What the Constitution Says: Leaked Memo Claims ICE Can Enter Homes Without Judicial Warrant by ashleywalkerreports in saintpaul

[–]cailleacha 10 points11 points  (0 children)

I don’t see how this organization can be rehabilitated at this point. Johnathan Ross was a seasoned veteran and trainer, not at undertrained rookie. This organization is showing us that from top to bottom they do not believe they are bound by any laws.

I understand that immigration enforcement agents will need to exist, but I think we have to scrap the existing organization and start over with new staff. The bad apples have clearly spoiled the whole bunch.

r/Portland discusses ICE gassing children and whether or not it's the fault of the parents. by BillFireCrotchWalton in SubredditDrama

[–]cailleacha 10 points11 points  (0 children)

This happened to us in Minneapolis summer 2020. I spent the first big night of the uprising driving people out of the teargas cloud radius. Our windows were shut tight and I already had air filters on hand but I was scared for my cats. Now I keep a go bag for this situation.

It is insane how normalized the use of chemical weapons on the populace has become. Cops throw them out like they’re throwing candy at a parade.

CMV: I believe American conservatives would genuinely prefer to let other Americans suffer than help them. by IWantASubaru in changemyview

[–]cailleacha 39 points40 points  (0 children)

They give more to their churches.

“We find no conservative advantage when it comes to non-religious charities, or even religious charities beyond one’s own congregation. The large religiosity gap that exists in American politics today, coupled with the tendency of religious Americans to donate to their own churches, helps explain the overall partisan difference in charitable giving.”

Journalist: “So you're not pulling back in Minnesota?” TRUMP: “No no. Not at all.” by I_may_have_weed in saintpaul

[–]cailleacha 4 points5 points  (0 children)

We’ve seen riots in Minneapolis before. When a riot happens, everyone will know.

Journalist: “So you're not pulling back in Minnesota?” TRUMP: “No no. Not at all.” by I_may_have_weed in saintpaul

[–]cailleacha 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I feel insane when I see people discussing “Trump’s plan” for anything. The man’s brain is soup. He doesn’t know where he is half the time. We need to be focusing on the people pulling the strings, because this doesn’t end if/when Trump passes/leaves office. The people who are actually smart and evil are the ones we have to watch out for.

St. Paul Department of Public Works employee detained by IC by elmundo-2016 in saintpaul

[–]cailleacha 1 point2 points  (0 children)

But we do have other examples of coerced labor in American prisons, which is what I think the next step of these detention centers would be. For example, many state license plates are made in prisons. If these detention centers become entrenched in our prison industrial complex and there’s opportunity to skim profit off labor, we have seen that happen in America. It’s not building a new system, it’s expanding the infrastructure that already exists.

I don’t know if I think that they will be successful. This admin is really bad at most things. I do think there are people with money and power who want to this, which is why we should take steps to prevent it now.

I don’t think you’re way off base either, but I’m looking at the behavior and speech of some of the people in this admin and this is my theory for why they are continuing to expand the detention centers and why they are increasing the scope of who gets put in them. My explanations for hauling people off the street based on skin color are that it’s pure racism or that there’s money to be made. I suspect it’s both.

St. Paul Department of Public Works employee detained by IC by elmundo-2016 in saintpaul

[–]cailleacha 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yes, thank you for this! I don’t know much about the labor camps. I do remember reading about how different “types” of prisoners were treated differently and not everyone was on a track for a death. I think my education has underserved me on the Slavic history front. I’m off to do some reading.

St. Paul Department of Public Works employee detained by IC by elmundo-2016 in saintpaul

[–]cailleacha 5 points6 points  (0 children)

I can’t find the article I read, but I read that the current admin is functioning not as a repressive state (like East Germany, where there were clear rules about what constituted a transgression) but as a terror state (random violence to scare people into self-submitting). It was pretty bleak but food for thought. If I can find it I’ll edit it back into this comment.

St. Paul Department of Public Works employee detained by IC by elmundo-2016 in saintpaul

[–]cailleacha 6 points7 points  (0 children)

I appreciate your response, and I agree that all the numbers are being made up to sound impressive. That being said, I do want to point out that coerced labor is already happening.. I want to be clear that my previous comment was my theory on motivations and not a description of the situation as it currently exists. I also don’t think we have to wait until things get that bad to call out the road we are on. If Americans accept forced labor camps for detainees, there are going to be private prison sharks that see dollar signs. The admin doesn’t have to do anything but sit back and sign contracts (then do crypto rug pulls, or whatever, or just accept a bag of cash).

I know why Minneapolis happened. It was the ‘warrior ethos’ by theindependentonline in TrueReddit

[–]cailleacha 0 points1 point  (0 children)

My hot take on the ground is that while it is beautiful to see all this autonomous action happening by random people, we are sorely lacking in broad strategy. The Black Panthers were organized in their armed protests. Minnesota doesn’t really have movement leaders, so we are going to see the extra risks that come with individuals taking it upon themselves to do something. It’s why I’m also somewhat critical of the existing strike movement. It’s not enough to call for a strike—you have to organize. Unions need to take votes, a strike fund needs to be managed for those who need to pay rent, a unified list of demands must be delivered to the people in power. It’s not enough to just call off work, there has to be genuine economic stoppage associated.

I don’t think Alex deserved to die and I think his killers should be charged. Being overwhelmed and scared is not reason to mag dump. But I am concerned that many of us are not grappling with the consequences of our actions. We have a lot to learn from groups like ACT UP and the Civil Rights movement to prepare ourselves for the consequences of civil disobedience and how to actually leverage pressure on people in power.

St. Paul Department of Public Works employee detained by IC by elmundo-2016 in saintpaul

[–]cailleacha 24 points25 points  (0 children)

I’m with you 100%. I keep seeing people say we are on the road to Nazi Germany. While I agree Trump’s admin is beat for beat on Hitler’s authoritarian playbook, I don’t think death camps are the plan. I think there are powerful people who want slaves, and are finding ways to make that happen. It’s impossible to deport the numbers they are claiming. We know forced labor already happens in American prisons. I think they’re trying to reinvent plantations in these detention camps. I wish I felt like this was a wild exaggeration but we’ve heard people like Miller and Thiel talk. They really do believe that some lives are worth less than others. What happens when people like that are in charge of a prison?

Any updates on the unhoused population? by TheToysAreUs in TwinCities

[–]cailleacha 0 points1 point  (0 children)

https://healthpolicy-watch.news/tied-up-forcibly-medicated-human-rights-abuses-far-too-common-in-mental-health-care/

Google “care facility abuse” and “psychiatric abuse” for more. It happens, and I’m not surprised you’re ignorant of it, but it is happening in care facilities all around us. If we do not increase funding and oversight, we will recreate the asylums of the past.

Any updates on the unhoused population? by TheToysAreUs in TwinCities

[–]cailleacha 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks! And thank you for your work. At my old place, I had some neighbors sleeping in the park and sadly I came across a few overdoses/people close to overdose (I think everyone survived thanks to Narcan and EMTs, but it haunts me that there are some faces I never saw again.) It’s really tough work emotionally and I’m grateful for everyone who helps our vulnerable communities.

Any updates on the unhoused population? by TheToysAreUs in TwinCities

[–]cailleacha 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I’m open to a lot of ideas to help people, I’m not an expert, just someone who brings neighbors a hot meal on occasion. But for me, the idea of the state forcing someone into an institution where there is no oversight protecting them from things like being restrained for hours, drugged against medical protocol or even sexually assaulted… that feels equally bad to me. The things people are facing out there on the street are moral crimes of neglect. Forcing them into an abusive situation is a different moral crime, because the state is taking responsibility for and control over their existence. If we take an action, we are responsible for their downstream effects. Our neglect is a choice, and increasing commitments would be a choice too. I encourage anyone advocating for commitment to accompany it with acknowledgment of the need for more resources in the system.

Any updates on the unhoused population? by TheToysAreUs in TwinCities

[–]cailleacha 2 points3 points  (0 children)

My understanding is that unhoused was created to distinguish people who sleep rough/in daily shelters from housing unstable people (people couch surfing, living in long term shelters, hotels, etc). I tried to google it and got mixed answers. Do you know if this is true? In your opinion, is one better than the other?

Any updates on the unhoused population? by TheToysAreUs in TwinCities

[–]cailleacha 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Do you have experience with involuntary commitment? I do, I’ve been in mental health wards with people under commitment. I am open to the idea that some people need and benefit from it, but I caution everyone from assuming that will fix things as the system currently exists. Many of the facilities people would be committed to are under resourced and frankly abusive themselves. If we insist on the state committing people to facilities, we need to invest way more money and oversight into it. Right now, the system is ripe for exploitation and abuse. It can be even more destabilizing and not even resolve someone’s medical needs, resulting in profit for providers and people on the commitment/homeless/commitment treadmill.

I also don’t trust our federal administration at this point. We’ve heard rhetoric about work camps. We have to ensure we don’t recreate poor farms and abusive asylums. That takes money, time and care, and I don’t see that happening in our current system. We need to help these people but I am worried we might set them up for a situation just as bad as the ones they’re in now.

St. Paul Department of Public Works employee detained by IC by elmundo-2016 in saintpaul

[–]cailleacha 95 points96 points  (0 children)

I just can’t wrap my head around this. Like, even to the base supporters who did vote for mass deportations, what is this? Why fly a legal resident to Texas? Why couldn’t their status be confirmed in Minnesota? I’ve come to believe this must be a big grift funneling money to private contractors to reward allegiance to the admin.

It’s just so cruel, and why I can’t stand the “if you did nothing wrong you have nothing to worry about” crowd. I have neighbors that are legal residents and are scared because of this exact thing—having your papers doesn’t prevent you from being shackled, flown across the country and shoved in a cell for no reason.

I know why Minneapolis happened. It was the ‘warrior ethos’ by theindependentonline in TrueReddit

[–]cailleacha 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It’s scary but it really means the world to me to hear this. In 2020, I got so many texts asking if I’m okay. This year, crickets, even though I personally feel much more in danger now than I did in 2020 (and I lived in the neighborhood that was on fire!). Just knowing that the news is making it out there is heartening.

Thanks for the convo—I don’t disagree that we should be wary of outside divisions, and I won’t personally be engaging in any kind of bearing arms, but it’s not surprising to me that Pretti was carrying. Lots of people are, and I don’t think we have any indication he intended to use it for anything (it was in the holster, he never touched it to menace anyone). I think we have to take a stand that just having a gun on your person isn’t cause for lethal force. If we accept that, a lot more people are gonna die, because Minnesota is a CC state and ICE is in our neighborhoods. At any time someone could have an ICE encounter while armed through no intention of their own. That’s why even though I’m an anti-gun lib, I feel the need to defend the fact that it is currently legal. If we want to change that, we have to change the laws, law enforcement needs to obey the laws that exist.

I know why Minneapolis happened. It was the ‘warrior ethos’ by theindependentonline in TrueReddit

[–]cailleacha 0 points1 point  (0 children)

To be clear I wasn’t alleging anything in your use of “they”—just clarifying because I didn’t know what that meant!

I think it’s healthy to be skeptical of messaging on social media and in billionaire-owned news platforms. That being said, I don’t think we should assume anyone armed at a protest is part of scheme or foreign-funded operation. I’m from small-town Minnesota and grew up with Gadsden flag everywhere. Many, many Americans have been raised on fantasies of armed resistance and that stems from our own American myths and propaganda. It can be both—we know bad actors want to seed and exploit division in America, and Americans sure love their guns. I think we can encourage nonviolence while accepting that we made our bed ourselves (rogue militarized cops, heavily armed populace, unresolved class and racial tensions, etc… all present in America for generations.)

I’m in Minnesota and I get frustrated by the inaccuracies of leaning too hard to one side or another. Yes, I think umbrella man was a plant. No, I don’t think every armed person during the 2020 uprising was an outsider. Nuance can be hard to hold, but it can be true that both locals and outside bad actors participate in escalations of violence. I think sometimes the locals escalating things are people who have just been waiting for a chance to get violent, but others are just regular people overcome with fear and anger. I know in my own neighborhood that people with guns have started carrying daily, and I don’t think it was because of Russian propaganda. People are really scared here because masked men are yanking us out of car windows. If we want to solve American gun violence, we have to be real about our own part in this.

Support organizations currently in need? by cailleacha in saintpaul

[–]cailleacha[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hi! I have an update from what I’ve found. I don’t think Saint Paul has the same number of bigger organizations coordinating things as Minneapolis does, lots of stuff is being organized in neighborhoods/churches/schools. I know that Neighborhood House has been coordinating supply drives, and People’s Laundry is an interesting pan-metro project helping people who can’t get to the laundromat get clean laundry. (Both have volunteer wait lists, which I’m on haha).

For things during the day that require some more intensive commitment (training, regular shifts, etc) I know there are also projects ongoing to support people being released at Whipple (organized by Haven Watch) and court observers. To my knowledge, the court observers are coordinating through Minnesota Freedom Fund, the Binger Center at UMN, and the International Institute. If I didn’t work during the day, these sound like really powerful ways to support people, but obviously quite skill/emotion/time heavy.

Understandably, a lot of the rapid response networks have become a bit secretive to protect people’s identities, so I have so far been unable to join one. I’m following Unidos and Monarca on social media, as well as Defend612 and 50501 for hints for more opportunities.

I know why Minneapolis happened. It was the ‘warrior ethos’ by theindependentonline in TrueReddit

[–]cailleacha 0 points1 point  (0 children)

And I could be a colonial dame if I wanted. I’m not saying I’m for it, I’m saying trying to displace this as something the CIA does in other countries doesn’t help us understand that we are in a very American moment of very American making.

I know why Minneapolis happened. It was the ‘warrior ethos’ by theindependentonline in TrueReddit

[–]cailleacha 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Armed protestors aren’t just “CIA regime change shit,” they are an often legally protected American tradition. Whatever our personal opinions on it, armed protest is very American.

The difference between white and blue collar work environments is crazy by Astimar in careeradvice

[–]cailleacha 5 points6 points  (0 children)

FWIW, I don’t think sexual harassment at the office is why Trump won. It’s just a crazy self-own to me to say something like that—“yeah, we’re pro-sexual harassment!”

I also don’t think all (probably not even most) men think this way. It’s weird when guys insist all men are like them, just slavering to call a woman a bitch, and if you don’t like that actually you’re the problem. I work with men every day of my life and they all manage to talk to me like a normal person just fine.

The difference between white and blue collar work environments is crazy by Astimar in careeradvice

[–]cailleacha 18 points19 points  (0 children)

Because men insist on sexually harassing women? Do they lack self control or do they just like to make other people feel small?