Speak Out is a reader-generated column of opinions. If you there’s something you’d like to comment on in Elgin or beyond, send an email to [email protected]. Please include “speak out” in the subject line.
Turning signals help: Please use your turn signals. They are warning signals. Put them on before you change lanes and before you brake, before you are already stopped at the light. And if I see your signal, I’ll move over and let you make a right-turn-on-red. We will all be safer.
Fiction’s not history: Donald Trump gave his first presidential campaign speech Tuesday night and while it was long in recounting his many fictional achievements, it was quite short on the truth. For one thing, the disgraced, ex-president left office with the worst unemployment rate since the Great Depression and his original diagnosis of COVID as a “hoax” undoubtedly cost countless Americans their lives. With that said, I did like his suit.
Implosion alert: Billionaire Ken Griffin has announced he’s backing Ron DeSantis for president. I sure hope he stays that course. Griffin spent millions supporting Richard Irvin, and he got annihilated by Darren Bailey. Marjorie Taylor Green, in an obvious nod to Trumpism, has also warned DeSantis, and other top Republicans, not to run in 2024. Don’t you just love watching conservatives implode?
Octogenarian candidates: So here we go. Again, perhaps two old geezers in their 80s will run for president. I don’t have a real problem with the age of 80, but I was hoping the candidates combined ages would equal 80. Two rocking chairs from Amazon sure seem appropriate.
Till’s grave an embarrassment: Someone wrote about the Emmett Till movie and encouraged others to see it. In addition, a statue of him went up in Mississippi and last year his childhood home in Chicago was designated an official landmark. I only wish his grave would be cared for better, because nearly every time a photo of it is published, it looks neglected. You would think that through his prominence, the cemetery staff or local groups would tend to it regularly. The people in Mississippi probably look at his statue and don’t know that back in Chicago, Till’s final resting place is often surrounded by high weeds, dead grass and dried-up flowers.