Illinois Democratic Gov. JB Pritzker recently gave a speech in New Hampshire that lit up partisan circles thrilled with his fiery and combative tone.

“The reckoning is here,” Pritzker said while issuing a thunderous call for mass mobilization and disruption to counter President Donald Trump’s agenda. He said the American house is on fire, a raging “five-alarmer.”

“If it sounds like I’m becoming contemptuous of Donald Trump and the people that he has elevated, it’s because I am,” he said. “You should be, too.”

It’s easy to understand the impulse to accept the governor’s invitation, and the notion that the only way to fight contempt is with more contempt. After all, Trump seems to revel in the art of escalation: On his social media platform Truth Social, he referred to Democrats as “Radical Left Lunatics” and said, “They have lost everything, especially their minds!”

In his speech, Pritzker went on to say that “there’s a way out of this mess,” and I wholeheartedly agree. But it’s not through contempt. Contempt is a bad strategy because it doesn’t solve problems. It stokes a desire for revenge. It backfires. It all but guarantees that your opponent will dig deeper into the animosity between you. Contempt could never get us “out of this mess” because it’s what got us into this mess.

I’d like to stress an alternative: Rather than make our arguments with contempt for the other side, make the arguments with dignity. Treat the other side like they matter. In contrast to contemptuous speech, treating people with dignity recognizes the inherent worth of every person and leaves space for holding people accountable by focusing on facts, actions, decisions and outcomes.

The warmup to the Democratic nomination has begun, evidenced by the fact that high-profile politicians are showing up in New Hampshire — an early presidential primary state — hoping to set a course to Election 2028. Democrats and Republicans alike would do well to recognize that increasing polarization is the most likely result of aggressive posturing, spinning us into doom loops of despair.

Politicians have a special obligation, by virtue of their outsize public platforms, to remove contempt from political discourse. As the Harvard University professor, behavioral science expert and bestselling author Arthur C. Brooks has stated, “If you listen to how people talk to each other in political life today, you notice it is with pure contempt.” He continued: “If we want to solve the problem of polarization today, we have to solve the contempt problem.”

Treating people with contempt may sound tough, but it doesn’t hold people accountable. Demonizing, name-calling and belittling stir up anger that distracts from the problems we need to fix, locking us in opposition and divorcing us from one another as Americans.

At its worst, contempt leads to violence.

Contempt will start a fight that distracts us from the facts, and that serves the cause of people who don’t want to be held accountable. And before one says, “But wait! The other side doesn’t deserve our niceties and politeness,” let me remind readers that treating people with dignity doesn’t mean admiring them. It’s not saying that every viewpoint is valid. It’s simply saying that treating people with dignity encourages their best and discourages their worst.

And it’s not only true in politics. Research shows that contempt ruins marriages and relationships. It can turn toxic otherwise-healthy workplace cultures. Indignities cut to our core and, some research suggests, can sometimes feel as painful as actual physical harm.

If people demand it, dignity could play a winning role in politics and policymaking. Imagine a world where treating each other with dignity is a mark of patriotism, a measure of our national well-being and an indicator of future potential.

Contempt might be able to score points in the short term, but it ensures that we all lose eventually. To avoid that end, I’m challenging myself to engage in a new kind of patriotism, one that seeks above all to ease divisions and solve problems. I heard this more hopeful kind of rhetoric in Pritzker’s speech, too. He called for an end to the “climate of retribution.” And it’s that part of his argument that I’d like to hold up as the best example of how we can all move forward together.

“There are plenty of people in this country who hold opinions that I find abhorrent,” Pritzker said. “But my faith, and our Constitution, dictate that I fight for their freedoms just as loudly as I defend my own.”

Agreed, Gov. Pritzker. That’s how to save a house on fire.

Timothy Shriver is a co-creator of the Dignity Index, a tool designed to ease divisions, prevent violence and solve problems. He is also chairman of the Special Olympics. He wrote this column for the Chicago Tribune.

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Today is Wednesday, May 14, the 134th day of 2025. There are 231 days left in the year.

Today in history:

On May 14, 1607, Jamestown, the first permanent English settlement in North America, was established by members of the Virginia Company.

Also on this date:

In 1804, the Lewis and Clark expedition, organized to explore the Louisiana Territory as well as the Pacific Northwest, began its journey near present-day Hartford, Illinois.

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Today in History: May 9, FDA approves first birth control pill

In 1796, English physician Edward Jenner successfully inoculated 8-year-old James Phipps against smallpox by using cowpox matter. (Smallpox would be declared the first fully eradicated human disease in 1980.)

In 1948, the independent state of Israel was proclaimed in Tel Aviv by David Ben-Gurion, who became its first prime minister.

In 1955, representatives from eight Communist bloc countries, including the Soviet Union, signed the Warsaw Pact in Poland. (The pact was dissolved in 1991.)

In 1961, Freedom Rider civil rights activists were attacked by violent mobs in Anniston and Birmingham, Alabama.

In 1973, NASA launched Skylab, the first American space station, from Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

In 2022, an 18-year-old white supremacist wearing body armor opened fire in a supermarket in a predominantly Black neighborhood in Buffalo, New York, killing 10 people before being taken into custody. (The gunman, Payton Gendron, was sentenced to life in prison without parole in February 2023.)

Today’s Birthdays:

Baseball Hall of Famer Tony Pérez is 83.
Filmmaker George Lucas is 81.
Filmmaker Robert Zemeckis is 74.
Musician David Byrne is 73.
Actor Tim Roth is 64.
Actor Cate Blanchett is 56.
Filmmaker Sofia Coppola is 54.
Former NFL running back Frank Gore is 42.
Actor Amber Tamblyn is 42.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg is 41.
Former NFL tight end Rob Gronkowski is 36.
Actor Miranda Cosgrove is 32.

At this point, should we start feeling sorry for Katy Perry?

The 40-year-old mother of one saw her would-be comeback album “143” flop critically and commercially (much like her previous effort, 2020’s “Smile”), suffered from slow ticket sales in some markets for her first tour in seven years and got absolutely roasted for her tone-deaf Blue Origin space flight. (Even the Wendy’s Twitter account got in on the action, responding to a post celebrating her return to Earth with “can we send her back”)

After sitting through her garish spectacle of concert Tuesday night at Target Center, the answer to my question is that, no, we should not start feeling sorry for Katy Perry. To paraphrase Radiohead, she did it to herself, she did.

For starters, “technical difficulties” led to doors opening more than two hours late, leaving fans waiting outside or in stuffy skyways. (Word is the crew was late in arriving from a Monday night concert in Chicago.)

Once the show finally started, it wasn’t a mere concert, but a high-concept experience meant to mimic an immersive video game where Perry portrays a half human/half robot who battles an AI monster named Mainframe who stole all the world’s butterflies. Which, much like “143,” sounds as if it was conceived by AI.

She performed on a massive stage that includes a large, lighted infinity symbol stretching into the crowd to the back of the floor with fans inside the teardrop-shaped centers. Both Perry and her army of dancers wore so many different complicated, semi-futuristic outfits, she must have a dedicated semi truck just for the wardrobe. At various points, she flew above the crowd, rode a gigantic metal butterfly and engaged in a lightsaber battle.

Clearly, someone sunk a lot of cash into the production. Yet it all looked so cheap and chintzy, as if it was all constructed out of items from a combined Big Lots/Party City closeout sale. It was loud, too, with endless flashing lights and migraine-inducing graphics. And that aforementioned lightsaber battle? She was dueling with what appeared to be two large sections of HVAC tubing.

More than a whiff of desperation ran throughout the set list as well, with Perry opening by sneaking in new songs “Artificial” and “Teary Eyes” between older hits “Chained to the Rhythm” and “Dark Horse” in the same way folks try to hide heartworm medication in the dog’s Purina Pro Plan.

Many aspects of the show lifted ideas from other, more talented, acts like Taylor Swift, Beyonce, Lady Gaga and Pink. From Swift, for example, she partially adopted her Eras Tour style and played banks of songs from the same time frame. And it was a genuine surprise that she dropped five of her biggest hits in the first hour of the show: “California Gurls,” “Teenage Dream,” “Hot n Cold,” “Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.)” and “I Kissed a Girl.” (Hilariously enough, during “Hot n Cold” she strapped on a guitar and proceeded to play it for maybe 30 seconds tops.)

To her credit, it was quite cute when she pulled a fan and her mom onstage to sing “The One That Got Away.” Perry was also quite gracious when another fan in the crowd handed her an album to sign. But it was actually an album from Perry’s opening act Rebecca Black and it was Black’s autograph she was looking for.

Perry’s voice has held up remarkably well and the new songs aren’t quite as cringeworthy in concert, save for the still-dreadful “I’m His, He’s Mine.” Also, Perry did take full advantage of her gigantic stage and played on all parts of it, giving fans from all around the arena a decent view at some point. Unfortunately, it was a decent view of a Katy Perry concert.

DULUTH, Minn. — Mary Heilman and her husband recently received a $4,000 bill to fix their boiler.

As retirees living on a tight budget, Heilman said it’s hard enough to keep their propane tanks filled in the grueling Northland winters. So they were relieved when the Arrowhead Economic Opportunity Agency stepped in and covered the costs of the repair.

“Without energy assistance, there’s no way we could be in our home,” the Makinen resident said. “We own our house, we own our property, but we can’t even keep up with taxes and stuff.”

The Heilmans are among more than 100,000 Minnesota households that received help last winter with monthly heating bills and/or emergency services through the state’s Energy Assistance Program.

But federal funding for the initiative appears to be on the chopping block, state and local officials warned. Last month, U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. abruptly fired the entire staff responsible for managing the program, and the Trump administration has proposed to eliminate its $4.1 billion budget.

“The average benefit for households this year has been just over $700, and those funds make a big difference in people’s lives,” Minnesota Commerce Commissioner Grace Arnold said Monday. “Without energy assistance, thousands of Minnesotans would face higher energy costs.

“And beyond that,” she said, “they would be at risk for having their utilities shut off in winter, receiving no help if their furnace breaks and they have no heat in the middle of winter, or being forced to choose between heating their homes and buying groceries or medicine.”

Residents of the 8th Congressional District spend an average of 13% of their household income on energy — the highest in the state, according to Department of Commerce data. Northeastern Minnesota also has the highest overall energy costs and the highest share of households receiving emergency benefits.

Annie Levenson-Falk, executive director of the Citizens Utility Board, said her advocacy organization tracked 91,000 households that had electric or gas service disconnected by regulated utilities for nonpayment in 2024 — a record number that does not even include customers of rural cooperatives and municipal utilities or those who can’t afford to refill propane tanks.

She added that nearly half of households receiving assistance have a person over 60; 4 in 10 have a person with a disability; and 17% have a child under age 6.

“This figure has been persistently high since the pandemic,” Levenson-Falk said, “compounded by the cost of housing and inflation throughout the family budget. Energy is unaffordable for too many Minnesotans.”

AEOA surveys residents receiving benefits, according to energy assistance coordinator Jean Pelletier, and has found that many are retired, on Social Security and/or have been left in dire financial situations as a result of circumstances such as the death of a spouse.

“We may be able to resolve these life-threatening situations when funding is available,” she said, “but if (Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program) funding is cut, there will not be options to help our community members in need, and there are likely people that will not be able to stay in their homes.”

The state initiative is entirely funded by the federal program, Arnold said, and Minnesota stands to lose about $125 million annually if funding is eliminated. She noted the program also helps keep costs down across the board, as unpaid bills result in costs being passed on to other customers.

Advocates of LIHEAP urged Congress to maintain the program, which has for decades received broad, bipartisan support and helps roughly 6.2 million people nationally offset the costs of both heating and air conditioning.

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