What did they do? Local officials in one of the Texas counties hardest hit by catastrophic flooding had yet to detail what actions they took to keep people safe ahead of the Fourth of July storms.
■ Federal emergency workers tell The Handbasket’s Marisa Kabas that response to the floods was delayed and deficient under Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s leadership.
■ Timelapse video shows the water’s horrific rise.
■ Evan Hurst at Wonkette: “Nothing To Do But Pray, Say Exact Republicans Who Could Have … Done Something.”
■ Jeff Tiedrich, as ever, goes further: “Let’s not politicize this tragedy, whine the shitwads who politicize everything.”
■ PolitiFact: Beware viral—but fake—videos of Texas devastation.
■ The AP suggests safety questions for parents to ask before sending their kids off to camp.
‘Endangering the lives of patients.’ The Illinois-based American Academy of Pediatrics and five other big medical groups are suing Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. over his decision to yank COVID-19 shots from a federal list of vaccines recommended for healthy kids and pregnant women.
■ The Tribune reports that adult education programs in Chicago—and across the nation—are in limbo as the Trump administration withholds funding.
■ Columnist Eric Zorn asks: “Where does the parental veto about what’s taught in public schools stop?”
Social insecurity. The Social Security Administration’s been blasting beneficiaries with false information about President Trump’s tax-and-spending overhaul.
■ Make no mistake: Social Security’s now in the propaganda biz.
■ Gov. Pritzker says 360,000 Illinoisans will lose food assistance under Trump’s budget overhaul.
‘I personally never use Amazon due to the way they treat their employees and Bezos’ behavior.’ Chicago Public Square reader Rosemary Caruk was disappointed to see yesterday’s Square link to a New York Times list of Prime Day deals.
■ Popular Information explains in detail why “Prime Day is a scam.”
■ To check whether a Prime price is truly a bargain, consider installing the Camel Camel Camel price tracker in your browser. (Image: Mostly Microsoft’s Copilot AI.)
Questionable cops on the rise. Invisible Institute and the Reader report that Chicago’s backing away from a 2017 pledge to release a list of secret “merit” promotions for police officers.
■ Police are warning South Side residents to beware a group of up to 10 people responsible for at least three robberies since mid-June.
‘A botched laughingstock.’ Sources tell investigative journalist Ken Klippenstein that what was intended as a federal show of force by immigration and customs agents yesterday in Los Angeles’ MacArthur Park proved instead an embarrassment.
■ The AP reports the park was empty—especially after children at a summer day camp were rushed indoors to minimize their trauma.
■ An American Prospect photo essay from L.A. shares “scenes of a city under siege.”
‘Wait till they learn that Superman was created by two Jewish immigrants.’ Journalist Bobby Silverman is among many on social media piling on conservative talking heads up in arms about Superman director James Gunn’s assertion—true!—that Superman is an immigrant.
■ The character’s been promoting diversity since the 1950s.
‘Shameful.’ That’s how Jon Stewart, host of Paramount-owned Comedy Central’s Daily Show, describes his bosses’ settlement with Trump.
■ Stewart’s first guest back after a vacation, 60 Minutes alumnus Steve Kroft, says Trump’s suit was “a shakedown.”
■ American Crisis columnist Margaret Sullivan blasts Paramount-owned CBS and The New York Times for separate failures to fulfill their public mission.
■ Press Watch proprietor Dan Froomkin: One of the Times’ missions “is to take cheap shots at the left.”
■ Surveying CNN anchor Jake Tapper’s journalistic past, Stop the Presses columnist Mark Jacob concludes: “Don’t be surprised if he ends up on Fox.”
■ NBC Nightly News anchor Tom Llamas will anchor his Thursday show from Chicago.
■ Eric Zorn shares a tip for print subscribers to the Tribune: Opt out of charges for those so-called “premium” supplements with a simple email.
A Square advertiser
‘i never read these so why clutter my inbox.’ Square yesterday lost a reader who offered that explanation.
■ You can help replace that reader by recommending Square to a friend.
■ A drop in the ol’ Square tip jar also eases rejection’s sting.