Unicorn Riot

NEW: Facing four state felony assault charges and federal charges of lying to the FBI over a shooting in Minneapolis, ICE agent Christian Castro made appearances in Minnesota state and federal courts last week. Castro’s case has been politically contentious as officials have battled over extraditing the federal agent from his home state of Texas to face charges in Minnesota. [Read full article]

ICE Agent Charged For Shooting and Lying Appears in Minnesota State and Federal Courts - UNICORN RIOT Facing four state felony assault charges and federal charges of lying to the FBI over a shooting in Minneapolis, ICE agent Christian Castro made appearances in Minnesota state and federal courts last week.

Enbridge's Line 5 Leaks a Day After Journalist Arrested

Enbridge’s aging Line 5 pipeline spilled natural gas liquids in northern Wisconsin just east of the Bad River Reservation on August 25 after an unoccupied semi truck colided with it, according to Enbridge.

The day before, police arrested Unicorn Riot contributor River Akemann, who was documenting the legally contested construction site. He was monitoring fish in a creek where Enbridge lacks necessary authorization to install its pipeline. He received four misdemeanor charges and was released later that day.

Enbridge the Canadian oil giant faces numerous legal challenges over its operation of Line 5. The 73-year-old pipeline carries oil and natural gas liquids through the heart of the Great Lakes region. Experts warn that it risks rupturing into the world’s largest bodies of freshwater.

Enbridge’s Line 5 pipeline, originally routed across Bad River Band tribal land under easements dating to 1953, is now being rerouted along a new 41.1-mile corridor through 1854 Treaty Territory in Ashland County, Wisconsin, crossing 186 waterways, 612 acres of wetlands, and hard bedrock across the Penokee-Gogebic Range, the zone of greatest geological uncertainty along the route.

Line 5 alone has had roughly 30 on-land releases, totaling around one million gallons of oil.

Enbridge has a secretive deal with Ashland County to reimburse the sheriff’s department to act as private security. Enbridge is paying police using the Wisconsin Counties Association, a lobbying group, as the pass through. The Association is not subject to state open records laws. The public won’t know how much Enbridge is paying law enforcement or how the money is being spent.

Multiple groups are suing Canadian oil giant Enbridge for proceeding with Line 5 construction without required property interests at 49 water crossings. Plaintiffs include the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa and multiple environmental organizations.

Line 5 was shut down because of the spill for a couple weeks but is back up and running.

Watch videos in past posts and read full articles at our website. Links in comments.

NEW: Minnesota’s Attorney General Keith Ellison has decided to “eliminate” the state’s Conviction Review Unit (CRU) less than six years after he created it. The closure is a devastating blow to around 160 CRU applicants in Minnesota prisons whose cases were pending final investigation into their claims of wrongful conviction.

Designed to “identify, remedy, and prevent wrongful convictions,” the CRU was ultimately stunted by limited funds and officially completed just four investigations after receiving over 1,150 applications. Ellison said he closed the unit “due to budgetary constraints.”

“How can this be a funding problem,” asked Marvina Haynes, who successfully fought to free her innocent brother Marvin from prison after 20 years.

Haynes led a press conference among family of the incarcerated, advocates, and activists at the Minnesota State Capitol on July 14, 2026, calling for the state to fund the unit. “We are here today to demand that legislators move forward, fund the [Conviction Review Unit].” [VIDEOS]

Minnesota Ends Conviction Review Unit With 160 Cases Still Under Investigation - UNICORN RIOT Minnesota's Attorney General Keith Ellison has decided to "eliminate" the state's Conviction Review Unit (CRU) less than six years after he created it. The closure is a devastating blow to around 160 CRU applicants in Minnesota prisons whose cases were pending final investigation into their claims o...

Minnesota residents are organizing against Google's proposed hyperscale data center projects in Pine Island and Hermantown, citing secrecy through NDAs, inadequate environmental review, and issues with water use, electricity and noise pollution.

The Fight Against Google’s Minnesota Data Centers - UNICORN RIOT Minnesota residents are organizing against proposed hyperscale data centers, especially Google-linked projects in Pine Island and Hermantown, citing secrecy through NDAs, inadequate environmental review, and issues with water use, electricity, noise pollution and more.

On August 26, the U.S. Departments of State and the Treasury designated a volunteer tech collective behind a popular activist blogging platform a terrorist organization.

Autistici/Inventati (A/I), the Italian collective behind NoBlogs.org, now joins such organizations as the Islamic State group and al Qaeda on the list of Specially Designated Global Terrorists (SDGTs), a category created by former President George W. Bush in an executive order weeks after the 9/11 attacks. Shortly thereafter, Autistici/Inventati lost their domain, autistici.org, and had their Italian bank account closed due to the threat of U.S. sanctions.

NoBlogs was hacked on August 28, two days after the terrorism designation. A “Free Palestine” button on the NoBlogs homepage was redirected to link to a U.S. government “self deportation” site, and a message was posted claiming that NoBlogs user information had been “saved and given to the United States government.”

The hack was quickly promoted on X by right-wing influencer and Pentagon employee Jennica Pounds. On September 6, Autistici/Inventati announced its imminent closure.

A/I, which provided its services such as NoBlogs to protect activists, feared that maintaining its services would only expose users to additional risk given the “political climate” now that it was labeled a Specially Designated Global Terrorist.

Activist Blogging Platform Shuts Down After Terrorism Designation - UNICORN RIOT Washington DC — On August 26, 2026, the U.S. Departments of State and the Treasury designated a volunteer tech collective behind a popular activist blogging platform a terrorist organization. Autistici/Inventati (A/I), the Italian collective behind NoBlogs.org, now joins such organizations as the ...

DHS Facial Recognition Software Used Against Minnesota 15

Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) has deployed an aggressive facial recognition apparatus for monitoring and tracking domestic political dissidents while creating centralized dossiers on ordinary American protesters.

Four days after federal agents shot and killed Alex Pretti in Minneapolis during Operation Metro Surge, HSI began Operation Puppet Master, their undercover spying campaign that netted conspiracy charges against 15 people who allegedly took part in protesting against ICE.

An HSI undercover agent, embedded inside the Signal group chat Whipple Watch, downloaded a selfie posted by Isaac Sant.

The photo shows Sant’s face bruised from rubber bullets. The agent uploaded the selfie to Clearview AI’s facial recognition database that turned it into a dossier.

“I was dismayed, but I wasn’t surprised,” Sant said. “HSI are a bunch of bozos and Keystone Cops that don’t know what the hell they’re doing.”

Kevin Riach, Sant’s attorney, revealed the breadth of the sprawling surveillance campaign, which targeted not the agents who shot and killed Alex Pretti, but protesters, union members, and activists who organized at churches, schools, and libraries.

Clearview AI boasts that its software can scrape over 30 billion images shared openly across various dead links and social media platforms, oftentimes without the consent of those photographed.

The New York-based facial recognition firm provides its database to thousands of local police departments and signed a $3 million contract with DHS in the fall of 2025.

Riach said the government produced only a fraction of the Clearview AI facial recognition search results it generated on protesters and activists during Operation Metro Surge, arguing that all results should be disclosed.

Sant and his lawyer, Riach, said Clearview produced a false match in Sant’s case, linking Facebook photos of another man, his wife and their family to Sant.

“If you ask me, I think this whole indictment was written by AI and the whole thing’s going to get thrown out.” - Sant

Read the full article at our website - link in bio and comments.