Steve Varnis
@svarnis.bsky.social
Socialist, Sociologist, (former) Lawyer
Reposted by Steve Varnis
Here's hoping that Sam Altman continues praising Donald Trump, that his remarks are widely disseminated, and that all those using or considering using ChatGPT hear them.
"President Trump is a very strong leader, and I hope he will rise to this moment and unite the country." Such a courageous statement from Sam Altman to OpenAI employees.
www.nytimes.com/2026/01/27/b...
www.nytimes.com/2026/01/27/b...
January 28, 2026 at 3:46 PM
Here's hoping that Sam Altman continues praising Donald Trump, that his remarks are widely disseminated, and that all those using or considering using ChatGPT hear them.
Reposted by Steve Varnis
ICE is in Ypsilanti waiting at bus stops for parents to drop off their kiddos
From Washtenaw Sheriff Dyer:
From Washtenaw Sheriff Dyer:
January 28, 2026 at 1:34 PM
ICE is in Ypsilanti waiting at bus stops for parents to drop off their kiddos
From Washtenaw Sheriff Dyer:
From Washtenaw Sheriff Dyer:
Reposted by Steve Varnis
ICE/CBP swarms into Minnesota after reports of massive government fraud.
Somehow they sidestepped the orders-of-magnitude higher government fraud from Minnesota-based UnitedHealth, who leads a Medicare Advantage fraud that MedPac (a government analyst) estimates as costing America $76 billion/year
Somehow they sidestepped the orders-of-magnitude higher government fraud from Minnesota-based UnitedHealth, who leads a Medicare Advantage fraud that MedPac (a government analyst) estimates as costing America $76 billion/year
January 27, 2026 at 11:07 PM
ICE/CBP swarms into Minnesota after reports of massive government fraud.
Somehow they sidestepped the orders-of-magnitude higher government fraud from Minnesota-based UnitedHealth, who leads a Medicare Advantage fraud that MedPac (a government analyst) estimates as costing America $76 billion/year
Somehow they sidestepped the orders-of-magnitude higher government fraud from Minnesota-based UnitedHealth, who leads a Medicare Advantage fraud that MedPac (a government analyst) estimates as costing America $76 billion/year
Bucking a Global Trend, Spain Offers Undocumented Migrants a Legal Way to Stay www.nytimes.com/2026/01/27/w...
Bucking a Global Trend, Spain Offers Undocumented Migrants a Legal Way to Stay
www.nytimes.com
January 27, 2026 at 10:24 PM
Bucking a Global Trend, Spain Offers Undocumented Migrants a Legal Way to Stay www.nytimes.com/2026/01/27/w...
Just think how much Cubans could gain from a regime change in the U.S.
Eyeing a possible regime change in Cuba, US corporations see an opportunity to recoup assets lost in revolutionary seizures many decades ago.
The Supreme Court, at the urging of the Trump administration, might soon clear the way for them.
The Supreme Court, at the urging of the Trump administration, might soon clear the way for them.
US Companies Prepare to Profit From Regime Change in Cuba
Eyeing a possible regime change in Cuba, US corporations see an opportunity to recoup assets lost in revolutionary seizures many decades ago. The Supreme Court, at the urging of the Trump administration, might soon clear the way for them.
jacobin.com
January 27, 2026 at 2:56 AM
Just think how much Cubans could gain from a regime change in the U.S.
Reposted by Steve Varnis
Everything they learned in Minnesota they’re applying in Maine from day one. They started off doing fast-moving snatch and grabs on the street, recording and using facial id on observers, and threatening observers directly. They’ll do it all where you live too.
Why is the msm outside of Maine not covering this? It seems like a huge and very troubling story to me. ICE coming to observers houses or calling them on the phone warning them to back off??!! www.pressherald.com/2026/01/23/i...
ICE watchers in Maine say they were threatened by federal agents
Community members have been monitoring the activity of immigration agents in Greater Portland.
www.pressherald.com
January 26, 2026 at 10:27 PM
Everything they learned in Minnesota they’re applying in Maine from day one. They started off doing fast-moving snatch and grabs on the street, recording and using facial id on observers, and threatening observers directly. They’ll do it all where you live too.
Reposted by Steve Varnis
Years from now, it'll be difficult to explain the things people in media were wailing about before all this. Sophomores writing underconsidered op-eds about cultural appropriation. Protests against demagogues on campus. YA drama. "Mobs" on Twitter. These were the threats to free society.
January 25, 2026 at 3:08 PM
Years from now, it'll be difficult to explain the things people in media were wailing about before all this. Sophomores writing underconsidered op-eds about cultural appropriation. Protests against demagogues on campus. YA drama. "Mobs" on Twitter. These were the threats to free society.
Reposted by Steve Varnis
Hey @schumer.senate.gov —
We expect you to whip Dem votes to oppose any more ICE/CBP funding. It’s the bare minimum we expect from you to address their campaign of state domestic terrorism.
We expect you to whip Dem votes to oppose any more ICE/CBP funding. It’s the bare minimum we expect from you to address their campaign of state domestic terrorism.
There are about 100 protesters outside Schumer’s building in the middle of the blizzard urging him to whip Dem votes against any more ICE/CBP funding.
January 25, 2026 at 6:04 PM
Hey @schumer.senate.gov —
We expect you to whip Dem votes to oppose any more ICE/CBP funding. It’s the bare minimum we expect from you to address their campaign of state domestic terrorism.
We expect you to whip Dem votes to oppose any more ICE/CBP funding. It’s the bare minimum we expect from you to address their campaign of state domestic terrorism.
Reposted by Steve Varnis
Immigration is a fake problem. We have politicians on the one hand who want to use immigrants as scapegoats for our real ones and politicians on the other who are too cowardly to stand against them and tell the truth. That is the entire situation. Until that changes, people will continue to die.
January 24, 2026 at 4:25 PM
Immigration is a fake problem. We have politicians on the one hand who want to use immigrants as scapegoats for our real ones and politicians on the other who are too cowardly to stand against them and tell the truth. That is the entire situation. Until that changes, people will continue to die.
Reposted by Steve Varnis
Every single one of them is risking their lives against death squads to prove that the fascist vision of America, a country where we hate everyone different than ourselves, is a fucking lie
I am trying not to post on these events in this state of mind but: I hope people understand what the observers are doing is brave and dangerous.
January 24, 2026 at 4:54 PM
Every single one of them is risking their lives against death squads to prove that the fascist vision of America, a country where we hate everyone different than ourselves, is a fucking lie
Reposted by Steve Varnis
This sure seems more like the tyranny the Constitution is supposed to protect against than forgiving student loans.
January 24, 2026 at 5:02 PM
This sure seems more like the tyranny the Constitution is supposed to protect against than forgiving student loans.
Reposted by Steve Varnis
This random online comment from 2018 remains one of the last half-century's most important works of political commentary. crookedtimber.org/2018/03/21/l...
January 24, 2026 at 5:42 PM
This random online comment from 2018 remains one of the last half-century's most important works of political commentary. crookedtimber.org/2018/03/21/l...
Reposted by Steve Varnis
These motherfuckers have never had so much fun
MS NOW news crew capturing ICE/DHS agents firing pepper balls, flash bangs, and tear gas at non violent protesters.
file:///C:/Users/Nikki/Downloads/Velshi-2026-01-24.mp4
file:///C:/Users/Nikki/Downloads/Velshi-2026-01-24.mp4
January 24, 2026 at 5:47 PM
These motherfuckers have never had so much fun
Reposted by Steve Varnis
We have been told for nearly 30 years that America needed to tolerate mass shootings because the broad availability of guns would help us defend ourselves from an overreaching federal government. That day has come. The people who said this are supporting the federal agents. Many have joined them.
January 24, 2026 at 6:02 PM
We have been told for nearly 30 years that America needed to tolerate mass shootings because the broad availability of guns would help us defend ourselves from an overreaching federal government. That day has come. The people who said this are supporting the federal agents. Many have joined them.
Reposted by Steve Varnis
Reposted by Steve Varnis
These Dallas Residents Are on the Front Lines of Trump’s War Against “Antifa” truthout.org/articles/the...
These Dallas Residents Are on the Front Lines of Trump’s War Against “Antifa”
If convicted, people who showed up to a protest could face “decades of prison time,” the National Lawyers Guild says.
truthout.org
January 22, 2026 at 7:33 PM
These Dallas Residents Are on the Front Lines of Trump’s War Against “Antifa” truthout.org/articles/the...
Reposted by Steve Varnis
This is 100% FALSE. Immigration judges do NOT play any role in issuing administrative warrants. They are generated and signed by ICE officers themselves. ICE’s own training materials say they can’t be used for a search of a home!
Here’s a blank warrant form. Note who signs it.
Here’s a blank warrant form. Note who signs it.
January 22, 2026 at 8:05 PM
This is 100% FALSE. Immigration judges do NOT play any role in issuing administrative warrants. They are generated and signed by ICE officers themselves. ICE’s own training materials say they can’t be used for a search of a home!
Here’s a blank warrant form. Note who signs it.
Here’s a blank warrant form. Note who signs it.
Reposted by Steve Varnis
People can get whatever they'd like out of it personally, but microblogging is irrelevant. Twitter is not even "big." There is no public square to be found or fostered in any of this. These sites are not even representative cross-sections of social media users, let alone the country as a whole.
the perennial "is this a good replacement for twitter / can it become as big as twitter" discussion is so confused. hominids became bipedal about 7 million years ago. for most of the time since we did not have microblogging. it's not a necessity it's a habit, if it all goes away that's fine
January 20, 2026 at 3:38 AM
People can get whatever they'd like out of it personally, but microblogging is irrelevant. Twitter is not even "big." There is no public square to be found or fostered in any of this. These sites are not even representative cross-sections of social media users, let alone the country as a whole.
Reposted by Steve Varnis
🚨 NYC Comptroller Mark Levine would like to resume financing the Israeli gov't and its war machine by buying Israeli bonds w/ NYC's $311B public pension funds, which he oversees, reversing a 2023 halt and moving forward despite Mayor Mamdani’s objections, the Financial Times reports.
Mamdani has...
Mamdani has...
January 19, 2026 at 11:55 PM
🚨 NYC Comptroller Mark Levine would like to resume financing the Israeli gov't and its war machine by buying Israeli bonds w/ NYC's $311B public pension funds, which he oversees, reversing a 2023 halt and moving forward despite Mayor Mamdani’s objections, the Financial Times reports.
Mamdani has...
Mamdani has...
Reposted by Steve Varnis
The NFL has fined Texans linebacker Azeez Al-Shaair $11,593 for wearing eye black that called to "stop the genocide" during a playoff match last week.
The message referenced the genocide in Gaza & was visible also during his post-game TV interview on ESPN. The league says this violated its...
The message referenced the genocide in Gaza & was visible also during his post-game TV interview on ESPN. The league says this violated its...
January 18, 2026 at 6:50 PM
The NFL has fined Texans linebacker Azeez Al-Shaair $11,593 for wearing eye black that called to "stop the genocide" during a playoff match last week.
The message referenced the genocide in Gaza & was visible also during his post-game TV interview on ESPN. The league says this violated its...
The message referenced the genocide in Gaza & was visible also during his post-game TV interview on ESPN. The league says this violated its...
How is ICE engaged in law enforcement?
Yes - you have the right to film ICE agents, as long as you don't interfere with their law enforcement activities.
Documenting ICE's actions can add a layer of accountability and shine a light on violent tactics, as well as help us advocate to abolish harmful policies.
Documenting ICE's actions can add a layer of accountability and shine a light on violent tactics, as well as help us advocate to abolish harmful policies.
Is it legal to record ICE agents making arrests in NY?
Learn what the law protects when recording ICE operations and how to safely document immigration encounters in public spaces.
www.democratandchronicle.com
January 17, 2026 at 3:15 AM
How is ICE engaged in law enforcement?
Reposted by Steve Varnis
One of the greatest political poems ever written: “The Interrogation of the Good” by Brecht
January 16, 2026 at 12:35 AM
One of the greatest political poems ever written: “The Interrogation of the Good” by Brecht
Reposted by Steve Varnis
Asking the ICE agent beating a guy up on the pavement to hold still so I can scan his QR code that he was required to wear instead of a badge that can simply be read
I am introducing the Quick Recognition (QR) Act, which requires ICE and CBP officers to wear uniforms featuring QR codes. When scanned, the code would generate a digital ID displaying the officer’s name, badge number, and law enforcement agency.
ICE should be unmasked both physically and digitally.
ICE should be unmasked both physically and digitally.
January 14, 2026 at 5:11 PM
Asking the ICE agent beating a guy up on the pavement to hold still so I can scan his QR code that he was required to wear instead of a badge that can simply be read
I regret to say that you/we do not “have the power.” Assembling groups of people to protest is not an indicator of power, it is a sign of lack of power. How do you propose to gain power as a result of these protests? I would really like to know.
In under 48 hours, you organized nearly 1,200 marches and vigils in all 50 states and DC for Renee Nicole Good.
There are more of us than there are of them — and We the People won’t stop demanding accountability for ICE’s killing of Renee. #ICEOutForGood
There are more of us than there are of them — and We the People won’t stop demanding accountability for ICE’s killing of Renee. #ICEOutForGood
January 12, 2026 at 3:37 PM
I regret to say that you/we do not “have the power.” Assembling groups of people to protest is not an indicator of power, it is a sign of lack of power. How do you propose to gain power as a result of these protests? I would really like to know.