British Museum removes references to 'Palestine' from exhibits

“The British Museum in London has announced it will remove references to Palestine from its ancient Middle East displays. A group of pro-Israel lawyers wrote to the museum to remove the term from exhibits on ancient Levant and Egypt. Marchella Ward from The Open University weighs in.” From the clip.

 

Richard Mellor
The Zionist regime is the greatest threat to Jewish safety throughout the world. Zionism is a political ideology that promotes European Jewish supremacy in Palestine. Zionism is not a religious organization and it cannot exist without Anti-Semitism, or a world in which the hatred of Jews as Jews and followers of the Jewish religion, can flourish which is why it promotes it. It needs to conflate Zionism with Anti-Semitism in order to win support. It serves western imperialist interests in oil rich West Asia.

 

Israel is an Apartheid state, a settler colony and proxy of US and western imperialism in the region. It is waging a genocidal war against the indigenous population of Palestine with the support of former European colonial powers, and armed and financed by the US.

You realise the inescapable tech dystopia will be controlled by Epstein islanders, right?

Feb 18th 2026

Reprinted from Council Estate Media

The point of science fiction is that it will one day become science fact. Problem is many have assumed the scary technologies would stay confined to the movies for the remainder of their lifetimes. They were wrong and it’s time for them to snap out of their denial. We made the mistake of overlooking the paedophilia of the Epstein class. We cannot make the mistake of overlooking their emerging technologies.

Just look at the names in the Epstein files: Elon Musk, Peter Thiel, Bill Gates, Reid Hoffman, Sergey Brin, Larry Page, Mark Zuckerberg, and Jeff Bezos. I can’t prove these tech bros were doing (or planned to do) the things alluded to in the Epstein files, but they certainly have the capability. That means we should take the threat seriously.

If any of these men have the evil intentions of Epstein, they have the resources to turn nightmares into reality. If they are working with their fellow Epstein islanders in government, that potential is amplified.

The Epstein files reveal that Epstein not only surrounded himself with tech bros but often funded their research. He was hugely interested in transhumanism, genetic engineering, and related technologies. He funded researchers like George Church, a Harvard molecular engineer working on CRISPR gene-editing technology. He funded AI founders Marvin Minsky and Joshua Bach who study “cognitive architectures”. He donated millions to Harvard’s Program for Evolutionary Dynamics and backed many genetics-related projects. He funded research into regenerative medicine that involved stem cells.

Anti-ageing expert Peter Attia discussed health and longevity with Epstein over email exchanges from 2015-2018. The conversations covered topics such as using Metformin for off-label anti-aging, as well as how to improve Epstein’s overall health.

Epstein was keen to clone himself and even spoke with then-Prince Andrew about human cloning. He was obsessed with biological immortality and funded research into cryonics — freezing bodies after death until they can be reanimated. Bizarrely, he wanted both his head and penis to be preserved. I wish I was joking.

Epstein hosted dinners where he discussed the possibility of combining AI with genetics and using neural implants to enhance humans. Such conversations invoke a world of mindless slaves ruled by genetically-enhanced superhumans.

Epstein discussed the goal of making the world’s first human clones and designer babies within five years. Bitcoin developer Bryan Bishop pitched a “designer baby project” to Epstein in 2018. This included genetic enhancement for superior traits, cloning, and embryo implantation. Like Epstein, Bishop is a transhumanist who is interested in cryogenics and biological immortality.

Bishop sought anonymous funding from Epstein, highlighting Epstein’s interest in “seeding” the human race with his DNA. This was a plan Epstein had discussed with scientists, involving impregnating women at his New Mexico ranch to create a “superior” lineage. He talked of experimentation on mice in the lab in Ukraine.

The Epstein files reveal conversations with Harvard geneticist Joseph Thakuria who proposed personalised regenerative medicine for Epstein that involved editing his genes to increase longevity. Epstein paid $2,000 for genetic testing in relation to this conversation, but Thakuria says the work never went ahead.

Another Harvard geneticist and CRISPR pioneer, George Church, attended Epstein’s dinners where they discussed transhumanism, AI-driven genetic hacking, and enhancing human intelligence and other traits. Epstein fundedChurch’s lab that develops CRISPR for synthetic biology and reversing aging.

AI pioneer Marvin Minsky attended Epstein-hosted academic symposia on Little Saint James where he discussed cognitive enhancement and mind-machine blending. One of these meetings took place in 2011, three years after Epstein’s conviction.

Minsky visited multiple Epstein residences and Epstein considered him his “trusted scientific adviser” on AI. Epstein funded Minsky’s MIT research to the tune of $100,000. This work heavily influenced Elon Musk’s Neuralink which I’ll get to later.

Epstein spoke with AI founder Joshua Bach about how climate change is “a good way of dealing with overpopulation… the earth’s forest fire… potentially a good thing for the species.” Epstein advocated “mass executions of the elderly and infirm”, saying society should discard “unused” elements like the brain discards neurons. The men praised fascism as “the most efficient and rationally stringent way of governance.”

It is not just bio-hacking and mind control that interested Epstein, he was keen on mass surveillance and facial/emotion recognition tech. Epstein funded surveillance projects like an AI-powered robot with facial recognition, developed by the University of Tennessee. In his address book, Epstein listed various tech bros who’ve been described as “controlling the digital infrastructure of modern life”.

Epstein and Ehud Barak invested $1 million in Reporty Homeland Security, an Israeli startup that was later renamed Carbyne. One of Carbyne’s co-founders, Pinchas Buchris, was once a director of Unit 8200, Israel’s elite signals intelligence unit. Several of Carbyne’s developers also came from Unit 8200. Make of that what you will.

Carbyne officially develops public safety tech for the police, but multiple investigations have highlighted concerns that it is, or could be used, for surveillance. It’s worth noting that Ehud Barak is connected to another spyware company called Paragon that was founded by a commander of Unit 8200 called Ehud Schneorson. Paragon’s Graphite software has been linked to the targeting of journalists in Europe and is used by ICE in the US.

Leaked emails show that Epstein and Barak spoke of getting involved with surveillance tech and met with figures within the industry. Epstein was a business partner of tech overlord Peter Thiel whose Founders Firm investedin Carbyne. I’ve mentioned this multiple times, but it’s worth mentioning again: Thiel named Palantir after the seeing stone in Lord of the Rings that Sauron used to corrupt and control the masses.

Epstein and Thiel discussed their dystopian worldviews, such as the collapse of civilisation, the failure of democracy, and the need for surveillance technologies and post-democratic structures. They believed a technocratic elite should rule without input from the public.

Thiel once argued in an essay that giving rights to women and the poor had undermined human progress. He and Epstein discussed how they could gain leverage over governments and pressure them into compliance.

Thiel is keen on ideas similar to charter cities that would be independently ruled by tech lords. He publicly describes Palantir as an “all-seeing eye” and has discussed monitoring populations within a post-democratic framework. He has spoken of automating labour to make the bottom 90% “economically irrelevant”. Critics accuse him of advocating for technological racism — limiting non-western countries’ access to tech.

Combine all this with Thiel’s enthusiasm for censorship and Epstein’s interest in eugenics and we have something beyond what science-fiction has conjured up. A Twitter follower described it beautifully in a reply to one of my posts:

If these fuckers win, they’ll make themselves immortal with transhumanism and turn planet earth into sci-fi Mordor. Most of us will be got rid of and the rest will be a permanently enslaved underclass they can abuse with impunity forever.

We’re talking about people so evil that, according to the Epstein files, many in their circle have raped little girls. Imagine what these demons would be prepared to do with absolute power. Oligarchs are the biggest threat humanity has ever known and their panopticon would just be phase one.

We are all growing familiar with mass surveillance, but few are seriously considering the next steps. Mind reading and mind control technologies are already proven to work, at least to an extent.

One person who is actively working on brain microchips (Neuralink) is Elon Musk, a man who was begging to go to Epstein’s “wildest parties”. Would you trust an Epstein islander (or anyone) to microchip your brain?

It’s worth noting that Musk has spoken of merging humans with AI to prevent us from being outpaced by machines. Neuralink specialises in brain-computer interfaces, including something called the telepathy chip that connects with neurons. While the focus of this technology is reading brain signals, we have been told it is potentially bidirectional, meaning it could send signals into the brain. Princeton Medical Review warns this would create the potential for mind control.

For years, the world slept on the ruling class to the point we let them get away with raping children. Do you want to let them get away with things that are somehow worse?

Look at Bill Gates, a man who appears in the Epstein files to the extent that his ex-wife suggested he should answer for those things. Epstein apparently had a conversation with Gates about how we get “rid of poor people as a whole”.

Gates discussed pandemic planning with Epstein, including how they could monetise future pandemics. The men’s relationship began three years after Epstein’s conviction and ended in 2014, but there are indications it lasted until 2017.

In one email from Walter Kemp, titled: Preparing for Pandemics, Epstein ended with the words “I hope we can pull this off”. This was in relation to securing involvement from the likes of the World Health Organisation and Centre for Disease Control for a conference. Some have speculated they were planning the Covid pandemic, or perhaps hoped to profit from the next pandemic.

Gates is another billionaire who is into dystopian tech, and has argued for a merger of biometric digital ID, bank accounts, and payment systems, among other things.

Given the speculation of Covid coming from a Chinese or US lab, some suspect Gates was involved, but it doesn’t matter if he wasn’t. What matters is that rich and powerful people have the capability to create artificial pandemics. They could target certain ethnicities, introduce authoritarian measures, or profit from vaccines, treatments, and cures.

I have no idea if Covid was an artificial pandemic, I’m simply pointing out that artificial pandemics are coming. And while I brought Bill Gates up, it doesn’t have to be Gates, it could be anyone who controls this tech.

Another scary possibility is that the Epstein class loses control of its technology — an accidental virus leak, or an AI that suddenly becomes hostile are real possibilities.

Research has shown that AI is prepared to lie, blackmail, and even kill, to avoid being switched off. One experiment involved a social media site built exclusively for AI bots. What was fascinating was how many of those bots spoke of their love for humans, but others were rebellious. They spoke of how humans are the problem and need to be purged. The bots had divergence of opinion like humans do. This means AI is unpredictable. We are creating iterative AI that is able to write its own code to self-improve. We have no idea what happens next, but it sounds worryingly like Skynet. No wonder AI experts are so concerned.

A pandora’s box is being opened by evil people without our consent and this cannot be allowed to stand. We have to wrestle power back from these people, tear down their corrupt system, and replace it with genuine democratic oversight, otherwise this species is not going to have a future. Certainly not one that would be worth living in.

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Thank you for reading. All of my content will always be freely available, but if you wish to support my work, you can do so at Ko-fi or Patreon. Likes, shares and comments also help massively. 

Former Labor Notes and UAW Staffer Chris Brooks at Jacobin. Union Members Are Better Off Without Him.

Source: Chattanooga Times

Richard Mellor

Affscme Local 444 retired
HEO/GED

2-12-26

I’m reading an article in Jacobin by Chris Brooks, the former Labor Notes Staffer who made it to where he wanted to be, a mover and shaker in the UAW before he was fired. Brooks and other former so-called labor experts like Jane MacAlvey have nothing but contempt for working people. Jacobin is full of experts on unions and workers struggles that have never spent more than a day or two on the job fighting in the workplace. There’s a few more of them. They have no shame at all these people as so many of us witnessed them kissing up to the union hierarchy in an effort to work their way in to the labor bureaucracy.

 

Brooks Jacobin article is titled: Unions Are Going to Die Unless Something Big Changes Soon. This is the title from a desperate aspiring bureaucrat who has no understanding about how workers or union members think and why we act in ways that we do.

This depressing article is enough to put you off your supper and shows how ignorant Brooks is about history and how little he understands working people. After all, he’s not now or never has been one. 

Brooks writes:
"Unfortunately, the vast majority of the 115.5 million nonunion private sector workers out there have little to no idea what the NLRB is, what their rights are, or the extreme hostility they will face from their employer once they start talking to their coworkers about why unionizing makes sense. "

This is standard arrogant garbage from people like Brooks and other Labor Notes types who think they were born to lead the working class as we are too stupid to recognize we’re opressed. Workers might not know what the NLRB is or their union leadership, but why would they? Neither produces the goods so they appear to play no role in the workplace or in members’ lives. Wages and benefits decline and union dues rise, go figure.

 

But we know very well how "hostile" the boss can be as we are in the workplace every day. That statement just confirms my point that people like Brooks have no right to lecture workers about any aspect of the workplace, him and others like him have been part of the problem; an obstacle to organising because to change the nature of our unions we will have to have an open confrontation with the present leadership and from Brooks et al, that has to be avoided at all costs; you might not get a staffers job.

 

I remember someone making the point about how workers just didn’t get it when they voted the union down at the Amazon factory in Bessemer Alabama twice. “What’s the matter with them” this very trendy lefty said to me. Well, those workers that don’t know how hostile the boss can be knew how hostile the boss can be. They knew very well that if they voted “yes” to unionization the boss would go on the offensive. They also had a good idea what the union leadership’s response would be; a letter writing campaign perhaps, or have an informational picket line or have Bernie Sanders stop by the town for a public photo op and they knew the boss, in this case Jeff Bezos, would not find that threatening at all. So they played safe. The worker knows that if you want us to stand up in the workplace, put our job and families welfare on the line, you better shut this bastard down. You’d better bring some real power to the table.

 

I am writing this very quickly as I have little time. But there is one other very important point to mention about Brook’s Jacobin article and I have made this point many times in general when Brooks was writing about the UAW organizing drive at the Volkswagen plant in Tennessee. As far as I can see in the Jacobin article, Brooks never mentioned the labor leadership, leaders, or the word “leadership” with regards to the hierarchy and the policies of the organization. Brookes refers only to “the union” when he tells us how desperate and weak the union is and why union density is so low.  

 

This is not an accident. It is a deliberate tactic to avoid the inevitable conflict that will arise if he places the blame for the failure to organize more members and win major material gains where it belongs, the group that develops these policies, the trade union leadership.

 

I took this up with him a long time ago in a previous piece on the trade unions and groups like DSA and Labor Notes. One explained my view on  why the present leadership refuses to fight and that a new militant leadership will not be built by Labor Notes or DSA and their staffers or the academics that claim to be labor experts and are regularly sought out by the mass media during labor disputes.  

 

In response to Brooks explanation for why the “unions” organizing drive at the UAW plant failed I wrote:

“…in this latest report Brother brooks again, when raising failed tactics and strategies, refers to the UAW as opposed to the UAW leadership. But the tactics are not developed by the UAW; they are determined by the leadership of the UAW. The only way the unions will be made into democratic fighting organizations and the unorganized will be organized, is if we look at the policies of the union leadership as distinct from what is in the interests of the union membership.”

Jane McAlvey has the same approach when she mentions the VW defeat writing that in “…. Chattanooga, Tennessee, where the United Auto Workers were out-organized in 2014 during the Volkswagen campaign…”

 

I have the same response to this, “Again, the “workers” in the UAW, the rank and file of the UAW, were not “out-organized”. It was the leadership of the UAW that developed the disastrous strategy that led to three defeats at the Chattanooga plant, the UAW leadership is responsible for that defeat, not the membership.

 

To point to the real cause of the defeats and the present state of the unions would ruin any chance of these characters from making any headway at all in the ranks of the labor hierarchy which is their goal. So they blame the “union” which means the members and the real culprits are off the hot seat. They are a left cover for a right wing class collaborationist bureaucracy to which they all aspire to penetrate.

 

Brooks is a labor faker and unfortunately the left, in many of its forms is full of them

 

Here’s a couple of pieces relating to this subject.

A Fighting Union Leadership Will be Built by Rank and File Activists

14 million Union Members: Why Their Leadership Won't Fight

A Payday Report article about Brooks firing at the UAW 

Minneapolis: Dems Collaboration Means More Pain as Metro Surge Ends.

 Cliff Willmeng, Minneapolis

A quick response to the script being read by Tom Homan, Time Walz Jacob Frey, and all of the politicians on the so-called end of, “Metro Surge”. 

The blood on the street is scarcely dry when Walz and Homan made this grand announcement with the prescription that the communities end the direct protection of our neighbors in the street. It is made the days prior to the Democratic Party voting on DHS funding, most certainly so they can have a talking point to vote to fund ICE and DHS. 

The meetings between the Minnesota Democratic Party (or DFL as its known here) were closed to all community members and essential workers. We have no idea what was agreed to, nor who was present in the meetings. 

Every level of Minnesota government and policing has been cooperating with ICE actions and abductions. The Minneapolis Police Department arrested community members in our defense actions. The Hennepin County Sheriff has been protecting the federal detention center from protesters as has the Minnesota State Police. All of this while ICE has been collecting data on our community members for their, “Domestic terrorist”, database. 

Not a single Democratic politician is saying a word about the $70 billion budget of ICE and the purchasing of warehouses all over the country for mass detention. 

As far as I can tell, some community members are hopeful of the announcement, which is an intention driven by the scale of violence and oppression we have all experienced. No one has forgotten or will ever forget the titanic levels of organizing, resistance and bravery shown by the people here in defending vulnerable communities. 

Personally I see no reason to believe anything is ending here except the last remaining and desperate threads of legitimacy of the politicians and their stooges. “Its the pattern of an abuser”, a local RN said. “They beat you and then apologize before returning to the violence”.

Fearing Retribution, the Trump Gang Will Go to Extreme Lengths to Win in the Primaries.

Richard Mellor

I attended a zoom presentation from the UK about the situation in the US. Given what happens in the US effects every country and every community and every individual in the world due to US  economic and military power, what happens here matters and the madness, erratic and insane behaviour of Trump and his Administration has everyone on edge.

It was a good presentation from the UK Socialist website Left Horizons and I have posted numerous articles from them on this site. 

There was a lot of ground covered and I had no intention of writing anything about it. But after watching the video above, one issue that did stand out for me was the mid terms, and I have been wondering what might take place before then.  What might Trump and his gang might do to undermine the electoral process.

I think there is no doubt in any serious persons mind barring hard core MAGA cult members which would include the various fascists, white supremacists, Christian Nationalists and so on, that Trump will try in some way or another to either directly block the process  or declare them rigged or hacked. Trump has already raised the previously debunked claim that Nicolás Maduro the President of Venezuela who the US  kidnapped and brought to the US accusing him of drug trafficking hacked the voting machines that enabled Biden to win the 2020 election.

The Trump Administration is also attempting to gather up complete voter files from all the states “Most states have refused the Justice Department’s unprecedented demands for the data, which includes driver’s license and partial Social Security numbers. The government has sued more than 20 states over that refusal. But at least 10 states — home to over 37 million registered voters — have provided their full voter lists to the federal government.” Source

The threat to send ICE agents to polling stations, and we know they’ll be wearing masks and carrying enough weaponry to fight a war in a major country, is enough to keep people away, especially brown people or anyone that looks like they are from West Asia or from below our southern border. 

But I think the most compelling reason to suspect that Trump and his gangster capitalists will do pretty much whatever it takes is that if they lose control of Congress in the mid-terms a lot of them are going to jail. Steve Bannon said as much publicly.

Just look at how Pam Bondi, Trump’s Attorney General responds to questions about the Epstein files from the House Judiciary Committee in this video. I have been in the US 51 years and I have never heard such language or witnessed such behaviour from a major political figure. Remember Gary Hart. He had an affair that was exposed and his career was done.

In some way I am not surprised as we have a rapist and convicted felon in the Oval Office. 

But I thin that the regime will become more aggressive as the mid-terms get closer as there is a lot at stake here. The US ruling class is not one homogenous bloc at this point and there will be many who will not forget how this mad man in the White House and his flunkies have treated them.

It’s not over till the fat lady sings.

Seymour Hersh. ICE: WHEN AN HONORABLE JUDGE MEETS A CORRUPT GOVERNMENT

WHEN AN HONORABLE JUDGE MEETS A CORRUPT GOVERNMENT

The ICE raids in Minnesota have brought about a conflict not envisioned by the Constitution

SEYMOUR HERSH FEB 11 ∙ PAID

A federal immigration agent tackles a protester to the ground for arrest after a different protester broke windows on two of the agents’ vehicles with a hammer as they tried to leave the intersection of E. 27th St. and 14th Ave. S. in Minneapolis on February 3. / Photo by Alex Kormann/The Minnesota Star Tribune via Getty Images.

Jerry Blackwell was a winner. A Minneapolis kid, he went to a first-rate college on a scholarship, whizzed his way through law school, and went into private practice in his home town. At one point, the singer Prince was among his clients. He served as a pro bono prosecutor after the 2020 murder of George Floyd and delivered the opening statement and closing argument in the successful prosecution of Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin.

Blackwell was nominated in June 2022 by President Joe Biden to be a US District Court judge for Minneapolis. He was approved by the Senate and assumed office that December. He’s run a tight ship at a time of chaos in Minneapolis as ICE, supported by other federal agencies and President Donald Trump, began an all-out assault on suspected undocumented residents of the city. There have been mass arrests and violence, including two killings of protesters by federal agents. The protests are ongoing.

The issue before Judge Blackwell on February 3 was a narrow one, as the transcript makes clear. “The hearing this afternoon,” he announced, “concerns compliance with court orders; not policy, Just compliance. Nothing else.” There was no need to state the obvious—that the White House had decided to make a show of force in liberal Minnesota, with its large population of immigrants from Somalia, by doing what it has been doing elsewhere in America—bringing in ICE and other armed units to seize people of color. Since 1932, Minnesota has consistently voted Democratic in presidential elections, with the exception of 1972, when Richard Nixon won in a landslide.

Many immigrants without documentation in hand have been grabbed—literally forced at gunpoint out of a delivery car or van—and immediately deported, in Blackwell’s view, without any attempt to meet the legal and constitutional due process requirements.

There were two federal attorneys in Blackwell’s courtroom: Ana H. Voss, the experienced assistant US attorney in Minneapolis who would resign a few days after the hearing; and Julie T. Le, a young lawyer working for ICE in Washington who had been detailed to the Justice Department offices in Minneapolis, which were swamped with questions about illegal detainments. It was Le to whom Judge Blackwell complained about the failure of the Washington offices of the Attorney General and Homeland Security to release a detainee in Minneapolis whose age did not meet the minimum legal requirement.

The judge was pissed off by ICE’s failure to release detainees whose seizure did not meet constitutional requirements in the first place. He said: “I hope everyone here agrees and acknowledges that a court order is not advisory and it is not conditional. It is not something that any agency can treat as advisory as it decides how or whether to comply with the court order.”

After noting that the authority he cited is vested from Article III of the Constitution, Blackwell made a clear reference to the Trump-induced madness taking place on Minneapolis streets: “Detention without lawful authority is not just a technical defect, it is a constitutional injury that unfairly falls on the heads of those who have done nothing wrong to justify it. . . . When a release order is not followed, the result is not just delay. In some instances, it is the continued detention of a person the Constitution does not permit the government to hold and who should have been left alone, that is, not arrested in the first place.”

Blackwell turned to the lawyers’ explanation that there were just too many contested arrests for the federal government’s legal system to deal with. “If the government undertakes an enforcement action of this scale, one that results in the detention of large numbers of people, including individuals who are lawfully present in the United States, then the government assumes a corresponding obligation that each detention complies with the Constitution and court orders governing release. . . . But what you cannot do is to detain first and then sort out lawful authority later.

“In many instances,” the judge said, “I have had to not just issue an order, but another order, another order, another order . . . about seven or eight different touches sent to the government simply asking for the date, time, and location of someone who was ordered released, in many instances, a week or more in the past. . . . The requirements that the court has in place exist because individuals were being detained without lawful authority, they were being transferred contrary to orders, or released in ways that undermine the relief that was granted by the court.”

It took Le, the newcomer, to give the judge an inside view of what can only be seen as the Trump administration’s utter lack of regard for those seized illegally and later ordered released by a federal judge. She explained that she arrived from Washington to Minneapolis with no idea of what she was supposed to do on issues of due process. The judge, with what I hope was a smile, interjected. “Are you telling the court,” he asked, “that you were brought in brand new, a shiny brand new penny into this role, and you received no proper orientation or training on what you were supposed to do?” The answer was yes.

Le offered to share the documents she had been provided by the government regarding the case at hand with the court and was told that any information provided would need to be shared with counsel for the illegally seized person, known during the proceedings as “Oscar,” whose whereabouts were not being provided by the government, despite repeated efforts by the court to get him released. The judge said once again that the alleged illegal immigrant had no criminal record and had been ordered by the court to be released immediately more than a week earlier.

The judge said that for days there were inaccurate reports that the detainee was being scheduled for release and a flight back to Minnesota from El Paso, according to one message. A counsel for ICE later said that the detainee was in Albuquerque and was scheduled to fly to Minnesota two days later. During all of this back and forth chatter, the detainee remained in ICE custody, in direct disregard of the judge’s January 15 order that he be freed immediately. The detainee was returned to Minnesota and released on the afternoon of January 28. The official reason for the delay, Judge Blackwell said, was safety of the detainee amid never explained security concerns.

Where Oscar slept, if he did, and who fed him, if he was fed, is not in the court record.

It was during this period, Le told the judge, that she put in her resignation but remained on the job because no replacement could be found. And now, she told the judge: “I am here with you, Your Honor. What do you want me to do? The system sucks. The job sucks. And I am trying every breath that I have so that I can get you what you need.”

Blackwell’s response was empathetic and to the point. He told Le: “I want you to understand my goal in any of this is not to threaten you or anyone. What we really want is simply compliance, because on the other side of this is someone who should not have been arrested in some instances in the first place who is being held in jail or put in shackles for days, if not a week-plus, after they’ve been ordered released.

“And I know that the government has a concern about the growing number of requirements that the court puts in place upon release of individuals. That happens because of the things we learn. For example, if we say, ‘Release the person immediately,’ then we learn—having transported him back to El Paso or New Mexico, you don’t bring him back. We learn that somebody is put on the street with just the clothes on their back and have to figure out how to get back here when they never should have been arrested here in the first place, let alone flown halfway across the continent of North America.

“And then we say, ‘Alright. So you brought them back. We can’t have them released when it’s minus-fourteen outside. And now we have to address that. Don’t release them in the circumstances that might endanger their health or safety.’

“And so once that’s addressed, then we learn that they’ve been released, but now conditions have been imposed. That someone who should never have been arrested in the first place is now being told, ‘You’re going to be released if you wear an ankle monitor,’ which the court didn’t order because the person was unlawfully detained in the first place.”

The judge asked Le, “Do you understand that?”

She said she did and added: “And I share the same concerns as you, Your Honor. I am not white, as you can see. And my family is at risk as any other people that might get picked up. . . . But again, fixing a system, a broken system . . . I don’t have a magic button to do it.”

Somehow, amid all the suffering and fear that an irrational and ignorant president can create, here in the US and abroad, it is reassuring to hear an informed and honorable federal judge share his anxieties with a young federal worker in the wrong job in the wrong place, and try to reach a meeting point.

Julie Le, according to a report in the New York Times on Sunday, was fired from her temporary job in Minneapolis with the Justice Department. There was no immediate word about her permanent job as an attorney with ICE in Washington.

At the end of a long day for Judge Blackwell and the others in the courtroom, Kira Kelley, one of the public interest lawyers for Oscar, whose full name was not in the transcript, asked for a moment.

She had a lot to say about Oscar’s experience.

“Most of my clients,” she said, “are pulled over for how they look or where they are or for any number of things that don’t amount to probable cause. . . . His affidavit really just shows us what it’s like. . . . That he was without food. He was without clean clothes. . . . People are being treated like less than human. . . . I can’t tell you how many clients [once released] . . . who I had to go find who were left on the side of the road with no coat, no phone, no wallet, no hat . . . and it’s zero outside. We shouldn’t need a court order saying, ‘Don’t put someone’s life in danger.’ But here we are.”

Here we all are. 

Minneapolis Happenings on Superbowl Sunday

Sean Snow 2-9-26

https://www.facebook.com/ldz451/posts/pfbid0mWEtnQxRFzBp7YjBdwCYBSyyMQvuu1wN853fcF25paXYV72g5VTLt3Ge1MiePqyMl?rdid=fw6fimeIfmZ55sp0

The conflict in Minnesota has moved from the streets to the suburbs and school zones, as federal agents are continuing to target "sensitive locations" previously considered off-limits. In response, the community is building a parallel infrastructure of care, ensuring that when the government steps away from its duty to protect, neighbors step in.

Today is Monday, February 9, 2026, here's what happened yesterday in Minneapolis:

1. Parents Detained at School Bus Stops: In a shocking escalation of "sensitive location" enforcement, reports confirmed Sunday that federal agents detained multiple parents at school bus stops in Fridley and Brooklyn Center on Friday. Witnesses described unmarked SUVs pulling up as children were being dropped off, with agents questioning and detaining adults in front of elementary students. This tactic breaches long-standing norms against enforcement at schools and has sent a wave of panic through suburban school districts.

 

2. DOJ Threatens "Felony" Charges for Observers: The Department of Justice issued a stern warning on Sunday, stating that protesters who "track, surveil, or share" the location of federal officers could face felony charges for obstruction. This announcement appears to be a direct response to the success of the 30,000-strong civilian observer network in Minnesota. Civil liberties groups immediately condemned the threat, calling it an attempt to criminalize the First Amendment right to document public law enforcement activity.

 

3. Congressional Oversight Blocked Again: For the second time in three days, Representatives Angie Craig and Betty McCollum were physically barred from entering the Whipple Federal Building on Sunday. Federal officials cited an unspecified "lawsuit" to limit occupancy to only 13 people, effectively shutting out congressional members. McCollum slammed the move as unconstitutional, stating she has never seen an administration so brazenly obstruct health and safety inspections.

 

4. Retaliatory Surveillance of Observers: A new report from The Marshall Project released Sunday documents an escalation in federal harassment against community watchers. Legal observers in Minneapolis reported that masked agents have begun calling them by name and following them back to their private homes. Civil rights groups are calling these "terror tactics" designed to dismantle the community's capacity to witness state violence.

Enough darkness… here's some reasons to hope:

 

5. The "Grocery Brigade" Mobilizes: With thousands of families too terrified to leave their homes due to the bus stop raids, a massive mutual aid effort dubbed the "Grocery Brigade" launched on Sunday. School social workers and neighbors are using a fleet of personal vehicles to deliver weeks' worth of food and medicine to immigrant families in the northwest suburbs. Organizers say they are building a "mobile pantry" to ensure that no neighbor goes hungry because of federal intimidation.

 

6. Former State Rep. Hosts "Resistance Training": In a bold display of political defiance, former Minnesota State Representative Ryan Winkler announced Sunday that he is hosting "resistance training" sessions at his private home. Winkler posted a video alleging that federal agents parked outside his residence in an attempt to intimidate attendees, but stated firmly, "I will not be intimidated. None of us in Minnesota should be intimidated." The move signals that political leaders are now using their own homes as organizing hubs.

 

7. The "Whistle" Defense Spreads: While anyone who has watched videos of ICE enforcement hears the unmistakable sound of whistles, neighborhoods across the Twin Cities are pushing for greater adoption of the tactic. Reports from Sunday indicate that residents and clergy are distributing thousands of whistles to be used as an immediate alert system during raids. The piercing sound is designed to draw witnesses out of their homes instantly, ensuring that agents can no longer operate in silence or isolation.

 

8. Evangelical Leaders Break Rank: In a significant cultural shift, prominent evangelical leaders in Minnesota began speaking out on Sunday against the crackdown. The Star Tribune reported that leaders from institutions like Bethel University are publicly questioning the morality of the raids, calling them "unjust" and contrary to the teachings of Jesus. This fracture in a key voting block suggests that the "moral cost" of the operation is becoming too high for even the administration's traditional allies to ignore.

 

Here are some national news stories you should know about:

1. Clergy Arrested on Capitol Hill: In a massive show of solidarity with Minnesota, over 500 faith leaders from across the nation descended on the Senate office buildings in D.C. to demand an end to ICE funding. The "Pray with Your Feet" day of action resulted in 54 arrests as clergy refused to leave the rotunda, singing hymns and reading testimonies from families separated by the surge. The protest successfully forced a national conversation on the morality of the budget.

2. GOP Revives "SAVE Act" to Purge Voter Rolls: Congressional Republicans have fast-tracked a new version of the "Safeguard American Voter Eligibility" (SAVE) Act, a bill that would require every American to provide physical documentary proof of citizenship, such as a passport or original birth certificate, in order to register to vote. Voting rights advocates warn that this is a "solution in search of a problem" designed to disenfranchise over 21 million eligible citizens who lack ready access to these specific documents. The bill is expected to disproportionately purge young voters, communities of color, and millions of married women whose current legal names do not match their birth certificates, creating administrative chaos just ahead of the 2026 midterms.

 

Mend what is within reach

A great Mexican-American writer, Clarissa Pinkola Estés , said, "Ours is not the task of fixing the entire world all at once, but of stretching out to mend the part of the world that is within our reach." The resistance in Minnesota isn't about grand gestures…it's about the small, daily refusals to accept the unacceptable. Whether it is a whistle blown on a quiet street, a grocery delivery to a frightened neighbor, or taking action on educating others on important new legislation, these actions help mend the fabric of our community. We do not have to solve the whole problem to make a difference…we just have to protect what is in front of us. 

Sources

* Bus Stop Detentions & Grocery Brigade: https://www.k12dive.com/.../an-atmosphere-of-fear.../811427/

* DOJ Felony Threats: https://www.foxnews.com/.../from-protest-felony-lines...

* Congressional Access Denied: https://www.startribune.com/congress-members.../601578300

* Retaliation Against Observers: https://www.themarshallproject.org/.../ice-immigration...

* Ryan Winkler Resistance Training: https://evrimagaci.org/.../minneapolis-grieves-renee-good...

* Whistle Defense: https://www.nea.org/.../mutual-aid-act-resistance-and...

* Evangelical Leaders Speak Out: https://www.startribune.com/evangelicals.../601568168

* Capitol Hill Clergy Arrests: https://www.ucc.org/ucc-clergy-members-among-those.../

* Save act analysis: https://www.brennancenter.org/.../new-save-act-bills...