Hey Minnesota and Minneapolis in particular – Big Brother as in the FBI is officially monitoring your electronic communications. The only (so far) platform FBI Director is admitting to is scanning Signal Chat but I’d be willing to bet he’s got agents going through a database looking at social media to see who’s posting what.
Let’s start with what we know, as reported by Latin Times. Patel says he’s opened an investigation into Minnesota residents using Signal Chat to share information about where federal agents are doing their thing – by doing ‘their thing’ I’m of course referring to terrorizing the population. And making sure to make a point of it as a warning to every person everywhere in the U.S. they and the city/town where they live could be next. Getting back to Patel and Signal Chat monitoring, he brushes aside First Amendment concerns with the ‘if you aren’t doing anything wrong you have nothing to worry about’ so-called justification:
BREAKING: FBI Director Kash Patel CONFIRMS Full Investigations Are Active Into Left-Wing Terrorist Signal Chats in Minnesota, ‘They Should Be Worried.’
“We're investigating. As soon as Higby put that post out, I opened an investigation on it. If that leads to a break in the… pic.twitter.com/0qeI68AS8U
— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) January 26, 2026
Somehow I don’t get warm fuzzies over the thought of Patel or anyone in this administration making judgements on what is protected First Amendment speech (letting others know where you see ICE/DHS agents operating or headed) and what is ‘criminal’ as in ‘interfering with enforcement operations.’ You see, ICE and DHS agents deployed alongside them to rain down terror don’t like it when people are alerted to their presence somewhere. Because people show up with their cell phones and RECORD them.
Although DHS has plenty of body cameras they pointedly refuse to issue them. It’s not enough to, unlike every other LE person wear masks and sometimes even cover/hide their badges, they don’t want ANY record of what they do. Yet cell phones have easy to use record functions. Think for a minute about how without cell phone footage we’d have nothing but what Trump, Noem, Bovino et al claimed about Renee Good and Alex Patel. Not that they didn’t go ahead and try to convince people to reject what their eyes could clearly see. Even some Republicans (and conservative leaning Independent voters) called bullshit.
Trump was baffled. He knew the bulk of conservatives had accepted his Big Lie about the 2020 election, and even that the Jan. 6 Insurrectionist RIOT were ‘fake news.’ A distressing number actually believed his b.s. and the rest were too scared to speak up and push back. Trump, already dealing with multiple crises now faced a new one. Even some conservatives were openly criticizing ICE, DHS and worst of all blaming HIM! Not enough, at least not yet but enough opposition was out there in GOP ranks that Trump had to try and adjust. How much of the ‘adjustment’ is another topic for another time.
However plenty of pundits have pointed out that while Homan talks a much better game than Bovino did his job is still to manage the ongoing reign of terror Trump demands folks in Minnesota, and Minneapolis in particular must endure. It’s one of those times when, as Rachel Maddow has said we need to instead of ‘Watching what they say’, “Watch what they DO.” Patel going on a RWNJ podcasters site to proclaim the FBI is keeping tabs on residents using Signal Chat is pure intimidation. Not to mention the fact that the app is supposed to be reserved for Pete Hegseth to communicate double-super-secret-stuff to people to show how impotent… er, important he is.
You know what? The people of Minneapolis won’t I think be intimidated by this. When Renee Good was killed they kept coming out. And even with a second killing (Alex Pretti) they are still coming out in droves. If ICE thinks they can proverbially freeze these folks into submission they are nuts. These are tough, hearty people. In the past before they had a domed stadium fans would pack the old Vet in weather as freezing as what we’re seeing now. More than a few would stand for a while with no shirts to show off a message painted on their chests supporting the Vikings. Hell, sometimes a row of guys would organize to each have a letter to spell out something like Go Vikings!
Democrats need to start hammering GOP hypocrisy again, this time over government intruding into peoples communications for no specific reason. THAT is what over and over they’ve accused Democrats of doing or wanting to do. Even though Democrats doing investigations go to a judge with probable cause to obtain a warrant. Once again we have the GOP engaging in a combination of ‘do as I say, not as I do’ behavior mashed together with ‘trust me – I won’t abuse power’ attitude. We are supposed to trust him. I don’t. Not given what the last part of the linked article says:
Patel did not specify which laws might have been violated, and an FBI spokesperson told NBC News that the bureau had no additional information to provide. Patel acknowledged that the inquiry raises free speech concerns but said the FBI would “balance” constitutional rights with potential legal violations.
If there’s any good news about this it’s that KKKash is an ass-KKKlown. He’s no doubt personally injecting himself into this new investigation and will screw things up. If he does manufacture a case against anyone I can see a judge tossing it out as soon as it’s filed.
Friends, I know everyone begs you for money. I promise, among all those asking for spare change, we are the smallest and the hardest working. We’re a group of old, disabled people, except for one writer in his mid-50s. The rest of us are in our sixties and seventies, and this is a labor of love. All we’re asking for is the chance to keep telling the truth about Trump and help ensure democracy survives. If you can help, please do. Thank you. Ursula
What the actual EFF YEW CEE KAY, Kra$h a$$ KKKlown!!!!!
The ‘Nuremberg Trials’ part of cleaning up after this regime is going to be fascinating.