A Reminder about “Proof”

Just a reminder of what some of the previous “proof” was for why it was fine to have sent Kilmar Abrego Garcia to a torture prison without due process.

And why I find myself at least a little skeptical about the provenance of the current charges.

Here’s the BBC on the topic from late April:

The White House has also alleged that tattoos on Mr Abrego Garcia’s hands – a marijuana leaf, a smiley face, a cross and a skull – are gang symbols, an allegation that Trump repeated in an interview with ABC News journalist Terry Moran.

The administration previously released a picture, digitally labelled with the characters M, S, 1 and 3, in an attempt to explain the meaning of the tattoos.

The symbols are open to interpretation. Experts who previously spoke to BBC Verify have cast doubt on the claim that these tattoos mean what Trump and his team allege.

I am no expert on gang tattoos, so I won’t venture my interpretation. I do know that the only sources I have found who definitively wish to assert that these tattoos prove anything are those in the administration (or those willing to uncritically repeat the claims of the administration).

Of course, that Trump appears to think that Abrego Garcia’s hand has M S 1 3 is more than a little concerning, from the hope that a sitting president could, you know, discern reality from not.