‘Two kings’ / Pritzker’s Time / Mall’s last call / ‘This is not serious news’

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Chicago Public Square will take Thursday off. Back Friday. Until then—as ever—check the Square account on Bluesky for continual updates.

‘Two kings.’ As President Trump hosted King Charles at the White House, his administration posted a picture of the two of them with that caption …
■ … which makes Friday’s “May Day” general strike—sequel to the “No Kings” rallies—all the more poignant.
■ The Tribune spotlights what’s up for the day in Chicago.
■ In a subversive address to Congress, the king—Charles, that is—got a standing ovation from Democrats and Republicans as he celebrated the notion that Congress is supposed to check and balance the power of the presidency.
■ A body language expert says Trump’s handshake welcome for the king played out like “a battle” and “a stare-out.”
■ Columnist Jeff Tiedrich’s appeal: “World leaders, stop legitimizing Preznit Fuckwit with your presence.”

‘86 47.’ The posting in May 2025 of an image of seashells arranged to show numbers that might be interpreted as “get rid of the 47th president” is the Justice Department’s justification for a second round of criminal charges against former FBI Director James Comey.
■ Law professor Joyce Vance: “It sure looks like First Amendment-protected political speech.”
■ Columnist Susan Burger: “This is how you audition to be the attorney general.”
■ Pulitzer winner Gene Weingarten: Trump’s “using his lapdog Justice Department as his madman megaphone.”
■ Columnist Robert Hubbell: Trump’s trying to criminalize political speech.
■ Meanwhile: Comey’s daughter has won a federal judge’s clearance to pursue a lawsuit claiming she lost her job as federal prosecutor because Trump doesn’t like her dad.

‘Trump turned the presidency into an infomercial.’ Popular Information exposes ways in which the president’s systematically used his power to promote his own businesses.
■ Coming to U.S. passports: A picture of Trump.
■ That a man charged with trying to assassinate Trump Saturday night traveled to D.C. on an Amtrak train is raising new concern about relatively lax security on the rails.
■ Video reviewed by The Washington Post (gift link) suggests that at least four of the shots fired that night were fired by a Secret Service agent.
■ Investigative journalist Ken Klippenstein: The suspect hated the Democratic Party, too.

Defensive? For the first time since the Iran war began, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth was testifying to Congress today.
■ See it here.

Supreme Court’s busy day. In a flock of new rulings …
■ … justices have paved the way for Republican-led states to eliminate congressional districts favoring Black and Latino voters  …
■ … and sided with a faith-based pregnancy center that claimed First Amendment protection from an investigation into charges that it misled people into opting out of abortions.

Pritzker’s Time. Illinois’ governor gets the spotlight in a Time magazine profile: “JB Pritzker may be running for more than governor.”
■ His “Accountability Commission” on “Operation Midway Blitz” was poised today to give him its final report.

Welcome to ‘Tornado Alley.’ Illinois tops the nation for tornado reports this year.
■ The Grist: The state’s transportation and natural resources departments are feuding over endangered species protections.

Mall’s last call. The Lincolnwood Town Center closes Friday ahead of demolition …
■ … but Chicago’s Water Tower Place is getting an overhaul.

Kimmel under pressure—again. Amid fresh criticism of Jimmy Kimmel from the president and his wife, the Trump-compliant FCC is putting all eight of parent company Disney’s owned-and-operated TV stations—including Chicago’s ABC 7—under the microscope.
■ Trump made the same joke about his longevity that he and his wife want Kimmel fired for.
■ The What Did Donald Trump Do Today? blog: “The Trump administration doesn’t need to ban speech to effectively kill it.”
■ Poynter’s Tom Jones: “This is a thin-skinned administration that searches for insults and then seeks retribution.”

‘The show takes like 95 percent of my brain.’ In an interview with The New York Times (gift link), Stephen Colbert previews the end of his run next month …
■ … revealing that he set out in 2015 to create a less politically driven program.
■ Fox 32—and former WTTW reporter—Paris Schutz is leaving after two years to join NBC 5.
■ Here’s Schutz in a 2021 Chicago Public Square podcast.

Chicago’s jazz showcase. The city tomorrow for the first time hosts UNESCO’s International Jazz Day …
■ … with a concert you’ll be able to stream live from the Lyric Opera on YouTube.

Comics’ and journalism’s loss. Acclaimed comics writer and Columbia College journalism professor Len Strazewski is dead at 71.
■ With the death of writer Gerry Conway—the guy who killed Spider-Man’s girlfriend Gwen Stacy and created the Punisher—it’s been a rough week for the comics field.

‘This is not serious news, or even news. It’s not worth reading.’ Square lost a subscriber after yesterday’s edition.

■ But Stop the Presses columnist Mark Jacob offered a contrary assessment Monday night in answer to the question “Where do you get your news?” (Link updated.)
■ Fortunately, a few of you are sticking around—as is this newsletter itself, thanks to support from readers including Steve Ignots, Timothy Atkins, Elaine Soloway (again!), Timothy O’Neill, Harry Politis (again!), Deborah Murphy (again!), Meredith Schacht, Richard Osa, John McClelland, Sonya Booth, Bruce Pfaff, Mary Blankenheim, Jeffrey Nelson, Denise Pondel, Jim Haglund, Scott Tindale, L ShoulterKarall, Tom O’Malley, Molly McDonough, Joseph Sjostrom, Maryanne Peterson, Dale Epton, Ted Cox, Linda Biondi, Tony Recktenwald, Katherine and Michael Raleigh, Chris Mcintosh, Lucy Tarabour, Jeff Hanneman, Mike Hannigan, Crissy Kawamoto, Suzanne Vestuto, Thom Clark, Bob Saigh, Mary Szpur, Ralph Culloden, Claire Barliant, Doreen Rice, Diane Scott, Mana Ionescu, John Ayers, Charles Sudo, Minna Houlihan, MJ Garnier, Barbara Schechtman, Jo Patton, Maria Peterson, Kiki Marie-Henri, Tim Bannon, Sarah Rodriguez, Richard Milne, Moondog, Lil Levant, Tom Marker, Frances Brady, Susan S. Stevens, Jen Purrenhage, Skip Yates, Michael Collins, Peter Fuller, Patricia Winn, John D. Abel, Paul Clark, Carol Hirschtick, Irene Rundblom, Sarah Williams, Alex Riepl Broz, Becky Brofman, Craig Kaiser, Ryan Arnold, Julie Vassilatos, Walter Gallas, Joseph Pesz, Roger Blickhan, Jeremiah Woods, Maria Mooshil, Leo Bonnie Dohogne, Teresa Powell, Jasmin Phua, Sue Garcia, Adam Broad, Sharon Bloyd-Peshkin, Lawrence Weiland, Jean and John Meister, Patty Wallenberg, John Iltis, Scott Baskin, Mark Ruda, Susan Franer, Ron Magers, Carol Morency, Daniel Parker, Jim Stafford, Anne Frederick, Norm Winer, Hilary Mac Austin, Patrick Quinn, Jon Hilkevitch, Stan Zoller and The Skubish Family …
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‘Don’t politicize a political event’ / ‘The Trump administration preyed on her name’ / Kissin’ cousins

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‘Don’t politicize a political event.’ One of those in the room during the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner shooting—puppet-American Triumph the Comic Insult Dog—reviewed the night’s events on last night’s Daily Show.
■ Promoting the segment, Robert (Triumph) Smigel said plenty of reporters were on the scene, but “only one had another man’s hand up his ass—sorry, two: Me and [acting Attorney General] Todd Blanche.”
■ Washington Post columnist Monica Hesse (gift link) on Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s wife getting left to fend for herself in the evacuation: “We are all Cheryl Hines … watching the important people be whisked away.”
■ Jimmy Kimmel: Kennedy “cut out of there like he saw a raccoon penis on the side of the road.”
■ Popular Information debunks Trump’s assertion that the assassination attempt was a result of the “No Kings” protests.
■ The shooting suspect’s been charged with attempted assassination of the president …
■ … based on what law professor Joyce Vance calls “solid evidence. … Unfortunately, it’s also now all about the ballroom.”
■ Former Politico editor Garrett Graff: “A central point of the government’s case doesn’t add up.”

Some cynics aren’t convinced, of course
They say the thing was staged—
Diversion from my sinking polls—
That leaves me so enraged!
■ Columnist Eric Zorn: “It was a reminder of how totally inappropriate it is for the men and women covering the halls of power … to be hobnobbing in their fanciest duds with those whose actions they are supposed to scrutinize.”
■ Journalism watchdog Margaret Sullivan: “If this is really about celebrating the First Amendment, free expression and press rights, don’t invite people who stand in clear opposition to that.”
■ Stop the Presses columnist Mark Jacob: “I fear the shooting will create a stronger emotional bond between Washington journalists and the people in power.”

‘You know how sometimes you wake up in the morning and the first lady puts out a statement demanding you be fired from your job?’ That’s Kimmel opening his monologue after the Trumps condemned his joking description of Melania Trump as having “the glow of an expectant widow.”
■ … and he counseled Mrs. Trump: “I agree that hateful and violent rhetoric is something we should reject … and I think a great place to start to dial that back would be to have a conversation with your husband.”
■ Poynter’s Tom Jones assesses the delicate spot TV comedians are in: “Is it better to stay away from a silly joke now to get to the really big and important stuff later? These are questions that hosts and shows must ask themselves, while knowing full well that self-editing is exactly what the Trump threats are aimed at.”

‘The Trump administration preyed on her name.’ Opening the final round of hearings for Gov. Pritzker’s Illinois Accountability Commission on “Operation Midway Blitz,” the mother of a woman whose death was the incursion’s ostensible justification said her daughter “would have hated” that.
■ Giving federal prosecutors a second guilty plea for a non-immigration crime in those days, a man’s admitted to opening fire near border agents.
■ The Poynter Institute has bestowed a Batten Medal for public service on the Tribune for its “clear and comprehensive account of what unfolded” here last year (gift link).

‘Overhaul our process.’ A Tribune editorial says a Chicago cop would still be alive today if not for “our broken system of enforcing arrest warrants.”
■ Prosecutors say the suspect in that killing pulled the gun from under a blanket at Swedish Hospital …
■ Block Club: “The ‘Lakeview Goons’ have been harassing locals for years. Will police be able to stop them?”

‘A perfect storm.’ A Chicago-area grocery executive warns that the federal government’s shutdown of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits for the needy will hurt the food biz for everyone.
■ The Sun-Times runs down ways you can help.

Kissin’ cousins. Updating coverage: As the White House prepped to welcome King Charles III, the president celebrated research concluding that he’s a distant relative to the king.
■ Columnist Elaine Soloway: “Trump believes a page from popular British dramas will save his image and presidency.”

‘I am just taking a break.’ Chicago Public Square lost a reader yesterday—and please know: We get it. But Square will be here when you come back—thanks to people such as Bill and Lynne Higgins (again!), Jim Peterson, Paul Francuch, Colleen Fahey, Alexander Domanskis, Mary Ellen Nelligan, Annette Cade, Jean Johnson, Sherry Kent, Chip Mitchell, Jean Davis, Kate Arias, Patricia Solano, Paul Crossey, Andrew Stancioff, Rhona Taylor, Frederick Nachman, Ken Stroble, Ilene Siemer, Ira Pilchen, Karen Conti, Philip Prale, Tom Shepherd, Ken Trainor, Gordon Hellwig, Phil Huckelberry, Kristin Lems, Michael Johnson, Geneen Harston, Susan Yessne, Theresa Rattenbury, Susy Schultz, Mike McDonagh, Jim Parks, Timothy Cunningham, Ted Naron, Jeannie Affelder, Craig Parshall, Paul Buchbinder, Julie Ross, Terri Colby, Evan McKenzie, Mark Mueller, Julia Winn, Meg Tebo and Ann Johnson Arellano.
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