Peter V. Bella Posts

I love baseball. If soccer is deemed “The Beautiful Game,” baseball should be called “The Elegant Game.” I won tickets to Friday’s Cub’s game against the Marlins. The tickets were on a patio in the far corner of right field. All the food and drink were free. It was too hot and humid to drink beer or eat. Every now and then, you could see the humidity hanging in the air on the field. The Jumbotron showed the pitcher. His arms were glistening with sweat.

I still enjoyed the game. Wrigley Field was filled almost to capacity. Aside from the heat and humidity, it was a great afternoon. There is nothing better than being in a ballpark watching a baseball game.

Along comes Pete Rose, again making the news for all the wrong reasons, embarrassing himself, and tarnishing the game of baseball. What should have been a celebration of a past World Series turned into a nightmare for the Philadelphia Phillies and Major League Baseball.

After attending an on-field celebration of the 1980 Phillies, Rose refused to answer questions about allegations from a 2017 lawsuit. “It was 55 years ago, babe… Asked later by another reporter, he said: “I’m going to tell you one more time. I’m here for the Philly fans. I’m here for my teammates. I’m here for the Phillies organization. And who cares what happened 50 years ago? You weren’t even born. So you shouldn’t be talking about it, because you weren’t born.” (NYT)

No one ever told Pete Rose that “no comment” is the appropriate response in situations like this. He had to put his big ego and bigger mouth on display for the world to see. It guarantees he will never get into the Baseball Hall of Fame.

For several years, there have been attempts by fans, some supposed sports journalists, and others to get Pete Rose into the Baseball Hall of Fame. His astounding playing record makes him eligible. Rose’s past conduct does not. Pete Rose was investigated and admitted to gambling on baseball and placing bets on the team he managed, the Cincinnati Reds. There were allegations he associated with members of organized crime because of his gambling.

Major League Baseball punished him with a lifetime ban from the league, making him ineligible for nomination into the hall of fame. So, let’s stop all the nonsense about nominating him. He will never be nominated unless MLB lifts the ban. MLB should never lift the ban, not even posthumously. Rose is a disgrace to the game and the league.

In 2017 there were allegations Rose had sex with minors in the 1970s. One, Jane Doe, came forward claiming he had sex with her when she was 14. Rose said he thought she was sixteen, the age of consent in Ohio. Rose was never investigated or charged as the Statute of Limitations lapsed long before the allegations came forward.

His responses, quoted above, are another reason Rose should never be in the Baseball Hall of Fame. Rose showed he has no class. He is crass and crude. He later apologized to the female reporter who asked the question, but the damage was done.

One could argue the question was inappropriate for that time and place. But “no comment” would have been an appropriate response. Calling the reporter “Babe” was totally inappropriate and sexist. Rose does not understand or care that people still care about what happened over fifty years ago when it comes to allegations of sex with minors by sports “heroes.”

Pete Rose ruined what should have been a celebration. He turned it about himself and not the team he played with. His responses were cringe-worthy and beneath the dignity of Major League Baseball. Pete Rose will be remembered for his baseball record and his disreputable behavior. His conduct across the board disqualifies him from the Hall of Fame forever.

“Incidents like these, whether on the CTA or in our neighborhoods have no place in this city,” Brown said. “It is unacceptable and will not be tolerated. No resident should think twice about their safety on any part of the CTA or in our neighborhoods… Incidents like these, whether on the CTA or in our neighborhoods have no place in this city,” Brown said. “It is unacceptable and will not be tolerated. No resident should think twice about their safety on any part of the CTA or in our neighborhoods.” (CPD Superintendent David Brown/Chicago Tribune)

I am a citizen of Chicago. I do not think twice about my safety. I think three, four, or five times about it. I am concerned about my safety and the safety of my fellow citizens. Contrary to the hyperbole coming from City Hall and Superintendent David “Tex” Brown, Chicago is not a safe city. Brown is enamored with himself and his love of pornographic data and data analysis. He is a true legend in his own mind.

Superintendent David Brown is not fit to wear the uniform of the Chicago Police Department. Every day he discredits the department and the police officers who work on the streets of this city. Morale is low and esprit de corps is nonexistent.

Former Mayor, Rahm Emanuel, once said the Chicago Police Department was going “fetal.” The Chicago Police Department is now in a state of paralysis. There is a crisis of leadership, and it starts at the top, with the inept Superintendent David “Tex” Brown.

Brown knows nothing about Chicago, its neighborhoods, the Chicago Police Department, or anything else. Brown is a know-nothing. He could not be bothered to learn anything except the numbers game. Correction, the manipulated numbers game. And I say that from experience.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot did a great disservice to the city when she appointed Brown. She is doing a greater disservice by not firing him and replacing him with a knowledgeable competent leader. Someone who knows how things work.

The Chicago news media is also doing a great disservice to the city by not demanding Brown be fired. They just believe all the livestock droppings he spews at his media availabilities. Not one supposed reporter ever questions his veracity. Neither do their editorial boards. It is a pity. Chicago was once a historic center of fearless and courageous journalism. Now, it is nothing more than a PR firm hyping a false perception of City Hall and the Police Department.

The mayor and Brown believe that perception is reality. Since the city is now wide open, they are trying to convince the citizens and tourists with their dollars that the city is safe when the opposite is true. At any hour of any day anyone can be the innocent victim(s) of violent crime on the streets, on public transportation, in people’s homes, or any place in Chicago. That is the reality.

The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, Cook County Board President, Toni Preckwinkle, State’s Attorney Kim Foxx, Mayor Lori Lightfoot, and Superintendent of Police David Brown are the main divers of the large-scale violence plaguing Chicago. They created the perfect storm for the devastation of public safety in Chicago.

Chicago is where I was born and raised. I worked for the city for almost thirty years. I know this city and the real issues we face. Some are severe. Some are of crisis proportions.

I really detest anyone who runs for public office, criticizing my city when they know nothing about Chicago or urban issues. Illinois GOP gubernatorial candidate Darren Bailey falls into the know-nothing category. Bailey has no workable solutions to any of the serious issues Chicago faces. If you go on his website, you will find nothing of substance. Just livestock droppings.

Bailey espouses whatever he thinks certain fringe groups like to hear. When he talks about Chicago, he sounds like a less-on. (Lower than a moron) Where is Will Smith when we need him?

Bailey wrote an op-ed in the Chicago Tribune. He put his total ignorance about urban affairs, crime, business, education, policing and Chicago on display for all the world to see. Bailey’s ignorance shone brightly. He is a true Know-nothing.

Bailey claims that rising crime drove Boeing, Caterpillar, and Ken Griffin out of Chicago. Caterpillar’s corporate headquarters was NOT in Chicago. It was in Deerfield. Maybe Bailey should study geography.

Boeing is moving its headquarters to Virginia for a specific reason. They are going out of the commercial airline manufacturing business. They are going to concentrate on building military aircraft. It makes sense to have their headquarters near Washington, D.C. They are keeping a corporate presence in the city. So, they did not leave.

Ken Griffin leaving Chicago is no significant loss . He is also keeping a presence here. The only ones who may lose out are the non-profits Griffin donates to. There will be no economic dent in the city’s economy.  

Businesses come and go. If some leave, others replace them. That is the economic nature of big cities. Bailey knows nothing about urban economics. Boeing left, Google is expanding its footprint in Chicago. They bought the Thompson Center and will move into it after the building is refurbished.

Bailey thinks he can solve Chicago’s crime problems. He should read Civics for Dummies. The governor does not control the Chicago Police Department, Cook County Court system, or the State’s Attorney’s office. He railed against the passage of ending cash bail. Bailey is a legislator. Not once has he produced a bill to repeal the act. As governor, he will run into a super-majority Democratic legislature. How is he going to repeal or enact anything? More, how is he going to get anything done? Bailey is delusional.

Bailey wrote a whopper of a lie in his op-ed piece. He claimed Mayor Lori Lightfoot defunded the police. She increased the budget of the Chicago Police Department.

Bailey tossed out some data about education in Chicago. There was no context. There are other factors outside the education system that are failing too many CPS students. Poverty, lack of parental participation, food, and housing insecurity, and lack of early education, just to name a few. As I wrote, Bailey has no grasp of urban affairs.

Baily offers no substantive solutions because one, he has none, and two, he does not know what he is talking about.

Bailey should stick to what he knows. Farming, construction, postage stamp village life, and the Bible. By the way, no one elected the Great Comedian or appointed him to public office. Baily’s Christian Nationalism is a fish-flapping non-starter. Bailey does not realize he will run headlong into a woodchipper on Election Day.

Worse, the Chicago Tribune ran that pile of Bailey’s livestock droppings with no fact-checking.

“I know it’s tough times right now, but I love this town,” he said. “This is where I was born and raised. I love the good, the bad, I love it all.” (Former Cook County prosecutor James Murphy/Chicago Tribune)

If you want to know who a real Chicagoan is, look no further than James Murphy.

James Murphy is a true son of Chicago. He has a sense of place. He loves Chicago. Murphy resigned from the Cook County State’s Attorney’s office last week after 25 years of service. He sent what the media described as a “blistering” criticism of Kim Foxx’s management of the prosecutor’s office.

“If this administration was truly concerned with effectively fighting violent crime, then they would fully staff those courtrooms and units. Not create more useless policy positions on the executive staff at the expense of hiring more (assistant state’s attorneys) who can work in the trenches.” (Chicago Tribune)

When a respected veteran prosecutor implies that enough is enough, you know there are serious issues. According to the Chicago Tribune, the turnover rate at the State’s Attorney’s office is high and morale is at “rock bottom.” Only morale in the Chicago Police Department is lower.

“However, I can no longer work for this administration. I have zero confidence in their leadership.” He later added: “This administration is more concerned with political narratives and agendas than with victims and prosecuting violent crime. That is why I can’t stay any longer.” (Chicago Tribune/Emphasis mine)

As a police officer, I witnessed how hard prosecutors worked to get justice for the victims of crimes or their families. They fought battles every day in the courts. They spent long hours day after day building cases to take to trial.  

Under Kim Foxx, and Cook County Board President, Toni Preckwinkle, Chicago no longer has a criminal justice system. It was turned into a criminal system. There is little justice for the victims. No one speaks for them. Not Kim Foxx, not Superintendent David Brown, not mayor Lori Lightfoot, not Chief Judge Tim Evans.

The system’s policies are not working. People are suffering, grieving, and mourning. People all over this city live in fear. Neighborhoods are not safe. Public transit is not safe. There is no safe in Chicago.

There is only the narrative, driven by politicians, the police superintendent, and their water carrier, the Chicago news media. It appears public criticism of failing policies is taboo in this city.

Elections have consequences. Chicago is suffering the consequences of elections and the people politicians appoint. Even if Chicago had a competent Superintendent of Police, and morale was high, it would make no difference.

No matter how hard they work or how many people they arrest, if cases are not prosecuted and violent criminals are released on low or no bail, public safety is futile. Cops are now fly fishermen. Criminals are caught and released so other cops can have the joy to catch and release them.

I served in the Chicago Police Department for almost thirty years. I never witnessed this level of incompetence and failure in the criminal justice system. Incompetence and failure are the public safety policy in Chicago.

I firmly believe in people living their best life, especially during Chicago’s Summer of Joy. I found this great PSA for getting true joy out of your urban life.

I got on the El Saturday to attend an event on the Near Northside. The car was full of boisterous obnoxious young people drinking alcoholic beverages. They were so loud, at the first stop, I switched cars. It did no good. At every stop, more half-drunk loud obnoxious people boarded the train, with their alcoholic beverages. They all had one thing in common. They were going to Lollapalooza.

The Department of Public Health issued warnings about fentanyl-laced illegal drugs sold at the music festival and on the beaches. There were fentanyl test kits available so concert and beachgoers could test the illegal drugs they bought. They could experience a safe, “higher” sense of Chicago joy.

Then Her Royal Mayorship, Lori Lightfoot, the Queen of Joy, announced another ten-year deal for the music festival. Oh, joy. Just what Chicago needs, another ten-year bread and circus.

Before that, she announced NASCAR would hold a street race in Chicago next year. More Joy. Unfortunately, she told no one of her plot, not even the aldermen of the two wards affected by that joyful event. She did it all in secret, behind closed doors, in the proverbial smoke-filled back rooms. It was the old-school Chicago Way wheeling and dealing. Maybe we should nickname Lori Lightfoot “Old School.”

There was the announcement about the various plans, plots, and schemes to remodel Soldier Field, in dashed hopes to keep the cheapskate and chiseling McCaskey Bears in Chicago or to turn the stadium into some other type of venue. More Joy.

While Mayor Old School is providing bread and circuses, the city is burning around her. She threw public safety under the bus. The Chicago Police Department is being led by a total incompetent who is a legend in his own cowpoke mind.

What will she dream up next for her PR firm, the Chicago news media, to glorify? They too threw public safety under the bus for the crumbs of bread and the circus animal droppings coming from Her Mayorship. They eagerly eat and fight over those joyful crumbs and droppings like Chicago’s flying rats, the pigeons.

Armed robberies and carjackings are rising. Other violent crimes are up. Arrests are way down. People do not feel safe. Anyone in any neighborhood can be an innocent victim of a violent crime. There is no safe in Chicago. But there is plenty of joy to spread around. I bet the families and mourners of violent crime victims are not feeling joyful about Lightfoot’s imperial proclamations of future joy to come to Chicago.

In the early hours, muscle cars take streets over doing donut contests on weekends. Now, hundreds of motorcycles take over the streets and sidewalks in broad daylight. Chicago is a lawless city. Anything goes as long as it creates joy.

Since she is acting like a bread and circus Roman empress, maybe she should start dressing like one. She should acquire a closet full of bespoke togas and sandals to wear in public. Maybe even a few crowns of realistic faux laurel leaves instead of those pork pie hats she sports.

Her City Council dais could be raised high above the alderpersons, also known as the Corydon*  Circus Maximus. The Alderpersons and gallery should rise at the start of every meeting, as she makes her grand entrance, and sing her praises. “Hail Lightfoot, Hail Lightfoot, All Hail the Harbinger of Joy.” Hell, blue toga-clad police officers and firefighters should carry her to the dais on a palanquin, while pipers play.

Hail Imperial Mayor Maximus Gaudium, the mayor of Great Joy.

*Corydon is Latin for clown.

Chicago mayor, Lori Lightfoot, unveiled her plan to renovate Soldier Field. The over 2 billion dollar plan is designed to entice the McCaskey Bears to stay in Chicago. Lightfoot has to be the only person in Chicago who does not know that the McCaskey’s are moving the Bears to Arlington Heights. She is delusional.

The McCaskey’s made up their minds. They hate Chicago. The suburbs were where they were born and bred. They live in the suburbs and exurbs. Their headquarters are in Lake Forest, not Chicago.

The McCaskey’s do not want their team in our city. Worse, they inherited the cheapskate and chiseler gene from their grandfather, Papa Bear George Halas. The McCaskey’s, like Halas, wanted the taxpayers to fund a new stadium.

They will find a way for others to fund most of their new extravagance in Arlington Heights too. The McCaskey’s, like Halas, squeeze a penny so hard that they make Old Abe scream. They will put up as little money as possible for their leafy suburban paradise.

The NFL supports and is ready to approve the Bear’s move. Screw them and Roger Goodell. Chicago does not need the Bears. Let them go and pray they never win another game again.

What we need is to support the Chicago Fire Soccer team. Soccer is a better sport and a real one. Football used to be about “killing the quarterback.” Now, quarterbacks are Ken Dolls as are receivers. They are all pretty boys with no grit or courage. Offensive and defensive linemen are overstuffed Teddy Bears pretending to be ferocious.

Chicago should become a mecca for soccer. It is an elegant sport and way better than watching the boring Bears. The Fire has the potential to become a premiere league in the next few years because its owner is not a cheapskate and chiseler. Soldier Field can become an international soccer destination instead of a tomb for a dying football team owned by a family that hates winning.

Lightfoot is living a fantasy if she thinks the Bears will stay in Chicago. They decided. They will be gone. It will be no great loss. Let the suburbanites have them.

When they move, the Bears will be worth way more money. They will be ripe for a sale and the greedy miserly McCaskey’s may sell, cashing out, to live their suburban/ex-urban Boones Farm dreams.

It is a pity we will still know them as the Chicago Bears. Chicago should not be associated with a team run by a family that hates our city and wants us to pay through the nose for a stadium.

The Bears stopped being the Monsters of the Midway in the late 1980s when the McCaskey’s dismantled their grandfather’s heritage. Their new name should be the Angels of Arlington. They could be the Great Comedian’s messengers, bringing peace and love to a league of charlatans and frauds.

As for Soldier Field, when the soccer season is over, they could hold various championship games like croquet or badminton. You know, honest sports that do not fool the public.

I was working on the first phase of a project, which for a few weeks turned into a full-time job. This project required intense concentration. I usually work in an independent coffee shop, one of two bars, or outdoors using a hot spot.

I discovered that there are people who are annoying as f**k. Some so annoy me that I daydream about throttling them. Some are pests. Some are a pestilence.

Last week, in the coffee shop, a woman was talking business on her phone. She was loud and, on the speaker, so everyone heard both sides of the conversation. This went on for about a half hour. Why would anyone do that in a public place? I almost went to say something to this less-on, but fortunately, she ended the call.

In one of my local watering holes, I was working. A guy strikes up a conversation. He just never shut up. Yak, yak, yak. I kept staring at my laptop, trying my best to ignore him. He pointed to a young woman at the bar, working on something too. The guy said something about hitting on her. He went over and she tried her best to ignore him.

After several minutes, he went to the restroom. She shot me a dirty look. I told her I never saw this guy before. He came back to pester her, then went outside for a smoke. She came to sit near me, hoping the less-on would leave her alone. The bartender had to intervene. He paid his tab and left. He made a big scene, saying he was going down the street to the Greek restaurant for a drink. The next day, I heard the Greek owner kicked him out after about five minutes and another bar in the neighborhood kicked him out.

Last week, I was sitting at the bar, working. An acquaintance was there working. He works for a major corporation. Someone he knew came in and sat between us. He started loudly telling him a tale of woe about dealing with his landlord. My acquaintance told him to ask me. I told him how to find the ordinance covering landlords and tenants, hoping he would shut up.

No such luck. We had to listen to the story of his life, issues with drugs, drinking, women, family, on and on. After a while, he finally left. My acquaintance apologized, saying he was a good guy, he just has issues.

I swear, sometimes I think I have “Shit Magnet” tattooed on my forehead in neon colors. The pestilence just cannot understand why I do not want to be bothered. They can see I am working, yet, they feel the need to pester me.

Worse, they ask all these questions. What’s your name? Where do you live? What do you do or what are you working on? Are you married? Do you have kids? Geeze, do these people work for the F.B.I? Why do they want to know so much? Can’t they see people are working and do not want to be bothered?

Maybe I should just have a sign made to wear on my front and back, “Leave me the f**k alone.”

Let’s have a conversation about the 175% rise in shootings in the River North/Near North neighborhoods. Oh, wait we can’t. According to Superintendent of Police, David “Tex” Brown, discussing violent crime in those areas is a divisive issue. He shut down reporters for bringing the issue up three times during a daily press conference last week. Evidently questioning or publicly discussing violent crime in specific neighborhoods is inappropriate in our city.

Since when is discussing violent crime in any of the 77 neighborhoods in Chicago “divisive?” Inquiring minds want to know. Most of the other alderpersons are silent on violent crime in their neighborhoods. They do not care about their constituents.

Aldermen Brendan Reilly and Brian Hopkins are not happy about the lack of police resources in their adjoining 2^nd and 42^nd Wards. For fourteen years, Alderman Reilly complained to three Chicago mayors, Daley, Emanuel, and Lightfoot about the “lawless zone” on a two-block section of State Street between Kinzie and Illinois. Little was done.

Brown used the word “divisive” as a pathetic excuse to cover for his total incompetence and lack of knowledge about Chicago neighborhoods. He is a disgrace. Every one of his plans, strategies, deployments, and responses has been and continues to be epic failures.

But, hey, let’s bring a NASCAR race to the streets of Chicago. Maybe the mayor can label next summer as the Summer of Giddy Glee. Before that happens, she better order Tex Brown to giddy up and ride his high horse back to Texas.

The Good Book says, “Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall.” Tex Brown is haughty. His pride in his know-nothingness has no bounds. Human lives are being destroyed. How long is Mayor Lori Lightfoot going to allow Brown to keep riding his high horse? When will he fall? Yesterday is not soon enough.

When will more alderpersons like Reilly, Hopkins, Lopez, O’Shea, and too few others get serious and rebel against the failure of Brown and Lightfoot to keep Chicago safe? When will the mayor realize Brown is a failure? Or is she, like most of the news media in this city, overly impressed by his daily recitation of meaningless manipulated metrics, data, and data analytics?

When will people start speaking up? There should be a hue and cry from every neighborhood in this city. A loud verbal revolt is the only thing politicians understand. It puts fear in their hearts. They fear not being reelected and forced to actually work for a living.

It is pathetic that people in Chicago can be outspoken about incidents that happen in other cities or states yet remain mute about the killing fields on Chicago’s streets. They are silent on the chaos, anarchy, and havoc, especially on the weekends. There should be mass protests demanding change in front of City Hall. There should be scorching editorials in the news media. Oh, never mind. They are the PR weasels for this administration. They should be reporting their PR work as in-kind donations to the mayor to the Illinois State Board of Elections.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot made history as the first Black, gay woman to be elected mayor of Chicago. She will go down in history as one of the worst, if not the worst, mayor in the history of Chicago. That will be her legacy.

The teacup lap dog Chicago news media is celebrating Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s securing a NASCAR street race in Chicago next year. It is one of the dumbest, if not the dumbest, idea to come out of the Fifth Floor of City Hall.

Lightfoot is proving to be Richie Daley light, all bread and circuses with no substance. Crime and lawlessness are out of control. No one or neighborhood is safe. Her Texas cowpoke police superintendent is a total incompetent disaster. The Chicago Police Department is in crisis mode with suicides, consistent days off canceled, overworked, and low morale.

But the cheerleaders at Chicago’s news media are celebrating with her royal mayoress. What a bunch of poltroons, jamokes, mooks, and mamalukes. The news media should be required to wear cheerleading uniforms and carry pom-poms. That is how useless they are in this city.

There should be editorials scorching this ridiculous event. It does nothing to improve the deteriorating inferior quality of life in this city of criminality. The only people who will benefit from this idiocy are the ones who live or transit along the racecourse. In those areas, the city will fix all the potholes.

The city cannot control the illegal racing, drifting, or whatever it is called. It is happening on our streets every weekend. The city cannot keep us safe from criminals. Public safety is a joke. We have a homeless crisis in Chicago and the city is doing next to nothing about it. But, hey, we have a Summer of Joy, right? Maybe next summer we can celebrate the Summer of NASCAR.

Yes, let’s take a victory lap for NASCAR. Geez, the news media is suffering from a terminal case of that brain-eating STD, clownmydia. They no longer report on the important issues afflicting this city. They just cheer for the mayor. She is historic; you see. That is more important than murders on our streets.

Hip hip hooray, the mayor scored a stupid event not meant for city streets. Rah, rah, sis boom bah, the Chicago news media shouts while shaking their bums and pom-poms. All praise Lori Lightfoot for this “major coup.” Hail Lori? WTF?

We, the people, should shut this fiasco down to show Lightfoot who really rules this city. We should protest at City Hall. Maybe the Feds can find a reason to shut this down.

Alderpersons, especially in the wards affected by this fiasco, are complaining the mayor left them in the dark about this. Lightfoot does whatever she wants. City Council? What City Council? “I don’t need no stinking City Council.”

What is even worse, this is a three-year deal. Lightfoot has lost her mind and so has the Chicago news media. This teacup lapdog cheerleading must stop. Lightfoot is proving to be the worst mayor in modern history. Soon she will surpass Big Bill Thompson as the worst mayor in two centuries.

We no longer have fearless and courageous journalists, editorial boards, and publishers in Chicago. We have empty-headed cheerleaders. All boolah boolah, hail to the chief, hosanna, hosanna to the highest, Lori Lightfoot. She, who can do no wrong, because she does nothing.

What will she do next? Ride an ass, maybe a member of an editorial board or a publisher, down State Street while the members of the news media wave palms?

Folks, Lightfoot is one of the best con artists to hold office in this city of scoundrels. She is ridiculous and Chicago mayors are not supposed to be ridiculous. Hopefully, she will be run out of office on a rail in February and the new mayor can cancel the NASCAR stupidity. Hopefully, the new mayor can make Chicago safe again.

The Chicago news media is pathetic for cheering, hyping, and publicizing the NASCAR deal. They are nothing more than the PR weasels for the mayor. My apologies to weasels. The public is being dis-serviced by the Chicago news media. The media are no longer the junkyard watchdogs. They are Lori Lightfoot’s house pets.

“After the recent suicides of three Chicago police officers, the city’s top cop on Monday fended off rising criticism of his policy of routinely canceling days off, insisting the controversial practice is tightly controlled and has been common for decades… He claimed superintendents over the past four decades have made similar staffing decisions.” (Sun-Times/Emphasis Mine)

Chicago Police Superintendent David Brown told one whopper of a lie. A big, bold, beautiful lie. A shining bauble of prevarication.

I spent almost thirty years as a Chicago Police Officer, joining over four decades ago. Canceling days off was a rarity. The Police Department did not cancel days off on the scale that Brown is torturing our police officers and their families. The exception was during the social unrest and riots of the 1960s, over five decades ago.

Yes, during the mass protests, violence, and looting of the past two years, it was necessary to cancel days off. That was then and for short periods of time. But the cancellations week after week are unheard of.

David Brown should either resign or be fired immediately for lying to the news media and the public. We do not need a big, bold, beautiful liar as the Superintendent of police. It is bad enough our politicians lie to us. If the news media believed him without verification, it proves they are useless lap dogs.

I was a Chicago police officer over four decades ago, he was not. He was in that suburban-like city of Dallas. I hear from police officers daily. They are exhausted. They have family issues. A few weeks ago, I was talking to a detective sergeant. He unloaded all the personnel issues he was having. Some nights all his detectives are out on shootings. If another one came in, he would have to handle it. Worse, they are so busy, that they cannot keep up with the cases, which means investigations take longer and are harder to accomplish.

Superintendent David Brown and First Deputy Superintendent, Eric Carter, took a wrecking ball to the Chicago Police Department. They are enabled in razing the department by our out-to-lunch mayor, Lori Lightfoot. The media believes her lies too. They destroyed morale. They are probably the most hated police leaders in the history of the Chicago Police Department.

Mayor Lightfoot is either being played by Brown or does not have the fortitude to fire him. The City Council is useless, as most are silent on Brown’s total incompetence and apathy about his personnel. They are silent on the recent police suicides. They are silent on the justified complaints of officers being overworked and exhausted or the issues with their families. Those police officers are their constituents, yet they do not have a voice in the City Council.

Mayor Lightfoot once bragged she has the biggest d**k in Chicago. It is evident she does not have the b**ls to do what is right for the people and the police department.

The level of lawlessness, as evidenced by the constant crime waves, is unprecedented in over five decades in this city. The city was safer during the Capone era.

Chicago needs immediate change. All we are getting is a steady stream of manure from the city through the pliable and gullible news media. It is a sad state of affairs.

Brown, his executive staff, and all the commanders should have their days off canceled every time officers do. They should be on the streets on their days off handling calls to supplement the troops. They should lead by example. Pigs will fly and hell will freeze over before that happens.