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Jan 22 • 22 tweets • 8 min read
THREAD: This is what happens when reporters push past propaganda & report on truth. Chicago Tribune just exposed Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot. For lying about pretrial reform. The lies are calculated to scare her city into undermining reform. Here's how: chicagotribune.com/news/criminal-…
Chicago Mayor Lightfoot has a history of lies on justice. These most recent were in a letter to Chicago's Chief Judge. Demanded he deny electric monitoring for thousands. Chief Judge: "It's unconstitutional." Tribune: Letter's full of misleading lies. More:chicago.suntimes.com/2022/1/4/22867…
Chicago Tribune--not traditionally known for nuanced reporting on crime/justice is loud & clear: “[M]any of the claims & statistics in [Lightfoot’s] letter & repeated at a press conference earlier this month are misleading — & some are simply inaccurate.”

Here are some of them:
Chicago Mayor Lightfoot lies: 15 people on electronic monitoring ("EM") were arrested & charged w/ murder last yr!

Fact: “In at least 5 of those cases, homicides occurred before they were on an ankle bracelet,” & “in at least 1 case, defendant was not charged w/ murder at all.”
Chicago Mayor Lightfoot & Police Chief: “7-year-old Jaslyn Adams was killed by someone on EM."

Fact: Tribune “found no evidence” that any of the three men charged with her murder were on an ankle bracelet at the time she was shot.

A brazen lie. They weaponized a childs murder.
Chicago Mayor Lightfoot Lies: 90 people accused of murder were on EM!

Tribune: “The number, as it turns out, is incorrect. Of 95 murder cases in a list provided to the Tribune by the sheriff, at least 45 were mislabeled.”

Either outrageous incompetence. Or intentional lies.
It gets worse. Once Lightfoot’s lies were exposed for all to see, did she backtrack or apologize? Did Police Superintendent Brown? No. No one did.

“When asked by the Tribune, neither city nor police officials explained the discrepancy.”

Sound familiar?newyork.cbslocal.com/2021/10/14/bai…
These are consequential lies. If Chicago's Chief Judge granted Lightfoot’s demand based on them, 1000s more Chicagoans – disproportionately Black & brown – would be caged. Separated from jobs, schools, families.

That is not a solution. That is more harm, separation, & pain.
I’d like to think the problem is that lies are rarely exposed. But the real problem: Even once they are, politicians arent held to account.

Mayor Lightfoot can't be trusted. She outright lied. So did her police chief. Leaders have been getting away w/ this for long enough.
This is far from the first time Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot has lied, misled, or in other ways tried to undermine progress, health, & safety. Lying about reforms causing violence when 99.8% of those released don't get rearrested for a new gun crime.
Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot pretended to care about "police reform" after video of Anjanette Young's police abuse surfaced. Yet her legal department fought in court to keep this footage hidden. Threatened the victim’s lawyer w/ sanctions.
READ: Email from Chicago Mayor Lightfoot. April 2020. Day after first person in Chicago jail died of COVID. Shackled hospital bed. No PPE. Symptomatic caged w/ asymptomatic. Coughing on eachother. Calls them "violent offenders." Plots to block releases.
Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot supported Sheriff Tom Dart in letting the jail population explode. Cassandra called 132 times to try to save her husband back in April 2020. Ignored. He died. Been fighting ever since for others. Now not just ignored. Spited.
Lori Lightfoot claimed she recognized the dangers of overpolicing: After the police killing of George Floyd, instead of listening, Lightfoot imposed a curfew, leading to hundreds being arrested peacefully protesting. 75% of those arrested were Black.chicago.suntimes.com/2020/5/30/2127…
After video of Adam Toledo's murder by Chicago police surfaced, Mayor Lightfoot urged "calm." Said police violence would be upsetting. This after demeaning "defund" movement as a "nice hashtag," fought bail reform, & backed militarized response to protests.
Even more outrageous than Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot's unfounded lying about connection between crime & bail reform:

She was caught in exposed emails ignoring pleas from her staff that making such connections were unfounded lies.chicago.suntimes.com/city-hall/2021…
There’s a deeper history here. A history that explains the kind of state cruelty and violence Mayor Lori Lightfoot is continuing to fearmonger for. Chicago police murdered 17 year old Laquan McDonald and then lied about it until dash cam footage outed them.chicagoreporter.com/how-chicago-tr…
State violence, like the mass caging of predominately Black & brown people Mayor Lori Lightfoot is fearmongering for, is nothing new. For years, Chicago police literally tortured people to force confessions or falsely incriminations of co-defendants.theatlantic.com/politics/archi…
RACISM: The Department of Justice concluded that Chicago police had long “violated the constitutional rights of residents for years, permitting racial bias against blacks, using excessive force and shooting people who did not pose immediate threats.”theroot.com/feds-confirm-t…
For more on the truth about people released instead of caged in horrific conditions in Chicago you must follow
@endmoneybond now.
For more on the truth about people released instead of caged in horrific conditions in Chicago you must follow
@CookCoDefender now.
For more on the truth about people released instead of caged in horrific conditions in Chicago you must follow
new Chief Public Defender, @SharoneMitchJr now.

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More from @ScottHech

Scott Hechinger Profile picture
Jan 23
THREAD: As more details emerge about NYPD officer Jason Rivera's tragic death, I'm thinking about whether police were the right ones to respond at all. A verbal argument between mom/son over food. What if mom had a different option than to call 911? More:nytimes.com/2022/01/22/nyr…
I'm thinking about Officer Rivera. Dead far too young. It wasn't his fault he was there. It was his "duty" under current system. 911 called. He was deployed. But why did he have to be there at all? If we allow ourselves to imagine different, perhaps no one would've been harmed.
The man who allegedly shot Officer Rivera had moved in to take care of his mom. After heart surgery. They argued a lot. Unclear whether different from other moms/sons living together. On this night, like others, they were arguing. About food (turns out he was a vegan she wasn't).
Read 24 tweets
Scott Hechinger Profile picture
Jan 23
How fear spreads. In the midst of a misinformation campaign by police/prosecutors, this headline makes it sound like bail is to blame. Reality: Judges set over $100,000 bail on violent felony charges which weren’t close to being covered by bail reform. Image
It also appears as though the prosecution had yet to officially charge the underlying cases by securing an indictment or presenting sufficient evidence before grand jury. Both open cases appeared to be on track for dismissal.
Bail reform in NY represents exceptionally modest, commonsense change that only affects misdemeanors and non-violent felonies. If you’re charged w/ a violent felony, judges still maintain all their power to cage you on Rikers Island or other horrific, dangerous NY jails.
Read 5 tweets
Scott Hechinger Profile picture
Jan 17
THREAD: This is a story about how police are frontline propagandists. It starts with a violent robbery at a men’s clothing store in Manhattan. It ends w/ NYPD responding, but refusing to investigate. Then lying that no one would face any consequences bc of “reform.” Read on:
A few weeks ago, a men's clothing store in Manhattan was victimized by numerous young men who, according the owners, stole $20,000 of merchandise. And worse: punched a 61 year old employee in the face. It was the second time the store had suffered similar theft recently.
The owners called NYPD both times. Both times NYPD came after the young men had left. The second time, however, one of the young men left his cell phone behind. Even apparently called it to retrieve it. The holy grail of evidence. A way for cops to catch them, right? Wrong.
Read 43 tweets
Scott Hechinger Profile picture
Jan 16
The efforts by so-called “progressive” leaders from LA, SF, Chicago, & NYC to kill bail reform & expand policing is not about “public safety.” Best case it’s political pandering to police lies & propaganda. Worst: It’s to unnecessarily cage hundreds of thousands more people.
Chicago Tribune: Mayor Lori Lightfoot has brazenly lied to Chicagoans to cage more Black people. She cant be trusted. chicagotribune.com/news/criminal-…
LA Mayor Eric Garcetti—like “progressive” mayors in SF, NYC, & Chicago—has chosen to support the coordinated lie campaign by police against even modest changes *that are working* instead of telling residents the truth, standing proudly behind good policy.latimes.com/opinion/story/…
Read 5 tweets
Scott Hechinger Profile picture
Jan 14
Absolutely appalling. A sick, ailing man just had a pig's heart transplant. Historic moment for science. New potential for his life. The @nytimes dedicates an entire article to expose-in detail- a *34 years old* crime of his & question whether he deserves to live. Appalling.
The @nytimes actually harassed the man's son--a young child at time of crime--for comment. “I do not wish to speak about my father’s past. My intent is to focus on the groundbreaking surgery & my father’s wish to contribute to the science & potentially save lives in the future."
Last week, this man--David Bennett Sr--put his life on the line for science. To give life to people in the future who may need a transplant. And the @nytimes won't let him or his family have peace or move beyond a crime he committed 34 years ago. I'm so upset. It's beyond words.
Read 4 tweets
Scott Hechinger Profile picture
Jan 8
Thread: As Eric Adams promises to flood NYC w/ even more cops, know this: The NYPD *orchestrated an attack* on 100s of protestors in June 2020 in the Bronx. Used the curfew to trap, assault & arrest. Mass human rights atrocity. NYPD called it “restraint.”hrw.org/news/2020/09/3…
Human Rights Watch (@hrw) conducted an investigation. Based on videos, mapping tech, hundreds of interviews. Found NYPD planned a coordinated assault. Trapped them 10 minutes before curfew to justify attacking them for being out past curfew. All on film.
"About 10 minutes before curfew scores of NYPD surrounded & trapped protesters–tactic called “kettling”–as they marched peacefully. W/o warning, they moved in, wielding batons, beating people from car tops, shoving, firing pepper spray into faces before arresting more than 250."
Read 25 tweets

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