Wait....Rahm Lied?

Once again, the media behind the curve:

• Despite promises of staffing increases, the Chicago Police Department has fewer beat officers in patrol districts across the city than before Mayor Rahm Emanuel took office, a Chicago Sun-Times analysis of city data has found.
  
  Days after he was sworn into office last year, Emanuel announced the start of what he described as a major shift in how the police department assigns officers across the city. He promised to fulfill a campaign pledge by assigning 1,000 more cops to high-crime areas without reducing the police presence in other parts of the city.
  
  “We cannot beat crime without more officers on the beat,” the mayor said then.
  
  That was May 2011.
  
  But, as of Oct. 15, a total of 6,638 rank-and-file officers were assigned to police beats citywide, down from 6,746 beat cops at the start of 2011, according to the data obtained by the Sun-Times.
  

And why would that be?

• The reason is simple: For every newly hired officer assigned to a beat during the past two years, six other sworn members of the department have retired.
  
  And because about 1,200 retirements have sharply depleted the payroll, rank-and-file police staffing even in some high-crime areas where new officers were added last year is again declining, the Sun-Times found.

And that's not even accounting for the Units. Anyone seen the wait time to get an ET to process a job? Eight, ten, even twelve hours isn't out of the ordinary. The Crime Lab has ceased to exist for the most part. Detective attrition must have been horrific over the past 5-plus years they didn't make a class, and the 70 currently in the Academy? They are walking into a world of shit.

If you live in a "quiet" part of town, run the numbers for your midnight shifts. There is no police protection during the hours of darkness. Or the Airports? Some nights they are running a single car - one cop covering an airport the size of three or four suburbs.

But remember, crime is down. If the police don't show up, it never gets reported, therefore, it never happened.

Good Work Officers

Closed, Cleared by Arrest? A rare enough occurrence lately:

• Two people were in custody after a man was believed shot to death in the Washington Park neighborhood this evening and suspects fleeing the scene caused a traffic crash on the Dan Ryan Expressway, authorities said.
  
  Officers patrolling the area either heard or saw a man shot in the 200 block of East 51st Street about 5:10 p.m., and followed suspects in a vehicle onto the Dan Ryan Expressway, said Chicago Police News Affairs Officer Daniel O'Brien.
  
  [...] After police began their pursuit, the suspects are believed to have caused a crash on the Dan Ryan Expressway, O'Brien said. Illinois State Police were notified about 5:27 p.m. of a two-car crash in the northbound local lanes at 43rd Street that was related to the pursuit, a state police master sergeant said. No one suffered life-threatening injuries in the crash, he said. Fire Department spokesman Kevin MacGregor said no one was taken to a hospital from the site of the crash.

Great job to all involved.

Messy Weekend

The Christmas spirit must have been flowing heavily - two dead, eight wounded over the weekend. And we're not even sure if that counts the arson that killed one, severely burned two children and left the arsonist dead as well.

Arson deaths are still murders, right? Because we know they mess with the vehicular homicide numbers constantly, with "hit and run" deaths being counted various ways.

Bears Toast

Lovie Watch begins:

• The Bears could spend between now and wild-card weekend counting the reasons they will be sitting at home with 10 wins.
  
  A defensive meltdown in Week 13 against the Seahawks and a brutal loss at Minnesota the following week are good places to start. Their time will be better spent, however, compiling ways they can improve in 2013 after a second-half collapse could not be saved by road wins over the lowly Cardinals and Lions at the end of a season that began with great promise.
  
  
• Questions will persist about the future of Smith, who has an 81-63 regular-season record in nine seasons, until Emery announces his plan. It will be interesting to see what role Chairman George McCaskey takes; most believe it was his call to fire GM Jerry Angelo a year ago.

With any luck, both the Bears and the CPD will be looking for new head coaches shortly.

Chicago v New York

Rahm, it's a good thing you're still out of town:

• New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg was crowing.
  
  "The number of murders this year will be lower than any time in recorded city history," Bloomberg said Friday in a statement announcing that homicides in the city this year had fallen to 414 — the fewest since it started keeping such statistics in 1963.
  
  About the same time Friday, Chicago police were trying to get the message out that their city hadn't actually recorded its 500th homicide this year, as was being reported. A few hours later, they had to backtrack and acknowledge that, yes, in fact, "the city has seen its 500th homicide for 2012."
  
  That's right: There were more homicides this year in Chicago than in New York, a city with three times the population. That means Chicagoans were proportionally 3.7 times more likely to be homicide victims than New Yorkers were in 2012

McCarthy watch is in full swing.  Remember, when Rahm says he has full confidence in Garry and no plans to replace him, 72 hours is the over/under.

Cop Beaten

An ugly scene:

• A South Side police officer had his head smashed against the pavement and briefly lost consciousness after he and his partner tried to stop someone fleeing an area where police were investigating a shots fired call Friday night.
  
  Tony Williams, 43, of the 2700 block of East 77th Street in Chicago, was charged with aggravated battery to a police officer and felony resisting arrest.
  
  Police said Williams slammed one officer's face into the ground several times after he and both officers fell to the ground about 7:06 p.m. Friday, with Williams landing on top of the officer whose face he is accused of smashing.

Cop should be ok.

Remember, this is normal behavior in this neighborhood. It's expected even. Any word on a "reverend" sponsored march in support of the Police that are the victims of this behavior day in and day out?

Officer Lewis Reward up to $40,000

Still one guy out there wanted for questioning:

• The reward for information related to the death of a Chicago police officer last year has been increased, Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy announced today.
  
  The Chicago Police Memorial Foundation is offering $40,000 for information leading to an arrest and conviction, as police continue to search for at least one other individual they believe was involved in the fatal shooting of Officer Clifton Lewis on Dec. 29, 2011.
  
  The reward previously had been set at $33,000.

 $40-grand ought to shake something loose. 

Last Chance for Bears

Still a chance they might back into a playoff spot, and thereby gain the chance to fail on national television.

Latest odds have Bears by 3. If they manage to eke out a win against Detroit, then they have to hope the Packers don't play all their second stringers against the Vikings.

499 + 1 = 499

An open post to discuss the ongoing manipulation and falsification of crime statistics by the Streetlight Marksman.

See the "It's a Miracle" from yesterday for continuing discussion about the overt reclassification going on with crime numbers by McCompStat.

This jackass is a failure on so many levels, and now he's not even bothering to hide the number manipulation.

Quiet Down Peasants!

An unjust tax?  In Cook County?

• With gangland shootings becoming an every-day occurrence in Chicago, the Board of Commissioners in surrounding Cook County is trying anew to tackle the deadly problem -- with another tax.
  
  But already, some are questioning whether the move is more about making a statement than addressing the violence.
  
  Under the new law, Cook County is charging an additional $25 tax on every handgun sold inside county lines.
  
  Gun shop owner Fred Lutger said this fee targets legal gun buyers, and not the gangsters responsible for many of Chicago's homicides.

Well, you know Preckwinkle wouldn't want to actually tax gangbangers. They don't have jobs, they don't have futures, and they have a lot of guns, so it wouldn't make sense to ask them to come up with money.

But Joe Schmo taxpayer? Get the money from him.

Of course, Econ 101 comes into play here - something Preckwinkle never studied:

• Opponents of the law, though, warn that the tax could backfire -- by driving buyers and even businesses out of Cook County.
  
  Preckwinkle said she would be "astonished" if businesses actually left Cook over the tax.
  
  But County Commissioner Tim Schneider said: "I think we're astonished many times when businesses leave the county, but they do."
  
  Cook County has been down this road before. There is a tax on bottled water -- one of the highest sales taxes in the country. An increase in the cigarette tax fell dramatically short of projected revenue because tobacco store owners hoarded up the tax stamps before the increase went into effect.

Not to mention the thousand of people who just end up going over the border into Indiana or surrounding counties.  Moron politicians.

St. Baldrick's Registration Open

Time to let the hair grow out a bit:

• Registration is open for all three 2013 CPD St. Baldrick's locations so start letting that hair grow! Just go to THIS LINK RIGHT HERE and choose from the Academy, Area South for 022 and Area North for 025. Follow the link on the left "participate in this event" and you will be walked through the registration process whether it's your first year or you're returning. Any questions don't hesitate to reach out to me, chromedome1269@sbcglobal.net. Our event is on Friday, March 22, 2013 from 0700 - 1700 hours and we're hoping to break a record for the number of participants this year so please invite a friend or family member to join you.
  
  Thanks,
  
  Bill O'Reilly

Let's see if we can beat last year.

It's a Miracle!

The dead have risen!!!

Or at least one of them has.

Sort of:

• Hours after Chicago police listed the shooting death of a West Side man as the city’s 500th homicide of the year, the department backtracked and said the city has yet to reach the grim milestone.
  
  Superintendent Garry McCarthy had told the Tribune Thursday afternoon that the homicide count stood at 499. Hours later, Nathaniel T. Jackson, 40, was gunned down outside a store in the Austin neighborhood and the department confirmed Friday morning that his death was the 500th homicide. Mayor Rahm Emanuel released a statement noting that "Chicago has reached an unfortunate and tragic milestone."
  
  But then the department issued its own statement calling reports of the tally inaccurate, saying the number remained at 499.  Asked for clarification, a spokeswoman for the superintendent said one of the homicide cases from earlier this week has been reclassified as a death investigation.

Of course, the real reason can be found in our comment section:

• Nope time to update again scc.... It appears gmac shit a brick at the morning phone conference with all of the commanders and demanded we stay under 500... Then poof, [someone] offered the supt a case that could be reclassified to a death investigation... So now the dept officially came out and said we are at 499. This was info from a commander who was on the morning call but has now been confirmed via the statement and story by the tribune this afternoon... Yep it's all legit

What a joke.

Hey media? You're being lied to. Again. And you're lapping it up like ice cream. Why don't some of you "investigative reporter" twits ask how many "death investigations" are currently open? We'll bet more than a dozen. And here you have the some exempt member offering to reclassify a murder. And not a single media type touches the fact that the FBI won't accept Chicago stats, and for good reason.

Here's a Pulitzer gift wrapped for you morons and years worth of material pointing directly at the Machine and the Combine and every other crooked pol out there.  But you don't want to rock the boat?

Here's a little nugget - Chicago passed 500 over two weeks ago if you add in the death investigation totals.

500 for Sure Now

No avoiding it now - may as well own it:

• The fatal shooting of a 40-year-old man Thursday night on the West Side appears to have pushed Chicago's 2012 homicide toll to 500, the first time the city has had that many killings in four years.
  
  The slaying came hours after the Chicago Police Department said the city was one homicide away from the 500 mark for the year.
  
  The victim was standing outside a convenience store around 9 p.m. at Augusta Boulevard and Lavergne Avenue in the city's Austin community when he was shot in the head, police said. He was pronounced dead at John H. Stroger Jr. Hospital of Cook County at 12:18 a.m., a spokesman for the Cook County medical examiner's office said.

So a big congratulations to Rahm Emanuel and Garry McCompStat. You've proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that the number of police officers has a direct correlation to the amount of blood running through the street gutters of Chicago. All your spouting off about "properly utilizing the officers we have" and "highest per capita" statistical nonsense? Bullshit. And sitting idly by while the media and reverends crucify officers and allowing years worth of incompetent "merit" promotions run amok throughout the Department? If it wasn't part of some Grand Plan to destroy the Chicago Police Department, that was the consequence anyway.

Note for next year: An old saying is, "What goes up, must come down." Chances are about even that the rate will fall a bit next year and we fully expect that Laurel and Hardy will take credit for it via some manner - statistical manipulation, new programs, increased hiring, etc. What no one will say is perhaps the shitheads will be running low on targets. After the "Crack Wars" of the 80-90's sorted out the street corners, everyone calmed down a bit.

500?

The RedEye Homicide tracker has us at 500:

• Chicago on Wednesday logged its 500th homicide of the year—the first time the city has reached that threshold since 2008, according to a RedEye analysis of preliminary police data.
  
  A man was shot to death Wednesday in an alley east of California Avenue and south of 54th Street, the Tribune reported.
  
  Chicago homicides are up 15 percent this year compared to the same period last year, according to RedEye data. Homicides were up 60 percent in March compared to 2011 but the rate has slowed since then.

Here's what McDoofus is hanging his hat on though:

• Eighteen homicides have been logged so far this month; 37 homicides were logged in December 2011, RedEye data shows.

The "official" Department count has us stuck at 498 or 499. For some reason it's always been just below the RedEye tracker this year, so we can only assume something got reclassified somewhere.

Anyone know where the discrepancy is at? Or what? Because there was another website counting that had us at 526 or so, but they included police shootings and possibly vehicular homicides, too from what we heard.

499.....

In the bag?

• A man died after he was shot at least four times – including in the face and chest – in a Gage Park neighborhood alley Wednesday night on the Southwest Side, authorities said.
  
  Frederico Martinez, of the 5400 block of South California Avenue, died from gunshot wounds he suffered near his home, according to the Cook County Medical Examiner’s office.
  
  Police said he was Chicago's 499th homicide victim of the year.

The Tribune has all the requisite crying and moaning about how he was just about to turn it around after 30-plus years, 20 of it bangin' in the 'hood.

Upgrading Charges

ASA facing upgraded charges for drunken antics:

• The Cook County prosecutor charged with biting a worker outside a Lakeview lingerie store is about to be in even more trouble.
  
  Her misdemeanor battery case was dropped today, but FOX 32 News has learned the Attorney General plans to file new, more serious charges against Sarah Naughton in the next several days. Naughton's misdemeanor battery trial was scheduled for today, but was dropped after a last minute move by the Attorney General's office, which is handling the case since Naughton works for the Cook County State's Attorney's office.

And wonder or wonders, a Chicago aldercreature is sticking his nose into this one, trying to help out the unfortunate drunken prosecutor:

• The story gets even more bizarre, with a voicemail Thomas got from Ald. Tom Tunney (44th Ward) just days after Naughton's first appearance in court.
  
  After making some small talk about a local construction project impacting Thomas's store, Tunney says this:
  
  "The world is too small and I've got a friend of mine that I went to high school with is an attorney for that Taboo Tabou case with the state's attorney. It's really a delicate situation for the young woman, and I understand that you've been at court with Fox News or something like that." Tunney said on the voicemail "My only suggestion is, let's try to help the person. She obviously had a bad night. We don't need to continue her (to hurt her) dignity about this issue. So, let the court do what the court's supposed to do, and please, we don't need to have the theatrics around this issue. It doesn't help your business."

The store owner had Tunney on tape.  Amazing what passes for intelligence around these parts some days.

Not One, But Two Police Shootings

The weather certainly hasn't stopped people from shooting at each other, what with one dead and thirteen wounded over the weekend. It hasn't stopped assholes from pointing guns at police either:

• Police shot an armed man who allegedly pointed a gun at them early Wednesday, shortly after the man also pulled a gun on his stepfather at an Englewood home, according to a police union official.
  
  It was the second police involved shooting in a 24-hour period.
  
  
• The other police involved shooting occurred several hours earlier when police fired shots at a car after a motorist tried to run over at least one officer during a traffic stop.
  
  No one was injured in that shooting, police said.

In the first shooting, the offender is in critical condition. No hits in the second shooting. Guns recovered at both scenes. Well done Officers.

Swiping Rumors Gain Traction

Here we go again:

• Fingerprint Swipe will be sprung on ALL City Employees very soon. Be ready, it's here, and it will save the City Millions, by docking You for being late and leaving early Rahm is hard just thinkin about it, and it's gonna be sprung on you all with NO notice, and FOP, etc; cannot do anything about it, it's totally legal and in use all over the country, and Rahm's buddies will make a fortune maintaining the System.

This keeps popping up every year.  And every year it falls apart.  The issues are legion.  The hand scanners don't work.  The non-functional ID cards number in the hundreds, if not thousands.  As there is a disciplinary process already in place for tardiness (progressive SPAR discipline), we don't think the city can unilaterally dock your pay without running afoul of the Contract.  And we have little doubt that there are going to be large issues with people staying 7.5 minutes late for various legit reasons that will be checking the "money box" each and every day.  The blizzard of paperwork ought to be impressive.

The city can't maintain the GPS system in any sort of working order, the in-car cameras are out of service at least as often as they are working and today, we got a letter that the OEMC nerve center that is supposed to be watching the video system is completely unmanned.  All those thousands of blue-light cameras?  No one is watching a single one and haven't been for weeks.  The working ones are set on "pan-and-scan" and the broken ones just sit.

Let's see how this plays out.

Gift That Keeps Giving

Parking meter rates to hit nationwide highs:

• In an annual ritual that has become as predictable if not as joyous as a New Year’s Eve countdown to midnight, Chicago drivers again will have to dig a little deeper to pay to park at meters in 2013.
  
  Loop rates will go up 75 cents to $6.50 an hour as part of scheduled fee increases included in Mayor Richard Daley’s much-criticized 2008 lease of the city’s meters to Chicago Parking Meters LLC.
  
  Paid street parking in neighborhoods near the Loop will rise 25 cents and reach $4 an hour. Metered spaces in the rest of Chicago also will increase by a quarter per hour, to $2, according to the company.

Still one of the greatest rip-offs in Chicago history. We have avoided downtown like the plague for years and things like this just make it easier to look to the 'burbs for things to do.

Open Post

End of holiday clean up is cutting into blog time.

Open post for a bit.

Anyone have the "official" numbers for the weekend and the year?

Another Plug Pulled

Another delayed homicide victim:

• A 26-year-old Chicago man who was shot in early November while sitting in his car on the Near Southwest Side has died, officials said.
  
  Michael Morgan, of the 1400 block of West 13th Street, died at 8:37 p.m. Saturday at John H. Stroger, Jr. Hospital of Cook County, according to the Cook County medical examiner's office.

Rumor is McCompStat is demanding all "end-of-life" decisions have to be run through his office before plugs are pulled.   The paperowrk delay is said to be at least two weeks and Rahm added a $1 million fee to help balance his budget.

Merry Christmas

To you and yours from all of us here, Merry Christmas.

Be careful, be safe, be of good cheer.

RIP Inspector and Detective

We've seen two different spellings of his name and we thought it was spelled differently ourselves, so forgive us if it's wrong - we'll correct it when we can.

Retired Inspector Joe Maratto passed away either late Sunday or early Monday.  For all you youngsters who have no idea what an Inspector was, Joe wasn't one of those.  He was without a doubt, one of the most easygoing and down-to-earth bosses to walk the face of the earth.  Districts actually looked forward to his visits, because they knew they weren't getting one of the other inspectors.  We often wondered how such a nice guy got to be an inspector when so many of  the others were, quite frankly, out to get "movers."

So deepest sympathies to Joe's friends and family during this difficult time.  He was one of a kind.

Also, the papers are covering the death of a detective:

• A Chicago policeman who’d been with the department for 30 years was found dead in the lobby of his South Loop apartment building Sunday night.
  Det. Patrick Finucane’s death did not appear to be suspicious, police said.

An e-mailer told us he had recently beaten cancer.  RIP Detective.

Add Two

Closing the year with a bang evidently:

• Another apparent homicide on the West Side early Sunday morning claimed the life of man identified by the Cook County medical examiner's office as Chad Carrasco, 35.
  
  Chicago Police Department News Affairs [...] said police responded to a call of shots fired at 5:09 a.m. and found the victim lying on the ground in the 3500 block of West Lake Street in the East Garfield Park neighborhood with a gunshot wound to the back of the head.

And this one:

• The Saturday death of a 55-year-old Melrose Park man who was shot in July on the South Side has been ruled a homicide, authorities said.
  
  Reginald Thomas was sitting in a car with a 57-year-old woman about 12:30 a.m. July 11 in the 7200 block of South Dobson Avenue in the Grand Crossing neighborhood when another car pulled up and someone inside fired shots at them – hitting both in the head, according to Chicago Police Department News Affairs...

That's at least 497 as far as we can tell.

Almost There

The Tribune reports 5 injured in shootings:

• Shootings across the city late Saturday and early Sunday left at least five people injured, authorities said.
  
  About 2:15 a.m., a male was shot in the head in the 3500 block of West Diversey Avenue, Chicago Police Department News Affairs [...] said.
  
  He was taken from the scene of the shooting in the Northwest Side's Belmont Gardens neighborhood to Norwegian-American Hospital, where his condition was stabilized.

However, the Sun Times reports that "stabilized" means "dead:"

• About 2:15 a.m. Sunday, a man died after being shot in the head in the North Side Logan Square neighborhood in the 3500 block of West Diversey Avenue, said [...], a Chicago Police spokesman. 

The Tribune spent the entire day behind the curve:

• About 5:19 a.m., a male was shot on the 3300 block of West Crystal Street in the West Side’s Humboldt Park neighborhood, police said.
  
  Further information was not immediately available.

But that guy died, too.

The Sun Times reported three dead, pushing the year's total to around 495.

Feinstein Says What Now?

Does anyone on the left actually read the playbook?

• Democrats are most eager to renew the federal ban on assault weapons, which expired in 2004 with little opposition. Sen Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) said this week that she will reintroduce a ban on the weapons when the new Congress begins in January.
  
  “We must take these dangerous weapons of war off our streets,” Feinstein said, noting that she has been working on reintroducing the ban for more than a year.

Of course she has. She's a hypocrite of the highest order, arming herself while forbidding just about her entire constituency from exercising their God-given Right to defend themselves appropriately.

And the outrage? Leftists do outrage on command:

• Perhaps the angriest comments came from Rep. Jim Himes (D-Conn.), whose district is just south of Newtown. Seething with anger, he labeled Republicans calling for more Americans to buy and carry weapons and for teachers and school administrators to carry firearms in schools “testosterone-laden individuals who have blood on their hands for making those comments.”
  
  Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) had similarly tough words for gun rights advocates, including the National Rifle Association, which has said little since the schoolyard shooting.
  
  “I think they’re overrated,” she said of the group Wednesday, noting that she has “big time” opposition from the NRA in their reelection races and still wins handily.
  

This guy Himes is obviously an asshole of the highest order.  Republicans have "blood on their hands" for advocating defending our children, but democrats who would claim a "gun free zone" protects kids from being slaughtered in school is a "hero" to be admired.  Maybe he missed something in his home state of Connecticut the other day, but a primary school principal charged a lunatic holding a loaded rifle while armed with nothing more than her bare hands.  Brave beyond words - and futile beyond belief.

So what proposals did Barbara Boxer introduce? Her being outraged and all:

• Boxer unveiled two proposals Wednesday to bolster school security. The first would require the Justice Department and Education Department to draft new school safety guidelines and provide up to $50 million to help schools implement new security plans. Another proposal would provide federal reimbursement for up to 4,000 National Guard troops to be used by state governors to protect schools.

New security plans? You mean like the NRA proposed? And.....what the hell is this? Federal money for National Guard troops to protect schools?  And the media reports it with nary a dissenting voice pointing out that these Guardsmen would most likely be carrying their basic armament, i.e. a rifle, most likely an M4 variant, possibly the fully automatic version that the United States military fields. But the NRA is full of idiots for suggesting armed officers and qualified concealed carry permit holders be allowed to protect what everyone agrees are our most valuable (and vulnerable) treasures?

Not Interested in a Solution

Once again, Rahm proves he's not interested in actual solutions, just cheap political shots: And he takes his shots from behind a wall of armed cops - 26 at last count?

• Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel says the NRA's desire to have an armed officer in every American school is "outrageous and unsettling."
  
  "That is not the right answer for our society, our schools and most importantly our children," he said in a statement issued Friday.
  
  The mayor said the answer to America's gun violence is a reduction in the number of arms in society, not adding more guns to schools.
  

Really? Because what has stopped many school shootings? Oh yeah, someone armed, often times NOT the police, showing up on the scene and confronting the shooter. In fact, there are entire studies done since Columbine that show when confronted, school shooters either surrender or suicide themselves. It led to a complete revamping of how police respond to active shooter scenarios, including our own response plans.

• "People across this country, from small towns to big cities, are united and ready to pass common-sense gun control legislation. The time has come for the NRA to get on board or get out of the way," said Emanuel.

That's how the left handles debate - our way or the highway. Any objections are met with "get out of our way." Meanwhile, Rahm tells lies about people "united," while the NRA has nearly 10,000 people a day joining their organization.

And Gallup, a polling company not exactly known for leaning Rightward, shows more people agree with the NRA proposals than Rahm's:

The left argues illegal immigrants can't be deported because there are 12 million to remove. They argue you can't outlaw illegal drugs because 25 million people use these substances. The question becomes, how do they plan on removing 250 million guns from 80 million people?

Hypocrisy From the Top Down

Once again, the left says guns have no redeeming value....unless you count the ones in this picture:

Anyone want to guess what might be hidden in those SUV's?  We're guessing fully automatic weapons, sniper rifles, tactical shotguns and a few thousands rounds of ammo for each.

You're Doing it Wrong

Wow. Just wow:

• Chicago’s top cop says he wants to talk with federal authorities about security at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in the wake of this week’s dramatic escape from the downtown facility.
  
  Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy says maximum security federal prisons are not unusual in downtown areas in big cities, but escapes like the daring one this week at the Metropolitan Correctional Center are rare and he is concerned.
  
  “I am not so familiar with what goes on there, I am going to make myself,” said McCarthy.

Opportunistic for sure.  Part of a planned move to distract from the approaching 500th homicide and anything else that's brewing in the background.

Maybe McNumberCruncher can tell the feds how they're not using the prison guards they have efficiently, that they need to put them where the escapes are going to be via the new PrisonStat program developed by New York, and that they should tell the public not to worry - they'll hire more prison guards once they're sure that they are getting the most out of each one already on the payroll.

And pay no attention to those other 4 guys shimmying down the drainpipe.  They aren't escaping, they're creative relocating their physical presence to alternate addresses to decrease the increase of the MCC population.

More Hypocrisy

As the "debate" rages, more and more examples of the leftist hypocrisy come to light:

• SCC, check this one out: WLS radio 890am: Jim Johnson, station reporter, reported that Mayor Emanuel was " outraged" that the NRA suggested putting trained armed security/police officers in all schools in response to the recent shooting at the Newtown elementary school.
  
  Oh, outraged huh? Gee, if he's soooo outraged, then why doesn't he pull his kids out of the LAB School at the U of C campus. Guess the 2 U of C armed police officers that work the Lab School everyday just make for such a scary and unsafe environment. Oh wait, if he did that then he just might have to enroll his kids in the local CPS school by his house!?!?! Wait, that can't happen. CPS is just good enough for the peasants kids but not for his little angels. Double standard hypocrite.

Not to mention the armed security taking them from door-to-door. Are they using Rahm's SUV? You know, the black one with the bulletproof glass and armored chassis?

We thought it was "for the children," not just Rahm's children.

Do or Die

Da Bears are actually favored by 5.5 or so points.  After last week, we'd never pick them again.  They seem lacking in heart.  That, and they put their playoff fate in the hands of too many other teams.

What "Assault Weapons?"

Statistics:

• Well from the CPDs own 2011 Murder analysis report we have some data...
  433 Total murders in Chicago
  361 were shooting victims 83% - Page 22.
  Then it gets confusing for the mayor (and cops since the numbers change a little on page 23, but are close, they state 361 shooting murders, then on page 23 say its 362).
  
  Breakdown:
  351 were shot with a pistol.
  1 was shot with a rifle.
  5 with a shotgun.
  and 5 "unknown".
  
  Assuming ALL of the unknowns are rifle shot. We can't say these are even "assault rifles" but lets assume even though statistically all unknowns being rifles and all being assault rifles is a reach.
  
  That's 6. SIX total, as compared to 351 with all the assumptions in the mayor's favor. More than likely none of them were rifle shot (seeing how known incidents show a 1:351 ratio of rifles to pistols).
  
  So basically an assault weapons ban does nothing, even if you could magically collect them all right?
  
  1 out of 362 is 0.27% of the murders...
  6 out of 362 is 1.6% assuming all of the numbers fall the Mayor's way.

So the fact remains that in Chicago at least,  "assault weapons" aren't used to kill people.  And banning them would make absolutely no sense whatsoever.  Unless you were looking to ban everything at some point.

Darn those statistics anyway!

Freaking Hilarious

Talented readers.....or people with too much time on their hands.  Either way, it's funny as hell:

• ♫ ...in the ghetto we could build a snowman / we'll pretend that he's a mayors clown / he'll say do you have a crime scene we'll say no-man / can't you see the crime rate's going down...
  
  Gun shots ring can you hear them / flashing lights in the distance / it's a beautiful sight another gang banger gun fight / walking in the Sanctuary City wonderland ....

We'd like to hear an entire tune put together.

Welcome to Our World

Some paramedics and the CFD union find out something we've known for years now:

• The Chicago Firefighters Union is expressing outrage that a man convicted of attacking two fire paramedics walked out of court this week with a virtual slap on the wrist.
  
  Jonathan Soto of Bartlett was charged with four counts of aggravated battery for the 2011 incident, but a Cook County judge convicted him on only a lesser misdemeanor charge.
  
  "My complaint is with the system that allows this to happen," said union president Tom Ryan. "We are going to make it our mission to make sure that if this happens again, that we are going to do anything in our power to make sure they are punished to fullest extent of the law."
  

Evidently, no one told them this was Cook County and the jagoff got 1 year supervision and 20 days of community service.

Judge James Linn in case you were wondering.

An Interesting Comparison

You aren't going to hear this anywhere, especially here in Chicago:

• The cesspool known as Chicago probably has the toughest gun laws in the country, yet despite all the shootings, murders, and bloodshed, you never hear a peep about this from the corrupt state run media. In Chicago, there have been 446 school age children shot in leftist utopia run by Rahm Emanuel and that produced Obama, Jesse Jackson, Louis Farrakhan, etc. 62 school aged children have actually been killed by crazed nuts in Chicago so far this year with almost two weeks to go.
  
  So why isn’t this news worthy? Is it because it would embarrass those anti second amendment nuts who brag about Chicago’s tough gun laws? Is it because most of the kids who were shot and killed were minorities? Or is it because the corrupt media doesn’t want to show Chicago in a bad light? Amazingly, no Obama crocodile tears either.
  
  For those of you too dense to get the point of this post, it’s to make the point about gun laws. No matter how tough the gun laws are, the crazed, nut jobs will find a way to get them and if they so chose, use them. No draconian law can stop this, no matter how well intentioned the law is, or if it’s just about leftists grabbing power from citizens and taking away their constitutional rights.

It doesn't fit the narrative, therefore, it never happened.  446 shot, 62 dead from ages 6 to 18.  Granted, the vast majority of those 18, 17, 16 and 15 engaged in risky behavior that might lead to them getting shot.  It's still an uncomfortably large number.

Caught For Sure This Time

One down.....

• Joseph “Jose” Banks, one of two convicted bank robbers who escaped from the Metropolitan Correctional Center this week, was caught late Thursday night in the 2300 block of North Bosworth, authorities said early Friday. His cellmate, Kenneth Conley, was still at large early Friday.
  
  A statement said agents and officers from the Chicago FBI’s Violent Crimes Task Force and Chicago Police officers arrested Banks about 11:30 p.m. Thurday. Banks was not armed when he was captured, a law enforcement source told the Chicago Sun-Times.
  
  Earlier Thursday, a union official said a staffing shortage in the federal jail in downtown Chicago contributed to a series of security snafus that made this week’s daring escape possible. Banks and Conley crawled out a hole in the wall of their 17th-floor cell in the Metropolitan Correctional Center and slid down a rope made of bedsheets early Tuesday.
  

And details of how it happened are starting to leak out:

• An official with the Council of Prison Locals 33, which represents the guards in the jail, spoke to the Chicago Sun-Times about the escape on the condition that his name not be used. The union official said two officers were assigned to a control room where the closed-circuit TV monitors for the jail’s security cameras are located.
  
  But one of them was preoccupied answering phone calls from other officers providing the results of their prisoner counts. Because of a staffing shortage, the other officer was on the 17th floor doing a count — instead of monitoring the cameras, the official said. “The timing was just perfect,” official said. “Does it make sense? Absolutely not. It’s a breach of security.”
  
  Several years ago, the U.S. Bureau of Prisons cut back on the staffing of correctional facilities across the country, including the MCC, the union official said.
  
  Because of the cuts, the MCC no longer assigns an officer to a car to patrol the jail’s perimeter — which includes Clark, Federal, Van Buren and Congress, the official said. The mobile officer was supposed to look for signs of escape on the building’s exterior.
  
  The jail also used to have an officer walking a foot patrol outside the jail 24 hours a day on three shifts. Now only one officer is assigned to a foot patrol from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m., the union official said.
  
  [...] The official said the staffing shortage limits the number of “shakedowns” of prisoners’ cells, too. The searches are important in finding contraband that inmates hide in their cells.

But we thought all those cameras were supposed to deter crime. Oh wait, wrong camera system. But the fact does remain - no one is watching the cameras. Even in a Federal lockup.

Where's the Snow?

Did we miss something?

All that panic by the TV stations and the end of the world scheduled for today.

Was there a schedule change?

"Code of Silence" Stands

No purchasing their way out of this one:

• A federal judge Thursday turned down a city request to set aside a jury judgement that a “code of silence” in the Chicago Police Department played a role in the video taped beating of bartender Karolina Obrycka by police officer Anthony Abbate.
  
  The city said it would still pay the full $850,000 in damages a jury awarded to Obrycka, but had asked the court to vacate the judgement so it would not set a precedent for potential future lawsuits against the city.
  
  City attorneys had claimed the jury verdict was not clear and that the precedent set by it would be of little value in future cases.
  
  But Judge Amy St. Eve in her decision noted that when the city had a chance to settle, it decided to pursue the case, calling it “a matter of principal.”

So this means one of two things:

1. The city will now have to spend millions more dollars defending the supposed "Code of Silence" each and every time it's brought up in court.....OR
2. enact real reforms, end the covering for the connected clout babies and actually put qualified people in the spots that they are capable of managing.

Since this is Rahm and the democrats running the show, expect Option #1 - it isn't their money that they're spending.

Governor Daley?

God help us:

• Former White House Chief of Staff William Daley talked a lot about a lack of “leadership” in Illinois government Thursday as he continued to mull a run for governor in 2014.
  
  “I am thinking about it seriously. We are a way’s off [from the next gubernatorial campaign],” said Daley to applause from a packed house at a City Club of Chicago luncheon.

What, Lisa Madigan suddenly decided to drop out?   Not enough meat left on the carcass of Illinois to interest her or her daddy?

Inconvenient Facts

Stubborn things, those facts.  Especially when they run against the message being pushed by the left and their tame media sources:

• A few things you won’t hear about from the saturation coverage of the Newtown, Conn., school massacre:
  
  Mass shootings are no more common than they have been in past decades, despite the impression given by the media.
  
  In fact, the high point for mass killings in the U.S. was 1929, according to criminologist Grant Duwe of the Minnesota Department of Corrections.
  
  Incidents of mass murder in the U.S. declined from 42 in the 1990s to 26 in the first decade of this century.

That from a criminologist - one who actually studies criminals and criminal behavior.

Or this:

• Economists John Lott and William Landes conducted a groundbreaking study in 1999, and found that a common theme of mass shootings is that they occur in places where guns are banned and killers know everyone will be unarmed, such as shopping malls and schools.
  
  I spoke with Lott after the Newtown shooting, and he confirmed that nothing has changed to alter his findings. He noted that the Aurora shooter, who killed twelve people earlier this year, had a choice of seven movie theaters that were showing the Batman movie he was obsessed with. All were within a 20-minute drive of his home. The Cinemark Theater the killer ultimately chose wasn’t the closest, but it was the only one that posted signs saying it banned concealed handguns carried by law-abiding individuals. All of the other theaters allowed the approximately 4 percent of Colorado adults who have a concealed-handgun permit to enter with their weapons.
  
  “Disarming law-abiding citizens leaves them as sitting ducks,” Lott told me. “A couple hundred people were in the Cinemark Theater when the killer arrived. There is an extremely high probability that one or more of them would have had a legal concealed handgun with him if they had not been banned.”
  
  Lott offers a final damning statistic: “With just one single exception, the attack on congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords in Tucson in 2011, every public shooting since at least 1950 in the U.S. in which more than three people have been killed has taken place where citizens are not allowed to carry guns.”
  

A couple economists - people studying cause-and-effect.

And finally:

• There is no evidence that private holders of concealed-carry permits (which are either easy to obtain or not even required in more than 40 states) are any more irresponsible with firearms than the police. According to a 2005 to 2007 study by researchers at the University of Wisconsin and Bowling Green State University, police nationwide were convicted of firearms violations at least at a 0.002 percent annual rate. That’s about the same rate as holders of carry permits in the states with “shall issue” laws.

Two-thousands-of-one-percent.  We like those odds.

Nice Cars!

Rahm and McRahm made an appearance at City Hall.  Guns were talked about and a bunch of unconstitutional ideas were floated around.  But then the pair started talking about the new fleet of vehicles.  The new Ford Explorers built right here at the Torrence Avenue plant:

• The mayor and superintendent were showing off the first part of their new fleet of police cars: 4-wheel drive Ford Explorer SUVs and Interceptor sedans manufactured at Ford’s rejuvenated Torrence Avenue plant.
  
  Tony Reinhardt, Ford Motor Company’s regional director of government and community relations, said, “Mayor Emanuel was very involved in expressing his desire for these to be built right here in Chicago, and the good news is that’s where they’re built.”

They sure are pretty. But guess what one of our contacts related from the 51st Street garage?

• SCC, you're going love this one.....
  
  The garage took delivery of a bunch of Explorers a while ago and started to install a bunch of Chicago specific features. Computer mounts, rifle racks, etc.  Guess what doesn't work? The computer mounts for starters. Seems that Ford supplied some sort of adapter to plug all the computers into - PDT, ticket writer, camera, GPS. CPD technicians cut the adapters off and rewired it so the mounts don't work.
  
  And the rifle racks? The garage had to actually cut a rifle out of the rack because once it was locked in place, you couldn't access the rifle. The deputy chief flipped out at this discovery seeing as how he had specifically discounted the use of these racks, but Fleet installed them anyway.
  
  So don't get used to those new SUVs yet, they're all going back to the shop for repairs. Wonder if this voids any warranties?

The City That Works Can't Get Anything Correct.

Concealed Carry End Around

If anyone ever questioned aldercreature Burke's credentials for carrying a concealed weapon, don't worry.  Eddie has a back-up plan that should cover everything:

• It might surprise some citizens that, in addition to being Chicago’s most powerful alderman, Ed Burke is a private eye.
  
  Ald. Burke (14th), who chairs the influential City Council Finance Committee is, according to state records, a licensed private detective, trained and authorized to carry a semiautomatic weapon.
  
  Burke also is a licensed private security contractor.
  
  He is approved by Illinois statute to carry a gun while “in the performance of his . . . duties” and carry it “to and from” his place of employment.
  
  Where is that place of employment?
  
  Burke’s application is silent on that except to say that Ed Burke employs Ed Burke.
  
  Burke also was trained — and approved — in 1999 to use a shotgun and rifle.

Golly. All that AND bodyguards, too.

And that State Senator Trotter? He has a security guard job that allows him to carry a weapon, too.

And wonder of wonders, outspoken anti-gunner and author of the "assault weapons ban" Senator Diane Feinstein has :::gasp!!!::: a Concealed Carry permit from California.

And Harry Reid, an anti-gun senator from Nevada, carried a gun "everywhere [he] went" while serving on the Nevada Gaming Commission

And Rahm Emanuel, a midget tyrant who succeeded another midget tyrant, traipses around Chicago telling everyone how safe it is, how the should come visit and spend their money here, all while surrounded by how many armed body guards? And his home, over at 4228 N. Hermitage? Surrounded 24 hours a day by marked and unmarked squad cars. And a heavy weapons team. Why all the guns? Why all the guns carried and owned by democrats who claim guns are the problem, guns don't protect you from harm, guns walk around and jack up the murder rate in Chicago on a daily basis.

Anyone sensing a little bit of hypocrisy here? Anyone? Bueller? Bueller?

Overreaction Once Again

Seriously? A lockdown and probably an expulsion:

• A 12-year-old Harvard boy was taken into custody Wednesday morning after he was identified as the student who left one spent shell casing on a school bus and two more on the floor in a boy's bathroom at Harvard Junior High School, according to Harvard police.
  
  The incident in Harvard Community School District 50 in the far northwest agricultural community is not related to a shell casing found by custodians in the cafeteria Monday morning at Crosby Elementary School, school officials said.
  
  "The youth reportedly brought three .30 cal. spent shell casings to school to show friends," according to a press release by the Harvard Police Department. "The youth subsequently realized the consequences of his actions after losing one on the school bus, so he discarded the other two shell casings at school."

Spent brass. Not a whit of explosives contained within. Not a gun in sight that would even have been used. Collected from an exhibition, maybe a firearms exhibition. And what do little boys take from such demonstrations? Souvenirs. Something to remember an event by.

And the words used by the media to describe this?  Scare tactics in the extreme:

• Harvard Police responded to Crosby Elementary School, at 401 Herley Dr. and the Harvard Junior High School, 1301 N. Garfield Road, when they learned ammunition was found at the junior high school and on a bus located at Crosby.
  
  School staff discovered the ammunition at about 8:30 a.m. in a boy's washroom at the junior high school and the ammunition on the bus was located by the driver around the same time, according to police. The bus had carried the boy to the junior high then parked at Crosby, officials explained.
  
  During a thorough inspection, officials said, all district schools were on lock down.
  
  Police, school staff and administration conducted an extensive search that included all lockers. School officials said all students were kept in their classrooms where they remained until the threat of any danger was dispelled.

Threat from what? No primer, no powder, no projectile. And describing the spent brass as "ammunition," not once or twice, but three times? The anti-gun crowd isn't going to waste a moment making this into a giant scare tactic. And the 12-year-old? Just a victim of the liberal propaganda machine run amok.

Reason #574 Not to Ride the CTA

Stomach turning to say the least:

• A woman assaulted on the CTA Blue Line in Oak Park last week told police another passenger struck her in the face with a sock filled with human excrement.
  
  “He had a sock full of his poop on me,” said the 21-year-old college student. “It was everywhere; on my face, my hair, my clothes.”
  
  She said she screamed and tried to follow him, along with another witness, but the attacker escaped up the Austin Boulevard exit and ran northbound on Austin.

That would pretty much ruin your day, week and year.

Escapee Caught?

Breaking.  025 involved.  One captured.

More to come.

UPDATE: 011 source says not the escapee - dope dealer by the same name.  025 writer says maybe still the guy.  No idea what's happening at the moment.

Detective List Out

Post it if you got it.

We're looking for a copy.

UPDATE:  70 names.  Click on the FOP link and there's a list over there.

McMoron Supports Thugs

This guy is the police?  Was the police?  He's from New York, right? They have crime there and everything?

• Just saw McGuncontrol on WGN news this morning and I swear, I wanted to whip a brick at the TV after listening to this softball. Robin and Larry interviewed him about the recent gun law here in light of the shooting in Connecticut.
  
  He spouted off his usual bs statistic and stated how we have an overall reduced crime rate then advocated for stricter gun tracking and control. Robin responds by saying that since the 1982 Chicago gun ban, gun related crimes went up 41% and stated something to the effect that criminals will always find a way to get guns; law abiding citizens should be able to protect themselves. She asked him how do you respond to that- his reply: "Trayvon Martin is my response" and then continued to denounce the idea of armed people protecting themselves.
  
  WTF???? My fking jaw dropped I couldn't believe that he actually invoked some thug's name to use as his defense for disarming the good citizens who should be able to carry if they so desire. Just my opinion, but that case is still pending in court and when it's all said and done, they are going to find that Zimmerman was in his right to shoot because that pos was trying to beat him to death. But either way, how does a superintendent of police hide behind a case in which the argument of a justifiable homicide has not yet been determined to support his argument? McGoof must already believe that poor Trayvon was just an innocent victim- further solidifying the conclusion that this guy is really clueless and has no business on our department. Unreal!

The video clip is at this link here.

 He actually says he believes that "too many guns" on the street led to Trayvon Martin getting shot to death.  Let's just throw up a photo or two here:

Those show us, and most sane readers that Zimmerman has been telling the truth since the first moment.  He was getting beaten, he did have face trauma from being punched, he did suffer serious head wounds from having his head pounded against the concrete and those wounds appear to be more than enough to support Zimmerman's story that he was about to lose consciousness during the  beating.  His being armed probably ended up saving his life.

But McTooManyGuns thinks Trayvon was the victim?  That Zimmerman defending himself is a problem?  That Zimmerman would have been perfectly OK waiting for the police to arrive while he was beaten to death?

This unmitigated ass is an embarrassment to every law enforcement official in the world.

UPDATE: Evidently, a number of under-educated ill informed morons have found their way to a computer and started posting the same nonsense that CNN has been trying to push since this incident began.  Zimmerman was a neighborhood watcher.  He saw someone suspicious and followed while calling for a police response.  When the unknown subject ran, he followed in order to keep the suspect in sight while still calling in his location.  He wasn't "stalking" the deceased.  Take your fantasy elsewhere.

And to the other mope, how about Trayvon's criminal record?  Your smearing the victim in this case is a typical liberal tactic.  We're sure you do the same to robbery and rape victims, too?

And the complete moron,who thinks Zimmerman should have "stood down" when ordered, and then makes this entire incident into a racial case against the blog?  None of these pics are photoshopped - they all come from mainstream media broadcasts and their websites.  It didn't fit in with their narrative, so they buried them for months in order to back prosecutor misconduct.  Oh that can't happen Mr. Vanecko?  Go away troll.

Gun Insanity?

We've seldom seen a more ignorant approach to the issue of gun violence, but the head of the Illinois Education Association gives all ignoramus's a run for their money:

• The state's largest teachers union Tuesday ridiculed an idea floated by the head of an Illinois gun-rights group to allow educators to carry weapons to makes schools safer and perhaps prevent a Newtown massacre from happening here.
  
  "It's ridiculous to think bringing guns into a school or classroom would somehow make that area safer," said Charlie McBarron, a spokesman for the Illinois Education Association. "It's hard to understand how a sane person could make that serious suggestion."

Really?  Maybe because an actual scary insane person just slaughtered  a classroom full of children.  A single trained police officer, security guard or concealed carry holder may have spared many families unimaginable grief.

• On Monday, the head of the Illinois State Rifle Association said he would favor legislation that would permit school boards to authorize principals, teachers and even custodial employees to carry weapons in the classroom if they underwent training.
  
  Richard Pearson, the group's executive director, told the Chicago Sun-Times that all Illinois schools should have an armed security guard at a minimum and that arming school staff might have stopped the Connecticut shootings.
  
  "Had there been a teacher who was armed, this wouldn't have happened," Pearson said.

Those are the words of someone looking for an actual solution, Someone who is open to discussion on the issue.  Someone who isn't looking for a "gotcha"-type headline unwilling to discuss the fact that bad people do bad things on occasion and that to actually find a solution, thinking outside the narrow-minded liberal box is a good thing.

• But McBarron said it's vital to ensure that schools are secure, and that means no tolerance for drugs or guns of any kind.
  
  "Schools are a safe place. Bringing weapons into school would make them less so," McBarron said. "To suggest otherwise is disingenuous."

Wow. The disconnect there is fucking amazing. Sandy Hook was not a safe place as demonstrated last week. It wasn't secure enough. And creating an entire building full of victims isn't the way to "win" an argument of this type.

UPDATE: Dear Dumbshit bringing up police station shootings,

Yes, it has happened everywhere, even police stations.

The difference is that police officers are armed and trained to respond......to fight back.

Did you see 20 police officers herded into a corner and executed by a single insane lunatic?  Apples and oranges Asshat.

Now go get your shine box you simple minded tool of the lib-tarded leftist bent on destroying this country.

BTW, how does Rahm's ass taste?

MCC Escape

From 15 stories up in the air?

• Officials at a federal Loop jail discovered that two convicted bank robbers had escaped after employees arriving for work at about 7 a.m. today and saw a makeshift rope hanging from the outside of the high-rise facility, federal officials said in charging the two with escape.
  
  Joseph "Jose" Banks and Kenneth Conley made good their escape from the Metropolitan Correctional Center after last being seen for a head count conducted at about 10 p.m. Monday, authorities said.
  
  The two are believed to have scurried down ropes made from bedsheets from the high-rise cell they shared.

No one noticed these guys stockpiling bedsheets? Or having enough leftover clothing to make it look like they were sleeping in bed after they made it out a slit-window? This certainly made for an interesting day downtown.

Can't Fix Stupid

Darwin in action once again:

• A man from Joliet was demonstrating the safety mechanism of his brand hew handgun when he accidentally shot himself to death.
  
  21-year-old Deon Perry died Saturday.
  
  Police say Perry and some friends were in a car outside his home Friday. He pointed the .25-caliber gun at his face and pulled the trigger to show how well the safety worked, but the safety wasn't on.

That's one mistake he won't be repeating.

There He Goes Again

Rahm is making noise again.  Anything to distract from his driving the City of Chicago into the ground while he pillages public safety pensions:

• Mayor Rahm Emanuel today called for an assault weapons ban at the state and national levels and said it was time for a "vote of conscience" in Congress following the deadly assault on schoolchildren in Connecticut.
  
  Speaking at a Chicago Police Department graduation and promotion ceremony this morning, the mayor did not address the political difficulty of the task. Congress allowed an assault-weapon ban to expire in 2004 and state efforts at gun control legislation have regularly failed in Springfield.

And of course, his McLapdog repeats his bullshit:

• After the ceremony, police Superintendent Garry McCarthy backed the mayor's call for an assault weapons ban, saying large ammunition clips should be banned at the same time.
  
  "If you ban the assault weapons and don't ban the high-capacity magazines, you’re only putting a Band-Aid on top of it," McCarthy said. "You're not fixing it."
  
  McCarthy also said state Attorney General Lisa Madigan should appeal a federal appellate court ruling that struck down the state's ban on carrying handguns in public.
  
  "The answer to firearms is not more firearms," McCarthy said. "Whether it's conceal-carry, whether it's extended magazines, whether it's assault weapons, it's all part of the same bigger picture."
  
  "She should appeal it, absolutely," he added."“Just because 49 states did it doesn't make it right. Does anybody think it's right, the amount of gun violence that exists in this country? What we're doing isn't working."
  

You have to wonder at a mayor and superintendent who are presiding over the largest increase in killings, maimings and armed violence in years telling the rest of the country that what is needed is more Chicago-style gun regulation.

We also heard a whisper of a hint of a rumor that a certain City Hall politico was involved in a large purchase over the weekend, a purchase involving stocks of gun manufacturers and makers of ammunition.  Never letting a crisis go to waste indeed.

Get Used to Seeing This

National Review made this one of their "Pictures of the Year"

Get used to seeing Rahm piss away more money Chicago doesn't have.

And Another Shooting

We've been damn lucky this year, and the luck continues:

• A man was shot and wounded by police after he led officers on a chase through yards and alleys of the Grand Crossing neighborhood on the South Side, then crouched and pointed a gun, officials said.
  
  The person was taken in serious-to-critical condition to Stroger Hospital, according to Fire Department spokesman Will Knight. No officers were injured when the man, believed to be 21, was shot, a police union spokesman said.

Gun recovered, bad guy in intensive care, cops go home - that's a good day. Best wishes to the involved officers.

The Fix Falters

Anyone not see this coming?  Anyone?

• After disclosing ties to former Mayor Richard Daley, the judge randomly assigned to the case against Daley nephew Richard "RJ" Vanecko stepped aside Monday.
  
  Prosecutors in turn called for a judge outside of Cook County to preside over the case.

The odds on some sort of plea deal just jumped up to 50-50.

The Same Pena? (UPDATE - $25G's)

Saw a comment alleging this. Googled it. Came up with this Tribune article from 1992:

• A security guard at a Near West Side school disciplined four 7th-grade girls caught in the hallways after lunch by forcing them to eat cakes of caustic soap, a federal lawsuit charges.
  
  The students at the Talcott School, 1840 W. Ohio St., were found wandering the halls on Oct. 10 by the guard, an off-duty Chicago police officer, according to the lawsuit filed Tuesday.
  
  The officer brought them to a vice principal`s office where she offered to punish the students herself, said Denise Devitt, the attorney who filed the suit on behalf of three of the girls and their mothers seeking unspecified damages.
  
  When the vice principal approved this, Devitt said, the officer, whom Devitt identified as Maria Pena of the Wood District, led the girls to a bathroom. Once there, a second security guard, identified as Marcy Mercado, allegedly barred the door, according to the suit.
  
  Then, Pena, who was wearing her police uniform, allegedly forced the 11-and 12-year-olds to begin eating bars of heavy-duty janitorial soap, causing one of them to vomit, Devitt said.
  
  ``I don`t know what would warrant that type of physical abuse,`` said Devitt, who added that none of the girls received medical attention at school after the incident, but that two of them, brought by parents, were at the emergency room of a local hospital until late that night.

Anyone want to give the readers some background on this? Seems like battery charges ought to have been filed at the very least. If it's the same Pena, certainly shouldn't be running a District by any stretch of the imagination.

UPDATE: The lawsuit was settled for  $25,000 according to a link in the comment section.  That tells us quite a bit about the merits of the lawsuit.

Riot Charges

Misdemeanors all around:

• Accused of joining a violent mob that formed after a Chicago police officer shot and killed a suspected robber on Saturday, five men appeared in bond court Sunday.
  
  The suspects, ages 19 to 31, all face misdemeanor charges of mob action. Four of the five are also accused of other crimes.
  
  The crowd gathered midday Saturday in the Back of the Yards neighborhood shortly after a “very violent encounter” led one officer to shoot and kill Jamaal Moore, 23, of the 5600 block of South Shields Avenue authorities said.
  

Let's hear about their rap sheets. No doubt they're all altar boys and Rhodes scholars, right?

Oh yeah, here's the video:



We can't wait for Mope-rah's column on this one.

Marine Unit Again?!?!

Is there anything that these guys cannot do?

• A car reported missing when a Lincolnwood man disappeared in 2001 was pulled from the Chicago River midday Saturday, after the Chicago Police Marine Unit located it using new sonar equipment, authorities said.
  
  Authorities will have to use DNA testing to determine if the bones found today are those of Michael Jansson, who was 21 when he disappeared early on March 9, 2001, but the vehicle identification number of the car found matches the one that was reported missing when Jansson disappeared, police said.

These guys aren't just heroes - they're like super-duper heroes.

Where's the Keesing Bandit when you need him?

Crime Still Down

If you aren't counting the two dead and 15 wounded over the weekend that is:

• Two people were dead and at least 15 more were wounded in weekend violence across the city, including an Englewood neighborhood man shot to death at 11:15 a.m. Saturday by police who thought he was armed with a gun.
  
  Angry residents of the neighborhood threw bottles and rocks at officers in protest after Jamaal Moore, 23, was shot to death by an officer who thought he saw Moore reach for a gun as he fought with police, police said.

We seem to be stuck in the 490's in total homicides. There's going to have to be a final kick at the end to push it over 500, but we know Englewood can pull it off.

Nuke the Site from Orbit

Once again, proving that certain segments of society deserve ZERO police protection:

• A man believed to be one of four robbers who held up a truck driver this morning was shot to death by police a short time later in the city's Back of the Yards neighborhood, sparking a mob reaction at the scene, authorities said. The shooting happened just before 11:30 a.m. in the 1600 block of West Garfield Boulevard near a gas station, police said. Chicago Police Department News Affairs confirmed that police shot someone in that area.
  
  A man in his 20s was shot to death at that location, according to the Cook County medical examiner's office.
  
  Chicago Police Sgt. Michael Martin, speaking near where the shooting took place, said a mob scene ensued after the man was shot.
  
  "People were throwing bricks and bottles at cop cars," Martin said. "A few squad cars are damaged."

Officers in a pursuit after known subjects. Car chase, crash, three subjects get away, but one slow one decides he will literally pick up a police officer and slam him to the ground. Yeah, that's completely normal by every stretch of the imagination. And then the neighborhood shows up, not because they're outraged that the animals they've raised are running amok, sticking up truck drivers. They're made he got caught and shot for acting like the animal he was raised to be.

And this isn't the only occurrence. After the recent incident where a violent subject was tasered twice before being put down by a lethal injection administered by hospital personnel, his father is declaring that the police, "won't get away" with their behavior.

First up, you supposedly raised this creature. Second he was beating up your wife, a 70-year-old woman. Third, he fought with police at the scene, in the lock-up and with medical personnel at the hospital.

Again, completely normal and acceptable behavior in certain segments of Chicago, with next to no media coverage and nary a word from the supposed community leaders, "reverends" and politicos.

McMoron Says What?

Nothing like keeping that tongue firmly planted in Rahm's sphincter while dozens of families prepare to bury their dead:

• Chicago Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy says a meaningful response to the Connecticut school shooting, and shootings everywhere, would be to hold gun owners more accountable.
  
  “Its got to stop,” McCarthy said. “People are going to have to wake up.”
  
• McCarthy said that there has to be a national recognition that there has to be some sort of tracking and if gun owners were required to report the loss, theft or transfer of firearms, shootings would not occur on the scale that they are today.
  
  Guns are often legally purchased, McCarthy said, and then illegally transferred and used in crimes.

Because what happened in Connecticut was a complete failure of existing gun laws. Let's see...

• MSNBC is reporting that the assassin attempted to buy a rifle just last week, but was denied purchase for an as yet unknown reason.

Gee, that seems like the existing gun laws worked just fine.

• All of the guns were legally purchased and we suppose, properly registered, by the mother of the murderer.

So McMoron is laying the blame at her feet for not reporting her guns stolen.  Of course, the fact that she was lying in her home dead, the first victim of the madman's spree, doesn't seem to make an impression on the Streetlight Marksman.

If it wasn't for the circumstances surrounding this entire episode, it would be amusingly ironic to see the pretzels that the anti-gunners are twisting themselves into, seeing as how this was a kindergarten school teacher divorced mother of a handicapped man who owned not one, two or three legal firearms, but at least five. As it is, we can only shake our heads that improperly secured firearms in the presence of a mentally disturbed individual ended up being the tool with which he performed his mindless evil.

NOTE: information coming out that she was not in fact, a teacher.

Assist CeaseFire

Just what are these assholes spending the million dollars on?

• Heard on zone10 at approximately 2200 hrs shortly after someone had been shot nearby. 1000: 'squad can you send some cars to 16th and Christiana. Ceasefire is calling saying it's blowing up and they need help breaking up the fights'

Hey Ten-Hundred?  As was suggested elsewhere in the comments, maybe they ought to call the Chicago Department of Health, seeing as that's where Rahm funneled the money from.

Only 2.5 Points?

Green Bay favored versus Chicago.

The Bears carrying more than a few injuries, an aged defense and a broken offensive line.

And the Bears have lost 4 of their last 5.

We were figuring the Pack by 7 at least.

Celebrations in 014 (UPDATE)

The psycho headcase nutball is out of 014?

• Linda Flores is XO of Special Functions.
  New commander of 017..Ramirez
  Deputy Chief Leo Schmitz
  Lt. Johnson to IAD
  Lt. Stevens to 008
  Lt. Smith to 005
  Lt. Jones to 189.

So now we have a Deputy Chief running a district, a non-captain as a unit XO and 014 has no one in charge.

And McRahm'sPuppet still hasn't demoted a single individual during his entire tenure unless she was under Federal Investigation (LH).

UPDATE: Frank Valadez got 014 according to one source.  A boss who has actually been in a number of armed confrontations.  That'll be a complete 180 degree turn from what was running 014 before.

Shooter Charged

Supposedly a latin queen:

• Police said a 27-year-old gang member has been charged with shooting a Chicago police officer earlier this week during an attempted robbery.
  
  Mario Froylan was charged at 9:30 p.m. Friday with attempted first degree murder, attempted robbery with a firearm and aggravated battery, Chicago Police Department News Affairs Officer Laura Kubiak said.
  
  The charges stem from an attempted robbery early Monday morning in the 6300 block of South Nashville Avenue in the Clearing West neighborhood on the Southwest Side. Police said he demanded the officer's wallet and shot him.

No word on when we start "obliteration" proceedings against these assholes.