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I Want You to Understand Chicago Politics Chicago 2025-11-08 I want you to understand what it is like to live in Chicago during this time. Every day my phone buzzes. It is a neighborhood group: four people were kidnapped at the corner drugstore. A friend a mile away sends a Slack message: she was at the scene when masked men assaulted and abducted two people on the street. A plumber working on my pipes is distraught, and I find out that two of his employees were kidnapped that morning. A week later it happens again. An email arrives. Agents with guns have chased a teacher into the school where she works. They did not have a warrant. They dragged her away, ignoring her and her colleagues’ pleas to show proof of her documentation. That evening I stand a few feet from the parents of Rayito de Sol and listen to them describe, with anguish, how good Ms. Diana was to their children. What it is like to have strangers with guns traumatize your kids. For a teacher to hide a three-year-old child for fear they might be killed. How their relatives will no longer leave the house. I hear the pain and fury in their voices, and I wonder who will be next. Understand what it is to pray in Chicago. On September 19th, Reverend David Black, lead pastor at First Presbyterian Church of Chicago, was praying outside the ICE detention center in Broadview when a DHS agent shot him in the head with pepper balls. Pepper balls are never supposed to be fired at the head because they can seriously injure, or even kill. “We could hear them laughing as they were shooting us from the roof,” Black recalled. He is not the only member of the clergy ICE has assaulted. Methodist pastor Hannah Kardon was violently arrested on October 17th, and Baptist pastor Michael Woolf was shot with pepper balls on November 1st. Understand what it is to sleep in Chicago. On the night of September 30th, federal agents rappelled from a Black Hawk helicopter to execute a raid on an apartment building on the South Sho…

Kyle Kingsbury is not a journalist. He is not an op-ed writer.

He is a computer safety researcher.

And he has written one of the most compelling, comprehensive accounts of the ongoing hell in Chicago that you could possibly imagine.

In under 1600 words.

aphyr.com/posts/397-i-...

Americans will never truly embrace any kind of substantial societal betterment until we stop thinking of poverty as a punishment that was earned. This “deservedness” is the seed of morality that grows in a capitalist mindset and that permeates everything from education to politics to worship.

Thanks for the nudge! That’s all true, but this is America — I’m not independently wealthy and that’s generally disqualifying for any run at a national political seat.

Ideally that happens, yes. But this is a state with a population of 1.4 million and an upcoming gubernatorial election. So, most of the likely candidates have already declared themselves for whatever office they’re shooting for. Of those options, none have near the momentum of Platner for Senate.

Fair. But given the alternative of maintaining Susan Collins and a MAGA stranglehold on democracy, it’s also pretty easy to make a determination of “dude’s an actual Nazi” vs. “dude is not a Nazi.” He’s popular here in Maine and his heart is firmly in the right place. Don’t overthink it.

Furloughed feds pick up Seattle beach trash to keep serving the public Furloughed federal employees were out in the rain picking up cigarette butts, bottle caps, and other trash at Seattle’s Golden Gardens Park on Friday.

Here in Seattle, furloughed NOAA employees were out in the pouring rain cleaning up beaches yesterday, part of a national week of service organized by federal workers who can't do their jobs due to the shutdown.

Story by @heyjohnryan.bsky.social at KUOW, our federally defunded public radio station.

Special teams have entered the comically bad territory. I actually chuckled when Semaj waved for that fair catch.

Giddy up

Well don't I feel stupid

We applaud the agreement struck by @nature.org to purchase four Kennebec River dams from Brookfield Renewable. 👏 Non-profit, the Kennebec River Restoration Trust, is being formed to manage a multi-year river restoration process with local communities.

Read more: www.nature.org/en-us/newsro...

Restoring Balance to the Kennebec River An innovative agreement sets the stage for TNC and partners to restore the river’s ecological health while strengthening the region’s economic vitality.

Big conservation news on Maine's Kennebec River! The Nature Conservancy has reached an agreement with Brookfield Renewable to purchase 4 dams on prime sea-run fish spawning habitat. #envhst

www.nature.org/en-us/about-...

Kennebec River dams sale clears way for salmon to return For $168M, The Nature Conservancy will buy the last four dams blocking salmon from their spawning grounds in the Sandy River.

Here's some much needed good news! @nature.org will be acquiring four dams on the Kennebec to facilitate their removal and reconnection of the river system for salmon #goodnews themainemonitor.org/dams-sale-sa...

Just so everyone is clear, this right here is what an actual violation of the First Amendment looks like. When the head of the FCC says a company needs to do something about someone who displeased the administration or lose its license, that’s no joke unconstitutional

One reason why authoritarian regimes govern poorly is that they devalue rationality: they deny the existence of reality, and sooner or later, reality will catch up

Weigh in on Behalf of America’s Backcountry | Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership Hunters and anglers can help shape the future of our national forests.

Please consider the opportunity to comment on the proposal to rescind the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule. Roadless areas conserve cold, clean headwaters and provide habitat for native fish. The public comment period is open through Friday, Sept 19. Learn more: www.trcp.org/2025/09/12/w...

Trump ally Charlie Kirk shot during event at Utah Valley University Turning Point USA executive director in critical condition after being struck while hosting UVU event

We are horrified to learn of the shooting of Charlie Kirk. Political violence has no place in democracy. The foundation of democracy rests on the principle that differences can be debated vigorously, but peacefully, without intimidation or acts of violence.

GOP greatly overestimates the number of fucks GenX and younger give about Bill Clinton.

A Letter to America’s Discarded Public Servants You all deserved better.

America’s public servants are caught in the crossfire of a retribution campaign, William J. Burns argues. They deserved better.

Many CDC employees still working from home one week after active shooter situation One former CDC worker said many of her former co-workers just don’t feel safe anymore.

it sounds like RFK Jr. is using the terror attack to purge even more CDC workers by keeping them in the dark about security and when they need to return to office.

FEVs would have been difficult this year because so many people have been purged from government. This makes comparisons with prior years difficult.
Even so, the administration did not want to hear from the employees. They don't want more confirmation of the toxic work environment they have created.

The CDC shooting didn’t even really register in the news and the details are absolutely insane

If you live in DC and are active on normie social media sites, you should be flooding the zone with videos of boring peaceful life in the city.

NYC Mass Shooting Was Nearly Impossible to Prevent, Experts Say

Holy shit, they did it. They wrote the headline.

Sounds like ICE killed a guy and then held american citizens hostage at gunpoint until they agreed to destroy the evidence

Business idea: Japanese Hotel Bathrooms - we will convert your crummy American bathroom into the transcendental experience you had when visiting Japan

something that stands out about this is just how cheap it is for us to have world-leading scientific capacity

we spent ~6.75 trillion last year, and the combined budgets for NIH, NSF and NASA are barely more than 1% of that

what an incredible waste to lose it all for a drop in the bucket

Virtual Rally to Save the Cornerstone of Conservation Science · National Wildlife Federation We need YOU as we rally in support of _critical_ federal government services at risk of being lost forever. The U.S. Geological Survey Ecosystems Mission Area is responsible for many of the programs t...

Please join the @nationalwildlife.bsky.social, @amfisheriessoc.bsky.social & others at the

“Virtual Rally to Save the Cornerstone of Conservation Science”

in support of the USGS's Ecosystem Mission Area

Thursday, May 22
12 – 1pm EDT

www.mobilize.us/nwf/event/79...

Unitary executive theory: The President is the only nationally elected actor and must be empowered b/c he is uniquely responsive to the public.

Reality: Trump will never face another election, and can look forward to four years of unaccountable criming because the institutions won't do their jobs.

Scientists' Letter in Opposition to Rescinding the Regulatory Definition of “Harm” in Endangered Species Act Regulations May 19, 2025 Submitted via: https://www.regulations.gov/commenton/FWS-HQ-ES-2025-0034-0001 Public Comments Processing Attn: FWS-HQ-ES-2025-0034 U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, MS: PRB/3W 5275 Leesbu...

Calling all scientists! There's less than one week left to boost support to protect endangered species' habitat safeguards in the Endangered Species Act.

Sign on to the scientists' open sign-on letter here and please share: biodiv.us/4mojih5