Pffft, that was mostly peaceful Joe, nothing to see here!!
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Thankfully, four reporters at the Chicago Tribune have investigated what really happened in the once great "city that works" and the devastating effects that still are felt. It's harrowing and Pulitzer-worthy material.
Written and reported by Todd Lighty, Gary Marx, Christy Gutowski and William Lee, we urge a full reading, but here are the lowlights:
In just a few days, there were 15 homicides and 53 shooting victims. More than 2,100 businesses were looted, 71 buildings were set on fire and looters stole more than 700,000 prescription pills from drug stores.Businesses suffered more than
$165 million in damages, "though the true cost is certainly much higher."
Mayor Lori
Lightfoot had no clue what was coming, and her response was indefensibly feeble. She did not want the National Guard, even as the city burned.
The city's inspector general issued a scathing report, which portrays Lightfoot as woefully unprepared, as were other mayors. Downtown businesses were destroyed.
"I thought, 'I'm a Black-owned business. They're not going to bother me,'" said Howard Bolling, owner of the Roseland Pharmacy at 11254 S. Michigan Ave.
No such luck.
The riots even forced families at the Ronald McDonald House, where parents' sick children are cared for, to flee for their safety. Protesters used hammers to smash windows and doors.
The Ronald McDonald House is a cancer facility.Here is what is most infuriating. Throughout that first wave of rioting, looting, arson and murder, only about 170 rioters were charged with felonies. It should have been 1,000 or more. Why hasn't Chicago law enforcement looked through the videos and tracked down these violent criminals?
Based on
the property damage, the homicides, the injuries and the financial losses to the residents, this insurrection was many times worse than the indefensible actions at the U.S. capital by pro-Trump protesters on Jan. 6.Why is no one paying attention to and amplifying the Tribune story of what happened in Chicago? Why is no one writing similar accounts of the carnage in Minneapolis, Milwaukee, New York, Kenosha, Portland and Los Angeles? Why isn't the local law enforcement and the FBI hunting down the perpetrators and putting them behind bars? We have video evidence of who they are and what they did.
President Joe Biden seems only interested in putting the pro-Trump protesters behind bars.