A tennis gem in Glen Ellyn just got a whole lot better

 

A tennis gem in Glen Ellyn just got a whole lot better

 

Tucked away in the western edge of Glen Ellyn's scenic Lake Ellyn Park is likely the oldest recreational facility in all of Glen Ellyn: a pair of century old tennis clay courts

 

 Upon entering the gated facility with a membership key, one is transported back to a bygone era when tennis was played on clay or grass instead of the hard surfaces developed in the modern age. The packed green clay on the two courts forms a subsurface topped with a gritty material which gives the courts their soft, natural feel. The ball bounces higher on clay, slowing down the game and extending rallies past those possible on hard surfaces.

 

 Surrounded by abundant trees and nearby Lake Ellyn, one forgets about the fast paced modern world lurking just yards from the old time tennis action. The feet and knees take less of a pounding and if you fall you're more likely to wind up with dirt stains rather than cuts and abrasions.

 

No matter how exhausted after a couple of hours of competitive tennis, players must take up the rollers and brush implements to smooth out the now gouged court surface and clean off the white court lines. That is part of the special ambiance experienced with the opportunity to play the game as it was in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

 

But Father Time has not been kind to the clay courts. Weather and endless usage has taken its toll. So with some reluctance, we aging tennis gents said adieu to our favorite tennis venue this spring to play at nearby hard surface courts. The Glen Ellyn Park District closed them up for a 21st century renovation costing over a thousand bucks for each of the courts’ hundred years.

 

After 4 months, 2 weeks, 10 of us showed up August 16 for Opening Day. We had to wait a few minutes as workers hoisted up the two new nets before play began. The 21st century technology such as automatic watering of the dusty clay before play is nicely hidden from view. As far as we’re concerned it’s back in 1924 when tennis was mostly played on grass or clay.

We won’t be around to celebrate the second century of the Lake Ellyn clay courts. But if by some miracle they’re still standing, it sure would be cool if the 22nd century version of our current tennis gang will be out there celebrating their 200th birthday playing tennis the way the Man designed it.

Three weeks in, Democratic presidential candidate Harris continues support for Israel’s genocidal ethnic cleansing of Palestinians in Gaza

 

Three weeks in, Democratic presidential candidate Harris continues support for Israel’s genocidal ethnic cleansing of Palestinians in Gaza

 

Over 40,000 dead with thousands more buried under the rubble from tens of thousands of US bombs in Gaza has made no dent on Kamala Harris’s conscience. Nor has a death toll predicted by the UK Medical Journal Lancet that upwards of 185,000 will soon be dead from disease, starvation to go along with endless US weapons of civilian destruction in the most grisly genocidal ethnic cleansing this century.

 

Of course, Harris has more sense than to cheer on the Israel’s genocide in Gaza. Here campaign frames her support this way: “Harris has been clear: she will always work to ensure Israel is able to defend itself against Iran and Iran-backed terrorist groups". She claims to be troubled by the suffering caused by endless US bombs there, but refuses to support an embargo on genocide weapons.

 

Hubby Doug Imhoff chimed in “Let me just make this clear: the vice president has been and will be a strong supporter of Israel as a secure democratic and Jewish state, and she will always ensure that Israel can defend itself, period. Because that’s who Kamala Harris is.” If Imhoff were honest and decent, he’s could do so by simply replacing “democratic” and “Jewish” with “Apartheid” and “genocidal.”

 

When anti-genocide protesters confronted her Harris about her genocide support during a campaign speech in Detroit, Harris shot back “You know what? If you want Donald Trump to win, then say that. Otherwise, I’m speaking." That has become the go-to Democratic response to pushback against Democratic support for Israeli genocide in Gaza: ‘Don’t’ mention US enabling genocide…we’ve got an election to win.

 

Three weeks into her campaign to become the first woman US president, Kamala Harris’ moral compass is frozen in support of Israeli genocide in Gaza. She should ponder this eternal truth. What does it profit a person to gain the world, when she must sell her soul to achieve it?

Board unfair to Sigcho Lopez

Board unfair to Sigcho Lopez

 

 

It’s fine for the Tribune Editorial Board to editorialize against Ald. Byron Sigcho Lopez calling Mayor Brandon Johnson’s aldermanic opponents “the new Vrdolyak 29.” But did it occur to the editorial board that it was engaging in derogatory characterization of Sigcho Lopez?

 

 

Announcing Lopez as “socialist” in the editorial is clearly intended to discredit him before the board even delves into his inflammatory rhetoric. Conservative readers in particular will view the “socialist” charge as a tell that Sigcho Lopez is not a good person, much less a worthy alderman.

 

 

But the editorial board goes further to discredit Sigcho Lopez. “The 25th Ward alderman, who has made a name for himself by, among other things, inveighing against Israel’s war against Hamas while standing in front of a charred American flag, repeatedly has employed this objectionable terminology to refer to colleagues who happen to think differently from he and the mayor.”

 

 

What is objectionable is interpreting the U.S.-enabled Israeli genocide in Gaza as “Israel’s war against Hamas.” Some 40,000 Palestinians dead, most of them civilians, en route to possibly hundreds of thousands dead from disease and starvation, is not “a war against Hamas.” It is genocide. The displacement of more than 75% of Palestinians is not “a war against Hamas.” It is genocide. The destruction of nearly all hospitals, schools and water treatment facilities, making sustainable life impossible, is not “a war against Hamas.” It is genocide.

 

 

And it isn’t Sigcho Lopez standing near a charred American flag that is disgraceful. It is President Joe Biden besmirching the American flag by forever associating it with Israeli genocide in Gaza.

The Tribune Editorial Board’s mantra appears to be: Do as we say, not as we do.

Kamala Harris’s seeks to have it both ways on Israeli genocide in Gaza.

 

Kamala Harris’s seeks to have it both ways on Israeli genocide in Gaza.

 

The sensible, mentally centered Harris, tells Israeli Genocide In Chief Benjamin Netanyahu to implement a ceasefire to end the destruction of sustainable life for 2,300,000 Palestinians in Gaza.

 

But then the pandering Harris, seeking millions in Israel Lobby money, and trying to avoid The Lobby throwing their full support to her even more pro genocide opponent, tells Netanyahu, ‘Here’s another $23.5 billion in genocide weapons to finish the job.’

 

Harris has yet to learn that opposing genocide is a one way street. Her moving back and forth seeking to both end and enable genocide in Gaza, may cost her millions of Biden’s 2020 voters and a 4 year lease on the White House. It’s already costing 2,300,000 Palestinians in Gaza infinitely worse.

Ukraine Kursk offensive congers up Doolittle Raid of 1942

 

Ukraine Kursk offensive congers up Doolittle Raid of 1942

 

The surprise Ukraine offensive into Kursk region of Russia captured roughly 400 square miles of Russian territory. It was a huge morale boost for the beleaguered Ukrainian forces losing ground daily in the Donbas and 2 neighboring Oblasts. It was also a shock and embarrassment to Russia by showing Ukraine still has enough fight to launch an offensive amid no imminent Ukrainian defeat.

 

The surprise offensive by a Ukraine back on its heels reminded me of a similar war situation involving the USA 82 years ago in the Good War. Four months after the devastating Pearl Harbor attack, America had suffered loss after loss. Tho the Homeland was safe, it was not unthinkable America would be pushed out of the Pacific to a rampaging Japanese regional empire.

 

To both assuage US morale and puncture Japanese invulnerability, the US cooked up the Doolittle Raid, named after its leader Col. .Jimmy Doolittle. Sixteen Air Corp B-25’s were trained to do the near impossible…take off from the aircraft carrier Hornet and bomb Japan. They all traveled over 600 miles to unload their bombs, killing 50 and wounding 400. A pinprick if there ever was one, the raid accomplished both objectives, the first morale spike for America and the first dose of reality to Japan that they could be hit.

 

Alas for Ukraine, its momentary boost in Kurst offers no comparison to America after the Doolittle Raid, after which America went on to bomb Japan nearly into oblivion, killing millions with incendiary napalm bombs and a couple of nukes.

 

Ukraine’s Kursk offensive is likely a strategic blunder. Its military gobbled up the 400 square miles that were largely undefended by Russia, who suffered minimal casualties. Conversely, Russia is pounding the thousand plus Ukrainian soldiers with unimpeded air power. Worse for Ukraine, they took some of their best trained and experienced troops from the main fighting in and around Donbas for the offensive. Every day these troops hold onto their new acquisition, the situation in the critically important theater becomes increasingly dire.

 

Possibly an even more appropriate WWII reference to Kursk might be the desperate German Ardennes Forest offensive in December ’44. In the Battle of the Bulge, the Germans created a bulge in the Allied offensive line with their best remaining soldiers. Within two weeks, the skies cleared and Allied air power pulverized Germany’s last offensive gasp into defeat 5 months later.

 

Whether Ukraine’s Kursk offensive will help it in the inevitable negotiations that will ultimately end this war remains to be seen. But anyone following the offensive would do well to ignore the propaganda about Kursk being offered up Biden administration and Congressional war hawks. Heralding the quixotic and ultimately meaningless Ukrainian thrust into Kursk simply continues the fantasy of American exceptionalism in Ukraine the US has maintained now for 30 months wi,th no end in sight.