Events

Stuff I didn't get to because I was doing my job today: Republican data analytics firm Deep Root Analytics stored 198 million U.S. voter records on an unsecured server, and guess what? Someone found out. Jeet Heer says only we Democrats can restore faith in the political process. Meanwhile, Greg Sargent is watching the absurd downward spiral of the Administration's handling of its many investigations. CityLab points out that cities have to go after cars if they want to tackle pollution. The Climate...

The owners of one of the West Loop's hippest restaurants fled the country, leaving behind $1.5m in debts and judgments and nearly bankrupting the chef: One day last summer, sometime after Attila Gyulai and his wife and business partner abruptly shut what was once one of the hottest restaurants in Chicago, they abandoned their Ford Flex SUV in front of their River West home. Police ticketed the car two​ weeks later and impounded it in mid-August. By then, bank records later would show, their accounts had...

Yesterday Parker turned 11, which means today brings his annual birthday portrait: I am not sure why he prefers me to photograph his left side, but going back through earlier photos of him, clearly he does. For example, here's the runner-up for this year's portrait: Not to mention, the 10-years-apart photos I posted May 4th.

The Washington Post has a quick guide to who's being investigated for what: Russian election meddling and possible collusion with the Trump campaign This is where it all started. James B. Comey, who led the law enforcement investigation until he was fired as FBI director May 9, testified last week before the Senate Intelligence Committee that he has no doubt that Russia attempted to influence the presidential race by hacking the Democratic National Committee and launching cyberattacks on state election...

I forgot to mention this article in today's Tribune: Short of ripping raw flesh from a freshly killed beast in the wild, meat eating doesn't get much more primal than ribs. Sure, chicken wings also have bones, but they are miniature little things one can pick up with two fingers. You can find them on the appetizer section of the menu. A full slab of ribs lands on the table with a thud, like a declaration of true gluttony. They also function as a fair warning to nearby persons to avoid eye contact as...

I've been a bit busy, so I just got a chance to pull Saturday's Ribfest photos off my phone. I have to say, this year's fest was a little underwhelming. Some of my previous favorites, like Piggery, didn't present this year. So instead of 10 local restaurants, there were actually only five locals, three catering companies, and two itinerants. Not only, but the suggested donation jumped from $5 to $10 just to get in there. And three-bone samplers now cost $8. So I only sampled four places this year, and...

Jennifer Rubin attempts to explain "what stops Republicans from behaving rationally:" First, unlike Senate and House Republicans during Watergate, there are few genuine leaders of principle whose sense of propriety is offended by Trump. The moral and intellectual quality of the current crew of Republicans pales in comparison to the type of Republicans who finally told Richard Nixon the jig was up. Sen. Barry Goldwater (R-Ariz.), House Minority Leader John Rhodes (R-Ariz.) and Senate Minority Leader Hugh...

Bend over, here it comes again. Welcome to the kakocracy: As Trump went around the large table, one by one, most [cabinet secretaries] praised the president, while others gave brief updates on their departments' work. When it was his turn, Energy Secretary Rick Perry said it was "an honor to be on team," telling Trump that "my hat is off to you" for pulling the United States out of Paris climate agreement. U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley proclaimed "a new day at the U.N.," where she said Trump has provided...

The Kansas legislature overrode governor Sam Brownback's veto of their roll-back of his 2012 tax increase package, because even Republicans in Kansas have a limit to ideological myopia: Lawmakers voted to override Brownback’s veto of a tax plan estimated to bring the state more than $1.2 billion over a two-year span. Lawmakers marshaled together a coalition of moderate Republicans, conservatives and Democrats to overcome the governor’s opposition to seeing his landmark tax cuts, which have in large part...

Chicago temperatures stayed below 32°C for almost nine months: September 7th all the way until last Sunday, June 4th. Then we had absolutely gorgeous weather during the last work week, which all ended on Saturday when the temperature hit 32°C for the first of (so far) three times. Our forecast calls for continued hot and shitty weather through at least Thursday. Hey, it happens every year. And our cool weather was pretty good while it lasted. The bad part is that the temperature killed my Fitbit numbers...