I lived in Chicago for five years after undergrad, and they were some of the best years of my life. It’s a fabulous town. So this does not surprise me at all:
You see that? Fascist thumb Tom Homan is BIG MAD that Chicagoans are protecting one another by… knowing the law. Which seems to amount to an admission that what he’s doing isn’t legal, exactly, but set that aside for now. The point is that there are still actions to be taken that can stymie these jackbooted dipshits.
There were lots of people organizing around what to do about potential mass deportation raids in the weeks leading up to inauguration (it helped that the new administration telegraphed their intentions). Lo, that organization has reduced suffering for the communities being targeted.
Here are the simple legal resources, compiled by the Immigrant Legal Resource Center, [ETA: link fixed!] that Homan is complaining about in the above post. Download them if you think they might come in handy where you live, too. Give money to a food bank or a community health clinic today if you can—I sent money to the Greater Chicago Food Depository, even though I just cleaned out my savings to close on my house. Do something to help people near you (or in places you love), no matter how small.
Also keep calling your reps about the unconstitutional power grab by the executive branch. It seems to be working. This memo from OMB clarifying what is and isn’t affected, in spite of the original memo declaring that all federal grants were affected, sounds awfully sweaty: “SNAP and student loans are totally not subject to this order!”
Thread is open (I know we have several going right now), but would love to hear about other positive actions people are taking at any level as we enter the second week of this administration.
Hunter Gathers
We know what to do with Nazis here in Illinois
Rose Judson
@Hunter Gathers: Fuck yeah.
mali muso
Go Chicago! Can you check the link on that ILRC resource? It didn’t go to the right place when I clicked on it. Trying to stay informed so I can be of assistance to those around me.
David Fud
Your “Simple Resources” link might be incorrect, it is a thing for medical personnel, unless I am missing your point.
@mistermix.bsky.social
He says that like it’s a bad thing, which of course is what he really thinks.
zhena gogolia
@mali muso:
Somebody here posted this yesterday, which I thought was helpful. Don’t know if that’s what was meant.
rikyrah
He wanted to make an example of the Blue States.
If he just wanted the “visuals” , he should have gone to the Red States.
But, the Red State employers would then be hurt.😒
Get to the Red States. There are plenty of Red State school systems who would let ICE in their schools😠😠😠
Rose Judson
@mali muso:
@David Fud:
Link fixed! Thank you!
rodwell
I volunteered at a social services agency/food bank. They use the food bank as an opening to address other issues. They have prepared meals but what I do is sort and distribute food that supermarkets are about to throw away. Also, learning Spanish because a lot of our guests are Spanish speakers, and I want to communicate better with them.
Steve LaBonne
A group of Quaker meetings is suing over the order allowing ICE to invade houses of worship. I hope other religious bodies will join this effort. My former UU congregation had a young Salvadoran man and his little boy (who ultimately won their asylum case after Biden took office) in sanctuary for most of the first Trump abomination of desolation. We were vigilant then, but the stakes would be even higher now.
Bruce K in ATH-GR
@Hunter Gathers: Now if we can just find a couple of Catholic bluesmen on a mission from God, we could start really putting the hurt on the Nazis.
The Audacity of Krope
Am I the only one curious to know the rest of that quote? What does that fascist choad call “knowing your rights?”
Old School
The rest of the quote is “They call it ‘Know Your Rights’. I call it ‘How to Escape Arrest’.”
Good for Chicago.
The Audacity of Krope
Good, indeed. If knowing one’s rights is in conflict with an arrest, I call it an unlawful arrest.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@Old School:
That’s very telling of his mindset. People’s legal rights are just an inconvenient obstacle
Matt McIrvin
Well, gee, if they only stuck to LEGAL arrests this wouldn’t be a problem, would it? They only hate ILLEGAL things like ILLEGAL immigration, right?
Matt McIrvin
@Bruce K in ATH-GR: first they have to trade the old Bluesmobile for a microphone
Steve LaBonne
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): That’s pretty much the universal law enforcement attitude.
brendancalling
I’m a teacher. I’m making sure my colleagues know we are in ICE’s sites and what to do about it.
The Audacity of Krope
That has been a right-wing bugaboo since at least Miranda.
scav
Ah Chicago. Good for you.
The Audacity of Krope
That’s been a right-wing bugaboo since at least Miranda.
mrmoshpotato
Boohoo, Tom! Go cry to Donnie, and go fuck yourself!
(I so wish we could safely implode that pile of shit building.)
Harrison Wesley
My last full-time job before retiring and moving to Florida was with Philabundance. I hope PA government is all over this evil nonsense.
ArchTeryx
I grew up on the South Side of Chi-town. While they’re a pretty conservative bunch overall in Cook County (and especially the collar counties), they are not fascists and they don’t take shit from anyone, as Rahm Emmanuel found out the hard way. Like my new home in New York State, Chicago easily outvotes the rest of the state, which is as red as Alabama.
Chicago is a very fractious city, and once was the most racist and segregated city in the North. The Harold Washington years (our first black mayor) were a blindingly bright preview of the Obama years, writ small.
And of course the Chicago PD are a bunch of fascists. No surprise there.
But I do know one thing about my old home town. They. Do. Not. Like. Border. Baboons. And they will do absolutely zero to cooperate with them unless they fucking occupy the city with the National Guard.
The Audacity of Krope
The right has been crying about rights getting in the way of law enforcement at least since the Supreme Court decided Miranda.
The Audacity of Krope
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka). That has been a right-wing bugaboo since Miranda.
ETA: For some reason quoting your text here gets my post booted out.
The Audacity of Krope
That has been a right wing bugaboo at least since the Supreme Court decided that informing people of their rights of their rights upon arrest was necessary.
Princess
Pritzker for president 2028.
Chris
@ArchTeryx:
Oh, I suspect they’re going to at the very least think about it.
Expect a lot of stories about the usual suspects about Chicago as a burned-out post-apocalyptic wasteland in the foreseeable future, replacing the stories they’ve been telling about Portland since 2020.
mrmoshpotato
@ArchTeryx:
And Governor Pritzker isn’t going to call up the IL National Guard to assist these Trump trash piles of shit.
Eunicecycle
I worked most of my career in nonprofits and I am still in communication with many colleagues. Let me tell you, they are freaking the fuck out. Telling people that it doesn’t affect money going to individuals doesn’t help at all
ETA I guess this really belonged in the last thread, but it’s still sort of relevant!
gratuitous
If you want to do something tangible to help at-risk people from what’s coming, consider doing this.
Note: Churches and districts can make their own copies of the Immigrant Legal Resource Center’s “Red Cards” for distribution. These cards help people assert their rights and defend themselves in many situations, such as when ICE agents go to a home. Download from http://www.ilrc.org/red-cards-tarjetas-rojas.
Chris
@Bruce K in ATH-GR:
A hundred years ago, the mob used to have a lively side business in doing exactly that.
I’m almost never the one to romanticize organized crime, but man, they did used to have better politics. Can you imagine MS-13 or the 18th Street Gang today taking some extracurricular time to beat the shit out of Proud Boys and Oath Keepers? Or the Russian Mafia deciding that you know what, we like America, we don’t want to see it turning into the kind of wasteland that Putin’s turned Russia into, we’re going to be against Putin and his local minions? Or even the Mafia itself, which these days is mostly just the usual assortment of pissy old white guys moaning that everything was better in the fifties.
The Audacity of Krope
@Princess: I’m personally of the mind we should keep putting hyper-qualified women in front of the general electorate until they get a fucking clue.
Lobo
@The Audacity of Krope:
100%, especially at this point.
zhena gogolia
@Lobo: And keep losing?
If Harris couldn’t win, who can? The county (including the majority of white women) is misogynist.
The Audacity of Krope
@zhena gogolia: Harris was kneecapped by the Donorcrat coup caucus. She came so close despite Democrats doing everything in their power to look weak as a party.
I think it can be done. And I certainly am not going to concede to a status quo that insists only white men need apply.
Matt McIrvin
@Chris: They say that about Chicago already–Chicago is code for “scary Black people doing crimes” in the right-wing racist imagination.
zhena gogolia
@The Audacity of Krope: I hope you’re right. Feel as if my heart has been broken twice now.
tam1MI
I am sadly in agreement with you on this. At this point in time and for the foreseeable future, a vote for a woman for President is a wasted vote.
Chris
@Matt McIrvin:
Oh yeah, they say that about pretty much every major city they’re aware of. I’m just saying the spotlight will be on Chicago.
RevRick
The Trump administration is furiously backpedaling from their freeze of appropriations earlier today. Now they’re saying it only applies to DEI initiatives and Foreign Aid, which long have been rightwing bugaboos. They think they can get away with this usurpation of Congressional powers, by picking on programs they can demagogue about. But any encroachments are still encroachments and must be resisted.
tobie
It looks like Baltimore City is preparing to file suit against the Trump admin’s unilateral decision to pause all federal spending. I’m sure other cities are doing the same.
From Mayor Brandon Scott:
Eolirin
@zhena gogolia: A woman will win if there’s a big enough recession under a Republican administration and free elections are still a thing.
Harris didn’t lose by much. Hillary was even closer. Both were coming off the back of Democratic administrations in stable and improving economic circumstances.
The circumstances that put Obama and Biden over the top would put a Harris or Hillary over the top too. The electorate’s not that far gone.
Steve LaBonne
@RevRick: Also I don’t believe anything they say. But it’s a modestly good sign that they’re apparently feeling some heat.
Belafon
@zhena gogolia: I’m torn on that point. I want to win to fix things. But I don’t think we’re gonna truly fix things until whites stop treating race/gender as qualifiers for office.
Matt McIrvin
@Chris: Is it that the mob had better politics, or that the US government was itself racist enough that they felt there was no great need to be Nazi?
The Audacity of Krope
My experience living 40ish years in this country, there is no “if” about Republican recessions.
Eolirin
@Steve LaBonne: Dude, if the EO went out like it seemed to say it should, we’d have a crippling recession practically overnight.
I don’t think the people writing these things know what they’re doing.
Eolirin
@The Audacity of Krope: Fair. That’s been pretty consistent.
The Audacity of Krope
@Belafon: Right. Also, too, treating women as risky candidates, even due to the circumstances of misogynist voters, validates misogyny.
Steve LaBonne
@The Audacity of Krope: I only worry that if it happens too early in the term, as with Reagan’s, there’s time for goldfish voters to forget.
Steve LaBonne
@Eolirin: These are not bright guys and things got out of hand.
The Audacity of Krope
@Steve LaBonne: I honestly think there needs to be a non-partisan, entertainment heavy effort to educate voters; promoting media literacy, source checking, and other such concepts.
Eolirin
@The Audacity of Krope: Can we start with separation of powers and the difference between federal, state, and local government?
Lobo
@Steve LaBonne:
Was that an actual quote from somewhere. It seems familiar.
The Audacity of Krope
@Eolirin: As long as we start. I have half a YouTube script sitting untouched for a week picking at my need to beat myself up.
The Audacity of Krope
@Lobo: I think it refers to Nixon and Watergate.
Steve LaBonne
@Lobo: All The President’s Men
Lobo
@The Audacity of Krope: This EO has me in a very pissy mood. At this point, I want to kick them(President Rape and all his misogynists) while they’re down, and celebrate DEI, etc, and shove it in their face.
Eunicecycle
@Eolirin: they absolutely do not know what they are doing. That’s the problem with thinking “outsiders will have a fresh perspective.” Also “we can hire idiots for government jobs and it will be fine.”
RevRick
@Eolirin: I agree with you, with one small disagreement. The Democrats had gotten clobbered in the off-year elections during the Obama years, because the recovery from the Great Recession had taken too damned long. Yes, things were definitely improving, but it was six years from the depths of the recession.
Similarly, inflation had come way down from its peak by the time of the 2024 campaign, but the pain of that experience was and is cumulative and affected everybody. Both the Trump and Harris campaigns admit that the most devastating anti-Harris ad was the one where she declared, “Bidenomics is working!”
Both of our superior women candidates had the bad luck of running against the long struggle of cleaning up GOP messes.
bluefoot
Someone here said a while back that some things are like hygiene: you have to do them every day. In that spirit, I am going to make sure I get in the habit of regularly calling my local reps (state and local level) as well as federal, making sure my voice is heard and supporting the reps who push back.
Belafon
@Steve LaBonne: Reagan started with it, IIRC. If they cause it, they need to be able to fix it, and their history on that isn’t very good.
The Audacity of Krope
@Lobo: Many people, in the natural course of their lives, celebrate DEI just by the way they conduct themselves. Culture matters. The broadest part of the American culture will only tolerate this bullshit for so long.
Trump won very narrowly based on narrowly presented economic information, bordering on misinformation. Never forget how much effort was put in by big bidness to polish Trump’s turds and let’s hold those the most consequential among them accountable.
Dave
@Steve LaBonne: That requires them not to make it worse and I honestly don’t know that is something they are capable of absent a Democratic Congress.
It will certainly be a test of how powerful the information swamps actually are.
Eolirin
@RevRick: I mean, yes, but by 2016, things were more or less okay again. I think if they were going really poorly, and we could have run a Truman like attack on the Do Nothing Republican congress, we could’ve maybe got people’s ire directed in the right places. 2022 was a bit like that, despite Biden’s unpopularity at the time. Dobbs got people to turn out despite the broader economic malaise. But it’s hard to do that when things are improving and kind of okay, if not great. It’s definitely impossible when you control all levels of government, which is why Manchin and Sinema were such a threat going into 2022, and it was only the judiciary being insane that really saved us from a bloodbath.
Phylllis
@RevRick: Here’s the spreadsheet they sent out. Looks like almost every funded program in all departments. Among the 14 questions departments are to respond to include: Does this program provide Federal funding to nongovernmental organizations supporting or providing services, either directly or indirectly, to removable or illegal aliens.
ChrisSherbak
He can go pound sand. I mean, I’m all for them doing their job (mostly) but they have to do it THE RIGHT WAY, you know THE LEGAL WAY. Like they are always blathering on about the way migrants need to immigrate… Pot, meet kettle.
Professor Bigfoot
@Phylllis:
Nazis.
LAC
threads.net/@kd_did_2/post/DFX1eRSOxHQ?xmt=AQGzJo2nkyqrQJqVEf4w2PRCcB8xKMstodREsLmxeyKgNw
Ksmiami
@Lobo: bashing their brains in is about where I am now.
The Audacity of Krope
@Ksmiami: What brains?
comrade scotts agenda of rage
@ArchTeryx:
Southern IL is called “Eastern Misery” for appropriate reasons.
scav
@Phylllis:
I think such a description includes spending money at grocery, hardware and office supply stores.
Darkrose
@ArchTeryx: Native South Sider. We don’t like Illinois–or any other–Nazis.
lafcolleen
Chicago resident here!!
Chiming in on one very important thing — for parents concerned about detention or immigration, it is helpful to have an emergency plan.
My big concern is seeing people stampeding into signing guardianship papers for their kids wothout competent advice. If you have any connection to an immigrant community, dont just point them to pamphlets — find out about legal resources and encourage people to reach out. I know that can be costly but it can avoid other mistakes that are really costly.
Chris
@Matt McIrvin:
Generally speaking, I think the foremost concern of most of the era’s criminals was “we come from poor backgrounds and discriminated against ethnicities and as such, we’re first in the line of fire by the local fascist movements, so we might want to punch back.” (With a side order of “we still have grudges against the authorities back in the old country,” although that can be overplayed).
I think social changes in the last hundred years played a role, but not the way you think; it’s more a matter of “tolerance has increased enough since the 1920s that we in the mob feel safe regardless of our ethnicity, or at least we regard that kind of thing as a problem for civil rights lawyers and the like, not something that requires our intervention.” At least when it comes to Latino gangsters. When it comes to Russian and other East European gangsters, it’s the fact that the definition of “white” has expanded to where it now encompasses them in a way that it didn’t encompass the Jews and Italians, or arguably even the Irish, in the 1930s.