Gene Penise
@genepenise.bsky.social
Pinned
Reposted by Gene Penise
Recall that a district court wrote a lengthy and closely reasoned opinion blocking DOGE's access to sensitive SSA data after extensive briefing. The Fourth Circuit agreed. Then SCOTUS threw that out with no explanation in a two-page emergency order.
"Two members of Elon Musk’s DOGE team working at the Social Security Administration were secretly in touch with an advocacy group seeking to “overturn election results in certain states,” and one signed an agreement that may have involved using Social Security data to match state voter rolls..."
If anyone has any information on the identity of the "advocacy group tyring to overturn election results in certain states” and who were secretly in contact with DOGE, my Signal is DavidGilbert.01
www.politico.com/news/2026/01...
www.politico.com/news/2026/01...
January 22, 2026 at 6:42 PM
Recall that a district court wrote a lengthy and closely reasoned opinion blocking DOGE's access to sensitive SSA data after extensive briefing. The Fourth Circuit agreed. Then SCOTUS threw that out with no explanation in a two-page emergency order.
Reposted by Gene Penise
The director of the FBI: "I don't read."
His staff (paraphrased): "he doesn’t like meetings in office settings. What he wants is social events."
www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
His staff (paraphrased): "he doesn’t like meetings in office settings. What he wants is social events."
www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
January 22, 2026 at 7:21 PM
The director of the FBI: "I don't read."
His staff (paraphrased): "he doesn’t like meetings in office settings. What he wants is social events."
www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
His staff (paraphrased): "he doesn’t like meetings in office settings. What he wants is social events."
www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
Reposted by Gene Penise
I keep seeing leftists from outside of Minneapolis say they’ve seen all this before, and no, you haven’t. I’ve been at this for 30+ years and I haven’t either. It’s not what you’re picturing. This is something else
I know people keep saying this but it’s hard to communicate the depth of active resistance here. Like, I’m on random cafes and people are checking in for observation shifts. Signs everywhere. Folks in visibility vests on the corners. It’s wild. Absolutely wild.
January 22, 2026 at 6:18 PM
I keep seeing leftists from outside of Minneapolis say they’ve seen all this before, and no, you haven’t. I’ve been at this for 30+ years and I haven’t either. It’s not what you’re picturing. This is something else
Reposted by Gene Penise
Okay. So we self immolated ourselves on the international stage so we could keep the defense framework we established with Greenland 70 years ago.
Sick.
Sick.
January 22, 2026 at 1:28 PM
Okay. So we self immolated ourselves on the international stage so we could keep the defense framework we established with Greenland 70 years ago.
Sick.
Sick.
Reposted by Gene Penise
The House Ethics Committee found that Matt Gaetz did all of the horrible things previously claimed—sex trafficking minors, prostitution (including of minors), drugs, drunk driving, obstruction, the works. The Florida Bulldog has secured and published the House report this evening.
January 22, 2026 at 3:45 AM
The House Ethics Committee found that Matt Gaetz did all of the horrible things previously claimed—sex trafficking minors, prostitution (including of minors), drugs, drunk driving, obstruction, the works. The Florida Bulldog has secured and published the House report this evening.
Reposted by Gene Penise
It's genuinely a leaderless (or leaderful) movement, decentralized in a way that the state is absolutely unequipped to handle. There are a few basic skills involved, and so people teach each other those skills, and people are collectively refining them.
January 22, 2026 at 3:58 AM
It's genuinely a leaderless (or leaderful) movement, decentralized in a way that the state is absolutely unequipped to handle. There are a few basic skills involved, and so people teach each other those skills, and people are collectively refining them.
Reposted by Gene Penise
Trump last week pardoned Gov Wanda Vázquez (R-PR) for the felony bribery case from 2022, but not the misdemeanor campaign finance case to which she pleaded guilty in 2025. Trump quietly issued her a new pardon for the misdemeanor yesterday. The purchase price for these pardons was $3.5 mn.
January 22, 2026 at 3:42 AM
Trump last week pardoned Gov Wanda Vázquez (R-PR) for the felony bribery case from 2022, but not the misdemeanor campaign finance case to which she pleaded guilty in 2025. Trump quietly issued her a new pardon for the misdemeanor yesterday. The purchase price for these pardons was $3.5 mn.
Reposted by Gene Penise
(4) If you are arrested, you simply must do the following:
- Identify yourself
- Prove or attest to your citizenship
- Invoke your 5th Amendment rights and demand your lawyer
- Literally do not say a single thing besides the above. Do not talk shit, do not mouth off. There's time for that yet.
- Identify yourself
- Prove or attest to your citizenship
- Invoke your 5th Amendment rights and demand your lawyer
- Literally do not say a single thing besides the above. Do not talk shit, do not mouth off. There's time for that yet.
January 22, 2026 at 2:48 AM
(4) If you are arrested, you simply must do the following:
- Identify yourself
- Prove or attest to your citizenship
- Invoke your 5th Amendment rights and demand your lawyer
- Literally do not say a single thing besides the above. Do not talk shit, do not mouth off. There's time for that yet.
- Identify yourself
- Prove or attest to your citizenship
- Invoke your 5th Amendment rights and demand your lawyer
- Literally do not say a single thing besides the above. Do not talk shit, do not mouth off. There's time for that yet.
Reposted by Gene Penise
Lots of heartbreaking, enraging, cortisol-dump-inducing images coming out of Minneapolis, but I'm stuck on this one, of a five-year-old in his preschool backpack just before being bundled into an ICE van and disappeared from his mother and brother and community.
www.startribune.com/preschooler-...
www.startribune.com/preschooler-...
Preschooler and three other students detained by ICE, school district leader says
The detentions of Columbia Heights students come after weeks of heightened concern and enforcement presence near and on Twin Cities school property.
www.startribune.com
January 22, 2026 at 2:39 AM
Lots of heartbreaking, enraging, cortisol-dump-inducing images coming out of Minneapolis, but I'm stuck on this one, of a five-year-old in his preschool backpack just before being bundled into an ICE van and disappeared from his mother and brother and community.
www.startribune.com/preschooler-...
www.startribune.com/preschooler-...
Reposted by Gene Penise
I try to avoid hyperbole when it comes to Trump policies, but this is absolutely frickin’ insane—on about eleventy different levels.
Massive, systemic Fourth Amendment violations because … reasons.
Massive, systemic Fourth Amendment violations because … reasons.
ICE secretly told its officers that any time someone has been ordered removed, ICE can break down their door.
It has been accepted for generations that the only thing which can authorize agents to break into your home is a warrant signed by a judge. No wonder ICE hid this memo!
It has been accepted for generations that the only thing which can authorize agents to break into your home is a warrant signed by a judge. No wonder ICE hid this memo!
![May 12, 2025
MEMORANDUM FOR: All ICE Personnel
FROM: Todd Lyons Acting Director
SUBJECT: Utilizing Form I-205, Warrant of Removal
On January 20, 2025, President Donald J. Trump issued Executive Order 14159, Protecting the American People Against Invasion, directing the Secretary of Homeland Security to "ensur[e] the successful enforcement of final orders of removal." 90 Fed. Reg. 8443, 8444 (Jan. 20, 2025) (E.O. 14159). Essential to the removal of aliens subject to final orders of removal is the ability to locate and arrest them. To this end, certain supervisory immigration officers within both Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) and Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) are authorized to issue an administrative warrant, Form I-205, Warrant of Removal (Form 1-205), for the arrest of an alien with a final order of removal. 8 C.F.R. § 241.2(a)(1). All U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) special agents and deportation officers are authorized to execute Forms 1-205. 8 C.F.R. § 287.5(e)(3)(iii) - (y)
Although the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has not historically relied on administrative warrants alone to arrest aliens subject to final orders of removal in their place of residence, the DHS Office of the General Counsel has recently determined that the U.S. Constitution, the Immigration and Nationality Act, and the immigration regulations do not prohibit relying on administrative warrants for this purpose. Accordingly, in light of this legal determination, ICE immigration officers may arrest and detain aliens subject to a final under of removal issued by an immigration judge, the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA), or a U.S.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:2vtbmhmrwzbqcfv4we4uxzzt/bafkreifrzrvaszfhj4bzhgtyvx3fm6ht4kc2zrwtvozijyxl3zxgp7vx6a@jpeg)
January 21, 2026 at 10:28 PM
I try to avoid hyperbole when it comes to Trump policies, but this is absolutely frickin’ insane—on about eleventy different levels.
Massive, systemic Fourth Amendment violations because … reasons.
Massive, systemic Fourth Amendment violations because … reasons.
Reposted by Gene Penise
There is one word in the English language that explains what Minneapolis is experiencing right now: tyranny.
We are under assault by a tyrannical government and its little jackbooted commandant. We are going to keep fighting, and we will win, stand with us.
We are under assault by a tyrannical government and its little jackbooted commandant. We are going to keep fighting, and we will win, stand with us.
January 21, 2026 at 11:47 PM
There is one word in the English language that explains what Minneapolis is experiencing right now: tyranny.
We are under assault by a tyrannical government and its little jackbooted commandant. We are going to keep fighting, and we will win, stand with us.
We are under assault by a tyrannical government and its little jackbooted commandant. We are going to keep fighting, and we will win, stand with us.
Reposted by Gene Penise
This makes me so angry that it almost takes my breath away, but I think what Stephen Miller et al do not understand is that this will make a lot of people who are a lot further to my right just as angry, too www.cbsnews.com/minnesota/ne...
January 22, 2026 at 1:17 AM
This makes me so angry that it almost takes my breath away, but I think what Stephen Miller et al do not understand is that this will make a lot of people who are a lot further to my right just as angry, too www.cbsnews.com/minnesota/ne...
Reposted by Gene Penise
Minnesota: "School officials say the [5-year-old] child was used as bait. They say [ICE] agents made little Liam knock on the door to ask to be let in in order to see if anyone else was home."
January 22, 2026 at 12:05 AM
Minnesota: "School officials say the [5-year-old] child was used as bait. They say [ICE] agents made little Liam knock on the door to ask to be let in in order to see if anyone else was home."
Reposted by Gene Penise
Chanting "HE IS SENILE" in large crowds would go pretty hard and I think we should start now
January 21, 2026 at 8:45 PM
Chanting "HE IS SENILE" in large crowds would go pretty hard and I think we should start now
Reposted by Gene Penise
If you got tear gassed by federal agents today, it was so Bovino and friends could cruise around creating social media content.
youtu.be/i_OpVpmPN1U?...
youtu.be/i_OpVpmPN1U?...
January 21, 2026 at 9:27 PM
If you got tear gassed by federal agents today, it was so Bovino and friends could cruise around creating social media content.
youtu.be/i_OpVpmPN1U?...
youtu.be/i_OpVpmPN1U?...
Reposted by Gene Penise
This photo will be everywhere for the next week. Pls credit prominently.
Richard Tsong-Taatarii/Minnesota Star Tribune
Every journalist covering ICE risks their lives.
Tsong-Taatarii has been an NPPA Photographer of the Year, rec'd a World Press Photo award, and was on a team that won a Pulitzer.
Richard Tsong-Taatarii/Minnesota Star Tribune
Every journalist covering ICE risks their lives.
Tsong-Taatarii has been an NPPA Photographer of the Year, rec'd a World Press Photo award, and was on a team that won a Pulitzer.
Minneapolis, today.
Note how three agents holding the civilian down.
Why spray?
www.startribune.com/ice-raids-mi...
Note how three agents holding the civilian down.
Why spray?
www.startribune.com/ice-raids-mi...
January 21, 2026 at 9:35 PM
This photo will be everywhere for the next week. Pls credit prominently.
Richard Tsong-Taatarii/Minnesota Star Tribune
Every journalist covering ICE risks their lives.
Tsong-Taatarii has been an NPPA Photographer of the Year, rec'd a World Press Photo award, and was on a team that won a Pulitzer.
Richard Tsong-Taatarii/Minnesota Star Tribune
Every journalist covering ICE risks their lives.
Tsong-Taatarii has been an NPPA Photographer of the Year, rec'd a World Press Photo award, and was on a team that won a Pulitzer.
Reposted by Gene Penise
🚨HOLY CRAP. An ICE whistleblower just revealed a secret memo authorizing ICE officers to break into homes without a judicial warrant, which DHS's own legal training materials say is unconstitutional!
ICE then hid the memo from the public, passing it along by word of mouth and private conversation.
ICE then hid the memo from the public, passing it along by word of mouth and private conversation.
January 21, 2026 at 10:00 PM
🚨HOLY CRAP. An ICE whistleblower just revealed a secret memo authorizing ICE officers to break into homes without a judicial warrant, which DHS's own legal training materials say is unconstitutional!
ICE then hid the memo from the public, passing it along by word of mouth and private conversation.
ICE then hid the memo from the public, passing it along by word of mouth and private conversation.
Reposted by Gene Penise
This declaration from WaPo journalist Hannah Natanson describing what the FBI took is utterly devastating.
storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
January 21, 2026 at 7:44 PM
This declaration from WaPo journalist Hannah Natanson describing what the FBI took is utterly devastating.
storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
Reposted by Gene Penise
This tactic of flooding & clogging systems of repression was central to the success of civil rights organizers who mobilized to overturn Jim Crow. They didn’t *vote* it out bc they were legally blocked from doing so. Instead, they made it impossible to maintain.
January 21, 2026 at 6:03 PM
This tactic of flooding & clogging systems of repression was central to the success of civil rights organizers who mobilized to overturn Jim Crow. They didn’t *vote* it out bc they were legally blocked from doing so. Instead, they made it impossible to maintain.
Reposted by Gene Penise
This is so embarrassing. Impeach him, for the love of God
Trump on NATO: "Until the last few days when I told them about Iceland, they loved me. They called me daddy."
(He means Greenland.)
(He means Greenland.)
January 21, 2026 at 2:53 PM
This is so embarrassing. Impeach him, for the love of God
Reposted by Gene Penise
Immediate punishment for speaking out against the regime.
Mischief Toy Store in St. Paul has until Wednesday to turn over employment records to the Department of Homeland Security as part of a surprise audit launched Friday, just hours after one of the shop's owners criticized ICE agents during a television interview. bit.ly/4r5AFol
January 21, 2026 at 12:27 PM
Immediate punishment for speaking out against the regime.
Reposted by Gene Penise
Here's how WaPo and the Times
handled this.
The Times didn't mention the anti-Somali racism. WaPo simply said Trump "revealed his thoughts about Somalia."
WaPo cited Trump praising Hell's Angels without noting he did it while attacking "vicious people" from "the Congo."
An alternate universe
handled this.
The Times didn't mention the anti-Somali racism. WaPo simply said Trump "revealed his thoughts about Somalia."
WaPo cited Trump praising Hell's Angels without noting he did it while attacking "vicious people" from "the Congo."
An alternate universe
January 21, 2026 at 4:49 AM
Here's how WaPo and the Times
handled this.
The Times didn't mention the anti-Somali racism. WaPo simply said Trump "revealed his thoughts about Somalia."
WaPo cited Trump praising Hell's Angels without noting he did it while attacking "vicious people" from "the Congo."
An alternate universe
handled this.
The Times didn't mention the anti-Somali racism. WaPo simply said Trump "revealed his thoughts about Somalia."
WaPo cited Trump praising Hell's Angels without noting he did it while attacking "vicious people" from "the Congo."
An alternate universe
Reposted by Gene Penise
Time and again, successful resistance to Trump’s authoritarianism comes from ordinary Americans putting their actual bodies on the line, when institutional leaders can’t even deign to use strong language.
Watch that. And then tell me how we replace Schumer with her
January 21, 2026 at 2:08 AM
Time and again, successful resistance to Trump’s authoritarianism comes from ordinary Americans putting their actual bodies on the line, when institutional leaders can’t even deign to use strong language.
Reposted by Gene Penise
If anyone has any information on the identity of the "advocacy group tyring to overturn election results in certain states” and who were secretly in contact with DOGE, my Signal is DavidGilbert.01
www.politico.com/news/2026/01...
www.politico.com/news/2026/01...
Trump administration concedes DOGE team may have misused Social Security data
Some DOGE personnel had more access to data than previously acknowledged, according to a court filing.
www.politico.com
January 20, 2026 at 8:11 PM
If anyone has any information on the identity of the "advocacy group tyring to overturn election results in certain states” and who were secretly in contact with DOGE, my Signal is DavidGilbert.01
www.politico.com/news/2026/01...
www.politico.com/news/2026/01...
Reposted by Gene Penise
In a remarkable court filing, DOJ also revealed that DOGE employees traded Social Security data on an unapproved third party server — Cloudflare — and may have sent private SSA info to a top DOGE adviser. www.politico.com/news/2026/01...
January 20, 2026 at 6:53 PM
In a remarkable court filing, DOJ also revealed that DOGE employees traded Social Security data on an unapproved third party server — Cloudflare — and may have sent private SSA info to a top DOGE adviser. www.politico.com/news/2026/01...