Injustice Watch

Hey, thanks for having me, Jacobe.

Also from Injustice Watch, Dan Hinkel is in the building.

Dan, it's good to see you.

Really happy to be here.

Okay.

You know, get a keep or, a keep or, or not keep.

And actually, there's a, uh, Injustice Watch has a new story out sort of explaining the way they campaign, the way the judges campaign as a group because it's by, uh, my colleague, uh, Maya Dukmasova, and the, the way that this works is that they, they all go out together, and they say, "Vote the whole ballot." And so in that way, it's fundamentally different from basically any other election that you would encounter because, you know, you're...

Having researched these judges, they're all-

These people are important, and if they're not doing the job they should be doing or if they're doing things that make you angry, you should, Mark, know that they are not to be retained.

The best way for me, the easiest way, one stop shopping to learn about judges is with the judicial guide that Injustice Watch puts out on a regular basis.

You can go to InjusticeWatch.org and click on the link and It is—they have worked so hard on this.

Carlos Ballesteros is one of the people who has been a senior reporter at Injustice Watch and is here to tell you once again how incredibly fabulous the judicial guide is.

Carlos, thanks for being here.

Of

course, Joan.

Thank you for having me.

I know you geeks out there love this.

Maya and I do every, every, whenever Injustice Watch comes out with their guide to [laughs] the judicial races, you geeks out there love it.

Maya takes a deep dive, and it's amazing.

It's remarkable, uh, how so little is known about such an important office, uh, i- in, uh, Cook County.

Well, actually, the state of Illinois, but, um, we're, we're gonna, uh, look at Cook County.

Uh, Injustice Watch does a great job of, uh, piecing it all together and helping...

Just take the damn Injustice Watch guide into the...

In fact, just ask Maya, "Maya, who should I vote for?" And then just go vote for that person.

Echols was previously an Associate Editor at the NonZero Foundation, where he co-wrote a weekly foreign policy newsletter.

He also worked as an intern at Injustice Watch and the Arab Center, Washington, D.C. Echols recently completed a fellowship with the Arabic Center for Study Abroad in Amman, Jordan, and he received his bachelor's degree from Northwestern University, where he studied journalism and Middle East and North African studies.

So we welcome to Common Threads, Conor Echols.

Hello, Conor.

He is the managing editor for Responsible Statecraft, a publication of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft.

Eccles was previously an associate editor at the Non-Zero Foundation, where he co-wrote a weekly foreign policy newsletter.

He had also worked as an intern at Injustice Watch and the Arab Center, Washington, D.C. Echols recently completed a fellowship with the Arabic Center for Study Abroad in Amman, Jordan, and he received his bachelor's degree from Northwestern University, where he studied journalism and Middle East and North African studies.

So we welcome once again to Common Threads, Conor Echols.

Yeah, so there are some Cook County commissioners who are pushing for this independent review because like you mentioned, in 2023, that was like the deadliest year for Cook County Jail in decades.

18 people died that year and according to an investigation by the folks at Injustice Watch, many passed for drug overdose tied to delayed medical care.

This resolution is scheduled for today in the Cook County Board's Health and Hospital Committee, according to the Sun-Times.

And like you mentioned, there's advocates, elected officials, leaders that are really calling for this like third party reviewer.