Michael Hawthorne
@scribeguy.bsky.social
Midwesterner. Pulitzer finalist. Dig into environment/public health for the Chicago Tribune. Confidential tips welcome via SIGNAL: scribeguy.35
EPL/NBA/MLB obsessive. Victoria Concordia Crescit. https://www.chicagotribune.com/author/michael-hawthorne
EPL/NBA/MLB obsessive. Victoria Concordia Crescit. https://www.chicagotribune.com/author/michael-hawthorne
Pinned
Michael Hawthorne
@scribeguy.bsky.social
· Jan 15
EPA warns of toxic forever chemicals in sewage sludge used on farmland, including thousands of acres near the Chicago area
In northeast Illinois, more than 777,000 tons of sludge from Chicago and Cook County have been spread on farmland — in many cases near residential areas.
www.chicagotribune.com
Update from me: More than 777K tons of PFAS-contaminated sludge from Chicago and Cook Co. have been spread on farmland during the past 8 years — in many cases near residential areas.
Only LA gave more sludge to farmers.
EPA confirms cancer risks for farmers and neighbors. Unclear about gen pop.
Only LA gave more sludge to farmers.
EPA confirms cancer risks for farmers and neighbors. Unclear about gen pop.
Reposted by Michael Hawthorne
Emily Heller, an eyewitness, is speaking out to set the record straight. Officers were screaming at Renee Nicole Good, “Move, move, move.”
So she moved, and they shot her multiple times? Then Noem and Trump branded her a domestic terrorist. Does everyone see how absolutely insane that sounds?
So she moved, and they shot her multiple times? Then Noem and Trump branded her a domestic terrorist. Does everyone see how absolutely insane that sounds?
January 8, 2026 at 3:06 AM
Emily Heller, an eyewitness, is speaking out to set the record straight. Officers were screaming at Renee Nicole Good, “Move, move, move.”
So she moved, and they shot her multiple times? Then Noem and Trump branded her a domestic terrorist. Does everyone see how absolutely insane that sounds?
So she moved, and they shot her multiple times? Then Noem and Trump branded her a domestic terrorist. Does everyone see how absolutely insane that sounds?
Reposted by Michael Hawthorne
March 2025: "After Trump’s election it was possible to believe that America would merely become indifferent to the NATO countries. It’s now clear that the United States sees these former allies as prey. There can be no mistake about this."
Taking Greenland Seriously
What JD Vance’s speech means for the future of European security.
lnk.thebulwark.com
January 8, 2026 at 4:00 AM
March 2025: "After Trump’s election it was possible to believe that America would merely become indifferent to the NATO countries. It’s now clear that the United States sees these former allies as prey. There can be no mistake about this."
Reposted by Michael Hawthorne
I’m seeing a lot of people predict that “the right wing media is going to turn this story for Trump” and “they’re going to work overtime to make America forget this” and you should tell that to all these people out there in Minnesota in fucking January. This can matter. This will matter.
A friend in Minneapolis just sent me this video. Looks like thousands have come together for a vigil after an ICE agent shot and killed 37-year-old Renee Nicole Good. This was my neighborhood for several years before coming to Portland.
January 8, 2026 at 1:32 AM
I’m seeing a lot of people predict that “the right wing media is going to turn this story for Trump” and “they’re going to work overtime to make America forget this” and you should tell that to all these people out there in Minnesota in fucking January. This can matter. This will matter.
Reposted by Michael Hawthorne
“i want back my rocking chairs, / solipsist sunsets, / & coastal jungle sounds...”
A poem by Renee Nicole Good, who was murdered by ICE earlier today.
lithub.com/renee-nicole...
A poem by Renee Nicole Good, who was murdered by ICE earlier today.
lithub.com/renee-nicole...
Renee Nicole Good, murdered by ICE, was a prize-winning poet. Here’s that poem.
Renee Nicole Good, 37, mother to a six-year-old boy, was murdered earlier today by an ICE agent in Minneapolis, a few blocks from her home. According to the Minnesota Star Tribune: [An ICE agent] s…
lithub.com
January 8, 2026 at 3:54 AM
“i want back my rocking chairs, / solipsist sunsets, / & coastal jungle sounds...”
A poem by Renee Nicole Good, who was murdered by ICE earlier today.
lithub.com/renee-nicole...
A poem by Renee Nicole Good, who was murdered by ICE earlier today.
lithub.com/renee-nicole...
Reposted by Michael Hawthorne
Mayor Brandon said the fact that “Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve,” broadcast live nationwide from the Chicago Riverwalk, training a national spotlight on the city, without incident proves that CPD does not need additional power. news.wttw.com/2026/01/06/p...
Push to Expand CPD’s Curfew Power Not Necessary, Johnson Says
“I think New Year’s Eve was a testament that we did not need an additional tool in order to ensure that our young people were where they need to be and that our parents and adults who are part of thes...
news.wttw.com
January 7, 2026 at 2:06 PM
Mayor Brandon said the fact that “Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve,” broadcast live nationwide from the Chicago Riverwalk, training a national spotlight on the city, without incident proves that CPD does not need additional power. news.wttw.com/2026/01/06/p...
Reposted by Michael Hawthorne
COMMENTARY: It seems an increasing number of Americans, including elected leaders and journalists, are afraid to tell the truth about what happened on January 6. That's dangerous.
January 7, 2026 at 2:51 AM
COMMENTARY: It seems an increasing number of Americans, including elected leaders and journalists, are afraid to tell the truth about what happened on January 6. That's dangerous.
Reposted by Michael Hawthorne
Lol how can you tell this administration is lying to you? Because oil hasn't been shipped in actual barrels in over a century
www.cnn.com/2026/01/06/b...
www.cnn.com/2026/01/06/b...
January 7, 2026 at 3:47 PM
Lol how can you tell this administration is lying to you? Because oil hasn't been shipped in actual barrels in over a century
www.cnn.com/2026/01/06/b...
www.cnn.com/2026/01/06/b...
Reposted by Michael Hawthorne
keep thinking of a vocally anti-woke reporter who insisted that the term "environmental racism" was nonsense
After a white county in South Carolina rejected a data center, developers have sets their sights on a Black community for a proposed data center complex the size of 1,200 football fields
After a White Town Rejected a Data Center, Developers Targeted a Black Area
Four million Americans live within 1 mile of a data center. The communities closest to them are “overwhelmingly” non-white.
capitalbnews.org
January 7, 2026 at 3:02 PM
keep thinking of a vocally anti-woke reporter who insisted that the term "environmental racism" was nonsense
Reposted by Michael Hawthorne
Excellent 🧵by a local chicago reporter on the DHS violence we saw here in our city that’s now happening in Minneapolis. Scroll thru the whole thing to be reminded just how badly ICE IS OUT OF CONTROL.
An ICE officer fatally shooting a woman in Minneapolis is not the first time federal agents involved in immigration have shot a person this year. Here are two shootings, including another fatal one, during the recent Chicago blitz.
January 7, 2026 at 7:58 PM
Excellent 🧵by a local chicago reporter on the DHS violence we saw here in our city that’s now happening in Minneapolis. Scroll thru the whole thing to be reminded just how badly ICE IS OUT OF CONTROL.
Reposted by Michael Hawthorne
Texas A&M has decided that Plato is woke & thus has forbidden a philosophy professor from teaching Plato's works.
Not a joke. Not satire. This is the world the anti-woke "free speech warriors" have bequeathed us.
dailynous.com/2026/01/06/t...
Not a joke. Not satire. This is the world the anti-woke "free speech warriors" have bequeathed us.
dailynous.com/2026/01/06/t...
Texas A&M Bans Plato - Daily Nous
Drop the race and gender material from your course and the Plato readings, or teach a different course. You have a day to decide. That's a paraphrase of what Martin Peterson, professor of philosophy at Texas A&M University, was told by university officials today about his upcoming "Contemporary Moral Problems" course, due to start next
dailynous.com
January 7, 2026 at 9:13 PM
Texas A&M has decided that Plato is woke & thus has forbidden a philosophy professor from teaching Plato's works.
Not a joke. Not satire. This is the world the anti-woke "free speech warriors" have bequeathed us.
dailynous.com/2026/01/06/t...
Not a joke. Not satire. This is the world the anti-woke "free speech warriors" have bequeathed us.
dailynous.com/2026/01/06/t...
Reposted by Michael Hawthorne
They will murder unarmed citizens and then accuse them of wrongdoing. Zero sense of accountability or shame.
Kristi Noem accuses the woman who was killed by ICE in Minneapolis of committing an act of "domestic terrorism"
January 7, 2026 at 7:30 PM
They will murder unarmed citizens and then accuse them of wrongdoing. Zero sense of accountability or shame.
Reposted by Michael Hawthorne
they are recruiting for the worst, bottom-of-the-barrel chuds imaginable and those chuds are behaving exactly as you'd expect
MPR playing an eye witness account right now of ICE shooting directly through the windshield at her face and not giving her medical care for 10 minutes.
MPR News is live right now bringing you updates on this. mprnews.org/listen
January 7, 2026 at 5:02 PM
they are recruiting for the worst, bottom-of-the-barrel chuds imaginable and those chuds are behaving exactly as you'd expect
Reposted by Michael Hawthorne
"To ICE, get the fuck out of Minneapolis"
“To ICE, get the fuck out of Minneapolis. We do not want you here. Your stated reason for being in this city is to create some kind of safety and you are doing exactly the opposite.” – Mayor Jacob Frey, after ICE shot and killed a woman in Minneapolis today.
January 7, 2026 at 8:48 PM
"To ICE, get the fuck out of Minneapolis"
Reposted by Michael Hawthorne
Woke Bill Kristol outstripping National Dems Again
Abolish ICE. Really.
Trump: "I have just viewed the clip of the event which took place in Minneapolis. It is a horrible thing to watch. The woman screaming was, obviously, a professional agitator, and the woman driving the car was very disorderly, obstructing and resisting ... "
January 7, 2026 at 8:51 PM
Woke Bill Kristol outstripping National Dems Again
Reposted by Michael Hawthorne
Mayor Jacob Frey: "They are already trying to spin this as an action of self defense. Having seen the video myself, I want to tell everybody directly that is bullshit."
January 7, 2026 at 6:39 PM
Mayor Jacob Frey: "They are already trying to spin this as an action of self defense. Having seen the video myself, I want to tell everybody directly that is bullshit."
Reposted by Michael Hawthorne
Along with the more standard, now-familiar January 6 denialism, the White House website included a suggestion that assassination attempts against Trump have been orchestrated by rogue forces inside the government. talkingpointsmemo.com/news/the-whi...
The White House’s J6 Revisionism Includes a Wild New Conspiracy Theory
The White House marked the fifth anniversary of the Capitol attack by...
talkingpointsmemo.com
January 6, 2026 at 11:55 PM
Along with the more standard, now-familiar January 6 denialism, the White House website included a suggestion that assassination attempts against Trump have been orchestrated by rogue forces inside the government. talkingpointsmemo.com/news/the-whi...
Reposted by Michael Hawthorne
January 6, 2026 at 4:26 AM
"You’ve got a 1940s Stalin problem inside the American military right now,” top US general tells @theguardian.com
Trump push to politicize US military ‘reminiscent of Stalin’, top general warns
Maj Gen Paul Eaton says US president’s effort to bend military to his will could have dire long-term consequences
www.theguardian.com
January 6, 2026 at 4:47 AM
"You’ve got a 1940s Stalin problem inside the American military right now,” top US general tells @theguardian.com
Reposted by Michael Hawthorne
Absolutely wild given that the Keyes Constant, the number of people in the US who are batshit crazy in every poll or election, is something like 27%
One of the most lopsided results you'll ever see in a poll, from our weekend Washington Post poll www.washingtonpost.com/politics/int...
January 6, 2026 at 12:37 AM
Absolutely wild given that the Keyes Constant, the number of people in the US who are batshit crazy in every poll or election, is something like 27%
Reposted by Michael Hawthorne
Way down the list on how insane and evil this is, but... just a point of con law trivia, I guess: the president doesn't have the power to annex territory. Like, even assuming we militarily occupied it. Just on the domestic law angle, it still wouldn't be "part of the US" w/o Congress saying so.
TAPPER: Can you rule out the US is going to take Greenland by force?
MILLER: Greenland should be part of the US. By what right does Denmark assert control over Greenland? The US is the power of NATO
T: So force is on the table?
M: Nobody is gonna fight the US militarily over future of Greenland
MILLER: Greenland should be part of the US. By what right does Denmark assert control over Greenland? The US is the power of NATO
T: So force is on the table?
M: Nobody is gonna fight the US militarily over future of Greenland
January 6, 2026 at 12:36 AM
Way down the list on how insane and evil this is, but... just a point of con law trivia, I guess: the president doesn't have the power to annex territory. Like, even assuming we militarily occupied it. Just on the domestic law angle, it still wouldn't be "part of the US" w/o Congress saying so.
Reposted by Michael Hawthorne
So many in media are ill-equipped to interview officials about what’s happening because they begin with the presumption of legitimacy and don’t know enough about history or U.S. foreign policy to foment intelligent pushback and hold officials accountable.
January 4, 2026 at 11:32 PM
So many in media are ill-equipped to interview officials about what’s happening because they begin with the presumption of legitimacy and don’t know enough about history or U.S. foreign policy to foment intelligent pushback and hold officials accountable.
Reposted by Michael Hawthorne
This vile new Stephen Miller tweet, along with the news that Miller may run the occupation of Venezuela, is a good time for you to read our deep dive into Miller's actual worldview and agenda, especially this part comparing Miller's language with Pat Buchanan's:
newrepublic.com/article/2041...
newrepublic.com/article/2041...
January 5, 2026 at 7:36 PM
This vile new Stephen Miller tweet, along with the news that Miller may run the occupation of Venezuela, is a good time for you to read our deep dive into Miller's actual worldview and agenda, especially this part comparing Miller's language with Pat Buchanan's:
newrepublic.com/article/2041...
newrepublic.com/article/2041...
"We see Trump saying almost explicitly that they’re basically using the military abroad to pillage and plunder."
Transcript: Marjorie Taylor Greene Wrecks Trump in Harsh Maduro Tirade
As Representative Greene sharply criticizes Trump’s invasion of Venezuela, prominent advocate Norm Eisen explains how this illegal war unmasks MAGA’s true intentions—and details what should happen in ...
newrepublic.com
January 5, 2026 at 7:37 PM
"We see Trump saying almost explicitly that they’re basically using the military abroad to pillage and plunder."
Reposted by Michael Hawthorne
His "long life in the wild came to symbolize the country's increasingly successful efforts to protect the mammals from ivory poachers."
He died at 54, of natural causes.
via @apnews.com
He died at 54, of natural causes.
via @apnews.com
Conservationists in Kenya pay tribute to beloved 'super tusker' elephant Craig, who died at age 54
Kenyans are mourning the death of a beloved "super tusker" elephant named Craig. He lived in Amboseli National Park and symbolized Kenya's efforts to protect elephants from poachers.
apnews.com
January 5, 2026 at 6:33 PM
His "long life in the wild came to symbolize the country's increasingly successful efforts to protect the mammals from ivory poachers."
He died at 54, of natural causes.
via @apnews.com
He died at 54, of natural causes.
via @apnews.com
Reposted by Michael Hawthorne
January 5, 2026 at 6:49 PM