3,629,020

That was the total number of visitors we had to our website for the entire 2009 calendar year.

And those 3.6 million visitors tallied 5,631,931 page views.

So once again, it falls on us to thank each and every one of you for your participation in our hobby. As stated before, without viewers we are nothing but a voice in the electronic wilderness of the Internet. Your visits, your page views, your e-mails, your responses don't really make us powerful or a force to be reckoned with, but they make us pretty damn hard to be ignored, especially in the cases of bosses and politicians behaving in a less than honorable fashion to the men and women who lay their lives on the line each and every day.

Thank you.

And a side note to J-Fed...that little voice in your head saying that bringing Brust along to this little party was one of your poorer decisions? It's telling you the truth. Definitely a top five boner on your part.

We're everywhere Jody - even in your inner circle. Masters Masters Masters.

100 años de Vélez.

Nada tiene que ver Dalmacio Vélez Sársfield (18.02.1800 – 30.03.1875), hijo de Dalmacio Vélez Baigorri y Rosa Sársfield Palacios, nacido en Córdoba, abogado y político durante los primeros años de una Argentina nación (secretario de Bernardino Rivadavia, jurisconsulto en derecho internacional durante el gobierno de Rosas - con quien mantuvo una tensa relación- , luego senador, canciller, Ministro de Hacienda de Bartolomé Mitre - con quien mantuvo disputas intelectuales - y Ministro del Interior de Sarmiento) con el espíritu de los pibes que fundaron el club que llevaría su nombre.

A falta de partes meteorológicos la inducción nos dice que el 1 de enero de 1910 llovía, razón por la que entonces, Julio Guglielmone, Martín Portillo y Nicolás Marín Moreno se reunieron bajo la estación terminal del Ferrocarril del Oeste, en el túnel que une los andenes, a decidir la creación del “Club Atlético Argentinos de Vélez Sársfield”, por la sencilla razón de que estaban, entonces, bajo la estación “Vélez Sársfield” (hoy "Floresta")... hace 100 años.

Dana, You Dumb Ass

The Tribune Company is showing a decided edginess in posting snuff films. No idea how long it'll stay up, but here's a link to it for the moment.

But what is published in the Sun Times is one of the most amazing, mind-numbingly stupid things we've ever heard come out of anyone's mouth who wears a badge. Get a load of this bullshit:

• "It remains to be seen if his lifestyle choices were a factor in his death," said Deputy Police Chief Dana Alexander. "But his death is still a tragedy for the city."

A tragedy how, Dana? He was a gang-banging piece of shit. Lifestyle choices probably weren't at the forefront of what he called a brain, but we can say with near 100% accuracy that it led to his early demise.

But what truly demonstrates the ignorance of Dana Alexander is contained in the paragraph that preceded the one we quote:

• Couch's arrest record included aggravated assault of a police officer, unlawful use of a weapon and possession of a stolen vehicle, a law enforcement source said.

And this makes him a tragedy how, exactly? We were bound to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars incarcerating him over the next few years anyway. We probably would have had to spend a few bucks to replace police ammunition after we shot him someday soon. Taxpayers would have had to foot the bill for his hospitalization after we shot him. Daley would probably have Corp Counsel cut him a check for some imagined slight after he recovered. Killing him was probably the biggest favor the "offender" could have done for society, no matter how inadvertent it was.

PSMV, Dana.

UUW, Dana.

Aggravated Assault of a Police Officer, Dana. Police Officers - you remember them? Those people who work for you. That you're supposed to lead. That you're supposed to have the backs of, you ignorant jackass.

Shouldn't the truly ignorant bosses have some sort of handler (his driver maybe) that could maybe, oh we don't know, RUN THE DEAD JAGOFF'S I.R. NUMBER so the person supposedly in charge doesn't look like an utter moron making statements about what a "tragedy" this was?

What is truly a tragedy is that Dana Alexander was able to rise through the ranks of the Department to a position where he was able to appear in front of media creatures and tell the public that a person who steals cars, gets caught with guns and attacks police officers was anything other than a useless piece of shit headed for a bad end and we're all lucky he died when he did before he took an innocent citizen or, god forbid, a cop with him.

J-Fed's New Year's Resolutions

Via our own little birdie network, someone was able to locate a paper entitled "My New Year's Resolutions - by Jody Weis" from an office wastebasket. This is truly an insight into the J-Fed mindset and it's kind of creepy:

1. Buy a dog;
2. Try to lose Masters at least twice a day (this guy is like a pimple on my ass!);
3. Same for Ray Ray (two pimples!);
4. See how much more shit I can make my "command staff" eat (24 days off without pay and not a single resignation yet - next year I'll make it 30! - no balls!)
   
5. Attempt to grow a spine so I can stand on my own;
6. Tell that short fucker to get stuffed as soon as the last check clears;
7. Look up the word "insignificant" - I think I missed something there;
   
8. Always remember, a scapegoat is as good as a solution.

There seem to be spaces for even more resolutions. This may have been a first draft. Anyone have any idea what the rest of the resolutions might be? Chime in in our comment section - keep it semi-clean.

TASER Ruling

From California:

• A federal appeals court this week ruled that a California police officer can be held liable for injuries suffered by an unarmed man he Tasered during a traffic stop. The decision, if allowed to stand, would set a rigorous legal precedent for when police are permitted to use the weapons and would force some law enforcement agencies throughout the state -- and presumably the nation -- to tighten their policies governing Taser use, experts said.
  
  Michael Gennaco, an expert in police conduct issues who has conducted internal reviews of Taser use for the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department and other agencies, said the ruling by the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals prohibits officers from deploying Tasers in a host of scenarios and largely limits their use to situations in which a person poses an obvious danger.

If a person is an "obvious danger" to yourself or other officers, the TASER shouldn't even be on your list of options. TASERs might be effective on people in fixed locations who are mostly intent on harming only themselves. The minute they start to threaten other people, officers or become mobile thereby increasing the likelihood of injury to other citizens, your force options should be pretty limited.

This is the Ninth Circuit though, and if we aren't mistaken, they are about the most overturned court in the nation. Most of their rulings have no basis in any law known to mankind.

Daley already pays off anyone who sues, so this shouldn't have any effect on CPD in the short term.

.708 BAC?

This "lady" was sleeping it off in South Dakota:

• A Sturgis woman had a blood-alcohol level of .708 percent, possibly a state record, when she was found earlier this month behind the wheel of a stolen vehicle parked on Interstate 90, according to Meade County State’s Attorney Jesse Sondreal.

  A South Dakota Highway Patrol trooper discovered Marguerite Engle, 45, on Dec. 1 passed out behind the wheel of a delivery truck reported stolen in Rapid City.

  Her blood-alcohol level was almost nine times South Dakota’s legal limit of .08 percent.

And this is nearly double the lethal dose for most of the population. Remember that name - Marguerite Engle - and do not challenge her to any drinking games. She will own you.

El mundo recibe el 2010.