'Unspeakably cruel' / 'Unhappy Meals' / R.I.P., Koko

‘Unspeakably cruel.’ In a letter to supporters, the American Civil Liberties Union says President Trump’s plan to end separation of immigrant children from their parents “will not reunite the thousands of families already torn apart, and aims to lock up even more children and families.”
Sun-Times editorial: “Nobody should be fooled. … He’s still dead-set on locking up kids—albeit now with their parents—on a scale that recalls the Japanese-American incarceration camps.”
Samantha Bee: “No more baby internment camps, just regular internment camps. That’s what we call a 2018 win.”
The AP: The president overstated the impact of his executive order.
… and his change of direction “laid bare the administration’s capricious use of executive power.”
At a raucous Minnesota rally last night, Trump lied about Democrats’ role in the fiasco and bragged about his policy on undocumented immigrants: “We’re sending them the hell back.”
The Center for Investigative Reporting: Federal court filings allege a for-profit detention center has forcibly injected immigrant kids with powerful psychiatric drugs.
A Texas civil rights activist: “Some of these parents will likely never see their children again.”
Major U.S. airlines are telling the Trump administration they won’t fly migrant kids separated from their parents .
At least some of the thousands of children already separated from their parents at the border are being held in Chicago.

Time’s cover story: “What Kind of Country Are We?
Stephen Colbert: “Trump made … it look like he did something good. … That’s like wanting credit for solving the crimes you committed.”
The Onion: Political Scientists Baffled By Trump’s Ability To End Something He Had No Control Over Just Days Ago.”
Sinclair—the company poised to buy Chicago’s WGN-TV and Radio—is forcing its stations across the country to air commentary asserting that concern about immigrant children is “politically driven by the liberals in politics and the media.”

‘I was pulled from class to sit alone in a room with an old man who asked not how I felt … but what I was wearing when I had been assaulted.’ Former students have given Illinois lawmakers firsthand accounts of sexual abuse by Chicago Public Schools employees.
Better Government Association: If Chicago’s isn’t Illinois’ “most understaffed school district,” it’s darned close.

Millennials rising. New census figures show they’re now Cook County’s largest age group.
New county tax bills hit south suburbanites particularly hard.

Developing coverage: A new Supreme Court ruling clears the way for states to require out-of-state online sellers to charge state sales tax.

‘Unhappy Meals.’ A new TV ad by the Humane Society of the United States condemns McDonald’s for serving the meat of abused chickens.
Burger King is apologizing for offering a lifetime of Whoppers to Russian women impregnated by World Cup players.
Chicago-based Lettuce Entertain You restaurants is quitting the plastic straw.
Columbia Journalism Review: Beware news stories that unquestioningly cite a group called “Restaurant Workers of America.”

#HimToo. Intel’s CEO is stepping down after violating the company’s non-fraternization policy through a relationship with an employee.
Twitter is acquiring a company that makes tools to end online harassment.

R.I.P., Koko. The sign-language-fluent cat-loving gorilla is dead at 46.
From 2016: “The sad twilight of Koko the gorilla and her ‘mother.’”

Rocky V bad.’ The Sun-Times’ Richard Roeper says Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom forced him to “dig deep into the Awful Sequel Playbook to draw parallels to this exercise in wretched excess.”
AMC theaters is debuting a plan to rival upstart MoviePass: Three flicks a week for about $20 a month.
Disney’s dumping plans for more Star Wars spinoffs.

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