ICE: Licensed to kill

 No need to own a tuxedo, play golf, or know what baccarat is. No tricked-out Aston Martin required. James Bond isn't the only one licensed to kill.

The death toll keeps mounting from street murders by ICE agents. Separate from the death toll of detainees in ICE custody, the street murders are more ominous because they can happen within minutes after agents fix on a target and pursue it to a fatal conclusion. They face no consequences because the regime wants them to sow fear and stoke rage. The victims never make it to custody, where they can die of abuse and neglect at the hands of private prison contractors.

This is America right now. The murder victims include protesters as well as immigrants and people who resemble immigrants. They violate every constitutional principle. Anywhere ICE operates, anyone who rubs them the wrong way is at risk. 

Any time armed people walk among us, our survival depends on their restraint. When the armed force is government sanctioned, it presents a grotesque caricature of the permission we give to ordinary police forces to use deadly force "when necessary." The officer in the field makes the decision. 

Armed citizens do not improve the equation. As wrong as it may be for an officer of the law to take a life, shooting back doesn't balance things out. It makes it more likely that an officer will react out of fear. The same is true with ICE agents, who seem more likely to look forward to killing someone anyway. The "fear" might serve as a reinforcing excuse to do what they wanted to do anyway, but the threat of armed resistance creates just enough validation to give their supporters a talking point.

The US constitution was not drawn up to facilitate firefights between opposing viewpoints. You wouldn't know it by the way Second Amendment devotees act like gunplay is the next logical step in a heated debate. Throughout human history our species has demanded that a person be willing to die for their beliefs. We don't just honor human sacrifice, we crave it. We don't need martyrs, we need therapy.

Terrorizing a nation is expensive

 Terrorism depends on emotional impact. The 9-11 attacks killed a tiny fraction of the total population of the United States, but drove a precision chisel into divides in the country, starting the fractures that led us to two costly wars and the election disasters of 2016 and 2024.

With an authoritarian government in place in the United States, we now have government forces terrorizing US citizens under the pretext of terrorizing "illegal immigrant criminals." They're on a rampage in Minnesota, focused mainly on the Twin Cities area, after a summer that included a shock raid in Chicago that could have come from a movie script. Remember that Donald Trump comes from reality television, and Steve Bannon made his money in the movie business. It's all show biz to them. Coincidentally, terrorism is all show biz, too.

Terrorism is performance art. It's guerrilla theater. It's improv in the wild, only it's not improvised by its writers. It's only improvised by the unwitting characters in the general public or target population who have the situation sprung on them.

Despite having an enormous budget and now asking for more money, and hiring anyone from 18 to 80 who is willing to buy their own tactical kit and pepper spray old ladies and school kids, ICE can't put big touring companies in more than one or two cities at a time. The expense goes beyond money to personnel. A goon squad needs goons. While humanity seems to produce an endless supply of people who like to be mean to other people, they're still a small enough percentage that the Department of Homeland Security will soon have to hire people who have to get their parents to drop them off at work.

All of this malicious incompetence comes at a cost to taxpayers. You, the average citizen, are paying all of the budget for ICE to commit acts of brutality without fear of penalty or pushback. Their funding was specifically secured in the One Big Bucket of Bullshit reconciliation bill the Republicans managed to shoehorn through last summer.

The Republican members of congress aren't spineless, they're complicit. Republican voters: is this really what you voted for? In some cases, I'm sure it is. But the rest of you: even if you long to live as the privileged class under apartheid, don't you realize that the strategies of xenophobia and isolation are demolishing your precious American exceptionalism? Even without the Toddler-in-Chief stomping his feet because he didn't get a Nobel Prize, the rest of the administration has the foreign policy plans of a 12-year-old. At best they're led by Stephen Miller, who hasn't evolved spiritually and intellectually since high school. He was a nasty piece of work then, and now he has years of experience. They have not mellowed him.

Stephen Miller is another chickenhawk playing toy soldier with other people's lives. Never served a day, but he's all about "might makes right" when it comes to sending other people's kids to pick fights on behalf of white nationalism.

At Davos this week, where America once held considerable influence, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney laid out a plan in which the United States is left to devour itself with petty squabbles while the rest of the world moves on to outgrow the era of superpowers. The US was described as the last superpower in the 1990s, even as a "hyperpower" because it was the apparently victorious survivor of the Cold War. Drunk with power, the country has lurched through the decades since, believing its own hype to the point that ignorant voters were convinced to hollow out and undermine the bipartisan structure created after World War II to facilitate peace and prosperity through diplomacy and global trade.

And now the neo-Nazis who can't get over their side losing the second world war have merged with the white supremacists who couldn't get over losing the American Civil War to throw us back into the hostile and destructive worlds of the 19th and 20th centuries. They'll squander as much of your money as they can to lift up the worst elements of racist government and suppression of labor. Labor is most of us. The myth of upward mobility is that there's always room at the top. The myth of meritocracy is that the best people always rise. The truth is that there's only so much room for middle management. The bulk of us will always be down in the massive pile of the lower part of the pyramid, carrying the load of all of the pretensions of the few rich and powerful manipulators acting out their disparate fantasies of how the world should be to suit themselves

Is it time to start sleeping in our clothes?

 With Vice President JD Vance threatening that ICE will begin "door to door operations," and the rogue agency clearly targeting anyone even slightly uncooperative with the regime, maybe those of us who are at all vocal in opposition need to start sleeping in our clothes. Especially in colder climates, who wants to be dragged out in their PJs for the humiliating spectacle of being cuffed and stuffed, carted away to a mysterious fate by secret police?

Keep some sturdy slip-on footwear beside the bed to complete your ensemble. And be mindful of how your nightly moisturizing routine might make you look to the cameras.

No one expects the Spanish Inquisition!! Likewise, you may have no hint that the all-seeing eye of the regime has settled upon little old you. Dress for the weather outside, in case you have to face it unexpectedly.

Lots of apocalypticists and general preparedness advocates have kept a "go bag" handy for years. Unless you plan to beat feet through the back door as the agents kick down the front one, don't expect to be able to retain a handy kit of personal possessions after your arrest. You'll probably have a shaved head and an orange jumpsuit within hours. But, for the sake of dignity and protection from the weather, stay suited up at all times, in anticipation of your time in transit to that fate.

Even if they just pop the door and shoot you in the face, you want to look good. On the other hand, in the case of summary execution, sporting the flannel pajamas, mug of cocoa, and fleece blanket will get the point across that maybe you aren't such a terrorist mastermind after all.

Everything in political violence is for emotional effect. That's why we keep our protests scrupulously nonviolent. They call us a threat, we show up in goofy costumes, or cheerfully assure them that we're not mad at them. And they shoot someone in the face. Who looks like a threat now? All of this posturing from the regime on one side and positioning from the opposition on the other is ultimately to persuade the sideline public that they want to support one side or the other. Do you prefer the goofballs in frog suits who want to share a living wage and universal health care, or the masked, armed, angry men who want to shoot you because you don't grovel quickly and thoroughly enough?

The vast majority of us do not have to worry about the goon squad kicking our door in and dragging one or more family members away. But no one has perfect immunity. Just because it probably won't be you does not mean that it never could. Certainly the percentage of people who should be subject to home invasion by law enforcement, after thorough investigation and under a valid warrant, is minuscule. There were already enough mistakes before the current regime decided to make it a regular occurrence. They're being sloppy both in preparation and in accountability afterward, because the people in power don't really care about accuracy. They care about intimidation, about maintaining order by making obedience seem like wisdom and self defense.

Are you ready to disappear?

 With the abduction of Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia at the top of the news right now because the two potentates of their respective domains assert that neither of them has the power to return him to his home, it might be a good time to review your own preparations for whoever will be left behind if you suddenly disappear into a foreign prison. Are your affairs in order? Your loved ones and pets ready to get along without you?

Trump was caught on a hot mic telling President Bukele of El Salvador that he intends to send "home grown" prisoners to the care and custody of whoever is in charge down there. In other words, US citizens need to be ready to take a one-way trip. I guess he was just telling Bukele as a courtesy, since that poor guy apparently has no control over what happens once the door slams behind them.

So... are you ready in case you somehow manage to catch the attention of the secret police and get snatched off the street or dragged from your house? Better sleep in your clothes if you don't want to take a 6- or 8-hour flight in your pajamas, or underwear.

This sounds crazy to all you fine, upstanding citizens who have the good sense to keep your heads down and your mouths shut while the easier targets get picked off. Look at Russia: guys like Alexei Navalny get imprisoned and killed. Regular citizens just have to get by and avoid getting drafted as cannon fodder in Ukraine. You'll learn to mind your mouth and write nothing down and avoid eye contact with the cops and trust no one. Those are the keys to freedom.

"If you haven't done anything wrong, you don't have anything to worry about." Yeah, but who decides if you've done wrong? Imagine living every moment of your life as if you're driving in front of a cop along a stretch where the speed limit keeps changing and the yellow lights last about a tenth of a second. Only the consequences are potentially much worse than a traffic stop.

Rural folks probably think that low population density and local knowledge will protect them. Maybe. Unless your local sheriff bought into the regime's philosophy, and maybe agreed to cooperate with the national authorities. An overbearing government has plenty of ways to bring pressure on you by declaring activities of self sufficiency illegal. Sure, laws are only as good as enforcement, but if enough things are illegal they have ample probable cause to poke into your business.

Are you going to arm yourself and put up a fight? The regime has laid the groundwork to pit you against the armed forces. While it's true that the American military has a poor record against unconventional warfare, they have a lot of napalm, and worse things, to keep you too distracted to raise your food crops. Agent Orange, anyone? Perhaps when fighting on their own soil, US forces will be much more effective against the guerillas, because no one will be supplying the insurrection from a neighboring country that the US doesn't want to piss off.

You've got one more chance -- maybe -- to end this before it blossoms fully into a police state. Malcontents gripe that it's been one for years, but they ain't seen nothing. Yeah, there's been surveillance of dissidents, and selective enforcement, and targeting of activists. It has been bad and wrong. But up until now they haven't outright disappeared US citizens and legal residents the way they're fixing to.

Most people don't think about the phrase "due process" except as something they talk about in cop shows. Or if you've had your own brush with the law you might have direct experience. For a lot of us it sounds made up. We don't know what the process is, so we don't know how much we should care. "I'm a good person. I'll never have to worry about this."

Well, now you don't have to worry at all. Because law enforcement isn't going to worry about it either.

As always, the erosion of liberties will begin with outsiders: immigrants, refugees, criminals. You know, lowlife. People you probably don't want around you. They had it comin'. Believe me that once you write off anyone you have created a movable line. And now that incarceration is an industry, the government has little incentive to avoid relinquishing anyone to the prison system. The prisons, for their part, have every incentive to provide as little as possible for the inmates, to maximize profits for shareholders.

I suppose you could look way down the road to when no one is left to pay taxes, so the prison no longer has a revenue stream. I'd look out of the cell block to see where the excavators are digging mass graves at that point. When all we represent to each other is a source of money we can squeeze out, who needs you around once you're drained?

We have a long way to go to get to that point. But this regime has already started the trip.

We are now living in prison

 We are living in prison. This thought struck me as I watched a video by a German immigrant to this country, regarding the recent travel advisories that Germany and some other countries have issued to their citizens who might be planning to travel to the United States.

So far, it's a minimum security prison for most of us, but law enforcement is steadily becoming more strict, especially regarding travel and border crossing. It's focused on foreign visitors, legal permanent residents, and naturalized citizens at this point. It's focused on brown people with tattoos. But perfectly Aryan-looking actual Germans, and innocuous-looking British citizens have been slapped into detention over issues that seem -- as reported to the public -- like things that could have been resolved far less drastically.

 Canadian actress Jasmine Mooney was detained for two weeks. Fabian Schmidt, a green card holder from Germany, was detained back in March when he arrived at Logan Airport on his way home from a trip to Luxembourg and is still being held. And, of course, Kilmar Abrego Garcia was snatched up in that collection of supposed Venezuelan gang members who were sent to prison in El Salvador. He has no criminal record, although he was contesting potential deportation proceedings resulting from an informant claiming that  he was a gang member back in 2019. The regime has said that his rendition was "an administrative error," but they can't undo it. 

Can't undo it? We're supposed to be the most powerful, respected nation on earth according to the current occupant of the Oval Office and his band of braying sycophants, but we can't call back one prisoner from a small country with whom we merely contract to outsource our cruel and inhumane punishment? 

Even traveling domestically, immigrants, legal permanent residents, and visitors on various visas need to carry portfolios of documentation, and even that may not be enough. Ultimately, the decision to deny entry or detain one of them lies with the individual agent with whom they are dealing. And once in the system it's terrifyingly difficult to get out, because our aspiring totalitarians ignore due process.

Kids are being snatched from schools. Workplaces are being raided. Kristi Noem has a different outfit every day to play Gestapo Barbie.

Airport security presents the highest risk because air passengers still receive the most scrutiny in the years following 9-11-2001. This means that Homeland Security gets a gander at you even if you aren't flying out of the country. If an agent decides that you look unsavory, you get special attention. Maybe you disappear.

Germans and Canadians and British people look like plain white folks. Authoritarian regimes are paranoid. In addition to the broad categories of public enemy that they might appoint (Jews, Roma, homosexuals, gang members, terrorists, trans people...) they will have private and specific enemies from within their own social classes: rival politicians, journalists, academics, business leaders who don't pay tribute... And they'll find ways to kick down at community organizers and the working class in general.

What we're seeing now is the beginning of general travel restrictions and the specter of abduction into a prison system run by officials who interpret the law at their whim. You could be anyone. If a front-line agent or cooperating police officer says that you look like a threat under one of their categories, you will disappear. The press release about it will make you sound suspicious. Think about it: you can describe anyone in a way that makes them seem weird and creepy. It's really hard to bring receipts to disprove any and all allegations.

As with anything: air crashes, massive highway pileups, and countless other genuine possibilities for catastrophe, the odds are in your favor, and thousands of people arrive at their destinations every day, no worse for wear than perhaps rumpled and sweaty. But it's worth paying attention to the fact that the current level of scrutiny at all points of entry and exit is beginning to corral us. 

The policies that subtly discourage travel form an interesting counterpart to the policies that discourage voting. Under the guise of "election security," laws are being enacted in state after state to require ridiculous levels of voter identification. At the national level, HR 22 in the House of Representatives amends the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 to require such elaborate proof of citizenship that women who took their husbands' name when they married may have trouble proving their identity satisfactorily to register to vote.

So...you shouldn't travel and it's at least a hassle if not downright impossible for some perfectly legal residents to vote.

The thing about totalitarianism and a police state is that they evolve gradually. Anyone sounding the alarm early, when the remedy would be fairly easy to apply through educated voters saying that We the People do not approve comes across like a paranoid weirdo. Sometimes, even the first victims don't identify the full extent of the danger. They focus on their own individual plight without seeing the broader systemic implications. 

We got broader systemic implications, people. You're probably fine. But you have no control over that. If you get caught in the machinery, you could end up in a cold cell while the government that could demand your release just shrugs, because you don't really matter to them, and never did.