Minnesota Could Prosecute the ICE Shooter. Trump Can’t Pardon Him.
slate.com
Shortly after an ICE officer shot and killed a woman in Minneapolis, city leaders began looking into whether the officer had violated state criminal law.

Shortly after a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer shot and killed a woman in Minneapolis on Wednesday, city leaders began looking into whether the officer had violated state criminal law.

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey said, “We collectively are going to do everything possible to get to the bottom of this, to get justice, and to make sure that there is an investigation that is conducted in full.” Police Chief Brian O’Hara followed up by saying that the state’s Bureau of Criminal Apprehension is “investigat[ing] whether any state laws within the state of Minnesota have been violated.”

If they conclude that state law has been violated, the question is: What next? Contrary to recent assertions from some federal officials, states can prosecute federal officers for violating state criminal laws, and there is precedent for that.

  • ameancow@lemmy.worldEnglish
    1·
    2 months ago

    I will agree that the system is now a cycle, that it’s now self-sustaining apathy that breeds exploitation that breeds apathy, etc. It’s a downward spiral, but I will not budge that our dead internet of mindless dopamine hits isn’t a strong link in that chain of despair or a major factor in people’s lack of willingness to organize to actually address those problems that are making people want to escape reality. To say nothing of what it’s done to our atomized perspectives and inability to agree on a shared world anymore.

    But that aside, the crux of what I’m talking about is community. In other times, we were much better as a species and society at creating community that reinforces both the laws of the land and provides us with opportunities to either change the system or to reinforce it and help each other. Whether or not you think that doomscrolling is responsible or not for the conditions we’re in, it’s absolutely keeping us divided and isolated and alone. We are a species wired to have face-to-face socialization and it’s on the decline. Rates of young relationships are dropping like a rock, birth rates are dropping, people don’t go out and hang out and enjoy being around each other anymore because we all have a billion voices of strangers stomping around in our heads making us fear and hate each other and ourselves. Social pressure is what drives people to want to make better choices, it’s what drives people to want to not look stupid so they will be pushed to learn about issues and ideas. Social pressure is a stronger guiding hand for morality and ethics than any legal or religious system. Instead of nurturing community we all have discord servers with other self-diagnosed people unwilling to answer the phone or even say hi to a stranger.

    This might not be the only problem we have, but it’s a huge one and we’re broadly not addressing it or caring how much harm it’s doing, and people, particularly in places like this, will feel so triggered by the mere suggestion that their online habits are depriving them of a better world and more opportunities that they’ll rage and drop essays about how much being online all the time has helped them, and then 5 minutes later make another post in another forum talking about how lonely and depressed they are. Make it make sense.