Watch out! Trump's SOTU stunt is going to become a standing feature of these speeches from now on
Enjoy your 'gotcha!' moment now, Republicans, but your time to sit uncomfortably is coming
2-26-2026
This week:
News and Views — Hot takes, fully baked
That’s so Brandon! — Updates on the misadventures of Chicago’s maladroit mayor
Land of Linkin’ — Where I tell readers where to go
Squaring up the news — Where Charlie Meyerson tells readers where to go
Media notes — Deep, ominous cuts at WGN-TV
Quotables — A collection of compelling, sometimes appalling passages and images I’ve encountered lately
Quips — The winning visual jokes and this week’s contest finalists
Good Sports — On robo-umps and stadium deals
Please stand if you think Trump’s ‘stand up’ gambit will come back to bite Republicans in the butt
The New York Times describes (gift link) the most dramatic moment in Tuesday night’s State of the Union speech:
Almost an hour into his speech, President Trump set his trap.
“One of the great things about the State of the Union,” he said, “is how it gives Americans the chance to see clearly what their representatives really believe.” …
“Tonight,” the president continued, “I’m inviting every legislator to join with my administration in reaffirming a fundamental principle. If you agree with this statement, then stand up and show your support: The first duty of the American government is to protect American citizens, not illegal aliens.”
“Illegal aliens” is a tendentious term — “undocumented immigrants” is preferred — and suggesting that the government has no duty to protect them from, say, crime or other predations, is odious. And “first duty” is a dodgy formulation.
I would say the “first duty” of government all all levels — local, state and national — is to protect the rights and safety of all, be they tourists or fifth-generation Americans. It’s not an either/or situation. That thought is not at odds with a belief that "the worst of the worst” violent criminals among the undocumented population should get the heave-ho.
So of course, the Democratic lawmakers stayed seated.
This was obviously what Mr. Trump was hoping might happen. “You should be ashamed of yourself, not standing up,” he pronounced triumphantly. The Republican side of the room erupted on cue. The architect of Mr. Trump’s aggressive immigration policy, Stephen Miller, made clear that the night’s performance had been built around this moment.
(I have contempt for the Times’ fussy and inconsistent use of honorifics, It doesn’t use “Mr.” for those in sports and the arts and for notorious criminals. Real people don’t litter their discourse with courtesy titles.)
The “stand up!” moment was a clever bit of theater, and I’m sure hundreds of Republican candidates are already planning to cut it into their campaign commercials.
But there will be a Democratic president again, assuming we continue to have free and fair elections, and given that voters consistently favor Democratic approaches to health care, abortion, guns, climate policy and tax policy, it’s easy to imagine a series of “stand up!” questions designed to keep Republicans in their seats. Some suggestions:
Stand up if you think we need stricter background checks for all gun purchases.
Stand up if you think no one should be denied the health care they need because they can’t afford it.
Stand up if you think human activity is leading to global climate change that must be urgently addressed.
Stand up if you think the decision to terminate a pregnancy should be made by the woman, her family and her doctor, not busybody lawmakers.
Stand up if you think church and state should remain separate.
Stand up if you think that gays and lesbians deserve all the rights, opportunities, respect and legal protections of straight people.
Stand up if you think rich people are getting far too great a tax break under current laws.
I admit that most of these binary questions are unfair. They flatten the nuance and ignore the complications and subtleties in each issue. You may favor abortion rights in the first trimester only, for example. Or you may be highly concerned about anthropogenic climate change but skeptical about the value of certain “urgent” regulations to curtail it.
As for the rest of the speech, David Frum in The Atlantic offered a crisp summation:
President Trump’s state of the union address last night was very like the man who delivered it: divisive, abusive, and childish. …
The most radical fantasy in the speech, though, was its claims of a new golden age of prosperity. That misstatement surely deceived nobody. Prices continue to rise; the job market stagnates. In almost every way that can be measured, Americans are communicating economic anxiety and discontent. Trump insisted that they were all wrong. It was as if the nation were being soaked by a torrential downpour, water rolling over umbrellas and into boats, soaking everyone’s clothes—and the leader whose job it was to lead them through the deluge insisted that it was not raining at all, that in fact it was sunny, the sunniest day ever.
The fact-checkers were on it:
CNN: “Trump makes false claims about the economy, elections and crime in State of the Union.”
NPR’s annotated fact check of President Trump’s State of the Union
The New York Times: “Fact-Checking Trump’s State of the Union Speech” (gift link)
FactCheck.org: “FactChecking Trump’s State of the Union Address.”
I realize this is a radical and possibly naive suggestion, but why don’t presidents run all their SOTU claims through a staff fact checker and deliver an honest assessment of the State of the Union? Emphasize the good, admit but downplay the bad, admit there is work to be done. Gaslights burn out.
Last week’s winning quip
Every year for as long as I can remember, I received a Valentine’s card from a secret admirer, and I was disappointed that I didn’t get one this year. First my grandma dies, and now this. — @MissAlly_01
Here are this week’s nominees and the winner of the Tuesday visual-jokes poll. Here is the direct link to the new poll.
News & Views
News: “A Tennessee lawmaker has filed legislation that would treat abortion as criminal homicide, potentially exposing women who obtain abortions to felony charges — and in extreme cases, the death penalty.”
View: This proposal is totally in keeping with the philosophy of those who have been using the “abortion is murder” slogan all these years yet trying to reassure us that, oh, no, they would never want to punish women who obtain abortions.
This reassurance has always seemed to me to be purely tactical. Most opponents of abortion rights know that actually treating abortion as equivalent to murder — and prosecuting women who get abortions in the same way we prosecute those who hire contract killers — would be wildly unpopular. Logical and consistent, yes, but so wildly unpopular as to push their views to the dark fringes of American politics.
Traditionally, the way to talk around such a merciless notion is to say that women who seek abortions are themselves victims of social pressure, economic circumstances or perhaps insistent male partners. These are get-out-of-jail-free cards they would never hand to actual murderers.
A somewhat similar bill filed earlier this month by downstate Republican state Sen. Neil Anderson called for anyone who takes the life of the unborn from the moment of fertilization on be “subject to the same presumptions, defenses, justifications, immunities, and clemencies as would apply to the homicide of a human being who had been born alive.” Since there is no death penalty in Illinois, Anderson’s proposal is marginally less extreme.
The bill has no co-sponsors and serves only to challenge opponents of abortion rights to explain why they don’t support the idea if they consider abortion to be murder.
A different sort of sleight of mind is employed by those who carve out exceptions for pregnancies that result in rape or incest. Opponents of abortion rights have their finger to the winds of public opinion when they endorse these exceptions:
YouGov, June 2025: Support for legal abortion when pregnancy results from rape or incest: Democrats ~95%, Republicans ~67%, Independents ~75%
Associated Press-NORC, July 2025: Support for legal abortion when pregnancy results from rape or incest: Democrats ~93%, Republicans ~77%, Independents ~87%.
This position makes sense only if you consider pregnancy and childbirth to be the punishment women deserve for having sex purely for pleasure. Whereas the position that women who obtain abortions (and the doctors who perform them) should be prosecuted as murderers makes sense only if you truly consider abortion to be the equivalent of murder.
News: A 65-year-old British woman here on a tourist visa was imprisoned for six weeks in ICE detention
View: This story, recently surfaced by The Guardian, will unfortunately serve as a warning to foreign tourists to stay the hell out of the U.S. until this madness ceases. More examples in the Guardian:
On Jan. 29, 2025, German tourist Jessica Brösche was stopped by ICE and held for 45 days (including eight days of solitary confinement). Early in February, Germans Lucas Sielaff and Fabian Schmidt were also detained. In late February, the British backpacker Rebecca Burke was incarcerated for 19 days in the same ICE facility where (the subject of the Guardian story would later spend six weeks). … Canadian actor Jasmine Mooney was held in an ICE detention centre for two weeks in March. In July, New Zealander Sarah Shaw and her six-year-old son were detained for three weeks.
International tourism added an estimated $181 billion to the U.S. economy in 2024, according to the World Travel and Tourism Council, but that figure dropped by 6.6% last year.
That’s So Brandon!
From the Sun-Times:
The city of Chicago hiked prices this year for some business license fees by as much as 400%, according to the Department of Business Affairs and Consumer Protection. … The higher fees took effect weeks after Mayor Brandon Johnson in December announced his “Cut the Tape for Small Business” initiative.
Land of Linkin’
“Could artificial intelligence save endangered archives? A Kenyon College cohort aims to find out”
The new EP just dropped from Stockyard Drawl, an Americana/roots/trad band my son Ben plays fiddle for. He wrote two of the tunes, including the first one at the link. If you don’t have Spotify — it has free accounts! — here is a YouTube link of the band performing Fiddlin’ Arthur Smith’s “Garfield’s Blackberry Blossom.”
Marj Halperin in the Tribune: “Crowded Illinois primary races frustrate voters and weaken candidates” (gift link). She makes the case for ranked choice voting.
The Canadian government uses “2SLGBTQI+” as shorthand for Two-Spirit, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Intersex plus any and all “who identify as part of sexual and gender diverse communities,” in case you want to keep up with the latest terminology. Though it does seem to me that SGM, a term the government offers for “Sexual and Gender Minorities,” would cover the same waterfront.
National Catholic Reporter: “Pope Leo tells priests not to use AI to write homilies or seek likes on TikTok.”
From Tuesday’s Picayune Plus:
‘Unapologetic in our heritage’? Who is Trump trying to kid? — The term “whitewashing” has never felt quite so on the nose.
Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton has a new campaign ad that features six people, including Sen. Tammy Duckworth, saying “Fuck Trump.” I’ve asked you to register how this might affect your vote.
Squaring up the news
This is a bonus supplement to the Land of Linkin’ from veteran radio, internet and newspaper journalist Charlie Meyerson. Each week, he offers a selection of intriguing links from his daily email news briefing Chicago Public Square:
■ “Full of lies”: Law professor Joyce Vance watched Donald Trump’s record-length State of the Union address so you didn’t have to: “If you had to take a drink every time he told the truth, you would have stayed sober.”
■ The AP: Trump took a “dark turn on Democrats.”
■ A Chicago-based toymaker won that landmark case against the president.
■ New polling finds the Chicago area’s 15-person 9th District Democratic congressional race down to single digits among three candidates.
■ Ready to grab a ballot? The Chicago Public Square Voter Guide Guide’s here for ya.
■ Chicago-born Pope Leo tells the president he won’t join the president’s “Board of Peace,” saying that business ought to be left to the United Nations. Stephen Colbert says Trump’s found a replacement: “The FIFA pope.”
■ Add this to your vocabulary: Bombogenesis.
■ Meanwhile in Chicago: Coyotes.
■ “Your phone number is the most dangerous number you own … and a criminal can steal it in minutes”: Tech columnist Kim Komando explains how to activate your carrier’s free SIM protection.
■ For the third February in a row, the Sun-Times’ Neil Steinberg challenges Google’s AI, Gemini, to write a column in his style—prompting the question “Will we continue to care if things are true anymore?”
■ John Oliver assesses the state of Twitter/X: “My personal advice is not to post on it at all.”
■ Fun new game. TidBITS reports: “Dialed shows you a color for 5 seconds, then asks you to recreate it using three color sliders.”
You can (and should) subscribe to Chicago Public Square free here.
Media notes
Deep cuts at WGN-TV cost some familiar faces their jobs
Shock waves went through the Chicago media community Monday with the announcement that nine on-air members of WGN-Ch.9’s news staff were laid off. They were:
Entertainment reporter Dean Richards
Sports anchor Chris Boden
Anchor Ray Cortopassi
Anchor/reporter Sean Lewis
Reporter Judy Wang
Reporter Julian Crews
Reporter Brónagh Tumulty
Meteorologist Mike Janssen
Political analyst Paul Lisnek
The Tribune reported that “six newswriters were laid off and three technical director positions were eliminated last month. In October, four floor director positions were eliminated as well.”
The Sun Times reported:
The layoffs are an apparent effort to cut costs in anticipation of the excessive debt Nexstar will incur from money borrowed to buy Tegna. In August, Nexstar announced it would acquire (media company) Tegna for $6.2 billion, creating a broadcast behemoth that would cover about 80% of US TV households. … WGN is still very profitable, despite changes in viewing habits, but the cuts have to come from somewhere. … Ratings-wise, WGN News performs great in the morning, dominates Fox 32 at 9 p.m. and is competitive at 10. Its morning-news show is emulated by other stations in the country.
Nexstar also made deep cuts at its Los Angeles and New York City stations.
Mass layoffs including high-profile talent are not unheard of in Chicago media.
See Robert Feder’s 2020 story “Mass layoffs at CBS 2 hit Pam Zekman, other ‘valued members of our team’” and the 2008 Tribune story that began, “Longtime Chicago newswomen Diann Burns and Mary Ann Childers, along with sportscaster Mark Malone, are among around 18 WBBM staffers Monday either laid off or being told their contracts will not be renewed by the CBS-owned station.”
The WGN layoffs are disappointing. The station’s 9 p.m. newscast is my go-to. But also disappointing was the glee expressed online by haters of mainstream media haters. For example:
WGN is a communist rats’ nest running cover for corrupt scum.We aim to rid Chicago of you and your Marxist cabal.
WGN News is a Democratic mouthpiece. I am so happy to hear about all these liberal pieces of shit losing their jobs.
The ignorance — TV news in Chicago is middle of the road and I have never seen any evidence of the political leanings of the reporters and anchors — and lack of humanity — gloating over people losing their jobs is nothing short of disgusting — is bad enough.
But what’s truly galling is the lack of perspective.
The same people who rant and rave about government corruption (except when it’s practiced by the Trump family of grifters) don’t realize that news organizations are the eyes and ears of the public, and the more they shrink, the easier it for the bastards to get away with their sleazy deals and incompetent schemes.
The Tribune Editorial Board slips another endorsement that’s not technically an endorsement past their corporate overlords
Last week I wrote about the Tribune Editorial Board’s Feb. 15th “thoughts” about the US Senate primaries and how these “thoughts" deftly skirted the edict of their owners, Alden Global Capital, barring endorsements in U.S. Senate races with a non-endorsement endorsement of Democrat Raja Krishnamoorthi and Republican Don Tracy.
Alden’s prohibition also applies to races for president and governor. But Sunday, the Board offered “thoughts” on the Republican gubernatorial primary (gift link) that gave the raspberry to Alden’s edict:
(Candidate Ted Dabrowski) is unlikely to appeal to rural Republicans, as a helpful research and policy staffer to a Republican governor, especially on pensions and other entitlements. But he did not suggest to us someone who would be able to work effectively with the Democratic majority in Springfield or, yet more importantly, inspire Illinoisans to feel like their state was in optimistic, moderate, sufficiently charismatic hands. Governors tend to be better when they are people people. …
There surely would be too steep a Springfield learning curve for (candidate and political novice Rick Heidner), a man with near-zero political experience.
But downstate farmer and former state legislator Darren Bailey, who called Chicago a “hellhole” in 2022 on his way to getting clobbered by JB Pritzker in the general election?
He told us he is a changed man and we believed him. …Bailey also said he was determined to better educate Illinoisans on who their elected state officials were and how to get their help and that “we should all do whatever we can to help immigrants become naturalized citizens,” which we were glad to hear. Indeed, we were glad to hear all of these changes in Bailey, who we found wiser, kinder and more moderate than previously the case. … We have disagreements on many things. But Bailey does have a sincere new mission and understanding of life’s struggles.
Can I get a copyright on the term “nondorsement”?
When does ‘dynamic pricing’ become predatory and exploitative? And does anyone in Chicago media care?
I put out a call the other day for seven-day home-delivery Tribune subscribers to email me what they’re paying for the service, since the newspaper’s pricing practices are opaque on the web. I’m renewing that call (EricZorn@gmail.com), and asking that, if possible, you attach a photo of the most recent invoice or postcard alert that tells you what price you’re paying. So far, some replies have suggested some long-term subscribers are paying nearly 20 times what other subscribers are paying.
All-news radio is back on top as all-Christmas radio recedes
Here, via Rick Kaempfer, are the January overall ratings for Chicago radio. WBBM-AM is back on top after ceding the top spot for two months to WLIT-FM’s wall-to-wall holiday music programming. I used to cover the radio industry, and I’m the first to tell you that these overall ratings don’t mean a whole lot to programmers and advertisers, who are highly focused on listener demographics and dayparts. Those ratings are available only to paid subscribers to the ratings service.
More from Chicago Public Square
■ The National Review’s Jim Geraghty offers a counterpoint to complaints of censorship at Colbert’s show.
■ Chicago Media Journal columnist Igor Studenkov assesses news that an Arizona State University nonprofit is taking control of four Chicago-area nonprofit newspapers (on whose board your Square columnist has served as an unpaid member).
Quotables
A collection of compelling, sometimes appalling passages I’ve encountered lately. In response to a reader’s observation/criticism, I’m putting the attributions first, in line with my contention that newspapers ought to fully identify the writers of op-eds at the top of the essays rather than at the bottom. Let me know whether or not you prefer that and why.
Neil Steinberg, Chicago Sun-Times — Every new technology cues the funeral rites, back to Robert Louis Stevenson explaining how gaslight had ruined the romance of London. Don’t install the telephone in the nursery — children could catch infectious diseases over the wires! Radio would cause cows to stop giving milk and birds to fall out of the sky dead. Television would erode children’s minds. Cell phones would give us brain cancer. AI will destroy mankind. To me the key question is this: Will we continue to care if things are true anymore? … We didn’t need AI to undermine the value of truth. Look at who we picked to run the country. Twice.
Paul Sullivan, Tribune sports columnist on the Bears stadium story — It’s not over until the full-figured lady sings.
Andy Shaw on Jesse Jackson — Love him, hate him, revere him or critique him — he sparked all four reactions from me and other Chicagoans — his career stands as a reminder that well-intentioned moral leadership, wielded boldly and persistently, can move the machinery of politics in ways that once seemed unimaginable.
Brad — You said you wanted Trump to run America like one of his businesses. He did. Debt exploded. Chaos everywhere. Reputation wrecked. Just like the rest of them. Congratulations you got exactly what you asked for.
Thelma Johnson — I have joked about it all day, but when you say you’re sending a hospital boat to another country for people who “aren’t taken care of” after you stripped healthcare from 20 million Americans, it’s offensive as hell.
The Wall Street Journal Editorial Board — Trump owes the Supreme Court an apology — to the individual Justices he smeared on Friday and the institution itself. Mr. Trump doubtless won’t offer one, but his rant in response to his tariff defeat at the Court was arguably the worst moment of his Presidency.
Sarah Ironside — Women from the USA dominated in the Winter Olympics, but the USA men’s hockey team was filmed laughing at Trump’s grossly misogynistic joke degrading the accomplishments of women. These men are a fucking disgrace to their country and the women in their lives.
Disgraced former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich — Governor Pritzker … eats like a bear but throws like a girl.
Republican former Vice President Mike Pence — I strongly and heartily welcome the decision by the Supreme Court of the United States to uphold the separation of powers and turn back President Trump's liberation day regime of tariffs. I think it's a relief for American businesses, American workers and a great affirmation of our constitutional order.
Philip Bump, MSNOW — The recent uptick in rhetoric about the importance of America’s “heritage” is nothing more than repainted racism. It is no more complicated than Southern insistences that an embrace of the Confederacy is similarly about heritage, when the defining characteristic of the Confederacy was its unrelenting commitment to enslaving Black people. … When we see Trump ally Elon Musk and others insist that this heritage is inextricably white — a culture of “English-Scotts-Irish origin,” in Musk’s verbiage — the point is not hard to perceive. … To suggest that American culture wasn’t shaped both by enslaved people and enslavement is to reject an enormous portion of American history.
Republican Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky — The Supreme Court reaffirmed authority that has rested with Congress for centuries. … When Washington throws up artificial barriers, building and buying here at home become more expensive. … As a matter of Constitutional authority, there is now no room for doubt: the use of IEEPA to circumvent Congress in the imposition of tariffs – already without precedent – is also illegal. Congress’ role in trade policy, as I have warned repeatedly, is not an inconvenience to avoid. If the executive would like to enact trade policies that impact American producers and consumers, its path forward is crystal clear: convince their representatives.
Republican former U.S. Rep. Joe Walsh — (Trump is) everything you taught your children not to be. You’d never work with him. You’d never work for him. You’d never do business with him. You’d never want to be friends with him. You’d never trust your wife or your daughter with him. Yet, this country put him in power. Twice.
Salty MacTavish — I just feel like we haven’t reached peak dystopia yet. If I’m not rounded up to work in the asbestos mines, I’m gonna sit out the next election. Maybe vote for Jill Stein, I don’t know.
Health and Human Service Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. — We need to stop trusting the experts. ... Trusting the experts is not a feature of science or democracy, it's a feature of religion and totalitarianism.
Betty Bowers — Trump whining that Supreme Court justices were “disloyal” to him underscores that Donald is a monumentally ignorant man who thinks like a mob boss. (The oath justices took) was to the Constitution, not the president. They even pledge to render decisions “without respect to persons.”
Quips
In Tuesday’s paid-subscriber editions, I present my favorite tweets that rely on visual humor. Subscribers then vote for their favorite. Here is the winner from this week’s contest:
The new nominees for Quip of the Week:
I’m never dating a damsel again. It’s just one crisis after another. — @kipconlon
I’m all for inclusivity, but I draw the line at people different than me. — @dsonoiki
Do you think the person who coined the term “one hit wonder” ever came up with any other popular phrases? — @LloydLegalist
I’m not saying I’m old, but we made ashtrays for our parents in art class. — @__Kimberly1
Your calculator history is probably more embarrassing than your browser history. — @iGreenGod
Job Interviewer: Where do you see yourself in the next five years? Me: I’d say my biggest weakness is listening. — @weekdayjokes
Me: Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day? The plumber: Knock yourself out. This is still gonna cost you $850. — @jackboot.bsky.social
I just finished my taxes I’ll see you guys in 2-5 years. — @Bob_Janke
Tu Youyou, winner of the 2015 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, is perhaps best known for being the most confusing person to sing “Happy Birthday” to. — unknown
Every dog is a greyhound if you’re a dog — @frovo.bsky.social
Vote here and check the current results in the poll.
I didn’t include this (very true) observation because what makes it funny (to me) is that a dictionary company would make it:
Yeet — slang interjection used to express surprise, approval or excited enthusiasm.
Minced Words
Brandon Pope, Marj Halperin and I joined host John Williams on this week’s episode of “The Mincing Rascals” podcast. We discussed the State of the Union speech, Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton’s “Fuck Trump” campaign commercial as she seeks the Democratic nomination for the U.S. Senate, ranked choice voting, the endless Bears stadium story, the future of Soldier Field and the Tribune’s “nondorsement” of Darren Bailey in the Republican gubernatorial primary.
Traffic lights:
John — A green light for the nonfiction bestseller “A Marriage at Sea” by Sophie Elmhirst billed as “the electrifying true story of a young couple shipwrecked at a mind-blowing tale of obsession, survival, and partnership stretched to its limits.”
Marj — A green light for the movie “Sinners,” available on Netflix, which recently set the record for most Oscar nominations for a single film.
Brandon — Green light for “Reality Check: Inside ‘America's Next Top Model,’” a three-part Netflix documentary series that pulls back the curtain on the reality show that ran from 2003 to 2018.
Eric — A yellow light for Kevin Nealon’s new stand-up comedy special “Loose in the Crotch,” streaming on YouTube. Nealon, 72, left “Saturday Night Live” 31 years ago, but has come to my attention in recent years for his hilarious appearances on the podcast “Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend.” His stand-up is Seinfeld-clean, uneven but in places very funny.
Subscribe to us wherever you get your podcasts. Or bookmark this page. If you’re not a podcast listener, you can hear an edited version of the show at 8 p.m. most Saturday evenings on WGN-AM 720 look for the YouTube version that will be posted later in the week.
Good Sports
Robo-umps are here, so let’s just use them already
Major League Baseball will, for the first time this season, allow pitchers, batters and catchers to challenge a ball-strike call by the umpire by appealing to the ABS — Automatic Ball-strike System — that uses 3D tracking technology to determine whether a pitch was actually a ball or a strike.
Each team starts with two challenges per game, and successful challenges don’t count.
Why not simply use it on every pitch and relay the result instantly to the plate umpire? No good reason. Traditionalists like the fact that some umpires have different strike zones and some catchers are really good at “framing” pitches by quickly moving their mitts into the strike zone after they catch the ball. Some simply moan and groan about the loss of the “human element” (i.e., absurd mistakes) in officiating.
I totally disagree. Similar technology has helped tennis and football be fairer sports, just as replay has removed many of the flagrant official/umpire errors in many sports. The “human element” is a bug, not a feature.
Where are you on the next location of the Bears stadium?
Sun-Times sports columnist Scoop Jackson — “Whatever” seems to be the word being tossed around by everyone else not directly connected to the process of deciding where the Bears’ home games are going to take place in 2033.
As someone who avidly watches but never attends Bears games, it is a matter of indifference to me where the team will play its home games once it leaves Soldier Field, just so long as I don’t have to pay an extra nickel in taxes to facilitate the construction of a new stadium. But I’m interested in where my readers are on this:
Info
I am a former opinion columnist for the Chicago Tribune. I began publishing the Picayune Sentinel on Sept. 9, 2021, roughly two and a half months after I took a buyout from the newspaper. Find a longer bio and contact information here. This issue exceeds in size the maximum length for a standard email. To read the entire issue in your browser, click on the headline link above. Paid subscribers receive each Picayune Plus in their email inbox each Tuesday, are part of our civil and productive commenting community and enjoy the sublime satisfaction of supporting this enterprise. Browse and search back issues here.
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Thanks for reading!
In regard to the WGN layoffs, I assume they if they laid off field reporters, then the cameramen also got laid off?
With the Bears stadium, I also don't care where they go, but not one cent of tax money for infrastructure & no tax breaks for them.
The team is worth almost $9 billion now, if they need money for infrastructure, go to the banks & borrow it using the value of the team as collateral!
I don't get a break on my real estate taxes, so why should a family of cheap, grifting billionaires get one?
Great selection of quips this week.