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Notes -
https://www.newsweek.com/video-appears-to-show-new-ice-shooting-in-minneapolis-11411971
Ice shooting round 2 has kicked off. Numerous rumors already flying around but will be a bit before we have facts I imagine.
EDIT: I've been asked to add some relevant points, I'll say: this comment has links to various angles: https://www.themotte.org/post/3493/culture-war-roundup-for-the-week/405295?context=8#context This comment mentions the "Sig misfire" angle that I've seen a bit: https://www.themotte.org/post/3493/culture-war-roundup-for-the-week/405451?context=8#context
Walz has activatedthe national guard: https://x.com/MnDPS_DPS/status/2012614253090619619 The NBA postponed the Minnesota/Golden State game tonight.
I've watched the video a bunch of times and it's unclear to me where the first shot comes from, which this entire thing hinges on. IMO we need the footage from the lady in the pink who was right there. If we're to believe the posted photo of the weapon from DHS, it is a SIG, though I'm not sure if it's a P320. The only thing I want to add to the discussion is the dark possibility that if this is a P320, there's a small but non-zero chance that this is another case of a self-discharging P320, which caused the agents here to believe he had fired at them and caused them to unload on him.
Edit: her video is linked in this thread and it's not looking good for the agents but also it's still unclear if the guy could have pulled a gun. I'm leaning towards bad shoot.
Immediately after the grey-jacketed agent gets the dead guy's gun (we can see the red dot sight; it's definitely the weapon DHS says was the dead guy's, not an ICE weapon. I'm pretty sure it is a P320 but it did not go off), the agent to his left (in the pink lady's video) draws his weapon and fires the first shot, I believe. Not clear why, but it seems like he fucked up. Then there's a bunch more shots, which seems like a further fuckup. I assume if the guy had a second weapon, DHS would be crowing about that from the heights of X, so it definitely seems like an unjustified shoot. But I predict that the less-sympathetic (i.e. male) victim means this makes less news.
Yeah, after seeing more video it does seem like they disarmed him during (one of the agents is shown to have his gun, the same one that can be seen taking it from him during the struggle) and that one agent did fire the first shot. Real bad and none of the angles is redeeming the administration. No idea why they're doubling down on the "domestic terrorist" rhetoric. They're out of control.
White House is doubling down because admitting fault here offers no advantages compared to not admitting fault.
I actually disagree. The rhetoric from the administration over the last 24 hours is losing normies, independents, 2A die-hards, and probably even some formerly committed MAGA people. They're compressing their base into a small bloc of only the absolute most die-hard Trump cultists and it's going to cost them. If they'd admitted fault I think it'd buy them a lot of credibility with the remaining "normal" supporters. Doubling down alienates them.
We can't easily look at the counterfactual today. But I suspect if the admin were conducting Minneapolis in a way you deem normie-friendly, we'd instead be getting continuing coverage of Trump attacking the federal reserve or fresh Ukraine drama or more Greenland inflammation. Or when there's nothing for normies to be scared by, they can make up a conspiracy out of whole cloth like they managed to do for the entirety of Trump's first term.
Trump has demonstrated with Hegseth's embarrassing behavior that he's learned he won't satisfy a media who have already committed to hating him and scaring the normies with max-volume hysterical coverage, so he'd rather spite the media than try to satisfy them by appearing above-board. There's no world where the Republicans do well in the upcoming midterms, and there never was. Voters got tired of Dems, but when they elected Not-Dems, they shrieked, "NO, NOT LIKE THAT!!" There never was a "that" which they would have liked. So it will ever be.
Remember that universal suffrage is only about a century old. We don't know how this ends.
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