“Here’s what it’s like to live in the shadow of a Big Ten school”
What makes the news: a new coach.
Kristol, Palin, Trump
The prospect of President Trump is too crazy for William Kristol — the same William Kristol largely responsible for Sarah Palin’s presence on the 2008 Republican ticket.
NPR guesstimates
How many states are voting today?
“What’s an Election?”
A new song from our son Ben.
Walls
Where do we build a wall to protect us from ourselves?
Recently updated
Chicago State sends out layoff notices.
Sanders at Chicago State
Bernie Sanders, speaking at Chicago State University last night: “Why is anybody in the world talking about shutting down colleges?” And: “Where are our priorities?”
Illinois’s higher-ed crisis on the evening news
NBC Nightly News has taken notice.
Free advice
What Bernie Sanders could have said in response.
Obama on the Titanic
As with Bruce Rauner’s State of the State address, the subject of the budget was barely there. Obama’s reference came only in passing, as the ship continues to sink.
Sink redux
Kitchen sinks, 2008 and now.
1992 : 2016 :: 1968 : 1992
The idea that Bill Clinton’s 1992 success in New Hampshire should have anything to do with a 2016 election seems to me quite bonkers.
False drama
Brian Williams, on MSNBC.
Orin Incandenza, shapeshifter
He could be a progressive or a moderate, whatever a voter prefers.
Back to Springfield
Obama returns to address the legislature in a dysfunctional state.
Sanders-Warren?
I strongly suspect that Elizabeth Warren will soon endorse Bernie Sanders. And I strongly suspect that she will be Sanders’s choice for a running mate.
Three Rauner thoughts
In a prepared text of 4,229 words, Rauner’s first direct reference to the lack of a budget appeared with only 236 words to go,
Recently updated
A sad indication of what now counts as good news in Illinois.
“Horrible”
The present catastrophe-in-the-making threatens to damage public higher education in Illinois for years to come.
Illinois’s higher-ed crisis
Bruce Rauner may not be the worst governor in the United States right now — that honor must go to Michigan’s Rick Snyder. But Rauner is certainly in the running.
Topical humor from The New Yorker
Re: Barack Obama and Donald Trump.
In Connecticut, in Chicago
President Barack Obama: “Every time I think about those kids, it gets me mad. And, by the way, it happens on the streets of Chicago every day.”
Saturday night dysfunction
“We’re playing the hand we were dealt. I guess Christmas Eve was booked”: Michael Briggs, a spokesman for the Bernie Sanders campaign, on the scheduling of Democratic presidential debates.
Trump, go home
In a little corner of my imagination, I sometimes wonder whether Trump’s candidacy is an elaborate thought-experiment, something like Jane Elliott’s blue eyes–brown eyes classroom exercise. But I know I’m just imagining things.
The New York Times : “End the Gun Epidemic in America”
“It is past time to stop talking about halting the spread of firearms, and instead to reduce their number drastically — eliminating some large categories of weapons and ammunition.”
Days and shootings
In the United States in 2015, mass shootings are outnumbering the days of the year.
Welcome to Illinois
“The rich families remaking Illinois are among a small group around the country who have channeled their extraordinary wealth into political power, taking advantage of regulatory, legal and cultural shifts that have carved new paths for infusing money into campaigns.”
Philosophers and welders
Rubio’s remarks are one more gesture toward recasting non-elite education as vocational training.
Minor prophecy
If Joe Biden enters the presidential race, he will make his announcement while Hillary Clinton is testifying before the Select Committee on Benghazi. Wrong.
Bernie Sanders’s honeymoon
Anderson Cooper took a cheap shot.