Another Reason Illinois is Broke

Along the lines of the below Navy Pier article, they're paying for poor performance:

• The only thing Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner wants to say about his state’s pension system is that he thinks the required payouts are so burdensome, there should be a constitutional amendment that would allow him to cut them.
  
  Rauner himself is a former private equity executive who managed hundreds of millions of dollars from public pension funds (including some in Illinois). As the pension funding crisis has become increasingly acute, he has avoided talking about how his own industry may have contributed to the crisis: specifically, through high fees and underperformance -- and, according to a new report, influence peddling.
  
  
• This new study suggests the involvement of placement agents in pension investments may have significantly worsened pension liabilities in states that were already facing substantial gaps between what they’ve saved for workers’ retirement and what they are contractually obligated to pay out in benefits.
  
  In Illinois, where Rauner is pushing retirement benefit cuts, the trend is illustrative. There, the $18.9 billion Illinois State Universities Retirement System (SURS) used placement agents for 15.6 percent of its private equity investments -- which then underperformed the pension fund’s other private equity investments by -9.2 percent. The underperformance may have cost the system hundreds of millions of dollars, money could have been used to shore up the plan’s funding.

The middle men get rich, while public employees get fleeced - twice. Read it all - the article ties in California, New York and Virginia under-performing funds along with Illinois.

In Any Other Business...

Under-performance is usually grounds for change, but only in the private sector:

• Navy Pier’s big makeover is more than a year behind schedule. Attendance has fallen. But top executives still took home big bonuses, newly released records show.
  
  Nine Navy Pier Inc. executives were given bonuses totaling nearly $350,000 in 2013, according to the latest report to the Internal Revenue Service filed by Navy Pier Inc., the private organization that runs the government-owned tourist attraction.

You want a look at clout-on-steroids, check out this article. Millions in revenue benefiting a very small, select group of connected individuals, and don't even get us started on the untraceable cash running through there.

NOTE: We're going to see a bunch of comments ripping cops for getting "generous" salaries and under-performing. You can measure how many garbage cans get picked up, or how many service requests get filled, how many yards of concrete get poured or trees cut down or potholes filled. You can't have it both ways - either cops are lazy and getting paid way too much or we're doing a great job according to CompStat and getting paid way too little. Police work isn't measurable like that, though everyone is trying.

Mope-Rah at it Again

She is so close to actually breaking through on something. You can see it, but she just can't make the last connection:

• There is much praise for good Samaritans.
  
  These strangers often put their own lives at risk trying to save others from peril.
  
  Sometimes, the news media or the police recognize these heroic efforts, but quite often good Samaritans disappear without anyone ever knowing their names.
  
  In 2013, two unidentified good Samaritans foiled a rape attempt near a CTA Orange Line station by coming to the aid of an 18-year-old woman who was thrown to the ground in the attack.
  
  Last week, we saw a very different response to a situation in which it was clear someone was in desperate need of help. A young woman riding a CTA Red Line train alone in the early hours of the morning was trying to fight off a rapist when the train pulled into the North/Clybourn stop, and a man got on.
  
  According to the woman, he attacked her, pulling down her pants and underwear. She was screaming for help when the stranger stumbled onto the scene.
  
  But instead of trying to make the attacker stop, or pushing the emergency call button, or even dialing 911, the man turned around and left the train.

Mope-rah heaps scorn on the witness. Rightfully? Who knows. Most people aren't that good in a one-on-one encounter. We certainly aren't as good as we used to be so many years ago...time robs us of vision, reflexes, recovery time, etc. It happens to all of us. Mope-rah doesn't describe the age or condition of the "failed" hero.

Would we have intervened? Most certainly. But we would have had something that the good Samaritan probably didn't have, something that would equalize the odds, especially if he was frail, untested, hesitant about his odds taking on an assailant in an empty train car with no one else around to help, something that he was banned from carrying on a CTA train. Remember, when seconds count, the police are only minutes away - more so in the Mass Transit Unit.

But Mope-rah doesn't make that leap, probably for the same reason the stranger turned away from a criminal act in his presence. You can almost feel the inner-conservative begging to come out of Mope-rah's shadow. Maybe one day....

Highway Shooting Epidemic!

We mentioned this as a semi-regular occurrence a week or so ago and suddenly, Channel 7 has an investigative report on the front burner:

• An ABC7 I-Team investigation has found that local highway shootings have more than tripled in recent years, and state police officials say that road rage isn't to blame.
  
  Gunfire on Chicago-area highways is now happening, on average, several times a month.
  
  [...] The I-Team reviewed shooting logs maintained by Illinois State Police obtained under the Freedom of Information Act.
  
  They revel [sic] that in 2010, there were six shootings on Chicago-area expressways. By last year, that number had jumped to 18.
  
  The number increases even more - to 28 - when you include "reported shootings." That's when someone calls 911 to say they saw gunfire but state police couldn't find evidence that bullets hit "anything" or "anyone."

It's a good thing that McCompStat isn't keeping track of these events. Otherwise it might look like Chicago shootings are up in Chicago 31% instead of just a measly 30%.

Somehing Matters Again....

......what was it again?

• Two people, including an 81-year-old woman, were shot in the city's Gresham neighborhood in what police say was a drive-by shooting.
  
  The victims were outside when a white SUV approached them around 5 p.m. Friday in the 7800-block of South Carpenter, police said, when someone inside the vehicle allegedly started shooting
  
  The woman, Iola Burress, suffered a gunshot wound to the wrist and stomach. Her 34-year-old grandson, Sylvester Burress, suffered a gunshot wound to the hip, police said. Both were hospitalized and are in stable condition.

This was at a wake for grandma's middle-aged daughter. We're betting she probably wasn't the target. But hey, let's go light up a wake...just in case.

Bomber Gets Death

Good news out of Boston:

• A jury sentenced Dzhokhar Tsarnaev to death Friday for the Boston Marathon bombing, sweeping aside pleas that he was just a "kid" who fell under the influence of his fanatical older brother.
  
  Tsarnaev, 21, stood with his hands folded, his head slightly bowed, upon learning his fate, decided after 14 hours of deliberations over three days. It was the most closely watched terrorism trial in the U.S. since the Oklahoma City bombing case two decades ago.
  
  The decision sets the stage for what could be the nation's first execution of a terrorist in the post-9/11 era, though the case is likely to go through years of appeals. The execution would be carried out by lethal injection.

Good riddance, hopefully in under a few decades.

Heads Up - Feebs are Digging

The FOP newsletter hinted at this (May 2015, page 9):

• Earlier this month we were made aware that the FBI was conducting an investigation into past police involved shootings. The investigation came to light after reports that FBI agents were approaching Officers at their homes unannounced. The Officers properly declined to answer any questions without an attorney present, and contacted the Lodge immediately.

Now the media has a hold of this or possibly additional investigations:

• The FBI is investigating a police shooting of two teenage boys during a 2013 stop of a car on the South Side, the Chicago Sun-Times has learned.
  
  The teens were wounded on Dec. 22 near 95th and La Salle after Chicago Police officers curbed a stolen car packed with joyriders, the department said in a statement after the incident.

The FBI is not your friend. Ever. Especially in the current political climate. They are tools...well, they're always tools, but they are tools of a political administration that hates you, your uniform, your very existence. Do not, under any circumstances, short circuit your Rights as guaranteed under the Contract, the Rule of Law, and the Constitution.

What are the Numbers?

A question for a Friday.

We're now a few years along from combining six Districts down to three. At the time, Rahm and McCarthy made numerous empty promises that the number of officers covering the combined geographic area would not change a single iota.

Of course, we knew this was a lie for many reasons. First, you didn't need double the desk officers, nor lock-up, or even administrative staff. We were amazed to see the combo-districts keep six tact teams for a while, but the certainly didn't keep double the tactical lieutenants.

Now we're curious two and three years later, how much manpower is actually down. The combined 012/013 experiment was listed as down nearly 120 officers from combined strength. How about the others? CrimeInBoystown has been keeping an informal count of 019/023 beat meetings and isn't happy with the numbers.

And a question for the media talking heads - if the Police Department is expected to operate down 20-to-30% from historical manpower and produce the same results in terms of crime and disorder issues, why aren't the City Council aldercreatures...a part-time job paying $100,000 with an attached $1,200,000 slush fund...expected to endure the same cuts and produce the same results?

Pooooor Herbie

The Tribune headline is priceless:

• Life gets harder for teen designer of controversial city sticker: 'It's been a downward spiral'

What's the old saying?

• Life is hard - it's harder if you're stupid

Herbie has definitely been stupid:

• Trouble has followed 18-year-old Herbert Pulgar since 2012, his mother said, when his winning design for a new city sticker drew controversy for images of what some termed as gang symbols.

Pretty much everyone agreed that the "heart" symbol Herbie used figures prominently in the "maniac latin disciple" lore. Then there's the fact that Herbie admitted to Channel 2 News he had gang colors, symbols and hand signs on his social media page (this link is still active almost 2.5 years later):

• Pulgar did acknowledge that his Facebook page, which has since been made private, had pictures of him flashing gang signs, but he said that was a “stupid” mistake from his past. He admitted he’s been in trouble before, but claimed working to win the contest was his way of trying to turn his life around.

Then there's the numerous times we covered Herbie's brushes with the law. Numerous hot cars, a UUW if we aren't mistaken, assorted public peace violations and a few charges related to his chosen nickname of "Herb Dilla".... you know - weed dealer.

Hey, here's an idea for momma - how about releasing Herbie juvenile record to the public? Show how he was on the straight and narrow all the way up until those nasty police pointed out what everyone else seemed to willingly ignore? That'd be fair, right?

If anyone wants to see how this all played out over the years, head over to our archives in February 2012 and scroll through. We must have written half-a-dozen articles about this nonsense and the media-types picking Herbie up off the ground and brushing off his poor little gang-banging knees while patting him on the head and telling him what a good boy he was. They had to...since his dad was (and most likely still is) a drug dealing fugitive in South America with an outstanding Interpol warrant.

Brilliant Observation

Yesterday we linked this dumb idea from Aldercreature Cardenas:

• A non-resident fee would allow Chicago to generate income without repeatedly adding to the tax burden of Chicago residents. It is time to ask suburban residents who are vested in Chicago by means of their employment to invest in the future of the city.

Someone pointed out this interpretation that slipped by us:

• "The citizens of Chicago cannot and should not continue to subsidize non-resident workers through tax increases, resident fee increases and higher utilization fees."
  
  Wait a second, just wait a fucking second... WHY NOT?!?
  
  We've been doing it for Illegal Aliens all day long who enter into this Country, but if it's done on a City Level, now it's somehow wrong?

A legit question. Suburbanites would have less rights that illegal aliens under this proposal...and that's just fine according to Cardenas.

More Downgrades - Rahm is Angry

Moody's is shooting for another Chicago Fire it seems:

• Moody’s Investor Service dropped the bond ratings of Chicago Public Schools and the Chicago Park District to junk a day after it did the same for the city of Chicago.
  
  For CPS, the downgrade doesn’t trigger any new payments to financial institutions, but the worsening of CPS’ ratings could potentially affect negotiations the district has entered into with several banks over those “swap” termination fees.
  
  Moody’s dropped CPS’ rating three notches to Ba3 from Baa3, with a continuing negative outlook. The Chicago Park District saw the same three-notch slide to Ba1 with a negative outlook.

Rahm is not happy at all:

• Mayor Rahm Emanuel ripped Moody’s Investors Service on Wednesday for dropping the bond rating of the city, the Chicago Public Schools and the Chicago Park District to junk status and denied that his negotiating position with police and fire unions has been undercut by an Illlinois Supreme Court ruling overturning state pension reform.
  
  Emanuel portrayed Chicago’s economy as “strong and getting stronger” and said City Hall is making good progress in pension reform talks with police and fire unions. That includes the possibility of lifting the hammer hanging over the heads of Chicago taxpayers: a state-mandated, $550 million payment due in December to shore up police and fire pensions.

Someone correct us if we're wrong, but didn't Ramh make his millions in the world of high finance? He's at least passingly familiar with inflow and outflow as it pertains to money? No? Well then how did he make $11 million in such a short amount of time? Oh...right...the same way Hillary turned cattle futures into a pile of cash.

Side note - Dean, you've got Rahm over a barrel. Literally. You've got four aces. Any "progress" Rahm says he's making with the police and fire pensions is contingent entirely on the goodwill of the membership....and guess what? We don't have much. He's been fucking us since day one. Time to fuck him back. Here's a suggestion or three:

• Miss a few meetings. Daley and Rahm's negotiators were famous for that. Schedule a meeting, then call it off the day before without giving a reason.
• Demand the moon, stars and the sun. What have you got to lose? Time? Time is his enemy, not ours. Talk to the CFD guys and get those casino suggestions we made a few days ago written in blood, preferably his. Demons don't like contracts written in blood.
• Show up, order coffee, a lunch or two, dinner if you drag things out, stiff Rahm and his negotiators with the bill. This opportunity may never present itself again. Drag it out all summer and all fall. Who cares? Then when December rolls around, walk away. He wanted to make firefighters bleed? He wanted to "stick it in the cops' ears?" Fuck this jagoff. You'll get our $550 million with or without him. He's up against a state law to pay.

Don't fuck it up Dean. Do not fuck it up.

More Reasons Chicago is Broke (UPDATE)

You have the crooked contracts we've described on numerous occasions:

• Chicago needs widgets. The city can't just but them off the shelf at Home Depot or Wal*Mart. They have to go through a vendor. A percentage of the vendors have to meet certain requirements in terms of ownership (minority-owned, woman-owned, mob-controlled) along with the run-of-the-mill white guys. The city accepts "bids" via a easily corruptible process and chooses the vendor according to the whims of the aldercreature, the "reverends" or the voters the mayor needs. The vendor then goes and picks out the widgets at Home Depot or Wal*Mart and marks up the price by a skim-able percentage, contributes to the approved re-election fund, and pockets the rest.

We had a list of "vendors" at one point years ago. One was a storefront in Aldercreature Ed Smith's part of town, never open, but with a working phone that probably got forwarded somewhere else. The address handled all sorts of contracts for the city, including dog food for the Canine Unit - dog food that could have been purchased for 30% less than the vendor charged the city (and probably was purchased for  30% less). No one was much interested then, but maybe now?

Another place the city bleeds money - the schools. Back when the blog started, we had e-mails from old-time school officers who would relate tales of locked storerooms with unused textbooks still wrapped in shipping cellophane, supplies in original packaging, skids full of computers, monitors and printers. The officers have long since retired, and maybe the schools have gotten better at hiding things. But you still have the outright theft:

• Four people this week were named in arrest warrants tied to the theft of more than $876,000 from two Chicago Public Schools.
  
  Officials with the Cook County state’s attorney’s office would not comment on the case Wednesday, but according to court records, Judge Nicholas Ford ordered the arrest warrants.
  
  Ford on Tuesday issued a $400,000 arrest warrant for Jermaine Robinson, 36, of Chicago. Sidney Bradley, 46, of Chicago; Albert Bennett, 49, of Carpentersville; and Paul Simmons, 55, of Calumet City, were named in $200,000 arrest warrants, court records show.
  
  All four were charged with theft of government property.

That's just one school. Then there's the crooked janitorial contract of recent days. The Byrd-Bennett swindle accounting for millions. Has anyone ever done an accounting on the food for the "healthy breakfast" every kid us supposed to get? When our kids were going to school, the teachers were nearly weeping with rage at the amount of perfectly good food they were throwing out on a daily basis because the kids weren't hungry or didn't like the fruit and milk provided for every student regardless of desire.

How about the 650 miles of bike lanes Rahm and his people were praising just two years ago? As we recall, the cost was calculated out at $140,000 PER MILE for paint, rubber lane dividers and labor. $91 million. We also recall posting pictures of some of the bile lanes with potholes and actual weeds growing in the lanes. Some of the longer stretches cut down perfectly serviceable four-lane thoroughfares to two-lane congested messes for maybe a dozen bikers a day through neighborhoods we wouldn't go near without a pistol.

And then there's this from the Channel 2 troll:

• They retire as Chicago police officers and get rehired by the city, doubling up on two taxpayer subsidized paychecks, one for a civilian job and the other for a police pension.
  
  The Better Government Association and CBS 2 Investigators found that some even get hired back in a day to jobs at the top of the police department, all at a time when the police pension fund is only about 30 percent funded.

We've been pointing this out for years. They tag the usual suspects: O'Neill, Roussell, Shear, Hickey who retired from the department and got rehired immediately back as civilians, collecting not only their pension, but their previous salaries, sometimes with a raise. This isn't uncommon and they leave out quite a few bosses who landed other cushy government spots either in the city or at the state level: Townsend, Maurer, Keating, Grau, Schmitz. Hell, Bill Nolan got a 6-figure chief's gig at the Cook County Jail for his efforts on a number of issues. At least Ramsey left town, Kirby left the country and Cline created his own gig.

What about fire chiefs? Do they have these issues? Maybe a nice fire "inspector" slot somewhere? This double and triple dipping at the government trough has to stop. Cap pensions at the earned career rank - no more "merit" pensions. You get a "merit" bump, you get a patrolman's salary - you didn't earn shit. You come back as a civilian, you defer your pension until you actually retire for good. Government isn't supposed to make people rich, and it has made too many of the wrong people rich at the expense of the regular working cop, firefighter, teacher and retiree.

UPDATE: Someone complained in the comment section that if you earned your pension at 29-and-a-day, you ought to be able to collect it on your terms. We agree, but with the following stipulation - if you come back as a civilian, you haven't actually "retired." You are still working for the city. You are double-dipping, getting paid for the job you used to do for 29-and-a-day AND getting paid again for the job you used to do. Pension is for your non-working years, not as a 75% increase in pay for the job you're still doing for the same employer you used to (and still) have. Hope that clears up the reasoning.

Charge Suburbanites!

This has got to be one of the dumber ideas coming out of Chicago government. It's from an aldercreature, so it's really not surprising:

• Chicago flourishes upon an invisible bridge that connects the city with all who enter.
  
  The bridge is a “right of way” that requires, among other expenses, the maintenance of Chicago’s streets, emergency services, traffic controls and sanitation. But the bridge is breaking under the weight of more than 600,000 employees who enter the city daily from the suburbs. Non-residents do not invest in the city’s services.
  
  The citizens of Chicago cannot and should not continue to subsidize non-resident workers through tax increases, resident fee increases and higher utilization fees.
  
  A better way would be a Non-Resident Employee Fee, which could generate up to $200 million a year, finally asking those that use this city to help support its maintenance. Non-resident employees would be charged a $200 annual fee. This is a nominal sum compared to what residents must pay in fees and taxes.

Um...isn't this what the Shortshank's old "head tax" used to cover? And wasn't that rescinded a few years back as more and more employers resented the overreach and relocated numerous retail establishments out of the city limits? We'd bet if you looked at a map of "big box" stores, most are located just outside of the city in suburban malls where many city residents do their shopping. This is a dumb idea and will only further drive small businesses and factories out of the city.

Herbie Links

Here's the Tribune story.

Here's the Sun Times.

We can't find the YouTube video of Herbie mix music either...if anyone does, let us know.

Followup for Chicago Magazine

Someone posted this in the comment section. We thought we'd ask the readers to see if they knew the answer, especially in light of the numerous instances of crime on the expressways not appearing in CPD stats:

• What about crimes occurring on university campuses within Chicago? Are those like crimes on the expressways, not counted? Uic,northwestern,Loyola,northeastern,Chicago state, and univ of Chicago all have their own police depts.how about sanitary district property or railroad property. Lots of crimes handled by other police agencies in Chicago.

 No victim, no crime...how about "no notification to Chicago, no crime."

Herbie Goes Bananas

Not this Herbie:

This one:

• Guess who got locked up again?
  
  Old crybaby city sticker boy in 014 !! He's now an adult so the media can release his name.
  
  Beat 1412R arrested Herbert Pulgar, IR # 1935478, for PSMV on 12MAY15. Reported under RD # HY 256664.
  
  Unit following the stolen vehicle. Offender jumped out of moving vehicle, which then struck some parked cars. Offender fled on foot but was found and placed in custody a short distance away.

Our readers warned everyone about Herbie years ago - numerous arrests for stealing cars and here he is again, stealing cars.

Hey Rahm, you regretting this picture yet?

Hello Detroit

Richie Daley sends his regards Rahm - thanks for closing out the unfinished business:

• A major rating agency downgraded the city of Chicago's creditworthiness two notches to junk status, a move likely to increase the city's borrowing costs and make investors skittish as the financial world reacts to last week's Illinois Supreme Court ruling that bodes ill for city efforts to resolve its massive pension fund shortfall.
  
  Moody's Investors Service downgraded the city's debt rating on bond issues backed by property, sales and fuel tax revenue to Ba1, one notch below investment grade, from Baa2, specifically citing last week's Supreme Court ruling on an attempt to cut state pension costs. Moody's calls the Ba1 rating "speculative," which many investors simply call "junk," meaning investments in them carry far greater risk of a loss.
  
  The downgrade came four days after the state's high court struck down changes to four state pension funds, casting doubt on changes that Chicago made to its workers and laborers funds that also are being challenged in court. The ruling also put the city at a disadvantage during negotiations on pension changes with police and fire unions.

Hey Dean? You read that? "...at a disadvantage." That means shut up and let Rahm dig his own political grave. Don't go around suggesting he lay off coppers or close a few police stations. You represent police officers - not Rahm.

Here's the Sun Times coverage.

In the meantime, open post to discuss the ramifications of Chicago not having any money...except for one-third of a private university stadium, to buy and tear down a trauma hospital for a nonexistent Olympics, a just announced presidential Lie-Barry, extravagant gold braid pensions, million dollar slush funds for each and every aldercreature, to rebuild a parking structure and put a memorial park on top of it for the wife of the crookedest Chicago mayor in history, etc etc etc.

Drone Police

First cameras, now drones:

• Illinois State Police have been given the go-ahead for the first 'drone cops'.
  
  The Federal Aviation Authority has given the force approval to use drones to photograph crash and crime scenes.
  
  Cops say aerial photographs taken from drones will cut down on the time highways are closed during investigations of major traffic crashes.
  
  The police agency announced Friday that the Federal Aviation Administration has authorized what it calls its Unmanned Aircraft System program.
  
  The announcement says the program 'is not being implemented for surveillance purposes.'
  
  The Illinois State Police says it worked with lawmakers and civil rights groups to ensure privacy concerns were addressed.

Only the beginning.

"Not Payback"

Who is shitting whom here?

• A fond farewell or a major mayor payback?
  
  A longtime vocal critic of Mayor Rahm Emanuel, Ald. Bob Fioretti (2nd) sharply raised eyebrows in the mayoral race when he endorsed the man he repeatedly warned the city not to support.
  
  Fioretti did so after his failed bid in the first-round mayoral race.
  
  Now, the Chicago Sun-Times has learned that the mayor will be featured as the “special guest” at a Thursday fundraiser for Fioretti at Manny’s Deli where tickets cost $200 to $10,000. Also listed as hosts: Ald. Ed Burke and Illinois Secretary of State Jesse White. The event at Manny’s Deli is billed as a retirement party of sorts.

We'll always remember Bob, first and last, as a tool. A guy who ran as a semi-legit critic of Rahm and could have ridden off into the sunset as just that. But then after weeks of saying he'd support a consensus candidate against Rahm and the Machine following the primary, he showed his true colors and endorsed the carpetbagger. We fully expect Bob to go back to his old lawyer-ly ways making a buck suing the city.

Eye on the Ball Dean

Nothing like getting the public behind an idea:

• Fraternal Order of Police President Dean Angelo on Monday urged Mayor Rahm Emanuel to impose a temporary property tax increase to shore up police and fire pensions that could be rolled back when the jackpot of revenue from a city-owned Chicago casino comes rolling in.
  
  Before the Illinois Supreme Court unanimously overturned state pension reforms, placing Emanuel’s plan to save two of four city employee pension funds in similar jeopardy, City Hall was negotiating with police and fire unions and making decent progress.
  
  But Friday’s ruling shifted the talks more toward raising revenue than cutting benefits and increasing employee contributions. It also emboldened the police union president to publicly draw a line in the sand.

Perhaps Dean doesn't recall that Officers are required to live in the city while retirees are not. How about leaving the tax hikes to the politicians instead of directing the ire of taxpayers at us?

While we're sure a casino is on the radar, government in general (and Chicago, Illinois in particular) have a bad habit of making "temporary" increases permanent. Instead of praising tax increases, why not work on getting a sizable portion of the casino cash directed into the pension funds, prior to any other goodies Rahm wants to steer to connected-types. And after you secure that, some sort of language that states if the fund drops below a certain fixed percentage (like under 100%), then casino money is directed to make the funds whole again in perpetuity.

This actually raises an very interesting question.

The Illinois Supreme Court pretty much ruled that once granted, benefits cannot be diminished or reduced. That would seem to imply that the union (as bargaining agent) never had the authority to negotiate reductions in benefits....and by extension, increases in health care contributions....right? After all, an increase in contributions necessarily has a disparate (negative) impact on members' economic well-being.

Therefore, all the Officers who came on when healthcare was free have been negatively impacted by negotiations that went against the Illinois Constitution. And all those Officers who came on at Bill Nolan's "only $2 per check" were negatively impacted by further increases. And so on, and so on, and so on, seeing as how all of these Contracts went against Constitutional precedence.

An interesting angle to say the least.

Can FOP Make it Stick?

Need time off? The number is supposed to be 15%:

• Elective time off is no longer going to be determined by an arbitrary number, nor will inconsistencies from watch to watch or District to District be allowed to continue.Requests for elective time off will now be based on 15% of the available manpower once non-discretionary personnel are removed from the equation. This will be common practice and done the same way on every day, in every District and on every watch.

That's from the latest FOP newsletter. We aren't sure what "non-discretionary personnel" means - beat cars? desk? lock-up?

We're cynical, so we'll bet management will take the most liberal definition they can think of and run with it, resulting in all sorts of skirmishes.

We'd also bet that any number of political hacks (lieutenants, XOs, Commanders) who never had to actually work under a Contract violate this one on a weekly if not daily basis. We already have an e-mail forwarded to us from an Area North District Commander that states in no uncertain terms no more than 9% of manpower will be allowed time off, and that is to include furloughs, IOD and Medical Roll.

Getting the city to commit to a minimum staffing level has been an impossibility forever, so this would fall under the "good job" if implemented without issues.

Hey Look! $600 Million!

We found it!

• Lee Hogan's carryout soul food restaurant could someday be just a brief walk from the Obama presidential library.
  
  It is good news, she said, that the library and museum could come to Washington Park, bringing a projected $600 million in economic development to an impoverished neighborhood that has long been overlooked.
  
  But in a half-century in the restaurant business on the South Side, the 70-year-old entrepreneur has learned not to pay much attention to promises. Even if revitalization comes, she isn't sure she will be a part of it.

We don't know who's ass the Tribune pulls these numbers out of. The library itself is projected to cost upwards of $500 million (paid for out of "private donations" if you believe the hype) and this pie has a lot of sticky fingers already in it. $600 million in "economic development" means the city should reap tens of millions, maybe a hundred million or more in direct financial compensation in terms of taxes, permits and revenue. Sorry for asking, but where's the cut for the pensions?

New Chicago Magazine Article (UPDATE)

Coming out today, and the subject is....

• FYI...Monday morning we are posting the 3rd installment of our investigation into the department's crime stats. I will send the link as soon as I get it from the web folks.

The first two articles pretty much tore apart the CompStat lies. We expect more of the same from the folks over at Chicago Magazine. They make the short list of journalists actually doing their jobs lately.

As soon as we get the link, we'll post it.

UPDATE: Here's the link.

Time for Boycotts?

Following the murder or two officers in Mississippi, certain scumbags of the community took to social media to express their joy at the deaths of the police. One such miserable excuse of protoplasm "tweeted" photographs of herself in her Subway uniform expressing support for the killers.

Subway took action after social media went nuts and the now-former-sandwich-maker joined the ranks of the unemployed. But this brings to mind a larger issue:

• Is it time for a police organization, like the FOP or PBPA or PBA, to start taking action against businesses that espouse hatred toward police? Some place where we can notify and register complaints about their employees performing actions or gestures or supporting anti-police actions while in the uniforms or performances of their jobs?

We've heard about coppers going into places and having staff hold up their hands in the now-discredited and provably false "hand-up"gesture. Places like that don't deserve...well, we can't say "service" because we are obligated to respond to 9-1-1 calls, but they certainly don't deserve our patronage, or the patronage of our co-workers, families and supporters.

Had Subway not taken proper action against this creature, we'd have been pissed enough to never go back there again. We already don't purchase any number of products due to anti-police sentiment of the owners, operators, franchisees, etc. We've seen a list circulated occasionally of anti-police companies put together over the years to assist in economic efforts. It would certainly seem about time to consolidate and update these efforts on a national scale via the National Lodges of police organizations.

Anyone Catch This?

From last week, a whole bunch of posturing:

• Four leaders of Cook County's criminal justice system agreed the system remains flawed but sparred briefly at a joint appearance Thursday after the county's chief judge said some people languishing in jail for minor offenses like retail theft had serious crimes in their background.
  
  Much of their discussion Thursday at a City Club of Chicago luncheon centered on how the criminal justice system often inadequately deals with low-level offenders or those with mental health issues.
  
  Chief Judge Timothy Evans said not everyone locked up at the county jail for retail theft has a background of petty crimes. Some have histories that include attempted murder, he said in making a point about judges needing to protect the public in setting bond even for seemingly minor offenses.

This all has to do with something we covered in a previous post where Dart complains that a Snickers thief was locked up in the jail and a reader pointed out that the Snickers thief had a record that was actually taller than Dart and included a number of hefty felonies.

• Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle, who has been critical of too many nonviolent offenders clogging the jail, laughed loudly at the comment. After the gathering, Preckwinkle said she didn't recall what she was laughing about.
  
  Sheriff Tom Dart, who is responsible for the jail's operation, disputed Evans' characterization, saying inmates charged with retail theft typically have other shoplifting cases in their background.

Which just goes to show that Dart doesn't know a thing about the people locked up in the jail. And rounding out the circus, everyone's favorite clown:

• State's Attorney Anita Alvarez, who also took part in the program, called for gun laws to be strengthened.

Anita is looking at a primary challenge from Prickwrinkle's organization, but Prickwrinkle took the cake at this whole symposium:

• "When we're talking about criminal justice in this country, we have to understand that we're talking about race and class," [Preckwinkle] said. "Those aren't comfortable subjects for most Americans to address."
  
  She said a delegation from South Africa that toured the jail asked their guides an eye-opening question.
  
  "They got to the end of the tour and asked, 'Where's the jail for white people?'" Preckwinkle said.

Wrinkledprick is telegraphing her entire campaign strategy right there. The old "Americans are cowards when it comes to race" crap that Eric Holder espoused, even with a black Chief Judge and a female Hispanic States Attorney, a token white guy as sheriff and a black woman running the county.

Economy Doing Great!

Except for this little glitch:

Get ready for another "hiccup:"

• In what was an "unambiguously" unpleasant April jobs payrolls report, with a March revision dragging that month's job gain to the lowest level since June of 2012, the fact that the number of Americans not in the labor force rose once again, this time to 93,194K from 93,175K, with the result being a participation rate of 69.45 or just above the lowest percentage since 1977, will merely catalyze even more upside to the so called "market" which continues to reflect nothing but central bank liquidity, and thus - the accelerating deterioration of the broader economy.

Great.

Standoff with 33 People?

This was an odd situation:

• Dozens of people are in custody after an hours-long standoff with Chicago Police in the city's Edgewater neighborhood early Saturday morning.
  
  The standoff began after officials say a man allegedly fired shots at police through a second-story apartment window in the building in the 6300-block of North Lakewood around 2:30 a.m. Saturday. That began a nearly four hour standoff. The tactical team surrounded the area
  
  The four-hour standoff ended peacefully around 6:30 a.m. Saturday when authorities pulled out people from inside the home one by one. Thirty-three people were taken into custody.

Thirty-three in custody, one gun recovered. No idea who Box One is, but damn, the whole watch ought to have their VRI numbers covered.

Blame Game Rebuttal

Sent to us by a reader who says it was sent to him:

• With the news of the courts upholding the state pension agreement, I like the way private sector non-union, non city/state workers cry how it's unfair that a portion of their taxes are going to the pensions of current and future retirees...
  
  Where's the outcry for your taxes going to the countless welfare mooches that Don't and refuse to find meaningful employment?? Why are workers who made a contractual agreement with the government years ago your enemy? How would you like it after 20-40 years of employment (if you could stay with one company that long in the private sector) the company just changed the rules of your beloved 401K leaving you with a fraction of what you were expecting or nothing at all? You at least can collect Social Security...I can't.
  
  I've said it before... If anybody is jealous or hateful of careers that promise a pension, guess what? You could have applied for these jobs too... Positions of Police officer, Firefighter, Garbage worker, Streets and San have all been hiring over the years...did you submit an application? Did you prepare for the power test? No. Maybe they weren't glamorous enough, maybe you were chasing that million-dollar-a-year career, maybe you laughed at the idea because "Fuck the police" or "I'm not paying into a union"... For many I know, the ability to get high on weed and/or do other drugs took importance over the thought of cleaning up your act and staying drug-free for 20+ years.
  
  When that promise of an exciting life-long- career as a coffee barista or warehouse worker doesn't work out as you planned, don't go attacking public service positions because of their pensions, remember, you had that choice once upon a time. Workers in these pensioned careers have ALL contributed their "fair share" to the pension system, along with paying taxes like you, it's the politicians who misused the money THEY were supposed to contribute, if they had contributed as planned this shortfall wouldn't even be an issue.... Yet our public servants are the enemy because they one day expect the meager income they signed up for and what was promised to them???
  
  I hope you were wise and financially savvy enough to make better financial choices with your retirement money than the politicians made with mine...

That seems to cover quite a bit of it.

More Propaganda

What a pile of crap:

• A group of mothers gathered on the South Side Saturday near the spot where a 15-year old boy was shot and killed in 2012 by a Chicago police officer.
  
  The protest against police killings, timed to coincide with Mother’s Day weekend, materialized Saturday evening at 67th Street and Indiana Avenue, where Dakota Bright was shot and killed by police.
  
  Bright was killed by an officer in November 2012 after police said he pointed a gun at them. Dakota’s mother, Panzy Edwards, still disputes that account and said Saturday her son was unarmed.
  
  Protesters rallied feet from the alley where the young man died, then marched about a mile to the nearby Grand Crossing District police station where Edwards read a poem for her son that included the following lines:
  
  “It is because of you that my life has meaning/Becoming a mom has shown me a new sense of being.”
  
  As she finished her reading, Edwards addressed cops directly.
  
  “Thank you Chicago Police Department Third District,” she said, as officers stood feet away. “Ya’ll took a (expletive) piece of my heart.”

Well you know what? Fuck you momma. If you hadn't raised a thug who figured he could point a gun at police maybe he might have grown up to be....we don't know....maybe a small-time thief or a burglar, maybe even running the tip at some corner in the wasteland of 003.

It never ceases to amaze us the people (and folks) that the community hold up as "heroes" sometimes. And the media gives them a forum.

More Money Pissed Away

More from Shortshanks (and even earlier), but are Rahm and his people rectifying this?

• Over the past 99 years, the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago has leased nearly 12 acres it owns along the Stevenson Expressway to a string of tenants, never getting more than $3,450 a year for the land.
  
  When the lease expired Sept. 30, the sewage-treatment agency decided to see if it could get more money leasing the land, which hadn’t been on the market since 1915 — when President Woodrow Wilson was trying to keep the United States from entering World War I.
  
  The agency sought bids for the property at 3301 S. California, aiming to get at least $601,000 a year — nearly double the $309,925 it collected in rent on the land over the past 99 years.

The two bids so far?

• Ameropan Oil Corp., which has been operating an asphalt plant on the property since 1988, offered to pay $607,010 a year to continue leasing the land for another 39 years. That would come to about 175 times more than the company had ever paid the water reclamation district in a single year.
  
  Gardner-Gibson Inc., another Florida asphalt company, offered to pay $776,000 a year, or about $30 million over the course of a 39-year lease — about 28 percent more than Ameropan. That would have amounted to $175,000 a year more than agency officials said they’d hoped to get.

Of course, the city chose the lesser bid, triggering a federal lawsuit, so it'll all be tied up in court for a while yet. But journalists would have years worth of material just dissecting instances like this and rigged bids and crooked contracts.

The Only Story Tonight

Big news....good news...and not so good at the same time:

• The Illinois Supreme Court on Friday unanimously ruled unconstitutional a landmark state pension law that aimed to scale back government worker benefits to erase a massive $105 billion retirement system debt, sending lawmakers and the new governor back to the negotiating table to try to solve the pressing financial issue.
  
  The ruling also reverberated at City Hall, imperiling a similar law Mayor Rahm Emanuel pushed through to shore up two of the four city worker retirement funds and making it more difficult for him to find fixes for police, fire and teacher pension funds that are short billions of dollars.
  
  At issue was a December 2013 state law signed by then-Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn that stopped automatic, compounded yearly cost-of-living increases for retirees, extended retirement ages for current state workers and limited the amount of salary used to calculate pension benefits.

On the one hand, this is great news for the pension. It means that words enshrined in legislation have actual meaning.

On the other hand, it's not very good news, because the words words enshrined in legislation have actual meaning.

The Court pointed out (correctly) exactly who was to blame:

• "Our economy is and has always been subject to fluctuations, sometimes very extreme fluctuations," Republican Justice Lloyd Karmeier wrote on behalf of all seven justices. "The law was clear that the promised benefits would therefore have to be paid and that the responsibility for providing the state's share of the necessary funding fell squarely on the legislature's shoulders.
  
  "The General Assembly may find itself in crisis, but it is a crisis which other public pension systems managed to avoid and ... it is a crisis for which the General Assembly itself is largely responsible," Karmeier wrote.

This ruling is a huge blow to Rahm's efforts to gut contractual protections and may mean he has to eat Daley's mess in short order. You see, the legislature (and city council) passed numerous pension bills and laws at the behest of their union constituents and and received tens, probably hundreds of thousands of dollars in contributions from the unions, knowing full well that the promises made were mathematically impossible without regular incremental tax hikes. The legislature (and city council) then failed to make those contributions, declaring various pension holidays or "deferring" payments or promising "no new (property) taxes" to get reelected - we remember Shortshanks saying this during numerous election cycles. Combine this with assorted neighborhood expenditures, crooked contracts and associated overruns, numerous financial debacles (including the No-lympics) and you have a recipe for disaster coming to fruition on Rahm's watch.

The Tribune points out dark days ahead:

• So the huge enterprise of government in Illinois now confronts a financial challenge unlike any it has known: The new taxation necessary to satisfy all of these state and local pension demands would make this a ghost state.
  
  So let the restructuring begin. The Illinois legislators who created this retiree benefits debacle will try to shift the blame. Notice how often you hear about “Rauner’s proposed budget cuts” for this and the next fiscal year. As if the newcomer, not his predecessors, devastated state finances.
  
  No, voters understood who caused this. They elected Rauner in the hope that he could lead the salvage mission. Many of the legislators who voted for the provisions now choking state and local governments will fight him every step of the way.

The blame-game has begun.

How Safe is Chicago?

This safe:

• An ambulance carrying a patient was one of two vehicles damaged when a person opened fire Thursday on the Dan Ryan Expressway, according to Illinois State Police.
  
  The Superior ambulance and a car were struck by gunfire about 3:15 p.m. when they were traveling north on Interstate 94 near 31st Street, a state police sergeant said.
  
  The ambulance was occupied by at least one employee and a passenger in the rear, while the car had two occupants.

This is becoming a near-weekly occurrence, but hey, Crime is Down. Let's see if the State counts this as Criminal Damage to Property, because you know "On the Highway" = "Not in Chicago" per CompStat!

Hillary Blames....The Police!

This is today's democratic party:

• In the latest leftist effort to provoke race riots, Hillary Clinton accused cops across the country of purposely targeting and killing blacks.
  
  In her speech at Columbia University on Wednesday, Clinton stated:
  
  “There is something profoundly wrong when African-American men are still far more likely to be stopped and searched by police, charged with crimes, and sentenced to longer prison terms than are meted out to their white counterparts. There is something wrong when a third of all black men face the prospect of prison during their lifetimes.”

That "soft on crime" label needs dusting off.

Gang Banging Pays Well

This is one of the reasons Illinois is going bankrupt:

• A former gang member with a lengthy arrest history has been awarded nearly $99,000 in back pay after an arbitrator reversed his firing and returned him to a six-figure job with the Illinois state prison system, records show.
  
  Xadrian R. McCraven, a senior adviser with the Illinois Department of Corrections, was fired by then-Gov. Pat Quinn’s administration in early 2014 after a series of Chicago Sun-Times stories that detailed McCraven’s rocky state employment history, including his 2012 firing from the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services.
  
  Records show DCFS had fired McCraven for “writing and responding to hundreds of lewd and inappropriate emails” while at work. But under a 2013 settlement, Quinn’s administration reduced McCraven’s dismissal to a 10-day suspension and transferred him to the corrections department, which fired him on Jan. 6, 2014 — this time citing unspecified “inconsistencies” on state job applications McCraven had filed.

This bozo had 24 arrests and 3 convictions and he still landed a state job paying over $111,000 per year. How is that even remotely possible....oh wait, Illinois. Nevermind.

Guilty Verdict

Justice prevails:

• Timothy Herring told a cousin he shot and killed Chicago Police Officer Michael Flisk and the retired CHA cop he knew as “Sweet Pea” because he didn’t want to go back to jail.
  
  Herring, 24, was convicted Wednesday morning in the murder of the two men. He is now expected to spend the rest of his life behind bars.

RIP Officer...finally.

25 Years

From the Chaplains:

Comments closed here.

ISIS Threat

After their failed attempt on stifling Free Speech, they issue a not-so-veiled threat:

• The terrorists also say they have 71 fighters in 15 different states and they 23 have signed up already for missions like the failed Sunday attack in Garland, Texas.
  
  [...] We have 71 trained soldiers in 15 different states ready at our word to attack any target we desire. Out of the 71 trained soldiers 23 have signed up for missions like Sunday, We are increasing in number bithnillah. Of the 15 states, 5 we will name… Virginia, Maryland, Illinois, California, and Michigan. The disbelievers who shot our brothers think that you killed someone untrained, nay, they gave you their bodies in plain view because we were watching.

Gee, what could there possibly be in Illinois to attack? Stay alert.

Preib Article

The City Council tries to pass a non-binding resolution to deny Spike Lee $3 million in tax breaks because they're "offended" by his movie's working title "Chiraq," but they shit all over themselves running to approve $5.5 million for "torture victims" despite there being no proof or court decisions ever backing a single claim of torture.

Martin Preib goes to town on the People's Law Office, G. Flint Taylor and their long-buried connections to the Weather Underground police murderers. Go read it all - we wouldn't even know where to begin quoting it all.

No $3 Million for Chiraq?

Fiscally responsible?

• A South Side alderman is trying to scuttle Spike Lee’s plans to use the title “Chiraq” for the filmmaker’s movie about violence on the streets of Chicago.
  
  Ald. Will Burns, 4th, is asking for a City Council vote on a symbolic measure that would urge the state not to give Lee and his company, Forty Acres and A Mule Filmworks, a $3 million tax break for filming in Illinois.
  
  “If he wants to name the movie 'Chiraq' and film it in the city of Chicago, he should be able to get the permits for that and he should be able to do it, but we shouldn’t give him money as taxpayers to brand a part of the city as Iraq,” Burns said after Wednesday’s council meeting, at which he introduced his nonbinding resolution.

Oh wait...."nonbinding." That means it's pretty much bullshit and they won't stand in the way of Spike's "art" while making sure the permits are paid up and the rental companies are all connected.

Why Didn't We Think of This?

This is brilliant!

• ATLANTA (WXIA) – A bold new ad campaign is being launched next week by the board formed as a watchdog group of the Atlanta Police Department.
  
  It's called 'Don't Run' – and it is a direct response to the number of incidents of police-involved shootings around the country and here in metro Atlanta.
  
  Starting Monday, at least 20 billboards will be going up in neighborhoods across the city of Atlanta – including in Vine City, just west of the Georgia Dome. The message is a simple one
  
  "Don't run – that's it," said Steven Reid, executive director of the Atlanta Citizen Review Board.
  
  As in, don't run – from the police.

Wow.  Maybe these signs can go up around Chicago, too. Next to the "CeaseFire" stickers and the "snitch boxes" and in VRI/VRE enforcement areas and "Impact Zones" and  "Hot Spots" and "Gang Conflict" areas. And as a topper, maybe Rahm can run a parallel ad campaign directed at Officers - call it "Don't Chase." Everyone will be happy then.

CompStat Failing Everywhere

Not just in Chicago, where murders are up around 20%, but in New York, the birthplace of CompStat, where murders are up....20%:

• The murder rate in New York City has spiked an alarming 20% in the first two months of the year, prompting NYPD brass to rethink strategy to curb the deadly trend.
  
  Since Jan. 1, 54 murders have been recorded in the city, up nine from the same period a year ago, according to the grim stats released Monday.
  
  Shootings have also climbed 20% — with 149 so far in 2015 compared with 126 in the first two months of 2014.
  
  But overall, crime has dropped 11% in most major crime categories, including burglary, robbery, rape, grand larceny and auto theft.

Murders and shootings are up, but "...overall, crime has dropped..." Now where have we heard that? Almost monthly? Like clockwork? It's like they're all reading from the same playbook.

Rahm Loves Teachers

So how about a 7% pay cut?

• The Chicago Teachers Union said Tuesday that the school district is asking teachers to take a 7 percent pay cut in their next contract, an offer that portends tough negotiations in the weeks to come.
  
  The union did not specify how the proposed pay cut would be implemented and the district did not respond to questions. CTU officials in a news release accused the district of deliberately undermining its finances and said the pay cut proposal appears to be retaliation for union opposition to Mayor Rahm Emanuel's re-election.
  
  "With rising housing, health care and food costs, we can't afford such a big hit in our paychecks," CTU Vice President Jesse Sharkey said. "On top of that they expect us to pay more for health insurance and work longer hours in classrooms that are overcrowded and with fewer resources. That will not happen."

So we can expect the CTU to be supporting a republican in the near future? In the meantime, plan on an extended summer break for the kids, extended summer hours downtown for protestors and extended coverage of Rahm's drive to push the CPS into insolvency.

Rockin' in Wrigley Event

Part of the Police Memorial Foundation fundraising efforts:

• This is the CD release party for Chicago-based band, Man Fighting Bear. Also performing are Red Rebel County, Chicago's #1 Irish Band and Michael Lynch, a contestant on The Voice. LaRoyce Hawkins, star of NBC's Chicago PD (Detective Kevin Atwater) is the host. Proceeds will benefit the Chicago Police Memorial Foundation's campaign, Get Behind The Vest.
  
  Thursday, May 14, 2015 from 6:00 PM to 10:00 PM (CDT)
  Chicago, IL

Comments closed here.

He's Baaaaaaack

Still at it after all these years - and now he found a partner to assist in his delusions:

• A Chicago man who has been in trouble before for posing as a police officer is accused of doing it again.
  
  And this time, police say, he had backup.
  
  Vincent Richardson, 21, was arrested about 12:25 p.m. Friday and charged with impersonating a police officer, according to Chicago Police.
  
  According to police, officers were responding to a call of shots fired in the 1200 block of West Marquette when they spotted a man driving a Dodge Durango and wearing a bulletproof vest, police said.
  
  They arrested Vincent Richardson for failing to produce police credentials, police said. A passenger, 21-year-old Dantrell Moore, also was wearing a bulletproof vest and was arrested.
  
  Both men had BB guns, and a non-police radio was also found in the SUV, police said.

Both with bullet-proof vests and BB guns. Next step at some point is probably a real gun.

Hey Garry, we're short as hell. Maybe you could hire this idiot under some sort of "part timer" like the burbs do

No Openings Again?

They took 100 patrol officers and made detectives.

Took another 31 and made them sergeants.

Certainly more than a few retired since 01 January.

There must be openings somewhere.

Won't Someone Think of the Children?

Stay classy Englewood:

• Jamyah Lee, 7 months old, was lying in bed playing with her toys over the weekend when a chunk of concrete shattered the window of her Englewood home and hit her in the head, fracturing her skull, according to police and family.
  
  "Where I come from, you think about bullets going through the window. You never hear about bricks going through the window," the baby’s mother, Janica Lee, said by phone Monday from her daughter's room at Comer Children’s Hospital.
  
  Witnesses report a male white fleeing from the scene dressed in a checkerboard hat, blue shirt, multi-pocket cargo pants and black shoes, driving a busted up late model white SUV with blue trim.

We may have made up that last paragraph, but you know the left wishes it were true.

Explain Please Deano

From the comments:

• Your FOP violated Mike Shields rights as a member. You can thank Donhue, Dawerty, Kevin Grahm and others. Mike will walk away with $500K- my prediction. Oh and also the State FOP lodge is going to pay him also on their lawsuit. Why? Because he was railroaded. I'm not a fan of Shields but there is a process that should have been followed. Let's sue the officers responsible for this fiasco and kick them out of the union. By the way all of their actions were located on FOP computers after a forensic audit was performed. The attorneys are aware of this and that is why FOP is settling. Let's see what Dean does now.

And this one:

• My buudy with the county says the State Lodge is mediating with Shields. They will have to acknowledge that the wronged him by suspending him without a hearing. Like hanging him before the trial. Then acquitting him.
  
  Look for a number of Donahue's group of Nazi's to get thrown out of the state fop for trying to rig an election!!!
  
  All that being said Shields still is a goof.

Someone want to spill exactly what FOP is doing with our money? And why there shouldn't be a mass resignation of the Lodge 7 and State Boards if this is true?

Chiraq Casting Call

Where else? St. Sabina...one of many Ground Zeroes of violence:

• Spike Lee needs extras for his new Chicago-based film, and it doesn’t sound like the “Do the Right Thing” and “Malcolm X” director is too picky.
  
  There will be a casting call for the Amazon Studios film, which is using the working title “Chiraq,” from 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Saturday at St. Sabina Academy in the Gresham neighborhood, according to a post on 4 Star Casting’s Facebook page for the film. The page said the movie could film May 19-July 10 and needs stand-ins and hundreds of extras of all ethnicities who are 7 to 75 years old, male or female.
  
  Mayor Rahm Emanuel recently said Lee told him that the film would center on black-on-black violence in Chicago’s Englewood neighborhood. Emanuel said he made it clear to Lee that he didn’t approve of the “Chiraq” title – a controversial nickname which that to the city’s reputation for violence – but he did not say whether Lee was considering changing it.
  
  Interestingly enough, 4 Star Casting’s Facebook page for the film is called Extras4ChiTruth and does not refer to the film as “Chiraq.”

"ChiTruth?" So he'll be showing the gangs' hand in politics? Maybe this will make an appearance:

Still one of the greatest pictures ever taken of that charlatan - seated at the feet of Jeff Fort. We're sure Spike will want to look into that ChiTruth.

Terror Attack in Texas

At a free speech event, but they were muslims so you know the media will be spinning this as anything but terrorism:

• Two armed suspects believed to be carrying explosives have been shot dead after opening fire outside an anti-Muslim art exhibition in Dallas.

Whoops! There you have it - the British press ran with it - an "anti-muslim" event. Just so everyone knows, it was an art exhibition, the subject being who could draw a decent picture of muhammad in support of the Danish cartoonists and the Charlie Hebdo newspaper cartoonists slaughtered recently, the point being that in America, free speech reigns supreme and will not be stifled by threats.

Here's some proper coverage, not the left-wing tripe you'll be subjected to on the television:

• Shots rang out this evening at the Curtis Culwell Center in Garland, Texas during the Mohammed Art Exhibit and Contest. A law enforcement officer was shot and both suspects have been killed. Officers on the scene said that it is possible that explosives are in the area.
  
  Attendees were immediately forced into lockdown by police, including three Breitbart News reporters. Sources say event organizer Pamela Geller and keynote speaker Geert Wilders, a Dutch politician, are safe. Breitbart Texas was conducting a live video interview with Geller at the moment of the attack.

We can't wait to see how the president dismisses this one.

Another Bloody Weekend

Well done Garry! Well done Rahm!

• A boy who was wounded in the hand in the Rogers Park neighborhood became at least the eighth person to be shot Sunday, including one fatally.
  
  Since Friday at 1:44 p.m. five people have been fatally shot and at least 26 people wounded in the city.

And among the victims, an off-duty Oak Park copper:

• An off-duty Oak Park police officer was shot early Sunday on Chicago's South Side, according to authorities.
  
  A family member said the 58-year-old officer was leaving for work when he was approached by two males armed with a gun in the alleyway behind his home in the 300 block of West 103rd Place.

The off-duty, a 25-year vet, took one in the arm, one in the leg and is expected to recover. He also managed to wound one of the assailants who was picked up later.

Best wishes for a speedy recovery.

Hot Summer on Tap?

Anyone think the public might know something that we don't?

• Americans are bracing for a summer of racial disturbances around the country, such as those that have wracked Baltimore, with African Americans and whites deeply divided about why the urban violence has occurred, a new Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll has found.
  
  A resounding 96% of adults surveyed said it was likely there would be additional racial disturbances this summer, a signal that Americans believe Baltimore’s recent problems aren’t a local phenomenon but instead are symptomatic of broader national problems.
  
  When asked to explain recent events in Baltimore and other cities that have seen confrontations between police and members of the African-American community, blacks and whites viewed the situation differently.

The story isn't in some fringe publication - it's the Wall Street Journal - about as mainstream as you can get. Of course, the discrepancies among the respondents about who's to blame are pretty much like you'd expect. Go read it all and make sure you polish up the riot equipment.

NYPD Ambush

Not looking good:

• A Queens ex-con was arraigned on attempted-murder charges Sunday after allegedly shooting a plainclothes NYPD cop in the head, leaving him clinging to life.
  
  Suspect Demetrius Blackwell, who appeared in Queens Criminal Court in a torn prison jumpsuit — his legs shackled and his hands cuffed behind his back — did not enter a plea and was held without bail. His next court date is Friday.
  
  The officer he is accused of shooting, Brian Moore, 25, took a turn for the worse early Sunday after surgery to relieve pressure on his brain, and distraught family members were rushing to his side, sources said.

We'll let everyone know as soon as Sharpton and Jackson schedule a march and Obama sends a representative to decry the violence that has seen 5 NYPD shot in as many months, but we figure we'll all be waiting a long fucking time. After all, we've still barely seen mention of the stabbed Houston copper.

Godspeed Officer.

Thanks Again Dick

Shortshanks can be compared to a really bad venereal disease - the gift that keeps on giving:

• Chicago taxpayers have paid a wealthy North Shore family more than $24 million since June for the vacant Michael Reese Hospital property that former Mayor Richard M. Daley bought as part of his failed Olympic dream.
  
  And Chicagoans will keep paying — possibly another $120 million in principal and interest by the year 2024 — unless Mayor Rahm Emanuel can find someone to develop the 37-acre lakefront site just south of McCormick Place. With its prime location, the property has been eyed as the possible home to everything from a new casino to President Barack Obama’s presidential library.
  
  “The property is worth substantially less than was paid,” says Emanuel spokeswoman Elizabeth Langsdorf. “This inherited deal was a bad one for taxpayers, but Mayor Emanuel is taking steps to ensure taxpayer exposure is reduced and to bring the property back to productive use.”

Which means that somebody else is going to get a helluva deal on the site...someone heavily connected no doubt. That $120 million sure would have come in handy somewhere else.

St. Jude March Today

Remembering the Fallen.

Open post for today.

ET's?

So is there an actual ET list out?

Detectives and Lieutenants graduated this past week.

Sergeants due to graduate shortly.

Everything in place for summer - how's that homicide count looking? Or the clearance rate? Or the shooting rate?

Two Federal Investigations?

Building on last week's bad news:

• Embattled Chicago schools chief Barbara Byrd-Bennett worked for a second contractor under investigation in a federal probe that’s rocked the Chicago Public Schools, records obtained by the Chicago Sun-Times show.
  
  Byrd-Bennett — now on leave as a result of the federal probe — came to CPS after working for SUPES Academy, a Wilmette company that got a $20.5 million, no-bid contract to train Chicago school principals in 2013, shortly after Mayor Rahm Emanuel appointed her to head the city school system.
  '
  But Byrd-Bennett also worked as a consultant for Synesi Associates, the Sun-Times has learned.
  
  Like SUPES, Synesi has done business with CPS. Federal investigators have subpoenaed district records relating to Synesi and SUPES.

We certainly wish this had come out a few weeks earlier...like before the election.

Blame Everyone...

...except the guy in the mirror:

• A Simeon Career Academy graduate who had a college football scholarship, a supportive family and a girlfriend who wanted to start a family with him threw it all away when he led Chicago police on a car chase that killed a woman in 2013, a Cook County judge said Friday.
  
  Judge Thaddeus Wilson sentenced Timothy Jones, 22, to 28 years in prison. He must serve the entire time.

Good. About fucking time the jagoffs who flee and endanger every single member of the public get hammered with serious time. But you know who everyone is blaming?

• Reynolds' family, who thought Jones should not have been charged with murder, gave no victim-impact statements for the judge to consider.
  
  Reynolds' best friend, Lavonia Noble-King, asked the judge to show mercy, saying police also had responsibility for the death of Reynolds, 56.

The family of the dead woman disagreed with the charging. They gave no statement. And friends of the deceased asked for mercy and blamed......the Police! The natural cynic in us will note that since he was judged responsible for the actions that killed this woman, the expected payout from the City might actually be less.

But seriously, let's just get it out there - society in general, and a specific slice of society in particular, don't want the police chasing criminals. When criminals realize they have only to evade capture for a short amount of time and the police stop chasing, what do you think is going to (and in fact IS) happening?

Rest in Mayhem

You know what the nice thing was about growing up next to a cemetery? The quiet neighbors and peaceful neighborhood. Not so much nowadays for the neighbors of Mount Hope. Now, it looks like the north side is getting their very own taste:

• Prosecutors said a suburban woman caused $50,000 in damage when she drove through a Northwest Side cemetery Tuesday, smashing into 13 headstones.
  
  Lorraina Medrano, 23, was one of five people charged following a fight in Mount Olive Cemetery, 3800 N. Narragansett Ave., on Tuesday afternoon.
  
  The group had been drinking alcohol when a fight broke out about 4:20 p.m., Assistant State's Attorney Lorraine Scaduto said during a bond hearing Wednesday.

Alcohol? At a cemetery? Who would've imagined that? Even dead, the gangbangers are managing to screw up quiet neighborhoods. Time to create a giant burn-pit or maybe find an abandoned quarry to ditch the carcasses of the unwanted.

Search and Handcuff

Luckily, the coppers weren't hurt:

• Police officers in Atlanta fatally shot a woman who first fired at them while sitting in the back of a patrol car Thursday, authorities said.
  
  Two officers were investigating a call about a stolen car Thursday afternoon when they saw a woman sitting inside the vehicle in a parking deck, said Major Darin Schierbaum.
  
  He said they took the woman into custody and put her in a patrol car, and that at one point she fired at least two shots at the officers. Schierbaum said the officers returned fire, critically wounding her. She later died at a hospital, he said.
  
  Schierbaum said it's unclear how the woman was able to fire a gun while in the patrol car and that police are investigating whether she had been handcuffed. Her identity wasn't released. The two officers weren't injured, Department spokesman Greg Lyon said.

And expect to see a lot of this in the future, since we're living in a post-racial world under Obama:

• Both officers are black, as was the woman, Lyon said.

Gee, thank goodness we got that out of the way.....Dr. King must be so proud.

Cops Charged

Remember, it's all about the evil white cops and the oppressed minorities in Baltimore:

Um......

Texas Attack

Just like happened with the NYPD double slaying, the constant drum-beat of anti-police rhetoric bears bitter fruit:

• HOUSTON - Prosecutors said a 24-year-old police woman was stabbed a total of 14 times by a man who allegedly told investigators he was out to kill the police officer because "cops are oppressive."
  
  Houston homicide investigators said Jeremiah M. Matthews, 23, tried to kill an off-duty Houston Community College Officer Aprils Pikes early Tuesday morning while she was working as a security guard at a Meyerland Walmart store.
  
  During a magistrate's hearing Tuesday night, prosecutors said, "The defendant gave a statement admitting he had the intent to attack a police officer and his desire to kill a police officer.”
  
  Investigators at the scene said Matthews told them he did it to get back at police for what he calls brutal treatment. But customers helped stop the brutal attack.
  
  According to witnesses, Matthews came into the store, tackled Pikes and began stabbing her with a hunting knife.

No previous interaction with this officer who was working a Department-approved side job in uniform...just a target of convenience. She'll live, but at last report, will likely lose her entire right arm, meaning at the ripe old age of 24, she has worked her last shift as a street officer.

Prayers and best wishes to the Officer.

Court for Free!

Honest to god, where do they find these idiots?

• Alderman Brookins said on Chicago Tonight that he thinks our contract need to be changed because we make too much overtime in court when we're not always needed for the case.
  
  Easy solution: If you don't want to pay me, don't notify me for court. Considering the department, I.E., the city, they will deviate me and attempt to punish me for failing to appear. I need to appear if told to do so. 

So....we show up for free? This asshole does realize that we don't just show up because we figure it's an easy way to collect extra money? We have families, friends, events, side jobs, a dozen things we'd rather be doing most days, but because we signed an actual arrest report attesting to facts of an arrest, we're sort of obligated to attend court? In fact, the Department suspends us without pay if we miss court.

Here's a thought - talk to Anita. Figure out why she has to subpoena four, six, ten officers on a case that any first year law student could tell her is just going to end up as a status hearing? Or that when a defense attorney hears that all the necessary officers are present, he asks for a mutually agreed upon delay, thereby costing the city money? Charge those hours to Prickwrinkle's budget and we'll bet it drops in a hurry.

Or since it's going this way in any event, just declare all offenders innocent of wrongdoing, throw everything out of court, give the assholes a check on the way out the door in hopes of avoiding a lawsuit and pretty much stop policing. You're most of the way there already.

Teacher Strike Coming?

Rahm might be the only big city mayor to preside over two separate teacher strikes in four years:

• Chicago Public Schools officials will not offer teachers an additional year on their current contract, saying the district cannot afford a built-in 3 percent pay hike.
  
  "We were optimistic that solutions to the Board's structural financial challenges would have been achieved by now and a well-deserved increase for CPS staff would have been possible," interim district chief Jesse Ruiz wrote in a letter to Chicago Teachers Union President Karen Lewis on Thursday. "Regrettably that is not the case."
  
  The district's decision means negotiations will continue to replace a deal that expires June 30.

$1.1 billion ion debt and no end in sight - Start making contingency plans now.

More CPS Problems

That crooked contract that BBB presided over now has all sorts of undertones:

• Before his principal-training company came under federal criminal scrutiny for its lucrative deal with Chicago Public Schools, Gary Solomon previously faced allegations he used racial slurs in emails sent as a north suburban high school dean, according to documents released Thursday by his former employers.
  
  Solomon is one of the owners of SUPES Academy, which received a $20.5 million no-bid contract from CPS in 2013. The FBI is investigating the awarding of the contract, and CPS CEO Barbara Byrd-Bennett — who once worked for SUPES — has taken a paid leave of absence after the existence of the federal corruption probe became public recently.
  
  In 2001, Solomon was forced out of Niles West High School after his bosses accused him of “immoral and unprofessional” conduct, including allegations he kissed a female student, covered up students’ drug and alcohol use and sent “sexually suggestive” emails to students, the Chicago Sun-Times has reported.

Sounds like any regular city department...including some guy from out-of-state tossing around the casual racial slurs.