Squared away. Chicago Public Square will take a few days off. It’ll return to email inboxes July 13. But you’ll find occasional Squarish news updates through then on Facebook here. (No Facebook membership required.)
Who is that masked man? President Trump has flipped his position on face coverings: “I’m all for masks,” which he proudly told Fox News make him look “like the Lone Ranger” …
■ … whose mask, the BBC shows, would have done diddly-squat against COVID-19.
■ Speaking of symbols: Guess which of these images shows an official Trump campaign T-shirt and which was Adolf Hitler’s choice for Germany’s official national insignia?
Na na na na, na na na na, hey hey, good-bye. Mississippi is retiring the last state flag to echo the Confederate flag.
■ The Boston Art Commission has voted to remove a statue portraying a freed slave kneeling at the feet of Abraham Lincoln.
■ Facebook is banning the anti-government group associated with the term boogaloo.
‘All the dirt.’ A guy who worked for years on Trump’s TV show, Celebrity Apprentice—and who allegedly has incriminating outtakes of the president—has been collecting fat checks from the Republican Party.
■ For the second time in a week, the president had no substantive answer to a question about what he’d do with a second term.
Unrelated headlines.
■ “Republicans fear backlash over Trump’s threatened veto on Confederate names.”
■ “Hundreds of Elephants Are Dying, and No One Knows Why.”
Youth at risk. The University of Washington, an early hotspot for the pandemic, reports dozens of students living in 10 frat houses have tested positive.
■ Young people have been gathering for COVID-19 parties in Alabama, collecting cash that goes to the first partygoer to catch the coronavirus.
■ A California man who conceded “because of my stupidity I put … my family’s health in jeopardy” by attending a party after which he tested positive for COVID-19 has died.
■ In the face of the virus’ continued surge, Apple’s re-closing more of its stores.
■ With passage of the incubation period, health experts see no evidence civil rights protests drove an increase in COVID-19’s spread.
■ The Conversation: What we know about COVID-19’s long-lingering symptoms.
Park carefully. As Chicago emerges from the pandemic lockdown, the city’s resuming ticket enforcement for street sweeping, with booting to follow next week.
■ Mayor Lightfoot says the city won’t release the inspector general’s report on the drinking and driving incident that got Police Supt. Eddie Johnson* fired.
‘I’m not telling you to hold a Fourth of July picnic there. I’m just saying you could.’ Sun-Times columnist Mark Brown tested the public’s right to use public land a clout-heavy Chicagoan hedged off from the public along North Lake Shore Drive West.
■ Update: … and then the owner began removing the hedges.
The Trial of the Chicago 7. Netflix has acquired rights—probably for release before the election—to Aaron (West Wing) Sorkin’s movie based on the conspiracy trial that arose from protests at the 1968 Democratic National Convention …
■ … featuring, as prankster protest leader Abbie Hoffman, Sacha Baron Cohen …
■ … who just days ago pranked an alt-right group by leading a racist singalong.
Chicago Public Square is free for all thanks to generous support from readers including Harla Hutchinson, Bill Oakes, Jude Feld, Reginald Davis, Michael Johnson, Alan Hommerding, Mary Kensik, Alan Solomon, Carmie Callobre, Maureen Kelly, Frank Heitzman, Tim Colburn, Scott Tindale and Robert Feder. You can join them with a one-time tip (nice!) or an ongoing pledge (nicer!). And if you can’t chip in now, no guilt: You help Square grow simply by opening and reading each edition. Thanks.
Thanks to Chris Koenig for making this issue better.
* Wednesday’s Square got Johnson’s name wrong—an error noted by many (many!) readers, the first of whom was the eagle-eyed Mike Braden. Square loves getting corrected because it shows you care.