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Reposted by sara

rev. howard arson @theophite.bsky.social · 1d

i think this fundamentally misstates the constraint: if he uses the police to directly obstruct ICE operations, he gets hit with the Insurrection Act. if he puts the cops in a position where they have to choose which orders to follow, they will currently not pick the governor.

starch mogul @posts-cards.bsky.social · 1d

this kind of wishcasting around pritzker ignores that he hasn't once wielded the power of the state in a creative way since DHS and ICE invaded us

the rhetoric's good and he plays a governor on TV very well, but there's no evidence of a capacity for clever use of power, unfortunately

rev. howard arson @theophite.bsky.social · 1d

i think that the best way to use the police as Pritzker would be to figure out how to associate them with protests such that the protesters don't mess with them but they get gassed or shot if the feds fire

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sara @saract.bsky.social · 1d

tbc I don't think we are at that point but it's very clearly coming. Should be enlightening when the national guard refuses to leave despite yesterday's TRO

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sara @saract.bsky.social · 1d

Pritzker is trying his damndest to be the responsible adult in the room, but unfortunately you can't really unilaterally prevent a war the other side is determined to start. At a certain point, you're no longer avoiding a conflict, just conceding the fight

Greg Sargent @gregsargent.bsky.social · 1d

JB Pritzker also talks about his inability to get any top Trump officials on the phone, probably because they *want* this to be experienced as an invasion. He explains why this could make law enforcement officials on both sides *less* safe. Total dereliction. 3/

newrepublic.com/article/2016...

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sara @saract.bsky.social · 2d

Idk what justifies a full rebuild, but they're the worst in the system for slow zones behind the Forest Park branch, Cottage Grove can't turn trains at high frequency, and Ashland had a major derailment earlier this year, so it seems like the infra is lacking there at the moment

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sara @saract.bsky.social · 2d

I mean, there's an argument that both branches need to basically be rebuilt entirely, so at that point adding a 63rd transfer station seems like a no-brainer

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sara @saract.bsky.social · 2d

Maybe if the mid-city line along cicero is ever built, it could be extended from Midway along 63rd to make an L shape from Montrose to Cottage grove, eliminating the need for the SSML to branch at the end. Gives one the opportunity to be creative with the SSML patterns

sara @saract.bsky.social · 2d

Between the two, I'd make Cottage grove the shuttle, leaving the Ashland branch open to be extended to Midway someday. My question is if having Purple run the SSML right next to the Red Dan Ryan just creates duplicative N-S service compared to the W-S option the current Green Line provides

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sara @saract.bsky.social · 2d

The ultimate issue here is that there's nowhere else in the system that's quad-tracked so there's not much for north side express service to do once it hits the loop

My kingdom for a network planner

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sara @saract.bsky.social · 2d

I'm not sure if there's demand to justify that level of service on the South Main line. Once RLX goes in, I'm almost tempted to say run the same operating pattern as on the north side: Purple Linden-130th (express), Red Howard-95th (local), but I'm not sure if that's too crazy

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sara @saract.bsky.social · 2d

I still do not understand why, in the year of our lord 2025, 30 years after the creation of the midway branch, we are still running brown and orange as separate lines - if we really need more frequency on Kimball than on Midway, just run some short turns on the north side

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sara @saract.bsky.social · 2d

That's a preferable operating pattern to the existing and I'd support it, but it also creates the problems of having crossing movements at Clark and having to turn the Purple line in a pocket track at Roosevelt, which long term would be nice to fix with infra changes

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sara @saract.bsky.social · 2d

Chicago Area Buses and Commuter Rail: What Are They? Are They Transit? Let's Find Out!

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sara @saract.bsky.social · 2d

what if we invented an rpm phase three that rebuilds belmont-to-armitage from scratch and makes it so that the express and local tracks don't randomly switch places halfway through the line. that would be neat

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sara @saract.bsky.social · 2d

thinking again this morning about how the purple line is 17 minutes faster than the red line between howard and belmont but 9 minutes slower than the red line between belmont and lake street and how the existing track configuration makes this very difficult to remedy without causing other problems

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sara @saract.bsky.social · 3d

there are a couple of ways of doing the midwest divisions but no matter how you do it the 8 divisions of 4 with no leagues structure absolutely rules

sara @saract.bsky.social · 3d

been working on an essay about this for MLB (because it's more fun than thinking about the world) but the basic idea is 2 expansion teams (portland & nashville), either 4 divisions of 8 or 8 divisions of 4, with or without AL/NL leagues, preserving rivalries

drive.google.com/file/d/1vn6s...

A map of the United States with time zones labeled and 32 MLB teams displayed (assuming Portland and Nashville expansion teams, A's in Las Vegas). 4 Divisions of 8 Teams are shown:

West:
Seattle
Portland
San Francisco
Los Angeles Dodgers
Los Angeles Angels
San Diego
Las Vegas
Arizona

South:
Colorado
Kansas City
Texas
Houston
Nashville
Atlanta
Tampa Bay
Miami

Midwest:
Minnesota
Milwaukee
Chicago Cubs
Chicago White Sox
St. Louis
Detroit
Cleveland
Cincinnati

Northeast:
Toronto
Pittsburgh
Boston
New York Yankees
New York Mets
Philadelphia
Baltimore
Washington

A map of the United States with time zones labeled and 32 MLB teams displayed (assuming Portland and Nashville expansion teams, A's in Las Vegas). 8 Divisions of 4 Teams are shown:

California:
San Francisco
Los Angeles Dodgers
Los Angeles Angels
San Diego

West:
Seattle
Portland
Las Vegas
Arizona

Central:
Kansas City
Colorado
Texas
Houston

Southeast:
Nashville
Atlanta
Tampa Bay
Miami

Midwest:
Minnesota
Chicago Cubs
Chicago White Sox
St. Louis

Great Lakes:
Milwaukee
Detroit
Cleveland
Cincinnati

Mid-Atlantic:
Pittsburgh
Philadelphia
Baltimore
Washington

Northeast:
Toronto
Boston
New York Yankees
New York Mets

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Reposted by sara

Doug Gray @dougdirt24.bsky.social · 5d

For the millionth time

A softball player lifts up her jersey to reveal a shirt that reads "Never Bunt Hit Dingers"

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sara @saract.bsky.social · 6d

Alito (Thomas, Kavanaugh joining): Chicago is where scary people are

Gorsuch (Roberts, Barrett, Kavanagh joining): Chicago is wherever Trump says it is

Kagan: Chicago is a defined municipality

Sotomayor: Chicago is a broad cultural community

Jackson: Are all of you people on Nitrous right now

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Reposted by sara

Robert Evans (the Only Robert Evans) @iwriteok.bsky.social · 7d

Pritzker needs to take some sort of demonstrative action against this. But nothing he does will stop this.

Still, liberal voters and elected leaders are confronted by the fact that the police are not democratically accountable. They have no interest in protecting you or your rights from the feds.

Kevin M. Kruse @kevinmkruse.bsky.social · 8d

Gov. Pritzker has said all the right things, but now he needs to act and get these state troopers out of there.

unraveled @unraveledpress.com · 8d

A protester with a mobility aid (cane) was sitting in the road. Illinois state troopers dragged them to the grass and arrested them.

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sara @saract.bsky.social · 7d

re: why doesn't Pritzker do something, this post from @penguinguy.bsky.social is correct, tho it's becoming pretty clear the terror will continue until the gun is fired. "Allow my state to be ravaged or immediately send us to the ass end of the Cool Zone" is not an enviable decision to have to make

Post from PenguinGuy: "State Police, arrest those Federal Police" is a gun exactly one governor gets to fire exactly once, so they absolutely cannot miss and I reluctantly accept them taking as long as necessary to set it up as perfectly as possible, all the way up until but no later than January 2029.

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sara @saract.bsky.social · 7d

October 4, 2025

Post from Unraveled Press: ICE reportedly opened fire on rapid responders on the Southwest Side this afternoon. There are *very few* details on this available at this time. Treat all rumors with caution until verified. This Sun-Times article cites a DHS statement that should be treated, as always, with extreme skepticism: [link to Chicago Sun-Times article: Shooting involving federal agents in Brighton Park under investigation]

Post from Governor JB Pritzker: This morning, the Trump Administration's Department of War gave me an ultimatum: call up your troops, or we will. It is absolutely outrageous and un-American to demand a Governor send military troops with in our own borders and against our will.

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Reposted by sara

Star:Line Chicago @starlinechicago.bsky.social · 7d

If Chicago is a “war zone” it’s because we’ve been invaded by a hostile military force

unraveled @unraveledpress.com · 7d

ICE reportedly opened fire on rapid responders on the southwest side this afternoon.

There are *very few* details on this available at this time. Treat all rumors with caution until verified.

This Sun-Times article cites a DHS statement that should be treated, as always, with extreme skepticism:

Shooting involving federal agents in Brighton Park under investigation

According to the Department of Homeland Security, a woman allegedly "boxed in" federal authorities, who opened fire.

chicago.suntimes.com

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sara @saract.bsky.social · 8d

October 3, 2025

One day in Illinois

Post from Block Club Chicago: The Trump administration says it will pause funds for the Red Line extension and other Chicago projects.

Post from WTTW - Chicago PBS: Chicago Ald. Jessie Fuentes was handcuffed and briefly detained by federal agents inside a hospital on Friday while asking about a patient's ICE arrest warrant.

Fuentes said "We have constitutional rights," as the agent repeatedly states "No."

Post from Nathan Kalman-Lamb: Illinois State Representative [Lilian Jimenez]: "ICE just tear gassed people near the grocery store Rico Fresh on Armitage - there are helicopters over our houses and armed agents stopping people on the streets, Walmart, Home Depot, all the places people congregate in Humboldt Park, Logan Square, and Hermosa."

Post from Kelly M Hayes: Snapped this pic of DHS conferring with the IL State Police just before ICE attacked the crowd, while state and county police assisted them. ICE said, "This is your first and only warning" and then instantly attacked. We were not in the road at that time. They just wanted to assault us and film it.

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sara @saract.bsky.social · 8d

My "I am a trustworthy steward of public funds and am negotiating in good faith" t shirt is raising a lot of questions already answered by the t shirt

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sara @saract.bsky.social · 8d

Wow, I can't believe saying "hey guys I found an extra $500M on the sidewalk, looks like you can wait until next year no need to pass HB3438!" two weeks before the veto session didn't sway electeds on the need for transparency and governance reforms

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