I don’t know why this is so hard for people to understand. My small town had a small DHS opp come through. The NY Times did an article about it saying it “shook the small community.” No it didn’t— the people protesting are protesting something stupid every Saturday. It’s like 5 old white ladies. The community actually supported the opp once we had the information about what happened.
Seeing how the MSM twisted something that happened in my own town made me trust them even less. They flat out lie about officers doing their job.
There doesn't seem to be any question the woman was part of a protest, but if her intention had been to hit the officer, why would she have backed up initially rather than driven straight forward? She seemed obviously preparing to turn the vehicle to the right to get away. If the officer was hit, it wasn't intentional.
Uh oh; Mr. Coleman is using sound logic and verifiable facts, again.
Sarcasm aside, it's a worthwhile undertaking; reminding folks to pay attention when they're being manipulated by appeals to emotion.
Probably best to regard such efforts as a journey, not a destination; disingenuous messaging is a constant and all are vulnerable. Countering it, is a Sisyphean undertaking.
That said, a visit to Mr. Coleman's 'stack is always refreshing; it ain't easy to find an oasis of efforts toward honesty, these days. I may not always agree with his assertions, but I always appreciate his sincerity and intelligence.
I don't care much if people agree, as long as I'm understood. I could absolutely be wrong about something. Open to changing my mind or taking in alternate perspectives.
And I agree, there is a lot of cheerleading and fearmongering. Absolute noise. I want people to think and challenge.
Adam, you are so well spoken, and I’m a longtime admirer of your work. I’ve read your books and recommend them often.
This piece is spot on --- but what is so sad is that I hesitate to share it widely—not because I disagree with it, but because of how people might react to me by merely sharing your clear logic. That feels telling in itself.
I recently wrote a short article in my neighborhood newsletter about cars excessively speeding and road safety. A neighbor’s rebuttal suggested that raising the issue was somehow provocative- somehow I must be provoking others behavior in speeding and questioned even mentioning law enforcement “in today’s climate.” The response wasn’t really about the problem, but about whether it was acceptable to talk about it--to even bring it up - to even share an opinion. I am labeled terrible things.
This woman was not entitled to drive at an officer with a car. Why do people think they are entitled to commit such acts? These are the risks of engaging in violence -- go through the process of getting an elected person in charge that does what you want -
I appreciate how clearly and thoughtfully you continue to address these issues.
Keep speaking at the wrong time. I cheer you on and you give me hope!
I understand your hesitation. Right now we are dealing with people who are cowards and they will tell you that being brave or even acting in common sense is dangerous. However, the loudest ones in the room are them. Most people agree with you and me.
It's important we don't limit ourselves due to the radicals and cowards among us. I love America and believe most Americans aren't insane or illogical about situations like this. Most are decent enough to hear a differing viewpoint. It's just that cowards tell us to shut up. We shouldn't listen to them.
A tremendous, well-written and concise piece, thank you, Adam! RIP Renee Good ❤️🌸🌺💐🕊️🕯️May her memory be a blessing! I’m praying for the Good family especially her six-year child and sending love and light to her family and friends. It’s a terrible tragedy that this happened! But I’m sorry to say, she did it to herself. She broke the law and interfered in ICE’s operations and then accelerated and tried to run away when law enforcement stopped her. Did she intend to run over that ICE agent? We don’t know and never will know for sure. She gambled that if she tried to prevent ICE from taking the illegal immigrant (as it it turned out criminals) they were arresting into custody and that nothing would happen to her and she lost.
Her death is of course, a terrible tragedy. But it could’ve been avoided if she would’ve obeyed the law and opposed the mass deportations peacefully and lawfully. She could’ve joined a peaceful protest or wrote or emailed her elected officials, but she chose to engage in an act of domestic terrorism and put her own life and the lives of others possibly in danger. Her death is on her. Period. End of story. The ICE agent in question reasonably thought his life was in danger. How could he have determined her intent in a split second? How could he know for sure what she was going to do? He couldn’t have and he did what he had to do to protect his own life and that of his brother officers.
I don’t say any of this to cause the Good family any pain, insult their daughter’s memory or to diminish the terrible loss they’ve suffered. That is not at all my intent here. But I must be honest about what happened and she made a series of bad decisions that led to her losing her life. She had been radicalized by the current political climate as so many people have. The Mainstream Media is as always, lying about what happened. I don’t trust any of the witnesses. They were her fellow activists and therefore have a reason to lie and cover for her while demonizing ICE.
As to ICE, are there bad apples among them? Yes. Do they make mistakes? Of course. Have U.S. citizens been deported in cases of mistaken identity? Absolutely. But no means is ICE perfect and I have my critiques of President Trump’s immigration policy. But I broadly support the mass deportations and the brave men and women of ICE most of whom are good people who are working to keep us safe and enforce our laws, and get millions of illegal immigrants who came here without being properly vetted and don’t belong here, out of the country. You can’t let twenty million people come into the country illegally and have no idea who they are and let them stay. A nation without borders isn’t a nation. By the way, it may interest leftists to know that 30% of ICE agents are Latino and 15% of ICE agents are black. So the idea that they are racist and going around grabbing random black and brown people off the street is ridiculous.
By the way, there are white illegal immigrants in this country as well from places like Russia and Poland and from all over the globe. Illegal immigrants aren’t just Hispanic. Nor are most of the white ICE agents racist either. Skin color doesn’t matter, if you’re here illegally you’re breaking the laws of the land and need to be sent home. ICE does so humanely and spends millions on facilities and healthcare for illegal immigrants. They also have separate facilities for families and do NOT separate families. Families are deported together! They are NOT ripping babies from their mother’s arms!
Adam - Well written and to the point, as usual. Thanks for applying some common sense to this topic. Unfortunately sense is not at all common today and little of what you read out there in media land is anything approaching common sense. It really doesn't take a genius to figure this stuff out, but it does take courage to actually make the points you made and write them in a manner that is simple, clear and understandable to all. You've become or perhaps always were something of a unicorn...you make sense, you're work is always well written and you apply considerable intellect to issues and your research is thorough and comprehensive. That makes you a rare bird indeed. Thanks for doing all of that because there are precious few people out there who follow the same path as you do.
Also, there are absolutely no legal issues with this shooting. The videos are fairly self-explanatory and from what I've seen the officer had a reasonable belief that he was facing an imminent threat of death or serious physical injury, which are some of the basic legal criteria under the seminal Supreme Court case of Graham v. Connor that officers must meet before using deadly force. I always urge people who want to know about cops and use of force to read Graham v. Connor, Tennessee v. Garner and Plumhoff v. Rickard. There are several others, all or mostly all progeny of Graham v. Connor, but those four will give you what you need. As my lawyer/federal administrative law judge wife is fond of saying, "Read the law, you'll be the first to do so." I'm a cop and a lawyer, so I definitely have a good amount of professional interest in such situations.
And BTW, Happy New Year. It's only January 8th, so I think I can still say that.
Thank you. I agree with your assessment on the situation. I watch a lot of police cam videos and consume a variety a law oriented content. I've seen situations like this where cops shoot because you have to assess quickly if you are in danger or not by the operator of the vehicle. More often than not, they pull the trigger.
It reminds me of a recent police chase I saw and they finally got the car surrounded by like 20 cops. They still pushed the gas pedal and ended up running over the cop's leg, ending his career as a cop. Every cop open fired and killed them in the car. Cars are ingredibly dangerous and can cause immense damage at low speeds.
In the vast majority of cases involving police shooting blacks, the police were called there because the black guy was causing problems. That's true of George Floyd, who was NOT strangled. Police were called to an altercation between Jacob Blake and his wife. Blake would not cooperate, police tried to restrain him and he broke loose, heading for the care with the kids that he aha threatened to harm.
The subsequent riots in just those two cases did millions of dollars in damage, got numerous people killed, and destroyed the businesses of innocent shopkeepers who had never done anything to anybody.
Here's a challenge: Find a black man who was shot by cops while he was just standing there doing nothing.
In fairness, there's a legitimate concern over the government stretching the definition of "criminal", more or less the same way the definition of "Nazi" got stretched.
But man, that is *not* the argument they're going with.
Exactly what I was thinking—she put herself into a situation that was risky. I actively avoid any situations with police, criminals, or large crowds, precisely because there’s an increased risk for chaos and thus, a need for law and order.
And thank you for pointing out that NONE of what ICE does is random. I hadn’t heard that MSM media-followers believe this is the case. Of course, there can be that lucky traffic stop, where a cop pulls over a sleeper cab semi truck, to find $7 million in cocaine, but ICE knows exactly what they’re doing and it’s not luck or random chance.
Because the entire education system has been programming the young people for years to disregard law and order. Question authority. Challenge authority and yell and scream if you don’t get your way. Elections have consequences. The people have had enough of the democrats. Trump is the president. If the democrats want change?The 2028 elections are coming. Until then shut up and live your life’s like a normal person please.
So well said!!! if Renee had not been engaging in illegal activity by blocking ICE and then ignoring their order to get out of the vehicle, she would absolutely be alive today.
And like you, I’m not afraid of any negative engagement with the police, because I don’t engage in illegal, negative activity. (At least none that they see!) j/k
Appreciate the drop. I always fear being in a right-wing silo, so I like to read takes by those who formerly identified on the left, such as Matt Taibbi, Glenn Greenwald, and Naomi Wolf. The first thing I told my mixed-race kid when he got his driver's license was to comply with every order if he were pulled over. The days of cops/officials thinking there will be a peaceful exchange are long over. They are edgy, which can result in overreaction. And to pretend that vehicles are harmless is nonsense. Massive casualties have been caused by vehicles such as the New Orleans attack. What the left is arguing is that ICE should've been officer friendly and understood she was leaving. But if All Cops are 'Bastards' (my city council had a staff member who was part of the group) the assumption should be they would shoot and act accordingly. I drove by MacArthur Park in LA after the ICE raid to confirm that it was still a complete sh$%hole with zombie drug addicts roaming the grounds. There are no kids there, so officials lied -blatantly. And I've had to sit in a meeting with those who identify as Brown, decrying how they are targeted but not white people. I let them vent without saying a word, but I won't do so next time. I will explain that they reason those of European heritage aren't 'hunted' is that we are the descendants of those who went through the cattle inspection of Ellis Island long ago only to be dumped in squalor and often working dangerous jobs, like children in factories or coal mines. I appreciate that if one doesn't know history, they will assume the outcomes of they see were always a given and be angry.
I agree with you. Even more so, cops wear body cams and can be seen by the public. We can all go on YouTube and see the perspective of a cop dealing with crazy, dangerous and unruly people. They see the underbelly of society. They don't have the luxury of good faith in every encounter. They are often targets because criminals don't want to go to jail.
I think people see them as alternate humans with no emotions, when the truth is that no cop wants to shoot anyone. Can't tell you how many times I've seen videos of them pleading with someone to just comply so no one gets hurt. Grown men crying after taking a life.
They are human. I met three LA cops, all different races, who were throwing in the towel and moving away. They were exactly the ones who need to stay. I fear that eventually only sociopaths will apply or will just have massive surveillance and credit score behavior
People, particularly Democrats, are easy to manipulate. I found it simple to look at all the video that's available, several times, and acknowledge what actually happened: the driver of an SUV refused to obey police commands, then accelerated toward an officer, knocking him out of the way. I can't be manipulated out of that knowledge. Anyone who can is stupid and delusional.
I don’t know why this is so hard for people to understand. My small town had a small DHS opp come through. The NY Times did an article about it saying it “shook the small community.” No it didn’t— the people protesting are protesting something stupid every Saturday. It’s like 5 old white ladies. The community actually supported the opp once we had the information about what happened.
Seeing how the MSM twisted something that happened in my own town made me trust them even less. They flat out lie about officers doing their job.
Those 5 old white ladies are saving the world from ICE Nazis!
lol j/k
It's all so absurd.
The NY Times lies constantly while coasting on the fumes of it reputation as the nation's paper of record.
Psalm 36:1 seems to apply. Transgression speaks to the wicked deep in his heart; there is no fear of God before his eyes.
There doesn't seem to be any question the woman was part of a protest, but if her intention had been to hit the officer, why would she have backed up initially rather than driven straight forward? She seemed obviously preparing to turn the vehicle to the right to get away. If the officer was hit, it wasn't intentional.
Uh oh; Mr. Coleman is using sound logic and verifiable facts, again.
Sarcasm aside, it's a worthwhile undertaking; reminding folks to pay attention when they're being manipulated by appeals to emotion.
Probably best to regard such efforts as a journey, not a destination; disingenuous messaging is a constant and all are vulnerable. Countering it, is a Sisyphean undertaking.
That said, a visit to Mr. Coleman's 'stack is always refreshing; it ain't easy to find an oasis of efforts toward honesty, these days. I may not always agree with his assertions, but I always appreciate his sincerity and intelligence.
Thank you Ted.
I don't care much if people agree, as long as I'm understood. I could absolutely be wrong about something. Open to changing my mind or taking in alternate perspectives.
And I agree, there is a lot of cheerleading and fearmongering. Absolute noise. I want people to think and challenge.
Adam, you are so well spoken, and I’m a longtime admirer of your work. I’ve read your books and recommend them often.
This piece is spot on --- but what is so sad is that I hesitate to share it widely—not because I disagree with it, but because of how people might react to me by merely sharing your clear logic. That feels telling in itself.
I recently wrote a short article in my neighborhood newsletter about cars excessively speeding and road safety. A neighbor’s rebuttal suggested that raising the issue was somehow provocative- somehow I must be provoking others behavior in speeding and questioned even mentioning law enforcement “in today’s climate.” The response wasn’t really about the problem, but about whether it was acceptable to talk about it--to even bring it up - to even share an opinion. I am labeled terrible things.
This woman was not entitled to drive at an officer with a car. Why do people think they are entitled to commit such acts? These are the risks of engaging in violence -- go through the process of getting an elected person in charge that does what you want -
I appreciate how clearly and thoughtfully you continue to address these issues.
Keep speaking at the wrong time. I cheer you on and you give me hope!
Thank you Abee. I appreciate all of your support.
I understand your hesitation. Right now we are dealing with people who are cowards and they will tell you that being brave or even acting in common sense is dangerous. However, the loudest ones in the room are them. Most people agree with you and me.
It's important we don't limit ourselves due to the radicals and cowards among us. I love America and believe most Americans aren't insane or illogical about situations like this. Most are decent enough to hear a differing viewpoint. It's just that cowards tell us to shut up. We shouldn't listen to them.
A tremendous, well-written and concise piece, thank you, Adam! RIP Renee Good ❤️🌸🌺💐🕊️🕯️May her memory be a blessing! I’m praying for the Good family especially her six-year child and sending love and light to her family and friends. It’s a terrible tragedy that this happened! But I’m sorry to say, she did it to herself. She broke the law and interfered in ICE’s operations and then accelerated and tried to run away when law enforcement stopped her. Did she intend to run over that ICE agent? We don’t know and never will know for sure. She gambled that if she tried to prevent ICE from taking the illegal immigrant (as it it turned out criminals) they were arresting into custody and that nothing would happen to her and she lost.
Her death is of course, a terrible tragedy. But it could’ve been avoided if she would’ve obeyed the law and opposed the mass deportations peacefully and lawfully. She could’ve joined a peaceful protest or wrote or emailed her elected officials, but she chose to engage in an act of domestic terrorism and put her own life and the lives of others possibly in danger. Her death is on her. Period. End of story. The ICE agent in question reasonably thought his life was in danger. How could he have determined her intent in a split second? How could he know for sure what she was going to do? He couldn’t have and he did what he had to do to protect his own life and that of his brother officers.
I don’t say any of this to cause the Good family any pain, insult their daughter’s memory or to diminish the terrible loss they’ve suffered. That is not at all my intent here. But I must be honest about what happened and she made a series of bad decisions that led to her losing her life. She had been radicalized by the current political climate as so many people have. The Mainstream Media is as always, lying about what happened. I don’t trust any of the witnesses. They were her fellow activists and therefore have a reason to lie and cover for her while demonizing ICE.
As to ICE, are there bad apples among them? Yes. Do they make mistakes? Of course. Have U.S. citizens been deported in cases of mistaken identity? Absolutely. But no means is ICE perfect and I have my critiques of President Trump’s immigration policy. But I broadly support the mass deportations and the brave men and women of ICE most of whom are good people who are working to keep us safe and enforce our laws, and get millions of illegal immigrants who came here without being properly vetted and don’t belong here, out of the country. You can’t let twenty million people come into the country illegally and have no idea who they are and let them stay. A nation without borders isn’t a nation. By the way, it may interest leftists to know that 30% of ICE agents are Latino and 15% of ICE agents are black. So the idea that they are racist and going around grabbing random black and brown people off the street is ridiculous.
By the way, there are white illegal immigrants in this country as well from places like Russia and Poland and from all over the globe. Illegal immigrants aren’t just Hispanic. Nor are most of the white ICE agents racist either. Skin color doesn’t matter, if you’re here illegally you’re breaking the laws of the land and need to be sent home. ICE does so humanely and spends millions on facilities and healthcare for illegal immigrants. They also have separate facilities for families and do NOT separate families. Families are deported together! They are NOT ripping babies from their mother’s arms!
Adam - Well written and to the point, as usual. Thanks for applying some common sense to this topic. Unfortunately sense is not at all common today and little of what you read out there in media land is anything approaching common sense. It really doesn't take a genius to figure this stuff out, but it does take courage to actually make the points you made and write them in a manner that is simple, clear and understandable to all. You've become or perhaps always were something of a unicorn...you make sense, you're work is always well written and you apply considerable intellect to issues and your research is thorough and comprehensive. That makes you a rare bird indeed. Thanks for doing all of that because there are precious few people out there who follow the same path as you do.
Also, there are absolutely no legal issues with this shooting. The videos are fairly self-explanatory and from what I've seen the officer had a reasonable belief that he was facing an imminent threat of death or serious physical injury, which are some of the basic legal criteria under the seminal Supreme Court case of Graham v. Connor that officers must meet before using deadly force. I always urge people who want to know about cops and use of force to read Graham v. Connor, Tennessee v. Garner and Plumhoff v. Rickard. There are several others, all or mostly all progeny of Graham v. Connor, but those four will give you what you need. As my lawyer/federal administrative law judge wife is fond of saying, "Read the law, you'll be the first to do so." I'm a cop and a lawyer, so I definitely have a good amount of professional interest in such situations.
And BTW, Happy New Year. It's only January 8th, so I think I can still say that.
Thank you. I agree with your assessment on the situation. I watch a lot of police cam videos and consume a variety a law oriented content. I've seen situations like this where cops shoot because you have to assess quickly if you are in danger or not by the operator of the vehicle. More often than not, they pull the trigger.
It reminds me of a recent police chase I saw and they finally got the car surrounded by like 20 cops. They still pushed the gas pedal and ended up running over the cop's leg, ending his career as a cop. Every cop open fired and killed them in the car. Cars are ingredibly dangerous and can cause immense damage at low speeds.
Happy New Year and God bless.
Common sense is priecless. Thanks Adam.
My pleasure
In the vast majority of cases involving police shooting blacks, the police were called there because the black guy was causing problems. That's true of George Floyd, who was NOT strangled. Police were called to an altercation between Jacob Blake and his wife. Blake would not cooperate, police tried to restrain him and he broke loose, heading for the care with the kids that he aha threatened to harm.
The subsequent riots in just those two cases did millions of dollars in damage, got numerous people killed, and destroyed the businesses of innocent shopkeepers who had never done anything to anybody.
Here's a challenge: Find a black man who was shot by cops while he was just standing there doing nothing.
Great job. Don’t do stupid stuff, don’t get in trouble. Some people just don’t learn.
In fairness, there's a legitimate concern over the government stretching the definition of "criminal", more or less the same way the definition of "Nazi" got stretched.
But man, that is *not* the argument they're going with.
Exactly what I was thinking—she put herself into a situation that was risky. I actively avoid any situations with police, criminals, or large crowds, precisely because there’s an increased risk for chaos and thus, a need for law and order.
And thank you for pointing out that NONE of what ICE does is random. I hadn’t heard that MSM media-followers believe this is the case. Of course, there can be that lucky traffic stop, where a cop pulls over a sleeper cab semi truck, to find $7 million in cocaine, but ICE knows exactly what they’re doing and it’s not luck or random chance.
Because the entire education system has been programming the young people for years to disregard law and order. Question authority. Challenge authority and yell and scream if you don’t get your way. Elections have consequences. The people have had enough of the democrats. Trump is the president. If the democrats want change?The 2028 elections are coming. Until then shut up and live your life’s like a normal person please.
So well said!!! if Renee had not been engaging in illegal activity by blocking ICE and then ignoring their order to get out of the vehicle, she would absolutely be alive today.
And like you, I’m not afraid of any negative engagement with the police, because I don’t engage in illegal, negative activity. (At least none that they see!) j/k
Appreciate the drop. I always fear being in a right-wing silo, so I like to read takes by those who formerly identified on the left, such as Matt Taibbi, Glenn Greenwald, and Naomi Wolf. The first thing I told my mixed-race kid when he got his driver's license was to comply with every order if he were pulled over. The days of cops/officials thinking there will be a peaceful exchange are long over. They are edgy, which can result in overreaction. And to pretend that vehicles are harmless is nonsense. Massive casualties have been caused by vehicles such as the New Orleans attack. What the left is arguing is that ICE should've been officer friendly and understood she was leaving. But if All Cops are 'Bastards' (my city council had a staff member who was part of the group) the assumption should be they would shoot and act accordingly. I drove by MacArthur Park in LA after the ICE raid to confirm that it was still a complete sh$%hole with zombie drug addicts roaming the grounds. There are no kids there, so officials lied -blatantly. And I've had to sit in a meeting with those who identify as Brown, decrying how they are targeted but not white people. I let them vent without saying a word, but I won't do so next time. I will explain that they reason those of European heritage aren't 'hunted' is that we are the descendants of those who went through the cattle inspection of Ellis Island long ago only to be dumped in squalor and often working dangerous jobs, like children in factories or coal mines. I appreciate that if one doesn't know history, they will assume the outcomes of they see were always a given and be angry.
My pleasure KerryLee.
I agree with you. Even more so, cops wear body cams and can be seen by the public. We can all go on YouTube and see the perspective of a cop dealing with crazy, dangerous and unruly people. They see the underbelly of society. They don't have the luxury of good faith in every encounter. They are often targets because criminals don't want to go to jail.
I think people see them as alternate humans with no emotions, when the truth is that no cop wants to shoot anyone. Can't tell you how many times I've seen videos of them pleading with someone to just comply so no one gets hurt. Grown men crying after taking a life.
They are human. I met three LA cops, all different races, who were throwing in the towel and moving away. They were exactly the ones who need to stay. I fear that eventually only sociopaths will apply or will just have massive surveillance and credit score behavior
Well written and great advice. Thanks
People, particularly Democrats, are easy to manipulate. I found it simple to look at all the video that's available, several times, and acknowledge what actually happened: the driver of an SUV refused to obey police commands, then accelerated toward an officer, knocking him out of the way. I can't be manipulated out of that knowledge. Anyone who can is stupid and delusional.
What Really Happened in the “Good” Incident.
An Anti-Government mission…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WVMBDUcLXQI