Chicago Public Square’s taking a few days off. We’ll meet here again Wednesday.
■ Until then, catch breaking news and perspective via the Square Bluesky account.
■ Forthwith, the news for now:
Win, win. In a pair of federal court victories for Chicago and Illinois yesterday:
■ One federal judge has blocked the Trump administration—for two weeks—from “ordering the federalization and deployment of the National Guard of the United States within Illinois” …
■ … and another is forbidding federal agents from firing tear gas and other things at peaceful protesters, clergy or journalists …
■ … also ordering immigration agents not working undercover to wear visible ID in the Chicago area.
■ Could make for a less fraught Chicago Marathon Sunday.
■ Chicago-born Pope Leo yesterday: “Doing the work of a journalist can never be considered a crime. … It is a right that must be protected.”
■ A federal magistrate judge was set to rule this afternoon in the case of an Oak Park native* accused of shoving U.S. Customs and Border Patrol Chief Gregory Bovino after Bovino had pushed him and other protesters at the Broadview ICE facility.
■ CNN: Protest frogs are multiplying.
■ Parodying a Tribune editorial putting the onus on Gov. Pritzker and Mayor Johnson to keep their cool during the federal incursion, press critic Mark Jacob envisions the Trib’s response to the Wicked Witch’s assault on the Emerald City: “Show some civility, Dorothy.”
Trump’s immigrant crime math ‘is for the birds.’ Columnist Neil Steinberg rips into the president’s calculations.
■ A Chicago elementary school teacher joined the mayor yesterday to share the trauma of tear gas that made it into her classroom last week as she taught first graders addition and subtraction.
■ WBEZ and the Sun-Times: Long before that jarring immigration raid, “unlivable” conditions festered at a Chicago apartment building.
■ ProPublica: “They tried to self-deport, then got stranded in Trump’s America.”
■ Former Trib photographer Alex Garcia shares images from years ago, when the paper was one of a small group of organizations allowed inside the Broadview facility to document the whole deportation process.
■ Chicago columnist and Politically Correct Bedtime Stories author James Finn Garner says it’s been tough to write amid all this—noting ironically that “the governor of Texas … piled immigrants into buses and sent them up to Chicago in the dead of winter. We helped those poor folks out, because WTF else are you going to do?”
■ … and, among others, Gov. Pritkzer has complied: “We’ve seen people being forced to eat hot dogs with ketchup on them.”
■ Public Notice: Trump’s reason for invading Portland is “impossibly dumb.”
■ USA Today on a viral photo of Chicago’s hefty new occupants: “Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told hundreds of top military commanders last week that it was ‘tiring’ to see ‘fat troops.’ The arrival of the Texas National Guard to Chicago could leave him exhausted.”
■ The Onion: “Bored National Guard Goes Door To Door Asking If Chicagoans Have Any Order They Need Restored.”
Mideast ceasefire. In what the AP calls “a key step toward ending a ruinous two-year war,” Israel and Hamas today announced a pause in hostilities ahead of an exchange of hostages and prisoners …
■ … under a deal brokered in part by Trump, with “a whole lot of help from Arab and Muslim allies.”
■ A Trib editorial addresses Trump: “Bringing about the conditions for peace must be a great feeling. We hope you start to employ these same tactics back at home.”
■ The deal didn’t come in time to get Trump that Nobel Peace Prize.
■ Human Rights Watch says it won’t accept repentant donations from comedians who performed at a Saudi Arabian comedy festival.
Another check on Trump’s ‘enemies list.’ Cameron Peters at Vox explains the indictment of New York State Attorney General Letitia James, who convicted Trump and his family of fraud.
■ Lawyer/reporter Aaron Parnas: “The Justice Department has become an arm of the president’s political machine.”
■ In that case and the charges against former FBI Director James Comey, lawyer/columnist Robert B. Hubbell perceives disgrace for the Justice Department.
‘What’s going on with Marjorie Taylor Greene?’ Add The Atlantic’s Will Gottsegen to the roster of those surprised by the Georgia Republican representative’s turn to the left.
■ The progressive cohosts of ABC’s The View want her on.
■ Lyz Lenz’s Dingus of the Week: CBS News’ new editor-in-chief, Bari Weiss—who “makes Ron Swanson Burgundy look like Walter Cronkite.” (Updated, 10:16 a.m. Lenz has posted a correction.)
■ The Verge offers a “Memo to Bari Weiss Re: CBS News: You’re doomed.” (Behind a registration wall, but you can see it by opening an incognito window.)
‘Go 8 for 8 and award yourself the Nobel Prize for Smartyness.’ That’s the pitch from past Jeopardy! Tournament of Champions winner Fritz Holznagel (seen above, wearing his Square hoodie), inviting you to try your hand at this week’s news quiz.
■ Sadly, your Square columnist is an also-ran for that Nobel—scoring just 7/8 correct.
■ Worse: Just 5/10 here for Axios’ test of your Chicago memories …
■ … but 4/5 on City Cast’s Chicago-centric news quiz.
A tip he should have kept to himself. Ignore Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s false assertion linking autism to circumcision.
■ Wonkette’s Evan Hurst mocks: “Trump and RFK Jr. can tell if kids are autistic just by looking at their dicks.”
This headline rated M. A.V. Club: “The sworn nipple-fighters of the Parents Television Council have filed for bankruptcy.”
■ Witnessed or been affected by book bans or educational censorship? 404 Media wants to hear from you.‘AI is changing how politics is practiced in America.’ The American Prospect assesses tech’s impact on next year’s midterm elections …
■ … making this an apt time to remind you that Square and Northwestern University’s Local News Accelerator are teaming up Nov. 3 to offer you interactive online coaching in the world of AI tools. Sign up free here.
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■ You can join their ranks—for as little as $1, just once—here.
■ Thanks. Mike Braden made this edition better.
* Who grew up down the block from your Square columnist.