Cops Hurt in Wreck

From Channel 7 - the entire report:

• Two Chicago police officers are hospitalized in serious condition because of a crash on the city's South Side. Police say the officers were following a suspect in a marked police SUV with its lights and sirens at the time of the accident. That SUV and another vehicle collided around 1 p.m. Thursday afternoon.

  A person in that other car was also injured and taken to the hospital. There is no word who caused the crash. The officers were tracking down a suspect wanted in several armed robberies and homicides at the time of the accident.

Any info on how they're doing is appreciated.

Rumor Mill in Overdrive

If anyone caught the Channel 5 News tonight, the number of PO's allegedly stripped over at Special Operations is up to 4. A sergeant is also under house arrest and a detective associated with the team is driving a desk at HQ. And according to our moles, it's only going to get bigger - as in we aren't even to the halfway point yet. Stormy weather ahead boys and girls.

Channel 5 and the Sun Times don't have links up yet - we will link first thing in the morning when they update their websites.

Standard disclaimers - no names unless indictments are publicly released - and maybe not even then.

UPDATE: SunTimes link.
UPDATE #2: Channel 5 has the video story on their main page, but no link to last night's story. The Channel 5 webpage sucks for timely news.
UPDATE #3: Channel 5 has fixed their links. Channel 7 also has more of the same.
UPDATE #4: Tribune coverage.

Support Racial Profiling!

From Yahoo News:

• Most Americans expect a terrorist attack on the United States in the next few months and support the screening of people who look "Middle Eastern" at airports and train stations, a poll showed on Tuesday.
• By a 60 percent to 37 percent margin, respondents said authorities should single out people who look "Middle Eastern" for security screening at locations such as airports and train stations ...
  

This just shows that the American people are about 2 or 3 magnitudes smarter than the media in general and liberals in particular. Innocent people aren't being blown up and attacked by Swedish grandmothers or atheist Canadian tourists or mad English Anglicans. They're being attacked by fanatics from the Middle East. Arabs. Followers of the "religion of pieces."

Profile away!

Anyone Want to Buy a Blog?

From Blogshares (a fantasy blog rating service, not unlike a futures market or fantasy football/baseball team):


As of 26 August, this blog would allegedly be worth $13,599.20 in terms of traffic numbers, advertising, and name recognition. We'd let it go for a cool $15,000 if someone wants to make us an offer. Drop us a line.

Small Quick Hits

Because as everyone knows, something BIG is on the horizon.

• "I'm scared of the police," Long, 66, said after a Chicago Police Department community meeting Tuesday night. Anyone else get the impression that this woman is an obvious plant in the meeting? Because as goofy as some members of the 018th District might be, we just can't see them hassling a 66 year old grandmother - no matter how much they needed to boost their contact card numbers.
• Members of a Chicago family that includes an 11-year-old girl said they were beaten by Chicago Police officers and called racial slurs after a traffic stop last year. Again, anyone see a problem here? We just have a hard time seeing 010th District guys and gals beating an 11 year old. We can, however, see certain members of the District locking up the entire family, just on general principles.
• And this link is probably some of the last good news we're going to see about coppers for a little while - over 100 officers were honored at the Monthly Commendation Ceremony. Congrats to all the award recipients.
  

Did Daley Put Her Up To It?

Channel 2 and Channel 7 are reporting that Dorothy Brown is poised to run for mayor and will make an announcement in the next day or two. The only question in our minds is "who put her up to it?" Junior is making noises about not even entering the race. Meeks is a grandstander and a joke candidate. Gutierrez appears to be the only minority running against Daley in the primary.

Suddenly Dorothy jumps in? Sorry. Too convenient. Too typical of the Machine. She's big enough to draw all sorts of support from Gutierrez and help Daley breeze to the nomination. And we doubt that the Republicans will even field a candidate again this year, meaning Daley wins by acclimation in 2007 without even facing a General Election.

More indictments please Mr. Fitzgerald.

County Dems Worried?

From the Channel 2 website:

• In an exclusive CBS 2 News report, CBS 2's Mike Parker has learned that some leaders among the Democrats want Todd Stroger off the ballot for November and replaced by a stronger candidate to face Peraica.

Mike Parker is a softball and there's nothing here to dispel that feeling, but wouldn't this be hilarious? Anointed son gets tossed off the ballot for running a lethargic and lackluster effort? It won't happen, of course. Too many deals have already been cut, but it'd be funny.

It'd be funnier if Peraica actually wins.

Boy, This Blog is Boring!

As we set yet another personal best for visits by month (even with full comment moderation).

And there are still two days left in August. And a huge scandal to finish up involving the Police Department. And an election season to write about.

We sure hope we'll be able to find some readers somewhere.

Planning a "Spontaneous" Drill

Yes, you read the title correctly. Coverage at Channel 7, Sun Times and Tribune.

The Tribune article reveals which buildings are going to be going to be participating in the mock drill, lending a bit of a lie to the "spontaneity" of the drill. Has anyone at the District level even seen anything regarding this? Here are our problems with the whole thing:

• Certain elements of the Department have already stated that the lowly beat guys and gals don't have to be made aware of the plans. We certainly hope that the brass is completely and thoroughly familiar with the plan then, because coppers can sense when the bosses don't have a handle on things and discipline will break down from that point downwards.
• Are they pulling incident teams out of nearby districts? Or gang and tact teams? Are they paying any OT so that coverage doesn't lack in busy districts for a drill? All we need is a couple of homicides or aggravated batteries after cars get called out of the Districts for a drill.
• Are they pulling in buses? Shutting down entrance and exit ramps to downtown? The thing that seemed to work best during the hey day of the Bulls was directing all traffic outbound on various expressways and shutting down exit ramps to make sure everyone who ended up on the expressway ended up in Westchester before they could exit and come back.
• How about simulated power outages? No traffic lights? TMA's being called in? What if bridges are targeted? Are they raising a few to hinder the evacuation? How about having a couple dozen Metra trains to get people out of the city? CTA trains? What if it's a tunnel attack?
  

There are just too many variables to throw into a drill like this that would interrupt the business of the city. Our thinking is that the best bet is to have as many street level supervisors as possible to be aware of what is expected of them in the event of a disaster. Especially the sergeants and lieutenants in the business districts. The outlying police districts will be able to hold their own during the initial stages of a crisis. Getting the Downtown area empty and secured is a problem unto itself

False Confession

Well, the John Mark Karr confession fell apart today as no DNA match was found to link him to the sexual assault and murder of the 6 year old "beauty queen. " His story was full of so many holes that anyone who's seen even two episodes of "Law and Order" was picking the case apart. Boulder Police and prosecutors are again wearing egg and are faced with a murder they may never solve due to a very poor investigation.

And John Mark Karr got a free airplane trip out of Thailand.

A reader sent us an e-mail with a couple of pictures attached. There was always something that creeped us out about this entire episode and we think we know why. First, a picture of Jon Benet Ramsey:
Now a picture of 1985 Playboy Playmate of the Year:

Anyone else think the Ramsey's were trying to have their little girl emulate some of Hefner's plastic beauties? Anyone who tries to make a 6 year old child look like a 30 something year old playmate has way more problems than we'd wish upon a team of psychiatrists.

More coverage at the Sun Times, Channel 2 and Channel 7.

Slapping Around "leftisthebest"

Many people like to rubber neck at traffic accidents. Some take a perverse sort of pleasure in kicking puppies or taking candy from babies. We find enjoyment in letting persons from the left side of the political spectrum spout on and on until they say something so completely and utterly stupid that we just feel the need to bring out the big guns and slap them around like the tiny little brains they prove themselves to be. We learned it from Karl Rove.

From the comments section in the "Not So Amusing Video" thread:

• leftisthebest said...

  Think maybe they took their own trucks and painted them to look like those of the U.N.?
  
  What's wrong M, don't like the U.N. because they are not the lapdog puppet of the U.S.A.?

No lefty. We don't like the UN for a number of reasons, not the least of which is their bald faced and open support of terrorist regimes. The UN is a bloated bureaucracy that gives equal voice to the tyrant and a veneer of legitimacy to the mass murderer as to the freely elected representative of the democracy. We have NEVER liked the UN as it's sole purpose seems to be the advancement of a "one world" government under their corrupt rule, unilateral disarmament of the United States and it's allies, institutionalization of ethnic slaughter, all the while enriching themselves and their cronies at the expense of the human beings most deserving of protection. Some articles for lefty to consider:

• Google search - The Slaughter at Srebrenica. Dutch UN peacekeepers hid in their barracks while Slobodan Milosevic engineered the slaughter of 7 to 8,000 muslim men and boys. The US president ended the slaughter by ordering US warplanes into action without UN approval. Odd how democrats never complain when it was Clinton acting without the consent of the UN, isn't it? Also interesting is how the UN is STILL in the former Yugoslav countries 11 years after there were supposed to be free elections.
  
• Bystanders to Genocide. Over the course of 100 days in Rwanda, 800,000 ethnic Tutsis were liquidated by elements of the Hutu majority. Kofi Annan ordered (ORDERED!) the UNAMIR forces to not raid known Hutu armories, directly contributing the massive scale of the slaughter.
• UN run Child Sex Rings in the Congo: In a scandal that has been going on under the main stream media's radar for 3 years now, the UN peacekeepers in the Congo have been running a huge child prostitution operation under the auspices of the world body that "leftisthebest" seems to support. The sex scandal is still ongoing as evidenced by this 18 August report cited by GatewayPundit.
  
• Oil for Palaces. One of the biggest stumbling blocks to the successful implementation of economic sanctions against Iraq was the constant undercutting of those sanctions by UN Officials lining their own pockets with "oil vouchers" that permitted HUGE amounts of kickbacks to the UN (facilitated by Kofi Annan's son working for European oil consortiums) and allowed Saddam to re-arm and update his military. The biggest losers in this scandal? Iraqi citizens denied essential food and medicines who were then used as propaganda tools against the very sanctions imposed by the UN.
• Iran bribing the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency? As yet unconfirmed reports would explain why Europe and the IAEA have been completely useless and possibly complicit in the Iranian A-bomb development.

And this is just a tiny fraction of why we dislike the UN lefty. It also ends up being a larger fraction of why we dislike persons of the leftist persuation. Woeful ignorance and willful blindness to the true reality of the UN.

Not so Amusing Video

Hop over to GatewayPundit. He's got video up showing UN Ambulances picking up Hezbollah fighters and transporting them around Lebanon during Israeli air raids recently and other video of terrorists using clearly marked UN ambulances as firing platforms for more missiles.

Thank god for unmanned camera drones, YouTube and the Internet - finally getting the truth out about the leftist media's agenda of coddling terrorists. Can anyone believe that we fund this corrupt organization to the tune of 25% of their operating budget?

Unaware of History

Didn't Lt. (now Capt.) Farrell do this a couple of years ago?

• Park Forest police officers shot a man overnight during an attempted robbery. Two plain-clothes officers were investigating a series of armed robberies of pizza deliverymen. The officers were posed as deliverymen in the 300 block of Oakwood when they were confronted by two men.

  Investigators say the men demanded money and one pointed a gun at an officer.

  Officers shot the man and the other man fled on foot but was caught.
  

Except that Farrell did it solo and managed to kill the goof. Still, we've got to be thankful that the criminal element still doesn't seem to learn from the mistakes of it's peers. Nice job Park Forest.

Two Sides of the Coin

The Tribune had a big article in the Sunday paper about the unfortunate young woman who was arrested at Midway Airport, transported to the Deuce, processed and released, then ended up paralyzed following an alleged sex assault and 7 story freefall.

Allegations have been made that she traveled to Chicago as part of a sex industry job. Allegations have also been made about procedures not being followed by 002 District lockup personnel. We're sure that OPS and IAD are doing a thorough investigation and if any malfeasance is discovered, the guilty will be punished (unless they are politically connected and then all bets are off) or until a final settlement is reached and an adequate amount of blame can be placed.

Have any of our non-police readers ever been in a Area lockup? The places are freaking madhouses. You couldn't pay us nearly enough to volunteer to work in these shitholes (though in the interest of full disclosure, we've worked there non voluntarily on occasion.) you process through 100 plus bodies a day, sometimes 200. The prisoners talk all sorts of crap, plead all sorts of ailments, try every trick in the book to avoid making it to court and maybe get off on technicalities, and then you have the weekend drunks, the dope sick hypes and the truly psychotic - it's no wonder this woman may have gotten lost in the shuffle. It's also no wonder that the Area lockup may have shortcutted certain procedures designed to prevent this sort of thing.

We're just rambling here. We will be moderating this particular thread comments VERY closely, due to the ongoing litigation against the Department and the fact that scumbag lawyers could use anything posted in the comments as another club to beat the taxpayers with. We aren't excusing anything that was or wasn't done in the lockup or by the injured woman - we're just commenting on the avoidance of any responsibility on all sides. The woman for her choices, the parents for their lack of actions, the lockup for whatever they did do (or didn't) and the City for it's poor hiring and training.

A Liberal Who Is Starting to Get It

No, not Joe Lieberman (though he is another). Christopher Hitchens on The Bill Maher Show:

• Christopher Hitchens: "Who wants a Third Word War? The Iranian President says that one member state of the United Nations should be wiped physically from the map with all its people. He says the United States is a Satanic power. Members of his government, named members of his government have been caught sponsoring deaths squads. He's lied, he's lied to the European Union about his nuclear program-"

  Bill Maher: "But you know that a lot-"

  Hitchens: "He says the Messiah is about to come back. Who's looking for a war here?"

  Maher: "So does George Bush, by the way [audience applause]. That's not facetious [audience applause continues]."

  Hitchens: "That's not facetious. Your audience, which will clap at apparently anything, is frivolous. [oohs and groans from audience, Hitchens gives them the finger] Fuck you, fuck you. [groans continue]"

  Maher: "I was just saying what the President of Iran and the President of America have in common is that they both are a little too comfortable with the idea of the world coming to an end."

  Hitchens: "Cheer yourself up like that. The President has said, quite a great contrast before the podium of the Senate, I think applauded by most present, in his State of the Union address, that we support the democratic movement of the Iranian people to be free of theocracy -- not that we will impose ourselves on them, but that if they fight for it we're on their side. That seems to be the right position to take, jeer all you like."

Courtesy of Newsbusters.org via AceofSpades

Hitchens is starting to see what the Right has seen all along. That this is truly a World War against a new fascism. The Iranian president is a HUGE believer in the return of the 12th Imam and is working actively to bring about his return. He's said as much on numerous occasions. But unless you actively follow the blogosphere, the mainstream media reports none of this and actually sends Mike Wallace to interview this nut and make him seem reasonable.

Hitchens actually calls the Left on it's two facedness for applauding Bush's speech supporting democrat elements in Iran and then doing nothing but undercutting efforts to bring it about. And Maher is out there promoting outright lies by alleging that Bush is looking for war and is comfortable with the end of the world.

The time for the carrot-and-stick with Iran is just about at an end. Barring an internal revolution (the Iranian government continues to slaughter student protesters on an almost weekly basis - bet you haven't seen that in the papers either), there's going to be more upheaval shortly.

Right Wing Propaganda

Here you go Lefty:

And what does this have to do with anything? From USAToday:

• KHONDAB, Iran (AP) Iran inaugurated a heavy-water plant Saturday, expanding its nuclear program only days before a U.N. deadline that threatens sanctions unless Tehran curbs activities the West fears are meant to make atomic weapons.

  The move was the latest defiance by Iran to concerns expressed by the U.N. Security Council. Hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad shrugged off the possibility of sanctions, insisting his country would not slow its nuclear ambitions.

  "We tell the Western countries not to cause trouble for themselves because Iranian people are determined to make progress and acquire technology," Ahmadinejad said after opening the plant.

Looks like we'll be going to war again soon. Unless a democrat wins in 2008. Then there will just be smoking radioactive craters across much of Europe, the Mid-East and, unfortunately, somewhere on this hemisphere.

When We say Light...

We don't mean Bud Light. We mean light posting. We are ill and headed to bed. Check back in the morning.

Letters! We Get Letters!

From the SCC Mailbag:

• hilarious incident on zone ten today! seems the feds were surveilling some dope spot and noticed the dealer meet with another individual. the feds wanted to know who the second goof was, so they called the zone as they were following the car so CPD could do a traffic stop and maybe a contact card on the guy. well, you would have thought it was John Dillinger in the car! about 10 cars from 010 chased this guy into 011 and pulled him over. no tickets, no contact card, nothing. do you think this asshole realizes something is up now? he just talks to his guy and then 10 police cars show up? the only good thing is that now a bunch of us know what the FBI is driving on the west side.

We'd love to get more stories like this.

Letters! We Get Letters!

From the SCC Mailbag:

• hilarious incident on zone ten today! seems the feds were surveilling some dope spot and noticed the dealer meet with another individual. the feds wanted to know who the second goof was, so they called the zone as they were following the car so CPD could do a traffic stop and maybe a contact card on the guy. well, you would have thought it was John Dillinger in the car! about 10 cars from 010 chased this guy into 011 and pulled him over. no tickets, no contact card, nothing. do you think this asshole realizes something is up now? he just talks to his guy and then 10 police cars show up? the only good thing is that now a bunch of us know what the FBI is driving on the west side.

We'd love to get more stories like this.

UPDATE: Duplicate post - comments closed here. Go post up above.

This Could Be Interesting

How about these apples?

• Mayor Daley's former patronage chief, Robert Sorich, recently testified under a grant of immunity before a federal grand jury investigating City Hall corruption, his lawyer said Thursday.
• Sorich -- convicted in June of taking part in a scheme to award city jobs and promotions to candidates with political connections -- appeared before the grand jury last week after he was subpoenaed, Durkin said. However, he said his client is "neither cooperating nor refusing to cooperate" with the government.

This makes the appearance of a former union official and alleged member of the Chicago Outfit at Sorich's fundraiser the other day that much more interesting. Perhaps our sometime visitor Bob Cooley could shed some light on how the Mob does business with City Hall and advise any of our readers as to the messages the Mafia might decide to broadcast by sending Bruno Caruso to a fundraiser?

Light Weekend - Again

Seriously. It's almost like we have plans or something. Don't expect too much from us at the moment. Minor updates at best. Take care.

Goofy Proposal

Also from the Sun Times:

• Mayor Daley suggested Thursday that high school be extended for a fifth year to defray college education costs now squeezing working poor and middle-class families.

Call us silly, but aren't quite a few high school kids, especially in the Chicago Public School system, already doing a fifth year of high school? Six years if you count all the summer school.

And how is extending high school a year going to help anyone? Isn't that just going to screw Illinois property taxpayers by dumping more money into a failed state system that can't get huge percentages of it's "graduates" into to even complete college anyway? Too many teachers can barely (and we mean barely) teach their subject at a high school level. Where is he planning on getting teachers qualified to teach AP-type or college level courses?

Oh yeah, right. The casino money.

We're #6! We're #6!

Sun Times article:

• The Web site for Forbes magazine ranked Milwaukee as "America's drunkest city" and placed Chicago at No. 6.
• Milwaukee was followed by Minneapolis-St. Paul; Columbus, Ohio; Boston and Austin, Texas.
• And surprisingly, party towns Las Vegas and New York City ranked No. 14 and No. 32 respectively.

Well, of course Milwaukee was number one. IT'S MILWAUKEE! But we're surprised more college towns didn't end up at the top of the list. Any volunteers to help boost Chicago's ranking this weekend? We'll be trolling on Rush Street this weekend.

Some Quick Hits for Friday

Nothing much new on the scandal front. At least not as of this writing. A Lieutenant got transferred out of SOS to 003 and someone else got transferred in, but that's regular movement following a scandal like this.

• Grenade found in Lawndale, all packaged up and probably a war relic.
• Katrina "victim" finds another set of dupes to fund her lifestyle. We give this one another 6 months before she's in the headlines again for living of the gullibility of others - we are SO damn cynical sometimes.
• Video of the Sears Tower plot out of Florida. If brains were gunpowder, these goofs would have had a hard time blowing their noses. But even the incompetents can be dangerous on occasion.
• And a dealer faces charges for the first time in Chicago for "drug induced homicide." DuPage has used this one once in a while to go after pushers. No idea how it'll fly in this city though.
  

From the Comments Section

YES, it DID come from 35th Street.
But the 018 Commander was blindsighted, 'ambushed' is more of a correct term.
The reverend was unaware of what that 66 year old would say until she spewed it out. The Commander was totally embarrased!
He went directly to Chiczewski, Starks and Cline and told them of the 'total disaster.'
Cline (apparently) sent the Chief of Patrol that same day at check-off who apologized to all those present.
Williams admitted it was a snafu and indicated that he personally called the reverend and straightened it out. The rev offered to reappear to apologize. Chief Williams said it was "HIS" [brass'] duty to apologize directly to the troops, which was the reason for his appearance.
The troops at roll call showed great restraint in not confronting this woman at roll call so as not to embarass only ONE person, the Commander, who is highly regarded and respected by the troops in 018.
They did however, talk directly to the reverend and the woman AFTER roll call outside the station. Another class move on their part.
The Commander likewise appeared at roll and and took complete blame for the incident [although not directly at fault] and likewise offered his 'sincere' apology for the incident. If you know or worked for him you'd know he's a 'stand-up' guy. His sincere, from the heart apology was well accepted by those present.
Rumors and embellishments may have blown this out of proportion, but that's it in a nutshell.
A bad idea, that got worse.
Even the brass realized it when it was brought to their attention and went in for damage control to offer an explanation and admit fault.
Make your own conclusions but at least 'now' you have a little more information to make an educated opinion.

018 cop who was there for it all.....

8/24/2006 01:37:20 PM

Well, if the above is true, and we have no reason to doubt it at this point, the Commander of 018 deserves a tip of the hat for trying to stop it before it started. He also deserves a whole hearted salute for going back to the powers-that-be and telling them how bad they screwed the pooch by allowing this to happen. What the hell did 35th Street THINK was going to happen? That it was going to be all flowers and kissy faces and understanding?

Bwahahahahahahahahahahaha!

And then sending Williams out to apologize on behalf of the brass? If we worked in 018 (which we don't), we would have sat through that apology with the same quiet we were forced into for the grandstanding "citizens" and so-called "reverends." Then we'd file out, have a beer, and reminisce about the Department we used to work for. A Department where you could actually look up to a few of the big bosses here and there and think that they actually appreciated what you went through day in and day out. If downtown had any balls what so ever, they'd have another Pax 501 sent to every district and send the brass out to every district BEGGING the blue shirts forgiveness for this slap in the face.

We might have to respect the rank, but the men and women wearing the uniform downtown right now are about the farthest thing from "Boss" that we could have ever imagined.

This entire Department has suddenly become much smaller in our eyes. Very much so.

Citizens Addressing Roll Call?

OK, we've all had guest speakers. Some are actually worth listening to. Some bring information about benefits, some bring union news, some tell us about changes in procedures and policy.

In various comments sections, it is being related that the 018th District had to sit through a couple of roll calls where "citizens and reverends" came in a berated them over what has been ruled a justified shooting and the police's attitudes toward the community? Is this true?

If so, what the fuck?

This Department is doomed. That's all there is to it. Why the hell would you subject your officers to this? Why in the hell would any officer sit for it? Roll call is supposed to be for police issues - safety concerns, job rules, information exchange. We're even pretty sure it's in the Orders somewhere. No where does it say you have to be a human punching bag for a bunch of irate jackasses who have issues with their own poor parenting and even poorer life choices.

And what boss approved this? What boss allowed it to continue? If the first thing out of these people's mouths was "We don't like the police" or "We don't trust the police" or anything similar, we'd have walked out - SPAR us, we wouldn't care. That isn't dialogue. That isn't anything that will solve a problem. It's grandstanding, divisive, stupid, nonsense and not even based on reality (or as we call it "The Jesse.")

We've taken bosses to task over other issues (that's one of the advantages of an anonymous board), so here's another one then - this was wrong. Wrong on a number of levels. If these people don't trust the police and don't like the police, then start establishing "Go- No Go" zones in the city. We can be just like France and let the various ethnic groups form their own little areas completely free from the rule of law. It's save the City countless man hours, dollars and costs associated with handling all of these social issues. If some cop screwed up at the scene and called someone a bad name, punish them. But why would you let non police come in and berate an entire roll call for the actions of a knucklehead? Isn't that what we've been ordered NOT to do? But it can be done to us? Great.

And whatever boss approved this or let it continue, be it a Captain, Commander, Deputy Chief or the Big Guy himself; Great job to destroy morale boss! Nice effort to remove any claim you have to be looking out for the guys. Thanks for undercutting the need for the community to take personal responsibility for their actions. Great way to really inspire the troops to do anything for this Department again. You are the Asshat of the Month!

No Gas

At least we aren't pushing the squad cars - yet:

• Police in south suburban Dixmoor said their squad cars' gas tanks are empty and they need permission to fill them up. A policy requires officers to get gas money directly from the mayor every time they want to fill their tanks. The village pays for it, but the mayor has to approve it every time. (Channel 5)
  

Problem solved?

• Officials in south suburban Dixmoor say they have solved a budget problem that left many police squad cars without gasoline. The police department had no money to fill up the cars. Some village trustees say this has been a problem for the last few weeks. They were concerned that the safety of residents could be in jeopardy.

  But, Wednesday afternoon, officials said the crisis is now over. (Channel 7)

As the rumors have started flying about the City wanting to cut Police expenditures by about $50 million dollars for next year, might the suggestion be made that we could do without gasoline? Or how about we discontinue yearly qualifications? Or eliminate 3 districts? Aha, now we're getting somewhere.

No More FOP Picnics

At least not at Santa's Village:

• A Kane County judge evicted North Pole Corp. this week, ruling in favor of land owner Sterling Bay, a Chicago development company. North Pole Corp. owner Hugh Wilson agreed to sell off the assets to pay Santa's Village's debts, estimated at more than $170,000.

  An October auction is scheduled by a company specializing in amusement park, circus and museum auctions, Wenz said. The Galleon, a Ferris wheel, merry-go-round, two roller coasters and the trademark Snowball ride will all be auctioned off, he said. The original buildings, built in 1959 of California white cedar, will remain. The auction will be open to the public.

Barring a Christmas miracle, Santa's Village will be no more.

Casino? Ka-Ching?

Channel 2, Channel 5, Channel 7, Channel 32, Tribune and Sun Times coverage.

But who is going to see the benefits?

The last time the State tried to open a casino on the 10th riverboat license authorized by state law, disadvantaged minority investors such as Mrs Walter Payton, Mrs Roger Ebert and others were the only beneficiaries along with a couple of organized crime figures. And now a land based casino?

Look into whose pockets the money is going to go. This isn't about money for education or property tax relief or anything like that. Look what casinos HAVEN'T done for Atlantic City and other municipalities. Trying to balance a budget on gambling revenues rarely works. Even in Vegas.

What's the Message Here?

From the Sun Times:

• Unlike his brother, Mayor Daley did not attend the weekend fund-raiser at a Bridgeport church to help defray the legal fees of his convicted patronage chief.

  But the mayor was apparently there in spirit.

  He has no problem with the $100-a-head event for a man convicted last month of rigging city hiring to benefit pro-Daley armies of political workers.

  "They're all friends. . . . They can have a party for him. There's nothing wrong with that. . . . You help your friends. . . . You have friends in your own industry. There's nothing wrong with that. They have it every day," Daley said Tuesday.

So a whole bunch of political bigwigs get together and everyone kicks in a portion of their ill-gotten proceeds from the past decades worth of fixed contracts to help off set the legal bills for one of the scumbags who managed to get caught. And the mayor doesn't see anything wrong with it. Great. Here's the topper though:

• Among those attending the fund-raiser that spilled out into the parking lot of Nativity of Our Lord Church [...] former union boss and reputed Outfit member Bruno Caruso ...
  

Gee whiz. Anyone else think the Outfit may have been sending a message to Sorich to keep his mouth shut, take the money for his legal bills, and serve out what will probably be 18 months in the pen? Because that's definitely the feeling we're getting. We'd really like to see a ticket sold count compared to how much Sorich actually received - we'd bet the totals are no where near each other. One final bribe to shut up.

Until the Feds start handing out some REAL prison time (10 and 20 years) and prison service far away from home instead of Michigan and Wisconsin, Illinois politicians are going to continue to steal what they can because the rewards FAR outweigh the risks. Legal bills paid for by your cronies, a little vacation with enforced bedtimes for a few months, and a nice cushy consultant job when you get out? What's not to love?

UPDATE: We aren't having a problem with a fundraiser for legal bills. We've attended dozens of fundraisers for suspended coppers and bought tickets for dozens more. Two problems here:

• #1 - Sorich was convicted. That's all the difference in the world. If you were convicted of a crime, sorry, we aren't buying tickets for your fundraiser. Personal choice on our part. Castigate us all you like, but we still aren't buying.
  
• #2 - The freaking MAFIA is sending guys to this fundraiser. The Outfit? La Cosa Nostra? The heirs of Capone? The Mob?
  

Is this ringing any bells out there? Matt Rodriguez resigned for being seen in the company of known underworld figures. But the mayor's brother can appear at the same party and people on this Board ask "What's the big deal?" C'mon now. We know our readers are smarter than that.

Someone Doesn't Get It

From the Comments Sections:

• When you see the post "Great job SCC" you can bet it was posted by SCC or his mother ! zzzzzzzzzzz
• I heard, rumor is, a friend told me,a leak from 35th street, this site has turned completely pathetic. Keep praising yourself SCC right down the toilet drain.
• Look around. Your blog is becoming cliche and passe.

Ouch. That hurt. Now let's go to the Sitemeter and see what the masses say:

Let's see - We instituted Fully Moderated Comments on the 6th of August. Looks like comparable traffic for that week as compared to the previous two weeks. Then the Commander Matthews story broke on the 15th of August. Numbers climbing. Then the SOS scandal begins to erupt on the 16th. Numbers through the roof including our biggest day in about a year.

Seems like people are really bored with the blog and never come to visit. We better shut the whole thing down right now, eh? Funny how the comments that are specifically critical of the blog and of SCC still seem to make it to the Board though. We repeat for the tiny brains among us - we are only censoring the obviously biased, racist, and nonsensical garbage from a few twisted individuals and those who just don't seem to get it. Everyone else seems to be just fine with the new comments policy. We don't need to resort to fake compliments to generate traffic as evidenced by the numbers. Asshat.

Foie Gras "Silliness"

From the Tribune:

• On the day that Chicago's ban on foie gras went into effect, some restaurants sold it in a protest, a trade association sued, and Mayor Daley called it "the silliest law" ever adopted in the city.

From the Sun Times:

• Mayor Daley urged the City Council Tuesday to come to its senses and repeal a foie gras ban that has made Chicago an international laughingstock in restaurant circles.

Channel 2 and Channel 7 have more.

Our only question is this - if the City Council passed the law, what member of the Executive Branch actually signed off on this "travesty?"

Hey Lefty? Get a Load of This!

Via AceofSpades, a USAToday story:

• The arrest of terror suspects in London has helped buoy President Bush to his highest approval rating in six months and dampen Democratic congressional prospects to their lowest in a year.

  In a USA TODAY/Gallup Poll taken Friday through Sunday, support for an unnamed Democratic congressional candidate over a Republican one narrowed to 2 percentage points, 47%-45%, among registered voters. Over the past year, Democrats have led by wider margins that ranged up to 16 points.

Two points.

Two measly little points.

Within the margin of error.

And as almost every lame-stream media poll is rigged with loaded questions and don't count Registered Voters (but rather anyone of voting age regardless of registration), guess what? Barring a major shift in the world, the Republicans will be holding onto BOTH chambers of Congress. We aren't celebrating yet, but we can hear the howls of outrage from the left already.

Do the Right Thing

If you have a Department e-mail account, you probably got a copy of the most recent Pax 501. In it the Superintendent says:

• We as police officers often speak of courage. It takes courage to do the job we do, never knowing what we will face with each assignment. It takes courage to run after an armed offender, to go down the darkened hallway to answer the call for service, or to respond to the calls for help. Chicago Police Officers display this courage every day in remarkable ways that often go unreported.
• However, it also takes courage to do the right thing. It takes courage to enforce the law equally and impartially. It takes courage to remain professional under trying circumstances. It takes courage to avoid being swayed by the corrupt practices of a few bad officers. It takes courage to stand for ethical behavior.

What this tells us is that it's about to get a lot worse before it gets better.

GPS Discussion

Over at ChicagoDispatcher, a post from yesterday discussing GPS. We know they have it in fire trucks. We know they have it in Park District radios and the use it to regularly track their security people as we were given a very comprehensive demonstration of it a few months ago. According to the post, it isn't in the squad cars yet, but it's only a matter of time people. Big Brother is coming.

Rumors We've Heard

Or seen published here. Or made up. Who knows?

• One more class of Lieutenants this fall. How many is anyone's guess.
• Class size for the new Sergeants runs from 50 to 75.
• The suspension time that is going to be handed out for the incident in 015 is going to be like nothing that has ever been seen before. There might be some cell phone video attached to this that is going to really hammer some people.
• The Special Operations Saga is going to get bigger - up to 8 more people involved.
• Rumor has it that the Department is about to go on a tear of slashing overtime expenditures again. Tens of millions of dollars worth of overtime cuts. Better get that Federal Airport money while it's being offered because they're going to cut it everywhere else.
  

Look-Alike BB-Gun Seller Busted

From the Department's website, this Alert System notification:

• Chicago Police have cited a Northwest Side business for illegally selling BB-guns and confiscated several look-a-like firearms from the store. Divas, at 4758 W. Belmont Ave., which sells music CDs, videos and other items, was cited for not having a license to sell firearms and for illegally selling pellet- and BB-guns within the city limits.

Is anyone surprised that they managed to find a dealer who sold these guns to minors in violation of City Ordinances? Isn't this a little late? The shooting has already been ruled justified, so why are they all of the sudden cracking down? Anyone?

Channel 2, Channel 7, Sun Times coverage.

Another Dog Shot

But no hue and cry in the 011th District. According to the report on Channel 5, a Detective and officers went to the home to arrest the subject and he fought with them and had a pit bull attack them. Why aren't there marches for this dog? Are 015th District pit bulls more deserving of citizen support than 011th District pit bulls? Why aren't there protests? Did someone not call the reverends? What happened? Did we miss a memo?

UPDATE: Now the Tribune has a story up, calling it "similar to another incident" that happened in 015.

Another Travesty

Are there protected employees according to state law of not? As we recall the law, protected employees include police, firefighters, teachers, bus drivers, senior citizens, paramedics and other assorted persons. Charges are automatically upgraded whenever it can be proven that the assailant had to reasonably know that the person attacked was of this "protected" class.

So what the fuck is this?

• Channel 7 : Two firefighters were cut by broken glass after someone threw a brick into a moving fire truck in Chicago's Lawndale neighborhood overnight. The truck was in the 1800-block of South Harding when the brick shattered a window. The two firefighters are expected to be OK.

  Police have taken someone into custody in connection to the event.

• Sun Times: The incident occurred in the 1800 block of South Harding Avenue at 3:10 a.m. when the man threw a brick through the window of the truck, injuring the two firefighters inside, according to police News Affairs Officer Amina Greer.

  Johnson was not charged with a felony because it was determined that he was merely trying to damage city property and was not targeting the firefighters, Bright said. [emphasis added - SCC]
  

Ex-squeeze me? Baking powder? WHO THE FUCK DID THIS JAGOFF THINK WAS GOING TO BE IN A MOVING FIRE TRUCK?

Who ever was working Felony Review that night, we sincerely hope that you die a most painful death at the hands of fire ants, biting sand fleas and rabid bats. Oh yeah, aren't Assistant State's Attorneys members of that "protected" class? Officers of the Court and all? Jagoffs and ball-less wonders. Why the hell do we even try anymore?

Good Job Detectives!

We don't know if this qualified as a "heater," but it's nice to see a "Cleared/Closed by Arrest" pop up in the board, especially in a case like this:

• A 23-year-old man was charged Sunday with the murder of an ice cream truck driver shot in the Lawndale neighborhood last weekend.

  Tremaine A. Johnson, of an unspecified home address in Chicago, was charged with first-degree murder for the shooting death of Hector Jimenez on the 1800 block of South Harding Avenue August 12.

Good job.

Wah wah wah!

We've been getting quite a few comments in the hopper lately about how we've killed the spontaneity of the board by instituting full moderation. We've also gotten an offer from a certain named "three lettered individual" proposing a peace treaty.

Sorry about the loss of the give and take, but that is almost entirely the fault of two or three people, those being the "reposter", the DELETE fool and the three-letter-named ass. Even if you delivered to us the typing fingers of all three individuals, we probably still wouldn't open up the unmoderated comments. It's become that much more enjoyable not having to wade through their insane bullshit that we can't see going back. If that's unpalatable to some people, they are always welcome to start their own bathroom wall and see what we've been going through.

We also have received a few comments from certain individuals intent on waging their own private war against the FOP leadership. No one responded to their attacks and comments when we had an open message board and they started their own blogs that got zero traffic even when we let them advertise here. Tell you guys what - you send us something that makes sense and won't subject us to expulsion hearings like you just went through, we'll let it go in the comment sections. But fictional letters from a fictional board just aren't cutting it. We aren't on the Board, no matter how much you wish it to be so and we aren't running for anything. As to the by-law proposals, read the thread below this one.

That's all. We won't be addressing the whiners anymore. You don't like it, deprive us of what we need to survive - visitors and eyeballs on the site. Otherwise, hunt down the three people we named at the top of this post and bring us their heads as tribute.

By Law Proposals

A post about the By Law Proposals.

The first proposal is in regard to Sergeants being allowed to serve on the Board. This is a hot button issue for certain people who don't think someone who is essentially a manager for the City can fairly administer contract issues for Blueshirts. Our thoughts?

• As we understand the Rules, even if this did pass, it's unenforceable. It's not going to apply retroactively, so the two sergeants on the Board keep their jobs until the next election.
• This rule is in direct conflict with the National Charter and would be a loser in court. At least two of our National Officers are bosses. The FOP deals mostly with small Departments where entire Departments are represented by a single bargaining entity - Chicago is an anomaly in the great scheme of things.
  
• Retirees can't vote on active labor issues and are excluded from having a voice in anything applying to the active labor contract. So are the Sergeants on the Board. We think the process would be better spent addressing the fact that there are 6 or 7 retirees on the Board who can't do anything for the Blueshirts. The retirees vote as a bloc and wield undue influence on the ability of any Board to actually address active labor issues. THAT is going to be the biggest internal strife we face as retirees quit earlier and live longer. See the next proposal for more on that.
  

The second proposal is regarding retirees. This is going to tick off a bunch of our retiree readers, but its a bad proposal. Thanks to previous labor contract giveaways by the Nolan & Podgorny crew, the FOP is now required to repay the City the salaries of it's officers who are "inside" guys. This "brilliant" sellout by Nolan and Co. completely hamstrung multiple unions at once. Anyone want to guess where we might have been able to spend the millions now earmarked for payment to the City? Pension Legislation maybe? Other legal or labor reforms to secure our rights? Our opinion is if you want to belong to the FOP, you shouldn't be costing the organization money. Nolan already gave away the store and his right hand man is attempting to return to power to finish the job.

We don't hate retirees. You served with honor for years and we hope you all live to be 100 years old to get every penny you didn't get while working for the City. But giveaways are going to destroy the union and are actually costing us in terms of what legislation the union is able to lobby for. We are headed for a civil war of old vs new unless we come to an understanding.

Violent Crime Down

The entire Channel 7 report reads as follows:

• Police say violent crime and burglaries are down, but motor vehicle thefts and arson are up in Chicago so far this year. Through the end of July, sexual assaults were down six-point-six percent from the same period a year ago. Aggravated assault is down four-point-two percent and burglaries are down three-and-a-half percent.

  Meanwhile, motor vehicle thefts have jumped by four-and-a-half percent and arson is up by six-point-four percent.

  Police say the number of homicides is about the same as last year.
  

Well, they aren't kidding about motor vehicle thefts. The numbers are up by quite a bit more than 4.5% in some districts. But why not be specific about the number of homicides? Has it suddenly hopped upwards?

Da Bears

That time of year again.
Looks like the Bears are going to have a phenomenal defense this year. Looks like the defense is going to be scoring half their points, too.

We are forcibly reminded that defense can get you far. As far as the playoffs at least. And if the injury bug doesn't bite too hard, the Bears will be in the playoffs again. But to truly make a run at the Superbowl, you need an offense. Not a "good enough" offense, but a good offense. You need at least one wide receiver who, every single time he touches the ball, he just might be gone. And you need a running back who can punish tacklers and grind it out. The Bears might have just found their Special Teams hero with this Davis kid. But we are of the opinion there is one, maybe two more pieces needed. Is the piece somewhere else? Or is it here on the team, as yet undiscovered?

Things That Make You Go "Hmmm"

From the Sun Times:

• A man who received a $1.75 million settlement for a 1997 beating at the hands of Chicago Police officers pleaded guilty Friday to selling $100 worth of crack cocaine in DuPage County

So let's get this straight - Mearday gets chased for selling dope in 1997 and allegedly receives a bunch of injuries at the hands of two coppers. No dope was found, three cops got fired and Mearday retained a lawyer. A tactical lieutenant chases Mearday and arrests him mere months later and actually finds dope. Charges are dropped and Mearday is bought off by the City for $1.75 million and moves to the suburbs and into a life of ease.

Now DuPage is catching him selling, of all things, crack cocaine?

Fortunately, DuPage has less of a problem sending dope dealers to jail than Cook County seems to. But isn't it amazing that a jackass like this who was chased 9 years ago for being a dope slinging piece of excrement and managed to parlay his misfortune into a big payday, still can't manage to stay away from the narcotics business? The mind boggles.

Light Weekend Posting

We've been awfully busy this week what with posting 4 or more threads a day. We're going to be taking a little break this weekend unless something else breaks. We're trying to tighten up the lag times between when you submit a comment and when it appears. It's going to take a bit, but we'll try our best.

Use this as an open post - but still a moderated open post.

Gun Thefts Solved?

From the Sun Times:

• Two United Airlines employees were questioned in July about a series of thefts of guns from luggage checked through the airline at O'Hare Airport -- and no such thefts have been reported since then, a Chicago Police commander said Thursday.

Hmm. Let's see. Two possibilities. First, these two are the ones stealing the guns and by interrogating them, they realized they were under investigation and stopped. Or second, these two weren't doing it, but by dragging them in for interrogation, you tipped off the actually thieves that the heat was on. Did we cover all the possibilities?

Quick Hits for the Day

Thursday, we did over 2,700 visitors. We're sure the drive for traffic has more to do with people looking for info on the scandals than anything to do with our fantastic writing skills or ability to turn a phrase. In any case, we're putting our best foot forward:

• 10 or 11 shot all at one time - way to catch up on the Agg Batt numbers! Sun Times and Trib coverage.
  
• Anyone else think Nebraska needs a "three strikes" law? This jackass has been arrested 226 times since 1980.
  
• Thanks Mom! Just what we've always been looking for in a Mother - someone to drive the getaway car. Now if she'd just take the prison time for sonny boy.
  
• More Darwin Awards to be handed out - racing trains.
• And once again, the protest that wouldn't die - Channel 2 and Channel 7 keep the fires burning about the Cabrini shooting even though the officers involved have been exonerated.
  

Anyone Got a Pool Going?

Until Lieutenant Guerrero steps on his dick again? Seriously. We don't care how many BS numbers you have filed against you by an (allegedly) psycho ex - once you get tagged stalking civilians, the (alleged) psycho's complaints suddenly seem a bit more truthful. It's called "preponderance of the evidence" along with the stories one hears bandied about over beers and written on the walls.

We certainly hope that this kinder and gentler treatment of allegations of domestic violence, stalking and telephone harassment are extended to all members of the Department and not just those connected with certain ethnic organizations.

STOP LAUGHING!

The Karma Train; The Darwin Award

From the Tribune:

• The death of a well-liked student in a one-vehicle accident will mean a difficult start Friday to the year at Lockport Township High School, officials said.
  
  David Nelson Jr., 17, of Crest Hill died Tuesday after driving a stolen Chevrolet pickup truck into a tree in Channahon, about 12 miles southwest of Joliet, police said Wednesday.

Alcohol may have played a part in the wreck. But it just goes to show, stupid choices lead to stupid outcomes. Let's try to be wise.

Also, we read about this maybe once a year or so. One of those huge trailer mounted wood shredders - the ones that can shred a giant sequoia in something like 3.5 seconds?

• A 30-year-old man was killed this afternoon when he was sucked into a wood chipper while trying to shake loose a piece of wood that had jammed it.
• The man was using his foot to clear debris that had jammed the wood chipper around 5:20 p.m. when his foot became entangled in the machine, witnesses told police.
• His coworkers tried to rescue him from the intake, but he was pulled into and through the wood chipper, according to the release.

We wonder, what does the family get in a case like this? A yard bag full of bloody sawdust? We mean, there is NOTHING left of the guy. If anyone ever saw "Fargo," you have a clue as to what a small wood chipper can do. A big one is going to leave a body as a bloody smear on the back of a truck.

Special Operations Saga

Fox 32 News is reporting that two officers were relieved of their powers today. Unless we misheard the TV, the report further states that as many as six additional officers may be involved and a sergeant also. Fox doesn't have a link up yet. When they do, we'll post it if we aren't working or sleeping. This one is looking like it has legs. Be smart out there people.

UPDATE: Tribune story is up.

UPDATE II: Sun Times story combines the Matthews demotion with SOS strippings and shoehorns it in with the 007th District situation where Broderick Jones is going to plead guilty to avoid 117 years in the pen. Jones' lawyer says that this appears to be a "movie that doesn't have an end yet" alluding to the fact that there are still a bunch of indicments waiting to be handed down in Englewood.

MASSIVE Traffic Numbers

We're sure it has something to do with the scandals currently rocking the Department, but everyone and their brother seems to have visited the site yesterday. We did somewhere near 2,400 total visitors and we ended up in the area of 10,000 page views for the day.

Sometime today, we will pass 2 million total page views and we figure we're under a month away from visitor number 500,000. (we hereby designate "westcide dog" as page visitor number 2 million.)

Again, thanks to everyone who visits (everyone except "Ole" that is) and who contributes to making this site once again enjoyable. Since implementing moderated comments, we've been getting nothing but supportive e-mail. Visitors who swore they'd never come back are returning in droves. Our numbers took a minor dip, but we're recovering nicely. Thanks again.

Regular or Rotating?

Chicago Dispatchers blog is addressing the question of whether or not zones should have regular dispatchers on regular shifts or should there be some variation by week, month or some other time frame.

Just our two cents - regular is better. Teamwork is the key to any success. And any way you read it, Dispatchers are part of the team. We might fight and feud occasionally, but when we need help, that's who we're talking to in order to get help there quick. And someone who knows the zone, knows the area, knows the people is more likely to get us the help we need promptly. Hell, we'd like to see the Dispatchers do once or twice yearly ride alongs just so they can see the situation on the ground and what we deal with day in and day out. Plus it might actually build a little closer bond for the team. Opinions?

Whistleblower Gets $3.7 Million

Damn, anyone else thinking along the lines that we are?

• [Stickney] village leaders and taxpayers must cough up $3.7 million to former Officer Rich Hare, who blew the whistle on alleged theft and misconduct in the department.

  Instead of finding a sympathetic ear in Tabor and Zitek, Hare said he was demoted, his schedule was changed and his take-home car was recalled. Hare also claimed there were attempts to yank his gun license, and that Zitek told him to ignore his investigative findings.

So all we have to do is find some misconduct (this part of it is a slam dunk in Chicago), let somebody know about it (this blog), have vengeance wreaked upon us (hmm, this would be a drawback), then sue the crap out of the City, which will settle in a heartbeat to avoid a monster judgment, especially under the current administration. Of course, the part about waiting a few years for the money and actually having to give a lawyer money goes against the grain, but such are the sacrifices we must make to become rich.

He Gone!

Area 2 D/C Shields called everyone in today and announced Commander Matthews is not Commander of 005 anymore because of an off duty incident in the 019th District. Captain Cynthia White is Acting Commander for the duration. That is all.

UPDATE 1934 hours: BINGO! Tribune published this article on their website less than an hour ago. Did this blog contribute to public knowledge of the event? Did the reporters call for a quote and force the Superintendent's hand? Who knows?!? Who cares?!? The correct thing was done in demoting the Commander. Now, someone better start asking questions as to why an impounded vehicle was released while an unregistered firearm was found within said vehicle. Professional courtesy ends when the people who want courtesy aren't courteous in asking.

And courtesy shouldn't be a short hop and a skip to Official Misconduct - which if a blue shirt did it, he would be charged with such.

It Ain't the Speed That Kills You

It's the sudden stop. Or "terminal deceleration" as cops playfully describe it.

• A 28-year-old motorcyclist going a "high rate of speed" struck a concrete median and went airborne, killing himself early Wednesday on the Stevenson Expressway. The biker was not wearing a helmet.

Watch for the helmet advocates to use this as another example in the constant battle to "nanny state" motorcyclists into knowing what's best for them. Our opinion has always been "Do what you like with motorcycles, but don't expect us to pick up the medical bills if you screw up." A helmet wouldn't have done anything for this guy except saved his face some bruising.

Whatever Happened to the Bad Heroin?

Nothing. It's still out there. Lots of it is still out there.

A month or two ago, the Feds announced that they had made arrests with the assistance of Mexican authorities and shut down a "suspected" fentanyl plant in Mexico that may have been supplying tainted heroin to drug cartels. NAGIS formed a "Fentanyl Taskforce" and numerous teams were deployed to interview surviving addicts and even a single "high ranking" dope dealer was arrested and touted as a "main supplier" of the bad dope.

And the reality? Coppers on the West Side tell us ambulances are still picking up between 3 and 7 overdoses a week. Coppers down South tell us they still find almost a body a week that is attributed to fentanyl heroin. But since it isn't happening in noticeable droves, it's ignored. Or at least in the background where it should have been all along anyway. It seems our mantra of "Who cares if a junkie dies?" was just a little bit ahead of the curve. The media certainly hasn't seen fit to mention it until there were four at once down south. The people overdosing are shorting other productive citizens their ambulance service and police service. The story should have been the drain these knuckleheads are putting on the system - not the "tragedy" of their poor choices.

Speaking of Indictments ...

Seems the Feds are busy hoping to other "side" of the political fence in Illinois, even though we've stated many times that there is no real difference between Demopublicans and Republicrats in the great state of Illinois. Corruption is a full participation sport here. From the Sun Times:

• Former Chicago Ald. Edward R. Vrdolyak, the charismatic bad boy of Chicago politics, is the target of a federal grand jury investigation, sources have told the Sun-Times.

  At least part of the probe is tied to his longtime friendship and business dealings with Stuart Levine, a GOP insider cooperating with the federal government in two high-profile investigations.

  Facing significant prison time, Levine decided in recent months to talk to investigators, sources say, and agreed to wear a wire. Sources would not say whether Levine recorded Vrdolyak, but they did say Levine has provided investigators with potentially incriminating information on Vrdolyak.

It looks like Fast Eddie is going to have to do some fast talking and figure out some new dance moves soon. If it's true there is no statute of limitations on Official Misconduct, maybe Eddie could be encouraged to drag up quite a few old names and inner workings of the original Machine. Eddie is the kind of guy who knows where a lot of bodies are buried, in the figurative sense of course.

Indictments?

We have it from numerous comments and a few sources that two officers at Special Operations were stripped of their police powers today. No word on charges or allegations.

In the comments, no names will be posted until publicly released and even then, we might just link to the article and let everyone draw their own conclusions. Batten down the hatches.

Do You Know Who I Am?

The comments sections are buzzing about the incident in 019 this weekend. Seems the son of a high ranking exempt was arrested with a pistol. We've read the comments and this much seems certain:

• An unregistered pistol was inventoried and an RD# generated
  
• CR's were issued
• A car found with an illegal weapon in it was returned improperly (has the media been contacted?)
  

Everything else is unsubstantiated at this time. This isn't to say it shouldn't be talked about - talk! Post! Let's get some facts out there. Crap like this only serves to further undermine morale and confidence in the Department (of course, morale is already in the shitter and we aren't sure if we ever had confidence in our "leaders" anyway.) We also heard that every exempt in the city has been ordered to address roll calls in regard to the incident in 015 during which racial slurs allegedly were exchanged and we had some blue-on-blue violence.

Does anyone else think that these two incidents might be connected in some distant way? Bosses (and their families) who act like this commander is alleged to act contribute nothing to the confidence of the organization and in fact, harm and degrade the organization as a whole. If racial invective was exchanged in the 015, doesn't that harm the Department, obstruct the mission and destroy the "team" concept that any large, diverse organization needs to succeed in it's mission?

Discipline in both these incidents should be fairly meted out as soon as investigations are complete. But it probably won't be. Officers and Sergeants in the 015 incident will take time, MASSIVE amounts of time. 30 days and more we think. Everyone else will suffer, too, as we see an upswing in Cultural Sensitivity training and Biased Based Policing videos. The 019 incident will be harder to call. What should happen is massive suspension time for any Sworn members who attempted to interfere with lawful actions of the 019 District and demotion for any exempt that behaved inappropriately to their station (including any ADS that tried to steer other Sworn Officers from exercising their contractual and legal rights).

The trouble is everyone knows that there are two sets of rules on this job, maybe even three: One for blues; One for white shirts; One for politically connected individuals - look at the Department about to hire back the former ADS/Lieutenant who was repeatedly accused of stalking, telephone harassment, and (on this site) selling bad corn from his elote cart. And even a demotion still means you're a Lieutenant of Police earning something like $100,000 a year - not really much punishment for the amount of damage you did to the Department.

Finally, Someone Making Sense

Dennis Byrne, a Tribune editorial writer that we agree with about as often as we disagree with him, writes this article Monday that takes certain segments of society to task for misguided outrage:

• Residents of the Near North Side Cabrini-Green low-income housing project may have a lot to complain about, but not the shooting of a 14-year-old boy who menaced police officers with a gun.
  
  It doesn't matter that the boy was wielding "only" a BB gun that happened to look like the real thing. When you show police officers any kind of weapon, fake or otherwise, you shouldn't be outraged when cops defend themselves. Even if the weapon can "only" fire a projectile at 400 feet a second.

Go read the whole thing, for it actually makes sense. And that is a rarity in the media nowadays.

Blame the Judges

The video from the San Francisco Police Association President putting the blame for felons being released on bail can be found at this link here. It will play in Internet Explorer, but not Mozilla Firefox at the moment. It's a good clip.

Missing Guns

A story that was brewing in the background (FOP has it on their website) has finally hit the news. Channel 2, Channel 5, Channel 7 coverage.

• It is undetermined whether all the guns reported missing at O'Hare were stolen there or at their destination airports. In Chicago, the only people who would know a gun is packed in a particular piece of luggage would work either for the T.S.A. or for the airline that checked the bag.

  Many baggage handlers hired by United said they are dissatisfied with their working conditions and pay. They are paid about $7 an hour and do not receive tips and complain they have not had a raise in years.

Is anyone really surprised by any of this? Criminals have had a free rein for years stealing all sorts of stuff from airports - or are we the only ones who remember the movie "Goodfellas" where Idlewild Airport was one of the biggest moneymakers for organized crime cartage thefts and assorted other mischief. It's the same today, it just doesn't make the papers as often. Railyards are the same way.

So how to travel with a gun anymore? Drive. Ship it to your destination. Place all tags indentifying firearms inside your luggage instead of outside. Or don't bring a gun. You can't lose what you don't take with you. Or don't travel. It's a harsh world out there and risking losing your gun is part of the equation - choose wisely.

Political Correctness Again

It's amazing how one of the greatest achievements of last century has been reduced to a forgotten holiday celebrated in a single small town in Rhode Island:

• PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- Church bells rang. Whistles at fire stations and mill factories sounded. People poured into the streets, waving flags and honking car horns. It was Aug. 14, 1945 -- the day Americans learned that Japan had surrendered, ending the costliest conflict in human history. ''It was pandemonium with happiness,'' remembered John Lucas, a World War II veteran.

  Today, Rhode Island will again observe the end of World War II, the only state still celebrating Victory Day, commonly referred to as Victory over Japan Day, or V-J Day.

  Critics say it's discriminatory, and would like to eliminate the holiday or at least remove its reference to Japan. [emphasis added - SCC] Veterans groups remain committed.

Discriminatory? Remove its references to Japan? Did we or did we not win a years long war against the militaristic machinations of the Japanese Empire? A country that launched wars of aggression against Russia, China, Indonesia, Australia and various British and American interests across the Pacific? An implacable enemy that routinely tortured and executed prisoners, slaughtered native populations, and tested germ weapons on US and Chinese citizens.
To call celebrating V-J Day discriminatory shows just how far the insane supporters of political correctness have sunk their tentacles into our history. One of the greatest and finest moments in American history is reduced to a small town in Rhode Island that remembers what we were fighting and how we won the greatest victory in world history.

Changes

Once again, the rumor system has broken down completely. There were exempt changes last week, mostly lateral moves and such. We heard a certain captain returned from a leave of absence working for the mayor's office to take over the Deuce - guess we don't have to speculate on where her clout is, eh? And for some reason, Alvarado was dumped out of ERPS. Who's got a list of the changes and the stories behind them? Post here.

Don't Question Their Patriotism!

From Hugh Hewitt, one of the most respected media figures, radio hosts and bloggers in existence:

• The latest FoxNews poll offers the typically dismal results we've come to expect. Bush's approval holds in the 30's, and Congress is less popular than I was in junior high school.

  But the poll also offers this stunning and revealing nugget. Fox asked, "Regardless of how you voted in the presidential election, would you say you want President Bush to succeed or not?" 51% of Democrats answered "No" to that question. 40% answered yes, and 9%, who are still apparently trying to determine just how deranged they are by their Bush hatred, answered "I don't know."

51% of the democratic party want Bush to fail and, by proxy, America to fail. They aren't just unpatriotic anymore - they are actively rooting against their own country. 51%. Un-freaking-believable.

Billiken Fallout

Well, the number of comments we had to flush climbed a little bit with the Billiken post. Seems too many people want to use ethnically degrading terms to describe the fine citizens who attended the "parade" and "family picnic" events that followed afterwards. As we moderate everything now, we are a bit more careful about what gets posted because NOW there is no plausible deniability should a slander lawsuit be filed.

Anyway, the media gave a huge number of big juicy kisses to the event. Tribune and Sun Times coverage here. If anyone ever offered realistic coverage of this travesty of a parade, we agree that it would be banned immediately. Well, maybe not. But having the same floats go by 3 and 4 and 5 times and having only 4 or 6 coppers trying to cover both sides of a full city block is not only dumb, it's dangerous. And people constantly rushing the floats for some half baked celebrity or give-away? And the roving bands of 100 or more gangbangers wreaking havoc on everything? It's like a license to misbehave.

Of course, we could say the same thing about elements of the Southside Irish Parade, too. Public intoxication, urinating in the alley and on lawns, open and lewd behavior of all sorts. Grandma would be very disappointed with all of it.

Blago Hides Behind Child

What a goof.

• After an appearance with his family to open the Illinois State Fair, the governor repeatedly was asked how it was plausible his office knew nothing about rules allegedly being bent for job applicants even though some of them had been referred by his office.

  "Look, those are issues you have to ask other people who make those determinations," he said.

  As tensions with reporters mounted, the governor picked up his 3-year-old daughter, Annie. Moments later, she burst into tears, which the governor attributed to reporters' questions.

Like a crying child provides you with any protection from a whole boatload of uncomfortable questions about your corrupt hiring practices and shady business dealings. We heard a rumor that after he picked up his three year old, he pinched her leg so she'd start bawling. We hope Fitzgerald can roll up this goof along with his father-in-law.

Media Credibility Shot to Hell

We apologize in advance for the below photograph. But we who see depravity in it's milder forms every single day on the streets, cannot help but be completely and utterly appalled at what these so called "religion of peace" types will do for propaganda purposes and we are outraged at the main stream media's complicity in spreading this propaganda - in any other era, the media would be tried on treason and sedition charges. EVERY SINGLE LINK BELOW CONTAINS DISTURBING IMAGES OF DEAD CHILDREN AND THEIR EXPLOITATION.

We've been following this story for over a week now. Anyone who gets their news from anywhere BUT the mainstream media may have heard of it, but it's starting to break through other places finally. Anyone remember this photo from the front page of the Tribune a little while ago?
His specialty seems to be recovering the dead bodies of children in the wreckage of buildings in Lebanon bombed by Israel. Well, it turns out that this "civil defense worker" is actually a mortician from Tyre driving around with a truckload of dead bodies to pose them in destroyed buildings. Not only that, but EU Referendum has dozens of photographs of him TIMESTAMPED hours apart at different locations with what appear to be the SAME DEAD CHILD over and over again and YouTube has a clip of the above green helmeted guy directing his own video of him pulling bodies out of the rubble! EuReferendum even found pictures of this asshole with another dead child FROM 10 YEARS AGO (1996) when Qana was bombed!

Reuters News has been forced to pull almost 1,000 photographs by a single arab stringer who has been photoshopping damaged buildings, posing the same women in front of multiple dwellings claiming it's their house over and over again and even making up shots of warplanes dropping bombs.

And today, most damning, a reporter who's work has appeared in the New York Times has admitted to seeing bodies dug up from graveyards and moved to other locations [via AceofSpades]:

• i have been witness to the daily practice of directed shots, one case where a group of wire photogs were choreographing the unearthing of bodies, directing emergency workers here and there, asking them to position bodies just so, even remove bodies that have already been put in graves so that they can photograph them in peoples arms.

LittleGreenFootballs and Allahpudit over at HotAir.com are all over this story along with ConfederateYankee, EUReferendum and Ace of Spades. The blogosphere is going to bring down the mainstream media. It might not be obvious on the surface, but we are witnessing a tectonic shift in information processing. The media of the 60's and 70's is on it's last legs and the world can only be a better place for it.