Some Thoughts on the Current Troubles in Minnesota

Since it’s happening where I live and thus seems to be “my business” in a way that something I had merely seen on the news might not be, I’ll offer some observations on some elements of the current situation.

• The current administration, although maybe less so than during the first Trump presidency, is still to some extent a “disruptor” force of people without previous careers in government or administration. Putting a couple of podcasters in charge of the FBI or a couple of spokesmodels at the head of the Departments of Justice and Homeland Security, for example. The assumption behind this logic seems to have been that these institutions were so corrupt and ineffective that the people sent in, being opponents of such corruption, would be able to “clean house”. I’m not entirely unsympathetic with the idea the deep state needs to be reformed, but how’s that going?

• The open border policy we’ve had for much of my lifetime has been problematic. This does not mean, however, that we should go back to the immigration policy that was applied between 1924 and 1965. AND, aside from their success in closing the border, the current administration has NOT been able to keep its promises of mass deportation. Statistically, they don’t seem to be doing any better than the Biden administration. Actually, the fiscal year totals for returns and repatriations of the last five administrations seem to be:

  Clinton: 1.54 million per year

  G.W. Bush: 1.29 million

  Obama: 0.66 million

  Trump 45: 0.53 million

  Biden: 1.20 million

  Is this failure and the frustration of the base part of the reason the violence and performative nature of the effort is being ratcheted up?

• The current administration almost immediately waffled on its anti-immigration goals, tacitly supporting the needs of the agribusiness and hospitality industries for cheap illegal labor and of high tech and academic science for H1B indentured servants. Again, are highly-televised raids and deportations designed to distract people?

• The ways the issue has been politicized, with hypocrisy all around. Democrats claiming to be concerned for the poor refugees and creating “sanctuaries” but maybe really being primarily interested in adding immigrants to their voting base? Republicans targeting crime and fraud by “immigrants” and ignoring very similar crime and fraud by their own supporters?

• Minnesota politicians apparently either willfully ignorant of or complicit in a massive fraud scheme that stole hundreds of millions or possibly even billions of dollars from Minnesota and federal taxpayers, and apparently obstructing efforts to investigate and prosecute. But the same tainted politicians now making some incorrect but some correct moves in response to the invasion of the state by apparently untrained paramilitary forces that are unprepared for the situations into which they have been inserted. I’d say “incorrect” responses would include campaign-style rhetoric such as “Ice, get the fuck out of our city!” More “correct” responses include insisting on investigation of the recent shooting by Minnesota’s BCA rather than letting the Border Patrol “investigate” itself. And calling for peaceful protest.

• The US does still have a 2nd amendment, despite its inconvenience for the administration in this case. The victim, Alex Pretti, had a legal concealed carry permit and DID NOT brandish his weapon as far as we can see on the videos. But also, dude, what the hell were you thinking? Even with the law clearly on his side, I question the victim’s decision to carry his weapon into that space. If (as seems possible and has recently been conjectured) the first shot may have been an accidental discharge of Pretti’s weapon in the hands of the apparently only semi-competent federal employee who disarmed him and apparently didn’t notify any of his compatriots, and who then ran across the street with the gun; then this is exactly the type of tragic consequence that could have been anticipated, of bringing a weapon into this type of tense situation.

• The behavior of the Border Patrol agents (if that’s what they were — why does no one have to wear badges or name tags anymore?) recorded on the videos seems not only hyper-aggressive and bullying, but also incredibly unprofessional. I recently saw a combat veteran (can’t remember his name) on a podcast saying that if he had shot an enemy combatant in an similar encounter in Afghanistan, there would have been an immediate investigation and if it had been a civilian, an immediate court marshall. I’m not calling for sending the US Army onto the streets of American cities, but is it asking too much to suggest the people that are sent ought to have some training in how to properly engage and escalate? Instead of people at the highest levels claiming to grant them unlimited immunity?

• The immediate vilification of the victim by administration spokespeople before there were any facts available suggests a complete lack of interest in determining the facts. And it suggests that the spokespeople (including the Secretary of the Treasury) are really pretty ignorant; including of the fact that they are not living in a world where the mass media can massage the “facts” to conform to their claims. Perhaps they’re hoping that enough people will simply believe their pronouncements (for example, that a “domestic terrorist” approached law enforcement with a semi-automatic pistol and got violent when they tried to disarm him) and look no further.

• And apparently next, in a performative move to block future funding to ICE (they currently have well over a billion dollars to continue their operation) the opposition party is going to shut down the federal government again. Everybody seems determined to double down on confrontation and gestural politics rather than trying to behave like adults. It’s just sad.

• Finally, thank goodness for people recording video on their cell-phones. Otherwise, we might be tempted to believe this was actually “a situation where an individual arrived at the scene to inflict maximum damage on individuals and to kill law enforcement”, as the DHS spokesmodel claimed in her statement to the press. Nothing to see here folks. Move along.