Ben (he/him)
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bikelaneben.bsky.social
Ben (he/him)
@bikelaneben.bsky.social
Former fish researcher, current Master of Urban Planning student, bike person, concerned citizen.
Reposted by Ben (he/him)
Gestapos opened fire, striking Martinez 5 times in the arm, chest & both legs

1 gestapo had body cam ... Martinez has said in court that it shows an officer shouting "do something b--"

The gestapo who shot her, in a group text: "I fired 5 rounds & she had 7 holes. Put that in your book, boys."
'My own government attempted to execute me,' Chicago woman shot by Border Patrol testifies
Marimar Martinez said she believes that she survived her encounter with Border Patrol agents so she could share her story.
www.yahoo.com
February 4, 2026 at 8:59 PM
Reposted by Ben (he/him)
Highlighting the speaker who stood in front of the Surprise mayor and told him to consider what the Mayor of Ohrdruf must’ve thought before he died by suicide: “He might have thought ‘how is this my fault I had no jurisdiction over this’ maybe he said ‘this site was not subject to local zoning.’”
February 4, 2026 at 6:43 AM
Reposted by Ben (he/him)
you don't say? at some point we're going to acknowledge what every study ever on this subject has said, right? right? www.independent.co.uk/news/science...
Trans athletes may not have fitness advantage in women’s sport, landmark study finds
Findings suggest physical performance in trans women converges toward that of cis women over time
www.independent.co.uk
February 4, 2026 at 12:30 PM
Reposted by Ben (he/him)
DHS is tracking people who protest using biometrics and entering them into databases; hunting people who send emails on behalf of asylum seekers; tracking neighbors who help immigrants w/ facial recognition and license plate readers, and Hakeem Jeffries wants more surveillance tech for every agent.
February 4, 2026 at 3:05 AM
Reposted by Ben (he/him)
I genuinely have no idea how to convey this to the American people, but I think the biggest impediment to any kind of immigration reform is that people are convinced that "legal" and "illegal" are immutable, intrinsic categories instead of a rapidly-shifting arbitrary constellation of regulations.
February 1, 2026 at 10:24 PM
Reposted by Ben (he/him)
BREAKING: The two federal immigration agents who fired on Minneapolis protester Alex Pretti are identified in government records as Border Patrol agent Jesus Ochoa and Customs and Border Protection officer Raymundo Gutierrez.
Two CBP Agents Identified in Alex Pretti Shooting
The two federal immigration agents who fired on Minneapolis protester Alex Pretti are identified in government records as Border Patrol agent Jesus Ochoa and Customs and Border Protection officer Raym...
www.propublica.org
February 1, 2026 at 9:10 PM
Reposted by Ben (he/him)
the city continues to just upzone where existing multifamily housing exists. and continues to focus apartments and affordable housing to dangerous arterials. this is a recipe for displacement.

not a great look.
January 30, 2026 at 3:56 PM
Reposted by Ben (he/him)
You can conclude that these people simply do not understand how negotiating works - that you start by shooting for the moon and force them to talk you down to something like this, extracting pain for every concession - or that they just don't want more than this.
Dems coalescing around 5 restrictions on ICE, I'm told:

DHS required to cooperate with state probes (big)
CBP stays at border
warrants for arrests
IDs, bodycams
ICE out of churches, schools

"That package unites a lot of Dems," Sen Chris Murphy tells me on the pod:
newrepublic.com/article/2057...
A Dem Senator’s Harsh Takedown of Trump Hits Home: “Breaking Point”
As Trump scrambles to contain the damage from the latest ICE horrors, Senator Chris Murphy offers a sharp indictment of Trump-ICE lawlessness—and explains how Dems can meet the urgency of the moment.
newrepublic.com
January 27, 2026 at 1:53 PM
Reposted by Ben (he/him)
The Trump admin is scrambling because the secret police it sends out for kidnappings and rioting has been killing people on video then brazenly lying about it, but Schumer's instinct is to whip his caucus into taking a position *more conservative* than that held by the median voter.

He's got to go.
Majority of the country now wants to abolish and/or dismantle ICE and yet Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y. told the caucus the message had to be to “restrain, reform and restrict ICE.”

Once again it looks like Schumer is about to choke after getting a massive opportunity.

So pathetic and weak.
Senate Democrats plot strategy as DHS standoff deepens heading into shutdown week
Two sources who were on a Democratic caucus strategy call Sunday said Minority Leader Chuck Schumer told the group the message must be to “restrain, reform and restrict ICE.”
www.nbcnews.com
January 27, 2026 at 2:48 AM
Reposted by Ben (he/him)
As impressive as the images coming out of Minneapolis today are, a friend there just told me they don't do it justice - "the whole city was at a full standstill."
in case you're curious about how angry Minnesota is about ICE, it was -20 today
January 24, 2026 at 12:52 AM
Reposted by Ben (he/him)
Tomorrow’s front page of the Minnesota Star Tribune: Jan. 23, 2026
January 22, 2026 at 11:19 PM
Reposted by Ben (he/him)
seattle when?
Camden Council's proposal for New Oxford Street is incredible.
January 23, 2026 at 2:34 AM
Reposted by Ben (he/him)
starting to get the vibe that none of the septuagenarians and octogenarians are up to the moment nor generally fit for leadership positions, ngl
i feel like Americans don't get the level of eye-rolling this is getting from Europe
January 19, 2026 at 4:40 AM
Reposted by Ben (he/him)
oh it's going to be a Recession recession
January 18, 2026 at 10:56 PM
Reposted by Ben (he/him)
On the 17th of January, 1961, the US, UK and Belgium assassinated Patrice Lumumba, the first democratically elected leader of the Republic of Congo, because he sought to restore national control over the country's mineral reserves. Remember Lumumba!
January 18, 2026 at 4:43 PM
Reposted by Ben (he/him)
Another critical piece of missing context in this story: tax dollars flow from the MSP metro to rural Minnesota. People in the city subsidize the lifestyles of people living in the country minnesotareformer.com/2023/12/04/t...
January 15, 2026 at 3:15 PM
Reposted by Ben (he/him)
Which types of welfare fraud are politely litigated between white collar lawyers, and which types of welfare fraud are used to justify an immigration purge and shutting off resources to the poor?
January 15, 2026 at 1:42 PM
Reposted by Ben (he/him)
ICE detained Arlit Maria Martinez on her way to work. 2 days later, her 15 yo son died of cancer. They wouldn't let her out to say goodbye. The family had planned to move back to Mexico prior to the cancer diagnosis but stayed for his treatment. Now, Mr Martinez has lost his wife to ICE & his son.
Teen dies of cancer days after mother arrested by ICE: ‘She’s never gonna see him’
The mother's family pleaded with federal officers for her release from custody to say her final goodbyes to her son, but their requests went unanswered.
www.wsaz.com
January 12, 2026 at 8:29 PM
Reposted by Ben (he/him)
This is 10th-grader Arnoldo Bazan.

A citizen.

Immigration agents grabbed him and put him in a chokehold.

"We're from the United States bro!' he screamed.

Agents took and sold his phone

And when he finally got home hours later, his shirt was ripped, he neck had angry, red welts, and he sobbed.
January 13, 2026 at 10:20 PM
Reposted by Ben (he/him)
Democrats need to realize ICE isn’t just—or even primarily—a mass deportation force.

ICE is also Trump’s most loyal internal security force which will be used to attack regime opponents and try to steal the election. They should defund his authoritarian capabilities.
January 12, 2026 at 4:29 PM
Reposted by Ben (he/him)
A Black man was killed by ICE (off duty) in Los Angeles on New Year’s Eve. And like Renée Good, he was an American citizen. But most people have not heard about Keith Porter.

I need y’all to realize this. Black people experience this lack of visibility all the time when it comes to being victims.
January 10, 2026 at 3:24 PM
Reposted by Ben (he/him)
Republicans somehow managed to sprint from “we’re trying to protect women in sports” straight to defending a woman being shot in the head three times at point blank range for trying to drive away from a masked thug.
January 10, 2026 at 8:08 PM
Reposted by Ben (he/him)
In America you drop your kid off at school, get your brains blown out on the ride home, then the Vice President drops everything for a week to call you a terrorist, to slander your family, to protect the circumstances that led to your death so they can do it again. It is government by Alex Jones.
January 9, 2026 at 7:24 PM
Reposted by Ben (he/him)
If the headline is "disputed shooting" rather than straightforwardly telling the public what happened this rewards the DHS for lying about these events
January 7, 2026 at 7:57 PM
Reposted by Ben (he/him)
No, it was a successful coup. None of the people who led it were punished, and are in fact back in power, rewarded for their efforts to break the system by running it. Donald Trump is currently the dictator he attempted to become 5 years ago, and it’s because nobody treated trying as a crime.
We must speak plainly: January 6th was an attempted coup. It was an effort to nullify millions of lawful votes and subvert the will of the American people.
January 6, 2026 at 6:26 PM