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Tag: Mayor Lori Lightfoot

Come to Chicago Go home in a box

Image: PV Bella

“Mayor Lori Lightfoot said Monday that she was “not happy” about violence that again touched downtown Chicago over the weekend and ended with a cancellation of Sunday night’s performance of the musical “Moulin Rouge.”

“We’re working our tails off every single day. Obviously not happy about this weekend,” Lightfoot told reporters at an unrelated news conference.

Particularly distressing is, again, the number of young people that seemingly are involved in acts of violence. It’s clearly not acceptable and that’s why we’ve got to keep doing the things that we know are working.(Chicago Tribune/Emphasis Mine)

There was another shooting downtown early Tuesday morning. Four people were shot at an intersection. 30-forty casings were found at the scene, some of them rifle rounds. “Tuesday’s victims are the sixth, seventh, eighth, and ninth persons shot in the Loop this year.” (CWB)

I do not know what delusional world Mayor Lori Lightfoot lives in or if she believes the lies of her subordinates and police superintendent. She wants to keep doing things she “knows are working.” Nothing the city is doing to mitigate violent crime is working. Not one damn thing. The only thing that curbed crime so far this year was the cold weather. As temps rise, crime will rise. So will the body count.

The streets are not safe. Public transportation is not safe. Businesses are not safe. There is no safe in Chicago. The criminals are winning. The public is losing. It is long past time for City Hall to realize that Superintendent David “Tex” Brown is a complete failure. He has no idea what he is doing. Brown has no credibility. His data and data analytics are not credible. They are just pornography for the hormonally charged news media.

Where are the alderpersons? The crime is happening in their wards- their backyards- yet most are dead silent. It appears they do not care about the safety or lives of their constituents, or themselves.

Where are the business leaders and organizations? They, too, are silent. They keep bosting Chicago while the headlines tout the violence downtown, on Michigan Avenue, and Near North, the tourist and business travelers’ areas.

How many people must go through emergency rooms or bodies stacked up in the morgue before someone wakes up and says ENOUGH? Nothing they “know is working” will work when the weather warms up. All the plans, strategies, deployments, and other nonsense the Superintendent of Police keep washing, rinsing, and repeating will fail again and again.

The problem is that elected officials and their appointees can never admit that they are wrong, even to themselves. Failure is an option is a better strategy than admitting failure.

Where are the news media editorial boards? They have been silent for way too long. They should be scorching City Hall and David Brown. They, like the alderpersons, are silent.

Where is the outrage from the citizens, each and every one a potential victim? Do people really believe nothing can happen to them? Are people really that blind? There should be an uprising over this city’s lack of public safety.

Chicago is a city of silent scoundrels. The silence is just as criminal as the violence. Public safety is the most critical issue in governance. Lightfoot failed Chicago. Most of the alderpersons failed Chicago.” Tex” Brown is a failure. How many failures will it take for people to demand change?

There is this false narrative-misinformation- in the news media that the COVID pandemic was a driver of violent crimes. Oh, how convenient. The new mantra from Brown and Lightfoot? “Guns, gangs, drugs, and COVID are the reasons for violent crime. ” The gullible people will suck this up and believe it.

There is one way to curb crime in Chicago. You, the people. You can flood your alderpersons with emails, phone calls, and in-person visits. You can make your voices heard in public when they have meetings. It is time for citizens to be literal pains in the arse to the elected officials.

Politicians’ greatest fear is unemployment. If the public outcry is loud enough and large enough, they will do what really works. As long as you are silent, you are a potential innocent victim. People need to stop believing if it doesn’t happen to them, there is no violent crime problem.

Mayor Lightfoot bid for the 2024 Democratic Convention to be held in Chicago. I guess touting Capone era violence must have charm appeal. Maybe we should raise our collective voices and not just say no, but HELL NO! No one asked us if we wanted that convention here. By 2024, Chicago could be a dystopian war zone. They want to throw a party. What are they going to celebrate? Murder and mayhem?

Say no to vigilantes in Chicago

Image: PV Bella

A Chicago Police spokesperson urged CTA riders —would-be security volunteers or otherwise —not to step in as vigilantes and instead call 911 if they witness a crime or something suspicious… “The police do not need private citizens taking law enforcement matters into their own hands,” CPD spokesperson Tom Ahern said.” (NBC 5 Chicago)

Vigilante:: a member of a volunteer committee organized to suppress and punish crime summarily (as when the processes of law are viewed as inadequate) broadly: a self-appointed doer of justice (Merriam Webster)

It was only a matter of time before vigilantes would crop up like weeds to “fight” crime. It will be only a matter of time before vigilantes seriously injure or kill someone.

Vigilantes are not new in Chicago. The city and CTA allowed a vigilante group, The Guardian Angels, to patrol the Els years back. Why? Curtis Sliwa, the vigilante group leader, is a shameless self-promoter. The news media fell in slobbering love with his group of vigilantes. The city and CTA caved into the drooling media mob.

The Guardian Angels did little to mitigate crime, but they shore did look purty with their cute little red beanies. All they needed were propellers.

One of Chicago’s greatest self-promoters, Tio “P.T. Barnum” Hardiman, formed a vigilante group to patrol the CTA Red Line. Naturally, he held a press conference. The puerile Chicago news media showed up drooling all over him instead of ignoring or opposing him. Once again, the city and CTA will allow vigilantes to “patrol” the El system with no accountability, liability, or transparency.

This vigilante group consists of volunteer licensed security guards trained in the martial arts and others trained in de-escalation- whatever that means- to patrol the north and southbound Red Line trains eight hours a day.

What can go wrong? Who will be accountable and liable if the vigilantes seriously injure or “accidentally” kill someone? Will the taxpayers be on the hook for a lawsuit settlement? Will the vigilantes be held criminally responsible? Suppose one of the vigilantes gets shot or seriously injured. Will the news media make them a hero of the republic?

See the video at the end of this post where the vigilante Guardian Angels tried to detain a man, who had obvious mental health issues, for smoking pot on the El platform. He was leaving the station. All they had to do was follow him to make sure he left. Instead, they escalated the situation. Appalled bystanders protested their violent action. The vigilantes made the whole thing look heroic, the man look like a violent criminal, and the bystanders looked like fools. He was smoking weed. He was bothering no one. He was leaving the station.

It is time the city and CTA grew a pair and ban Hardiman and his group of vigilantes or any others, including the Guardian Angels, from patrolling the Els or any place else in Chicago. If Mayor Lori Lightfoot has the biggest d**k in the city, she should demonstrate she also has the biggest b**ls. Ban vigilantism in Chicago.

What if groups of concealed carry holders decided to form vigilante groups to patrol the Els or the streets? Will the mayor allow it? Would the horny teenaged news media fawn over them as they did over Tio Hardiman and the Guardian Angels? What if some lone armed vigilante decided to take matters into their own hands and hunt for active criminals?

The real problem being ignored by the news media is the inept leadership of Superintendent David “Tex” Brown. When crime spiked on the public transportation system, he should have beefed up patrols on the trains and platforms. Instead, he keeps fumbling and bumbling, having no idea what he is doing. He should have been fired long ago.

The hormonally charged news media need to stop fawning, drooling, and slobbering over vigilante groups formed by charlatans and frauds whose only goal is self-promotion. People like Tio Hardiman should be ignored. He did nothing to improve conditions on Chicago’s streets except to promote himself. Tio’s “Greatest Show on Earth.”

There is a sucker born every minute. The Chicago news media is breeding them every minute. So are City Hall and the CTA. So are the citizens in this city of fools.

Chicago needs solutions to the crime issues plaguing the city. We do not need bumblers and fumblers like Tex Brown. We do not need vigilantes. We do not need mountebanks and quacksalvers like Tio Hardiman.

Note: The original video when published did not have the text justifying the vigilantes’ violent actions. It must have been added later.

YouTube

Uptown Update is the voice of precious privilege

Image: PV Bella

As we understand it, there are up to 12 different laws being broken every day the homeless encampments stay in place (the Americans With Disabilities Act, Illinois statutes, City ordinances and Park District Code). (Uptown Update)

The anonymous* oh-so-precious overprivileged people at the Uptown Update have their silk knickers in a wedgie over the homeless encampments on Lawrence Avenue under DuSable LSD and in the park between Lawrence and Wilson. There were fires in the encampments, over the past weeks, causing propane tanks to explode.

They probably wrote this piece while sipping their 14-ingredient soy latte, with multiple syrups, whipped oat cream, and sprinkles on top. Or maybe some kind of chai. It must be nice to pound their chests and keyboards with their snooty class privilege. Uptown Update is a shining bad example of gentrification.

For whatever reasons, homelessness is a growing and increasingly severe problem in Chicago. There are other larger and smaller encampments throughout the city. Chicago has been ignoring the mass homeless problem for years. Occasionally, the city goes out with the news media in tow to highlight the issue and show what they are pretending to do about it. The media laps it up and showers praise on City Hall.

The syphilitic parasitics at Uptown Update, like the two aldercritters, Cappleman and Osterman, do not care about the plight of the homeless so long as they are gone, poof disappeared. Voila!

Uptown Update cites laws that are being broken. I bet they do not cite laws being broken daily with abandon by the two-wheeled terrorist cyclists, endangering pedestrians, and themselves. It is also a good bet Uptown Update never cites laws broken by the criminals on public transportation who think buses and trains are their private dining areas or cafes. Many lawbreakers probably live in Uptown.

Who knows? Maybe some or all the anonymous people at Uptown Update are desperados, breaking those laws with impunity. The terrorist cyclists, diners, and sippy cup sippers on public transportation do not follow the law, are not being asked to, and are never cited for their criminality.

While many issues cause homelessness, including alcohol and substance abuse, mental illness, or financial reasons where people give up hope, no one chooses to be homeless.

For decades the city ignored impoverished people. Now, they ignore the homeless. Solutions were offered to mitigate the problem through the decades. None were tried. So far, my enlightened solution has been ignored.

Most shelters fill up quickly before nightfall, and the homeless must be out by morning. Others have strict rules that make it difficult for people suffering from substance abuse or mental handicaps to comply with.

Uptown Update may be fed up and want to give voice to their readers, but who is giving voice to the homeless? All over Uptown, gentrified housing developments are being built or planned, with the gleeful willingness of the aldercritters and celebrated by Uptown Update. Yet, no transitional housing with social, educational, medical, mental health, or other services is being planned or built to assist the homeless. Not in Uptown or the rest of the city.

The prim and proper obsessive diaper sniffers at Uptown Update and the aldercritters are the NIMBY people- NOT IN MY BACK YARD.!!! If there is something that will help someone else, they are against it. They are all for one, one for all, and everyone for themselves.

The final solution the NIMBYs at Uptown Update demand is for the city and state to apply the law- “…drive the homeless from public land.” Where are they going to be driven off to? Are the homeless livestock? Are they advocating for a human cattle drive? Or do they want them driven to another neighborhood, making them someone else’s problem? , it is the right thing to do for the community at large and for the people who are living in extremely dangerous conditions.” Hitler did, and Putin is doing what they thought is the “right thing,” too. They drove and are driving people like cattle to other places. It is called atrocity.

Spare me the faux outrage over the Hitler and Putin comparisons. When you advocate treating humans like animals- driving them- you are no better than those two villains. You are evil personified. I don’t think Uptown Update and the neighborhood residents know who the hell they are. They look at themselves in the mirror and see nothing. If they do happen to see someone, they expect the image staring back at them to say hello first.

Uptown Update and the residents of Uptown are merciless, cruel, and bear ill will towards anyone not privileged like them. After them, everyone else comes first.

*On the Uptown Update site there are no real names of “reporters” on the pieces. There is no name of an editor or publisher. There is not even an About Page. It is a total anonymous publication. Makes one wonder who is really behind Uptown Update, and who they really speak for or promote, and who pays them off. What are the cowards at Uptown Update afraid of? Exposure? Inquiring minds want to know.

There are no leaders in Chicago

Image: PV Bella

The people of Chicago, the county and the country are starving for sensible leadership on the vexing issues of crime and violence that strangles the city. And in Chicago and Cook County, taxpayers aren’t getting any leadership from Evans, Foxx, Preckwinkle and the woefully ineffective Mayor Lori Lightfoot. (JohnKassNews)

Elected officials are supposed to be leaders. Mayors, State’s Attorneys, County Board Presidents, and Chief Judges are supposed to lead and manage their charges. They must also exhibit leadership to the citizens. Appointees like Chicago Police Superintendent Davis “Tex” Brown are supposed to be leaders.

Chicago and Cook County have no leadership and no great leaders. The city is rudderless and heading into a berg or a severe storm to sink this ship of state. The mayor is floundering, and her Superintendent of Police is incompetent. The State’s Attorney cares more about the welfare of criminals and their families than the victims of crime and their families. Kim Foxx is merciless, pitiless, and devoid of humanity.

Chief Judge Tim Evans is following orders. He believes that it is the jurists’ responsibility to rehabilitate criminals. Funny, I thought that was the responsibility of the Correction’s System, which is failing. No one talks about the failure of the corrections system. It is not allowed.

Toni Preckwinkle has a heart as cold as sub-zero temperatures. Her constant silence speaks volumes. She is the puppeteer in chief. Preckwinkle pulls the puppetry strings of Foxx and Evans. They prance and dance to her manipulations.

The whole criminal justice system is broken in Chicago and Cook County. Great and even good leaders know that when their initiatives are not working, they must change course. Our so-called leaders are stuck on stupid.

Kim Foxx refuses to budge off her positions on not prosecuting criminals. She acts like a defense attorney or social justice advocate instead of a prosecutor. Foxx is not a leader. She is a follower of nonsensical “social justice” philosophies. She follows those philosophies religiously even when they are proven failures.

Tim Evans is a follower. He is following Chicago Machine Boss Preckwinkle’s edicts. He knows she can break him, sending Evans into the obscurity of retirement.

Mayor Lightfoot is no leader. She follows her own drumbeat, which is out of tempo with the people. The citizens do not know what she stands for if anything. We do know public safety is not her first and highest priority. The death toll, shootings, carjackings, robberies, and looting- excuse me, smash and grabs (Can’t offend the tender sensitivities of criminals, can we?) prove it.

We are being terrorized in our neighborhoods due to a total lack of leadership. The elected officials do not care. It is more important for them to be right than do the right thing. Lori Lightfoot, Kim Foxx, Toni Preckwinkle, and Tim Evans do not deserve reelection. They did not earn the trust of the people. We need leaders. Leaders who know what their jobs are. Leaders who put public safety first and foremost. Leaders who care and empathize with crime victims and their families. Leaders who can change course when their initiatives are not working. Leaders we can trust to keep us safe.

By the way, Tex Brown blamed the murder of Melissa Ortega on a war between gangs on the west end of Little. Village. That war has been going on for over forty years. I ought to know since I worked there when it erupted. They will keep battling over that turf, and more innocent people will die due to the failures of our “Dear Leaders.”

His Name is Woom Sing Tse

Image: Family Photo

“He came here for a better life for his family and paved the way for his generation. You know, the immigrant dream to come to America,” his son William Tse said.” (Chicago Sun-Times)

Woom Sing Tse, 71, came to America from China with a hundred dollars in his pocket. He worked hard as a restaurant cook and saved his money. Tse opened a restaurant in the suburbs. After some years, he closed it and opened a second one.

As his son said, he accomplished the immigrant dream. He came here from China with little, and he succeeded through hard work and grit. Tse retired nine years ago.

Tse supported his family and made sure his children received educations. He was a husband, father, grandfather, and brother.

Tse was brutally gunned down on a Chinatown street while walking to get a newspaper for his wife. A car pulled up. Shots were fired from the vehicle. Then, the driver exited, walked up to Tse, lying on the sidewalk, and fired more shots. The driver went back to his car and drove off.

The murder happened near a Chicago Public School. The shots were heard at the school. The school was locked down. Tse’s daughter is a teacher at that school. She found out about her father’s death at work.

Chicago police arrested the shooter a short time later, and, surprisingly, he was quickly charged with murder. Surprisingly? In Cook County getting charges approved by State’s Attorney, Kim Foxx’s prosecutors, for violent crimes are as rare as hen’s teeth.

A family is devasted. A community is in mourning and living in fear. This murder proves that no one is safe in Chicago. No neighborhood is safe in Chicago. The mayor is silent. The alderman who represents the ward offered weasel words. Just another day in Murder City.

Within the next day or two, Woom Sing Tse will be forgotten. He will be just another number, a dry statistic. One of 756 souls shot and killed in Chicago. One of 806 souls murdered. These are just numbers and dry, boring statistics of adults, teens, toddlers, and infants murdered in Chicago this year.

There should be outrage over this murder and the number of murders this year. There should be scorching editorials from our local news media. Citizens in every neighborhood should be outraged. Mayor Lightfoot and City Council should be outraged. State’s Attorney Kim Foxx should be outraged. There is only silence. Silence is consent. The citizens, elected officials, and news media consent to and are complicit in these murders.

Chicago is not only Murder City. It is a city with no sympathy, empathy, pity, or mercy. Chicago is as cold as winter. We are a town without feelings.

His name is Woom Sing Tse. He is not some dry statistic. Like all the other murder victims, he should not be forgotten.

Say his name, Woom Sing Tse.

The Grades are in Fs Across the Board

Image: PV Bell
  • Mayor Lori Lightfoot- F
  • Chicago City Council- F
  • Cook County Commissioner Toni Preckwinkle- F
  • Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx- F
  • Chief Judge Tim Evans- F
  • David Brown, Superintendent of Chicago Police- F
  • Chicago News Media/Editorial Boards- F

If you get an F in public safety, you have no business holding elective or appointed office or publishing or airing news.

One of the nice things about being an elected official in Chicago is never having to take responsibility for your failures. Elected officials are not responsible for anything. It is always someone else’s fault. They keep coming up with systemic lame excuses instead of effective solutions. Yet, you gullible voters believe their logomachy and keep reelecting them.

There were over 1000 homicides in Cook County this year, with one month left. 803 homicides were committed in Chicago. In Chicago, 4304 people were shot, and 3549 were wounded this year. Over 80% of the victims were African American. Over 14% were Hispanic. 3.9% were white or of other races. Add to those numbers the 1444 carjackings this year, most of them armed. (Cook County Medical Examiner and HeyJackass)

There is a daily spate of armed robberies in various entertainment neighborhoods. High-end stores are being burglarized and robbed by groups who steal thousands or tens of thousands of dollars worth of merchandise while traumatizing the employees. Flash mobs are causing havoc, injury, and shootings downtown and along Michigan Avenue near Grant Park.

Chicago witnessed out-of-control violent crime in every neighborhood for over one year. No area of this city is safe. Any citizen is at risk of becoming an innocent victim of violence or a shooting. Even children, toddlers, and infants are innocent victims.

Our elected officials are silent over the unrelenting violence in Chicago. The Mayor, Cook County Board President, State’s Attorney, and many Alderpersons and Cook County Commissioners are mute. When and if they do speak, it is word soup and jabberwocky.

Everyone keeps seeking the causes for this rampant criminality. Experts with no expertise are brought in and paid to give their reasoning and solutions through their narrow-minded mercenary lenses. The Chicago Police Department continues with its merry-go-round of plans, strategies, contingencies, and realignments. The politicians come up with solutions based on their communication spoke’s weasels. They toss around systemic this or that. They are not seeking effective solutions.

We are beyond looking for causes. We are witnessing the effects- death, wounding, and traumatization. We need effective solutions to curb this criminality. Effective being the operative word. The politicians threw effectiveness out of the window in their quest for the “why.” The most compelling question is “what.” “What” is a direct question that yields specific effective solutions. “Why” gives us more logomachy, nonsensical word soup.

There is a total lack of empathy and sympathy for the victims and their families. Our politicians are cold-hearted, devoid of pity, mercy, and basic humanity. The only time they display emotion is when they are harshly criticized. Then, after their faux over emotional Academy Award appearance before the news cameras, critics are slapped down and silenced. 

The Chicago news media goes right along with this. It appears they are working hand in hand with the politicians’ spoke’s weasels. The news media in Chicago is no longer courageous. The editorial boards are silent on the rampant violent criminality. They, like the gullible voters, believe whatever the politicians tell them. Like well-trained parrots, they repeat it.

We no longer have the luxury of time to figure out the causes- the “why”- of this criminality. We need to find effective solutions to curb it. We can figure out the why later. How many more people must die, suffer, or be traumatized before our elected officials start caring?

We do have one stubborn verified systemic problem in Chicago. It is the systemic stupidity of the voters. They keep reelecting the same people who are responsible for the criminality. Public safety is one of the most important, if not the most important, government responsibility. The voters keep voting for failures.

Public safety is not even a consideration to the politicians. They are all talk and no action. The county and city elected officials are gearing up for their next re-election cycle. They will tout their various supposed successes. There is only one solution. Shed the mantle of systemic voter stupidity. Embrace Critical Election Theory. Do not reelect anyone who did not and will not keep us safe. Throw all the bums out. Bring in new people who believe in public safety.

Maybe some long ago pundit was right. One of the most profane, obscene, and vulgar terms in our language is “career politician.”

Silence is consent

Image-Finger Pointing/PV Bella

I live in one of those nice, “quiet,” “safe” neighborhoods. There are old-growth trees, many birches, and maples lining the streets. There is a mix of people- families with small children, empty nesters, singles. The area is somewhat demographically diverse. 

It is no longer quiet or safe. Over the past week, there were two rolling shootouts. There were other instances of gun violence. It begs the question; can we walk or drive down our streets without being innocent victims of uncontrolled anarchy in Chicago?

Some may say that anarchy is incorrect or inflammatory. What else do you call uncontrollable, unpredictable rampant violence and the brazenness of the people committing these crimes? The politicians and news media toss around words like systemic and intractable describing the “root” causes of crime. This spate of violence is systemic and intractable.

I spent almost 30 years as a Chicago Police Officer. I worked in two of the most violent areas of the city. When I was in a citywide unit, I worked in many neighborhoods across the city. Occasionally there were short spates of violence in the safest areas. I never witnessed or even imagined violence this widespread and uncontrollable citywide. There is no safe area in Chicago.

Except for the criminals, I no longer know who to blame for this anarchy. Mayor Lori Lightfoot, the alderpeople, State’s Attorney, Kim Foxx, Cook County Board President, Toni Preckwinkle, or Chicago’s warfare politics.

I would blame the friendly, inept editorial boards of our local news media for ignoring the violence. That would be a waste of mental energy. “The press has always been this country’s single greatest force for social change.” ((Andrew Vachss) The press is no longer a force for change. They are a force for complicity.

First, the politicians tell us beautiful lies because that is what we need to hear. Then they call each other liars because that is what they do. Lies, lies, and more damned lies.

I finally concluded that we, the citizens, and voters are to blame. We should be outraged. We should be demanding accountability and transparency. We should be shouting from the rooftops and marching in the streets. We are silent. 

Our silence is consent. Our lack of action is consent.

We consent to murder and mayhem. We consent to children, especially infants and toddlers being killed. We consent to mass shootings. We consent to rolling shootouts. We consent to carjackings and armed robberies. We consent to prosecutors refusing to prosecute. We consent to the catch and release of violent criminals by the courts.

We consent to the epic public safety failure of our government systems.  

Chicago is in a public safety crisis. If this goes on much longer, it will be a catastrophe. Some of the alderpeople are speaking out. We should be too. We should be ringing their phones off the hook or jamming their emails. 

We do nothing. We are silent.

Chicago politics sucked since I have been alive. Never has it sucked this bad. Public safety is the top priority in governance. Our elected officials are failing and flailing. 

There are as many political finger-pointers as there are people pointing guns. This anarchy results from gross political malfeasance across every level of governance- city, county, and state. Yet, we remain silent. How much longer will this go on before we stop consenting and break our silence? 

If you want to see who is responsible for the violent anarchy in Chicago, look in the mirror.

Et Tu McCaskey’s

Image: PV Bell

Away, Chicago Bears
Make every day clear for treachery
Away, Chicago Bears
Put up a flight with a might so cowardly
We’ll never forget the way you duped the nation
With your $$$ formation
Away, Chicago Bears
And let ’em know why you’re clowns with no crowns
You’re the shame and misery of our city
Chicago Bears, away!

The Bears want to leave Chicago and move to the former Arlington Racetrack. They signed a purchase and sale agreement with Churchill Downs, the owners of the property. The Bears wanted out of Chicago long ago. But the dimwitted politicians got money to revamp Soldier Field, never realizing the sleazy McCaskey’s cannot be trusted and would stab them in the back.

Take Chicago off the team’s name. The Bears disgraced this city. The McCaskey family is a disgrace too. Their patron, George Halas, must be rolling and roiling in his grave. If he could come back, he would slap Ted Phillips and George McCaskey until they came to their senses. 

I saw all those arguments in favor of the move because other teams do not play in their cities. Other cities do not have the pride Chicago does. If you want to use Chicago in your name, you better f**king play in Chicago. Unlike the McCaskey’s, born to the manor suburbanites, we love and are proud of our city. Arlington Heights is not Chicago. It does not even abut Chicago.

The Chicago Bears are looking for all the future money to be made. Money is all they care about. McCaskey’s greed is more important than winning games since they suck. It is hoped the city soaks the Bears for the remainder of their lease on Soldier Field- $84 million. No negotiations, pay up, and go away. Don’t let the door hit you in the ass on the way out. Chicago does not need the Bears or the McCaskey’s. The McCaskey’s only needed Chicago to soak us for tax money.

The last time the Bears threatened to leave Chicago, it cost about $690 million, with public financing (taxpayer) at $432 million to retrofit Soldier Field. Chicago will be left with a white elephant on the lakefront. Like thieves in the night, the McCaskey’s are slinking away.

The Bears could have stayed in Chicago. There are miles of vacant land in the aggregate in this city. They could have bought a large enough tract of land years ago in the city to develop a world-class large domed stadium and all the attractions needed to enrich the McCaskey’sfurther. They could have controlled their own destiny. It would have been a win-win economic boom for the city and the Bears.

The South and West sides have plenty of vacant land. There is land along the river. There is that huge tract of vacant US Steel property on the southside. They could have worked with or partnered with developers who own huge tracts.

We have land. We have public transportation. Chicago has all the infrastructure in place to support a new stadium and the will to create more, if necessary.

The Bears could have worked with the city to find a solution instead of stabbing us in the back. The Bears are the lowest form of traitors. Et Tu McCaskey’s?

The McCaskey Bears decided to move to the suburbs to build a grand stadium. The move will not make the Bears a better team because their family and management suck. They will wallow in mediocrity while the fans suffer season after season. The only people happy about the move are northwestern suburbanites. They will not have to suffer the indignity of leaving their cultural wastelands to watch a lousy team play.

Ever since George Halas died, the McCaskey’s were only concerned about their own greed. Like their team, they suck- they suck as much money as they can from this city and the fans. There is no reason for any Chicagoan to stay a Bears fan now. No reason to buy their crappy branded paraphernalia, from which they profit from. No reason to watch them play or buy tickets to the games.

Granted, it will take several years for them to build and make the move. But the derision should start now. The Bears should feel economic pain. They should become the most hated team in this city. 

Hats off to Chicago’s archcriminal

Image: PV Bella

This is the city, Chicago, Illinois. The story you are about to read is true. The name was not changed because we do not know it.

There is an archcriminal preying on the streets of Chicago. He lurks, sneaks, and skulks in darkness. Some say he is a myth. Others claim he is a legend. Like some historical or fictional archcriminals, he is a hero. He steals from thieves. His crimes are dearly costing them.  

Chicago Superintendent of Police, Tex Brown, is planning, strategizing, and creating precision deployments to stop this one-man crime wave. He formed a posse. They will ride out at sundown to hunt for this elusive mastermind and bring him in Texas-style, dead or alive.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot called for all hands on deck to catch this nefarious and mysterious criminal before he caused more losses to the thieves.

The mayor asked the FBI to get involved. They had to refuse. Too many resources were tied up investigating aldercreatures.

States Attorney Kim Foxx promises to throw the book at this archcriminal. Her office will swiftly approve felony charges and recommend no bail to keep the thief in jail until his trial is over. She will provide vigorous prosecution of this nefarious criminal. Reform be damned. How dare he, how dare he steal from other thieves?

This crime spree is way more severe than the murder and mayhem plaguing Chicago and the catch and release of violent criminals by prosecutors and the courts.

The only people who are not concerned are the citizens of Chicago. They are cheering this ghost. His crimes and the ability to get away with them in this era of surveillance are epic. Who does not love a thief who steals from thieves?

Who are the thieves this archcriminal is stealing from? They are not the Chicago Outfit. The few thieves they have left are a rag-tag bunch of aging stumbling bumblers. It is hard to commit crimes using a walker.

Our thief is not stealing from the bands of thieves who terrorize high-end stores in broad daylight, walking out thousands or tens of thousands of dollars of merchandise.

Why is there an all-hands-on-deck approach to stop and capture him? Our loveable thief is stealing from the City of Chicago, the modern-day Chicago Outfit.

According to CWB Chicago, the best crime reporting news site in Chicago, this archcriminal is stealing red light cameras. Those cameras steal more money than violent criminals with guns and bespoke dressed aldercreatures with laptops and cell phones.

So far, the thief struck the same intersection three times over the summer. The cameras were at the intersection of Lawrence and Cicero Avenues in the Sauganash area. They generate about $850.00 per day when operational.

The Chicago City Council, a band of brigands themselves, is in an uproar over the audacity of this bandit to step on their turf. If anyone were going to steal from the city, it should be them, not some renegade.

The thieves at City Hall are praying he does not go after the speed cameras. Since the city lowered speeding from over ten mph to over six mph, they stole over 1.1 million dollars from the citizens since the spring. The city would vote to implement the death penalty if the thief struck those cameras.

During this Summer Olympics of Violence and the city’s willing failure to curb it, we needed a hero. We found one, an unknown archcriminal. Hats off to you, whoever you are.

Where is the outrage

Image: PV Bella

“In an interview with the Tribune on Friday, Lightfoot said people throughout Chicago are afraid because of street violence but said her administration is making long-needed changes that will help curb crime over time.” (Chicago Tribune- 9/10/2021). 

Mayor Lori Lightfoot does not realize, Chicago ran out of time months ago. She is hoping the onset of cooler weather will drive the number of violent crimes down. Lightfoot can award Police Superintendent David Brown a Gold Cookie for winning the Summer Olympics of Violence. She can claim victory. She knows the people and friendly news media will buy it.

Memories are short in this city. The news media is too cozy with City Hall. They will praise the mayor and the superintendent for their “success.” The gullible citizens will lap it up. Peace at last! Let’s have a parade with a fall food and music festival in Grant Park.

There should have been screaming editorials demanding change and for Superintendent Brown to resign or be fired by midsummer. Alderman should have been shouting from the rooftops to fire Brown. Failure is an option is Chicago’s new motto.

Part of public safety is crime control and prevention. The criminals are out of control, and the daily numbers show there is little prevention. Brown keeps playing the name game with strategies, plans, deployments, and precision deployments. It is alphabet soup.

“Gangs, guns, and drugs” is the new old bold plan Brown trotted out last week. We heard that from the past nine former superintendents and their interim appointees, going back to the Daley administration. Tex Brown shoots from the lip, week after failing week. He can’t hit the broadside of a barn.

I am waiting for the week before Halloween when Superintendent David Brown can blame the violence on the ghosts of Al Capone and his gang. He will form a Community Paranormal Untouchable Ghostbusters Unit (PUGU) to go after them.

Year to date, over 3000 people have been shot and over 500 hundred killed by gunfire. The street violence is out of control, with carjackings, robberies, and other violent crimes or crimes with threats of violence. Infants, toddlers, children, teens, adults, and the elderly were victims of violence and murder. Over 30 police officers have been shot at or shot so far this year. One, Ella French, was murdered, and her partner catastrophically injured.

This failure is our fault too. We should demand better. There is no collective anger among the citizens. Since the pandemic loosened up, all Chicago wants to do is go out and party hearty. Ooh, a concert. Ooh, a street fest. More murders and violent crime? Meh. All we want are bread and circuses. We should be mass protesting at City Hall every day.

Sometimes, elected officials must make unpopular choices to solve thorny issues. It takes courage. There is no courage at City Hall, the State’s Attorney’s office, or the courts. There is no will to be unpopular.

Chicago became a spineless city. We surrendered to the barbarians.

Next month is the 150th anniversary of the Great Chicago Fire. The city was devastated, burned to the ground. While the final embers were still smoldering, the civic leaders and boosters started rebuilding. We became the city of we will, and we can. We will rise from the ashes bigger, better, and stronger. We did.

The city is metaphorically burning to the ground. Violence spreads throughout the city like the wind-blown firestorm of 1871. There is no one to put out the fire.