Chicago - A message from the station manager

The [Monday] Papers

By Steve Rhodes

Lori Lightfoot just fired Eddie Johnson.


And Lightfoot gave Eddie such a nice going-away party.


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Johnson, she says, lied to her about the events surrounding the early morning incident in October when he was found asleep in his car. He “communicated a narrative replete with false statements.”
That’s so Chicago police it’s beyond irony – especially given that Johnson was appointed police chief by Rahm Emanuel in the wake of the Laquan McDonald murder, which was communicated to the public with a narrative replete with false statements, and that Johnson then took office claiming he had never seen an instance of corruption in his 30 years on the force.
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Police reform must now be put on blast. After all, Lightfoot really made her bones as a mayoral candidate through her work leading the post-Laquan reform task force.
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Chicago already has an interim police chief, of course.
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Let’s take a look at Chicago’s recent police chiefs. Has a single one of them been any good?
Eddie Johnson: Fired for lying to mayor.
John Escalante (interim): Approved bogus Laquan McDonald reports.
Garry McCarthy: Took Rahm’s fall for Laquan McDonald; should’ve been fired much sooner.
Jody Weis: Mayor Richard M. Daley conducted his own search alongside the police board to find a 22-year FBI agent wholly unable to effectively lead the department.
Phil Cline: Resigned amidst a scandal in his special operations unit (including one officer hiring a hit man to kill another) and several instances of highly publicized police brutality.
Terry Hillard: Resigned after a forgettable five years and came back briefly as interim between Weis and McCarthy. Tried to lead reform efforts in New Orleans, creating the appropriate backlash, and cashed in with a private security firm.
Matt Rodriguez: Forced to resign because of his friendship with a convicted felon/murder suspect.
LeRoy Martin: Once suggested weakening the Constitution; named as a Jon Burge enabler.
Fred Rice Jr.: The city’s first African-American police chief resigned once his pension maxed out.
Richard Brzeczek: Special prosecutors in 2006 found that Brzeczek was “guilty of ‘dereliction of duty’ and did not act in good faith in an investigation into claims of torture involving Burge.”
I mean, I could keep going. Or I could move on to CPS superintendents. But I’m trying to catch up on the federal investigations swirling around Eddie Burke and Michael Madigan.
#Chicago.
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Hey, maybe “restoring trust” (maybe “storing” trust, because there is no “re” if there was no trust to begin with) starts at the top, just sayin’.
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See also from CBS2 Chicago last month: Scandals, Controversies Have Marked Ends Of Terms For Last 4 Chicago Police Superintendents.
Including:
“Over the last year, CBS 2 has requested more than a dozen interviews with Johnson to address the systemic failures we’ve uncovered. During a November 2018 news conference, CBS 2 Investigator Dave Savini questioned Johnson about wrong raids and the department’s failure to comply with our Freedom of Information Act request for data on how often wrong raids happen. The department has yet to release complete records in response to CBS 2’s FOIA request.
“The department has issued a statement saying it ‘makes every effort to ensure the validity and accuracy of all information that is used to apply for and execute search warrants.’
“But when CBS 2 requested a sit-down, one-on-one interview with Johnson for the Unwarranted documentary, chief communications officer Anthony Guglielmi said Johnson does not have the time, and CBS 2’s ratings aren’t high enough, for him to do an interview.”
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New on the Beachwood . . .
Banned In The USSR
“This prohibition, and the subsequent demand it created, gave rise to a black market of banned records carved into used X-ray film – contraband items colloquially known as ‘ribs’ and ‘bone music’ that would later become emblems of rock ‘n’ roll rebellion.”
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FBI: Beware Smart TVs
They might be spying on you.
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5 Ways Trump And His Supporters Use The Same Strategies As Science Deniers
“All ideology supports the reflex to believe what you want to believe.”
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Climate Science Across America
Including the University of Illinois.
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SportsMonday: Trubisky Won Thursday, But Pace Lost Sunday
The only way to move on from Ryan Pace’s disastrous draft gamble is to move on from Ryan Pace.
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Beachwood Sports Radio: Bears Make .500 Look Unrespectable
3-4 felt like 1-6. Now they’re 3-9. Plus: BoyGarPax; Buy The Blackhawks?; Looks Like Northwestern University!; and DePaul Is The New Loyola.
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Letters Home | The Words Of Illinois’ Civil War Soldiers
“Illinois soldiers wrote about their reasons for enlisting; the nature of training and duties; necessities like eating, sleeping, marching, and making the best of often harsh and chaotic circumstances; Southern culture; slavery; their opinions of commanding officers and the president; disease, medicine, and hospitals; their prisoner-of-war experiences; and the ways they left the army. Through letters from afar, many soldiers sought to manage their homes and farms, while some single men attempted to woo their sweethearts.”
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Full Metal Jagoff
Rifles, guns and republics.
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Hallmark Christmas Movie Plot Generator

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Universally Accepted Facts

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ChicagoReddit

I’m moving away, can I ignore my tickets? from r/chicago


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ChicagoGram


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ChicagoTube
CTA 10-Cent Transfer Pass Commercial, 1978.

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BeachBook
GRE Fails To Identify Successful Ph.D Students.

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How Online Shopping Makes Suckers Of Us All.

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These Horses Are Too Young To Die.

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Women Promoters Dominate Twin Cities Concert Scene.

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Life-Size Sculptures of Raw Human Emotions Made From Discarded Machine Parts.

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TweetWood
A sampling of the delight and disgust you can find @BeachwoodReport.


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The Beachwood Tip Line: Slip and slide.

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Posted on December 2, 2019