Events

Every night, I throw my excess pocket change into a bag. Sometimes I remember to empty the bag, as I did today. Total haul? Six dollar coins, a half-dollar, 648 quarters, 364 dimes, 220 nickels, and 664 pennies, summing up to $222.54. And no fee if you apply it to a gift card.

Several reactions to President Trump's bizarre accusation that the Obama administration ordered an illegal wiretap on Trump Tower last year, from left to right: Brian Beutler thinks Trump's weird tweets "royally screwed" the Republicans in Congress.  Josh Marshall says the claims are just ridiculous, and Trump kneecapped himself doing it. Jennifer Rubin wonders whether Trump is "bonkers, paranoid, or trapped?" The Chicago Tribune agrees that Trump essentially asked Congress to investigate himself, with...

The Finnish manufacturer is bringing back their 2000-era 3310: Given the rising angst of a society run by technology, Nokia might have picked the perfect time to introduce an antidote to the smartphone. But even under today’s conditions, it is tempting to see the new Nokia 3310 merely as another example of retro nostalgia. Ha-ha, what if you could get a dumbphone instead? It would pair perfectly with a milk crate full of vinyl albums. But it’s also possible that the 3310 marks the start of a new period...

A 2015 theft of a gun shipment from a railroad yard in Chicago continues to plague the city: The guns had been en route from New Hampshire weapon maker Sturm, Ruger & Co. to Spokane, Washington. Instead, the .45-caliber Ruger revolvers and other firearms spread quickly into surrounding high-crime neighborhoods. Along with two other major gun thefts within three years, the robbery helped fuel a wave of violence on Chicago's streets. The 2015 heist of the 111 guns, as well as one in 2014 and another last...

And in honor of his birthday, one of my all-time-favorite riffs on his style from the 1980s TV show "Moonlighting:"

The analyses of the President's speech to Congress last night split down partisan lines, if you divide the world into the alt-right and everyone else: Josh Marshall isn't impressed. Nor is Brian Beutler. Jim Fallows neither. WaPo? Oh no. Krugman? No, man. But Scott Adams thinks anyone who didn't like the speech is hallucinating. (He says that about anyone who dislikes Trump for any reason, of course.) My take? I haven't heard all of the speech. But I think highlighting people who were victims of crimes...

It's official: for the first time in recorded history, Chicago had no snow on the ground during the last two months of meterological winter (January and February): Because the snow measurement is taken at 6 a.m. at O'Hare International Airport, small amounts of snow that may have fallen later in the day and melted were not recorded, said Amy Seeley, meteorologist with the National Weather Service. This occurred Feb. 25 when there was a trace of snow and Jan. 30 when there was 2 mm. The weather service...

Three stories today: The President didn't know health care would be so hard to figure out, which is something almost everyone else in the world already knew. Meanwhile, he's started using a phrase so inflammatory, even Nikita Krushchev wouldn't utter it. And by the way, his budget proposals on top of the rolling dumpster fire in Illinois' government could really hurt Chicago. (Plus he doesn't really like Chicago much.) Share and enjoy.

With tomorrow's forecast 16°C temperatures, Chicago will end meterological winter having had just a trace of snow in February and less than half our usual amount of snow since the season began December 1st. Since records began in 1884, only five other winter months have had so little snow. We also could have the third-warmest February in history with an average temperature of 3.4°C—just 0.4°C cooler than the record set in February 1882. Of course, we could get snow in March. Best not to think about that...

Sam Harris recently interviewed Republican pundit David Frum. I'm still a Democrat, and still opposed to most of the fundamental policies of the Republican party, but wow! it was refreshing to hear a Republican provide a cogent within-group refutation of President Trump.