Trump vs. Chicago. Politico’s Shia Kapos assesses a report that the incoming administration is “discussing how to unilaterally strip federal resources from Chicago” to undermine its status as one of just a handful of “sanctuary cities” for immigrants.
■ Media watcher Oliver Darcy says mainstream media have failed to convey “the extremist nature” of President-elect Trump’s choice to head the FBI, Kashyap Patel …
■ … whom Poynter’s Tom Jones sees as yet another threat to journalism under the next presidency.
■ Critic Margaret Sullivan calls on journalists “to have a strong spine, to state the truth without euphemism, and to communicate a clear sense of public mission.”
■ Hey, Wonkette’s on the case—labeling Patel Trump’s “most dangerously clownstupid nomination yet” …
■ … and declaring Trump’s decision to name pardoned real estate developer and father of his son-in-law Charles Kushner U.S. ambassador to France a move “putting the ‘family’ in crime family.”
■ Author Brian Tyler Cohen: “Patel is a more acute threat than Pam Bondi, Tulsi Gabbard or Pete Hegseth.”
■ Columnist Charlie Sykes: Trump’s pick to run the Pentagon “is called a skeevy chode—by his own mom” …
■ … although she’s now recanting a 2018 letter.
‘The federal government is to be used only as an instrument of revenge.’ That’s the pattern historian Timothy Snyder sees in Trump’s nominees.
■ Fellow historian Heather Cox Richardson: “His picks seem designed to destroy the institutions of the democratic American state and replace those institutions with an authoritarian government whose officials are all loyal to Trump.”
■ Bill Kristol at The Bulwark: “We’re entering a four-year constitutional crisis. We could make it through this period and come out stronger afterwards. Or we could fail.”
First he said he wouldn’t and then he did. Despite earlier pledges not to, President Biden’s pardoned his son Hunter on federal felony gun and tax convictions.
■ Read the president’s justification here.
■ The list of presidents who’ve pardoned family is short.
■ Law prof and former federal prosecutor Joyce Vance: “This is justice. Hunter Biden would likely not have been charged on these facts if he was anyone else.”
■ Pulitzer winner Gene Weingarten: “I just think Biden said, or thought, ‘fuck it.’ I’m fine with it.”
■ Law Dork Chris Geidner says Biden should use that pardon power next to “commute federal death row before Donald Trump returns to office.”
■ CNN’s Stephen Collinson: The Hunter pardon “pours fuel on Trump’s claims of politicized justice.”
■ Columnist Jeff Tiedrich: “Seriously? We’re worried about precedents? We’re worried that Donny McFascist is going to use Hunter Biden’s pardon as a pretext for doing all the shit he was already planning on doing?”
■ Trump hints it justifies pardons for the insurrectionists of Jan. 6, 2021.
■ Popular Information flags a case to watch: A Chinese national charged with fraud by the SEC just sent Trump $18 million.
Apparently successful. The Cook County sheriff’s office reports that a man accused of shooting and wounding an Orthodox Jewish man—and shooting at the cops and paramedics who responded to the crime—is dead after an “apparent suicide attempt.”
■ The office says it had no indication he was a suicide risk.
Illinois’ biggest polluter. The Illinois Sierra Club says that’s transportation and it’s encouraging concerned citizens to turn out downtown today for a rally and a public hearing to press the Illinois Pollution Control Board to adopt clean vehicle standards already in place in other states.
■ Not available midday? You can share your comments online here.
■ At the start of a landmark hearing today in The Hague, representatives of nations most vulnerable to climate change laid the crisis at the foot of a handful of nations. (Cartoon: Alex Garcia, Media Moe.)
■ Researchers in Chicago report a breakthrough that stands to significantly cut solar- and wind-energy batteries’ cost and increase their capacity.
■ Step on it: Chicago’s year through November has been its warmest on record …
■ … but that’ll be cold comfort this week.
A Thanksgiving reprieve. The Chicago Department of Streets and Sanitation gave motorists a break Sunday—issuing just warnings instead of towing those in violation of the seasonal overnight parking ban …
■ … but no such luck was in store for those caught last night.
‘Say this for Illinois: We love our fluoride.’ A Tribune editorial recalls that Oak Park, Evanston and Aurora were guinea pigs for a huge public health triumph in the 1940s—now at risk under Trump Health and Human Services Secretary-designate Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
■ A Chicago City Council member calls for a go-slow approach to fears about hemp products seemingly marketed at kids.
Cyber Monday deals. Check out favorites from …
■ … Consumer Reports …
■ … Wirecutter …
■ … and Wired, with updates on a live blog.
‘Thanks for keeping us going in these worrisome times.’ And thanks back to the many Chicago Public Square readers who took a moment over the long holiday weekend to express their gratitude for this service—with comments like that one …
■ … and this one: “It is indeed harder and harder these days to comprehend what online is indeed relevant vs. not so much, and I trust you to guide us through the muck.”
■ Which brings us to …
Be here at noon. That’s when, after what the Reader calls “a robust nomination period,” final-ballot voting begins for its annual Best of Chicago poll. Check this page to see if Square made the cut …
■ … but you know what? Even if it didn’t, the world deserves to learn what you consider Chicago’s best anyway. So please vote, regardless. (Update, 12:06 p.m.: Square’s a finalist for Best Newsletter and Best Independent Website.)
A Square public service announcement
A Concert for Justice. Los Lobos, joined by Dave Specter, performs Saturday, Dec. 14, at Northwestern University’s Cahn Auditorium to benefit the Moran Center for Youth Advocacy—providing a free lifeline of integrated legal, mental health and restorative services to youth and families. Get tickets here.
■ And for more information about The Moran Center for Youth Advocacy, contact Rachel Solomon at rsolomon@moran-center.org.