"Pope Leo said Scripture emphasizes the question that will be posed at the end of the world: 'How did you receive the foreigner, did you receive him and welcome him, or not? I think there is a deep reflection that needs to be made about what is happening'..." chicago.suntimes.com/pope-leo-xiv...

Business stands with Chicago. www.chicagobusiness.com/politics/chi...

A DOGE kid gets beat up in DC and it’s DefCon1; hundreds of bullets into federal buildings with officer killed in Atlanta and it’s crickets; violent mob attacks Capitol wounding dozens of officers and it’s pardons for all.

We have self-reports or news accounts from 320 of the 2,000 No Kings Day events across the US today. Up to an unofficial tally of about 575,000 people now. Extrpaolating from that, total would be around 4.5m people, or about 1.3% of the pop. Some error I'm sure. Thanks to everyone crowdsourcing!

Chicago's massive "No Kings" march has taken to Downtown streets. Follow along for live updates: blockclubchi.co/44id2A8

"All I’m asking is that you are all as passionate about [housing] as I am, understanding that the very future of our state hangs in the balance here." - Utah Governor Cox www.deseret.com/utah/2025/05...

The Biden manufacturing construction boom is over:

Many years ago, I was a NSF graduate fellow. When I started my NSF funded research, hardly anyone was interested in the process we were studying. Now there are hundreds of papers on this process, and it usefulness in agriculture. Thank you NSF for believing in vegetative phase change! #WithoutNSF

Exclusive: Immigrants falsely labeled dead by the Social Security Administration are showing up at field offices with documents proving they are alive, leading staff to reinstate nearly three dozen people over the past week, according to records obtained by The Post.

Quite literally whitewashing the purpose of the Underground Railroad www.washingtonpost.com/investigatio...

This guy is in one of the worst prisons in the world with no way out and may spend the rest of his life there because, it appears, he has an autism awareness tattoo in honor of his little brother. www.motherjones.com/politics/202...

I oversaw the CDFI Fund while at the Treasury Department. The White House Executive Order gutting CDFI Fund is wrong and short-sighted. CDFIs are mission-driven lenders that deliver critical investments in low-income communities, including a lot of rural communities in Republican-leaning states.

Artists can apply to design a mural visible from the Kennedy Expressway. buff.ly/LnWDsgk

Meta banned the leading publication of the Presbyterian Church USA without explanation. I encourage you to follow @presoutlook.bsky.social on @bsky.app

Hundreds in Chicago gathered Sunday in thunderous support of democracy in war-torn Ukraine — two days after President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance confronted the Eastern European nation’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Sharing a new Substack post by @erikapoethig.bsky.social with @johannapoethig.bsky.social on how to put Timothy Snyder's fourth lesson from On Tyranny into action. postcivilized.substack.com/p/take-respo...

President Donald Trump’s administration has begun terminating grants to organizations that enforce the Fair Housing Act by taking complaints, investigating and litigating housing discrimination cases for Americans across the country.

There are 26 districts held by Republicans with more than 30% of constituents enrolled in Medicaid. All of them voted for the budget resolution that will cut $2.2T in Medicaid benefits over the next 10 years.

The State Department claimed a plan to buy thousands of armored Teslas was left over from the Biden administration. A document obtained by NPR shows the Biden plan was far smaller.

Major cuts planned for HUD will cause major disruptions in the housing market and slow housing production = ⬆️ housing prices

NYC>Chicago is legitimately a great corridor for high-speed rail, if states of NY, PA, OH, IN & IL could unite for it. You could hit: —NYC—20m —Philly—6m —Harrisburg—600k —Pittsburgh—2.4m —Youngstown—400k —Cleveland—2.2m —Toledo—600k —Ft Wayne—500k —South Bend—300k —Chicago—9m On a ~straight route

Public health teams are being gutted, imperiling efforts to safeguard organ donation and prevent maternal and infant death. Many workers expressed fear at what would happen to the work they left behind. www.propublica.org/article/trum...

Something is shifting. They are still breaking things and stealing things. And they will keep trying to break and to steal. But the propaganda magic around the oligarchical coup is fading. (1/2)

Please share the stories of American public servants who have been unjustly fired by the Trump administration/Elon Musk and his DOGE

Thank you!

The flying public needs answers. How many FAA personnel were just fired? What positions? And why?

Right now, DOGE is saying that any new hires have to be approved by their office. In 1980, when IL Governor Thompson said any new hires had to be approved by his office, the Supreme Court said it was unconstitutional politicization of hiring. What about now? www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...

Avian influenza spreads in birds, cows and other animals, and it can sometimes spread to people, according to the Cleveland Clinic. In the United States, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has seen 68 total reported human cases and one death.

Make your calls. Go to your town halls. Ask your state and local officials what they are doing under state and local law. Rest. Hydrate. Make soup for the hungry. Don’t let people tell you that you’re doing it wrong. Not a sprint. Not a marathon. A relay. Find your team. Thank you.

We need more coverage like this: apple.news/Arq6wSGQNRgu...

Incompetence in Washington puts every American at risk, no matter how you voted. No one should be happy that the DOGE team - the same folks who randomly published classified U.S. security information online today - wants access to your bank account & Social Security numbers.

My request for today is that you call Secretary Rubio's office (202-647-4000) to complain about the corruption of the Trump administration's State Department that has plans to buy $400M of Cybertrucks while Elong Musk is an agent of the US Gov who has not publicly disclosed his financial interests.

A public State Department procurement document for fiscal year 2025 listed the purchase for $400 million. It comes as ethics experts raise conflict of interest questions about Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who is a top White House official.

Yes. “People are doing things. You will meet them when YOU start doing things.” Lots of information and resources in this one. open.substack.com/pub/sherrily...

Board member of META asks a very good question.

The US DOT says it's planning to prioritize areas with high marriage & high birth rates for funding. Our new analysis @urbaninstitute.bsky.social shows this would disproportionately fund: —Communities with a higher white resident share —Low-density areas —High-income areas —Car-dependent areas

Good for Judge Engelmayer! He rightly saw the legal imperative of immediate relief to preserve and protect the evidence of executive branch abdication to a veritable Muskocracy. www.nytimes.com/2025/02/07/n...

U.S. government officials privately warn Musk’s blitz appears illegal www.washingtonpost.com/business/202...

Read carefully. This is a scam.

Does anyone in the @bsky.app community have a good suggestion for reaching Secretary Bessent’s office/phone #/email?

Yep. www.wsj.com/politics/pol...

Hands down one of the biggest threats right now is the politicization of the federal payment system.

The National Association of Home Builders explains what happens if we make inputs for home construction, such as Canadian lumber, more expensive.

100% agree — they will overwhelm themselves and just don’t believe them when they say they have the power to do something that is blatantly unconstitutional or illegal.

Good assessment by @emilybadger.bsky.social of the DOT memo & its new criteria (marriage/birth rates) & ambiguous scope.

This is without precedent. Confusion and hardship is the point.

“We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope.” - Dr. Martin Luther King

Like in many US cities, in Chicago, housing development isn't spread evenly. Construction is intensely concentrated downtown. Meanwhile, wealthy, white areas have zoning that limits construction—while poor, nonwhite areas have high vacancy & little market demand. www.urban.org/urban-wire/z...

One thing that's clear: the presence of immigrants has kept construction labor costs well below what they would be with a mostly native-born workforce. @riquier.bsky.social @usatoday.com www.usatoday.com/story/money/...