EXTRA: Independence Day, Year 243

Not quite so festive in reality this year

16 shot, 2 fatally in Fourth of July gun violence across Chicago – Chicago Sun-Times
At least 5 killed, 30 wounded by gunfire so far in Chicago over Fourth of July weekend – Chicago Tribune
2 boys, 1 man stabbed outside Navy Pier after Fourth of July fireworks; 14 others injured in stampede following false reports of gunfire – Chicago Tribune
3 stabbed, 14 trampled at Navy Pier after Fourth of July fireworks – Chicago Sun-Times

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A few sample hedlines from the Chicago press on this day after Independence Day, just to give you a taste of how inane things were capable of becoming on this holiday where we celebrate our national existence. And if the threat from gunfire mixed in with explosives wasn't enough, there also was the absurdity at Navy Pier Thursday night.

And just in case you need the knowledge for future reference, there also was this report – Gunshots or Fireworks: Learn to Tell the Difference -- Patch

NOW WE BEGIN the next holiday countdown -- only 59 more days until we honor the workers in our nation.

Happy Labor Day!!!

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A ‘real’ national emergency is seen in cinematic home town of Stan Mikita’s Donuts -- not along U.S./Mexico border

A real 'national emergency'

Maybe it’s evidence that a deity is watching over us, and that he had nothing to do with Donald Trump becoming president – the way some of the more religiously overzealous ideologues amongst us like to claim.

But on the day Friday when Trump tried to claim that conditions along the U.S./Mexico border are so violent and drug-infested that they constitute a “national emergency,” we got to see an incident that truly qualifies.

BY THAT, I’M referring to the shooting incident in Aurora, Ill., on Friday, the one that gained national attention as the latest of public outbursts that wind up with multiple casualties.

In this case, we’re talking about the “stressed out” factory worker whose reaction to learning he was “fired” from the job was to pull out a pistol he was carrying (illegally) and start shooting.

Police ultimately killed the man in question, but five other people were killed and wounded – including a few police officers themselves. 

Who thinks more alongside mindset … 

The sad aspect of this incident is that the details of all these public outbursts usually wind up becoming so similar that they all become intertwined in the public mindset. This particular moment happened in the unfortunately-named city in west suburban Chicago – since there also was the 2012 incident at a movie theater in Aurora, Colo.

HOW MUCH YOU want to bet some people won’t be able to keep the two incidents straight?

To me, the notion that we have so much violence occurring in parts of the country that would like to think they’re isolated from conditions that would cause such incidents in the first place is the real “national emergency.”

… of the American people? It ain't Trump!

It ought to be the evidence needed to show that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., is correct when she claims a future Democratic president could easily use the concept of a “national emergency” to push for the stricter gun control laws that conservative ideologues claim are essential to the “American way” of life.

Although that threat didn’t particularly sway Trump away from using “national emergency” from trying to force funding for a U.S./Mexico border barricade.

PROBABLY BECAUSE HE realizes that the bulk of Democratic political professionals, and even many Republican types, have too much respect for the ideals of democracy and what really is the “American way” to try anything so rash and irresponsible.

Twisted sense of amendment's purpose

In short, Trump counts on the fact that the bulk of us aren’t as absurd as he is.

In fact, many were trying to score political points against Trump by dinging the president for not speaking out vociferously enough about the incident – with some saying they wonder if he’d have been willing to use the incident to his advantage if it had somehow involved a Latino gunman

Because then, it would have fit into his line of thinking about all those foreigners coming here to kill people.

JUST LIKE HOW on Friday morning he was eager to claim “emergency” conditions about all the illicit narcotics being brought into this country – even though the reality is they’re being brought here because there’s a market for them amongst the U.S. populace – many of whom probably voted for Trump in the first place.

If it were real, it could comfort us from Friday's violent outburst

I’m not trying to downplay violence across the nation, much of which comes about due to the ease by which many can obtain firearms. It’s just a sad reality that conditions aren’t going to chance until we come to the realization that our overly-loose interpretation of the Second Amendment to have open use of firearms is going to have to be adapted.

That amendment, after all, says, “the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed,” but also cadges it with rhetoric about “well-regulated militias” and “state security” that too many “gun nuts” prefer to ignore.

One other reality of Friday’s incident – Aurora, Ill., won’t just be in the public’s minds as the home town of “Wayne’s World.” I’m sure many Aurora-types would just as soon go back to the days of people showing up and asking for the location of the mythical “Stan Mikita’s Donuts” shop.

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Everybody upset w/ Van Dyke verdict

I suspect there was a moment, however brief, of joy when Judge Vincent Gaughan said “81 …,” giving people the impression that a former Chicago cop convicted of the shooting death of a 17-year-old black teen was about to put the 40-year-old cop away to rot in prison for life.

VAN DYKE: Nearly 7 years

But then, Gaughan continued with “… months,” not years.

AS IN GAUGHAN decided that his prison term will only last a period of just under seven years – of which he’s already served three months in the county jail out in Rock Island, Ill.

Considering that the family of Laquan McDonald came out and said Friday that they thought a prison term of at least 20 years was essential for Van Dyke to be properly punished.

And, in fact, prosecutors themselves made a recommendation of an 18- to 20-year prison term for Van Dyke.

But Gaughan ultimately chose to concoct a prison term based off the fact that Van Dyke was found guilty of a second-degree murder charge, and not to factor in all those additional counts of aggravated battery with a firearm – which in theory could have made for a prison term of nearly 100 years possible.

“A JOKE AND a slap in the face,” along with a slew of obscenities, was the reaction of McDonald’s family to the prison sentence after the sentence was handed down following a day-long sentencing hearing that occurred Friday.

McDONALD: Gone nearly as long as Van Dyke

But Gaughan made a point of saying he figured “100 percent” of people were going to be offended by his sentence. I don’t doubt that, because Van Dyke’s family made emotional pleas saying they have already suffered severely by the loss of Jason to incarceration for any length of time.

As it was, they argued that a sentence of probation would have been appropriate. Which I don’t doubt was an idea of great offense to the McDonald family. As it was, Laquan’s uncle read a letter into the record on Friday that was written as though it was crafted by McDonald himself.

Telling us that he was trying to make something of his life, give up his drug addictions, and that Van Dyke, by firing the 16 shots into his body, deprived him of that opportunity.

GAUGHAN: Upset 100 percent of people

THERE IS ONE thing that has to be conceded – it could have gone much worse for Van Dyke. He’ll be about 46 years old when he is released from prison. In short, he has a chance to put together a “rest of his life.” Even though I don’t doubt he’ll view the next six or so years as the most hellish experience he’ll ever have to endure.

It’s not going to be a pretty experience for a law enforcement officer. But some people see this whole Van Dyke ordeal as being about making police suffer.

If anything, they’re even more upset by the ruling earlier this week that three police officers facing criminal charges for filing false reports about what it was Van Dyke did to McDonald were NOT guilty.

There are those who wanted Van Dyke to rot in prison, and see a complete crackdown on the Chicago Police Department. Anything short of that is going to cause them to feel nothing but contempt for our legal system.

THEN AGAIN, THERE probably is nothing that would please those individuals. Some people get way too hung up on the concept of retribution. Even though what we as a society ought to be trying to do is figure out the way to move beyond this incident.

McCARTHY: Would win be seen as police victory?

Because the reality of the whole affair is that there’s nothing that can be done to bring Laquan McDonald back to life. There’s nothing that will restore the type of life that Jason Van Dyke had, or will protect his family from the harm they’re suffering as a result of what happened on that October night of 2014.

Of course, there could be one coming blow in the near future that would further “rub it in” the very notion that law enforcement is protecting itself, and NOT the public. What happens if Garry McCarthy somehow wins the mayoral election of February and run-off of April?

For McCarthy was the police superintendent who lost his job because of Van Dyke’s actions. Would the people eager to protect the police image be strong enough to make him our city’s mayor?

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Could Kanye West be the clue to resolving Chicago violence? Or is it merely evidence of Trump’s inanity!

Anybody who has read me for any length of time likely realizes I don’t think much of the overall skills level of President Donald J. Trump.

WEST: An Oval Office session?

But learning of the fact that Trump intends to have a meeting Thursday with a Chicagoan of some popular renown to gain his input into urban violence, prison reform and street gang violence is nothing more than laughable.

FOR THAT MEETING will be with the entertainer Kanye West. Who is a Chicago native and may well have opinions on all the issues that confront the city where he was raised.

TRUMP: He'll listen to anyone with material

But somehow, I just can’t see that “Mr. Kim Kardashian” has much of anything relevant to say. In fact, I think I take more seriously the thoughts of Chance the Rapper when it comes to finding solutions to Chicago’s problems.

He, at least, has been willing to put money into finding solutions for problems confronting the Chicago school system – which may be more of a real solution than anything I’m sure West will have to say to Trump when the two of them meet at the White House later this week.

CHANCE: Puts some money where his mouth is

By comparison, I expect West will mouth out lots of platitudes that Trump will be able to riff off of in terms of taking pot shots at Chicago – whose real problem, as far as Trump is concerned, is that it prevents Illinois from being like other Great Lakes states that were deluded enough to support Trump’s 2016 presidential bid with their Electoral College votes.

THEREBY MAKING IT a place he will go out of his way to ridicule, no matter how illogical or impractical his thoughts would be to actually implement. Then again, Trump once met with Kid Rock and Ted Nugent at the White House.

Anybody who doubts me ought merely to listen to Trump’s rant from earlier this week, when he told a gathering of law enforcement officials in Orlando, Fla., that the solution to Chicago’s crime problems is to give our police more authority to “stop and frisk.”

CEDRIC: What would he tell Donald?

A policy that specifically is prohibited under an agreement that police department reached with the American Civil Liberties Union – which regards such police policies as giving our cops far too much authority to harass people for no real reason.

If anything, the fact that Trump would make such a suggestion for Chicago shows he doesn’t have a clue as to what our city’s situation is and our problems are!

FOR THE MINDSET of those people who applauded the verdict of a jury in Cook County court with regards to police officer Jason Van Dyke is that it was a step towards limiting police authority in dealing with the public.

If we were to really start giving police the power to pat people down for any little suspicion the cops might have, it would go counter to the mindset of those individuals who are hopeful that a jury finally put aside their prejudices and issued a just verdict.

The only people who will think that “stop and frisk” makes any sense are the kind who were hoping for a Van Dyke acquittal on all those criminal charges a jury found him guilty of.

I don’t doubt West will come up with outrageous things to say come Thursday, and Trump will find a way to come up with what he thinks is a comical riff off of it. Which some may find entertaining, but which contributes next to nothing toward finding a solution to the problems that confront so many of our nation’s large cities.

Trump's idea of presidential 'advisers' -- Nugent and Rock, w/ Sarah Palin in the mix

SO EXCUSE ME (envision Steve Martin with the arrow through his head of some four decades ago) for viewing the thoughts of West (or just about any other entertainment personality) as being not all that relevant toward coming up with the answers to the great questions confronting our public policy issues.

Either that, or perhaps we ought to turn to Cedric the Entertainer.

Somehow, I suspect I’d take more seriously the thoughts of the actor who has both said Trump has a skin tone the color of Cheetos, but also has said it is wrong to think we can “boycott” the incumbent president.

And anybody who ever saw the 2002 film “Barbershop” still remembers what his “Eddie the barber” character said about civil rights activist Jesse Jackson.

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So who wins if the activists interfere with O’Hare access – the CTA?

Monday is the day that activists upset with the problems of urban violence in predominantly-black neighborhoods of Chicago say they want to impact O’Hare International Airport.

Activists want to ruin postcard-perfect image of O'Hare -- for a day

Figuring that such an act will get themselves national attention in ways that clogging up the Dan Ryan Expressway or the neighborhood surrounding Wrigley Field earlier this summer could not.

THE ACTIVISTS SAY they want to make it difficult for motorists to drive to O’Hare on Monday, which is Labor Day (a holiday weekend with a significant boost in travel traffic). They hope that such an act will offend the sensibilities of people whose economic well-being relies upon the airport that they will then pressure Mayor Rahm Emanuel to do something to address the problem of urban violence within parts of Chicago.

There may be some people who have that reaction. Although I also wouldn’t doubt there will be many others whose reaction will be to order Emanuel about to have the Chicago police do an encore, of sorts, of their behavior during the 1968 Democratic Convention protests.

What with all the attention the activity of 50 years ago has received in recent weeks, I wouldn’t doubt the idea would crop up into at least a few heads.

I do find it interesting that these activists at least have the sense not to try to interfere with airport operations proper. That, after all, would constitute a federal offense. Which would mean the federal courts and prosecutors getting involved.

Could this be O'Hare's easiest access on Monday?

IT ALSO WOULD put them in the bullseye of the officials in charge of this Age of Trump our society is now in. Not exactly a crowd that cares much about urban problems – except to the degree they can score cheap rhetorical points off of them for themselves.

So what should we think of the activity, where protesters say they’re going to gather around Noon to try to interfere with traffic using the Kennedy Expressway westbound from Cumberland Avenue to East River Road.

Which is the path that takes motorists into the airport grounds.

Is offending these peoples' sensibilities the goal of Monday activity?

Some activists have told the Chicago Sun-Times they are considering having some people jump over the median to try to interfere with eastbound traffic taking people out of the airport and back into the city proper.

REGARDLESS, IT WILL be interesting to see just how law enforcement behaves on Monday – a day that I’m sure they will wish they could focus on the usual inanity that tends to take place during holiday travel weekends.

Because they’re going to venture onto the Kennedy, this becomes an Illinois State Police matter – rather than one for the Chicago Police Department to address. Just think if they ventured a little farther west onto airport property and all of a sudden it became an issue for the FAA, the FBI and any other federal agency that could be dragged into the alphabet soup.

It would be a jurisdictional nightmare.

Although I couldn’t help but notice reports in recent weeks urging people who have to travel to O’Hare on Monday to consider using the Chicago Transit Authority to get there.

SPECIFICALLY, THE BLUE Line trains that run from downtown through the Northwest Side and wind up all the way at the airport.

Or is it all about embarrassing Rahm?

In theory, you can ride your train in to the airport, and wave bye-bye to all the protesters who think they’re causing chaos and bringing our society to a shutdown. I suppose activists could try blocking train tracks, but that would be insane on account of the legendary “third rail” (the electrified one that feeds power to the rail cars).

I’d hate to think there are people determined to die for this cause, which is supposed to be about reducing the level of people who are killed in Chicago.

Because they’d learn pretty quick just how apathetic many Chicagoans can be about this particular issue, which really reeks of a strong overtone of “It’s not my problem” for those who don’t live in the neighborhoods where the violence tends to focus upon.

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A DAY IN THE LIFE (of Chicago): Call it a ‘win’ for Quinn – for now

One-time Gov. Pat Quinn, the man who’s leading the effort to tell Rahm Emanuel he can’t run for a third term as Chicago mayor, has at least one point going in his favor.

Pat Quinn not likely to 'play nice' … 

The Chicago Board of Elections Commissioners says that amongst the 87,000-plus signatures of support on the nominating petitions to put a term limits proposal on the ballot for the Nov. 6 elections in the city, there are 54,995 that are valid.

WHICH IS IN excess of the 52,533 minimum that Quinn needs to have for his measure to have a chance of being put up for consideration by voters.

Of course, there still are issues of whether there’s room for Quinn’s referendum question because of the City Council’s effort to crowd stray issues off the ballot. There’s also the issue of whether Quinn goofed when his petitions asked people to consider both term limits AND creation of a consumer advocate for taxpayers.

An issue that some people cynically say is meant to create a position that Quinn himself could hold in the future. Which would be a brilliant political move, if he can pull it off.

Eliminate Emanuel (who already has served two terms as Chicago mayor) and gain himself a post to fill – since he lost his bid for Illinois attorney general back in the primary and may not be able to win election to a more-conventional political post.

… as he challenges Rahm Emanuel's political future

THE BOTTOM LINE amongst all this is that there’s a long way to go before we know if the mayoral election cycle of 2019 will consist of Emanuel and a dozen-or-so people who can only fantasize about replacing him; or will it be just the political dreamers on the ballot next year.

Because even if the Chicago Board of Election Commissioners thinks in favor of the Mighty Quinn, this is a case bound to wind up with lawsuits in the courts and all of the rulings appealed all the way to the very top.

It will be the Illinois Supreme Court that ultimately decides whether or not Quinn’s hard-ball political maneuvering actually bears some line of logic within the law.

What other issues are of note this coming week in this wonderous land along the southwestern shores of Lake Michigan?

ORDER IN THE COURT? I’LL TAKE A HAM-ON-RYE:  Anybody who seriously watches our legal system knows that the people who work in at have touches of “control freak” within them.

VAN DYKE: Was his speaking out contemptable

Take the case of Jason Van Dyke, the Chicago cop facing criminal charges for the shooting death of a teenager. He’s supposed to go on trial this week, but the legal proceedings will step up with a special hearing on Saturday – with the great legal issue of whether Van Dyke ought to be held in jail while the trial takes place.

Van Dyke gave interviews to the Chicago Tribune and to WFLD-TV, trying to portray the public perception of himself as something other than a thug. That has the special prosecutor brought in to handle the case upset – and he wants Judge Vincent Gaughan to find the cop in contempt.

Considering that Gaughan has gone to extremes to control what people have been able to say publicly about this case, he may well decide in favor as part of his efforts to maintain order. Anyway, it means the activity around the Criminal Courts building will be more active compared to what usually would take place in the days of a Labor Day holiday weekend,

JAZZ ‘FANS’:  It will be an intriguing weekend for fans of jazz music. The city’s annual Jazz Festival will take place through Sunday, with famed composer Ramsey Lewis scheduled to give on Saturday what some are billing as his final Chicago concert ever. 

Jazz 'fans likely to celebrate this weekend

Although I hear that phrase and can’t help but wonder if Lewis, who has produced more than 80 albums during his lengthy career, has a touch of the Rolling Stones in him. How many times have we heard of that crew making their “last performance ever” – or last until they change their mind and decide to perform yet again.

One other thought. Should the gubernatorial campaign of J.B. Pritzker consider the Jazz Fest, and all other events held at the Pritzker Pavilion in Millennium Park, to be free advertising?

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One bit of truth to Van Dyke’s talk?

VAN DYKE: His life's on trial

Jason Van Dyke, the Chicago police officer who will go on trial beginning next week for a 2014 shooting incident that left a teenager dead, is telling a selective story to the Chicago Tribune – trying to get out some sense of the perspective that he’s not a thug in need of being locked away from society for life.

He gave the one-time World’s Greatest Newspaper an interview, and the competition Chicago Sun-Times felt compelled to do a quickie rewrite. Many broadcast outlets also are feeling compelled to acknowledge Van Dyke’s thoughts.

SO WHAT SHOULD we think of the officer who admits he shot and killed Laquan McDonald back in October of 2014? It certainly isn’t his claim that he faces the possibility of life imprisonment for doing his sworn duties as a Chicago police officer.

What caught my attention was Van Dyke’s statement, during a 40-minute interview with the newspaper where his attorneys often interceded and kept him from more thoroughly answering questions, that he acknowledges the potential consequences to the city at-large.

Could there wind up being some sort of riot by people who are offended by whatever verdict of his so-called peers that a jury winds up arriving at?

“I’m very scared for it. It obviously weighs heavily upon my mind,” Van Dyke said.

SOME, I’M SURE, will think back to the days of 1968 – where the Democratic National Convention protesters were not the only ones who experienced violence that year.

It was also the year that Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., was killed by a racist-motivated assassin – and many black neighborhoods across the nation wound up in flames. Including in Chicago, where there are parts of the city’s West Side that for years remained in rubble and where they never recovered from the damage.

Does Van Dyke think he could be the cause of a similar reaction if he winds up being acquitted of the criminal charges? I don’t doubt some people would be grossly offended – and I have heard some activist types speculate how they fear this trial is headed for acquittal.

Van Dyke makes Page One in worst way possible

As though they expect “the establishment” will be prepared to protect a police officer because his “victim” was just a young, black male – particularly one whom prosecutors seem eager to label as a violent troublemaker who brought his fate upon himself.

TO TELL YOU the truth, I’m inclined to think it’s the other side that could get ugly – although I’d like to think that all could wind up showing some sense of self-restraint.

For in this Age of Trump that our society is now in, there are people who will be eager to defend Van Dyke as a cop doing his duty. They’ll want to think any kind of punishment is improper – and evidence that our society is all awry and out-of-whack with common sense.

People often talk about how there are “two Chicagos,” one upscale and thriving while the other is a dumping ground for those individuals whom the elite don’t want near them.

Could it be that Van Dyke and one’s attitude towards his actions will merely wind up being yet another bit of evidence as to which Chicago faction one falls into?

EVEN VAN DYKE himself realizes he’s going to be remembered in our city’s history for reasons he likely would never have dreamed possible and probably wishes he could avoid at all costs.

There is, of course, the ironic part of Van Dyke feeling compelled to submit to a newspaper interview. Prosecutors and his defense attorneys will be looking to pick a jury from those individuals who paid absolutely no attention to what was said or written about the case.

Meaning his words technically won’t influence them when they decide his fate of “guilt” or “innocence.”

They’re more meant to influence the way the rest of us think when we make our snap judgments after the trial is over about just how stupid that jury could possibly be for the verdict they ultimately reach.

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Wrigley’s week of infamy?

The image of Wrigley Field as “the Friendly Confines” took a hit this week, what with the sexual assault that occurred during a concert held at the stadium, and the fact that the Cubs feel compelled to re-assure people they’ll be safe if they try to come out to Thursday’s game.

How long until Wrigley Scene becomes just about baseball again?

Not that there’s anything about the game against the San Diego Padres that is interesting or threatening.

BUT THAT’S THE day protesters upset about the amount of urban violence in Chicago say they’re going to do some serious disruption.

As in they’re going to march along Lake Shore Drive north to the Lake View neighborhood – hoping to disrupt traffic. Then, they say they’ll march to the ball park.

Whether they plan to picket outside in the hours prior to the ball game’s 7:20 p.m. starting time, or plan to try to force their way past ballpark security to get into the game? We’ll have to wait and see just how raucous the scene will be.

And whether a group of people claiming to be high-minded and concerned about violence devolves into a group of gate crashers – we’ll have to see how ugly the scene becomes on Thursday.

WHICH WILL BE just four days following the sexual assault – which involved a woman who got groped while waiting in line for concessions. Then, when she went to a portable toilet to try to get away from the guy, he followed her into the port-a-potty and before she could lock the door, he grabbed her by the neck and made his “moves,” so to speak.

Personally, what I find most repulsive about this incident is that there’s a guy out there (police on Tuesday made public a picture of the suspect taken by ballpark security cameras) who thinks that a portable toilet is a place to have thoughts of intimacy with another human being.

Eww!

Suspect being sought by Chgo police in Sunday Wrigley incident

I suppose something like that could happen anywhere there’s a public event that requires mass amounts of toilets being added on to accommodate crowds.

IN THE OVERALL scheme of things, these incidents don’t really make Wrigley Field some sort of hell hole that ought to be avoided at all costs.

But you just know some people are going to feel irrational enough to want to connect them, and most likely will have horrid thoughts in their heads about going anywhere near Clark and Addison streets as a result.

My own thoughts are the only reason people should feel a negative aura about Wrigley is the generations of bad baseball that were played there. The past few seasons of sort-of-respectable ball don’t erase memories of guys like Karl Pagel taking to the field all those years ago.

But on a serious note, one can’t help but wonder about the timing of this week’s activity, and how long people will remember what occurred this week. Similar to the way some want to think Chicago White Sox games are risky because of that night some 39 years ago when the rock ‘n’ rollers took over the ballpark to blow up the disco records.

OR MORE INTERESTING, to speculate on how well the Cubs’ security can handle the situation around the ballpark come Thursday.

Because I don’t doubt the protesting types want to make a scene – thinking that too many people who go to Cubs games are inclined to ignore the portions of the city where violent outbursts are likely to occur.

What the Cubbie talent pool was once like

They will want to spin anything that happens is that irrational Cubbie fans are showing disrespect to the protesters. While I also expect Cubs fans will claim the protest’s point is irrelevant at the ballpark and that the protesters are merely trying to cause trouble.

I’d like to think that Thursday ultimately will be a forgettable moment in our city’s history. A large part of that is going to be determined by just how rational the Wrigley Scene is capable of being in the face of people who could care less about Cubs baseball.

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Is most obnoxious tactic also the most effective when it comes to protest?

It has not yet been a full month since that day when Rev. Michael Pfleger led a band of protesters to march for a mile-and-a-half right on the Dan Ryan Expressway – with the stunt meant to call attention to problems of urban violence.

HARDIMAN: Wants to 'redistribute' pain

Now, another activist group (this one including political dreamer Tio Hardiman) wants to do a similar stunt – although for what it’s worth, they have said they resent anyone who tries comparing their event to that of Father Pfleger.

THIS GROUP WANTS to march in the middle of Lake Shore Drive, and not just any old portion of the road.

They want to cause traffic congestion from Diversey to Belmont avenues, then walk over to Wrigley Field. Which on the day they plan to do their event is one in which the Chicago Cubs will be playing, and it also is the first day of the Lollapalooza music festival.

Meaning it’s likely there will be many white people out trying to enjoy their lives but will find their recreational plans interfered with by these activists – who by the way are also claiming they want to see Rahm Emanuel resign his mayoral post in shame.

Who’d have thought that Michael Pfleger, with his decades of history of outlandish tactics, would come across as the calm, rational guy.

PFLEGER: Tried drawing attention to So. Side

NOW I DON’T mean to try to undermine the problems Chicago has with regards to urban violence. There are parts of this city where it is risky to venture into. For the people who, by circumstance, wind up having to live their lives in those communities, life can be fairly miserable.

And for the rest of us, it is shallow to think we can ignore those people and those communities just because we don’t live there.

So in that sense, I comprehend the intent of what Hardiman and his allies are trying to accomplish. We, the masses, do need to be made more aware of what is happening. And perhaps we do, occasionally, need to have our noses rubbed in reality because we don’t pay sufficient attention.

But I can’t help but think this proposed event could turn out much worse.

Will these kinds of people want to bother with problem/

BECAUSE WHAT WAS key to the event that Pfleger staged was that he focused on a stretch of the Dan Ryan Expressway right in the heart of one of the neighborhoods where the urban violence is at its worse.

A segment where many people merely pass by as they drive along the Dan Ryan and never even think of stopping for anything. Their attention, however briefly, was forced to focus on the South Side.

Whereas this proposed protest is such that it is focusing on a portion of the North Side where it is possible for people to think that talk of a violent Chicago is just another one of those lies spewed by President Donald Trump to appease the whack jobs who still think highly of the man. They, after all, will believe anything – no matter how absurd it sounds!

As the Chicago Tribune points out, the police district for that area has one of the lowest totals (11) of people being shot this year, with 36 shootings all of last year. And some of those were people who were shot by police for causing trouble.

THE IDEA OF activists come next Thursday is to get in the way – to make sure that some concern-goers get there late and perhaps some of the Cubs fans be massively inconvenienced.

EMANUEL: He's not going anywhere anytime soon

In fact, some of the activists organizing this event say they think Pfleger’s event was flawed because it did nothing to “redistribute the pain” they say is felt by black Chicago residents.

Personally, I thought Pfleger’s event succeeded because it managed to tie up traffic without anyone getting killed by a motorist trying to get through. It made its point without getting distracted by fatalities.

I could easily see this one failing because someone driving along (and not on) LSD strikes a protester – and the masses of Chicago will think that protester got what he (or she) deserved for trying to walk in the middle of a major thoroughfare!

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What will the carnage be like along the Dan Ryan come Saturday morning?

By the time you read this, it may be over.

DAN RYAN: A major Chicago thoroughfare

The “it” being the protest march by which some eight busloads of people being led by Rev. Michael Pfleger of St. Sabina parish will try to force the majority of Chicagoans who like to ignore the problem of urban violence to acknowledge the situation.

PROTESTERS SAY THEY plan to gather at 79^th Street along the Dan Ryan, then walk onto the interstate highway (I-90/94) to march north for a mile-and-a-half – ultimately finishing their political statement at 67^th Street.

Their intent is to disrupt the flow of traffic to the point where, for a bit of time Saturday morning, people won’t be able to easily commute around the city of Chicago.

Considering that the Dan Ryan Expressway is THE major path leading motorists from the South Side into downtown, these protesters could cause some serious inconvenience if they truly are capable of blocking up traffic.

Although the fact that they’re choosing to do so on a Saturday morning means they’re not messing with the rush of workers to jobs downtown that exists every weekday morning. I suppose that is Father Pfleger’s one concession to the rest of Chicago in staging this protest action.

I HAVE HEARD some people who say they plan to join in the protest that they’re not terribly concerned about interfering with traffic because they’re more concerned about the level of violence that occurs in parts of Chicago.

Some will say they think their inconvenience living in certain South and West side neighborhoods and having to tolerate such violence as an everyday fact of life is far worse than any drive into downtown that will be messed up Saturday morning.

But the part that has me wondering is for the people who feel compelled to drive along the Dan Ryan and have to pass through the portion from 79^th to 67^th streets.

The portion that protesters want to clog up

I have to confess – I am a South Side native who often has driven along the Dan Ryan (more than any other Chicago expressway) and that particular stretch of the road is one that I’m used to whizzing right past. I might occasionally catch a glimpse of a commuter waiting for a CTA Red Line ‘el’ train that runs down the middle of the Ryan.

BUT IT IS a part of the city that many pass by without giving it, or the surrounding neighborhoods, much of any thought.

I’m wondering how many people trying to drive along the Dan Ryan will suddenly find the pedestrians trying to walk in the road and will have trouble stopping in time.

Will we have protesting pedestrians being rushed to the hospital, or a pileup of a few automobiles that collided because they were trying to avoid hitting someone in the street.

There’s a reason that state law specifically prohibits people trying to walk along the expressways, and why the Illinois State Police (who have jurisdiction over the Dan Ryan) have warned they will arrest anybody who tries to carry out their protest to the fullest extent of their threats.

WHICH COULD MEAN there won’t be much of a protest along the Dan Ryan – instead, it will be eight bus loads of people being loaded into wagons and hauled away for arrest, Eventually, they will face court dates on charges of Criminal Trespassing to State-Supported Property – and any other charges that police and prosecutors deem necessary.

How busy will they be Saturday

Which will likely be decided by how peacefully they cooperate with police Saturday morning. The ones who persist in putting up a fight are the ones who most likely will get charges piled on – and wind up having no chance of working out a deal that results in all charges dropped.

The “worst case” scenario for Saturday morning is that protesters wind up getting killed, and a majority of people in this city turn cold-hearted and say they got what they deserved for walking along an Interstate highway.

Which would truly be the worst possible message that could be sent by people who are trying to make for a safer Chicago for all of us.

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