@jwcph

ugh.
I totally get the instinct to assume these are "untrained" thugs, and no shade to anyone who assumes that at first pass. But at some point let's please drop the "these are untrained people!" narrative. these people are highly trained, we're just not used to seeing these tactics in the interior.

@randahl

@randahl

this is a good documentary, highlighting the longstanding CBP culture of racism, violence, and administrative cover-ups.

this is the culture we're now seeing playing out, in the interior, where CBP/ICE have been given free reign to terrorize and assault communities. as they've always done on the southern border. They're well-trained to inflict this outrageous harm. Very well trained.

https://youtu.be/1FQWH5IYT5Y

@randahl

also, those concerned that the head of the Proud Boys was hired into this federal force, I would humbly say that's the least of our worries. The Proud Boys (however grotesque and racist and violent they are) are nothing compared to the violent culture of Border Patrol.

@randahl

I would argue, these people aren't "untrained." They're a paramilitary force that has been unleashed into "the interior."

They are not "Law Enforcement," which I was very glad to hear Tim Walz say at his press conference this afternoon.

@randahl

people need to understand the racist, violent culture of Border Patrol and CBP/ICE more broadly. The disregard of human and constitutional rights inflicted by ICE and CBP that we see now in "the interior" has been happening FOR DECADES along the border. The culture is deeply rooted, I think we're just seeing it more.

Jenn Budd (former agent) offers a very informed perspective on this. if folks haven't yet, check out her work.

https://jennbudd.substack.com/about

https://jennbudd.substack.com

@randahl

I hear what you're saying
but it's not just "lack of training."
For instance, Jonathan Ross, the agent who murdered Renee Good, had a decades-long career in CBP, etc, with specific expertise in firearms.

The "tactics" that US is now seeing (the disregard for law, the brutality, the assumption that anyone who is Brown is a criminal) have a LONG history of use along the S. border and deeply rooted in CBP culture. Those same tactics are now being used in "the interior."

@spellingmistakescostlives

yes, clearly someone entered the prompt "make a design that puts the US at the center of the globe and also lends itself to being covered in cheap gold flake. make it look like peace, branches crossing or something."

you guys. EU must dump US Treasuries, tank the bond market and destroy the US dollar. Treat us like the pariah state we are now.

@randahl

>Pleasing a bully NEVER works.

yes, it's weird how many adults do not understand this. who think, okay well all he wants is my lunch money, this one last time, okay.

as someone in the US, I BEG people: please stand up to him. cut off the US if need be.
Edit, to add: And it need be! sever ties, cut off trade and tourism, consider us a pariah state because we are. It pains me to say this actually, but it's true.

@Lazarou

I totally hear what you're saying. it's all so absurd and cruel.

also, though, rape is intertwined with power. Rape is about power. Those Epstein men didn't rape girls because they were horny for sex, they raped those girls because it reinforced their power.