$50 Million?

For what? Being young, dumb, in a hotel on a stolen credit card, intoxicated and wandering around somewhere you weren't supposed to be after your "friends" abandoned you?

• The mother of a woman who was found dead in a suburban Chicago hotel freezer is suing the hotel, its security company and the restaurant that may have been leasing the space where the 19-year-old was found.
  
  Jenkins of Chicago was attending a party at a Rosemont hotel last year. Her body was found about 24 hours after family members contacted police and the hotel to report she was missing.
  
  Surveillance video showed Jenkins wandering alone through a kitchen area near the freezer.

Is no one responsible for their own actions and bad decisions?

Funeral Coverage

Sun Times

Tribune

Channel 2

Channel 5

Channel 7

WGN Channel 9 and WFLD Fox 32 carried the Funeral live.

And again tomorrow.

RIP Officer Conrad Gary.

Time to "Alinsky" Some of These

All of the following candidates have worked closely with that Nyland asshole who never ever chased a man with a gun. It's long past time to make politicians pay for their associations:

• Katie Sieracki (33rd Ward)
  Robert Murphy (39th Ward)
  Dianne Daleiden (40th Ward)
  John Arena (45th Ward)
  Erika Wozniak (46th Ward)
  Matt Martin (47th Ward)
  Maria Hadden (49th Ward)

The left is good for making the most tenuous connections between different parties and using the lesser qualifies of one to smear the other - a quick glance at the national political scene reveals this tactic being used on a near daily basis by the dems and their media tools.

These connections between progressive scumbags is far more provable than most of what CNN and MSNBC broadcast constantly. Time to let people know - spread the word.

What Does Sneed Say?

The Slum Times seems to have turned on Burke in a big way:

• A state senator. A City Hall lobbyist. A banned former city contractor. And a smattering of city workers. They’re all part of Ald. Edward M. Burke’s political army, which gathered 7,193 signatures on the nominating petitions he submitted to election officials last month to secure a spot on the February ballot.
  
  It’s the toughest election fight the 74-year-old power broker has faced since replacing his late father on the Chicago City Council in 1969. Burke is in the crosshairs of an investigation that saw FBI agents raid his City Hall and 14th Ward offices over the past few weeks as he’s battling four Hispanic opponents who say it’s time for voters in the predominantly Hispanic ward to end the 50-year reign of the longest-serving alderman in Chicago history.
  
  His fate could be in the hands of his longtime political operative Peter Andrews Jr., a retired Chicago Park District plumber, who found federal agents on the porch of his house shortly before they raided the alderman’s offices.

Once again, the guy the feebs visited immediately prior to serving the warrant on Burke's offices.

Wasn't it the "White House Plumbers" that brought down Nixon? You just can't trust plumbers.

Equipment Failure

Disturbing report from the Mercy Hospital shooting:

• When seconds mattered during the Mercy Hospital shooting, a SWAT team member’s M4 rifle malfunctioned, CBS 2 has learned. Mercy Hospital was a chaotic scene one month ago when gunman Juan Lopez opened fire outside and then in the lobby. Police responded in minutes, but Lopez had already killed Dr. Tamara O’Neal, Dr. Dayna Less and Chicago Police Officer Samuel Jiminez.
  
  [...] There was a gunfight, and at that moment, a SWAT team member’s M4 rifle jammed, Tim Grace, attorney for Chicago’s Fraternal Order of Police says. Grace says, “There is no doubt. There is empirical evidence. The weapon did jam. He had to clear the jam before he could take the offender out.” He did in seconds, then shot and killed Lopez.
  
  But the M4 malfunction concerns Grace and the FOP, who state they’re troubled by the possibility officers were equipped with inferior weapons. Sources tell CBS 2 many of the Chicago Police Department’s issued M4 rifles are made up of used parts. Many are older rifles. And Grace says considering SWAT officers fire 6,000 to 10,000 rounds per year to remain sharp, the wear and tear on used parts could be problematic.

No parts available for replacement? Failing to follow manufacturer recommended maintenance?

If true, would anyone be surprised? The previous FOP slate felt it necessary to make new cars part of the Contract instead of relying on an actual maintenance schedule that would prolong the life of existing equipment. We've even heard from numerous SWAT personnel that the MRAP vehicle is down more than up due to lack of parts/maintenance. Why not cut corners on rifles? It's not like anyone would go shoot up a hospital or anything.

Government Growing Again

How many deputy governors does one incompetent politician need?

• Democratic Gov.-elect J.B. Pritzker on Thursday began the process of filling his incoming administration, naming three deputy governors including former state Comptroller Dan Hynes.
  
  Also serving deputy governor roles will be state Rep. Christian Mitchell of Chicago, who also has been serving as interim executive director of the state Democratic Party, and Jesse Ruiz, the Chicago Park District board president who also was an unsuccessful Democratic primary candidate for attorney general.

And in typical pandering fashion, he names one white guy, one black guy and one brown guy.

No women though. Girls must be icky to JaBee the Hutt.

Knives?

So it would seem that knives are deadly weapons again:

• Two women had their throats slashed Wednesday evening in separate incidents on opposite sides of the city, according to police.
  
  The first woman was found with her throat slit about 4:20 p.m. on the back porch of a home in the 1200 block of North Kildare Avenue, Chicago police said. Witnesses told investigators they heard the woman fighting with someone inside her apartment before she was found dead.
  
  She was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital and pronounced dead, police said.
  
  The Cook County medical examiner's office has not identified the woman or conducted an autopsy to confirm the cause and manner of her death.
  
  The other woman was killed in a possibly domestic-related slashing in the West Pullman neighborhood on the Far South Side.

Time to re-write the Use of Force rules again.

Funeral Info

Going to be back-to-back:

• Funerals for the two Chicago police officers killed when struck by a train while pursuing a suspect will be held Friday and Saturday at a church on the Southwest Side, the Police Department announced.
  
  Services for Officer Conrad Gary will be held at 9:30 a.m. Friday at St. Rita of Cascia Shrine Chapel at 7740 S. Western Ave., police said in a release. A wake will be held from 3-9 p.m. Thursday at Blake Lamb Funeral Home at 4727 W. 103rd St. in Oak Lawn.
  
  The funeral for Officer Eduardo Marmolejo will be at 11 a.m. Saturday at the church. The wake will be from 3-9 p.m. Friday at the Blake Lamb Funeral Home.
  
  Burial for both will be private, the department said.

This year cannot end fast enough.

As Feared

And once again, Crimesha flips the police the bird:

• Two felony weapons charges were filed Wednesday against a man who was being chased by two Chicago police officers before they were fatally stuck by a train on the Far South Side earlier this week, officials said.
  
  Edward Brown, 24, of Chicago, is charged with aggravated unlawful use of a weapon and reckless discharge of a firearm, according to the Cook County state’s attorney’s office. He was scheduled to appear for a bond hearing Thursday at the Leighton Criminal Court Building.

And we all know what a deterrent those charges are. We've all seen UUW offenders in the lockup mere days after getting out on a previous gun charge. Cook County "justice" has often been a joke, but under Crimesha it has become farcical.

Remember when they used to charge criminals if an officer had a medical emergency during a foot pursuit? Or when the actions of the offender could be proven beyond a reasonable doubt to have caused injury to responding personnel? You'd think firing a gun in a populated area would provoke a police response, and therefore fleeing into a zone of danger would be chargeable under the law.

Nope.

Mendoza on the Ballot

Looks like Prickwrinkle's play failed:

• Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle will drop her challenge to state Comptroller Susana Mendoza’s mayoral petitions, clearing the way for Mendoza to appear as a candidate on the February ballot.
  
  The petition fight between two women who are considered among the mayoral front-runners has been a central focus of the past few weeks of the race.

This immediately shapes up to be an City Machine candidate versus a County Machine candidate. It's also Hispanic versus Black to pick over the remains of Chicago. Vallas appears to be a non-entity suddenly. McCarthy? Still the outsider.

Melting! I'm Melting!

Illinois isn't exactly melting....more like shrinking, but we like the image:

• Mary Miller lived in Illinois for all of her 44 years until July, when she and her family left their north suburban Wauconda home to resettle in Florida.
  
  “It’s taxes. It’s corruption. It’s politics,” she said. “And I don’t mean Republicans or Democrats, it’s all of them.”
  
  Miller wasn’t alone in her departure from the state. Illinois has declined in population for the fifth year in a row, losing an estimated 45,116 residents from 2017 to 2018, according to the latest Census Bureau data released Wednesday.
  
  That was a greater drop than the previous year, when Illinois lost about 40,000 people — as well as its spot as the fifth-largest state in the nation to Pennsylvania.

Illinois remains on track to lose two Congressional seats following the 2020 census, which equals even less political pull in DC and nationwide. Even more worrisome is these are actual taxpayers moving out.

The New Left

We didn't want to have to address this, but if this doesn't provide a bright bit of insight into today's "progressive" liberal democrat, we don't know what does:

• Most of Chicago was mourning the line-of-duty deaths of two police officers on Monday night when one Northside community leader took to Twitter to disparage the fallen officers.
  
  “Two people too stupid to avoid getting hit by a train were given firearms [and] the authority to kill people by Chicago Police Department,” Northside Democracy for America (NDFA) steering committee member and organizer Carl Nyberg tweeted late on Dec. 17.

You'll never guess who this two-legged turd is a huge supporter of:

• alderdumbass John Arena

He appears on the Arena social media site, has provided time and effort to Arena's campaign and undoubtedly monetary support.

The usual faux-outrage statements were issued by the various organizations he works/has worked for, but these things don't happen in vacuums. This is the new reality. What was once whispered behind closed doors is the bright new face of this asshole, John Arena and most of the "progressive" left, and it's finding a ready audience with the low-information snowflakes.

Be aware of what we're all dealing with.

Open Thread

We deleted a lot of comments yesterday. Too much second guessing. Too much blame. Too much stupidity.

Too much just being inappropriate.

We usually give everyone that room within a day or so, but not in a memorial thread when everything is so open, raw and unknown. We know you're angry - we're angry, too. And we know why (and where) you're directing that anger. And while it might be therapeutic to vent your spleen and rage, it has a time and place.

Yesterday wasn't it.

Today might not be it either. Be judicious in your choice of words and targets of your anger.

(comments closed here)

Crime is What Now?

We could have sworn it was down. Down a lot. Rahm's had his paid tools over at 35th Street touting it for a couple years now:

• The CTA is warning riders to be alert during the holidays as the number of CTA passengers targeted by pickpockets has increased. The Clark/Lake train station in Chicago's Loop has the highest reports of pickpocketing.
  
  The thefts are the work of about dozen individuals each with multiple arrests, CTA officials said. In the last year, four so called "career pickpockets" were arrested. One told authorities when he's on CTA he does five "picks" a day. The most targeted object are phones.
  
  So far this year, CTA has more than 2,100 pickpocketing incidents on buses, trains and CTA property. 2018 is on track to be the third worst year for CTA thefts since 2004.

Remember when the Department used to print out the four-page Daily Bulletin with all the pictures of known pickpockets, recent parolees and gypsies? That was to help coppers recognize known thieves. Too bad there's no way to reach tens of thousands of CTA commuters with an electronic version of that...something attached to a facial recognition program that could announce to everyone that "Multiple convicted pickpocket John Doe was seen entering the station five minutes ago. Checks your wallets and belongings and alert CTA employees if this man is spotted."

It could be like "PickPocket Spotter."

All Caught Up!

Crime is sure to fall now!

• Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel is taking note of a milestone. Success in his pledge to add 1,000 new police officers by the end of the year. But is it enough? The police union doesn’t think so.
  
  Chicago police welcomed 67 new recruits, the second to last class of the year. And with it, achievement of a goal by Mayor Emanuel. “Each of you represent our two year journey of growing CPD by over 1,000 police officers,” said Chicago Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson.
  
  A mission City Hall claims he has now accomplished. Two years ago, Chicago police had 12,114 sworn officers. Today, it’s 13,319. Emanuel said with the additional personnel has come additional supervision for street cops.

We know the seniority to get days dropped by half in many places, so there's evidently some new hires out there somewhere. There also seems to be a massive expansion in inside spots, HQ spots, CAPS spots, and quite a few other places that hadn't been manned during the "austerity" times.

We still haven't seen a rapid response car up in about five years. 020 and 017 are downing beat cars on a regular basis on two different watches. 016 and 022 don't even have a midnight watch for all intents and purposes.

How about we see how many beat cars are up (or down) on a daily basis?

One Hundred Fifty PER DAY

Actually, closer to one-hundred-fifty-six:

• Even migration is bigger in Texas. Dallas leads all U.S. cities as the largest net gainer with 246 people arriving daily, according to a Bloomberg analysis of 2017 Census data on migration to the 100 largest U.S. metropolitan areas. In 2014, the crown belonged to Houston with 269 migrants per day.
  
  After Dallas, Sun Belt beacons Phoenix, Tampa, Atlanta and Orlando round out the top five. Seattle, at number six with a gain of 116 people daily, is the only cold-weather destination in the top 10. The daily influx surpassed 100 people in nine cities, while Chicago, New York, and Los Angeles saw an exodus of more than 100 people every day.

Buy stock in U-Haul, Mayflower, North American and Allied.

Maybe the pension fund can buy into them, too.

Two Officers Killed by Train

Investigating "shots fired" call:

• Tribune
• Sun Times

Both had less than three years on, both in their 30's.

RIP Officers.

UPDATE: No posting tonight. 

Media Hypocrites

See if you can spot it - first from the Fibune's Jimmy Greenfield:

• In an incident captured on video that has gone viral on social media, a fan allegedly attacked Blackhawks mascot Tommy Hawk after Friday night’s game against the Jets at the United Center, according to Chicago Police.
  
  The man “fled the scene” before police arrived, and no arrest had been made as of Saturday night, a police spokesman said.
  
  United Center security contacted Chicago Police after the incident, and a report was filed. Police said the alleged attacker was a white male, 18-20 years old, 5-foot-5 and 160 pounds.

And now the Slum Times Madeline Kenney:

• Things went from bad to worse for the Blackhawks during their 4-3 overtime loss to the Winnipeg Jets.
  
  Tommy Hawk was attacked by a fan on the United Center concourse on Friday, authorities say, in a video-recorded encounter that has made waves on social media.
  
  Chicago police confirmed they were notified of a disturbance at the United Center around 11:15 p.m. Friday. Police said a “male was performing as a team mascot” when another man began punching him in the face and put him in a headlock.
  
  The alleged attacker was described as a white man between 18 and 20, about 5-foot-5 and 160 pounds. No one was in custody as of Saturday night.

Did you spot it?

These assholes (and their editors) will describe a drunken fan attacking a mascot, but won't even whisper what a pack of wilding gangbangers beating and robbing citizens all over the Mag Mile might look like, the single most obvious factor in identifying and legally stopping a criminal.

We'd be willing to bet one hundred toothpicks that, if arrested and prosecuted, Crimesha goes for the aggravating felony charge based on a "battery in a public place of amusement." Any takers?

Christmas Party 007/011 Style

We had wondered at the combined 007/011 Christmas party last year. The whole "twin brothers" thing was Special Ed's great discovery, this "exempt DNA" that scientists had been searching for for years in an effort to clone a crop of "Super Exempts" that would lead Chicago Policing to the stars and beyond.

Then Skinny Johnson resigned suddenly, and Not-skinny Johnson got promoted AND removed from  his Deputy Chief spot in a matter of months. We saw the Christmas Party posters "honoring" the 007 "retiree" Johnson even as he was being indicted in Federal Court. Now we get this e-mail:

• SCC...ALERT ALERT ALERT.
  
  Let me tell u a tale. Spread the word.
  
  So the Johnson twins, 1 under federal investigaion and the other soon to be, arranged last year to hold THIS years CPD xmas party jointly( 011+ 007 ) at the same terrible location downtown. Fast forward to 2018 and neither commander is running these shitholes, yet since the deposit was made both districts are stuck. So us blue shirts are pressured to by a $65 ticket ( or work a late car). Then it turns out 1 of the Districts didn't pay the venue on time so for first 2 hours its a CASH BAR ONLY. 9$ BEERS 12$ WELL- DRINKS.
  
  Hilarious right? So to top it off we were given placards to place in our vehicles for "COURTESY" parking only to find out some meter maid is hammering people with tickets left and right. Merry fucking Christmas.
  
  Now go get us some blue cards.

And to top it all off:

• Last year, every Johnson attended the party. This year, not a single Johnson attended. No Kevin, no Kenny and no Special Ed. Everyone one was missing their Johnsons.

Sounds like a Christmas Party to remember.

Five? Only Five?

When Special Ed said a "small class" of lieutenants, he wasn't kidding:

• PARKER, Michael - Unit 620 - "merit" by Cmdr Varrick Douglas
• COSTELLO, Robert - Unit 121
• EASTERDAY, Darren - 001 District
• MAGNO, Michael - Unit 115
• SALGADO, Agustin - Unit 701

Word is the "merit" guy transferred into the D Unit about eight seconds ago so it looked better, especially with only one person coming from the so-called "backbone" of the Department. And they start Christmas Eve, so there's that.

Congrats to the deserving.

CompStat Counts What?

You want to know what nitpicking bosses are the "accountability" meetings now?

• I went to compstat for A/S yesterday. Turns out that CPD is now tracking the individual district’s twitter page. The number of tweets was counted in order by grand total of tweets with the last 28 days. Along with the amount of followers they have in total for the past 28 days. The amount of followers gained or lost was also displayed in order of greatest to least per district. I can say that seeing this with my own eyes was absofuckinlutely ridiculous, but confirms that this department continues to delve deeper in shit.

Twitter numbers? Do they still have those Chinese companies that will guarantee you like a million followers for $20 a month?

And to top it all off, the parking situation at HQ sucks on a good day. On a CompStat day?

• Oh and [...] EVERYONE parked outside on the south side of 35 along HQ got a ticket

Was someone that hard up for VRI numbers?

New Jersey Bans Cops Carrying

This is what happens when you rush through laws without reading them:

• A new gun law went into effect in New Jersey that makes it illegal for law enforcement to carry duty weapons off-duty.
  
  Trenton, NJ – The new law that limits gun magazines to 10 rounds went into effect on Dec. 10 without the legislature taking up the amendment to create an exception for law enforcement officers.
  
  Modern firearms issued to patrol officers generally hold 12 or more rounds of ammunition.
  
  That means that just about all law enforcement officers in New Jersey will be breaking the law if they carry their assigned duty weapons while off duty, including just being home with them, unless they live outside of the state or leave their magazines behind at work, rendering the weapons near-useless.

New Jersey is certainly the San Francisco of the east coast.

Special Ed to be Fired

For, of all things, telling an actual truth:

• If Toni Preckwinkle is elected mayor of Chicago, Police Supt. Eddie Johnson will be looking for a new job or living off his police pension.
  
  Preckwinkle said Friday she would dump Johnson for one reason.
  
  “He refused to acknowledge that there was a code of silence in the Police Department . . . I don’t think that’s an honest statement,” Preckwinkle said.
  
  “It’s very important that police be accountable for their conduct. And if you won’t even acknowledge that there’s a code of silence in the Police Department, how can you possibly do that? . . . If you start out by saying . . . we have never condoned or covered up bad police behaviors, I don’t think that’s a characteristic of an effective leader.”
  
  Preckwinkle then let loose about the “police narrative” that followed the shooting of Laquan McDonald that turned out to be false “from the bottom to the top.”

The "code" is mostly manufactured by the media to smear the Department. When was the last time you heard about the:

• medical profession code of silence? Doctors kill tens of thousands annually and all they have to face is a Morbidity and Mortality Conference none of which seems to make it into the public record.
• lawyers code of silence? Attempting to locate an actual finding on an ARDC complaint is like pulling teeth and most discipline is nonexistent.
• politicians code of silence? It's everywhere, and almost like clockwork, aldercreatures go to jail. Hell, Toni is covering for her former security chief who wrecked a car full of campaign materials just last month.
• [Update] teacher code of silence. Wasn't Prickwrinkle a teacher at some point before being an aldercreature? Isn't there a giant CPS sex scandal ongoing right now?
• [Update] priest and clergy code of silence? That one runs worldwide.
• [Update] isn't there some sort of "community" code of silence? Snitches get stitches and all that? We seem to recall running across this one at the scene of all sorts of shootings.
• A Hollywood code of silence? Restaurateurs? Professional sports teams? The list is endless.

Now think about the so-called police "code of silence." Can you name any cops currently in jail or under investigation? We can name about thirty without breaking a sweat. That sure is some code, isn't it? And if this "code" goes, as Prickwrinkle says, "from the bottom to the top," then could she point out a single boss that is sitting at the defense table in the JVD trial or the current "conspiracy" trial?

Here's a clue - there isn't one. They're all retired. With pensions. Funny how that works.

Ginger Spilling the Beans?

This is out of left field and might be a clue as to Burke's troubles:

• Former Chicago Aviation Commissioner Ginger Evans is laying out a bill of particulars against Ald. Edward Burke (14th), alleging that he worked repeatedly behind the scenes to inappropriately pressure her and her staff on airport business.
  
  In a memo to the Sun-Times, Evans, who resigned earlier this year, gave five examples of Burke or his staff allegedly interfering or overstepping.
  
  • Burke personally intervened to make sure that the clout-heavy United Maintenance, which held janitorial contracts at O’Hare Airport, got paid promptly.
  
  • Burke pushed to renew or extend a contract with Go Airport, which operates a shuttle service at O’Hare.
  
  • Burke worked to help Clear Channel, the company that controls indoor advertising at O’Hare, when it was upset over a competitor’s actions at the airport.
  
  • When dozens of leases for hangars and aviation support facilities were coming up for renewal, the City was obligated to offer them the same business terms. Those terms required City Council approval. However, Burke insisted that each lease be separately submitted to Council – which delayed and complicated the approvals.
  
  • At a committee hearing on the leases, Burke continued to question Evans’ authority to sign them.

We're going to need a bigger popcorn popper.

Swing and a Miss

Another tech giant blowing off Rahm and Chicago:

• Chicago was bypassed by another tech behemoth Thursday when Apple announced plans to build a $1 billion campus in Austin, Texas, with smaller sites or expansions in six other cities.
  
  It was just last month that Amazon said it will split its much-anticipated second headquarters between New York City and Arlington, Va. Chicago had been named one of the 20 contenders for the second headquarters, labeled HQ2, when the list of bidders was narrowed in January.
  
  Apple’s search had a lower profile than Amazon’s, which turned into a bidding war as cities tried to woo the online merchant with robust incentive packages.
  
  In an early morning post Thursday on its website, Apple said in addition to the Austin campus, it would open smaller locations in Seattle, San Diego and Culver City, Calif., and over the next three years will expand in New York; Pittsburgh; Boston; Boulder, Colo.; and Portland, Ore. It also left open the possibility of expanding elsewhere in the United States “over time.”

Rahm's mouthpieces try to put a positive spin on it, pointing to a number of smaller companies that have expanded into town. It's still a slap in teeth.

Bad Casino Plan

This casino idea is going to go south in a big way if Rahm gets his way:

• Mayor Rahm Emanuel on Wednesday floated a port district site on the Far Southeast Side as the possible location for a Chicago casino, if state lawmakers finally grant the city the long-sought gambling palace.
  
  In a meeting with the Chicago Tribune Editorial Board, Emanuel noted his “love-hate” relationship with the idea of a casino but said if the city finally builds one it should be away from the Loop and McCormick Place. Instead, he said it should bring economic development to an area of the city that needs it, before floating an Illinois International Port District site near Pullman as “an example.”

Sure. Go somewhere where there's absolutely zero economic attraction to the neighborhood. What a great fucking idea! Why bother having it near the downtown or convention areas where tourists looking for dinner and a show might head over and spend a little money - Chicago can build it near an EPA Superfund site AND the second most homicide prone area of the city and reap the benefits!

A quick Google search shows exactly what type of idea this would be:

• A Good Way to Wreck a Local Economy: Build Casinos
• Why Opening a Casino Is a Terrible Idea
• New casinos won't have huge economic impact in New York state

Casinos tend to make money for the shareholders, not the communities they occupy. And a Chicago casino would be extremely late to the party making us wonder what, if any, monetary impact there might be on our pension fund. Not that Chicago shouldn't try - but try harder than this guaranteed failure.

UPDATE: Exhibit A: Comiskey Park (or whatever they call it now) - bad product in a bad neighborhood with pretty much zero curb appeal.

Again?

This is unusual to say the least:

• Federal agents returned to the City Hall offices of Ald. Ed Burke Thursday, two weeks after they carried out unprecedented raids on the longtime alderman’s Downtown and ward offices, sources said.
  
  Federal investigators were looking for information they didn’t find during the first raid, sources said. The nature of the information sought was unknown.
  
  On Nov. 29, federal investigators descended on Burke’s ward and City Hall offices and covered the windows with brown butcher paper. At City Hall, investigators spent at least five hours inside and left with boxes of records and computers.

Why would they think the information was still there two weeks later?

• Because someone is definitely talking. Someone who knows exactly what is being looked for and where to find it and they're giving it up to the feds.

We had another thought about the butcher paper covering the windows. Could the feds have had a camera in Burke's office and they didn't want anyone to know where or how it was hidden? Imagine what that would be like.

Boo Hoo

This comment provoked the usual backlash:

• OT ocd gets New Years Eve rdo cancelled. Another year of uco's putting on uniforms and sitting in hidey holes all night. Can't say I blame them.way to look out for your guys, boss. The ones who bring in all the numbers yet you compromise them.

You work in a Unit. You do what you're told. You probably buy two Christmas Party tickets if the boss wants.

If you don't like it, there's always a squad car and body camera waiting for you back in the District. Don't forget to swipe!

What a $%&#-Hole

This pops up in the comments every so often and we let it through so everyone else can see how luck they are not working on the west side:

2018 INDEX CRIMES LEADERS BY DISTRICT (through Sunday, December 9th)

MURDER...011 (68); 005 (58); 007 (52); 015 (45); 006 (42); 010 (32)

RAPE (CSA)..011 (132); 018 (125); 004 (122); 006 (114); 012 (111); 019 (111)

ROBBERY...011 (918); 006 (604); 008 (553); 012 (517);025 (503); 007 (489); 015 (484); 010 (477)

AGG BATT...011 (680); 007 (498); 010 (463); 006 (433); 005 (366); 003 (361); 015 (331)

TOTAL V/C...011 (1,798); 006 (1,193); 007 (1,129); 010 (1.076); 008 (1,020)

SHOOTINGS...011 (321); 005 (189); 007 (180); 015 (174); 006 (172); 010 (169)

==========

BURGLARY...008 (956);004 (714); 019 (680); 025 (639); 006 (631)

THEFT...018 (1,538); 012 (1,362) 001 (1,207); 019 (987); 014 (912); 008 (869)

VEH THEFT...008 (731); 025 (612); 011 (605); 004 (550); 012 (515)

TOTAL P/C...008 (2,556); 018 (2,236); 019 (2,088); 014 (1,830); 004 (1,743); 025 (1,741)

==========

TOTAL INDEX.008 (3,576); 012 (3,440); 011 (3,412); 018 (3,074); 006 (2,872)

It's hard to believe they actually promote people out of 011, seeing as how they never have any impact on crime trends or numbers. 011 is going to lead the city in homicides for the fifth year in a row, so actual competence doesn't seem to slow down the chosen ones.

You Have to Ask?

We weren't going to say anything. We don't get paid by the visits, so we didn't care, but you'd think someone would have caught this long before now:

• Off the subject. Why did CPD block SCC from the police phones ??????

Because someone screwed up, left it on the screen, didn't clear their search history, talked to someone who wanted to suck up to some boss. there are a hundred reasons why it got blocked. In any event, when Cline blocked it on all Department computers, our readership went from a a few hundred a day to many thousands within a week, tens of thousands within a month.

We warned everyone when cell phones started getting issued - EVERYTHING is discoverable. And on a city owned phone?

Nice Investigator Tommy

The media isn't covering this. Seems small time...and you'd think someone making $106K might avoid shoplifting entanglements:

• JOLIET, IL - A 47-year-old Cook County Corrections investigator who lives in Romeoville spent a good portion of his weekend behind bars at Will County's Jail after Joliet Police busted him for a series of retail thefts at the Kohl's on Route 59, according to police. Amarildo Ponce was arrested on charges of felony retail theft and Ponce's alleged partner his crime, Decebeth Heatley, 48, of Romeoville, was also arrested on charges of retail theft.
  
  According to Joliet Police reports, the arrests of the Cook County investigator and Heatley occurred around 1:40 p.m. on Saturday in the 2500 block of Route 59.
  
  Joliet Police were notified of a retail theft in progress at the business and 911 dispatchers relayed that Ponce fled in a green Honda Civic, reports show.

We're also told that this is one of Tommy Dart's "media hires," meaning he's related to someone in the media. Tommy has made a habit of hiring those types so that he gets positive coverage, or at least less negative coverage than would be the norm.

Tactically Unsound

Here's a prime example of an "administrator" and not a leader:

• Police officers in San Francisco may no longer demand that suspects sit on the ground or sidewalk at a crime scene, the city’s police chief writes in a department memo; regardless of their custodial status—handcuffed or not.
  
  The practice is viewed as “demeaning” to suspects, city police Chief William Scott has determined, according to the Bay Area’s FOX 2.
  
  The change is “aligned with 21st century policing, our department values and our commitment to providing safety with respect to everyone whom our officers encounter,” a police department spokesman told FOX 2.

"demeaning"? You know what's demeaning is not taking into consideration that for decades, Hell, since the beginning of time, the high ground has always been the tactically superior position. It has nothing to do with "demeaning" and everything to do with giving yourself (or your officers) that edge in case something goes wrong.

Of course, this is San Francisco. The city probably didn't have to search far to find this idiot. He can still go fuck himself though.

FOP, Start Educating the Public (UPDATE)

Rahm is pushing to open a Constitutional Convention. Madigroin will support it. JaBba the Pritzker is likely to start pushing as soon as he gets in. And Rahm is already prepping the battlefield.

Can someone from FOP start countering his arguments about the COLA that isn't available to anyone born after 1966? That the Police and Fire Funds are so poorly funded because First Responders can't strike to make the City meet its obligations? That other unions get 80% of their salaries upon retirement with all sorts of "sweeteners"? That teachers still only pay something like 2% instead of the nearly 11% first responders do?

And how about that "gold braid" pension - once that went into place, CPD went from 6 [deputy] chiefs to 18 (corrected), captains came back and the number of commanders citywide almost doubled? The rank-and-file aren't the problem, but the massive financial abuse might be.

UPDATE: This is a start....a tiny tiny start (click for larger version):

Yay. A press release. Now....how many press outlets published it? We'll give you a hint....it's a number LESS than ONE.

We saw Rahm's statements about the COLA and him subtly hinting it involved the police/fire pensions on two TV stations, heard it on the radio twice an hour, and on every single local news link we carry on the right hand side of the blog. Versus a single half-page press release that no one carried.

FOP, we hate to say this, but you've already lost the battlefield to Rahm - make sure you don't lose the fucking pensions.

So Who's the Deadbeat?

Remember - Earned not Given, (Even if You're so Incompetent, You Can't Stay Afloat Financially:)

• Did anyone see the AMC that came out revising the requirements for captain promotion THE DAY THE APPLICATIONS WERE DUE!?
  
  The order was revised to waive the credit check, which means some soon to be captain is a complete bust out, probably a degenerate gambler or is a multiple baby daddy. I'm sure when promotions are made it will be apparent who the rules were changed for.

Sounds like yet another brilliant pick by Special Ed is in the works. Maybe this one won't be caught cashing his dead mother's Social Security checks, or stealing golf outing money, or memorial t-shirt money, or emptying the Unit flower fund money, or any of a hundred smaller instances of graft we could bore you with.

So who's the bustout?

Good, Good, Very Bad

Why now Rahm? Parts of this could have been done almost eight years ago:

• Mayor Rahm Emanuel on Wednesday will call for state lawmakers to legalize marijuana, allow a Chicago casino and approve a state constitutional amendment to help the city address a looming pension crisis that will require nearly $1 billion in new annual retirement payments by 2023, according to sources familiar with the mayor’s plans.
  
  Emanuel is scheduled to give a speech to the City Council outlining the challenges that remain to properly fund the city’s pensions and offering recommendations on how to tackle the problem, even though he won’t be in office beyond next May to do so.
  
  The mayor will propose that any tax money the city receives from the legalization of recreational marijuana be dedicated entirely to pensions and he’ll do the same for any taxes generated by a long-sought Chicago casino, according to sources familiar with Emanuel’s speech who were not authorized to discuss his plans publicly. The mayor also will move forward with requesting that aldermen consider setting up the structure to issue pension obligation bonds to help reduce the amount of money the city owes the retirement funds in the near term, the sources said.
  
  [...] Emanuel also will call on lawmakers to amend the state’s constitution to eliminate what’s known as the pension protection clause that says public employee pension benefits are an enforceable contract that “shall not be diminished or impaired.” The Illinois Supreme Court cited that clause when striking down agreements Emanuel made with some labor unions early in his tenure to better fund their pensions in exchange for reduced benefits.

A couple observations:

• Someone's kid is going to have to smoke a lot more weed to make a dent in those pension obligations;
• What changed with the casino? It's been promised as a windfall for so long, yet delayed for every manner of reason. If you believe the rumors, McCormick Place has been wired for the electricity to run a casino for almost a decade. Another rumor says Trump built his hotel in Chicago, complete with a secure floor set aside just for high stakes poker tournaments and slot machines.
• That last paragraph is the worst idea. Unless you grandfather in everyone who has operated under the current law, we would expect strenuous....objections....to any changes.

So what's changed for Rahm to suddenly look like the Pension Fund's best buddy? Do the recent raids of certain aldercreatures' offices have anything to do with the change of heart?

Gas Prices Fall - Raise Taxes!

Driving gets more affordable:

• Gas prices dropped 29 cents per gallon in November while the wholesale cost of American goods and services ticked up only slightly in a sign of softening inflation pressures, the Labor Department said Tuesday.
  
  The producer price index, which measures cost changes of products before they’re sold to the U.S. public, rose just 0.1 percent last month. Overall, wholesale prices have risen 2.5 percent since this time last year. That is the smallest annual increase of 2018.

Which moron was it who said the US couldn't drill it's way to lower gas prices? Oh yeah, Sparklefarts. What a dumbass.

In the meantime, what does a good democrat do when people get to keep more of their hard earned money? Raise taxes!

• Mayor Rahm Emanuel and a group of suburban leaders on Tuesday called for a 20 to 30 cent per gallon increase in the state’s gas tax to fund a major statewide transportation bill.
  
  Emanuel spearheaded the push during a City Hall news conference in which he was joined by a handful of suburban mayors and regional planners. The mayor’s office also released a list of 26 suburban mayors and village presidents who supported the tax increase.
  
  “We are facing a historic moment, and I stand with a group of bipartisan mayors on behalf of a new transportation bill that should happen in Springfield,” Emanuel said alongside the mayors of Park Forest, Hazel Crest, Oswego, Fox River Grove, Joliet, Batavia, Broadview and Ford Heights.

And the exodus out of Illinois gets yet another boost.

Penalize the Whistleblowers

So much for government actually answering to taxpayers (You have to read all the way to the end of hte linked article to get to this one):

• The county will also seek to plug any leaks of confidential summary reports that come from the county’s Office of the Independent Inspector General. The amendment to the ordinance governing the inspector general’s office will make it so that anyone who releases confidential summary reports — such as the one detailing Gov.-elect J.B. Pritzker removing toilets from the mansion next door to his Gold Coast home that the Sun-Times reported on in October — could face fines and jail time.
  
  The county’s top watchdog, Pat Blanchard, said his office had never experienced a leak of that nature before the release of the Pritzker report.
  
  [...] Anyone who leaks summary reports may now “be subject to a penalty of up to six months imprisonment and fines up to $5,000.00 per violation” — a “hefty” penalty, according to Blanchard.
  
  Suffredin is also leading the charge on the changes to the inspector general’s ordinance, which was introduced last year. He says it “undermines the ability” of the inspector general to do deep-dive investigations if the preliminary findings are immediately made public.
  
  [...] “The balance that our office is always kind of engaged in is protecting the confidentiality of witnesses and sources, but transparency is also an issue,” Blanchard said. “What this will do is make clear to recipients and secondary recipients of reports that they can’t release them for political purpose.”

It also undermines the ability of voters to see just how corrupt Cook County, Chicago and Illinois politicians truly are. It's amusing how they demand "transparency" for everyone....except where they do their dirty business.

And who do they think they're fooling? They've released all manner of reports for political purposes. We remember way back in 2004, the Tribune was directed to sue for the sealed divorce records of one Jack Ryan, who was running for the US Senate against some unknown Machine creation named Obama.

In Illinois politics, everything would seem to be fair game - it was just used against a democrat this time.

This is Interesting

Did the FBI tip their hand? Or the Sun Times tipped it for them?

• Shortly before FBI agents raided the offices of Ald. Edward M. Burke, they knocked on the door of the alderman’s top political aide, the Chicago Sun-Times has learned.
  
  The FBI showed up at Peter Andrews Jr.’s home in Mount Greenwood around 7 a.m. on Nov. 29.
  
  That was about 90 minutes before they seized control of Burke’s City Hall suite of offices, dismissed his staff and covered the windows with brown butcher paper. The agents also raided the alderman’s political headquarters, the 14th Ward office at 2650 W. 51st St., where Andrews helps run Burke’s political operation.
  
  Nearly two weeks after federal agents raided Burke’s offices, it’s unclear why they took such a public action, removing boxes of documents and at least one computer.

We can only think of two reasons why the feds would visit someone ninety minutes before a planned raid:

1. someone messed up synchronizing their watches, or
2. someone is talking or wired up

Burke is slippery as Hell as any reader of Cooley's book knows. But with someone cooperating?

Exempt Countdown(s)

Who's leaving and when?

Gotta be packed and gone before being demoted in February.

Rumors of a lot of heads getting ready to roll.

How Many?

Anyone have the attendance totals for the Entrance Exam this past weekend? Did all those text messages and Barb West phone calls work?

Because we heard they didn't and the total number is the lowest ever for an exam that used to be held at the (in various years) the United Center, the Merchandise Mart, and (?) McCormick Place.

Theother strong rumor is the Academy is going to go into hibernation mode - not because Rahm filled the "thousand" he promised, but because there isn't any interest in the job. All you kids who just got hired, get used to being the bottom in seniority for a while.

Breaking News

Numerous e-mails telling us that Deputy Chief Johnson, brother of the indicted Commander Johnson (retired under investigation), has been removed from the Training Academy and is detailed to HQ to await whatever tales his twin is currently spinning for the Feds.

More popcorn!

What the....!?

Just when you think Camel Rider was as goofy as the exempt ranks could get, someone has to top her:

That's the commander of 020 dressed up as the "Elf on the Shelf," a whimsical invention of the past few years. We aren't going to bore you with the details - you can Google it - but "Wow" doesn't begin to cover what's running through our heads:

Kind of amusing for the community we suppose. This seems kind of awkward though:

All in good fun? Someone had to follow the boss around and boost him up onto places, then photograph him and send it around. Fox Chicago did a piece on it, so somebody was looking for some publicity. Or is this just damn weird?

Mutiny?

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

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

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

8-4-025 Repealed?

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

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

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

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

Ride the CTA Fred

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

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

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

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

Hey Google-Me?

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

So where are the pictures?

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

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

Ten Years vs No Years

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

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

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

•  

 It's amazing, isn't it?

Solution? More Signs!

They deal drugs in the CTA stations?

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

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

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

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

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

Leading the Way to the Bottom

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

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

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

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

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

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

Unreal.

On the Horizon

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

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

It's only a matter of time now.

Nice Blue Line Rahm

No getting around the bad visuals here:

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

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

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

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

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

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

Where Did the Money Go?

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

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

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

Good Lord Bill - Shut Up

Making a promise everyone knows he won't keep:

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

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

Extortion - Unit 701

This crap pops up every year:

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

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

Butthurt Aldercreature

It's politics Tunney, not the restaurant business:

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

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

Recruitment Telethon?

This is pretty sad:

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

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

Factory Leaves Illinois

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

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

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

Be the Change!

We'll just leave this here:

Fuck Crimesha Foxxx

Once again, cops cannot ever be the victim:

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

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

And the Corruption Continues

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

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

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

"Carry on" indeed."

Promotions Solve Shootings?

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

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

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

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

Time for the "Silly Season"

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

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

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

Business as Usual

People are wondering if the "pay to promote" rumors in the CPD are true. Why wouldn't they be? It's everywhere else:

• O’Hare International Airport motor truck drivers got overtime, equipment and job assignments in exchange for political work, some performed on city time, and those who refused faced “extreme retaliation,” a new lawsuit contends.
  
  In a Nov. 17 lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court, drivers Hector Hernandez and Charles Termini accuse Deputy Aviation Commissioner William Helm and airport managers Joseph Alesia and Kevin Martin of carrying out the scheme that violated their constitutional rights and deprived the drivers of tens of thousands of dollars in annual overtime pay.

This is exactly why Royko proposed changing the City motto from "Urbs in Horto" (City in a Garden) to "Ubi est Mea" (Where's Mine?" He wasn't kidding.

Going to Need More Popcorn

And the "not guilty" plea by the skinny Johnson provoked a huge outpouring of stories, rumors, and allegations. We heard of some, knew of others. But this promises to be an interesting comment section:

• More than 2 sources which I’d trust with my first born have confirmed: every merit pick with KJ’s John Handcock on it will be whistled-in shortly to the Grand Jury. Seems there were going rates for sergeant and detective promotions.
  
  There’s also been a link discovered between KJ and the stud from 005 who was scamming all the coppers’ tax returns. Word on the skreet is that dude gave up KJ and several other Bossholes and that’s what got KJ on their radar.
  
  
• Rumor is that he is not falling on the sword for his brother who knew (and benefitted) from the 24 years of cashed checks. Watch for KJ to be moved to a “less sensitive” Deputy spot and Saldana from 014 to get his spot. 14 will go to Ozzy Valdez
  
  
• stay tuned. gonna get real juicy. there were price tags he would put on merit promos. some people left deposits only to find out someone else got the nod. selling spots to multiple people. i got you next class gets old quick and people that were promised and paid for spots that didnt get them tend to get pissed off and start talking to authorities outside CPD. which is why the feebs got involved. grand jury convening and theres gonna be alot of puckered assholes. deals being made to return to previous rank not get fired and or jail time and keep pension if they testify against kenny j.

We can only hope a fraction of this is true. It would make the Department 100% better.

Manpower Again

So the sheets we posted from 017, Second Watch  provoked a lot of discussion. Nine officers covering about 10 square miles, no wagon (unless 1724 is pulling double duty) and 1712 is a down car.

As far as we know, the worksheets are not standardized across the Department. They aren't always standardized across watches either. Each District uses whatever fits its needs and can change on the whim of the Commander, Watch Commander or even secretary.

But we'd like to see them. Especially the ones where manpower is ridiculously low, with down cars and such. Based on the comments and our own reading of crime stats/maps, we'd especially like to see the following District sheets, all three watches:

• north side - 016, 017, 019, 020, 024
• south side - 008, 009, 022

We request the following though:

• black out the names and star numbers
• highlight stuff everyone should notice - training, detail out of District, "security," down cars, etc

Help us point out what horseshit Rahm (and Daley), Special Ed (and McCompStat) and every aldercreature has been shoveling for the past eight years or more.

(e-mail address in top right link bar)

Don't Enforce the Law?

Does anyone have a copy of the Administrative Fax that told Officers not to enforce the Winter Snow Ban Parking Regulations until notified to do so by the brass? Rumor has it that it went out under (surprise!) the Chief of Patrol's signature, thereby bypassing the legislative wishes of the City Council.

We can all agree that the Ordinance, as written, is nothing but a money grab that makes almost no sense to logical thinking people. But those "logical thinking people" are also among those voting assorted aldermorons into office on a regular basis, so you can say they bring it upon themselves. Plus, there are signs just about everywhere, and flyers this time for Pete's sake.

The Department doesn't (or shouldn't) get to pick and choose which ordinances get enforced. That's Crimesha's job.....no wait, that's not right either. Damn, now we're all confused.

So who wrote and towed all those cars if the Department was ordered not to? Streets and San? Revenue? Vanecko and Sons Towing?

Not Guilty Plea

Procedural move?

• A not-guilty plea was entered in federal court by a former Chicago police commander charged with stealing Social Security funds in a scheme lasting more than 23 years.
  
  Federal prosecutors allege Kenneth Johnson bilked the Social Security Administration out of $363,064 from about June 1994 to November 2017.
  
  The 54-year-old Johnson entered the plea during his first appearance in U.S. District Court. The charges were filed in November.
  
  Details of the scheme were not revealed. It was not immediately determined if Johnson has legal representation.

Is this guy taking advise from indicted aldercreature Willie Cochran? The feds have 23 years of cashed checks. Even Crimesha Foxxx could win this one. And then there's this from last month's article:

• Defendants charged by criminal information typically plead guilty.

Is he talking? Signs are pointing that way.

Read the Signs!

The most amusing night of the year:

• Nearly 300 vehicles have been towed for violations since the city’s winter parking ban took effect 3 a.m. Saturday, according to the Chicago Department of Streets and Sanitation.
  
  The ban is enforced regardless of snow on 107 miles of main streets across the city between 3 a.m. and 7 a.m. until April 1.
  
  Flyers were posted on vehicles parked on routes affected by the ban over the weekend in an effort to remind motorists to move their cars, the department said.

Flyers posted on vehicles? We guess they can't say they weren't warned. This seems like a higher than normal number of vehicles.

Whose Alley is This?

From a reader:

That seems like a bit of overkill. Is this Rahm's alley? Doesn't seem like it. Maybe some Streets and San boss? Possible. Burke's house? The possibilities are amusing. Especially with two days of rain and 40 degree weather coming this weekend.

There Are No Shortages

Unless you live north in a "quiet" neighborhood:

So that's nine officers total patrolling the entirety of the 017 District. Four High Schools have six officers. Five other inside people....and they still managed to send someone to "implicit bias" training. But hey, no bid openings and no plans for any.

Hockey Pucks?

This is about the dumbest idea ever:

• To prepare for an active shooter, faculty and students at Oakland University are arming themselves — with hockey pucks. The idea of using the quirky self-defense tool grew out of a training session Police Chief Mark Gordon led in March for faculty members on what they should do if a gunman enters their classroom.
  
  A participant asked what people could bring to campus to be better prepared in case they need to fight back. The university has a no-weapons policy.
  
  Gordon's advice? Be ready to throw something — anything — that could distract a shooter, even a hockey puck, as a last resort if fleeing or hiding aren't an option. "It was just kind of a spur-of-the-moment idea that seemed to have some merit to it and it kind of caught on," Gordon said.

A regular schmo can throw a fastball at about 40 to 50 MPH. Inaccurately. And they forgot the most important piece of equipment:

That would make it quicker....and you could use the stick as a weapon afterwards.