Trump’s ‘ghoulish lie.’ That’s what historian Heather Cox Richardson perceives in Donald Trump’s video statement yesterday on abortion rights (middle of her column).
■ MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow takes issue with “the strangely compliant, Trump-friendly headlines” over Trump’s remarks on abortion.
■ Columnist Parker Molloy says news organizations botched their reporting on what Trump really said.
■ Popular Information: “Trump is explicitly supporting state bans with no restrictions for rape or incest.”
■ William Kristol at The Bulwark: Abortion’s still gonna be a big problem for Trump.
■ Trump’s niece Mary says his video release yesterday “was one of the biggest mistakes he ever made.”
■ Fundraising in Chicago yesterday, President Biden said Trump is “scrambling on the abortion issue.”
‘Life-changing.’ That’s how Biden described his latest student debt forgiveness plan yesterday in Wisconsin.
■ Vox explains who qualifies.
‘Friends don’t let friends … bomb that much.’ Daily Show host Jon Stewart takes the Biden administration to task for standing idly by as Israel commits acts for which the U.S. has condemned, for instance, Russia: “Every time America tells the world that there’s something we won’t allow, Israel seems to say, ‘Challenge accepted.’”
■ Despite U.S. entreaties not to, Israel’s prime minister says he’s committed to invading the southern Gaza city of Rafah.
■ Pro-Palestinian protesters in Chicago greeted Biden with banners and banging drums demanding he call for a Mideast cease-fire.
■ Chicago police are investigating the placement of scores of antisemitic flyers—accompanied by something that looked like rat poison—spread across Lincoln Park yesterday.
Lightfoot’s new gig. Chicago’s ex-mayor’s been hired by the suburb of Dolton as a special investigator to examine the spending habits of that town’s mayor.
■ Lightfoot’s getting $400/hour for the job.
‘Nothing freakin’ happened.’ Yesterday’s solar eclipse disappointed USA Today’s Rex Huppke: “I was promised a descent into eternal darkness and an end to the ceaseless anguish of American life.”
■ The AP rounds up its best photos of the eclipse across North America …
■ … and Block Club shares reader shots from around town.
■ Hope you didn’t look at the sun with Amazon’s No. 1 bestselling eclipse glasses—a recall of which was announced just hours before the sun slipped behind the moon.
■ HuffPost: What to do with your (non-recalled) eclipse glasses now—including donating them for kids in other countries that will experience an eclipse far sooner than Illinois will.
■ Reminded by his wife that “the next time there’s an eclipse, we’ll be dead,” columnist Neil Steinberg wound up going outside to see it after all.
■ Reminded by his wife that “the next time there’s an eclipse, we’ll be dead,” columnist Neil Steinberg wound up going outside to see it after all.
■ Next total solar eclipse over Illinois: Sept. 14, 2099.
‘We are kidding ourselves if we think taking someone’s life is actually going to lower the number of killers in the world. … It literally … creates more.’ Last Week Tonight’s John Oliver has exposed what almost certainly is the secret supplier of lethal injections used in U.S. capital punishments.
■ A Missouri man convicted of killing his cousin and her husband in 2006 was set for execution today—unless the U.S. Supreme Court stepped in.
■ The Marshall Project reported last week that his attorneys may have earned less than $4 per hour—because, under “a perverse incentive,” some death penalty lawyers get paid the same no matter how much effort they put into a case.
■ Chicago law enforcement was on edge pending the release of potentially inflammatory video of a fatal shooting by police last month in Humboldt Park.
‘Audio buying spree.’ People close to progressive billionaire George Soros tell Semafor his team’s investment in the bankrupt Audacy radio company—parent to, among more than 200 others, Chicago’s WXRT, WBMX, WBBM and WSCR—may be just the beginning of Soros Fund Management’s move into the oldest electronic mass medium.
■ A GoFundMe account to aid those laid off by WBEZ parent Chicago Public Media has raised more than $18,000.
■ Block Club reflects on the legacy of WBEZ’s sunsetting sibling, Vocalo.
■ Columnist Eric Zorn: “Just about every listener I’ve spoken with … has been astounded and angered by the idea that the CEO of a struggling not-for-profit would … accept such a generous raise when he knew the organization was in financial straits.”
■ Zorn also comes to the defense of Chicago Public Square.
‘Zombie malls.’ The Tribune surveys suburban efforts to preserve and revive overbuilt and under-occupied shopping centers.
Cruz Control Dept. Thanks to readers who take Square’s corrections policy seriously, yesterday’s edition has been fixed to reflect that Sen. Ted Cruz represents Texas.
■ Mark Miller was the first (of many!) to flag the error.
Last call. Midnight tonight ends that temporary offer to toss a free one of those new Chicago Public Square hoodies or sweatshirts your way if you pledge at least $20/month—roughly a buck per issue—to help keep this service coming.
■ But, you know, kicking in any amount—even just $1, once—will get your name atop tomorrow’s list of Square supporters. You know, like Helen Kossler, Jayson Hansen, Sam Hochberg, Mark Nystuen, Bob Saigh, Charlie Pajor, David Protess, Nancy W. Cook, Mark Miller, Catherine Johns, Mike Cramer, Charles C. Allen II, Laurel Saltzman, Janet Grimes, Don Moseley, Bruce Pfaff, Reed Pence, Kathryn Loewy, Janet Holden, Alexander Domanskis, Keith Huizinga, Rick Baert, Keelin Wyman, Ryan Bird, David Mausner, Andrea Agrimonti, Gene Kannenberg Jr., Marj Halperin, Shel Lustig, Maureen Kennedy, Christine Hauri, Teresa Savino, Stan Zoller and Alan Solomon.
■ Kelly Martin made this edition better.