example) or moderate republican governors who are beholden to half their constituents. And I can certainly see voters in these states being furious with having their votes messed with.
The bottom line is, we need to remain ever vigilant and continue to document the transgressions of this administration. Trump is great at changing the conversation away from Epstein, but when that conversation becomes becoming the enemy of the American people in real time, I can’t help but think he is shooting himself in the foot (no pun intended)
And you found the time to be a hero also.
Michael Fanone is my hero. His courage, determination and dedication are a testament of what a true American should strive to be. Thank you.