Ian Bicking
@ianbicking.org
Software developer in Minneapolis. Working with applications of LLMs. Previously: Mozilla, Meta, Brilliant.org
It’s assumed that surveillance always benefits the state. But there’s a very active citizen surveillance system growing in Minnesota (observing ICE). Without making any claims of the net effect of surveillance, this is an interesting change that deserves some discussion
February 3, 2026 at 8:41 PM
It’s assumed that surveillance always benefits the state. But there’s a very active citizen surveillance system growing in Minnesota (observing ICE). Without making any claims of the net effect of surveillance, this is an interesting change that deserves some discussion
Reposted by Ian Bicking
This is how Tom Homan reacts to losing a court case to free a medically fragile 5-year-old who was used as bait to lure his dad so they could be imprisoned in a measles factory. Fuck any de-escalation stories that come out.
Columbia Heights (Liam's school district) cancelled school today because of a credible bomb threat at Liam's elementary and multiple ICE vehicles parking in the high school staff parking lot at 6:15am.
February 2, 2026 at 1:11 PM
This is how Tom Homan reacts to losing a court case to free a medically fragile 5-year-old who was used as bait to lure his dad so they could be imprisoned in a measles factory. Fuck any de-escalation stories that come out.
Reposted by Ian Bicking
Rocks at Night by Paul Klee, 1939
https://botfrens.com/collections/212/contents/137407
https://botfrens.com/collections/212/contents/137407
February 1, 2026 at 7:46 PM
Rocks at Night by Paul Klee, 1939
https://botfrens.com/collections/212/contents/137407
https://botfrens.com/collections/212/contents/137407
Reposted by Ian Bicking
Okay final thought on the opsec thing:
Everyone has their own risk appetite. But if your risk appetite is too low to include “being anonymously in the same chat room as someone who is talking to a member of the press” you should probably not be doing ICE rapid response. That is too low.
Everyone has their own risk appetite. But if your risk appetite is too low to include “being anonymously in the same chat room as someone who is talking to a member of the press” you should probably not be doing ICE rapid response. That is too low.
January 31, 2026 at 9:53 PM
Okay final thought on the opsec thing:
Everyone has their own risk appetite. But if your risk appetite is too low to include “being anonymously in the same chat room as someone who is talking to a member of the press” you should probably not be doing ICE rapid response. That is too low.
Everyone has their own risk appetite. But if your risk appetite is too low to include “being anonymously in the same chat room as someone who is talking to a member of the press” you should probably not be doing ICE rapid response. That is too low.
Temperature going up to 20 tomorrow? Perfect for a morning block party! Starting with 8am pancakes outdoors... then scheduled for another 7 hours. I have very ambitious neighbors!
January 30, 2026 at 8:36 PM
Temperature going up to 20 tomorrow? Perfect for a morning block party! Starting with 8am pancakes outdoors... then scheduled for another 7 hours. I have very ambitious neighbors!
Here's something I made for my fellow Minnesotans: findyourwordsmn.org
I believe it's an important political act to share your own thoughts, feelings, and stories with the people who know you, and who without you may only understand what's happening through the news...
I believe it's an important political act to share your own thoughts, feelings, and stories with the people who know you, and who without you may only understand what's happening through the news...
Find Your Words, Minnesota
A writing toolkit for Minnesotans who want to share what they're experiencing with ICE operations in 2026.
findyourwordsmn.org
January 29, 2026 at 11:30 PM
Here's something I made for my fellow Minnesotans: findyourwordsmn.org
I believe it's an important political act to share your own thoughts, feelings, and stories with the people who know you, and who without you may only understand what's happening through the news...
I believe it's an important political act to share your own thoughts, feelings, and stories with the people who know you, and who without you may only understand what's happening through the news...
This is frustrating. Observation alone is not effective enough to meet the moment, it can only be effective when it serves to document what’s happening for the public at large. Observing people being taken is not the same as stopping them from being taken!
I have begged over and over for other rapid responders to talk to press; I often end up doing it anyway because my risk tolerance is high and I’m already targeted. I always, always make the terms of press engagement clear: no other observer can be identified in any way.
@whstancil.bsky.social engage with media thoughtfully and keep comrades safe or let someone else do it. the movement will be just fine without your clout chasing
January 29, 2026 at 11:12 PM
This is frustrating. Observation alone is not effective enough to meet the moment, it can only be effective when it serves to document what’s happening for the public at large. Observing people being taken is not the same as stopping them from being taken!
One of the more depressing things people are doing in mutual aid circles is helping immigrants get their DOPA paperwork together (declaration of parental rights) so it’s clear who will care for the kids if the parents are taken
"what happens if Mommy gets detained? If the children are with me & they are taken with me, then we try to stay together as long as we can, hold tight, don’t cry. If they take me & leave the children (as they left the other children on the east side of St. Paul when they took the parents away)..."
we are never getting over this
January 29, 2026 at 4:03 PM
One of the more depressing things people are doing in mutual aid circles is helping immigrants get their DOPA paperwork together (declaration of parental rights) so it’s clear who will care for the kids if the parents are taken
Guy on mutual support chat: where can I get #6 diapers? What does that even mean?
January 29, 2026 at 3:58 PM
Guy on mutual support chat: where can I get #6 diapers? What does that even mean?
I’m imagining some news aggregator that, at the end of the day when we must put doomscrolling aside, offers news that isn’t so much Feel Good news, but instead news (or whatever the newsy feel is) that exists in the span of time and not just the moment.
January 29, 2026 at 4:48 AM
I’m imagining some news aggregator that, at the end of the day when we must put doomscrolling aside, offers news that isn’t so much Feel Good news, but instead news (or whatever the newsy feel is) that exists in the span of time and not just the moment.
People in the Cities have been trying to keep observation and mutual aid separate, but of course the same people want to support both so it gets mixed up. But it looks like hygiene between the two is going to become a priority as ICE agents are tracking and following the observers
January 26, 2026 at 3:17 PM
People in the Cities have been trying to keep observation and mutual aid separate, but of course the same people want to support both so it gets mixed up. But it looks like hygiene between the two is going to become a priority as ICE agents are tracking and following the observers
Reposted by Ian Bicking
"Do you know what the most popular type of art is—a genre so broadly loved that it is collected utterly apart from any market value or popular acclaim? Art made by children. Before art is visually splendid, before it is even articulate, it is valued as a connection to a consciousness in formation."
January 18, 2026 at 2:17 PM
"Do you know what the most popular type of art is—a genre so broadly loved that it is collected utterly apart from any market value or popular acclaim? Art made by children. Before art is visually splendid, before it is even articulate, it is valued as a connection to a consciousness in formation."
I’ve seen so much organizing, new processes and approaches being used in resistance, that at my most optimistic I think: this is going to be the least organized we’ll be from this time forward
January 26, 2026 at 12:02 AM
I’ve seen so much organizing, new processes and approaches being used in resistance, that at my most optimistic I think: this is going to be the least organized we’ll be from this time forward
Reposted by Ian Bicking
The statement from Alex Pretti’s parents is just “tell the government to stop telling smirking, transparent lies about why it killed our son” which feels like a new low for our nation. This president and his toadies have brought us to our knees and must be driven out
January 25, 2026 at 1:22 AM
The statement from Alex Pretti’s parents is just “tell the government to stop telling smirking, transparent lies about why it killed our son” which feels like a new low for our nation. This president and his toadies have brought us to our knees and must be driven out
I’m driving down Lake Street to pick up the kids. It’s warmed up so it’s only five below. A couple hours ago ICE executed an observer a mile from here. The news spreads fast in the network, everyone knows. There is still an observer posted at each bus stop, more walking patrols.
January 24, 2026 at 5:42 PM
I’m driving down Lake Street to pick up the kids. It’s warmed up so it’s only five below. A couple hours ago ICE executed an observer a mile from here. The news spreads fast in the network, everyone knows. There is still an observer posted at each bus stop, more walking patrols.
Reposted by Ian Bicking
Generated code = soulless slop, horrifying
Hand written artisanal code that creates a better queue process so health insurance review doctors who lost their right to practice real medicine deny even more life saving procedures per second = moral, upstanding, representative of the human spirit
Hand written artisanal code that creates a better queue process so health insurance review doctors who lost their right to practice real medicine deny even more life saving procedures per second = moral, upstanding, representative of the human spirit
January 23, 2026 at 5:07 PM
Generated code = soulless slop, horrifying
Hand written artisanal code that creates a better queue process so health insurance review doctors who lost their right to practice real medicine deny even more life saving procedures per second = moral, upstanding, representative of the human spirit
Hand written artisanal code that creates a better queue process so health insurance review doctors who lost their right to practice real medicine deny even more life saving procedures per second = moral, upstanding, representative of the human spirit
Reposted by Ian Bicking
Tomorrow’s front page of the Minnesota Star Tribune: Jan. 23, 2026
January 22, 2026 at 11:19 PM
Tomorrow’s front page of the Minnesota Star Tribune: Jan. 23, 2026
Reposted by Ian Bicking
I came to Minneapolis to report on what's going on, and one of the main questions I showed up with is "just what is the scale of the resistance?" After all, we're all used to the news calling Portland a "war zone" or whatever when it's just some protests in one part of town.
January 22, 2026 at 3:58 AM
I came to Minneapolis to report on what's going on, and one of the main questions I showed up with is "just what is the scale of the resistance?" After all, we're all used to the news calling Portland a "war zone" or whatever when it's just some protests in one part of town.
The activity in the neighborhood feels like ICE is trying to create a violent situation in advance of JD Vance coming here.
The neighborhood ICE rapid response group is lit up with sightings and trackers as Greg Bovino seems to be doing some pre-constitutional-violation photo shoot at the gas station
January 21, 2026 at 8:14 PM
The activity in the neighborhood feels like ICE is trying to create a violent situation in advance of JD Vance coming here.
The neighborhood ICE rapid response group is lit up with sightings and trackers as Greg Bovino seems to be doing some pre-constitutional-violation photo shoot at the gas station
January 21, 2026 at 4:00 PM
The neighborhood ICE rapid response group is lit up with sightings and trackers as Greg Bovino seems to be doing some pre-constitutional-violation photo shoot at the gas station
As a point of evidence: people are discussing mutual aid and how to respond to ICE on Nextdoor.
The median Minneapolis moderate right now is like “GET THESE CRIMINAL GHOULS OUT OF OUR CITY” and working arm-in-arm with DSA. People not from here cannot comprehend the degree of factional rancor that instantly evaporated when the men with masks showed up
January 18, 2026 at 5:33 PM
As a point of evidence: people are discussing mutual aid and how to respond to ICE on Nextdoor.
To build on Dan’s post: we’ve come to expect that social movements try to change the status quo for the better, and that they are resisted by those who want the status quo. But now ICE is being used to change the status quo, as a force of escalating violence to create crisis.
National media: Please stop describing what’s happening in Minneapolis as “protests.” There has been a modest, sustained protest outside the Whipple federal building, about 10 miles from downtown, but... 1/3
January 18, 2026 at 3:32 PM
To build on Dan’s post: we’ve come to expect that social movements try to change the status quo for the better, and that they are resisted by those who want the status quo. But now ICE is being used to change the status quo, as a force of escalating violence to create crisis.
Reposted by Ian Bicking
I don’t think people quite understand that the occupation by ICE in the Twin Cities has more or less erased non-white people from public life. They cannot safely exist in any space accessible to the public and moving between private places leaves folks vulnerable to kidnapping by armed masked goons.
January 16, 2026 at 10:15 PM
I don’t think people quite understand that the occupation by ICE in the Twin Cities has more or less erased non-white people from public life. They cannot safely exist in any space accessible to the public and moving between private places leaves folks vulnerable to kidnapping by armed masked goons.
Evening charades with the family, now we’re only doing Shel Silverstein poems. We don’t really know the titles of any of the poems, so it’s just like “the one with the cannibals!” or “that one where everyone turns to jello!”
January 14, 2026 at 3:12 AM
Evening charades with the family, now we’re only doing Shel Silverstein poems. We don’t really know the titles of any of the poems, so it’s just like “the one with the cannibals!” or “that one where everyone turns to jello!”
We could really use a whole bunch of hyperlocal news in Minneapolis right now. Every neighborhood, sub-neighborhood, and suburb has a whole host of things going on. (The suburbs here are both under attack and undergoing organization, nothing is confined to the city.)
January 12, 2026 at 12:22 AM
We could really use a whole bunch of hyperlocal news in Minneapolis right now. Every neighborhood, sub-neighborhood, and suburb has a whole host of things going on. (The suburbs here are both under attack and undergoing organization, nothing is confined to the city.)