Geoffrey Cubbage
@geoffreycubbage.bsky.social
Social Justice Worrier
Personal account; tweets are not representative of any employer (but are often nerdy about Chicago and/or local government)
It’s pronounced “Blewski”
He/him
Personal account; tweets are not representative of any employer (but are often nerdy about Chicago and/or local government)
It’s pronounced “Blewski”
He/him
And to be clear, the mayor's 2026 proposal is not just a "no police cuts" budget -- it's a budget in which CPD (already the city's most expensive dept. by far) received a larger year-over-year net increase of non-grant funds than any other dept.
Larger than most other departments' entire budgets!
Larger than most other departments' entire budgets!
November 30, 2025 at 6:24 PM
And to be clear, the mayor's 2026 proposal is not just a "no police cuts" budget -- it's a budget in which CPD (already the city's most expensive dept. by far) received a larger year-over-year net increase of non-grant funds than any other dept.
Larger than most other departments' entire budgets!
Larger than most other departments' entire budgets!
A thing I hope people outside of the most aggressively occupied cities are noticing: when armed, paramilitary invaders arrive in your community, the local police are going to protect them from you, not you from them.
This has been consistently true everywhere that’s seen substantial escalation.
This has been consistently true everywhere that’s seen substantial escalation.
Around two dozen car/vans have sped out of the garage, with NYPD officers clearing the path. One guys tries to stop them, NYPD officers come chasing.
November 29, 2025 at 9:19 PM
A thing I hope people outside of the most aggressively occupied cities are noticing: when armed, paramilitary invaders arrive in your community, the local police are going to protect them from you, not you from them.
This has been consistently true everywhere that’s seen substantial escalation.
This has been consistently true everywhere that’s seen substantial escalation.
Love snowy days when everyone ends every interaction with “drive safe out there” and you get to say “oh I’m on the CTA.”
November 29, 2025 at 8:15 PM
Love snowy days when everyone ends every interaction with “drive safe out there” and you get to say “oh I’m on the CTA.”
ME, READING ABOUT WHICH ACTOR WE’RE BOYCOTTING FOR SOMETHING AWFUL THIS TIME: Boy I’m glad I mostly watch old movies and arthouse and don’t have to think about this stuff.
ME, READING ABOUT OLD-TIME MOVIE STARS AND/OR ARTHOUSE DIRECTORS: Well shit. Well fuck.
ME, READING ABOUT OLD-TIME MOVIE STARS AND/OR ARTHOUSE DIRECTORS: Well shit. Well fuck.
November 29, 2025 at 5:46 PM
ME, READING ABOUT WHICH ACTOR WE’RE BOYCOTTING FOR SOMETHING AWFUL THIS TIME: Boy I’m glad I mostly watch old movies and arthouse and don’t have to think about this stuff.
ME, READING ABOUT OLD-TIME MOVIE STARS AND/OR ARTHOUSE DIRECTORS: Well shit. Well fuck.
ME, READING ABOUT OLD-TIME MOVIE STARS AND/OR ARTHOUSE DIRECTORS: Well shit. Well fuck.
Reposted by Geoffrey Cubbage
Does anyone want a survivorship bias shortbread
November 29, 2025 at 4:50 AM
Does anyone want a survivorship bias shortbread
Thanksgiving repost of last year's etymological holiday diversion:
If, like me, you grew up in a comfortingly liberal Protestant denomination that broke out "Come Ye Thankful People Come" at this time of year, I recommend revisiting the latter verses for their a) thinly veiled cast-into-hellfire metaphors, and b) etymologically fascinating use of "tare" as a noun.
November 27, 2025 at 4:08 PM
Thanksgiving repost of last year's etymological holiday diversion:
Reposted by Geoffrey Cubbage
Reposted by Geoffrey Cubbage
The lolcow, the milkshake duck, the freak, the internet's main character of the week, every so often we invent Hester Prynne, we need the winner of The Lottery, we are all holding rocks in our fists
November 26, 2025 at 9:36 PM
The lolcow, the milkshake duck, the freak, the internet's main character of the week, every so often we invent Hester Prynne, we need the winner of The Lottery, we are all holding rocks in our fists
Reposted by Geoffrey Cubbage
new: i read the 2026 cook county budget so you don't have to.
spoiler: more money for police and prosecutors (plus a lot of other stuff).
spoiler: more money for police and prosecutors (plus a lot of other stuff).
Cook County law enforcement agencies get more money in 2026
The Cook County Board of Commissioners approved large investments in policing and prosecutions, over objections from advocates.
chicagoreader.com
November 25, 2025 at 9:16 PM
new: i read the 2026 cook county budget so you don't have to.
spoiler: more money for police and prosecutors (plus a lot of other stuff).
spoiler: more money for police and prosecutors (plus a lot of other stuff).
Ahhh the heady optimism of those early post-Metric Study Act days.
Day #168: The Exciting World of the Metric System (1976)
November 26, 2025 at 1:34 PM
Ahhh the heady optimism of those early post-Metric Study Act days.
So has anyone bottled an Irish cream eggnog for the holidays that we know of?
Slap some intertwining shamrocks and holly on that, call it Tír na NOG, and go hard in the New York, Boston, and Chicago markets, I tell you what.
Slap some intertwining shamrocks and holly on that, call it Tír na NOG, and go hard in the New York, Boston, and Chicago markets, I tell you what.
November 26, 2025 at 2:02 AM
So has anyone bottled an Irish cream eggnog for the holidays that we know of?
Slap some intertwining shamrocks and holly on that, call it Tír na NOG, and go hard in the New York, Boston, and Chicago markets, I tell you what.
Slap some intertwining shamrocks and holly on that, call it Tír na NOG, and go hard in the New York, Boston, and Chicago markets, I tell you what.
Reposted by Geoffrey Cubbage
Demonschool (2025)
November 19, 2025 at 11:44 PM
Demonschool (2025)
They should make a kind of exercise that is neither boring nor time-consuming.
November 24, 2025 at 7:13 PM
They should make a kind of exercise that is neither boring nor time-consuming.
48 hours-ish into some pretty grim reviews and socials, and…yeaaaah.
This was always gonna happen! It’s just not a great musical! And a lot of that “not great” comes from a muddled second act with no real standout songs. Padding it out even further to wring out a second movie was a TERRIBLE idea.
This was always gonna happen! It’s just not a great musical! And a lot of that “not great” comes from a muddled second act with no real standout songs. Padding it out even further to wring out a second movie was a TERRIBLE idea.
Genuinely concerned for some people’s Wicked Pt. 2 letdown next month, because, like…you remember all those songs you love are from Act 1, right?
Like ALL of them. It’s all downhill (and reprises) from here, fans.
Like ALL of them. It’s all downhill (and reprises) from here, fans.
November 23, 2025 at 4:52 PM
48 hours-ish into some pretty grim reviews and socials, and…yeaaaah.
This was always gonna happen! It’s just not a great musical! And a lot of that “not great” comes from a muddled second act with no real standout songs. Padding it out even further to wring out a second movie was a TERRIBLE idea.
This was always gonna happen! It’s just not a great musical! And a lot of that “not great” comes from a muddled second act with no real standout songs. Padding it out even further to wring out a second movie was a TERRIBLE idea.
Sometimes nature creates a concentration of hipster so pure and dense the irony goes supercritical and converts to wholesome sincerity.
November 23, 2025 at 12:46 AM
Sometimes nature creates a concentration of hipster so pure and dense the irony goes supercritical and converts to wholesome sincerity.
Reposted by Geoffrey Cubbage
Happy anniversary to the Max Headroom incident, the greatest example of signal hijacking.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_Hea...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_Hea...
November 22, 2025 at 1:17 PM
Happy anniversary to the Max Headroom incident, the greatest example of signal hijacking.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_Hea...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_Hea...
I’m old enough to remember when the O’Connor campaign sent mailers featuring an old social media picture of Andre in some random red sports team hat (Philly maybe?), with text implying Trumpist sympathies.
Because, you know. Red hat!
Because, you know. Red hat!
NEW — One political ad caused a stir in Chicago this week for what some saw as a characterization of Ald. Andre Vasquez as a puppet of President Donald J. Trump.
The TRiiBE spoke with the Atlanta-based group behind the ad.
thetriibe.com/2025/11/an-o...
The TRiiBE spoke with the Atlanta-based group behind the ad.
thetriibe.com/2025/11/an-o...
An out-of-state campaign just entered Chicago's budget battle • The TRiiBE
The point of Black Voters Matter Fund’s local ad campaign is to help residents connect the dots between the ways billionaires influence federal policy and the trickle-down effect on local government, ...
thetriibe.com
November 22, 2025 at 5:10 AM
I’m old enough to remember when the O’Connor campaign sent mailers featuring an old social media picture of Andre in some random red sports team hat (Philly maybe?), with text implying Trumpist sympathies.
Because, you know. Red hat!
Because, you know. Red hat!
The Arizona iced teas in eco-friendly (but still comically oversized!) packaging are sending me.
I still think about the American Section I saw in the biggest supermarket in Copenhagen
November 21, 2025 at 3:24 PM
The Arizona iced teas in eco-friendly (but still comically oversized!) packaging are sending me.
(dir. Yorgos Lanthimos, 2015)
The perfect New England holiday item doesn't exi–
November 21, 2025 at 4:24 AM
(dir. Yorgos Lanthimos, 2015)
Reposted by Geoffrey Cubbage
On Thursday, HUD announced it would overhaul its rules for funding homelessness programming. As a result, more than 8000 Illinoisans could be pushed out of their housing. My latest for @illinoisanswers.bsky.social illinoisanswers.org/2025/11/18/n...
New Federal Rules Could Put Formerly Unhoused People Back Out on The Streets Across Illinois
The Trump administration is slashing funds to help pay for housing for people in need, including those with mental illness or disabilities.
illinoisanswers.org
November 18, 2025 at 7:30 PM
On Thursday, HUD announced it would overhaul its rules for funding homelessness programming. As a result, more than 8000 Illinoisans could be pushed out of their housing. My latest for @illinoisanswers.bsky.social illinoisanswers.org/2025/11/18/n...
Forgot to long rest before the big fight, and now my barbarian has a problematic rage gap.
Your thanksgiving stuffing doesn’t taste right?
Problematic sage gap.
Problematic sage gap.
Somebody's taken out an entire chapter of your book?
Problematic page gap.
Problematic page gap.
November 20, 2025 at 12:23 AM
Forgot to long rest before the big fight, and now my barbarian has a problematic rage gap.
Isn’t there enough ugliness in the world already, without your sweater-themed Christmas parties?
November 18, 2025 at 1:24 PM
Isn’t there enough ugliness in the world already, without your sweater-themed Christmas parties?
Reposted by Geoffrey Cubbage
my wife described putting all the fixins on a Chicago dog as “accessorizing” and I’ve never loved her more
November 18, 2025 at 12:47 AM
my wife described putting all the fixins on a Chicago dog as “accessorizing” and I’ve never loved her more
As budget talks stall out, I keep coming back to this one.
From a budget perspective, CPD operations are almost entirely discretional. (Mind you, pensions and lawsuits are another matter.)
It is an active choice to prioritize this spending above all other spending, year after year.
From a budget perspective, CPD operations are almost entirely discretional. (Mind you, pensions and lawsuits are another matter.)
It is an active choice to prioritize this spending above all other spending, year after year.
I'll close with a reminder I give every year: unlike our other billion-dollar-plus departments, CPD is almost entirely paid for with the general-purpose corporate fund.
Out of every dollar spent on the police budget, roughly 94 cents could be spent on any other city department, if Council wanted.
Out of every dollar spent on the police budget, roughly 94 cents could be spent on any other city department, if Council wanted.
November 18, 2025 at 12:59 AM
As budget talks stall out, I keep coming back to this one.
From a budget perspective, CPD operations are almost entirely discretional. (Mind you, pensions and lawsuits are another matter.)
It is an active choice to prioritize this spending above all other spending, year after year.
From a budget perspective, CPD operations are almost entirely discretional. (Mind you, pensions and lawsuits are another matter.)
It is an active choice to prioritize this spending above all other spending, year after year.