These were the words of former FBI agent Michael Feinberg, in a segment of MS NOW’s Dateline White House on October 27.

The program featured an interview with the parents of Alex Pretti, who was murdered by ICE on January 24, 2026.

Feinberg criticized ICE’s response, noting a statement by secretary of homeland security Kristi Noem that Pretti had committed an act of “domestic terrorism.”

And noted that, during his time with the FBI, notorious criminals were arrested, who deserved their punishment. But (as Feinberg noted), “we also recognized their baseline humanity.”

In other words, did not exercise, inflict, gratuitous cruelty.

 

*****************************************************

I was struck by the words “baseline humanity.”

They could have come from Matthew 7:12, updated in terms of the parlance of present day officialdom.

They express pointedly something deliberately ignored by practitioners of state sanctioned cruelty.

Which, of course, is everywhere you look.

Which delights the MAGA crowed and is (or was) A — if not THE — guiding principle of acolytes like Stephen Miller, JD Vance, Markwayne Mullin, Pete Hesgeth, Kristin Noem, and Pam Bondi. Donald Trump.

They live and breathe it.

Have they no sense of decency?

The answer is no, never.

 

— posted by Roger W. Smith

   October 30, 2026