‘We will not stand for your cowardice.’ Hundreds of people, including many nurses, gathered outside Chicago’s Jesse Brown Veterans Affairs Medical Center last night to protest the murder of their colleague Alex Pretti by two Border Patrol agents in Minneapolis …
■ …and to demand legislators do more to end the federal government’s “warfare against its own people.”
■ The guys who killed Pretti have been placed on paid leave …
■ … but their comrades remained out in force as Trump’s border czar asserted that he has “zero tolerance” for protesters.
■ Columnist Jeff Tiedrich on Greg Bovino after his departure from the Twin Cities: “The Itsy-Bitsy Nazi is so high on his own supply that he stopped off at Mount Rushmore and took a victory lap.”
■ The Daily Show’s Desi Lydic on President Trump, his adviser Stephen Miller and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem shunting responsibility for the atrocities to one another: “It’s like a Mexican standoff for people who hate Mexicans.”
■ Mayor Johnson says he plans an executive order to hold federal immigration agents criminally responsible for misconduct here.
■ The AP: A shadow network in Minneapolis is defying ICE and protecting immigrants.
■ WBEZ’s Chip Mitchell: “After Trump’s deportation blitz rips apart a Chicago-area family, a school official steps up.”
■ Cold comfort from Block Club: Anti-ICE sentiments made up nearly 80 percent of submissions in the city’s snowplow-naming contest.
■ The Onion envisions its “exclusive interview with Gregory Bovino.”
‘There were bloody footprints
Where mercy should have stood
And two dead, left to die on snow-filled streets
Alex Pretti and Renee Good.’
■ Joining the parade of those criticizing Trump: Style guru Martha Stewart and OpenAI chief Sam Altman.
■ Columnist Dan Froomkin celebrates a dynamic shift in Minneapolis: “People power is real. It has also inspired some marvelous writing.*”
■ The Handbasket columnist Marisa Kabas calls out feckless editors: “Headlines call it a ‘crackdown’ on immigration and a ‘clash’ between the government and ‘protesters,’ when in reality it’s murderous occupying forces being confronted by people who just want to live free of their violence.”
■ Mark your calendar: March 28 brings the next “No Kings” protest.
Star Wars’ ICE connection. Fans of the franchise have launched petitions calling on Disney to cut ties with ReedPop, which administers the biennial Star Wars Celebration …
■ … because its corporate sibling, LexisNexis, is doing business with Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
■ Just sayin’: ReedPop also runs Chicago’s C2E2 pop-culture convention, set for March.
■ A major study encourages the BBC to drop colorblind casting on shows including Doctor Who.
■ Ticket sales for the new Melania Trump movie are … almost nonexistent.
‘Dangerous.’ That’s how a UCLA law professor describes the FBI’s execution yesterday of a warrant to seize voting records in Fulton County, Georgia …
■ … a move the AP says “hints at possible future actions” by the president in pursuit of his “bogus claims” about the 2020 presidential vote.
■ The Downballot: A Republican outfit with the misleading name “ProgressiveMI” has been supporting a Democratic Michigan State Senate candidate who some Democrats say has a lesser chance of beating the Republican in the general election.
So maybe the D stands for Dick. Illinois Democrats and Sen. Tammy Duckworth are condemning Vice President JD Vance for comparing Duckworth to Forrest Gump in her confrontation with Secretary of State Marco Rubio during a Senate hearing yesterday.
■ See the exchange here.
■ Assessing Monday’s debate among three Democratic candidates to replace Duckworth’s colleague, Dick Durbin, columnist Eric Zorn gives the win to Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton, “marginally the least wishy-washy.”
Got blood? This run of lousy weather has cut the national supply to critically low levels.
■ Find a donor site near you by ZIP code here.
■ Put it on your public health radar: The deadly Nipah virus—which spreads from animals to humans, has a high fatality rate and for which there’s no vaccine—has been newly confirmed in India.
■ The fugitive ex-leader of Loretto Hospital—accused of embezzling millions from the hospital and defrauding the federal government of almost $300 million—has been nabbed in Serbia.
■ Lurie Children’s Hospital is planning a new facility in the western suburbs.
Do it for Chicago journalists—or do it for the chance at a $100 gift card. Take a few minutes for a survey to help news organizations working with Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism better understand the public they serve.
Down with paywalls. Actor/director and Freedom of the Press Foundation founding board member John Cusack: “Paywalls capture the already converted. Paywall-free news earns the trust of everyone else.”
■ Kim Commando’s The Current newsletter advises you to stop clicking that “single-sign-on” Facebook or Google button to log into websites: “The second you click that button, the site gets your name, email and profile photo. Sometimes your phone number and birthday, too.”
Corrections. Monday’s Chicago Public Square included a couple of errors:
■ Stephen Colbert’s final Late Show is set for May 21.
■ Alex Vindman, now a U.S. Senate candidate, is a former U.S. Army lieutenant colonel.
■ Making mistakes sucks; having readers who take the time to set things straight is great.
■ Chris Koenig made this edition better.
Coming tomorrow. Square hits its ninth anniversary.
■ Marking his 30th year as a Sun-Times columnist, Neil Steinberg links to his 10 favorites.
* And Froomkin includes this latest from your Square columnist’s daughter-in-law, a member of the St. Paul City Council.
