‘Intentional homicide.’ That’s one of the charges faced by 17-year-old Kyle Rittenhouse, accused of killing two protesters and wounding a third Tuesday night in Kenosha …
■ … but first he has to be extradited from Illinois.
■ The Intercept: Trump supporters have rushed to defend Rittenhouse.
■ A Tribune editorial: “The right to protect property, yes, but the wrong people are doing it in Kenosha.”
■ Vox: Why police encouraged a teen with a gun to patrol Kenosha’s streets.
■ HuffPost: New data indicates far-right vigilantes, often with cops’ support, have threatened protesters almost 500 times since late May.
‘He can’t go anywhere.’ Jacob Blake’s father questions the decision to handcuff his son to a hospital bed …
■ … even though he was evidently paralyzed when police shot him in the back seven times, sparking the protests that drew Rittenhouse to Wisconsin.
■ Make that three Kenosha cops on the scene when Blake was hurt.
■ Updating coverage: The senior Blake said he expected to speak on the matter more at the March on Washington—commemorating the 1963 event of the same name—on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial today.
‘A lot of lying.’ That’s CNN fact-checker Daniel Dale’s take on President Trump’s Republican National Convention acceptance speech—an address in which the CNN team “counted more than 20 false, exaggerated or misleading claims” …
■ … and The Washington Post rates nearly every claim Trump made about Joe Biden’s positions false …
■ … plus what columnist Dana Milbank rates as “the mother of all fabrications” …
■ … but, the Sun-Times’ Neil Steinberg concedes, Trump did say “something entirely true.”
‘I know Republicans like voter suppression. I didn’t know they kicked it up to voter extinction.’ That’s Stephen Colbert’s take on the crowd assembled at the White House South Lawn to hear the president in defiance of his own administration’s pandemic guidelines.
■ At least four people at the convention’s main location in Charlotte, North Carolina, have tested positive for COVID-19. (Bonus Keith J. Taylor cartoon!)
■ The Trib’s Mary Schmich channels the president in a fresh TrumPoem: “You say that deaths keep rising? / Well, I say it’s gone away / Statistics can be liars / And that’s all I have to say.”
Blacks for Trump. The Sun-Times’ Mary Mitchell says that part of the Republican Party is more unified now than in 2016.
■ Mitchell colleague Lynn Sweet: “Kenosha is threatening to upend a Joe Biden campaign strategy.”
An ‘astonishing revelation.’ That’s how CNN describes a White House
■ The Daily Show has run full-page newspaper ads, with a real phone number, offering an array of legal services—including defense against “shady rich guy tax stuff”—to any “soon-to-be ex-president.”
Escapes from Chicago. The Trib sees trends that may be driving an exodus: “Restless residents looking for more spacious homes in the suburbs due to COVID-19,” “remote work allowing more employees to live anywhere” and “chaotic bouts of destruction.”
■ Columnist Charlie Madigan: “I have no idea what people think they are achieving by burning businesses during their protests.”
Illinois’ ‘COVID hot spot.’ A Trib editorial flags the rural parts of the state.
■ State hospitals report more coronavirus patients than any time since July 1.
■ Chicago’s top doc: Contrary to new Trump administration advice, get tested for COVID even if you don’t have symptoms.
■ Abbott Laboratories says it’s hiring 2,000 people in Gurnee to help deliver 150 million COVID-19 tests the Trump administration ordered Thursday.
This bites. The pandemic will cost McCormick Place its biggest convention yet: The Chicago Dental Society annual meeting.
■ Consumer Reports rates the best electric toothbrushes.
Piertotum locomotor! Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling is returning a trophy bestowed on her by the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights organization—because she was criticized by Kennedy’s daughter.
■ The Bill & Ted movie sequel reviewed: Not excellent, but kind of fun.
End pledge tyranny. Now you can back Chicago Public Square—recurringly or with a one-time tip—in any amount you choose. Check it out.
■ Thanks to Matt Baron for restoring an extra t to Abbott, above; and to Paul Clark for helping untangle the David Fahrenthold item above.