Resistance wins. Lawyer and columnist Robert Hubbell rounds up a string of victories yesterday “for pro-democracy forces seeking to restrain a lawless Trump.”
■ Raw Story: “Rachel Maddow can barely contain herself as she ticks off Trump’s string of losses.”
■ See her 10-minute show-opener here.
■ Law professor and former federal prosecutor Joyce Vance: “In Minnesota … a federal judge quashed grand jury subpoenas, something that’s almost unheard of.”
■ But don’t celebrate too much: The Atlantic reports (gift link) the president’s still gunning to take control of the Smithsonian.
■ Jon Stewart: “Why trade smaller concessions with Iran for peace when we could instead lose a war with them and make bigger concessions? … You mouth off again and you’re gettin’ Greenland.” (Cartoon: Jack Ohman.)
Imagine if the war weren’t over. The Pentagon’s asking Congress for $80 billion to pay for the conflict in Iran.
■ It’s not just the war: Popular Information reports that gas stations are using AI to inflate prices.
Pool coverage. National Guard members and U.S. Park Police have been assigned to patrol the crappily renovated Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool.
■ CNN alumnus Jim Acosta: Trump’s “concocting nutty lies to cover up his own corrupt incompetence” in the pool renovation.
■ Trump’s threatening to sue ABC News over its coverage of the story.
■ Columnist Elaine Soloway attributes Trump’s fascination with the pool to “a long-held problem. Our President, although superior in so many ways, does not know how to swim” …
■ … which may or may not be true: His long-time butler said a decade ago that Trump doesn’t like to swim.
■ LateNighter: Seth Meyers, Jon Stewart and Jimmy Fallon all marveled at the pool’s algal bloom—and delivered the same joke three ways.
■ USA Today’s Rex Huppke: “The pool is surrounded by armed soldiers hoping you don’t look at the water.”
■ Columnist Jeff Tiedrich flags troubling stuff at the White House yesterday: “Our Big Boy President casually admitted he had no idea what he was putting his … signature on.”
‘A refreshing change of pace for Big Media.’ Evan Hurst at Wonkette celebrates ABC’s decision to “fight back against the intimidation and censorship threats from President Donald Trump’s … sycophant at the FCC Brendan Carr.”
■ That includes appeals to the public from ABC-owned stations across the country, including Chicago’s WLS-TV.
‘I do not trust those whose first instinct is to hide the truth to design the process of remediating its wrongs.’ Count “Broadview Six” attorney Chris Parente among those skeptical of U.S. Attorney Andrew Boutros’ launch of a review of 20 years of grand jury proceedings involving prosecutor Sheri Mecklenburg, who’s at the center of that case’s collapse.
■ Boutros is bailing on an arson case also prosecuted by Mecklenburg.
■ Is Mecklenburg still employed by the office? ABC7 Chicago’s askin’.
‘Pure retaliation.’ A Chicago-area group working to provide health care for transgender youth says a lawsuit filed against it by the Republican-controlled Federal Trade Commission is “part of the federal government’s relentless and targeted campaign to undermine gender-affirming care by attacking the First Amendment rights … of professional medical organizations.”
■ How long before the FTC targets Lincoln Park Zoo, featured in a front-page headline on today’s Chicago Tribune (gift link), “Same-sex penguin couple showcases animal diversity”?
‘Spying on kids to save kids from spying is very, very stupid.’ Author and tech watchdog Cory Doctorow sees campaigns for “age verification” to protect underage users as “the surveillance advertising industry’s fondest dream, a world where it’s literally illegal to avoid their tracking, all in the name of saving kids … from them!”
‘Amazon has sales all the damned time.’ Veteran tech writer Philip Michaels explains why “Prime Day is probably something best viewed at a distance with our eyes shielded to prevent permanent damage” …
■ … but, if you insist, check out “best deals” guides from Consumer Reports, Wirecutter and ZDNET.
The big get bigger. The Trib’s parent company has officially sealed the deal to buy the Daily Herald. (New for Chicago Public Square readers: That’s a gift link from Crain’s Chicago Business.)
■ The Herald reports that its parent company, Paddock Publications, will maintain “its niche publishing business, Town Square Publications, and a group of weekly newspapers in downstate Illinois.”
■ Pod Save America co-host Dan Pfeiffer calls Fox’s proposed acquisition of Roku “the media merger that should really scare Democrats.”
‘New kings’ of news. The Washington Post (gift link) catches up with something that you, dear reader, already knew: “Prominent writers and media personalities have migrated from traditional newsrooms toward newsletters.”
■ Coincidentally, you can draw a straight line tracing Chicago Public Square back to this interview broadcast 30 years ago today.
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