Chicago Public Square will take Thursday off to join the News Product Alliance Summit in Chicago. Back Friday with a news quiz. But here’s what’s happening now:
‘Putin is now our ally.’ The American Prospect’s Harold Meyerson (no relation): President Trump’s “alliance with Russian President Vladimir Putin’s neo-Tsarist imperialist regime hasn’t yet stoked the level of horror and rage it deserves.”
■ Wonkette’s Evan Hurst: “On the same day Russia murdered that little girl and mass-murdered five more, including another young child,” Trump said that “Russia, frankly, has been fine on Ukraine” …
■ … which makes this 2018 cartoon from the late Keith J. Taylor all the more timely.
■ Today would’ve been Keith’s birthday.
■ Historian Heather Cox Richardson: “A blockbuster story in The Wall Street Journal … says that it was billionaire Elon Musk who ordered SpaceX to slow down its service in Ukraine, rendering some drones that stopped incoming missiles and others aimed at Russian targets useless.”
■ Maybe cutting Trump a bit of slack from critics, Russia’s freed an American it held in prison for four years …
■ … and reportedly has agreed to resume peace talks with the U.S. and Ukraine.
■ The Atlantic: Donald Trump Jr.’s privately broken with his dad on the Iran war.
‘Trump lost control and ordered me to be quiet in the Oval Office. Then it got personal.’ A first-person account from The Independent’s White House correspondent, Andrew Feinberg.
■ Trump’s warning to Feinberg: “I don’t know who the hell you are, but you better be careful.”
■ Columnist Jeff Tiedrich on Trump’s offer of bounties for those who report government fraud: “This is straight up Nazi bullshit.”
■ Fresh dirt from The New York Times: “A Billionaire Wanted a Trump Pardon. His Family Gave [Trump lawyer] Alina Habba a $50 Million Deal.”
Hey, if the My Pillow guy says you need a nap … MAGA loyalist Mike Lindell concedes the president’s looking exhausted.
■ Columnist Heather Delaney Reese: Every time Trump says something deplorable about immigrants, “I think about the people who cared for me during emergency surgery in the spring of 2020.”
‘Trump is the word, is the word.’ Recapping last night’s Illinois Senate debate between Democratic Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton and Republican Don Tracy, Politico’s Shia Kapos (free registration may be required) says the president loomed large over the evening.
■ See the broadcast here.
■ Ohio Republican gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy has belatedly taken credit for an ad featuring what HuffPost’s Paul Blumenthal calls Democrat Amy Acton’s “pedophile-protecting mother.”
■ Columnist and former Illinois Republican Rep. Adam Kinzinger calls that ad “beyond the pale.”
■ Ex-Jezebel editor-in-chief Laura Bassett says it’s “so repulsive it could drag down other Republicans.”
■ Philadelphia Inquirer columnist Will Bunch (gift link): “From cash to censorship, Big Tech is all over the election. It’s backfiring.”
■ The American Prospect: ICE profiteers are trying to buy the Senate for Republicans.
■ Brooke Binkowski at Wonkette: “Trump DOJ Finds At Least One Sad Old Non-Citizen Voting Man, Arrests Him In His Pajamas, And That’s Why We Can’t Have Elections!”
■ MSNBC’s MS NOW’s Hayes Brown: “The GOP has found its ‘migrant caravan’ for the 2026 midterms”—the riots in France.
■ The Onion: “AOC Tidies Up In Case Federal Agents Stop By For Raid.”
■ Ready to cast your ballot? Check the Chicago Public Square Voter Guide Guide.
‘Sad and unfortunate.’ The Illinois High School Association says it’s working with both Evanston Township and New Trier Township high schools to figure out what should happen next in the investigation of New Trier fans’ hateful actions at a football game Friday night.
■ An Evanston fan who was there—writing not for attribution—says New Trier “did a great job of outfitting every kid in that student section. Everyone matched in their NT gear. Problem is, when it got cold, they all put their hoods up … and it was a wall of thousands of white kids in white hoods. Not a good look at a televised event with thousands of black spectators.”
Meanwhile, at college … A second woman reports that she was sexually assaulted at a University of Chicago frat party—a block away from another frat facing a similar accusation.
■ She’s suing both the local frat and its national parent organization.
Cockroaches, ‘black slime.’ Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center’s Rendezvous Cafeteria is outta commission after health inspectors found things amiss.
■ Columnist and former Illinois Democratic Rep. Marie Newman: “Grey’s Anatomy debuted 20 years ago. American healthcare has not aged as gracefully.”
■ A new report on the aftermath of the Supreme Court’s overturning of the right to abortion concludes more than 900 women have been arrested for pregnancy-related “crimes” (none in Illinois).
Heads up. In a budget proposal set for formal introduction today, Mayor Johnson reportedly was to propose a “head tax” of $33 per employee on companies with more than 500 workers in Chicago.
■ Also: A revival of the city’s mental health clinic …
■ … and millions more for libraries, homeless programs and the city’s summer youth jobs program.
■ On the way to six Chicago police districts: A new gunshot detection system.
■ Aggravating a split with the Chicago Teachers Union, Service Employees International Union leadership is backing Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias for mayor over Johnson.
Better buses? The CTA wants your thoughts on how to improve its bus service.
■ Those who submit ideas here could win a $100 gift certificate.
‘Rampant and repugnant.’ The Tribune’s Zareen Syed (free link) bemoans the growing number of Chicago restaurants and cafes using “bizarre or misleading” images on their menu boards and promotional signage.
■ Columnist and author Cory Doctorow mourns Google’s devolution from a company that once pledged to “organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible” into an “AI-fueled … parasite.”
‘It will delight gadget nerds and early adopters and likely frustrate everyone else.’ Among the first extended hands-on reviews of Apple’s new foldable iPhone Duo, The Verge is unwowed.
■ CNN’s Mike Andronico: “Is the iPhone Duo worth $1,999? I used it for a week, and it’s complicated.”
Thanks. Kurt Wehrmeister made this edition better.