My Blog

Category: Crime

  • CTA Scam Sucks Millions in Taxpayer Funds

    It is after all the Chicago way.

    The CTA has potentially inflated by up to $150 million the federal taxpayer money it received since as far back as 1982 by “fraudulently over-reporting” the number of miles CTA buses travel while in service, according to a new report by a little-known watchdog group.

    In its report, titled “A bus tour of Chicago-style fraud,” Washington-based Cause of Action alleged that CTA officials reaped millions in extra federal money that the agency was not entitled to by improperly including “deadhead,” or out-of-service bus miles, along with funding-eligible revenue bus miles when applying for money from the Federal Transit Administration.  …

    But Cause of Action, which said it based its findings on “insider audit information” from six years ago, said the CTA likely continues to get away with its inaccurate mileage reporting, with the knowledge of the U.S. government, because of the transit agency’s political connections stretching from Chicago to Washington.

    It cited the clout of Valerie Jarrett, who is senior adviser to President Barack Obama and also a former chairwoman of the CTA (1995 to 2003), and Robert Rivkin, general counsel at the U.S. Department of Transportation. From 2001 to 2004, Rivkin was general counsel at the CTA.

    Officials at Cause of Action said they brought the matter to the attention of the U.S. Department of Transportation inspector general, the U.S. attorney general and Congress, but no action was taken.

    via Chicago Tribune.

    Surprise Surprise Surprise!!

    The good citizens of Chicago are naturally shocked and appalled that Valerie Jarrett and other stooges of The Machine have engaged in taxpayer fraud. Shocked and appalled.

    This sounds like a Qui Tam lawsuit in the making.  Someone going to get on that?

     

  • CCW in Illinois? Without State Action?

    In the only state that doesn’t let its residents walk around with concealed firearms, a northwest Illinois county could become the testing ground for gun enthusiasts who want a clean sweep for their Second Amendment rights.  …

    The county has scheduled a pair of hearings this month to determine whether it should allow people to carry guns within Winnebago borders. The proposed ordinance – which was written after officials received a petition with more than 11,000 signatures this year – would contradict state law.  …

    Webster, a local tree nursery owner and a longtime National Rifle Association member, wrote the proposed ordinance himself after receiving the petition in August. It would let people carry guns in Winnebago if they had proper training and possessed a Utah permit, which is recognized in neighboring Midwestern states and has no residency requirements.

    via Chicago Tribune.

    People are clever.  Even in Illinois.  I have a Utah CCW, and a Florida.  I also have a few other tricks up my sleeve which means I’m generally able to carry most of the time.  But this is good news for law abiding citizens of Winnebago County.

    This sort of movement could move statewide.  I can see a result whereby it was legal to carry in some counties but not all.  Such a decision would force the state to act.  This is basically what happened in Ohio, California, and few other states prior to those states creating their own CCW laws.

    Going to be confusing for awhile here.  But this is a step in the right direction.

  • Benghazi Security Cut; Vienna Gets Chevy Volts

    While our consulate in Benghazi was guarded by unarmed Libyan contractors making $4 an hour, our embassy in Vienna received an expensive charging station for its new electric cars to help fight climate change.  …

    [There were] 230 security incidents in Libya between June 2011 and July 2012. With 48 taking place in Benghazi, two at the U.S. diplomatic compound where Ambassador Stevens and three other Americans were murdered on Sept. 11, 2012….

    According to Nordstrom, the State Department not only refused his requests for greater security, but also actually reduced the number of Diplomatic Security Service (DSS) agents assigned to foreign service officers based in Libya. Security was left to one DSS agent, four armed members of the 17th of February Martyrs Brigade and unarmed Libyan contractors employed by the British-based Blue Mountain Group.via Investors.com.

    This is a national embarrassment.

  • DNC, Obama Campaign: It’s “Okay” to Vote Twice

    When undercover reporters visited various [DNC] locations across the country they received the same response from Obama campaign staffers – that it’s basically okay to vote multiple times if you happen to be registered in two or more states.

    In Houston, Texas, for example, the Project Veritas reporter made her intentions known, and rather than being rebuffed for her planned illegal activity, she was provided assistance with obtaining the proper forms to be registered in two states and was told to say “I don’t know” if the double-voting ever became an issue.

    Similar situations unfolded at other DNC funded community organizations.

    via SHTFplan.com.

    Is anyone surprised??

    The MSM, a/k/a Ministry of Truth, asleep at the wheel.

  • Feds Investigate Jesse Jackson Jr.

    We all knew this was coming:

    Federal prosecutors and FBI agents in Washington have launched a new criminal investigation of Illinois Rep. Jesse Jackson, Jr. involving financial improprieties, including possible misuse of funds monitored by Congress, law enforcement sources tell NBC News.The probe prompted lawyers for Jackson to meet with federal prosecutors this week in an attempt to persuade them not to indict the congressman.

    via NBC Chicago.

    This couldn’t happen to a nicer guy.

  • $2M in Unemployment to Inmates

    More than 1,100 people have collected nearly $2 million in unemployment benefits while they were in county jails or state prisons, including $43,000 that went to a person in the Cook County Jail, a state agency said Tuesday.

    Now they may face state or federal criminal fraud charges as well as having to repay what they shouldn’t have taken in the first place, said Greg Rivara, spokesman for the Illinois Department of Employment Security.

    In Cook County alone, there were 296 inmates tied to $722,689 in wrongful payments. In Will County, 21 inmates collected $85,159. Lake County was another leader with 20 inmates collecting $84,533, the agency said.

    via Chicago Tribune.

    WT…?!  You couldn’t make this stuff up.

    #1. Where are the two wonder-twins of justice in this?  Nothing from Lisa Madigan or Anita Alvarez?  Why?  Where have they been?
    #2.  Who the hell is running this agency?  Jail and prison records are actually a matter of public record.  You’re telling me no one ever bothered to cross-check the payouts against another public record?

    #3.  It kinda makes you wonder how much fraud is really going on in the system.  After all, The Machine has their corrupt friends running all these agencies there is really no limit to how much might be missing.

    Certainly not last… This is just another fine example as to why any service run by the government is doomed to ultimately doomed to fail.  People are incentivized to cheat the system.  But government employees are also incentivized to get as many people as possible into the system so they can justify their jobs and get more jobs and thus become more politically powerful.  As such, no one is watching the money.
    The government that works the least is most often the government that works best.

  • SUV as Deadly Weapon

    Two people were struck by a hit-and-run driver after a fight outside a River North neighborhood bar early Sunday morning, police said.

    via Chicago Tribune.

    Although it’s not reported here, the news from police on the scene is that this was a street fight where the fight’s loser went to his car and then used it to run over the fight’s winner.

    Another example of people who are intent on hurting other people proving they can do so without using a firearm.

  • Ald. Burke, Wrigley & Your Tax Dollars

    Ten years ago, Chicago’s most powerful alderman, Edward M. Burke, and the rest of the City Council signed off on a deal that promised $16 million in taxpayer subsidies to the Wm. Wrigley Jr. Co. to help it build a new corporate campus on Goose Island rather than move to the suburbs.

    Three years later, Burke’s law firm, retained by Wrigley, persuaded Cook County officials to lower the property assessments for two buildings the chewing gum giant had bought down the street from the new campus.

    Burke’s legal work helped Wrigley cut its property taxes by more than $412,000 between 2006 and 2008, records show.

    For that, the company says, it paid the alderman about $90,000 in legal fees.

    via Chicago Sun-Times.

    What the story fails to mention is that Wrigley also received millions in TIF money to build the hitherto unfinished building on Goose Island.

    The story is a good read (i.e. good read it) as it also talks about how Wrigley has been sold to Mars.  So now all the millions spent on top of the millions in lost revenue will likely never be recouped.

    Just embarrassing all around…. unless you’re The Machine.

  • Fast and Furious Killed 14 Teenagers

    “Near midnight, the assassins, later identified as hired guns for the Mexican cartel La Linea, broke into a one-story house and opened fire on a gathering of nearly 60 teenagers. Outside, lookouts gunned down a screaming neighbor and several students who had managed to escape. Fourteen young men and women were killed, and 12 more were wounded before the hit men finally fled.”

    Citing a Mexican Army document it obtained and published, Univision reported that “[t]hree of the high caliber weapons fired that night in Villas de Salvarcar were linked to a gun tracing operation run by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF).”

    via The Daily Caller.

    This blood on Eric Holder’s hands.

    Fast and Furious started as a way for the Obama administration to “prove” Hillary Clinton’s lie that three-quarters of guns found in Mexico were from U.S. Southern states.  The intention was to use this “proof” to force Congress to pass tougher gun laws.

    But instead it blew-up in their face.  Now they’re all scrambling to pretend it never happened.

  • Obama Releases Al Qaeda Killer of U.S. Soldier

    Omar Khadr was recently released from Gitmo.  What did he do again?

    Khadr killed Sergeant First Class (SFC) Christopher Speer. Khadr’s advocates said this wasn’t true because Khadr was incapacitated during al Qaeda’s firefight with American troops. But they were wrong. Khadr ultimately admitted that he killed SFC Speer.

    While Khadr killed one American medic, his life was saved by others. Khadr would not be alive today if U.S. medics had not saved him from extensive wounds.  …

    A videotape recovered in Afghanistan showed Khadr assembling improvised explosive devices (IEDs) for al Qaeda.

    via The Weekly Standard.

    What can ya say?  I mean really!

    This piece of garbage is going to go right back to killing U.S. troops and civilians.  Perhaps this is Obama’s plan to screw things up for the next guy.  Release all the lunatic haters back into the wild; after all, he got a Nobel Peace Prize and then went on to kill dozens and dozens people  — including American citizens — with drones.

    There is something very very wrong with a situation whereby the president is alone deciding who gets set free and who gets targeted for death.

    But putting the policy aside… why the hell did we release this killer?