The numbers don't add up
“Statistics are like bikinis. What they reveal is suggestive, but what they conceal is vital.” Aaron Levenstein, Baruch College professor.
So true.
It is said that journalism is the first draft of history. If that’s correct, then future historians researching Chicago are in trouble.
Early on the morning after Memorial Day, Chicago Police officials announced there were no homicides over the just-concluded holiday weekend. The local media, operating with the lack of morals and dishonesty of a sleazy PR phony, with Mayor Brandon Johnson cheering them on, immediately parroted the news.
Except there was a homicide. At least one. On Memorial Day morning, a 47-year-old man was stabbed to death in Greater Grand Crossing on the South Side. Chicago Police officers were on the scene that day — and the victim was immediately declared dead.
CPD brass very likely knew about the stabbing death. But they wanted to rush the news out -- perhaps at the urging of Johnson — so the “no homicides” headline would dominate the post-holiday news cycle.
But perhaps there were two homicides. Because also on Memorial Day, around the same time as the South Side stabbing, a gunshot victim was discovered in a car in East Garfield Park on the West Side. As of this writing, the death has not been officially classified. A gun was found inside the vehicle, so it’s possible it is currently being viewed as a suspected suicide.
This year wasn’t so great
For perspective, in 2025 it was reported there were three homicides over that year's Memorial Day Weekend, with 21 others wounded by gunfire.
But the most recent Memorial Day weekend, with its one homicide — or perhaps two — doesn’t offer good news after all. That’s because 38 people — 17 more than last year -- were wounded by gunfire.
On the flipside, there actually may be some good news that everyone can celebrate. Perhaps more people are surviving gunshot wounds because the skills of Chicago’s first responder crews continue to improve — and area hospital emergency rooms are becoming more proficient at treating the victims of violent attacks.
The wrong draft of history
Back in the day — 10 years ago or so — online stories that didn’t get the facts right the first time were usually dutifully edited with a clarification at the end of it, something along the lines of, “Since we first published this story, additional information has been received.” Not anymore.
As for social media? Rarely, short of the infrequent use of the “community notes” feature, are false stories corrected.
And that means the “first draft of history” is often inaccurate. And a historian many years from now sitting at his computer researching what will hopefully be the final year of Johnson’s mayoralty might wrongly conclude that Memorial Day weekend in 2026 was a bright spot for him -- no homicides.
Which means the second draft of history will be inaccurate too.
Since then, the Memorial Day weekend narrative has been tweaked by a couple of media outlets.
They are now reporting that there were no shooting homicides over that time.
The media is quite aware that many, perhaps most of its consumers, are only paying attention halfway. They read or hear no…homicides.
Sneaky, very sneaky. But effective.
Cleared does not mean charged or solved
The indispensable news site, CWB Chicago, is an antidote to such misinformation, and it has long been persistent in exposing misleading statistics emerging from the CPD.
For instance, it blew the whistle on Mayor Brandon’s recent claim about murders, based on Chicago Police statistics, that the “CPD’s clearance rate has reached 75 percent.”
The casual consumer of news — as well as even some mainstream media reporters — might interpret that “clearance” of homicide cases means “solved.” Or at least it means the suspected criminals are being prosecuted. It absolutely does not.
CWB Chicago explains:
“In recent years, the CPD has increasingly leaned on its rapidly improving murder clearance rate as a sign of progress. But a 75 percent clearance rate does not mean that charges have been filed in 75 percent of murder cases. That is not how the number is calculated."
Under long-standing federal reporting guidelines, a homicide is considered “cleared” in one of two ways. The first is by arrest, when a suspect is charged. The second, far more common method in Chicago, is through an “exceptional clearance.” That’s when detectives believe they have identified the killer, but cannot bring charges, either because the suspect is dead or prosecutors decline to approve the case.
Two years earlier, CWB Chicago reported on the clearance canard by reporting that some of those cleared cases were quite old, a couple of them even dated back to the 1970s.
Lazy media
And the mainstream media rarely reports this spin job even though, in most of these cleared murder cases, no one was ever charged.
A free press, meaning of course, all forms of media being free, is essential for a functioning and flourishing democracy. But so is a skeptical media, one that not only exposes corruption, but also excoriates dishonest government officials. On the latter particularly, there is no shortage of material for Chicago journalists to work with daily.
Next month another holiday, Independence Day, arrives. The Fourth of July period is typically the bloodiest time of the year in the city. However, Chicago officials will certainly find ways to report, and yes, conceal, like the bikini example provided by Professor Levenstein, the homicide and shooting statistics. Only the Independence Day weekend won’t be so long for many people because July 4th is on a Saturday this year. Yes, the day before is a federal and state holiday, but many private sector employees will be working on the 3rd.
And that means there’s a good chance, only because of the way the calendar falls into place this year, that there will be favorable news regarding Independence Day weekend violent crime for the CPD — and Chicago’s spineless and lazy media — to boast about on the following Monday.
If you are skeptical of the regular assurances that violent crime is down in Chicago, you have good reason to be.
According to HeyJackass.com, there have been more shootings and homicides in Chicago so far this year at this point than in 2025.
Thank God for alternative media.
