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kyle tear down that highway lucas 🏳️‍🌈

@itskylelucas.com
2.1K followers 816 following 2.5K posts

Love people, drink good coffee, and bike everywhere. I care a lot about cities (and 🎢s) | HIV+ | fighting for better streets @betterstreetschicago.org | My posts are mine

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kyle tear down that highway lucas 🏳️‍🌈 @itskylelucas.com · 20/08/2026
There has to be a gas leak in the editorial board room.
Just as Michael J. McMurray, Chicago's commissioner of aviation, strikes us as one of the most capable and respected members of Mayor Brandon Johnson's administration, so Sean P. Duffy, Donald Trump's Secretary of Transportation, fills that role in Donald
Trump's motley crew.
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kyle tear down that highway lucas 🏳️‍🌈 @itskylelucas.com · 20/08/2026
That's a real rough burn when the average Twitter user these days is a Nazi. Does Chicago need a troll for a mayor? Guess we'll never find out!
A tweet from @liamstantonchi says "Bluesky, IRL"

His tweet is quoting another from @_CharlesPreston reading "Damn. Mayor Johnson just pissed off an entire room of South Shore residents, South Chicago residents, organizers, and activists" with a video of a crowd of people in an auditorium with organizers and Brandon Johnson on a stage with a projected image saying "Community Over Quantum"
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kyle tear down that highway lucas 🏳️‍🌈 @itskylelucas.com · 30/07/2026
He’s also sent out campaign texts already.
A campaign text has a photo of Willie Wilson and reads: City Hall has been bought and paid for by special interests for too long. Willie Wilson can’t be bought by anyone — except you, the hardworking voters of Chicago. 

Donate $3 to buy Willie. Let him know you have his back. As Mayor, Willie Wilson will always have your back, too.

After all, you paid for it.

ww4chi.com/0709/sOvcX7

stop2end”
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kyle tear down that highway lucas 🏳️‍🌈 @itskylelucas.com · 30/07/2026
A paltry $500k towards *vibes* This is the entirety of the form outside of providing your information 😆
A survey question asks to rank 4 categories:

Accessibility, Public Safety, & Inclusion
i.e., ADA-accessible playground equipment, ramps, lighting, security cameras

Recreation Infrastructure
i.e. ballfield/sports court rehab

Permanent Fixtures & Park Amenities
i.e. benches, picnic tables, bike racks

Nature & Beautification
i.e. trees, pollinator gardens, nature play spaces
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kyle tear down that highway lucas 🏳️‍🌈 @itskylelucas.com · 25/07/2026
I was at an event this week where a State Rep insisted that we simply do not yet have the technology to electrify Metra. Then a State Senator followed by suggesting we take a serious look at hydrogen. Meanwhile, Chicago electrified MED literally a century ago. #PutUpTheDamnWires
An Illinois Central electric motor car from the 1920’s is parked at the 111th/Pullman Metra Electric station.A Metra Electric train at 115th/Kensington
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kyle tear down that highway lucas 🏳️‍🌈 @itskylelucas.com · 14/07/2026
I think it’s important for the public to know that this is the entirety of who was in the room to approve the NITA board appointments.
Present in the City Council chambers are Ald Mitchell, Ald Moore, Ald Vasquez, Ald Nugent, and Ald Yancy
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kyle tear down that highway lucas 🏳️‍🌈 @itskylelucas.com · 13/07/2026
This is all that might ever get built. Every single bit of “phase 2” which includes housing, riverfront access, and Clark St access are theoretical and might never happen. They are not obligated to build it, and they have no current plans for any of it.
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kyle tear down that highway lucas 🏳️‍🌈 @itskylelucas.com · 26/06/2026
My not-so-hot take is that what Mamdani is doing *IS* incrementalism, and the bar is so deeply in hell that a politician just doing *anything* good consistently is a total anomaly for people. And I think for now that is good and fine, because it is restoring people’s faith that better is possible.
A post from @matzollerseitz.bsky.social reads:

“So what I'm getting from this is, incrementalism is bullshit and we should just do the stuff that we say would be good for society”

And the post is quoting a post from @owillis.bsky.social that reads:

“They call him WIN-dani 

Mamdani delivers promised rent freeze on 1 million rent-stabilized apartments https://www.politico.com/news/2026/06/25/mamdani-delivers-promised-rent-freeze-00977449”
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kyle tear down that highway lucas 🏳️‍🌈 @itskylelucas.com · 26/06/2026
None of the reporting says the City’s bid was rejected, it all says the City walked away and so they went with the next-highest bidder.
Wyper and his colleagues said Stonepeak bid about $2.5 billion — which proved to be the winner after the city walked away.
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kyle tear down that highway lucas 🏳️‍🌈 @itskylelucas.com · 06/05/2026
I don't really understand...is the idea that the Shedd is missing out on drunk teenagers slipping in a visit between sets? Cause the problem there isn't traffic, it's drunk teenagers in an aquarium and also the logistics of the festival.
The traffic logjam prevents the Lollapalooza music festival in Grant Park from generating activity for the museum campus, Johnson said.
"Just the natural spillover of 15,000 to 20,000 conservatively of concert-goers [who] would move about the entire campus and create more activity over there — we're losing out of that type of economic" activity, Johnson said.

"The infrastructure is something that we have constantly fought for and will continue to do that."
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kyle tear down that highway lucas 🏳️‍🌈 @itskylelucas.com · 04/05/2026
Let it be clear: Susana Mendoza is a profoundly evil person who should not be let within even an inch of the reins of City Hall. Here she is speaking about the death penalty in deeply horrifying terms. Don’t let her goofy TikTok’s fool you. This is who she is.
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kyle tear down that highway lucas 🏳️‍🌈 @itskylelucas.com · 02/05/2026
Less than 2 miles away from here a driver murdered a man this morning by deliberately driving up on the sidewalk and running him over. But “bike activists” need to stop “demonizing” drivers?…..
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kyle tear down that highway lucas 🏳️‍🌈 @itskylelucas.com · 25/04/2026
I am sick and tired of @illinoisdot.bsky.social forcing us to fight them because they refuse to agree to the simple premise that there shouldn’t be an expressway on the lakefront. But we will keep fighting. And we will win. Check out my mic drop from earlier today.
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kyle tear down that highway lucas 🏳️‍🌈 @itskylelucas.com · 16/04/2026
idk a mayor getting a million likes about taxing the rich seems like a mandate much more broadly
A screenshot of the same video on Instagram is frozen on an extreme close up of Zohran’s face as he leans into the camera to say “Well, today we’re taxing the rich.”

In the foreground the video has 1 million likes.
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kyle tear down that highway lucas 🏳️‍🌈 @itskylelucas.com · 15/04/2026
Ald. Conway needs to decide whether he is in office to actually serve the people, or if it’s just to bluster falsehoods in the press. His veiled threats to upend bus service for hundreds of thousands of Americans have not been matched with any constructive feedback for what he thinks can improve.
But moves still require City Council approval, a necessity that suddenly appeared to be a potential roadblock when Ald. Bill Conway, whose ward includes the downtown station, left the commission’s meeting unimpressed by the Johnson administration’s pitch.

“That hearing really illustrated the ‘first we get the money’ mentality of this administration,” Conway said as he walked out. “It’s hard to describe that hearing as anything short of a total train wreck.”
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kyle tear down that highway lucas 🏳️‍🌈 @itskylelucas.com · 23/03/2026
Get these clankers off our sidewalks! Literally destroyed a bus shelter yesterday.
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kyle tear down that highway lucas 🏳️‍🌈 @itskylelucas.com · 18/03/2026
Is Brandon Johnson just allergic to doing anything popular? You finally have a popular head of CTA right now who actually has the institutional knowledge needed to transition into the new governance structure. Literally….who?
A tweet from Chicago Tribune reporter Alice Yin reads:

Q: Can one interpret the final appointment to the
CTA board as a sign you will name a new CTA
president before June?
Johnson: "One could."
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kyle tear down that highway lucas 🏳️‍🌈 @itskylelucas.com · 21/02/2026
Spent the morning in Barrington talking to residents about why Maria Peterson deserves their support! We need more transportation champs in the burbs — and she’s someone who Gets It folks!! Last election she came within *47* votes of flipping this seat. Every single conversation counts!
Kyle smiles for a selfie while out canvassing a neighborhood. He’s holding literature for Maria Peterson, and one of her yard signs is in the background.
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kyle tear down that highway lucas 🏳️‍🌈 @itskylelucas.com · 11/02/2026
Has anyone stopped to think that maybe it’s because they can’t?
A screenshot of an NPR headline reads: Millions of student loan borrowers aren't repaying their loans - and defaults are up
New data offers further confirmation of a crisis in the U.S. student loan portfolio, in which too many borrowers are not repaying their student loans.
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kyle tear down that highway lucas 🏳️‍🌈 @itskylelucas.com · 07/02/2026
Oh…. www.chicagotribune.com/2026/02/05/p...
But in Chicago, the Johnson administration walked back the bold proposal in early 2025, saying that instead of opening a publicly owned grocery store, it would open a year-round public market. The administration announced the change in plans only after the Tribune reported the city had failed to apply for a state grant it had planned to apply for to help fund a grocery store.
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kyle tear down that highway lucas 🏳️‍🌈 @itskylelucas.com · 27/01/2026
And as a reminder, THIS is what Raymond had to say about the murder of Renee Goode. Just an absolutely rotten, vile man.
Chicago Alderman Raymond Lopez tweeted on January 10th, 2026: “I am reminded of something a well-regarded columnist once said about gang bangers killed on the streets of Chicago: while any death is tragic, every death isn't honorable.”

His tweet quoted a headline from the Chicago Tribune Editorial Board that said: “From the Editorial Board: Every last American should agree the death in Minneapolis of a 37-year-old American mother of three at the hands of a gun wielded by an agent of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is an abomination.”
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kyle tear down that highway lucas 🏳️‍🌈 @itskylelucas.com · 25/01/2026
From Chicago to Minneapolis 💙
A sign at a protest reads CHI STANDS WITH MLPSA sign at a protest reads ICE = MURDERERS dripping with bloodLooking out the window of a train station there is a protest either a sign that reads ICE OUT
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kyle tear down that highway lucas 🏳️‍🌈 @itskylelucas.com · 25/01/2026
There have been protests all over Chicago today, like this one outside the Kimball Brown line station. Chicago stands with you, Minneapolis. Together we will fight and we will overcome.
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kyle tear down that highway lucas 🏳️‍🌈 @itskylelucas.com · 25/01/2026
Toni Preckwinkle has called for the abolition of ICE.
A statement from Toni Preckwinkle on her campaign Instagram says: “Minneapolis is facing yet another deadly consequence of a federal agenda built on terror and cruelty.

Untrained, masked militarized forces are inflicting violence, fear, and trauma on our streets, acting at the direct orders of President Donald Trump and his allies.

This is not law enforcement; it is federal brutality.
Local governments, we must stand united against an administration that sends armed forces into our
communities with no accountability, transparency, or respect for human life.

It is time to abolish ICE. It is time to end federal occupation of our communities.”
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kyle tear down that highway lucas 🏳️‍🌈 @itskylelucas.com · 09/01/2026
Deeply embarrassing that the Mayor’s press office account has fallen victim to Bluesky moderation’s spam filters. Probably because it’s a press office that was replying to random residents while like a day old.
A screenshot shows the @chicagompo.bsky.social account has been labeled by @moderation.bsky.app as Spam, which it defines as “Unwanted, repeated, or unrelated actions that bother users.”
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kyle tear down that highway lucas 🏳️‍🌈 @itskylelucas.com · 03/01/2026
@pattyforil.bsky.social posts on the bad site a statement that falls short of tangible action and impeachment.
Patty Garcia posts on Twitter: Wars for oil have failed every time.

Trump wants occupation, chaos, and profit for oil executives. Paid for by working families.

I stand against imperialism and endless war.

Included are images with a statement.An image of Patty Garcia’s statement reads: 

Trump's illegal and unprovoked attack on Venezuela, including the capture of Nicolás Maduro, is reckless and unlawful. It is an attempt to occupy a sovereign nation and seize its oil, violating international law and the US Constitution.An image of Patty Garcia’s statement reads: 

We've seen this playbook fail again and again. For decades, US-forced regime change destabilized entire regions and led to violence and chaos that displaced millions.
Trump's naked imperialism won't stop the flow of illegal drugs in the US, but it will strip us of allies and harden our enemies against us.
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kyle tear down that highway lucas 🏳️‍🌈 @itskylelucas.com · 01/01/2026
Oh I do hope so
Kyle got the word ‘picturesque’
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kyle tear down that highway lucas 🏳️‍🌈 @itskylelucas.com · 25/12/2025
Imagine running an account utterly and deeply unhealthily obsessed with Pritzker and adding Cap Fax to your nearly 700 deep block list titled “Unreasonable people & bad faith trolls” lmao.
A screenshot of a list by @pritzkerposting.bsky.social called “Unreasonable people & bad faith trolls” shows that @capitolfax.bsky.social is on the list
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kyle tear down that highway lucas 🏳️‍🌈 @itskylelucas.com · 24/12/2025
Sorry, 161 followers.
@TheBernienator posted on Twitter: “MBJ was out organized and lost control of the city. This statement confirms it. All he can do is step aside and watch things happen.”

The Mayor’s press office account @ChicagoMPO quoted this saying: “Here's another statement from Mayor Johnson
today:
"You had significant donors who spent millions of dollars to convince a handful of alders that it was better to protect their interest than protect working people... What you saw was the interest of corporations and the ultra-rich that desperately needed to stop something from happening, because they know the momentum is moving in a way that is going to transform not just Chicago's economy, but economies around the country... The threat to the oligarchy did not go away because we did not secure the corporate head tax. Let me make this point absolutely clear: don't think that because it's not in this budget that we're not going to fight for it for budgets to come."
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kyle tear down that highway lucas 🏳️‍🌈 @itskylelucas.com · 15/12/2025
Paul Vallas has really sent his finest to oppose Archer/Kedzie. Meanwhile, this person protesting against concrete protection is directly benefitting from the safety that concrete protection provides.
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kyle tear down that highway lucas 🏳️‍🌈 @itskylelucas.com · 13/12/2025
They’re not cute. They’re a menace. Sidewalks are for people, not robots.
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kyle tear down that highway lucas 🏳️‍🌈 @itskylelucas.com · 13/12/2025
AND they took a shot at Ald La Spata and ‘his ilk’? Look, I get the Trib Editorial board doesn’t have any principles, but their ‘ilk’ are far more likely to have a vested interest in not paying people to do delivery — maybe they should be a bit less conspicuous about that.
Better yet, the robots are a weapon against the scourge of double-parking, yet more pernicious when it snows. Ald. Daniel La Spata, 1st, wants an ordinance letting Chicagoans snitch on delivery vehicles blocking the public way, another proposed new law for which we see no need, given that people already can call 311 if they wish and that those opposed to the FedEx truck blocking their way tend to drop their opposition when FedEx is coming to their door. La Spata hardly is known for caring much about the ability of local businesses to get stuff delivered, but we think he and his ilk should be in favor of the little robots.
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kyle tear down that highway lucas 🏳️‍🌈 @itskylelucas.com · 30/11/2025
What’s that they say? “A hit dog will holler.” Instead of doing the right thing and admitting wrong, @frankcalabrese.bsky.social has instead resorted to just fabricating falsehoods. Really the smart thing to do right after you’ve been called out for making fake AI political imagery.
A post from Frank Calabrese on Twitter reads: “It's very over the top moralism, which is reality just censorship. The internet is flooded with parody images of political figures. So it's really weird to start suddenly caring about it because it offends someone's friend.”
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kyle tear down that highway lucas 🏳️‍🌈 @itskylelucas.com · 29/11/2025
So many haters have told us it would never snow again and that we were fighting a fool’s errand…
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kyle tear down that highway lucas 🏳️‍🌈 @itskylelucas.com · 28/11/2025
No, WTTW did not host a wine tasting with Samantha Steele on WTTW tonight. But it’s been posted as if it’s real, and the admission that it’s fake is buried in the comments. But the creation and propagation in itself is extremely damning.
Frank Calabrese posts on Twitter “Only in Cook County can you get arrested for a DUI, fined by the Board of Ethics, and get a vanity PBS interview, because we have no standards for our elected officials.”

Attached is an AI generated image of Samatha Steele being interviewed by Nick Blumberg on WTTW’s Chicago Tonight program, with 6 wine bottles and 3 wine glasses superimposed.
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kyle tear down that highway lucas 🏳️‍🌈 @itskylelucas.com · 25/11/2025
Everyone take a deep breath.
A screenshot of bill SB2111 on the Illinois General Assembly website shows that as of 11/25/2025 the bill has been sent to the Governor.
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kyle tear down that highway lucas 🏳️‍🌈 @itskylelucas.com · 14/11/2025
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kyle tear down that highway lucas 🏳️‍🌈 @itskylelucas.com · 06/11/2025
Who do you serve? Who do you protect?
A tweet from Chicago Tribune reporter Alice Yin at 8:03pm on Nov 5th reads: “Lost in the CPD marathon budget hearing today, Supt. Larry Snelling appeared to reveal that the snow trucks blocking Broadway in Uptown on Halloween night was NOT bc of ICE but in case of looting if SNAP benefits expired. Ald. Angela Clay asked about the purpose of the trucks and”
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kyle tear down that highway lucas 🏳️‍🌈 @itskylelucas.com · 31/10/2025
The bill to save transit in Chicagoland (SB2111) suddenly just became bipartisan.
A screenshot from ILGA.gov shows Rep. Brad Stephens has been added as Alternate Chief Co-Sponsor on 10/30/25
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kyle tear down that highway lucas 🏳️‍🌈 @itskylelucas.com · 17/10/2025
The racist Edgewater NIMBYs are having a normal one. At least they’re finally being honest? 😮‍💨
A screenshot of Facebook replies reads:

Michael Harbinson says:
Scott Phillips how fucking dumb are you??
Most business owners tell me they voiced their opposition to this and were ignored. The local newspaper News-Star has been making people aware of this scam. All the opposition say the same thing. More crime, lower property values (which will lead to higher rental units) and when minorities move in do you think they will let you live in "their" neighborhood. Or maybe you like paying high taxes!

Scott Phillips replies:
Michael Harbinson So you didn't attend any of the meetings?
You're kind of all over the place. Awareness obviously wasn't low. And I'm doubting you spoke with that many business owners, as so many have expressed support for this.
But I'm curious as to whether you can explain how zoning change increases crime, how crime increases rent prices. And what's your problem with people of color?
(And watch your mouth when you address me. Clear on that?)

Michael Harbinson replies:
Scott Phillips suck my dick motherfucker!
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kyle tear down that highway lucas 🏳️‍🌈 @itskylelucas.com · 13/10/2025
trains >
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kyle tear down that highway lucas 🏳️‍🌈 @itskylelucas.com · 06/10/2025
no
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kyle tear down that highway lucas 🏳️‍🌈 @itskylelucas.com · 03/10/2025
I promise the #PlowTheSidewalks crew has a LOT to say. But for the moment, a very late lunch, maybe a tear or two, and Malört shots in memoriam.
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kyle tear down that highway lucas 🏳️‍🌈 @itskylelucas.com · 02/10/2025
When we say months of political games, we’re talking even yesterday, where after we already had a bunch of volunteers lined up for Friday morning the Chair of the Transportation committee ripped the rug out from under us once again. If you can join at City Hall at 1pm on Friday, please do!
A screenshot of the Chicago City Clerk’s site shows the Joint Committee on Pedestrian & Traffic Safety and Transportation for 10:30am on October 3rd was canceled and rescheduled for 1pm instead.
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kyle tear down that highway lucas 🏳️‍🌈 @itskylelucas.com · 01/10/2025
……yes?
An excerpt from this Chicago Tribune editorial reads: We want to be clear on one other point. An argument could be made that Roberts is a charming, competent guy who is well liked in his job and that I-9 forms and immigration checks for employment should be abolished. In the current political ferment, some progressives are making precisely that claim. But if you are going to make that argument, then you should be clear that you are essentially arguing for offering automatic permanent work authorization to everyone who arrives in the U.S. Otherwise, you slapping the face of any immigrant who follows the rules.
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kyle tear down that highway lucas 🏳️‍🌈 @itskylelucas.com · 19/09/2025
This is the definition of bailout. Our transit agencies are financially insolvent because the State has made them so, meaning that by increasing funding the State is meeting its obligation — not saving transit agencies from themselves. It’s not a bailout. Period.
an act of giving financial assistance to a failing business or economy to save it from collapse.
"eventually the government stepped in to provide the company with a bailout"
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kyle tear down that highway lucas 🏳️‍🌈 @itskylelucas.com · 18/09/2025
Kimball bound trains seem to be running. Loop bound…I’d suggest finding another way….
Crews working on the Loop bound tracks between the Rockewell and Western Brown line stops.
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kyle tear down that highway lucas 🏳️‍🌈 @itskylelucas.com · 18/09/2025
Started running again, got off to run an errand, came back and…..power is cut and all trains are stopped again. What now??
Photo of a stalled train at Rockwell as seen from the Western Brown line station. The train tracker says “Delayed” for all trains.
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kyle tear down that highway lucas 🏳️‍🌈 @itskylelucas.com · 30/08/2025
A Chicago alderman and Democrat is (once again) attacking a Jewish woman for daring to challenge our leaders for taking AIPAC and dark-money funded trips — by calling her “Jew-hating.” And this is why some of us have never bought into the “vote blue no matter who” narrative. Who DOES matter.
Chicago Alderman and Democrat Raymond Lopez tweets: “What a surprise - another Jew-hating
@ChicagosMayor appointee trying to harass an elected official that is also Jewish. Are they going to sew 2025 badges on their clothes next?”

He’s attached an image of a tweet from Stephanie Skora that reads: “Anyone know who else is part of this delegation?” Her tweet is quoting another from Chicago Alderman Debra Silverstein that reads: “Greetings from Israel. I have been abroad this week as part of a delegation of Chicago and Illinois elected officials. It was humbling to visit the site of the Nova festival massacre, where more than 300 innocent people were murdered by Hamas and 43 were taken hostage. We need to…” the rest of the message is cut off in the image.
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kyle tear down that highway lucas 🏳️‍🌈 @itskylelucas.com · 07/08/2025
Unless he’s suddenly signed a transit funding bill into law I severely doubt it.
A screenshot of an Instagram notification reads “Governor Pritzker posted a thread you might like”
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