A little politics, a little health news, and an effort to restrict Airbnb in San Fran. What we're reading today:
Daley on Trump: Bill Daley — known globally as the former Obama chief of staff but locally here as the brother of one Mayor Daley and the son of another — says that the the GOP's current "dysfunction" can be traced back to Sarah Palin.
Writing in the Washington Post, Daley says when Palin was chosen to be the Republican VP candidate in 2008, despite her "blatant lack of competence and preparedness," it set the course for uninformed candidates like Donald Trump and Ben Carson. The "'settle for flash' aura" of Palin signalled that the party prized "glib, red-meat rhetoric over reasoned solutions," Daley says. Today, GOP party leaders "are watching helplessly as Trump leads the pack and House Republicans engage in fratricide," he says.
Cigarettes, Bacon and Red Meat, Oh No! Alisa Hauser awoke to WXRT disc jockey Mary Dixon talking about how bacon can kill you. Expected to be released soon, a World Health Organization report will announce that bacon, sausage and processed meats are carcinogens. "In doing so, the WHO would likely be classifying these processed food items in the same category as cigarettes and asbestos, "Care2.com reports.
In Other News ... It turns out everything gives you cancer, reporter David Matthews is reading in a 2001 Examiner article. While Monday's report from the World Health Organization could alter diets for the better across the globe, it's worth noting that other things affecting carnivores and herbivores alike — such as sunshine and toothpaste — also contain carcinogens. Happy Monday.
No Home Field Advantage for Airbnb: San Francisco voters are heading to the polls next week and reporter Patty Wetli is following one of the most contentious issues on the ballot: Proposition F, a bill that would restrict short-term rentals.
You'd think with Airbnb being headquartered in Frisco the company would have a home field advantage, but not so. According to SF Weekly, the upstart is worried enough to have poured $8 million into a "defeat Prop F" campaign, among the priciest in the city's history — trailing only the $9.2 million spent by Big Soda and the $10.8 million spent by Big Electricity to beat measure targeting their industries. Airbnb might want to ask its ad agency for a refund. Recent billboards that seemed to suggest San Fran should thank the company for paying its taxes struck the wrong note, and were pulled.
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