Thanks, Trump. President Trump says his aborted decision to hold a rally in Tulsa today—since moved to Saturday—“made Juneteenth very famous,” because until then “nobody had ever heard of it” …
■ … which was a lie, because the Congressional Research Service notes 47 states acknowledged the date one way or another.
■ A Chicago Public Square poll asks: Before Trump announced his rally, “Did you know when Juneteenth was and what it signified?”
■ The Tribune’s Rex Huppke imagines invitations to the Tulsa rally: “We are … handing out face masks so people can laugh at your weakness if you wear it; and offering deep-fried hydroxychloroquine doses at the snack bar.”
■ PolitiFact: Why June 19 rose above other historic dates to mark Black freedom.
■ Portraits of four former U.S. House speakers who served in the Confederacy are gone …
■ … as is a 112-year-old Confederate obelisk in Decatur, Georgia.
■ WBEZ reporter Natalie Moore says she’s “resting up” on this Juneteenth, because “dreams and imagination are essential” in “uprisings and the push for justice.”
■ As part of its commitment to “highlighting Black experiences, voices and storytellers,” HBO is making its Peabody Award-winning series Watchmen free online through the weekend.
Not so fast. The Supreme Court’s rejection of Trump’s efforts to end legal protections for young immigrants—people brought here as children—isn’t the end of it:
■ The president tweets that he’s going to try again: “The Supreme Court asked us to resubmit on DACA. … They ‘punted’, much like in a football game (where hopefully they would stand for our great American Flag). We will be submitting enhanced papers shortly.”
■ Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin—a legislative leader of the Dreamer movement—counsels immigrants, “Keep looking over your shoulder.”
■ A Trib editorial: “Dreamers can’t rest easy” until Congress gives them “the permanent protection that they deserve.”
■ The Sun-Times’ Marlen Garcia: The Supreme Court has provided a few more reasons to kick Trump out.
■ Trump reveals his “biggest risk” in the next election is mail-in voting.
■ The Better Government Association: How to apply now for a mail-in ballot.
‘Everybody in Washington hates John Bolton.’ Politico says the ex-national security adviser’s book has brought him criticism from across the political spectrum …
■ … but, CNN political analyst John Avlon writes: Don’t let that “distract one bit” from Bolton’s “portrait of the most amoral, autocratic and unprepared man to ever serve as president of the United States.”
■ Twitter’s labeled a Trump tweet “manipulated media.”
■ Facebook smacked down Trump’s campaign ads “for violating our policy against organized hate.”
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‘Clearly racist.’ A Scooby-Doo-inspired cartoon that drew condemnation from Mayor Lightfoot, whom it ridiculed, is gone from the Chicago Teachers Union Twitter feed—without, as of Square’s email deadline, explanation or apology …
■ … although the mayor conceded she hadn’t seen it.
■ The mayor says she opposes tearing down Chicago’s statues of Christopher Columbus and instead embraces “an opportunity to not try to erase history, but embrace it.”
‘How can an officer be brave enough to charge down a dark alley after a gunman, but too afraid to talk publicly about the job?’ Sun-Times columnist Neil Steinberg tried to get the Chicago Police Department and the Fraternal Order of Police to comment on protests of police brutality and got … crickets.
■ A Sun-Times editorial hails as “a game-changer” an Illinois Supreme Court ruling that keeps police unions from forcing the destruction of cop misconduct records.
■ In the first year of a federal court decree aimed at reforming Chicago police behavior, the city missed 7 in 10 of its deadlines.
■ Who was mistreated by police during protests in Chicago? A new city website lists hundreds of complaints …
■ … and you can file new complaints against cops here.
■ The Cook County Board is moving ahead with a resolution that would “redirect money from the failed and racist systems of policing.”
Did Chicago dodge a COVID bullet? Northwestern University researchers have identified a unique COVID-19 virus strain here—one that seems linked to an early outbreak in China and that may not spread as easily as the strain in New York and elsewhere in the U.S.
■ Illinois’ COVID-positive attorney general says he’s confined to his bedroom after suffering a fever of 101.4 and teeth-chattering shivers.
■ Discussing her current personal hygiene precautions, Illinois Department of Public Health chief Dr. Ngozi Ezike says she’s ready to swear off handshakes for “between a year and never again.”
■ A UCLA School of Medicine prof’s advice: How to breathe during the pandemic.
■ Landlords acting badly: Despite a moratorium on evictions, Chicago tenants struggling to pay rent in the pandemic report being locked out of their places.
■ 100 days since the declaration of a pandemic, the Trib’s Eric Zorn warns we may still be “in the early stages of a transformative disaster.”
Wheel change. Not letting a crisis go to waste, Chicago’s planning up to 30 miles of new bikeways this year.
■ The CTA and Pace are ready to begin collecting fares again—Sunday on the CTA, Monday on Pace.
■ Trib columnist Mary Schmich: The reopening of Chicago’s lakefront brings a reunion with a lost love …
■ … but that love is swollen with water levels near historic highs.
iOver and iOut. Chicago’s celebrated iO Theater—training ground for generations of talent, including Tina Fey, Mike Myers, Chris Farley, Amy Poehler and Stephen Colbert—won’t reopen.
■ The announcement followed a petition last week accusing iO of systemic racism.
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Thanks to Pam Spiegel for some punctuational improvement to this edition.