Nailed. U.S. Rep. George Santos (R-Bullshit) has been arrested in New York on federal criminal charges—accused of … oh, the list goes on and on.
■ … which the Daily Beast calls “stunning.”
■ He turned himself in.
New York, again. In what the Beast calls “a knockout blow” to Donald Trump, a jury has found him liable for the sexual assault of E. Jean Carroll in 1996.
■ The verdict doesn’t come with criminal penalties, but jurors awarded Carroll $5 million in damages.
■ Author and filmmaker Michael Moore: “Ms. Carroll, a broken nation salutes you.”
■ The Sun-Times’ Neil Steinberg expects the verdict’ll make no difference to Trump’s acolytes: “Once you get into the habit of ignoring reality, the specifics of the reality being ignored hardly matter” …
■ … but it does make Trump’s “town hall” session tonight on CNN a lot more interesting.
■ Poynter’s Tom Jones: “Once Trump starts talking, Collins’ job is to shift immediately into a fact-checker.”
■ The Telegraph’s Stephen Armstrong: Collins, who improbably “covered the entirety of Donald Trump’s presidency and yet somehow managed to avoid alienating both Democrats and Republicans,” has Trump’s future in her hands. (Photo: The White House.)
■ Trump himself warned that the event “could turn into a disaster for all, including me.”
■ USA Today columnist Rex Huppke: “We can complain about CNN giving airtime to a political figure many find repugnant, but that’s giving a pass to … politicians and voters who … want him to be president. Again.”
■ Speaking of which … The Bulwark serves up a special project, “The Corruption of Lindsey Graham: A case study in the rise of authoritarianism.”
Chicago’s emergency. Mayor Lightfoot’s Emergency Executive Order No. 2023-2 has declared the city officially “stretched to the breaking point,” because of “buses sent by the State of Texas, transporting individuals and families from Central and South America seeking asylum in the United States.”
■ That sets the stage for the city to summon the National Guard for help …
■ … but she says McCormick Place and Navy Pier won’t become migrant shelters.
■ See her news conference at 12:45 into this video.
■ Block Club: With no help from the city, Pilsen’s City Council member and neighbors have moved migrants out of an overcrowded police station into a shelter they built.
■ Philadelphia Inquirer columnist Will Bunch: “Texas is what modern civil war looks like.”
Five suspects. At least that many have been arrested in connection with the shooting death of a Chicago police officer early Saturday.
■ A vigil in her honor drew hundreds yesterday to the police station where she worked.
■ Ex-interim Chicago Police Supt. Charlie Beck: Cop reforms need to start “in the hearts and minds of the individuals sworn to serve and protect.”
‘Startling and disturbing.’ That’s how the author of a new study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association describes findings that, by the age of 40, half of Chicagoans have witnessed a shooting.
■ A Cook County public defender tells The TRiiBE the Cook County state’s attorney’s office has routinely concealed evidence obtained from its ShotSpotter gunshot-detection system … [Update, July 13, 2023: Citing additional information provided after its original publication, The TRiiBE has retracted the story “Why is the state’s attorney’s office hiding ShotSpotter evidence?”]
■ … whose reliability has increasingly come into question (January link).
Bill of wrongs. Popular Information: Kansas’ new “Women’s Bill of Rights” was created by a secretive group that opposes women’s rights …
■ … and that evolved out of the coalition that supported Clarence Thomas for the Supreme Court in 1992.
■ The Lever tackles the question, “How much did it cost to flip Clarence Thomas?”
■ An Onion challenge: “Can You Pass This Sex Ed Quiz In Post-Roe America?”
■ Also from The Onion: “Updated Texas Sex Ed Curriculum Instructs Children How To Stone Whores.”
Tucked up. Fox castoff Tucker Carlson says he’s bringing his show back on Twitter …
■ … but chief Twit Elon Musk seems … conflicted.
The problem with passwordless logins. Advisorator columnist Jared Newman offers a warning about Google and Apple’s push away from passwords: “What happens if your phone goes missing?”
■ Author and tech-industry revolutionary Cory Doctorow champions two principles to protect internet users from platforms’ “end-stage enshittification.”
■ Related: Amazon’s begun offering customers $10 to deliver their own stuff.
If you ran into a paywall for that link in yesterday’s Chicago Public Square about BlackBerry tricks …
■ … here’s a free link.
A Chicago Public Square advertiser
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