Trump's wars / Soda showdown / 'It's about millennials'

TRUMP’S WARS …
… ON CRIME IN CHICAGO. The president tweeted, “Crime and killings in Chicago have reached such epidemic proportions that I am sending in Federal help.” He didn’t elaborate, but he may have been referring to 20 Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives agents newly assigned to the city.
Trump in Chicago two years ago, days after launching his campaign: “We’re a laughstock. We’re a joke. We’re all a bunch of clowns.”

… ON THE MEDIA. His attack on MSNBC’s Mika Brzezinski left NBC’s Seth Myers speechless.
Even Republicans conclude the president crossed a line.
Tribune editorial: “Sir, delete your account.”
Brzezinski and her cohost/fiance Joe Scarborough respond in the Washington Post:The man is not mentally equipped to continue watching our show.”
 John Cassidy in The New Yorker: “Trump promised to bring the country together, and he’s finally accomplished it.”
Politico’s Jack Shafer: “Journalism can’t exist unless we give reporters the occasional right to get it wrong.”
Kevin Drum in Mother Jones: The NRA has declared war on half of America.

… ON VOTER PRIVACY. Without explanation, the president’s “Election Integrity Commission” is demanding state governments turn over records for every potential voter, including the name, address, date of birth, party affiliation and last four Social Security number digits—and it says it’ll then make all that info public.
And some states are refusing.

… ON IMMIGRATION. Hawaii is challenging the president’s new travel ban rules.
Volunteer lawyers are on duty to help detainees at O’Hare.
 … But no detentions were reported in the first round of renewed enforcement.

… AND, MAYBE, ON TRADE. The president and some of his more jingoistic advisers are reportedly “hell-bent” on making imports more expensive.
The president’s increased the federal deficit by a trillion dollars

A Chicago Public Square advertiser

Click here to go behind the scenes at La Buona Vita restaurant in Downtown La Grange and SAVE on your next delivery order.

SODA SHOWDOWN. Developing: A Cook County judge is set to rule this afternoon on whether to delay imposition of the new sweetened beverage tax set to take effect Saturday.
 What to expect if Illinois enters July without another budget.
Illinois’ first female legislative leader is giving up in frustration.

PAID SICK-LEAVE LAW BEGINS. Beginning in Chicago and Cook County Saturday, new rules require employees get five paid sick days a year. But some employers call the implementation a nightmare.
USA Today investigation: Retailers including Target and Costco have enabled the exploitation of truckers paid just pennies an hour.
A study by the Universities of Chicago and Michigan finds Chicago’s summer jobs program for teens and young adults reduces violent-crime arrests.

GUESS WHO SAID THIS THURSDAY? “No person should have to fear being violently attacked because of who they are, what they believe or how they worship.”
Hint: It was “the man who was cool with the KKK until he found out members smoked pot.”
Six black Chicago Water Department employees have filed suit, alleging “a tapestry of hostility.”
The woman Mayor Emanuel appointed to improve Chicago’s police department calls the mayor’s approach “fantasy,” a “set up for failure.”

‘IT’S ABOUT MILLENNIALS.’ A reproductive health professor at Johns Hopkins is among those concerned the U.S. is headed toward a “national emergency” with a historic low fertility rate.
 Politico: Under Trump, the White House Council on Women and Girls has gone dark.

AMERICAN MUSIC FESTIVAL. FitzGerald’s 36th annual fest runs through the weekend in Berwyn. Hear Bill and Kate FitzGerald preview the lineup with Dave Hoekstra on WGN Radio.
 And/or preview many of the artists in a Festival-inspired Pandora playlist (soundtrack for production of today’s Square).
Your guide to Independence Day fireworks in the Chicago area.
Cheap gasoline = Crowded highways for the holiday week.

THANKS. To Chris Koenig for link suggestions, and to reader and copyeditor/reader par excellence Mike Braden for flagging a bad link to the Boaty McBoatface story in yesterday’s Square.

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