Detectives in Uniform?

Couple e-mails saying everyone is in uniform in anticipation of a Ferguson decision coming down tomorrow. We wish they'd just pull the trigger on this and get it over with so we can get on to "healing" and "understanding" and whatever other liberal "excuse-of-the-day" is.

Rauner Hoping for "Guidance"

Forget guidance - how about some leadership?

• Making his first post-election appearance at the Capitol on Thursday, Gov.-elect Bruce Rauner said he hopes the Illinois Supreme Court eventually will provide guidance on what changes are acceptable when it comes to fixing the state's more than $100 billion debt in the government worker pension system.
  
  The incoming governor may get some clues as early as Friday, when a lower court judge is expected to weigh in on the legality of a sweeping overhaul lawmakers approved nearly a year ago. The ruling by Sangamon County Circuit Judge John Belz could provide an early indication of whether the pension law violates a provision in the state constitution that prevents public employee pensions from being diminished or impaired, as unions have argued.

This is going to be litigated out the ass regardless. How about throwing together some austerity measures for state government and making sure Chicago pays its bills for starters?

Don't Like Taxes? Don't Pay 'em

Hey, if the president's "adviser" on Ferguson can do it, why not you?

• The Rev. Al Sharpton on Wednesday sharply criticized a New York Times article that explored his history of unpaid taxes, rent and other bills, calling the report “misleading and totally out of context.”
  
  During a news conference at the headquarters of his National Action Network in Harlem, Mr. Sharpton sought to refute the article’s assertion that there were $4.5 million in state and federal tax liens outstanding against him and the for-profit businesses he controls. He said that the liens had been paid down, although he declined to say by how much, and that he was “current on all taxes” he was obligated to pay under settlement agreements with tax authorities.
  
  “We’re talking about old taxes,” he said, adding: “We’re not talking about anything new. So all of this, as if I’m not paying taxes while I’m doing whatever I’m doing, it reads all right, but it just is not true.”
  
  State and federal tax records show, however, that the liens against Mr. Sharpton and his businesses remain active, meaning they have not been completely paid off. The article also noted that Mr. Sharpton had said in an interview that he had paid off some of the debt.

Some of these judgements date back decades to Al's race hustling days in New York, instigating riots, slandering law enforcement, inflaming mobs to kill innocents....hey, that sounds familiar.

Ebola?

Three-hundred-fifty-seven being monitored in New York City, and this happens:

• Just a week after Dr. Craig Spencer was declared 'Ebola-free', The Daily Mail reports a woman, who had arrived from Guinea 18 days ago (and was on the NYC Ebola monitoring list), dropped dead in a Brooklyn hair salon this afternoon. FDNY sent their Special Operations and Hazmat units but she was declared dead at the scene. Witnesses said she was bleeding from the "face, nose, mouth, everything."

Authorities are calling it a "suspected heart attack" at the moment, but FDNY suited up in full haz-mat gear to remove her. After all, heart attacks don't usually present with face, nose, mouth, everything" bleeding.

Classy Fans

We like hockey. A lot. And this is one of the reasons why:

These were Canadian fans stepping up in the midst of technical difficulties to assist in completing the United States national anthem.

After the terror attacks in Canada, fans at NHL stadiums across the US stood in solidarity with the Canadian people. We're willing to bet there aren't many hockey fans who don't know the words to both the Canadian and US anthems. Fan rivalry is intense, but mostly respectful (except for those bastards from Detroit), and the fans at an NHL game are among the most knowledgeable in their following of the game....even those bastards from Detroit.

Missing Propoganda

A reader asked another question that someone in the media should have done months ago:

• ...and where's the weekly Table Of Guns for the TV cameras?

And a reply:

• Lol!
  They have "minders" not so much to secure the guns at these agit-prop "Look at ALL these bad guns" media events, but to keep people from scanning the inventory tags... They've been busted before for misrepresenting "seized last year" guns as "seized last month" or whatever time frame they select to prop up their propaganda narrative of the day.

Long time readers will recall that commenters here pointed out the startlingly similar numbers, makes and models of guns that were displayed at various press conferences held at different police facilities every Monday last year. Other commenters suggested that media folks compare inventory numbers of the displayed weapons, whereupon the media was forbidden from approaching the tables. Shortly afterward, the "gun-runs" were instituted where Districts desks are required to transport guns to ERPS on a daily basis after years of awaiting ERPS pick-ups two or three times a week.

Now the table of guns has disappeared and the CompStat monsters are mysteriously silent as the killings approach 400. But hey....Crime is down!

Rahm Needs More Money

A pair of amusing rumors:

• Word out of city hall is that Tiny Dancer is pissed about his convoy being caught and dragged through the media for running red lights, so he intends to respond after the new year with a new policy.
  
  Any city vehicle that is captured violating speed camera zones or red light cameras - including police - will have to drop a to-from justifying the violation. Those who do not prepare the report or whose violations are deemed by the hall not to be justified will be fiscally responsible for the cost of the fine.
  
  
• Very True, if the to from is not submitted, The fine will be deducted from all who fail to address the violation.
  
  Also, a civian will find you responsible unless you can produce prood you were responding to an emergency. Real proof, tapes, etc. All civilian operations like streets and saniatation will be getting hit real goo, nothing can justify them running a light !!!
  
  Rahm is not playing, you will pay, like it or not. The union will grieve it nd it will take 5 years before you might get you money back, minus adminstrative fee's. Four drivers from water already got their pay docked for running a light.

Even if these aren't true, it makes for an interesting debate. We're pretty sure that when operating a marked squad, certain allowances are made. Many cops travel without lights and sirens to calls because they like to make arrests and sirens scare criminals away. Is this going to be specifically forbidden now? Are we going to be required to keep a minute-by-minute log to prove we were on the way to assist or arrest and not headed to a bathroom break? Or is it lights-and-sirens the whole way now in an effort to drive down arrests and court time?

Pathetic Media

King Obama is going to announce a sweeping abuse of power tomorrow regarding immigration. We recall a war fought over this sort of behavior nearly 240 years ago.

Guess who isn't interrupting regular programming to broadcast the address to the nation?

• The administration said today that Obama will be speaking live from the White House at 8 PM ET on Thursday. But ABC has the fall finale for Grey’s Anatomy on at that time, while CBS has ratings powerhouse The Big Bang Theory, NBC has reality show The Biggest Loser and Fox has Bones. As of right now, none plans changes to their regularly scheduled Thursday night November sweep schedules for the approximately 15-minute speech.

The cable networks will carry the speech, but not the mainstream media. Still in the bag for a lawless, ego-maniacal Chicago pol who will burn the country down because voters told him "no." You want to know why the left thinks and says American voters are stupid and easily led? Because the media abets it.

Maybe they'll be announcing Ferguson today...and this announcement will get lost in the rioting.

Toy Gun

One for the "suburban dumbass" files:

• The owner of a bakery in Calumet City shot a man who was using a toy gun to usher him and an employee to the back of the store during a robbery, police said.
  
  The incident happened about 3:30 p.m. Tuesday at Cal City Bakery, near State Line Road and 154th Place in the south suburb, said Calumet City police Chief Edward Gilmore.
  
  Unbeknownst to the bakery owner, one of the two men who tried to rob the store was wielding a toy handgun. The gun appeared “fairly realistic,” Gilmore said.
  
  The owner of the bakery watched the robbery unfold from closed-circuit television from the center part of the building. The man with the gun ushered an employee and then the owner toward the back of the building.
  
  The owner wondered why they were being taken to the back of the building after complying with the robbers' demands for cash.

There shouldn't be a store or store owner without a gun nearby after the Brown's Chicken massacre. The Chief of Police out in Calumet City pretty much cleared the bakery owner. Hopefully, the mayor out there gives him a medal.

De Paul Cost Overruns

Not just a little cost overrun - a huge one:

• The Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority is negotiating with a general contractor for the proposed DePaul arena near McCormick Place, but the two sides are struggling with a price tag that has soared to as much as $250 million, about 75 percent more than the original estimate, according to people close to the bidding process.
  
  McPier next week is expected to award a design-build contract for the arena and an adjacent 1,200-room Marriott hotel to a venture led by Bethesda, Md.-based Clark Construction Group, those sources tell Crain's. The cost of the 51-story hotel is expected to be in line with previous estimates, or a total of roughly $400 million.
  
  But a sticking point is the "dug-in" design of the 10,000-seat arena, which places its playing floor well below ground level. That feature has pushed construction costs above the $140 million that McPier and city officials optimistically projected when they announced the project in May 2013, sources said.
  
  Although a final price has not been set, the cost of that design, by New Haven, Conn.-based Pelli Clark Pelli, could be as much as $250 million, sources said.

Back in the real world, when you bid a construction job, you usually figure in somewhere in the neighborhood of 10% for cost overruns and extraneous items. Material costs fluctuate, gas prices, equipment failures, weather delays, maybe some overtime. But a lot of that can be alleviated by long term contracts with suppliers locking in prices, volume discounts, etc.

Anything approaching 20-25% means something went terribly wrong - maybe even criminally wrong. This stadium, for a PRIVATE UNIVERSITY, is projected to be 75% over budget. It might as well be a completely different contract in terms of money. And the City Council that voted for it in the first place doesn't seem to be able to revisit the contract and reevaluate the taxpayers' commitment to a cost overrun worth more than one-quarter of the City's pension obligation due next year.

FOP, you guys going to point this out? It's a gift.

SEC to Investigate Rahm?

A financial scandal? In Chicago?

• Chicago lawmakers are planning to send a formal request to the Securities and Exchange Commission for an investigation into donations to Mayor Rahm Emanuel from executives at financial firms that manage city pension money. The donations were first documented by International Business Times in a report quoting former SEC and federal prosecutors saying the contributions may run afoul of the agency's pay-to-play rules.
  
  The aldermen scheduled a City Hall news conference Tuesday to announce the action.
  
  In a letter to Andrew Ceresney, who directs the SEC's division of enforcement, Aldermen Bob Fioretti, Scott Waguespack and John Arena write the donations constitute "pay-to-play actions" that "have violated the public trust and are a breach of the fiduciary duty" by the Emanuel administration officials who oversee the city pension systems. They say "Chicago has a deep history of pay-to-play" and that their "goal is to end these tactics and protect the citizens of Chicago and employees' investments."

Why now? Why not decades ago when Rahm was pulling in $18 million as a "financial wizard" for a certain connected investment firm?

Someone is Watching the Numbers

We don't usually link to leftist websites for the usual reasons. But this time, someone is actually taking the Chicago homicide number game seriously:

• Chicago Murders in November 2014 up 50% during the same time last November. In November 2013 there were 28 total murders. There have already been 24 murders as of November 16, 2014 with 14 more days left in the month to count.
  
  During the month of November 2013 there were a total of 16 murders for the first part of the month. In the current month of November 2014 there have been a total of 24 reported murders a 50% increase in murders from the same time last year. Raw data was used from RedEye Tracking homicides in Chicago.
  
  Checking if this was an anomaly. Substance News compared homicides statistics for the months of September and October to last year during the same months. September 2013 had 43 total murders compared to September 2014 which had 44 total murders a 2.33% increase. In October of 2013 there were a total of 33 murders compared to October 2014 which a total of 38 murders a 15.15% increase. The totals for both months show an upward trending murder rate of 7.89%.

They even do a little digging and come up with this little fact:

• The Chicago Tribune has not reported a homicide on its homicide tracking website, since November 4, 2014 2:17 pm, even though there have been 14 murders since then.

Wait...let us guess...the intern in charge of inputting the Tribune homicide tracker data is on vacation? It would almost be amusing except that Rahm is running for reelection and we're betting that McJersey and CompStat are going to figure heavily in his campaign. How better to grease the skids a bit by "neglecting" to keep the public updated with current homicide stats?

We heard, but can't yet confirm, that November will be the THIRD consecutive month of homicide INCREASES on a month (2013)-to-month (2014) comparison. Not only that, someone else said that these three monthly increases have pretty much wiped out the supposed "reduction" of 2014 compared to 2013. We'll let you know how true that one is shortly.

Competing Polls

The Chicago Teachers Union thinks Rahm is headed to a runoff, even with Karen the Commie out of the race:

• A new survey commissioned by the Chicago Teachers Union shows Mayor Rahm Emanuel could be forced into a runoff election folllowing the February primary.
  
  The data from the survey conducted by Lake Research Partners shows Jesus “Chuy” Garcia inching closer and possibly making the race for mayor tight.
  
  The survey found that between Emanuel, Garcia, and Ald. Bob Fioretti, Emanuel leads with 33 percent of the vote. He is followed by Garcia with 18 percent and Fioretti with 13.

But wait - Rahm's PAC says something different:

• Mayor Rahm Emanuel holds a 19-percentage-point lead in a three-way race against his two top challengers and is within striking distance of avoiding a runoff before spending a penny of his $9 million warchest, according to a new poll conducted for the mayor’s super PAC.
  
  The poll of 601 likely voters was conducted last week by the Global Strategy Group, whose president Jefrey Pollock has done polling for Priorities USA, the super PAC that helped re-elect President Barack Obama, as well as for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and a host of Democratic candidates nationwide. The margin of error for the poll is plus or minus 4 percent.
  
  The results are better for Emanuel than the Chicago Teachers Union poll released earlier this week that also shows the mayor short of the 50 percent plus one he needs to avoid a runoff.

Polls showing the desired result for the organization that paid for the poll - must be election season.

From Chaplain Brandt

A difficult topic, but as the years go by, an intelligent choice to make sure your wishes are respected:

• END-OF-LIFE PLANNING WORKSHOP, HOSTED BY CPD CHAPLAINS' UNIT
  
  Come learn how to start the difficult conversation regarding end-of-life decisions. An attorney will also be present to offer free estate planning advice.
  
  Southsiders: Monday, 12 JAN, 5:00 – 7:00 p.m. in the 022 District community room
  Northsiders: Tuesday, 13 JAN, 10:00 a.m. - 12:00 noon at the Irish American Heritage Center
  
  There is no charge for the event. Get more information by contacting Chaplain Kimberly Lewis-Davis at Kimberly.LewisDavis@ChicagoPolice.org or 312-771-6638.
  
  RSVP by 05 JAN.
  
  
  EVENING RETREAT FOR FIRST RESPONDERS
  
  CPD Chaplain Kimberly Lewis-Davis and Fr. Dan Brandt will be co-facilitating this evening for YOU involved in first response. Please consider taking a couple hours out of your schedule to enliven your soul.
  
  Tuesday, 13 JAN, 7:00 - 9:00 p.m. at Resurrection Catholic Church, 3043 N. Francisco Avenue in Logan Square.
  
  (Due to popular demand, a February date will be added at a south-side venue; details forthcoming.)
  
  Registration required. Register at www.MayslakeMinistries.org or by calling 630-852-9000.

Comments closed here.

Hey, How About Those Numbers?

So.....no one in the media or HQ mentioning this?

• Hey SCC,
  
  After the honor students posted a shutout on Friday - the first shooting/homicide-free day since 5/23 - they proceeded to run up the score with 5 dead and another 16 wounded through Sunday evening.
  
  The same weekend last year tallied 1 dead and 18 wounded.
  
  As an added bonus, we're already sitting at 24 homicides this month. Last November posted 28 for the entire month.
  
  Illustrating Chicago Crime, Murder and Mayhem at heyjackass.com

All summer, everyone has had to listen and read about how crime is down, beyond historic lows, we haven't seen crime this low since Jean Baptiste Point du Sable had his bicycle stolen by some passing Indian "yutes."

It's all CompStat all the time. Chicago Magazine writes a gigantic two-part spread about how the numbers are manipulated and the crime is reclassified. The Slum-Times highlights a manslaughter incident involving the Daley clan, forces a guilty plea, and exposes files being found at the home of certain connected individuals.

And yet, when one guy running a website like HeyJackass.com, has the temerity to point out the simplest of the CompStat statistics - Weekend A from 2013 and Weekend B from 2014 - and the 500% increase in homicides - silence. And is anyone going to touch the November 2014 total is nearly at 2013 totals - and we're only halfway through the month?

You just know the media is hoping Ferguson burns to the ground so they can distract the masses once again.

A Humble Suggestion

Maybe one of these for the Craft Pizza folks:

• Chilean students of engineering have designed a prototype bicycle that ‘cannot be stolen.’
  
  The Yerka, which is designed by Cristobal Cabello, Andres Roi Eggers and Juan Jose Monsalve during a college engineering class, can be locked by some of its own parts.
  
  The students came up with the idea after Roi’s bike was stolen.
  
  The Chilean innovators have benefitted from techniques used in two other bicycles namely “Seatylock” and “Denny,” whose saddle and detachable handlebars are respectively used for locking them up.
  
  For Yerka to get locked, its lower frame opens up into two arms that are then connected to the seat post and locked to a post.
  
  Thieves would have to destroy the whole bike to get it unlocked, said Cabello, adding, “That’s why our motto is ‘a bike that gets stolen is no longer a bike.’ What we have here is truly an unstealable bike.”

This might test the ingenuity of bike thieves.

Fundraiser

The Peace Officers Memorial Foundation of Cook County:

This organization recognizes Law Enforcement Officers from across Cook County who have made the ultimate sacrifice. Chicago, Suburban, State and Federal - over 700 all told.

Comments closed here - informational post only.

Snow Causes Crime

It did snow, right?

• Five people were killed and at least 16 others have been wounded in shootings across the city since Saturday afternoon, police said.
  
  The most recent fatal shooting happened Sunday evening in the West Pullman neighborhood.
  
  About 5 p.m., police found a 30-year-old man unresponsive on the sidewalk in the 11600 block of South Racine with a gunshot wound to his back, police said. He was pronounced dead at the scene, police said.

Someone got some 'splaining to do.

Stroller Gang Busted

It's ridiculous that the media is making this into some sort of "cause," seeing as how (A) the bike was left unsecured by anything but a 8-foot-scalable-fence and (B) the owner of the pizza joint has already expressed an interest in "lecturing" the evil-doers:

• Two people are charged in connection with a robbery caught on video at a Wicker Park pizza parlor last week.
  
  Gwenel McKeebey, 18, is charged with theft for allegedly stealing $10 from a tip jar at Craft Pizza.
  
  Police say surveillance video captured that incident, along with a juvenile male stealing the owner's bike out back of the restaurant. He has also been charged.

Anyone want to bet the defense attorneys find some way to say the police forced him to sign complaints or bullied him in some way? If there wasn't video of the whole thing, this is one of the larger non-stories in recent memory. We didn't realize that the pension problem had been solved, that tens-of-thousands of manufacturing jobs had suddenly migrated back into the state and Illinois' $80 billion debt had evaporated.

But hey, that theft clearance rate just ticked upward!

Bears Won?

For the first time at home?

And 10G lost $20 grand on the game?

• Hi SCC n Kids. 10 g here. Must make this short. On my way to Church. Went with 10 large on the OVER 46 in Bears/Minn game and same way on Minn +2 and the hook. Bears are the epitome of terrible. Cold is here. Can't wait for our Cruise. Good luck and luv you guys n gals.

Ouch.

Bears by 3....2.5....Falling

Here we go....odds are dropping as we type.

Ferguson Decision - Probably Monday

Lots of news outlets claiming Monday is Decision Day, and no one thinks it's going to go well.

Be safe, be aware.

Expect the usual nonsense downtown - a bunch of loud people making no sense.

But what happens elsewhere is the question.

Jane Byrne - RIP

Various media coverage all over the place. Here's a sampling:

• Jane Byrne was not mighty, like her mentor, Richard J. Daley.
  
  She was not beloved, like her successor, Harold Washington.
  
  Nor was she long-serving, like her bitter rival, Richard M. Daley.
  
  But she was mayor, Chicago’s first and only female mayor — making Chicago the largest city in the United States to elect a female chief executive — serving a single, tempestuous term, ushering the city into the 1980s, leaving her own colorful legacy during a time of political change, social upheaval and financial crisis.

But of course, coppers will remember her supporting the efforts to organize. The argument can be made that much of that has been squandered away over the past decades, but at the time, it was the biggest beneficial change to come down the pike in history. 

Charges

But the lawyers involved think the best defense is a good offense - or at least an offense that will inflame a jury:

• A south suburban man has been charged in the beating of an off-duty Chicago Police sergeant who allegedly started the fight when he made a racist remark in an elevator in a downtown parking garage last month.
  
  Joseph E. Baskins, 28, of Country Club Hills, is charged with unlawful use of a weapon by a felon in connection with the Oct. 30 incident, according to a spokeswoman for the Cook County state’s attorney’s office. He was released in lieu of $25,000 bail on Wednesday, sheriff’s officials said.
  
  Baskins is accused of striking the sergeant repeatedly, causing major head injuries. He allegedly fled with the sergeant’s handgun — the reason for the gun-possession charge against him.

And why should we believe Baskin's account?

• In 2009, Baskins was convicted of burglary and sentenced to three years in prison. He was also convicted of resisting a peace officer in 2003, telephone harassment in 2009 and violating an order of protection in 2010, court records show.

Well. That sounds like someone completely believable with no axes to grind against the system, doesn't it? And even if the allegation turns out to have a kernel of truth, there's something called "disproportionate response," that is, you don't get to beat someone into a coma and rob them over so-called fighting words...nless we missed something in Springfield or some press release by McStreetlightMarksman.

A Rose by Any Other Name...

It's a quota. It's not a quota. It's a quota. It's not a quota.

• Three patrol officers are suing the Normal Police Department, saying the central Illinois town improperly disciplined them for failing to meet arrest quotas.
  
  The Pantagraph in Bloomington reports the officers filed the lawsuit in McLean County Circuit Court. They say they were disciplined for not meeting a minimum number of arrests per month for traffic, criminal and ordinance violations.
  
  Normal Police Chief Rick Bleichner and Normal City Manager Mark Peterson declined comment Wednesday. They said they haven't seen the lawsuit.
  
  Earlier this year the police chief said the department has performance standards but it doesn't have quotas.

"Performance standards." "Index numbers." Even "VRI eligibility numbers." Creative words, but quotas in everything but the name. We aren't fans of not doing anything - there's plenty out there to keep everyone busy for a tour if you know how and where to look, but police work isn't always quantifiable the way number-crunches want it to be.

Closing Arguments (UPDATES)

(Post moved from 13 November 2014 12:03 AM)

Word from someone watching things:

• Hey Guys,
  
  Got information from a fellow PO today the states attorney called him trying to get PO's at the P.O.  Wortham murder trial. I guess tomorrow's closing arguments and they have not had any police officers in the court room during the entire trial. If you can please put out the information and hopefully somebody can make it on his behalf.  Room 606.  

Stop by after your call. Takes a minute and means the world.

UPDATE: We're being told Room 500? Ask at the sign-in room. They'll have the info.

UPDATE: GUILTY - a small measure of closure - Rest in Peace Officer.

UPDATE: Both GUILTY

The Bike is BACK!!!

Thank goodness for this!

• A $700 custom-made bike has been recovered after a band of young people dubbed the "Stroller Gang" stole it and tip money from a Wicker Park pizzeria over the weekend.
  
  The bike was sold to someone who later saw the video and turned it in to police, according to 14th District police.

We'd also like to thank the people who pointed out that Channel 7 ran this story the other night with all the faces blurred out - and then asked the viewers to contact the police if they recognized anyone involved in the theft. Yes, they were serious.

"Safe Passage" not so Safe

Won't someone think of the children???

• A man was killed while sitting in a vehicle in the Englewood neighborhood near the Jesse Sherwood Elementary school, one of two people injured in daytime Chicago shootings.
  
  At about 2 p.m., police responded to the 5700 block of of South Princeton Avenue for a shots fired call, said Chicago police spokesman Thomas Sweeney.
  
  When police arrived they found a 21-year-old man in a vehicle suffering from multiple gunshot wounds, Sweeney said. The man was pronounced dead at the scene, police said.
  
  The shooting happened along a safe passage route near the Sherwood Elementary School, 245 W. 57th St.

Evidently, no one got the memo that the supposedly "safe" passages have been abandoned after the second week of school. No one from HQ is out guarding the kids, the firefighters are warm in their houses, the Streets people are supposedly patching potholes, cleaning streets, prepping the plows for winter....there isn't any one on the Safe Passages aside from the $10 per hour folks...but no one is checking that they're actually there....most times, they aren't. In fact, we're surprised Rahm didn't have someone out taking down the signs so something exactly like this didn't happen.

Correlation Failure

Someone who obviously attended the CompStat meeting last week noticed something odd:

• Contact Cards are the be all and end all of CompStat and crime fighting. "Make contact with the right people" and the crime numbers will fall. So why is it that the 011th District led the city in Contact Cards over the last measuring period and also led the city in killings?

Something doesn't compute. Was everything a lie? How can that be??

Poor Chicago

Evidently, no one knows how to budget around here:

• One in three Chicago residents can't go more than a month without a paycheck.
  
  According to the Springleaf Financial Strength Survey, 33 percent of Chicagoans are living paycheck-to-paycheck.
  
  It also found that one in three Chicagoans has less than $250 in their bank account before payday and they're not consistently adding to any savings.
  
  The survey says rising costs and unexpected expenses are the main reasons for the lack in savings.

No wonder politicians can't balance the budget - no one has any money.

Where's the Weed Money?

Guess who's noticing another shortfall in budget "projections?"

• Chicago's most powerful aldermen want to know why a two-year-old ordinance that empowered Chicago Police officers to issue tickets for small amounts of marijuana has been a bit of a bust.
  
  At Wednesday's City Council meeting, Police Committee Chairman Anthony Beale (9th), Finance Committee Chairman Edward Burke (14th) and Zoning Committee Chairman Danny Solis (25th) demanded City Council hearings into the disappointing results.
  
  "While the Police Department has clearly made great strides in implementing this law by logging fewer arrests for low levels of cannabis possession, I believe the City Council deserves to see all of the statistics firsthand and determine if we have successfully undertaken what the legislation intended, " Burke was quoted as saying in a news release.
  
  Solis championed the ordinance in hopes it would put police officers on the street for thousands of additional hours to fight more serious crime. He was also hoping to avoid saddling black and Hispanic young people with arrest records that would haunt them for the rest of their lives.
  
  On Wednesday, the alderman acknowledged that the results have been slower than he expected.

Someone want to run through the entire process again for slower members of the City Council and the media? Here's a clue:

• It saves no time and there is seldom any court time involved.

Wait? What? A street stop, weed test, ANOV issued, test kit inventoried don't save time over a simple weed arrest? No, not really. With the miracle of computers and copy/paste, you can process multiple weed arrests faster and manage to get a court date out of it. In any event, we hear complaints constantly about "no test kits available" for the watches because the Tactical Teams took them all and locked them in the office because ::surprise:: they're under orders to produce weed arrests to make CompStat look good. Quota based policing to keep a spot - illegal, but winked at.

Hold on - coppers make arrests to go to court? Um, duh? Is anyone here old enough to remember Sound Impounds and the four separate court calls at 11th and State? That room was packed. Hundreds of cases a week, literally. Then the city went and put it on a key and suddenly, a lot less sound impounds. Talk about killing the golden goose.

Of course, in those cases, the city had a hammer to hold over the offender - they had their wheels, an actual asset to auction off if no payment was forthcoming. What do you have in a weed case? Half a blunt? Keep it, they'll grow more. No incentive, other than a Tact spot and nowadays, Tact is too often CompStat's bitch - get Cards, get ANOV's get weed tickets, and while you're at it, go to this detail - your day off is canceled. That's policing in the 2000's.

"Stroller Gang"

Channel Two had a report on this.

Someone made an amusing YouTube video with subtitles and catchy music:

But the cBS reporting is especially amusing. A sampling:

• The owners of a Chicago pizza shop are looking for help after being robbed by a gang of youngsters with a baby stroller. The robbery was all caught on surveillance tape.
  
  Five young people, one baby in a stroller, and an unusual pizza order at Craft Pizza in the 1200-block of North Damen in the Wicker Park neighborhood.
  
  [...] "Here's a young mother with her young cousins or friends, or whatever, and they are out stealing and robbing people. At that age, wow, it's unbelievable," said Scott Toth, Craft Pizza owner.

Start them young. Hell, gypsies start even younger - and this guy is shocked, SHOCKED, to find out crime is happening in Chicago.

• The owners think the call was a distraction, because at the same time, just outside the kitchen window, a young man was scaling the fence and opened the gate. He tried a few times to steal a worker's bag.
  
  "I'm glad he didn't take my bag, whew, because that's expensive, too," said Johnson.
  
  "He's not a millionaire. He works for his money," said Toth.
  
  He leaves the bag, but takes the worker's $700 bike. To top it off, Aaron Johnson has had six bikes stolen since he moved to Chicago five years ago!

Six bikes in five years? Sorry Aaron, you're a moron. How about investing in a decent lock and chain and tell your boss you'd like an indoor bike rack? Unless maybe you work for a moron?

• In releasing the video, the owners hope the young thieves are caught.
  
  "Something should be done. You know, they should be lectured and somewhat rehabilitated that this is wrong behavior and this is not the way to start your life," Toth said.

Okay. Obviously, Aaron works for a moron. "...lectured...?" "...somewhat rehabilitated...?" "wrong behavior...?" Ooooooooo yeah. THAT'LL show 'em!!

Earth to Scott - they don't care it's wrong. Lectures don't mean anything. "Rehabilitation" doesn't mean anything. An ass-whipping might, but you don't seem up to it. And we're sure you'd be right at the front of the protests if the cops administered one to any of these poor misguided individuals. Let us know when you're sick of losing tip-jar money and $700 bikes. We'll be over here filling out your report that the insurance company won't pay out on. Crime is Down!

Off Duty Shot; Critical but Stable

A domestic dispute and kidnapping involving her child and grandchild:

• An off-duty police officer and her daughter were shot during a domestic dispute Tuesday night in the South Shore neighborhood, Chicago Police First Deputy Supt. Al Wysinger told reporters early Wednesday.
  
  About 10:05 p.m., the officer’s daughter and the daughter’s boyfriend were involved in a “domestic incident” in the 2200 block of East 68th Street, Wysinger said.
  
  During the incident, the boyfriend shot the officer and her 21-year-old daughter, Wysinger said.
  
  The 49-year-old officer was shot in the face, neck and both forearms and was listed in critical, but stable, condition at Northwestern Memorial Hospital, Wysinger said. Her daughter also was taken to Northwestern with a gunshot wound in her thigh. Her condition had stabilized.
  
  After the shooting, the daughter’s 2-year child was taken by the shooter but has since been recovered, Wysinger said.

Offender in custody.

The paper also mentions that this is the fourth officer shot in a month. Prayers for the injured.

Trash Survey?

Ummm.......

• Off Topic but more tax dollars spent on BS.
  
  Today I was sitting in my living room and observed an enterprise rental can pull up in front of my house, a m/2 and m/1 get out and put a garbage bag over my garbage can and empty the contents and then place the bag into their van. So I go out there and ask them what they are doing? Of course their is a streets and san suv behind them and some f/1 gets out and hands me a letter that the city is doing research on what we put into our black garbage cans. HHHMMM. So what company is this doing this research? VANECKO Trash Analysis group?
  
  Interesting that the city has money to do trash research but has no money to put towards their pension obligations..
  
  More money down the drain for a well connected company.

Anyone else heard or experienced this? It sounds like a tremendous waste of money.

Otherwise, it sure sounds like a fishing expedition for evidence.

Ferguson Delayed?

Next week maybe?

• Missouri Governor Jay Nixon told reporters the Grand Jury decision on the Michael Brown shooting case is expected in mid-to-late November.
  
  Nixon also said violence and looting will not be tolerated.
  
  KMOX reported:
  
  Nixon said looting and violence that marred mostly peaceful protests will not be tolerated.
  
  “That ugliness was not representative of Missouri, and it cannot be repeated,” he said.
  
  Nixon said that once the decision is announced, the state highway patrol will work with St. Louis County and city police as one unified command. The three agencies are strong enough to work together “exceptionally well,” he said.
  
  The National Guard will also be available if needed.

Gee, who was it back in August who supported a rush to judgement?

• In his Tuesday statement Missouri Governor Jay Nixon demanded that Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson be prosecuted.
  
  …Amid all the pain and distrust and anger, we’ve also seen tremendous acts of grace, courage, and kindness as the people of Ferguson try to maintain peace, while they call for justice for the family of Michael Brown. In Ferguson, people of all races and creeds are joining hands to pray for justice. Teenagers cooking meals for law enforcement officers. Community leaders demonstrating courage and heroism throughout the night in standing against armed and violent instigators…
  
  …But we will not be defeated by bricks and guns and Molotov cocktails. With the help of peaceful demonstrators, pastors and community leaders, Captain Johnson and law enforcement will not give up trying to ensure that those with peace in their hearts are not drowned out by those with senseless violence in their hands.
  
  Second, a vigorous prosecution must now be pursued.

Funny how the winds of change blow through the "Show Me" state.

Remember, Ebola

Keep believing the government:

• Twelve people in Illinois are being monitored for potential Ebola exposure, officials said Monday as they called for additional steps to prepare for any possible outbreak — which included a proposal for a fund for health care workers exposed to the virus.
  
  The people who are being monitored have not been quarantined and are considered at low risk or some risk of exposure to the deadly virus, the director of the Illinois Department of Public Health, Dr. LaMar Hasbrouck, told state lawmakers at a legislative committee hearing Monday in Chicago, according to a department spokeswoman.
  
  The 12 people were advised to monitor and report daily to health officials their temperature readings and the emergence of any symptoms.
  
  No cases of Ebola have been reported in Illinois, and the chances of it occurring here are low, health officials said. But they warned that more measures should be taken to provide for testing and care of any patients.

You know what would reduce the chances even more? A travel ban. It would probably even reduce the number of "monitored" individuals, thereby saving precious dollars to find/develop a cure.

017 Attack?

Can anyone verify?

• ...everyone hates the police, and no one respects or fears us anymore.... coppers house if 017 shot up by gangbangers

Is there an alert out or anything?

Belated Veterans Day

Hmm. Our auto-post seems to have misfired and we've been out-of-town all day. This should have gone up at 12:00 and some change this morning. Apologies to our vets.

Acquitted? Acquitted?

We're speechless:

• A 92-year-old woman was acquitted Monday of misdemeanor battery to an off-duty Chicago police officer who fatally shot her husband in a dispute between neighbors.
  
  Hazel Jones-Huff had already been found not guilty last month of a misdemeanor count of aggravated assault stemming from the same incident in the Gresham neighborhood.

Those of you who aren't up to speed on this one, the families were having a feud. It went on for years. People got locked up, investigated, etc. A lot of neighborhood nonsense. It escalated over the years and culminated in the 92-year-old woman striking an Officer's wife with a broom in the head. The Officer heard the commotion and came out to do what any husband would do.

The 92-year-old told, TOLD her 86-year-old husband, to go get his gun, which he did and shot the cop's wife with a shotgun. The Officer killed him and when grandma went for the shotgun, he shot her, too, all on OEMC tapes.

But no one heard about this part until Monday:

• Jones-Huff was arrested in April after the argument between her and her husband and the off-duty officer and his wife who lived next door erupted into gunfire. Her husband, Joe Huff Jr., 86, was killed. The officer's wife, [...], 54, had her right arm amputated and was blinded in the right eye as a result of the shooting, authorities revealed for the first time Monday.
  
  Jones-Huff, who recovered from gunshot wounds to her arm and leg, was the only one charged.

And now Cook County Associate Judge Matthew Carmody found this elderly offender not guilty?

Pardon our French, but what the fuck? The Officer's wife lost and arm and an eye due to this woman telling her husband to get a gun, and no responsibility is assigned to anyone? Are you fucking kidding us?

Well bet some blame ends up being assigned when the inevitable civil suit is filed.

Does everyone see why we vote "NO" and encourage voting "NO" on all Cook County judges?

Dems Think You're Idiots

Amazing video one of the main architects of Obama-care:

In case you didn't understand the context of that little clip, here's Ace of Spades explaination:

• This was the guy who earlier claimed that the Obamacare law's drafters never intending to apply subsidies only to people buying insurance off a state exchange.
  
  He was later exposed as a liar, because his even-earlier statements made it plain that this was in fact completely intentional, as a spur to force states to set up state exchanges.
  
  Now he's caught admitting in 2013 that he's willing to lie in any context necessary to get, and and maintain, Obamacare.
  
  He admits in this clip that the text of Obamacare was deliberately written in a "tortured" way to conceal the fact that the mandate was in fact a tax, because if it were perceived (accurately) as a tax, the American public would not have abided it.
  
  He also admits the law was written in order to hide from the public the fact that the whole point of Obamacare is a forced subsidy from the healthy to the sick -- that is, a tax.
  
  And he's proud of this. He says that given the choice between transparency and no Obamacare, on one hand, and deception and Obamacare, on the other, he'd choose the latter every time.

But it's those obstructionist republicans and nasty tea party people who lie to appeal to low information voters? And here's this asshole bragging about it. So-called "progressives" count on lying, slippery syntax and keeping voters in the dark to pass the biggest piece of legislation in history, affecting one-sixth of the US economy, and admit that keeping your health plan, your doctor, and saving $2,500 per year were all lies to get it through Congress and past the Supreme Court.

Wait until that employer mandate kicks in next year - everyone on the left will act surprised, but they planned it that way.

What's The Point of This?

Like all reporters, do thy master's bidding and bring in all sorts of non sequiturs to cloud the issue:

• Nine months after a nephew of former Mayor Richard M. Daley pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter, not a single cop has been disciplined for letting Richard J. “R.J.” Vanecko get away for nearly 10 years with killing David Koschman.
  
  And many of them can’t be punished because they no longer work for the city.
  
  Dan K. Webb, the court-appointed special prosecutor who won Vanecko’s conviction in January, identified 53 police personnel involved in two botched investigations of Koschman’s death.

Fifty-three people bearing some form of blame? That's a lot of blame spread pretty thin.

• After Webb wrapped up his investigation, Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s administration asked City Hall Inspector General Joseph Ferguson to determine whether any police officers should be disciplined for their roles in the Koschman case. Police Supt. Garry McCarthy is awaiting Ferguson’s recommendations.
  
  But only 21 of the cops and other police officials identified by Webb remain on the city payroll, still subject to possible disciplinary action. Their salaries total more than $2.2 million a year.
  
  Twenty-eight others have retired and are collecting pensions totaling $2.6 million a year. Another has died, one is on disability, and two others have left the department.

And just who are these fifty-three? Go see the article for the list, but get a load of these names that Fusco and Novak pin the tail on:

• Cmdr. William O’Donnell
• Cmdr. Michael Chasen
• Cmdr. James Gibson
• Supt. Phil Cline
• Thomas Epach (Cline Assistant)
• Dep. Supt. Hiram Grau
• Chief of Detectives James Molloy
• Deputy Chief of Detectives Richard Kobel
• Supt. Jody Weis
• General Counsel Debra Kirby
• Chief of Staff Michael G. Masters Masters Masters
• Deputy Supt. Steven Peterson
• Chief of Detectives Thomas Byrne
• Deputy Chief of Detectives Constantine “Dean” Andrews
• Cmdr. Gary Yamashiroya
• Cmdr. Joseph Salemme
• Deputy Supt. Ernest Brown

And that's just the civilians and exempt ranks. Good luck pinning any blame on those folks. The Dicks and Sergeants and Lieutenants listed are like a "Who's Who" of meri-clout-orious favors granted. Together, their clout must outweigh several pods of oceanic whales. And why exactly does their salary or overtime or pension have anything to do with the investigation? Or is that just extraneous information included to prejudice and inflame the public?

Everyone Keeps Their Jobs?

Five minutes of your life you'll never get back:

Bears

The Cubs of the NFL.

Thanks to the e-mailers who sent this one.

The over/under was 54 and Greenbay covered that by themselves.

Ferguson Rally in Chicago

Downtown at State and Jackson.

Flyer can be found at this site.

Preparations continue.

By the way, this isn't pro-justice...in case you wondered.

Fudging Numbers Sort Of

Story in the paper:

• Two people were killed — including a 15-year-old boy — and at least ten others have been wounded in shootings across the city since Friday night, police said.
  
  The most recent fatal shooting happened Saturday evening in the Chatham neighborhood on the South Side, police said.

Typical fall weekend we suppose. But no mention of this:

• Police are investigating a fatal stabbing in the city's River North neighborhood, officials said.
  
  The victim, a 29-year-old man, was found around 2:20 a.m. Sunday on a sidewalk in the 800-block of North Orleans, police said.

And if that big fire up north turns out to have been an arson, there's another one that won't make the books.

Dart Getting Smacked Again

This time by the Teamsters on behalf of the sheriffs:

• One of the nation’s largest local unions is berating Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart in a full page ad in the Chicago Sun Times on Sunday.
  
  WBBM [...] reports Teamsters Local 700 is accusing Dart of providing more protection and care toward inmates and leaving officers in the lurch.
  
  The ad alleges that when an officer does something wrong, it becomes a news headline, but when an inmate attacks an officer, it is underreported.

Not surprising. Most people (and folks) in jail don't have anything to lose, so attacking a guard has no downside. Conversely, and perversely, claiming abuse by the guards leads to payouts. Win-win from the offender's view.

Bears in Cheeseland

Packers favored by 7? That's down from midweek.

Let's see in the bye-week led to any improvements.

Ferguson Grand Jury on Monday?

You want the latest on the Ferguson Grand Jury and preparations, check out GatewayPundit. The link is in the right hand toolbar. This guy operates out of St. Louis and has contacts everywhere.

The web-protestors "Anonymous" are leaking info about Monday afternoon:

• On or about November 10, 2014 the Grand Jury decision will be announced. Darren Wilson will NOT be indicted on ANY charges related to the murder of Mike Brown.
  
  All local police Chiefs and jail commanders have been notified to begin preparing for major civil unrest.
  
  Governor Nixon has been notified of the impending announcement and has ordered the Missouri National Guard to begin preparations for a possible re-enstatement of the martial law that was declared at the beginning of the Ferguson protests.

The town is boarding up anything that can be broken or looted, The National Guard is staging around Ferguson:

• Ferguson businesses are preparing for the worst.
  
  Several businesses are boarding up before the anticipated Michael Brown grand jury decision.
  
  Local banks have extra guards put in place.
  
  High-end St. Louis jewelry stores have plywood ready to put in place.

Places as far away as Atlanta are mobilizing riot teams:

• The grand jury’s decision on the police shooting that killed an unarmed teen in Ferguson, Missouri last August is expected any day now.
  
  Among those keeping a close eye on the decision are police departments all across the country, including here in Atlanta.
  
  The scene in Ferguson in the days after Officer Darren Wilson killed 18 year-old Michael Brown was both frightening and dangerous. Police patrolled the streets in riot gear, confronting angry demonstrators who converged by the thousands.
  
  The scene was eerily similar in Atlanta back in 2011. Police donned riot gear at that time to confront angry demonstrators from the Occupy Movement, who defied an order to leave the tent city they had built at Woodruff Park.

We heard the Department ran a "drill" mobilizing Incident Teams from Districts across the city last Sunday on the second watch. No word on how it went, but given the alleged time frame, there ought to be a few more drills taking place. Just in case.

Rules for Rioting

Amazing:

• Tensions in Ferguson, Missouri, have simmered since black teen Michael Brown was shot and killed by a white police officer in August.
  
  And with a grand jury expected to soon deliver its decision on whether to indict the officer, a group that represents protesters says it wants 48-hours notice before the decision is announced so it can help prevent the St. Louis suburb from once again boiling over with anger, violence and confusion.
  
  A group of community members calling themselves the Don't Shoot Coalition this week released 19 "Rules of Engagement" that touch on major points of contention between protesters and police since Brown's August 9 killing.

Among the "rules:"

• Some of the coalition's "rules" ask that police provide information that makes clear law enforcement's chain of command, who is making what decisions and why, and assurances that neither police nor the government will interfere with the flow of information. That means, according to the "rules," there will be no unwarranted wiretapping or attempts to interfere with internet and cellular access. The rules ask the police not to use rubber bullets, armored vehicles, rifles and tear gas.
  
  The organization also has written stipulations about how it wants police to present themselves, including a request that officers wear attire "minimally required for their safety" and that "specialized riot gear will be avoided except as a last resort."

They also demand that the police not respond to thrown objects - like water bottles and similar. Of course, what they fill the water bottles with....well, that "rule" ought to be right out the window.

Quick Hits

Another example of why you should never deal with tow truck operators:

• Police on Friday evening raided a Bridgeport towing operation that was featured in a CBS 2 report this week about one motorist’s claims the firm illegally towed her car from a public street.
  
  Chicago police were serving a search warrant at Rendered Services Inc., 3611 S. Iron St., and collecting records and tow trucks for the cameras and data they may have inside.

Crooked as the day is long.

=========

Polar Vortex coming:

• Shivering in the biting-cold wind, never leaving home without the gear of an Antarctic explorer, spending more time with the snow shovel than with your family. Didn’t we just get done with all of that?
  
  Ready or not, winter is on its way back. Thanksgiving is weeks away, but below-freezing temperatures and, yes, snow are forecast beginning Tuesday through late next week.

Global warming....remember? Here's a clip of John Coleman, former Chicago weatherman, actual meteorologist and founder of The Weather Channel telling anyone who would listen that he is a Climate Change Skeptic and backs it up with actual arguments just last week.

=========

Rahm's "Fuck you" look:

• "I get in a cab and the driver recognizes me," said the politician. "And he asks me, 'What do you think about Rahm?'
  
  "I told him, 'Well, it really doesn't matter what I think, does it? It's what you think that counts,' " said the wise politician. "So what do you think about Rahm?
  
  "And the cabdriver says: 'Well, it's like this. Every time I see Rahm's face on TV, I get the feeling he just told me to go (bleep) myself.' "
  
  It's true, isn't it? Emanuel has that go-(bleep)-yourself facial expression. And it could cost him re-election.

Well, Rahm's the smartest guy in the room you know. He sucked the right ass and made $18 million for doing nothing except being a friend of the connected - Clinton, Obama, Rauner. Why shouldn't he tell everyone else to go fuck off?

Officers Stripped

The case of the sergeant who got beaten takes another weird turn:

• Two Chicago Police officers have been stripped of their arrest powers and placed on desk duty pending an investigation into a racially motivated fight that left a sergeant with severe head injuries, a department spokesman said Friday.
  
  On Oct. 30, the officers [...] entered an elevator with the sergeant when he made a racially disparaging comment to a group of African-Americans going to a wedding at City Hall, witnesses alleged.

Everyone notice how the word "allegedly" is added into the last part of the sentence - almost as an afterthought - as if there's already been a finding against the sergeant at the start of that paragraph. Stripping two witness officers though? This thing is getting smellier by the hour.

Honeymoon Over Already?

Based on the "transition team," Rauner is very in-touch with his "inner Combine:"

• Governor-elect Bruce Rauner added some familiar faces to his transition committee.
  
  Speaking publically to the media for the first time since his Election Night win, Rauner on Thursday revealed the committee's full team, which includes former White House Chief of Staff Bill Daley, former Governor Jim Edgar, Rev. James Meeks, former Congressman Glenn Poshard, Congressman Aaron Schock and Pastor Corey Brooks.

Bill Daley? "Rev" Meeks? And the full list covers an entire rainbow of ethnicities, special interests and has-beens....like Ron Huberman - a police officer for ten minutes before being promoted to Assistant Deputy Superintendent, head of OEMC, Daley's Chief of Staff, President of the CTA and head of Chicago Public Schools - without leaving a notable achievement or positive memory behind.

Hey, Remember Ebola?

Kind of disappeared pretty quickly, didn't it? That's because it was affecting the election:

• At the urging of the Obama Administration, the Associated Press and other news outlets have agreed not to report on suspected cases of Ebola in the United States until a positive viral RNA test is completed.
  
  The administration and liberal activists were upset with coverage in the run-up to the midterm elections.

They've done a good job burying it. No one has seen or heard from the Ebola "czar" since he was appointed. But a little digging reveals this:

• Forty-eight travelers who have returned to Minnesota from Ebola-stricken nations in West Africa are being monitored by state health officials for 21 days to make sure they don’t have any signs of the deadly virus, the Minnesota Department of Health reported Wednesday.
  
  [...] Minnesota — with its large population of Liberian natives — receives the seventh most travelers and was next in line. Monitoring in the state started when Gov. Mark Dayton announced the program Oct. 27. The state will provide weekly updates on its monitoring activities.
  
  Wednesday’s report cited an additional 12 people who either returned recently and still are being contacted, or haven’t been located yet because of inadequate or incorrect contact information.

25% of the monitored cases have disappeared. That isn't to say they're out spreading the disease, but no one is watching them any more. But that isn't the only story:

• The number of people under “active monitoring” for Ebola symptoms has increased from 117 on Monday to 357 people Wednesday, health officials said.
  
  The vast majority of those being monitored arrived in New York City within the past 21 days from the three Ebola-affected countries, the New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation said in a statement.

Again, no active infections (as far as anyone knows), but from a three known positive cases, over 400 people are now being actively monitored...at least 400 that they can find. Anyone think that shutting down air travel from infected regions might be a good idea yet?

Profits for Pensions

A modest proposal, covered here by our readers and ourselves on numerous occasions.

The only impediment to a Chicago casino in the past few years seemed to be Quinn. That obstacle was removed - by voters or by design of the Combine, no one knows.

The casino has been proposed to be licensed to the city, that is to say, the mayor and his chosen lackeys. No doubt it will turn a largish profit and there will be plenty of money for a lot of connected people to wet their beaks with - food, drinks, security, construction and contracting, maintenance, connected transportation, hotel and restaurant linens, amenities of all sorts, etc. Shady mob-type accounting would ensure a decent cash flow.

Rahm has also stated the money generated will go to the schools "For the children" and all that crap. We all know how that worked out with the lottery - every dime that the lottery made, substituted for a dollar coming from the general fund and was then spent on something else, mostly not government pensions.

That shouldn't happen again. Instead, the FOP and others should be gathering strength and votes for ALL the profits from a casino be diverted to lagging pension obligations until such time as the pensions are funded at or above 90%. All of the connected will still get their cuts via third party contracting and stuff, but the profits generated by this city owned casino license would go to city owed obligations.

Start making some calls boys and girls.

Contract Approved by Full Council

And that retro estimate keeps getting smaller:

• Chicago Police officers will get back paychecks averaging $6,000 within 75 days — and an 11-percent pay raise over five years — thanks to a contract ratified Wednesday that guarantees pre-election labor peace for Mayor Rahm Emanuel.
  
  The contract overwhelmingly approved by the City Council marks the first time since 1996 that the contract covering 10,000 rank-and-file Chicago Police officers will not be decided by an independent arbitrator.
  
  Emanuel made certain of it when he granted rank-and-file police officers the 4-percent retroactive pay raise he could have denied them because of a paperwork mistake made by their, now-ousted union president.

The city now has 75 days to come up with the retro money. That's 09 January.

Quinn Finally Concedes

We guess the graveyards were empty:

• Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn conceded Wednesday afternoon to Republican challenger Bruce Rauner, a day after the most expensive and bitter contest for chief executive in Illinois history.
  
  "It's clear that we do not have enough votes to win the election," Quinn said.
  
  The governor pledged to work with Rauner on a transition and said he would spend his remaining two months in office pushing to raise the minimum wage, which he made a central theme of his campaign.

Quinn won only a single county in all of Illinois - Cook. Rauner managed to peel off the other three or four and leave Quinn over 100,000 votes down.

The Quinn-bots and Madigan-hoes have been burning up the comment sections in force. Rauner hasn't even proposed, introduced and sponsored a single piece of legislation, yet he's the anti-Christ in a state of anti-Christs who have been slowly destroying the entire system over the past 20 years. Give it a rest - the election is over. Let's see if there's an actual stumble before throwing the whole thing away.

And remember, Madigan and Cullerton have veto-proof majorities in the House and Senate. There's still plenty of blame headed their way for stuff that gets to Rauner's desk.

Welcome GOP Senate!

Oh, and some guy named Rauner won the governor's race.

Now let's see if he can pull Illinois out of the hole.  Or actually, if he'll even be allowed to try.

That Was Cold Judge

An allegedly crooked Deputy takes the easy way out:

• A Cook County Sheriff’s officer apparently committed suicide in jail early Tuesday after he and his partner were arrested in a federal corruption sting.
  
  Stanley M. Kogut, 45, was found hanging from a bed sheet in his cell in the federal Metropolitan Correctional Center in downtown Chicago, officials said.
  
  His partner, Robert Vaughan, 44, wore an orange jail suit Tuesday morning when he appeared in U.S. District Court on charges of conspiring to commit robberies of marijuana, contraband cigarettes and cash.
  
  At the end of his hearing, U.S. Magistrate Judge Daniel Martin told him: “Hang in there, Mr. Vaughan. OK?” Vaughan didn’t respond. He sat down and held his head in his hands before being led away by deputy U.S. marshals.

Really Judge? "Hang in there"? After his co-defendant, co-conspirator, co-offender just hanged himself? Anyone think a defense attorney could make a lot of hay over this?

Retro Calculator Up?

It appears FiveFrank has updated their Retro Calculator.

Click here for the shortcut.

Not quite as much as FOP said, but lots of variables for each individual.

Wortham Killer Trial

From the comments:

• SCC,
  
  Please can you post the Thomas Wortham trial information. Jury is being picked today. Opening arguments start tomorrow morning in room 606. ASA is asking officer's be discrete and cover police shirts with outer clothing. They don't want to give dirt bags any reason to complain

If you're at 26th Street, stop by for a moment.

Contract Passes Committee

Second-to-final step:

• A key Chicago City Council committee on Monday endorsed a new contract with more than 9,500 rank-and-file police officers, setting the stage for a full council vote Wednesday that will buy Mayor Rahm Emanuel some level of labor peace going into next year's elections.
  
  The Workforce Development and Audit Committee voted in favor of the pact, which includes raises of 11 percent over five years running through June 2017, and back pay dating to the June 2012 expiration of the previous contract. That committee vote came after the Fraternal Order of Police membership voted by a 2-1 margin to ratify the contract.
  
  If the full council approves, it will be the first contract since 1996 that the city and police union negotiated instead of ending up in binding arbitration, said Joe Martinico, the city's chief labor negotiator. And it's the first time since 1980 the specter of arbitration was not used as a bargaining gambit by either side, added Joseph Franczek, the city's labor attorney.

The Sun Times emphasizes the "furlo by watch" portion of the decision. The full council meets Wednesday.

Go Vote

Polls are open in a few hours.

Just a friendly reminder.

This is a Bold Statement

Remember, one-hundred-plus years of futility:

• New Cubs manager Joe Maddon told reporters at his introductory press conference Monday at The Cubby Bear that he won’t shy away from talking about the playoffs and the World Series.
  
  Even with a team that hasn’t won a championship since 1908.
  
  “I’m gonna be talking playoffs next year,” Maddon said. “I’ll tell you that right now. I can’t go to spring training and say anything else. You have to set your goals high, because if you don’t set them high enough you might hit your mark, and that’s not a good thing. We’re gonna talk World Series this year, and I’m gonna believe it. It’s in our future.”

Aim big we suppose. We'll believe it when we see the owners spend some actual money on talent.

Police Shooting

Seems to be a lot more of these lately - they run in fits and starts:

• A man was shot and wounded by police officers Saturday night in Englewood, authorities said. The man was shot about 8:16 p.m. in the 5800 block of South Morgan, police Deputy Chief Dana Alexander said.
  
  "Englewood District tactical officers were on patrol when they responded to a call of ‘man with a gun’ in the 5800 block of S. Morgan," according to a written statement from the police department.
  
  "Officers observed a man matching a radio description flee on foot to the back of a residence," the statement said. "Officers gave chase and confronted the subject in a rear of the residence. Officer observed the offender holding a weapon and ordered him to drop it. The offender did not comply, at which point officers discharged their weapons," the statement said.

A lot of bosses giving statements to the media ahead of Pat Camden all the sudden. Is this some new policy? Beat the FOP to the punch?

Catch and Release

They had him...then they didn't:

• A south suburban man was released Sunday after turning himself in to police the day before in connection with the beating and robbing of an off-duty Chicago police sergeant in the Loop on Thursday.
  
  Brian Williams, 21, of Hazel Crest, was one of four people who were held in connection with the incident, according to a law enforcement source. Williams was released from Area Central detectives headquarters about 2 p.m. Sunday, said his attorney, Max Solomon.
  
  Chicago Police News Affairs had no information from detectives on whether the other three people questioned in connection with the incident were still in custody.

So he flipped? Made a deal? Returned the gun? What did this guy do/give up to walk?

This is News Now?

Must be a slow news day:

• Upset that she was late for work, Tasha T. Brown directed her ire toward several Chicago cops Saturday night — dismissing them as “a bunch of b——-” for arresting a drug dealer at her Austin home, police said.
  
  Then she did something even dumber, prosecutors say she kneed a male police officer in the groin — twice.
  
  Now instead of going to work, she’s locked up in the Cook County Jail.

She's a real prize pig, too.

If we knew we could have gotten ink for getting kicked in the junk, why not for getting spit on? Or slapped along side the head? Or bitten? We know cops who have suffered all that and more, all without media coverage. Is the media covering this as a chuckle-inducing event?

We're cynical to a fault and we'll admit to snickering at America's Funniest Home Videos when someone's bell gets rung, but dirty street fighting is no laughing matter if someone is trying to get away or get your gun. There are no Marquis of Queensberry Rules to protect the police, no referees. The casual low-information reader of the media might just laugh at the cops getting his balls bruised, but this really ought to be be covered a bit more seriously - like why did this person presume to attack the police on behalf of a dope dealer she obviously had sheltered in her house.

Da Bears

....are off.

Open post for now.

Percentages Matter

Some people are in the comment section advocating for certain judges who have a good history with the police. That's fine, more power to them. But we also heard some people saying that they only vote for those judges and skip the rest of the voting since they don't know anything about them.

Bad idea if you want to make a change.

Judges are retained by a percentage of the ballots cast in their favor - 60%. So if you vote for a judge, they love that. If you skip a judge race, they love that even more because they don't have to overcome the negative vote. Look at it this way:

1. 10 voters - 5 vote YES and 5 skip the race. The judge is retained with 100% of the vote;
2. 10 voters - 6 vote YES and 4 vote NO. Judge is retained with 60% of the vote;
3. 10 voters - 5 vote YES and 5 vote NO. Judge loses spot with 50%. In this scenario, the judge has to dig up 3 additional YES votes to get back to 60%.

One additional negative vote between scenarios 2 and 3 drops the judge 10 points. Now expand that across hundreds of votes and you see why judges hate the NO vote.

Did You Fall Back?

If you're reading this at your normal hour, and you didn't set the clocks, don't worry - you're an hour early! You could have been sleeping, but you listened to your biological clock. Relax, take your time, stop for coffee on the way.

Attacks (Plural) on Sergeants

The downtown beating of an off-duty sergeant at 3:00 PM Thursday caught the headlines. The Tribune finally posted surveillance photos of the car and subjects:

Initial reports is that the sergeant was leaving Corporation Counsel, was confronted by six-to-ten subjects in a nearby parking garage and suffered the attack, being robbed of his gun in the process. That much is public knowledge. Some aspects aren't. Don't speculate here please.

There was a second attack way up north in 016 where a sergeant coming home from work was jumped in his own garage by three gangbangers and suffered minor injuries when surprised from behind. He managed to call for help and gave chase before losing the offenders in the neighborhood. That attack didn't get much, if any, coverage. No word if he was followed or just a random crime of opportunity.

Be careful boys and girls. Even if these aren't "lone wolf" type attacks, they are still attacks where one would normally feel safe (i.e. downtown, home, etc).

Um...Outrage? Anyone?

Once again, Illinois is broken:

• A 48-year-old Pullman man free on parole for a 1993 slaying has been charged with murder again after police found a 53-year-old man stabbed to death Wednesday evening on the Far South Side.
  
  Police were called to perform a “well-being check” at a residence in the 600 block of East 111th Street and found Thomas Sanchez stabbed to death about 5 p.m. Wednesday, authorities said. Police believe the stabbing may have happened on Tuesday.
  
  Responding officers found Christian Williams still on the scene and he was taken into custody, police said.
  
  [...] Williams, who lived on the block, was charged with first-degree murder and is expected to appear in court for a bond hearing on Saturday.
  
  Williams was previously convicted of murder in 1993 and sentenced to 30 years in prison, according to court records. Details about that slaying were not immediately available.
  
  Williams was released on parole March 1, 2013, according to the Illinois Department of Corrections.

1993 + 30 years = 2023. That'd be the projected release date if he served 100% of his sentence. He served 20 of the 30 years - 66%. Parole really shouldn't be an option for murderers. 100% of the sentence 100% of the time. You'd think it might save the Parole Board some embarrassing questions, but no one in the media seems to have the balls to ask 'em.

This is Kind of ... Something

We can't say it's cool because an Officer died.

We can't say ironic, because irony signals something opposite, sometimes with meaning only to insiders

Impressive in its own right:

• A seven-week dragnet in the woods of northeastern Pennsylvania came to an end with the capture of survivalist Eric Frein, whose wrists were bound with the handcuffs of the trooper he is accused of killing, officials said late Thursday.
  
  Frein's arrest ended one of the largest manhunts in Pennsylvania history. He will face first-degree murder charges that could carry the death penalty, a prosecutor said.
  
  Searchers spotted Frein about 6 p.m. near an abandoned airport hanger and ordered him to surrender, Pennsylvania State Police Commissioner Frank Noonan said at a late-night news conference in Hawley. Frein was taken by surprise and gave up peacefully, Noonan said.
  
  The cuffs of the dead officer, Cpl. Bryon Dickson, were placed on Frein's wrists, Noonan said, and Frein was placed in Dickson's car.

The symbolism is actually quite powerful - Corporal Dickson's final arrest in a way, of the asshole who killed him. Not much comfort to the family of course, but maybe to his fellow troopers and law enforcement personnel who have hunted day and night in all sorts of weather for this slimeball, using the corporal's equipment before it's removed from service. Well done Gentlemen.