‘Mind your own damn business.’ Making his debut in Philadelphia as Kamala Harris’ running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz delivered what MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell calls Democrats’ “single best political message” on the matter of abortion rights.
■ HuffPost: Walz “used to get an A rating from the NRA. Seven years ago, he did a 180-degree turn.”
■ Philadelphia Inquirer columnist Will Bunch: “I never thought I would write this, but for the last 15 days Harris and the Democrats have done everything right!”
■ The Sun-Times’ Lynn Sweet credits one word for Harris’ choice.
■ Filmmaker and author Michael Moore explores the reasons Harris might have passed on Pennsylvania’s governor.
■ See the Harris and Walz speeches in full here.
■ Walz slipped in a couch joke …
■ … which merited a ding from PolitiFact.
‘A progressive populist minus the anger.’ Columnist and former Treasury Secretary Robert Reich calls Walz “a terrific choice.”
■ Gov. Pritzker, who underwent what he calls a “grueling” vetting process for the VP slot, praises Walz as “a kind and decent human.”
■ Pulitzer-winning cartoonist and columnist Jack Ohman knows “one place in Minnesota … really, disturbingly well: Minnesota’s First Congressional District, home of … Tim Walz.”
■ Reporters who’ve covered him for years describe him as “plain-spoken and happy to answer questions.”
■ A 2008 New York Times article recalls how high school teacher Walz’s assignment to his students prompted them to predict the Rwandan genocide.
■ Columnist Julia Gray: “Walz appears to be the ultimate Midwestern Dad.”
‘Hell on earth.’ That’s Donald Trump’s apocalyptic warning about Walz’s selection.
■ Fox News is in high dudgeon.
■ Trump’s niece, Mary: “Whereas Tim Walz thinks it’s a bad thing for school children to go hungry, Donald and his running mate think feeding them is socialism.”
■ Law prof Joyce Vance: Republicans will have a hard time making the case that Walz is “a Commie lockdown tyrant.”
■ Columnist John Stoehr: “Trump’s smear job against Joe Biden climaxed prematurely.”
‘The right type of white guy.’ The Daily Show compares the Democratic and Republican VP candidates: Walz “appeals to white guys who hang an American flag, “while [JD] Vance appeals to white guys who hang a bunch of American flags.”
■ Satirist Andy Borowitz: “Nation’s Cats Endorse Walz.”
‘What I remember is people gagging.’ Wednesday marks the 20th anniversary of what’s now known as “The Dave Matthews Band Incident”—the time 800 pounds of liquid waste from the band’s tour bus septic tank got dumped on an architectural cruise boat along the Chicago River …
■ LateNighter: The internet’s busy casting Saturday Night Live’s Walz …
■ … whose name is getting widely mispronounced.
‘We are not going to take responsibility for the Democrats losing.’ One of the organizers of a pro-Palestinian march on the Democratic National Convention in Chicago says it won’t be their problem if they wind up helping Trump win in November.
■ For the second time this year, a member of the progressive Democratic congressional caucus known as “The Squad” has been defeated in a primary—partly on the strength of big cash from a pro-Israel group.
‘How did the sheriff end up hiring this person?’ Gov. Pritzker’s dissatisfied with answers from Sangamon County about the deputy who shot and killed Sonya Massey in her home a month ago.
■ The Sun-Times reports that, in the days and hours before their deadly shootout with Dexter Reed, tactical Chicago cops pulled over dozens of drivers—without apparently generating even one ticket.
■ Here’s a montage of their bodycam video.
No swimming. Big waves and strong currents mean Lake Michigan’s off-limits today.
■ Over the last couple of months, the nonprofit Alliance for the Great Lakes has hoisted more than 60 Divvy bikes out of Lake Michigan.
■ Got an opinion on an overhaul for DuSable Lake Shore Drive? Show up at an open house tomorrow.
■ … one of whose passengers was then-Tribune reporter Brett McNeil, who—at your Chicago Public Square columnist’s urging—filed this memorable first-person account.
■ Here’s how he recalls it now. (Photo: Riot Fest.)
‘Small town relationships and a corrupt local government created the perfect storm.’ The Handbasket and the Kansas Reflector flesh out the police raid a year ago this week on a Kansas newspaper published by former University of Illinois journalism professor Eric Meyer.
■ Axios and the Tampa Bay Times have announced mass staff cuts.
Tick, tock. Do you watch TV via a Google Chromecast gadget? Its days are numbered.
■ 404 Media: Facebook is paying creators in India, Vietnam and the Philippines for bizarre AI spam that they’re learning to make from YouTube influencers.
Correction. Yesterday’s Square failed to specify that Illinois’ new law eliminating the state’s 1% levy on groceries takes effect Jan. 1, 2026.
■ Sadly, it’s not the first mistake about the state grocery tax Square’s made this summer.
■ We hate goofs but love having readers—in this case, Ted Cox was first—who take the time to set things straight.
‘Sometimes it’s the only source of news analyses I read.’ That’s what one reader has to say about Square.
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