Events

The Tribune has two sad stories this evening. First, the FCC has taken steps to end the main-studio rule—apparently to allow the Sinclair/Tribune deal to go through: The regulation, which was first adopted almost 80 years ago, requires broadcasters to have a physical studio in or near the areas where they have a license to transmit TV or radio signals. Known as the "main studio rule," the regulation ensured that residents of a community could have a say in their local broadcast station's operations. "At...

Just a quick note. I've had a Fitbit for three years as of today, and so far, I've logged 14.4 million steps. My mean over 1,097 days is 13,170 steps per day, though my median is 12,616, reflecting the fact that I have a number of very-high-step days against almost none when I failed to hit 5,000. I've hit 10,000 on 949 days, 87% of the time. And now I'm going to ratchet up another 4,000 on my way home.

Trump's friends have started looting Puerto Rico: For the sprawling effort to restore Puerto Rico’s crippled electrical grid, the territory’s state-owned utility has turned to a two-year-old company from Montana that had just two full-time employees on the day Hurricane Maria made landfall. The company, Whitefish Energy, said last week that it had signed a $300 million contract with the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority to repair and reconstruct large portions of the island’s electrical...

The Annenberg Public Policy Center has released a poll of Americans showing widespread and extensive misunderstandings about our Constitution: Nearly half of those surveyed (48 percent) say that freedom of speech is a right guaranteed by the First Amendment. But, unprompted, 37 percent could not name any First Amendment rights. And far fewer people could name the other First Amendment rights: 15 percent of respondents say freedom of religion; 14 percent say freedom of the press; 10 percent say the right...

A succession of cold fronts has started traversing the Chicago area, so after an absolutely gorgeous Saturday we're now in the second day of cold, wet, gray weather. In other words, autumn in Chicago. So here's what I'd like to read today but probably won't have time: Having been caught out in a bald-faced lie, the White House has been sending condolence letters by overnight mail to Gold-Star families since Wednesday. E.J. Dionne says, "What Trump did to Kelly shows how far we have fallen." Microsoft is...

I'm excited about my new project, but as we ramp it up, I'm becoming aware of a cost: sleep. And that's not good. Thanks to my Fitbit, I have a pretty good idea of how much I'm sleeping. Here's what October looks like so far: The 11th through 13th and the 16th through 18th were travel days. And then on the 17th (the "wake" column of the 16th) I had to get up at an ungodly hour to get to the San Antonio MEPS by 6am. I think this will settle down quickly, but wow, I'm really feeling it today.

Too much to read today, especially during an hours-long download from our trips over the past two weeks. So I'll come back to these: The CIA recently fired Lulu, a black Lab, because she didn't want to sniff for bombs after all. But more seriously: Josh Marshall calls out White House Chief of Staff for making the detestable argument that an attack on the President is an attack on the troops. Alex Shepard at New Republic just shakes his head sadly. London is running adverts aimed at cleaning up its air...

Well, that's it for the Cubs this year. I haven't actually seen the Anno Catuli sign this season. If they haven't changed it to reflect last night's horrible loss to the Dodgers, I'll try to get a snap of it reading AC0000000. But officially, today, the Cubs have gone one year from their last World Series and pennant wins. Fans are still in denial. But an 11-1 loss looks to me like the old Cubs.

I have some clarity now on what I can and can't say about the project I'm working on. In short, it's not classified (though the data we deal with is personally-identifiable information–PII—and private health information–PHI). My security clearance is "public trust," the lowest level, and in fact the only level that someone with a clearance can disclose. Also, the contracts for this project are publicly available through FOIA. So, I'm free to discuss this project in a way that I've rarely been permitted...

Wow, do I have stories to tell. Two days in San Antonio and I've got a lot to digest. Right now, dog and man both want dinner.