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Chris J. Karr's avatar

A couple of things worth adding to this story:

1. The FBI has frozen the State of Minnesota out of its investigation of the death of Renee Good.[1] Given the politicization of the DoJ and provably false statements made by the administration before the investigation has concluded, there's little chance that the truth of the matter will come out, as opposed to a story that covers up the issues that led to Good's death. To his credit, Tom Homan seems to be the only person in the executive branch saying that he'd wait to comment until the investigation was complete[2].

2. I'm in the camp that believes incidents like Wednesday are "features" and not "bugs" in the Trump administration's experiments to see how far they can push their project to create a modern Praetorian Guard that answers to and is accountable only to the President. That said, Trump's fascistic experiment only succeeds if people don't react, and people are reacting in a manner that's heartening for those of us who haven't signed onto the "President as God-King" movement.

3. I don't have a lot of strongly-held beliefs about Wednesday's killing other than the general one expressed above. The reason for that is that we already have a process for dealing with these kinds of incidents: Trials. There's enough evidence for the State of Minnesota to indict Jonathan Ross (a Minnesota resident) for killing Renee Good, and that process can play out where Ross can marshal evidence that he was acting properly within the scope of his duties and the State of Minnesota can attempt to prove otherwise to a jury of his peers.

4. As someone who takes part in ICE patrols in my neighborhood (mainly to dissuade them from harassing parents picking up their kids from school), today - my first patrol since school restarted earlier this week - was markedly different than the end of 2025. I had a lot more neighbors come up and talk about what we were looking out for and a lot more thanks (including an orange and hot cup of coffee). At this point in the process, ICE has shown itself to be an organization filled with incompetents that have pissed off the Wine and Book Club moms. To the extent that people fear ICE now is a function less of how intimidating they can be, and more about whether being in proximity to their stupidity is going to get yourself hurt or killed. They are seen as less the East German Stasi, and more a bunch of failed mall cops acting out their power fantasies. (And they know it, which is what pisses them off so much.)

As Steve points, a COMPETENT ICE leader would pause operations to review what led them to this debacle to begin with and shift in their tactics. However, this ICE is led by fools (esp. Noem and Bovino) who believe that they can manifest their own realities, and more deaths will result. And each time that happens, they will continue lose any authority or respect that they might have enjoyed, and they'll be continue inviting the same response that everyday Iranians have visited upon their Republican Guard in the past week.

[1] https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/minnesota-officials-say-they-cant-access-evidence-after-fatal-ice-shooting-and-fbi-wont-work-jointly-on-investigation

[2] https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trumps-border-czar-minneapolis-ice-shooting/

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Chris J. Karr's avatar

A good example of the "fear" that these incompetent goons engender:

https://bsky.app/profile/noturtlesoup17.bsky.social/post/3mbyw5gnqkk2r

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Curtis Stinespring's avatar

A few comments on your points above.

1. & 3. Almost everything is frozen out in Minnesota. Regarding local government participation, they have all expressed their biases. The feds have too. I rely on Shipley. The courts will decide.

https://substack.com/@shipwreckedcrew/note/p-184077079?utm_source=notes-share-action&r=d2084

4. What are the dissuasion tactics used on your patrols? Do you brandish your official Illinois militia handgun, assuming you got your permit restored? If so, be very careful. Refer to Shipley's column above. I can cut and paste applicable portions if you can't read it. The officials you denigrate are enforcing laws passed by Congress and signed by a President.

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SGman's avatar
2dEdited

The administration desperately wants an excuse to utilize the Insurrection Act, and is willing to let poorly-trained and unqualified ICE personnel run rampant to provoke a response that lets them do so.

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Bill Pearson's avatar

Interesting dichotomy isn't it Steve? Peaceful protesters in MPL's are terrorists that trump feels are justified being shot dead; while those violent (?) protesters in Iran are being pushed by trump et al to greater levels of insurrection.

Irony from this administration is beyond measurable.

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Cooter's avatar

If Biden had not opened the borders...

If local law enforcement complied with ICE detainers...

If big money progressives stopped funding professional protesters...

If professional protesters did not interfere with law enforcement operations...

If progressives and never-Trumpers stopped using incendiary language such as Nazi, Gestapo, etc...

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Chris J. Karr's avatar

It's amazing how everyone has agency (and culpability) except for the folks on your team.

Members of ICE have the agency to carry out their duties in legal ways that don't violate the Constitutional rights (and lives) of others around them, but are intentionally CHOOSING not to do so. If they don't like being called Nazis and Gestapo, they can choose to STOP acting like Nazis and the Gestapo.

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Curtis Stinespring's avatar

It's clear to me that the violence is caused by the thugs and idiot politicians who are harassing, inciting riots and trying to hinder the arrest of illegals. Local officials could ease the situation simply by turning illegal overs to ICE when they are encountered and by cooperating in planning operations. The locals can't be required to do that but why don't they? It's because of illegal votes and cheap labor and another seat in the House of Representatives.

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Curtis Stinespring's avatar

We either enforce the law in the face of illegal interference, or we allow the anarchists to prevail. It's easy to sit at a computer and criticize the LEOs who risk their lives and sometimes the safety of their families to protect the rest of us.

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Steve Berman's avatar

That is not ICE’s job to protect us. If you call 911, ICE does not come. They need to act professionally and within their agency’s rules for use of force. They need to be accountable. I see neither of those things happening with this incident.

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Curtis Stinespring's avatar

Arresting illegals is protecting us. It is a preventive measure. Try calling 911 when a violent illegal breaks in. The cops will show up in time to begin collecting evidence.

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SGman's avatar

ICE has admitted that at least 60% of those they've detained have no criminal history.

As you know - because you've been told multiple times - most immigrants - legal or not - commit crime at a lower rate than native-born Americans.

Your fear is irrational and detached from reality.

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Cooter's avatar

Again, the correct metric is the absolute number of crimes committed by illegals.

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SGman's avatar
2dEdited

Which is just plain lower than native borns.

More importantly, our system is based on individuals - not groups.

You can just admit that it was a lie that Trump said he was focused on criminals.

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Cooter's avatar

Correct. The number of crimes committed by illegals is lower because the illegal population is much smaller than the population of native borns.

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Curtis Stinespring's avatar

A lack of criminal history does not prove non-criminality. Deport as close to 100% as possible.

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SGman's avatar

Yeah, sure...

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SGman's avatar

It literally was not any interference: she was there prior to their arrival on scene (which was not the site of an operation per DHS) and she was waving them past saying "Go around". There was no call for them to engage at all.

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Curtis Stinespring's avatar

The LEOs say they had reason to detain the driver. I believe them.

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SGman's avatar

Have you watched any of the footage? They definitely did not, and to be clear: we're talking about ICE, which is not a federal police force - they have a specific set of responsibilities.

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Curtis Stinespring's avatar

You do not know the totality of the events and the hinderance of official duties on that day. ICE is a federal police force and are authorized to use deadly force.

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SGman's avatar

That authorization has specific limits per DHS policy - you can find that policy here: https://www.dhs.gov/sites/default/files/publications/mgmt/law-enforcement/mgmt-dir_044-05-department-policy-on-the-use-of-force.pdf

What matters is what happened there, not elsewhere. What we have is footage of the scene of the incident prior to ICE's arrival (when Ms. Good was already present), during the incident (which was escalated by ICE unnecessarily), and the aftermath (ICE agents failing to render aid and stopping aid from being rendered by others).

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Curtis Stinespring's avatar

So you do not think any earlier illegal actions that would justify detention count. That's not the way law enforcement works. I do not believe the policy prohibits arrest and detention and it does acknowledge exigency.

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Dr Mantis Toboggan's avatar

No. ONE side is acting recklessly and provocatively. Full stop.

What makes people think they can be social justice warriors and jump in their vehicles and drive hundreds or thousands of miles to other cities just to push a woke agenda, to harass police, to riot, to protest, I'll never understand but it's sad that this woman had to lose her life over this. But again, she made the choice to leave where she was living, drive hundreds of miles, join a group that was antagonizing and interfering with law enforcement operations, she chose to block traffic, she chose to refuse lawful commands and she chose to try and drive away and she struck a law enforcement officer. All of the precipitating actions that occurred all started with her.

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Steve Berman's avatar

Whether she was a protester or not is up for debate. But Good did live in Minneapolis and had just dropped her six year old at school. I’d say that’s not “driving hundreds of miles.”

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SGman's avatar
2dEdited

She lives there (people do move where they live, ya know). She was at the scene 4 minutes prior to ICE showing up - per DHS on their way back from a "mission" - and was waving them past when they decided to surround her (you can hear her say "go around", so she most likely thought it was just a normal truck - not ICE).

In the video they commanded her to move. She did not strike anyone, as you can see in the video as well.

More importantly, DHS has strict rules on use of firearms and while it's plausible that the first shot can be considered legitimate or at least covered under qualified immunity - the second and third shots wouldn't be. Also at issue is the blocking of a physician to assist - that's gonna be a problem not just for the agent that fired but every other agent that blocked aid.

Get out of your info bubble.

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Cooter's avatar

I'm not mixing anything. You began this using the term "rate."

But, go ahead, let's talk about groups, individuals and per capita.

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SGman's avatar

Retired ICE agent that handled use of force investigations for DHS provided his opinion on the shooting with CBS: https://youtu.be/6ywLEESFDu0?si=VI87WxJNZWxIAJa9

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SGman's avatar

It appears that the agent - reportedly one Jonathan Ross - has posted his cellphone video to a right-wing site thinking it's exculpatory. You can clearly see the victim turning away from the filming agent (who shot her three times), her stating she's not mad at him, and him calling her a "f*cking b*tch".

Copy of the video at https://x.com/krassenstein/status/200968371592518452

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SGman's avatar

Same footage as previous link at https://x.com/splendid_pete/status/2009701085112418329?s=20. You can watch - from his own cell - as he repeatedly violates procedure.

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Curtis Stinespring's avatar

I see nothing I haven't seen already. I'll stick with Shipley's analysis.

https://substack.com/@shipwreckedcrew/note/p-184077079?utm_source=notes-share-action&r=d2084

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SGman's avatar

You should stick with the use of force experts' opinions.

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Curtis Stinespring's avatar

I'll stay with what's legal. You and your idea of experts in the matter evidently take the Brandon Johnson and Mamdani approach to law enforcement.

I do not see any credentials for any force experts in the link. I'm no expert but I have monitored deadly force classes for my security employees. It was clear that if intruders had weapons and explosives, they should be taken out if near vital areas. It was also clear that security personnel should be in position and trained and armed to do so if the bad guys were visible for more than three seconds. Not the same situation but it is something I have thought about prior to judging the actions of others in the security business. I have an appreciation for the difficulty of doing their job.

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