‘Chicago is not a world-class city.’ And it can’t be, Sun-Times columnist Neil Steinberg says, as long as it finishes dead last in a ranking of U.S. cities by public toilets per 100,000 residents.
■ But, hey, it’s getting one that’ll clean itself.
‘The city that brought down an ICE airline.’ The American Prospect says Chicago’s new parking meter deal “split the billionaire class from the fascists, providing a blueprint that can be replicated in other communities.”
■ Meanwhile, the Sun-Times reports, video gambling’s saturation of the Chicago area has critics worrying about that industry’s ability to separate Illinoisans from their money.
Awkward. Politico: “A day after Chicago School Board president candidate Hilario Dominguez was named in a Tribune report detailing previously investigated allegations involving a minor, he appeared at a rally alongside Mayor Brandon Johnson.”
■ Dominguez says the charges are unfounded.
‘The real problem is WE have failed to notice how great everything is, probably because we can’t afford gas to drive around and see all the greatness.’ USA Today’s Chicago-based columnist Rex Huppke says we should definitely trust President Trump when he says the economy is great.
■ The American Prospect: “The Trump regime is taking away our ability to know what’s going on.”
■ Historian Heather Cox Richardson: “That he is openly using taxpayer money to buy votes in the election suggests just how worried Trump is about Democrats winning control of Congress.”
Ouch. This one’s gotta hurt Illinois Republican gubernatorial candidate Darren Bailey: His colleague, former House Republican leader Jim Durkin, is backing Democrat JB Pritzker’s reelection campaign …
■ … in a video declaring that Bailey “cannot be trusted to lead our state.”
■ Former Washington Post fact-checker Glenn Kessler: “If Republicans lose the midterms, Trump has already told us why.”
■ The nation’s longest-serving Republican House speaker, Dennis Hastert of Illinois—who went to prison after admitting to sexual molestaton—is dead at 84.
Who sent you that? A new free app from Popular Information, PaidForBy.info, lets you upload a snapshot of a political mailer to learn who really funded it …
■ Don’t vote dumb: Check the Chicago Public Square Voter Guide Guide.
‘The outlet for nearly a decade of pent-up public rage.’ Philadelphia Inquirer columnist Will Bunch (gift link): “The elite impunity of the Cornell rape case is the last straw.”
■ Now flooding the internet: “Jane Doe” posts in solidarity with the victim.
■ Columnist and former U.S. Rep. Marie Newman blames Trumpian culture: “The punishment for rape is sometimes just a time-out at a college.”
■ Thank Cornell student journalists for blowing this whistle.
■ Poynter’s Tom Jones reviews Trump’s weekend: After lashing out at CNN’s Kaitlan Collins—a Fox News alumna, remember (June link)—he woke up angry at Fox.
‘No one could be successful and be this unlikable.’ Culture critic Bob Lefsetz is unsparing in his review of ex-Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel brother Ari Emanuel’s autobiography: “He must have some redeeming characteristics, but they’re not in this book.”
■ Rahm told Meet the Press yesterday the U.S. is ready for a Jewish president: “My faith is not your problem.”
■ Pro-Israel Political Update columnist Steve Sheffey hails New York Mayor Mamdani’s “meaningful, concrete action to fight antisemitism”—rejecting what Sheffey calls a “flawed” definition adopted by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance.
‘Operating on borrowed time’? As Trump-allied Skydance merges CNN and HBO parent Warner Bros. with Paramount, Variety notes that HBO star John Oliver last night was uncharacteristically quiet about the news.
■ Oliver did delightedly announce that he’s reacquired the jockstrap Russell Crowe sported in the movie Cinderella Man.
Power pain. The Citizens Utility Board is collecting consumer complaints about skyrocketing summer electric bills …
■ … and encouraging Illinois residents to lobby lawmakers for legislation that would require data centers to pay more for the energy and infrastructure their operations demand.
‘Your router snitches.’ Tech columnist Kim Komando explains that your internet connection device can tell when and how people are moving through the house—“no camera, no mic, no extra gizmo” …
■ … and the fine print in at least one company’s contract says it can share that data with law enforcement—without telling you.
