‘Make America Rake Again.’ President Trump’s evidently false assertion that Finland’s president told him “a lot of time on raking and cleaning” helps that nation avert fires like those that’ve devastated California is drawing widespread mockery …
■ A hiking expert writing in The Washington Post: “Climate change has altered fire behavior and, in response, we must consider altering our own behaviors.”
Ladies and gentlemen, the president of the United States of America. On Twitter, Trump insulted Democratic U.S. Rep. Adam Schiff—a critic of Trump’s attorney-general appointee, Matt Whitaker—as “little Adam Schitt.”
■ Happy World Toilet Day.
Why Is This News Dept. The New York Times: “Book Offers Firsthand Account of a Venomous Den Inside the White House.”
■ Derek Thompson in The Atlantic: “Trump’s Lies Are a Virus, and News Organizations Are the Host.”
■ Speaking of viruses: A private school with a high rate of vaccination exemptions is the center of one of the biggest chickenpox outbreaks in decades.
■ Newsweek: Witchcraft now has more followers than the mainline Presbyterian church.
… Or, as some people call it, ‘democracy.’ Headline on a Chicago Tribune story about the start of the filing period for an estimated 16 candidates’ nominating petitions: “Chicago’s race for mayor is headed for ballot bedlam.”
■ Sun-Times columnist Laura Washington: “Sexism was bound to emerge in a contest with a diverse and impressive cadre of five female candidates.”
■ 50 aldermanic positions are up for grabs, too.
■ Mother Jones: “The midterms showed that voting rights may finally be a political winner” …
■ … but not for the woman who oversaw the screwed-up vote in Broward County, Florida.
Chicago’s ‘3 Amazon HQ2s.’ Crain’s Greg Hinz: Downtown Chicago has added a massive number of jobs in just eight years—as the employment market has atrophied in the city’s neighborhoods and suburbs.
■ Chicago’s violent weekend: Two dead, at least 18 wounded by gunfire.
Driven … out. Updating coverage: The chairman of Nissan Motor Co. has been arrested …
■ … after a whistleblower flagged “significant acts of misconduct.”
■ Walgreens has opened its first Chicago store without a pharmacy.
Trippy Thanksgiving. The AAA predicts more motorists hitting the road for the holiday than in any year since 2005.
■ A Sioux chef writes for Time: “The Thanksgiving Tale We Tell Is a Harmful Lie.”
Would you miss Chicago Public Square if it came to an end? Consider a pledge of support to keep it extant—which would put you in the company of upstanding Public Squarians including Clifton Wilson, Julia Winn, and David Weindling and Sherry Nordstrom.