Monday, December 18, 2017

Merkelstein Monday: In Chicago They Like the Blue Lights

Chicago does a Christmas market, too, in cooperation with the German American Chamber of Commerce of the Midwest. And, just like the markets in Germany, Britain, and Canada, it installed perimeter vehicle barriers and put up a larger police presence in response to last last's truck ramming attack on the market in Berlin which killed 12 and wounded 56.

How does Chicago compare to the others in terms of the effectiveness and subtle streetscapery of its barriers? It compares poorly.
















Down go the concrete blocks across the entrance of the market in Daley Plaza. Just plain blocks, with little to no anti-ram value and no trimming to attempt to conceal their purpose.
















Up goes fencing around the perimeter of the market space. Fencing that weak would serve to channel law-abiding people, but not much more.

 












Mounted on the surface of the sidewalk with no anchoring, and even less aesthetics. Hey, Chicago, you could at least have made them look like benches.













What's more, from the looks of it the market organizers and the police didn't even try to maximize the setback distance they could possibly have gotten by placing those blocks on the outer edge of the sidewalk. Either they don't understand the purpose of the anti-ram exercise or they're just going through the motions.

This is a step up from last year, when Chicago parked salt trucks as barricades around the Plaza. But still, all Chicago did was scatter some blocks and pedestrian barricades around, plus flood the zone with police patrols. Clearly not enough to actually preclude a Berlin-style truck ramming attack,

Visitors interviewed by local TV news sounded pleased with it all. They feel “safer, I guess, there's a lot of stuff going on lately ... more blue lights, that’s what I want to see.”

That might be the city's only goal here. Make people feel better, but don't take the truck ramming threat seriously enough to put up serious, tested and certified, anti-ram barriers.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

TSB: The Ultimate In Irony: Syrian Army Rolls Into Idlib With US Weapons Captured From ISIS...According to a military source in Hama, the Syrian Army’s Tiger Forces are planning to use the US-manufactured weapons against the jihadist rebels in the upcoming battle for the Idlib Governorate. Among the US-manufactured weapons transferred to the Idlib front were a large number of TOW missiles that were previously supplied by Washington to the rebel forces in Syria before they were later sold to the Islamic State.
So much for the myth of the US fighting ISIS with moderate rebels.
That,is also our rational for staying in Syria "as long as it takes" to make sure they don't come back. gwb

Anonymous said...

TSB: I hope a reporter ask the President to show the list of names taken by Haley at the UN today. gwb

Anonymous said...

TSB: The "Friday Firings" seem to be turning in a more + direction:
FBI Fires Suspected Leaker And Comey Ally James Baker: Head Counsel for the FBI Seems to me they should just indict everyone who carries the moniker: "one of the most honorable and trusted members of the FBI" because they are clearly corrupt servants of the globalists. All I get from the globalists is cheap bananas. gwb

TSB said...

About that list of UN names, there is actually a law that requires the State Department to report annually to Congress on how each UN member state votes on Israel-related motions. You can see the statistics going back to 2000 - for instance, the UK voted with the U.S. only about 7 percent of the time on those motions, which is typical of most members.

Taking names is not just a good idea, it's the law.

Anonymous said...

TSB:Trump’s Pentagon Admits to ‘Multiple Ground Missions’ in Yemen
By Juan Cole | Dec. 22, 2017 |
We did get their propaganda chief with a drone strike but with 7,000 dead and an additional 2200 dead from cholera and 8 million at risk of starvation I don't think this is going to end well for us. At least I know that Hezbollah has plans for us involving Panama that could involve those submersible drug delivery vehicles and major ports. Merry Chritmas!
gwb