The Great Hat Debate

So, which one?

Choice A - skull cap:

 Choice B - Rocky the Squirrel:

We owned both. 

Time for Some Water Cannons

A question asked quite a few years back by us, and this past summer by others, and finally by our old friend over at CrimeFileNews:

• If the goal is to reduce injuries, then we need to stop pretending that chemical agents and kinetic projectiles are “gentler” options. Tear gas, pepper spray, rubber bullets, and impact munitions put people in emergency rooms. Sometimes they put them in hospitals. Always they create lawsuits, especially in blue states where juries reward bad behavior with lottery-sized verdicts.

  There is a better tool, and it works.

  Properly used water cannon trucks drastically reduce injuries. No chemicals. No burns. No broken bones. No permanent damage. Just water. A lot of it.

This would be especially effective in the current weather conditions (especially in Minnesota) - a light spray directed in conjunction with the strong midwestern breezes and all the protests would evaporate long before the resulting ice crystals would melt. Salt trucks on standby and any disruption would be minimal.

Have you seen the videos of Minnesota pantifa rioters pulling over cars and going through them, looking for evidence of ICE involvement? Or these same terrorists accosting citizens on the street wearing anything red, white and blue, and making them remove it in order to pass safely along city streets? This is supposed to be America, but the communists are in full control as police are ordered to stand down and do nothing.

Smoke, Fire?

This was all over the comments over the weekend:

• Joseph Vecchio racked up more complaints than any other officer in his six years on the Chicago Police Department, many of them stemming from his work on a tactical team that’s developed a notorious reputation.

  Vecchio was stripped of his policing powers late last year after the city’s police oversight boss told Supt. Larry Snelling about the “concerning number of complaints” he faced.

  He had been the subject of 76 investigations since he joined the department in October 2019, wrote LaKenya White, the interim chief administrator of the Civilian Office of Police Accountability. At the time, he faced allegations of domestic abuse, civil rights violations and providing false statements about traffic stops involving guns.

And whose name is all over this budding scandal?

• Barz

Seventy-six complaints in six years. Fifteen lawsuits. Settlements already in the six digit totals.

What can we say that hasn't been said already? 

Scandal Growing?

They're certainly taking their time at this:

• Three more Chicago Police Department employees, including a sergeant, face firing for fraudulently obtaining federal Paycheck Protection loans during the pandemic.

  The new actions bring to 11 the number of sustained PPP fraud cases culminating from internal investigations conducted by retiring Inspector General Deborah Witzburg.

  She’s accusing the sergeant of obtaining a pair of PPP loans totaling nearly $40,000, along with a separate small-business loan for $6,000. The sergeant’s former partner also obtained a PPP loan after submitting a loan application with identical information. The third employee is a police civilian.

  Three more cases are awaiting responses from city department heads. Four other “completed sustained cases” will be going out in the next few days, and Witzburg said she is “on track to close at least” a dozen additional cases over the next 60 days.

  After repeated clashes with Mayor Brandon Johnson on a host of ethics issues, Witzburg decided not to seek another term. Her four-year term expires in April.

  That means that she will leave office long before 80 additional PPP fraud cases in various stages of investigation have been brought to a close. 

Eighty more cases. We're thinking this is now being slow-walked through the media in order to paint the Department is as bad a light as possible over as long a time frame as possible running up to the election next year. 

There might even be some Contract negotiations coming up that would be adversely impacted by dragging these cases out when the FOP and PBPA ask for raises or work rule changes.

And two of the names currently under investigation - the sons of high ranking former exempt members? One has to wonder where they learned their corrupt ways, right?

Gary Bears

Indiana making their pitch: 

• The City of Gary, Indiana released renderings of what a Bears stadium in the area could look like if Chicago's football team decides to move outside of Illinois.

  On a website called "bearstadiumdistrict.com," the City of Gary, Indiana shared renderings of its "bold vision for a new Bears Stadium District" anchored by the I-80 and I-94 corridor in Northwest Indiana. 

Remember, Fata$$ and Conehead want ILLEGAL ALIENS here more than they want a stadium that would provide thousands of union jobs during construction and even more jobs over the long term associated with running a stadium, including concessions, delivery, maintenance and hospitality employment.

Not to mentions tens (perhaps hundreds) of millions in tax revenue. 

There it Is

A couple people didn't believe us:

 Seems to be true.

Baseball Hats Gone?

On one hand, it didn't look good with any of the uniform combinations currently in service.

On the other, it did cover up a lot of really bad haircuts.

Any chance Larritorious brings back shorts? Those looked great with the black socks....very Eastern European grandpa-looking.

Overdose Deaths Drop

And the media mentions every cause they can think of....except one:

• U.S. overdose deaths fell through most of last year, suggesting a lasting improvement in an epidemic that had been worsening for decades.

  Federal data released Wednesday showed that overdose deaths have been falling for more than two years — the longest drop in decades — but also that the decline was slowing. 

  [...] 

  Researchers cannot yet say with confidence why deaths have gone down. Experts have offered multiple possible explanations: increased availability of the overdose-reversing drug naloxone, expanded addiction treatment, shifts in how people use drugs, and the growing impact of billions of dollars in opioid lawsuit settlement money.

  Some also point to research that suggests the number of people likely to overdose has been shrinking, as fewer teens take up drugs and many illicit drug users have died.

They even try to give credit to the Chinese communists for regulatory changes, as if the Chinese government wasn't one of the driving forces for destabilizing the US via cheap opioids.

But not a single mention of exploding drug boats and submarines in the Gulf. Nor anything about the southern border beings closed to business as usual. Wouldn't want to give credit to a program that works and sometimes doesn't leave any repeat offenders around for another go. 

No Riots?

And almost no mention in the local rags:

• The Maryville woman who died after being shot by an Illinois State Police trooper is being remembered by her family as a “devoted mother.” Rachel E. Tarrence, 40, died on Jan. 4 after she struck an ISP squad car in East St. Louis and then drove toward a trooper who shot her, authorities said. A spokesperson for Illinois State Police said Monday the investigation into Tarrence’s death is still ongoing.
  

Guess there isn't any political angle.

Fata$$, you going to jump om this or what? 

The Signs Were There

And the exempt staff knew it:

• The cop who fatally shot his tactical team partner during a chase on the South Side last year initially had his appointment to that unit blocked by a top Chicago Police Department official because of his disciplinary history, but that decision was reversed less than a year later even though he’d racked up more complaints, records obtained by Illinois Answers Project and the Chicago Sun-Times show.

  Officer Carlos Baker applied to the Gresham District’s tactical team in March 2024 with the blessing of his commander. But Jon Hein, the department’s chief of patrol, quashed the move, citing Baker’s lengthy disciplinary history, according to an internal memo.

And the commander who backed him before Heiniken stopped it?

• Each time he applied, Baker had the backing of his district commander, Michael Tate, who worked under Supt. Larry Snelling in areas of the department where Snelling had held top command positions earlier in his career. Tate was promoted late last year to street deputy, a high-ranking position responsible for responding to and commanding the scene at major events citywide.

When unqualified political appointees appoint the next wave of incompetents.

Another Parolee?

Always the same people....or folks:

• Three men, including a recent parolee, are charged with firing guns down a West Side street Sunday afternoon before attempting to flee police in a chase that ended with a violent rollover crash on the Eisenhower Expressway, according to Chicago police reports.

  Officers monitoring a Chicago Police Department surveillance camera saw a silver Infiniti Q50 stop in the 3700 block of West Lexington Avenue shortly before 4:30 p.m., police said. Three men got out of the vehicle and began firing guns in multiple directions, including toward passing cars and an apartment building. Investigators later recovered handgun and rifle casings at the scene.

  Patrol units and surveillance camera operators tracked the Infiniti intermittently as it moved through the area. When officers located the car, the driver sped onto the Eisenhower Expressway, police said. Near the Independence Boulevard overpass, the driver tried to pass another vehicle, lost control, and crashed. The Infiniti rolled over, ejecting the driver, who was taken to Stroger Hospital. Police said he was issued traffic citations, but is not charged in the shooting investigation.

Democrats love their criminals and will do anything to keep them out of prison, from the SAFE-T Act to early parole for violent felons who shouldn't be getting day-for-day credit to ILLEGAL ALIENS who don't belong here in the first place:

 

Someone Found Some Money?

Did Rahm's money tree re-appear?

• Transit leaders could vote to create a regional transit police force next January, and new “transit ambassadors” could be monitoring the CTA, Metra and Pace by July of next year. By this November, commuters should have a regional transit app to file complaints and report crimes.

  Those are some of the new security measures required in the Northern Illinois Transit Authority Act, signed last month by Gov. JB Pritzker, which will overhaul the metro’s transit system. The Regional Transportation Authority laid out an updated timeline of the measures at its Thursday board meeting.

  Nothing changes until the law goes into effect June 1. That’s when the law eliminates the RTA board and replaces it with a NITA board, which will have new powers over policy and fare setting.

So....new uniforms? Who's doing the design? Equipment? Weapons? Promotion exams? 

Are they going to staff it with some of Conehead's 150 guard detail?

So many questions. 

Narrative Destroyed Again

Our old acquaintance, Jack Dunphy, writes what is one of the better articles about the Minneapolis shooting:

• It’s been a challenge to keep up with the shifting narratives in the death of Renee Good, the woman shot and killed by an ICE agent in Minneapolis last week.

  We were first told she was just a young mom who was not involved in any organized effort to impede ICE operations, and that she was merely trying to make a U-turn when she was senselessly murdered by an ICE agent (a curious claim given that Portland Avenue, where the shooting occurred, is a one-way street). This gave way to the admission that she was indeed actively harassing ICE agents before she was killed, but the shooting was nonetheless unwarranted because Good’s Honda Pilot had not struck the agent who shot her. Then, as additional videos emerged showing the Pilot striking the agent, the narrative changed yet again. Okay, we were told, the Pilot hit him, but not that hard, and it was his own fault because he shouldn’t have been standing there in the first place.

  More information has come to light since I wrote about the case last week, the accumulation of which has served to put the lie to claims that Good was “murdered” and that the shooting was utterly without legal justification. CNN has assembled a timeline of the shooting using the videos available thus far, and though I would quibble with some of CNN reporter Kyung Lah’s narration, the videos offer a fairly complete look at how the event unfolded.

When the lib-tards have lost CNN's one-sided "reporting," you know that the narrative has been lost. And Dunphy buries it under Supreme Court case law and simple explanations that anyone (aside from a mentally deficient democrat voter) could follow.

The constantly evolving leftist narrative that....

• the Officer didn't get hit;
• maybe the car brushed against him;
• that's okay because he wasn't injured;

....was completely destroyed when it was reported that the Officer suffered internal bleeding from the vehicle strike. We don't care if the internal bleeding was a simple bruise - the vehicle was used as a deadly weapon, so deadly force is authorized under every single State and Federal Law in existence.

Defund These Idiots

Remember the Minnesota teachers who couldn't spell the word "Justice" on their signs, and we speculated that the CTU members were probably instructing them?

Looks like we were right on the money: 

That's a real CTU poster....and they can't spell "governor."

But they want all sorts of money, all the time, and more of it. 

Business Trip Failed?

Remember this from October of 2024?

• Mayor Brandon Johnson's trip to London is officially underway.

  The mayor said he is making the trip to try and woo businesses to come to Chicago.

  "I'm going to London to try to attract business to Chicago," Johnson said a press conference earlier this week.

  The trip, paid for by World Business Chicago, also includes taking in Sunday's game between the Bears and Jacksonville at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

He took how many dozens of staff and bodyguards along?

Now, remember this from our post yesterday?

• Chicago businesses reported the lowest recorded employment score since May 2009, according to the Chicago Business Barometer.

  For the second consecutive month, no survey respondents reported increased employment.

  The analysis gave Chicago an overall score of 43.5 in December 2025, the 25th consecutive month of decline. A score below 50 indicates decline.

So it's safe to say Conehead's "business trip" didn't generate a damn thing for Chicago except to spend more taxpayer money....money that doesn't exist or that has to be "raised" from increasing taxes. Again.

Thanks to the reader who left a comment about this - we had forgotten "the business trip that generated no business." 

Pension Trustee Election

Via a number of people - the relevant info regarding the election:

• In preparation for the upcoming special election, the Fund is sending this email notification to all eligible annuitant voters who have a valid email address on record with the Fund. The IEA will also be emailing credentials and instructions for casting a vote to all eligible annuitant voters who have a valid email address on record with the Fund in order to ensure eligible voters are aware of the process to cast a vote. The email from the IEA is scheduled to be sent during the day the polls open, January 29, 2026.  It will be sent from the email address noreply@directvote.net.
   
  Election materials will be sent by both email and USPS mail. Please be on the lookout for emails and notifications in the mail for the special election.
   
  Only annuitants who are eligible to vote in this special election will be receiving notice via email and USPS mail. Be on the lookout for these notices.
   
  Voting for the Annuitant Trustee Special Election will begin on Thursday, January 29, 2026 and will continue through 11:59 pm (Central Standard Time) on Monday, February 9, 2026.

Keep an eye out.

Garrido Replies

We took him to task on the front page, so it's only proper his reply doesn't get buried in the comments:

• Wow. I had no idea I had so many fans here. LMAO.
  
  We all know how the media operates. They take what they want and edit it to fit their narrative. This particular reporter has treated me fairly in past interviews, so I was willing to take that chance.
  
  We spoke for about 25 minutes. Roughly 30 seconds aired. That is exactly why I prefer live interviews. You can’t edit those.
  
  If you watched my Facebook post before the story aired, my position was very clear:
  
  https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1D44pnGPVs/
  
  So why do I talk to the media at all?
  
  Because it gives me an opportunity to speak up for officers when they can’t, and to hold leadership accountable when it’s warranted. Up until this interview, that’s exactly how it’s played out.
  
  I did misspeak on one factual point, and I want to correct it.
  
  She initially cut the wheels to the left while in reverse. That action repositioned the vehicle and placed the agent directly in her path. She then accelerated hard. The only reason she did not completely run him over was because her wheels spun on the ice.
  
  The comment about her “not acting in an aggressive manner” was taken out of context. I explained to them that her behavior became aggressive the moment she put the vehicle in gear.
  
  When asked why the agent would have been anywhere near the front of the vehicle, I explained that he had already made one pass around the car and that, at the moment he passed the driver’s window, she did not appear to be acting in an aggressive manner.
  
  He then moved to the passenger side and slightly toward the vehicle. She again changed the situation by putting the car in reverse and cutting the wheels, which repositioned the vehicle and placed him in front of it.
  
  And no, I am not running for anything.
  
  The "dig" at the President and the Secretary was also pulled out of context. After laying out the reasons this keeps happening and the politicians that encourage this type of behavior; the clip was reduced to a throwaway sound bite.
  
  I do believe there should be an investigation. I don't think calling this a “done deal” before the facts are fully reviewed is a good idea. That said, I have no doubt the investigation will ultimately find the agent was completely justified.
  
  I appreciate all the "love" you all have for me, but my purpose in speaking to the media has never changed. It is to say what officers often cannot and to shine a light on the incompetence of our elected leadership. It has worked out more times than not over the last few years.
  
  In my opinion, it's better than saying nothing at all and never getting our side out there. Sometimes they get me, which is why I need to avoid the recorded interviews.
  
  My social media presence is what allows me to do that and it has also helped build an incredible animal rescue that saves lives every day.
  
  I’m not responding again. So haters, have at it.
  
  Happy New Year.

All well and good that he recognizes what the media does, but if he had realized that BEFORE the interview along with slanted editing the media always does, he could have avoided being used as a cudgel to smack law enforcement around.

At least he replied. Hopefully, he doesn't do it again. 

Stick with Rescuing Dogs

Sometimes retirement makes you stupider:

• Retired Chicago Police Lieutenant John Garrido told the ABC7 Chicago I-Team that Good did not appear to be acting in an aggressive manner. "She first cuts her wheels to the right, and when she backs up, it actually repositions her car. Now facing him. He doesn't move that much," Garrido said.

  Her moving the other way then is what brings him dead center on the driver's side of the vehicle. And when that happens, it's all a split second."

  The I-Team asked if it is best practice to position yourself in front of a vehicle.

  "Well, no, so normally you wouldn't want to be standing in front of a vehicle," Garrido said. "The vehicle backs up and the front of her car realigns and repositions, and that's how he ends up where he is... "

The clowns at ABC created a straw man out of whole cloth and Garrido walked right into it:

• the ICE Officer didn't "position [him]self." He was moving to assist the Officer at the driver side window.

But there goes Garrido, interpreting the media created narrative as the "truth" when we've seen at least four other videos that show completely different perspectives and fall well within Federal Use of Force guidelines AND Supreme Court decisions where "a reasonable police officer's" interpretation of unfolding events must be given proper weight and consideration.

Under Garrido's wording, he could be seen as supporting the "victimization" of Lil Homicide being unarmed - a confrontation that took about as much time as the ICE Officer's interpretation of a 3,000 pound vehicle coming at him in tenths-of-seconds....after he had been hit and dragged six months prior.

This is why you don't talk to the press regarding active investigations, especially when trying to pass yourself off as some sort of "expert" like that other retired lieutenant (B.A.). Both of these idiots seem to be trying to secure future appearances in the media by throwing Officers under the leftist narrative. 

Garrido must still have electoral ambitions seeing as how he takes a dig at the President and the Secretary of Homeland Security.

Interesting Development

So why does this guy get held over?

• DUPAGE COUNTY, Ill. - A judge has ordered a suburban Chicago man to remain in custody after police reportedly found a loaded gun during a traffic stop in Naperville over the weekend.

  Prosecutors said 30-year-old Deion Kidd, a convicted felon from Plainfield, appeared in court Monday morning and a judge granted the state's request to deny him pretrial release.

  He is charged with aggravated unlawful possession of a weapon with a previous felony conviction, another count of aggravated unlawful possession of a weapon, and several misdemeanor and petty offenses, including resisting a police officer and having open alcohol in a vehicle.

Are DuPage judges more intelligent than Cook County judges?

We all know that answer. 

Or did DuPage get tipped off by Porkulous that being tough on crime was now the "in" thing and this is the beginning of a new trend?

Seeing DuPage voting patterns the past few elections, a distinct possibility. 

Look Conehead - Money!

Tens of millions of dollars!

• Over half of Chicago Public Schools are underutilized, but the 10 emptiest schools cost nearly double per student the district average.

  At least 255 school buildings are underutilized, according to recent data from CPS for the current 2025-2026 school year. That means those schools’ enrollments decreased below 70% of their ideal capacity and “classroom spaces are unused and/or inefficiently programmed.”

  Empty schools mean high costs.

And Illinois Policy helpfully includes a table showing the most obvious places to make cuts:

The savings based simply on per-student spending at these ten schools?

• just over $36 million

We don't know exactly what the per-student totals include (salaries of teachers and staff, running the physical building itself, maintenance and upkeep, capital improvements) but that $36 million is obviously on the low side. Stretch it out over a five-or-ten-year span and the savings really start to add up. 

But expecting a democrat not to raise taxes might be a bridge too far. 

Tax Base Shrinking

Someone discovered a 2022 video of the McDonald's CEO saying he couldn't get execs to agree to move to Chicago because of crime concerns. Here's the article:

• In a recently unearthed 2022 video, McDonald’s CEO Chris Kempczinski warned Chicago business leaders about the city’s escalating crime crisis, calling it “increasingly difficult” to operate globally from there. In a viral clip, he noted executives’ reluctance to relocate to Chicago, emphasizing the company’s commitment is not “open-ended” or “unconditional” due to shareholder obligations.

  In the same clip, posted to social media, journalists highlighted it as a “stark warning,” suggesting the headquarters might leave after decades. Conservatives on social media blasted the woke city, pointing to the reality of societal decay from deficits, homelessness, violence, and fraud.

  In any case, the clip of the CEO began with a journalist introducing the leader of the fast-food giant’s comments. “The CEO of McDonald’s is making a stunning revelation to other corporate CEOs: Chicago, crime is making it very hard to do business,” a reporter noted.

Here's a link to the video.

For those keeping track, Chicago lost another three of the Fortune 500 Corporate HQs in the intervening three years, dropping Chicago down to only twenty-five of the top companies.

If you really really want to get into the weeds, check out this article from Illinois Policy showing job growth hasn't just ground to a halt in Illinois, it's shrinking:

• Chicago businesses reported the lowest recorded employment score since May 2009, according to the Chicago Business Barometer.

  For the second consecutive month, no survey respondents reported increased employment.

  The analysis gave Chicago an overall score of 43.5 in December 2025, the 25th consecutive month of decline. A score below 50 indicates decline.

Not a single Illinois company reported employment growth for the second consecutive month and the state-wide unemployment rate climbed from 4.1% to 4.5% (nationally it's 4.3%). The only growth sector was :::surprise!!!::: in government, meaning more taxes from a shrinking tax base. That is NOT a good model. 

Deadbeat Groot

Anyone actually surprised that someone who was a disaster of a mayor is a disaster throughout life?

• [paywalled Tribune article] Former Mayor Lori Lightfoot was sued late last year for unpaid credit card debt, records show.

  Lightfoot was served in October at her Chicago home with a lawsuit from JPMorgan Chase Bank for allegedly failing to pay about $11,078 in bills, according to a copy of the complaint filed in Cook County Circuit Court.

  The suit says that Lightfoot did not object to the bank’s last statement issued before it declared her debt a charge-off in March. Her last payment on the card was in August 2025, amounting to $5,000, and her next court hearing in the case is in December, according to the complaint.

  Through a spokesperson, Lightfoot declined comment on Monday.

Funny how this happened in October, but it didn't hit the media until yesterday. Almost like they're covering for Groot in case she decided to run again. She shouldn't be hurting for cash:

• [Groot has been] serving as a visiting professor at the University of Michigan’s Ford School of Public Policy as well as teaching at Harvard University and the University of Chicago’s Institute of Politics.

• She reported taking out $210,000 in early distributions from retirement accounts that year to supplement her mayoral salary.

  While working as a partner at law firm Mayer Brown before becoming mayor, Lightfoot reported an average adjusted gross income of $971,626 from 2014 through 2017.

And speaking of loser mayors, anyone want to call in to this disaster?

• Mayor Brandon Johnson returns to WBEZ 91.5 on Tuesday to answer listener questions live on the morning talk show “In the Loop” with host Sasha-Ann Simons. Listeners can call in at 866-915-WBEZ to present their concerns directly starting at 9 a.m.

A couple ideas for questions:

• have you paid that water bill yet or is does the position of mayor absolve you of pending debt....like Groot?
• is your actual residence in Lombard as rumor has it and not the 015 District pretend address?
• who does your hair?

Additional suggestions in the comments. 

Strike Fifty-Seven?

Again, why is someone like this wandering the streets? Oh yeah....democrats:

• A man with a long history of randomly attacking people in the Loop has pleaded guilty to viciously, randomly attacking a man with a pipe in the heart of downtown, but despite that history, the resolution of the case will not require him to spend any time in prison.

You can read the entire story at the CWB link up top.

But seriously, fifty-seven arrests while Porkulous and Kwame are suing regarding ILLEGAL ALIENS who shouldn't be here and the legislature sits on their thumbs as voters are victimized over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over again.

Still Entertaining

Must be our dark sense of humor:

• The decision by Mayor Brandon Johnson to remove gunfire detection technology from Chicago streets led to delayed emergency responses for three more shooting victims on Sunday night and Monday morning. No one called 911 to report the gunfire in either case, leaving one victim to flag down a passing patrol car for help while another waited more than eight minutes for the police to find her.

  Johnson ended the city’s relationship with ShotSpotter in September 2024 despite opposition from a supermajority of the City Council and the desires of CPD Supt. Larry Snelling. Since then, at least 71 shooting victims have experienced longer waits than necessary for first responders to locate them. About half of those victims have died.

Again, this was always the World's Most Expensive Shell Casing Finder although it did have the added "benefit" of getting police to shooting locations faster. 

But that came with the extreme downside risk of actually confronting a shooter, meaning that 95% of the time (stats via HeyJackass.com), an oppressed individual was in danger of going to jail, or worse, being shot by the police, and Conehead couldn't have that.

Isolated, Targeted or Random?

We still like many medical persons:

• A Rush University Medical Center employee was critically wounded in a shooting near the hospital Monday morning.

  The employee, 23, was parked outside in the 600 block of South Paulina Street about 5:25 a.m. when a dark-colored car pulled up and someone inside opened fire, hitting her multiple times, Chicago police said.

  The employee, who was in the driver’s seat of a black Jeep SUV, was transported to John H. Stroger Jr. Hospital in critical condition, police said.

We always liked to think that certain areas and people were "off limits" to certain sorts of misbehavior. Doctors, nurses, firefighters, teachers, nuns and clergy, even a lot of social workers - they're stuck where they are because they're helping others. Unfortunately, the last few years of our careers disabused us of much of that sentiment, so we were forced to decide on a case-by-case basis who was deserving of sympathy or concern. 

That list got awfully small awfully quickly.

Minnesota Morons

It seems the Minneapolis Teachers have forced the closure of all schools until mid-February after the shooting of the ICE assailant.

It also seems that the Chicago Teachers Union is instructing them on how to make signs:

And this is an intersection in Minneapolis where immigration enforcement was to be undertaken:

Funny, we thought they didn't like fences or border walls.

Things change. 

 

Nice Pinch

We have to wonder though, how much of this goes undetected?

• Two California women have been charged after authorities say they were caught transporting large quantities of suspected cocaine through Chicago O’Hare International Airport this week.

  According to the Drug Enforcement Administration, the investigation began with an intelligence lead that prompted agents to monitor incoming flights from Los Angeles.

  On January 5, 2026, DEA personnel identified Nancy Ramos, 20, of Huntington Park, California, after she arrived at O’Hare.

  Investigators said Ramos agreed to a search of her checked luggage after a narcotics detection dog alerted to possible drugs inside. During the search, officers allegedly discovered about 13 kilograms — nearly 29 pounds — of suspected cocaine concealed in her bags.

  Agents later located Vanessa Perez, 27, of Los Angeles, after she arrived at O’Hare. A consensual search of her checked luggage allegedly revealed an additional nine kilograms — almost 20 pounds — of suspected cocaine, authorities said.

Back-to-back pinches like that indicate at least one thing to us - that this is just scrapping the surface of a massive problem. No one transports almost fifty pounds of blow through O'Hare airport as a first-time effort....you work up to it over an extended period of time.

By the way, neither one is being held in custody:

• Judge Shauna Boliker denied a detention petition for Ramos and ordered her released on electronic monitoring, according to court records. Prosecutors did not seek detention for Perez. Judge Antara Rivera released her pending trial.

Let's see if they show up at the next court hearing....or if they "disappear" after losing fifty pounds of cocaine.

Another "Isolated" Stabbing

And on the CTA....again:

• A man was stabbed and seriously injured during an argument aboard a Red Line train on the South Side overnight, marking at least the second stabbing reported on the city’s train lines this weekend.

  Officers responded to reports of a person stabbed on the 69th Street platform around 2:52 a.m. and found a 34-year-old man with stab wounds to his neck and chest, an officer at the scene said.

  The Chicago Fire Department transported him to the University of Chicago Hospital, where he was listed in serious condition. 

There are already thousands of "No Guns" signs on the CTA, stations, platforms and train. How long until Conehead proposes banning knives like England?

Somebody commented that the Park District OT was cancelled to redirect extra bodies to the trains in an attempt to stave off the threatened Federal cuts to money. True? 

UPDATE: Four stabbings on the CTA in under a week:

• Chicago police are investigating a string of stabbings on CTA property after a man was seriously wounded early Sunday on the Red Line, marking the fourth such attack in five days.

When the federal funding disappears before summer and Porkulous refuses to direct any state funds to Conehead, how much is he going to attempt to raise taxes overnight? 

These Idiots

They're multiplying across all avenues.

We're still boycotting pro sports, right?

• NBA coach Steve Kerr spoke to reporters Friday, telling them, “It’s shameful…we can have law enforcement officers who commit murder” and a government that will “come out and lie about what happened.”

At first, we thought Kerr had finally pulled his head out of his ass and was going to condemn the Capitol Police for shooting an unarmed female who committed at most Criminal Trespass, but no. Kerr chooses to ignore dozens of video recordings showing a woman using a two-ton vehicle as a battering ram against law enforcement.

Kerr was always a moron, but as a head coach instead of being part of MJs supporting cast, he has a bigger platform via which to display his ignorance

And after yesterday's so-called male police chief crying over a different assailant using (surprise!) a car as a deadly weapon again, there's this DEI moron:

• Philadelphia Sheriff Rochelle Bilal — employing hipster slang and evoking a call-and-response chant — on Friday called federal immigration agents “fake, wannabe” law enforcement and claimed their actions violate both “legal law” and “moral law.”

  The sheriff, elected and sworn into office in 2020, echoed a threat from Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner who warned that federal law enforcement officials who commit crimes in Philadelphia will be arrested and prosecuted.

  “So, I’m with the DA,” Bilal said. “You don’t want this smoke. Cuz we will bring it to you,” adding in a dig at President Donald Trump that “the criminal in the White House would not be able to keep” federal agents from going to jail.

One, we'll bet pretty much every single immigration officer could outperform this idiot physically and mentally across the board.

Second, Federal Supremacy would rule out 99% of what she claims would be done. The other 1% would be tied up in Federal Courts for longer than her term of office.

But between her and the Portland shemale chief, the open hostility directed toward front line officers makes us glad we left, because when the shit hit the fan, we know exactly who we'll be backing.

Back to the Old Way?

Everything old is new again:

• SCC I know your retired but shockingly snelling opened up a second round for merit picks for the current Sgt list from 2024

Back when "merit" started, the request for names went out prior to every promotional class, and once the class was named, they started over. This continuous "meri-clout-orious" list lasting for the duration of the list is a relatively recent invention, mostly because as the exempt ranks got stupider and stupider, they couldn't be relied on to make deadlines. 

Besides, as the political winds shift on a near-monthly basis and the "consent decree" rules screw up everything with insane requirements, whomever might be "in" today could be "out" tomorrow.

What the Actual F@#$?

Is this what passes for a police chief nowadays? Or a man for that matter?

• Portland Police Chief Bob Day wiped away tears Friday as he addressed new information showing that two illegal immigrants shot during a federal immigration enforcement encounter had ties to the violent Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua (TdA).

  Day confirmed a Department of Homeland Security statement identifying the two individuals — Luis David Nico Moncada and Yorlenys Betzabeth Zambrano-Contreras — as Venezuelan criminal illegal aliens with suspected ties to TdA.

  Both were shot by a U.S. Customs and Border Protection agent after Moncada, the driver of the vehicle, allegedly "weaponized his vehicle" and attempted to run over agents, prompting an agent to fire in self-defense, according to DHS.

  "They do have some nexus to involvement with TDA. We can confirm that," Day said, pausing and choking up.

Just so we have this straight - he's crying because the government intelligence was correct about two ILLEGAL ALIEN GANGBANGERS who attempted to MURDER a Federal agent performing a legal and lawful action?

Has he been weeping like this for the other murder, rape, battery and robbery victims of these imported criminals?

Another "Isolated" CTA Murder

So very very isolated:

• A 37-year-old man was found stabbed to death aboard a Blue Line train in the Loop early Saturday morning.

  CPD and the fire department responded to the Clark-Lake station after the man was found unresponsive and bleeding on a train around 2:27 a.m. Investigators determined the man had suffered two stab wounds, one to the chest and one to the abdomen. He was taken to Northwestern Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

This keeps Chicago on track for under three-hundred homicides (seven every ten days).

Yes, we're being sarcastic. 

Sounds Familiar

Didn't Larritorious say this same thing a few months ago?

• Chicago Police Superintendent Larry Snelling has issued a blistering warning to radical activists and anti-border enforcement agitators.

  His message was clear: If you play stupid games with law enforcement, you will win stupid prizes.

  At a press conference on Monday, Snelling forcefully rejected social media posts alleging that Chicago police refused to help federal agents responding to violent situations last weekend.

  Instead, he defended the role of federal law enforcement and clarified that attacks against them, whether local, state, or federal, constitute deadly force and can legitimately trigger an armed defensive response.

It gets better:

• Snelling, who has not spoken about federal deployments in the city or across Illinois, said he has sought to “stay out of the politics of this,” but after hearing claims his officers did not respond to the calls for service, he felt it was necessary to “put all of that to rest.”

  “My leadership team are not political pawns. Their lives are too important to play politics with these men and women who face danger every single day,” he said. “This is not a game, this is not a joke. This is still our city and we still have a responsibility to maintain safety and calm in our city.”

  Snelling said none of his officers were seriously injured by the tear gas. He added that he’s spoken with federal leadership about the incidents, and that the feds were “extremely concerned” about the officers.

  Despite those discussions, the superintendent maintained that his department abides by the Illinois TRUST Act — which restricts local law enforcement, including sheriffs, from cooperating with federal immigration agents — and does not collect or share residents’ immigration status.

  But he also said his officers “cannot and will not” arrest federal agents conducting immigration enforcement operations in Chicago and implored residents not to interfere with those efforts

He almost sounds like someone running for office....as a Republican. Or at least a Libertarian.

Still a Cesspool

And still the same people (or folks):

• A seven-time convicted felon on pretrial release for allegedly bringing a stolen gun onto the Red Line this summer is now accused of sexually attacking a female CTA employee at the 95th Street station Sunday afternoon.

  The attack occurred at about 4:30 p.m. while the woman was working at the 95th Street Red Line, according to a Chicago Police Department report. Officers assigned to the station as part of the department’s recent public transit security surge were already on site when the victim ran to one of them and reported the attack.

Seven times convicted - imagine if there were a "three strikes" law on the books.

Then imagine there was cash bail for multiple felonies.

Then imagine winning a million dollars. 

Now They're Concerned?

Is there an election coming up or something?

• Gov. JB Pritzker set off a chain reaction last November when he told reporters he’d be open to changes in the SAFE-T Act, which eliminated cash bail and replaced it with a new pre-trial release/retention system, among other things.

  Pritzker was asked about the case of a woman, Bethany MaGee, who was horrifically set ablaze while riding on a Chicago commuter train.

  No direct link between the crime and the SAFE-T Act actually existed, but the news media pounced on Pritzker’s statement that he’d be open to changes, and several downstate county sheriffs and others jumped up with their own suggestions (although it seemed like at least some were mostly upset about the loss of revenues from cash bail).

Granted, this is part of a subcontracted opinion column, but obviously, crime is among the concerns of voters so democrats have to pretend to address it prior to the election season.