‘Closed to everyone.’ At the direction of DePaul University’s president, Chicago police this morning cleared out the city’s last—and the nation’s longest—anti-war college encampment, at the quad and all other green spaces on the Lincoln Park campus.
■ Officers wielding batons pushed away students and reporters.
■ Police reported no confrontations but said two people were arrested.
■ Popular Information puts the lie to the myth of “woke” indoctrination at American universities.
■ An Interior Department staffer has become the Biden administration’s first Jewish political appointee to quit in protest of Israel’s war in Gaza.
Thank Howard Stern. CNN says President Biden’s interview with Stern put the gears in motion for tentatively scheduled Biden-Trump debates next month and in September …
■ … events that remain a longshot—partly because the candidates have yet to agree on the rules.
■ Jimmy Kimmel: “One of Biden’s debate conditions was not having an audience. So that explains why it’s on CNN.”
■ Seth Meyers: “Biden is looking forward to laying out his 2024 agenda, while Trump is just happy to go somewhere where nobody will draw him while he sleeps.”
■ Politico: Who baited whom into debating?
■ The future’s grim for the sidelined nonpartisan Commission on Presidential Debates.
‘Maybe hanging-by-a-thread House Speaker Mike Johnson shouldn’t have gone up to New York … to violate Trump’s gag order on his behalf and babbling Republican conspiracy theories about the judge’s daughter.’ Wonkette’s Evan Hurst: Democrats are now “all tripping over themselves to tell Axios that they hate Mike Johnson and next time MTG [Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene] is free to f**k him however she wants.”
■ Follow live updates on Trump’s criminal trial, with his former fixer, Michael Cohen, on the stand for cross-examination.
‘There’s a reason why some say the Times has contempt for ordinary people. It’s because the Times has contempt for ordinary people.’ Yale fellow John Stoehr rips into The New York Times for asking an irresponsible question in one of its presidential election polls.
■ Pledging to enhance its quality control, NPR is adding editors and new review processes for its broadcasts, podcasts, website and social media.
The Supreme Court can still surprise ya. In a 7-2 ruling that constitutes a defeat for the predatory payday lending industry—an opinion written by Clarence Thomas—justices upheld the existence of the federal Obama-era watchdog Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
■ That, a day after the court issued an order that likely gives an edge to Louisiana Democrats this fall.
■ Columnist Neil Steinberg encourages a reader to reconsider leaving the country if Trump wins again: “I plan to stay, write whatever I can, resist however I can. … I can’t imagine a greater accolade than to be sent to prison by the second Trump administration. It would be my crowning achievement.”
‘More confidence than accomplishment.’ Reviewing—and linking to—a bunch of first-year-in-review pieces about Mayor Brandon Johnson, columnist Eric Zorn gives Johnson a C.
■ A Tribune editorial: In his refusal to overhaul leadership of the CTA, Johnson “is playing with fire.”
Raw milk risks. Your Local Epidemiologist sees no likely immune benefits—and it increases your odds of catching bird flu, H5N1.
■ NOTUS: Farmers distrustful of the federal government are likely hiding bird flu cases among their cows.
■ Editor & Publisher explains what NOTUS is.
‘Rather than … sorting through the garbage Google is either paid or tricked into serving up, why not just stop serving up garbage?’ Count science fiction author and tech activist Cory Doctorow among those skeptical about artificial-intelligence-enhanced search.
■ Wired: Prepare to be manipulated by emotionally expressive chatbots …
■ … notably with regard to the November election.
Midnight tonight. That’s the deadline for landing a complimentary Chicago Public Square hoodie or sweatshirt if you pitch in at least $15 a month to help keep this service coming. (And you can cancel your pledge anytime, which makes for a real steal.)
