All in the family. The Tribune reports that Darlena Williams-Burnett, the wife of Chicago City Council member Walter Burnett—who’s angling to be the Chicago Housing Authority’s next CEO and who’s hoping his son succeeds him on the City Council—violated the authority’s ethics policy.
■ Chicago journalist Cate Plys: “Burnett’s family employment agency is a brazen middle finger to democracy.”
■ The nephew of an East Chicago council member reportedly was shot by police Tuesday evening.
Still hot. But rain could bring some relief to the Chicago area later today.
■ The Onion: “HHS Advises Low-Income Seniors To Wallow In Mud To Stay Cool.”
■ The Onion: “HHS Advises Low-Income Seniors To Wallow In Mud To Stay Cool.”
‘Make housing a human right.’ That was Mayor Johnson’s rallying cry as he announced “the most significant step forward in the history of Chicago” to address the needs of the homeless: $40 million to modernize the city’s shelters.
■ Johnson’s chief financial officer says a property tax increase is “likely” for next year’s budget.
■ Popular Information puts the lie to President Trump’s insistence that mothers in Chicago and other cities “can’t walk their children to the park without fear of being shot or killed or raped or anything.”
‘We need to bring Bondi … to testify about this now.’ That’s Democratic Sen. Adam Schiff responding to a Wall Street Journal report (gift link; thank Chicago Public Square supporters) that the attorney general told Trump in May that his name was among many in Justice Department files on his pal, now-dead sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
■ The Bulwark: With “senior administration officials” leaking to the press, “the coverup is unraveling.”
■ Columnist Dan Pfeiffer: The Journal’s report reveals “a coverup that includes the president, the AG, the FBI director and the GOP Congress.”
■ Josh Johnson at The Daily Show: “You’re best friends with a pedophile for 10 years one time, and the world never forgets it.”
■ Law professor Joyce Vance says legal machinations around the Epstein files could provide “the setup for the Supreme Court’s next big opportunity to expand the power of this already bloated presidency.”
Not safe—from dismissal. The Supreme Court’s cleared the president to dump three Democratic members of the Consumer Product Safety Commission.
■ In what Politico calls a “pugnacious” dissent, Justice Elena Kagan asserts that the court “has negated Congress’s choice of agency bipartisanship and independence.”
Meanwhile: Look over there! The administration trotted out its national intelligence director, Tulsi Gabbard, to accuse ex-President Obama of manufacturing lies to undermine Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign.
■ Historian Heather Cox Richardson: “The director of national intelligence for the United States of America is making allegations against a former U.S. presidential candidate based on material from Russia’s intelligence services.”
■ Tom Jones at Poynter: “What’s the media’s responsibility when the sitting president makes baseless claims about a former president, especially when the goal is distraction?”
■ The AP: Declassified documents don’t support Gabbard’s claims. (Cartoon: Jack Ohman.)
■ PolitiFact gives Trump’s assertion that Obama “was trying to lead a coup” a “Pants on Fire!” rating.
■ An excerpt from Pulitzer winner Mary Schmich’s latest TrumPoem:
You say I posed with Epstein?And I traveled on his plane?I’ll tell you who’s a liar!It’s that guy Barack Hussein!
■ Columnist Eric Zorn on Hunter Biden’s raging, counterproductive defense of his dad: “Hunter needs to shut up and go away.”
Coke’s playing Trump. The American Prospect’s Emma Janssen on Coca-Cola’s seeming concession to the president: “If you’re a big food corporation, it seems like all it takes to get free advertising from Trump, the White House, and RFK Jr. is to make a superficial promise and set a long deadline to accomplish it.”
■ In a blind taste test set up by WBEZ and the Sun-Times, people preferred regular, corn-syrup-sweetened Coke to the cane sugar product.
The View in Trump’s sights. In a threatening message to the hosts of ABC’s talk show, the White House suggested that theirs would be the next “to be pulled off air.”
■ Jack Ohman—the man never rests—envisions programming that would pass White House muster:
■ South Park’s season premiere on Comedy Central put Trump in bed with Satan …
■ … and features a scene in which Jesus—yes, Jesus—breaks the fourth wall to address the show’s creators: “You really want to end up like Colbert? You guys got to stop being stupid.”
■ Skydance, seeking to acquire Paramount—Comedy Central’s parent—is promising to eliminate all corporate diversity, equity and inclusion (a.k.a., you know, fairness) initiatives.
■ Skydance, seeking to acquire Paramount—Comedy Central’s parent—is promising to eliminate all corporate diversity, equity and inclusion (a.k.a., you know, fairness) initiatives.
■ Trump’s signed an executive order targeting what the White House describes as “woke” artificial intelligence models.