‘Stupid’ / Sorry, Elmo / Powerless

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Hey, look! For the ninth year in a row …

And now the news:

‘Stupid.’ That’s Donald Trump, condemning his own supporters for pressing him on the case of his ol’ pal, dead sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
■ Also: “Weaklings”—prompting USA Today’s Rex Huppke to conclude, “Whatever’s in those Epstein files must be white hot and devastating for the Lord of MAGA Manor. Even a weakling can connect these dots.”
■ Those adjectives apparently apply to Trump’s former political partner, Elon Musk, who yesterday ripped into Trump’s Epstein defense.
■ Curiouser and curiouser: Trump’s Justice Department has fired ex-FBI director James Comey’s daughter Maurene—a prosecutor who just happens to have worked on the Epstein case.
■ Historian Heather Cox Richardson: “Trump seems to be in full panic mode.”
■ Stephen Colbert translates Trump: “If you insist on asking me about Jeffrey Epstein, please turn in your MAGA hat, your golden shoes, your golden watch, your Trump golden guitar. … Thank you for your attention to this matter.”
■ Charlie Warzel at The Atlantic: “Nobody (not even Trump) can control the Epstein story.”
■ Seth Meyers’ snarky reaction to Trump’s insistence those files were created by Democrats: “Makes total sense to me. Everyone knows the number one rule when you manufacture dirt on a political opponent is: Do not release it to the public!”
■ Earworm of the day: Wonkette’s Evan Hurst recommends singing “Epstein, Epstein, Epstein, Epsteeeeeeeeeeeein” to the tune of Dolly Parton’s “Jolene.” (Cartoon: Jack Ohman.)

‘Who among us hasn’t accidentally told people that our uncle taught the Unabomber?’ The Daily Show’s Jordan Klepper takes a shredder to Trump’s completely false story …
■ … which CNN explains “could not possibly be accurate.”
■ Popular Information calls out “a massive Trump scandal” that has gotten “miniscule media attention”: His financial entanglements with foreign nationals.

‘One company just forced the state of Illinois to fork over $1.3 million for a detention center it never built.’ The American Prospect introduces you to “the disaster capitalists behind ‘Alligator Alcatraz.’”
■ Law prof Joyce Vance explains the dangers of politicizing the military.
■ Investigative reporter Ken Klippenstein: Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has issued new “grooming standards”—banning eyelash extensions and offering government-funded laser hair removal procedures.

■ That’s two years’ of federal cash for NPR, PBS and more than 1,500 local stations—probably killing off some of them …
■ … with some cherished kids’ shows hanging in the balance.
■ ProPublica founder Dick Tofel: Whatever happens next, public broadcasters need to focus now on “innovation, not just restoration.”

Supreme Court mystery. New York Times reporter Adam Liptak (gift link, underwritten by Chicago Public Square supporters like you) says justices keep ruling in Trump’s favor, but don’t say why.
■ Columnist and former U.S. Labor Secretary Robert Reich: “The high court is allowing Trump … to fire over half the people who work for the Department of Education until there’s a full hearing. … But by then it will be too late.”
■ Now in the court’s hands, according to Law Dork Chris Geidner: The future of the Voting Rights Act …
■ … legislation dear to the heart of the late U.S. Rep. John Lewis, in whose honor today’s nationwide “Good Trouble” protests will be held.
■ Chicago’s begins at 5:30 in Daley Plaza.
■ The unbylined Closer to the Edge: “Lewis was … a living, breathing, fire-blooded example of what happens when the human spine refuses to bend—even when batons come down hard enough to fracture it.”

Things undone. The City Council has put off action on an ordinance to legalize “granny flats” and coach house residences in Chicago.
■ In what one 15-year-old activist calls a win, the council failed to override the mayor’s veto of an ordinance that would have let cops impose youth curfews with as little as a half-hour’s notice …
■ … but, in a victory for public transit fans, the council removed a bunch of parking requirements for residential properties …
■ … it OK’d a fresh round of ethics reforms …
■ … and spent two hours praising retiring council member Walter Burnett.

Back to the future. Chicago’s Ford City Mall—a retail center born as a manufacturing facility in World War II—could again become an industrial complex.
■ City Cast reviews the Chicago area’s roster of shopping malls that endure.
■ For the first time since the Rauner administration, Illinois now has a vehicle emissions testing location within Chicago city limits—but just barely—at 6959 W. Forest Preserve Dr. (You may remember it as a COVID testing station.)

Powerless. Yesterday’s storms toppled trees and downed power lines serving thousands of Chicago-area customers.
■ ComEd’s $10 million summer heat relief fund is almost empty after just a week.

Don’t touch that dial / Hail, grannies! / ‘Miserable’ / Suspect email?

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Don’t touch that dial. A final Senate vote could come today on President Trump’s plan to cut federal funding for public radio and TV stations across the country—a move that could force some stations off the air.
■ Historian Heather Cox Richardson: “This … would put Congress’s stamp of approval on those cuts, even though they change what Congress originally agreed to.”
■ Media watcher Simon Owens: The Daily Show’s relevant again.
■ Former Chicago TV news executive Jennifer Schulze: “All of us could pay the price for Paramount’s absurd capitulation to Trump.”

‘We want a special counsel.’ Columnist and law professor Joyce Vance says that’s what the death of Trump pal and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein demands.
■ Wired: Supposedly “raw” video footage of Epstein’s cell door in the hours before he was found dead is missing nearly three minutes.
■ Add Trump’s ally, House Speaker Johnson, to the growing list of those pressing for more “transparency” from the White House on the Epstein scandal.
■ The Bulwark’s Bill Kristol offers “A Guide for the Perplexed” in the Epstein case.
■ Jimmy Fallon: “Today, Trump was, like, ‘A dog ate the Epstein files, then people in Ohio ate the dog.’”

‘Environmental Protection Agency retaliates against employees protecting the environment.’ The American Prospect says the Trump administration’s targeting workers who signed a letter demanding that EPA administrator Lee Zeldin “affirm his oath and his commitment to EPA’s mission.”
■ The Washington Post (gift link, thanks to supporters of Chicago Public Square): As Trump moves to replace federal workers with AI, keep your eye on these six agencies.

Judge not. More than 75 former judges are urging the Senate to turn thumbs down on judicial nominee—and Trump’s former personal lawyer—Emil Bove.
■ Even as the Trump administration pushes ahead with mass deportations, it’s fired at least 17 immigration court judges—in Illinois and nine other states.

Chicago in the spotlight. Organizers of Thursday’s “Good Trouble” protests have declared the city the “flagship” for more than 1,600 observances nationwide.
■ Patch has links to more information and sign-ups for some of the Chicago-area demonstrations.

Hail, grannies! Headed to the full Chicago City Council today: A long-debated ordinance allowing the construction of so-called “granny flat” living spaces—including coach houses and basement apartments.
■ It’s not just the old folk who need those spaces: Columnist and former U.S. Rep. Marie Newman—with kids in their 20s—says politicians have failed to bridge the “affordability chasm” of Gen Z not being able to afford their lives.

Driving while not-white. WBEZ’s analysis finds that, while Chicago police traffic stops plummeted last year, the percentage of those stops involving Black and Latino drivers skyrocketed.
■ Popular Information directs your attention to Baltimore, which last month saw fewer homicides than in any month in the last 55 years.

‘You don’t get to work for the government and defraud the government.’ Chicago Inspector General Deborah Witzburg’s latest quarterly report spotlights a couple of city workers—an assistant housing commissioner and a Chicago cop—who faked their way into Payroll Protection Program funds designed to help businesses endure the pandemic.

‘Miserable.’ That’s NBC Chicago meteorologist Alicia Roman’s assessment of the air quality and humidity in store for the region today.
■ And, yeah: Then storms.

Solar surge. With a federal tax credit set to expire at the end of the year, Illinoisans are rushing to install home solar panels really quick.
■ Capitol News: “Illinois bet on solar to meet its climate goals. Trump has the industry in his crosshairs.”


Suspect email? A free service called Snitcher.space can tell you whether strange mail is a scam.
■ Just forward that mail to scan@snitcher.space.
■ Yesterday’s Chicago Public Square scored a not-bad 90%.

Yes, chef. The Chicago-set TV series The Bear has 13 nominations for this year’s Emmys.
■ Other Chicago nods include Shrinking’s Harrison Ford and The Studio’s Ike Barinholtz for best supporting actor and White Lotus’ Carrie Coon for best supporting actress.

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