I STILL LOVE A PARADE

I’m participating in the Columbus Day parade and I’m proud to being do so.

So don’t you even begin to tell me I should be ashamed of my Italian heritage and, by extension, of Christopher Columbus.

In fact, I’m very proud to be joining a contingent of Italian-American authors on the Barnes & Noble float on Monday at the invitation of Len Riggio, grand marshal of the parade and executive chairman of the book chain.

No PC protester is ever going to make me believe that it’s OK to condemn the parade, destroy, deface or deny art by knocking down or hiding the statue of Christopher Columbus (right) — or indeed the statues of any historic figure anywhere.

Destroying statues doesn’t change history. What it does do is make our behavior no better than the book-burning, art-censoring, culture-destroying pigs of the past and radical religious groups of the present.

Eliminating the images of those we once called heroes is an intolerable form of PC censorship disguised as correctness.

Tearing down General Lee’s statue for example, won’t change the history and horror of slavery any more than defacing and destroying the image of Christopher Columbus will eliminate the history of the good, the bad and the ugly of what Columbus’ discovery wrought. And part of what that discovery wrought is us.

For decades, Harvey Weinstein held the world, not to mention another unmentionable, in his hands. And now he’s barely holding on.

The movie mogul is on leave from his own company while an investigation is conducted into his behavior, which if true, is worthy of a monster in a horror movie, a “Scary Movie” even — but without the laughs or fun. Just the nightmare.

Finally after getting away with claims of harassing women in the most horrific of ways like asking them for massages, demanding favors, and exposing himself, the disgustingly deemed Don of drama has been exposed for being a sexual predator.

And it took a powerful woman like Ashley Judd to do that by opening up in an interview in The New York Times in which she and other women told of their experiences of being harassed by the master, (or make that the masturbater) of movies.

These women finally came forward to bring a monster to his knees — a place where they allege he wanted them to be if they wanted to get ahead in the business.

Judd said he asked her up to his hotel room 20 years ago for a breakfast meeting but instead asked her to give him a massage. When she flat out refused, he thought she’d like to watch him shower. What was choice number two, setting herself on fire?

The Times reported that at least eight settlements were made with victims including those made to an assistant in 1990, an actress in 1997, another assistant in 1998, and an Italian model in 2015. Another settlement was made to employee Lauren O’Connor, who’d written a memo to Weinstein Company execs alleging that, “There is a toxic environment for women at this company.”

So NOW they’re investigating — after paying out big bucks in return for silence for decades?

Now that the door is opened, however, Weinstein is smack in an episode of real life Cosby, with accusers stampeding through.

The newest allegation, according to the HuffPost, is from former Fox News reporter Lauren Sivan. She says Weinstein cornered her in a club in the Meatpacking District and forced her to watch him masturbate and ejaculate into a potted plant. No word on whether the plant died of disgust.

Suddenly everyone is shocked by his behavior? Seriously?

For years, it’s been spoken of quietly and loudly rumored that Weinstein not only believed in the persuasive powers of the casting couch, but that he was so comfortable in it, that his was Barcalounger of casting couches.

Given all this then, how is it possible that women’s rights attorney Lisa Bloom, daughter of the country’s preeminent anti-harassment attorney, Gloria Allred, agreed to represent Weinstein?

This would be like Thurgood Marshall defending David Duke.

Bloom quit Saturday, saying Harvey was near to reaching an agreement with his board. Too late. She’d already taken the Bloom off her rose for good. I mean, what woman in her right mind would seek her counsel now?

One question remains though, what in hell could Weinstein have offered Bloom in the first place? Bet it wasn’t the opportunity to watch him shower.