A long overdue update on Abraham's Lincoln's hat and the new Illinois laws of 2020.

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Perfect timing…Burke gets convicted and Trump bounced from the ballot in same week! Just in time to talk it over with Brendan Shiller. Who knows a thing or two about Chicago pols and politics and ballot access issues. Why do Chicago aldermen have so much love for Ed Burke? Will Trump pardon Burke should, gulp, the voters of America elect him? And Brendan’s history-validation theory. Brendan is a lawyer, poker player and political strategist.

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Juanita Irizarry steps down from Friends of the Parks and then the Bears float the idea of building a new stadium on the Lucas Museum site. Ben riffs. Sara Haghdoosti makes the case for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza. Sara is executive director of Win Without War.

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The city announces new plans for migrants. Ben riffs. Alderwoman Jeanette Taylor tells it like it is about the city council, Mayor Johnson, the movement’s weak spots, migrants, how Chicago treats Black people, TIFs and more. Much more…including her love for Ghana and oceans.

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The Colorado Supreme Court boots Trump from the ballot. Ben riffs. And then Monroe makes a bold prediction about how the U.S. Supremes will rule on this issue. Also, Trumps says he never read Mein Kampf. Monroe doesn't believe him. More bold predictions from Monroe. A word or two about Rudy Giuliani. Has he lost his mind? Finally, a few non-political thoughts about the Bears. Sigh...

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Attorney Flint Taylor has been fighting racism and police brutality in Chicago since 1969. With his first major case on behalf of the family of Fred Hampton, the leadef of the black Panthers who was killed by police. He talks Hampton murder, Jon Burge police torture trials and more. Read his book—The Torture Machine.

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New example of chutzpah from the defense lawyers in disgraced former Alderman Burke’s corruption trial. Ben riffs. Jim Coogan explains what Burke’s lawyers are up to and how the system favors rich people. Speaking of which…Jim also explains how Donald Trump is using his wealth and power to manipulate the system in his four corruption cases. Jim is a trial lawyer and host of the podcast Coogan Knows the Law.

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Rummana Hussain breaks the news! Actually Shia Kapos broke this particular item. MAGA man John Kass made like best friends with Kim Foxx at a boozy Christmas Party for Chicago’s media and political elite. Did he really mean it when he bashed her for years as an Soros lefty, or is he just a fraud? Journalists and journalism under siege—even in the NFL. Caste in California. And much love for Killers of the Flower Moon. Rummana is an editorial writer and columnist for the Sun-Times.

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Juan Gonzalez explains almost everything you need to know about the migrant “crisis” in Chicago. Starting with…it’s not a crisis! It’s an opportunity for a city whose population had been falling. Then he explains the causes of recent migration—federal economic warfare against Latin America. So the pols who scream the loudest about the crisis at the border are the ones who’re causing it. Juan Gonzalez is a great journalist—former columnist for the New York Daily News and co-host of Democracy Now! He’s a senior fellow at UIC’s Great City Institute. Read his book Harvest of Empire.

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James Risen explains everything you need to know about Senator Frank Church and his 1975 senate investigation into the dirty tricks of the CIA. Including… assassinations of foreign leaders, spying on American citizens and connivances with mobsters. Also, did the CIA kill Sam Giancana? James Risen is a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative reporter for the Intercept. And author of The Last Honest Man, a biography of Church.

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