dorchadas | History is more fun to read about than to live through

If you had told me that after four years of Trump we'd have violent police squads attacking protestors and bystanders, and also be withdrawing from the World Health Organization in the midst of the global pandemic, I'd have told you "Yeah, that sounds right."

My icon is a reference to the 1893 World's Fair, but it reads a bit different today.

Got a notice yesterday that there was going to be a curfew imposed from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m. until further notice and it showed up on my phone at...9:03 p.m. Today, the city shut down the CTA with 15 minutes' notice, while there's a curfew going on. Essential workers are exempt, sure, but they still get to pay $40 for a cab home. I haven't been impressed with the mayor's handling of much of anything starting in April--she revealed her plan for Chicago's Phase 3 reopening on May 28th, one day before the rest of the state was going to open--and this certainly doesn't improve my opinion. Memes are all well and good, but you can't govern by them.

And now she's trying to blame protestors and saying they may delay the city's reopening. This really feels like a punitive "How dare you question me" move, like her reluctance to open the Lakefront and her slow action on Open Streets. Stubborn pride is in, true, but that doesn’t make it good leadership.

britshlez showed me pictures her sister sent her from the South Loop, of shattered windows and looted stores. But up here in Andersonville, you'd barely even know anything was happening. I was out on a walk to Gaceland Cemetery and afterwards walked through streets where people were peacefully walking their dogs. The only sign anything was different was that when I went to Staples to pick up the postcards I had ordered, the store was closed early for the day.

Not sure how we're going to break the campaign of coordinated police violence sweeping the country. The thing about a few bad apples is that they spoil the bunch. The Psycho Cop Blog (Chicagoans know what I'm talking about) is evidence of that.