The news keeps coming. More stuff happens in 24 hours than one email newsletter can possibly convey. Keep up around the clock with the Chicago Public Square account on Bluesky. But let’s see what’s up now:
‘Warm and friendly.’ That’s how The Associated Press describes Donald Trump’s White House meeting with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman …
■ … even though U.S. intelligence concluded in 2021 that Mohammed approved the 2018 assassination of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
■ When an ABC reporter asked about that murder, Trump interrupted: “Things happen” …
■ … proceeding to attack that reporter.
■ A Post editorial fires back (gift link): “The United States government often advances its national interests by working with nasty people, and … Mohammed bin Salman is one of the nastiest. Forgetting Mohammed’s brutality … is a choice, and Trump made the wrong one.”
■ Columnist Parker Molloy: “Wouldn’t want to make a murderer feel awkward at his party.”
■ Deadline cites growing speculation Saudi Arabia’s positioning itself to buy U.S. media companies.
427 to 1 and 100 to 0. Those were the votes in the U.S. House and the Senate respectively to force the Justice Department to release its files on Trump pal and now-dead sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
■ Message Box proprietor Dan Pfeiffer calls the passage “a stunning failure” demonstrating that “Trump has never been weaker.”
■ Lawyer Robert Hubbell says Tuesday “was one of the days when years of effort came to fruition in hours … cause for a moment of reflection and celebration” …
■ … although investigative journalist Ken Klippenstein says “opponents of the law have another plan to stop it, described in a little-noticed document circulated by House Speaker Mike Johnson” …
■ … or, as Jimmy Kimmel put it: “If anyone thinks [Trump’s] going to release all the Epstein files, I’ve got a beautiful East Wing of the White House to sell you.”
■ Philadelphia Inquirer columnist Will Bunch (gift link) on ex-Harvard President Larry Summers’ Epstein ties: The Harvard Crimson student paper “produced the most in-depth takedown of any media outlet, anywhere.”
■ Harvard’s opened a new investigation into Summers.
■ Columnist and former Illinois U.S. Rep. Marie Newman: “Forgiving (not forgetting) Marjorie Taylor Greene may make sense for America (and me).”
‘Quiet, piggy.’ Law professor Joyce Vance: Trump’s crude response to a Bloomberg reporter’s question last Friday “tells you all you need to know about this president’s attitude toward women.”
■ CNN’s Brian Stelter says it shows a president “especially jumpy about Epstein-related questions.”
■ Trump’s niece Mary Trump in video posted to Twitter X: “The only pig in that scenario is Donald.”
‘There is still federal immigration enforcement happening in our neighborhoods.’ Yesterday’s Chicago Public Square prompted reader Erin Ellis to write: “While Bovino has left for Charlotte, DHS is still actively abducting Chicagoans as of this [Tuesday] morning. (While I have seen no media coverage of the incident, Rapid Responders observed federal agents take someone from Kedzie/Wabansia around 10 a.m.). I find it concerning that so many media sources are writing about this as though we no longer have to worry about federal occupation (or that we’re in the clear through the winter at least). This risks cultivating an unearned complacency when our communities have only gotten this far through vigilance and organization. Please make sure that people know that … their attention is still of the utmost importance!”
■ Borderless: What to do if ICE shows up at your workplace.
■ Newly released bodycam footage details Border Patrol cruelty during a Halloween confrontation in Evanston.
■ ICE and company took St. Paul by surprise yesterday.*
How convenient. 404 Media: “The Department of Homeland Security claimed in court proceedings that nearly two weeks’ worth of surveillance footage from ICE’s Broadview Detention Center … has been ‘irretrievably destroyed’ and may not be able to be recovered.”
■ In the days since a federal judge ordered improved conditions at Broadview, the number of detainees held there as of yesterday had dropped to four.
■ A federal judge has ordered release by Friday of more than 400 others detained in the Chicago area since June.
CTA terrors. A man set a woman on fire last night on a Blue Line train near the Clark/Lake station.
■ That followed the wounding of a woman late Monday as gunmen opened fire on a crowd awaiting a Southwest Side bus.
■ That followed the wounding of a woman late Monday as gunmen opened fire on a crowd awaiting a Southwest Side bus.
■ A man convicted of randomly punching a woman in the face downtown has been sentenced to seven years in state prison.
■ Chicago’s police superintendent promises to focus on the growing number of incidents in which cops point their guns at people.
Dems vs. Dems. More than two dozen U.S. House Democrats joined all Republicans to reprimand Chicago Rep. Chuy Garcia for the sneaky way he cleared the path for his succession by his chief of staff.
■ Two Illinois Democrats joined Republicans.
■ Illinois Sen. President Don Harmon’s beaten the rap on a $9.8M campaign fine for taking campaign cash in violation of a law Harmon championed.
■ Cook County Treasurer Maria Pappas is running for mayor of Chicago: “The city needs a grey-haired grandmother!”
Class dismissed. As Republicans move to dismantle the U.S. Education Department, its management of K-12 and college programs is getting shunted off to the Labor Department …
■ … and other programs are getting kicked to the Health and Human Services, State and Interior departments.
Digital displeasure. NBC 5 documents broad frustration with grocery stores’ digital coupons.
■ As of today, Illinoisans can store state IDs on their phones …
■ … but you’ll still need a physical ID when driving.
■ You can now do much the same with a passport.
‘Recycling lead for U.S. car batteries is poisoning people.’ The New York Times (gift link) says what’s been portrayed as an environmental benefit for Americans is responsible for “a preventable public health disaster unfolding in communities across Africa.”
■ Consumer Reports: “Facebook users are exposed to 11 scam ads a day—and … parent company Meta not only knew … it profited handsomely from them.”
■ Emily Bressler’s satire for McSweeney’s: “I work for an evil company, but outside work, I’m actually a really good person.”
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A Square public service announcement
Add some journalism sparkle to your holiday season. The Chicago Headline Club Foundation will host a special screening of All the President’s Men, 5:15 p.m., Dec. 18 at the Siskel Film Center. This special fundraising event will support the foundation’s scholarship and internship programs. Tickets available here.
* Your Square columnist’s daughter-in-law was there.
