Weekend Quotables
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Weekend Quotables
Chicago weekend shootings compared to Memorial Day weekend, 2022....
Most shootings in 8 years
2022 gave us the most violent Memorial Day weekend in five years 9 killed, 42 wounded — despite stepped-up police patrols and a focus on neighborhood programs that city officials hoped would provide peaceful alternatives. About half of those shot were on the West Side, most of them in a single police district where there were two mass shootings.
This weekend there were a reported 11 killed and 50 wounded. This, once again, despite stepped-up police patrols and the largest ever use of state and non-profit groups of civilian violence interrupters patrolling city neighborhoods.
In other words, the deadly numbers were the highest in eight years. Why would you expect anything less?
My Takeaways…
Conditions of life for Chicago’s young people and families, especially Black and Latino, living in the city’s most isolated and concentrated areas of poverty, have not changed.
City, state, and federal authorities and lawmakers are still
allowingfacilitating the easy flow of guns into city neighborhoods.The increased police presence downtown, on the beaches, on the trains, and in the communities has little or no impact on gun violence. That’s because — as many of us have pointed out over the past few years — police don’t prevent violence but come into play after the fact. The latest and best example is the two days of youth violence at North Avenue Beach where shooting began even while cops were visibly on the scene.
Big city mayors, especially Black mayors like Brandon Johnson and his predecessor Lori Lightfoot, along with Black and progressive prosecutors, will continue to be blamed for the rise in urban gun violence and crime which are driven by factors over which they have little control.
Weekend Quotables
Gov. Ron DeSantis
“I will serve two terms, and I will be able to destroy leftism in this country.” — Fox News
Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., a Congressional Progressive Caucus member, said Sunday that a "large majority" of House Democrats are "in flux" on whether they will support the deal which reportedly will cause cuts to the SNAP program, including food supports for the poorest Americans. — NBC News
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Kissinger’s 100th birthday
Much of the world reviles Kissinger. The former secretary of state even avoids visiting several countries out of fear that he might be apprehended and charged with war crimes. — Guardian
Kissinger’s Bloody Legacy
The dark side of Kissinger’s tradecraft left a deep stain on vast quarters of the globe—and on America’s reputation. — Slate
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Robert Reich
Republican attacks on trans people smack of fascism. — Guardian
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Roger Waters, anti-fascist rocker
The 79-year-old said aspects of his performance at Berlin's Mercedes-Benz Arena that have been questioned were "quite clearly" a statement against fascism, injustice, and bigotry. "Attempts to portray those elements as something else are disingenuous and politically motivated." — Reuters
Flannery’s exit
It was sad to see retiring Fox 32 reporter, Mike Flannery, the "dean of Chicago political reporters" go out on WTTW’s Chicago Week in Review with such a shameless defense [Starts at 17.30] of Cardinal Cupich and the Archdiocese after Attorney General Kwame Raoul revealed that hundreds of priests had sexually abused 2000 Illinois children and that the Archdiocese engaged in another cover-up.
Flannery called the Chicago Archdiocese “a pioneer” in confronting the scandal. What a load of crap.
In an S-T interview with Fran Spielman, Flannery also couldn’t restrain himself from taking a final poke at Lori Lightfoot and having nothing but praise for the departed Rahm Emanuel. Remember, it was Cupich and Rahm who teamed up to bring school vouchers to Chicago as part of a plan to pay Catholic school tuition with public funds to give the Archdiocese a string of charter schools.
“I’ll tell you this: The business community misses him. I do think Brandon Johnson could benefit from talking to him. I hope they have talked — particularly with this new committee Mayor Johnson has created to try to find $800 million in taxes that the business community would go along with,” Flannery said.
I hope Johnson has better folks to consult with than Mayor 1%.