The amount is meaningless — less than one day of salary. But the principle is important: once the armed services are paid by the oligarchs, they become a private militia, and we no longer have a country. www.nytimes.com/live/2025/10...

If you‘re wondering why the U.S. is in an attack posture in Latin America, note that Venezuela has the world’s largest known oil reserves. Trump likes to grab things, whether it’s women’s private parts on airplanes, classified records at the White House or other countries’ natural resources.

The government may be shut down, but Trump is still managing to get some work done in Washington—like illegally demolishing an entire wing of the White House to build himself a ballroom. Lifting a finger to lower your health care costs? Not so much.

Given the incompetence of Trump as a real estate developer, I assume it won’t be done by 2028. What I do not assume is that it will actually be a ballroom.

Keep in mind that these are the actions of someone who believes he owns the place and has no intention of leaving.

I’d say this is damn good reason for Democrats to hold fast to the shutdown until Republicans agree to protect ACA credits.

Chicago No Kings

Millions march against the fascism the #BrokenTimes is blind to. It now refuses to count their numbers and it muffles their voices in small, BTW headlines. This is not journalism.

The huge No Kings protests, an estimated 7 million people addressing America's worst crisis since the Civil War, get a tiny headline on the New York Times homepage, with no photo. Why does NYT think change happens only when politicians hold news conferences and not when everyday people take action?

No Kings march Michigan Avenue, Chicago coverage: www.chicagotribune.com/2025/10/18/n...

😍 Boston, you are beautiful. #NoKings

#nokings @ Highland Park, IL crowd continues to grow!!

NO Kings! At Highland Park, IL - Biggest crowd of any of the earlier protests!

If you’ve never been to a protest like “No Kings” and worry it will be a downer or a bore, I’m here to tell you it’s fun and inspiring. It will make you feel better about people, and we need that after seeing all those MAGA thugs and liars on the news. You are not alone. Get your ass out there!

The @chicago.suntimes.com photographer who risked their personal health and safety to take this photograph is Anthony Vazquez. Please credit photographers and media outlets. In this age of misinformation, a photo with no context could be anything at all.

Is this YOUR AMerica??? #Nokings #noICE #democracy

CBS News would never put a thinly sourced 'story' by a rookie blogger like this on it's air. Until now. The Free Press isn't a journalism outlet, it's bloggers aren't reporters. This piece is more NYPost than Tiffany Network but I guess that's the goal. www.cbsnews.com/video/some-n...

CBS News picking up an anti-Mamdani story from The Free Press and...misspelling his name. Oy.

Page One in Chicago. @chicago.suntimes.com

Today is a day when arts degrees are worthless, but the product of those degrees is so valuable it would kill an entire industry if they were made to pay for it.

This has nothing to do with crime. This is an attempt to crush political dissent. Never before, in our entire 250 year history, has the military or immigration agents been used like this. It's dystopian, illegal, and it should stop.

NEW: ICE is planning to hire a team of nearly 30 people to surveil social media 24/7, build dossiers on people, and flag them for arrest and deportation. @dell.bsky.social has the scoop: www.wired.com/story/ice-so...

Remember how Kamala Harris kept talking about Project 2025 and how it would be the blueprint for Trump if he won, but people didn't want to listen to that Black woman because she was a Black woman so now Trump is using Project 2025 as his blueprint just like that Black woman said he would?

A new report from Bright Line Watch finds experts now rate the U.S. as a "mixed" or "illiberal" democracy. The rating is dragged down by Trump's attacks on institutions, a weak legislature, political violence, and partisan gerrymandering www.gelliottmorris.com/p/experts-no...

Go back 30 years, 20 years, even 10 years, and ask a generic civics teacher to make a video illustrating full-on fascist communication. This is what you’d get. bsky.app/profile/atru...

👇🏽😳

Another violent attack by an ICE officer on a civilian at 26 Federal Plaza—this time on a journalist, who had to be carried out on stretcher. Another attack on the First Amendment, our neighbors, and our democracy.

It really does not get more explicit than Trump telling top active-duty military generals that they will need to participate in occupations of large cities run by his political opponents as part of his "war from within"

Feels like we're rapidly moving closer to that moment when someone finds armed and masked "federal agents" at their door because they have an anti-Trump sign on their lawn.

95 democrats, including @hakeem-jeffries.bsky.social voted to "honor" the life of charlie kirk, who called for joe biden to be killed and said black women like justice ketanji brown jackson are unqualified affirmative action hires. shame. clerk.house.gov/evs/2025/rol...

The president of the United States just took a TV show off the air. That’s what your “free country” has come to.

Congrats to @sashaannsimons.bsky.social, @maryldixon.bsky.social and @pksmid.bsky.social on the launch of "In the Loop" and "Say More" at 9 and 10 a.m., respectively, on @wbez.org. We'll be listening as you rock the morning...

Years ago, lawyer for Chicago Tribune gave me a formulation I never forgot: Never write, in an email or anywhere else, something you wouldn't want to see enlarged & put on a poster in a courtroom. Do I always abide by that? Prob not. But I think about it A LOT & it has helped me avoid some landmines

The attack on Charlie Kirk is disgusting, vile, and reprehensible. In the United States of America, we must reject political violence in EVERY form.

I was 20 before I learned about Japanese internment camps, from a Smithsonian exhibit. I think about that a lot—in part because museums are under attack. And in part because armed agents are on their way to Chicago to raid immigrant communities. My column. www.chicagotribune.com/2025/09/05/h...

We have news! We are rolling out a refreshed weekday morning schedule starting Sept. 15, featuring two new live talk shows designed to engage listeners with the issues shaping our region, spark meaningful conversation, and bring Chicagoans closer together. trib.al/eDQj7VM

As the creator of a magazine of criticism--Entertainment Weekly--I now think it was mass-media hubris to believe that single critics, like me, could serve the diverse tastes of the nation. The death of the review? Cultural criticism is at risk of erasure www.theguardian.com/culture/2025...

Major media once thought a Trump dictatorship was impossible, so they didn't warn the public about it. Major media now see the dictatorship arriving, so they're afraid to warn the public about it.

Statement from Illinois Governor JB Pritzker on reports that Trump plans to deploy the military in his state

What would you call this if you saw it happening in another country? apnews.com/article/redi...

Commentary: The Uptown Theatre turns 100 on Aug. 18. That is incredible — and a reminder of both its storied past and the challenges ahead. As Chicago’s grandest movie palace — even larger than Radio City Music Hall — its 100-year mark underscores its cultural importance to our city and state.

Arts criticism enriches art as a whole by serving as half-curator, half-tour guide to new mediums. You don't need someone to tell you if you like something, but the historical and cultural context that critics bring can challenge, validate, celebrate, and/or elevate how we feel about a work of art.

Ok this is my laugh for the night.

If you're reacting to this thread with "Why isn't my opinion as valuable as any so-called critic's?" you are -- how shall I put this? -- the problem. You see a statement that a profession you're not in has value, and your first thought is "I'm being insulted!" You're how we got here.

Interesting. Does anyone know how this turned out? encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/a...

And not a single member of the National Guard was deployed.

Someone forgot to take down this webpage: www.justice.gov/usao-dc/pr/v...