Mike the Mad Biologist

I’d like to share a story from a local paper in Coldwater, Michigan dated to the 9th of April, 1945. It tells how the US Army, under General Patton–the US 3rd Army–came onto what you might call a detention center just outside the village of Ohrdruf, Germany.

The US Army brought the leading citizens of Ohrdruf to tour the facility, which turned out to be part of the Buchenwald network of concentration camps. A US Army colonel told the German civilians who viewed the scenes, without muttering a word, that they were to blame.

One of the Germans replied that what happened in the camp was “done by a few people, and you cannot blame us all.” And the American, who could have been any one of our grandfathers, said, “this was done by those that the German people chose to lead them, and all are responsible.”

The morning after the tour, the Mayor of Ohrdruf killed himself. And maybe he did not know the full extent of the outrages that were committed in his community, but he knew enough. And we don’t know exactly how ICE will use this warehouse. But we know enough.

I ask you to consider what the Mayor of Ohrdruf might have thought before he died. Maybe he felt like a victim. He might have thought, “how is this my fault? I have no jurisdiction over this.” Maybe he would have said, “this site was not subject to local zoning, what could I do?”

But I think, when he reflected on the suffering that occurred at this camp, just outside of town, that those words would have sounded hollow even to him. Because in his heart he knew–as we do–that we are all responsible for what happens in our community.

I urge the council to take action to stop, or stall, or at the barest minimum to think creatively about how to exercise oversight over this proposed ICE facility. Thank you.

We already know enough. The only question is how long will it take for all of us–and the left construed broadly can’t do this alone–to stop them.

Posted in Basic Human Decency, Immigration, Resistance Rebellion And Death | Leave a comment

Links 2/3/26

Posted on February 3, 2026 by mikethemadbiologist

Links for you. Science:

US science after a year of Trump
My son had rotavirus before he could get the vaccine. Ending universal rotavirus vaccination is a tragedy
Why did Jeffrey Epstein cultivate famous scientists?
After sowing distrust in fluoridated water, RFK Jr. and skeptics turn to obstructing other sources
Measles Surges In The U.S. As Public Health Systems Falter
Indonesian handprints are the oldest cave art found yet

Other:

“ICE 101” — How Trump changed ICE and CBP into a fascist secret police (excellent; must-read)
An Anonymous DC National Guardsman Tells All
‘I’m Witnessing a Lot of Emptiness’: How ICE Uprooted Normal Life in Minneapolis
Indict ICE Criminals At The State Level—Public Safety Requires It
How Trump Doomed the American Auto Industry
On His Way Out, New Jersey Democratic Governor Vetoes Legislation to Bar Local Assistance to ICE (BuT WhY DoN’T PeOpLe tRuSt dEmOcRaTs?)
Trump administration concedes DOGE team may have misused Social Security data
Trump And Miller Slashing Legal Immigration By 33% To 50%
They’ve bought themselves a Congress
Lehigh County exec says he’s evicting ICE agents from Allentown office, citing 3 years of unpaid rent
Trump is xenophobic and paranoid – and he’s too old to change his mind about anything
Passenger Says NYC-to-D.C. Bus Went Off Route After Driver Switch in Viral Thread Recounting Play-by-Play
Trump promised the ‘largest deportation operation.’ He brought chaos to American streets
Trump’s Attack on Democracy Is Faltering
‘What are Democrats doing?’: Political strategists break down where the resistance to Trump went wrong
Trump’s weird text to Norway’s prime minister renews 25th Amendment talk
Psychiatrists warned about Trump – and now we can see why
Scott Jennings Gets Very Upset When People Call Him Human Garbage To His Face!
The new Teflon Don: How Trump 2.0 has made reality optional
A cloud of fear hangs over Minnesota immigrant communities
Army veteran says ICE agents detained him for hours without access to phone or his attorney. A combat-wounded veteran’s eight-hour detention by federal agents in Minneapolis raises concerns about due process in ICE facilities.
Trump Is Obsessed With Oil, but Chinese Batteries Will Soon Run the World
Parents are letting teens ride in Waymos without an adult. That poses a dilemma for the company
We ran high-level US civil war simulations. Minnesota is exactly how they start
DOGE Employees Shared Social Security Data, Court Filing Shows
Immigration officers assert sweeping power to enter homes without a judge’s warrant, memo says
Many young Trump voters think women ‘should follow’ men, poll finds
The Line, a Saudi Megaproject, Is Dead. It was always doomed to unravel, but the firms who lent their name to this folly should be held accountable.
What Happened to the “Don’t Tread On Me” Conservatives?
Better
Trump’s team tries to ruin toy store after owners denounce ICE
But What About The Price Of Eggs, Mr. President
Dear GOP, you need to impeach Trump
One year ago, Donald Trump took an oath to serve the American people. Instead, he has focused on using the presidency to enrich himself.

Posted in Lotsa Links | Leave a comment

Illinois College Republicans Do a Big Fascism

Posted on February 3, 2026 by mikethemadbiologist

A really bad one (boldface mine):

In a post that included a stylized graphic of a presumed federal officer holding a gun to someone’s head, Illini Republicans stated that they “stand with ICE” amid the killings of Renee Nicole Good and Alex Pretti in Minnesota.

The RSO referred to Pretti and Good, two United States citizens who were both killed by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers in the past month, as “traitors.”

…The graphic, however, seems to match a still photo from a video of Pretti’s killing. The man depicted also appears to bear a physical resemblance to Pretti.

The group stated it does not “endorse violence nor discrimination towards anyone based on their identification with a specific protected group,” and that the groups message is that it supports “the enforcement of the law and those who enforce it.”

If a college Democrats group did this, everyone from Chuck Schumer on down would be forced to disavow this. But what is obviously a celebration of Pretti’s murder by college Republicans? Crickets.

Remember that these misanthropic fascists are the supposed future of the Republican Party. There is no balm in Gilead to heal these sin sick souls.

Posted in Conservatives | 1 Comment

We Can’t Reform CBP

Posted on February 2, 2026 by mikethemadbiologist

Garrett Graff, summarizing findings from his testimony before the State of Illinois’ “Illinois Accountability Commission”:

Criminality is so rampant inside CBP that it has seen one of its own agents or officers arrested every 24 to 36 hours since 2005. CBP’s misconduct scandal is so long-running that today it would be old enough to drink.

In total, according to CBP’s own discipline reports, over the 20 years from 2005 to 2024 — the last year numbers are available — at least 4,913 CBP officers and Border Patrol agents have been arrested themselves, some multiple times. (In 2018 alone, a single CBP employee was arrested five times.) To put that number in perspective:

• The population of CBP agents and officers who have been arrested would make it roughly the nation’s fourth largest police department — equal to the size of the entire Philadelphia police.

• Indeed, for much of the 2010s and likely before and since, it appears the crime rate of CBP agents and offices was higher PER CAPITA than the crime rate of undocumented immigrants in the United States.

As he notes, this only will get worse as even more unqualified–and racist–officers are hired. Body cameras and incremental reforms won’t fix this. We will need some kind of border security force, but disband this agency (if for no other reason that it’s the easiest way to fire people), require higher standards (e.g., make them GS-1811s), and specify their authorities much more clearly.

And to my fellow Democratic primary voters, find yourself a Democrat who looks at ICE and CBP the same way Russell Vought looks at CDC and NIH.

Posted in Immigration | 3 Comments