Chicago passes 500 homicides for the year, could global warming be to blame?

By Catholic Online (NEWS CONSORTIUM)
12/28/2012
Catholic Online (www.catholic.org)

Seriously?

Chicago has reached a grim milestone, 500 murders in the city within one year. The city almost missed the mark, however murders on Thursday night and Friday morning closed the gap just three days before the new year.

More people have been murdered in Chicago this year than have died from combat in Afghanistan.

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CHICAGO, IL (Catholic Online) - Chicago has long been plagued by economic depression, organized crime, and other related ills that make the homicide rate so high. Not to mention the sheer population of the city which is just over 2.7 million souls.

Tragically, domestic violence claimed the life of Nathaniel T. Jackson, 40, as he was shot to death outside an Austin neighborhood store.

Could global warming be to blame?

For 2012, Chicago homicides are up 17 percent over 2011. The prevailing theory is that unseasonably warm weather in the early part of the year led to a spike in the murder rate. In fact, during the first three months of the year, the Chicago murder rate was 60 percent higher than it was for the same period in 2011.

The 500 milestone is a dreaded number and does nothing to build the reputation of a city struggling to revitalize after years of recession.

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Pope Benedict XVI's Prayer Intentions for January 2013
General Intention: The Faith of Christians. That in this Year of Faith Christians may deepen their knowledge of the mystery of Christ and witness joyfully to the gift of faith in him.
Missionary Intention: Middle Eastern Christians. That the Christian communities of the Middle East, often discriminated against, may receive from the Holy Spirit the strength of fidelity and perseverance.

Keywords: global warming, murder rate, Chicago

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1 - 9 of 9 Comments

timothy canezaro
4 months ago
This article is offending to any rational person. It for sure is not standing on any Catholic position. Who wrote this again? Is this representative material of this website? Interesting how no author's name was attached to this piece. Must be representative of the people behing this websites thinking. Should be taken down out of respect to the 500 dead in Chicago.
BobisCold
4 months ago
May God forgive you for your stupidity and this idiotic article? Once your sanity is restored may you grasp the concept of freewill and personal responsibility.
Roseann Graham
4 months ago
I read that having "everyone at everyone else's throats" and the resulting mayhem in the streets, is part of the plans of the New World Order to take over the US. Citizens will live in mass confusion, then the "saviors of the NWO will come in and restore order. Strange? Why did Obama's minion, Rahm Emmanuel so easily win the Chicago election. He is a horrible person. Much is going on behind the scenes that is deliberately kept from public view. Pray the Rosary daily. Happy New Year!
Kevin
4 months ago
I *think* the global warming part is in reference to a study that shows murder rate is correlated with air temperature. As it gets warmer, the murder rate increases (because more people are out & about, etc.). So if global warming is real, it could make sense that the murder rate would increase (but to say that it is *caused* by global warming would be unfounded, for correlation does not imply causation). And yeah, so much for being one of the strictest firearm locations in the country.
jon stensrud
4 months ago
Global warming? You can't be serious. That has got to be the absolute most outlandish excuse for violance I have heard to date. Be sure to completly dismiss the utter lack of a criminals fear that a targeted victim's ability to defend themselves in any meaningful way. Or the legal authorities choice to not prosecute violent offenders to the fullest extent of the law. But forget my opinion it is drenched in common sence and rational thought.
Lance miller
4 months ago
So much for gun control working!!!!
Jj
4 months ago
Is this article from The Onion? Could global warming be to blame? Absolutely hilarious! Must have be conceived by someone who attended a Jesuit-run school. Can't explain that thought process any other way.
From the Heartland
4 months ago
I fail to see the connection between the news story on WGN about 500 murders and the comment in the article questioning if this was related to global warming. Talk about conspiracy theories! That's totally absurd! A tie in with a culture of violence, shoot-em-up video games, gangs, etc., would be much more appropriate.
timothy canezaro
4 months ago
Love the title of this piece although it is lacking in depth and scope. What goes unsaid is that often these murders are being committed by our youth. Violence perpetrated by youth is a breakdown of society. The other part of this that often gets overlooked in news blurbs is that the victims of the bullets are innocent children that get caught inthe crossfire. This summer, a 6 year old girl was selling lemonade at a stand in front of her gramma's house only to catch a stray bullet and die. Or the infant girl asleep in her bed in her home when a bullet from outside came through the wall and took her Innocent Life. So so many stories like this...mentioned and forgotten. On this Feast day of the Holy Innocents, let us remember all the victims of violence in Chicago over the last year. 500 dead. Many innocent children caught in the wrong place.
Are these kids turned killers the product of broken homes, abuse in childhood, are our schools failing us, or perhaps its the lack of real opportuinity for those most vulnerable in our city. Hard to point to any one thing but it is so important that we as catholics start taking our concerns into the public square and having honest, open, good will conversations with people

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