Rahm: 'Don't ask, don't tell' on shootings

Edward Marshall, Political Producer for WBBM TV/CBS2 Tweets:

We are not to ask @RahmEmanuel questions about weekend violence say his press team. — Edward Marshall (@edmarshallcbs2) July 7, 2014

I can understand why the Little Emperor is refusing to take questions about the horrific July 4th weekend shootings. He has no clothes.

Weekend shooting victims

Rahm has already called in national Democratic Party bigwigs. like A.G. Eric Holder, to reshape the message on the city's killing fields, turning the mayor into a hero for leading a miraculous turnaround on violence. But last weekend blew that all away.

He and Supt. McCarthy (We're not supposed refer to the chief while he's still in recovery) have already been caught tinkering with the crime-rate numbers. This past weekend's shooting numbers are all over the place. Today's Sun-Times reports 13 dead and 58 others wounded over the weekend. But the Tribune, CBS, and ABC News all have it at 82 shootings, 14 of them fatal. Either the S-T is intentionally low-balling or the mayor's people are putting pressure on them to toe the party line. That is, unless 24 shooting victims somehow miraculously healed up between the time today's paper went to press.

Rich Miller hits it hard at Capitol Fax:

For 10 minutes, it seemed like the shooting was everywhere in the South Chicago neighborhood.

It started when someone shot and wounded a couple, then two people fired at the shooter, then there was a chase and shots exchanged and a man sitting on a porch was hit. Responding officers kept cutting each other off on their radios as they reported other gunfire in the area late Sunday night and early Monday morning.

Then the heavy equipment rolled in: A helicopter and SUVs packed with lockers of rifles. SWAT teams in green coveralls patrolled the streets with uniformed officers.
It was just one of dozens of shooting scenes across Chicago over the long Fourth of July weekend. In all, at least 82 people were shot, 14 of them fatally, since Thursday afternoon when two woman were shot as they sat outside a two-flat within a block of Garfield Park.

Hundreds of extra officers were assigned Chicago streets this past weekend, Police Supt. Garry McCarthy said […]

Nearly all of those killed were black or Hispanic men age 35 or younger. Two — Shaquille Ross, 18, and Kezon Lamb, 19 — were teenagers. One was a woman. And details of the most recent shooting victim was not yet available Monday morning.
In places like West Englewood, South Shore and Austin, gunshots seemed almost as common as fireworks this past weekend.