OK...a 022nd District thread

Can anyone summarize what is happening in 022? We're getting comments in a whole bunch of threads, so we'll give it its own post. Complaints about armed robberies of police family members, cars not being where they should, no back up on scene and slow response time for assists. What the heck is going on out there? We haven't heard anything about this over where we are.

Another reason to hate the media

Does anyone here pay attention to movie reviews? Movie reviews are supposed to be about movies, right? That's what we thought. We check out movie reviews for information about movies, we check out the front pages for news and we check out the opinion pages for commentary. The Boston Globe has moved beyond this simple formula though. Read this paragraph for a review of the move "Stealth."

• "Stealth" is a pretty fair military-hardware action movie until you start thinking about it -- at which point it turns incredibly sour in your mouth. I can therefore recommend it to any and all audiences lacking higher brain functions. Sea cucumbers, perhaps. Ones waving American flags. (emphasis added)
  

So if we like our country and choose to fly a flag in front of the house to support our country, we lack higher brain functions and are the equivalent of sea cucumbers? Wow. That east coast media elite sure are a bitter bunch if a freaking movie reviewer feels the need to insult millions of citizens who choose to fly a flag. Bring on the alternative media and send the dead tree media packing already.

I got your "rights" right here!

Read these links here and here (free registration may be required)

When confronted by the London police, one of the failed suicide bombers screamed back at the police "How do I know you won't kill me? I have rights!" Hey shithead? So did the 58 people your compatriots slaughtered 14 days before. So does most of society, going about their daily lives of trying to make a living, pay some bills, and just maybe make their lives a little more happy and joyful. The LAST thing they need is some failure of a human being taking out their problems on them. Rights? Too bad Britain doesn't have a death penalty. We know of 58 families that might like to throw the switch.

The comments sections ...

... are burning up! We've gotten a lot of new visitors over the past few days, and we're going to roll out another publicity generator shortly. Spread the word people. We're recently hit over 150 visits a day and hopefully by the end of August, we can get it over 200 a day. We're going to throw up this open post for comments while we read the papers and surf the net for stories. More new stuff this afternoon. Check back in a bit.

Not so funny statistic

Watching FoxNews just now (yeah, we do that a lot), and they put up a transition slide that only reinforces what we were saying earlier about the unions.

>Amount of money that unions contributed to republican candidates in the past 5 years: $20 million

>Amount of money that unions contributed to democratic candidates in the past 5 years: $229 Billion.

That is NOT a misprint. $20 Million v. $229 BILLION. That is obscene. With 40% or more of union members voting republican, the union leadership is contributing to democrats at a ratio of $11,450 to $1. Actually, obscene doesn't even begin to cover what this is. The AFL-CIO fracture is only the beginning of a trend and it can't get here fast enough.

Quick hits!

For those of you too busy to read the papers or cruise the internet trolling for stories:

Aaron Patterson convicted again. Gee, do ya think that the police had it right the first time and maybe this goof might have been guilty? At the very least, he belongs behind bars.

Ted Kennedy thinks US Supreme Court nominee holds "cramped views" on the Voting Rights act. Wonder what Teddy's views are on driving and swimming drunk?

Frank Main of the slum-times continues his long history of misleading headlines, claiming a TASER device killed a man even though he had methamphetamine levels 5% ABOVE the known fatal doses. Let's blame the police if they use a device that will both save their own lives AND the lives of a psycho who could seriously hurt them, eh Frank? We think they ought to go back to just shooting the jagoffs who attack the police. The paperwork is easier and they usually give you a medal for it.

Here is the USA Today story "theleftisbest" was speaking about. Here is another version of it. Here is a link where you can write to ClearChannel and express your displeasure with their choice of on air talent. Remember: a polite, but firm letter will garner a response while a hate filled screed will cause them to dismiss you as a psycho.

An interesting article on why Hillary won't win the election in 2008.

How well do you know your US geography? Play this game and find out. We've gotten our average down to 9 miles of error. Play this advanced version and the states disappear after you place them.

Guilty pleasure

We have a confession to make. We belong to a small group of cook county residents who have never voted for a Cook County judge. Ever. We've never even voted to retain a judge. We look forward with a kind of malicious glee to check the "NO" box on 60 or 70 or 80 judges every time they are up for retention. Does it make a difference? Not that we've noticed, but as a judge needs something like 60 or 70% vote to be retained, we figure why not make them work a little harder? We even have a song we hum while checking the "NO" boxes (it goes something like this: no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no). Only once have we ever done a favor for a judge and undervoted (didn't vote "yes," but left it blank) and we felt so awful about it, we vowed never again.

We are especially unhappy with a judge like this (click link here) who lets a scumbag out on a piddling bail, lets him keep his passport, and then is surprised when he probably flees the country after beating a man to death with a bicycle lock. A man far wiser than us told us once that there wasn't an honest judge in cook county, just lesser degrees of dishonesty. Now, more than ever, we see how wise this man truly was.

Previous post about bombs

Numerous news organizations and blogs have been approached by Scotland Yard (not this blog we're afraid - too small to be noticed) asking that they not publicize the pictures we did as it may jeopardize an ongoing investigation. A number of them have complied. After some careful consideration, we have decided not to. The reasons are as follows:

1. We are small, barely hitting 150 readers a day
2. These pictures are everywhere after ABC posted them. If this isn't a situation of closing the barn door after the horse, pigs and chickens have all left and the cow is turning off the lights, we don't know what is.
3. We are decidedly contrarian in our viewpoint that this information SHOULD be shared, especially as it relates to safety. Again, animals and empty barns.
   
4. Most, if not all, of our readers are Chicago cops. If we can make even one copper aware of what these devices look like...well, we've been to far too many funerals not to post the pictures.
   

Maurer named Chief of Aviation Dept.

Jimmy Maurer is leaving the Chicago Police Department in 3 weeks time to take over as head of the Aviation Department. Let the rumors begin as to the next Chief of Patrol. We're betting it's going to be Area 3 Chief Dan Dugan stepping in to the spot. Anyone else have an opinion?

A post in five parts - part 1

This is detonator cord:







Comments will be activated in this post only.

Part 2

These are explosive pancakes made of acetone and drain cleaner

part 3

This is what it looks like in a jar:

part 4

Wrap it up with bolts or nails or any stray metal that will rip and tear flesh.

Part 5

THIS is what it does to trains. All photos publicly available at ABC News

After seeing something like this, you may understand a tiny bit about why the British police were a little eager to stop a suspicious turnstyle jumper. And these are the cleaned up photos. You can only see a tiny little bit of blood in the first train picture and all the body pieces have been picked up. Comments are activated in post #1 up top

Hey!!! Look at us!!

100 posts! We actually came up with enough material for 100 separate entries! Of course, some of them are open threads (just like this one!) that merely take up space and provide us a little breathing room to think of something new and entertaining. But we hope that some of it is at least minimally thought provoking.

Anyhow, thanks to everyone who has been participating. Tell your friends to stop on by and give us some more eyeballs. Make up your own posters for the districts and units. Spread the word!

Look for a BIG post tomorrow morning at some point. We've been drafting it for a few hours now and it'll take up multiple posts. We're going to post it in reverse order so it will read top to bottom since we haven't yet figured out all the bugs in this program yet. Comments will be open on post #1 so as not to have everything scattered to heck.

Even MORE good news

Courtesy of the Bellville New Democrat and Gateway Pundit

New home sales up to record highs for the month of June. Big ticket manufacturing items up another 1.4%. Boy, that economy just keeps on trucking along, doesn't it? Combined with recent hints that troops overseas will be scaled down starting next year, looks like another losing year for the democratic party.

More traffic stop news

From the latest issue of Street Survival, an electronic newsletter by Caliber Press:

News from Illinois and Texas worthy of discussion

Law enforcement officers across the country should make note of some news from Illinois and Texas worthy of discussion and debate. [ ... ]

First, Chicago police officers may lose their discretion on how to handle a traffic stop if local elected officials adopt a proposed ordinance that would dictate their behavior. And if they don't follow the ordinance, they could be subject to a minimum $100 fine as well as possible discipline from the department. City officials are considering the ordinance following the July 13th traffic stop of a state senator who claimed he was racially profiled by a Chicago police officer.
Proponents say the "code of conduct" is designed to protect motorists as well as help police by requiring motorists to stay in their vehicles during stops. The ordinance would require officers to "approach the motorist in a cautious, safety-minded manner" and "politely inform the driver of the reason and purpose of the traffic stop," addressing the driver by name and "appropriate title" (Mr., Ms.) after examining the driver's license. In turn, motorists are required to pull over immediately, provide proper identification, keep hands visible and stay in their cars. Violators, including police officers, would be subject to a $100 minimum fine.

A spokesman for police administration told The Chicago Tribune, that the department "welcomes any conversations in our efforts to augment public education about how to conduct yourself during a traffic stop. We are open to looking at any way we can augment current efforts to train officers on how to conduct traffic stops professionally."

Does anyone have some "conversations " on how to conduct yourself during a traffic stop??

Out of the spotlight

Imagine, if you will, President Bush diverting hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of your tax money from inner city children and nursing homes and giving to his bestest buddy in the whole world, Sean Hannity. And imagine Mr. Hannity taking those dollars and spending it on his radio show to lambast the democratic leadership, call them nazi's and child killers in Iraq and ridiculing their efforts to reform social security so it doesn't collapse. Do you think that there might be a little bit of outrage? A call for investigations? Maybe a few articles written in the new york times? Just maybe?

Then someone tell us why, when hundreds of thousands of dollars in the form of grants to New York City inner city children and Alzheimer's sufferers are diverted to air america is there no press coverage? No outrage? No public hearings and investigations? Click on this LINK HERE and read about all of the sordid details.

Thanks to Michelle Malkin for the story.

UPDATE: Be sure to read Michelle Malkin's home page for an interesting story on "strange men with rocket launchers" spotted outside of Tinker AFB recently.

Wanted, Dead or Alive!

The Trib and the Times both carry articles about the Cook County republican party offering a $10,000 reward for information that can put the mayor behind bars. The Trib's op-ed treats it as on opportunity to call the republican party "cheap." We agree it's cheap, but Colonel McCormick must be spinning in his grave to see how far down into the liberal abyss his paper has slid that the "slum-times" actually comes off as the responsible report today.

Should they actually find someone that can put the mayor in handcuffs and frogmarched out of city hall, we promise to send $100 to any account dedicated to his/her benefit and furthermore swear to place his/her name in as a write-in candidate for the vacated position of mayor for all time.

Did anyone see ...

... the police chase this morning on Fox News this morning? We can't quite figure out how to link it here, so follow these simple instructions (you'll need a decent speed internet connection):

1 - Go to this link (click here!)
1a - if your name is "leftisthebest," clean your eyes, keyboard and screen with #20 grit sandpaper as we are sure you don't usually spend time at foxnews.com :)
2 - in the tool bar at the top of the screen, click on video
3 - there are usually about 10 video links here. Click the one marked "Hot Pursuit" and view it.

These video links are replaced often, so go as soon as you can to see this lest it disappear. The cop in the crash is fine, but watching his squad car wipe out is a classic.

Newest Rumor

Very nice give and take on the previous few threads. Be sure to check it out and contribute your two cents worth.

New rumors though. We're hearing rumblings that the "sooper-secret" study group at 35th Street produced not one, not two, not even three, but twenty eight identical top scores. BUT TWENTY EIGHT IDENTICAL TOP SCORES. Say it again slowly in your head. Twenty eight. Identical. Say it out loud. Sounds ridiculous, doesn't it? But we are hearing this exact thing from numerous credible sources. Twenty eight.

Say hello to your future bosses boys and girls. People this soft, and we mean softer than baby poo, are going to go far on this job. They couldn't even vary their answers enough to divert suspicion from the study group because that might mean that someone else got a better seniority date than they did. Does anyone care to confirm or deny this?

UPDATE: Sorry if we weren't clear. Readers who have gone through the archives would remember that this is about the recent D-2 BIS test. The one that they cancelled after the threat of legal action by the Lodge and had to retool and reschedule. Another test scandal would probably be an additional nail in the mayor's political coffin.

Unions good? Bad? Long post

We seem to have touched a nerve here. This is good because it provokes dialogue. Let us proceed with more then.

As a citizen, we believe unions once stood for good. We previously stated that they fought the good fight against outrageous and illegal job actions, they pioneered health and insurance coverage, they trained generations of workers coming up behind them and created safety rules and they fought for a living wage and regular pay raises. These were all good things at the time as there were no laws and no recourse for the workers of yesteryear.

Generally, police distrust unions. Part of it is institutional; police have always been the buffer between companies and unions and, as it was, unions were usually bucking the status quo and more often than not, agitating for change by breaking the existing rules to effect these changes. Police enforce the existing rules and aren't usually allowed to pick and choose what laws to enforce, so they were seen as tools of the "oppressors." One of the outcomes of this was the Haymarket massacre.

As a cop and republican, we distrust unions more so than usual. Unions have become calcified dinosaurs that hinder efforts more so than they help anymore. Unions have become the stumbling block that prevents reform and progress. Example: does anyone have any idea how hard it is to fire a union teacher? An incompetent teacher who constantly fails to teach our children? Yes, we know teachers are hamstrung by certain rules of their employers, but if those obstacles are overcome, it is still impossible to fire a teacher who doesn't make the grade. Example: WalMart is trying to open one or two stores within city limits. The city council is caving to lots of union pressure to deny WalMart permits to build and open a store in the Austin neighborhood, even though the aldercreature of this ward is begging for this job generator, not just the store itself, but the construction jobs it will also provide. If any place needs jobs, Austin is near the top. WalMart provides the impetus for massive economic changes, but as it is a non-union operation, unions say "no" and this hurts the community at large. Example: the UAW often demanded hefty pay raises, generous work rules, fought the automation of assembly lines and generally made it very expensive to produce automobiles in the United States. In fact, many manufacturing unions fought for exactly the same things. Is it any wonder that the manufacturing sector of this country is decaying at an unprecedented and alarming rate? Americans demand affordable products and if they can get it cheaper from overseas, they're going to buy it. It's a fact of life.

The only portion of unions that has grown at all in the past few years is the government unions. Every other union is shrinking. Herein lies a BIG problem. Most police and fire departments and many other government employees cannot strike. It's written into existing contracts along with local, state and federal law. They have no power to force the city to its knees in negotiations. Ticket boycotts are illegal and even advocating a job action like that is grounds for firing. Look it up. So when you ask, "Could you imagine Mayor Daley bargaining with Police Officers if there was no union?" we reply "yes, we can." It would be almost exactly the same because we have no club with which to beat the mayor. The only reason we got the contract we did is because of a neutral arbitrator. The union didn't win very much at all because the city didn't agree to very much at all. The arbitrator went by past history and pretty much gave us the raises and increases that we got in past years. We don't blame the current FOP people because the only history the arbitrator had to go on was the old "give away the store" Nolan team people.

Another reason we believe the time of the union has past is that the union has become, part and parcel, an arm of the democratic party. Look at some of the platforms they advocate. Clinton had to submit his entire election and reelection platforms to the unions to get their endorsements. They had veto power over all of it. And all too often, the platforms had next to nothing to do with what union members ethical and moral beliefs were. There are studies that show that although unions endorsed democratic candidates at a ridiculously high margin (something like 90+%), union members themselves voted republican almost 40% of the time. Unions have something that no other organization short of the government has: the power to tax you (dues). The mistake unions have (and are) making is not consulting with their members as to how those dues are spent, especially in the political arena. This is one factor driving away people who would otherwise join unions. It is possible that this fracture in the AFL-CIO will produce something more responsive to its members by denying the national union the dues money it uses to pursue a decidedly liberal agenda. At the very least, it may produce something more along the lines of how their members actually vote.

Busy day - Open thread

Be sure to read the posts from over the weekend. We are going to be busy most of today, so we're putting up this open thread for the time being. We'll probably post new stuff after sunset.

The end of the AFL-CIO?

Read this Sun Times post

It is our considered opinion, that the day of the union has passed. Organizations that once protected workers rights, standardized salaries and safety rules, began apprentice programs to train new workers, pioneered insurance coverage and disability pay, and gave the workers a fighting chance against illegal job actions are on their last legs. The unions inability to adapt to the changing world scene and refusal to listen to the changing political climate has doomed them to obsolescence and driven away members at an increasingly higher rate. Union membership is at an all time low and this fracture of the AFL-CIO with the Teamsters and the SEIU pulling out (along with 5 other unions over the past three years) will cost them another third of their membership. And no, it isn't the republican's fault. It is their own fault. The warning signs were there for years. They just refused to look at them.

Damn! It was hot!

Any word from the streets about how "Lollapalooza" went? Hopefully, it was too hot for anyone to seriously misbehave, but it also was too damn hot to be one of the poor coppers out there keeping an eye on things.

Units and manpower

In the post titled "Rumors..." there were a number of comments about the Superintendent being displeased about the Traffic Specialists filing a grievance to receive D-2A. We confess to having missed it, but delegating "fatality" investigations to the detective areas seems implausible as the detectives are also shorthanded and their clearance rate for major index crimes is nothing to write home about. Why burden them with traffic investigations? Can anyone point us to this order?

Also, it seems every specialized unit in the city is way down manpower. We have a theory on this and would like to hear some input into it. UNDERSTAND THIS PLEASE, WE ARE NOT SLAMMING OLD TIMERS. Read on.

For many of these jobs where you had to take a test that was Pass/Fail only, seniority was the ONLY deciding factor after you passed. There was never a numerical ranking like for detective, sergeants or lieutenants. For units like B&A, Crime Lab, and MAIS, and ETs, entire units were made up of guys with 28 and 30+ years on the job. We are not saying these guys didn't earn it, but we are saying that this was short sighted on the part of the department. When the state passed the pension bill that allowed us to retire (max pension) at 28 years instead of 31, the department and the D units were caught short. Very short. We are not exaggerating when we say that literally HUNDREDS of years of police experience was wiped off of the boards and no one downtown gave it a thought, until the clearance rate started to bottom out and units like MAIS and Crime Lab couldn't handle normal weekend workloads.

Anyone have a remedy for this situation? If you don't mind posting it, we won't mind stealing it, selling it as our own, and maybe getting a gold star out of the deal.

A challenge! Say something nice

We have been challenged by "leftisthebest" to say something nice about senator dick "turban" durbin. We love a challenge and hearby accept it as worthy of our consideration.

The nice thing about dick durbin is that he might finally teach the left something about their words having consequences. Read this link here from the Sun Times. We, for one, are going to make sure that the FOP gets all the information it needs to support and endorse whomever runs against durbin in 2008. With durbin's approval rating at 50% BEFORE he equated the US military with nazis, gulag guards and pol-pot's genocidal tendencies, the republicans of this state have a golden opportunity to knock off the turban. Especially if the mayor's political machine falls apart, which is looking more likely every day. Turban has no machine to speak of once Daley is gone. Look how fast he caved when the mayor criticized him over his comments. Under 24 hours we believe. If daley goes, so goes the turban.

Rumors! We've got ...well

nothing actually. the rumor mill has gone to sleep. maybe it's just quiet because of the most recent boss changes. or the captains being made. or the merit lieutenant letters being delayed until this monday. or the "hiring freeze" the mayor has put in place in the face of continuing federal pressure. has anyone heard anything about the dick's test? or a class of detectives before they announce the results of the latest test? we are hearing whispers of a class of 48-52 lieutenants shortly and some hints of sergeants following that, but nothing firm. anyone have anything? anyone? Bueller?

When in doubt, an open thread

Post away boys and girls. Same rules as always. Any subject which piques our interest will get its own thread. The job, the city, politics, books, movies, whatever. Anyone interested in seeing more of those "officer safety alert" type posts? We know the Department offers some, but we don't think we've ever seen any on the FOP site. Compliments and criticism are welcome in equal measures.

UPDATE - Tomorrow's Headlines Today

Well, we've been in business just under two months, had 2200 visitors, had some nice little give and take and finally, someone posted the word "nigger" in the comments section. This is not unexpected. Believe us, we are under no illusions about this website being a "bathroom wall" type of outlet for various viewpoints, stories and the like. We've done all we can to remain as anonymous as our posters because we feel that this give and take of opinion and information benefits everyone. We've tried to be sly, snide, even provocative, leaving certain things unsaid that we assume everyone knows or can deduce our opinion of. However, as the moderator and owner of the site, we'd rather this not turn into something the general public (yes, this is a public board) and political creatures can use against us or the department as a whole. If that means turning off the comments until everyone calms down, we can do that. If that means shutting down the comments completely, we can do that, too. But then no one gets to participate because of a few assholes. We definitely don't want to start registering users because that leads to a list that can be tracked. So a friendly reminder: keep it reasonably clean and free of the racial bullshit. Pretend it's a room of people you don't know (which it is) and you'd like to make a decent impression (which you actually might) and dazzle the readers with your wit and charm rather than your crudity.

By the way, we deleted the comment. Our board, our rules. You don't like it, go start your own board and make the effort we've made to generate publicity, generate interest and have adult conversations with other coppers. Save the other stuff for the bar with the crowd you know.

Pic of the Day

This 1,100 pound tiger shark was caught off of the coast of Martha's Vineyard. The fishermen were part of a tournament and thought they had the contest in the bag until they were 6 minutes late to the dock and were disqualified. Pic via the Drudge Report.

More bombs?

London police are evacuating at least 3 underground stations after citizens hearing "gunshots." Also, witness on a bus relate that a man carrying a backpack had something inside the bag "explode" and blow the top off of it. The witnesses report the man them swore as everyone evacuated the bus. SkyNews is speculating that the bus and "gunshot" incidents may have been detonator caps going off, but not the main explosive packages. FOX is showing a deserted bus taped off in the street in London, leading to more speculation of a live device. Check here and the links on the right of the page for updates.

UPDATE: Witnesses are reporting the smell of acetone (nail polish remover), which is a highly flammable, but a common trigger for homemade bombs. Unfortunately for the bombers and bombmakers, this stuff is also highly unstable. It's looking like they got the mix wrong and at least two people, possibly the bombers, are in custody. One of the bombs recovered is reported to be a "nail bomb," a silly euphemism for an anti personnel device. These people are among the lowest of the low, lower than...well...whale shit we suppose. What possible justification could there be for attacking civilians with this type of shrapnel?

Tomorrows Headlines Today!

Here's one of the lead stories from tomorrow's Tribune, the gist being a "code of conduct" for officers and civilians during traffic stops. No mention of any rules governing when you can and can't have your service weapon out, so that's good.

Notice this sentence though: " A second car containing members of Meeks' group was behind his vehicle while the sergeant was dealing with the driver of the Meeks vehicle. They also got out of their car, according to police sources." THIS is what ought to be investigated. The sergeant was definitely at a tactical disadvantage and was alone. The off (or on) duty CPD security ought to be questioned thoroughly about this. Police know better than civilians the dangers of a traffic stop. No way they should have been out of the car, period. Wave the badge out the window or display it through your windshield. Let the sergeant KNOW that you are a friendly and wait for him to approach you. This is his stop, let him run it. Then he can (a) handle it as a simple warning, (b) ticket the driver, (c) flush his own career down the toilet if he treats Meeks badly, instead of being tried in the media because he didn't know if the 3 guys confronting him while he was alone were good or bad.

And if you harbor any thoughts of where this incident is going, read this: " Investigators from the Police Department's Office of Professional Standards are conducting an "expedited" probe of the traffic stop and the officer at the heart of the investigation could face disciplinary action and additional training, officials said." (emphasis added)

Officer Safety Alert

Found this nifty little item for sale online the other day. THAT is a pocket shotgun. Two chambers, each holding 7 BB pellets. Accurate? Not a chance. Devastating if placed against your body? Oh hell yes. That's a credit card taped to the side of it to give you some perspective. Beware boys and girls.

An interesting quote

Here's the link for the article. But the following quote deserves to be looked at closely: Patrick Fitzgerald, US Attorney -

"Every resident of Chicago has the right to compete fairly for a better job if he or she is qualified, without regard to political affiliation or whether they do campaign work. Every applicant who sits for an interview is entitled to an honest evaluation. And the residents of Chicago are entitled to the best qualified laborers, plumbers, foremen and inspectors. And when a federal court order requires that people be hired or promoted without regard to political affiliation, the court order must be followed." (emphasis added by moderator)

If that isn't a TEXTBOOK statement of why this city needs to do away with "merit" promotions, we don't know what is. Hopefully, even now, someone in the appropriate position at FOP is looking into negotiating hardball with the city to get rid of these political appointments masquerading as "merit."

John G. Roberts for the USSC

The left has started eating its own. John G Roberts is one of democrat Joe Lieberman's compromise candidates, so the dems have probably already lost Joe for the filibuster option. Dick "turban" Durbin is already screeching about Bush wanting to bring a fight to the senate, but from the looks of it, Bush is going to get probably 12 to 20 democrats voting for confirmation. Roberts has been through FIVE FBI background checks and made it through the senate BY UNANIMOUS VOTE before the filibuster era of Harry Reid and company. The republicans are going to hammer the democrats who (paraphrasing John Kerry here) voted for the nominee before they voted against him.

Hugh Hewitt writes a glowing recommendation of Roberts as a mainstream conservative who will appeal to middle America. This is a good move for Bush, replacing a shaky moderate (O'Connor) with a firm conservative. The march to the right starts in earnest now.

UPDATE: It seems the unanimous confirmation may have been by voice vote. He passed out of committee 14-3 and a voice vote is assumed to be unanimous unless someone specifically brings up objections. Check out this review by the Washington Post

Fourteenth District Follies

So we are assuming that a number of people have heard or read about the jackasses who were pulling over motorists talking on their cell phones and advising them that they could either be fined large dollar amounts or pay them $100 bucks to avoid the tickets. They were eventually apprehended and face numerous charges. HOWEVER...

Has anyone heard about HOW they were pulling over people? In a marked car? A marked car not reported missing from the 014th District for TWO DAYS? Oh me oh my, what a story this is. Seems a 014 District traffic guy stopped at Lazo's at Western and Armitage for a bite to eat and left the keys in the car. The car disappeared. So did our intrepid officer report it missing so there could be a citywide flash message? Oh no, that would make sense. He called a buddy and the two of them searched for the remainder of the shift to no avail. Did he THEN report the car missing, so maybe the next watch could look for it and a flash message could be sent? OH NO. He checked off and went home, never told a soul. He even showed up the next day and checked out a different car while the missing car was making traffic stops and robbing citizens! The mopes were eventually caught and the vehicle recovered. (One citizen managed to get the car number when she flagged it down, changed her mind when the guys were not dressed in uniform and she just felt it was "odd," and called 911 to report it.) A check of the vehicle revealed it to be assigned to the 014th District so the desk was called. 014 disavowed any knowledge of a missing car until they actually checked the lot. It was then the theft was discovered. So did our multi-year veteran traffic man 'fess up to the mistake yet? Oh no, he denied any knowledge of the missing car. Said they must have stolen it from the lot. This didn't explain the keys they had, but hey, in for a penny, in for a pound we guess. During interviews, the arrestees admitted to taking the car and even telling the detectives where and when they stole it. Officer Knucklehead's story promptly fell apart at this point.

Really, we couldn't make this stuff up if we tried. Anyone care to confirm or add to it?

Tuesday night open posting

Here is an open thread for people to post on. If a subject has enough interest, we'll give it its own thread. In the meantime, we have to go stuff envelopes for the latest mailing to our right wing cadre. AND we still haven't set up our phone tree! PLUS we have to attend to the US Supreme Court nomination sometime tonight (we're hoping for Brown, but we'll settle for Owens. Such is the busy busy life of a member of the VRWC (vast right wing conspiracy)

Pfleger is a Pfool

We caught the news last night, and there's rev Michael Pfleger spouting off about how this police sergeant ought to be suspended, fired and prosecuted (and probably drawn, quartered and boiled in oil for good measure. The TV stations must have cut out that part.) Now, as narrow-minded, right-wing fanatics, we would certainly support summary executions on the street for certain offenses. But as this is a country of laws, we are obliged to follow the rules. ALL of the rules. Not just the ones we think fit a particular situation.

Not Pfleger though. Without an investigation, without a hearing and without a finding, he's ready to destroy this sergeant. A human being who might have faults, but who, as a citizen, under the rule of law and the rules of HIS UNION and UNDER THE RULES OF HIS GOD DAMN EMPLOYER is entitled to due process.

Rules of law for thee but not for me? Pfleger is a symptom of exactly what is wrong with this entire incident. Rush to judgment, failure to follow established rules, race baiting, innuendo, half truth, the list goes on and on. And after today's headlines of more federal indictments, watch for the city to throw this sergeant overboard in another attempt to stop the bleeding. The mayor is finished, he just doesn't know it yet, and there's no reason for him protect this sergeant. FOP ought to be working on responses, because the blowback from this incident is going to reverberate for years.

Happy Anniversary!

Tonight is the 36th anniversary of the death of Mary Jo Kopechne at the hands of US senator Edward "Ted" Kennedy. Happy Anniversary Teddy! Thanks for the memories.

Now I'm off to help the vast right wing conspiracy distract the citizens of the country from the true issues at hand and sneak a conservative nominee onto the Supreme Court.

OK, now it's the FOP's problem

According to WBBM radio reports, Meeks is calling for a national policy, starting in Chicago, dictating a standard operating procedure for traffic stops, including when you can take your gun out of the holster. Excuse my profanity, but fuck this. This is now, officially, the FOP's problem. Meeks is looking to get cops killed. Newsflash!! There is NO SUCH THING as a routine traffic stop.

On one hand, we have a police sergeant pulling over a car, approaching, then having at least one, maybe two non-uniformed security personnel get out of a 2nd car behind him. The reverend approaches from the first direction to pull a "do you know who I am?" routine. People from two directions, out of their cars, and he's riding 99? Damn right our gun is out of the holster. Damn right we're going to use some coarse language. Damn right we're letting everyone see the gun. Armchair quarterbacking aside, the sergeant has lost control of this traffic stop. He has no tactical advantage whatsoever. No distance, no cover, no backup (on scene), no time to react. This is total FUBAR.

On the other hand, we have a reasonably well known (in the black community) reverend claiming the sergeant said "I know who you are." Claiming the sergeant pointed a gun at him. Claiming the sergeant used bad words. If the traffic stop went down as everyone appears to be describing it, the last two of those don't mean spit. The sergeant was at a tactical disadvantage and had to resort to the final option. Hell, for all we know, he might have claimed he knew who Meeks was in a last ditch effort to stave off Meeks approach and secure an avenue of escape.

Our bet? This is going to be a horseshit investigation and political lynching. How about this question: Who the hell were the off duty CPD (Meek's security) getting OUT of their car BEHIND an officer doing a 10-99 traffic stop? Marvelous way to get yourself shot, don't you think?

Racial Profiling

In case anyone cares, the definition of racial profiling isn't "white cop pulls over minority motorist." It's supposed to be "ANY cop pulls over motorist for the sole reason he/she is a (insert ethnic group)." That's right, black cops can racial profile, hispanic cops can too. And male cops? They aren't misogynist if they pull over females. And female cops aren't militant feminists if they pull over dudes. And don't even get us started on straight and gay coppers doing traffic stops in 023.

And another thing. Guess what? White cops are allowed to pull over minorities if they violate traffic laws! Seriously! Stop laughing! IT'S TRUE! Stop laughing damnit! If a minority violates the law, they are held accountable if they're caught and cited. I still hear giggling, knock it off! Someone notify Meeks and Jesse Jr. Their casual accusations of racial profiling are destroying any appearance of a legitimate investigation.

What if you're a copper in 011? You can't just pull over white people who don't look like they live there (even if they've got suburban stickers and look like junkies), that's profiling. Now you can't stop minorities? Who else lives in 011? You've just created a zone of exclusion that, for something like the past 10 or 15 years, led the city in homicides that regularly topped 80 to 100 a year. What about 007? If you can find us a large number of white or hispanic people living in 007, we'd be surprised. If 011 wasn't at the top of the murder parade, it was 007.

As the average motorist commits a traffic violation every eighth of a mile, it isn't hard to make traffic stops. And last time we checked, white people WERE the minority in the city and getting smaller. The city breakdown was something like 44% black, 42% white, 12% hispanic, 2% other and this was 5 years ago.

Playing the fool

If we happened to be the type of person who only got their news through the Chicago dailies or one of the local networks,we'd assume that all cops are racist, over reacting, foul mouthed, gun slinging fools with no sense of proportional reaction or weapon discipline. If we were that type of person, we'd be a reactionary, narrow minded fool. Fortunately, we aren't that type of person.

Rev. Meeks, Jesse Jr, and the mayor are not fools either, but they're acting like it. John Kass points out the hypocrisy of the mayor in the Sunday Trib. We're sure Daley has dozens of people that can tell him, and probably have told him, that a 10-99 traffic stop is one of the most dangerous situations ever. Hell, as a former State's Attorney, he knows it. But the political realities being what they are, the mayor needs to sacrifice someone on the altar of political correctness to divert attention from his overly corrupt administration and preserve his minority votes. The lakefront liberals have already proven they'll vote for a black guy and the city workers who've been without contracts for over 2 years aren't happy. He needs minority votes, so this sergeant will pay, probably with his job.

Jesse Jr learned at the foot of (insert sarcastic comment here) the city has ever known. His demanding the police keep guns in their holsters on "routine" traffic stops is nothing short of complete ignorance of the job police do day in and day out. His speech at the VFW hall in the heavily republican 41st ward Friday night is being played as a dry run for city hall. Daley is wounded, badly, and Jr smells opportunity. But it looks like he's going to do it without police votes if he continues with this fiasco.

And Meeks. We stated before that we wouldn't be surprised if he twisted this to his own ends, and he hasn't disappointed. A press release? Wow. Looks like he was just waiting for this opportunity to take his pound of flesh, but he could have just realized a golden opportunity dropping into his lap and running with it. He's now comparing himself with Oprah and her little "to-do" in Paris, a "Crash" moment if you will.

Maybe we shouldn't worry though. We're sure OPS or IAD or whoever is handling this immediately isolated the witnesses for interviews/statements so they don't have a chance to coordinate their stories (hahahahahaha!!)(oops, sorry about that)(::snort::guffaw::). Will the off duty (CPD?) security that was with Meeks corroborate the sergeant's version or the reverend's? Sarge better hope he never did this guy or any of his friends a bad turn. And for the comments about "what is FOP doing?" We've asked the same question, but the reality is most sergeants aren't part of FOP. We don't even know if the press has sought out a comment from FOP and even if FOP issued a press release, the media isn't obliged to report it. The Sergeant's Association HAS issued a press release in support of this guy, but is it enough to slow down the 30-pending train?

Sun Times Saturday headline

Keep guns holstered, Rep. Jackson asks police

Well, we guess Jr. just wrote off most of the police vote in the next election. All Daley has to do is find a tame minority to split the black vote and **poof** another term (unless he gets indicted.)

We stated in the previous thread that we wouldn't be surprised to see Meeks twist this to his own advantage and sure enough, representative. Jr., representative Danny Davis, representative Bobby Rush, state senator Kwame Raoul and aldercreature Anthony Bealy all appeared with Meeks. Meeks has already said this will be the subject of his Sunday sermon and Supt. Cline has been sent to making an appearance. It makes great headlines and guarantees press coverage to blast the police and demand changes that put us at risk.

Remember this if you remember nothing else. There is a reason that there is no policy dictating when you can and cannot display a weapon. Love him or hate him, Chief Maurer is the only boss that states these changes are "impossible." But even he sees which way the political winds are blowing on this one, tempering his quote with a short mention of weapon discipline. Starks is quoted about "strong, decisive" action before an investigation is even begun. The political establishment is looking to crucify this sergeant. Will he keep his job? Odds are even money at this point.

Good news, Bad news

Good news - Cops in 010 rescue 15 people from a burning building.
A feel good story

Good news - Cops shoot bad guy, hooray!
Sources in Area 4 report the interrogation at the hospital before surgery went something like this:

subject - "I'm with the FBI."
detectives - "Where do you work?"
subject - "Downtown."
detectives - "Where downtown?"
subject - "I don't know. One of those buildings downtown."

The subject was then taken to surgery.

Bad news - Unknown Sergeant accused of acting the fool.
We're passing no judgments on this one as we've worked too many nights as a 99 car and run across this many times. We also know much that never gets reported about the Rev. Meeks. It wouldn't surprise us to hear Meeks took advantage of this situation and twisted it, but you'll never see it published. The media always portrays the cops as the racist ignorant party without ever investigating the whole incident and the mayor jumping all over it early is bad, so look for this sergeant to pay a hefty price. See how the "Slum-Times" brought up the racial profiling angles? Mark this well people, look for some major league roll call training films soon.

Bad news - Cop arrested on 1st Degree murder charge
Crap like this irritates us on one hand and tickles our darker sense of humor on the other. How many of us have been going through half a dozen assholes and picked out the ones we thought we oughta buy life insurance on and make the payments ourselves because we knew they were headed for a bad end? Too many to count. Then some knucklehead copper actually goes and does it? And hires a couple of small time street hoods who were caught? And flipped on him? Do you think he might have thought this through a little better? Innocent until proven guilty, we know, but thanks alot Leak.

This is a joke, right?

So the CTA hires a consulting firm (see links here to Sun-Times and Tribune) and pays them $1.2 million dollars to come up with ways to generate more revenue to cover a $55 million shortfall. The shortfall was temporarily alleviated when Springfield voted for a $54.3 million bailout plan, but the CTA is already crying poor as the 2006 budget will be almost $100 million short.

Hey! We know where you can save $1.2 million dollars today! Stop paying "consultants" for stale ideas like selling the naming rights to various structures. That idea has been around for years, or haven't you noticed the United Center, U.S. Cellular Field, etc. If it stands still long enough, Daley will try to sell the naming rights to anything.

And another thing - the naming idea? It stinks. Really. Does anyone think that Marshall Fields or Carson's or any really big Michigan Avenue stores is going to want to attach their name to a dank underground train station that smells of oil, mildew and bum urine? "Jackson. This is Jackson. When you smell Jackson, think Carson, Pierre, Scott & Co." It just doesn't work for us.

Happy dance! Hockey returns

Glad to see the NHL owners and players finally signed a labor agreement. We've always been hockey fans here. Always disliked Bill Wirtz, too - we thought he, more than any other governor, did more to keep hockey off of free TV, limiting its appeal to about 18,000 fans who used to show up at the old barn. But they are among the most knowledgeable fans in the world along with Detroit fans, whom we hate slightly more than Wirtz. If Wirtz and a Detroit fan were both crossing the street, we'd hold back until we could get them both at the next corner. Yes, hockey is back this fall - now if only we could get a professional team in Chicago (please don't tell us about the Wolves. Chicago teams play in Chicago, not Rosemont. We still think the NFL Giants ought to be the Jersey Giants)

Good news is bad news?

Only in the mainstream media. Article shamelssly stolen from Fox News ; hattip to Rightwingnews for the link.

"...the day after a strong jobs report (search), The New York Times was bemoaning it would most likely keep interest rates ratcheting upward. I'm not saying that isn't true. But would it kill us in the media to turn it around? That interest rates are going higher, precisely because the economy's going higher? Would it kill us to report that while gas prices are at a record this week of $2.29 a gallon... they'd have to get up to more than 3 bucks to match the inflation-adjusted Carter years? And would it kill us to add that folks in Europe pay up to three times our level right now? Would it kill us to note in our "deficits-are-ruining-America" stories, that deficits are actually declining? Maybe a hundred billion less than thought? And that tax revenues are up, precisely because tax rates are down? Would it kill us to admit that's because more people are working and more people are paying taxes, so the pie just got bigger? No, we curse the pie and dish out the crap. How's that for flaky? In economic news, that's not being fair and balanced. Now, I'm not saying, don't report the bad stuff. Just don't make it seem like that's the only stuff." -- Neil Cavuto

New Captains

Joseph Drasutis 023/213; Lynette Helm 141/170; Alan Issac 543; Michael Kuemmeth 112; John Kupczyk 192; Thomas Lemmer 184; Thomas Libert 124; James F. McGovern 013; Michael Ryan 016/019; James Spratte 005; Jerold Swarbrick 601; Elias Voulgaris 189.

That is all

Panic at 35th St.

They just quarantined the building at 35th St. Seems the Superintendent's people opened the mail and found white powder in at least one envelope. CFD is arriving along with CPD Haz-Mat team. Persons inside the building are not permitted to leave. People outside are not permitted in. And before you start making the "powdered" v. "creme filled" wisecracks, remember ... ah screw it, go ahead and crack wise. We're the police after all.

UPDATE: 0945 hours - HQ is now open. The mysterious white powder has tested negative for known pathogens like anthrax. No results on whether it might be powdered sugar, Sweet & Low or Equal. Rumors abound though, that the bag upon which the powder was discovered bore the fragments of the words "...unkin" and "...onuts." Area 1 is investgating. That is all.

Wednesday night open thread

Go ahead! Comment away. You know you want to. Ask a question, post a rumor, rebut our resident Leftist :) Anything interesting enough will get its own thread. Captains should be named by tomorrow (we're hearing they'll name 11 to fill 11 openings; no over promoting)

Time for a little outrage

Seems like the staff of Illinois senator Dick "the turban" Durbin is allegedly using the threat of IRS audits to suppress TV ads criticizing of his comparing of US Army troops at Guantanamo to Nazis, Soviet gulags and Pol Pol's despotic regime. Follow this link here and read all about it. Evidently NBC-5 and ABC-7 have already caved and are refusing to run the ads, though CBS-2 has run them. Durbin is looking weaker and weaker as a senator and more and more marginal to boot. Pretty soon, he and Howard Dean making appearances together as the democrats slip slowly into oblivion.

Is anyone else bothered by...

the Sun Times story this past Sunday on the most favorable zip codes for city workers, ESPECIALLY the zip codes for sworn officers? I mean, we all know where we live or would like to live and we have a good idea why we'd like to live there. But why, in this age of customized terrorism, would you publish the graphics like they did when law enforcement personnel and their families are targeted the world over simply for the fact that they are usually the glue that hold neighborhoods and society together? Or hasn't the Slum-Times been following the car and suicide bombers killing people signing up for police jobs in Iraq or the stalking of Iraqi and Afghani police commanders in efforts to demoralize the troops? After the coordinated suicide bombings on the London underground, how devastating would it be for terrorists to drive half a dozen car bombs into, say, two or three catholic schools in Garfield Ridge, Mount Greenwood and Edison Park, strictly with the aim of killing copper's families? And if you think the police aren't targets in America (yet), go here and see what the anarchists did to a copper in San Francisco just 3 days ago. Scroll down to the third picture and ask yourself why the main stream media didn't cover these riots in California extensively during the G-8 conference.

Point of order.

AdminFax message came out today. "Until further notice, all personnel assigned to Operation Closed Market will report at 0530 hours." For all our friends and readers unlucky enough to actually have to do Closed Market, remember, any change to your start time in excess of two hours, you are entitled to drop a slip for a percentage of the difference under Article 20.7 of the FOP contract (see your timekeeper for details or call the FOP). For you 0800 to 1600 or 0900 to 1700 people, it's a little bit of time/money you can stash away for later. Along with the 12 hour shifts they're running downtown, you could really make some hours.

Run Junior Run!!!

On the north side of this fair city, Streets and San workers were handing out blue buttons to citizens and police with the logo "Jr." stamped upon it. Combined with information on THIS website, it would appear that Jesse Jackson Jr. is moving beyond the realms of exploring a run for mayor and into the full fledged "let's start making some campaign type appearances," namely at the VFW Hall on the Far Northwest side of town. We're not sure what type of messages he trying to send by appearing in the only Republican ward of the city or what type of turnout he can expect in a 98% white ethnic ward, but it might be interesting to read the Sunday papers to see their take on it.

Jailing Reporters

We're waving a red flag in front of our Lefty reader, but we're kind of glad to see that reporters are finally getting jailed in this country for defying Court orders. Before you start screaming "Freedom of the press!" and other such nonsense, remember this - if you go to a lawyer and tell him that you are planning on robbing banks, he is obliged to report you to the authorities (no lawyer/client privilege); there are numerous examples where doctor/patient privilege, minister/parishioners and even husband/wife privilege may be pierced. There is no right that permits a reporter to protect or conceal an alleged felony when ordered to reveal it in a court of law. The bad thing here is Judith Miller is going to be made a martyr for a non existent crime and probably make millions of dollars giving speeches in the next few years.

Court Watching

Cartoon via Cox and Forkum

Well, the Left is gearing up for the upcoming Supreme Court nomination hearing. The Drudge Report is reporting on an overheard cell phone conversation by NY senator Schumer who states that the dems will fight no matter who the nominee is. Nothing like pre-judging a nominee, eh? We for one are hoping the rumors of Rehnquist stepping down shortly are fulfilled in short order along with either Ginsburg or Kennedy retiring before the next election cycle.

Commander Joseph P. Murphy

Word is trickling in that Commander Murphy was seriously injured in a car accident in Michigan this past weekend. Details are sketchy, but it appears he was involved in a roll over accident while on the way to his vacation home. Unconfirmed reports say he was driving a convertible and suffered severe neck/spine injuries and may be paralyzed, though the extent (and verification) of the paralysis is unknown as of this writing. Any information would be appreciated and if we find an Admin Fax with any contact info, we will post it here.

Retiree Qualification (from a reader)

Most (ok, ALL) of our publicity has been directed at active duty officers, as they are the only ones we have any realistic chance of contacting. The is no central fax machine that we can contact retirees the way we can fax to District and units. So if you know a retiree, let them know about this. Governor Blago signed into law this week an amendment to the Law Enforcement Officers Safety Act finally authorizing the testing and certification of retired law enforcement officers to carry firearms. If you read the text, this is only a first step as a committee has to approve a course of fire and have it approved by the Board, but it's an important step as the mayor has been fighting it the whole way, saying that if retired CPD are allowed to carry weapons, the city will be liable if they shoot someone. Now we don't purport to be lawyers, though we know a few, and we even know a few that might not be lined up against the wall when the revolution comes. But how can any sane human being hold the city liable for a person not in uniform and not acting as their agent? Seems like bad legal advice to us.

UPDATE: Retirees must keep their FOID cards current when qualifying.

Evacuation

Fox News is reporting that police have begun evacuating central Birmingham, the second biggest city in Britain. This is an area well stocked with bars and restaurants (think Rush St. times 10), so on a Saturday night, we're talking thousands if not tens of thousand of people. This is no small undertaking and is very different from a general alert where someone may have spotted an suspicious bag or something similar. An evacuation of this magnitude points to specific intelligence of a terror event.

UPDATE: Bomb techs detonated a "suspicious" package in Birmingham, but are saying that it probably wasn't a device. Look for a large portion of the West to be on pins and needles for a bit.

Friday night open thread

Post away people! Occasional blogging this weekend, so check in once or twice. Again, if you have something you think deserves its own thread, post it or send it to the e-mail posted in the profile section. We'll check it a couple times a day.

Just another boring economic recovery

Unemployment numbers fell to their lowest since September 2001: a mere 5%. Jobs created for April and May were revised upwards again. Average hourly earning are up 2.7% from the same month last year to $16.01 per hour. The democrats, of course, call it "disappointing job growth" as in "we're disappointed more people are working at higher wages and might actually be thinking of voting for republicans."

Stunningly, Wall Street closed up two days in a row, even after the London bombings and all the oil the left thinks we're stealing from the Middle East flirted with, closed above and then fell below $60 a barrel. We think that Wall Street has a better handle on the economy than the democratic party does.

An interesting question

From an anonymous poster in the comments section of the "Open Thread:"

• Okay, is it me or is the superintendent appointing more and more folks to commander's posts that are less qualified? In the past, people with the juice were made, that's expected. These days though it appears commanders who worked about a minute on the streets, or in an Area, are made.

Now there is no way to tell the age or job experience of the poster. An old timer might feel any of the younger set are less qualified than contemporaries of him/herself and a younger college educated person might feel that anyone with less school credentials than him/herself, regardless of age, is less qualified than them.

We will offer these observations and then stand aside for any commentary: This job has changed immensely in the past 10 to 15 years (and we don't say 10 to 15 for any particular reason so don't read into it. If you count our family members, we've been part of the police family since the 60's.) Over 60% of Patrol is made up of people with under 10 years. We are seeing the last of the Vietnam era coppers rapidly retire. This has led to a HUGE experience drain on the department. At the same time, the college requirements to get on the job and get promoted are provoking a larger "war" between newer and traditional ways of doing police work. Thirty years ago, data collection and crime mapping were as far removed from policing as portable radios and two man cars were thirty years before that. Things change, and the Department is traditionally very wary and hide bound where change is concerned. The bosses you will see advancing farthest and fastest (besides the clout babies) are the ones who can use the changing technology utilized by the Department.

As to the Superintendent promoting less qualified people than in the past, it's all a matter of opinion. What qualifies someone to be a boss? College? Politics? Exams? Politics? The ability to make a "believable" excuse after you piss hot? Politics? Wearing a wire on your tact team and getting a bunch of them jailed? Politics? Running a ring of jewel thieves? Politics maybe? Comment away people...this oughta be good.

Just when you thought...

...that you couldn't dislike the ACLU any more, now they're suing the US government on behalf of a number of arab-americans caught in Iraq and suspected of assisting the "insurgents."

If this link is still active, it certainly is an interesting read. Thanks to Michelle Malkin for the link.

UPDATE: This post was originally written the evening of 6 July, with the intent to get ahead of the posting game and post it on the 7th. In light of the London bombings, we delayed posting it until now.

London Train Bombings

If you are looking for all sorts of information on the London Train Bombings, click this link to Instapundit. He has about 20 different links ranging from news outlets to London bloggers reporting from the scene to dozens of photo sites. Some of the links lead to more links, so it's not an exaggeration to say that there are easily 100 or more sources for info here.

UPDATE: All of the links on the right side of the page lead to updated stories about the terror bombings in London this morning as well as current photos and commentary. If you happen to be the praying sort, keep the British people in mind today. They are, without a doubt, some of the finest allies this country has ever known.

While we were out...

...we passed our one month anniversary of blogging! Hooray for us! Checking our statistic counters, we've gotten almost 1,000 visits and nearly 3,000 page views. We're averaging over 60 visits a day and reader participation is really starting to look up. Granted, some of those visits are probably duplicates of people checking in twice or thrice for updates, but we don't mind. If they tell one or two friends about us, it all adds up. With over 10,000 people on the job, we have the potential of reaching a very large and diverse audience. If this blog had been up during the union elections or during contract negotiations, traffic could have easily tripled or quadrupled or...you get the idea.

It's all about participating, so please, tell your friends about us. As stated below, if we get enough comments on certain subjects, we'll give it it's own thread. If you have a hot story or rumor that might impact the guys and girls or the job they do, post it or e-mail it to the contact address in the "view my complete profile" button at the top right of the page.

Middle of the week open thread

Post away!

In the comments sections of numerous threads is information about the new Commander of the 001st District, questions about why the Commander of M&LAS got moved, comments about all sorts of interesting topics. If we get enough interest in any individual topic, we'll give it it's own thread.

Well...

We're under two weeks from meritorious picks being due for the LTs class. So any rumors heard seem to invariably relate to the LTs. Still haven't heard anything about the Captains class, but its got to be out there somewhere because making LTs first wouldn't make more sense...oh wait, did we just say "sense" when talking aboout the police department? Our bad.

Turning a corner in Iraq

I'm sure a few others have enjoyed the give and take in the comments section between our resident "lefty" and an anonymous poster regarding Bush and oil and alleged lies in the "Court Watching" thread. Here's a little noticed article that might give a hint of things shaping up in Iraq.

It has been said by numerous persons that the US can't win the war on the ground in Iraq, but that it has to be won by the Iraqi people. Given that the "insurgency" has switched tactics once again and are now actually targeting friendly arab diplomats, we can only hope the "insurgents" are fading.

Thanks to Captain's Quarters for both story links.

Fourth of July open thread

Everyone have a safe and happy Fourth of July. Enjoy your last year of legal sparklers along with the regular illegal fireworks you might have. Feel free to post on this open thread for the day. We'll resume regular posting later this afternoon or evening after we finish with our extravaganza.

Rumors? or reality?

In the thread titled "Exempt Movement" was the following comment:

Didn't know where to put this so I'll put it here. What the bosses downtown are not telling the press.

The guy who escaped from Cook County Jail with a sheriff's uniform, and robbed the bank, was stopped by P/O's during a confrontation in the 003rd district. Officers made out an armed robbery report for him, albeit that he used a false name. He than asked for a ride to the 95th st,"el" station, but the P/O said she could only take him as far as 67th st. So she did.

Wait......

The next night a lady calls 911 and says "she know that gut that was robbed last night? He used my phone and toilet after he asked for a ride to Gary, IN. I didn't drive him though. I just saw his picture on TV that's him!" So she calls 911 and a beat car from 003 arrives.

The lady gives the P/O's the sheriff's shirt and some paperwrapsthat go around bundles of bills. She tells them she find them hidden behind her toilet.

The P/O's say thanks and leave. Later detectives from the FBI Task Force come into 003 and want to see the items. Guess what?

The officers coded out the job and dumped the items in dumpster. When the P/O's and Task Force go to the dumpster...it has been emptied!! This is not a tall tale. A CR# was obtained on the two P/O's.

Can anyone confirm or debunk this? Did these two incidents involve the same people? Someone is looking at HEAVY time should this be true.

Court Watching

Sandra Day O'Connor retired from the U.S. Supreme Court this morning. Appointed by Reagan, she turned out to be quite a bit less conservative in her interpretation of the law than republicans had hoped. It's going to shape up to be an interesting summer no matter who Bush nominates, but we are hoping that he nominates someone who will make Ted Kennedy's head explode, just for sh**s and giggles...someone like Judge Janice Rogers Brown, a black conservative woman. What a kick in the shorts that would be to the left. They might actually start eating their own. And, if Rehnquist retires as expected before the fall session of Congress...whoa nelly.

UPDATE: The boys over at PowerLine had the same idea as me!

Exempt movement

As someone noted in the comments section, we had four lateral moves last night:

Keating from TRU to 001

Byrne from 001 to 630 (Detectives Area 3)

Rosebrock from MLAS to 019

Alvarado from 025 to 161 (General Support)

More is going on as we type. As soon as we can nail down the exact changes, we will update this entry.

UPDATE: The changes

Cmdr Chasen (A/3) to D/C Field Group B

Cmdr. Williams (015) to ADS of BOS

Lt. Boehmer (012) to Cmdr 020

Lt. Rivera (IAD) to Cmdr 025

Lt. Wysinger (NAGIS) to Cmdr 015

Lt. Gulliford (153) to Cmdr 153 (SOS)

Lt. Murphy (601) to Cmdr of Forensic Services

Capt O'Donnell (010) to Cmdr 253 (TRU)

Lt. Rodriguez (Financial Crimes) to Cmdr MLAS

Capt. Sobczyk (014) to Cmdr of Vice

UPDATE II: Conspicuously absent from this list is the unnamed Lieutenant who was bragging around Monday that he had a Commander spot wrapped up. The Superintendent got wind of his claims and put a brick on him so heavy that it'll be years before this guy sees anything now. See previous posts on keeping your mouth shut, eh?