The Future of Independent Media: Special Lincoln Square Panel Hosted by Susan J. Demas
In this Lincoln Square panel, host Susan Demas and guests—including former Chicago Tribune editor Mark Jacob, Substack founder Jerusalem Demsis, Sirius XM host Michelangelo Signorelli, and Salon contributor Heather Digby Parton—debate the state and future of independent media. They contrast the complacency and occasional propaganda of legacy outlets during Trump’s second term with the rise of Substack‑based newsletters and other nonprofit ventures that prioritize fact‑checking and deep reporting. Mark Jacob critiques mainstream coverage for normalizing Trump’s falsehoods while praising recent, more skeptical reporting on the Iran school‑girls airstrike and other controversies. The conversation highlights successful independent outlets like ProPublica, The Guardian, and The New Republic as models for rigorous, accountable journalism.
'Not Ready for Prime Time': Judge Rebukes Federal Prosecutors in ICE Protest Cases
Federal prosecutors in Los Angeles have faced a series of setbacks in immigration‑enforcement protest cases, including the dismissal of the Escobar‑Gutierrez indictment after a judge rebuked late evidence disclosure. A second defendant, Luis Hipolito, was acquitted of assaulting a federal...
How Trump Is Trying to Make 'Fraud' The New DOGE
President Trump has turned fraud into a political rallying cry, using unverified claims that Minnesota’s Medicaid program lost $19 billion to justify withholding $259 million in federal funds. The administration’s new executive order creates a fraud task force that focuses on blue‑state...
Winners & Losers: Narratives & Nihilism
The article spotlights CBS News’ latest round of layoffs, which cut roughly 6% of its workforce—about 60 to 70 employees—and shuttered its historic radio division. The closure ends the CBS News Feed for approximately 700 affiliated stations, a service that...
The Other Middle East Story: As the Post-Ottoman Order Frays, Kurdistan Reemerges
The article argues that the century‑old borders imposed after the Ottoman collapse are unraveling, allowing Kurdish geography to reassert itself across Turkey, Iraq, Syria and Iran. Decades of coordinated opposition among the four states are fracturing as Syria’s central authority...
Winners & Losers | Small Men Want to Destroy the World
In the sixty weeks since President Trump’s inauguration, long‑standing military and economic alliances that underpinned post‑World War II peace have begun to fray. The author argues that Trump’s fiscal mismanagement, confrontational diplomacy, and overextension of U.S. forces have weakened America’s global...