Poor People Exempt from Law

Do we have to show a tax return or something?

• A program designed to allow low-income Chicago residents to have their traffic fees waived has been made permanent due to a new law.

  What we know: Under the program, eligible fees, fines, and costs due to traffic violations would be waived in Cook County for people experiencing financial hardship.

  County judges determine who is granted a fee waiver.

  The program was established in 2021 with a sunset of 2024. It was extended through this year, but state lawmakers voted to make the program permanent during this past legislative session.

  What they're saying: The Chicago-based state lawmaker that sponsored the bill explained why he pushed for the change.

  "We do not believe someone should be forced into homelessness because they can’t afford to pay a speeding ticket," said State Sen. Javier Cervantes (D-Chicago). "This new law extends grace to some of the most vulnerable members of our community, and I am proud to be a leader in getting it passed into law."

We don't know - if you can afford a car, plates, stickers, insurance and gas, then you can afford to either obey the f#$%ing law or pay the fines that go along with breaking the law. Or just take the damn bus.

Additionally, if they're in danger of losing their housing because they constantly drive like assholes, maybe they can just live in their car to save money.

Arrests After Brawl

The "Giant Brawl" post from the weekend is finally getting some coverage.

It's from CWB of course, because a giant crowd attacking and injuring four cops isn't worthy of lamestream media coverage:

• A chaotic street brawl involving Chicago police and a large crowd erupted on the city’s West Side Friday evening, sparked by the arrest of a 22-year-old man, according to a Chicago Police Department report.

  The incident, captured in a viral video circulating online over the weekend, unfolded around 6:45 p.m. in the 100 block of North Lockwood, drawing dozens of officers to the scene after a “10-1” police emergency was declared.

The savages (that's a description of observed behavior) were attempting to free a narcotics arrestee, injuring a number of cops in the process.

And just a reminder:

• Under the SAFE-T Act, aggravated battery of a peace officer is not a detainable offense unless the officer suffers great bodily harm. Judge Susana Ortiz released Alexander, Burns, and Jackson to await trial.

Not a single assailant was held on any sort of bond except a signature.

This Must be Racist or Something

CWB blog has a post up about the weekend "pride" mayhem:

• Police arrested 39 people in connection with the Chicago Pride Parade and its aftermath between Sunday evening and early Monday, including six individuals who were illegally carrying firearms, according to the Chicago Police Department. One man charged with weapon possession was allegedly carrying two guns.

  This year’s arrest total is lower than the 53 arrests made last year but higher than the totals seen from 2016 through 2023. Of the 39 arrested, 13 individuals, including two juveniles, were charged with felonies, while 21 face misdemeanor charges, and one person received citations, a police spokesperson said. Charges were still pending against four people as of midday Monday.

And then they posted the Booking Photos of the felony arrests (adults only):

Something about this....

We're not sensing Conehead's "most generous" comment getting a lot of traction here.

Parade Aftermath

So what happened after the parade this past Sunday? A lot of comments pretty much lambasting the command staff:

• You want to hear something funny, turn on your police radio. Car 5 aka Jon Hein running the post pride parade debacle. What a useless moron. The parade ended at 1600, it is now 0100. This dumbass has all the manpower possible with days off cancelled and 12 hours shifts yet after 9 hours still doesnt have this under control. (SP)-Hein-(LESS) will prob continue to follow the people around for 4 more hours too.
• Hein should be dumped after last night. A total disaster with no preparation or leadership. Get some people in there that were the police. Not your side piece and house mouses
• The shit show last night is completely on Chief Hein. We had adequate resources, the problem is he just will not arrest people, he lets them walk around, just like all the protesters. Lack of experience and balls

All that talk about how police "can't arrest their way out of a situation" is just so much bullshit. A couple arrests, even a few dozen, stifles the baser instincts of people who don't want to spend the night in custody. 

Regardless, after seeing this photo of the aftermath (thanks to all who sent it in):

....we're more convinced than ever that this and every other parade needs to be moved to Grant Park for neighborhood safety, available parking ($$$), crowd control, equipment storage and clean-up reasons.

As an added bonus, Conehead could bid it out to some connected company and remove the incompetent police supervision almost entirely from the equation. Plenty of opportunity for some profit-skimming in there somewhere.

Profit Shrinkage

A 11.5% cut in the overall asking price (sorry about the paywall article, but there are work-arounds):

• Former Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley took 10% off the asking price of his Lake Shore Drive condo today.

  Daley, who served six terms as mayor from 1989 to 2011, is now asking $1 million for the two-bedroom condo. That's down $100,000 from what he had been asking for it since February. The condo first hit the market in November at a little more than $1.13 million. In all, Daley has cut 11.5% out of his original asking price.

  Crain's could not reach Daley, and his listing agent for the condo, Joelle Cachey Hayes of @properties Christie’s International Real Estate, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. A trust in Daley's name paid $865,000 for the eighth-floor condo in May 2015, according to Cook County property records. Ownership was later transferred to trusts in both his name and the name of his son Patrick Daley.

All those years of political favors and barely concealed corruption, and the disastrous trifecta of Rahm/Groot/Conehead trashes the downtown real estate market to the point Shortshanks has to take a double digit haircut to make a measly $135K before commissions and such.

Good thing he has two or three pensions to fall back on.

Your Wish is Granted

Good news out of Missouri:

• An alleged intruder who used brass knuckles to beat against a front door and break a window just before midnight Friday in Missouri was shot multiple times by the homeowner and killed.

  KFVS 12 reported that the homeowner, Austin Glastetter, was in the house with his wife at the time of the incident.

  Glastetter told the suspect, 31-year-old John Fisher, that he was armed, but Fisher allegedly responded by saying, “You’ll have to kill me.” Glastetter then shot Fisher multiple times.

If only more criminals were willinhg to announce their Rules of Engagement, crime numbers would drop across the nation overnight. Too often, victims have to guess at what the criminals actually want.