Author | Lightnews

Zac Whittenburg @trailerpilot.bsky.social · 4h

Michigan lawyer says a Halloween terror plot that FBI Director Kash Patel described never existed

A Michigan defense lawyer is disputing FBI allegations that his 20-year-old client and four others planned a terror attack on Halloween weekend.

bit.ly

Zac Whittenburg @trailerpilot.bsky.social · 19h

TMW three of my friends recreated classic Diane Keaton looks for Halloween, and we ran into a fourth Diane Keaton

A bearded gentleman dressed for Halloween as Diane Keaton, wearing a black bowler hat and multiple necklaces with cross-shaped pendants, dances with one arm raised

A mustachioed gentleman dressed for Halloween as Diane Keaton, wearing a blonde bob wig and black fedora along with frameless sunglasses, looks over his right shoulder

A bearded gentleman dressed for Halloween as Diane Keaton, wearing a black bowler hat and Annie Hall–style vest and necktie, stands in front of a neon sign that says “Party”

Four men dressed as Diane Keaton for Halloween pose together for a group photograph

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Zac Whittenburg @trailerpilot.bsky.social · 1d

“The entire walk to gate B-8 she was cursing and complaining and often doing the same into her phone.” (NB the penultimate paragraph) bit.ly/3X2yaWO

Nancy Mace Curses, Berates Confused Cops in Airport Meltdown: Police Report

At an airport in South Carolina on Thursday, US representative Nancy Mace called police officers “fucking incompetent” and berated them repeatedly, according to an incident report.

bit.ly

Reposted by Zac Whittenburg

whet moser @whetmoser.com · 2d

🎁 www.chicagotribune.com/2025/10/30/i...

Illinois Democrats push through massive $1.5 billion plan that overhauls Chicago-area public transit

Plan includes a state motor fuel sales tax, using interest from the state’s road fund, a sales tax increase in the Chicago metro area and a sharp increase in tolls on the Illinois Tollway.

www.chicagotribune.com

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Reposted by Zac Whittenburg

Daniel Kay Hertz @danielkayhertz.bsky.social · 2d

So not only does the massive transit package passed last night fill the funding gap, it *boosts* ops funding by roughly the size of the gap, eliminates parking minimums within a half mile of rail stations, and gives the new regional transit board sweeping powers to do public development

Steven @stevevance.net · 2d

Crain’s is good about revenue sources and splits

www.chicagobusiness.com/politics/tra...

I believe the parts not discussed above (parking reform, land development authority, etc.) are largely retained from May

Last-minute, $1.5B transit compromise being debated in Springfield

The transit revenue package relies on increasing the transit sales tax in the six-county region and transportation related sources. It also includes a steep tollway hike.

www.chicagobusiness.com

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Zac Whittenburg @trailerpilot.bsky.social · 2d

The vacant, former Hanig’s Footwear at the base of the Hancock Center is like a Donald Judd

Twelve wall-mounted boxes in two parallel rows of six used to display shoes for sale in a now-empty storefront in Chicago. The back of each illuminated box is a vibrant color — lime green, bright red, seafoam green, etc.

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Zac Whittenburg @trailerpilot.bsky.social · 2d

“When all the data centers in New Carlisle are built, they will demand more power than two Atlantas.” bit.ly/4oLbPsG

Here’s How the AI Crash Happens

The U.S. is becoming an Nvidia-state.

bit.ly

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Reposted by Zac Whittenburg

Patrick Sisson @patrickcsisson.bsky.social · 4d

“And moving marginalized people to government camps, they say, is an idea with a long and shameful history.”

www.nytimes.com/2025/10/29/u...

In Utah, Trump’s Vision for Homelessness Begins to Take Shape

www.nytimes.com

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Reposted by Zac Whittenburg

Matthew Noe @noethematt.bsky.social · 5d

"I DON'T NEED YOU TO FUCKING REWRITE WHAT I'VE JUST WRITTEN!"

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Catherine Rampell @crampell.bsky.social · 7d

In a wealthy neighborhood in Chicago, immigration agents hopped the fence of a US citizen’s home and tried to pull a construction worker out a 2nd-story window. Homeowner came home to blood all over his house. www.msnbc.com/the-weekend-...

'Jarring, frightening attack': Chicago homeowner describes immigration raid at his home

MSNBC exclusively obtained security footage of federal agents targeting construction workers at a home in the wealthy Lakeview neighborhood of Chicago. Leo Feler, who owns the property, joined The Wee...

www.msnbc.com

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Zac Whittenburg @trailerpilot.bsky.social · 7d

Hot sauce is hot sauce and another category entirely but when it comes to *salsa* I don’t think I’ve found anything at a grocery store hotter than Mami brand El Tóxico salsa verde asada. The only ingredients listed are tomatillo, jalapeño, habanero, onions, garlic, and salt. Weapons-grade intensity.

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Zac Whittenburg @trailerpilot.bsky.social · 8d

“They are coming for people just trying to get by.” bit.ly/3L8gA0P

What I Need You To Understand, Notes from Chicago in Late October | dansinker.com

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Reposted by Zac Whittenburg

dell cameron @dell.bsky.social · 8d

NEW: DHS is asking companies to submit plans to turn standard 4x4 trucks into AI-powered watchtowers—combining radar, cameras, and autonomous tracking to extend surveillance on demand.

by me @ wired:

DHS Wants a Fleet of AI-Powered Surveillance Trucks

US border patrol is asking companies to submit plans to turn standard 4x4 trucks into AI-powered watchtowers—combining radar, cameras, and autonomous tracking to extend surveillance on demand.

www.wired.com

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Reposted by Zac Whittenburg

e.w. niedermeyer @niedermeyer.online · 8d

direct evidence of profound jank in a system people literally trust their lives to enters public discourse framed around a neo-spiritualist viral content phenomenon instead of you know the first thing

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Zac Whittenburg @trailerpilot.bsky.social · 8d

Today’s issue of Christopher Hawthorne’s newsletter features a great interview with Geoff Manaugh about the Louvre heist, design, security, and theft in various forms bit.ly/476a97c

Architecture and crime at the Louvre

Geoff Manaugh joins us to explore how “burglary is built into the fabric of cities”; plus, sorting through the rubble at Trump’s White House

bit.ly

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Reposted by Zac Whittenburg

Heather Cherone @heathercherone.bsky.social · 8d

“The use of force that I’ve seen has been exemplary — the least amount of force necessary to accomplish the mission,” Bovino told @cbsnews.com Friday. “If someone strays into a pepper ball, then that’s on them. Don’t protest and don’t trespass.”

Heather Cherone @heathercherone.bsky.social · 8d

FULL STORY: U.S. District Court Judge Sara Ellis ordered Border Patrol chief Greg Bovino, who has led a series of increasingly aggressive raids across Chicago and the suburbs, to appear in her courtroom in person at 10 a.m. Tuesday. @wttw.bsky.social

Federal Judge Orders Border Patrol Chief Greg Bovino, Who Fired Tear Gas at Little Village Crowd, Into Court

The judge’s order came less than 24 hours after Border Patrol Chief Greg Bovino fired tear gas at a crowd during an aggressive raid in Little Village.

news.wttw.com

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Rachel Maddow @maddow.msnbc.com · 10d

"Since Hurricane Helene devastated the community in North Carolina’s Blue Ridge Mountains, the county government has spent nearly $50 million on cleanup and recovery — while getting reimbursed only $4 million from the Federal Emergency Management Agency..."

www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2025...

N.C. counties that busted budgets after Helene still waiting for FEMA to pay them back

A year after Hurricane Helene, FEMA hasn’t reimbursed millions of dollars spent on cleanup and recovery, upending local budgets and hindering reconstruction.

www.washingtonpost.com

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Zac Whittenburg @trailerpilot.bsky.social · 9d

“I don’t know him. I don’t know if he is French. Maybe a tourist? Maybe he is English.” nyti.ms/43AlpX3

nyti.ms

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Zac Whittenburg @trailerpilot.bsky.social · 10d

Depending on how and where AI is deployed, you could find yourself facing a cash flow problem or a physics problem or a legal problem or a safety issue or any combination thereof. More AI won’t necessarily catch it or improve the situation. That’s a whole bunch of soft cost ready to harden.

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Zac Whittenburg @trailerpilot.bsky.social · 10d

Been thinking about this in terms of time and of how the “time savings” one (1) person gets from using AI to produce something may cost others their time — perhaps in unpredictable and compounding ways — and drain capacity overall. The *net* effect is not where it should be for such a hard push now.

The Ass is the father of the legs @internethippo.bsky.social · 10d

I'll cautiously say I've noticed more skepticism about AI in the corporate world and it's mostly because people's coworkers are creating extra work for them. They don't have the vocabulary to describe it yet but it's basically the "Why should I read what you couldn't be bothered to write" thing

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Bill Grueskin @bgrueskin.bsky.social · 11d

A Palo Alto company has launched more than 4,000 of its "smart" balloons. Looks like one of them smashed into a United 737.

Everyone was OK, but the pilot did tell passengers, “The aircraft has collided with an object and a window in the cockpit has shattered"

www.sfchronicle.com/travel/artic...

Silicon Valley startup admits its balloon may have struck United jet, forcing emergency landing

A Silicon Valley company says one of its “smart” weather balloons may have struck a United Airlines flight, cracking the cockpit windshield and injuring a pilot.

www.sfchronicle.com

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Zac Whittenburg @trailerpilot.bsky.social · 11d

Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens, interesting views from hotel fitness centers

A parking garage, buildings, and trees are reflected by a glass curtain wall in downtown Minneapolis, whose mirrored panes distort the image

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Zac Whittenburg @trailerpilot.bsky.social · 11d

Heist in progress at 50 South Sixth in downtown Minneapolis (Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, 2001)

Three workers clean exterior windows high up at 50 South Sixth in downtown Minneapolis, a skyscraper designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill and completed in 2001. In the foreground are the dark, square windows of nearby 33 South Sixth, designed by the same firm and built two decades earlier.

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Zac Whittenburg @trailerpilot.bsky.social · 12d

“It’s obvious the whole convo is off record. There’s disappearing messages and it’s on signal. What is your story? You never even told me about a story.” bit.ly/3J6Godh

“Anna, Lindsey Halligan Here.”

My Signal exchange with the interim U.S. attorney about the Letitia James grand jury.

bit.ly

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