Dems’ dilemma / ‘DOGE-bags’ / Chicago’s ‘hate spree’ / Quiz!

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Dems’ dilemma. Updating coverage: Ahead of a midnight deadline, Senate Democrats faced a choice of helping pass a continuing resolution that would let President Trump continue to devastate government—or voting no and letting the government shut down for lack of funding …
■ … and Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said he’d help pass the resolution …
■ … enraging House Democrats, who voted almost unanimously the other way …
■ … including New York’s Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (who’s reportedly being encouraged to challenge Schumer in a primary)…
■ … and Illinois’ Sean Casten.
■ Lawfare editor-in-chief and Washington Post alumnus Ben Wittes writes that Trump and Schumer have this in common: “Both negotiate with terrorists and give away all their negotiating leverage preemptively.”
■ Trump niece/critic Mary L. Trump says Democrats have locked themselves into a false choice: “Let Republicans take responsibility for their bill. … If there were to be a shutdown, it would not be because of anything the Democrats did.”

Back to work. Two federal judges are ordering the Trump administration to rehire—at least temporarily—thousands of probationary workers.
■ Jimmy Kimmel: “You know, there was a time when firing people was the only thing Donald Trump was good at.”

■ A new Justice Department “Federal Task Force to Combat Antisemitism” aims to investigate alleged antisemitism at college campuses here.
■ The Associated Press: Trump’s administration is in talks to resettle Palestinians from the Gaza Strip to Africa.
■ A University of Michigan historian: “Superhero comics tell the story of Jewish America.”

‘Way outside the bounds of the legal guardrails.’ Chicago immigration lawyers and the ACLU are taking the Trump administration to court, accusing federal agents of violating immigrants’ rights.
■ Public Notice columnist Lisa Needham: Columbia University graduate student and pro-Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil’s arrest “is an attack on the Constitution.”
■ Trump’s Homeland Security deputy secretary seems unable or unwilling to explain the arrest.
■ Mahmoud’s suing Columbia.
■ The Wall Street Journal (gift link, courtesy of Chicago Public Square supporters): Scrambling to avoid becoming Trump’s next target, universities nationwide are canceling events and rescinding grad school offers.
■ The AP: More than 50 campuses are already under the microscope.

The week in Musk. Looking back, Musk Watch declares the White House now a Tesla dealership.
■ Musk’s still high on Hitler: Yesterday, he retweeted a post exonerating the dictator for the murders of millions.
■ USA Today’s Chicago-based columnist Rex Huppke: “The time for Americans to demand Elon Musk’s removal from the federal government is now.”

Chicago’s ‘hate spree.’ Unraveled identifies a cluster of local white nationalists responsible for “racist, anti-immigrant, and antisemitic messaging” across Chicago and its suburbs, including “stickering, leaving flyers on vehicles, displaying banners over highways, and demonstrations at holiday events.”
■ Key to the revelation: “Leaked phone call audio obtained from an antifascist activist who was vetted into the group’s inner circle.”

Curtains! The nation’s nominal vice president, JD Vance, was booed last night at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.
■ Columnist Lyz Lenz’s Dingus of the Week: Trump Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins, for cutting $1 billion to buy food from local farms for schools and food banks.

Reasons to be cheerful. Ex-Labor Secretary Robert Reich offers 10 things to justify modest optimism in the face of “horrendous Trump news.”

‘Go 8 for 8 and give yourself a gold star.’ Quizmaster and past Jeopardy! Tournament of Champions winner Fritz Holznagel doesn’t really hand out prizes for his weekly news quiz. But if you make it to the end, you’ll learn how to land a copy of his new book—which, as of this writing, is the No. 1 new release in Amazon’s Words, Language & Grammar Reference section.
■ Your Chicago Public Square columnist went a middlin’ 6 for 8.

‘How great is a nation, really, if you can’t drink the water?’ Columnist Neil Steinberg mourns the Environmental Protection Agency’s imminent demise.
■ Journalist Dan Rather: The Trump administration’s rebranding of the EPA “goes further than our worst nightmares when it comes to protecting the earth and human life.”
■ Your Local Epidemiologist tackles questions about MMR and measles protection.

Wild wildlife. Chicago’s newest celebrity critter: “Ida Beav Wells.”

Did you see it? The “Blood Worm Moon” appeared in Chicago skies overnight, as the sun, Earth and moon aligned so that Earth cast its shadow on the moon.

Chicago Public Square mailbag. Sun-Times reporter Tim Novak writes to clarify his status as the paper offers—and some staffers accept—buyouts: “I retired on my own terms, a decision I announced weeks earlier. … The Sun-Times wishes me to continue to produce stories at my own pace, and I am delighted to continue in this new capacity.”
■ Addressing criticism that Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin’s office hasn’t been welcoming public comment, reader Benjy Blenner writes: “For the last month, I have called Sen. Duckworth, Sen. Durbin and my congresswoman, Jan Schakowsky, every weekday. … About 70% of the time, I get a person at Sen. Duckworth’s office. 99% of the time, I talk to a person at Rep. Schakowsky’s. I have never talked to anyone at the Durbin office. While I do wish that Sen. Durbin answered his phones, if Mr. Collins isn’t getting even voicemail, he’s clearly not calling the right numbers. The key is to find the local offices. I had to call a lot before I got numbers that worked.” Blenner adds that Durbin’s team did personally answer his email. And he shares these numbers:
312-353-4952 for Durbin
312-886-3506 for Duckworth
773-506-7100 for Schakowsky
■ Want to reach others in Congress? 5calls.org spares you the research. And Indivisible Chicago says now’s the time to do it.
■ And updating yesterday’s item about the bricking of Google Chromecast devices: The company says it’s rolling out a fix.

Square is free thanks to readers like you—but maybe not yet including you? You can help cover the cost of producing and distributing this service by pitching in even just $1, once.

Durbin under fire / Bikes under fire / Out at the Sun-Times

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[Republishing this edition to correct an error in the wrongful conviction item below.]

Durbin under fire. NBC News veteran Ben Collins—now CEO of the company that owns The Onion—addresses Illinois’ senior senator on Bluesky: “No one is picking up your Senate phone and you don’t even have a voicemail. Vote no on … the spending bill or I will do whatever it takes to make sure the next senator from Illinois has basic constituent services set up during business hours.”
■ The biggest federal workers’ union: Better for the government to shut down than for Trump’s spending bill to pass.

‘Don’t let anybody tell you that yelling and making a fuss doesn’t matter, or that journalism doesn’t matter.’ MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow celebrated Connecticut Rep. John Larson’s fiery rant about the Trump administration’s threat to Social Security …
■ ProPublica has audio in which Trump’s acting Social Security commissioner acknowledges that the agency is in a far more precarious place than has been widely understood.
■ Dan Froomkin at Press Watch: “Press coverage of Trump’s tariffs understates the insanity. One CNBC analyst has spoken the truth. Will other journalists follow?”

‘If this man is not released, any American protester, activist or truly any citizen who the administration chooses to jail, will be.’ Former Illinois Rep. Marie Newman is encouraging people to sign a petition demanding the release of Columbia University graduate student Mahmoud Khalil.
■ He’s finally been allowed to talk to attorneys.
■ A former Columbia student journalist now at Politico: “Here is what we do know—about Khalil, student protesters and the vibe at Columbia.”

‘Clogged sinks, overflowing trash cans and a lack of toilet paper.’ The American Prospect: As federal workers comply with Trump’s “return to office” edict, they’re finding custodial staffing not up to the job.

Score one for science? Politico: Trump’s withdrawing his nomination of an anti-vaccine former Florida representative to head the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
■ But, Popular Information says: “As measles cases soar, RFK Jr. declares war on science.”

Guantanamo plans at bay. Trump’s plan to hold migrants in Cuba is a flop: The administration’s reportedly moved them all back to the U.S. …
■ … but now his Homeland Security department’s investigating U.S. organizations that give migrants housing and other aid—on grounds such programs violate laws against human smuggling.
■ The American Prospect: In cutting funding for fair housing organizations, Trump’s weakening protection against discrimination.
■ Politico’s Shia Kapos: “Immigrants transformed Chicago’s South Side. Trump’s crackdown is pushing them underground.”

Bikes under fire. StreetsBlog: Trump’s Transportation Department has ordered a review of all federal grants related to bicycling and green infrastructure.
■ As vehicles become more fuel-efficient, Illinois is considering taxing drivers by the mile instead of the gallon.
■ Declaring the “most consequential day of deregulation in U.S. history,” the federal Environmental Protection Agency has drawn a target on more than two dozen rules and policies governing, among others, vehicle and industrial air pollution, power plants and wastewater.
■ The City Council’s rejected a proposal to ban fur sales in Chicago.

New Chicago record. The City Council’s A federal jury has approved $120 million for two men wrongfully convicted of a 2003 murder.
■ Columnist Eric Zorn: “Way too much! … Think of the schools, mental health clinics and food programs that $120 million could fund.”

Trump’s creepy question. CNN’s Brian Stelter says the president’s increasingly asking reporters at his news conferences: “Who are you with?”
■ Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg’s been hanging around the White House.
■ Also from Stelter: Facebook parent Meta’s new “community notes” program to flag fact-checked posts “means Meta will no longer try to reduce the reach of a lie, no matter how shameful or harmful.”
■ Ars Technica: Trump’s Justice Department wants Google to sell off the Chrome browser—and the Android platform could be next.

‘I’ve bought myself a Tesla
(That’s my buddy Elon’s car)
It’s very, very manly
Just like me and Elon are!’
That’s the start of Pulitzer-winning columnist Mary Schmich’s latest TrumPoem.
■ Block Club: Chicagoans hoping to ditch their Teslas in protest are finding “nobody wants to buy them.”
■ Columnist and cartoonist Jack Ohman: “It’s only 45 days into his second term and Trump is tearing down the economy.” (Cartoon: Ohman.)
■ Folksinger Joan Baez on the season debut of John Mullaney’s live Netflix talk show: “We’re being run by a bunch of really incompetent billionaires.”

Reminder: Your gadgets aren’t really under your control. Google’s beloved but discontinued Chromecast audio devices—one of which has provided a daily soundtrack for Chicago Public Square’s production—have suddenly crapped out.
■ Nixplay—whose digital picture frames adorn many a proud grandparent’s side table—says some services that have been free will cost $25 a year.

Out at the Sun-Times. Eric Zorn updates the list of staffers taking buyouts.
■ Columnist Neil Steinberg: “While I’ve decided not to take the buy-out—I think, having until Sunday at 5 p.m. to change my mind—I’m not 100% confident I won’t be canned anyway.”
■ Columnist Ruth Marcus takes to the pages of The New Yorker to explain why, after 40 years, she quit The Washington Post: “My job is supposed to be to tell you what I think, not what Jeff Bezos thinks I should think.”
■ Semafor: After first discouraging one of its most visible gay employees from attending an LGBTQ Pride event, National Public Radio’s backed down.

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■ Bruce Pfaff made this edition better.

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