HoosLeft This Week October 5, 2025

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US/World News (quotes from linked articles in italics) * FASCISM WATCH * Identification of Enemies of the State * Chicago Under Attack: * Armed Border Patrol agents patrol downtown Chicago * United States Border Patrol agents, wearing bulletproof vests and carrying rifles, were observed patrolling in downtown Chicago on Sunday afternoon. * Agents have been patrolling the Chicago River on boats in recent days, and Sunday were seen walking down one of the city’s busiest streets as increased federal intervention continues in the city. * Massive immigration raid on Chicago apartment building leaves residents reeling * Armed federal agents in military fatigues busted down their doors overnight, pulling men, women and children from their apartments, some of them naked, residents and witnesses said. Agents approached or entered nearly every apartment in the five-story building, and U.S. citizens were among those detained for hours. * Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem leads Elgin raid; 1 U.S. citizen among 6 detained * Low-flying helicopters, bright lights and smoke bombs were used in a raid Tuesday. Joe Botello, 37, and five roommates were led out of a home in the 900 block of Chippewa Drive. Kristi Noem was among the ICE agents who wore camouflage and used military trucks. * Trump freezes $2.1B for Chicago projects, Red Line extension in shutdown fight with Dems * The White House on Friday said it is withholding $2.1 billion in funding for Chicago infrastructure projects, including the CTA’s Red Line extension, as President Donald Trump escalates his fight with the city and follows through on his threat to punish Democrats over the government shutdown. * White House budget director Russ Vought wrote on social media that he was specifically targeting the Red Line South Side project as well as the Red and Purple Line modernization project, “to ensure funding is not flowing via race-based contracting.” * Pritzker says Trump administration intends to federalize 300 Illinois National Guard members * Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker said in a statement on Saturday that the Trump administration intends to federalize 300 Illinois National Guard members after he was offered an ultimatum on troop deployment. * “This morning, the Trump Administration’s Department of War gave me an ultimatum: call up your troops, or we will,” he said. “It is absolutely outrageous and un-American to demand a Governor send military troops within our own borders and against our will.” * The White House later confirmed the plans. * …and Portland * Threatening funds * The White House is continuing to pressure Portland, surging federal law enforcement and floating plans to go after the city’s pocketbook on Friday as protests continue over President Donald Trump’s deployment of the National Guard. * The administration will review cutting federal funding to Portland, press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters at a press briefing, citing what she said was elected officials’ refusal to work with the White House to crack down on street crime and immigration enforcement. * activates 200 National Guard troops to Portland * The White House is continuing to pressure Portland, surging federal law enforcement and floating plans to go after the city’s pocketbook on Friday as protests continue over President Donald Trump’s deployment of the National Guard. * The administration will review cutting federal funding to Portland, press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters at a press briefing, citing what she said was elected officials’ refusal to work with the White House to crack down on street crime and immigration enforcement. * Judge temporarily blocks use of National Guard in Portland * U.S. District Judge Karin J. Immergut, an appointee of President Donald Trump, issued a temporary restraining order after Oregon and Portland sued. The order expires on Oct. 18 but could be extended. * Immergut wrote in her ruling that the U.S. Constitution grants Congress the power to call forth troops — the “militia” in the founding document — to execute laws, suppress an insurrection or repel an invasion. She wrote that Trump’s attempt to federalize the National Guard absent constitutional authority undermines the sovereign interests of Oregon. * Justice Department sues Minnesota over sanctuary policies * The Justice Department said on Monday it has sued Minnesota and state officials over its immigration sanctuary policies, the latest move in a legal campaign by Republican President Donald Trump’s administration against jurisdictions run by Democrats. * The department said the state was carrying out policies that are illegal under federal law. * Supreme Court again allows Trump to strip protections from Venezuelan immigrants * The Supreme Court has again cleared the way for the Trump administration to strip legal protections for hundreds of thousands of Venezuelan immigrants, despite lower-court rulings that found the administration’s move illegal. * It’s the second time in five months that the high court has, on its emergency docket, green-lit Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem’s effort to terminate “temporary *+6**-protected status” from the Venezuelans living in the United States. * Prosecuting Political Opponents * James Comey case jeopardizes Americans’ free speech rights, retired judges warn * The Trump administration’s case against former FBI Director James Comey should be a warning sign to Americans, 42 retired judges wrote in an open letter first obtained by NBC News. * In their letter, the former federal and state judges warned that the “rights and liberties of every American are in grave danger today, as President Donald Trump continues to corruptly abuse the power of his office by directing the United States Department of Justice and the Federal Bureau of Investigation to target his critics and his perceived political enemies for investigation and criminal prosecution.” * “All Americans have an obligation as citizens of this great country to speak out against this unprecedented attack on our freedom of speech and to demand that Donald Trump’s attacks on our right to speak freely without fear of being persecuted and prosecuted by our government must stop now,” they added. * FBI agent suspended over refusal to ‘perp walk’ former director * An FBI agent has reportedly been suspended because they refused to participate in a “perp walk” of the bureau’s former director James Comey, US media reports. * The agent was suspended for insubordination, according to the BBC’s news partner CBS, after the agent found the plan to be inappropriate. * Control of Mass Media * Bari Weiss taking over CBS newsroom, staffers ‘literally freaking out’ * The imminent arrival of anti-woke and stridently pro-Israel “heterodox” pundit Bari Weiss as the editor-in-chief of CBS News has left the newsroom’s staff “literally freaking out,” with sources telling The Independent that the Tiffany Network is “not a good place right now.” * The rising frustration among the network’s journalists has also been compounded by the fact that David Ellison, the chief executive of the newly merged Paramount Skydance, is preparing to implement brutal layoffs and slash up to 10 percent of CBS News’ staff – all while paying Weiss up to $150 million to acquire her digital media outlet The Free Press. * Following a politically tainted $8.4 billion merger between Ellison’s Skydance Media and Paramount Global, which saw Paramount agree to pay Donald Trump $16 million to settle a “meritless” lawsuit over a 60 Minutes interview with Kamala Harris, the new leadership team has made several moves to seemingly appease the right and the president. * Weiss, a former New York Times opinion columnist who famously quit The Grey Lady in 2020 over what she cited as the paper’s left-leaning editorial policies and “illiberal environment,” is expected to report to Ellison di… This is a public episode. 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