Smoke and mirrors.
What a week we’ve had!
Dissension, disruption, and are you kidding me?
To wit:
- A Chicago sun the color of medium rare steak encased in a Canadian wildfire smoke-filled sky.
- An elderly President Joe Biden, 80, grappling again with the mirror of ageism — a facial news note on a vague cheek imprint from a sleep apnea machine mask.
- A dredge of tarp-wrapped Titan wreckage protecting the suspected human remains of five victims drawn once again to the lure of the ocean-buried Titanic.
- Madonna hospitalized with a serious bacterial infection.
- Crime, Chicago style: A recent Chicago resident who allegedly robbed four people and carjacked a fifth in less than an hour last Monday.
- A fistful of seismic U.S. Supreme Court rulings dismantling affirmative action in America: shift-shaping our country’s college and university admission system for millions dealing with racism; striking down Biden’s student loan forgiveness program; and a helluva way to end Gay Pride week by ruling a web designer has a First Amendment right to refuse to work on same-sex weddings of LGBTQ customers because that conflicts with a religious belief.
And how was your day?
Honus bonus
Ka-ching!
It wasn’t the legendary multimillion-dollar Honus Wagner baseball card once offered with a tobacco purchase.
Instead, it was a rare, early 20th century Wagner card, a premium offered with loaves of Tip Top bread in 1910, that was sold online at Hindman Auctions Monday for $114,000.
The Honus “Tip Top” card was consigned to the Hindman Auctions Sports Memorabilia department, whose director, James Smith, was the former Chicago Sun-Times front page maestro who was once showcased on an Oprah Winfrey show for his iconic 2008 “Mr. President” front page shortly after Barack Obama was elected president.
According to the “Flying Dutchman”s legend, Wagner, the late Pittsburgh Pirates Hall of Famer, balked at his likeness being associated with any tobacco product … which made the “Tip Top” bread card much more kid-friendly.
Who would have thought over a century ago the tobacco card would become a home run selling for millions … and the “Tip Top” card would sell today for six figures.
That’s some serious bread.
Biden his time …
Puck place: Biden hit town to discuss the world of “Bidenomics” Wednesday, but Sneed is told he was all about hockey hoopla following a speech he gave later at a private Trial Lawyers Association fundraiser at the JW Marriott hotel.
- Sneed hears “Uncle Joe” chatted up legal eagle Bob Clifford’s new partner, Jack Casciato, a major hockey fan, about the Blackhawks’ new 17-year-old franchise-altering, NHL No. 1 draft pick, the Canadian phenom Connor Bedard.
“Remarkable, remarkable,” was the operative Biden adjective describing the national buzz the young hockey star has generated.
The Trump thump
Say what!!! Republican presidential hopeful Chris Christie, a former Trump stalwart who is now a Trumpster dumpster, had this to say about whether he’d pardon Trump if the ex-prez were found guilty of a major federal offense.
“First of all, one has to accept responsibility as a prerequisite for a pardon … and Trump would never accept responsibility,” Christie said.
The Trump pump
Trump’s newest “Make America Great Again” presidential campaign logo states: ”They are after you ... and I’m just standing in the way.”
- T-hee? Trump’s new, 100% cotton campaign T-shirt, selling for $36, is emblazoned with the logo “Unfinished Business.” It sports a pix of him and wife Melania … who has been not been spotted on the Trump campaign trail.
War survivor: redux
It’s still there. As Russia continues to wage war in Ukraine, a Christian legend in Ukraine’s capital city of Kyiv remains intact.
The huge mosaic known as the “Oranta,” which is under UNESCO protection, comes with a prophecy: Ukraine will survive (and ostensibly remain free) as long as the huge mosaic of the Virgin Mary, located in Kyiv’s 11th century St. Sophia cathedral, remains intact.
The church is frequently used as a backdrop in war interviews.
Sneedlings
Saturday birthdays: actress Pamela Anderson, 56; actor Dan Aykroyd, 71, and singer Debby Harry, 78. Sunday birthdays: actress Margot Robbie, 33, actress Lindsay Lohan, 37, and producer Larry David, 76.
