Media: Why America's turned on Chump's war on immigrants

NBC canceled FOUND May 9th.  That's the show about a crisis manager who has a team working under her that try to find missing people while she herself has kidnapped (and imprisoned) a man who kidnapped her years ago.  What was once considered Must TV has morphed into Sick F**k TV.

 

FADE IN

INT SQUAD CAR - DAY

Tension and energy fill the squad car as OFFICER NOLAN looks at DETECTIVE LOPEZ.  

NOLAN: Ready?

Lopez nods.  The two pull dark masks over their faces and throw open the doors of their squad car

EXT. TREE LINED STREET -- DAY

Nolan and Lopez run towards a 2024 blue Ford Crown Victoria.

INT. CROWN VICTORIA - DAY

MASON, 25, sits in parked car listening to music and finishing some french fries when a big thud is hear.

EXT. TREE LINED STREET - DAY

NOLAN: Roll down the window!!!

Nolan and Lopez stand beside the parked car yelling.

NOLAN:  Roll down the window!

Lopez looks at Nolan.  He nods.  He breaks the window with his gun, reaches inside and grabs Mason by the t-shirt collar.  Lopez reaches in and grabs Mason by the neck, joining Nolan in pulling a scared Mason out of the car.

MASON: What's going on!  What did I do?  

DETECTIVE HARPER runs over towards them as Nolan and Lopez hurl Mason to the ground.

LOPEZ:  Down!  Stay down!

MASON: Who are you?

NOLAN: Shut up!

Lopez begins tazing Mason while Nolan and Harper kick him.

Would you accept that scene on THE ROOKIE?

How about this on a STARSKY & HUTCH reboot?

 

INT - 1975 FORD GRAN TORINO - DAY

STARSKY scrolls through his cell phone while Hutch drums on the dashboard.

STARSKY:  These dating apps are wack.

HUTCH:  Ever think maybe it's you?

STARSKY: [Muttering] Maybe it's you, maybe it's you.

EXT - STREET - DAY

A FORD MINI-VAN drives slowly past Starsky's TORINO.  We see SULTAN in the driver's seat of the van.

INT - 1975 FORD GRAN TORINO - DAY

Hutch leans over and swats Starsky on the arm repeatedly.  Starsky shoots him a look and starts the car.

EXT - STREET - DAY

Starsky's car closely follows the mini-van as it turns off the street into a school parking lot.  

INT - MINI-VAN - DAY

Sulton drives slowly to the front of the school while talking to his five-year-old son DANNY in the back seat.

SULTON: So what you going to learn today?

DANNY: Everything!

SULTON: You're going to learn everything?

DANNY: Yep!

SULTON: Well if you learn everything today, why would you come back tomorrow?

DANNY: To teach!

Sulton and Danny laugh.

EXT - OUTSIDE SCHOOL - DAY

The mini-van comes to a stop and Starsky immediately brakes as well.

INT - MINI-VAN - DAY

Through the car windows, we see Starsky and Hutch running up alongside the mini-van but Sultan and Danny do not.

SULTAN: Okay, buddy, we're here. 

DANNY: Yea! 

SULTON: Yea! 

Starsky begins bangind on the door of the mini-van on the driver's side.

STARSKY: Get out!  Get out!

Danny looks around scared.  Sulton rolls down his window part-way.

SULTON: Can I help you?

STARSKY:  Out of the car!  Now! Out of the car!

Sulton: Who are you?

Starsky: I said out of the car, asshole!

Starsky begins hitting the driver door window with his gun until he breaks it while Danny screams.

HUTCH: Out of the car!  He said out of the car!

SULTON: It's okay, Danny.  It's okay.

Starsky pulls open the door and pulls Sulton out of the mini-van.  Sulton lands on the ground on his back.  Hutch and Starsky stand over him with guns drawn while Danny screams.

HUTCH: Shut up, brat!  I said shut up!

FEMALE PRINCIPAL comes running up.

FEMALE PRINCIPAL:  What is going on here?  I'm calling the police.

STARSKY: Ma'am, ma'am, we're going to need you to step back.

FEMALE PRINCIPAL: What are you doing to Mr. Rahi?  Mr. Rahi, are you okay?

Hutch walks over to the woman menacingly.

HUTCH: He told you to step back.  

Only now do Starsky and Hutch register that every child going to the school, as well as teachers and and some other parents have witnessed the assault on Sultan.

TV is bad.  It's not that bad yet.  We haven't gotten to the point where that would be acceptable. 

So why are we treating it as acceptable on our streets, in our communities?

ICE agents want to be seen as heroes.  Heroes don't act out the scenes above.  But they took place on our streets in the United States.

Donald Chump is a convicted felon.  A crook.  And he doesn't have any respect for due process.  But while we need to call out the lack of due process once arrested, we also need to be calling out the procedures by which immigrants are being taken into custody.

When you are taken into custody in the United States, it generally works something like this: 1) An officer of some enforcement body utilizes probable cause -- a crime has taken place, is taking place or is about to commence.  2) If a crime has taken place, a warrant for someone's arrest has been obtained.  If a crime is taking place or is about to take place, an arrest does not require a warrant.  3) The officer must inform the suspect of their rights (basic Miranda Rights).  4) The arresting officer must use the minimum force required to carry out the arrest.  5) Would be where Due Process -- as most mean the term -- would kick in.  Appearing before someone in the judiciary, etc.

 

Why are we allowing Chump to destroy our procedures in place for decades in order to carry out cruelty.

 

And this is cruelty aimed at immigrants, yes.  But also at US citizens.  

 

THE ROOKIE scenario above?  

 

George Retes.  That's the name of the man this actually happened to.  In California.  And he's not an immigrant.  He's a US citizen and, in fact, an Iraq War veteran.  And when ICE began attacking him, they didn't listen and they didn't care.  Olga R. Rodriguez (AP) notes 

"It took two officers to nail my back and then one on my neck to arrest me even though my hands were already behind my back," Retes said.

[. . .]

Retes was taken to the Metropolitan Detention Center in downtown Los Angeles, where he said he was put in a special cell on suicide watch and checked on each day after he became emotionally distraught over his ordeal and missing his 3-year-old daughter's birthday party Saturday.

He said federal agents never told him why he was arrested or allowed him to contact a lawyer or his family during his three-day detention. Authorities never let him shower or change clothes despite being covered in tear gas and pepper spray, Retes said, adding that his hands burned throughout the first night he spent in custody.

On Sunday, an officer had him sign a paper and walked him out of the detention center. He said he was told he faced no charges.

"They gave me nothing I could wrap my head around," Retes said, explaining that he was met with silence on his way out when he asked about being "locked up for three days with no reason and no charges."

 

 
George was on CBS EVENING NEWS yesterday talking about what he endured.

 

 

 

 Again, this was done to an American citizen.  No one should have that done to them.  This is not what we expect in the United States when it comes to someone being taken into custody.

 

You do not have the right to beat someone whose hands are behind their back.  You do not not need to be breaking windows.  You do not need to be terrorizing and you do not need to be hidden behind masks.

 

It is a very slippery slope.  You accept it from ICE, you better believe it's going to transfer over to the police.

 

The STARSKY & HUTCH scenario above?

 

We didn't make that up either.   Conrad Wilson  and Holly Bartholomew (OREGON PUBLIC BROADCASTING) reported last week:

Federal immigration officers arrested a 38-year-old Iranian man outside his child’s preschool in Beaverton on Tuesday, according to school and law enforcement officials.

The man was arrested by officers with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement during morning dropoff at Guidepost Montessori School. The incident has deeply shaken the school community, which went into “soft lockdown to ensure the safety of all students and staff,” according to a message sent to parents.

OPB is not naming the man because his family was not immediately reachable and his immigration attorney did not return a request for comment.

The incident marks the first confirmed case of an immigration arrest at an Oregon school amid the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown. Historically, certain locations – including schools and houses of worship – have been largely off limits to immigration enforcement.

According to an ICE spokesperson, the man lawfully entered the United States in 2017, but overstayed his student visa.

Caroline Medeiros is an immigration attorney who is consulting with the family and the school. Medeiros’ child attends the same Montessori school. She said the man ICE arrested works as a chiropractor and she disputed the agency’s claim he was not in the U.S. lawfully.

“He married a U.S. citizen and his U.S. citizen wife filed a green card application for him,” Medeiros told OPB. “He attended his green card interview with his wife and they were just simply waiting for the green card to come through.”

He was dropping his child off at school.  This terrorist attack -- that's what ICE carried out -- terrorized the children present.  There is no excuse for that.  The kidnapping carried out traumatized a community.  That's outrageous.

 

 

Yesenia Amaro (OREGONIAN) notes of that arrest:

 

One of the latest immigration arrests in Oregon took place Tuesday outside a Beaverton preschool, and it appears to be the first in the state to have happened on school grounds.

Before President Donald Trump returned to office, federal authorities considered schools, churches, hospitals and courthouses to be sensitive locations and limited immigration authorities from making arrests there. The policy had been in place since 2011, with the Biden administration issuing its own guidance to further expand the protected areas.

 

We've got two choices here.  ICE carried out the raid and thought the man was a violent criminal is one choice.  If that's the case, they put an entire school at risk.  There was no need to arrest a violent criminal -- or even a suspected one -- on school property.  Chump doesn't get this but America's has had enough of students being killed in school shootings.

 

That Oregon incident?  It demands an immediate Congressional probe and we need to know who's signing off on these actions.  Who thought it was acceptable to pull that action off at a school?  That left every child there at risk of violence.

 

There's the also the second possibility: ICE knew this wasn't a violent criminal.

 

 

They like to lie -- especially Kristi Noem, Donald Chump and Tom Holman -- about the success they're having with these arrests.

 

But the figures don't back them up.  

 

The California operation that led to them beating Iraq War veteran George and holding him for three days?   Julie Watson, Amy Taxin and Olga R. Rodriguez (AP) note, "The government said four of the 361 arrested had prior criminal records, including convictions for rape and kidnapping."  The government says they nabbed 361 people.  And the government says four "had prior criminal records." 

 

 

 

 This is not about deporting violent criminals, this is about terrorizing immigrants and the American people and rewriting how people get arrested and what rights they have.  If Chump gets his way, the rights immigrants and Americans will have will be zero.

 

 

The ACLU offers this list regarding what to do when stopped by a police officer.

TV can be really sick.  There was never a reason for a TV show about Hannibal Lector to begin with.  Of course, there was no need for IN THESE TIMES to try to copy us either.  And there was no need for them to hire what was then said to be a feminist to try to copy us and outdo us.  Didn't work out too good for them.  Now their archives include praise for HANNIBAL and their feminist isn't who they presented.  We worded that as kindly as possible.  Reading her TV criticism, we didn't find her to be a feminist.

"A."  

We've always maintained -- for 20 years now -- that we offer a feminist critique -- not "the" critique.  Feminism is huge, wide, with many voices, some concurring, some at odds.  

But there are basics.  And that feminist did not meet the basics.  That feminist has now transitioned to male.  Men can be feminists.  But we don't see him as a feminist.  We see him as a pop culture critic who, from time to time, remembers that women do more than stand on the sidelines and serve dinner.  

When he showed up at IN THESE TIME, we knew about it because we got an e-mail from the magazine (shall we name the editor?  we have no trouble doing so) explaining to us that we were about to be shown how feminism is done and what feminism is about and we were going to be struggling to catch up.

It's strange to think about now.  But it was a strange e-mail even then.  

Hostile, yes, but much more than just that.

We weren't worried because we thought the writer would do a great job (we were wrong there) and we honestly feel that the more voices the better when it comes to feminism and that any other feminist writer (male or female) working to argue on behalf of female protagonists was great.

But IN THESE TIMES' new feminist critic didn't really like women and wasn't bothered when women were sidelined in TV shows.

Today, at SCREEN RANT and CINEMA BLEND, we see other questionable types writing bad commentary.  For example, praising JERICHO.  

We called that garbage show out immediately for the sidelining of women:

 

 

What's not murky, what's right there to see plainly on your TV screens, is that women do nothing and should do nothing. That message doesn't need to emerge, it's been at the forefront episode after episode where 'active' for the female characters has meant a 'damsel in distress' moment or two while we all wait for the men to arrive such as when ex-cons posed as cops and tormented a farmhouse.

Presumably, a nuclear aftermath produces a ton of dust and the women have all busied themselves with housework because, otherwise, we can't image what they do all day when not making cow eyes as they fret over the men of the town.

We think that's a really ugly message and hope that, should something like the show ever happen, women would embrace their inner Xenas and Gabrielles and come out fighting. Love her, hate her or be left indifferent, Hillary Clinton's running for president. Ditto the qualifer and note that Condi Rice is currently Secretary of State (and Anger as Wally and Cedric point out quite often). Ourselves, we'd love to see a guest spot by Gloria Steinem, Maxine Hong-Kingston or Robin Morgan where the women are gathered and questions about identity and wants and needs are explored. But, probably, such a scene would play out with Pamela Reed and the other women stalling throughout the attempted consciousness raising for the men to rescue them before any self-awareness set in.

In times of crisis, Jericho tells you, natural leaders emerge and that's based on something other than the ability to lead, it's based on whether or not you've got a Y chromosome. We don't buy into the belief that the dangling Y means extra intelligence or natural leadership but, come the nuclear aftermath, women should keep in mind that the heavily worshiped area, in this society, is also a very sensitive one. Aim the stiletto there as well. 

We wrote that back in 2007.  How very sad that a lengthy piece on JERICHO went up on a pop-culture site last week -- a site that fancies itself as being of the left -- and the writer praised the show without ever noting the sidelining of women. 

 

 

As we noted at the top, FOUND got cancelled in May -- after two unneeded seasons.  All we could think was, "Thank heaven."  We're not cruel -- or not completely cruel.  It's bad when people lose jobs.  But when you're main character is a kidnapper, we've got a problem with your priorities.  TV is ugly enough as it is.  As the slaughter in Gaza continues, we are saddened by the plight of the Palestinians and the apartheid system imposed by the government of Israel.  We don't blame or hate the Israeli people.  Well, that's our blanket statement.  As a general rule, no, we don't.

But there are some we do blame and dislike immensely.  They're certain Israeli creatives.  They do programs advancing torture.  And that's bad enough when you consider life in the region, but it's flat out disgusting when you grasp that garbage like 24 and HOMELAND and way too many other programs in the US are adaptations of Israeli torture porn. 

Torture is a sickness.  Racism is a sickness.  Attacks on empathy are sickness.  And the country can embrace Chump and his sickness or we can fight to be better than that and to try to be better than that.  The first step there is telling the hard truths about what we see with our own eyes.  And the reason the American people have turned on Chump's immigration 'plan' is because we're seeing how sick it is, how innocents are being targeted and families and communities torn apart. These are the truths we need to be telling and these are the truths we need to be sharing.