Battery? Maybe. But felony? Aggravated?

A step-by-step look at a high-profile schoolyard incident

11-21-2023 (issue No. 115)

There will be no Picayune Plus this week, as I’m posting the regular issue on Tuesday instead of Thursday because I didn’t want readers to be torn between spending time with their families and spending time reading the Picayune Sentinel!-

This is a good time to remind you of two things:

1. Many paying subscribers are coming up on their automatic renewal dates because the support program launched in early December two years ago. I have very little control over how the subscription interface works, but in the interest of extra transparency, I want to give you that heads-up (and urge those of you who have changed credit cards in the last year and are willing to continue supporting this publication to update your information.)

2. A subscription to the Picayune Sentinel is an excellent holiday gift! Thoughtful, personal, just the right size and color. And gift subscriptions do not automatically renew. Note that the cost is still what it was two years ago — the lowest that Substack allows me to charge — even though the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ inflation calculator says

*Updated image

This week:

• Special note to subscribers

• Last week’s winning tweet

• Let’s go to the video: Felony aggravated battery or just a nasty shove?

• News and Views — On vanishing newspapers and Michigan’s sign-stealing scandal

• Land of Linkin’ — Where I tell readers where to go

• Squaring up the news — Where Charlie Meyerson tells readers where to go

• Zmail

• “Songs of Good Cheer” update

• “The Mincing Rascals” podcast preview

• Word Watch — On “critical condition” and “aging”

• Quotables

• Re:Tweets — The best visual, regular and “dad” tweets of the week

• Tune of the Week — “We Gather Together”

Mary Schmich is traveling for the holidays, but she will return!

Last week’s winning tweet

I’m at the age where I see a huge, beautiful mansion in a movie and think, “How much does it cost to heat that house in the winter?”— @RodLacroix

Here are this week’s nominees as well as Dad Tweets nominees and the visual tweets poll. Here is the direct link to the new poll. And here is the link to the Dad tweets poll.

Let’s go to the video: Felony aggravated battery or just a nasty shove?

Chicago police Officer Craig Lancaster, 55, has been charged with felony aggravated battery for striking 14-year-old JaQuwaun Williams May 18 as the boy walked into Gresham Elementary School on the South Side. The Tribune has been reporting on the incident and obtained surveillance video.

I looked at it moment by moment in a recent Twitter thread, starting with this image in which you see JaQuwaun, wearing a green backpack, approaching Lancaster, in the dark blue, who was at the school visiting math teacher Yana Cruz. Take note of the girl in the light blue shirt, top left.

In this frame, the girl has turned to look at JaQuwaun and Cruz has taken a step back, as though sensing trouble.

As Lancaster leaves the area, he appears to briefly stare down JaQuwaun. He claims c Lancaster threatened to “beat the shit” out of him.

Illinois law on felony aggravated battery seems intended to apply to sustained attacks that cause great bodily harm, but it specifies that any battery can be deemed "aggravated" if it takes place in a public place. The Tribune reports that “courts have previously ruled that schools qualify as public property because they are taxpayer funded and accessible to some members of the public.”

Chicago attorney Tim Grace told the Tribune in October (that Lancaster, his client) “acted in a manner to protect the children and staff from a student who clearly was a threat to all present. He was acting within the scope of his duties as a law enforcement officer and acted in a manner that is consistent with the rules of the Chicago Police Department and laws of the state of Illinois.”

Clearly a threat to all present? The images — there is no sound on the recording — do not suggest that. Lancaster reportedly told investigators he heard JaQuwaun making “belligerent remarks aimed at the teacher.”

According to city records, Lancaster also has faced nearly 30 allegations of misconduct during a 20-year span. The majority were use-of-force complaints, including in 2004 and 2006 when suspects in separate incidents accused him of grabbing them by their neck or throat.

Police review agencies cleared the officer in both of those cases — the latter of which also occurred on Chicago school property, according to records obtained by the Tribune.

Under the CPD’s accountability system, only three of the nearly 30 allegations against him were sustained.

JaQuwaun, whose family is suing the city of Chicago for “instilling a sense of impunity among the police ranks by failing to investigate and punish misconduct over the incident,” told the Tribune that just prior to the attack he was simply muttering under his breath about a disputed foul during a just-concluded schoolyard basketball game.

Just muttering to himself? The images — specifically the reactions of the bystanders — don’t suggest that, either. But JaQuwaun’s allegedly “belligerent remarks” would have to be awfully threatening — not merely insulting or disrespectful — to justify striking him, and his body language doesn’t suggest he was posing an actual threat to anyone.

Jordan Marsh, the family attorney, told the Tribune that Lancaster needs to be “held to account criminally for what he’s done not only to JaQuwaun but all the other kids who witnessed and formed opinions about police officers. When something like this happens, there’s not just one victim. Once something like this happens in a community, it enters into their calculus about whether to trust police, whether to believe police.”

To me, it looks like much ado about not a whole lot — a mouthy kid getting crosswise with a hotheaded adult, resulting in one shove, no injuries and allegedly some threatening words. Battery, OK. But felony aggravated battery?

To you it may look very different. I invite subscribers to offer their views in comments — which I’m opening up this week to everyone.

News & Views

News: The nation has lost one-third of its newspapers and two-thirds of its newspaper journalists since 2005.

View: Uh-oh. The Picayune Sentinel is a big booster of online-only journalism and considers it an essential element of the media ecosystem. But this publication also recognizes that newspapers still are the most important part of that ecosystem, the outlets that have the resources and the reach to best amplify important stories and hold scoundrels’ feet to the fire. When they die, a little bit of the armor that protects you as a citizen flakes away.

An average of 2.5 newspapers closed each week in 2023 compared to two a week the previous year, a reflection of an ever-worsening advertising climate, according to a Northwestern University study. (Associated Press)

Axios summarizes the findings:

• Seven percent of all U.S. counties, are at high risk of losing their last remaining local news outlet. …

• The footprint for alternative local news outlets is tiny and they are mostly clustered around metro areas that already have some local coverage. …

• State and federal lawmakers are considering a wide array of regulatory solutions — everything from news vouchers to tax credits.

News: The University of Michigan football program last weekend became the first at the college or pro level to celebrate 1,000 total victories.

View: Go Blue! But the guess here is that the festivities will come to be seen as the practice celebration for when Michigan once again reaches the 1,000-victory mark after the NCAA nullifies a bunch of their wins in the wake of the sign-stealing scandal.

The alleged scheme in which (accused former staffer Connor) Stalions operated has been described as an elaborate, multiyear system in which he bought tickets to games involving future Michigan opponents and then had associates — as many as 65, per the NCAA’s investigation — attend games to video a team’s play-call signals.

It’s possible that head coach Jim Harbaugh — who is two games into a three-game suspension by the Big Ten based on the allegations — didn’t know about this flagrant violation of the rules. But if his underlings nevertheless took advantage of the scheme to gain an unfair advantage against opponents, subtracting those victories may well be the appropriate sanction.

Land of Linkin’

• New this week: Order four free COVID-19 home tests through the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services by clicking here. Making such tests cheaper or generally free would be good way to fight the ominous resurgence of COVID-19.

• “Whole new ballgame: MLB's new rules changed everything” (The Athletic). “Rule Change Baseball. It has brought us back much of what we love most about this sport. … Does the pitch clock work? In truth, it’s hard to think of any rule change in recent memory that accomplished exactly what it was designed to accomplish as well as this one did.”

• “How Did ‘Gross’ Become a Term of Disgust?” (Mental Floss). “We got it from French, where it means ‘big, thick, coarse.’ It took on a variety of senses in English related to size, including ‘coarse’ (gross grains as opposed to fine), ‘strikingly obvious’ (‘grosse as a mountaine,’ as Shakespeare put it in Henry IV, Part 1), and ‘whole’ (gross as opposed to net value).”

• “U.S. plumber bracing for 'Brown Friday' after Thanksgiving.” (UPI) “"Often, the case is that a house already has partially clogged drains that go unnoticed, until holiday guests arrive and overwhelm the system,’ company spokesman Paul Abrams said on Roto-Rooter's website. ‘Even more problematic is that virtually every traditional Thanksgiving dish is a drain clogging culprit.’”

• Kurt Vonnegut’s eight rules of writing.

• “Google Plans to Delete Millions of Abandoned Gmail Accounts Soon” (PC) “Starting on Dec. 1, the company will start deleting accounts that have been inactive for at least two years.”

Squaring up the news

This is a bonus supplement to the Land of Linkin’ from veteran radio, internet and newspaper journalist Charlie Meyerson. Each week, he offers a selection of intriguing links from his daily email news briefing Chicago Public Square:

■ A lawyer for one of Donald Trump’s Georgia acolytes has admitted he leaked damning footage of Trump’s formerly loyal lawyers essentially confessing.

■ Media writer Tom Jones is “truly stunned, flabbergasted, whatever the strongest word is for ‘I can’t actually believe she said that!’” by Amazon Prime and Fox Sports anchor Charissa Thompson’s confession that she just made shit up for her sideline reports.

■ Jones hails—and warns sensitive readers about—the Washington Post’s report detailing the horror of mass shootings enabled by the AR-15: “Further than any mainstream news organization has ever gone.” (See it here in a gift link, courtesy of Chicago Public Square supporters.)

■ The Conversation: Hamas isn’t the first military group to wage war while hiding behind civilians.

■ Your Local Epidemiologist Katelyn Jetelina updates the state of RSV, COVID and flu infections across the nation: “We are officially in full-on epidemic mode.”

■ Consumer Reports lists the best early Black Friday deals.

Charlie is taking the week off, but you can (and should) subscribe to Chicago Public Square free here.

Notes and comments from readers — lightly edited — along with my responses

Neil Steinberg responded on Facebook to my call for Chicago newspapers to bring aboard a new generation of columnists in which I pointed out that when Steinberg referred to himself as “among the last regular columnists for a daily newspaper in Chicago,” it was an understatement. He is the only remaining classic general interest local news columnist — one who writes three or more times a week about a wide range of topics — in the major dailies.

The "among" was a cover-our-ass dodge my editor inserted and I let through —I didn't want to get in a pissing match with some other columnist at the Daily Herald I'd overlooked. While I appreciate the love, I'm uncertain about your suggestion we need to get more in there. It isn't that I don't want the competition. I'll be hanging up my spurs sooner than later. It's just that kind of columnist isn't a "thing" anymore, as the kids say. There aren't any coming up. Nobody wants to be a columnist. And that's the central requirement. You have to really , really want to do it. Otherwise, what would be the point?

Zorn — And yet I sense that many young journalists are interested in reporting and commentary with an edge; that they question the idea of objectivity and feel the role of the writer is not to present facts down the middle, but to have a point of view that can verge into advocacy. And that the lack of columnist voices heightens that sense that publications should promote positive ideas. But I’d like to hear from some young journalists — is this what any of them aspire to?

Patrick P. — "You wrote that the “Invest in Kids program directed state income tax dollars directly to private and parochial schools."

That is patently false. You should know better. The tax credit (which, by the way isn't the state's money) "cost" the general revenue fund about $75 million out of roughly $50 billion. The state is spending $3.7 billion on K-12. That $75 million isn't going to magically make kids read or spell. 

And no tax dollars are directed anywhere. There's no voucher system and the government isn't paying for anything. You're parroting teachers union talking points which are simply not telling the truth. 

Zorn — A tax credit is a dollar-for-dollar reduction of the money you owe to the state. That’s the state’s money. The effect of the program is (or was) to let you direct the taxes you owe to a certain cause or program. It’s a back door form of voucherizing/privatizing education. Which I take it you’re for. And fair enough. But my description is not wrong or dishonest. 

Bob E. — We've disagreed on the Invest in Kids program. but, now that the IL legislature has failed to renew the program, you're right: Those who support the concept need to open their wallets and fund the charter schools that educate those kids - and that's what i'm going to do.

Zorn — Tip of the cap.

David L. — National polling shows that Trump has a higher approval rating — 42% — than Biden — 37% — and that Trump is leading Biden in a head-to-head matchup for president in the majority of polls.

So despite the fact that Trump is under multiple criminal indictments and is presently sitting in trial, and that he continues his imbecilic comments and tweets and boorish behavior, the majority of American people would still prefer him over Biden for president next year. Does this not cause you to take a step back and considerate how deeply unpopular Biden and Democrat policies are? If not, then I challenge you to explain why the numbers are where they are today.

Zorn — Trump's average approval rating was 41%, Biden’s average is 44% per Gallup. I don’t deny that the public is in a typically surly mood and for some reason is far, far more concerned about Biden’s advanced age than Trump’s. And there is a huge appetite out there for demagogues who promise simple solutions to all the problems of the world. Trump played those people for suckers and fools in 2016, and his supporters remain slack-jawed in belief of him. What policies of Biden have a plurality — not majority — of people backing Trump? Immigration? LGBTQ rights? Pronouns and wokeness and “cancel culture"? And because they’re sore about that, they’ll back a dangerous traitor and compulsive liar?

Joanie W. — What are these Biden and Democratic “policies” that you claim are deeply unpopular? Inflation has been reduced from 9.1% in June of 2022 to 3.2% today. GDP growth last quarter, at an annual rate, was 4.9%, whereas GDP growth averaged 0.95% during Trump’s term of office. Unemployment is low at 3.9%. Bidenomics is working. The Immigration and Naturalization Act hasn’t been amended since 2004, and the Biden administration is enforcing the Act. I get it that Biden has an overall welcoming attitude to all Americans, including gay, lesbian, and transgender Americans, Muslim Americans, independent women, and people of color, the groups MAGA likes to marginalize. Maybe that attitude is the Biden and Democratic policy you are referring to? If not what is or are the Biden or Democratic policy or policies which you claim are unpopular?

David L. (in reply) —  I do not care to get into debate about policies over which we certainly have vast differences. But a vast majority of Americans do not want biological males competing in women's sports, and a solid majority of Americans does not want biological males in women's locker rooms or bathrooms. I cite them as examples why Biden has such low approval ratings and that he is trailing Trump and most national polls.

Jake H. —  People love to complain about their commute. But I love it! I happen to live pretty far from the school where I ended up getting my current teaching gig (which I love). It's 40 minutes there, about an hour back in the car. I've often thought of moving closer. I would end up far away from family and local friends, and I really like where I live.

But I'd also miss the commute. It's my podcast time. It's my me time. It's my time to get ready for the work day, and my time to wind down from it. Am I the only one who actually looks forward to my commute, the only one for whom the prospect of driving well-trod ground alone, coffee mug in the cupholder, Mincing Rascals (or one of about ten others on rotation) on the radio, no other screens or other demands on my time or attention, is so enticing that it actually encourages rolling out of bed?

I also like the psychological separation. I have my work life and my home life, and they're different domains. It makes sense. I never liked working at home when I did. I frequently felt I had to get out of the house, take a walk, clear my head. I missed tremendously socializing with my work buddies.

Zorn — I do get that. I got a lot of good listening in when I commuted.

David G. —- I am pro-life, but the pro-life prohibitionists are going to do for abortion what the Women’s Christian Temperance Union did for alcohol. We should be concentrating on changing hearts and minds, addressing the reasons why women have abortions and providing effective alternatives. But, their strong association with Trump seems to have turned many of them into authoritarians who want to impose their views upon everyone else even if it backfires on them.

Steve H. — People who aren't on Twitter can't read Mark Jacob's "powerful Twitter thread based on his rereading of ‘The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich,’ " you linked to, they can only read the first tweet.

Zorn — Threadreader has unrolled it all for you here!

Cheer Chat

We sometimes feature a peace song in the “Songs of Good Cheer” program, and this year we are reviving “Let Peace Prevail” by Margaret Nelson. Here’s the cast going through it during a recent rehearsal.

“Songs of Good Cheer” is a caroling party at the Old Town School of Folk Music at which Mary Schmich and I are joined on stage by a band of accomplished local musicians who lead the audience in familiar and unfamiliar songs appropriate to the season. Songbooks provided.

There are five shows this year, from Thursday, Dec. 7, through Sunday, Dec. 10. Here is the ticket link.

Want to try to win tickets?

This year, Mary and I are reviving one of the most successful reader contests we’ve had: Tell us the story of your most memorable holiday gift.

A memorable gift can be a great gift. Or an awful one. Your story can be funny. Or moving. Things you might want to include ikn your story: What did the gift look like? What do you remember about the moment you received it? Where is it now? How do you feel now when you summon the memory?

We ask that you keep your entry to 200 words or fewer. The deadline is this coming Monday, Nov. 27. Email submissions only — use this link or write to ericzorn@gmail.com using the subject heading “Memorable Gift Essay.”

Winners will get two free tickets to “Songs of Good Cheer” (a $108 value!).

Winners will also get the chance to join us on the stage to read their essays.

Minced Words

The panel will be recording an early episode of “The Mincing Rascals” podcast Tuesday afternoon. Browse over to this page if you’re not a subscriber (it’s free!) starting Tuesday evening. If you’re not a podcast listener, you can hear an edited version of the show at 8 p.m. most Saturday evenings on WGN-AM 720.

Word watch

‘Critical condition’

The Tribune reported last week that “three of the people (involved in Thursday’s accident on the CTA’s Yellow Line) were in serious or critical condition, though no injuries were believed to be life-threatening.” Similarly, the Sun-Times reported that the crash injured “at least 38 people, three of them critically. … None of the injuries was life-threatening.”

No doubt the reporters on this story were simply relaying what officials were telling them, but the American Hospital Association’s definitions of the adjectives used in condition reports says that “critical” means: “Vital signs are unstable and not within normal limits. Patient may be unconscious. Indicators are unfavorable.”

Putting a finer point on it, George Washington Hospital’s guidelines add what common sense and common usage dictate, which is that “critical” implies “there are major complications, and death may be imminent.”

Critical but not life-threatening sounds like an oxymoron.

“Serious condition” (“Vital signs may be unstable and not within normal limits. Patient is acutely ill. Indicators are questionable”) or even “fair condition” (“Vital signs are stable and within normal limits. Patient is conscious, but may be uncomfortable. Indicators are favorable”) would seem to apply.

‘Aging’

Mark Jacob on Twitter: “I’ve been annoyed by the use of ‘aging’ in headlines since I worked at the Chicago Sun-Times and we opposed the idea of the city’s library being relocated to an ‘aging’ former department store building. As if all other buildings were stuck in time and only that one was ‘aging.’”

Quotables

To those who say, “Just because Trump is using openly fascist language now, and his team is threatening to crush people who point this out, doesn’t mean that he’s going to do fascist things when elected. And just because he has promised to round up undocumented immigrants and put them into camps, and to fire huge swaths of federal employees and surround himself with loyalists, and to get revenge on his political enemies, those things also don’t mean that he’s going to do fascist things when elected.” Well, sure. Maybe language is meaningless! But what a convenient time to suddenly start operating on the assumption that language is meaningless! ... Alexandra Petri, Washington Post

Fascism is not mere oppression. It is a more holistic ideology that elevates the state over the individual (except for a sole leader, around whom there is a cult of personality), glorifies hypernationalism and racism, worships military power, hates liberal democracy, and wallows in nostalgia and historical grievances. It asserts that all public activity should serve the regime, and that all power must be gathered in the fist of the leader and exercised only by his party. … I counseled against such usage (in 2016), because Trump, as a person and as a public figure, is just so obviously ridiculous; fascists, by contrast, are dangerously serious people, and in many circumstances, their leaders have been unnervingly tough and courageous. Trump—whiny, childish, unmanly—hardly fits that bill. … Over the years, he has become more extreme and more dangerous, and now he waves away any additional criticisms as indistinguishable from the over-the-top objections he faced when he entered politics. … Trump, whether from intention or stupidity or fear, has (now) identified himself as a fascist under almost any reasonable definition of the word. … Tom Nichols, The Atlantic

When families come thousands of miles to seek refuge from terrible circumstances, who are we as human beings if we can’t provide at least temporary refuge? The state that took my ancestors in, fleeing from pogroms in Ukraine, will not allow asylum-seekers to freeze to death on our doorsteps. This is where we are right now. They’re cold, so we will keep them warm. They are hungry, so we will feed them. They need our help, so we must do what we can. … Gov. J.B. Pritzker

Donald Trump Jr.’s pick for press secretary is claiming I am a “disloyal harlot” and “going to hell.”  No mention, though, of Jr.’s divorce, his girlfriend's divorce from Gavin Newsom, or The Best Christian Ever screwing a porn star while his third wife was pregnant. Apparently true Christianity is not based on belief in Christ as lord, but rather belief in Donald Trump as savior, king and next president. … former Trump attorney Jenna Ellis

I’ve never liked the use of the word “insurrection.” It’s political valence is highly debatable. But on Jan 6 there was an indefensible, unpatriotic, and repugnant riot that screwed up the peaceful transfer of power. I don’t understand why any conservative would minimize that. … Jonah Goldberg

Re: Tweets

In Tuesday’s Picayune Plus, I present for your consideration my favorite tweets that rely on visual humor.

And now for the conventional poll that usually appears on Thursdays, this week with a special Thanksgiving theme:

The new nominees for Tweet of the Week:

• This Thanksgiving, let’s go around the table and all say where we’d rather be. — @bazecraze

• Sorry I didn’t make mashed potatoes. The potato masher was stopping me from opening the drawer.  — @sixfootcandy

• School said we should teach kids the history behind holidays, so for Thanksgiving I’m making piggies in a smallpox blanket.  — @nikalamity

• I will tell you right now that no one at the Butterball Hot Line will even talk about Hunter Biden's laptop. They act like it never even happened. — @pourmecoffee

• Once again, I’ve been asked to bring the bag of ice to the family Thanksgiving dinner. — @Dani_elephant1

• Those two turkeys the President pardoned knocked over a liquor store last night. — @WilliamAder

And a few reruns from last Thanksgiving:

• "I'm so excited for a short work week!" … oblivious turkey. — @nedostup  

• If any of you are going Black Friday shopping this week please try to be a decent human being and turn your phone horizontal before recording any fights. — @GDUB18T

• My personal touch to Thanksgiving:  When guests finish the food on their plates, they see the message “Time to leave.” — @TheAlexNevil

• At any point during our Thanksgiving there are three or four family members legitimately concerned that it’s just an elaborately staged intervention. — @BobTheSuit

Vote here and check the current results in the poll.

Also this week, a bonus Dad Tweets poll.

I don’t attribute these groaners because most of them are not original.

• Did you hear about the two thieves who stole a calendar? They each got six months.  

• I had a Russian Uber driver the other day. His name was Pikup Andropov.  

• Did you hear about the explosion at the cheese factory? Apparently, all that was left was da brie.  

• The umbrella was going to be called the “brella,” but the inventor hesitated.

• I'm going to write a book about all the things I should have done with my life. l'll call it my oughtabiography.

• This is the very last time I'm going to ask if my cloak of invisibility is working. Do I make myself clear?  

• Vegan zombies be like: “Grains!!!!”

• I got into a fight with 1, 3, 5, 7, and 9. The odds were against me.

• You want me to invent a word to describe the period in someone’s life before they become a mailman? That's preposterous!  

• Don't go to the library. Go to the truthbrary!  

Vote here in the Dad Tweets poll.

Usage note: To me, “tweet” has become a generic term for a short post on social media.

For instructions and guidelines regarding the polls, click here.

Tune of the Week

When I was in public elementary school in the People’s Republic of Ann Arbor, Michigan, in the 1960s, we always had a pre-Thanksgiving assembly, and we always sang two hymns: “Come, Ye Thankful People, Come,” which I featured here two years ago, and “We Gather Together,” a 1597 song by Dutch poet and composer Adrianus Valerius:

We gather together to ask the Lord's blessing
He chastens and hastens his will to make known;
The wicked oppressing now cease from distressing.
Sing praises to his name, he forgets not his own.

The “Come, Ye Thankful People, Come” / “We Gather Together” tradition at my old school seems to have died sometime in the 1970s to judge from responses I got on the school’s alumni page on Facebook when I asked about it in 2021. And when I checked in with an administrator in the 1990s, she told me that the religious songs in the program had long since been replaced by “Strut, Mr. Turkey” and other secular numbers.

Too bad. I’m a big believer in keeping church and state separate, but I’m also a huge fan of religious music and wish that schools could incorporate it into choral programs in a non-proselytizing, fully contextualized way.

Here’s hoping you all have a happy Thanksgiving, undarkened by distress caused by wicked oppressors.

Consult the complete Tune of the Week archive!

The Picayune Sentinel is a reader-supported publication. Browse and search back issues here. Simply subscribe to receive new posts each Thursday. To support my work, receive bonus issues on Tuesdays and join the zesty commenting community, become a paid subscriber. I’m very thankful this year as ever for my readers.