Greetings from Occupied Minneapolis

Hey family,
How bout dem Bears?

I wanted to let you know how we’re doing and how our city is doing, following the murder of Renee Nicole Good last week. It’s about ~30 minutes after school drop-off now, as it was for her.

The vibe was already scary and you’d hear stories. My younger kid’s friend has a 2 y/o sister in daycare. For weeks, the parents were using Signal to coordinate escorts for the staff, who felt unsafe going from the parking lot to the building and vice-versa.

Stories gave way to felt experience. Hours after the murder, my niece’s high school was terrorized during school dismissal. That’s 4 blocks away from us, and where my kids will eventually go to school. Minneapolis cancelled all public schools on Thursday and Friday out of caution.

On Saturday, a teenager working at our local Target was abducted and beaten up. He was dropped off at a Walmart 3 miles away, without his phone. I’d stress he was a US citizen if it mattered.

What does matter? How about warrants signed by a judge to enter your home? No longer needed, we learned Saturday. How about choke-holds? Also fine now, we learned Sunday. Knees on necks, OK too. Oh, it’s a pattern. I’d stress the city is still raw from George Floyd’s murder if it mattered.

The kids went back to school Monday. I had the time and space to have a panic attack, after struggling to install my bike’s studded tires…wire beads, rubber, and cold weather don’t mix. A local pizza place was donating food to families in need, making them a target for an abduction and tear-gassing a busy commercial corner mid-day. In the evening, our City Council President was assaulted at a bus stop unprovoked.

On Wednesday, an autistic woman driving to a doctor’s appointment made the mistake of driving near ICE. They broke her windows, cut her seat belt, dragged her from the car, and abducted her. She passed out in detention from her injuries and was taken to the hospital. As a parent of an autistic child, it took me 30 minutes to write this paragraph.

The kids also went back to school Tuesday and the rest of the week, none of that a given. Adults were requested as backup for the child crossing guards at arrival and dismissal, on every corner, to prevent abductions at bus stops. Then we hope the abductors don’t pull the buses over. Distance learning was an option for families sheltering-in-place. In Saint Paul, school is closed next Tuesday and Wednesday, as they prepare for distance learning.

There is an ever-growing list of cancelled events and closed restaurants, as people of color shelter-in-place and cannot work nor go to school. The abductors have fanned out to the suburbs and beyond. On Wednesday afternoon, they enjoyed some Mexican food and came back later to abduct the staff. At night, they shot a father in the leg inside his house, with children present, and followed it up by flash-banging and teargassing another father and his 6 children in his car, including a 6 month old baby after he informed the abductors of his plan to leave with his family. The abductors then treated the neighborhood to some gaseous zinc chloride, that looked straight out of Wizard of Oz. I’d stress many are US citizens or have legal protections if it mattered. I’d point out the official/fabricated story about a shovel attack if it mattered.

The mayor and governor let us know they tried nothing and are out of ideas. We should expect to continue being terrorized by armed abductors, which they say is preferable to “taking the bait”. The abductors have a similar message, familiar to any domestic abuse victim, of have y’all not learned. What about the cops? Well, the MSP union stands with ICE. No one is coming to help us.

FUCK this is dreary. But it’s been clarifying. No one is coming to help us, all we have is each other. Most of our City Council has been on the ground (shout-out Jason Chavez), organizing donations for affected families across social media, and sharing crucial information in real-time. Neighbors are on Signal groups observing ICE and performing rapid response, knowing that seconds matter when documenting and, best-case, preventing an abduction. My neighborhood RR has 700 members reporting sus cars, checking plates, taking pictures, and alerting on stops.

How can I be most useful has been top of mind. I have helped observe when walking the dog and generally when out and about. Our city council folks share several requests for mutual aid each day; I donate to those. The studded tires helped me bike to the Whipple Building to peacefully yell at these losers to go home on Tuesday and Thursday, and make it back in time to hang with the crossing guards at my kids’ school. There is no shortage of ways to be helpful, even if you’re outside of Minnesota.

FUCK this is still dreary. But there have been pockets of joy, thanks to our challenging terrain and proper winters. Let’s cheer up with the ICE on ice program, brought to you by Fuddruckers. We’ve got a solid lineup featuring

• The Last Call Line Dancers
• Tailbone SMASH (alt version, with the original sound 🤌)
• Curse you, snowball man!
• Partner Dancing in the evenings

Jeez, it’s like these guys aren’t trained at all.

Looking forward to seeing y’all next week at xxxxxxxxxx, assuming we can fly out of MSP.

Love,
Dan

P.S. if you made it this far, and you’re more angry at my politics than my city’s suffering, welp, then we just kin.

END OF EMAIL

HOW TO HELP

Go to Stand With Minnesota and find funds to donate to.

If you’re in Minnesota, please explain what you’ve experienced and felt to your family and friends, especially those that live out-of-state. Turn the pain into information and share.

REFERENCE

This webpage was posted to Bluesky on January 17th, 2026.

danktech.io/occupied-mpls

Most of my family is outside of MN. Here is an email I sent them yesterday explaining the situation on the ground.

Stay safe this weekend. Love y’all!

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— Daniel Knobloch (@danktech.io) January 17, 2026 at 10:24 AM