By John Ruberry
“Christmas means carnage.” Ferdinand the duck, in the movie Babe.
“It’s assassination day…” is what a Chicago woman, Edith Pinkerton, according to ABC Chicago said of July 4, although Pinkerton may have been speaking of the next day, July 5, when her 74-year-old friend was wounded.
As of this writing, late Sunday afternoon on July 7, this Independence Day weekend has been quite bloody in Chicago. So far, according to the Chicago Sun-Times, over the long July 4th weekend, 17 people have been killed and at least 82 others have been wounded. Four mass shootings have so far occurred.
Back to July 5. According to Hey Jackass.com, last Friday, when 45 people were shot, that day was “the 3rd highest, single day total found in our dataset since 2013.”
Last year, a majority of Chicago’s severely misguided voters had a choice between Paul Vallas, a moderate law-and-order Democrat, and Brandon Johnson, a onetime supporter of the Defund the Police movement, who was pushed over the top by the far-left Chicago Teachers Union.
Johnson, closely followed by Chicago’s two major daily newspapers, the Sun-Times and the Tribune, as well as Crain’s Chicago Business, has been the chief minimizer of street mayhem in Chicago.
While he was still mayor-elect, when asked about a downtown flash mob riot, Johnson said it was important not to “demonize” the thugs. A couple of days later when asked about what Chicago’s listless media calls “unrest,” Johnson offered more sanitization of widespread lawlessness, “They’re young. Sometimes they make silly decisions.”
A central part of the mayor’s approach to crimefighting for this summer was to hire “violence interrupters.” During the mayoral campaign, Johnson suggested sending social workers to domestic incidents, instead of Chicago police officers.
To be fair, had Vallas prevailed, Chicago would still be a mess. She’ll be out of office in five months, but the policies of Kim Foxx, Cook County’s Soros-funded prosecutor, continue to wreak havoc. And as I’ve noted in prior DTG posts, this summer is the first one since Illinois’ SAFE-T Act, which abolishes cash bail, became law.
Two months ago, the mayor’s choice as Chicago police superintendant, Larry Snelling, said the city is short 2,000 cops.
Johnson, to placate his leftist base, wants to cancel the city’s contract with ShotSpotter, a gunshot detection system, but not until after next month’s Democratic National Convention.
Chicago has almost three years to suffer under Brandon Johnson.
Rather than address the Chicago’s crime crisis, Johnson’s prefers to deflect. At the Juneteenth flag raising ceremony, Johnson called for reparations for Black people.
Speaking from the realm of common sense, Corey Brooks, Chicago’s legendary “Rooftop Pastor,” threw a bucket of cold water at that demand.
Where are the reparations for the city’s failure to produce adequate protection for its residents? Where are the reparations for the city’s failure to provide adequate schooling to inspire kids toward the American Dream instead of nihilistic violence? And where are the reparations for the city’s woke legal system that puts the interest of violent criminals above the interests of the city’s hardworking citizens?
For now, look for more Chicagoans to say, “It’s assassination day.”
UPDATE July 8, 7:15pm EDT:
The official July 4 weekend Chicago Police Department figures are in, and they’re brutal. There were 109 people wounded by gunfire during the long Independence Day weekend, 19 of them fatally.
At a press conference this morning not only did Mayor Johnson not take responsibility for the widespread bloodshed, but he blamed Republicans, including President Richard Nixon, who left office 50 years ago this summer. Chicago hasn’t had a GOP mayor since Big Bill Thompson–a crook by the away–who was voted out in 1931. While we’re at it, Democrats hold supermajorities–thanks to gerrymandering–in the state General Assembly, and Illinois hasn’t had a Republican governor since 2003, when another crook, George H. Ryan, retired. Of Chicago’s 50 alderpersons, none are Republican, although four or five have some conservative leanings.
On the other hand, there are six socialists in the Chicago City Council, but make that seven, in my opinion at least, when Mayor Johnson casts a tie-breaking vote.
John Ruberry regularly blogs at Marathon Pundit.
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