Posts Tagged ‘chicago’

Let’s go Brandon: a violent start to Brandon Johnson’s Chicago mayoralty

Posted: June 4, 2023 by John Ruberry in crime, News/opinion, opinion/news, politics
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By John Ruberry

By all accounts, crime was the biggest issue in this year’s Chicago mayoral election. Voters in America’s third-largest city had a choice between two Democrats in the runoff matchup in April, Paul Vallas, a moderate who ran on a law-and-order agenda, and Brandon Johnson, who until late last year was a defund-the-police advocate.

Johnson won and he was sworn in as Chicago’s 57th mayor on May 15. 

But his brief time as mayor-elect was rough. While Johnson of course denounced a late April downtown flash-mob riot, he did so with a caveat, declaring that the riotous thugs “shouldn’t be demonized,” even though they acted demonically. A few days later outside Illinois’ state capitol building, Johnson doubled down on his naivete, explaining his feelings about the rioters, “They’re young. Sometimes they make silly decisions.”

A big test for any Chicago mayor is Memorial Day weekend, the unofficial start of summer is also traditionally when violence ramps up. 

One new wrinkle for this year’s holiday weekend was implementation of yellow-vested “peacekeepers” to control the mayhem, including 30 funded by the state. While I don’t believe Johnson dispatched any of his own peacekeepers, he’s on board with the concept. 

Yeah, yeah, yeah, I get it, Johnson’s not even been mayor for a month, but if Memorial Day weekend’s crime fighting results are any indication, Chicago is in for a tough four years.

The last weekend in May was Chicago’s most violent Memorial Day weekend since 2016–eleven people were shot to death, 42 others were wounded, and one woman was beaten to death. Let’s take a closer look at that last one. The deceased was brutally and fatally beaten with a baseball bat two blocks from Johnson’s West Side home–the alleged murderer lives across the street from the mayor.

The beating victim and nine of the eleven weekend shooting victims were killed last Saturday. Only Hey Jackass Chicago among the local media noticed that it was one of the few double-digit murder days in the last decade the city has suffered. 

Now, back to the yellow-donned peacekeepers. The concept is ripe for a parody. For instance, on my own blog, I noted that Leslie Barbara, one of the less imposing cadets of the motley class in “Police Academy,” was wearing a yellow blazer when he was tossed by hooligans into a river from a bridge–along with his photo kiosk. The aforementioned Hey Jackass Chicago is selling official peacekeeper T-shirts on the “Buy Crap” section of its website.

One of those real peacekeepers, whom a veteran of the Obama administration hilariously defended as someone who “mishandled the stress” of being a peacekeeper, was arrested after allegedly beating and robbing a man. The accused, an ex-con who was on parole, was allegedly in the process of removing his yellow peacekeeper vest as the cops approached him.

Okay, skeptics may object and tell me that Memorial Day weekend was just one weekend, and a long one at that. What about this weekend?

Well, as of 9am Sunday morning Chicago time, nine people have been shot to death this weekend so far and at least 33 others wounded. Included in those numbers is mass shooting in Johnson’s neighborhood in Austin, where one person was killed and six others were wounded.

Let’s go Brandon!

John Ruberry regularly blogs at Marathon Pundit.

Sowing Meet Reaping Under the Fedora Chicago, San Francisco, Seattle, St. Louis and Portland

Posted: May 17, 2023 by datechguy in crime, Uncomfortable Truths, under the fedora
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Thus the word of the LORD came to me: Son of man, I have appointed you a watchman for the house of Israel. When you hear a word from my mouth, you shall warn them for me. If I say to the wicked man, You shall surely die; and you do not warn him or speak out to dissuade him from his wicked conduct so that he may live: that wicked man shall die for his sin, but I will hold you responsible for his death. If, on the other hand, you have warned the wicked man, yet he has not turned away from his evil nor from his wicked conduct, then he shall die for his sin, but you shall save your life.

If a virtuous man turns away from virtue and does wrong when I place a stumbling block before him, he shall die. He shall die for his sin, and his virtuous deeds shall not be remembered; but I will hold you responsible for his death if you did not warn him. When, on the other hand, you have warned a virtuous man not to sin, and he has in fact not sinned, he shall surely live because of the warning, and you shall save your own life.

Ezekiel 3:17-21

Jay Nordlinger once said that sooner or later you have to just accept that people who vote for Democrat rule that destroys their cities actually would rather have their cities go to hell than have a conservative be in charge.

Black Residents of Chicago’s south side have apparently decided that allowing mostly Hispanic border crossers come into their neighborhoods is a bridge too far.

How DARE those horrible republicans in Texas not allow themselves to be stuck with the problems that woke Democrats fostered on them!

Oddly enough I suspect nobody is going to call them racists

In San Francisco Yet another business has decided to take a hike:

In October 2022, after completing a multimillion-dollar renovation, Australian furniture and lifestyle retailer Coco Republic opened its flagship San Francisco location at 55 Stockton St. in Union Square.

Seven months later, a Coco Republic spokesperson told SFGATE that its flagship San Francisco location is set to close in the next few months, citing a familiar reason: lack of customer foot traffic, which the company pinned in part on unsafe conditions — or at least people’s perception of unsafe conditions — in the surrounding area.

Of course the real story is they actually thought opening their 8 months ago was a good idea. I mean look at the train system:

The day after the report was released, as if to emphasize the heart pounding intensity of possible encounters with fellow BART passengers, there was this guy with a meat cleaver…

A man wearing a balaclava and pacing up and down a BART train this afternoon slashed a fellow passenger across the back with a meat cleaver, and caused more than a dozen other riders to scurry away in fear, according to a witness to the scene.

I love the verbiage, “scurried.” OMG, you know they were running for their frickin’ lives to whatever end or car they could crawl over the person in front of them to get to first.

There’s a reason why only 17% of riders feel safe on their system.

The old saying “neither rain nor snow nor dark of night shall keep the postman from his appointed rounds” apparently doesn’t apply in Seattle

Some south Seattle residents are claiming a significant ‘mail fail’ is occurring as the United States Postal Service (USPS) has halted mail delivery due to a rise in recent vandalism and theft.

A sign at a nearby U.S. Postal Service office in Columbia City is telling residents in the “98118” zip code to pick up their mail in person at an annex office, located at 5920 Martin Luther King Jr Way South. The zip code covers around 49,000 people — but it’s unclear how many of them are not getting their mail delivered.

Well who needs the US mail anyways? After all if you’re worried about crime or walking the streets the lack of mail isn’t going to phase you at all.

Kim Gardner’s resignation is due to go in effect on June 1st. but she’s going out as she came in.

Saturday May 6th, there was a Cinco de Mayo parade held in St. Louis. Lots of people, lots of drinking and at one point some people in the street got into a fight. Two people watching the fight from the sidewalk pulled out guns and started shooting.

As the party on Cherokee street was winding down, gunfire broke out at about 7:30 p.m. on Saturday.

According to police, a man was grazed in his upper thigh and a woman was shot in the leg. Both victims were taken to a nearby hospital and are in stable condition.

An investigation found the victims were watching some men fight from an intersection when one of the suspects started waiving a handgun.

The two shooters, a man and a woman, were quickly identified because there was video showing them pulling out their guns and opening fire.

The shooters on camera drawing their guns, can’t get more open and shut then that, except Gardner has released them and refused to press charges. The obvious question is asked:

The piece concludes, “Gardner could end her time in office better than she conducted most of it by publicly explaining this.” That was published yesterday but so far no explanation has been offered.

I’m struggling to think of an explanation for allowing this woman to walk. Maybe there is a good explanation for this, but given that it was all caught on video it’s hard to imagine how lack of evidence could be a problem here.

Oh there is a good explanation, just not a just one.

Finally in Portland the place where I had my honnymoon 35 years ago and almost moved to because of how beautiful the country was, things continue to go downhill as the drugs take over this whitest of white towns.

Last year they set a record for deaths by Fentanyl overdoses.

This year said: Hold my beer:

According to new data, overdose deaths are up nearly 50% so far this year compared to last year.

Last year, there were a record 158 overdose deaths in Portland. This year will almost certainly surpass that peak. There have already been 85, a 46% increase from this time last year, PPB spokesman Nathan Shephard tells WW.

“Keep in mind that the numbers for this year are actually only preliminary because the Medical Examiner will continue to process toxicology reports that will only increase the number of deaths considered overdoses,” he added.

The new data was released today after a deadly weekend in which 8 people in various parts of the city died from suspected fentanyl overdoses. Two of the deaths happened last Friday. There were five more deaths Saturday and one on Sunday. Police believe the victims bought street drugs which they believed was cocaine but which was actually fentanyl.

Anyone want to make bets on next year?

Quick closing thought. All of these results in all of these cities were a choice, these cities CHOOSE to put in people that advanced these results. They have been warned repeatedly that this has been the case and we have been ignored. Thus have they reaped what they have sowed, but as Daniel cried when they were leading Susanna to be stoned for a crime she did not commit:

 “I am innocent of this woman’s blood.”

Daniel 13:46 (New American Bible)

I and those of us who have warned of this result are innocent of what has gone down

A “local” story that needs to go national: Chicago cop murdered because girlfriend of accused killer needed money for a barbecue

Posted: May 14, 2023 by John Ruberry in crime, culture, local issues, local stuff, media, News/opinion, opinion/news, politics, race card
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By John Ruberry

When does a local crime story become a national one? Outside of a mass shooting, a local crime story becomes a national one when there is a race element. 

On May 1, a deranged homeless man, Jordan Neely, was threatening passengers on a New York subway train. A former marine, Daniel Penny, aided by two other passengers, placed Neely, who by the way had 42 prior arrests, in a chokehold. Penny has since charged with second-degree manslaughter. I’m sure that you know these details: Penny is white, Neely is black.

The mainstream media, to use an old radio term, still has the Neely killing on heavy rotation.

On May 6 a much more troubling homicide occurred on Chicago’s South Side. Aréanah Preston, a Chicago police officer, had just finished her shift. As she exited her car in front of her home, Preston, who was still in uniform, was shot to death. Jakwon Buchanan, 18, two 19-year-olds Trevell Breeland and Joseph Brooks, and a 16-year-old, Jaylen Frazier, have been charged with her murder.

Preston, 24, was to have been awarded her master’s degree from Loyola University on Saturday. 

Here is the headline about the arrest of the alleged murderers from CWB Chicago, 4 people, all with extensive juvenile criminal backgrounds, killed off-duty Chicago cop during armed robbery: prosecutors.

By now you probably know why the murder of Preston is not a national news story. Preston, and the alleged killers, are African American. If the accused murderers were white, reports about this homicide would dominate the news outlets, particularly MSNBC and CNN, who would introduce each segment on the cop killing with a custom graphic and somber music. 

There are additional chilling details about the alleged perpetrators, all of whom are in jail, bail has been denied.

Their crime spree began early on the morning of May 6, according to a Cook County assistant state’s attorney, because the girlfriend of Jakwon Buchanan needed money for a barbecue. That’s right, a barbecue. Buchanan, by the way, has a pending carjacking case in juvenile court. 

First, the four teens, who were dressed in black and wore face masks, stole a Kia Forte, after robbing a woman of her charge cards, her smart phone, and a Louis Vuitton belt. As for the youths’ look and their criminality, think Alex and his “Droogs” from A Clockwork Orange crossed with ninja warriors from a 1980s action film. Next, a 62-year-old woman and her son’s girlfriend were robbed by at least three of the teens of a phone and a Coach purse. Then two of the accused allegedly robbed a man as he was leaving his car.

Then Preston was murdered. Her gun was taken and one of the accused allegedly sold her weapon.

I can describe the four accused killers with two words, ones that the holier-than-thou media has deemed racist: “Career criminals,” despite their youth, and “super-predators.” Remember how CWB Chicago portrayed the four, “all with extensive juvenile criminal backgrounds.” And CWB Chicago, citing a law enforcement source, said of two of the accused, “Brooks and Buchanan ‘are by far in the top 10 for prolific juvenile carjackers over the last two years.'”

Here’s another recent story from CWB Chicago about two different thugs–that’s right, I said it, thugs: Chicago boys charged with 16 armed robberies and carjackings. They’re 15 and 16 years old.

On Monday, Brandon Johnson, a Democrat who is essentially a creation of the far-left Chicago Teachers Union, will be sworn in as mayor of Chicago. Until his mayoral campaign began Johnson was a “defund the police” guy. Among other things, Johnson favors sending social workers, instead of cops, to domestic disturbances. After a riot last month in downtown Chicago, the mayor-elect had this to say about the creeps, “It is not constructive to demonize youth who have otherwise been starved of opportunities in their own communities.”

Sheesh.

If people do demonic things, they can expect to be demonized.

A few days later, Johnson doubled down on those initial remarks about the rioters. “They’re young,” Johnson said. “Sometimes they make silly decisions! They do. So we have to make sure that we are investing to make sure that young people know that they are supported.”

Investing? 

Johnson is a big proponent of summer jobs programs for young people. I don’t believe such employment would cause youths like Buchanan, Frazier, Brooks, and Breeland to alter their destructive life decisions for $15-an-hour make-work jobs.

Chicago is stacked with career criminals and super-predators. My solution to the city’s crisis is simple, aggressively prosecute these lawbreakers and imprison them when they are found guilty. Johnson, Cook County’s so-called prosecutor Kim Foxx, and Cook County Circuit Court chief judge Tim Evans don’t agree with me. They’re “root causes” people. 

Sadly, even though some moms rise to their challenge, there is one root cause the media and left-wing politicians refuse to discuss. Over eighty percent of African American births in Chicago are to single mothers. 

I don’t know what the solution to that problem is. But admitting there is a problem is the first step in confronting it. 

On Wednesday, four days after she was to receive her master’s diploma from Loyola, the funeral for Preston will be held.

John Ruberry regularly blogs five miles north of Chicago at Marathon Pundit.

A Feature Not A Bug in Chicago

Posted: May 8, 2023 by datechguy in crime
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Popeye: That’s all I can stands I can’t stands no more

Various Popeye cartoons

The Pols in Chicago have been moving at full speed to enable the criminal element within the city over the last few years.

And of course those in the DA’s office who have ambitions for political advancement have not had an problem going along with this business.

But what about the career people? Those who are dedicated to protecting the public.

And yet, I’m leaving. Why could that be? The simple fact is that this State and County have set themselves on a course to disaster. And the worst part is that the agency for whom I work has backed literally every policy change that had the predicable, and predicted, outcome of more crime and more people getting hurt.

That’s bad enough but now it’s becoming personal:

Many years ago my family found a nice quiet corner of the suburbs. Now my son, who is only 5, hears gunfire while playing at our neighborhood park, and a drug dealer is open-air selling behind my house (the second one in two years). If it were just me to consider, I’d stick it out. I’ve been through stupid State’s Attorney policies before. But this Office’s complete failure to even think for a moment before rushing into one popular political agenda after another has put my family directly in harm’s way.

That’s where the rubber meets the road:

I will not raise my son here. I am fortunate enough to have the means to escape, so my entire family is leaving the State of Illinois. I grew up here, my family and friends are here, and yet my own employer has turned it into a place from which I am no longer proud to be, and in which my son is not safe.

Hey I’m sure there are positions in Florida where an experienced prosecutor can find work.

The sad thing about all of this is it’s a choice that is actively being made to advance an agenda for the sake of power, wealth and position.

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