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Culture War Roundup for the week of January 5, 2026

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He shouldn’t be setting traps, he should by building golden off-ramps to de-escalate.

Granting the argument for a second, I fundamentally disagree, more traps like this should be set up. There should be shit tests the same way the left has tried to cancel and un-employ people with the pronouns shit. They should be forced to put up or shut up for their ideology, where putting up essentially gives the authorities a carte blanche to imprison or use force against them.

Agree. Building “golden” off ramps is just going to incite more of this shit, where people think disrupting police activity is acceptable and then panicked fleeing when they are detained. Even if officers try to comically deferentially deescalate, it’s a fundamentally dangerous scenario to embolden. What happens when a detainee hurts someone or the fleeing driver hits a bystander in their recklessness.

And the whole, find them later and arrest them, is also a joke. First the massive waste of resources and difficulty, second what happens when those involve reckless fleeing. “Officer showed up at their home and they ended up shot” is going to be much worse optics than it happening at the scene

Agree. Building “golden” off ramps is just going to incite more of this shit

Yes, in formulating policy, one needs to keep in mind that these Leftists are not ordinary criminals but rather organized agitators who are there to disrupt, obstruct, and provoke. If an additional "off-ramp" is set up, these protestors will only adjust their tactics so as to dance even closer to the line of full on attacking the government agents.

these Leftists are not ordinary criminals but rather organized agitators who are there to disrupt, obstruct, and provoke

What is the difference from a mob, in practical terms?

What is the difference from a mob, in practical terms?

Let me give you a hypothetical: Suppose that ICE were to implement a policy that if a person is sitting behind the wheel of a running vehicle, and that vehicle is obstructing them, they will not attempt to arrest that person until they have read that person a formal statement and then given the person a chance to calmly drive away. (So that there is a nice "off-ramp" on the path to escalation.) In that case, these protestors will almost certainly adjust their tactics by blocking ICE with vehicles, ignoring any requests to move, waiting for that formal statement, and then driving around the block while other vehicles block ICE, their drivers confident that they can similarly ignore any requests to move.

With a random mob, there is a chance that adding "off-ramps" might actually improve the situation. A random, unprepared person who is asked to disperse by the authorities might actually comply.

Yes, it's true that an off-ramp to escalation could be gamed by protestors. But it seems to me that the situation is already being gamed by the police (or ICE in this case), and that isn't good either, especially since the police can game things that protestors can't.

Yes, it's true that an off-ramp to escalation could be gamed by protestors. But it seems to me that the situation is already being gamed by the police (or ICE in this case), and that isn't good either, especially since the police can game things that protestors can't.

How exactly are the police gaming the situation?

By standing in front of the car, they are creating a situation where fleeing is a threat to their life and therefore they can shoot someone who is fleeing.

By standing in front of the car, they are creating a situation where fleeing is a threat to their life and therefore they can shoot someone who is fleeing.

Did you see the more recent videos? It seems pretty clear that the shooter was walking in a circle around the car just happened to be (roughly) in front when Good decided to drive off.