The most remarkable fact to come out of the Minneapolis killings is not why they happened, or how unjust we think they are, or whether the two victims, both white American citizens aged 37, one a poet and the other a nurse, were, in the words of America’s Secretary of Homeland Security, domestic terrorists.
To me, the big question is, why did ICE shoot 3 bullets into Renee Nicole Good and 10 into Alex Pretti?
Surely, one bullet to each would have done the job, or two at most, given how close the shooters were to the shot.
In the annals of wretched excess, this has few peers. True, back in 2013, Toronto police constable James Forcillo shot eight bullets into Sammy Yatim, an 18-year old with a history of mental illness who was screaming on a Dundas streetcar. Forcillo was sentenced to six years in prison, though he served only 21 months.
The rationale for over-kill in close-in shootings of American civilians by American military comes from police training which steers away from “firing one or two bullets and see what happens.” But stress and adrenaline play a part, as does the concept of “sympathetic fire”: In chaotic scenes, one officer’s gunshot can trigger others to fire almost reflexively, especially if they also sense danger and mistake colleagues’ shots for shots from the suspect.
Or…or…they could just be badly trained. Thrown into a chaotic situation, they panicked because they had no training to rely on. Indeed, a growing number of ICE agents are angry and ashamed to wear their badge. As one of them noted: “They all carry belts and vests with 9,000 pieces of equipment on them and the best they can do is shoot a guy in the back?”
Given that more than 10,000 new ICE agents will be recruited this year, and that ICE’s advertising seems to be seeking out white extremists, the wonder isn’t that pumping 10 bullets into someone happens occasionally; it’s that it doesn’t always happen.
Being white didn’t save Renee Nicole Good or Alex Pretti. Being a patriotic American didn’t save Good from being defamed by Donald Trump, who claimed: “The woman driving the car was very disorderly, obstructing and resisting, who then violently, willfully, and viciously ran over the ICE Officer, who seems to have shot her in self defense.” Nor did it save Alex Pretti from being called an “assassin” who tried to murder federal agents,” by Deputy White House Chief of Staff Stephen Miller.
But it does prove that H.L. Mencken had it right when he said: ”The notion that a radical is one who hates his country is naïve and usually idiotic. He is, more likely, one who likes his country more than the rest of us, and is thus more disturbed than the rest of us when he sees it debauched. He is not a bad citizen turning to crime; he is a good citizen driven to despair.”
Meanwhile…
1. Confining and confounding. A sad life lovingly chronicled. Plus, the shipping industry is “like being in prison with a salary.” Plus, what keeps the gifted from living up to their gifts? Plus, how to cancel someone. Plus, what is real love? And finally, are RomComs the key to society’s ruin?
2. Women’s Work is…high risk, especially if you’re the Queen Bee…High temper, if you’re a referee. Plus, Dr. Peter Attia and Lisa Mosconi on Alzheimer’s Disease and women.
3. What’s more magical than exploring an ancient new world? Doing it twice. Jean and I are once again taking friends to Greece in September for the Kardamyli Festival, the best non-fiction festival anywhere. Before that, we’ll spend a week aboard a gulet on the Turkish coast. Piqued? Email: bob@ramsayinc.com.
4. Niall Ferguson is an enlightened Conservative. The eminent historian isn’t a right-wing whacko; he does think we get lots wrong about Donald Trump. All the more reason his interview by Scott Galloway at Davos takes us places that make us squirm.
5. Some things bright and beautiful. First, coloured crayons over the years. Then,wildlife at its wildest. Then, a new kind of pay phone. Then, the cats of The New Yorker, plus the answer to: “Why do we call it a pair of pants?”
6. To the manner born. Can we say “The Venice of the East” any more? Plus, where to find the best wrong maps. Plus, how to balance your life. And how not to cross the border.Finally, Google maps, but how Google Maps also shapes and curates.
7. Brits breaking bad. First, this boatbuilder has balls.
Next, it turns out that Victoria Beckham (Posh Spice in The Spice Girls ) owns the trademarks to the names of her four children. Which is fine, I guess, until the eldest,Brooklyn, starts a social media war with this opening shot. Blood may be thicker than water, but is brand thicker than blood?
8. Paying it forward. What happens when you donate your body to science? (Great Britain division.) Or try to reconcile with your estranged daughter? Or pay for pizza? Or log onto this website of city roads. Then, scamming phone scammers. Finally, an important distinction about reality.
9. I love The Local. It won four National Magazine Awards last year. It breaks important stories and covers things the others don’t, like this piece on what’s a good time to give someone a bill for delivering their baby?
10. Excitement underwater….is bigger in the Great Lakes. Is freezing in Yakutia, and is badly mapped in Mercator.
11. What I’m liking. I know I’m late to the wedding, since the series, Orthodox, first hit Netflix during the pandemic. But this story about a young woman’s escape from anOrthodox Jewish community in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, is compelling viewing, all 4 parts of it.
