Illinois in the NYT
The Times casts the Democratic primary as a contest between just two viable candidates, Kennedy and J.B. Pritzker, a millionaire and a billionaire.
The best and the brightest
Jared Kushner, conducting research on Amazon.
Russia and Rex
From Jane Mayer’s article about Christopher Steele Trump dossier: did Russia influence Trump’s choice for Secretary of State?
Sam Nunberg Day
All I know is that if you’re serious about ducking a subpoena, you slip out of the country, quiet-like.
All Illinois is divided into three parts
A candidate for governor wants to divide the state into three.
From China to Washington
“Advice to Washington from Ancient China,” assembled by Eliot Weinberger.
Comic books and Post headlines
Trump’s masculinist dream is partly the stuff of a comic book (everyday fellow with secret powers, including perfect aim), partly the stuff of a New York Post headline (Retired General Takes Down Sicko).
Calling BS
I expect to hear Emma González’s words with increasing frequency in the fight for gun control.
Listening
President Donald Trump holds notes telling him to show empathy. “5. I hear you.”
Emma González for Congress
She addressed a rally for gun control and called B.S.
Recently updated
Another biblical tweet is causing him some difficulty.
Shame on John Shimkus
My representative in Congress, John Shimkus (R, Illinois-15), likes to post Bible passages on Twitter. Today he posted one about hanging bodies from trees.
It’s Mueller Time
Robert S. Mueller III, that is.
Reality TV and the White House
“Omarosa was fired three times on The Apprentice, and this is the fourth time we let her go.” “We”? The blurred line between reality TV and the White House could not be clearer.
Treason?
I didn’t clap during the State of the Union address. Then again, I didn’t watch. On purpose.
Things to do on Tuesday
I have to wash my hair, or something. I will be very busy.
What’d they do?
Writing in The Washington Post , Philip Kennicott asks, “What did the men with Donald Trump do when he spoke of ‘shithole countries’?”
The next New Yorker cover
Anthony Russo, “In the Hole.”
“In other news”
“In Other News, Your President Is Still Racist.”
“Pink protest hat”
Lois Flagston owns one.
Stating the obvious
A “very stable genius” would not be tweeting in the pre-dawn. How do I know that? I’m, like, really smart.
Andrew Sullivan on a year of insanity
He explains why he has hope.
“Do you read?”
Joe Scarborough asked Donald Trump a question.
Whose whom?
I’d bet a Happy Meal that Trump didn’t write this statement.
More bad words
The Washington Post reports that the Centers for Disease Control is not alone in cuts to vocabulary.
The seven words you can’t write at the CDC
Forbidden words: “vulnerable,” “entitlement,” “diversity,” “transgender,” “fetus,” “evidence-based” and “science-based.”
PDB
“Russia-related intelligence that might draw Trump’s ire is in some cases included only in the written assessment and not raised orally”: more evidence that he’s virtually a non-reader.
About last night
I doubt that Trump wrote the tweet.
TV days
The Times reports that “people close to him estimate that Mr. Trump spends at least four hours a day, and sometimes as much as twice that, in front of a television.”
All the books are green, almost
The Washington Post reports on “the odd assortment of books that make up the White House Christmas book tree.”