Jonathan Foiles

People are right to be incensed, but there are more names to uplift. ICE killed an immigrant man named Silverio Villegas González in Chicagoland. He had children. Victor Manuel Diaz was kidnapped in Minneapolis and died in ICE custody on January 14. Their names deserve to be repeated, too.

TEXT: I was Alex Pretti’s final nursing student. He was my friend and my nursing mentor. For the past four months, I stood shoulder to shoulder with him during my capstone preceptorship at the Minneapolis VA Hospital. There he trained me to care for the sickest of the sick as an ICU nurse. He taught me how to care for arterial and central lines, the intricacies of managing multiple IVs filled with lifesaving solutions, and how to watch over every heartbeat, every breath, and every flicker of life, ready to act the moment they wavered. Techniques intended to heal. Alex carried patience, compassion and calm as a steady light within him. Even at the very end, that light was there. I recognized his familiar stillness and signature calm composure shining through during those unbearable final moments captured on camera. It does not surprise me that his final words were, “Are you okay?” Caring for people was at the core of who he was. He was incapable of causing harm. He lived a life of healing, and he lived it well. Alex believed strongly in the Second Amendment and in the rights rooted in our Constitution and its amendments. He spoke out for justice and peace whenever he could, not only out of obligation, but out of a belief that we are more connected than divided, and that communication would bring us together.

TEXT: I want his family to know his legacy lives on. I am a better nurse because of the wisdom and skills he instilled in me. I carry his light with me into every room, letting it guide and steady my hands as I heal and care for those in need. Please honor my friend by standing up for peace, preferably with a cup of black coffee in hand and a couple of pieces of candy in your pocket, just as he would. He would remind you that caring for others is hard work, and we must do whatever it takes to get through the long shifts. Step outside with your dog, breathe in the world, hike or bike as he loved to do, and let yourself find peace in the quiet moments within nature. Stand up for justice and speak with those whose views differ from your own. Hold your beliefs with strength, but always extend love outward, even in the face of adversity. Take one step, no matter how small, to help heal our world. Through these acts, carry his light forward in his name. Let his legacy continue to heal.

From a FB post about Alex Pretti:

Renee Nicole Good, murdered by ICE, was a prize-winning poet. Here’s that poem. Renee Nicole Good, 37, mother to a six-year-old boy, was murdered earlier today by an ICE agent in Minneapolis, a few blocks from her home. According to the Minnesota Star Tribune: [An ICE agent] s…

“i want back my rocking chairs, / solipsist sunsets, / & coastal jungle sounds...”

A poem by Renee Nicole Good, who was murdered by ICE earlier today.

lithub.com/renee-nicole...

There's a video going viral in Chicago right now by a guy claiming large scale raids will start around 2AM in specific neighborhoods. It's BS. The person who posted it has a checkered history of false claims to try to gain followers and drum up business for a private security company he runs.

The administration plans to attack public festivities in Chicago around Mexican Independence Day (which may include this weekend's parade in Pilsen or related activities) because they want to attack folks in settings where people will try to protect and hold onto community members.

Texas loaded busses with desperate migrants and dropped them off in Chicago like trash in the middle of winter. We welcomed them into our communities. Now Texas is sending its National Guard to terrorize them on our streets. In our neighborhoods. What the fuck.

An infographic reads: If you need assistance due to ICE detention, or to report any suspected ICE sightings, call 855-435-7693. Visit icirr.org/fsn for hotline and Know Your Rights info.

An infographic reads: Llame a la linea directa de apoyo familiar 855-435-7693. Obtener apoyo legal de deportacion, reportar cualquier actividad de ICE, obtener referidos para servicios legales y socialies. Ayuda disponsible en Ingles, Korean, Arabic, Chinese, Polish, Urdu, Vietnamese, Haitian, Creole, Quechua, Ukranian, Russian, and Hindi

With credible reports that there will soon be a major increase in federal immigration enforcement activity in Chicago, I want to once again highlight the Family Support Network - a rapid response resource run by the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights (ICIRR). Use it if you spot ICE.

It's really hard not to earnest post right now about how much we love this city and how infuriating it is to see it under threat at the whims of a senile, racist lunatic

if
you
don't
want
to
write
don't
be
a
writer

Episcopal Church refuses to resettle white Afrikaners, ends partnership with US government (RNS) — In light of our church’s steadfast commitment to racial justice and reconciliation and our historic ties with the Anglican Church of Southern Africa, we are not able to take this step,' the pr...

BREAKING: The Episcopal Church has announced it will end its decades-old partnership with the government to resettle refugees, citing moral opposition to resettling white Afrikaners from South Africa who have been classified as refugees by the Trump admin. religionnews.com/2025/05/12/e...

This will sound weird but love yourself enough to write your own term papers.

The Tactics Elon Musk Uses to Manage His ‘Legion’ of Babies—and Their Mothers The world’s richest man juggles more than a dozen children and ‘harem drama’ along with running his companies and advising Trump. He recently took a paternity test in a battle with one woman over mone...

New from me: The Tactics Elon Musk Uses to Manage His ‘Legion’ of Babies—and Their Mothers
www.wsj.com/politics/elo...

It's Monday 🥴🫣😩

All Belt books are 25% off for spring! 😍🌸🐇😎🥲🐛😄🌷

www.arcadiapublishing.com/pages/belt-p...

'I cannot guarantee complete confidentiality,' VA therapists ordered to tell veterans Mental health therapists at Veterans Affairs should begin sessions with patients saying they are in a shared office space, a memo obtained by NPR says. Trump's back-to-office orders start Monday for V...

There’s no way this is ethical.

The cruelty of these people is astounding.

can't wait to vote Durbin out of office

I'd hoped to hold back for the book my story of the time Chuck Schumer enthused to me about torture as good policy ("torture warrants" for "sterilized needles underneath the fingernails"), but maybe now's the time. Wonder if he would deny it. #FuckChuck

A movement is calling for an 'economic blackout' on Friday. Here's what to know The People's Union USA, a grassroots group, is calling on Americans to join a national boycott by not shopping for 24 hours on Friday.

The People's Union USA, a grassroots group, is calling on Americans to join a national boycott by not shopping for 24 hours on Friday.

Really grateful to have my work mentioned in this great op-ed on Canada’s mental health crisis.

A single protester demonstrated outside the Gold Coast Tesla dealership today as part of the national #teslatakedown action late this morning. Not pictured: a dozen CPD bike cops, and a few more warming up in a CPD van nearby.

‘You Can’t Let This Happen,’ Says Fundraising Email From Sitting U.S. Congressperson

‘You Can’t Let This Happen,’ Says Fundraising Email From Sitting U.S. Congressperson

Opinion | Trump’s War on D.E.I. Is Really a War on Civil Rights The genius of the right-wing crusade against D.E.I. is that the term is amorphous enough that it can mean many different things to many different people.

"[For the Right], D.E.I...is the mere presence of a woman or nonwhite person or disabled or transgender person in any high-skilled, high-status position. And their alternative isn’t some heretofore unknown standard of merit; it is the reintroduction of something like segregation."

(gift link)

Pope Francis’s Stunning Rebuke of JD Vance Exposes MAGA’s Dark Soul The vice president took a stab at theology to defend the administration’s rank cruelty. Then a higher authority weighed in.

Pope Francis' remarkable rebuke of JD Vance and Trumpism lays bare an essential truth: Trump is overseeing a massive and systematic abandonment of obligation to the global poor, and Vance's theological obfuscation can't make that disappear.

New piece from me:
newrepublic.com/article/1914...

Kendrick Lamar at the Super Bowl looking directly at the camera for “Hey Drake”

Pope Francis dropping his statement in JD Vance’s direction

Cook County’s web of surveillance for electronic monitoring Sheriff Tom Dart worked with the University of Chicago’s Steven Levitt to create a program that could “match” people on EM to reported crimes.

icymi: cook county sheriff tom dart quietly worked with freakonomics’ steven levitt on an algorithm that used shotspotter + police data to “match” people on electronic monitors to new crimes—even as their own research found the monitors were prone to false alerts.

If it's hitting UIUC already, it's crushing other places.

@econroy.bsky.social the lag will catch up real soon like.

Agreed, it reminds me of the best of the world-building elements from that show.

this haptic display absolutely rocks. basketball is for everyone.

My (private) institution, which I could never have imagined attending as a kid from a poor rural high school, will be fine. My (public) Alma mater will be screwed.

The wholesale rejection of any ethics has really been getting to me. Someone I deeply respect referred to these as “evil days” and I find myself gravitating more to those sort of formulations.