Us vs. Them / Person of the week / Quiz / Square readers bail

Us vs. Them. Donald Trump’s Justice Department is suing over Illinois, Chicago and Cook County’s sanctuary protections for migrants.
Gov. Pritzker: “We look forward to seeing them in court.”
The case is going to a judge appointed by President Biden.
Just what happened when Secret Service agents tried to enter a Chicago school? The Tribune’s acquired video that raises new questions about the “misunderstanding.” (Gift link; you’re welcome.)
Chicago social justice activist and founder of the cultural center HotHouse Marguerite Horberg—detained this week at Miami’s airport for hours without explanation, along with “migrants … likely en route to deportation”—has filed a complaint with the Department of Homeland Security …
 … and she shares the Electronic Frontier Foundation’s guide to protecting your rights under similar circumstances.

‘He’s the one who wrote the 180-day plan to turn America into a Christian nationalist hellscape, much of which we see being implemented right now.’ That’s columnist Evan Hurst on Senate confirmation of Project 2025 architect Russ Vought to head the powerful Office of Management and Budget.
Journalist Dan Rather: “Can you imagine your boss hoping you won’t want to come to work because you’re viewed as a ‘villain?’ Vought used that word.”
But would you expect otherwise from a guy who shares his name with the evil corporation at the heart of the dystopian super-hero TV series The Boys?

‘Off-the-charts crazypants.’ That’s Jeff Tiedrich’s take on Trump’s remarks at yesterday’s National Prayer Breakfast.
The Philadelphia Inquirer’s Will Bunch: Trump’s “cultural revolution” echoes Mao’s 1960s abuses in China.
Paul Krugman has a new word for your vocabulary: Autogolpe.

Person of the week. Time’s new cover boy: Elon Musk.
Handbasket proprietor Maria Kabas: “Musk forked up his mass resignation plan.”
The new Musk Watch newsletter, rounding up “The Week in Musk”: The National Weather Service is on the chopping block.
Stephen Colbert on Musk’s mucking about with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration: “The weather is full of DEI, OK? Snowflakes are girls, tornadoes are boys, and sleet is bisexual. Is it rain? Is it snow? It could go both ways.”
Wired: Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency is working to develop an artificial intelligence chatbot to replace government workers …
 … some of whom may not be departing after all.
ProPublica’s assembling a growing dossier on “Musk’s Demolition Crew” …
 … one of whom is Men Yell at Me columnist Lyz Lenz’s Dingus of the Week …
 … and who happens to be the son of the Lesser Evil snack company’s CEO.

USAID at large. Forced leaves began today for thousands of U.S. Agency for International Development employees around the world, leaving just 300 to run the handful of life-saving programs Trump’s team is willing to keep around for now.
Susan Glasser at The New Yorker: “The evisceration of USAID isn’t a policy fight—it’s an execution designed to strike fear in our own government” …
 … and it may be working: A former USAID staffer writes to veteran reporter Jeff Kamen: “Please don’t use my name. My wife is very afraid that Mr. Musk and his computer hackers will … find and punish anyone for speaking out by turning off our pensions or sending the Proud Boys to pay us a visit.”

‘Hope: The antidote to fear.’ Your Local Epidemiologist rounds up a handful of public health wins against the Trump administration over the last two weeks.
Ex-Illinois Republican Rep. Adam Kinzinger sees other promising signs: “Public pressure … might sway a handful of GOP House members to break ranks and pause the chaos. Failing that, Senate Democrats could use the filibuster to slow Musk down.”
Consumer Reports makes it easy to send Congress a letter opposing the dismantling of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
Law professor Joyce Vance: “Our goal between now and the midterm elections … is to get ready to make a last-ditch stand for democracy.”

‘I got my buyout offer Tuesday.’ Sun-Times columnist Neil Steinberg’s on the fence about whether to accept: “If I don’t take it, there’s a chance I’ll enjoy years more, happily doing a job I truly love. There’s also a chance I’ll get laid off later … because I get paid more than others.”
Trump’s calling for the cancellation of 60 Minutes.
Dan Froomkin at Press Watch: “At what point … will the national media recognize that we are in state of national emergency?

‘Too much news this week for just eight questions, so we've got 10.’ Your Chicago Public Square columnist scored 90% on past Jeopardy! Tournament of Champions winner Fritz Holznagel’s latest quiz.

‘Q. What sport is the Super Bowl? A. Football.’ Pulitzer winner Dave Barry’s cooked up “a primer for people who are not big sports fans.”
Barry and your Square columnist go way back.

Square readers bail. Two unsubscribed yesterday with these explanations: “Just another source of bad news” and “Mental health. This is a great source, but I just can’t read all of this stuff right now.”
Jeffrey L. Wiseman, who didn’t unsub, wrote: “This whole edition is anti-Trump? That is what you spend your time on? And you ask for donations? … You are going to have a long, very difficult four years.”
If “this stuff” is something you consider worth the pain, your support helps keep it coming.
 Mike Braden and Sydnye Cohen made this edition better.

SPOON! / Buh-bye / ‘My mind is admittedly blown’

MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow paraphrases: “Fork you.”
Workers who lived through Musk’s Twitter purge have advice for federal workers …
 … who face a midnight deadline tonight for accepting a (potentially hallucinatory) financial incentive to resign.
Veteran journalist* and Indivisible Chicago chapter leader Marj Halperin in the Tribune (gift link): “There has never been such a thorough effort to … undermine the fundamental goal of preventing political loyalty from replacing professional qualifications.”
Ending a call to Social Security yesterday, your Chicago Public Square columnist thanked the agent for her government service at a challenging time. As she hung up, she sounded close to tears.
Heads Up News: “Civil society is coming to the rescue of the civil service,” providing “resources and support for embattled federal workers.”
Wired: One of Musk’s teenage DOGE minions, Edward “Big Balls” Coristine, has a past that might not pass a typical government background check.
The AFL-CIO mocks DOGE with its own made-up agency, the Department of People Who Work for a Living. (Cartoon: Jack Ohman.)

‘We feel terrorized.’ ProPublica: “Hundreds of career employees at the Environmental Protection Agency have quit since the reelection of … Trump, but some staff members say his plans to reverse environmental protections have only strengthened their resolve to stay.”
The Washington Post (gift link): Trump’s moving to shutter environmental offices across the government.
Columnist Paul Krugman: “The war on science is turning deadly.”
With federal health agencies muzzled, pediatrician, immunologist and columnist Zachary Rubin rounds up what info he can about FDA drug recalls and shortages.
Mayor Johnson’s undone a requirement that city workers be vaccinated against COVID-19, prompting demands for back pay from cops and others who defied the mandate at the pandemic’s height.

‘That coup is … happening.’ Historian and On Tyranny author Timothy Snyder: “If we do not recognize it for what it is, it could succeed.”
Law professor Joyce Vance: “Pam Bondi became the attorney general and promptly did just what she told the Senate at her confirmation hearing she wouldn’t do. … Revenge prosecutions are, in fact, on the table.”
Also: Disbanding the team of FBI specialists charged with fighting foreign threats to U.S. elections—you know, like the one Trump won in 2016.
Filmmaker Michael Moore: “At some point, Mr. Trump, the people will rise up against you” …
 … but Robert Kuttner at The American Prospect says America doesn’t have a true opposition party—because “Democrats are part of the corruption.”

‘I’m sorry, that was just so shocking, it made me put a wig on.’ That’s Stephen Colbert’s reaction to Trump’s surprise announcement of a plan to take over the Gaza Strip.
Even Trump’s own administration seems not onboard.
Evidently in regret or embarrassment, “Arab Americans for Trump” has changed its name to “Arab Americans for Peace.”
Columnist Dan Pfeiffer: “Trump’s first two weeks reveal a chaotic and incompetent administration trying to mask weakness.”
Everyone Is Entitled to My Own Opinion proprietor Jeff Tiedrich: “Befuddled old coot blithers about ‘two-dollar plane tickets.’”
CNN’s Brian Stelter: “Fact-checkers spent all day on that and couldn't find any evidence. Then Trump went and doubled the amount.”

‘Competent white men must be in charge if you want things to work.’ Quoting the man just named an acting undersecretary of state, Washington Post columnist Karen Attiah says Republicans’ assault on inclusion programs is actually aimed at resegregation.
Add Google to the list of companies scrapping diversity hiring goals.
Trump’s latest executive orders include one titled “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports.”
The Daily Show’s rolled out a training video, “How to Un-DEI Your Workplace,” for creating “an environment where everyone is welcome to make everyone else feel unwelcome.”
A high school counselor on Chicago students thinking twice about applying for college financial aid—for fear of outing their undocumented parents: “It’s creating an additional barrier to keep brown kids out of college.”

Buh-bye. Politico: “Illinois House Republicans walked out … to protest the Democratic majority’s agenda attacking … Trump for pardoning Jan. 6, 2021, rioters and for tinkering with federal funds, DEI and tariffs.”
As part of a nationwide series of such demonstrations, hundreds of protesters gathered outside the Illinois State Capitol yesterday to condemn Musk and demand Trump be impeached—again.
Mayor Johnson’s agreed to appear before Congress next month as Republicans turn the screws on “sanctuary city” policies here and in other big cities.

‘No one should be under any illusion as to what Fox … is.’ That’s Poynter media writer Tom Jones on the channel’s addition of a Trump to its payroll.
Warning of “Trump’s coming war on the press,” columnist Robert Kuttner says “big media outlets do themselves no favor by trying appeasement” …

Walk with care. Chicago-area residents awoke to treacherously slippery pavement, but rising temperatures were likely to melt the ice away quickly.
A Tribune editorial celebrates Chicago’s “unappreciated suburban commuters.”

‘My mind is admittedly blown.’ Tedium proprietor Ernie Smith is astonished that Warner Bros. Discovery is dropping dozens of its archive films “on YouTube. For free. Without any sort of gating.”
Here are at least some of them.

Chicago Public Square mailbag. Reader Sherry Nord writes: “Thank you especially for linking to 5calls.org. It’s easy to feel overwhelmed with the current firehose of badness and this helped me do concrete resistance in a rapid, efficient way.”
Fans of that service may also find the 5 Calls newsletter useful.
Former Treasury Labor Secretary Robert Reich has revised and expanded his list of “What You Can Do.”

Square is free for all because of generous support from readers. You can join their ranks with a one-time tip (fabulous!) or an ongoing pledge (fabulouser!) …
 … but if you can’t chip in now, no guilt: You help Square grow simply by opening and reading each day. Or by sharing it with a friend. Thanks to all.
Rosemary Caruk and Janean Bowersmith made this edition better.

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