[Republishing this edition to correct the cookie recipe link below.]
Fog of snore. Over the course of another sycophantic cabinet meeting in which President Trump complained about news coverage of his narcoleptic behavior, he nodded off several times.
Fog of snore. Over the course of another sycophantic cabinet meeting in which President Trump complained about news coverage of his narcoleptic behavior, he nodded off several times.
■ Historian Heather Cox Richardson: “We had the wild visual of Secretary of State Marco Rubio praising Trump as the only man who could end Russia’s war in Ukraine, gesturing at the president sitting next to him, who was, to all appearances, sound asleep.”
■ In Trump’s defense, he’d had a busy night posting to social media: Incredulously displaying Trump’s output, Jimmy Kimmel asked, “Do you know how long you have to be on the toilet to post that much?”
■ He called Somali-American Rep. Ilhan Omar “garbage.”
■ ABC News alumnus Terry Moran—fired by ABC (June link) after he called Trump a “world-class hater”—writes: “No president has ever spoken like this to the American people.”
Republicans’ reasons to be fearful. Trump’s guy yesterday won a special congressional election in a pro-Trump Tennessee district …
■ … but by a margin so teensy that Pod Save America co-host Dan Pfeiffer says the party “should be terrified.”
■ Lawyer/columnist David Lurie: “The underlying political incoherence of the Republican Party that has only grown during his reign is being fully exposed.”
■ USA Today’s Chicago-based columnist Rex Huppke sees signs that “the MAGA movement—one of the greatest and most destructive cons in American history—may be poised to fall.”
‘Fog of war.’ That’s Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s latest excuse for the apparent commission of war crimes in a strike on an alleged drug boat off Venezuela’s coast.
■ Wonkette’s Evan Hurst finds that laughable for a man “telling guys to press buttons from a couple thousand miles away.”
■ Hurst colleague Marcie Jones: “Did Hegseth just now admit that the incident actually did happen? Fog of war, more like the tinkle-trickle of truth!”
Not just corrupt. Unconstitutional. That’s Popular Information’s take on presidential son-in-law Jared Kushner’s mission to Moscow.
■ Trump’s administration is moving to shutter Voice of America’s overseas offices and radio stations.
‘Unlawful arrests and detention.’ In a blistering letter to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin demands she cough up details about U.S. citizens arrested during the feds’ Chicago deportation “blitz.”
■ Lawyers for reporters, clergy and protesters have moved to dismiss their own lawsuit challenging the feds’ aggressive tactics—to keep it from winding up in the hands of a skeptical appeals court that could set a precedent they wouldn’t want.
■ Block Club: As Little Village residents were getting arrested, video shows that a leader at the Little Village Chamber of Commerce thanked and encouraged federal immigration agents for their work.
Insult to injury. Residents of that South Shore building subjected to a horrific immigration raid have been given a surprise move-out date—during painfully cold weather …
■ … as WBEZ reports the Republican administration’s homelessness policies put more than 7,500 Illinoisans at risk of winding up on the street.
DuSable denunciation. A whistleblower—a former vice president of education and programs—alleges public funds misuse, harassment and retaliation at the DuSable Black History Museum.
■ The Obama Presidential Center’s set to open in Chicago in June.
■ It’s the end of a half-century-long road for the Chicago-based Shriver Center on Poverty Law.
‘We trust science here in Illinois.’ As the Republican administration retreats from pro-vaccination policies, Gov. Pritzker’s signed a law ordering the state health department to establish its own vaccine guidelines …
■ … and requiring insurance companies here to cover state-recommended shots fully.
■ The Washington Post (gift link): Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s team plans to vote to end universal hepatitis B vaccinations at birth.
■ Economist Paul Krugman: “Trump to disaster victims: Drop dead. Sorry, but we don’t help the little people.”
The Reader’s new editor. She’s a Pulitzer-winning investigative journalist …
■ … who describes her goals for the paper: “When someone asks what’s going on in Chicago, I want them to be handed the Reader as the only primer they’ll need.”
■ Speaking of which:
Cookies galore. The Trib’s named its 2025 Holiday Cookie Contest winners.
■ Here are their recipes (link corrected).
Thanks. Sandra Lentz and Mike Braden made this edition better.