Share this page!

Alec Karakatsanis Profile picture
Twitter logo
Jun 5 • 3 tweets • 2 min read
The lead voices the New York Times chose today as the "liberals" in charge of the Republican-financed DA recall are a *spokesperson for the real estate lobby* and a longtime AIPAC operative. nytimes.com/2022/06/05/us/…
Once again, instead of writing a story about the misinformation and police union money leading to recall campaign for being "soft on crime" when even NYT admits *crime has NOT increased* in SF, NYT writes another meandering, misleading article about public *feelings* about crime.
Finally, it's malpractice to publish such critiques and not center the scientific consensus: DA policy changes have nothing to do with poverty, homelessness, mental illness, drug use, and the "squalor" being complained about. Read more about real reasons:

• • •

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh
　

Keep Current with Alec Karakatsanis

Alec Karakatsanis Profile picture

Stay in touch and get notified when new unrolls are available from this author!

Read all threads

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

PDF

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video
  1. Follow @ThreadReaderApp to mention us!

  2. From a Twitter thread mention us with a keyword "unroll"
@threadreaderapp unroll

Practice here first or read more on our help page!

More from @equalityAlec

Alec Karakatsanis Profile picture
Jun 4
THREAD. Today, the New York Times published one of its most dishonest, biased, and dangerous pro-police articles that I have ever read. What's happening at the NYT is important, so I try my best to explain below why it’s so harmful.
The article’s thesis is that a (supposedly) recent pro-police turn by (centrist) Democrats is the result of the party organically responding to the needs of “communities of color.” nytimes.com/2022/06/03/us/…
According to the article, Democratic support of the profitable carceral bureaucracies that benefit people who own things and destroy poor communities of color is actually just party elites trying to help the most vulnerable people in our society!
Read 55 tweets
Alec Karakatsanis Profile picture
Jun 2
THREAD. One of the things that haunts me about the media's coverage of public safety is its focus on tiny, relatively insignificant tweaks to the policies of police, prosecutors, and courts instead of the root causes of social harm. A few thoughts:
Last night, I was reading articles from the 1960s and 1970s and was struck: they were nearly identical to what we see today: panic by elite media about "crime waves" and quotes from police, prosecutors, and judges about the need to roll back policies framed as too progressive.
The news at the time was relentlessly focused on Black people, poor people, and immigrants as the source of uncontrollable "crime waves." The discussions were dominated by debates about how to modify criminal policies (prosecution, police patrols, sentencing) to stop crime.
Read 10 tweets
Alec Karakatsanis Profile picture
Jun 1
THREAD. This is a thread about how self-identified “progressive” people are being bombarded by a barrage of copaganda to boost mass incarceration. I’ve never seen anything like this moment in my time tracking police unions, the media, and corporate incarceration profiteers.
I will focus this thread on one particular example: next week's attempt to recall the District Attorney in San Francisco, and the work the right-wing has done to falsely portray the recall as "progressive."
As background, that there is a right-wing campaign led by a Republican billionaire and the police union to recall the District Attorney who has significantly reduced the profitable jail industry. sfgate.com/politics/artic…
Read 18 tweets
Alec Karakatsanis Profile picture
May 31
THREAD. Two important and related scandals are happening in California. Each involves extreme right-wing policies being framed as “progressive” by the media and politicians. I try my best to explain briefly why this is important:
First, one of the most important stories you haven’t heard about is Gavin Newsom’s massive plan to expand the bureaucracy that can force people into involuntary medical treatment and eventually locked facilities. In Orwellian fashion, Newsom calls the bureaucracy “Care Courts.”
In the wake of Britney Spears’ conservatorship, many people paid attention for the first time to the extraordinary power of state court bureaucrats to take over someone’s life. Newsom is now trying to expand this kind of state power and make it more ruthlessly efficient.
Read 21 tweets
Alec Karakatsanis Profile picture
May 31
It's amazing to me that the news has virtually ignored one of the most important and robust public safety studies in recent U.S. history. Researchers have shown that more elementary school funding dramatically reduces adult arrests. nber.org/papers/w29855
One of the goals of police PR units pushing copaganda in media every day is to associate cops with crime. This is like climate science denial. Time and again, the evidence shows that things like reduced inequality, healthcare, and education are the real drivers.
You can read more here about why police and powerful interests benefit from falsely portraying police, prosecutors, and prisons (as opposed to inequality) as strongly connected with preventing social harm:
Read 4 tweets
Alec Karakatsanis Profile picture
May 29
THREAD: As cops try to spin Uvalde as one bad choice by a bad police commander from a brand new small “cowardly” police department, please remember these facts:
First, it was federal agents who tackled and handcuffed frantic parents. (Uvalde cops actually convinced feds to stop brutalizing parents.) According to Wall Street Journal, federal cops are still lying about this.
Second, I cannot say this clearly enough: the actual historical empirical evidence shows that cops in schools makes kids less safe:
Read 9 tweets

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!

This site is made by just two indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3/month or $30/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Don't want to be a Premium member but still want to support us?

Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal

Or Donate anonymously using crypto!

Ethereum

0xfe58350B80634f60Fa6Dc149a72b4DFbc17D341E copy

Bitcoin

3ATGMxNzCUFzxpMCHL5sWSt4DVtS8UqXpi copy

Thank you for your support!

Follow Us on Twitter!

:(