Vigilante Maybe?

What do people do when they can't (won't) count on the cops being around?

• A man is in critical condition after someone shot him as he was “exhibiting erratic and dangerous behavior” on a busy Lincoln Park street Wednesday afternoon, according to the local alderman.

  “There is reason to believe this is an isolated incident wherein the victim and offender had a preexisting relationship,” Ald. Timmy Knudsen (43) said in an email tonight, adding that the case is still under investigation.

  Police said a 34-year-old man was approaching people on the sidewalk in the 2400 block of North Clark when an “altercation” broke out around 3:58 p.m. During the conflict, another man pulled out a gun and fired shots, striking the victim in the chest.
  

The shooter left the scene afterwards - why stick around and get railroaded like that guy on the New York subway, who merely restrained a psycho that was even higher on drugs than George Floyd was? Much easier to "shoot and scoot" in the blue shithole cities.

We've said it for years now - all these "defund" the police a$$holes aren't going to like what happens when the police can't/won't/are restricted in how they respond to disturbances like these.

Chicago is Lost

What in the actual f#$% is this?

• Hey SCC,
  
  Please tell me you’ve seen the video, along with heard the radio transmission of beat 712, two females on midnights last night. They got CHASED by a black Dodge Durango..got on the air called a 10-1 saying “please help.” They fled from said Durango lights and sirens. How is that not cowardice?! Here’s the kicker, one of the female POs in that car, she was the same one who got beat up by her off duty baby daddy in the 007th district lot..and denied signing complaints. Someone get these two females off the street before they hurt themselves or another PO.
  

.....we're actually speechless. 

What exactly do we expect the citizens to do if this is what's patrolling one of the less desirable parts of town?

Enforcement of Everything

We opened up our news browsers the other day and these three stories were right at the top:

• A girl has died after being hit by a car Monday evening in Schaumburg. Schaumburg police said officers were sent to the intersection of Algonquin and Thoreau Drive just after 5 p.m. for reports of a crash involving a pedestrian who turned out to be a child.
• A west suburban restaurant owner has died after he was struck by a teenage driver while crossing a road in Oswego last week Thursday.
• An 18-year-old girl was hit by a car and killed after running into the street late Monday night in the Ashburn neighborhood on the city’s Southwest Side, according to police.

It is happening all over the place, not just the city, almost like everyone forgot how to drive....or was never taught....or the distinct lack of enforcement of anything aside from red light cameras and/or speed cameras.

Here's an idea for Larritorious - how about a citywide traffic enforcement month or two, where everything across the board gets pulled over, inspected and cited - broken tail lights, burnt out headlights, cracked windshields, tints, rims, etc. Don't neglect the movers - no signals, improper turns, lane usage, roll stops, turns on red, etc. Make people nervous the way anyone gets when they see a Wisconsin State trooper in the rear view mirror. We remember some training in the closing days of our career about "police legitimacy" being built around traffic stops and the cited individuals respecting cops more if they were cited for what they did wrong. Well?

Give Chicago a traffic stop reputation. Zero tolerance in every neighborhood so no one whines about "racist traffic stops" and other BS. And if the ticketed person shows up in court with proof of everything being fixed, no fines for those occurrences.

Then the month after that, start on the bicyclists. Maybe even the pedestrians.

Happy Thanksgiving

As usual, we are thankful for each and every one of our readers, without whom we would just be talking to ourselves....which as we get older, seems to be happening more.

If you're lucky enough to be off, enjoy your time with whomever you're spending it.

If you're working, stay safe and keep an eye on each other, especially if responding to drunken domestic disturbances during these crazy times.

Holiday Party Warning

After last year, we're surprised that the Department didn't cancel holiday parties across the board:

• The City of Chicago has been named as a defendant in a wrongful death lawsuit stemming from last December when an off-duty police officer, accused of driving drunk, fatally struck a pedestrian.

  The lawsuit alleged that Officer [go read it at the link], 40, became intoxicated at a city-approved holiday party in River North, honoring retiring police officers, before driving and causing the fatal crash.

  According to the amended complaint, a Chicago Police Department employee designated the event at Tree House, a popular bar in River North, as an official city-approved function. The lawsuit claimed [...] was overserved alcohol at the party despite being visibly intoxicated, a violation of CPD policy, which prohibits officers from consuming excessive alcohol. It further alleged the city was liable as [...] acted within the scope of her employment during the event.

If they're going to claim that the "scope of her employment" involves that she allegedly took part in planning the event, then there are a boatload of career house mouses who should be walking on eggshells, knowing who acts how at these events. 

Drunk driving and overserving are just two of a litany of offenses that they could be tagged with.

Don't be that guy or gal.

Nice Staffing Choices Conehead

Why do Chicago democrats permit such behavior among the chosen few?

• Ronnie Reese, the former communications director and one-time press secretary for Mayor Brandon Johnson, was fired late last month for failing to meet professional standards, according to a memo obtained by NBC 5 Investigates through a Freedom of Information Act request.

  A copy of Reese’s termination letter shows while he was fired Oct. 23, an internal memo explaining to staff the reasons behind his termination wasn’t crafted until more than a week later – on Nov. 5 – which came after Reese’s departure had already been reported by news media.

  Additional documents shared with NBC 5 Investigates and first revealed by the FOIA Bakery late Monday show Reese faced additional complaints about his alleged behavior for more than a year prior to his firing.

A year?

There was that aldercreature had to give up his spot as Floor Leader for touching another aldercreature. Some high ranking drunk copper had to resign in disgrace after his Johnson (not Conehead) made some bad choices. There are all sorts of stories if you know where to look and where to listen.

But they'll keep certain....untouchables....around until there's enough sunlight to make a pretend effort at disinfecting the backrooms.

Scandal Still On-Going

They're hoping to drag it out so long, everyone forgets about it:

• A state watchdog has identified at least $7.2 million in fraudulent claims and more than 275 instances of misconduct by state employees accused of bilking a federal program designed to help businesses during the COVID-19 pandemic.

  Since 2022, the Office of the Executive Inspector General has been investigating allegations that state employees fraudulently claimed Paycheck Protection Program loans for small businesses they didn’t disclose or entirely fabricated. State workers may engage in secondary employment, but only if it’s disclosed and permission is granted.

  Employees from 13 different state agencies are involved in the fraud and have illegally taken these federal public funds, according to the OEIG, which is charged with investigating allegations of misconduct within state government. As of April, more than 60% of those implicated to date worked for the Illinois Department of Human Services, which operates mental health hospitals and developmental centers across the state.

Still no word on all the exempt members of the CPD who were doing the same thing?

Well Thank Goodness!

We were worried that downtown was turning into a $hithole, but it's all good now:

• A 19-year-old woman who was shot outside the Loop Macy’s Saturday night may not have been the intended target, according to police reports obtained by the Chicago Sun-Times.

  Just before the shooter opened fire in her direction, an altercation between two groups of male teens had occurred, according to a report.

  Investigators learned the victim was “not likely the intended target,” the report said.

  The assailant, only described as a male teen wearing a gray hoodie, shot her in her leg left, pelvis and right hand just before 9 p.m., when the woman was in a crosswalk outside the Macy’s at 111 N. State St.

Don't worry tourists - if you catch a stray round, it probably wasn't meant for you. Don't let this effect your decision to return to our fair city and spend money.

Lawsuits Incoming

New York City is going to be on the hook for hundreds of thousands, if not millions. Is Chicago next?

• The New York Supreme Court this month hammered the final nail in the coffin of a New York lawsuit against 17 busing companies contracted to transport illegal border crossers from Texas to New York City. It did so as New York City Mayor Eric Adams warned of ongoing budget constraints and recently announced budget cuts, blaming the migrant crisis.

  In January, Adams sued 17 busing companies contracted to transport illegal border crossers from Texas to New York City. In August, the New York Supreme Court dismissed his request to halt their operations.

  This month, the court granted Texas’ request for a dismissal, ending the 11-month saga.

Now the bus companies will be suing for costs associated with the illegal impounding and associated expenses. It seems that if the Biden/Harris administration throws open the borders to all arrivals, then if they sign waivers to be bussed somewhere else, is all perfectly legal, and blue cities have to eat the cost of their virtue-signaling.

Sucks when there are consequences to your stupid actions. Chicago taxpayers have Groot and Conehead to thank for this.

What Gang are They From?

These guys look foreign:

• Three men are charged with possessing cocaine and firearms, including a machine gun, after running from a stolen car on the Northwest Side, officials said. The driver of the Lexus got away, but not before someone fired shots at Chicago cops.

  Around 2 a.m. last Wednesday, CPD officers were searching the Irving Park neighborhood for a car that may have been involved in a previous incident involving a man with a gun, according to a police statement. As cops approached the parked Lexus in the 4600 block of North Knox, at least four people bolted from the vehicle, police said. An officer detained one man at the scene while another cop chased the remaining suspects. That’s when someone fired shots, forcing the officers to take cover, according to CPD. No injuries were reported. Police found two shell casings in the area.

  Back at the Lexus, which was outfitted with stolen license plates, police allegedly recovered four firearms: a handgun on the center console was equipped with an extended magazine and an automatic fire switch, allowing it to generate machine gun fire; a 5.56 rifle and two more handguns were found in the back seat area, according to court filings. Officers also found a “large amount” of suspected crack cocaine individually packaged inside the car, officials said.

All with other pending cases and/or convictions.

We're Supporting This

That Denver insurrectionist mayor might have overstepped his bounds:

• ....Denver Mayor Mike Johnston has said he will go to jail before he allows Homan to deport any illegals from his city. Yeah, that's pretty damn stupid on multiple levels ...

  Homan had this to say about the situation on Hannity, watch:

  Tom Homan: me and the Denver mayor agree on one thing, he is willing to go to jail and I am willing to put him there. pic.twitter.com/RWB9r15tCv

In addition to this mope, we'd love to have the Border Czar come to town and see what Fata$$ and Conehead have to say about deportation efforts here.

• Conehead would be reduced to a quivering wreck in seconds, probably offering to wear a MAGA hat, give up his (alleged) mistress and his suburban home;
• Fata$$ would stage a hunger strike, which would last for a year.

If the new administration repurposes Gitmo, Illinoisans would be eternally grateful.

Crimesha the Liar

As she prepares to exit office, she leaves the same way she entered - lying her ass off.

Here's the interview with Craig Dellimore on WBBM Newsradio and at the 5:30 mark of the interview, she claims - without evidence and without a grain of truth to it - that the blog posted she had two daughters along with her address.

THIS IS A LIE. It never happened.

We don't post addresses. Shortshanks never got that treatment. We think we may have posted a picture of Rahm's front porch once, but that was after his "wife" had a hissy fit when someone left some tomatoes from the garden on the porch. Groot's abode was attached to a RedFin realtor listing on the internet.

Anything like what she claims never saw the light of day here.

But when you're an incompetent lawyer, alleged husband beater, criminal coddler, who makes up law while washing root beer out of your clothes, it's par for the course.

FOP - Please Clarify

From an email, and a few comments the past weekend:

• There’s an issue I think that needs to be brought out ..at the last meeting it was stated that if you get a cr number and you get called more than once , the fop will deny representation for the second statement even if it’s Job related . A bad cr you can be called more than once . We pay 1000 a year in dues and what’s the point if we can’t get legal representation

In this day of re-opened / never closed Log Number investigations, where COPA and IAD release records that are thirty and forty years old along with dredging up past histories and suing cops long since retired (and in some cases, deceased), the need for competent counsel at ANY investigative questioning is unquestionably needed.

What's going on? Did someone misspeak or mishear something?

Bears One Step Closer

To leaving for Arlington Heights:

• The Bears say they want to stay in Chicago, but their potential drive to the northwest suburbs just got easier.

  Team officials announced Monday they’ve reached a tentative agreement with the village of Arlington Heights and local school district leaders who’ve sparred with the Bears over the property tax valuation on the shuttered Arlington International Racecourse, the 326-acre plot the team closed on early last year as a potential new stadium site.

  After about a year of wrangling over the size of the team’s property tax bill — and a year of political roadblocks to the Bears’ hopes for funding a new stadium in Chicago — the team says it has a memorandum of understanding that opens the runway for them to land in Arlington Heights.

We said before, all the posing and talk about a lakefront stadium (generously assisted by politicians giving away taxpayer dollars) is just leverage to use in negotiations with Arlington Heights.

It sure looks that way even more so.

Another Off Duty Shooting

And again, no hits, no runs, no errors:

• An off-duty Chicago police officer exchanged gunfire with two assailants early Sunday in Washington Park on the South Side.

  The officer was confronted by two gunman about 1:50 a.m. in the 100 block of East 57th Street and all three fired, though the officer wasn’t injured and the gunmen fled, Chicago police said.

  Police did not say who fired first. The officer initially exchanged gunfire with one person before a second gunman also opened fire on the officer. Both gunmen then fled.

No one should care who fired first. This ridiculous statement by the media (and if it was a ridiculous question, then shame on them) is going to get cops and citizens killed. You don't have to "take fire" to feel your life is in danger. The Law isn't written that way. 

The General Orders (and training) have unfortunately, turned street encounters into a "quick draw" contest, and few people practice that.

Glad the Officer is okay.

Interesting Shade of Makeup

Oh wait, that's not makeup:

• A woman was shot in the Loop on Saturday evening as large crowds filled the area to celebrate the start of the holiday season. An individual is being questioned.

  Chicago police officers were maintaining a significant presence in the Loop following the annual Festival of Lights and Friday’s lighting of the city’s official Christmas tree at Millennium Park.

  Shortly before 9 p.m. Saturday, some of those officers reported hearing gunfire at the corner of State and Washington. They soon found a 19-year-old woman with a gunshot injury.

  She ran into Macy’s, 111 North State, for safety after being shot in her upper right leg while standing outside the store on Washington Street, officials said. Cops found shell casings at 6 West Washington, on the opposite side of State Street from the store.

And thanks to the reasonable temps, poor staffing, and command staff that doesn't have a clue, the weekend was full of summer-like wilding incidents all over the (formerly) Magnificent Mile.

Oh, and none of the raggedy yutes have school next week. Somehow the CTU turned Thanksgiving four-day weekend into an entire week off, just before the usual three-week Christmas break. 

Did that play into CPD non-planning?

San Fran vs Chicago

This is in San Francisco:

• San Francisco police said they have arrested eight retail suspects as young as 12 years old, who they believe are responsible for 23 incidents at various Walgreens' stores totaling more than $84,000 in stolen merchandise.

  In a news release on Thursday, police identified the oldest suspect as Brandon McClain, 18, of Hayward, who was arrested on suspicion of grand theft and retail theft. He was also arrested on suspicion of a carjacking this month with a 15-year-old, police said.

  The 12-year-old from San Francisco was charged with assault, robbery, burglary, grand theft, organized retail theft and petty theft, according to San Francisco Police Officer Paulina Henderson.

  The other suspects are 14 and 15 years old who live in San Francisco, Oakland, Pittsburg and Oakley. They were all charged with various counts of theft.

Amusingly, the media had shown up at this particular Walgreens a few days prior to report on the high rate of theft, and while they were filming, the shoplifting crew stuck again....and again....and again. Three times in the hour or so they were filming.

This is Chicago:

• A small area of retail shopping inside less than half a square mile of the North Side emerged last year as a hot spot for shoplifting in Chicago, according to a new study.

  A report by the Council on Criminal Justice, a nonpartisan policy group in Washington, says the city’s annual shoplifting rate per 100,000 people fell significantly in 2020 and 2021 during the COVID-19 pandemic. And the city’s retail theft rate in 2023 was lower than in 2018, the report says.

  But that rate skyrocketed 46% in Chicago this year through October compared with the same period of 2023, the report says. This year’s shoplifting rate is also higher than the same period of any of the past six years in the city.

Both dem cities, run by morons, and the "justice" system that only protects criminals from having to serve time.

If you want to see something REALLY amusing, check out the biographies of Crimesha Foxx and Chesa Boudin - almost identical "progressive," Soros-funded, "de-carceration" freak shows that pretty much ruined two decent cities.

He's Not Happy to See You

Every couple of years, something like this happens and every couple of years we remind everyone, "Search, Search and Search again."

• An 18-year-old man who was supposed to leave the Cook County jail on Wednesday is not going home after all. That’s because Kemari Johnson is now facing a fresh charge of possessing a loaded firearm inside the jail.

  Johnson was initially arrested on November 11 after he slammed a Chicago police officer to the floor during a domestic altercation, according to court records. The next day, a judge decided to release Johnson on electronic monitoring, but he stayed in jail for a week, seemingly unable to find a place to live while wearing an ankle monitor.

  According to court records, Judge Lindsay Huge dropped the electronic monitoring requirement on Tuesday, allowing Johnson to leave jail on a nighttime curfew.

  At about 2:50 a.m. Wednesday, a probation officer was preparing to place an ankle monitor designed to track curfew compliance on Johnson’s leg when Johnson popped a question.

  “Can I surrender something?” he asked, officials say.

"something" turned out to be a Taurus 140 semiauto, loaded with seven rounds and a with a spare magazine.

And if we're reading the article correctly, he had it:

• at the domestic incident 11 November;
• during arrest, transport and processing in the District;
• in the transport wagon to Cook County;
• at Cook County receiving;
  
• in the jail itself until 20 November

Are you fucking kidding us? No one found this anywhere? He should have been searched at least five times during his stay - arrest, before transport, during processing, before getting on the transport wagon the next day and at the "bridge." Those are just the instances we're familiar with. The sheriffs might do more in the jail before, during or after court.

Maybe there's something missing from the story, but for God's sake, SEARCH YOUR F#$%ING PRISONERS. And if you accept a prisoner from some other Officer, SEARCH YOUR F#$%ING PRISONER AGAIN.

Nice Shot

Citizen wins again:

• A food vendor licensed to carry a concealed firearm shot and killed a man who tried to rob him on the West Side on Friday evening, Chicago police said.

  The vendor was working in the 300 block of South Central when a gunman approached him around 8:50 p.m. Police said a struggle ensued, and that quickly developed into a shootout between the robber and concealed carry holder.

  The would-be robber, who police said was about 30 years old, suffered multiple gunshot wounds and was pronounced dead at Mt. Sinai Hospital. His 35-year-old victim was in good condition with a gunshot wound to the right arm.

Gotta love the happy ending.

Anyone have the year's totals for legit self-defense shootings? HeyJackass.com maybe?

Nice Tree Lighting Conehead

So they lit the Chicago Christmas Tree Friday evening. Nice size crowd, nice weather, kicking off the holidays.....

....and then the non-demonized appeared:

• Hey SCC, don't know if you got the word, but right after the tree lighting, all sorts of yutes started running wild downtown, raiding stores, knocking people over and generally being demonic assholes. We got at least three guns off the streets with heads attacked to them. Lucky it didn't end up worse.

Lucky indeed.

Always on Camera

It almost never matters....but sometimes it does. And when you're CPD, you ought to be aware of that possibility:

• Last November, prosecutors charged her with felony false report, saying she reported being robbed of $5,000 behind her home when, in fact, no robbery occurred.

  The nine-year CPD veteran called 911 on September 23, 2023, and claimed that a man robbed her near her garage in the 8000 block of South Wabash.

  “Give me everything you got!” the robber supposedly ordered while holding her at gunpoint.

  Williams told responding officers that her surveillance cameras weren’t working. Unfortunately for Williams, her neighbor’s cameras worked just fine, showing that no robbery took place, prosecutors said.

She resigned and as CWB points out, she still didn't get the treatment Juicy Smollet got for something far worse. She must not know Mrs Sparklefarts.

Prepare the Lobbies!

All that Election Day posturing is over - the border is open again:

• The Biden administration is quietly rushing to implement new policies that will loosen restrictions on migrants who entered the US illegally — a parting attempt to thwart President-elect Donald Trump’s immigration crackdowns and mass deportations, sources tell The Post.

  And the Big Apple will be ground zero for these changes.

  The outgoing administration intends to launch an ICE Portal app starting in early December in New York City that will allow migrants to bypass in-person check-ins to their local ICE office.

And after NYC, the next two prime destinations are Chicago and Denver.

While Conehead (and Fata$$) already burning through billions of non-existent dollars, we all know the DC money tap is about to be shut off for the next four years. That money for illegals has to come from somewhere else and Conehead is looking at your wallet. Temporary shelters have to be opened and don't doubt for a minute that District lobbies are back on the list.

Maybe a harsh winter will keep the numbers low?

Preservation Leads to Destruction

Yesterday, we pointed out the continued inanity of politicians counting (and spending) increased taxes/fees/fines before actually seeing if that money actually appears.

Here's an article from The Contrarian explaining how yet another politician is about to destroy a sector of affordable housing via a so-called "preservation" effort:

• Your correspondent is feeling guilty. Writing about the inanity of Chicago City Council actions just isn’t a fair fight, somewhat akin to shooting fish in a barrel. But to be charitable, perhaps we can borrow from moral theology the concept of invincible ignorance: That is, ignorance through no fault of one’s own. Most aldermen, while perhaps well-intentioned, have never worked in the private sector, and seem to have no idea how people respond to economic incentives. A classic example is the implicit assumption, sometimes seen in budget documents, that if the city increases a tax on a commodity — gasoline or cigarettes — consumption will not decrease.  “If we double the tax on gasoline, we’ll double our revenue!” And yet every time, they are disappointed when economic reality hits them over the head.

  For the latest, and one of the most extreme examples of well-intentioned laws with terrible results, look no further than the “Northwest Side Preservation Ordinance” passed in late September and effective October 6. The ordinance is intended to increase the stock of affordable housing and reduce gentrification in the six square miles in and around Logan Square. 
  

It's a fairly short article, but zeros in on the details that are likely to drive out more middle class families that had turned Logan Square around from what it was in the middle part of last century.

As usual, go read it all.

Sounds Insurrection-y

Wasn't this "treason" a few months ago?

• When Denver isn’t busing illegal aliens to New York and Chicago, its mayor is trying to act like enforcing American immigration law and deporting illegal aliens is Tiananmen Square all over again.

  The mayor also takes heart that the people of Denver — not just the administration — would likely resist a mass deportation effort from federal forces.

  “More than us having DPD stationed at the county line to keep them out, you would have 50,000 Denverites there,” Johnston said. “It’s like the Tiananmen Square moment with the rose and the gun, right?” You’d have every one of those Highland moms who came out for the migrants. And you do not want to mess with them.”

  Mayor Mike Johnston appears to be playing with the idea of deploying the Denver cops to block any kind of deportation force.

Hopefully, Denver police would be smarter than following this stupidity into a federal prison.

And while the Denver mayor is talking about using the DPD and "peaceful" protestors to keep the federal authorities out, this was going on in Denver just a few weeks prior:

• An illegal alien from Venezuela was charged with raping a 14-year-old girl in Denver, Colorado, after the city’s Democrat mayor pledged that he would resist President-elect Donald Trump’s plan to enforce immigration law and deport illegal aliens.

  The 20-year-old Venezuelan national, Jesus Alberto Pereira Castillo, was arrested this week after allegedly raping a 14-year-old girl, the daughter of his boss, whose home he was temporarily living in.

So American citizens and the taxes they pay to support police are going to resist the forcible removal of sexual assaulting illegals?

Free At Last, Free At Last

Thank God Almighty, Juicy is free at last!

• In a blockbuster ruling Thursday, the Illinois Supreme Court overturned the conviction of actor Jussie Smollett for an alleged hoax hate crime, a move that will spare the former “Empire” star a five-month jail sentence.

  Smollett had challenged nearly every aspect of his case, arguing that his legal woes should have been over after the Cook County State’s Attorney’s office struck a controversial deal to drop charges just a month after Smollett was indicted in February 2019.

  The agreement should have prevented Smollett from being charged for the same crime by a court-appointed special prosecutor a year later, according to the state’s highest court.

According to Dan Webb, the "special prosecutor," the Illinois Supreme Court said that crooked deals made by crooked Crimesha must be honored, lest people lose faith in the crooked system:

• “Make no mistake—today’s ruling has nothing to do with Mr. Smollett’s innocence,” Webb said. “The Illinois Supreme Court did not find any error with the overwhelming evidence presented at trial that Mr. Smollett orchestrated a fake hate crime and reported it to the Chicago Police Department as a real hate crime.”

But with enough money, you can hire a lawyer to sue anyone for anything. In this case:

• the judge in the case and the judges in the appeal process have full immunity from lawsuits;
• Crimesha also enjoys prosecutorial immunity;
• Webb was appointed and surely had an understanding that his job was also covered by prosecutorial immunity;

Which leaves who on the hook for damages?

• the CPD....

....who did everything correctly, with an outstanding investigation you seldom see in many other cases, tracking down video, witnesses, the offenders, the purchases of string and bleach, a fantastic interrogation and presenting an airtight case to Crimesha.....

....who promptly started taking calls from Tina Chen, who was Mrs Sparklefart's chief fixer before tanking the case with a deal that was impossible to justify.

Hey, maybe that's why Sparklefarts and Mrs Sparklefarts were allegedly in town recently? They knew this was coming down and wanted to be here to ....celebrate....with Juicy.

Piss Poor Planning Again

This is typical of politicians everywhere, so Conehead isn't be one-hundred-percent at fault. We've written about this before:

• a politician dreams up a new tax/fee/payment for whatever;
• they claim without any proof whatsoever, that this tax/fee/payment with generate $100 bazillion dollars;
• the City Council (or Springfield or DC) passes the new tax/fee/payment;

....and this is the important part....

• they then pass a new spending budget with these imaginary tax/fee/payment dollars baked into the budget numbers without having seen even a single new dollar in the tax coffers.

Normal people, being normal, adjust their spending habits on what benefits themselves the most. If that means forgoing a new purchase or skipping a trip downtown or even cancelling something that they don't really need, but had been buying it out of habit, then they'll do that.

And suddenly, government isn't getting money that they had planned on getting....and already spent. So they end up....RAISING TAXES TO COVER THE "SHORTFALL" that isn't really a shortfall but rather another example of poor planning.

Like this:

• When the City Council unanimously rejected Mayor Brandon Johnson’s proposed $300 million property tax increase, it blew a giant hole in the city’s $17.3 billion budget. Now, the hole is getting bigger.

  A tax on prepaid phones and calling cards the Johnson administration was counting on to raise $40 million has been shot down in Springfield. Illinois Retail Merchants Association President Rob Karr said there were technical problems that must be fixed in the legal language the city drafted.

  The city also had assumed the increased tax (9%, up from 3%) would take effect Jan. 1 — a virtually impossible deadline for retailers.

If we started running our household budget like this, we'd be bankrupted by late fees and foreclosures and massive interest payment hits.

But Conehead (and the pols) just raise our property taxes by hundreds of millions.

More Non-Punishment

Caught red-handed....and his sentence?

• When Chicago police arrested two men and seized 211 catalytic converters last year, prosecutors said it was the culmination of a nearly year-long investigation. Now, one of those men has pleaded guilty to playing a role in the crime. His sentence? Probation.

  Cops had a search warrant in hand for a storage unit in the 4500 block of West North Avenue when Marzel Woodard, called the “ringleader” of the operation, arrived at the storage facility with Vincent Parks on June 30, 2023, officials said

  The undercover officers watched as Woodard and Parks started to unload catalytic converters from a vehicle into the unit, prosecutors said. They tried to run away when the cops moved in but didn’t get far.

  Police allegedly found five severed catalytic converters inside Woodard’s vehicle. Officials claimed that another 206 converters were found in Woodard’s storage unit as they executed the warrant.

Every single one of these thefts cost the car owner in excess of $1,200 in repairs.

Until we get some real sentencing for blatant crimes, we're going to get more and more and more of it.

Blame the Judge? (UPDATE)

Judge Nowinski is racking up the body count:

• The man police believe is responsible for fatally stabbing his wife in Portage Park on Tuesday afternoon was later found dead inside a parked car near the attack site. Court records show prosecutors asked a judge to keep the 57-year-old in custody last month after they charged him with kidnapping and aggravated domestic battery by strangulation, but the judge, Thomas Nowinski, rejected their request.

  The man, who has not been publicly identified by officials, was arraigned on a five-count true bill related to the October allegations on Monday morning, court records show.

  At about 2:23 p.m. yesterday, an off-duty Chicago police detective intervened upon seeing a man stabbing a woman in the 5600 block of West Leland, according to CPD. The officer fired shots toward the attacker, who fled the scene. Police said the officer also suffered a graze wound to his leg during the incident.

No mention of the murderer having a gun or shooting at anyone - so we assume the leg wound was a ricochet or a negligent discharge of some sort. Things happen in the heat of battle, even to war-tested veterans.

But the judge is following Fata$$'s SAFE-T Act and no-bail directives to the letter. It doesn't matter that this guy had a previous domestic battery case and possibly a third one in Michigan from a little while back....what's three separate domestic battery cases among friends? 

But he also released the jagoff who went to his ex-girlfriends house in Edgewater, chased her around with a knife and stabbed her 11-year-old son to death. 

Now the lefties are angry:

• A day after a man allegedly killed his estranged wife and was found dead blocks away in Portage Park, a Cook County judge faced heavy criticism for refusing to hold the suspect in custody as he faced charges in an earlier attack on the same woman.

  In a harshly written letter, advocates for domestic violence survivors urged Chief Judge Timothy Evans to reassign Judge Thomas E. Nowinski to prevent him from hearing similar domestic cases. Illinois Comptroller Susana Mendoza, meanwhile, pushed Nowinski to resign, noting that she wouldn’t “trust him with a traffic ticket at this point.”

Again, he's ruling in accordance with the dictates of the governor, the Cook County Board president, the state legislature, the media, and left-wingnuts in general.

What's a politically beholden judge supposed to do?

(UPDATE: wrestling over the pistol? Story keeps coming out in drips....it makes us think there's Venezuelans involved in Section 8 housing or something)

Please Don't be True

Rumor in the comment section that the Commander of 006 (Tate) skipped the funeral for Officer Martinez....who worked in 006?

Confirmation if anyone has it?

Hey Porky?

A number of readers noted this quote from Fata$$:

• “I’ve said it once, and I’ll say it again: No attempts to restrict the freedoms and opportunities of Illinoisans will be tolerated."

And the readers were quick to point out that:

1. Fata$$ couldn't wait to lock down Illinois during COVID, denying all the freedom to associate, visit, worship, get a freaking heaircut, etc while he shipped his family AND their horses to residences and shows in Florida and Wisconsin, and
2. the ongoing indefensible denial of Second Amendment Rights for a rifle that is in common use across the nation.

He's so full of $shit that he looks like he's going to explode one of these days.

We should be so lucky.

Another Rumor

This could be a political earthquake if true:

• I heard a rumor that Obama is back in town with big mike trying to run things and start over since his defeat in the presidential election...can anyone confirm?

Since Sparklefarts' machine just got disemboweled by the Clinton/Biden/trump onslaught and he used to bank over an Giannoulias International House of Finance and there's Durbin's Senate seat coming up for re-assignment, could he be coming back play referee to the Machine that birthed him?

Again, RUMOR, posted for entertainment purposes.

Off Duty Wounded

Trying to save a woman being stabbed in broad daylight:

• An off-duty Chicago police officer was shot, while attempting to intervene when a woman was being stabbed on the Northwest Side Tuesday afternoon, CPD officials said.

  The incident took place in the 5600-block of West Leland Avenue in Jefferson Park. Just after 2:20 p.m., an off-duty detective assigned to the Area Four Detective Division saw the woman being attacked, and fired shots at the suspect, police said.

  The detective suffered a graze wound to the leg, while trying to stop the suspect, police said.

  The suspect remains at large Tuesday evening.

And the woman died, so yet another homicide in a formerly quiet northwest side neighborhood that isn't so quiet any more. How many is 016 up to now?

Best wishes to the Detective, trying to do the right thing.

UPDATE: suspect dead - apparently, the Detective got in fatal shot.

This A$$hole?

Mary Ann Ahern has a rumor:

• Sources are telling me prominent members in Chicago labor, business and civic community are actively trying to recruit IL Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias to run for Mayor of Chicago - February ‘27

Giannoulias? This goof is a consummate Machine insider since the days of Shortshanks and Sparklefarts. Not only that, his family bank (Broadway Bank) was involved in some questionable (shady) loans back early 2000s and ended up costing taxpayers nearly $400 million in FDIC payouts.

Just what an already bankrupt Chicago needs!

(the other rumor is that he's running for Turban Durbin's Senate seat shortly.)

Conehead's Bad Few Weeks

It must be rough, having an approval rating hovering around 14% and even your voting base hates what you've done to their communities:

• Ahead of a Chicago City Council vote unanimously rejecting Mayor Brandon Johnson’s proposed $300 million property tax hike, local residents addressed the council and the mayor, criticizing Johnson to his face over trying to raise taxes while catering to illegal immigrants.

  Among these angry locals were several supporters of President-elect Donald Trump, who, while wearing MAGA gear, gloated about how Trump’s victory means Johnson’s liberal policies – particularly those assisting illegal immigrants – will face a reckoning.

  “The feds need to address you! The DOJ needs to address you! And hopefully Donald Trump will address you, because you’re gonna protect the undocumented, while you’re gonna allow for the citizens in Chicago suffer under your, what? Three percent?” Chicago resident Tyjuan Sims told the mayor on Thursday night.

  Clips of the council meeting can be viewed here.

Some people are unhappy at the "redistribution" of taxpayer money they consider theirs for whatever reason. But even more are just plain unhappy with unfulfilled promises and being exploited and lied to for years. 

Democrats have run Chicago for over one-hundred years and there hasn't been a citywide Republican office holder (even an aldercreature) since that alcohol challenged individual left office over a decade ago. And now they're waking up.

Conehead is lashing out at a reporter because he can't confront his (shrinking) base:

• As reporter William J Kelly pressed Brandon Johnson on his prioritization of migrants, the mayor demanded he call his wife ‘first lady’.

Kelly has a knack for triggering Conehead, but this is just bizarre. Kelly calls Mrs Conehead by her given name (Stacie) and Conehead gets bent out of shape. As we recall the mayoral ballot, Stacie wasn't on it, Stacie didn't run for anything and Stacie just got nearly $100K in office furnishings for an spot she wasn't elected to. "First Lady" is also a term we don't recall being used for anyone except the wife of the President, not the mayor of a dying city with a 14% approval rating.

Stacie Stacie Stacie.

Wall of Blubber

Fata$$ is setting himself up for a presidential run. We don't see it ending well for him:

• It would be comically hypocritical if weren’t so tragically destructive. Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker last week appointed himself co-chair of a new group to save democracy. Fortunately for other states, however, he’s getting almost no support.

  It’s called Governors Safeguarding Democracy, formed to counter the incoming Trump Administration and Republican Congress. “What we’re doing is pushing back against increasing threats of autocracy and fortifying the institutions of democracy that our country and our states depend upon,” Pritzker said of the effort. “I’ve said it once, and I’ll say it again: No attempts to restrict the freedoms and opportunities of Illinoisans will be tolerated.”

The trouble is what Fata$$ considers an "Illinoisan." Illegal aliens from South America and $hithole Caribbean failed nations don't really qualify as anything but "occupants of space" and we're hoping to see massive deportations in a few months. So are actual "Illinoisans of Color," a term we just made up to represent those ticked off minority communities who are the subject of this "voter replacement" underway across the state.

And the main weapon in FAta$$es arsenal? Trans soldiers (at taxpayer expense):

• Gov. JB Pritzker (D-IL) pledged to launch a campaign to boost radical sex change procedures in his state in response to Donald Trump’s landslide election.

  Pritzker used Transgender Awareness Week — November 12 to 19 — as a platform to showboat over the issue, Fox News reported

  “This Transgender Awareness Week, I want you to know that I see you and have your back as governor,” Pritzker wrote on X. “Illinois has enshrined protections for gender-affirming care to meet this moment — and because of that, you will have a home here always.”

Anyone else thinking he might have misread the electoral message two weeks ago? The rightward shift was unmistakable to all but the most ignorant. And if DC cuts federal funding for insurrectionist states, you can bet Fata$$ will be groveling in short order. People who can move out, have moved out. And the rest can't pay the cost of living, so they're more likely to vote for whoever promises more tax cuts.