Monday, February 20, 2023

Cut your bitterness with cookies


     Elmhurst lures; it entices. Even on an ordinary day, just driving down 294, going somewhere else, it takes an act of will to pass by Elmhurst.
     I see that green “ELMHURST” exit sign and have to fight the urge to pull off and hurry over to Lezza Spumoni & Desserts on Spring Road and ... well, it’s embarrassing. Stock up on mind-blowing spumoni and little white boxes of powder-sugar-kissed cannoli and big white boxes of biscotti and lemon knots and wedding cookies.
     So when I heard that Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is scheduled to speak in Elmhurst on Monday — talk about a fish out of water story — the urge to head to Elmhurst is strong.
     But head over where? Yes, Elmhurst, but it’s big, for a little place. The problem, of course, is not only are journalists not invited to the Floridian fascist’s jamboree, but the public isn’t invited either.
     DeSantis nudged Fraternal Order of Police Lodge No. 7 cappo John Catanzara, who discreetly invited his buddies to gather somewhere in Elmhurst to listen to the Sunshine State Savonarola. Who, if he stays true to form, will be heaping abuse on the far right’s designated villains of the moment: trans people, history teachers and whoever makes up the stuffed tackling dummy of their midnight fears.
     Hence the secrecy. I like to think they’re privately ashamed — it’s the optimist in me. But the more likely motivation is it just won’t do to have the very untermenschen you are trying to purge from both the present and the past show up at your lawn party to wave signs and express their disapproval of your brand of backwater demagoguery.
     Not that a protest is really necessary: The bare fact that DeSantis can safely expect the Chicago Police Department to show up en masse, to nod solemnly at the woes they are forced to endure by living in a society that tolerates those other than themselves, is condemnation aplenty. That Chicago police can be relied upon to cheer Trump 2.0 on is an indictment of the CPD culture more eloquent than 100 liberals could dream up.

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10 comments:

  1. Wonder if John Catanzaro will be the one to lead the ceremonial burning of children's books and will there be tiki torches? Cookies are always nice at fascist rallies too, I am told.

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  2. Let’s not forget that Desantis hired as the State Surgeon General Dr. Joseph Ladapo, an anti-vaxer. Desantis also replaced the board of New College with his own like minded cronies who promptly fired the forward thinking president and replace him with Richard Corcoran, a staunch right winger.
    Florida’s governor, along with all the other elected officials of his ilk in Florida no longer speak with the media, fearing they may be asked tough questions.
    Just as all firefighters are not oblivious, neither are all the police. Certainly there are a large number of cops and others in protective services who have lost sight but most are trying to do the right thing.
    From what I’ve read, it seems no one is claiming they invited Desantis to Chicago but here he is.

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  3. I'm fascinated as to why the Chicago Fraternal Order of Police is holding this thing in Elmhurst, which obviously isn't Chicago & isn't even in Cook County!
    What, Cantanzara couldn't find a place in the city for his worshiping of that Flor-i-duh fascist?

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  4. "get them to demand that taxes be cut for the rich while their grandmas’ Social Security gets slashed."

    Because in the end that's what it's all about for these transparently deviant tools of the billionaire ruling class. Bravo.

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  5. I wonder if DeSantis will tell the cops to leave their guns at home.

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  6. My parents lived in Florida for 33 years.And I, too, spent a couple of years there. The mid-70s Florida I knew and loved (with a total population of seven million) is long gone. Paved-over, buried by developers, and trampled to death by a population that has more than tripled in the last half-century.

    Florida has been both Texified and Californicated, and now it's been Nazified,as well. Oh, how much I once wanted to want to return. But not anymore. And until a few years back, I dreamed of becoming a snowbird. That dream is over.

    I still have one cousin down there, and I still miss the sun and the sand and the surf, but as long as Florida is populated and governed by the likes of Insantis and his fascist ilk, I will neither set foot there nor spend one penny there.

    If he's nominated by the Gee-Oh-Pee next year, I will fight to the death against him. Those who burn books eventually proceed to the burning of other things. Like people.

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    Replies
    1. The elected officials in Florida (and probably most places) are just opportunists who say what they need to in order to get elected by a poorly informed, greedy, and bigoted majority. It's not a vast majority in Florida, just a solid majority. That's all it takes.
      As a fairly privileged person, life is still good here.
      The primaries will be very interesting as we sit back and watch Trump, Desantis, and Haley annoy each other.

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    2. Time and nostalgia have a sneaky way of distorting memory. I recently dug out the journals I kept in the mid-70s. Now I realize that I was very lonely and unhappy in Florida. I was in my mid-twenties and struggling.. Always looking for a job or an apartment or a lover. Or a better job, a better apartment, a better lover. I would have been satisfied with two out of three. Much of the time, it was just one. When I returned to Chicago, things stayed that way for a few more years. It wasn't Florida. It was me.

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  7. Maybe the reporters couldn't find where DeSantis was speaking but luckily the protestors did. See the Tues. paper. ;)

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  8. The only quote from Trump I ever admired was when he referred to “Ron DeSanctimonious”.

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