The first joke
There was a boy who was boasting to his friends that his youngest brother was the stupidest kid on the block.
"How stupid is he?" they asked.
"Watch this" the boy said.
"Hey Jimmi, come here" the boy commanded.
Jimmi dutifully trotted over. The older boy held out both hands. In one hand he had a dime. In the other, a nickel. "Which one do you want?" the boy asked.
Jimmi pointed at the nickel and said "That one is bigger".
The boy handed Jimmi the nickel and all of the friends snickered.
A bit later, one of the other boys had some guilt pangs. "Jimmi, you should have taken the dime. It is worth twice as much as the nickel" the tardy saint informed the little boy.
The little boy winked. "The first time I take the dime is the day my brother stops giving me nickels."
The second joke
Q: Do you know how many chiropractors it takes to change a light bulb?
A: Only one, but he has to review your health insurance policy before he can tell you how many visits it will require.
Back to NYC vs Chicago
Is it possible that the criminal justice racket in Chicago has been "captured" to a greater degree than the CJR in NYC? There are a lot of "professionals" who see high crime rates as a guaranteed income stream and an easy way to have prestige in the community: Social workers, lawyers, parole officers, clerks, etc. And then there are the unions that represent corrections officers and public safety officers and consequently the politicians who benefit from the donations from those unions.
They all have perverse incentives that create a conflict-of-interest. Seen from that perspective, it should not be a surprise that the criminal justice racket is paralyzed in many jurisdictions.
America does NOT have a "justice" system. It has a LEGAL system.... concerned only with the arbitrary enforcement of bizarre, arcane and often conflicting laws and codes. It exists to keep the citizenry controlled and in check and also to transfer wealth from one pocket to another....with the system siphoning off as much of that wealth as possible. If actual justice happens inside a courtroom it was an accidental and unintended byproduct of the legal process.
ReplyDeleteNew York has often at least pretended to do the right thing. Chicago? Not so much.
ReplyDeleteA couple years ago it came out that Chicago alderman were not only promising but getting the police to carry out not prosecuting gang members in response for their votes.
The sad thing is the this isn't the worst thing Chicago politicians have openly done...
Jonathan
The Second City Cop blog from Chicago can be an interesting look at policing there from people on the beat.
ReplyDelete