Peter V. Bella Posts

These defendants hunted down and murdered Ahmaud Arbery simply because he was a Black man. Full stop.” (Lori Lightfoot/Chicago Mayor’s Office)

But on Tuesday, Lightfoot said she would not “sit idly by and watch the level of gang violence that we’ve seen and not do anything.” (WTTW)

Lori Lightfoot made sure the whole world knows what she thinks about an insignificant verdict in, wait for it, Georgia. Yet, she has been sitting “idly by,” doing nothing about the rampant violence in Chicago. Lightfoot blamed and even shamed the victims, guns, root causes, systemic institutional something or other for the violent crimes. She provides lame excuses for her lack of action.

Georgia is more important and a welcome distraction. She thinks something with national headlines will take people’s minds off her failures. Maybe she should move and run for mayor of Brunswick, Georgia since she cares more about what happens there than her own city.

When it comes to Chicago, the city she is the mayor of, Lightfoot plays the lame blame game. Everyone and everything is to blame except her cold-hearted, merciless, and pitiless apathy.

Lori!
Lori!, Lori! Bo-bor-bori
Bo-na-na fanna For-ley
Fee-fi-mo-mor-ley
Lori!

The Chicago City Council temporarily shot down her ridiculous asset forfeiture ordinance. An ordinance that would do nothing to mitigate the violence and murder in Chicago. She is ignorant of how illicit money “legally” moves in this city. The leaders of the super gangs laundered and invested their money years ago. They were buying income properties and other real estate. The families of the ones in prison are sitting pretty. What is the city going to get from the current crop of wannabes? A pair of expensive Air Jordans?

Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s priorities are non-existent. Public safety is not even on her radar. If it was, she would have sent the mercenary cowboy Superintendent of Police, David “Tex” Brown, packing and riding off back to Texas on his horse, taking all his horse s**t with him. Brown has nothing but excuses for his failures. The rank-and-file Chicago Police officers are demoralized, burned out, and angry. They are retiring or quitting at unsustainable rates. The city cannot hire recruits because no one wants a thankless, soul-crushing job.

In a sign of cowardice and fealty to Machine Boss Toni Preckwinkle, she made nice with State’s Attorney Kim Foxx, one of the elected officials driving the violence in Chicago. Lightfoot kissed the ring of Da Boss. A Boss who is treacherous and unforgiving. Da Boss still feels the sting of Lightfoot’s landslide victory over her. Da Boss was supposed to be Da Mayor. Da Boss is also one of the drivers of violence and murder in Chicago. It is her misguided policies based on pure ignorance. Da Boss and her Mini-Me Minion, Foxx, have the blood of all the murder victims on their hands.

It is incumbent upon us, as voters, to defeat Lori Lightfoot, Toni Preckwinkle, and Kim Foxx at the polls in the next election. Our very lives depend on it since there is no safe neighborhood in Chicago.

Lightfoot lied to us. She promised accountability and transparency. All she gave us was bloodshed, death, inculpability, and opacity. Foxx and Preckwinkle lie every time they flap their soup coolers.

As an aside, if any one of the 50 stooge aldercritters run for mayor, they should be defeated too. We need a mayor who cares about us. We are the people City Hall is supposed to keep safe. They are failing miserably.

I know how to do some things. I can change electrical outlets and switches. I can replace pipes under a sink and install faucets and showerheads. These do not make me an expert on the plumbing and electrician trades.

I know something about the criminal laws, as I was a police officer for almost 30 years. I am not trained as an attorney, do not practice, teach, or research legal issues. I am no expert on the law.

I am an art lover. I am not an expert on art or art history. I love history, especially Chicago history. I am not a historian.

Yet our gullible unlearned, ignorant news media, activists, legal organizations, and politicians believe, and worse, put their faith in so-called experts with no expertise on policing. They are academics or legal “scholars” who never wore the uniform, never interacted with the public, never made an arrest, never were shot at or shot. They were never in danger unless it was falling out of their chairs in their ivory towers, alleged crime labs, or bar stools in places where other experts with no expertise chill. They are experts with no, nada, zero credibility. Surprisingly, they are considered credible.

Stop and think about something. You never see academics and other “experts” claim plumbing, carpentry, electrician, sheet metal, or pipe fitting expertise. Why not? Why are there no experts with no expertise on truck drivers, merchant marine operations, hunting and fishing guides, beauticians and cosmetologists, janitors, wait staff, or any other career, trade, job, or profession? Yet, there are multiple experts on policing with not an iota of expertise.

We live in a nation that relies on experts with no expertise on every issue. No one, especially the news media, questions their experience or credibility. The letters at the end of their names are all the credibility they need. They toss XXXX-rated pornography out to their devout deviates- data and data analytics when asked about their expertise. The gullible get all lathered, wet, hot, and bothered. They pantingly believe everything the experts with no expertise claim is the truth. Even police leaders fall for the scam. Hey, who does not like XXXX-rated pornographic data and data analytics in their secret heart of hearts? Hell, it has the word anal in it, right?

These so-called experts are con men, scam artists, charlatans, and frauds. They do not know s**t from Shinola™, even when it is shown to them. They collectively are the Jerk.

I would love to debate these experts with no expertise on policy, tactics, and use of force. I would simply ask them how many domestic disturbances they handled, how many dead bodies have they seen or moved, or how many violent encounters have they been in. Were they ever shot at? Did they ever chase an armed offender on foot in the dark? Did they ever have to break up a bar fight or other large group fighting? How many car chases were they in? How many injured or murdered children did they encounter?

How many dead children did they see? How many times did they have to fight a person resisting arrest? How many victims of child abuse, incest, and child sexual abuse did they witness?

If their answer is to claim they do not need police experience because of data or data analytics, I will be ready. I will show them XXXX-rated porn with lots of anal, which is the same damn thing as their “expertise.”

It’s just your s**t talkin’
You’re telling me lies, yeah
S**t talkin’
You wear a disguise
S**t talkin’
So misunderstood, yeah
S**t talkin’
You really no good

(The BeeGeebus)

There are only two pure verbal art forms, stand-up comedy and political speaking. Both are also known as talking s**t. Talking s**t is its own genre. Politicians are masters, true masters of the genre. The best of the best are Chicago politicians. They are s**t talking wordsmiths par excellence. No one can match them. There is a long tradition of political s**t talking going back to Chicago’s incorporation as a city. Chicago is called the Windy City due to all the political s**t talking, and we know which end the wind blows from.

Chicago’s s**t talking politicians are charismatic, eccentric, outlandish, honestly corrupt, contentious, and pugnacious. Some padded their salaries with graft and inflated their egos by writing articles, books, or poetry.

I mean, if the following eloquent quotes do not denote a genre, I do not know what does:

“We shall reach greater and greater platitudes of achievement.”

“A newspaper is the lowest thing there is.”

“Even the Lord had skeptical members of His party.”

“The police are not here to create disorder, they’re here to preserve disorder.”

“They have vilified me, they have crucified me; yes, they have even criticized me.”

“I enjoy getting things done. My philosophy is the edge, the edge of something. There’s where we have to go in local government, in not only the philosophy but the creativity in people around you. They have to go to the edge.”

“I worked for him. I raised money for him. What am I supposed to do, take my pants off?”

“I thought the health of people is very important. If a rat is on your sandwich, you hope to know it before. If a mouse is on your salad, it’s common sense.”

“Scrutiny? What else do you want? Do you want to take my shorts? Give me a break. How much scrutiny do you want to have? Go scrutinize yourself! I get scrutined every day, don’t worry, from each and every one of you. It doesn’t bother me.”

It’s silly! It’s silly, baldhead! He’s baldheaded – is that silly? No. Come on! It’s the silliest thing I ever heard! Next question!”

“I’ve said ‘cuckoo’ once. I’ll say it again. (chirping) Cuckoo!”

Those are just two politicians, father, and son, who served over forty years as mayors between them. It is not just mayors s**t talking. The current Aldermen, Cook County Board President, State’s Attorney, and Mayor talk s**t to keep getting reelected over and over again. Together, they could fertilize thousands of farm acres with all the s**t they spew.

Their s**t talking is job security. Gullible Chicagoans love to be entertained by the clowns they keep reelecting to office. They will believe anything and everything the politicians and their handmaidens, the Chicago news media, tell them. The citizens in this town are too dumb to realize they are being served daily s**t sandwiches by elected officials and the news media.

There really is no difference between Chicago politicians and stand-up comedians, except the comedians are entertaining and funny. Politicians talk s**t, remain popular, no matter how outlandish their s**t talking is, and keep getting elected. If you are not a practitioner of the s**t talking genre, your chances of holding office in Chicago are slim to none, and Slim left town.

I finally concluded that stand-up comedians would be better public servants than our current and wannabe politicians. Maybe we should look to the comedy clubs to find our next crop of leaders. We already know they talk s**t, but they will at least entertain us by making us laugh instead of breaking our hearts and wallets (Taxation is theft in Chicago).

Hey Chicago, send in the clowns!

“If government were a product, selling it would be illegal.” (PJ O’Rourke)

I am a crotchety contrarian stark realist curmudgeon who finds tragedy in the truth and comedy in lies. I live in Chicago- a city of tragic comedy and humorous deadly lies. My problem is Chicago logic. All politicians are liars. All liars are not politicians. Politicians give liars a bad rap. Need proof? Chicago elections are supposed to be non-partisan- no party affiliation. Yet, Chicago politicians claim affiliation with Democratic Party. They are not non-partisan. They are liars. They pledge allegiance to their party platforms like brain dead Scientologists.

Politicians are very good at getting people to believe their lies. They are aided and abetted by the friendly local news media, who provide free public relations, hyping the lies. How else can they get elected and, worse, re-elected? Most of the voters are gullible or ignorant. They believe everything the politicians and news media tell them. They love Kool-Aid.

There is no such thing as an honest politician in Chicago. Naive uninformed voters are abundant.

As the ditty says- “Bulls**t, it makes the grass grow green. Horses**t, it does the same damn thing. Bulls**t or is it Horses**t or is it Bulls**t and Horses**t combined?”

I only care about local politics and policy. I live here. What happens here directly affects me. I keep up on national and international issues. Most do not directly impact me or my quality of life. For example, I really do not care about Ukraine’s problems with Russia. When Russia park their army and tanks on the border of Chicago, I will worry.

From where I sit in my bunker, Chicago is going to hell in a handbasket. Our mayor is more concerned with the Museum Campus, keeping the McCaskey Bears in Chicago, getting a casino in the city, and other sundry issues than she is about public safety.

We have a new familiar slogan too. Violent crime used to be blamed on guns, gangs, and drugs. Over and over during the Daley, Emanuel, and Lightfoot administrations, we heard guns, gangs, and drugs. Now, the slogan is guns, drugs, and poverty. And the pliant news media picks it up without questioning and drives the mayor’s narrative. The gullible, naïve voters believe it.

Guns are inanimate objects. So are drugs. Poverty is a condition. Committing crimes is a choice, a human choice. People are responsible for their choices. In Chicago, criminals are not held accountable for their crimes.

The causes of violent crime are humans. Humans using guns, humans in gangs, humans in the drug trade. Humans who have no humanity. Evil humans who have no regard for life. All these humans are not impoverished. They are just evil. They choose evil over good.

Governance and politics imply a submission to reality. In Chicago, crime-fighting devolved to submission to the unrealistic. Our politicians’ objective- criminal justice reform- failed miserably.

There are only two legal justice systems in this country, criminal and civil. Social justice, economic justice, environmental justice, and the rest are theoretical, academic, and political exercises in fantasy. They are also lucrative business plans for attorneys and activist organizations.

All these experts, activists, and elected officials (We can question if they are human) are supposedly intelligent, educated people. What if all these “brilliant” people are wrong? It is something to ponder since their reforms fail to keep us safe.

Crime is part of the human condition. The best we can do is control it- hence the term crime control. We no longer control crime in Chicago. Thanks to our elected officials and their failing policies, crime controls us- the new crime control.

What is it going to take for our elected officials to admit they made mistakes instead of doubling and tripling down on their ridiculous philosophies and beliefs about fake justice systems? They tout these philosophies and ideas with the zeal of evangelical preachers. They are backed by a choir of academic experts with no expertise except smoking green substances in their ivory towers.

PJ O’Rourke was right. “If government were a product, selling it would be illegal.” Government in Chicago should be banned as an illegal substance.

“There is a crime here that goes beyond

denunciation. There is a sorrow here that

weeping cannot symbolize. There is a failure

here that topples all our successes. (John Steinbeck/The Grapes of Wrath)

Living in Chicago is difficult. Lately, everything sucks.

The weather ranges from lung-sucking summer heat and humidity to polar bone-chilling winter freezes with snow and ice thrown in for good measure. If the heat and humidity don’t incapacitate or kill you, shoveling snow or falling on the ice will. Some days the weather can change in a heartbeat. A pleasant warm sunny day turns into a miserable cold gray one when the temperature drops to freezing with wind chill factors.

The hawk is a predatory bird. Old school Chicagoans call the wind in Chicago the hawk. When the late fall and winter winds blow, they chill you to the bone, just like sensing the eerie presence of a predator.

The ice and snow melt when the weather warms for a day or two, creating small lakes on sidewalks. Then, they freeze over again, making things more treacherous. That beautiful snow? After a few days, the beauty fades, and it turns into filthy mounds sprinkled with yellow to give a sense of color.

The politics and politicians suck. If they are not proving their incompetence every day, they are being hauled off to the federal Gray Bar Hotel. There is another predatory bird in Chicago, the eagle, the Feds. The threat of their mere presence should chill people to the bone, like the hawk. However, our politicians have no feelings. They never feel the chill until the talons, cold steel handcuffs, are slapped on their wrists.

The whole city is now officially dangerous to live in. Not one of the 77 neighborhoods is safe. People take their lives and those of their children in their hands just by walking out their door. Public safety is an oxymoron in Chicago. Violent crime is legitimate, business as usual in this city.

The politicians are like the Care Bears™, banding together with the Care Bear Stare™, shooting love out of their tummies towards the criminals.

There is no love or concern for the victims, their families, or citizens who must live with grief, trauma, or fear. If there is criticism, the Care Bears™ morph into predatory growling mauling grizzly bears, ripping proverbial heads off with the paw claws. The politicians are cold, merciless, pitiless, and feral.

The people in this city suck the most. No decent civilized people would not only tolerate but accept the violence we do. We have a right to leave our homes without fear of being victimized by violent predators or being victims of collateral damage. Chicago is not a decent civilized city. The people are not human or humane.

Chicago sucks so bad it should be renamed Hooverville. People in this town are so naïve and gullible that they keep reelecting the same less-ons (Lower than morons) responsible for violent victimization. They believe the lies of the politicians and their PR weasels, the Chicago news media. Apathy is rife in this city of greenhorn ignorant fools.

The apathy, lack of concern for fellow citizens, cold, pitiless, merciless elected officials wallowing in the success of their failures, the naive gullibility of voters who keep reelecting these monsters “…is a crime here that goes beyond denunciation.”

Chicago is no longer the city of “Big Shoulders” or big hearts. It is a city as cold and hard as our skyline’s concrete, glass, and steel. The soul of Chicago is brittle. We are a people who do not care for one another. We are no longer our brother’s keeper. We keep to ourselves.

Be proud Chicago. You suck.

Chicago is a city of complainers, enforcers, contradictions, and wusses. Some of our illustrious aldermen do not like the litter of dibs preserving parking spaces people risked a death-dealing heart-a-stroke to dig out. They are sending out Streets and San to clear the “rubble.”

However, there is other rubble, litter, blight, and eyesores they refuse to remove. I am talking about those ugly white bicycles littering our neighborhoods. They are monuments to dead cyclists. They are up years after many were killed in traffic accidents. They are ugly monuments to nothing. Why not treat the white bikes as the same litter and blight as dibs? Either dibs stay or the bikes go too.

Today is Super Bowl Sunday when two groups of over-privileged wusses play a genteel championship football game- even though the ball is thrown and carried with hands and arms.

Wusses? Yeah, all football players are wusses, especially Super Bowl contenders. I come from an age when football players were rough and tumble tough. The defense mantra was “kill the quarterback.” The offensive and defensive linemen were awesome brutes. The teams played in the rain, the mud, the snow, and even sub-zero temperatures. They played through injuries.

Now, the sport is oh so genteel. It is being played by guys sipping tea from fine bone China who stick their pinkie fingers out discussing the fashion choices of the British royals. Quarterbacks are celebrities, not to be manhandled lest their pretty faces get bruised. They are nothing more than Ken dolls.

Super Bowls must be played in cities with warm climates, preferably in domed stadiums, so the players do not get their uniforms dirty or suffer from the elements. I long for the days of real football with guys named Butkus, Ditka, Karras, Nagurski, just to name a few. I loved watching the 1967 NFL Championship, called the Ice Bowl, played in Green Bay between the Packers and the Cowboys. The temperature was between 13-18 degrees below zero. The field was like a sheet of ice and rock hard.

So, I will not be watching the Ken dolls playing nice on the “gridiron.” I would rather watch the second coat of paint dry or spiders killing flies than watch a bunch of wusses pretending to be tough guy athletes. Hell, a senior citizen like me could play the game without fear of injury.

This brings us to Mayor Lightfoot versus the McCaskey Bears. The Bears lost the title of Monsters of the Midway shortly after winning the 1985 Super Bowl. They are the Louses of the Lakefront. The McCaskey’s who own, run, and rule the roost, are probably the most incompetent owners in the NFL. They are like noisy birds, cheap, cheap, cheap. They squeeze quarters so tight the eagle screams.

“We’re going to continue to do everything we can to keep the Bears in Chicago,” Lightfoot said on WSCR-AM 670. “We’re working on some plans to present to them that I think will make a very, very compelling financial case as to why it makes an abundance of sense for them to stay in Chicago.” (Chicago Tribune)

Good luck with that Lori.

The Bears want to relocate to Arlington Heights, a sleepy, leafy suburb. They tendered an offer to purchase the shuttered Arlington Park Racetrack property so the bears can play atop decades of horse manure, which is what the McCaskey’s are full of.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot does not care how many children are murdered in Chicago, how many people are carjacked, robbed, terrorized, or how thoroughly incompetent her police superintendent, Tex Brown, is.

Lightfoot finally found something to care deeply about. Do whatever it takes to keep the McCaskey Bears in Chicago. They are moving to that monument to horse manure in Arlington Heights. If she can’t keep the city safe, how is she going to keep the McCaskey’s here? It seems Lightfoot cannot do anything right.

As I wrote before, the Bears could have built a state-of-the-art domed stadium decades ago. There were plenty of huge tracts of vacant property, even along the riverfront. Most of those enormous tracts of land were gobbled up by developers to erect massive suburban-style insular apartment/condo communities. Oh, and they got generous TIF benefits for turning this city into a piss poor imitation of the burbs.

Hell, if the Bears had asked former Mayor Richard M. Daley, he would have bent over backward and tied himself in knots to accommodate the McCaskey’s with tiff money. There would be no scrootening or scrootenization. The McCaskey’s could have had whatever they wanted.

So, phuque the Bears, the McCaskey’s, and wussball. Let them go. Let the door slam them hard on the ass on their way out and knock them down the stairs. Let them build a lovely pink palace dollhouse for their overpaid untalented Ken dolls to play in. Adios, ciao, do widzenia, adieu, 再见, slán.

Mayor Lightfoot, forget the McCaskey Bears. Concentrate on your job. Our city is not safe, thanks to your frenemies, Chicago Machine Boss, Toni Preckwinkle, and her Minnie Me Minion, Kim Foxx. Your cowboy police superintendent is an abject failure. How many more people must be killed, wounded, or terrorized before you wake up and smell the horse manure?