My Blog

Category: Crime

  • Teens Employment Lowest Since WWII – Obama Not Helping

    This article was published yesterday about the same time that Obama was in the Rose Garden making the situation worse:

    Fewer than 3 in 10 American teenagers now hold jobs such as running cash registers, mowing lawns or busing restaurant tables from June to August. The decline has been particularly sharp since 2000, with employment for 16-to-19-year olds falling to the lowest level since World War II.  …

    The drop in teen employment, steeper than for other age groups, is partly a cultural shift. More youths are spending summer months in school, at music or learning camps or in other activities geared for college. But the decline is especially troubling for teens for whom college may be out of reach, leaving them increasingly idle and with few options to earn wages and job experience.Older workers, immigrants and debt-laden college graduates are taking away lower-skill work as they struggle to find their own jobs in the weak economy. Upper-income white teens are three times as likely to have summer jobs as poor black teens, sometimes capitalizing on their parents’ social networks for help.

    Overall, more than 44 percent of teens who want summer jobs don’t get them or work fewer hours than they prefer.

    via HeraldNet.com.

    Holy Cow!!  Three passages worth repeating:

    [T]he decline is especially troubling for teens for whom college may be out of reach,
    leaving them increasingly idle and with few options to earn wages and job experience.

    Just who are these kids who are now left with few options?  My guess is urban city kids.  In the country there’s always work on the farm.  But in the city & suburbs we have thousands and thousands of idle kids.  Hanging around with noth’n to do; just look’n for trouble.

    Older workers, immigrants and debt-laden college graduates are taking away
    lower-skill work as they struggle to find their own jobs in the weak economy.

    Isn’t this the truth.  Have you ever been to a Wal-Mart where the greeter was under 50?  And now everywhere you go, every single stinking fast food place, sit-down restaurant, Target, Wal-Mart, grocery store, and nearly everywhere else has adult immigrants working there.  In the ’70s and ’80s these jobs were good (great) jobs for kids to get.  Two people I know very well worked at Jewel when they were in high school.  One put herself through college; the other bought a Camaro.

    With the new (unconstitutional) Obama plan on immigration the job market will now have another few million young people who are eligible to work … but will struggle to find decent employment.  It serves no one when you just set people up to fail.

    Upper-income white teens are three times as likely to have summer jobs as poor black teens….

    This is what I wrote yesterday; inner city kids are going to be one of the biggest losers in the immigration debacle.  Contrary to what some people believe, one cannot just walk into a job that pays $100,000 per year.  Everyone has to start somewhere.  Usually that means that kids bus tables at a local restaurant, caddie, work retail, mow lawns, wash cars, whatever.  These jobs are important because they teach critical lessons necessary to move up in the world: show-up on time, look nice, smile, how to deal with conflict, how to deal with a boss, etc.  You can’t just wake-up one day and think you’re going to get a job as a banker without having decent people skills.

    Obama is dooming generations of inner city kids to lives of and on government sustenance.  These kids will never reach their full potential because they have so many factors stacked against them: poor educational systems, uneducated parents, no access to jobs, and a president who’s bargained their futures for political gain.

  • MAP: CTA Trains and Drug Arrests

    This is from Windy Citizen, I wish I could find a story to go with it but someone just sent me the link to the map.

  • The ‘Wild, Wild Midwest’

    The city’s murder rate is quadruple New York City’s. Homicides since 2001 total twice the number of U.S. military personnel killed in Afghanistan in the same period. Police have moved to reduce the carnage, but activists say gun use must be reined in—and they will stage a peacemakers’ rally on Friday.

    via The Daily Beast.

    We’re making national headlines on a regular basis now.  In the meantime Rahm and The Machine that run this town are still telling everyone that crime is down.  The local news media is fully complicit with the ongoing lie.

    It’s like they’re all Frank Drebin:

    [youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5NNOrp_83RU?rel=0]

  • Obama’s Hand Forced on Illegal Immigration Issue

    Yesterday, a/k/a Thursday:

    U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the agency charged with guarding the U.S. borders, has written a secret draft policy that would let its agents catch and release low-priority illegal immigrants rather than bring them in for processing and prosecution.

    The policy, which has not been signed off on, would be the latest move by the Obama administration to set new priorities for the nation’s immigration services, and would bring CBP in line with other Homeland Security Department agencies that already use such “prosecutorial discretion.”

    via Washington Times.

    Today, a/k/a Friday:

    For years the administration had said it didn’t have the authority to make such a move, saying it couldn’t decide to stop deporting wide categories of people on its own without approval from Congress.

    But on Friday President Obama says administration now interprets the law to give it the discretion.

    “Effective immediately, the Department of Homeland Security is taking steps to lift the shadow of deportation from these young people,” Mr. Obama said in an appearance in the White House Rose Garden. “Over the next few months, eligible individuals who do not present a risk to national security or public safety will be able to request temporary relief from deportation proceedings and apply for work authorization.”

    via Washington Times.

    Looks to me like the Washington Times was doing some journalism — printing something that someone did not want printed — and may have forced the issue.  Obama may have wanted to hold this under his hat for a few more days, weeks, or months.  Although slipping in the polls (and needed the Latino vote) a Friday afternoon may not be the best time to announce this program.  He’s going to get torn apart on the Sunday morning shows.

    How do we know this is going to backfire?  Because even the MSM can’t help but call it what it is; from the AP:

    The Obama administration will stop deporting and begin granting work permits to younger illegal immigrants who came to the U.S. as children and have since led law-abiding lives. The election-year initiative addresses a top priority of an influential Latino electorate that has been vocal in its opposition to administration deportation policies.

    via Deseret News.

    It’s simple pandering. Obama will let your families stay in the country as long as you get him reelected.

    The biggest losers here are of course those who are those who happen to be poor, uneducated.  It’s not a stretch to say that most Latino illegal immigrants are not college educated; but they are willing to work.  The jobs they take come directly at the expense of American citizens who should get priority over someone who’s not even supposed to be here.

    Further, the financial impact of hiring Latinos — who send massive amounts of money home — instead of American citizens — who would spend nearly all the money here in the U.S. — is staggering.

    Lastly, we live in a country with three branches of government.  One cannot overstep the other.  This action today is most likely illegal and will end up being settled by the courts well after the election.  Obama, a former constitutional law professor, knows this.  But he doesn’t care.

    This is all about his winning in November.

  • Indicted Derrick Smith to Host Legal Clinic

    Derrick Smith, the indicted Near West Side state rep accused of accepting a $7,000 bribe, is organizing an event for locals who might need legal help of their own.

    In the first publically organized event for his 10th District constituents since being arrested and indicted on bribery charges in March, Smith is offering a free legal clinic at his West Side office, 2532A W. Warren Blvd., on Saturday, July 21 from 10 a.m. until 1 p.m.

    via Chicago Journal.

    Laughable until ya think about it for a moment…

    Derrick is facing a massive legal defense bill; one that he probably cannot afford to pay.  But he can leverage his office and invite a bunch of lawyers to come and hear about some new cases.  The lawyers get some fresh cases and will contribute a little something something to Derrick’s legal defense fund.

    There’s no corruption problem and a little more corruption cannot solve.

  • Personal Safety Demonstrated by Two Cases

    Two different stories in the papers recently on the same day (April 25, 2012.)

    The first:

    For nine years the “teardrop” rapist was one of Los Angeles’ most prolific serial predators, preying on women from Melrose Avenue to Manchester Boulevard.

    The assailant, sometimes described as having a teardrop tattoo below one of his eyes, targeted girls and women walking alone in the early-morning hours. He would force them into a secluded area at the point of a gun or knife before raping or sexually assaulting them.

    via L.A. Times.

    And then there’s this:

    Authorities in Georgia say a grandmother foiled a robbery attempt by two armed men by getting into a shootout with them, injuring one man.

    Police told The Telegraph that Lulu Campbell just dropped off her grandson at her daughter’s house early Saturday morning when someone demanded money outside her car, threatening to shoot her.

    “(The suspect) shouted, ‘Give me the (blanking) money and open the (blanking) door!’” Campbell told The Telegraph, describing her ordeal. “I said, ‘Oh my God, somebody is going to rob me.’ I said, ‘Baby, you’re going to kill me anyway, so I don’t have to open it!’”

    Campbell says the man fired at her, missing. The 57-year-old fired back, striking him in the chest. Her truck sustained eight bullet holes in the hood, one in the grill. Both front side windows were destroyed. The second man fled after she shot at him.

    “I thought that the only way to protect myself was to run him down,” she told The Telegraph. “Otherwise, he would have gotten away.”

    via CBS Atlanta.

    Note the differences:

    In LA, much like Chicago, people are not allowed to carry guns for their own personal protection.  And in our LA story, we have young fully able bodied “girls and women” are a serially sexually assaulted by some piece of scum while walking along city sidewalks.  Running away could not save them.  Yelling for help could not save them.  The police could not save them.

    In Macon Georgia, where people enjoy their Second Amendment rights, a 57 year-old woman was able to defend herself against not one but two stone cold criminals.  Grandma didn’t need to run, in fact she was trapped inside her car!  Grandma didn’t yell for help.  Grandma wasn’t helpless until the police showed up to survey the damage.  Grandma had a gun.

  • Protests

    Story:

    Protesters throw fence on police 5:43 p.m.

    Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy, dressed in his white uniform and wearing sunglasses, has appeared behind the thick line of police in riot gear.

    The police are facing off with protesters at the corner of Michigan Avenue and Cermak. A large crowd of protesters is gathered in the street on Cermak.

    Police and protesters are nose to nose, pushing at each other. Some protesters fall when police shove them with batons held horizontally in both hands. Periodically, police pull a protester out and take them away.

    At one point, protesters facing the police threw a section of metal street barricade on top of the line of police, who caught it with their hands and passed it back through the line of cops.

    via Chicago Tribune.

    And either a differing account or a wholly new event:

    Pizza proprietors fail to ride NATO summit wave 7:21 p.m.

    The four operators of Papa John’s Pizza, 80 E. Cermak Road, watched from their closed storefront window as the bloody skirmishes took place outside.

    “I had as good a front row view as anybody,” said Steve Feldberg, one of the operating partners.

    The pizza proprietors originally decided to stay open during the NATO summit weekend in hopes of picking up extra delivery business from customers who didn’t want to leave their homes.

    That turned out not to be the case, and sales lagged below expectations, he said. Just before noon Sunday morning, they made the decision to send staff home and close for the rest of the day, citing safety concerns.

    “We could just tell what was coming,” Feldberg said.

    He and his colleagues decided to stick around out of curiosity. At one point, the group watched as protestors wielded a barrier fence above their heads and started trying to throw it toward his store.

    “We were all watching it as it happened,” Feldberg said. “There was nothing we could do.”

    Police were able to take control of the fence and pass it safely to the rear of their flank.

    via Chicago Tribune.

    Whether this is one incident or two there can be no doubt as to a few facts:  The protesters tried to hurl a section of a metal fence at someone, & this is not the kind of non-violent action the protesters claim to be all about.

  • Stripping Chicago Spending, Bare Down

    “What do a Chicago strip club
    and the President’s campaign fund have in common?    ”

    ANSWER:  BOTH were paid- with public funds- as “VENDORS” to the City of Chicago.
    _______________________________________

    Yesterday, OpenTheBooks.com upgraded it’s transparency portal to include the City of Chicago checkbook from 2002-2011.

    It contains $74 billion in vendor payments. Last year 69,800 entities received checks.

    Here’s what I found while scanning the data…

    The City of Chicago approved checks to both The Admiral Theatre Inc, a Chicago strip club, and Obama For America, the president’s campaign organization. According to data received, both share the same “vendor code.”  Yet, neither organization exists in Chicago’s current transparency portal: click here and here.

     

    The Admiral Theatre strip club received $5,197.78 in City of Chicago checks. Sixteen checks range from $1.20 to $1,900. A buck twenty?

    See a database of City payments to The Admiral here.

     

    The check to Obama for America raises more questions. The campaign received a $1,000 check on August 28th, 2007. For some reason, theydidn’t disclose this to the Federal Election Commission: click here, and Open Secrets- here.

    Click here for my Freedom of Information Act Request seeking more information. See the detailed accounting data surrounding the check: vendor code, transaction id, PO#, fund, department, amount, check number, and date.

     

    Surely, the City will have some sort of explanation. Because, public funds used for campaign purposes violates federal and state law. And, we know that no Illinois or city worker would ever violate those laws, right?

     

    The City has five days to respond to our request for additional information. I can barely wait for the naked truth.

    You can search for yourself at www.openthebooks.com

    Sincerely,

    ADAM ANDRZEJEWSKI
    Chairman | For The Good of Illinois PAC

     

  • FYI, You CAN Cheat on Your Property Taxes

    Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle and Assessor Joe Berrios on Tuesday urged state lawmakers to give them more power to go after property owners who improperly claim tax breaks, saying they could recover more than $150 million in three years with the new authority.

    Under legislation pending in Springfield, counties could go after back taxes from people who have wrongly received homestead exemptions. The tax break should only be applied to a property owner’s primary residence, but people often also claim it for rental properties, vacation homes and secondary residences. Other property owners get inappropriate property tax reductions for being a senior citizen, disabled person or disabled veteran.

    People who claimed multiple improper homestead exemptions also would be fined a percentage of their unpaid taxes, and the county could place liens on the properties to try to compel property owners to pay up.

    via Chicago Tribune.

    Wha?!

    So let me get this straight… right now, I could file for a homestead and senior freeze exemptions on properties I own but don’t live at and despite the fact that I’m not a senior?

    How stupid are the politicians in Springfield?  They grant all these exemptions but provide no way to enforce them.  This would be funny if not so sad.

    Of course, there is someone who can do something about it; two in fact.  Both women… both lawyers… both elected to put bad people — like people who lie on government documents — in jail and fine them.

    So rather than pushing for new laws, why doesn’t the county just ask Anita Alvarez to file charges against these people?  And if she’s too busy, Lisa Madigan could take some of the cases.

    Of course both Alvarez and Madigan are too busy doing nothing.
    So instead Preckwinkle and Berrios are asking for another new law so they can hire more government workers to police this new law.

    $50 million a year in new revenue… $50 million a year in new expenses for staff and pensions.  The taxpayer will end up with nothing.

  • Chicago Aldermen: White Collar Criminals

    An analysis of pension fund documents for 21 aldermen who retired under the plan shows they are in line to receive nearly $58 million during their expected lifetimes, though contributions and assumed investment returns are predicted to cover just $19 million, or a third of that sum.

    The pension deal was inked more than two decades ago, but the costs began to kick in recently. Most of the 21 aldermen in the Tribune/WGN-TV analysis have retired within the past five years, and there are 53 more in the pipeline.

    Former Ald. Thomas Allen is a prime example. After retiring from the City Council in 2010 at age 58, Allen went on to become a Circuit Court judge while also collecting roughly $90,000 a year from his city pension. During his lifetime, he stands to receive more than $4.2 million in benefits, though contributions and assumed investment returns are expected to cover only $1 million.

    via Chicago Tribune.

    We’re doomed.  Chicago will not be able to sustain itself under this kind of dead weight.  The taxpayers are going to be asked to provide more and more payments for services they will not receive.

    Glad the Tribune is on the story now… but where has it been for the last 20 years?  Where’s the Sun-Times (the “Bright One”) on this?

    We’re going bankrupt and no one cares.