Sunday links.

Anthony Shadid in the NY Times writing from Cairo. “Liberation Square was liberated Saturday. Shadowed by the landmarks of a government that turned promises of secular nationalism into a withering authoritarianism, thousands of young people did what the state of President Hosni Mubarak never allowed in 29 years. They seized control of their lives.”

Can an 80 year-0ld left-wing widowed academic kick Glenn Beck’s ass? No problem.

Attorney Flint Taylor is no stranger to unpopular causes. He is a Chicago treasure. The Sun-Times reports on the crusade that brought down John Burge.

If you’re not watching Al Jazeera, you don’t know what is going on in Egypt, Tunisia, Yemen, Jordan, Syria and Israel. And you should.

We had a long interview with del Valle today, in which he talked about his political background and addressed a number of the issues that are on the minds of everyday Chicagoans. We’ll have the full conversation next week, but here’s a little teaser: del Valle’s reaction to the decision that Jon Burge would continue to receive his pension despite his conviction for lying about torturing suspects.

“I thought it was a terrible decision, a terrible decision. Awful, awful, awful. I think it sends the wrong message. There are a lot of people who lost their pension — you’ve got a governor in jail who lost his pension, a governor of the state of Illinois. For this man to keep his pension after what he did… I think the individuals who voted for that made a big mistake.” Huffington Post

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