Fog of snore / ‘Fog of war’ / Cookies galore

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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?”
■ Trump woke up long enough at the end to condemn refugees from war-ravaged Somalia: “They contribute nothing. … Their country is no good for a reason.”
■ 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!”

■ The Daily Show’s unearthed a 2019 clip of then-Fox News host Hegseth: “What do you think you do in war? … Put us all in jail!” (Cartoon: Jack Ohman.)

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).
■ Need a mood boost? Catch a CTA holiday train or bus.

Thanks. Sandra Lentz and Mike Braden made this edition better.

‘Department of War Crimes’ / Franklin is pissed / ‘Appalling and sad’ / It’s that time

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■ The Just Security law and policy journal: “Under well-established law, those who complied with the orders cannot escape individual criminal responsibility.”
■ Read it in the Department of Defense Law of War Manual. (Search for “fire upon the shipwrecked.”)
■ … or, as Wonkette puts it: “Secretary Shitfaced has settled on a guy to ‘stand behind 100 percent’ and also ‘serve as his unwilling scapegoat.’”
■ Mother Jones: “In a rare instance of bipartisan alarm, Republican-chaired committees in the House and Senate … have launched inquiries” …
■ … although columnist Charlie Madigan cautions that “this won’t be as simple as Trump’s opponents think.”
■ Columnist Eric Zorn: The logic of those strikes “would have us shooting on sight those we suspect of being drug dealers.”
■ Meanwhile, Politico suggests, conditions are ripe for the anti-war movement’s comeback.

‘A motley crew of right-wing sycophants.’ That the war crime allegations have been reported at all is a marvel, given that—as Poynter’s Tom Jones notes—“Real reporters left the Pentagon. A new partisan crew just took their seats.”
■ CNN’s Brian Stelter: “The reporting has been led by news outlets that handed in press passes” …
■ … including those at The Associated Press, which notes that “outlets that reach millions of news consumers are being denied access to rare briefings by Pentagon officials” amid the crisis.

Franklin is pissed. The Canadian publisher of the Franklin the Turtle books is pushing back, politely, against Hegseth’s posting of a fake “Franklin Targets Narco Terrorists” title.
■ Wonkette’s Gary Legum: “Have we not insulted the Canadians enough this year?”

Another claim debunked. Tribune analysis (gift link) finds that, of almost 1,900 immigrants detained during “Operation Midway Blitz”—ostensibly “the worst of the worst”—most had no criminal record.

‘A terrible idea.’ A Trib editorial called severe new limits on capacity at Chicago’s beloved Christkindlmarket in Daley Plaza “absurd” …
■ First-night casualties of the city’s winter parking ban: 227 vehicles towed.

‘Northwestern becomes the latest university to give in to blackmail.’ Eric Zorn again, on the school’s deal with the Trump administration: “To make cancer research funding contingent on hewing to a particular view on the thorny issue of affirmative action is obscene.”
■ The Sun-Times’ Kaitlin Washburn breaks down what Northwestern’s giving and what it’s getting.
■ Sources tell Wired that Elon Musk’s “Department of Government Efficiency” isn’t dead—it’s just “burrowed into the agencies like ticks.”

‘Appalling and sad.’ Stop the Presses columnist Mark Jacob reviews Donald Trump’s most recent displays of misogyny—calling female reporters “piggy,” “ugly” and “stupid.”
■ Daily Show host Jon Stewart mocked Trump’s lame insult to two women journalists.

Pollution deal. A settlement with Monsanto, maker of now-banned polychlorinated biphenyls, has agreed to pay will send Illinois, Chicago, Evanston and other suburbs at least $120 million in compensation for environmental and health damages.
■ The Civic Federation government watchdog warns that Mayor Johnson’s administration has allowed the creation of tax increment-financing districts that “act as a sort of stealth property tax”—instead of reviving economically challenged areas they were supposed to help.

Courts’ new boss. For the first time in decades, the Cook County Circuit Court has a new chief: Judge Charles Beach …
■ … whose challenges include addressing widespread concern about the county’s electronic monitoring system for the accused.

‘I hope they see each other in my version of heaven and … have chummy talks about Sondheim and the Cubs.’ Columnist Elaine Soloway reflects on the lives of her two husbands …
■ … the first of whom inspired the Amazon TV show Transparent, and who died last month at 88.

It’s that time. Thanks to Chicago Public Square readers like you, Square’s made the finals in the Reader’s Best of Chicago poll—in two categories. So please cast your ballots for …
Thanks. Walt Fyk and Mike Braden made this edition better.

Square up.

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