O say, can you see another anthem controversy?

7-23-2026

This week:

• Yet another anthem controversy, and I am there for it!

• Last week’s winning quip

• News and Views — Hot takes, fully baked

• A quick look at what the Democratic Socialists of America stands for

• Land of Linkin’ — Where I tell readers where to go

• Squaring up the news — Where Charlie Meyerson tells readers where to go

• Media notes — On newspapers’ use of “dynamic pricing,” the future of Mike Pesca and the passing of two more former Tribune notables

• Quotables — A collection of compelling, sometimes appalling passages I’ve encountered lately

• How’s that makey-greaty stuff workin’ out for ya’?

• Quips — The winning visual jokes and this week’s contest finalists

• Bad Sports — The Argentine soccer team and Bryson DeChambeau

• Green Lights — Reader Phillip Seeberg green-lights “Life, Larry and the Pursuit of Unhappiness: An Almost History of America”

• Mistakes were made — I blew it on one portion of my analysis of the “Monty Hall Problem.”

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I always rise for “The Star-Spangled Banner” when it’s played before sporting events, even though I find the tradition objectionably coercive and unnecessary.

Remaining seated would send a message to some of the people around me — a message of contempt for our nation’s history and values and an utter rejection of the patriotic spirit — that’s far stronger than the symbolic eyeroll at this customary virtue signaling that I would wish to convey.

Nobody stands up from the couch and removes their hat when the anthem comes on TV before a ballgame. Theaters and concert venues don’t play the anthem. But OK. I rise with almost everyone else not to show respect for the current administration — as I have none — or to celebrate uncritically our nation’s checkered history, but to show respect for America’s ideals and respect for those around me.

One of those ideals — freedom of expression — says that not standing for the national anthem or declining to chant the Pledge of Allegiance is perfectly fine.

The older man — reportedly a military veteran — who chastised and then lightly struck a younger man in front of him in the back of the head for not rising for the anthem prior to Sunday’s game between the Cubs and Minnesota Twins at Wrigley Field evidently didn’t see it that way. He whacked someone for exercising a freedom he ostensibly fought for, though the two made up afterward.

Their altercation, which went viral after being caught on video, reignited a controversy that seems to flare up every few years, posing again the question of what it means when we stand and what it means when we sit (or take a knee or raise a fist) during the anthem.

Obligatory exhibitions of patriotism strike me as a bit North Korean, but as long as we remain free in America not to engage in them if we choose, I’ll continue to stand and participate.

Here are this week’s nominees and the winner of the Tuesday visual-jokes poll. Here is the direct link to the new poll.

View: The people have spoken over and over again about their desire to have Wilson lead the city, and their answer has been an emphatic “No thank you.”

• Mayoral election of 2015, third place, 10.7% of the vote

• Mayoral election of 2019, fourth place, 10.6% of the vote

• Mayoral election of 2023, fifth place 9.1% of the vote

Add in a third place finish with 4% of the vote in the 2020 Illinois U.S. Senate race (as the nominee of the Willie Wilson Party) and a 2016 run for the Democratic presidential nomination that earned him less than one-tenth of 1% of the primary vote, and you have a nearly unmatched tale of political futility.

Wilson, who is Black, carried 13 of 18 predominately Black wards in 2019, suggesting that the role he’s most likely to play in next year’s race is as a spoiler, drawing Black votes from incumbent Brandon Johnson (assuming Johnson runs).

Wilson seems like a nice man. Generous. Earnest. In a rambling Facebook video posted Monday, he announced that his team will begin circulating nominating petitions next Tuesday, the first day it’s allowed, and he told followers to “get prepared for people to ask a lot of questions.”

One question I had was whether the Tribune will continue to run Wilson’s ghost-written column every other week now that he’s a candidate.

“For now, at least,” Editorial Page Editor Chris Jones replied.

View: I don’t blame NU for not wanting to have Thrasher around for decades to come teaching his blinkered view of journalism.

My brief unpleasant interaction with him occurred five year ago when he tweeted that he was canceling his subscription to the Tribune over a column I wrote saying it was still too soon to draw conclusions about what happened when police Officer Eric Stillman shot and killed 13-year-old Adam Toledo — bodycam footage hadn’t even been released at that time, and activists were already portraying the gun-toting Toledo as a martyr to police violence.

“There is no space in a newspaper for arguing for the murder of a child and that it’s ‘never too early’ to think they are worthy of murder,” Thrasher wrote online.

A month later, after the hubbub died down, I calmly reached out to Thrasher via his Northwestern email address to say that’s not what I’d written and to ask if he’d be interested in “a more nuanced exchange by email.” I attempted to start that exchange by saying that “one of the jobs of a journalist is to question and challenge emerging narratives and conventional wisdom, to be clear about what we know for sure and what we suspect.”

His response, in full: “Your words make the murder of children more likely, and I have no interest in you, your unethical nature, your cynical worldview, or in communicating with you.”

Who needs a cowardly ideologue on their journalism faculty preaching that conclusions are more important than facts and there’s only one side to a story?

From the Tribune:

The lawsuit further alleges that the university’s actions have “effectively blacklisted” Thrasher from academia and that he “has been unable to secure a comparable position, causing irreversible economic and reputational harm” along with emotional distress.

Gee. No other college or university wants him. I don’t wonder why.

View: Chuy Garcia pissed away all the goodwill I ever had for him with the sleazy way he greased the way for his chief of staff, Patty Garcia, no relation, to inherit his seat.

The common assumption was that the popular veteran lawmaker would coast to reelection, so no plausible Democratic challenger in the March 17 primary would circulate petitions.

But just after the filing deadline, we learned that Chuy Garcia had quietly decided to retire even as Patty Garcia had been gathering signatures. Rigging the system was a hack move and beyond disappointing, given Chuy Garcia’s image as progressive, good government reformer. He now belongs in the rogues’ gallery of sketchy local pols who have thwarted democracy by coronating their successors through various slippery means.

Two strong challengers started petition drives to run as independent candidates — Latino activist Mayra Macías and Ald. Byron Sigcho-Lopez, 25th — but Illinois election law places a far higher burden on independent candidates than it does for Democratic and Republican candidates.

Briefly, established party candidates have to collect signatures equal to 0.5% of the qualified primary voters belonging to their party in that congressional district. In this case, Patty Garcia needed 697 valid signatures.

Macías and Sigcho-Lopez needed to gather valid signatures equal to 5% of the total number of voters who cast ballots in the previous general election, or 10,816 signatures. Both fell just short, according to a ruling Tuesday by the Illinois State Board of Elections.

The requirement is unnecessarily onerous and clearly part of the incumbent-protection racket, which is why I doubt the General Assembly will ever level the signature playing field for independent and minor-party candidates.

As far as the Chuy Garcia shenanigan, Illinois could go a long way toward preventing similar moves by copying Nebraska’s law requiring incumbents to file petitions for reelection roughly two weeks before the filing deadline for challengers. A similar law in Oregon gives challengers an extra week to file. Either would have given potential serious challengers to Patty Garcia a chance to get in the primary race.

View: If he does, he’s dead to me. I appreciate and even resonate with many of Maher’s critiques of the strident left, even though I disagree with him on some issues (his sweeping condemnation of Islam and his embrace of medical quackery, just for instance). His HBO show “Real Time with Bill Maher” is intended to be provocative and challenging, and I generally don’t mind being provoked and challenged.

But … If Maher’s moral compass is so weak that it ultimately points to a Trump-enabling toady like JD Vance over any of the possible Democratic presidential nominees, I will no longer be able to respect him enough to enjoy the challenge of watching him.

I will entertain the ideas of heterodox thinkers, not blinkered Trumpkins.

View: Glory! We will never again have to listen to Republicans whine about DEI hires or hear them complain about a Democratic candidate’s thin credentials.

As an unknown wag on social media wrote, “If your line cook died and you replaced them with a random sibling, your restaurant would likely fail immediately. But apparently being a United States senator requires less experience than being a line cook.”

A number of politicians these days are identifying as democratic socialists, and I’m among those who aren’t exactly sure what that means in individual cases. Here are some highlights of the new platform of the Democratic Socialists of America, an organization that asks us to “imagine the end of capitalism.”

I’m not here to critique these aspirations — some are no doubt popular, others not so much — but to note them and suggest that those who call themselves democratic socialists clarify where they stand on DSA’s aspirations.

• Don’t miss the stellar coverage of the latest scandal in Springfield by Tribune reporters Rick Pearson and Jeremy Gorner: “Illinois House Speaker Welch’s office knew of harassment claims against disgraced state Rep. Benton years ago.” (gift link) “Pritzker says Illinois ethics panel should release Harry Benton harassment report amid Welch office scrutiny” (gift link) “Illinois Speaker Welch tries to contain fallout over handling of Harry Benton harassment allegations (gift link) and “Gov. JB Pritzker urges Illinois House Speaker Welch to be transparent on Harry Benton harassment allegations (free link).

• Will the “Milk Dud” have the last laugh? Polls show that dairy magnate and former perennial losing candidate for high office in Illinois Jim Oberweis, 80, is very close to the top of the polls for the Aug. 18 Republican primary in Florida’s deep-red 19th Congressional District.

• I criticized New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani in Tuesday’s Picayune Plus for his equivocal response when a New York Times interviewer asked him if he planned to follow through on his promise to have Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrested for war crimes if he visited the United Nations in Manhattan. That same day, Mamdani released a video explaining why he could not follow through on that promise, but laid out a compelling case why he feels Netanyahu is a war criminal.

• Fun fact I just learned: Chris Witaske, the Second City alum who played Sugar’s husband Pete in the Hulu series “The Bear,” is the creator of the hilariously bawdy Chicago Party Aunt account on Twitter. The account turned into a Netflix series.

• On this week’s episode of “The Mincing Rascals” podcast, Marj Halperin, Steve Bertrand and I joined host John Williams to discuss the week’s news. If you’re not a podcast listener, you can hear an edited version of the show at 8 p.m. most Saturday evenings on WGN-AM 720. Look for the YouTube version that will be posted later in the week.

• Cents and sensibility — Congress is moving forward with the obvious solution to making change in a world without penny coins.

• Still there: The most annoying thing about Waze has driven me to a new navigation app.

• What do you think of politicians who are running for one office even as they are planning to run for another office shortly thereafter? Cast your vote!

• A very timely NewsWheel puzzle

This is a bonus supplement to the Land of Linkin’ from veteran radio, internet and newspaper journalist Charlie Meyerson. Each week, he offers a selection of intriguing links from his daily email news briefing Chicago Public Square:

■ Companies backing ICE: Popular Information ranks the top 25 consumer brands funding Congress’ biggest Immigration and Customs Enforcement supporters.

■ A Highland Park woman’s been sentenced to nine years in prison after admitting she helped smuggle people into the U.S. from Mexico—turning them into, in the words of a U.S. attorney, “a cadre of indentured servants.”

■ The Washington Post (gift link): “ICE officials warned of dangerous crowding. See how they kept packing people in.”

■ The Bulwark: “QAnon conspiracy theorists have taken over a prison. And they’re vowing to fill it with trafficked children.”

■ Ex-Jezebel Editor-in-Chief Laura Bassett: “There’s a severe diarrhea parasite in your lettuce, and Donald Trump’s administration sure appears to be in cahoots with the company to which it was traced.”

■ Historian Heather Cox Richardson, reviewing the Iran war fiasco: “Trump appears to be … less and less relevant to actual governance.”

■ Cartoonist and columnist Jack Ohman: “Trump has always been weird, but now he’s incoherent.”

■ Columnist Jeff Tiedrich: “Let’s all just enjoy watching Jon Ossoff use Piss-Drunk Pete as a chew toy.”

■ Your Local Epidemiologist: “COVID-19 is quietly waking up … just as it does every summer around mid-July.”

■ Stop the Presses columnist Mark Jacob: “Prediction markets are perfect examples of how Donald Trump and the oligarchs who conspire with him are building a nation of chumps.”

■ Digital Trends encourages you to visit the online Museum of Endangered Sounds to hear things such as the electronic screech of a 56K modem connecting, the mechanical clunk of a VHS tape loading and a floppy disk drive grinding away.

■ Old guys in the news: “Star Trek’s” Captain Kirk, William Shatner, 95, is bringing his heavy-metal band to Chicago’s Riot Fest in September.

■ Pulitzer winner Dave Barry, 79, went to the dentist.

You can (and should) subscribe to Chicago Public Square free here.

Neiman reports:

Yeah, I get letters from irked to outraged Tribune subscribers all the time who are bothered by the newspaper’s predatory and opaque pricing tactics, jacking up rates whenever they can. Companies can charge whatever they want for their services, sure, but I’m glad that laws are proposed or, in the case of New York state, enacted that will force businesses to disclose when they’re setting prices for you using personal data they’ve collected.

The word “fair” is doing a lot of heavy lifting there, as it does, I suppose, in demands for “fair” tax rates.

Podcast News Daily reports:

The Podcast News Daily story gets wrong the circumstances of Pesca’s ouster from Slate in 2021. It occurred after he defended in an in-house Slack conversation Donald G. McNeil Jr., a New York Times reporter forced to resign after saying a racial slur during a discussion of racism when serving as a guide on a high school student trip. Pesca did not use the word itself in the Slack conversation, but agreed with Black linguist John McWhorter, who argues that simply referring to the word — as in a discussion of its many uses in “Huckleberry Finn” — is not the same as deploying it as a racial slur:

The properly Black position is supposed to be, “If you even utter this word to refer to it, even in doing so to criticize it, you have gravely injured me.” And white allies look on and commit themselves to decrying the supposedly wounding act. … I am someone susceptible to having that word leveled at him. If I were angry with (a person) for uttering the word in a sympathetic and sensitive discussion, that would make me seem, in being so hypersensitive to injury so abstract, inferior indeed. Furthermore, if non-Blacks embrace this hypersensitivity as a way of showing that they are good people, they make me feel exploited.

Slate itself has published the word in context nearly 300 times.

Defector had a more accurate version of the Pesca story.

Meanwhile, to a PS reader who wondered how Pesca found the time to listen to so many podcasts, he explained that he listens at 2.3 times normal speed.

I’m still on the hunt for a formal obituary for former Tribune national correspondent and personal computing columnist James Coates, who died recently according to a social media post from a family member.

But here’s a snippet of remembrance from Joe McLaughlin passed along by retired Tribune reporter William Mullen. It concerns the late 1960s and early 1970s, when Coates ran “Action Express,” a mobile newsroom tasked with answering such reader questions as who had the most gold records, Frank Sinatra or the Beatles?

Working on Action Express was not a prestigious assignment, but Jim made it fun when he ran the column, and (Steve) Crews, Steve Pratt and I were among those on the staff. Jim would tell repeat callers with crank-like complaints that his name was Bill Aiken, so when he was told a caller was asking to speak to Mr. Aiken, Jim would immediately refer them to a random reporter at the Sun Times, giving the number for the City Desk across the street.

Andrew Leckey, a personal finance columnist for the Sun-Times and Tribune and business reporter for WLS-Ch. 7 and WBEZ-FM 91.5, died July 11 at age 76. The last appearance of his syndicated column in the Tribune was in 2010.

This from former Tribune business and digital guru Owen Youngman:

Leckey was more or less the Gene Siskel of personal finance, writing a syndicated newspaper column and appearing all the time on Channel 7. He came into the Tribune Tower a couple of nights a week to write, chat with the desk and discuss ideas—another thing that made him like Siskel. Later, Leckey was a business professor at places such as Boston University and Arizona State, and he would call me from time to time to talk about his most promising grad students — and he proved to be a great judge of talent based on their later careers.

When I came to the Tribune in 1980, Tom Popson and his wife, Lynn Van Matre, were the hippest people in the newsroom — reporters and critics on the local and national rock scene. Longtime readers will recognize the names. News archives suggest that Van Matre joined the newspaper in 1967 and Popson in 1970. Both had bylines until 2004.

Van Matre died at age 67 in November 2012. Popson died on April 30, according to a Facebook post by his friend and former Tribune writer and editor Denise Joyce. He was 83.

I understand and respect the Chicago Tribune’s desire to remain relevant to suburban readers — I was part of that effort once myself — but I follow the Trib’s social media feed to keep abreast of more regionally significant or generally interesting events than the too-frequently highlighted community happenings. The social media team would do better with zoned feeds — similar to the old zoned editions of the newspaper — so that, for example, “Chicago Tribune Southwest” readers could be alerted to the new staircase at Reavis High School in Burbank and the rest of us would not be bothered to skim past it.

■ Free Speech Center director and former USA Today editor Ken Paulson mourns the newspaper editorial’s decline—and offers newsrooms a few suggestions to restore the spirit of editorials.

■ “A D and a bunch of B’s”: Journalism critic Margaret Sullivan rates coverage of Trump’s “awful speech” last week.

■ So … not “Every Goddamn Day?” columnist Neil Steinberg, who optimistically gave that name to his blog when he launched it in 2013, is taking a few days off for rotator cuff surgery.

■ The Trib’s media reporter, Robert Channick, updates the ever-changing scorecard for Fox 32 Chicago’s on-air news lineup.

■ LateNighter marks “The Daily Show’s” 30th anniversary: “Jon Stewart reinvented late night.”

A collection of compelling, sometimes appalling passages I’ve encountered lately

Wall Street Journal Editorial Board — Since Mr. Trump declassified the memo, we can quote the part he didn’t. “Vote tabulation systems would be difficult to manipulate on a wide enough scale to compromise election results,” it says. “The systems in each voting location are not connected to the Internet or to each other, and many methods for exploiting them rely on physical proximity.” Achieving it across many jurisdictions “would be difficult” and “audits and paper trails very likely would uncover such an effort." Unfortunately, the message from Mr. Trump and others has been that America’s elections can’t be trusted, and the only hope is the SAVE America Act. Aside from being untrue, this is a political backfire for the GOP. If Republican voters believe it, and the bill falls short, then why waste time going to the polls in November? Has the GOP already forgotten how Mr. Trump’s fraud outbursts cost them two Senate seats in the 2021 Georgia runoffs?

U.S. Rep. Steve Scalise, R-La. — For God’s sake, you can’t go get pasta at Olive Garden without a picture ID.

Bob Janke — Couples that share social media accounts should be put in prison.

Former Republican U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, responding to a text from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth praising the sacrifice of U.S. war dead —Sacrifice?? What the fuck are you talking about?? They did not willingly sacrifice themselves. They were killed because of the war you, Trump, and the admin, are waging on behalf of a foreign country, Israel. You mean their deaths fuel your bloodlust for a senseless war.

Josh Gondelman — One weird thing about the deterioration of monoculture is that a bunch of commercials now feature people who are objectively famous but read to two-thirds of the population as emerging actors playing annoying characters.

Democratic U.S. Sen. Gary Peters of Michigan, speaking to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth during a hearing — You, sir, are the failure. Not the men and women who are on that front line. Not the men and women who hold up their honor with distinction. But there’s a lack of a winning strategy. They’re in harm’s way, their leaders have failed them. … You don’t have a strategy. You don’t have a long-term plan to actually win this war. Win the war! The men and women are going to be able to do it, but they need to have leadership. When will you show leadership?

Axios: The U.S. measles case count for this year has surged past last year's total and now stands at 2,295 — a level that hasn't been seen in 35 years, according to a Johns Hopkins University tracker that compiles state and local health data.

In Tuesday’s paid-subscriber editions, I present my favorite tweets that rely on visual humor. Subscribers then vote for their favorite. Here is the winner from this week’s contest, a take on the arrest photo of Andrew Tate.

Anyone can vote in the contest, but to have it delivered fresh to your email inbox each Tuesday morning along with the rest of the Picayune Plus, to participate in the comment forums and to ease your conscience, you can become a paid supporter:

1. I enjoyed “The Odyssey” (2026) but I have one historical nitpick. The phrase “Jiminy Christmas” is a minced oath for “Jesus Christ. As the story is set around 1200 B.C. it is unlikely that Odysseus would have said the phrase even once, let alone the dozens of times he says it in the film. — @pixelatedboat.bsky.social

2. If Telemachus really wanted all those suitors to leave the palace, he could’ve just taken up the banjo. — @badbanana

3. The person who thought up the brand name Juicy Juice probably makes more money than you. Have a nice day. — @johnlyon.bsky.social

4. Not only was my date completely clueless about Ben Franklin’s groundbreaking work with optics, but she’s also been gone over an hour in the rest room. — @splendidhobo.bsky.social

5. Why the hell are you looking for a needle in a haystack anyway? Get a new needle! They’re cheap. — unknown

6. Love the sinner and the sin, honestly. That shit sounds pretty cool. — @donni.bsky.social

7. Me [walks into city hall with a framed copy of the Constitution]. Parking Permit Officer: Oh no, he’s back. — @Bob_Janke

8. All these young people carrying around these giant fancy water bottles. I grew up in the 80’s and 90’s, I don’t think I drank water until I was 30. — @gardengirl125

9. I’m too mature to be bothered by my own typos, but too immature to stop judging you for yours. — @MelvinofYork

10. How about an outbreak of explosive critical thinking? — @benedictsred

Vote here and check the current results in the poll.

A fact check on this story allowed as how “traditionally, the runners-up remain facing the stage during the trophy presentation as a sign of respect,” but that “the gesture was driven more by heartbreak (and) not intended as a sign of disrespect toward Spain.”

USA Today:

DeChambeau was controversially assessed a two-stroke penalty in Friday’s second round of The Open Championship at Royal Birkdale. Rules officials and The Open’s chief referee Grant Moir determined that DeChambeau illegally improved the line of his swing while he stepped on long grass behind his ball. Intent didn’t play into the penalty either, as Moir explained. Yet, DeChambeau refused to accept that determination and reportedly threatened to call Trump up while arguing his case.

What a putz.

Watching the Chicago Sky blow an eight-point lead over the New York Liberty with 56 seconds left Wednesday night was painful.

Green Lights features recommendations from me and readers of songs, TV shows, streaming movies, books, podcasts, products and other diversions that, with only rare exceptions, can be enjoyed at home. Today’s recommendation comes from PS supporter Phillip Seeberg:

I give a green light to the HBO show “Life, Larry and the Pursuit of Unhappiness: An Almost History of America” with Larry David.

I took issue with the simplistic view of the Electoral College — the skit on Samuel Tilden treated it like Trump/Clinton, when Tilden/Hayes was so much more. It seemed like a cheap shot the way they did it.

On the other hand, the skit where Rosa Parks is sitting next to Larry on the bus is great.

And the skit with George Washington where people in Congress are complaining about hypothetical future presidents and use some very choice words that are not too veiled toward the current president.

Reader Tom T. adds: Only Larry could be so annoying that Rosa Parks would want to move away from him to the back of the bus. Brilliant premise, excellent execution of the comedy bit.

• Steve Bertrand — A green light for the documentary “Crock of Gold: A Few Rounds with Shane MacGowan,” available for viewing or rental on several streaming services.

• John Williams — A chartreuse light (a combination of green and yellow) for “The Odyssey.”

• Marj Halperin — A green light for “O Brother, Where Art Thou?” the 2000 movie that tracks with the story of “The Odyssey.” It’s available for rental on several streaming services.

• Eric Zorn — A green light for former WGN-Ch. 9 weathercaster Tom Skilling’s improvised star turn in Season 5, Episode 7 of “The Bear” on Hulu.

If you would like to offer a traffic light for the Rascals podcast, email a voice memo to johnwilliams@wgnradio.com.

When I become aware of errors in the Picayune Sentinel, I quickly correct them in the online version, but since many of you read just the email version, which I can’t correct after the fact, I will use this space periodically to alert you to meaningful mistakes I’ve made. (Not typos, in other words.)

In some of the back and forth with readers about the three-door “Monty Hall Problem,” I insisted that it didn’t matter whether or not the person opening the random door knew whether or not there was a booby prize behind the door or the grand prize. But I was wrong. And I had to play out a number of scenarios on paper before I truly believed I was wrong.

First, a refresher. The Monty Hall Problem is named for the host of the old TV game show “Let’s Make a Deal,” in which contestants were frequently asked to choose one of three doors. Behind one was a grand prize. Behind the other two were booby prizes. If the contestant chose door No. 1, Monty Hall would open one of the other two doors, revealing a booby prize, and then ask the contestant if he or she wanted to switch to the other door.

Should the contestant switch? The answer is yes. Switching increases the odds of winning from 33% to 66%. The truth of that drives some people crazy, but it’s true.

But if Monty Hall randomly opened one of the other two doors and it randomly revealed a booby prize, switching doors does not increase the contestant’s odds of winning. I had a very hard time getting my mind around this truth, but here’s how it plays out:

In each scenario, the contestant picks door No. 1., and the grand prize is behind door No. 2. There are only three possible scenarios:

1. Monty Hall randomly opens door No. 2. There is no game at that point, so we call it a draw and play again.

2. Monty Hall randomly opens door No. 3. The contestant keeps door No. 1. The contestant loses.

3. Monty Hall randomly opens door No. 3. The contestant switches to door No. 2. The contestant wins.

So half the time we play the game, the contestant wins by standing pat, and half the time the contestant loses by standing pat. Under that scenario, there is no statistical advantage to the contestant to switch his or her choice of doors.

The Picayune Sentinel regrets the error.

I am a former opinion columnist for the Chicago Tribune. I began publishing the Picayune Sentinel on Sept. 9, 2021, roughly two and a half months after I took a buyout from the newspaper. This issue exceeds in size the maximum length for a standard email. To read the entire issue in your browser, click on the headline link above. Paid subscribers receive each Picayune Plus in their email inbox each Tuesday, are part of our civil and productive commenting community and enjoy the sublime satisfaction of supporting this enterprise. Browse and search back issues here.

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