As Trump sells ‘law and order,’ most of politics and media still treat ‘war’ as a metaphor. On the ground, photographers see it and show it for what it is.
thank you so much for this. you have said it ALL. I’m a retired photo-editor; of course one never retires. Your spotlight and analysis is much needed. Bravo to all.
A great, and very sharply pointed, set of images and analyses.
However, if the report in ProPublica of the names of two of the agents who killed Alex Pretti got it right, both were experienced (as was Ross, who killed Renee Good). Both were border control agents of one sort or another. One wonder what other illicit and brutal actions they've carried out with impunity in their previous roles, away from scrutiny, kinda like the old timey Texas Rangers. Their presumptive ethnic identities also raise a host of questions.
All good points. When the motive is to drive wedges and alienate the populace from itself, there is no end to the motives, deceptions, contradictions, and doublebinds it creates.
Michael this is an important piece that I plan to share widely. Thank you for collecting these images and making connections here to systematic removal operations: Bosnia, Kosovo, Rwanda. I have been thinking a lot about the ethnic cleaning campaigns, and how some pictures we are seeing and certainly language coming out of mouths and in the Project 25 copy sounds awfully familiar. Thank you, excellent collection of images.
Thank you for the appreciation, Lesly. The key to the militarism, as I see it, is how deeply it’s steeped in the white nationalism of figures like Miller, Vance, and the broader MAGA movement. We’re watching that ideology play out on the home front with Miller in the driver’s seat, and abroad through Hegseth’s rise at the Pentagon and Rubio's fusion of "National Interest First" with his panic over “mass migration.”
Of course, their actions defy logic and more conventional terms and framing. What they see as existential is pure paranoia. Getting everyone else to see their lethality in those terms is the challenge.
thank you so much for this. you have said it ALL. I’m a retired photo-editor; of course one never retires. Your spotlight and analysis is much needed. Bravo to all.
I really appreciate it, Suzie, and my respect to every photo editor. As I wrote in Notes, I'm just SO tired of the euphemisms.
A great, and very sharply pointed, set of images and analyses.
However, if the report in ProPublica of the names of two of the agents who killed Alex Pretti got it right, both were experienced (as was Ross, who killed Renee Good). Both were border control agents of one sort or another. One wonder what other illicit and brutal actions they've carried out with impunity in their previous roles, away from scrutiny, kinda like the old timey Texas Rangers. Their presumptive ethnic identities also raise a host of questions.
All good points. When the motive is to drive wedges and alienate the populace from itself, there is no end to the motives, deceptions, contradictions, and doublebinds it creates.
Michael this is an important piece that I plan to share widely. Thank you for collecting these images and making connections here to systematic removal operations: Bosnia, Kosovo, Rwanda. I have been thinking a lot about the ethnic cleaning campaigns, and how some pictures we are seeing and certainly language coming out of mouths and in the Project 25 copy sounds awfully familiar. Thank you, excellent collection of images.
Thank you for the appreciation, Lesly. The key to the militarism, as I see it, is how deeply it’s steeped in the white nationalism of figures like Miller, Vance, and the broader MAGA movement. We’re watching that ideology play out on the home front with Miller in the driver’s seat, and abroad through Hegseth’s rise at the Pentagon and Rubio's fusion of "National Interest First" with his panic over “mass migration.”
Of course, their actions defy logic and more conventional terms and framing. What they see as existential is pure paranoia. Getting everyone else to see their lethality in those terms is the challenge.