ICE kills again. For at least the ninth time since Donald Trump’s administration launched its mass deportation campaign and the second time in a week (New York Times gift link), a federal immigration agent has shot and killed a person …
■ … this time a motorist in Maine, for reasons that Homeland Security says—without evidence—were driven by fears for “public safety.”
■ The Portland Press Herald’s account begins this way: “The little girl was still in Bluey pajamas …”
■ Talking Points Memo’s David Kurtz: The FBI’s assertion that it’s investigating doesn’t mean what Maine Sens. King and Collins seem to think it means.
■ Indivisible co-founder Leah Greenberg says the details “should make every parent in this country lose their minds.”
■ The Press Herald is updating the story—and the substantial protests—live.
■ The Guardian: A new report concludes that misuse of crowd control weapons against ICE protesters led to blindings and traumatic brain injuries.
■ The Sun-Times: In the first sentencing arising from the feds’ “Midway Blitz” assault on Illinois last fall, prosecutors are seeking a 2 1/2-year prison sentence for a man who admitted firing a gun near Border Patrol agents.
Photo forensics. PolitiFact finds no evidence that a picture seemingly showing Sen. Mitch McConnell alive and alongside his wife is fake—or old …
■ … but that hasn’t kept online AI pranksters from having fun.
■ Chicago-born actor Ike Barinholtz, substitute hosting Jimmy Kimmel’s show this week, sent good wishes McConnell’s way: “I hope you get the quality health care you’ve fought so hard to deny everyone else.”
■ Gary Legum at Wonkette: “Lindsey Graham’s sister will keep seat warm for Nancy Mace or Trey Gowdy or Satan or whoever.”
■ The Onion: “Graham’s Will Orders Estate To Start War With Azerbaijan.”
■ The Conversation: Most Americans prefer to die at home, but the U.S. healthcare system often prevents that.
Lawyers behaving badly. In what Law Dork Chris Geidner declares an extraordinary ruling, a federal judge says Justice Department attorneys and private lawyers representing Trump had an improper shared interest in purporting to settle Trump’s lawsuit against the IRS through creation of that “Anti-Weaponization” slush fund and immunity for Trump from tax prosecution.
■ The judge has referred one of the president’s lawyers for potential disciplinary action.
■ Law professor Joyce Vance: “In footnote 2 (you always read the footnotes in an opinion like this), the judge crystallizes her view of just how deep Trump’s hypocrisy goes.”
■ Columnist Heather Delaney Reese: “Over the course of a single Monday … the president of the United States constructed, deconstructed, and reconstructed reality so many times that by the end of the day, no one, not his allies, not his enemies, not the press, not foreign governments, nobody could say with confidence what was real and what was fabrication.”
Another for his collection. The prankster artists at Secret Handshake did it again—covertly erecting a giant “participation trophy” for the president on the National Mall.
■ Nobel-winning economist Paul Krugman: Trump’s war with Iran isn’t affecting oil prices as much as it might have—because of “another war that was supposed to yield a quick, easy victory but didn’t: Vladimir Putin’s attempt to conquer Ukraine.” (Image: Secret Handshake.)
■ Popular Information documents Trump’s repeated—and repeatedly false—assertions that the Strait of Hormuz is open for oil shipments.
Not Illinois. A dozen states are suing to block CBS parent Paramount’s takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery—including CNN.
■ The American Prospect’s David Dayen says the challenge focuses on the merger’s likelihood of lowering revenue for theater owners and cable distributors—and therefore higher prices for moviegoers and TV viewers.
■ Pod Save America co-host Dan Pfeiffer: Trump admitted on live TV—on CNN itself—that “the FCC’s approval of Paramount Skydance’s acquisition was part of a corrupt plan to make CNN more MAGA-friendly.”
■ Chicago TV news veteran Jennifer Schulze: “Bari Weiss is hiring more right-wing pundits than journalists at CBS News.”
■ The Atlantic’s David Graham (gift link): Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, set for confirmation hearings tomorrow, is showcasing a “willingness to intimidate reporters whose revelations have upset the president.”
■ Stop the Presses columnist Mark Jacob: “The NY Times and ABC News find that appeasement doesn’t work. … News outlets that minimize and normalize Republican authoritarianism will eventually find it at their doorstep.”
■ In a Twin Cities pilot project, Nieman Lab sees the Times moving toward an Axios-like model that media watcher Simon Owens speculates could lead to a Times presence in all 50 states.
The Odyssey’s Chicago roots. Interviewed by Jon Stewart on The Daily Show last night, filmmaker Christopher Nolan traced his obsession with the IMAX technology he used for his new film back to a show he saw as a kid at the Museum of Science and Industry …
■ … but A.V. Club traces Nolan’s inspiration back even further— to “the mythical stop-motion animation” that created “some of the most astounding special effects of the ’50s, ’60s, and beyond.”
‘The best … of the last 100 years.’ Political cartoonist Pat Oliphant is dead at 90.
■ One of those he inspired, Ann Telnaes, recalls the time he discouraged her: “You do know it’s a dying art, don’t you?”
Thanks, all. Chicago Public Square arrives each morning because readers including Kevin Tynan, Ted Slowik, Robin Marohn, Sandy Ridolfi, Ann Courter, Mary Sebahar, Mary Deady, Gregg Runburg, Kay Ambre, Jo Patton, Dave Miretzky, Avery Cohen, David Augustus, Ken Davis, Lil Levant, Ricky Briasco, Jerry Role, Keith Huizinga, Jennifer Packheiser, Sue Treiman, John McClelland, Charles Kepner, Judith Gaietto-Grace, Doreen Rice, Jann Matlock, Lana O’Brien, Kurt Wehrmeister, Harlene Ellin, Scott Sachnoff, Ken Stroble, Mike Trenary, Lynn Rappaport, Paulette Cary, Helen Marshall, Kevin Weller, Kevin Hendricks, Al Slater, Mike Chamernik, Colleen Feeney, Tom Marker, Owen Youngman and Joseph Sjostrom have stepped up over the years to cover the cost of its distribution and production—including all them gift links.
■ Pitch in today and see your name atop tomorrow’s rundown.
■ Special typographical upgrade for first-timers: Your name will top tomorrow’s list—in ALL CAPS.