Minnesota proved MAGA wrong (gifted link)

If the Minnesota resistance has an overarching ideology, you could call it “neighborism”—a commitment to protecting the people around you, no matter who they are or where they came from. The contrast with the philosophy guiding the Trump administration couldn’t be more extreme. Vice President Vance has said that “it is totally reasonable and acceptable for American citizens to look at their next-door neighbors and say, ‘I want to live next to people who I have something in common with. I don’t want to live next to four families of strangers.’” Minnesotans are insisting that their neighbors are their neighbors whether they were born in Minneapolis or Mogadishu. That is, arguably, a deeply Christian philosophy, one apparently loathed by some of the most powerful Christians in America.

This stood out to me and I really liked how he put it

If the agents detain someone, the observers will try to get that person’s name so they can inform the family. But ICE prefers to make arrests—which the ICE Watchers call “abductions”—quietly. More often than not, Green Bean said, when these volunteers draw attention, the agents will “leave rather than dig in.” She added, “They are huge pussies, I will be honest.”

It's fortunate that they behave like ambush bottom dwelling scavengers rather than some last stand Rambo.

practically every business had an ICE OUT sign in the window. Graffiti trashing ICE was everywhere,

In the week Canada that has taken our sign out of the shop window, I can also appreciate the spirit and power of putting ICE OUT imagery in as many places around the city as possible. They need to know they are an invading force, and definitely not welcome by an overwhelming majority of citizens.

“No Trump, no troops, Twin Cities ain’t licking boots!”

Good job Twin Cities!

The federal surge into Minneapolis reflects a series of mistaken MAGA assumptions. The first is the belief that diverse communities aren’t possible: “Social bonds form among people who have something in common,”

He meant race, and he's a hateful, creepy little jerk, but he was inadvertently right. All humans have our humanity in common, and having left his behind somewhere, he couldn't see it. Christ asked, who is my neighbour, and Minnesotans are answering the dangerous and loving call to say, these are my neighbours.

A second MAGA assumption is that the left is insincere in its values

More projections.

MAGA ... Strength.... “They think they’re hard-core? We are so much more hard-core than they are.” Around this time, Miller moved his family onto a military base—for safety reasons.

Their hearts are made of stone, and they surround themselves with the soft flesh of their underlings, and those of their ignorant, hateful believers.

The secret fear of the morally depraved is that virtue is actually common, and that they’re the ones who are alone.

This is such a beautifully written article. I hope to be worthy of being counted among the virtuous if the time comes.

Tangential, I came across this Downfall edit on Bluesky today and it's worth a watch. For folks unfamiliar it's a millennial coping strategy to edit the scene of Hitler losing his shit (in German) with subtitles so he's having a breakdown on whatever stupid thing you want to make Hitler upset about.

In this case Hitler is Bovino. Which is a bit on the nose but he wore that coat first and knew what he was doing.

Thank you for sharing! It's a really well written article and I had no idea that Minnesotans were so organized that they had different jobs for people protesting or tracking ICE or making deliveries to neighbors.

The American people sorely need a "win" but I think MAGA are just tired of Bovino's sorry mug. Looks just a tiny bit too much like Steven J. Lockjaw--got those puppy eyes.

It costs them nothing to replace him with someone who looks and acts even more mean.