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Culture War Roundup for the week of January 26, 2026

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ICE Needs Better Uniforms

Everyone's in favor of immigration enforcement until the masked goons in unmarked SUVs show up. Are a lot of these complaints pretextual? Sure. But it is hard to deny that ICE looks unprofessional. Law enforcement must command respect, or failing that, fear. Why are they in camo pants? Are they hunting illegals from covered positions with tranquilizer darts like deer? Such attire projects weakness. Our officers must be dignified, projecting the full power and majesty of the federal government, the greatest instituion God ever gave man.

There is an idea in the water supply that cool uniforms are fascism. People are far too afraid of ever doing anything that the Nazis might also have done. Still, aesthetics that conjure images of 1930s Germany are to be avoided (that means you Greg). I propose looking back even further for inspiration. 1914 was the last time regular armies in battle uniform looked cool. This sort of style would both pay homage to the heritage that the DHS Twitter account seems to think it is protecting, and project an aura of seriousness and respect.

Because it's 2026, I have created a small album of AI-generated concept art. Feel free to offer your own suggestions.

Ugh, just because ICE agents wear what makes them feel confident and comfortable doesn’t give anyone else the right to judge and shame them. They wear their outfits for themselves, not for you and your Gaze. They can celebrate their bodies how they like. Their clothing; their choice.

ICE agents could wear distinct, regal uniforms and leftists would shriek that they look like Nazis, LARPers, black ops paramilitary. ICE agents could wear something more casual and leftists would shriek that they look like LARPers, black ops paramilitary, and Nazis.

Suppose I were anti-ICE and believed ICE are Nazis. Given how well German WWII soldiers and their Hugo Boss uniforms were received by women in occupied lands such as France, I wouldn’t want to give ICE any ideas as to outfitmaxxing.

I am continually impressed by your ability to write the exact same comment every single time regardless of the subject matter, a talent you share with @SecureSignals.

Actually, now that I type it out, I'm curious what his take would be.

I am continually impressed by your ability to write the exact same comment every single time regardless of the subject matter

I would be impressed if you’d be able to identify such an “exact same comment every single time regardless of the subject matter,” but to the extent you flail and fail I’d be amused.

It's a bit unsportsmanlike to dare someone to find a pattern in your posts while having private mode turned on to frustrate any attempt to systematically look through those posts.

Nothing unsportmanslike about keeping your dribble while someone attempts a reach-in.

I’ve had private mode on the majority of time I’ve been registered here; never turned it off after turning it on initially. If one can make claims about my comment history without the most convenient way to “systematically look through” it, one can back it up too likewise.

Come to think of it, so far the greatest unsportsmanlike conduct I’ve seen in this chain is your drive-by attempt at shaming and moving the goalposts from “exact same comment every single time regardless of the subject matter” to “pattern in your posts,” like a spectator heckling from the stands or a journalist looking to shit-stir while feigning indifference.

If one can make claims about my comment history without the most convenient way to “systematically look through” it, one can back it up too likewise.

It's much easier to remember posts than the URLs of those posts, and theMotte doesn't allow searching for multi-word quotes or for filtering a search by a private-mode user.

drive-by

TBQH, most of my posts are on subthreads that showed up on the volunteer page; browsing theMotte is tedious. In this case, @Quantumfreakonomics' post got reported.

moving the goalposts

exact same comment every single time regardless of the subject matter

would be a

pattern in your posts

but the latter is notably shorter and I'm habitually concise.

I tried to check whether his accusation was hyperbolic, as it was relevant to rating his post and to whether I ought to chide him for it (example of me crawling up someone's arse over hyperbole within the last few days, in case you think I'm fabricating). But I hit your privacy block, and I'm not about to chide someone for hyperbole until I'm sure it is hyperbole (hypercorrection is a pet peeve of mine). And, well, hitting that block itself seemed extremely-relevant to your challenge, so here we are.

Part of my intent was to give you the opportunity to give QF a fair attempt, as I figured you may have had it on and forgotten about it. Another part of it was, admittedly, to ensure that anybody reading did not overupdate on QF being unable to provide evidence under present conditions.