Twenty Five Years

 

Without a doubt, one of the most defining events of our careers and lifetimes. 

While it didn't directly affect us in terms of loss or injury, it had an profound impact on work, home, family, travel, finances, safety....just about everything when you really drill down. It still hits home every September.

When we started meeting and working with Officers who weren't even born when the towers fell, we were painfully aware that we had become the "old guys" we had always teased in the past. 

Prayers for all of the victims of that horrible day.

Remember. 

Don't Share the Minutes

Seems like concealing information from the membership has been a standard practice for years:

That's taken directly from the Board Meeting minutes from April of 2023.

We thought that the Board was paid by dues money. Which would mean all actions and official meetings, including the records of said meetings, belong to the membership and can be shared among the membership. 

We can understand excluding the media because they aren't members, but hiding things as a matter of policy - especially after running your campaign on exposing past practices of the previous administration....

It all seems a bit hypocritical. 

Springfield Morons at it Again

There's no way this passes Constitutional muster....and it seems to run against existing Federal Law:

• A first-of-its-kind state law would force gun manufacturers to pay for a portion of the financial toll of gun violence in Illinois.

  Gun violence costs the state about $20 billion annually, according to estimates based on data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That figure includes direct costs like emergency services, medical care, law enforcement resources and funeral expenses. It also includes indirect costs like mental health treatment, loss of income and childcare.

Illinois is paying funeral costs? Why?

• The Responsibility in Firearms Legislation Act, a bill coming before the Illinois General Assembly, would require gunmakers to contribute to a state fund that would help offset the costs shouldered by taxpayers and the individuals directly affected by a shooting.

  If passed, the law would be a first of its kind in the country. Other states have considered similar bills, but none have become law.

  “Name another industry in this country that gets to sell a product, profit from the damage it does and pay nothing for it,” said state Rep. Kevin Olickal during a news conference Tuesday morning outside the University of Chicago Medical Center.

Gee whiz.....how about clothes dryers? Gas ovens? Sharp knives? Extension cords and electrical appliances? Pools, wall mounted TVs, cleaning chemicals, etc. All of these things can damage or kill people....and do kill people on a daily basis.

The key here is to have knowledge of the danger, properly maintain the device and don't use it outside of the manufacturers' instructions.

• “When a car is defective, the automaker pays. When a drug harms patients, the manufacturer pays. Tobacco pays. Asbestos pays. Opioid companies are paying right now. That is how accountability works in every industry but one: firearms,” said Olickal, who is sponsoring the House version of the Responsibility in Firearms Legislation Act.

Wrong you moron. And you actually prove it in your screed - "defective." A gun is a legal device and when maintained and used properly, functions as designed, thereby rendering your entire argument pointless.

You aren't holding Ford, Chevy or any of the other dozens of vehicle manufacturers liable when a drunk misuses their product to kill innocents....because they tell you not to operate the car unsafely or when impaired. If you've ever bought a gun, the paperwork that comes along with one rivals many automobile user manuals.

But holding criminals responsible for the misuse of legal products has never been big on the lib-tarded radar. It would actually solve problems while cutting into their voting totals. If passed, this will cost Illinois more millions of dollars in taxpayer money for a losing proposition.

Stolen Gun

You ever notice that one of the statistics that never gets mention much is how many guns that are used in crimes are actually stolen guns? Many times when there's a shooting, the lib-tards complain about how easy it is to get a gun, that they're bought and transported over state lines, that we just need to ban guns outright to stop crime.

If you do a google search on "stolen guns used in crimes" you learn that:

• Stolen guns are significantly more likely to be used in crimes, with studies showing that stolen firearms have nearly nine times the likelihood of being involved in criminal activities compared to legally acquired guns.

So if you leave your gun in a parked car....let's just say in suburban Park Ridge....and someone breaks into said car and steals the firearm, why should anyone else be restricted from buying or owning a firearm because you were stupid with yours? Should it matter that you're the wife of a former high ranking CPD member from an east coast city? What if that stolen gun is used in a couple of armed robberies? Maybe an aggravated battery? God forbid a killing or three? That could really screw up Conehead's "crime is down" narrative.

We were just wondering. And we're wondering which media outlet might actually report this without telling anyone where they found out about it.

About That Subpoena

From the Federal Court filing (click for larger view):

This seems to be based solely on his term at the State Lodge? Is this just an effort by the feds to get someone talking? 

Someone posted this in the comment section: 

• Retired;;;;;;;KMA 2: Pretty obvious the blog is campaigning against current leadership. 

There's a campaign? Whom did we endorse? 

The fact is we aren't campaigning for anyone and we aren't supporting anyone. What we are doing is informing the membership of some of the sketchy behavior going on at the Lodge and encouraging them to ask questions about their dues money and their representation spending said money - questions that should have been asked continually for years....AND QUESTIONS THAT SHOULD HAVE BEEN ANSWERED EACH AND EVERY TIME THEY'RE ASKED. 

Remember, the next meeting is 16 Sept at noon.

(technical issues with this post - we're correcting what we can) 

Lieutenants Made

Class of sixteen:

Congrats to the deserving.

Lake Forest Officer Back

Officer Czarnecki was flown back to Illinois and is currently undergoing treatment locally:

• A family says they are grateful for the community’s donations, which allowed a Lake Forest police officer to return to Chicago on Tuesday on a medical flight after being critically injured on vacation in Nicaragua.

  The family of Lake Forest Police Officer Filip Czarnecki told Lake and McHenry County Scanner in a statement that they were “deeply grateful” to announce that Czarnecki was coming home Tuesday evening.

  The medical evacuation flight took off from Managua, Nicaragua, around 1:30 p.m. Tuesday and landed at Chicago Midway International Airport around 7 p.m.

One report says he's already showing marked improvement, perhaps due to the treatment or perhaps being closer to family and friends and the support they're giving him.

Continued prayers for his recovery efforts.

(comments closed here - informational post only) 

Trib Re-Reports FOP Subpoena

Why is the Tribune covering this again?  (this is a paywalled article):

• Federal investigators issued a subpoena to the Illinois Fraternal Order of Police late last year for an FBI probe into Chicago’s FOP President John Catanzara’s financial dealings, according to a copy of the document reviewed by the Tribune.

  The subpoena, dated October 2025 and sent as part of a grand jury investigation, demands that Illinois FOP personnel turn over a slew of financial and governance records dating back to October 2020. Among the records sought were expense vouchers, reimbursement forms and receipts. The subpoena was issued from the Northern District of Illinois, although the Illinois FOP is based in Springfield.

  Catanzara — long a lightning rod for controversy who has represented the Chicago Police Department’s rank and file since May 2020 — is the only person named in the document. He took a leave of absence from his role as the first vice president of the state police union in October 2025.

The cited subpoena is nearly a year old.

Catanzara is making his usual threats:

• Reached by phone for comment Tuesday afternoon, Catanzara told the Tribune that he had not seen the subpoena issued to the state lodge, and said he had not testified to the grand jury or retained an attorney to represent him in the proceedings. He said the investigation was likely sparked by animus within the union, and added that the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 7 received a similar subpoena last year as well.

  “Should we ever determine the origins of this investigation that has cost this lodge membership a lot of money over nonsense and pure hatred, personally, of me — it’s based on nothing more than that — those members will be held responsible,” Catanzara said.

Yeah, John might call Florida and tell stories about retired Officers to their new employers. Or refuse to allow anyone to see the FOP credit card receipts. Or ask the Board for $50K in seed money for a charity that duplicates the work of two or three already existing charities. Or swings another 10K for a five person road trip with the food trailer to a city that doesn't have an FOP lodge.

So is something heating up? 

UPDATE: free version of the article here. 

CWB Exposes Corruption

CWB doing some real power-lifting here with this scandal:

• Members of Chicago’s primary police oversight commission tried to push one of its own members off the workgroup searching for the city’s next police superintendent, and then fought to keep the paper trail hidden from the public.

  An 86-page email chain released last week shows four commissioners working to remove Sandra Wortham from the Superintendent Search Work Group, despite the commission president warning that the effort lacked a clear basis and could look like an attempt to settle an “interpersonal or philosophical disagreement” through a procedural maneuver. The emails also reveal that the majority was fragile from the start. It has since collapsed as one member abandoned the plan entirely.

  The Community Commission for Public Safety and Accountability originally gave CWB Chicago an almost completely redacted version of the emails. Last week, though, the commission released the full chain less than 48 hours after the Illinois Attorney General’s Office opened an inquiry into its handling of CWB’s FOIA request.

  The email chain began July 10, less than a week before Larry Snelling left his post as CPD’s top cop, when CCPSA Vice President Angel Rubi Navarijo sent a lengthy email to commissioners “to respectfully express my concerns regarding Commissioner Sandra Wortham on the Superintendent Search Work Group,” citing concerns about “whether she possesses the collaborative leadership style necessary for this specific responsibility.”

Their complaint against Wortham is that she didn't go along with the other commissioners, that her opinions and positions were too conservative, that she listened to all sides and came to logical conclusions backed up by facts and ::gasp:: established Law and procedures. That she was too "diverse" in her thinking it seems and didn't "go along to get along." Dumbocrats only want followers, not free thinkers. And an intelligent, well-spoken, qualified lawyer isn't someone you'd want giving input on appointing the next political tool.

Seems like the problem is led by this Navarijo, who seems like a complete Karen-asshole that ought to be removed for being a commie bitch. 

But that's only our opinion. 

CTU Influence Waning?

Perhaps their stranglehold on Chicago politics is loosening?

• By advancing unsustainable financial demands, taking an ever larger share of tax revenues at the expense of city workers and systematically denying residents quality school choices, CTU support is plummeting

  The Chicago Teachers Union’s (CTU) defamation lawsuit against the Illinois Policy Institute and the Liberty Justice Center is evidence of a union in full panic mode as it attempts to silence its political opponents. The lawsuit follows a significant court ruling compelling discovery, which may finally force the union to open its books and account for years of delayed financial disclosures. It also comes as the CTU experiences a series of political defeats driven by its current leadership as its public support erodes and key labor relationships fray.

  The CTU has evolved into a hyper-political force with a broad agenda extending far beyond educating Chicago’s students. It deploys millions in member dues to back far-left political candidates and seek control over the Chicago Board of Education. As the Chicago Tribune editorial board correctly observed, the CTU attempts to have it both ways: Acting as the city's dominant political power broker while claiming immunity from public criticism under the guise of merely representing teachers.

Maybe it exposes financial improprieties? Like that luxury mansion in the Southwest that no one seems to know how or why it got purchased with union money? Maybe Davis Gates goes to prison soon and Conehead drops out of the election?

Go read it all. 

Great Reporting by the Slum Times

So this article is still up as of Tuesday evening:

• Chicago Fire Department personnel found a person dead on the Chicago Transit Authority Red Line tracks near 69th Street on the South Side Monday afternoon after responding to a call, officials said.

  The body was found when the fire department responded to a call of a person on the tracks around 2:36 p.m., a fire department spokesperson said.

  Chicago police said a man whose age was not immediately known had jumped from a moving CTA Red Line train and was incapacitated when he landed on the third rail.

  The man was later struck by an oncoming train and pronounced dead at the scene, police said.

Except that's not what happened - CWB has the real story:

• Three men pushed a 29-year-old man from a moving Red Line train Monday afternoon, sending him onto the tracks where he was struck and killed by another train, according to Chicago police.

  CPD initially reported that the man had jumped from the train near 69th Street and landed on the third rail, “where he remained incapacitated,” before being struck by an oncoming train.

  But investigators later determined that the man had been involved in an altercation with three men aboard the train around 2:30 p.m., according to updated information from CPD. Police now say the three men pushed him from the moving train, leading to his death.

God forbid the Slum Times report timely facts that might make Conehead's CTA look like a crime ridden Hell hole.

One might think crime happens all the time on the CTA....like this (also reported by CWB):

• A man dressed in a security guard’s uniform maced and punched a passenger on a Red Line train on the North Side while making antisemitic comments, according to a community alert issued by Chicago police. Now, CPD needs help identifying the assailant.

  The attack happened around 6:55 p.m. August 25 as the victim was riding a train near the Granville station, police said.

  The man seen in surveillance images sprayed the victim with mace, punched them in the face and made antisemitic statements during the attack, according to CPD. Police did not disclose the victim’s age or gender.

And almost always the Red Line....makes you wonder.

It Wasn't Groot

At least not so far:

• Chicago police remained locked in an extended standoff Tuesday morning with a man barricaded inside his Logan Square home, just a few doors down from the residence of former Mayor Lori Lightfoot. The standoff began shortly before noon Monday, drawing a large police response that included SWAT officers and armored vehicles to the Northwest Side neighborhood.

  Police first arrived around 11:45 a.m. Monday to conduct a well-being check on a woman living in the 3400 block of West Wrightwood Avenue. According to dispatch transmissions, a 911 caller reported that the woman’s upstairs neighbor had knocked her down several days earlier, followed her, and spat on her husband.

  When patrol officers reached the home shortly before noon, they requested a supervisor after encountering a man who, police said, displayed a rifle from a window and then struggled with officers before retreating inside. Officers later reported that the man had thrown the rifle out a window but believed he had additional firearms inside. The situation continued to escalate. At one point, the man sprayed a fire extinguisher from a window, according to police transmissions.

  The man also called 911 himself, telling dispatchers he was afraid because police had barricaded him inside his home, the transmissions showed.

Is Groot even in town? What's her detail doing these days?

Weekend Stats

It's sort of like Temu HeyJackass.com over at the Slum Times:

• More than two dozen people have been shot in Chicago so far over the Labor Day holiday weekend.

  Of the 31 people shot since 5 p.m. Friday, six have died from their injuries, according to Chicago police. At least four teenagers were wounded in separate shootings.

  As of Monday afternoon, the weekend’s violence was lower than last Labor Day weekend, when nine people were killed and 52 wounded. The holiday weekend count began Friday at 5 p.m. and continues through 5 a.m. Tuesday.

They're even posting the times? 1700 hours Friday until 0500 hours Tuesday?

Where do they steal these ideas from??? 

Lake Forest PO Assist

Severely injured while on vacation, the family needs some help getting him back here for appropriate treatment:

• A Lake Forest police officer is in critical condition after being severely injured while on vacation and his family is working to raise money to have him brought home from Nicaragua by medical transport.

  Lake Forest Police Officer Filip Czarnecki was on a personal vacation visiting family in Nicaragua.

  Czarnecki suffered a “tragic fall” onto his head that caused a severe traumatic brain injury, according to Lake Forest resident Paul Daizovi, who is a friend and co-worker of Czarnecki’s wife.

As you may guess, hospital care in the part of the world isn't as top-notch as here. There's a Go Fund Me up for the transportation costs to get a medicare flight home.

• link here

They're close to the finish line for fundraising and a little push will get Officer Czarnecki home to be with his family and at an appropriate facility for care.

Prayers for him and his family.

(comments closed here - informational post only) 

More Cash?

Remember that locker (or drawer) over at Area 4 full of tens of thousands of dollars that no one would say where it came from?

• OT more money found in Area 4. Wonder if this was turned in? I guess SL and LS have hiding spots IAD didn’t check.

It seems pretty certain that this wasn't concession stand cash.

What the heck is going on over there? 

LAPD Story Gets Better

It wasn't just 100 impounds - it was over 200:

• The Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) made a big statement about street takeovers this weekend as more than 150 officers were deployed to a lawless meetup in a residential Los Angeles neighborhood around 2 a.m. Saturday, where they made 69 arrests, issued 570 citations, and impounded more than 200 vehicles.

  Seven firearms were also discovered in what the LAPD called “Operation Street Sweeper” in the Harbor Gateway area of south L.A.

  In total, [LAPD Chief] McDonnell said 66 people were arrested for participating in or aiding in a street race or takeover. Three additional arrests were made: one for assaulting an officer, one for battery and one for obstructing or interfering with officers.

  In addition to the nearly 70 arrests, 570 citations were issued, McDonnell said. Of those 570 citations, 442 were issued for being a spectator at a speed contest or exhibition of speed. An additional 128 citations were issued for juveniles who were out past the city of Los Angeles’ 10 p.m. curfew for minors. McDonnell said the youngest person was just 11 years old. 

If they actually collect the fines on the tickets and they turn the two-hundred cars into metal hay bales, they might see a sharp downturn in street takeovers. They had to get clearance from the dumbocrats running LA, so it is possible this might happen.

Conehead is a spineless wonder though, so don't expect it here. 

Old Story

But recently brought to our attention - this is why the lib-tarded idea of "violence interrupters" is among their dumbest thoughts ever:

• Democrat leaders in Massachusetts implemented ‘social workers’ to go on police calls to ‘de-escalate’ situations 

  One of them was just attacked after spending 45 minutes trying to talk to the suspect.  

  A mental health clinician was knocked to the ground and an officer was stabbed in the arm with a sword after 45 minutes was spent trying to talk the suspect into coming out peacefully for help. 

  Critics saying that the ‘social worker’ program is putting both the clinician’s and police officers in danger. 

It is almost a certainty that the Officer got stabbed because he had to split his attention between the assailant with the sword and the social worker being attacked. Lord know what would have happened if the Officer winged the social worker while saving their life. 

And imagine if Massachusetts had a COPA.

The email claimed that shortly after this incident, Massachusetts either discontinued the program or social workers were refusing to go to these calls without a heavy police presence. 

Hypocrite Much?

John is cranky and upset about being held to account. 

He's reduced to making unspecified threats against the blog during the FOP Golf Outing for daring to question his efforts to start and fund a "charity" with FOP Dues Money with no actual mission statement, accountability, by-laws or instructions as to the purpose of an initial $50K of "seed money" before expanding to over $200K.

Now, after five weeks since his last "TGIF Update" (and only the third video update in over FOUR MONTHS, he's whining about how open he's been with everything:

• “In transparency’s sake, everything is out in the open.”

Everything.....except the FOP credit card statements. You know, the ones the FOP liar lawyer said were improperly used for personal expenditures. No one has seen hide nor hair of those for how many years?

• “If we were trying to hide anything…”

Trying? You mean "succeeding"?

We get it - trapped rats lash out, everyone is to blame except the ones doing the wrongs. We've seen it a thousand times making arrests, during processing, putting people in the wagon, transporting them over to the jail, testifying at court, waving goodbye to them as they board the IDOC bus to prison. Ghetto trash is ghetto trash regardless of skin color, ethnicity, religion, gender, political leaning, job assignment, whatever.

We sleep fine at night. 

How Many Years?

There's definitely a memo floating around about judicial sentencing in Cook County:

• A 68-year-old Chicago man has been sentenced to 76 years in federal prison for robbing or attempting to rob four downtown banks over two months in 2023 while he was on supervised release for previous bank robbery convictions. Prosecutors had asked for “only” 20 years.

  Joseph Donelson Jr. committed the four crimes just months after being released from prison for an earlier series of bank robberies, prosecutors said, adding that during the 2023 spree, Donelson jumped onto a teller counter during one attempted robbery, pointed a “gun-like object” at a teller during another robbery and struck a teller in the face with the object during a fourth incident.

So pretty much a life sentence for this old fart.

Glad to see it, but this kind of sentencing probably won't last past the elections. 

Another Stadium?

We thought they were moving to Tennessee?

• A proposal to move the Chicago White Sox from Rate Field in Bridgeport to a new riverfront stadium in the South Loop is drawing mixed reactions from fans and elected officials as the team considers the concept as a potential future ballpark site.

  Developer Canal Edge recently unveiled renderings for "The Railyards," a proposed mixed-use development near Roosevelt Road and Canal Street that would include a possible new home for the White Sox, along with residential, commercial and retail components and an outpatient care center for Northwestern Medicine.

  The proposal remains in its early stages.

Someone had an opinion piece up that this would signal the end of Bridgeport.

We don't know about that, but the reason Wrigley Field does so well is there's somewhere to go before and after the games, namely the bar and restaurant scene.

One of the major reasons there Bears were looking to move is to build a large bar and restaurant scene within walking distance of the new stadium instead of a museum campus with zero amenities.

The Blackhawks are making semi-steady progress with their property on the west side as they price the undesirable elements out of the neighborhood. Give it another twenty years.

If the Sox stay in town..... 

Vigilante Time!

More please:

• We don’t want to tell anyone to limit themselves, but if you’re a 60-year-old, 15-time convicted felon, maybe robbing a house full of construction workers half your age isn’t the best career move. But William Garrett didn’t ask for our career advice, and prosecutors say that’s exactly what he did in West Pullman last weekend.

  Chicago cops responding to a call about a person with a gun got the first indication that Garrett was having a bad day when they arrived in an alley behind the 11800 block of South Wentworth and found him lying in a backyard with cuts on his face and head, according to a CPD report.

  Five men standing nearby told officers that Garrett had just robbed them inside the nearby home where they were working. One of the men handed officers a Glock .177-caliber air pistol that the workers said Garrett had brandished during the holdup.

Fifteen felony convictions and still out there plying his "trade."

Ever wonder why a "three strikes" law was never in effect in this blue state $hithole? Ask a democrat. 

Paging Tommy Dart

For some reason, he's not answering though:

• Two national sheriffs organizations are asking the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn Cook County’s ban on AR-15s and similar semiautomatic rifles, arguing that the weapons can be important for self-defense when police cannot arrive quickly enough.

  The National Sheriffs’ Association and Western States Sheriffs’ Association filed a legal brief on August 31 supporting the challenge to Cook County’s assault weapons ordinance. The case, Viramontes v. Cook County, has been consolidated with a similar challenge to Connecticut’s statewide ban, and the Supreme Court agreed in June to hear both cases.

  The groups, which say they collectively represent thousands of sheriffs nationwide, start their argument with a basic reality of police work: cops cannot be everywhere at once.

  “Response times may vary from a few minutes to half an hour depending on manpower and geographical area,” the organizations wrote. “And a violent crime, especially a home invasion, can occur in seconds.”

Hell, those response times are typical in Chicago with manpower shortages, hiring deficits and backlogs. But Dart doesn't seem to be tossing his hat in with the National Sheriff's Association for some reason. 

On the brighter side though, a new survey says that there are currently sixty-million AR platform rifles currently owned by Americans which more than qualifies it as "in common use," meaning Porkulous's ban might be on it's last breath shortly. 

LAPD Takes Streets Back

Conehead take note. Waller, you too.

Maybe Dart and ISP Kelly can hop on board:

• Cops sprung a massive sting on alleged street-racing hooligans in South Los Angeles early Saturday — reportedly detaining hundreds and preparing to haul away scores of vehicles.

  The Los Angeles Police Department told The California Post that officers issued a tactical alert at 3:21 a.m. and were still working the scene hours later, as of 9 a.m.

  No details were immediately available on arrests or citations from the LAPD.

  Video from the scene showed dozens of officers surrounding a massive crowd as people wandered between cars trapped at the intersection of South Figueroa Street and West Alondra Boulevard. Tow trucks stood by, ready to pounce.

At last report, around 300 participants were detained AND OVER 100 VEHICLES IMPOUNDED.

Back when impounds were a thing (and snow tows) every vehicle towed was tagged with something like $150 in fines, another $50 in towing fees, and an initial $10 daily storage fee which was increased by $10 a day afterwards.

That's a quick $21K in a single incident.

Now do this a of couple weekends in a row and suddenly Conehead's budget deficit starts to shrink, his approval rating goes up, and CTA revenues....well, they stay the same as those morons will just wave the shitheads through.

Bad Mix

Someone got the recipe wrong....again:

• Chicago emergency crews responded to 35 suspected opioid overdose cases Tuesday, nearly twice the city’s daily average of 19, prompting the Chicago Department of Public Health to issue a warning about a possible spike in overdoses. The 35 suspected opioid-related EMS responses were concentrated in South Shore and Chatham, CDPH said.

  The spike does not mean 35 people died or that all 35 cases have been confirmed as opioid overdoses, but the Overdose Detection Mapping Application Program, a real-time surveillance system used to identify possible overdose clusters, identified the cluster.

  CDPH urged people to carry naloxone, commonly known as NARCAN, the medication that can rapidly reverse an opioid overdose. Officials also delivered a blunt warning about ingesting counterfeit or other pills not prescribed by a doctor and dispensed by a pharmacy.

  The department did not identify a specific drug or source as the cause of Tuesday’s increase. However, fentanyl, a synthetic opioid that is up to 50 times more potent than heroin, has become a leading driver of overdose deaths in the United States. While it was once most commonly found mixed into heroin, it is now frequently detected in cocaine, counterfeit prescription pills, methamphetamine, and other illicit drugs, often without users’ knowledge.

As we've stated in the past, we had some bad family experiences with narcotics, so NARCAN was always a hard "no" from us. Our relatives would have been far better off if that problem child had died of an overdose rather than stealing and burglarizing family homes to support his bad habits.

Society would be far better off if junkies overdosed and got trundled off to landfills by Streets and San rather than spending ambulance rides, medical care and doctors' efforts on what will be a vicious endless cycle of wasted time, resources and lives.

Cops Injured

Looks like their car was hit by a stolen vehicle....that may have been pursued?

• Two police officers and a pedestrian were hurt in brief police chase involving a reportedly stolen car in Rogers Park, Chicago police said.

  CPD said officers saw a red Toyota sedan that had been reported stolen at about 7:14 p.m. on Friday in the 7400-Block of N. Sheridan Road.

  Officers tried to pullover the driver in the 2000-Block of W. Birchwood Avenue, but the fled the scene and crashed into an unmarked CPD vehicle.

  The driver of the Toyota also crashed into a light-colored Volkswagen SUV, causing the SUV to go onto a curb and strike a 24-year-old male pedestrian.

We can't even....whatever....until the political atmosphere changes, why even bother running plates unless the car is parked, unoccupied and doesn't have a City Sticker or some other compliance violation?

Get well soon injured Officers.  

Officers Cleared

And it only took SIXTEEN MONTHS!

• Chicago’s police accountability agency has cleared two Chicago police officers who shot and killed a man in Hammond, Indiana, last year.

  In its final report, released Thursday, the Civilian Office of Police Accountability found that Joseph Navarro charged toward the officers after crashing his car and tried to shoot them. But his firearm apparently jammed, “likely saving one or both officers’ lives,” according to COPA.

CWB has video and this picture up:

Just for shits and giggles, we looked at this photo with one eye opened and one eye closed and you know what happened?

• we determined in about sixteen SECONDS that the shooting was justified 

The video is extensive and while no one performs exactly at 100% under the massive stress of a shooting, the Officers were able to eliminate the threat and go home intact. The dispatcher wasn't the best, but help got where it needed to be. 

All in all, a good shoot, despite COPA's efforts to "make the process into the punishment" that they couldn't apply otherwise.

Sixty-One Years?

There's obviously some word coming down through the Courts to apply maximum sentences on criminals, especially if the crime was committed on the CTA:

• For nearly a year, Isaac Anderson worked as a security guard at some of the city’s biggest annual events. That career, and whatever Anderson hoped to achieve with the rest of his life, derailed on an October morning in 2022 when he murdered a man aboard a Red Line train, a killing prosecutors said was sparked by Anderson’s desire to have the victim’s Pepsi.

  Jurors needed just three hours in June to find Isaac Anderson, 30, guilty of the slaying. On Thursday, Judge Angela Munari-Petrone handed down his sentences: 55 years for murder plus a consecutive five years for robbery. By law, he will have to serve all of the murder term plus half of the robbery sentence before being eligible for release.

After the President made it a point to mention the out the out-of-control CTA crime numbers and threaten to withhold Federal monies since Conehead wasn't actually spending anything on security measures to deter crime, there's been an upsurge in sentences.

We can't recall the last time we saw a sixty year sentence handed down. 

Release the Demons!

Another non-demonized yute, out on bail despite numerous charges, once again commits a murder:

• A judge this week sentenced a man to 40 years in prison for murdering a beloved Hyde Park bartender while he had three felony cases pending in juvenile court, two involving illegal gun possession and one involving armed carjacking.

  But Keante McShan, 23, may have even more prison time ahead of him. Court records show he is preparing to enter a plea next week in an unrelated kidnapping case.

  Surveillance video allegedly showed McShan checking parked car doors in the area of the 4900 block of South Greenwood Avenue to see if they were unlocked before he spotted Diego Damis, 41, who was walking home after his shift at The Cove Lounge around 5 a.m. on February 25, 2022.

  Prosecutors said McShan approached Damis, stabbed him repeatedly, and took his wallet, cash, and bank card. Video showed Damis kneeling on the grass next to the sidewalk as the attacker ran away. He then fell backward and remained there for more than an hour until a passerby discovered him and called for help.

Just tossing this out there, but you know where criminals can't (usually) get guns?

• in jail, awaiting trial

But this turd had two UUW charges AND a carjacking charge, but still managed to end up on the street with an additional gun. Funny how that works. 

Comments Down (UPDATES)

Something technical is going on with eBlogger.

Submitted comments are not getting sent to the moderation screen for us.

This isn't anything we can fix - it's all on the server end of things, so everyone will have to be patient while eBlogger figures it out.

Apologies, but hopefully, they get it up and running soon. 

UPDATE: comments are still down as of 1600 hours, even though we've had 15,000+ visits so far today. 

No ETA on a fix yet, but we'll keep an eye on it. 

UPDATE: as of 2030 hours, still no repair or a notification of any repairs. 20,000+ visits today and we've seen maybe 14 comments come through for moderation.

We've written tomorrow's posts and they'll be going up at midnight as usual.We'll continue to monitor the comments for any sort of breakthrough by eBlogger. But it's Labor Day weekend, so who knows what will happen.

Stay safe. 

More FOP Board Meeting News

Remember, this is YOUR Dues money - you contribute to the running of the Lodge to protect YOUR Rights, negotiate YOUR Contract, provide YOU legal assistance when needed.

It's not a vacation fund for the Executive Board:

• There wasn’t a single meaningful discussion about grievances, discipline, working conditions, benefits, manpower, or the problems facing the men and women actually working the streets. Instead, so much of the meeting was about approving money for trips, events and other non-essential expenses.

  One that really stood out was the Board approving $10,000 for John Catanzara, Mike Cosentino, Dave DiSanti, Steve Olsen and Rob Noceda to take the food trailer to New York for the 9/11 Memorial.

  Don’t get me wrong. I think every American should visit the 9/11 Memorial at some point in their life. I just don’t expect to pay for their trip.

  How does spending $10,000 of  dues to send these guys to New York serve the membership? How does using our dues to buy food to hand out to people who aren’t even Lodge 7 members do anything for the men and women who paid for it and are left behind working the streets?

  Were dues-paying members offered the opportunity to go? Was the trip opened up to the membership? No. Instead, the trip goes to Board Members who don't pay dues and are already receiving Commander or Captain salaries or generous Lodge stipends.

What business does the Lodge have in New York? NYPD runs with the PBA, not the FOP. 

Why does the food trailer have to go along - is The Big Apple is running low on hotdogs? Who's paying for the food and do the members get to inspect the receipts and books? Why five people? And why these five? 

This doesn't sound like an appropriate use of Dues money because no one can define how this is being used to benefit the membership. 

By the way, wasn't the FOP Golf Outing a good time yesterday? A bit warm, but a sunny day. We shook hands with a number of members of the Executive Board, including the big man himself....twice....to our internal amusement.  

A New Range Backstop?

True? Not true?

• The Obama pylon was shot up. No media coverage whatsoever 

Is there a Case Report floating around?

Did it actually prevent bullets from flying into the neighborhood? 

FOP Disaster Continues

The legal issues are piling up according to this editorial:

• Signs are emerging that the internal political wars of the FOP Chicago and state lodges, especially those tied to FOP President John Catanzara, could lead to costly legal battles and judgments for members.

  The union’s First Vice President, Mike Mette, has filed a petition to preserve evidence to the FOP board, a sign that Mette may be considering a lawsuit against the lodge after board members initiated internal charges against him.

  Mette is being accused by a board member of approving legal defense funds to an officer charged with a DUI, an expenditure of lodge money for an off-duty incident that may not be sanctioned by the lodge. The charges are opaque. Legal defense for cops is a gray area, with many examples of the lodge at least providing some assistance to cops, particularly in instances in which the officers could lose crucial credentials allowing them to remain on the job. Such assistance has been provided in the past, but garnered no disciplinary response against the lodge member who approved it.

  But a petition to preserve evidence suggests that Mette may be alleging a whistleblower-type lawsuit that the charges against him are retaliatory. Mette recently leveled his own charges of financial misconduct against FOP President John Catanzara, charges that were dismissed by both the Chicago and state lodges and are now headed to the national FOP. Mette’s claims that Catanzara was spending lodge money on personal items came right around the same time federal investigators sent a subpoena to at least some lodge officials demanding lodge spending records.

The FOP liar lawyer admitted that there were irregularities regarding the credit card.

The FOP Board Meeting this week ...well, check out the post a few places above this one where the Board is looting the treasury for non-Lodge related trips.

These incidents lend more-than-a-bit of credence to complaints that Dues money has been funding lavish dinners and any number of other questionable expenditures.

There really needs to be a top-to-bottom housecleaning. 

No, No, No....and Hell No

Report from one of our regulars:

• I wanted to make you aware of something that happened at today’s FOP Board meeting that I believe members should know about.
  
  
  John informed the Board that he is starting a new charity, referred to during the meeting as “606,” “CPD 606,” or something similar. This charity will be a separate organization from the FOP, although FOP Board members and Field Reps will sit on its board.
  
  
  John then proposed transferring approximately **$200,000 worth of Lodge assets** to this separate organization. That would include $50,000 in FOP “seed money,” the FOP’s food trailer, and the truck used to pull it.
  
  
  These are assets that belong to Lodge 7 and its members. When a couple of Board members pushed back on giving the charity $50,000, John responded, “Well how is this charity supposed to get started without this seed money?”
  
  
  There was also discussion about who would sit on the charity’s board in the future and how current FOP leadership could make sure they continued to have a say in who sits on that board long after they are gone. John even called the Lodge attorney during the meeting to explain how the charity’s board would operate.
  
  
  But the FOP Board was not provided the charity’s bylaws, articles of incorporation, complete board roster, budget, financial controls, or even a written copy of its mission statement.
  
  
  I have since learned something else that makes this proposal even more concerning: **the charity’s mission is not limited to helping Lodge 7 members or even Chicago police officers. Its stated mission focuses on helping police officers nationwide.**

Um, that's what the Brotherhood does as part of a national network with Officers, bylaws, mission statements, etc. We've been contributor to them for a dozen years or more along with the Chaplains Ministry.

After learning that the FOP credit card has been used improperly, corruptly and quite possibly criminally, this should be a non-starter. Even letting Catanzara get within smelling distance of $200K without the simplest forms of bylaws, incorporation, rosters, etc would be the height of irresponsibility and any Board member taking part in this fiasco should be removed and expelled immediately.

Get to that next meeting people - this is YOUR dues money that is supposed to be spend on YOU, your issues and your job protections. 

It's Cyclical

Is crime down? Yes, by raw numbers, crime has dropped this year among the more violent types of crimes. Property and non-violent crimes maintain their rates though.

Will it last? No one knows, but politicians are running on numbers that aren't as bad as they used to be:

• Despite historically low levels of violent crime in Chicago this year, candidates trying to replace Mayor Brandon Johnson are sweeping aside the numbers in favor of anecdotes and are depicting the city as reeling in a “crisis” of gun violence and lawlessness.

  Chicago had 122 murders in June, July and August, according to city and police data posted through Tuesday evening.

  That’s the lowest summer total since 1965. Overall violent crime hit its lowest level last year in more than four decades. City data shows the downward trend has continued this year.

Conehead is sprinting to take credit for all of this, conveniently ignoring the deportation numbers that took an entire segment of the population out of the crime business, along with the choking off of funding for any number of groups that funneled cash to those promoting disorder.

Some of the other "drop-offs" in crimes though are people who aren't reporting them because they know or have come to expect that there are zero consequences being handed out, so why bother? That's even after CTA attacks were up 150% according to CWB reporting.

Stats are funny things - you can twist them to show almost anything. 

Contrarian Weighs In

They point out the Alexi "cringe" commercials aren't winning him fans:

• There’s one lesson Chicago’s insurgent left has taught the old political establishment extraordinarily well: Money can buy you an enormous amount of political advertising, but it cannot buy authenticity. Sometimes the more money you spend trying to manufacture authenticity, the more ridiculous you look.

  Which brings us to “Sexy Alexi” Giannoulias, our new poster child for the art of making yourself look like a fool at great expense. I have occasionally wondered whether his opposition is secretly funding his current ad campaign. Giannoulias enters the Chicago mayoral sweepstakes with the enormous advantages of money, name recognition, and the apparently unshakable conviction that the electorate has been waiting all these years for the second coming of Alexi Giannoulias.

  So what is he doing with all that? Making goofy TV commercials and social-media videos. It has gotten sufficiently embarrassing that even the Chicago Tribune editorial board — hardly a muckraker these days — called him out. Its August 23 editorial pleaded: “Enough with ‘Sexy Alexi.’” When the Tribune starts wondering whether a Chicago politician is making himself look ridiculous, the politician might want to listen.

Go read it all. 

What would be truly interesting would be if the FOP endorsed Giannouolias - that could tank his support with numerous groups.

Unfortunately, we have a feeling they're going to ambush Mendoza and give her an endorsement she isn't (yet) seeking to drive her out of the race. 

Conehead Out?

Conehead was talking about a big upcoming presser this month - is this it?

• Johnson told his chiefs of departments Monday that he is NOT running again. Announcing his intention next week and throwing his vote behind Alexi. Alexi will be with him at the press conference.

He polling as low as he ever has so this isn't a real surprise. Porkulous himself has refused to appear at public events with Conehead, he's that toxic.

But....

If Giannoulias is actually appearing with him for this announcement, does Conehead become an anchor around his campaign? Why would he appear with, let alone accept the endorsement of  the lowest polling mayor in history? Someone who is (A) a failure, (B) has zero accomplishments to his career and (C) is known as the tool of the CTU which has lost nearly as much support as mayor dumbass. 

"...somewhat targeted..."

So the Slum Times is attempting to turn the single fatality at this weekend's mass shooting into some sort of well loved martyr:

• On Saturday night, a celebration in Washington Park ended in tragedy when masked gunmen reportedly opened fire, killing the 35-year-old Guterz and wounding 14 others in the largest mass shooting in Chicago this year.

  Donna Guterz is now planning her youngest sibling’s funeral — a somber event that will likely bring some of the same people back together.

  “It’s been terrible, just knowing the type of person he was,” she said. “The outpouring on social media has been amazing. I didn’t know my brother was that loved.”

  Local Ald. Jeanette Taylor (20th) said the attack had nothing to do with the reunion, which was wrapping up when the gunfire erupted. She called on those who know anything about the gunmen to step forward.

Sure, that'll happen.

In the meantime, Waller had a presser:

• Chicago’s acting top cop told reporters Tuesday that police think a mass shooting at a gathering in Washington Park over the weekend was “somewhat targeted” and likely involved multiple shooters and an exchange of gunfire.

  As city officials announced the opening of a resource center for those affected by violence, interim Chicago Police Supt. Fred Waller also alluded to the potential use of a “switch,” a small device that turns a semiautomatic pistol into a machine gun.

  “It happens in a matter of seconds, but we also know that there probably was some return fire also, so some people in the crowd [were] probably armed,” Waller said, standing alongside Mayor Brandon Johnson and other city leaders at the Washington Park Refectory.

"...somewhat targeted...." That's a new one.

According to a few e-mailers who were on the scene, the deceased wasn't shot once or twice. He wasn't even shot five or six times. Of the thirty-six shell casing that were recovered, it looks like half or more were expended into the dead guy, i.e. he was the target. 

The other fourteen people were just collateral damage.

But whatever floats your boat there Fred. 

Eighteen Years?

That's actually a significant sentence should he serve the majority of it:

• A Chicago man accused of shooting two Venezuelan migrants outside a police station before leading officers on a high-speed chase that ended when he crashed into a CPD squad car has been sentenced to 18 years in prison.

  Anthony Evans, 28, pleaded guilty to aggravated battery by discharging a firearm and aggravated DUI in exchange for concurrent sentences of 18 years and five years, respectively, according to court records. Judge Shelley Sutker-Dermer handled the case and sentenced Evans.

  The incident unfolded on an afternoon in October 2023 outside the Grand Crossing (3rd) District police station at 7040 South Cottage Grove Avenue. Prosecutors said Evans opened fire outside the station, striking a 28-year-old woman in the buttocks and a 24-year-old man in the right thigh. Both victims were migrants from Venezuela who listed the Grand Crossing station as their home address, according to Evans’ arrest report.

  Moments later, officers spotted a Jeep Cherokee matching the description of the vehicle wanted in connection with the shooting, the report said. Evans sped away northbound on State Street before eventually swerving into the southbound lanes, according to police. He crashed into a Chicago police tactical unit squad car in the 5400 block of South State Street.

While we aren't about to tell people to vote FOR a judge (because the rot goes so deep), it's good to see one of them actually handing out some substantial years. Maybe the word has gone out to stop being so lenient?

Probably not, but hope springs eternal.