ICE is watching. Law enforcement records reviewed by The Associated Press show that state and federal authorities are closely tracking online criticism and protests against the immigration crackdown in New Orleans.
■ Philadelphia Inquirer columnist Will Bunch, writing from New Orleans (gift link), is convinced he’s “seen the green shoots of a second American Revolution”—in resistance (ahem) inspired by Chicago activists.
■ Historian and On Tyranny author Tim Snyder: “For the Nazis, the deportation and the pogrom of autumn 1938 were steps towards creating a centralised national police agency.”
‘They can’t work; they are being deported or afraid.’ An activist with the Chicago-based nonprofit Farmworker and Landscaper Advocacy Project tells the Sun-Times that snow-removal companies are having a tough time finding help.
■ Chicago’s now recorded 17.1 inches of snow this season—more by Dec. 7 than in any year since 1978.
‘The language is astonishing.’ In the Trump administration’s updated National Security Strategy, economist Paul Krugman sees “the end of the free world. … Trump and those around him hate Europe … because it still honors the ideals they’re abandoning.”
■ Historian Heather Cox Richardson: “The authors of the document claim that … a web of shared interests around the globe has been bad for the U.S. because it undermined ‘the character of our nation.’”
‘Deceitful and potentially criminal.’ That’s how Donald Trump described mortgages secured by his political enemies—deals that ProPublica has discovered match Trump’s own.
■ Columnist Steven Beschloss: “Trump is getting weaker. And even some Republicans are finally grasping that it’s a mistake to always stick by him.”
‘Republican women are revolting.’ The ambiguity’s the point as columnist Jeff Tiedrich asserts that House Speaker Mike Johnson’s “in grave danger of losing his grip on that hammer.”
■ Even as U.S. Senate candidate and U.S. Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi campaigns on a plan to “stop” Donald Trump, the Sun-Times reports that he’s taking cash from key Trump donors.
■ Columnist and ex-Rep. Marie Newman hails the debut of a website to help voters know “which politicians are taking corporate PAC money … as well as who is trading stocks while in Congress,” the Political Integrity Index …
■ … which you can search by politician’s name here.
Chicago’s long legal arm. Chicago magazine says the city’s civil action against Austrian gunmaker Glock illustrates how municipal law departments can effect far-reaching change.
■ An exchange of gunfire in the Morgan Park neighborhood left two people injured and a Chicago cop recovering at home after he was shot in his protective vest.
Tree-shopping? The climate-focused one5c website assesses the pros and cons of real and artificial holiday trees.
■ While you’re ho-ho-ho-ing and fa-la-la-la-la-ing, beware the highly contagious norovirus—a.k.a. “winter vomiting disease,” surging weeks ahead of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention expectations.
Netflix’s Trump schmooze. Bloomberg says the company’s co-CEO, Ted Sarandos, met personally with the president to talk about the deal to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery …
■ … an arrangement that seems far from settled—given today’s hostile, and bigger, bid from Paramount, whose chairman has been a strong(er) Trump ally.
■ The Wrap founder Sharon Waxman, writing in The New York Times (gift link): “Everybody in Hollywood secretly hates Netflix. So now what?”
‘The casino-fication of news.’ Popular Information flags new partnerships between CNN and CNBC and the prediction market Kalshi, giving audiences “an opportunity to speculate on future events for financial gain”—and putting news viewers, like sports fans, at elevated risk of addiction to gambling.
■ Chicago TV news veteran Jennifer Schulze on Trump-approved CBS News chief Bari Weiss’ decision to sideline the network’s real journalists and interview Charlie Kirk’s widow herself: “Just like that, nearly a century of excellence in news reporting is gone.”
■ The Intercept: Without warning, YouTube’s deleted the account of an independent British journalist reporting from Palestine.
■ American Crisis columnist Margaret Sullivan: “Trust in mainstream media is at rock bottom. … So many news consumers are turning to individual voices.”
■ Veteran reporter Igor Studenkov has launched a newsletter tracking Chicago journalism industry news, the Chicago Media Journal.
