Derek Eder
@derekeder.com
1.8K followers 810 following 93 posts
Civic tech builder in Chicago. Partner at DataMade, President Emeritus at Chi Hack Night & Oak Park Village Trustee. Entrepreneur, developer, civic technology leader, climate advocate and public servant. he/him
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derekeder.com
If this is truly their reason for flying a helicopter 500 feet above people's houses all day, it is excessive and unnecessary.

It’s disrupting our community at a time of heightened tensions and military occupation of Chicago.
derekeder.com
After inquiring with their office, they are using the helicopter to ticket people driving on the shoulder of the 290 expressway. Apparently there have been accidents lately.
derekeder.com
At first I thought it was operated by ICE or CBP, but nope!

The helicopter N911VH is registered with the Cook County Sheriff's Office just last month: registry.faa.gov/aircraftinqu...
derekeder.com
Since 7am this morning, a helicopter has been flying in circles around Oak Park, Broadview, Maywood and Forest Park: www.flightradar24.com/data/aircraf...
Reposted by Derek Eder
markjacob.bsky.social
With so many examples of media cowardice on a national level, I'm gratified to report in this article that Chicago's local journalists are aggressively exposing the Trump regime's cruelty and lies.
The press steps up as Trump targets Chicago
Local journalism is under siege, but still makes itself indispensable
www.stopthepresses.news
Reposted by Derek Eder
morganelisej.thetriibe.com
It’s been quite amazing to watch people call on CPD (of all entities) to fight on behalf of the oppressed. There is a reason why we don’t see police leading revolutions. They are a function of the state and will give deference to the feds, as required by law. youtube.com/shorts/WDHFe...
Can local police arrest ICE?
YouTube video by The TRiiBE
youtube.com
Reposted by Derek Eder
govpritzker.illinois.gov
I will not back down.

Trump is now calling for the arrest of elected representatives checking his power.

What else is left on the path to full-blown authoritarianism?
Donald Trump Truth Social Post: Chicago Mayor should be in jail for failing to protect Ice Officers! Governor Pritzker also.
Reposted by Derek Eder
timothysnyder.bsky.social
The people who are sincerely in favor of freedom of expression will speak out now for the reporters.
newsjennifer.bsky.social
🚨THIS IS A BIG DEAL. Chicago journalists are suing the Trump administration for using excessive force against reporters & protestors in violation of the 1A.
The press here is doing astounding work documenting how ICE is out of control. The violence they face in doing so is obscene.
The protests at the Broadview ICE facility and the federal government’s violent
attempts to silence the protesters became a story of great interest to the local Chicago media and
was also covered in the national press. Much of the coverage described the federal officers’
abusive tactics. Defendants sought and are seeking to quash this coverage by attacking and
intimidating members of the Press on the ground there.
85. Federal immigration officers at the Broadview ICE facility have repeatedly and
intentionally singled out persons whom they know to be members of the Press for violence,
assault, and intimidation. These assaults are not incidental or unintentional. They are undertaken
by design to intimidate journalists on scene and to frustrate and suppress coverage of the federal
officers’ actions toward protesters and immigration detainees
derekeder.com
I was at the Broadview ICE facility this morning and witnessed firsthand local and state officers assisting ICE in violation of the Illinois TRUST act
derekeder.com
thanks! links fixed for Denver

glad this post was useful for you. good luck in Redmond!
Reposted by Derek Eder
govpritzker.illinois.gov
"Tyranny requires constant effort. It breaks, it leaks. Authority is brittle. Oppression is the mask of fear. Remember that."

Looking forward to seeing Jimmy back on the air.
Jimmy Kimmel Returns: ABC Ends Suspension Starting Tuesday
Jimmy Kimmel will return to late night on Tuesday
variety.com
Reposted by Derek Eder
tiffany.thetriibe.com
this is what we saw on the ground in Broadview today.

thetriibe.com/2025/09/and-...
Reposted by Derek Eder
govpritzker.illinois.gov
This is the playbook, folks.

If you're not paying attention now and doing something about it, then you're going to have to sit down the rest of your life because democracy is being taken away.

Do not be quiet in this moment.
Reposted by Derek Eder
govpritzker.illinois.gov
Know your rights, Illinois.

Stay safe and stay informed.
Know & Exercise Your Rights Flyer provided by the Illinois Immigration Information Hub.

1. Remain Calm. 2. You have the right to deny entry without a valid warrant. 3. You have the right to remain silent. 4. You have the right to speak with an attorney. 5. You have the right to not sign anything.

For more information, head to: https://www.illinoisimmigrationinfo.org/ Know & Exercise Your Rights Flyer provided by the Illinois Immigration Information Hub.

For more information, head to: https://www.illinoisimmigrationinfo.org/
Reposted by Derek Eder
Reposted by Derek Eder
ketanjoshi.co
Not enough people know about Homer City. The single largest fossil fuel plant that's being built *explicitly* to power a data centre.

This isn't a future projection, or some hollow marketing. This is physical stuff happening right now.

bsky.app/profile/keta...
a screenshot of a table When the Homer City power plant—the largest coal-fired facility in Pennsylvania—shuttered in 2023, it marked the end of a dirty era for the coal plants that dominated America’s electric grid for over half a century. Now, in a whirlwind turnaround, many of them are being revived to fuel the AI era.

Earlier this year, developers announced they would take the coal plant’s corpse—and its invaluable grid interconnections—and resurrect it into the Homer City Energy Campus, a sprawling AI data center complex powered by the largest natural gas-fired power plant in the country, opening on a fast-tracked timeline in 2027.

With U.S. electricity demand projected to surge by as much as 60% through 2050 to fuel the AI boom—initiating a race against time to build sufficient power generation—the strong old bones of closed or retiring coal plants offer a shortcut to get new power projects online much more quickly. They can skip the two-year queue for high-voltage grid connections—regardless of whether these projects are for gas, wind, solar, geothermal, or even new-age nuclear.
Reposted by Derek Eder
jacobharr.is
So, as you might know, I have been in the process of tracking the activities of DOGE staff across the federal government. And now I've built an auto-updating website to browse the data

It's not done (lots more content to write), but news is moving fast, so here it is dogetrack.info

Enjoy!
DOGE Track: Tracking The Damage
A website tracking the various activities of the DOGE wrecking crew across government. Sunlight is the best disinfectant!
dogetrack.info
Reposted by Derek Eder
gregggonsalves.bsky.social
#NIH is hanging by a thread. The #CDC has been decimated. #RFK Jr. and Russell #Vought are psychopaths--I don't say this frivolously--they are cold, calculating, inflicting violence on millions through public policy. It is where we are right now. These men are not normal. 1/
Reposted by Derek Eder
pkrugman.bsky.social
The muted market reaction to The Crazy doesn't tell you much about what will happen. Markets almost *never* react in advance to large but only potential disruptions. paulkrugman.substack.com/p/why-arent-...
Why Aren’t Markets Freaking Out?
Of Trump, Keynes and Wile E. Coyote
paulkrugman.substack.com
Reposted by Derek Eder
waldo.net
I was the executive director of U.S. Open Data, a non-profit that I created at the behest of the Obama White House. I worked as one of the nation's leading experts in open data. Putting open data on the blockchain is a profoundly stupid idea that fails nearly every test of good open data.
The White House Is Going to Put Government Statistics on the Blockchain (Yeah, We Don't Know Why Either)
gizmodo.com
Reposted by Derek Eder
alexhairysun.bsky.social
Full story here. From Mayor Daniel Biss: "This vendor has failed to follow state and local data protection laws. With constant attacks from the federal government and other far-right actors, we will not sit idly by while our people’s data is shared inappropriately."
derekeder.com
Good job Evanston
alexhairysun.bsky.social
EVANSTON DEFLOCKS: City just issued a news release announcing that all 19 license plate cameras have been deactivated, and the contract will be fully terminated effective Sept. 26. Story TK.
Evanston Deactivates Flock Cameras and Terminates Contract

On August 26, the City of Evanston and the Evanston Police Department deactivated all 19 Flock Safety ALPR cameras. The City is no longer collecting or providing license plate reader data to the Flock network.

The findings of the Illinois Secretary of State’s audit, combined with Flock’s admission that it failed to establish distinct permissions and protocols to ensure local compliance while running a pilot program with federal users, are deeply troubling. As a result, the City has deactivated the cameras and issued a termination notice to Flock, effective September 26, 2025.

During this interim period until September 26, data collected by other agencies and shared on the Flock network will remain available for Evanston’s investigations into reported crimes. However, Evanston will not collect or share any data itself.