Looking at what national news outlets are up to right now, one might not realize a whole major US metropolitan area is, you know, sort of under attack by paramilitary forces. Wild.
im sorry the What is being What now???
While it’s not going unreported entirely, what’s been happening in Minnesota and in Minneapolis–Saint Paul in particular since Renee Good was murdered is not getting the attention it should be.
There are already 2000 gangsters from DHS deployed, and “hundreds” or “1000” more are on the way, depending on which Trumpland person you ask. As a point of reference, the Twin Cities’ actual police total just under 1200 (600 in Minneapolis and 590 in Saint Paul according to the depts’ sites).
The feds there are more or less attacking people at random. They’ve gone door-to-door for “citizenship checks” (completely illegal). They’ve knocked doors down when residents haven’t complied (obviously also completely illegal). In addition to abducting and brutalizing the immigrants they come across during their rampages, they’ve done the same to US citizens of color and are also harassing, stalking and physically attacking observers.
Below are some videos from observers. I’m linking to Bluesky because that’s where I saw them, though many are originally from/also available elsewhere. I apologize for the rancid formatting below but it was the best I could do quickly-ish. The images are previews; click the links in the timestamps to watch.
Dumb Meg (@dmbmeg.bsky.social) Jan 11, 2026 at 6:10 PM(You need to be logged in to see this—while it’s unclear what happened to the victim in this one, there’s no reported death so far; CW for heightened violence)
Dom Ervolina (@dominicervolina.com) Jan 11, 2026 at 8:42 PM(You need to be logged in to see this)
my synagogue was set on fire last night during Shabbat at 3:00 AM in an arsonist attack.
no one was injured, which i am extremely grateful for. they have several security cameras, so there is a suspect in custody. the details and motivation haven’t been shared, but it can be reasonably assumed to be a hate crime.
this was the first synagogue established in the state, the only one that’s not hours away, and certainly the largest in the area. two Torah scrolls are destroyed beyond repair, 5 are damaged. the library where children have religious school and morning Shabbat service is held has been completely burnt down, much of that section of the building that’s left is covered in soot and ash. the administrative offices were also lost.
our Tree of Life, which was for important life events like bar/bat/b'nei mitzvahs, was destroyed. i was just looking at it this past Tuesday while waiting for a meeting with my rabbi. it was dozens of bronze plaques in the shape of leaves with commemorations on them placed above a trunk. there is a photo of the wreckage that makes me cry every time i look at it.
we have a rescued scroll from Nazi-era Czechoslovakia (it is thankfully unharmed). we have a Holocaust memorial garden. we have names of dead loved ones displayed. memories in and on the walls. there are so many deeply meaningful and largely irreplaceable things here.
my rabbi was out of state for the last several days. i cannot imagine how he’s feeling.
im fucking pissed at the police department. they said that they would patrol the grounds more often in light of the worldwide rise in antisemitism. I have not personally seen them once. they let the only area for our community to gather be set on fire.
i am exhausted. i am angry. i am thankful it is not any worse, because it easily could have been, but tonight i am grieving that little library full of vintage Jewish books.
The same Synogogue was also bombed in 1967. This is the best article I could find so far this soon after the fire.
yes, this is my synagogue. Beth Israel Congregation was firebombed by the KKK in 1967 along with the rabbi’s house because he was an outspoken supporter of civil rights for Black Americans.
here are some photos of the aftermath of the most recent fire:
I have been asked about fundraising, so I will be providing a link to donations.
hey!! yes, JPD is useless. the FBI, ATF, Joint Terrorism Task Force, along with I believe possibly a division of Homeland Security (?) are all involved in the case. as I understand it, the FBI automatically gets involved when reports of a place of worship being intentionally damaged are made.
a primary suspect has already been identified and arrested. details are not being officially made public at the moment, although I’ve seen unsourced information on a couple articles (namely Mississippi Today) claiming that it is a 19 y/o white supremacist man.
UPDATE: i can now confidently confirm the identity of the perpetrator as Stephen Spencer Pittman, a 19 year old Nazi as I mentioned. He was texting the whole thing to his dad over text while he was committing the crime (who reported it to the FBI), and then went to the hospital for his burns (because he accidentally doused his legs in gasoline like a fucking idiot) where he was promptly arrested.
They also mention that a citywide prayer service for Beth Israel will be held at 6 p.m. Thursday at Thalia Mara Hall in downtown Jackson if anyone wants to attend.
For everyone asking in messages, share these links wherever you want. Sharing to more people gets more support and more donations towards the long process of rebuilding.
Also, please don’t make this about any other politics than antisemitism. We’re very tired and don’t want to argue about what the motivation was. It was antisemitism and that’s all, the guy said so himself.
We already have a loose plan for service locations, but we’re waiting on other details. We don’t have any official estimate on how long restoration will take, only a decently informed guess. It will be a long time before we return to our synagogue.
Thanks for all the love and kindness. It means a lot.
The weird thing with billionaires hoarding all the money to the point were it feels like there’s not enough left for anyone else is that they’re on the verge of breaking the system.
And when I say system I don’t mean the economy or whatever, I mean the system of money being accepted tokens of a value concept.
Them holding all the money is like as if they want to play football with us but they’re taking the ball, and locking the gates to the pitch, and hoping that we’ll keep playing football with them. It’s reaching a point where we can’t help but realise that we’re not actually even playing football, we’re just standing on the outside of a small, locked pitch, with the food and everything on our side, while they sit locked inside with the ball. They’ll say we can play football with them for three seconds and in exchange we must bring them more food than they could ever eat food. But like, why would we bother with the and their game that no one else is allowed play?
The rich are on the verge of breaking the social agreement that is money so badly that, if they do it juuuust right, it will make them both the emperor and the boy who says that he has no cloths.
Dude I haven’t a fucking clue what to tag this with never mind what audience it’s for. I’m not even sure it’s coherent
I’ve scheduled this to reblog one year after I posted it a 1.20am on a Thursday. Not sure why. I’m very tired
things that always make me happy: serial commenters. there are three types
1) reading a longfic chapter by chapter, leaving an increasingly emotional comment on every chapter, descends into keysmashes near the end: outstanding
2) read one fic by accident, clicked the author name, now working steadily through the backlog and commenting on everything, I wake up to an AO3 inbox full of enthusiasm: precious beyond words
3) the longterm serial commenter whose comment begins with I don’t even know this fandom but because they have followed me from somewhere else: stunning. humbling. magical.
these are all *chef’s kiss* and I want to add one more: 4) left a comment a while ago, comes back and leaves another comment on the same fic, telling you that they’re coming back to reread the fic: angels. blessings. lifesavers.
Y’all “critical thinking” does not equal “criticism”.
I am very tired of saying positive things about characters and getting told I need to do some critical thinking (so that I’ll see the characters are actually bad). No. That’s not how that works. I already did some critical thinking and came to the conclusions that these characters are wonderful. Criticism or straight up character bashing is not more enlightened and is not how critical thinking works. “Critical thinking” is not “thinking about all the bad or problematic aspects of something.” It’s looking objectively at evidence, looking at context, recognizing and examining personal biases and assumptions, considering what assumptions and biases are being used in a given argument by other people, etc. Sometimes this process brings up criticisms, yes, but sometimes it also leads to the conclusion that something is actually good despite it being made out to be bad.
Critical Thinking means making room for nuance and shades of gray. Not criticize stuff I don’t like.
Also, it’s okay to find something you absolutely detest and still recognize the craft and genius in it.
Istg, if I ever get rabies because some dumb ass antivaxxer refused to vaccinate their dog, I’ll probably be doing the rest of my blogging from prison because I promise you, Imma curbstomp the shit out of the owner
Fun fact: if your dog is unvaccinated and bites someone, in most states it’s not only perfectly legal but SUGGESTED COURSE OF ACTION for animal control to seize your dog, euthanize it, and cut its head off for rabies testing. This process costs 300-500 USD and is the responsibility of the owner to pay.
This happened to someone on tumblr, and happens with regularity at my job, so it is not a far-flung worst case scenario.
Rabies shots cost 20 USD at your local pet store or farm supply and if your dog bites someone while vaccinated, all you have to do is quarantine for 10 days.
Once again:
Rabies is one of the most lethal diseases in the world
If you get bitten by a rabid dog - or even slobbered on by a rabid dog and happen to have an open wound - and don’t get medical treatment until you develop symptoms; congratulations! You’re dead.
Apparently ICE now has agents posing as utility workers to get into people’s homes. The electric and gas companies have posted information on how to tell if it’s one of their workers, and numbers to call to confirm whether they’ve sent someone to do utility work on your house.
