Copper Beaten

In-and-out-of-consciousness:

• An off-duty Chicago police sergeant was seriously injured Thursday after he was robbed of his gun and beaten in a downtown parking garage, police said.
  
  The incident happened at 3 p.m. on the 100 block of West Madison Street, police said.
  
  The officer was beaten by several people who then robbed the officer, who was off-duty, police said. The offenders fled and are being sought.
  
  The sergeant was off duty at the time and in civilian clothing. The robbers did not take his badge or wallet, both of which he was carrying, police said.
  
  Police are looking for a Mercury Mountaineer that lost its bumper on the 8th floor of the parking garage.
  
  The officer has been in-and-out of consciousness since the beating. Although he's expected to survive, the injuries have been described as life-altering.
  
  He suffered facial fractures, a concussion and bleeding in his brain, police said.
  
  The officer was taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital in serious condition. Detectives are investigating.

A Mercury Mountaineer with a missing bumper. Amazing how they describe the car but somehow manage to leave out the color. Oh, and they didn't describe any of the offenders either.

Best wishes to the sergeant on a full recovery.

McCarthy Feeling Some Heat

Of course, it's from aldercreatures. And as all the parties involved are puppets of Rahm, it isn't too intense.

• At City Council budget hearings on Thursday, some aldermen were angered that Police Supt. Garry McCarthy could not immediately tell them exactly how many officers are currently on the force.
  
  WBBM Newsradio [...] reports Ald. Ricardo Munoz (22nd) is one of several aldermen who have said the city should hire more police officers, but he was frustrated when he asked McCarthy how many cops are on the job right now, and the superintendent said he did not have the precise figures.
  
  “That’s why I said I want to get them right, and we’ll get them to you,” he said.
  
  That drew the ire of Munoz, who said he was “offended” the superintendent came unprepared to provide specifics on staffing at the department’s budget review.
  
  “How can we have a conversation about staffing levels if the superintendent doesn’t have the numbers?,” Munoz said. “It’s a trick not to have the conversation in public and I, for one, feel offended.”

Munoz, who used to carry guns for the latin kings is offended? Eek. Aldercreature Cochran makes a better point:

• Ald. Willie Cochran (20th), a former police officer, said he couldn’t believe McCarthy was asking aldermen to wait another day for answers about staffing.
  
  “For people to come in here, and talk about they don’t have the right numbers, is bull; is absolutely bull,” he said. “Every one of those bureau chiefs that sit up here know better than to go to their superintendent, and prepare him for a meeting like this, and not have the right numbers.”

If that happens, McCarthy (or Tracey) jump up and down and scream, so the aldercreatures ought to be doing the same, right? McUnprepared then comes up with some numbers:

• After a lunch break, McCarthy was able to provide specifics, saying the department has an authorized strength of 12,533 sworn officers, and 587 vacancies.

[number corrected below - SCC]  This is a joke, right? The D unit is down what? 400 since Weis? There are something like four total "Forensic Investigators" at the Crime Lab (authorized over 30) and just try to get an ET to show up to dust a scene. Almost half the Department can't get time due without a human sacrifice. Rahm has spent $100 million on overtime this year alone. And we're only short 600 cops?

What a fucking joke. How about instead of filing FOIA requests for CR files that are 50 years old, some enterprising reporter file FOIA requests for personnel counts for the last 50 years?

UPDATE: We misread the paragraph about the numbers. Authorized is 12,533 with almost 600 vacancies puts us at 11,946 - still a ridiculously high estimate. With all the double counting going on, even Commanders don't know how many people assigned to their district are actually working in their districts.

Alstory Simon Released

So at the moment, no one is in custody for a particularly brutal double homicide in 1982. And the media spins this how?

• A judge ordered the release of Alstory Simon, whose confession to a 1982 double homicide helped free an inmate from death row in 1999.
  
  Simon has been in prison for 15 years for the double murder, the same case in which Anthony Porter was convicted and later freed.
  
  State's Attorney Anita Alvarez has now concluded that Simon's confession was a false one, and he will now be freed from a downstate prison.

Curiously missing from this and other coverage?

• disgraced Northwestern journalism "professor" David Protess who refused comment;
• former ASA Dick Devine who punted rather than stand up for a conviction that was right on;
• convicted governor George Ryan who used the Porter "exoneration" to discontinue the death penalty;
• Tribune "reporter" and Protess stooge Eric Zorn who spearheaded the release of a double murderer and the railroading of an innocent borderline moron.

Why is it that police are the only ones held accountable for a system that lies in ruins thanks to years of neglect, cronyism, corruption and outright criminal enterprising via the Machine and its democratic masters?

Ebola News

A commentator or two was attempting to take us to task for our supposed lack of knowledge concerning the Ebola plague hovering at the edge of national consciousness, asking where our degree was at, how we were less knowledgeable than assorted disease experts. As their comments contained nonsensical profanity, we flushed them. We're all for profanity, but profanity with a purpose is preferred.

In any event, the CDC released this info yesterday:

• Ebola is a lot easier to catch than health officials have admitted -- and can be contracted by contact with a doorknob contaminated by a sneeze from an infected person an hour or more before, experts told The Post Tuesday.
  
  "If you are sniffling and sneezing, you produce microorganisms that can get on stuff in a room. If people touch them, they could be" infected, said Dr. Meryl Nass, of the Institute for Public Accuracy in Washington, DC.
  
  Nass pointed to a poster the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention quietly released on its Web site saying the deadly virus can be spread through "droplets."
  
  "Droplet spread happens when germs traveling inside droplets that are coughed or sneezed from a sick person enter the eyes, nose or mouth of another person," the poster states.
  
  Nass slammed the contradiction.
  
  "The CDC said it doesn't spread at all by air, then Friday they came out with this poster," she said. "They admit that these particles or droplets may land on objects such as doorknobs and that Ebola can be transmitted that way."

So we guess that the unwashed masses were correct once again. As the AceofSpades website explains:

• ...the CDC has been deliberately misrepresenting the transmission pathway of ebola by stating, over and over and over again, that it was not an "airborne" pathogen.
  
  That relies on a technical meaning of the word "airborne" which scientists understand but which the CDC has been counting on the public to be ignorant of. "Airborne," so used, means that a disease is capable of forming dry motes that can float about in the air.
  
  Ebola can't do that. (Yet. We think.)
  
  But most people hear "airborne" and think about the most likely pathway of transmission through the air -- a sneeze.
  
  And ebola can be spread that way-- that method of contagion is called "droplet" transmission (as each particle of disease lives within a droplet of saliva or phlegm expelled from the carrier).

So once again, the CDC lies and Obama wants to import infected foreign nationals carrying this disease. Oh, and the Department of Defense declared that soldiers returning from the hot zones will be subject to a 21-day quarantine, even as Obama whines about quarantining health care workers for three weeks might discourage volunteerism. But hey, trust the government!

Election Day Coming

Once again, it's time to vote for judges. And as long time readers know, we don't vote "YES" for a sitting judge.

Ever.

While you may feel differently, we're reminding everyone that there is a sitting judge who shouldn't receive a single vote from anyone who is the police, was the police, married the police, is related to the police, was ticketed by the police, or saw the police once when they were downtown catching a show:

• [From our e-mail - SCC]I did see the name Anita Rivkin-Carrouthers on the judicial retention part of the ballot.  Us old farts (I am in year 29 on the job) remember her as the POS private lawyer who defended Murray Blue,  the killer of PO Daniel Doffyn and the wounding of (now Sgt) Mike Bubalo.  Blue opened up on them with a MAC 10 as they ran to a home invasion that was across the street from the old 015.  Her defense consisted of blaming the two victims for getting involved when they were off duty.  She was also House Counsel to the Gangster Disciples, defending its members on serious charges and was also rumored to be Larry Hoover's galpal.  To this day, she is openly hostile to POs appearing in her courtroom.  She is also married into the corrupt Carrouthers family.
  
  Last time she was up for retention, the FOP ran an campaign to remove her and she was barely
  retained.  I've already been in contact with Dean Sr regarding this to spread the word,
  
  Could you possibly put this up as a topic?

Gladly. Here it is.

Another Shooting

Again, coppers happen upon a gunfight and take action:

• A person was shot by police Wednesday night after officers happened upon a shootout between two gunmen in the Back of the Yards neighborhood on the South Side.
  
  About 11 p.m. Wednesday, ninth district officers were conducting a traffic stop in the 5100 block of South Wood Street when they heard gunfire nearby, said Chicago Police Deputy Chief Scott Ruiz, citing preliminary information.
  
  The officers turned on to West 51st Street and saw two gunmen on opposite sides of the street shooting at each other, police said in a statement. When officers approached one of the gunmen, the gunmen shot at them, police said.
  
  "As soon as this individual saw the police, he fired two shots," Ruiz told reporters afterwards. "Police returned fire, striking the subject several times."
  
  Authorities on the scene said the gunman was taken to John H. Stroger Hospital. The second gunman fled and was not in custody as of early Thursday morning. No officers were injured, and a weapon was recovered on the scene, according to a police statement.

Ruiz is bucking for Camdens' job? Can he tan? A nice, efficient, concise statement from a boss - he'll be demoted shortly.

Good job by the Officers - everyone goes home safe....except the bad guy.

#1 Again!

This time, the Academy Award for "Gang Infestation" goes to:

• In recent years Chicago has made a dramatic leap to overcome Los Angeles as America’s gang capital with a staggering 150,000 gang members and become one of the most violent cities in the country. In fact, Chicago recorded 413 murders in 2013 alone, a shocking number, if it weren’t for the fact that it actually represented a decrease from the 532 murders in Chicago in 2012. What’s worse, according to city law enforcement agencies, 80 percent of all shootings and murders in Chicago are gang related.
  
  Again, like most major cities in the United States, economic hardship on the municipality has led to budget cuts and less law enforcement patrolling the streets. There are barely 200 members of Chicago’s anti-gang task force. How can police possibly contend with hundreds of different gangs all operating within the city, primarily the west and south sides, with such little resources? Exacerbating the problem is that the historical hierarchy of the Chicago gangs has seemingly come undone, with various factions of former larger gangs all claiming territory, and clearly willing to shoot first at anyone unfamiliar who may be encroaching on said territory. Even a member of the street gang the Vice Lords himself told NBC news that “there is no one to control this, so it has become haywire.”

Accepting the award on behalf of Chicago, Rahm Emanuel - take a bow mayor! Gutting the police department, failing to keep up on basic equipment and hiring practices, and just all around being a prick from the word "Go," you can take pride in the last 3-plus years of mismanagement.

No Money for Inspections We Guess

Cutting corners again:

• Two-thirds of Chicago elevators were not inspected at all in 2013 — and 62 percent of safety violations uncovered over the prior eight years went “unresolved”—according to a “worrisome” audit released Wednesday.
  
  Inspector General Joe Ferguson’s latest audit examines what has been a chronic problem for Chicago’s inundated and under-staffed Department of Buildings.

Just think of all those fines and fee permits for work that aren't being collected. But Rahm will shorten the yellow light to under the federally mandated minimum of three-seconds, collect $7.7 million and then refuse to refund a penny when caught dirty.

Bone Marrow Donor Needed

One of our own:

Click for a full screen shot.

Comments closed here.

FOP Sues Over CR List

This sounds so very familiar:

• The union representing Chicago’s rank-and-file police officers has filed an injunction against the city and police department, asking a judge to halt the city from turning over records of police misconduct to the Sun-Times and Chicago Tribune until the records can be reviewed.
  
  The motion for injunctive relief was filed Tuesday in Cook County Circuit Court.
  
  On Thursday, the city notified the Fraternal Order of Police that lists “‘containing information related to complaints lodged against officers’ covering the time period between January 1, 1967 to the present” would be released to reporters from the two newspapers on Oct. 31, according to the filing.
  
  However, the union argues that the most recent collective bargaining agreement precludes the city from turning over any such records because they should have been destroyed after no more than seven years.

This should have been on the radar months ago when these lists began to be released. Not Sustained, Unfounded and Exonerated should be or should have been wiped clean years ago. We can understand Sustained cases being contained in personnel files - those cover our entire careers. Once your career is over, there ought to be a sunset provision for destroying even the Sustained cases. And when you pass on to your heavenly reward (or eternal damnation), the files ought to be deleted, too.

Look at These INCREASES

Our friends over at HeyJackass.com have an interesting set of stats up:

• Hey SCC - With clear skies and 70 degree temps in late October, you knew it was going to be a shitshow this weekend. We ended up with 4 killed and 35 wounded vs last year’s weekend tally of 2 killed, 14 wounded.

Geez, a 100% increase over the same period as last year?

• As for Monday, at last count we're sitting at 2 killed and 12 wounded which makes it the 3rd worst Monday of the year.
  
  For the month we're at 230 people shot, nearly double last October's 127 total.

And still three days to go:

• And for the year we've "shot" through 2,200 people shot which has already exceeded 2013's entire year tally.
  

That means that every wounding or maiming from weeks ago until the end of the year is a bonus shooting. Yet we don't doubt that the papers will be full of "Crime is Down!" headlines in a few days as the end of the month approaches. They'll claim everything else is down except shootings - and the media won't question which crimes the Department is lying about.

More Bikes

Let's hope these aren't part of the Contract's 400 vehicles:

• Chicago Police officers are preparing to patrol Chicago's streets by bicycle and the department's newest bike patrol officers were put through the paces on Tuesday.
  
  Officers are learning they will have to ride their bike, weaving through tight spots, such as in crowd control during marches and protests. Police say these bike patrols are the next generation of community policing, in many cases more effective than an officer on foot or in a car.
  
  They said it proved very effective during the NATO protest two years ago.
  
  [...] Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy plan to double the size of the department's bike patrol, to about 400 officers.

Most kidding aside, the Bikes are a decent asset to have - weather permitting - in a downtown environment for patrol, parades and publicity. But for where the shootings are, not so much. What if you have to leave the bike to hop a fence or enter a building? If you've ever dropped a flashlight, a magazine, a pair of handcuffs in the 'hood, you know it isn't going to be there when you get back, or if it is, it'll be in pieces.

Let's Import Ebola!

Not by accident. Not by American patients:

• The State Department has quietly made plans to bring Ebola-infected doctors and medical aides to the U.S. for treatment, according to an internal department document that argued the only way to get other countries to send medical teams to West Africa is to promise that the U.S. will be the world’s medical backstop.
  
  Some countries “are implicitly or explicitly waiting for medevac assurances” before they will agree to send their own medical teams to join U.S. and U.N. aid workers on the ground, the State Department argues in the undated four-page memo, which was reviewed by The Washington Times.
  
  “The United States needs to show leadership and act as we are asking others to act by admitting certain non-citizens into the country for medical treatment for Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) during the Ebola crisis,” says the four-page memo, which lists as its author Robert Sorenson, deputy director of the office of international health and biodefense.

We just sent or are sending 4,000 troops to an Ebola hot zone - why not build a facility there? Start with a MASH-type unit while something more permanent is built. But to import infected individuals? WTF? Next thing you know, Obama and company will be registering them to vote next week.

Nice Weekend Garry

We can't remember the last time the superintendent stayed quiet this long in the face of a sizable body count:

• Four people were killed and at least 32 others injured in shootings across the city since Friday night.
  
  The most recent fatal shooting happened Sunday night in Pilsen.

And that was just the weekend - it didn't stop Monday at all:

• At least six people were wounded Monday in separate shootings on the city's South and North sides, officials said.

Might be snow on Halloween - you know he's praying for it.

Hard Leftist Takes Lewis' Spot

Someone had to run from the communist side:

• Cook County Commissioner Jesus “Chuy” Garcia (D-Chicago) said Monday he will challenge Mayor Rahm Emanuel in the February election.
  
  “I think this city is not headed in the right direction,” Garcia told Early and Often, the Chicago Sun-Times political portal. “I’m hearing from people all over the city that the mayor’s vision and style are not what the city wants.”
  
  Garcia is poised to mount a left-leaning campaign, trying to appeal to Emanuel critics disappointed that County Board President Toni Preckwinkle and Chicago Teachers Union President Karen Lewis did not enter the mayoral race.

So does this siphon off Rahm's left wing? And fracture the Hispanic bloc Rahm has been courting to counter the shift of black voters away from him?

It Was a Rock

No word if it came from the overpass:

• Police say a rock, not gunfire as initially thought, shattered a Chicago police car's windshield late Monday morning on the Dan Ryan Expressway near 63rd Street.
  
  The car was southbound on I-94 when it was damaged, according to Illinois State Police spokeswoman Monique Bond.
  
  Earlier, police said the windshield may have been hit by a bullet. But Bond said police later determined the car was hit by a rock.

Might have been kicked up by another vehicle, might have been dropped. Keep on eye on overpasses, especially in these uncertain times of "lone wolf" attacks.

More Guilty "Innocents"

Martin Preib puts a few more stories together and completely demolishes the so-called "Innocence Project" that released unrepentant killers and rapists back into the Chicago landscape:

• A South Side man who had his rape conviction overturned after it was proven he was forced to confess to the crime by abusive detectives working for now disgraced Chicago Police Cmdr. Jon Burge was denied his “certificate of innocence” Thursday.
  
  Stanley Wrice’s attorney, Jennifer Bonjean, gasped when Cook County Judge Thomas Byrne issued his ruling and declared that there was “substantial evidence” indicating Wrice “actively participated” in the brutal Sept. 9, 1982 sexual assault.

Check out the linked stories. It's a wonder anyone goes to jail and any politician keeps their job.

Remember Those Open Borders?

You know, the ones that let some 70,000 children in from Central and South America that seem to coincide with a mysterious respiratory ailment that has killed half-a-dozen people, mostly children and paralyzed dozens more?

The ones that have led to at least four cases of Ebola being diagnosed in the US and one death with no-one-knows how many more might come to pass?

Guess what else is crossing the borders? Cop Killers:

• The man suspected of killing two sheriff’s deputies during a shooting rampage in Northern California was deported twice and has a drug conviction, federal authorities said.
  
  A U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokeswoman said Saturday fingerprints of the suspected shooter confirm he was first deported to Mexico in 1997 after being convicted in Arizona for drug possession. He was arrested and repatriated to Mexico again in 2001.

Maybe we ought to....you know....enforce the border restrictions? Maybe?

Boo Hoo, Cry Us a River

Can you believe this crap?

• Sunday on CNN's on "State of the Union," the nurse placed under mandatory quarantine in New Jersey, Kaci Hickox said, "This is an extreme that is really unacceptable, and I feel like my basic human rights have been violated."
  
  Hickox told "State of the Union" host Candy Crowley the mandatory quarantine was "inhumane" adding,  "To put me through this emotional and physical stress is completely unacceptable."

Is this exactly how the anti-gunners whine? "Your Civil Rights end where my Right to Life Begins," and other such nonsense that has no bearing on reality. The fact is YOU volunteered to go to a third world shithole. Yes, it's noble work helping the less fortunate, but you also have certain responsibilities to make sure you aren't bringing this crap back here. If that means a quarantine of a month, then shut up and take the month and catch up on some reading. If you hadn't noticed, some 500 doctors and nurses have caught Ebola and over half have died. And the doctors and nurses here who have eventually tested positive seem to have a casual disregard for the quarantine parameters, traveling while feverish and while under orders to stay isolated.

Suburban Shooting

And the offender ends up being from Austin:

• A 29-year-old man was fatally shot by Maywood police early Saturday morning after officers intercepted an apparent drug deal, according to authorities.
  
  At approximately 2:11 a.m., Maywood police officers who were on patrol in the 2000 block of 13th Avenue "observed what appeared to be a narcotic transaction," according to a Maywood Police Department news release.
  
  As officers approached to conduct a field interview, a man began to flee the area, resulting in a short foot pursuit, the release said. During the pursuit, the man reached for a gun in his waistband, causing the officers to discharge their weapons and strike the man, the release said.

He had to go all the way out to Maywood to meet his demise. Thanks for saving us the trouble and the Superintendent sends his thanks for sparing him another homicide.

Not Surprising (UPDATE)

Underdogs by 6, trending to 7. Someone at work was offering 9 with no takers.

UPDATE: Picture corrected

Unsafe? These are Perfectly Safe

Would he lie to you?

• A top mayoral aide on Thursday acknowledged a problem that Chicago Police officers have been beefing about for months: a shortage of police vehicles that can only be solved with more frequent purchases.
  
  “There was not an investment for a while, so the overall number went down. Then, with special [overtime] deployments, that takes reserves from the fleet. So, the number of pool vehicles is down,” Fleet and Facilities Management Commissioner David Reynolds said Thursday after testifying at City Council budget hearings.
  
  “I acknowledge that we could use more vehicles in our pool fleet. [But], I can say with confidence that we would never put an officer in a vehicle that wasn’t safe.”

Really? We're waiting for the day that someone (or a couple someones) downs every single car they're given for one reason or another, and eventually head out to answer calls on foot or by bus. It would be entertaining to say the least. In the meantime, we'll post decent photos of unsafe vehicles if you send them.

NYPD Getting Wired Up

40,000-plus mobile devices:

• Thanks to a massive $160 million investment, the New York City Police Department is on its way to receive a combination of up to 41,000 smartphones and tablets. Known as the NYPD Mobility Initiative, which will be mostly financed by criminal asset funds provided by the Manhattan DA's Office, the goal is to provide the the city's law enforcement with tools that can improve and streamline their overall workflow. NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio said there are a few key elements to this plan, such as offering better case support for detectives, providing features including real-time 911 data, enhanced database access for patrol staff, quick entry points to info like Amber Alerts and email accounts for every officer.
  
  The new Mobility Initiative is set to be funded over the next three years, with the NYPD expected to get a total of 35,000 handsets for officers and 6,000 cars equipped with ruggedized tablets. "In an emergency, every minute counts, and this initiative will allow our officers in the field to get up-to-date, accurate information and process critical information anywhere in the city.

Of course, this also means that every single transmission, recording or data transfer is discoverable, which is no doubt de Blasio's plan. Rahm would never be caught spending $160 million on the Department.

Um, What the Fuck is This?

We got an e-mail in our Department address. We aren't going to copy/paste the whole thing because they put that thing at the bottom saying we shouldn't, but we're going to quote from it liberally:

• Please be advised that the Chicago Police Department will release lists containing information related to complaints lodged against officers in response to recent Freedom of Information Act requests. [blah blah blah reporters Gorner/Tribune and Novak/Sun Times] The time frame for the information is January 1, 1967 to the present. [emphasis added - SCC]

Um, what? We seem to recall that certain phrases in certain Contracts that said files would be destroyed after 7 years. In fact, we remember voting against the Nolan assholes because they acquiesced to raising the retention period from five years to seven.

Now suddenly, files that are nearly five decades old (and shouldn't even exist) are going to be released? And the reason behind this is.....what exactly? To assist plaintiff lawyers in some decades old grudge matches? To judge the Department of 47 years ago against today's hypersensitive anti-police sentiments? To connect generations of police officers through a shady process that protects the connected and condemns the unclouted?

Someone want to explain? Someone from FOP preferably? Or has Rahm been rubbing their bellies again?

CTA Screening

About time something was done:

• CTA train riders will be subject to random baggage screening next month as a part of a new security initiative to sweep for explosives at transit stations, Chicago police and CTA officials announced Friday morning.
  
  Starting Nov. 3, mobile explosives screening teams consisting of up to six Chicago police officers will be positioned outside the turnstiles at some transit stations, said Nancy Lipman, commander of the department’s Public Transportation Section.
  
  Officers will ask passengers at random to submit to a screening.
  
  “If the customer is willing to take part in the screening, the outside bag he or she is carrying will be swabbed with a small cloth,” Lipman told reporters. “The cloth is then inserted into a machine that detects the presence of explosive compounds.”
  
  If passengers decline to participate in the screening, they will be denied entry and could be arrested under the officer’s discretion, authorities said.

A couple of questions - and this isn't us being smart-asses - this is us seeking info:

•  Someone tests positive - now what?
• Someone refuses - that isn't probable cause or even reasonable suspicion - now what?
• Someone refuses, isn't identified, isn't Contact Carded, exits and goes up half a block to another entrance - now what?

We realize this is brand new and maybe there are processes in place for one or more of these eventualities, but with TOSPOT Special starting up again in a few days, it'd be nice to have some hint that these and other situations not mentioned are being addressed.

Not Workplace Violence

Not that there was any doubt among those who pay attention:

• The hatchet-wielding man who wounded two New York City police officers, one of them critically, was a self-radicalized convert to Islam who is believed to have acted alone in what law enforcement officials on Friday called a terrorist attack.
  
  The suspect, Zale Thompson, who was shot dead by two other officers on Thursday afternoon on a street in the borough of Queens, had made anti-Western postings on social media and visited websites associated with several radical Islamic groups, police said at a news conference.

We heard that NYPD had to actually wrestle the microphone away from Holder and Obama who arrived with cue cards saying "Workplace violence" for the gullible media tools.

Shooting

Right place, right time:

• One person was killed and two others were wounded after an armed robbery attempt led to a police-involved shooting in the Auburn Gresham neighborhood on the South Side late Thursday.
  
  About 11:55 p.m., officers were on patrol near the 7900 block of South Justine when they saw two males in an alley approached by two others who announced a robbery, Chicago Police said in a statement.
  
  The two robbers shot the two other males, then ran off as officers approached, police said. The officers pursued one male who turned and pointed a dark object in their direction. One officer then shot the male, police said.

One of the guys who was robbed later died. The one shot by the police lived - unfortunately. But a very good job by the Officers after coming upon an on-view a robbery and engage one of the killers. Nicely done.

Alleged "Bad Acts"

From the "where there's smoke, there's fire" method of prosecution:

• Cook County prosecutors on Thursday said they will ask a judge to consider other "crimes and bad acts" allegedly committed by a Chicago police commander who faces indictment on charges of using excessive force.
  
  An attorney for Cmdr. Glenn Evans said in court that she believes prosecutors will try to bring out misconduct alleged in nine separate lawsuits against Evans in their criminal case against the police veteran.

Usually something like this is brought out at sentencing as an aggravating factor. But we've seen Drew Peterson get convicted via assorted hearsay evidence that he probably killed at least one of his other ex-wives.

• Prosecutors in murder or sex cases often file a motion to admit other crimes or uncharged conduct allegedly committed by the defendant. If granted, it allows a judge or jury to consider the defendant's past actions when determining the likelihood they committed the crime for which they are on trial. Once filed, a judge would hold a hearing to determine if the alleged actions are relevant and would be more helpful in finding the truth than prejudicial to Evans.
  
  "What it signals to me and to most defense attorneys is their main case is weak so they're trying to bolster it with other stuff," said Evans' attorney, Laura Morask.

Prejudicial is a good description:

• The Tribune has reported that Evans has been the subject of at least 50 complaints since 2001, but he has never been disciplined except for a two-day suspension. According to the newspaper's analysis of department records since 2006, Evans had far more complaints than anyone else of his rank and topped all but 34 officers for the entire 12,000-strong department.

In a Cook County courtroom, this is going to be quite a show.

Off Duty Shot, Wounded

Robbery gone bad:

• An off-duty Chicago police officer was shot and seriously wounded during an apparent robbery attempt early Friday morning on the South Side, authorities said.
  
  The 41-year-old officer was leaving a lounge near 75th Street and Langley Avenue in the Park Manor neighborhood around 12:50 a.m. and was approached by three robbers as he got into his white BMW, according to police and Pat Camden, a spokesman for the Fraternal Order of Police.
  
  There was an "altercation" and the officer tried to speed away, but one of the robbers opened fire and hit him in the chest in the 7400 block of South Langley Avenue, Camden said.
  
  The officer, an eight-year veteran of the department, kept driving and was spotted by a squad car and pulled over near 73rd Street and Champlain Avenue, police said.
  
  He was initially taken in critical condition to University of Chicago Hospitals, where he was stabilized, and then transferred to Mount Sinai Hospital, officials said. Camden said he was listed in serious condition.

Prayers for a speedy recovery Officer.

"Lone Wolf" Attack in New York?

Bad day in the Big Apple:

• A MAN wielding an axe has turned a busy New York street corner into a scene of bloody chaos, chopping one cop in the back of the head and slicing a second cop in the arm before two other officers shot him dead on the spot.
  
  Some news outlets are reporting the axe attack has possible ties to Islamic extremism. The attacker’s social media profiles feature hate-filled posts aimed at the US government.

ISIS recently exhorted its members here in North America and in Europe to execute "lone wolf" attacks on government buildings, workers, police and military targets. So far, there has been a vehicle attack on two Canadian soldiers, killing one, a rifle attack in Ottawa killing a soldier before shooting up the Parliament Building, and now an ax attack in New York wounding two cops. In each case, the attacker was eventually killed by authorities, but they inflicted extensive damage before being neutralized.

They're here boys and girls. They're here and they're waiting for an opportunity. Be aware.

Ebola in New York

Popping up here and there - now New York:

• A doctor in New York City who recently returned from treating Ebola patients in Guinea tested positive for the Ebola virus Thursday, becoming the city’s first diagnosed case.

Good thing he stayed home and monitored himself, right?

• Even as the authorities worked to confirm that Mr. Spencer was infected with Ebola, it emerged that he traveled from Manhattan to Brooklyn on the subway on Wednesday night, when he went to a bowling alley, and then took a taxi home.

Well that's just peachy-keen. Make sure you read that Special Order. And don't say "ebola" over an open radio:

• Emergency dispatchers in New York were likewise told to use codewords to refer to suspected Ebola cases over the radio and were not allowed to reveal information on any of the cases handled by first responders.
  
  “At no point shall a dispatcher transmit over the radio any message containing the word ‘Ebola’ or related terminology,” a New York Fire Department bulletin stated.
  
  Instead dispatchers were told to use the code letters “F/T,” for Fever/Travel, to indicate that a 911 caller had a fever and a history of travel to West Africa.

Keep the public in the dark - that'll solve everything.

Hilarious

This is just great:

• What if a giant cockroach were spotted crawling up a wall in the City Council chambers while the department head, whose job includes pest control, was on the hot seat at budget hearings?
  
  Would it feel like throwing a dinner party and having a big bug crawl across the plate of one of your guests?
  
  Kind of, judging from the reaction it got Thursday from Fleet and Facilities Management Commissioner David Reynolds.
  
  To say Reynolds was embarrassed would be an understatement. Especially when Ald. Brendan Reilly (42nd) called attention to it, then asked what the department’s budget was for pest control.

Obviously, not quite enough.

But you can't blame the cockroach. It was just mingling with his peers. You turn on the lights and aldercreatures scatter almost as fast.

Anyone Got Pictures?

Remember that "Chicago Fire Extravaganza" that wasn't? We got this e-mail yesterday:

• On the Orange Line yesterday, between the Halsted and Ashland stops. Observed the startling sight of the abandoned fabricated houses/structures that were to be burned on the river. Just abandoned in an empty lot, 3 symbols of political largess. Perhaps they could be recycled and the salvage value returned to the City, of course a fraction of the cost of construction.

Is this a storage lot? Or is it just another example of Rahm pissing away money after pissing it away in the first place "celebrating" the deaths of a few hundred people and the destruction of millions of dollars worth of property?

In any event, if anyone snaps some decent pictures, we'll put them up here so Fioretti can fail to use them in a campaign painting Rahm as a short-out-of-control-nine-fingered-egomaniac.

UPDATE: Here's one shot someone found and put in the comment section:

Ferguson Pressure Cooker

Looks like the feds are releasing info to prepare everyone for the eventual "No True Bill" working it's way through the system:

• Information about the Michael Brown fatal police shooting is beginning to leak out, and former St. Louis County Police Chief Tim Fitch says it’s no accident the feds are allowing the information.
  
  Fitch discussed a New York Times article indicating, according to federal investigators, there was a struggle that led up to the fatal police shooting of Brown, with KMOX’s Mark Reardon on Monday.
  
  Fitch calls the information from the investigation coming out as phase two – to “coordinate leaks to the media, and to start getting some of the facts out there to kind of let people down slowly,” he says. “When I say this is phase two – phase one was really Eric Holder’s announcement how they were going to basically do a complete review and take over the Ferguson Police Department.”

A lot of lessons to be learned here, none of which the media or the protestors or the race-baiters will pick up on, so the nation will be doing this again and again and again:

• "eyewitness" suck;
• co-offenders have an agenda;
• family members, especially those who weren't there,  have a bigger agenda;
• Jesse is going to get someone killed one of these days - Sharpton already has;
• radicals, race-baiters and leftists in general will never believe scientific evidence;
• obey the police now - sue us in court later.

Expect a few more weeks of leaks. Then maybe an announcement after it starts snowing.

Can We Close the Airports Yet?

At least a dozen African countries shut down air travel to their cities and guess what they don't have? Ebola. Or Ebola scares. But the United States won't do that because "racism" you know. And guess what we have?

• Two people who arrived at O'Hare International Airport from Liberia have been placed under observation at Chicago hospitals, under the city's procedures for handling Ebola, after they fell ill during their flights, officials said.
  
  Health officials stressed that "at this time there have been no confirmed cases of Ebola and there is no threat to the general public."
  
  In fact, the officials said they decided against testing the two for Ebola after initial medical evaluations but did initially send them to Lurie Children's Hospital and Rush University Medical Center. The child was later transferred to the University of Chicago Medical Center for observation.

That's good news and in practical terms, it gives the hospitals a chance to practice their protocols.

Now how about First Responders? Where's that ambulance? Has it been run through a decontamination drill? The paramedics? How about CPD arriving at the airplane? The airplane itself? These are questions that the media seem all to happy to avoid asking but really ought to be asked to at least give the impression that (A) the media is watching the political theater and (B) politicians are actually taking this seriously.

On a related note, we finally got our Ebola training from the Department. A two-page note from downtown saying "refer to the Special Order, call CFD and SWAT." Wow. We feel so safe now.

Gee, This is Unusual

The Machine playing games?

• Early voting in Illinois got off to a rocky start Monday, as votes being cast for Republican candidates were transformed into votes for Democrats.
  
  Republican state representative candidate Jim Moynihan went to vote Monday at the Schaumburg Public Library.
  
  “I tried to cast a vote for myself and instead it cast the vote for my opponent,” Moynihan said. “You could imagine my surprise as the same thing happened with a number of races when I tried to vote for a Republican and the machine registered a vote for a Democrat.”
  
  The conservative website Illinois Review reported that “While using a touch screen voting machine in Schaumburg, Moynihan voted for several races on the ballot, only to find that whenever he voted for a Republican candidate, the machine registered the vote for a Democrat in the same race. He notified the election judge at his polling place and demonstrated that it continued to cast a vote for the opposing candidate’s party. Moynihan was eventually allowed to vote for Republican candidates, including his own race.

This is a GIANT scandal when dem votes turn republican, but a "calibration error" when it goes the opposite way. And in the most well-known city/county of the "stolen vote" elections. Golly.

So....We Get a Refund Now?

On one hand, this justifies Rahm closing 50 schools.

On the other, shouldn't we get a property tax cut now?

• Chicago Public Schools’ official enrollment dipped below 400,000 for the first time in years, the district announced Tuesday, having lost nearly 4,000 total students from last year.
  
  CPS reported its enrollment, counted on the 20th day of school at 396,683, or about 3,800 fewer students than the 400,545 enrolled in the 2013-14 school year at every kind of school. Ten years ago, the district had nearly 427,000 students enrolled across neighborhood, charter and contract schools.

Serving less and less students, but costs keep going up and up. Sounds like a broken economic model that might lead into a financial death spiral. You know, like Detroit.

Knife to a Gunfight Again

Paraphrasing Clint Smith here:

• "An armed man will kill [an idiot armed with a knife] with monotonous regularity."

And once again:

• A 17-year-old boy who was shot to death by a Chicago Police officer Monday night on the Southwest Side has been identified.
  
  Laquan McDonald of the 500 block of North Springfield was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital, where he was pronounced dead, according to the Cook County medical examiner’s office.

And why did he need to be shot?

• The teen used the knife to puncture the front passenger-side tire of a squad car and damage its front windshield before leading officers on a foot chase, police said.
  
  Other officers used a squad car to try and box the boy in against a fence near 41st and Pulaski, Camden said. An officer shot him in the chest when he “refused to comply with orders to drop the knife and continued to approach the officers,” police said.

They gave him numerous opportunities to surrender. He declined them for whatever reason, but it's pretty cut and dried. Well done Officers. The usual suspects are bitching to various news organizations, but so far, no one is biting

More Money Gone

You know it's cheaper to pay coppers overtime than to actually hire coppers, right?

We imagine it must be cheaper to pay out damage complaints to motorists than actually fix the roads:

• Chicago motorists filed 5,179 vehicle damage claims “specific to potholes” this year — an avalanche twice as large as the last four years combined — thanks to the road remnants of a brutal winter that wouldn’t quit, the city clerk disclosed Tuesday.
  
  The cost to Chicago taxpayers won’t be known for years. That’s how long it takes for individual claims to be processed by the City Council’s Finance Committee.
  
  But judging from the $387,928 paid out from Jan. 1 through Oct. 8 to 1,302 motorists whose vehicles were damaged as far back as 2008, the pricetag could be staggering.

And the city isn't paying these claims in anything like a timely manner - you'll see your money after a year, maybe two.

In the meantime, if you buy a new car, you'll get taxed so Rahm wins. If you go to a local auto mechanic, you'll pay a city tax. If your really unlucky, you'll end up paying a city tow at some point for extensive damage. Rahm's winning and your paying.

Thank Goodness for the Feds!

What would we do without these amazing individuals?

• As the investigation continues into the murders of seven women in Indiana, police officers in Gary used trained dogs Tuesday morning to search for more bodies while federal authorities said they believe there could be victims outside the state.
  
  [...] Hammond Police Chief John Doughty said Vann has claimed to have killed more people going back 20 years. Investigators “have concerns” that Vann – who has lived in other states, including Texas – could have victims in other states, according to Bob Ramsey, the supervisory special agent for the FBI office in Merrillville, Ind.

It seems Chief Doughty was already looking into that possibility. And let's see - we haven't been through Hammond in years, but he's got seven bodies to his credit in Indiana so far, he's been loose on and off for decades, has a history of sexual violence, registered in Texas as a sex offender, re-registered in Indiana. We're going to go out on a limb here and say this guy has dozens of bodies in his distant and not-so-distant past.

The FBI is more than equipped to handle this sort of background investigating and we're betting that Hammond is a little overwhelmed at the size of the fish they have in their net right now. It's rare to catch one of these predators alive, let alone with a warm body nearby. We certainly wish them luck in tracking all the victims they're able to. But the feebs stating the obvious (...he might have victims in other states...) seems to reinforce the thought pattern that cops in the "sticks" don't know what's going on.

::ZOOM:: What was That?

Just the Department blowing through the overtime budget again:

• The city of Chicago is blowing through its allotted police overtime budget for the second year in a row as Mayor Rahm Emanuel continues to grapple with high levels of violent crime, officials said Monday.
  
  Budget Director Alexandra Holt told aldermen during the first day of budget hearings that the city expects to spend up to $95 million on police overtime this year. That’s $23 million more than the $72 million set aside for this year.
  
  Last year, the city ended up spending more than $100 million on police overtime after estimating it would spend $32 million.

Also revealed - no hiring next year. We think they're trying to say the force will remain static, hiring will equal retiring at some level, but reality often doesn't reflect these lofty promises, as evidenced by Rahm's empty promise of hiring a thousand officers and then "shifting" them outdoors for the time it takes to forget the last news cycle.

Nice Leadership Picks

If you chose a moron to run certain parts of your business, choosing incompetence over skill, would it really be a surprise when the endeavor went under? Behold three of the most notorious Commanders, people held up as paragons of commander-hood and worthy of his trust:

• Pena, currently under suspension
• Evans, currently under indictment
• West, currently presiding over the largest single increase in shootings and homicides

This guy picks commanders the way certain prognosticators pick football winners.

C'mon Bob...Put Some Heart into It

Little effort there Bobbo?

• Mayoral challenger Bob Fioretti is urging his supporters to sign petitions demanding that Mayor Rahm Emanuel “restore the public trust by refunding” $7.7 million in fines generated by red-light cameras after the timing of yellow lights was reduced from 3 seconds to 2.9 seconds.
  
  “The mayor said he has not “made a judgment” on whether to refund drivers the $7.7 million in tickets that were racked up after his administration lowered the length of yellow lights,” the alderman wrote in an email to his supporters.
  
  “The reduction in the length of yellow lights resulted in 77,000 tickets! Tell the mayor that he should restore public trust by refunding the money that was a result of his administration lowering the yellow light length.”

An e-mail? Talk about your invisible campaigns. And then this?

• On Monday, Fioretti attended opening day of City Council budget hearings, but did not ask a single question — not even about the timing of yellow lights.

Looking more and more like Bob was the plant to split the anti-Rahm vote and guarantee the 9.5 digit midget a runoff.

Facilitator?

Political Correctness takes another weird turn:

• A self-confessed serial killer is in custody for allegedly strangling a young  woman from Aurora. Police say the body of Afrikka Hardy, 19, was found Friday night at a Motel 6 in Indiana and her suspected killer is leading police to more victims.
  
  [...] Vann, 43, ordered a prostitute through the backpage.com site serving Chicago and arranged a Friday meeting at a Motel 6 in Hammond with Afrikka Hardy, 19, the chief said.
  
  The person who arranged the meeting, whom Doughty described only as “a facilitator,” later texted Hardy and received “suspicious texts” she believed were from Vann, the chief said.
  
  She and another person went to the motel to check on Hardy, according to a probable cause affidavit. They found her body in a bathtub.

A number of people, including us, heard this on the radio news. As you can see, it's in the print media, too. A "prostitution facilitator." Wow. Whatever happened to the word, "pimp?" And when the "pimp" went to the motel with "another person," no one says, "enforcer," or "muscle," though you know he went there strapped and ready to beat the "john" if necessary.

We actually prefer the unenlightened era at times like this.

Sergeant Injured in 010

This could have been way uglier than it was:

• Two men were killed and a Chicago police sergeant was injured late Sunday night when a vehicle slammed into a squad car, then crashed into a taco restaurant in the Little Village neighborhood, police said.
  
  Police said a black vehicle was speeding westbound on West Odgen Avenue before hitting a Chicago police car sitting in traffic about 11 p.m. The car then crashed into a building at the intersection of Ogden and Pulaski, according to Chicago News Affairs...

Photo from the Tribune:

A foot or so toward the back....or god forbid the opposite side of vehicle? A quick recovery wished to the sergeant.

Let's Grow Some Weed!

This weed-farming thing is reading like a Who's Who of clout:

• Three companies that want to be among the city's first medical marijuana dispensaries won zoning approval Friday, but still need state license.
  
  Three fledgling companies that want to be among the city's first medical marijuana dispensaries cleared an initial hurdle Friday when the Zoning Board of Appeals granted them special use permits to set up shop.
  
  But even with zoning approval in hand, all three will still be competing for the limited number of licenses to be granted by state regulators within eight geographical areas of the city.
  
  
• Most of the questions from board members related to security, and each of the would-be operators trotted out security chiefs with extensive resumes.
  
  Green Thumb has hired Terrance Gainer, the former Congressional sergeant at arms.
  
  Kind Care, which seeks the Elston Avenue spot, has hired Zvi Kremer, a former security manager for El Al Airlines in Moscow and Chicago.
  
  And Professional Pharmacy Management — the partnership between longtime pharmacist Barry Golin and brothers Doug and Danny Marks —has hired Michael Chasen, who retired after 39 years at the Chicago Police Department as chief deputy of detectives, to run security at its proposed shop on Milwaukee Avenue.

Wow. The connected Gainers, the ex-Chief of Detectives, an international airline security boss. How ever will Quinn/Madigan/Rahm choose to grow the medicinal weed? Maybe some sort of "sharing" among the connected?

Is it just us or does this remind anyone of the defunct Chicago casino license? That had a Who's Who list of connected rich folks looking to get richer.

Commander Suspended?

You think this would be bigger news - if in fact it happened:

• COMMANDER PENA 010 on a ten day suspension for harrassing a PO

We've never heard of such a thing. You'd think that maybe they'd have been stripped and down at callback. After all, they've done that to Captains before.

And harassment only getting 10 days? Harassment of a female PO? That's setting a bad precedent - anyone accused of harassment from this point forward can expect exactly 10 days. Otherwise there might be an appearance of "favoritism" or "clout" or who knows what.The Department wouldn't want that hanging over its collective head, would it?

Horses Again

Here we go again:

• Another horse statue honoring police was found broken into several pieces this morning on the city's Magnificent Mile.
  
  Shortly after 3:30 a.m., police responded to a report of a damaged statue at 744 N. Michigan Ave., according to the Chicago Police Department Office of News Affairs.
  
  Officers found the statue broken in several pieces, according to preliminary reports from police.

Doesn't the Mag Mile have cameras? Hundreds of cameras? Thousands? Are they all broken?

Perhaps the statues ought to be moved indoors to some of the lobbies of tourist locations? Or the lobby of the local police station where an eye can be kept on it for a bit?

Bears Favored

Three whole points.

Bears are playing .500 ball. No one knows which Jay is going to show up. Consistency is an unknown word in the locker room. For all intents and purposes, it's a coin flip.

Where's All That Camera Money?

Good news - Rahm's "Red Light Safety Cameras" have done their job!

Bad News - Rahm's budget is suddenly short $50 million:

• Chicagoans are costing the city tens of millions of dollars -– through good behavior.
  
  You heard that right: Good behavior is bad for the budget. Real bad, reports CBS 2 [...]
  
  [...] CBS 2 has learned the speed cameras caught far fewer speeders than expected.
  
  [...] How much lower? Fifty million dollars lower. Emanuel’s administration had figured on $90 million in fines to help balance this year’s budget, but they can only count on $40 million. That’s a $50 million shortfall, putting pressure on the next spending plan.

We've pointed this out in the past - why is the city (any city?) allowed to base budgets on "projected" revenue? They have some magical insight into unforeseen weather disasters? downturns in the economy?

Punitive fines influence behavior. $100 fines influence behavior a lot faster than something less. And here's taxpayers holding the bag for Rahm's unrealistic expectations. because they advanced their own economic interests by slowing down and obeying the law.

Batten Down the Hatches

Bad news for the grievance-mongering crowd:

• A white police officer who shot and killed an unarmed black teenager in Missouri in August told investigators he was in fear for his life after the young man grabbed at his gun, which was discharged twice in his patrol car, the New York Times
  
  Government officials briefed on a federal civil rights probe into the Aug. 9 killing of Michael Brown by Ferguson Police Officer Darren Wilson told the Times that Wilson had said he was pinned in his car and punched and scratched by Brown in the moments before the shooting.
  
  The government officials, who were not identified in the Times report, said forensic evidence collected from the patrol car indicate Wilson's gun was fired twice, with one bullet striking Brown in the arm. The other missed, according to the Times report, published late Friday.
  
  Reuters could not independently confirm the report, and could not immediately reach officials of the Department of Justice for comment.
  
  Brown's blood was found on the gun, the interior door panel and the officer's uniform, the newspaper said.

This is a Tribune report about what appeared in the New York Times.

No True Bill is on the way. And then the media can cover the riots and burnings that they helped lay the groundwork for and wonder why in Obama's "post-racial" America, how such a thing could happen.

Hopefully, we aren't seeing blow-back across the country.

The Scandal That Keeps Giving

Fast and Furious in the news again:

• The top deputy to Attorney General Eric Holder announced his resignation on Thursday amid revelations that Operation Fast and Furious scandal guns were used to harm Americans in Phoenix in 2013, a development top congressional Republicans say President Obama’s administration sought to cover up.
  
  Documents released by conservative government watchdog group Judicial Watch—and put forward by Senate Judiciary Committee ranking member Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) and House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform chairman Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA)—show that an assault rifle purchased as part of Fast and Furious was used in a Phoenix-area crime in July 2013 that left two people wounded.
  
  Part of a police report shows the rifle’s serial number, 1977DX1654. Judicial Watch obtained the documents from a lawsuit it filed against the city of Phoenix, Judicial Watch v. City of Phoenix, to get officials to release the documents. Judicial Watch had filed an Aug. 5, 2014, public records request with the city, which it ignored, forcing Judicial Watch to file the lawsuit on Oct. 2.

Hundreds of fully operational weapons allowed to "walk" over the border with no oversight or tracking are "walking" back over the border and being used by criminals and cartels against Americans in a completely manufactured crisis to degrade national gun rights. And still, no one has been held responsible.

Ebola Plans Underway!

Even though the word out of Washington has been that there's nothing to worry about, that the chances of Ebola arriving on American soil are miniscule, that if it ever gets here, quarantine protocols will keep everyone safe!

• Mayor Rahm Emanuel sought Friday to reassure Chicagoans increasingly concerned about the Ebola epidemic that the city would learn from mistakes made in Dallas and have a coordinated response if the deadly disease surfaces here.
  
  To make certain of it, Emanuel summoned hospital officials and commissioners of several city departments (police, fire, health, aviation and emergency management and communications) to the first of what he said would be weekly meetings to discuss the city’s emergency preparedness.

Weekly meetings? Oh boy! But then there are uncomfortable things like this that pop up:

• Despite the burgeoning Ebola epidemic, the Chicago Fire Department has never “fit-tested” its 4,645 firefighters and paramedics to make certain that disposable face masks used to protect them from fluid transmissions are properly sealed.
  
  The Massachusetts manufacturer of the N95 respirator recommends — and the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration demands — that first responders be tested annually to make certain the mask fits tightly enough to filter out small particles.
  
  The tighter the fit, the more resistant the mask is to bodily fluids, which is how Ebola is transmitted.
  
  But until the Chicago Firefighters Union Local 2 sounded the alarm this week, the Fire Department had distributed masks without fit-testing any of its employees.

Um...masks are great for airborne particles, but Obama has been telling everyone that Ebola isn't an airborne disease (that's why he hasn't banned flights, disregarding the fact that while Ebola isn't airborne, infected passengers are). It hasn't mutated that far yet.

In any event, most Ebola patients exhibit projectile vomiting and explosive diarrhea and the disease has shown surprisingly high infectiousness...1-to-10 particles can infect you, as opposed to hundreds, even thousands of particles to transmit colds, measles or other diseases. And Ebola doesn't have to be inhaled - it will get through whole skin. So a mask is great....if you don't make skin contact with any vomit or shit flying out of an infected individual.  And then you have to load someone on a stretcher, lift them into an ambulance, unload them at a hospital and have to decontaminate every surface, article of clothing and lord knows what else. No problem...no problem at all.

First the Trib...

...now the Sun Times? (warning - password site)

• After insisting for nearly three years that it would no longer endorse candidates for political office, the Sun-Times is reversing itself and formally backing Republican Bruce Rauner for governor.
  
  The Sun-Times announced Friday that its Sunday edition would carry its choice for governor. Although the announcement stopped short of saying whom the newspaper would endorse, sources confirmed that Rauner would get the nod enthusiastically over Democrat Pat Quinn.

Tribune endorsement is here.

Sun Times excuses over here.

Now who are the Rockford and East St. Louis papers endorsing? Those are the other two counties Quinn won last time. Maybe this is the end finally?

Kill This Money Waster Already

The Taste is still in the red:

• The rain-shortened Taste of Chicago lost $169,404 this year, the city announced Friday.
  
  The food festival had to be closed on its only scheduled Saturday in July due to heavy rains and standing water, and just 1.1 million people walked through the gates during its other four days, according to the city Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events. That's down from 1.5 million attendees in 2013, when Taste turned a $272,000 profit, and 1.2 million visitors in 2012, when it lost $1.3 million.
  
  Since taking office, Mayor Rahm Emanuel has tried to guide the city's big summer food festival toward profitability in large part by shrinking it while increasing revenue.
  
  The city raised the surcharge it collected for every strip of 12 food tickets at this year's festival by 50 cents, from $2 to $2.50. And the mayor pushed through an ordinance to charge $50 for "premium seats" to Taste concerts, up from $25 the year before. Until Emanuel took office, all Taste concert seats were free.

And while they're at it, they ought to cancel the "Chicago Fizzle" fest, too.

Contract Results Are.... [UPDATES]

...not available yet.

Speculate here and check periodically for a count.

UPDATE: Early word is it passed.

UPDATE: media coverage

McHenry Shooter in Custody

Did he just snap?

• A man accused of shooting two McHenry County Sheriff deputies was found a few miles away from his home, walking along a road, after two people called police to report a suspicious person.
  
  
• The incident began after the suspect’s wife had called a friend in Michigan. That friend called the McHenry County sheriff’s office, asking that someone check on the well-being of the wife early Thursday.
  
  According to Nygren, Peters, who has military experience, fired a rifle through the door of the home, opened the door and continued firing, hitting a female deputy in the leg and striking a male deputy in the leg and abdomen.

Coppers are stabilized, but a long recovery ahead of them:

• The male officer — a seven-year veteran of the McHenry County Sheriff’s office — was taken to Advocate Condell Medical Center in Libertyville, where he was listed in “stable but critical” condition, police said. The female deputy, a 12-year veteran, was taken to Centegra Hospital – McHenry, authorities said. Her condition had stabilized.

Best wishes to the wounded.

Quinn Worried?

What do their internal numbers show?

• Former President Bill Clinton is in Chicago on Tuesday to headline an event to bolster the re-election of Gov. Pat Quinn. Clinton comes the day after early voting starts in Illinois and after President Barack Obama is scheduled to lead a big get-out-the-vote rally on Sunday at Chicago State University and then be the draw at a fundraiser in Chicago on Monday for the Democratic National Committee. On Wednesday, Vice President Joe Biden stumps for Quinn; Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill.; and Rep. Brad Schneider, D-Ill., at a turnout rally in north suburban Vernon Hills.
  
  Earlier this month, First Lady Michelle Obama and former Sec. of State and potential 2016 presidential candidate Hillary Clinton were in Chicago to help Quinn, locked in a tight battle with GOP nominee Bruce Rauner.

Obama's second trip this month. Michelle stopping by. Both Clintons and Biden? Quinn must be running behind or Rauner is surging in the polls. It would be highly embarrassing to have a Republican elected in Obama's home state, but this desperation really makes us wonder what the pollsters and media have been hiding.

Quinn looked horrible in the debates. He has to import out-of-state shooting victims to push his anti-gun platform. Durbin hasn't been hammered nearly enough for comparing US troops to nazis. Obama is an anchor on every national and state race. And you've got Quinn trolls all over state worker websites (and our comment section) trying to use scare tactics to push the vote. Things must be grim.

Parking War Casualty

Victim of his own stupidity:

• A parking enforcement aide was slapped with a 29-day suspension for threatening to “aggressively ticket” the personal vehicles of Chicago Police officers in retaliation for an “unfair” parking ticket issued to a co-worker, the city’s inspector general disclosed Thursday.
  
  Three months ago, Inspector General Joe Ferguson used his quarterly report to lift the veil on a “rivalry” that triggered a “public screaming match” between a parking enforcement aide and a police officer.
  
  [...] On July 2, a parking enforcement aide was slapped with a 29-day suspension after being accused of sending an anonymous, profanity-laced email to an unidentified police district threatening to blanket police officers' personal vehicles with tickets to get even with an officer there for ticketing a fellow parking enforcement aide.
  
  “The PEA threatened to aggressively ticket personal vehicles parked in the CPD district police-vehicle-only parking lot, above and beyond prevailing enforcement practices,” Ferguson wrote.

No idea when the fundraiser is, but wouldn't it be funny if.........

Nevermind. Bad idea. Forget we said a word

Survey Time

Anyone getting these survey people coming to Roll Calls? According to some e-mailers, they're from the "Center for Police Equity" and they are teamed up with the UIC Survey Research Laboratory to survey departments to see what issues matter to the police.

There are sections on job satisfaction, attitudes toward supervisors, thoughts about the job, the community, the policies McCompStat comes up with, etc. There's even a section that appears to gauge your mental status and how you approach the job and coworkers.

It's over 250 questions and it's supposed ot be anonymous - except for the part where they ask you age, gender, years on the job, what beat takes up most of your time and what year you were born. In other words, enough to nail your identity 98 times out of 100. They claim you can't (or won't) be identified. They obviously haven't dealt with Chicago-types before.

They will donate $20 to the Chicago Police Memorial Foundation up to a total of $25,000. We'd do it just for the donation to the fund, but we certainly would advise against filling in the identifying data that might get you in a bit of a tight spot.

Nothing to See Here

Move along people:

• The Ebola crisis in the U.S. took another alarming turn Wednesday with word that a second Dallas nurse caught the disease from a patient and flew across the Midwest aboard an airliner the day before she fell ill, even though government guidelines should have kept her off the plane.
  
  Amid growing concern, President Barack Obama canceled a campaign trip to address the outbreak.
  
  Though it was not clear how the nurse contracted the virus, the case represented just the latest instance in which the disease that has ravaged one of the poorest corners of the earth — West Africa — also managed to find weak spots in one of the world’s most advanced medical systems.

These people are supposed to be under quarantine and isolated for 21 days minimum, yet here's one flying across the country. But everything is just great!

Kicking the Can Down the Road

Rahm releases his preliminary 2015 budget...guess what doesn't get addressed?

• Mayor Rahm Emanuel on Wednesday accused the Illinois Supreme Court of throwing a “wet blanket” on pension reform talks with police and fire unions and said he’s hoping for a statewide solution to the problem that might include a sales tax on services.
  
  In a meeting with the Chicago Sun-Times editorial board, Emanuel explained why he ignored the elephant in the room — a state-mandated, $550 million payment to shore up police and fire pensions — in a pre-election budget that bolsters services with higher taxes on parking, car leasing and cable television.
  
  Emanuel said he’s determined to “hold to the principle that reform and revenue go together,” just as he did in crafting a deal that saved the Municipal Employees and Laborers pension funds, with a telephone tax hike covering the first year of the city’s increased obligations.
  
  But he argued that the Illinois Supreme Court made that impossible when it ruled in July that subsidized health care premiums for state employees are protected under the state Constitution and cannot be “diminished or impaired.”

Pushing it to the crisis point....and beyond.

McCloseBuildings Fail

Anyone willing to admit that at least one of the stations mergers has failed miserably?

• 012 is getting a satellite office in the old 013 Wood Street Station now occupied by Sheriff's deputies doing warrants. Will save us a lot of time spent driving to and from the 012 station.
  
  Even though Staples was the driving force behind this -- based on input (begging) from officers and the community -- Ald. Moreno issued this earlier today taking most of the credit. Election year...
  
  "When the Wood Street 13th District Police Station closed in 2012, the nearby residents were concerned that the closing would effect the safety of the immediate neighborhood. The mere presence of police officers gave nearby residents the comfort of having police officers nearby."
  
  "At that time I vowed that the facility would continue to have a security presence. I worked closely with the Cook County Sheriffs office and in the Fall of last year, the Cook County Sheriff's office officially took over the Wood Street station and to this day, up to 75 sworn officers use the facility on a daily basis, bringing a deep sense of security to the community."
  
  "Today, I am pleased to announce that the Wood Street Station will also serve as a Satellite Office for 12th District Chicago Police Officers. Although neighbors welcomed the Sheriff's office, they still felt that a presence of Chicago Police Officers would add to the safety of the neighborhood."
  
  "Over the next month, I will be working hand in hand with the Sheriffs Office and the 12th District Police Office to welcome officers from the 12th District to the Wood Street Station. As your Alderman, safety is my number one priority and I want to thank the tremendous work of 12th District Commander Melissa Staples and the leaders in the Cook County Sheriffs' department. These dedicated individuals will make our neighborhood even safer when Chicago Police officers are working out of the Wood Street Station hand-in-hand with Cook County Sheriffs within the next month."

Seriously, have you seen the size of the new 012 on a map? And where 012 itself is located? And the neighborhoods and traffic in between. Now the Department is going to run a "satellite" office? Here's an idea....build a new building, somewhere in the area of ...oh Wood and Augusta. You could name it...013!

Almost Got Away...

...and almost won the Marathon!

• A Northwest Side man joined runners for a portion of the Chicago Marathon on Sunday morning while fleeing police, according to authorities.
  
  The man drew the attention of Chicago police officers after he began bumping into marathon spectators along a stretch of River North, according to police accounts. When the man saw officers, he bolted—bumping into more spectators and even some marathoners around the 200 block of West Superior Street—along Mile 12 of the marathon route, authorities say.
  
  Officers chased the man and tackled him to the ground, according to Chicago police. While arresting the man, police say, officers discovered he was carrying illegal drugs.

Moron - go break the law where there are tens of thousands of runners, hundreds of thousands of spectators and hundreds of coppers every few yards, all on heightened alert looking for Bostonian-type malfeasance. Real brainiac there.

Did You Vote?

You probably had to mail in your ballot yesterday for it to arrive in time for counting. If you brought it directly to the post office, it might get there in time, but we doubt it.

You cannot hand deliver it - the postmark acts as a validation of sorts, otherwise someone could bring a shitload of unfranked ballots to the count and claim they were hand delivering the decision in a box.

We believe your only option is to show up for provisional voting the morning of the count. Check the FOP site for times.

Send it Here

From the comments:

• A bit off topic,
  I am a red light camera installer.
  I worked for Spaantech,A Xerox subcontractor. I have info about the times being changed for the Yellow,
  and names of people at Xerox that told us to do it. Soooo who do I talk too?
  I would like to give my info to the right people to do the most good.
  Any help would be great. And A BIG THANK YOU!! TO ALL CPD.
  not a cop, Just a really pissed of tax payer 

The papers have had a few articles lately about the timing of yellow lights. If they don't want it, we'll spread it around. Our profiles are on the right hand sidebar.

Good News Just Got Better

Homicide in 011 the other night at the hair salon:

• Eddie Taylor was killed in a West Garfield Park shooting that left three other people injured early Saturday.
  
  Taylor and his acquaintances were at a party in the 4400 block of West Madison Street when one member of their group got into an argument with a man with a gun about 1:10 a.m., authorities said.
  
  During the dispute, the man with the gun opened fire, police said.

Turns out this dead turd is the subject of the recent Officer Safety Alert in 011. Seems he and his fellow altar boys went up the gang chain of command and got approval to kill an 011 District Officer in retaliation for a shooting about a month ago where the cops killed an assailant armed with a machine pistol. The information was credible enough that extra teams have been assigned to 011 over the past weeks.

Good riddance.