The Daily Parker

Politics, Weather, Photography, and the Dog

Welcome to Summer!

Yes, June 1st, the first day of summer in the northern hemisphere (according to climatologists, anyway), and Chicago has never seemed more exciting. Mayor Lori Lightfoot announced last week that we would move into Phase 3 of the Covid-19 recovery plan on Wednesday, but then the weekend happened:

Mayor Lori Lightfoot said she’s worried protests throughout the city this weekend could have been “super-spreading” events for the coronavirus.

The vast majority of people in Chicago’s protests wore masks, and some organizers set up their marches to allow social distancing. But there were crowds that gathered and marched throughout the city — and officials have warned for months large groups of people pose a serious risk of spreading COVID-19.

“This disease is still ravaging our Black and Brown communities, and our public health officials are gravely concerned that yesterday’s action could turn out to be a super spreader event,” Lightfoot said during a Sunday press conference.

No doubt some people spread the virus while they looted and burned businesses city-wide:

Throughout the night, police received call after call of lootings, shootings and fires on all sides of the city. There were several “10-1″ calls for officers in immediate need of help. It capped a weekend that was one of the most violent in recent years in Chicago, with more than 80 people shot, nearly 20 of them killed.

Police Superintendent David Brown said there were 699 looting arrests, mostly on the South and West sides. At least 132 officers were injured on Sunday and there were 48 shootings, with 17 deaths, he said. Chicago officials said they received 65,000 calls in a 24-hour period, 50,000 more than typical day.

The Tribune has a full timeline of the weekend's events.

In Washington, protesters sent the president scurrying into an underground bunker as the White House lights were turned off for the first time in decades. Around the world, groups showed solidarity with American protesters leading to hundreds of arrests in London and other cities.

I'm going to leave you with this 18-minute post from Trevor Noah, host of Comedy Central's "Daily Show." He says a lot that we should all hear:

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