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   William Pietri (williampietri@sfba.social)'s status on Wednesday, 21-Jan-2026 06:50:49 JST William Pietri

   So the US now has an unaccountable secret police force that does not follow the laws. Their job, to target The Other. Nominally just the ethnic Other. But the cities they've picked mean that they're moving toward the political Other. And as Renee Good shows, they're happy to stretch to include gender and sexuality.

   Bullies don't stop until they're stopped. This will only get worse. https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/us-citizen-ice-removed-minnesota-home-underwear-after-129372047

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     William Pietri (williampietri@sfba.social)'s status on Wednesday, 21-Jan-2026 06:50:48 JST William Pietri

     in reply to

     So no matter who you are, unless we stop this, the secret police will eventually come for you. Because it's not about you, it's about people who can't be happy in themselves, and so must always have someone to attack.

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     William Pietri (williampietri@sfba.social)'s status on Wednesday, 21-Jan-2026 06:50:49 JST William Pietri

     in reply to

     And one thing to add about their Other: having an Other is necessary to them.

     At play here is a holier-than-thou process where the tribal boundaries a) must always be defended and b) will ratchet smaller, so that people can prove their virtue by attacking people further out.

     No matter who the secret police target at first, it will expand. Look at how Republicans have changed over the last 50 years. There used to be big-tent Republicans. Pro-abortion Republicans. Feminist Republicans. Now there are only Trumpists. And that precedes Trump, as you can see in the US House graph here: https://xkcd.com/1127/large/

     Warner Crocker repeated this.