Asking Gangs to Fight ICE

Rogelio Martinez, a candidate for Mayor of Long Beach, has posted a message where he called for the gangs of Long Beach to eject ICE from the city.  My first question is whether or not this is real?  If so, this man is off his rocker.  Who would post a call for criminals to oppose federal law enforcement?  "Hello, FBI?  Could you come arrest me, posthaste?"  People who aren't all there have been convinced that anything is acceptable to fight the 'fascist Nazis' at ICE.

If you call someone a fascist or a Nazi, there is a minority - maybe a very small minority - of people who will believe it, embrace it, and act on it.  They will get their hands on a gun or a knife and attack the Nazi.  There was the crazy who shot Charlie Kirk, the crackpot who shot Trump, the other crackpot who tried to shoot Trump, and the loon who tried to gun down Republicans at a baseball field.  Though the left claims that the right-wing is likely to commit violence, it is more approving of the use of violence.  24% of far-leftist are okay with assassinations.  Only 4% of conservatives are on board with killing the competition, which is still too high.

It would appear that would-be Mayor Martinez is one of the crackpots who think it is okay to recruit criminals to fight law enforcement.  It has been so long since the US really tried to enforce some of its laws that it now feels like persecution.  It's not.

Black Bag (2025)

George Woodhouse (Michael Fassbender) went to a club to meet Philip Meacham.  Meacham explained that the agency had a traitor.  He provided a list with 5 names.  One of the names on the list was Kathryn St. Jean (Cate Blanchett), who happened to be George's wife.  In order to ferret out the rat, George invited all of them to dinner at his home.  George is a gourmet; he also drugged the food.  Once everyone was sufficiently lubricated, the game began.  Make a resolution for the person on your right.  It turned out that everyone was sleeping with everyone else, but nothing to mark out a traitor.  However, after dinner, George spotted something amiss that implicated his wife.

In the week that followed, George investigated the suspects, including his wife.  His investigations led to further incriminating evidence against his wife!  Even if she was guilty, he would protect her.  He needed to thwart a clandestine plan while keeping his wife safe.  The crisscross of lies led everyone to suspect one another.

The climax was something of a letdown.  It is a replay of the original dinner party with life on the line.  That the villain grabbed the gun provided by the host as though it was actually useful was beyond foolish.  Of course, it's a dummy gun.  How in the world could anyone - especially someone who works in intelligence - believe a loaded gun would just be offered?

Fassbender plays George as a flat, emotionless man.  He makes Roger Moore's raised eyebrow look like Shatnerian overacting by comparison.  He is a cold calculating machine with a keen eye for deception.  Cate Blanchett is similarly limited in emotional range.  It definitely gives the impression that these spies are focused and unflappable.  By contrast, the satellite operator, Clarissa, has wide emotional swings and the psychologist, Zoe, felt very normal as a person.  Pierce Brosnan plays Arthur Stieglitz, the chief of the agency.  It is not a good role, as he gets outmaneuvered by his subordinates and seemed to be oblivious to what was happening.

The movie feels like an old British spy thriller in the vein of The Ipcress File or Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy.  There is a lot of dialogue and no action.  This is more of a whodunit than a spy movie.  That the villain proved to be sloppy and incompetent was disappointing.

Just okay.

An Inside Job

Lt. Governor Peggy Flanagan is an admin of the Signal Chat that has organized the resistance against ICE in Minnesota.  Yes, the government of Minnesota is actively interfering with federal officers who are just trying to remove illegal aliens.  When the governor of Arkansas tried to keep blacks out of schools in the wake of Brown vs. Board of Education, President Eisenhower called out the National Guard.  States don't get to decide which federal laws they will obey.  This sure looks a lot like an insurrection, and Democrats have stated how wrong those are for the past 5 years.

Insurrection: A violent uprising by a group against lawful authority or government power.  It typically unfolds through organized, illegal actions, such as riots or armed resistance, that obstruct the enforcement of laws.

Clearly, they are obstructing the enforcement of laws.  Alex Pretti was armed, which means that Minneapolis has seen more gun-carrying protestors than J6 had.  One ICE agent had his finger bitten off, another was beaten with a shovel, and one was hit by a car.  Organized action by members of the state government to thwart the federal government.  Yeah, we're right on the precipice of insurrection.  Is this to protect hard-working, law-abiding undocumented immigrants from being sent back to their home countries?  Or is it to distract from fraud growing out of migrant communities?  How many illegals voted in Minnesota?  How much of the money acquired from fraudulent daycares and medical clinics was kicked back to politicians, like the suddenly wealthy Ilhan Omar?  How far will insiders take this to prevent that information from being revealed?

Engineered Chaos

The state that has seen the most activity from ICE is Texas.  23% of all arrests have taken place there.  By contrast, Minnesota accounts for 2.2% of arrests.  Why have things gone comparatively much smoother in Texas than in Minnesota?  Texas has cooperated with ICE where Minnesota has cried, "Get the F___ out!"  Governor Walz, Mayor Frey, Attorney General Ellison, and Senator Klobuchar have all denounced ICE as the problem.  The intransigence of the state has caused the problem, and the Democrats are using the resulting chaos as a weapon against immigration enforcement.

Then again, there is potentially a darker explanation.  No sooner had the multi-billion-dollar Somali fraud schemes been revealed than the big story switched to ICE.  Suddenly, the massive fraud carried out under the noses of the Minnesota government fades into the background, overwhelmed by 'fascist ICE agents' sent by President Trump.  Look at that timely use of an Uno Reverse Card.  Rather than being on defense against financial fraud, Governor Walz is now on the offense against ICE raids.

The chaos is not by chance and is not merely concerned citizens marching in the streets.  Opposition to ICE in Minneapolis is a highly organized and well-funded operation.  Cam Higby successfully infiltrated a Signal chat that kept track of ICE vehicles and sent activists to the site of arrests to engage.  The anti-ICE forces have patrols throughout the city, tail vehicles, access to license plate data so they can ID vehicles belonging to ICE, and so on.  Cynical Publius observed that the anti-ICE forces are using the tactics of a paramilitary operation.  Again, these are trained operatives, not random citizens taking a day off work to aid those in need.  This is a fifth column.

The New Nullification Crisis

ICE agents shot and killed a man in Minneapolis.  The man was armed and resisting arrest.  This article reports that his parents urged him not to engage with ICE.  Though I am in favor of the 2nd Amendment and the right to bear arms, it does not seem wise to be armed when you know you are going to be in contact with armed police.  Don't bring a gun to a peaceful protest.  Definitely don't escalate things when you are armed.

Combined with Renee Good's death, the situation in Minnesota is spiraling out of control.  Governor Walz and Mayor Frey are making matters worse with their vocal opposition to ICE.  This is a resurrection of the Nullification Crisis of 1832.  President Andrew Jackson threatened to march an army into South Carolina and his Vice President, John C. Calhoun, resigned over the issue.  Trump has threatened to invoke the Insurrection Act.

Cynical Publius, an insightful commentator on X, argues that the problem is that no one is asking the right question.  Currently, the Democrats are framing the issue by hyping the protests and claiming that the administration is fascist.  The Republicans are, as usual, on defense.  The simple solution is to turn it around would be to ask this question:

Why do you oppose the lawful enforcement of America's long-standing bipartisan immigration laws?

That is what is happening.  Duly passed laws are being enforced.  There is no good answer to this question, so every politician will dodge it, change the subject, or claim it isn't the law.  That reaction is an answer in itself.

Barry (season 1)

Barry Berkman (Bill Hader) is a former US Marine who now works as a hitman for Monroe Fuches (Stephen Root).  Barry is clearly depressed and directionless.  He doesn't like what he does but there is nothing else for him.  Fuches has a new job: go to Los Angeles and kill a man who is screwing the wife of a Chechnyan gangster.  Barry follows the man to an acting class and fumbles into being in a scene with his mark.  Hey, that was kind of fun.  And his mark is a cool guy.  Because Barry dawdled on the hit, the Chechnyans kill the mark and Barry kills some of them.  Barry is now determined to stay in California and pursue acting, but his hitman past won't stay in the past.

This is a particularly dark comedy.  Is it comedy?  The situations that Barry finds himself in are outrageous, which is what makes them funny.  Barry plays it straight while many of the other characters are goofy.  Henry Winkler as Gene Cousineau the acting teacher is particularly good.  Anthony Carrigan is quirky as the number two man among the Chechnyans.  He has a mild delivery of every line, whether it be compliments or threats.  He is an entertaining yes-man with a peculiar look: completely bald and no eyebrows.  Sarah Goldberg plays Barry's love interest, Sally Reed.  She is an aspiring actress and the most talented member of Cousineau's class.  For her, everything is acting and advancing her career.  As such, she and Barry are on-again, off-again through the season.  The central character, Barry, is something of a mush.  He doesn't know what he wants, which seems very strange.  Here is a man who kills people for a living, but he can't say 'no' to some of the dumbest ideas.  His timidity in facing people leads to some truly horrendous outcomes.

Not great, but not bad either.  Good enough that I will start the second season.

Land Purchase is Common

In 1803, President Thomas Jefferson purchased the Louisiana Territory for $15 million from Napoleon.  This purchase included the cities of New Orleans and St. Louis.

In 1819, President James Monroe purchased Florida from Spain.  The Adams-Onis Treaty traded American claims to Texas and $5 million for ownership of East and West Florida.  St. Augustine and Pensacola became American cities though the population was Spanish.

In 1848, President James K Polk sought to purchase California and New Mexico from Mexico.  He offered up to $30 million for the territory.  Any Mexican president who looked like he might negotiate such a deal was deposed.  Santa Anna returned from exile to fight the Americans.  After Mexico decisively lost the war, the US nonetheless paid $15 million for the territory.

In 1854, President Franklin Pierce approved the Gadsden Purchase, which added around 30,000 square miles to Arizona and New Mexico Territories.  This also included the city of Tucson.  Interestingly, Santa Anna was President of Mexico at the time.  At this time, Pierce also offered to buy Cuba, but Spain declined.

In 1867, President Andrew Johnson approved the purchase of Alaska from Russia for $7.2 million.  Viewed as a bad purchase, it was called Seward's Folly.  William Seward was the Secretary of State.  It is noteworthy that Seward also wanted to buy Greenland.

In 1898, President William McKinley purchased the Philippines from Spain for $20 million.  Though the US had defeated the Spanish fleet, it had only captured Manila Harbor.  The payment was to acquire all of the Philippines.

In 1903, President Theodore Roosevelt paid $10 million for the Panama Canal Zone.  Of course, he had helped Panama secede from Columbia when Columbia had refused a treaty for the canal zone.

In 1903, President Theodore Roosevelt began paying rent for Guantanamo Bay on Cuba.  Though the US had long flirted with acquiring Cuba, when it actually was acquired, the Congress forbade annexation.  The naval base was established to maintain Cuban independence.

In 1917, President Woodrow Wilson bought the American Virgin Islands from Denmark for $25 million.  The US had first sought to purchase them in the 1860s.

In 1944, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt purchased Water Island for $10,000 from Denmark.  It was the last of the Danish Virgin Islands and was less than 1 square mile in size.  At the time of the sale, Denmark was occupied by the Nazis.

During World War II, the US used Greenland as a refueling stop.  In 1946, President Harry Truman offered to buy Greenland, but Denmark declined.  In 1951, the US established Thule Airbase - now Pituffik Space Base - as a missile warning base for the Cold War.

President Trump's offer to buy Greenland is nothing out of the ordinary.  Clearly, the US has purchased a lot of territory with varying degrees of arm-twisting.  Greenland has been on the wish list for more than 150 years.