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benfay.bsky.social
Ben Fay
@benfay.bsky.social
37 followers 140 following 18 posts
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Reposted by Ben Fay
ladytophamcatt.bsky.social
Hell is empty & all the devils are here
dianamonkey.bsky.social Erin Kane @dianamonkey.bsky.social · 24d
"Agencies within the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, including ICE, ERO, and CBP intend to implement a comprehensive plan to target Spanish-speaking churches across the country during the upcoming holiday season between Thanksgiving, Nov. 27, and Christmas, Dec. 25."
Exclusive: Trump DHS Plans Immigration Raids on Churches Over Holidays
The Trump Dept. of Homeland Security is briefing federal agencies on plans for immigration enforcement operations inside churches over holidays.
thisweekinworcester.com
November 18, 2025 at 2:12 AM
Reposted by Ben Fay
stevenhyden.bsky.social
RIP Todd Snider. One of the greats, an unheralded songwriters' songwriter and a genuine character. Loved and proselytized for almost as long as I've been a music critic. A guy not only influenced by Prine/Kristofferson/Jerry Jeff but he seemed to come out of the same world.
November 15, 2025 at 3:35 PM
Reposted by Ben Fay
bgrueskin.bsky.social
Kyle Kingsbury is not a journalist. He is not an op-ed writer.

He is a computer safety researcher.

And he has written one of the most compelling, comprehensive accounts of the ongoing hell in Chicago that you could possibly imagine.

In under 1600 words.

aphyr.com/posts/397-i-...
I Want You to Understand Chicago Politics Chicago 2025-11-08 I want you to understand what it is like to live in Chicago during this time. Every day my phone buzzes. It is a neighborhood group: four people were kidnapped at the corner drugstore. A friend a mile away sends a Slack message: she was at the scene when masked men assaulted and abducted two people on the street. A plumber working on my pipes is distraught, and I find out that two of his employees were kidnapped that morning. A week later it happens again. An email arrives. Agents with guns have chased a teacher into the school where she works. They did not have a warrant. They dragged her away, ignoring her and her colleagues’ pleas to show proof of her documentation. That evening I stand a few feet from the parents of Rayito de Sol and listen to them describe, with anguish, how good Ms. Diana was to their children. What it is like to have strangers with guns traumatize your kids. For a teacher to hide a three-year-old child for fear they might be killed. How their relatives will no longer leave the house. I hear the pain and fury in their voices, and I wonder who will be next. Understand what it is to pray in Chicago. On September 19th, Reverend David Black, lead pastor at First Presbyterian Church of Chicago, was praying outside the ICE detention center in Broadview when a DHS agent shot him in the head with pepper balls. Pepper balls are never supposed to be fired at the head because they can seriously injure, or even kill. “We could hear them laughing as they were shooting us from the roof,” Black recalled. He is not the only member of the clergy ICE has assaulted. Methodist pastor Hannah Kardon was violently arrested on October 17th, and Baptist pastor Michael Woolf was shot with pepper balls on November 1st. Understand what it is to sleep in Chicago. On the night of September 30th, federal agents rappelled from a Black Hawk helicopter to execute a raid on an apartment building on the South Sho…
November 9, 2025 at 8:49 PM
Reposted by Ben Fay
pmorse.bsky.social
a lone warrior
October 10, 2025 at 6:11 PM
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jonseidel.bsky.social
#BREAKING Federal judge in Chicago temporarily blocks the Trump administration from "ordering the federalization and deployment of the National Guard of the United States within Illinois."
jonseidel.bsky.social Jon Seidel @jonseidel.bsky.social · Oct 9
Perry says the order will say defendants are "temporarily enjoined from ordering the federalization and deployment of the National Guard of the United States within Illinois."
October 9, 2025 at 10:25 PM
Reposted by Ben Fay
miseagrant.bsky.social
From @greatlakesnow.bsky.social: Lake Superior isn't jammed with the invasive mussels that plague the rest of the Great Lakes. But the lake's tenuous advantages could be falling away, threatening the lake's fishery:
As mussels ravage Great Lakes whitefish, Lake Superior survives — for now | Great Lakes Now
Chemistry, cold water and isolation make it hard for invasive mussels to get a foothold in the Big Lake. But a spate of recent outbreaks from Isle Royale to Canada’s Nipigon Bay have scientists…
buff.ly
September 15, 2025 at 1:15 PM
Reposted by Ben Fay
heathercherone.bsky.social
BREAKING: Gov. JB Pritzker says the Trump administration has sent the Texas National Guard to Great Lakes Naval Base outside Chicago, awaiting orders to deploy to Chicago.
Trump administration officials will target Mexican Independence Day (Sept. 16) celebrations. @wttw.bsky.social
September 2, 2025 at 8:11 PM
Reposted by Ben Fay
laurie-merrell.bsky.social
The Family Support Hotline number to report ICE sightings in Chicago is 855-435-7693.

This is a great interview that describes what happens when the support network is activated and why it's so important to report sightings through organized channels.

chicago.citycast.fm/podcasts/how...
August 28, 2025 at 1:16 PM
Reposted by Ben Fay
alliancegreatlakes.bsky.social
The Great Lakes region faces growing demand from large water users like data centers, agriculture, and critical minerals mining. The demand may become unsustainable if we don’t take serious planning, policy, and regulatory actions. More about the problem and solutions: greatlakes.org/2025/08/grea...
Great Lakes Region Unprepared for Increasing Water Use Demands - Alliance for the Great Lakes
CHICAGO, IL (August 20, 2025) – The Great Lakes region faces the prospect of water shortages, groundwater conflicts, and contaminated aquifers as demand sharply increases from large water users such [...
greatlakes.org
August 20, 2025 at 2:51 PM
Reposted by Ben Fay
anjulierao.bsky.social
Once again, criticism shows people how to look, a way of seeing, a path toward developing one’s own practices. There’s a whole lotta people who would rather you believe that your eyes deceive you, your feelings betray you, that how you experience the world is inconsequential. Don’t give in to them.
anthonymoser.com Anthony Moser @anthonymoser.com · Aug 20
it's no coincidence that the role of "helping people understand how to think through what art means" is being eliminated at the same time a bunch of assholes are trying to convince us that art doesn't mean anything
moryan.bsky.social Mo Ryan @moryan.bsky.social · Aug 20
I occasionally copy edited Siskel back in the day at Chi Tribune. Yes. This ongoing diminishment of critics is a travesty.

As @samadams.bsky.social has said, if Ebert and Siskel launched their show now, it would be just two empty chairs. 👎👎
August 20, 2025 at 2:06 AM
Reposted by Ben Fay
brunojnavarro.bsky.social
“You know what? I’m done with this country. A totally unnecessary hatred being directed at my kid is unforgivable.”
A Mother and Her Trans Teen Decide to Leave the U.S.
After President Trump issued an executive order aimed at restricting access to gender-affirming care for minors, one family made the difficult choice to relocate to Mexico City.
www.newyorker.com
August 8, 2025 at 11:49 AM
Reposted by Ben Fay
changeurbanlife.bsky.social
100% affordable apartments? Slay
July 12, 2025 at 11:14 PM
Reposted by Ben Fay
newyorker.com
The arrival of A.I. means that college students can now bypass the process, and the difficulty, of learning altogether. Hua Hsu reports.
What Happens After A.I. Destroys College Writing?
The demise of the English paper will end a long intellectual tradition, but it’s also an opportunity to reëxamine the purpose of higher education.
www.newyorker.com
June 30, 2025 at 5:00 PM
Reposted by Ben Fay
rfhirschfeld.bsky.social
Illinois has abundant, phenomenal farmland, but grows few fruits and vegetables. It's a land of corn and soy.

Why? Because we built a system where grain has silos, subsidies, and guaranteed buyers.

But local produce? No infrastructure, no support. www.chicagotribune.com/2025/06/16/i...
Why doesn't Illinois grow more fruits and vegetables?
In the shadow of corn, soybeans and climate change, a handful of farmers are building a supply chain for local produce in Illinois.
www.chicagotribune.com
June 17, 2025 at 6:19 PM
Reposted by Ben Fay
toonyballoony.bsky.social
I did my best to compile as many protest safety notes as possible into a one page foldout zine! Coincidentally…it seems the file has breached containment…like it’s available for anyone to print or hand out 👀⚖️

toonyart.com/s/PSZine.pdf
The cover spread from a one page zine printout. The left (back cover) features images of a scale and gavel, with notes on First Amendment and filming rights, and the advice to “shut the fuck up.” On the right is the cover, a megaphone with the title text “PROTEST SAFELY.” Behind it are faceless protestors. The subtitle notes, “A brief collection of tips from around the internet.” A spread from one page zine printout. On the left is an illustration of a protestor with the title “What to Wear,” including a helmet, goggles, ear plugs, gloves, a mask, a backpack, and layers/long sleeves/pants. Each have additional notes explaining their use. On the right is “What to Bring,” featuring illustrations of a backpack, money, water bottles, a mask, a granola bar and bag of trail mix, a first aid kit, folded shirt and pants, and an ID, with “DIY Defense” listed underneath it showing one protestor using a luggage case, one holding a trash can lid, and one using an open umbrella as a shield. A spread from one page zine printout. On the left is “Protect Your Identity,” advising to cover up identifying features, avoiding photography of protesters, deactivating biometric phone-unlocking tools, and writing emergency contact and counsel numbers on your arm. On the right is “Be Like Water,” the motto of the 2019 Hong Kong protests, and the text “BEWARE THE BAIT” with images of a palette of bricks and a masked man holding a crowbar toward a protestor with a sign, “Psst, free crowbar?” encouraging the reader not to engage with traps and undercover agents. A spread from one page zine printout featuring the hazards of protest opposition, including tear gas, rubber bullets, and LRAD sound cannons and flash bangs. Caution tape images accompany the text explaining the dangers of each, how to flush out eyes that have been maced/etc, and how to extinguish a gas canister with a traffic cone.
June 12, 2025 at 11:59 PM
Reposted by Ben Fay
yonahfreemark.com
After passing Illinois Senate, a bill that would fund & reform Chicago’s transit system failed to be considered by the House, which adjourned for the session.

Chicago’s CTA, Metra & Pace transit systems now face big cuts in service from the fiscal cliff that the state legislature didn’t address.
June 1, 2025 at 2:28 PM
Reposted by Ben Fay
kevincollier.bsky.social
I saw somebody say recently that gen AI imagery is the aesthetic of Trump 2.0/MAGA-style authoritarianism, and it really clicked. Easy, derivative, helpful as a toll for propaganda, wasteful, cuts out human artists.
The AI Slop Presidency
AI-generated outrage bait is the perfect artistic medium for a president who rules by trying to overwhelm the system.
www.404media.co
May 7, 2025 at 2:41 PM
Reposted by Ben Fay
texasobserver.org
In books: Hundreds of miles of border walls have been erected by successive presidential administrations. Nearly all the barriers that now stand were built outside of compliance with the laws and regulations that would govern any other federal project.
The Lawless Border Wall
The application of waivers and the interpretation of their scope has repeatedly expanded, such that border walls are now privileged over all potential legal constraints short of the U.S. Constitution.
www.texasobserver.org
April 22, 2025 at 9:41 PM
Reposted by Ben Fay
chicagomag.com
Jens Ludwig, cofounder and director of the University of Chicago's Crime Lab, questions everything you thought you knew about shootings.
The Science of Making Communities Less Violent
Jens Ludwig questions everything you thought you knew about shootings.
buff.ly
April 16, 2025 at 12:39 PM
Reposted by Ben Fay
newseye.bsky.social
NEW: Photo released showing the treatment of 100s of people deported by Trump to El Salvador, in defiance of a federal judge ruling.

Remember, none of these individuals had any due process. They had no opportunity to contest any evidence, if is existed.

A grievous human rights violation.

1/2
In this photo provided by El Salvador's presidential press office, hooded prison guards are seen marching detainees hunched over & handcuffed. They are transferring deportees from the U.S. Terrorism Confinement Center in Tecoluca, El Salvador, Sunday, March 16, 2025. (El Salvador presidential press office via AP)
March 16, 2025 at 11:56 PM
Reposted by Ben Fay
chrischirp.bsky.social
🧵"So this is how liberty dies..."

Trump’s first 3 weeks have been a relentless flood of actions. It's incredibly hard to keep up.

I’ve gone through 69 actions & mapped out the pattern - showing how they fall within 5 broad domains consistent with authoritarian states 1/9
This is a venn diagram showing how 69 Trump actions map onto domains covering: undermining democratic institutions; suppressing dissent and media; dismantling social protections; attacking science and education; destabilising the global order. A table version is available here https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1LZN7QnbSyFfUZJG8Sn1MWpK0VnfBtb0OSyZ1jxP3xBk/edit?usp=sharing
February 13, 2025 at 11:38 AM
Reposted by Ben Fay
amandamull.bsky.social
This is such a satisfying @austincarr.bsky.social story about a niche disaster that has fascinated me for years: The Walgreens video cooler door fiasco. A true retail cautionary tale. www.bloomberg.com/news/feature...
Walgreens Replaced Fridge Doors With Smart Screens. It’s Now a $200 Million Fiasco
A startup promised the pharmacy chain its high-tech coolers would track shoppers and spark an in-store ad revolution.
www.bloomberg.com
January 16, 2025 at 3:29 PM
Reposted by Ben Fay
kateontransport.bsky.social
Like ed, public transit critical public good & benefits all, not just direct users. Like ed, v underfunded w biz overhyping reform & "efficiencies". Better regional coordination needed! $$$+more political will +agency leadership improvements >CTA erasure www.chicagotribune.com/2024/08/19/o...
January 12, 2025 at 6:45 PM