Judge cites ridiculous statistics in stash house stings

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Chief Judge for the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois Ruben Castillo. | Provided

Provided

Reservations about the stash house stings recently described in the Sun-Times are understandable [“Defending the ATF’s tarnished tactics,” Sunday]. They seem close to entrapment. On the other hand, the statistics cited by the judge are ridiculous. The issue isn’t whether minorities are stung in greater proportion than their numbers in the population. The relevant comparison is to frequency of crimes they commit.

Richard Crane, Lake View

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Lady Justice

Over the course of time, various statues of Lady Justice all over the world are depicted as having a blindfold on.

Apparently, Judge Ruben Castillo forgets to wear his blindfold and is more concerned with the color of the defendants in his court rather than the judging strictly by the law.

I read Sunday’s article on ATF drug stash house stings and the criticism of them by Judge Ruben Castillo. Castillo contends that the ATF stings disproportionately entangle black men and falsely implies that the ATF and its agents are prejudice and racist.

Castillo trashes the ATF and their tactics, yet as it was noted in the article, the Supreme Court has ruled the agencies’ tactics as legal. Nine federal judges also ruled in favor of the ATF. However, the rule of law seems to escape the common sense of Judge Castillo, who criticized the authorities who brought the charges, rather than what the evidence and law in each case stated. (But not enough to dismiss cases because in the end, even Castillo ruled in favor of the ATF and against the defendants)

Summer hasn’t even started, and we have already experienced a weekend during which 84 people were shot. Can the citizens of Chicago count on Judge Castillo to leave his bias outside the courtroom and protect their best interests? I have my doubts, based on the Sun-Times article.

Tony LaMantia, Logan Square

Article is right

Ralph Nader’s article in the Sun Times on Monday is right: Spending $100 billion buying back stock is selfish.

After the Trump tax giveaway to corporation allowed the rates to drop to 20 percent and Apple to repatriate $100 billion it was hiding in Ireland to avoid taxes, Tim Cook decided to reward himself and the big shareholders instead of investing in communities that need jobs or raising pay for existing workers.

Another example of how a giant tax break for the top 2 percent that dramatically increases the debt isn’t going to help middle- and lower-income Americans.

Somehow, I doubt my tax benefits, if any, will outpace the increase in the cost of new iPhones or gasoline.

Tom Minnerick, Elgin

Surprised

Kelly Sadler | AP file photo

Kelly Sadler | AP file photo

Kelly Sadler, an assistant in the White House communications office, made the statement that the opposition of Sen. John McCain to the nomination of Gina Haspel as CIA director didn’t matter because, “He’s dying anyway.” There are those who are surprised that President Donald Trump has not yet fired Ms. Sadler. I am surprised that he has not yet promoted her.

Gerald Weisberg, Lake View

Protest high prices

When the cable TV was first introduced to the public, one of its selling points was far less commercials or none at all. Today you can scroll the channels with your remote and discover that four out of five channels will show a commercial ad. The cable industry not only raises the price of their service every year along with receiving money from their sponsored commercials, they also double down and receive payments from cable subscribers and the commercial sponsors. The cable TV subscribers are getting ripped off and it must stop. Negotiating a programming selection for cable TV is nearly impossible given all of the confusing charges. The public must protest their high prices by receiving payment from subscribers and commercial sponsors.

Dan Bartoszewski, Irving Park

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