"Highly Impressed" by Rio

Gee, don't these people see anything wrong with any Olympic bid city?

• International Olympics officials finished up their tour of Rio de Janeiro as a potential host of the 2016 Summer Games on Saturday and offered the same sort of high praise they previously heaped on competitors Chicago and Tokyo.
  
  The 13-member International Olympic Committee evaluation commission wrapped up its tightly choreographed tour at a news conference where its chairwoman said the group was "highly impressed" with Rio, its presentations and its government support.
  
  "Everything we saw here so far is positive," said Nawal El Moutawakel, of Morocco.
  
  The Olympics commission visits the fourth finalist city, Madrid, next week.

At some point, shouldn't somebody say, "You know, this part of Chicago really sucked." Or "All those slum murders in Rio disturb us." We guess the bribe money wouldn't flow as fast and furious as it does if they bad mouthed a few of the bid cities.

So far we have the following:

• Chicago - "Strong"
• Tokyo - "Professional"
• Rio - "Highly impressed"

Madrid? We'll go out on a limb here and predict "Bullish," "Distinguished" or "Spanish."

"Goonings" Coverage

Or "wilding" if you prefer:

• Two gang-related incidents occurred in the Streeterville-River North area in little more than 24 hours.

  First, a mob of 11 allegedly admitted gang members - most in their teens - attacked two men shortly after 1 a.m. April 25 as they walked northbound in the 600 block of N. Michigan. The victims told police that the suspects asked if the victims were Latin Kings, to which the victims replied "no." The suspects then stated "This is G-D world" and "G-D Love" and surrounded the victims, threw the victims to the ground and struck the victims in the face and body. Both victims sustained minor lacerations and bruises. All of the suspects were apprehended at various locations in Streeterville, and all allegedly admitted they were members of the Gangster Disciples. One of the offenders - whose name is redacted in the police report because he is younger than 17 - allegedly stole one of the victim's cell phone.

  [...]

  The following morning, at 2:26 a.m., a vehicular hijacking occurred at a gas station in the 700 block of N. Wells. The first victim told police that four men confronted him and shouted "Latin Kings." The offenders then struck the victim in the face and body, followed by a beer bottle to the back of the victim's head. A second victim witnessed the beating from the car and went to assist the first victim. During this time, four other offenders jumped out of another car and struck both victims. The second victim managed to call police, at which time four of the offenders took the victims' car and fled southbound through the alley off Wells.

This is the only media coverage we've seen on either event and we had to have a reader locate it and send it to us. Way to go Chicago media! Daley must be proud.

Real Madrid 2 Barcelona 6

CRONICA DEL PARTIDO
GOLES DEL PARTIDO
EL KARMA DEL CHORREO (BALON EUROPEO)
TRISTELME EN LA HINCHADA DEL MADRID (TRISTELME 2.0)
POSTALES DE UNA HUMILLACION (CHARLA TECNICA)

National Spotlight on J-Fed

And it isn't pretty:

• When the Mayor of Chicago asked how he could possibly justify giving his new police chief an annual salary of $300,000, the mayor said you have to spend big if you want the best. A year later, lots of folks are asking some tough questions about whether or not the “best” choice is providing value for dollars spent. Chicago homicides, shootings, and other violent crime are all up. Arrests, gun recoveries, and other hard indicators of police activity are all down.

  When Chicago Police Supt. Jody Weis took the job and promised results, this isn't exactly what city officials, community leaders, and the city’s cops had in mind. “He’s made mistakes. This is the residual effect of that. He’s got good intentions. But it’s hard to see anything positive about his reign,” Police Committee Chairman Isaac Carothers told the Chicago Sun Times in a recent interview.

The entire article is about eight paragraphs long and is pretty much a summary of everything the media has been covering for the past year. Shortshanks has to be aware of what's being whispered in municipal governments across the country - he made a mistake. The only positive that might come out of this entire event is that other city governments that are thinking about hiring Feebs to run local law enforcement are going to think twice.

St. Jude March

Someone started a rumor that parking would be full boat due to Pam Zekman's reports. It's not true.

And as in years past, some people are calling for a boycott.

We'll let everyone's conscience be their guide. We've voiced our objections to moving the march out of the public view for years now.

But the fact remains, we march for our dead. We don't do it for the politicians, we don't do it for the bosses, we don't do it for any other reason except that there are those of us who once walked the Thin Blue Line. And now, they can't, because they were stolen from us as surely as they were stolen from their families.

We march for those who can't march any more.

Aaaaaaaaaaaah!!!

We don't know.

A retractable, "after market" add-on 1,353 feet above the pavement?

Portability Ruling?

Someone want to explain this one?

• The Lodge was recently made aware of an Illinois Appellate Court ruling that should prove to be very important to some of our members. The court held that the language of the Pension Code mandates that a Chicago police officer is entitled to credit for the service he rendered as a Cook County sheriff's police officer and correctional officer for the Cook County department of corrections prior to his employment with the Chicago Police Department. The Lodge has instructed its attorneys to research the ruling for applicability to officers that previously worked for Cook County and other agencies. Further updates will be forthcoming here and in the newsletter.

Here's a link to the ruling itself. It's only 9 pages long, so it's a quick read. It appears to cover the recent Pension Portability ruling - but only if you served as a Cook County sheriff or correctional employee.

So if this exists, is the only purpose of the Pension Portability legislation to cover other law enforcement service? And why wouldn't it already be covered under the Circuit Court ruling? Can someone explain it in simple terms to us?