Events

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.

Travel site Frommer's reports that foreign travel to the U.S. has plummeted since the inauguration, for obvious reasons: [T]he prestigious Travel Weekly magazine (as close to an “official” travel publication as they come) has set the decline in foreign tourism at 6.8%. And the fall-off is not limited to Muslim travelers, but also extends to all incoming foreign tourists. Apparently, an attack on one group of tourists is regarded as an assault on all. As far as travel by distinct religious groups, flight...

The Illinois State Climatologist reports that 257 daily high temperature records have been set statewide this month. He worries that the early warmth could cause damage to agriculture as similar events did in 2007 and 2012: A batch of crocus on the south side of our office building is a reminder of the impacts of warm weather in February. Both January and February have been mild. But on top of that has been a record-setting streak of 60s and 70s in the past week. As a result, many early season...

Yesterday, Major League Baseball agreed with its players union to ditch the four-pitch intentional walk: Major League Baseball and its Players Association agreed to replace it with an automatic walk triggered by a signal from the dugout. The curious part was its cause of death: It was sacrificed in the name of shorter games. That is curious, to say the least, because the intentional walk had neither the frequency of use nor the potential time-savings to make it an obvious target of league officials, led...

Cool little video: