'Roseanne' blowback / Alt-blight / Tax tips

Roseanne was funny. But …’ Culture critic Ira Madison III says “Roseanne’s personality IRL is vile. … She is dangerous.”
President Trump called Roseanne—who plays, as she is in real life, a Trump defender—to congratulate her on the show’s blockbuster ratings.
… which are prompting Hollywood head-scratching and political soul-searching.
Netflix is putting President Obama’s former national security advisor on its board.
Cautioning that “‘Not a joke: The Onion has unionized,’ ‘Area satire site unionizes,’ and so on have been done to death,” workers at The Onion have announced for real: “Onion Inc.’s Groveling, Ungrateful Staffers Unionize.”

Alt-blight. The Daily Beast says the alt-right (i.e. American Nazi) movement is self-destructing: “Some have turned federal informant. Others are facing prison time. More are named in looming lawsuits. All of them are fighting.”
A law school prof explains why Trump’s having trouble lining up legal help.
Time on Trump’s embattled attorney general: “Jeff Sessions Is Winning for Donald Trump. If Only He Can Keep His Job.”
Ex-Trump diehard Ann Coulter has regrets: “I knew he was a shallow, lazy ignoramus, and I didn’t care.”

No car-sharing for you. The City Council’s vote to approve point-to-point vehicle rental in Chicago cuts out Lakeview, Lincoln Park and a huge swath of the South Side.
The council has approved a huge O’Hare makeover that United Airlines’ CEO says will make the airport “second to nowhere else in the world.”

‘Hey hey, ho ho, Rahm Emanuel’s got to go.’ As the council met yesterday, students downstairs chanted and held a sit-in, supported by Chance the Rapper on Twitter.
The mayor says he’s “beyond outraged” by Chicago Public Schools investigations that found filth in the city’s schools—conditions parents and teachers have been complaining about for years.
Former schools CEO Paul Vallas’ lawyer says Vallas is “not fooling around” with plans to run against Emanuel next year.

Apple disses Amazon. Wrapping up a two-day visit to Chicago, Apple CEO Tim Cook cast shade on Amazon’s “beauty contest” campaign to pick a new second headquarters city.
… and he wasn’t any kinder to Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg.

Tax tips. You have a couple of extra days this year to file your income tax returns; the deadline’s April 17. Consumer Reports says that gives you more time to lower your bill.
The Tribune’s Steve Chapman: The latest federal budget speeds the nation toward bankruptcy.

A couple of questions for you. Take a brief Chicago Public Square poll about smart speakers—like the Amazon Echo, Google Home and the Apple HomePod. It’ll take you less than 30 seconds.
What Google and Facebook really know about you. (TL;DR: Boy, just about everything.)

Yesterday’s Square seemed soooo close to perfect …
And then eagle-eyed reader Mike Braden noted a period missing at the end of this item: “A Quartz analysis finds a handful of names leading the way as the U.S. moves toward giving babies names that go with any gender.
And then Streetsblog Chicago editor John Greenfield took issue with Poynter’s description of Canadian musician Dave Bidini as a “rock star.” (Hey, you be the judge.)
Be first to report a Square error and see your name here. Email Squerror@ChicagoPublicSquare.com.
Thanks to Anna Tarkov for inspiration this time out.

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