MONDAY, MAY 3, 2021

President Biden is willing to negotiate with Republicans over his $4-trillion in infrastructure and government benefits, including tax increases, up to Memorial Day. But he is willing to push the initiatives through without their support if the Republicans don’t negotiate in “good faith” with reasonable counter-offers. The administration’s push for the packages intensifies this week, and Biden is expected to propose at least two more big government programs by the end of May.

Reuniting Separated Migrant Children Begins – Four families separated at the Mexican border during the Trump administration will be reunited in the U.S., the AP reports. It is “just the beginning” of a broader effort, Homeland Security Sec. Alejandro Mayorkas said in comments at the border in San Diego over the weekend. “We continue to work tirelessly to reunite many more children with their parents in the weeks and months ahead.”

Two of the four families to be reunited this week include mothers who were separated from their children in 2017, one Honduran and the other Mexican. Parents are being allowed to return to the U.S. on ‘humanitarian parole ’ which allows immigrants in without threat of arrest or deportation. More than 5,000 children are estimated to have been separated from their parents while trying to cross the U.S.-Mexico border during the Trump administration beginning July 1, 2017.

Note: The Biden administration has been between The Donald and a hard place for much of its first 100 days, facing criticism for both “encouraging” a “record” rush of immigrants trying to cross the border from Mexico and Central and South America as a result of Biden reversing the former president’s immigration policies, and for crowding more than 20,000 children into 14 emergency intake centers. This week’s effort by the administration will relieve some pressure from the left but will continue to be fodder for the right.

•••

Cheney vs. Trumpian House Republicans – It appears House GOP Conference Chair Liz Cheney, of Wyoming, is about to face yet another attempt to remove her from the number-three leadership post by pro-Trump Republicans angry over her continued sparring with them, including Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-CA, The Hill reports. Some House Republicans want to strip Cheney of her power ahead of a 2022 mid-term re-election campaign for which she surely will be “primaried” by a MAGA candidate hand-picked by the Office of the Former President at Mar-a-Lago. For her part, Cheney appears to be considering a run in 2024 for the Republican nomination for president.

Note: Liz Cheney, daughter of the tough former vice president, Dick Cheney, appears to be yet another canary in the coalmine that is the GOP’s future direction.

Editor's note: This news item originally called Rep. Liz Cheney the number-two leader. It has been corrected to say she is the third-most powerful House Republican.

•••

Angry Buzzing in the Beehive State -- Senator Mitt Romney, R-UT, was booed by members of the audience at a Utah Republican Party convention this past Saturday, according to The New York Times. However, the paper also reports that while the boos were “overwhelming,” some audience members “cheered and applauded” him. According to The Washington Post, Romney said to the audience, “Now you know me as a person who says what he thinks, and I don’t hide the fact that I wasn’t a fan our last president’s character issues.” The boos intensified. The Post reports, “He paused for a few seconds as the booing continued before asking the crowd: “Aren’t you embarrassed?”

Note: The answer to that question is probably “no.” Or that should be “NO!” Clearly there are people in the Republican Party who have forgotten the notion of shame. It is worth noting, however, that the Times reported “a vote to censure Mr. Romney narrowly failed.” The number of votes were 798 to 711. That is an 11% difference. Which means The Times is using a rather generous definition of “narrowly.”

•••

Cindy McCain Calls Arizona Vote Audit “Ludicrous” – Cindy McCain, widow of the late Sen. John McCain, R-AZ, called a state Republican Party audit of 2020 Phoenix-area votes “ludicrous” in a CNN interview last weekend. The Arizona GOP has hired Florida firm Cyber Ninjas, which has no experience auditing votes, to do just that for the November 2020 results in Maricopa County. Cyber Ninja founder Doug Logan has “offered pro-Trump conspiracy theories about the election,” according to Politico. “The election is over,” McCain told CNN’s State of the Union. “Biden won. “I know many of you don’t like the outcome, but elections have consequences.”

Note: Were McCain to speak at a convention of the Arizona Republican party, odds are that the boos Romney heard would be whispers by comparison to what she’d hear. Yes, boos turned up to 11.

•••

EPA to Propose Cuts in Use of Potent Greenhouse Gas – The Environmental Protection Agency on Monday will propose a rule to sharply cut the use of hydrofluorcarbons (HCL), the greenhouse gas widely used in air conditioning and refrigerants that is thousands of times more powerful than carbon dioxide in producing greenhouse gases, The Washington Post reports. The EPA’s proposal is yet another reversal of a reversal. Former President Trump had rolled back a 2016 international agreement signed by the Obama administration to restrict use of HCLs. But the new proposal appears to have widespread bi-partisan support. Last year, Congress voted to cut HCLs by 85% over the coming 15 years as part of a broader omnibus bill. –Edited by Todd Lassa and Gary S. Vasilash

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Please email your comments to editors@thehustings.news

The reason this site is called “The Hustings” is because the term refers to a political assembly at which two points of view were debated. The reason why there are three columns is because this permits us to provide the Left and Right positions with a central explanation of the subject running down the middle.

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The objective is to have political discourse—not those Molotov cocktails thrown back and forth on Facebook and Twitter, “arguments” that are simply tantrums—between thoughtful people.

We would like you to comment on the topics being examined here on the site.

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Scroll down for these recent home page debates:

•Keynesian vs. ‘Trickle-Down’ economics.

•The George Floyd Justice in Policing bill.

•Afghanistan: Is now the time to leave?

•Braver Angels debate, Resolved: Deficit spending is a major risk to the U.S. economy.

•We debate Biden’s SCOTUS commission.

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We would like your comments on Debate posts on this page, including Thursday’s coverage of President Biden’s address to Congress, as well as daily news items. Please email your opinion of his address and we will post it along with our contributors’ commentaries on this home page.

The objective of The Hustings is to have political discourse — not those Molotov cocktails thrown back and forth on Facebook and Twitter, “arguments” that are simply tantrums — between thoughtful people. What we would like to have is a sufficient number of comments—from both sides—such that we can post them on a weekly basis. Whether you want to provide a sentence or a paragraph, all that we ask is that you be reasoned and respectful. 

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FRIDAY, APRIL 30, 2021

‘Amtrak Joe’ Biden launches his ‘Get America Back on Track’ promotion of the American Jobs Act infrastructure proposal, with a celebration of Amtrak’s 50^th anniversary, in Philadelphia. The $1.9-trillion infrastructure plan includes $80 billion to improve passenger and freight rail in the U.S.

Johnson Dismissed FBI Warning – Sen. Ron Johnson, R-WI, was warned by the FBI that he was a target of Russian disinformation regarding the 2020 presidential election in August 2020, according to The Washington Post. In a statement in response to the report, Johnson wrote, “Without specific information, I felt the briefing was completely useless and unnecessary (since I was fully aware of the dangers of Russian disinformation). Because there was no substance to the briefing, and because it followed the production and leading of a false intelligence product by Democrat leaders, I suspected that the briefing was being given to be used at some future date for the purpose that it is now being used: to offer the biased media an opportunity to falsely accuse me of being a tool of Russia despite warnings.”

Note: There is much to break down here, but the term “useful idiot” seems to encompass the whole thing. For most people, if an FBI agent showed up at your workplace and warned you about something, odds are you’d consider it to be legit unless there was some significant evidence to the contrary. But not Johnson, whose reference to the “false intelligence product” may be to the Steele dossier, which goes back to the 2016 election. Who knew that fellow travelers were electable in Wisconsin? And his self-reference to being a potential “tool”. . . .

•••

Investigation of Giuliani Centers on Ambassador’s Removal – The federal criminal investigation of Rudy Giuliani centers on his efforts for the Trump administration to remove the U.S. ambassador to the Ukraine from her post, The New York Timesreports. Ambassador Marie L. Yovanovich was recalled in May 2019. According to the report, the main point of the investigation stems from Yovanovich’s “obstruction” of Giuliani’s attempt to find dirt on President Biden’s son, Hunter, as a former board member for a Ukrainian energy company. 

Note: Former Trump attorney Michael Cohen told CNN that Trump, who defended Giuliani on Fox News this week, will quickly turn on him. “He will be the next one thrown under the bus. That’s exactly what will happen.”

•••

Navalny’s Attorney Arrested for Defending ‘Extremism’ – Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) arrested attorney Ivan Pavlov in Moscow Friday for defending organizations accused of “extremism,” in particular, that of imprisoned opposition leader Alexei Navalny, The New York Times reports. The arrest is seen as President-for-Life Vladmir Putin laying the groundwork to outlaw Navalny’s opposition movement. Navalny has been imprisoned in Russia since he returned from Berlin in January following treatment for his poisoning with the Soviet-era nerve agent, Novichok.

Note: Casting Navalny’s organization as “extremist” seems a particularly Orwellian tactic for the FSB, which is successor to the Soviet era KGB (where Putin got his start in Russian politics). But Putin certainly hinted at the line between mainstream Russian politics and “extremism” when he told Europe’s Financial Times two years ago that liberal democracy “has outlived its purpose.”

•••

Protesters Interrupt Biden Speech – But they were not who you might think. President Biden was interrupted in a speech in Atlanta thanking Georgia voters for helping elect him to office by protesters calling for an end to detention centers and the department of Immigration and Custom Enforcement (ICE), The Hill reports.

“End detention now,” and “abolish ICE,” and “our families are dying,” the protesters shouted. 

“I agree with you,” Biden responded. “I’m working on it, man. Give me another five days.”

Note: So, expect another executive order in four days?

•••

Supremes Vote for Relief from Deportation – The U.S. Supreme court reversed a lower court decision that had limited access to an “important form” of relief from non-citizen deportation proceedings, SCOTUSblog reports. The decision allows immigrants facing deportation to file a “cancellation of removal” in an attempt to remain in the U.S. Two of the justices supporting reversal of the lower court were nominated by the most anti-immigrant president in recent history, Donald J. Trump. Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote the majority opinion and Amy Coney Barret also joined the majority in the 6-3 decision. –Edited by Gary S. Vasilash and Todd Lassa

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Scroll down by using the vertical trackbar in the far-right corner of the page for analysis and opinion on President Biden’s address to Congress.

We would like your comments on Debate posts on this page, including Thursday’s coverage of President Biden’s address to Congress, as well as daily news items. Please email your opinion of his address and we will post it along with our contributors’ commentaries on this home page.

The objective of The Hustings is to have political discourse — not those Molotov cocktails thrown back and forth on Facebook and Twitter, “arguments” that are simply tantrums — between thoughtful people. What we would like to have is a sufficient number of comments—from both sides—such that we can post them on a weekly basis. Whether you want to provide a sentence or a paragraph, all that we ask is that you be reasoned and respectful. 

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Please email your comments to editors@thehustings.news

Restoring Democracy in his First 100 Days

A 21^st Century supercut of calamity presents itself to us as the catalyst of Joe Biden’s work as president of the United States: the worst pandemic, economic crisis, and attack on our American democracy in decades. However tenebrous our conditions may be, the image of an excitingly beaming Biden ready to inform the nation of his first 100 days foreshadow brighter days ahead. As Amanda Gorman told the country at the 46^th president’s inauguration, “the dawn is ours before we knew it.”

Among the most salient accomplishments President Biden mentioned in his speech is the distribution and allocation of COVID-19 vaccines. The victory seemed like a long shot when Biden first made this announcement (100 million vaccines in the first 100 days) – I expected to be disappointed by this lofty goal. The United States now has secured 200 million vaccines for use; the magnificent surplus of 100% will come in helpful for foreign nations so desperately in need of the vaccine. 

The righteous accomplishments don't stop with the COVID-19 vaccines. There are others that spread to many aspects of American life. One such example is cutting child poverty in half through the American Rescue Plan. Another is replacing 100% of the nation’s lead pipes and service lines through the American Jobs Plan. 

The President also described a two-hour phone call with Chinese President Xi Jinping. Biden describes his counterpart as "earnest" about establishing China as the most influential country in the world. President Xi’s conviction is that autocracy will out-perform democracy as “waiting for consensus waits too long.” Next year, with the congressional midterm elections, it is hard to tell whether President Biden's powerful yet charming speech will affect a polarizing epoch of legislative history. President Biden's hope and ambition that the American people will ensure a just democracy never leaves its home with us. 

--David Amaya

Public Popularity Overcomes Republican Resistance

President Biden”s address in advance of his 100th day in office wasn't to the meager assembly who gathered in the near-empty cavernous hall. 

Tonight was an inclusive and direct message to everyone. His list of ideas, bills, and dreams is a big one. 

Early polls are showing that his message resonated with a majority of Americans at home watching, although they lean a little over half towards Biden supporters. Overcoming the right side of the aisle that panders to a part of the public that demeans “Sleepy Joe’s” party of “demwits” remains to be the cancer Uncle Joe wants to cure. 

--Michelle Naranjo

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Please email comments on the Biden address to editors@thehustings.news and we’ll post them in these columns.

By Todd Lassa

Certainly, the social distancing in deference to the coronavirus pandemic, which cut the usual audience of lawmakers, justices, pols and pundits to about 200 from 1,600 had something to do with the reasonably warm reception President Biden received at his first joint session of Congress. There were plenty of cheers, from the point at the beginning of the address when Biden called out the historic moment in which the President of the United States was accompanied by two women; Vice President Harris and House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi. 

“Madame Speaker. Madame Vice President. No president has ever said those words,” Joseph R. Biden said at the outset, “and it’s about time.”

President Biden’s address was his chance to lobby Republicans, as one should expect from a leader from the other party, in the House and – especially – the Senate to push an agenda that ranges from an FDR-style set of spending programs to a federal voter rights bill named for the late civil rights activist and U.S. Rep. John Lewis, D-GA. Senate Republicans remain locked in place of course, with moderate Mitt Romney of Utah appearing stoic as Biden laid out his American Jobs Act and American Families Act, two proposed bills that would cost $3.3 trillion, plus another $800 billion in extended tax credits. 

Romney’s reaction – or lack thereof, difficult to read under his face mask – doesn’t matter for now, because if Republican senators won’t budge, public support for Biden’s agenda is much more enthusiastic from both Republican and Democratic voters, according to the latest polls.

Biden drew upon his naturally empathetic nature, tempering his voice and extending credit for the nation’s rights and responsibilities to “we,” the people who make up the citizenship, in stark contrast to the previous president’s obsession with “I.”

The Biden agenda’s goal to reverse the effects of Republican philosophy goes back well beyond the past four years of President Trump to Ronald Reagan. As we’ve noted here in the past, Biden’s embrace of Keynesian/big government/FDR-style economic dogma targets the core of every Republican, from moderates to MAGA-hatters, to predict the steepness of the uphill battle he faces in returning “unity” to Washington.

His salient statement on the subject was: “Trickle-down economics has never worked. It’s time to grow the economy from the middle-out.”

The two key safety-net items in the American Families Act:

•Free, “high-quality” pre-school for 3- and 4-year-olds, plus two years of free tuition at community colleges, because “12 years” of free public education “no longer is enough today to compete. … Any country that out-educates us, out-competes us.”

•Extension of the Child Tax Credit from Biden’s American Rescue Plan Act, to $3,000 for children over age 6, and $3,600 for those younger than 6, which the president says will cut child poverty in half.

Biden reiterated his promise not to raise taxes for people making less than $400,000, and called for closing corporate tax loopholes, including the use of tax havens. The Families Plan would kick up the top tax bracket for the wealthiest 1% – those making $400,000 or more a year – back up to 39.6%, “where it was when George W. Bush became president,” and would kill capital gains tax loopholes.

Biden called for immigration reform he says Republicans and Democrats alike favor and, in a MAGA-esque moment, suggested that tough negotiations with the Chinese government over trade policies continue, and “there’s no reason that blades for a wind turbine can’t be made in Pittsburgh instead of Beijing.”

As the rest of Americans get their COVID-19 vaccines, the U.S. will “become the arsenal for other countries,” Biden said. He called for bipartisan consensus on police reform bills, called on Congress to pass the Equality Act to project LGBTQ Americans, reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act, reinstate universal background checks and the assault rifle ban (“What do you think deer are wearing … Kevlar vests?” he ad-libbed) and pass the John Lewis Voting Rights Act.

[Scroll through The Hustings’ home page to read debates on voting rights and suppression, and the Second Amendment.]

The Republican response, by Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina, painted Biden’s agenda as a quixotic list of heady goals that a dysfunctional Senate simply will not touch between now and the mid-term elections.

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Please email your comments on Biden’s joint-session address to editors@thehustings.news and we will post them in these columns.

Rehash of CNN Reporting on Biden’s Agenda

President Biden could have spared us his speech last night and told everyone in America to pick up the newspaper or tune in to CNN for the past 100 days. The media have been saying everything he said last night for about that long. 

In terms of speeches it was so-so. There was no high idyllic language, no original zingers (the “Axis of Evil” from President Bush 43’s State of the Union speech nearly 20 years ago still resonates). The speech deserves a B-. 

The one takeaway from Biden’s hour-long talk is what we’ve all known about Democrats for eons: “Let’s spend money!”  Things like infrastructure do require money of course. However, since the start of the new millennium, our country has been through quite a bit. The events of 9/11, two wars, The Great Recession, and a global epidemic that has had chilling effects on every generation in America. It has changed our lives. And the answer coming from the President and his party is to spend lots of money to make it all better. 

Again, all of this has been laid out in the media narrative since Biden’s inauguration. At least the media have done a better job talking about the immigration crisis at our Southern border than Biden did last night. There was no mention of it at all from our president’s lips. There was no concrete plan or idea to grab on to. Nothing to dream for. Nothing to pull out of the speech to feel like America is ready for the world and will lead it as she always has. Will the real leaders please stand up?

--Bryan Williams

Small Annoyances & Flag Waving

It’s a little like picking nits. A grand, sweeping vision picked at.

But let’s face it: the term “nitpicking” goes back to the process of removing lice eggs from one’s scalp, and although lice are tiny little buggers compared to the person they’re living on, the consequences can be highly annoying.

Or it is like coming out against “baseball, hot dogs, apple pie and Chevrolet.”

But according to Stanford Children’s Health, “Baseball. . .has the highest fatality rate among sports for children 5 to 14.” Hot dogs typically contain nitrates that aren’t exactly good for you. The sugar and fat in a slice of pie contribute to obesity (according to the CDC, 42.8% of U.S. adults are overweight). And while Chevy makes some good vehicles, according to Consumer Reports, “In terms of reliability, Chevrolet remains in the bottom half of our rankings.”

Some things are nits: small but problematic. Some things sound good: but the lingering echo can have negative reverberations.

Here’s an issue:

“Nearly 90% of the infrastructure jobs created in the American Jobs Plan do not require a college degree. Seventy-five percent do not require an associate’s degree. The American Jobs Plan is a blue-collar blueprint to build America.”

So why the huge investment in community college? Why not a focus on trade schools and apprenticeship programs?

Another:

“And all the investments in the American Jobs Plan will be guided by one principle: ‘Buy American.’”

Superficially, good. But didn’t we discover from the last administration that this is a global economy and while we might not like to discover that PPE and microprocessors aren’t readily available, what about things like, oh, Canadian lumber or aluminum, which can be used to “Build Back Better”?

Even small things need to be thought through.

--Stephen Macaulay

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Please address your comments on Biden’s address to editors@thehustings.news and we will post them in these columns.

The Hustings will cover tonight’s presidential address to the joint session of Congress, which begins at 9 p.m. Eastern time. Our contributing pundits from the right and left will comment on President Biden’s comments and proposals here Thursday, April 29. 

We would like your comments on Biden’s address as well. Please email your opinion of his address and we will post it along with our contributors’ commentaries on this home page. Please include your city and state, or state’s region with your name.

The objective of The Hustings is to have political discourse — not those Molotov cocktails thrown back and forth on Facebook and Twitter, “arguments” that are simply tantrums — between thoughtful people. What we would like to have is a sufficient number of comments—from both sides—such that we can post them on a weekly basis. Whether you want to provide a sentence or a paragraph, all that we ask is that you be reasoned and respectful. 

Also in this column: “Public Health and Safety Should be the Goal,” Michelle Naranjo’s commentary on the center-column report, ‘Biden Vows George Floyd Justice in Policing will become Law.’

Scroll down on the track bar in the right corner to read earlier posts.

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THURSDAY, APRIL 29, 2021

Today's News & Notes returns to the News & Notes page. Please click on the tab above. Return to the home page later today for a debate on President Biden's address to the joint session of Congress.

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 28, 2021

With security on Capitol Hill expected to be at its highest levels, President Biden will present his address to a joint session of Congress tonight at 9 p.m. The audience will be limited due to coronavirus distancing protocols.

It’s Official: Biden Offers a New New Deal – President Biden tonight will introduce his American Families Plan (AFP), a $1.8-trillion “once in a lifetime investment in our nation’s future” according to a White House briefing. The plan entails $1 trillion in spending and $800 billion in new tax credits. This is a companion package to the proposed $2.3-trillion infrastructure plan. All of this comes on top of his $1.9-trillion COVID-19 relief plan passed via reconciliation in March.

 The AFP proposes $1 trillion in new spending and $800 billion in new low-income tax credits that serves as a kind of counter to President Trump’s $1.5-trillion in tax cuts of 2017. 

 New spending proposals include:

 •At least four years of free education for every student, consisting of a.) universal high-quality pre-school for 3- and 4-year-olds, and b.) two years of free community college for all Americans.

•Up to $1,400 in additional assistance to low-income students by expanding the Pell Grant maximum by 20%.

•Would make college more affordable for low-income students at historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs), tribal colleges and universities and other minority-serving institutions and create or expand educational programs in high-demand fields.

•Improve teacher training, especially for special education, bi-lingual education and certifications that improve teacher performance.

•Direct support to children and families by investing in affordable child care and by providing direct support to children and families to ensure low- and middle-income families pay no more than 7% of their income toward high-quality child care.

•Minimum $15 per hour wage for early childhood staff and improved training. 

•Expand nutritional benefits to about 9.3 million children of low-income families.

 New tax credits proposed include:

 •Extension of child tax credits in the American Recovery Plan through 2025.

•Make the child tax credit permanent and fully refundable.

•Make the earned income tax credit permanent for childless workers. 

Every dollar invested in early childhood programs results in more than $7 in economic benefits, the White House estimates.

 Note: While Republicans most certainly will attack the American Families Program as yet another high-cost expense the U.S. economy cannot afford, it also falls short of progressive Democrats’ wish list which included free college at state universities and school loan relief.

•••

 This May Not Be True — Laura Italiano, the reporter who wrote an untrue story in the New York Post about undocumented minors getting a swag bag including Kamala Harris’ children’s book, has resigned, The Washington Post reports. Italiano tweeted that she’d been “ordered” to write the piece despite knowing that it was, as the Former Guy might put it, fake news. 

 Note: This is just par for the proverbial course (of course, par for the Former Guy, it has been widely reported, is a variable thing) for outlets like the New York Post and “Tucker Carlson Tonight,” although it should be acknowledged that the first-named is ostensibly a “news” outlet, not one where making things up, like the Biden Administration’s climate planning calling for the outlawing of things like Whoppers (the burgers, not the lies that fall from the lips of the likes of Carlson), is not considered to be in good form.

•••

Building Back Together to Push Against Voter Suppression – Democrats have formed a new initiative aligned with President Biden to push back against voter suppression drives, including new laws making their way through many states’ legislatures, named “Building Back Together” (BBT), Politico reports. It will also support the Democrat’s For the People Act, the sweeping voter rights bill passed by the House earlier this year, and currently languishing in the Senate. Chief of BBT is Bob Bauer, who advised Biden’s presidential campaign and had served as White House counsel in the Obama administration.

•••

Promising Recovery, No Hike in Interest Rates – The U.S. Federal Reserve is expected to maintain near-zero percent interest rates because the economy is improving, The Wall Street Journal reports. Fed members in recent comments have noted “recent pickups” in hiring, spending and inflation. –Edited by Todd Lassa and Gary S. Vasilash

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Please email your comments to editors@thehustings.news

The Hustings will cover tonight’s presidential address to the joint session of Congress, which begins at 9 p.m. Eastern time. Our contributing pundits from the right and left will comment on President Biden’s comments and proposals here Thursday, April 29. 

We would like your comments on Biden’s address as well. Please email your opinion of his address and we will post it along with our contributors’ commentaries on this home page. Please include your city and state, or state’s region with your name.

The objective of The Hustings is to have political discourse — not those Molotov cocktails thrown back and forth on Facebook and Twitter, “arguments” that are simply tantrums — between thoughtful people. What we would like to have is a sufficient number of comments—from both sides—such that we can post them on a weekly basis. Whether you want to provide a sentence or a paragraph, all that we ask is that you be reasoned and respectful. 

Also in this column:

“New Federal Laws won’t change our Hearts,” Bryan Williams’ commentary on the center-column report, ‘Biden Vows George Floyd Justice in Policing will become Law.’

Scroll down on the right-corner track bar to read earlier posts.

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By Michelle Naranjo

At times, the pace of deaths of Black people at the hands of law enforcement officers is relentless, and the rate just seems to escalate. 

Within the hour of the guilty verdict of Derek Chauvin in the murder of George Floyd, a 16-year old girl was shot and killed in Columbus, Ohio, by a police officer. 

President Biden’s commitment to the family of the bill’s namesake that he will push the Senate to pass the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act of 2021 (HR 1280) is a tall order. There are about 18,000 individual law enforcement organizations in the United States. Using federal funding as incentive to curb the rash of unnecessary violence and death against individuals, especially those of color disproportionately affected, is the goal. 

 Still, its practicality leaves many of the GOP senate cold because they insist that the police would not be supportive.

As Phillip Atiba Goff, co-founder of the Center for Policing Equity, noted to NPR’s Dave Davies of Fresh Air this week, several police forces and communities are seeking help from his organization to dismantle the white supremacy inherent in law enforcement agencies. One such community trying to change is Ithaca, New York, which has organized its Department of Community Solutions and Public Safety, unarmed officials that will assist armed officers in non-violent situations. Armed police officers would not make routine traffic stops, which can escalate quickly when a badge and a gun are involved. Ithaca’s local police union is in favor of the new department. 

Goff believes such programs address policing policies developed during a time when the foundations of law enforcement were built on controlling the movement of Black people. While opponents decry this as “defunding” the police, Goff equates it to a quiet, longstanding movement to defund schools and health insttutions in Black and brown communities. 

As the Senate begins to hash out which details of HR 1280 will be kept and which will get tossed, or compromised, Republican Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina has offered a compromise he thinks will convert many of his Republican colleagues. His compromise would lose the provision to eliminate qualified immunity, which essentially protects individual police officers from criminal prosecution for any misconduct, thus leaving the responsibility with the law enforcement agencies themselves. Scott’s hope is this would give law enforcement agencies the obligation of stepping up to make sure bad police officers are not kept on the force.

This compromise is a horrible idea, and it has now been revealed that the Department of Justice is considering additional prosecution of Derek Chauvin, who has been accused of beating a Black teenager to unconsciousness and kneeling on his neck for 17 minutes, in 2017. And the Minneapolis Police Department are said to have known about this, yet Chauvin never was investigated. Law enforcement needs to be re-oriented toward focusing on public health and safety. HR 1280 would ensure that focus changes.

By Michelle Naranjo At times, the pace of deaths of Black people at the hands of law enforcement […]

By Todd Lassa

Last year’s HR 7120 was named the “George Floyd Justice in Policing Act” and passed in the House of Representatives;  it stalled in the U.S. Senate. This year, Rep. Karen Bass, D-CA, reintroduced the bill as HR 1280, the “George Floyd Justice in Policing Act of 2021.” President Biden plans to “use his bully pulpit” to get it passed, press secretary Jen Psaki said in comments following the conviction of former police officer Derek Chauvin on two counts of murder and one count of manslaughter for kneeling on Floyd’s neck for nine minutes, 29 seconds.

Psaki said Biden has promised George Floyd’s family that HR 1280 will become law, which means he must convince at least 10 Republican senators to support it.

Tall order, as many Republicans consider the matter a states’ rights issue, that the Constitution does not give the federal government the authority to tell local and state police departments and county sheriffs’ departments how they can and cannot police. 

Democrats and other supporters of the Justice in Policing Act say that many law enforcement officials and their departments would like to be relieved of having to respond to, for example, child protection problems and domestic disputes.

Key provisions of the bill …

•Eliminates qualified immunity so that individuals can recover damages in civil court when law enforcement violates constitutional rights.

•Bans chokeholds and carotid holds at the federal level and gives state and local governments the incentive to follow suit through conditions on federal law enforcement funding.

•Requires that deadly force be used only as a last resort and requires officers to employ de-escalation techniques first.

•Changes the standard to evaluate if law enforcement”s use of force was justified from whether the force was “reasonable” to whether it was “necessary.”

•Bans no-knock warrants in drug cases at the federal level and conditions law enforcement funding for state and local governments to ban no-knock warrants. 

•Limits local police departments’ access to military grade equipment.

•Requires federal uniformed police to wear body cameras and requires state and local enforcement to tap existing funds to ensure use of the cameras.

•Creates a nationwide police misconduct registry to prevent officers fired for misconduct to join law enforcement agency in another jurisdiction without accountability.

--HR 1280 at house.gov via The Poynter Institute

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By Bryan Williams

What’s there for a conservative not to like or disagree with in the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act? Not much from my point. I have less of an issue with the substance of the bill than the hyper-activity of our politicians, who will do anything he or she can to be seen as doing something about a chronic problem. 

Does the federal government need to do anything in this case? Many places already have laws in place with the same provisions of HR 1280. Why duplicate efforts?

Joe Biden has fashioned himself as a president who wants to try to solve all our problems. Climate change, the border crisis, health care, taxes, infrastructure, foreign relations with China and Russia and the Middle East, the pandemic, LGBTQ rights, #StopAsianHate...you get the idea. But are they delivering? Beside the third COVID stimulus relief, this self-proclaimed champion of bi-partisan unity has relied on an endless number of executive orders. 

I believe most thinking Americans will agree that what’s going on is too many police officers reacting too quickly when a routine call or traffic stop involving a Black citizen escalates. (The police stop of U.S. Army Lt. Caron Nazario in Windsor, Virginia, comes most immediately to my mind.) 

How do you address such problems with a law? I’m willing to bet that the actions of the two police officers in the December 5 stop potentially violated rules or laws in any jurisdiction across the nation. One of the officers in Nazario’s stop was promptly fired after the video came to light. Soulds to me like the system is working.

So will the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act really make thoe affected by police brutality feel as if they’ve gained something? Will a federal bill change the tragic news we see on our television screens far too often? What needs to change, I believe, are the hearts and minds of everyone in the U.S. Yes, police officers need to be vigilant and protect us from those who wish us harm. Yes, people need to police themselves and act carefully in any situation regarding police, but especially late at night. Our hearts need to be changed toward each other in a way no law can enforce. Just don’t tell that to Joe Biden and his fellow Democrats.

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Liberal opinion on the center column news appears here. Scroll down with the trackbar in the right corner of this page to read:

•David Amaya comments on President Biden's plan to withdraw U.S. troops from Afghanistan by September 11.

•Comments by "negative" debaters on the resolution: Deficit spending is a major risk to the U.S. economy. Special coverage of a Braver Angels national debate (braverangels.org).

•Chase Wheaton discusses President Biden's commission to study whether the U.S. Supreme Court should be expanded by up to 13 justices.

•Does President Biden's infrastructure plan have a chance of Senate passage? Stephen Macaulay, The Hustings' centrist pundit-at-large, comments from the left column.

•Alleghany County Day of Civility debate, Resolved: Should government provide health care coverage for all citizens? Affirmative debaters' comments are on the left.

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