‘The treatment was terrible.’ A joint investigation by Borderless and the Investigative Project on Race and Equity concludes a contractor running a city-funded Chicago migrant shelter did a poor job of it.
■ Sun-Times D.C. bureau chief Lynn Sweet: “Donald Trump plans to use the U.S. military for mass deportations: Be scared, be very scared.”
■ Mayor Johnson: Trump returns to the White House with more power than any president in decades but plans to “waste it” on deportation.
‘A DNC perch for Emanuel should be dead on arrival.’ Tribune columnist Laura Washington says the notion of putting Chicago’s former mayor in charge of the Democratic Party is a nonstarter …
■ … but former Better Government Association chief Andy Shaw says “watching him try to break Trump’s political spell would be a healthy exercise in democracy.”
Not a kayfabe. Trump’s pick to lead the Education Department—a thing he’s pledged to destroy—is former World Wrestling Entertainment chief executive Linda McMahon.
■ To oversee the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, Trump’s tabbed celebrity surgeon Mehmet Oz …
■ … a thing Wonkette’s Robyn Pennacchia calls the “worst Wicked tie-in yet” …
■ … again manifesting Trump’s preference for a “central casting” TV cabinet.
■ Stephen Colbert last night: “Everyone with a TV show gets a call. Where’s my job offer?”
■ Press Watch proprietor Dan Froomkin: “That these nominees are anti-qualified is what reporters need to explain every time they are mentioned.”
■ Columnist Jeff Tiedrich: “Donny’s reached the … ‘who cares’ stage of the process.”
■ The Onion: “Trump Locks Bathroom Door So Elon Musk Can’t Follow Him In.”
Three’s a crowd. Mike Allen at Axios: Trump’s lineup suggests “at least three factions in the new Republican coalition.”
■ Trump’s nomination of scandal-scarred Matt Gaetz to head the Justice Department has put a Boner in the mouths of late-night hosts.
■ Public Notice columnist Lyz Dye sees Trump’s appointees turning the Justice Department “into a protection racket.”
■ New York state prosecutors want to keep Trump’s criminal conviction—and the prospect of his sentence for that—alive until he leaves office.
Well, some journalism happened. Under fire for a private meeting with Trump, MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough has served up a bit of reporting from that session: When Gaetz’s name came up, “there was not a flinch, but a noticeable ‘We got problems here.’”
■ Tiedrich has a tip for MSNBC’s CNN’s Dana Bash.
■ The Philadelphia Inquirer’s Will Bunch fears April’s crackdown on student protests over Israel’s post-Oct. 7 attacks on Gaza may have set the stage for the Trump administration to “clamp down hard” on the broader “right of dissent … guaranteed in the First Amendment.”
■ Former Chicago news exec Jennifer Schulze: “We still have some news outlets that see this dangerous, unprecedented time for what it is and are responding with fearless reporting.”
■ Law professor Joyce Vance is recovering from post-election shock: “Although it’s taken a while, I’m ready to get started. … Trump is not inevitable. Good people have found a way to defend democracy in other countries, and we will do it here too.”
Comcastoffs. The parent company of NBC and Universal Studios plans to sell off its cable channels—including MSNBC and CNBC …
■ … and Rotten Tomatoes and Fandango …
■ … but it’s keeping broadcast NBC and the theme parks.
■ Media watcher Oliver Darcy: “Comcast is running away from the dying cable business.”
Beware ‘free.’ Advisorator Jared Newman explains why phone carriers want you to sign up for a supposedly-free tablet or smartwatch—and why you shouldn’t.
■ TechCrunch offers this public service announcement: Don’t upload your medical images to AI chatbots.
■ The American Prospect’s Rick Perlstein takes aim at Google search’s AI fuckery: “The last thing the world’s information infrastructure needs is ‘experiments,’ with all of us serving as guinea pigs.”
Thanks, CUB. The Sun-Times’ Stephanie Zimmermann explains how Illinois’ low-profile Citizens Utility Board has quietly saved consumers billions of dollars.
■ It’s offering a free guide: “A cheaper, cleaner way to heat our homes in Chicago” …
■ … and it’s a key mover in the Illinois Shines program, offering incentives for going solar.
Lake begone. The Trib reports that, depleted by dry weather and high temperatures, Lake Michigan water levels are at their lowest in years.
■ We might see some snow this evening into tomorrow.
Holidays on track. The CTA’s issued a detailed schedule for catching its festively decorated Holiday Train and Holiday Bus …
■ … beginning Tuesday for the bus and a week from Friday for the train.
Toothpaste alert. At least one in the Tom’s of Maine line of products has been contaminated by multiple bacteria.
■ The FDA’s not satisfied with the company’s dismissals.
Wicked good. Acknowledging that it has “a lot (maybe too much) going on,” Sun-Times critic Richard Roeper nevertheless gives the new movie three stars.
■ The Reader’s Albert Williams says it “hits all the right notes.”
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■ Marty Berg made this edition better.