This weekend, the Illinois State Police closed Chicago’s busiest Interstate for a gun control demonstration. Obviously, Saturday morning’s publicity stunt did nothing but irritate commuters and travelers over a holiday weekend. Meanwhile, the rabidly anti-gun Catholic priest Fr. Michael Pfleger claimed “The people won today.” In reality, nothing changed in Murder City USA as over the weekend, violent criminals shot seventeen, killing three.
While the Illinois State Police initially threatened arrests at the protest event, they didn’t follow through. In the end, they tried to accommodate all with a partial closure. Not surprisingly, that didn’t satisfy the social justice warrior priest or his fellow malcontents.
From the Sun-Times:
Some protesters grew impatient, chanting “Shut it down!” while others danced to the rumblings of drums near the back of the group.
Aldermanic candidate Anthony Driver and another demonstrator threatened to force the closure of the two open lanes by breaking police barriers. They were warned they might be killed by a speeding car if they did so.
“They are killing us already!” Driver said. “There shouldn’t even be a negotiation. They knew we have been planning this march for over three weeks. These lanes should have already been shut down.”
In the end, the petulant priest and his protesting pals got their wish. Fearing demonstrators meeting Darwin, the ISP chose appeasement, closing all lanes of traffic on the Dan Ryan Expressway. Northbound traffic also ground to a halt as a result.
The reason for the protest in America’s heartland was to oppose “gun violence.” Of course, by gun violence, they really mean gang violence. But Father Pfleger, pastor of the south side’s St. Sabina church, doesn’t like to blame the criminals for the area’s chronic state of violence.
Furthermore, Chicago’s police superintendent, Eddie Johnson, marched arm-in-arm with Pfleger on the Interstate. By doing so, Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s police chief violated not only Illinois state law, but Chicago Police Department rules (see #42) and provided the grandstanding priest implicit city approval of his tactics.
Later in the weekend, back on the Windy City’s surface streets, crime continued to run rampant.
HeyJackass.com, as always, kept up with the mayhem. Here’s a list of the times, addresses (including neighborhood) and the sex and age of the victims. All of these shootings happened after Pfleger’s media-driven Interstate parade. Bold listings indicate deaths.
4:30p 2700 W 25th, Little Village, M/62
6:45p 3200 W 55th, Gage Park, M/25
7:05p 4300 S Cottage Grove, Grand Boulevard, M/20
Sunday 7/8
12:20a 9000 S May, Washington Heights, M/37
12:35a 11000 S State, Roseland, M/22
12:45a 5400 S Prairie, Washington Park, M/39
1:30a 4400 A Lavergne, Garfield Ridge, M/22
2:15a 1500 N Milwaukee, West Town, M/37
3:30a 3000 W Jackson, Garfield Park, M/32
3:30a 3000 W Jackson, Garfield Park, M/33
12:20p 5500 W Haddon, Austin, M/23
12:20p 5500 W Haddon, Austin, M/19
6:35p 800 E 89th, Chatham, M/30
8:30p 2000 W 70th, Englewood, M/64
10:25p 200 E 61st, Washington Park, M/18
10:30p 8700 S King, Chatham, M/55
11:45p 5200 W Adams, Austin, M/35
Is this Father Pfleger’s idea of winning?
Blaming law-abiding gun owners for Chicago’s long-standing, persistent inner city problems will not save lives.
Cook County is more concerned with offering “affordable” bail to arrestees than keeping criminals off the streets and protecting the innocent. In Chicago, a bus driver charged with a series of sexual assaults – on a mentally handicapped woman – got out on $400 cash bail. Is it any wonder why Chicago has a crime problem?
Until Chicago finally decides to get tough on their violent predators, nothing will change. Organizing illegal marches on the Dan Ryan Expressway to protest other illegal acts serves as nothing but symbolism over substance.
“They knew we have been planning this march for over three weeks. These lanes should have already been shut down.”
And? Why should they shut down anything? Protesters should have been arrested for whatever IL statutes apply to blocking the expressway, ped on expressway, endangerment, etc. NOT catered to them.
Would they have had police block the roadway for a 2A group doing the same? I think not.
Wankers.
“But your honor, I’ve been planning this murder for three weeks! I even told the person I murdered in advance, on several occasions, that I was going to murder them! This is a miscarriage of justice! I gave everybody notice WAY in advance!”
what a crock of shit. just by reading the signs, there are just as many different agendas there, as there are people. yet the media says its for gun control.
All Marxist or anarchist in nature.
anarchists for big government
…it makes my brain hurt
It truly does.
More typical than not, actually, thinking back to other protests I’ve seen pictures of.
It could be fairly well argued that because scores of police and other law enforcement officers were busy babysitting these morons that innocent people were killed that could have been saved or at least their killers arrested more quickly. And what does it say about the conduct of the police chief in the photo with linked arms with someone who is in the process of committing multiple felonies?
Well this “expressway” is an interstate highway is it not?
I would assume the feds have ultimate jurisdiction on these roadways.
Inhibiting interstate commerce would seem the perfect reason to get these jackasses off the highway, and stick it to the liberals in that state.
The majority of the public would side with those who want to move about freely, encouraging/tolerating this behavior only serves to further their feelings of entitlement.
ZERO Fed highway $ to Chicago/Cook Co in FY19
The protest didn’t irritate this commuter. I hopped on the Dan Ryan from downtown on Saturday morning and headed north to a range in Wisconsin. Quickest trip ever to the range. Thank you, Jessie and Father Pflegger!
… “My kingdom is not of this earth”. . May the Vatican and it’s minion’s burn in hell. Holy Father mien Führer
If I were Governor Rauner, I would have instructed the State Police to do their jobs and enforce the law.
But this isn’t the first time RINO Rauner has shown his lack of a spine and betrayed the people who got him elected.
You’re blaming RAUNER?!? How bizarre. Who do you guy’s blame in Rockford? The ISP puzzied out. Corruption won. Chiraq sucks.Jabba the Prickster will be much worse.
The ISP report directly to Rauner. He held them back so to not upset the stains of Illinois society for their votes.
So thousands showed up to block traffic, how many stepped forward as a witness following the shootings? Yeah, that’s what I thought.
The Jewish mayor son of a terrorist and the Catholic priest leader in Chicago do not care about black people. Unfortunately the black politicians in Chicago have cut deals with black gangsters to help stay them in office and they don’t care about the ordinary citizen either.
Only when the voters of Chicago wake up and finally start voting for survival will things really change in Chicago.
I would be willing to bet that most of those people were not of the priest’s flock, but just showed up because it was a happening and an excuse to behave badly in public and get away with it. Chicago – build a wall around it and let rot in its own excrement. Oh, and keep this priest within the walls, please!!
Chicago is just another liberal sewer that I’ll never set foot in.
Pfleger does nothing but incite violence. He should be removed as a priest because all he does is encourage people to riot & kill others. Nothing in this city will change until the people of the neighborhood speak out against the perpetrators of the violence instead of hiding behind their cowardice. And, yes, I agree that there should have been many, many arrests on Saturday starting with Pfleger & Police Chief Johnson.
So glad i left. I will be back a couple times a year to visit relatives but will never live there again.
This guy is a real idiot. %0% 0fm murders take place in 5% of the counties in this country. 25% of gun crimes total occur in Detroit, Baltimore, D.C. AND Chicago. It’s not a problem of metal you moron, it’s a problem of people. Do you really think those Jackass gangs in you dumb city won’t get guns from the same cartels that supply their drugs? If you do I have some nice land in northern Nevada for sale. You would take rights from 10s of millions of people because you and the failed government of Rahm can’t control a city. Maybe I’ll get a couple of thousand people, come to your city and demonstrate against rampant stupidity. By the way, there are sections of your city that haven’t had a homicide in DECADES as opposed to other areas that have several a month. I wonder which sides of the city those are?
The above comment should read 50% of all murders.
What are the actual laws regarding willful blockage of an Interstate Highway? Maybe since the spineless ISP and the co-conspirator Police Chief lack the brains and courage required to uphold the law, something should have been done “higher up” Oh yeah, he’s a RINO! Crap, Chiraq is a lost cause. Whatever happened to water cannons and snowplows like the good old days
Sure, 17 people were shot and three killed, but at least no altar boys were buggered during this “protest.”
Okay, it’s not much, but it’s something.
“Of course, by gun violence, they really mean Democrat violence.”… FTFY…
3 kia, 17 wia seems below average. Maybe the demonstration worked after all. /Sarc
marksmanship ain’t their thang. chicago always has extremely high shooting counts with low fatality rates.
Father Phleger and his minions promise more civil disobedience if their demands are not met….one can only guess what his next stunt will be…..shut down runways at O’hare airport maybe …..or he could set up a blockade around Wrigley field on game day…that would piss off the Cubs fans….stay tuned we haven’t heard the last of our rogue Catholic priest.
i don’t understand why that guy hasn’t been excomminicated. between him and pope francis i’m considering converting to just about any religion (as long as i can still eat pork, shoot off guns, and drink whiskey!)
Whatever turns out to be the insanity du jour, everything seems to boil down to those who have been elected or hired to enforce the law are choosing not to. The fish rots from the head.
how dare, you, sir! don’t you know that enforcing the law is “racist?”
Awr Hawkins said “Nearly 30 shot, 4 Dead”.
https://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2018/07/09/nearly-30-shot-four-fatally-over-weekend-in-gun-controlled-chicago/
Oh look! Is that father pfony’s armed bodyguards behind him?
what a missed opportunity…for an arc light strike. or a MOAB.
one of the agitators said, “they are killing us”, from context it appears he was referring to the the commuters and by inference he means “people and powers outside of the ghetto”.
that pretty much sums up the difference between leftists and libertarian conservatives: leftists blame everything and everyone else for their personal and cultural problems. they don’t look in the mirror for the answer.
there is no “they” killing people in the black neighborhoods of chicago. there is no external conspiracy. as long as the community blames “they”, the status quo will continue.
Blocking a freeway is really a near zero risk publicity stunt.
Going to where the shootings are actually happening and trying to prevent them, not so much.
It is illegal to shut down a highway.
https://blogs.findlaw.com/blotter/2016/09/is-it-legal-for-protesters-to-block-traffic.html
Another charge is interfering with Interstate Commerce.
https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/1951
BTW, it’s a Felony.
Breaks the law and the law of the bible and ignores the real issues but claims to be a man of God. pshhhh
Sure, punish law-abiding commuters for the sins of Eric Holder’s people. Next time they should hold their protest in the ghetto. Oh wait, they’d probably get shot by irate drug dealers for interfering with their traffic.
It appears the Father doesn’t understand the problem. No matter how many times you beg, protest for, or pray over a rattlesnake it will still bite you.
Targeting vehicle drivers for gun control? I would like to see how many of the protesters have witnessed a gun crime and testified against the criminal.
Isn’t it a federal crime to block an interstate highway? I guess the fact it was only two lanes is their get out of jail free card. Having uniformed police actively protesting isn’t a problem? I imagine welome home parties for those criminals after low dollar bail. I imagine those gun crime criminals already would have been barred from buying a gun under current Federal laws. Either you take them off the streets or live with repeat offenders. Voters have the power to remove those politicians that refuse to help keep criminals off the streets. X
The DNC’s MDAGSAEGSBLMLGBTQQAIRCNOWANTIFA parade in Chicago…
Bitching loud about nothing since 1963…
where is MAYOR DALEY WHEN WE NEED HIM
Just more proof that Liberals are morons at best and evil at worst.
Now they have a scum perverted catholic sticking his nose in it. He should stick to molesting little boys.
Yeah that’s it father protest, how many lives did you save? Well we know of 17 who were shot and 3 dead, so tell me what did your protest accomplish? Instead of protesting the people driving on the beltway, why don’t you try protesting the Dumocrap who’s your mayor. This is where your problem is weather you want to admit it or not. When Trump wanted to send in the troops to help stop these killings your Mayor told him he had it under control and didn’t need them, REALLY? It’s a war zone, not a U.S. city. Look at all the other cities like Maryland who have Dumocraps in control for the last 30 years and we have 1 of the highest murder rates in this Country. If you want and need change, STOP voting in these people who don’t give a fu– about you and who care more for the illegals. This is your Country and these are your cities, if you don’t vote for change, it won’t.
When protesters chant, “Shut it down!”, respond with, “You are under arrest”.
I have always said that law enforcement people are by far not very intelligent people.