Monday, September 25, 2023

3 killed, including an 86-year-old man, and at least 26 other wounded in Chicago over weekend

"The Purge Law" is here in Illinois. 

What is formally known as the SAFE-T Act went into force, well if you want to call it that, Monday. 

And guess what? Crime is not going down. 

Over the first weekend of The Purge, three people were shot to death in Chicago, including an 86-year-old man, who went to retrieve something out of his truck. Thugs fatally shot him and they stole his vehicle. The victim, Charles Hobson Sr., had lived in his South Side home for 60 years.

And there were 26 others wounded over the weekend in the city.

Related post of mine at Da Tech Guy:

Droogs’ paradise: Rough first week for the “Purge Law” in Illinois

Saturday, September 23, 2023

Raspberries: "Go All the Way" on the Mike Douglas Show in 1974

Despite having John Lennon and Yoko Ono as co-hosts in 1972, the Mike Douglas Show was about as hip as a cardigan sweater. 

Still, Douglas had the Raspberries perform their best-known song,
"Go All the Way," two years later.

The Raspberries never got their due from rock's elite critics. Dismissed as bubblegum in the early 1970s, the Eric Carmen-led group, along with Badfinger, pioneered the Power Pop genre of the 1970s.

Friday, September 22, 2023

Joe Biden is ‘coming apart before our eyes’

The spin from of Joe Biden's fastball, which never was any good, is long gone.

Dem senator Menendez and wife indicted on bribery charges

Isn't there a former senator from the same part of the country who is likely a longtime influence peddler?

Some guy from Delaware?

Oh, meanwhile in New Jersey, from CNBC:

U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez of New Jersey and his wife Nadine have been indicted in New York on federal bribery charges related to their allegedly “corrupt relationship” three businessmen from their home state to protect those men and benefit the nation of Egypt. 

The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Manhattan has scheduled a press conference for 11 a.m. ET Friday to discuss the indictment, which also charges the three businessmen: Wael Hana, Jose Uribe and Fred Daibes. 

The indictment says that the Democrat Menendez and his wife from at least 2018 through 2022 accepted “hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes in exchange for using Menendez’s power and influence as Senator” to benefit the men and Egypt. 

“Those bribes included cash, gold, payments toward a home mortgage, compensation for a low-or-no-who job, a luxury vehicle, and other things of value,” according to the indictment issued by a grand jury in Manhattan federal court.
Six years ago Menendez beat federal corruption charges because of a hung jury.

Menendez has been a senator for 17 years.

Term limits anyone?

Wednesday, September 20, 2023

Illinois' purge law: First person released under no-cash bail law allegedly attacked four cops with pepper spray

A suburban woman, Esmeralda Aguilar, who was in downtown Chicago early Sunday morning to celebrate Mexican Independence Day, allegedly sprayed four police officers with pepper spray. 

She is the first person booked in Cook County under the SAFE-T Act, which eliminates cash bail in Illinois. Judges have two choices for criminal defendants. Lock them up with no bail or set them free as they await a trial date. 

Aguilar was set free. 

According to CWB Chicago, Aguilar has been charged "with four counts of aggravated battery against a police officer."

Let "the purge" begin.

Monday, September 18, 2023

Destined to fail: Chicago considering city-owned grocery store

Chicago can't adequately protect its citizens from crime, nor can it maintain its streets and sidewalks. 

It will fail miserably as a grocer.

From Fox Business:

Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson announced last week that his administration is exploring a city-owned grocery store as a means of promoting "equitable" access to food, though the plan has drawn criticism from skeptics of a government owned and operated store.
Chicago would become the first major U.S. city to implement a municipally owned grocery store to address food inequity if the proposal advances, the mayor’s office said in a release. Johnson’s office said Wednesday that it’s working with the Economic Security Project, a non-profit group, on a feasibility study that "will help inform the Johnson administration’s emerging food retail strategy, which will receive input from experts, community leaders, and Chicago’s Food Equity Council."
"All Chicagoans deserve to live near convenient, affordable, healthy grocery options. We know access to grocery stores is already a challenge for many residents, especially on the South and West sides," Johnson said. "My administration is committed to advancing innovative, whole-of-government approaches to address these inequities. I am proud to work alongside partners to take this step in envisioning what a municipally owned grocery store in Chicago could look like."
The mayor’s office added that "Historic disinvestment has led to inequitable access to food retail across Chicago, and these existing inequities have been exacerbated as at least six grocery stores closed on the South and West sides over the past two years."
Big box grocer Walmart shuttered four stores this year, the retail behemoth, in announcing the closings, said in a statement as a group the stores never made money. Shoplifting, which Chicago and Cook County take a lackadaisical approach in enforcing, in largely blamed for that.

The idea of Chicago entering the supermarket business is so bad, only liberals think it's a good idea. It's destined to fail.