Being a Tough Guy Ain’t as Easy as it Looks!
The movies always make it seem so simple!
Greg Bovino in action:
The video is worth a watch.
First and foremost, can someone tell me what the protestors are doing that would deserve tear gas? People standing there and yelling/blowing whistles is constutitionally protected under the First Amendment. Indeed, the fact that he is so lackadaisical about it rather underscores that there was no threat. When various administration officials bleat about “riots” and “obstruction” by protestors, keep these kinds of videos in mind.
Second, the fact that he fumbles around to get the pin out of the canister rather undercuts his tough guy image. It is further a reminder that real life isn’t an action movie.
Third, the poetic justice of the gas blowing back towards the ICE operatives is just the chef’s kiss of it all.
This morning’s ambient temperature in downtown Mpls is -20F with the windchill being -38F, ICE will be on ice today
@Sleeping Dog: Houston (and Texas) are in full panic mode today with a little prediction of freezing rain and two days of temps in the 20s.
When I first saw the photo above of Bovino, I thought he was wearing a Nazi uniform.
@CSK: In case you missed it: Greg Bovino’s Costuming Choices.
Sadly, Bovino’s pathetic cosplay is rather effectively distracting from the savage treatment his agents are raining down on the human being in the grey coat they have wrestled onto the snowy pavement behind him.
Has a general strike ever taken place in America?
I can’t recall any offhand.
Bovino is same personality type as Trump. A classic bully. Always punches down and always sucks up. Acts the tough guy except when there is push back.
@Steven L. Taylor:
I DID miss it. Damn.
@CSK: Indeed.
Seeing how geared up the ICE/CBP guys are – camo, sidearms, “556 Duty Rifle,”tear gas, pepper spray, etc. – makes it all the more laughable that Herr Miller tells Trump they need to be protected from protestors by the National Guard. Seems like Bovino watched Inglorious Basterds and modeled himself on Christof Waltz’s smarmy Nazi.
@CSK: “When I first saw the photo above of Bovino, I thought he was wearing a Nazi uniform.”
He is.
@Scott:
…and so Ted Cruz has decamped to that well known Blue State California hellhole of Laguna Beach.
As others have noted, he looks like Don Knotts.
https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:6mjf5xfk4zxavimnaahilq73/post/3md2ofm4e3c2j
@ChipD: Bovino does present as Deputy Barney Fife. Sheriff Andy did let ole Barn have a gun, but made him keep the one bullet he was allowed in his pocket.
@Kathy:
Not above the level of a city. At higher levels, most of the national unions like the Teamsters oppose general strikes. Minneapolis had a sort-of general strike in 1934, organized by the Teamsters. Police shot 67 of the strikers. Interesting that much of the “strike” in Minneapolis today is by business owners rather than labor. Interviews by reporters seem to be of small business owners who are staying closed, not workers walking out.
Regarding Bovino’s sartorial choices, first time as a tragedy, second time as a farce.
@Michael Cain:
Thank you.
Business closings was what increased the tempo of the current protests in Iran.
@Michael Cain:
The small businesses in Mpls have been struggling since the gestapo showed up. A combination of employees not showing up and customers avoiding any chance of coming across some sort of action. People are staying home.
Sometime ago, I think it was maybe the late 90’s or early oughts, there was a call for a general “Mexicans Don’t Work” day on Cinco de Mayo. Just to give folks a taste of what the state would be like without them. I thought this was a response to prop 187, now I’m not so sure.
I remember very clearly that we were in the midst of a remodelling project, and our contractor and his one employee did not work that day. The contractor, a man we liked very much, came by to tell us it was nothing personal, and that they would be back to work the next day. We said we understood and supported him.
I guess this can’t be called a “general strike”, and I further can’t find any reference to it on the internet (though I could a few years ago).
Strange things.
A man was just acquitted for trying to hire a hitman to kill Bovino.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jan/22/trump-administration-chicago-bovino-murder-for-hire
I haven’t checked to see if the government hadn’t proven their case, or if the jury just said that it wasn’t a crime. Presumably the former, but pursuing weak cases that fail is likely to send the latter message.
@Jay L. Gischer: America doesn’t have the balls to do a General Strike. We are too soft, too coddled, and too spoiled.
We think a strike means “Don’t buy anything on Thursday”, but the French know that a strike means “Don’t buy anything, and don’t work, until the other side gives in.”
What do you expect from a cult whose leader sports orange make-up, has a hair-spray budget, and wears lifts and diapers?
What a twerp.
Well, it looks like the US has its freikorps.
But with extra clownery.
“First as tragedy, then as farce”, as somebody said.
Laugh, or cry?
I have mental image of some NCO’s I’ve known taking Mr. Bovino aside and explaining, with considerable profanity, exactly why he is a useless trooper. lol