Government Subpoenas of Tech Companies

14:56 Monday, 16 February 2026
Current Wx: Temp: 44.46°F Pressure: 1018hPa Humidity: 95% Wind: 5.32mph
Words: 205

This is a NY Times video, and I have no idea if it'll be behind the paywall or not. The video page doesn't seem to have a "gift link" sharing option.

But it opens with a video you may have seen where a protestor is asking a masked ICE agent why he's taking her personal information. He replies, "Cause we have a nice little database, and now you're considered a domestic terrorist."

The report goes on to document recent cases of subpoenas being issued to social media platforms for information about "accounts that have been critical of ICE."

They are asking for addresses, email addresses, phone numbers and I.P. information.

Not everyone that gets entered into a database will necessarily be someone who will eventually be arrested. But it gives the administration a powerful tool for analyzing the people and networks organizing against it, and some of those people would almost certainly be among the first to be rounded up in a program of mass arrests.

Connect the dots.

Yes, I'm aware that one of the most powerful advantages we have is the monumental stupidity of the people staffing this administration. But absent action to actually stop them, they don't have to be geniuses.

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Taughannock Hike 2-9-26

12:00 Monday, 16 February 2026

Current Wx: Temp: 41.05°F Pressure: 1019hPa Humidity: 81% Wind: 5.23mph
Words: 43

Spent some time going through the images I took last week at Taughannock. Put an album up on Flickr, if you're into frozen winter landscapes.

It's not art. I'm barely competent as a photographer. But you don't see stuff like this every day.

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Last Week

08:22 Monday, 16 February 2026
Current Wx: Temp: 34.61°F Pressure: 1019hPa Humidity: 90% Wind: 4.29mph
Words: 60

John Oliver's most recent show covers DHS and ICE. While he doesn't suggest anything nefarious beyond the incompetence and farcical performance of Kristi Noem, nothing in the piece relieves my anxiety.

In the piece, he mentions ICE recruits not receiving adequate Spanish language training.

But really, how much Spanish language training to you need to arrest "Antifa" and "the left"?

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Conspiracy Theory?

06:50 Monday, 16 February 2026
Current Wx: Temp: 34.81°F Pressure: 1018hPa Humidity: 89% Wind: 4.68mph
Words: 397

The more I think about it, the more convinced I am that the Trump administration has no plans to cede power. I'm uncertain whether that includes the midterm elections, because it's not clear to me that they will have had enough time to complete the acquisition and conversion of the necessary facilities to complete their constellation of concentration camps.

Am I simply becoming a conspiracy theorist? I don't think so. I don't have that much time on my hands.

But consider the fact that this administration is committing crimes at a rate and on a scale that strongly suggests that they never expect to be held accountable.

Consider the fact that the Justice Department under Pam Bondi is drafting a list of "domestic terrorists." This won't actually be "domestic terrorists," or "Antifa." It will be the names of people whose voices the administration wants to quell when it exercises its takeover.

Consider the speed and facility with which the administration labeled Rene Good and Alex Pretti "domestic terrorists." This was likely a tactical error, but it suggests that this is a communications strategy already in place.

Consider the choice of strategy and tactics for DHS's program of rounding up and deporting "illegals." It's decidedly counter-productive from a "public relations" standpoint. But it is exactly what is necessary to rehearse the actions necessary to conduct mass arrests of Americans, and sending them to camps where no one will know where they are located.

How do you recruit and train a loyal internal security apparatus to carry out mass arrests of American citizens with no qualms? Consider ICE recruiting material.

The only question I have is, who is actually behind this? Because I'm pretty sure Donald Trump lacks the capacity or appetite for this, but he is demonstrably able to be influenced and used to mobilize executive authority, vastly expanded under the "Big Beautiful Bill," to conduct the elaborate preparations necessary to carry out such an operation when the time is right.

Is it a billionaire oligarchy led by Peter Thiel? Who is the "inside man" in the administration? Is it J.D. Vance? Is it Stephen Miller? Miller seems "read-in," given the nature of his public comments.

This is just a matter of connecting obvious dots hidden in plain sight. We can't see it, because we don't want to see it.

There is little time left.

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