It's the Crime Stupid

As we've said so many times, it isn't the crime stats per se - it's the perception of crime:

• Violent crime in Chicago has been on the decline for two decades, yet as Mayor Rahm Emanuel looks to re-election next year, the scourge of shootings and gang murders still defines the conversation in many neighborhoods across the South and West sides.
  
  Part ugly reality, part perception, the rate of violence in impoverished, mostly black areas of the city has helped shape negative impressions of the first-term mayor as ineffective when it comes to problems afflicting the urban poor, a new Chicago Tribune poll has found.
  
  Voters disapprove of Emanuel's job performance on crime by a nearly 2-to-1 ratio — 30 percent approve, while 57 percent disapprove. That's a drop in support of 15 percentage points from a year ago, when 45 percent approved of the mayor's efforts and 47 percent disapproved.

Crime might be down according to McNumberFudger's bullshit reclassification schemes, and homicides are trending down (2012 being the outlier). But the appearance of crime in formerly "safe" areas of the city and the deliberate media blackout on crimes of opportunity (wildings) downtown lends itself to a perception of "unsafe." Combine that with the more brazen child murders this year and Rahm isn't looking like a law-and-order mayor by any stretch of the imagination.

Stop-and-Frisks Down - Shootings Up

This keeps popping up in the New York media as if it's some big surprise or something, and we guess it is - to New York liberals:

• Cops in two of the city’s toughest precincts recorded 99% fewer stop-and-frisks during the first half of the year — part of a staggering decline in the polarizing police tactic from the same period just three years ago.
  
  Officers assigned to the 75th Precinct in East New York and the 73rd Precinct in Brownsville stopped just 126 people in the first half of 2014, compared to 10,540 stops between January and June of 2011.
  
  The nearly eye-popping decrease is no misprint — and it comes as shootings in those neighborhoods are on the rise.
  
  Shootings are up in East New York from 34 to 43 through Aug. 10, a spike of about 27% compared to last year. In Brownsville, shootings are up from 38 to 56, an increase of about 47% over the same time period.

Cause-and-effect is completely lost on these folks.

Guess What Message We're Hearing?

Cop shoots "unarmed" teen in Missouri. Media runs with it.

Riots ensue. Four days worth. Sharpton et al arrive to stoke the fire.

Teen turns out to be a 6'04" 300 pound behemoth and had committed a robbery minutes before. "Anonymous hack-tivists" get involved.

At least one shot fired inside the squad car.If one of the holes in this offender has powder burns around it, then there was obviously a struggle over the gun. Copper is identified by name.

Now the Missouri State Police have "relived" the local cops of their jurisdiction and some are marching with the crowds, whether or not under orders, we have no idea.

You know what we're hearing, loud and clear?

• Don't get out of the car. Ever. Indianapolis Metro Police Deptarment be damned, if you get out of the car, the media will run half-truths, the community will riot, the brass will turn their backs and the politicians will run the bus over you, again and again and again in a constant loop.

In the urban centers, police work is done and the Law of the Jungle prevails. Protect yourself and your job. We never thought we'd have to type that.

More Safe Passages

To the tune of an additional million bucks:

• A group of parents and community members gathered in the quiet auditorium of Penn Elementary School on the West Side Friday to hear how Chicago Public Schools officials are going to work to keep their kids safe this upcoming school year.
  
  After all, a man was shot in May across the street from the North Lawndale school.

During school hours? In front of school children? No? Because we recall the schools and department bragging about how no one was shot, maimed or killed on a safe passage route all of last year. Just a student raped and strangled within sight of a Safe Passage route, but again, the city doesn't count anything that's "near" a parade route, why count a crime?

So as predicted, this idea is expanding this school year. Rahm can't afford to have a single child catch a bullet before the election. And if it costs a million additional taxpayer dollars, who are we to argue against it?

Quinn Fires Lottery Firm

Too bad it took three years and an almost half-a-billion dollar shortfall to get to this point:

• Bowing to a lackluster bottom line, Gov. Pat Quinn’s administration moved Friday to terminate the state’s contract with Northstar Lottery Group, the private vendor that manages the Illinois Lottery. “The administration has had serious concerns with Northstar’s performance. The governor demands every state contractor be held accountable for their performance,” Quinn spokesman Grant Klinzman said.
  
  The company is running $238 million short in projected earnings it had promised the state this fiscal year.
  
  And during the past three years, the company has underperformed by roughly $480 million, prompting calls from some lawmakers for the Quinn administration to pull out of what had been a 10-year contract with the company to run the day-to-day operations of the state’s $2 billion lottery.

Chronic mismanagement.

All the Economy's Fault

Remember, the Sun Times isn't carrying water for Rahm:

• Mayor Rahm Emanuel on Thursday blamed the economic squeeze on the middle class for his 35 percent showing in a Chicago Tribune poll that also shows him trailing Chicago Teachers Union President Karen Lewis.
  
  The Tribune’s findings are similar to the results of a Chicago Sun-Times poll that showed the mayor with 29 percent support overall and only 8 percent from African-Americans. The Sun-Times also did a more recent head-to-head poll that put Lewis in the lead in a one-on-one race.
  
  “There’s tremendous economic stress in people’s lives, which is why I’ve pushed for the minimum wage, which is why I’ve pushed for policies to make sure our small businesses have a fair chance and an equal chance with big companies,” the mayor said.

So Fran takes a Tribune poll and uses it in the Sun Times for Rahm to blame the economic squeeze for his shitty poll numbers. Fran was one of Richie's biggest cheerleaders for years. We suppose to maintain that all important "access" to City Hall, she has to give Rahm some sort of platform to attempt to salvage his reelection try.

Whatever happened to the supposed independent media? Have the Trib and Times finally merged?

All Daley's Fault

Remember, the Tribune isn't carry water for Rahm (paywall warning):

• Far more Chicago voters believe former Mayor Richard M. Daley is more responsible for the city's ongoing financial woes than his successor, according to a new Chicago Tribune poll.
  
  At the same time, a strong majority of those surveyed continue to believe the city is about the same or worse off under Mayor Rahm Emanuel than it was when Daley ran City Hall.
  
  Daley remained a popular mayor for much of his record 22 years leading the city. But his popularity fell during his last term, in part because of dissatisfaction with a controversial lease of the city's parking meters. Since Daley left office, criticism of his financial stewardship has only grown.

The Trib and the Times were kind of quiet during Shortshanks' days of heavy spending. Seldom a discouraging word was spoken. But now that Rahm is in trouble, they can't wait to blame Daley for years of mismanagement. But if they had been doing that through the 1990's and 2000's, maybe Chicago wouldn't be on the verge of default.

Disgusting Allegation

We don't even want to link this crap, but then some will accuse us of ignoring the story. Then others will jump in and accuse us of rushing to judgement. 

• Click here if you want - we aren't even going to quote the article.

Something bad happened. A cop is involved somehow. We have no use for dirty cops. We have less use for short-eye predators. Innocent until proven guilty applies, but dear lord, what the hell?

More Feebs

But remember - we're at FULL STRENGTH!

• Sneed has learned that the feds plan to dispatch 65 FBI agents to the streets in high-crime areas on the South and West Sides in an all-out battle against gang crime.
  
  The 65 feds are part of a group of 100 Chicago agents already assigned to curb gang and violent crimes.
  
  “This is a new tactic the FBI is using in fighting crime,” an FBI spokeswoman said, “by working in a concentrated area and a concentrated time on the street — although the FBI has been working hand in hand and day in and day out with the police department."
  
  A top police source tells Sneed the FBI agents, who will be working in tandem with the Chicago Police Department, will be assigned to do gang suppression missions on Thursdays and Fridays for at least the next three to four weeks.
  
  “It’s mind-boggling,” the top police source said. “It’s almost unheard of.”
  
  “I thought the mayor and the police superintendent had said they don’t need more police on the streets,” the source added.

Always remember, a feeb will give 20 gangbangers a pass to jam up one police officer. Be aware ladies and gents. Be very aware.

Firefighters Sue

This will be an interesting one:

• A group of Chicago firefighters has hired a lawyer in anticipation of a possible legal challenge to a city hiring policy that will give graduates of Chicago public high schools an advantage in an upcoming Fire Department exam.
  
  The firefighters say the preferential hiring practice that will affect the December exam should be extended to all Chicago residents, including those who, like the children of many firefighters and city workers, attended private high schools. Their legal fight is funded by a $20,000 donation from Firefighters Union Local 2.
  
  The situation points to the competing political constituencies Mayor Rahm Emanuel faces as he approaches his re-election bid in February. Emanuel doesn’t want to anger firefighters, especially so soon after announcing a new contract with the union that was passed overwhelmingly by rank-and-file firefighters and the City Council. He also is loath to pick a fight with voters who choose private schools for their children, among them many of the city workers who are required to live in Chicago.

You mean city workers like....Rahm Emanuel? Those kinds of people sending their kids to private schools? It's kind of weird how democrats always want to punish the people who are doing okay for themselves, yet never notice the beam in their own eye as they keep their progeny as far away from the common-folk as possible lest they become tainted by those who work for a living.

More Red Light Indictments

Heaven forbid they actually shut this thing down completely until all the lawsuits/indictments/crooked contracts are straightened out:

• The ex-CEO of Redflex Traffic Systems and the former head of Chicago's red light camera program were indicted today on conspiracy charges in an expansion of the federal investigation into an alleged $2 million bribery scheme.
  
  Prosecutors accused the former CEO, Karen Finley, of agreeing to enrich former city manager John Bills in exchange for his help securing the Chicago contract and growing it into the largest red light camera program in the nation. Bills was charged with bribery in a May criminal complaint.
  
  Bills' longtime friend Martin O'Malley, who was hired by Redflex as a Chicago consultant, was also indicted Wednesday on a charge that he served as the bagman for some $2 million in Redflex payments, much of it intended for Bills.

Business as usual, except someone must not have greased the correct palms.

CompStat LA

Guess what they've uncovered in the City of Angels?

• Once police had Nathan Hunter in handcuffs, they tended to his wife.
  
  She was covered in blood. She told the officers Hunter flew into a rage that night in February 2013 because she hadn't bought him a Valentine's Day gift. He beat and choked her before stabbing her in the face with a screwdriver and throwing her down a flight of stairs at their apartment in South L.A., according to police and court records.
  
  Hunter, 55, was convicted of felony spousal abuse and sentenced to six years in prison.
  
  Under FBI rules followed by police departments across the country, the beating should have been counted as an aggravated assault because Hunter used a weapon and caused serious injuries.

Can you see it coming? Can you feel the tingle? The anticipation?

• That's not what happened. The Los Angeles Police Department classified it as a simple assault — a minor offense not included in the city's official tally of serious crimes.
  
  It was no isolated case. The LAPD misclassified nearly 1,200 violent crimes during a one-year span ending in September 2013, including hundreds of stabbings, beatings and robberies, a Times investigation found.
  
  The incidents were recorded as minor offenses and as a result did not appear in the LAPD's published statistics on serious crime that officials and the public use to judge the department's performance.
  
  Nearly all the misclassified crimes were actually aggravated assaults. If those incidents had been recorded correctly, the total aggravated assaults for the 12-month period would have been almost 14% higher than the official figure, The Times found.
  
  The tally for violent crime overall would have been nearly 7% higher.

And there it is. CompStat has now been exposed as a fraud in the three largest metropolitan areas of the country. Chicago Magazine had their two part series on the falsification of the numbers. New York has two professors, one of them a retired NYPD Captain, who published a book on how the numbers get changed, and now the LA Times has uncovered a pattern of lies that shows a double-digit reduction in crime that is pure fiction.

Can we stick a fork in this crap yet? Can we finally end the careers of these morons who perpetrated this fraud on not one or two hick towns, but on entire cities across the nation. New York, Chicago, LA, Milwaukee, Cleveland, Newark, the list goes on and on. This is ridiculous.

Angelo Reads the Blog

The FOP and Trooper Lodges are bucking Rahm on his recent announcement:

• Police union leaders on Monday urged Mayor Rahm Emanuel to modify his plan to assign 40 state troopers on 30-day loan to Chicago to serve fugitive warrants to get known criminals off the street.
  
  Dean Angelo, president of Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 7 representing Chicago Police Officers, and Mike Powell, president of the FOP’s Illinois Trooper Lodge No. 41, said it makes more sense to assign state troopers to traffic duty to free Chicago Police officers for the “real police work” chasing fugitives.
  
  “You’re taking troopers from rural areas out of their element and thrusting them into the big city. There should always be concern about that. That’s just a matter of geography,” Powell said.
  
  “The Chicago Police Department knows the city. They know some of the folks they’re looking for. They recognize them. They’ve dealt with them. [Using them to chase fugitives] would be a smarter, better use of resources.”

Rahm isn't budging - it's his idea and his election year. So there. But here's the story we and our readers have been pointing out for a number of years now:

• Emanuel balanced his first budget by eliminating more than 1,400 police vacancies.
  
  Although the mayor has more recently done enough police hiring to keep pace with attrition, Angelo argued Monday that the Chicago Police Department is “anywhere from 1,500 to 2,500 officers down from where we should be manpower-wise.”
  
  Pressed on where the money would come from to bolster police hiring, Angelo said, “We have 50 aldermen. A lot of people would argue that’s too many. I took a pay cut. Maybe that’s something other people should do.”
  
  Angelo also set his sights on the $66 million-a-year aldermanic menu program that gives each of the 50 City Council members $1.32 million to spend on neighborhood infrastructure projects of their own choosing.
  
  “If everybody is so concerned about crime, let’s go to the City Council and ask, `Who wants to give back half of that money to hire more police and make our neighborhoods safer, and if they’re not, why aren’t they?’ You can't have it both ways,” Angelo said.
  
  “Let’s track some of that money. Is it all going to street lights, potholes and sidewalks? Or is it picnics, parades and T-shirts? If $1.3 million in every ward is really going to neighborhood improvements, God bless. Our streets should look like the Autobahn. And we know that’s not happening.”

Let's see....1,400 vacancies - CHECK. Too many aldercreatures - CHECK. Aldermanic menu program of $66 million - CHECK. golly, we could have written this platform three or four years ago - oh wait, we did. But this time, the media actually printed it. We don't know who fell asleep at the presses, but it's about time this saw the light of day.

UPDATE: A couple people are asking why we aren't praising Dean Angelo to the heavens for his statements.

• First up, it's his job. We're glad he's doing it instead of what happened the last three years.
• Second, if he ran for office solely to get praise from the blog, he's in the wrong business.
• Third, as we listed in the last paragraph, none of these things are new to the readers of the blog - our readers and we have been saying this for years now. One of our readers even ran a table showing the proportional representation of Chicago ought to be about 17-to-18 aldercreatures, tops. Our people have done the research, Dean is merely using our stats.
• Fourth and finally, we've told everyone that the FOP calls press conferences more often than you know. The media, with the able assistance of the mayoral press office, decides whether of not to send a camera and/or a scribe to take down the information. Most of the time, they don't, ergo no coverage.

So again, we're glad to see it in the media for however short a time and good for Dean for being Johnny-on-the-spot with the ready quote, but let's not pretend it was anything but what it was.

Jobs are Back!

It only took 6 years, but the jobs are back:

• The U.S. has regained the 8.7 million jobs lost in the recession, but the average wage has dropped 23 percent, according to a U.S. Conference of Mayors study released today.
  
  The report, “U.S. Metro Economies: Income and Wage Gaps Across the U.S.,” also found a widening income gap between the rich and poor, with the highest earning 20 percent of households gaining the most. Chicago mirrored the national trend.
  
  “While the economy is picking up steam, income inequality and wage gaps are an alarming trend,” said Kevin Johnson, conference president and mayor of Sacramento, Calif. The organization expects the trend to continue.
  
  The average annual wage of jobs lost in 2008-09 was $61,637 nationally, while the average wage of jobs added through the second quarter of this year was $47,171, according to the report, prepared by research firm IHS Global Insight. Jobs were lost in high-wage manufacturing and construction, and replaced with jobs in lower-wage sectors such as hospitality, health care and administrative support.
  
  The 23 percent wage gap compares with 12 percent drop after the 2000-03 recession, the report said.

Elections have consequences - and we'll will be paying for the past few for decades to come.

Lottery Loses Again

Brilliant:

• For the third consecutive year, the private firm hired run the Illinois Lottery has failed to bring in the profits it promised to raise for the state, even as its parent companies continue to be paid more each year to provide games and services.
  
  According to a Tribune review of preliminary year-end data, Northstar Lottery Group posted a net profit of $738 million – nearly a quarter billion less than it pledged to bring in for the 2014 fiscal year, which ended June 30.
  
  The figure is less than the company raised for the state in the 2012 and 2013 fiscal years after it became the first private company in the nation to take over day-to-day operations of a state lottery.
  
  After three years, Northstar is about $480 million behind what it committed to bring into the state’s coffers, prompting one of the company’s harshest critics to renew questions about why Gov. Pat Quinn has not fired the company.

In private practice, if you don't hit targets, you get fired.

In government, if you don't hit targets, you get subsidies.

What could possibly be keeping Quinn from firing these fools?

• Northstar spokeswoman Avis LaVelle said the company would not have any response until the 2014 results have been audited, something that has yet to be completed for the two prior years.

You mean Shortshanks former press secretary Avis LaVelle? That explains it all right there.

He's From Chicago, Right?

ALTERNATE TITLE: Mission Accomplished

Shorten the Parade?

Racism no doubt:

• A South Side aldermen suggested Monday that it may be time to shorten the nation’s oldest and largest African-American parade after a shooting Saturday near the Bud Billiken parade route injured two teens and frightened families.
  
  “As the parade has aged, perhaps now it’s just time to take a look at tweaking it to figure out what changes need to be made,” local Ald. Pat Dowell (3^rd) said during a live interview on the WFLD-TV program, “Good Day Chicago.”
  
  “The parade…can be up to five hours [long]. Perhaps it should be only two [or] 2 1/2 hours. I’m just saying no parade should go five to six hours. We just need to have some conversations about ways to tweak it. I’m not saying the time has to change. I’m just saying that’s something we should look at [along with] traffic management and the way police are dispersed.”
  
  On a picture-perfect Saturday, the annual end-of-summer celebration sponsored by Chicago Defender Charities was marred by the first shooting in the parade’s 85-year history.

We don't imagine anyone is expecting this to completely stop the mayhem. These two goofs got shot near the head of the parade, so timing isn't an issue. Shutting down a main thoroughfare for 8-to-12 hours might be an issue though. Three-hundred-plus parade units might be another. And the failure of parade marshals to keep the gaps down to something under a football field, too.

We were amused that someone finally pointed out that this is the only parade in the history of Chicago where Officers are ordered and Supervisors are contractually forbidden from taking elective time off that day. It's almost like the City is expecting.....something.

What's This?

Did something change?

• Don't get yourself jammed up big time by doing movers anymore. The law changed yesterday and it states that we no longer take a persons license as bond. They sign the ticket and go on their way. But no one told us, not the law department, not the CO book in roll call. Take someone's license and you're fucked. Remember ignorance is not a defense when you get sued.
  
  Senate bill 2583 went into effect 10Aug14 and it states "Amends the Illinois Vehicle Code. Repeals the Section concerning license as bail. Provides that residents of this State and residents of any other state which is a member of the Nonresident Violator Compact of 1977 who are cited by a police officer for violating a traffic law or ordinance shall have the option of (1) being taken without unnecessary delay before a court of jurisdiction or (2) executing a written promise to comply with the terms of the citation by signing at least one copy of a Uniform Traffic Ticket prepared by the police officer. Provides that the Secretary of State shall suspend the driving privileges of a resident who fails to comply with the executed written promise to comply with the original terms of the citation until the Secretary receives notification by the court of jurisdiction that the person has appeared or otherwise executed the written promise to comply with the terms of the original citation. Amends the Code of Criminal Procedure of 1963. Removes a provision allowing the Supreme Court to include deposit of a chauffeur's or operator's license in the bail schedule for traffic cases. Makes corresponding changes in other portions of the Code."

Is this some sort of joke to get everyone to stop writing movers? If so, well played. If true however, once again, a massive breakdown in keeping the troops informed of a major legislative shift.

UPDATE: Something did change:

• Motorists who are pulled over in Illinois will no longer need to hand over their driver's license in exchange for a citation under a bill signed into law on Saturday.
  
  Senate Bill 2583, sponsored by Sen. Michael Noland, D-Elgin, and State Rep. John D'Amico, D-Chicago, eliminates the requirement that drivers post their license as bail for certain traffic offenses. The new law allows the motorist's signature on the citation to suffice as a guarantee that they will either appear in court or pay the required fines.
  
  The law goes into effect Jan. 1, 2015. (An earlier version of this story contained incorrect information on the law's effective date; the incorrect information came in an e-mailed release from the governor's press office.)

Our e-mailer must have had the first printing of the story. So this is interesting - everyone rolls on a signature. We guess that will save them the trouble of actually having to go out and acquire a legal license in the first place.

Firefighters Injured

Nothing life threatening according to reports:

• Nine people -including five firefighters and a child – were injured in a smoky fire Monday afternoon in a 15-story University of Chicago dorm for faculty and staff.
  
  Fire Department Spokesman Larry Langford says the conditions ranged from good to serious. He says none of the injuries was believed to be life-threatening.

Best wishes tot he injured for speedy recoveries.

Lost Opportunity

Tsk tsk tsk. A crisis gone to waste:

• Bud Billiken Parade organizers on Sunday bemoaned local media focus on the shooting of two teenagers at the event instead of the celebration.
  
  “It’s a shame to waste that time on a minor incident that occurred,” parade organizer Beverly Reed-Scott said at a news conference Sunday afternoon at the corner of 42nd Street and Martin Luther King Drive.
  
  The parade, an end-of-summer celebration sponsored by Chicago Defender Charities, saw its first shooting Saturday in its 85-year history.
  
  An 18-year-old man and a 17-year-old boy were shot while standing in the 4200 block of South King Drive along the parade route. Both victims survived and at least one was taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital.
  
  No arrests have been made in connection with the shooting.
  
  Asked if she thought the media not covering violence would make a difference, Reed-Scott said: “Absolutely.

The article has been altered at least once, with a quote from aldercreature Dowell bemoaning the violence.

But let's get this straight:

• Allegedly, for the first time in 85 years, a shooting occurred at the Billiken parade - two wounded. We're supposed to believe in the face of all evidence to the contrary, that no violence has ever visited this joyous back-to-school parade before Saturday.
  
  Our comment section is alive with stories of parade related violence (recent and past), including roving groups of 100-to-200 bangers that are just looking for fights with rivals. We can recall any number of firearm related offenses occurring within sight and sound of the parade and the after parties. Someone even mentioned the infamous Anthony Porter case. But the media and parade organizers want everyone who hasn't attended this miles-long-disaster to believe it's all fun fun fun. It isn't.
  
  This reminds us exactly of the Taste violence - someone was killed within sight of the Taste a few years back and a tourist nearly caught a round in the head in his hotel room, but Shortshanks insisted the Taste was safe because none of this actually happened within the "boundaries."
  
  In any event, the parade organizers are bemoaning the media coverage of this "first ever" event. Doesn't that by definition make it newsworthy? Should people know if something happens at an event like this so they can take proper precautions or make informed decisions?

Evidently not - Beverly Reed-Scott calls this "a minor incident" and thinks that not reporting the problem will make it go away. Two people with holes in their bodies is now "minor." Rahm even got in on the act, whining on WBBM Newsradio about how two people getting shot detracted from the positive message of getting ready for school.

Ummm, didn't we just have a 14-year-old killed by her former friend over a boy, another 13-year-old dope dealer gunned down and a 13-year-old girl at a slumber party stop a stray bullet? All that was news, but people getting shot at a parade isn't supposed to be covered? What if a 10-year-old had stopped one of those rounds? A 5-year-old? An infant in a stroller? Or grandma? Or great-grandma? If Rahm could just give us a window where we can say with confidence, "We don't care if this type of person got shot," then we're sure the media would jump at the chance to not cover this.

We can't help but view this as yet another lost opportunity. There is an epidemic of violence in the black community and ignoring it isn't going to change it. That hasn't worked in 50 years - witness the south and west sides. You aren't allowed to talk about violence in the black community unless you bad-mouth guns, blame other races, demand more money, jobs, spending and completely ignore the fact that someone aimed that gun, pulled that trigger and let a bullet go with no appreciation or second thought about where the lead ended up. That isn't a gun problem - that's a problem of someone who just doesn't give a fuck about anything because they haven't been taught to give a fuck about anything.

The media reported that some parade viewers started chanting, "Put down the guns." Those are the people who might actually get it on some level. But they aren't in charge and they are hopelessly outnumbered.

Rauner the Reform Candidate

Rauner continues to build a lead:

• Gov. Pat Quinn has spent a political lifetime fine-tuning his image as a government reformer, but a new Early and Often Poll shows Republican Bruce Rauner may have wrested that mantle away from the governor.
  
  The incumbent Chicago Democrat also has spent months trying to portray the multimillionaire private equity investor from Winnetka as an out-of-touch “billionaire,” yet voters in Illinois appear evenly split about which gubernatorial candidate best understands their everyday concerns.
  
  And while Quinn again finds himself down by double digits in this latest poll by We Ask America, Illinoisans gave a decisive nod to Quinn running mate Paul Vallas over Republican Evelyn Sanguinetti as the best qualified lieutenant governor candidate to take over in the event of an emergency.

This is especially eye-opening in that the Tribune and Sun Times are running a concerted effort to paint Rauner as an evil, money-hungry billionaire. It doesn't seem to be working - people see him as successful.

We've got the regular trolls who keep whining about how Rauner is all about destroying pensions and well all be penniless if he wins. They don't seem to have noticed that Quinn, Madigan and Company are already destroying the pensions via legislative action and a stalled effort in the courts. Why leave them in there to keep doing it? They've lied at every turn and will most likely continue down that path.

Rauner and the republicans aren't going to win both houses in Springfield - they probably won't even win one. Put Rauner in there and have Springfield stall out for a session or two. Springfield gridlock is a win as far as we're concerned.

Too bad Quinn has co-opted Vallas though. That guy had credibility until he bought into the Combine politics of Illinois.

West Side Life Expectancy

Leading the way to an early grave:

• Police say they are cracking down on drug sales that drive the violence in West Garfield Park, which has the highest homicide rate of Chicago's 77 community areas.
  
  This is not news to the community, still reeling from the death of 11-year-old Shamiya Adams, who became yet another symbol of the city's seemingly uncontrollable gun violence when she was shot to death at a sleepover last month in the 3900 block of West Gladys Avenue. Tevin Lee, 19, has been charged in her death in what prosecutors say is a case of gang retaliation.
  
  Also recently, a study released by the city found West Garfield Park has the lowest life expectancy of Chicago community areas but offered few reasons for the ranking.

Since 011 is leading the annual homicide race by double digits at last count (a 100% increase over last year), that might have something to with the lowered life expectancies. And having a commander who leads the city in brutality CR numbers and (alleged) hoplophobic dental work doesn't seem to be having an impact.

"Not Parade Related"

And speaking of "not parade related," it seems that every year for the past 15 years or more, an "ABLA Family Reunion" is held on or near the sites of some of the more infamous projects of the Near West side immediately following the Bud Billiken parade.

While it happens to be miles away, one could make the argument that it is "parade related" because the organizers plan it that way. This year's event ended exactly the way you'd expect - in a blaze of gunfire and foot chases. But not a word in the media because no one got shot.

Gee, This is....

....actually, anything we would post would make us racist to someone, but looking at it logically, it makes perfect sense to anyone with a brain:

• The city’s Law Department is taking action against a Chicago nightclub, which was recently the scene of several shootings.
  
  Meanwhile, some popular clubs say they’re being pressured to cancel parties in the wake of other violent outbreaks.
  CBS 2 [...] reports Hearts Night Club in Goose Island has had its liquor license revoked for seven days.
  
  The city’s Liquor Commission said the business operation poses a threat to the welfare of the community. The city will present additional information at a hearing later this month.
  
  Chicago club owners and promoters say they’re feeling pressure after recent shootings.

And what kind of parties are attracting gunfire, mayhem and death?

• At the Near North Side club Bodi, a man was shot outside early Sunday. Another man was found dead from a gunshot wound in the alley.
  
  On Wednesday, at Hearts Night Club, four men were shot.
  
  In response to this, club managers like Teddy Gilmore say owners have been asked to no longer host urban parties.

Urban parties? That sounds racist. In case you were wondering, someone else was a bit more direct:

• “All the events were shut down yesterday. There was not one African-American event in the downtown area,” says Gilmore, manager at Nouveau.
  
  Sources tell CBS 2 club owners have been told to be mindful of using certain promoters to book concerts or parties that can bring violent patrons — primarily gang members and drug dealers -– to their clubs.
  
  “Following the shootings at Hearts and the shootings at Bodi, the city reacted,” Gilmore says.
  
  Social media has been buzzing about the move. One Tweet said clubs are closing due to the violence and killing.

And just who is bringing the pressure? It ain't the police:

• Anthony Lindsey, an event coordinator of nearly two decades, posted a message on Instagram, saying in part, “Everyone can’t be allowed entrance.”
  
  “You have to be on a list to even attend a party. And being on a list means you have to know someone in order to get on that list. You can’t just show up, and that way you can actually help filter some of the people that you might not want to be there,” he says.
  
  On Friday, Chicago police said they are not part of any crackdown on urban parties at downtown clubs.
  
  Sources say club owners and promoters are being pressured from community leaders to take action.

Well let us be the first to say, "Racist! Racist! Racist!" to save Eric Holder and every other apologist for this sort of misbehavior the trouble of claiming that no one is willing to have a serious discussion about race. That way, they can get back to excusing it.

Parade Shootings

The media is calling this the "first ever Billiken Parade shooting," conveniently omitting the years of post-parade mayhem by declaring it "wasn't parade related" - kind of like the regular brawls, riots and aggravated batteries following the "Gay Pride" event. Newsflash! If there was no parade, there wouldn't be any reason to hang out, drink, toke and cause trouble afterwards in crowds of tens of thousands of people.

• Thousands of people turned out for the annual Bud Billiken Parade Saturday, a day to celebrate the start-up of school with dancers, marching bands, political floats and outdoor grilling.
  
  Only this year -- for the first time that anyone could remember in the event’s 85-year history -- the shooting of two teenagers just off the parade's main route sent some families running for cover -- and left others angry that this longtime African-American tradition had been violated.

We won't go into the supposed "traditions" that have led to the deaths of thousands of members of the community. But we can see exactly how two people managed to get shot. Look at what was going on:

There were guns EVERYWHERE! And there was no firearm discipline whatsoever! Look at where all the muzzles were pointed. It's no small wonder that only two people got shot. We're surprised it wasn't dozens with all these weapons flying through the air.

Anyone See a Football Game?

We follow football in a half hearted sort of way. Every year, the media hypes the Bears, and almost every year, we get disappointed due to some unforeseen injures or poor draft choices and bad free agent signings. It's something to pass the time and gives us a post to put up over the weekends.

So the Bears offense looked capable of moving the ball the other night. The defense is looking for big play maker(s).

How about some predictions?

But the real reason for football preseason?

60 days until Hockey Opening Night.

Police Shooting - 025

Just a couple hours ago - details still thin:

• A person was shot by police in the Logan Square neighborhood this evening, authorities said.
  
  The Independent Police Review Authority was notified of someone shot by police at 5:37 p.m. in the 2800 block of North Pulaski Road, said IPRA spokesman Larry Merritt.
  
  A male who had been shot was taken to Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center in fair-to-serious condition, according to a Fire Department spokesman.
  
  A police union spokesman was headed to the scene, and had no details about the incident about 7:15 p.m.

No injuries listed to coppers so far, so that's good.

Quinn Hammered Nationally

This might be a good read:

At your high class newsstands now.

The Government Lied?

Who'd have thunk it?

• Activists upset with the increased jet noise from the new runway configuration at O’Hare International Airport have said they believe the city and the FAA conspired to hide the impact of new flight patterns on homes and businesses along airport flight paths.
  
  WBBM Newsradio [...] reports there has been a steadily growing chorus of complaints about jet noise since the opening of a new east-west runway in October 2013, sending hundreds of flights a day over a narrow corridor.
  
  Figures the FAA provided in 2005 regarding the percentage of flights O’Hare runways would carry after the $8 billion airport expansion project was completed were incorrect, and significantly underestimated the impact of runway traffic.

With billions in construction contracts on the line, is anyone really surprised that Daley manipulated the data or had the data manipulated? Shortshanks didn't live north and didn't live in the 'burbs, so what the hell did he care about noise data? Not that we have much sympathy for those complaining either - the airport has been there for decades. It's not like some big secret. And to keep the economic engine running, "improvements" will have to be made near constantly.

But why is anyone surprised anyone associated with the government lied?

Big Gang Sweep

This sounds impressive:

• An alleged longtime heroin and crack dealer, described by authorities as a patriarch of a Gangster Disciples gang faction, was arrested today along with dozens of others during a crackdown on two open-air drug spots on Chicago’s West Side.
  
  Prosecutors alleged that Johnny “Goo” Herndon, 55, directed the lucrative drug-trafficking organization since the early 1990s and amassed substantial real estate holdings with the illicit profits.
  
  At a news conference this afternoon, U.S. Attorney Zachary Fardon called the six-month investigation –headed by the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives –a nimble takedown of a dangerous gang faction that had terrorized a neighborhood for years.

And an interesting aside:

• In his two decades in control of the organization, Herndon used drug proceeds to amass more than $1.6 million real estate, including multi-unit buildings and Section 8 housing on the West Side and in Gary, Ind. He also rehabbed many of the properties using drug proceeds, the charges alleged.

They've started becoming "legitimate" businessmen.

Nature abhors a vacuum, and with a void this large, there's the potential for some blow back. Careful out there boys and girls.

Off Duty Shooting

No hits again:

• An off-duty Chicago Police detective shot at two males who allegedly tried to steal from a Jewel store Wednesday night in the Norwood Park neighborhood.
  
  The detective was shopping at the Jewel at 7342 W. Foster Ave. about 7:10 p.m. when store employees told her there was a theft in progress and pointed out the robbers, police said.
  
  The detective approached them in the parking lot. They had gotten into a vehicle they had loaded with the stolen merchandise, police said. When the driver accelerated the vehicle at the officer, she shot at them in “fear of her life,” police said. No one was injured.
  
  The suspects were arrested, police said.

We scanned one of papers on-line and the usual suspects were up in arms about the gunning down of poor misunderstood people (or folks) who try to run down people with cars. No one got hit, but they were appalled that people might get shot committing crimes. The comments have since disappeared, but when the media leaves their comments unmonitored for any length of time, you can see why so many figure Chicago is lost.

Here's an Idea - Stay off the Tracks

Never in the history of rail travel has a train been cited for being where it wasn't supposed to be. Trespassers, on the other hand......:

• Two people were killed when they were hit by aMetratrain on the border between Little Village and Lawndale this evening, authorities said.
  
  The female and male were struck by the train near 21st Street and Homan Avenue about 4:50 p.m. and pronounced dead on the scene, said Police News Affairs Officer Thomas Sweeney. A woman at the scene who identified herself as the sister of both victims said they had been looking for scrap metal on the tracks at the time they were hit by the train.
  
  The two regularly searched for scrap metal on the railroad embankment, the woman said.

Darwin strikes again.

Holy Shit Part II

The west side shitstorm saga from 011 gets deeper:

• An analysis of excessive-force complaints against hundreds of Chicago police officers is raising more questions about a district commander who is under investigation for allegedly assaulting an arrestee.
  
  The 49-page report, authored by a former Chicago chief epidemiologist, found that Harrison District Cmdr. Glenn Evans had at least 45 excessive-force complaints between January 1988 and December 2008. During those decades, according to the report, Evans had the highest number of complaints among 1,541 officers for whom the city provided data.
  
  The author, Dr. Steven Whitman, compiled and studied five city datasets listing 13,527 excessive-force complaints for the officers. Whitman, who died last month, finished the analysis in 2010 for a lawsuit against one of the cops. The report, obtained by WBEZ, has remained out of public view.

Bottom-feeder Flint Taylor has a number of choice comments that we'll skip because Flint is an asshole.

• WBEZ last week revealed an April recommendation by the city’s Independent Police Review Authority that Evans be stripped of police powers. In that case, Evans allegedly jammed his police pistol into an arrestee’s mouth and threatened to kill him. A test found that DNA evidence on the gun matched the arrestee, Rickey J. Williams, 24.
  
  IPRA also referred the case to Cook County State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez’s office for criminal investigation.
  
  Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel did not respond to questions about his administration’s handling of Evans in light of the Whitman report. Last week an Emanuel spokesman said the mayor would not comment on the IPRA recommendation because that investigation was ongoing.
  
  A spokesman for police Supt. Garry McCarthy, questioned Monday about the Whitman report, wrote that the police department takes any allegations seriously but cannot comment on an ongoing investigation.
  
  The McCarthy spokesman, Martin Maloney, also lauded Evans, a 28-year department veteran. “Throughout his career, Cmdr. Glenn Evans has reduced crime and violence for the communities he has served,” Maloney wrote, crediting Evans for improvements in a South Side district he commanded until March.
  
  “Under Cmdr. Evans’ leadership, the 3rd District had 80 fewer shootings last year than in 2012, the second largest decline in the city,” Maloney wrote.

Rahm is in an actual election fight. He's also in contract negotiations, so everything he does is calculated to paint the Department as unreasonable, greedy, entitled, etc. The public doesn't know (and Rahm isn't telling them) that the FOP doesn't represent Sergeants (Lesner) or Lieutenants (Walsh) or Captains and that exempts like Evans aren't represented by a labor organization at all - they serve at the pleasure of the political structure (Rahm).

Logically, any misdeeds, alleged or substantiated by an investigation, must fall on the shoulders of McCarthy and Rahm. That isn't happening - yet. And Evans is being used by WBEZ as a high-ranking example of misconduct via the CR list. No distinction is being made between his alleged misbehavior and everyone else on the list, most of whom never had a Sustained finding against them.

At some point, Rahm is going to have to cut his ties to this politically damaging scandal if he's going to make any sort of showing in the west side wards.

ISP Coming to Town

Remember:

1. CPD is at full strength;
2. Even if we aren't, we aren't using the manpower we have efficiently;
3. VRI is going strong - over 500 officers hired back weekly;
4. 150 house mouses are going to work Monday thru Friday and save us all;
5. Dart has sent sheriffs to patrol the city, too

Now, the State Police are coming to help out:

• Chicagoans could soon start seeing a new law enforcement presence in some parts of the city.
  
  The Illinois State Police will send 40 troopers to join Chicago police as part of teams that will try to catch fugitives, Gov. Pat Quinn and Mayor Rahm Emanuel announced Wednesday.
  
  The specifics of the partnership are still being worked out, and its impact remains to be seen. At a minimum, the cooperative “surge teams” could be politically helpful to both the governor and the mayor as they run for re-election at a time when Chicago’s violent crime remains a major issue.

We wish that they'd pick a lie and stick with it. It's so difficult to keep the stories straight of shortages and OT initiatives and  everything that goes along with this fiction.

And a word of advice - if Rahm doesn't like it when people refer to "Chiraq," then he probably shouldn't use words like "surge" as that conjures up all sorts of images of the actual Iraq War and insurgency. We're just saying....

Gordon Memorial

Tonight at Gold Star Park:

• Mike Gordon Memorial Ceremony
  Thursday, August 7th
  6:00 PM
  Gold Star Families Memorial and Park
  
  
  Please join us in remembering Chicago Police Officer Michael Gordon, who was killed in the performance of duty 10 years ago. Gold Star Families Memorial and Park is located just east of Soldier Field on the lake front and parking is available on Waldron Drive.

Comments closed here - informational post only.

Constitution? What Constitution?

This idiot is going to cost the city money in First Amendment judgements one day:

• Activists against the city's red-light cameras are accusing the Chicago Police Department of trying to "bully" and "politically intimidate" them during a recent protest at 119th and Halsted streets.
  
  Citizens to Abolish Red Light Cameras posted a video online recently which shows a police sergeant calling protesters' signs blasting the camera program and local politicians "slanderous" and then threatening to arrest at least one demonstrator.
  
  According to group member Scott Davis, about 25 to 30 protesters were standing on the sidewalks at the four corners of the intersection holding signs and passing out fliers opposing red-light and speed cameras last month.
  
  One hand-lettered sign said, "Got Tickets? Blame Austin," referring to Ald. Carrie Austin, whose 34th Ward is where the intersection is located. Other signs called out Ald. Howard Brookins (21st), Ald. Anthony Beale (9th) and Mayor Rahm Emanuel.
  
  [...] One officer, Sgt. Herbert Brown Jr., called the protesters over to one of the corners, they said.
  
  He then began speaking to the group, according to the video filmed by a protester and posted on YouTube.
  
  [...] "Because all of these slanderous signs — you understand what I'm saying," Brown can be heard saying on the video. "That's not what we're about. This sign about Beales [sic], this sign about the mayor. You have to have a permit to do this."
  
  In the video Davis can be heard saying, "We have a permit — the U.S. Constitution."
  
  Around that time Brown takes his handcuffs off his belt and threatens Davis with arrest, asking loudly, "You want to go into the [police] station?"
  
  "I'm ready to go," Davis replies.
  
  Brown later says, "All I'm saying is there's a way to demonstrate, and then there is a way not to demonstrate."
  
  At about the midway through the video, Brown seemingly shifts gears, saying his real problem is with the demonstrators blocking the flow of traffic.
  
  "I just say don't interrupt the flow of traffic," he said.

Maybe he should have said that first and then shut up and "monitored" the situation before reporting to his superiors. He obviously has no experience with the Constitution, the oath he took at least twice (hired and promoted), and the Consent Decree that he signed for on at least two occasions.

Federal Investigation

Looks like Crain's Chicago Business opened a can of worms:

• The internal watchdog of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development is launching an investigation of a Chicago Housing Authority program that pays market-rate rents for poor people to live in some of the city's most expensive apartment buildings.
  
  HUD Inspector General David Montoya is conducting an audit of the CHA's use of federally funded housing vouchers to subsidize low-income residents in high-end buildings, according to a Capitol Hill source. Critics of the so-called supervoucher program say it's a waste of tax dollars and rewards a few lucky tenants at the expense of more than 15,000 people on the CHA's voucher waiting list.
  
  U.S. Rep. Aaron Schock, R-Ill., requested that the inspector general open a probe last week, after Crain's published a report about the voucher program, saying he was concerned that it created “ripe opportunities for waste, fraud and abuse of taxpayer money.”

This is just the tip of a very large iceberg. Government is notoriously wasteful and inefficient. The Pentagon is always among the offenders, but that's because the left/media/democrats hate them. The Defense budgets are dwarfed by social program spending and the resultant waste/corruption is larger by magnitudes. That $7 trillion Obama added to the deficit isn't being spent at the Pentagon.

Asshole Takes a Dirt Nap

The fact that this jagoff was even free after shooting a police officer is a disgrace:

• A teenager who was on parole for shooting a police officer in 2012 was killed in a Morgan Park neighborhood shooting Sunday night.
  
  Jerome N. Harris, 17, was shot about 9 p.m. Sunday in the 1100 block of West 112th Place and died about an hour later at Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, authorities said.
  
  An autopsy determined Harris, of the 11000 block of South State Street, died of multiple gunshot wounds to the back, according to the Cook County medical examiner’s office, which ruled his death a homicide.
  
  Harris had previously been charged with several felonies for allegedly firing shots at a police officer in August 2012, according to police and court records.
  
  Police said the teen and an officer fired at each other about 8 p.m. Aug. 29, 2012, in the 1300 block of West 112th Place — an incident Chicago Police Supt. Garry McCarthy called a “gun battle.” The officer was hit in the leg, and the teen in the leg and side, police reports said.
  
  Harris pleaded guilty in October 2013 to aggravated unlawful use of a weapon, and aggravated assault of a police officer, court records show. The other charges, including attempted murder, were dropped.

And why, pray tell, was he even out on those charges? And why was the Attempted Murder charge dropped? He was most certainly eligible to be housed until 18 at Juvie and after that in the IDOC until his sentence was served. Shooting at the police is not a crime that should be treated lightly, no matter the age of the offender. Had he been imprisoned, he would not have had the opportunity to become another statistic.

Hey Garry? Start asking some questions like that. Or are you constrained by the politics of Rahm and Anita and Toni again?

Fioretti Exploring a Run

Might actually have a real shot if the field isn't too crowded:

• Ald. Robert Fioretti may not be running for mayor yet, but he’s searching for campaign staffers like a politician who’s thinking about it.
  
  The 2nd Ward alderman, a frequent critic of Mayor Rahm Emanuel, confirmed today that he has hired a campaign adviser. And today that aide posted to a political job board a message seeking four top staffers for a potential run for mayor.
  
  “Chicago mayoral campaign seeks senior staff” the posting reads, notifying potential applicants of openings for a campaign manager, finance director, field director and communications director for a “progressive challenger.” The post does not name Fioretti as the candidate, but lists his new political adviser, Michael Kolenc, as the contact.

Better than Rahm. Better than Karen. And seriously, what have we got to lose besides a dancing midget who hates our guts and a racist commie whack job? Expect more stalking horses to chop up every voting block in existence.

Pension Problems Everywhere

Ugly:

• There are 217 police and fire pension funds in suburban Cook County. The taxpayer-supported systems, with collective assets of nearly $5 billion, are intended to provide public safety workers and their families with stable retirement incomes.
  
  But a Better Government Association analysis found that dozens of local police and fire pension funds are in financial peril, putting retirement incomes at risk – as well as the fiscal health of numerous municipalities.
  
  Rescuing the troubled funds may require tax hikes, service cuts or both, say experts. Already, some public safety agencies are looking to privatize or merge with neighboring departments in an effort to cut personnel and ease future pension payouts. Whatever the method, taxpayers can expect to bear a heavier cost burden because of the severe local pension shortfall.
  
  In all, unfunded liabilities for police and fire pension funds throughout suburban Cook County total $3.3 billion, according to a BGA analysis of the most recent municipal pension fund data.

We're just....speechless....at the incompetency on display here and across the country.

Business as Usual

Anyone surprised? Anyone? Bueller?

• After getting arrested for driving a stolen U-Haul truck on his own time, Kevin M. Austin was fired from his job as a laborer with the city of Chicago’s Department of Streets and Sanitation.
  
  That landed Austin on City Hall’s “do-not-hire” list, a roster of 492 crooked alderman, bribe-taking bureaucrats and other public servants whose misdeeds cost them their jobs.
  
  Austin went on the list effective Nov. 17, 2006, the date he was fired. But Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s administration rehired Austin on Dec. 4, 2012, as a truck driver for Streets and San — a $63,777-a-year job he was fired from on July 24, after a Chicago Sun-Times investigation found he was working for the city despite having been on the “do-not-hire” list for years.

Is that a "do-not-hire" or a "do-not-fire" list? Because we've seen plenty of the latter in a whole bunch of city departments.

Shootings During Daylight

Usually, Chicago shootings occur during the hours of evening and darkness. Everyone is finally awake, riled up and most times, drunk/stoned off their asses. The odd shooting during the day was an aberration. Not so much nowadays:

• Two people were fatally shot and several others wounded in day time shootings, police said.

South and west sides again. Have the house mouses been deployed yet? It was a Monday, so they should have been out there. Somewhere. We think. How does McCompStat expect deploying inside people Monday through Thursday when the sun is up going to cut down on Friday/Saturday/Sunday mayhem?

Article Located

A long time reader located the pertinent article and e-mailed it. Many others posted the link in the comment section. Here it is:

• Now city officials are pushing building owners to make those fire-safety improvements before that deadline. Mayor Rahm Emanuel lectured high-rise owners that they shouldn't delay making their property safer.
  
  "This is not like a final exam where you wait until the last hour of the last day to figure this out. I expect you to use this time to put in place a sprinkler system and the safety and security systems you need. … I don't expect you to use the time all the way to the end."

And again, as was pointed out, Rahm is waiting until the very end to even think about making the $600 million balloon payment, and he's actually hoping to not have to make it at all.

Here We Go Again

Cue the smoke and mirrors:

• The Summer Surge . . .
  
  A phalanx of police department pencil pushers just got merged into the Summer Surge.
  
  ◆ Translation: In anticipation of an increase in violence during the August heat, top cop Garry McCarthy is dispatching a cadre of desk cops and sergeants to patrol high crime areas on the South and West sides.
  
  “Supt. McCarthy is beefing up his ‘Summer Surge’ plan to put more administrative officers on the street by detailing a new contingent of 150 police officers and sergeants who normally have desk jobs,” said a City Hall source.

What is this, the third time Garry has pulled 150 or more Officers out of his ass and put them on street duty?

Every month or so, someone in the media finds their balls and asks about lack of hiring and manpower numbers. McCarthy insists were at strength and we aren't actually using the manpower efficiently. How about sending these "house mice" to the street and leaving them there instead of taking them back into whatever hidden spots they came from in the first place? Wasn't McEfficiencyExpert's big thing "Damn the paperwork and full speed on ANOV's and Contact Cards!" We're pretty sure it was, but you still can't find parking at 35th/Michigan to visit the Medical Section.

Lolapalooza Body Count

One of the teams downtown want to comment? Or the Ambulance crews?

• Not a peep from the media about the Lallapalooza chaos.... Robberies, agg bats, a rape, over 130 people PER DAY being taken to the hospital for over doesing on Molly, X, heroin, etc.. 

We've heard some odd stories, but not quite these numbers. Are the organizers sitting on the stats?

A Miracle!!!

Sharp eyed readers spotted this strange happening - not even 10 days ago:

• "Mayor Richard M. Daley won't have to testify in City Hall’s lawsuit to break a contract the Park Grill restaurant in Millennium Park was awarded under Daley.
  
  After reviewing affidavits on Daley’s medical condition behind closed doors, the Park Grill’s operators and lawyers agreed Wednesday to withdraw their subpoena to have the former mayor testify."

Michael Sneed on 03 August

• ......Daley data . . .
  
  "Former Mayor Richard Daley was spotted at new Oak Street hot spot Fig and Olive Thursday night, according to a Sneed source.
  
  He “came for drinks at the bar, then sat for dinner and socialized at the bar after dinner. He is seemingly vibrant and in great health . . . looks great!” the source said."

The reader commented:

• WTF? Well, here is proof positive that our hospitals are doing a fantastic job. Not only should they get major kudos for keeping the homicide rate low, but they have been able to bring back former mayor Daley from the brink. It was only a mere 11 days ago did we read that the former mayor was TOO SICK to be deposed for the Park Grill debacle but now we see that he's healthy enough to travel to one of his favorite spots for drinks, dining and socializing.
  
  Will there be a re-scheduling for his deposition?

Someone ought to ask the judge about this "miracle."

Shots Fired - No Hits

Downtown is getting dangerous!

• A 32-year-old man was shot to death and a 21-year-old man was wounded in a shooting outside Bodi, a nightclub on the Near North Side.
  
  The dead man was identified as Martrell Ross, 32, of the 300 block of South Mozart Street, according to the Cook County medical examiner’s office. An autopsy is scheduled for Monday.
  
  Records show that since 1999, Ross has been arrested multiple times for drug offenses.
  
  Police News Affairs Officer Janel Sedevic said the incident also involved a police shooting. About 3:50 a.m., officers were on patrol in the 800 block of North Orleans Street when they heard gunfire and saw a subject running from that location.
  
  “The officer engaged the subject and, in fear for their lives, one officer discharged his duty weapon at the subject,’’ Sedevic said. “The subject fled and made good his escape.’’

This is the third or fourth downtown nightclub shooting this summer. You know what that means - time to ban nightclubs!

Find us This Rahm Quote

Forward it here and maybe to the FOP:

• Someone should use Rahms own words in reference to the pension payment due. Rahm used the analogy "this isn't like a final exam that you wait to the last minute and cram in studying, start early" This was used for building owners of high rise buildings that their is a deadline to convert into sprinkler systems. Hmm sounds exactly what his administration is doing with our pension issue

 Everything is "start early," or "plan ahead." Except of course, where it relates to actual contractually promised pensions/pension payments. Then it's, "We have no money to fulfill the agreements made because we spent it all on parks and stadiums and bike lanes."

Scarlet Letter Proposal

Can't see anyone ever agreeing to this:

• Heres the new rumbling at the last board meeting downtown. Apparently the reverends, attorneys, guetto public were complaining of the 3% List, aka the list of 600 plus Officers that were made public with the excessive complaints. Well, one reverend stated how some of the public cant afford the newspaper or a TV but have a civil right to be "aware" of who these problem officers are. Well...this is where it gets good. Apparently the City doesn't have anything else to worry about (homicides, shootings, police morale, pension) they now after to "Scarlett Letter" these 3% of officers by identifying them to the public!!! What sad is not one boss opposed in fact some were adding suggestions........Black name plate with officers last name/district in white lettering, a band attatched to your name plate......these were some of the suggestions. FOP has all ready been notified.
  
  This is a travesty and I hope FOP fights this. I will tell you one thing.....you put these 3% in one unit and let them saturate these problem areas......there wouldn't be a problem anymore.

Maybe we could have the same thing for aldercreatures and connected contractors.

Or "merit" promotees.

Simplify Weed Tickets?

A step in the right direction - but did anyone run this by the people who actually write the tickets?

• Chicago Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy said Friday he will recommend changes to the failed ordinance that decriminalized possession of small amounts of marijuana to free officers to write more tickets.
  
  “There are some parameters we’re lightening up, which is going to lead to the issuance of more [tickets] vs. arrests because that’s the goal,” McCarthy told aldermen at a City Council hearing on the veracity of crime statistics.
  
  “We don’t want to put people in jail for things they don’t need to go to jail for and we don’t want to take officers off the street at the same time. It’s doesn’t make sense for management.”
  
  Two years ago, an emotionally-torn City Council gave Chicago Police Officers the option to issue $250-to-$500 tickets to anyone caught in Chicago with 15 grams of marijuana or less instead of arresting them.
  
  But, the more lenient treatment did not apply to those caught “openly smoking” pot or who possessed it on the grounds of a Chicago school or park. Young people under 17 and those of all ages without “proper identification” would also continue to be arrested.

Emotionally torn? Over a weed ordinance? Wow, we didn't realize that passing brainless legislation was such a burden. We guess this is just one step on the road to get aldercreatures SSI payouts for post-traumatic stress disorders.

Again, weed tickets are way more complicated than they have to be and waaaaaaay more time intensive than a simple weed arrest. This is an attempt to move away from the "time intensive" part of it, but without testing it on the streets against the clock, it's just more noise.

Weekend Underway

Upwards of 17 shot:

• A shooting between rival gangs in Little Village left a 16-year-old boy dead and two other teens wounded Friday night.
  
  The three were among at least 17 people shot overnight, according to police.
  
  The Little Village shooting happened about 11:30 p.m. in the 2400 block of South Washtenaw Avenue on the Southwest Side. Police said gang members who claim a territory a few blocks west came to the block on Washtenaw, a known hangout for the local gang, to start trouble.
  
  The boy killed belonged to the gang that claims Washtenaw and other blocks east, according to police. A neighbor on the block disputed that. The two others wounded were from the rival gang and police found one a block away and the other further away.

Looks like he found the trouble he was looking for. Too bad, so sad.

Who Are the Teachers Voting For?

If they live in Chicago, we doubt it's going to be Rahm:

• Human error has delayed pension payments to retired Chicago teachers, according to the Chicago Teachers’ Pension Fund.
  
  Most of the 26,000 teachers in the fund may not have received the direct electronic deposit of their August pension payment, said Jay Rehak, president of the fund’s board of trustees.
  
  He said computer files that were supposed to be sent to the bank for the deposits were not sent out in a “timely manner.” That “human error” caused a delay in the direct deposit system, he said.
  
  The fund expects automated payments to be deposited by Tuesday at the latest.

So that's another payday missed by the City. We think (but we could be mistaken) there were special checks, a VRI date, the sergeant retro, the DSS grievance win, and we aren't sure if they paid the NATO grievance money even now. Incompetence, top-to-bottom.

McLiar Says Media....Lies!

"Perception versus reality," he says:

• Chicago Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy said Friday there’s a “lag time” between the perception and reality of crime that, in New York City, took five years to eliminate.
  
  The gap between perception and reality in Chicago could take even longer to narrow, if Friday’s City Council hearing was any indication.
  
  On the hot seat to defend police crime statistics, McCarthy talked of a city unfairly known as the murder capital of the world that had actually closed the books on July with a 7 percent drop in murders over the same period a year ago and the lowest number of murders since 1963.

And that's just in the Sun Times. The Trib is a bit more blunt:

• Chicago police Superintendent Garry McCarthy today defended the way the department keeps track of its crime statistics and took a shot at the media, complaining that news organizations often report crime numbers "without context."
  
  His remarks came at a City Council committee hearing prompted by stories in the media and a report by the city’s top watchdog that have questioned Police Department statistics under McCarthy’s leadership.
  
  Flanked by other department brass, McCarthy told about a dozen aldermen in attendance that violent crime in the city is at its lowest in decades but that message has been obscured by news coverage and social media chatter.
  
  Citing a recent news story from WBBM-TV, the superintendent contrasted TV coverage of the recent violent Fourth of July weekend, saying stations averaged 4 1 /2 minutes of coverage, but on an Independence Day weekend 20 years ago that he said had even more killings, the media reports averaged 34 seconds.

But here's McNumbersGame comparing today's homicides numbers to 1963's. So it's okay if McLookAtMe compares numbers from previous years, but the media is naughty if they changed and adapted to the market 20 years ago? What an ass.

He also glosses over this:

• McCarthy also discussed what he called false claims made by Chicago Magazine in two stories earlier this year that questioned if McCarthy's administration properly counted homicides and other crimes.
  
  The magazine alleged that the department underreported the number of homicides in 2013 in several different ways, including incorrectly classifying some as death investigations. According to the magazine, the department has also been improperly classifying property crimes such as burglaries and thefts as misdemeanors instead of felonies, enabling McCarthy to claim that overall crime in the city is down.
  
  As he has done before, McCarthy today pointed out what he said were a number of inaccuracies in the stories.
  
  The city’s Inspector General’s Office released a 24-page audit report in April that showed the department had underreported aggravated batteries and assaults by about one-fourth in 2012.
  
  The audit showed the department failed to follow state guidelines by counting each aggravated assault or battery as one incident, not each victim as it should have. But the report found no evidence that the department’s crime-reporting errors were intentional.

"intentional." Right. They just happened to skew in the direction that crime was down and strategies were working, regardless of what the numbers said in a system so corrupted that one of the NYPD creators of the program actively speaks against it as a truthful way of reporting crime.

And there were only a dozen aldercreatures there, so this was all show for campaign flyers. Complete bullshit.

Pension Payment "Delayed"

Evidently, hoping for a miracle or a friendly court decision or even a legislative shift?

• Mayor Rahm Emanuel and aldermen won't grapple this fall with the financial reckoning the city faces over its underfunded police and fire pension systems, budget officials acknowledged Thursday.
  
  Instead, the Emanuel administration plans to take advantage of a state law that gives it until December 2015 to decide to make changes to its property tax levy. For years, both the current and former mayor have been saying property taxes would have to be hiked or services drastically cut to come up with the extra $550 million.
  
  By the end of next year, the February city elections and any potential April runoffs will be history. Delaying a decision also will buy the city more time to get the General Assembly to enact pension changes that could significantly reduce the required payments to the two retirement funds.

Meanwhile, the tab grows:

• The much-discussed government worker pension debt in Chicago now has a price tag: $18,596 for every man, woman and child living in the city.
  
  That per-person figure is the highest among the nation’s 25 largest cities. It’s nearly double that of New York, the city with the second-largest tab. And it’s more than five times the median for locales included in the new study done by a major investment research company.

And as more and more people leave Illinois, that total is only going to grow.

Once Again - Clout

Wait - what about the children?

• A powerful Chicago alderman's sister who failed Chicago Public Schools' selection test for principals twice will become the new principal at Gray Elementary thanks to changes in the district's hiring policy made in July.
  
  Catherine Sugrue has been an assistant principal at the Portage Park school for a year. She is the sister of Ald. Patrick O'Connor, 40th, Mayor Rahm Emanuel's City Council floor leader.
  
  Gray's Local School Council selected Sugrue as principal in the spring. The district did not allow the promotion to go through because Sugrue had failed a principal eligibility assessment twice in the last 12 months, making her ineligible for the position. Officials said she could retake the assessment in three years.
  
  But under a new policy approved at the July 23 Board of Education meeting, the schools chief can appoint an interim principal regardless of whether he or she passed the eligibility assessment, if the person "has a proven record of performance" demonstrating "he or she is exceptionally qualified" to serve the needs of the school. The interim status is indefinite and at the discretion of the CEO.

In this case, "...a proven record of performance demonstrating he or she is exceptionally qualified" means "I'm related to the aldercreature and I don't have to pass your "qualifying" exams. I can just get a massive pay raise and prestige and shit on you little people."

They don't even try to hide it. They just do it and damn the children and other qualified candidates.

Got Some 'Splainin' To Do

Remember all those instances of CompStat falsifying crime numbers that Chicago Magazine uncovered? The City Council is going to have a hearing!

• Back in late April, a few weeks after Chicago published the first article of our two-part investigation questioning the Chicago Police Department’s crime statistics, aldermen Scott Waguespack (32nd Ward) and Willie Cochran (20th Ward) introduced resolutions in the city council calling for hearings on the reliability of the department’s crime statistics. More than a third of the council’s 50 aldermen signed on to these resolutions.
  
  So, what about that hearing? Interestingly, yesterday, with less than 48-hours notice, the council’s workforce development and audit committee and its public safety committee scheduled one for Friday morning.
  
  We’ll be there. You can go, too; it’s open to the public. But don’t expect a real hearing.
  
  It’ll be co-chaired by the mayor’s floor leader. It was scheduled at the 11th hour, for a Friday in August, when many aldermen aren’t around. And, according to the hearing notice, includes just one presenter: Superintendent Garry McCarthy.
  
  In any case, here’s the info:
  Time: 10:00 a.m.
  Place: City Council chambers, second floor of City Hall, 121 N LaSalle Street

Ah, one of THOSE hearings. Not one that gets to the bottom of anything. Just a "hearing" so that the City Council can say, "We looked into this, nothing to see here folks, move along!" That's so much easier than confronting Rahm about how his choice for supernintendo is lowering morale, lowering manpower, lowering city finances, lowering effectiveness across the board, lowering the perception that this is a safe big city, etc, etc

What a bunch of tools.

Like Son, Like Father

Irony so thick, you could cut it with a knife:

• Samuel Walker Sr. had been preparing for the funeral of his teenage son, Samuel Walker Jr., who was gunned down last Friday in East Garfield Park.
  
  Now his family must decide whether to hold a joint memorial instead.
  
  On Thursday, the elder Walker was shot to death in a Humboldt Park gangway — just two days before his 13-year-old son was to be laid to rest.

Walker the younger was among seven shot in a single incident (the lone fatality) and the family tried to paint him as an altar boy, even though he already had 5 arrests, including 3 felonies for dope dealing. He also had a gang record that would embarrass any parent worthy of the name.

Walker the senior was a shining example to the younger - a known gang member, dope dealer, weapons offender and followed his son in to the void in the same manner - shot in the head on the street in broad daylight.

What is the matter with people? Or are these folks?

UPDATE: Spelling corrections

Ceriale Softball Tournament

This weekend - if you can find the time:

• Just wanted to let you guys know about the Officer Michael Ceriale softball tournament again this year at Hamlin Park. It will be this Sunday August 3. It starts around 9 am and goes usually until 6 or 7 at night. It's pretty much a big BBQ/picnic for friends and family of officers and of the people playing in the tournament. All teams are already signed up for. I believe they have entry in May. So, if you could spread the word and let people know to come to remember Mike. It will be 16 years since we lost Mike on August 15. Thanks guys.
  
  P.S. If people can't make the softball tournament itself please stop by our family owned bar, Montrose Saloon located at 2933 W. Montrose Ave located at the intersection of Montrose and Richmond near Horner Park to keep celebrating Mike's life. Thanks again guys.

Sixteen years - good lord we're getting old.

That's a Win

A good turnout at the Hegewisch Babe Ruth League meeting:

• Six board members of a Southeast Side youth baseball league resigned Wednesday night amid growing criticism of their decision to let a convicted cop killer coach in the league.
  
  The resignations of the Hegewisch Babe Ruth league board members were announced after they met behind closed doors with Ald. John Pope, 10th, and relatives of Chicago police Officer John Mathews, who was beaten to death while off-duty in 1988.

Aldercreature Pope was all over this, and he's still all over it:

• Pope said the Hegewisch Little League youth baseball organization has agreed to take over the Babe Ruth organization for now. Pope said he was told that, under the Babe Ruth league’s bylaws, the community’s leader is responsible for appointing a new board.
  
  Pope said he would assume that responsibility, and planned to review league bylaws and discuss the situation with attorneys and the league’s national supervising body before proceeding.

This entire process was sorely in need of oversight. And it took the son of a murdered Officer to provoke some changes in the way business was done.