A moment of silence for Michael Miner

& will the more be the merrier in next year's hot political races?

5-8-2025 (issue No. 192)

This week:

• A programming note — The Tune of the Week is evolving

• Last week’s winning quip

• A memorial salute to Michael Miner, including a remembrance from Mary Schmich

• Bashing Trump — It’s necessary, but polls show not sufficient to move voters into the Democratic column

• News and Views — Hot takes, fully baked on the 2026 U.S. Senate race in Illinois, on what U.S. Rep. Jan Schakowsky’s decision to retire might mean for the race in her district and Alcatraz

• That’s so Brandon! — A hat tip instead of a wag of the finger!

• Land of Linkin’ — Where I tell readers where to go

• Squaring up the news — Where Charlie Meyerson tells readers where to go

• Viral humor — It might take you a second to get the joke

• Barbara Brotman is going to war against dandelions

• What’s on “The Mincing Rascals” podcast this week

• Quotables — A collection of compelling, sometimes appalling passages I’ve encountered lately

• Good photo or bad photo? — I’ve been taken to task for a Facebook post, and I’d like your opinion

• Quips — The winning visual jokes and this week’s contest finalists

• Good Sports — Sox watch is on hiatus at last

• Tune of the Week — “Dark Ages” by Eliza Gilkyson

Programming note

After nearly 200 Tune of the Week posts, I’m planning to expand the feature starting next Thursday by rebranding it as Green Light, as in go for it. It will feature recommendations not only of songs but also of TV shows, streaming movies, books, podcasts and other diversions that can be enjoyed at home — i.e., no restaurants, plays, theatrical films, tourist sites and so on. I’m asking for your nominations — email me a paragraph or two of explanation and background along with helpful links. For TV shows, I’d like links to trailers/previews on YouTube.

Last week’s winning quip

I wish I could listen to my headphones when I go for a run and not have to worry about getting attacked, but sadly we do not live in a world where I go running. — @beccafacexo

I received some pushback for including this quip, which takes a dark observation and twists it into an unexpected bit of self-deprecation. Several readers argued that there is nothing funny about the fear that women can have while running or walking alone, and I agree. But humor is often rooted in upended expectations, and a plurality of readers chose this as their favorite among the finalists.

Here are this week’s nominees and the winner of the Tuesday visual-jokes poll. Here is the direct link to the new poll.

On the passing of Michael Miner

The local journalism community was saddened to learn of the death May 1 of Michael Miner, 81, who for many years wrote the Hot Type column of media criticism and analysis for the Chicago Reader.

Since his retirement, we have not since seen the like of his carefully crafted, thoughtful, fair and sometimes-withering looks at local news coverage and commentary. He died just two days after I posted this about the current glaring lack of a Chicago media columnist:

It’s a more fragmented beat than ever, and to cover it adequately would require a lot more bandwidth than I have in semi-retirement. I’d be happy to promote the work of an independent journalist who launched an aggressive media-crit site, one that ignored birthdays, anniversaries and meaningless puffery and instead offered frequent dives into what’s happening and why in our newsrooms.

From the Sun-Times obituary by Mitch Dudek:

Michael Miner kept Chicago journalists on their toes.

As the longtime media columnist for the Chicago Reader, if he saw something in the local papers or television news that seemed to miss the mark or made him roll his eyes, he’d write about it in his “Hot Type” column.

Mr. Miner pondered such topics as hypocritical columnists, biases, bad grammar and questionable editorial takes.

From the Tribune obituary by Rick Kogan:

“In an era of robust competition among newsrooms all over town, Michael Miner was an unsentimental watchdog of Chicago journalism and a conscience of our profession,” says Robert Feder, longtime Chicago media critic. “He didn’t originate the ‘Hot Type’ column, but he made it his own, and he made it the first thing we turned to when The Reader came out every week.”

In an appreciation essay published in the Reader in 2011, Steve Bogira wrote that Miner, “has the wit and skill of the fabled Mike Royko, but is more cerebral. He does lack Royko’s switchblade: he’s willing to offend, but his hating instinct is underdeveloped.”

Mary Schmich posted this tribute on Facebook on Sunday:

I woke up this morning thinking about Mike Miner.

I learned yesterday that Mike just died. He was legendary among Chicago journalists during most of my years at the Chicago Tribune, notably as the feared and revered media critic for the Chicago Reader.

I vividly remember the period—late ‘80s? early ‘90s?—when once a week, a big stack of Readers would be plunked at the Chapman Sisters Calorie Counter, a lunch place right across Michigan Avenue from Tribune Tower.

Every Thursday, reporters scurried over for a salad and a copy of the hot-off-the-presses paper. We turned straight to Mike’s column.

What did Miner have to say about that hot Sun-Times or Tribune story? Was he going to lacerate some terrible reporter? Or editor? Or praise some great reporter? Or editor?

I didn’t know Mike well. Sometimes I’d see him at a journalism gathering, the tallest guy in the room, his head of frothy hair poking above the crowd. He interviewed me a few times, more than once on background as he tried to understand the goings-on at the Tribune.

But I’d never had what I’d call a “real” one-on-one conversation with him until one night two months ago.

We were at a party for a mutual friend. Needing a respite from the chit-chat, I sat down in a chair away from the fray. He came and sat down on the piano bench next to me, partly, I sensed, because he needed to sit down.

We wound up talking for a long time, about his path into journalism, and mine, about how lucky we were to work in Chicago newspapers when they were so robust.

I mentioned, in a good-natured way, how afraid so many journalists had been of his media criticism. He seemed genuinely surprised: How could anyone find him scary?

I was struck that night by how droll he was, by his ready smile, and by his thoughtful, watchful way of listening. We talked about poetry, which, to my surprise, he wrote. He urged me to keep writing TrumPoems, which is a big part of why I have.

Toward the end of our conversation, he asked if I was going to write a book. I shrugged and said I didn’t think I had it in me.

I asked if he was going to write a book. He shrugged and said he spent a lot of his time going to doctors, and living day to day, which, we agreed, was really the only way to live anyway.

As our conversation came to a close, he said, “If you write a book, I’ll write a book.” I said, “Deal.”

It was such a nice conversation that I mentioned it later to to a couple of friends, and said, “It makes me regret not getting to know him better.”

Mike seemed tired and reflective that night, but I didn’t guess that he would be gone so soon. Many people who knew him well have posted about him here on Facebook, and they have greater insights about his life and his death.

But since I woke up thinking about him, and about his wonderful wife, Betsy Nore, I just wanted to say that I hope he left this world knowing that his thoughts, his being, his heart, left wide ripples.

Again, I will say that Miner’s — and Feder’s — shoes need filling. Legacy and emerging media remain very important in this town. Everywhere, really. And as much as we need movie, TV, music and drama critics, we need media critics to analyze, cajole, praise and call out the work that shapes our civic life.

Miner interviewed me several times over the years, sometimes on the record, sometimes off the record, and I noted — and later borrowed — his habit of allowing long silences in conversations, stilling momentarily his deep, gentle voice. These silences inspired me and I imagine others he interviewed to fill the void with yet another thought, perhaps an admission or impolitic observation that would make its way into print.

At a party a few years ago — well after he retired — I told him that I’d recognized and admired the way he took advantage of people’s natural aversion to awkward silences to draw additional thoughts from them. He chuckled softly and said, “Oh, is that what you thought I was doing?”

I didn’t say anything for a beat, but he didn’t either. So then we changed the subject.

A memorial program is scheduled for 3:30 p.m. Monday, May 19, at the Newberry Library, 60 W. Walton St., in Chicago

The public is souring on Trump but not warming up to Democrats

Numerous respected polls timed to the 100-day mark of the Trump regime show President Donald Trump’s approval ratings at historically low levels for this point.

But a Newsweek article took a turn after first laying out all the bad news for Trump:

The CNN/SSRS poll showed that when respondents were asked who would be doing a better job as president, 45 percent chose Trump, while 43 percent chose Kamala Harris. … That would suggest that voters' support for Trump has not shifted all that much since November.

An ABC News/Washington Post/Ipsos poll, conducted between April 18 to 22 among 3,634 respondents, brought more bad news for the Democrats, showing that when respondents were asked who they trusted more to deal with the U.S.'s main problems, 40 percent chose Trump, compared to just 32 percent who chose Democrats in Congress.

And in the latest Reuters/Ipsos poll, conducted between April 25-27 among 1,029 adults, the Republicans held a significant advantage over Democrats on two of the most pressing issues for voters: immigration and the economy.

When asked which party has the better plan to address immigration, respondents favored the GOP by a wide 19-point margin. On the economy, Republicans also lead by 9 points. That is despite recent polls showing Trump deep underwater on both issues over the past few weeks after he announced his "Liberation Day" tariffs and became embroiled in a dispute with the Supreme Court over the mistaken deportation of Maryland resident Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia.

Given how deeply entrenched most people are in their political allegiances and Trump’s unprecedented ability to defy political gravity, these results shouldn’t be too surprising. Trump’s ovine followers will not let anything like inflation — possibly a recession — unnecessary cruelty, grifting and defiance of the law diminish their support for him. But there’s clearly a key group of Trump voters who held their noses and cast a ballot for the cruel, authoritarian, ignorant narcissist because, on balance, they considered taking a chance on his agenda superior to continuing with the Democratic agenda as represented by Kamala Harris.

This provides something of a road map (remember those?) for Democrats as they look to the midterm elections and the 2028 presidential contest: Bashing Trump works but only goes so far. They need to put forward new proposals to address the issues that drove those persuadable voters into his arms.

S.E. Cupp:

Where’s the new Dem New Deal? Or their version of a Contract with America? A bold agenda for every Dem lawmaker to get behind, push in their districts and coalesce around heading into the midterms and for the next three years?

Trump’s 100 days have been equal parts terrifying, heartbreaking and embarrassing — but it’s hard to say that Democrats have done anything meaningful in that time either.

Well, it is hard for a party out of power to do much that’s meaningful. But the Democrats are going to have to start saying things that are meaningful if they’re going to turn Trump’s dismal poll numbers to their advantage.

News & Views

News: U.S. Reps. Robin Kelly and Raja Krishnamoorthi in, Treasurer Michael Frerichs out in the race to succeed U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin.

View: There’s little time left to stand on the sidelines. Looking at you, U.S. Rep. Lauren Underwood, Illinois Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias, former Mayor Rahm Emanuel and anyone else thinking of getting into the contest for campaign cash and endorsements that will take up much of the rest of this calendar year.

Tribune contributing columnist Laura Washington wrote a column (gift link) this week expressing concern that if Underwood joins Kelly and Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton, who is already in, the three Black women might split the vote. Writing directly to this trio, she strongly suggested they choose just one of them to carry the banner forward:

Ladies, as you gear up for the big campaign, consider having your own conversation, a private kitchen table talk. That talk should cover a prickly path to reality. First, if you all stay in, you all may lose. Second, Kelly and Underwood … will have to give up your safe congressional seats. That would be a potential loss of seniority and clout for your districts and open up the chance for a Republican takeover in the general election.

I’m an undecided voter here — that seems only responsible given how far off the March 17, 2026, primary is and how little I know of their records or policy proposals — but I’m in agreement with the recent Tribune editorial “JB Pritzker should stop trying to make Juliana Stratton the inevitable successor to Dick Durbin.”

Gov. Pritzker’s hasty endorsement of Stratton followed by Stratton endorsements, from U.S. Sen. Tammy Duckworth and former Sen. Carol Moseley Braun, look like an effort by insiders to discourage other candidates from getting in the race; it is all about loyalty and has little to do with Stratton’s record as a public official, which is awfully thin.

To repeat myself, I don’t necessarily want somebody somebody sent. Thanks, JB, Tammy and Carol, but I’d like to make up my own mind.

News: Fourteen-term U.S. Rep. Jan Schakowsky announces she won’t run for reelection next year.

View: This is potentially very good news for Kat Abughazaleh, a progressive TikTok influencer who jumped in the primary race in March. Her chances for unseating Schakowsky one-on-one appeared very dim, but in the multicandidate field likely to develop, she might be able to sneak in.

My nickname for her is Kat Carpetbagazaleh since she’s a native Texan who lived in Arizona and, until last July, Washington, D.C. And though she’s moved to Chicago, she still doesn’t live in the district where she’s running.

Just hours before Schakowsky’s announcement Monday, Edward McClelland of Chicago Magazine posted an interview with Abughazaleh in which he challenged her knowledge of the district with a short trivia quiz.

She says she’s planning to move into the district, though that’s not strictly necessary because the Constitution requires only that that members of the House “live in the state they represent, though not necessarily the same district,” according to a U.S. House website.

To my mind, the spirit of the House is that members have a strong connection to their districts and the people they represent and aren’t have-ideology-will-travel opportunists.

But as a fresh, passionate and eloquent voice, Carpetbagazaleh could well win a plurality if the field of candidates grows. I’m thinking here particularly of the 2009 special primary for the 5th U.S. House District in Illinois when Mike Quigley — who still holds the seat — won with 22% of the vote against 12 other Democrats.

News: President Trump wants to rebuild and reopen Alcatraz prison.

View: Either Trump is nuttier than a Snickers bar or he’s engaging in some canny rhetorical rope-a-dope, attempting to exhaust and distract his critics by getting them to direct attention and energy at a completely unbaked idea that he has no actual intention of enacting.

Shortly after the movie “Escape from Alcatraz” aired on a TV station near Mar-a-Lago last week, Trump issued yet another of his loudmouth-at-the-end-of-the bar rants:

REBUILD, AND OPEN ALCATRAZ! For too long, America has been plagued by vicious, violent, and repeat Criminal Offenders, the dregs of society, who will never contribute anything other than Misery and Suffering. When we were a more serious Nation, in times past, we did not hesitate to lock up the most dangerous criminals, and keep them far away from anyone they could harm. That’s the way it’s supposed to be. No longer will we tolerate these Serial Offenders who spread filth, bloodshed, and mayhem on our streets. That is why, today, I am directing the Bureau of Prisons, together with the Department of Justice, FBI, and Homeland Security, to reopen a substantially enlarged and rebuilt ALCATRAZ, to house America’s most ruthless and violent Offenders. We will no longer be held hostage to criminals, thugs, and Judges that are afraid to do their job and allow us to remove criminals, who came into our Country illegally. The reopening of ALCATRAZ will serve as a symbol of Law, Order, and JUSTICE. We will, MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!

To reporters he later extolled the wonders of the island prison off San Francisco, saying “it sort of represents something that's both horrible and beautiful and strong and miserable.”

Now it represents a whopping waste of money.

One of the reasons it closed 62 years ago was that it cost some three times more to operate than conventional prisons due to its island location. Converting the ruins of the vintage hoosegow from a decrepit tourist attraction to a functioning prison would be wildly expensive.

Also unnecessary. We already have highly secure prisons. For example, ADX Florence, a landlocked federal prison in Fremont County, Colorado, is nicknamed “Alcatraz of the Rockies,” because no prisoner has escaped in the 31 years since it opened.

Consider me distracted. I didn’t even get around to mentioning Trump’s admission that he doesn’t know if he’s required to uphold the Constitution, his plans for a military parade in Washington D.C., his astonishing lie about the price of gas, his …

That’s So Brandon!

Updates on the misadventures of Chicago’s mayor Brandon Johnson

Rather than wag my finger at Hizzoner as is my wont, this week I want to tip my cap to how Johnson addressed the controversy over the settlement of the Columbus statues issue.

The Tribune’s Jake Sheridan reports:

Asked Tuesday about the difference between the removed Columbus statues and the controversial pro-Palestinian protest puppet his administration kept up at the Chicago Cultural Center in January, Johnson argued “there is a distinction between art and monument.”

“A monument solidifies a position … we are honoring,” he said. “Art is not necessarily telling you (that) you should honor their opinion or their thought.”

This is exactly right and crisply expressed. Statues are neither history nor art, even though they are artistic renderings of historical figures. They are honors, pure and simple — akin to naming a street, park or public school for someone (Columbus has all three in Chicago) or a building or geographical feature — but more directly and personally glorifying.

No one is perfect, but Columbus is a particularly problematic figure for Italian Americans to hang their ethnic pride on, given that Italy didn’t even exist during his lifetime and there’s quite a bit of doubt now about his actual heritage.

See Vox’s “Just 9 instances of the almost unimaginable cruelty inflicted by Christopher Columbus and his crew during their time in the Caribbean” and my 2020 column “Ethnic pride, yes. Columbus Day? No.” Picayune Sentinel readers weighed in on Columbus here.

Land of Linkin’

• A hole in the Chicago Public Media story “Acupuncture has been used for decades to treat addiction — advocates want to expand its reach” is that it failed to note that claims for acupuncture do not survive rigorous scientific scrutiny.

• Rex Huppke of USA Today has the receipts when he argues that Donald Trump is at least as incoherent and addled as Joe Biden ever was, but since Trump does not have a weak voice and stammer, his supporters seem oblivious to it.

• Mike Miner could be tough, but he went easy on me nine years ago in observing the 30th anniversary of my Tribune column.

• Indiana University School of Law student Gerry Regep’s op-ed in the Tribune “Court’s revival of UIC law professor’s claim is good news for constitutional rights” gives additional oxygen and perspective to the case I’ve been writing about concerning Jason Kilborn, who came under intense and absurd fire for using a redacted form of a racial slur on a law school exam.

• Oh Joe! “Biden Says Exiting Race Earlier Would Not Have Mattered.” My forehead can take only so much smacking.

• Sun-Times: “Dale Bowman, longtime outdoors columnist, on why he's cutting back to one column per week.”

• In “President Donald Trump’s policies are an education in folly,” Steve Chapman writes: “Trump’s embrace of brutally high tariffs … is reminding both consumers and business people of the benefits of access to everything other nations have to offer. The duties will gouge Americans on cars, food, appliances, electronics, furniture, clothing and — well, nearly everything. They would also decimate U.S. industries, many of which use imported parts and material in their own products.”

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:

■ Block Club: A TikTok video of former Chicago City Council member, ex-Sun-Times CEO, It’s the democracy, stupid columnist and WCPT radio host Edwin Eisendrath giving a guy his jacket on the Blue Line has gone viral.

■ The Associated Press reports that the number of local police departments and state agencies joining Trump’s drive for mass deportations has now passed 500.

■ The American Prospect suggests “one weird trick” to keep the feds out of your city.

■ Wonkette’s Evan Hurst: “Couches McButthair Has Warning For People Who Want To Come To World Cup.”

■ Chicago 1, Trump Tower 0. Under pressure from the city—and the Sun-Times, whose building used to occupy the same address—management of the president’s Chicago outpost has removed barricades that were blocking public access to the public-property riverfront plaza.

■ Columnist Neil Steinberg on a new book about the nearby Wrigley Building: “Iconic structure? Yes. Superb? Not so much.”

■ “I don’t know”: That’s Donald Trump, asked on NBC if he has to “uphold the Constitution.” Lawyer Robert B. Hubbell calls it “the most remarkable interview of a president … ever.” Columnist Jeff Tiedrich reviews other “scenes from a crazypants interview.”

■ “The worst, dumbest, most politically damaging message I’ve ever heard”: Pod Save America co-host Dan Pfeiffer suggests ways Democrats can make Trump pay a political price for insisting that American kids have too many dolls and pencils.

■ The president’s mistaken announcement of a plan to commemorate the end of World War II drew criticism from podcaster Keith Olbermann: “Trump is a complete moron.”

■ Lyz Lenz’s Dingus of the Week: Attorney General Pam Bondi, who’s been bragging about plans to kill Americans.

■ Law Dork Chris Geidner: A federal judge’s ruling against Trump’s law firm shows how to respond. Contrarian editor-in-chief Jennifer Rubin calls it “an opinion for the ages,” which you can read here.

■ Illinois hospitals overall have moved up 10 spots from last year in Leapfrog Group’s rankings for safety—but more are getting D’s. Check your hospital’s rating here.

■ A range of Chicago cultural events are out federal cash under Trump’s cuts, but the Chicago Jazz Festival’s on track for August—with this newly revealed lineup.

■ No indication he was … um … framed: The president of Chicago’s Art Institute is on leave after allegedly stripping on a flight to Europe.

■ The American Prospect: “Apple’s monopoly is finally held accountable—and within hours of a … court ruling, innovation on smartphones is exploding.”

■ “Mainstream media is failing us”: Abortion, Every Day columnist Jessica Valenti is “dumbfounded that outlet after outlet is buying the Republican spin” on the Trump administration’s request that a judge toss an abortion-pill case.

■ Trump’s Education Department has cut $23 million that would have gone to public broadcasting TV shows for kids—including “Sesame Street,” “Reading Rainbow” and “Clifford the Big Red Dog.” But ex-Illinois U.S. Rep. Marie Newman says you can fight back against Republicans who’ve been “trying to remove funding for PBS and NPR forever.” Columnist Greg Mitchell: “Is Trump’s de-funding vendetta against PBS derived from all the mockery he suffered via ‘Sesame Street’ years ago as ‘Donald Grump’”?

■ PCWorld: You don’t need a Roku device to watch the Roku Channel at no charge.

■ The Conversation: Cursive writing’s making a comeback in U.S. schools.

You can (and should) subscribe to Chicago Public Square free here.

This is going around, and it’s brilliant!

Meta AI

Barbara Brotman goes to battle

Former Tribune reporter and columnist Barbara Brotman sent this along, and while I relate totally, I have given up the fight she is waging:

Friends, it is time for us to gather our strength to do battle against an evil, heartless, implacable enemy:

The dandelion.

How I hate them. I hate those cheery yellow flowers that look all sweet and cute, until they recede and the stems form angry red worm shapes and the flowers erupt in puff balls the equivalent of hand grenades.

I hate their reproductive efficiency. I hate their maddeningly deep tap roots. I hate the speed at which they take over a lawn.

And I hate their success at defying efforts to kill them.

Which, by the way, is poison. Eric Zorn once did a deep dive into the question in his Tribune column (“Weed it and Weep,” 2011), and concluded that herbicide works best, because it is nearly impossible to dig out a dandelion with its complete tap root.

I was reluctant to go that route, but a few years ago I got a spray bottle of weed killer. Oh, how I enjoyed watching them die within hours of a burst from my spray gun!

But mindful of the damage herbicides do to insects and birds, I gave up that weapon.

Dandelions do have one good quality: they are the first pollen-bearing flowers to bloom, providing essential nutrients for early-arriving pollinating insects. Considering their benefits, a bee keeper argued in a recent news story, what’s a few dandelions in your lawn?

But let’s be clear: no one has “a few dandelions” in their lawn. A single dandelion plant produces an average of 15,000 seeds, according to the Michigan State University Extension. If you have one dandelion, you have a field of them. Let them go, and you have to re-sod your lawn.

So every day at this time of year, I go out armed with a long dandelion puller, and go to war.

I make my way slowly around the lawn, digging them out one by one. I stab the weeder deep into the ground, trying to get that elusive tap root, and settle for whatever I can get. I make huge divots in the turf, which I excuse by thinking of them as core aeration. An hour later I halt the battle, my back aching and my fingernails embedded with dirt (I find that garden gloves reduce my effectiveness).

The next day more dandelions have sprouted. Trench warfare resumes. There is no such thing as a truce. Time is of the essence in the dandelion battle. You have to get them before they go to puff balls.

If I were a better person — or if I could manage an entire front- and back-yard eradication in a few days — I would do what my landscape designer friend does: leave them while they are flowers, but swoop down right as they’re puffing out.

“I’ve marked every one of them,” she told me. “There’s one right next to my front steps. I told it, ‘I’ve got my eye on you, pal. You’ve got three days.’ ”

But my yard has so many dandelions, and their flower-to-puffball speed is so breathtaking, that I just kill them whenever I see them. Sorry, insects — but there are plenty of other dandelions nearby. Enjoy!

Of course, my battle is futile. I’m leaving behind enough bits of tap root that these remainders will lick their wounds over winter and then roar back next spring, flipping me the puffball bird. And there are so many puffball seeds flying through the air from everyone else’s yards that my survivors will have plenty of new friends.

But so what? In this brief window when spring rain turns my patchy lawn green, I get so much pleasure from looking at dandelion-free turf that it’s all worth it. As long as the dandelions are blooming, I’ll be out every day inspecting my yard, tapping my weeder on my thigh threateningly.

I’ve got my eye on you, pal. And my dandelion puller is right behind it.

— Barbara Brotman

Minced Words

Austin Berg, Marj Halperin and I joined host John Williams on this week’s episode of “The Mincing Rascals” podcast to discuss next year’s Democratic primary in Illinois, the legacy of George Ryan and the blizzard of astonishing news from the Trump regime. Here is a link to “Questions of Justice: The Nicarico Murder Case,” to which Austin referred.

Earlier Wednesday, Austin and I recorded an episode of “Not Even Mad,” Mike Pesca’s podcast “dedicated to … joyful disagreement.” Look for that soon wherever fine podcasts are served.

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.

Read the background bios of some regular panelists here.

Quotables

A collection of compelling, sometimes appalling passages I’ve encountered lately

Republicans now use “concerned” to mean the exact opposite—namely, “I really don’t give a damn.” — Jennifer Rubin

A lot of today’s journalists are scared of facts. They don't like to state things as flat-out true. They’d rather play it safe and employ a cop-out phrase like “observers say” or “critics claim,” even when the facts are not in serious doubt. It’s a common issue in political journalism — whether to state something as objectively true or put an assertion “in someone else’s mouth.” The problem is that when journalists attribute a known fact to “critics,” it diminishes that fact, turning it into a mere opinion. And that benefits the bad guys. — Mark Jacob

Aide: Secretary Hegseth, we have to find a more secure way to communicate our classified plans to your staff. Hegseth: Postcards! — William Ader

Trump is staging a military parade in Washington for his birthday. This is straight up dictator behavior. If you can't see this you are irretrievable. — Jack Boot

(The Wrigley Building) illustrates the principle that an ugly building by day, if illuminated, will be ugly by night as well. — Frank Lloyd Wright

(Former President Barack Obama is) building his library in Chicago. It's a disaster. And he said, something to the effect, ‘I only want DEI. I only want woke.’ He wants woke people to build it. Well, he got woke people. And they've got massive cost overruns. A job is stopped. I don't know. It's a disaster. Use good, hard, tough, mean construction workers that I love. I love those construction workers. But he didn't want construction workers. He wanted people that never did it before, and he's got a disaster in his hands. — Donald Trump

You can have all the eggs you want. We have too many eggs. In fact, if anything, the prices are getting too low. — Donald Trump

You can have two dolls or five pencils says the man with 15 golf courses. — unknown

We would urge all pet owners in the region to make sure all of your beloved animals are under watchful protection while the Secretary is in the region. — Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker heralding the appearance in Springfield of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.

Trump just signed an executive order to bring back flared pants. — Willie Handler

Good photo or bad photo?

I stirred up a fuss on social media Tuesday morning by posting my negative reaction to the Tribune’s front-page photo of U.S. Rep. Jan Schakowsky that accompanied the story about her announcement Monday that she will not seek a 15th term next year. At first, I posted just the cropped version of what appeared to be her grief-stricken face (left). Then, when some took me to task saying that that cropping the picture removed important context, I added a the full version:

My view was that, in either iteration, the image made it appear that Schakowsky was wracked by grief — sobbing as though she’d just lost a relative — and not experiencing that bittersweet mixture of emotions that comes at the conclusion of an impressive and fulfilling career. The coverage I read and saw of the event suggested that Schakowsky was at times emotional — the Sun-Times story noted that she had “tears in her eyes” when talking to reporters — and at times joyous and defiant — both major dailies reported that she planned to continue being “a badass” as she runs through the tape. I found the image misleading and unflattering to the point of sensationalistic.

Others did not. Here are some of the comments from those who disagreed, many from the journalism community.

• I thought it was a great photo; it captured the emotions behind her decision.

• I love Jan and I love the photo. I agree with others that it captures the emotion of the moment. … This photo captures how much it means to her, which is a great deal.

• I’m Team Beautiful Moment Captured. I love that she looks her age. Her long tenure is the story.

• The full photo is beautiful and really touching—this is Jan surrounded by her staff at her final “women’s power lunch” that annually fills the room with some 2,000 people. This context makes the photo even more beautiful.

• This is a photo that shows the emotion of the moment. It’s what photographers wait for.

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 last week’s contest, which I failed to include in the email edition:

And here is the winner of this week’s contest:

The new nominees for Quip of the Week:

Another in my occasional offering of groanworthy Dad Quips — unattributed because I find so many tweets rooted in excruciating wordplay are unoriginal:

• You can get Pop Tarts but you can’t get Mom Tarts because of the pastryarchy.

• I bought my wife a fridge for Christmas. I can't wait to see her face light up when she opens it.

• Twister is my favorite party game, hands down.

• The person who invented knock-knock jokes should get a no-bell prize.

• Someone broke in my house last night and stole some eggs and left a pot of warm water. Cops think it might be poachers.

• If you lose your khakis in Ohio, it means you can't find your pants. But if you lose your khakis in Boston, it means you can't start your car.

• That's a nice ham you got there. It would be a shame if I put an s at the front and an e at the end.

• I've struggled with timekeeping since I don't know when.

• Why did the old man fall down the well? He couldn’t see that well.

Vote here and check the current results in the poll.

For instructions and guidelines regarding the poll, click here.

Why the new name for this feature? See “I’m rebranding ‘Tweet of the Week’ in a gesture of contempt for Elon Musk.”

Good Sports

Sox Watch is on hiatus

I’m going to stop tracking the White Sox until and unless the team falls below a winning percentage of .250 (they are now at .270)

But I’m now keeping one eye on the Colorado Rockies, who are off to an even worse start this year than the Sox last year, when the Sox set the record for the most losses in a season in Major League Baseball history. The Sox were 8-27 after 35 games; the Rockies are now 6-29.

Tune of the Week

As noted above, after nearly 200 Tune of the Week posts, I’m planning to expand the feature starting next Thursday by rebranding it as Green Light, as in go for it. It will feature recommendations not only of songs but also of TV shows, streaming movies, books, podcasts and other diversions that can be enjoyed at home — i.e., no restaurants, plays, theatrical films, tourist sites and so on. I’m asking for your nominations — email me a paragraph or two of explanation and background along with helpful links. For TV shows, I’d like links to trailers/previews on YouTube.

The Tune of the Week nomination is “Dark Ages,” a new release from Eliza Gilkyson.

Alpha white boys thumping on their chests
While they dictate to the women what is right what is best
They all bow down when the big dog barks
Fuck those little fuckers they can fuck right off

Send them to the bottom
Leave no traces
Send them where we'll never have to see their faces
Send them all back
All the way back to the dark ages

Gilkyson, 74, is a Grammy-winning folk singer based in Taos, New Mexico.

Info

Eric Zorn is a former opinion columnist for the Chicago Tribune. 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.

Contact

You can email me at ericzorn@gmail.com or by clicking here:

I read all the messages that come in, but I do most of my interacting with readers in the comments section beneath each issue.

Some of those letters I reprint and respond to in the Z-mail section of Tuesday’s Picayune Plus, which is delivered to paid subscribers and available to all readers later Tuesday. Check there for responses.

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