A year into the Trump economy, Americans are still laser focused on prices. “A new set of tires now is $500 or $600. Who the hell has $500 to $600?” www.wsj.com/economy/cons...

The Sermon on the Mount, by Beryl Lewis, before 1965, 📸 by @ScottStrazzante

Jimmy Lai, an outspoken 78-year-old critic of China’s Communist Party, sentenced to 20 years in prison. China made Lai one of the main targets of its crackdown on dissent in Hong Kong after widespread pro-democracy protests in 2019 www.wsj.com/world/china/...

Volkswagen factory workers in Tenn. would receive raises totaling about 20% over four years under a tentative deal between the automaker & the UAW union. www.wsj.com/business/aut...

Among the batch of newly released emails from Jeffrey Epstein: Epstein telling Peter Thiel he would “gladly share…expenses for the Gawker suit.” This was sent the day after @rmac.bsky.social and @mattdrange.bsky.social reported in Forbes that Thiel was behind the lawsuit that would bankrupt Gawker

“.. In a blistering opinion, Judge Fred Biery .. condemned ‘the perfidious lust for unbridled power’ and ‘the imposition of cruelty.’” @nytimes.com #Ramos www.nytimes.com/2026/01/31/u...

Highlight of my career, probably

Catherine O’Hara didn’t steal scenes she just showed up and ownership automatically defaulted to her

Tonight I watched Prime Minister Mark Carney take the actual Heated Rivalry Canada fleece from Hudson Williams, slip it on and say: “This is true soft power.”

Canada isn’t alone in taking steps to mend ties w China. British PM Keir Starmer will travel to Beijing this week to meet with Xi — the first visit by a U.K. PM in 8 ys. South Korea's president said recently he wants “full-scale restoration” of ties w China www.wsj.com/world/us-tra...

Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O'Hara: "People have had enough. This is the third shooting in less than 3 weeks. The MPD went the entire year last year recovering about 900 guns from the street, arresting hundreds of violent offenders, and we didn't shoot anyone ... this is not sustainable."

In Maine, Sheriff Kevin Joyce was among local officials who met with border czar Tom Homan a year ago to hear the administration’s immigration-enforcement plan. But on Thurs, Joyce issued blistering criticism of federal agents, accusing ICE of “bush-league policing" www.wsj.com/us-news/poli...

Videos Contradict U.S. Account of Minneapolis Shooting by Federal Agents See how immigration officers escalated a fatal confrontation Saturday www.wsj.com/us-news/vide...

Stunning photos from Minneapolis, including this one by John Locher for the Associated Press. www.theatlantic.com/photography/...

Video message from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome H. Powell: www.youtube.com/watch?v=KckG... www.federalreserve.gov/newsevents/s...

Everything has gone uphill for the Bears since this moment.

You might be thinking, "CPSC, does a dry Christmas tree really burn that much faster than a well-watered tree?" Friend, let's find out together by watching this PSA.

Karl Fredrik Nordström, Clear Evening in Late Winter (Winter Night), oil on canvas, 1907

Earlier this year, the United States deported 252 Venezuelans to El Salvador and paid its government to imprison them. Now two human-rights organizations have found that all of those men were physically abused, Conor Friedersdorf writes:

A snowy owl preening. November 22, 2025, Chicago.

We used to call the debut LP "Cars greatest hits." Somehow the 2nd LP, "Candy O," topped it, at least in my world. Can a band that sold 43 million albums still be underappreciated? Buffalo Tom's Bill Janovitz, the band's biographer, makes the case on @soundopinions.bsky.social: shorturl.at/hvsrQ

On Chicago’s South Side, students are bypassing traditional tips on job hunting in favor of lessons on getting rich. www.wsj.com/us-news/educ...

Burt Meyer, a Chicago toy designer behind classics like Lite-Brite, Mouse Trap, and Rock ’Em Sock ’Em Robots, died Oct. 30 at 99, leaving a joyful, generations-spanning legacy.

“This case, ladies and gentleman of the jury, is about a sandwich.” Closing arguments from the defense in the DC sandwich guy case are now underway.

New: The FBI is quietly urging ICE agents to properly ID themselves in the field. In a bulletin to law enforcement last month, it warned of criminals posing as ICE to rob, rape, kidnap—a problem it says now demands national coordination to confront. By me & @carolinehaskins.bsky.social:

Compotier, Glass and Apples, 1880 https://botfrens.com/collections/43/contents/12195

The economy that's great for parents, lousy for their grown-up kids. Ask many older Americans how they are faring financially and they’ll tell you they are comfortable. Yet many are pessimistic about the economy because they see how their children are struggling www.wsj.com/personal-fin...

Grocery price inflation is picking up again. www.wsj.com/economy/cons...

Pringle Theatre Glenmora, LA

“.. On closer inspection, however, it turned out that the image was not a photograph of a real event in Portland, but instead a fabrication created by combining two photographs of scenes that unfolded in South America nearly a decade apart ..” @theguardian.com www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

Pritzker is also furious: “Should National Governors Association leadership choose to remain silent, Illinois will have no choice but to withdraw from the organization.”

Gregory Bovino, commander-at-large of the U.S. #BorderPatrol, claims a @wbez.org/@chicago.suntimes.com report about his comments Sunday in downtown #Chicago was "grossly inaccurate" and taken out of context. So we've posted the interview's unedited AUDIO and TRANSCRIPT: www.wbez.org/immigration/...

YouTube removed a channel that was dedicated to posting AI-generated videos of women being shot in the head following 404 Media’s request for comment. The videos were clearly generated with Google’s new AI video generator tool. 🔗 www.404media.co/ai-generated...

Tom Homan was investigated last year for accepting $50,000 from undercover FBI agents. Trump's DOJ shut down the probe. By @carolleonnig.bsky.social @kendilanian-nbc.bsky.social www.msnbc.com/msnbc/news/t...

15 to 40 miles. That's the range per day from the sun alone for Aptera Motors’ solar-powered car. The $40,000 EV is poised to ship as early as next year. by @mims.bsky.social www.wsj.com/business/ene...

“.. There are two economies in the U.S. right now ... In August, annual wage and salary growth fell to 0.9% for the bottom third, the smallest gain since 2016 ... “.. The top third saw growth of 3.6% year over year, the most since November 2021." @jeannewhalen.bsky.social

WSJ: “For high earners and many older Americans, the economy looks robust .. “.. For many others, momentum has stalled .. ‘They don’t have a home, they don’t have a large .. 401(k) and they are the most concerned about losing their job ..’” @jeannewhalen.bsky.social www.wsj.com/economy/us-e...

America has always had rich & poor, but the divide is widening again. Wage growth has slowed for the bottom third of earners while continuing to climb for the top third. Soaring markets & home values for top earners are deepening the divide. www.wsj.com/economy/us-e...

Exclusive: Jeffrey Epstein’s estate has given Congress a copy of the 2003 birthday book, including the letter with Trump’s signature that he has said doesn’t exist.

Architect Louis Sullivan was born #onthisday in 1856. When he first arrived in Chicago in 1873, the city was still in ruins after the Great Fire w/miles of shanties. Yet he saw potential in its reinvention. “There was stir, an energy that made [me] tingle to be in the game…THIS IS THE PLACE FOR ME!”

Six months into tariffs, businesses don’t know how to price anything. Tariffs keep changing. Big retailers won’t pay more. And everyone is afraid of angering consumers. ‘Everyone is struggling to figure out what to do.’ www.wsj.com/business/ret...

Yellen not at all pulling her punches in this op-ed for the FT www.ft.com/content/d2ea...

Your annual reminder that this exists for twelve days a year and is deeply soothing: www.dnr.state.mn.us/statefair/we...

This is one of the most beautiful things I have witnessed, the craft here is impeccable.

BARKIN: “.. we’re not walking into a 2022 situation where consumers are flush with cash and bound to spend. .. I think we’re in a 2025 situation where consumers are feeling somewhat stretched and therefore, you know, are making choices.” @jeannewhalen.bsky.social www.wsj.com/livecoverage...

🚨 WaPo EXCLUSIVE Hours before Trump removed Billy Long as IRS commissioner, his agency clashed with the White House over sharing immigrants’ tax data.

When immigration lawyers sought to defend a Texas construction worker detained in early March, they couldn’t find him. Migrants are vanishing in an opaque ICE detention system www.wsj.com/us-news/law/...

Good roundup of the reactions.

A great tribute to a great man. "For many, many people, including myself, meeting Derk changed the course of our lives."

Horrible news. Derk made an enormous contribution to freedom of speech in Russia, and helped a whole generation of journalists (including me) find our footing. www.themoscowtimes.com/2025/07/31/d...