In my first column for @prismreports, I wrote it was necessary to understand that “the Democratic Party took right-wing immigration policy to heights that Reagan may have never imagined.”

Here's some relevant news on that front.

https://twitter.com/williamcson/status/1826699941399724118

The Democratic Party has pulled off something mindblowing. They are shifting their base to the right of Reagan, both Bushes and several right-wing anti-immigrant figures of the Arizona SB1070 era. Watching it happen is horrific.

People in the US debate whether other populations should live or die as a necessary consequence of their electoral choices. That's empire. Why would the rest of the world not want such imperial power destroyed? The ruling establishment, not to mention vast swathes of the US public, casually decides whether the life or death of whole other populaces is convenient for them.

The treatment “Black Lives Matter,” “woke,” and “critical race theory (CRT)” received as terms and phrases showed what can happen when language is distorted for control by reactionaries. They're determined to have complete authority over education, assembly, and speech. Surrendering anything to reactionary forces that want to take how we speak and twist, vilify, and criminalize it can be a major loss. It makes you have to constantly respond to the distortion instead of making progress toward goals, learning, or better positioning.

It's hard for some to hear, but the police being a threat to people who need help is police work. That's the *standard*. The USA is one of the most carceral, highly policed societies imaginable. If policing was going to prevent these crises here it would be happening. The question keeps coming up: “Why didn't they do their job?” They did exactly what they were trained to do. Their job is to *police* the vulnerable. Policing and protecting those in need are two completely different things. We're paying for policing, not our protection.