Rahm's Republican rantings, mercenary out-of-town hirelings, and B Movie Hollywood propaganda scripts leaving Chicago deadlier than ever
For all the talk of "accountability" the comes from the right wingers who push things like corporate "school reform," when the buck stops at their own door, conservatives like Rahm Emanuel try to push it as far away as possible, even when the whole world can see the evidence that their own policies are part of the growing problem and not the solution they continue to proclaim through their extensive publicity stunts.
As the international media continues to cover Chicago's drug gang murders -- and the innocent bystanders who die in the gunplay -- Chicago police and City Hall have begun announcing what the police are doing against drugs. It's almost like a scene from "The Wire" as if "drugs on the table" will stop the flow of headlines about how under Rahm Emanuel Chicago is bringing back its reputation as Murder Capital of the USA. By February 1, 2013, the Financial Times (the "pink paper" that Rahm reportedly hated during his times at the White House) was reporting on Chicago. "Death toll rises as guns flood into Chicago despite controls," the February 1 headline read.
The Financial Times article followed three stories in a week (including a front page story) in The New York Times and regular reports in The Wall Street Journal. But unlike Chicago's compliant corporate press, the international reporters now paying attention to Rahm Emanuel's Chicago are asking questions that seem off limits for Chicago papers. Chicago's degenerate reporting may be personified by the Chicago Sun-Times, now owned by hedge fund guys who are friends of Rahm and have decided to feature regular Op Ed commentaries by millionaires like Bruce Rauner and Eden Martin. The Sun-Times seems to believe there is a Pulitzer Prize for featuring phoitographs of Chicago's mayor -- it has featured an average of two photographs of Emanuel per day on its front pages over the past 12 months...
The Financial Times story featured local reporting that did not begin with the shooting death of Hadiya Pendleton, the King High School sophomore who had just performed at the inauguration of President Obama. Instead, the Financial Times wrapped its story around the murder two weeks earlier of Morgan Park High School student Tyrone Lawson. And the story noted that the number of young people murdered in Chicago has become routine, and that Chicago has a memorial listing many of them: "Across the block from Kids Off the Block lies a wooden memorial that Diane Latiker, the organization's founder, built for young victims of gun violence. Launched in 2007, it now holds 376 stone memorials. Ms. Latiker said she would rebuild the memorial for the 10th time this spring, to accommodate another 150 victims..."
The problem has been around for decades because since the current drug gangs were formed in the 1950s and 1960s, their alliances with the city's political and economic leaders has allowed them to flourish in an environment that encourages the kind of ruthless "Race To The Top" capitalism espoused by Emanuel. The difference is that the drug gangs carve out market share using guns, until they become powerful enough to diversify into the kinds of innovative mainstream investment incubations being preached by Emanuel and his ilk.
But the leadership of the police department (and outsider from Newark) and the mayor (Rahm Emanuel, who got himself elected less than a year after leaving his job as White House Chief of Staff) have really added to the problem at the street and community level, according to people everywhere in Chicago. Emanuel's basic philosophy, which police call "government by press release," includes constant repetition of the claim that government could do more and more without raising taxes or paying for it.
By the time Emanuel had been in power one year, he had claimed not to have raised taxes (in fact, he had, via the Chicago Board of Eduction) and continued to claim that the best people to run Chicago's main public service agencies come from outside of Chicago. Barbara Byrd Bennett, most recently from Detroit, is the second Chicago schools "Chief Executive Officer" since Emanuel's May 2011 inauguration. Jean-Claude Brizard, from Rochester, was the first. Gerry McCarthy, from Newark, New Jersey, has been Chicago police chief since May 2011. And Chicago's library chief came from California.
All three agencies, the main contacts between government and the streets and communities, were under attack from the moment Emanuel took office, and began talking as if "efficiencies" in spending could do the work that has to be done on the streets (the police) and in the communities (the schools and public libraries). When Emanuel's murder rate continued to climb in January 2013 and the world began paying attention after the murder of a King High School student, Emanuel at first tried to continue business-as-usual, then went into massive public relations mode, even going so far as to bring a tear to his own eye during one media event.
The trouble is, Emanuel at the same time continued to spout the philosophy of government that has made the problem worse in the same short period of time when he has been responsible. Instead of hiring more police officers, Emanuel continues to talk about "efficiences," as if cutting brings services. The most recent quotes reflecting Emanuel's basic philosophy came days before the Pendleton funeral. A Republican philosophy of government and governance -- which basically views teachers, police officers, and librarians as a negative -- and "expense" -- makes Emanuel's ideology no different from that of Republican ideologues like Grover Nordquist, one of Emanuel's spiritual fathers.
So Emanuel has ordered Chicago Police Department to continue highlighting drug arrests, while even a $40,000 reward hasn't produced an arrest of the person who did the Pendleton shooting.
A February 3, 2013 CPD press release reported accurately on a major series of drug arrests:
Chicago Police Arrest Dozens of Gang Members Citywide in Drug Takedowns. Narcotics Investigations Dismantle Gang-Controlled Drug Markets Associated with Violence
CHICAGO – Chicago Police arrested 43 offenders and seized drugs with an estimated street value of $23,000 as a result of three narcotics investigations focused on gang-controlled drug markets in the Wentworth (002), Grand Crossing (003), and Rogers Park (024) Districts. The investigations were initiated in response to recent occurrences of violent crime in the area and eradicated entrenched drug markets primarily operated by Gangster Disciples in susceptible communities.
“These investigations are targeting the gang and narcotics activity that are the root cause of the violence affecting too many of our communities,” said Superintendent Garry F. McCarthy. “Everyday our officers are on the street going after gangs, guns and drugs, and we will continue to do so to make this a safer city for everyone,” he added.
On Thursday, Narcotics Division Team B-5 arrested 12 of 16 targets who were identified in connection with a gang-controlled drug market operating in the area of 63rd and Martin Luther King Drive in the Grand Crossing (3rd) District. Police officers in a covert capacity made numerous controlled purchases of narcotics from gang members and executed three search warrants over the course of the investigation. As a result, heroin, cannabis, and crack cocaine with an overall estimated street value of more than $10,000 was seized along with nearly $4,100 of illegal monies. The offenders were charged with delivery of a controlled substance offenses.
Also on Thursday, results culminated in an investigation initiated by Narcotics Division Squad A-4 in response to narcotics-associated violence in the area of 1500 block of W. Morse in the Rogers Park (24th) District. The mission identified 20 targets in connection with drug sales in the neighborhood, and officers were able to place 12 of the offender into custody with charges of delivery of a controlled substance. Additionally, quantities of heroin, cannabis, and crack cocaine were seized with an estimated street value of nearly $8,000. Two vehicles and cash involved in the illegal operation also were seized.
A third narcotics mission initiated by Squad A-1 took place in the Wentworth (2nd) District on Friday and focused on the area in and around 43rd and Cottage Grove. The overall investigative efforts, which included two search warrants, yielded heroin, cannabis, and crack cocaine estimated to have an approximate street value of more than $5,000. Of the 23 identified targets, 19 were placed into custody and processed with various charges of possession and delivery of a controlled substance. One vehicle and cash involved in the illegal operation also were seized.
Chicago Police continue to seek remaining targets identified in these investigations.
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Chicago Police Department
Office of News Affairs
(312) 745-6110
Fax (312) 745-6999
By: John Kugler
Rahm the jokehead
The amounts of drugs and money siezed vs. resourses put into the busts is ridiculus. Instead, all those resources should have been used to solve some of hundreds of unsolved murders in the city. Rahm has so mismanaged our city to not even understand that the show is over for him and his carpetbagger friends.