CSI: American Carnage (Wednesday, March 13, 2019)
CALEXICO, Calif. — The mysterious government agents who have captured reporters from the Times and the Post and then lost them in the parking lot of Trump Attica West, the desert cruise ship of penology, stand about scratching their heads. Heat radiates up from the black top. In the distance, the tops of jail tents rise like sails in the burning sunlight. The lead agent picks up his moon suit and puts on his dark glasses. He looks around and says, Pete, you see where they went? We are going to get a lot of shit for losing them. Pete says, We’ll be fired. The leader says, Ok, well then, let’s go back into town and pick up some others. Maybe there’s a black kid around. We can arrest him. Pete says, What about the bleaching protocol? The leader says, There may be survivors. Keep your eyes peeled. They clamber into their van and head back to town center. Inside the bus standing nearby in the parking lot, the Times guy takes his hand from Jumbo’s mouth and says, Get out of here and don’t come back. Jumbo says, Don’t hurt me. Please don’t hurt me. I didn’t mean anything. I was just gonna show these kids my pistol and how it works and all. The Times guy says, Get out. Jumbo stumbles from the bus, waddles across the parking lot, and disappears. The Post guy looks at Sarah and Timmy, who are still in the back of the bus. The Post guy says, Uhh. Ah hum. Quién eres tú? Timmy says, We’re Americans. We speak English. The Post guy says, Good, my Spanish is a bit rusty. What are you doing here? Timmy says, We were kidnapped by these guys who were going to molest us and jail us in this place with everybody else. That’s how it works here. Hey aren’t you reporters. The Times guy says, Yeah. Ah hem. We’re trying to get a handle on what’s going on down here. Sarah says, This is the experimental model the autocrat is testing out for the country. If it works along the southern border and environs, it can work anywhere. The Post guy says, Oh you mean, having a completely corrupt law enforcement apparatus make it all up as they go along, stick their fingers in everything and everyone they can, ruin lives, fuck up, lie continuously, and call it all keeping America safe? Is that what you mean? Sarah says, Yes. The autocrat is testing it all out here, in the desert, at the southern border. They are expanding their detention capacity for children at a dizzying speed. Maybe 5,000 tent cells a day. The Post guy says, at that rate, they’ll be turning El Paso and San Diego into prison camps by the end of the month. Sarah says, The autocrat has several separation, incarceration, and deterrence models which he is testing out. The Times guy says, Who are you? You’re awfully young to be down here in the middle of nowhere by yourselves. Timmy says, We’re children. We’ve been separated from our parents. Sarah says, Uhh. By the autocrat. Timmy says, Yeah. But guess what. The Times guy says, What? Timmy says, We will find our parents, they are searching for us now. We will not be deterred. This is not right and we aim to prove it. The Post guy says to the Times guy, Spunky. Sarah says, The autocrat can’t deal with spunkiness and defiance armed with real information. Look at his own children. Timmy says, Soft. Sarah says, Yes, soft. They have rotted from within.
— Wednesday, March 13, 2019