Welcome to Chicago’s shortest day of the year.
‘This ends when we kill these f—kers.’ The Colorado Supreme Court’s historic decision to strike Donald Trump from that state’s 2024 presidential ballot has triggered a flood of threats against justices.
■ The Atlantic’s Adam Serwer: The Colorado ruling “calls the originalists’ bluff,” leaving the U.S. Supreme Court’s conservative justices “in the very uncomfortable position of having to prove that they have the courage of their stated convictions.”
■ Conservative lawyer George Conway—ex-Trump mouthpiece Kellyanne’s ex: “The strongest argument for throwing Trump off the ballot is the weakness of the counterarguments.”
■ Law professor Joyce Vance reviews the Trump team’s brief to the nation’s highest court: “Trump’s position is a little ridiculous. More than a little.”
■ Columnist Neil Steinberg: “Colorado, with its crisp mountain air, provided us a gust of that most bracing, invigorating and hard-to-find-lately scent: Hope.”
■ But Eric Zorn warns: “If the Colorado Supreme Court ruling doesn’t politically kill Trump, it seems likely to make him stronger.”
‘Rest in infamy.’ A Tribune editorial sheds no tears for an Indiana arms dealer whose shoddy practices unleashed hundreds of guns on Chicago.
■ A California federal judge—appointed by George W. Bush, thanks so much—has rejected as “repugnant” a state law that would have forbidden the carrying of firearms in most public places.
■ The Daily Beast: 15 years of tax filings show the National Rifle Association “at rock bottom.”
‘Human trafficking.’ That’s a volunteer’s take on a development Block Club describes this way: “After Chartered Private Jet From Texas Flies Migrants To O’Hare, Handlers Flee In Uber.”
■ The Biden administration condemns Texas’ governor for a “political stunt” that “just adds to his tally of extreme policies which seek to demonize and dehumanize people.”
■ Sure, Chicago’s scrapped a plan for a migrant camp in Brighton Park, but the toxins discovered in the process are still around to menace people who live there.
■ Hundreds turned out last night to honor a 5-year-old who died in a Chicago migrant shelter.
Nice work, Chicago. The municipal inspector general gives the city credit for improvement in its release of video after cops have used force.
■ The city’s taking long-stalled legal action against a real estate empire that Block Club reports owes millions in rat-related fines.
No IOWASUX or GORGASM. The Illinois Secretary of State’s office is out with its annual list of vanity license plate requests it’s denied.
■ Lots more rejectoids here.
Paramax? Dismount? Mountabros? Discount? Paramount Global and Warner Bros. Discovery—parents of the Paramount+ and Max streaming services—are chatting about a merger.
■ Creatives’ reaction, reported by The Ankler (behind a paywall): “Thanks, I hate it.”
Lie of the Year. PolitiFact bestows that honor on Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
■ Poynter’s Tom Jones names his Media Person of the Year.
■ Eric Zorn recaps Trib reporters’ rally for a contract with their vampiric hedge fund overlords.
■ Politico lifts a curtain on “the drama roiling The Washington Post.”
‘An even bigger banger than 2023.’ Author and tech rabble-rouser Cory Doctorow is very excited about all the creative work falling into the public domain as of Jan. 1 …
■ … including a Marx Brothers classic.
Um, City Cast? With all respect for work by the team there, this line in its year-end appeal rings false: “City Cast Chicago is a big experiment. Nothing like it has been tried here before.”
■ Because Chicago Public Square was doing the same things—including a daily email newsletter, a podcast series and even a Chicago Headline Club award-winning daily newscast—years before City Cast’s launch.
■ You can support Square in the Reader’s Best of Chicago poll with a vote for Best Email Newsletter and Best Independent Website or Blog.
■ And thanks to those whose support keeps Square coming, free for all. You can join their ranks for any amount—even just $1, once—here.
■ Chuck Huber, Georgia C. Garvey and Robin Randall made this edition better.