Butt Crack and Beer Belly not available online
Taking my own advice.
Old items: Carhartt cargo pants (khaki) and heavy web belt (not shown) from Cabelas; 511 desert tactical boots (not shown) from Amazon; Men’s Sonoma Goods For Life® Supersoft Crewneck Tee from Kohls. New: SUVIYA Personalized Custom Tactical ID Patch with Hook Backing and Loop; KBETHOS Low Crown Cotton Baseball Cap; and YAKEDA Tactical Airsoft Vest for Men from Amazon. Masks have been banned in North Carolina.
Point being, any yahoo can dress like one of Donald Trump’s non-uniformed, unbadged secret policemen, even those not sporting butt cracks and beer bellies. (Butt Crack and Beer Belly not available online.) That’s why agents masking is BS, as U.S. District Court Judge William Young found this week (Footnote 29). It’s meant to “to terrorize Americans into quiescence.” Except real ICE agents or imposters are unlikely to stand at a busy intersection at rush hour advertising that ICE stands for I Can’t [get an] Erection.
Chris Hayes Thursday night had more on 300 CBP and ICE agents storming a Chicago apartment building and rousting out all the poor tenants (including children). The assault might have resembled something from Apocalypse Now if only the Blackhawk chopper had come in blaring “Ride of the Valkyries.” This isn’t law enforcement. It’s terrorism.
At the same time, if we expect people to pay attention and engage without tuning out to preserve their mental health, humor is a weapon we dare not deploy. Too much outrage leads to numbness. Rachel Maddow on Monday played a clip of the bicycle delivery guy taunting CBP agents in Chicago who then gave chase and failed to catch him. She said about all that was missing was the Benny Hill theme (“Yakety Sax”). The clip went viral.
Mockery has a place here. I’ve watched clips of protesters confronting ICE for days at the Broadview facility outside Chicago to little effect. It’s clear from ICE behavior that Kristi Noem is hiring brutish testosterone junkies not law enforcement professionals. Angry confrontation just gives them the chance they’re looking for to bust heads under color of law. What they need to prove, as does Pete Hegseth and Donald Trump himself, is how freaking manly they are. Feeling laughed at has gnawed at Trump his entire life. It’s a glaring soft spot. Maybe leave an indelible impression of his secret police based in humor rather than outrage.
Commuters (women especially) who’ve laughed and cheered at me costumed and spinning this 2-sided sign overhead at rush hour won’t forget it either. Two different drivers shouted thanks out the window for the laugh they’d been needing. (It’s a community service.) Part of building the movement is not numbing potential allies into immobility.
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Our friend Susie Madrak is experiencing a cash crunch. She’s looking for whatever help you might lend this week. Making things worse is an insurance settlement delayed on account of paperwork. Plus:
In the meantime, my neurologist suspects I have an obscure lupus-like autoimmune disorder that’s causing all kinds of weird symptoms (for one thing, she says the signals my brain are sending to my feet aren’t making it through and I’m off balance) but first she has to rule out blood cancers, etc. There’s also a lesion on my lung and they want an MRI.
Susie has been posting at Suburban Guerrilla and Crooks & Liars for 20 years. It’s a calling, not a great-paying gig. We need to stick together. Help out Susie if you can.