I wonder if it’s possible to actually get “Blue In the Face” trying to make a point. Chicago over the weekend finally admitted to over 700 HOMICIDES. I say finally admitted because the Cook County Medical Examiner, actually puts Chicago’s count at 721 homicides REACHED ABOUT TWO WEEKS AGO. I’m guessing if the entire Cook County totals were ever released lots of people would probably soil themselves upon hearing the truthful numbers. But hey it’s what politicians do, they obfuscate and try to mislead people rather than dispense with the horrors that truth sometimes reveals. One major paper in Chicago actually comes right out and says they themselves do not count some homicides because “WELL I GUESS THEY KNOW MORE THAN THE MEDICAL EXAMINER.” Hell why even have one IF the people who run the newspapers have the true numbers.

Since Mayor Lightfoot has been in office (20 May 2019 thru 22 November 2020) a shocking 890 souls have been murdered in Chicago and over 4,770 have been wounded. Letting that sink in becomes a bit frightening to anyone who really gives a damn. 5,560 people were targeted for death.  Over 90% of the mayhem of course is the work of Chicago’s Gang factions.  Early Saturday morning at 2:30 AM 6 people were shot down by thugs who decided they need to be killed. Think about those 6 folks among many more gathering on a sidewalk at 2:30 am, was it late Vespers? a meeting of the local block captains? one thing for sure none were worried too much about old Governor Pritzker or Mayor Lightfoot’s edicts on gatherings. Hell! remember the virus? a person could get infected by joining groups in large numbers.

That mass shooting was Chicago’s 54th Mass shooting in 2020. It was covered on page 22 of one local paper and no page on the other. Just another violent weekend in Chicago “HO HUM”. It ended with 53 people shot and 6 more murdered. There are no urgent press conferences or calls for  BLUE Ribbon committees or for that matter, White ribbons or Brown or Black ribbons, it seems to be a no RIBBON issue.

Back in June of 2019, the new Mayor Lightfoot decided she was going to strike a blow against the gangs. She announced that she was going to expand the Library Hours in Chicago so that the “CHILDREN” would avail themselves of books and the benefits a library brings to a community. Most of us veteran cops and retired Law Enforcement folks were a bit stunned, but hey personally I had 33 years of experience on Chicago’s streets.  If she wanted to think that the Gangs were suddenly going to storm the libraries and read the classics it wouldn’t take long for her, a very bright person, to see the folly in that strategy.

That was the first of many strategies she has since either forced or suggested to the two Top Cops she held sway over (they both were on BREAK WHEN THE GOOD LORD DISPENSED WITH SPINES) the latest one was to disband the Narcotics units and the Organized Crime units that were at the forefront in fighting the gangs on Chicago’s streets. She actually thought their time could be better served in the community neighborhood safety programs, developed so the officer’s time would be spent gaining the trust of the community.

It would not take a genius to understand that the gangs run those neighborhoods and even if the community members trusted the cops and made nice every single day, those folks live in those gang-infested neighborhoods, and no amount of trust with cops was going to make them inform, testify, flip or roll with the police when their lives and the lives of their families and loved ones are in grave danger. Gang retaliation is swift and brutal and it plays out numerous times in the City Neighborhoods.

The newest strategy by the Mayor and the spineless City Council seems to be silence. It’s all Virus threats and ways to meet and stem the decaying City budget and the devastating blows to Chicago’s quickly sinking economy. Make no mistake they should be addressed with vigor. My question is what about the violence, hear the crickets? It’s not only the killings and shooting, but armed carjackings are also at unprecedented heights, never seen before in the City’s history.

I was astonished this morning when I read a front-page article calling attention to the 50% increase in “BICYCLE THEFTS.” Geez, at least 176% hike in Armed Carjackings but Bicycles got the headline. I just checked my face. It’s not blue, but it does take on a slight blush red. It’s called anger. Lightfoot and the Top Cop and the City’s Politicians need to follow and old Marine Axium— “LEAD-FOLLOW-OR GET THE HELL OUT OF THE WAY.: Chicago is one dangerous place and nothing is being done about it. “THE SILENCE OF THE TURKEYS.” Sooner or later other folks are going to get mad and maybe Blue in the Face.