‘Ugly—even dangerous.’ The Associated Press surveys the “death threats, physical threats, intimidation” unleashed across the nation in the final throes of Donald Trump’s presidency.
■ In a lie-strewn video that Facebook allowed but deprecated, Trump ranted for 46 minutes about his campaign’s work to “expose the tremendous voter fraud” …
■ … conceding that “what I’m saying now will be demeaned” …
■ … a setup that Stephen Colbert was unable to resist.
Florida, man. A Florida lawyer’s under investigation after trying to register to vote in Georgia and encouraging other Florida Republicans to do the same.
■ Trump’s wails of conspiracy stand to cripple Republican turnout for Georgia’s critical Senate runoffs next month …
■ … and to give Democrats control of the Senate.
■ Axios: Trump may fire Attorney General Bill Barr for having the temerity to suggest no widespread voter fraud has surfaced. (Cartoon: Keith J. Taylor.)
■ The Onion: “Barr Announces No Widespread Election Fraud After Clicking Warning Label On Flagged Trump Tweets.”
■ How’d your neighborhood vote last month? A Tribune map lets you search by address, ZIP code or town.
Show of unity. Ex-Presidents Obama, Bush and Clinton say they’re willing to take a coronavirus vaccine in public.
■ A former president of France is dead after contracting COVID-19.
■ Illinois yesterday reported its highest daily pandemic death toll yet.
■ U.S. COVID-19 hospitalizations have for the first time topped 100,000.
■ Twitter users trolled Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell for showing more emotion toward a departing Republican colleague than for all those dead of the coronavirus.
■ Police in Hawaii have arrested a couple who flew there with a child from San Francisco despite having tested positive for COVID-19.
■ The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: Stay home for the holidays or at least get tested before and after.
‘Fox watching the henhouse.’ A prison watchdog group condemns Illinois for failing to give serious attention to inmate complaints of guard abuses and inadequate health care.
■ The union representing COVID-ravaged Cook County Jail corrections officers says they should be among the first to get a vaccine.
Sorry about the cigar joke. A top aide to Mayor Lightfoot is apologizing for betting her “3 cigars and a bottle of scotch” on the length of last year’s teacher strike.
■ Chicago’s government watchdog agency finds the city doing an abysmal job of making sure businesses and big residential complexes are complying with recycling laws.
Homes ahead. In JPMorgan Chase’s largest-ever grant to a single Chicago project, the bank is pledging $7.2 million to help thousands of South and West Side renters buy homes in those communities.
■ A Sun-Times editorial pleads for compromise between preservationists and affordable housing advocates in the Southwest Side’s Pilsen neighborhood.
■ Think that federal Paycheck Protection Program loan money intended to help small businesses went to just small businesses in Illinois? Think again.
Christmas spectacle. For the first time in 800 years, Jupiter and Saturn will line up Dec. 21 to create what earthbound skywatchers have dubbed “the star of Bethlehem.”
■ Critic Catey Sullivan says the Goodman Theatre’s free audio version of A Christmas Carol is “rich with compelling drama and well-drawn characters.”
■ Coming Sunday: The Walking Dead Holiday Special.
■ On the other hand, there’s no deadline for supporting Square with a one-time tip (rad!) or a continuing pledge (radder!)—which you can do anytime.
■ Yesterday’s Square should have acknowledged that Ipsos newsletter editor Ben Meyerson is your Square proprietor’s son.
■ Thanks to Pam Spiegel for identifying a period that should have been a comma above.