‘Masked ICE agents pulled me out of my car at gunpoint.’ An administrator of the 4,500-member “Activate Oak Park” group on Facebook shares an account of what happened as he followed a van “honking my horn and blowing a whistle to alert the community that ICE was in the neighborhood.”
■ The Tribune (gift link): “One man’s ICE watchdog work begins early in Elgin.”
■ The Wall Street Journal (another gift link): “Whistles have become Chicago’s surprising act of protest.”
■ Block Club: “A Chicago high schooler had just returned from chemotherapy. Then ICE arrested her father.”
■ Feds testified yesterday that their aggressive tactics have been justified.
■ Feds testified yesterday that their aggressive tactics have been justified.
■ A federal judge has cleared Border Patrol Commander Gregory Bovino to be questioned about the use of chemical agents on protesters, journalists and clergy in the Chicago area.
■ Homeland Security chief Kristi Noem accuses Gov. Pritzker of “demonizing” her minions.
■ A Trib editorial: “Turn on the cameras, ICE. What’s taking you so long?”
■ Ars Technica: Amazon’s Ring cameras are “about to get increasingly chummy” with ICE.
‘Not what you signed up for?’ An antiwar group’s billboards in Chicago encourage National Guard troops to consider what the Republican administration’s ordering them to do …
■ … directing them to a website with counseling on their legal rights and discharge options—including securing conscientious objector status.
■ The Atlantic: “Trump’s plan to double the size of the ICE workforce has met a foe more powerful than any activist group. … It is the ICE personal-fitness test. More than a third have failed so far.”
■ The Onion: How to Join ICE.
■ The state’s asking the Supreme Court to reject Trump’s appeal of an order blocking the guard’s deployment here.
■ Mayor Johnson’s suing the Trump administration over its threat to cut Chicago’s emergency preparedness funding.
‘The horror! Public domain folk classics! You monsters!’ Jon Stewart, after cutting to clips of No Kings demonstrators singing “This Land Is Your Land,” mocked Republicans who tried to make the event into something it wasn’t.
■ LateNighter rounds up other hosts’ assessment of the weekend.
White House down. With little notice—and without approval from the federal agency supposed to OK such work—the administration yesterday tore down part of the East Wing.
■ The Wall Street Journal (another gift link, courtesy of those who support Chicago Public Square): The administration’s telling employees not to share photos of the demolition.
■ Columnist and Trib alumnus Charlie Madigan: “The Washington Post’s photo of the destruction of the East Wing of the White House … is a great metaphor for what Donald J. Trump has done to our country.” (Cartoon: Jack Ohman.)
■ Lawyer/columnist Robert Hubbell calls the demolition a metaphor for Trump’s lawlessness.
■ Everyone Is Entitled to My Own Opinion proprietor Jeff Tiedrich: “Convicted felon vandalizes White House, because fuck you, that’s why.”
‘Voluntary capitulation.’ That’s how some teachers see the University of Illinois Chicago’s decision to drop race and gender as factors in financial aid and faculty hiring.
■ A federal judge has refused to block Northwestern University from disciplining students who refuse to complete online training that some say equates criticism of Israel with antisemitism.
■ Another federal judge has ruled in favor of public schools in 16 states—including Illinois—that have refused to comply with the Trump administration’s restrictions on funding for schools that teach sex education inclusively.
For sale: Superman. Warner Bros. Discovery, parent of many media—including DC Comics, CNN and HBO—is officially on the block.
Cards against Musk. Chicago-based Cards Against Humanity has settled a lawsuit it filed against Elon Musk’s SpaceX, accusing SpaceX of trespassing on a small patch of land Cards bought in Texas as a prank in 2017.
■ It’s not getting cash, but it did win a concession that SpaceX had trespassed.
■ Supporters who crowdsourced the land purchase—at $15 each—will get “a brand new mini-pack of exclusive cards all about Elon Musk.”
‘Trump literally bombed me with s***.’ The Daily Beast talks to the TikToker identifiably targeted in the anti-protest video the president shared over the weekend, Harry Sisson.*■ Wonkette’s Gary Legum calls the video the world’s most obvious metaphor.
■ Columnist Eric Zorn: “Trump hit a new low with his literal shit post, but I doubt he’s hit bottom.”
■ Forensic psychiatrist Bandy Lee brings Freud to the table in an analysis of Trump’s invocation of feces.
■ Nobel economics laureate Paul Krugman: “Trump has lost touch with reality.”
■ 404 Media’s Samantha Cole surveys the many ways national news outlets refused to call it like it was: “Flying over protestors in American cities, Pilot King Trump bombs people with gallons of chunky brown liquid. … It’s shit.”
■ Stop the Presses columnist Mark Jacob conducts a year-by-year assessment of the mainstream news media’s collective brain in covering Trump since 2015.
‘Inappropriate content.’ Chicago Public Square lost a reader—who offered that explanation—after yesterday’s edition.
■ Maybe you know someone else who’d enjoy getting Square for free each day. Invite a friend to subscribe here.
* Who in 2023 praised a stunt pulled off by your Square columnist’s sister.