Lesbians Taunted ICE Goon, Smirked Even. And So He Killed One.
It's good enough for JD Vance. And Katie Miller. And Matt Walsh. And
The White House on Friday posted to social media a phone video taken by Jonathan Ross, the ICE agent who shot and killed Renee Nicole Macklin Good on Wednesday. It shows that shortly before Ross shot Good, she smiled at him and said, “That’s fine, dude, I’m not mad at you,” and that just after the killing, Ross appeared to mutter, “Fuckin’ bitch.”
The 47-second video was initially leaked to rightwing media outfit “Alpha News,” after which JD Vance posted it to Twitter, claiming it proved the ICE goon’s life was “endangered and he fired in self defense.” That’s seriously undermined by the fact that the video shows Good turning the SUV’s steering wheel sharply to the right so she could drive around him, not at him. Look, just believe what the administration says, not your lying eyes.
Here’s the video, which needless to say you don’t have to watch. Chris Hayes noted on All In Friday night that a version of the video released by the government is a few seconds shorter than the Alpha News version, and doesn’t include the opening image of the dog sitting in the back seat of Good’s Honda Pilot. He speculated that might be deliberate, since seeing a dog calmly sitting in a car doesn’t advance the official story that Good was a domestic terrorist planning to ram an ICE officer.
You’ll also be shocked to learn that Fox News has been playing the video without the officer’s benediction — “fuckin’ bitch” — at the end.
As Ross circles around the front of the SUV and approaches Good’s open window, she smiles at him and says, “That’s fine, dude, I’m not mad at you.” He continues around to the back of the vehicle, getting a shot of the license plate and the national park stickers on the rear window.
At that point, Good’s wife, Becca Good, is seen recording the agent and saying to him, sarcastically, “We don’t change our plates every morning, just so you know. It will be the same plate when you come talk to us later.” She adds that she’s a US citizen and a veteran, and taunts him — which is legal — saying, “You want to come at us? You want to come at us? I say go get yourself some lunch, big boy. Go ahead.”
As that’s happening, the phone briefly points away from the scene as Ross moves it to his left hand, freeing his right hand to grab his gun. At the same time, a second ICE officer can be seen approaching Renee Good, yelling at her, “Get out of the car. Out of the car. Get out of the fucking car. Get out of the car.”
At that point, the video shows that Ross again walks in front of the SUV. The camera captures Good backing up, then turning the steering wheel sharply to the right to go around him. Becca Good shouts, “Drive, baby, Drive,” and the car moves forward slowly.
The phone suddenly points at the sky as Ross fires his gun; other video of the shooting shows that at the time he shoots, Ross has already stepped to the side of the vehicle. At most it may have brushed him, but if it did, it was at low speed. Ross remained standing throughout, and certainly didn’t get “run over” as Donald Trump keeps lying.
The camera does not show Ross shooting at Good, although other videos plainly show that his second and third shots came as he stood perpendicular to the driver’s seat, firing through the window at her.
By the time the camera is focused again in Ross’s video, it catches a brief view of the car moving away, out of control. Either Ross or another agent can be heard muttering, “Fuckin’ bitch” just before the sound of the Honda crashing into a light pole and another car.
The video hardly exonerates Ross, and regardless of whether he or another agent made that “fuckin’ bitch” comment, it sums up all you need to know about ICE goons’ attitudes.
As several people point out on social media, the interaction changes and escalates rapidly when Becca Good makes fun of Ross and the other agent arrives, demanding Renee Good get out of the fucking car. Rightwingers on Twitter, particularly the vile Katie Miller and Matt Walsh, have fixated on Becca Good’s unkind words to Ross (Xcancel link), because how dare that lesbian belittle a brave ICE agent who’s keeping America safe? Maybe the video doesn’t provide any proof that Good was trying to run over Ross, but it sure showed that neither she nor her wife were intimidated or respectful, and that’s plenty to reinforce MAGA’s certainty that Renee Good had it coming. She smirked even. And that’s a capital offense.
In a statement to Minnesota Public Radio yesterday, Becca Good thanked the many people who have expressed their sympathies and outrage over the murder of her wife, writing,
This kindness of strangers is the most fitting tribute because if you ever encountered my wife, Renee Nicole Macklin Good, you know that above all else, she was kind. In fact, kindness radiated out of her.
Renee sparkled. She literally sparkled. I mean, she didn’t wear glitter but I swear she had sparkles coming out of her pores. All the time. You might think it was just my love talking but her family said the same thing. Renee was made of sunshine.
Renee lived by an overarching belief: there is kindness in the world and we need to do everything we can to find it where it resides and nurture it where it needs to grow. Renee was a Christian who knew that all religions teach the same essential truth: we are here to love each other, care for each other, and keep each other safe and whole.
She added that on the day of the shooting, “we stopped to support our neighbors. We had whistles. They had guns.”
It’s a lovely tribute; the full statement is here (archive link if needed, too).
[Reuters / KSTP / Guardian / MPR]
Yr Wonkette is funded entirely by reader donations. If you can, please become a paid subscriber, or if you’d like to make a one-time donation, here’s the button.
I'm not ashamed to admit I'm crying. That piece from her wife. Damn.
It turns out that Ross is a local resident in Minneapolis. Neighbors are reporting that his house was adorned with Trump signage and a Gadsden flag. They also reported that they are seeing boxes being rapidly packed in a manner that suggests a quick move to a new domicile is under way.
I wonder if anyone has surveyed local hospitals to see if anyone by that name was ever admitted?