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I ask again, who are these people?

You cannot convince me these are fully trained federal agents. They won't identify their agency, they don't produce badges. If they were actually conducting law enforcement activities they would be able to cite their legal authority. Why do they have a video camera? Is this the federal government creating propaganda? Because right now they look like bounty hunters creating content for their extremist social media accounts.

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Every morning at work recently, I feel so overwhelmed by how much I have to do that I just freeze. I want to crawl under my desk. I genuinely do not know if I can dig out. I want to do anything other than this. My procrastination brain feels like it is short-circuiting.

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That fucking article in the NYT today about that fucking law student is a blaring emergency alarm that we have lost the plot in this fucking country. In the last five years, I have gone from thinking my Jewish friends were crazy for trying to figure out an exit-strategy, to starting to think that I have been deeply underreacting. There's nowhere in the world to go, of course, but this is truly nauseating.

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I have no appetite for this country to enter a new war, but I also don't know why anyone thinks knowing a number off the top of their head makes someone more qualified to make a decision about it. This is geopolitics, not quiz bowl. They are both shit people with shit opinions. Why is the left amplifying this?

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An Associated Press analysis of fraud reports obtained through a public records request shows California colleges in 2024 reported 1.2 million fraudulent applications, which resulted in 223,000 suspected fake enrollments. Other states are affected by the same problem, but with 116 community colleges, California is a particularly large target.

Criminals stole at least $11.1 million in federal, state and local financial aid from California community colleges last year that could not be recovered, according to the reports.

Yikes.

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The monster wears your face.

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Found a dead rat under the kitchen sink. We've been battling with them (on our third pest control company at this point), and thought they were mostly under control. I'm not sad it's dead, but having to clean it up has put me off cooking the dinner I planned in there.

The day started off fine, but it took an annoying turn this afternoon and now I'm grumpy as fuck and fighting off the Sunday night blues. And I'm fucking hungry.

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Went down to the smaller neighborhood protest today. And by smaller, I mean my neighborhood fucking turned out for our city. There were tons of people lining the streets. Not a single sign or flag that I wouldn't stand with.

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Sending love to my Minnesota neighbors today. I am walking with and for you today.

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Video shows immigration agents interrogating a Latino U.S. citizen - Los Angeles Times

Why would any American citizen think they are immune to being treated like this by ICE? We know why.

They threw this guy up against a fence and wouldn't release him, even as he explained he was a U.S. citizen. They took his Real ID and still haven't returned it.

Another U.S. citizen at the worksite that day was arrested allegedly for assault and resisting arrest, and his lawyer still has not been allowed to speak to him.

Under what logic are these agents able to charge a U.S. citizen for resisting arrest when they are masked, armed, and won't identify their agency? Wouldn't you resist too? Isn't that a natural response to armed, masked agents showing up and trying to grab you?

This is obvious racial profiling and a violation of our civil rights. In other words, these activities are illegal.

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Blocking a straight up racist in the comments on this post.

If your response to this post is that undocumented immigrants should be deported, then you missed the point.

Americans should be concerned about people making arrests or detentions on the street who refuse to identify their law enforcement agency and their badge numbers. Do these people have authority to take a person off the street? How do we know? We can't see their faces, we can't confirm their agency, and we can't confirm their badge numbers. Is ICE using private security to detain people? Contractors? What training have those people received?

These people appear to be acting under the color of law on behalf of the federal government, but no one seems to actually be able to confirm any individual's authority for doing that. How are we, U.S. citizens, supposed to tell the difference between someone perpetrating a kidnapping and a lawful detention? Particularly when people who ask questions are threatened with federal charges ("Jose said he tried to ask the agents if they had a warrant but was told he was going to be arrested for interfering if he kept asking questions.")

This is a breathtaking, extraordinary exercise of power on people residing in the United States, and we should all be concerned about how this is taking place.

I cannot believe how many people in the United States of America, are comfortable with vehicles with out-of-state license plates pulling up at a church, letting out a load of masked, heavily armed men, vaguely identifying as 'police,' who refuse to even say what agency they are from let alone their badge numbers, grab someone off the street without a warrant of any kind and whisk them away to some unknown location.

Even if you believe that people who are here illegally should be deported, don't you want to make sure that we know who we are deporting, that we know why they are being deported, that we know for sure that there is no lawful way for them to remain in this country?

Can we really not envision a process of deportation that is not excruciatingly traumatizing and cruel? An orderly system with collaboration between the DOJ and the immigration courts. I actually think such a system is not difficult -- even if you insist on these outcomes, can't we have the means be consistent with the Constitution?

Are my fellow Americans really so unafraid of what it means to live in a country where armed men snatch people off the street?

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If you've spent any time driving through the center of California, it's been obvious for a longtime that the farmers have been pretty united in supporting the current administration.

I'm not surprised that someone finally got through to Trump, and got him to say publicly that when they said 'ICE raids' they didn't actually mean 'the farms.' The farmers assumed all along that they'd be protected and would be able to keep hiring the workers they've always hired (usually a mix of H-2A agricultural workers and undocumented hires). And sure, why not throw in the hotel/resort workers too -- it's not like Trump has a personal, financial interest in that.

And suddenly, NOW, it's like 'we've gotta work something out' when immigration advocates have been saying for decades that the artificial throttling of legal immigration pathways is harming our economy and our country in the longterm.

But now, NOW, SUDDENLY, these are our irreplaceable longterm dedicated workers instead of violent criminals and gang members. Suddenly when it's affecting everyone's employees here the fuck we are.

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Oh, my bad. I didn't realize that you, an unelected official, were liberating us from the local and federal leadership we did in fact elect. And you're doing that by... let me check my notes... arresting our neighbors and coworkers? Okay, sure then. Carry on.

Kristi Noem had Alex Padilla, a UNITED STATES SENATOR, handcuffed and forcibly removed from a press conference for asking questions. I’m fucking furious. 

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I cannot believe how many people in the United States of America, are comfortable with vehicles with out-of-state license plates pulling up at a church, letting out a load of masked, heavily armed men, vaguely identifying as 'police,' who refuse to even say what agency they are from let alone their badge numbers, grab someone off the street without a warrant of any kind and whisk them away to some unknown location.

Even if you believe that people who are here illegally should be deported, don't you want to make sure that we know who we are deporting, that we know why they are being deported, that we know for sure that there is no lawful way for them to remain in this country?

Can we really not envision a process of deportation that is not excruciatingly traumatizing and cruel? An orderly system with collaboration between the DOJ and the immigration courts. I actually think such a system is not difficult -- even if you insist on these outcomes, can't we have the means be consistent with the Constitution?

Are my fellow Americans really so unafraid of what it means to live in a country where armed men snatch people off the street?

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Rough day. Just finished it off with a giant bowl of parmesan and butter noodles. I am not feeling amazing about my life choices but also I am tired.