Thomas Leeper
@thosjleeper.bsky.social
Minnesota, data, transit/urbanism, miscellaneous ramblings
Pinned
This is Minneapolis's first homicide of 2026.
Reposted by Thomas Leeper
This one is in Longfellow
February 11, 2026 at 3:03 AM
This one is in Longfellow
Derek Chauvin cost the people of Minneapolis $27M in direct payments to George Floyd's family (equivalent to 1.6% of the city budget), plus millions more in property damage and economic harm.
ICE are over here saying 'hold my beer.'
ICE are over here saying 'hold my beer.'
If you thought MPD overspending their 2025 overtime budget by 50% was bad, get a load of 2026: "We have spent all of our overtime budgeted for police and fire this year in the first 3 weeks of January."
www.youtube.com/watch?v=E6Lg...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=E6Lg...
Minneapolis City Council to debate $5M fund shift to support local businesses
A Minneapolis City Council member is proposing to allocate $5 million to support local businesses, but some argue the city lacks the funds. STORY:…
www.youtube.com
February 11, 2026 at 3:12 AM
Derek Chauvin cost the people of Minneapolis $27M in direct payments to George Floyd's family (equivalent to 1.6% of the city budget), plus millions more in property damage and economic harm.
ICE are over here saying 'hold my beer.'
ICE are over here saying 'hold my beer.'
Reposted by Thomas Leeper
Bovino sent this email at 3:11 p.m. on Oct. 4.
This is what the scene looked like at 2:48 p.m. when the first group of feds made their exit. They gassed people again at 3:27 p.m.
So during this attack, Bovino congratulated his guy who kicked everything off by shooting a woman five times.
This is what the scene looked like at 2:48 p.m. when the first group of feds made their exit. They gassed people again at 3:27 p.m.
So during this attack, Bovino congratulated his guy who kicked everything off by shooting a woman five times.
February 11, 2026 at 12:10 AM
Bovino sent this email at 3:11 p.m. on Oct. 4.
This is what the scene looked like at 2:48 p.m. when the first group of feds made their exit. They gassed people again at 3:27 p.m.
So during this attack, Bovino congratulated his guy who kicked everything off by shooting a woman five times.
This is what the scene looked like at 2:48 p.m. when the first group of feds made their exit. They gassed people again at 3:27 p.m.
So during this attack, Bovino congratulated his guy who kicked everything off by shooting a woman five times.
It's so consistently disturbing how the behavior of DHS agents is indistinguishable from that of criminal gangs and child traffickers.
They forced a teenage girl to stay in hotel room overnight with agents, after being taken hours from her home.
How is this a real thing happening in our country?
They forced a teenage girl to stay in hotel room overnight with agents, after being taken hours from her home.
How is this a real thing happening in our country?
The girl writes that she had her own bed, but not her own room.
DHS has not told MPR News whether detaining unaccompanied children in hotels with federal agents is a regular practice.
DHS has not told MPR News whether detaining unaccompanied children in hotels with federal agents is a regular practice.
After arrest, teen refugee held overnight in hotel room by ICE agents
A girl who entered the United States as a refugee alleges that immigration authorities separated her from her family and detained her overnight in a hotel, where she was forced to share a room with fe...
www.mprnews.org
February 11, 2026 at 1:31 AM
It's so consistently disturbing how the behavior of DHS agents is indistinguishable from that of criminal gangs and child traffickers.
They forced a teenage girl to stay in hotel room overnight with agents, after being taken hours from her home.
How is this a real thing happening in our country?
They forced a teenage girl to stay in hotel room overnight with agents, after being taken hours from her home.
How is this a real thing happening in our country?
Reposted by Thomas Leeper
To my knowledge, moving prisoners around the country in an attempt to avoid habeas corpus review has been banned since at least the Habeas Corpus Act of 1679. Habeas corpus is, of course, protected in Article 1 of the U.S. Constitution.
www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2026/fe...
www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2026/fe...
February 11, 2026 at 1:13 AM
To my knowledge, moving prisoners around the country in an attempt to avoid habeas corpus review has been banned since at least the Habeas Corpus Act of 1679. Habeas corpus is, of course, protected in Article 1 of the U.S. Constitution.
www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2026/fe...
www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2026/fe...
Reposted by Thomas Leeper
Just in the past few months in Minnesota, there have been as many ICE employees arrested for sex trafficking as there's been people executed by ICE agents
Bloomington police announce arrests in sex trafficking bust: "Rashad Johnson out of Maple Grove. This is the most disturbing arrest that we've had here. He is a backgrounder for ICE, Homeland Security, and federal agencies."
February 10, 2026 at 9:43 PM
Just in the past few months in Minnesota, there have been as many ICE employees arrested for sex trafficking as there's been people executed by ICE agents
I don't really have words to characterize my feelings about this adequately.
The wife and attorney of a man detained in Rochester last week say he finally has access to life-saving medication following a kidney transplant.
However, they added that federal authorities are still not giving him the correct dosage or the full regimen.
However, they added that federal authorities are still not giving him the correct dosage or the full regimen.
Kidney transplant recipient in ICE custody is finally getting meds, wife and attorney say
Javier Abreu-Vasquez, a kidney transplant recipient, was arrested by ICE in Rochester last week without his anti-rejection medication and he may have gone for days without receiving it. His wife and h...
www.mprnews.org
February 10, 2026 at 12:31 AM
I don't really have words to characterize my feelings about this adequately.
Reposted by Thomas Leeper
This technology already exists and is widely used. It doesn't involve 'government surveillance' and would not allow ICE or any other government agency to stop individual cars.
Just say you think thousands of kids dying every year is worth it so you can speed!
www.autoweek.com/news/a615322...
Just say you think thousands of kids dying every year is worth it so you can speed!
www.autoweek.com/news/a615322...
Speed Limiters Now Mandatory in All New EU Cars
Intelligent Speed Assist (ISA) isn't an ironclad speeding prevention system, but could be just annoying enough to spark a backlash.
www.autoweek.com
February 9, 2026 at 4:16 PM
This technology already exists and is widely used. It doesn't involve 'government surveillance' and would not allow ICE or any other government agency to stop individual cars.
Just say you think thousands of kids dying every year is worth it so you can speed!
www.autoweek.com/news/a615322...
Just say you think thousands of kids dying every year is worth it so you can speed!
www.autoweek.com/news/a615322...
Ice shanties against ICE. #ThisIsMinneapolis
February 8, 2026 at 7:40 PM
Ice shanties against ICE. #ThisIsMinneapolis
Reposted by Thomas Leeper
Counterpoint: no serious person in the Twin Cities is worried about any meaningful amount of "destruction" by observers/protestors. Get real.
Friends in Minneapolis are very worried about this development. Both in terms of state police's role in arresting protestors and the worry that this could set off the kind of spiral of distrust and destruction that followed George Floyd's murder.
www.nytimes.com/2026/02/07/u...
www.nytimes.com/2026/02/07/u...
At Least 50 Arrested After Protests Escalate Outside Minnesota Federal Building
www.nytimes.com
February 8, 2026 at 7:27 PM
Counterpoint: no serious person in the Twin Cities is worried about any meaningful amount of "destruction" by observers/protestors. Get real.
I'm interested in how this changes timeslines for projects, also. I've found that sizing that has become very difficult. Like, "I think this would take two weeks if someone did it by hand but I might be able to vibe code this 90% of the way there today."
February 8, 2026 at 2:09 PM
I'm interested in how this changes timeslines for projects, also. I've found that sizing that has become very difficult. Like, "I think this would take two weeks if someone did it by hand but I might be able to vibe code this 90% of the way there today."
Reposted by Thomas Leeper
A desperate plea sent to me by a Minneapolis resident who's been on the front lines since the beginning of the ICE occupation:
February 8, 2026 at 5:06 AM
A desperate plea sent to me by a Minneapolis resident who's been on the front lines since the beginning of the ICE occupation:
It's also changing the need for the entry-level (degree-required) jobs that those skills were valuable for.
February 8, 2026 at 2:02 PM
It's also changing the need for the entry-level (degree-required) jobs that those skills were valuable for.
Abolish ICE. Impeach the Executive Branch.
ICE told nurses this Minneapolis man “purposefully ran headfirst into a brick wall.”
What actually happened is that they pulled him from a car, beat him so viciously with a steel baton that he had 8 skull fractures, 5 life-threatening brain hemorrhages, and couldn’t remember he had a daughter.
What actually happened is that they pulled him from a car, beat him so viciously with a steel baton that he had 8 skull fractures, 5 life-threatening brain hemorrhages, and couldn’t remember he had a daughter.
February 7, 2026 at 8:06 PM
Abolish ICE. Impeach the Executive Branch.
The government is currently run by vengeful, pathetic people whose main - or perhaps only - goal is to hurt people.
HAPPENING NOW: DHS just expedited Liam Conejo Ramos' asylum hearing to this morning, meaning it's possible the five-year-old and his family could be deported as soon as today.
Rep. Joaquin Castro: "The Trump administration is trying to take him away again." www.huffpost.com/entry/trump-...
Rep. Joaquin Castro: "The Trump administration is trying to take him away again." www.huffpost.com/entry/trump-...
Five-Year-Old Liam Ramos Is In His Asylum Hearing Right Now
www.huffpost.com
February 6, 2026 at 7:15 PM
The government is currently run by vengeful, pathetic people whose main - or perhaps only - goal is to hurt people.
Reposted by Thomas Leeper
Tonight at 8:30 PM our constituent Ricky was pepper sprayed by ICE on 18th & Polk. 2 agents parked their car, got out and approached observers, started pepper spraying Ricky on public property, and then drove away and left.
Nothing is changing on the ground in Minnesota. ICE must be abolished.
Nothing is changing on the ground in Minnesota. ICE must be abolished.
February 6, 2026 at 3:52 AM
Tonight at 8:30 PM our constituent Ricky was pepper sprayed by ICE on 18th & Polk. 2 agents parked their car, got out and approached observers, started pepper spraying Ricky on public property, and then drove away and left.
Nothing is changing on the ground in Minnesota. ICE must be abolished.
Nothing is changing on the ground in Minnesota. ICE must be abolished.
Proposing to kill 500k-700k people is an interesting twist that was not on my 2026 bingo card.
Dr Oz: "We project that America will lose about 100 million pounds this year, which will make folks a lot healthier."
February 6, 2026 at 1:07 AM
Proposing to kill 500k-700k people is an interesting twist that was not on my 2026 bingo card.
Donald Trump is killing the heart of South Minneapolis.
“The Lake Street Council estimated that the corridor’s more than 1,000 immigrant-owned businesses lost a cumulative $46 million in December and January.” 1/
www.startribune.com/ice-economic...
www.startribune.com/ice-economic...
Minneapolis businesses losing millions in sales each week as ICE operation continues
Immigrant-owned businesses are bearing the brunt of the losses from Operation Metro Surge, but effects are widespread.
www.startribune.com
February 5, 2026 at 9:23 PM
Donald Trump is killing the heart of South Minneapolis.
I've never been honked at more than when driving 20mph on a parkway.
February 5, 2026 at 8:36 PM
I've never been honked at more than when driving 20mph on a parkway.
As with almost everything ICE does, the follow-up to that viral photo of Rahman being ripped from her car in S Mpls is actually far worse than it seemed.
I spoke with Aliya Rahman, the autistic woman whom ICE ripped out of her car, about her experience of being in a viral video, what she experienced in detention and why she thinks we might be in bigger trouble in the future.
www.independent.co.uk/news/world/a...
www.independent.co.uk/news/world/a...
ICE dragged me from my car after I told them I’m autistic.
Exclusive Details: Aliya Rahman speaks to Eric Garcia about her ordeals — on the streets of Minneapolis, in a grim ICE detention center where she was mocked over her condition and through the public t...
www.independent.co.uk
February 5, 2026 at 6:27 PM
As with almost everything ICE does, the follow-up to that viral photo of Rahman being ripped from her car in S Mpls is actually far worse than it seemed.
Reposted by Thomas Leeper
You guys this is what they do. They drive around in circles in parking lot. Ice has to be the most dip shit inefficient organization on the planet.
February 5, 2026 at 5:11 PM
You guys this is what they do. They drive around in circles in parking lot. Ice has to be the most dip shit inefficient organization on the planet.
Reposted by Thomas Leeper
My friend lives in this building and said it was truly terrifying. The whole building woke up to their building being broken into by federal agents all to grab some guy who’s posted about being anti facist.
After 6am this morning in Whittier, Minneapolis—FOUR BLOCKS from where Pretti was murdered.
18 agents with Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) markings smashed an apartment window, ran in, and came out with one man.
18 agents with Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) markings smashed an apartment window, ran in, and came out with one man.
February 5, 2026 at 3:10 PM
My friend lives in this building and said it was truly terrifying. The whole building woke up to their building being broken into by federal agents all to grab some guy who’s posted about being anti facist.
ICE doing criminal property damage, inevitably uncompensated.
I’m on the scene at Franklin and 1st. A convoy of about a couple dozen ICE/HSI agents broke the entryway into an apartment building at 6am. No warrant presented. Less than 24 hours ago, Tom Homan announced the end of large convoys in Minnesota… Bullshit.
February 5, 2026 at 1:18 PM
ICE doing criminal property damage, inevitably uncompensated.
Liam's GoFundMe raised nearly half a million dollars. These lower-profile cases haven't led to the same outpouring of money.
There is so much hardship here. So many families need help.
This isn't sustainable.
All of this needs to end.
There is so much hardship here. So many families need help.
This isn't sustainable.
All of this needs to end.
February 5, 2026 at 4:21 AM
Liam's GoFundMe raised nearly half a million dollars. These lower-profile cases haven't led to the same outpouring of money.
There is so much hardship here. So many families need help.
This isn't sustainable.
All of this needs to end.
There is so much hardship here. So many families need help.
This isn't sustainable.
All of this needs to end.