Three men who identified themselves as Homeland Security officers raided a courthouse in downtown Charlottesville Tuesday, detaining two men without explanation.
I suppose the scenario I was really thinking of is one where someone is literally abducted by adults, and not just fucking idiot kids playing fuck around.
Which has happened in the article posted here, we’re just taking them on their word that they’re actually federal agents.
“Show us a warrant,” the video shows one of the two women demanding as they attempt to get between the detainers and the detainee.
“Do not touch me or impede me in my lawful duties,” the man in the pink shirt responds. “We are officers from Homeland Security.”
That’s a real bully-logic move right there. How are we supposed to know that these are your lawful duties if you’re refusing to show us your warrant or even your badge? Like, if she had blocked them at this point and the issue were brought to court (and yes, it’s ironic that this is happening in a court), then I can’t imagine a jury saying “well yeah, you can’t prevent a guy from abducting someone just because he won’t give you any indication other than a pinky swear that he has the legal authority to do it.” But, of course, the obvious implication in the moment was that since he was from the “abduct people in an unmarked van with unlimited authority” branch of the government, this wasn’t going to a jury trial, and she was either getting out of the way or she was going in the van too.
Yeah, I started to write about that, but it’s unclear that this guy would have actually gained anything by getting out of the courtroom. A lot of folks are released pending trial, in which case there’s really no advantage to getting your friends to grab you out of court, rather than just, y’know, skipping town. If he was already in police custody, I imagine there actually would have been more checking of the authority.
But yeah, making court a place where your enemies know you’ll be there and they’re free to come and grab you is a terrible precedent anyway. If you can’t expect due process even in the courts, what does the rule of law even mean anymore?
It was just some insane MAGA duds pretending to be with DOGE.
Especially with ICE going into schools and other previous safe zones now, think about how easy it would be for people to take advantage of these situations.
If a person is already willing to kidnap someone, do you really think they wouldn’t easily be willing to disguise their own identity, command authority and prey on people’s fears of retaliation for not complying?
Let’s assume for a moment that the abducters here were federal agents.
How long before people get the bright idea that they can pull a stunt like this without being federal agents? Has that already happened?
(Warning: Instagram link) Here’s a video of an instance of this
Florida Woman Posed as ICE Agent to Detain Ex-Boyfriend’s Wife: Police https://www.newsweek.com/florida-woman-latrance-battle-ice-agent-detain-ex-boyfriend-wife-2062962
That’s a scary read - if the assailant had cleaned up better and not stopped at an apartment complex, she could have gotten away with murder.
Yeah, that tracks.
https://edition.cnn.com/2025/02/04/us/ice-impersonators-on-the-rise-arrests-made-as-authorities-issue-national-warning/index.html
I suppose the scenario I was really thinking of is one where someone is literally abducted by adults, and not just fucking idiot kids playing fuck around.
Which has happened in the article posted here, we’re just taking them on their word that they’re actually federal agents.
Yeah, this was the part that really got me:
That’s a real bully-logic move right there. How are we supposed to know that these are your lawful duties if you’re refusing to show us your warrant or even your badge? Like, if she had blocked them at this point and the issue were brought to court (and yes, it’s ironic that this is happening in a court), then I can’t imagine a jury saying “well yeah, you can’t prevent a guy from abducting someone just because he won’t give you any indication other than a pinky swear that he has the legal authority to do it.” But, of course, the obvious implication in the moment was that since he was from the “abduct people in an unmarked van with unlimited authority” branch of the government, this wasn’t going to a jury trial, and she was either getting out of the way or she was going in the van too.
I dunno, man. It’s scary.
So what I’m gathering here, is if you can get some friends together, you can get yourself out of court in a pinch.
This is not behavior they want to encourage long term
Yeah, I started to write about that, but it’s unclear that this guy would have actually gained anything by getting out of the courtroom. A lot of folks are released pending trial, in which case there’s really no advantage to getting your friends to grab you out of court, rather than just, y’know, skipping town. If he was already in police custody, I imagine there actually would have been more checking of the authority.
But yeah, making court a place where your enemies know you’ll be there and they’re free to come and grab you is a terrible precedent anyway. If you can’t expect due process even in the courts, what does the rule of law even mean anymore?
Trump isn’t thinking in the long term. He’s usually not even thinking in the short term.
He barely developed object permanence, through many flash cards with pictures of burgers on them.
“if we stop testing there won’t be so many positive tests.”
Pretty sure some people showed up at San Francisco City Hall claiming to be with DOGE and demanding they be given access to personal files.
The staff refused and when they finally called the police the men claiming to be with DOGE fled the scene.
It was just some insane MAGA duds pretending to be with DOGE.
Especially with ICE going into schools and other previous safe zones now, think about how easy it would be for people to take advantage of these situations.
If a person is already willing to kidnap someone, do you really think they wouldn’t easily be willing to disguise their own identity, command authority and prey on people’s fears of retaliation for not complying?