Trevell Breeland, Joseph Brooks, Jakwon Buchanan. Photo courtesy of Chicago Police Department.

It Was Lawless Chicago Politics That Killed CPD Officer Aréanah Preston

by John Kass

May 14, 2023

Chicago made steel once. And business, both small and big business. It was a town for traders, men who took risks and didn’t care what others thought of them.

Chicago was once the hog butcher to the world, the place where cattle and grain fortunes could be made. 

It is not the same town now. The public schools raise the children, many of whom lag grades behind standard reading comprehension levels. And in mathematics they lag farther behind already substandard national averages.  The standards will be lowered again, lest the Chicago Teachers’ Union members develop hurt feelings.

The CTU elected Brandon Johnson as mayor even though Johnson advocated defunding the police during this latest violent crime wave. The left wing public employees unions, the CTU and the Service Employees International Union now run the show. They control the city’s politics with their iron progressive fists.

And Chicago’s kids are set up for failure–crime, violence and prison.

CPD officer Aréanah Preston. Photo from Chicago Police Department.

But Chicago did raise four young men who allegedly murdered 24 year old Chicago Police officer Aréanah Preston. She was gunned down outside her Southside home as the four teenagers were on a robbery spree targeting women. 

You might say Chicago and those four teens– with serious and violent criminal records who should have been locked up and kept behind jail bars– gave Preston’s mom a Mother’s Day she will never forget. The killers left a hole that can never be filled. They took everything from that mom.

If only they’d been locked up on other numerous charges for other numerous violent acts, they had been charged with,  Officer Preston would be alive. And her family would not be weeping on Mother’s Day. But Democrat Party politics in Chicago is all about protecting the feelings of the predators, not the lives of victims.

It was the thugs who pulled the trigger. They are alleged to have committed the crime. But her death was a direct result of the permissive politics that promotes the wanton lawlessness that leftist billionaire George Soros has wanted in urban areas when he began running hard left no-prosecution prosecutors across the country. It is this wanton lawlessness that I’ve been trying to warn you about for years.

It is cruel to say, but Officer Preston’s murder is more than cruel. They gunned her down because she was in the way of their work. They had jobs to do. And that job tore the city’s guts out.

Their work? It wasn’t about flipping burgers, stocking shelves, or working exhausted in a warehouse, getting up early to get to work, but it was work. It was about roving the streets of Chicago with guns. Pointing them in people’s faces, and taking what they wanted by force. Like the Outfit animals of years ago, they’d sleep late and then take what they wanted from their own people by force.

Who trained them? Who encouraged them to grow wild and feral and murderous?

You could say the Chicago Democratic Party trained them. The Democratic Party nationally broke Black families apart by replacing fathers with government welfare checks. And recently, as Soros prosecutors took hold here and in other jurisdictions,  mass shoplifting without serious punishment was not only allowed but encouraged by Cook County State’s Atty. Kim Foxx and others.

And the predators understood what the politicians had given them: license to hunt.

No sanctions is an invitation to the violent to grab what they want. It allowed for extensive unrest in the Loop without meaningful sanctions during the Black Lives Matter riots. And when teenagers and young men ended up killing innocent children, an odd thing happened: They were excused by the Chief Judge of the Cook County Court. Judge Tim Evans has explained that the brains of the killers weren’t developed enough to determine right from wrong. He gave them an excuse for murder.

I’ve known Tim for years. He’s always been a nice fellow, but also a complete weakling. He caved to the hard leftist politics of Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle, who became the powerful chairman of the Cook County Democrats once tbe feds began taking out the Irish, Boss Toni has been protected and endorsed by her media champions including the Chicago Tribune. It was the Tribune and its Marxist guild that controlled the newsroom that sought to destroy my reputation, seeking to falselyand maliciously portray me as a religious bigot for daring to warn you about Soros-backed Foxx.

Speaking about another case, of an 8-year-old girl shot to death by a 16-year old street gang member in a gang fight in Little Village, Evans trotted out the usual progressive claptrap.

“They don’t have the pre-frontal cortex that is developed, and the pre-frontal cortex of the brain, does not, itself fully developed until you’re closer to the age of 25 years of age,” said Evans at a luncheon at the Union League. “This kid is 16. There’s no way that he would have the prefrontal cortex already developed. So, while I can’t talk about that particular case, I’m just talking about the typical 16- year-old, he doesn’t have that part of the brain developed that makes it possible for him to distinguish between the right thing to do and the wrong thing to do.” 

And out of this fetid left wing ooze, in a corrupt city and county with no educational or behavioral standards, Chicago raised those four four young men who are alleged to have killed Officer Preston.

The four charged in Preston’s murder are Trevell Breeland 19, Joseph Brooks 19, Jakwon Buchanan 18, and 16 year old Jaylen Frazier, who has been charged as an adult.

Preston’s mother Dianne Mhoon was congratulated by the Chicago media for her compassion.

 “As I said in that courtroom today, the people I really felt sorry for was those boys,” she said. “I felt sorry for them because nobody obviously didn’t pour into them. Nobody told them that they were loved. Nobody told them that you could do anything like I constantly preach to my daughters.”

But when Mhoon was asked what justice would look like for her daughter, she responded, “Justice to me is … a life sentence.”

Aréanah Preston’s family did everything that a close knit loving family is expected to do. They told their children of the many possibilities in life, not the reasons for failure. They were involved with their kids. Preston was days away from graduating with a Masters Degree in criminal justice from Loyola University Chicago. 

But no matter how hard her parents worked to encourage her, political Chicago was encouraging her alleged killers.

Have you heard about the four furies? That’s what I call them. Their names are Toni, Kim, Lori and Tim. We must never forget Tim.

Four is the same number of the horsemen of the Apocalypse, but I prefer the four Furies of Chicago.

It was the departing Mayor Lori Lightfoot, who in a panic caved to the Black Lives Matter rioters back in 2020, Lightfoot took the coward’s way out and turned over the city to BLM violence. 

She was also afraid of Boss Toni Preckwinkle, President of The Cook County Board and Chairman of The Cook County Democratic Party. Lightfoot had trounced Preckwinkle in the mayoral election but by then Lightfoot had completely panicked and lost what remained of her nerve. Boss Toni had selected her protégé to be the chief prosecutor in Cook County and Kim did not betray the faith that Preckwinkle and leftist billionaire George Soros placed in her. And Lightfoot endorsed Foxx for re-election, a move that was widely interpreted as the political signal for the middle class–white, brown and black, to “get the bleep out of Chicago.”

These four furies created the young men who murdered Aréanah Preston. They don’t want the credit but they should have it. It was Tim Evans who gave them the idiotic left-wing defense they’ll use in court–that they are too young to know right from wrong in the murder of Preston. And Kim Foxx and Toni Preckwinkle have for years been about clearing the Cook County Jail of prisoners. They seem to loathe law enforcement, siding with the thugs at every turn. They are the chief proponents and defenders of the SAFE-T Act that is opposed by 100 of Illinois’ 102 county prosecutors, both Republicans and Democrats. 

And for years these teenage thugs grew up in a county where there were no serious consequences for violence, no guardrails to guide them away from aberrant behavior. Even Cook County Sheriff Thomas Dart played the fool for Kim and his boss, Boss Toni. He emphasized pizza parties and tomato gardens at 26th and Cal. If Boss Toni ever wanted salt-and-pepper bobble heads of political weakness, she could model them after Judge Evans and Tom Dart.

The lead Democrats of Chicago created this mess and don’t want their fingerprints anywhere near it. They don’t want to wear the jacket. They are protected by broken and corrupt legacy media, the same group that protected Brandon Johnson.

But I know what they did and what they didn’t do. I just can’t let the political actors walk away from Preston before her scheduled May 17 funeral. As the pipes play and the good people weep, political Chicago does not want you to think of what they did not do.

What they did not do was help create any respect for the law. Instead they did everything to undermine that respect. They obeyed the Soros playbook and deconstructed law and order that led to anarchy and chaos. What happened was politically inevitable.

Can anyone be surprised that a promising young police officer was cut down before her 25th birthday by feral youth who used guns to satisfy their appetites for cash? 

No. No one should be surprised. All the signs were there.

These are the predators.

And who is their prey?

We are their prey. And we know it. 

-30-

Kass note: Please understand that I’m in therapy at Shirley Ryan Ability Labs three times a week, though I skipped my Friday therapy sessions to write this column. I just had to write it, though I’m really not fully recovered from the stroke and quadruple bypass issues.  But I’ve got great therapists and I’m trying. My appetite is up. And I’m walking better every day. On Saturday I even made it to Soldier Field to see the beloved Chicago Fire win their second game in a row. God is great. Life is good. Betty and the boys and I want to thank you all for your love and support in this difficult time. Love to all. Peace.

Comments 84

  1. Strong column written by a very strong man. The assassination of this gifted young woman, by four thugs is testament to a city that abandoned heart long ago. Dart, Evans, Preckwinkle and Foxx take the coin that is Ok with murder. Heartless city, heartless county and heartless state.

    3. Your word “assassination” is so accurate. This story really hurt, especially after hearing Dionne’s poised comments after the court appearance. The streets and lack of consequences have raised these teens. They fear nothing. Foxx has blood on her hands.

    4. So happy that you were able to write this much needed column Johnny Two Rods. With God’s help and your determination you will yet again be back to do the very important work God has given you to do. You are needed here and not “there”.

      FRCs friend from childhood

  3. Voter apathy allows these furies to flourish. They live for the power that they crave. This power enables good people to live in fear, while thugs flourish and are rewarded for their crimes by these furies.
    When Chicago had voters who cared, the turnout was larger. Law and order was maintained. Sadly, this is no longer the case. A 24 year old officer, and student, is dead due to the furies inaction towards crime.

    I hope you rehab therapy will get you to where you want to be physically and mentally.

  4. Thanks for writing even while recuperating. You are holding these people accountable even if the voters who bothered to show up in Chicago do not.

  6. Thanks John. Sad but truthful column. What a special young woman taken from us. I wish you continued healing. Take your time, your village is t going anywhere 🙏

  7. Great column, John! Tragic subject that must be addressed. Glad to hear you’re on the mend. Your patience and adherence to the therapy will pay off and your legions of fans will continue to pray.

  8. On the money, again. The truth is as deadly as a loaded gun. These liberal political Chicago buffoons are gasping for air as the truth is revealed. Once everyone knows who’s behind the curtain the tricks of these political misfits is as revealing as the disappearing 747.

    Stay tuned the political chicanery is only about to begin. The community commission for public safety, another group created by the Lightfoot with the subliminal help of the furies is about to use their sleight of hand. This group is having their final meeting at the Beverly Arts Center on Monday 22 May to get community input for the selection of the next Superintendent of Police for Chicago. Being a retired Chicago Police Lieutenant I will be present to donate my two cents.

    I’m sure the consensus at this meeting will be vastly different from the opinions at the first three meetings which were held in very different areas of the city. Applications were due by 7 May and 53 people submitted their names in interest for the job.

    Earned not given. A motto that reverberates in the hallowed hallways of the Chicago Police Academy. Unfortunately the last several Chicago Police Superintendents have fallen woefully short of that title, having earned nothing and given a title with a very healthy paycheck. Stay tuned for the results!

  9. My nephew was car-jacked driving a rental car from Hertz, and murdered by 4 thugs in Englewood a little over a year ago. All they found was his blood in the back seat and no body. With no body, they can’t convict. Now my sister has to go through another Mother’s Day in sadness.

    The story gets better, as Hertz wouldn’t report the car stolen for over 35 days, because they were in a major law suit for ruining peoples reputations for reporting cars stolen that were not returned on time. As a result, the police wouldn’t investigate the case until the car was reported stolen.

    Lastly, I know you want to hear about the 4 thugs. Two are dead from gang violence. Another ran off to Texas and is in hiding. The last one got caught in another stolen car with a silencer, and after serving 9 months in jail is back on the street to kill and steal again.

    When does it stop? Chicagoans elected another weak progressive mayor who is going to continue to promote these soft on crime policies. Have the people of Chicago gone mad? Or perhaps thereis something in the water?

  10. Happy to be able to read a column written by you, John!

    Glad the therapy is going well, and that you’re feeling better and making progress!

    Nuts to this, ‘allegedly’ BS, however.

    Not to disparage the cops that remain, but the CPD cannot be counted on to do its job – the Four Furies, as you put it, have effectively gutted it.

    For the either brave, or trapped souls who remain, vigilante justice – that of the wild west – is their only hope because no one is coming to save you.

  12. Spot on as usual John. My heart breaks for this poor victim but also for the city where I was born, raised, educated and used to love. That place does not exist anymore. Left behind is an empty shell taken over by feral thugs and their far left extremists enablers.

    How can anyone of conscience really believe that Black Lives Matter when all the facts and statistics prove otherwise?

    Thanks for all you do and I pray for your continued recovery.

  13. Kasso, right on the money. Goo-goos have destroyed our once great city. Democrats, they also kill babies.If I had the dough I’d be gone already

  14. Solid column. Right on target. It will be wonderful to see these “four furies” pay for their sins.

    It’s wonderful to see a real “John Kass Column”. Keep getting better.

  15. Good to read you again, John.

    I fear the day is coming when citizens and perhaps even our brave police men and women will finally have had enough and decide to skip the “halls of justice”, trot these thugs out to a wall and carry out a sentence that will send message. Backlash will be a terrible thing and it bodes ill for our society and our future. It is what happens when only 17% of the citizens elect those who “govern” us. God save us from ourselves.

  17. Right on the money with your column, John. The radical politics of this one-party state is the more compelling reason than the tax savings that our legal residence is now in Florida, even though we still have a home here. But please don’t skip your rehab sessions for any reason. You have great support from your column-writing friends. Happy Mother’s Day to Betty!

    1. Thank you David for using the proper term…RADICAL !
      No more of this “progressive crap”. And if it hurts their feelings, all the better.
      RADICAL NOT PROGRESSIVE

      And John, yes, you have been preaching this for a long long time now.
      Unfortunately it falls on deaf ears because too many think this is all just great and reel3ct and promote those responsible for this mess. Be careful going to Soldier Field, keep up the rehab and feel better.

  18. I’m certain all johnkassnews readers are grateful that John exercised the courage to interrupt his therapy and write this powerful column. (Even the lefty trolls have so far today stayed silent.) This is a good time to take stock of Chicago’s crisis, now further descended to union-priority leadership even more dangerous than Lightfoot’s incompetence.

    The hope for Chicago’s survival seems reflected in Kass fighting back from his health crisis to write this column. Those of us who still love Chicago need to stay in the fight through our voices and actions, including the demand that the Democrats’ wave of Soros-sponsored criminal sympathy be stopped.

    Think of the persistence of Chicago’s deepest values — toughness and love of family — still sustained by Aréanah Preston’s family and the greatest Chicago-bred writer now. Those values can be the heart of Chicago’s return to health.

  19. John, so great to hear from you again! But please take care of yourself, you’re needed now more than ever. And as always, outstanding and absolutely accurate column. You are an amazing person in so many ways. Your ability to see through the garbage being fed to the public, and now your ability to fight through the most challenging health issues I’ve ever seen anyone face is remarkable!! God bless you John Kass!!

    1. Kass Strong. May it last forever.
      We were lucky. We got to live in peak Chicago: the mid 90’s into the 2010’s. We were devastated to leave a place where our kids were born but job opportunities forced our hand. It breaks our hearts to see the acceleration of destruction to this great city. But two election results in a row are more than enough proof that the majority of remaining voters who want more of the same.
      If a CPD officer isn’t even safe outside her home then what about the rest of the law-abiding citizens of one of the formerly greatest cities in the world?
      To flip the old Tareyton cigarette slogan on its head, it’s time to switch rather than fight.

  22. Prayers continue for your recovery, John, and prayers for Betty and the boys as they go through this with you.

    We get it. This was important to you. Chicago, the City, is important to you (and most of us). It was once a place of beauty and hope.

  23. I think some people are beyond redemption. Can you imagine the shooter bragging to his friend it was “his work?” He definitely should get a life sentence.

    1. Agreed, but the column’s point is that the real culpability rests with politicians, not these tragic unloved brutes who were created by a system that refuses to punish bad behavior (thank you Foxx and Preckwinkle) but instead punishes good behavior (welfare benefits diminish if the father stays with the family).

  24. “replacing fathers with government welfare checks”.
    John, welcome back.
    This is the kind of phraseology that has been a part of your best writing for decades now.

    Truthful and pointed.

    Welcome back.
    You continue to stay in my prayers for complete healing.

    1. 1- A baby is born to a 14 year-old girl. Father unknown.
      2- The baby’s 30 year-old grandmother is granted custody and receives welfare.
      3- The 14 year-old girl repeats this 3 or 4 more times in her teens. Fathers unknown.
      4- Grandma is set for life.

  25. John once again a powerful column. The truth you share is painful. How many years wasted and lives destroyed before the citizens stand up against this onslaught?
    Happy you are recovering and regaining strength.

  27. Excellent column, John. One of my two family members living in downtown Chicago is leaving for Scottsdale, AZ in June. Had enough…especially after Vallas lost the mayor’s race.

    I am a Democrat but not stridently opposed to the current Illinois and D.C. Democratic Party leadership…they’re corrupt to the core!

  28. Kass Strong. May it last forever.
    We were lucky. We got to live in peak Chicago: the mid 90’s into the 2010’s. We were devastated to leave a place where our kids were born but job opportunities forced our hand. It breaks our hearts to see the acceleration of destruction to this great city. But two election results in a row are more than enough proof that the majority of remaining voters who want more of the same.
    If a CPD officer isn’t even safe outside her home then what about the rest of the law-abiding citizens of one of the formerly greatest cities in the world?
    To flip the old Tareyton cigarette slogan on its head, it’s time to switch rather than fight.

  30. This column is why Chicago needs you around. The stupidity of the unions and politicians has just been turned up to eleven, and will not be getting better.
    As to Judge Evans, I also knew him when I practiced law. A good person. His views regarding the lack of development in a teen’s brain are nonsensical though- the Left tells us that a little child can determine if they want to be a boy, girl or something in between, yet on the subject of knowing criminal right from wrong, the brain isn’t developed until adulthood. Again, the hypocrisy of the Left (or politicians in general) is pushed on the citizens to deadly results.

  31. First off John, A shout out to you for working hard to come back. Much love to you for your continued progress.
    As usual, you hit the bullseye with this column. It’s so sad that our local media kowtows to the local party that has controlled this and created the current situation for over 80+ years!!

    Having had family that worked on CPD, my heart goes out to this family.

    Thanks again John, and get stronger.

  32. I remember what the city was like when we moved there in 1975. It was a dangerous place but the Daley’s cleaned it up. It took years but it turned into a beautifully safe city. In just a few short years Lightfoot undid everything! We sadly were run out of town by the crime and HIGH taxes.

  33. Dear John Kass,
    You are the Greek idol for many of us and your background of love for law and order are always recognized. That being said, your words are a constant reminder of what to do for the token “leaders” of Chicago, sometimes known as Chiraq, for learning the crisis is upon THEM and what THEY have done to create the destruction of a great city.
    I pray for you every night as your life of lighting the way through the messes of politics is always a textbook for reference as to “I told you so….”….Reading your words should be the primer for any possible Chicago pol so that he or she can truly be responsible to the voters and citizens of this city that was the grand old dame and key to the West for many immigrants such as my family that continued west to the Dakotas. I was born in Chicago and my parents moved west to Wood Dale and so happy they did that back in the mid 40’s.
    I guess I am beginning to ramble a bit here, but I am happy to hear that Betty and the boys are doing well and your strength is returning. Life is good and God is great.
    God bless you John Kass. You and your words are needed always.
    Tom Adams

  34. I once heard a relative ask another CPD relative how CPD handles the gangs. ‘Well, we have to be the baddest ass gang’. I said this before in a comment: if CPD knew with absolute certainty who killed a member of a family, the CPD would turn them over to the victims family. No court hearing, no bail, no trial, no jail. No muss, no fuss. One ‘allegged’ murderer was found in a building stripped of his clothes and chained to a radiator face down with the thermostat set as high as it it could go. That’s vigilante justice. Do we want that. No? But it worked back then. News got out and the neighborhood was safe for a very long time.
    Take care JK. Recovery is slo but sure.

  36. Good to read your words John on what in part is promoting the loss of civility in a once great city that is now dying as quickly as the victims it finds on its streets.

    One would have hoped that the citizens of Chicago would have recognized the political cause of Chicago’s violence and responded in kind with the election of a pro law and order candidate in the Mayoral runoff. Instead they either turned a blind eye or just didn’t care as evidenced by the election of Brandon Johnson.

    We can now bemoan in frustration that with the April 4th election results, the Four Furies have dropped Lori and replaced her with Brandon and business as usual will continue as it has for the past four years, and most probably will get worse.

  37. Great column as usual by a gifted writer. Please continue to get better, and don’t overdo the therapy- day at a time.

    The greatest takeaway from this column for me, a retired Cop, was “No sanctions is an invitation to the violent to grab what they want”. Thugs like these four morons aren’t interested in legit jobs or legit lives- they take what they want and are always looking for victims. And as long as we go along with this nonsense that they are somehow not responsible for their actions, it will continue. I worry every day what kind of world and country my grandchildren are going to inherit.

  38. Ofc Preston’s mom did it all right. Encouraging her child to be the best she could be. A Masters in CJ part time while working FT as a PO. Another life sniffed out too early by the thuggery that is Toni and Tim And Tom and Lori and Kim. The grad photo posted today by her mother of her daughter popping champagne in a cap and gown in the Wrigley concourse made so sad. Our condo is steps away from the site of the photo. Promise and hope for the future dashed by some hooligans. What a joke the left says grade schoolers can decide what SEX they “really” are in grade school yet there is no ability to tell right from wrong till one is 25!! Dems/progressives/libs you cannot have it both ways.

    Welcome back John. Rehab is a bitch but it beats the alternative. Hope to see your own views occasionally as you progress.

  39. Excellent column, Mr. Kass!
    Hang in there! My dad had a stroke, and it took months of rehabilitation. It was super hard at first but got easier as it went along as he got stronger. Nothing worthwhile is easy.

    I am baffled by how the people of Chicago elected Brandon Johnson in light of the ongoing crime. It truly is insanity. The results are inevitable when people see religion and morality as a joke, standards are non-existent, and rules are thrown out the window. There will be an end to this madness for sure, but it will not be a good thing.

  40. I know you’re still healing and regaining your well being. I also understand your need to write this.
    We now live in madness. Right is wrong, wrong is right. And on and on it goes. It leaves many with mouths agape, and scratching heads. Where are the Black Lives Matter folks when a young woman is gunned down? Where are the screaming heads? Lori spoke of this incident with tears in her voice. Nice try, we’re not buying it.
    Instead the mouths are flapping over a subway incident in New York where they are demanding murder one charges. We don’t know all the details of that incident. We do know it was a white guy subduing a black man. And the deceased had a long list of infractions.
    I fear where we are going. It will be a dark place in which there is no light.
    Thank you for your words. Happy Mother’s Day to Betty.

  41. Has the Trib guild put out a statement on the murder of Officer Preston yet – or Gov. Pugsley? They owe you and the city an apology for taking George Soros’ side and running you out of the Trib! Thank you, John! Take it one day at a time on the rehab – And Happy Mother’s Day to your beautiful Sicilian bride! 🌷

  42. Every time a Police Officer is killed a shadow of profound sadness comes upon us all.
    Officer Preston’s murder is heartbreaking. I pray for her Mother and all of the Families who have suffered from deadly violence.

    John, happy you are recovering. Slow and steady will get you well, keep going forward!
    Continued prayers for you and your Family. God Bless you.

  43. The column was well written and the thoughts need to be said but it is horribly depressing. I don’t see things getting much better anytime soon.

  44. “What they did not do was help create any respect for the law. Instead they did everything to undermine that respect.”

    As John Kass would say: BINGO!

  45. God bless your continued rehab. Your comments are painfully accurate. There are times when an evil is palpable. It is almost seen, heard, tangible. The senseless slaughter of officer Preston assaults the senses that way. It is the voice of malevolence very clearly warning and demanding, “get out!”

  46. Always great to have you back John! A very timely column on a very timely subject. How ironic that today’s Chicago Fibune eulogizes Lori Lightfoots disastrous “legacy” as mayor of Chicago. The murder of Officer Preston is her legacy. Along with her cohorts Kim Foxx, Judge Evans and Toni Preckwinkle they all share credit for the officers death. A now famous recently elected politician from Chicago has stated.. “..don’t demonize our demons..”. Or as the lyrics to a Rolling Stone song goes “when all the cops are criminals and all the sinners saints…”. The song? “Sympathy for the Devil”.

  47. Thank you, John. Better to light a candle than to curse the darkness. Unfortunately, there’s still way too much cursing going on. When one considers that only something like 35% of eligible voters were interested enough to vote for the mayor of Chicago, and only about 18% actually voted for Johnson, and then you extrapolate that to consider the entire 2.75 million Chicago residents, you discover that our new mayor was elected by only about 10% of the citizens of Chicago. The four furies are indeed at the root of the problem, but a few more candles lit by the populace of this great city would certainly help brighten the gloamin’.

  48. Perastika sou, Yiannaki! We’re all pulling for your complete recovery, but be patient, and listen to your own body – it will tell you what you need, and when. Happy Mother’s Day to Betty as well, as she now deserves a medal for her devotion to the boys and you!!!
    I just can’t help feeling we are all witnessing Chicago’s funeral after this last mayoral election. As if Lori wasn’t bad enough, voters – aka the CTU – put in office a devout Marxist who will simply continue the city’s demise. Nothing he has said or done convinces me otherwise. The CTU will continue to churn out inept and unprepared students, who will turn to crime to make a “living!” So I will stand in the shadows, and observe the coming of the summer crime wave as the new mayor sends social workers out to 9-1-1 calls, instead of the cops! It didn’t work well in SanFran, or Portland either….

    1. Well said Leo. I always felt that Chicago’s demise could not be as bad as Detroit’s due to Chicago’s economic diversity. But I did not envision the moral decay that could fall so quickly and harshly. I left Chicago in 2016 as I felt the fiscal situation was terrible and only getting worse and as a property owner in Chicago, I felt a huge target on my back. But I did not see all of this coming. If you still reside in Chicago, be careful.

  49. Great column, John. Thanks. I, too, am sad that Chicago has turned into such a sewer. I moved to Chicago in 1976 and thoroughly enjoyed the next 45 years here, working, living, getting married etc. The food and the entertainment were fantastic. A couple of years after my wife passed I could not take it any longer. The city was way unsafe and the “republican” suburbs were turning blue and I sold and left for redder areas. Was born in Minneapolis and that town has really declined too.

  51. Thank you, John, for a great column, as always – right on target. All week I have had similar thoughts, and am saddened (and angered) by the loss of a young, bright star of the CPD, at the hands of people who should be in jail. What a sad commentary on the deterioration of a once great city.

    Wishing you a speedy recovery. Be well.

  53. Welcome back John. Sad that one of your first columns had to contain such content. I’m sure this was difficult for you to write on a few levels, but it all needed to be said, and thank you for doing so. With the new administration coming into office soon, I fear things need to get only worse before sanity returns. You are part of that sanity and if able, you need to keep writing. Get well John, get well. We need you.

  54. Kasso is back! Good for you John. I agree with Pat, it’s a strong column from a strong man. I’m happy for you,

    This killing of police is a terrible thing. I wish you had the talk show. There are so many angles to these stories.

    Did you see the shareholder from the Berkshire Hathaway meeting? How the oligarchs fund BLM, CRT, all this other bullshit? Gates, Buffet, Soros, and so many of them hang out with Jeffrey Epstein AFTER he was convicted, after all the heinous shit came out about him.

    John, they all made bank off of Covid, and every other “catastrophe”. They bankroll the media for favorable coverage, they bankroll the Congress for favorable policies, they directly contribute to the economic and cultural divisions in our society.

    They want independents, liberals, and conservatives at each other’s throats in order to distract from the grift they are running.

    They actually want Biden back as he’s even more corrupt than Trump ever was and will play ball with them. Trump asked too many questions and wanted to make too many decisions for their liking.

    I’ve not turned conservative, but I’ll never vote Dem again until some these grifters are all out on their asses.

    I don’t see any reason to vote for Biden, Durbin, Duckworth, Pritzker, Toni. Kwame Raoul, Foxx, any of them. How do any of them deserve to hold office?

  55. The hypocrisy of the progressive left never fails to confuse me. These violent thugs are said to have brains that aren’t developed enough to know what they’re doing, to understand right from wrong. But we let girls as young as 12-13 have abortions without parental permission, and the latest thing is for these kids to be allowed to have medications and surgery, sometimes without parental permission, to change their sex. You can’t even get a tattoo WITH parental permission in Illinois, but you can take hormones that will forever alter your body. In short, commit violence on others and you just weren’t loved enough, were bored, and just don’t have the mental capacity to understand what you did. But if you are and 8 year old boy, you can totally announce that you’re a girl, and the adults around you have to basically celebrate how brave you are and help you take hormone blockers that will hurt you for the rest of your life. We are told we MUST believe they know what they are doing. I’m really not sure why nobody ever seems to point this out to these idiot politicians, nor am I sure why the politicians aren’t capable of seeing their own hypocrisy. We don’t let kids vote (although some are trying to change that), we don’t let them drive, we don’t let them smoke or drink because their brains are not developed enough. But we let them murder. This entire state is so screwed up.

  58. Good to see you writing again, John. Keep at the therapy.

    I hope you’ll have an armload of Golden Moutza’s to hand out at some point, God knows there are more than enough ‘worthy’ recipients.

  60. Senseless, pointless horrific tragedy. The accused deserve whatever life long dark cell that awaits them if they are found guilty. That said, the catalyst for this disregard for life is hopelessness, so how do we combat hopelessness? How do we provide opportunity? How do we provide an option? Or hope? Whatever we are trying now isn’t working. If you haven’t seen it, watch the movie ‘Winter’s Bone,’ an amazing and realistic portrayal of what happens to a community when hope is removed from the equation.

  62. Hi John, great column. Nailed it as usual. Glad to hear you’re doing better. Healing takes time. Stay strong and know many of us support you.

  64. The unformed prefrontal cortex is the very reason the Democrat Party has proposed lowering the voting age to 16. Only an unformed brain would vote for them. Chicago committed suicide April 4th. It will not rest in peace.

  66. The city is in flames and we get a judge who is now an expert on the development of the black teenage male mind. Maybe it takes longer than he thinks if we use his own logic as an example of an underdeveloped prefrontal cortex and knowing the difference between right and wrong. That explanation is so racist and sexist it’s beyond belief. Shysters and charlatans cloaked in evil motives. Thanks John for your sad observation. It’s great to see your writing. Keep getting stronger.

  67. John Kass:
    God and a good therapist will get you back on track. Listen to both and do what they say.
    But, I understand your passion to write.
    Another great article.
    Tim Evans is a JUDGE. He is NOT a behavioral psychologist. His job is to follow the law, enforce the law and pronounce sentences that will be a deterrence for future law-breakers.
    Now, most of us didn’t have to wait until our pre-frontal cortex to develop to know right from wrong.
    Our mom and DAD made sure that we knew the difference at a very early age. It started with potty training.
    By the time we reached kindergarten, we knew not to take what was not ours’. We knew how to treat other kids. We knew that hitting and hurting them was wrong. We knew to respect the teacher, to listen to them and LEARN from them. All of that at the ripe old age of FIVE years old.
    Anyone who defends the actions of these thugs don’t deserve to live in our Constitutional Republic. They can go live in a third world country where survival of the fittest is the only law.
    I get nauseous every time I read an article where activists blames the GUN for the crime.
    Criminals have CHOSEN to be on the wrong side of the law.
    Their parents failed them. Their schools failed them. The justice system failed them. With that said, the failures don’t give them the right to commit crimes.
    Anyone who grew up poor knew that they could use it as an excuse or motivation to change it.
    As long as we give criminals the excuses, temper that with cashless bail/no bail and prosecutors who fail to prosecute, our society will tumble deeper and deeper into lawlessness and violence.

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