So … not so nicely? The Trump administration says it administered “self-defense” strikes in Iran—even as the president declared that peace talks were “proceeding nicely.”
■ The Atlantic’s Tom Nichols (gift link*): “Trump’s war is staggering to an incoherent defeat” …
■ … and The Bulwark says “a few Republican senators admitted it—for a moment.”
■ Former Illinois U.S. Rep. and retired National Guard Lt. Col. Adam Kinzinger: “Trump is blowing the Iran deal just like he blew Afghanistan.”
■ Historian Heather Cox Richardson: Trump’s under pressure to find his way out of the war.
■ Memorial Day prompted an anti-war protest downtown yesterday—by, among others, veterans and relatives of veterans.
■ Columnist Jeff Tiedrich considers the president’s Memorial Day observance on social media: “Mister Ouch My Bone Spurs doesn’t respect the military. … nor does he have any conception of ‘the ultimate sacrifice.’”
What $1 million buys. Popular Information: After the co-owner and co-founder of an unregulated online casino donated $1 million to MAGA Inc., Trump’s been promoting the company.
■ Law professor and former U.S. prosecutor Joyce Vance: Trump’s “1776 Slush Fund … marks an appalling moment in American history.”
‘White replenishment.’ That’s what American Prospect co-founder Paul Starr sees in Trump deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller’s “ethnonationalist strategy.”
■ Former Tribune editor Jim O’Shea: The Republican administration’s stealthily deserting Africa, “creating strategic gaps that Russia and China are poised to fill.”
‘A wound in Christian memory.’ Pope Leo XIV has delivered the church’s first formal apology for “the immense suffering and humiliation” inflicted by the institution of slavery.
■ The AP: “No pope had ever publicly acknowledged … the role that past popes played in giving European sovereigns explicit authority to subjugate and enslave.”
■ He also warned that artificial intelligence’s ascendance threatens “new forms of slavery.”
■ Journalism watchdog—and long ago suburban Chicago-area cub reporter—Jeff Jarvis calls the pope’s encyclical “wise, eloquent, and useful,” and sees a lesson for paywall-obsessed news publishers: “Follow the same advice Leo gives to technology companies: That ‘truth is a gift to be shared, not a possession to be monopolized.’”
■ … and serves up a quiz to test your extended-warranty savvy.
‘Reading every email you get, watching every document you open and sitting in the front row for your entire life.’ Tech watchdog Kim Komando says her colleagues missed the most alarming part of Google’s corporate update last week: “An AI agent that runs 24/7 inside your phone.”
■ TidBITS reviews a Macintosh app that alerts you when another human is “shoulder surfing”—looking at your screen.
Good job, Chicago? The city saw the fewest fatal Memorial Day weekend shootings in at least 16 years.
■ If you define summer as the days from Memorial Day to Labor Day, this year’s is the longest possible …
■ … prime time for the city’s cops and anti-violence workers hoping to contain “teen trends”—sometimes violent online-coordinated meetups.
■ Block Club serves up its “Ultimate Chicago Summer Guide” …
■ … and more than 100 free things to do here this summer.
■ Rob Breymaier made this edition better.
* Square gift links are made possible by financial support from readers like you.
