‘Stop surrendering when we need to fight.’ Gov. Pritzker’s calling on Democrats to shake off their political funk …
■ … and on the national party to follow Illinois’ lead with “a renewed dedication to the needs and the wants of working families.”
■ With a nod to Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson and others, columnist and former U.S. Labor Secretary Robert Reich says Democrats should “ignore the carping of corporate and Wall Street Democrats and embrace … young progressives as the future of the party.”
■ An Illinois judge has rejected Texas’ request for the arrest of Democrats who fled here to derail a congressional remapping plan. (Tribune gift link, courtesy of those who underwrite the cost of producing Chicago Public Square.)
24/7 oppression. Donald Trump’s administration says federal agents will be patrolling Washington around the clock.
■ Dan Froomkin at Heads Up News finds public resistance to Trump’s Washington military deployment “lackluster at best.”
■ HuffPost: A Homeland Security recruiting video uses a “disturbingly familiar … ‘Nazi-like’” font.
■ Columnist Neil Steinberg: “What if it's not about immigration? … What if it's really about … creating a faceless para-military force that follows no law, and is accountable to no one, except one man?”
‘Time to dump Spotify.’ The Reader’s Leor Galil flags CEO Daniel Ek’s big investment in an AI weapons company …
‘Fake science, faulty methods and misleading testimony.’ Injustice Watch: For eight years, a forensic toxicology lab at the University of Illinois Chicago relied on a host of shady tactics to get people convicted for driving high.
■ A Republican senator tells Fox News he doesn’t wear a seatbelt because he’s afraid he’ll get carjacked.
‘The right call.’ Columnist Eric Zorn approves Cook County State’s Attorney Eileen O’Neill Burke’s decision not to prosecute cops involved in last year’s fatal shooting of motorist Dexter Reed: “Reed fired first.”
■ The Illinois Answers Project and the Sun-Times: The Chicago police officer who shot and killed his partner during a foot pursuit earlier this year allegedly attacked a female officer late Sunday at a Wicker Park bar.
Classy. Popular Information: Trump’s plan to mark the nation’s 250th birthday next year with a UFC match on the White House lawn is consistent with his policy of leveraging his office’s power “to financially benefit himself, his family and his political allies.”
■ The snarky What Did Donald Trump Do Today? blog deconstructs the “gripes, grievances and whoppers” he delivered during “the nearly hour-long word salad” as he announced the 2025 Kennedy Center Honorees.
■ Reporter Em Luetkemeyer confirms all the members of KISS have agreed to accept.
■ Piano virtuoso Ben Folds explains why he quit the Kennedy Center.
‘The Tribune knocked … but heard nothing in response.’ So, yeah, can we get over the silly notion that there’s someone inside the city’s iconic Bean sculpture (officially, “Cloud Gate”) in Millennium Park?
■ But, for the record, former Trib photographer Alex Garcia has evidence “there is indeed an office inside the Bean.”
Beware those bugs. Chicago’s Department of Public Health has upped the risk of catching the mosquito-borne West Nile virus to “high.”
■ The Centers for Disease Control details the symptoms.
■ The Neuron: Doctors got worse at cancer screening after using AI helpers.
■ Mercyhealth, which runs hospitals and clinics in Illinois and Wisconsin, has agreed to pay $1 million and reinstate workers fired for refusing to get COVID-19 shots during the pandemic.
■ Abortion, Every Day: A Texas district attorney who charged a woman with murder for self-managing an abortion apparently once paid for an abortion himself.
Happy(?) birthday, Social Security. RetirementRevised columnist Mark Miller says the program signed into law 90 years ago today is at a crossroads: “Financial solvency and customer service … both need attention.”
■ Historian Heather Cox Richardson revisits the life of the driving force behind the Social Security Act: Labor Secretary Frances Perkins, the first woman to hold a Cabinet job.
■ The Onion: “Everyone In 200-Member Media Softball League Unemployed.”
■ … an article your Chicago Public Square columnist unfortunately read after upping with Spotify for another year yesterday.
■ Tech companies’ investment in Trump is paying off: Public Citizen reports the administration has dropped a third of the misconduct and enforcement actions against the sector.
‘I decided that if I could subscribe to a bunch of streaming services to watch stupid TV at night, I could afford to support Public Square, which actually gives real value every single day.’ Those kind words arrived yesterday from a reader who’s generously helping underwrite the cost of producing and distributing this publication—joining the ranks of people including Sheila Wolfe, Tim Bannon, Susann Slinic, Debi Gordon, Theresa Rattenbury, KT Sullivan, Paul Colombo, John Robinson, Susan Gzesh, Irv Leavitt, Anne Rooney, Meghan Strubel, Harla Hutchinson, Edie Steiner, Bill Higgins, Ken Hooker, R Carney, Colette Verdun, Garry, John Jaramillo, Kiki Marie-Henri, Ryan Osborn, Chris Goldrick, Ann Keating, Susan Benloucif, Ken Trainor, Alec Bloyd-Peshkin, Marc Blesoff, Edward White, Michael Johnson, Stephen J. ONeil, Chris Ruys, Alison Price, Logan Aimone, E Larsen, Jim Moriarty, Mike Packard, Jack Ohman, Holly Wallace, J.J. Tindall, Cynthia Martin, Terri Lonier, Matt Griffin, Doreen Rice, Jack Bizot, Steve Newberger, Brent Brotine, Mana Ionescu, Annemarie Kill, Darryl Roberts, Diana Lauber, Sarah Russe, Martin Yeager, Jerry Wolin, Marc Magliari, Joanne Rosenbush, Annette Cade, Laurel Saltzman, Pat Albu, Sheila Flaherty, Chris Handzlik, Mike Cramer, Ricky Briasco, Mario Greco, Gene Kannenberg Jr., Judee Barone, Melanie Carter, Paula Donato, Sofia Marcovici, Stephanie Goldberg, Aaron Smith, Tim Ward, Jean Davis, Nannette Doetsch, Paul Wedeen, Robert A. Shipley, Mary Mearna, Cate Plys, Martin Gallas, Wendy Greenhouse, Al Hoyt, Mark Thurow, Alexander Domanskis, Anton Till, Paul Kungl, Avery Cohen, Jeff Hackett, Andrew Mitran, Sally Donatiello, Ed Nickow, Jim Walz, Another Debbie Becker, Sam Hochberg, Deborah J. Wess, Marjorie Huerta, Richard M. Bendix Jr., William Bork, Carol Lavoie Harper, Karen Conti, Margaret Meyer, Mollie Kramer, Sherry Kent, Tony Marturano, Craig Koslofsky, Paul Noble, Jeanne Peppler, Bruce Dold, Mary Szpur, Werner Huget, Tom Pritchett, Suzanne Vestuto, Meg Ross, Marge and Hank Arnold, Doug Berman, Molly McDonough, Riva Reed, Christopher Comes, Tina Birnbaum, Rich Gage, Carolyn Hosticka, Glenn Jeffers, Susy Schultz, Kevin Iverson, Peggy Fogelman, Ben Orzeske, Ann Fisher, Joseph Fedorko, Kate Arias, Mary Greenwald, Lizzie Schiffman Tufano, Fredric Stein, John Metz, Julie Ross, Gordon Hellwig, Richard Osa, Melissa Leeb, Matthew Pestine, Jean Johnson, Mike McDonagh, Bill Drudge, Jeff Weissglass, Mary M. Jeans, saknrad and Barb Powers. In memoriam: Marianne Matthews and Tom Petersen.
■ Pitch in as little as $1, once, and see your name atop tomorrow’s roll call.
■ Mike Braden made this edition better.
A benefit for the Lin Brehmer Scholars Fund. A star-studded lineup of Chicago-based musicians—including Jon Langford, The Linburgers (Matt Spiegel and Curt Morrison of Tributosaurus), Michael McDermott, Heather Lynne Horton, Scott Lucas from Local H and Eddie “King” Roeser from Urge Overkill—gathers at Metro Aug. 21 in a concert to fund college scholarships for high school seniors who face adversity and yet embody the values of the late WXRT-FM morning man: Curiosity, kindness, generosity and joy.
A Square public service announcement
■ Tickets here.