Octopus Overlords

LawBeefaroni wrote: Tue Jul 02, 2019 12:59 pm The Gage is my go-to when we hit that neighborhood.

Not cheap either but...scotch egg. And lots of other great food.


The kids like some bakery near there, can't remember the name. Like $2.50 macaroons but Guinness was an astonishing $3/can last time I was there!

Love The Gage. Have no idea if they have a kid's menu, it does not register on my list of place to go when child-encumbered.

LawBeefaroni wrote: Tue Jul 02, 2019 2:33 pm You get a Francheesie and slap a pizza puff on top for a quick pick me up. That'sa Chicago!

It's getting pretty hard to find a good, authentic francheezie around here. Kristie absolutely loves them and wants one every time we have OctoCon. But that typical corner greek restaurant that had the francheezie as a staple is going the way of the dodo.

Hmmm...I didn't even realize the Francheezie was a regional dish. I just assumed it was a monstrosity this particular restaurant cooked up in a fever dream one night after 17 shots of mescal and three eyedroppers of LSD.

Gator in Humboldt Park Lagoon.

Trib.

Chicago officials confirmed an alligator was living in Humboldt Park Lagoon after several people reported seeing the animal there Tuesday morning and others shared photos of it.

...

Earlier, as Officer Michelle Tannehill, a police spokeswoman, gave a statement about 3:30 p.m. explaining that the call was unconfirmed, witnesses watching the water from the nearby boathouse screamed, “It’s there, I see the alligator!”

Immediately, a volunteer animal expert known as “Alligator Bob,” who had searched for the animal without success earlier, hopped back in his canoe and paddled to the edge of the lagoon. Alligator Bob is a fixture of exotic animal searches in Chicago and often helps the city’s animal control staff capture them.

There is also word of a Floridaman living on Montrose Beach.

I knew a dude on the north side who had an adult alligator. When an elderly coworker came to pick him up for a charter fishing trip one morning, he nearly had a heart attack when he was greeted by the gator. The guy told us he drove it south to set it free in normal environs, though.

Is it gentrification when the alligators move in?

Zarathud wrote: Wed Jul 10, 2019 12:03 am Is it gentrification when the alligators move in?

Maybe people will start taking the "No Swimming" signs seriously.

If it doesn't have fur and/or can't play fetch, it's not a pet, people. How many friggin' times do I have to tell you this!

NPR

It took a week, but wildlife officials in Chicago say they've finally captured a 5-foot-long alligator that was nicknamed Chance the Snapper. The gator surprised city residents who spotted it last Tuesday in Humboldt Park, on the city's West Side.

The animal was captured after 36 consecutive hours of tracking and surveillance by Florida alligator expert Frank Robb, who owns Crocodilian Specialist Services in St. Augustine. To help the gator search, officials had closed off roads and paths near the lagoon, and residents were asked to avoid the park and keep things quiet.

The rogue alligator fell into human hands around 1:30 a.m. local time Tuesday. That's when Robb says he saw the gator's eyes shine in the darkness. That's when the gator — a male that weighs around 30 or 40 pounds — did some "vocalizing," Robb said at a news conference where the slippery gator was unveiled Tuesday.

Oh sure, post that right after I post the meth gator link in random randomness for lack of a better place to put it.

LordMortis wrote: Tue Jul 16, 2019 1:18 pm Oh sure, post that right after I post the meth gator link in random randomness for lack of a better place to put it.

Given the lagoon where that gator was, it no doubt has the DTs at this moment.

So it looks like we're replacing our inept, puppet superintendent of police. He was found passed out behind the wheel around midnight a few weeks ago. He insisted that it was new meds. The mayor, knowing a leak of responding officers' bodycam footage was likely, amended to story to say that he had had "a few drinks.". Word is he was wasted and the bodycam footage is damning.

At any rate, looks like his replacement will be a self-dealing, nepotistic former LAPD chief. So he'll fit right in.

We just celebrated >24 hours without anyone getting shot for the 3rd time this year!

LawBeefaroni wrote: Wed Nov 20, 2019 6:04 pm We just celebrated >24 hours without anyone getting shot for the 3rd time this year!

Woohoo! Let's celebrate by shooting our guns!

So the story of Superintendent Johnson has developed as follows, over the course of a few weeks.


1. Johnson found asleep behind the wheel a few blocks from home sometime around midnight. His statement was that he was on new blood pressure meds and forgot and fell asleep.

Rumor at the time: there is bodycam footage and he was wasted on it. Brass showed up on the scene and started turning off/taking cameras. But footage exists.

2. A few days later Johnshon admits to having "a few drinks".

Rumor at the time: it was way more than a few drinks.
Fun fact: Johnson is living in a kidney donated by his son. And he's out getting wasted on the regular. Thanks, son!

3. Mayor says Johnson has been lying to her.

Rumor at the time: Johnson will be retired by the end of the year, announced by the end of the week.

4. Soon thereafter, Mayor announced Johnson's retirement. Johnson and family, including his wife in her police uniform, are there. He says that attending the Bears game in London made him realize how important family time is.

Rumor at the time: bodycam footage is really bad. He gonna be fired. Another rumor: he's been getting kickbacks from a certain uniform company. Getting fired is bad enough but criminal kickbacks could cost him his $200K/ year pension.

5. Soon thereafter Mayor announces that she's firing Johnson. He had lied to her and put of respect to his wife and kids, she won't say more (which is saying plenty).

Rumors fly. He didn't have a driver when he passed out behind the wheel because he was having an affair with his driver and she dropped him off by his house and left.

6. Don't remember how this all came out but it was all within a few days. Apparently the super was at a Southside bar with several plainclothes officers drinking. He then went to a bar in the Board of Trade building that is famous for unbelievably strong drinks (his original claim of a "few drinks" may have been true if not for the extended pre-partying). At this well know bar, Ceres Cafe if anyone is interested in an $8 drink that has 7 oz of hard liquor, video footage reveals the super in the company of a woman who is not his wife, but who is also a cop. They kiss several times.

Rumors at the time: hard to distinguish rumor from fact since so many rumors turned out to be true. But I think the mill churned these out first: The woman at Ceres was part of Johnson's security detail. The 911 call about him passed out came from a police issued cell phone. They were having sex when responding officers arrived (and it's on bodycam).

7. What we know today: the other woman is indeed on his security detail. The call was indeed from a police phone. The other woman removed the Sim card from her police issued phone being turning it in to the IG. The other woman was NOT in the car with Johnson when he was found slumped over the wheel.

Rumors today: there was another other woman. Eddie left the other woman as Ceres and picked up the other other. He wasn't passed out when responding officers arrived. He was getting a blowjob. Other woman #1 called the cops because she followed him and saw this happening.


I assume there will be more news in the next few days. It's our own version of the TV police drama.

Here's one of many articles.

Fox Chicago

[F]ormer “Empire” actor Jussie Smollett was indicted Tuesday in Chicago by special prosecutor Dan Webb
...
He is indicted on six counts, accused of lying to Chicago police when he reported the attack last year, special prosecutor Webb said. Smollett faces six counts of disorderly conduct.

Kim Foxx will probably still get re-elected. If she wins the primary she is in and the Machine is doing everything it can to get her the primary win.

Foxx gets Sun-Times endorsement.

By Tuesday afternoon, the paper's early support of Foxx's re-election bid grew even more shocking when word got out that special prosecutor Dan Webb obtained an indictment of Smollett on six new charges related to filing false reports that he was the victim of a homophobic hate crime, and said the investigation to determine whether "any person or office involved in the Smollett case engaged in wrongdoing" continues.

Until you follow the money, that is.

What the paper doesn't tell readers is that members of the Sun-Times ownership team, who rightfully wield influence over editorial board decisions, also play a significant role in bankrolling Foxx's campaign.
...
But there's no mention of the $301,250 Sun-Times investor Michael Sacks has personally pumped into Foxx's campaign since September.

The endorsement doesn't include a disclaimer revealing the political action committees controlled by the Service Employees International Union (part of a collection of unions that own the paper) kicked in $425,000 to support Foxx's campaign in the last four months, according to public records.

There wasn't a single sentence about the $25,000 Sun-Times investor and politically connected real estate investor Elzie Higginbottom donated in October that the Friends of Foxx campaign didn't report receiving until Jan. 15, according to state election board records.

Why does all of this matter? Because this kind of thing is a regular occurrence in Cook County:

Huayi Bian, 36, and Weizhong Xiong, 38, were standing in the parking lot of an apartment complex with a 44-year-old woman about 2:13 a.m. when Thomas allegedly walked up and tried to rob them, according to police and the Cook County medical examiner’s office.

The woman complied, but the men resisted, at which point Thomas allegedly fired multiple shots, police said. Both were shot in the head and pronounced dead at the scene.

...

At the time of his arrest, Thomas was on probation for a 2018 robbery charge in Chicago, according to county records. He was released on home electronic monitoring after posting a $5,000 bond, and pleaded guilty to the charge in July 2019. He was sentenced to two years probation with credit for 319 days already served, county records state.

While out on bond, Thomas was charged with manufacture and delivery of cannabis in February 2019, but the charge was dropped the next month, according to county records.

Note that the first robbery charge was actually for two different robberies on the same day. Grand jury handed down indictments for robbery, aggravated battery, and unlawful restraint.

CHICAGO - Seven people were killed and 14 more were wounded Tuesday in shootings across Chicago, making it the most violent day of 2020 so far as temperatures reached summer-like levels for the first time this year.

Figures, temps were in the 70s. So much for stay-at-home.

LawBeefaroni wrote: Thu Apr 09, 2020 11:12 am

CHICAGO - Seven people were killed and 14 more were wounded Tuesday in shootings across Chicago, making it the most violent day of 2020 so far as temperatures reached summer-like levels for the first time this year.

Figures, temps were in the 70s. So much for stay-at-home.

I wonder if those seven will be classified as covid-19 deaths?

Why?

hepcat wrote: Thu Apr 09, 2020 8:27 pmWhy?

Why not?

em2nought wrote: Thu Apr 09, 2020 9:18 pm

hepcat wrote: Thu Apr 09, 2020 8:27 pmWhy?

Why not?

Because the virus doesn't use guns. :rolleyes:
Your turn, I guess.

Deadly viruses and gun related deaths don’t strike me as funny, so I’ll skip my “turn”.

hepcat wrote: Thu Apr 09, 2020 9:48 pm Deadly viruses and gun related deaths don’t strike me as funny, so I’ll skip my “turn”.

I don’t believe you were the target of the ‘your turn’ comment.

Unagi wrote: Fri Apr 10, 2020 10:08 am

hepcat wrote: Thu Apr 09, 2020 9:48 pm Deadly viruses and gun related deaths don’t strike me as funny, so I’ll skip my “turn”.

I don’t believe you were the target of the ‘your turn’ comment.

Correct

One could easily be considered COVID adjacent. A woman was shot, possibly by a stray bullet from blocks away, while waiting outside a 7-11 in a "social distancing" line.

A 27-year-old Chicago woman was fatally shot while social-distancing outside a convenience store, according to a report.

Alexandria Baute was gunned down late Tuesday while waiting in a line outside a 7-Eleven just blocks away from her apartment in the city’s Logan Square section, police and relatives told the Chicago Tribune.

...

“He thought she tripped,” Jeffrey Baute told the newspaper. “He rolled her over, and she was bleeding out of her mouth.”

Responding paramedics tried to revive Baute at the scene before she was rushed to a hospital, where she was pronounced dead less than an hour after the shooting, according to medical examiner records.

Investigators said someone fired eight shots a few blocks away from where Baute was gunned down, but it’s unclear if the incidents were connected. Police were working to track down surveillance photos from nearby businesses in hopes of identifying a suspect, the Tribune reports.

Freyland wrote: Fri Apr 10, 2020 10:22 am

Unagi wrote: Fri Apr 10, 2020 10:08 am

hepcat wrote: Thu Apr 09, 2020 9:48 pm Deadly viruses and gun related deaths don’t strike me as funny, so I’ll skip my “turn”.

I don’t believe you were the target of the ‘your turn’ comment.

Correct

Sorry, I honestly thought that reply was from em2. My bad.

hepcat wrote: Fri Apr 10, 2020 11:28 am

Freyland wrote: Fri Apr 10, 2020 10:22 am

Unagi wrote: Fri Apr 10, 2020 10:08 am

hepcat wrote: Thu Apr 09, 2020 9:48 pm Deadly viruses and gun related deaths don’t strike me as funny, so I’ll skip my “turn”.

I don’t believe you were the target of the ‘your turn’ comment.

Correct

Sorry, I honestly thought that reply was from em2. My bad.

You don't like me, I think we all get that by now. No problem.

Ohhh this is so hilarious.

This isn’t “a joke”, this is them.

Wiener Circle is a hotdog stand in Chicago, great dogs,etc.
But their real “thing” is how they verbally assault anyone and everyone, and you are expected to yell crap back. All horrible shocking stuff, but kept at a level that’s friendly. Mostly the result in this placing serving a bunch of drunk white 20 somethings all night long. You can kinda ask for ‘the service’ when ever you are there.


Here is a new ad they just put out.
It’s not safe for work.

And if you don’t want to be offended, don’t watch.

And if you know this place. You’ll love it. If you don’t , you will insist it’s a joke.

That's the best thing I've seen all week.

Drove by last week and wondered how they were doing. Still awesome, apparently.

Losing the cops.

The officers are accusing Mayor Lori Lightfoot and Supt. David Brown of throwing individual cops under the bus when those city leaders actually bear the blame for failing to plan and prepare for predictable unrest after upheaval in Minneapolis over George Floyd’s killing by police.

“There was no f***ing plan in place. You had ample time to prepare, but this administration waited until the last minute, until the s*** hit the fan,” said a CPD field supervisor who was dispatched in several places throughout the city during the protests.

Also, word is that Superintendent Brown hid in Trump Tower while officers were outside getting bones broken. He eventually slunk out the back door escorted by Trump Tower security. Pivotal moment, if ever there was a time to win the loyalty of the troops, it was then.

Widespread looting overnight into early morning. City completely out of control.


Some videos.

Important: These tweets were selected for their video images, not for the accompanying editorial. There is no evidence that the looting is connected to any organization or political movement.

Mayor to give press conference shortly.

LawBeefaroni wrote: Mon Aug 10, 2020 8:54 am Widespread looting overnight into early morning. City completely out of control.

Seems to be in control now, been watching the news the past few hours. Downtown pretty much closed and isolated (all the bridges are up).

Jeff V wrote: Mon Aug 10, 2020 9:05 am

LawBeefaroni wrote: Mon Aug 10, 2020 8:54 am Widespread looting overnight into early morning. City completely out of control.

Seems to be in control now, been watching the news the past few hours. Downtown pretty much closed and isolated (all the bridges are up).

I mean in a general sense.


Yeah, were in the aftermath now. Imagine if his weren't Covid. Monday morning, downtown cut off. Hear it's still a traffic shitshow right now though.

LawBeefaroni wrote: Mon Aug 10, 2020 8:54 am Widespread looting overnight into early morning. City completely out of control.


Some videos.

Important: These tweets were selected for their video images, not for the accompanying editorial. There is no evidence that the looting is connected to any organization or political movement.

Mayor to give press conference shortly.

WTF at the person using an AUDI to ram glass on one of those buildings.

pr0ner wrote: Mon Aug 10, 2020 9:31 am

LawBeefaroni wrote: Mon Aug 10, 2020 8:54 am Widespread looting overnight into early morning. City completely out of control.


Some videos.

Important: These tweets were selected for their video images, not for the accompanying editorial. There is no evidence that the looting is connected to any organization or political movement.

Mayor to give press conference shortly.

WTF at the person using an AUDI to ram glass on one of those buildings.

Almost certainly stolen.





According the press conference, on Sunday police received report of a man with a gun. Police spotted the guy, tried to stop him (20-yo, 4 previous arrests on record). He fled, shot at police officers, they returned fire and hit him. He's currently hospitalized. While processing the scene, a crowd grew and became unruly. Social media blew up with misinformation about the shooting and encouraging organized groups of looters to descend on downtown. Professional elements used this as cover to hit high end stores with surgical precision. My guess is that they also stoked it.

At one point during the downtown chaos, police were arresting a looter (he was carrying a cash register) and a car drove by and opened fire on the police doing the arrest (and the suspect). A running gun fight ensued.


CPD 12-hour shifts implemented, all days off cancelled. Morale is going to go into the shitter.

All reports are that this was worse than the May (or was it June?) looting.


Mayor and police super dropped hints that this is on the prosecutor's office and judges with the expectation of zero consequences for looters/criminals. When asked directly they wouldn't respond ("don't bait us!") but the implication was obvious.