8 Dead, 59 Wounded During Another Bloody Chicago Weekend

It was yet another bloody weekend in Chicago where eight people were killed, 59 were wounded and a paramedic was grazed by a bullet while working on a patient in an emergency room. Police say a gunman in an older Buick opened fire on the emergency room Saturday night, striking the paramedic's hat.

A female officer was shot Friday while getting out of her cruiser to provide aid to someone who had been shot. That is now the 12th Chicago officer to be wounded by gunfire in 2021. Chicago Police Superintendent David Brown says 34 officers have been shot at this year with 12 struck by bullets.

According to website Hey Jackass, which tracks all things related to Chicago shootings, 2,913 citizens have been shot and wounded in the Windy City this year with 601 dying from gunshots. That's a total of 3,514 shootings. A person is now shot in Chicago once every one hour and 51 minutes and a person is murdered every 10 hours and 13 minutes.

At Chicago's current pace, it will shatter the city's 2020 homicide total. Chicago is currently 26 homicides ahead of its 2020 pace.

In a wild turn of events, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot announced her 2022 budget proposal would include INCREASED spending on law enforcement.

"I know that community safety and thriving communities are at the top of all of our minds wherever you live in Chicago," Lightfoot said last week during an address to city leaders.

"Too often, when we talk about community violence, we forget the victims," she noted. "We know of them, but they are more than crime statistics. The lives deeply impacted by the violence that once it comes to their doorstep, it lives on in some form forever."

Just one year ago, Lightfoot released a budget proposal that called for the police department to lose $59 million in funding, but she said those savings would be due to not filling hundreds of vacant openings.

Here we are in 2021 and Lightfoot is announcing $400 million is to "be invested in community safety -- $45 million for violence intervention programs and community groups and $10 million for youth diversions programs and wellness programs for Chicago police officers."

Weird. It's almost like Lori's trying to play both sides of the political aisle here. During a year when Black Lives Matter is calling to defund the police, she goes ahead and proposes $59 million in cuts via attrition.

A year later, homicides are going to crush 2020 and now Lori's gotta do something so here comes a big pile of money to solve the problem.

Meanwhile, the bodies keep piling up while Lori's busy trying to figure out what political angle will keep her in power. Did I mention how Lori's 2022 budget also calls for giving $500 a month to 5,000 low-income households?

As for tax increases, yep, they're coming. Lori plans on raising property taxes.

Good times in Chicago.