Only five days ago O'Hare hit 17°C after the mean temperature rose steadily for four weeks. Just when we thought spring was a possibility, things shifted. Friday's high temperature was lower than Wednesday's low, and last night it ]bottomed out at -8°C, 25°C (45°F) colder than Wednesday's high.

Since the normal low for February 23rd is -4.3°C, and right now it's only 1.3°C below that, there's no point complaining.

Plus, I don't care what the weather does, because Spring officially starts Sunday. Six months from now we'll be dreaming of a cool autumn. This is why I live in a temperate climate: variety!

• About this Blog (v5.0)  (1 month)
• Brews and Choos project  (1 month)
• Chicago sunrises, 2026  (1 month)
• Inner Drive Technology's computer history  (2 years)
• Logical fallacies  (6 years)
• Other people's writing  (5 years)
• Parker Braverman, 2006-2020  (5 years)
• Style sheet  (7 months)
• Where I get my corn-pone  (2 weeks)

James Fallows wrote speeches for President Carter and has been a political journalist since leaving politics. He has five tips for watching Tuesday's speech, which I will be doing so you don't have to:

The challenge and problem for Donald Trump is that his natural speaking style is the exact opposite of what these formal occasions require. To the best of my knowledge, he has never once delivered a speech in the style that works best for SOTUs.

Here the viewer-tip will apply to the first 15 minutes of the speech. That’s usually as long as Trump can stay “on message”: Sticking with the script, reading the prompter as if he’s seen the words before, omitting the “like nobody has seen before” or “prices down 800%” marginalia, sounding as “big tent” as MAGA policies allow.

If he lasts that long, it will be a sign of a different kind of speech from what we’ve come to expect. But if he reverts to form in this opening stretch, when the audience will be largest, even with a few casual riffs that make him feel comfortable but aren’t in the script, we’ll know what the rest of the speech will be like.

Can Donald Trump surprise us all, by choosing this moment to seem calm, focused, purposeful, broad-spirited? Which is what the three presidents mentioned above managed to do, during SOTUs at low points in their lives? Which is what inspirational leaders through history are renowned for? Could he possibly meet the test of self-control, at a time when it matters most?

Some terminally online people don't think he'll even give the speech. Others wonder how bad his sundowning will be. We'll find out, and I'll be live-blogging.

In the past two weeks, two Brews & Choos Project breweries have closed or announced their closings: Short Fuse closed on Monday, and Illuminated Brew Works announced yesterday that they would close this coming June. Another brewery my Brews & Choos buddy and I visited (but was too far from public transit to make the list), Alarmist, closed January 31st.

It's a tough time to be in the alcohol business. Fully 26 of the breweries and distilleries I've visited have closed, and another 8 that were on the list went out of business before I could get there. That's 17% of the list. Sure, other breweries have taken over: Is/Was opened up in the space Urban Brew Labs previously occupied (and Koval occupied before them). But Chicago just isn't big enough to support 150 breweries, which every one of these businesses know.

Fortunately, Spiteful is killing it (and overdue for a re-visit), and so are Begyle and Burning Bush.

It's always¹ sad when a brewery closes, though. I liked Illuminated Brew Works, and thought Cassie would probably like it too. I hope we can get back there before the end of June.

I have a lot of prep to do for an event tomorrow, but I still found a few minutes to read these:

• Ruy Teixeira says "Gavin Newsom, you're no Bill Clinton."
• US Representative Celeste Maloy (R-UT) has proposed permanent half-hour daylight saving time, which has the TZDB list in hysterics. (For example: on December 21st in Chicago, the sun would rise at 7:45 and set at 16:53; on June 21st, 4:45 and 20:00. So it may not be the worst idea.)
• Amazon has cancelled its partnership with Flock Safety because, for some reason, most people don't want to live in a privately-funded surveillance state. Their Super Bowl ad didn't help, coming as it did while ICE was still merrily snatching people off the streets.

Finally, a town in Georgia has said "no" to Immigration and Customs Enforcement because they have no realistic way to provide municipal services to the concentration camp detention facility ICE wants to build there: "To be clear, the City has repeatedly communicated that it does not have the capacity or resources to accommodate this demand, and no proposal presented to date has demonstrated otherwise. The Department of Homeland Security has stated that an economic impact study has been conducted in connection with this proposed facility; however, City officials have not received a copy of that study and are awaiting the opportunity to review the analysis." Even in a community that supports the OAFPOTUS, ICE is still toxic.

The US Supreme Court ruled 6-3 today that the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) does not let the OAFPOTUS impose taxes:

The President asserts the extraordinary power to unilaterally impose tariffs of unlimited amount, duration, and scope. In light of the breadth, history, and constitutional context of that asserted authority, he must identify clear congressional authorization to exercise it.

IEEPA’s grant of authority to “regulate . . . importation” falls short. IEEPA contains no reference to tariffs or duties. The Government points to no statute in which Congress used the word “regulate” to authorize taxation. And until now no President has read IEEPA to confer such power.

We claim no special competence in matters of economics or foreign affairs. We claim only, as we must, the limited role assigned to us by Article III of the Constitution. Fulfilling that role, we hold that IEEPA does not authorize the President to impose tariffs.

Chief Justice Roberts (R) wrote the opinion that the independent and Democratic justices signed on to. Justices Kavanaugh (R), Thomas (R), and Alito (R) dissented, as was their duty to the Republican Party for which they stand.

Josh Marshall says "don't be fooled:"

Indeed, today’s decision is actually an indictment of the Court. These tariffs have been in effect for almost a year. They have upended whole sectors of the U.S. and global economies. The fact that a president can illegally exercise such powers for so long and with such great consequences for almost a year means we’re not living in a functional constitutional system. If the Constitution allows untrammeled and dictatorial powers for almost one year, massive dictator mulligans, then there is no Constitution.

The Court also allowed the tariffs to remain in place while the government appealed the appellate decision striking down the tariffs back in August. Let me repeat that: back in August, almost six months ago.

In other words, most of the time in which these illegal tariffs were in effect was because of that needless stay. The logic of the stay was that deference to President’s claim of illegal powers was more important than the harm created by hundreds of billions in unconstitutional taxes being imposed on American citizens. It’s a good example of what law professor Leah Litman — one of the most important voices on the Court’s corruption — earlier this morning called the Court’s corruption via “passivity,” empowering anti-constitutional actions through deciding not to act at all or encouraging endless delays it could easily put a stop to in the interests of the constitutional order.

Paul Krugman argues that "the tariff ruling really matters:"

Trump’s invocation of IEEPA wasn’t about average tariff rates, or revenue. It wasn’t even about the trade deficit, which, by the way, hasn’t declined at all since he went on his tariff spree.

No, it was all about arbitrary power. Trump has reveled in being able to slap tariffs on Brazil for daring to put Jair Bolsonaro on trial for a failed insurrection, being able to threaten France and Germany with tariffs for getting in the way of his attempt to seize Greenland, and of course giving tariff waivers to businesses that help him build his ballroom.

The desire for that arbitrary power is why he went for IEEPA despite warnings that it might well be ruled unconstitutional.

No wonder, then, that he’s throwing a huge temper tantrum.

The government must now refund some $120 billion from the illegal tariffs, much of that going to hedge funds who bought the refund rights from small businesses who couldn't survive without the cash. Because even when he loses, the OAFPOTUS still does tremendous damage to almost everyone.

Chicago has a batshit-crazy seller's market right now:

In the month ended Feb. 15, a little more than 24% of all homes listed in the Chicago area went under contract within two weeks, according to Redfin. That's by far the highest proportion of quick contracts since the expiration of the pandemic-era housing boom.

In all the time since January 2023, Redfin's data show two-week contracts generally staying below 15% and often below 10%, except for March 2025 when the figure hit a recent-years high of 17.2%. That's a full one-third fewer fast contracts than have been inked this past month.

It's entirely possible Inner Drive Technology's World HQ might relocate soon...

With all the walking around outside and taking half a day of PTO, I didn't get a chance to read these articles I set aside to read later:

• Amanda Nelson suggests how Congress can arrest Attorney General Pam Bondi.
• Brian Beutler pays attention to US Rep Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and comes away with a wildly different take than Jeff Maurer does.
• Paul Krugman warns that "we are in the midst of an unprecedented power grab by America’s oligarchs."
• James Fallows asks, "What should the Dems do to win—and then to govern?"
• AI progress is giving Matt Ygelsias writer's block.

Finally, Funkytown Brewery announced a new taproom near Lake and Damen that should open in 2027. They make really good beer, currently pouring at Pilot Project. They're already on the Brews & Choos Project list. Can't wait!

The temperature got up to 17.2°C (63°F) at O'Hare this afternoon, but with 72 km/h (39 kts) wind gusts. Inner Drive WHQ managed 14.6°C, also with gusty winds. That's still warm enough to open all the windows and let Cassie sleep on the front deck. And she's had over an hour of walks today, with another half-hour in store when we go to pub quiz in just over an hour.

As an added bonus, here she is last night, doing what dogs do best:

The state registered Punzun Ltd, an Illinois corporation doing business as Inner Drive Technology, on 17 February 2000. The name, however, dates from my mind wandering in Mr Collins' algebra class on 21 March 1985, so really "Punzun Ltd" as a concept will turn 41 next month.

In other notable news:

• The Rev Jesse Jackson died today at 84.
• Brian Beutler points out the obvious: "Republicans are much more corrupt than Democrats."
• Paul Krugman shows how the OAFPOTUS's and his droogs' corruption has led directly to rising measles rates.
• A local business owner sought guidance from the City of Chicago on how to license her business, only to get temporarily shut down because the city Dept of Business Affairs and Consumer Protection doesn't (yet) know how to classify a sex dungeon.

Finally, Chicago hit a record 18.3°C (65°F) yesterday afternoon, blowing away the previous record by over 4°C. (Inner Drive Technology WHQ got up to 16.4°C (61.5°F), which is probably a record but the data only go back to 2022.)

And everyone please spare a thought for Cassie today. I'm having both of the couches she likes to sleep on cleaned right now, so she will have to content herself with the floor or (gasp!) the dog beds until the couches dry in about 12 hours.

Chicago set a new record high temperature for February 16th officially at 11:51 when the temperature at O'Hare got up to 15°C (59°F). That was also 4°C warmer than just an hour earlier, and at the moment it's 2°C above the record. By the way, 17°C is the normal temperature in Chicago on April 25th.

Inner Drive Technology World HQ is a lot closer to the lake, but the southwest winds have still pumped the temperature here up to 15.8°C. It was last this warm here on November 15th, 93 days ago.

In other news:

• Matthew Yglesias makes a Presidents Day observation: "Presidential democracy was a mistake."
• Josh Marshall proposes rethinking the Federal holiday schedule to get rid of Presidents Day and Columbus Day in favor of Freedom Day in June and a true Indigenous Peoples Day in the fall.
• Artist Judy Chicago quit the Google HQ project in Chicago after Google management repeatedly made the kinds of decisions that only a mega-corporation suffering from late-stage Peter Principle can make.

I'm sure other things happened over the weekend, but I've got some work to do and I want to make sure Cassie gets as much time outside as we can manage today. Right now she's soaking up the sun on my tiny deck.

The record temperature for February 16th is just 14°C (58°F). Officially at O'Hare it's 6.1°C (43°F) and foggy, but the forecast predicts a high of nearly 18°C (64°F)—the normal temperature for April 28th.

I have meetings off and on until 1:45, so Cassie won't get her long walk until then. I can't wait to see whether we've broken the record by then. And hey, if we're going to break a heat record, so much better to do it in February than July!

I've just released version 1.0.9543 of the software running the Daily Parker. This is the 9th production release since January 13th, which is 9 production releases more than in the previous several years. In fact, there were no new releases between 29 April 2019 and 13 January 2026, because of how difficult it was to maintain the previous version. That, of course, was one of the reasons for rewriting the thing from scratch.

This release fixes a few minor bugs and one security hole that I meant to plug 8 releases ago:

• Corrected the mishandling of tags that have single quotes in them (like O'Hare)
• Fixed a bug that forgot the user's origin page when the user logged in
• Plugged a security hole introduced by an upcoming feature that allowed anonymous visitors to see future, unpublished (but public) blog posts in certain circumstances
• Tightened a few other security issues
• Tweaked the order and spacing of icons and badges in event listings
• Migrated the UI to Blazorise 2.0
• Added robots.txt

I probably won't have another release for a couple of weeks, because (a) I haven't cracked the code on the next feature I'm building and (b) the rapid release cycle has let me fix all of the bugs I've found so far.

Also, it's sunny and already 8°C, and tomorrow's forecast calls for sunny skies and 16°C (61°F), which would break the record by 2°C. So I probably won't spend all my free time coding, you know?

Yesterday, St Boniface Cemetery, Chicago:

The temperature outside my door just hit 9.0°C, the warmest it's been since January 13th. And it might get up to 14°C (58°F) on Monday, a temperature we haven't seen since November 15th.

That's why Cassie and I took a 55-minute walk at lunchtime. We'll probably do another 3 or 4 hours this weekend. Yay Spring!

Exactly 30 days ago the Inner Drive Journal (the software powering this blog) went live. I've released 7 new builds since then. One of the driving forces behind the re-write was frequent releases, so that part seems to have succeeded tremendously.

So, how's it going? I'd like to hear your thoughts. Comment below with anything that comes to mind.

Matthew Yglesias takes a look at what average Americans consider to be corrupt behavior by politicians and concludes that voters "think everyone is corrupt:"

Some people think it’s because the voters don’t care about corruption, but I think that’s probably wrong.

Searchlight Institute polling on this shows that voters just have an incredibly low estimate of the baseline level of integrity of politicians. Seventy-one percent say the “typical politician” is corrupt. Typical Republican? Sixty-eight percent. Typical Democrat? Sixty-one percent. Seventy-two percent say that “long-term elected officials” are probably corrupt.

I think it’s hard to make political hay out of Trump’s corruption because, while it looks extraordinary to me (and probably to you if you’re reading this), many voters see it as pretty normal.

It doesn't help that Americans generally don't see the nuance: the Democratic Party tends to kick out its most corrupt members, while the Republican Party lauds theirs. Nicholas Kristof sums this up in his column today:

President Trump is unrivaled in American history in one respect: None of his predecessors ever cashed in on the presidency as he has.

The fire hose of disclosures has been overwhelming. A Times editorial estimated conservatively that the Trump family has made more than $1.4 billion in documented gains by exploiting the second term of his presidency. (Others offer higher figures.)

And all that pales beside the latest bombshell: a $500 million secret deal backed by a government leader in the United Arab Emirates, just four days before Trump was inaugurated for his second term.

What does this have to do with authoritarianism? Well, corrupt politicians crack down on their opponents, particularly the press, because they don't want to go to jail. Authoritarianism is always a cover for corruption.

On the other hand, by promoting loyalty (and silence) ahead of competence (and accountability), authoritarians always fail. Sadly, failure doesn't guarantee they get kicked out of power. I just hope that the authoritarian overreach by the Republican Party will lead to electoral reckonings in November and in 2028.

Two things this morning that made me laugh, starting with the news of one more Federal grand jury refusing to indict someone that made the OAFPOTUS mad—in this case, six someones, all sitting US legislators and former US military and intelligence officers:

A Washington DC grand jury declined to indict six Democratic lawmakers who were denounced by Donald Trump after they made a video urging troops to refuse illegal orders.

Federal prosecutors had sought an indictment against the Democrats who participated in the video, including Elissa Slotkin, Mark Kelly, Jason Crow, Chris Deluzio, Maggie Goodlander and Chrissy Houlahan, who all have military and intelligence backgrounds.

Slotkin, a former CIA officer, organized the video in which the lawmakers said officers can resist unlawful commands. Trump was outraged by the clip, and described it as “seditious behavior by traitors” that was “punishable by death”.

Slotkin said in a statement on Tuesday that the video “simply quoted the law” and Jeanine Pirro, the US attorney, attempted to persuade a grand jury to indict Slotkin at the direction of Trump.

Let's remember that US Attorney Jeanine Pirro previously held the exalted role of Fox News presenter, where she and her colleagues lied about the 2020 election so ridiculously that Dominion Voting Systems forced Fox to settle a defamation case for $787 million.

I also laughed out loud at Paul Krugman's takedown of Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnik this morning:

While MAGA-world’s fantasy villains like George Soros are brilliant and subtle, MAGA’s real villains are uncouth and dim-witted. Yet they carry out their sinister schemes in broad daylight. For all they need to flourish is utter shamelessness, along with the backing of a corrupt administration and a corrupt political party.

So it’s worth remembering Hannah Arendt’s observations about the architects of Hitler’s genocide, which led her to coin the phrase “the banality of evil”. As Arendt noted, the horrors of Nazism were not inflicted by brilliant geniuses, but through the normalization of thoughtless, amoral behavior that eventually turned into evil. Thus while Lutnick appears on the surface like a dim-witted backroom grifter, he is a warning of something far more sinister and malign lurking below.

OK, I'm not quoting the funny part here, but you should read Krugman's entire post.

And he's right. This Administration could have gotten everything they wanted had they not been stupid. (I also think the lawful-evil faction is really annoyed that their chaotic-evil leader keeps screwing things up for them.)

I've just released v1.0.9538 of the Inner Drive Journal, the software that runs The Daily Parker. This release added two big security features that I've been working toward for years.

First, the big one: users can now set up profiles using their Google IDs. Just go to the login page and click on "Sign in with Google." Google will tell you that the blog will read your name and user ID, and if that's OK with you, the Daily Parker will create a profile for you. This will enable you to set a couple of preferences and see posts with Authenticated privacy.

Despite the 30 years of professional software development behind me, I used the Anthropic Claude Opus 4.5 agent in GitHub CoPilot to do the grunt work. It got 90% the way there before it got stuck. But Claude Opus 4.6 got me over the finish line. And the code it wrote for me wasn't bad: it did what I needed and wasn't difficult to polish.

As much as CoPilot is helping me get things done faster, I'm also learning its, ah, idiosyncrasies, and thus how to get more out of it more quickly. I've struggled to find good documentation on how to get Google Authentication working in Blazor apps for about three years now, and kept giving up. Claude got it done in two hours, because it can read a lot more documentation than I can.

Now that I've got Google authentication working here, including getting the Daily Parker verified on Google and all that, I'll be adding Google sign-ins to Weather Now in the next few days.

The second major improvement today: Users who can add things to the blog can now set the privacy to "Private," the third of the five levels the app will ultimately support. Most of the 10,000+ posts are Public: anyone can see them. A few are Authenticated: only people who have an active profile can see them, as if they're paywalled. (The Daily Parker is currently free, and I have no plans to monetize the blog, but this would be the mechanism.) The new "Private" level restricts visibility to the owner (usually the creator) and people the creator affirmatively adds to the item's access list. The first use case that I'm going to build out is my reading list. I want to see a list of all the books I've read and when I read them, but I don't want you to see the whole list. I'll set some to Public and Authenticated to demonstrate the feature, but just a few.

You can see how the Journal software has evolved on the Release Notes page.