Events

The U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change released an alarming new report this weekend: The world stands on the brink of failure when it comes to holding global warming to moderate levels, and nations will need to take “unprecedented” actions to cut their carbon emissions over the next decade, according to a landmark report by the top scientific body studying climate change. With global emissions showing few signs of slowing and the United States — the world’s second-largest emitter of carbon...

As in, "nice work, Dutch military, for unraveling a GRU operation and blowing 300 GRU agents worldwide:" Dutch authorities have photographs of four Russian military intelligence (GRU) operatives arriving at the Amsterdam airport last April, escorted by a member of the Russian embassy. They have copies of the men’s passports — two of them with serial numbers one digit apart. Because they caught them, red-handed, inside a car parked beside the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons in The...

I'm not sure how I feel about CH Distillery buying the Malort wormwood liqueur brand: Since the 1970s, Malort has been distilled in Florida, though its primary market has remained Chicago. Many Malort enthusiasts would agree that the liquor’s powerful aftertaste assaults the taste buds, a phenomenon that’s ironically helped grow the brand’s popularity on social media and in Chicago bars. Why would Tremaine Atkinson, founder of CH Distillery, want to purchase Malort? “Oh my gosh, why not? … I love...

If Brett Kavanaugh is confirmed, it will be only the second time in U.S. history that an Associate Justice nominated by a president who lost the popular vote will be confirmed by senators representing less than a majority of the country's population: Let’s walk through it. Obviously, Trump got almost 3 million fewer votes than Hillary Clinton in the 2016 election. Clinton got about 48 percent of the votes cast for president. Trump got about 46 percent. Kavanaugh will join the Supreme Court despite...

This weekend will involve packing, painting, and waiting for deliveries. Which is why blogging is a little slow right now.

This doesn't happen often. Parker has a pretty good life, even when it consists solely of sleeping. Today, however, the poor pup will have his teeth cleaned and a small fatty cyst removed from his eyelid, so he's now at the vet, hungry, anxious, and kenneled. Surgery is this afternoon. Then the groggy doggy will (most probably) suffer the indignity of a Cone of Shame for a few days.

The Petaluma*, Calif., based company, which has a major production facility here in Chicago, laid off 12% of its workforce: The workforce reduction will affect every department in the company, which operates a production plant in Chicago and a taproom in Seattle, CEO Maria Stipp said in a prepared statement. Lagunitas employs about 900 people at its Petaluma headquarters, which will take the brunt of the more than 100 layoffs. The decision to downsize comes 17 months after Dutch brewing giant Heineken...

The Cubs tied with the Brewers this season for the best record in the National League, with 94 wins each. Unfortunately they're in the same division, so they had to play a one-game tiebreaker on Monday to determine who actually won the division. You will be shocked to learn it was Milwaukee. Now, normally, the 4th-place team in the league gets the Wild Card, but this year the West Division also had a tie, between the Colorado Rockies and L.A. Dodgers. Which meant that last night, the loser of that game...

This year, Major League Baseball had more weather-related postponements than ever before recorded: In the 2018 season, 53 games have been postponed because of weather, tied for the second most since Major League Baseball began keeping track in 1986. It wasn't just rain-outs that disrupted the schedule but a lingering April cold snap in the Midwest and Northeast that resulted in 28 games postponed that month — an all-time high. Although the baseball season got off to its earliest start ever to give...

Paul Krugman highlights how the politics of the Republican party are mainly about privileged white men feeling like they're losing their privilege: There have been many studies of the forces driving Trump support, and in particular the rage that is so pervasive a feature of the MAGA movement. What Thursday’s hearing drove home, however, was that white male rage isn’t restricted to blue-collar guys in diners. It’s also present among people who’ve done very well in life’s lottery, whom you would normally...