‘A fascist.’ Vice President Harris went there last night, calling out Donald Trump after his former chief of staff, John Kelly, accused him of praising Adolf Hitler and prizing personal loyalty over adherence to the Constitution.
■ That was one of what the AP says were four memorable moments from Harris’ CNN “town hall.”
■ Columnist Dan Rather: “She is moving … toward a candidate with a blunt message: Donald Trump is unfit, unhinged, and too dangerous to return to the White House.”
■ Stephen Colbert on accounts of Trump’s Hitlerphilia: “This is less of ‘an October Surprise’ and more of ‘an Early Autumn No Sh*t’” …
■ … or as LateNighter’s Dennis Perkins writes, “Screw it, Trump’s a Nazi.”
■ Everyone Is Entitled to My Own Opinion’s Jeff Tiedrich: “Trump praised Hitler, and every Republican stuck their head in the sand.” (Cartoon: Jack Ohman.)
■ Evan Hurst at Wonkette paraphrases a Fox News host: “When Trump said he loves Hitler’s generals, he just meant they’re good listeners!”
■ Seth Meyers is “starting to think Trump doesn’t watch the ends of documentaries.”
‘In dangerous times, honest people need to stand up. This is how I’m standing up.’ The editorials editor for the Los Angeles Times is quitting, asserting that an endorsement of Harris for president was blocked by the newspaper’s billionaire owner, Patrick Soon-Shiong …
■ … who bought the Times in 2018 from the parent of the Chicago Tribune, which is also not endorsing a presidential candidate this year.
■ The Times journalists’ guild is “deeply concerned” …
■ … although Soon-Shiong denies doing it.
■ Also M.I.A.: An endorsement from billionaire Amazon founder Jeff Bezos’ Washington Post.■ Columnist and former Labor Secretary Robert Reich: “America’s highest-profile business leaders—Jamie Dimon of JPMorgan Chase; Bill Gates, the co-founder of Microsoft; and Warren Buffett of Berkshire Hathaway—are displaying political cowardice.”
■ Steven Greenhouse at Slate: “If Trump wins, blame the billionaires”—including one from Illinois.
■ Hey, you still have this Chicago Public Square presidential endorsement …
■ … and the Square Voter Guide Guide, which spotlights other organizations’ calls.
‘A nightmare scenario.’ That’s what ProPublica founder Dick Tofel foresees for journalism if Trump regains the White House as “a president of a sort we have never had before: A new incumbent who is a lame duck on his first day.”
■ Law professor and former U.S. prosecutor Joyce Vance sees “reason for cautious optimism” that the Justice Department’s doing its part to protect the election from sabotage …
■ … but local elections officials around the country have their hands full swatting down voting conspiracy theories.
‘Press mess.’ That’s how the Sun-Times describes the departure of Mayor Johnson’s communications director after “a rocky year and a half of communications strategy.”
■ Eric Zorn again, transcribing a mayoral news conference: “Johnson simply cannot give straight answers.”
‘When an airline damages or breaks someone’s wheelchair, it’s like breaking their legs.’ That’s Illinois Sen. Tammy Duckworth, who lost both legs in the Iraq War …
■ … praising a record settlement that’ll extract $50 million from American Airlines for cavalier treatment of passengers with disabilities.
■ Historian Heather Cox Richardson sees it as a win in “the struggle over whether the U.S. government should work for everyone or for the very wealthy and corporations.”
Who’s getting in your genes? With the genetic-testing company 23AndMe in financial trouble, Consumer Reports has launched a petition demanding the company take steps to secure its 15 million customers’ sensitive data.
■ Columnist Neil Steinberg continues to grapple publicly with his new diagnosis of diabetes: “Suddenly a turkey club on wheat toast is as forbidden as a shot of Jack Daniels.”
Privacy shot. ProPublica: At least 10 gun businesses secretly handed over buyers’ names, addresses and other data to lobbyists, who used the details to support pro-gun politicians’ campaigns.
■ Investigative tech reporter Brian Krebs: Anyone can access the ability to track your daily movements just by knowing—for instance—your home address, employer or place of worship.
■ A former OpenAI staffer says the company’s ChatGPT artificial intelligence tech is breaking the law.
In store at Google … The company’s opening its first real-world Google Store in the Midwest next week at Oakbrook Center.
■ While you’re in the western suburbs, you could visit a new Chicago-area location for what’s billed as the world’s first indoor “waterless slide park” chain.
■ Meanwhile, downtown, Amazon’s opened a new-format challenger to 7-Eleven.
Nominations are open. Chicago Public Square would be honored by your support in the Reader’s Best of Chicago poll.
■ Tom O’Malley and Mike Braden made this edition better.