The Night Chicago Died

by

(Part 2 is here.)

A Chicago Boyz reader writes:

Recently, two CPD uniformed officers were shot in the head during a traffic stop.

How did this happen? What happened? The detailed answers to these questions will be unfolded as the post-shooting investigation discovers the facts and assembles them into a narrative that “explains” what happened. As is so often the case, the analysis will focus on the actions of the officers, their failures to act as policy or training requires, and their poor performance even when they were acting as they were supposed to. All such analyses are riddled with hindsight bias, and invariably neglect the forces that now shape the interactions of the CPD with the public. You might ask: “What are you talking about?”

Several years ago, the City of Chicago signed a consent decree with the (Obama) Justice Department. The decree required that an officer formulate articulable suspicion prior to initiating any contact with a member of the public. As part of the decree, officers were and are required to fill out a detailed form every time they initiate such an interaction. Failure to fill out the form completely or accurately carries a risk of sanction. Net effect? Contact with the public went down by 80-90%, as did arrests. It turns out that seasoned police officers can talk people into disclosing a lot of information about criminal activity just by talking to them. A conversation that began with a hunch and without articulable suspicion often ended with probable cause for arrest.

No matter, the drop in arrests has become less important. Why?

Read more

The impending collapse of police departments.

by

The “Defund the Police” movements in “blue” cities are on the verge of success. Not necessarily in actually defunding or dismantling police forces but in convincing the police officers that their function is obsolete. Evidence #1 is this column by “Jack Dunphy,” a former LAPD officer who now works in a different city.

A vehicle that nearly hit an LAPD cruiser close to the intersection of Lankershim and Burbank Boulevards led police in a pursuit and eventually a standoff at a Valley Village used car dealership.

The suspect pulled into Boktor Motors, located on the corner of Riverside Drive and Colfax Avenue, where he exited his vehicle, threw a traffic cone at officers. He then took off shirt and began doing pushups, before getting up and fidgeting with one of the cars on the lot.

Eventually, the man disappeared into the back of the car dealership. After a time, police left without the suspect.

LAPD told CBSLA that they determined there was no threat to the public and decided to clear the scene without the suspect in custody.

Why would they leave without arresting the offender?

Read more

“Good Union Jobs”

by

Biden, and other Democrats, like to talk about “good union jobs.”   Unsurprising–what is a little surprising is how many conservative commentators have picked up on the same phraseology: for example, when talking about the impact of Biden’s pipeline shutdown, I’ve hear them talking about “union jobs lost” rather than just about “jobs lost.”

I’m not opposed to unions (private-sector unions, that is), they can serve a useful purpose. But they do add a certain rigidity to business operations and to compensation and promotion decisions. They are not for everyone, and there are a lot of people who have excellent jobs that have nothing to do with unions.

Democrats like to talk about unions, I think, partly for reasons of nostalgia but primarily due to the inherently collectivist worldview of the Dems: they would rather think in terms of categories of people than of actual individuals. The old feudal idea of “no man without a master” resonates with them, I think, although they would phrase it differently. And, of course, they view unions as excellent sources of campaign funding.

Conservatives/republicans mindlessly echoing this phraseology and implicitly the worldview that underlies it.

Party Hearty

by

Well, if there isn’t one element in current events which more clearly shows up the double standard not to mention the absolute uselessness of masks and so-called social distancing it would have to be Barak Obama’s lavish party with six hundred of his closest and dearest friends, at his plush estate in that playground of the old-money wealth, Martha’s Vineyard. The Commie Crud virus obviously must know the difference between the enlightened, sensitive members of the elite, and would not dare afflict them, unlike those stupid, unenlightened and no doubt racist proles attending the Sturgis motorcycle rally.

Read more

Nagasaki: The Atomic Bombing Mission That Almost Wasn’t, plus 76 years

by

This column is adapted from a recent e-mail from Ryan Crierie that is reposted here with his permission.   It is the tale of how almost everything that could go wrong, did go wrong, on the day Nagasaki was nuked.

This is a U.S. military map of the radioactive fall out caused by the nuclear strike on Nagasaki.   See the pattern of black dots upper right.

And make sure to read through the P.S.   There is a historical “What If” stinger waiting for you there.

Read more