He gone. After reactionary Chicago talk show host Dan Proft mocked and demeaned vice-presidential candidate Tim Walz’s son, Proft’s been booted from the board of Envision Unlimited, a charity devoted to helping people with disabilities and other special needs.
■ Tribune investigative reporter Gregory Pratt calls Proft’s rant in response “pitiful.”
■ Because Proft generated six-figure support for Envision, the charity’s asking the public to help fill that gap.
■ A joint ProPublica / New Yorker analysis finds an unfair impact—in Chicago and elsewhere—on special-needs students and majority-Black schools.
About that ‘lethal.’ Examining criticism of Vice President Harris’ acceptance speech pledge last week to ensure America the “most lethal fighting force in the world,” journalist Ken Klippenstein is surprised to learn that the only other politicians to have used that phrase appear to have been Republicans.
■ Sen. Bernie Sanders on ABC Sunday: “We want the strongest defense in the world, but … enough is enough.”
■ Columnist and Pod Save America co-host Dan Pfeiffer: Democrats have finally figured out how to run against Donald Trump.
■ Columnist Eric Zorn reviews the Democratic National Convention: “It was a mistake … not to give a representative from the pro-Palestinian Uncommitted Movement a speaking slot,” but he still gives the convention an overall grade of A-.
■ Conservative, expatriate Chicago columnist Dennis Byrne: “Trump is blowing the election.”
■ HuffPost: “Trump just voted in Florida. Here’s how other people with felony convictions can, too.”
■ Filmmaker and author Michael Moore: “Seriously, folks, when’s the last time you felt this damn good?!”
‘Fact check: Totally bogus.’ Cartoonist Tom Tomorrow assesses the claim that “Big media fact-checkers have their heads up their asses.”
■ Columnist Parker Molloy is perplexed: How did a vocal Trump supporter end up in CNN’s “undecided voter” panel?
■ A New York Times opinion piece declaring that Trump can win the election “on character” has drawn widespread mockery.
Boeing money’s still good—for politicians. The Sun-Times reports that the company’s run of fatal, embarrassing and legal troubles hasn’t kept Illinois’ top politicians from taking its campaign cash.
■ The Illinois Supreme Court has upheld a ruling blocking a Democratic Party-driven law designed to keep Republicans from sticking candidates into the November ballot when none ran in the primary.
■ People’s Parity Project executive director* Molly Coleman explains the significance of President Biden’s call for a constitutional amendment to overturn a Supreme Court ruling—re-establishing that ex-presidents aren’t immune from criminal prosecution.
‘I … feel slightly ashamed … and then there’s some barely discernible anger.’ Donald Trump’s niece Mary L. Trump caught COVID-19 for the first time—probably in Chicago last week, “being among more people than I’ve encountered in the last eight years combined.”
■ Coming next month: More free COVID tests from the feds.
■ Time: “You’re more likely to get heart issues from COVID-19 than the vaccine.”
Telegram decoded. The AP explains the significance of the messaging app Telegram and the arrest in Paris of its founder and CEO, Pavel Durov.
■ Tech columnist Casey Newton: That arrest was shocking—but also inevitable.
■ 404 Media: How Durov became a culture war martyr.
Correction. Yesterday’s Chicago Public Square mixed up Monday and Tuesday’s weather forecasts.
■ Today’s likely to be the hottest day of this heat wave …
■ … with storms this afternoon or evening.
■ Charlie Pajor made this edition better.
■ Your corrections are always welcome here.
A Square public service announcement
* And your Square columnist’s daughter-in-law.