Tag Archives: Chicago

Who Feels Safe in Chicago? By John Kass

Not even the criminals feel safe. They are regularly murdered in Chicago’s frequent episodes of gang violence. From John Kass at johnkassnews.com:

Do you feel safe in Chicago?

The great city by the lake was once famed for its toughness and unbreakable will. But now it curls up into the fetal position as uncontrolled violent crime and legitimate concerns over the Democrat Safe-T Act–which will do away with cash bail on Jan. 1–bleed the city dry.

Democratic political leaders are on the defensive before the mid-term elections. Some like Gov. J.B. Pritzker have been reduced to babbling. Others like Mayor Lori Lightfoot go into hiding. More than a dozen city council members have resigned. They look to the chaos from the mayor’s office and begin turning away.

The bleeding continued Thursday with news that seven children had been shot in the street gang wars in separate incidents, including a 3-year-old shot at home while sleeping. Oh, and anti-violence activists were listed among the wounded at yet another Chicago mass shooting.

CWB Chicago reported that police warned about yet a third armed robbery crew working the city from the West Loop to Edgewater.

But don’t fret, Lightfoot has made sure that no repeat criminals—including violent muggers, robbers, shooters or murderers–will have to risk being hurt in a police chase.

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Texas Buses Illegal Immigrants To Chicago And Oh No They’ve All Been Shot

From The Babylon Bee:

Article Image

HOUSTON, TX — Governor Abbott has responded to the ongoing border crisis by bussing illegal immigrants to other parts of the country to see how they like it. The only problem is Abbott made the mistake of bussing some of them to Chicago and everyone has now been shot.

“I’ve made a huge mistake,” said Governor Abbott as the bullet-ridden bus returned to Texas moments before the engine gave out for good. “I just wanted other Governors to take the issue more seriously as they too had to share in the socioeconomic strain the border crisis puts on us. But why oh why did we send a bus to Chicago?! Forgive me!”

According to sources, the bus driver was the sole survivor from the less than 10-minute excursion into the city of Chigaco. “Look I’ve been to Chigaco before and I know you have to come prepared,” said the bus driver, Doug McDaniels, wearing a full set of SWAT body armor. “The craziest thing about it was that this trip was actually just a mild gunfire day. Normally I have to call for a rooftop helicopter evac just to escape the city.”

Governor Abbott has been heavily criticized by the media for his reckless decision to send the helpless immigrants to an active warzone where they were immediately gunned down. Mayor Lori Lightfoot on the other hand was celebrated for her commitment to making all of Chicago one giant policeless and lawless safe space with gun violence equity for all races.

At publishing time, another bus returned to Texas from Los Angeles with the news that everyone on the bus had contracted Monkeypox and been stabbed by the homeless before ultimately dying from fentanyl exposure.

https://babylonbee.com/news/texas-governor-abbott-buses-illegal-immigrants-to-chicago-and-oh-no-theyve-all-been-shot

Progressive Policies Turning Chicago’s Magnificent Mile Into Murderous Mile, by Thomas DeVore

When criminals are free to roam, they commit crimes, like murder. From Thomas DeVore at realclearpolitics.com:

Progressive Policies Turning Chicago’s Magnificent Mile Into Murderous Mile

(AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

One of Illinois’ major advantages is Chicago, which – until recently – was one of the most vibrant cities in the world. People from across the globe have made their way to Chicago to do business, tour our famous museums, theaters, and restaurants, take in sporting events, and to build their lives. Chicago is a beautiful city that used to be full of opportunity.

Tragically, this vibrant, once-thriving community is being destroyed by the policies of leftist ideologues ruling the city and state: JB Pritzker, Lori Lightfoot, and Kim Foxx.

Consider this: There were four times as many crimes reported in the few blocks around Water Tower Place, one of the more exclusive areas of the city, over the last year than were reported in the once-notorious Cabrini-Green.

I recently visited the scene of one of Chicago’s many crimes in downtown Chicago. It was a chilling experience, and these statistics should shock us to our core. But they seem to have numbed many, as each Monday morning we just read the weekend’s body count in the Chicago Tribune right along with the sports scores.

The greatest shopping district in the Midwest – the Magnificent Mile – has seen some truly horrific crimes. Just days ago, a man was murdered in the late afternoon right outside high-end shops. His throat was slashed. And he died literally in the middle of Michigan Avenue.

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The Illinois Political Establishment’s Shameful Response To The Departure Of Ken Griffin And Citadel – Wirepoints, by Mark Glennon

In their arrogance, Illinois leaders are disparaging a business leader who’s leaving the state and taking his business with him. From Mark Glennon at wirepoints.org:

On a wall in Ken Griffin’s office at Citadel in Chicago, I’m told by people who worked there, hangs a thank you note from a six-year old. Like many kids that age, he was enthralled by prehistoric creatures so he wrote to thank Griffin for funding Evolving Planet, a permanent wing in Chicago’s Field Museum.

The six-year old was my son, who asked if he could write it after my wife had taken him for what must have been the fifth time to the exhibit.

I was proud that he had the simple decency to feel a need to thank somebody.

I wish I could say the same about the Illinois political establishment’s send-off to Griffin and Citadel, who are leaving for Florida. There was no decency in any of it.

Griffin is among the most successful financial entrepreneurs in history and Citadel was a crown jewel in Illinois’ economy. But the decency of a proper send-off was nowhere to be found in Illinois’ leadership. There wasn’t even the standard, “we’re disappointed to see them go,” which they usually say about corporate departures. Just a kick out the door for a golden goose.

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Otter’s Plan: Chicago’s Mayor Lightfoot To Pump $412 Million More Into Anti-Crime Plan That Doesn’t Work, by Mark Glennon

In government, nothing succeeds like failure, and if it at first you don’t succeed, ask for a bigger budget. Having already wasted a lot of money on anti-crime, Chicago’s Mayor Lightweight is doubling down. From Mark Glennon at wirepoints.org:

“I think this situation absolutely requires a really futile and stupid gesture.”

-Otter in Animal House

Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot is planning to pump $412 million into its community safety plan, much of it targeting 15 of the city’s most violent community areas.

But the plan is already a proven failure. Furthermore, it has been subject to little transparency or accountability and its funding is unsustainable.

That’s according to a great column in Thursday’s Chicago Sun-Times, based on crime data being kept by the Sun-Times and experts it interviewed.

The plan, called “Our City, Our Safety,” was unveiled more than a year ago and has produced few results, and many of the communities it targeted have only gotten more dangerous, the Sun-Times reported:

Fatal shootings are higher in 10 of the 15 community areas: East Garfield Park, West Pullman, North Lawndale, Greater Grand Crossing, Auburn Gresham, Englewood, Roseland, Chatham, South Shore and Chicago Lawn. Only the Austin area measured about the same as last year. Four are better: South Lawndale, West Garfield Park, Humboldt Park and West Englewood.

Funding for the plan was approved by the City Council in the budget drafted by Lightfoot. It includes more than $50 million going to more than two dozen organizations for street outreach, victim services, transitional jobs, scholarships and domestic violence.

Who are those neighborhood organizations and do they spend the money effectively?

That’s where the transparency and accountability issues arise. More than half the money is not earmarked for any particular neighborhood, according to the Sun-Times, and “there is little information available on what exactly these groups are doing and how effective they’ve been” and it has it “has been difficult to gauge whether money spent so far has been going where it’s needed most.”

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Kill Back Better, by Ann Coulter

Soros-backed prosecutors typically promote the idea of not prosecuting the small stuff. In Chicago, the small stuff includes murder. From Ann Coulter at takimag.com:

Kill Back Better

This isn’t a Chicago story. It’s a Democratic Party story.

Kim Foxx, the state’s attorney for Cook County and darling of MSNBC, has managed to increase murders in Chicago to astounding levels even at a time when we’re all getting used to astounding crime figures. Nationwide in 2020, murder and non-negligent manslaughter were up 29.4%, according to the FBI. That’s more than double the previous record of 1968, when murders increased by 12.7%.

Under the careful management of Foxx, murders in Chicago were up 55%. To put this in perspective, last year, there were nearly as many murders in Chicago (population: 2.7 million) as in New York City and Los Angeles combined (total population: more than 12 million).

Perhaps you’ve heard about the Wild West shootout in the Austin neighborhood of Chicago two weeks ago? One group of gang members shot up the house of rival gang members at around 10 in the morning. They blasted the house with more than 70 rounds, using handguns that had been modified into automatic weapons. Their rivals fired back from inside the home, in a gun battle that lasted so long, it was still going on when the police arrived.

All of this took place in full view of police street cameras, as well as the first officers on the scene.

Of the four initial shooters, one was shot dead at the scene and left behind. The other three took off in two (stolen) Dodge Chargers. One gang member drove to a medical center, dumped his wounded comrade, then led police on a car chase ending in a fiery crash. The other Charger turned up nearby, in flames.

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“She Hasn’t Done Her Job”: Looting, Riots, & Mayoral Ineptitude Prompt Mass Exodus Of Chicago Residents, by Tyler Durden

Lori Lightweight Lightfoot may be Chicago’s worst mayor ever, and her inept policies are driving people out of the city. From Tyler Durden at zerohedge.com:

While mayor Lori Lightfoot continues to try and assure the public that she has everything under control, the exodus from Chicago as a result of the looting and riots is continuing. Citizens of Chicago are literally starting to pour out of the city, citing safety and the Mayor’s ineptitude as their key reasons for leaving. 

Hilariously, in liberal politicians’ attempt to show the world they don’t need Federal assistance and that they don’t need to rely on President Trump’s help, they are inadvertently likely creating more Trump voters, as residents who seek law and order may find no other choice than to vote Republican come November.

And even though residents understand the looting and riots in some cases, they are not waiting around for it to get better on its own, nor are they waiting around for it to make its way to their house, their families or their neighborhoods.

One 30 year old nurse that lives in River North told the Chicago Tribune: “Not to make it all about us; the whole world is suffering. This is a minute factor in all of that, and we totally realize that. We are very lucky to have what we do have. But I do think that I’ve never had to think about my own safety in this way before.”

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Dear Black Lives Matter Supporters, Chicago’s Latest Riot is on You, by Mark Glennon

It appears an important BLM civic-minded activity is riots, generally dawn to the fawning applause of media and politicians. From Mark Glennon at wirepoints.org:

You have to hand it to Black Lives Matter Chicago. Friday evening played out beautifully, as they must see things. From inception through execution, they got exactly the results they seek, including violent confrontation with the police, more chaos, more division, yet a mostly sympathetic or indifferent response from officeholders and the media.

BLM needed help to pull that off. That help has been coming from countless individual supporters, proud to show their allegiance with signs in their manicured yards. Dozens of major corporations have followed the herd sending money to BLM.

Blame those supporters, not just BLM rioters themselves, for the violence. Standing up for racial equality under the BLM banner may have earlier been an excusable error, but not anymore.

What happened in Chicago’s Grant Park on Friday is the best illustration yet, as we will explain.

What are BLM supporters thinking? Maybe some have missed how thoroughly the evidence has been compiled that BLM is violent, Marxist, antisemitic, anti-family and just plain nuts with demands like entirely abolishing the police, prisons and the entire Illinois Department of Corrections.**

But it’s far more likely that most would say – and you often hear this – that it’s not the organization but the “movement” they support. Black Lives Matter is also just a phrase in the movement for racial justice, they say.

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Chicago Mayor Says Fourth Of July Weekend Was ‘Mostly Peaceful’

Via The Babylon Bee

CHICAGO, IL—Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot called this past Fourth of July weekend where 79 were shot in the city a “mostly peaceful” weekend at a press conference today.

“It was mostly peaceful, very calm, lots of people enjoying themselves, very fun,” she said. “Yes, there were a few run-of-the-mill murders and shootings, but hey. We just call that a Saturday here.”

“Other than the people getting shot on basically every block, it was largely calm and peaceful.”

Lightfoot also pointed out that most people who committed murders were practicing social distancing and wearing masks. “Encouraging” surveillance footage showed that Chicago’s murderers are using hand sanitizer and wiping their weapons down after each murder. “So, by that metric, I think it was definitely a success. We’re making a lot of progress on that front.”

She further stated that she suspects the murderers are actually paid Trump supporters trying to make her city look bad.

https://babylonbee.com/news/chicago-mayor-says-murders-this-weekend-were-mostly-peaceful?utm_source=whatfinger

Violent Crime Is Surging Dramatically In Major Cities All Over America, by Michael Snyder

The above is probably the least surprising headline of the last few weeks. From Michael Snyder at theconomiccollapseblog.com:

What we are witnessing all over the country right now is incredibly sad.  In the aftermath of the tragic death of George Floyd, it would have been wonderful to see the entire nation unite behind an effort to make our society less violent, more just and more peaceful.  But instead, we have seen a tremendous explosion of violence and lawlessness that doesn’t seem likely to end any time soon.  Violent crime rates are surging in major city after major city, and the 4th of July weekend was particularly bad.  At least 41 people were hit by gunfire in New York City during the holiday weekend, and this continues a trend that we have seen throughout the first half of 2020.  Just check out these numbers

According to figures released by the New York Police Department, for the first six months of this year, there were 176 murders, an increase of 23 percent on the 143 killed during the same period last year.

The number of shooting victims has gone up 51 percent to 616 this year. In June alone, there were 250 shootings compared to 97 in the same month last year. Month-on-month, burglaries are up 119 percent and car thefts up 48 percent.

I don’t know which one of those numbers is the worst, because they are all quite horrific.

A tremendous amount of money has been shifted away from the NYPD budget, and that certainly isn’t going to help matters.  For years, the hard work of the NYPD had helped to make New York safer than many of our other major cities, but now that is changing at a pace that is absolutely breathtaking.  In fact, one British news source is now referring to the city as “lawless New York”…

Two bullet-ridden bodies lay sprawled on bloodstained concrete steps. Alongside, relatives of the victims are wailing and collapse to the ground. In another part of the city, a gang of youths use spray paint to disable security cameras before robbing a corner store. Later, video footage captures police officers sitting helplessly in their patrol car as a baying crowd hurls glass bottles at them.

This is lawless New York – a city that was once America’s glittering crown jewel but which risks descending into mob rule.

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