The Mincing Rascals this week are John Williams of WGN Radio, Eric Zorn, Publisher of The Picayune Sentinel, Austin Berg of the Illinois Policy Institute and The Last Ward, and political pundit Marj Halperin! This week the Rascals begin the podcast with a fascinating discussion about the future of journalism and Substack. The Rascals then mince about Chicago Tribune film critic Michael Phillips announcing he’s taking a buyout from the paper. Do the Rascals think the city needs a local movie critic? There was a Tribune editorial about the dangers of driving on DuSable Lake Shore Drive. Should we put speed cameras (or even AI) on DLSD to catch speeders? Austin gets us up to speed on a critical budget vote scheduled for Chicago Public Schools later this month. Last Friday, President Trump met with Vladimir Putin to discuss a peace deal with Ukraine. And then earlier this week President Trump met with Volodymyr Zelenskyy and European leaders to discuss how the war Russia-Ukraine war might be resolved. What were the major takeaways? Also this week, President Trump said the Smithsonian focuses too much on ‘how bad slavery was.’ Is this all just a distraction? California Governor Gavin Newsom has been trolling President Trump on social media. Do the Rascals think this mockery is effective and what does it mean for Newsom’s political future?