The Chicago Way: Can a city survive with first responders under constant political attack by the powers that be?

February 7, 2023

That’s the subject of today’s Chicago way podcast, focusing on the mayoral election and the 19th ward-long time home of first responders of the South Side. Chicago police sergeant Mike Cummings joins us to talk about his aldermanic campaign against the royal political families of the 19th ward. Also in todays podcast John Kass decides to ad lib a monologue as in the old days.

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Comments 8

  1. No way can the city survive as mayor beetlejuice continues to throw all first responders, especially the entire police force, under the bus. She has not accepted responsibility for escalating crime, lootings, carjackings, etc, or for the sorry state of the once “mag mile!” If she’s re-elected, we’ll be worse than “the big rotten apple” or LA, Seattle or Portland – currently mired in crime with folks departing their cities. Anyone wonder why? As we say in Greek – to psari meerizee apo to kefali!! Or, the fish smells from the head. Look at our leaders at the top and you can see why we’re going into the toilet with their socialist agendas!

    1. Its completely hopeless. It doesn’t matter who gets in including Vallas. We are beyond turning it around. Even if our bug eyed mayor gets thrown out we will still have Taxwinkle, Fox etal in there with all their employee govt job slugs that will keep them in.
      I have or had inlaws, relatives, etc in LE (law enforcement) and asked once as a naive kid how they kept gangs under control and one said: ‘the cops have to be the baddest assed gang.’ You know what that means. A couple of points/examples. When I moonlighted as a young doctor and Henrotin hospital I got mugged in parking lot. I had stolen a very expensive leather bag I had just bought from Fields. The crooks thought there was drugs in it. There weren’t. I went to Chgo police station on Chicago and Clark and reported the crime. That was on a Friday. Got a call late Sunday from station saying that got the bag back. I went there and asked how they got it back so fast. Cop at desk said they contacted the Pimps on Rush street and said ‘you guys and your girls are shut down till the docs bag is returned’. Poof, it’s back! Finally, and this one the woke won’t like. Another relative told this story. If a low life committed a particularly heinous crime (rape, beating, robbery, or murder, etc) against a family or individual and the investigation DEFINITIVELY without doubt fingered the perp, the cops would turn the guy over to the family who was harmed. Again poof justice was meted out. Vigilante? Maybe. But no long trial, court costs, or crowding our jails. Is it right? Well ask yourself whether you would rather have it that way or have it as it is now.
      Tom Rudd

  2. Socialist agenda is a gross oversimplification here. We’ve devolved into a political climate where anything the other “side” does is wrong. I feel terribly for the vast majority of first responders who are lead by scum at the top of the Command ranks and at the political level as well.

    Look at the incumbent 19th Ward Alderman. He feels has to turn his back on his constituents lest they primary him with a race hustling verbal gymnast who will tell you that the criminals are more important than the loved ones who lose family members to street violence.

    Socialist. They don’t even know what that means. It’s all about power, control, ego, and above all money. As long as the right people get paid, you get to stay in office. How else does a Richard M Daley survive, hired truck, Jon Burge, the flood, years of scoop and toss budgeting practices, his murderous nephew? His chief of staff actually went on WTTW after he told a union group that Chicago needed a white mayor and said he actually said “wet”. And the media and electorate let him slide, and she went to the aviation department and got jobs for how many relatives?

    Daley at least had the brains to keep the swells relatively safe. These idiots running things now have their heads so far up their behinds that they actually believe they are doing a good job.

    There is no media to keep them honest.

  3. Its completely hopeless. It doesn’t matter who gets in including Vallas. We are beyond turning it around. Even if our bug eyed mayor gets thrown out we will still have Taxwinkle, Fox etal in there with all their employee govt job slugs that will keep them in.
    I have or had inlaws, relatives, etc in LE (law enforcement) and asked once as a naive kid how they kept gangs under control and one said: ‘the cops have to be the baddest assed gang.’ You know what that means. A couple of points/examples. When I moonlighted as a young doctor and Henrotin hospital I got mugged in parking lot. I had stolen a very expensive leather bag I had just bought from Fields. The crooks thought there was drugs in it. There weren’t. I went to Chgo police station on Chicago and Clark and reported the crime. That was on a Friday. Got a call late Sunday from station saying that got the bag back. I went there and asked how they got it back so fast. Cop at desk said they contacted the Pimps on Rush street and said ‘you guys and your girls are shut down till the docs bag is returned’. Poof, it’s back! Finally, and this one the woke won’t like. Another relative told this story. If a low life committed a particularly heinous crime (rape, beating, robbery, or murder, etc) against a family or individual and the investigation DEFINITIVELY without doubt fingered the perp, the cops would turn the guy over to the family who was harmed. Again poof justice was meted out. Vigilante? Maybe. But no long trial, court costs, or crowding our jails. Is it right? Well ask yourself whether you would rather have it that way or have it as it is now.
    Tom Rudd

  4. The Chicago Way is that those in power stick together for their own benefit and Chicagoans be damned. The police are stretched like rubber bands and will break at any moment. No one can sustain that kind of pressure without respite. I know policing is based on forming relationships within communities. However, is there any way that police officers can be rotated in and out of the most crime ridden/homicide ridden areas? There’s only so much the human brain can withstand. Cops are trained but, seriously, how many shootings, deaths, rapes, and riots can they take before losing it? Perpetrators have no lines left uncrossed. They don’t care if things happen at schools (which used to be no go zones), if they take out kids, or beat up elderly. Yet, police officers are supposed to turn off their emotions and treat these thugs with respect. This does not mean I condone police brutality, but I sure as hell can understand it. Our society is broken.

    1. Erin, they’re not even allowed to really police anymore. Can’t clear corners, breakup mischief, be proactive in the least. The race hustlers have seen to that and the lousy treatment and lack of dignity afforded officers and other first responders has also caused a mass exodus of retirements and resignations. The number of dedicated, experienced officers that we’ve lost will take a decade to rebuild, and that’s with a sustained effort.

      The punks are emboldened as never before. They essentially have elected officials running interference and doing PR work for them and undermining police.

      The police haven’t helped themselves over the years by protecting crooks, gangbangers, and lazy cops in their ranks for years.

      I fell terribly for the vast majority of good honest cops who would like to be able to do their jobs.

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