Last week, a masked ICE agent executed Renee Good in her car. Her last words were “That’s fine, dude. I’m not mad at you.” After shooting her in the face, the ICE agent’s first words were “fucking bitch.”
Stephen, as always, a great piece. One thought that really got me thinking was "Let’s end the MAGA occupation of our cities first and then we can have a larger conversation" ("Jim Crow etiquette" is another). We have to make sure that when these thugs eventually go away we actually have that larger conversation. We (as a nation) have repeatedly missed chances to do that, mostly because we've let the people who fear that conversation derail it.
All of this--the bigotry, the misogyny, the officially sanctioned brutality--was sleeping more-or-less underground for years; depending on your place in society, you saw more, less, or none of it. But it was always there. Now it's out in the open--and it seems to be growing.
Someone I met recently actually brought this incident up (over a meeting/lunch) and told me that "the ICE agent had the rule of law on his side." I was gobshocked.
I'm not sure how we would ever reach a person who could actually make that argument (I certainly didn't reach this guy). I'm not sure there's anyone there to reach. I admire Becca Good's bravery and love immensely; the contrast between her statement that "we need to show them a better way" and what the various administration officials and right wing harpies have said is stark. But I can't even begin to imagine how we will ever unwind this giant step backwards.
Accept that we are dealing with scum, and that any liberal or Democrat who cannot a vote this is too out of touch to be leading this fight. ICE is now Trump’s personal kill squad, free of any accountability whatsoever. And any liberal saying Bush was worse is smoking some shit—Bush sucked but if this had happened on his watch his administration would at least acknowledge this was a mistake that should never have happened. Instead the Trump scum are smearing this victim because they can never be wrong. Stop them before the country is lost forever.
And yes one silver lining is that this is a white woman (and a harmless looking one) rather than a large young black or brown man. Sure Trump and the Bearded Pig Boy are trying to make her out to be a terrorist (scumbags will scum) but it’s not working and most of the public are not buying the idea she was a threat. Helps that for many of them she looks like someone related to them but she also runs against any prejudices they might have about who could be a threat. If her death helps create the outrage necessary to bring down this fascist house of shit, it won’t be in vain.
We are living in two Americas: MAGA and anti-MAGA. There is no overlap. There is no shared reality. It’s the blue and gold dress but with our sanity, our humanity, our reality. And fuck JD Vance, for good measure.
"This is like “Jim Crow eqituette”: Don’t make eye contact with your betters and certainly don’t smile or wink in their direction. Smirking is not yet a capital offense in this country, and it’s revealing that so many MAGA cultists saw a woman smiling and considered it an act of aggression. "
And this is what they are doing to this country: expanding Jim Crow to encompass all of us who are not MAGA.
Once again, the division in the US is clearly shown, between Authoritarians to whom the rule of law means whatever the Great Leader says it is, and the rest of us who yearn for a consistent treatment free of political influence and threats.
If you can watch that video of her murder and say to yourself, "Fucking Bitch" had it coming, you are beyond hope. If you can stand the rank hypocrisy of excusing and pardoning the damage of the January 6th rioters at the Capitol against law enforcement officers, and at the same time condemning peaceful protesters as "terrorists", you are beyond hope.
Get up, stand up, and denounce these liars and hypocrites who are driving the rule of law and democracy for all into the dirt!
Misogyny and racism have always gone hand in hand in America.
He wanted to make her pay. He did so knowing that it was a safe bet that his fellow L-ICE would lie for him and he wouldn't have to face accountability.
And he is probably right.
Which is why I am not voting for any Democrat who doesn't promise swift and holy justice on the real evildoers we have coddled and rewarded within America. It is time for a reckoning. It is time for Reconstruction 2.0 and a commitment to sticking with it for as long as it takes and breaking any norm (like the size of the Supreme Court) that is holding us back.
I don’t see how any jury could look at that video and not see how guilty this guy is of intentionally killing her. I’m flabbergasted at how the don’t believe what eyes see, actually works. It’s an insane world.
But if BLM could start with George Flyoyd in MN, perhaps Abolish Ice will also come from there.
That is similar to what Jesus asked about "... a man gaining the world, but losing his soul." Becca Good still has her soul, those maga goons have lost theirs, in their pursuit of power.
I am a Christian, and believe in hell, on this earth and in the afterlife. You make a good point about some people making their lives hell on earth, which is sad. But because they are such evil people, they will experience physical hell when they die. Some seem to always get away with evil acts, and that is why the thought of them spending eternity in hell comforts me.
When you have a rightwing media human centipede to tap into, there are no standards. I mean you can even see the visceral hatred in the tire-deflating Faux News stalker's diatribe against Renee Good. She had pronouns, so she deserved to die. She didn't respect this simpering little boy's authoritay so he had to crash out and kill an innocent woman.
Everyone you quote is a murderer's row of loathsome, up to the execrable vice president. A man so disgusting and craven that he's outshined in decency by a staph infection.
Anyway we'll get plenty of "Both Sides" of this, we'll get some lionization of the dead terrorist Babbitt who was propagandized into assaulting a closed door by people who will never see justice. And we'll go on to more atrocities this week, and the next week, and from then on until Americans decide they want to actually provide a check on the Maladministration and begin to rein in its behavior.
It really feels like the world is tearing itself apart. Who is going to fight for us? For we the people? Klobachar went to the senate and voted to confirm a trump judge after this happened. How is someone who ran for president as a dem, still playing nice with the fascists? Who the hell is going to step up and tell these people no, you are not allowed to murder citizens in the street? Where are the local cops, supposed to protect and serve us? It's all so fucked up. And PBS Newshour shut down it's weekend edition last night because the current admin can't have the truth out there. Sorry for the rant but I feel like I'm watching a dystopian movie play out in real life. Next thing will be no more rights for us fucking bitches out here.
The fecklessness of Democrats is a big problem because at some point the people will conclude that the legal political process cannot stop fascism so they will turn to other means.
Gay Dee SMOKEY EYED SOCIOPATH and FAILED DRAG QUEEN Vance who got “queer eyed” in Silence Valley Techbro Camp by his boyfriend Peter Thiel because he can’t bring himself to come out of the closet. While Hagatha Kristi COSPLAYING MTV Video WHORE Garden Gnome who’s also a MALIGNANT PSYCHO-SOCIOPATH ANIMAL KILLER is an EVIL 😈 SUCCUBUS who deserves to be LOCKED 🔒 UP in the DEEP DARK ABYSS befow.
Stephen, as always, a great piece. One thought that really got me thinking was "Let’s end the MAGA occupation of our cities first and then we can have a larger conversation" ("Jim Crow etiquette" is another). We have to make sure that when these thugs eventually go away we actually have that larger conversation. We (as a nation) have repeatedly missed chances to do that, mostly because we've let the people who fear that conversation derail it.
All of this--the bigotry, the misogyny, the officially sanctioned brutality--was sleeping more-or-less underground for years; depending on your place in society, you saw more, less, or none of it. But it was always there. Now it's out in the open--and it seems to be growing.
Someone I met recently actually brought this incident up (over a meeting/lunch) and told me that "the ICE agent had the rule of law on his side." I was gobshocked.
I'm not sure how we would ever reach a person who could actually make that argument (I certainly didn't reach this guy). I'm not sure there's anyone there to reach. I admire Becca Good's bravery and love immensely; the contrast between her statement that "we need to show them a better way" and what the various administration officials and right wing harpies have said is stark. But I can't even begin to imagine how we will ever unwind this giant step backwards.
Accept that we are dealing with scum, and that any liberal or Democrat who cannot a vote this is too out of touch to be leading this fight. ICE is now Trump’s personal kill squad, free of any accountability whatsoever. And any liberal saying Bush was worse is smoking some shit—Bush sucked but if this had happened on his watch his administration would at least acknowledge this was a mistake that should never have happened. Instead the Trump scum are smearing this victim because they can never be wrong. Stop them before the country is lost forever.
And yes one silver lining is that this is a white woman (and a harmless looking one) rather than a large young black or brown man. Sure Trump and the Bearded Pig Boy are trying to make her out to be a terrorist (scumbags will scum) but it’s not working and most of the public are not buying the idea she was a threat. Helps that for many of them she looks like someone related to them but she also runs against any prejudices they might have about who could be a threat. If her death helps create the outrage necessary to bring down this fascist house of shit, it won’t be in vain.
I think Jamelle Bouie expressed the heart of the matter in his latest video, "Gender is Everything."
Insecure men resorting to a masculity-is-domination rape ethos.
Thank you for pointing out the gender hostility displayed by this ICE goon. Not many reporters seem to get it.
Good has conquered the imagination and public’s attention the way the right hoped Kirk’s death would.
We are living in two Americas: MAGA and anti-MAGA. There is no overlap. There is no shared reality. It’s the blue and gold dress but with our sanity, our humanity, our reality. And fuck JD Vance, for good measure.
"This is like “Jim Crow eqituette”: Don’t make eye contact with your betters and certainly don’t smile or wink in their direction. Smirking is not yet a capital offense in this country, and it’s revealing that so many MAGA cultists saw a woman smiling and considered it an act of aggression. "
And this is what they are doing to this country: expanding Jim Crow to encompass all of us who are not MAGA.
Once again, the division in the US is clearly shown, between Authoritarians to whom the rule of law means whatever the Great Leader says it is, and the rest of us who yearn for a consistent treatment free of political influence and threats.
If you can watch that video of her murder and say to yourself, "Fucking Bitch" had it coming, you are beyond hope. If you can stand the rank hypocrisy of excusing and pardoning the damage of the January 6th rioters at the Capitol against law enforcement officers, and at the same time condemning peaceful protesters as "terrorists", you are beyond hope.
Get up, stand up, and denounce these liars and hypocrites who are driving the rule of law and democracy for all into the dirt!
Misogyny and racism have always gone hand in hand in America.
He wanted to make her pay. He did so knowing that it was a safe bet that his fellow L-ICE would lie for him and he wouldn't have to face accountability.
And he is probably right.
Which is why I am not voting for any Democrat who doesn't promise swift and holy justice on the real evildoers we have coddled and rewarded within America. It is time for a reckoning. It is time for Reconstruction 2.0 and a commitment to sticking with it for as long as it takes and breaking any norm (like the size of the Supreme Court) that is holding us back.
I don’t see how any jury could look at that video and not see how guilty this guy is of intentionally killing her. I’m flabbergasted at how the don’t believe what eyes see, actually works. It’s an insane world.
But if BLM could start with George Flyoyd in MN, perhaps Abolish Ice will also come from there.
𝐽𝑜𝑛𝑎𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑛 𝑅𝑜𝑠𝑠 𝑠𝑡𝑜𝑙𝑒 𝐵𝑒𝑐𝑐𝑎 𝐺𝑜𝑜𝑑’𝑠 𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑙𝑑 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑦𝑒𝑡 𝑠ℎ𝑒 𝑚𝑎𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑎𝑖𝑛𝑠 ℎ𝑒𝑟 ℎ𝑢𝑚𝑎𝑛𝑖𝑡𝑦. 𝐼𝑡’𝑠 𝑞𝑢𝑖𝑡𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑠𝑡 𝑡𝑜 𝐽𝐷 𝑉𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒, 𝐾𝑟𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑖 𝑁𝑜𝑒𝑚, 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑠𝑜 𝑚𝑎𝑛𝑦 𝑜𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑠 𝑤ℎ𝑜 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝑒𝑙𝑦 𝑠𝑢𝑟𝑟𝑒𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑖𝑟 ℎ𝑢𝑚𝑎𝑛𝑖𝑡𝑦 𝑏𝑒𝑐𝑎𝑢𝑠𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑦 𝑏𝑒𝑙𝑖𝑒𝑣𝑒 𝑖𝑡’𝑙𝑙 𝑔𝑎𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑚 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑙𝑑.
That is similar to what Jesus asked about "... a man gaining the world, but losing his soul." Becca Good still has her soul, those maga goons have lost theirs, in their pursuit of power.
I am a Christian, and believe in hell, on this earth and in the afterlife. You make a good point about some people making their lives hell on earth, which is sad. But because they are such evil people, they will experience physical hell when they die. Some seem to always get away with evil acts, and that is why the thought of them spending eternity in hell comforts me.
When you have a rightwing media human centipede to tap into, there are no standards. I mean you can even see the visceral hatred in the tire-deflating Faux News stalker's diatribe against Renee Good. She had pronouns, so she deserved to die. She didn't respect this simpering little boy's authoritay so he had to crash out and kill an innocent woman.
Everyone you quote is a murderer's row of loathsome, up to the execrable vice president. A man so disgusting and craven that he's outshined in decency by a staph infection.
Anyway we'll get plenty of "Both Sides" of this, we'll get some lionization of the dead terrorist Babbitt who was propagandized into assaulting a closed door by people who will never see justice. And we'll go on to more atrocities this week, and the next week, and from then on until Americans decide they want to actually provide a check on the Maladministration and begin to rein in its behavior.
thanks, Stephen
I cried all the way through this post, Stephen.
No one can synthesize all the disparate terrors going on as aptly as you can. I’m grateful for you.
It really feels like the world is tearing itself apart. Who is going to fight for us? For we the people? Klobachar went to the senate and voted to confirm a trump judge after this happened. How is someone who ran for president as a dem, still playing nice with the fascists? Who the hell is going to step up and tell these people no, you are not allowed to murder citizens in the street? Where are the local cops, supposed to protect and serve us? It's all so fucked up. And PBS Newshour shut down it's weekend edition last night because the current admin can't have the truth out there. Sorry for the rant but I feel like I'm watching a dystopian movie play out in real life. Next thing will be no more rights for us fucking bitches out here.
The fecklessness of Democrats is a big problem because at some point the people will conclude that the legal political process cannot stop fascism so they will turn to other means.
Gay Dee SMOKEY EYED SOCIOPATH and FAILED DRAG QUEEN Vance who got “queer eyed” in Silence Valley Techbro Camp by his boyfriend Peter Thiel because he can’t bring himself to come out of the closet. While Hagatha Kristi COSPLAYING MTV Video WHORE Garden Gnome who’s also a MALIGNANT PSYCHO-SOCIOPATH ANIMAL KILLER is an EVIL 😈 SUCCUBUS who deserves to be LOCKED 🔒 UP in the DEEP DARK ABYSS befow.