Chicago residents have faced a rough few years. Former Mayor Lori Lightfoot refused to take crime seriously and lost reelection as a consequence. The county state’s attorney refused to hold violent criminals accountable, even when their crimes were caught on camera.
It’s so bad, one veteran city prosecutor is calling it quits and moving his family. On his way out the door, he criticized the city’s leadership in a mic-drop letter.
“The simple fact is that this State and County have set themselves on a course to disaster,” wrote Jason Poje, a 20-year felony trial attorney.
Vicious and Violent Cycle
Poje’s 20 years of criminal justice system experience means he’s seen a lot. The recent crime surge and the city’s elected leadership’s continued doubling-down on soft-on-crime policies and attacks on law enforcement finally crossed the threshold.
During the height of the COVID pandemic, after Mayor Lightfoot instituted lockdowns and city-wide restrictions, criminals were released from jails, some committing violent crimes immediately, including murder. Prosecutors announced they wouldn’t prosecute law-breakers during the COVID-19 outbreak. Mayor Lightfoot dodged responsibility and cast the blame on the city’s police chief and even infamously argued with another city official who demanded action on the crime problem.
During the same stretch of heightened crime, the Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx, who oversees the City of Chicago, created an uproar after refusing to charge several criminals after a violent weekend incident. Criminals exchanged gunfire between cars and a home with police officers nearby. Tragically one person was killed. Five others were taken into custody. Despite the clear video evidence to charge the criminals, nothing was done.
It’s been a tragic cycle for innocent city residents. Poje had enough.
Getting Out
Poje’s resignation letter torched the policies he believes have destroyed Chicago, especially those coming out of State’s Attorney Foxx’s office. “The worst part is that the agency for whom I work has backed literally every policy change that had the predicable, and predicted, outcome of more crime and more people getting hurt,” Poje wrote. He blamed “the stupid State’s Attorney policies.”
Examples abound of the backwards lawlessness of Chicago’s crime policies that endangers and restricts law-abiding Chicagoans from protecting themselves from criminals who have no regard for the law and innocent human life.
Poje echoed the sentiments of frustrated Chicagoans.
“Many years ago my family found a nice quiet corner of the suburbs. Now my son, who is only 5, hears gunfire while playing at our neighborhood park, and a drug dealer is open-air selling behind my house (the second one in two years),” the retiring prosecutor wrote in his letter. “I will not raise my son here. I am fortunate enough to have the means to escape… and yet my own employer has turned it into a place from which I am no longer proud to be, and in which my son is not safe.”
Fox News reported Assistant Cook County State’s Attorney Jim Murphy also resigned last year in protest against Foxx’s ineptness too, writing on his own, “I wish I could stay. However, I can no longer work for this Administration. I have zero confidence in leadership.”
What’s Ahead?
Chicago has a new mayor – Mayor Brandon Johnson – who pledged to be “smart” and “tough” on crime but initial promises sound like the hollow past promises. He wants to dedicate funds to youth employment along with collaboration with state officials. During an election debate before, Mayor Johnson acknowledged past comments describing the “defund the police” movement as “not just admirable, but is necessary.” Mayor Johnson will soon name a new Chicago Chief of Police.
Meanwhile, State’s Attorney Kim Foxx might’ve seen the tea leaves and announced she would not seek reelection after serving two terms. It appears she hasn’t learned the lesson either that voters want criminals to be held accountable for their crimes. “It is in the interest of public safety that we exercise criminal justice reform… I leave now with my head held high and my heart full,” Foxx told media.
The resignations of city prosecutors Murphy and Poje could be a harbinger. If the city’s top officials continue to show they prefer a soft-on-crime approach over the safety and security of law-abiding residents, there could be many more public and scathing letters of resignation ahead.
Larry Keane is SVP for Government and Public Affairs, Assistant Secretary and General Counsel of the National Shooting Sports Foundation.
Although I feel sorry for the small number of people who didn’t vote for this madness, the majority is getting exactly what they voted for.
Let them stew in their own misery…and that goes for every other city and locale that votes to install these political psychopaths into office.
It is part relief and part dread when I hear about Chicago. At least we aren’t that bad here in NY and we are looking to enact yet another similar policy are almost always what I realize.
“Let them stew in their own misery…and that goes for every other city and locale that votes to install these political psychopaths into office.”
That only works if you have a sane voter population.
Take San Fransisco – They willingly tolerate the homeless dropping trou on the sidewalks downtown and taking a massive dump. The sidewalks are literally slick with human shit, and they do nothing because it proves how tolerant they are towards people not as prosperous as they are.
It’s literally insanity to willing expose yourself, your children, and others to seriously nasty and fatal diseases like Hepatitis C. It’s a badge of honor for them.
Remember – They want to do to the rest of America what’s happening in places like San Fran and the south side of Chicago. Why the few remaining sane people in San Fran aren’t suing the city on public health grounds is completely baffling to me. They happily spend billions of dollars in tax money annually in places like Africa to build out public sanitation, but refuse to demand those standards in their own back yards.
A smart candidate for president would make a loud point about this and hold their feet to the fire in the next major election debates… 🙁
President is country, I’m not sure he can make a city do something?
Possums is country. Chicken and dumplings are country. Biscuits and gravy are country. Us country boys can survive. President? He’s a city twit who couldn’t find his way into a mosquito swarm in the middle of Louisiana.
That is the thing, used to be you could count on people to do what was in their own self-interest and protect their kids. Woke culture does the opposite, sacrificing themselves and their kids (ours too if they can) on the alter of Wokeness.
It’s kinda like fighting zombies, they aren’t intimidated or dissuaded by the pain that is inflicted. And just like the zombie movies only way it ends is eliminating the zombies or becoming one…….
These people feel shame for their first world lifestyle and feel they need to atone by lowering their environment to second and third world standards.
The self-suffering makes them feel virtuous and makes them want to force this state of suffering on to others. The more suffering they feel, the more Woke they think they are.
I have to comment on this: I just drove through some rural northern US place and was surprised (shocked?, sickened?) to see that is encroaching in places even far off the path, already. That is, ‘bouncers’ and obvious hoodlums, drug exchanges in the entrance of a rural city Walmart – on a Sunday morning. They were neither the locals, nor the usual down and out crowd. I felt sorry for the place I grew up, and also saw the bigger picture immediately. I watched my back as I drove away, too. Felt like being in Cali.
I know Lori Lightfoot is a guy, but dog gone it, he’s just so cute you want to scoop him up and take him dancing in the streets.
.
The Mayor of Chicago wasnt elected, they all drew straws and that guy lost.
old mayor dumb, new mayor dumber and kim foxx dumbest. Criminals should be in jail, off the streets, etc. Instead the state of IL passes sick Gun Control laws directed at law abiding citizens.
One? He’s not the first.
It was just WW until WWII, just hoping for the Great Chicago Fire II need to clean all the rats out of Chicago.
They’ll only run and infest surrounding areas.
The Attorney in Baltimore only wants to prosecute the police not the actual criminals. On top of that the Governor here in Md. just signed into law ‘SB1’ banning licensed carry in all private/public places (to make all of Maryland ‘more fair’ for criminals not just Baltimore).
Wonder how that will play in the 4th circuit
Good to see folks are starting to come out saying theyve had enough…unfortunately (and preposterously) it’ll probably take many more before any real change comes to this crazy line of thinking soft on criminals crap
Capone wasn’t soft on criminals and Chicago was a thriving metropolis.
Screw em! They deserve this good and hard. I no longer feel any sympathy for the residents of Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, Denver, St Louis, Chicago, New York, Washington D.C., Etc, Etc…They continue to vote for this. Even when some barking Moonbat crazy Progressive has to resign because they can’t run again on their insanity, the quarter wit residents elect another Progressive who in most cases is even crazier than the last one, thinking “if only we go more extreme, THAT will fix the problem”. Whatever happens in the Progressive run cities now is on them and them only, they will not change until it becomes so ungovernable that overwhelming force is need to stop it.
The problem is Chicago’s electoral districts are gerrymandered to all hell and back so the Democrats only need a small percentage of voter turnout to actually win mayoral elections.
Do you think the Democrats will change this? They may be crazy but they are still cunning smart.
Ya get what ya vote for. I vote with my feet. We all get to. No excuses.
Say there Kim, do you think you could hook me up with President theBiden?
I’ve got chocolate chip ice cream and a new shower head, tell Joe my granddaughter will be here too.
(grrrrrrrrrr, how the fck can that sick twisted bass turd not be impeached?) Disgraceful.
Cities, like Zimbabwe, think if they lock up enough white people and take their property while ignoring the crimes of everyone else the cities problems will magically go away.
Well, a whole lot of starvation and several billion dollars later and Zimbabwe still hasn’t learned their lesson. I doubt US cities will either.
Since the crazy old coot Mugabe was deposed in a coup, they’ve been begging for South African farmers, white farmers, to buy farms to restore their agriculture.
It turns out Mugabe’s “war veterans” were not good administrators, farmers, or anything else. Especially when most weren’t even born when the independence war was fought.
I’d like to echo what others have said and say screw Chicago and the voters there as they deserve what they get, but sadly and not surprisingly the cr@p that is Chicago leeches out to the balance of the state. Surrounding areas are becoming little Sh!tcago.
The voting Libertarians liberals and leftists in the city of Chiraq are getting exactly what they wanted. The jails in the city will be emptied. It will become very difficult in order to keep anyone in the jails there for any length of time. They complained there are too many people being locked up.
Well they will be getting their wish.
And perhaps they will raise what is considered a misdemeanor in the city of Chiraq up to $950. The way it is in the entire State of California now.
I had a girlfriend I called Miss Demeanor. The more I bitched da meanor she got.
big (smile)
Prediction of #murders in Chiraq during the 1st weekend of the Johnson mayorship?
It would be quite ironic to have these Republican outsiders to come and save the city of Chiraq voters from themselves. Because it’s the Republican governors of Texas and Florida. Who are flooding Chicago with illegal aliens. That seems to be really upsetting the black voters in the city. It’s not upsetting the white voters there. Because the city government of Chiraq is making sure that the legal aliens, are being housed where all the black people live.
Unfortunately black people have not been paying attention very much in chicago. It seems they’ve gotten their wake up call now
“South Shore residents outraged over proposal to house migrants at old high school” video 2 min long
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hSyTo9RiyAg
The perverse proliferation of prejudice against the law-abiding and permission, even promotion of criminal and anti-social behavior is purposeful, planned, and pervasive. The dissolution of social norms will bring chaos, followed by martial law, complete dependence upon the government, and dictatorship. It has started in the cities and will infect the suburbs. The cure? Stand, prepare, and prepare to make tough, painful decisions. Never back down
👍
Looks like Miner got moderated hard from earlier.
Chicago wasn’t a nice place before these people weaseled their way into office. It isn’t a nice place now. It won’t be a nice place after new prosecutors have had time to do whatever they want.
Say hello to the new boss. Same as the old boss.
Let’s cheer for the ousting of Lightfoot because we just know the new leftist will be better.
No. Not really.
The new mayor has announced his “recovery” plan for the city. Phase I is, quite literally, called, “First, we get the money.”
$12 billion in new taxes, including $300 / employee tax on “large” employers, increased income taxes on anyone making >$100,000, quadrupling the jet fuel taxes, and imposing a 0.4% “wealth tax” on people with assets of over $1 million. And cuts Chicago police budget by 9%.
Chicago will never get anywhere near the money they think they will; indeed, it will likely wind up with LESS tax revenue. Chicago Board of Trade has threatened to leave the city if this passes. You are going to see employers and wealthy individuals flee the city en masse. But like the mayor of Detroit (Coleman Young) who similarly presided over the destruction of what had been the wealthiest big city in the country, the mayor won’t care so long as he and his cronies can be king of the ashes.
WHEN O’ WHEN WILL LAW~ABIDING CLAIM WAR ON CRIMINALS …
Your racist ! ! !
Spent a couple years working in Chicago back if ’89-’90. Had a job offer back up in Minesota and left. Never looked back. Finally got out of the snow drift/Great White North in 96 and settled down here in south Alabama. Bought the farmland in 98 and retired in 2000.
Far as I’m concerned, the cities can burn themselves to the ground with their Progressive/Marxist foolishness.
Been hearing about some politicians talking about some sort of national divorce, or rumblings of possible civil war. Red against Blue. Be a short war. Sure the cities have manufacturing, banking etc. The big problem is most of the food, water, energy, and fuel is produced in the same Red/Conservative parts of the country they want a divorce from. A few rifle rounds into power substations, bust a few pump stations, cut a few rail lines and blockade the freeways for a couple weeks and those same cities will be eating their own shoes or each other.
My only concern is how many of the idiots that supported the leftist crap will decide they can’t live there anymore and move to more open and conservative states but bring their ridiculous political agendas with them.
To old man,
You make a very common mistake about the coming Second American Civil War.
Yes, the people in the rural areas have a huge advantage over the people in the cities.
However, you can bet that the Chinese, Iranians, and Russians will keep the leftist cities well supplied with oil, food, and ammunition.
Enemy countries will want to keep the Civil War going as long as possible.
The conservative people in the countryside will have a huge problem trying to blockade the cities as they are located on the coasts.
The Southerners thought the first Civil War would be over in a short while.
There were four years of awful blood shed before it was all over.
It’s hard to ship electricity into coastal cities. Forget anything else, cut off the power, block the roads and all those cities will collapse.
NYC’s water supply system is so old they are afraid to do any maintenance on it because they might not be able to turn the tap back on.
During the Gulf war, we targeted power and water supplies to the cities in Iraq. Wonder why?
“It appears she hasn’t learned the lesson either that voters want criminals to be held accountable for their crimes.”
Only some voters. I’m afraid that there are many voters both in Chicago and elsewhere who don’t really care about holding criminals accountable for their crimes.
“The resignations of city prosecutors Murphy and Poje could be a harbinger. If the city’s top officials continue to show they prefer a soft-on-crime approach over the safety and security of law-abiding residents, there could be many more public and scathing letters of resignation ahead.”
Perhaps. Followed by the election of the same level of fools following the same failed policies of their predecessors. I.e., the fools who voted in the previous batch of fools will turn right around and vote in yet ANOTHER batch of fools, cut from the exact same cloth. Let’s see, who said it again? “Stupid is as stupid does.”
There’s only two ways this ends. One is unlikely, and the second requires putting real pressure on the State BAR Associations and Judicial Review Boards.
Lawyers and Judges are not upholding State Laws. Until they’re held accountable either by the State, or at the Ballot Box, It’ll just continue to be a Schitshow.
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