"ICE is Playing Soldier, But Without the Discipline"

 

“ICE is Playing Soldier, But Without the Discipline”

Untrained in deescalation and the proper use of deadly force, they are neither police nor military

“Beyond the investigations [of the Minneapolis shootings], as the national voice of the legal profession, the ABA underscores the important constitutional rights that are at stake. The constitutional rights at issue must be protected. These include freedom of speech, freedom of assembly and freedom of the press… The Rule of Law undergirds these inalienable rights. It ensures that all people and all government entities are accountable to laws that are clear, just, and fair.” 

 American Bar Assn President Michelle A. Behnke

Their training is much shorter than most police and sheriffs, certainly US military, and while Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) agents have some training in crowd control, ICE has virtually none. DHS recruiting campaigns for ICE agents have presented what look like Nazi “culture warrior” ads, focused on those who find violence acceptable and are given directions from their superiors that are simply false statements of what the Constitution says, being accorded “absolute immunity” for their actions without any statutory or constitutional basis, and encouraged to shoot first and ask questions later. As a result, they are woefully misdirected on 1st Amendment (free speech and the right to protest peacefully), 2nd Amendment (right bear arms), 4th Amendment (requirements of judicially issued warrants for most arrests, forced access to search premises, etc.) and the 5th Amendment (due process) constitutional rights… which no government official, even if there is an invocation of the Insurrection Act, can revoke.

The above quote comes from senior command experienced and battle hardened, retired Lt General Mark Hertling. Deeply disturbed at the shooting deaths of Renee Good, a mother and harmless American citizen, and Alex Pretti, a Veterans Administration Hospital intensive care nurse, Hertling railed at the almost instantaneous determination, up and down the entire Trump Administration, that, without any investigation, these two innocents were “domestic terrorists.”

“Hertling said Monday [1/26] that video of ICE officers and federal agents involved in the shooting death of Alex Pretti in Minneapolis proves that ‘this is not policing and it’s not military service.’ In an interview on MS NOW’s Morning Joe, Hertling said ‘from the standpoint of a former soldier, I will tell you they are an undisciplined militia, and the leadership is awful.’… Hertling told MS NOW’s Joe Scarborough that ICE officers ‘dress up as soldiers,’ but show none of the discipline and training of the military or traditional law enforcement. Instead, Hertling said, ICE is ‘running through the battlefield as it were in civilian vehicles, maneuvering like assault teams, and engaging civilians as if they were hostile forces.’

“‘ICE and DHS are neither military nor police,’ he said. ‘This is not policing and it’s not military service. It’s something dangerously undefined… ‘The leadership of ICE and DHS seems to be overlooking quite a lot’… In a piece for The Bulwark, Hertling writes that ‘leaders are accountable not only for what they order their subordinates to do, but for what they allow. The leadership of ICE and DHS seems to be overlooking quite a lot.’” Mark Joyella, writing for the January 26th Forbes. But ICE officers, performing purportedly an administrative function to deal with detaining and deporting undocumented aliens, are absolutely not cops and most certainly not military, although they pretend to be either or both when they feel like it.

The DHS/ICE vertical, sometimes with the FBI but mostly with their own internal HSI investigators, have taken on the role of investigating themselves, excluding the well-trained local police from gaining access to on-scene evidence, and pronouncing guilt often hours after ICE/CBP shootings. They issue instant “domestic terrorism” labels, calling the victims “suspects,” even as only a blind man could look at the same videos that the entire nation has seen and almost consistently reached an opposite conclusion. They’ve even pissed off the National Rifle Association, by telling licensed citizen gunowners that even if they’re fully compliant with the law, do not threaten ICE/CBT officers with their weapons, they should not be surprised if they are shot anyway.

Nobody trusts an investigative body that issues a ruling of conclusive guilt before a minute of bona fide actual investigation. How did Pretti get 10 bullets shot into his body in 30 seconds after it seems that an officer removed his holstered weapon, which was never brandished against the officers? Looking at the videos, Pretti seemed to have been murdered by unprofessional federal officers. As local Minneapolis police were barred from Pretti’s crime scene, although operating with a local warrant, federal ersatz cops blocked them with batons. A federal court ordered the feds to preserve evidence intact. As rightwing media tried to justify the “instant” guilt, even their news hosts struggled. A few elected Republicans voiced their own horror at this attempt to cover up what happened, already fearing a massive backlash at in the mid-terms, and popular sentiment was believing what they saw, not what they were told by the feds.

Even Trump, finally willing to talk to Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, was beginning to sense that Americans were, for the most part, aghast at the visuals. Sending in immigration tsar Tom Homan in to take as look at the ICE actions in Minneapolis, seemed inappropriate, but it is no secret that Homeland Secretary Kristi Noem considers Homan a competitor. I would bet that Trump will try and recapture voters by removing this utterly incompetent ICE Barbie and self-declared beauty queen very soon.

Virtually every major police force requires its officers to wear body cameras, but despite the fact that CBP/ICE are overfunded, their officers do not wear them. Too hard to cover up facts, I guess, because it cannot be the cost, under $1,000 per officer. That all these mass sweeps occur only in blue cities makes me ask the question: what would red cities do under a Democratic administration if the roles were reversed? And exactly why do so many MAGA evangelical Christians believe that along with the Constitution, the Golden Rule… heck the entire New Testament… has been repealed?

I’m Peter Dekom, and history usually imposes a very harsh level of accountability to individuals so blatantly violating the law, crushing human rights and making a mockery of their own purported morality under their own religious teachings.

A Big Fat Slap in Trump’s Face – UK Goes Its Own Way

 

A Big Fat Slap in Trump’s Face – UK Goes Its Own Way

As Donald John Trump, President of the United States and self-declared “acting President of Venezuela,” stood at the podium on January 21st at the Davos economic forum, and blew off what had been America’s allies, denigrating their contributions to American efforts. In particular, he denigrated the response of NATO allies after the 9/11/2001 terrorist attacks on the Twin Towers in NYC and the Pentagon, in which the US response was the beginning of the war in Afghanistan. NATO allies joined US forces, side-by-side. He insulted heads of state of several NATO nations by name, claiming they did nothing. Denmark, threatened almost daily to give up Greenland to the United States, saw a greater proportion of its troops in Afghanistan killed or wounded than the proportion of US forces there. UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer was deeply insulted, as news footage showed British Afghan casualties being shipped back home. A sad and impressive set of images. Even as Trump stated he would not invade Greenland, the damage has been done.

In that moment, on January 21st, Trump crossed a red line, a point of no return, decimated the remnants of trust that our own allies had kept intact until that moment. Trump’s speech also alienated most of the rest of the world, as Canada’s Prime Minister described the current status of US relations with its “allies” as no longer a “transition” but a permanent “rupture.” Trump continues to threaten countries – Cuba in his sights now – with tariffs if nations do not follow his lead. He is arresting journalists, claiming zero evidence that all the protesters in Minnesota are “paid agitators,” and his border Tsar, (taking Greg Bovino’s place), Tom Homan’s message to deescalate is falling on an extremely skeptical Minnesotans. A huge fleet is anchored near Iran, and a war with that beleaguered nation is quite possible.

The economy is shuddering from all the bad news, and I suspect unless Republicans in Congress stand up to this bully-fest, even knowing that MAGA extremists mostly like what they see… except for the “Epstein files,” which have been so redacted that half of the information been removed… they will face a blood bath in the midterms, which Trump continues to threaten he wants to cancel. The Trump-enabling, Constitution-evading Supreme Court has enabled the autocracy that runs the country today. Meanwhile, as the United States, which has made tons of trade deals with the China over the years, Trump watches Canada’s attempt to forge its own trade agreements with the Peoples’ Republic, threatening massive tariff increases if they make a deal Trump does not like… plus there is also a dispute over the sale of US aircraft into Canada, and vice versa.

But shortly after the Trump lost the last sliver of respect (vs bully intimidations) from most of the world, it was immediately apparent that our “allies” would deal with the United States solely out of necessity, rapidly finding ways to carve the United States out of relevancy to them.

While Trump had to apologize to Starmer over his slight about UK troops in Afghanistan, the UK Prime Minister immediately set a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping to discuss a new trade agreement, a “strategic partnership” they called it, that would not include the US. Writing for the January 30th Associated Press, Ken Moritsugu and Jill Lawless, explain: “Neither Prime Minister Keir Starmer nor President Xi Jinping publicly mentioned President Trump, but Trump’s challenge to the post-Cold War order was clearly on their minds.

“‘In the current turbulent and ever-changing international situation ... China and the U.K. need to strengthen dialogue and cooperation to maintain world peace and stability,’ Xi told Starmer at the start of their meeting… Chinese state broadcaster CCTV said Xi had stressed, without mentioning the U.S. directly, that ‘major powers’ must adhere to international law or the world would regress into a ‘jungle.’

“Starmer said that ‘working together on issues like climate change, global stability during challenging times for the world is precisely what we should be doing.’… The two leaders met for 80 minutes — double the scheduled time — in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing as their nations try to improve ties after several years of acrimony. Relations have deteriorated over allegations of Chinese spying in Britain, China’s support for Russia in its war on Ukraine, and the crackdown on freedoms in Hong Kong, the former British colony that was returned to China in 1997…

“Xi appeared to acknowledge the criticism that Starmer has faced for reaching out to China despite national security and human rights concerns. The United Kingdom recently approved controversial plans for a huge Chinese Embassy in London, removing a sticking point in relations but also overriding fears that the ‘mega-embassy’ would make it easier for China to conduct espionage and intimidate dissidents.

“‘Good things often come with difficulties,’ Xi said… ’As long as it is the right thing to do in accordance with the fundamental interests of the country and its people, leaders will not shy away from difficulties and will forge ahead bravely.’’ Most of Europe was already negotiating with China or lining up to replace an untrustworthy United States with a trade powerhouse that could counter their turning away from the US.

While some Europeans feel sad for the plight of so many Americans who may never recapture the pre-Trump good life they once knew, they also blame US voters of reelecting a leader they already knew was megalomaniac… such that if even a Democratic leadership were elected someday, the prospect that Americans just might bring back a MAGA autocracy again weighs heavily on their reluctance to make any deal with the US. And it’s not just Europe. Trump seems to have alienated most of the rest of the world as well. The world is finding ways to marginalize the United States, and as international sporting events in the US (e.g., FIFA finals and the 2028 Olympics) loom, most believe that they will lose billions from those who will no longer travel to the US.

I’m Peter Dekom, and it is strange that so many Americans actually believe that their lives will improve under Trump’s isolationism and bully tactics… even as history has shown the damage isolationism can bring in modern world.

"The Main Threat Is the American People "

 

“The Main Threat Is the American People” DHS Internal security Assessment Report

Yes, America, if the government wants you, you have no rights, no recourse

So, what’s new under that report? Writing for the January 24th Better America, Thomas Smith explains: “The U.S. faces ongoing risks to critical infrastructure and national security from hostile actors including Russia, China, and others. But according to a new report, an unreleased Homeland Threat Assessment drafted under the Trump administration places the greatest emphasis on threats emerging domestically.

“Since 2020, DHS has issued an annual Homeland Threat Assessment outlining the department’s view of the biggest risks facing the nation. The usual categories—crime, drug trafficking networks, and illegal immigration—appear again this year. However, independent journalist Ken Klippenstein says the latest version introduces a new focal point: terrorism tied to ‘class-based or economic grievances.’”

That wondrous DHS memo, explaining that judge-confirmed warrants are not needed to support a CBP/ICE forced entry to a private home in search of immigration perps, effectively repeals the 4th Amendment. Further, JD Vance was just one administration official to assure those agents that they have absolute immunity from criminal prosecutions for their acts, seemingly even for excessive violence and even killing. Not the law, JD.CBP/ICE agents have also been informed that individuals exercising their 1st Amendment rights, peacefully to protest against the Minneapolis killings, do so at their risk – including standing in a spot that the agent feels (usually without justification) is impeding their immigration sweeps, photographing agents pushing the limits of the authority – as agents can direct flash bangs, hold pepper spray an inch from a civilian’s face… if they feel threatened, kill even a US citizen… even as a federal court has ordered them to cease such tactics (that court was reversed). So, the 2nd Amendment can get you killed, the 4th Amendment offers you no protection if a fed wants to break into your home, and if you are peacefully exercising your 1st Amendment rights, you could easily be deemed a domestic terrorist earning a database target on your back.

When ICU nurse, Alex Pretti was gunned down by federal agents, because he was armed, a court ordered the officers to preserve all the evidence, but the officers had long since contaminated the crime scene and excluded any state of local police from the site entirely. Minnesota is a 2nd Amendment state, where getting a license for open or concealed carry is little more than a background check. Republicans fought hard for such pro-gun legislation, but when a legally licensed individual has a gun and much more, federal agents, if the feel threatened, can use the presence of that guns as a reason to shoot to kill. As least, unlike the Renee Good death, the FBI is investigating this gun death… with or without local police (TBD). Yet, the assemblage of videos of the events surrounding the killing do not show Pretti brandishing a gun (DHS claims that happened), and he was apparently disarmed before a stream of federal bullets ended his life.

There is a notion of “sovereign immunity” prevents a citizen from suing the government unless it consents to the suit. Until 1941, citizens had to petition Congress, on a one-off basis, to find redress. Then Federal Tort Claims Act was enacted, a landmark moment for victims’ rights. But the Trump administration has developed a pattern of instantly exonerating a CBP or ICE agents engaged in what frequently is an act of excessive violence, now involving two recent Minneapolis killing of two American citizens, which sure appeared to be innocent protesters. In both cases, local police were excluded, and the deceased victims were instantly declared to be domestic terrorists. In the case of Good, the Trump administration began investigating the dead mother of three to see whether her opinions might explain it all. There was no investigation (taken or even permitted) of the Good shooting, and the FBI, now devoid of agents embracing their historical pledge to neutrality as they look at the Pretti shooting, although their bosses have preordained the verdict. There is no accountability for clearly horrible CBP/ICE agents engaged in excessive violence under the guise of getting rid of the worst of the worst… gardeners, waiters, construction workers, nannies and small business people who have never committed a crime worthy of the treatment we give them.

Bottom line, we are tracking a pattern of behavior that mirrors the behavior of the Nazis before and during WWII. Step for step. And as Canadian PM, Mark Carney, pointed out, Trump’s actions on the global stage were viewed as unhinged and irrational, creating a permanent “rupture” in the way the world now will treat the United States, even as Trump backed off a military invasion of Greenland. He burned a global bridge, which will not be rebuilt anytime soon… no matter who our next president may be. Trump stated that for those nations not supporting his ultimate takeover of Greenland, even by peaceful means bear the consequences: “we will remember.,” he declared. The international refrains of nations’ pushing back were an echoed counter of many foreign voices saying, “WE will remember!”

I’m Peter Dekom, and the constitution seems to have been repealed, and in our future relationships with the rest of the world, trust has left the building and isn’t coming back anytime soon.

Law & Possibilities in a World of a Bully’s Mega-Distractions

 

Law & Possibilities in a World of a Bully’s Mega-Distractions

EPSTEIN, EPSTEIN, EPSTEIN!!!!

Just as the United States has itself done for many years with trade agreements with People’s Republic of China, still one of America’s major trading partners, Canada and China, following years of tense relations, struck a new trade deal in mid-January, opening China to Canadian agriculture and Canada to Chinese electric vehicles. What was TACO loser Donald “lame duck” Trump’s response? “If Governor Carney thinks he is going to make Canada a 'Drop Off Port' for China to send goods and products into the United States, he is sorely mistaken," on Truth Social on January 24th. “Governor” Mark Carney, implying Canada’s fate as our 51st state, was simply boiling with rage at the unhinged President of a formerly good neighbor. Trump threatened a 100% tariff as the price for a trading arrangement between Canada and China. “Drop-off” point??

The world has begun to accept an economic universe where the United States is decreasingly a necessary player… much less the global shot-caller it once was. Global resistance to Trump ‘sunlawful assertions is exploding. Not one single Western democracy has signed on to Trump’s Board of Peace, under a logo that bears an uncanny resemblance to that of the United Nations. Internally, our entire country is witnessing a red against blue war, where only red has all the rights.

BYD, China’s premiere EV carmaker, now dominates global sales at a multiple of any US manufacturer, and since Donald Trump has long since disabled all alternative energy initiatives he associated with the “hoax of climate change,” the United States is increasing its dependence on burning fossil fuel as most of the rest world is shift to clean energy. The glut of oil is pushing prices downwards, just as Trump is still trying but failing to convince BIG OIL executives to rebuild the frayed Venezuelan petroleum extraction and processing system. What we are seeing is the Trump administration’s living in a parallel autocratic universe, where no one can dare to disagree with his policies and “vision” without suffering retribution, and the real world where anyone with eyes can confirm that what the Trump administration tells us is real defies what we actually see.

Nothing brings that home more forcefully than Trump’s directed ICE soldiers, undertrained and, as they were falsely told by VP JD Vance, given absolute immunity for the actions. Their non-lethal “crowd control” weapons, like flash bangs with projectiles which recently killed a baby, must be stopped. As an internal ICE memo, released to congressional committee members – rapidly pulled back even as the policy remains unchanged – informing ICE agents that if they suspected an illegal were hiding inside a home, they were allowed without a legitimate judge-approved warrant, to break down the door and arrest the occupant. One elderly US citizen was so extracted in zero-degree Minneapolis cold, allowed on a blanket to cover his body (he was only clad in underwear); he was released an hour later, because the real target had been in prison for months.

Each of several ICE agent shootings in Minneapolis, resulting in deaths of American citizens, was ruled a justifiable defense against a “domestic terrorist,” the agent in question instantly exonerated, with no normal inquiry that always follows such shootings commenced, local police were barred from mounting their own inquiry, and often ICE began investigating the innocent victim targets and their associates as potential terrorists. ICE officers stopped one quiet protester who was recording an incident on a smartphone, retrieved her identification and told her that she would now be on list of confirmed domestic terrorists. Nazi tactics. Totally unconstitutional. Intimidating policies of an American dictator.

So, folks have asked me what to do, if it were up to me to turn down the escalating governmental provocations, very unpopular under every poll taken. First, the President needs to dismiss every governmental official who believes “might makes right” and that provocation is justifiable tactic. The first to go, in my book, would have to be the policy wonk who seems to be writing the rules, senior Trump advisor Stephen Miller (and his entire staff). Next to go include AG Pam Bondi who seems to revel in rewriting the Constitution with outlandish misdirection, as well as her senior political appointees in the DOJ who have dedicated their lives to seeking criminal indictments (with little success) again key figures who may have investigated and perhaps prosecuted Mr Trump, and most certainly Democrats who have raged against Trump’s obvious efforts to assume complete control as the nation’s sole lawgiver. High on the list of officials to be axed include Kristi “I have no constitutional limits” Noem, Tom “what happened to that bag with $50 thousand in it” Homan, and Border Patrol Chief Greg “I love the smell of pepper gas in the morning” Bovino, who seems to incent violence and has been very active in direct combat against innocent protesters.

Most ICE officers who have been recently recruited, often under the enticement of being “culture warriors” (read: white Christian nationalists), have received a mere 47 days of training (animal control officers generally get twice that), with no real instruction on how to deescalate an angry (usually justifiably) rising crowd of civilian protestors attempting to exercise their constitutional right to protest peacefully, a right repeatedly confirmed by federal judges. The mechanics of recruitment must be changed, the minimum training for new officers should be 6 months and should include at least fourteen days on how to deescalate potential confrontations. This means that virtually all new recruits need to be recalled and sent to complete the training in a way that lessens violence, instills a sense of individual responsibility and redefines their roles more into peacekeeping priorities.

All violent confrontations, most certainly any where a gun has been drawn by an officer, must be investigated by a combination of local polices and the FBI, before labels are applied to the “innocent” officers and the designated “domestic terrorists.” But what we are witnessing in Minneapolis is instead beginning of civil war. If Trump isn’t stopped and stopped soon, the global power of the United States will vaporize, the possibility of another world war will rise and except for the mega-rich doting Trump worshipers, life for most Americans will fall to levels we have not seen since the Great Depression… with potential casualties by the millions.

I’m Peter Dekom, and if you want to see the truth, turn off the Trump volume and trust your own eyes… and know that most of this Trump rhetoric and violence is just an effort towards distraction from the truth lurking in the Epstein scandal.

A 34,000 Orbiting Satellites Problem

 

A “34,000 Orbiting Satellites” Problem

It’s the stuff of science fiction films. Satellites collide, decay in orbit and crash to Earth or drift dead and inert in space where they constantly create dangerous orbital space litter. Space may seem to be the final frontier, but it is also a battleground for competing commercial interests, GPS and telecommunications mainstays, information-gathering spying systems, weapons platforms (defensive and offensive), space stations, weather and climate change trackers, etc., etc. The modern world is addicted to the benefits of connected satellites; the Internet, our global financial system, telecommunications, navigation and location technologies would collapse without those little orbiting communicators above.

When Iran shut down its internal Internet during the recent violent upheavals, intending to stop communications among and between protesters, preventing smartphone transmissions of their massacres on the ground from being shared with the outside world and purportedly limiting intelligence gathering from countries with a strong interest in what the theocracy was perpetrating against its own people – hiding, they hoped, the slaughter of an estimated 20,000 protesters. Elon Musk’s SpaceX/Starlink satellite array found ways to distribute ground-based transmitters/receivers to restore the protesters’ connection to the rest of the world and each other. That effort and some minor diplomatic pressures were pretty much the extent of Trump’s promised support for the protesters.

So far, Starlink has defined the primary global orbital connective tissue enabling the Internet to function. SpaceX’ ability to launch satellites into low Earth orbit for a price has been at the core of Starlink’s business plan, which, to date, has been wildly successful. But success invites competition, and with America’s growing unpopularity, many nations would prefer not to have to rely on a US-controlled satellite system for their Internet and telecommunications needs. Furthermore, the very technology that lies at the core of Starlink’s system is disturbing, and with technology offering alternatives, competition is ramping up, unsurprisingly especially from China, capitalizing on a general global aversion to all things American.

Writing for the January 16th, FastCompany.com, Jesus Diaz addresses Elon Musk’s upcoming satellite challenges: “The fiercest space race is not about getting back to the moon—it’s about allowing you to post a TikTok or watch Netflix on your phone anywhere around the globe, from the Atacama Salt Flats to the Khongor sand dunes in the Gobi Desert. To make this happen, two distinct design philosophies are at war, as companies build out the infrastructure needed to ensure every phone on the planet is permanently connected to the internet.

“On one side is Elon Musk’s SpaceX/Starlink and the copycat companies that have followed in Starlink’s wake. Their approach is to invade space with tens of thousands of small satellites, creating a network of objects that blanket low Earth orbit. On the other side is a small Texas-based company called AST SpaceMobile, which believes it can provide better service with fewer than 100 gigantic satellites in space.

“Both companies—along with Amazon and a handful of Chinese organizations—want to dominate worldwide wireless communications. The satellite constellation with the fastest service, widest coverage, best compatibility with 5G cellphones, and lowest operational costs will own how we communicate for years to come. Which approach prevails will have serious impact not only on the future of the internet but also the health of our planet…

“Musk set off a new space race with his desire to rule low Earth orbit. SpaceX, which owns Starlink, launched its first satellite in 2019, providing broadband internet access to anyone with a large Starlink antenna and modem on the ground. Since then, it has put more than 9,000 satellites into orbit. The company projects it will eventually have a constellation of 34,000 satellites. After Starlink’s initial launch, competitors followed suit, including Jeff Bezos and his Project Kuiper—now called Amazon Leo—and the Chinese, whose plans include two large satellite constellations.

“But there’s a fundamental problem with this mega-constellation design: Musk’s plan for space internet is a flawed, wasteful, and dangerous game of orbital Russian roulette… Scientists worry that Starlink’s projected 34,000-satellite constellation will cause irreparable damage to the atmosphere. A large-scale constellation also dramatically increases the possibility of a space collision that could start a catastrophic chain reaction, destroying orbital networks that are crucial for our survival as a species.

“Jonathan McDowell, an astrophysicist and spaceflight historian at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, has been documenting satellite launches in his newsletter, Jonathan’s Space Report. He believes there may be other, better ways to achieve global coverage via satellites—if we need to be doing it at all… ‘I do personally have a preference for smaller numbers of larger satellites,’ he tells Fast Company. ‘One of the reasons is the risk of space collisions. If you have 10 times as many satellites, you have 100 times as many close misses. So from that point of view alone, consolidating on a smaller number of satellites seems wiser.’

“That’s where Musk’s biggest competitor comes into play. AST SpaceMobile has developed a direct-to-cell technology that utilizes large satellites called BlueBirds. These machines use thousands of antennas to deliver broadband coverage directly to standard mobile phones, says the company’s president, Scott Wisniewski.” Larger, more powerful satellites in higher geosynchronous orbit make Musk’s approach seem obsolete. So much for the first mover, competitive advantage. Not that Mr Musk is particularly popular… er… anywhere.

I’m Peter Dekom, and as the United States roils in major and disruptive global controversy, if there is a more efficient Internet linking technology to replace a Musk-driven product, I suspect Starlink is must face the global reputational damage that Elon Musk and the United States itself have wrought.

Only One Tool in Bully Trump’s Policy Box

 Trump’s only tool for everything

ICE vs Lawless radical violent domestic terrorists/insurrectionists 

Only One Tool in Bully Trump’s Policy Box

The following amendments to the US Constitution are part of the Bill of Rights, extended to states by the 14th amendment:

“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”

1st Amendment

“The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.” 

4th Amendment.

“No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in actual service in time of War or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offence to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.” 

 5th Amendment

“The president’s statements [to send federal troops to Minnesota by invoking the Insurrection Act] today essentially amount to threats of declaring war on Minnesota,” 

Sen. Tina Smith (D-Minnesota)

Even if the President were to invoke the ambiguous Insurrection Act, and assuming somehow it was determined to be a lawful presidential act, none of the above amendments are suspended, states still are in charge of normal policing, and peaceful protests remain constitutionally protected. Trump cannot cancel or postpone elections, confiscate ballot boxes and voting machines or reverse election results. But I suspect Trump actually believes the Insurrection Act creates martial law against those he has designated as “insurrectionists” – in his discretion, giving him almost limitless power. Totally wrong. He would have to seize total power to do that. Hmmm!

On a January 9th social media post, Donald Trump responded to news of protesters throwing rocks at federal vehicles by issuing a shocking new directive. He announced he was giving “Total Authorization” for ICE and other federal law enforcement officers to arrest those responsible, “using whatever means is necessary to do so.” Earlier, VP JD Vance sent a clear message to such agents: they had “absolute immunity” in their enforcement activities. Both such statements are, flatly, unconstitutional and would leave individuals in the United States without any redress even for the most heinous actions. Except for diehard Republicans, the United States’ immigration actions with ample evidence of ICE cruelty, the threat to invade and annex Greenland and Trump’s failing economic policies, according to every major poll, make Trump the most unpopular president in modern history.

Trump, in my opinion, has become a pathetic, perhaps even sad but for his impact on others, obese and mentally unstable leader in horrible physical shape. To accept the Nobel Peace Price medallion from Venezuelan opposition leader, Maria Corina Machado, who won it, will not give Trump the merit and meaning that the award signifies, but it shows how spinning words and shinny gold objects define who he truly is. And his triple-down threat to take Greenland completely is both insane and counter productive if national security is indeed his goal. Everything he wants to do in terms of military expansion into that vast island is already permitted under a 1951 treaty. Currently, there is one US base there (from a high of 17). He can amp-up tomorrow if he wants. But if he uses force to invade Greenland, the other NATO members are obligated to defend that Danish territory, and the NATO alliance – stronger than anything Trump could mount alone even if he annexed Greenland – would collapse.

How do our allies feel about his refusal to back down? Denmark, which is responsible for Greenland’s defense, has warned an attack on Greenland would all but end NATO, and announced on January 14th that it was expanding its military presence in close cooperation with NATO allies. Germany, Sweden, France, Norway, the Netherlands and Finland have all since confirmed they are sending military personnel to Greenland. Extracting minerals, even rare earths, from this frozen land is prohibitive (there are better and cheaper alternatives).

Just like the Big Oil aversion to investing in restoring the deteriorated petroleum extraction infrastructure in Venezuela, in a low-price oil glut marketplace with an accelerating move toward alternative energy, thinking that exploiting Greenland’s minerals cannot make that cost-effective. This move would destabilize the world… and cost us at every level, leaving us quite less secure.

As Trump tries to bully the world with his little hammer, he now says he may punish countries with tariffs if they don’t back the US controlling Greenland. There doesn’t seem to be subtle or diplomatic bone in his body. The United States is one of the least respected countries on earth, and the foreign nations that are celebrating his stupid policies, particularly places like Russia, China, North Korea and Iran.

Just looking at China, we can see smiles brimming from ear to ear. As Simon Elegant and Huiyee Chiew, writing for the January 16th Washington Post, observe: “[China’s President] Xi is likely following what American statesman Henry Kissinger characterized as the core Chinese approach to foreign policy: Focus on the long game.

“China can afford to play the long game precisely because it can depend on the U.S. to create opportunities for it to do so, said Bates Gill, a senior fellow for Asian security with the National Bureau of Asian Research in Washington… ‘To the degree countries see the United States as more of a problem than a solution to the challenges they face, China will try to provide an alternative,’ he said.

“In areas such as providing development assistance, opening export markets and in providing educational opportunities, for example, ‘that is already happening,’ Gill said. ‘Washington is handing over the script for China to use.’… China has aggressively expanded into Latin America, including through enormous infrastructure projects. In Venezuela, for example, estimates of total Chinese investment, including loans and investment in the oil industry, range from $60 to $100 billion… China has also grown its trading ties with the Middle East, including taking advantage of U.S. sanctions on Iran to buy discounted oil.” I’m sure Xi was heartened by Canada’s determination to open its markets to Chinese cars, where China has dominating presence in EVs. Trump does not care, it seems. The American people should.

I’m Peter Dekom, and neither the Supreme Court nor the GOP-controlled Congress seem to be able to contain the disastrous actions and decisions of a mentally impaired man that are rapidly unraveling everything American soldiers in two world wars fought and died for.

The Really, Really Big One… Again

 

The Really, Really Big One… Again

Somewhere around 1700, a “ghost” tsunami of massive proportions slammed into Japan, wreaking havoc – death and disaster – that no one truly understood. Centuries later, bio-historians and earthquake scientists discovered the buried remnants of the entire forests in various areas in our Pacific Northwest… from that quake estimated at 9.2 on the Reichter Scale that traced back to 1700. Those American researchers came to the conclusion that his quake and the resultant tsunami killed every living thing in that American land, from today’s Alaska to northern California, centered around Oregon. Plants, animals and people all perished. Further research showed that this was a recurring tectonic plate release that occurred roughly every 400 years. Hmmm! That means that we are living in a period of expected recurrence. That “ghost” tsunami was finally explained.

If you’ve ever driven up PCH 1 from north of San Francisco, through Oregon, past Seattle… into British Columbia… you may recall the litany of “tsunami zone” signs along the way. Also, if you think of the Columbia River, separating Oregon from Washington, you might not guess that this beautiful river also became a tsunami superhighway that carried that wall of water deep inland where that 1700 watery wrecking ball did even more damage. Until recently, Oregon did not permit major buildings in tsunami zones for obvious reasons. But for whatever reasons, mostly relying on significant upgrades in engineering techniques, Oregon recently relented to permit such reinforced construction… even for a public high school. Add the 400-year cycle expectancy to 1700, and guess comes up: 2100. And it’s 2026, which makes 60–100-foot waves in the modern Pacific Northwest seem pretty terrifying. These are only estimates, and they could be wrong. Then again…

Cassian Holt, writing for the January 12th morningoverview.com, tells us that scientists are quite concerned: “The Cascadia Subduction Zone is a 600 mile long boundary where an oceanic plate dives beneath North America, quietly building strain that can release in a single, continent scale jolt. State emergency planners in Oregon describe it as one of the most dangerous seismic threats in the country, because it sits just offshore of dense population centers yet produces few small quakes to remind people it exists. Historical and geological evidence show that this fault has produced repeated giant earthquakes, and current assessments say Oregon has the potential for a 9.0+ magnitude earthquake driven by this buried plate interface.

“Those projections are not abstract. A detailed hazard profile notes that Oregon has the for a 9.0+ event that would send a wall of water racing toward the coast within minutes, leaving little time for evacuation. Native American accounts of shaking and flooding, preserved in stories along the coast, line up with offshore sediment records that point to a massive Cascadia rupture in the early 1700s. When I look at that convergence of science and tradition, it underlines that the region has already endured one full scale megathrust and is likely to face another…

“In the worst case, a 9.2 megathrust would combine intense shaking with a tsunami that strikes the Pacific Northwest coastline in less than half an hour, overwhelming low lying towns and ports. Video explainers on The Cascadia scenario describe how a 9.2 quake and tsunami could devastate the Pacific Northwest, flattening buildings, shredding roads and isolating coastal communities that depend on a handful of bridges and highways. Emergency managers warn that critical lifelines like fuel pipelines, fiber optic cables and interstate rail lines would be severed in multiple places at once.

“Scientists now frame a 9.2 m Cascadia rupture as a candidate for the largest natural disaster in U.S. history, with cascading impacts on housing, trade, and energy that would ripple far beyond the immediate impact zone. In one widely shared briefing, Scientists warn that the Cascadia Subduct interface is capable of a 9.2 m event that would hit the Pacific Northwest with shaking that lasts several minutes, long enough to collapse unreinforced masonry, damage modern high rises and trigger landslides across mountain valleys. When I weigh those projections against the region’s aging infrastructure, it is hard to avoid the conclusion that recovery would take years, not months.

“One of the most unsettling findings in recent research is that the main danger is not only the tsunami, but the way the land itself could drop. Analysts examining Cascadia’s Hidden Risk describe how one earthquake could sink the U.S. Pacific Coastline Beneath Six Feet of Water, not because the ocean suddenly rises, but because the land falls. Beneath the coastal plain, the locked fault would snap, causing broad subsidence that leaves neighborhoods, ports and wetlands at a permanently lower elevation relative to sea level.” In short, this quake would be a trigger for several additional devastating events, with some land collapsing, water rerouting, forests and building gone… and not all happening in the immediate expected sequence.

I’m Peter Dekom, and even with millions of Americans killed, buildings leveled, commerce decimated, if this tragedy were to occur during the Trump administration, there are two additional risk factors that have to be added to the equation: FEMA is being cut back significantly… and these coastal regions (at least in the US) mostly vote Democratic.