Cruelty in the news. The Marshall Project, in partnership with The New York Times: Firing-squad executions are back.
■ A Chicago high school student arrested with his mother in March as they checked in for their asylum case—“We had done everything by the rules”—tells the Tribune from jail that they’ve had almost no face-to-face contact for two months.
■ Columnist and former U.S. Rep. Marie Newman: “When Trump says ‘I don’t care about anyone,’ taking away childcare is included.”
‘A giant white supremacist Christian nationalist Handmaid’s Tale hate party.’ That’s Wonkette columnist Evan Hurst’s summation of a National Mall rally Sunday billed as a “rededication of our country as One Nation under God”—with Donald Trump front and center.
■ Columnist Jeff Tiedrich: The organizers “have brainwashed themselves into believing that this malignant amoral pantload is God’s Own Avatar On Earth.”
■ Historian Heather Cox Richardson sees it as “part of the Trump administration’s attempt to use the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence to rewrite America’s history, turning it … to one that requires Americans to accept that some people are better than others.”
■ Former Tribune columnist Charlie Madigan: “There are lots of Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, whatever, who are not interested in being labeled ‘Christian.’ And that is … maybe the most Christian thing about the United States.”
‘The stirrings of a new Civil Rights era.’ Lawyer and columnist Robert B. Hubbell sees cause for hope in weekend protests of the Supreme Court’s blessing for states to embrace racial gerrymandering.
■ NOTUS: The idea of a statewide Democratic win in Iowa—once unthinkable—is now able to be thought.
■ Ctrl Alt-Right Delete columnist Melissa Ryan: “White Supremacy is how we got here. Fighting for a multiracial democracy is the only way out.”
‘Cassidy didn’t just lose. He got curb-stomped.’ Ex-Republican political strategist Rick Wilson dissects Republican Louisiana Sen. Bill Cassidy’s weekend distinction of becoming the first sitting Republican senator to lose a primary to a Trump-endorsed challenger …
■ … an outcome that former Labor Secretary Robert Reich says exemplifies a Republican Party “with no purpose other than helping Trump achieve his lawless goals.”
■ CNN: Without naming Trump, Cassidy’s concession speech suggested that “he could spend the final months of his term being more of a thorn in Trump’s side.”
‘Trump’s floor is cracking.’ New Times polling on the president’s popularity (gift link) suggests that his party “is facing a big midterm problem despite recent redistricting gains.”
■ Law prof Joyce Vance: “We always knew that, backed into a corner, Trump would become ever more willing to damage democracy to save himself. It’s on.”
■ Popular Information: The president’s been publicly praising companies and buying their stock on the same day.
■ Philadelphia Inquirer columnist Will Bunch (gift link): “Trump trades stocks while America burns.”
■ Salty Politics proprietor Julie Roginsky: “Trump’s final vandalization of NATO has begun.”
‘Open your phone bill right now.’ Tech columnist Kim Komando offers a step-by-step guide to finding—and requesting refunds for—extra, unauthorized charges.
■ Even as AT&T phases out landlines in Illinois (March link), Geekspin says they’re making “a massive comeback thanks to kids.”
‘$3.9 million to spy on federal workers.’ The American Prospect says Trump-compliant Palantir has landed a government contract to track Social Security, Agriculture and Veterans Affairs workers—ostensibly their “return to the office,” but also possibly to justify more staff cuts.
■ Illinois legislation that would have limited police use of facial recognition software has fizzled out in Springfield.
This stings. A pest control company rating mosquito activity in the nation’s big cities finds Chicago is indeed the second city.
■ Expect a cool-off beginning Wednesday.
Colbert’s closeout. Tonight marks the beginning of the final week for Stephen Colbert’s Late Show.
■ HBO’s John Oliver saluted Colbert last night—borrowing a line from David Letterman.
■ Late-night critic Bill Carter: In canceling Colbert, CBS is canceling itself (another Times gift link).
■ Signing off from the network’s embattled 60 Minutes, Anderson Cooper made a parting plea for the show’s independence.
■ The Associated Press laid off 20 journalists Friday.
Correction. Friday’s Chicago Public Square misstated the nature of a relationship in a report on a Union League Club of Chicago controversy.
■ Mistakes are bad; readers who take the time to report them are great.
■ Mike Braden made this edition better.
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