Shannon Craig Straw

This is the great replacement theory. It is racist. It is antisemitic. And it is deadly.

Brian Straw Legal Defense Fund Together, we can show our neighbors, friends, and children that we have the courage to do what is right.

The next hearing in Brian's case is scheduled for January 28. We wish it were sooner; however, the simple truth is this isn't getting resolved soon. The best way to support us right now continues to be through Brian's legal defense fund.

secure.actblue.com/donate/straw...

A friend from college texted me asking for advice and this was my first and immediate response.

Brian Straw Legal Defense Fund Together, we can show our neighbors, friends, and children that we have the courage to do what is right.

We are extremely grateful for the outpouring of love and support from everyone (not just the Methodists 😄). The best way to support our family right now is through Brian's legal defense fund, if you're able:

I grew up in the United Methodist Church, and my family has deep roots in the historical Methodist Church. This one means a lot.

Brian Straw Legal Defense Fund Together, we can show our neighbors, friends, and children that we have the courage to do what is right.

I’m grateful to everyone who came out to support me at the Dirksen courthouse as I, alongside five others, fight unjust federal charges in defense of our First Amendment right to peacefully protest.

For those asking how else they can support, please consider contributing to my legal defense fund.

Who coulda seen this coming?

They're going to the highest court in the land to avoid feeding children.

Brian Straw Legal Defense Fund Together, we can show our neighbors, friends, and children that we have the courage to do what is right.

It's my birthday. Help me mark it by taking a moment to support my family

secure.actblue.com/donate/straw...

Brian Straw Legal Defense Fund Together, we can show our neighbors, friends, and children that we have the courage to do what is right.

A supporter today:

Brian is boring as hell.

He is not a firebrand. He is not a hothead. He's mostly just a dad, a husband and someone who thinks about other people in his community.

He's just a good guy with a real, old fashioned moral compass, trying to do the right thing for his neighbors.

Brian Straw Legal Defense Fund Together, we can show our neighbors, friends, and children that we have the courage to do what is right.

Some of you have asked how you can support our family. The biggest thing you can do right now is to contribute to Brian’s legal defense fund. secure.actblue.com/donate/straw...

Oh — the situation has escalated.

Pope Leo has spoken out: says "spiritual rights" of detainees should be respected and calls on the "authorities" to allow "pastoral workers" in.

"Jesus says very clearly … we're going to be asked, how did you receive the foreigner?" www.youtube.com/watch?v=taCi...

Reverend David Black has a Bible open and is preaching to the police now, inviting them to join him in standing with the persecuted inside the detention center.

"Which side do you think Jesus wanted his followers to be on?"

ICE Is Terrorizing Chicago for Halloween—and Parents Are Fighting Back Fear and a whiff of tear gas hang over festivities this year. In response, even people who aren’t usually politically engaged are mobilizing.

On the occasion of Halloween, @newrepublic.com asked me to write about what’s going on in Chicago and I wanted you all to know what randomized terror feels like. And also that as the federal government fails our kids, everyday Chicagoans are showing the courage of trying to protect them.

I joined the protests at the Broadview ICE detention facility because of what is happening to our immigrant neighbors: children zip-tied and shoved into vans, mothers pulled from cars on the way to school, neighbors afraid to go to church or work.

Tim Walz: "People are gonna be lined up out here to get food, and we're talking about a damn ballroom. Don't lose the plot."

map of chicago population by race, showing extreme segregation with Black and Latino people largely in clusters on the South and West Sides and White people clustered along the central-northern lakefront, with only a few diverse/mixed-race areas in between

Closeup of neighborhoods on the West and Southwest side showing extremely stark racial clusters, some continuing for miles, of Black vs Latino vs Asian vs White vs small mixed-race housing areas

Most ppl know that Chicago (home of modern urban segregation) is a very segregated place but I don't think most outside Chicago (+many Chicagoans!) understand how the *distances* involved and *depth* of segregation mean most white ppl have ZERO visibility into many Black and Latine neighborhoods

+

Still not liveposting this hearing b/c it's dense, largely administrative issues, but this was worth highlighting:

District Judge Jeff Cummings just asked a govt atty if he can certify relevant immigration detainees are being held in "safe and sanitary" conditions.

"I cannot," a govt atty replied.

Shout-out to local Chicago journalists, who have really shined over the past horrible month. Without them, we would know far less about ICE activity and abuses.

Local news matters. Local news matters. Local news matters. Local news matters. Local news matters. Local news matters.

Sooooo, like lots of folks who got laid off bc of DJT, I'm still looking for work. Suboptimal!

And so! If you're looking for an excellent progressive writer with years of experience reporting, analyzing, & contextualizing the news under her own byline + as a comms writer w/ progressive causes, hmu!

Oak Park attorney arrested near school says federal agents pointed gun at him, had ‘Chiraq Team 2’ group chat Federal immigration agents arrested Scott Sakiyama outside his child’s Oak Park elementary school this week after he followed them and honked his horn to warn others of their presence.

An Oak Park attorney who was arrested near his child’s school says federal agents pointed a gun at him, had “Chiraq Team 2” group chat. He had been whistling and honking horn to warn people of their presence.
www.chicagotribune.com/2025/10/23/o...

(RNS) - Last Friday (Oct. 17), the Rev. Hannah Kardon, a United Methodist minister in the Chicago area, stood alongside other protesters demonstrating outside the Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention facility in Broadview, Illinois. As a line of Illinois State Police began marching toward her and other demonstrators, gripping wooden batons, footage shows the pastor with her hands raised in prayer. Officers then pushed into the protesters, forcing them back. One officer shifted his stance, reared back and began shoving his baton like a battering ram - jamming it repeatedly, Kardon says, into her leg. A few seconds later, the pastor was pulled from the crowd and thrown to the ground. All the while, Kardon says, she never stopped praying. When officers began to arrest her, they tied her arms behind her back and placed her along the curb. "I said, 'God, please help these people to know that what they're doing is wrong, and help them to turn around," Kardon, who leads United Church of Rogers Park in Chicago, said in an interview. Her leg, she said, has developed visible bruises.

NEW: 200+ Chicago-area clergy — Protestants, Catholics, and evangelicals — have signed a letter decrying ICE's efforts and voicing a willingness to put their "bodies on the line" for migrants.

"What Kristi Noem and her ICE agents are doing is immoral," they write. religionnews.com/2025/10/21/a...

Oak Park resident Scott Sakiyama reports feds pointed weapons at him across from an elementary school today. They then arrested him and took him to Broadview. While in custody, he saw agents texting in a group chat called "Chiraq Team 2."

Full testimony: www.facebook.com/share/p/1GqB...

Religious protesters say ICE threatens religious freedom in Chicago (RNS) — Despite potential danger, religious leaders and faith activists have been a visible presence at Chicago-area ICE protests, some waving signs with slogans such as ‘Love thy neighbor’ and ‘Who w...

NEW: I spoke to clergy and faith leaders who've joined protests at the Chicago-area ICE facility.

Three say they've been shot with pepper balls, sometimes while praying.

All say ICE is also violating their religious freedom, and one is arguing it in court. religionnews.com/2025/10/07/i...

It's almost like it was never about state's rights

a cartoon spider man is hanging upside down from a rope in a disney junior ad ALT: a cartoon spider man is hanging upside down from a rope in a disney junior ad

I'm back to posting while my kid watches TV...since when does Miles have a little sister?

While everyone is marveling over the Yankees' 9HR game and 20-9 win over the Brewers, they're overlooking the 5 errors. Their inability to play clean baseball lost them the World Series and will cause problems when they're not hitting BP during games.

How the Tribune describes Ohtani's home run: "Sitting in right-center field on Wednesday night at the Tokyo Dome, he watched Shohei Ohtani’s home run in the fifth inning fall off the hands of another fan nearby — and back onto the field."

How was this not fan interference?

When you try to justify handing the keys to the car thief. #VoteNODurbin