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Monday, January 26, 2026
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Feds find guns, body armor in home of man charged for threatening to shoot ICE agents
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Anti-ICE Signal Chats: Walz Administration Implicated, Foreign Funding Revealed. Walz and Frey want the chaos to continue to take the heat off their crimes!
Anti-ICE Signal Chats: Walz Administration Implicated, Foreign Funding Revealed
We're learning a lot more about the people who were in the anti-ICE Signal chat groups that independent journalist Cam Higby infiltrated in Minnesota, the organization of the group, its donors, and the significance of the address at which Alex Pretti was obstructing federal officers. There's far too much information to detail completely in this piece, but even just from an overview, it's clear that there is an organized insurrection underway, led by several elected officials in Minnesota and aided by alleged journalists.
Let's hit the highlights:
Organization
The groups are highly sophisticated. They're set up geographically; within the City of Minneapolis, they're generally divided by City Council district, but also cover St. Paul, Bloomington, and other suburbs. They start a new chat every day and delete the prior day's chat. Because of Signal's encryption, it would be exceedingly difficult for the deleted messages to be recovered unless, say, participants were recording those messages prior to deletion. Signal also has a "no screenshots" function, which undoubtedly was enabled on these chats, so the messages would have to be recorded the way Higby did - by recording using a separate phone.
They have a set of emojis that each user puts around their name when they're on shift, to indicate what position they're working that shift. For example:
Funding
On Sunday evening, Data Republican published a spreadsheet of 4000+ donors to the effort and their possible identities, and made that publicly downloadable. She also sent a non-redacted spreadsheet to the FBI and other federal authorities.
The first donation to the effort was made by Jonny Soppotiuk, a Canadian who helps run the crowdfunding site, Chuffed, which hosts the fundraiser.
She wrote:
BREAKING: SIGNALGATE DONORS LIST AVAILABLE FOR DOWNLOAD; POLITICIANS + FOREIGN LEADERSHIP CONFIRMED?
In one of the files revealed by @camhigby, a resources file directs people with money to a website, Stand with Minnesota, which in turns directs donors to a campaign ran by Tending the Soil on Chuffed.
More about Tending the Soil later. What to know: the campaign is hosted by Chuffed and the first donation came from Jonny Soppotiuk, a Canada-based community organizer who is part of Chuffed leadership and specializes in fundraising. He is most likely a central figure in raising money.
So, yeah. Starting to look like foreigners are playing a key role in all of this.
That's not all. I've put together a spreadsheet of 4000+ donors and their possible identities.
Politicians & Journalists
Even bigger: The names of the people involved. As Streiff wrote in an excellent piece on Sunday, "It is obvious that a non-trivial number of judges and elected officials are affiliated with the current insurrection."
Not surprisingly, Alex Pretti, the man who was killed Saturday, was a member of the group; one of his neighbors confirmed that. And, so was Renee Good.
Then we have some Minneapolis elected officials.
Rep. Brad Tabke
Minnesota state Rep. Brad Tabke coordinates the Scott County ICE Watch Signal chat. Scott County is just outside Minneapolis.
This is not some vague third-party thing. This is Rep. Brad Tabke himself running/organizing/coordinating the Scott County ICE Watch program, including recruiting people for patrol, dispatch, training, and even food receiving/packing/delivery shifts at the New Creation Church location in Shakopee.
Minnesota state Rep. Alex Falconer
In a campaign stop, Falconer both admitted that he's part of the chat and recruited participants. He said, in part:
I'm a community organizer at heart, and that's part of what I'm trying to bring to the table.
I'm helping to lead the community response, rapid response network that we have, given any ICE situations...
We've got a couple of groups on the app Signal that we would love for you to join.
We know that Tabke was involved because people who signed up for that chat received a welcome message from him containing his personal cell phone number, and, obviously, Falconer admitted his role. For the rest of the people mentioned in this article, their involvement is not 100 percent confirmed; for many, their involvement is presumed because of the username in the chat and leadership position, but a definitive determination would need to be made by law enforcement or their own admission.
Aurin Chowdhury
One username is Aurin Chowdhury. An admin with the same name is on the Minneapolis City Council, representing Ward 12.
Prior to her post announcing Pretti's shooting, the last thing Chowdhury posted was a video of a local pizzeria owner refusing to serve federal agents.
MPR's Ben Hovland, NPR's Sergio Martinez-Beltrán
Ben Hovland, with Minnesota Public Radio (shocker) seems to be part of the group. He covers immigration for the formerly publicly-funded outlet, and his profession is listed in the group chat. He has now locked his X profile. NPR's Sergio Martinez-Beltrán is also listed as a participant, and his profession is also listed with his contact.
Hovland just happened to be "on-scene covering"the "protests" when Renee Good was shot.
Amanda Koehler, former Walz staffer, MN State Senate candidate Anita Smithson, and Minneapolis politician David Snyder were all listed, with Koehler and Smithson serving as admins and Snyder as a dispatcher.
Lt. Gov Peggy Flanagan (?)
This is the biggest name of all. An independent journalist working with Higby to determine the identities of the anti-ICE signal chat participants believes that Minnesota Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan is an admin in the chat going by the username Flan Southside.
Despite the Irish last name, which is her mother's, Flanagan is the first female Native American to serve in that position. She is a member of the White Earth Band of Ojibwe.
As of a few hours ago, Higby stated that he's not 100 percent certain that the username belongs to Flanagan, but there's a bit of circumstantial evidence showing that might just be her:
Regardless, Flanagan is involved in stirring up local activists. She recently instructed leftists to put their bodies on the line to protest.
It's clear that Walz, Frey, and Flanagan want this insurrection to continue because it takes the focus off the massive fraud that's been occurring in that state, much of it with Walz's knowledge. Related to that, it's interesting that the address where the shooting occurred, 2614 Nicollet, an 1100 square foot building that's home to eight businesses: Smart Therapy Center, New American Development Center, Nicollet Senior Center, United Wellness Center, African American Family Services, Millenium Health Services, Bloom Home Health, and Global Interpreting Innovations.
Do you notice a common theme with those businesses?
And, there are 184 National Provider Identifier numbers listed as doing business at the address.
That is a preposterous number of practitioners allegedly working from that address, and it begs the question - why didn't that raise red flags?
Higby has promised that more information on the Signal chats will be released on Monday morning.
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Jennifer Van Laar, RedState's Managing Editor, is an unapologetic California conservative, sports fanatic, mom of three boys, and Gramie to two perfect little girls. She holds a bachelor's degree from Boston University, where she studied international relations and became a die-hard hockey fan. Prior to entering journalism in 2014, she was a court reporter for 20 years in the criminal and civil courts of North Carolina. She joins The Inland Empire Answer on Salem Radio Network's AM 590 The Answer every Thursday for "Spill The Tea Thursday."
The left will always find a way to define deviancy down...so, killing alcoholics with free booze is their idea of compassion!
Crazy scheme saw San Francisco taxpayers shell out $5M a year to hand out booze to homeless alcoholics
Everything these people want is destructive to a civilized society...cancel rent; cancel mortgages. Make someone else pay for our lifestyle!
US NEWS
EXCLUSIVE
How LA bankrolls lefty anti-cop, Olympics-hating activist group using $1.4M in taxpayer funds
The city of Los Angeles has quietly steered $1.4 million in taxpayer funds to a “social justice” group that wants to abolish the LAPD, cancel the 2028 Olympics, halt rent and mortgage payments — and has even sued the city.
Strategic Actions for a Just Economy (SAJE) is not just an activist group protesting on the steps of City Hall, it’s a paid contractor for the city of LA. The group has been hired to perform tenant outreach, education and housing-related mapping work.
SAJE has received at least $1.43 million since 2020, primarily through contracts with the Los Angeles Housing Department, which is under city control, and additional grants from the Department of Water and Power, according to city records reviewed by The California Post.
The activist group has a long history of extreme views, calling for the police to not only be defunded but “abolished,” urging boycotts of city hotels and opposing the 2028 Olympics
The group held rallies, posted on social media and coordinated with lefty City Council members to defund or abolish the LAPD, cancel the LA28 Olympics and impose broad rent and mortgage freezes.
SAJE is largely funded through the city’s Systematic Code Enforcement Program, a fee-based system paid by tenants and landlords and kept outside the city’s general fund.
“There were times I honestly didn’t know if I could keep the doors open,” Venice landlord Craig Ribeiro told The Post. “And then you realize you’re paying into groups that are fighting people like me — that’s infuriating.”
“I see how much work police do in our community, and then I see groups paid by the city saying we don’t need them,” he added.
SAJE holds multiple contracts with LAHD, including a three-year, $600,000 contract to provide tenant outreach and education services tied to housing enforcement programs such as the Rent Escrow Account Program (REAP) and the Utility Maintenance Program (UMP), according to records.
In 2023, the city also approved a sole-source contract worth up to $125,000 for SAJE to produce a displacement risk analysis and interactive mapping tool tied to the city’s Housing Element.
“Having a group like SAJE being paid by the city feels like another nail in the coffin,” said Megan Briceño, a small mom-and-pop housing provider who says she’s doing everything she can to keep her tenants housed — while taxpayer dollars bankroll activists working against her.
“This isn’t some abstract policy debate. It’s personal. It’s destabilizing. And it feels deliberate.”
SAJE has also received multiple LADWP grants, expanding its public funding beyond housing enforcement.
But SAJE has also sued the City of Los Angeles — even though it funds the group — over approvals for a luxury hotel project on public land, prompting closed-door settlement talks by City Council in 2023.
That same year, the city updated an existing SAJE contract originally awarded in September 2020. Administered by the LAHD, the contract covers SAJE’s displacement-risk analysis and mapping tool tied to implementation of the 2021–2029 Housing Element.
The update was officially attested on June 6, 2023. Despite the lawsuit, the funding relationship remained intact.
Publicly available filings do not provide an itemized accounting of how Systematic Code Enforcement Fee revenue is spent — on inspections, tenant education, staffing, or other enforcement. The fee sits outside the general fund and lacks the transparency typically associated with taxpayer-backed programs.
SAJE is also exempt from the city’s lobbying ordinance, meaning it does not file disclosures detailing who it meets with at City Hall, what legislation it pushes, or how much it spends influencing city policy — even as it remains deeply involved in some of the city’s most divisive debates.
SAJE disputes any suggestion that public funds are misused.
“SAJE has grants and contracts from both private and public sources, each of which have different reporting requirements,” said SAJE’s deputy director of communications and development Elizabeth Hamilton.
“We track expenses so we can link funding sources to the projects and activities for which the funding was granted. We do not use funding for issue-based advocacy if that activity is prohibited by the funder.”
Hamilton acknowledged that SAJE sometimes works with the city and, in other cases, has sued it.
“We often work with the city when our goals are aligned with city program goals, but our goals are not always perfectly congruent, and in a few cases we have engaged in litigation against the city,” she said.
Hamilton also said SAJE does not currently have a financial relationship with lefty nonprofit LA Forward, though the group has served as a subcontractor in the past. She said SAJE is up to date on audits and tax filings.
LA Forward is closely aligned with Democratic Socialists of America-backed candidates who help set city housing policy and control funding decisions — raising questions about the overlap between taxpayer-funded advocacy, political organizing and City Hall power.
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However, none of this is illegal. City rules allow nonprofits to receive public funds while engaging in advocacy, and exemptions in the lobbying ordinance mean some organizations face less disclosure requirements than traditional lobbyists.
The arrangement still leaves a glaring transparency gap: A city-funded contractor with strong ideological goals, direct access to City Hall, no lobbying disclosures — and limited public accounting of how fee-backed dollars are spent.
The California Post contacted the City for comment but it didn’t respond.
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