■ The Biden campaign has joined Trump’s Twitter X wannabe, Truth Social—and already has more followers than the Trump himself campaign.
‘A shitshow dumpster fire of biblical proportions.’ Vanity Fair columnist Bess Levin assesses Republicans’ continued inability to select a House speaker.
■ Jim Jordan wasn’t giving up. (Update, 10:24 a.m.: Or maybe he was.)
■ The Conversation: An 1850s speakership fight took nearly two months and 133 rounds of voting.
‘We … made mistakes.’ Speaking in Israel, President Biden compared the Oct. 7 terrorist attacks to the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on America and urged Israelis to beware being consumed by rage.
■ The Daily Show’s Michael Kosta: “Anytime an American president admits a mistake, it’s a big deal. So, Israel, please learn from us: Don’t stay in Afghanistan for more than 20 years, tops.”
■A Tribune editorial praises Biden’s courageous and principled stand: “Exacting vengeance is not the same thing as neutralizing terrorists and ensuring security.” (Gift link, courtesy of Chicago Public Square supporters.)
■ Wired: Why it’s so hard to know what’s real and what’s not in the war.
■ Biden was to address the American people tonight.
■ A Florida dentist is out of work after getting caught tearing down posters of Israelis who’ve been kidnapped and murdered.
■ Thousands turned out yesterday for a Chicago protest demanding a cease-fire.
St. Louis wants our refugees. Civic leaders are rolling out the red carpet for Latin American refugees, who could reverse that city’s population decline.
■ A Sun-Times editorial: Time for “a plan to resettle migrants in places that have a labor shortage.”
■ A City Council member visiting El Paso with a Chicago delegation says that town’s managing the migrant influx—but federal funding that came with a disaster declaration has been key.
■ Law professor Joyce Vance on progress toward settlement of the Trump administration’s refugee family separation policy: “The risk of a return to this ugly policy … is sufficient reason to reject Trump, who has never shown the least bit of remorse for the damage he did to these families.”
Whoops. CWBChicago reports that Mayor Johnson’s outperforming his predecessors: “His SUVs are racking up red light and speed camera violations faster than any of them.”
■ Block Club Chicago: Chicago’s Public Health Department is losing $100 million as federal pandemic funding runs out.
■ Johnson’s new police superintendent is defending the city’s controversial use of gunfire detection tech.
‘I’m not saying that Chicago rat posters are racist, but …’ The Reader’s Katie Prout surveys Chicago’s decades-long campaign against rats.
■ Actor Jussie Smollett, who’s appealing a conviction for faking a hate crime in 2019, has reportedly checked into a rehab program.
‘Invest in Kids exists to send state funds to schools … that teach that our family isn’t real and that I am an abomination.’ Illinois State Rep. Kelly Cassidy, a lesbian, has issued a news release condemning those trying to save a state program that grants income tax credits for donations to private—often religious—schools.
■ Librarians are lining up to condemn Scholastic for segregating books with LGBTQ themes and discussions of race from other titles at its book fairs.
■ The authors alliance PEN America: Publishers have an obligation “to make books as maximally available as possible.”
■ A U.S. House hearing on library censorship was, at Square’s email deadline, streaming live on the web here.
‘Uncle Sam paid to develop a cancer drug and now one guy will get to charge whatever he wants for it.’ Author and techno-activist Cory Doctorow wants to know why the drug isn’t being non-exclusively licensed to lots of drug companies who’d compete to sell the cheapest possible version.
■ Columnist Lauren Martinchek: “Why is Lady Gaga doing medication commercials?”
‘Illuminating and fascinating.’ Critic Richard Roeper praises WTTW’s latest batch of Chicago Stories, digging into city history.
■ You can watch on the web here.
■ Netflix is raising prices again.
■ Email a screenshot of your Square nominations to Bestof@ChicagoPublicSquare.com—as Nancy Hess and Sandra Slater have done—and see your name in this space tomorrow.
■ Thanks also to Eric Zorn for again spotlighting Square highlights today in his Picayune Sentinel email newsletter, to which you can subscribe free here …
■ … and to Amy Zekas Reynaldo for the correction above.