Another Chicago Useful Media Idiot Goes Gentle in That Good Night

By Martin Preib

January 25th, 2026

Editor’s Note: This piece from Martin Preib’s “Crooked City” reposted here with permission from the author.      J.K.

Some time ago, Megan Crepeau’s byline was no longer visible on the front page of the Chicago Tribune.

Her exit from the paper affected journalism in Chicago the same way the exit of so many reporters before her did, which is to say not at all. Modern journalism in Chicago, and now throughout the country, is controlled by replaceable ideologues with journalism degrees. They come and go, but the stories remain the same.

Journalism is often a first step into the fulfilling life of creative writing. It has been the starting point for myriad American writers. For an ideologue, though, writing becomes a vapid, demoralizing undertaking, particular as the ideology moves further from the facts of reality. The words are stale. The arguments predictable. One doesn’t really need to read the articles of Chicago’s media ideologues. The headlines are enough. Everything else is a cut-and-paste repeat of the party line mantra.

The devolution of once-independent voices like the Tribune into the rigid orthodoxy of the far left is one of the earliest and most troubling signs that the American Republic is deeply threatened and under siege, especially in big blue cities.

The chaos in Minneapolis, the ascendance of radical prosecutors criminalizing police, the abuse of welfare as a means to buy votes, and the embracing of illegal immigrants to impose one-party control could not take shape without the steady collapse of an independent media inhabited by self-aggrandizing journalists grinding axes for the radical left.

Chicago journalism is tied to a fundamental change that took hold of the most depraved factions of the militant left in the 1960s. This was the realization that controlling the means of production according to strict Marxist doctrine was not the path forward for overturning “the system.” With their early successes in mobilizing the youth on college campuses, the modern left came to realize that controlling the means of communication was far more effective than preaching at factories, where workers were making more than European kings of yesteryear.

Toward that end, many of the washouts from the revolutionary days of the late ’60s and ’70s who did not blow themselves up, get life sentences in prison, or flee to such beacons of liberty as Cuba and Algiers moved quietly into the universities, focusing on law, media, and education. And Chicago, once a national symbol of a city fighting radicals on its streets in the infamous 1968 riots during the Democratic National Convention, became the preferred city as base camp. For it was Chicago that was already a one-party city within a one-party county and state. One only had to take over the one party to garner full control, which the radical left so desperately craved.

A sign of this transformation is Northwestern University giving a tenure track job to Bernardine Dohrn, founding member of the terrorist group Weather Underground. A few people protested when a former terrorist bomber was hired at a prestigious university to “educate” American youth, but not very many.

Crepeau is a graduate of Northwestern’s Medill School of Journalism, a department within Northwestern University that became a hotbed of radicalism. She was hardly the only one. A large swath of zombie journalists cranking out the same ideological rants in the name of journalism throughout Chicago also graduated from Medill. They roam the city like a band of hyenas, carefully barking the same story and turning on any of their own kind who should stray from the party line.

One of the most appalling chapters in Crepeau’s decade-long stint at the Tribune powerfully revealed how much this movement influenced her reporting. It was the case of a man once convicted for his role in the 1982 murder of two police officers on the South Side of Chicago.

Jackie Wilson’s saga of receiving a life sentence into garnering his freedom, then becoming a millionaire, could not have taken shape without the media, including Crepeau, kowtowing to the forces of the radical left that worked so hard to free Wilson from prison, claiming he was tortured into confessing.

The most chilling example of the refusal by the media to inform the public about what was truly taking place in the release of Wilson was their refusal to address the Soviet-style commission called TIRC that paved the way for Wilson to get out of prison. Created by the state legislature, TIRC was granted, incredibly, the authority to overturn convictions by a collection of unelected members appointed by the governor. One of the most blatant attacks on constitutional government, TIRC has freed scores of convicted murderers on often trumped-up claims of innocence and abuse, claims that were rejected throughout the entire judicial process, only to have the TIRC tribunal suddenly endorse them. Many of the TIRC commissioners stood to benefit from the release of maniacs like Wilson.

Crepeau never questioned the glaring constitutional violations TIRC represented, never posited the danger TIRC posed to the public and the republic—clearly undermining the separation of powers inherent in the American system. This is not just a minority opinion. Ask attorneys throughout the city and state, and many will express shock that a commission like TIRC could even be conceived, let alone set in motion. You won’t find the opinion of these legal “experts” anywhere in the explosion of “journalism” that paved the way for Wilson’s despicable legal victories.

It wasn’t the only chapter of the Jackie Wilson saga Crepeau ignored. There was a host of shocking developments in the case, including the conduct of the city’s top prosecutor, Kimberly Foxx, in using the case to attack her own prosecutors. This was met by the obvious delight of the city’s radical left, which seemed to relish the agony the family members of the murdered officers endured as the kangaroo trial unfolded.

That was the real torture in the case.

Crepeau was also a participant in the now-infamous case of a group of “journalists” at the paper signing a letter condemning the one remaining conservative voice at the paper, John Kass, who criticized former prosecutor Kim Foxx for being supported by far-left philanthropist George Soros. Their letter claimed Kass’s column did a “disservice to our entire institution. ”What hogwash.” No prosecutor in the history of the state deserved more scrutiny than Foxx, including her obvious ties to the most dangerous political movement in the country.

The journalists who signed the letter seemed as if they were riding high, as if their opinion about a fellow Tribune scribe held great weight. That was several years ago. How things work out. Crepeau, is now gone from the Tribune, reporting for the Bloomberg Law News. Ever heard of it? Me neither.

And John Kass, the target of the militant media that took over the Tribune, where is he now? Well, Kass’s columns are still garnering attention throughout the country, starting with his own website and then being picked up and reverberating through other online publications. He is still riding high as a writer, but then Kass is not a mindless ideologue like so many of his media brethren. He actually tries to make sense of the world, a motive that gives power to his words.

Leftists are angry people. Some of the rage no doubt arises from disagreement with the right and the right’s corruption and failures. But there often seems more to it. They are also destructive.

In Milton’s Paradise Lost, the snake that goads Eve into eating the apple in defiance of God’s will did not begin as a snake. Rather, he began as an angel, one of God’s most beloved angels, who in his initial incarnation resembles an epic hero able to goad fellow angels to rebel in a doomed attack on God.

One can’t help but wonder if the evolution of the Marxist radical leftists from the 1960s and ’70s, often portrayed in their early incarnations as heroes fighting an unjust system, was analogous to that of the former angel in Milton’s epic. Are they now the snakes of the American Republic?

Judging by the quality of Chicago’s journalists, disciples of these fiery radicals calling for a similarly doomed rebellion, it would seem so.

-30-

Martin Preib is a retired Chicago Police officer. An author of three books, The Wagon and Other Stories From the City, Crooked City, and Burn Patterns, Mr. Preib’s written work has also been published in Playboy, Virginia Quarterly Review, New City, and Tin House. For his essay appearing in Virginia Quarterly Review, Mr. Preib was awarded the Staige D. Blackford Award for Nonfiction in 2005. In addition to his role with the City of Chicago, Mr. Preib served as the Second Vice President of the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 7.

 

Comments 61

  1. Superb prose and brilliant breakdown of will full suicide of the Fourth Estate and the serpentine relationship twining Maoist journalism, law and education. Remember, the spawn of disgraced Fagin of Northwestern – David Protess, lied about and helped convict Alstory Simon, a black man, and all went on to careers in journalism free of charges perjury.

    The entire Wrongful Conviction/Police Torture Industry of insects like Jon Loevy and G. Flint Taylor is built upon the Burge mythology. I say perjury itself.

    Great to have Martin Preib under the Kass Masthead! The lad can write much more than tickets!

  2. The Tribune has gone to the Liberals for many years now. Most people that I know stop taking the tribune and it is not an American Paper anymore and has not been. There is no newspaper anymore, and the writers are left Wing Woke writers. America has no Press anymore. So sad.

  3. Judging from how many people actually subscribe to the Tribune, judgement has already been passed on its usefulness to society. It is nothing more than the successor of Prada and the Soviet Communist propaganda machine. which so inspired Josef Goebbels, the Nazi Minister of Propaganda. Todays’ journalists are not useful idiots, just idiots – and too stupid to realize that they are idiots.

      1. The difference between Pravda and the Tribune: when the Russians read Pravda they know they are not getting the truth. When the few idiots left who still subscribe read the Tribune they actually think they are getting the truth.

  4. Well done sir. Can’t say I’ve ever read any of Miss Crepeau’s writing. Read JK since Royko tho.

    Angels to snakes is appropriate to describe the Democratic Socialist Party and their leftist allies including the press and lame stream media. The Dems can’t win anything based on their ideas and plans for America. Fraud, bribery, deceit. Scheme their way to power. By the time their useful idiots realize what they’ve done, it may be too late to save themselves.

  6. Well written, well argued, I also appreciate you pointing out that there is corruption and failures of the right. Elites certainly did hijack higher ed, journalism and the cities, and we are paying for it.

    There is another strand above this however. It’s the oligarchs who profit from the disorder, the distraction that our fighting with each other which gives the cover to rob us.

    The Pentagon has not passed an audit in years. We are shoveling money to Israel and Ukraine and getting little or no benefit. But we hear very little of that. I’m against ALL waste, fraud, abuse, not just that of Tampon Tim, the angry white females, the black race hustlers and the castrated white males who support them.

    Since 1980, we’ve had Republicans presidents half of the time. We had Gingrich, we had Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld.ow did that work out? Why didn’t they address any of the vast waste, fraud and abuse?

    Further, much of these money laundering schemes the left uses, are illegal, unconstitutional, and pure theft. They cannot hold up to audit either.

    These two sides are both frauds. Washington and Adams were against political parties, saying that pols would be more loyal to the party than to the nation. That’s who we have ruling the nation now. Two parties that are bought and paid for. Radical leftists are funded by oligarchs, foundations, NGO’s, we need to look at those.

    Kass does a good job, but he’s a ham and egger. Krauthammer, Will, Buchanan, Royko, all far surpass him, but they were the best.

    I don’t see taking a side with either of these scam parties. They are hollowing out the nation.

    Unequal distribution of wealth is real, and it’s worse than ever. This site is written for boomers, most of whom have robust pensions, 401k’s, many own more than one home. They consume the Fox narratives because they confirm their world view.

    Our young people have been sold out. The schools are lousy, the food is poisoned, big pharma is pushing anti depressants on them.

    You wonder why they are angry? Look at the world we’ve left them?

    1. Mr M, a lot to unpack in your response to Mr. Preib’s article. “Pentagon, Oligarchs, Israel, Ukraine, Rumsfeld, Bush,” etc., etc. Where does one begin. Why not start with my favorite line in Mr. Preib’s piece, “but then Kass is not a mindless ideologue like so many of his media brethren. He actually tries to make sense of the world, a motive that gives power to his words.”
      JK attempts to understand things. That’s what I try to do. And one thing I definitely understand: The Republican Party of the 1980s (which you point to) is NOT the Party of PDJT. John Kass has been writing of the Combine in Illinois for decades. The Republicans of the 80s and the Republicans of today are still part of that same Combine process but on a national level. That National and International (globalism) process is known as the UniParty (two wings of the same vulture). You seem to grasp some of this reality when you say “both parties.” You’re right about “both parties.” Just tweak your understanding and realize that President Trump must use the Republican wing of the UniParty to achieve the objectives of America First. Unfortunately, third parties in USA never work.
      And BTW, in 1980, when I joyfully voted for Reagan (whom I loved and would gleefully vote for again), I had zero awareness or understanding of the Uniparty.

    2. Very well stated Bob. Both political parties are ripping off and screwing the American people. They are like 2 street gangs fighting over the same turf. Read Whitney Webb’s ‘ONE NATION UNDER BLACKMAIL’. We are ruled by unelected criminals from both political spectrums.
      ROYKO was one of kind. There hasn’t been one better since. John’s good but he ain’t no Royko.

      1. Thomas: Washington and Adams presciently feared political parties because they thought loyalty to party would replace loyalty to country. And they were proved right.

        And John never claimed he was the equal of Royko.

        2. Well I guessed I really POed alot people regarding John being a ‘good’ writer and Royko being in another category, league, etc. That’s not negative. I consider myself a ‘good’ doctor, not a great one. Because there are very few great physicians, past or present. Neither John nor Royko are in category of great American writers, ie Twain, Melville, Hemingway, Fitzgerald, Steinbeck, Morrison either.
          We nowadays elevate everyone to a higher status than they are. Everyone now is a ‘professional’. Nurses, teachers, plumbers, electricians, butchers, bakers, candlestick makers, ooops. BUT THEY ARE NOT. There are only 3 professions: medicine, law and religion. The others were granted the status because they were jealous of the other 3. So they got their unions to play their work up to ‘professions’. This is especially true of nurses. Professional bed pan and sponge bath specialists. Now allowed to treat patients without MD supervision. I know their so called medical abilities. I’ve posted their mistakes.
          I look forward to the comments

          1. Thomas: I think the criticism directed at you regarding your disparaging remark of Kass’ writing had to do with the fact that it seemed so unnecessary. I mean Kass, himself never ever equated himself with Mike Royko. I speculate that he – as many of us here would – agree that Kass, nor Royko are the equal of Twain and Melville. So what’s the point? Just seems like you set up a strawman fallacy argument.

            And regarding your take on nurses. This is a complex issue. I will limit my comment to ICU nurses (not NPs or CRNAs) based upon my extensive experience as an ICU attending physician, as well as an ICU patient. The ICU doc spends maybe 30 min with a routine ICU patient every day. Sure on admission he may spend many hours getting things stable. And in emergencies often more time as well. But the ICU nurse literally spend hours at the bedside every day, and doing something that only an ICU patient could appreciate (you’d be surprised, not all ICU patients are zonked out): hands on care. Even the simplest acts, shaving, washing, making the bed more comfortable, helping a patient get some peace and quiet amongst all the ICU beeping and “chaos”, is very much treasured and appreciated by patients. Hey. I know. I was there. In my case I could not sleep despite meds and being exhausted (I had a life threatening hospital acquired pneumonia). The nurse gave me a back massage, which I found very relaxing and comforting, and I was able to get some sleep. This does not even address the technical skills many ICU nurses need in dealing with EKG monitoring, ventilators, dialysis, ECMO and things of that nature. I don’t wish you or anyone experiencing what I experienced. But if you ever wind up in the ICU, I am sure you will see and realize a basic truth: that nursing care is way more than mere bedpans. There really is a “magic” to the hands on continual bedside care that nurses have historically provided. (By the way I’m not knocking or degrading in any way our profession, amongst the highest calling of all, arguably requiring the greatest commitment and skills of all).

      2. Thomas Rudd, what a lousy thing to say. Royko was great and one of a kind, but so is Kass and I remember thinking he had a tough act to follow when Royko died and Kass assumed his column on page three. He did marvelously well at “the paper” for many years and I’ve always found him to be every bit as informative and entertaining as Royko. You go, Kass!

        1. Mark and Bruce
          Since when is word ‘good’ describing JK writing, but not equal to Royko a negative thing. Has JK written any books, like Royko?
          I subscribe to JK site bcuz i like what he says, for the most part. But I also disagree with occasional articles. Most of you like your echo chamber of praise no matter what he says. Fine that’s your right.
          And Bruce, nurses are technicians, not doctors. They never will be no matter how many letters follow their name. I d rather have a paramedic take care of me in a crises. They know what they are doing. As far as CRNAs, have you seen them panic when pt goes ‘down’ and they call for a real doctor anesthesiologist? They are technicians earning MD salaries and they are not worth. When I or my family has surgery I will not accept an CRNA. I demand an anesthesiologist.
          Finally, I come from a family of nurses. My mother was a nurse. I taught nurses at Northwestern Med ctr. As that one senator said to another about being like JFK: ‘Senator, I know JFK, I worked with JFK, senator your no JFK’. same applies to nurses: THEY ARE NOT AS GOOD AS A PHYSICIAN. STOP FEELING BAD FOR THESE OVER PAID BED PAN AND SPONGE BATH SPECIALISTS.

  9. Great writing, and it is nice to see a fellow retired Cop featured. For many of the reasons you’ve clearly cited, my faith in the main stream (sic) “media” is completely gone. It is so obvious that their goal is nothing more than spreading their own carefully crafted views to convince people how to think, rather than accurately reporting the “news” and allowing people to form their own opinions. And, as you pointed out, when they are accepted as contemporaries by higher (sic) “education”, they have another way to further their goals, to the detriment of future generations.

    And another great takeaway from this column was “Kass is not a mindless ideologue like so many of his media brethren. He actually tries to make sense of the world, a motive that gives power to his words.” Very well stated and very true- thanks for this, Mr. Prieb.

  11. Whew!!!!! My dad (in the early forties) and my daughter (now in her early fifties) went to Northwestern. In both cases, they graduated with business degrees, so not a lot of harm done. Note: I went to Illinois because I couldn’t afford NW.
    The day they hired Dorhn, I knew the university’s law and journalism schools were dead. Then the current president negotiated with the Left to gain peace on the campus.
    I’d like to think that eventually, these schools will devour themselves because any parent who cares about their child would never allow this sort of thing to happen to then. My son went to Arizona State, and politically it turned him into a political nutcase.

  12. Not since Goebbels and his ministry has truth been so defiled and lies so flagrant. If even then.
    Truly we are living in the Cretinaceous Period of American journalism.

  13. There will be time after two Football Playoff games not involving DA BEARS sadly,to make sense of another Minneapolis mistake by the White House reaction to a shooting by ICE officers. This second one will be harder to minimize but I will wait to learn if John wants to opine on a dark cloud over the Trump folks despite good intentions on immigration fixes. And it is too cold in lots of places today for outrage. And for those of you still supporting how ICE folks are doing their jobs,people in Europe are watching videos from Minneapolis,too. They are not impressed.

    1. Umm..Mr. Isenberg, you need to check your ” white privilege ” at the door. I suggest you go on YouTube and watch the Chris Rock video
      ” How to not get your ass kicked by the police”. This explains what most streetwise people of color learned many, many years ago. Never f##k with the police. Or the Feds. The fools getting themselves shot in Minnesota seem to be of the same ethnic background, and have not realized these realities. These stupid people are unfortunately being told what to do by idiots who aren’t standing outside in the zero degree temps with them. Far better to lead the resistance from the safety of your mansion. Yes, these are predominantly white people who think its okay to insert themselves into police activities while holding cell phones. Well it must be okay since their tampon wearing governor told them to do it while he’s sitting nice and toasty warm. People of color know to LEAVE when they see unmarked police vehicles, with guys in Swat gear, holding battering rams approaching. Yes, most of us JUST KNOW. LEAVE NOW. Guys with guns and handcuffs are usually looking for a reason to use them. And usually on you. Apparently these dumb white folks never figured it out. I’m sure the fool just shot in Minnesota thought it was a great idea to insert himself into federal actions while wearing a handgun. He certainly could have used the wisdom from the Chris Rock video. Most Hispanics and Blacks figured this logic out years ago. I guess some white folks haven’t. If you see any
      ” persons of color” at these violent demonstrations my guess is they’re either from the suburbs or they’re prepaid demonstrators. If you want further proof that these white folks are being led by idiots just read the comments from Arizonas attorney general advising citizens that its states “stand your ground” doctrine will protect them should they see the aforementioned Feds on their doorstep and decide to shoot it out with them. I’m pretty sure the doctrine won’t cure the fatal dose of lead poisoning you’re going to get in reciprocation. Good to see M. Preibs stuff on Jknews. He’s been writing good stuff for years. He certainly got a good rise out Johns readers today. Bravo.

      1. Ever since officer Chauvin was wrongfully prosecuted their police retreated beyond fetal into sperm. One in 10,000,000 might now do as the job continues to need doing. The libtard Minneapolis Marxist agitators have obviously overlooked that they don’t get to nullify, intimidate and obstruct ALL cops.

        2. Not sure that my two cents matter but Officer Chauvin had a problem with George Floyd before he suffocated his neck in Minneapolis. They had met previously at a bar and I do not know all the details but Chauvin held a grudge and for a man of faith that he claimed to be,Chauvin will die as a worst case Police officer in history books and training sessions. We disagree. And breaking news,not so good ICE commander Gregory Bovino is exiting Minneapolis after the second shooting death of a civilian on Saturday morning. He should just retire. He did good work for a long time in Border Patrol assignments but he made mistakes as did Ms. Noem and the President is trying to pivot just as he did with the Epstein Files.

    2. Mr. Isenberg: MLK knew that his nonviolence campaign – with TV cameras focused on white supremacists beating the crap out of his followers – would direct the nation’s attention on his ultimate goal of achieving equal rights, and detract from any “law and order” concerns that might have been otherwise raised if he and his followers violently struck back. Brilliant move on his part as Prof Roland Fryer pointed out in his recent WSJ article. In a like manner this latest ICE shooting – though I assume not planned – is likely to detract from any “law and order” concerns that many (including me) may have had and has flipped the whole illegal immigration and massive fraud debate upside down and inside out. Trump as he often does converts game winning hands into a losing one. One of his many amazing talents.

      That said, as a CCL holder myself I would never attend a chaotic protest whereby there is a plausible chance of interacting with law enforcement while armed. Even though I have a perfectly legal right under the 2nd, to do so, that does not mean I should, nor does it not seem prudent or smart to do so. In fact if you have taken the Illinois CCL course they talk about using judgement regarding inflammatory chaotic situations particularly with interactions with LEO. It is a dangerous situation he put himself in: do not confront LEO while armed. In such situations, exercising your 2nd amendment rights might prove risky when LEOs have to make life and death decisions under chaotic situations. If you’re going to a gun fight, as this guy appeared to be doing, you better be prepared for a gun fight.

      By the way, Mr. Isenberg have you ever taken a CCL course? If not I suggest you do – you don’t even have to own a gun, you can rent one – you might find it informative and educational.

      1. Well said Bruce. Having a gun and having a CCL requires immense responsibility, as any serious/legit gun owner knows. When I became coroner a prior idiot coroner allowed deputy coroners to carry a weapon. They needed only 40 hours of training on HOW TO USE A WEAPON, ie how to shoot accurately. Absolutely no training on when, where or how to use the weapon when dealing with the public. I tried twice to remove the weapons from these wanna be cops. Their union (AFSCME) fought me tooth and nail. I won at the end but was not re elected so they got their guns with next coroner.
        A serious well educated gun owner with or without a CCL would not bring a weapon to a volatile situation. And what’s with idiots laying their hands on armed federal agents. DF, MF

    3. I don’t give a rodent’s behind what the Europeans think about us. Like they don’t have their own problems, see my comments in another JK column about UK Pakistani rape gangs. Yes, the Orange has scorn for Europe. He has good reasons. Europe is dying, the Europeans don’t seem to care. And besides, they had ungrateful scorn for us for decades. It’s about time they get a taste of their own attitude.

      1. I agree. Typical liberal genuflection from Mr. Isenberg as if they the Europeans are somehow our superiors. As you point out the disgraceful UK Pakistani rape cases covered up by the MPs. And of course in the UK one can actually be jailed – thats right imprisoned – for expressing “inappropriate” view points. And then of course the commandeering of European culture by a literal invasion of Islamists in France, and Mr. Isenberg cites these dying cultures as examples that we Americans should be concerned about what they think of us? What a self loathing, guilt ridden fool.

  14. Martin,
    And so it goes, a once great city, state, and newspaper, destined for the scrap heap of history. We are truly a one party city and state, but not the democratic party. It’s the socialist/communist party of Amerika. Due to ongoing voter apathy, I don’t see any major change coming in my life time, and I’m just shy of 80 as I pen this. The legacy media will continue its spewing of leftist tripe, in an effort to convince the voters that having less is better for us all – because we’ll all “share!” The socialist montra! And voters – especially the young ones – are swallowing this hook, line and sinker. Entire generations now that feel they are “owed” – a living, walking around money, a house, a car, a wonderful life, without having to work a stitch! That sucking sound you hear is the collective draining of all the dem run cities and states, as in New York, Chicago, Portland, Seattle, among others! Oh well, we tried to warn them, but were shouted down by the left. Tried yelling harder, but to no avail…no one is listening…

    2. Socialist paradise Cities like New York, Chicago, Portland etc, will ALL end up in bankruptcy due to their financial policies. Any city that does should lose the right to elect a mayor, due to their stupidity. A financial overseer should be appointed with the power to veto the idiots spending powers who remain.

  16. I don’t know whether it is relevant or not to the underlying themes of this fine first column, but I’m curious to learn the circumstances of Megan Crepeau’s departure from her simpatico employer, the Chi Tribune? Was she canceled??

  17. Marty is Chicagos Joe Wambaugh. Author of three great books, but let’s remember Martin was a union doorman, a city beat cop, with a job related bad back, and in both jobs had active leadership roles in his respective union.

    On a personal note I will never forget in my life time what I witnessed Megan Crepeau do to the family members of murdered Chicago Police Officer Bill Fahey at 26th and California. The Officers wife, daughters and siblings were subjected to disrespectful questioning, more like an interrogation, family suffering from 1982, being asked sarcastic questions about how they felt about Wilson’s (alleged) innocence, and unlawful incarceration.

    No respect or dignity towards the family, a real journalist would have showed some professionalism and compassion, at least give them the time to accept the verdict.
    I was friends with Bills brother Mike (RIP), and witnessed the agony the family went thru over the years not from a cops perspective but as a friend and listener.

    A journalist has an obligation to follow up with questions, when the time is appropriate in a respectful manner with decency, for any family who has loved a loved one, no matter the circumstances.

    I’m now almost at 69 years old, I regret that the next generations will never have what I had in my life, neutral hard hitting journalism at four local papers who gave us the facts, and left the opinions on the editorial page.

    Most of all the great local and national journalist s had street smarts, no fancy degrees from Northwestern, barely high school, small local college education or military experience.

    Those men and women, knew the heart of the city, had it’d pulse, politicians feared them, and treated those in tragedies with respect.

    Mr. Preib and Mr. Kass sadly are the last of a dying breed.

    Thanks JK and Martin.

    1. Patrick,
      My wife was Bill Fahey’s neighbor, two doors down. After Bill’s murder I remember her describing the Fahey family. Bill was very much to himself and his wife was/is a wonderful person and mother to their children. Bill helped out the neighbor in between their houses by shoveling his sidewalk and theirs.
      My wife was there when Mayor Jane Byrne came to the Fahey house to console the widow and family.
      What the Wilson brothers did to those two families is unforgivable and every time Jackie gets his face in a newspaper my stomach turns because he needed the same fate as the brother, Andrew, who died in prison and actually confessed to it to his attorney.
      The Fahey’s may have had peace of some sort until Jackie got out and now have to bear that sadness all over again. God Bless the Fahey and O’Brien families.
      No matter what, the Wilson brothers, both of them are/will be judged!

      1. God roast Wilson, but take extra care in adding the heat to G. ( Gimme) Flint Taylor who authored and nurtured the Burge Mythology that set Jackie Wilson Free and mad him a millionaire. Commies are nothing if not patient and the stooge news media was there to keep the myth alive.

  18. I’m not so sure that many of the radicals have an ultimate goal in sight. Their trade is being anti. Anti is their heroin. It’s the fix that makes them feel their sorry lives have meaning. Even in the end, should all their demands be met, I’m not sure they could stop being anti. Then, they’d sink their own boat and the cycle would repeat.

  19. Great article., Mr. Preib. But you neglected to give credit where credit is due, as unfortunate as it may be. The Italian communist, Antonio Gramsci, was THE guy who recognized that “controlling the means of communication was far more effective than preaching at factories”, and that the way to accomplish this goal was to take over the schools – the secondary schools and the universities. And that, as you point out is exactly what happened over the past sixty years.

    1. Yes, Gramsci was a brilliant communist. Unfortunately, he also realized the best way to strengthen the state was to weaken the family, and that is exactly what has happened, starting with black Americans in the 1960s.

      1. Yes, Frank. When the late Sen Daniel Patrick Moynahan (D, NY) pointed out in his prior academic research that one of the results of the Great Society (I assume unintended … but maybe not) was the dissolution of the Black family, I as as a young NY liberal was outraged. Moynahan was a white privileged racist brahmin. And he was duly pilloried by the liberal elites. As I grew older and wiser, I realized the good Senator was much smarter than I was, and was pilloried for telling the inconvenient truth.

  20. Tim Kelly nailed it. The radicals and the subset “AWFLS” are angry unhappy people whose empty lives need some sort of meaning. Yelling and cursing with a mob seems to help them fill that void. And they would love the rest of us to be as miserable as they are. Being “anti” is really all they have.

    1. Too many people with too much money sucking off the government teat and too much time on their hands and incapable of doing anything of redeeming social value. They could move to Russia or Iran, but their act there would last about five minutes, if that.

  21. Go to the Chicago Police Department Fallen Officer Memorial pages and read about
    Officer James E. Doyle, 34, murdered on February 5, 1982
    Officer William P. Fahey, 34, and Officer Richard J. O’Brien, 33, murdered on February 9, 1982

    Fahey and O’Brien had been at Doyle’s Funeral just hours before they were gunned down.
    Their murders sent shockwaves throughout the Ashburn and West Lawn Neighborhoods,
    where all three Officers grew up and lived.

    It makes me sick every time I hear about the Wilson Brothers.

    Read the Incident Reports of each of the three Officers, look at their faces and say their names.
    Remember how young they were.
    Their Families and Friends were devastated.
    Officer Fahey had a wife and 3 small children.

    The Anniversary of their deaths is coming up in two weeks,
    Never let their names be forgotten.

  22. Nice to learn of the Virginia Quarterly Review. Began at the University of Virginia in 1925 when my great grandfather was Dean.

    Hoping it hasn’t been overwhelmed by the left.

    The South won’t allow itself to be overwhelmed again. The future is bright. As bright as the Southern founding generations are. That’s where the answers lie.

    The yank-stick coastals will sell out even to Marxism. Think Clintons.
    All they know how to do, is sell out.

    Young kids are 54% Independent now I read. We going to be better than ever, thx to JK News in no small measure

  23. It was great news to hear of Megan Crappos demise at the Tribune. Replaced by A/I most likely. Not hard to replace a dimwit like this with a machine. She will NOT be sorely missed. Hopefully wherever she lands suffers the same fate of The Chicago Tribune. Declining readership, and loss of revenue. Anyone stupid enough to hire her deserves it.

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