On the Killing of Renee Good

As we barrel toward the first anniversary of President Donald Trump’s second term of office, we are in an accelerating downward maelstrom of lawless thuggery.  Although one must pause and say that a full, competent, and impartial investigation into an ICE agent’s January 7th shooting and killing of Renee Good in Minneapolis needs to be completed before accurate conclusions can be drawn, by this time all who care have seen video – which, crucially, as far as I am aware, no one is claiming has been doctored – strongly appearing to indicate that before the shooting, one masked ICE agent forcibly attempted to open Ms. Good’s car door while a second masked ICE agent (the shooter) first inappropriately positioned himself in front of Ms. Good’s vehicle, was then able to successfully move himself to the driver’s side of the vehicle away from any risk of being hit, and then fired at point blank range into Ms. Good through an open driver’s door window.  At the time this is typed, the Trump Regime is spreading fabrications justifying the agents’ actions that are blatantly at odds with the video.  (One can hardly blame them; since they have been able to convince their gullible supporters that the January 6th insurrection at the nation’s Capitol was a patriotic lovefest, it’s clear that these vacuous citizens can be made to believe anything.)  Homeland Secretary Kristi Noem, standing before cameras in her tight little jeans and a ridiculous cowboy hat, was spouting misinformation about the incident seemingly before they got Ms. Good’s body out of the car.  Somebody had to wake Mr. Trump up so he could echo her lies in a social media post.  I have seen reports from credible sources that Vice President J.D. Vance has vociferously defended ICE and criticized Ms. Good.  (I admit that I haven’t heard Mr. Vance’s comments directly; I no longer have the internal fortitude for listening to lying lickspittles.)  We have seen an example of the Trump Administration’s Nazi Sturmabteilung-like activities in full fly.  ICE agents clearly feel unrestrained, empowered by the Regime’s lawless culture.

Ms. Good was a U.S. citizen.  Something the networks we watch have been too politically correct to state directly:  Ms. Good was blonde, white woman in the middle of Minneapolis, Minnesota.  Not that it should matter, but these ICE agents had to recognize that demographically, the chances that she was an illegal alien were miniscule.  It is not hard to conclude that Ms. Good panicked when she was aggressively approached by the masked ICE agents.  Those reading these notes who know me are well aware that I am predominately of ethnic Irish descent and if provoked, my temper can sometimes accelerate … well … rapidly.  If I had a goon trying to rip open my car door, I might well have done exactly what Ms. Good did – actively resist a masked man’s attempt to enter my vehicle.  Even if prior to the confrontation she had been acting in a manner less than supportive of ICE activities, that should not have gotten her killed – not in America. 

Based upon my legal training and high regard for our justice system, in less fraught times I would caution that we should await the outcome of the current investigation of the incident before forming firm conclusions.  Given accounts that the Regime’s FBI has taken over the investigation and shut out local Minnesota investigators, it takes little prescience to predict that the findings rendered will be a complete whitewash of ICE.  There will never be a full, competent, impartial investigation of this incident unless Democrats gain control of either House of Congress in 2026 and thereafter choose to hold hearings. 

Ms. Good was an American citizen who didn’t have to die, killed by American federal officials sponsored by an American Regime that has glorified Ashli Babbitt, the insurrectionist rioter killed during the January 6, 2021, assault as she tried to break into a Congressional Chamber.  That same Cabal is now in the process of canonizing the ICE agent who killed Ms. Good by what was at the very least a questionable use of lethal force — while simultaneously demonizing Ms. Good. 

[An aside:  it’s possible that the shooter agent, whom it has been claimed had recently suffered a physically and emotionally wrenching experience on the job (I believe nothing that the Regime says that cannot be confirmed by credible sources), also reflexively panicked as Ms. Good’s car moved toward him.  If such is indeed the case, one can have personal sympathy for an individual who was perhaps placed back in the field too soon, and whose life – under normal circumstances – would now also be forfeit to the Administration’s propaganda designed, Sturmabteilung-like activities; but as severe as it sounds – we have a family member in law enforcement, and well recognize that in our sheltered lives we have no real understanding of the dangers members of law enforcement face regularly — cops (speaking generically) don’t get the luxury of panickingIt is part of their job not to panic.

Despite the continuing reports of the Regime’s brutal immigration enforcement tactics, had you been feeling pretty safe as an upstanding, likely white, U.S citizen?  Get over it, my friend.  If they are willing to say black is white with regard to this shooting despite the clear videographic evidence, all camouflage of due process under law has been shed.  What do you think they’re going to do if some ICE agent simply decides to shoot you in the face at point-blank range while you’re peacefully protesting in the future against ICE or other Trump activities?

I acknowledge that the occasional references to Nazi Germany in this and recent notes regarding the Trump Administration are provocative; I consider the Regime’s actions to warrant them.  I would suggest – and indeed did so in these pages, at the time – that there were reflections of the mid-1930s Germany becoming ever more apparent in Mr. Trump’s and his minions’ inclinations during the last 18 months of his first term; I would submit that their actions during this go-around have turned those reflections into neon banners.  Too harsh?  Don’t take my word for it.  Read The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, by William Shirer – which I believe is still considered, despite the hundreds of thousands of works completed on the Nazis over the last 80 years, to be the definitive work on Nazi Germany – and decide for yourself.    

This is the point in a note where I would normally indicate that you should exercise your right as an American to peacefully protest.  Today I would qualify that.  Anyone who does elect to protest needs to remain peaceful; otherwise, all is lost practically as well as morally.  But as to whether to protest:  if you have children (or others depending on you) at home as Ms. Good did, and think any protest you might be considering attending will place you in close proximity to ICE or other federal agents, STAY HOME.  Your responsibilities are there.  Teach your children how American Constitutional democracy was intended to work.  Leave the peaceful protesting to geezers like me whom we can afford to lose.

Stay well.              

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