So wait are livestock guardian dogs to their flocks like… Clark Kent among the residents of Smallville? He’s been here since he was a baby, we all know him, and he’s… generally one-of-us shaped, uh, approximately. And then when something goes wrong he suddenly leaps into action and does some terrifying impossible shit none of us could do. And then comes back home and settles in like nothing happened and he’s one of us again.
Hmm.
HMMMMMMMMMMMMMM.
Actual answer: the sheep know the dogs are not sheep, and they also know the dog is protecting them and take their cues from the dog about whether they need to run for the barn or can just ignore anything scary that approaches.
However, a friend once had an extremely premature orphan lamb born in December who had to live in the house for a couple of months with leg braces and all that, who due to spending her lambhood with dogs instead of sheep came out of the whole experience convinced she was a livestock guardian dog! She would patrol the perimeter of the fields every evening with the actual dog, stand watch in the barn door at night like the dog, and was more than willing to throw down if she saw something scary coming towards the flock the way the guard dog did. Tragically orphaned lamb did a convincing job at being a guard dog without actually having any of the biological advantages a dog has over a sheep.
^^^ This. The COMBINED population of the Twin Cities (Minneapolis and St. Paul) is only about 2.6 million. That’s not small town numbers, sure, but compared to NYC (20.1 million in the metropolitan area)? LA? (12.9 million “”)?
Minneapolis is being made an example of because they’re the most bitesized target, and if you’re doing a shock and awe campaign like this you need to not choke on national tv.
(And they’re still having to fight for it. Minneapolis isn’t taking this laying down, and more power to them for their courage.)
Just as a side note, ICE raids are currently also happening in Columbus OH- which is double the size of Minneapolis but still much smaller than Chicago or LA.
I’ve seen this from dozens of coastal people in various cities over the last couple days and in addition to being so fucking callous towards us it’s kind of hard to contemplate, I need you to understand that this is not true, you are talking big with absolutely nothing to back it up and you need to get organized. Now.
The Twin Cities metro area has 3.7 million people. The New York City metro area has almost 20 million people. Yes, you have more people, but you also have more people who are wealthy enough to hire private surveillance which collaborates with ICE, you have more people who will join ICE posses, you have more people who will inform on their neighbors, and meanwhile ICE is building manpower precisely to occupy as many cities as they possibly can. You might not be next, but then again you might be; how effective will you be, as a resistance to federal occupation, is dependent on how organized you can get and how determined you are to beat them back. And keep in mind that in places like NYC, a big portion of your population likely can’t do ICE watch, in a car, following ICE around the broader metro area. So what’s your plan? Do you have one?
We are being occupied right now. Masked thugs are roaming around, grabbing people at bus stops for looking brown, threatening to shoot more observers in the face, and breaking car windows, dragging, and arresting people caught in the traffic they create. The President, Vice President, and Secretary of Homeland Security have all reassured ICE that they will face immunity no matter what they do, up to and including shooting a peaceful observer four times (we found out today they shot Renee Good four times, not three) and bare-facedly lying about events caught on camera.
I took my first legal observer training in October, I took a similar training/“here’s what’s changed” training run partially by a founder of Rogers Park Rapid Response earlier this week. YOU NEED TO GET READY FOR THIS TO HAPPEN TO YOU. The RP guy said that what we are seeing is different from what Chicago saw, and no wonder, because there are at least 3000 federal agents roaming our state. They’re handcuffing and kidnapping children, they’re taking both parents even when a child might be at school or home. They shot a guy in North Minneapolis, lied about being attacked with a broom handle and a shovel, and then tear gassed the residential neighborhood so badly that an evacuating man’s 6 month old baby STOPPED BREATHING and people who live across the Mississippi in completely different neighborhoods could smell it. The fog was still there the next day.
They have been promised immunity and instructed to act with impunity. They are openly, proudly, happily fascist. I am begging all of you sitting in your fucking apartments thinking smugly to yourself that It Can’t Happen Here to understand that 1. it already is happening in a suburb near you 2. this specific form of invasion, this specific form of terror campaign, CAN and WILL happen to you unless we, in Minnesota, manage to break Kristi Noem, Greg Bovino, Tom Homan, and Stephen Miller before they get a chance to come try to break you.
Two of my dresses were featured in Odeal’s “Nights in the Sun” official music video. This was my favorite shot of the one from my first collection. Styled and directed by Sahra Zadat.
They cut off usda funding from Minnesota, which includes wic and snap. Please consider donating to food banks around the area or food drives. Many immigrants are too scared to leave their homes to shop as well and a community member is doing great work.
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 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)
Seasonal Affective Disorder is just emotional scurvy, all my core wounds are reopening and they won’t be fixed until the big lemon in the sky comes back
