BUTTON, BUTTON. Who’s got the button to trigger a nuclear war? Despite President Trump’s boasts yesterday, he doesn’t have one. But he does have a briefcase.
■ … and, more evidently than ever, a TV stuck on Fox News.
■ CNN’s Brian Stelter compares Trump’s Tuesday tweetstorm to “messages from a person who is not well, from a leader who is not fit for office.”
■ Those messages triggered complaints to Twitter … but a Twitter veteran says a ban on Trump’s outbursts would “only hide them further from public criticism.”
■ Within the White House, fear of an accidental war launched by Trump: “You just don’t know what’s going to send him over the edge.”
■ Ex-White House strategist Steve Bannon calls a Trump Tower meeting with Russians “treasonous.”
THINGS TO COME.
■ Trump’s choice to head Immigration and Customs Enforcement says politicians who run so-called “sanctuary cities”—like Chicago—for undocumented immigrants should be charged with crimes.
■ Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ top adviser on marijuana wants doctors to test all patients routinely for drugs—and to force some users into treatment against their will.
PIPES FROZEN? Need a plumber? Good luck. Chicago’s cold spell is pushing the trade to its limits.
■ The region’s close to tying its record for longest cold snap.
■ The union representing City of Chicago workers responsible for snow removal is threatening a walkout.
■ The East Coast faces a “bombogenesis” or “bomb cyclone” today.
■ Updating coverage: Snow in Florida.
■ Chicago Public Schools’ inspector general is condemning employees’ abuse of retail store gift cards supposed to have been used as student incentives.
■ Chicago’s animal care chief has ordered death for a dog that bit her—a move one volunteer says smacks of a double standard.
iPHONE BATTERY DEAL. Even if the battery on your iPhone 6 or newer passes a strength test, Apple will replace it at the discounted $29 rate.
■ CNBC: If your iPhone feels slower, get the replacement.
■ A new book, Brotopia, documents the drug-fueled, sex-laced parties at which some of Silicon Valley’s most powerful men are regulars.
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■ One responsible option: Fill your empty boxes with donations to a worthy cause and ship them for free, via the Give Back Box program.
‘X-FILES’ TRUMP-ERA REBOOT. In an era of “fake news,” Vox calls the show, which launches a new mini-season tonight, “deeply relevant again.”
■ Variety: The 10 best X-Files episodes.
■ Happy 25th anniversary to Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, which many critics, including Cards Against Humanity co-creator Max Temkin, consider “the best incarnation of Star Trek.”
■ Simpsons voice star Harry Shearer cites Chicago Public Square in a tweet triggered by a “resolutions for journalists” roundup in Brian Stelter’s Reliable Sources media newsletter.
ANNOUNCEMENTS.
■ The link in yesterday’s emailed Square to an archival interview with The Wire creator David Simon was wrong. Here you go.
■ What was the most-clicked item in yesterday’s Square, you may have wondered? If you guessed this one, you were right.