Impersonators

Up north this time:

• Police are looking for three or four men accused of trying to get into Northwest Side homes by pretending to be Chicago cops.

  In three separate incidents in the last week, the men, ranging in age from about 18 to 36 years old, knocked on the doors of homes, telling homeowners they were police officers or undercover officers, a community alert from Grand Central Area detectives said.

  In each, the men had police paraphernalia, such as gold badges and radios. In two of the attempts, they got into the homes but later fled in a large, dark red SUV or navy Blue Town & Country van, the alert said.

Hunt them down.

Bogus Tickets?

How about bogus registrations?

• A Northwest Side community feels under siege after being blanketed with tickets by a Chicago police officer.

  CBS 2′s Dave Savini investigated the cases of suburbanites being ticketed in Chicago for not having a city sticker.

  Mike Spilotro’s sister lives in North Riverside, and her car is registered there. It even has a Riverside sticker in the car window.

  But she received more than 20 tickets in two and a half weeks while visiting Spilotro’s Chicago home. Each one is for $120, which totals up to thousands of dollars in fines.

Must be an awfully close sister to be visiting her brother twenty times in seventeen or eighteen days. In fact, this sounds exactly like her primary residence is in fact, in Chicago. Did Channel 2 ask for proof of residence North Riverside? Driver's license? Voter registration card? Gas bill? Nope - all unasked and unanswered questions. Let's let this investigation run its course. We have a feeling there's more sloppy reporting here than sloppy police work.

"Wildings" Continue

Sorry, we meant "multiple offender mass robberies" or similar such nonsense. But you really have to dig around to find anything about it:

• At last count, police arrested approximately ten people in connection with a string of strong arm robberies on Chicago's North Side.
  
  At 8:06 p.m., an attempted robbery was reported on the 1100 block of West Lill Avenue, near Lill and Racine, in Lincoln Park.
  
  According to police dispatch, the 911 caller said 10 to 15 male blacks tried to rob the caller's friends.
  
  Investigators later confirmed that the incident was not an attempted robbery, but an actual strong arm robbery.

We hate to say it, but even a cold snap might not deter this crap. It's certainly going to be interesting going downtown to see the windows this year.

Ladies, Get a Gun

Sound advice, just not in Illinois.....yet:

• A South Carolina sheriff who called for women to carry guns to defend themselves against assaults said on Tuesday he has received a positive response to his advice.

  During a press conference Monday about a rape suspect's arrest, Spartanburg County Sheriff Chuck Wright said women should walk in groups and get a gun.

  "I don't want you to go for the Mace. I want you to go for the concealed weapons permit," the sheriff said, according to a video of his remarks.

  Wright said women could conceal a small pistol inside a fanny pack when they go out jogging.

  "They got one called 'The Judge' that shoots a .45 or a .410 shell," he said. "You ain't gotta be accurate. You just gotta get close."

They ought to call it "The Judge and Executioner." It is one of the finest small guns in existence. And with the .410 self-defense loads? Ouch.

Let Them Take Cabs

What is being called a "Marie Antoinette moment:"

• The head of the city’s Department of Family and Support Services had a Marie Antoinette moment on Monday — when she suggested that homeless Chicagoans who need overnight transport this winter “take a cab” to emergency shelters.

  After testifying at City Council budget hearings, Commissioner Evelyn Diaz was discussing the $2.4 million, mid-year cut in state funding that forced Mayor Rahm Emanuel to lay off 24 city employees who worked the overnight shift picking up homeless residents and transporting them to shelters.

  Diaz was asked what would happen this winter without the overnight shift. How were homeless Chicagoans — many of them suffering from alcohol, substance abuse and mental health problems — supposed to get to emergency shelters overnight? Were they supposed to just hang tough until 8 a.m?

  “If they can’t find another alternative,” she said.

  Asked to identify an alternative, Diaz said, “Public transportation, cabs.”

  When a reporter reminded the commissioner that homeless people can’t afford cab fare, an apparently embarrassed Diaz ignored the question.

It's certainly better than what else has been suggested:

• When the overnight shift was eliminated this summer, Dworkin was told Chicago Police officers would transport homeless people who needed shelter after midnight.

  Shelter providers subsequently told her police were simply giving people the address of the nearest shelter and asking them to go there.

We aren't taxis and we shouldn't be used as taxis. Our stations also aren't shelters and shouldn't be treated as dumping grounds for the mentally ill or those who choose live outside of society.

LPS Mortgage Monitor: Over 4 Million Loans 90+ Days Delinquent or in Foreclosure, 72% in Foreclosure Not Made Payment for at Least 1 Year

Inquiring minds are reading the latest LPS Mortgage Monitor, released today.

Foreclosure timelines continue to increase across the board - almost 40 percent of loans in foreclosure have not made a payment in two years, and 72 percent have not made a payment in a year or more. New problem loan rates increased sharply over the last two months, with 1.6 percent of loans that were current six months ago now 60 or more days delinquent or in foreclosure.

Here are a few charts from LPS.
Click on any chart for a sharper image.

Over 4 Million Loans 90+ Days Delinquent or in Foreclosure



Delinquencies and Foreclosures



39% of Loans in Foreclosure Not Made Payment in 2 Years, 72% for 1 Year



Take a good look at that chart. There has not been a decrease in the no payment for over 2 years category ever. At the beginning of 2011 it was 28%. It is now 39%. At the beginning of 2010 it was 12%.

Foreclosure Starts Outnumber Sales by Factor Over 3:1



If things are improving, it's not by much.

Mike "Mish" Shedlock
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com
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Greece Replaces Top Brass in Army, Navy, Air Force in Surprise Move; Is Papandreou Preparing for a Military Coup or Afraid of One?

Greek prime minister George Papandreou pulled a second major surprise move in two days. Yesterday he rattled the markets with a bombshell voter referendum proposal on the EU bailout (see EU Deal Unravels from Many Sides; Italy, France Bond Spreads Hit Record High vs. Germany; Bund Yield Drops Most on Record; All Out Bond Crisis).

Greece Replaces Top Brass in Army, Navy, Air Force in Surprise Move

Today in another surprise move, Greece Replaces Top Brass in Army, Navy, Air Force

In a surprise move, on Tuesday evening the defence minister replaced the country’s top brass.

An extraordinary meeting of the Government Council of Foreign Affairs and Defence (Kysea), which comprises the prime minister and other key cabinet members, accepted Defence Minister Panos Beglitis' proposal that the following changes be made to army, navy and air force and the general staff:

• General Ioannis Giagkos, chief of the Greek National Defence General Staff, to be replaced by Lieutenant General Michalis Kostarakos
• Lieutenant General Fragkos Fragkoulis, chief of the Greek Army General Staff, to be replaced by lieutenant general Konstantinos Zazias
• Lieutenant General Vasilios Klokozas, chief of the Greek Air Force, to be replaced by air marshal Antonis Tsantirakis
• Vice-Admiral Dimitrios Elefsiniotis, chief of the Greek Navy General Staff, to be replaced by Rear-Admiral Kosmas Christidis

It is understood that the personnel changes took many members of the government and of the armed forces by surprise.

Is Papandreou Preparing for a Military Coup or Afraid of One?

I can only think of two reasons for this latest surprise announcement.

1. Papandreou or the Defense Minister is Preparing for a Military Coup (to stay in power if he does not survive the vote of confidence)
   
2. Papandreou or the Defense Minister is Afraid of a Military Coup

Take your pick. It's one or the other but it could be both.

Mike "Mish" Shedlock
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com
Click Here To Scroll Thru My Recent Post List