‘Liars … beware.’ Patch columnist Mark Konkol sees a “Lightfoot effect” in Chicago police union chief John Catanzara’s decision to quit rather than face termination: “Cops are losing faith in a police misconduct system that for generations was rigged in their favor.”
■ A Tribune editorial on Catanzara’s departure: “Good riddance.”
■ Mayor Lightfoot on his threat to run for mayor: “It would be a gift.”
■ Also outta here: Crestwood Mayor Louis Presta, who quit hours before pleading guilty to taking bribes from a red-light camera company.
■ Block Club Chicago raises constitutional concerns: “West Side Drivers Are Stopped By Cops The Most In Chicago. But 94% Of Stops Don’t Lead To Tickets.”
‘Ultimately insignificant.’ Regardless of Kenosha killer Kyle Rittenhouse’s fate, columnist Eric Zorn predicts that “history will not record this as a particularly important trial.”
■ PolitiFact runs down things you might have wrong about Rittenhouse—like the assertion that his mother “drove him across state lines and dropped him off in the middle of a riot armed with an assault rifle.”
■ The words of Rittenhouse’s lawyer have triggered concern among mental health advocates.
■ With a second defense request for a mistrial declaration pending, the jury entered a third day of deliberations.
■ Watch the proceedings live here.
Schmucks’ bad day.
■ So-called “QAnon Shaman” Jacob Chansley yesterday was sentenced to 41 months in prison for his role in the Jan. 6 insurrection.
■ In what The Associated Press calls “an extraordinary rebuke,” the U.S. House censured Republican Rep. Paul Gosar for posting an animated video showing him killing Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
■ Trib columnist Rex Huppke mockingly comes to Gosar’s defense: “Who among us has not … made an animated video depicting the violent murder of a colleague with whom we disagree?”
CVS shutterings. The chain plans to close about 900 stores beginning in the spring …
■ … partly a consequence of competition from Amazon.
■ The Onion: “Walgreens Customer Really Pushing It With Amount Of Non-Medical Stuff She’s Bringing To Pharmacy Counter.”
‘Close to optimal.’ The Conversation on the U.S. fight against COVID-19: “The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s plan for who gets vaccines and in what order saved nearly as many lives and prevented nearly as many infections as a theoretically perfect rollout.”
■ Rolling Stone reveals “The Secret COVID Outbreak That Shot Fear Through the NBA Finals.”
‘Biden has passed up every opportunity to be terrifying.’ Columnist Irv Leavitt mourns: “Democrats can’t intimidate anyone anymore.”
■ Columnist Steve Chapman: “Republicans are basically reenacting the 1937 Soviet Communist Party conference, in which delegates applauded the murderous dictator Joseph Stalin for 11 straight minutes because they were too terrified to stop.”
Anycart is a Chicago Public Square advertiser.
Apple’s ‘genius’ move. The company’s finally clearing civilians to repair their own iPhones and Macintosh computers.
■ iFixit calls it “a remarkable concession” but warns: “By controlling the parts marketplace, Apple can … decide when devices go obsolete.”
■ TidBITS’ Adam Engst says Apple’s move may be “a way to head off … right-to-repair concerns.”
■ Consumer Reports rounds up early Black Friday deals on TVs and streaming devices.
Deere prudence. An immediate 10% raise prompted Deere & Co. workers to approve a new contract, ending a monthlong strike.
■ Fast Company: “Striketober” is morphing into “Strikesgiving.”
Media’s gambling problem. Journalism watchdog Richard Tofel sounds an alarm about a rising tide of big-bucks deals among the sports and gambling industries and news organizations—including the AP, CBS, ESPN, Fox, and NBC: “It is not the job of the press to wean sports businesses from their own blooming wagering addiction, but it is emphatically also not the job of the press to make things worse. … We are too often doing just that.”
■ The Onion again: “Disney Acquires All Of America’s Children For $52 Billion.”
‘I feel incredibly fortunate.’ Columbia College-educated journalist Danny Fenster is back home in Michigan after almost six months in a Myanmar prison.
■ American Thomas Sutherland, an agriculture professor kidnapped by Islamic militants in Lebanon in 1985 and held until this date in 1991, talked about his experience in this 1996 interview with your Square proprietor.
That cheesy sign on Trump Tower? The hybrid novel-and-1972-Chicago-primer Roseland, Chicago: 1972 explains why that adjective’s apt. ■ If you’re looking to the skies overnight, keep an eye out for the longest partial lunar eclipse in 580 years …
■ … which seemed likely to be visible in Chicago.
Thanks to Mike Braden for making this issue better.