Mayor says housekeeper “likely prevented a tragedy” by reporting two-gun “arsenal” in Streeterville hotel room

Chicago’s mayor and police superintendent used dramatic language Tuesday after a Streeterville hotel housekeeper allegedly found a rifle sitting on a hotel room window sill over the weekend.

But neither Lori Lightfoot nor David Brown explained why they believed the city had “adverted disaster” and “nefarious” plans.

Keegan Casteel, a 32-year-old visitor from suburban Des Moines, Iowa, was charged Tuesday with two counts of unlawful use of a weapon. He must pay a $1,000 deposit to get out of jail.

Assistant State’s Attorney Brian Burkhardt said police went to the W Hotel, 644 North Lake Shore Drive, on the Fourth of July after a housekeeper saw a “large rifle” and ammunition as she prepared to clean Casteel’s 12th-floor room, which overlooked Ohio Street Beach.

Casteel’s wife answered the door when police knocked around 6:45 p.m., and officers met with Casteel personally at the hotel, according to a CPD report. Casteel, who is licensed to own firearms in Iowa, freely admitted that there were guns in the room, Burkhardt said. Police then seized the weapons.

A source with knowledge of the investigation said it appears Casteel forgot to take the guns and magazines out of his car before driving to Chicago and he brought them to his room rather than leave them in the vehicle.

But Brown said officers found a loaded rifle “in a very suspicious position” on the room’s window sill. Four loaded ammunition magazines and a loaded handgun were also recovered, Burkhardt said. The rifle was equipped with a “high power laser sight,” according to Burkhardt. He said the rifle did not have a visible serial number, but he did not say that the serial number had been removed.

“I understand…that you have permission to possess the firearms in the state of Iowa. However, clearly, we’re not in Iowa,” Judge David Navarro said during Casteel’s bond court appearance.

Burkhardt did not suggest that Casteel had plans to use the weapons, but that didn’t stop Brown and Lightfoot from making strong suggestions.

Lightfoot claimed Casteel came to Chicago “with an arsenal, an AR-15…Thank God for that hotel worker who saw something and said something, and I believe averted disaster.”

“This wasn’t a firearm for personal protection. What he had was weapons of war,” Lightfoot continued, saying the seized items represented “something more nefarious.” She offered no evidence that Casteel harbored any evil intentions to support her belief.

This is a picture of the guns seized.

Everything about this guy’s story is plausible.

He drives from Iowa to Chicago, forgets to take his guns out of the car first, doesn’t want to leave them in the car to possibly be stolen, takes them up to the hotel room.

The mayor and police superintendent are trying to convince the city that a mass shooting was averted.

But what sort of mass shooter takes his wife along on the mass shooting and then talks to the cops and admits to having the guns when they ask?

This guy is a legal gun owner from Iowa, who evidently made a mistake, and though he was doing the right thing.

Now Chicago will nail him to the fucking wall and destroy his life because it’s easier to make a felon out of a legal Iowa gun owner on vacation than stop actual gang members from shooting each other in the streets.

This is why it is so absolutely vital to be extra super careful when you travel to make sure you are in compliance with local gun laws.

Anti-gun politicians will fuck your life to ruin over your CCW pistol that you left in the glove box as you drive through their state because they don’t care about stopping crimes, they just want to burn legal gun owners from free states that pass through their jurisdictions because they hate you.

First thing to know, I broke my hand.

Badly.

I’ll post about that soon.

Suffice it to say I’m in a cast right now and I had to do some travel.

I was stuffing my bag into the overhead one handed.

I was approached by a very nice and obviously gay flight attendant.

Gay flight attendant: “Do you need help with your bag?”

My: “No, I’m fine.”

GFA: “Can I ask what happened to your hand?”

Me: “Freak fisting accident. This is why poppers are important.”

The look on his face trying not to die of embarrassed laughter was worth it.

I was talking to a buddy and marveling at how much of a tectonic shift there has been in party politics 20 years.

For example:

Me, a Conservative in 2001, watching 9/11: “I’m a patriot. I’m Army ROTC, I want to do my duty and serve my country and defend America and the principles of liberty.”

Me, a Conservative in 2021, talking to my son when he says he “wants to be a warrior” when he grows up: “If you are a patriot, don’t join the military.  You will spend half your time being shown PowerPoints on anti-American Marxist propaganda just to be sent to some far away shit-hole country for a boy raping goat herder to blow your legs off in an endless war, just so some fuck-ass boomer general from an Ivy League can guarantee himself a 7-figure salary at Raytheon when he retires.  You’re too important for me to have someone else throw your life away for that.”

My principles didn’t change.

The institutions have been so corrupted that as a Conservative I can’t support them anymore.

And the ultimate evidence that Left corrupted them is just how much they defend the institutions.

Up at 5 am, finished cleaning a couple of things and then we went on to play Tetris in the SUV while gently trying to make the missus understand that we have a mid-size SUV and not 2 1/2 ton military truck. I may have screwed up the “gently” part a time or two.

Keys turned in to the realtor and around 10:30ish, we headed North. An uneventful trip except for the truck kind chiming softly:  “YOU DUMB ASS! YOU ARE ABOUT TO RUN OUT OF FUEL!” as we were this close to out nocturnal destination. But if Florida has something is gas stations in every exit and after driving puckered for about 5 minutes, we filled up, returned to the highway and 10 minutes later we were sitting down to a decent meal before closing for the day.

I have no idea what is going on in the World. Last news item I caught was the assassination of Haiti’s president by a band of Colombian ex-Mil pretending to be DEA. I am gonna shut this down turn on the TV and just watch the boob tube till I pass out.

Y’all keep it nice.

From 2019:

From 2021:

Got the politician wrong but the principle right.

China’s military prepares for war, while America’s military goes ‘woke’

On June 10, Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), a former Army captain who deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan, published a memorandum detailing 28 instances of critical race theory-related bias in the military, collated from anonymous online submissions his office gathered. These included the propagation of racial narratives undermining unit morale, anti-racism instruction, anti-radicalization training with no mention of Islamic terrorism, the exclusion of white service members from diversity training events, and the explicit suppression of dissenting viewpoints. This behavior began during the “Racism Stand Down” in the summer of 2020 and has continued during the post-Capitol riot “Extremism Stand Down” this year.

As anonymous statements, Sen. Cotton’s reports are unconfirmed. But they resonate with broader instances of CRT-driven policy in the military, particularly because other intersectional measures may be looped into this general trend. Nellis Air Force Base hosted a “Drag” event for its airmen, justifying it as “essential to morale, cohesion, and readiness.” A Navy spouse posted an image from her active-duty husband documenting a “Pride Month” diversity hike, complete with a rainbow-colored American flag. The military service academies have also joined this trend: West Point now offers a “Diversity and Inclusion” minor, and the Naval Academy offers courses on “critical race” and “intersectional” themes.

Still, the issue is neither one of intellectual diversity nor the necessity of preventing and responding to racism. Rather, it has become increasingly apparent that the military, under presidential pressure, has turned to the radical and bizarre ends of the anti-racism camp for guidance in a national discussion of race, like every major company or academic institution since at least June 2020. Moreover, we must recognize the difficult position of military officers like Milley, or his superior, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin: The Biden administration’s directives have placed them squarely in the midst of an increasingly noxious, nihilistic culture war.

Despite Xi’s promises to ensure party control over the military, he has grown a large modern professional armed force that could challenge any element of Chinese society. He has prioritized improving the PLA’s readiness and capabilities virtually from the moment he gained power in 2012. He has purged the old officer corps of its kleptocratic grandees, initiated large-scale military exercises, and invested in the technology and defense industrial base necessary to construct a modern power-projection force.

American soldiers sit through “implicit bias” and “systemic racism” workshops and are told, tacitly or explicitly, that the country they swore to defend is inherently unjust.

Chinese soldiers prepare for war.

Frivolity and sensitivity offer no protection against steel and lead. The former invite the latter.

You need to take the idea that the US Military exists to protect and defend the United States of America in the dustbin of history.

We will not to go war with China.

China is too financially important to our wealthy elites.  China will be given every leniency to keep the money flowing into the coffers of billionaires, Wall Street, and their political lackeys.

The purpose of the US Military under the new regime is as a political enforcement entity.

It’s creating a partisan officer class and indoctrinating young enlisted-men to believe and obey Leftist Woke propaganda for a paycheck.

The next step, once the last of the Middle American patriots leaves or is drummed out of the military, is to be political enforcers over civilians.

The Democrats are following in the footsteps of the Bolshiveks.  I’ve read this chapter in military history before, I know where it’s going.

Louisiana boy, 12, shoots and kills armed burglar who broke into his home and threatened his mother

A 12-year-old boy grabbed a hunting rifle and shot dead an armed burglary suspect who broke into his family’s house in Louisiana and attacked his mother last week.

The violent home invasion unfolded at around 7,20am on June 30 in the 5800 block of Winchester Lane near Clinton, according to a news release from the East Feliciana Parish Sheriff’s Office.

Brad LeBlanc, 32, was armed with a pistol when he encountered the female resident outside her house that morning.

LeBlanc forced the woman inside, and a struggle ensued between them. Her son, who authorities have not named, feared for his mother’s life and shot LeBlanc with a hunting rifle, said Sheriff Jeffrey Travis.

The Vidalia man was pronounced dead at a hospital.

Good job son.

And I hope this boy gets the emothional help he needs to process what he’s done.

It was a good shoot, but I can imagine that it’s still emotionally difficult for a child to process.

Prayers for his mental health and the well-being of his family.