Michael Hawthorne
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scribeguy.bsky.social
Michael Hawthorne
@scribeguy.bsky.social
2.8K followers 500 following 390 posts
Midwesterner. Pulitzer finalist. Dig into environment/public health for the Chicago Tribune. Confidential tips welcome via SIGNAL: scribeguy.35 EPL/NBA/MLB obsessive. Victoria Concordia Crescit. https://www.chicagotribune.com/author/michael-hawthorne
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Update from me: More than 777K tons of PFAS-contaminated sludge from Chicago and Cook Co. have been spread on farmland during the past 8 years — in many cases near residential areas.

Only LA gave more sludge to farmers.

EPA confirms cancer risks for farmers and neighbors. Unclear about gen pop.
EPA warns of toxic forever chemicals in sewage sludge used on farmland, including thousands of acres near the Chicago area
In northeast Illinois, more than 777,000 tons of sludge from Chicago and Cook County have been spread on farmland — in many cases near residential areas.
www.chicagotribune.com
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worth noting that Mamdani did *not* take the bait
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Louisiana — the red state that Mike Johnson nominally represents — has the second highest percentage of residents enrolled in SNAP in the nation.

They’re pushing this fantasy about these being “Democrat programs” used only in blue states but that’s a PR fantasy divorced from reality.
Mike Johnson: "These blue states have abused the SNAP program just like they've abused Medicaid and so many other government programs."
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Awful: Pentagon officials told lawmakers Trump now claims authority to bomb people merely “affiliated” with “narco-terrorist" groups, Rep Adam Smith tells me. But under questioning, they wouldn't say what “affiliated” even means!

Lots of fresh info in my new piece:

newrepublic.com/article/2025...
🤨
University of Toronto law professor David Dyzenhaus, says that Harvard Law professor Adrien Vermeule “moved away from just being interested in [Carl] Schmitt,” a former Nazi scholar, “to actually embracing all dimensions of Schmitt’s theory: both the political dimension & the legal dimension…” 1/
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It’s the big tent of My Dinner with Andre fans, Princess Bride fans, and Young Sheldon fans
On the other site, an 18-year-old Zohran canvasser described the legendary Wallace Shawn as "the actor who plays Dr. Sturgis on Young Sheldon" which is honestly adorable
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If your newspaper is giving Donald Trump softer headlines and gauzier coverage than People Magazine, that should be a bit of a wake up call.
someone invited people magazine to the kitchen and they brought their own knives
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ICE has been staging in this parking lot. Local patrolers called an impromptu protest. Thousands of honking cars affirm to neighbors that the invasion cannot stand. Dozens getting to know each other, exchanging tips on identifying ICE cars to stop the next kidnapping, etc. Little things help.
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@allenanalysis.bsky.social ♨️
HOLY HELL; 🔥
JB #Pritzker just went nuclear on #Trump:

“Donald Trump & his bootlickers have torn down the Department of Education from the inside. Books are being banned. History is being erased. And Donald Trump and his cronies can f*** all the way off.”

1-2
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OK, regardless of source, credit where due: That's a great headline.
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On the left, the refurbished Lincoln bathroom. On the right, picture I took in Saddam Hussein's palace in Basra in 2005.
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NEW: Police say Nancy Mace fully melted down at the airport Thurday, calling cops "fucking incompetent," etc. A TSA supervisor said they'd be reporting her to their superiors. @jakelahut.writes.news has the scoop! This is outside our paywall as it's based on public records:
Nancy Mace Curses, Berates Confused Cops in Airport Meltdown: Police Report
At an airport in South Carolina on Thursday, representative Nancy Mace called police officers “fucking incompetent” and berated them repeatedly, according to an incident report.
www.wired.com
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I gotta be real, I did not suspect we would reach "roving mobs of white folks chanting "shame" at ICE" within 9 months, and it really feels like a sign of how much more horrifying it must be on the ground than those of us not there can even imagine.
Video taken by Jay Shefsky at 12:20 p.m. after the crash happened, Oakton Street/Asbury Avenue in Evanston, IL
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A partial list of what Bovino does not have to tell a federal judge happened today:
*An agent pushed a City Council member in Albany Park
*Agents deployed pepper spray in Albany Park & Evanston
*Agents were involved in a car crash in Evanston
*An agent pointed a gun at a woman in Evanston
BREAKING: Border Patrol chief Greg Bovino, who led a series of raids across Chicago, Evanston and Skokie on Friday, does not have to report every weekday at 6 p.m. in person to the federal judge who has tried to rein in federal agents’ use of force, an appeals court ruled. @wttw.bsky.social
Appeals Court Rules Border Patrol Chief Greg Bovino Does Not Have to Check In Every Day With Federal Judge
Border Patrol chief Greg Bovino, who led a series of raids across Chicago, Evanston and Skokie on Friday, does not have to report every weekday at 6 p.m. in person to the federal judge who has tried t...
news.wttw.com
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"Could the example of the British monarch jolt Republicans free from their pathetic servility to their king? Or have we fallen so far from the republican spirit of the nation’s founding that we cannot now even live up to the standard of a British king?" www.thebulwark.com/p/for-one-da...
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Appreciate this coverage but it is hard to explain to people not in the Chicago area that THESE ARE NOT PROTESTS.

This is people coming out of their homes, doing anything in their power to try to stop their neighbors from being kidnapped.

It is coming for your city next, please be prepared.
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