Throughout my life, believers in the death penalty, have told me that capitol punishment is a good thing because it deters criminal behavior. I can not pretend to get into the criminal mind and determine whether that is true or not, but the defenders of the death penalty - largely members of the GOP - now are upset that Derek Chauvin was found guilty on all counts of murdering George Floyd in board daylight.
My answer to those idiots on the right who are defending a guy who kneeled on the neck of a handcuffed person until the life left his body, is we need to hold these bad cops accountable in order to deter them from killing unarmed or handcuffed people at will, especially black folks who seem to be the targets in most cases whether it is warranted or not.
This one verdict, by itself, will not be enough to deter cops from feeling like they have the public's blessing to kill black people when they get "uppity, or resist" and talk back, etc. This needs to happen to 100 or 200 bad cops before they get the message that the courts are no longer going to protect them when you indiscriminately kill unarmed black folks. The "Blue Wall of silence," or police unions are not going to protect you any longer when you kill the citizens you are suppose to be protecting whenever you have a bad day, or they piss you off.
The police's job is not to be judge, jury and executioner, but is instead to detain people and process them for the courts if the situation so warrants it. In the field, a police officer's job is to deescalate the situation, not inflame it.
Here is a prime example of the opposite. What not to do:
"I have not done anything wrong" and "I am afraid to get out of the car." Police response "you should be."
"What is going on?" Police response - "You are fixing to riding the lightning." This is an older term describing someone who was fixing to die in the electric chair. Really? Is that what we do now in this country to someone whose tags you didn't see displayed.
That's right. Before we go any further, this is a traffic stop over his tags not be displayed on the vehicle, but they were in the rear window. If I were this person, I would also not want to get out of the car. George Floyd ended up with four people on him until he could not breath and died. I'm not going out like that. What happened to license and registration please?
The police's job is to deescalate the situation. Full stop. The officer could have talked to him calmly, but instead this veteran had two guns drawn on him, and was eventually sprayed with a chemical to attempt to force compliance.
This is the activity that is happening across the country on a daily basis that the right seems determined to defend. And before you claim that I am some radical leftist who wants to defund the police, let me just say, go banh ankles. I have always respected the police and the difficult job that they do, but I think the police and all suspects will be safer if they address potential risks in a non-threatening manner. Research in other countries in Europe bares that out. People who give respect are more inclined to receive similar respect in return.
Mitch McConnell, the "leader" of the GOP in the Senate, finds himself and his party on the wrong side of history yet again. It must be hard to be wrong all the time. McConnell announced Thursday that he, and the party of "No" (Republicans), have no intention of supporting Joe Biden's infrastructure bill.
Let's break down for a second what this means. Republicans will again vote in unison, if McConnell is to be believed, against an infrastructure bill designed to repair roads, bridges, dams, highways and build new infrastructure projects. All these projects would further help to spur the economy.
Biden's plan is not designed to put money in the hands of corporations, and hope against hope, that it will some how trickle down to regular working Americans, but it is instead structured to get money in American's hands directly through work. It is a throw-back to the New Deal-era public works projects that not only helped regular Americans find work, but also built buildings, dams, and bridges that still make up America's landscape almost 90 years later.
McConnell, disingenuously, claimed that he would like to work with Democrats on infrastructure, but would not raise taxes to do so. What does that mean? How does he plan on building roads, dams, and bridges? Does he plan on doing it with the good faith and credit of the United States? If so, Mitch, that ship has sailed. In order to pay for something like this you have to raise corporate tax rates.
Republicans again find themselves voting against Americans. Polls show that 70 percent of Americans, which means at least 40 percent of average GOP voters, are in favor of Biden's infrastructure plan, and an even a higher percentage of them are down with taxing corporations to pay for it. But despite Republican support for this initiative across the country, you will not see one GOP senator vote in favor of the bill.
This is not new, the GOP also voted unanimously against the Covid relief bill, despite 75 percent of the American public being in favor of that bill. Watch out though, they will try to take credit for what they see as positive aspects of the bill in their local districts as if they had voted for it. They will likely do the same once this infrastructure bill passes. Be prepared to see GOP so-called leaders at ribbon-cutting ceremonies for projects that they tried to vote down.
McConnell and the GOP's political strategy here is not an innovative one. Moscow Mitch did the same at the start of Obama's presidency. It didn't matter what President Obama proposed, Republicans were against it. The Republican party is not about governing, they are about pointing out problems and blaming Democrats for it or scapegoating whatever minority or immigrant group that they think will appeal to their political base. They do this so they can attempt to reclaim power through fear mongering. But when was the last time the GOP passed a piece of legislation that helped real working Americans?
They had complete control of government from January of 2017 through January of 2019 and what did they pass? A corporate tax bill that had no impact on working Americans but made countless rich folks, richer.
The playbook is an old one for the GOP that dates back to the early 1900s. Give the rich more money and it will make its way down to the rest of us. But in reality that has not been the case since the 1920s. Yes the roaring 20's was the last time this theory had merit. Corporations don't build factories in America anymore. Even some service companies outsource their customer service to foreign countries.
Here is President Biden's plan, and judge for yourself instead of letting the fear mongers on the right tell you what you should be afraid of.
