The [Monday] Papers

"Streets and Sanitation plows deviated from their normal course to clear a path to Ald. Ed Burke's fortress-like house after a major winter storm last year, City Hall's inspector general said Monday," the Sun-Times reports.

"[I]nvestigators found snow-removal crews hit the powerful City Council member's block on West 51st Street 46 times in five days after the fifth-largest winter storm in Chicago history paralyzed traffic on many local streets on Super Bowl Sunday last year."

So Burke's block was plowed nine times a day, on average - quite possibly more often than Rahm Emanuel yells at his police chief.

Ferguson suggested the practice of favoring Burke's block without reason had been going on for a long time, saying he found it "equally concerning" that an unidentified supervisor in Streets and San "was untroubled by the appearance of preferential treatment and assumed the route deviation was expected as a past practice."

Nevertheless, the inspector general's office did not to seek punishment of any city employee involved in the plowing that served the city's longest-serving alderman so well.

"The investigation did not reveal deliberate preferential treatment, but rather a welter of fundamental misunderstandings of responsibilities and expectations in the snow program," Ferguson said.

It was all just a welter of fundamental misunderstandings. Or, more like, a welter of fundamental understanding.

"A spokesman for Burke, who has been alderman for 47 years, did not respond to requests for comment Monday."

Perhaps he was hashing out the precise wording of his apology.

From February 2015:

Burke's spokesman, Donal Quinlan, says no strings were pulled.

The veteran alderman's street "is classified as an arterial street - not a side street," Quinlan said Tuesday. "As you are aware, all arterial streets get plowed faster."

As Quinlan is now aware, as if he needed an inspector general to tell him, Burke's block is not an arterial street. Or maybe he meant to say aldermanic streets get plowed faster. It's just understood.

Trumping Rauner
"The governor is clearly sending mixed messages, refusing all recent attempts by reporters to try and get him to clarify where he stands on Trump, while skipping a national convention where his party chairman declares the ILGOP is 'in lockstep' with the candidate," Rich Miller writes at Capitol Fax.

Bruce Rauner may not be a politician, but he sure plays one on TV.

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Seriously, it's not asking too much to want to know if the governor of the state is in lockstep with a fascist neo-Nazi serial lying sociopath. This is the time to find out where everybody really stands.

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Speakers so far are all trying to make it clear they want to dispel any rumors that the IL GOP and Trump campaign aren't working together

— Lauren Chooljian (@laurenchooljian) July 18, 2016

So there you go.

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Not everyone is being shy - or cowardly.

One of Illinois' best-known Republicans voices sadness re today's GOP on the eve of the party's national convention. pic.twitter.com/CPxRoACUPy

— Dave McKinney (@davemckinney) July 18, 2016

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A Tribute To The World's Most Interesting Uncle
Speaking of the Nazi resistance . . .

The Cub Factor: Cub Scouts
Don't drink, don't smoke, what do they do?

How The BBC Blew Brexit
"The decision to cover the referendum as though it were a cricket match, rather than a complex event in which every viewer and listener was actually a participant, rather than an observer, meant that in the days before the vote, fewer than a third of voters felt well, or very well, informed."

Wisconsin Court: Predictive Sentencing Must Come With Warning Labels
Software is frequently wrong - and biased against blacks.

The White Sox Report: Fire Sale
He never thought he'd say it, but it's tank time.

The Week In Chicago Rock
Featuring: Savages, Car Seat Headrest, Miguel, Thundercat, Melomaniac, Propaganda, The Living Deads, Brian Wilson, Blood Orange with Carly Rae Jepsen, Shamir, G.W. Sok and Action Beat, John Carpenter, Digable Planets, Beach House, Whitney, Holly Herndon, Moose Blood, Helmet, Bulldozer, Exciter, Holy Ghost!, Woods, Neon Indian, Sun Ra Arkestra, FKA Twigs, Sufjan Stevens, Super Furry Animals, Girl Band, Jenny Hval, Old Grand Dad, JD McPherson, Trevor Hall, Tallest Man on Earth, Broken Social Scene, Oneohtrix Point Never, and Aaron Neville.

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BeachBook

DOJ Uses Ancient Computer System To Frustrate FOIA.

Most transparently frustrating ever.

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TweetWood
A sampling.

'No, Mr. Trump, that's a lie': What Lesley Stahl should have said Sunday night. My post: https://t.co/yOmsVXhxJW

— Margaret Sullivan (@Sulliview) July 18, 2016

She also should have done her homework:

Lesley Stahl on 60 Minutes is unaware of Trump's real-time position on the Iraq War. #Journalism https://t.co/LsrmPHGD71

— Beachwood Reporter (@BeachwoodReport) July 17, 2016

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So apparently Carly Rae Jepsen is the Malort of hipster rock.

— Beachwood Reporter (@BeachwoodReport) July 17, 2016

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The Beachwood Tronc Line: We're gonna find out where you fans really stand.

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