‘So what?’ / ‘Vance lied’ / Dads wronged

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Now, the news:

‘So what?’ That’s what a newly unsealed court filing in the landmark criminal case against Donald Trump quotes him as saying after an aide told him during the insurrection of Jan. 6, 2021, that Vice President Pence’s life was in jeopardy.
 Law prof Joyce Vance: “The facts of the case begin with a damning statement: ‘When the defendant lost the 2020 presidential election, he resorted to crimes to try to stay in office.’”
 The filing’s part of special counsel Jack Smith’s attempt to steer the case against Trump around a Supreme Court decision that granted presidents some immunity from criminal prosecution.
 The Daily Beast: The release has Trump “absolutely fuming.”

‘Vance’s worst and most cringeworthy moment.’ Reviewing Tuesday night’s vice-presidential debate, Poynter’s Tom Jones points to JD Vance’s non-answer about the insurrection …
 … which, within hours, became the centerpiece of a Harris for President ad.
 Cartoonist/columnist Jack Ohman: “To hear Sen. JD Vance tell it … his running mate wasn’t a convicted felon, a coup plotter and a congenital liar.”
 Pod Save America co-host Dan Pfeiffer: Vance and Smith “have put Trump’s past—and future—efforts to overturn the election back on the agenda … and that’s a problem for Trump.”
 Discourse Blog’s Jack Crosbie: “The CBS debate was a gift to the right wing.”
 Jimmy Kimmel: Vance “had the audacity to say that Trump saved Obamacare, which is so brazenly false. You might as well say Trump was our first Black President.”

‘Every time you think the world has finally moved beyond debating whether climate change is real …you wake up to find that the day has reset—and a white guy with oil money seeking power pushed the button.’ The environmental newsletter Heated: “Amid unprecedented destruction from Helene, Vance was too afraid to tell Americans what he actually believes.”
 A South Carolina couple killed by a tree during the hurricane were found hugging one another in their bedroom.
 The AP: “Florida communities hit three times by hurricanes grapple with how and whether to rebuild.”
‘Vance lied about abortion, and no, you shouldn’t trust anything he … says about reproductive rights.’ Vanity Fair’s Bess Levin: “They will absolutely shred” those rights.
 Grudge Report columnist Bess Kalb: “I knew narcissists like JD Vance when I was in college. … His comments about Jan. 6 alone should bar him from a tour of the White House.” (Cartoon: Jack Ohman.)

Wave to Wisconsin. Vice President Harris is bringing company with her to Ripon today: Ex-Republican Rep. Liz Cheney.
 Columnist and Tribune veteran Eric Zorn debates with the Trib’s editorial page editor, Chris Jones, whether last month’s presidential debate unfairly featured “tougher questions for Trump than for Harris.”

‘She made it very clear by singling out my children. … She knew that they were at home, knew that they were in their cribs.’ Illinois Treasurer Michael Frerichs says his home was defaced with red paint thrown by a group of pro-Palestinian protesters led by a woman demonstrating against the state’s investment in companies linked to Israel.
Updating coverage: Israel has warned people to evacuate their homes in southern Lebanon.

Dads wronged. Jeffery Leving, a Chicago lawyer whose “Dad’s Rights” firm mainly represents fathers in divorce and child custody cases, has been suspended from practicing law for charging his clients excessive fees.
 The Sun-Times’ executive editor notes that Leving—the paper’s advertiser and contributor—tried to keep the story out of the paper.

‘They hid overwhelming evidence that these men were innocent.’ A lawyer who helped clear three men accused of shooting and killing a Chicago cop scolds police and prosecutors.
 Axios: The end of gunfire-detection tech Shotspotter’s Chicago deal has triggered a blame game …
 … which is being fueled in part by headlines like this at CWBChicago: “Yet another murder victim found lying dead on street previously monitored by ShotSpotter.”
 A wrong-way crash overnight on DuSable Lake Shore Drive left three people hurt.

Your privacy—gone in a glance. 404 Media: “Harvard students have built what big tech companies refused to release publicly due to the overwhelming risks and danger involved: Smart glasses with facial recognition technology that automatically looks up someone’s face and identifies them”—and “other information about their subject from around the web, including their home address, phone number and family members.”
 Wired is tracking “every instance of AI’s use” for elections held in more than 60 nations this year.

‘Amazing.’ Critic Richard Roeper gives 3 1/2 stars to Saturday Night, a movie recreating the leadup to the first episode of the show that came to be known as Saturday Night Live.
 The Tribune’s Michael Phillips ranks it at just 2 stars: “Needs more than … reaction shots of people cracking up at colleagues, to show us what it might’ve been like to be there.”
 Variety’s Peter Debruge has, um, not a lot of enthusiasm for (HBO) Max’s Salem’s Lot.

Correction. Reader Darryl writes to clarify a comment in yesterday’s Chicago Public Square: “It wasn’t Andre the Giant who said ‘I do not think it means what you think it means,’ it was Inigo Montoya.”

Coming tomorrow. An abbreviated Square—with the Fall 2024 edition of the Voter Guide Guide and a new news quiz.
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