Another one bites the dust / '#TheyAllKnew' / Evolving Chicago

Another one bites the dust. Illinois’ simmering red-light camera scandal has claimed another victim: Oakbrook Terrace’s mayor has quit …

… and the city has quickly scrubbed his name from its homepage—as you can see by comparing before with after.
Politico: The Illinois Senate’s newly minted president, Don Harmon of Oak Park, has some fires to put out.

‘I might be white-man-ing incorrectly.’ Tribune columnist Rex Huppke says that if he reads Monday’s gun-rights rally in Virginia rightly, “I’m entitled to be well-armed and unreasonable.”
Despite threats of violence to protest pending gun control measures, the event ended peacefully.

Showtime. As the impeachment trial of Donald Trump begins in the Senate this afternoon, here’s what to expect.
Republican leader Mitch McConnell is in a hurry, pushing to limit opening statements to just two days for each side …
 … part of a plan House Speaker Nancy Pelosi condemns as “a dark of night impeachment trial.” (Cartoon: Keith J. Taylor.)
Esquire’s Charlie Pierce sees “the foul machinations of illegitimate power beneath the trappings of legislative farce. Those who would destroy self-government must first make it seem ridiculous. We’re more than halfway there.”
Watch the festivities live.
The trial will pull four U.S. senators running for president off the campaign trail.
A Sun-Times editorial condemns Senate rules limiting journalists’ access during the trial: “You have to wonder what the Senate’s Republican majority … is afraid you might see and hear.”
The president is out of the country—at an event also attended by teen climate activist Greta Thunberg.

‘#TheyAllKnew.’ As member after member of the Trump cult denies knowing the president’s indicted henchman Lev Parnas, Parnas’ lawyer has been tweeting out photos and videos contradicting those denials. Their latest victims include Vice President Mike Pence …
 … outed with an ironic soundtrack.

‘A sea of confusion and frustration.’ Poynter’s Tom Jones assesses reaction to The New York Times’ unprecedented decision to endorse two candidates in the Democratic presidential primary.
Northeastern University journalism professor Dan Kennedy: The Times’ main goal may have been to block Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders.
CNN analyst Chris Cillizza: Joe Biden’s “elevator moment” may prove more valuable than a Times endorsement.
In a new documentary coming to Hulu, Hillary Clinton dumps bigtime on Sanders: “Nobody likes him, nobody wants to work with him. … It’s all just baloney” …
 … and she won’t commit to endorsing him if he’s the Democratic nominee.
Elizabeth Warren is out with a detailed plan for “restoring integrity and competence to government after Trump.”
Rolling Stone: Hackers Are Coming for the 2020 Election—And We’re Not Ready.”

Evolving Chicago.
Rosebud Restaurants is taking over the Tavern at the Park eatery at Prudential Plaza.
University of Illinois at Chicago paleontologist Roy Plotnick says Chicago’s existence illustrates humans’ effective control of the entire planet.

‘We’re not martyrs. We just really like journalism.’ Two respected Chicago Tribune reporters tell CNN why they ignored their bosses’ counsel and took to the pages of The New York Times with an appeal for someone to buy the Trib.
At the Trib’s sib, the Orlando Sentinel, a columnist says he’s turning down the company’s latest buyout offer because “I love this job with a ridiculous, white-hot passion.”

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