Opposite Day: When Politicians Say Exactly the Opposite of What They Said

March 25, 2026 | John Kugler |
March 25, 2026 | John Kugler |

SubX.News® Street Report March 24, 2026

Something isn’t lining up in Chicago.

On the same day, there was marijuana smoking in front of police in the Loop.

Empty storefronts stretched across major corridors, and a near-deserted former “bicycle highway” in Bucktown.

City and state leaders offered condolences for the murder of Loyola University Chicago freshman Sheridan Gorman while defending the very policies critics say enabled it.

It was Opposite Day in Chicago politics.

For years, Governor JB Pritzker and Mayor Brandon Johnson framed undocumented migrants as protected constituents.

Pritzker resisted aggressive ICE enforcement, and Johnson championed sanctuary rules limiting local cooperation with federal immigration authorities.

Then Sheridan Gorman was shot and killed in Rogers Park.

The suspect, Jose Medina, is a 25-year-old undocumented Venezuelan national with a prior shoplifting arrest.

He had been in the country illegally for about three years.

He lived near Sheridan Road.
He was already known to Chicago police, the Cook County Sheriff’s office, and prosecutors.

Then the tone shifted.

Pritzker pointed to failures “beyond the borders of Illinois,” placing responsibility on the federal government and the lack of national immigration enforcement.

Johnson said his “heart aches and breaks for this family” and insisted that anyone who commits a crime “will be held accountable.”

But that wasn’t the message before.

Remember when JB said, ‘You can’t mess with my people’? …

Then he’s saying, ‘Oh, that’s not my fault.’

This isn’t just rhetorical. It’s operational.

When ICE came into town, the feds said, ‘Give us all the people.’ And they didn’t.

They refused…

Now what? We got an 18-year-old kid that got murdered by a guy that they should have gave up and they didn’t.

According to available information, Medina was known across multiple agencies.

Yet sanctuary policies allegedly limited information-sharing with federal authorities.

And the numbers are no longer moving in the direction officials claimed.

Chicago Violence Snapshot — March 24, 2026

4 dead, 5 shot — plus a 2-year-old found unresponsive and pronounced

Chicago police said investigators were questioning two people of interest after a 67-year-old man was gunned down near the United Center in broad daylight.

“There’s people going to work, walking around… a lot of families walking their kids… it’s concerning that, especially during daylight, anything can happen,” said nearby resident Mike Ramirez.

Then the rest of the city followed.

More shootings. No one in custody.

By early evening, the calls were already stacking.

A 38-year-old man was shot in the head inside a residence on South Rhodes. He was taken in critical condition and later died.

That followed a weekend pattern that never really stopped.

On Sunday, a triple shooting on South Shore left three men hit. Two didn’t make it.

Back to Tuesday, and it kept going.

Around 7:30 p.m., two females carried out an armed robbery near Garfield and Winchester. Shots fired. They fled in a red Ford Edge and were later taken into custody.

Minutes later, another robbery hit near 1208 North Wells. Bar patrons and pedestrians outside the Rabbit Hole were targeted. Offenders fled in a brown Buick SUV, last seen heading west on Fremont.

Before 10 p.m., a 2-year-old boy was found unresponsive on West Fifth Avenue. He was transported to Mt. Sinai Hospital and pronounced.

Later in the night, a 19-year-old male was shot in the foot while entering a vehicle on South Halsted. A 22-year-old female passenger was also shot. Both survived.

Then just before midnight, two men were shot by a group on 79th and Calumet. A 37-year-old was pronounced on scene. A 44-year-old later died at the hospital.

Two days earlier, in the same area, three men were shot. Two didn’t make it.

Shortly after 1:26 a.m., two men were stabbed on a CTA Red Line train near 47th Street during an altercation. Both suffered neck wounds and were transported in fair condition.

CTA violence and overdoses are every day now.

Stolen cars moving block to block.

Same calls.
Same pattern.
Same blood. All day.

What began 2026 as a sharp drop in violence has reversed.

By Week 12, murders had swung dramatically—erasing what was once a 71 percent decline and pushing levels back toward last year. A 66 percent shift in trajectory.

That’s a bad thing. We’re accelerating in crime in Chicago.

Shootings are now hovering at the zero line year-to-date. No longer clearly declining.

The early narrative of falling crime has flattened. Now it’s starting to turn.

On paper, the city still talks about historic reductions.

On the street, it doesn’t look like it.

Driving Milwaukee Avenue on a clear 55-degree afternoon, a corridor once packed with cyclists sat nearly empty.

What was promoted as a model of urban vitality now feels thinned out. Quieter. Less used.

This was the bicycle highway…

How many bicyclists have you seen? … You see zero.

At the same time, people were openly smoking marijuana in front of downtown police officers—visible, casual, and unchallenged.

That’s how it works in our city.

The disconnect sharpens at the Congress Theater.

City records show nearly $88 million in tax incentives and public funding tied to the site.

A graffitied, partially boarded structure that appears largely unchanged at street level, with no clear sign of active transformation.

Brandon gave close to $100 million to the Congress Theater, and it’s not even fixed…

Where did that $88 million go?

That’s our money.

Step back from that one building and the pattern repeats.

Closed businesses.
Empty storefronts.
Open parking where it used to be full.

On paper, it’s investment.
On the street, it looks like contraction.

The same gap shows up in the response to Sheridan Gorman’s murder—sympathy delivered publicly, while responsibility shifts elsewhere.

Leadership that once claimed control now points outward.

Policies defended for years are now disconnected from their outcomes.

So the question becomes unavoidable:

Are we witnessing real change?

Or just politicians saying the opposite of what they said before?

The data is moving.
The streets are visible.
They don’t match.

Residents will decide which one they believe.

Image: the Congress Theater in Logan Square. Despite nearly $88 million in city tax breaks and funding under Mayor Brandon Johnson, the historic building remains heavily graffitied and boarded up. March 24, 2026. Screen grab SubX.News® live video.

Editor’s Note: This report is based on a live feed video drive on March 24, 2026, covering Streeterville, Michigan Ave, State Street, Lake Street, West Loop, Wicker Park, Bucktown, Logan Square, Wilbur Wright College, Harlem Irving Plaza, live broadcast radio, police traffic, and independent scanner feeds: https://youtu.be/GKfb90FZda8

Chicago Crime Data Observations: Week 1 vs. Week 12
https://x.com/SubxNews/status/20365389792276727

thought these guys were going to get some treatment instead of trauma 428 pm https://youtube.com/shorts/fjThhfQ3I6Y

They Built it and Chased Everyone Away 510pm March 24 2026 https://youtu.be/QRRPf4D-boY

Chicago economy crime and migrant update part 2 700pm March 24th https://youtu.be/Vv-Heyf-XM4

Pritzker acknowledges ‘failures’ in Sheridan Gorman’s killing, Republican blame sanctuary laws Mar 24, 2026 https://youtu.be/O6KUeiQ2VeI

Chicago Police Department
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