One of our guys made it / ‘The pact is backfiring’ / Quiz!

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One of our guys made it.* The new Pope Leo XIV—the first American U.S. pope—was born Robert Prevost in Chicago in 1955 and grew up in Dolton.
■ The New York Times (gift link, courtesy of Chicago Public Square supporters): Leo is descended in part from Creole people of color in New Orleans.
■ Illinois records show he’s registered to vote in New Lenox—and cast ballots as a Republican in 2012, 2014 and 2016, although sources tell CNN he voted Democratic in 2008 and 2010.
■ Contrary to some early reports, his brother says he was always a White Sox fan.
■ He’ll be formally installed May 18.
■ His choice of name is a deliberate reference to, in the words of a Vatican spokesperson, “men, women, their work and workers in an age of artificial intelligence.”
■ A Tribune editorial: “God bless you, Pope Leo XIV. Come home soon.”
■ Fellow South Sider Catholic and former Sun-Times opinion editor Tom McNamee: “If Pope Leo XIV comes through, I, for one, will be thanking some long-forgotten nuns from St. Mary of the Assumption Church in Chicago.”
■ Block Club: “Within minutes of the announcement, Chicagoans had Photoshopped the new pope holding an Italian beef sandwich and made at least 50 Malört jokes.”
■ Mayor Johnson posts: “Everything dope, including the pope, comes from Chicago!”

But … Much of his career’s been spent in Peru.
■ In his first public remarks as pope, he said not a word in English …
■ … prompting a reprimand from The Daily Show’s Desi Lydic: “How dare you? If English was good enough for Jesus, it’s good enough for the pope” …
■ … and this from Stephen Colbert: “Hey, I’m an American! I shouldn’t have to press 2 for Pope.”
■ The Sun-Times reports that the new pope’s religious order’s “still mired in secrecy over child sex abuse.”
■ In 2012, in contrast with his predecessor’s papacy, he complained about “beliefs and practices that are at odds with the Gospel—for example abortion, homosexual lifestyle, euthanasia.”
■ Catholic columnist and lawyer Robert B. Hubbell sees an American pope as “a sign of hope.”
■ The new pope has mixed it up with President Trump and Vice President Vance on social media.
■ USA Today’s Rex Huppke: “Is Pope Leo XIV a ‘WOKE MARXIST POPE’? He is if you’re a Trump supporter.”

‘The pact is backfiring.’ The Wall Street Journal reports (another gift link) that a venerable New York law firm that cut a deal with Trump is bleeding lawyers.
■ Former Supreme Court Justice David Souter—a Republican who became a liberal favorite—is dead at 85.
■ Trump’s backup choice for D.C. U.S. attorney is Fox News host Jeanine Pirro …
■ … who Wonkette’s Evan Hurst suggests sarcastically could be Trump’s “funniest and best appointment ever.”
■ Paging Oak Park-raised Saturday Night Live alumnus Cecily Strong.

Blown away. The Trump administration’s killing a database tracking the costs of extreme weather fueled by climate change.
■ An Illinois company that has made paper straws has seen business plummet as Trump has championed plastic.
■ Lyz Lenz’s Dingus of the Week: Trump’s pick for surgeon general.

‘I see the mother, a young woman in a green shirt, wailing, crying, held on either side by menacing white men in tactical vests, black neck warmers pulled over their noses in the style du jour for our secret police forces.’ Massachusetts reporter Bill Shaner witnessed “a federal kidnapping” by ICE agents.
■ Wired: U.S. Customs and Border Protection has quietly revoked protections for pregnant women and infants.
■ Columnist Neil Steinberg: “A shame we can’t have a program where young, energetic people are encouraged to come to Illinois, get jobs and raise their families. Oh wait, we do. … Unless we let the feds pluck them off the street and ship them to a hellhole in El Salvador for the crime of being here.”

‘Moms, ytterbium, ballistics and Warren Buffett’s brain. (Plus a bonus Q about the new pope!)’ That’s the table past Jeopardy! Tournament of Champions winner Fritz Holznagel’s set for you with this week’s news quiz …
■ … on which your Chicago Public Square columnist scored a decent 7/9 correct.

Be here Monday. Your name will be, anyway, if you make a contribution of as little as $1, once—really—to help keep Chicago Public Square coming.
■ You’ll join luminaries such as Matthew Thompson, Laura Putre, L ShoulterKarall, Clive Topol (again!), Susan Berkes, Ann Fisher, Lisa Colpoys and Catherine Schneider, David Mausner, Jennifer Thiele, Ellen Mrazek, Kathy Downing, J.J. Tindall, Marge and Hank Arnold, Barbara Kalina, Alison Thomas, Kevin Tynan, Carolyn Hosticka, Gary Strokosch, Bob Back, Tom Williamson, Avery Cohen, Jim Peterson, Michael Conway, Mark Suppelsa, Bob Izral, Thomas Witt, Michael Carniello, Stan Zoller, Paulette Cary, Mike Hannigan, Laurel Saltzman, Holly Wallace, Roger Blickhan, Linda Biondi, Robert Feder, Philip Prale, Jon Randolph, John Ayers, Leslie Sutphen, Donna Peel, Jim Stafford, Tim Brandhorst, Edie Steiner, Peter Chien, Cecelia Kafer, Rebecca Ewan, Dave Tan, Carolyn Potts, Andy Simon, Edward White, Bill Higgins, Paul Teodo, Dave Rogers, Molly Allscheid, Stephanie Goldberg, Tom Petersen, Anne Rowan, John Metz, Jane Williams, the Skubish family, William Bork, Becky Brofman, Mark Edwards, Carolyn Grisko, Marc Sims, Jason Sherman, Lloyd Sachs, Susan S. Stevens, Kevin Iverson, Arlene Thurow, Terry Locke, Mana Ionescu, Lilia Chacon, Patrick Stout, Don Moseley, Rick Lunt, Steve Newberger, Maria Peterson, Eileen Lilke, Doug Freedman, Martha Swisher, Ann Ryan, Colette Verdun, Gregg Runburg, David Painter, Owen Youngman, David Henkhaus, Lynne Taylor, Mary Greenwald, Mary Novak, Meg Ross, Kevin Lampe, Karyn Esken, Mary Ellen Nelligan, Julie A. Johnson, Carol Hirschtick, Catherine Johns, Kent Bridgeman, Mary Bunker, R Carney, Yolanda Bada, Mike Nowak, Kathy Wyman and Doug Waco on The Legion of Chicago Public Squarians page.
■ Molly Allscheid made this edition better.
* A reference to this old joke.

Pritzker vs. ‘puppy-killer’ / ‘I try not to be in spaces where I can’t escape’ / Who’s coming

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Pritzker vs. ‘puppy-killer.’ The Daily Beast says Illinois’ governor made clear that Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s visit to Springfield yesterday wasn’t his idea.
■ Read his news release: “We would urge all pet owners in the region to make sure all of your beloved animals are under watchful protection.”
■ Axios reviews what Noem did in Illinois.
■ Politico’s Shia Kapos: One of her stunts backfired when she invoked the name of a woman stabbed to death in her home—and the victim’s parents condemned Noem for advancing “a … heartless political agenda.”
■ The Handbasket: In D.C., Noem was denied “another camera-ready moment of cruelty.”
■ In a separate rebuke of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Pritzker issued an executive order aimed at safeguarding autistic Illinoisans’ rights.
■ Inside Medicine columnist and doctor Jeremy Faust takes comfort in a seeming return to rationality from the sometimes-wacky new vaccine chief for Trump’s Food and Drug Administration.
■ The Wall Street Journal (gift link, courtesy of Chicago Public Square supporters): President Trump’s nominating an RFK Jr.-allied “wellness influencer” to be the next surgeon general …
■ … after his previous nominee flamed out.
■ Speaking of wellness: The AP reports that Pennsylvania Democratic Sen. John Fetterman has raised alarms with a wild outburst—“Why does everyone hate me? What did I ever do?”—at a meeting with union representatives.

‘An attempt to chill protected speech.’ That’s an American Civil Liberties Union lawyer’s assessment of a three-hour House hearing yesterday at which Republicans grilled DePaul University’s president about complaints of antisemitism on campus …
■ … and during which he acknowledged the suspension of two student groups on campus, including Students for Justice in Palestine.
■ Historian Heather Cox Richardson: Alarm’s on the rise over how the “Department of Government Efficiency” is consolidating data about Americans.

‘Should you worry that the Golden Age of phenomenally safe flying may be nearing its end? Yes.’ Columnist James Fallows offers “a guide to following aviation-mishap news.”
■ Everyone Is Entitled to My Own Opinion proprietor Jeff Tiedrich: “Weird how there wasn’t a single air incident during the entirety of Biden’s four years, but as soon as Donny’s team of unqualified TV personalities took over—and fired the entire Aviation Safety Committee, and then forced the head of the FAA to resign, without replacing him—the whole … system fell to pieces.”

‘I try not to be in spaces where I can’t escape.’ Chicago Public Library workers tell the Tribune they’re increasingly concerned about their safety …

‘Exactly right.’ Columnist Eric Zorn—no fan of Mayor Johnson—praises the mayor for a “crisply expressed” defense of the city’s Columbus statue relocations.
■ The Chicago Public Schools board has cleared the way for Johnson’s chief of staff—who lacks a superintendent license, and whom a Tribune editorial decries as “ill qualified”—to serve as the district’s temporary leader.
■ The board’s raising questions about the state’s classification of schools’ performance: “If a school is labeled on probation or anything less than great, you don’t want to leave your kid there.”
■ The Sun-Times: Fewer than half Chicago’s schools have herd immunity from measles.
■ A New York federal judge has blocked the Trump administration’s cutoff of states’ access to federal education pandemic relief funding—$77 million in Illinois.

‘Instead of pointing out that it’s utter bunk, reporters defaulted to both sides mode.’ Abortion, Every Day columnist Jessica Valenti has a gripe with Politico’s groundbreaking coverage of a “nonsense anti-abortion study.”
■ HuffPost: Abortion bans and restrictions are disproportionately hindering LGBTQ+ people’s access to a wide range of care.

Who’s coming. Chicago’s on the schedule in September for what The Who describe as their North American “farewell” tour.
■ They’re billing it as “The Song Is Over,” after their 1971 hit.

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