Thursday, April 30, 2015

NFL Fun

  • With the NFL Draft in town, Mayor Rahm Emanuel is playing municipal host this week and hoping to throw such a great lakefront party, his guests will have no choice but to do it again next year.

    On Wednesday, Emanuel put on a Bears warm-up shirt and joined NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell at a flag football clinic in Grant Park where current and former players and coaches and NFL prospects taught local kids.
You gotta keep the kids interested though:
  • During the announcement, some of the kids sat on the ground in front of the mayor and commissioner and started pulling grass out of the makeshift mini-football field.

    Twice, an index finger-waving Emanuel tried in vain to get them to stop.
Wait a minute - shouldn't these props....we mean....shouldn't these kids have been in school?

But hey, that wasn't the most interesting part of it all.Rahm spends who-knows-how-much to get the NFL GM's here, coaching staffs, sports reporters, networks, players (active and retired), and a boatload of first round picks and then this pops up:
  • Just two days before he was expected to be a first-round pick in the NFL Draft, the LSU offensive tackle was rocked by news that police in Baton Rouge, La., want to talk to him about the murder of a former girlfriend.

    According to multiple outlets, police said Collins isn’t considered a suspect in the shooting death last Friday of Brittany Mills, 29, who was pregnant and delivered a boy who lived.

    Police told the NFL Network they want to establish if Collins — who the network said hadn’t had contact with Mills since September — is the father of the child, while ESPN reported investigators want to see if Collins “can provide them with information.”
Only in Chiraq, run by the Murder Mayor and his trusty McCompStat Boy Wonder, could an out-of-state homicide overshadow such a carefully crafted script. It's like a jinx or something.

Where are the Bears drafting at?

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Oh Mope-rah

Mary "Mope-rah" Mitchell is a fact of life. We use her as a convenient foil for things. She's an ignorant, leftist, liberal (but we repeat ourselves) media troll. Not particularly talented by any stretch of the imagination, blinkered by the prejudices and hatred she brings to the table, involving perceived slights and supposedly entrenched/institutionalized biases. Unfortunately, this doesn't keep her from making a living at the Slum-Times, but as the print media dies a slow death, she probably won't be getting rich at it.

Once in a great while though, she seems to make sense. Or at least, somehow realizes that something in her narrow little world is amiss. We won't say she gets introspective because that would give her too much credit, but she comes close with this column (no link - she still doesn't deserve it):
  • They are calling it the smack heard around the world.

    When Toya Graham, a single mother of six, saw her son on the news participating in the riot that erupted in Baltimore earlier this week, she took quick action.

    Graham waded into the middle of the chaos at Mondawmin Mall where dozens of young people were engaged in an all-out riot and confronted the boy. Graham repeatedly struck him and demanded that he take off his mask.

    Graham is being praised by some as the “Mom of the Year” and condemned by others as a child abuser and partially to blame for the violence that was on full display in Baltimore this week.

    Certainly an argument can be made on both sides of this issue.
A good opening, but Mary has already missed the key issue. She states it in the second line:
  • .... a single mother of six....
There it is, right there. You want to confront the problems (or at least the main problem) in the community today, you're going to have to start with that. The so-called "post racial" president isn't about to speak to it, Eric "Americans are cowards" Holder wouldn't touch it, Jesse "got my own baby-momma drama" Jackson isn't appropriate. Pretty much no one on the left is willing to address the dissolution of the family so prevalent in this voting bloc.

Mary kind of devolves from there, citing her own turmoil with her son. But she gets a crack in about the "unarmed" Michael Brown and actually praises McJerseyShore's listening tour as "long overdue," as if cops were shooting minority youth on a daily basis instead of remembering the murder rate is up 30% this year alone and in nearly 80% of the incidents, the offender and victim are both black.

You wouldn't actually want solutions, would you?

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Homicide Rate About to Climb

  • As construction gets underway on a stretch of Oak Park Avenue on Chicago's Northwest Side, city workers may uncover thousands of bodies buried in the area.

    Many forgotten souls were buried in the Dunning neighborhood in the late 19th and early 20th century, according to cemetery researcher Barry Fleig.

    Fleig, who is the former cemetery chairman for the Chicago Genealogical Society, said beginning in 1890 up to 10,000 bodies were buried in the area. The land once housed the Cook County Almshouse, a county insane asylum, a tuberculosis hospital and a potter's field that eventually became Cook County Cemetery. There, the city buried the poor, crime victims who could not be identified, those who died at hospitals and some criminals, often without official documentation.
We expect vigorous, exhaustive investigations and prosecutions. Society insists that justice, no matter how long delayed, must be fulfilled. Maybe the clearance rate could be boosted, too?

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Nothing to See Here!

  • The U.S. economy ground nearly to a halt in the first three months of the year, according to government data released Wednesday morning, as exports plunged and severe winter weather helped keep consumers indoors.

    The gross domestic product grew between January and March at an annualized rate of 0.2 percent, the U.S. Commerce Department said, adding to the picture of an economy braking sharply after accelerating for much of last year. The pace fell well shy of the 1 percent mark anticipated by analysts and marked the weakest quarter in a year.
So that "recovery" the president and his media lackeys keep talking about? Still hasn't happened.

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Wednesday, April 29, 2015

Damning Testimony

  • Hours after police swarmed their South Chicago neighborhood when a uniformed Chicago police officer and a neighbor were gunned down, Timothy Herring told his cousin that he had killed both men, the cousin tearfully testified Tuesday.

    Meosha Menzies, now 24, is one of four female friends or family members Herring allegedly confided in after the 2010 killings of Officer Michael Flisk, 46, an evidence technician and father of four, and Stephen "Sweet Pea" Peters.

    Menzies testified reluctantly, mumbling, whispering and frequently remaining silent with her head down under questioning from Assistant State's Attorney Joe Magats, causing her testimony to stretch into two hours.

    Judge Mary Margaret Brosnahan at times repeated Menzies' inaudible answers loudly enough for a court reporter, the jury and spectators in the packed courtroom to hear.
The prosecution is using re-reading of Grand Jury testimony as the usual suspects have been trying to short-circuit the process. And it turns out that the Sheriff is holding a few other prosecution witnesses in the jail to make sure they show up in court this week. The "no-snitching" urge is still running strong in the hood.

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Baseball in Baltimogadishu

  • Amid civil unrest in Baltimore, Wednesday’s game between the White Sox and Orioles at Camden Yards has been moved to a 1:05 p.m. CT/2:05 p.m. ET start and will be closed to the public, the Orioles announced Tuesday. The game had been scheduled for Wednesday night.
This after two straight days of cancelled games and the organization locking 15,000 fans inside on Saturday night as riots spiraled outside.

On the bright side, the Sox play in front of crowds about as big as today's scheduled attendance - it'll be like having a home field advantage.

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CPS Fails Math....Again

  • The promise of cleaner schools at a lower price has turned out to be just that -- a promise.

    Chicago Public Schools’ three-year contract with Philadelphia-based Aramark to manage all school cleaning services is $22 million over budget, according to procurement and finance records obtained by WBEZ.

    Aramark has billed Chicago Public Schools $86 million for the first 11 months of its three-year contract. The first year price tag was initially set at $64 million.
But the people in charge think they're still "saving" money:
  • CPS Chief Administrative Officer Tim Cawley denied the contract was over budget.

    “No, we know we’re saving money now,” Cawley said. “There’s no question about that.”

    District officials said they may not end up paying some of the bills owed to Aramark. Still, records show, the payments made through the end of December that have been officially closed out total $71 million.
Sure - because spending $71 million on a $64 million bid is everyone's definition of "saving." And the $86 million in bills submitted? Even more "savings!"

Or at least it is in the Chicago Public Schools. We can hardly wait until they hire CPS accountants to run our pensions - we'll be rich!

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Fifty Calls, No Response

  • The full extent of the damage done by the violence and rioting in Baltimore is graphically revealed today.

    Dozens of shops, businesses and gas stations were burned and ransacked across the city as the streets were turned into a 'war zone'. Shopkeepers told Daily Mail Online that they fled in terror as looters rampaged in as they were still inside - and stole everything. A family of four had to flee their apartment above the liquor store they owned when it was set ablaze underneath them. And a gas station owner said that he had lost $53,000 after his store was ransacked. An empty ATM was smashed open during the frenzy.

    Rajneesh Nagpal, 39, was furious that he had called the police 50 times but nobody came to help him.
  • After Baltimore descended into chaos, remember that Gov. Martin O’Malley was so proud of the anti-gun law he got enacted into 2013. We have seen that Baltimore police did not or could not defend people – and O’Malley’s law makes it far more difficult for citizens to acquire the means to defend themselves.
  • The president of the Baltimore City Council apologized for calling rioters “thugs” at a press conference Tuesday, calling those responsible for the violence “misdirected” youths. Standing side-by-side with self-proclaimed gang members, Jack Young said that gang members stood in front of stores to prevent looting and retracted claims that gang members were targeting the Baltimore police.
You read that correctly - the City Council leader is standing with known gang members and apologizing to rioters. Gamgs that necessitated this being issued nationwide:



Hope and Change!

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Tuesday, April 28, 2015

McMixedMessages

  • Chicago police Superintendent Garry McCarthy said Monday he was concerned that the criminal charges against an off-duty detective involved in a fatal shooting in 2012 might cause other officers to hesitate before opening fire when they feel their lives are in danger.

    "It provides a safety hazard," McCarthy told reporters after a promotion ceremony at Navy Pier for about 100 new detectives and several captains and commanders. "And my concern was how is this going to affect policing in general in the Chicago Police Department because every single officer who's out there now might be in a position where they hesitate, and as a result, they could lose their lives."

    McCarthy said he didn't think Detective Dante Servin should have been criminally charged, but he wouldn't explain why, saying he wanted to wait until the Independent Police Review Authority, the city agency that probes police-involved shootings and officer misconduct, completes its investigation. The agency had put its probe on hold until Servin's acquittal last week on a charge of involuntary manslaughter.
But then he's going on a "listening tour," no doubt at the behest of Rahm - because guess who he's listening to?
  • Taking a page from Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s 2010 campaign playbook, Chicago Police Supt. Garry McCarthy and his top brass are going on a “listening tour.”

    McCarthy is trying to mend the strained relationship between the department and minority communities.

    The recent acquittal of Detective Dante Servin on involuntary manslaughter charges in the fatal shooting of Rekia Boyd in 2012 was the latest controversy to stoke animosity toward the police in African-American neighborhoods. Questionable police actions in other cities - from Ferguson, Missouri, to Staten Island, New York, to Baltimore - haven’t helped here, either.

    McCarthy will meet with residents and community leaders to “hear about the issues that matter most to them, address public safety and continue to build trust between the police department and the communities they serve,” the department said in a prepared statement.
You know what? That article from yesterday about the young cops throwing a football around a fucked-up vacant lot in North Lawndale - that would probably do more to alleviate the "strained relationship" than twenty McStretlight "listening tours" with all his top brass could ever hope to accomplish.

Hey Gar? Be sure you bring along Al "Dunkin" Wysinger along, the First Deputy with no actual power, who can tell the community how he wants coppers out there putting "hands on people (and folks)" and "don't worry about the lawsuits." That'll go over real well. And your Deputy of CAPS, a dead-end spot previous superintendents have managed to shoehorn embarrassing or incompetent exempts into. Otherwise your "top brass" is going to look awfully pasty.

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New Recruits

  • The Chicago police force will have two new recruits.

    Twelve-year-old Emily Beazley, who is battling cancer, and her younger sister, Olivia, will be named honorary police officers during a ceremony at headquarters Tuesday, police announced.

    Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy will do the honors at noon in the main lobby of headquarters, 3510 S. Michigan Ave., according to a statement from Chicago Police News Affairs.
Hopefully, a very special day for all. Weather looks good so far.

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In That Case....

....let it burn:


Rioter cutting a fire hose in Baltimore. We're sure there's a perfectly valid excuse for this from the left arriving any minute now....

any...

minute...

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How's That Working Out for Ya?

From Twitter:


It does, doesn't it?

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Monday, April 27, 2015

St. Jude Reminder

In addition to the usual representatives from Districts and Units, there is the Retiree Contingent:


Click for a larger image. Hope to see you all there,

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For Emily

Help make a little girl's dream come true:
  • TUESDAY 28 APR
    1200hrs
    Lobby of HQ, 35/Michigan

    Honorary Chicago Police Officer ceremony for Emily Beazley (age 12) and Olivia Beazley (age 8)

    Dress blues are encouraged but not necessary. If people come in civilian dress we ask they were either purple or green- Emily's colors. The family will arrive at 1150hrs and I ask people arrive with enough time to secure parking and get into the building, lining the star case walls.

    Emily has terminal cancer, she has been bravely fighting this for four years. She received a stem cell transplant from her sister Olivia in August. Sadly she relapsed at Christmas and has exhausted all treatment options, becoming chemo resistant and has entered hospice care this week.

    Further info for Emily: www.emilysentourage.com
Special Events is supposed to be sending out some info and there might be last minute changes.

(comments closed here - informational purposes only)

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Some Good Publicity

  • It’s not something people regularly see, which perhaps explains why a photo of three Chicago Police officers playing football with a few kids on a vacant lot in North Lawndale has gone viral on social media.

    Four young Chicago cops were on foot patrol April 14 in the North Lawndale neighborhood when they came across a group of kids playing in a grassy lot at Roosevelt and Albany.

    “Some kids were tossing a ball around, and they asked if we wanted to play with them,” said officer Pete Kalenik, 30. “So we just got out there and tossed the ball around.”
A couple of photos at the link - we're assuming these are the Foot Patrols in North Lawndale. Even our cynical old asses remember what it was like when we first arrived on the job. It gets harder and harder to hold on to that idealism and realistically, we look forward to the sunset of the career in the not too distant future. But it's good to see this, even now.

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Baltimore Inanity

  • Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake and a coalition of two dozen interdenominational leaders issued a "call for peace" Sunday after 35 people were arrested and six police officers were injured in protests over the death of Freddie Gray.

    The Police Department in the afternoon released a list of the names of the 31 adults arrested, omitting those of the four juveniles.

    Despite police Commissioner Anthony W. Batts' insistence that a minority of out-of-town instigators caused the violence, online court records Sunday showed that only three of those arrested during Saturday's protests were from outside Maryland.

    "While the vast majority of arrests reflect local residency, the total number of arrests does not account for every incident of criminal activity," police said. "The Baltimore Police Department believes that outside agitators continue to be the instigators behind acts of violence and destruction."
Kind of an east coast take on "crime is down" we guess, and all these "outside agitators" are actually home-grown thugs, using an event to carry out looting and pillaging.
  • Protests over the death of Freddie Gray, who died in police custody, took a violent turn on Saturday, resulting in dozens of arrests and widespread property damage. During a recent press conference, Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake confirmed that the protesters were being given “space” to “destroy.”

    “While we tried to make sure that they were protected from the cars and the other things that were going on,” the mayor said of the protesters. “We also gave those who wished to destroy space to do that as well. And we work very hard to keep that balance and to put ourselves in the best position to deescalate, and that’s what you saw.”
Wow. She's effectively surrendered a portion of the streets to violent people bent on destruction. How would you like to be a homeowner or business person in the area that has been designated as a lawless "destruction zone" without even the option of dialing 9-1-1 for help? Better hope you have a gun....oh wait, it's Maryland - no guns for you!

So you're at the mercy of the mob to whom the mayor has relinquished the streets.

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Sunday, April 26, 2015

Lose the Stickers

A bit of advice in one of the comment sections this weekend:
  • The F. O. P. medallions, police hat bands, police memorial plates, all serve one purpose in this day in age. They make you a target at the worst time, when you're off duty.
And if you're parked somewhere away from your car, it makes the car the subject of spit, flats, keys, or busted windows. We hear a story almost weekly now about someone's parked car getting fucked up. It's a sad state, but you've seen what's going on in this country. You are a target by dint of the uniform you wear and by the decals and such you display on your property.

Take the necessary precautions.

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Another Cop Shot At

  • Two men have been charged after gunshots were fired toward an off-duty Chicago Police officer Thursday night in the Humboldt Park neighborhood on the West Side.

    Gustavo VillaGomez, 27, and Kevin Martinez, 20, both face one count of aggravated assault of a peace officer with a weapon, a felony, according to a statement from Chicago Police. VillaGomez was also cited for driving on a revoked license and Martinez was on bond for a previous firearm-related charge.

    About 10:55 p.m. Thursday, the off-duty officer was at a red light in his personal vehicle in the 2600 block of West Division when an SUV approached on the passenger side and people inside yelled gang slogans at him, police said.

    He identified himself as a Chicago Police officer and began to drive away, when the SUV followed and its occupants fired shots in his direction, police said. No one was injured.
Gee, out on a previous gun charge? Anita, you want to chime in on that one?

Twice in two days...be very very careful.

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Nice Neighborhood...Sort Of

  • Logan Square has long been known for its public art projects and, more recently, for its trendy restaurants and bustling bars.

    Lately, it’s also become one of the city’s hot spots for murder.

    There have been five killings so far this year in the Northwest Side neighborhood. That puts Logan Square in a four-way tie with North Lawndale, Roseland and South Shore for the third-most murders this year among Chicago’s 77 official community areas.

    The only areas with more murders this year: Austin, with seven, and West Englewood, with six.

    Over the past decade, it’s taken a full year, on average, for Logan Square to see as many killings as it already has this year in less than four months.

    That’s come as a shock to many in a community with a reputation as relatively safe.
Not exactly the shithole it was back in the 1970's, so what's the issue?

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Saturday, April 25, 2015

Thanks for the Advice Al

First Deputy talking smack at CompStat:
  • This is kind of important. The first deputy got up at Compstat today and more or less told us to have our troops ignore the contact card lawsuit and keep " putting hands on people". That getting sued is part of "putting on the uniform". Perhaps you could get a transcript of this over promoted moron's statement, although I'm sure it's been heavily redacted after the supe heard what this buffoon said.  
Not "Do the right thing," or "Do the proper thing," or "Let's make sure our people are following procedures." Nope, it's all about "putting hands on people" and don't worry about being sued.

Sorry Al, it isn't the 1980's any more. It isn't even the 1990's.

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Standoff Ends Peacefully

  • A standoff on Chicago's Northwest Side ended Friday evening after nearly six hours.

    The incident began when police say they received a call around 9:30 a.m. Friday reporting of an intruder/suspicious person inside a home in the 6300-block of Roscoe in the city's Portage Park neighborhood.

    Police say officers responding to the scene made contact with a female occupant of the residence and while talking to her, a male occupant was heard inside, possibly needing medical attention. Officers attempting to gain access into the house were confronted by a man armed with a crossbow.

    The Chicago Police SWAT unit responded and were able to convince the female occupant to exit the home.
The other occupant surrendered later. But in this era of second-guessing and attacking the police for decisions that they make in an instant, it deserves special note when calm professionalism carries the day, and too often isn't noted.

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Shots Fired at Off-Duty

  • Police were questioning several people Friday afternoon after shots were fired at an off-duty officer in the South Shore neighborhood.

    About 4:15 p.m., the officer was in his personal vehicle in the 7600 block of South South Chicago when someone fired shots in his direction, police said.

    The officer did not return fire and no one was injured, police said.

    Area Central detectives were questioning several suspects in connection with the shooting. Additional details were not immediately available.
Be aware ladies and gentlemen. Bad things can happen anywhere any time.

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No Street Vans, But This?

  • Authorities were investigating after a dog was left in a Chicago Animal Care and Control vehicle for "several days" following an adoption event, a source told NBC Chicago.

    "Missy" reportedly was with several other dogs at a Chicago Wolves hockey game but was "having problems" and had to be removed, the source said.

    While the other dogs were adopted, Missy apparently was never removed from the van. When a volunteer found her Thursday night in a van parked in a city lot about a mile away from the CACC building, on the 2700 block of Western Avenue, she was "barely alive," the source said.
Most days, hell, most nights (and almost all weekends) there's one single van up and available for dozens of calls about strays, bites or deceased animals and no one at all for search warrants.

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Friday, April 24, 2015

Anita's Political Calculation

  • Getting caught with a small amount of marijuana would result in a fine instead of arrest under a measure the Illinois House approved Thursday.

    Low-level cannabis possession would go from a crime with fines of up to $2,500 and up to a year in jail to be more like a traffic ticket: no court time and a fine of up to $125. The measure would apply to people caught with 15 grams or less, the equivalent of about 25 cigarette-size joints.
The street corner dealer is thisclose to being a ticket rather than a CB number.

And why is Anita jumping in with both feet?
  • Alvarez is not leading a charge here. In fact, she's late to the parade. That was the subtext of the curt statement issued by Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle: "I am pleased to see that the state's attorney has finally recognized what many of us have been saying for years — that our failed drug policies are resulting in the unnecessary detention and incarceration of thousands of people, primarily young men of color, who are accused of non-violent low-level drug offenses each year."

    It's no secret that Preckwinkle wants her chief of staff, Kimberly Foxx, to run against Alvarez next year. Preckwinkle believes Alvarez has been too focused on prosecution rather than alternatives such as ... what Alvarez announced Monday.
There's that black-and-brown thing again. Maybe if black or brown people didn't smoke it on the corners or in their cars no one would care as much? It certainly wouldn't attract the attention it does if you're doing it in your basement or out in your yard or anywhere the police don't have a duty to be. That simple act alone would cut weed arrests by 50% overnight we bet. Carry ID and sign the ticket, you're looking at an even bigger reduction in physical arrests, and that's just an informal survey.

Not surprised to see Anita playing politics though. You can bet the reverends are ramping up for the next primary after the Servin verdict this week.

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Mom Does Right Thing

  • A woman who boarded a CTA train in Oak Park on Monday afternoon was brutally beaten and sexually assaulted by a 15-year-old boy, Cook County prosecutors said Thursday.

    The entire incident on the eastbound Blue Line train was captured on CTA video that clearly showed middle school student DeShawn Isabelle’s face, prosecutors said.

    Isabelle’s mother recognized him from surveillance photos released publicly by the CTA after the attack, confronted her son and then took him to authorities Wednesday morning, according to Assistant State’s Attorney Joe DiBella.
But then, some habits die hard:
  • Following the bond hearing at the Leighton Criminal Court Building, Isabelle’s mother declined to comment but later began shouting at DiBella as he read the prosecution's version of the case in front of TV news cameras.

    “Don’t talk that (expletive) about my child,” she said, before being told to leave by a sheriff’s deputy. “Quit talking all of that (expletive) on the (expletive) news.”
Oh well.

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Technology

Someone sent us this link - sounds interesting:
  • Researchers in Poland have developed a liquid that’s super-light and flexible... until you shoot a bullet at it that is. Upon impact, their specially designed 'shear-thickening fluid', or STF, turns into a solid that's reportedly not just more comfortable than Kevlar - the most widely used material in bulletproof armour - but also offers even better protection against bullets and other projectiles.

    Created by the Moratex Institute of Security Technologies, the liquid is what's known as a non-Newtonian fluid. Unlike regular Newtonian fluids like water, which only change their structure according to temperature or pressure fluctuations, non-Newtonian fluids change their viscosity under stress. In other words, they can quickly change from liquid to rock-hard solid when they're hit with something forceful, like a stray bullet, for example.

    Right now, Kevlar bulletproof vests do a good job of blocking bullets, but the close-fitting material that saves your life can also warp inwards up to four centimetres upon impact, which can greatly injure, and even kill, the wearer, the deputy director of Moratex, Marcin Struszczyk, told Reuters.

    "Thanks to the properties of the liquid, thanks to the proper formation of the insert, we eliminate one hundred percent of this threat because we have reduced the deflection from four centimetres to one centimetre," he added, referring to their new liquid.
Video here:



Might even be marketed before we retire.

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Thursday, April 23, 2015

No More Red Light Cameras!

Except in Chicago (and other "home rule" cities):
  • The Illinois House on Wednesday approved a measure that would ban red light cameras in about 35 communities outside of Chicago, even as supporters pointed to flaws in the city's program as reason to do away with the much-loathed devices.

    The legislation would make the cameras illegal in municipalities that are not home rule — generally towns with a population of less than 25,000 — starting in 2017.
And a reminder of the usual Chicago shenanigans:
  • ...the cameras were rigged against drivers, nodding to Chicago Tribune stories showing that Chicago's camera program failed to deliver on safety claims and that the city's yellow light intervals are dangerously short and out of step with national standards. The long-running Tribune investigation also has illustrated how tens of thousands of drivers were unfairly ticketed because of questionable enforcement and failed oversight.

    In addition, the Tribune's reporting triggered a federal investigation into allegations that the Chicago camera program was tied to a $2 million bribery scheme. The alleged bagman in the scheme has pleaded guilty to bribery charges. A grand jury also indicted the former CEO of the since-fired vendor, Redflex Traffic Systems, and the longtime city manager who oversaw the program.

    That former manager, John Bills, was a longtime top precinct captain for Democratic House Speaker Michael Madigan.

Just another argument for the discontinuation of "home rule" type laws that create two separate sets of standards.

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6 More Shot

  • A 4-year-old girl was one of at least 6 people hurt Wednesday in separate shootings on the South, Far South and West sides, officials said.

    In the latest shooting, the girl was shot in the arm and was taken to Comer Children's Hospital where the child's condition had stabilized, according to Chicago Fire Department officials and Chicago police.

    The shooting happened at about 8:15 p.m. on the 5900 block of South Peoria Street, police said.

    The shooting happened inside a home and the child appeared to have been accidentally shot by a family member, police said citing preliminary information. Two guns were recovered from the home.
She might even keep full use of the arm.

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Wednesday, April 22, 2015

Contact Card Lawsuit

  • A group of six black men has filed a federal lawsuit against the city of Chicago, Police Supt. Garry McCarthy, and 14 unnamed police officers, alleging so-called “stop and frisk” procedures are unconstitutional.

    Rev. Paul Jakes, a politically active minister, said African Americans in some neighborhoods suffer mistreatment similar to apartheid-era South Africa; as they are stopped and checked for papers, even if they are doing nothing wrong.

    Civil rights attorney Anthony Romanucci has filed a federal lawsuit on behalf of six black men — Darnell Smith, Darren Nathan, Gregory Davis, Jeff Coleman, Phillip Overton, and Marque Ross — challenging the Police Department’s use of “stop and frisk” tactics. The men claim they were stopped and frisked without any probable cause, or reasonable suspicion that a crime had been committed.
It'd be interesting to see the IR numbers of those plaintiffs...and their full records. We're sure the lawyers didn't cherry-pick those with the cleanest records...not at all. And we're sure that every single one of those 250,000 stops resulted in an involuntary detention, a frisking, and whatever other nonsense the attorneys can dream up.

Of course, it wouldn't be a Chicago lawsuit without some statistical nonsense included:
  • The ACLU said African-Americans have been singled out for such searches, and the justification for such stops often fails to meet constitutional standards.

    African-Americans accounted for approximately 72 percent of those stopped, while the city’s population is only 32 percent black, according to the ACLU report. Hispanics and whites made up 17 percent and 9 percent of the stops, respectively, while they make up 29 percent and 32 percent of the population, respectively.
But then this kind of blows a hole in the ACLU position (via HeyJackass.com - victim and offender):


But hey, police are the enemy.

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Never the Full Story

We've refrained from commenting on the recent acquittal in the Servin case for one simple reason - everything published by the media is probably wrong in some way, shape or form. The media has become the mob, spouting untruths, lies and instigating violence at a supposedly "unjust" verdict. Then weeks later, something comes up that destroys the narrative, but you'll seldom, if ever, see a correction or retraction.

Example A: Ferguson. Everything the "man on the street" knows is demonstrably false by the evidence and facts. We could even go further back involving any sort of made up racial animus (Zimmerman) or sexism (Rolling Stone at UVa) or ignorance of policy (Cleveland, NYPD, etc). The anti-police, anti-gun, anti-whatever attitude that claims the message is more important than the facts, regardless of who gets destroyed on the altar of political correctness for the leftist cause.

You can see it even a few weeks ago - the Scott shooting in South Carolina. Cut and dried - white cop shoots unarmed black man, right? The left finally has a case that they can run around and shout, "This one is true, so everything else we've alleged over the past must be true, too!" So cut and dry that the media isn't even covering it any more. Is that because of this?


That's a screen capture seconds before the copper shot, and that's a green shirted individual on top of the cop. That's kind of a big deal and puts the entire incident in a different light.

Or this?

See the Taser wire? Wrapped around the cop's leg? Or this one?


Taser wire running to the cops chest? Kind of means the reports of the cop being disarmed and shot with his own Taser might have some merit. And someone who can take your Taser can take your gun. It also means he's an elevated threat if he's (A) been on top of you and (B) has one of your weapons. Additionally, the guy who shot the video related this:
  • Feidin Santana, the witness to the event who recorded it on his cellphone, has come forth claiming the Scott and Slager were in a “struggle on the ground” prior to the shooting
Does that excuse the final shooting sequence? We have no idea...and neither does anyone else. It makes it more understandable. It clarifies the reasoning behind the actions taken. It also makes the howls for murder charges more ridiculous.

Back to the Servin case. Today, experienced defense attorneys, people who aren't going to buying tickets to the Policeman's Ball any time soon, relate that the judge got it correct:
  • Several longtime criminal-defense attorneys interviewed by the Tribune backed the decision by Porter as the right call, saying the veteran judge has a reputation at the Leighton Criminal Court Building for a sharp legal mind and a willingness to make unpopular rulings.

    Attorney Richard Kling, a professor at IIT Chicago-Kent College of Law, said he has never had a client who fired a gun into a crowd and killed someone face involuntary manslaughter charges.

    "It's a gutsy ruling," said attorney Steve Greenberg, who represented former Bolingbrook police Sgt. Drew Peterson at his high-profile murder trial. "It's either self-defense or you've committed a murder. It's definitely not a reckless act."

    Greenberg said the decision to charge Servin with involuntary manslaughter may have been a political one, with prosecutors unwilling to charge a police detective with murder, which carries a minimum 45-year sentence on conviction.
So pardon our lack of coverage. Everyone reading knows that the usual suspects are going to use this case as yet another bludgeon to beat the Department with. Pfather Pfleger has already been quoted extensively in the news while his parish averages somewhere around a shooting every 48-hours, none of which are by the police. There are others and will be more.

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ET Cross Training?

This would appear to be a Contract violation if true:
  • in case all you ET hopefuls aren't aware be careful what you wish for. All future promoted ETs (happening very soon) will have to sign off agreeing that they won't grieve NOT BEING PAID D3 pay for performing the work of forensic investigator. I guess several current ETs are grieving not getting their out of grade pay (sound familiar acting desk sgts?) for doing s*^t the Crime Lab guys usually do. New ETs are going to be cross trained and responsible for a ton more things. Add the new ETs to the "do more for less" category. Can you say NOT WORTH IT??? Let me know when our useless "union" gets us D2A pay for ET then maybe Ill take it. D2???? NO EFFIN' WAY
The FOP managed to lose the initial Desk Sergeant grievance. The PBPA lost the DSS grievance when the city claimed it was allowed to "redefine" the duties of sergeants and pretty much make the lieutenant a useless position. We'd bet that the city will fall back on that successful strategy of "redefining" the duties in order to pay the lower rate.

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"I Got The Message Chicago"

Remember when Rahm said he'd try to be a better mayor, he'd listen more, that the runoff had actually made him humble? It was like a few weeks ago, right?
  • City cameras have caught the mayor's motorcade running red lights again. This time, they recorded Mayor Rahm Emanuel's security detail going the wrong way down a city street.

    The mayor has repeatedly promised to put the brakes on his drivers, and repeatedly, they haven't stopped for red lights. Now, city cameras have captured an even more dangerous situation.

    On March 21 at 11:45 a.m., one of the two cars that squires Mayor Emanuel around the city not only ran a red light, but it then proceeded to drive on the wrong side of the street, passing several stopped cars in a construction zone. The SUV zooms past eight cars until it's out of camera range.
There's video at the link, pretty blatant, too. So much for that promise we suppose.

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Tuesday, April 21, 2015

Logical Conclusion

So since there are no more weed prosecutions and soon there won't be any more prosecutions for "recreational" heroin, cocaine and ecstasy, are we going to see some new faces in the Districts? Obviously, there isn't a need for all that manpower at the west side Black Site. You can only keep so many torturers on staff and then you're just being redundant. We could use the help in the District.

It's obvious that this is considered a money-saver on some level, so why not save a boatload of money? Is Anita planning on a few dozen, maybe a few hundred ASA's getting laid off? Less prosecutions means less connected lawyers drawing a check, right? You can just have a legal secretary or some first year law student swing into the courtroom and Nolle Pros the entire batch of arrestees.

Maybe the lawyers can all become substance abuse counselors.

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Fran's Hypocrisy

Following Burge breaking his silence in a statement posted on Martin Preib's blog, the liberal media immediately went on the offensive again with a predictable piece by Rahm's favorite sack-warmer Fran Spielman. Burge refused to talk to her but verified the statement was his, so she dredged up extensive quotes from the wrongfully cleared murderers. It's such an obvious piece of yellow journalism and Martin Preib once again rips the media tools a new one:
  • Dear Fran,

    About your recent article on Jon Burge’s statement condemning city reparations to exonerated offenders.

    The first word in the title of your article was “Disgraced.”

    Burge’s statement mentions two cases, Anthony Porter and Madison Hobley. In your article, you do not discuss them, though Burge points to them as examples of rampant corruption in the wrongful conviction movement.

    It’s clear why you wouldn’t want to bring attention to them.
He then proceeds to administer yet another beating to the media who out-and-out refuse to confront the flagrant liberal bias and criminal complicity in the efforts to free murderers and to jail an innocent man for a decade.

But you know the media - circle the wagons to protect the big story....the story too big to check, too big to not be true.

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Forty Shot?

Another chilly spring weekend in Chicago and 40 people managed to get shot (6 died) according to the HeyJackass.com website (if we're reading it correctly.)

Of the 40, one was a police involved shooting, which we don't think should count. Another was the Concealed Carrier shooting, which we also think shouldn't be counted. If it wasn't in the commission of a crime, it tends to skew the stats - although, in light of nearly 600 people shot this year (and a 25% increase in homicides as of yesterday), we don't suppose it amounts to anything more than a rounding error at the end of the year.

Remember, crime is down!

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Is This a Surprise?

  • The man who robbed Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel's son is now charged with drug possession in another incident.

    Chicago police arrested Phillip Payne, 18, after officials said they found 15 grams of crack cocaine on him on April 5 in the Uptown neighborhood. He is charged with felony drug possession and criminal trespassing.

    Payne, who is out on $10,000 bail, goes back to court on Wednesday.

    Payne pleaded guilty to robbing Zach Emanuel in December. He was 17 at the time.

    Officials said he's been arrested twice since turning 18.
Maybe he gives up the other guy now?

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Monday, April 20, 2015

Concealed Carrier

The Tribune initially buried this one in the middle of their report on 18 shootings overnight Saturday (crime is down!):
  • About 11:50 p.m. Friday, a 22-year-old man was shot by another man in the 2900 block of North Milwaukee Avenue in Logan Square. Police would not provide details surrounding the shooting but described the 22-year-old man as an "offender," and said he was shot by a 47-year-old man after he pointed a gun at the 47-year-old. The 22-year-old was taken to an area hospital where his condition stabilized. Police said the 22-year-old man was in custody early Saturday.
  • As Custodio was allegedly opening fire on the crowd Friday, an Uber driver with a concealed-carry permit picked up his own firearm and shot Custodio multiple times, according to prosecutors and court records.

    The Uber driver, a 47-year-old Little Italy resident, has a firearm owner's identification card and acted in self-defense and the defense of others, Assistant State's Attorney Barry Quinn said Sunday in bond court.

    No charges have been filed against the Uber driver, police said.

    The incident began about 11:50 p.m. Friday in the 2900 block of North Milwaukee Avenue in Logan Square, Quinn said.
    The Uber driver was parked on the east side of the street, while Custodio was on the west side, he said.

    A group of people were walking in front of the Uber driver on his side of the street when Custodio suddenly began firing at them, causing them to scatter, Quinn said.

    The Uber driver then pulled out a gun and fired six rounds at Custodio, striking him multiple times, according to court records.
A few dozen more of these and crime might really be down, eh Garry?

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We Give Up

  • Cook County State's Attorney Anita Alvarez will hold a news conference Monday to announce reforms to low-level drug offenses, including dismissal of all future misdemeanor marijuana cases, a spokeswoman said Sunday.

    "If someone is caught with a misdemeanor amount of marijuana, the state's attorney's office will no longer prosecute that case," Alvarez spokeswoman Sally Daly said. This program will be for people with less than three arrests or citations, she said.

    The announcement, scheduled for 10:15 a.m. at the state's attorney's office, is part of the sweeping overhaul that will also address how the office prosecutes small amounts of recreational drugs including Ecstasy, cocaine and heroin.

    Alvarez is expected to detail the creation of an alternative prosecution program aimed at diverting nonviolent, repeat drug offenders out of the criminal justice system, her office said in a news release Sunday afternoon. The program, designed for those charged with Class 4 felony possession — currently punishable by up to a $25,000 fine or one to three years in prison, or both — will attempt to address chronic drug use and addiction as a public health issue. Repeat offenders are expected to be linked with social service agencies for treatment rather than face criminal penalties.
When you reward bad behavior, you get more of it. If we're around in a few years, we may revisit this and note the upward trend in so called "recreational usage" of weed and harder narcotics under the Alvarez regime.

How about following the Law as written? And if you don't like it, stop being a Dart and work to change the Law instead of unilaterally disregarding it. Who does she think she is? Obama?

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Hardly a Ringing Endorsement

From the comments:
  • All the Lieutenants in 005 bid out except 1...yep the 10 hour days are great
When the white shirts bid out, something is definitely wrong.

And probably another reason that the Department won't open citywide bids.

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    Sunday, April 19, 2015

    This Looks Painful

    Ouch:


    • Two police officers and three others were injured in a rollover crash on the West Side early Friday.

      The accident happened in the 3400 block of West Congress in the East Garfield Park neighborhood at 12:10 a.m., police said.

      A police squad SUV was heading north on Homan when it was struck by a black car heading west on Congress, police said. The crash caused the SUV to flip onto its roof.
    Officers were reportedly in good condition, but a wreck like that...wow. Best wishes for a speedy recovery.

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    DNA Catches Attacker

    • A rape suspect was linked by DNA to a daylight attack on an off-duty Chicago police officer who was jogging in a Northwest Side park but was able to fight him off, Cook County prosecutors said Friday.

      Rolando "Cortez" Cortes, 21, was arrested Thursday on the new charge at Cook County Jail, where he has been held without bail for the last 14 months on charges he kidnapped and sexually assaulted another woman as she left a health club in the same area, prosecutors said.

      "I find you a danger to the community," Judge Donald Panarese Jr. told Cortes on Friday as he ordered him held without bail as well on the new charge of sexual abuse.

      The female officer, then 39, was jogging on the Sauganash Park bike path in the 5800 block of North Rogers Avenue about 2:45 p.m. on Aug. 29, 2013, when Cortes grabbed her neck from behind, said Assistant State's Attorney Sarah Karr.

      The two struggled and fell down an embankment into bushes. Cortes fondled the woman over her clothes, Karr said. The officer screamed and tried to push him off her, but he repeatedly punched her about the head to try to silence her, she said.

      The officer dug her nails into Cortes' eyes and grabbed his genitals, causing him to run away, Karr said. The officer tried to chase after him, but her hair had become tangled in a bush.
    A harrowing experience to be sure. But over 18 months to find a DNA match? And he was waiting in County for 14 of those months. Is the ISP Lab still that backed up? Something has to change over there.

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    School Scandal Deepens

    • Chicago Public Schools chief Barbara Byrd-Bennett is taking a paid leave of absence in the face of a federal investigation that subpoenas show is taking a broad approach in its search for information about the district's decision to award a $20.5 million no-bid contract.

      Chicago Board of Education Vice President Jesse Ruiz, an attorney and former chairman of the Illinois State Board of Education, was appointed interim CEO. Ruiz and school board President David Vitale were among officials that voted 6-0 in 2013 to approve a contract to the SUPES Academy training organization that is at the heart the federal inquiry.

    We don't know what you think, but it is our experience that people don't take "leaves" unless the feds have them dead-bang. In fact, the feds don't usually announce investigations unless they're hoping to get someone to talk in the face of an upcoming dead-bang indictment.

    You have to love the fact that the next two guys in charge also voted for this crooked ass deal.

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    Saturday, April 18, 2015

    Police Shooting

    • A male was shot by Chicago Police officers Friday night in the South Shore neighborhood.

      The shooting happened about 11 p.m. near East 74th Street and South Merrill Avenue, according to preliminary information from police.

      Grand Crossing District tactical officers on patrol in the area of East 71st Street and South Paxton Avenue heard shots fired and saw a vehicle speeding away from the area, police Deputy Chief Dana Alexander told reporters at the scene.

      The officers gave chase and, near 74th and Merrill, a male bailed from the vehicle with a weapon in his hand, Alexander said.

      The officers ordered him to drop the weapon, but instead he turned around and pointed the gun at them, Alexander said. The officers fired two shots, striking the male.
    Weapon recovered and cops okay - well done Officers.

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    Lots of Changes

    Pretty much the biggest list anyone has seen in years:
    • Lieutenants to XO's
      • A. Escamilla from 007 to 014
      • P. Kwasinski from 010 to 012
      • P. Kane from 018 to 006
      • P. Bauer from 059 to 018
      • R. Blisset from 241 to 007
      • R. Darlin from OCD to 022
    • Lieutenants to Acting Commanders
      • B. Deenihan to IAD
    • Captain to Acting Commanders
      • R. Cesario from Central Investigations to 019
      • C. Lott from 018 to 020
      • M. Buslic from 014 to 014
      • R. Nieves from 012 to 024
      • E. Kulbida from 007 to 012
      • G. Devereaux from 006 to 018
    • Lateral Commanders
      • E. Voulgaris from 019 to Bureau of Patrol
      • K. Duffin from 020 to Area North
      • T. Waldera from 024 to OCD
      • G. Yamashiroya from Area North to Youth
    • Is this a demotion?
      • M. Staples from Cmdr 012 to XO Patrol North
    • Commander to Deputy Chief
      • W. Dunn from 018 to Area Central
    A lot of heavy there.  And a lot of nonsense spots. There so much fat and redundancy at the top, if this Department were a ship, it'd tip over in a strong breeze. 

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    10 Hour Day Survey (UPDATE)

    Patrol released this reminders for feedback on the pilot program:


    Using your PC# keeps the trolls from answering the survey. So you have 005 and Area South Saturation evaluating this thing. First up, you really shouldn't have a phone call unit answering this survey:
    • they run two shifts, so there isn't the overlap that will short an actual watch equipment
    • we just love how they promise the results will be released to ensure transparency - like the J-Fled survey
    • it's a phone call unit answering a survey logged under their PC# - they're expected to answer honestly? In Chicago? When they can be dumped at a moment's notice?
    • who is actually watching? Does the FOP have a rep monitoring the inbox? Who's to say the answers released are actually the answers submitted?
    Everyone knows McCarthy wants this. He has threatened people to get on board or get out. He has stated at CompStat words to the effect of "You see who won the election? I'm not going anywhere." So he most likely has Rahm's blessing to continue destroying the Department.

    Where's the part about FOP members getting to vote on the 10-hour day proposal...like last time they changed the schedule. We had a voice. Now? No one knows. And they're going to use the input of a single district of 300 officers along with a phone call unit to stick the 10-hour day down the throats (or up the asses) of 9,000?

    We sense big problems ahead.

    UPDATE: Does anyone actually think a Unit does a 10-hour day? Please.

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    Not Just One List of Cr's Released

    Two lists.

    On 09 April, a list was released pursuant to the lawsuit "Jamie Kalven v City of Chicago Police Department 15 CH 03492"  According to the e-mail this list covered March 2015 back to March 2011

    On 24 April, the Department will release another list covering 13 April 2011 to 13 April 2015. This case is limited to a four year stretch due to a decision in the case titled "FOP Chicago Lodge No. 7 et al v City of Chicago and Chicago Police Department."

    No idea what they're fishing for, but the labor organizations for each rank are supposed to have a copy of the lists upon release.

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    Friday, April 17, 2015

    Burge Speaks

    • In an exclusive statement to the Conviction Project, former Chicago Police Commander Jon Burge responds to the decision by the Chicago City Council to establish a reparations fund for exonerated offenders.
    Nine paragraphs - a quick read. We won't even try to excerpt it. Head over to Preib's site and read it. Then you can come back here and comment - Burge summarizes the lies the media keeps reporting and the fabrications told by the convicted.

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    Hey Mark Brown?

    Go f#$% yourself, too - a completely craptacular article by a clown - we sample it below:
    • The convergence of three separate police department scandals at one City Council meeting Wednesday could be explained by more than Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s desire to tidy up old business before he starts a new term.

      A line can be drawn from the Jon Burge police torture cases to police mishandling of the David Koschman death investigation to the fatal shooting of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald, who was shot 16 times by a police officer whose actions were caught on videotape.

      I’m not saying it’s a straight line, but you don’t need a particularly broad brush to connect the dots.
    But there you are with your broad brush, painting by the numbers.
    • A Police Department that would look the other way with detectives torturing suspects to get confessions is the same type of department that would pin the death of a nobody suburban kid at the hand of a clouted mayor’s nephew on the dead suburban kid.
    Except no one was looking the other way about torture - it didn't happen. There hasn't ever been a shred of proof that it did. You can't prove a negative, but the media seems to miss that.
    • I see a common thread of a longstanding police culture that allows some of its personnel to operate above or outside the law, fitting the evidence to the desired outcome, and that circles the wagons when someone goes too far or simply slips up.

      For all of the emphasis Wednesday on the city finally closing a sad chapter in its history with the creation of the torture reparations fund, I would suggest nothing is behind us until we see that larger picture and address it.
    Which no one in the media has ever been willing to do. Who was in charge of hte State's Attorneys office at the time? Oh yeah, Shortshanks. Who approved or disapproved these cases going forward based on evidence presented to them by the detectives? Oh yeah, Shortshanks. Who appointed via a crooked "merit" process and promoted people into positions of power, those who could steer an investigation that touched the royal family of Chicago? Shortshanks again. Do you see where this is leading? Or are you willfully blind once again?
    • Part of that larger picture may be a public that for too long didn’t take the torture allegations seriously, chalking it up as the cost of doing business for police officers battling criminal elements whose welfare was no concern of our own.

      That dates back to when this was still a predominantly white city and those suspects were nearly all African-Americans.
    You know who else was Black Mark? The fucking victims. The ones who couldn't speak. The ones that cried out from the graves for some sort of justice. Not to mention their family members, those left behind, who had to bury their family members.
    • The mayor deserves credit for the city “owning up to its responsibility” for the Burge torture era that he called a “stain on the history of this city and its reputation.”

      But we won’t get the “closure” he seeks until we recognize the stain runs deeper.
    You think that maybe some introspection is in order? Maybe a mirror so the media can look at themselves as they report lie after mis-characterization after false construct? The stain on Chicago media runs as deep or deeper than any stain on the city - the media is supposed to be the fourth-estate, the even-handed watchdog, not the lapdog that sniffs its masters ass and licks his hand.

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    Hey Spike?

    • If filmmaker Spike Lee plans to call his next movie “Chiraq” — an inner-city tale of black-on-black violence filmed in Englewood — he might want to think twice about asking taxpayers to kick in a multimillion dollar tax break, Ald. Will Burns said.

      On Wednesday, the South Side alderman asked Lee’s representatives at a meeting with the Illinois Film Office and city department of special events about how much of a tax break the Amazon Studios production hopes to collect.

      “They said $3 million,” Burns (4th) said. “I said, 'You recognize that by seeking public support that gives us a seat at the table.' They had no response to that.”
    Seat at the table? Screw that - tell him to take his movie and pound sand.

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    Thursday, April 16, 2015

    Another Investigation?

    • Federal authorities are investigating Chicago Public Schools CEO Barbara Byrd-Bennett and a $20.5 million contract the district awarded on a no-bid basis to a training academy that formerly employed her, sources said.

      The CPS inspector general's office began an investigation into the contract with north suburban-based SUPES Academy and Byrd-Bennett's relationship to the company in 2013, a source said. The U.S. attorney's office then started its own probe, and a grand jury has been reviewing evidence for at least a year, the source said.

      CPS officials have discussed the possibility of appointing an interim CEO depending on the outcome of the investigation, a source said. Byrd-Bennett, who was appointed by Mayor Rahm Emanuel in October 2012, attended a regularly scheduled meeting at CPS headquarters Wednesday and remains in her post.
    For such a "squeaky clean" guy who promised reform and a break with the past corruption, he sure seems to have a lot of people committing felonies under his nose...just like the bad old days.

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    Changes Coming

    For real.

    Friday.

    Unless Garry jumps the gun and releases them today.

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    If You Could Do it All Again...

    • The fourth annual Police officer job satisfaction survey results are in. This year the results are stunning. The majority of cops report they wish they had become firefighters.

      [...] This year for the first time in nearly twenty years, the majority of officers when asked “if you had it to do over would you still seek a career in police work” said no. Nearly 66% of respondents indicated they wish they had not become cops.

      A follow up question for persons saying they wish they sought a different career path was “if you had it to do over what other career path would you pick”. 80% of the respondents who answered this question indicated “Firefighter”.
    Everyone is happy when the fire department shows up - they're usually there to save your stuff. When we show up, someone is likely going to jail. If not, we don't usually bring good news. Nationally, police procedures and policies are under attack and being second guessed like never before. People with zero understanding of how and why laws, rules and methods are in place expect miracles where miracles are seldom to be found.

    In light of recent events, this can't be viewed as surprising by anyone with a brain.

    Just an FYI to readers - Rule #7 still applies. We're allowed to bitch about the job.

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    Interesting

    No wonder Illinois is going broke:


    Rahm can't even lease Illinois trucks.

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    From the Files of "Duh...."

    • For Illinois residents, there’s isn’t much good financial news.

      In fact, it’s so bad, even Abraham Lincoln is feeling the effects of it, 150 years after his assassination.

      And now, a new report from Wallet Hub rubs salt in your Tax Day wounds. The report shows Illinois residents have the highest state and local tax obligations, paying more than 2.5 times more than the cheapest states.

      This comes on the heels of a report showing Illinois has the second-highest real estate taxes in the nation. The state also has one of the most unfair tax systems.
    And like an abused spouse, Illinois voters keep coming back for more.

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    Wednesday, April 15, 2015

    Brainwashing

    • Chicago schoolchildren would be taught about the notorious Jon Burge torture scandal in eighth- and 10th-grade history classes, under a sweeping reparations package presented by Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Chicago aldermen.
    Well, this is typical leftist crap - the story is more important than the actual facts and findings. Always about the "message" instead of the facts - you know, like Ferguson, the Rolling Stone fake rape story, the Duke "noose" brouhaha, the Porter and Hobley "exonerations," etc, etc - the list is quite extensive and getting longer by the day.

    And here's some more crap:
    • [some lying sack of crap] said many torture victims suffer from what amounts to post-traumatic stress disorder, with their family members suffering "secondary trauma." Family members too will be eligible for counseling and free tuition, with grandchildren of torture victims eligible to attend City Colleges for free.
    You know what? We'll sign off on this crap and never write another word about it under one single condition. Just one. It isn't even a difficult demand...unless you're a crippled parasite of the victimhood mentality:
    • Not one more fucking word about "poor lil ol' me - I got tortured!" No more excuses. No more handouts. No more, "the man is keeping me down." No more "I'm owed" bullshit that is destroying this city, this state, this country. No more cradle-to-grave handouts.
    You get these assholes to agree to that and we'll never type another word about Burge - defending, or supporting. Not one word.

    But it'll never happen. Children and grandchildren of murderers, rapists, arsonists, robbers, burglars and thieves of every stripe? We'll bet $1,000 right here and now, that upwards of 75% of those supposed "secondary" victims never see a degree of any sort, even from the diploma mills of the City Colleges. The victim-card is just too good a deal to pass up.

    Funnily, the DNAInfo.com article links to Reader articles by John Conroy, whose credibility Officer Martin Preib absolutely destroyed in this article we linked to just yesterday.

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    Here's Some Fantasy

    As we read with increasing disgust the tall tales coming out of the media today over the Burge "reparations" we were amazed that people actually believe this crap, that a wholesale top-to-bottom conspiracy could have existed at any point during this entire scenario. An example:
    • Holmes said he had a plastic bag placed over his head to threaten strangulation and was shocked with an electric generator. He said once the bag was over his head and the generator was attached to his body, "it was all about the electrocution and the strangulation."
    Strangulation? Suffocation maybe? And wasn't it always a typewriter cover - despite the fact that no typewriter covers were ever located.

    "Electric generator?" Have you ever actually seen an electric generator? It's not something you lug around from cell to cell to torture people with - unless you want to torture the poor bastard carrying it around. They're large, heavy, greasy, unwieldy objects.

    On to the grand conspiracy - after all this torturing and beating and electrocuting and suffocating, is someone going to clean up the spit, piss, vomit and feces all over the place? Torture is messy - look at the torture cells in third world shitholes. Floor drains, channels for drainage, easily washable walls, usually by hoses, etc. You think Burge and his minions actually did the cleaning themselves? If not, where are all the poor schlubs who did the cleaning? No one came forward to complain?

    And lock-up keepers. Any of them step forward to relate to any lawyer or investigator that a prisoner they checked out to the Detectives came back in less than stellar shape? Maybe a doctors note from some hospital relating unusual burns or trauma or ligature marks? Of course, this being a grand conspiracy and all, we suppose Byrne, Bilandic and Washington had all those hospitals closed in the 70's and 80's so they could seal away those medical records of so-called torture.

    What about County? The sheriff and his guards accepted prisoners beaten so badly that their own mother wouldn't recognize them - any of them step forward to relate that during a preliminary hearing that Prisoner #24601 was pissing blood, had swollen neck bruises and had to be wheeled in on a stretcher with an IV just to enter a plea?

    How about this fanciful tale?
    • So might Darrell Cannon, who testified about being tortured by three Burge "henchmen" in the Police Department in 1983. Cannon said he was taken to a remote area of the South Side and told to "look around" at how there was no one to witness what might happen to him. Cannon said he was threatened three times with shotgun blasts to the head in what amounted to a game of "Russian roulette."
    Anyone here ever try to play Russian Roulette with a shotgun? Yeah, we didn't think so. It's a simple single-chambered weapon that goes "bang" if loaded and the trigger is pulled. Besides, you can't use an over/under or double-barreled shotgun - it won't fit easily in a suspect's mouth, and as far as we've read, no one ever reported so much as a chipped tooth from these party games. Russian Roulette with a shotgun is universally recognized as one of the three shortest games in existence.

    What a load of crap this all is:
    • no supposed "instruments of torture" were ever produced (aside from the one created by the Peoples Law Office to show what one might have looked like),
    • no witnesses outside of convicts (who had every reason in the world to lie and were undoubtedly coached by plaintiff attorneys for years),
    • no outside documentation from jail intake, hospitals or independent eyewitnesses ever came forward to verify a single hair was out of place on one of these altar boys
    • nor a single Patrol Officer, Lockup Keeper, Wagon Man, all of whom had numerous and document-able contact with each and every alleged "victim" of torture ever broke their silence, even with the potential of universal acclaim from the Left and undoubted riches from the media so eager to prove Burge and his Detectives ran a torture chamber in Area 2
    That's one hell of a stretch of the imagination.

    UPDATE: Whoever is claiming some "doctor" at County documented something, link it. Point everyone in the right direction. Something from an actual reputable document, not some made up shit like the PLO did. Don't you think that would have been trumpeted by the media if it actually existed?

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    Statistics

    In light of today's actions and statements by Rahm and the City Council:



    We'll tell you this - we're getting goddamn sick and tired of pulling up on the scene of a domestic that you called us to and then parading around for all the neighbors with your hands in the air and bellowing over and over that you can't breathe.

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    Tuesday, April 14, 2015

    "Merit" Carry Over?

    From the comments:
    • You're 100% right., 31 does seem like an odd number for a class. But it's not that weird when you do math CPD-style. The 5th floor was told that they could make 60 new Sgts this year. However, there wasn't time to get new merit interviews done and still have these new white-shirts on the street before summer. So, they compromised. Class of 31 now (all off the list) with a second class of 29 to be announced later this year. But wait, you didn't think that merit was dead did you? The second class will take up those merit picks that class #1 left on the table. Class 2 will be 11 list and 18 merit making the total merit selection rate for both classes exactly 30%.

      --------------

      Can the city do that? Isn't it 30% merit for each round of promotions? Each class, they can't use merit spots from this class on future classes.
    Now there's a question for the FOP. As we recall previous Promotional Examination notices, the 30% for supervisors and 20% for Detective spots was a "use it or lose it" deal. If the City/Department didn't use their "merit," it was forfeit. In fact, we're pretty sure that the fractions were rounded DOWN, not up in the event of an uneven distribution of promotions.

    We wouldn't put it past the city to have some sort of language added/amended to the Contract or Examination Notices that said something along the lines of "30% of the total promotions from the eligiblity list" instead of "from a class."

    Of course, the FOP has historically said since you are leaving their union, they didn't care to press the issue and the PBPA said that since all the new promotees joined them anyway, they didn't care to fight it either way. It's all part of the fracturing of the labor organizations to keep them at each others' throats.

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    Preib Destroys the Media Again

    • It was the worst crime scene many detectives had ever seen. A building had caught fire on the south side of Chicago in January of 1987. Seven people trapped inside died, including a mother and her child on the third floor. More than a dozen other people were seriously injured, some with burns and some with broken bones from jumping out of windows to escape the flames.

      There were several ambulances, fire engines everywhere. Neighbors came out with blankets and shoes. Police arrived. Eventually, many of them relocated to the hospitals and the morgue to begin collecting evidence and statements.

      In short time, investigators determined the fire was an arson. An unknown offender had poured accelerant outside apartment 301, the dwelling where the woman and her child died. The seven people who died really didn’t have a chance. They died cornered by the flames fast approaching them.
    A subhuman scumbag named Hobley was eventually tried, convicted and sent to Death Row.

    Unfortunately for society, he happened to be the subject of numerous slanted articles by The Reader creating a conspiracy that couldn't possibly have existed. This attracted the interest of the lying perjurers at Northwestern University and soon-to-be-convicted governor Ryan.

    Unfortunately for Chicago taxpayers, the city rolled over and gave Hobley $6 million in the face of overwhelming evidence that he burned seven people to death.

    Go read it all. Taxpayers fleeced to the tune of millions over and over, the politicians rallying to demean the police, the media advancing lies and the FOP silent.

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    Connections Connections?

    • Leon Dingle Jr. and his wife, Karin Dingle, leased out a portion of a small, one-story building they owned on the West Side to UIC for storage. They collected nearly $700,000 in rent over seven years from the state university — more than twice the $310,000 they paid for the entire building, university and property records show. When the university signed the lease, Leon Dingle was treasurer of the Illinois Medical District Commission, a government agency that oversees development within a 560-acre swath of the West Side that includes the UIC hospital campus. Four years earlier, Dingle and his fellow commissioners agreed to put up a $30 million office building at 1747 W. Roosevelt that UIC is now buying on an installment contract

      ...lawyer for this contract is PATRICK DALEY THOMPSON and Richie Daley's friends are the developlers!

      4/12/2015 06:27:00 AM

      Newly-minted Alderman Patrick DALEY Thompson? Oh, please let this be true, so we can be rid of yet another Daley scourge.
    His website touts his experience in real estate law and municipal financing. This could be Pulitzer material in the right hands.

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    Monday, April 13, 2015

    ET No Shows

    People have been posting about a no-show rate for the ET exam topping 50%.

    That's incredible.

    One has to wonder at such demoralization that so many people don't even want a pay raise bad enough to take an exam. Does the job suck that badly? Is everyone fed up with the exams being fixed so badly (and baldly) that they don't even feel like attempting a test? Was everyone that depressed about Rahm winning?

    There's definitely a cloud hanging over this entire Department.

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    StingRay, KingFish

    We're betting it's run out of the "Black Site."  EVERYTHING is in the "Black Site!"
    • Cook County prosecutors are being sued to provide records of criminal cases that have involved the use of covert cellphone tracking systems — devices that have drawn the scrutiny of the U.S. Senate and privacy activists.

      Freddy Martinez, a Chicago-area resident in the software industry, brought the lawsuit Thursday in Cook County Circuit Court, saying the state’s attorney’s office didn’t respond to his efforts to obtain the information through the state’s Freedom of Information Act.

      The lawsuit, filed by attorney Matthew Topic of the law firm Loevy and Loevy, follows a similar one Martinez brought against the Chicago Police Department. So far, the police have revealed to Martinez that they spent hundreds of thousands of dollars since 2005 on cell-site simulators made by the Harris Corp. in Florida. The devices, with names like StingRay and KingFish, capture cellphone signals.

      But the police department is resisting Martinez’s request for documents spelling out exactly how the devices are used. The city has been billed more than $120,000 in legal fees to fight Martinez’s lawsuit.
    How do you expect lawyers to make their contributions back to Machine candidates unless they have a pile of money with which to contribute? This sounds like a fishing expedition in order to generate some half-assed plaintiff lawsuits for damages somewhere down the line.

    Baltimore PD is involved in a similar lawsuit filed against it, too, but in their case, it looks like the Feds are running the actual towers with signed non-disclosure agreements with Baltimore PD. The Feds are actually dropping cases when pressed by judges to reveal the specifics of the program, leading many to speculate as to what the Feds are actually listening to - terrorist chatter maybe?

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