Federal Indictments Coming?

That federal lawsuit against Dart and the sheriff's office might be getting legs. Here's a little deeper dive into the brewing scandal over at the Cook County Record site:

• Sheriff's Office staff were allegedly "committing theft of" Covid relief funds;

  - "Three months of schedules had been falsified" for members of an "emergency response team" to receive hazard pay through the Federal Cares Act;

  - Sheriff's Office employees' "personal dogs" were being trained "with Cook County Sheriff's Office staff and County resources;" 

  - A Sheriff's Office executive "had an electronic signature for (Dart) that could be used to forge his signature on any documents," allegedly including payroll records;

  - "... Employees doing political work for (Dart's) re-election campaign in 2022," including time-off requests allegedly approved after the fact and cell phone and computer records showing county devices and paid time were used to work on Dart's campaign;

  - Executives within the Sheriff's Office were allegedly "manipulating job postings" and taking other actions to ensure their relatives and friends were hired for certain positions within the Sheriff's Office, among other allegations.

We can't post the entire lawsuit - it's over fifty pages - but there are a couple free sites that will allow you to download it if you register an email address with them. Here's one of them. There might be more if you search for Case Number 24 CV 13320.

As the plaintiff brought progress reports to Crimesha's office (who expressed no interest in rocking the Prickwrinkle boat that employed her and Dart) this scandal might spread farther than intended, especially if the new Administration wants to shake up things.

Beep Beep!! BEEEEEEP!!

"Why is this a$$hole parked in the middle of the street???"

• For more than two hours, a gunshot victim sat dead or dying inside an SUV on a Gage Park street Tuesday evening. His body was only discovered after a resident called 911 to complain because the vehicle had been running, double-parked, and occupied for so long.

  Nobody called 911 to report gunshots in the area or another nearby police district, according to dispatch records. Had Mayor Brandon Johnson not disconnected the city’s ShotSpotter network in September, the gunfire detection system would have been active on the block, and first responders could have learned about the shooting without waiting for someone to complain about the victim’s double-parked car.

For more than two-and-one-half hours.

According to CWB blog, this is the 27th dead or maimed gunshot victim that wasn't discovered or reported since Conehead decided the wrong gunshot detection system was being utilized.

Welcome to Indiana!

At least that's the hope:

• The Indiana House Republican Caucus announced its intent on Tuesday to redraw state lines and welcome dozens of Illinois counties that want to secede from their state.

  ”To all of our neighbors to the west, we hear your frustrations,” Indiana Speaker Todd Huston said.

  According to Speaker Huston, more than 30 Illinois counties have voted to secede from the Prairie State since 2020, with many expressing frustrations with high taxes.

  ”Instead of seceding and creating a 51st state, they should just join us,” Speaker Huston said.

  If HB 1008 passes, the Indiana General Assembly would create an “Indiana-Illinois Boundary Adjustment Commission” tasked with helping those Illinois counties become part of the Hoosier State.

Unfortunately, it will probably remain just a hope as we can't really see the Illinois legislature assisting this in any way. Even though it would undoubtedly be a good thing in their eyes to get rid of thirty or more red-voting counties, there's just no way they give up the land to Indiana. 

They might fund buses and U-Hauls to move the citizens out as long as they abandoned their property to resettle illegals.

Nice to be Connected

This was a comment, but it was so extensively footnoted, we felt it needed it's own post. It's about that guy who was caught with the fake bombs:

• The man placed in custody and taken to Area 1 after this incident is called Kameron Younger. Hopefully, this will be the last time the city ignores the many red flags Mr. Kameron Younger has been waving. In March of 2022, hours into his first day at the Chicago Fire Academy, Kameron Younger decided he had enough. Younger related to the Fire Academy administration; he was being targeted by a CFD academy instructor for extra push-ups and squats because he was African American. It should be noted that the instructor who Younger alleged targeted him was also African American. After signing paperwork documenting his intent to quit the Chicago Fire Department, Kameron Younger returned home and sent a text message containing a photo of himself drinking from a bottle of rum chata while holding an AR-15-style assault weapon to his fellow CFD recruits. Younger then told a relative that he had loaded up his car with two bags of guns, ammo, and a ballistic vest. Younger further related to his relative that he was driving to the Chicago Fire Academy to kill CFD recruits and Instructors.

  The relative called 911 and reported that Kameron Younger intended to and had taken several substantial steps to commit a mass shooting at the Chicago Fire academy. CPD responded with a heavy police presence and established a defensive parameter around the CFD academy. The CFD academy class of 115 recruits was locked down in a large interior room for the entire day and had CPD officers stationed right outside the room. Kameron Younger’s vehicle was spotted, and the PO’s called for backup; an armored swat vehicle responded. Kameron Younger was subsequently taken into custody by SWAT without incident. During the traffic stop, he sent another text to his CFD classmates before Younger was ordered to exit his vehicle. This time, he texted a photo of a pistol in his vehicle's cup holder and a picture of an armored swat vehicle 50 feet behind his car.

  Younger was never formally charged with any criminal offenses. Even though Younger 1) expressed his intent to commit a mass shooting to a relative and his CFD classmates. 2) took several substantial steps in furtherance of completing the mass shooting. 3) Was detained by Swat a few minutes south of the Fire Academy, heavily armed with enough ammunition and body armor to give CPD a run for their money.

  However, this wasn’t the first time CFD employees had threatened to shoot up the Fire academy, and their threats fell on deaf ears. In 2013, CFD recruit Juan Lopez was terminated from CFD and threatened to return to the academy to carry out a mass shooting that targeted his fellow classmates and CFD academy instructors. The city viewed Juan Lopez's threats as empty and meritless. On November 19th, 2018, Juan Lopez carried out a mass shooting at Mercy Hospital, where he Murdered P.O Samuel Jimenez and two other hospital employees.

  Two former city officials used their heavy political clout to ensure Kameron Younger was never charged with the attempted crime. The former city officials also got Kameron Younger a job as an instructor/ bartender at the Black Fire Brigade. Further flexing their clout, these former city officials pulled off the impossible and got Kameron Younger a Job with the City of Chicago Department of Public Health - Crisis Assistance and Response Team as an EMT. Shortly after being hired by the Chicago Department of Public Health, Mayor Brandon Johnson shared a photo of Kameron Younger on his Facebook page. The image is of Younger dressed in his black fire brigade uniform and holding a fire hose at a CTU back-to-school event.

  Sources: Google search- Kameron Younger, the first linked story is the second search result.

  https://wgntv.com/news/wgn-investigates/police-stop-fired-cfd-candidate-who-threatened-to-shoot-up-academy/

  https://wgntv.com/news/wgn-investigates/bomb-squad-responds-after-contractors-spot-real-looking-gun-and-explosives/

  https://x.com/ChicagoContrar1/status/1878975904950681994

Seems like all of the warning signs are there, and have been for quite a while. So what's being done about it? Besides getting him connected jobs, not unlike the naked crack whore who tried to kill an Officer with his own squad car.

Voter Fraud Footage?

Cameras are so ubiquitous nowadays that people forget that they're there.

Like this vote counter in California. Seems she forgot and ran the same pile of ballots through the counting machine THREE times, all on video:

• Link Here
  

One has to wonder how much closer elections might be if all the fraud was eliminated, even though democrats tell us it never happens.

More Millions Gone

Remember during COVID how Chicago Public Schools bought crap-tacular chrome books for every student to "learn" remotely? Tens of millions on sub-par computers with network connections that were worse than anything in existence at the time. They even had tracking software installed at tremendous expense, but refused to activate it when thousands (tens of thousands?) of devices were reported "lost."

The computers have started turning up:

• Thousands of electronic devices belonging to the Chicago Public Schools ended up overseas after being lost and stolen, according to a new report from the CPS Office of the Inspector General.

  At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic when kids were learning from home, lost and stolen device numbers skyrocketed. But nearly five years later, lost and stolen electronic devices remain an issue that is costing CPS a lot of money when the school district is facing major budget issues.

  Altogether, tens of thousands of laptops, iPads, and cellphone hot spots were lost or stolen during the 2023-2024 school year.

  Thousands of those devices—bought and paid for with Chicagoans' tax dollars—have ended up in other countries.

  A total of 8,346 devices were detected outside of Illinois. A majority of them ended up overseas in 140 countries—including Azerbaijan, Barbados, China, Ethiopia, Jordan and Nicaragua.

No idea how all of these computers ended up in foreign countries without passports. Of course, we could say the same thing a couple years later when tens of thousands of illegals ended up here without passports.

But that seems to be a theme with democrats - support everyone else except Americans with tax dollars. Conehead will just raise taxes again to cover it.

It Was Always Poison

The more time goes on and the more information that becomes available, the "vaccinations" appear to have been a crime against humanity.

So when are we going to hold these politicians - including Groot - responsible for this f#$%ing disastrous policy?

• The largest COVID-19 'vaccine' safety study ever conducted, involving 99 million 'vaccinated' individuals, confirmed that the injections are NOT SAFE. They dramatically increased the risks of:
  
  1. Up to a 610% increased risk of myocarditis following mRNA platform injection.
  2. 378% increased risk of acute disseminated encephalomyelitis (ADEM) following mRNA injection.
  3. 323% increased risk of cerebral venous sinus thrombosis (CVST) following viral-vector injection.
  4. 249% increased risk of Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS) following viral-vector injection.
   
  https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38350768/

Trials and prison are the only cure to this particular disease.

Keep Voting

Remember, you can vote ONCE a day, EVERY day. Multiple times a day from multiple devices if you have a home computer, a laptop, even a phone. It's almost like voting!

• State Flag Voting Link

Remember, Illinois is broke and doesn't have the money to waste on this crap. Remind the politicians of that fact.

Another $4 Million Gone

Conehead's new School Board needed a new meeting room for some reason....kind of like Mrs Conehead needed 80K in new furniture for an office she wasn't elected to and uses maybe a couple times a month. So they spent $4 million on redecorating this:

We're pretty sure when our kids were in school, the local school board met in the gymnasium or the cafeteria on a monthly basis. 

No word about why the board couldn't (A) meet where they always met or (B) met at one of hte underutilized schools that are at 10% capacity of less. Plenty of seating and parking at those locations for anyone who wanted to attend.

Great Job Conehead

Just making it worse as he goes along - another downgrade:

• Ratings agency S&P downgraded the city of Chicago’s general obligation debt late Monday, citing structural imbalance in the just-passed 2025 budget, limited options for new revenue down the line, and a lack of willingness among city leadership to cut spending.

  S&P analyst Scott Nees said in a release that Mayor Brandon Johnson’s 2025 budget left a “sizable structural budgetary imbalance that we expect will make balancing the budget in 2026 and outyears more challenging.”

  A downgrade isn’t only a reputational hit; It could also increase the city’s cost to borrow money for long-term projects like Johnson’s $1.25 billion housing and development bond, which is slated to go to market early this year.

The First Rule of Holes is when you're in one, stop digging. But here's Conehead readying a $1.25 billion bond to be sold via connected banks so that his people can get "their share" of the bribes, kickbacks and percentages that always accompany deals like these.

But don't worry - there's still one more step to go before total insolvency:

• The BBB rating means the city has “adequate capacity to meet financial commitments,” according to S&P, but that the agency views the city as more susceptible to “adverse economic conditions.”

  BBB is a step above the lowest investment-grade, BBB-, which is still a notch above junk.

That just means selling the last few items in the cupboard, like O'Hare and Midway, maybe even emptying the museums of artwork and displays.

As Expected

We and many others predicted this after they legalized weed:

• State lawmakers plan to introduce legislation this week that would make Illinois the first state to fully decriminalize sex work.

  Equality Illinois and the Sex Worker Advisory Group, a coalition of Black and Brown current and former sex workers, have spent more than three years advocating for this bill, which aims to reduce threats of violence and create safer conditions for sex workers.

  “For over 20 years, I worked as a sex worker here in the city of Chicago, and for over 20 years lived under the fear and threat of violence,” said Reyna Ortiz, chair of the Sex Worker Advisory Group. “By passing this legislation, we will make Illinois a safer place for everyone, especially the most vulnerable in our communities.”

So the political whores will make it easier for the other ::ahem:: sex workers to be licensed, regulated and of course, taxed.

Weed was supposed to save Illinois, except the political whores merely diverted weed money into the general funds and took a not-quite-equal amount out to spend on other pet projects instead of actually paying down outstanding bills, furthering the deficit and debt that taxpayers will be shafted with.

More Fines!

If weed and whores won't save Chicago, Illinois (see above posts), along with Conehead borrowing another billion dollars for "housing" in a shrinking city, then fines are going to be increased:

• No vote is a sure thing in a City Council that stared down Mayor Brandon Johnson during the marathon budget stalemate. Wednesday’s meeting could feature more of the same.

  Stalled proposals to reduce the default speed limit on Chicago streets to 25 mph and restore exceptions to the city’s Welcoming City ordinance face potentially close votes after parliamentary maneuvers to revive both.

The usual aldercreatures are on the usual sides of the fence:

• The Committee on Pedestrian and Traffic Safety approved it, 8 to 5, over objections from Black and Hispanic alderpersons fearing the lower speed limit could cause an avalanche of speeding tickets and provide a pretext for traffic stops targeting minority motorists.

  [...] During a hearing Tuesday on the Chicago Department of Transportation’s 2023 crash report, Carney acknowledged Chicago’s “traffic-calming” investments in pedestrian refuge islands, raised crosswalks, curb extensions and speed humps is paying off. Traffic fatalities were down 27% “from the 2021 peak,” compared to a 5% drop nationwide, Carney said.

  But, he added, “changing the speed limit has to be part of the overall tool box.”

  Ald. Daniel La Spata (1st) estimated the lower speed limit could save the lives of more than 300 Chicagoans over the next decade, and “I can’t put a price on that.”

You don't have to moron - insurance companies do that with the help of actuaries. They'll tell you exactly how much a human life is worth....and unless City of Chicago vehicles are the ones running over those three-hundred pedestrians, we don't see how it's any concern of the government, especially the $3-to-5 million to reprint all the signs city wide.

New ShotSpotter?

This would mean new contracts to new connected people, right?

• As Mayor Brandon Johnson’s administration conducts pilot testing on first-responder technologies to replace the ShotSpotter system he discontinued, one skeptical alderman wants to move ahead on a technology tryout he set up himself.

  Ald. Raymond Lopez, 15th, announced his plans Monday to test a technology that helps police identify and respond to gunshots with tools like acoustic detectors, infrared cameras and even drones. The pilot program would cover half a square mile in the Back of the Yards neighborhood and cost the city nothing, but it can start only with Johnson’s approval, Lopez said.

  “Last time I checked, the mayor said he was open to all pilots and possibilities, so now he will have an opportunity to act on his words,” said Lopez, who often harshly criticizes the mayor.

In the meantime, Conehead's people are testing a different version of ShotSpotter:

• As that process moves forward, the city has already begun piloting new first-responder technology of its own, Gatewood said.  “We have a couple running now, and honestly the plan is to see if there’s interest to run more,” he said. Gatewood declined to share details on what specific technologies are being tested, where the tests are occurring and what the results have shown. One aim is to more directly target high-crime areas, he said.

  The goal for Johnson’s administration is to have a “full-fledged product out on the streets” by this summer, Gatewood said. “We’re not going to rush this process. We’re going to make sure this process is done right,” he said.

  To help prepare for new technology, the city checked its surveillance system in December to see what cameras were blocked by trees, leading to over 300 trimmings, Gatewood said. Johnson’s administration has also hosted gunshot wound care workshops and events targeting high-violence blocks with government resources, he said.

Um...."targeting high-violence blocks." Isn't that what Conehead railed against? ShotSpotter being racist-ly deployed to minority neighborhoods? You know, they ones with near constant gunfire, night and day along with dead bodies laying in alleys for hours on end?

And a "wound care workshop"? Is this an admission that CFD is undermanned, under-equipped and unable to respond to twenty-five-hundred or more shootings per year? Sure seems like it.

Also seems like the entire reason for getting rid of the original ShotSpotter was that Conehead's people weren't the ones getting the contract money.

County Corruption?

A story from nearly two years ago gets new life courtesy of a federal lawsuit:

• A Cook County Sheriff’s Office investigator is suing the agency, Sheriff Tom Dart, and the county, claiming that she was transferred to a less prestigious unit after discovering possible misconduct within the sheriff’s office, including ghost payrolling and misuse of resources. Sgt. Nicole Pagani alleges sex discrimination, retaliation, and violation of the state Whistleblower Act.

  In a federal complaint, Pagani says she spent a decade as a senior investigator working on internal affairs cases in the sheriff’s “Criminal and Confidential Unit,” known as Squad 4. Her lawsuit says she received top secret FBI clearance and joined a federal task force, which brought perks like an FBI take-home car and up to 778 hours of overtime per year as she investigated “cases deemed confidential in nature involving high-ranking members” of the office and sworn officers.

  But Pagani claims that all ended a year ago when her boss retaliated by angrily “demoting” her to Squad 3, transferring her to a new office, and ending her federal collaborations. Pagani seeks compensation in excess of $2 million and reinstatement to Squad 4 and the federal task force, including all associated benefits.

We're just shocked (not) that it took how many years of investigation to discover ghost payrolling and illegal secondary employment at County. The entire organization is riddled with political hacks, payoffs, crooked contracting and over-salaried hiring to people related to the media so Dart gets good coverage in case he aspires to higher office.

Phantom Calls to 911?

A reader sent us an e-mail:

• Is it true that old landlines are degrading and generating phantom 911 calls, resulting in needless visits by PO's? Reason I ask is, after months of problems with my landline, yesterday we had a very concerned police officer pounding on our door, asking if we were ok. And no, we had NOT placed a 911 call. In fact, there was no dial tone on that line so we couldn't have made that call, or any call, from that line.
  
  
  
  Officer asked if we had landlines and seemed relieved all was well. We were mortified and apologized for the problem. Later that day we got a call on another line, different number, from 911 saying this glitch had continued to make calls to 911.
  
  
  
  My phone service problems are annoying, but it is ABSOLUTELY UNACCEPTABLE for this issue to add to the burden of 911 and the PO's who respond to these calls. Is there anything that can be/is being done about this?

The reason we even bring it up is that on Sunday, the fbi director had this to say:

• Outgoing FBI Director Christopher Wray revealed during an interview on Sunday, a week before he steps down, that China has penetrated America’s water treatment plants, electric grid, and other critical civilian infrastructure, and is lying “in wait” for an opportunity to cyberattack at a time and place of its choosing.

  Asked on CBS’s 60 Minutes about Chinese penetration of U.S. cyber and infrastructure, Wray said China’s cyber program is the largest in the world and has stolen more of Americans’ personal and corporate data than every nation combined.

Gee, isn't anti-terrorism and anti-espionage stuff part of the fbi responsibility? 

While the fbi was busy investigating School Board meetings, abortion protestors daring to pray, fans of the traditional Latin Mass, and senior citizens who were in Washington DC last inauguration, Red China was making inroads into unprotected computer systems AND THE fbi WAS 100% AWARE OF IT and is dumping the news on the eve of a new administration.

Just when you think the fbi couldn't sink any lower, they bring in a shovel and start digging a new basement. Disband these fools.

Next Media "Narrative"

With a new administration on the way next week, be prepared for all sorts of new narratives being pushed by the media in an effort to hamstring policies and directives.

The first big one?

• "family separation"

This one is going to be pushed heavily, especially as deportation efforts kick into high gear. Gotta tug at those heartstrings and guilt Americans into subverting the Rule of Law.

If someone committed any felony whatsoever, he'd be separated from his family via prison, correct? No one would blink an eye.

So if an illegal alien violated national law by improperly coming over the border, he'd be separated via deportation. No difference as far as we're concerned.

Keep this in mind. There will be plenty more as the media sucks the Deep State genitalia.

So...What's This?

 A lot of effort for a fake result:

• A man is in custody after a maintenance worker allegedly found a rifle, several IDs, and what appeared to be bomb-making materials inside his Near South Side apartment on Monday morning. The Chicago Police Bomb Squad joined the response and determined the scene was safe.

  Shortly before 11 a.m., a man doing heating and air conditioning maintenance in a building in the 500 block of East 33rd Place called 911 to report suspicious objects inside an apartment. Responding officers were told the man found “several different IDs…laying around” along with a rifle, explosive devices, and chemicals.

Fake IDs hints at terrorism. Chemicals, same thing. Fake explosives:

We used to assume stuff like this was built to gauge the police and/or fed response to incidents. Lord knows we'd be vacating the premises and calling the Bomb guys the minute we saw this.

Stay alert boys and girls.

100% Justified

So you get sent to a call of a "Man with a Knife/Screwdriver." 

The caller says she is being attacked.

The call taker hears the caller telling her attacker, "Put the knife down!"

This is all on the tapes and on the dispatch ticket. You go to the scene, you knock on the door. You're prepared for all Hell to break loose. The door opens, and.....

Gee, the described suspect with a knife, held in what can instantly become an overhead stabbing position or a sideways slashing movement, about what....six feet away?

But Officer - why didn't you go non-lethal, you racist bloodthirsty fiend?

Well....

Gee, looks like a baton - specifically an Asp - on the right margin of the frame. So the Officers were prepared for a non-lethal response....except the offender opened the door, with a knife, within striking distance, and refused to drop said weapon. There isn't a Law in existence that says you have to be stabbed before protecting your life, the life of your partner, or the life of the woman who is recorded saying she was being attacked with a knife. For all they knew, she was wounded or dead inside the apartment.

BANG!

Body cameras can be good things a lot of the time.

UPDATE: Bunch of people saying "radio antenna" but two/three years ago where we were at, they had gotten rid of the Motorolas with the long antenna and we had the digital radio with compact mics. If that's an antenna and it's long enough to interfere with your gun arm, then there's a whole different safety issue someone at FOP ought to address.

A New Truck?

What's all this about a special Board meeting being called and some proposal to get Catanzara a new (another?) 80K vehicle at FOP members' expense? 

While we're all for having adequate transportation for any union official on official union business, there aren't cheaper options available?  Like a leased sedan? Or even a hybrid (gotta be environmentally conscious you know!)

Spending member dues without the members knowing anything (everything) about it is usually a red flag.

Deportation Efforts

Every District had to send someone downtown to pick up this garbage (click for larger version):

These will be/are being distributed to all supervisors in an effort to keep them from assisting ICE with any deportation efforts. While a few of these things are administrative in nature, there are a few others that could run afoul of federal law and oaths of office taken by CPD, not to mention common sense.

If Conehead is going to try to get cops to take his place in the I.C.E. Deportation Train, we would be sure the Officers have appropriate union legal advice on hand....and this bit of information:

• I.C.E. Chicago
• 101 Congress Parkway Ida B Wells Drive Suite #4000
• 312-347-2400

Those guys will give you far better advice that Conehead or Corp Counsel.

Again?

We were hoping we had turned a corner with the holidays in the rear view mirror for this year:

• An off-duty Chicago police detective was found dead Friday afternoon inside his Mount Greenwood home, according to police and sources.

  The 59-year-old was found unresponsive with a gunshot wound to the head about noon inside a home in the 3900 block of West 104th Street, Chicago police said. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

Years ago, we moved the Police Chaplains website link up to the #2 spot, just under the FOP link in the right hand margin, almost exclusively because they have the full list of EAP links there and we wanted to make it easier to find for those seeking it.

Prayers for the Detective, his family, co-workers and friends.

State Flag Voting

Illinois is beyond broke, pension debt is rapidly approaching $150 Billion (with a B), and politicians want to waste time, effort and a ton of money on a "new" state flag.

Think of every building, every exterior signage, every single sheet of paper with an Illinois flag embossed on it....and imagine replacing it all at tremendous cost.

Here's the link to voting - you can vote ONCE, EVERY SINGLE DAY until sometime in February.

UPDATE: Geez, we just remembered all the IDOC and ISP uniform shoulder patches. First issue?

No Openings....Anywhere

Someone commented:

• I do not know if anyone has noticed. But all of the links to "Apply for Police Officer Job Opportunities" on the City's website are dead links. The City also has no civilian police jobs posted. Does this mean the "hiring freeze" now applies to the CPD? Also, the lateral and rehire links take you in circles.

So we checked the Employment website for the City of Chicago, and guess what?

• No jobs match the specified criteria.

So it looks like that even if you wanted to apply for a job with CPD, there aren't any. After they burn through this already depleted hiring list and recall every single person who failed/declined the job, there's nothing on the horizon. 

Defunding via attrition it seems.

An Actual Recall Law?

Proposed by LaShawn Ford?

• Among the top 15 cities in the U.S., Chicago is one of only four that does not allow voters to recall the mayor.

  But state Rep. La Shawn Ford, D-Chicago, recently filed a bill in Springfield (House Bill 1084) that would allow Chicago voters to initiate a mayoral recall election.

There's an actual form to fill out at the top link. What the Hell....click it, fill it in. Make sure you tell friends and relatives. 

Might as well add in anyone currently residing in the cemetery....they already vote, why not contact their representatives and let the representatives know they aren't happy with Conehead either.

Pension Liabilities Exploding

Something that can't go on.....won't:

• Illinois' unfunded statewide public pension liabilities grew another $1.5 billion in the past year. Better investment returns couldn’t keep up with public worker pensions growing faster than projected.

  Statewide pension debt has grown to $143.7 billion from $142.2 billion in the past year, according to a new report from the state legislature’s Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability.

  This is the third consecutive year the debt has grown since state leaders put federal pandemic funds into the system in 2021. It is approaching the 2020 record debt of $144.4 billion that those federal funds helped curb.

With Newscum's chances of a presidential run going up in smoke along with Los Angeles, Fata$$ has to be thinking his chances are improving. Best to remind any friends and relatives in other states exactly how badly he's driving this state into the ground.

We Highly Doubt It

Now they're going to enforce the law in California?

• Los Angeles District Attorney Nathan Hochman issued a warning to potential criminals looking to target residents as wildfires devastate the community.

  “If you think for a moment that you can take advantage of this right now or over the next weeks, months or even years, you are wrong,” he said while looking straight into the camera during the interview on Wednesday on ABC 7.

  “If you go ahead and you want to loot, if you want to steal, if you want to engage in scams on vulnerable people who have just lost their house and their businesses, we’re going to arrest you, we’re going to prosecute you and you will absolutely be punished,” he stated

Meanwhile, on assorted social media sites, there are videos of gangs of masked yutes driving into neighborhoods on scooters, forcing open doors, and walking out with anything not nailed down. Not only that, but reports are starting to trickle in that police are not responding to these calls. It's only a matter of time before all manner of violent crime pops up when there are no cops and no consequences.

Wrapping Up 2024

Ten days into the New Year, it's probably mostly safe to say these are pretty solid homicide numbers for last year (numbers courtesy of HeyJackass.com, the only real source of crime numbers):

• 2024: 611 killed, 2,444 wounded
  2023: 650 killed, 2,500 wounded
  2022: 739 killed, 2,937 wounded
  2021: 856 killed, 3,745 wounded
  2020: 798 killed, 3,451 wounded
  2019: 521 killed, 2,291 wounded
  2018: 592 killed, 2,465 wounded
  2017: 685 killed, 2,935 wounded
  2016: 808 killed, 3,658 wounded
  2015: 513 killed, 2,546 wounded
  2014: 465 killed, 2,239 wounded
  Avg: 663 killed, 2,877 wounded

So a definite downward trend....at least downward toward the late twenty-teens....before the St George of Fentanyl riots and the COVID shutdown / #blm crime waves.

If any changes are made over the coming months, well....we'll discover it somewhere.

Just Don't

If you want a bunch of reasons why pursuits are a bad idea, hop over to this link here and read about all sorts of judgements leveled against CPD in recent years.

We won't bother to quote from the article except for this little item:

• Prosecutors said the officers followed behind Wade as he sped off in his sister’s Chevrolet Equinox and talked to his girlfriend over video chat. Wade was traveling at 80 mph, while the cops were going 30 mph.

If that doesn't tell you everything you need to know about pursuit lawsuits, perhaps some math would help? Remember those math problems with Train A and Train B leaving stations at different times?

• at 80 MPH, the criminal had traveled .666 miles in 30 seconds - about 3,516 feet
• at 30 MPH, the cops had traveled just .25 miles in 30 seconds - about 1,320 feet

That's a difference of 2,196 feet.

A city block, barely an eighth-of-mile, is 660 feet....meaning the criminal was almost 3.5 city blocks ahead of the "pursuing" police car in those 30 seconds....and getting farther away every second. That isn't a pursuit. Not even close. And with GPS, you can bet those numbers are pretty close to reality.

The city is going to pay out $4.5 million.

Conehead Still Resisting

This a$$hole can't even agree to deport criminals:

• Mayor Brandon Johnson has declared emphatically and repeatedly he will not allow Chicago police officers to cooperate with President-elect Donald Trump’s mass deportations, starting with those with criminal records.

  But the mayor may not have the final word if two Hispanic alderpersons who are among Johnson’s most outspoken critics get their way at next week’s City Council meeting.

  Southwest Side colleagues Ray Lopez (15th) and Silvana Tabares (23rd) plan to use a parliamentary maneuver to revive a stalled ordinance that would restore so-called “carve-outs” to Chicago’s Welcoming City ordinance eliminated during former Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s administration.

With Quigley and Schakowsky fighting to save child molesters and rapists, Conehead's defense of other criminals isn't a surprise. We are still amused that Fata$$ is putting him up front as the face of the resistance and Conehead doesn't realize he'll be the only one going to jail if it comes down to brass tacks.

We certainly hope that Homan's promise to put Chicago at the top of the deportation effort list leads to Conehead showing his yellow streak.

Groundwork for a Lawsuit

This better be fought tooth-and-nail every step of the way:

• When Charlotta Pritchett picked up the phone and dialed 911 early Friday, she says she thought she was doing the right thing to help her boyfriend as he went through what she described as a mental breakdown.

  But instead of getting the help she expected, Pritchett would be mourning his death by the end of the night.

  Officers shot Timothy Glaze, 57, multiple times when responding to Pritchett’s call, and he was pronounced dead less than an hour later.

And why did the police respond to the scene and shoot this poor altar boy?

• Police were called to the Albany Terrace Apartments, 3030 W. 21st Place, about 2 a.m., and according to a police dispatch recording, Pritchett, 56, reported she was being attacked by Glaze, who had a knife and a screwdriver.

Ah yes....the typical ghetto "He's got a (choose one) gun, knife, screwdriver and he's (chose one) waving it, chasing me, attacking me! Hurry!" This type of thinking has been ingrained in the moron class - if you want a faster police response, claim a gun/knife/active combat!

And in this case, it went south in a hurry. The offender charged officers with a knife and got justifiably shot for his efforts. Now the second guessing begins and the lawyers are lining up. The "girlfriend" is already backtracking her phone call, claiming she wasn't being attacked and didn't even break a fingernail. She's going to have a time of it because

• the call is recorded with her claims of a knife;
• the call taker hears her telling the offender to put down the knife;
• there was an Order of Protection in effect and she still let him stick around for days and weeks.
  

In any event, there appears to be nothing at all wrong with this shooting, which means Conehead is going to offer the "estate" of this multiple-arrested and convicted a$$hole a pile of money.

Conehead Conflicts

A reporter is still asking Conehead about conflicts of interest:

• Mayor Brandon Johnson taught for four years at Chicago Public Schools before going on leave in 2011 to work for the Chicago Teachers Union and ultimately launch a career in politics. But even though he no longer works for the union, Johnson remains on “union leave” from the school district.

  That means, after all these years, he could return to the classroom — and earn a six-figure salary as if he never left.

  The mayor’s leave status has attracted more scrutiny and concerns about a potential conflict of interest in recent weeks, as his administration negotiates a contract with the CTU that could benefit him in the future. Those negotiations have become increasingly tense and have fueled a monthslong leadership shakeup at CPS, including the recent firing of CPS CEO Pedro Martinez. Under CPS policy, Johnson — or any CPS employee who leaves to work for the union — can accrue seniority during their time away and return to CPS with the guarantee of a job.

This goes long with another report the other day about Conehead's potential pensions topping out at a few million dollars due to "loopholes" that were never closed, based solely on his four years teaching and one term as mayor.

But buried deep in the article is this eye-opener for you northside readers:

• Ald. Nick Sposato, who represents part of the city’s Northwest Side, said he was on leave from the Chicago Fire Department for his first eight years in office and voted on firefighter contracts. During that time, he did not feel conflicted because council members were not directly involved with bargaining.

  “Nobody ever had a problem with me being a fireman and voting on fire contracts,” Sposato said.

  Sposato, who is occasionally critical of the mayor, also said he did not believe Johnson would “give the farm away” for personal gain years from now. "I believe he’s a man of integrity,” he said of Johnson.

Hey Nick, wipe your chin. You missed a spot, probably while you were shoveling tens of thousands of dollars in "bonuses" to those connected office dollies.

Great Sentencing (UPDATE)

We're being sarcastic:

• A former South Side pastor and retired Chicago fire assistant commissioner pleaded guilty Tuesday to child sex abuse charges, court records show.

  Jerry Jones pleaded guilty to all five separate cases filed against him. The charges included aggravated criminal sex abuse of a victim under 13 and aggravated criminal sex abuse of child over 5, court records show.

  He was sentenced to 60 days in the Cook County Department of Corrections on each count, to be served concurrently. He was also sentenced to 36 months of sex offender probation. This sentence also includes lifetime sex offender registration.

Sixty days time five? Are you f@#$ing kidding us? (UPDATE: we misread the word "concurrently," meaning all five "sentences" are served at once. And since he's in County, it's day-for-day credit, meaning he'll do thirty days tops. No doubt, there are other ways to "earn" time off)

Long time readers know that in the cases of child sex abuse/assaults, we prefer to see the short-eye get multiple years in general population where justice can evolve naturally.

Cook County democrats embracing their child sex offenders again.

Yes Please

This would be freaking awesome:

• When federal officials take action of any kind, questions about the relative wisdom of said action should come second.

  Indeed, a more fundamental question precedes it: Namely, where did the federal government get the power in the first place?

  On Tuesday, according to The Washington Times, Republican Reps. Eric Burlison of Missouri and Lauren Boebert of Colorado introduced legislation that would abolish the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and the Times also reported that Burlison will introduce legislation that would repeal the 1934 National Firearms Act, which, though much amended, served as the basis for a 1986 federal ban on the possession of most machine guns by private citizens.

We despise the fbi with a passion. 

We loathe the atf.

If both disappeared tomorrow, the country would be far better off.

Los Angeles Fires

It ain't global warming. It's years, decades even, of mismanagement:

• no one has cleared out dead brush, dead trees or done controlled burns in dozens of years;
• every year, California dumps a few billion gallons of rain and snow melt into the oceans to "save" non-endangered fish;
• Newsome has torn out more dams than any other governor in history;
• billions budgeted for reservoirs that would prevent fire hydrants from running dry....not a single one built;
• the LA mayor cut $17 million from the LA Fire Department budget just this year, meaning little new equipment and reduced spending on maintenance;

And gee whiz, sure would have helped to have these guys around in the face of manpower shortages:

Or some of this equipment:

Did you see where the drooling vegetable appeared on the West Coast and offered California $500 million in relief funds? You didn't? That's because he sent the $500 million to the Ukrainian money laundering war machine. California didn't get a penny of that money.

Meanwhile, the Amish are building temporary homes in hurricane ravaged Georgia and North Carolina because FEMA couldn't (wouldn't) help. Too many Trump signs.

Now the media is "discovering" that when California refused to allow insurance companies to raise rates - because those companies employ actuaries...the smartest and most boring people on earth....all those insurance companies left and didn't renew policies. They saw what was coming and got out before they went bankrupt insuring a guaranteed disaster.

Sorry, we're a little irritated this evening. We have relatives out there.

This is Still Going On?

Are they trying to drag this out until someone dies?

• Ten years after the FBI began its aggressive pursuit of corruption inside Illinois’ halls of power, toppling some of Chicago’s most entrenched old-school politicians, a defense attorney finally uttered five words Tuesday that could turn out to be a game-changer — or a colossal mistake.

  “The defense calls Mike Madigan.”

  Moments later, jurors who’d heard from nearly 60 witnesses over three months at the Dirksen Federal Courthouse found themselves finally listening to the Southwest Side Democrat accused of turning his political empire into a criminal enterprise: Michael J. Madigan.

  The former Speaker of the Illinois House of Representatives wore a gray suit, light blue shirt and purple tie as he climbed onto the witness stand inside the 12th-floor courtroom of U.S. District Judge John Blakey.

Just last week, lawyers were arguing over the meaning of the word, "corruptly," which describres just about every political give-and-take in Illinois. but somehow has never been legally defined in Springfield.

Madigan taking the stand is pretty interesting, as it will subject him to intense cross-examination in coming days or weeks. It is also sharp departure from what aldercreature Ed Burke did just last year, refusing to take the stand, which may have contributed to his conviction. Jurors want to see the defendant deny being a criminal. It's just human nature.

We'll see if he can pull off the "grandfatherly" bullshit enough to sway the jury.

Pilot Program?

If someone gets caught with a gun in Englewood, no need to stay off the street all night. Just process him and go out for another gun:

• Cops in one Chicago police district who arrest people for illegal gun possession can now file some firearms-related felony charges directly without getting approval from the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office.

  Multiple sources say the “Felony Review Bypass Program” began at midnight on January 1 in the Englewood (7th) District. Neither CPD nor the state’s attorney’s office directly answered questions about the program, although both provided statements that did not deny its existence.

  For years, cops in Cook County have had to get a prosecutor in the state’s attorney’s Felony Review Unit to approve all felony charges, a sometimes time-consuming hurdle that keeps officers off the street. Now, at least for a while, cops in the Englewood district can file some gun charges with the approval of their lieutenant.

Felony Review is a mostly useless process where the ASA on duty demands more evidence, more interviews and labels cases "continuing investigation" before dropping all charges or making the police charge misdemeanors. It allows Dart to empty out the jail and not actually hold prisoners.

If we remember correctly, there isn't a "felony review" in any county except Cook, where it exists simply to provide the politically connected bottom 20% of lawyers to make some money until they can run for office.

If they're letting WOLs actually charge criminals with breaking a pretty straightforward law, that's actual progress that O'Neill-Burke is making.

Bump Card Warning

It seems they all expired at once, even those that had a 2026 date:

Expect Inspectors to be touring the Districts shortly. Do yourself a favor and keep track of who gets disciplined and who doesn't.

Beware OEMC

Supposedly, there's a rather entrenched cockroach infestation on the 3rd floor, where dispatchers and call takers work. We're told the city has hired an exterminator company to spray and bait the entire floor this week.

This on top of an additional cockroach infestation at 35th/Michigan, also on the 3rd floor. 

We can only assume the bugs are afraid of heights and won't travel past 3.