Big kudos to Schuba
Wednesday, Sep 27, 2023 - Posted by Rich Miller
* I chatted briefly with Sun-Times ace reporter Tina Sfondeles yesterday while the Republican congressional forum at the Chicago FOP headquarters was playing itself out. Unlike myself, Sfondeles was listening to the forum and said she hoped somebody did a fact check.
Well, her Sun-Times colleague Tom Schuba did just that yesterday and his story is definitely worth a read. A taste…
Fox News commentator Gianno Caldwell was called to testify about his brother Christian, who was shot and killed last June in Morgan Park.
But Caldwell also used the platform to offer a warning about the state abolishing cash bail last week, falsely claiming that suspects accused of second-degree murder and arson couldn’t be detained under provisions of the controversial SAFE-T Act. […]
Carlos Yanez Jr., a Chicago police officer who was wounded in a shooting that killed Officer Ella French, testified that the SAFE-T Act doesn’t live up to its “beautiful name” and actually puts crime victims in danger.
But Yanez did not mention that the bail reform law allows even people charged with misdemeanor crimes to be detained until trial – a fact praised by advocates for victims of domestic and sexual violence. […]
No one mentioned that the department’s foot chase policy was implemented as part of a federal consent decree mandating sweeping reforms, or that the vehicle pursuit policy was revised amid a mountain of settlements stemming from crashes.
Go read the whole thing.
Look, Chicago should most definitely be subjected to robust, accurate criticism. It deserves nothing less. But the city’s reporters shouldn’t amplify the nonsense.
- Roadrager - Wednesday, Sep 27, 23 @ 9:24 am:
Did Gianno Caldwell give his speech in person, or did he deliver it from Naperville while insisting he was in the city the whole time?
- Jerry - Wednesday, Sep 27, 23 @ 9:29 am:
Fox “news” is a lifestyle channel. That says it all!
- Homebody - Wednesday, Sep 27, 23 @ 9:45 am:
Ostensibly neutral, fact-focused media members still haven’t figured out decades in that just parroting back right wing talking points is not the same thing as journalism. Any media member who doesn’t acknowledge the consequences of doing this practice is actively harming public discourse on basically every meaningful topic.
- Lucky Pierre - Wednesday, Sep 27, 23 @ 9:45 am:
Totally agree Chicago and Illinois should be subject to robust, accurate criticism.
Instead dissension that highlights their failures is stifled and many politicians use absurd misdirection like blaming MAGA Republicans for Chicago’s failures
- Juice - Wednesday, Sep 27, 23 @ 9:56 am:
“But the city’s reporters shouldn’t amplify the nonsense.”
One could argue that people on the city’s payroll probably shouldn’t either.
- Mark D - Wednesday, Sep 27, 23 @ 10:06 am:
“…like blaming MAGA Republicans for Chicago’s failures”
Would you also agree that MAGA Republicans should be called out for consistently lying about the SAFE-T act and opposing any and all police reforms (e.g. the consent decree)?
- Amalia - Wednesday, Sep 27, 23 @ 10:07 am:
so good with context in the text. loved that piece when I read early am. coverage example at the highest level.
- Jocko - Wednesday, Sep 27, 23 @ 10:16 am:
==“If we continue on this path of lawlessness and a disregard for the rule of law,” he added, “we will lose our freedoms.”==
Spoken by Andy ‘Stop the Steal’ Biggs without a trace of irony.
- Steve Polite - Wednesday, Sep 27, 23 @ 10:24 am:
“falsely claiming that suspects accused of second-degree murder and arson couldn’t be detained under provisions of the controversial SAFE-T Act.”
“dissension that highlights their failures is stifled”
In the context of the Sun-Times article, is it dissension (i.e difference of opinion), lies, or ignorance?
- Steve Polite - Wednesday, Sep 27, 23 @ 10:38 am:
And who is stifling their speech? This was a public hearing. Calling someone out for making false or incorrect claims is not the same as stifling or suppressing speech.
- Gravitas - Wednesday, Sep 27, 23 @ 11:06 am:
Yesterday was not a good day for the House Judiciary Committee to hold a hearing in Chicago.
15 armed robberies were committed in the city on Tuesday, many in broad daylight.
While critics opposed to the committee hearing being held in Chicago can dismiss it as grandstanding, having so much unchecked crime occurring on the exact same day weakens their arguments. Just saying.
- Oswego Willy - Wednesday, Sep 27, 23 @ 11:12 am:
===While critics opposed to the committee hearing being held in Chicago can dismiss it as grandstanding, having so much unchecked crime occurring on the exact same day weakens their arguments. Just saying.===
It’s really to appease the lemmings that have a need to support Jordan and the other cultists. It’s a circus to the the zealots.
I point to the incessant need of - John Lopez - with his comment to discuss the Trunpkins’ take.
It’s not even catnip, it’s more addicting.
Critical thought versus religious like needs to follow religious like beliefs ain’t the same.
- Roadrager - Wednesday, Sep 27, 23 @ 11:38 am:
==Critical thought versus religious like needs to follow religious like beliefs ain’t the same.==
There is a direction this keeps pushing toward, and it’s accelerated since 2020, and even moreso in the last year. It’s people who want governance and law enforcement through vigilantism. It’s the continuous warping of the dueling fantasies of “American individualism” versus “the Socialist collective” reaching an endpoint.
To play off the ideal of “religious-like beliefs,” these folks are bouncing in their chairs wondering when we can get to Revelation already. And either their numbers are growing or they’ve just become a lot more comfortable saying it, and I don’t know how you stem that tide.
- Big Dipper - Wednesday, Sep 27, 23 @ 11:49 am:
That retired gadfly Garrido was called out for lying twice too. Dude ran for office four times and the voters rejected him each time. Take the hint.
- Amalia - Wednesday, Sep 27, 23 @ 12:45 pm:
did anyone ask Jordan about the sexual assault of wrestlers while he was a coach at OSU? 6 players say he knew. and did nothing.
- cermak_rd - Wednesday, Sep 27, 23 @ 1:50 pm:
“15 armed robberies were committed in the city on Tuesday, many in broad daylight. ”
The perps have to be arrested by the police before the SAF-T act comes into play.
- Demoralized - Wednesday, Sep 27, 23 @ 4:15 pm:
==Totally agree Chicago and Illinois should be subject to robust, accurate criticism.==
Well if accurate is your metric then you don’t qualify and neither did that “hearing.”
==use absurd misdirection==
Anybody that pays the slightest attention to your comments here knows that you are a frequent user of absurd misdirection.
- Chris - Wednesday, Sep 27, 23 @ 4:53 pm:
“dissension”
That’s an interesting (and possibly telling) word choice.
Why not just “dissent”?