Morning Note

A woman got shot in the face.

Yes, yesterday’s Minnesota ICE shooting (the video is violent, bloody, and tough to watch. Please only click the link if you can handle it) is providing plenty of material for conservatives to score political points. The victim shouldn’t have blocked the road with her car, hundreds of hysterical protestors launched into their typical routines last night, and liberal leaders like Jacob Frey, who immediately declared it’s time for ICE to “get the f**k out of Minneapolis,” are predictably behaving like children. That’s all true. But it should be secondary to the tragedy of Renee Nicole Good losing her life. 

The 37-year-old was an American citizen and reportedly the mother of a kindergarten-aged child. Did we disagree with her views on immigration? Probably. But that shouldn’t matter. Her death is a tragedy, regardless of her partisan affiliations, ideological beliefs, or who pulled the trigger. A woman got shot in the face.

How come so few conservatives are viewing this story through a human lens? And why, when something similar, like the killing of Charlie Kirk, happens on the other side, did many on the left celebrate because they thought his political positions were wrong? We have a guess.

Violence around the world is desensitizing Americans to violence at home.

Think about what just happened in Venezuela. Donald Trump’s backers are celebrating Nicolas Maduro’s abduction as a victory for justice, freedom, and American prosperity, while his opponents fear it was a manufactured act of nation-building globalism detrimental to our national interests. This piece’s purpose is not to weigh in on the debate, but it’s worth acknowledging what neither side seems bothered to mention: the attack's death toll. 

According to U.S. officials, the operation ended 75 lives. Venezuela says the number is even higher. Did you know that? Is anyone in Washington or the media talking about it? It doesn’t matter how anti-Maduro you are. The deaths of the human beings in his country, even if they were his paid protectors, were tragic, just like Good’s killing should be seen as a horror show, even from a right-wing perspective. Those people lost their futures. 

Then, of course, there’s Gaza. Americans have grown so accustomed to tales of the IDF’s U.S.-backed barbarities that we’ve reached a state of numbness. The fact that Israel has reportedly slaughtered over 400 Palestinians since agreeing to its “ceasefire” doesn’t even register as news. Our tax dollars continue to fund the Israeli’s mass killings, making the shooting of just one little old woman in Minnesota seem entirely inconspicuous. But it isn’t.

The same goes for Russia. We get it, permanent Washington thinks Vladimir Putin is a very bad man, but that doesn’t mean we should cheerlead as untold numbers of his citizens get their limbs blown off in frozen European battlefields. Violence is grotesque, and it is always grotesque, even if you earnestly believe that certain displays of it advance a greater good. Two things can be true at once. 

If the United States were in a better place, everyone, regardless of their politics, would pause when something like the Minneapolis shooting happens and at least recognize the human tragedy. But that doesn’t happen because, compared to the countless overseas killings our government routinely brings about, Good’s death doesn’t seem like such a big deal. She’s just another headline.

How can this situation improve? America’s leaders must stop normalizing bloodshed. That means pulling the plug on funding ethnic cleansing, viewing war as the last option rather than the first, and please, for the love of God, no more Lindsey Graham frothing over the titillating excitement of KILLING PEOPLE. A step back and a deep breath would make our country, and the world, a more humane place.