What the Order Says

There have been a couple comments claiming we have the wrong schedule up. Here's what the order says:

• 3. the 10.5 hour work schedule and the 70-series rotating day off groups.
  
  a. Every 49 days (seven calendar weeks) the work cycle repeats itself:
  
  - three (3) work weeks of working five (5) consecutive days with three (3) consecutive days off, followed by
  
  - one (1) work week of working five (5) consecutive days with four (4) consecutive days off (weekends), followed by
  
  - two (2) work weeks of working four (4) consecutive days with four (4) consecutive days off (weekends)

The order is poorly written, using the phrase "work week" which numbers 8 days. They also use the word "weekend" when it appears that the four consecutive RDO's occurs only during the MTWTh, TWThF or WThFSa segments - which is slightly outside the accepted definition of "weekEND." We have attempted to represent this via an actual 7-day calendar so you can see how it affects everything.

Amazingly, we have still only ended up deleting about a dozen comments, most of which run afoul of the regular rules, such as the one saying if your entire point is "quit the job," then don't expect it to see daylight. Or the usual off topic stuff that is permitted in other threads, but only takes away from the discussion at hand.

Here are some of the points brought up in the comments that deserve some more debate and explanation:

• Question: What do you do when there is an emergency and it's "All Hands On Deck!" like 9/11 in NYC?  If you lose an entire shift, where is your extra coverage to flood the streets?

That's a very good point:

• Per the contract I receive 25 working furlo days, which equals 200 hours, with a 10 hour day that equals 20 days. So now I have to come up with 50 comp time hours to get my contractual vacation time. doesn't sound good to me.  

We covered this - if you bid according to your days off, you might luck out, but since furlo-by-watch is the new law of the land, chances have been reduced quite a bit. And who knows what they'll allow with extensions - we're betting it will be severely curtailed:

• No for the following reasons:
  
  1.) It makes elder care and child care very difficult and impossible in some situations. You are also screwed if you have a business, side job, or go to school.
  
  2.) They will use this to reduce our numbers further, watch. Less working coppers = faster pension bankruptcy.
  
  3.) The hours blow, no matter which way you slice them.

These are considerations of middle-aged to older coppers. Younger guys and gals aren't going to see this unless it's pointed out to them.

• Ok, let the flaming begin, but isn't OT due if one works over 40 hours a week?

Maybe a timekeeper or someone versed in labor law can chime in. We don't know, but it's a legit question.

In any event, continue discussing.

The "Kiss of Death"

In the last election, hell, the last two elections, an endorsement from the White House meant almost certain defeat for the candidate. Let's hope he still got the touch:

• President Barack Obama already cast a ballot for Mayor Rahm Emanuel and urged Chicagoans to vote in the April 7 mayoral election. ”I’m sure everyone knows I’ll be voting for Rahm,” Obama said.
  
  A picture of Obama sitting at a desk filling out his Chicago ballot on Friday was released Monday through the Democratic National Committee.
  
  “I’d like to encourage everyone in Chicago to vote in the April 7th city run-off election. Whether you vote by mail, take advantage of early voting, or go to the polls on election day, I hope you will make your voice heard. This is an election about big things: jobs, schools and safety.

Really?

Jobs like all those that are fleeing for the suburbs and out-of state?

Schools like the 50 that Rahm closed, mostly in the black community, without any input from the people and without any clear plan except to sell the land to Rahm's buddies or open charter schools with (again) Rahm's buddies?

Safety like that burgeoning homicide count? And the shootings that are up in every single district this year except 012?

Based on those metrics alone, Rahm should lose.

Uh Oh

Chuy gets cheered at the NAACP forum:

• Chicago’s mayoral runoff race moved on Sunday to the West Side, where a crowd at an NAACP forum turned on Mayor Rahm Emanuel before warmly embracing his challenger, Jesus “Chuy” Garcia.
  
  The Chicago Westside NAACP Branch gave Emanuel and Garcia an opportunity to make their cases to voters at Purcell Hall in Garfield Park. The candidates spent roughly an hour each answering questions from a two-person panel.
  
  Emanuel went first, fielding questions about education, street violence, West Side representation on city boards and community participation in city government. But the crowd grew restless as he neared his closing statement and had used examples from other parts of the city to explain his policies.

Everyone knows there are a few major factions in the black community - the west side reverends and the south side reverends are two of them. These aren't the only factions, but they hold sway over sizable voting blocs. It's been that was since the old Machine days. It's a bit more fractious now, but still, if Rahm can't get canned applause at a west side event in front of a reliable democrat voting bloc, there are big issues for him. Good weather on election day will have many of these people at the polls early.

Discuss the 10-Hour Day Pilot (UPDATES)

So the more we read and hear about the 10-hour day, the less we think the full story is being told. We've talked to people who like it, aside from the start times. We've talked to people who hate it, especially the start times. We have comments popping up about what people have said at the FOP meeting:

• At a recent FOP meeting The unit Rep from 014 spoke about FOP endorsing people that Dean didn't personally agree about and then he asked for the unit rep from 5 to speak about the challenges of the 10.5 hour day. Two people from 5 came up and layed out the entire disaster of start times.

The FOP is usually silent about the whole process. This leads to questions, speculations, rumors. And a few of these rumors have reached our ears via e-mail. Like what exactly is the relationship between Dean Angelo and Don O'Neil, the now-civilian head of Management and Labor Affairs? Did they really grow up neighbors?

In the meantime, it's time for a serious discussion about the 10-hour day. And the way to do that is knowing what you're discussing. We made this (click for a larger version):

That is the current, recent past and piloted schedules as near as we can determine them. We ran it through one entire cycle of days off

• The far right column is hours worked in a calendar week;
• the week listed as "R" is a "repeat" of the first week so you can compare;
• the bottom right corner is an average of hours worked in a single week

From our standpoint, the 4-2 (top) was far preferable over the 6-2 (middle) schedule in that you went from 14 days off in a 49 days period to 14 days off in a 42 day cycle. This despite the slight increase of two hours a week on average. The big deal was eliminating the sixth-day and the associated burnout. The sixth-day was brutal. We don't recall if there was an actual study, but the stories of increased traffic crashes, CR's initiated, and assorted other mishaps were prevalent throughout the Department.

The 10-hour pilot seems to have an advantage in RDOs (21/42) over the 4-2 (14/42), but there are three weeks in a row where you're working 52.5 hours - 10 hours over the current average and 3 hours over the old 6-day work week that was so brutal in the first place.

It's going to come down to two things - start times and percentages.

• currently, the start times aren't so hot, but McCarthy isn't in the mood to take any input from mere Chicago coppers. We posted the rumor a few days ago that the Chief of Patrol was told to get on board or get out. God forbid someone who spent their career here have any insight.
• percentage-wise, it's going to be approximately 40-60 split between days and nights. McCarthy (and Rahm) want to eliminate an entire watch. That's going to reduce the available numbers for each watch. Example:
• 100 cops in district - 40 on days, 60 on nights
• cut 32% of the manpower and you have:
• 68 cops in district - 27 on days, 33 on nights - give or take
• expand or contract as totals dictate

Day people are going to be battling for start times (which the city won't let you bid - otherwise, how will they fuck with you to keep you in line?) and the night watch is going to be picking up the busiest times plus they have to work all of the midnight watch. That's going to take a lot of adjusting.

If you're a southsider working north or vice versa, you aren't going to want to be attending branch court on your day off - you're going to be wanting to recover from that 52 hours week and travel time. Furlough just got a little shorter (unless you bid your day off correctly, a longshot given that furlough-by-watch is cutting a lot of options).

A lot of things that need to be addressed. Pardon us for having an opinion, but we're trying to give everyone a bit of our thoughts here. One would hope that the FOP and PBPA would be having near monthly meetings to hash out hiccups in the schedule seeing as how it's going to be here sooner than you think.

UPDATE: Someone is claiming that we actually work four-52.5 hour weeks in a row. Not by the calendar week, which runs Sunday through Saturday. However, that fourth week of 5 days in a row does overlap onto the fifth week, which is kind of a fourth working session of 52.5 hours before the short weeks kick in. This is one of those, "while technically correct, it isn't quite as it seems." We can only do so much, and we grant that the reader has a valid point.

We're just going by the raw numbers to get some discussion started since the FOP seems incapable of it.

UPDATE: We have deleted a grand total of TWO comments so far. One was claiming something about this is a 6 day schedule (it isn't), and a second that claimed this isn't the 10-hour schedule without citing anything as an example. We've read the order. You can read it, too, with all the associated start times and day-off-groups. It's online and you can get it at home. If we misinterpreted some portion of it, please politely point it out. Frothing at the mouth loons won't be taken seriously.

Way To Be A Tool, Bob

After all the talk about "uniting" behind a single challenger, Fioretti shows his true colors:

• Unsuccessful mayoral candidate Ald. Bob Fioretti (2nd) says he’s endorsing Mayor Rahm Emanuel for reelection over challenger Jesus “Chuy” Garcia in the April 7 runoff.
  
  Fioretti, who earlier this month retracted his promise to endorse Garcia, plans a joint public appearance Sunday afternoon with Emanuel, aides said.
  
  Fioretti released a written statement early Sunday saying his decision came down to how the candidates plan to tackle the city’s trobled finances — what he termed “the No. 1 issue that we face in this election.”

What a rat-fuck. Rahm maps him out of his ward for being an obstructionist and now he endorses him. Talk about being a glutton for punishment. Almost like...like...if Rahm showed up at a firehouse and told the firefighters they were going to have to "learn to bleed" and then getting the endorsement of the union. Or Rahm's people claiming they were going to "stick in the [cops'] ear" and then the union sitting out the election and way too many officers claiming Rahm is the lesser of two evils.

Better to live on your knees we suppose - you're closer to the appendage Rahm wants you to kiss.

Forbes on Rahm

Why is it all the real reporting about Chicago's dire financial straits coming from national media outlets and just a peep from the local rags?

• As a mayoral candidate in 2010-11, Rahm Emanuel gave regular people hope with his repeated assertion that he would “stop pay-to-play in City Hall” and “end the historical culture of corruption.” Emanuel was right. Public sector corruption was forestalling private sector production. Ending “pay to play” seemed like the only way back for the city.
  
  In the months following his election, Emanuel seemed to execute on his promise by signing an executive order preventing city contractors from giving campaign cash to the mayor’s funds. It was a nice soundbite, but the measure was weakly designed. It lacked an enforcement mechanism and was riddled with loopholes.
  
  Last week, our organization American Transparency – with the data at OpenTheBooks.com – fact checked Emanuel’s ethics policy for the John Stossel Special, Chicago Corruption: Is Pay-to-Play in Chicago Still Legal?
  
  Here’s what we found: 600 city vendors gave Emanuel $7 million in campaign cash during the past four years and received $2 billion in city payments since 2002. And here’s how we found that data: We looked at a universe of 1,500 companies or their affiliated employees funding Rahm Emmanuel’s campaign since 2010. We then matched those company names with payments from the City of Chicago vendor checkbook. It’s a confluence of campaign cash and contractor payments or benefits.

There are all sorts of links and references in the full Forbes article. If half this shit was covered by the media outlets here, paper, TV and radio, Rahm wouldn't even be polling close to the numbers he has now, which are anemic at best.

What Matters Again?

Slaughtered:

• A 21-year-old man was ordered held without bail in the killing of a man who prosecutors say he arranged to meet and then shot as he begged for his life in a Ravenswood alley Sunday evening.
  
  Cook County Judge Adam Bourgeois, Jr. in a hearing Friday ordered Amin Smith, 21 held on no bail in the Sunday shooting of Dushanti Hassell, 21, telling Smith,“You are dangerous, sir.”

Just a little.

• After Smith and Hassell meet in the Dunkin’ Donuts parking lot, the friend agreed to drive the two to another place, and Smith and Hassell got into the back seat of the Jeep, prosecutors said. Smith told his friend where to drive, and they went to the alley between Winnemac and Argyle Avenue just west of Leavitt Street, arriving just before 6:35 p.m. Sunday, prosecutors said.
  
  Hassell and Smith got out of the Jeep and walked to a “T” intersection in the alley, then went around the corner of a garage, prosecutors said. The friend got out of the Jeep to urinate, and while he was urinating about 10 to 15 feet from them, heard them start to fight, then saw them struggling over a gun.
  
  Hassell ended up on the ground and Smith got control of the gun, prosecutors said.
  
  Hassell begged “please, please,” as Smith pointed the gun at Hassell’s head, and the friend started to run to the Jeep, then heard one gunshot, prosecutors said. Smith then ran to the Jeep, got in and wiped himself and the gun with a towel as he frantically looked for his phone.

Somehow, this is all the fault of the police, society, gun owners, drug runners, and probably George Bush.

You know it is.

Rahm Commits....Battery?

Hey media, how about checking on this:

Doctored video? Doesn't appear to be. Was this guy wearing a "Chuy" pin or something? Unknown. But the mayor of Chicago laying hands on someone when he isn't "pressing the flesh" during a reelection campaign? There's a very large problem here.

UPDATE: To the unpublished asshats - could you point out the word "shoved" anywhere in our post? We don't use it. We describe it as "laying hands," not a shove. Stop reading stuff that isn't there.

People, Read the Tags

We posted this Friday:

See these little tags at the bottom of the article?

It's a "rumor." We gave it no credence. It seemed like a humorous piece at most to lighten up the mood. Evidently, a lot of people took it to heart.

Ladies and Gents, we get trolls here. They post nonsense to provoke. It's a hobby to them. They post nonsense to get you to over-react to Rahm things or Chuy things or Department things or whatever. We catch some, we allow some, we miss some. Some are just so over-the-top, we use them as a convenient foil to attempt a little levity with you the readers, especially during the slow new days...the banner says, "Sarcasm and Silliness."

This was one of those times. If we really thought it was something, we would probably have posted the "un-fucking-believable" tag.

Well This is a Little Ironic

Slain after an anti-violence rally?

• The manager of Chicago rapper Lil Durk was fatally shot early Friday in the Avalon Park neighborhood.
  
  Uchenna Agina, 24, was sitting in a car in the 8400 block of South Stony Island Avenue when a gunman walked up and opened fire about 1:50 a.m., authorities said.
  
  A friend drove Agina, of the 7900 block of South Karlov Avenue, to Advocate Trinity Hospital where he was declared dead at 2:04 a.m., authorities said.
  
  Earlier Thursday, Agina had attended an event with Joakim Noah for his “Rock Your Drop” anti-violence movement, said DJ Bandz manager Devin Jackson. Lil Durk and DJ Bandz also attended the event.

It's almost like there was a culture of violence perpetrated on the community. But that can't possibly be correct.

Decapitated Body in 017?

Anyone hear about a particularly gruesome crime in 017 recently? Something that might possibly have some sort of religious undertones to it? It popped up in the comments, but you know how those are.....

Say It Isn't So

We've heard some crazy dumb shit before, but this is among the craziest and dumbest shit ever if true:

• I've been detailed to the academy for about 2 months now. I was floored to learn of the new stress free work place program they run. When a recruit is feeling overwhelmed or like they are being singled out, they can hold up a red card. They are then excused from that activity, and the instructors can't talk to that recruit for at least 2 hrs. If the recruit holds up the red card twice in a day, they are allowed to skip the next class and stay in a "stress free zone" and take a nap or relax until they feel better. What is going on with this department?

Time to dump the entire staff if true. Bring back instructors in the mold of Marsh, Tero, Frost Those guys could overwhelm the fuck out of people.

Edgebrook Ice Cream Shop

We had a couple comments the other day about an ice cream shop in the north side's Edgebrook neighborhood - home to lots of city workers, including hundreds of police and fire families. There is supposed to be a mural there equating Ferguson with Syria, Iran and North Korea.

Here are some pics sent by a reader:

Supposedly, the entire operation is based out of Madison, Wisconsin, a spot that rivals California for leftist nut jobs. Let's see....got the jackbooted thugs in riot gear. Got the oppressor slogan "For your own good." The tear gas renditions floating across the scene. Dead dove of peace. Yup, it's all there, in a neighborhood that can probably be called one of the more comfortable ones in the city. Personally, we'd be afraid of what got into the ice cream.

Evidence Techs Test

Scheduled for the week of.....Spring Break!

Not only that, it's supposed to be at Whitney Young High School, where parking isn't just at a premium, it's damn near impossible - oh wait, there won't be any recruits or Detectives-in-training there by that time.

Check the AdMin fax messages for details. Or our comment sections after a few hours.

Thanks From St. Baldricks

A successful event:

• Hard to believe with the snow that’s falling this evening that I’m sending out a thank you for the 2015 St. Baldrick’s event, hopefully none of the snow sticks. It seems like it was just a short time ago we sent out the first save the date message when the first snowfall of the season was coming down, let’s hope this is the last snow for the year.
  
  There are some checks and other late donations still being tallied but as of this writing the two CPD events had 171 shavees and volunteers who have raised over $80,000 to go towards funding research through the St. Baldrick’s Foundation!
  
  None of this is possible without the spirit and efforts of those who agree to have their heads shaved, or the tremendous volunteers who work tirelessly to organize the day to go as smoothly as possible, starting several months before the big day. Thank you one and all, I can’t possibly name everyone but especially want to say thanks to Anne Zamzow for again organizing the event at 025. And thank you SCC for your help in getting the word out as well.
  
  We are already making notes for how to improve for next year and will start getting the word out in September or October, but it will most likely be the Friday before or after St. Patrick’s Day again so start planning accordingly.
  
  On behalf of the children who are the direct beneficiaries of all of your generosity, thank you all for another successful event. And if you meant to make a donation and haven't yet, it's not too late. Just go to the St. Baldrick's site and search for the participant you wish to donate to, or pass it off to the person you are sponsoring
  
  Until we find a cure!
  
  Bill O’Reilly

Thanks to all who participated. A lot of domes out there need some waxing!

Less Police and Detectives? Less Solved Crime!

This post should have gone up last night but didn't for reasons unknown.

Less Detectives? Less solved crime? Who are these reporters and where have they been lurking for years now?

• In his reelection campaign, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel is taking credit for a slight decline in the city’s homicide rate. But a WBEZ investigation raises a question about the murders that are still happening: Is the city doing enough to put the killers behind bars?
  
  Emanuel has allowed detective ranks to decline during his term even as internal police records show some of the lowest murder clearance rates in decades. Our story explores those rates through the eyes of city detectives and a mother who lost her 18-year-old daughter in an unsolved case last October.
  
  A few notes about the data (charted below): Regarding the detectives, the number on the payroll is down by about 19 percent since Emanuel took office, according to records obtained by WBEZ under the state Freedom of Information Act. The ranks of evidence technicians and forensic investigators have thinned by even larger proportions.

The graphs attached to the article are pretty damning, too, but nothing that we and our readers haven't been pointing out for years and years here.

Mitchell Makes Sense?

We're really going to have to start drinking again:

• Chicago’s segregated housing pattern and the race of persons accused of committing most gun crimes make it likely that the Chicago Police Department will bump heads with the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois.
  
  That happened on Monday when the organization released its analysis of stop and frisk arrests.
  
  The ACLU found that the controversial policing strategy is “disproportionately concentrated in the black community,” and that African Americans were “subjected to 72% of all stops, yet constitute just 32% of the city’s population.”
  
  [...] When you look at these numbers, it certainly seems to suggest that Chicago police are targeting black people without reason for the invasive and humiliating treatment.
  
  But I don’t believe that to be the case.

We're going to have to start smoking dope again, too.

Chewie, Stop Spending Money

This program should have been killed at birth - paying people to watch their own kids. Now it's turning into yet another handout of money:

• Mayoral challenger Jesus “Chuy” Garcia joined the Chicago Teachers Union in a call for a $15 minimum wage for public schools employees and contractors on Wednesday, but did not say how the cash-strapped school district could pay for the expense.
  
  [...] The teachers union said it would request language in a developing labor agreement that would require CPS to pay district workers and union members a minimum of $15 an hour. CTU Vice President Jesse Sharkey said the union believes a number of subcontracted workers, including employees hired to provide for the district’s Safe Passage program, do not make a $15 an hour.

The schools are broke. Last week, some bond restructuring might lead to the schools being on the hook for another $280 million or so. The well is dry. Stop.

And stop pandering Chewie - that's Rahm's schtick.

Nice Job Officers

Well done:

• Two Chicago Police officers on bike patrol are being credited with saving an elderly tourist’s life along the Magnificent Mile on Tuesday afternoon.
  
  About 2:20 p.m., the two officers were on patrol when they were flagged down near Michigan and Walton, according to a statement from Chicago Police. Citizens led them to a man “drained of color” lying on the ground and not breathing.
  
  The officers began performing chest compressions and saw the 75-year-old man’s airway was blocked, but they were able to clear it, police said.

Word is that Rahm thanked these two personally for saving a tourist who will now continue to spend money here.

Seriously though, good job.

Good Point (And Another)

Building on the ACLU nonsense article from yesterday, this was brought up in the comments:

• All of the politicians and reverends want more police service in their districts. Guess what, you got it. This means more stops by police. Not so fast, now the ACLU says there are too many stops by police. Seriously. So lets get this straight you want more police In minority districts because that's where the violent crime is happening, but you dont want the police to conduct any police work? So what do you want? Why don't you think about that for a while and when you figure out what the f*ck you want you let us know.

Seems pretty simple. Ties into that, you have other blogs like "Crime In Boystown and Wrigleyville" pointing out the shortages in their communities and the subsequent rise in strong armed robberies, thefts and burglaries.

Robbing Peter to pay Paul and then Paul bitches he's getting too much of what he demanded while Peter foots the bill for services he isn't getting. Makes perfect sense.

UPDATE: And another good point by a commentator:

• So in 2011 the ACLU complained that there were not enough police in minority communities:
  
  Now when police are disproportionately assigned to minority communities, they complain that the police are doing what they were sent there (at the request of the ACLU) to do. Typical lawyer logic.

We had forgotten about the commies demanding more police in minority neighborhoods following the disbanding of all the citywide units like MSF and TRU. Nice catch.

Detective Openings

It must be getting close to graduation time. The Department posted bid openings for Detectives to move around:

• 40 spots in Area Central
• 35 spots in Area South
• 20 spots in Area North
• 4 spots at the JISC

Have the Detectives-in-training had to act as fillers yet for the recruit graduation?

White Sox Tickets

It's that time of year again - Police Appreciation Days at Comiskey (or US Cellular or whatever). Details are on the AdMin Fax message website, but you have until 15 May to present yourself, your badge and ID to claim tickets. Opponents include:

• Indians (April)
• Royals (April)
• Tigers (May)
• Indians (May)
• Astros (June)
• Pirates (June)

An always appreciated effort by the Southsiders. 

About that "Profiling"

Remember all those warnings about Contact Cards being used against the police like Stop-and-Frisk in New York? Here we go:

• Blacks in Chicago are more likely to be subjected to a "stop and frisk" by police than any other race, a report by the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois indicates.
  
  The report, released Monday, also says officers in the Second City used the controversial technique far more often than did officers in New York City.
  
  The ACLU said Chicago officers last summer conducted more than 250,000 stops of people who weren't arrested. The ACLU also said that almost three-fourths of those stopped were African American, though they make up about a third of the city's population.

This is a report by the ACLU. There's a reason these assholes are known by various names (All Criminals/Commies Love Us, A Clump of Losers United, etc) They are an agenda-driven set of leftist lawyers who had to be shamed into admitting people have a right to say offensive things. This study is a blueprint of left-wing indoctrination passed along by the leftist media. We could take this thing apart in our sleep. Or now.

First up, the population stats. The report uses this graphic:

See that circle on the right? Black 32% White 32%?  That means that Blacks are not the minority. Oops. So right away, the entire study is suspect.

Next, where's the breakdown of neighborhoods? Chicago is still one of the more racially divided cities around. If you were to take a survey of say...the 003rd District, you'd be hard pressed to find someone who wasn't Black. Same for 006, 007 and a few other places. Any given spread of street stops is going to trend toward a darker skin color. In fact, being pale in those locations is going to attract a lot more attention.

Now, where's the breakdown of Officers at the District level? Dirty little CPD secret - there are certain districts in the city where the vast majority of officers working there are of a certain skin tone and a lot of that has to do with politics. How is a District with 70-to-80% Black officers supposed to be racially profiling a District that is 85-to-90% Black? Actually, how can a White officer working in a District that is 90%-plus Black racially profile?

Finally, the uncomfortable part - hop over to HeyJackass.com and look at this graphic:

That's a tough one to swallow right there for the ACLU - race of attacker and race of victim - and that's just counting the homicides. We're willing to bet the maimings/woundings are similar and the armed robberies and more than a few other crimes. By whatever metric you use, Black criminals are victimizing Black citizens at a rate far outweighing their supposed "minority" status. It ain't the police doing it. The police are trying to stop it, solve it, prevent it.

So yet another bullshit, slanted, slanderous study that points the finger directly at the police, and the ACLU thinks more "oversight" and "checkboxes" and Consent Decrees will solve everything, all while blood fills the gutters.

Good Dog

Dart's "Candyman"

The other week, Tom Dart was whining bout how he was being forced to keep inmates who's only offense was having a sweet-tooth and neglecting to pay for a candy bar. Our position was if they were being held in County, they probably had extensive rap sheets and more than one missed court appearance.

Looks like we were on to something - from our e-mail:

• A disheveled looking Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart called an emergency news conference last week to discuss the “heart-breaking” dire situation at his jail. Low-level offenders were flooding his jail due too outrageous decisions by Cook County Judges. His highlight case example was this poor man who has been housed in his jail for 114 days for merely swiping eight bags of Snickers bars and a pair of scissors. Sheriff called this "stupidity of the highest order." The Chicago media ran with this story and named this pour soul the Snickers Bar Bandit which even conjured some national attention. It appears Sheriff Dart may have picked the wrong guy to use as his posterchild for unjust incarcerations. Yes, the Snickers Bar Bandit has 61 prior arrests but don't expect to read that in the local newspapers

Over an arrest per year and that probably doesn't include his undoubtedly extensive juvenile record. But Sheriff Asshat thinks this asshole should be out and about, free as a bird.

Rahm by 16%?

Something weird here:

• A new weekly mayoral poll ahead of the April 7 runoff election shows Mayor Rahm Emanuel is continuing to gain further separation from his challenger, Jesus “Chuy” Garcia.
  
  The Ogden and Fry poll conducted Saturday among 951 likely voters shows Emanuel getting support from 48.5 percent of those polled, while Garcia comes in at 32.1 percent. A large number of those polled — 18.4 percent — say they’re still undecided. The poll has a margin of error of 3.24 percentage points.

This is the fourth poll since Rahm's embarrassment and he still can't crack the 50% barrier? Ogden and Fry are hedging their bets (and potentially, their reputation as a polling entity) by noting that “turnout and the under-polling Hispanic vote are two factors to still consider." No shit.

We know we've been doing our part, lying to two different pollsters who managed to call. But everyone is going to have to vote, and polls open for early balloting tomorrow. Time to make Rahm sweat.

Another Exempt Leaving

Word from the downtown set - the Chief of Patrol dropped his papers to leave. This isn't related to the "black site" nonsense, but rather a on-going conflict with McCompStat.

Word is that the Chief, who has served in assorted capacities for years and knows which end is up, is fielding a lot of information that things in 005 aren't going as well as every one is attempting to portray it. McCompStat is bound and determined to roll out the 10-hour day by next year citywide and told him "get on board or get out."

"Get out" won. You know, if so much middle and upper management was leaving in the private sector, stockholders would be asking, "What the heck is going on?" Not here though - damn the icebergs, full speed ahead!

Nice Weekend There, Gar

Cold, windy, a few flurries, and a body count that rivals some states:

• Chicago suffered a deadly weekend as four people were killed and at least 13 others injured in violence throughout the Chicago area.
  
  A 30-year-old man was shot to death at about 12:30 p.m. Saturday in the 8800 block of South Wood in the Auburn Gresham neighborhood. Alexander Colon was standing on the back porch of a home when he was struck by a bullet in his chest, according to police and the Cook County medical examiner's office. Colon, who lived in the same block, was pronounced dead on the scene.
  
  A 23-year-old woman has died after she was shot in the head while riding in a car at about 7:05 p.m. Saturday. Delia Colunga was shot near 109th Street and Green Bay Avenue, police said. Colunga was transported to Advocate Trinity Hospital where she died Sunday morning, according to the Cook County medical examiner's office.

Normal folks (or people) standing or walking around catching bullets. And summer right around the corner.

A Tale of Two Parents

Saw this in the news a few weeks ago:

• Two Maryland parents being investigated because they allow their children to walk around their neighborhood unaccompanied were found to be responsible for unsubstantiated child neglect, the family said Monday.
  
  Danielle and Sasha Meitiv say they will appeal the ruling.
  
  [...] Maryland Child Protective Services began investigating the Meitivs on Dec. 20 after someone called police to report that their children — Rafi, 10, and Dvora, 6 — were walking home from a playground about a mile from their suburban Washington home. Another caller alerted police when the children were walking from a playground two blocks from home.

The horror! Children being allowed to walk about unaccompanied in suburban Washington. And the parents being actually investigated by the bureaucracy.

Then we saw this a few days ago:

• Did a cop do a good deed or not? Well, that depends on who you ask. A South Philly mother wants answers after her two daughters ended up in the back of a police car.
  
  Two little girls got an unexpected ride in the back of a 1st District Philadelphia police car this morning. They didn't do anything wrong. Now, one police officer's concern for the kids has their mother looking for answers.
  
  They certainly don't look like criminals. So how did they end up in the back of a police car? That's what their mom wants to know.
  
  "They are saying they did me a favor by taking them to school and not notifying me," said mother, Contessa Taylor.

The cop saw two kids walking to school, gives them a ride, and....the cop is blamed? But no investigation of that parent for some reason.

Hey Eric Holder, you want to get involved here? Discussions about how some parents are hassled for letting their kids walk to the park and another lets them walk to a bus stop and then to school after missing the bus?

Horseshit!

No, literally:

• Chicago police officers with the Mounted Unit have been warned by the department to stop dumping fresh horse manure in Jackson Park on the South Side.
  
  On any given day, Mounted Unit officers can be seen stopping in Jackson Park, and shoveling horse manure from their trailers onto Park District property along the golf course – on the street, curb, grass, and around trees.
  
  “The amount of the manure was absolutely astounding,” said Lyletta Robinson, a woman who frequents the park.
  
  Officers muck out their trailers while on their way to the stables at the nearby South Shore Cultural Center.

C'mon guys and gals. You have what is arguably the best gig on the Department. It's about the most legit test there is, the training is extensive, and everyone (we mean everyone) loves a cop on a horse. We've been to South Shore. They have big dumpsters there and a section by the golf course that you can dump the shit in to compost before fertilizing the lawn. You could probably pay a neighborhood waif to turn the pile daily if needed.

Thanks Again Quinn

Theft by politician:

• Days after Pat Quinn lost the November election, Chicago’s busiest film studio asked the lame-duck governor for a hefty state grant to buy industrial land around its West Side campus, where “Chicago Fire” and other TV shows and movies are produced.
  
  Three weeks before Quinn left office, Cinespace Chicago Film Studios got a $10 million check from the cash-strapped state of Illinois.
  
  The check’s been cashed. But the studio has yet to buy any land, and the owners of six properties listed in the studio’s grant application say they have no plans to sell to Cinespace or anyone else. Nor does a seventh property appear to be for sale, according to a Chicago Sun-Times investigation....

One of many lame-duck "grants" Quinn gave away no doubt.

Nice Letter Chief

In a town meeting type scenario, police bosses are usually told to sit there, shut up and take the abuse heaped on them by the community. This happened in Madison recently following the shooting of yet another unarmed assailant (who is unarmed only as long as you keep control of your gun). The Chief did as his political masters demanded, but fired back the next day:

• As the City has been through a lot over the past 10 days, an uneasy peace has settled in until we await the next seminal decision from the District Attorney’s Office. The tension on the streets is palpable and my officers are doing the best they can to remain pro-active and relational. Not an easy task given the various veiled and stark threats to police officers that have been made through various social media networks and on the streets. I have challenged my officers to stay true to our values, adhere to our training in situational awareness, and to resist the urge to adopt a “bunker” mindset. The women and men of MPD have done more than their share of risk taking for this community and it is high time you did yours!
  
  In the course of a few days (from March 13-last night’s Common Council meeting), I have seen you muster to create a letter to the family of Tony Robinson as well as to hastily convene a public “hearing” for those who want to express their views. While the letter of condolences to the family of Tony Robinson was entirely appropriate (I did the same thing), there was no mention of support—either in that letter or in any corresponding letter which could have been circulated at the same time—acknowledging the exceptional steps taken by women and men of MPD in doing their part to maintain public safety while facilitating robust dissent. Last night, I sat patiently listening to people accusing MPD of everything from being sanctioned murderers to racists. Given the nature of the proceedings, I was left with no recourse to respond to any of these diatribes, falsehoods and shock value missives. One of my responsibilities is to defend those valued employees—sworn and non-sworn—that take pride in providing a premium service to the citizens and guests of our City. People can attack me all they want—I’m old and what service time I have left is not going to be deterred by fringe elements who foist themselves upon me with righteous indignation. But I have a duty to speak up when the good people who work for me have to contend with unchecked, unilateral attacks on them and the legacy of the MPD . . .and I failed them by not being able to go to bat for them under the constraints of the hearing protocols last night. In short, your collective silence is DEAFENING and that is why I chose to write to you today. Don’t think that I haven’t noticed or that my employees haven’t noticed—we have!

It goes on from there. Go read it all.

Cooked Books?

Chuy plays offense:

• Mayoral challenger Jesus “Chuy” Garcia said Friday he’s offered a broad-strokes plan, with no specific revenue solutions to solve Chicago’s $20 billion pension crisis, in part because he has “good reason to think the books are cooked” by Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s administration.
  
  Garcia has punted the question of new revenues needed to solve the city’s pension crisis and the $10 billion in unfunded liabilities at the Chicago Public Schools to a post-election commission that would report back in 90 days, if he wins the April 7 runoff.
  
  He won’t even talk about asking more of taxpayers until he orders “performance audits” of every city department starting with the largest: the Chicago Police Department.

Well, you could start with the top-heavy brass. We have more Deputy Chiefs than at any time in the history of the Department, redundant supervision of certain bureaus and divisions (one Commander reporting to one Deputy Chief reporting to one Chief along with all the assorted hidden staff spots that go with it), and entire rank structures that have no purpose (Captains), and a supernintendo that makes more than the mayor along with a bunch of New York tag-a-longs.

But we don't believe Rahm is cooking the books so much as keeping two sets. It would certainly make for interesting reading.

West Side Nonsense

Evidently, McCarthy has been shooting people (and folks) on the west side:

• Activists in the Austin neighborhood on the West Side have demanded a meeting with Police Supt. Garry McCarthy, to come up with solutions to violent crime in a community that has more murders than any other.
  
  “It’s going to be a long, hot summer,” said Rev. Ira Acree, as he stood with a group of community activists on the 5800 block of West North Avenue on Wednesday. The street is where 23-year-old Andre Chatman and 28-year-old Carey Hollis were slain in a drive-by shooting in broad daylight this past weekend.
  
  Chatman and Hollis were in a car headed east on North Avenue, when someone in another vehicle sprayed their car with bullets.
  
  “If you can sit here and kill somebody in broad daylight with assault weapons, how are they getting into our communities?” activist Maurice Robinson said. “We hear it on a regular basis; how crime has dropped to all-time lows, but yet in this community, it has risen.”

First, get McCarthy to stop gunning down innocent people.

Second, buy a fucking mirror and hold it up to the community.

Rahm Hit by Leftists

Looks like Salon.com wants to hamstring Rahm's national ambitions a bit:

• The city of Chicago and its public school system could recoup potentially billions of dollars in overpayments from complicated, unjust deals inked with Wall Street banks, if they pursued legal action or demanded enforcement from federal regulators. But Rahm Emanuel, the current mayor, has refused to chase this opportunity, despite the city’s drastic fiscal outlook and the effect on citizens. By contrast, his opponent in the April 7 mayoral run-off election, Jesus “Chuy” Garcia, appears far more likely to take action against a powerful financial sector Emanuel has relied on for campaign contributions.
  
  Beginning over a decade ago, Wall Street banks sold municipalities, school districts, water systems and public hospitals across the country on obscure financial instruments, pitching them as a way to borrow more cheaply than plain-vanilla municipal bonds. But just as homeowners were swindled into loans they couldn’t afford during the housing bubble, local governments suffered a similar fate.

Why is this important? Well, look what came out on a Friday afternoon when no one is paying attention:

• Chicago’s deep financial problems worsened Friday as a Wall Street bond-rating agency dramatically downgraded the credit of the city’s school system — triggering penalties that could come to more than $200 million.
  
  Fitch Ratings dropped the Chicago Board of Education’s credit score by three notches. The plunge came two weeks after another agency, Moody’s Investors Service, also reduced its rating on the school district’s debt.
  
  Chicago Public Schools is required to maintain a certain credit rating under the terms of complex debt “swap” deals with financial institutions. Failure to do so could activate termination clauses in the deals and CPS could have to make payments to the financial institutions.
  
  Friday’s report from Fitch means CPS has dropped below the threshold for terminating the deals. According to Fitch, CPS could be forced to pay $263 million in penalties as a result.

Rahm has some new commercial out that says "we can't afford Chuy."

Um, it doesn't look like we can afford Rahm either.

Wednesday Worse Than Thought

Two dead, twelve maimed:

• Two men were killed and at least 12 other people were wounded in shootings across the city since Wednesday morning.
  
  Most recently, a 20-year-old man was shot to death near a Marathon gas station in the West Garfield Park neighborhood, police said.
  
  About 2:08 a.m. Thursday, police were called to a gas station in the 100 block of South Cicero Avenue and found the man unresponsive, police said.

That's a lot of cars held down on so-called "post-shooting missions" that (A) keep police from actively looking for criminals and (B) do nothing to prevent an actual shooting. Maybe we need to concentrate on "pre-shooting missions" to tamp down the violence?

Safe Passage Shooter

About a week-and-a-half ago, we pointed out a story of a high school dean attempting to execute a teen dope dealer he was involved with. Now after Wednesday night's bloodletting, we hear the a Safe Passage worker is suspected of shooting a 17-year-old girl in the chest Wednesday night down south.

Guess he couldn't get his shooting done during "work" hours.

Houses - Cheap!

Too bad about that residency thing. You could get a lot of house (or business) for cheap in Missouri:

• Peering outside the office window of his tire shop, John Zisser grumbles about the pile of burnt rubble that lies on the opposite corner of a busy intersection.
  
  “If you come here to my shop and you see that,” he says, as gestures out the window, “is that going to give you a warm, fuzzy feeling like you want to come back here to do business?”
  
  “Short answer: no, no it’s not,” he says.
  
  Zisser, 55, has owned and operated Zisser’s Tires in this city since 1987. He says the still-visible damage from the November protests that followed a grand jury’s decision not to indict Ferguson officer Darren Wilson for the shooting death of teenager Michael Brown is hurting property owners. His store’s insurance is in the process of being cancelled after it was twice vandalized during the unrest, he says.

The one asset that time and again has pulled people out of poverty, incrementally at times, but relentlessly, all brought crashing down by a lie and a false narrative perpetuated by whom again? Oh yeah...Sharpton, Jackson, Holder, etc.

Eight, We Got Eight...Do We Hear Nine?

Another lovely evening in Chicago where crime is always down - even when it's up:

• At least eight people were wounded Wednesday in shootings in Chicago on the North, South, Southwest and West sides, police said.
  
  The latest shooting occured [sic] at 9 p.m. in the 8000 block of South Carpenter Street, said Chicago police spokesman [...].

And then....number nine:

• At least nine people were wounded in shootings across Chicago Wednesday.
  
  The most recent shooting occurred about 10 p.m. in the Auburn Gresham neighborhood on the South Side.

On a chilly Wednesday.

No Guns in Schools

Not just for students any more - none at all in Baltimore, even the police:

• No guns for officers inside Baltimore City Schools.
  
  The proposed legislation caused a deep divide between supporters and opponents of the legislation.
  
  A delegation of city leaders unanimously decided to table the legislation in the State House of Delegates on Friday.
  
  This means that city school police will remain the only officers in the state forbidden to have guns in schools while classes are in session.

As we understand it, this department is like the Chicago Department of Aviation Police - they go through training, they are state certified, then they can't carry guns in the one place that they just might need them - the airport. It's not like there's ever been a terrorist incident at an airport. And schools? Schools are the safest place in the world for hundreds of unarmed children and their teachers.

Now instead of allowing the officers to carry their sidearms to protect our most valuable assets (according to the giant thinkers of the age), Baltimore is considering disbanding the whole department.

The Biggest Pander?

Um....what?

• Mayor Rahm Emanuel changed gears Tuesday and pledged to dedicate the jackpot of revenue from an elusive, publicly owned Chicago casino toward solving the city’s $20 billion pension crisis and the $10 billion in unfunded pension liabilities at the Chicago Public Schools.
  
  The decision to earmark casino revenues exclusively for pensions is a sharp turn for Emanuel.

THAT is a major tectonic shift for Rahm. A political bombshell. A game changer.....if true.

Get it in writing first of all, because the Lies of Rahm are enough to fill encyclopedias. This has been suggested here and elsewhere dozens of times, and all of the sudden, it's a Rahm Position?

This Makes Perfect Sense

They had to close the schools in order to open one:

• Ald. Proco “Joe” Moreno (1st) said Tuesday he wants to turn a hulking Humboldt Park building that once housed two of the record 50 Chicago Public Schools closed by Mayor Rahm Emanuel into, among other things, a new elementary school.
  
  Moreno wants a new school for up to 400 neighborhood students to be part of a massive, nonprofit development in the three-story behemoth of a building at 2620 W. Hirsch that once housed De Duprey and Von Humboldt elementary schools. CPS announced on Friday its intention to sell the building and two others that were shuttered in 2013, but its request for proposals didn’t mention a new school.

Someone is going to try to make a shitload of money reopening some of these places. We should have guessed.

Cancel the Northside Events

Remember when the Southside parade was the bad one? They canceled it for a few years to stop the stupid. Looks like that might be needed up north:

• There was no luck of the Irish for 17 people arrested after they collectively turned a St. Patrick’s Day drinking tour into a brawl crawl on Saturday. According to the Crime in Wrigleyville and Boystown blog, citations went beyond minor blemishes like public intoxication to more serious offenses such as battering a police officer, aggravated assault with a knife, mob action and battery. One person also reported being mugged near Halsted and Roscoe.
  
  “The district's officers were all kept overtime and even the top-ranking cops spent 12+ hours responding to calls,” said CWB Chicago. In total, the report says that “more than 40 ambulance requests resulted in at least 20 persons being transported to area hospitals.” The story also lists a pretty entertaining play-by-play of police activity from 11:00 a.m. Saturday morning through 3:30 Sunday morning.

The have a listing of calls gleaned from scanner traffic. Some are entertaining, but too many are just drunk assholes screwing it up for everyone else.

Officer Hurt Downtown

Should be okay:

• A Chicago Police officer was hit by a vehicle in the South Loop Tuesday night.
  
  About 8 p.m., the on-duty officer was hit by a vehicle in the 1200 block of South Wabash, police said.
  
  The officer was taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital in good condition, police said.
  
  It was not immediately known if the driver was cited or charged, police said.

Quick recovery Officer.

Nice Job Sheriff

From the County side:

• Cook County Sheriff's Tactical Sgt. Michael Dwyer was driving west on I-80 in Homewood about 7:30 p.m. Monday when he looked up and spotted something unusual on the Halsted Street overpass.
  
  "It just looked like a person sitting up on the guardrail there, it was just out of the ordinary. It didn't seem safe," said Dwyer, 39.
  
  After about 9-1/2 years with the department, Dwyer knew that something was wrong. He quickly got off the expressway and drove to the overpass.

The guy almost went over the side, but Sheriff Dwyer caught his clothing and dragged him back. Nicely done Sir.

Did Rahm Take This Meeting?

This popped up on assorted radars over the past week:

• Over the past 5 years there have been over 300 shootings by Chicago Police Department officers, resulting in over 90 fatalities. On Monday, March 16th, at 12:30 p.m., the families of some of these shooting victims will meet with Mayor Rahm Emanuel. At 4:00 p.m. that same day, these families and their supporters will report back from their meeting with the mayor and rally outside his City Hall office.
  
  At a March 5th press conference at City Hall, families of Chicagoans killed by police demanded a meeting with the mayor. Shortly after the event, the office of Mayor Emanuel reached out to those families to schedule a meeting. Those participating in the meeting with the mayor on March 16th at 12:30pm include the mothers of Rekia Boyd, Dakota Bright, Roshad Mcintosh, Ronald Johnson, Darius Pinex, and DeSean Pittman. One other family member or friend of each victim will accompany the mothers.

This should have been an interesting meeting, seeing as how 5 of the 6 were pointing guns at the police, guns that were recovered on scene. And in the sixth case, the detective has a scheduled trial date already, so the justice system seems to be working as slowly as it always does, which is never fast enough for those who just want lynchings and payouts.

So did Rahm meet the with the families that the criminals left behind? There were a few posts that said WGN covered this on the evening news, but ::surprise!:: the WGN site has been off the internet for a few hours now, so we can't find any info.

Hey Dean - will this affect the endorsement process? Chuy has his family issues, but we aren't ones to blame the father for the sins of the son - look at Daley, Burke, Rahm, etc. But the mayor meeting with people whose family members actively attempted to kill police officers? Rahm can pound sand along with any aldercreatures he endorsed.

VRI Check Goes "BOING!"

Someone got some explaining to do:

• Speaking of VRI.....
  
  Minutes ago, I talked to an old timer in 1600 hour Michigan Ave VRI roll call. He works in 016 and said when he went to deposit his 16 Mar regular payroll check in the drive-thru of a Bank of America location, IT BOUNCED. The teller told him it was Insufficient Funds, and that he needed to come inside to see a manager. The manager confirmed that there was insufficient funds to deposit the check. He immediately notified FOP, and - hard to believe here - they told him it "wasn't their problem" and that he should contact Finance. A call to Finance went unanswered.

Anyone else have this problem with a hard check?

Rahm Leads by 10

But that's with 16% undecided:

• Mayor Rahm Emanuel's latest moves in his re-election campaign appear to have steered voters in his favor.
  
  The latest poll numbers show Emanuel with a comfortable lead over challenger Jesus "Chuy" Garcia, but the mayor remains shy of the majority of votes with just a few weeks to go until the runoff election April 7.
  
  Ogden and Fry released a poll Saturday that showed Emanuel with 47.1 percent of the vote and Garcia with 36.7 percent. The poll takes into account undecided voters as well, who came in at a high 16.2 percent.
  
  These undecided voters are key to winning the election, the poll makers noted. The conventional wisdom is that undecided voters usually do not break for a well-known incumbent, meaning Emanuel could still be in trouble, despite his lead.

We think it was Kass who pointed out an interesting fact the other day. In the just-past election, Rahm polled at something like 45% with a lot of "undecided" folks refusing to commit to a candidate. Rahm's total for the election? 45.4%. That means that he certainly didn't inspire a lot of fence-sitters to commit to him. It also means that turnout is going to be the key, and a rainy-bad-weather-type day could significantly affect portions of the electorate. Rahm hasn't gone full negative yet, but you can see his media lapdogs already attempting to suppress voter turnout by touting the polls (Rahm leads!) and poking at Garcia for not having a concrete plan (but failing to point out Rahm's own lack of a plan).

Rahm has an edge in polling, but not an insurmountable one.

Dean, What's This?

First of all, this arrived in the mail Saturday:

But you've already announced that no endorsement will be forthcoming. Maybe you could release the actual totals so we can all have a good laugh?

But this here is actually more disturbing. We got this in an e-mail:

• The FOP endorsed Amy Crawford for alderman of the 46th Ward. She's in a runoff with James Cappleman, who got the Police Sergeants endorsement.
  
  Crawford has Marc Kaplan working with her campaign. Familiar name? Marc Kaplan, the guiding light behind CopWatch. The roving band of misfits who listened to the scanners and jumped on their bikes to film the cops. The same Marc Kaplan who was sued by an officer for encouraging kids to make false statements on police reports.
  
  The third candidate, who didn't make the runoff, was Denise Davis. Kaplan worked for her campaign. The campaign manager, a guy named Cortez Duqette, has gone rogue. He's spilling the beans on what went on behind the scenes.
  
  Here's the email linking Kaplan and candidate Crawford. https://www.facebook.com/150856738458364/photos/a.151266755084029.1073741828.150856738458364/344204319123604/?type=1
  
  Duqette says that Crawford's campaign also paid former Aldercreature Helen Schiller's son consulting fees. He's a lawyer who sues cops for a living. http://secondcitycop.blogspot.com/2011/04/whats-in-name.html
  
  All tied up with a bow. The FOP-endorsed candidate in bed with the head of CopWatch and a lowlife lawyer who loves to sue cops.
  
  It happened the same way in 2011. FOP and Kaplan endorsing the same candidate, Molly Phelan. http://www.uptownupdate.com/2011/04/endorsement-tracker-marc-kaplan.html
  
  I wish FOP would stop making endorsements.

You know what? So do we. Hey Dean, what the fuck?

How Does This Happen?

The state is billion in debt, yet this sort of thing thrives:

• A southwest suburban man used more than 3,000 LINK cards to steal almost $1 million in government funds, purchasing "massive amounts of energy drinks and candy" and selling them to West Side stores, officials said.
  
  Wael S. Ghosheh, 46, has been charged with theft of government property, identity theft, money laundering, unauthorized use of food stamp benefits and wire fraud, all of which are felonies, records show.
  
  Ghosheh, of the 5500 block of West 84^th Street in southwest suburban Burbank, is in Cook County Jail after appearances Wednesday and Thursday at the Leighton Criminal Court Building, during which bail was set at $50,000, records show.

The level of fraud here is astronomical. And from what we observe, hear and can deduce, barely scratches the surface of some of the crap that goes on when there is no accountability in the system, no oversight by the authorities and the watchdogs are busy licking their balls and the balls of those in power.

Klansman Arrested in Ferguson

Offender who shot two cops is in custody:

• An arrest has been made in connection with the Thursday shooting of two police officers in Ferguson, Missouri, St. Louis County police announced Sunday afternoon — but the suspect claimed he was shooting at fellow protesters, not police.
  
  Ferguson demonstrator Jeffrey Williams, 20, was charged with two felony counts of first-degree assault, firing a weapon from a vehicle and three counts of armed criminal action, St. Louis County prosecuting attorney Robert McCulloch said.

This a picture at the link above and we have to say, those southern folks (or people) are certainly a lot more inclusive than the old newsreels would have you believe.

Changes

Four moves occurring at midnight tonight:

• Deputy Chief Riccio (Detectives) to Acting Chief of OCD (Homan Square black site)
• Commander Roy (Area Central) to Acting Dep Chief of Detectives
• Cmdr Watson lateraled from 005 to 007
• Lt Johnson (not that one, the other one) from 003 to Acting Cmdr 005

The "acting" portion gets dropped after the next City Council meeting we suppose. Here's a question though - why do Rahm and McCarthy hate Cmdr Watson? They're paying him less than Deputy Chief of the 007th District Ric Flair to do the same job that Leo had for years. Is it because Watson is....black!?!?!!??!

Racism!!!

Or Cmdr Watson must have endorsed Chewie.

So....

...what were the survey results?

FOP asked everyone to let them know what the membership wanted, then didn't endorse anyone.

Is this going to be like that "morale survey" that J-Fled ran with the promise that if it was negative in nature, he'd resign and go away? No one ever saw hide nor hair of that survey after that statement. But there's J-Fled, walking with Chuy Garcia in the parade downtown today.

Another Good Budget Move

Stop subsidizing failing business models:

• Gov. Bruce Rauner's proposed state budget would cut 40 percent from Illinois' funding for Amtrak trains during a time when ridership has been climbing.
  
  Passenger numbers and ticket revenue have grown during the past five years.
  
  The Lincoln Service train between St. Louis and Chicago, for example, saw more than 633,000 passengers during the most recent federal fiscal year. That's a 25 percent increase from five years earlier.

Whoop-dee-doo. A 25% increase.....and it's still bleeding money if it needs state subsidies. Amtrak hasn't made money in years, and if the government stopped funding it, it would disappear to the savings of billions of dollars.


Then, a miracle would occur - small companies would pop up to fill the demand. They would set prices to the point where they operated at a profit and survive, thrive or die based on market considerations and the government would be out of the business of deciding why a failing business model should move forward when money is scarce.

Econ 101.

Good Budget Move

Now do this a few hundred times and Illinois might actually have a balanced budget:

• Hundreds of conservation-minded home owners who are waiting on thousands of dollars from the state of Illinois may end up empty-handed.
  
  As CBS 2 [...] reports, they are the latest victims of the state’s budget crisis.
  
  Estimated heating bills for Linda Foster were nearly $900 a month before she and her husband did major upgrades to their furnace, insulation, windows and — the biggest saver – they installed solar panels. Now, their home is cheaper to maintain.
  
  The big savings came with a significant upfront cost — $20,000. But it also included a 20 percent discount from U.S. Solar, the company that installed the panels; a 30 percent tax write-off; and a 30 percent rebate from the state that was expected to be $6,000.
  
  But Foster’s husband, Edmondo Lupieri, says an email from the state of Illinois delivered some bad news. Officials said they had a record number of applicants and not everyone would be reimbursed. Only 359 owners – randomly selected – would be reimbursed, with another 240 people not being reimbursed for installing solar panels.

We'll bet the politically connected got their rebates. But in reality, if the technology can't pay for itself, then it should succeed or fail on its own merits or shortcomings. The state in general and this state specifically, shouldn't be in the business of subsidizing technology that is wasting money to make the green lobby feel good about itself. There are studies that show all those windmills will never recoup the money spent to build them. Ever. That's billions, maybe trillions of money pissed away that could have been better spent repairing infrastructure, building nuclear plants, improving air-cleaning technology at existing power plants.....funding pensions.

FOP Sits This One Out

Probably the smart play?

• The Fraternal Order of Police on Friday said they decide not to endorse either political candidate in the race for mayor of Chicago.
  
  Both Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Jesus “Chuy” Garcia met with leaders of the FOP in person Thursday afternoon.
  
  Four years ago, the FOP endorsed Gery Chico for mayor.
  
  The move comes on the same day both candidates revealed their plans to fix some of the city’s financial woes.

Dean can't afford to surrender any of his dwindling support at the Lodge.

Krazy Konspiracies

People like this actually live and breathe on their own - and get elected to public office:

• A city manager from North St. Louis County named John Mohammad told [...] FOX News that the police shooting last night was an inside job.
  

  “I think it was a complete set up. I think it was a setup of the police fraternities, what I like to call them. I think they operate just like the KKK. I think they did it to make themselves look like the victim, when honestly the victim are black people. I think it was a just a publicity stunt. No more than that.”

  John Mohammad went on to say maybe the KKK was behind it.

Sure, because getting shot in the face and shoulder are exactly what cops like to have happen to them to "set up" a sympathy play. But actual video of Black Panthers intimidating voters at a polling place doesn't even elicit a peep from Holder's Justice Department.

Hey Dart

Maybe this is what Dart is complaining about "his" jail being crowded:

• Went to misdemeanor court this week and once again of the 15 cases called only TWO defendants showed up and ZERO complainants other than the two officers there! Last month it was 20 cases with THREE defendants and ONE complainant that took the time to make an appearance. No warrants, minimal fines that will never be collected and thousands of dollars spent on a system that is a complete fucking joke!  

How many ended up as Bond Forfeiture Warrants? How many were multiple warrants issued? Those folks (or people) sit with Dart until the issuing judge gets to them and repeat offenders get higher bonds (usually).

It'd be interesting to have a few officers post Court Branch, number of cases called, number of BFW's issued from various branches here over the next few days.

And looking over Dart's main complaints from a few days ago, we'd like to see the following:

• post the name of the "plum thief" and make her available for interviews by the media
• post her rap sheet
• same for the Snickers/scissors guy

Petty thieves might not deserve to sit Cook County Jail, but they certainly might have earned their way there.

Gee, We Wonder Why

Somebody in the media finally noticed what the surveys and moving companies have been telling everyone for a few years now:

• In a state with a massive budget deficit, it’s disturbing news: For the first time since the late-1980s, the population of Illinois is shrinking.
  
  CBS 2 [...] takes a look at what’s luring people away.
  
  Weather, work and money.  Those are three of the biggest reasons people are leaving.
  
  According to the Illinois Policy Institute’s Michael Lucci, some 95,000 people moved to other states last year.
  
  “We actually had more people leave Illinois than were born in Illinois,” he says.

Crappy job market, shitty political situation, taxes out the ass, government interference up the ass, crushing debt. There's five quick reasons right there.

No Tax Zones

Count us in!

• Mayor Rahm Emanuel, locked in a tight election campaign, is rolling out a plan to boost job creation in some depressed neighborhoods by waiving all state and local taxes on businesses and taking other unusual steps to lure employers.
  
  The so-called Right to Thrive zones—a pumped-up version of the Enterprise Zones of recent decades—would feature no property, income or sales taxes on businesses that open in these areas for an unspecified time "as long as they create jobs in the surrounding neighborhood," Emanuel says in an op-ed article written for the Chicago Tribune.
  
  Businesses in the zone also would get what Emanuel dubbed "concierge service": a special unit of city bureaucrats tasked with slashing zoning, licensing and other red tape for investors. And they'd receive export, marketing, employment and financial assistance.

A neighborhood with no motivation to produce, no pride of ownership, with a newly created unelected bureaucracy with no deadlines to meet. What could possibly go wrong?

Does this pandering make Rahm look electable?

Ferguson Shootings

Thanks Holder - come in, incite the community, leave. Then everything you supported turns out to be a lie and everything you spread gasoline on starts to burn:

• The shooting of two police officers during a protest rally in Ferguson, Missouri, sparked an intense manhunt for suspects on Thursday and ratcheted up tensions in a city at the center of a national debate over race and policing.
  
  U.S. President Barack Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder condemned the attack on the officers, who were treated at a local hospital and released. Hours after the shooting, police said they were questioning an undisclosed number of people following a raid on a home in the St. Louis suburb.
  
  "What happened last night was a pure ambush," Holder said at a press conference. "This was not someone who was trying to bring healing to Ferguson, this was a damn punk."

Yeah, now you support the police when your president and his legacy of race baiting is going to get burned.

Utah Pulls the Trigger

Not literally....at least, not yet:

• Lawmakers have passed a bill that would make Utah the only state to allow firing squads for carrying out a death penalty if there is a shortage of execution drugs.
  
  The passage of the bill by the state Senate on Tuesday comes as states struggle to obtain lethal injection drugs amid a nationwide shortage.
  
  The bill's sponsor, Republican Rep. Paul Ray of Clearfield, touted the measure as being a more humane form of execution. Ray argued that a team of trained marksmen is faster and more humane than the drawn-out deaths that have occurred in botched lethal injections.

Meanwhile, here in Illinois, a woman who cut off a baby's head with a circular saw, will be living off the taxpayers' dime for years.

This Looks Like Good News

From the state supremes:

• A lawyer for the state faced skeptical questioning from Illinois Supreme Court justices Wednesday as she defended a landmark pension reform law by arguing that benefit cuts to public workers were a response to a financial emergency tied to the Great Recession.
  
  But lawyers for public employee unions reminded the court that the Illinois Constitution barred changes that "diminish or impair" pension benefits, adding that if an emergency exists it's the state's fault for decades of poor financial management.
  
  After nearly an hour of legal arguments before the state's highest court, there was no indication of how or when the seven justices would rule. But the eventual decision will have widespread ramifications for state taxpayers as well as those in Chicago and towns throughout Illinois struggling to cope with growing pension debts that are straining government budgets.

It's truly sad that a lawyer, after how many years of school, has to be educated by the Illinois Supreme Court as to the fact that words have meaning, and laws made up of words have meaning, too. This is not a financial emergency - this is years and years of deliberate mismanagement on the part of Springfield and Chicago, buying off certain constituencies with money that should have been set aside - was in fact required to be set aside - for promises made. People should be in jail for what is going on, but again, the entire legislature, most recent governors and lord knows how many mayors, starting with Shortshanks, would overcrowd the prisons.

What About This Money Rahm?

Still wasting it:

• Nine months after vowing to trash the perks, Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s Department of Streets and Sanitation is still spending millions of dollars to provide free garbage collection to ineligible multi-unit residential buildings and to nonprofits whose garbage freebie was never authorized, the city’s inspector general concluded Wednesday.
  
  Emanuel acknowledged that he hasn’t gotten around to making the change that Inspector General Joe Ferguson proposed last summer because he was too busy making even bigger changes to the way Chicago collects its garbage.

So, you're saying it isn't a "financial emergency?" That there's plenty of time to effect changes while you piss away millions?

Clout is a horrible thing to waste:

• After any big snowfall, Chicago’s Department of Streets and Sanitation announces when the city’s major roads have been deemed “safe and clear.”
  
  Only then is City Hall supposed to free its fleet of snowplows to begin clearing side streets.
  
  That’s usually how it works — but not always, according to a Chicago Sun-Times analysis of city “Plow Tracker” data for the last two big snowstorms that shows the streets on which three aldermen live appeared to get special attention.
  
  The biggest exceptions to the rule were the visits from Streets and San crews to Ald. Edward Burke’s Southwest Side block during the 19-inch blizzard in early February and again during the lake-effect snowfall a couple of weeks ago.

Now is a good time to re-propose cutting the City Council in half, but we need someone bigger to propose it, like Kass. How about it John?

Closing In

The third place finisher endorses Chewbacca:

• After a high-stakes courtship by both candidates aimed at luring the pivotal black vote, millionaire businessman Willie Wilson has decided to endorse Jesus “Chuy” Garcia over Mayor Rahm Emanuel in the April 7 runoff.
  
  Wilson said he made the decision, as first reported on chicago.suntimes.com, based on the feedback he got from literally hundreds, if not thousands, of his supporters through emails, phone calls and his extensive network of black churches.
  
  He’s also held “three-to-five” private meetings with both Emanuel and Garcia to press his demands for both candidates to reopen at least some of the record 50 schools that Emanuel closed, eliminate red-light cameras and establish “fairness” in the awarding of city jobs and contracts.

We're pretty sure "fairness" is a foreign concept to most politicians, but Chuy's numbers must have looked better at first blush.