Conviction a ‘shield’? Sun-Times D.C. bureau chief Lynn Sweet says the conviction of President Biden’s son Hunter on federal gun charges can help the president deflect accusations that his administration’s manipulating the Justice Department.
■ Law prof Joyce Vance: Donald Trump’s supporters “said, and I kid you not here, that the prosecution was an effort to protect Joe Biden.”
■ Julianne McShane at Mother Jones: Suddenly, Fox News “loves the justice system.”
■ Columnist Noah Berlatsky: “The GOP hoped for grand conspiracies and all they got was this lousy conviction.”
■ Jordan Klepper at The Daily Show: “Frankly, I’m shocked: We’re actually enforcing gun laws in America.”
■ Everyone is entitled to my own opinion proprietor Jeff Tiedrich: “Trump is a common criminal—and a menace to society—and it’s time to start treating him like one.”
‘The scariest word in America right now.’ That’s how the Philadelphia Inquirer’s Will Bunch describes the phrase a Trump campaign mastermind uses to describe a second Trump term: “Post-Constitutional,” which Bunch calls “just a euphemism for dictatorship.”
■ Chicago police have released a draft plan for control of crowds and protests surrounding the Democratic National Convention in August …
■ … and they want your comments.
‘A legitimate interview technique taught at the Borat School of Journalism.’ That’s Stephen Colbert’s take on the surreptitious recording of Supreme Court Justices Roberts and Alito and Alito’s wife.
■ The recorder, filmmaker Lauren Windsor, tells CNN: “To people who want to pearl-clutch about this, please tell me how we’re going to get answers when the Supreme Court has been shrouded in secrecy and really refusing any degree of accountability whatsoever.”
■ Poynter media watchdog Tom Jones: “Windsor calls herself a journalist. But she didn’t act like one.”
■ Esquire’s Charlie Pierce (behind a paywall—but the Postlight Reader browser extension will get you in): “Okay, deplore, deplore, deplore. Now let’s get to the really juicy stuff.”
■ Wonkette’s Evan Hurst: “How white conservatives hate it when fellow white people reveal how they really talk behind closed doors, when they think they’re safe with just us white folks.”
■ A new analysis concludes the number of partisan-backed outlets designed to look like impartial U.S. news orgs has now exceeded the number of authentic, local daily papers.
10 years in prison. That’s the feds’ request for the June 24 sentencing of convicted ex-Chicago City Council member Ed Burke, whom a 51-page filing accuses of choosing “the dark path of corruption.”
■ WBEZ reports that Burke’s lawyers have flooded the court with glowing letters about Burke from people including his wife, retired Illinois Supreme Court Justice Anne Burke—who wrote, “I am unable to grasp the thought of us not being together when God calls us home.”
■ The Illinois Judicial Inquiry Board is investigating the Cook County Circuit Court Law Division’s presiding judge (correction, June 14:) for the handcuffing of a lawyer to his chair who ordered a lawyer handcuffed to a chair after she’d ordered his removal from her courtroom.
‘Woah, what the hell was that?’ Eyewitnesses describe a CTA bus running out of control Monday in Bridgeport, slamming into the renovated Ramova Theatre and hurting at least five people.
■ Citing a new federal study, a Sun-Times editorial concludes the CTA needs money, a new boss and new ideas.
Every. Chicago. Neighborhood. Chicago magazine’s Edward McClelland has visited—and written about—every one of the city’s 77 community regions.
■ Riot Fest is leaving Douglass Park.
■ But dinosaurs are in at Washington Park.
Pete’s repeat. Block Club Chicago: “Bronzeville was promised a Pete’s Fresh Market. Six years later, the land is still empty.”
■ Tell Oak Park about it (April link, bottom of a Wednesday Journal editorial).
Tracking trauma. 404 Media says a hacker gained access to systems used by the Tile tracking company—an AirTag competitor—gaining access to customers’ names, physical addresses, email addresses and phone numbers.
■ The company’s playing down the breach: “It does not include more sensitive information, such as credit card numbers, passwords or log-in credentials, location data, or government-issued identification numbers.”
Not so final. Eighty-seven-year-old music legend Buddy Guy’s Blues Fest appearance wasn’t his last biggie. He’s gonna play the NASCAR Chicago stage July 6.
■ DJ and culture critic Bob Lefsetz: “The biggest movie of the summer is on Netflix,” because “the movie business was so busy trying to make profits that it lost its audience.”
Bonus quiz. Past Jeopardy! Tournament of Champions winner Fritz Holznagel’s assembled a special midweek pack of questions about the news organization that brings you his regular Friday challenges, The Conversation.
■ Your Chicago Public Square columnist got just 6/8 right.
Thanks. Joseph A. Morris made this edition better.