Since neither Igor nor I had an opportunity to participate in any of the May Day events, and I couldn’t even get out of the office to watch a march, I suggested watching one of the Labor Movement documentaries screening at the Siskel Center during the first days of May. We went to see the American Dream documentary produced by Barbara Kopple in 1990. It shouldn’t be a surprise that I didn’t know about the labor strike against Hormel Foods of 1986. My complete cluelessness added suspense because throughout the whole documentary, I didn’t know how it would end! Sometimes (often?) it’s important to learn not only about impressive victories, but also about great failures.
There was something else, quite unexpected, that caught my attention while I was watching this documentary: the way everyone talked. A couple of weeks ago, I saw an article reporting a recent study finding that people now use fewer words than they did twenty years ago, and this documentary was striking proof of that! As a frequent participant in political rallies, I know very well how even the best speakers talk these days! In this movie, the union leaders, the members, and everyone talked intelligently, used a lot of words, and spoke complicated sentences. Nobody was shouting slogans; instead, people reasoned, considered different aspects of the matter at hand, listened to others’ arguments, and offered counterarguments. And trust me, none of this was rehearsed! There were heated debates, and at one point, a debate turned into a physical fight, but still!
I was shocked! Where did all of this go?! How did we get there? And how can we return to normality?!
On Wednesday, I went to a show at Guarneri Hall for the first time after a long break. The show was rather unusual – it was an accompaniment for a classic silent movie.
Pianist and composer Stephen Prutsman returns to Guarneri Hall for the third time, amping up the fun for one of our most-anticipated events of the season. A Night at the Movies pairs a silent-era film comedy with a brilliant, original film score written and performed live by Prutsman and a small ensemble.
In Buster Keaton’s College, Ronald, a nerdy scholar, pans sports in favor of academics. This attitude wins him no points with his peers and especially coed Mary, who favors the athletic Jeff. Ronald’s effort to win back Mary through his failed attempts at various sports is the setup for Keaton’s unique physical comedy in this hilarious film from 1927.
I think that most of the audience had more fun than I did; for me, it was more educational than funny, and I am unsure what cultural context I am missing. Still, I didn’t regret going, but I liked the other two concerts I attended there more.
Guarneri Hall always has small receptions following each concert, where you can grab a glass of wine and some bites. Since that’s too late for me, I would grab some fruit, cheese, and crackers and not stay for long. This time, an older gay couple asked me if they could join me at the table, and at first, we had a lively conversation about silent movies. They told me about their visit to the Lumiere Museum in Lyon a month earlier, and I shared how I watched Lumiere le Cinema at Siskel. Then we talked about other cultural venues and places to have a pre-concert dinner. And then they asked me where I lived before coming to the US. Since it was not the first question they asked, I felt it was appropriate, and told them that I am from Russia, and that I have lived here for thirty years. Then they asked me whether I ever go back, and I replied: not since the war started. They nodded, but then immediately started telling me how they had visited Russia, what Moscow and Saint Petersburg were like, and how they loved museums. Then, they started about Navalny, “who is the only person who is capable of changing the course” (they spoke in the present tense, so it looks like they completely missed the last several years of development). At this point, I stopped nodding politely and told them that although I condemn the killing of political opponents, Navalny wouldn’t be better for Russia. To which they said that “they stay away from politics” and “of course, we were true innocents abroad“, but then kept going on at length about the great culture.
… just saying that when people are “selectively innocent” about politics, that’s when bad things happen.
Posting this mostly for my friends abroad, because this kind of news somehow rarely crosses the border. That was yesterday, hours before the seizure deal reached.
The upcoming Time Magazine issue will be all about Minneapolis, and I just received an article from that issues in the mailing list. It started like this:
The memorial for Alex Pretti, who was shot and killed by federal agents on Jan. 24, has grown to span several parking spots on Nicollet Avenue in the Whittier neighborhood of Minneapolis. It’s now a mountain of carnations, prayer candles, poems, and notes. One message pleads: “America, do not let their deaths be in vain – We the People.”
When I read the last sentence, I was so close to crying that I couldn’t read any further. That’s how my thoughts are circling non-stop. The moment I am so proud of people rising up against the injustice, I immediately think: why did it have to be people losing their lives to make half of the country finally rise in protest? And the next thought is always the one from that article that made me cry: do not let their deaths be in vain!!!
***
And once again, I heard from one of my European friends that “they do not know what’s happening in the US.” The same story again: my French friend L. messaged me that her daughter saw a TV show about the ICE raids and asked whether I was safe and could I be arrested. I replied: no chance, there are too many of us! When we talked a couple of days later, and I described to her our situation, she said: Thank you! Here, we do not know anything, and do not see anything!
And once again, I am wondering why this silence. 🤷🏻♀️
Trump administration hit with federal lawsuit over ‘occupation of Illinois and Chicago’
The new lawsuit makes claims about the feds’ capture of biometric data, warrantless arrests, immigration enforcement at “sensitive locations” like courthouses and schools, the swapping of license plates and trespassing on private property.
Illinois and Chicago on Monday accused federal immigration officials of an illegal occupation that’s led to “fear,”“indiscriminate violence,” and an “impermissible interference with state sovereignty” designed to force local leaders to abandon critical public policy.
They did so in a new federal lawsuit that amounts to the broadest challenge yet to the Trump administration’s aggressive immigration enforcement campaign. It accuses the feds of an “organized bombardment,”in which “uniformed, military-trained personnel, carrying semi-automatic firearms and military-grade weaponry, have rampaged for months.”
“Illinois and Chicago seek to vindicate their sovereign authority to govern, grow, and maintain public order and stability against an unchecked federal government,” the lawsuit alleges.
The lawsuit is similar to, but goes further than, the high-profile lawsuit brought by protesters, media and clergy last fall that challenged the feds’ tactics. U.S. District Judge Sara Ellis issued an historic order in that case in November, limiting the feds’ use of force.
The plaintiffs in that case have sought its dismissal. But Ellis hesitated to grant their request after the fatal shooting of Renee Good in Minneapolis last week. Now state lawyers have sought to have their new case assigned to Ellis, given the similarities.
A hearing on the question has been set for Thursday. President Barack Obama named Ellis to the bench in 2013. For now, the new case has been assigned to U.S. District Judge Georgia Alexakis, who was appointed to the bench by President Joe Biden in 2024.
Minnesota officials also filed a similar lawsuit Monday.
The Trump administration suffered repeated losses at Chicago’s Dirksen Federal Courthouse since the start of the immigration enforcement campaign known as “Operation Midway Blitz.” The state and city already sued successfully to block Trump’s deployment of National Guard troops last fall. They even handed Trump a loss at the U.S. Supreme Court.
Dirksen Federal Courthouse, 219 S. Dearborn St. | Rich Hein/Sun-Times
Now their new lawsuit makes claims about the feds’ capture of biometric data, warrantless arrests, immigration enforcement at “sensitive locations” like courthouses and schools, the swapping of license plates and trespassing on private property.
It points out that, for decades, federal agents enforced immigration laws and arrested individuals subject to removal “without significant impact on public order and safety.” But since September, they “have imported interdiction tactics from the border into Chicago’s neighborhoods, and then, as one senior official put it … ‘push[ed] the envelope.’”
The lawsuit seeks an order barring U.S. Customs and Border Protection from conducting civil immigration enforcement in Illinois without Congressional approval, and ending policies that have led to the biometric scanning, the concealment of license plates and warrantless arrests.
White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson said the complaint “reads like a far-left manifesto, not a serious lawsuit.”
“The Trump administration is enforcing federal law and arresting criminal illegal aliens in cities across the country,” she said. “Chicago’s lawsuit uses aggressive rhetoric meant to smear law enforcement officers and incite violence against them.”
Gov. JB Pritzker, a Democrat who has not ruled out a 2028 presidential run, said, “in the face of the Trump administration’s cruelty and intimidation, Illinois is standing up against the attacks on our people.”
Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul
Attorney General Kwame Raoul added that, “Border Patrol agents and [U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement] officers have acted as occupiers rather than officers of the law.”
And Mayor Brandon Johnson said that, “the Trump administration has repeatedly violated the law and undermined public trust.”
Their lawsuit comes amid growing outrage about the feds’ tactics, especially since the fatal shooting of Good by ICE officer Jonathan Ross. Questions have also been raised about state officials’ ability to prosecute federal agents.
The new lawsuit refers to “the occupation of Illinois and Chicago” by immigration agents. It echoes claims from the National Guard litigation, arguing that the feds are trying to punish the state and city, especially over their so-called sanctuary jurisdiction status.
That means local authorities won’t assist ICE in tracking down immigrants without legal status.
“The federal government’s menacing, violent, and unlawful incursion impedes Illinois and Chicago from carrying out core sovereign functions in violation of the Tenth Amendment,”it alleges.
The lawsuit points to two shootings in the Chicago area committed by immigration officers — the Sept. 12 fatal shooting of 38-year-old Silverio Villegas-Gonzalez and the Oct. 4 shooting of Marimar Martinez by Border Patrol agent Charles Exum in Chicago’s Brighton Park neighborhood.
“Hundreds of residents have been injured by Border Patrol’s widespread use of tear gas in residential neighborhoods, including children, the elderly, and first responders,” the lawsuit alleges.
Beyond that, the lawsuit alleges that Border Patrol and ICE have used an app called Mobile Fortify to scan the fingerprints and faces of people in Illinois including a U.S. citizen, a teenager, and a man on his way to work.
It says the feds have “unlawfully arrested dozens of U.S. citizens across the country” under an illegal warrantless arrest policy, likely including many in Illinois.
And it complains of a “proliferation of immigration enforcement activity at and near sensitive locations including courthouses, daycares and preschools, K-12 schools, community colleges, healthcare facilities, homeless shelters, and domestic violence shelters.”
Among other incidents, it cites the Nov. 5 incident in which federal agents entered the Rayito de Sol Spanish Immersion Early Learning Center and arrested a teacher.
“Agents subsequently reentered the daycare, searching rooms — including rooms where children were present — and interrogating other staff as to their immigration status,” the lawsuit claims. “The daycare center closed for the remainder of the week as a result of this incident.”
The lawsuit complains that Homeland Security adopted an illegal policy “allowing immigration agents to conceal, remove, or swap legally required license plates when engaged in enforcement activities in Illinois.”
It points to Plate Watch, a hotline launched by Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias. It says Giannoulias’ office “received hundreds of reports of violations of state law governing the display of accurate license plates by vehicles which were, upon information and belief, operated by federal immigration agents.”
The lawsuit accuses immigration agents of unlawfully trespassing on private property, including at a cemetery, an open-air flea market, in residential yards and on city property.
Finally, it notes that immigration enforcement is likely to surge again in Chicago, quoting a recent social media post from U.S. Border Patrol Cmdr. Gregory Bovino.
“If you think we’re done with Chicago, you’d better check yourself before you wreck yourself,” it said. “Don’t call it a comeback; we’re gonna be here for years.”
So, Trump said officially that he is going to “leave Chicago” (and the other three Democratic cities) “for now,” although he is threatening to “come back if…”
I want to put it in writing in my journal today, when we have no way to know how it will play out later. That being said, I might be wrong, but today I want to say: we resist and we can achieve something. Long live Federalism! 😀
ICE is going away from Chicago! They didn’t like our winter rehearsal :), and now they want to return in March. Well, we can absolutely create a snowstorm in March!
I had a very disturbing conversation at work. One of my co-workers told us about his “buddy” who joined ICE. He was like “I just told him: don’t you dare to touch the kids,” but it didn’t seem like he was horrified with this confession. The rest of us were more disturbed, especially having two Latino co-workers present.
That first co-worker who mentioned his friend joining ICE, told us, that according to his friend, the pay was good, and he was getting three times more than otherwise (and if I recall correctly our earlier conversations, “otherwise” was police). So we are talking about three times of police pay, and also, they were getting 1.5K for each person arrested! No wonder they were snatching people off the streets! I went ahead with a speach about moral values, and others were like “how can he sleep at night?”
My Venesuelan co-worker, who voted for Trump, now uses each opportunity to tell me how much she regret it, and how instead of sending criminals out of the country, Trump is now detaining hard working good people, and my other co-workers do not even try to say something in opposition.
The Judge ordered to release most of people who were seized by ICE in Chicago.
And today was the first time in two months, that I saw a woman with a little girl tighed to her back, walking with a box of candies through the CTA car.
Igor told me about Palatine protests and showed his photos, and it was only later that I saw the news about the incident that prompted the anti-police rally. The news cited “about 20 people,” but since I already saw Igor’s photos, I knew there were way more people.
I am really proud of Palatine’s community, and I feel that our family contributed our small part to Palatine being vocal about any injustices.
Below is Igor’s article from Journal and Topics about the rally, and I think it explains everything perfectly. My Palatine friends, you rock!
Here is the article, and I agree with every word here!
U.S. President Donald Trump greets Russian President Vladimir Putin as he arrives at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson on Aug. 15, 2025 in Anchorage, Alaska. Andrew Harnik—Getty Images
Seven days ago, Ukraine’s supporters were watching on optimistically, as all signs pointed toward Donald Trump allowing Ukraine to acquire long-range Tomahawk missiles at a meeting with Volodymyr Zelensky on Friday.
Giving the green light for Ukraine to buy and use such powerful weapons would have dramatically increased the country’s firepower and ability to strike military infrastructure inside Russia.
But Trump, whose tone towards Russia had hardened since his Alaska Summit with Putin in August failed to produce any meaningful results, made a U-turn that few saw coming.
Zelensky’s most recent trip to Washington had a lot more in common with the notorious shouting match that took place in the Oval Office in February. On top of Trump’s withholding of weapons Ukraine needs, he returned to some of his old talking points. Most alarmingly, he insisted that any halt to fighting would mean Ukraine give up the Donbas region to Putin—an area Russia has failed to take total control of, despite 11 years of fighting.
According to a report in the FT, Trump told the Ukrainian leader that if he did not bow to Putin’s will, Ukraine would be “destroyed.” The meeting reportedly descended into a bad-tempered shouting match, with Trump throwing away maps of the frontline, repeatedly swearing, and echoing a Kremlin talking point that the invasion is a “special operation, not even a war.”
Trump held a surprise two-and-a-half-hour phone call with the Russian President Vladimir Putin while Zelensky was on his way to America.
During that call, Trump reportedly agreed to a second face-to-face summit with Putin, this time in Budapest. Hungary is one of Putin’s few allies in the West, and its Prime Minister, Viktor Orbán, has repeatedly dug his heels in on Western efforts to punish Russia for its invasion of Ukraine. To say it will be an embarrassment not just for Ukraine but many of its European allies is an understatement.
The meeting will allow Putin onto E.U. and NATO soil, where in theory he should be arrested given an ICC arrest warrant. The sight of Putin standing alongside the most powerful man in the world in a NATO country will instead likely be used as Kremlin propaganda—and another sign that Trump has once again been played for a fool by Putin.
For all the positive noises that have come each time Trump has made commitments to Ukraine, or encouraged NATO allies to spend more on defense, or apparently started to see Putin for who he really is, the facts speak for themselves. A BBC Verify report in August found that the number of Russian attacks on Ukraine has doubled since Trump’s inauguration. In recent weeks, mounting drone incursions have even brazenly entered NATO skies.
Trump’s desire for the war to end seems sincere. He has also made no secret of his wish to win a Nobel Peace Prize. But if the war in Ukraine ends with the nation’s future largely in the hands of its invader, the very idea that Trump is deserving of the prize would be a dishonor.
The Russian President is a man who lives by the axiom: give an inch, take a mile. When the Obama Administration let down Syria, Putin was more than happy to intervene there to prop up his ally Bashar al-Assad. The West’s decision to turn the other cheek after Putin annexed Crimea in 2014 may have also emboldened him to launch his full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Putin scoring another summit with Trump is a diplomatic coup. So is Trump’s decision to renege on Tomahawks for Ukraine and swing back to Putin’s way of thinking.
A version of Occam’s razor—that the simplest explanation for a phenomenon is probably correct—applies here. If Trump continues to reward Putin and punish Kyiv, Putin will most likely further escalate in Ukraine and test the West.
There is still hope that Trump may swing back to Ukraine, and heeding Zelensky’s call for an additional 25 U.S. Patriot anti-missile batteries is a good start.
Those closest to the U.S. President should urge Trump to do more for Ukraine, and stress that his current strategy is making Putin look smarter and stronger than Trump’s America.
For a man who cares about optics, that may be Ukraine’s best hope.
Hettie's Reflections 