‘Incompetence and unprofessionalism’ / Trump’s ‘shock defeat’ / 🤔 / Hey, kids! Facebook cares!

■

‘Incompetence and unprofessionalism.’ Fired by CBS after slamming the regime of editor-in-chief Bari Weiss, veteran 60 Minutes correspondent Scott Pelley’s fired back with a list of grievances—including, “Management has instructed me to inject falsehoods and bias into a politically sensitive story.”
■ Read his words here.
■ Author and podcaster Kara Swisher says that letter of dismissal confirms Nick Bilton’s role as “a clownish patsy of powerful and incompetent owners.” (Cartoon: Jack Ohman.)
■ Satirist Andy Borowitz: “Weiss Exits CBS to Run North Korean State Media.”

Dine on. The White House Correspondents Association—whose April dinner was disrupted by gunfire—is gonna try again next month with more security …
■ … and with President Trump.
■ Poynter media critic Tom Jones asks: Why?

‘If you thought Tulsi Gabbard was a problem …’ Law professor and former federal prosecutor Joyce Vance says President Trump’s choice of Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Bill Pulte as his next national intelligence director means that “Pulte, whose role will include advising the president on potential foreign interference in the elections, could aid with an agenda designed to ensure favorable outcomes—seizing ballots or election equipment, or even offering a rationale for canceling elections with claims of foreign interference.”
■ Mostly—and sadly—behind a paywall, columnist Julie Roginsky says Pulte “may be the most dangerous appointment Trump has made.”
■ If the name rings a bell, it’s because his family’s big in real estate. (Cartoon: Jack Ohman, on a roll.)
■ The Bulwark: “Pulte is a putz—but a dangerous putz.”
■ He’ll be doing double duty—continuing his role overseeing mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac even as he assumes control of U.S. intelligence operations.
■ Speaking of real estate: In the continuing feud between Zillow and local industry leaders, thousands of local home listings vanished overnight.

‘We are not moving forward with the fund, period.’ Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche says the president’s “anti-weaponization” slush fund is dead.

‘Chaos, deep internal dysfunction and alleged misconduct.’ Illinois Sens. Durbin and Duckworth are calling for the resignation of Chicago’s top prosecutor, U.S. Attorney Andrew Boutros, after the botching of the “Broadview Six” case.
■ Boutros has confirmed that he had unusual contact with federal grand jurors in the case.

‘Extreme and outrageous … intolerable in a civilized community.’ An ex-WGN-TV producer has filed a $10 million lawsuit against the feds over her violent treatment by federal immigration agents as she recorded their detention of a man in October.
■ You can see their actions, recorded by a neighbor, here.
■ Lest you think the ruthless behavior’s over in Chicago, consider this Sun-Times headline: “ICE agents shock man with Taser, barrel into car during chaotic arrest in Albany Park.”
■ Borderless: Illinois’ law to keep ICE out of courthouses isn’t working.

Trump’s ‘shock defeat.’ Surveying the results of Tuesday’s primaries, The New York Times (gift link) sees a rejection of the president in Iowa.
■ Updating coverage: California results were unclear.
■ The Supreme Court’s cleared Alabama’s Republicans to wipe out one of its two majority-Black congressional districts …
■ … which The American Prospect says sets the stage for bringing “the pre-1960s South … back from the dead.”

🤔. The Washington Post (gift link): “The newly operational Trump Presidential Library … says that it cannot find a single Twitter direct message sent by a president who tweeted more than 25,000 times during his first administration.”
■ In what Philadelphia Inquirer columnist Will Bunch says may be New York Times columnist Jamelle Bouie’s best column ever (another gift link), Bouie writes, “America broke something when it gave Trump a second chance.”
■ The Daily Beast: “The Daily Show humiliated Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner” for buying an Albanian Mediterranean island.
■ Popular Information: The property’s been the focus of mass protests and a corruption probe.

Hat in ring. Illinois Comptroller and former Chicago City Clerk Susana Mendoza’s formally running for mayor.
■ Here’s her launch video.
■ Politico: The state’s Democratic and Republican parties have filed to remove white supremacist Richard “Sieg Heil” Mayers from the November ballot under the “Germanic Aryan Supremacy Smokers, Gamblers” banner.

Oil execs boosting personal security. Investigative journalist Ken Klippenstein says the Iran war has “changed the calculus … for an industry that profits directly from people’s pain at the pump.”
■ Trump confirms that he called Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “fucking crazy” in a Monday phone call about the war.

Shedding light on sunscreen. Your Local Epidemiologist rolls out what we know and don’t know about protecting your skin from the sun.
■ Beware a widely sold brand of cheese bread—recalled for a salmonella risk.

Hey, kids! Facebook cares! Meta’s expanding its protections to keep teenagers from seeing potentially harmful content.
■ A Tribune editorial celebrates Illinois’ pending new law to limit cellphone access in the classroom.

Thanks. Mike Braden made this edition better.

A Square public service announcement
‘Compassionate, high-quality care … empowers individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities.’ Misericordia’s supporting more than 650 children and adults. You can help.

‘Oh crap, now what?’ / Trump ‘furious’ / ‘Murder’ at ‘60 Minutes’

■

‘Oh crap, now what?’ That’s columnist Eric Zorn’s guess as to what Bears management is thinking now that Illinois lawmakers have called the team’s bluff on relocating to Northwest Indiana.
■ A Tribune editorial (gift link): “Chicago Democrats decided that … Hammond would bring as many (if not more) economic benefits … to the South Side of Chicago, and the nearby, mostly Black suburbs, than well-to-do Arlington Heights.”

R.I.P., RTA. The Regional Transportation Authority—parent to the CTA, Metra and Pace—is on its last legs, to be replaced Sept. 1 by a new Northern Illinois Transit Authority, which arrives with new cash for the region’s mass transit services.
■ Illinois rideshare drivers would have power to unionize under a bill passed by the General Assembly.

‘Chicago doesn’t just have a crime problem—it has a deployment problem.’ Columnist Andy Shaw says the city’s overdue in getting cops out of desk jobs and onto the streets.
■ Oak Park police shot and killed a man in what they describe as a prolonged struggle for control of a concealed firearm with a “defaced serial number.”

‘One of the biggest federal prosecution scandals ever.’ MS NOW’s Rachel Maddow last night hosted defense lawyer Chris Parente to discuss the collapse of the government’s case against the “Broadview Six” immigration crackdown protesters.
■ Legislation awaiting Gov. Pritzker’s signature would outlaw the placement of immigration detention centers near Illinois homes and schools.
■ Canceled last year in the face of federal oppression, Chicago’s El Grito Mexican Independence Day celebration is on again for Grant Park in September.
■ The Trib: A new wave of enforcement has left Chicago street vendors fearful and struggling.
■ Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin had a date before the Senate this afternoon to answer questions about his threat to punish so-called “sanctuary cities” like Chicago for resisting federal immigration oppression.

‘Anti-weaponization’ retreat. With Donald Trump’s administration reportedly backing away from creation of a slush fund to compensate his political allies …
■ The AP surveys the many ways Trump’s used the presidency to benefit himself and his pals.
■ Law professor Joyce Vance: “It’s become hard to keep track of all of Trump’s losses in court.”

Trump ‘furious.’ A White House source says the president’s losing it over the embarrassment of being rejected by so many “Z-list” celebrities pulling out of his celebrations for the nation’s 250th birthday.
■ Jimmy Kimmel on Trump’s threat to turn the spotlight instead on himself: “The entertainment will be an 80-year-old man yelling about windmills.”
■ Columnist Jeff Tiedrich: “Let’s all point and laugh at the losing loser who just spent an entire day losing.”
■ USA Today’s self-proclaimed “loser lefty” columnist Rex Huppke has dubbed the fest “Wouldstink.”

‘A digital blunder.’ Popular Information says a purportedly “progressive” super political action committee spending millions ostensibly attacking Democrats from the left has inadvertently revealed its link to House Republicans.
■ Updating coverage: It’s a big primary day across the nation.
■ NPR spotlights key races on those ballots.

Go figure. The Pentagon press office is now off-limits to … the press.
■ A federal appeals court has ruled that the Defense Department’s ban on transgender troops from military service was illegal.
■ Among legislation headed to the governor’s desk: New protections for LGBTQ+ people and trans foster youth.

‘Real tragedies.’ An environmental sciences professor mourns the Trump administration’s decision to dismantle a deep-ocean observation system designed to monitor powerful currents that affect Earth’s climate.
■ Bloomberg (gift link): The Republican administration’s boast of savings from its climate-protection rollbacks downplays the costs of those cuts.

Home-shopping? A new program offers up to $70,000 in help for those buying a new home in Chicago.
■ A new lawsuit spotlights what columnist Ben Kaufman calls the “big business” of “squeezing money out of renters.”
■ Gov. Pritzker’s plan to encourage more multiunit housing in single-family neighborhoods has stalled in Springfield for now.
■ A Sun-Times investigation finds two of Mayor Johnson’s aides had ties to a tech consultancy pushing City Hall to pay almost $10 million in questionable invoices.

‘Murder’ at 60 Minutes. In a short but contentious “get-acquainted” meeting for its new producer, veteran correspondent Scott Pelley accused management of “murdering” the show.
■ The New York Times (gift link) describes the session as “explosive.”
■ Stop the Presses columnist Mark Jacob: “Market forces and the right-wing assault on journalism have combined to create a crisis in America’s news industry.”

Trump Tower on Obama Avenue update. Remember how Chicago Public Square last week flagged a nascent campaign to rename the street on which the president’s Chicago high-rise is located? Welcome to the club, Axios, Block Club, City Club and Politico.
■ As of this morning, the online petition had close to 4,000 signatures—and rising.
■ Politico: The June 18 grand opening of the Obama Presidential Center is “the hottest ticket in town” …
■ … but Trump’s not invited.

June special. You know how you can always support Square for whatever you think it’s worth? This week, you can underwrite this service for half what you think it’s worth! Might you normally pitch in $100/year? This week, make it $50! Might you otherwise toss $5/month into the tip jar? Hey, cut that to $2.50!*
■ And any contribution, in any amount, gets you $5 off a Square T-shirt or hoodie—in a bunch of new colors.
■ Mike Braden made this edition better.

* Offer not valid for those who’d normally pitch in less than $2—because there’s a $1 minimum.

Square up.

🟥 Subscribe free.
🟥 Search Square.

🟥 Square on Bluesky: