‘You’re not qualified’ / Sludge alert / Full disclosures

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‘You’re not qualified.’ The Sun-Times’ Lynn Sweet quotes Illinois Sen. Tammy Duckworth at yesterday’s confirmation hearing for Donald Trump’s defense secretary-designate, Pete Hegseth.
■ Sexual assault survivor and Iowa Sen. Joni Ernst says she’ll vote for alleged sexual assaulter Hegseth.
■ Politico: “Hegseth walked back his past remarks on women in the military, telling Ernst that ‘women will have access to ground combat roles.’” (Cartoon: Jack Ohman.)
■ The Atlantic: The Hegseth hearing demonstrated the Republican Party “is no longer the party of national security.”
■ The Daily Show’s Jordan Klepper paraphrases the Republican take on Hegseth: “‘Look, we’re all pieces of sh*t here! Let he without an Ashley Madison premium account cast the first stone!’”
■ Stephen Colbert offered a joke: “A drunk, a cheating husband and an accused sexual predator walk into a bar, and the bartender says, ‘Table for one, Mr. Hegseth?’”
■ The Daily Beast: Health secretary-designate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. “failed to disclose hundreds of thousands of dollars he made from his anti-vax crusade.”
■ Confirmation festivities continue today, with livestreams you can binge here and here.

A ‘particularly dangerous situation.’ Updating coverage: The wildfire menace continued today for Southern California.
■ Chicago TV news veteran Jennifer Schulze: Trump is a fire hazard.
■ USA Today’s Chicago-based columnist Rex Huppke: “Republicans will help L.A. fire victims, as long as those damn liberals behave.”
■ The American Prospect’s Harold Meyerson (no relation): “If Republicans deny disaster aid on political grounds, how will the next Democratic House respond to the inevitable Florida hurricane?”
■ His colleague Ryan Cooper: “There may be a way for Democrats to save Los Angeles.”

■ … as Trump’s pledge of mass deportations threatens to test the city’s immigrant protections.

Drug sore. Walgreens is closing five Chicago stores.

Sludge alert. The Tribune: Northeastern Illinois leads the nation (except for the Greater Los Angeles Area) in distribution of sewage sludge to fertilize farms—a practice that a federal analysis concludes raises neighbors’ risks of cancer and other diseases.
■ Remember that Boar’s Head deli meat recall last year? Newly released federal records suggest it was worse than we knew.
■ Decades after it was banned from cosmetics, Red 3 dye’s getting banned from food …
■ … including lots of cereals, snacks and candy.

‘Exercise your franchise. Frankly, your franchise could use a little toning up after the holidays.’ Lawyer Mark Harris calls on Illinoisans to cast ballots for a new state flag.
■ In keeping with Illinois tradition, you can vote many times—once a day through Feb. 14—here. (Image: Chicago Public Square’s favorite.)
■ One reason to reject flags that incorporate the present shape of Illinois: Indiana lawmakers are considering a bill that would adjust that state’s borders to include Illinois counties that have voted to secede from this state.
■ Chicago Democratic Party powerhouse Ed Kelly is still alive and kicking at 100—and talking to the Sun-Times’ Neil Steinberg.

A rickety claim. A Trib investigation (gift link; you’re welcome) has uncovered a financial problem for Cubs co-owner and Republican National Committee finance chairman Todd Ricketts: For years, he’s been paying property taxes based on the value of the much older and smaller Wilmette house that he tore down to make way for a much bigger one in 2010.
■ Popular Information: “A major bank cheated its customers out of $2 billion, according to a new federal lawsuit.”
■ The Securities and Exchange Commission is suing billionaire and Trump groupie Elon Musk, accusing him of failing to disclose his ownership of Twitter stock before he bought the company.
■ Platformer: “Meta … built effective systems to reduce the reach of fake news. Last week, it shut them down” …
■ … and now the company’s reportedly planning to lay off 5% of its staff.

Two to the moon. A pair of lunar landers took off this morning from Cape Canaveral.
■ At the (earthbound) controls for one: A native of Gurnee, Illinois.

‘Terrific.’ Sun-Times critic Richard Roeper praises a four-part documentary about Saturday Night Live, debuting Thursday on Peacock …
■ … which Cord Cutter Weekly explains you can get free for three months.
■ The New Yorker profiles SNL producer Lorne Michaels, the show’s “real star.”
■ Trump’s been threatening SNL alumnus and Late Night host Seth Meyers, along with parent company Comcast, for what Trump calls “political hits.”

Full disclosures. This Daily Northwestern story is about your Square columnist’s wife: “Judge’s retirement brings new twist to Ryan Field lawsuit.”
■ A guy who used to hang out around here, Neal Francis, last night took the stage on Jimmy Kimmel’s show.

Well, the Ts start comin’ and they don’t stop comin’. Hey now, you’re a rock star if you support Chicago Public Square for at least $80 a year …
■ … which, for this eighth anniversary month, will get you a free Square T-shirt—a perk that normally comes with pledges of $250 or more.

Missed it by that much / ‘An ineffective CTA leader’ / Social rebellion

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Missed it by that much. In a long-awaited report released just before midnight Chicago time, special counsel Jack Smith says the Justice Department could have convicted Donald Trump of trying to overturn the 2020 election—if only Trump hadn’t won in 2024 …
■ … and concludes a conviction is still possible.
■ Norm Eisen at The Contrarian: “No matter how many times you read the facts … they never cease to be striking.”
■ The report—officially, just Volume 1—calls Trump’s claim that the investigation was influenced by politics “laughable.”
■ Read it here …
■ … or, as Politico’s Adam Wren writes, “If you read just one paragraph from the report, make it this one.”

Illinois: Not so blue? Demand here for Trump inauguration tickets has exceeded supply.
■ The Village People, whose song “Y.M.C.A.” has long been considered a gay anthem, has accepted an invitation to perform for the inauguration.
■ As the clock ticks down to the end of the Biden administration, author and filmmaker Michael Moore writes, “Just f***in’ do your bucket list, Joe. You literally have nothing to lose.”

Showtime! Updating coverage: The nomination process for Trump’s cabinet picks has begun—today, with Senate hearings for his would-be defense secretary, scandal-scarred Pete Hegseth.
■ The New Yorker: Hegseth supporters have been intimidating witnesses.
■ The ranking Democrat on the Armed Services Committee says Hegseth is unqualified …
■ … an assessment remarkably shared by a conservative talking head on Newsmax.
■ Wonkette: Inside the Pentagon, they’re debating what to do about “illegal orders from Cadet Bone Spurs.”
■ The American Prospect: The record of Trump’s choice for attorney general “reveals a comfort with basing prosecutorial discretion on money, power, and proximity to the president.”
■ Columnist Jamison Foser: “The Washington Post just endorsed 19 Trump nominees. Here are the five worst.”
■ Podcaster Dan Pfeiffer details “an enjoyable battle … between the hardcore MAGA wing of the GOP and the tech bros who helped finance Trump’s successful 2024 campaign.”

‘A money-making opportunity.’ Popular Information finds landlords looking to gouge victims of the Los Angeles fires …
■ … which (updating coverage) aren’t over by a longshot.
■ Jimmy Kimmel, close to tears as he returned to the air in Los Angeles after a week’s cancellations, condemned “all the vile and irresponsible and stupid things our alleged future President and his gaggle of scumbags chose to say during our darkest and most terrifying hour.”
■ Stephen Colbert, mocking Republicans’ effort to tie political strings to aid for California: “That is an awful, awful way to respond to any emergency: ‘911, what’s in it for me?’”
■ Or, as the plainspoken Jeff Tiedrich puts it: “Evil Republican shitweasels set conditions on California aid.”
■ Sierra Club executive director Ben Jealous: Trump’s appointees are “hot to destroy climate science.”

‘An ineffective CTA leader.’ A Tribune editorial sheds no tears at the retirement of CEO Dorval Carter Jr. …
■ Columnist Eric Zorn: “On further review, I’m OK with lowering the speed limit in Chicago to 25 mph.”

An Illinois first? Headed to the General Assembly this week: A groundbreaking bill that would fully decriminalize sex work.
■ A Cook County judge who shared a racist meme faces a state investigation.

Meet the new bosses. Chalkbeat Chicago introduces you to the city’s new Board of Education, to be sworn in tomorrow.
■ They take the reins of authority as a new report from the watchdog Civic Federation concludes the district is “on the financial brink”—and a state takeover isn’t out of the question.

Not so welcome. Starbucks is reversing a 2018 policy that admitted anyone for any reason—including use of a restroom; now, you gotta buy something.
■ Columnist Neil Steinberg ponders a backyard visitor: “The fox poked around, then quickly vanished, a dynamic I will emulate today.”

MSNBC shakeup. Days before Trump’s inauguration and ahead of plans to sever it from parent NBC, the channel’s boss is quitting …

Social rebellion. An influential group of business executives, celebrities and tech visionaries—including Friend of Chicago Public Square Cory Doctorow—is launching a new project, “Free Our Feeds,” to build a billionaire-proof social media ecosystem.
■ A Meta vice president and the parent of a nonbinary kid defends the company’s shift to allow more hateful speech: “I want nothing more than for my child to be … accepted. But … shutting down all speech I might find hurtful can have the opposite effect. At best, the lack of dialog changes no hearts.”
■ Coming from law professor Joyce Vance: “The Democracy Index,” a tool to help Americans track information they need to make up their own minds about the next Trump administration.

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■ Thanks. Mike Braden made this edition better.

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