From the Tuesday Morning Jolt…
Rahm Emanuel, Stranded in Cuba as His Deputy Gets Assaulted
Yesterday I called Al Sharpton’s call for Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s resignation over a police shooting the “perfect Obama-era scandal.” It showcases Obama’s hometown, home of some of the country’s strictest gun-control laws, plagued by 2,937 shootings in the past year, about 350 more than the previous year; an entirely-Democrat controlled political system that engages in cover-ups and a culture of unaccountability; a microcosm of African-Americans, the most loyal demographic to the Democratic Party, feeling victimized and disregarded by leaders they eagerly elected and reelected. Elitism, double-standards, runaway state power, incendiary agitation, racial tensions – it’s all here.
Now we see Chicago’s looking even more chaotic than usual:
One of Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s deputy chiefs of staff was attacked Sunday evening while attending a vigil for Bettie Jones and Quintonio LeGrier, who were fatally shot by Chicago Police in West Garfield Park on Saturday.
According to a source, Vance Henry was attending the vigil about 5:50 p.m. at the site of the shooting in the 4700 block of West Erie when he was attacked.
The police department’s Office of News Affairs confirmed that a 50-year-old man was at the vigil when “he was approached by an unknown person who began to make verbal threats which escalated to a physical altercation.”
The man was punched with a closed fist, tackled to the ground and kicked repeatedly, according to police. He went to Rush University Medical Center, where he was treated and released.
In an emailed statement Monday night, City Hall spokesman Adam Collins said: “We are aware that on Sunday afternoon there was an altercation involving one of our staff members. We take this matter very seriously and the incident is under review.”
No wonder Emanuel’s on his way back from Cuba!
Mayor Rahm Emanuel is cutting short his family vacation in Cuba and will return to Chicago on Tuesday to deal with the latest crisis involving the city’s Police Department.
Early Saturday, police shot and killed two people on the West Side — Quintonio LeGrier, 19, and his neighbor, Bettie Jones, 55.
A City Hall spokesman said Monday that Emanuel left Chicago on Dec. 18 and was due to return at the end of this week.
Take a moment to savor this irony:
Meanwhile, the Chicago Sun-Times has learned that Emanuel was in effect stranded in Cuba and could not leave immediately after the shootings because there is no regularly scheduled air service. U.S. airlines run only charter flights to the island.
Compounding that, a source said, Emanuel was in a rural part of the country for the past couple of days. Emanuel had been scheduled to return to Chicago at the end of this week.
It is believed that Emanuel was on his way back to Havana on Monday afternoon. He was in constant contact with advisers via phone and text, despite sometimes shaky connections.
Hey, just thinking out loud, if you’re the mayor of a major city that’s on edge because of a big cover-up by your police department and questions about what you knew, maybe you shouldn’t schedule a two-week vacation at a destination that doesn’t include regular return flights?
Could you imagine if there had been, say, an ISIS attack at Christmas and Emanuel was stranded in Cuba?
Presuming you intend to come back, of course…