Erik Wallenius
@erikwallenius.bsky.social
Eagle Scout, Army vet, @BarackObama ‘08 alum. Interests include data/tech, board games, feminism. Don’t mistake my kindness for weakness. ✶ ✶ ✶ ✶ he/him
Reposted by Erik Wallenius
Feds Repeatedly Lied And Misled The Public During Chicago Immigration Crackdown, Federal Judge Rules blockclubchicago.org/2025/11/25/f... In some way this isn't news, but it's a key story, and links to the whole judgment. Some light reading over the holiday . . .
Feds Repeatedly Lied And Misled The Public During Chicago Immigration Crackdown, Federal Judge Rules
In a scathing opinion, U.S. District Judge Sara Ellis highlighted lies and distortions by Border Patrol boss Greg Bovino and immigration agents in press releases, social media posts and their own inte...
blockclubchicago.org
November 25, 2025 at 5:19 PM
Feds Repeatedly Lied And Misled The Public During Chicago Immigration Crackdown, Federal Judge Rules blockclubchicago.org/2025/11/25/f... In some way this isn't news, but it's a key story, and links to the whole judgment. Some light reading over the holiday . . .
Reposted by Erik Wallenius
One only needs to look at donation records to see that Pat Hynes is a shill for the commercial real estate industry.
But if that isn’t enough for you, he also spent years working for the corrupt former Assessor Joe Berrios and only left because he couldn’t handle working for a reformer in Fritz.
But if that isn’t enough for you, he also spent years working for the corrupt former Assessor Joe Berrios and only left because he couldn’t handle working for a reformer in Fritz.
The Pat Hynes campaign is out here misspelling the office he seeks
November 19, 2025 at 10:15 PM
One only needs to look at donation records to see that Pat Hynes is a shill for the commercial real estate industry.
But if that isn’t enough for you, he also spent years working for the corrupt former Assessor Joe Berrios and only left because he couldn’t handle working for a reformer in Fritz.
But if that isn’t enough for you, he also spent years working for the corrupt former Assessor Joe Berrios and only left because he couldn’t handle working for a reformer in Fritz.
Do we think Seth Rogen is aware of this? Can someone here text it to him? www.darkmattercoffee.com/products/chr...
Chronikkah Coffee Blend |Dark Matter Coffee
CHRONIKKAH- THE FESTIVAL OF LIGHTNING UP! Each year Chronikkah highlights a barrel-aged component that makes this coffee a bit juicier and fruit-forward. The majority of the blend is a coffee from San...
www.darkmattercoffee.com
November 22, 2025 at 4:05 PM
Do we think Seth Rogen is aware of this? Can someone here text it to him? www.darkmattercoffee.com/products/chr...
Reposted by Erik Wallenius
Call me old fashioned, I really feel like the President and Speaker of the House calling for members of the opposition party to be hanged to death should carry some kind of political or legal consequences!
November 21, 2025 at 1:47 AM
Call me old fashioned, I really feel like the President and Speaker of the House calling for members of the opposition party to be hanged to death should carry some kind of political or legal consequences!
On the other hand, Illinois is admired nationwide for how well-funded our various Mosquito Abatement Districts are…!
fundamentally the problem Chicago has is that it creates a massive amount of economic value for the region but cannot capture it with proper taxes due to municipal fragmentation (and the entire reason suburbs exist is to deprive cities of this revenue)
low property taxes in a desirable area are a handout to banks bc people purchase property based on the maximum monthly payment they can afford, and so low property taxes drive up property values and in turn banks make more money from mortgages
November 20, 2025 at 6:32 PM
On the other hand, Illinois is admired nationwide for how well-funded our various Mosquito Abatement Districts are…!
Reposted by Erik Wallenius
Imagine looking around America in 2025 and thinking, "What we need less of is morality."
November 18, 2025 at 8:56 PM
Imagine looking around America in 2025 and thinking, "What we need less of is morality."
Reposted by Erik Wallenius
The best thing we can do when we see articles about Rahm Emanuel is to not click on them. Show no interest at all. The Atlantic actually paid to promote this article on IG.
November 19, 2025 at 3:42 PM
The best thing we can do when we see articles about Rahm Emanuel is to not click on them. Show no interest at all. The Atlantic actually paid to promote this article on IG.
Reposted by Erik Wallenius
Amnesty for our neighbors, accountability for the stormtroopers, this is the only way forward and the Dems aren't asking for it. We must demand the end of this system.
Astonishing to stop and realize that, at any given moment, bands of masked men armed to the teeth are storming churches and daycares, terrorizing entire communities—and that most of the country's political establishment barely blinks.
November 19, 2025 at 9:57 PM
Amnesty for our neighbors, accountability for the stormtroopers, this is the only way forward and the Dems aren't asking for it. We must demand the end of this system.
Reposted by Erik Wallenius
An ad for supplemental private German health insurance just came on the tv
It was 5€ per month.
I'll be over here sobbing if anyone needs me
It was 5€ per month.
I'll be over here sobbing if anyone needs me
November 20, 2025 at 3:42 PM
An ad for supplemental private German health insurance just came on the tv
It was 5€ per month.
I'll be over here sobbing if anyone needs me
It was 5€ per month.
I'll be over here sobbing if anyone needs me
Reposted by Erik Wallenius
best coast
November 19, 2025 at 11:00 PM
best coast
Reposted by Erik Wallenius
#BREAKING: Former Harvard President Lawrence H. Summers will immediately leave his role as an instructor at Harvard while the University investigates his ties to child sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein.
Dhruv T. Patel and Cam N. Srivastava report.
Dhruv T. Patel and Cam N. Srivastava report.
Summers Will Not Finish Semester of Teaching as Harvard Investigates Epstein Ties | News | The Harvard Crimson
Former Harvard President Lawrence H. Summers will immediately leave his role as an instructor at Harvard while the University investigates his ties to child sex trafficker Jeffrey E. Epstein.
www.thecrimson.com
November 20, 2025 at 12:30 AM
#BREAKING: Former Harvard President Lawrence H. Summers will immediately leave his role as an instructor at Harvard while the University investigates his ties to child sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein.
Dhruv T. Patel and Cam N. Srivastava report.
Dhruv T. Patel and Cam N. Srivastava report.
Reposted by Erik Wallenius
Me when the city completes my 311 request
a cartoon character with the words " the universe is mine to command " above him
Alt: The scene from Disney’s Aladdin where Jafar has turned into a genie and says "the universe is mine to command…TO CONTROL!!”
media.tenor.com
November 20, 2025 at 12:49 AM
Me when the city completes my 311 request
Reposted by Erik Wallenius
Reposted by Erik Wallenius
Mind the 20-year Green Line gap.
Get on at one stop where the life expectancy is 87.
Head 5 stations west and the people in that Chicago neighborhood live on average to just 67 chicago.suntimes.com/health/2025/...
Get on at one stop where the life expectancy is 87.
Head 5 stations west and the people in that Chicago neighborhood live on average to just 67 chicago.suntimes.com/health/2025/...
As they live Chicago’s ‘Death Gap,’ a three-generation West Side family fights to end it
West Garfield Park residents are expected to live on average until 67 years old, compared to 87 in the Loop. This is the widest death gap in Chicago.
chicago.suntimes.com
November 20, 2025 at 2:11 PM
Mind the 20-year Green Line gap.
Get on at one stop where the life expectancy is 87.
Head 5 stations west and the people in that Chicago neighborhood live on average to just 67 chicago.suntimes.com/health/2025/...
Get on at one stop where the life expectancy is 87.
Head 5 stations west and the people in that Chicago neighborhood live on average to just 67 chicago.suntimes.com/health/2025/...
Reposted by Erik Wallenius
Without city funding, group counseling programs serving 1,400 Chicago Public School students in 33 schools will end on Dec. 31. Those programs have helped students endure the violence- and family-related emotional trauma many of them live with on a daily basis.
Johnson pledges to use head tax for youth programs, then wants to cut funding for proven mentoring efforts
chicago.suntimes.com
November 20, 2025 at 2:26 PM
Without city funding, group counseling programs serving 1,400 Chicago Public School students in 33 schools will end on Dec. 31. Those programs have helped students endure the violence- and family-related emotional trauma many of them live with on a daily basis.
“Values were cut at the Board of Review by nearly 20% for commercial properties, whereas only 1% for residential...That shifted about half a billion dollars of the burden, according to the treasurer, onto homeowners. That’s about $700 that’s tacked onto the tax bill of every single home in Chicago”
West Garfield Park: +133%. North Lawndale: +99%. A new analysis shows huge jumps for some homeowners while big commercial parcels win major cuts on appeal. Assessor Fritz Kaegi breaks down what’s driving the shift.
Cook County Assessor Pushes to Ease Property Tax Burden on Homeowners
Some homeowners are searching for answers as they grapple with hefty property tax bills. A new report from the Cook County Treasurer’s Office said declining values for downtown commercial properties a...
news.wttw.com
November 20, 2025 at 6:19 PM
“Values were cut at the Board of Review by nearly 20% for commercial properties, whereas only 1% for residential...That shifted about half a billion dollars of the burden, according to the treasurer, onto homeowners. That’s about $700 that’s tacked onto the tax bill of every single home in Chicago”
“Commercial properties in the Loop will pay almost $130 million less this year in property taxes, a decrease of about 11.5 percent, according to the report.”
A new report shows that the South and West sides have been hit hardest by massive property tax bill spikes. blockclubchi.co/44nsxXd
November 20, 2025 at 6:17 PM
“Commercial properties in the Loop will pay almost $130 million less this year in property taxes, a decrease of about 11.5 percent, according to the report.”
Reposted by Erik Wallenius
Housing matters! We should all be fighting to expand the tax base by welcoming more workers, residents, and taxpayers!
I feel like HousingSky doesn’t talk anywhere near enough about what Fritz Kaegi has done in Chicago area as Cook County Assessor.
November 20, 2025 at 6:08 PM
Housing matters! We should all be fighting to expand the tax base by welcoming more workers, residents, and taxpayers!
“Everyone needs to be paying their fair share…when we’re seeing big cuts on commercial properties, on big industrial properties, commercial properties, corporate properties, and it’s pushed onto the homeowner…that is what I find extremely concerning, and that’s what I’m fighting against.”
Some homeowners are searching for answers as they grapple with hefty — and late — property tax bills. Cook County Assessor Fritz Kaegi, who is running for reelection, says the property tax system favors corporations. He has said he’s working to change it. https://to.wttw.com/4oSgoC7
November 20, 2025 at 6:06 PM
“Everyone needs to be paying their fair share…when we’re seeing big cuts on commercial properties, on big industrial properties, commercial properties, corporate properties, and it’s pushed onto the homeowner…that is what I find extremely concerning, and that’s what I’m fighting against.”
Reposted by Erik Wallenius
they murdered him and cut him up with a bone saw
Trump suggests Khashoggi had it coming: "You're mentioning someone that was extremely controversial. A lot of people didn't like that gentleman that you're talking about. Whether you like him or didn't like him, things happen. But he knew nothing about it. You don't have to embarrass our guest."
November 18, 2025 at 6:49 PM
they murdered him and cut him up with a bone saw
Reposted by Erik Wallenius
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-...
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-...
November 9, 2025 at 8:49 PM
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-...
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-...
Reposted by Erik Wallenius
“Kaegi’s office largely completed their portion of the Tyler upgrade in 2021.”
www.chicagotribune.com/2025/11/07/c...
www.chicagotribune.com/2025/11/07/c...
Cook County property tax bills will be mailed out on Nov. 14
After months of uncertainty and delay, Cook County officials announced Friday that property tax bills will be mailed on Nov. 14 and due by Dec. 15.
www.chicagotribune.com
November 8, 2025 at 2:48 AM
“Kaegi’s office largely completed their portion of the Tyler upgrade in 2021.”
www.chicagotribune.com/2025/11/07/c...
www.chicagotribune.com/2025/11/07/c...
Reposted by Erik Wallenius
Here's your regular reminder to tell your loved ones what you want for the end of your life because you don't know when it will be or if you'll be able to communicate
November 6, 2025 at 8:47 PM
Here's your regular reminder to tell your loved ones what you want for the end of your life because you don't know when it will be or if you'll be able to communicate
Reposted by Erik Wallenius
"Like capital punishment, torture, and slavery, deportation is wrong. Always, all of it, no exceptions. People of conscience must not let ourselves be pulled into line-drawing between acceptable and unacceptable instances of this violence"
littlevillagemag.com/letter-to-th...
littlevillagemag.com/letter-to-th...
Letter to the editor: Deportation is wrong, period - Little Village
By Nate Holdren, Des Moines I write this letter to the editor on the evening of Friday, Sept. 26 after hearing the news that Ian Roberts, the superintendent of the […]
littlevillagemag.com
November 6, 2025 at 2:10 PM
"Like capital punishment, torture, and slavery, deportation is wrong. Always, all of it, no exceptions. People of conscience must not let ourselves be pulled into line-drawing between acceptable and unacceptable instances of this violence"
littlevillagemag.com/letter-to-th...
littlevillagemag.com/letter-to-th...