Is your name here? / Wrong-home horrors / Marvel’s ‘greatest … in years’

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Is your name here? Chicago Public Square readers have joined hundreds of news organizations and individuals sending this open letter to Congress and the White House demanding immediate action to uphold the First Amendment, now under unprecedented assault from the Trump administration.
■ You have until noon today to join that list—for delivery Thursday.
■ The Freedom of the Press Foundation is tracking Donald Trump’s “multipronged campaign against the press.”

‘This could get weird.’ That’s CNN’s Brian Stelter on what one law professor calls Trump’s “patently unlawful” order “terminating” three members of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting board, which distributes federal cash to public TV and radio stations.
■ The corporation’s suing.
■ NPR CEO Katherine Maher on last night’s Daily Show: “This is foundational infrastructure for our country.”
■ Columnist Charlie Sykes sees CBS parent Paramount on the verge of “the most pathetic surrender so far.”
■ One journalist not bowing: ABC’s Terry Moran—who The Daily Beast says fact-checked Trump right to his face.

Wrong-home horrors. An Oklahoma mom and her daughters—all U.S. citizens—were “traumatized … for life” after armed federal immigration agents mistakenly raided their home and took their phones and computers and life savings …
■ … leaving them, as MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow explains, no contact information or guidance on how to get it all back.
■ The City of Chicago’s settled with a family whose home cops mistakenly raided, pointing guns, during a 4-year-old’s birthday party.

Off the job. Wisconsin’s Supreme Court—controlled by liberals, 4-3—has suspended a judge accused of helping a man evade immigration authorities.
■ A University of Illinois Chicago student has won back his legal status to be in the U.S.—but, now back in India, he doubts he’ll return.

May happen. Axios: Tomorrow, May Day, could bring a fresh wave of Chicago protests against Trump—inspired partly by Gov. Pritzker’s big speech in New Hampshire.
■ Also look for Chicago’s legal professionals, “standing up for the rule of law on Law Day.”
■ Chicago’s joined other cities and counties across the country in a federal suit aimed at reversing Trump and Elon Musk’s dismantling of government programs and agencies.

Whoops. Dismissing it as a “woke” Biden initiative, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth scrapped the Pentagon’s Women, Peace and Security program …
■ Forward: An “Antisemitism Awareness Act” advancing in the U.S. Senate now has a clause to protect those who preach that Jews killed Jesus.

‘Nothing will stop me.’ That was Trump yesterday at a campaign-style rally in Michigan, marking his 100th day in office.
■ Democratic Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer—a potential presidential candidate—shared a hug with Trump.
■ Biden administration Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo told a University of Chicago audience yesterday she’s considering a presidential run.

Turning (re)tail. Columnist and former U.S. Labor Secretary Robert Reich bestows this week’s “Neville Chamberlain Award” on Amazon chief Jeff Bezos—who “kissed Trump’s tuchus” and reversed a plan that would have alerted shoppers to how much more they’d be paying for stuff because of Trump’s tariffs …
■ … after Trump complained to Bezos personally.
■ Gizmodo: “Assume going forward that most tech costs more.”
■ Target has revealed that it donated $1 million to Trump’s inauguration festivities—first time it’s done that for any president.
■ The New York Times (gift link, courtesy of Square supporters): “The rise of Trump’s crypto firm … has eviscerated the boundary between private enterprise and government policy.”
■ Wired: Trump’s aim to make fossil fuels cheap—“Drill, baby, drill!”—stands to make them so cheap they wouldn’t be worth extracting.
■ Popular Information: What $7.25—the federal minimum wage since 2009—will buy you in 2025. (In Illinois, as of this year, the minimum’s $15.)

Marvel’s ‘greatest … in years.’ That’s BBC critic Nicholas Barber on the new movie Thunderbolts*.
■ Not quite so enthusiastic, the Tribune’s Michael Phillips calls it “the first pretty-good Marvel movie in a while.”
■ That asterisk really is part of the title.
■ In a first for Illinois, a new suburban theater will extend some movie scenes onto the auditorium’s left and right walls.

Thanks. Mike Braden made this edition better.

A Square public service announcement
What’s going on with Social Security? Journalist and author Mark Miller—who’s long reported on aging, retirement and the Social Security Administration itself—convenes a Zoom webinar Thursday at 4 p.m. Chicago time to discuss who’s most at risk amid the Trump administration’s tumult, and what you can do to protect yourself. Register free here.

‘Mass protests … mobilization … disruption’ / Pain made plain / Take that, early adopters

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‘Mass protests … mobilization … disruption.’ Politico’s Shia Kapos says that call over the weekend from Gov. Pritzker for action against Donald Trump’s administration has struck a nerve among Republicans and Democrats.
■ In Pritzker’s remarks, historian Heather Cox Richardson perceives “a change afoot in the Democratic Party … as its leaders shift from trying to find common ground with Republicans to standing firmly against MAGAs.”
■ See his full address here.
■ Pritzker calls Republicans’ assertion that he was urging violence “ridiculous.”
■ Off Message proprietor Brian Beutler dismisses some Democrats’ “carefully orchestrated rebranding exercises. … They can actually do just fine being the party of people who understand that Trump is bad.”
■ USA Today’s Chicago-based columnist Rex Huppke: “I assume from their lack of outrage that Republican lawmakers are in favor of citizen-toddlers being denied due process.”

‘Trump is under the impression that he … rules the world.’ But Wonkette’s Evan Hurst undercuts that assertion from the president in one of two interviews with The Atlantic—noting that Trump “just lost the Canadian election.”
■ As The Associated Press puts it: “Canada’s Liberals celebrate a stunning win.”
■ Columnist Jeff Tiedrich: “Donny is toxic right now in Canada.”
■ Daily Show host Jon Stewart brought Trump down a peg: “You are not the keeper of our pot of gold. You are a temporary leprechaun.”
■ Poynter’s Tom Jones marvels at the quality of The Atlantic’s work on the story—and that the interview happened at all.

■ The AP reviews those days through its news alerts issued since Trump regained the presidency.
■ Pod Save America co-host Dan Pfeiffer says Trump II’s first weeks nevertheless give Democrats a rough idea for “a roadmap back to power.”
■ Trump’s signed an executive order requiring a list of sanctuary cities and states—potentially to target them for cuts in federal funding.
■ Also one requiring that pro truck drivers be proficient in English—and that the Transportation Department put those who aren’t “out of service.”
■ The University of Illinois Faculty Senate has OK’d a resolution urging university leadership to join a Mutual Academic Defense Compact with other campuses rallying against Trump’s crackdown on academic freedom.

Exodus. In the wake of a shift in Justice Department civil rights policy— to focus on combating antisemitism, transgender athletes’ participation in women’s sports and what Trump and his allies have described as anti-Christian bias—The Washington Post reports (gift link) that about half the civil rights division’s lawyers have quit.
■ Law professor and former federal prosecutor Joyce Vance sees “a massive attack on the protection the department provides to the right to vote.”
■ ProPublica: Trump’s interim U.S. attorney in D.C. is weaponizing the Justice Department.
■ Stop the Presses columnist Mark Jacob: The Post should apologize for endorsing Trump’s attorney general, Pam Bondi.
■ Popular Information: A Fortune 500 company has abruptly fired a lawyer who helped an immigrant family.
■ Investigative reporter Ken Klippenstein: Federal law enforcers are blurring their own faces in news releases.
■ David Dayen at The American Prospect: Trump’s “hatchet job” on the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is “even worse in the details.”

Fiery crash on the Edens. At least one person was dead and the Edens Expressway was blocked for hours by an early-morning accident.
■ Police say a crash that killed four young people at a Springfield-area after-school program building wasn’t targeted.
■ A Chicago-area transportation advocate makes the case for a central city tunnel connecting the Metra Electric and Metra Union Pacific train lines.

Take that, early adopters. If you bought one of the first Nest smart thermostats, brace for it to get dumb in October …
■ … but you’ll get a discount on a replacement.
■ The Lever: Meet the tech companies vying to sell your personal information.
■ Employee benefit services company VeriSource is just now reporting that the personal info of four million people was stolen … more than a year ago.

Plastic in the news. Illinois lawmakers are considering a ban on single-use plastic bags and most polystyrene containers.
■ A new study links common household plastics to deaths from heart disease.

Sign here, please. As journalism faces unprecedented assault from the Trump administration, Chicago Public Square has joined the Press Freedom United campaign—a national community of journalists and concerned citizens sending an open letter to Congress and the White House demanding immediate action to uphold the First Amendment.
■ We invite you to sign by Wednesday at noon for delivery May 1.

‘News outlets have built a border wall.’ Editor & Publisher columnist Jessie Shi says one reason Trump won is that mainstream media have put “credible, fact-based news” behind pay and registration barriers—while lie-filled “pink slime” sites remain free.
■ From its launch eight-and-a-half years ago, Chicago Public Square itself (if not all its links) has been steadfastly paywall-free—partly because of generous reader support.

Thanks. Harry M. Politis and John Herrbach made this edition better.

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