ScottsBigMouth

To Save His Legacy, Daley Must Walk The Walk In Chicago's War Zones

With the latest round of killings sending shock waves through Chicago's gang-infested neighborhoods, local activists are clear on one thing.  Mayor Daley is in danger of losing the latest battle to save our city in the larger "war" with they city's street gangs.  Under duress, he appears to be closing ranks in the post-Olympics-loss blame game, while simultaneously being exposed as having allowed the Olympics to consume his administration's attention as Fenger High, Uptown, and countless other hot spots flared into mini-versions of "Lord of the Flies."

Where is the leadership that Daley so proudly proclaimed last year in attacking the gang problem across the city?  Sure, Taste of Chicago was relatively tame this year, but we have all-out war in the neighborhoods.  When he was wining and dining the Copenhagen glitterati, posing with Oprah and Obama, and cajoling  every reporter in town that the Olympics were coming; his embattled police command couldn't even keep their cameras pointed down range to insure officers were where they needed to be when the mobs turned into wolf packs out for a kill.

When you look at the videos of the wilding gangs chasing victims in Uptown, the lynch-beating murder of sixteen-year-old Derrion Albert, or the tearful soul-ripping pleas from victims' mothers and grandmothers for help from our city fathers; what don't you see?  You sure as hell don't see the Mayor, political candidates, Aldermen and Alderwomen, county board members, or business luminaries descending upon our blood-stained poor neighborhoods giving real triage to the root of the problem.

Nope, they're still nestled safely in their chauffeured cars, protected by staff behind marble-lined, cordoned-off, wood-paneled environs; glass-and-steel towers, and echelons of security personnel to keep them "safe" to do the "people's business." All the while, the city's children are slaughtered in the streets.

Its time for these political opportunist power-brokers and money-hounds to leave the damn Loop to really walk the walk with the ministers and community activists who are trying to pick up the pieces of our duct-taped-together neighborhoods before another entire generation of young kids are either dead or incarcerated.  It is time for our city and county leaders to actually prioritize REAL attention and money to what matters, instead of chasing a dream off to Copenhagen, or DC, or whatever glitzy benefit happens to be on at the Four Seasons or Peninsula that night.  Its time for them to ride-along with our cops, social workers, teachers, and EMTs; to see what's really happening out there in the REAL Chicago instead of the "idealized" version that's been rolling in the 2016 promo videos.

Mr. Mayor, it starts with you.  You need to leave City Hall for a few weeks, and spend every day in the neighborhoods, listening, learning, and then acting to save the city you say you love so dearly.  Your legacy, and your loyalty to us...the people who got you there, is at stake--not to mention hundreds of thousands of young lives who should be preparing to take over and lead in our city's uncertain future.

Schiller Has Some Explaining To Do

Disclaimer:  I wasn't present at the CAPS Meeting Last Night.  I am working from multiple accounts online on what happened, as well as multiple-source reporting.  I am currently traveling in Bella Vista, AR, and Corpus Christi, TX; but I am STILL very disturbed about what happened JUST BLOCKS away from my home.  I'm coming back on Monday night the 24th.

That said...

Helen, you have screwed up, again.

The excuses for the gangland behavior in Uptown are absolutely unacceptable.  Let's cut the crap.  You have some explaining to do.

I have watched the video of our local thugs out wilding over the weekend in the streets at Sheridan and Leland.  We all know where they hang out between Wilson and Argyle along Sheridan.  We all know that the police are doing a little bit of patrolling, but seem to have almost no support from you.

We are noticing how you show up for meetings that involved moneyed people like developers, Chicago 2016's folks, and of course, the Mayor.  We always seem to see you where there is money, or a camera present...but we rarely if ever see you on the street in our actual neighborhood.  You seem to move through our neighborhood like a ghost, unseen.

I'm not sure if anyone has told you this, Helen, but people are pissed at you.  Pissed enough to not vote for you, give you any more money, and to run other candidates against you.

WE EXPECT ACTION.  SERIOUS ACTION.

We are not going to give up our neighborhood to a bunch of pushers, thugs, drunks, and crazy people.  We live here, and we intend to take back our neighborhood, with or without you.

You had a distinct and unique opportunity to do the right thing when you showed up to talk about how great the 2016 Olympics will be for Chicago.  The right thing to do, in this case, would have been to make a forceful statement against ANY and ALL violence in the Uptown/Edgewater corridor, and then call on CPS Supt. Jody Weiss to get his butt up to our ignored neighborhood and make it so.

But, instead you made excuses.  Unlike some neighborhoods in Chicago whom are too scared to take back our own streets, we're going to stop the problem before it declines into all out war.  The on-the-street officers who protect us now, as much as they can with limited resources, deserve the support from all of us.

What we seem to be getting from you, though, is a shrug and a very weak statement that "shit happens."

If you think this is going to cut it, you're wrong.

Now I wasn't there, so I only can go by what I've been seeing from here...albeit limited by distance, but the distance lessened by the all-seeing-eye of the Internet.

Helen, we're waiting for you.  You weren't at the CAPS meeting yourself, but instead sent some "aides."  That was not the right call.  You should have been there.

As for me, I'm on my way home soon.  When I get back, I'm coming to you with a mike and a recorder to find out where you're coming from...you get a chance to explain why 5 people getting shot in 48 hours just down the street in my neighborhood doesn't demand your direct and personal attendance at the meeting.

I hope to hear from you Helen.  My email is scott@foval.com and my phone number, in case you need it, is 773-570-0011.  I expect that we're going to have a civil, on-the-record discussion, that I can bring back to ScottsBigMouth's audience to tell them what you're going to do to support us in our effort to hold the line on the thugs, take control of our turf.

It's time to explain, Alderwoman Schiller, and your constiutents expect you to respond directly.

Regards,

Scott

Record Restitution Awarded In Chicago Wrongful Conviction Case

BREAKING NEWS ― FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:  Monday, June 22, 2009

For Information:  Jon Loevy, Loevy & Loevy Attorneys at Law, 312.243.5900
Andy Thayer, assistant to Jon Loevy, 773.209.1187 (cell)

Federal Jury Awards Victim
$21+ Million For
Chicago Cop Frame-up

Largest-Ever Verdict Award For Wrongful Conviction in Chicago History

PRESS CONFERENCE WITH WRONGFULLY CONVICTED MAN & HIS ATTORNEYS TODAY
AT 2:30 PM, OFFICE OF LOEVY & LOEVY ATTORNEYS AT LAW, 312 N. MAY STREET, CHICAGO

Monday, June 22 – A Federal jury late Friday and today awarded the largest-ever compensation for a wrongful conviction in Chicago history – $21+ million – $21 million in compensatory damages awarded Friday night and $15,000 in punitive damages awarded this afternoon.

The jury found that Chicago Detective Reynaldo Guevara framed former Humboldt Park resident Juan Johnson for the 1989 murder of Ricardo Fernandez, causing Johnson to be arrested at age 19 and sentenced to 30 years in prison.  Contrived identifications of Johnson played a key role in his conviction, and the exposur e of this invented "evidence" many y ears later finally led to his release.

As the present suit against the Chicago Police noted, "Defendant Guevara has a history of fabricated false identifications and then suppressing evidence of such misconduct.  Plaintiff has now learned of at least 12 Chicago Police Department Office of Professional Standards complaints against Defendant, with several suspensions against Defendant Guevara.  There have also been repeated specific complaints in other cases and to the media of Detective Guevara fabricating identifications and concealing the wrongfully tainted identification procedures."

Northwestern University's Center on Wrongful Convictions is currently investigating more than 40 other alleged frame-ups by Detective Guevara and his colleagues.  Despite voluminous evidence of his frame-ups and perjury, the Cook County States Attorneys Office has thus far declined to criminally prosecute Detective Guevara.

Johnson ended up serving 11½ years, much of it in maximum security prison, before the Appellate court reversed the denial of his post-conviction petition, and a jury acquitted him in a 2004 retrial.  Due to the police misconduct, Johnson spent his entire young adulthood behind bars, lost his wife, and missed the childhood of his daughter.

Johnson was represented in the civil suit by Jon Loevy, Elizabeth Mazur and Daniel Twetten of Loevy & Loevy Attorneys at Law; Thomas Gardiner of Gardiner, Koch, Weisberg & Wrona; and At torney Daniel J. Stohr.  Mr. Stohr has represented Mr. Johnson through both the criminal and civil proceedings for over 19 years.  Other organizations that played critical roles in helping bring justice for Mr. Johnson include the Center on Wrongful Convictions of the Northwestern University School of Law and a community group of friends and relatives of the wrongfully convicted, Comité Exigimos Justicia (We Demand Justice Committee).

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End Violence Against Women

Check out this great Voices Against Violence Campaign site.  Its time to make a safe place for all women everywhere.

Rape and sexual violence are a crime and during conflict women are at an increased risk – but it doesn’t end there. Even when a conflict has ended, women are still not sufficiently supported or protected.

CLICK ON THE LINKS TO LEARN MORE

Posted using ShareThis

THIS MESSAGE IS A PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT, BROUGHT TO YOU BY www.careinternational.org.uk and ScottsBigMouth.

BREAKING: Drew Peterson Arrested For 3rd Wife's Murder

(Michael R. Schmidt/Sun-Times News Group)

Take that, you S.O.B.


More on this in the morning. Late word tonight is that there is a mountain of collaborative physical and leading circumstantial evidence linking Savio's murder to Stacy Peterson's disappearance, and that the "Hearsay from the Slain" law may be the trigger to the arrest, but that there's plenty of glue to hold this case together before a jury.

29 DEAD

I wrote about this just a day ago, and it makes me sick to my stomach that I'm coming back to talk about another CPS student killed this year.

This is wrong.

CPD Supt. Jody Weis: You've been here a year, and even your own officers don't have confidence in you.  Is it them, or is it your FBI mindset that keeps them from trusting you to lead?

CPS Head Ron Huberman: You're an ex-cop.  You should be figuring out how to keep these kids learning, and not dying.  Budget cuts don't equal learning, and neither does blaming the teachers' union for all the problems.

Mayor Richard M. Daley: These kids are dying on your watch.  If you weren't so hyper-obsessed about getting the damn Olympics bid won, you might notice.  Oh yeah, and stop blaming it on guns.  Your administration is failing at serving the community EVERY TIME a kid gets killed, a woman gets raped, a cop isn't there to save a kid; and ultimately your supposed to represent ALL the people, not just the corporations.  Your job and dare I say, your family legacy is on the line, sir.

Aldermen and Alderwomen:  Quit falling asleep on the job, and quit taking bribes to look the other way.  Why is it that Jackie seems to be the only loud voice demanding and fighting for the poor people, victims, and students?

The Fourth Estate (a.k.a. The Media):  Climb out of your live vans, get your bullet-proof vests on, leave the fancy suits and ties and perfect hair at the station.  Forget about covering the "happy stuff."  Get out in the trenches and let's do our damn jobs.  Yes, and let's make sure everyone ELSE in the blame list gets the real coverage they deserve for letting it get this bad.  Now might be the right time to burn a source or two in favor of the TRUTH!

Cardinal George and Chicago's Religious Leaders:  NOW is the TIME for you to leave the pulpit, and get your holy rump down to the South Side to support Mike, Jesse, and every OTHER religious leader down there begging for you to get involved.  Don't you think God thinks this is more important as whatever it is you do every morning?

Citizens of Chicago:  If you're not outraged, angry, pissed, incensed, bothered, or just plain tired of people dying...you're either asleep, or just self absorbed.  Get off your ass and make these OTHER people mentioned here pay the price for not leading.

These are our kids, people.  They are our future.  They are our most precious resource.

There's plenty of blame to go around, and we all share it.

STOP THE KILLING.  NOW.

28 CPS Students Dead, Spring Isn't Even Here Yet

Last year at this time I was railing about the shocking number of deaths amongst CPS students, in light of the arrival of new top cop Jody Weis.  Weis, an FBI veteran, promised a lot of shakeups at CPS upon taking the helm.  A year later, though, it appears his arrival has done very little to help the problem.

As of this weekend, the 28th CPS student was shot and killed in what appears to be gang gunfire.  It isn't clear whether 14-year-old Gregory Robinson knew or even saw his attackers on Friday night, but he died a hero.  It was revealed in morning news reports yesterday that Robinson leapt to shield two younger children in the back seat of the car he was riding in, giving his life by taking a bullet.  The Simeon Career Academy freshman had wanted to be a comedian, being a "goofy fun kid that was full of life" according to a cousin interviewed on Friday night.

Sadly, no one has been identified as a suspect in the shooting, and as of Sunday morning, few leads have been publicly released as credible by CPS.  In a Saturday meeting at Rainbow PUSH Headquarters, Alderman Jackie Jackson essentially scolded her own community by stating that "people know who these perpetrators are," and asked people to come forward and avenge Robinson's death, as well as the deaths of his 27 schoolmates.

A year ago you may remember the downtown rally that Father Michael Pfleger and others staged, complete with a coffin and empty school desks, to emphasize the message that so many students were lost.  At the time, it was over 30.  Now, we're nearing that number once again, and it isn't even Spring yet.

Such violence doesn't just affect South Side Chicago.  If you've paid attention, the violence has spread to every area of the city.  Kids are being shot at an even more alarming rate than last year, and as we decend into Spring it seems there is no sign of a slowdown in the violence.

We must stand up and take control of our city streets back from the gang bangers, drug dealers, and those who devalue human life so as to shoot randomly at anyone who ventures into their turf.  We must stand up and reclaim our fine city before another young promising life is snuffed out by needless violence.

BREAKING: Blagojevich: "I'm Going To Fight, I'm Going To Fight, And I'm Going To Be Vindicated"

Chicago, IL -- Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich appeared before reporters in a 2PM CST Chicago news conference, and proclaimed his innocence.  Blagojevich spoke for less than two minutes before departing the podium, and then was immediately followed by his legal team, who continued to echo the embattled Governor's initial statements.

Blagojevich said he had "done nothing wrong," and pointed to his "knowledge of the truth" as where he is drawing his strength from at this time.  His statements were defiant in tone, and the Governor stated "I'm going to fight, I'm going to fight, and I'm going to be vindicated." He thanked supporters for their messages of support, and pointed out that he is squared against "very powerful forces" who want to take him down.  He further asked that the people of Illinois give him the chance to defend himself in a court of law as they would expect they are afforded the right to do, before passing judgement on the accusations.

Blagojevich's legal team, answeriing questions on the Governor's behalf, assailed U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald for not providing to them as of yet any evidence, and that the charges amount to hearsay until they do.  They defended the Governor's position of defiance, eluding to their position that Fitzgerald's case is based on faulty evidence.  Yesterday, lead defense attorney Ed Genson claimed to reporters in Springfield, IL, assembled for a State Assembly impeachment proceeding, that the Federal wiretaps upon which much of the case is based, are in his opinion illegal, and therefore all charges and the proceedings themselves are faulty.

News organizations across Chicago and the United States carried the press event live. At the time of this report, major news outlets are re-running both parts of the press conference repeatedly.  In total, Blagojevich and his team spent less than 12 minutes speaking to reporters.  Blagojevich himself exited the room without answering reporters questions directly.

Following the Governors' legal team's departure from the podium, two Republican legislators appeared to express dismay at the Governor's defiance.  The Chicago Tribune is reporting that an Illinois Senate committee, headed by Senate President Emil Jones, is meeting at this hour with constitutional law experts in order to prepare for an impeachment trial if indeed the House impeachment committee passes out a recommendation for such a trial.

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Bristol Palin Is Due Tomorrow, Levi's Mom Pinched For Felony Drug Offense

msnbc.com news services Full Story Here

The mother of Levi Johnston, the 18-year-old boyfriend of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's teenage daughter, has been arrested on drug charges, the Anchorage Daily News reported Friday.

Sherry L. Johnston, 42, has been charged with six felony counts of misconduct, the newspaper reported.

Levi Johnston entered the national spotlight this autumn when it was revealed that 18-year-old Bristol Palin — the eldest daughter of Sarah Palin, who had just been tapped as then-Republican presidential nominee John McCain's running mate — was pregnant with his child.

The baby is due Saturday, the Anchorage Daily News reported.

The paper said that Alaska State Troopers charged Sherry Johnston with second-degree misconduct involving a controlled substance and fourth-degree misconduct involving controlled substances, or possession.

Sherry Johnston has been released on a $5,000 bond, the newspaper reported.

Contacted by the Anchorage Daily News, Palin's spokesman, Bill McAllister, issued this statement: "This is not a state government matter. Therefore the governor's communications staff will not be providing comment or scheduling interview opportunities."

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Blagojevich "Crime Spree" Attempted To Sell U.S. Senate Seat, Squelch Tribune, Pressure SEIU

CHICAGO, IL: Governor of Illinois Rod Blagojevich and his Chief of Staff John Harris have been arrested, charged, and arraigned in U.S. Federal Court on multiple counts of official corruption.  The charges and a description of the arrests were detailed this morning in a press conference by Patrick J. Fitzgerald, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, and Robert D. Grant, Special Agent-in-Charge of the Chicago Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation; as well as other representatives of the FBI, the U.S. Internal Revenue Service, U.S. Postal Inspection Service, and the U.S. Office of the Inspector General.  Blagojevich, dressed in a blue workout suit and tennis shoes, and Harris, dressed in a suit and tie, both appeared in U.S. Federal Court just minutes ago, for their arraignment.  News accounts described Blagojevich's attire as indicating he may have been arrested this morning as he may have been preparing to go out for his morning workout.

The 78-page criminal complaint, filed this morning in U.S. Federal Court in Chicago, documents in rich and shocking detail, how Blagojevich and Harris attempted to shake down members of the Illinois political establishment, labor movement, contractors, and even members of the press for personal monetary compensation in exchange for political appointments, grants, and the U.S. Senate seat recently vacated by President-Elect Barack Obama.  There is no indication that Obama or his advisors have any role in the investigation, and Fitzgerald was careful to say this morning that the President-Elect was not complicit in the shakedown schemes.

Referring to Blagojevich's activities in the preceding month since Obama won election as President and vacated the Senate seat, the complaint details how Blagojevich was caught on Federal wiretaps attempting to sell the seat in exchange for significant monetary compensation in the form of a paid position with the Service Employees International Union, seeking appointment by Obama as U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services in exchange for a prefered candidate of Obama's choosing, seeking a paid position for his wife, and expressing his disdain for Obama's lack of response to Blagojevich's attempts to personally gain from the pending appointment.

From the U.S. Attorney's News Release about the complaint...

"In a conversation with Harris on November 11, the charges state, Blagojevich said he knew that the President-elect wanted Senate Candidate 1 for the open seat but "they're not willing to give me anything except appreciation.  [Expletive] them."

Blagojevich is further documented as prioritizing his decision about the seat would be based on three criteria prioritized in order of importance.

"...our legal situation, our personal situation, my political situation. This decision, like every other one, needs to be based upon that.  Legal, Personal Political."

The seethingly defiant Governor appeared yesterday at a protest sit-in in Chicago, and dared people to tape him, almost as if he knew something was coming.  The complaint also details how Blagojevich attempted to secure the firing of members of The Chicago Tribune's editorial staff in exchange for action by the Illinois Finance Authority to grease the skids on the sale of The Chicago Cubs by Tribune Company. (More soon...)

 

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