Surprise Israeli airstrikes. Updating coverage: More than 400 Palestinians are dead in an assault that ended a monthlong ceasefire and threatens to reignite the war.
■ Donald Trump’s Justice Department and the FBI have set up a task force to investigate Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel—and, notably, to target Americans who may have supported Hamas.
‘The president of the United States considers me an enemy and has promised retribution.’ Democracy Docket founder and Democratic election lawyer Marc Elias says that, since Jan. 20, he gets asked almost daily, “Are you worried?”—and, although he says the answer’s yes, “I will continue to fight.”
■ Dahlia Lithwick and Mark Joseph Stern at Slate: “We’ve officially entered the next phase of Trump’s dictatorship era.”
■ In what critics are flagging as a security risk, First Bro Elon Musk’s Starlink internet Wi-Fi service has been installed across the White House campus.
‘We did not authorize or condone the White House’s use of our song in any way.’ The band Semisonic’s unhappy the White House used its song “Closing Time” as the soundtrack for a social media post showing a shackled deportee.
■ A new lawsuit accuses the feds of arresting 22 people in the Midwest illegally since Trump returned to office.
■ Law professor and former U.S. Attorney Joyce Vance warns, “Deportations: It’s not where it starts, it’s where it ends.”
■ USA Today’s Rex Huppke has a new slogan for the U.S. National Travel and Tourism Office: “Come to America! You might win a free trip to El Salvador!”
■ France called—and it wants its Statue of Liberty back.
‘The perfect Trump lickspittle.’ Wonkette’s Gary Legum considers White House border czar Tom Homan “so dumb that a syphilitic howler monkey could mate him in three moves in a chess match.”
■ As the Tribune rolls out its endorsements in suburban elections, it’s backing a challenger to Orland Park’s mayor, who attended a December holiday bash featuring Homan.
■ Ready to vote? The Chicago Public Square Voter Guide Guide’s here for you.
If Illinois were more like California … A new Northwestern University study concludes that adopting California-style limits on truck pollution could save 500 Chicago-area lives a year.
■ The New York Times (gift link): More than 1,000 scientists could be laid off under a Trump plan to dismantle the EPA’s scientific research arm. (Cartoon: Jack Ohman.)
‘Your approval is only seven points ahead of where it turns red and goes into low-power mode.’ Daily Show host Jon Stewart rips into Democrats for their submission on Republican spending plans.
■ Public Notice: Democrats’ concession was months in the making.
About those abortion pills … Popular Information: Trump promised to protect access to them, but, um, that was then.
■ Abortion, Every Day author Jessica Valenti: “Stop believing Republicans … especially when it comes to abortion rights.”
■ Stat: The Trump administration’s canceled funding for a landmark diabetes study.
■ The Onion: “Texas Implements Mandatory 6-Month Quarantine For Anyone Who Has Watched Will And Grace.”
‘Outright theft.’ In a front-page editorial, the Tribune—along with other Alden Global Capital-owned newspapers across the country—slams OpenAI and Google for trying to “steal the content created with the sweat equity of America’s human journalists” to train artificial intelligence products.
■ Axios: “AI firms argue that using public data to ‘teach’ AI models is a fair use … similar to the use case search engines make in cataloging online information.”
■ Author and tech watchdog Cory Doctorow: “AI can’t do your job, but an AI salesman (Elon Musk) can convince your boss (the USA) to fire you and replace you (a federal worker) with a chatbot that can’t do your job.”
■ 404 Media: “AI slop is a brute force attack on the algorithms that control reality.”
■ The Freedom of the Press Foundation: Wired is dropping paywalls for Freedom of Information Act-based reporting. Others should, too.
Petitions, anyone?
■ Consumer Reports is urging the Federal Trade Commission to outlaw the creation of an AI fake of your voice without your consent.
■ The nonprofit Free Press Action is petitioning the Federal Communications Commission, now under the leadership of Project 2025 coauthor Brendan Carr, to abandon a “campaign of intimidation and censorship.”
Snap! Tedium’s Ernie Smith explores the Illinois origin of things you probably encounter every day: “The plastic buckles where you use two fingers to press in, and the two pieces of plastic disconnect from one another.”
■ Here’s the patent filing. (Image: PxHere.)
The day things changed. Axios Chicago reviews how the COVID-19 pandemic affected life in Illinois.
■ Five years ago today, one suburb became the first Illinois community to impose a “shelter-in-place” order.
■ The American Prospect: “Private equity vultures descend on care facilities for the disabled.”
‘Your leftist claptrap has been balm for my aching soul. It’s 476 in America, and your news judgment helps me through my day.’ That’s unsolicited praise from a Chicago Public Square supporter.
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