Where the real conspiracies lie.
Protesting is not a crime - our thoughts on yesterday's arrests.
If it wasn’t all so dangerous, yesterday’s events would drip with irony.
In St. Paul, while the feds were indicting people inside the courthouse for alleged violent and illegal protest, at the same time outside the building they were violently tear-gassing protesters and throwing them to the ground. And call us skeptical, but THOSE agents will never be held accountable for THAT violence.
We woke up in the morning to the news that once again, protesters in the Twin Cities had been arrested in connection with Operation Metro Surge.
We didn’t know much at first, but we learned more as the indictment was released and the press conference was held. We read the indictment of the 15 protesters and put it in context, and now remind ourselves how we got here.
The irony of the chiron across the screen during the press conference: “DOJ SAYS GROUP WAS ORGANIZED AND AGGRESSIVE”.
Do we know everything? No. What do we know?
We know who IS organized and aggressive - the feds are using the justice department as Trump’s weapon and have been since Trump took office the second time - against Comey, James, Ellison, Walz, Newsom, against many Minnesotans. The DOJ has become Trump’s personal vengeance machine.
We know that during Operation Metro Surge federal agents carried dangerous weapons and didn’t hesitate to point them at people’s heads.
We know that federal agents used tear gas against protesters.
We know that federal agents kidnapped our neighbors.
We know that federal agents killed Renee Good and Alex Pretti.
We know that it is impossible to look at the charges against these 15 protesters in a vacuum. A corrupt federal justice system may not consider nuance, but we do.
So in the context of a community injured by a federal occupying force which killed two and injured many many more, that same federal government decides that its priority is to charge 15 people with conspiracy to obstruct justice, among other charges.
The government has time and resources to bring charges against 15 protesters and yet we know nothing of investigations into the murders of Renee Good and Alex Pretti, if they are even happening. When pressed on this yesterday, Prosecutor Rosen answered this way.
Are they slow-walking investigations into the murders of Good and Pretti while speed-walking the indictment of protesters? It sure seems like it, but of course we don’t know for sure because nothing is normal.
When nothing is normal and when the federal government lies to us constantly and weaponizes the judiciary, we are justifiably outraged.
We are justifiably outraged because we know the real conspiracies are housed in the White House as they:
Conspire to prevent protest.
Conspire to prevent assembly.
Conspire to stifle free speech.
Conspire to eliminate due process.
Conspire to repress the vote.
Conspire to stop democracy in its tracks.
The conspiracy right here and now is being carried out by our government to completely and fully dismantle our democracy.
But why is the government using their weapons on the people of Minnesota once again?
When a President and his regime are motivated by grievance, we can imagine that they are worked up about the dildos, the annoying whistles, the neighbors who turned up everywhere to document and witness ICE violence. We imagine they are mad that restaurants didn’t let them eat and people stood outside their hotels and banged pots, and that they are in a frenzy because we relentlessly told them to get the fuck out, that we called them fascists and nazis, and that we chased them out of our communities.
Let’s also not forget that “Antifa is not a proper noun”. In the words of our friend Jim who emailed a member of the press today:
“Antifa is a point of view; it is not a formal organization.
The feds would love you to believe that it is, so they love it when you capitalize the word in your news articles.
You cannot join antifa, just like you cannot join liberal, or join conservative, or join religious, or join racist. You cannot get a membership card for a point of view.
I closely follow the Associated Press Stylebook and even though I am retired, I still buy the new versions as they come out. The latest edition, the 57th, shows on Page 80 that antifa is lowercase.”
(We love Jim. We are also unapologetically anti-fascist.)
So in a surreal way we can be proud that we are being targeted because we showed the world that we will care for our neighbors, that we will stand up against injustice when it is required of us, that we know what our rights are and that we will exercise them, and that we are not going to stop either. They are angry with us for leading with kindness and compassion and they are scared of us because we have shown with our power that we can win.
We clearly see this latest news as another form of intimidation intended to silence those who stand up and resist this authoritarian regime. We stand in support of the 15 who are facing federal charges. Political repression in any form will not silence us. We will continue to stand up for our freedom to speak, to assemble in public, to vote, and to organize our community.
We are,
Undaunted and Indivisible.
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Resources:
https://minnesotareformer.com/2026/06/16/feds-charge-anti-ice-activists/
Yes! This says it straight! once again, yesterday, we say who was aggressive and who was standing up for community.
Thank you for sharing this — including people who you can’t see: and might there be people who read this and would hurt you? Perhaps — I’ve read what you’ve already suffered this week.
And I’m also reading that your rights were not respected and not protected. I read that people were injured by the federal representative who are supposed to help them.
I have no answers for you, but please know: you are not alone. We have a Nation of Citizens of the United States who believe in our Constitution, and who believe in you.
Thank you for writing and as you can, take heart and take care -