PER CURIAM.
One of the defendants, Morton High School (Morton), did not renew the teaching contract of the plaintiff, Charles Kyle. Kyle sued the school district and members of its board in federal court, seeking damages and equitable remedies for deprivation of various federal constitutional rights under the Civil Rights Act of 1871, Rev. Stats. §§ 1979,1980, as amended, 42 U.S.C. §§ 1983, 1985(3), and for wrongful termination and intentional infliction of emotional distress under Illinois law. The district court dismissed the federal causes of actions for failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted, see Fed.R.Civ.P. 12(b)(6), and, in the absence of the federal claims, declined to exercise supplemental jurisdiction over Kyle’s state law counts, see 28 U.S.C. § 1367(c)(3).
Kyle appeals, contending the district court dismissed his federal' claims improperly. The dismissal ended Kyle’s district court ease, and we now conduct an independent review of the propriety of the dismissal. See 28 U.S.C. §§ 1291, 1294; Salve Regina College v. Russell, 499 U.S. 225, 238, 111 S.Ct. 1217, 113 L.Ed.2d 190 (1991); Stevens v. Umsted, 131 F.3d 697, 700 (7th Cir.1997). In our review we consider well-pleaded factual allegations in the complaint to be true. We make permissible inferences in the plaintiffs favor, and our recitation of the facts reflects this principle. See Mallett v. Wisconsin Div. of Vocational Rehabilitation, 130 F.3d 1245, 1248 (7th Cir.1997).
According to Kyle’s amended complaint, he was the Director of Community Education and Assistant to the Superintendent at Morton in Cicero, Illinois. At a special meeting of the Morton Board of Education (the Board) on March 27, 1996 (the Board Meeting), the Board resolved to honorably dismiss certain support staff employees. The Board explained that the employees’ positions were being eliminated to save money. According to the complaint, however, “[t]he reason alleged by the Board for the elimination of Plaintiffs position was a sham. There was no financial benefit to Morton eliminating Plaintiffs position.” The complaint states that “[sjhortly after the March 27, 1996, executive session, Plaintiff was advised by a Board Member and others who attended the meeting that the reason for Plaintiffs termination was for political and advocacy reasons. Thus, Defendants acted in knowing violation of Plaintiffs First Amendment rights to free speech and association.” The complaint also alleges that the “named individual defendants have acted together and in conspiracy with other individuals who are politicians or political functionaries to deprive Plaintiff of his position, to hinder and harass him in seeking new employment or contract work and to generally punish Plaintiff for political [451]*451and advocacy activities which the conspirators deemed adverse to their political interests and which they intended to stifle by their actions against Plaintiff.” Am. Compl. ¶¶ 3, 6, 8,10,12.
I. Due process claim
In Count I of the complaint, Kyle maintains that under the Illinois School Code he was entitled to a written notice of dismissal that specified the true reason he was fired.1 Kyle argues that because his notice of dismissal allegedly gave an inaccurate reason for his termination, he was dismissed without adequate notice of his dismissal. In Kyle’s memorandum in opposition to the motion to dismiss, Kyle also asserted that the Board failed to comply with the Illinois Open Meetings Act, 5 Ill. Comp. Stat. 120/1-3, because the record of the Board Meeting does not reflect any discussion of the reasons for Kyle’s termination.2 Because of these alleged procedural irregularities, Kyle argues, his firing deprived him of due process and a property interest in his public employment.
The district court concluded that, as a nontenured teacher, Kyle had no property interest in his job under Illinois law. Therefore, the Constitution did not entitle Kyle to due process. See Austin v. Board of Educ., 562 F.2d 446, 452 (7th Cir.1977); Miller v. School Dist. No. 167, 500 F.2d 711, 712 (7th Cir.1974). Kyle asserts that under Illinois ease law subsequent to Austin and Miller, when the notice of termination does not provide the true reason for a nontenured teacher’s dismissal, the dismissal is void. The district court rejected the plaintiffs interpretation of these more recent state cases, Hampson v. Board of Education, 215 Ill.App.3d 817, 159 Ill.Dec. 385, 576 N.E.2d 54 (Ill.App.Ct.1991), and Howard v. Board of Education, 160 Ill.App.3d 309, 112 Ill.Dec. 131, 513 N.E.2d 545, 547 (Ill.App.Ct.1987), on the grounds that “in the plaintiffs ease defendants did specify the reason for his dismissal—shortage of funds. Therefore, the notice the plaintiff received was not defective.” The district court did not address Kyle’s contention that the Board violated the Open Meetings Aet by failing to record any discussion of the reasons for Kyle’s termination.
On Kyle’s claim of a due process violation for deprivation of a property interest in his probationary teaching position, the district court read our precedents correctly. Kyle’s due process claim fails because, under Illinois law, he had no property interest in his job at Morton. Thus, for Due Process Clause purposes, it is irrelevant whether the notice of dismissal of a probationary teacher violated the procedural requirements of the Illinois School Code, or whether the Board Meeting complied with the Illinois Open Meetings Act. Even assuming that intervening decisions by the Illinois appellate courts after Miller established stricter procedural requirements for the dismissal of a probationary teacher- under the Illinois School Code, these procedural refinements could not create a property interest in Kyle’s position as a probationary teacher. See Fleury v. Clayton, 847 F.2d 1229, 1231 (7th Cir.1988); see also Patterson v. Portch, 853 F.2d 1399, 1405 (7th Cir.1988) (noting property interest for [452]*452due process purposes requires that “the law establish[ ] substantive criteria for when the plaintiff could be deprived of the interest”) (emphasis added); cf. Cleveland Bd. of Educ. v. Loudermill, 470 U.S. 532, 541, 105 S.Ct. 1487, 1493, 84 L.Ed.2d 494 (1985) (“[T]he Due Process Clause provides that certain substantive rights—life, liberty, and property—cannot be deprived except pursuant to constitutionally adequate procedures. The categories of substance and procedure are distinct.”). Kyle does not claim that developments in Illinois law since Miller have established that a probationary teacher can be fired only for misconduct, so it is still true that a probationary teacher lacks a property interest in his job for Due Process Clause purposes.
Whether an Open Meetings Act confers substantive rights for Due Process Clause purposes seems to be a question of first impression among the federal courts of appeals, but, at least in the case of the Illinois act, it is not a difficult question. There is nothing in the language of the Open Meetings Act that indicates any such substantive limitations on the termination of Illinois’ public employees. Kyle has neither cited ease law nor presented legal analysis suggesting otherwise. Lacking a tenure right in his former position, Kyle had no property interest entitling him to due process under the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments. See Jungels v. Pierce, 825 F.2d 1127, 1130 (7th Cir.1987).
It is so firmly established that procedural requirements alone cannot be the basis for a property right that we consider another possible interpretation of Kyle’s position. Charitably construed, Kyle’s real argument seems to be that because of procedural lapses attending his termination, under Illinois law he was really not terminated. Therefore, he has become a tenured teacher, and it was the defendants’ failure to offer him a contract for another year that deprived him of a constitutionally-protected property right: “Since Plaintiffs position was renewed by operation of law for the 1996 school year, he is fully tenured.” Am. Compl. ¶ 8. In fact, Kyle’s pendent state law claim for wrongful termination seeks, among other things, a declaratory judgment that his termination was null and void. Am. Compl. ¶ 16. If granted, such a judgment might conceivably result in Kyle’s becoming tenured. Kyle appears to have satisfied all of the conditions for tenured status except the “requirement” that he not receive a timely notice of dismissal before the end of his probationary period. See 105 Ill. Comp. Stat. 5/24-11 (West 1993).
As a claim under § 1983, however, this argument does not survive close scrutiny. It amounts to a complaint that the defendants have prevented Kyle from acquiring a property right. This is perhaps a deprivation of sorts in ordinary language, but it is not a cause of action under § 1983, for good reason. It would tend to erode the distinction between deprivations of substantive rights guaranteed by the Constitution and deprivations of procedural interests under state law, a distinction at the heart of Due Process Clause jurisprudence. See, e.g., Loudermill, 470 U.S. at 541, 105 S.Ct. at 1492-93; Shvartsman v. Apfel, 138 F.3d 1196, 1199-1200 (7th Cir.1998); Kim Constr. Co. v. Board of Trustees, 14 F.3d 1243, 1246 (7th Cir.1994). A procedurally-flawed firing of a probationary employee may have the effect of depriving the employee of an opportunity to attain a property right (tenured status), but since that property right does not “presently securely belong[ ]” to the employee, Cornelius v. LaCroix, 838 F.2d 207, 210 (7th Cir.1988), the loss of the opportunity to acquire property is not a deprivation of a constitutional right. “The Fourteenth Amendment’s procedural protection of property is a safeguard of the security of interests that a person has already acquired in specific benefits.” Board of Regents v. Roth, 408 U.S. 564, 576, 92 S.Ct. 2701, 2708, 33 L.Ed.2d 548 (1972) (emphasis added).
The Supreme Court has said, however, that “the normal meaning of entitlement includes a right or benefit for which a person qualifies, and it does not depend upon whether the right has been acknowledged or adjudicated.” Estate of Cowart v. Nicklos Drilling Co., 505 U.S. 469, 477, 112 S.Ct. 2589, 2595, 120 L.Ed.2d 379 (1992). Although Estate of Cowan did not involve § 1983, the Court cited Roth, a leading case on property [453]*453interests and § 1983, as support for this statement. Since the implications of the Court’s pronouncement in Estate of Cowart for § 1983 litigation, if any, are unclear, as an additional basis for our decision we will consider Kyle’s argument that he already “qualifies” as a tenured teacher by operation of Illinois law.
Kyle has not referred us to any Illinois case establishing that a notice of dismissal to a probationary teacher is defective if the notice provides a false reason for the dismissal. In fact, Illinois courts have indicated that the purpose of requiring a specific reason is “to enable the teacher to refute the charge.” Howard, 112 Ill.Dec. at 133, 513 N.E.2d at 547; see also Wade v. Granite City Community Unit Sch. Dist. No. 9, 71 Ill.App.2d 34, 218 N.E.2d 19, 20 (Ill.App.Ct.1966). While dicta in Burns v. Board of Education, 47 Ill.App.3d 589, 5 Ill.Dec. 882, 362 N.E.2d 353, 355 (Ill.App.Ct.1977) suggested that the specific reason must “be truthful,” the Illinois Supreme Court subsequently clarified that the “essence” of the requirement was to permit a teacher to contest the grounds for dismissal. See Grissom v. Board of Educ., 75 Ill.2d 314, 26 Ill.Dec. 683, 686, 388 N.E.2d 398, 401 (1979). If the reason for requiring the Board to explain its action is to permit the teacher to contest the Board’s explanation, then providing the teacher an inaccurate reason does not undermine this purpose. In any event, Kyle’s argument that he automatically qualifies for tenure cannot succeed under the Illinois School Code. “Since the teacher has no procedural right to appear before the employer board to question the reasonableness or truthfulness of the reasons” for his dismissal, Illinois courts will not entertain a challenge to the reasons unless “the reasons on their face are clearly arbitrary or without substantial basis in fact.” Burns, 5 Ill.Dec. at 885, 362 N.E.2d at 356 (emphasis added). The Board’s explanation is hardly so deficient. We express no view whether, under Illinois law, Kyle would have been entitled to tenure if, under Illinois law, he had no notice, or what amounted to no notice, of his dismissal. See Donahoo v. Board of Educ., 413 Ill. 422, 109 N.E.2d 787 (1952); Burns, 5 Ill.Dec. at 884-85, 362 N.E.2d at 355-56.
Under the Open Meetings Act, a court may declare “null and void any final action taken at a closed meeting in violation of this Act.” 5 Ill. Comp. Stat. 120/3(c) (West 1997). This is the only circumstance in which the Open Meetings Act authorizes invalidation of an action for noncompliance. Part of the Board Meeting here was conducted in a closed session. Kyle’s opportunity to request any remedy under the Open Meetings Act, however, expired 60 days after the Board Meeting. See 5 Ill. Comp. Stat. 120/3(a) (West 1997); Paxson v. Board of Educ., 276 Ill.App.3d 912, 213 Ill.Dec. 288, 296, 658 N.E.2d 1309, 1317 (in.App.Ct.1995); Verticchio v. Divernon Community Unit Sch. Dist. No. 13, 198 Ill.App.3d 202, 144 Ill.Dec. 379, 382, 555 N.E.2d 738, 741 (Ill.App.Ct.1990). But see Safanda v. Zoning Bd. of Appeals, 203 Ill.App.3d 687, 689-90, 149 Ill.Dec. 134, 561 N.E.2d 412, 414-15 (Ill.App.Ct.1990). Kyle filed his original complaint in the district court on November 19, 1996, more than six months after the March 27, 1996 Board meeting. Here we are considering the Open Meetings Act time limit purely as a matter of Illinois law—to determine as a preliminary matter whether Kyle was even entitled to due process. We are not at the point of considering whether Kyle was deprived of due process—a constitutional question that would be governed by a two-year time limit, if Kyle has otherwise stated a claim. See Kalimara v. Illinois Dep’t of Corrections, 879 F.2d 276 (7th Cir.1989); see also Farrell v. McDonough, 966 F.2d 279, 280-81 (7th Cir.1992). So for present purposes the shorter Open Meetings Act statute of limitations is binding on Kyle.3 Under [454]*454Illinois law, therefore, Kyle is time-barred from claiming tenure through the Open Meetings Act, even if that were possible. The defendants raised this point in their brief; Kyle ignored it in his reply brief. Kyle has not established that he had already qualified for tenure by operation of Illinois law.
In his appeal, Kyle also alleges that the failure of the Board to offer him a newly created position of “Assistant Superintendent and Director of Human Resources and Public Relations,” for which Kyle claims he was fully qualified, violated his property rights. He notes that the Board resolution terminating him provided that vacancies arising for the 1996-97 school term, or within one year of the beginning of that term, would be tendered to terminated employees who were qualified to fill them. Kyle did not raise this argument before the district court—indeed, he hardly develops it in his brief before this court—so he has waived his right to raise it on appeal. See American Nat’l Bank & Trust Co. v. Regional Transp. Auth., 125 F.3d 420, 438 n. 17 (7th Cir.1997). For the same reason, we do not consider Kyle’s argument, also first raised before this court, that his complaint states a claim for violation of a liberty interest. In reviewing a motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim, we will allow a plaintiff to make additional factual allegations for the first time on appeal, see, e.g., Hrubec v. National R.R. Passenger Corp., 981 F.2d 962, 968-64 (7th Cir.1992), but we will not entertain new issues, see Dawson v. General Motors Corp., 977 F.2d 369, 372 n. * (7th Cir.1992).
II. First (and Fourteenth) Amendment(s)
Kyle also claims he was terminated for “political and advocacy reasons” and that the defendants conspired together and with others to deprive him of his position and prospective positions “for political and advocacy or perceived political and advocacy aetivities which the conspirators deemed adverse to their political interests____” Yet nowhere in his sparse complaint does he mention that he uttered any protected speech or engaged in any protected conduct or “activity” for which he was allegedly fired. The board member who advised him that his termination was for “political and advocacy” reasons apparently did not say “whose” reasons. This glaring gap in the complaint leaves total speculation as the only alternative for the court to come up with any set of facts justifying relief. That is not the court’s job. To avoid dismissal, the complaint for a First Amendment violation must at least put the defendants on notice that some specific speech or conduct by the plaintiff led to the termination.
This is not a particularly cumbersome assignment. “In order to establish a First Amendment retaliation claim, the facts alleged in the complaint must show that (1) the speech in which the plaintiffs engaged was constitutionally protected under the circumstances, and (2) the defendants retaliated against them because of it.” Gustafson v. Jones, 117 F.3d 1015, 1018 (7th Cir.1997). The district court concluded that Kyle’s complaint failed to provide any factual allegations which would alert the court and the defendants as to the nature of his claim, and so dismissed the claim. As previously mentioned, we review the dismissal of the complaint de novo, and accept the well-pleaded facts as true and draw all reasonable inferences in favor of the plaintiff. McTigue v. City of Chicago, 60 F.3d 381, 382 (7th Cir.1995).
Under the federal rule of notice pleading, “‘all the Rules require is a short and plain statement of the claim that will give the defendant fair notice of what the plaintiffs claim is and the grounds upon which it rests.’” Leatherman v. Tarrant County Narcotics and Intelligence Coordina[455]*455tion Unit, 507 U.S. at 168, 113 S.Ct. at 1163 (quoting Conley v. Gibson, 355 U.S. 41, 47, 78 S.Ct. 99, 103, 2 L.Ed.2d 80 (1957) (footnote and citation omitted)) (emphasis added). For fair notice to be given, “a complaint must at least ‘include the. operative facts upon which a plaintiff bases his claim.’ ” Lucien v. Preiner, 967 F.2d 1166, 1168 (7th Cir.1992) (quoting Rodgers v. Lincoln Towing Service, Inc., 771 F.2d 194, 198 (7th Cir.1985)). A plaintiff “need not plead facts; he can plead conclusions. [However,] the conclusions must provide the defendant with at least minimal notice of the claim.” Jackson v. Marion County, 66 F.3d 151, 153-54 (7th Cir.1995). The issue we review is whether “sufficient facts [have been] pleaded to allow the district court to understand the gravamen of the plaintiffs complaint.” Doherty v. City of Chicago, 75 F.3d 318, 326 (7th Cir.1996).
Before Leatherman, on occasion we would apply a more stringent standard for notice pleading in civil rights cases; we no longer do so. We judge Kyle’s complaint by the same standards we would apply in non-civil rights cases, and would reach the same result if it were, for example, a negligence or contract dispute. By way of illustration, in Sutliff, Inc. v. Donovan Companies, Inc., 727 F.2d 648, 654 (7th Cir.1984), a complaint alleged “predatory pricing” and “price-fixing” but we held that the complaint did not state a claim for antitrust violations, but rather for fraud. We commented that the familiar refrain in motion to dismiss cases, “ ‘a complaint should not be dismissed for failure to state a claim unless it appears beyond doubt that the plaintiff can prove no set of facts in support of his claim which would entitle him to relief,’ ” Conley, 355 U.S. at 45-46, 78 S.Ct. at 102, “has never been taken literally.” Sutliff,. 727 F.2d at 654. Obviously the .“set of facts” has to be the plaintiffs, not a figment of someone else’s imagination. The plaintiff cannot state a claim “by attaching a bare conclusion, to the facts he narrates.” Id. We apply the same standard to Kyle’s complaint as we did in Sutliff; the civil rights violations he alleges must give, some notice of the actual claim.
The defendants assert that Kyle has not “identif[ied] any facts which would give the defendants notice of his claim.” Appellee’s brief at 21. Doherty v. City of Chicago, 75 F.3d 318, 326 (7th Cir.1996), specifically addressed our post-Leatherman standard of review of civil rights cases, and concluded that “It is insufficient to make bald allegations that state procedures were biased against a litigant on the basis of political affiliation.” Doherty’s and Kyle’s complaints both plead conclusions; but the mere fact they plead conclusions does not render them insufficient. Their insufficiency comes from the fact that the conclusions fail to give notice of the claim: “something more than a conclusory allegation is necessary.” Id. Moreover, the defendants’ ability to even investigate Kyle’s claim is frustrated by this complaint. For example, the Morton School Board cannot ask its board members if they were aware of the speech, conduct, or political association engaged in by Kyle—because none is alleged. How can the School Board determine whether the speech engaged in by the plaintiff was not protected, when they have no idea to what speech, if any, Kyle is referring?' “There must be sufficient facts pleaded to allow the court 'and the defendants to understand the gravamen of the plaintiffs complaint.” Id.
Probably the eases most similar to Kyle’s are Barkoo v. Melby, 901 F.2d 613 (7th Cir.1990), and Fogarty v. Boles, 121 F.3d 886 (3d Cir.1997).. In Barkoo, an employee was terminated after the publication of a newspaper article. We held that “[t]o the extent Barkoo alleges that her employers retaliated against her because they thought she was engaged in First Amendment protected speech on an issue of public concern, we reject the notion that this allegation brings her claim within the requirements of § 1983.” 901 F.2d at 619. In other words, it is not enough to allege mere retaliation due to an improper motive; .there must be an allegation of protected conduct. There was no violation of free speech rights “when the speech at issue never occurred.” Id. In Fogarty, a public school teacher was terminated due to the principal’s mistaken belief that the teacher had called, the press. The Third Circuit held that “in the absence of speech, [456]*456or, at the extreme, intended speech, there has been no constitutional violation cognizable under section 1983 based on an asserted ‘bad motive’ on the part of defendant.” 121 F.3d at 890. While Fogarty differs from Kyle’s case in that Fogarty specifically disclaimed engaging in any speech, Fogarty stands for the proposition that gravamen of a First Amendment claim is speech. Here Kyle has to allege something more than political innuendo in order to put the defendants on notice of his claim.
Our case law is replete with examples of complaints which omit the factual basis of a claim, and therefore, fail to give fair notice of the grounds the claim rests upon. For example, in Albiero v. City of Kankakee, 122 F.3d 417, 420-21 (7th Cir.1997), a complaint alleged a “conspiracy,” but did not elaborate or contain any other allegations. We held that “even under the lax standards of notice pleading under the federal rules” this allegation was insufficient to give notice of an equal protection claim. Id. at 421. Albiero did not claim that he was discriminated against because of his race, or sex, or political affiliations; he did not allege that others had been treated better than he has. In the absence of any notice of on what basis Albiero was denied equal protection, his complaint failed to state a claim. Just as Albiero’s complaint was insufficient because it failed to give the court and the opposing party fair notice as to the nature of his equal protection claim, Kyle’s complaint fails to give fair notice as to whether he engaged in any protected conduct whatsoever, and what the basis of his termination was.
In Lucien v. Preiner, 967 F.2d 1166, 1168 (7th Cir.1992), a plaintiff seeking § 1983 damages also requested declaratory and injunctive relief, on the basis that a letter sent by the defendant to a Prisoner Review Board contained lies. However, Lucien failed to identify anything in the letter that was false or even misleading. Id. We held that Lucien was required to at least identify the lies in the letter to state a claim. “Lucien’s failure to allege anything more than that the defendant lied in her letter, without even stating what those lies are, is simply not enough to state a claim for declaratory or injunctive relief.” Id. Kyle’s failure to identify his protected speech or conduct is analogous to Lucien’s “bald assertion” that the letter contained lies. Neither the Morton School Board nor Preiner would be able to craft a meaningful response to such a complaint. See Sidney S. Arst Co. v. Pipefitters Welfare Educ. Fund, 25 F.3d 417, 421 n. 5 (7th Cir.1991) (“a complaint need only set out a generalized statement of facts from which the defendant can craft a responsive pleading. Fed.R.Civ.P. 8, see also 5 Charles A. Wright & Arthur R. Miller, Federal Practice and Procedure § 1216 (2d ed.1990).”).
Doherty, Albiero, and Lucien are not isolated exceptions in this circuit. Rather, it appears that the law reporters are brimming with instances where a complaint failed to state a claim because of the lack of fair notice of the operative facts or the gravamen of the statement for relief. See, e.g., Talbot v. Robert Matthews Distributing Co., 961 F.2d 654, 660 (7th Cir.1992) (“The liberal federal notice pleading allowed by the federal rules requires the complaint to include the operative facts upon which a plaintiff bases his claim.”); Panaras v. Liquid Carbonic Industries Corp., 74 F.3d 786, 792 (7th Cir.1996) (“While federal notice-pleading allows for a generous reading of a complaint, in order to resist a motion to dismiss, the complaint must at least set out facts sufficient to ‘outline or adumbrate’ the basis of the claim.”); Chaveriat v. Williams Pipe Line Co., 11 F.3d 1420, 1430 (7th Cir.1993) (“It is true that the original theory of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure was that the plaintiff ought to be permitted to fumble around searching for a meritorious claim within the elastic boundaries of a bare-bones complaint until the final pretrial conference. No judge or lawyer in this age of crowded dockets takes that completely seriously ...”); Perkins v. Silverstein, 939 F.2d 463, 467 (7th Cir.1991) (“While plaintiffs make clear in them original complaint what their claims are, they fail to identify the grounds upon which their claims are based. This they must do, even under the liberal notice pleading of Rule 8(a).” (footnote and citation omitted.)); and McTigue v. City of Chicago, 60 F.3d 381, 382 (7th Cir.1995) (“The complaint, however, is deficient because it fails to include a factual basis [457]*457to describe with particularity the bias that the plaintiff alleges. Although Fed.R.Civ.P. 8 does not require detailed factual pleading, a plaintiffs assertions must still direct the defendant to the factual cause of the plaintiffs alleged injury.”). Without belaboring the point any more, the Supreme Court and other circuit courts have similarly recognized the requirement that a complaint must give fair notice of the nature of the action. See 5 Charles A. Wright & Arthur R. Miller, Federal Practice and Procedure § 1216 n. 20 & n. 28, (2d ed. 1990 & Supp.1997), and text accompanying (collecting cases from Supreme Court and the First, Second, Third, Fifth, Sixth, Seventh, Eighth, Tenth and Eleventh U.S. Circuit Courts of Appeals).
Had the defendants sought a more definite statement under Rule 12(e), instead of filing a 12(b)(6) motion to dismiss, perhaps Kyle would have specifically identified the speech or political association he claims caused the retaliation. Or perhaps he would have described the protected conduct he performed, and at least indicated which activity motivated the defendants to terminate him. Despite the absence of a formal request for a more definite statement, Kyle was alerted to this deficiency in his complaint before he filed an amended complaint, but failed to address it in his amended complaint. This is not a case where the plaintiff has been tripped up by “mere technicalities,” but rather, the plaintiff has omitted the gravamen of his complaint.4
Kyle’s complaint fails to give fair notice to the court and the opposing party of the operational facts of his complaint. By simply reciting the rumor that he was terminated for “political and advocacy reasons,” he fails to identify any activity on his part, even in the most general terms, that triggered his termination, and therefore, he has failed to give the defendants and the court “fair notice of what the plaintiffs claim is and the ground upon which it rests.” Conley v. Gibson, 355 U.S. 41, 47, 78 S.Ct. 99, 103, 2 L.Ed.2d 80 (1957).
III. Claim of conspiracy to interfere .with civil rights
Count III of Kyle’s complaint alleges that the defendants conspired with unnamed individuals to injure Kyle in retaliation for his political advocacy, in violation of 42 U.S.C. § 1985(3). The district court dismissed the complaint on. two grounds, one of which was that it failed to “allege a racial, political conspiracy,” per Grimes v. Smith, 776 F.2d 1359, 1366 (7th Cir.1985), aff'g 585 F.Supp. 1084 (N.D.Ind.1984) (Posner, J.). Grimes involved an appeal fiom a jury trial conducted by our Chief Judge, sitting by designation in the district court. A jury returned a verdict in favor of the plaintiffs for violation of § 1985(3). The district court granted the losing defendants’ motion for a judgment notwithstanding the verdict, because on the facts of the ease there was no “ ‘racial, or ... otherwise class-based, invidiously discriminatory animus behind the conspirators’ action,”’ Grimes, 585 F.Supp. at 1090 (quoting Griffin v. Breckenridge, 403 U.S. 88, 102, 91 S.Ct. 1790, 1798, 29 L.Ed.2d 338 (1971)), and this court affirmed on that basis. Although Grimes did not involve a motion under Rule 12(b)(6), it is clear from the reasoning of both Grimes opinions that a complaint under § 1985(3) must allege a conspiracy motivated by a racial or other class-based animus.
Kyle contends that the ■ requirement of some class-based animus applies only to conspiracies of private persons, not conspiracies involving state action. (Kyle does not allege a violation of § 1983 from a conspiracy under color of law.) He points, out that the cases cited by the defendants for the proposition that § 1985(3) requires a class-based animus, including Grimes, all involve private conspir[458]*458acies, and that it is clear from the text of the statute that no class-based animus is necessary if the conspiracy involves state action. Kyle’s brief contains no references to legal authority supporting his position, nor does it contain a substantive argument “ ‘showing why it is sound despite a lack of supporting authority.’ ” Mathis v. New York Life Ins. Co., 133 F.3d 546, 548 (7th Cir.1998) (per curiam) (quoting Pelfresne v. Village of Williams Bay, 917 F.2d 1017, 1023 (7th Cir.1990)). Despite Kyle’s allusion to the supposedly obvious meaning of the text of § 1985(3), his brief contains no language from that text. The issue is forfeited. Id. As' an alternative basis for our decision, Munson v. Friske, 754 F.2d 683, 695 (7th Cir.1985), is directly on point, and contrary to Kyle’s position. See also Lesser v. Braniff Airways, 518 F.2d 538, 543 (7th Cir.1975). Finally, Kyle conceded at oral argument that if he did not state a claim under the other counts, he also failed to state a conspiracy claim.
Affirmed.