By John Kass

September 21, 2022

Chicago has always suffered a Second-City syndrome when it comes to New York, but just wait until Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s controversial new no-cash bail law for accused violent criminals becomes a reality in January.

Could Chicago have its own rage-filled hatchet wielding man chopping up some local McDonald’s, just like New York’s Michael Palacios  who walked free and didn’t need bail?

It was amazing. On the video, he becomes angry with others in the McDonald’s and then takes out his trusty hatchet to  terrifies the chicken nuggets out of them.

“Everything that Palacios is seen doing on that video, from smashing plate glass partitions, breaking tables, chopping his hatchet into walls, and waving it at patrons is a non-bailable offense,” reported the New York Post columnist Jim Quinn.

“The video of his activity only lasts a few minutes, but under New York law, he could have done that all day long and then done the same thing at a Burger King or pizza parlor down the street, smashing the windows of every store he passed, waving the hatchet at every passerby and a judge STILL could not have set bail on him,” continued Quinn. “At his arraignment on these charges, he could have said to the judge I can buy a bigger hatchet and I’m gonna do the same thing when I get out. And a judge STILL couldn’t set bail on him. He could have had a record of 30 prior convictions, but as long as none of them were pending when he did this, a judge STILL could not have set bail on him, because under New York law, a judge cannot consider public safety or risk of re-offending when setting bail.”

Bingo.

Unfortunately I am not a lawyer. So I can’t speak to the fine points of the broken bail system during this national crime wave, either the broken system in New York under George Soros prosecutor District Attorney Alvin Bragg or  Chicago under George Soros prosecutor Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx, or most every urban area suffering from 40 percent crime spikes over last year.

All I know is that Democrats have controlled both towns for most of the past 100 years. Democrats and their mouthpieces defending them on this no-bail clown show keep insisting that legitimate criticism is really about  terrifying white wealthy suburbanites about black and brown criminal offenders.

Wrong.

Federal crime statistics tell us that criminal violence is perpetrated mostly by minorities. Democrats who run the big cities aren’t at all enthusiastic about arresting and sending minority criminals to prison, and they’ve built their political operations opposed to law enforcement and jails.

But they skip over another fact: Most victims of urban and suburban criminal violence are also minorities. Minority men, their bodies left on the street. Minority women screaming in the ambulance. Minority children suffering PTSD. Minority grandparents robbed in wheel chairs.  What Democrat ideologues refuse to acknowledge is that black and brown people of color are suffering at the hands of left wing social warrior demagogues. Their needs of public safety are sacrificed to Democrat power politics.

And “systemic racism” has nothing to do with it. Criminal predators with guns who go hunting for prey have everything to do with it.

Though New York has the allegedly innocent Monsieur Palacios and his hatchet, then Chicago has a star of its own:

Marcell Hunter.

According to prosecutors in Chicago, Marcell Hunter, 27,  was out on electronic monitoring for three other felony cases, when he decided to shoot and kill a 22-year-old woman at a South Side Chicago block party because he didn’t want her there.

Where’s the systemic racism?

Voters across America are concerned about rising violent crime. Everybody wants safe streets.

Illinois supporters of the SAFE-T Act include Pritzker whose billions pay for the political party, the Illinois Black Caucus, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot, Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle, and Boss Toni’s protegee, Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx (a beneficiary of Lightfoot’s endorsement and at least $2 million in donations from billionaire George Soros) and a host of other left-leaning allies.

These include “Injustice Watch” which has partnered up with the once conservative Chicago Tribune which is now a hollow shell of its former self.  Team Pritzker is indeed busy, including “Injustice Watch” which says it’s all about  “Debunking right-wing propaganda about the SAFE-T ACT.”

But Republican State Sen. John F. Curran of Downers Grove, a former longtime assistant Cook County State’s Attorney, doesn’t see analysis as propaganda. He sees it the way most prosecutors and cops see it—as removing deterrents from the criminal justice system—encouraging the violent to hunt down their prey.

“You cannot take deterrents out of the criminal system,” Curran said on this week’s podcast The Chicago Way which should be available soon. “They’ve been doing that for years and the SAFE-T act is the final straw. Crime is rampant because people don’t fear getting caught. They don’t stop. The police can’t pursue anymore because of insurance and other issues and when they do get caught, they’ll be processed booked and be back out that day.

“When there’s no fear of accountability in the system, what is going to stop someone who sees something someone else has and says, ‘I want to take that.’ And that’s what’s going on and it’s rampant.”

Was Marcell Hunter, on electronic monitoring for three felony cases, aware of the nuances of the SAFE-T ACT debate when he allegedly shot and killed a woman during a street party in Chicago this summer just because he didn’t want her there?

I can’t say. But I do know that CWB Chicago—the invaluable news site that actually covers crime and shames the so-called newspapers– reports that there’s more: .

“But then there’s this: Hunter, 27, is awaiting trial for allegedly being a felon in possession of a firearm in 2018 and then escaping from electronic monitoring by cutting off his ankle monitor. He remained on the loose for three years until last September, when Chicago police allegedly caught him with yet another gun.

“Despite all of that, Cook County Judge Carol Howard decided to release him on his own recognizance with electronic monitoring in February to await trial on the escape and gun charges.”

Let this sink in, Cook County Judge Carol Howard released him on his own recognizance and put him on electronic monitoring AFTER he’d already cut off his ankle bracelet.

I don’t have compelling hatchet video complete with screaming patrons thinking McRibs might be their last supper on earth. But in the hopes of catching your attention, but there is this from CWB:

“Hunter is the 37th person accused of killing or shooting—or attempting to kill or shoot—someone in Chicago while awaiting trial for a felony this year. The alleged crimes involved at least 71 victims, 18 of whom died.”

What the? Doesn’t that catch your attention? And Hunter’s alleged crime comes BEFORE Pritzker’s idiotic SAFE-T ACT takes effect.

Last year there were dozens and dozens more of these, and the year before too. Some of my favorite CWB Chicago headlines include, “Anti-violence worker, who’s a 9-time felon, shot himself in the butt at a Bucktown gas station while on felony bail, prosecutors say,” and “Killer shot motorcyclist 16 times while awaiting trial for a felony gun case, prosecutors say,” and so on and so on and so on.

The defenders of Pritzker’s SAFE-T ACT insist that judges will have discretion to keep violent offenders in jail and that critics are wrongly frightening those white wealthy suburbanites. But judges had that discretion already, before the act, and they made fools out of themselves and taxpayers yet again and again.

According to assistant Cook County State’s Attorney Danny Hanichak, the 22-year-old woman identified as Nikki Conner was shot dead at 59^th and Bishop.

Have you been there? It’s not generally considered a hangout for wealthy white suburbanites. And Pritzker and his Democrats know it.

Minorities are left to pay the price for the warped and destructive policies of the Democrat ideologues who keep playing their race cards for themselves.

(Copyright 2022 John Kass)

Kass note: Chicago’s official response to increasing violent crime is critically important. And everyone who is a candidate for mayor of Chicago should speak out.  I’ve made it known among the candidates through my podcast and in columns at johnkassnews.com, that each candidate for mayor is invited to submit an 800-900 word or so essay about what they would do to stop crime. I’ll publish those essays for all to see. You don’t have to agree with me. I’m all about Free Speech. But don’t complain that you can’t reach me. If you think you’re mayoral materiel, you’ll find me or you can go home. Don’t wait too long. Chicago wants solutions and I’m waiting to see those big brains at work. All candidates are invited to submit guest columns before November, Mayor Lightfoot, too.

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