Federal Judge Sara Ellis declares that Homeland Security is not telling the truth about its attacks on the people of Chicago. "I don't find defendants' version of events credible." she says.

The federal judge in the lawsuit against Homeland Security's violent attacks in Chicago reads Carl Sandburg's poem "Chicago" in full as she prepares to issue her ruling. Read Sun-Times reporter Jon Seidel's live-posting from court.

Mike Johnson claims Nancy Pelosi is retiring because she's not far-left enough for the Democratic Party. Sure, Mike. It couldn't have anything to do with the fact that she's 85 years old.

The Chicago Sun-Times reports on how Homeland Security creates recruiting videos while terrorizing Chicagoans. Remember the Blackhawk-helicopter-aided raid on an apartment building? “Security footage … shows a camera crew of at least nine people wearing street clothing filming the entire raid.”

In 1933, Nazis refused to let elected members vote in parliament. In 2025, Republicans refuse to seat Rep.-elect Adelita Grijalva. In 1933, Germany’s parliament surrendered power and rubber-stamped dictatorship. In 2025, the Republican-run Congress surrendered power and rubber-stamped dictatorship.

Trump: “We’ll have so much winning, you’ll get bored with winning.”

Did the New York Times ruin journalism?

Excessive force. PERIOD! They called them “violent mobs,” but the violence came from the guys with badges and body armor. 📌 Keep sharing videos, everyone, because they’re evidence.

FIFA, the international group that runs soccer’s World Cup, has a history of corruption and is led by a pal of Trump’s. For some reason, FIFA has invented its own peace prize, which will be awarded next month. Something tells me the fix is in.

I also pull up the ICIRR on my phone so I don’t have to scramble if I see something ICIRR 1-855-435-7693

Today’s chuckle.

NEWS: ICE agent charged with drunken driving after shift at Broadview detention center. Car crash into a hedgerow. Trump’s Midway Blitz is claimed to be inspired by an undocumented drunk driving death. www.chicagotribune.com/2025/11/05/i...

A MAGA congresswoman says Republicans lost yesterday because their supporters were so happy that they forgot to vote.

Trump will start shutting down U.S. air travel, raising the possibility that Americans will miss seeing their families for Thanksgiving. And all because Trump refuses to negotiate with Democrats to help millions of Americans keep health insurance.

In a video played in federal court in Chicago, Border Patrol commander Gregory Bovino tells his agents: "This is OUR fucking city." He's Trump's conquistador.

Does Trump really think there were communists 1,000 years ago? Does he think Erik the Red was a red?

When Trump says he's targeting "the worst of the worst" with his immigration crackdown, he means he's dragging a day care worker out of a North Side Chicago center without a warrant, traumatizing the children she cares for.

Charlie Meyerson has a problem with NBC News' new slogan. @charliemeyerson.com

Federal immigration cops are using "wellness checks" on minors as a ruse to get into homes and arrest people for alleged immigration violations. In this case, an alleged check on a 17-year-old let them arrest his 22-year-old brother, who was brought here at 11 and has protected status.

When I run errands these days, I make sure I have my keys, my phone and my whistle. I wear the whistle in case I spot Homeland Security thugs terrorizing people and need to alert my neighbors. Lots of people are wearing them. That’s how Trump has changed life in my hometown, Evanston, IL.

Vote for us! We're like Mussolini!

The Democrats’ big victories Tuesday may scare MAGA into even more fascist behavior. This week’s Stop the Presses newsletter defines terms that may help you understand the unfolding chaos, such as self-coup, agent provocateur, false flag and Reichstag Fire. Read and consider subscribing. It’s free.

Trump is still saying you need an ID to buy groceries, years after he said it and was widely mocked. Are his aides afraid to correct him? Or is he simply incapable of learning? When my mom got dementia, she was like that. Once a false impression entered her brain, you couldn't get it out.

I think the voters are saying they don't want the Democrats to be Republican Lite.

No matter how many boats Trump blows up or how many government buildings he demolishes – we're not going to forget about the Epstein files.

Trump says a key reason Republicans got shellacked was the shutdown. Trump could end the shutdown now by cutting a deal with Democrats to make health care affordable for millions of Americans. He won't do it because he doesn't want to give Dems a win in Congress. He doesn't care if people suffer.

Feel good about yesterday’s results but recognize that Leah is right: The MAGA fascists are going to try even harder to steal elections. When we fight, we win.

Fox News is really fun to watch tonight. All the hosts and guests have this queasy look, like they ate shrimp that had been sitting out for 2 weeks.

Disturbing news out of Auburn University, where the admin is pressuring professors to sign a statement saying they're complying with an "anti-DEI" law and TPUSA is holding a rally and trying to record classes. I hear faculty are terrified to sign, worried this is a pretense for mass firings.

Trump says he knows nothing about a crypto billionaire who got a presidential pardon. Trump says he won't make SNAP payments, but his underlings walk that back and say he’ll make partial payments. Is Trump too busy picking out bathroom tile to run the government? Who’s in charge? Stephen Miller?

This Evanston (IL) RoundTable story provides vivid details of federal agents’ outrageous violence toward Evanston residents last Friday.

You know who else starved people for political advantage? Joseph Stalin.

Trump confirms he is weaponizing hunger

Here's the border czar admitting that Trump's "worst of the worst" rhetoric was horseshit and they're kidnapping people who are making our neighborhoods better.

I'm a meme. (A wordy meme, but a meme.)

Cheney's lies to get us into the Iraq war should be in the first paragraph of any obit. Yet the New York Times' first mention of Iraq is in the 11th paragraph.

A report on Maddow's show last night highlighted what we're doing in Evanston, IL, to defend our immigrant neighbors and ourselves against the Trump regime's violence.

My Stop the Presses newsletter defines some terms to help you navigate the current chaos. They include: Self-coup Brandolini’s law Agent provocateur False flag Streisand effect Concern trolling Toxic empathy Uncanny Valley Red pill and Accelerationism. But I can’t help you with "6-7."

What the Tucker/Nick Fuentes fiasco really reveals is that the "white nationalist wing of the GOP" is "a major force within internal GOP politics," says @davidaustinwalsh.bsky.social. On the pod, David is so good on the GOP's 50-year refusal to police its extremists: newrepublic.com/article/2026...

Dick Cheney lied to get us into a war that killed at least 100,000 human beings. Yet even he had higher ethical standards than Donald Trump.

"Concern trolling." "Toxic empathy." "Brandolini’s law." Niche catchphrases like these are dominating the American political conversation — and they're leaving folks confused. Stop the Presses' @markjacob.bsky.social breaks down 12 of the top must-know terms.

💯 Please help to spread the word about the HUGE PROTEST at 11am on Wed 11/5 in Washington DC at the Washington Monument! 🙏🏼 refusefascism.org/events/nov5/

Today’s politics may be confusing, but it’s clear that the Republican Party supports these 2 things: 1. Masked, armed men snatching people off the street because of the color of their skin. 2. The hiding of records to cover up for powerful people who rape children.

It’s important to understand that the hosts on Fox are not this stupid. They just think their audience is, and they’ve been proven right for decades.

The Trump regime calls SNAP food aid “a broken and corrupt program.” It's a typical right-wing “blame the poor” campaign by people uninterested in the well-being of others. This thread includes a few examples from the past, including this headline in the Palo Alto (CA) Times in 1968. 🧵 1/4

Aileen Cannon is to the judicial profession what Typhoid Mary was to the cooking profession.

Mike Johnson appears on the most-watched cable news network, the pro-Republican propaganda outlet Fox News, to complain about the media being unfair to Republicans.

The latest by @newsjennifer.bsky.social (Jennifer Schulze): "Trump partied like it's 1928, but Chicago remained on high alert after roving caravans of federal agents used chemical agents, pummeled people and threatened to shoot bystanders."