Barry Schachter

«Oftentimes in public matters, the question of what sort of semantic environment one is confronted with must be settled. How shall we talk to each other about the events that took place?
…the language of patriotism [or] the language of law [is] a clash of two different semantic environments.»

Our language structures the very way we see, and any significant change in our ways of talking can lead to a change in point of view.
—Neil Postman, “Crazy Talk, Stupid Talk”

We make things up to suit what we need to believe.
—character in Madonna in a Fur Coat, by Sabahattin Ali

“People can only get to know each other up to a point, and then they make up the rest.”

—character in Madonna in a Fur Coat by Sabahattin Ali

“Some things we never know we need until we find them.”

—character in Madonna in a Fur Coat by Sabahattin Ali

The Insurrection Act does require an actual insurrection. The violence in Minneapolis is almost exclusively one-sided. People yelling at you, calling you names, and recording you on a cell phone isn’t violence. And if the courts let Trump say it is, we’re in a lot of trouble.

the only good thing about this part of the horrible shooting story is that it may turn out to be a gut shot for the carcass of @cbsnews.com and that's great. and unlike the ICE goon CBS has real internal bleeding.

Instill terror in people

Why, when we are reluctant even to describe a wedge of cheese we are seeing for the first time, do we draw our final conclusions from our first encounters with people, and happily dismiss them.
—narrator, Madonna in a Fur Coat by Sabahattin Ali

It would take a two-word amendment to 42 U.S.C. § 1983 to subject ICE agents and other federal law enforcement officers to the same liability for constitutional violations that local and state officers currently face.

If Congress actually cared about what it's seeing, it could pass that overnight.

White supremacist talking points.

No dog whistles.

I am, in fact, triggered by someone being murdered by the Gestapo and our government lying about it and celebrating the murder. It’s time for decent people to decide where they stand — with the Gestapo and its supporters, the juvenile shitposting government, or with America.

U.S. Attacked Boat With Aircraft That Looked Like a Civilian Plane

Disguising yourself as a civilian in order to carry out a lethal attack is called perfidy and it’s one of the most serious of war crimes. The usual punishment is execution.

The cool thing about Pete Hegseth is he's going to break every single law on the books, no matter how old or obscure.

Whatever groups Good may or may not have been a part of have no bearing on what happened the day she was killed. Nor would her membership in any group justify her killing.

This is not an investigation. It's authoritarian propaganda.

« Can there be any sweeter intoxication than exerting power and authority over one of your own kind? »
-narrator, « Madonna in a Fur Coat » by Sabahattin Ali

David Knopfler:

Worth a read: Jennifer Szalai’s NY Times Book Review essay (Jan 11, 2026) on Hannah Arendt’s political philosophy, attending to the evidence of your eyes, and not embracing « structure that discouraged [independent, critical] thought. »
@jenszalai.bsky.social

“Robbery, slaughter, plunder, they give the lying name of empire; they make a desert and call it peace.”
—Tacitus (Agricola ch. 30, trans.
Church and Brodribb (1877))

The MAGA regime is currently doubling down on its tactical stance of “we will kill women like dogs for merely displeasing us.”

I broke the story yesterday that masked ICE agents (not DOJ) were removing items including a personal computer from the home of Jonathan Ross, the ICE agent who shot Renee Good. I have yet to see a single news outlet cover this or an elected official even acknowledge it.

Jonathan Ross worked for Border Patrol before ICE

losing my mind at the "she should have followed directions" people

really? really? you're cool with "if you don't follow directions, they get to kill you"? that seems like a good state of affairs to you? that seems like how law enforcement ought to work: instant obeisance or death?

Video makes clear almost every word of this is a lie.

Masked ICE agents, it seems, are now killing American citizens on American streets.

Any Democrat who doesn’t support abolishing ICE should be instantly primaried and run out of the party.

This is non negotiable. You cannot support the continued existence of this fascist murderous secret police.

If officials can’t bring themselves to arrest someone who is captured on camera from multiple angles killing someone in cold blood, they should just step aside so someone with a backbone can lead

Remember: Federal officials do not enjoy categorical, absolute immunity from state-level prosecutions. They are entitled to removal to federal court. But conduct that is unreasonable or unnecessary for the execution of their law enforcement duties is susceptible to criminal prosecution.

« Language performs reliably when anchored to concrete reference – objects, actions, shared environments. But as discourse moves toward abstraction, moral concepts, or subjective experience, shared meaning thins…Understanding stalls. »

The central idea of General Semantics

#langsky

Law enforcement officers CANNOT use deadly force against a fleeing person fleeing unless they have a reasonable belief that the individual poses a danger to others (e.g., they know the person is armed). If in vehicle, the person must be threatening to use deadly force with the vehicle or other means