“Nobody does summer and the 4th of July like Chicago.” (Mayor Lori Lightfoot to reporters)
Cry chaos and unleash the dogs of havoc
Lori Lightfoot was preaching to her faithful congregation, the Chicago news media, ahead of the 4th of July weekend. I bet the response from the congregation was, “Praise the Mayor.” Maybe they sang a hymn praising her Mayorship.
Chicago is in a joyful state of chaos and havoc during this “Summer of Joy.” It is a state of devastating confusion and colliding agendas. No one is in charge and nothing is working in the public safety sector. Fun and joy are on the agenda, no matter how much devastation they cause.
From the time the mayor announced the Summer of Joy, 91 people were shot and killed and 422 were shot and wounded. Over the 4th of July weekend, the body count is 14 people shot and killed and 77 shot and wounded.
On Friday police officers were ambushed responding to a domestic disturbance. One officer was shot and wounded several times.
There were two incidents of fun-loving street racing where Chicago police officers were injured when mobs smashed their windshields. On Friday.
A third incident involved an Illinois State Trooper. A mob of fun-loving people caved his windshield in at Halsted and Division. When Chicago Police arrived, the only thing they did was try to create an avenue to clear the area. They made no arrests. This was caught on the Trooper’s dashcam.
Two police officers were hurt after responding to a crowd blocking the roadway around 3:35 a.m. in the 200 block of North Columbus Drive, police said. Three fun-loving people were arrested for throwing fireworks at the police.
There was a large fun-loving unruly mob near the Belmont CTA Red/Brown Line station, where police were almost overwhelmed.
Young people just wanted to celebrate, and have lawless fun downtown and in the neighborhoods. Chicago accommodated them in a welcoming, fun-loving manner. The city welcomed them with open arms to create havoc and mayhem. Yep, nobody does summer and the 4th of July like Chicago.
Our mayor should be proud of how Chicago neighborhoods, especially downtown, warmly welcomed fun-loving lawless young people. The Mayor will address her faithful congregation, the news media, on Tuesday. She will tout how successful and joyful the holiday weekend was. How everyone celebrated safely and had fun. She will hype her Summer of Joy. The faithful will say amen and praise her Mayorish like they do every day.
Something is very wrong in this city. Mayor Lightfoot is hapless. She is standing by her incompetent Police Superintendent, David Brown. Most of the City Council is silent. The streets are up for grabs and not safe.
When will the clueless news media in this city realize Lori Lightfoot is not their lord and savior? When will they ask the hard questions instead of fluff? When will the editorial boards grow spines? When will they tell us the truth instead of the lies, they are being bottle-fed by City Hall and Superintendent Brown?
The city failed on the 4th of July weekend. The summer is still young. There will be more failures ahead. Chicago is bereft of leadership. No one is in charge. Chicago should change the city motto to Urbs in Chao– City in Chaos.
As an aside, I discovered the “racing community” is demanding that large parking lots be made available after hours for them to practice their dangerous illegal activities and, of course, have fun. Like the whiney Bicycle community, it is a good bet the city will eventually cave and demand large parking lots to allow racing. Even lawbreakers deserve to have fun wherever they want. Whenever a group attaches “community” to their cause, they get what they want, no matter how dumb or unsafe.