No Chicago Public Square Monday, Presidents Day, to give you more time to decide which mattress to buy. And now the news:
‘Impeachment. Conviction. Disqualification.’ Reviewing the wrapup of the House case against Donald Trump, the Sun-Times’ Lynn Sweet notes that phrase came up repeatedly.
■ Historian Heather Cox Richardson says impeachment managers established that Trump sparked the Jan. 6 invasion of the Capitol: “They showed the insurrectionists repeating his words … and insisting that they were acting according to the former president’s instructions.”
■ The AP: “Trump’s lawyers have a simple objective …: Don’t lose any Republican votes.” (Cartoon: Keith J. Taylor.)
■ Watch Day 4 proceedings this afternoon here.
‘The next mob will be even scarier.’ The Sun-Times’ Neil Steinberg: “Think the howling, red-faced, bearded, helmeted mob in the videos played in Congress this week is scary? Wait.”
■ Satire from The Onion: “Ted Cruz Deeply Disturbed By Part Of Capitol Riot Video Where Chuck Schumer Not Beaten To Death.”
‘He wasn’t the same Jeff that left on the sixth.’ One of two cops who committed suicide after confronting the Capitol mob grew up in Illinois.
■ A Wisconsin judge has left 18-year-old Illinois homicide suspect and white supremacist hero (August link) Kyle Rittenhouse—in the words of one victim’s father—“able to walk free and make videos in bars and just live it up.”
Your vaccine—when and where? A tool from WBEZ purports to help figure out when you’ll be eligible for a COVID-19 shot and where you’ll most likely get it.
■ Illinois has reported its first case of a South African COVID-19 variant …
■ … which a senior British scientist warns is far more infectious than the original.
‘We’re going to get our lives back.’ The dad of a 4-year-old is relieved by the reopening of Chicago Public Schools.
■ But, the Tribune’s John Kass complains, the reopening plan leaves the city’s 104,000 high school students—“many … from minority communities”—in limbo.
■ Ex-Better Government Association chief—and self-described “teacher’s son, CPS father and grandfather, and longtime education reporter”—Andy Shaw: “I appreciate the value of teachers’ unions in the fight for fair wages, benefits, working conditions, and protection against political and personal hiring and firing decisions, but I’m afraid those noble goals have been overshadowed by a massive power grab.”
Twoops. A little less than a year into his tenure, the news director of Chicago’s public television WTTW has been placed on leave—reportedly for a review of tweets that media watchdog Robert Feder describes as “overtly political opinions and posting some odd Instagram videos of himself.”
■ Vampiric hedge fund Alden Global Capital is reportedly moving to seize complete control of the Chicago Tribune’s parent, Tribune Publishing.
‘One of 2021’s best movies.’ Vox’s Alissa Wilkinson praises a historical drama about Fred Hampton, the Illinois Black Panther Party chairman assassinated in a police and FBI raid on his home in 1969: Judas and the Black Messiah—which opens for a monthlong run today on HBO Max.
■ Vulture reviewer Angelica Jade Bastién says the movie left her with “a frustrated queasiness at what happens when the industry seeks to adopt an anti-capitalist … undeniably radical figure such as Hampton.”
■ A new report from the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois: “Chicago’s massive surveillance camera system continues to pose an unregulated threat to privacy.”
■ The New Republic reviews Riesman’s new book: “The Unheroic Life of Stan Lee.”
■ Forward: “Lee was his own favorite superhero.”
■ The New Yorker: “Who Really Created the Marvel Universe?”
■ Marvel has recalled a Hulk comic that bore an antisemitic trope.
A Valentine’s Day to remember. Journalist Irv Leavitt recalls that Feb. 14 he spent in jail.
■ The Trib’s Doug George rounds up 10 Chicago arts groups’ streaming performances for a Valentine’s date.
Your support keeps Chicago Public Square coming.
Continuing pledges and one-time tips from readers—including Heather O’Reilly, Aaron Barnhart, Carmie Callobre, Jayson Hansen, Jason Sherman, Jim Kelly, Suzanne Vestuto, Michael Johnson, Christa Velbel, Nancy Hess, Kurt Wehrmeister, Stephen Schlesinger, Ken Trainor, Christine Koenig, David Layden, Ryan Bird, Suzy Le Clair, Melisa Goh, Susan Allen, Harlene Ellin, Tom O’Malley, Cate Plys, David Mausner, Donna Barrows, Mike Fainman, Steve Winner, Alan Hommerding, Jeanette Mancusi, Michael Weiland, Paul Clark, Ken Scott, Paul Noble, The Skubish Family, Joe Hass, Mark Wukas, Jeff Weissglass, Beth Kujawski, Mike Janowski, Joseph Lynn and Janet Arnopolin—ensure Square continues to show up in your inbox. You can join them here.
■ Thanks to Pam Spiegel for making this edition better.