‘Don’t politicize a political event.’ One of those in the room during the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner shooting—puppet-American Triumph the Comic Insult Dog—reviewed the night’s events on last night’s Daily Show.
■ Promoting the segment, Robert (Triumph) Smigel said plenty of reporters were on the scene, but “only one had another man’s hand up his ass—sorry, two: Me and [acting Attorney General] Todd Blanche.”
■ Washington Post columnist Monica Hesse (gift link) on Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s wife getting left to fend for herself in the evacuation: “We are all Cheryl Hines … watching the important people be whisked away.”
■ Jimmy Kimmel: Kennedy “cut out of there like he saw a raccoon penis on the side of the road.”
■ Popular Information debunks Trump’s assertion that the assassination attempt was a result of the “No Kings” protests.
■ The shooting suspect’s been charged with attempted assassination of the president …
■ … based on what law professor Joyce Vance calls “solid evidence. … Unfortunately, it’s also now all about the ballroom.”
■ Former Politico editor Garrett Graff: “A central point of the government’s case doesn’t add up.”
They say the thing was staged—
Diversion from my sinking polls—
That leaves me so enraged!
Pulitzer winner Mary Schmich’s out with a fresh TrumPoem. (Cartoon: Jack Ohman.)
■ Columnist Eric Zorn: “It was a reminder of how totally inappropriate it is for the men and women covering the halls of power … to be hobnobbing in their fanciest duds with those whose actions they are supposed to scrutinize.”
■ Journalism watchdog Margaret Sullivan: “If this is really about celebrating the First Amendment, free expression and press rights, don’t invite people who stand in clear opposition to that.”
■ Stop the Presses columnist Mark Jacob: “I fear the shooting will create a stronger emotional bond between Washington journalists and the people in power.”
‘You know how sometimes you wake up in the morning and the first lady puts out a statement demanding you be fired from your job?’ That’s Kimmel opening his monologue after the Trumps condemned his joking description of Melania Trump as having “the glow of an expectant widow.”
■ He refused to apologize …
■ … and he counseled Mrs. Trump: “I agree that hateful and violent rhetoric is something we should reject … and I think a great place to start to dial that back would be to have a conversation with your husband.”
■ Poynter’s Tom Jones assesses the delicate spot TV comedians are in: “Is it better to stay away from a silly joke now to get to the really big and important stuff later? These are questions that hosts and shows must ask themselves, while knowing full well that self-editing is exactly what the Trump threats are aimed at.”
‘The Trump administration preyed on her name.’ Opening the final round of hearings for Gov. Pritzker’s Illinois Accountability Commission on “Operation Midway Blitz,” the mother of a woman whose death was the incursion’s ostensible justification said her daughter “would have hated” that.
■ Giving federal prosecutors a second guilty plea for a non-immigration crime in those days, a man’s admitted to opening fire near border agents.
■ The Poynter Institute has bestowed a Batten Medal for public service on the Tribune for its “clear and comprehensive account of what unfolded” here last year (gift link).
‘Overhaul our process.’ A Tribune editorial says a Chicago cop would still be alive today if not for “our broken system of enforcing arrest warrants.”
■ Prosecutors say the suspect in that killing pulled the gun from under a blanket at Swedish Hospital …
■ … a gun allegedly bought illegally.
■ Block Club: “The ‘Lakeview Goons’ have been harassing locals for years. Will police be able to stop them?”
‘A perfect storm.’ A Chicago-area grocery executive warns that the federal government’s shutdown of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits for the needy will hurt the food biz for everyone.
■ The Sun-Times runs down ways you can help.
Kissin’ cousins. Updating coverage: As the White House prepped to welcome King Charles III, the president celebrated research concluding that he’s a distant relative to the king.
■ Columnist Elaine Soloway: “Trump believes a page from popular British dramas will save his image and presidency.”
■ Moral High Ground columnist Evan Hurst: “Trump Reading Bible Aloud Is Exactly The Asshol-ish Behavior Jesus Was Talking About.”
‘I am just taking a break.’ Chicago Public Square lost a reader yesterday—and please know: We get it. But Square will be here when you come back—thanks to people such as Bill and Lynne Higgins (again!), Jim Peterson, Paul Francuch, Colleen Fahey, Alexander Domanskis, Mary Ellen Nelligan, Annette Cade, Jean Johnson, Sherry Kent, Chip Mitchell, Jean Davis, Kate Arias, Patricia Solano, Paul Crossey, Andrew Stancioff, Rhona Taylor, Frederick Nachman, Ken Stroble, Ilene Siemer, Ira Pilchen, Karen Conti, Philip Prale, Tom Shepherd, Ken Trainor, Gordon Hellwig, Phil Huckelberry, Kristin Lems, Michael Johnson, Geneen Harston, Susan Yessne, Theresa Rattenbury, Susy Schultz, Mike McDonagh, Jim Parks, Timothy Cunningham, Ted Naron, Jeannie Affelder, Craig Parshall, Paul Buchbinder, Julie Ross, Terri Colby, Evan McKenzie, Mark Mueller, Julia Winn, Meg Tebo and Ann Johnson Arellano.
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