Shots Fired; Second Guessing Begins

Was this the Tire Deflation team?

• A driver in a group of speeding vehicles evaded a deflation device and headed toward police downtown early Sunday, prompting an officer to fire shots, CPD said.

  Police said officers responded to a call about a large gathering in the 300-block of East Balbo Drive, near Grant Park, just after 3 a.m. There, officers saw a group of speeding vehicles and deployed a tire deflation device.

  Police said one of the vehicles, a black sedan, went around the device and headed toward an officer. That officer fired shots, striking the vehicle, but no one inside of it was hit by gunfire, police said. The officer suffered a minor ankle injury and was treated and released from the hospital.

So much to unwrap here. There has been a long standing policy that banned shooting at vehicles. We think it was Hillard who implemented it, but it was written into the Orders that Officers would remove themselves from pathways of vehicles because it was argued by lib-tarded morons that Officers only stepped into the pathway of a two-ton hunk of steel, aluminum and plastic simply so that they could shoot at it.

Yes, they actually said that.

And so began the long descent into the current policy:

The result being a couple thousand percent increase in vehicles fleeing from the police and these "takeover" incidents popping up all over. So what did the Department do?

• formed a unit where Officers are required to place themselves into the potential path of on-coming vehicles to deploy Stop Sticks.

Now the fleeing driver has two choices - (A) run over the Stop Sticks or (B) swerve around them where the Officer who just deployed the sticks is standing or moving, thereby placing the Officer in the position of either violating Department Policy by shooting at someone attempting to kill them with a two-ton hunk of metal and plastic or making a split second decision to turn left, turn right or leap over....whoops, you're dead, because we all see what they did to the Officer who made a snap decision in about six-HUNDREDTHS of a second in the lil homicide shooting.

CTA Special Going Away?

It seems the sheriffs are having an outsized impact on crime numbers and CTA Special Employment is on the chopping block.

It is also rumored that there are discussions about getting rid of Mass Transit altogether and just letting Dart run a new Mass Transit Police Force under Prickwrinkle's patronage army.

The arrest and citation numbers for CPD's part are pretty much abysmal and the level of spending can't be justified any longer.

Prepare your Bid paperwork just in case. 

Again Mikey?

What's that phrase? 

"Where there's smoke, there's fire."

Sure seems like something is burning over there:

• The Archdiocese of Chicago announced in a letter on Saturday that it's investigating an allegation of sexual abuse against Father Michael Pfleger. 

  In a letter to members of St. Sabina Church, the archdiocese said the Office for Child Abuse Investigations and Review has received an allegation of sexual abuse of a minor against Father Pfleger that was alleged to have occurred at St. Sabina more than 30 years ago.

  Due to the allegation, Father Pfleger will step aside from ministry and live away from the parish during the investigation, the archdiocese said. 

Pfleger denies everything (as all molesters do) and claims it's all part of a long standing plot to get money from the archdiocese and stifle his political activism. 

Never mind that this is something like the fifth allegation in a few years, that we've been hearing about his monthly group outings to Home Run Inn pizza with all those young altar boys for years, and how he manages to stay locked into one parish for three decades while every other priest gets moved around every seven years.

We're just surprised the accuser is a female. That's a first.

We also thoroughly enjoyed his press release that included this line:

• "Before an investigation or even a conversation has taken place a priest is removed and told to remain silent during their process. The presumption of innocence does not exist for priests."

This from an asshole who granted ZERO presumption of innocence to how many Police Officers over the decades? The shoe is on the other foot now, eh? Again.

Pfuck you pfather. 

Long Read, but an Excellent One

One of our long time favorite authors, Heather MacDonald:

• This past Memorial Day, more than 1,000 teens swarmed the blocks around Lake Michigan in Chicago’s Hyde Park neighborhood. A resident described the scene: “Hundreds of people were walking and running down our street, jumping on top of cars, twerking, smoking blunts.” One group twerked on the top of a city bus.

  At about 9 pm, the Chicago Police Department closed Lake Shore Drive. As sirens wailed, the Hyde Park resident armed himself with bear spray to retrieve something from his car. An hour later, a gunman shot three teens a block from the resident’s home. The suspect remains at large, though police made 13 arrests for illegal gun possession, battery of an officer, and other felonies.

  The previous day, an after-prom gathering in Chicago’s Little Italy neighborhood descended into mayhem. “It looked like a million kids out here,” one neighbor told WGN News. “They were acting like straight animals. Kids were all on top of cars. They were stopping in the middle of the street, twerking.” Fights involving pepper spray and other weapons were common. Cars sped through the crowds. Shortly before 3 am, a police commander formed skirmish lines. Three minutes later, a sedan veered into oncoming traffic and struck an officer. Moments afterward, it hit a second officer, crossed into another lane, accelerated, and plowed into three more cops. The rampage ended when the vehicle crashed into a police car and a utility pole. The 18-year-old driver was carrying a semiautomatic handgun with an extended magazine. An hour later, shots were fired in the area, but no arrests have been made.

  These two incidents are just a few of the mass-disorder events this year that have been dubbed “teen takeovers.” Nationally, violent felonies overall are down, but disorder is not.

And that's just the first four paragraphs of an extensive and thorough article exploring the teen "takeover" trend, how they started, what's behind it (and what isn't) all backed up by a boatload of interviews, statistics and ::gasp!:: actual research!

We were first introduced to Ms. Mac Donald's work via her book, "The War on Cops" way back in 2016 and have been a reader ever since. A stalwart defender of the police and opponent of political correctness dictating law enforcement policy, her work has only gotten better over the years.

Set aside a good chunk of time for this article - you won't be disappointed. 

Modern "journalists" should take note....maybe they'd learn something....but probably not.

A Year??

Actually, over fourteen months:

• A police oversight agency has cleared a Chicago police officer who exchanged gunfire with car burglars who opened fire on him during a confrontation outside his West Lawn home last year, according to newly released records. Two juveniles were later arrested, but neither was charged with shooting at the off-duty cop.

  The Civilian Office of Police Accountability, COPA, concluded the off-duty officer acted within CPD policy when he fired a single shot after one of four people breaking into vehicles outside his home shot him in the ear during the April 28, 2025, encounter in the 3700 block of West 67th Place. The agency found the officer faced an “imminent threat of death or great bodily harm” and that his response was “objectively reasonable.”

They knew that within the first hour of responding to the scene - he was bleeding from a gunshot wound and all the evidence pointed to his being shot and returning fire.

And it still took these incompetent morons a year?

Having this hanging over your head, your career, your future undoubtedly contributes massively to stress. 

And it probably contributes massively to realizing disengagement is likely the best course of action from that point forward. 

Will Porkulous Protect a Molester?

Anyone wondering if Porkulous is going to honor this request....or will he support Child Molesters over American children?

• The United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) released the following statement after U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) lodged a detainer asking Governor J.B. Pritzker and Illinois sanctuary politicians to not release from jail a Venezuelan criminal illegal alien who was arrested on felony charges of kidnapping and sexually assaulting a child in Kane County, Illinois.

  According to local reporting, Janio Gionel Velasquez-Muro, a criminal illegal alien from Venezuela, pursued a 9-year-old who was riding her bike in Pingree Grove, forcing her into a nearby vehicle where he sexually assaulted her. The suspect initially fled the scene but was arrested afterward through forensic evidence on June 30, 2026. Velasquez-Muro now faces charges of aggravated kidnapping of a child, predatory criminal sexual assault, aggravated criminal sexual abuse, and sexual exploitation of a child.

Given recent democrat history, you can almost guarantee he'll take the side of the criminal:

• The United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) released the following statement condemning Minnesota Governor Tim Walz and his fellow sanctuary politicians after they granted a pardon for an illegal alien who had been convicted of repeatedly sexually assaulting a 10-year-old girl.

  On June 10, 2026, the Minnesota Clemency Review Commission voted to grant a pardon for Tou Lue Vang, a criminal illegal alien from Laos. Vang had been convicted in 2006 of first-degree criminal sexual conduct.

  Vang was set to be removed from the country imminently after the pardon was announced. Now, the pardon could thwart his removal from the United States.

Thankfully, the Executive Branch still reigned supreme in the Minnesota case:

• An illegal alien child rapist from Laos who was set for deportation until Democratic Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and the State Board of Pardons granted him clemency has been removed from the United States, Secretary of State Marco Rubio told Fox News Digital.

  Rubio stepped in to terminate Tue Lue Vang's legal status in the U.S. and ensure that Walz's actions would not create roadblocks for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) removing him from the country.

  [...] Rubio told Fox News Digital, "Americans should never have to live in fear that foreign sex predators — shielded from deportation by their own elected officials — could endanger them or their children. That's why I terminated his legal status in the United States," he continued. "Vang has now been removed from our country and will never pose a threat to any American ever again."

This may be Porky's "Dukakis moment." 

Not a Genius

And now he's going to get deposed under oath:

• A federal judge has refused to dismiss a whistleblower lawsuit filed by a former Markham police officer who claims she was fired after reporting that the city’s police chief ordered her to release a convicted murderer she arrested after allegedly finding a loaded handgun in his car during a traffic stop.

  The ruling allows former Markham patrol officer Kayla Heller to continue pursuing claims that Police Chief Jack Genius and the City of Markham retaliated against her after she reported the incident to the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office and the Illinois State Police.

  The lawsuit stems from an incident first reported by CWB Chicago in December 2025, when we revealed that Heller had been fired shortly after we asked Genius why he ordered her to release convicted felon and current U.S. Senate candidate Tyrone Muhammad without charges.

  In a 14-page order issued Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Franklin Valderrama denied the defendants’ request to throw out the lawsuit, finding that Heller had presented enough of a case for her claims to move forward to discovery.

You think CPD is political, these small towns are thousands of times worse. We would hope she scores a few million dollars, but it's Markham, which is always teetering on the brink of insolvency anyway.

But she could get damages against Genius since he's obviously acting outside of his governmental authority here. Maybe he has a nice house. 

The Latest Non-Demonized Yute

Despite Conehead's best efforts to non-demonize, this keeps happening:

• A 16-year-old boy has been charged with participating in a shooting and robbery that left three people dead and a fourth injured in the Chatham neighborhood in February 2024. He is the second person charged in the case and has not been publicly identified because he is expected to be prosecuted as a juvenile.

  Details of the case emerged a month after the shooting, during a detention hearing for the first person charged, Antonio Velasco, who is now 18. During the hearing, prosecutors said four people gathered in a bedroom inside a home in the 8000 block of South Vincennes starting in the late afternoon of February 25, 2024: a 16-year-old boy, 14-year-old Amere Deese, 36-year-old Randy Graham, and 20-year-old Ladeverette West Ringgold, who lived in the home with family.

  The group spent hours “playing with a rifle,” an assistant state’s attorney said, but they ultimately set it on the floor behind a television in the bedroom. At about 5 p.m., Velasco and his 13-year-old brother arrived, joined the others, and the group smoked marijuana together, prosecutors claimed at the time.

  Two hours later, prosecutors said, Velasco stepped out of the bedroom and returned carrying a handgun fitted with an extended ammunition magazine.

Obviously, more gun laws are needed to prevent people who shouldn't have guns from stealing another gun....or some such nonsense.

How Many Felony Convictions?

Yet another issue Bailey should be hammering Porkulous on:

• A man convicted on 30 felony counts stemming from a violent robbery in 1997, including attempted murder and home invasion, was sentenced to 25 years in prison Thursday for a 2023 armed robbery inside a River North parking garage, where prosecutors said he fired a gun at a victim who was running away.

  Cook County Judge Kenneth Wadas handed down the sentence for 55-year-old Mitchell Davis nearly a year after finding him guilty following a bench trial in which Davis represented himself.

This guy actually has THIRTY-FOUR felony convictions on his record - and he was able to commit a violent armed robbery that netted him the last few.

That's a broken system....thirty-four strike and you still aren't out? How much has he cost taxpayers, not just in terms of damage, but housing and feeding his worthless carcass.

More Fata$$ Success Stories

No one seems to be making any political hay out of this:

• A crane company is moving its headquarters from Illinois to Northwest Indiana.

  Uesco Industries is moving to a long-unused building at 5009 Calumet Ave. in Hammond, Economic Development Director Juan Moreno said.

  Uesco is investing $25 million in the new headquarters, Moreno said. It plans to build an overhead bridge crane manufacturing facility at the site by the Grand Calumet River, not far from the Illinois state line.

  The company plans to hire 100 workers for high-paying jobs, Moreno said.

Or this:

• Hardware giant True Value has just announced that they are moving their headquarters from Chicago, Illinois to Fort Wayne, Indiana.

  It is just the latest in an exodus of big businesses which have fled Illinois on the watch of Governor JB Pritzker over the state’s high taxes and difficult business environment.

This is what happens when you allow Fata$$ to draft AND fund his own political opponents. A controlled "opposition" that won't hammer JB on crime, taxes or businesses fleeing the state at a record pace.

Big Brother is Watching

This popped up in our news feed:

• Bluetooth-enabled tasers and body-worn cameras, used by thousands of Australian police officers, can inadvertently reveal their real-time location to any criminal with a phone or laptop.

  Police services around the country have been warned of the security flaw. But despite the safety risks, especially to officers who are undercover, in tactical units or who take their equipment home, none appear to have acted.

  Devices that use bluetooth have their own unique serial number called a MAC address. Most mobiles, like Apple iPhones, have built-in privacy features that randomise the code and make them harder to track.

  This hacker realised US tech giant Axon, which sells tasers and body-worn cameras to police around the world, had failed to do the same.

Which was an odd coincidence, because two people emailed up this Case Report (click and enlarge to read):

 

Real? No idea.

Possible? Certainly.

Likely? In this day and age with body cams, air tags, GPS/RFID chips, META glasses and everyone's cell phone doubling as a portable spy device, oh Hell yeah. You just need someone dedicated enough to pull all the metadata together to filter it into something usable.

Beware. There isn't much you can do about it, but be aware that it's happening. Constantly. 

Nice Job Sarge

Right place at the right time:

• An off-duty Chicago police sergeant spoke exclusively with ABC7 after helping rescue four people from a sinking boat on Lake Michigan after spotting a distress signal through dense fog over the weekend.

  Sgt. Christoria King said she was on a holiday boating retreat late Saturday night when she noticed a flickering light in the distance amid heavy fog near 31st Street Harbor and Beach.

  "The fog was so thick, you could not see in front of you," King said. Despite the limited visibility, King said a call for help carried across the water. "I saw the flickering light again, and I'm, like, 'Somebody's in distress,'" she said.

She and her friends ended up rescuing four people before the boat sank.

Well done. 

HQ Rumor

These types of rumors make us smile:

• Half days and free days are over for HQ officers!!!! New swiping in and out of the building and the parking lot!!!!

Because no one actually keeps track of this for more than a day or three. Then someone sabotages the swiping machine or breaks the gate in the parking lot, or whatever.....and it's right back to scamming again.

Remember when Walter Jacobson or one of the other media types would actually camp out at a Ward yard and log the cars going in and out and ask why someone was working a three hour day? You'd think with all the remote cameras and technology someone could stick a Go-Pro or a trail cam over on the school by HQ and record every car going in and out and have some fun with the clouted.

Quick Guilty Plea

We'll say this was the fastest conviction plea we can remember:

• The woman federally charged after buying the gun used in the Swedish Hospital shooting, which killed a Chicago police officer and wounded another, has pleaded guilty.

  Back in late April, Olivia Burgos, 23, of LaPorte, was charged with making a material false statement in acquisition of a firearm.

  The documents state that Burgos bought a Glock 29, 10 millimeter pistol from Range USA in Merrillville on May 27, 2024.

  A chaotic scene unfolded on the North Side on the morning of April 25. CPD officer John Bartholomew, who was a 10-year veteran of the police department, and his partner brought Alphonso Talley to Swedish Hospital after he was taken into custody for an attempted robbery.

  Talley asked to be checked out at the hospital. Before a CT scan, police said Talley pulled out a gun and shot both officers. Bartholomew, 38, died as a result and the other officer made a recovery.

Um....we don't think he's "made a recovery." Not even close.

This quick plea deal hints at a cooperative witness, but it sounds like she pled to the Federal charge. Is she still facing any State charges?

Can a Federal plea deal be used as leverage in a State murder case? The shooter wasn't charged Federally, was he?

Fata$$ Falls Down

Reports say he was filming another one of those "lakefront walk" commercials he's been running for months now.

Tsunami Warnings have been issued, beaches have been evacuated:

• A rare 2.9 magnitude earthquake was recorded Wednesday near the north suburbs, United States Geological Survey officials said.

  The earthquake happened in Lake Michigan around 2:38 p.m.

  USGS officials said the location of the earthquake was about 13.8 miles northeast of Evanston.

Fortunately, no one was injured when Porkulous fell though we did hear that one State Trooper sprained his ankle leaping out of the way.

Rolling Gun Battle

Not the headline you want to see if you're claiming "crime is down":

• A rolling gunbattle between the occupants of two cars left a woman critically injured as she sat at a CTA bus stop in Englewood on Tuesday night, Chicago police said. But a witness provided cops with a completely different version of events.

But it's Englewood, so you probably should have expected it.

Looks like a targeted hit though:

• CPD did not say the woman was waiting for a CTA bus even though she was at a CTA bus stop.

  While police said the woman was struck during an exchange of gunfire, shell casings at the scene were concentrated in an area directly in front of the bus shelter where she was shot. A witness told police and a 911 dispatcher that they saw a blue sedan occupied by three people pull up to the bus stop, and a rear-seat passenger opened fire on the woman before the car sped away.

Demonization underway in three...two...one...

Still Beating a Dead Horse

Was anyone really waiting for this?

• Mayor Brandon Johnson promised during his first month in office to “rebuild the social contract” with Black Chicago, beginning with the actual construction of a permanent memorial to former Chicago Police Cmdr. Jon Burge torture victims that was promised in 2015.

  The “social contract” remains a work in progress, but the memorial is finally underway.

Burge was fired thirty-three years ago - there literally isn't a single Officer or Detective working today that served under Burge. Burge himself has been dead for almost eight years. 

But he's still a boogeyman used to manufacture outrage, push all sorts of anti-police rhetoric and fund raise for crooked politicians who can't solve actual problems.

Another Useless Judge

Election Day fast approaching and the courts need to be cleared out:

• A woman told police a man touched her on a CTA bus, and police say they have now caught the man they were looking for. But a Cook County judge has refused to keep him in jail or place him on an ankle monitor, according to court records.

  Last month, Chicago police released a community alert including a CTA surveillance image, asking the public to help identify a man wanted in connection with an incident aboard a bus in the 1200 block of West Harrison Street around 4:40 p.m. on June 3. Police said the man pretended to sleep before touching a 31-year-old woman’s leg and then performing a lewd act.

  A CPD report went into more detail, saying the man exited the bus after touching the woman, looked back at her, placed his hand inside his pants and made a lewd motion.

  Prosecutors allege the man in the CTA image is Cesar Hernandez-Aleman, 29. His CPD arrest report says the victim identified him in a photo lineup, and police say they also used “electronic” identification techniques. He is charged with aggravated battery of a transit passenger and public indecency.

  Prosecutors filed a petition seeking to detain Hernandez-Aleman ahead of trial. But records show Judge Robert Kuzas declined to keep him in custody and did not place him on electronic monitoring either.

Gee, it's a good thing he wasn't lighting the woman on fire.

Or stabbing her in the neck. 

Though he might still find a chance. 

Vote "NO" on all judges. 

Misplaced Priorities

We know many law firms have a wide range of specialties and employ lawyers who are versed in the services for their target clientele. You don't want someone who does corporate stuff trying a personal injury case, or a personal injury attorney doing tax law.

So why is an FOP labor attorney doing auto liens?

• We have John buying his girlfriend [...] a $7,200 shitbox. Said shitbox winds up with a lien on the title, so off to court they go to get it removed. And who shows up to represent her?

  Our labor attorney.

  Carson Fallo—the same Carson Fallo who has appeared on behalf of Lodge 7 in federal court and filed papers for the Lodge before the U.S. Supreme Court—is the attorney representing John's girlfriend in her petition to remove the lien and obtain clean title.

  Meanwhile, there are dues-paying Lodge 7 members who have been denied legal defense or told they're on their own.The real insult isn't the $7,200 shitbox. It's that dues-paying members have been denied legal defense while the President's non-member girlfriend is represented by the same attorney retained to represent Lodge 7. Whose interests are our dues are actually paying to protect.

  Members who pay nearly $1,000 a year in dues have been denied representation for follow up interviews at IAD, while the President's girlfriend—who is a civilian—has unlimited access to our attorneys.

Maybe this guy did auto liens before he got assigned the FOP account with Baum Sigman Auerbach and Neuman? But we're imagining that the FOP pays far more that people contesting auto liens against the Secretary of State. Maybe a junior associate could have handled this, especially if there's a question about legal representation to FOP members.

The case is #2026CH06005 being heard in Room 2405 of the Daley Center.

Don't....Just Don't

First up, "gold braid" pensions need to be rescinded, outlawed, ended. You test for promotions that result in salary increases and your pension contributions go up accordingly as does your pension payout. Logical even if the math doesn't quite work out.

But a political appointment to an exempt rank resulting in a massive pension bump? You didn't test for that, you didn't earn that, there aren't even a list of qualifications or career goals that would enable everyone to have a shot at those ranks. It's all who you know or who you blow. The number of people who "earned" a gold braid pension on their backs or on their knees would be a scandal of massive headlines if the media ever did their actual jobs.

And this is another bad idea that needs to die:

• Disparti Law Group, alongside co-counsel Linden & Bustamante, is proud to announce a $7,000,000 settlement on behalf of a group of Cook County Sheriff’s Office commanders who alleged they were unlawfully terminated after exercising their right to organize and form a labor union.

  The case stems from events that began in 2017, when a group of Correctional Department Commanders employed by Cook County sought to unionize. After a lengthy legal process, the commanders prevailed before the Illinois Labor Relations Board, which issued a Recommended Decision and Order recognizing their right to organize and authorizing the formation of their union.

  According to the claims asserted in the litigation, shortly after the commanders successfully exercised those rights, Sheriff Thomas J. Dart terminated the commanders who had participated in the unionization effort. The lawsuit alleged that those terminations were not coincidental, but rather constituted unlawful retaliation against employees for engaging in protected labor activity.

  The right of workers to organize, collectively bargain, and advocate for better working conditions is a cornerstone of labor law in Illinois and throughout the United States. Those protections exist to ensure that employees can exercise their rights without fear of punishment, retaliation, or loss of employment.

The article says they were "terminated" which (if we're understanding it) equates to being fired. That's not proper, but they should be demoted to their last testable rank.

The elected executive should have the power to put his people in charge and remove them when they aren't carrying out his/her policies. After all, that's what the voters put him/her in there for. The US Supreme Court just restored the right of the Executive Branch to shitcan the bureaucratic "deep state" and put his people in.

Locking in "exempt" promotions for people who aren't doing the job or refusing to carry out the executive branch policies is how you get a "deep state" of  useless drones sucking up scarce time and scarcer money.

Another PPP Loan?

We're told this person has the same name as an FOP employee:

 

We're told she has the same name as someone dating an FOP executive, too.

Nice Court System Toni

Is there a bigger failure around that Prickwrinkle's Cook County Courts?

• Two teenage boys with active arrest warrants are facing robbery charges after Chicago police said they took part in an attack on a woman in the Loop on Sunday night.

  The 38-year-old woman told police she was in the 100 block of North Wabash Avenue around 11:10 p.m. when she was confronted by as many as seven young males and females who took her bag and money, according to a preliminary police report.

  Officers searched the area and eventually located two people believed to be involved, police said. A 17-year-old boy was arrested at 12:12 a.m. Monday, followed by the arrest of a 16-year-old boy at 1:32 a.m., both in the Loop.

  Police said both boys face robbery charges, and the 17-year-old is also charged with unlawful possession of a weapon. Both had active arrest warrants at the time of their arrests, according to police.

Running a close second is Fata$$'s corrections system:

• A Chicago man who avoided serving any prison time after pleading guilty to a felony gun case in March is now behind bars after prosecutors said he committed two residential burglaries while on parole— and while wearing an Illinois Department of Corrections ankle monitor.

  Cortez Washington, 19, cut a sweet deal in March. He pleaded guilty to a felony gun case and a reduced misdemenaor charge in an auto theft case in exchange for an 18-month prison sentence that was satisfied entirely by 264 days he spent in the county jail. Prosecutors now say Washington squandered that opportunity in less than three months.

Between the SAFE-T Act, the "no cash bail" disaster, and the crooked Parole Board that is incapable of seeing that past behavior is the SINGLE BIGGEST INDICATOR of recidivism, it's a wonder that anyone is ever actually in a prison.

And it's an even bigger wonder that republicans don't run on this issue and hammer the crap out of democrats. 

This Isn't Good

It's not a police story, or even specifically a Chicago story. 

But it may affect homeowners and a lot of cops own homes:

• For the first time in history, Deep Tunnel, Chicago’s massive system of underground tunnels and reservoirs designed to hold flood water, is almost completely full after a weekend of heavy rain.

  Built over more than a half-century, Deep Tunnel sends floodwaters from Chicago and nearby suburbs through more than 100 miles of tunnels into three reservoirs located just outside of the city. It was designed to help protect area rivers as well as Lake Michigan.

  The Thornton reservoir in south suburban South Holland was at 94% capacity Monday. The McCook reservoir in southwest suburban Bedford Park fluctuated between 96% and 100% full. Between the two, they are holding around 11 billion gallons of water.

  The Thornton reservoir has never filled up much more than half its capacity and that was at almost 55% in June of 2019. The smaller McCook reservoir has filled up several times this year, most recently on June 26.

This mega-project has been going on for half-a-century. It has Rostenkowski's fingerprints all over it and has been a constant source of political and construction graft for most of it's existence.

But....it has provided some relief....actually, quite a bit of relief to homeowners in the area. We personally went through a couple bad basement floods back in our youth. It was an almost semi-annual tradition of emptying out the basement of waterlogged furniture, boxes of winter clothes, bins of destroyed Christmas decorations that didn't fit in the garage. Sometimes, the Ward boss would schedule a special pick-up day to pick up the alleys full of wreckage.

And then it slowed considerably. We moved to a neighborhood where it almost didn't happen at all. No one remembered the last time it happened it had been so long. But now, the reservoirs are full, the assorted municipalities can't empty them fast enough to make room for the next storm, and basement floods are suddenly on everyone's radar. 

Get those boxes up high and invest in plastic bins we guess. 

Supreme Court to Hear AR Ban

And if the past two years are any indication, Porky's AR ban is headed for the trash heap:

• The Supreme Court on Tuesday agreed to hear a challenge to bans on AR-15s and similar semi-automatic rifles that could impact states that have implemented strict gun control measures.

  The justices granted a writ of certiori and consolidated two cases addressing bans on commonly owned firearms, including AR-15s. The petitioners specifically challenge restrictions in Illinois and Connecticut, two states with some of the strictest gun regulations in the nation.

  AR-15s are among the most common semi-automatic rifles in the nation. The model has drawn scrutiny, however, over its prevalent use by mass shooters.

  But the Supreme Court's recent Second Amendment cases have seen the justices err on the side of a permissive interpretation. This term, the court struck down restrictions on concealed carry permit holders in Hawaii. The justices previously struck down sweeping concealed carry restrictions in New York.

Actually, mass shooters use handguns far more often than rifles, but the media won't report that because those shootings are mainly in the blue state shitholes occupied by certain demographics. 

Rifles are used around 400 times a year in homicides. Handguns around 10,000 times. Suicides by firearms are almost always handguns and account for another 20,000 deaths. 

In any case, start saving up for that rifle you wanted. 

Good News

You can defend yourself is someone tries to take your gun:

• Chicago’s police oversight agency has cleared a police officer who fatally shot a man after he tried to rob her of her firearm during an off-duty encounter outside her Washington Heights home, according to newly released records.

  Video footage released by city officials showed that on the afternoon of January 18, 2023, a group of men and 39-year-old Leevon Smith walked down the 1300 block of West 90th Street, past the apartment building where Probationary CPD Officer [...] lived. About a block away, out of camera range, the men punched and kicked Smith while he was on the ground, until a witness yelled at them to stop, according to COPA. Smith then followed the group as they walked back up the street toward [...]’s building.

  Hearing the commotion, [...] stepped out of her apartment building, and Smith asked to use her phone, COPA said. That’s when the three men approached her, with one warning that they would beat her if she gave her phone to Smith, according to the agency. Video showed [...] fending off the group until they left.

But one came back, grabbed the PPO's arm and tried to take her gun, which proved to be a costly mistake as she shot him twice, ending the threat and the drain on taxpayer wallets.

Nice to see COPA get one correct. 

One Mass Shooting (UPDATE)

As of Sunday night, there was a single "mass shooting" in the tie-breaker category:

• At least seven people were shot during a large street gathering in the East Garfield Park neighborhood early Sunday morning, according to Chicago police. Multiple shooters are believed to be responsible for the shootings, which unfolded while CPD officers, including at least one commander and a deputy chief, were already on the scene because of the size of the crowd.

  The first victim, a 17-year-old girl, was shot and critically injured at about 1:25 a.m. in the 3800 block of West Maypole Avenue. She was standing outside when another female shot her in the chest, according to CPD.

  Officers reached her within moments. They applied a special dressing designed for chest wounds and carried her out of the crowd so an ambulance could reach her. She was transported to Stroger Hospital in critical condition. The shooter was described as a short, thin Black female with braids, wearing a white shirt, who was last seen running east on Maypole.

  Less than 10 minutes later, as officers were still assisting the first victim, multiple shooters opened fire on the same block, injuring six more people, according to CPD. Police found some victims at the scene while others transported themselves to hospitals.

Ah yes, the west side living down to its reputation....again. One-hundred toothpicks say it was over a boy.

HeyJackass.com will have the final stats up later today, so we'll update this post shortly. The totals are currently around 3 and 18, but that will depends on the overnight numbers. One "mass" shooting but we haven't heard of a fireworks fatality though. 

UPDATE: The final weekend total (per HeyJackass.com) is 6 dead, 20 wounded, which is considerably below the last decade's averages.

However, we set the hours slightly differently than HeyJackass.com did, so for gambling purposes our count reads as 5 dead, 18 wounded.

There's also a question about that Portage Park one where one report looks like a domestic, but the other reads like a suicide. We'll have to see how that plays out.

Temporarily Detained

This guy knows the system, how it works, and exactly what the consequences of the SAFE-T Act are....so this had to be a bit of surprise at the moment:

• A man who was already on electronic monitoring for allegedly punching a suburban police officer is now detained after prosecutors said he tried to rob a CTA passenger in Lakeview while armed with a sledgehammer, then confidently told cops he would “get right back out.”

  [...] Police body camera footage allegedly captured Widerman insisting he would quickly be released. “You’re arresting me for a misdemeanor. I’m going to get right back out. S*** is a misdemeanor. You’re arresting me for getting off the bus. What do I have on me? I don’t have s*** on me,” he allegedly stated.

  When a cop mentioned the hammer, Wideman allegedly replied, “What hammer? You’re lying dude. Anybody can have on the same clothes. I can beat the case.”

  Wideman’s prediction of a quick release proved incorrect. Judge Ankur Srivastava detained him on a charge of attempted armed robbery, with prosecutors arguing he posed a public safety threat. The judge noted there were six witnesses in addition to the victim, according to court records.

Of course, this was the preliminary hearing. When he makes his next appearance, some other useless judge will probably release him....again. No felony charges, so he'll be out in a couple weeks. 

Maybe his next victim will have a CCL - we can always hope.

Shots Fired....at an Airplane

Having an airport in the neighborhood, we're surprised this doesn't happen more often:

• The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating after a plane was struck by a firework near Chicago’s Midway Airport on the Fourth of July.

  According to the FAA, the pilot of Delta Flight 1076 reported that a fireworks mortar struck the aircraft just before it landed at Midway Airport around 8:30 p.m. Saturday.

  The plane landed safely without incident.

  A statement from Delta said the plane was coming in from Atlanta and confirmed that it made contact with a firework.

Maybe it does happen more often than we hear about? Last night seemed....extensive (?) in terms of fireworks once the rain died out.

And speaking of loud reports, this one from the Babylon Bee:

• After fielding a flood of calls complaining of loud popping noises, the Chicago Police Department issued a statement assuring residents that those were just gun shots.

  City officials reminded residents that discharging fireworks within city limits carries fines and potential criminal penalties, while also noting that the familiar staccato soundtrack of neighborhood gunfire should not be mistaken for any sort of holiday celebration.

  "These noises are nothing to be alarmed about," said Police Chief Larry Snelling. "Chicagoans can rest easy that we have not seen any illegal fireworks, and the loud 'bangs' that residents are hearing are nothing but gunfire. There's been an uptick in gang battles as well as criminals shooting bullets into the sky for fun, but that's all. Everything is under control."

With the amount of fireworks we heard and saw last night, we can only imagine the amount of sales tax dollars that went to Indiana and Wisconsin from Illinois residents. You'd think that some politician trying to figure out ways to raise revenue (instead of cutting costs) would wise up and get their relatives into a fireworks business.

Easy Sunday

Open post since we're traveling.

Hopefully, everyone survived with their fingers and faces intact. 

Who Would Want That Job?

Someone noticed that the search for Snelling's replacement is about to hit a big stumbling block:

• The search for retiring Chicago police superintendent Larry Snelling’s replacement will take place against the backdrop of a highly contested mayoral race.

  Ultimately, it’s in Mayor Brandon Johnson’s hands to pick Snelling’s successor, with the City Council’s approval. Johnson has not yet declared his intent whether to seek reelection. But if he does run, a public approval rating in the low 30s has him in serious danger of becoming a one-term mayor.

  That kind of political uncertainty is likely to discourage candidates from outside Chicago — and even some insiders — from applying for the $284,016-a-year job.

The "public safety committee" or whatever its called has 120 days to find a panel of potential replacements. That means mid-November. By then the mayoral race will be in full swing and Conehead is still polling below 35% with his strongest supporters clocking in at 6%.

It's not looking like a second term is in the cards, so anyone with any real potential to be a meaningful replacement isn't going to be stepping forward for a job that might last all of five or six months.

Which probably means the Department will be stuck with Waller for a while. 

Real Brain Trust Here

If criminals were smart, they might be more dangerous than this:

• A pair of alleged carjackers are being held in the Cook County jail after prosecutors said they made a spectacularly bad decision: trying to sell the hijacked car back to its owner just hours after taking it at gunpoint. Their plan unraveled when Chicago police squad cars happened to drive past as the cash-for-car exchange was underway and the victim decided to flag down the cops rather than pay money for his own car.

  At about 3 a.m. on June 28, a 23-year-old man was sitting in his vehicle with his brother in an alley behind the 900 block of North Central Park Avenue when 35-year-old Trevail Tyree approached the driver’s side armed with a handgun, according to a CPD report. At the same time, 38-year-old William Tanksley allegedly went to the passenger side and began pulling the driver’s brother by the arm, trying to force him out of the vehicle, according to the detention petition.

  The driver shouted that he would not let Tanksley take his brother out of the car and Tyree responded by firing a shot into the vehicle’s dashboard, according to the police report. Fearing for their lives, both brothers got out of the car, and Tyree and Tanksley drove away in it, according to the police. A Chicago police surveillance camera reportedly captured at least part of the carjacking.

  Less than three hours later, police said, Tyree and Tanksley contacted one of the brothers using the other brother’s stolen cellphone and offered to return the vehicle in exchange for cash, the police report stated. The parties agreed to meet in the same alley where the carjacking had occurred. As the exchange was taking place around 5:30 a.m., one of the victims spotted two Chicago police squad cars driving nearby and flagged them down to explain what was happening. Officers investigated, returned the vehicle’s keys to its owner, and arrested Tyree and Tanksley, according to the CPD report.

We were kind of hoping for a different ending, where the victims used the three hours to find their own gun or guns, and when the carjackers showed up, they returned the favor and prevented future carjackings via some old fashioned justice.

Happy Independence Day

We were trying to locate a picture of fireworks against the Chicago skyline and found this: 

 

Turns out that this was from a teen takeover near Columbus Drive a few months ago.

....maybe....

In any case, stay safe. It's already been a crazy weekend so be alert.

DOJ Arrests Over 300

And without any meaningful support from the political class:

• Justice Department officials on Thursday announced the arrests of 300 fugitives as well as sweeping prosecutions against more than 175 people accused of violent crimes — all part of a massive federal law enforcement collaboration over the past two months.

  U.S. Attorney Andrew Boutros called the effort, which he created, “Operation New Dawn.”

  “A new dawn of crime fighting is underway in Chicago,” Boutros, U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, said alongside other federal law enforcement leaders at a news conference Thursday at the Dirksen Federal Courthouse. He said the announcement was timed to coincide with the country’s 250th anniversary July 4.

  The size of the joint effort was “an experiment,” Boutros said — and something that “had not been done before here in Chicago” and which “worked very, very well.”

  In all, charges were filed against 179 people in 140 new cases, while 305 fugitives were arrested and 24 children who had been kidnapped or lost were returned home.

That's a few hundred votes Porkulous and Conehead will have to make up this November, but don't worry - Chicago, Cook County, Illinois has been replacing "missing" votes for decades.

Rumor

From the comments:

• Retired guy here. Just spoke with a guy who is detailed tomorrow to the Obama Center. Apparently the CPD has to guard that monstrosity! He said they were told that the police cannot enter the facility to use the bathroom during their tour-of-duty. Told to go down the block to the YMCA. Can anyone else confirm this?

Well?

We wouldn't be surprised.

And in an emergency, we'd just do what ha to be done and take the suspension days. It was an emergency after all.