Gregory Bovino, commander-at-large of the U.S. #BorderPatrol, claims a @wbez.org/@chicago.suntimes.com report about his comments Sunday in downtown #Chicago was "grossly inaccurate" and taken out of context. So we've posted the interview's unedited AUDIO and TRANSCRIPT: www.wbez.org/immigration/...

The Coast Guard works for ICE now. Coast Guard planes previously used for search and rescue have done hundreds of secret ICE flights in recent weeks, including two I watched from a public parking lot near BWI. My exclusive for Rolling Stone: www.rollingstone.com/politics/pol...

Federal employees across the government reported seeing similar messages. Experts say the messages may violate ethics laws meant to keep partisan politics out of day-to-day governing.

Please - stop doing the screenshot no link thing on Bluesky. This platform does not punish you for posting a URL. You picked up the habit from Meta apps? Stop doing Mark Z's bidding. Link ESPECIALLY to authors, reporters, bloggers, etc. where you quote the work.

I’m becoming more and more concerned that people at high levels of public discussion cannot identify the difference between a genuinely viral conversation vs a bunch of bots making noise.

Here’s a depressing fact abt the US: We are prob the only developed country that (1) has dueling defs of “mass shootings” and (2) had to actually codify one in law. GVA has broadest, at 4+ shot (other than shooter). Congress is 3+ killed. No other country has to debate the def at all.

The real generational divide is people who refuse to watch a video if it could be an article versus people who refuse to read an article if it could be a video

“They might as well rename this shit the Back Taxes Tour.”

The World Music Festival begins tonight with Ragamala, a free 14-hour concert of Indian classical music with eight different groups performing under the Tiffany dome in the Cultural Center. Last year @imleor.bsky.social wrote an oral history of Ragamala: chicagoreader.com/music/ragama...

Pretty distressing to see the bipartisan spread of baseless claims about voting equipment and election integrity

“In many cases, those folding have had ample resources to resist Trump’s shakedowns but haven’t been brave enough to do so. They are, in a word, chickenshit.” www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...

Weirdly desperate to bet on how far Leo HS choir gets on AGT.

My employer New York Public Radio just announced that it is offering @onthemedia.bsky.social, @radiolab.bsky.social, and other programs to at-risk public radio stations for free! More info: current.org/2025/09/wnyc...

New from 404 Media: airlines are selling *5 billion* ticketing records to the government for warrantless searching, per new docs we obtained. ARC is a data broker owned by United, American, Delta, etc. Then sells peoples' travel info to ICE, Secret Service, FBI etc www.404media.co/airlines-sel...

Just published a story on how Black pastors have been talking about Charlie Kirk in their congregations. With @bellwak.bsky.social and @michelleboorstein.bsky.social wapo.st/46xXBnq

Bruce Sagan was a great supporter of journalism in Chicago — and one of the most positive and energetic people I’ve known. He donated office space in his building for the Chicago News Coop in ‘09. Last time I saw him was at a WBEZ event in ‘22. May his memory be eternal

No Laughable www.washingtonpost.com/business/202...

Just got a great set of emails from the FBI.

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I’ve been reporting on influencers for more than seven years now and today I had an academic decline to do an interview about them for the first time out of fear of government retaliation.

I would love to be part of the conversation on MSNBC related to the Kimmel story and it's chilling effects on first amendment, but unfortunately I was terminated by MSNBC for stating that "hateful thoughts lead to hateful words which lead to hateful actions".

Most corals in the Atlantic Ocean will soon stop growing. Many are already dying, leaving shorelines and marine ecosystems vulnerable. www.nytimes.com/2025/09/17/c...

The last political column I was allowed to write in the @washingtonpost.com was a criticism of Obama. His people took issue with my piece, but we were respectful. Now he is tweeting in support of me. This is how free political speech and respect for debate *actually works*. Or used to work.

just really reminded of vladimir putin pulling a satirical late night puppet show called "kukli" (dolls) that mocked him off russian tv in 2002

I continue to be amazed at the absolute lack of courage

Not sure why some elected leaders in the city of Chicago want to allow more than 3,500 mini-casinos to open virtually all over town, even as a spanking new casino is finally being built downtown. The numbers seem to favor Mayor Johnson's stand on this one chicago.suntimes.com/city-hall/20...

This is quickly mushrooming into a real international incident www.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/0...

I didn’t want to read it but this is also the report I’ve been looking for

Amid these ICE raids, something folks should understand about the Chicago suburbs is that a lot of stereotypes about the era of white flight from the city do not apply. A lot of these folks were priced out of Chicago and many commute to work here. They are part of the same social fabric.

For everyone saying political violence has no place in this country… Remember two Democratic legislators were shot in Minnesota just this year. And America shrugged and moved on.

The National Guard is measuring public sentiment about President Trump's D.C. takeover. It has found that its mission is perceived as “leveraging fear” and driving a “wedge between citizens and the military,” according to documents reviewed by The Post.

Very, very bad stuff coming from leading right-wingers

A National Guard report accidentally emailed to the Post says veterans and active-duty troops view the D.C. deployment with "shame and alarm" @alexhorton.bsky.social www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec...

If A.I. continues to speed or automate creative work, the total volume of cultural “stuff”—podcasts, videos, books, songs, articles, films, shows, plays, online personae, and so on—will increase. Will human-created content be able to cut through the noise?

The Onion News Network truck is currently stationed outside the Broadview ICE Detention facility just outside of Chicago.

As Tennessee kindergarteners prepare to learn the ABCs, they’ll also learn “to identify a trigger, a barrel and a muzzle as they’re introduced to rudimentary gun safety” under a new state law, @bellwak.bsky.social reports

Pentagon approves use of Navy base for Chicago ICE operations

This is good: With Trump/RFK destroying CDC, JB Pritzker's officials are exploring the possibility of buying Covid vaccines from manufacturers and distributing them in-state themselves, source tells me. Dem govs must step up and fill the void. New piece from me: newrepublic.com/article/1998...

inching closer and closer to my “they’re segregationists” take

things were better when the computer lived in its own specific room and you only went in there sometimes

NEW: I spoke to SJ Joslin, a park ranger and wildlife biologist who was fired by Yosemite National Park last week for helping to raise a transgender pride flag on the park's iconic El Capitan rock face. For @nbcnews.com: www.nbcnews.com/feature/nbc-...

Federal puts are always last in, first out, and that means that programs for marginalized people are often first on the chopping block.

PBS has been a home for independent documentaries for more than 50 years. But with the closure of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, nonfiction storytellers have to figure out a way forward. n.pr/45ldmyS

I would love to someday see a movie in this theater, which has been sitting vacant for 40+ years but looks like a treasure. Looking forward to reading Robert's book.

I can think of few annual events in Chicago with the headache-to-benefit ratio for residents than the Air and Water Show.

Kristi Noem, who wore a $50,000 Rolex for photos at El Salvador's CECOT mega-prison, is living in a waterfront home on the government dime wapo.st/4mike5W

Good morning! Happy Friday! How about you let me ease you into the day with three hours of great music? Tune in at 107.1fm in Chicago and chirpradio.org anywhere and we can get this thing started.

A gunman shot at the CDC, killing an officer. Trump hasn’t said a word. www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...