It’s hardly a secret that Mad King Trump and his cabal of devious dirty tricksters, demonic foul players and  devisers of dirty pools are busy concocting schemes to choke off the collective will of Black and Hispanic voters.

Their chief strategy:  The antisocial distancing of polling locations calculated to stifle this cohort of voters from braving the long trek there in the first place; then to force long lines (which tend to compress) that they hope will stoke  the existential menace Covid 19 poses.

The way to thwart their  pernicious intent and stir up a headwind that sweeps voters to the polls?   I propose we  borrow a common tack of the supermarket deli counter by structuring a take-a-number system.  With this tactic, voters won’t be forced to slot themselves into  life-threatening lines and be free  spread out of harm’s way as they wait for their number to be announced via loudspeaker, while  it’s simultaneously beamed from a comfortably  visible screen.

The deli-counter strategy: destined to counter a voter-suppression strategy of the Trump team of dirt-dealing despots.

We cross winding rivers 100 miles from our Chicago concrete urban space. Bright city lights fade as Midwestern neighbors and Wisconsin loved ones social distance. Faded rustic farmhouses dot our horizon. Green pastures calm our pandemic angst.

Towering maples and oak trees guide us along cobbled roads. Our boys run through open fields surrounded by lake and creeks. They catch their first fish. They marvel at how Wisconsin lakes melted thousands of years ago from glaciers at the end of the last ice age.

We breathe in the fresh Wisconsin air on July 4th, 2020. We walk along wild dandelions and gather fresh berries with cousins. We refuel as the sunsets. Our magical bonfire burns bright.

The full moon glows above us as crickets chirp. Eventually, owls lull us to sleep.

Hours later, hummingbirds sound our wake up call. We glide along damp grass toward the peaceful pond. Our boys spend hours crawling toward turtles and jumping with frogs.

Thanks to our cousins and family, we enjoy a lovely day on the water. Our nine-year-old rocks the knee board for the first time.

His seven-year-old brother beams from the inner tube as his older cousin keeps him safe. Their confidence soars with the exhilaration and euphoria of their special experience. We treasure time spent with family of every generation.

Epic!

We savor the joy of our time in Wisconsin. We wish farewell to our cousins who live in towns named after former Native Americans inhabitants. Fun fact, Milwaukee translates to the “rich and beautiful land” by the Potawatomi.

Pure exhilaration

As we drive back to Chicago, we talk about how fur traders and Native American converged. Fur traders upset the eco system as they hunted animals.

Today, we face new challenges. We recharge to pivot, evolve with change and do our best.

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In the last couple of weeks in Chicago, the press has been reporting on the violence as a SPIKE. Unfortunately, the so-called spike is a wholesale slaughter. The massive amount of killings and shootings in the month of May passed off to the public as a “Spike” turned into the month of June that set an all-time record for killings and shootings with 92 souls murdered, and over 550 shot. Given Chicago’s past history its becomes a serious challenge to use the word spike. Something is very wrong and as hard as it is for folks to accept it, it’s very real and is continuing through the first 4 days of July which has already recorded 20 murdered and 83 wounded.

The gang shooters can only be described as suffering from an empathy deficit disorder. The victim list has included a 1-year-old, 2- 3-year-olds, 2- ten-year-olds, and several 13-year-olds, one of whom was dancing in her living room. A stupifying death toll of innocence. Last night at a 4th of July block party 4 gunmen showed up and began firing into the crowd that left 4 dead and another 4 wounded. Another ho-hum mass shooting in the Englewood neighborhood where life is a fragile bargain rescindable at any time.  No question, words, and speeches will follow, come Monday, more of the same spiel by thoroughly confused and hapless so-called leaders.

The press will record their words as they fight for camera time and print space. Useless words that will never make the shooters blench. Larry Hoover one of the most notorious gang leaders in Chicago’s history and responsible for hundreds of murders, and the architect of a massive narcotics cartel in the U.S. once told me that, “yea! the news media and the TV are always blabbing that the PEN IS MIGHTIER THAN THE SWORD, BUT ONLY IF IT’S SHOT OUT OF A GUN, AND REMEMBER THE FASTEST WAY TO A MANS HEART IS A 45 CALIBER PISTOL.” That is the mentality the so-called leaders are dealing with.

Hoover is still in Prison in Colorado and is constantly looking for a Parol, and believe it or not, he has plenty of help on the outside from folks who are so out of touch, they can only be described as useful idiots. Chicago’s leaders and their failure to come to grips with reality have their collective PRIGGISHNESS on display. It leaves one wondering if behind the appearance of fictitious benevolence, kindness, and so-called good-willed intentions if there is not a sinister calculating agenda afoot.

Chicago and Cook County desperately need a leader without swagger, selfishness, pomposity, or a sense of entitlement. All the education in the world, all the political skills, and quick-witted responses, that get politicians elected in no way can prepare elected officials for the problems they face fighting hardcore gangs that are literally terrorizing their cities. Mayor Lightfoot might seem like she wears the hat of not only the mayor but police strategist and top cop.  It’s impossible unless you lived, worked, and have dealt with the city gangs. They simply will not ever respond to pleas and speeches, programs, and services.

Chicago needs immediate consequences. Handcuffing the police is playing with fire, the city has a serious crime problem, anyone in a leadership position who cannot see that needs to step aside if the goal is to stop the grizzly killings and shootings. How many babies, toddlers, children, and teens have to be slaughtered until reality sets in? Only one word separates MENSA FROM DENSA. Constantly making war on the Police and favoring the criminal ought to be obvious, the daily headlines are sending a message. Since Thursday, the mayor and her top cop have announced that Chicago’s cops will be allowed just one day off until further notice. Since Thursday 1200 extra cops have flooded the neighborhoods.

Since Thursday 18 souls have been murdered and already 80 have been shot. A lesson for the mayor and her top cop from a prominent local professor.”The number of police doesn’t mean squat if they are not allowed to be the Police.” To continue the “WAR ON COPS” is on full display in Chicago, and to allow it to continue, the hapless souls who are killed and wounded in the city are victims of imbecility. It’s always good to keep an open mind but not to the point that one’s BRAINS fall out. This is about lives, not the whims of the ACLU who seem to be second-guessing Chicago’s policing strategies at every turn. What’s more civil than preventing people from being shot and killed.?