Many readers may recall the tales of the fictionalized “Murder Incorporated” here in the States in the great 20th Century Gangster Era (1929-1941) as the enforcers for the National Crime Syndicate. (Please note that there was no official tie between the FedGov and the NCS, or so the historians tell us.)
Well, those early 20th-Century gangsters were pikers. It is claimed that over that 12-year period, somewhere between 400 and 1000 were killed by the group. In 2023, though, the City of Chicago is reported to have hosted that many killings in just two years. WTTW.com tells us: “There were 617 homicides and 2,450 shootings across Chicago throughout 2023, according to Chicago Police Department data, with both totals hitting their lowest levels since 2019.” (A 13% drop from 2022!)
Rob Morse writes about the 4-day 4th of July weekend (2024) in that crime-ridden paradise of Chicago:
103 people were shot in Chicago over the four-day 4th of July weekend. 19 of them died of their gunshots. That doesn’t yet count the number of victims who were shot early Monday morning. This barely qualifies as news since it happens over and over in Chicago. Over the 4th, a large fraction of the murders in the entire United States were in Chicago. That means that violence isn’t a nationwide problem, but a localized problem. Why is Chicago so violent?
It is an important question since we are not all the same. Most counties won’t have a single murder of any kind, let alone murder with a firearm. Said another way, there are safe areas and dangerous areas in Chicago. Cook County which contains Chicago is less violent than Chicago. Illinois is less violent than Cook County. In a real sense, violent crime in the US is dominated by a few zip codes in our failed cities. Most of the United States works well, but some of our cities are broken. Why is that?”
Rob goes on to discuss some strong reasons for that sort of mayhem: decades of one-party rule, massive corruption, a gangster history, and economic conditions. He also pooh-poohs a number of claims, such as lack of gun (control) laws and lack of adequate policing. And points out that there are multiple factors which make Chicago a kind of war zone.
Of course, Chitown is far from alone when it comes to major urban areas with massive crime stats – not just homicide but every sort of violent and non-violent crime. It takes a combination of factors to create such a pesthole. And the usual factors that lead to such massive death tolls do not seem to be present in the Windy City. No Mongol or Assyrian invasions, no Chinese Civil War, no Balkan-style ethnic cleansing. No brutal, murderous socialist-communist government in control. (Well, maybe the last one?)
So who and what is to blame? Certainly Chicago’s (and Illinois’) disarmament of peaceful honest citizens who want to be able to defend themselves, their families and friends, their properties, and their neighborhoods is a factor. So too is the fine example of the cops and so-called law enforcement community with its corruption, immunity, and bosses demanding (and getting) preferential treatment for themselves and favored groups.
But perhaps it boils down to example and education: to what extent children in the “public” (government-run, tax-funded) school system in Chicago are educated, much of that seems to be by osmosis and example of their criminally-minded classmates, faculty, staff, administration, and contractors. Not that such things as honesty, respect for human life, respect for elders and other humans, and abiding by the law seem to be given a lot of classroom time. After all, “science” teaches evolution and mental gymnastics: humans are just another animal and it is only custom (and perhaps injustly-enforced laws) that keeps long-pork off the supermarket and convenience store and bodega shelves. And humans can be killed virtually without penalty before birth – and the weekly Chitown death and wounding score yields very few convictions and a minimal amount of time behind bars. And of course, you can declare yourself whatever sex or species you want to: which of 68 genders or 200 species of mammal do you want to be? And which “race” (ethnicity and heritage) of human do you want to claim?
As for other basic character traits: like honesty and thrift and industriousness? Well, some of the churches in Chicago teach those things, but probably not the schools. And the government and political leaders have less respect for churches (and even synagogues and mosques) than they do for cross-dressing transvestites and bullet-spraying street gangsters.
We can point out that the Old West never was blood-splattered the way Chicago is today. Cities – especially but not only cities run by “progressives” (regressive Woke parasites) – are bad for your health. Mental, physical, spiritual, and more. And all this gives the political elites – the parasites – more and more excuse to grab control and wealth and prestige: which just feeds a vicious circle.
Did not Patrick Henry once cry out, “Give me liberty or give me death” to a far less nasty situation? Maybe liberty would be much if not all the answer to Chicago’s evils – and that of most American and foreign cities?
The Price of Liberty 
CITIES: Doomed, and the sooner the better
Readers of this commentary know we here at TPOL are NOT lovers of urban areas. We imagine that the recent commentary on Chicago’s homicide record supports that understanding.
Indeed, as time goes on, our distaste for the places (including their “culture” and “society” and government) grows by leaps and bounds. Even the smaller cities of just 40 or 100 thousand or so. Not the cesspools with 500K or a million.
Fortunately, their days are numbered, in our opinion.
In addition to Chicago, consider San Francisco.
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