Thoughts & Musings
NSA to Spy on Everyone… Everyone.
Under construction by contractors with top-secret clearances, the blandly named Utah Data Center is being built for the National Security Agency. A project of immense secrecy, it is the final piece in a complex puzzle assembled over the past decade. Its purpose: to...
Cell Carriers Asked for Your Data
In the first public accounting of its kind, cellphone carriers reported that they responded to a startling 1.3 million demands for subscriber information last year from law enforcement agencies seeking text messages, caller locations and other information in the...
Dick Morris on Obama’s Motivations
There's something too this: [youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LdTyUvY66Mw?rel=0] There is a similar situation going on with gun control in the states. The argument is always"we need the federal government to control all guns because they travel from state to...
Gotta Love American Ingenuity (& Tax Avoidance)
So I'm reading two stories (here and here) about a new law that will effectively outlaw Roll-Your-Own tobacco stores. It's something I kinda follow because I always thought it was a decent business model (until the government outlaws your business) and another fine...
More And More Americans Are Leaving
Last year, nearly 1,800 Americans surrendered their citizenship. In a nation of 300 million folks, 1,800 émigrés is hardly a rush for the exits. But the recent trend is, nevertheless, intriguing. ... Who knows the exact reason why 1,800 Americans chose to leave last...
Give a Lamb a Gun
Herman Cain has a new website complete with video. My first as so far favorite video is entitled Give a Lamb a Gun. It's a priceless quote from Benjamin Franklin. The video is under 2 minutes... go check it out.
Less Cops = Less (Reported) Crime
In the city’s most violent districts, police officers say, they may be assigned half a dozen jobs or more—covering everything from traffic accidents to assaults—at the start of a shift. Their watches are spent racing from call to call, while anything that requires...
CPS To Raise Property Taxes The Maximum
For the second year in a row, Chicago Public School officials under Mayor Rahm Emanuel will raise property taxes for schools to the maximum allowed by law, yielding the cash-strapped system $41 million. The 1.5 percent increase should cost the average homeowner $28 a...
Obama Must Speak Out on Chicago Carnage
Headline: Obama Must Speak Out on Chicago Carnage That Kills Too Many Kids via The Daily Beast. The story in generally not worth reading. But my comment is: Chicago has the most restrictive gun control laws in the country. What's needed is not any new laws but...
Muslims Attack Christians in Dearborn MI
Very bizarre behavior on the part of the young Muslims. Very bizarre behavior on the part of the local police. The whole thing is very disturbing. I frankly don't know what to make of it. [youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vnJBW49afzg?rel=0]
Bankrupt Stockton Chicago
Yesterday's news: Officials in Stockton said Tuesday that mediation with creditors has failed, meaning the Central California city is set to become the largest American city ever to declare bankruptcy. ... The river port city of 290,000 in Central California has seen...
More Bad News on the Pension Crisis
If I was Rahm I would so totally throw Daley under the bus on this issue. The debt from 10 Chicago-area pension plans swelled more than 600 percent to $27.4 billion between 2001 and 2010, according to a study released Monday by the nonpartisan Civic Federation. That's...
Police Boss: No Emergency = No Police
As Chicago police Superintendent Garry McCarthy tries to streamline the way his department fights violent crime, he is stepping up his potentially controversial plan to reduce his officers' load of 911 calls. Facing heat over a surge in homicides as he enters his...
Compstat
I can't believe that I have not already written a post on Compstat but I can't find anything. Grrrrrr!! Ok so, for those that don't know Compstat is a system of policing accountability which originated in New York with the NYPD. And in case you don't know Garry...
Robber Armed with 2-by-4 on West Side (Rahm demands lumber registry)
A police alert warns Lawndale residents about a robber who threatens and beats his victims with a 2-by-4. ... The robber was described as a black man with a dark complexion, between 5-foot-9 and 5-foot-11, weighing 150 to 160 pounds. He was last seen wearing a...
Emanuel Plans Changes to City’s Gun Law
A few days ago... Mayor Rahm Emanuel wants to rewrite Chicago's firearm ordinance in response to a ruling by a federal judge who struck down a section of the city's law he called vague and unconstitutional. ... Last week, U.S. District Judge Samuel Der-Yeghiayan...
Fighting Crime The Chicago Way!
CeaseFire Illinois, a group that works against violence, is being recruited by the city of Chicago as part of a pilot program to help reduce crime in two police districts, one on the West Side and the other on the South Side. ... The city will give the group a...
Chicago’s Suburbs Corrupt Too
A former Chicago alderman is pushing for the creation of a suburban inspector general’s office to thwart corruption in the 1,200-plus government agencies spread throughout the suburban landscape. In a report released Monday, Dick Simpson, a former alderman and current...
Obama Campaign Shuts Down Website
Hagmann, CEO of Hagmann Investigative Services, Inc., a private investigative agency serving a roster of Fortune 500 clients, was given 48 hours by GoDaddy to find a new home for his website before it was deleted. Hagmann was told the reason for the shut down was...
Highest Gun Sales States
The Daily Beast has some interesting data on which states have the highest rate of gun sales per 100k folks. It's safe to say that Illinois is not on the list.