Chicago -
By Steve Rhodes
“First thing we do, let’s thank all the lawyers,” and other Shakespeare revisions for the Trump era
— M. Carrie Allan (@Carrie_the_Red) January 30, 2017
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“Mercedes Badia-Tavas, Chicago chair of the American Immigration Lawyers Association, said she was at O’Hare on Saturday ‘in the mayhem,'” WBEZ reports.
Posted on January 31, 2017
By Steve Rhodes
“A BBC journalist has said he was detained for two hours and subjected to invasive checks at the U.S. border by officials imposing Donald Trump’s travel ban,” the Independent reports.
“British citizen Ali Hamedani, who was born in Iran, said he was forced to hand over his phone and its password so it could be scoured for his political views.
“The BBC World Service reporter’s social media accounts were probed despite him having traveled to Chicago’s O’Hare airport from London Heathrow while holding a British passport.”
Posted on January 30, 2017
By Steve Rhodes
Programming Note: There will be no Papers on Friday nor a Weekend Desk Report. I’ll return on Monday.
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“When President Trump declared on Saturday that reporters are ‘among the most dishonest human beings on earth,’ it was not the first time he had disparaged the press,” Ronell Andersen Jones and Sonja R. West write in a New York Times Op-Ed.
And being a real estate developer, reality TV star and politician, he’d know!
“Nor was it out of character when, later that same day, his press secretary threatened ‘to hold the press accountable’ for reporting truthful information that was unflattering to Mr. Trump. Episodes like these have become all too common in recent weeks. So it’s comforting to know that the Constitution serves as a reliable stronghold against Mr. Trump’s assault on the press.
“Except that it doesn’t. The truth is, legal protections for press freedom are far feebler than you may think. Even more worrisome, they have been weakening in recent years.”
Uh-oh.
Now’s when you click through to read the rest.
Posted on January 26, 2017
By Steve Rhodes
“The passage of an ambitious Illinois Senate ‘grand bargain’ package of bills hit a speed bump on Tuesday as Senate leaders opted to take in further input – while also adding new taxes to a revenue bill, including an excise tax on services and a tax on employers based on payroll,” the Sun-Times reports.
“The additions show there are still plenty of changes that may be made to the evolving package of 13 bills before it hits the floor.”
Here’s my favorite part of the package, as currently constituted:
Posted on January 25, 2017
By Steve Rhodes
“Chicago’s Trump street signs have gone missing,” the Tribune reports.
“More than a month ago, a city crew quietly removed the honorary ‘Trump Plaza’ signs from near President Donald Trump’s downtown skyscraper amid calls from aldermen to melt them down or auction them off for charity. Now, a spokesman for the city Department of Transportation says he doesn’t know where they are or what happened to them.”
First, how about auctioning them off for charity and then melting them down?
Posted on January 24, 2017
By Steve Rhodes
When Kellyanne Conway was still Kellyanne Fitzpatrick:
“The new rules are that there are no rules,” said Kellyanne Fitzpatrick, who was Dan Quayle’s pollster. “The only job left on the market in today’s culture that has no criteria is running for president. It’s how popular do you seem to be. How much are people buzzing about you.”
Posted on January 23, 2017
By Steve Rhodes
Obama did right thing here, but his record on leak prosecutions is abysmal. Hope more pardons on way @SarahStV_HRW https://t.co/Fthk6pJb7J
— Laura Pitter (@Laurapitter) January 18, 2017
This is fantastic news, although before giving Obama too much credit here, a reminder that this is just reversing his own act of injustice.
— Joseph Fink (@PlanetofFinks) January 17, 2017
Many Dems whitewashed Obama-era leak crackdowns, which had damaging, chilling effects on NatSec sources & reporting. https://t.co/g4BI8XgoTt
— C.J. Chivers (@cjchivers) January 17, 2017
Posted on January 18, 2017
By Steve Rhodes
“Chicago Public Schools says it will try to speed up the process of finding new uses for buildings shuttered by school closings in 2013 by putting about 30 vacant properties on the market,” the Tribune (and Sun-Times) reports.
“Putting the remaining properties up for bid ‘will accelerate the reuse and revitalization of former school sites and help spur new value from properties throughout the city,’ CPS spokesman Michael Passman said in a statement.”
Posted on January 17, 2017
By Steve Rhodes
I’m busy reading the DOJ’s CPD report – and coverage thereof. I’ll get back to regular columning next week.
Posted on January 14, 2017
