Apparently, this isn’t the type of story the media likes to talk about very much. A guy showed up at an ICE detention center in Tacoma, Washington yesterday, armed with a rifle and a duffle bag full of Molotov cocktails and other improvised “incendiary devices.” Needless to say, he wasn’t there to help with their lawn care. After the literal fireworks began, police showed up on the scene. How the encounter precisely played out isn’t clear yet, but the Molotov man wound up at room temperature. Fortunately, none of the responding officers were injured. (Daily Beast)

A man who was allegedly armed with a rifle and throwing Molotov cocktails at an ICE detention center in Tacoma, Washington was killed by responding police officers on Saturday, police said. Tacoma Police responded to the Northwest Detention Center, a privately run detention facility that holds migrants, at about 4 a.m. on Saturday after an employee called about an armed man outside, authorities told The Daily Beast. The Washington state man, who has not been publicly identified, was armed with a rifle and throwing “incendiary devices” at the building and nearby cars, setting one on fire. The incident comes one day before ICE agents are expected to carry out mass raids around the country in an effort to round up undocumented migrants.

The officers have been placed on administrative leave with pay while the incident is investigated, as is standard practice in lethal force encounters.

This should really go without saying, but before anyone starts unloading on the cops we should deal with a dose of reality. I don’t care if you are a nutjob with a right-wing political agenda, a nutjob with a left-wing ax to grind, or just a random nutjob with some screws loose. If you show up at a government building with a rifle and incendiary devices and begin torching the place, the cops are going to be there quickly. And if you don’t comply with their instructions, they will shoot you. This guy had burned up at least one car, set fire to a couple of buildings and was attempting to detonate a large propane tank. What did he expect was going to happen?

If you didn’t hear about this, it probably shouldn’t be too surprising. Yes, there are a couple of headlines in the major newspapers and I did see a few segments on CNN covering it. But at least from the pieces I watched, they were almost entirely who, what, where, when stories, absent any great degree of analysis and discussion. I wonder why that is?

Every time some whacko with a MAGA hat so much as takes a swing at someone, we’re treated to hours of endless analysis about how Donald Trump’s violent rhetoric is inspiring people to do harm. But now, after elected Democratic officials, including some presidential candidates, have spent weeks and months vilifying Immigration and Customs Enforcement, accusing them of running concentration camps and demanding that they be shunned by polite society, I take it we’re forbidden from wondering if all of that rhetoric had anything to do with this jackwagon trying to blow up an ICE detention center.

Seriously, folks. Aside from a couple of new polls dropping, a brief blackout in New York City, and some flooding down south, there wasn’t all that much news breaking this morning. And yet I don’t think CNN has spent more than ten minutes total on this attack since I turned it on at six o’clock this morning. Where’s all the deep, penetrating analysis?