He’s ba-a-a-a-ck … After an unprecedented two-year timeout for being a bad boy (2021 link), Donald Trump’s being allowed back on Facebook.
■ But if he acts up again, the company’s vice president of global affairs says, “the content will be removed and he will be suspended for between one month and two years” …
■ … or, as Bloomberg puts it, Facebook is willing to re-ban him.
■ CNN’s Oliver Darcy: Brace yourself for “reprehensible, antidemocratic comments … that perhaps don’t outright violate the company rules … but which ignite outrage.”
■ National Review: “Trump has completely lost his grip on reality.”
■ Shopping for a new social media home? Contender Post.news is now open for all—no waitlist.
A history of sloppiness. As tales of classified documents discovered where they shouldn’t be propagate, the AP revisits the 1984 case of an eighth-grade girl who wound up with some—and took them to school for show-and-tell.
■ Seth Meyers: “This is starting to feel like the beginning of the pandemic. You hear about one case, then another, and before you know it, we’re all going to be locked in our apartments … terrified that some classified documents are going to get in.”
‘Too soon.’ Early voting’s on for Chicago’s Feb. 28 election, but columnist Eric Zorn says those who vote now risk missing out taking into account all that can happen in the month before polls close.
■ But the Chicago Public Square voter guide is ready to roll.
Police Academy, take 2. Remember how then-future Mayor Lori Lightfoot opposed placement of a new Chicago police training facility on the city’s West Side? That was then—and yesterday, she celebrated its opening …
■ … despite years of protests from those who said it was $128 million poorly spent …
■ … as you can hear in this 2018 edition of the gone-but-not-forgotten Square newscast.
■ The Daily Show’s Roy Wood Jr. details ongoing—and tragically fatal—protests against a similar facility in Georgia.
‘A travesty.’ A Sun-Times editorial condemns legal assaults on “Illinois’ sensible new gun law.”
■ Columnist Rex Huppke: Reaction to California’s mass shootings reveals an America too focused on motive—and not solutions.
Start your engines … of resentment. NASCAR’s announced a lineup of concerts for the Chicago Street Race Weekend …
Eat with pride. Chicago’s landed 11 restaurants, bars, chefs and beverage professionals in the semifinals for this year’s James Beard Award.
Illinois’ ‘first intergenerational cohousing—designed to mingle families of all ages.’ Axios Chicago says it’s set to open in Oak Park in summer 2024.
■ A Chicago high-rise where a fire yesterday left one person dead had a history of code violations and inspection failures.
‘Black history is American History.’ It’s Gov. Pritzker vs. Florida’s demagogic Gov. Ron DeSantis over a decision to cut an AP high school course in African American studies from Florida’s curriculum.
■ Popular Information exposes the major corporations (hi, AT&T and Johnson & Johnson) that’ve sent checks to a North Dakota lawmaker proposing to ban books with LGBTQ themes from public libraries.
■ The Sun-Times: Chicago Public Schools will begin to weigh science and social studies grades more than standardized tests for determining when kids move onto the next grade.
■ Digital pioneers Hank and John Green (The Fault in Our Stars) are offering college courses on YouTube.
‘Do you really owe that much? Maybe not.’ The First Aid Kit newsletter recommends you get an itemized medical bill—and fact-check it.
■ 2023 signups for Affordable Care Act health coverage—a.k.a. Obamacare—hit a record this year.
■ Media Matters for America: “DeSantis is counting on journalists not connecting him to Floridians losing their health coverage.”
‘Word of the Week: Enshittification.’ Columnist Parker Molloy praises author Cory Doctorow’s assessment of what’s gone wrong with TikTok and other digital upstarts …
■ … which makes this a fine time to revisit Square’s 2019 sitdown with Doctorow.
■ The Times spotlights the chaos of remote job cuts: “Laid Off in Your Living Room.”
Snow. Also: More snow. Chicago’s forecast isn’t promising …
■ … even as the city’s total snowfall this season is running 10 inches below average.
■ An iceberg the size of London has calved off in Antarctica.
■ On the plus side: In one of the closest such encounters on record, a newly discovered asteroid tonight will come closer to Earth than many communications satellites—but will miss.
‘Would it kill them to feature weather photos?’ Axios’s Justin Kaufmann reviews WTTW’s shorter and later version of Chicago Tonight.
■ Here’s Square’s 2021 interview with the show’s anchors.
Have you voted yet? Square humbly requests your support in the Chicago Reader’s Best of Chicago poll.
■ Pam Spiegel made this edition better.
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