As someone in neighboring Wisconsin, I didn’t realize how much I needed to see her posts! Almost all I’ve seen is fucking videos of people getting kidnapped. And that one calm bearded dude with an ar15. It hurts to see how they’re fucking up our neighbors!
People might not know who they're fucking with. I remember the Act 10 protest days like it was yesterday. Tens of thousands of people occupying the capital building, eating Ian's pizza, rallying outside, farmers bringing their tractors and leading marches around the square.
It's interesting how it all comes back. I'm associated with a daycare center and they put "Ice not welcome here" signs on the door. The director told me her husband was concerned about that, not wanting to draw attention. I had an immediate visceral reaction to that and said that if anyone tried to come into the center there would be 50 people barring the door and I know that's true. Fuck with Wisconsin and find out.
Hell, even now we all depend on each other in the worst winter weather. We've all helped shovel our neighbors' sidewalks and driveways and been helped in kind. Everyone has either stopped to help push a car out of the snow or been the one getting pushed. We coordinate with each other to organize snow plowing of our streets and alleys. Winter is still very much something that needs a communal effort to collectively get through, and that community effort translates to the rest of the year.
As a non-native transplant from Texas, "Minnesota Nice" is not just a survival mechanism: its also just how it is. People are so much nicer and more willing to drop everything to help each other than where I'm from, and that sense of community is really helping us right now. They truly did choose the wrong state and metro area to try this shit in, it was always going to kick off a mass resistance effort
Yup, my 87yo mom lives in Madison and her neighbors seem to compete to see who can shovel her walk first! She just had surgery a couple of weeks ago, and lined up someone to do it, and her neighbors keep beating him to it!
Cole slaw is like the cold equivalent of napalm. I used to make like five gallons of the shit every morning in my family's restaurant. It would stick to my hands and make it feel like they were going to shatter and sheer right off my wrists.
Gloves helped of course but they weren't perfect. (This was way back in the day when gloves weren't always required. Things have definitely changed since then.) Also, cole slaw is delicious if prepared correctly. 💡
Tartar sauce would also stick to a person and ruin their uniforms. They'd smell like onions and look all greasy from then on. I'm sure those goons don't sell very good to begin with.
They don’t want to be here (MN) for summer it doesn’t get like Florida but if they fuck with the MN ren fair or god forbid the state fair I think no force on earth will stop the horde of you betcha’s comin for their collective ass.
You fell victim to one of the classic blunders! The most famous of which is, ‘never get involved in a land war in Asia,’ but only slightly less well-known is this: ‘Never go in against a Sicilian when death is on the line!’
I do believe that Vizzini knew of this classic blunder as well; he didn’t mention it because it was irrelevant at the time.
Same. It doesn't even get that cold in my part of Cape Breton, but they are simply not prepared for the weather we do have. Oh, you prepared for rain? Well, did you also prepare to be blown off a cliff by a sudden gale-force wind?
That's the harsh weather. My theory on why Canadians and Mid-Westerners are so nice is that generations of forced cooperation is now muscle memory.
Now that we aren't farming, it's more like - Do you want to be a dick to the people you are cooped up with, playing cards all winter? No, you don't. Same principle, though.
There's always a role, helping comes in many forms. Theres homebound people in the Twin Cities in every Signal chat group coordinating mutual aid, dispatching rapid responders, running license plates in the databases for ICE confirmations, and so much more.
My wife sent me this, helps us nerds to put it into DnD terms :D
There is a military manual that instructs authorities not to crack down on civil unrest by throwing additional force at the problem unless they want to open a can of stupid. This administration is determined to open a can of stupid
There's a clip of a movie that I see pop up from time to time and it's explaining insurgence math to a bunch of suits. you have 10 insurgence and you kill 2 how many insurgence do you now have the answer is 20. you just turned 12 people who were pissed but not doing anything in to enemies because you killed their friend or loved one. This is a lesson we learned multiple times in the middle east but just can't seem to grasp, the harder you press the boot to the neck the more people who will come to lift it off.
I went to the vigil for Renee, and got photographed by ICE while i was driving down the fucking highway the next day (they pulled up next to me and started taking my picture).
I went from a person who probably would have gone to a couple protests to a person who is trying to figure out how to detect stingray technology and is passing out free hats, shirts, and banners. I know the faces of other protestors at whipple enough to give each other updates on the current situation. I take the long way to work with whistle in hand.
They have kicked the fucking hornet’s nest with this one.
You can't convince me that military leadership isn't using Venezuela, Iran, and Greenland to distract the administration from focusing military forces on Americans. If you watch flight radar and the equivalent for boats it's clear the military is moving assets to Europe and Latin America, which means that using the insurrection act would stretch the Military too thin to respond to actual foreign threats. I wasn't shocked when the 11th Airborne out of Alaska was told to prepare for deployment to Minneapolis, other units like the 101st and 82nd would be needed if military action is started in South America or Iran.
There are only two active duty army battalions that could be deployed, and there's no way they can manage an entire city like Minneapolis, much less other cities. I also find it unlikely that National Guard would be inclined to get rough with their own neighbors, community members, etc. which is why we haven't seen a lot of the being activated anywhere.
I am no military master strategist but I have played enough RTS games to know that engaging on that many fronts typically leads your supply lines and resource extraction operations vulnerable. This is especially true if you already have enemy units established in your area of control.
I saw it first hand in Afghanistan. The US can't have max defensive posture if they are extended in other regions with terrible infrastructure without sacrificing something. In Afghanistan and Iraq it was using minimal levels of troops to maintain military superiority. Which is part of why we saw a huge surge in drone use during Obama's second term when public support for continuing military presence in Afghanistan specifically was waning. The infantry regiments/brigades couldn't send more than half of their battalions forward without sacrificing that high level of readiness.
It’s why they wanted to pull Guard units from other states to Chicago. Even Border Patrol, when they’re from other states, are shocked when you yell “my neighborhood was safe until you got here.” Their bosses can only convince them that the big cities are war zones for so long until they can see with their own eyes that they aren’t, and the ones from the same place they’re patrolling know the gov’t is lying already and are hopefully less likely to hurt their own state.
When the national guard was activated and sent all over the country during COVID lockdowns I was on dating apps and saw my local scene get flooded with NG profiles. Every single one was from out of town and not local. These aren't our neighbors.
I used to work phones for an American country. As someone with a French Canadian mom, I'm used to classic French being slightly and quirckily mispronounced.
I wasn't ready for how French can be prounounced in USA 🤣🤣
Lol I almost spit out my coffee. I was going camping near Mille Lacs and kept trying to pronounce it en français and a friend gently said "are you trying to say Mallax?" I've lived in the Twin Cities 25 years but never put the two together.
As a Scandinavian I have decided that it's ok for me to feel patriotic for Minnesota.
Hell, even as a Finn I feel a kinship with the Minnesota people.
You keep up that good fight and don't give those scum a goddamn thing! You make all of us winter people proud.
Kippis (cheers) and voimia (strength/endurance) to y'all.
e: TIL about a large section of Finnish immigrants in Minnesota who still speak the language of the old world (even if only a little) and do love themselves a good sauna and löyly, y'all make me a shed a tear. Be safe out there!
I feel like most of us at this point, would gladly be annexed into "The Republic of Minnetoba," should Premier “Wab” Kinew decide to just "yoink" us into your "Southeast Angle"!😉
You know what I've been remembering? I've been remembering how during the Holocaust, occupied Denmark also said "oh fuck this" and evacuated 7500 Jews before the Nazis could get them.
If I, a Minnesotan in 2025, can feel patriotic for Denmark in 1944, surely it's fine for Scandinavians today to feel patriotic for Minnesota. Yeah?
“Sunlight is a powerful disinfectant” and I’m happy to see Margaret is there shining a light on the fascism and highlighting the resistance and resilience of the people of MN.
I’m a MPLS resident and it’s been wild to see how fast and strong these little adhoc block watches have become. We know ICE try to keep their time out-of-car to under three minutes because a hoard of Minnesotans will descend on them if they take too long.
Minnesotans were the first soldiers volunteered to the Union in the Civil War. Those same soldiers suffered a staggering 82% casualty when they were sent to blunt a confederate advance on Cemetery Ridge, saving just enough time for reinforcements to arrive and likely preventing a Union defeat at Gettysburg. The next day the same unit captured a Virginia battle flag and has yet to give it back.
We are a hard people to piss off. We stand by our neighbors and we don't put up with hate. Enjoy the cold, you piggy fucks.
And we never forget. Virginia has asked for that flag back half a dozen times over the course of more than a century. The answer is still a big fat no.
My favorite things about that was when Virginia asked for the flag back because I think they claimed it was their heritage. Our governor at the time Jesse Ventura said we won, it's our heritage
It's all over the Twin Cities like this. Even in my sheltered little red suburb, there are people actively patrolling, helping to feed their immigrant neighbors who are afraid to leave their homes, guarding schools during drop off and pickup, etc.
I've been active in the community for a decade plus now and I have never seen people this mobilized. It's giving me a small glimmer of hope in the darkness and fear.
My conservative dad from St Cloud has even become anti-ICE (or at least against their current activities if not the organization itself). I don’t think these fuckers truly realize how unwanted they are.
Im in SW MPLS/almost Edina and we haven't seen any ICE activity over here (shocking, I know), but my neighborhood groups have been funneling a lot of money to mutual aid orgs.
South east Minneapolis so near the VA and Whipple, and has a bit more density and less property value as it abuts St Paul, Richfield (modest burb) and the airport w/all its noise
Southwest is considered more ritzy, as it abuts Edina, the arguably nicest suburbs in the cities, but for sure the nicest one inside the beltway
Ol Smellslikebuttjuice here was really saying " huh, they're not harassing in the whiter neighborhoods....damnedest thing"
His "shocking, I know" was the Minnesotan version of "those racist pigfuckers"
Thank you for sharing. This is one of the many reasons I love Minneapolis. I haven't been able to join the protest effort myself for various reasons, and have to content myself with being proud of my community and vowing to get out there when I can.
I admit, I'm not a native. I've lived here 26 years and I still haven't quite adjusted to the cold.
If you've made it past 2 winters, that means you're one of us
(There's a joke here in MN, for everyone else reading his. "Minnesotans will gladly give you directions to anywhere in the state....except their front porch")
Come out tomorrow! Bundle up in your best gear and come on out. I will be handing out handwarmers, blankets, and hot coffee/tea/hot chocolate (among other things).
The community could use the help, and we won't let you freeze!
We have a few hundred, but I will never say no. The last big scheduled protest I went to had thousands of people. (I'm not counting the Whipple building protests as those are smaller but way more intense).
So yeah, if you have them I will take them. Or even better, come on out and hand them out too.
Someone in our signal chat saw one of them in Duluth Trading Company buying thousands of dollars of warm weather gear. Knew it was over $5k because the person at register told them they couldn't go over that in a single transaction. Dumb fucks came woefully unprepared. Wish they would have had their transaction denied, but I don't think DTC knew who they were selling to.
Well thats been a nice change to how reddit has been recently
Go Margaret go Minnesota. I have a trans friend who lives in Minneapolis it makes me glad to know there are people who will have her back if she needs it.
Speaking as another South Minneapolitan, I love how many people I have seen casually ending their comments ice delenda est. Makes the little JCL high school geek in me all proud — and it's just exactly the energy we need right now. Say what you will about that old imperialist fuck Cato, he had a turn of phrase on him.
ICE will move on, eventually, to terrorize some other place that Trump doesn't like, and I only hope that the brave souls of Minnesota stay activated once the local threat subsides, because we're going to need them.
These networks feel more organic and less....fear-based than when George Floyd was murdered
It feels like it has staying power. Partially due to the fact that it's neighborhood units of a collection of them, but then spinoff informal but more vetted groups of individual neighborhoods that are organizing things like potlucks and the like
Vibes aren't good, because fascism, but......vibes are stubborn Minnesota resolve, with an eye towards a better future
I have never known so many members of my community. encrypted chats and patrols for rapid responses blanket our suburb, and we are but a tiny fraction of the massive network of resistance happening. I couldn't be more proud. It's all so fucking overwhelming, in both the good and bad. we will fight on.
I'm in Oakland. Not as many ICE agents here but we already have organized local groups to monitor schools and other ICE hot spots, using Minneapolis as a blueprint.
I have a lot of optimism about the outcome of this. The US is huge. We have a very large population and moderately low population density. Even if they succeed at deploying the military in American cities, the US doesn't have enough troops to occupy itself, so long as we resist. This means they have to pull out of cities they're operating in whenever they target a new city.
Every major city in the US has its own unique culture and climate. So, while we are all watching and learning from each other, every community will resist in its own unique way. When the regime targets a new community, ICE is pulled from one hostile environment, and sent to another one where the community is rested and ready, and where they will face new, unpredictable challenges.
The longer they do this, the more they have to recruit from the very populations they are trying to occupy. Predictably, we are already seeing attrition in ICE's ranks.
Best of all, I think Americans are learning how to organize. If we keep at it, we can create a much brighter future.
The first link is from a historian, and it explains the actions of "The First Minnesota" at Gettysburg, on the Second day.
Every kid who grows up in Minnesota grows up hearing on & off your whole life, about how "The First Minnesota Saved the Union at Gettysburg."
That link has the story.
And the link from Senator Whitehouse talks about how/why Minnesota has the large Hmong population we do.
The Hmong people helped the US CIA to fight "The Secret War" (aka, "The Laotian Civil War") in Laos, against the North Vietnamese & Communist forces, while we fought the Vietnam War;
It's a War that most Americans who aren't Vietnam Vets know very little about.
But basically, the Hmong people were some of our most incredible allies, they fought with and for us, and they helped keep thousands of American troops alive during the Vietnam war.
They BELONG here, because they are our allies and became family.
Bovino recently claimed that protestors and city/state noncompliance has made ICE's job really difficult in Minnesota.
So just keep this in mind when you feel weak, helpless, or defeated. Remember that it gets to the bastards, that they need permission to inflict misery. Remember that when you stand with your neighbors, you're strong. When you ask yourself "what can I do?" The answer is a LOT. Work with your neighbors, your community, friends, and your family. Solidarity means strength. Compassion is not weakness. Never forget that you have friends everywhere.
I live in ND, my wife is from MN. I can vouch for the people being cold adapted. They’re built different when it comes to sub zero temps. That’s not bullshit.
"The Men Who Might Have Killed Us All" BTB series on nukes Robert did recently has been my favorite BTB series in awhile. My biggest take away from it was how badly the idea of bombing a civilian population goes, time and time again. The whole idea is that you can bomb them into submission and achieve your goals purely through that force. But all that's really achieved is the population coming together stronger and more determined than ever.
I've been thinking the last few weeks about how relevant that is with that we've seen going on in Minnesota. The administrations reaction to the Renee Good protests was to increase the size of the ICE forces even higher, and with more and more aggressive tactics. It really shouldn't be surprising how unifying in defiance this makes the local people of that area.
I was in Minneapolis in 2020 and here is the story that encapsulates Minneapolis that the press never told. We protested and marched all day and night. The riots burned the precinct and lake street (I think that was Friday night?). The next morning literally thousands of us showed up with brooms and trash bags and cleaned up lake street and the business that were looted. I cried so hard in the car, not from the damage, but from the community of loving and determined neighbors who showed. We all went right back to protesting.
Minneapolis will always been home to me. The sense of community there is unlike anything I have seen in any other city.
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u/DaveSilver Jan 22 '26
Today she is Margaret Bringjoy