Someone Want to Verify This? (UPDATE)

From the comments:

• FYI, members of the cities law department, finance and mayors office (not the mayor) had an "impromptu" meeting with attorneys at Jones-Day law firm. You probably think why is this important. Its important because if you do research you will see that the Jones-Day law firm just finished handling the City of Detroit's Bankruptcy. Jones-Day orchestrated the entire Detroit financial restructuring and pension overhaul. Research even further and you will find that Jones-Day are major business/municipality experts for bankruptcy. Trust me, that 500 million dollar payment for our pensions will not get paid and the above meeting is why. Yes, the city will declare bankruptcy to get its pension overhaul. The information may seem off the wall and exaggerated but from the person I got the information from its extremely reliable and needs to be received seriously. God help us.

Does Illinois bankruptcy law allow for municipalities to declare in light of numerous financial assets that can be re-appropriated to make payments? There are two airports sitting around generating billions. TIF funds with little-to-no oversight. If the red light and speed camera revenue had been directed to pensions (as our readers and we suggested), Rahm wouldn't even have a payment to worry about. Sounds shaky.

UPDATE: As someone reminded us, Detroit's bankruptcy required a very specific inventory of assets:

• After Detroit's bankruptcy filing July 18, 2013, creditors targeted the collection of the Detroit Institute of Arts as a potential source of revenue. State-appointed emergency manager Kevin Orr hired Christie's Auction House to appraise the collection. After months of determining the fair market value of art purchased with city funds, Christie's released a report December 19, 2013, saying that the collection of nearly 2,800 pieces of city-owned artwork, was worth $454 million to $867 million, with one masterpiece by Van Gogh worth up to $150 million.
  
  To prevent possible sale of the works, museum proponents developed what has been named the grand bargain. Under the plan, the museum will raise $100 million, nine private foundations pledge $330 million, and the state of Michigan will contribute $350 million for a total of $820 million that will guarantee municipal workers' pensions. In return, the city of Detroit will give the collection and the building to the non-profit entity that already operates the museum. This plan was challenged by other creditors, who claimed that it treated them unfairly and requested to conduct their own appraisal of the museum collection. Some creditors came forward with offers from other parties to buy the artworks for sums higher than Christie's appraisal. Meanwhile, May 13, 2014, Detroit emergency manager Kevyn Orr asked Detroit automakers to add $195 million to make the grand bargain stronger.
  
  The discovery in 2014 that DIA President Graham W. J. Beal and Executive Vice President Anne Erickson received significant raises in 2014 and $50,000 bonuses in 2013 caused a lot of anger among Wayne, Macomb and Oakland County taxpayers, and Oakland County Commissioners threatened to stop Oakland County's participation in the DIA millage. During a meeting October 23, 2014, the Oakland County Commissioners warned DIA board chair Gene Gargaro that they have drafted a resolution to dissolve the Oakland County Art Authority which collects the Oakland County millage and passes it to the DIA.

One has to wonder what a forensic accounting of the Chicago Art Institute might reveal. We've got a couple good crowbars - maybe a van Gogh or a Renoir would look good on our retirement wall in lieu of payment.

This is a Funny Idea

Why carry a gun when you don't have to?

• What are Perceived Carry Decoys? We're glad you asked! Perceived Carry Decoys is a veteran owned entity that offers the worlds first and only way to exercise your 2nd amendment right, without the stigma or concerns associated with owning a gun.
  
  PCD understands that not everyone is comfortable with owning an actual firearm. But why should those feelings affect your personal safety?
  
  Now they no longer have to. With the launch of Perceived Carry Decoys, you may now give off the appearance that you are toting serious heat, while in actuality you have nothing more than a one piece device attached to your hip that is as harmless as a cell phone.

This has to be a satire site - nothing loads up in the ordering area, and the sales pitch is just too sarcastic to be real. If a criminal with a gun sees you grabbing for your waistband, he's probably going to shoot first and flee. Cops are going to shoot first and ask questions later. Go take a look and laugh at this idea - you know the anti-gunners would embrace it in a heartbeat.

Water Wasters Endorse.....

Seriously?

• The Chicago firefighters union has endorsed Mayor Rahm Emanuel for a second term, the mayor's campaign said Friday.
  
  It's a turnabout for Emanuel, whose first couple of years in office were marked by him leaving the door open to closing firehouses and lowering staffing levels while talking openly about cutting costs in the department. The rhetoric angered union leadership as the new mayor began the traditionally acrimonious process of negotiating a new contract for the Fire Department.
  
  Then about nine months ago, Emanuel and the union agreed to a new pact giving firefighters and paramedics an 11 percent raise over five years.

This is telling:

• Fire union leaders could not be reached for comment.

Divide and conquer.

See Ya George!

So not only is Rahm's effort of getting the Obama Library on the ropes, now he is on the verge of dashing the hopes of midwestern Star Wars geeks everywhere:

• George Lucas said Friday that complications in his plan to build the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art on the Chicago lakefront may put Los Angeles back in the running.
  
  Last summer, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti made a vigorous push to get the “Star Wars” creator to choose Los Angeles, but the city lost out to Chicago.
  
  “We still have to get through some lawsuits and things in Chicago,” Lucas said during a phone call while promoting his upcoming animated feature, “Strange Magic.”
  
  “Once we make it through, we’ll be on our way. But it’s still a possibility that Chicago will be unable to do it,” Lucas said.

Go Rahm!

Captain Assignments

If anyone cares:

You have to love the double-bump up at the top - Lieutenant to Captain to Commander all in one go. Even if he displeases his political masters, he can't be dumped any lower than Captain.

BLOODBATH COMING!!!!!

Oh my God!!!!!!!

• Almost 24,000 people in Cook County have received permits to carry concealed weapons since the state began the licensing process in January 2014, the Illinois State Police said Friday.

And it's even worse statewide!!!!

• Illinois State Police say more than 91,000 concealed-carry permits have been issued statewide since the state began allowing guns to be carried in public a year ago.
  
  State police say 91,651 permits had been granted by the end of 2014.

Good Lord! That's 91,000 potential murderers! And 91,000 potential spouses killed!! And 91,000 potential suicides!!!

In fact, that means there are OVER 270,000 POTENTIAL VICTIMS OF GUN VIOLENCE OUT THERE RIGHT NOW!!!!

We have got to get into the funeral business. Seriously. The wave of victims is coming....shortly....and every gun sale is yet another potential victim in the making, Won't somebody think of the children!!!! Any day now....very soon.....aaaaaaaany minute now.....

Redefine Crime from the Ground Up

If you can't alter the numbers via CompStat, do it via the citizen themselves:

• Police are alerting residents of a recent string of thefts on the CTA trains at the Red Line's Wilson stop on the North Side.
  
  There were three thefts between Dec. 28 and Wednesday during late evening and early morning hours, according to an alert from the Chicago Police Department’s Office of News Affairs.
  
  In each incident, an offender grabbed a cellphone from someone's hand and ran out of the train at the Wilson stop, 4620 N. Broadway.

Amazingly, the Tribune actually described one of the offenders, and it was a black guy, so they've returned to reality based reporting for a short while.

But isn't this a Strong Armed Robbery? Force used to take something from a victim? This wasn't a phone left on a seat and someone snatched it.

Offenders Sue Police...Again

It's getting ridiculous again:

• In April 2012, Chicago Police responded to a burglary in progress at Mike’s Electronics store in the Little Village neighborhood on the west side.
  
  Three men were stealing stereos at 2:30 in the morning. Within 15 minutes of the police arriving, one person was shot dead and two others were seriously wounded as the men tried to escape in a stolen van. Security cameras and police dash cameras captured much of the shooting.

And get a load of what this lawyer is saying the basis for the lawsuit is:

• The lawsuit cites Chicago’s deadly force policy which states ‘when the vehicle is the only force used…sworn members will move out of the vehicle’s path.”
  
  “The van cannot be a justification for deadly force,” Hegarty said. One officer who is standing in the path of the vehicle says he was hit by the van, injured by flying debris and treated at a hospital.
  
  Hegarty argues the tape shows the officer running down the sidewalk apparently unhurt and officers reloading and approaching the van. He also accuses them of continuing to fire after the vehicle crashed.

Well, we watched the video, and the officer did indeed move out of the way - after being hit by the van. As to him running away, adrenalin leads the way - we recall more than a few folks (or people) shot through the heart who managed to run quite long distances and unload numerous shots after the fact. It happens.

But the van itself is a 4,500 pound weapon, and thankfully, any number of experts will tell you that. At least one tells the reporter so. And criminals willing to drive through a closed steel door with cops on the other side are more than willing to drive over granny or anyone else who gets in their way. The NBC report is reasonably fair and the video is explicit in showing the complete disregard the criminals had for the safety of anyone in the vicinity.

Wounded Cop Speaks Out

From the Conviction Project Blog (by Martin Preib):

• In preparation for today, I carefully thought what I would say in regards to a man who almost ended my life. The truth is, it's extremely difficult to put into words, my emotions and my thoughts of not only that night, but also the effect the last several years have had on me, my family, and my friends.
  
  On February 21, 2005, a Chicago Police Officer went to work that night, as a man with 11 years of Law Enforcement experience. In those 11 years, he served as a Police officer in multiple jurisdictions, and served communities of people from different races, cultures, religions, and backgrounds. He always strived to maintain a good reputation within those communities, including Chicago, because he believed in the trust that should exist between the Police and the people it serves. And, he always strived to do his job with fairness and compassion. That was one of the Police Officers you encountered that night Mr. Morgan. That was me.

The entire piece is worth a read. Preib has been on fire lately, ripping the Tribune, Eric Zorn, the Reader, Anita Alvarez, Dick Devine, the Northwestern "innocence project" among others. He lays out a case for journalistic and prosecutorial misconduct that should shame all involved and ought to result in numerous indictments and lawsuits by interested parties. Give the entire site a look.

Drones? Seriously, Drones?

Once again, Illinois politicians demonstrating no grasp of reality or the problems facing the state:

• Using drones to gain an advantage when hunting or fishing might soon be illegal under a bill proposed by state Sen. Julie Morrison.
  
  “Let’s keep the man —or woman—in outdoorsman,” the Deerfield Democrat said in a statement. “Using drones to hunt makes the process too easy. That’s not fair for hunters and fishers who are seriously into the sport, and it’s not fair for the animals that deserve a chance to escape.”
  
  While small animals that fear birds of prey run when they see unmanned aerial vehicles, larger game animals such as deer are unfazed by small aircraft, making them easy pickings for high-tech hunters, the statement said.

First up, the logistics of this are ridiculous. A hunter can use two hands to fly the drone and then two more hands to shoot a deer? And even if you're just using it for spotting, you usually up in a tree waiting for the deer to come by. Fishermen are in the same boat as it were. You aren't going to convince a fish to take the bait by flying a drone and you certainly can't land one while flying a drone and taking in line.

And have you even seen the deer around Illinois? Chronic Wasting Disease has taken a hefty toll on the population. Not only that, the deer could use a good culling - they're starving to death in many areas of the state. Poor Bambi is poorly managed and the entire species is suffering.

Finally, this shows just how un-serious politicians in general, and this democrat in particular, are. $111 billion (with a B-billion) in debt/pension liabilities, and she wants to outlaw drones. How about questioning something like why the law allows assholes like Quinn to pardon the criminals he did?

And if drones are outlawed, how will we practice for when the HK-Aerials arrive next decade?

Morale Killers

In regard to the alleged upcoming promotional exam for lieutenant, you really have to shake your head at the process:

• announce an exam, register a few hundred, take their money;
• allow Bernstein and such to set up classes - take their money;
• don't say anything for a few months while a sizable percentage of people bid their watches/furloughs to optimize study opportunities;
• pull the rug out from under people, throwing plans into disarray by continuing not to announce a date

This Mickey Mouse operation truly is a wonder to behold.

Rahm Campaigns

And he doesn't seem to have much:

• Mayor Rahm Emanuel on Wednesday laid out a second-term economic plan he said would focus on the city's struggling neighborhoods as he fights critics who say his policies so far have mainly benefited wealthier Chicagoans.
  
  Emanuel went to the Far South Side for a campaign speech light on new proposals and heavy on what he says were his first-term economic successes in which he said areas of the city outside downtown already are seeing a better jobs outlook on his watch.
  
  Six weeks before he stands for re-election, the mayor is working to win back African-American voters who gave him strong support in his first election but who have grown disenchanted with him since, according to Chicago Tribune polling. The Emanuel campaign event at Method, a new manufacturing company in a predominantly black neighborhood, highlighted what he called "a comeback story for Pullman."

Rahm closed fifty schools in predominantly minority communities. Chicago's job picture is a disgrace. Companies and homeowners of all stripes leaving at the highest rate in years. Certain communities look like war zones due to inadequate street repairs and collapsing infrastructure, not to mention the gunfire and stacks of wounded. Plus the daily pocket-picking via red light and speed cameras, the speed cameras that ticket during hours of darkness, weekends and summer in violation of state law. And not a single mention of the required pension balloon payment that is supposed to eat up something like a quarter of the operating budget.

And he's still in the race...in the margin of error for a runoff, winning by other accounts. Wake up Chicago.

Fundraiser

Should be a good time.

The supporting acts are supposed to be pretty good, too.

Bratton Denies

There is no policy:

• New York Police Commissioner William Bratton is denying a published report that rank-and-file New York City police officers have been told not to take any vacation or sick days until the number of low-level arrests and summonses return to normal levels.
  
  According to a report in the New York Post, officers in individual precincts are being ordered to hand in "activity sheets" to borough commanders. The sheets describe the number of arrests and summonses during each officer's shift.
  
  But Bratton said during a news conference Monday afternoon that the NYPD is not denying officers vacations and sick time.

Sure, because those are contractually guaranteed, and if they're like us, they schedule/bid them far in advance.

But optional time? We'd imagine they'd be smart enough not to put such a policy down on paper, but hey, that "manpower" phrase is a bitch, ain't it? We gotta have this many cars up, we gotta have these many foot posts manned, you know, there's a vague "terror threat" that is going to restrict time off. Management plays games, too. None of this would be a surprise.

Can vs Gun

We've heard some dumb things over the years, but this is one of the dumbest:

• A middle school principal in eastern Alabama wants to stockpile cans of food such as corn and peas in classrooms so that students could hurl them as weapons in a last-resort confrontation with a school intruder.
  
  In a letter Friday, W.F. Burns Middle School Principal Priscella Holley asked parents to have each student bring an 8-ounce canned item.
  
  "We realize at first this may seem odd; however, it is a practice that would catch an intruder off guard," she wrote in the letter, published by CBS affiliate WHNT in Huntsville.
  
  "The canned food item could stun the intruder or even knock him out until the police arrive," Holley wrote. "The canned food item will give the students a sense of empowerment to protect themselves and will make them feel secure in case an intruder enters their classroom."

Maybe they could have a sock drive later? You put the cans in the socks and you have a pretty effective flail-weapon. Or how about a "padlock and shoelaces" drive? We've seen that very weapon in the hands of too many high school offenders to count. Or how about hire an off-duty copper to patrol inside, check doors, check IDs of persons entering and maybe interacting with the kids to give them a positive experience in dealing with law enforcement? Does that make too much sense?

Promotion Shennanigans

Hope you remember everything....in 5 months:

•  Dear SCC, it might be of interest to your readers that your police superintendent is making our lives at the Department of Human resources a living Hell. Here is my "rumor:"The lieutenant promotional exam has been scheduled for 2 weeks (Saturday, March 7th). After being told by our commissioner that the most recent promotees to sergeant were ineligible to sit for the exam, your superintendent quite frankly has been acting like a petulant child. Apparently there are several merit appointees recently promoted that he insists should be fast tracked to exempt "for the good of the department." He wants them to be lieutenants first. The problem is we have always required some "time in grade" to maintain at least a basic appearance of fairness and legitimacy. We "won" the argument and began the process. Your boss has now lobbied the mayor, successfully, to delay the testing process until June 15th. His idea is his friends (or Robert Tracey's?) will have 1 year as sergeant at that time, and he will hold the process hostage further until Commissioner Choi agrees to reduce the time requirement to 1 year. This whole headache blew up from the mayor trying to keep the narrative about his son's robbery on track, and the superintendent suddenly having leverage. A month ago Rahm called his insistence "unethical" and "unfair to sergeants from tests past who followed the rules, and those that have spent thousands relying on our commitment for study groups." With an election and a strange robbery, all options for maneuvering of friends and family into promotion are back on the table.

And now they're going to have to re-open the sign ups so these suddenly eligible people can sign up. What the hell kindof Department are you going to have with someone who barely has a year as sergeant, make lieutenant in the first class or two, then gets made exempt with a grand total of three years in a white shirt?

Oh yeah - a screwed up one.

You Know What They Need?

Some kind of passage. A passage that's....safe. Safe for people to walk to and from home:

• Two men were shot, one of them fatally, near a Brighton Park elementary school on the Southwest Side early Tuesday evening, according to police.
  
  An 18-year-old was shot in the arm and back, and a 21-year-old was shot in the face about 5 p.m. in the 4200 block of South Rockwell Street, police said.
  
  Both were taken to Mount Sinai Hospital -- the older man in critical condition and the younger in serious condition. The 21-year-old later died, Chicago police spokeswoman Bari Lemmon said.
  
  Shields Elementary School is on that block.

Good thing school wasn't in session or they'd be reviving that boondoggle in short order.

Candidate Steps In It (UPDATE)

Couldn't find an actual officer to pose, so they make one up:

• The Fraternal Order of Police is crying foul over a direct mail piece distributed by a candidate for 2nd Ward alderman that shows a campaign staffer impersonating a Chicago Police officer.
  
  Attorney Alyx Pattison is trying to stand out in a crowd of six candidates vying to replace Bob Fioretti in a completely redrawn ward that snakes through eleven different neighborhoods in one of the most bizarre configurations Chicago has ever seen.
  
  But the FOP and the union’s rival candidate say Pattison has gone too far by distributing a slick mailer promising to make crime prevention her “top priority.”
  
  It shows Pattison talking to a man who, at first glance, appears to be a uniformed Chicago Police officer in front of a marked squad car.
  
  But a closer look shows that the uniform does not measure up to Chicago Police Department standards. The “uniform” cap lacks the proper insignia. The vest is not lined with armor. And the utility belt that on-duty police officers are required to wear is missing.

Yes, we're aware that an officer posing in uniform in a political ad is a violation of Department Rules and punishable by suspension time. But we are also aware of certain folks being used as props before in certain politicians flyers and posters and no harm befell their careers. They've been named here on occasion.

The FOP is all over this, but silent on the recent pardons and commutations Governor Potatothead signed on the way out the door. Candidate Pattison must not be the favored name that the Machine wants.

UPDATE: FOP released a statement just before this article went to post (which happens to be our third mention of the entire incident, including the heads up we got two days before.)  Bravo.

Hey Kids? It's a Game

Parents must be so proud:

• Fans took to the streets after Ohio State's football championship victory early Tuesday, yelling and screaming in delight, setting nearly 90 fires and in the case of a few, tearing down an Ohio Stadium goal post. A few injuries were reported.
  
  Police made a handful of arrests after using tear gas and pepper spray to disperse crowds of Ohio State students and other fans following the Buckeyes' win.

What's the in-state and out-of-state tuition costs for OSU? And they learn to set fires and destroy property. Morons. No cops hurt at least.

We certainly hope the Departments attempt to recover the costs of putting out 89 fires and controlling drunk children from OSU, and OSU can turn around and tack the money on student fees for these idiots.

Quinn Releases Asshole (UPDATE)

As predicted by a reader:

• Quinn commuted the 40-year sentence of Howard Morgan, who was convicted of shooting at four Chicago police officers during an early morning traffic stop in 2005 in the Lawndale neighborhood. Morgan, who was a Chicago police officer before becoming a railroad cop, claimed he was the victim of overzealous officers. But police said Morgan fired at them first, and testimony indicated he fired 17 times, while he was hit more than two dozen times.

And as far as we can tell, he did it without any explanation of the reasons behind his decision. Morgan was convicted in a court of law of attempting to murder 4 police officers, and now he gets a walk for what reason exactly?

UPDATE: Howard Morgan actually succeeded in wounding three of the four officers he shot at.

And to everyone else claiming we're misreading the article, go read it for yourself - there can be two different people with the name Morgan, and one can be a victim and one can be an offender.

Oh Luberman

Bad penny keeps turning up:

• After leaving city government four years ago, Ron Huberman started his own firm, which is getting business from some of the same government-financed charter-school operators he championed as then-Mayor Richard M. Daley’s schools chief, a Chicago Sun-Times investigation has found.
  
  Huberman, who is a member of Gov.-elect Bruce Rauner’s transition team, founded TeacherMatch LLC in 2011.
  
  The company has since gotten contracts worth a total of more than $200,000 from two of the largest Chicago Public Schools-funded charter operators — the Noble Network of Charter Schools and the United Neighborhood Organization’s charter network — and also has gotten work from some schools in the Chicago International Charter Schools network, records and interviews show.
  
  TeacherMatch, which provides software to help schools screen job applicants, reported total revenues in 2013 of more than $286,000, according to school contracting records.
  
  That same year, it got an infusion of nearly $1.9 million from investors, the records show — a sign of confidence in its future growth.
  
  Huberman continues to serve as the company’s executive chairman, though records list its primary owner as Prairie Capital, the Chicago private-equity firm where Huberman has been a top executive since 2011.

A guy who went from Patrolman to Exempt, then couldn't hold a job for more than two years in how many city departments? CPD, OEMC, Chief of Staff, Schools, CTA to name a few. Now he's knee deep in city contracts for schools that have something like a 50% failure rate. The City That Works!

NYPD Satire

Funny stuff:

There's a whole series of these things and they date back a few years. Some seem very timely though.

Seems like the company folded a few years ago.

Is There a Subpoena Around?

Rumor is that a process server was spotted in the vicinity:

• Former Mayor Richard M. Daley has canceled plans for a speech at a small college in Michigan, after citing unspecified “health concerns.”
  
  A spokesman for Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Michigan, said Daley had been scheduled to speak Wednesday as part of the school’s “January Series” lineup, but has since pulled out.
  
  “Unfortunately Mayor Daley is no longer speaking at Calvin on Wednesday, citing health concerns for canceling,” Calvin spokesman Matthew Kucinski.

Pity, the children could have learned sooo much.

Guess who they got instead?

• Detroit venture capitalist Josh Linkner, will speak at the college instead.

Because Detroit is such a model of successful venture capitalism.

All Out War Against NYPD

No time due, no medical time, no anything, until they generate revenue:

• It’s a slowdown showdown.
  
  At precincts across the city, top brass are cracking the whip on summons activity and even barring many cops from taking vacation and sick days, The Post has learned.
  
  Throughout the city, precincts are being ordered to hand up to borough commanders “activity sheets” indicating the number of arrests and summonses per shift, sources told The Post.
  
  “Police officers around the city are now threatened with transfers, no vacation time and sick time unless they write summonses,” one union source said.
  
  “This is the same practice that caused officers to be labeled racist and abusers of power.”

In our comment sections, we deleted a number of ignoramuses who said members of the NYPD should be ashamed, fired, drawn and quartered for laying down and not arresting criminals. As you can see, it isn't about the arrests and no one from the NYPD has advocated not arresting criminals.

What the police have objected to, and what is being demonstrated here by the politicians, is not citing people for revenue driven offenses....like red light cameras, "school" speeding, public drinking, so-called "morals" offenses that serve only to bring in revenue.

It seems to us that the NYPD is winning. If they're being ordered to write what are essentially ANOV's in order to bring citizens before unelected "hearing officers" who's only loyalty is to generate money for the city, then the administration is obviously in a panic that cash flow is drying up.

Oops. Should have thought of that before bad mouthing the very organization that is an essential part of making the city livable.

Tribune Lies...Deliberately (UPDATE - Hahaha)

We don't suppose we're actually surprised, but this is most definitely irresponsible in the extreme (we got this from an e-mailer who pays attention):

• Check this out. The cops released a community alert late Friday night about strong-arm robberies happening in Lake View and Uptown.
  
  Apparently the Trib got the release. They rewrote it, as newspapers do. They included this paragraph:
  
  "Two or more offenders carried out each robbery, according to the statement. No detailed description of the offenders was available."

Here's the link if you'd like to see for yourself.

But here's the actual Community Alert as provided to Uptown Update:

• "About the Offender:
  
  In the incidents on Broadway and Buena, offenders are described as black males wearing black jackets. Additionally on Buena, one is described as being 5'08, 150 lbs, and the other is described as being 5'05, 130 lbs and wearing beige pants.
  
  In the Waveland incident, offender #1 is described as a black male, 5'10-6'00, 150-170 lbs, with a black jacket, while the co-offender is described as being 5'07- 6'00, 150-170 lbs."
  

So who wants to guess why the Tribune is deliberately omitting the descriptions from their new stories? Descriptions that might actually allow people to be aware of their surroundings, be alert to suspicious characters that might harms them or other citizens, and might assist the police in apprehending the offenders?

Oh right....we forgot....black people.

Anyone want to bet that if America ever gets around to having that "discussion on race" that Holder, Obama, Jesse, Al and Louis always want to have that the Tribune will be hiding in a closet hoping somehow, somewhere, Ed Burke will be introducing an ordinance against dihydrogen monoxide.

UPDATE: Hahahahahahaha, oh Tribune, you idiots slay us.

Today at 09:34 AM, over 48 hours since original publication and 9 hours since we posted, they finally added the descriptions. What a bunch of fools - the story isn't anywhere near their main pages, so you can bet no one saw it, but they can go back through their archives one day and tell everyone who questions their objectivity, "Hey, we covered it. See? Look!" And they do it without any attribution, notice of correction or statement that the Chicago Police Department provided them with exactly the same information as Uptown Update, but they were too politically correct to publish it.

Hate Crimes Against Police

Here's an interesting proposal:

• In the wake of the murder of two New York City police officers and a national debate about policing, the National Fraternal Order of Police is asking for the Congressional hate crimes statute to be expanded to include crimes against police officers. The union has more than 300,000 members.
  
  Violence against police officers that is motivated by anti-police bias should be prosecuted as a hate crime, the nation’s largest police union is arguing in a letter to President Barack Obama and Congressional leaders this week.
  
  “Right now, it’s a hate crime if you attack someone solely because of the color of their skin, but it ought to be a hate crime if you attack someone solely because of the color of their uniform as well,” said Jim Pasco, the executive director of the National Fraternal Order of Police.

After all, judging someone by the clothes they wear is at least as bad as judging someone by their skin, religious orientation, sexual preference, etc. according to liberals.

But then, it would seem that del Blasio, Sharpton, Jackson, Farakhan, Holder, Obama and many others would be guilty under a generous reading of such a law.

Quinn's Last F@#$ You to Illinois?

On the way out the door maybe?

• SCC,
  
  Got word that Quinn's office is considering a pardon of Howard Morgan, who shot three cops in 2005 and was convicted of four counts attempted murder. Might do it on Monday, his last day.

Shit like this ought to be a millstone around the democrats statewide, but not in Illinois.

Ric Flair to Head State Police

WOO!!!!!

• Michael Sneed has learned the state’s top cop, Hiram Grau, who has decades long career in Chicago Police enforcement, has resigned from his job.
  
  Word is Grau, a highly respected former member of the CPD’s top brass, will be replaced by Chicago Police commander Leo Schmitz, who currently heads the Englewood Police district. Schmitz, 55, joined the CPD in August, 1986.
  
  Schmitz was selected for the job because of his experience in one of the more rougher districts in the city, a source said.

Schmitz, who has received all of his promotions under democrats, is now working for a republican.

Budget Hole Just Got Bigger

Amazing that someone is just catching this now:

• Chicago could be forced to refund millions of dollars in speed camera fines issued to “tens, if not hundreds of thousands” of motorists on “non-school days,” under a class-action lawsuit that accuses City Hall of thumbing its nose at state law.
  
  The previously undisclosed lawsuit, quietly filed in Circuit Court on Halloween night, accuses Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s administration of “blatantly and intentionally” ignoring the ground rules established by the Illinois General Assembly before speed cameras were installed around Chicago’s schools and parks.
  
  The statute clearly states, “Violations shall be recorded, only on school days.”
  
  In spite of that language, plaintiffs’ attorney Jacie Zolna said the city issued more than 34,000 tickets at 58 locations during July and August alone.

For such a smart guy, he sure has trouble reading the law - unless he thinks the law only applies if you get caught breaking it. That would be typical.

Bad Boy Makes Good....

Good money that is....at taxpayer expense:

• A former gang member with a long arrest record who has been fired twice from state jobs over lewd emails and “inconsistencies” in his job applications has been reinstated to a six-figure post with the Illinois state prison system.
  
  Xadrian R. McCraven, 45, was returned to his $111,432-a-year job as a senior policy adviser with the Illinois Department of Corrections on Dec. 22. That was after an independent arbitrator ruled that outgoing Gov. Pat Quinn’s administration wrongly fired him early last year.
  
  The department — which will be under the control of Republican Gov.-elect Bruce Rauner after he is sworn in Monday to succeed Quinn — is appealing the arbitrator’s ruling, agency spokesman Tom Shaer said.

Hey, he delivered the yolo disciples vote, so that's all that mattered.

Great Use of Money

Honest to pete, does anyone think to cover these stories before they come up for votes?

• The state has spent more than $20 million in the past decade to develop 1,000 teachers who would work in distressed public schools and boost the number of minority educators in Illinois.
  
  But since the Grow Your Own Teacher program was launched in January 2005 it has produced just 102 college graduates, and only about 80 of those are teaching.
  
  Hundreds of would-be teachers dropped out after borrowing from the program for college tuition, fees and books, and they didn't have to repay the loans under rules laid out by the state, officials said. Millions of dollars went to colleges and community groups tapped as program administrators, in some cases eclipsing money spent on the teacher candidates, state financial records show. 

$20 million from a bankrupt state and no provisions to pay back these "loans." Sounds like someone should be in jail over this. We nominate Quinn and Madigan for the prison terms.

The Changes

Garry and his crew must be hoping we went to sleep to put it out so late on a Friday:

• Cmdr Washington - from 011 to OCD Narcotics
• Cmdr West - from 015 to 011
• Cmdr Pena - from 010 to 025
• Cmdr Valadez - from 014 to 010

Four laterals. And it leaves 014 and 015 leaderless for the time being.

And how do they keep moving Babs around? She ran an illegal First Amendment investigation, failed to notify anyone and conducted an illegal surveillance of someone not even involved (yes, we still have the copies Barb). And then, she watched a 015 District police woman get dragged into an alley and beaten unconscious without even reaching for her radio, calling for help, or assisting the officer in any way.

This is leadership?

Vehicle Count

Thanks to a reader, we can say that the FOP's negotiated 400 vehicles has come to pass:

• 1AT - All Terrain Vehicle - 1 purchased
• 1AU - Automobile - 14 purchased
• 1MC - Motorcycle - 14 purchased
• 2PU - Pick-Up Truck - 3 purchased
• 2SP - Sport Utility Vehicle - 367 purchased
• 2VA - Van, Cargo - 32 purchased
• 3PT - Prisoner Transport Vehicle - 3 purchased
• 3SQ - Squadrol, Police - 5 purchased

Total: 439 vehicles

The number/letter combo seems to be a budget code. We have no idea what the 1AU is - Tactical cars? 14 seems a bit low. Exempt vehicles? More likely. And 32 cargo vans? Why?

In any event, those are the numbers the city will toss out if anyone questions the language included in the contract.

Detail Lawsuit

This thing is still going on:

• Lawyers for 11 Chicago police officers who claim Mayor Rahm Emanuel removed them from his security detail for political reasons when he took office in 2011 have asked a federal judge to order the mayor to sit for a deposition as part of their ongoing lawsuit.
  
  The officers, who are all white or Hispanic, alleged in a 2012 complaint that Emanuel actively participated in selecting a new security team that included African-American officers with less seniority as well as officers who had volunteered for his campaign.
  
  Lawyers for the demoted officers want to question Emanuel on the record about his involvement in the change. They allege there is evidence that the mayor directed Terry Hillard — who at the time was the city's interim police superintendent — to select a "diverse" group and personally took part in meetings to select campaign volunteers to reassign to his around-the-clock police protection.
  
  Emanuel's attorneys have refused to make the mayor available, citing his packed calendar and saying he had no direct knowledge of how outgoing Mayor Richard Daley's security team was reassigned.

New boss, new people. No one lost their jobs, they just lost their D-3 pay for protecting Daley. A spot like that isn't guaranteed for life (in most cases.) You lucked into it by kissing the right ass or being born to the right family. Seniority never had anything to do with it. It's a POLITICAL spot and the political winds blew Rahm's way. End of story.

Sun Times Dying?

An interesting thing readers have noticed lately. You pull up the Sun Times website (we'd never spend money on that rag) and you see an interesting story, like the one about Officers suing Rahm for dumping them off the security detail. You get a very short paragraph:

• Lawyers for 11 Chicago police officers who claim Mayor Rahm Emanuel removed them from his security detail for political reasons when he took office in 2011 have asked a federal judge to order the mayor to sit for a deposition as part of their ongoing lawsuit. The officers, who are all white or Hispanic, alleged in a 2012 complaint that Emanuel actively participated in selecting a new security team that included African-American officers with less seniority as well as officers who had volunteered for his campaign.

Then there's a link at the bottom - which goes to the Tribune pay website.

So, is the Sun Times on its last legs? Are they cutting back on actual reporters and just linking to Trib stories in an effort to generate money-for-traffic-references? The New York Times just laid off another 100+ employees. The print media is dying and the Sun Times seems to be barely hanging on.

No Pants Sunday on the CTA

For all you exhibitionists....or peepers:

• It's an annual tradition here in Chicago (and many other cities with subway systems): On one day each winter, hundreds of brave individuals gather on CTA platforms, remove their pants, step onto a train and act as if nothing out of the ordinary is happening. Tourists and travelers are confused, but most people are in on the joke and chuckle to themselves as groups of pantless participants go about their business.
  
  The 2015 edition of the No Pants Subway Ride begins on Sunday at noon, so expect to see some underwear if you decide to ride the Red Line.

So they're meeting somewhere up north near the Loyola campus and riding the Red Line to Roosevelt and back.

Roosevelt? Why not some of the brand new stations running south from there? The Red Line runs to 95th Street with all sorts of colorful stops in between. Of course, riding in your underwear limits the places to tuck your iDevices. We can't help but notice an entire segment of Chicago's population seems to be excluded from this "fun."

Shoot, No Shoot Scenario Training

We used to do this. Why don't we do this any more? Maricopa County AZ did:

• We've seen protests all across the country after police officers have been accused of shooting people who aren't armed.
  
  But what would happen if one of those protesters looked at what it's like to wear a badge, and be put in a life or death situation.
  
  Jarrett Maupin has been very vocal during the recent protests, leading marches on the Phoenix Police headquarters after officers shot an unarmed man who reportedly fought with them.
  
  He agreed to go through a force on force training with the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office and went through three scenarios where you have to decide to shoot, or not to shoot.

Click on the link to see the entire thing, but here's the upshot of it all:

• In the first scenario, both the activist and the media guy get blasted;
• in the second, both shoot an unarmed assailant;
• in the third, a semi-compliant subject has a hidden knife, but no one got shot

Both are completely surprised in scenario #1. Both hesitate to the point of suicide in scenario #2. The activist is seen on camera poking the crap out of the semi-compliant guy with his gun in scenario #3, behavior that is frowned upon by most Departments.

Amazingly, both come to the independent realization that control and compliance are the key elements to any encounter that a cop has with subjects on the street. Yet our Department has shied away from doing this sort of training for reporters, interested citizens, IPRA investigators, even loud mouth activists. Why?

Political Endorsements

The FOP endorses.....no one? Seriously?

• Mayoral Race The Lodge is not making an Endorsement
  City Clerk The Lodge is not making an Endorsement

Gee, even the PBPA Sergeants made a stab at endorsing someone:

•  Mayor Bob Fioretti

Patrick DALEY Thompson gets the FOP endorsement for the 11th Ward while the PBPA refrains from that race. Burke gets the FOP nod, but he's running unopposed, so that's a worthless effort. The PBPA won't endorse unopposed races. Deb Mell gets nothing from either.

Some interesting reading. Go Vote.

CAPS to Die Again?

The vampire lives, dies, lives, dies, lives....dies?

• Had someone from "Fleet and Facility Management" show up at a CAPS meeting last night. After the meeting a curious fellow taxpayer asked the person why they were there.
  
  Answer: Sent by City Hall to see if there were as many people at CAPS meetings as CPD was stating. Added that they were going to the higher attended meetings to see how many citizens were "being touched by police."
  
  Had a form she was filling out. This person was no rocket scientist, so hopefully it required no more than check marks.
  
  But checking attendance on a night when its so cold the freaking schools were closed?

Typical city counting. Remember a few years ago when CompStat showed that shootings were down almost 100% from a year previously, and then some wise-ass pointed out that that was the week the city was paralyzed by two feet of snow? Same thing here - CAPS attendance is down in the face of sub zero degree temps, so Rahm must reduce the CAPS expenditures.

This is Gonna Mess Up CompStat

Eighty-seven is a decent age to live until. Most of us probably won't see eighty-seven. But this guy might have topped ninety, if he hadn't been shot seventy years ago:

• For years, 87-year-old Tom Buchanan had talked vaguely about being shot. Now relatives are wondering exactly where and when Buchanan was wounded after the Cook County medical examiner’s office determined the wound contributed to his death this week, some seven decades later.
  
  Buchanan was pronounced dead Sunday at 11:18 a.m. at Mercy Hospital and Medical Center, according to the Cook County medical examiner’s office. A Wednesday autopsy determined Buchanan, who lived in the Armour Square Apartments, an independent living facility in the 3200 block of South Wentworth Avenue, died of complications of intestinal obstruction and a gunshot wound to the abdomen, according to the Cook County medical examiner’s office.
  
  “The autopsy determined that the gunshot ultimately caused the complications to his abdomen which eventually killed him,’’ said Frank Shuftan, a spokesman for the medical examiner’s office. Shuftan said Buchanan was born March, 3, 1927.
  
  A secondary cause of death was listed as heart disease, according to the medical examiner’s office, which ruled his death a homicide.

We'll bet you a million dollars Rahm and Garry cover this one up.

Nice Accounting There Rahm

From the FOP site:

• We have received multiple calls from Officers regarding their Duty Availability checks being short. Representatives from the Lodge contacted Finance, and were told that Officers received checks based upon the 2012 rates, instead of 2014. Finance has informed us that the increase which was to be reflected in today’s Duty Availability check will be added to your regular payroll check on January 16, 2015.

Also, word that retro is coming 26 January - that butts right up against the deadline for interest to be paid in the event that someone at Finance screws up again.

Want to be this Duty Availability wasn't an error, but a deliberate fuck up?

Death of the Fifth Republic

Terrorism in France

• Two heavily-armed Muslims attacked the offices of the satirical Paris weekly Charlie Hebdo this morning, killing twelve people, including the magazine’s two most famous cartoonists. The attackers were heard to shout “Allahu Akbar!” and “The Prophet is avenged!” CNN reports that the killers’ motives are still unknown.

Motives unknown? Um....yeah....we think we can help you there. Of course, the White House was unsure also:

• White House press secretary Josh Earnest refrained from calling the attack on a French magazine "terrorism" in an interview this morning on CNN:
  
  The CNN host asked, "Josh, when you talk about countering the message, you keep using the word violence. I mean, this is an act of terrorism, that's what the president of France called it -- an act of terrorism. You're referring to ISIS and other bad actors, it doesn't really matter who it is at the end of the day. You know you're fighting a very large group of people of somewhat similar concern. Do you see this as an act of terrorism, and is this something that has to be condemned on that level?"
  
  "Based on what we know right now it does seem that's what we're confronting here. And this is an act of violence that we certainly do condemn, and if based on this investigation it turns out to be an act of terrorism, then we would condemn that in the strongest possible terms, too," said Earnest.

Someone finally poked Obama in the ass and he called it terrorism, as if that was some shocking revelation to everyone else who saw the video and read the media reports coming in from overseas.

That didn't stop MSNBC from comparing the assassination of cartoonists in a free society to Jerry Fawell suing Larry Flynt and Hustler Magazine. That's almost exactly the same, except for the semi-automatic weapons and the body count. 

NYPD Continue Battle

This has to be embarrassing to the ego-maniacal mayor:

• New York City police union leaders said they rejected Mayor Bill de Blasio's leadership after emerging from a meeting with the city's police commissioner on Wednesday, suggesting the mayor's effort to mend his unusually deep rift with police was failing.
  
  The meeting with Commissioner William Bratton came only hours after de Blasio conceded he was still unable to say whether officers in the nation's largest police force had embarked on a widespread work slowdown in the two weeks since two policemen were ambushed and killed.
  
  The number of arrests and court summonses has plummeted across the city since the attack, with some police precincts recording a statistically improbable zero tickets for misdemeanors, suggesting many officers are ignoring all but the most urgent crimes.

Added to this is the hospital visit that didn't turn out the way he planned:

• The two police officers shot by a Bronx robber they were trying to arrest would have rather not gotten visited by Mayor de Blasio, family and fellow cops told The Post on Tuesday.
  
  The father of the more seriously wounded of the pair, Officer Andrew Dossi, 30, said his son “wasn’t too happy about the mayor’s visit.”

Of course not. Cops don't want to be used as whipping boys for his political posturing and they certainly don't want to be used as props in an effort to repair the mayor's reputation as an asshole afterwards - the same people he told his son to beware of.

Stay the course NYPD.

Suburban Cops Injured in Fire

Rescuing people:

• A woman and four police officers were injured in a fire early Wednesday in west suburban Berwyn.
  
  Crews were called to the scene of a fire at an apartment building in the 3200 block of Maple shortly after 1 a.m., Berwyn Fire Department officials said.
  
  The fire had been extinguished and all crews had left the scene by 4:15 a.m., fire officials said.

Best wishes to our suburban brethren.

Really Rahm? Really Media?

Honest to god, throw out lie after lie and it goes completely unchallenged:

• Mayor Rahm Emanuel said Monday that police are working on some security "blind spots" following the robbery of his teenage son near the family home last month.
  
  In his first comments to reporters since Zach Emanuel's cellphone was stolen in a Dec. 19 attack, the mayor worked to balance expressions of concern for his family, which largely lives outside the public eye, with an understanding that hardly any other Chicagoans enjoy such protection from crime. The mayor has a 24/7 police detail.
  
  "As it relates to either my or my family's safety, I want you to know the way I approach it is, first of all, we're fortunate, not only with this job but also what the public provides us," Emanuel said in his first news conference since returning from a family vacation to Chile. "Obviously, (police Superintendent) Garry McCarthy has addressed this, there are some blind spots and they're going to address it, from a safety on the block, not the safety of the house, or us. And I'll leave that for them to do, because it's their job to do, but it's their job to do it for everyone in the city, not just us."

Blind spots. Blind spots??? Here's a quick graphic of "blind spots" around the city of Chicago we threw together:

There's your freaking blind spot Rahm. Show it to McBookCooker, see what he thinks.

Then the fantasy really begins:

• According to Chicago police, Zach Emanuel was talking on his phone on that Friday at about 10:05 p.m. across the street and a few houses down from his family's home in the 4200 block of North Hermitage Avenue when two males came up behind him. One of them "placed his arm around the victim's neck in a rear chokehold," and the second one hit the teen, knocking him down, according to a police report.
  
  The robbers took the 17-year-old's phone and patted him down, according to the report. "The offenders then asked the victim, 'What else you got?' (and) forced the victim to enter his security code to unlock the phone."
  
  On Monday, the mayor said Zach, a junior at the University of Chicago Lab School, was talking to his college counselor when the robbers approached.

College counselor? At 10:05 PM? Outside, away from the house.

Wow.

We can't get our faculty adviser to return calls past 1900 hours and the mayor's kid has calls coming in at 10:05 PM. A call that he has to go outside to take, out of earshot of the father who, we imagine, is paying the freight at an exclusive school and getting ready to shell out some large coin on an Ivy League or equivalent type college. We imagine that ourselves and the spouse footing the bill would want to be a very involved part of that phone call, don't you think?

Now, a substance abuse counselor, we imagine they'd take/make calls 24/7. Or perhaps a dru....we mean, an unlicensed pharmaceutical salesman....that might be a call we'd rather keep away from mom and dad. But the media runs and prints the shit that spews out of Rahm's mouth and we can almost guarantee that this is the last published word about any of this.

Nice to be Connected

Some people have all the luck, just happening to get a judge with such clear vision:

• Ald. Rey Colon was acquitted Monday of drunken driving, a development sure to make his re-election effort easier in the weeks ahead.
  
  Cook County Circuit Court Judge James Pieczonka made the not-guilty ruling at the conclusion of a short bench trial, during which a video recording of Colon's July 25 arrest was played.
  
  Although Colon can be seen on the video putting his arms out to the side to keep his balance while trying to stand on one foot during field sobriety tests, Pieczonka noted that Colon was able to walk in a straight line and stand "quite rigid and straight" during the rest of the tests.
  
  The judge also determined Colon's booking mug shot did not prove he was intoxicated. "His eyes appear to be a little bloodshot, not completely bloodshot — I've seen a lot worse," Pieczonka said.

So....just a "little" impaired is ok? Not only did Colon beat the DUI, he beat the probable cause ticket as well:

• Colon was arrested shortly before 1 a.m. on the westbound Homan Avenue exit off the Eisenhower Expressway. Illinois State Police Trooper Eric David testified that he made the stop after seeing the alderman's Honda Element twice drift slightly onto the shoulder from the right lane.
  
  But Colon also was found not guilty of improper lane use because the judge determined he should have been instead cited for driving on the shoulder.
  
  Colon was found guilty of driving on an expired license, for which he was fined $200. He said his birthday was earlier in July, and he had forgotten to renew it. He also was fined $50 and sentenced to supervision for not signaling his exit from the highway.
  
  David testified at trial that Colon's lights were not on, and he smelled alcohol on Colon's breath. Colon's speech was slurred, and his eyes were bloodshot and glassy, David said. But the judge said he could not detect slurred speech on the video.

The judge also noted that he couldn't smell any alcohol on the video either. And never mind that history of DUI and habitual compliance violations regarding insurance and valid licenses - it means nothing at all.

We certainly hope that all Illinois troopers are retrained to properly recognize aldercreatures driving under the influence, as they obviously have no experience in applying such a thing. That way, they won't inconvenience the powerful as they tool along the expressway like an unguided missile where your friends and families might be traveling.

No Salt? No Plows?

The city roads sucked again Monday night. Not a single salt truck or a plow to be seen. This started under Daley when the city budget began to crumble and OT costs were being slashed. Rahm has continued it, no doubt because no one sees a salt truck if they're home sleeping, so why not wait until the voters are in their cars, then they can see how busy Rahm's beavers are.

But IDOT was curiously absent from the expressways as well. Due to the assignments of people here and the locations of residences, we have a daily opportunity to travel just about every expressway and Monday evening/night, the expressways were worse than the surface streets if you can believe it. It didn't look like there had been a plow anywhere.

One can only wonder if Quinn was keeping the plows sidelined as Rauner prepares to take office so that everyone "remembers" in four years that it was a republican in charge and by golly, he couldn't move the snow. We wouldn't put it past any Illinois politician.

Changes Coming!

The rumor mill kicked into high gear about 1400 hours.

 Command changes in the offing.

Let's see what brilliant moves they make today.

NYPD Double Shooting

Again? This time, only wounded though:

• Two police officers were shot in the Bronx Monday night, the New York Police Department confirmed.
  
  Police officials told the Associated Press the two cops' injuries were not life-threatening. Several local news outlets reported the officers were shot while responding to a robbery.
  
  WNBC in New York reported one officer was shot in the back, but is believed to have been wearing a bullet proof vest that may have saved his life while the second officer suffered a graze wound to the elbow.

Our best wishes to the injured officers. Don't let the mayor in the door of the hospital though - he'll make a photo op out of it.

The Political Season is Upon Us

Brace yourselves:

• Chicago mayoral challenger Willie Wilson on Monday tried to jump start his campaign by loaning $1 million to his bid, less than two weeks after Mayor Rahm Emanuel dropped a challenge to his nominating petitions.
  
  With the news media in tow, Wilson deposited the money at a downtown bank where his campaign fund has an account, then took reporters' questions. The money, he said, will be used to pay for campaign ads starting Tuesday on network and cable TV stations as well as urban radio stations.

And his platform:

• “We’re going to deal with the closing of these schools, let the community decide how many they want to open back up,” Wilson said. “We want to make sure that’s taken care of. We want to see all the red light cameras out of Chicago.”
  
  [...] During a wide-ranging news conference, Wilson sounded some of his early campaign themes and showed his affinity for the short quip.
  
  The challenger said he would get 75 percent of police officers out of their squads and onto the sidewalks, “L” trains and buses to make citizens feel safer and save money on cars and gas. “If a citizen can walk, (get) on the bus, in the cold out there, and the citizen’s paying the police officers, they should be cold too,” Wilson said.
  
  Wilson also said he would fire Police Supt. Garry McCarthy, the top cop under Emanuel. "This superintendent of police has to go, but the mayor has to go first," he said.

Fioretti takes a different tack:

• Mayoral candidate Ald. Robert Fioretti on Monday said he would hire 500 additional police officers if elected, saying he would cut overtime to help pay for it but offering few specifics on the total cost.
  
  As part of his "public safety platform" released on his campaign web site, Fioretti also said he would replace "about 500 cops who each year retire or leave the force."
  
  "In my first year in office I will find the money to hire the new recruits and assign them to neighborhoods as quickly as they can be educated at the Police Academy and effectively trained on the job by experienced sergeants," Fioretti said.

More to come with only a short while until the election. Why are no media outlets running polls? Or are we missing them completely?

Steinberg at it Again

Hey Slum Times, this is what you want representing your paper?

• Sun Times Columnist Neil Steinberg was on WBEZ radio yesterday, January 2, discussing the murder of two New York Police Officers and the police protests against the mayor there. Steinberg lashed out at the police, claiming their protest had no basis aside from their own chips on their shoulder. In fact, he said, the murders were for the police "a godsend to their message."
  
  Every now and then the press in Chicago, of whom Steinberg is a shining example, let down their guard and reveal their intense bias, their extreme political views and their refusal to hear any opposing point of view.
  
  But this comment by Steinberg is a new low, even for Chicago.
  
  The murders were a godsend to their message? Would Steinberg care to explain this comment? What is he suggesting, that some police officers secretly relish the opportunity these murders provide? These murders are a "godsend" to them? It's an unconscionable statement. And, of course, there is not a peep in protest from other members in the discussion, including Eric Zorn, another police hating columnist in Chicago.

We have now stopped using the Sun Times for fish wrap and bird cage liner. The Tribune now has that privilege.

Classic

Just great:

• A Logan Square man is trying to figure out how his bike was stolen right from under his nose - and the noses of Shakespeare District police officers.
  
  Adam Wisneski, 31, went to the police station Friday night around 9 p.m. to report his iPhone stolen. He had lost it on an "L" train about a month ago, he said, and was recently contacted by someone who purchased the phone, asking for its access code.
  
  He rode his bike, a black SE Lager, to the police station, 2150 N. California Ave., but left his lock at home.
  
  Wisneski asked officers if it was OK if he left it in the foyer of the station. When they said it was OK, he filed the police report, which he said took about 30 minutes.
  
  That's when the unthinkable happened.
  
  "I turned around and my bike was gone," Wisneski said. "I thought it was a joke. I thought someone was messing with me."
  

Once again proving that our station designs pretty much suck. Anyone wanders in, anyone wanders out, and understaffed, unsecured areas invite anyone to take what isn't nailed down.

Ha-Ha-Ha Harvard

Remember when all the Harvard professors were telling Obama how to get insurance coverage for every American? And those darn republicans and tea party types said it couldn't be done without raising taxes, redistributing wealth and bankrupting the middle class? Guess who just noticed their middle class / upper middle class lifestyle changing for the worse?

• For years, Harvard’s experts on health economics and policy have advised presidents and Congress on how to provide health benefits to the nation at a reasonable cost. But those remedies will now be applied to the Harvard faculty, and the professors are in an uproar.
  
  Members of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, the heart of the 378-year-old university, voted overwhelmingly in November to oppose changes that would require them and thousands of other Harvard employees to pay more for health care. The university says the increases are in part a result of the Obama administration’s Affordable Care Act, which many Harvard professors championed.
  
  The faculty vote came too late to stop the cost increases from taking effect this month, and the anger on campus remains focused on questions that are agitating many workplaces: How should the burden of health costs be shared by employers and employees? If employees have to bear more of the cost, will they skimp on medically necessary care, curtail the use of less valuable services, or both?

Gee, economics is actually subject to reality. Who'd have thunk it?

Go read the entire article if you can stomach the New York Times - the whining by the liberals is amazing. "We didn't know we'd have to pay for all this" and "We meant for everyone else to shell out, not us!"

Damn, It's Cold!

It's Chicago. It's January. Get over it.

It certainly hasn't slowed down the shootings that much:

• A man was killed and at least 13 other people have been wounded in shootings across the city since Friday afternoon.
  
  The fatal shooting–the first of the new year–happened about 1:30 a.m. Saturday in the West Side Austin neighborhood.

When did any self respecting thug let weather get in the way of someone needing to be shot?

NYPD Shames Mayor Again

Of course, the mayor doesn't feel any shame, because he's a pandering hack:

• Thousands of police turned their backs Sunday as Mayor Bill de Blasio eulogized an officer shot dead with his partner, repeating a stinging display of scorn for the mayor despite entreaties to put anger aside.
  
  The show of disrespect came outside the funeral home where Officer Wenjian Liu was remembered as an incarnation of the American dream: a man who had emigrated from China at age 12 and devoted himself to helping others in his adopted country. The gesture among officers watching the mayor's speech on a screen added to tensions between the mayor and rank-and-file police even as he sought to quiet them.

RIP Detective Liu.

Hey Look - Aldercreatures

It's Deb Mell (33rd) and Ameya Pawar (47th):

Morons.

First Smash and Grab?

Maybe someone should start a site tracking these types of crimes:

• A Best Buy store on the North Side was burglarized during a smash-and-grab incident early Sunday morning, police said.
  
  Around 4:45 a.m., a Dodge Caravan struck one of the windows in the Best Buy store, located in the Park West neighborhood at 2650 N. Clark St., police said.
  
  Several male offenders got out of the car, stole an unknown number of items from the store and fled, said Chicago Police News Affairs Officer Hector Alfaro.

SecondCitySmash'n'Grab.com. We still say a couple of pointed girders at windshield height might deter some of this behavior.

Blue Ribbons

Support your local cops:

• Residents of Mount Greenwood on the city's South Side placed ribbons around trees in a show of appreciation for Chicago Police officers.
  
  It was part of the Blue Ribbon Walk that began at 111th and Kedzie.
  
  The walk honors police officers across the country.

Thanks you ladies and gentlemen. Small gestures mean a lot.

No Homicides Yet? (UPDATES)

We've been keeping an ear out. Bunch of shootings, but no killings, and the temperature is headed down over the next few days.

What's the longest a year has run until the first? We recall one running nearly two weeks a decade or more ago.

UPDATE: There's the first:

• A 39-year-old man died Saturday morning after being shot on the West Side in what was apparently Chicago’s first shooting homicide of 2015, police said.  

015.

UPDATE: Here come the arguments - supposedly 011 had one shot in 2014 that died 03 January 2015 prior to the 015 homicide. We don't think that a HX RD number counts in a HY year, but we might be mistaken.

UPDATE: Supposedly, the deceased lived on the 4600 block of Adams, he got shot in 015, he drove himself to West Suburban in Oak Park, he died in 012.

Disclosure

A somewhat sarcastic piece by an old acquaintance of ours:

• Want to show your appreciation for the Chicago Police Superintendent who’s overseen another year-on-year reduction in the city’s murder rate, but not sure how?
  
  Here’s your chance!
  
  How about a set of half a dozen Bernardaud Divine bread and butter plates? At just $90 a pop from Bloomingdales, they’ll “bring a luxurious element to formal dining with shimmering platinum-embellished porcelain” according to top cop Garry McCarthy’s wedding registry at theknot.com.

And then from the comments:

• Hey, isn't he required by law to publicly disclose all gifts received over $50. in value???

Well, not everything. But if we remember our Ethics training, anything from someone he might have supervisory capacity over or someone in a position that might "request" a favor at some later date, like a politician or a business. Seeing as how this is the Superintendent of Police, there is quite a lot of potential for gifts crossing that $50 threshold.

The question now becomes, is that Ethics Statement listing public knowledge? Because it would interesting to see who bought what and what, if any, quid pro quo surfaces thereafter.

Sounds Legit to Us

We're headed this way in any event:

• Police departments across the country are pulling patrol officers off the road. Police will still be on duty but will only respond to 911 calls. No pro-active policing will take place.
  
  Police chiefs say that anti police feelings from the public are pushing this move to re-active only policing. Chiefs also cite the famous Kansas City Patrol experiment as justification for this move.
  
  The Kansas City experiment showed that police on patrol does nothing to lower or prevent crimes. In the experiment parts of Kansas City had few patrol cars on the street and other parts had extra patrol cars. During the experiment crime rates did not change.
  
  One police chief told us. “If the people of this community don’t want to see cops why am I wasting money on gas for them to patrol We can adopt the fire department model. All the cops will hang out in La-z-boy chairs watching cable until we are called for.”

This would save gas, wear-and-tear on vehicles, and wear-and-tear on coppers. Probably cut down on lawsuits, too and Rahm could lay off city lawyers.

(yes, we know it's a satirical piece)

IPRA Oops

True or not-so true?

• Happy New Year ! IPRA Supervisor George Roberts arrested for DUI on 01Jan15 and then shit his pants in the station. Roberts recently got off suspension for sexual harrassment. But its ok, he only investigates the police.

Anyone think this guy won't have a chip on his shoulder from here on out?

Hospital Staff v Police?

Christian charity?

• On a side note. The head nurse at Little Company of Mary Hospital where the injured Officer went to be treated told a Sgt. that the days of preferential treatment for police and fire are over. Even going so far as yelling at the injured Officers family. Most of the staff at the hospital was extremely confrontational and wouldn't let other Officers that came to lend their support in to see the injured Officer, telling some to get back on the street and do your job. The head nurse and "security guard" should be fired immediately. 

We've had a couple of officers offer to take this up through channels with LCM Hospital as there are a number of professional and personal connections with the Order that runs the hospital. This less than professional behavior should be nipped in the bud.

More Crash Injuries

Those 400 cars Dean got are disappearing quickly:

• Two Chicago police officers received minor injuries during a car crash on the Northwest Side Thursday night, police said.
  
  The accident happened around 10:45 p.m. in the 2000 block of North Western Avenue in the Logan Square neighborhood, said Chicago Police News Affairs [...].
  
  Two police officers were traveling southbound on Western in a marked squad car with its emergency lights on, responding to a call in the area, when a car going westbound on Armitage Avenue slammed into them, Greer said.

Best wishes to the injured.

Spin Again

2014 statistics are out:

• While Chicago ended 2014 with slightly fewer homicides than the year before, 327 more people were shot in the city — an increase of 14 percent, according to the Chicago Police Department.
  
  The city has seen a marked drop in homicides during the past decade — a trend that's been reflected across the country — with several years marking fewer than 500, down from the 900-plus slayings of the 1990s.
  
  Across the city, 407 homicides were recorded in 2014, a 3 percent drop from nearly the same period last year, when there were 419, according to the statistics released Thursday. It was the lowest tally since 1965 when 395 people were slain, according to the department.
  
  Chicago's final homicide tally for 2014 could climb if some of the department's pending "death investigations" are reclassified as slayings later this year.

Of course, HeyJackass.com has slightly different numbers:

• 2013 - 455; 2014 - 456

That's a plus-one, but we know that HeyJackass counts police shootings as homicides. We don't know if so-called "death-investigations" are in the HeyJackass totals, but they certainly aren't in Garry's. Those will be added in later.

Here's a great sleight-of-hand:

• When asked Monday about the rise in shooting incidents, police Superintendent Garry McCarthy said the 2014 total was still the "second lowest shooting number on record," and also pointed to the city's overall drop in crime. However, the department only began keeping track of shootings in 2011, after McCarthy was named top cop.

Second lowest....out of four years. Hahahahaha. And no one is touching on the $95 million in overtime that produced an (alleged) drop of 12 homicides. That's about $8 million bucks per killing - money well spent by Rahm you know. And enough to give an actuary a heart attack.

Copper Injured

Struck by a stolen van:

• One person was arrested after a Chicago Police officer was hit by a stolen van Thursday afternoon in the West Englewood neighborhood on the South Side.
  
  The officer was standing in the 6000 block of South Winchester after pulling over a stolen van about 2:30 p.m. when the van’s driver — a male — rammed it in into a squad car, police said. The van then struck a 26-year-old officer, police said.
  
  The officer, who may have a concussion, is being treated at Little Company of Mary Hospital for a leg injury, police said.
  
  One person was in custody, and police are looking for a second offender, police said.

Get well soon Officer.

Thursday Prayer Service

Media coverage?

• The Chicago law enforcement community honored its fallen brothers and sisters Thursday with a prayer service timed to mark the slayings of two New York police officers in December.
  
  Officers and their families gathered at the Gold Star Families Memorial and Park near the shore of Lake Michigan at 2:47 p.m. — the exact time New York officers Rafael Ramos and Wenjian Liu were shot to death without warning Dec. 20 in Brooklyn.
  
  Chicago Police Chaplain Daniel Brandt said officers in Chicago are the “face of God” for many of the city’s residents.

Thanks to the Chaplains Unit for all they do.

Pandering Until the End

Thank goodness our governor is righting wrongs from 150 years ago:

• Dr. Richard Eells became a criminal on a summer night in 1842 when he opened the door of his Quincy, Ill., home to a runaway slave named Charley and, instead of turning him in, tried to help him escape.
  
  The attempt failed. Charley was recaptured, and Eells, found guilty of harboring, secreting and preventing the lawful retaking of a slave, was fined $400. Appeals all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court were in vain.
  
  History vindicated Eells long ago, but it wasn't until Wednesday that the law did the same. As part of a wide-ranging clemency action, Gov. Pat Quinn formally pardoned Eells and two other 19th-century abolitionists convicted of assisting escaped slaves.

Quinn must have located the $80 billion dollars to repay the pension bankruptcy looming over everyone's head. Thank goodness there are no more pressing issues to deal with.

Broadcasting Intentions

Guess where you shouldn't be on Saturday?

Don't go to the mall, that's for sure.

First Homicide is.....

Place your bets.

And congratulations to the 011th District for winning the homicide race of 2014. All those missions (14 per watch at one point according to e-mailers) and nearly 50,000 contact cards mentioned at CompStat really paid dividends.

UPDATE: Shots fired at/by the police around 86/Bishop - any confirmation?