A tale of two Chicagos: a picture perfect day plays out downtown while feds pluck people from the neighborhoods and suburbs.

During that scuffle, one of the agents dropped a magazine fully loaded with ammunition on the street (a supervisor retrieved that magazine minutes after the agents left the scene). chicago.suntimes.com/immigration/...

Last week, feds pointed a gun at someone inside their home in the suburbs. ICE never left Chicago and every day feels like screaming into a void

i love it when the clock strikes 10:30 every morning and the usual sites publish their 3 infuriating news stories that will drive all discourse today like zookeepers raising the enclosure's gate and letting the seals get into the day's bucket of chum

Today's #BirdOfTheDay theme is #BestOfTheMonth. I'm choosing my photo of an American crow. It's the best shot I've ever gotten of these beautiful corvids. #birds #photography #birdsofbluesky

Bragging about your inadequate PPE as a frontline journalist encourages others to be cavalier about their own safety and can get people really hurt. Maybe just fucking don't

Bullock’s oriole, deep in thought #solitude #birdoftheday #nature #wildlife #photography #birds

NEW, from @zoetakaki.bsky.social & @peoplesfabric.bsky.social: A Forest Park cop won't be charged by North Riverside police over an incident captured on video where, while off duty and wearing a Trump jersey, he yanked a terrified young woman from her car and arrested her—for hitting a curb.

Making my writing more valuable by running it through the garbage making machine that produces hot garbage

Warm evening here so just perfect for some pool time for Black-billed Magpie #birds

A little blue heron with some lunch. #birds #photography #birdsofbluesky

Finally wrapped up dentist appointment 5/5 today after learning two months ago a top molar needed a root canal/crown. It's been obnoxiously difficult to work on & necessitated extra time. Absolutely would not wish any of this on my worst enemy. I also need a second crown. That one? Is ICE's fault

Neurotypicality is stored in the foreskin

how to love yourself Reddit how to take care of yourself Reddit

Having teeth is a scam

Male Masked Trogon (Trogon personatus), South America...found in cloud forests between 1,100 and 3,300 meters...they like old woodpecker holes, though they'll excavate their own nests out of decaying wood. #birds #wildlife #photo #nature

A new report from researchers at Chicago Appleseed says Eileen O'Neill Burke has reversed years of progress as top prosecutor with policies that have led to harsher charges, more pre-trial detention, and less accountability for cops. Legal reform advocates also give her a failing grade on ICE:

Republican nominee for governor Darren Bailey is addressing Mayor Brandon Johnson and the Chicago City Council during public comment. He is introduces himself as a new Chicago resident, and offers an apology for insulting the city. CONTEXT: He called Chicago a hellhole.

Abolish Dodge Chargers

The full Chicago Appleseed report is available here. @domguan.bsky.social contributed to the reporting for this story.

In a press conference this morning, report co-author Austin Segal said Burke has "dramatically reshaped the priorities" of the state's attorney's office, pursuing policies that bolster mass incarceration, erode police accountability and undermined court transparency.

New: The Chicago Appleseed Center for Fair Courts released a report today analyzing Cook County State's Attorney Eileen O'Neill Burke's first 500 days in office. For a sense of how they feel Burke has performed, they titled it "500 Days Forward... 10 Years Back." My latest for @unraveledpress.com:

Just one more task force, bro

Still thinking about this pionono

Unraveled: we're like if ProPublica had no money and also chainsmoked a lot

Stories like this take expert labor to report and edit. We want to keep paying dogged independent journalists like Dave—but we rely entirely on your support to continue. If you haven't signed up yet to throw us a few bucks monthly...now is a GREAT time to do so:

Maybe a mullet could fix me

New Signal is finally collapsing the endless name change updates in group chats. Our prayers have been answered

Chief Judge Charles Beach of the Circuit Court of Cook County reminded the public last week of their right to appear virtually for some kinds of civil and criminal proceedings. The full language explaining those options can be found here:

Yesterday, ICE vehicles were again reported at the Rolling Meadows courthouse (that's Cook County) and the Kane County court facility in St. Charles. Today, Far South Rapid Response reported an abduction at the Pullman court that shares space with CPD: www.instagram.com/p/DYSHj3fjQQF/

Situational awareness updates obtained by @djbyrnes1.bsky.social show a constant drip of alerts about federal agents appearing at courthouses through April and May. At least one admits to performing surveillance. PDs say agents are now moving people so fast it can take weeks to verify arrests.

Last Thursday saw a flurry of activity at four separate area courthouses. The arrests continue a pattern dating back to February, with a significant escalation seen in recent weeks:

As ICE has returned to swifter arrests across Chicagoland, internal alerts & stats collected by public defenders show courthouses have become a honeypot. Sightings near county property have continued this week, & feds abducted 1 person from Pullman court today. More from @djbyrnes1.bsky.social:

Living, being in the world, was a much greater and stranger thing than she had ever dreamed.

Surfbird on local jetty. 🪶🌿

Happy mother's day

Rogers Park feels like another country

Shorter walk this morning but it was a wonderful one. Lots of birds!: Ravens, Barn Owl, Kestrel, Sparrowhawk, Buzzards, Reed, Sedge, Cetti's Warblers, Mistle & Song Thrushes, Yellowhammers, Reed Bunting, Cuckoo calling, Whitethroats, Lesser Whitethroat, GSWoodpecker etc! #ukbirding

The odds of me resisting a face tattoo before June are drastically diminishing by the hour

Happening now: Cook County officials, the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant & Refugee Rights and other immigrant advocacy groups are holding a presser outside the county's Domestic Violence Court in Chicago, re: federal immigration agents being spotted at 4 separate Cook County courthouses today.

Secret police are disappearing your neighbors and ripping families apart daily. Sweep the floor, go to work, go about your business.

how beautiful that every flower is screaming “please touch”, so long as you’re the right bug

Bluejay. People hate them because they are bossy assholes, but I kind of love them. They’re pretty. #birds

help i took an adderall and now i’m locked in but it’s not on the thing i should be doing

Hell is trying to tune out the ICE alerts for one morning to finish a CPD story long delayed by having to spend every minute of the last ten months on DHS. The fascism is a neverending nesting doll of cops and every day is a new exercise in triage

Every day

Silverio died in the street with hardly any cameras around. There was no press scrum in the aftermath. A brave neighbor filmed what she could of a scene outside her door she never expected to see. She immediately gave us videos and information that proved the DHS narrative of events was a lie.

I 💙 Minneapolis

Went birding, etc

Those who build walls are their own prisoners. I'm going to go fulfil my proper function in the social organism. I'm going to go unbuild walls.