Chicago Is Insane

I don't even know what I mean by that title, but the chances are that I mean every possible interpretation of it down to suggesting that the buildings and land are themselves insane.

Going back to the article I highlighted yesterday, I want to dive a bit deeper into it to see if we can expose all the layers of madness.

The initial story of Caleb Reed’s death was tragic enough: A 17-year-old activist with a bright future killed on a West Rogers Park sidewalk when someone shot from a passing car.

But a month later, as prosecutors brought charges in the case, a more devastating narrative emerged: Reed was killed by his own friend shooting blindly at a car down the street.

Insane: An activist with a bright future was walking with friends who carried guns and shot at passing cars. 

Video also shows that no one in the Malibu shot back until Reed began collapsing to the ground.

Insane: Apparently, just when the occupants of the car returned fire is a key point. 

Martin (the gunman) was college-bound, involved in mentoring and community service, and had himself been shot just last year, according to his attorney.

Insane: He was going to college where, presumably, he would discover that many of the other students didn't carry guns and shoot wildly at people in cars. Someone should have explained this to him. It would not only have saved his friend's life, but it would have softened the culture shock when he got to college.

Note: To explain to blacks in the hood that, in other communities, it's actually relatively rare to spray passing cars with bullets, would be, as I'm sure you guessed, racist.

Reed (the victim), 17, was a leader with Voices of Youth in Chicago Education, a coalition of community organizations advocating for racial justice in the education system. Members said they saw Reed as an activist full of potential, always pushing himself and others to work harder.

Insane: I guess that the folks who run Voices for Youth didn't explain to their staff that firing wildly at people in cars was, how shall we say this, not helpful. Of course not. That would have been racist.

Insane: Caleb was fighting for racial justice in the education system, but who was he fighting? I suppose he was fighting the system, but as far as I can tell, all of the leaders of the system in Chicago are black. They're certainly all Democrats.

Insane: Caleb was pushing everyone else to work harder? Really? How hard is it not to shoot at cars? Many people manage to do that every day. That would seem to be a pretty low bar.

After Martin’s arrest Sunday, he identified himself in a still from the surveillance video of the shooting, but denied having a gun and said he did not fire any shots, Murphy said.

When police showed him the video where he can be seen firing, Martin had no response.

Note: Well, that was a feeble defense. With brain power like that, the best college he could attend would be an Ivy League one or maybe a Jesuit one. Any of the others would have been too difficult.

“He’s so concerned ... he shoots his own friend (while) trying to shoot at the other car,” the judge said. “His lawyer tells me he’s on his way to college. Had he made it, that could have changed his life. … I typically don’t get this kind of young man charged with this kind of offense in front of me. I’m just stunned.”

Insane: The tone of this is what blew my mind when I originally read the article. The guy thinks nothing of carrying a gun and shooting at people in cars. It wasn't a tragedy that he was trying to kill the people in the car, it was that he killed the wrong person. Sigh. Before that friendly fire incident, he had such a bright future!

“What happened to Caleb is not a unique situation,” the statement (from Voices for Youth) read. “The tragic action that led to Caleb’s death is undeniably a call to invest in Black Lives.”

Insane: Or maybe it's a call to return to civilization. Perhaps married families could be the start. Nah. It's racism. You can tell because Chicago is festooned with Confederate flags. Also, did they ever track down those white supremacists that attacked Jussie Smollett? 

Note: I'm being picky here, but could we please use proper capitalization in our prepared statements? There is no reason to capitalize either the B or the L in black lives.

“You want to understand what was going through that young person’s mind,” Renaeu  (from Voices for Youth) said Tuesday. “You want to understand what could have happened to prevent that.”

Insane: Well, I hate to be the prude, but I'm thinking that married fathers who are taught to be accountable for the actions of their children might help. Maybe the older Mr. Reed could have disciplined his son as he was growing up so that shooting wildly while walking down the street was less likely.

As a 27-year-old mother of two sons, Renaeu said she thinks a lot about the way Chicago treats young Black men. She believes the key to stopping any future harm is to ensure Black children are given opportunities.

Insane: Well, until "B"lack children stop shooting at people, I'd have to say that opportunities will be limited. If they lack the self-control to restrain themselves from attempting to murder people in the street, I'm guessing that the list of available opportunities would be rather short.

Ultimate Insanity

Chicago is over a billion dollars in the red this year, thanks to their Draconian lockdowns and their penchant for rioting. A billion dollars in cuts in a city whose credit is shot from years of fiscal incompetence means massive cuts in social programs, education and basic services.

Everyone in this article are parasites. That is, none of them produce goods and services that result in tax revenues. Right now, the only thing that really matters in Chicago are lowered expenses and increased revenue. Everyone who is an activist or an organizer or an employee of the city is a net drain. Instead of talking about activists who fight racist leprechauns, the Tribune's reporters and editorial staff needs to be focused like a laser on more revenue and lower costs if they don't want trash piling up in their streets.

Like you, I was surprised to discover that trash pickup cost money.

I was even more surprised to find that almost all of Chicago's tax revenues come from taxes on profits and earnings.

Finally, I was staggered to realize that many businesses don't like to be looted. Dittos for productive citizens! I'm thinking that the activists fighting for racial justice ought to have a talk with them.