The following is a Facebook post from actor/activist Harvey Fierstein
Watching our people protesting Trump today, I have to say that I don't understand what we're doing. I understand that we must always speak out against intolerance and bigotry and anyone who would destroy American values to ensure their own profits but, at this moment...
WHY ARE WE DOING THE REPUBLICANS' JOB FOR THEM?
They created Trump. They earned him. As if their hateful rhetoric wasn't enough, just in how they treated our president, they earned Trump! With every racist slight, with every homophobic slander, with every manufactured semi-automatic weapon and oil spill and fracking disaster and shuttered women's clinic and attack on affordable health care, the Republican leadership built this Frankenstein monster. Let the monster they created and nurtured destroy them!
What do you think they'll do if we manage to "Dump Trump?" They'll only turn around and give us the next horror from their arsenal of selfish intolerance. Look who they have to offer America. Next up is Cruz. CRUZ!!!!! Someone who has done nothing in his career but self-promote, obstruct progress and lie. Don't you see that Trump is the radical that makes the dangerous Cruz look reasonable? Even THEY loathe Cruz. But they are willing to back him to the White House.
And even if it's not Cruz, who do else do they have? Romney? We already said no to that vacuous man. Jeb? Why not run Neil Bush? America has already bailed him out. He's been bought and paid for, so let's have him? And since no one has ever taken Kasich seriously he's avoided the lens of the microscope, but trust me, you don't want him either. AND WHY IS IT OUR JOB TO GUIDE THE REPUBLICANS TOWARD A LESSER EVIL? They've already all said that they'd back Trump if he gets the nomination. Does anyone really think they have America's welfare at heart????
My friends, this is the time for us to work FOR OUR PARTY and not for the Republicans. They poisoned their garden and can now only grow weeds and briers like Trump and Cruz. They need to make things right in their own world or, trust me, they will poison us all. They need to clean up the toxic waste dump that has become their party. We can't do that for them.
Meanwhile, WE have our own work to do. We have our own candidates to support. We have America's future to worry about. Let's do our job. Let's use our energy to work FOR SOMETHING. Not against it.
Wheaton woes
Dear Editor,
This is a difficult letter to write because of the myriad of issues and nuances involved, but here goes:
On March 17, Stephen S. Bona of Chicago was found guilty of two counts of threatening a public official, a Class 3 felony. This was the result of Bona placing several calls to state Rep. Jeanne Ives of Wheaton. Ives was a newly elected house member at the time, with her saying, "I am not in favor of gay marriage. Illinois has a DOMA statute that properly prohibits the marriage between two people of the same sex. "
From an article on the radio interview behind this case:
Illinois state Rep. Jeanne Ives, a Republican who represents the deeply conservative Chicago suburb of Wheaton, commented in a recent interview [Feb. 25, 2013] that same-sex marriages are a "completely disordered relationship" and accused LGBT people of trying to "weasel their way" into acceptability.
The term "weasel" spread like wildfire throughout social media.
As all parties in the case know, this was a heated, contentious issue. Bona went too far, calling Ives' office and leaving several messages that were interpreted by the DuPage state's attorney ( Robert B. Berlin ) as threats. It is a matter of interpretation, especially if one considers the context in the times. [NOTE: I say "interpreted" because I once wrote an email about drug dealers here in DuPage and used the word "consequences." That was interpreted as a threat also by then state's attorney Joseph Birkett's office, and I spent a year going back and forth to court until the judge refused to delay the trial any longer and dismissed the case when the accuser didn't show.]
The law says that leaving these messages/threats on a public official's phone is a class 3 felony. I always question these enhanced penalties for public officials, police, etc. The general laws against threats are more than adequate to apply to all of us, but that is a side issue.
After three years, a wise prosecutor would have used prosecutorial discretion and dropped the case. It has been a long, emotional as well as factual, civil-rights struggle that is now over. The U.S. Supreme Court has spoken. Many things were said and done on both sides that we wish we hadn't done. Most of that has been forgiven and forgotten. This was no time to reopen a wound that still needs some healing, but Berlin didn't think that way and Ives did show up and testify. With a DuPage County jury, the conviction was inevitable.
As a resident of DuPage County, I am embarrassed by Berlin's continued pursuit of this case and its outcome. Its outcome reinforces the stereotype of this county and of Wheaton, in particular.
This is one side of Wheaton, but it's the side everyone thinks applies to the whole. I've got friends and relatives who live and work in Wheaton, and this does not represent them. I've marched with PFLAG in Wheaton's Fourth of July parade several times, and each year the cheers way outnumber the nays.
There is a fantastic organization named PRC headquartered there which serves immigrants, homeless and people in need without question. I volunteer at the branch here in Westmont. There is Cantigny Park that I still haven't visited, so I can only relate from hearsay how wonderful it is.
But Wheaton will continue to be viewed as the ultraconservative suburb west of Chicago represented by Ives, Wheaton College and Billy Graham.
That's only part of the story.
I hope on April 29, 2016, Berlin recommends probation for Bona so we can move forward.
—Bob Mueller, Westmont
