Boy, That Trump ? Huh? The Cheerleaders Are in a Snit.

Heidi Stevens is in a snit. That Mr. Trump has really gone and done it.  Once again, the Orange Man has insulted the Banana Republic on Lake Michigan, its Mayor, its County Government, Ja'mal Green, Pastor Pfleger, Eric Zorn, Cardinal Cupich, Neil Steinberg, WTTW, the afflicted, the non-Heterosexual, the non-Caucasian, the un-legal Dreamers, the non-Biking Divvy mockers, Weiners Circle Hotdogs and Brendan Reilly.

Do not get the cheerleaders upset, Dude!

Trump had the audacity to Hope to say,      "What the hell is going on in Chicago?"

No, he didn't! He did. He went there. Now, he got this right back in his face!

Trump has asked the same question before, and he's not alone in wondering. I get the same question from friends and family who don't live here. (And a few who do.)

What's happening in Chicago is this:

• The Grant Park Music Festival just got underway, which marks another year of free, world-class music under a Frank Gehry-designed open air pavilion where friends share a bottle of wine, couples enjoy a picnic and kids twirl around on the grass, shoulder-to-shoulder, like we do things in the city.

• New artwork is popping up along our stunning lakefront bike trail. (Our mayor named 2017 the year of public art.)

• Chicago Public Schools just let out, so some of its almost 400,000 students are flooding our enviable parks and playgrounds*.

• The Cubs are losing again. Chicago Pride Fest is this weekend.

Now, take that, Mr. Orange-hair, size 38 and up pants wearing Mr. Guy!

Heidi Stevens grew up in Chicago's suburbs,  like Chicago's Mayor and most of Chicago's columnists and TV anchors, so she knows this city on-the-take like one of Nels Algren's poker pals - warts and all, she knows this city.  Sure, we have grade school kids gunned down at end of school parties, but we have tender-hearted and caring Chicago values folks who know that thousands of the people of color are being tortured at this very minute in Homan Square and are not terribly concerned that Ja'mal Green and Forrest Claypool feed off of Chicago's dying husk.

And we have a devastating level of gun violence, which is what Trump and others are really asking about. It's a scourge on our city.

• New artwork is popping up along our stunning lakefront bike trail. (Our mayor named 2017 the year of public art.)
• Chicago Public Schools just let out, so some of its almost 400,000 students are flooding our enviable parks and playgrounds.
• The Cubs are losing again. Chicago Pride Fest is this weekend.

And we have a devastating level of gun violence, which is what Trump and others are really asking about. It's a scourge on our city.

So what? Other cities are worse, says Heidi.

• Chicago isn't even close to the deadliest city in the United States. On a per-capita basis, according to The Trace, Chicago isn't even in the top 10. New Orleans, Cleveland, Atlanta, St. Louis, Oakland, Cincinnati, Miami, Philadelphia — they've all got us beat.

• That makes the deaths here no more palatable and no less urgent. But Chicago is America writ small.

• Our gun violence, our racial tensions, our education funding, our income disparity, our aging infrastructure, our efforts, however clumsy, to coexist with people who don't look like us, worship like us, speak like us, live like us — none of it is unique to Chicago.

• We're grappling with it all in 237 square miles. America's grappling with it in 3 million or so. Not in every city and town, but in plenty.
• It benefits no one to divide and polarize us. We're all Americans.

• If you want to know what the hell's going on here, swing by for a visit. On any given day, it's a beautiful, messy, breathtaking display of humanity's best and worst.

• Just like America.

 So, there.

Here's what's happening in Chicago, Mr. Tangerine Mean CNN Andy Cooper Pooper President:

• Rahm Closes Ohio Street Underpass and Ignores Questions ( Because of Hi-Jinks on the Beach)
• Rahm and Rauner Fail
• Pop Taxed
• Chicago Black Flight
• Tiger Woods Gets Land - In Your Face George Lucas-Hobson!
• Obama Library Will Close LSD

Speaking of the Arts!

•       Small Theaters Ban Theater Critics
•      Corey Feldman is Back!
•     Where to watch Ru Paul's Drag Race

So, we have that going for Chicago and the LGBTQ Community appropriated the letters  I.A, P & K ( and more!) *in celebration of Pride Week, which appropriated Pride and dropped the Gay, for some reason.

Chicago is a Banana Republic and Heidi Stevens, the Chicago Tribune, former President Barack Obama, the Resistance, Valerie Jarrett, Chicago City Council, Cook County Government and Hollywood are still upset because America is still not a Banana Republic. 

Here is the Butcher's Bill that helps pay for this secular, global urban Banana Republic: 

 June to Date

Shot & Killed: 55

Shot & Wounded: 223

Total Shot: 278

Total Homicides: 61

Week in Progress (6/18 – 6/24)

Shot & Killed: 10

Shot & Wounded: 47

Total Shot: 57

Total Homicides: 14

Year to Date

Shot & Killed: 292

Shot & Wounded: 1360

Total Shot: 1652

Total Homicides: 313

Tell Him, Heidi Stevens!

Take that President 1% Size 38" and Up pants, Iowa Rally Slap Chicago Guy!

*LGGBTQQIAAPPK? The categories of human sex and gender expression and identities they could represent is likely infinite. If that acronym looks a bit absurd, it speaks to the absurdity of thinking there are a few isolated “sexual minorities” while the rest of the human race is “normal” and fairly similar. The truth is the level of diversity in our sexual lives as human beings means we are all sexual minorities. As accepted and culturally understood identity categories continue to arise, this will become more and more apparent. Perhaps the “queer” community is, in fact, becoming more accurately described as the community of people who acknowledge the diversity of human sexual and gender expression and seek to be open to exploring that diversity within themselves and the culture at large.
Lyla Cicero has a doctorate in clinical psychology, and focuses on relationships, sexual minorities, and sex therapy. Lyla is a feminist, LGBTQIAPK-affirmative, sex-positive blogger at UnderCoverintheSuburbs.com, where she writes about expanding cultural notions of identity, especially those surrounding gender, sexual orientation, motherhood, and sexuality. Follow her on Twitter @UndrCvrNSuburbs.