The [Tuesday] Papers

"Rob Sherman, who died over the weekend in a crash of his small plane in Marengo, operated a business helping people build aircraft from kits," the Sun-Times reports.

But the 63-year-old was better known as a colorful political activist and Green Party candidate - some might say gadfly - who called journalists and introduced himself as "Rob Sherman, your favorite atheist."

At one time, he had license plates that spelled out ATHEIST.

Though he came in for derision as a self-promoter, he challenged the use of government-sponsored Christmas creches and displays and anything he perceived as a co-mingling of church and state.

Rob Sherman did God's work - if there was a God.

Another Football Fatality
"The brother of Heisman Trophy winner [and former Chicago Bear] Rashaan Salaam told USA Today on Sunday that Salaam had 'all the symptoms' associated with chronic football head trauma before he committed suicide last week, including memory loss and depression."

Of course, we can't know for sure. But is there really any reason to doubt it?

"[Jabali] Alaji indicated that Salaam's brain was not donated for evaluation of CTE because of their Muslim faith and burial rituals, which call for burial within days after death and forbid desecration of the body. If Salaam's brain were examined, Alaji said, 'I would guarantee they'd find it. I would guarantee it.'"

Rahm's Flavor Favor
"Chicago aldermen on Monday advanced a plan to roll back part of one of Mayor Rahm Emanuel's signature initiatives to restrict the sale of flavored tobacco products near schools," the Tribune reports.

"Under the proposed ordinance passed by the Finance Committee, flavored cigarettes and cigars - including menthol cigarettes, candy-flavored cigars and other tobacco products with flavors added often favored by young smokers - could be sold in stores within 500 feet of grade schools."

That seems . . . wrong. Why the reversal?

"The Illinois Retail Merchants Association says the ban has unfairly punished small business owners, and [11th Ward Ald. Patrick] Daley Thompson said three or four corner stores are in trouble in his South Side ward with the loss of revenue from flavored tobacco sales."

Of course. Money.

"Anti-smoking advocates decried the move to undermine the flavored tobacco ban near schools. 'I'm sympathetic to the sales of loosies, but I don't know how to reconcile that with the fact that we appear to have saved an awful lot of lives and medical conditions by having ordinances such as the one that's being modified,' said Joel Africk, president and CEO of the Respiratory Health Association of Metropolitan Chicago."

Yeah, but it's not fair to businesses that make money from death.

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"In a statement Monday evening, Emanuel spokeswoman Lauren Huffman called the amended ordinance 'a fair compromise with aldermen on issues important to their communities, while preventing any setback on the progress we've made in protecting youth from tobacco use.'"

Lauren Huffman, you are Today's Worst Person In Chicago.

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"The Finance Committee also agreed Monday to pay more than $9 million to settle two lawsuits stemming from police shootings and a third in which a group of women challenged the fairness of the physical strength test for the Chicago Fire Department."

Again: Why is this material in the same article? You wouldn't have to do this if you shed your print convention mindset and your beat was a blog. Each of these is a separate entry.

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Humanity, Not Journalism, Failed

Today I feel like a failure. Nearly 25 years reporting war crimes has added up to nothing. We said "never again." What happened? #Aleppo

— Janine di Giovanni (@janinedigi) December 13, 2016

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The Press Has Fallen For Fascists Before
"[T]he Chicago Tribune credited [Mussolini] with saving Italy from the far left and revitalizing its economy."

Named: The World's Worst Tax Havens
"In these countries, big businesses are dodging taxes 'on an industrial scale,' forcing governments to reduce public spending or raise taxes on average citizens in order to make up for lost revenues . . . this level of tax dodging costs poor countries at least $100 billion every year."

Doping Probe: 'Unprecedented' Russian Corruption
More than 1,000 Russian Olympic athletes are now linked to cheating.

Summer Of My German Soldier
Suddenly, this post is no longer ironic.

Winter-Proof Your Pet
Dogs can, and do, get frostbite and hypothermia.

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BeachBook

Nixon Aide: War On Drugs Targeted Blacks.

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Year Ending With Just 20 People Overboard At Chicago Harbor Lock.

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There's An Antidote To America's Long Economic Malaise: College Towns.

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Investors Bet On Yuppie Migration To Rogers Park, Edgewater.

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TweetWood
A sampling.

A great, little read.

Tom Thibodeau is more himself than ever, writes @dan_bernstein https://t.co/GdkC7zLYon pic.twitter.com/BbCa7xmqGM

— 670 The Score (@670TheScore) December 13, 2016

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In keeping with his pattern of Cabinet picks, Trump chooses George Lopez as Secretary of Comedy.

— Beachwood Reporter (@BeachwoodReport) December 13, 2016

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The Bane of the NBA Coach: The In-Game Interview https://t.co/C2wGUNzpIo Why not just run on the court & interview a player while shooting?

— Beachwood Reporter (@BeachwoodReport) December 13, 2016

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'This past year has been, and I'll put this as delicately as possible, a massive, steaming pile of crap.' https://t.co/4NZ2etCDuK

— Beachwood Reporter (@BeachwoodReport) December 12, 2016

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The Beachwood Tronc Line: Worst tronc line ever.

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