Hard News in Chicago...

or do you prefer to watch Donald Glover in whiteface at the Emmy's, for your entertainment pleasure?  How many reporters do you think are "analyzing" that scene?  #PayAttentiontoRealNews?

The Laquan McDonald / Jason VanDyke trial has begun:

Despite the fireworks in court in the months leading up to the trial, Monday’s opening day was largely understated. In his brief, workmanlike opening statement to the jury, McMahon said police officers have the authority to fire their weapons in very specific situations, but this was not one of them. Holding up the 3-inch blade that McDonald carried that night, McMahon suggested the teen could have — and should have — been subdued with a Taser.

“Not a single shot was necessary or justified,” he said. “There is a Chicago police Taser unit on its way and not a single pedestrian in sight.”

By the time McDonald ran onto Pulaski Road, he was corralled on all sides by five police squad cars and 10 armed police officers on the scene, McMahon said. A 7-foot construction fence cut off any escape to the teen’s right.

When Van Dyke arrived on the scene, he began shooting within six seconds, McMahon said. McDonald was knocked to the street within 1.6 seconds of the shooting, but Van Dyke fired for an additional 12.5 seconds until his gun was emptied.

McMahon also told the jury that Van Dyke began to reload his weapon after shooting McDonald — evidence that only a short time earlier the defense had unsuccessfully tried to block the jury from hearing. Van Dyke did not stop reloading until his partner told him to stop.

In his opening statement, Herbert cautioned jurors that the now-infamous dashcam video does not tell the full story, in part because it didn’t capture how the incident unfolded from Van Dyke’s perspective.

“What happened to Laquan McDonald was a tragedy,” he said. “It’s a tragedy. It’s not a murder.”

Herbert told jurors that the defense has re-created a video to show Van Dyke’s perspective. At one point, he picked up the brown-handled knife McDonald had on him and started swinging it in a stabbing motion, imitating what Herbert said was McDonald’s attempt to kill the man who’d initially called 911 on him.

With a close-up of a Chicago police squad car on the screen, zoomed in on the words “we serve and protect,” Herbert said that Illinois law governing police use-of-force justified Van Dyke’s actions that night.

“Police officers have a duty to protect the public, to protect people from potential harm, and that’s what we have here, ladies and gentlemen,” he said.

Jason Van Dyke did not protect any lives that night.
By his actions, he only helped escalate a race war.

Even the Obamas are afraid to return for good to Chicago now, the Hawaiian and his native bride...

Where are those religious grant funds for aspiring black community organizers when you need them? Maybe when they're done at the Ivies, Malia and Sascha will return to pick up the work their father left unfinished?