No Chicago Public Square Monday. Back Tuesday.
(And if you’re seeking the newly codified Square corrections policy, here it is—with apologies for an erroneous link in the Nov. 13 edition.)
‘Enough is enough.’ Hundreds—or, by some counts, thousands—marched on Chicago’s Trump Tower last night to protest the president’s decision to replace Attorney General Jeff Sessions with Matt Whitaker, who’s been critical of special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation of Russian involvement in Trump’s election.
■ Thousands packed New York’s Times Square and other public spaces around the country, too.
■ Trump, this morning: “I don’t know Matt Whitaker” …
■ … and, asked if he wanted Whitaker to rein in Mueller: “What a stupid question that is.”
■ Last year, Whitaker contended the president can kill any investigation he wants.
■ Axios: Whitaker’s feeling the heat.
■ A Tribune editorial: “If it was the first step toward firing Mueller, Trump risks destroying his presidency.”
■ In a farewell f__k-you to police reform movements in Chicago and elsewhere, Sessions sharply limited the use of consent decrees—court-approved deals between the Justice Department and local governments to create roadmaps for overhauling law enforcement agencies.
■ Kass’ colleague, Heidi Keibler Stevens, on Facebook: “The president answers to the people. The people don’t answer to the president.”
■ Politico’s Jack Shafer: “Trump can’t fire CNN.” (Cartoon: Keith Taylor.)
■ In her memoir, due in bookstores next week, Michelle Obama recalls she “buzzed with fury” during Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign.
‘The mental health experts … cleared him.’ Ventura County’s sheriff says the ex-Marine gunman who shot up a Thousand Oaks, Calif., bar Wednesday night had a history with police, but …
■ Mourners wonder how it happened in “one of the safest cities in America.”
■ One of the survivors also survived last year’s Las Vegas concert attack.
■ On social media yesterday, the National Rifle Association went after “self-important anti-gun doctors.”
■ The largest reward ever offered in a Chicago crime investigation is on the table for someone with information leading to the arrest of the gunman in a pair of seemingly random shooting deaths in Rogers Park.
■ A Chicago actor shot in April returns to the stage this weekend.
Illinois’ House haul. The state’s Democrats are in position for key roles in the new Congress.
■ A warning to Democrats from Matthew Yglesias at Vox: “Don’t trade away the rule of law and the basic integrity of the American government for the sake of some pork barrel spending.”
■ Out of the House as of January, The Atlantic figures: “Almost 20 Republican House members who seemed to care about climate change.”
■ Cook Political Report analysis: Why Democrats aren’t more excited by this week’s results.
■ For the first time in 104 years, the legislatures in every state but one will be controlled by one party or another …
■ … and, although Democrats control not a single legislative chamber in any of the 11 states of the former Confederacy, New York’s Ed Kilgore says the party’s undergoing a remarkable transformation in the South.
■ A big bunch of votes went uncounted in Chicago’s suburbs—and the revised results changed a Cook County Board election outcome.
Preckwinkle procrastination? Cook County Board President—and Chicago mayoral candidate—Toni Preckwinkle, who fired her chief of staff this fall over his treatment of women, was warned months earlier about his behavior.
■ After mass protests, Google says it won’t force its workers with sexual assault or harassment claims to submit to arbitration.
■ Investigative reporting from Reveal: Tesla’s factory opened “a medical clinic designed to ignore injured workers.”
The last Kmart. A fresh round of closings spells the end for Chicago’s only remaining Kmart store.
■ Recode: Amazon’s widely publicized search for a second headquarters now looks like a con.
Winter is here. The Chicago area’s now seen its first substantial snowfall of the season …
■ … as documented in a Tribune photo gallery.
If you’re enjoying Chicago Public Square for free … Thank readers including Nora Schlesinger, Stephen Schlesinger, Susy Schultz and Ron Schwartz, whose financial support keeps this service coming. Please consider joining them for a few pennies a day.