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Mum’s her word. Under repeated questioning in Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearings, Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett persistently declined to express an opinion on women’s right to obtain abortions …
■ … even though, as MSNBC has reported, she failed to disclose to the committee that she’d signed on to an ad calling the Roe v. Wade decision “barbaric.”
■ Journalist Kyle Griffin flags Barrett’s use of the phrase “sexual preference” as “offensive and outdated.”
■ One of Barrett’s Notre Dame colleagues lists three reasons Barrett should call for “an immediate halt to her nomination until after the November presidential election.”
■ Follow the hearings on C-SPAN.
■ Wonkette’s Evan Hurst is liveblogging the spectacle in raw English.
‘Just about the only thing holding the Republican Party together.’ Politico says the Barrett nomination is papering over a growing schism between President Trump and the rest of the party.
■ The BBC dissects a batch of fresh lies from Trump yesterday to his supporters in Florida …
■ … where he threatened to (link corrected) “kiss everyone in that audience.” (Cartoon: Keith J. Taylor.)
■ The Daily Beast: Evidently confronting a budget squeeze, the Trump campaign has been pulling TV ads in states key to his chances of winning.
■ California Republicans are defending what they call “ballot harvesting”: Unofficial drop boxes placed at locations including churches and gun shops.
■ Also from the Beast: “Leaked Documents Show Fox News Hustling to Prove Voter Fraud.”
■ The New York Times: A state-by-state timeline of how quickly absentee votes will be counted.
■ Ready to cast your ballot? Consult the Chicago Public Square voter guide.
Terror trial. Updating coverage: Five men accused of plotting to kidnap Michigan’s governor were to appear in federal court today.
■ A professor emeritus of government explains how the scheme sprouted from “a toxic mix of constitutional falsehoods and half-truths.”
■ Antiracist graffiti appeared on the Chicago Blackhawks statue outside the United Center early Monday.
Holiday warning. A Centers for Disease Control report details the cautionary tale of how a 13-year-old Cook County girl’s coronavirus infection spread to 11 people across four states during a three-week family vacation.
■ Block Club Chicago introduces you to Chicago “long-haulers”: People who caught COVID-19 and never got better.
■ Dead in the pandemic: Illinois’ last Old Country Buffet restaurant.
■ The Conversation: Why men suffer more from the coronavirus.
■ New York: The pandemic’s third wave is here.
You’re not gonna get this shot—soon. Johnson & Johnson has paused a study of its COVID-19 vaccine, blaming “an unexplained illness in a study participant.”
■ Radio Health Journal: The U.S. has invested billions to develop a vaccine, but almost nothing for distribution.
Suburban boom. The Wall Street Journal reports (from behind a paywall) that apartment rents are on the rise in suburbs across the U.S. as work-at-home trends accelerated by the pandemic free people of the “aggravating commute … downtown.”
■ But, hey, Chicago’s on the verge of getting a cool new bridge extending a bike and pedestrian trail.
■ A Chicago police officer was reported in fair condition today after her squad car dropped 25 feet off a Kennedy Expressway overpass.
Apple hollers. Next-generation iPhones were set for rollout today at noon in an Apple event to stream live on the web …
■ … which CNET says puts you briefly in the “don’t buy a new iPhone unless you absolutely need it” zone.
■ Ars Technica: The best tech deals in today’s Amazon Prime Day sale.
Mailchimp is raising Chicago Public Square delivery expenses by 4%. Your support, one-time or recurring—at any level you choose—helps keep this service coming.
■ Thanks to reader Jim Matiya—an emeritus teacher at your Square publisher’s alma mater—for troubleshooting some typographical issues with the Square voter guide.
■ And thanks to reader Jim Parks for flagging a bad link above.