‘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.”

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And Chicago’s next? / Flocked up / Wanna stay private?

And Chicago’s next? Announcing his federal takeover of Washington’s police force and deployment of the National Guard to D.C., President Trump threatened to do the same here …
 … calling Gov. Pritzker and Mayor Johnson “incompetent.”
 Pritzker says Trump has “absolutely … no legal ability to send troops in to the city of Chicago” …
 … but the governor also acknowledges a parallel to the Nazi Party’s seizure of Germany’s government in the 1930s.
 Popular Information notes that Chicago doesn’t even appear on the FBI’s 2024 ranking of violent crime rates per capita in 21 cities with populations over 200,000.

Here they come. Live updates: Guard troops began arriving in D.C. today.
 Attorney Mitch Jackson: “This is not a law-and-order moment. This is the beginning of something far darker.”
 Economist Paul Krugman—the target of a personal attack from Trump over the weekend: Trump’s playing the Carnage Card.
 MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow: It’s really about Trump’s “fondness for using the U.S. military to threaten and intimidate the American people” …
 … but journalist and author Jonathan Alter calls it “just another dopey distraction stunt.”
 Former Tribune editor Jim O’Shea: Trump’s grip on power is eroding in “a perfect storm of scandal, political blunders and global missteps.” (Cartoon: Jack Ohman.)
 USA Today’s Chicago-based columnist Rex Huppke: “Nobody knows what Trump is talking about anymore and no one seems to care.”

Guard on guard. Investigative journalist Ken Klippenstein: “If the nearly half dozen Guardsmen I’ve spoken to about the deployment are at all representative, frustration with the order is widespread.”
 CBS News legend Dan Rather: “There is no crime wave or homeless crisis in D.C., but there is a public relations emergency at the White House. It makes one wonder what Trump is trying to hide.”
 Nevertheless, historian Heather Cox Richardson says, “The administration’s seizure of power is anything but imaginary” …
 … and law professor Joyce Vance concludes: “Attorney General Pam Bondi is running the [D.C.] police for 30 days.”

‘Trump’s creeping authoritarianism must be met with peaceful resistance.’ CNN alumnus Jim Acosta: “Trump wants to crack some skulls, to hide his skeletons. It’s the art of the conceal. Don’t give him what he wants.”
 Former Labor Secretary Robert Reich on Trump’s cozy deals with corporate America: “It would be communism under any other dictator.”
 Robert Kuttner at The American Prospect: “Someday, we will honor those who resisted Donald Trump. But first, we need far more courageous resistance.”
 U.S. Senate candidate and Illinois Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi’s out with a “Trump Accountability Plan” to un-do what the president’s done—including a ban on masks for immigration agents and constitutional amendments to block self-pardons and a potential presidential third term.
 Organizers are convening “Fight the Trump Takeover” protests across the country this Saturday.

 Wary of the tech’s potential for abuse in immigration enforcement, Oak Park’s dumping its Flock contract.
 A federal judge has cleared Chicago to join a suit aimed at blocking the Republican administration from defunding cities with laws forbidding law enforcement from helping federal immigration agents.
 Chicago police are abandoning a handgun linked to hundreds of officer injuries.

Flood flashes. A national network of flooding sensors has been launched in Chicago, offering real-time alerts to help save lives and limit property damage in what the companies responsible say is now North America’s most flood-prone city.
 The Tribune: Dozens of Chicago schoolyards have been transformed into flooding solutions.

Do-or-die for Chicago public transit. WBEZ: Without quick action from state lawmakers, the city could lose four train lines and more than 65 bus routes.
 The Conversation: Next-gen passenger trains are here—just in time for U.S. rail to face an uncertain future.
 Block Club has a bucket list for getting the most from the last weeks of Chicago’s summer.

Wanna stay private? The Markup and CalMatters have caught dozens of companies hiding legally required instructions for requesting your personal data be deleted.
 But here they are!

Turning a page. The Associated Press has told its critics that it’s getting out of the weekly book review biz: “The audience for book reviews is relatively low and we can no longer sustain the time it takes to plan, coordinate, write and edit reviews.”
 Sinclair—you may remember it as the Trump-friendly broadcast station owner that threatened to take over WGN-TV and Radio (2024 link)—is pondering a merger.

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