G8 & NATO

They're coming to town from May 15-22. The meetings are going to be held at McCormick Place, which is roughly at Roosevelt Rd. & Lake Michigan.

Leading up to this global event, Mayor Rahm Emanuel has proposed a few changes to the way things are normally done around here. First of all, he wants to be able to purchase “goods, work or services” needed to host the event without City Council approval.

Now right there we have a problem. Same problem we'd have had if Richie Daley had succeeded in landing the 2016 Summer Olympics. Graft. Payoffs. Kickbacks. Sweetheart deals. Money grubbing pig-whores feeding at the trough without any oversight. (Not that there's an alderman who would have raised a stink but still....ya know...let's pretend we have some scruples Rahm. City Council not in your pocket yet?)

At the same time Emanuel was proposing that idea to the City Council, he also suggested making a few changes in the way protesters are to be treated by the great City of Chicago. They include: higher fines for resisting arrest; added surveillance cameras; parks and beaches closed until 6 a.m. instead of the current 4a.m. opening; sweeping parade restrictions and higher fees for those events. Rahm also wants to give Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy the authority to “deputize law enforcement personnel” and reach cooperative agreements with state, federal and local law enforcement agencies.

Last month Mayor Emanuel said that all of these measures were temporary, and were a one-time deal for this G8-Nato business. Turns out that's not true. The contract thing is temporary,...limited time offer for the pig-whores to feed at the trough of graft.....but not the other part. The added fines and the battlefield deputizing part. Turns out those changes are to be permanent.

A group calling itself the Coalition Against the NATO G-8 War and Poverty Agenda, is slamming Emanuel for what they're calling blatant lies. They're pissed off that Rahm tried to shrug these changes off as temporary, and in the process ratcheting up the power of police during protests. Forever.

Emanuel is now claiming he misspoke when he said the changes were all temporary, and that indeed he did only mean the pig-whore contract feeding frenzy of graft. In clarifying, Rahm said that the changes in police powers are long overdue, and are merely intended to bring Chicago into the 21st century.

One of the changes deals with me resisting or obstructing a police officer, as well as helping another protester escape police. That'll cost me a cool grand now. The minimum fine for being a pain in the ass to cops during a parade or protest is now $200. It used to be $25. At one point yesterday, Emanuel actually referred to these as "fees" rather than fines, which I found and still find hilarious.

"Loud noise, amplified sound or music" will now only be legal between 8a.m. & 10 p.m.

That might be a problem. See, Andy Thayer and his Coalition Against the NATO G-8 War and Poverty Agenda are planning a massive protest march on May 19th. Now I've seen some video from other G8 summit protests, and I'm worried frankly. They make loud noise, and they amplify sound,..on purpose. Fuses are short with these people in the first place.

Their permit request hasn't yet been granted, but I assure you these people are going to march on May 19th.

Their current plan, according to Thayer, is to start the march at....you can't make this shit up...Richard J Daley Plaza. You remember him right? The Boss? Shoot to kill? The Battle of Michigan Ave.? 1968?

And they plan to march all the way over to McCormick Place where the conferences will still be in session. I'm not sure which way the Coalition protest marchers plan to take, but if they head straight east from the Daley Center, and then head a little south, they can march right through Grant Park!

This has got global news story written all over it. The whole world's watching!, again. It's a fucking riot waiting to happen, and this may be Rahm Emanuel's first real test as our mayor. Stay tuned.