‘Scene from hell’ / ‘We’re worried for our safety’ / ‘Not owned by anybody’

‘Scene from hell.’ Two former Chicago newspaper people—Becky Schlikerman and Kim Janssen, whose home was destroyed in the Los Angeles fires—tell the Sun-Times they can now fit everything they own into two pieces of carry-on luggage.
 Schlikerman tells ABC7 a tree crashed through the roof of the home office in which she’d been working less than a minute earlier.
 Chicago journalist Dan Sinker sees Chicago and Los Angeles as one: “Every person I’ve ever met in L.A. is like me: Someone who’s ready to roll up their sleeves and put in the hours to get the job done. … It is a city of immigrants, of laborers, of people working hard every single day to get by.”
 Columnist Paul Krugman praises California: “It plays a big role in America’s greatness.”
 To accelerate reconstruction, California’s governor is suspending environmental regulations.
 Almost every member of the California House Republican delegation left the state over the weekend to join Donald Trump in Florida.
 Before-and-after photos of iconic L.A. locations illustrate the fires’ devastation.
 A Northern Illinois University meteorology professor links extreme weather events to the climate crisis: “They’re the new normal unless we take action.”

‘A national day of shame’? Noting tomorrow’s anniversary of Trump’s impeachment for the insurrection of 2021, law professor Joyce Vance proposes turning a spotlight on “Republican senators who failed to do the right thing.”
 Seemingly putting himself at odds with the president-elect, Vice President-elect Vance (no relation to Joyce) says those responsible for violence in that riot “obviously” shouldn’t be pardoned.

Mission from God. ProPublica explores the movement to redirect billions of taxpayer dollars to private religious schools.
 USA Today: Trump’s pick of Pete Hegseth to lead the Defense Department “is a milestone for the rightwing Christian movement he follows.”
 Intelligencer: Hegseth’s nomination, subject to TV hearings scheduled for tomorrow, “is the first serious test of Donald Trump’s newly invigorated strongman model of governance.”

‘We’re worried for our safety.’ A Justice Department civil rights lawyer lists ways people can help embattled federal employees (New York Times gift link): “This is what we need most in the Trump era.”
 Crain’s Chicago Business: As anti-Diversity, Equity and Inclusion activists take to the courts, Illinois-based women and minority-owned contractors have reason to worry.
 Historian Heather Cox Richardson, taking a microscope to Republicans in North Carolina: “A political minority has used the mechanics of government to take power and is now using that power to impose its will on the majority.”
 Popular Information: Trump, who campaigned against lobbyists’ power in Washington, has put a corporate lobbyist in charge of his White House.

‘A strange and scary time.’ Columnist Neil Steinberg looks back to Chicago five years ago—Jan. 13, 2020—“when a suburban woman returned from Wuhan, China … bringing with her the COVID virus.”
 Citing waning demand for its COVID vaccines, Moderna’s cut its 2025 sales forecast by $1 billion.
 Quartz: Big Alcohol’s in for a fight as public health advocates “wielding an influence not seen since Prohibition” push higher taxes, marketing restrictions, and stricter warnings.

‘Suicide by rental truck.’ The American Prospect perceives a “violent wake-up call” in the attacks by two Army sergeants in Las Vegas and New Orleans: “20 years of war has created tens of thousands of broken men and women.”
 The Kennedy Expressway express lanes are officially open again for the first time in almost a year …

Immigration fight. Even before Trump becomes president, the Senate is set this evening to take up a bill Republicans have championed as a crackdown on undocumented immigrants accused of, arrested for or charged in crimes.
 Slate’s Mark Joseph Stern: Congressional Democrats are “falling over themselves” to endorse “a horrifying Trojan horse.”
 The Conversation: Mass deportations rely on “scientific racism.”
 The Tribune: Chicago-area Democrats in Congress are plotting ways to blunt Trump’s policies.

Ja ne. Ex-Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s stepping down from his role as U.S. ambassador to Japan.
 Next for him: A lecture tour of the U.S. Army, Navy and Air Force service academies.

Smoke and mirrors. Vulture explains how bestselling comic book and fantasy author Neil Gaiman “hid the darkest parts of himself for decades” …
 … a report based in part on accounts from eight women who shared allegations of assault, coercion, or abuse.

‘Not owned by anybody.’ That slogan—a jibe pointed at Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos and other media moguls bending the knee to Trump—is the mission statement for a new opinion and analysis newsletter led by Post defector Jennifer Rubin.
 In her words, “things are going from bad to worse at The Post.”
 Media critic Brian Stelter: “Seemingly every day I see another boldface-name journalist strike out on their own.”
 American Crisis columnist Margaret Sullivan rounds up a list of “courageous truth-tellers” whose newsletters can help readers move into this new era “with purpose and guarded optimism.”
 Among them: Robert Reich, who today flags the prospect of news organizations inclined to let Trump and Republicans take credit for good things happening because of Joe Biden.

Speaking of journalists striking out on their own … As noted last week, the ChicagoPublicSquare.com domain is eight years old. And Square made its public debut (on WGN Radio) just a few days later: Jan. 30, 2017.
 To mark this eighth anniversary, a special offer: Through the end of the month, new supporters who pledge as little as $80 a year to help underwrite the cost of this service get a perk typically reserved for those who pitch in $250 or more: A free Square T-shirt.
 Prefer PayPal? Here you go.
 Or contribute any amount—even just $1, once—and get $5 off Squarewear, including hoodies.

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