‘I love the inflation.’ Yep, President Trump said that yesterday …
■ … and then, historian Heather Cox Richardson says, he “slid into a fantasy rewriting of the history of his war on Iran and his decision to launch it.”
■ Columnist Jeff Tiedrich: “This is some serious Marie-Antoinette-level let-them-eat-inflation bullshit.”
■ Democratic political strategist and sometime Fox News contributor Jessica Tarlov: “Democrats just won the midterms.”
■ Trump was threatening a fresh round of strikes on Iran, to take control of its oil industry.
■ Columnist Shanley Hurt: “The room built for national security was reportedly used to manage the political fallout from the Epstein files, which tells us exactly what this administration considers an emergency.”
■ Trump’s recent physical set a new record: More physicians involved than in any examination of any previous president.
‘A summer of resistance.’ Columnist Dan Froomkin recommends marking your calendars for a series of events leading up to the November election …
■ … beginning with Sunday’s “Rise Up, Sing Out: A Concert for the First Amendment,” to be staged in New York by the No Kings Coalition to compete with Trump’s cage fight spectacle—and streaming free online or in watch parties across the country.
Wanted in cross-burning. Police have released photos of a person of interest in the apparent act of hate committed Tuesday in Grant Park.
■ Cardinal Blase Cupich calls the incident a reminder of “the sickness of spirit … not only in the pages of history but in our present day.”
‘I’m very disturbed by that question.’ Chicago schools chief Macquline King had several such moments yesterday as she faced an inquisition from hostile Republicans on the House Committee on Education and Workforce …
■ … led by Chicago-born Michigan Rep. Tim Walberg, who expressed gratitude that he wasn’t educated in Chicago’s schools.
■ King’s fallback answer: “We comply with all local, state and federal law.”
■ Axios: Chicago lawmakers weren’t there, but they issued a letter condemning the hearing.
■ Chicago school board member Carlos Rivas Jr., writing in the Tribune (gift link): “A school system cannot help students succeed if it first asks some of them to hide.”
■ A bill on the governor’s desk would require the state to consider access to reproductive and gender-affirming care before placing foster children in other states.
Trees downed, power out, windows shattered. Intense thunderstorms slammed the Chicago area yesterday …
■ … and two more waves—with a tornado threat, too—loomed today.
■ The AP: The Pacific Ocean’s El Nino natural warming cycle is back—threatening to turbocharge extreme weather worldwide and to break records set by 1997’s devastating cycle.
■ Emmy-winning Chicago TV news alumnus Matt Rodewald: “Sometimes storms catch people off guard. … But you know who’s almost always ready for it? The Midwest dad.”
Getting the lead out. The Austin neighborhood’s getting $22 million in federal cash to replace lead pipes contaminating drinking water …
■ … but that’s just a drop in the bucket for the up to $10 billion it could cost to replace all of Illinois’ lead lines.
‘Catch that train!’ Block Club says videos of costumed Chicagoans running to CTA terminals are going viral.
■ This one’s been viewed more than 20 million times and liked 4 million times on TikTok.
■ A City Council committee’s OK’d a plan to buy the downtown Greyhound bus terminal from the vampiric hedge fund that also owns the Tribune.
‘Everyone already knew the case was bullshit.’ Columnist Neil Steinberg marvels at newspapers’ tiptoeing around a grand juror’s use of profanity to describe the failed charges against the Broadview Six immigration crackdown protesters: “The news value of this development is zilch except for the colorful obscenity. Which isn’t printed.”
■ As you’ll recall, yesterday’s Chicago Public Square split the difference.
Sweet irony. Columnist Eric Zorn: By kicking researchers out of a conference because they were distributing copies of an anti-Trump editorial published in its own journal, the American Diabetes Association ensured that “many more will see it” …
■ … and so he encourages you to see it and share it here.
■ See also: “The Streisand Effect.”
‘I still have nightmares about City News.’ And yet alumnus Mary Wisniewski celebrates as “a miracle” a new book about Chicago’s legendary training ground for young journalists.
■ Poynter’s Kristen Hare flags the importance of helping local newsrooms preserve their online and broadcast archives.
Really: Just $1. Just once. That’s all the contribution it takes to put your name up in lights on The Legion of Chicago Public Squarians page.
■ Soundtrack for production of today’s edition: This song on repeat. And this version.