The outset of the pandemic in 2020 coincided with a surge in violent crime in the United States, with murder rates rising particularly dramatically. According to a lot of people with large megaphones, this crime wave continues today. The October 6, 2023 edition of Fox News' Hannity covered the "ongoing crime wave" that is "wreaking havoc across America" as a result of "the left's radical policies." Guest host Pete Hegseth declared that violent crime was "crushing cities and American lives." Two days earlier, on October 4, Fox News host Martha MacCollum declared that Americans "feel outraged and unsafe." MacCollum played a clip of an unidentified man saying, "crime is out of control in every city in America." Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy appeared on Fox News on October 2 and laid out a plan to combat "the violent crime wave across this country." (Ramaswamy wants to keep more people confined to psychiatric institutions.)
" 'The FBI’s 2022 numbers, which were collected from 13,293 law enforcement across the United States, ... does not reflect white-collar offenses like wage theft. ...Property crimes accounted for roughly $30 billion in economic losses in 2019; in contrast, a 2014 estimate by the Economic Policy Institute found that wage theft cost workers nearly $50 billion every year...' "
Gosh, Judd, it's not like the ruling class is going to report on its own crimes. Just when was the last time that happened?
Almost forgot! Congratulations! The New York Times took up Public Information's article and intensive report on Scholastic...immediately!
(I'm still amazed that a book about Bobby Kennedy! was included on the bigot button list. And, our new and wonderful new SCOTUS judge Jackson! Were books about Clarence Thomas acceptable? because he made his racial experience so successful?)
Back to our old nemesis. The almighty dollar. It's all about money.
Selling fear brings eyeballs to your channel and allows folks to be influenced by the advertisers on said station.
Now rinse and repeat all over the country. I mean it's just news. It's not like it's important or requires accuracy. So what if the FBI stats say one thing? Our viewers carefully cultivated "feelings" say something else.
And that is the heartbeat of America. Who cares about stodgy old wage-theft anyway? We want to see those Black thugs streaking thru the store stealing everything in sight again! There's a ccrime wave on ya know?
Paranoia is a form of mental illness that guantees a miserable life. Fox News is directed to promote FEAR because it sells. Well, they've been sued for lying; what about being sued for fear mongering via lying about crime statistics?
And, adding to his duplicity as former head of the law for the executive branch, Bill Barr dared to lie to the Wall Street Journal, "(Democrats) unleashed a crime wave and diminished our sense of safety on the streets." This was 2022, long after he realized he was in trouble for empowering Trump's endless lies. May he receive his due.
All we need to further our Cuckow's Nest Republican ways of governing, would be to Ramaswamy's advice and create a nation of overly medicated incarcerated in prisons and state hospitals. Zombies! The extremely unbalanced [insane and ignorant] positions of Republicans must be interestingly described to the wider public to educate the voting public not to vote for them.
Congrats on your Scholastic story being picked up by responsible mainstream media. This is journalism at its best and I’m happy to be a paid subscriber. More people should be; it’s money extraordinarily well spent.
As for crime, the real crime wave are media outlets promoting false or grossly exaggerated trends and fake narratives, so they can blame Democrats without any logic or statistical proof.
Every few nights Fox News loves to trot out its stock footage of hooded gangs ransacking stores, a phenomenon you’ve already shown accounts for a minuscule fraction of store theft.
Here in rich suburban Loudoun County VA the Republicans are using the supposed "crime wave" as their primary tool for attacking Democrats despite the fact that violent crime is all but non-existant here. And of course that crime wave excludes any mention of the seditious actions of their MAGA members or the hate crimes against religious and ethnic minorities. It's done because they have nothing positive to offer, no program for perfecting the Union.
great work on reporting truth and facts. So glad your Scholastic article is being more widely shared. Hope the truth about crime gets rebroadcast as well.
Consider: Covid, people are afraid to shop, sales drop. Some PR folks decided that they could sell the "idea" of drop insales as due to theft. CFO's decided to spend some money to place merchandise in cabinets - in part because it lacked staff in the stores and in part because the large theft story gave them an excuse to sell to their share holders. PR teams had a new focus - it is too scarey to shop, create delivery (for a fee). A win-win for C-suite. Stupid but true?
It's quite simple--cities and towns in Red states have significantly higher homicide rates than those in Blue states. Right-wing media considers the former to be "Real America" (whatever that means) so that must mean that violent crime is out of control.
Oh no...I'm starting to comprehend right-wing logic....
Thanks for covering this important issue! I commented on your previous post asking for important stories that there's a similar narrative about youth crime in Maryland and how the police and prosecutors are pushing that narrative to prevent criminal justice reform. I would be interested to see if you could report on the impact of these narratives at the local level. In Maryland it's preventing the YES Act from getting passed, what is it doing in other places?
More lies by the Republican’s because they can. Lies got them elected in the past and will get them elected again. It is far easier to control than it is to govern.
Check the archives. PI had some great successes in getting companies to change their policies and pay people what they are due, especially in regard to sick pay.
Thank you for exposing the fictions that rule our public discourse. This "crime" nonsense is so exasperating (and just another version of blame the poor for all our ills), especially when the REAL crime you expose is white collar crime, revealed at the bottom of your report like a gold nugget. And congratulations on outing Scholastic's hypocrisy!
While the MSM sometimes fails to inform accurately, it's usually due to a legit mistake or laziness, not evil intent. However, the dis-information industry, which birthed and sustains the MAGA base, routinely publishes lies, character assassinations, innuendo and conspiracy theories because it is profitable. Telling their watchers, readers and listeners that crime is rampant and getting worse means that tens of millions of voters believe it to be true. These people don't read Popular Information or pay much, if any, attention to reliable news outlets. This voter base is the force behind the ridiculous possibilty that Jim Jordan will become speaker of the "Peoples House". His republican enablers aren't afraid of Jim, they're afraid of Sean Hannity and the rest of this odious industry. We either find the courage to regulate or we will lose the Republic.
Profitability is just an excuse. The lies are really meant to divide and conquer the masses by convincing them that groups of "others," who are generally in the same boat with the audience, are the ones responsible for the audience members not having everything they want and need, and to ensure that all those, including the audience, never come anywhere close to realizing that any chance they ever possessed of a well-paying job with benefits, decently affordable health care, and a comfortable, prosperous retirement has been stolen out from under their lives in order to increase the wealth and power of the oligarchs who own the media. "Conservative" media is really about nothing more than mind control aimed at making sure the masses, especially the MAGA types, continue to willingly and eagerly act like the "House Elves" (Harry Potter) of the oligarchs.
" 'The FBI’s 2022 numbers, which were collected from 13,293 law enforcement across the United States, ... does not reflect white-collar offenses like wage theft. ...Property crimes accounted for roughly $30 billion in economic losses in 2019; in contrast, a 2014 estimate by the Economic Policy Institute found that wage theft cost workers nearly $50 billion every year...' "
Gosh, Judd, it's not like the ruling class is going to report on its own crimes. Just when was the last time that happened?
Almost forgot! Congratulations! The New York Times took up Public Information's article and intensive report on Scholastic...immediately!
(I'm still amazed that a book about Bobby Kennedy! was included on the bigot button list. And, our new and wonderful new SCOTUS judge Jackson! Were books about Clarence Thomas acceptable? because he made his racial experience so successful?)
Darlin' it's Popular Information not Public. You probably have the word grabber turned on
I keep thinking it is "Popular Information"...and it's stuck!
Back to our old nemesis. The almighty dollar. It's all about money.
Selling fear brings eyeballs to your channel and allows folks to be influenced by the advertisers on said station.
Now rinse and repeat all over the country. I mean it's just news. It's not like it's important or requires accuracy. So what if the FBI stats say one thing? Our viewers carefully cultivated "feelings" say something else.
And that is the heartbeat of America. Who cares about stodgy old wage-theft anyway? We want to see those Black thugs streaking thru the store stealing everything in sight again! There's a ccrime wave on ya know?
Get some snacks and beer and we can watch!
Paranoia is a form of mental illness that guantees a miserable life. Fox News is directed to promote FEAR because it sells. Well, they've been sued for lying; what about being sued for fear mongering via lying about crime statistics?
And, adding to his duplicity as former head of the law for the executive branch, Bill Barr dared to lie to the Wall Street Journal, "(Democrats) unleashed a crime wave and diminished our sense of safety on the streets." This was 2022, long after he realized he was in trouble for empowering Trump's endless lies. May he receive his due.
All we need to further our Cuckow's Nest Republican ways of governing, would be to Ramaswamy's advice and create a nation of overly medicated incarcerated in prisons and state hospitals. Zombies! The extremely unbalanced [insane and ignorant] positions of Republicans must be interestingly described to the wider public to educate the voting public not to vote for them.
Congrats on your Scholastic story being picked up by responsible mainstream media. This is journalism at its best and I’m happy to be a paid subscriber. More people should be; it’s money extraordinarily well spent.
As for crime, the real crime wave are media outlets promoting false or grossly exaggerated trends and fake narratives, so they can blame Democrats without any logic or statistical proof.
Every few nights Fox News loves to trot out its stock footage of hooded gangs ransacking stores, a phenomenon you’ve already shown accounts for a minuscule fraction of store theft.
Please continue your phenomenal work!
Here in rich suburban Loudoun County VA the Republicans are using the supposed "crime wave" as their primary tool for attacking Democrats despite the fact that violent crime is all but non-existant here. And of course that crime wave excludes any mention of the seditious actions of their MAGA members or the hate crimes against religious and ethnic minorities. It's done because they have nothing positive to offer, no program for perfecting the Union.
great work on reporting truth and facts. So glad your Scholastic article is being more widely shared. Hope the truth about crime gets rebroadcast as well.
Consider: Covid, people are afraid to shop, sales drop. Some PR folks decided that they could sell the "idea" of drop insales as due to theft. CFO's decided to spend some money to place merchandise in cabinets - in part because it lacked staff in the stores and in part because the large theft story gave them an excuse to sell to their share holders. PR teams had a new focus - it is too scarey to shop, create delivery (for a fee). A win-win for C-suite. Stupid but true?
It's quite simple--cities and towns in Red states have significantly higher homicide rates than those in Blue states. Right-wing media considers the former to be "Real America" (whatever that means) so that must mean that violent crime is out of control.
Oh no...I'm starting to comprehend right-wing logic....
Thanks for covering this important issue! I commented on your previous post asking for important stories that there's a similar narrative about youth crime in Maryland and how the police and prosecutors are pushing that narrative to prevent criminal justice reform. I would be interested to see if you could report on the impact of these narratives at the local level. In Maryland it's preventing the YES Act from getting passed, what is it doing in other places?
More lies by the Republican’s because they can. Lies got them elected in the past and will get them elected again. It is far easier to control than it is to govern.
Thanks for this info setting the record straight. I’ve heard a lot about the “horrible crime rate” knowing it was just hype.
I’ll be using this info.
I am so glad the New York Times has caught on to your wonderful newsletter. I always look forward to reading it.
Thanks for another illuminating article. If/when possible, would love to have you write more about “wage” theft. Thanks.
Check the archives. PI had some great successes in getting companies to change their policies and pay people what they are due, especially in regard to sick pay.
Thank you for exposing the fictions that rule our public discourse. This "crime" nonsense is so exasperating (and just another version of blame the poor for all our ills), especially when the REAL crime you expose is white collar crime, revealed at the bottom of your report like a gold nugget. And congratulations on outing Scholastic's hypocrisy!
While the MSM sometimes fails to inform accurately, it's usually due to a legit mistake or laziness, not evil intent. However, the dis-information industry, which birthed and sustains the MAGA base, routinely publishes lies, character assassinations, innuendo and conspiracy theories because it is profitable. Telling their watchers, readers and listeners that crime is rampant and getting worse means that tens of millions of voters believe it to be true. These people don't read Popular Information or pay much, if any, attention to reliable news outlets. This voter base is the force behind the ridiculous possibilty that Jim Jordan will become speaker of the "Peoples House". His republican enablers aren't afraid of Jim, they're afraid of Sean Hannity and the rest of this odious industry. We either find the courage to regulate or we will lose the Republic.
Profitability is just an excuse. The lies are really meant to divide and conquer the masses by convincing them that groups of "others," who are generally in the same boat with the audience, are the ones responsible for the audience members not having everything they want and need, and to ensure that all those, including the audience, never come anywhere close to realizing that any chance they ever possessed of a well-paying job with benefits, decently affordable health care, and a comfortable, prosperous retirement has been stolen out from under their lives in order to increase the wealth and power of the oligarchs who own the media. "Conservative" media is really about nothing more than mind control aimed at making sure the masses, especially the MAGA types, continue to willingly and eagerly act like the "House Elves" (Harry Potter) of the oligarchs.