[Apologies if you received a duplicate of this issue by email Wednesday. The appropriate parties have been disciplined.]
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Chicago Public Square will take a break for a few days. Next edition Monday. Meanwhile, get continual updates through the Square Facebook and Twitter accounts.
‘Censure him.’ A Tribune editorial concludes President Trump’s misdeeds “do not meet … tests of an impeachable offense,” but do merit a resolution spelling out “the president’s betrayal of trust … by placing his personal political interests above his obligations to the nation.”
■ The Daily Beast: Trump wants absolved war criminals on the campaign trail with him.
Animal stories.
■ Trump has signed a law making cruelty to animals a federal crime.
■ CNN anchor John King calls Trump defender Rep. Devin Nunes’ attacks on news organizations “horseshit.”
How the Russians did it. A couple of Clemson University professors who, over the last two years, have “read Russian tweets until our eyes bled” say the trolls who helped elect Trump need to be perceived “less as Boris and Natasha and more like Don Draper.”
■ If you’re sharing social media posts or reposts from people whose identity you can’t confirm—even if you agree with the sentiment—you’re part of the problem.
Who’ll Obama back? Politico says almost all the Democrats running for president have begun their campaigns with visits to the former president—who’s delivering some blunt counsel …
■ … but who’s still steadfastly withholding an endorsement—no surprise to those who’ve heard the new Chicago Public Square podcast, an interview with Obama’s first biographer.
■ The New Yorker’s Andy Borowitz jokes: “Giuliani Claims He Has Evidence Linking Biden to Obama.”
Elizabeth Warren’s coming. She’s planning a town hall-style meeting Saturday in Chicago’s Edgewater neighborhood.
■ Candidate Michael Bloomberg has a buttload of Republican skeletons in his closet.
■ For the first time next spring, Illinoisans will elect not party committeemen, but party committeepeople …
■ … and, indicted or not, Ald. Ed Burke still wants to be one.
Just how legal will marijuana be in Chicago? The City Council was set to vote today on a surprisingly controversial plan to cut penalties for people caught carrying pot in a car or using it in public.
■ Mayor Lightfoot’s budget faces substantial—but not overwhelming—opposition.
■ In one of her trademark retorts, the mayor suggested Ald. Anthony Beale’s complaints about her budget “reflect a basic misunderstanding” because “you skipped many aldermanic briefings and then missed important days of the budget hearings while on a hunting trip.”
■ See today’s meeting on the web here.
‘Will I ever be able to play guitar again?’ The mother of a 15-year-old shot last week as police chased a bank robbery suspect into a Chicago music store quoted her son as she talked about a suit the family has filed against an alleged accomplice.
■ A man accused of murdering a University of Illinois at Chicago student in a campus parking garage was due in court today.
■ High winds threaten to ground New York’s Thanksgiving Day parade balloons.
■ Filling the tank for a holiday drive? Expect the highest Thanksgiving gasoline prices in five years.
■ Washington Post opinionator Charles Lane: U.S. politicians have a powerful incentive not to talk about being thankful.
Thanksnothanks. WGN-TV’s Morning News anchorwomen share viewer feedback on their choices in maternity wear (link corrected).
■ The Atlantic: Three big reasons American child care now costs the same as buying a new Hyundai Elantra every year.
‘No newspaper might be better than what they’re publishing.’ As vampiric hedge fund outfits like Alden Global Capital threaten to suck the local news business dry, Politico media-watcher Jack Shafer wonders if readers should consider canceling subscriptions.
■ Alden’s increasing its stake in Tribune Publishing.
■ And thanks to reader Joe Hass, first to report the erroneous link above.