Another Rahm Lie

There have been several, but a few pertain directly to the Police Department.

First there was the infamous "500 hundred more street cops" which was just an exercise in double counting.

Then the "hiring is keeping up with retirements" as District numbers dwindled, time off was denied and 1,200 spots were eliminated with the stroke of a pen.

Now comes the "combined Districts will lose no manpower. Rahm and G-Mac promised residents of the affected Districts that not one officer would be lost to cover their neighborhoods. They promised this on numerous occasions at a number of meetings. Yesterday, we pointed out that 002 and 019, both "combination" districts would be losing officers to Area teams, which are being sent all over the place.

Of course, if the residents who were lied to don't seem to care, or they were bought off by Rahm in some way, shape or form, we can't see G-Mac being unhappy to do Rahm tells him to do.

Surprise...NOT!

As expected, Cook County corruption at all levels:

• Attorney Sladjana Vuckovic was acquitted tonight of charges she improperly gave her personal cell phone to a client who was being questioned in the murder of a Chicago police officer.
  
  A Cook County jury deliberated a little less than three hours before acquitting Vuckovic of two counts of bringing contraband into a penal institution.

Officers of the court know better that to do what this bottom-feeder did.  Or at least they're supposed to.  It is amazing how the only people held 100% responsible for their every single action and can never even plead "human error" to anything are the police.

Quinn "Most Unpopular"

Another surprise from Springfield:

• With only one in four Illinois voters approving his job performance, Gov. Pat Quinn is the least popular in the country and would lose in head-to-head pairings against two of three Republicans eying his job in 2014, a newly commissioned survey found Thursday.
  
  Just 25 percent of voters in Illinois approved of the work Quinn is doing, while 64 percent disapprove, the Democratic-leaning Public Policy Polling firm found. That level of support made him “the most unpopular governor [it] has polled on anywhere in the country this year,” the polling firm said.
  
  If a general election were held today, Quinn would lose to state Sen. Kirk Dillard (R-Hinsdale) by a 44 percent to 37 percent and to state Treasurer Dan Rutherford by a 43 percent to 39 percent margin, the firm reported.
  

You know what this mean? Primary Battle!

• Beyond measuring how Quinn might match up against potential Republican opponents, the Public Policy Polling survey also showed the governor is vulnerable in a primary, though no Democrat has stepped forward and openly declared he or she is planning to take on Quinn in 2014.
  
  The firm found that Quinn would trail Bill Daley, the ex-U.S. Commerce secretary and former Mayor Richard M. Daley’s brother 37 percent to 34 percent, and the spread would be even wider if Attorney General Lisa Madigan took on Quinn, the firm said.
  
  In a hypothetical matchup, Quinn would trailer her by a 64- to 20-percent deficit.
  

This of course, is what Madigan has been grooming Lisa for for years - The King of all Thieves leaving everything to his daughter. That way Madigan succeeds where Shortshanks failed (at least so far).

What Shortages?

As assorted districts continue to send two officers to the 016 District just to man the beat cars overnight (something the aldercreature in the 41st Ward seems to think doesn't happen and the west side aldercreatures seem ignorant about), now comes word that 002 and 019 are being required to surrender an entire tactical team to the Deputy Chief of their respective Areas for "redeployment."  This is in addition to the teams/cars already being send out of District on a daily basis.

If someone downtown would just admit that we need an entire redistricting plan, we could avoid all of this redeployment and "right-sizing" that has become prevalent as manpower dwindles across the board.

Unknown Hero

Over the Thanksgiving holiday, one of our own stepped up:

• An off-duty Chicago police officer was credited with busting two teens and a 12-year-old who robbed a woman on Thanksgiving, police said.
  
  The cop, who police did not name, darted out of a holiday gathering after the panicked robbery victim sought refuge, then tracked the trio down and held them until other cops arrived.
  
  The incident unfolded about 9:15 p.m. when the alleged thieves — two 15-year-olds and a 12-year-old — approached the 20-year-old woman from behind as she walked in the 3000 block of South Princeton Avenue.

No info if this is part of a pattern that had been developing in the Bridgeport area, but all three were captured and charged.

Word is that they were just about to turn their lives around, being 15, 15 and 12.

Three CPD Injured

Rollover accident:

• Three Chicago police officers were injured when their car flipped over while swerving to avoid a stopped car on the South Side this morning, officials said.
  
  The crash happened shortly before 11:30 a.m. near the 7000 block of South Stony Island Avenue, police said.
  
  Three tactical officers were responding to a call when their car lost control while trying to avoid a car and it flipped over, according to Police Supt. Garry McCarthy.

All injuries were described as "non-life threatening," but that can be misleading. Hopefully, all recover in short order.

Disbarment is too Lenient

Anyone want to bet how this one turns out?

• The trial of a lawyer charged with letting her murder-suspect client use her cellphone in an Area 2 interrogation room two years ago started Tuesday with testimony from a Chicago Police officer who made the suspect get off the phone.
  
  The video recording in the interrogation room had been turned off to maintain attorney-client privilege for suspect Timothy Herring Jr. and his lawyer, Sladjana Vuckovic. But when Lt. Brendan Deenihan walked by and heard the voice, he said Herring Jr. appeared to be talking to himself.
  
  “It was a one-way conversation, which was odd since he was with his attorney,” Deenihan testified Tuesday, describing what he heard before he peered in and saw Herring chatting on Vuckovic’s cellphone. Herring had been arrested in connection with the fatal shootings of Chicago Police evidence technician Michael Flisk and former CHA Police Officer Stephen Peters.
  
  Investigators will never know if or how Herring used those phone calls to advance his own case, Cook County prosecutors argued at the opening of Vuckovic’s trial.
  
  Vuckovic, a CTA lawyer who was acting as a First Defense Legal Aid volunteer when she counseled Herring, is accused of bringing contraband to a penal institution, a charge that her attorney claims is excessive.
  

A CTA lawyer? That tells us "heavy" right there. And a bleeding heart to boot.

The trial continues in Room 402 (Judge Clay) today. Stop by if you want to see the face that abets the evil.

Trooper Killed

This didn't get much coverage in Chicago - apologies to the ISP for the oversight:

• Trooper Kyle Deatherage, who recently transferred to the Illinois State Police motorcycle unit to spend more time with his young family, was struck and killed by a truck Monday morning during a traffic stop along Interstate 55 near Litchfield.
  
  Deatherage, 32, of Highland, entered law enforcement as a Madison County sheriff’s deputy in 2004 and moved to the state police in May 2009.
  
  Nelda Christin, an aunt, said the family was devastated by the loss. Deatherage was married to Christin’s niece, Sarah, and they have two children, Kaylee, 4, and Camden, 10 months old.
  
  “He was a wonderful person,” Christin said. She said he switched to motorcycle duty because it allowed him to move from the night shifts to days, and see more of his growing family.
  
  Hiram Grau, director of the state police, issued a statement saying, “Our hearts are heavy with grief, but they are also strengthened by Trooper Deatherage’s brave calling.”

Prayers only for Trooper Deatherage here please.

678 Parkers; $105,000 in Fines

And one whole bunch of blame looking for a place to land:

• It might just be a world record.
  
  At the very least one particular car has set a City of Chicago record for having been issued the most parking violations ever and having accumulated the most parking fines in the city’s history.
  
  The city claims Jennifer Fitzgerald owes over $100,000 in parking tickets.
  
  No, that’s not a typo or a few misplaced zeros on the end.
  
  The amount is actually 105,761 dollars and 80 cents to be precise.
  
  This is the total mind boggling debt the City of Chicago says the 31 year old, single mother of one, allegedly owes for parking violations on a single vehicle.
  

The story involves a car parked in an employee lot at O'Hare for three years and numerous policies for removal of said car ignored for those three years. But you know who's going to look worst in this event.

The Police Department.

Granted, it was probably hilarious to see the car parked where it was for years on end, covered in faded orange paper that was a few hundred Parking Violation Notices. But at some point, someone ought to have written the thing up as "abandoned" and stopped papering it. At least, that's the way it's going to play out with the ongoing lawsuit. We've got as much (or more) of a sense of humor as the next copper, but the affected citizen might make off with some taxpayer dollars over this silliness. Hopefully, no copper catches time over it.

The Expired Meter has the entire story and they're getting some mileage out of it.

Ain't This the Truth?

By Lisa Benson of the Washington Post Writers Group.

Cuddly Coyotes at Wrigley

Aren't they the cutest things on four legs?

• Photographer Will Byington is used to snapping shots of Wrigleyville’s party animals.
  
  But Byington found himself photographing a whole different breed Friday night when, while taking pictures of bands playing at the Cubby Bear, he spotted two coyotes in front of Wrigley Field.
  
  “They hung out there for like five minutes, a lot longer than I would ever think they would,” Byington said. “I’ve lived in Wrigleyville for eight years, and I’ve never seen anything like it.”
  
  Despite cars whizzing by and tipsy bar-goers screaming at the animals, the coyotes seemed unfazed.
  
  “They seemed content,” Byington said. “It’s almost like they’re eyeing McDonald’s.”

"content."

Of course, when the yuppies' cats and dogs start disappearing, the coyotes will be "content...and well fed." And the hipsters will be pissed the police didn't do anything, ignoring the fact that Animal Control has up to zero trucks working overnight.

Remember, "For the Children"

Or is it "For Your Safety?"  We can't keep all of Rahm's (and Daley's) bullshit straight.

Once again, here's an interesting side effect that gives lie to the "safety" argument people:

• They were installed at dangerous intersections to reduce the number of crashes, but New Jersey's controversial red-light cameras have actually seen an increase in collisions, according to a new state report.
  
  A New Jersey Department of Transportation analysis of two dozen intersections that have had the automated traffic cops for at least a year found that accidents — particularly rear-end crashes — have increased, and the collisions are more costly.
  
  Rear-end collisions at the intersections were up by 20 percent, from 286 the year before the cameras were installed to 343 the year after, according to the report made public yesterday. Overall, accidents increased from 577 crashes the year before the cameras were installed to 582 the year after. The "crash severity cost" — which takes into account vehicle and property damage, emergency response and medical care — increased by nearly $1.2 million after the cameras were installed.

But of course, we'll hear that things are different in Illinois in general, Chicago specifically.  Just like the anti-gun people claiming 49 other states have to be wrong and only Illinois is getting it correct, while the streets of Chicago run red with blood.

Fire Rescue - Again

Cops on the spot again - and they come through again:

• Chicago Police Officer Joe Deferville had just pulled a guy over for driving backward down Division Street on Monday evening when another motorist drove by and said, “Officer, the building back there’s on fire.”
  
  Deferville told the reverse driver to turn around and bolted half a block east to a brick three-flat that was filling with smoke as a closed business burned next door at 4050 W. Division.
  
  Deferville, 32, and his partner, Officer William Morales, 40, scrambled through thick gray smoke frantically knocking on doors at 7:54 p.m.
  
  On the third floor, hip-hop music was blaring from an apartment. Deferville found a mother in her 20s and her grade school-age daughter.
  
  The mother was looking for clothes, but Deferville told her, “Ma’am, we’ve got to go now, get a pair of socks for your daughter, I’m taking her out of here.”
  
  Then he picked up the girl and ran for front door, with the mother following.
  
  Morales helped an elderly blind man to the stairs, and fellow Officer Matthew Scott, 47, took the man’s arm and led him outside.
  
  A fourth man from the second floor was escorted from the building as six officers in total descended on the building for a final sweep to check that everyone was out.
  

In all, four rescues by the team. Nice job all around.

"We're Doing Better"

Really?  Better than what?

• Chicago Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy on Monday touted the department's crime-fighting strategies in tamping down the city's murder rate since earlier this year when homicides skyrocketed.
  
  "This is not a zero-sum game. There has to be a recognition that we're doing better," McCarthy told reporters at a news conference at police headquarters. "I can't change what happened in the first quarter. What I can do, is to fix it going forward."
  

Well, if you want the credit now, then you have to take the blame from before, and even Stevie Wonder could see that disbanding the citywide response units ended up directly affecting the number of killings by a complete lack of response to the mayhem. We used to be able to shut neighborhoods down - not so much anymore.

• By April, homicides had soared 66 percent in Chicago compared with a year earlier, but that rate has been gradually brought down to about an 18 percent increase at this point, McCarthy said.
  
  McCarthy credited the reduction to the city's decision to demolish more vacant buildings, arrest more gang members and focus police attention on individuals who are more likely to commit crimes. In general, the city is seeing less overall crime that it did decades ago, McCarthy said.
  

Really? Now we're claiming a lack of vacant buildings as a crime fighting tool? Next, are we going to say the weather actually DOES effect the crime rate? Because you wouldn't know it checking today's stats, something like 3 or 4 dead on a Monday when the temps never got above 37 degrees.

And seriously, an 18% increase in the homicide count is nothing to brag about. Who gives a shit if it was at 66% for 3 months this year? Statistics are a long term proposition. We could argue killings are down 400% in the last hour since no one has died via gunfire, but we'd look like idiots.

• "The city is enjoying the lowest crime rate it has had in 30 years," McCarthy said. "We might be in a position where we are leading the nation in crime reduction."

Sure it is.  If we set 1,000 fires tonight, we could claim that arson is down tomorrow because we ran out of buildings to burn. This CompStat is so much bullshit and the guy running the calculator is stacking it five stories high.

Two Shot - at Gang Funeral

This must be part of the strategy:

• Shots rang out, causing panic and chaos as hundreds of mourners were leaving a Catholic church on the South Side following funeral services Monday for a slain reputed gang member.
  
  As people scattered for exits, a woman knocked Deborah Echols-Moore, 59, to the floor and fell atop her. Her shoes were thrown off her feet. When she stood back up, she fled barefoot out a door.
  
  “When I came outside, you still can hear shooting. Boom! Boom! Boom! I still ran…people was running behind me,” the longtime CTA employee said not long after the 12:30 p.m. shooting. “You didn’t know which way to go or what to do. All I knew to do was run for my life.”
  
  Chicago police said one man was killed, another critically injured in the bloodshed at St. Columbanus Church. Police identified both as Gangster Disciples members and convicted felons, illustrating once again the high risks of gang membership in a year in which rising homicides have brought Chicago unwanted national attention.

All we can figure is this is part of the "gang eradication" strategy McStreetlights has been talking about:

1. Allow police staffing numbers to dwindle to dangerous levels;
2. Watch shootings rise and the homicide rate skyrocket;
3. Clean up the dead;

Results?  Less gang bangers today = Less shootings in the long term.

Audio Taping Police Stands

The Supreme Court refused to hear arguments:

• The U.S. Supreme Court has rejected Cook County State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez’s plea to allow enforcement of a law aimed at stopping people from recording police officers on the job.
  
  The justices on Monday left in place a lower court ruling that found that the state’s anti-eavesdropping law violates free speech rights when used against people who tape law enforcement officers. The law sets out a maximum prison term of 15 years.
  
  Opponents of the law say the right to record police is vital to guard against abuses.
  
  The American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit in 2010 against Alvarez to block prosecution of ACLU staff for recording police officers performing their duties in public places. It’s one of the group’s long-standing monitoring missions.

"Public Way" means the Public Way, and even a most basic reading of case law, precedent and the actual text of the Constitution had this one a loser for Anita from the word, "Go."  But then again, after all the years of fighting the plain language of the Second Amendment, why would any Illinois politician feel the need to read the First?

Act like you're being recorded at all times.

St. Baldricks - Shave the Date!

That hair is looking a bit shaggy boys and gals:

• Once again, the St. Baldrick's Organization has requested the assistance of the men and women of the Chicago Police Department in 2013. For those unfamiliar, St. Baldrick's is an organization that raises money that goes towards research of a cure for childhood cancer. Participants agree to shave their heads in support of the kids who lose their hair in chemo treatments, and seek pledges for doing so. Participants with longer hair are also able to donate hair longer than 12" to be used by "Locks of Love" or other organizations to make wigs for the patients that do lose their hair.
  
  Save the date, the 2013 event will be held on Friday, March 22, 2013 from 7:00 a.m. until 5:00 p.m. at the Training Academy , Area 5, and 022. Last year we surpassed a total $500,000 raised in just five years to help fund research to find a cure for a disease that personally affects so many of us. Thank you for your continued support and efforts!
  
  Our goal this year is to get over 350 participants for the first time. Please encourage any friends and families to join us this year and be a part of helping this great cause.
  
  Details and a link to sign up will be out shortly but for those follicly challenged like me, I wanted to get word out as soon as possible so you can let your hair hang low.
  
  Should you have any questions or want to find out about volunteer opportunities, please contact: Bill O'Reilly for the Academy event at chromedome1269@sbcglobal.net Bill Murphy for the 022 event at 50murf@comcast.net and Anne Zamzow for the Area 5 event at anne.zamzow@chicagopolice.org.

Save the date - 22 March.

Flisk Memorial Mural

Two years ago, he was taken from us:

• Two years after Chicago Police Officer Michael Flisk was fatally shot while dusting for fingerprints at a South Side crime scene, a mural honoring him was dedicated Sunday at the Catholic Church he attended.
  
  [...] The colorful mural, which honors all first responders, is part of a new shrine to St. Michael and St. Florian steps from St. Rita’s alter [sic] and minutes from the Beverly home where Flisk raised his four kids.

There is also an Honored Star Case Ceremony today at Headquarters, but we aren't sure which of the recently deceased this is honoring. Could someone let us know in the comment section?

Do It Rahm's Way

Rahm wrote an op-ed in the Washington Post Sunday about how the Chicago way is the best way to fix what ails America.  You can read it here if you're into pain and stupidity.

The people over at Breitbart to a great takedown of his nonsense though (we're going to quote the entire section from Breitbart.com):

• Yet there are a few features of Emanuel's tenure in Chicago that the nation would be wise not to emulate.
  

  Murder. One is a massive violent crime wave, resulting in more than 400 murders by October 1. The city has already passed last year's total of 435 murders, and the murder rate is rising in Chicago despite drops in other major American cities and in spite of the nation's most restrictive gun control laws outside of Washington, DC.
  Taxes. Another is the enormous tax burden Chicago imposes on its residents. The city has the highest sales tax in the nation, at 9.5%. That is partly why in his own budget for 2013, Emanuel refused to raise taxes--and, in fact, cut certain taxes. Instead, he proposed raising revenues from other sources, and cutting spending in several areas to balance the city's budget. (Curiously, Emanuel does not offer that same advice to President Obama.)
  Debt. One way in which the nation already reflects Chicago's policies is massive, unfunded liabilities. Chicago faces unfunded pension liabilities of at least $26.8 billion--far higher, according to some estimates--and will need to cut spending dramatically or raise taxes to astronomically-high levels in the near future. Emanuel has not yet done much to reform Chicago's entitlements; Obama merely campaigned on demagoguing his rival's plans.
  Unemployment.Emanuel cites job growth in Chicago. But Chicago's unemployment rate, at 8.4%, is still higher than the national average. And while the city was once a hub of entrepreneurship, the top four employers today are all government agencies, in order: the federal government, the public school system, the City of Chicago, and Cook County. Chicago has essentially become a government with an economy, rather than the other way around. That is a model that President Obama and his Democrats have already been following for the nation.
  Emigration. As for comprehensive immigration reform, a large influx of immigrants could not prevent Chicago from suffering a population decline over the past decade. People are voting with their feet, and those with the means to do so are leaving Chicago--and leaving the debt-laden, Democrat-owned state of Illinois as well.
  Corruption. Finally, as Emanuel well knows, there is one "Chicago way" for which the city has become famous--or infamous--and which he himself implemented at the highest levels of the Obama administration. That is the practice of paying back political favors with lucrative government business. The evidence suggests that Emanuel was involved in pushing the failed Solyndra deal, for example, in which hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars were shoveled to a failing solar-cell company with ties to Obama donors as part of a "green jobs" agenda. Chicago today remains the city of big favors, of pay-to-play politics and crony capitalism.

Living under the Chicago Way as run by Rahm Emanuel, sucks.

Updated Weekend Numbers

From the Sun Times:

• A man attempting to stop a fight between a married couple was stabbed to death, another man was found shot dead in a backyard, a 19-year-old died a day after he was shot, a fourth man was fatally shot Sunday, and at least 19 people were wounded by gunfire since the beginning of the Thanksgiving weekend.

Just your normal Chicago holiday weekend.

Bears Favored?

We've gotten off the bandwagon and are jogging alongside. Sorry, that's just the way it is.

The Bears are favored by 6.5 points at the moment.

We just don't feel it.

Aldercreature Reads SCC

From the comment section:

• James Cappleman said...I was at the scene of the fire at 11:50am because I heard the sirens a half block from my home. I asked a police officer if anyone was hurt, and was told no. A resident at the scene confirmed this. I did a quick text because I had to quickly leave for an event where I was serving as a volunteer. From there, I left town for a Thanksgiving dinner with family..... with no contact with the press to learn later that a police officer had to go to the hospital.
  
  Any police officer who has interacted with me has come away knowing that I have the utmost respect for them and their line of work.

It appears to be a legit profile and may actually be the aldercreature we lambasted the other day for praising firefighters for doing their jobs while a police officer who went to the hospital went unrecognized.  In light of the aldercreature's comment, we will withdraw the slur we wrote in disgust.

However, we will note that he still hasn't wished the injured officer any sort of "get well" message despite the officer being injured while serving Cappleman's constituency.  Respect is nice.  A "thank you" would be nicer.  And advocate for Rahm to stop screwing with First Responders would be nicest of all, but we won't hold our breath on that count.

Interesting Take on Violence

An interesting article in Business Insider.

How Chicago Became the Deadliest City in America:

• Things are pretty grim in Chicago following its deadliest summer in recent memory.
  
  By Oct. 21, Chicago had recorded 435 murders, ahead of 339 in New York and 241 in Los Angeles. The Windy City has the highest murder rate of all Alpha world cities, according to NBC Chicago.
  
  And while things are finally starting to slow down, the mood in the city definitely isn't great.
  
  As an Illinois ex-pat living in New York and looking on at one of my favorite cities from afar, I have to wonder, how did we get here?

The linked article points to numerous examples of  how Rahm and McJerseyShore lost 2012.

And it comes on the heels of this Sun Times headline yesterday:

• Three dead, thirteen wounded in Holiday Weekend Violence

This on a Saturday, completely discounting Saturday night and all day Sunday upcoming.

Attack at the Fireworks Show

Anyone hear about this one?  We didn't:

• A group of people attending a fireworks show at the lakefront Saturday, Nov. 17 got attacked by a mob of 15 to 20 young men and at least one woman was robbed.
  
  Police said the attack took place at about 10 p.m. Nov. 17 in the 1000 block of North Lake Shore Drive. A 19-year-old Chicago woman said that she was watching the fireworks show with her friends from Oak Street Beach, and after the show was over a group of about 20 people aged 15 to 18, several wearing ski masks, surrounded them and then attacked, punching and kicking them.
  
  The woman told police she was knocked down by an assailant who appeared to be a 16-year-old who then took her purse before all the attackers fled in different directions. The woman lost her credit card and keys and reported minor injuries.
  

In fact, SkyLineNewspaper.com has a bunch of stories that didn't seem to find the light of day.  Most are run-of-the-mill robberies, muggings and some burglaries.  But you'd think that a mob of 15 to 20 people attacking someone at Oak Street....that ought to raise some uncomfortable questions for Rahm and Garry.

Murders Down

Everywhere except here it would seem:

• The crack epidemic that began in the 1980s ushered in a wave of bloodletting in the nation's capital and a death toll that ticked upward daily. Dead bodies, sometimes several in a night, had homicide detectives hustling between crime scenes and earned Washington unwelcome monikers such as the nation's "murder capital." At the time, some feared the murder rate might ascend to more frightening heights.
  
  But after approaching nearly 500 slayings a year in the early 1990s, the annual rate has gradually declined to the point that the city is now on the verge of a once-unthinkable milestone. The number of 2012 killings in the District of Columbia stands at 78 and is on pace to finish lower than 100 for the first time since 1963, police records show.
  
  [...] The drop reflects a downward trend in violent crime nationwide and is in line with declining homicides in other big cities. Though killings have risen in Chicago, New York City officials say homicides dropped to 515 last year from 2,262 in 1990. Houston police reported 198 homicides last year, down from 457 in 1985, while Los Angeles ended last year with fewer than 300 after reporting 1,092 in 1992. Across the country, violent crime reported by police to the FBI fell by 3.8 percent last year from 2010.

Meanwhile, Chicago's march to 500 continues.

A Town Called Chicago

This is priceless:

• ...the [Israeli Defense Forces] realized that it had to push its engineering corps to improve its “art of destruction,” which had apparently spun out of control. As part of these efforts, two months after the attack on Jenin, in June 2002, the military started to build a series of urban warfare training sites and to upgrade existing ones. The mock-up town of Shizafon (last image), located in the Negev desert and hidden from view by mountains, reflects Israeli Orientalist fantasy.
  
  Another small mock-up town called Chicago and also located in the Negev, was upgraded into the world’s largest fabricated Oriental city since the filming of Ben-Hur. In fact the “urban” history of Chicago has shadow-tracked much of the history of the military operations that have taken place in the Middle East, reflecting a series of changes in how Israel imagines its security.
  
  The core of Chicago was built as a small training site for IDF urban operations in Lebanon. It later expanded to accommodate the training of IDF special forces for their aborted operation to assassinate Saddam Hussein in Tiqrit. Chicago further expanded before the Iraq war to allow for heavy military vehicles and was used for training by the US Marines. In the summer of 2005, training for the evacuation of the Gaza settlements took place there, with actors playing settlers barricading themselves within their homes. Chicago now includes an area called the Kasbah (a historical-looking market area with narrow alleys), an urban outskirts, a refugee camp, a downtown area, and even an adjacent rural village.

The IDF has an urban warfare training center called "Chicago," allegedly because of all the shooting that happens here. And they lend it to the US Marines for training purposes.

Maybe they can put in a North Michigan Avenue section next.

Cop Hurt in Fire

Minor injury, smoke inhalation:

• A Chicago police officer and a resident of an Uptown apartment building were hospitalized Thursday from a fire in the building.
  
  The fire occurred just before noon in a fifth floor apartment at the Lawrence House, a high-rise apartment building at 1020 W. Lawrence Ave., according to Fire Media Affairs.
  
  The small fire was quickly extinguished, but a police officer and resident were taken to hospitals with smoke inhalation, according to Fire Media. The police officer was taken to Swedish Covenant Hospital, while the resident was taken to Weiss Memorial Hospital.
  

And of course, the requisite ignorance from the local aldercreature:

• Uptown neighborhood Ald. James Cappleman (46th) who was at the scene of the fire, Tweeted, “I’m very thankful today for our great Fire Department!”

Not to take anything away from the firefighters, but seeing as how a Police Officer is the only one going to the hospital, on Thanksgiving no less, You're Welcome Cappleman, you asshole.

Thanksgiving Shooting

Shot twice.  And Tasered twice afterwards:

• A man who was attacking passengers and the driver of a CTA bus in the Marquette Park neighborhood was shot and Tasered by police after he tried to attack officers this afternoon, officials said.
  
  The incident happened at about 4 p.m. as a California Avenue CTA bus was northbound near 63rd Street, said Patrick Camden, a spokesman for the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 7.
  
  The man, in his late 20s and who appeared to be impaired, began attacking several passengers on the bus, Camden said.

And exactly what is the purpose of throwing in the "appeared to be impaired" comment? Either he was or he wasn't and neither state precludes him from getting shot and Tasered by responding officers if they felt their life was in danger.

In any event, the Officer involved went home safe. That is what matters.

UPDATE: We heard the Camden clip and from what we remember, Camden didn't say anything except "the man began attacking several passengers."  The "appeared to be impaired" part was added by the media after talking to witnesses.  So all you Camden defenders, lighten up.  We have teased the Orange One on occasion but he's doing good work for the FOP, and we've said so numerous times.  We don't want Pat's job, so there's nothing for us to be jealous of.  And we're already taller than him.

Blame the Doctors

McJersey has to be shaking his head at this one:

• A 19-year-old man shot in the knee earlier this month died after he developed an infection while being treated, according to the Cook County medical examiner’s office.
  
  His death was ruled a homicide.

Whoops.

If this was just a violation, it seems it got a little out of hand. 

And we're just teasing about blaming the doctors.  We're sure the bullet that struck him was sterile and not covered with all sorts of crud that may have contributed to the raging sepsis that killed the victim.

Great Start to Long Weekend

But remember....the weather has nothing to do with crime:

• It’s been a bloody start to the Thanksgiving holiday with one man who tried to stop a fight between a husband and wife on Wednesday night stabbed to death and at least eight people -- including a 15-year-old girl who suffered a gunshot wound to the head -- wounded in shootings around the city since Wednesday afternoon.
  
  William Terry, 55, was stabbed when he tried to intervene in an argument between a married couple in the Roseland neighborhood about 7:11 p.m. in the 10300 block of South Forest Avenue, authorities said. A man who was arguing with his wife took a kitchen knife and stabbed Terry multiple times throughout his body, police said.

And eight shot with one dead. And guess where the dead guy just came from?

• The man identifies with a local gang, police said, and had recently served time in prison for aggravated unlawful use of a weapon.
  
  He was paroled from Shawnee Correctional Center on Oct. 25 and was scheduled to have his parole discharged on the same date in 2013.

Couldn't even make it a month without getting killed. We wonder if he made the "hot list." Because if he did, someone has a couple of free hours since they don't have to look for him any more.

Happy Thanksgiving

Thanks to everyone reading over the past 7-plus years.

Enjoy your holiday. Stay safe if you're working.

Open post for today. Comments may be delayed.

Here Come the Speed Cameras

Rahm needs his money - $20 million to balance the budget:

• Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s controversial speed cameras will get their first test next month in four locations as the city tries to determine whether the technology to catch speeding cars works.
  
  No tickets will be issued to drivers caught going above the speed limit during the testing period, which will last from Dec. 3 to Jan. 3, according to a news release Wednesday from Office of Emergency Management and Communications.

Four locations for testing:

• Warren Park in the 6500 block of North Western Avenue
• Near North Montessori School in the 1400 block of West Division Street.
• McKinley Park in the 2200 block of West Pershing Road
• Dulles Elementary School in the 6300 block of South King Drive.

The only saving grace:

• ...the push to get the system in place near schools and parks hit a snag this fall because of a decades-old opinion by the Illinois attorney general that says children must be “visibly present” before school zone speed limits can be enforced.

We suppose that's why the signs all say, "When Children Are Present." Look for Rahm to have that changed at some point.

There's an Investigation Ongoing?

Jesse Jackson Jr. is being investigated?  Has anyone else heard about this?

• Ambitious, bright and a powerful orator, Jesse Jackson Jr. once saw himself following in the footsteps of his father and running for president.
  
  Instead, in a crashing end to a once promising career, it was his predecessor’s footsteps Jackson followed in Wednesday, resigning from Congress in disgrace just weeks after he won re-election.
  
  In a two-page letter dated Nov. 21 and tendered to U.S. Speaker of the House John Boehner, Jackson acknowledged he is cooperating with a federal investigation into his “activities” and cited a continued battle with his mental health.

Honestly, we had no idea!  And now he's going to prison?  Gosh, that must be horrible.

In other news, the sun rose in the east today and a bunch of people got shot.

O'Hare Hostages

Just another operation targeting tourists:

• The CTA had no qualms on Tuesday about a group of riders it’s targeting to balance the budget: tourists.
  
  The transit agency wants to raise the one-way trip from O’Hare on the Blue Line from $2.25 to $5 for riders who don’t have single-day, three-day, seven-day or monthly passes. That’s part of a larger plan that also raises the costs of all passes but avoids raising the base fare of $2.25 for riders without passes.
  
  The $5 O’Hare tab would bring Chicago more in line with big cities around the country — although some cities, such as San Francisco, offer faster, cleaner rapid-transit options for the extra cost.

A fast, clean CTA? Bwahahahahahaha.

They've already murdered the convention business in Chicago by nickel-and-diming the people using McCormick Place. Now Rahm's advisers are charging people the second they land at O'Hare to even get off the property. At some point, that is going to factor into economic decisions made by the remaining conventioneers and tourists.

Former Commander to Reveal All?

This might be a very large problem and ties into everything that has been said for years about one set of rules for the clouted and one for the peons:

• Three weeks after two police officers sued the Chicago Police Department, claiming they were outed by superiors even as they conducted an investigation of police corruption, a veteran investigator from the department’s internal affairs division came forward Tuesday, backing their story.
  
  That investigator, a former IAD commander who asked that NBC Chicago withhold his identity, said he had direct knowledge of the investigation by officers Shannon Spalding and Daniel Echeverria, which led to the arrest of fellow officers Ronald Watts and Kalatt Mohammed.
  
  Watts and Mohammed were accused of shaking down drug dealers, but Spalding and Echeverria said the investigation was compromised before its conclusion, as their identities were revealed and they were virtually blackballed within the department.
  
  Asked if he believed the investigation would have led to evidence of wrongdoing by more officers, the former IAD official left no doubt.
  
  "Absolutely. I’ve seen the pictures," he said.

Pictures? Code of Silence? Blackballed?

Hello Federal Oversight.....you've been a long time coming.

Toy Drive

A friend of ours, of all of ours actually, sent this along for the Inaugural Toy Drive on 09 December.

And you can watch the Bears game, too.

Rahm has $4 Million Left Over

And we're sure he's trying to figure out how to pocket it:

• Six months after the NATO summit, City Hall has hit the total button on the cost of hosting and protecting world leaders at a gathering that was historic for Chicago but a stretch for local resources.
  
  The final bill for the city of Chicago was $27.5 million, according to Mayor Rahm Emanuel's office, with more than $20 million of it covered by the federal government.
  The remainder has been covered by some of the nearly $33 million in private donations raised by the Chicago NATO organizing committee.
  
  The private donations also covered the committee's tab for hotels for NATO guests, receptions and dinners for dignitaries, a media facility and insurance for the event. More than $10 million of the private donations was left over for the mayor to spend.
  
  Sarah Hamilton, a spokeswoman for the mayor, said $4 million of that surplus remains at his disposal after recent announcements on using leftover money for park improvements.

Thousands of coppers short, millions short in pension obligations, and Rahm is spending it all on parks without any oversight whatsoever.

That makes sense.

Phleger's Pfiance

When you're a whack job, you attract nothing by whack jobs:

• A Deerfield woman charged with stalking the Rev. Michael Pfleger told authorities that God told her that she was supposed to marry the priest, prosecutors said today.
  
  Lidia Kuzniar, 55, of the 1100 block of Montgomery Drive, was charged Monday afternoon with felony stalking after she tried to approach Pfleger during church services on several occasions, prosecutors said at her bond hearing today.
  
  She was ordered held without bail, prosecutors said.

The cardinal and the pope might solve a lot of everyone's problems if they'd just order Pfleger to marry this woman.

Awards Ceremony

The annual event honoring dozens of heroes:

• As Chicago cops, Officer David Hickey and his brother-in-law, Sgt. Christopher Kapa, are no strangers to facing critical split-second decisions.
  
  Hickey was shot in the leg last year as he and three other officers from his gang investigation team chased down and arrested several suspects wanted in about a dozen drug-related slayings across the city.
  
  Kapa made the risky decision in March to drive Officer Del Pearson to a hospital without waiting for an ambulance when the veteran tactical officer was shot and bleeding profusely from a chest wound.
  
  On Monday, Superintendent Garry McCarthy honored Hickey, Kapa and about 70 other officers for bravery at the department’s annual awards ceremony.

Some truly sad news at the end of the article though:

• Pearson has been unable to return to work since the shooting. His arm is no longer in a sling, but he said he still feels nagging pain in his left hand due to nerve damage from the shooting.
  
  Pearson said he hopes to return to work next year but indicated on Monday that he will likely not work on the streets again.

A two-time winner of the Award of Valor, probably won't work the streets again. We're sorry to hear that the damage done when he was shot will restrict him that badly. That part of the story never gets told enough - the walking wounded who won't ever be the same.

Squeezy the Pension Python

We are speechless:

• After months of promising a major grass-roots effort to win public support for reforming the state's government worker pension system, Gov. Pat Quinn on Sunday unveiled a plan that featured an incomplete online strategy, children wearing red plastic megaphones and an animated "Squeezy the Pension Python" mascot.
  
  There were, however, no solutions offered on how to fix the nation's most underfunded retirement system.

We'll tell you exactly what the solution is going to be - screw everyone and let the feds sort it out.

And the blatant use of kids for this debacle? Kind of appropriate in a sick way seeing as how not a single Illinois politician is acting anything like an adult during this entire crisis.

Someone let us know when the grown-ups finally arrive.

All is Well!

Nothing to see here.  Move along.  Keep spending money you touristy-types:

• Mayor Rahm Emanuel on Monday pointed to this weekend’s Magnificent Mile Lights Festival ceremony as proof that the city’s upper-crust Gold Coast is safe — despite two violent incidents there within 24 hours.
  
  “We had 1 million people and not a single incident” during the popular Saturday evening festival along Michigan Avenue, Emanuel told reporters.
  
  The stabbing of a festival visitor inside a bathroom of a Michigan Avenue hotel occurred about an hour after the festival concluded.

"not a single incident," aside from those people with the gaping knife wounds. And the jagoffs trying to run over the cop.  But if it didn't happen between certain hours, in full view of the television cameras....

Rahm is sure a big (figuratively speaking) fan of "if a tree falls in the forest and no one is around to hear it, does anyone have to say anything at the CompStat meeting?"

Why is He on the Street?

Another in a continuing series of Illinois prison screw-ups:

• Just one day after attending a meeting to reintroduce felons into their communities, a recent parolee with a decades-long rap sheet and history of violence stabbed an Oak Brook doctor during an attempted holdup at a Gold Coast restaurant over the weekend, authorities said Monday.
  
  Jimmy Harris, 56, had been freed from prison just eight days earlier, authorities said.
  
  Harris, who has past gang ties, has at least 60 arrests and nine felony convictions dating to the late 1970s, according to Chicago police, state and court records.

56 years old, nine felony convictions and he still manages to walk the streets, breathing the same air you and we do, stabbing suburban tourists and such.

Maybe this is just a case of "ten strikes and you're out."

Nice Pinch

Not sure if this guy was an Apple-picker himself, but he sure had a bunch of stuff lying around:

• A man on parole for burglary had dozens of iPods and smartphones at his West Side home when police and parole officers visited there Friday because of recent neighborhood burglaries and he bragged to them he would “steal anything,” according to police.
  
  Daniel Ramirez, 22, of the 2100 block of West Huron Street, was arrested at his home about 10 a.m. Friday, according to police. He is being held in Cook County Jail in lieu of $50,000 bail after being charged with felony theft of more than $100,000 in goods and felony unlawful use of a weapon by a felon, according to jail records. Officers also arrested another man, Adam Salas, 41, after they found him at Ramirez’s home and he dropped drugs in front of them, according to a police report.
  
  Ramirez is accused of the theft of more than $100,000 in goods, including more than 80 iPods, numerous iPads and cell phones, about 20 bicycles, and other items including laptop computers and jewelry, according to police.

There's still decent police work being done out there in some places.  Not all of it gets this coverage.  Good job boys and girls.

Underdogs

Cutler out, Bears underdogs by 6.

Spend your toothpicks wisely today.

Aldermanic Bullshit in 016

One of our readers wrote to the aldercreature in an effort to get to the bottom of the manpower shortage. This is what they got back:

• Mr. (name withheld)
  
  Thank you for taking the time to contact our office regarding your public safety concerns.
  
  I speak with the Commander of the 16th District regularly, that is where I get my information about public safety in the 41st Ward. Everyone would like to see additional patrols and we've already started to hire additional police officers in the City, including 500 that are part of this year's budget.
  
  Also, I personally don't hold a lot of stock in anonymous comments from a blog. I rely the advice and counsel of officials in the police department.
  
  You may be interested in attending our upcoming 41st Ward Public Safety Town Hall
  on Monday, November 26th at Taft High School in the auditorium. This event will be begin promptly at 6:30 PM. Commander O'Donnell of the 16th District will be in attendance. I've attached a flyer.
  
  You can also find information about your regular BEAT meeting here.
  
  Please feel free to contact my office if I can be of any additional assistance.
  
  Regards,
  Mary O'Connor
  Alderman 41st Ward
  6107 N Northwest Highway
  Office: (773) 594-8341
  Fax: (773) 594-8345
  Email: ward41@cityofchicago.org

We'd certainly suggest that ALL the residents of 016 contact aldercreature O'Connor and let her know that the Department is lying to her if anyone says for an instant that the Department isn't "borrowing " officers from certain districts every single week in order to staff the midnight cars in 016.  If she wants names and dates, those are easily obtainable via the Assignment and Attendance sheets as we discovered just the other day.

Above the Law

Once again, the City Council doesn't fail to amaze:

• Chicago aldermen are accusing their handpicked inspector general of overstepping his limited authority — and going fishing — with a demand for time sheets for all full- and part-time City Council employees dating back to November 2010.
  
  The surprise request from Legislative Inspector General Faisal Khan — whose annual budget was recently increased to $354,000 — stunned and infuriated aldermen, some of whom are talking about clipping Khan’s wings or eliminating his position altogether.
  
  Khan could not be reached for comment to explain the time-sheet request he made last month. Over the years, aldermen and committee chairmen have been accused of padding their payrolls with relatives, friends and political allies and of the hiring equivalent of “wife-swapping”: placing each other’s spouses and relatives on each other’s payrolls.

Remember, these are our superiors.  We don't have them investigated.  They know better than all of us.  You just shut up and pay ever increasing taxes to keep them and their cronies in comfort without fear of losing a home, feeding a family or staying employed.

Gold Coast Shots Fired (and more)

Earlier tonight:

• A Chicago police officer fired on a car fleeing a Gold Coast retail store this evening, after the driver of the vehicle tried to run him down when the officer tried to stop four people with their arms full of stolen clothing, officials said.
  
  No is believed to have been injured, said Chicago Police News Affairs [...].
  
  The incident happened about 6:10 p.m as an officer responded to a call of a theft in progress in in the first block of East Walton Street, just east of Rush Street

The officer was unhurt.

And of course, last night was all over the news, too:

• The 67-year-old man stabbed at a North Michigan Avenue hotel Saturday night had been downtown with seven family members for the Magnificent Mile Lights Festival, his niece said.
  
  A second man was also injured in the attack while trying to keep the assailant from fleeing, police said, and a man is in custody.

Hey, pay no attention to those two bleeding individuals on the corner! They were like that when they got there. It's 100% safe for tourists and suburbanites alike in the sales-tax-generating section of the city. Really. We mean it. How can there be a police shortage if you can't see what isn't there?

Tick tock. Tick tock.

Weekend Totals

Another four dead, including one killed by church law:

• The man was shot in the back by a gunman inside a minivan, police News Affairs [...]. The medical examiner’s office was not identifying the man pending family notification.
  
  Tizoc Tobias heard what sounded like a canon go off just outside his home Sunday morning, he said. Then he counted the shots — 10 in total.
  
  “The first reaction is to count the shots,” said Tobias, 38, standing with his 9-year-old son by the remaining police tape in the alley near his home.
  

We think the reporter may have meant "cannon" and not "canon," but they know better than we do with all their layers of fact checking and editorial oversight.

So four dead, twelve wounded, and we saw an article about someone who lingered for a week before succumbing to his Englewood induced wounds, so call it at least five.

Safety Alert

From a reader:

Modern ingenuity.  Be careful out there.

Kidnapped Child Found

A dearth of good news lately, so this is welcome news:

• A desperate four-hour search for a kidnapped baby ended joyfully when Officer Naomi Gibson heard a muffled cry in a gangway.
  
  Gibson and a team of officers were frantically looking for the 1-month-old girl throughout the Grand Crossing District on the South Side on Tuesday morning.
  
  At 10:54 a.m. — with the temperature hovering at 32 degrees — Gibson heard a cry coming from a gangway in the 6800 block of South Ridgeway.
  
  She spotted a white garbage bag full of pink baby clothes. Then she saw the baby sitting in a car seat, covered with a pink blanket.

And why was the child kidnapped?

• Williams allegedly took the child to pretend the baby girl belonged to her and her boyfriend, who had recently been arrested and faced a bond hearing on a felony drug possession charge.
  
  She’s accused of planning to use the child to evoke sympathy from a judge to get a lower bond for her boyfriend, but then abandoned the scheme — and the baby.
  

And when it all fell apart, she just left the baby in a gangway, denied having anything to do with the child, and refused to assist the police in any way, shape or form to return the infant.  We wish we could say we were shocked, but we can't.  Let's see if Mope-rah can wring a story out of this one.  We're sure it's all the fault of the police at some level.

An excellent job by the officers responding and searching until locating the child.

Suburban Gun Turn-In

With all sorts of rules and stuff that make it not-so-much fun to turn in weapons:

• Firearms will be exchanged for $100 cash if the weapon and participant meet the program requirements.
  
  All types of firearms will be accepted, but they must be unloaded and transported in a car trunk or inaccessible area of a van or pickup truck, police said. Participants must enter the turn-in site without the firearm, and police will accompany them back to the vehicle to retrieve it.
  
  [...] To get $100, the firearm must be functional. Pellet and BB guns will be accepted, but no money will be given, the release said.
  
  Only residents of towns belonging to the [South Suburban Association of Chiefs of Police] are eligible to take part. Those unsure whether their town is a member should call their local police.

Police have to retrieve the weapons from your trunk? Where's the sense of adventure?

No money for BB guns and air rifles? Now there's no motive to profit.

Fully functional firearms only? What are those guys from southern Illinois going to do to fund their youth gun safety programs now?

And why would anyone turn in a fully functional firearms anyway? There's the potential for years of fun, safe shooting sports along with the ability to defend yourself in the event a criminal comes knocking at your door.

Meet Me in the Deserted Alley...

This is part of a trend we've seen over the past year or three - why trust to blind luck when you can have the victims just bring you their stuff?

• Bail was set at $350,000 today for a 20-year-old man charged in several robberies where victims were attacked when they responded to ads posted on Craigslist, authorities said.
  
  Andrew Jones, of the 8100 block of South Merrill Avenue, was charged with aggravated assault and armed robbery in connection with several robberies connected to an advertisement on Craigslist, police said.
  
  Police had issued an alert earlier this week warning of people who were robbed when responding to an ad on the site. The victims met a man at a certain location where they were met by an armed robber who forced them to the rear of the location and robbed them, police said.

It's almost like shopping at home.  And you know what they're bringing you in advance.  One victim from Wheeling got gut-shot for his troubles.  Why on earth would you bring anything into the city, let alone some of the neighborhoods this guy was prowling in?

E2 Owners Countersue

Once again, the City is stampeded to do something, anything in the wake of mass stupidity. So they decide to go all out on an obscure building code violation of all things. A first year lawyer can see where this is headed:

• The owners of the former E2 nightclub are suing the City of Chicago for $4 million a year after a state appeals court dismissed their convictions in connection with a 2003 stampede that killed 21 people
  
  The lawsuit, filed in Cook County Circuit Court on Friday, claims Calvin Hollins and Dwain Kyles were unfairly accused of criminal contempt by city prosecutors and, as a result, suffered financial and emotional distress.
  
  [...] City prosecutors pressed on with criminal contempt charges by arguing that Hollins and Kyles failed to follow a judge’s order to close the second floor of the club because of structural problems.
  
  A judge in 2009 agreed and sentenced Hollins and Kyles to two years in prison, but the Illinois Appellate Court reversed the convictions in November of 2011, saying it was not clear how the building code violation caused the deaths or injuries.
  

Another Daley legacy via Corp Counsel, potentially costing taxpayers millions, that the city could have avoided.

This Stuff Will Kill You

But damn, it tasted good back in the day:

• Hostess Brands announced Friday that it is winding down operations and has filed a motion with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court seeking permission to close its business and sell its assets, including its iconic brands and facilities.

Over 1,000 jobs in Illinois alone, and more than a few other brands tanking with the snack cakes. 

Continuing Scandal

This one just won't stop:

• A Chicago police officer is accused of staging an accident involving two cars in return for $2,000 from a tow truck driver who hauled away the wreckage and billed an insurance company.

This is the tenth officer indicted in this scandal.  We aren't sure how many got indicted during the SOS scandal, but we don't think it was ten. And for a measly $2,000?  This guy will be lucky to get a job actually towing cars in a few years.

Eight Years

Another scandal draws to a close:

• A former Chicago police detective, a self-confessed alcoholic, who drunkenly plowed into a stalled car in 2009, then walked away from the two men burning to death on the Dan Ryan, was sentenced to eight years in prison Friday.
  
  His victims’ families called the sentence a slap in the face, a favor for 18-year police veteran Joseph Frugoli.

We've seen a lot less given...and a lot more.

In the Meantime...

...the dead keep stacking up, even on weeknights:

• Authorities tonight were investigating the fatal shootings of three men, one of whom was killed by his father, police said.

Everyone one of them bring us closer to 500, with a month-and-a-half to go.

Who has the current total?

Rahm's Budget

Well thank goodness it wasn't unanimous.  You'd hate to see anyone thinking these spineless assholes were a rubber stamp or something:

• It wasn’t the shut-out he pitched during his rookie season, but Mayor Rahm Emanuel got the win Thursday on the most important City Council vote of the year.
  
  By a vote of 46-to-3 with Ald. Sandi Jackson (7th) missing, aldermen approved Emanuel’s no-new taxes, “calm-before-the-storm” 2013 budget.
  
  The vote on the $6.54 billion budget clears the decks for the main event: a painful solution to the city’s pension crisis that will require both new revenues and concessions from city employees.

The battle has just begun and Rahm is going to play "scorched earth" with us.

Oh, and it sure was nice of Sandi Jackson to represent her constituents so very ably from somewhere else.  As someone pointed out, another Jackson collecting a check for a no-show job.

012 / 013 Merge on Tap

Word is the Lieutenants have made their choices/bids to leave or stay.

Same source relates the Sergeants are having issues with who stays and who goes due to very high seniority among the newcomers.

And of course, the Officers have no idea who or how many get to remain in the new 012 and what their choices may be to move to - or if the choices are even going to be granted.

Any of this making any sense?

Officer Wounded; Assailant Killed

Late last night:

• A Chicago Police officer suffered a graze wound to her leg and a stabbing suspect wielding a hammer was fatally shot late Wednesday in the South Chicago neighborhood, police said.
  
  The female officer and man were shot near the intersection of East 79th Street and South Shore Drive, police said.
  
  The officer’s partner shot the man, said Fraternal Order of Police spokesman Pat Camden. It was unclear whether the officer accidently shot herself or was wounded by her partner.
  
  At 11:45 p.m, two officers responded to a disturbance at the intersection and saw a man with a knife stabbing another man, police said.
  
  When officers ordered the attacker to drop the weapon but he refused and an officer fired a Tazer, police said.
  
  But the suspect produced a hammer and aggressively charged toward the officers, officials said. Both officers discharged their weapons, police said.

Get well soon Officer.  And well done in eliminating yet another threat to the lives of officers and citizens alike.

Beyond Abbate

An interesting question posed by a reader in response to our contention that we are in for a boatload of new training and videos about this supposed "code of silence" we're all a part of now:

• So, if training or whatever is not the answer, then let me ask you in all sincerity: What do you suggest to keep people like him from getting away with such behavior? How shall people like me, who support the good cops and can't afford the monetary consequences of abuse and corruption, be served and protected from bad apples?
  
  --Law Abiding Citizen

We'll open this one up to the floor - how do we, as a Department, address the conception that there is some "code of silence" conspiracy?  

Are there crooked cops?  Unfortunately, yes, but there are crooked people in all walks of life.  

Do cops extend courtesy to other cops (and city workers) in terms of parking or moving violations?  It happens, but everyone has stories about the guy who writes everything, regardless of who it is.  And don't even get us start about those assholes in Revenue.

But none of that has anything to do with a "code of silence."  

Look at our fearless leader - an inter-agency brouhaha  following a traffic altercation in his previous job, shooting out streetlights, liberal use of a particularly offensive racial pejorative and guess what?  The media ignores it and let's Rahm hire this guy to drive the Department into the ground.  This is a "code of silence?"

We're pretty sure we are going to see training videos - remember Hillard and Mrs. Hillard starring in that training video?  Racial profiling or something?  We just don't think videos that everyone knows are simply a knee-jerk reaction to the scandal of the moment are going to change anything institutionally.

Opinions?

JJJr Misses Lame Duck Session

And won't be back - allegedly:

• Congress met Tuesday but U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. was a no-show, a continued absence from his official duties that began June 10.
  
  Several political sources close to Jackson told the Chicago Sun-Times Wednesday they no longer believe this is temporary ­— they do not expect Jackson to return to his position.

So is it time for these?

Rahm Proposes Robbery

Remember that referendum on the ballot just last week about the City buying electricity competitively in order to save citizens money?

Rahm wants to keep it:

• Mayor Rahm Emanuel is pushing a new plan to skim off some of the savings Chicago electricity customers stand to gain from lower rates expected as part of a bulk power purchasing contract, with the money going for unspecified energy efficiency projects.
  
  The mayor also wants greater control over how much of the deal a company can get.
  
  Some aldermen are skeptical, questioning Emanuel's power grab on the specifics of electrical aggregation, which allows the city to negotiate lower rates on residents' behalf. Last week, 56 percent of Chicago voters agreed with the idea in a referendum question.
  
  Now the rush is on to lock in savings as soon as possible. Emanuel wants to award the power savings deal within a month.

A month? This sounds suspiciously like the parking meter deal that Shortshanks rushed through to the detriment of taxpayers a few years back. And Rahm wants to keep the savings we were supposed to see? And under his proposal, he would have the authority to set the percentages of power that each company would be responsible for generating - or just assign all of the power generating needs to one single company, replacing the ComEd monopoly with one of his choosing.

Someone ought to ask if all that money is going to the unfunded pension obligations. We can already see what the answer would be.

Duty Disability Arbitration

Something to keep a close eye on:

• The arbitration went well on Wednesday. In about two weeks we will have a copy of the transcript of the arbitration. The attorneys from both sides then have until December 5, 2012, to get their briefs submitted to the arbitrator. Once the arbitrator has both sets of briefs, he will send copies to both sides. Arbitrator Roumell is usually pretty quick with his decisions, but my guess is that it will be sometime in January before we get his final decision. There is a lot of evidence for him to read, and we want him to view all the evidence so that he can make a good decision.
  
  The arbitrator is well-aware that some members may go into a no pay status on February 1, 2013. Make no mistake, this is one of the most difficult arbitrations that we have done.

Something we saw posted a few months ago suggested that there might be a hard ceiling on the number of Limited Duty spots available for officers undergoing long term medical issues.  Is this part of it?

UPDATE: Someone is complaining we're blurring the line between duty disability and limited duty spots.  Sorry if that's the case, but in the last paragraph, we directly ask if the two are related in any way.  We're looking for info on all of it.

Abbate Verdict

Looks like the City pays:

• Five years after a video of Karolina Obrycka being beaten by off-duty cop Anthony Abbate went viral, a federal jury ruled it’s time for the city and Abbate to pay up.
  
  Jurors Tuesday night awarded the bartender $850,000 in her case against the City of Chicago and the disgraced former cop over the 2007 bar beating caught on security camera.
  
  The verdict against the city and Abbate came at the end of a three week trial in which attorneys for Obrycka alleged the Chicago Police Department’s had a code of silence and a culture of failing to properly investigate and discipline officers who used excessive force.
  
  When asked outside the courtoom where the $850,000 will come from, Abbate responded with a joke.
  
  “I think I got a Visa card in my wallet,” Abbate quipped. In practice the City will have to pay the entire amount, Obrycka’s attorneys expect.

Still an asshole, all the way until the end, eh Tony?

Of course, this means the lawyer can bill Chicago for their time, which we imagine will run into the millions of dollars.  And then there's this problem:

• In order to prevail, Obrycka’s legal team had to prove not just that the code of silence existed, but that it was a cause of Abbate’s attack.

Get ready for a shitload of "training" and speeches, maybe even some sort of outside "oversight" since it has now been proven in a Court of Law that a "code of silence" exists and is perpetrated by the Department.

And then there's the unfinished business of the "fall girl:"

• He added that the actions of Deb Kirby, who ran the police departments internal affairs division at the time of the beating, were “reprehensible.”
  
  “If it was up to me, I’d fire her today,” he said.

Hope that resume is up to date Deb.

CeaseFire Useless 5 Years Ago

The State of Illinois had an auditor look into CeaseFire's claims.  Guess what they found?

• The scoop in Tuesday's Chicago Sun-Times by police reporter Frank Main about the effectiveness of CeaseFire isn't the first time such questions have been raised about the group.
  
  Five years ago, Illinois' top auditor questioned what exactly taxpayers were getting in return for millions of dollars in state funds that were invested with CeaseFire.
  
  A 2007 report by Auditor General William Holland scrutinized $13 million in state spending on CeaseFIre and concluded no state standards existed to measure the group's anti-violence work.
  
  On Tuesday, Main reported that after more than three months into a $1 million contract with the city, a ranking police source said the anti-violence group has "no significant success stories." The group disputed that claim, insisting it had made a dent in crime in the areas covered by the city's new anti-violence pilot program.

We're going to take issue with the Sun Times calling this a "scoop" seeing as how nothing has changed in the five years since Auditor William Holland found there were no measurable standards after Illinois burned through $13 million taxpayer dollars.

But that didn't stop Rahm from shoveling another million their way with no reporting standards nor it would seem, expectations of results.

Mrs. JJJr Under Investigation

This just keeps getting more amusing:

• Jackson, who reportedly has been under investigation by federal prosecutors for possible misuse of campaign funds, has been on a leave of absence from Congress since June, but was re-elected last week despite his legal and medical troubles.
  
  Meantime, according to the Wall Street Journal, federal prosecutors in Washington, D.C., have expanded their investigation of the congressman, and are now also looking at his wife’s conduct.
  
  WBBM Newsradio’s Regine Schlesinger reports, according to the Wall Street Journal, sources familiar with the investigation said prosecutors are reviewing evidence Jackson’s wife, Ald. Sandi Jackson (7th), might have been complicit in the misuse of campaign money to decorate their home.
  
  The Journal reports prosecutors have made no decisions about pursuing charges against Ald. Jackson.

You have to wonder if that open microphone that caught Jesse Sr. threatening to remove portions of then-Senator Sparklefarts anatomy may have directly contributed to the direction of this investigation.  What better revenge than sidelining Jesse Sr, jailing his son and removing any chance of his daughter-in-law holding further public office, except at the whim of Obama?  It's so very Chicago at heart.