- Anecdoche by Crit
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- “I have never in my life seen anything so inhumane"
“I have never in my life seen anything so inhumane"
The cacophonous cascade continues
Crit Anecdoche
March 13, 2025
I didn’t plan on making this an ongoing series, but we live where we live, and live backwards is evil. It’s really such a great time to be a corrupt, soulless ghoul with no scruples. Scruples is a great word but it’s never good when it comes up.
A couple people agreed that they feel like they’re trapped in a building with all the fire alarms going off. (I’m sorry, you’re welcome?) In that post I wanted to not only name the current feeling and give words to the vibe, but also to warn people about traveling the US. Well, unfortunately I have three more examples. It’s a trend, and it’s an even worse than like, bucket hats.
Remember, that none of these people are accused of crimes. They are being held and tortured in our name. It is extremely risky to travel to the United States right now, full stop. The cacophonous cascade continues.
A Canadian woman is being detained by ICE. Details:
“I have never in my life seen anything so inhumane,” she said in an interview.
Mooney said she was kept in a cold room at the border by CBP before being arrested by ICE, who placed her at the Otay Mesa Detention Center.
“I was put in a cell, and I had to sleep on a mat with no blanket, no pillow, with an aluminum foil wrapped over my body like a dead body for two and a half days," she said.
Mooney said the food inside the Otay Mesa Detention Center was awful and claimed in the middle of the night she, along with a group of 30 other women, was rounded up to get transferred to a facility in Arizona.
“We were up for 24 hours wrapped in chains,” she said.
Core Civic, the private company that owns the Otay Mesa facility, said it provides three “nutritious” meals a day to inmates.
The agency noted it treats all travelers with integrity, respect and professionalism.
Those last two lines are really something.
And here’s another one: a German man visiting his American fiancé was been held by ICE for over two weeks. She was also briefly detained. Luckily, he’s home now. But the details are grim.
“They accused me [of living] in America instead of visiting, but there was no proof that I overstayed anything,” Sielaff said.
“They rip my hair tie out. They do a body check. They make me open my mouth. They fingerprint me. I say, 'Is this legal? Can I have a lawyer?' They say, 'You don't have a right to have a lawyer. You're being detained in a secure building,'" Tyler said.
Tyler, an American citizen, said when she asked to speak to a supervisor, tensions escalated.
“They take me over to a bench. They chain my ankle to a bench. Hours go by. I keep asking questions. They tell me to shut up," she said.
She accused CBP officers of using scare tactics on her fiancé.
“They use fear and confusion to control you. I'm a psychologist and that's what was happening," she said.
Tyler said she is now warning other Germans who might be thinking of coming to the U.S. to cancel their trips.
“They are holding innocent German nationals and throwing them in prison," she said.
And here’s number three. A German man flying into Boston has been held in Rhode Island for a week. His mother usually posts cookies and flowers on Facebook, but her latest posts have details about her son’s captivity:
Today [March 11] I received the first phone call from Fabian since [March 7]. He was transferred from Boston Logan Detention Center to another in Rhode Island. During his stay in the Boston Detention Center, he was tortured, sleep deprived, and confronted with other acts of violence. He collapsed due to sleep deprivation and had to be taken to a medical center for treatment. When he returned from there, two officers put him under the shower and sprayed him with ice-cold water. He barely got anything to eat. He was interrogated several times and asked to give up his Green Card. He fears for his life. I feel totally helpless and abandoned by all entities.
What the fuck are we doing? We are who we’ve always been, but it’s getting worse every day.
A quick update on Mahmoud Khalil, the other subject of my last post.
Late today, it was announced he is suing Columbia.
I found this NPR interview today with DHS Deputy Secretary Troy Edgar to be incredible for two reasons. The first is that Michel Martin actually kept pushing and asking for evidence of just what Khalil did to be arrested. I think we all know there’s no actual answer to that. This pushing is something that rarely happens with any Trump official. They wither under tough questions, but journalists in general have fallen on their faces time after time either through fear or ineptitude or concerns about losing access. Second, unsurprisingly, is that Edgar didn’t even have the slightest hint of reasoning. Just completely unprepared. Didn’t even have some pithy little catchphrase. Nothing. She asked him directly multiple times, and he had nothing. This is their final exchange:
Martin: And what did he engage in that constitutes terrorist activity?
Edgar: I mean, Michel, have you watched it on TV? It's pretty clear.
Michel: No, it isn't. Well, explain it to those of us who have not or perhaps others have not. What exactly did you do?
Edgar: Well, I think it's clear or we wouldn't be talking about it. I mean, the reality is that if you watch and see what he's done on the university …
Martin: Do you not know? Are you telling us that you're not aware?
Edgar: I find it interesting that you're not aware.
This jackass is trying to convince people they see something that doesn’t exist, but then again that’s a pretty big part of the Trump playbook so maybe it will work. Like a football team just running it up the middle over and over again. It’s so predictable. Prepare your defense!
One quick thing about Elon to send to your grumpy Trumpy relatives who actually believe that he’s working hard to cut waste and fraud. According to Politico, his top advisor “procured a massive TV for Musk’s office in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building so he could play video games.” Yeah man, you’re just locked in at work over there, doing Ketamine and playing Diablo. The guy is the CEO of multiple huge companies, is burning the government down, but still has time for chillin’ and gamin.’ Give me a break. Make guillotines great again.
Related, I’ve been reading Character Limit: How Elon Must Destroyed Twitter and will have more to say about that at some point, but the short version is he thinks he’s an infallible god, and keeps showing what an idiot he really is. I’m sure he’s smart in some ways, but he thinks the most basic thoughts and truly believes he’s the first to ever think it. He is a man who does zero self-reflection and somehow even less critical thinking. Reading about what he did to Twitter is enraging, but it’s also the playbook he’s using now running (but continuing to claim in court that he doesn’t run) DOGE with much higher stakes.
Two good things!
First, I loved this Claire McNear story about a Jeopardy! win 24 years in the making.
Now let’s end with some rock and roll. Charmer has put out a pair of really solid LPs in the past few years, 2018’s self-titled and 2020’s Ivy. If the first two songs released from their upcoming Downpour (due May 23 on Counter Intuitive) are any hint, this is the sound of a band about to explode. The songs sound huuuge and more aggressive than their previous efforts. They’ve turned everything up to 10 and have really grown into themselves. This is the best they’ve ever sounded. I’m excited. Get into it.
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