‘Stop surrendering’ / ‘The Tribune knocked’ / ‘Dump Spotify’

‘Stop surrendering when we need to fight.’ Gov. Pritzker’s calling on Democrats to shake off their political funk …
 … and on the national party to follow Illinois’ lead with “a renewed dedication to the needs and the wants of working families.”
With a nod to Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson and others, columnist and former U.S. Labor Secretary Robert Reich says Democrats should “ignore the carping of corporate and Wall Street Democrats and embrace … young progressives as the future of the party.”
An Illinois judge has rejected Texas’ request for the arrest of Democrats who fled here to derail a congressional remapping plan. (Tribune gift link, courtesy of those who underwrite the cost of producing Chicago Public Square.)

24/7 oppression. Donald Trump’s administration says federal agents will be patrolling Washington around the clock.
Cartoonist/columnist Jack Ohman: Don’t dismiss Trump’s D.C. takeover as just a distraction from his Jeffrey Epstein scandal: “U.S. troops could soon be coming to a blue state city near you.” (Cartoon: Ohman.)
Dan Froomkin at Heads Up News finds public resistance to Trump’s Washington military deployment “lackluster at best.”
HuffPost: A Homeland Security recruiting video uses a “disturbingly familiar … ‘Nazi-like’” font.
Columnist Neil Steinberg: “What if it's not about immigration? … What if it's really about … creating a faceless para-military force that follows no law, and is accountable to no one, except one man?

‘Fake science, faulty methods and misleading testimony.’ Injustice Watch: For eight years, a forensic toxicology lab at the University of Illinois Chicago relied on a host of shady tactics to get people convicted for driving high.
A Republican senator tells Fox News he doesn’t wear a seatbelt because he’s afraid he’ll get carjacked.

‘The right call.’ Columnist Eric Zorn approves Cook County State’s Attorney Eileen O’Neill Burke’s decision not to prosecute cops involved in last year’s fatal shooting of motorist Dexter Reed: “Reed fired first.”
The Illinois Answers Project and the Sun-Times: The Chicago police officer who shot and killed his partner during a foot pursuit earlier this year allegedly attacked a female officer late Sunday at a Wicker Park bar.

Classy. Popular Information: Trump’s plan to mark the nation’s 250th birthday next year with a UFC match on the White House lawn is consistent with his policy of leveraging his office’s power “to financially benefit himself, his family and his political allies.”
The snarky What Did Donald Trump Do Today? blog deconstructs the “gripes, grievances and whoppers” he delivered during “the nearly hour-long word salad” as he announced the 2025 Kennedy Center Honorees.
Reporter Em Luetkemeyer confirms all the members of KISS have agreed to accept.
Piano virtuoso Ben Folds explains why he quit the Kennedy Center.

‘The Tribune knocked … but heard nothing in response.’ So, yeah, can we get over the silly notion that there’s someone inside the city’s iconic Bean sculpture (officially, “Cloud Gate”) in Millennium Park?
But, for the record, former Trib photographer Alex Garcia has evidence there is indeed an office inside the Bean.”

Beware those bugs. Chicago’s Department of Public Health has upped the risk of catching the mosquito-borne West Nile virus to “high.”
The Centers for Disease Control details the symptoms.
Mercyhealth, which runs hospitals and clinics in Illinois and Wisconsin, has agreed to pay $1 million and reinstate workers fired for refusing to get COVID-19 shots during the pandemic.
Abortion, Every Day: A Texas district attorney who charged a woman with murder for self-managing an abortion apparently once paid for an abortion himself.

Happy(?) birthday, Social Security. RetirementRevised columnist Mark Miller says the program signed into law 90 years ago today is at a crossroads: “Financial solvency and customer service … both need attention.”
Historian Heather Cox Richardson revisits the life of the driving force behind the Social Security Act: Labor Secretary Frances Perkins, the first woman to hold a Cabinet job.

‘Time to dump Spotify.’ The Reader’s Leor Galil flags CEO Daniel Ek’s big investment in an AI weapons company …
 … an article your Chicago Public Square columnist unfortunately read after upping with Spotify for another year yesterday.
Tech companies’ investment in Trump is paying off: Public Citizen reports the administration has dropped a third of the misconduct and enforcement actions against the sector.

‘I decided that if I could subscribe to a bunch of streaming services to watch stupid TV at night, I could afford to support Public Square, which actually gives real value every single day.’ Those kind words arrived yesterday from a reader who’s generously helping underwrite the cost of producing and distributing this publication—joining the ranks of people including Sheila Wolfe, Tim Bannon, Susann Slinic, Debi Gordon, Theresa Rattenbury, KT Sullivan, Paul Colombo, John Robinson, Susan Gzesh, Irv Leavitt, Anne Rooney, Meghan Strubel, Harla Hutchinson, Edie Steiner, Bill Higgins, Ken Hooker, R Carney, Colette Verdun, Garry, John Jaramillo, Kiki Marie-Henri, Ryan Osborn, Chris Goldrick, Ann Keating, Susan Benloucif, Ken Trainor, Alec Bloyd-Peshkin, Marc Blesoff, Edward White, Michael Johnson, Stephen J. ONeil, Chris Ruys, Alison Price, Logan Aimone, E Larsen, Jim Moriarty, Mike Packard, Jack Ohman, Holly Wallace, J.J. Tindall, Cynthia Martin, Terri Lonier, Matt Griffin, Doreen Rice, Jack Bizot, Steve Newberger, Brent Brotine, Mana Ionescu, Annemarie Kill, Darryl Roberts, Diana Lauber, Sarah Russe, Martin Yeager, Jerry Wolin, Marc Magliari, Joanne Rosenbush, Annette Cade, Laurel Saltzman, Pat Albu, Sheila Flaherty, Chris Handzlik, Mike Cramer, Ricky Briasco, Mario Greco, Gene Kannenberg Jr., Judee Barone, Melanie Carter, Paula Donato, Sofia Marcovici, Stephanie Goldberg, Aaron Smith, Tim Ward, Jean Davis, Nannette Doetsch, Paul Wedeen, Robert A. Shipley, Mary Mearna, Cate Plys, Martin Gallas, Wendy Greenhouse, Al Hoyt, Mark Thurow, Alexander Domanskis, Anton Till, Paul Kungl, Avery Cohen, Jeff Hackett, Andrew Mitran, Sally Donatiello, Ed Nickow, Jim Walz, Another Debbie Becker, Sam Hochberg, Deborah J. Wess, Marjorie Huerta, Richard M. Bendix Jr., William Bork, Carol Lavoie Harper, Karen Conti, Margaret Meyer, Mollie Kramer, Sherry Kent, Tony Marturano, Craig Koslofsky, Paul Noble, Jeanne Peppler, Bruce Dold, Mary Szpur, Werner Huget, Tom Pritchett, Suzanne Vestuto, Meg Ross, Marge and Hank Arnold, Doug Berman, Molly McDonough, Riva Reed, Christopher Comes, Tina Birnbaum, Rich Gage, Carolyn Hosticka, Glenn Jeffers, Susy Schultz, Kevin Iverson, Peggy Fogelman, Ben Orzeske, Ann Fisher, Joseph Fedorko, Kate Arias, Mary Greenwald, Lizzie Schiffman Tufano, Fredric Stein, John Metz, Julie Ross, Gordon Hellwig, Richard Osa, Melissa Leeb, Matthew Pestine, Jean Johnson, Mike McDonagh, Bill Drudge, Jeff Weissglass, Mary M. Jeans, saknrad and Barb Powers. In memoriam: Marianne Matthews and Tom Petersen.
Pitch in as little as $1, once, and see your name atop tomorrow’s roll call.
Mike Braden made this edition better.

A Square public service announcement
A benefit for the Lin Brehmer Scholars Fund. A star-studded lineup of Chicago-based musicians—including Jon Langford, The Linburgers (Matt Spiegel and Curt Morrison of Tributosaurus), Michael McDermott, Heather Lynne Horton, Scott Lucas from Local H and Eddie “King” Roeser from Urge Overkill—gathers at Metro Aug. 21 in a concert to fund college scholarships for high school seniors who face adversity and yet embody the values of the late WXRT-FM morning man: Curiosity, kindness, generosity and joy.
Tickets here.

‘A new 1984’ / ‘Stop insulting Chicago’ / Old waterway, new name?

‘The first chapter of a new 1984.’ That’s what law professor Joyce Vance perceives in Donald Trump’s order of a review of Smithsonian Institution exhibits to “assess tone, historical framing and alignment with American ideals.”
 In the hot seat: The first Black and first historian to head the Smithsonian, ex-Chicago History Museum president Lonnie Bunch III.
 Economist Paul Krugman on Trump’s choice to head the Bureau of Labor Statistics, E.J. Antoni: “Totalitarian regimes only hire incompetent hacks.”
 The conservative National Review’s economics editor, Dominic Pino, says “Antoni is nowhere near qualified to be BLS commissioner”—and he has the receipts to prove it.

‘Not a distraction. Dictatorship.’ That’s how Philadelphia Inquirer columnist Will Bunch (gift link, courtesy of Chicago Public Square supporters) sees Trump’s military takeover of Washington.
 Columnist, author and former U.S. Labor Secretary Robert Reich calls it “a trial run for a possible military occupation of the United States.”
 USA Today Chicago-based columnist Rex Huppke: “Trump ushers in new D.C. tourist event: ‘A Live Re-creation of Authoritarianism!’
 PolitiFact rates False Trump’s assertion that Washington’s homicide rate is “No. 1 that we can find anywhere in the world.”
 Columnist Camaron Stevenson: “Trump’s solution to the Epstein scandal? Lowering the age of adulthood (yes, really).”
 Traditional conservative turned Never-Trumper Charlie Sykes: “Yes, Andor does rhyme with our historical moment.”
 Men Yell at Me columnist Lyz Lenz: “We are trapped in an imaginary crisis.”

A shame. Because what would have been more medieval than unclean drinking water? Schaumburg’s Medieval Times canceled yesterday’s show after a water main break triggered a boil order for parts of the village.
 Torrential rains yesterday turned some Chicago-area streets into streams.
 Trump’s stripped union protections from Chicago employees of the Environmental Protection Agency.
 The AP recaps new research: “People often make wrong climate choices. … One surprise is owning a dog.”

‘Your favorite brands are funding anti-abortion legal campaigns.’ Popular Information spotlights big-name companies—hi, CVS, UnitedHealthcare, Airbnb, Zillow, DoorDash, Grubhub, Roblox and more!—that have funneled cash to the Republican Attorneys General Association.
 Columnist Matthew Yglesias mourns Trump’s “awful turn against mRNA vaccine research.” (Cartoon: Jack Ohman.)

‘Stop insulting Chicago and support the police.’ A Tribune editorial calls out Trump.
 Gov. Pritzker’s signed a bill requiring Illinois police agencies to check prospective cops’ backgrounds more thoroughly …
 … a measure inspired by the time a Springfield-area officer with a shady past shot and killed an unarmed Black woman who’d called police for help at her home.

Illinois’ ‘crime of the century.’ Mayor Johnson’s chief financial officer says the state’s regressive tax structure fails to reflect “moderate or progressive values.”
 See her appearance before the City Club of Chicago here.
 Columnist and Chicago news veteran Andy Shaw: “Illinois can’t keep or attract people and business without lower taxes and less government fat.”

‘You can’t have the resources and not any of the regulations. It just isn’t right.’ ProPublica and The Texas Tribune report: “Texas private schools hire relatives and enrich insiders. Soon they can do it with taxpayer money.”
 Chalkbeat: Illinois is proposing to lower the state testing scores students need to be deemed proficient …
 … on grounds the present standards leave some high school kids believing they’re not ready for college—when in fact they are.
 An ex-Chicago Public Schools dean’s been sentenced to prison for the repeated sexual abuse and assault of a student who was between 15 and 17 at the time.

Old waterway, new name? Environmental activists want your suggestions for renaming Chicago’s historic Sanitary and Ship Canal.
 A Chicago anti-ICE mural defaced by vandals has been reborn—now featuring Krypto the Super-Dog.

‘It’s scary to see this pair of lapdogs being given such prime real estate in what was once a legitimate newspaper.’ Columnist Neil Steinberg was appalled that The Washington Post gave not one but two Trump acolytes opinion slots in Tuesday’s paper.
 In what WBEZ dubs “another hit to local food journalism in Chicago,” Eater’s laid off 15 people—including its sole full-time employee here.
 The union representing those workers calls it “a gut-job.”

Chicago Public Square’s powered by … you. This publication’s free for all thanks to financial support from a relative few: About 15% of the readership—including Patty Martin, Jim Maguire, Valerie Denney, Tom O’Malley, Peter Economos, Bob Tucker, Melanie Minnix, Cindy Moriarity, Mary Deady, Phil Vettel, John D. Abel, Steve Chapman, Brianna Considine, Patrick Quinn, Denise Pondel, Karen O’Leary, Maureen Kennedy, Nancy W. Cook, Paula Weinbaum, Lynne Duffy, Alan Hommerding, Jennifer McGuire, Michele Prod, Lisa McNulty, Kurt Wehrmeister, Art McNamara, Michael Kelly, Ila Lewis, Eric Reinert, Lisa Mettler, Frank Maggio, Ken Stroble, Martha Intrieri, Shelley Krause, Jeff Herden, Michael Rosenbaum, John Kowalski, Teresa Savino, Jeremiah Woods, Collin Canright, Marlen Garcia, Len Strazewski, Steve Carlson, Carole Barrett, Valerie Stankus, Carol Morency, Andrew Nord, Jeff Baker, Ann Ryan, Patrick Stout, Maria Peterson, Thomas Vivian, Julie Martin, Owen Youngman, Steve Johnson and Louise Kiernan, Jamie Aitchison, Scott Watson, Kevin Hendricks, Michelle Damico, Cindy Allara and Virginia Mann.
 Pitch in as little as $1, just once, today and see your name atop tomorrow’s roll call.

A Square advertiser—and a supporter

LOCAL COMIC BOOK EXPERT PROVIDING FREE APPRAISALS

Gary Colabuono, former owner of the legendary Moondog’s chain of comic book shops and nationally known expert on the value of vintage comics, will be happy to appraise your collection at no charge.

If you’re downsizing and have a collection for sale, or if you’ve inherited a collection, let Gary walk you through the complex process of bringing a valuable collection to market.

To learn more about Gary and his long career in the comic book industry, visit his website: moondogbuyscomics.com.

You can reach him at 847-707-7092 or at moondog100@comcast.net.

Subscribe to Square.