Chicago Public Square’s taking off Monday to hang with the America’s Newspapers Senior Leadership Conference. Back Tuesday. And now the news.
Trump’s guy. The ex-president’s choice for the next Republican House speaker is Ohio’s Jim Jordan …
■ …. who former U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney yesterday said “knew more about what Donald Trump had planned for Jan. 6 than any other member of the House of Representatives.”
■ She also confirmed that she told Jordan that day, “Get away from me. You f—ing did this.”
■ But Trump says he’s also open to taking the job himself.
■ Lyz Lenz’ Dingus of the Week: Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz, who led the effort to oust Speaker Kevin McCarthy …
■ … a move that columnist, former Chicago City Council member and ex-Sun-Times CEO Edwin Eisendrath calls the clearest warning yet of a rising autocracy.
■ Punchbowl News: A Fox anchor will host a closed debate Monday for the speaker candidates.
■ The Onion: “House Elects Kevin McCarthy’s 8th-Grade Bully As Speaker.”
‘Trump has called for the execution of one of the nation’s top generals, threatened prosecutors, mocked the hammer attack on Nancy Pelosi’s elderly husband and endorsed more extra-judicial killings. For the most part, the media shrugged.’ The Bulwark’s Charlie Sykes says journalists need to start taking this stuff more seriously.
■ An ex-aide to Trump says Taylor Swift is probably the only person who could beat him in a presidential face-off.
■ Law professor Joyce Vance is unimpressed by Trump’s request that a federal judge in Washington dismiss the criminal prosecution against him there: “It’s likely to be a swing and a miss.”
Now it’s Biden’s wall, too. Insisting that he doesn’t consider it an effective solution—but that his hands are tied by Trump-era law—President Biden’s waiving dozens of environmental rules to resume building barriers to migrants at the southern U.S. border.
■ His administration’s also resuming deportation flights for Venezuelan refugees.
■ As the migrant population at O’Hare has more than doubled over the last week, Chicago’s still scrambling to secure refugee tent locations.
■ The Associated Press recaps a UN report: “Millions of children are displaced due to extreme weather events. Climate change will make it worse.”
‘The regime in Iran has arrested her 13 times, convicted her five times, and sentenced her to a total of 31 years in prison and 154 lashes.’ That would be imprisoned Iranian activist Narges Mohammadi, today awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for championing democracy and women’s rights and opposing the death penalty.
■ In a letter she sent CNN from prison before the announcement, she wrote, “Iranian women … derive their credibility and legitimacy of struggle … from their continuous and courageous … struggle for democracy, life, freedom, equality, human rights, and peace.”
‘This is a view of a country gone mad.’ Esquire’s Charlie Pierce reflects on news that guns are now the leading cause of accidental death among U.S. kids (gift link, courtesy of Square supporters).
■ Police have arrested an 18-year-old woman in the Loop stabbing death of a 16-year-old girl.
‘Framing public health as anti-human is an incredibly dangerous game to play.’ Your Local Epidemiologist columnists Katelyn Jetelina and Kristen Panthagani dig into the Florida surgeon general’s criticism of the new COVID-19 vaccine.
■ The shots remain scarce at some of Chicago’s largest hospitals.
Um, hey, advertisers … CNN’s identified a cohort of corporations and organizations whose ads have appeared directly on the verified Twitter X account of “an openly racist, white supremacist outlet that publishes some of the most vile content on the internet.”
■ Pluralistic: “Union pensions are funding private equity attacks on workers.”
■ The Conversation: The United Auto Workers’ tough bargaining stance is working.
‘He would punch you in the face … when … punching someone in the face was illegal, but barely.’ USA Today’s Mike Freeman remembers Chicago Bear Dick Butkus …
■ … dead at 80 after a career that the Sun-Times’ Mark Potash says defined “what fans think a Chicago Bear should be.”
■ Defenestrated Northwestern football coach Pat Fitzgerald’s suing the university for $130 million, claiming he didn’t deserve the blame for a yearslong hazing scandal.
‘I will pay you a buck a minute to just stand there and keep quiet.’ Author, broadcaster and podcaster John St. Augustine put down a pissed-off postal patron.
■ Two men have been arrested and charged with mail theft, among other crimes, in the burglary of several Chicago condos over the last two years.
TV tips. TechHive suggests ways to minimize the sting of next Thursday’s Disney price hike.
■ Roku’s rolling out a free new operating system for its devices.
■ Sun-Times columnist Neil Steinberg: “I’m that guy on the sofa” among Chicagoans not returning to the theater. (But in fact he will.)
■ If so, you’re sharper than your Square columnist.
Happy College Radio Day. Today marks 13 years for a worldwide celebration with special significance for your Square columnist.
■ It also brings release of the first trailer for a documentary devoted to conveying college radio’s history and its impact on music and culture.
A Square public service announcement
Square columnist Charlie Meyerson
will be one of the evening’s storytellers.