Mutiny?

So this (allegedly) happened at HQ regarding all those phone calls, texts and emails to attend the police exam:

• So... Barb West wanted the commanders to make those telethon calls for the job applicants. Seems most said Nope. Maybe a bit of a mutiny brewing?

Be careful - they might still hang mutineers. Still, it's obvious everyone with something to lose is sitting in their holding pattern until after the election.

8-4-025 Repealed?

A couple of comments saying that the Aggressive Panhandling Ordinance has been repealed in recent weeks.

Others saying that no, it's not repealed, it's just being ordered to be ignored because Crimesha refuses to prosecute it.

What is the over/under on a Concealed Carry individual being accosted and lighting up a particularly aggressive panhandler in the coming days, weeks or months?

And what are the odds they stick around to answer a bunch of dumb questions?

Ride the CTA Fred

Remember when Jane Byrne moved into Cabrini Green? Yeah, it was a stunt and she had plenty of protection, but it made her look "connected" to the people (or was it folks?) in Cabrini.

Numerous people have suggested that maybe Fred Waller and all the other exempts ought to give up their company cars for a month or two and ride the buses and rails to show everyone how safe it truly is.

Maybe they could do it in uniform. Sure, it'd be a stunt, but they're (supposedly) the police, and it might reinstall confidence that crime isn't out of control on the platforms and tunnels.

We suggest Fred starts with the Red Line.....it runs right by HQ.

Hey Google-Me?

Police spokesweasel Anthony Google-me has been spouting off about how all these top-of-the-line CTA supoer-dooper Hi-Def cameras caught every second of the recent shooting in the tunnels and tracked the perpetrator to....somewhere.

So where are the pictures?

The media could use some help with the description. With the Super-Dooper Hi-Def cameras, surely there's a decent shot of the skin area surrounding the surgical mask. A flash of skin around the neck, across the bridge of hte nose, maybe forehead or hand holding the gun.

Or is Google-me just spouting bullshit like he usually does?

Ten Years vs No Years

So if you rob a store of $33 worth of underwear, you get this:

• A divided Illinois Appellate Court panel has upheld a 10-year prison sentence that a Cook County judge gave a homeless drug addict convicted of the 2015 robbery of a Family Dollar Store on the West Side in which he got away with $33 of T-shirts and underwear.
  
  Appellate Judge Terrence Lavin, writing for himself and Appellate Judge Mary Anne Mason, said it isn’t the job of the appeals court to substitute its judgment for that of the trial judge, Cook County Circuit Judge Mary Margaret Brosnahan. She imposed the harsh sentence on David Lundy, who had 10 prior convictions, most on theft and drug charges.

But if you rob the pension fund of $54 million, you get this:

•  

 It's amazing, isn't it?

Solution? More Signs!

They deal drugs in the CTA stations?

• Chicago police are looking into the possibility that illicit drug-dealing may have led to a shooting in a tunnel between two busy Loop subway stations during Thursday’s evening rush hour.
  
  The 27-year-old man who was shot in the hip has been arrested many times and has felony convictions for narcotics and weapons-related offenses, according to court records.

We need some "No Drugs" signs like the "No Guns" signs that keep the CTA tunnels, platforms and trains so safe.

And touching on what media-demoted "Deputy" Chief Fred said yesterday:

• “This area is probably one of the safest areas of the city,” Deputy Chief of Patrol Fred Waller told reporters Thursday at the scene. “This is a targeted incident that the riders should not feel any type of discomfort or any type of hesitation in riding the CTA.”

You know what else was a targeted incident Fred? Let's start with Hadiya Pendleton and work our way (backward or forward - your choice) from there. That was a "targeted incident," too. Except they got the wrong person. And you saying no one needs to worry is the height of tone-deafness from a police executive....or the the depths that a multiple merit appointee will sink to.

Leading the Way to the Bottom

Another "prosecutor" with ties to the Soros fundraising organization:

• Boston, MA – When Suffolk County’s district attorney-elect Rachel Rollins takes over the prosecutor’s office in January, criminals will no longer need to worry about being held accountable for many offenses – including resisting arrest.
  
  “It’s a recipe for disaster,” veteran Boston defense attorney, Robert Griffin, told the Boston Globe.
  
  “The problem is the message that you’re sending,” Griffin stressed. “You’re encouraging bad behavior. You’re telling people that we’re not going to do anything about this.”

So no Resisting charges in Boston. Great fucking idea. And there's a list of fourteen other charges this progressive democrat will not prosecute, including:

• offenses of shoplifting,
• trespass, 
• threats, 
• and larceny under $250m
• disturbing the peace, 
• disorderly conduct, and 
• “minor driving offenses,”

Sounds exactly like Crimesha's list. But how about this one?

• Breaking and entering will not be prosecuted, as long as the perpetrator makes sure the property is vacant.

Unreal.

On the Horizon

You can tell it's going to be bad because they use all the "progressive" keywords:

• Today, Governor-elect JB Pritzker announced the formation and members of the transition’s Restorative Justice and Safe Communities Committee at Safer Foundation, one of the nation’s largest nonprofit organizations that provides employment, educational, and supportive services for individuals with criminal records.
  
  The committee is the eighth of several working groups of the transition made up of subject-matter experts who will advise and guide the incoming Pritzker-Stratton administration. The Restorative Justice and Safe Communities Committee will be chaired by Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx, State Rep. Jehan Gordon-Booth, and Congresswoman Robin Kelly and consist of 42 members.

It's only a matter of time now.

Nice Blue Line Rahm

No getting around the bad visuals here:

• CTA platform
• mid-rush hour
• amidst dozens and dozens of families waiting for the Christmas Train

And the media, as usual, comes up with a brilliant description:

• The shooter wore a surgical mask across his mouth, police said. He ran west through the tunnel and either exited the subway or got on a train.

Well that's so very fucking helpful. But don't worry - Fred Waller is one the case!

• “This area is probably one of the safest areas of the city,” Deputy Chief of Patrol Fred Waller told reporters at the scene. “This is a targeted incident that the riders should not feel any type of discomfort or any type of hesitation in riding the CTA.”

Except for the bullets that might travel through bodies, bounce off concrete, hitting families downtown for the Christmas Train....sure it's perfectly safe. There are all sorts of high definition cameras, so it must be safe.....but no cops.

Where Did the Money Go?

An extensive report by Novak in the Sun Times about where all the pension money went:

• If there ever was any hope that five Chicago city workers pension funds would make any money by investing $68 million with then-Mayor Richard M. Daley’s nephew and one of his key political supporters, it didn’t last long. Only months after the deals were made a dozen years ago, problems began to emerge.
  
  The nephew, Robert G. Vanecko, and his business partner Allison S. Davis, a developer who gave campaign money to Daley and was appointed by the mayor to head the Chicago Plan Commission, started investing in a series of property deals that, by the time the last of them are unwound by the end of December, will have cost the city workers pension funds 80 percent of the $68 million they put in — $54 million in all.
  
  Vanecko and Davis set up a company, DV Urban Realty Partners, and bought an apartment building that was riddled with code violations.
  
  They invested in a vacant building that once housed the Chicago Defender, even as City Hall inspectors threatened to tear it down unless repairs were made.
  
  They put city employees’ pension money into an old warehouse that sat on land so poisoned with arsenic and lead that the pension funds had to help pay $2.6 million for cleanup just to be able to unload it at a huge loss.
  
  They lent millions of dollars to developers who personally guaranteed to repay the money but never did, costing the pension funds more than $5.6 million.
  
  DV Urban broke a contract to buy a building in the South Loop, a decision that cost the pension funds another $4 million.
  
  And somehow they even lost money — more than $11 million on the deal that built a busy Mariano’s supermarket in the North Side neighborhood of East Lake View, a location that has 90,000 people living within a one-mile radius.

But you can bet these assholes took their commission up front.

Good Lord Bill - Shut Up

Making a promise everyone knows he won't keep:

• Former Mayor Richard M. Daley’s 22-year aversion to raising property taxes kept them unrealistically low compared to surrounding suburbs and laid the groundwork for Chicago’s $28 billion pension crisis.
  
  Now, the former mayor’s brother is promising more of the same, at least for one year, maybe more, even with a looming, $1 billion spike in pension payments.
  
  The pledge to freeze property taxes is the cornerstone of Bill Daley’s first television commercial of the mayoral campaign.

So one of the cornerstones of his campaign is "kick the can even further down the road" on the face of every single actuarial report saying there is nothing short of extensive property tax hikes....or bankruptcy.

Extortion - Unit 701

This crap pops up every year:

• Lt on second watch in unit 701 strong arming po s to buy tickets to xmas party and pay $20 for a gift for commander!!! Threatening no time due if you dont pay!! 

Document the date and time, have a witness and grieve any denials. Look into an EEOC beef, too. You might be able to retire if you prevail.

Butthurt Aldercreature

It's politics Tunney, not the restaurant business:

• Baseball and cold beer were distant dreams on a recent icy afternoon as Ald. Tom Tunney hustled past Wrigley Field, pointing out the several restaurants and bars in the new hotel and office building the Ricketts family, which owns the Chicago Cubs, put up around the stadium’s west side.
  
  Workers on cherry pickers rose up along the facade of the ballpark itself, carrying out the latest renovations in a yearslong modernization.
  
  “When they say I’m standing in their way, all I can say is ‘Are you kidding?’ ” Tunney asked, raising his arms to take in the new construction.
  
  Since the billionaire owners bought the team in 2009, they set out to spend about $1 billion on the Friendly Confines and developments around the park, Ricketts family spokesman Dennis Culloton says. Through it all, Culloton says, Tunney’s stood in the team’s way.
  
  Now, Tunney says the Ricketts family is looking to help finance somebody’s election campaign to take him out. Culloton acknowledges the family is thinking about backing a challenger.

Businesses always attempt a balancing act with aldercreatures - hiring connected companies (who kick up to the aldercreature), making the maximum allowable political "donations," hiring relatives, etc. But sometimes, the demands get a little bit out of hand and it becomes cheaper to look for a new aldercreature face who isn't always there with his/her hand out. If a politician doesn't stay bought, what good are they?

Recruitment Telethon?

This is pretty sad:

The Department is having a phone bank to call applicants to remind them to show up for an exam that they signed up for. Did anyone tell the Department that there are automated services for this? Someone knows - they're sending out automated texts:

How about hiring a bunch of the people that Tracy Ladner disqualified?

Factory Leaves Illinois

We're afraid this is the beginning of a bad trend:

• An Illinois steel company has finalized plans to move its operations to northwestern Indiana .
  
  The state of Indiana announced Wednesday that Alliance Steel plans to invest $19.7 million in Gary, about 25 miles (40 kilometers) from its plant in Bedford Park, Illinois. The company is beginning renovations in Gary in early 2019 and could be operational there by January 2020.
  
  Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb says it's "an exciting step forward" for northwestern Indiana.
  
  Alliance Steel's CEO Andy Gross says the region is "making all the right moves to recreate a very promising industrial area."

As opposed to BJ Pritzker, who most likely won't be making Illinois anywhere near as welcoming.

Be the Change!

We'll just leave this here:

Fuck Crimesha Foxxx

Once again, cops cannot ever be the victim:

• December 3rd, 2018 in room 207 at the criminal courts building case #17CR11014 was being adjudicated and heard. A 007th district Sergeant was working in an undercover capacity when the defendant pulled up next to the UCV and brandished a handgun. Furthermore, this defendant, a 58 year old radiology tech from a Chicago hospital, and FOID/CCL holder, while driving under the influence menaced the UCO by feigning to rack the gun and then tap on his (defendant's) driver window to menace and intimidate the UCO.
  
  Defendant was charged in 2017 with Aggravated UUW and DUI for the incident. The defendant gave several admissions including, "I was busy listening to rap music and out of impulse pulled the gun out and I brandished it, I flashed it like a new pair of shoes." However, the court would never hear this evidence because despite a jury trial set to begin on this day, Cook County ASAs assigned to room 207 deliberately went against the victim's wishes. The sergeant would not agree to have this defendant's case plead down to a misdemeanor.
  
  Unconcerned with the wishes of the victim sergeant, the state did just that. The defendant was plead down to two class A misdemeanors. When the sergeant requested to speak on record to oppose the agreement, he was denied and silenced. With the victim sergeant in the court room, the defendant apologized to the court but not the sergeant. Judge Byrne appearing shocked at the agreement after the ASA read into record the facts of the case, and still throughout it all, no acknowledgment was made to the victim sergeant and was clearly wished away by all court personnel, including the Cook County Sheriff who rudely and with disdain cut the sergeant off before he could finish asking his question in regards to speaking to the judge about this miscarriage of justice and having his voice heard.
  
  The victim sergeant, a 23 year veteran, was treated with disrespect and scorn. The ASAs in providing an explanation for the decision, clearly held the victim sergeant in contempt for his sincere frustration and then exasperated it when they attempted to validate their position with arguments more commonly used by the Public defender’s office. And in the end even the defendant's private counsel knew something was afoul as they could hardly mask their disbelief and yes, shame as they walked past the decorated victim sergeant, knowing that they pulled one off and got their client an early Christmas gift.

Nice job Cook County States Attorneys. You are truly assholes among a county office full of assholes.

And the Corruption Continues

Information pops up in the oddest places - places an enterprising reporter once may have thought to look:

• So, my real estate developer buddy attended a meeting with sterling bay. They’re developing the old north and throop and property. The developer wants $800 million in tif money. They’re also building a huge concert property for live nation. It turns out Jb pritzker owns 50% of that and Rahms brother Ari owns a good chunk as well. Business as usual here in Chicago. Carry on...

$800 million that could have gone to shore up pensions or even cover retiree health care, instead, moved around to a connected party who happens to be connected to Rahm and BJ.

"Carry on" indeed."

Promotions Solve Shootings?

This is a new one on us - taking cops and detectives off the streets and making them sergeants will suddenly solve crime?

• Under pressure over the department’s abysmally low rate of solving shootings, Chicago police announced plans Monday to add 50 more sergeants next year to improve its supervision of detectives investigating violent crime.
  
  The department also said it will bring in experts from the Los Angeles Police Department and the U.S. Department of Justice to recommend how investigators here can solve more homicides and shootings.
  
  The measures come at a time when the Chicago Tribune has been examining the challenges faced by police in solving violent crime from just one weekend in early August when at least 75 people were shot, 13 of them fatally — the most violent weekend in Chicago in years.

And we have to listen to LAPD "experts" to solve crime because 20 years under federal supervision and countless billions in expenditures has made LA a paradise to live in.

So if Special Ed is going to be promoting 50 sergeants, they're all coming from the D Unit and headed right back there to lean on the detectives to work harder? What happened to spending a year in Patrol? Or are they pulling 50 sergeants out of the Districts to ride hard on the detectives?

Time for the "Silly Season"

Where court "challenges" take place and all twenty-one candidates jockey for the inside track by knocking off the weaker candidates or those not approved by the Machine:

• A lawyer for Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle filed petition challenges Monday against state comptroller Susana Mendoza and four other women candidates for mayor as the process of paring down the field of 21 got underway.
  
  Preckwinkle election lawyer Keri-Lyn Krafthefer denied the campaign was targeting women for removal from the ballot, even though the only female opponent left unchallenged was Amara Enyia, the community organizer backed by Chance the Rapper.
  
  Mendoza’s supporters accused Preckwinkle and other mayoral opponents of ganging up on her to keep her out of the race.
  
  Declaring Mendoza to be the “frontrunner” in the race for mayor, her campaign co-chairs Marty Castro and Kathy Byrne predicted the effort to discredit Mendoza’s nominating petitions will fail.

The Machine has along memory, and the fact that Janie's daughter is working for Mendoza isn't going to win Mendoza any leeway during the challenges. In fact, it'll probably hurt her as the Machine was never happy about Byrne winning.