‘Standard operating procedure’ / Turnabout / Strikes struck

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‘It has become standard operating procedure for Trump and his aides to deceive the public with false statements and shifting accounts.’ Press Watch columnist Dan Froomkin calls on the news media to make boilerplate in their coverage of the president a sentence that The Washington Post included in a story eight years ago—but that hasn’t been repeated since.
■ Which makes this a good time to check in on some of those near to Trump:
■ A private congressional interview with Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick—the highest-ranked administration official besides Trump to be named in the Epstein files—has triggered calls for his resignation.
■ American Freakshow: A purported Epstein suicide note “looks real.”
■ Columnist Jeff Tiedrich: “We’re being governed … by morons.”

Journalist targeted. FBI Director Kash Patel’s agents have reportedly been investigating The Atlantic reporter who detailed his alleged misbehavior …
■ … and who just yesterday published a fresh exposé (gift link) on Patel’s “unusual calling card,” a personalized bottle of bourbon.
■ Evan Hurst at Wonkette: “Daaaaaaaaamn Ka$h Patel is a dork.”
■ Investigative journalist Ken Klippenstein: The White House’s newly released National Counterterrorism Strategy “declared war on the American people … labeling its political opponents as terrorists.”
■ Law and Chaos columnist Liz Dye: “Trump never stopped harassing E. Jean Carroll. And neither has the DOJ.”

‘An outbreak of racism.’ That’s what law professor Joyce Vance sees spreading through Southern state legislatures following the Supreme Court’s decision effectively endorsing gerrymanders that disenfranchise Black voters.
■ A Trump-appointed federal judge has ruled that Trump’s Justice Department can keep 2020 election ballots it seized in Georgia.
■ In what one lawmaker calls “a tragic step backwards for Black Alabama voters,” that state’s House has approved a redistricting plan even though some early votes have already been cast.
■ USA Today’s Chicago-based columnist Rex Huppke: “Republicans get to ride into the midterm elections with a wildly unpopular president who most voters see as wholly unfit for the job.”

‘YouTube removed a video I made about abortion pills.’ Abortion, Every Day columnist Jessica Valenti says “this …feels ominous.”
■ You can see it here.

Not gone yet. A WBEZ / Sun-Times analysis confirms immigration enforcement ain’t over in Chicago—with close to 600 people detained in the area during the year’s first quarter.
■ A new AP survey finds that about a third of U.S. adults report knowing someone impacted by the administration’s aggressive immigration enforcement.

Turnabout. Social worker Anjanette Young—the subject of an erroneous police raid that left her naked and handcuffed in her home seven years ago—is on the way to becoming a member of the commission overseeing Chicago cops.
■ Columnist Eric Zorn: “Surprise! A Cook County judge gives a Cook County elected official an enormous break.”

Airbag crime streak. Chicago police advise owners of Hondas and Acuras to beware thieves stealing airbags on the West Side.
■ Popular Information turns words from a State Farm commercial against the company: “Forget what we told you. It ain’t worth squat.”

Don’t hold your breath. The first month of tickets to the Obama Presidential Center—which opens to the public on Juneteenth—sold out in hours yesterday …
■ … but, hey, you can still get into the Griffin Museum of Science and Industry, which now features a huge new slide.
■ Chicago 312 columnist H Kapp-Klote: MSI benefactor “Ken Griffin needs everyone to stop trying to tax Ken Griffin.”

Strikes struck. A walkout by workers at Brookfield Zoo is over after three days.
■ Non-teaching staff at Illinois State University were headed back to work after four weeks.

Gas shriek. A coalition of utility watchdogs and consumer champions is encouraging the state to “take an axe” to a Peoples Gas rate hike request.
■ The Citizens Utility Board has launched an online petition.

‘Trump held a Mother’s Day event for military mothers. It went about as well as you’d expect.’ Columnist Mary Geddry reviews yesterday’s White House mishap …
■ … at which Melania Trump triggered laughter when she touted her husband’s “empathy.”

‘Ted Turner Was Captain Planet.’ The Hollywood Reporter celebrates the life of CNN founder Ted Turner, whose passion for the environment drove him to create an animated icon.
■ Poynter’s Tom Jones: “Turner’s impact on media still shapes how we get the news today.”
■ Journalism critic Jeff Jarvis praises Turner’s vision—“for media, for democracy, for peace and the planet.”

‘To Tell the Truth: The Future of Local Media.’ That’s the title of a discussion your Chicago Public Square publisher will moderate Saturday afternoon—free tickets for which you can register in advance.
■ Also: Refreshments!

Correction. Yesterday’s Square misstated Apple’s settlement of a class action suit: It could send you up to $95 per affected device.
■ Chris Koenig made this edition better.

Colbert for president? / ICE under heat / CNN founder dead

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Colbert for president? In an interview recorded in Chicago and broadcast last night, former President Barack Obama told Stephen Colbert the notion’s not so absurd: “You could perform significantly better than some folks that we’ve seen.”
■ Obama said Donald Trump’s upending of the unwritten rules of the presidency means “we’re going to have to do some work to return to this basic norm, and we probably now have to codify it.”
■ He also gave Colbert a tour of the new Obama Presidential Center in Chicago—the first tickets to which went on sale today.
■ After a sequel to his wastepaper basketball face-off with Obama, Colbert remains undefeated.
■ Meanwhile: Late-night hosts were appalled by Trump’s behavior before kids visiting the White House.

■ … and set the stage for an Ohio Senate race that could prove critical for control of the U.S. Senate.
■ CNN’s takeaway: “Trump gets revenge.”
■ Democrats won a special election securing control of Michigan’s Senate for now.
■ The American Prospect expects Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman to “go full Benedict Arnold” and turn Republican—because his support for Trump has doomed any 2028 re-election campaign as a Democrat.
■ Contrarian columnist Jennifer Weiss-Wolf: A federal appeals court ruling proves that “abortion is on the ballot this November.”
■ Your Local Epidemiologist: “Regardless of what happens in courts, American women have access to the same lesser-known option that changed everything in Brazil. Most don’t know it exists.”

Who’s who in the Epstein photos? Decoherence Media’s published the Epstein Photo Network, “the highest-quality publicly available facial recognition interface to the Epstein Library,” identifying more than 400 people in photos released by the government—170 of whom haven’t been cited before.
■ It’s searchable by name and professional or social circles here.
■ Poynter’s Kristen Hare says her favorite Pulitzer this year went to Miami Herald reporter Julie K. Brown for “her groundbreaking reporting in 2017 and 2018 that exposed Jeffrey Epstein’s systematic abuse of young women.”
■ Columnist Jeff Tiedrich asks: “What kind of shithole country wastes a billion taxpayer dollars on a gaudy Epstein Dance Hall?”

ICE under heat. Illinois State Police have launched an investigation of last September’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement-involved fatal shooting in Franklin Park.
■ A woman fired as an immigration judge in Chicago is suing, accusing the Trump administration of firing her for her previous work as an advocate for immigrants—and for her race and gender.
■ News from the States: Homeland security has hit a Cuban landscaper in Arizona with a $1.8 million fine just for being in the U.S.—even though immigration officials two years ago told him he had a valid green card.
■ The Sun-Times: Cinco de Mayo in Chicago went parade-less and was generally “really slow” in Chicago.
■ Nieman Lab: “The Intercept didn’t just publish a story about ICE—it drove it around.”
■ Borderless: As ICE fears escalated, Chicago teachers worked off the clock to help students move past fear.
■ Law professor Joyce Vance: Two motions in the government’s lawsuit against the Southern Poverty Law Center show “the government's indictment is in trouble.”

‘A bakery that didn’t exist.’ A claim for $41,000 in pandemic relief cash has made a Chicago cop the department’s third officer to be charged with defrauding the Paycheck Protection Program.
■ A Cook County official overseeing taxpayer complaints has been found not guilty of drunk driving in 2024.
■ Headed to the full Chicago City Council over Mayor Johnson’s opposition: A ban on “sweepstakes” gambling machines.

‘If they don’t agree, the bombing starts.’ That was Trump’s threat to Iran today if it doesn’t open the oil-essential Strait of Hormuz.
■ Wonkette’s Marcie Jones: The ceasefire in Iran “sure involves lots of firing.”
■ Columnist Mary Geddry: “The ceasefire has missiles now.”
■ Popular Information: The war’s real cost in its first 60 days is $47 billion more than the Trump administration’s accounting.
■ Philadelphia Inquirer columnist Will Bunch (gift link) traces a dearth of antiwar protests on college campuses back 56 years ago this week to “what began with the Kent State Massacre.”

Hard time for hard drives. 404 Media reports that the AI boom’s needs have rocketed upward the price of solid-state drives, hard drives and other types of storage …
■ … putting the squeeze on the most important archiving projects in the history of the internet, including the Internet Archive …
■ … repository for, among other things, the Chicago Public Square podcast series.
■ Settling a lawsuit over its failure to deliver on promises of AI capabilities it never delivered, Apple’s agreed to a class action settlement that could send customers up to $95 per device.

A year of Leo. The Tribune (gift link) reviews the Chicago pope’s first year in office.
■ The New York Times (another gift link): The pope had to call customer service, but “Spoiler alert: There was no miracle.”

CNN founder dead. Ted Turner’s gone at 87.
■ Rupert Murdoch’s son James—the liberal one—is eyeing Vox Media, including New York magazine and a podcast division that hosts Kara Swisher’s show.
■ The Times (another gift link) faces a federal lawsuit accusing it of discriminating against a white guy.
■ Former Chicago TV news executive Jennifer Schulze: Bari Weiss’ CBS News takeover is “a train wreck, calamity, crisis, sinking ship and disaster.”
■ Surprise: The Chicago-based show The Bear yesterday dropped a prequel episode on Hulu.

‘To Tell the Truth: The Future of Local Media.’ That’s the title of a discussion your Square publisher will moderate Saturday afternoon—free tickets for which you can register in advance.
■ On the panel, among others: Journalists with Axios and Block Club.
■ Also: Refreshments!

Thanks. This publication comes your way because of financial support from readers like—and maybe including—you.
■ Harry Politis and Mike Braden made this edition better.

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