Events

As interesting as Game of Thrones has been, yesterday's news at City Hall actually has more relevance to the world we live in. Lori Lightfoot took office as our 56th mayor—and our first black, female mayor, and our first openly gay mayor: Lightfoot bluntly promised to restore integrity to a city government and City Council that has at times been hobbled by allegations against some of its highest-ranking members. Her fiery speech drew numerous standing ovations from a raucous crowd, but also potentially...

Megan Garber has an unexpected take on the series finale: As the series went on, though, it became more mistrustful of emotion—and of rage, above all. Dany is angry, and that, the implication goes, helps to explain her descent into tyranny. Cersei is angry, and that leads her to a series of political miscalculations. Jon, meanwhile, who has a nearly bottomless capacity for sadness but seems constitutionally incapable of rage? The show has long treated his easy equanimity, even more than his royal...

Last night HBO aired the series finale of Game of Thrones, the TV adaptation (and extension of) George R.R. Martin's Song of Ice and Fire. After 73 episodes, perhaps a quarter-million deaths, and 4 years of screen time expanded over 9 years of our time, what have we got? I think we've got two distinctly different shows, and the second of them, starting with the 6th season, was distinctly less satisfying than the first. I'm not alone. Here are just a few of the critics on last night's finale: Spencer...

Yesterday evening, I needed to wear earmuffs and gloves when walking Parker because of the 7°C weather. Yes, it's the middle of May, but we've had a really screwy spring this year. Today I don't need gloves. Our official temperature bloomed from 8°C to 26°C in the past six hours. Even close to the lake, where I live, it's already warmer outside than inside—and I had the heat on briefly this morning! Today the forecast looks hot and humid, before temperatures plunge again Sunday night. Then hot again...

Chinese-American architect I.M. Pei died yesterday. He was 102. Internet sensation Grumpy Cat died Tuesday. She was 7. Comedic genius Tim Conway also died Tuesday. He was 85.

Federal judge Amit Mehta could not believe the arguments the president's lawyer, William Consovoy, made on Monday: Consovoy, a beefy former law clerk to Justice Clarence Thomas, offered two related points: (A) Congress can’t issue a subpoena or otherwise probe a president unless it is doing so for a “legitimate legislative purpose.” (B) Any “legitimate legislative purpose” Congress could conceivably devise would be unconstitutional. As a result, Consovoy argued, Congress can’t investigate to see if a...