Dangerous Neighborhoods

Out of 25 neighborhoods nationwide, Chicago gets 4 mentions:

• A 12-block stretch of the Auburn Gresham community is being called Chicago's most dangerous neighborhood and the 4th most dangerous in America, based on a study of 2011 crime statistics.
  
  NeighborHoodScout.com said residents have a 1-in-9 chance of becoming crime victims, but Chicago Police say several other neighborhoods suffer more violent crime.
  
  Residents of Auburn Gresham say that while statisticians debate whether it's the most dangerous neighborhood, there's no doubt it's a place where violence is a big problem.

The rest?

• S. Indiana Ave./ E. 60th St.
• S. Ashland Ave./W. 76th St.
• S.Homan Ave./W. Roosevelt Rd.

Chicago got four mentions. The only other city to have that many?

Detroit.

Rahm and Garry must be so proud!

Lisa Punts

All you voters thinking Lisa would make a good governor, look at this political acumen - avoiding a decision at all costs:

• Attorney General Lisa Madigan has asked for more time to decide whether to appeal the federal court ruling that would require Illinois to put in place a law that allows for concealed weapons.
  
  Madigan’s move would give the General Assembly time to pass legislation that would lift the ban on carrying concealed weapons by the current early June deadline. If Illinois approves a new law, an appeal would be a moot point, Madigan has said.
  
  [...]  Madigan currently has a May 23 deadline to ask the high court to take up an appeal of the December ruling by the U.S. 7th Circuit Court of Appeals.
  
  On Monday, she asked the U.S. Supreme Court to push the deadline to June 24 for when she would need to ask the high court to consider taking up an appeal.
  
  Such as a request is not unusual in major cases, but the timing also would allow Madigan to see if the General Assembly can pass a concealed carry bill by the June 9 deadline the appeals court set for action in Springfield.

So it's all on the General Assembly, which has shown zero ability to craft and pass any sort of law that will comply with the Federal Court ruling.

In the meantime, no word from Legal Affairs regarding unconstitutional UUW charges starting 09 June.  Just over 5 weeks away.

More Payton v Brooks Controversy

The street theater plays out according to the liberal playbook. Cries of racism, excuses presented by both sides. The usual suspects (Phleger and other assholes) demand apologies and attempt to publicly shame responsible parents for caring about their kids safety, more excuses, and now they've forfeited the initial forfeit and will replay the game on a Saturday morning.

We noticed the principal at Payton bears the name Devine. Yes, that's former States Attorney and Daley assistant Dick Devine's kid. Someone also points out the CPS athletic director is named Trotter, no doubt a relative of Cortez and the gun-hypocrite Donne. Reading that, you knew this one was going to get stupid quickly.

The excuses were legion:

• Payton suspended too many athletes for missing practices. The reason for missed practices? College visits. Does this excuse even pass the smell test? What happened to excused absences for trips like those? Coaches actually encouraged education at one point.
• No buses were ordered, therefore parents would have had to car pool the kids south. Driving through Roseland after dark isn't something we do lightly, and we carry a gun and a radio. Do we really have to run down the list of people passing through certain neighborhoods who catch bullets?

When you get down to it, parents are responsible for the safety of their children, not the school, not the principal, not the teachers, coaches or the state. These are minor children and the parent's word is (should be) law. You won't see that uttered in the liberal world where the State knows best and "it takes a village blah blah blah." The problem here is too many parents abdicate their responsibility to the school, then when they finally realize the kids are headed to a war zone, they voice objections and are promptly labeled as "racist" for daring to know better than the State.

By the way, we still haven't heard where the Coach sleeps at night. Does he stay in Roseland? We're betting not. And where do the two principals send their children to school? Public or private? Neighborhood or magnet? So many potential double standards and no one asking any questions.

Meter Deal Gets Worse

And Rahm uses fuzzy math to say it looks great!

• Mayor Rahm Emanuel said Monday he’s trying to make “a little lemonade out of a big lemon” by settling disputed reimbursement claims from the company leasing Chicago parking meters in a way he claims would save taxpayers well over $1 billion over the next 71 years.
  
  But, aldermen who must approve the changes say Emanuel may have made a lemon of a deal even more sour — by swapping three extra hours of paid parking in River North and one extra hour elsewhere for free neighborhood parking on Sundays.
  
  The trade-off is part of a broader agreement that calls for the city to pay Chicago Parking Meters LLC $63.8 million to settle years of disputed claims stemming from parking spaces taken out of service because of construction, special events and parking changes and an arbitrator’s ruling on compensation tied to free parking provided to motorists with disabled placards.
  

The Sun Times quotes Rahm as "...would save taxpayers..."

Channel 7 comes closer to the truth when they publish "...could save...."

And remember - this supposed "savings" is measured over 71 years - when most of our readers will be long dead and buried.

And Rahm will follow Shortshanks's lead of trumpeting this "savings" into another fantasy budget that will rely entirely on "estimations," and "projections," and other such bullshit as they rob the corpse of a bankrupt city.

Sound Familiar?

We run into this weekly - no idea what the grand total would be if anyone kept accurate track of actual ambulance runs like South Carolina did:

• A South Carolina woman was arrested after authorities discovered she called 911 at least 100 times in the past seven years to get rides into Charleston, the Dorchester County Sheriff's Office says.
  
  Audrey Ferguson, 51, allegedly faked illnesses and would immediately sign out of area hospitals upon arrival, telling doctors she was fine, WCSC reports.
  
  "She'll have a vague medical complaint; for instance, abdominal pain," Dorchester County EMS Director Doug Warren said. "She has medical complaints that are legitimate, and so until she's been evaluated and determined not to be sick, we have to assume she is."

Police finally charged her after seven years of trips that cost about $425 per run. Any CFD have similar horror stories?

Off-Duty Shooting on West Side

Starting in 012, ending in 011:

• An off-duty Chicago police officer shot and wounded a gunman after witnessing a shootout that left a bystander injured, authorities said.
  
  The officer saw the exchange of gunfire near the intersection of West Jackson Boulevard and South Leavitt Street around 10:15 p.m., according to Pat Camden, a spokesman for the Fraternal Order of Police. Investigators would later learn one of the bullets struck a man who happened to be nearby.
  
  Four of the people involved in the shootout then jumped into a vehicle, and the off-duty officer began to follow it south on Leavitt, Camden said. Three blocks later, the suspects' vehicle became stopped in traffic at the intersection of South Oakley Street and West Van Buren Boulevard, where an Illinois State Police trooper was conducting a traffic stop, Camden said.
  
  The Chicago police officer approached the vehicle and announced his office, Camden said.
  
  "Two in the back seat are armed," Camden said, retelling the story hours later as he stood steps from where the car had been stopped in the Near West Side neighborhood. "One of the offenders in the back seat raises a .45 [caliber handgun] at the officer."
  
  The officer opened fire, striking one of the occupants, Camden said. The vehicle sped away and the state trooper followed, Camden said.

Car crashes, three escape, wounded offender captured and a gun recovered.

No cops injured and apparently no innocent bystanders in this one. "Exchange of gunfire" meaning a bunch of fools shooting at each other. Nicely done.

Interesting Speculation

A little give-and-take in the comment section reveals this theory - and it seems to be a sound theory:

• The PPOs are assigned/detailed to the office of the deputy chief of the respective district, unit 211 or 212.
  
  4/28/2013 03:10:00 PM
  
  So they finally figured out they can assign these kids wherever they want out of school.... and keep them there until they're old enough to bid somewhere else... if that every happens for them.
  
  Meet the new scam.... recruits will never hit a district again... they can be kept in a shithole unit and sent anywhere the fuckwads downtown want.....FOREVER.

After their assigned time with the FTO's, Probationary Police Officers have been traditionally sent to Districts, where they're distributed as needed. Most end up on midnights as 3rd and 2nd watch openings are filled by seniority. They serve their time until they can bid to other watches or Districts.

But we don't recall anyone saying that they have to be assigned to a District. We don't even remember there being a General Order or contract provision that says they have to be assigned anywhere. We don't think there is anything that says they can't be shipped to an Area Deputy Chief, North, South or Central and then serve out their 18 months probation before being permanently assigned there until they can bid to somewhere else.

And we've seen months go by, seven and eight at a time, where no District bids have been opened.

Can anyone imagine what this will be like? Can anyone see a flaw in this theory? Have we missed something?

Rahm Loves Him Some Foot Patrol

And the propaganda machine is in full swing::

• Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Police Supt. Garry McCarthy said Thursday that a recent move to step up foot patrols in some of the most violence-prone neighborhoods is paying off. They said “Operation Impact,” an effort to saturate high-crime areas with rookie officers on foot patrol and veteran officers working on overtime and days off is making those areas safer.
  
  CBS 2 Chief Correspondent Jay Levine reports, although the mayor has statistics to back up his claims, some residents and business owners were skeptical that this was any more than a publicity stunt.
  
  It was clearly a made-for-TV event on Thursday, as no newspaper or radio reporters were invited to join Emanuel, McCarthy and Gresham District Cmdr. Fred Waller as they walked down Langley Avenue in the Chatham neighborhood.

Levine has gone completely off the reservation. He actually found a bunch of residents who don't think the foot patrols have done anything and gave them air time:

• The trio greeted a few homeowners, while a heavy deployment of police stood by, just in case, blocking traffic, and making sure that those watching – many skeptical of the mayor’s claims that crime was down – didn’t get in the way.
  
  “I can’t say it’s done too much, from what I can see,” said one woman, who works in the area twice a week.
  
  Chatham resident Fred Blair said, “They’ve been in the area. I don’t think the violence is going to stop no time soon.”
  
  Chatham resident Val Hall said he believes more foot patrol officers in the neighborhood might help “at that particular time, but once they get to the next block, then they [gang members] come to this block.”

The stats say a lot of things after a long cold winter and an April that saw more rain than at any point in recorded history.

Anyone want to guess what they say on 30 June?

NEWSFLASH! South Side Isn't Safe

Here's a giant problem for Rahm - we're just surprised it didn't happen sooner.  And we call it "Rahm's problem" because he's running the show.  And what do you do when a portion of your voting base (north shore liberals) know that you're full of crap?

• The Brooks College Prep baseball coach said Sunday he will never agree to a game with Payton College Prep again after a group of Payton parents refused to send their kids to the far South Side school for a night non-conference game.
  
  As many as eight Payton parents were worried about the Roseland neighborhood around Brooks when they refused to let the teens play the 7 p.m. game at Brooks, located at 250 E. 111 St., school officials say.
  
  Both schools are elite Chicago Public Schools college preps that accept students based on test scores.
  

Of course, that tired old canard came out almost immediately:

• “The only thing I’d say to parents is, `What are you teaching your kids when you sit down to the dinner table and Johnny says `Why can’t we play at Brooks?’‘’

Gee Coach, how about the fact that the neighborhood is pretty much a war zone? That 85% or more shootings/killings occur on the west and south sides? That pretty much every basketball game is a set of armed camps and patrolled by dozens, sometimes as many as 100 off-duty Chicago cops and Cook County Deputies, not to mention the on-duty cars assigned? And the fact that school buses regularly seem to intercept bullets in that geography?

Maybe the parents are teaching their kids that them being alive and whole is more important than a game. And that parents who care enough about their children aren't going to send them into danger. We recall reading not too many weeks ago about parents on the west/south sides complaining about school closings and saying how dangerous it was going to be for their children to cross gang boundaries. Now that problem has been all cleared up? We don't think so - and Rahm is paying us time-and-one-half later this week because even he doesn't believe it.

You can't have it both ways. Either your neighborhood is a crime infested shithole that Rahm is spending about a million dollars per week on to stop the people there from killing each other or everything is just fine and dandy. If it's crime infested shithole (which we know it is, having spent many years down there), then it ought to be shunned by all decent people until such time as it's safe. If it isn't, then we must be living in a fantasy world.

Two requests - (1) a total of all shootings within a one-mile and five-mile radius of Brooks, and (2) where does Coach Street lay his head at night?  If it isn't Roseland, then he really has no basis for complaining.

UPDATE: The backtracking begins in earnest. Rahm must have been making calls all afternoon for people to come up with excuses.

Police Shooting in 011

Officers are fine:

• One man was wounded by police after he pointed a shotgun at officers from his car in the East Garfield Park neighborhood this morning, officials said.
  
  No police officers were injured and the man, 30, who was holding a sawed-off shotgun when police fired at him, was shot in the arm, according to a news release from police and Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 7 spokesman Patrick Camden.
  
  Harrison District officers were called to the area around Franklin Boulevard and Central Park Avenue in East Garfield Park about 4:30 a.m. after receiving a call about shots fired, police said in the statement. Once they arrived, a witness pointed at a car, saying that the man inside the vehicle had a "big" gun, Camden said. The car was headed north on Central Park, and police activated their emergency lights and sirens and followed the car, according to police.
  
  Police pulled the vehicle over on Central Park just south of Chicago Avenue and two officers, with guns drawn, approached the vehicle, demanding to see the man's hands, Camden said. The man, who was hunched over the car's steering wheel, did not comply, and the officer on the passenger side shined a light into the vehicle.
  
  The driver then straightened up and pointed the sawed-off shotgun at the officer on the passenger side, Camden said. The officer, fearing for his life, fired twice, he said. The officer shot the man in the arm, police said.

Nice job.

Another Recruiting Flyer

The Windows 95 shot is priceless.

Fighting Fire With Fire

Memphis police drawing blood from the political establishment:

• The mayor of Memphis said billboards put up by the Memphis Police Association are hurting the city’s image and calls the message, “selfish.”
  
  The police union billboards feature the warning, “DANGER: Enter at your own risk; This city does not support public safety,” MyFoxMemphis.com reported.
  
  Mike Williams, the president of the MPA, said the billboards are meant to target city leaders and are about protecting union’s jobs and benefits.
  
  “I think it’s self-centered, I think it’s selfish,” Memphis Mayor A C Wharton said. “I think it has no place in our city.”

They must be working if the mayor is whining. And the Memphis Police Association seems to have a decent beef:

• Wharton said Memphis instituted a 4.6 percent pay cut to protect jobs, as opposed to issuing layoffs, but police officers want their pay reinstated and Williams said the signs are just the start of the union’s public campaign.

Step two should be interesting.

Again, the Illusion of Security

Recent events in Boston bring this nonsensical approach to police work to the fore again:

• In the wake of the Boston Marathon bombing, which saw the use of footage from cell phones and closed circuit TV cameras to help identify the suspected bombers, pundits and elected officials alike have been singing the praises of urban camera networks—and suggesting that ever more such government surveillance is the key to stopping future attacks.
  
  But a closer look at the facts suggests just the opposite: Dispersed “Little Brother” monitoring by private cameras can provide many of the benefits of centralized “Big Brother” surveillance by governments—but without the public expense or risks to civil liberties

Boston has less than 60 law enforcement cameras under their control and the best video identifying the terrorists came from a private cameras system at a Lord and Taylor clothing store.

New York has over 3,000 cameras, not one of which prevented a car bomb being planted in Times Square a few years ago.  Chicago has any number depending on whom you believe and how many are actually functioning on any given day (but still, no one watching them). They have done zero to prevent crime and almost the same for solving a crime, merely placing a vehicle or person in the vicinity of a crime.

But nanny-staters still insist that all that is needed are more cameras and crime will cease to exist.  Usually, that means their cousin has a company that installs these things or a contact that sells them. It's nonsense and drains scarce dollars from actually hiring police.  Tiny Dancer is hiring cops back at time-and-one-half, and it isn't because he's cutting back on cameras - it's because Chicago found out the hard way that cops on the street prevent crime.

Sleepy Trucker Killed Trooper

The investigation progresses slowly:

• A trucker who slammed into a state trooper's squad car on Interstate 294, killing him in a fiery crash, told police he had fallen asleep at the wheel and strayed onto the left shoulder, according to a preliminary report.
  
  Trooper James Sauter, 28, was pronounced dead at the scene of the accident south of Willow Road on March 28.
  
  According to the preliminary report, the 25-year-old trucker from Wisconsin was traveling south on I-294 shortly before 11 p.m. The report indicates the "driver fell asleep, veered left and struck (the squad car) in the rear while still parked on the left shoulder."
  
  The trucker was initially issued a ticket for improper lane usage but it was dismissed on April 15, according to State Police Spokeswoman Monique Bond. "We are pursuing stronger charges," she said.

The investigators are looking very closely at the Log Book.

AKMC Raffle

Click the poster for a full-sized version:

Drawing in October, so find your tickets now.

Rahm - The Common Man

This time, he crops out the security team of ten that accompanies him everywhere he goes:

Rahm even manages to find a member of the public that doesn't look too scary to pose by. He even borrowed the guy's newspaper.

Recruiting Poster

Humorous and 100% truthful, too.

Bears Pick Who Now?

• Phil Emery began his second NFL draft as Chicago Bears general manager Thursday night, and used the No. 20 pick in the first round to select offensive lineman Kyle Long of Oregon.
  "He is the type of athlete and player that we have targeted," Emery said of Long. "He's a fast, tough, dynamic athlete."
  Long comes with a terrific pedigree as he is the son of Hall of Fame defensive end Howie Long and the younger brother of Rams defensive end Chris Long. He came on during his senior season for the Ducks, playing in 11 games and making four starts. That was the only season he spent at Oregon as an appeal for an extra year from the NCAA was turned down. He played left tackle at Saddleback (Mission Viejo, Cal.) Community College in 2011

Quite a few linemen taken this year in the first round picks. Not many big stars or splashy players.

Trotter Pleas Out

One of those quick "misdemeanor" pleas that won't be recorded once he completes his "community service" no doubt:

• State Sen. Donne Trotter was sentenced to one year of court supervision Wednesday after he pleaded guilty to misdemeanor reckless conduct for trying to bring a gun onto an airplane at O’Hare Airport.
  
  Trotter, who was considered one of the front-runners in the race for Jesse Jackson Jr.’s 2nd District U.S. House seat until he dropped out, made no comment before Cook County Judge Charles Burns or after the hearing.
  
  As part of the plea deal, Trotter has to perform 60 hours of community service. He also plans to talk about gun safety while serving his sentence, said Thomas Durkin, Trotter’s attorney.

"Gun safety?"  How about that he has a no-show security job that allows him to carry a gun while being a two-faced democratic tool dictating that the people of Illinois have no inherent Right to own or carry a gun to provide themselves with a margin of safety?

What a piece of shit.

Clout List Surfaces

Many people assume that the granters-of-favors aren't dumb enough to keep a paper list around....but then how would you keep track of what's owed and to whom? There was a list a few years back with all the "merit" requests for various departments and who the requester was - kind of a "connect-the-clout" game.
sca
Now another one has surfaced, this time for entry into elite public schools kept by Arte Duncan or Arte's people:

• This is the “secret log” that Arne Duncan’s administration kept to manage requests by public officials and other connected Chicagoans seeking to get their children into the city’s elite grammar and high schools, many of which admit students only by test score or lottery. Recent figures show that at some of the schools there are 20, 30, or even 50 times more applications than available seats.
  
  In 2010 the Chicago Tribune first reported that Arne Duncan’s office had kept a list of VIPs seeking favors to get kids into coveted schools, and that it included “25 aldermen, Mayor Richard Daley's office, House Speaker Michael Madigan, his daughter Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan, former White House social secretary Desiree Rogers and former U.S. Sen. Carol Moseley Braun.”

Unfortunately, they don't list the names of those granted the favors - the kids and their parents that is. Only the government people are named. Which kind of defeats the whole purpose if you're trying to make connections to see who/what really drives Illinois/Chicago politics.

CPD Art Project

Ran across this on the Department Intranet:

• Notice of Job Opportunity - Supervisor, Marketing and Recruiting:
  

It seems Human Resources is recruiting for a white shirt (lieutenant preferred) to be responsible for the new recruiting push in late 2013. They want the usual resume, letters of recommendation, etc.

They also want a "mock flyer" identifying "key themes" in recruiting potential applicants. It doesn't have to be professionally done, or even done by the applicant. It just has to have your ideas.

First of all, in these times of having every body possible on the street, wouldn't it make sense to farm this out to a firm of professionals?

Second, a nice cushy spot like this - you're telling us the Department doesn't already have someone measured up for this job? For all you new guys/gals or outsiders reading, the way it usually runs is this:

1. create a spot;
2. list the qualifications of the pre-selected candidate;
3. put out a job notice so people apply;
4. pick the pre-selected  person;
5. laugh at everyone who thought it was legit

As an added bonus, you can take all the "mock flyers" that people submitted and see if there are any ideas worthy of stealing. After all, the applications are now owned by the Department, along with everything that was attached.

In the meantime, we have a lot of talented readers.  If you have a graphic that you think might be worthy of submitting for a mock recruiting poster, we'd like to see it and if funny enough, publish some of the better ones. It's like a City Sticker contest for cops!

Chalkie references always welcome.

Glug Glug Glug

Anyone hear about an exempt member driving their unmarked SUV into the Albany Park lagoon?

The car is draining at Area 1 garage.

Allegedly.

Shortshanks Cash Dump

He either had to take it and pay taxes on it, or donate it. Seeing as how he's set for life after steering so many crooked contracts to politically connected firms, one that he works for, this wasn't surprising:

• Former Mayor Richard M. Daley made an unusual and unusually generous gesture on Wednesday, donating more than half a million dollars from his former campaign fund to various Chicago charities and other organizations.
• Daley’s donations from his former campaign fund, totaling more than $500,000 went to places like After School Matters, the Maggie Daley Center for Women’s Cancer Care at Prentice Women’s Hospital, Lurie Children’s Hospital, Misericordia, the Children of the Crossroads Foundation, the Chicago Police Memorial Foundation, the Widows’ & Children’s Assistance Fund established by retired firefighters, and Sweet Beginnings.

The CPD and CFD Charities each got $10,000 - the least of any donation made by a mayor who hated our guts from the word go.

We're sure the Memorial Funds were appreciative and will spout some platitudes about "working with the mayor" and some other such nonsense. And ten grand will do some good. But we remember what it was really like.

Daley is just trying to polish his turd of a legacy.

Blame the Weather - Again

Killings and shootings are looking good for the first third of the year. Fielding an extra 400 cops a night have some effect we're sure. But we have no doubt the bigger impact is the weather:

• Next week will be May and temperatures will be in the 70s. But first we'll have to get through this April, and that means yet another chance of snow.
  
  Tonight's temperatures are expected to dip into the low 30s, bringing the possibility of snow showers after midnight, according to National Weather Service meteorologist Jim Allsopp.
  
  [...] April has been cloudier and colder than normal. And it is now officially the wettest. As of midnight, 8.54 inches had already fallen this month. That beats the previous record of 8.33 inches in April of 1947.

So the thirteenth coldest winter on record (global warming?), and now the dampest April on record. Maybe the drought has finally lifted? McCarthy will be right up front for that credit, too, no doubt.

FOP Pushing to Decertify PBPA

The FOP, at the behest of some sergeants unhappy with the stunt the PBPA President tried to put over on their members regarding Contract issues versus Pension issues, is holding some informational meetings for Sergeants interested in de-certifying their union and joining FOP.

The State FOP president will attend the meetings at the FOP Hall on 24 and 25 April and the National Lodge has committed to support a Sergeant Lodge should they change affiliations.

This sounds like this could be messy.  FOP could be seen as meddling, but the sergeants we work with are very unhappy with Ade's getting cozy with Rahm on pension issues - issues that are decided in Springfield, not Chicago.  Any readers want to let us know what's going on?

Time for Sparklefarts to Sell

When they start measuring killings in terms of "distance from the president's house," maybe you ought to think about selling it just so the media stops it:

• Timika Rutledge’s Monday night unfolded as a mother’s worst nightmare.
  
  When her youngest son was not waiting at a Walgreens at the corner of 51st and Cottage Grove as planned, annoyance shifted to apprehension —­ and eventually to grief, as police cars streamed into the area.
  
  [...] Her son, 15-year-old Cornelius German, was lying dead nearby — shot only four blocks from President Barack Obama’s home in the 5000 block of South Greenwood.
  

And the usual charges and protestations are being made:

• Police said Cornelius was affiliated with a gang, which family members deny, though they acknowledge he ran with an older, rougher crowd who were probably involved with gangs.
  
  “He didn’t have no gang tattoos. He didn’t have no piercings,” Rutledge said.
  

Yeah, because piercings and tattoos make everyone a banger. No one would ever keep a couple of shorties around without markings, cuttings, or colors do do the dirty work.

In any event, Obama ought to see if Rezko still has a real estate license and unload the Kenwood property, even if it's at a loss. Otherwise, Rahm might have to ban the president from owning property in Chicago, just to cut the murder rate by a point.

Wrigley Shooter Caught

And contrary to previous reports, he wasn't part of the robbery - he was known to the shooter and got shot during the robbery:

• A 26-year-old South Side man currently on parole for making dozens of 911 calls — reporting false rapes and talking lewdly to operators — has been charged with shooting a man near Wrigley Field early Sunday, authorities said.
  
  Marcus Harris, of the 1400 block of South Canal Street, whose distinctive facial tatoos — including a teardrop, a cross, and a White Sox logo — led to his arrest, was charged with aggravated battery/discharge of a firearm, obstructing identification, and attempted armed robbery with a firearm. During a Tuesday bond court hearing, a Cook County judge set Harris bond at $900,000.
  
  Contrary to earlier reports he shot a co-conspirator, Harris shot one of the two men he targeted outside a nightclub early Sunday, according to prosecutors. Harris knew both of the men, authorities said.

The "victim" has an extensive record as well as the shooter, all hanging around Cubby-town. Makes you wonder.

Chicago Ripped by NYT Book Critic?

As a New York Time book critic, this might qualify as "piling on:"

• “Poor Chicago,” a friend of mine recently said. Given the number of urban apocalypses here, I couldn’t tell which problem she was referring to. Was it the Cubs never winning? The abominable weather? Meter parking costing more than anywhere else in America — up to $6.50 an hour — with the money flowing to a private company, thanks to the ex-mayor Richard M. Daley’s shortsighted 2008 deal? Or was it the fact that in 2012, of the largest American cities, Chicago had the second-highest murder rate and the ­second-highest combined sales tax, as well as the ninth-highest metro foreclosure rate in the country? That it’s the third-most racially segregated city and is located in the state with the most underfunded public-employee pension debt? Was my friend talking about how a real estate investor bought The Chicago Tribune and drove it into bankruptcy? Or how 15-year-old Hadiya Pendleton, who performed at Barack Obama’s inauguration, was shot dead near the president’s Kenwood home?

And those are just some of Chicago's high points!

Seriously, she goes to town on the town. The column is supposed to be about three Chicago books, but she uses each one as a microcosm of what's wrong with Chicago, including one by Neil Steinberg where Neil brags about getting his brother a job in Cook County government. She makes some pretty acerbic observations, too, mostly accurate.

One might assume that the New York Times is settling up some scores and making sure Hillary and/or Cuomo have a clear field in 2016 against anything Rahm might try to do.

What a Nice Night

Warm weather really gets the blood flowing - in the streets that is:

• Six men have been wounded tonight and this afternoon in two separate shootings in the Englewood and Gresham neighborhoods on the South Side.
  
  Most recently, at 8 p.m. in the 7900 block of South Peoria Street in the city's Gresham neighborhood, someone shot two men, according to police News Affairs [...].
  
  A 23-year-old was shot in the leg and a 20-year-old was shot in the abdomen, said O'Brien.
  
  Their conditions and further details were not available immediately.
  
  Earllier in the Englewood neighborhood, four men were standing in the middle of the 5700 block of South Lowe Avenue in front of a residence when a lone gunman confronted them on foot and fired numerous rounds from a semi-automatic handgun hitting all four, police said.

Four-for-four in the second shooting is pretty good though.  Bad aim is keeping the count low along with better medical care.  Anyone know if shootings are keeping pace with 2012 or 2011?

Rahm Re-Announces Spending

After mucking out a few basements of northside acquaintances, we were amused to see Rahm promising to spend more money:

• Days after heavy rains swamped hundreds of homes in Chicago’s Albany Park neighborhood leaving many without power and gas, Mayor Rahm Emanuel announced the construction of a $55 million underground pipeline he says will alleviate future flooding.
  
  The one-mile tunnel underneath Foster Avenue will go east from Eugene Field Park to the North Shore Channel. Construction of the Northwest Side pipeline may begin as early as the beginning of next year.
  

Gee, $55 million. That's about what he's spending on Maggie Daley Park, isn't it? Or is it the same $55 million being spent again? His accounting leaves a lot to be desired. After all, the Streets and San savings from going to a "grid" system are about one-third of what was projected, meaning Rahm has to find that money somewhere else.

And more interesting, Rahm already announced this project about year ago - it's been on the drawing board at least that long. No progress has been made though, just an announcement that gave Rahm headlines, and now ::poof:: a crisis that can't go to waste, so he announces it again:

• Money for the project will come from the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District, the city, and from the state and federal government, Emanuel said. The new pipeline has been in the planning stages for about a year.

Rahm is also a scientist it seems, blaming "climate change" again:

• Emanuel said the pipeline was being built to address climate change, which he called, “the new normal.”

Maybe Rahm could explain this then?

Everything in dark and light red is the so called "global warming" predicted by scientists and a Chicago mayor. The black line, which is just about to fall out of the model completely, is recorded temperatures - reality as it were. It shows about a one-tenth degree rise in 20 years. But hey, if Rahm can garner a headline from a project he announced a year ago already and make it seem like he cares about people who have been pumping water and sewage out of their basements the past week, well by golly, he's not going to let that opportunity slip by.

48 Hours Piece?

More bad news for McCompstat?

• Watch for more national coverage about how bad it is here. The television show 48 hours has been driving around the city doing a similar piece about the violence. On Thursday they interviewed McCompstat as part of the show. Apparently he lost it when the reporter asked him if this city was still a safe place to visit. He ended the interview and was heard mumbling several choice words towards the reporter as he stormed out. It will be interesting to see if they put the blow up on TV. The show is supposed to air in about a month.

Wilding on the Mag Mile.  Shootings in Wrigleyville. Visitors being Apple-picked on the El. Add in the non-stop bleeding from the Convention business and Gov. Rick Perry trolling for Illinois corporations to move to Texas.

We're one tourist mugging/death away from economic disaster. Meanwhile, the slow meltdown continues.

Guess Who Has a Gun?

An old friend of ours does some pretty good reporting on something that most reporters won't even peek at:

• The Nation of Islam styles him its “Supreme Captain” — a potential successor to his controversial father, Minister Louis Farrakhan.
  
  But when he’s working for the Harvey Police Department, Mustapha Farrakhan is just a regular part-time cop.
  
  If, that is, he’s actually working for the Harvey Police Department.
  
  Farrakhan, 52, certainly has a police badge from the crime-plagued south suburb.
  
  He drives an unmarked Harvey Police squad car, complete with flashing police lights, and parks it outside his home at night.
  
  And he’s been registered with the state as a gun-carrying Harvey cop since 2006.
  
  But he hasn’t worked a single shift in more than four years, according to state records. If he’s ever made an arrest, Harvey’s police chief is unwilling to discuss it.

Janssen talked to everyone he could and the Illinois Police Standards and Training Board has opened an investigation. He also covers the bases with Harvey's shady political structure.  We imagine a bit of digging by appropriate authorities would expose even more - like selling badges to part timers so they can carry guns.

It's nice to see actual investigative reporting pop up every so often. There's plenty more where that came from.

The Fun Never Ends

Almost like it's written for us:

Police Limit - by a fan of cops for cops.

396 Arrests

Proof positive that the system is broken:

• On a sweltering day last summer, traffic came to a standstill on a bustling stretch of Bryn Mawr Avenue in Edgewater, emergency crew sirens wailed and Chicago Police Officer Tom Rolon hurried to the scene.
  
  The crackling voice in Rolon’s radio reported a woman foaming at the mouth and lying in the middle of the street; Rolon approached and instantly recognized her.
  
  “She looked up at me and says, ‘Officer Rolon, I love you,’ ” recalled the now retired cop, who spent 17 years on foot patrol in Edgewater. “She got up, and all of a sudden she’s OK.”

396 arrests since 1978.  And it's not like the cost stops with her serving time, first of all because she doesn't serve much anyway with a few exceptions.  Second because she games the system:

• Miles is a master at working the system, says Rolon. She fakes seizures that mean costly hospital visits. She gets judges to delay her cases. And then she returns to the streets to be arrested again and again — so many times that she ranks in the top 1 percent for all current CPD arrestees.

And guess how she finally got sent downstate?

• To the relief of many, Miles, 51, is currently in prison in downstate Lincoln. Police arrested her last August, when — after a day of allegedly slapping, punching and generally harassing folks on a stretch of Broadway in Uptown — she is accused of chasing after Ald. James Cappleman (46th).

Anyone want to bet that if she wasn't chasing Cappleman, she'd still be out slapping, punching, begging and whoring?  You can do all that, but if you chase one of the "elite" members of society around, Anita will dig up something to pin on you.  They sent her down on a parole violation.  How many times have you ever seen a parolee violated for a misdemeanor charge?  It's damn rare in Cook County.

Wrigleyville Shooting

Gee whiz, another crime in Cubs-town? A shooting? It's almost like the predators have discovered a happy hunting ground:

• The most recent shooting happened across the street from Wrigley Field about 3:20 a.m. A man, age 25, was shot in the upper back outside the 7-Eleven at Addison Street and Sheffield Avenue, police said.
  
  He told officers he was walking with two other people when he got into a dispute and one shot him in the lower back, police said.
  
  According to a police report, the victim told police he was walking east on Addison on the south side of the street when he saw a man arguing with a teen.
  
  The victim told the man to “leave him alone,’’ because he believed the teen was being robbed, the report said.The man replied: “(expletive) you, mind yo business’’ and the victim continued walking east.
  
  He then heard a “pop” and felt a sharp pain in the lower right side of his back, and saw the man “walk casually’’ toward the Red Line Addison station. The victim entered the 7-Eleven and told a worker he’d been shot, the report said.
  
  The clerk said soon after the incident that he heard no gunfire but others who came in after the victim said they heard the shot.
  
  While at the hospital he gave police a further description of the shooter, including that he had a White Sox logo tattooed on his face, the report said.
  
  The shooter was also described as being a black man in his mid-20s, 5-foot-8 and about 180 pounds. He was last seen wearing a blue sweater and fleeing east from the scene, police said.

Lesson #1 - stop going to Wrigleyville until Rahm hires enough police to protect the touristy part of town;

Lesson #2 - a Sox fan in Wrigleyville? That won't end well for someone;

Lesson #3 - "mind yo business"

Col. McCormick is Amused

The Tribune might be worth reading again in a few years:

• Three years ago, Charles and David Koch, the billionaire industrialists and supporters of libertarian causes, held a seminar of like-minded, wealthy political donors at the St. Regis Resort in Aspen, Colo. They laid out a three-pronged, 10-year strategy to shift the country toward a smaller government with less regulation and taxes.
  
  The first two pieces of the strategy — educating grass-roots activists and influencing politics — were not surprising, given the money they have given to policy institutes and political action groups. But the third one was: media.
  
  Other than financing a few fringe libertarian publications, the Kochs have mostly avoided media investments. Now, Koch Industries, the sprawling private company of which Charles G. Koch serves as chairman and chief executive, is exploring a bid to buy the Tribune Company’s eight regional newspapers, including The Los Angeles Times, The Chicago Tribune, The Baltimore Sun, The Orlando Sentinel and The Hartford Courant.

That sound you hear? It's the sound of thousands of liberal heads exploding at the same time. There's no problem with Warren Buffet owning dozens of papers and George Soros pretty much writing the leftist playbook, but the mere mention of libertarians owning some newspapers has sent the NY Times into a tizzy.

NRA Lambasts Chicago

A special report from the NRA about "America's Deadliest City."

Retired Chicago cops figure prominently in the video, including Joe Moseley, Jim Arceo and Joe Lombardi and they go to town on the fact that Cook County doesn't enforce the laws on the books. In fact, one could conclude (as people with brains did years ago) that any law generated nowadays is meant solely to disarm the law-abiding. The gang bangers interviewed detail how easy it is to get a gun by stealing them by the crate-load off of railroad cars.

Definitely worth five minutes of your time.

The Second Amendment

One of the best essays about the Second Amendment from Ace Of Spades. You're going to want to click on all of the embedded links in this article - it's an amazing piece of writing and argument:

• Charles C.W. Cooke is quickly becoming one of my favorite writers at NRO. See here, here and here for some reasons why. On twitter, he displays a similar talent for making coherent responses to lefty tweets. Such as this one, earlier today.
  
  The tweet from Caldwell illustrates part of the reason I don't trust the left when it comes to issues related to the second amendment - most of their arguments are based in a combination of emotionalism and ignorance. I don't mean ignorance in the insulting sense, but the descriptive. They are ignorant about how guns work. They don't know the history or meaning of the second amendment. They have no idea how gun sales work, whether in a store or at a show. They do not understand why people would want to own a gun, and have no understanding of what it's like to live in rural America, where the police aren't just minutes away.
  
  What makes it worse is that they don't seem to want to know. They are perfectly content in their little bubble of ignorance, speaking to each other in the language of cliche and falsehood. They use phrases like "gun show loophole," "assault weapon," and make utterly laughable statements about what weapons are legal and which are not and they believe their parade of nonsense justifies the limit of a freedom guaranteed by the constitution. They are eager to ban something they don't understand and have no intention of learning anything about.
  
  This has been linked before, but for a thorough and excellent overview of guns and gun control, read this post by author, firearms instructor and former gun dealer Larry Correia. In it, he lays out the reasons why the left calls for gun control, then eviscerates those arguments with facts and reason.
  
  Much has been written about the president's press conference/temper tantrum last night. In his statement, Obama showed why the left seems to have no interest in understanding guns, gun owners and gun culture. The reason is pretty simple: they hate us.
  
  Go watch Obama's statement again - the utter contempt he displayed for those who have the audacity to claim a right protected by the constitution is breathtaking in its nakedness. It's tempting to believe liberal lawmakers don't like us having the ability to own guns because they don't think we can be trusted with them. That is part of it, but based on what we saw yesterday, that might be giving them too much credit.
  
  When the left talks about gun owners, one of their favorite tactics is to make them seem like a strange species - an 'other.' Well, Obama 'otherized' the hell out of gun owners and second amendment advocates yesterday, refusing to even acknowledge their ability to make an argument in good faith and sneering at members of Congress for the earnest belief in the second amendment that influenced their votes against the gun control amendments.
  
  Still, the president wasn't just angry because he lost. He was angry because he lost to people who hold an opinion he's unable and unwilling to understand and who he seems to regard as beneath him. Last night, Obama showed us the anger that lurks under the no-drama exterior and revealed what we on the right have known for years - he's thoroughly a man of the left, and shares the left's contempt for those who believe that the second amendment is not a collective right, but an individual right for a collective purpose - ultimately, the preservation of a "free state." Our belief in individual liberty makes us inconvenient, and our refusal to acquiesce to the Benevolent and All-Knowing, All Providing Nanny State makes us barriers to the goals of the left.

Keep fighting the good fight ladies and gents.  Join the organizations that support the Constitution and your Rights.

Cops Injured Chasing Gunmen

A crash during a pursuit:

• Two Chicago police officers were treated Saturday for minor injuries they suffered in a collision while trying to apprehend two shooting suspects on the South Side.
  
  The officers were responding to a report of people shooting from a white vehicle in the 4300-block of South Union. The officers said they tried to stop the vehicle, but it crashed into their squad car at 49th Street and Princeton.
  
  Two suspects were taken into custody.

Speedy recovery officers.

RIP Officer Sean Collier

A hero no longer among the living:

• Last night around 10:30pm, MIT Police Officer Sean Collier was killed when he responded to a disturbance on campus. Today, co-workers and friends have praised Sean for his kindness, good humor and courage.
  
  
  
  
  Collier's roommate, who trained with him at the police academy, described him as “the guy who went to help” and faulted him for being too brave. He summed up last night's events in a tearful interview with the Boston Globe, “The best guy got shot down by the biggest scumbags.”

Godspeed Officer Collier. And God bless all the first responders who were a credit to their professions once again under circumstances that would break and shatter those who are so quick to criticize in other events.

Another FTO Rumor

We know we have a couple readers in the class - anyone want to confirm or debunk this one?

• In FTO class today the officers were told that the north side districts were full and they could only bid for 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 & 15. Most officers were angry and are contemplating going back to their districts and dropping the job.

If true, not surprising in the least. The Department has lied to FTO's for the past decade. Why would this time be any different?

Screw Chicago

And this asshole claims to be a Republican?

• A key Illinois senator says legislation allowing public gun possession will carve out an exception for Chicago.
  
  Republican Sen. Tim Bivins says the measure he and Democratic Sen. Kwame Raoul negotiated would allow Cook County authorities to deny a concealed carry permit even if an applicant passes the required background checks.
  
  The former county sheriff from Dixon says the rest of the state would be governed by a so-called "shall issue" law — anyone meeting requirements would get a carry permit.
  
  Bivins says the bill is being written. He says it's not ideal but gun-rights advocates have to compromise.

So Cook County (and by extension Chicago), which pretty much carries the State of Illinois in crime and homicide numbers, would just be written off by idiots like Bivins. The people who need it most, too bad. You'll just have to continue being victims, being accosted in your homes, on the street, robbed, raped and murdered.

Separate but equal? We sense racist undertones here. Can't have decent minorities protecting themselves you know. How about "fuck you Bivins."

Missed This One - Link $$$

Cradle to grave:

• Is a LINK card really a get out of jail free card?
  That's what state Rep. Mike Bost, R-Murphysboro, asserted when he proposed a measure that would ban people from using the public assistance from buying items like lottery tickets and alcohol (and getting out of jail). The proposal was rejected by the Illinois House Public Benefits Subcommittee Thursday (21 March) in Springfield.
  "A LINK card is intended to be used for basic needs, such as food and water, not alcohol and lottery tickets," Bost said. "Local law enforcement has even told me they have encountered an instance where a person has used the cash from their LINK card to bail them out of jail. This is just absurd, a LINK card funded by the taxpayers should not be used to bail people out of jail."
  The bill, House Bill 2784, failed to pass out of the committee by a vote of 1 to 2.
  LINK cards are funded through the state's Temporary Assistance for Needy Families Program. The average monthly allowance people are given is $242.

The article was published on 21 March. We don't recall seeing it at all. Pension stuff was in the headlines, so maybe everyone was distracted.

Remember - your tax dollars at work here.

Terror Suspect Dead, Other On the Loose

They managed to kill an MIT Police Officer as they attempted to escape and possibly wound a few more.

Massive manhunt underway in Boston.

Prayers for the fallen.

As always, updates available by those better equipped than we are in the right hand column.  The Blaze and Breitbart are on top of all of the coverage.

UPDATE: Brothers from Chechnya, at last report. Chechnya has been involved in two wars with Russia and terrorists from the area have made a name for themselves at the Beslan School and blowing up airplanes in midair.

Police Officers Denied Bid?

What's this?

• The great commander/deputy chief of 007 also blocked 2 po's from 007 from going to 008 because they "bring in too much activity" , therefore he can't afford to lose them......way to reward your guys for hard work Leo....I hope the guys bring in zeroes as long as he is still there. Its not like he didn't get to go wherever he wanted his whole career or anything.

True? False?

If you make the bid, you go, and Ric Flair be damned. Right? Otherwise, the City ought to be paying you time-and-one-half for every single day you are removed from your bid spot.

Concealed Carry Falls Short in Illinois

Under 50 days to comply with a Federal Court Order now:

• Legislation backed by gun-rights advocates that would allow Illinoisans to carry concealed weapons went down Thursday in the House, leaving the spring legislative debate over concealed-carry at a stalemate.
  
  Legislation backed by the National Rifle Association and pushed by Rep. Brandon Phelps (D-Harrisburg) failed on a 64-45 roll call, with four voting present. The bill needed 71 votes to pass the House.
  
  "This could be our last chance to pass something by June 9th," Phelps said, referring to the federal appeals court deadline imposed on Illinois to pass a concealed-carry law.

So contrary to everything Quinn, Rahm, Madigan and the rest of Illinois politicians would have you believe, Concealed Carry has a clear majority in the Illinois House. That's good news.

The other news is it looks more and more like nothing will get done:

• That means neither side of the gun-control debate in Springfield has enough backing to push through their own version. That stalemate casts significant doubts on how -- or whether -- gun-rights and gun-control advocates can reach a compromise to meet the June 9th deadline established by the federal appeals court.
  
  So what now?
  
  "I don't know," said Todd Vandermyde, a lobbyist for the National Rifle Association. "Right now, we're going to have to step back and see what the roll call looked like. We had more people telling us that they were inclined to vote for this version with some changes that there were. Obviously, we made movements, and I don't know what else to say."
  

We would hope that Second Amendment Rights groups have some legal framework in place to provide guidelines for whatever happens 10 June. Failure by Illinois to address the Concealed Carry issue is going to throw handfuls of sand into the legal processes. You cannot arrest people for a law declared unconstitutional without opening yourself to civil liability, so the police's hands are tied. County Courts cannot prosecute a law known to be unconstitutional. Jails cannot hold citizens who haven't broken a law. Some people have even expressed the opinion that your FOID card becomes your permit - we doubt the State Police are on board with that, but their hands are tied, too.

Interesting times.

Oh Captain, My Captain

Friday morning chuckle:



We like how the firefighters aren't even telling him to duck. 

That Giant Sucking Sound

It's a bird? It's the mayor? No, it's Chicago infrastructure!

• As a relentless rainstorm battered the Chicago area early Thursday morning, Laide Giwa watched her Dodge Charger drop into a sinkhole.
  
  The hole — which had already swallowed two vehicles before claiming Giwa's car —was not caused by the rain but by a break in an aging water main, officials later said.
  
  Witnesses said the hole opened up in the 9600 block of South Houston Avenue about 5 a.m. and eventually was the entire width of the street.

Picture:

The good news is someone reported this as a "pothole" within minutes using their SmartPhone and Rahm's new "pothole app" had crews dispatched within minutes!

Lefties Invade Comments

We've been filtering out a number of the unhinged liberal loons who pop by every so often, especially after some major event (like the Boston bombing) where they can attempt to further their agenda via lies and innuendo, mostly by smearing cops, conservatives and those who support the Constitution.  A few examples:

• One loon popped up and asked why we weren't outraged 11 years ago when then-President Bush's administration removed a number of Saudi relatives of Osama bin Laden. We weren't blogging back then, but at the time, we recall not being very happy about it. The thing is though, we don't take hostages here in America, and without evidence, that's all they'd be. That seems to have escaped the lib-tard. Then this popped up at Drudge yesterday:
  
  The Saudi “person of interest” suspected of being involved in the Boston Marathon bombings is being deported from the United States next week on “national security grounds,” according to a terrorism expert, who notes that the move is “very unusual,” especially given an unscheduled meeting yesterday between President Obama and Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal.
  
  Granted, it's InfoWars, but Obama is doing exactly the same thing as Bush? (now verified through other sites).
  
  
• Then another lunatic wrote in to say that "of course, this had to be Right Wingers, and you should admit that possibility."  We acknowledge the possibility that terrorists come in all stripes. But so-called "right wing" terrorists more often target government buildings (McVeigh) or institutions at odds with their religious beliefs (Rudolph).  Terror bombers themselves are more often a construct of the left:
  
  Unabomber - leftist
  SDS Weathermen - lefties
  FALN - left wingers
  NATO goofs - left nuts

 In fact, here are a few of the SDS jagoffs from a few years ago:

Three of those people are/were university professors, teaching our children.  Two of them helped a "community organizer" run for Illinois public office, a US Senate seat, and the presidency.

• And finally, the goof who accused us of "not letting a crisis go to waste" by pointing out the liberal media who are busy twisting this attack as right-wing, anti-government, NRA-driven, and any other anti-conservative generalization they can gin up.  They believe that us pointing out the leftist agenda is driving the crisis, not the other way around.  We don't know how someone can go through life that ignorant, but it must be painful.

Photos of Bombing Suspects

A couple of decent shots:

Video at the link up top. 

On the loose for 3 days means they could be anywhere, in or out of the country.

More Changes

This is from initial reports and corrections:

• Wayne Gulliford to Chief of Patrol (replaces Patterson)
  Keith Calloway (OCD) to Deputy Chief, Patrol South (replaces Gulliford)
  Eric Carter (006?) to Deputy Chief OCD (replaces Calloway)
  Fred Waller from 002 to 006 (lateral)
  Terry Williams from 024 to 002 (acting D/C to acting D/C?)
  Lt. Tom Waldera from Gangs to 024 as acting D/C (no XO available?)

Anyone have the confirmed list of changes?

UPDATES: We are correcting the list as info comes in.

Shots Fired at Police

017 District on Tuesday night:

• A Chicago police sergeant was shot at while following possible robbery suspects in the Jefferson Park neighborhood.
  
  The shooting happened at Wilson and Kilpatrick around 11:30 p.m. Tuesday.
  
  Police say the sergeant was following the suspects relating to an armed robbery of a liquor store at Cicero and Foster when they fired at his car.
  
  The sergeant did not fire back. He was not hit, but a bullet struck another vehicle.
  
  The person inside that car was not hurt.
  
  Two suspects were caught and taken into custody.

Someone related the offenders were captured by ISP after a vehicle chase up the Edens Expressway. Well done and thank goodness the sergeant is okay.

Gun Control Bill Fails in DC

And the president throws all sorts of temper tantrums, blaming the minority Republicans for obstructing the bill and amendments.

Last we checked, there was a democratic majority in the Senate and the Obama/Biden team couldn't even hold that together.  Mark Kirk (RINO-IL) voted with the democrats on each and every amendment, but in the end, it was between 4 and 8 democrats defecting to minimize the damage to their own reelection chances that sank this.

Gallup even came out with a poll that said only 4% of Americans think gun control is an important issue:

• Only 4 percent of Americans think guns and gun control are an important problem facing the country, according to Gallup, and far more Americans are concerned about the economy, unemployment and the federal debt.

About as many people are concerned about gun control and are concerned about North Korea - and the Norks are threatening us with nuclear annihilation on a near daily basis.

Second Suspect Arrested

That video making the rounds of the "gun versus bat" store robbery? The second suspect is now in custody:

• A Minnesota man has been arrested in connection with last week's robbery at a Logan Square gift shop, Chicago police said Wednesday. The clerk used a baseball bat to fend off his attackers.
  
  Keith Owens, 51, faces charges of attempted first degree murder and armed robbery with a firearm.

A very good job closing this one out.  Well done to all involved.

Judge Evans Talks Sense

But not the sense that he intended:

• With a high-profile triple murder trial underway in DuPage County with a camera in the courtroom, Cook County’s chief judge was left wondering when Chicago would be able to follow suit within its own court system.
  WBBM Newsradio [...] reports Chief Judge Timothy Evans had hoped to have cameras allowed in Cook County courtrooms by late 2012 – after the Illinois Supreme Court began allowing them in Illinois courtrooms on a trial basis last January – but was still waiting for permission from the high court as of this week.
  
• It’s still in question when Cook County courtrooms will be allowed to get cameras, and Evans seemed frustrated with the delay, pointing out several other states – including nearby Iowa, Kentucky, Michigan, Missouri, and Wisconsin – allow cameras in trial courts.
  
  “States all around us already have it,” he said. “Why in the world would we say, ‘Yeah, it’s great in Missouri, and it’s great in Michigan, it’s great in Wisconsin, it’s great in other states around us, but it can’t possibly occur in Illinois.’ It doesn’t make any sense.”

Gee, haven't we been saying that here for years - about Concealed Carry? Isn't there a Federal Court Decree in place striking down the Illinois ban? Yet Illinois politico's continue to dither and delay something that works just fine in 49 other states, all of which have experienced decreases in crime and no accompanying bloodbath as predicted by the Pollyanna's among the anti-gun crowd.

Backtrack that one Timmy.

56 FTO's

We got word from someone at the Academy that 56 FTO's showed up to take the classes. This is after 118 individuals were listed on the Personnel Order.

47%. Of course, that's pending completing the classes, graduating and accepting the assignment, something that caused half a class to quit a few years ago.

And how are the FTO's filling their time at the Academy?

They don't even have a curriculum for 40% of the time.

New Info/Changes to the Story

If you've been following the Boston story, and we're sure most of us have been trying to, a lot of changes and new info today:

• No unexploded ordnance was discovered;
• No "person of interest;"
• The devices were most likely packed into kitchen pressure cookers, transported in black nylon backpacks, very basic in construction. They were "featured" in Al-Queda's on-line magazine, and as most are aware, coordinated multiple bombings are a hallmark of their operations.

Now an appeal to the public from investigators for any and all film taken during the marathon. Hopefully, this isn't a desperation move with the trail growing cold already.

Barb West - Just Resign Already

Hey McCarthy? You going to permit this to happen?

• 25th District car is assisting fugitives, 1400 N Central. a whole 2 blocks out of 15. Bad guy gets goofy, copper calling for help and calling for a taser. You can hear the struggle on the radio. A 15th District car is right on the border and says they have a taser and are going.
  
  Guess what?
  
  1500 gets on on the radio and says that 15th district cars have to stay in 15.
  
  Commander, FUCK YOU. You were never the police, you are an over promoted bitch. When a copper calls for help EVERYONE goes. Turn in your fucking star. You are a worthless piece of shit. And McCarthy, if you let this stand with no punishment for that bitch, you are a total failure. And let me tell you something Barb, if you called a 10-1, no matter how much it would make my stomach turn, no matter how much I would love to see your chicken shit ass get whipped, I would still go to save your worthless ass. Cuz that's what coppers do. But then again, you weren't, still aren't and will never be a COP! Sleep well you piece of shit.

This is our so-called "leadership." Cops calling for help, same radio zone, two blocks away and Commander Barb West ordered cars NOT to go. We certainly hope 015 disregarded this blatantly improper order and went to assist 025. We're sure if they did go, 025 has a few capable supervisors who can handle the paper.

We suppose if Barb isn't running illegal First Amendment investigations, then she has pretty much nothing to hang her hat on.

There are tapes available Garry. How about showing the slightest impetus of maybe owning at least a time-share of your testicles and demoting Barb West? Otherwise, you've just lost the entire 015 District (more than you have already we mean.)

UPDATE: A commentator reminded us that Commander Barb West stood by and watched a female copper dragged into an alley by an offender and beaten into unconsciousness and didn't even call for help on the radio - she just stood there and watched before other 015 District units heard her yelling. This was just last year.

That one disappeared pretty quick. Anyone have a flashlight?

Boston

The latest count tonight is 3 dead and 144 injured. The FBI has taken the investigatory lead, stated that 5 other devices were "rendered inert" and that there is a suspect in custody. All of this is subject to change and revision as the situation on the ground is ever changing and certain legal niceties must be observed.

What didn't change is the rush to blame perpetrated by the left-wing mainstream media, out in full force while police officers, firefighters, race officials, doctors and nurses tried to save lives, preserve evidence and clean up a grisly scene. Guess who they blamed?

• MSNBC’s Chris Matthews wasted no time in questioning whether today’s horrific bombing of the Boston Marathon was a politically-motivated attack. Matthews made his controversial comments when he assumed that a purported explosion at the JFK Library was associated with the bombings.
  
  On “Hardball” tonight, the host openly questioned whether at least a portion of the horror was an intentional attack against the Democratic Party. Matthews made his controversial comments when he assumed that a purported explosion at the JFK Library was associated with the bombings.
  
  
• Esquire Magazine - Several people were injured and two have been reported dead. There are reports of people missing limbs. Obviously, nobody knows anything yet, but I would caution folks jumping to conclusions about foreign terrorism to remember that this is the official Patriots Day holiday in Massachusetts, celebrating the Battles at Lexington and Concord, and that the actual date (April 19) was of some significance to, among other people, Tim McVeigh, because he fancied himself a waterer of the tree of liberty and the like.
  
  
• The New York Times - Never let a tragedy go to waste. New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof on Monday quickly used the explosions in Boston for political gain, linking the Republican Party to the horrific act. At 4:10pm, Kristof tweeted, "explosion is a reminder that ATF needs a director. Shame on Senate Republicans for blocking apptment." [UPDATE: Kristof has "taken back" the comment and deleted the tweet. See below for screen shot of the tweet.]
  
  
• CNN - Less than two hours after the horrific bombing at the Boston Marathon, CNN national security analyst Peter Bergen was already speculating that "right-wing extremists" could be behind the attack. He told CNN anchor Jake Tapper:
  "I'm reminded of Oklahoma City, which was a bombing, which was initially treated as a gas explosion. First reports are often erroneous."
  
  Then Bergen went on to offer up this "first" report: - "Once the device -- if it is a device -- is found; what kind of explosives were used. So for instance, if it was hydrogen peroxide, this is a signature of al Qaeda. If it was more conventional explosives, which are much harder to get hold of now -- that might be some other kind of right-wing extremist. … We've also seen, for instance, right-wing groups trying to attack the Martin Luther King parade in Oregon in 2010."

And not to put too fine a point on it, guess who didn't use the word "terrorist" in his address to the nation last night?

• On Monday afternoon at 6:10 PM ET, President Obama took to the podium to explain the current status of the White House’s efforts on the Boston bombings. “The American people will say a prayer for Boston tonight, and Michelle and I send our deepest thoughts and prayers to the victims,” Obama said. He said that the government did not yet have the answers on the perpetrators. He did not label the bombings a terrorist attack or incident. He also added that “on days like this there are no Republicans or Democrats.”
  

And evidently, no terrorists, foreign or domestic, eh? The White House (not the president) has since been forced to put out a statement that the bombings will be treated as an "act of terror." How difficult was that?

Remember, the media wants this to be a conservative malcontent who set off these bombs. And their "reporting" amounts to nothing more than propaganda, preparing the battlefield to fit their narrative. You won't see any retractions should this turn out to be the Saudi national currently in custody or some left wing zealot intent on "occupying" something.

And speaking of Saudi nationals, that DHS decision by the Obama administration to ease visas to that hotbed of liberty and free expression is coming under scrutiny all of the sudden:

• A Department of Homeland Security program intended to give "trusted traveler" status to low-risk airline passengers soon will be extended to Saudi travelers, opening the program to criticism for accommodating the country that produced 15 of the 19 hijackers behind the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
  
  Sources voiced concern about the decision to the Investigative Project on Terrorism, which issued a report Wednesday on the under-the-radar announcement -- which was first made by Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano after meeting in January with her Saudi counterpart. According to the IPT, this would be the first time the Saudi government has been given such a direct role in fast-tracking people for entry into the United States.
  
  [...] Any Saudi travelers cleared through the program will be able to bypass the normal customs line after providing passports and fingerprints. The status lasts for five years.

That article appeared on 20 March 2013. We'll bet that is the last you hear of it in the lame-stream media unless this Saudi national is charged and Congressional hearings come to pass.

FOP Story

Lost in the shuffle of the Boston Bombing was this rehash of old news by the Slum-Times:

• One of Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s biggest campaign contributors has the president of the Fraternal Order of Police on his company’s payroll — a relationship that’s come to light as Emanuel and the union try to negotiate a new contract for 10,400 Chicago cops.
  
  The connection between Emanuel donor Howard Labkon and FOP Lodge No. 7 President Michael K. Shields is spelled out in a court case in which Shields got an order of protection last year against an FOP lawyer he said threatened his family after the union stopped giving him business.
  
  Labkon and his family have been major campaign contributors to Emanuel. Altogether, they and their companies have given $156,500 to Emanuel campaign funds, plus another $50,000 to the mayor’s inaugural committee, records show.
  
  Labkon employs Shields and his brother, Officer Daniel J. Shields, to schedule security workers for General Iron Industries, his family’s scrap-metal recycling company on North Clifton, records show.

The article is by Chris Fusco, who after his brilliant work on the Hired Truck scandal, has been the Slum Times most consistent ball-washer of Rahm Emanuel after Fran Spielmann and Frank Main. No article is too pimpy for smearing Rahm's enemies. It's just too bad that the timing was off on this one - it has been driven completely off the Slum Times front page. We had to dig in their archives to find it again after reading it this morning.

This has been covered extensively in our comment sections by many people, some with axes to grind, some genuinely concerned about this supposed conflict of interest. We'll say this - it hasn't seemed to have dampened the FOP President's critiques of Rahm and Rahm hasn't had his donor shitcan the boys' side job.

However, this is Chicago, and what the left hand and right hand are doing in front of you isn't what they're doing behind your back and in your pocket.  We've already seen the "letter issue" is going to cost us something.  That isn't a error easily forgiven or forgotten and it is going to be a major issue in the 2014 FOP elections.

Speaking of which, if you want to run in 2014, you better get your 2013 meetings in now to be eligible.