Fox trots. USA Today’s Rex Huppke reviews Vice President Kamala Harris’ and convicted felon Donald Trump’s parallel slots yesterday on Fox News:
■ Trump delivered “one of the most vile moments of his campaign.”
■ And: “Harris did … what Trump can’t do anywhere: Handle tough questions.”
■ But Politico says some of those questions “exposed Harris’ weak spots.”
■ Historian Heather Cox Richardson: In contrast to his channel’s deference to Trump, Fox host Bret Baier “kept talking over the vice president’s attempts to answer” …
■ … and, as Public Notice noticed, “even at one point cut away to play her a literal Trump ad.”
■ The AP: Harris’ appearance exemplifies a shift in the Democrats’ relationship with Fox.
■ Jimmy Kimmel: Trump’s show before “a handpicked audience of Trump-loving women” marked “the first time Groper Cleveland has been around this many women since they started padlocking the doors at Miss Teen USA.”
■ It was a busy day for PolitiFact.
■ It was a busy day for PolitiFact.
‘Pandering.’ The American Prospect’s Ryan Cooper criticizes the Harris campaign’s appeal to Black men: “Crypto and weed are not how to advertise her ideas for this group.”
■ Desi Lydic on The Daily Show: “Kamala is a former prosecutor, so it’s always a little suspicious when a cop approaches Black men to offer them marijuana: Psst, hey I heard you guys like drugs.”
■ Days ahead of the 10th anniversary of the Chicago police shooting of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald, columnist Neil Steinberg fears the anger that crime sparked “seems to have run out. Now Black men are drifting away from Kamala Harris because, well ... she’s a woman. Or something.”
‘Musk’s events are likely illegal.’ Popular Information: Twitter X and SpaceX overlord Elon Musk’s “series of talks throughout Pennsylvania” on behalf of Trump’s campaign may violate federal law by requiring those attending to have voted already.
■ Ernie Smith at Tedium: A Musk-funded get-out-the-vote campaign’s learning the hard way that “rural areas have pretty terrible internet access.”
■ MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow: Trump’s again been offering financial incentives to keep adult film star Stormy Daniels from talking about him.
■ Columnist and Pod Save America co-host Dan Pfeiffer: Republican-skewing pollsters are “flooding the zone.”
Dust in the political wind. Wired: One of Republican vice-presidential candidate JD Vance’s key policy advisers “has for years posted extensively on Reddit about using a variety of drugs, including cocaine and opiates.”
■ Satirist Andy Borowitz: “Vance Bops to Music for 9 Hours to Prove He Could Assume Trump’s Duties.”
■ Do not go gentle into that good booth. Ready to vote early? Check the continually updated …
■ … now including the progressive Girl, I Guess ballot analysis.
‘Downplaying politics is a business and political strategy.’ Washington Post tech columnist Geoff Fowler exposes Facebook parent Meta’s corporate suppression of timely political posts …
■ … which has recently cramped Chicago Public Square’s social media style.
■ Columnist Eric Zorn ran afoul of Facebook censorship, too.
■ Advisorator’s Jared Newman is out with a guide to “the most empowering ways to control your online content consumption,” RSS readers—paid and free …
■ … tech that watchdog Cory Doctorow says allows “traveling back in time to the days when Facebook and Twitter were more interested in showing you the things you asked to see, rather than the ads and boosted content someone else would pay to cram into your eyeballs.”
Marked absent. Not a single departing or prospective, nominated-by-Mayor-Johnson, Chicago School Board member showed up at yesterday’s City Council meeting on the board’s financial plight …
■ … as embattled schools CEO Pedro Martinez defended his plans for a half-billion dollar cash infusion.
Shelter unification plan. Borderless explains what to know about Chicago’s aim of merging programs for housing migrants and the homeless.
■ WBEZ’s Chip Mitchell reports: As Chicago clears away its biggest tent city, a former gang leader says he won’t settle for a homeless shelter.
Sign-up in Aisle 2. An Illinois pilot program has installed kiosks in more than a dozen supermarkets where Illinoisans can renew their drivers’ licenses and other state IDs and get vehicle stickers.
■ Gizmodo: A plan by Mariano’s parent Kroger to deploy facial recognition tech is raising concern about discriminatory pricing.
Easier outs. The Federal Trade Commission’s finalized rules—to take effect early next year—making it simpler for you to get out of recurring subscriptions and memberships.
■ The Biden administration’s now canceled student loans to more than a million government workers.
Nationwide meat recall. A federal alert about meat and poultry products potentially contaminated with the Listeria bacterium now includes ready-to-eat meals sent to U.S. schools, restaurants and stores.
■ Experts tell the Tribune a wave of recent food recalls may not signal rising danger so much as better regulation and monitoring tech.
It’s an honor just to be nominated. Which is why Square seeks your nomination in this year’s Chicago Reader Best of Chicago poll …
■ … for Best Newsletter and Best Independent Website.