The White House deputy chief of staff got fired up during a trip to Memphis.

At one point, Miller told the assembled local police officers, “I see the guns and badges in this room. You are unleashed. The handcuffs you’re carrying, they’re not on you anymore, they’re on the criminals. And whatever you need to get it done, we’re gonna get it done.”

The 40-year-old stated that they had deployed over 13 government agencies, including the FBI, DEA, ATF, ICE, and the Department of Defense, which Hegseth has since rebranded as the “Department of War.”

“The gangbangers that you deal with, they think that they’re ruthless, they have no idea how ruthless we are,” Miller added.

“They think they’re tough, they have no idea how tough we are. They think that they’re hardcore, we are so much more hardcore than they are, and we have the entire weight of the United States government behind us. What do they have? They have nothing behind them. So we are gonna win, they’re gonna lose.”

At the Wednesday appearance, Hegseth thanked the assembled Memphis law officers for working in dangerous places “where politicians spend a lot of time second guessing… the impossible decisions that you have to make that they will never understand.”

Hegseth, Bondi and Miller spent around an hour in the Shelby County Office of Preparedness and left via the rear entrance, according to WREG TV.

Bondi said on X that 53 arrests had been made and 20 illegal firearms seized in the first two days of the Memphis Safe Task Force.

  • PhilipTheBucket@quokk.auEnglish
    151·
    3 days ago

    Example, you don’t have to allow a cop to search your vehicle without probable cause. But do you want to risk challenging the cop? What if they end up finding something else to bring you in on?

    See, this is a great example. Three possible scenarios:

    1. “Can I search your car?” “Absolutely not.” (manipulation) “I told you, I don’t give you permission to search my car.” “Alright well here’s some tickets, fuck you, be on your way.”
    2. “I’m searching your car.” “I do not give you consent to search my car.” “That’s nice. Out of the vehicle.” (gets out) “I’m telling you, you do not have consent to search my car.” (searches anyway)
    3. “I’m searching your car.” “You can’t do that.” “That’s nice. Out of the vehicle.” “No.” “Sir, get out of the vehicle.” “Fuck you, you don’t have probable cause.” (arguing) (window smash) (dragged out of the car, thrown on the pavement) (car gets searched anyway, maybe now you have some injuries, you’re definitely going to jail and they’re going to plant whatever they were going to plant anyway)

    A lot of YouTube lawyers think that behaving like #3 is going to lead to a #1 outcome. It is not. It is going to lead to additional charges, and your lawyer (assuming we’re still in a legal landscape where probable cause things are still relevant at all) is going to be mad at you for fucking up so badly at dealing with the cops. A lot of people do #3 and think they are “standing up for their rights.” Those people usually spend some time in jail (and if ICE is involved, God help you if you hand them some additional rope to hang you with all on your own volition, I don’t even know what that gets you.)

    #2 is enough to protect you legally. Now I don’t really know whether you or the Reddit guy are advocating for #3. I have no idea. Maybe you mean having a recording of the cops, maybe you mean having legal aid on standby and making sure you make a record of the illegal search so a good lawyer will be able to toss the case. I have no idea, I’m just speculating. All I’m saying is, I have seen a ton of people who seem to believe they are “standing up for their rights” when they are in reality fucking themselves to a really extreme degree. Please know what you are talking about if you decide to stand up for your rights.

    You can be Anne Frank’s family, or you can be Oskar Schindler or Ben Ferencz. Or whatever you want to do. What I am saying is that standing up when the Nazis are stopping you and asking for papers and getting in their face and pointing your finger and yelling about how this isn’t right, man, is probably a tactical mistake (and in in our modern legal system I’ve observed that the type of people who like to do this seem to have this common skill and habit for committing bunches of extra crimes they don’t realize they are committing while they are standing up for their rights, in their mind.)

    • Basic Glitch@sh.itjust.worksOP
      3·
      2 days ago

      Why are you assuming anyone is advocating for 3?

      1. Doesn’t end in tickets, especially right now.
      2. Still could very well end with you going to jail.

      This isn’t just a normal cop on a power trip, these “task force” agents were just given the federal government’s blessing to go wild. They have individuals from the department of wildlife getting to live out their authoritarian fantasies and take out their frustrations on an entire city.

      • PhilipTheBucket@quokk.auEnglish
        3·
        2 days ago

        Why are you assuming anyone is advocating for 3?

        I need you to do a quick Ctrl-F for “Now I don’t really know”.

        This isn’t just a normal cop on a power trip, these “task force” agents were just given the federal government’s blessing to go wild.

        I need you to do a quick Ctrl-F for “probably a tactical mistake”. Yes, I get that especially these particular cops are not necessarily going to behave like ordinary city cops. That makes it a worse idea to commit extra crimes and antagonize them, it doesn’t mean it all of a sudden becomes a good idea or an effective way to push back against fascism.

        • Basic Glitch@sh.itjust.worksOP
          3·
          2 days ago

          I grew up in Memphis. I’ve known more than one person that had something planted on them during a search by a regular cop during regular times. They didn’t do anything except end up pulled over by the wrong cop because they “seemed suspicious.”

          In high school, I knew someone who was stopped and searched while walking in the wrong part of town, then arrested as a minor for carrying too many condoms in their purse. They were a trans 17 year old, and the cops put them in jail with adult men and laughed while they cried bc they were so scared.

          You do not have to do anything wrong to end up a victim of unjust fascist bullshit. You never have. Now, under an authoritarian takeover, it’s not just a possibility that it could always happen, it’s almost a guarantee.

          • PhilipTheBucket@quokk.auEnglish
            2·
            2 days ago

            And I’ve observed many times people reacting to all that that you just laid out, by getting super-hostile with the cops and committing additional crimes in the course of that hostility. Never once did it overthrow the system of fascism or make their life any easier. If you want to talk about how to change all that system and make the justice back again part of the equation, then sure, I think that’s super worthwhile and we should talk about it (very genuinely.)