Hello Dante? What Level Is This?

[dryrunguy]

I know this isn't the thread where it's being discussed, but this article (shared with subscription link) belongs here.

A Shocked Nation Watches Minneapolis Killings: ‘Something Needs to Change’‘
Scenes from the violent unrest in Minneapolis played on a loop in many American households over the weekend, prompting reflection about where the nation is heading.

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/27/us/a ... =url-share

[ponchi101]

Sorry to keep coming back to this point.
Why are ICE officers armed to that extent? What are they expecting to find and fight against? Why this level of firepower?
A taser would be more than enough.

[mmmm8]

Sorry top keep coming back to this point.
Why are ICE officers armed to that extent? What are they expecting to find and fight against? Why this level of firepower?
A taser would be more than enough.

This is a country where rural police officers ride around with machine guns in tank-like vehicles...

[dave g]

Sorry top keep coming back to this point.
Why are ICE officers armed to that extent? What are they expecting to find and fight against? Why this level of firepower?
A taser would be more than enough.

This is a country where rural police officers ride around with machine guns in tank-like vehicles...

I suspect that it is because the current ICE staff used to be the people who lived in the backwoods, we armed to the teeth and cause the rural police officers to have to be armed with machine guns and drive in tank-like vehicles. They then project their reliance on arms/force and their hostility to other people.

[ti-amie]

Many of them have been raised on "fear of the other". That includes thinking that the "others" are violently inclined towards them because they are violently inclined to those deemed "other". Most of the people who think like this are in rural areas where there are no "others" but they hate and fear them.

There are other dynamics at play but this is one of the basic ones I think.

Then there's Stephen Miller.

[dryrunguy]

The United States, whether we like it or not, has an obsession with guns. We've known that for a long time. The "right to bear arms" decides elections. It's just who we are.

For centuries, Black and Brown people had no pathway to justice in the face of injustice. All a law enforcement professional had to say to be completely absolved of any injustice they perpetrated, or were accused of perpetrating, was "I feared for my life." Instant innocence. The matter was closed.

That started to change, at least in some parts of the nation, earlier this century when one thing shifted the scale and changed the default presumption of law enforcement innocence: video. Finally, some Black and Brown people started to get some semblance of justice--here and there. Some cops started getting jail time. We actually started hearing words like "accountability."

With that introduction, here's a piece that was published in yesterday's NY Times opinion page. Honestly, this may be our last and only chance. The right to bear phones. They'll still blame the victim. And sometimes the victim will be imperfect. But it's the only chance we've got.

The Best Weapon You Have in the Fight Against ICE (shared via subscription share)

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/26/opin ... =url-share

[ti-amie]

The Tennessee Holler‬
‪@thetnholler.bsky.social‬
· 5h
Does this mean Texas gets invaded now? Or is that only after intrepid reporter Nick Shirley gets a scoop?

www.fox4news.com/news/48-texa...