Women’s and men’s national soccer matches didn’t attract the same fans

It was quite a day for those of us who consider ourselves fanaticos de futbol, but for very different reasons.

Women's win topped men's loss locally

For this Sunday saw the women’s national team play for the World Cup – and WIN!!! Team U.S.A. beat the Netherlands 2-0 in a championship match played in France, which also was quite the feat because this is the second consecutive World Cup the U.S. women have won.

IT REINFORCES THE very notion that when it comes to women’s soccer, the U.S.A. rules. Our women are better than the women of any of the other 200 or so nations of the world that play soccer.

But later in the day, the men’s national team had their own championship to play for – as in the Gold Cup, the every-other-year tourney for bragging rights across North America and the Caribbean.

Our men took to the pitch, and right here in Chicago. As the Gold Cup championship match this time around was scheduled for Soldier Field. Where the other Team U.S.A. tried to win bragging rights – only to lose 1-0 to Los Tricolores of Mexico.

Which feeds off of one of the most intense rivalries in the world of soccer, as much of the political tension that exists between the neighboring nations spills over onto the pitch.

In L.A, Mexico tops all

DON’T DOUBT THAT for the sizable Mexican-American population of Chicago, they were on hand to see the Mexican nationals issue a symbolic whomp over every nitwit who tries to use the red, and blue as some sort of evidence of their natural inferiority. One-time soccer star Landon Donovan pointed out during the broadcast of the match that the crowd in Chicago seemed to be leaning toward Equipo Mexico.

While a lot of the people chanting “U.S.A., U.S.A.” every chance they got were hoping for a men’s team victory as further evidence of superiority – and perhaps evidence that Donald Trump isn’t a total whack job every time he shoots his mouth off.

Which is a totally different vibe than one got from people whose interest was in watching the women’s team take on the World.

For the women's team, it really is!

I was at a “watch party” where people gathered to see the Women’s World Cup final who were eager to see a U.S. victory as further evidence that Trump is the ultimate whack job for all his rhetorical nonsense.

FOR TRUMP HAS engaged in his own comments being critical of the women’s national team, because he thinks some of its players don’t conform to his ideal of what an “American woman” ought to be.

Especially forward Megan Rapinoe, who has taken her own pot shots at Trump and even got quoted in the New York Post as saying her presence on the team is an “F You” to our president.

Which the Post tried to write up as evidence of those whacky, soccer-playing broads, only to find many people followed the World Cup specifically because they liked the idea of someone standing up to Trump.

Of course, this whole Soccer day must be miserable for those of us who actually take anything Donald Trump says seriously.

Donald Trump's nightmare front page?

BECAUSE NOT ONLY did the women win (and one of the players managed to drop a U.S. flag on the ground), the men lost – AND to Mexico!!!

Which was actually a happening I enjoyed seeing – the goal in the 73^rd minute by Jonathan dos Santos must have been as agonizing to the ideologues as that of Rapinoe being the hero of the game. And winner of the Golden Boot!

I don’t doubt those people are going to go into overtime with the rhetoric about how soccer is an abomination and how it really doesn’t matter. They weren’t watching anyway. Which means they missed a heck of a show – particularly the portion that occurred at Soldier Field and saw people paying hundreds of dollars per ticket for the right to watch (I had to view on television).

Or perhaps many were like one woman I encountered at a watch party, who while viewing the women’s team going for the glory on behalf of the United States could only generate a great big raspberry for the evening’s activity by the men.

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Lashing out against tweets from twit

It’s almost become the news judgment equivalent of “dog bites man,” President Donald Trump uses his Twitter account to post yet another rant that somehow singles out Mexico for everything The Donald wants to believe is wrong.

The latest anti-Trump retaliatory rant … 

Although there’s something many of the ideologues who chant and cheer every time Trump spews more rhetorical trash ought to keep in mind – the level of contempt is returned.

AND IN THE end, the amount of contempt people wind up feeling toward the United States is escalated – because many figure we were either stupid enough to vote for the buffoon OR were to weak to prevent a man who couldn’t get a majority of the vote from rising to the presidency.

Seriously, people ought to see and/or hear the trash talk that comes from Mexican-Americans whenever the topic of Trump comes up.

Much has been written and spoken of the number of piñatas made in the image of Donald John Trump. Since the ultimate purpose of a piñata is to be smashed by partygoers, it gives people the chance to vent their contempt by taking a two-by-four upside the paper-mache skull of the presidential image.

There also are many t-shirts printed up that take the image of Trump in vain.

… based off the hot-sauce logo

I COULDN’T HELP but notice one shirt I encountered just this weekend when I ventured into the Taste of Mexico festival – held in various cities across our nation. I spent a little bit of time Saturday at the one in Chicago’s Little Village neighborhood.

The shirt was a mock-up of the Tapatio hot sauce logo – only turning the product brand name into a Spanish obscenity, and proclaiming that Trump was all about “hate sauce.”

That, and it reinforced my long-held suspicion that the way to make anyone look ridiculous is to portray them in a sombrero – as this t-shirt did to our sorry excuse of a national leader.

All provoked because Trump himself has a desperate need for someone to bash about, and feels Mexico is an easy target, Largely because it’s right next door. He picks on the one within easy sight. Resulting in the return fire.

Bashing Trump -- literally!

TRUMP’S LATEST TWEETS made Sunday morning were an extension of his threats to impose tariffs that would escalate steadily against Mexican-made goods being brought into this country.

He says he’s more than willing to punish U.S. companies that have transferred operations to Mexico to take advantage of lower labor costs. As Trump put it in his less-than-articulate manner, companies will be, “brought back into the United States through taxation (tariffs). America has had enough!”

While also referring to Mexico as “an abuser” that is “invading” our society.

Actually, what we, the majority of our society, has had enough of is the notion of Donald Trump as president. It’s the reason a growing number of people – including two members of Chicago’s congressional delegation, Jesus Garcia and Danny Davis – are calling for impeachment proceedings.

Garcia and Davis (below) have joined … 

NOT THAT I think such a tactic would work – because I have no doubt that the ideologue nincompoops who run the U.S. Senate and would preside over any impeachment trial would wind up undermining any effort to remove Trump from office – then try to claim it as “God’s will” that Trump remain in office!

The fact is that we’re stuck with him through the end of next year, and will have to hope the political opposition can put together a credible enough campaign on behalf of a candidate who can defeat Trump at the polling place.

… the impeachment parade

Perhaps then, we’ll be able to look back on all the anti-Mexico rhetoric and find some of it amusing – such as the portrayal of Trump in the Tapatio hot sauce sombrero. Or find it as historically telling as we now view much of the anti-Japanese propaganda of the World War II era.

Or perhaps we’ll regard Trump someday similar to how late night television host David Letterman once put it to right-wing radio host (and Trump proponent) Rush Limbaugh, when he asked him on live television, “Do you ever wake up in the middle of the night and think to yourself, ‘I am just full of hot gas’?”

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Who’s more absurd, Trump or Rahm?

Both men are political people who have developed reputations for being the kind of guys who expect to be able to bark out orders – and have them followed.

EMANUEL: Wants Smollett to pay up -- or else

Both Donald Trump and Rahm Emanuel like to think they’re tough guys who can stand up to anybody on any situation – and ultimately see their viewpoints prevail. Yet I’ve been wondering of late which one is capable of taking an issue most out of line with any reasonable approach to thought.

I’D LIKE TO think it is our un-illustrious president – who throughout his time in office has always been willing to pander to his ideologue nitwits and their irrational hang-ups with regards to anything related to Mexico.

Yet after listening to our soon-to-be former mayor, I can’t help but think it’s a good thing the man has only about a month left on his term, with replacement Lori Lightfoot lined up to take over the reins of city government come May.

Because Rahm is behaving like he’s in desperate need of a vacation. Eight years at the helm of Chicago city government means he needs a rest.

I’m sure some will be grossly offended that I’d think of Emanuel’s behavior as being as absurdly over-the-top as anything that Trump has done during his two-plus years as president. But it does seem to be that way.

TRUMP: Continues his Mexico rants

FOR IT SEEMS that Jussie Smollett, the television actor who had criminal charges against him dropped for an incident that police contend was an effort to stage a crime, really has got under Emanuel’s skin.

Emanuel claims he wants the actor to repay Chicago some $130,000 – to recoup the costs to the Police Department for what they say was the false investigation report he filed when he claimed he was attacked, taunted, and even had a noose placed around his neck.

Smollett, of course, has insisted all throughout that he did nothing wrong and really was a crime victim. This week, he formally rejected Emanuel’s request to repay the city anything. Still insisting he’s innocent.

Emanuel is now threatening the formality of a lawsuit by Chicago against the actor – with other city officials saying they’d like to see Chicago refuse to provide tax credits to benefit any cinematic or television production that employs Smollett.

O'CONNOR: Tell Trump and Emanuel to stifle

I CAN’T HELP but think of such behavior as Trumpian in nature. It either is pure theater that would show Emanuel’s sense of drama to make him even more skilled than Smollett.

Or else Emanuel truly is delusional if he thinks there are any conditions under which Smollett would ever repay a single cent to Chicago.

Because for whatever reason, the Cook County state’s attorney’s office dismissed the charges. Whether it’s because the police or prosecutors screwed up some procedural move that would make it impossible to get a criminal conviction that would stand up, the case is over. It would be better off to let it go – enough damage has been done to Smollett’s reputation. He’s permanently tainted.

JACKSON: Trump's cinematic alter ego?

But Emanuel has got that streak of Trump in him – he can’t let it go. Just like Trump with his recent line of thoughts saying he wants to close down access to the United States through the Mexican border.

TRUMP THIS WEEK had to realize that such an action was irrational and impossible to enforce. He’d be better off following the advice of Carroll O’Connor’s old “Archie Bunker” character and “stifling” himself.

SMOLLETT: Could Jules get him to pay up?

Instead, he’s trying to offer up rhetoric implying he’s making a concession – he’s giving Mexico one year to clean up its act, so to speak. Or else he’ll crack down on them with tariffs on Mexico-produced automobiles. Or maybe he'll shut down the border anyways -- unless he does something truly vile such as forcing Mexican people to eat what Taco Bell offers up as food!

It almost makes me think he thinks he’s the Samuel L. Jackson's "Jules" character from "Pulp Fiction," going into his diatribe about "striking down with great vengeance and furious anger," before killing someone.

Of course, I also suspect that both men would take such a comparison between themselves as the lowest-form of insult. All the more reason we’ll be better off when Trump follows Rahm into the ranks of former government officials.

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Mexican “countries” as ridiculous a nativist thought as speaking “Mexican”

I remember once being in a conversation with my peers in school about exactly what people in Mexico spoke. As in did we speak Mexican?

THE controversial moment of nonsense

And didn’t we realize we had no right to question how ridiculous that thought was. Because, after all, only people in Spain spoke Spanish!

NOW BEFORE GOING further, I should point out that I was all of 7 years old when this happened. The “peers” I refer to were my fellow schoolmates and my parents had moved to a heavily-Anglo neighborhood.

In short, I was dealing with kids who didn’t know any better. I can think back to the incident and laugh my culo off. They didn’t know any better, and their ignorance was just downright absurd.

But I find it hard to find anything particularly humorous about what Fox News Channel is trying to defend as just a technical glitch when they made a reference to “three Mexican countries” that their political savior, Donald Trump, was intending to cut off federal funding to.

Actually, what Trump’s trash talk alluded to was a thought that he could cut federal funding provided to El Salvador, Guatamala and Honduras. None of which are in Mexico, except to those nativist nitwits who want to think that everything involving Latin America is “Mexican.”

WHICH BASICALLY MEANS the nitwits are stupid, most definitely weren’t paying attention during grammar school geography and (most importantly) are really bothered by the fact that anybody would feel the need to correct them on the factual error – which was contained within a chyron; the caption that runs on-screen while the news anchors “speak” on-camera.

Nativist nitwits not singling out Spanish

Now I should state that Fox News types quickly caught their error, and one of the co-hosts publicly corrected the notion that there were separate “Mexican” countries.

Of course, Fox News with its desire to play ideological games with everybody who dares to disagree with their own nativist view of the globe would think nothing of publicly trashing a competitor for trying to claim an error was “just a typo.”

Which is why I have no compunction about pointing out just how stupid a mistake this truly was. Just like I'll point out that Mexico is as much a part of the North American continent as Canada or the United States.

IT WAS SOMETHING that could be excused amongst 7-year-olds. But seeing other people try to reduce our intellectual discourse down to the level of second-graders is nothing but contemptible.

If anything, it is what is most reprehensible about this Age of Trump that we’re now in. I accept we have an intellectual half-wit as our president. It’s the fact that an outspoken minority thinks the majority of us are obligated to accept this is what is wrong – and what ought to be our national priority in trying to undo come the 2020 election cycle.

So no, Mexico is a single country – albeit one with 31 states and a Federal District. Actually, it astounds me the notion that some ideologues get upset about that fact – they don’t want to have to acknowledge anything unique about Mexico.

And as for the language spoken, yes there is a certain dialect of Spanish unique to Mexico (similar to how British English isn’t the same as so-called American English, and certainly not as crude as that babble otherwise known as a Southern drawl).

ANYBODY WHO FEELS compelled to defend such moments of ignorance as expressed on Fox News on Sunday is someone who provides the very definition of a pinche puto and un baboso.

And if you’re feeling a bit confused about the shift into Español, I’d say “look it up yourself” to find out just how insulted you ought to feel right about now.

Some of us too willing to live life like a cheap cartoon

Of course, I don’t really expect you to take the time to reach for a Spanish/English language dictionary to do a translation.

In fact, I expect most of you who were watching the Sunday morning broadcast let the chyron slip right past you without noticing what it said – you were probably more obsessed with gawking at the content contained under anchor Jedediah Bila’s short skirt.

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EXTRA: Bureaucracy (sadly) rules!

We’ve been hearing a lot in recent weeks about these caravans of people from central American nations who’d like to have a chance at a better life in the United States.

Within sight of United States, Trump creates more bureaucracy to thwart caravan

The ones that have been traveling throughout Mexico, and some of whom have actually made it as far as Tijuana. Meaning they’re literally here. Right across the border from San Diego and U.S. territory proper.

WE’VE ALSO HEARD the stories of U.S. military personnel being amassed along the border, so as to appease those people who approve of the Age of Trump we now live in who want those foreigners kept out of the country in whatever way possible.

It was encouraging to learn of military officials expressing objections to being used in such a manner. Yet in some ways, it is equally discouraging to see the tactic being used by Trump to achieve the ultimate goal of keeping those people out of the country.

Let the bureaucrats rule!

As in throw so many legal obstacles in the way of actually being able to enter this country (the one that claims it is all about helping “your tired, your poor. Your huddled masses, yearning to breathe free”) that maybe, just maybe, many of them will merely give up and go back home.

Leaders of U.S. and Mexico (below) … 

IT SEEMS THE U.S. officials have actually reached an agreement with Mexico; by which the people now waiting their turn in Tijuana to have a chance at seeking asylum here will have to wait in Mexico.

Even though their cases will be decided in U.S.-based courts, they won’t be able to wait it out here. And it will be a wait – because the number of individuals now seeking and likely to seek asylum will take months for the courts to properly dispose of.

If anything, this has been the attitude that our federal government has taken in dealing with immigration – creating a bureaucratic mess meant to thwart the desires of those who’d want to be a productive part of our society here.

Rather than try to reform our immigration laws so as to deal in any sensible way with the masses who want to be part of life here, we’d rather create as many obstacles as we can dream up.

… work out deal that lets bureaucracy rule

ANYBODY WHO TRIES to say that we’re merely trying to deal with the masses of people passing through Mexico on the way to the United States in logical manner is spewing nonsense-talk. Trump, after all, also let it be known he’s prepared to close the U.S./Mexico border outright “if for any reason it becomes necessary.”

Such as perhaps if too many of the people who have caravanned their way from central America to Southern California actually manage to get the U.S. court system to approve their desires to live here.

It’s not surprising that, in Mexico, there are people who are getting upset at the notion of these central American natives having to be held within their country just because the United States has certain officials who wish they could make the issue go away.

It’s like our ideological nitwit officials are trying to dump a problem off on someone else – exactly the same way they always try to claim other countries are dumping their problems off on U.S.

THIS WHOLE SITUATION is one that is bound to become an embarrassment to the United States. It will be one of the biggest buffoonish acts to be committed by the Trump presidency.

ROBERTS: Challenging Trump viewpoint

Not that I expect the fanatics who approve of The Donald to ever admit any of this. All they’ll hear are the words “foreigner” and “Mexico” and they’ll be desperate to accept it, no matter how absurd the mechanics of it all are.

Because if they really had faith in this nation and its systems of operating, they’d be willing to trust the courts to weed through the large number of people seeking asylum in this country.

Then again, these people are the ones who these days are denouncing Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts for his recent statement that, “there are no Obama judges or Trump judges, Bush judges or Clinton judges. An independent judiciary is something we should all be thankful for.”

  -30-

How do you handle a sporting event when you honestly care less who wins?

When it comes to the World Cup, I find the world of international soccer to be interesting – moreso than the hype we have surrounding the Super Bowl or NBA playoffs that seem to last forever.

Yet with the world of international soccer reaching a peak this weekend – and the World Cup tourney bringing a month’s worth of activity to an end with a championship game Sunday, I have to admit I’m not all that enthused.

WHEN THE NATIONAL teams of France and Croatia take to the pitch to try to stake their claim to having the best football club in the world, there will be those thousands of fans packing their way into a stadium in Moscow, and many thousands more gathered around television sets for a lifetime experience.

I’m likely to be watching on television, hoping something will happen to make the game itself memorable.

But I honestly can’t say I’m rooting for either side. The idea of France vs. Croatia brings about a bit of a “blah” in me.

I’m sort of glad to see that in the semi-final match on Wednesday, England fell short of Croatia. Mainly because I can’t think of anything less interesting than the idea of an international championship coming down to a brawl between England and France.

I KNOW THE history.

I don’t doubt that to the English (and only the English, not anybody from Scotland, Wales or Ireland), it would be a moment of great historic significance if they had been able to win a World Cup championship against their historic arch-rival. Instead, they’ll settle for playing in a consolation game Saturday against Belgium – a match I won’t be able to watch, because I’ll have to do reporter-type work that day.

But perhaps I have too much of an all-American Yankee Doodle Dandy in me. I was interested in the World Cup this year for the vision it gave us of the rest of the world. Not to see the one-time world powers try to pretend that history remains the same and that the world revolves around a London/Paris axis.

While some might think that makes me a natural to root for Croatia to win come Sunday, I just don’t see it happening.

LARGELY BECAUSE I have had friends in my lifetime who are of Serbian ethnic origins. Somehow, I suspect they’d pay me a “surprise” visit and feed me a meal of knuckle sandwiches if they thought I was somehow rooting for their nation’s historic rival.

I know for some people who think of themselves as soccer fans, their interest in World Cup ’18 diminished last autumn when the U.S. national team couldn’t even qualify to be among the 32 teams that played this year.

Trinidad and Tobago will be places that get demonized in their minds, what with how it was their team that managed to knock the United States out of the running, and which spared fans the world over the sight and sound of the “American Outlaws” group leading “U-S-A” chants all over the one-time Soviet Union.

For me, I am a fan of el Tri, the national equipo de futbol of Mexico, and usually find myself taking interest in all the teams from nations that are a part of the Americas. When Hirving Lozano (nicknamed “Chucky”) scored the lone goal against Germany, that was my personal highlight of the 2018 version of the World Cup.

SO WHEN MEXICO got knocked out of the running by Brazil, then Brazil lost in the quarterfinals to Belgium, my own intense rooting interests in this year’s World Cup declined. They diminished altogether when Uruguay lost to France – who may wind up winning their third World Cup tourney ever come Sunday.

Putting them behind Brazil (with five titles) historically, but well ahead of anybody else in the Americas.

The World Cup is one of those periodic athletic events. We’ll get it again come 2022 in Qatar. We’ll get to see Middle Eastern sheiks staging the event in all the opulence possible for matches played out in the desert.

Yet I don’t doubt there are those fans of soccer who already have shifted their attention to 2026. That’s the year we’ll get to see World Cup activity in the United States – the first time since 1994. Along with Mexico (which had it in 1970 and 1986) and Canada (never before). We’ll have to see if the nations of North America can play nice with each other while the world watches.

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NAFTA talks have something about it for just about everyone to hate

When it comes to the North American Free Trade Agreement, it seems we truly have a policy meant to unite us – since there’s something in it that arouses the ire in just about everybody.

The logo that expresses hostile concept to many

The deal that was supposed to bring the United States into a sense of unity with the other two major nations that comprise the North American continent seems to do little more than tick people off.

TO THE POINT where it has President Donald J. Trump finding every excuse he can come up with to say he’s going to kill the trade deal off. While Mexico’s newly-elected president is going about saying he fully intends to keep the deal in place.

Which means we have yet another issue upon which the two nations can’t agree upon.

As things stand, the United States is negotiating these days with Mexico and Canada to supposedly come up with a new trade deal for the North American continent to abide by. Supposedly something that will be more equitable than the current deal – which dates back to the Clinton presidential administration.

Although if you’re old enough to remember back that you, you’ll know that it really wasn’t Bill Clinton who came up with the idea for NAFTA.

THE TRADE DEAL was the goal of former President George Bush (the elder, not his son). Yet his one-term presidency managed to come to an end before he could get Congress to go along with ratification of the deal.

TRUMP: Won't sign off now

In a sense that the Clinton Administration wanted to start off with a sense of bipartisanship, it took over the lead on NAFTA, which ultimately got it passed by U.S. officials – thereby making us a partner in the deal that was meant to keep nationalist concerns from interfering with the ability of goods to be shipped across the three North American nations.

Almost as though we were one with Mexico and Canada.

Which is an ideal I’m sure people who back this Age of Trump we’re now in absolutely despise, and which is the big reason the current U.S. president is so eager to back us out of the deal.

LOPEZ: Wants NAFTA to remain

OR ELSE FIND some sort of terms that will allow U.S. interests to think of themselves as the preeminent power and the other nations as subordinate.

Keep in mind that the original ideal behind NAFTA was to keep our local regulations from interfering with inter-American trade. None of those pesky union contracts meant to protect workers’ powers were allowed to interfere with trade.

All those environmental regulations we have developed to protect our eco-system but which other countries have no equivalent for themselves? They’re also bad, very bad, in terms of thinking of trade.

Which is why organized labor has always hated NAFTA; it was perceived as a way of undermining their influence. While also making them question the sincerity of Clinton’s “liberal” political credentials.

CLINTON: Gets the credit/blame

YET THE IDEOLOGUES amongst us always thought that the idea of trying to promote the North American nations as equals and boosting trade amongst us was somehow a subversive thought. The fact that it came up during the Clinton presidential years was all the more reason to mis-trust it.

Hence, we had Trump say recently that he’s not going to sign off on any renegotiated NAFTA deal until after the Nov. 6 elections – probably hoping that a change in political partisanship will strengthen his hand so he can be even further hard-headed in his negotiations tactics.

BUSH: His administration's idea

Yet Andres Lopez Obrador said Monday he’s going to do everything he can to keep the current NAFTA deal in place – largely because he’s the guy whose campaign’s ideology has been compared to that of failed presidential dreamer Bernie Sanders, and who sees himself as the anti-Trump.

Oddly enough, Trump’s refusal to act soon may play into Mexican interests – because Lopez’ presidential term doesn’t actually begin until December. Which makes it very likely that cheap rhetoric about NAFTA will join all the stupid talk about a border wall that will clutter up the political rants we’ll hear the rest of the year – on both sides of the Rio Grande/Rio Bravo del Norte.

  -30-

Summertime, when living is easy, and some see chance to justify strip joint

One of the things I enjoy about a Chicago lifestyle is the maze of weekend events we always manage to have take place during the summer months.

DANIELS: Gave political pervs a show

Yet I wonder if the most offbeat event of them all was the one up at the Admiral Theater – the one where Stormy Daniels, an exotic dancer, is trying to take advantage of her “15 minutes” of fame to bring in as much money as she’ll ever earn.

DANIELS IS THE sexually-explicit dancer/performer who has her fame because of rumors claiming she had an affair with now-president Donald Trump, back when now-first lady Melania was pregnant with their son, Barron (he’s now 12).

There also are stories claiming that Trump paid her off (supposedly $130,000) to keep her mouth shut – stories that Trump backer and adviser Rudy Giuliani has claimed are not true and that we should ignore because a stripper like Daniels has no credibility. Even though many of us think Trump has even less.

Anyway, Daniels (that’s actually her stage name, the birth certificate reads Stephanie Clifford and has been identified in court documents as Peggy Peterson) is now traveling from city to city on what she’s calling her “Make America Horny Again” tour – and that tour was in Chicago this weekend.

Five shows in three days from Thursday through Saturday – and people with an interest in seeing just what kind of “T & A” the president gets aroused by turned out en force. Although many of the news reports (no, I've never had an editor assign me to cover a strip show) that took it upon themselves to “cover” the show pointed out the large number of women and gay people who turned out.

TRUMP: Wasn't welcome in Chgo this weekend

THE IMPLICATION BEING that people inclined to think our nation’s current president is a sleaze want to see for themselves just how trashy a tramp the Donald goes for.

Which probably says more about us as a society than it does anything negative about Trump, or Daniels herself. We’re willing to watch the sleaze and “tsk tsk” about it. Perhaps we get some false feeling that we’re above it all.

The Chicago stops did manage to create some controversy. For a while on Friday, Daniels quit. Or was fired. It wasn’t clear. Although the sides ultimately reached an agreement that resulted in her doing the five full shows she was under contract to do in Chicago.

GIULIANI: Does he have credibility any longer

I’ll give Daniels one bit of credit. Her show name may be a parody of the campaign slogan that many Trump backers still wear on their red caps, but she’s not trying to make a political spectacle out of it.

SHE’S PUTTING ON a sex show, and nothing more! Which probably upset the spectators who were expecting an anti-Trump weekend (one story found a man upset because he wanted his picture taken with Daniels so he could rub it in the face, so to speak, of his Trump-loving aunt).

In fact, the reason she nearly walked out of her Chicago gigs was she resented the attempt to have her perform on stage with a man who was a crude-looking Trump lookalike. She wanted the stage to herself, figuring the sight of her bared breasts was enough to attract attention.

No bad-wigged men were necessary. Besides, those of us who care have all heard the story about the time she is alleged to have spanked the future president with a business-oriented magazine. Do we really need to have it acted out for us live?

Although I’m sure some people were determined to see something sordid. If they weren’t perhaps they would have spent the weekend at the Puerto Rican parade in the Humboldt Park neighborhood, or the Uncork Illinois Wine Festival in suburban Oak Park.

THERE’S ALWAYS SOMETHING offbeat that one can do on a summertime weekend in Chicago. It’s part of what makes this city such a joy to live in – even if the Trump backers can’t quite comprehend that fact.

LOZANO: Scored goal upsetting soccer/Trump fans

Although I have to admit that the summer temperatures that reached such intense levels on Saturday and Sunday made me look for every excuse to stay inside an air-conditioned house.

All the more reason I was able to enjoy World Cup soccer on Sunday and that 1-0 victory los Tricolores of Mexico managed to achieve over Die Mannschaft of Germany.

Which, considering all the Mexico-bashing rhetoric Trump has engaged in, is just as big a blow to the political blowhard’s rants as the Daniels traveling sex tour.

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A society of ‘dishwashers’ sees El Tri victories as a drop-dead to xenophobes

It’s a question I often hear – how can anybody who lives in this country possibly root for Mexico in the world of international soccer? Particularly since the Mexican national squad is considered to be an archrival of the U.S. national team.

This restaurant snub, ...

Yet then, all I need to see are little tidbits like the sign I saw Sunday outside a restaurant seeking workers to be reminded that every time we see an Equipo Mexico win, it upsets the sensibilities of so many in our society.

PARTICULARLY THOSE WHO think they’re offending us when they go out in public wearing their ridiculous red “Make America Great Again” caps.

The fact that Mexico pulled off a shocking 1-0 victory over the German national team on Sunday (Germany is actually the defending World Cup champion, and so many Anglo pundits were determined to believe that Mexico was unworthy of a spot on the same pitch with Die Manschaft) was my ethnic brethren’s way of saying “Drop Dead!” to the nitwits who probably see nothing wrong with The Sign.

Which, I must admit, my father was the first to notice. We went out for a Father’s Day dinner (we all wanted a hearty meal, but nobody wanted to cook in Sunday’s excessive heat), and as we left, he pointed out what he termed a racist sign.

For the restaurant in question had two signs on their window – one in English and the other in Spanish. The English sign was a properly printed poster seeking a need for people to work in jobs as cashiers and counter-help.

… does goal make up for it?

THE SIGN EN Español was a makeshift thing that expressed a need for trabajador para lavaplatos. As in dishwashers. As in back-in-the-kitchen and out of sight of paying customers. Implying that such people wouldn’t be bright enough to speak English.

Although I’d wonder if there’s really an intelligence level between up-front and behind-the-scenes workers when it comes to a restaurant employee pulling minimum wage-or-less (and counting on a share of tips to make up the difference).

In the overall scheme of things, this is a lesser snub. It is almost laughable that anybody who thinks in such a way would be capable of running a business that doesn’t immediately delve into bankruptcy.

TRUMP: Another 'Drop Dead' target?

But then again, I still had the after-glow of watching the Mexico victory over Germany just a few hours earlier on Sunday. And in seeing that moment when television cameras panned over to the faces of German fans in shock that they had actually lost to “Me-xi-co! Me-xi-co!”

ONE THAT I watched largely on the Spanish-language Telemundo network broadcasts. I tried watching the Fox Sports 1 English-language broadcast, but quickly found it annoying to hear announcers complaining that the Mexican fans who made the trip to Moscow to watch their team in the World Cup managed to sing their national anthem in a louder, more boisterous manner than the German fans.

Almost implying that Mexican fans should be meek and accept their eventual defeat. Which didn’t happen, and which gave many people of Mexican ethnic origins a moment of joy.

Particularly in Mexico City, where seismic sensors detected a small earthquake – albeit of man-made causes, in the federal district. Which, coincidentally, matched up with the exact minute when Hirving “Chucky” Lozano scored the Sunday match’s lone goal in the 35^th minute.

Chicago Cubs fans love to think the whole world was all worked up when they had their post-World Series victory parade to Millennium Park. Yet not even they managed to create a seismic disturbance of the likes we saw Sunday.

A cinematic moment when Mexico prevailed over Germany

I DO HAVE to admit one thing – I wasn’t alone on Sunday. I noticed while trying to order food a family – of whom the mother and three sons were all clad in various jerseys of the Mexican national team.

It has me thinking I’m going to have to go out and get myself an El Tri jersey – although I’m still trying to figure out which design I like the most.

Although I also have to confess it wasn’t a complete picture; the father/husband figure of the family?

He apparently is still living in the past of 2016 – he was wearing a Chicago Cubs jersey! I’d like to think the rest of his family was ashamed to be seen in public with him.

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EXTRA: Oh, be quiet; both of you!

Comedian/actor Roseanne Barr says her use of Ambien means she she shouldn’t be blamed for any thoughts she expressed while using Twitter – not even any nincompoop ideas about one-time Obama advisor Valerie Jarrett and a certain movie.

BARR: Claims she was overly-medicated

While President Donald J. Trump continues to insist during a rally in Nashville, Tenn., that Mexico WILL PAY the cost of erecting that physical barricade he wants built along the U.S./Mexico border – even though it wouldn’t accomplish a thing toward reducing the flow of people into the United States of the kind that the nativist element considers to be undesirable.

TRUMP: What's his excuse?

IT MAKES ME wonder which one qualifies as the Nitwit of the Week for this final week of May, 2018.

One could argue it is the president because he continues to harp on this issue and make his same rant – even though it doesn’t become any more accurate no matter how often or how loudly he shouts it out!

But I’m willing to give the “honor” to Roseanne, because she’s the woman who on Tuesday told us she was through with Twitter because of the controversy that has arisen and that may have permanently ruined her reputation (which wasn’t really all that stellar to begin with).

Yet I’ve lost count of the number of Tweets she has spewed since supposedly silencing herself – including the comment about blaming Ambien for her ignorance. It seems some people just don’t know how to just shut up, which is what the real majority of our society would prefer.

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