No Fireworks?

Again?

• With the Fourth of July falling on a Friday, there will once again be no fireworks show downtown to mark the holiday.

  The city has confirmed that there will be no fireworks display in Chicago this year. Navy Pier will still hold its twice-a-week fireworks display on Wednesday, July 2, at 9 p.m. and Saturday, July 5, at 10 p.m.

  Madeline Long, director of communication for the city’s Department of Cultural Affairs & Special Events, told WGN News last year that “as has been the case for several years, the City does not host fireworks for the July 4th holiday.”

Not sure how many years in a row this is, but we remember working for the 3rd of July and it was an amazing shit show. 

 Every. Single. Time.

And we can't imagine the Department being able to handle anything like it nowadays. It would be broken windows, mass looting, multiple OC and Taser deployments, fights on every corner....you know, like it is all summer anyway.

And no arrests, just endless lawsuits until the next one.

Besides, the firework displays in the hood are almost better these days. 

We Laughed Way too Hard

Nearly thirty years certainly contributed to our dark sense of humor:

• A suspected shoplifter trying to escape Houston police made a wild and painful decision inside the Galleria Mall on Sunday afternoon—jumping from the second story and crashing onto the ice skating rink below.

  According to local news outlets, police officers were working a security shift inside the Galleria when they were alerted to a theft in progress. They quickly located the suspect, who bolted through the mall and jumped over a second-floor railing in an attempt to escape. He landed hard on the ice below, and let’s just say…he didn’t get far.

  Video captured by witness Ken Gilliard shows the man sprawled on the rink, screaming in pain. “As soon as he fell, he tried to get up. And I guess he noticed that his legs were broken. He screamed, ‘My legs are broken,’” Gilliard told Click2Houston. In the video, officers can be seen stepping onto the ice to reach him.

No video of the actual leap and fall, but the aftermath is still amusing.

So is this part:

• .... the suspect shouted, “Come get me,” right before jumping.

No problem moron. You probably won't ever be running again.

Dems Luv Criminals

In case you needed reminding:

Drunk drivers - one of the single largest populations of killers of the innocent - and dems support them.

And how about this out of Denver:

• The Denver City Council has voted unanimously to shutter a highly successful anti-theft auto license plate tracking system. The system was not closed due to concerns about privacy or finances. It was shut down because Democratic members believed that ICE could use the data to deport illegals.

  In May, the council refused to renew the $666,000 contract with Flock for camera monitors around 70 Denver intersections to screen for car theft. That system resulted in the recovery of 170 stolen cars and 300 arrests. It is also credited with key evidence in the investigation of hit-and-run and murder cases.

  However, it could also be used to assist ICE, and that is all that matters. Councilman Kevin Flynn explained it is all about Trump’s election: “We know that it can help solve crime. But I think since maybe Jan. 20 of this year, those concerns are greatly heightened and have a new reality about them.”

So screw recovering your stolen car. If the successful program inconveniences even a single ILLEGAL alien, then it must be stopped even when it benefits actual taxpaying citizens.

Who's This A$$hole?

Can't even wear the proper insignia of his rank at an Honors Funeral:

 

It's our old nemesis "commander" Tate who evidently couldn't schedule a vacation quick enough to skip another funeral.

Larritorious is all hyped up on uniforms and sending out the Inspectors to look for the 5-11 pants, but doesn't seem to notice the exempt staff looking like trash while honoring a fallen Officer.

Protect it from What?

Because we know who ain't misbehaving:

• Chicago Police Department leaders announced their safety plan Thursday ahead of the city’s 54th Pride Parade this weekend.

  The parade, which kicks off at 11 a.m. Sunday, is expected to draw roughly a million people to the North Side neighborhoods of Northalsted, Lake View, Uptown and Lincoln Park.

  Chicago Police Supt. Larry Snelling said the department’s goal is to prevent any outbreaks of violence after the parade ends, which he said have occurred in previous years.

Oh, just the aftermath? Wwe haven't seen anything like actual barricades capable of stopping cars and / or truck driving down sidewalks or streets. For that, you'd have to profile certain individuals, and we all know who has a habit of driving cars through crowded parade routes.

The after-party is a completely different type of profiling....and no one wants to say that one out loud either.

All the more reason to put every parade down in Grant Park, use salt trucks, steel bollards, and tire shredding devices to secure the route from terror-types, and get the rowdy morons out of the neighborhoods where they plunder the residents and attack the party-goers.

Trust the Government!

That thing that never happened? It happened again:

• In a study covering 1.3 million women of childbearing age, published in the International Journal of Risk & Safety in Medicine, a simple analysis was done comparing the rate of conception between women who were vaccinated and those who were not, and there is a dramatic difference in the results. 

  This should come as no surprise by now--early on in the vaccination program, women experienced serious changes in their menstrual cycles, and subsequent studies showed that other changes to fertility were likely. The menstrual changes were a red flag that the public health officials ignored, reassuring everyone that they were of no concern. 

  They made those assurances based on nothing but hope--or indifference. Their commitment wasn't to the health of the women but to the viability of their vaccine program, regardless of the actual costs and benefits. Their view of "informed consent" was simple: if people are informed, they might not consent. So don't inform. Just lie. 

In the first full scale study of it's kind, the Czech Republic found that "vaccinated" women had successful pregnancies reduced by over one-third compared to the unvaccinated. It wasn't a vaccine - it was a population killer. 

Anyone know when the show trial and executions are going to start? Start with the US governors who locked down states while they and their families flew around ignoring all the "rules."

Out-of-Grade Slips Ready?

We highly doubt this is going to work out well: 

• Chicago police officers were relieved of one of their most grisly responsibilities 25 years ago: hauling dead bodies to the medical examiner’s office.

  Cook County initially took over the job, then handed it off to a series of private companies with mixed results — and a few scandals along the way.

  Now, the city’s decision to award a five-year, nearly $4.5 million contract for body removal to a single Northwest Side funeral home is raising questions — one police supervisor wondered whether “a funeral home is equipped to handle the city’s volume.”

  Wallace Harrison Funeral Home was the lowest of three bids for the lucrative contract.

And  just how did they get this Contract?

• At one point, GSSP was charging Chicago $915-per-body, the largest removal fee paid by any big city in the nation. Wallace Harrison Funeral Home will charge the city $172-per-body.  

Talk about your "low ball" bid. 

And the manpower in place to fulfill the Contract? 

• Wallace-Harrison told the Sun-Times that she has 20 transport vehicles and 20 employees. But the affidavit she filed with the city last fall indicates that her funeral home has just five full-time employees, including herself.

  The affidavit lists only one employee by name: Nakia Wallace-Harrison. A second manager is listed, but not identified. The three remaining employees are listed as “TBD.” 

As in, "No one has been hired for the position yet." 

This has disaster written all over it, but suddenly, the wagon just might be a financially attractive job. One body moved is D-3 pay for the tour.

Another Surrender

Enabling crime every single day:

• Chicago Police Department officials agreed to revise proposed new rules and prohibit officers from searching vehicles based on the smell of raw cannabis, a coalition of reform groups told the federal judge overseeing efforts to reform the Chicago Police Department.

  The coalition of police reform groups behind the consent decree — the six-year-old federal court order requiring the CPD to change the way it trains, supervises and disciplines officers — told U.S. District Judge Rebecca Pallmeyer they had dropped their request that she order CPD leaders to revise a proposed policy designed to set new limits on when Chicago police officers can stop and search Chicagoans.

  The coalition, led by the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois, “applauds” CPD for amending the policy in late May, calling the latest version “an improvement” that reflects an agreement reached in August 2023 that prohibits officers from “conducting an investigatory stop or search of an individual based solely on an officer smelling cannabis/marijuana without any other specific and articulable facts of criminal activity,” in a court filing made Monday.

Hooray!!! You just made cops jobs that much easier.

Of course, the Illinois Supreme Court has been a beacon of consistency, too:

• The Illinois Supreme Court ruled in December that the scent of raw cannabis is enough for a police officer to search a vehicle, even though marijuana is legal in the state. Three months before that decision, the Supreme Court found that the smell of burnt cannabis was not probable cause for a search.

So "raw" cannabis is enough for a search, but "burnt" cannabis isn't, even if the "burnt" cannabis is initially indicative of someone driving while high.

To top it all off, CPD pretty much ceased doing traffic stops for weed years ago:

• ...CPD officers rarely stop Chicagoans on suspicion of unlawfully possessing cannabis or violating the law regulating the possession or use of medical marijuana, according to CPD data.

  In the seven months between December 2024 and June 2025, just 70 traffic stops were conducted on the basis of suspected violations of laws governing the use and possession of cannabis, according to CPD data.

  In 2024, CPD officials reported officers made 295,846 traffic stops to the Illinois Department of Transportation, which is required by state law to track all stops made by police officers throughout the state.

That means that 0.0002% of traffic stops are for smelling marijuana in any form. Two-ten-thousandths. Cops saw the writing on the wall long before the ACLU got involved in de-criminalizing crime.

Arrest in Animal Killing

Guess where they found him:

• A 15-year-old boy was charged after allegedly killing two animals in the yard of a Northwest Side residence.

  Police arrested the boy Tuesday in the 3000 block of West Harrison on two felony counts of aggravated cruelty to animals and misdemeanor criminal trespass.

  He’s accused of unlawfully entering a yard in the 5200 block of West Newport on May 22 and killing two animals.

So much of the truly twisted crap seems to begin, end or pass through two locations - 007 and 011. No surprise either that both of these locations have led Chicago in violent crimes in something like eighteen of the past twenty years. Must be something in the water. 

The countdown to his first arrest as a serial killer has begun. 

Kenny, Is That You?

Why is this reminding us of something?

• A Maywood man was been charged in federal court with fraudulently obtaining Social Security benefits in the name of his deceased father.

  The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Illinois said 61-year-old Richard Young Jr. was indicted on four counts of band fraud and one count of embezzlement of government funds.

  According to an indictment, Young’s father died in 2006. Seven years later, Young filed an application with the Social Security Administration for benefits in the name of his deceased father.
  

Perhaps he can pretend to be a connected Chicago Police commander. That criminal only got probation for over two decades of Social Security fraud.

Wake Last Night

A somber evening:

• The line to get into Montclair-Lucania Funeral Home, 6901 W. Belmont Ave., stretched down the street before the visitation began at 3 p.m. Tuesday.

  Uniformed officers from Rockford, Hanover Park, Bloomingdale and Milwaukee were among the many who came to pay their respects.

  Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson and Police Supt. Larry Snelling arrived about 7 p.m. through a side entrance.

The funeral is later today. 

Interment was listed as "private" so we assume the procession to the cemetery will end at the gates?

Quick Hits

The Tribune tried to save NYC from itself:

• The Chicago Tribune issued a grim warning to New Yorkers about electing a socialist mayoral candidate like Zohran Mamdani in a bombshell op-ed Monday, the day before the Empire State’s primary elections.

  The paper’s editorial board paints a bleak image of Mamdani, the 33-year-old Democratic socialist Queens assemblyman who leapfrogged the longtime front-runner, former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, in a stunning new poll released earlier in the day.

  “A familiar dilemma: a moderate, business-friendly Democrat versus a democratic socialist. New Yorkers, take it from Chicago — we’ve seen this movie before, and the ending isn’t pretty,” the board of one of the last remaining big-city daily newspapers cautioned. 

They failed....and New York City will see an exodus rivaling that of the COVID years, with multiple corporations moving to Texas, Florida and New Jersey. 

==========

If this is true, can we get some reimbursement?

• Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) President Stacy Davis Gates said that children belong to them while delivering a speech at the City Club of Chicago.

  "Baldwin says the children are always ours. Every single one of them, all over the globe. And what comes next is 'CTU thinks your children are its children.' Yes, we do. We do. We do," Davis Gates said on Monday.

  [...] Davis Gates went on to say, "'CTU thinks all children belong to it. And they’re a socialist conspiracy ideology.' Well, I don't know about all that, but we like children. We educate them, we nurture them, we protect them, we support them, we negotiate for them, we create space for them. We even have them in our homes."

Is that before or after grooming and molesting them?

==========

Good riddance finally:

• Chester Weger, the man convicted of killing one of three women found dead at Starved Rock State Park in 1960, has died at the age of 86.

  He died Sunday, June 22, in Kansas City, according to his attorney Andy Hale of Hale and Monico.

  “Chester fought until the end to clear his name. He was innocent of the horrific murders but died just days after a LaSalle County judge denied his request to overturn his conviction. We are deeply saddened that Chester’s legacy is marred by this unjust conviction.

Fuck him and his attorney. He died a convicted murderer. They can put it on his tombstone. And if we happen to be in the vicinity of his grave, we'll piss on it, too.

Fata$$ Staying Put?

Bad news for Illinois:

• Gov. JB Pritzker will announce his campaign for a third term as Illinois governor on Thursday, sources told the Sun-Times.

  The billionaire Democrat who has dominated Illinois politics since supplanting Republican former Gov. Bruce Rauner in 2019 had long been expected to try to extend his tenure as he mulls a 2028 presidential bid.

  Pritzker will make his third consecutive statewide campaign official with reelection campaign kickoff events in Chicago and Springfield. Invitations went out to supporters early this week.

  But it’s still unknown whom Pritzker will tap to join him on the top of the ticket as lieutenant governor. His current second-in-command, Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton, is vying for the U.S. Senate seat that Sen. Dick Durbin will give up next year.

It takes a lot of energy to put that tub of lard in motion.

And so far, the republicans haven't fielded a viable candidate, but that's to be expected when they're just part of the theater of Illinois politics.

The Inevitable Lawsuit

Reason #2,412 not to chase cars:

• The mother of a woman killed in a car crash last November is suing the city of Chicago and unnamed police officers.

  According to the lawsuit, police were pursuing a car they thought was stolen near East 60th Street and South State Street on the city's South Side.

  That car hit one driven by 61-year-old Karen Henry. A CTA bus was also hit.

It's over, it's been over, it's never coming back. 

This is what Chicago voted for.

Weekend Numbers

We had speculated at six dead and fifteen maimed for the weekend - a combined twenty-one count.

In actuality (all stats via HeyJackass.com):

• three dead, twenty-four wounded

Twenty-seven, so not too far off, but the second number was kind of surprising. We thought crime was down what with Conehead bragging a few weeks ago.

Crime is....Funny?

Or is it just the "training" that's being pushed by people looking to grift some money?

• Three dozen police captains pair off in a Chicago conference room to play a game: They must start a sentence with the last word their partner used.

  Many exchanges are nonsensical, full of one-upmanship using difficult words and laughter. But the improvisation game eventually makes sense.

  “What we are trying to do, is get you to listen to the end of the sentence,” says Kelly Leonard, wrapping up the improvisational exercise. “If my arm was a sentence, when do most people stop listening? Always the elbow! But then you’re missing everything that goes after… and sometimes that’s critical information.”

  The police captains who have flown in from departments across the country nod. “I definitely do that,” some call out.

  Officials at the University of Chicago Crime Lab’s Policing Leadership Academy brought members of The Second City, Chicago’s storied improv theater, to teach police leaders the more diverse skills found in improv exercises — like thinking on your feet, reserving judgment and fully listening.

So how much is this costing taxpayers? Especially the part about flying in captains from "across the country." Which jurisdictions are paying for this nonsense?

Go read it all, if only to be disgusted by what passes as "training" for all the wrong reasons. 

Interesting Application of the Law

Remember on 10 June, that red Kia that disobeyed police and ended up driving through a protest? The media wasted no time claiming the driver "plowed through" the crowd, in spite of all sorts of video that didn't show anyone hit nor bodies flying through the air the way we've seen in assorted terror attacks across Europe.

Here's the Slum Times just yesterday:

• A woman who allegedly drove into a crowd of protesters with her kids in the car this month in the Loop and injuring a 66-year-old has been arrested and is facing charges.

  Deirdre Kemp, 30, surrendered to police Thursday and is accused of plowing through thousands of protesters June 10 near State and Monroe streets, Chicago police said.

Loaded language throughout the article. But if you bother to read down a few extra paragraphs, you find this:

• One officer tried to get Kemp to stop and pulled on her driver’s-side door handle, but authorities say Kemp sped off.

  Another officer continued chasing after Kemp but lost his balance and ran into 66-year-old Heather Blair, who suffered a broken arm. She was taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital in good condition and released the same day.

So the Officer ran into the senior citizen and caused her to fall and break her arm?

Fine, glad to see the driver got charged for her illegal actions that caused someone else harm.

But that sounds like the "felony murder" rule, just on a smaller scale. Something that was discontinued with the SAFE-T Act regarding homicides and other violent crimes, but now being used over a hit-and-run?

Things that make you go, "Hmmmm." 

Tax Increases Inbound

From a friend (click for larger version):

And if that wasn't bad enough, there's a bill in Springfield that is purportedly going to cost the average family in Illinois an EXTRA $3,700 per vehicle, per year in "road usage fees:"

• IL SB1938 is still alive and could come up for vote in October. If passed it could tax you up to 30 cents per mile driven. Avg. $3,750 per IL household annually!

As far as we can tell, this is starting out as a "pilot program" to see how easily Illinois lawmakers can steal more money from everyone. They claim it is a possible replacement for the gas tax, but when has Illinois ever revoked an existing tax? We'll give you a hint - never.

The text of the Bill can be read here.

Next up, registering all of our cars somewhere else.

Body Snatchers Contract Up?

Rumor time:

• Pretty soon, Chicago will be phasing out its body-removal contract with Allied Services and switching to contracting with a specific funeral home. Is nepotism afoot? Being Chicago, I wouldn't be surprised. 

Allied was always a scam operation. It used to take hours for them to show up until it was pointed out that keeping cops off the streets for four hours and sometime more was not the best use of manpower. That was when the 45 minute rule (75?) was instituted.

And before that, it was discovered that Allied was charging the City over $800 per removal. Comparable contracts in other cities were under $300.....and in a pinch, a wagon crew could do it for out-of-grade pay from D1 to D3, payable for the entire tour, but amounting to under $100.

And we're old enough to have met and worked with some wagon guys who were investigated (and cleared) of steering bodies to connected funeral homes for $50 per stiff. 

Are we about to return to the bad old days of certain establishments getting bodies for a "fee" with associated kickbacks to Conehead's reelection campaign?

Reinsdorf v Waller

Story late last week:

• A Cook County judge on Friday ordered Chicago White Sox Chairman Jerry Reinsdorf to be deposed as part of a lawsuit against the team stemming from the August 2023 shooting in the Rate Field bleachers.

  Reinsdorf — who’s in the midst of a deal to sell the team he’s owned for more than 40 years — must give sworn testimony by July 31.

  An attorney for the White Sox, Robert Shannon, told Judge Sarah Brunson on Friday that the questions for Reinsdorf will likely center around comments he made to the media in the days after the shooting, as well as the team’s decision to not call off the rest of the game after the shooting occurred.

And what would those comments be?

• “They haven’t come to a final conclusion, but have done a lot of investigation,” Reinsdorf previously said. “We have gathered a lot of facts, and, without getting into the detail because I don’t want to influence the police’s decision, but the fact is based upon the information available to us, I see virtually no possibility that the gunshots came from within the ballpark.”

Of course not. because then he's have to admit that security sucked, he was hiring connected individuals and skimping on actual security measures. Not a good look.

But let's see what an actual Police official said, someone (allegedly) trained in investigative techniques and familiar with the rules of evidence:

• However, that same week, [interim Superintendent] Waller told reporters:

  “We’re dispelling a lot of things … (A shot) coming from outside is something we’ve almost completely dispelled. We’re still looking at every avenue. It’s still under investigation. Something from inside, it could’ve happened that way. We’re looking at every avenue, exploring every lead and everything that we can get.”

So either someone misunderstood what they were being told (Reinsdorf) or someone is selling Waller down the river (Reinsdorf). Either way, Fred doesn't look good.

And you'll recall some of the posts we made - the physics involved, the imaginary ShotSpotter readings from miles away, the scorch mark on the weapon smuggler's belly, etc. Did anyone ever see if the CPS employee had a gun purchase in her background? 

Odd Connections

So this was reported way back in April:

• A high-profile lobbyist who is a former top aide to Gov. JB Pritzker is cooperating with investigators, her lawyer says, in a case involving a man facing federal charges that accuse him of extorting a Lincoln Park restaurant owner.

  Will County treasurer’s office records show Lisa Duarte, the former Pritzker aide, had paid $19,947 in property taxes for a Lemont estate that comprised three adjacent properties that were raided by the FBI in connection with the federal investigation of Jawad Fakroune, records show.

  The tax bills for the $2.5 million estate, where Fakroune lived, went to Duarte at her Lincoln Park condo. They covered one year of property taxes on each of the three properties, which are owned by a trust whose beneficiaries aren’t public.

  She said in a brief interview that she did nothing wrong and that she was a victim of Fakroune, declining to explain more, including how she knows Fakroune or why she was paying the property taxes on the Lemont home, saying of the taxes: “I can’t talk to you about that.

Not only was Duarte connected to Fata$$ (first assistant deputy governor - which is obviously a totally made up ghost payrolling spot), she was an aide to the ol' 9.5 Digit Midget. Her lobbying history includes the Bears, White Sox, Wirtz Corp., United Center and CTA.

But the truly interesting part is who she was paying the property taxes for - Jawad Fakroune - and his connection to a CPD member:

• A Chicago cop is under investigation by police officials over his ties to accused extortionist Jawad Fakroune, a convicted felon and Moroccan national who authorities say posed as a relative of the drug lord Pablo Escobar.

  Fakroune was arrested in January, charged with using threats and violence to shake down the owner of a Lincoln Park restaurant for $1.5 million he said he was owed.

  This month, the officer’s connection to Fakroune surfaced in a court filing in which federal prosecutors asked a judge to keep Fakroune in jail until his trial because they say he’s dangerous and a flight risk.

  According to prosecutors, the officer told the FBI he left guns at a home of Fakroune in the Chicago area. The officer said Fakroune failed to return the guns, which prosecutors said were later seized on Dec. 18 in an FBI raid of a home where Fakroune was staying in Manhattan.

  They said the officer reported the guns stolen, but some information in his report was false.

"False" meaning he lied in an official report and probably to the fbi, too. He hasn't been charged yet, but it certainly looks like the hook is set deep and he'll likely be "un-indicted co-conspirator X" at some point.

If we were cynical observers of Chicago politics, we'd wonder about gun-running, CPD corruption, lobbyists working for Fata$$, Rahm, Chicago spots teams and Moroccan extortionists all being connected somehow, but we're sure it's just a strange set of a dozen coincidences.

It looks like the Slum Times has discovered some long neglected investigative reporter skills.

Coming Soon to Chicago?

Denver is having budget problems - $50 million short last fiscal year, $200 million short next year. Most of this is due to spending on ILLEGAL aliens and falling tax revenues. 

You'll recall that Chicago was staring down the barrel of a $1 billion shortfall and Cook County an additional $200 million, mostly due to the same ILLEGAL alien handouts and falling tax revenues.

Guess how Denver is looking at balancing their budget?

• Denver city leaders are preparing to make "substantial" layoffs in order to deal with a massive budget deficit.

  In May, Denver Mayor Mike Johnston announced the city was projecting a $50 million budget deficit this year and a $200 million budget deficit next year. Johnston said his administration must consider layoffs to help the city balance next year’s budget.

  “We will have to look at layoffs,” Johnston said. “We do not envision a scenario where it's possible to right-size this budget without that impact on personnel.”

And how is this blue-city $hithole going to accomplish these layoffs?

• City officials said it’s still too early to know how many workers will be laid off. It could depend on whether a proposed personnel rule change is adopted. The city wants to move away from a system that protects workers who have been employed by the city for a long time to a merit-based system.

  Under the current rule, senior employees can “bump” less-tenured employees to avoid being laid off. Kathy Nesbitt, executive director of Denver’s Office of Human Resources, said the current rule causes significant delays in the layoff process. “It also fails to ensure that we have the very best talent,” Nesbitt said.

  The proposed new rule aims to evaluate employees based on four key criteria: performance ratings, skills, abilities, and length of service. Nesbitt said this approach will help the city retain the most talented and capable employees while meeting budget reduction goals. It would also make it easier to lay off senior employees.

"Senior employees" are the ones at the top of the pay scale.

"Merit" means who can suck ass (or other sexual organs) the hardest.

So Contracts and seniority might mean very little - in Denver at least - very shortly. 

And you can bet Conehead and Prickwrinkle will be watching the situation very closely.

Second Offender Charged

He was on parole for another gun charge - his THIRD???

• A man sporting a tattoo across his throat reading “SLIME,” on parole for his third adult gun case, has been charged with possessing yet another firearm in the moments before Chicago Police Officer Krystal Rivera was unintentionally shot and killed by her partner on June 5.

  Jaylin Arnold, 27, was arrested for a parole violation on Thursday by officers from the Chicago Police Department and the U.S. Marshals Great Lakes Regional Fugitive Task Force, CPD said. Arnold had narcotics when he was arrested, according to CPD.

  Further investigation by CPD’s Investigative Response Team revealed that Arnold was armed with a firearm when Chicago cops, including Officer Krystal Rivera, encountered him in the 8200 block of South Drexel around 9:50 p.m. on June 5, police said.

It's far past time to bring a version of Project Exile to Illinois where gun offenders serve hard time in the federal system far from home.

No More Rescues?

One part of us says it's logical. (link from Illinois Review fixed)

The other part wonders, especially as the population ages, more people live alone and not everyone knows their neighbors:

• In a dazzling display of bureaucratic brilliance, the City of Chicago has rolled out a new policy for the Chicago Fire Department that essentially boils down to this: Unless you’re visibly on fire, you’re on your own.
  
  The new general order, effective June 28, 2025, sets a brave new standard for how Chicago responds to residential fires under seven stories tall. Under this policy, firefighters are prohibited from entering a burning building unless there is visual confirmation of someone inside—or if someone radios in to say there might be.
  
  This isn’t satire. This is Chicago.
  
  The directive uses a lot of fancy words like “Defensive Operations,” “incident command,” and “scene size-up,” but the bottom line is crystal clear: if you’re unconscious from smoke inhalation (which, incidentally, is how most people actually die in fires), you better hope you’re unconscious in a window.

Obviously, we don't want firefighters risking their lives needlessly. 

But how do they (or anyone) know what is and isn't needless without first person information gathered on scene directly, promptly and fully?

It's a weird tightrope to walk.

Nine Years, but Zero Time

Ain't Illinois "justice" great?

• A 30-year-old Chicago man has been sentenced to nine years in prison for possessing child pornography after his parole agent caught him engaging in a sexual video call with a 14-year-old girl, court records show.

  In 2022, Julio Rodriguez faced a 20-count child pornography indictment but pleaded guilty to a single count on August 16, 2024, receiving a three-year sentence from Judge Michael Clancy. With a 50% sentence reduction and credit for time on an ankle monitor, Rodriguez served no prison time, entering and exiting Stateville Correctional Center on August 20, 2024.

And then, you'll never guess what happened:

• Less than three months later, on December 5, a parole agent visited Rodriguez’s halfway house in the 8100 block of South Cottage Grove after he failed to report his living arrangements as required. The agent found Rodriguez with his pants down, performing a sex act while on a video call with a young girl, prosecutors claimed. Rodriguez dropped his phone, revealing the girl’s screen name to the agent before she ended the call.

This time, he caught a nine-year sentence. But if he had been inside on the previous sentence instead of "serving" ankle monitor time, he wouldn't have been able to commit further crimes.

Don't Confront

Instead, snipe from cover:

• Car burglars fired at least 30 shots at a 27-year-old man who confronted them during a vehicle break-in in the South Loop early Friday morning. This marks the third time this week that an auto break-in in the city has escalated to gunfire.

  At approximately 3:13 a.m., the man confronted four suspects breaking into his car in the 2000 block of South Wabash, according to Chicago police. At least two of the burglars drew firearms and opened fire, striking the man in the back as he fled toward his home. A nearby storefront’s glass was also damaged by a bullet.

  The victim was reported in good condition at Northwestern Memorial Hospital. The suspects escaped and remain at large.

  Armed burglary teams are a growing problem in Chicago, where thefts that are often considered “nuisance crimes” are increasingly turning violent.

  On Saturday night, a 57-year-old man was shot in the leg by a car burglar he confronted in the 5800 block of West Cornelia in Portage Park, police said.

  Then, on Monday morning, thieves fired at a contractor who attempted to stop them from stealing tools from his work vehicle in the 6800 block of North Seeley. The contractor was unharmed. Last week, a social media video showed a crew of masked and armed thieves targeting a work truck in Portage Park.

If at all possible, people should clear out their garages and park one of their cars in a secure, locked location.

If you discover a theft in progress, do not exit the house to confront an offender. Instead, fire your home defense weapon out a barely opened window while crouched down low. A rifle would work best in terms of accuracy, but a shotgun loaded with slugs would be as good. Handguns are an iffy proposition in these types of events. In any cases, the spent brass would land in your house, leaving less to investigate.

If it's a catalytic converter thief, try for the lookout first....or the getaway driver. Those are the ones who might shoot back. The one with the sawzall can then be dispatched at your leisure. Note: a sawzall can be easily mistaken for a short barreled rifle.

Don't answer the door if police arrive. Make sure the lights are off and you close the window you were firing out of. Collect any brass or shotgun hulls that should have landed inside your house and hide them well. Dispose of them far from home after a few days. Don't worry about ShotSpotter - Conehead turned it off.

Be sure to file a police report for any damage to your vehicle and advise neighbors to do the same. Express amazement that crime could happen in your neighborhood and isn't it a shame that things have devolved this badly under one hundred years of democrats. You didn't hear anything or see anything and exercise that Right to remain completely silent. 

Word will get around eventually that your block is a dangerous location for thefts. Someone shot will make it get around faster. 

UPDATE: oh yeah, beware of ring doorbell cams. 

What Did We Tell You?

This is why you don't hang your hat on a single weekend of statistics:

• Several investigations are underway on Friday morning as officers look to piece together what led up to eight separate shootings that unfolded around the city overnight.

  Chicago police say between 7 p.m. Thursday and 3 a.m. Friday, nine people were injured and oner person was killed in eight separate incidents.

  Authorities said while investigations are ongoing, no arrests have been made in connection with any of the incidents.

And that was a single warm Thursday night.

Any bets on the weekend? 1700 hours Friday through 0500 Sunday (60 hours):

• daylight temps of 90+
• heat indexes of 100+
• warm nights of 75+ 
• no rain
• no days off cancelled, so regular staffing

Six and fifteen doesn't sound out of the realm of possibility. 

Don't Forget the Body Cams

A post in The Contrarian the other day and it mostly convinces us that Vallas is running for something despite his continued denials:

• It’s time for the U.S. Department of Justice to place the Chicago Public Schools (CPS) under a federal consent decree. Only through a consent decree can the barriers erected by the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) and its political allies — barriers that systematically deny poor children, overwhelmingly Black and Latino, their right to a quality education, be dismantled. The objective of a consent decree is clear: To ensure that education funding follows the student, families have meaningful school choices, and local leaders have the freedom to adopt the best models for their communities.

  CPS has devolved into a government-sanctioned system of educational apartheid in which poor children, overwhelmingly Black and Latino are, a deliberately and consciously denied a quality education. The CTU’s opposition to reforms that might threaten its power or reduce its membership has had devastating effects. The CTU’s efforts to block poor families from accessing better-performing, publicly funded alternatives to failing schools are discriminatory — if not in intent, then unquestionably in outcome.

He makes all the arguments we have been making for years now, along with many of our readers and anyone who has dealt with the CPS in any capacity. They aren't here to educate children (if they ever were), they're here to launder money for the Machine and the national party. 

You should read it all regardless, so you recognize it at a later date.

We suppose the guy has to make a living somehow, but we have a difficult time believing that if he was actually in charge of anything here, he'd agree to any form of oversight from a Republican administration in Washington DC.

And don't forget, any "consent decree" should involve body cameras and classroom cameras so that (A) parents can observe the indoctrination being drilled into tiny skulls and (B) the constant grooming and sex assaulting can be documented and prosecuted by someone someday. 

Look Who's Back

The Choppa!

• Chicago cops, some on the ground and others in a helicopter, teamed up to arrest four suspects following a series of robberies reported Wednesday evening between the West Loop and Hyde Park. Detectives are now investigating how many of the crimes the group may be responsible for.

  Starting around 9:15 p.m., at least 11 robberies involving 14 or more victims were reported before police apprehended the suspects more than two hours later.

  [...] About ten minutes after the Blackstone robbery, a CPD ground unit spotted a black Mitsubishi that had been seen near several robbery locations. A nearby CPD helicopter crew immediately began tracking the vehicle, which fled from police.

So is the Department up to a single helicopter now? Did they finally approve funds to bring it back to FAA specs or what?

Weekend Preview?

A string of 90 degree days, with the heat index topping 100 each day on tap for this weekend. Was Tuesday a warning sign?

• Chicago police arrested five people, including three juveniles, as a large crowd leaving North Avenue Beach moved through Old Town and Lincoln Park on Tuesday night, according to a CPD spokesperson.

  Police commanders deployed two saturation teams and tactical units from six of the city’s 22 CPD districts to manage the crowd, a source reported.

  Approximately 200 people, most appearing to be in their teens or early 20s, began leaving the beach via LaSalle Drive and the North Avenue pedestrian underpass shortly before 10 p.m. Minutes later, a CPD supervisor requested additional patrol cars to help with the crowd at North Avenue and Clark Street, leading to two swift arrests.

Where's McCompstat to tell Conehead to close the beaches because it's just too damn hot? Remember, weather doesn't have anything to do with crime. 

Keep an eye on the CWB blog for weekend beach and downtown updates. 

Still a Dumb Idea

A rumor from the Academy. Not the one about no new hiring until November - that one was confirmed as true.

Someone reported that all the recruits have been put into either a Friday/Saturday or Sunday/Monday day off group. The reasoning being that (as in years past) they can use the recruits as manpower for parades and special events without paying them overtime.

If we recall correctly, recruits are only granted Time Due, not cash and it's all hour-for-hour, no time-and-one half.

We also seem to remember that these kids aren't in full uniform and aren't carrying cuffs, batons, OC, Tasers or (of course) guns. They are essentially just unarmed traffic aides that someone might mistake for the police because they'll be wearing those yellow vests that say "Police" on them.

We always thought this was a dumb idea, and given the state of society and the target drawn on police by the political class, it would seem to be a really dumb idea nowadays. 

And speaking of the "no new hiring" going on, who has the retirement numbers for the past month? Or for the year to date? Supposedly this will be the biggest retirement year for the past twenty years or more. 

Suburban Takeover

Happening again....and again:

• After Naperville police allegedly found a 14-year-old carrying a loaded, semiautomatic pistol at a downtown “teen takeover” event last weekend, authorities are urging safety and, again, stressed they have zero tolerance for illicit behavior.

  “While we encourage everyone to exercise their first amendment right and we encourage everyone to enjoy what the downtown provides, we need everyone to do that lawfully,” Naperville police Cmdr. Rick Krakow said. “There’s going to be zero tolerance for any sort of criminal behavior, from trespassing to disorderly conduct to fighting.”

  Since May 1, there have been seven planned teen takeover events in Naperville, each with varying degrees of participation, Krakow said.

  The latest, held Saturday, resulted in five arrests, including that of the 14-year-old, who was charged with one count of unlawful possession of a weapon, authorities said. Charges in other arrests included disorderly conduct and battery, Krakow said, adding that he had no reports of injuries from the incidents.

Crime is mobile and always seems to pop up where the criminals know they won't be hassled, or at least hassled less. Naperville is ground-zero for the lib-tarded takeover of formerly tough-on-crime DuPage county, so (A) we can't say we're surprised and (B) we have a difficult time generating any sympathetic feelings. 

This Idiot is Still Around

And still the upstanding law abiding citizen we all know him to be:

• A Chicago man who gained notoriety for riding a horse on the Dan Ryan Expressway was charged with setting up an illegal bar and strip club in Calumet Township.

  Adam Hollingsworth, 37, is charged with maintaining a common nuisance, a Level 6 felony, and misdemeanor selling alcohol without a permit, according to the probable cause affidavit.

  [...]  In searching its records, the Indiana Alcohol Tobacco Commission found no evidence indicating the address had a valid alcohol license or had a valid permit to sell tobacco products, records state. As of June 16, there are no signs of Hollingsworth applying for a license or permit.

At least he's only abusing livers now instead of horses. 

Save Big Money at Menards!

From a reader:

• I was at Menards in Hanover Park, buying some lumber for a job. I began talking to one of the managers, and I noticed that he was wearing a police style taser in a holster on his belt, very similar to the Chicago Police tasers. I asked him if he was a policeman, and he stated no.  I asked why he was wearing a taser. He explained to me that Menard's policy is to tease “run outs.” A run out is the term they use for people who grab merchandise and run out of the store. Later, I was in the Menard’s in Morton Grove and asked the manager about the tasers and was told that yes, managers wear tasers. Finally, it's nice to hear about a retailer fed up with theft and taking serious action to combat it.

Hardware shopping just got a lot more interesting, at least in the suburbs (which is where we try to do all our shopping anyway). It also fits in with our years-long personal boycott of Home Depot which supports a number of political positions that we object to.

It's good to see businesses taking a proactive approach to stopping crime as the police statewide have been restricted from actually enforcing laws. Hopefully, after a tasering, we see them follow up in court to fully prosecute criminals.

UPDATE: for those asking, in 2022, Home Depot partnered with the far-left Human Rights Campaign to provide trans-materials to grade school aged children. Remember, kids can't drink, can't smoke, can't vote, can't get tattoos, but lefties think they can make life changing decisions that permanently alter their bodies - all without parental input and actively hidden by educators. 

We haven't shopped there since.

Catanzara is Correct

It might be a losing battle, but it needs to be out there:

• The yearslong battle over how to handle the Chicago Police Department’s most serious misconduct cases continued Tuesday with attorneys for the city’s largest police union urging an appellate court panel to overturn a ruling requiring disciplinary hearings to be held in public.

  The fight over police discipline erupted during union contract negotiations and stretched from the City Council floor to the courtroom of Cook County Judge Michael Mullen, who ruled that cops can choose to have their cases heard by an arbitrator instead of the Chicago Police Board.

  But Mullen also found that arbitration shouldn’t be held behind closed doors, pushing the union to appeal.

The main objection from the FOP:

• Leaving court Tuesday, FOP President John Catanzara said the city only wants hearings held publicly “to make it a circus and to intimidate the arbitrator.”

Of course. Historical precedent, cemented in Contractual language, is a big hurdle to leap. It requires both parties to come to the table an ::gasp:: negotiate any changes....Party A asks/gives something, Party B asks/gives something in return.

The city, run by democrats for a century now, routinely ignore Contract protections and then dare the other party to sue them, knowing that they control the Courts, appoint the judges and direct where the political donations go. If they can squeeze a few extra votes out of the low-information masses, they can further secure the one-party rule that has locked Chicago into an ever accelerating doom loop.

And just to make sure they have plenty of low-information voters around, they ruin the schools so badly that 90% can't read at grade level, do math, or be bothered to research what Machine politico is connected to which other organization.

So it's correct to fight, even if the deck is marked and stacked against the FOP, if only to be able to say, "We told you so" years down the road. 

"Snap Curfew" Vote

The City Council gives Larritorious the power he says he never asked for:

• The City Council on Wednesday narrowly approved a plan to empower Chicago Police Supt. Larry Snelling to issue curfews anytime, anywhere in the city, with 30 minutes’ notice.

  The Council voted 27-22 to pass the measure.

Flood warnings were issued as plaintiff lawyers across the city immediately started salivating at the millions of dollars headed their way. And then, it ended:

• Mayor Brandon Johnson intends to use his veto power to strike down a controversial ‘snap’ curfew ordinance the City Council approved Wednesday, a mayoral aide tells WGN.

  The council needed 34 votes to make the ordinance, intended to control “teen takeovers” and give Chicago police officers another option for handling unaccompanied minors, veto proof. The vote was 27-22.

This made us chuckle at the absurdity:

• ....Johnson believes investing in summer jobs for teens would be the better solution, and some alders and community groups have also expressed deep concern that a “snap” curfew ordinance, if implemented, would unfairly impact mostly [b]lack and brown kids.

Why would the ordinance impact mostly black and brown kids? Are they being driven downtown in buses and forced out into the streets, taking over intersections, attacking tourists, breaking windows and looting businesses?

Or are they the ones doing the criminal acts?

We're so confused. 

Cops Injured

Traffic crash of course:

• Two Chicago police officers and one civilian suffered minor injuries after they collided while police were responding to a call in Woodlawn early Wednesday, police said.

  Around 1 a.m., the officers were responding to a call heading north in the 6600 block of South Cottage Grove with their car’s lights and sirens on when it collided with a green sedan, according to Chicago police.

  The two officers suffered minor injuries and were taken by ambulance to a nearby hospital. Both were listed in good condition.

Speedy recovery Officers.

Embarrassing

So is this because hiring standards are so low or because the Academy doesn't remind everyone about professional behavior - on and off duty?

• A Chicago police officer is stealing the internet’s spotlight after a Florida sheriff roasted him—and his mugshot—in a series of sassy social media posts Tuesday morning.

  “Had you not battered the security officer at Westgate River Ranch Resort and Rodeo we might have never met,” the Polk County Sheriff’s Office wrote in a post accompanying Sheriff Grady Judd’s video. “And now look at us – totally acquainted.”

  According to Judd, CPD Officer Dwayne Ocasio and a group of Ocasio’s friends were standing around a golf cart in the middle of the road on Friday. So, a security guard for the resort and rodeo “politely” asked them to move out of the road, said Judd. “You know what this guy did?” asked Judd. “He cussed the security guard. Used a racial slur. That’s right. And then pushed the security guard.”

It gets stupider from there. 

While we're not big fans of the humiliation aspect of the incident, respect is supposed to run both ways in the police business. In this case, it didn't, and once that boundary is breached, bad things happen.

And one of the biggest lessons we remember being taught is "The on-duty Officer is always in charge." You do not disrespect, threaten, ignore lawful orders given by any cop on scene. You don't know what the cops have been told, you don't know the OEMC information dispatched, you are not in the loop - you are off-duty. You might get professional courtesy if the situation warrants it, but until that time, butt out.

If you want to disagree, there's an administrative procedure in place, same as any citizen can use. But you don't throw your weight around, especially in a foreign jurisdiction. The sheriff may have been a dick, but he's the dick in charge....and you're far from home. 

Sparklefarts the Moron

Of the three most useless presidents in US History (Biden, Sparklefarts, Carter) this a$$hole is in a category all by himself:

• Former President [Sparklefarts] a warned on Tuesday the current political climate isn’t “consistent” with American democracy.

  “It is consistent with autocracies,” [Sparklefarts] told a crowd in Hartford, Connecticut, where he spoke about the growing threat posed under the Trump administration, according to Connecticut Public Radio. 

  “We’re not there yet completely, but I think that we are dangerously close to normalizing behavior like that,” he added. 

Flashback!!! The year is 2014:

• Before meeting with his Cabinet Tuesday, [Sparklefarts] said he planned to speak to top administration officials about “how to use all the tools” at the administration's disposal to promote ways to maintain the economic recovery.

  "One of the things that I will be emphasizing in this meeting is the fact that we are not just going to be waiting for legislation in order to make sure that we are providing Americans the kind of help that they need," he said. "I’ve got a pen, and I’ve got a phone."

Gee, that sounds kind of.....autocratic, doesn't it? Almost like how a king would behave. 

But now he's upset that someone he doesn't approve of is using the methods he created and championed to run his own administration. And the media continues to run interference for this failed anti-American scumbag, memory-holing his autocratic tendencies and counting on the geezer boomers to follow along with the tune they're manufacturing.