Iran strikes back. It’s bombed the U.S. Embassy in Saudi Arabia.
■ Axios notes that, within 72 hours, the conflict launched by the U.S. and Israel expanded to include a dozen nations.
■ The New Republic: Dozens of young girls at an elementary school died in a U.S. strike on Iran—possibly because the Pentagon was using an out-of-date map.
■ The president isn’t ruling out the possibility of deploying U.S. troops on the ground in Iran.
■ USA Today’s Chicago-based columnist Rex Huppke: “Trump seems too comfortable with U.S. deaths in his futile Iran war.”
■ Journalist Jonathan Larsen: U.S. military commanders have been telling troops that this is a Christian war—prompting soldiers to complain.
■ Popular Information: “Six newly-created accounts on the prediction market Polymarket raked in nearly $1 million by betting that the U.S. would strike Iran by Feb. 28. Many observers … suspect that the accounts benefited from insider knowledge.”
■ Economist Paul Krugman: This war will cost “the little people … billions that could have been put to much better use.”
■ Marcie Jones at Wonkette: The war “smells like a setup to steal elections.” (Cartoon: Jack Ohman.)
‘The media thrives on war, and always has.’ Journalism critic Margaret Sullivan says that means “you’re seeing far less about some of the things Trump wants to blot out.”
■ Columnist Christopher Armitage: “Every leader facing accountability has understood what a war provides. It is the oldest move in the history of power: When the walls close in, find an enemy abroad.”
■ Columnist Greg Mitchell rounds up more anti-war editorial cartoons.
■ Columnist Eric Zorn is skeptical of Trump’s assertion that once the dictator is gone, the people will embrace Western-style democracy: “Many people in this world prefer a strong leader who tramples freedoms … and flouts both international and domestic law to serve his own interests. I can’t think of an example right now, but I’m sure one will come to me.”
■ Lisa Needham at Public Notice: “Congress’s refusal to do its job is now the world’s problem. … There’s a scramble by the administration … to cobble together some Rube Goldberg contraption … that would somehow make this totally cool and legal, but there’s no way to make it work.”
■ Lawyer Robert Hubbell: Trump’s formal War Powers Act notice to Congress makes the conflict’s illegality clear.
■ Jon Stewart on a War Powers vote set for the day after tomorrow: “Thursday?! The war already … happened!”
■ Columnist, Muslim and NBA icon Kareem Abdul Jabbar dives into the troubled history of The Islamic Republic, which he says “begins the way many tragedies do: With hope disguised as justice.”
Curtains! In a neck-wrenching turn, Trump pivoted yesterday from honoring dead soldiers to bragging about his choice of White House drapes …
■ … prompting Jimmy Kimmel to declare Trump “a drapist”—quickly clarifying for the FCC: “An alleged drapist.”
■ LateNighter rounds up how the evening hosts addressed Trump’s new war.
■ The Onion: “Trump On Fence About Attending Ayatollah’s Funeral.”
The Israel effect. Politico: Israel has become so unpopular among Democratic voters that candidates including Illinois Senate candidate Lt. Gov. Julianna Stratton find themselves having to defend their past trips there …
■ … although fellow candidate Robin Kelly—who criticized Stratton for that—has also taken cash from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee.
■ Axios: Four Chicago-area congressional candidates who’ve taken AIPAC money have denounced the U.S.-Israel strikes on Iran.
■ Illinois’ primary is just two weeks away. Study up with the Chicago Public Square Voter Guide Guide.
It begins here. Updating coverage: Midterm elections kick off today with showdowns in Texas, North Carolina and Arkansas.
■ Here are some of the tea leaves the AP will be reading.
■ The New York Times (gift link): ICE raids turned Minnesota politics upside down, putting top state and federal offices up for grabs.
■ Chicago’s one of five finalists to host the 2028 Democratic National Convention.
‘A triumph for justice.’ A New York Times editorial (another gift link) celebrates vindication of four law firms—including Chicago-based Jenner & Block—that chose to fight Trump’s “illegal intimidation campaign.”
■ Columnist and lawyer Mitch Jackson: “He tried to break the law firms. The law firms broke him instead.”
■ Law professor Joyce Vance salutes “lawyers who were willing to take the risk and be brave.”
■ Update, 12:51 p.m.: Not so fast.
Apple’s new cheap(er) iPhone. TidBITS says the old 17 still looks like a better deal than the new 17e.
■ Considering trading in your old phone? Tech guru Kim Komando says a basic factory reset’s “about as protective as a screen door on a submarine” and so recommends a more secure fix that takes about two minutes.
■ Coming to the south suburbs this summer: Amazon delivery by drone, within hours—fueling privacy concerns.
‘A truly remarkable place.’ The Tribune’s Rick Kogan celebrates a new book recounting the history of Chicago’s storied City News Bureau …
■ … even though it omits Kogan’s own “awkward late-1960s flirtation with CNB that would end with me working as a cab driver.”
You ready? The ninth annual National Support Chicago Public Square Day arrives a week from Thursday. If you don’t yet have a Square T-shirt, hoodie or cap to wear that day, time’s running out to get one as a perk for helping underwrite the cost of producing and distributing this service.
■ Or you can just buy one directly.
A Square public service announcement
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