| Hello Steve,
Renee Good is dead, the ICE agent who shot her is facing a lynch mob.
I have some insights on this event, which happened in my own city, and I wanted to share them with you.
When I was a younger man, I worked in law enforcement in a tough neighborhood in South Minneapolis. I made plenty of arrests and got into lots of physical altercations with perps. I'd always wanted to be a cop, but God had different plans for me. Even though I walked away from that beat to take over my father's newspaper, to this day I number plenty of cops among my friends, and I tend to come down on their side, especially against the lunatic left that hates the very idea of law enforcement.
That said, I have concerns about what is going on in my city, even though I am very much opposed to illegal immigration. My grandparents came here from the old county, learned the language, followed the rules of application and became proud U.S. citizens. But what is happening now in our streets is only making matters worse. Minneapolis is seething again tonight, and things may well get out of control again. Why? Because the tribalism of us vs them is plunging this country into civil war, with both sides turning not to God's law, but to the law of power and brute force. In this Lord of the Flies reality, humanity and compassion haven't got a chance.
Who is guilty in this latest shooting? If George Floyd taught us anything, it is that we cannot try and convict people, based on video evidence. In this case, nothing is clear, other than that people tend to interpret these videos in accordance with their political persuasion. The only thing that is certain is that Renee Nicole Good is dead. She was somebody's mother, sister, daughter. She was also a U.S. citizen, and evidently a liberal. So, she was not "one of my tribe."
Renee was reportedly a liberal activist (although even that is not confirmed). What is confirmed is that she was not a felon. And while we all shout at each about whether it was a "legal shoot," nobody seems particularly interested in determining whether or not it was a necessary shoot. Regardless of her politics, sexuality, or religion, this woman did not have to die. And the dangerous precedent this case sets should be of primary concern to us all, regardless of political party affiliation.
People say she should have obeyed the orders and done the right thing. To which I say: Yes, and that's exactly what they said about Ashli Babbitt for entering the Capitol building. Have you ever had a loaded gun pointed at you? I have and, believe me, the resulting adrenalin rush seriously rattles one's rational response.
Yes, some will interject, but Renee was a liberal nutjob! She deserved what she got because she was resisting federal troops. Okay, she was resisting ICE laws like some of us resisted COVID laws. Are we criminals too? Did they have the right to shoot us during COVID for disobeying their orders? Some argued that they did.
And what happens when those liberals get back in power and decide to start shooting COVID violators or pro-lifers for refusing to cooperate with the feds and their orders?
As I see it, it must be possible for us to close the borders and round up the criminal illegals quietly, without terrorizing the innocent. Why are two thousand of these heavily armed guys roaming the streets of my city? Are these not the same guys who were screaming at us to mask up, lock down, and social distance a few years ago? And if this continues, will we not eventually require an even larger federal police force to keep the peace? Are we looking at the early days of the long-feared Police State?
When Ashli Babbitt was shot and killed on January 6, she was protesting what she saw as a gross injustice and, technically speaking, her protest was in violation of the law. Did she deserve to die for that? No, she did not.
When Renee Good was shot and killed in Minneapolis, she was allegedly protesting what she saw as a gross injustice and, technically speaking, her protest was in violation of the law. Did she deserve to be shot for that? No, she did not!
But just as the Left lied about the threat posed by Ashli Babbitt so, too, many on the right are prepared to lie about the threat posed by Renee Good. But there is no need to lie. There is plenty of fault and stupidity on both sides of this incident. It simply did not need to escalate as it did. Shooting her through the driver-side window as she attempted to drive away does not constitute self-defense, and I believe the investigation will prove that. A veteran police officer from my day would not have fired those shots into a moving vehicle that was trying to flee.
Why is any of this happening? Primarily it is because we as a nation have lost respect God law and for human life itself. We tell the Author of Life to "go to hell," while we slaughter a million babies a year and change the definition of marriage. Even the so-called "pro-life party" is greenlighting a massive campaign to send millions of abortion pills to our teenaged girls through the mail. When the government demonstrates precious little respect for God's laws, why would we be surprised when ordinary citizens flaunt man's laws?
Now, it's over. One person is dead, the other is facing a lynch mob. The stupid factor is this: There is plenty of blame to go around on both sides of this one. A legitimate debate is certainly warranted, especially when it is so difficult to second-guess law officers doing their job in the field. They have only a nanosecond to react, and until you've been in that situation, don't judge them too harshly. The ICE agent made a judgment call which he will have to live with for the rest of his life – one whose legality will be determined by competent investigation.
Similarly, do not judge Renee too harshly, either. I don't share her politics, but that doesn't mean she deserved to die, and neither to I say she was without fault for the part she played in this incident. Still, she was not trying to kill or run over the officer (she turned her wheels all the way to the right in an attempt to avoid him and make her getaway), and to suggest otherwise only makes us no better than the liars who claimed Ashli Babbitt was trying to kill Capital Police on January 6. And we should all — regardless of our politics — deplore the precedent set in both of these cases when it comes to the use of deadly force by law enforcement.
There are no winners here, apart from the agents of chaos who want to destroy this country. Truth is the first casualty of their war, and if wisdom and statesmanship do not rise to the fore, this will become another George Floyd flash point. Justice will not be given to anyone (including the ICE agent), and radical leftists, such as the insufferable Tim Walz, could well emerge as heroes rather than the villains they clearly are.
What is going on, friends? This is not the America of our childhood. We are not the Americans our fathers were. We are losing something precious – our soul – and we run the risk of becoming the very thing we set out to destroy. If this doesn't stop, we could become them, and we cannot let that happen!
Eric Weinstein is right — "We are being set, like wind-up toys, to tear each other apart and ourselves apart. My own head has been filled with so many slogans and so much hate for you by so many different people no matter who you are. We are all in this low-grade revolution. And it will be reset today by algorithms you didn't program, filled by speeches you didn't write, amplified by accounts you don't know are bot farms, directed by political strategists whose names you do not know, undoing action you would never have taken in ways you would never agree to directed by famous people you don't know personally."
Our nation is descending into the Christless chaos we have long anticipated but prayed would never come. This latest Lord of the Flies iteration happened in my liberal town, but it's not going to stop there. And again, we need Christian statesmen who have the common good of the entire nation in mind. This is not a movie! This is real, and the reality is becoming bloodier and more Godless by the day. God help us all.
In Christo Rege,
Michael J. Matt | 
No comments:
Post a Comment
Comments that are courteous, concise and relevant are always welcome, whether or not they agree with the views expressed here or not. Profanity is not necessary. Thank you for reading “Time Enough At Last!”
Ron