‘Trumpapalooza.’ MS NOW looks ahead to the president’s midterm convention opening today in Dallas—an event “some Republicans would rather skip.”
■ Pod Save America co-host Dan Pfeiffer calls the convention “a gift to Democrats.”
■ USA Today’s Chicago-based columnist Rex Huppke: “The list of speakers … reads like a who’s who of ‘Who’s to blame for all these problems?’”
■ Political science professor Kristoffer Ealy: “Trumpapalooza went from $20,000 to free—and America still said no.”
■ After announcing a political action committee to help Democrats win across the country, Gov. Pritzker was headed to Dallas to protest.
■ Cartoonist Ann Telnaes envisions some of the swag to be had there.
A ‘crushing blow.’ That’s what author and columnist Brian Tyler Cohen says the Supreme Court has dealt Trump’s efforts to redistrict congressional maps ahead of the November elections.
■ A federal court ruling has made Missouri’s congressional elections even more confusing.
Gun companies on the hook? A new bill proposed in Springfield—a U.S. first if enacted—would require firearms makers to contribute to a state fund for covering taxpayers’ and shooting victims’ expenses in cases of gun violence.
■ Amid questions over the office’s professionalism in the face of recent scandals, the Illinois General Assembly’s legislative inspector is quitting.
Hanging it up. After months of pressure from Trump, the founding director of the National Museum of African American History and Culture and former Chicago History Museum boss Lonnie Bunch is quitting as leader of the Smithsonian Institution.
■ Under similar pressure, the Chicago-based American Bar Association is abandoning its diversity standards for law schools (Crain’s gift link).
Small but disturbing. Investigative journalist Ken Klippenstein spotlights a change in Homeland Security’s logo.
■ Former Chicago Mayor and founder of the ICE Accountability Project Lori Lightfoot says Illinois needs to decide whether the law applies to federal agents (Tribune gift link).
‘The good of a city … has to take preference over the unreasonable objections of a few people.’ A Tribune editorial (free link) has little sympathy for those protesting transformative proposals like the O’Hare Flyer express train and an Amtrak maintenance facility in Bridgeport …
■ … which yesterday drew more than a hundred protesters outside the White Sox ballpark.
■ A joint investigation by the Illinois Answers Project and Chinatown Spotlight finds dozens of Chinatown residents and businesses grappling with uncertainty—and roaches and flooding—as a landlord’s empire crumbles.
We’re No. 1. A new ranking puts Chicago atop a list of Earth’s most “climate-resilient” cities …
■ … but a Loyola University professor cautions Block Club that means things here will just be “less bad” than in other places.
‘I’m eating lettuce again.’ Pediatrician, immunologist and columnist Zachary Rubin shares lessons from the summer’s cyclospora outbreak.
■ Nobel-winning economist Paul Krugman: Trump’s “idiotic trade war” against Canada “will hurt more than people realize.”
■ An analysis by the AFL-CIO Tech Institute concludes that grocery stores’ electronic shelf price labels not only eliminate jobs but also enable “instantaneous price changes” that can squeeze shoppers even more.
‘There is no evidence any of this is true.’ Popular Information puts the lie to Trump’s fantasies about the events of 9/11.
■ Journalist Brent Molnar tracks “the pathetic evolution of … Trump’s stolen valor.”
■ The plainspoken Jeff Tiedrich: “Could this ginormous sack of shit please stop lying about how he was rescued at Ground Zero?”
■ Axios: Trump can’t rename New Mexico. (Cartoon: Jack Ohman.)
Late night’s back. After a long break, Jimmy Kimmel took the stage to compare himself to Trump: “We both accomplished nothing all summer long.”
■ It was Kimmel’s landmark 4,000th episode …
■ … a run LateNighter breaks down by the numbers.
■ Before returning to the Daily Show anchor desk, Jon Stewart joined New York’s mayor at a news conference to complain the city “buried … for 25 years” information about just how polluted the city’s air was after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
■ Ahead of that anniversary, a few U.S. airports are restoring nonpassengers’ access to gate areas—to greet or bid farewell to those with tickets.
■ But not yet in Chicago.
‘If you can’t put any thought into word choice or sentence structure … why should I give a shit about what you say?’ Columnist Lyz Lenz has no patience for the contention that artificial intelligence “helps piss-poor writers write.”
■ Facebook parent Meta’s rolling out Muse, a new AI agent that can send your emails and book your travel (New York Times gift link) …
■ … but it concedes Muse “isn’t immune to attack.”
■ Apple was set today to announce a new generation of iPhones …
■ … in an event to stream live on the web here at noon Chicago time.
■ The Onion: “Nation’s Smart Toilets Begin Counting Down.”
Stardate screwup. A slip of the finger got Star Trek’s debut year wrong in yesterday’s Chicago Public Square: It was 1966.
■ Thanks to the readers who set things straight.
■ The Hollywood Reporter’s Rick Porter watches that first episode with fresh eyes: “It didn’t really hint at the creative leaps Star Trek would take.”
■ Here’s former Tribune critic Maureen Ryan’s tribute to “an all-time classic” episode of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.
■ The Conversation on Trek’s shared legacy with NASA: By championing diversity, the show inspired generations of real space scientists.
