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Samizdata quote of the day – Iran: and the media looks away So why was the UK, US and European media so obsessed with this one shooting? Because it was done by an ICE officer, and ICE has been painted as Donald Trump’s personal law enforcement agency, ignoring the fact that it was created by George W Bush in 2002.
I make no defence of Donald Trump. I make no defence of the violent actions of ICE in so many US cities, but to pretend that this one incident was more important than the nascent revolution going on in Iran is laughable. And that’s what too many media organisations were doing.
I can look myself in the eye because almost from the start of the protests, I was covering them on my LBC show. Indeed, we’ve devoted hours and hours to them – more I suspect that any of the 24 hours news channels up until the last couple of days.
If you wanted any real-time coverage of what’s happening in Iran you had to go to live Youtube channels, like Mahyar Tousi’s TOUSI TV, which has been brilliant at informing people about what’s really going on.
– Iain Dale
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Not obsessed with the MN shooting.
Obsessed with all things Donald Trump.
I’m certainly not going to defend the media, but this is a lot more than one shooting. It is a brewing civil war in a US State. Of course the Iranian protest is important but it is not, for Americans anyway, as important as the collapse of law and order in their own country. And that is what is happening, even if the sanitized version the news media portrays is not telling that story.
And it is not just one shooting — we have plenty of those in the USA — it is a shooting by a law enforcement officer, in fact I think several, and the circumstances are quite terrible. It was probably not a criminal act, but it looks like the officers on the victim shot in response to a gun shot, and that gunshot looks to have been a negligent discharge from the victim’s own weapon that an officer was walking away with. It seems that officer who disarmed him did not properly secure the weapon, which is a scandal. And it followed another shooting that I think may actually have been illegal since the officer seemed to continue firing into the side window when he was no longer in danger.
But these things happen when there is a collapse of law and order in a state and when the police are utterly absent, and the political leaders are encouraging the chaos using the whole thing to cover up the revelations of their overwhelming corruption.
As to Iran it looks like half the US military is focused on it, so no doubt there will be a resolution favorable to the protesters. Though it is far from clear that post protest things will necessarily be vastly better for the brave souls bleeding on the streets. But they surely deserve a great deal more visibility than they are getting. Need it be said that the UN are utterly feckless, but aren’t they always?
There were two shootings by ICE. The first was a clear case of self-defense, and the media dropped it after failing to get traction about it being anything else. The second looks a lot more iffy, on first glance, calling for investigation and withholding judgment until more facts are in. The media is going at that one because they can. And because they believe, to the bottom of their piss-pumping hearts, that Trump is the Orange Hitler and ICE is his personal SS.
The civilian casualty toll in Iran is now higher than that in Gaza, yet the world’s Muslims and lefties remain quiet. Apart from those pro-Pali marchers who were also cheering for the ayatollahs of course…
In the first case an ICE officer, who had just come out of hospital from a previous attack, was hit by a car – a car driven by two activists who had been using their car to disrupt for some time (they were not there by chance – and they had not just arrived).
In the second case – the man’s hobby was attacking ICE officers, he used to hit them and spit on them, but this time he came with a pistol which went off (it was Sig – they tend to that) even though the trigger was not touched.
“I make not defense of Trump” “I make no defense of the violent actions of ICE in so many American cities”.
Well then Iain Dale, if you are going to write that (join the “liberal” lie-machine) I am not interested in anything else you say.
I am sick of this – attacking “Trump” and then, after lying about him and lying about Immigration and Customs enforcement, asking him to do XYZ – about XYZ places.
If you want to lie about people – fine, but then do not ask them to do things.
You are either a friend or an enemy – and enemies do not get help.
Finis.
The biased leftwing media, in full Trump Derangement were seeking a George Floyd style knockout (or at least a “Gotcha”) against CBP/ICE and by association Trump. That’s why they showed endless coverage of CBP/ICE fighting off leftwing agitators (but never the agitation that instigated these encounters).
They tried to pull this off with Renée Good, but the video evidence of her “wife” goading her into running down the ICE agent was too damning that it couldn’t be sustained.
Then they tried it with Alex Pretti, attempting to portray him as some proto angelic health worker who was only there to give aid to whomever needed it, despite attending the ICE intervention locked and loaded with a ridiculously OTT weapon that was known for having a dodgy trigger.
The narrative fell apart as soon as the video of him in an apoplexy of rage attacking CBP/ICE agents a week earlier and kicking out the tail lights of their SUV.
The narrative keeps falling apart, not because of CBP/ICE evasions, but because video evidence keeps showing that these “peaceful protesters” actually aren’t that in any way, but instead they are deranged leftist lunatics on the attack.
In light of this, the announcement that all CBP/ICE agents are to start using police style body cameras is a good one. Just as it proved that the BLM narrative about “cops killing unarmed blacks without justification” was utter bullshit, I expect the same to be revealed here, that the deranged leftist lunatics are hunting CBP/ICE agents and that the agents are actually behaving in very restrained manner given the provocation, intimidation, threats and ACTUAL VIOLENCE.
My support goes to Tom Homan and the agents of CBP/ICE.
I have nothing but contempt for those opposing them and interfering with their legal duties.
That’s where you’re wrong. Sort of.
No, the one or two incidents aren’t as important, but Trump is engaging in a revolution *every bit* as much as those poor bastards in Iran.
And just like the Mullahs are trying to kill and shut down the peasants (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h0iAcQVIokg), the international left, and the American left (not all American leftists are internationalists) are trying to shut down Trump’s revolution.
Now, most of what’s happening with ICE in Minneapolis is little Timmy trying to get his fraud and graft off the front pages. But that fraud and graft was how the Democrats party funded itself (partially), so it’s part and parcel of the same thing.
Thing is, Trump’s the vanguard of a bunch of other little rebellions–a small handful of S. American countries have moved “right” (or away from the left, whatever), and there’s some rumblings in Europe.
If Trump can make this stick in the face of the NGOs, the Billionaire leftists, and the rest of the LIPs, then that will create space for these other experiments to play out.
If they manage to crush him, then it’s lights out.
@Fraser Orr: “And it is not just one shooting — we have plenty of those in the USA — it is a shooting by a law enforcement officer”
This happened in Minneapolis nearly a decade ago:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-48113953
It made the BBC at the time, but I don’t remember it being headline news for weeks. Another one of those wonderful Somalian ‘refugees’ that are such a positive addition to any nation.
Generally I’m not that concerned about media coverage of Iran. People keep saying BBC are ignoring it etc yet you can find pretty in depth reporting about it easily on their website. I can’t talk for the newspapers as I’ve stopped reading them.
I will say that British media is overly obsessed with US domestic issues. Given America is the hegemon I think having more coverage of US foreign policy and economics than say Iran is more justifiable as it affects countries like Britain a lot more. On US domestic issues though they get too emotionally involved and I have seen too many Brits on left and right get emotionally invested in team blue or team MAGA as if they are a part of either. We just aren’t and shouldn’t be.
On Iran – I think that President Trump should intervene to help the Iranian people, but he has no legal obligation to do so, and (contrary to his lying enemies) he is wary about using violence.
President Trump thinks that if he can get to Islamic rulers of Iran to agree to stop murdering people, he has fulfilled his moral obligation to help the people – the problem is that Islam (from Mohammed onwards) teaches that such agreements with infidels are NOT binding, they can be broken at any time. Marxism teaches the same – that agreements with non Marxists are NOT binding (which is why, for example, the “Paris Peace Accords” with North Vietnam were not worth the paper they were written on).
Ditto promises not to build nuclear weapons – the Islamic regime in Iran will agree to anything, and then break their word – and without any problems of conscience.
@Martin
I will say that British media is overly obsessed with US domestic issues.
FWIW, I think the American media are overly obsessed with US domestic issues, more specifically with the politics of them. One thing politicians do is to elevate their own importance far too much. The simple fact is that if people spent 10% of the time they do raging about politics over which they have practically no control, and spent it on improving their own lives with things they actually can control then they’d be much better off. Donald Trump has much less effect on our lives than what WE do with our time. Of course, I say this as I comment on politics at 9am in the morning when I should be doing something useful.
However, having said that it is worth thinking of politics as a form of religion really. I’m not religious myself, but I certainly see the appeal. Religion gives people meaning in their lives, purpose, a clear moral code and a community to engage in, all of which are very positive things. And being “part” of a political movement, whether MAGA or Antifa offers many of the same benefits. So I guess there is another side to this “political involvement”. I think just as religion doesn’t really have much in terms of an extrinsic benefit — the benefits come from within the community not from some external deity — so political involvement the benefits are not that you actually change anything political but that you get to enjoy the benefits of community.
Of course that doesn’t really apply to the “political movement” in Iran where the risk reward ratio is much different than your average “Orange Man Bad” protests, notwithstanding the “gestapo” rhetoric of our media.
Paul:
I fear you are right. The islamic regime in Iran will never change, because it can never change. Reform is impossible.
The latest protests have been suppressed with extreme violence. They will not be the last, because life is intolerable under the islamic regime. I wish Trump had not encouraged the people, and then done nothing. He has a tendency to make rather rash social media posts, which is a bad habit for a president.
One day this evil regime must fall, but it does not look as if it will be with the help of the USA.
Pretti wasn’t shot by ICE offers. They were CBP, which is not exactly the same thing
although the C is for customs in both cases, and both are part of DHS.
Fraser Orr, re the ICE shootings, I’ve wondered how much of the over stepping by ICE (don’t get me wrong, I think overall, it’s tiny) is due, in part (there…is that enough caveats!?) to the fact that DHS and ICE have had to ramp up fast, hiring a lot of people. They need boots on the ground and lots of them. So, is the training and experience similar to other LEOs? Likely not. Homan is smart so hopefully, the newbies are always sprinkled into a team with more seasoned officers. That must be the case or we’d be talking about dozens (100s?) of ICE shootings.
So, who is responsible for this rapid hiring and relatively lower level of training? Obviously, the ones who caused the problem and that goes back to long before Biden or even Obama.
Thoughts? Especially those of you with actual law enforcement experience…is my hunch right?
SQOTD? Fraser Orr at 2:58pm: “…if people spent 10% of the time they do raging about politics over which they have practically no control, and spent it on improving their own lives with things they actually can control then they’d be much better off.”
I think it used to be the case that the Left were more guilty of this than the right. Not sure any more…as I sit here typing about politics!