Too little, too late
Congress has tried and failed to pass an anti-lynching law for 120 years, because criminalizing race murder is somehow controversial. In February the House passed H.R. 35, the Emmett Till Antilynching Act, 410-4, and the bill vanished into McConnell's in-basket along with everything else that doesn't involve cash prizes for the rich. As cities burned and rage over the police lynching of George Floyd showed no sign of dissipating, Mitch decided it was time to dig the bill out of the pile and match it up with a version the Senate passed last year, the Justice for Victims of Lynching Act. Maybe he thought a nice signing ceremony in time for Mr. Floyd's funeral would neutralize the acrid stench of Trump's (and his party's) racism.
Not so fast. Rand Paul has a problem. He wants "lynching" spelled out in excruciating detail, so no one ever gets prosecuted for "minor bruising," his actual words. There are books you can consult, Senator, and websites you can visit to see for yourself what actual lynching looks like. Then you will never confuse it with a brawl on a school bus, or a neighbor getting fed up and kicking your ass. It's pretty damn clear, no need to fall back on Justice Stewart's "I know it when I see it."
What it isn't is Lindsey Graham whining that Trump's impeachment was "a lynching in every sense," or Clarence Thomas calling Anita Hill's testimony "a high tech lynching." People who say things like that also like to invoke the Holocaust and other atrocities, hoping to evoke sympathy through suffering-by-association. If you have the resources and the leisure for self-pity, you're not a victim.
In a macabre echo of Minneapolis, an inmate named Jamel Floyd (no relation) died at the notorious Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn after being pepper-sprayed in his cell for being "disruptive" and "potentially harmful to himself and others," though he was apparently alone in there. It's possible he had covid, because it's all but universal in this country's vast prison system. Isn't that why celebrity criminals like Paul Manafort are doing their time at home? Jamel Floyd had not been convicted of anything.
James Mattis cited "the French concept of devoir de reserve" when he jumped/was pushed from his job as Secretary of Defense. He has now doubled down on his letter of resignation, which was fairly incendiary, in an essay that uses the N word -- Nazi -- to characterize Trump's divisiveness and embrace of militarization in the past two weeks. Both were always in evidence, yet Mattis was willing to become one of "my generals" three years ago. It's nice that he now knows better. What is he going to do about it?
Another late arrival at the party is Senator Lisa Murkowski, who told NBC she is "struggling" with whether to support four more years of this madness. Only four months ago she voted "no" to both articles of impeachment. I hope her struggle is of the I-can't-breathe variety. What reality do these people live in?
Taking the point in the George Floyd case, Attorney General Keith Ellison has upgraded the charge against Derek Chauvin to second-degree murder and charged his three accomplices with aiding and abetting.
Tom Cotton is also unhappy about the "wrongful death" of George Floyd -- he stops far short of "murder" -- but he thinks the answer to brutal, club-wielding, mace-spraying cops is armed soldiers. Twitter didn't flag this incitement to violence; far worse, The New York Times published it as an op-ed called "Send In the Troops." He's the one who told Trump about the Insurrection Act and probably explained it to him, and then they both shook hands with Mr. Happy, as Robin Williams used to say. Come on, you've got Mark Esper all confused! He ordered up 1,600 troops to D.C., told them to stand down, ordered them up again and now has sent them home again. Not a single governor has accepted Trump's offer of soldiers to police their states; in fact, Ron DeSantis says he's sending 500 of his guys to Washington. Who needs the 82nd Airborne when you have the Florida National Guard? It's like D-Day without the bad weather over the Channel.
Mayor Bowser has cancelled the curfew after a night of peaceful protests, no arrests and no property damage. Trump, Cotton and DeSantis look dumb. This is where we came in.
Not so fast. Rand Paul has a problem. He wants "lynching" spelled out in excruciating detail, so no one ever gets prosecuted for "minor bruising," his actual words. There are books you can consult, Senator, and websites you can visit to see for yourself what actual lynching looks like. Then you will never confuse it with a brawl on a school bus, or a neighbor getting fed up and kicking your ass. It's pretty damn clear, no need to fall back on Justice Stewart's "I know it when I see it."
What it isn't is Lindsey Graham whining that Trump's impeachment was "a lynching in every sense," or Clarence Thomas calling Anita Hill's testimony "a high tech lynching." People who say things like that also like to invoke the Holocaust and other atrocities, hoping to evoke sympathy through suffering-by-association. If you have the resources and the leisure for self-pity, you're not a victim.
In a macabre echo of Minneapolis, an inmate named Jamel Floyd (no relation) died at the notorious Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn after being pepper-sprayed in his cell for being "disruptive" and "potentially harmful to himself and others," though he was apparently alone in there. It's possible he had covid, because it's all but universal in this country's vast prison system. Isn't that why celebrity criminals like Paul Manafort are doing their time at home? Jamel Floyd had not been convicted of anything.
James Mattis cited "the French concept of devoir de reserve" when he jumped/was pushed from his job as Secretary of Defense. He has now doubled down on his letter of resignation, which was fairly incendiary, in an essay that uses the N word -- Nazi -- to characterize Trump's divisiveness and embrace of militarization in the past two weeks. Both were always in evidence, yet Mattis was willing to become one of "my generals" three years ago. It's nice that he now knows better. What is he going to do about it?
Another late arrival at the party is Senator Lisa Murkowski, who told NBC she is "struggling" with whether to support four more years of this madness. Only four months ago she voted "no" to both articles of impeachment. I hope her struggle is of the I-can't-breathe variety. What reality do these people live in?
Taking the point in the George Floyd case, Attorney General Keith Ellison has upgraded the charge against Derek Chauvin to second-degree murder and charged his three accomplices with aiding and abetting.
Tom Cotton is also unhappy about the "wrongful death" of George Floyd -- he stops far short of "murder" -- but he thinks the answer to brutal, club-wielding, mace-spraying cops is armed soldiers. Twitter didn't flag this incitement to violence; far worse, The New York Times published it as an op-ed called "Send In the Troops." He's the one who told Trump about the Insurrection Act and probably explained it to him, and then they both shook hands with Mr. Happy, as Robin Williams used to say. Come on, you've got Mark Esper all confused! He ordered up 1,600 troops to D.C., told them to stand down, ordered them up again and now has sent them home again. Not a single governor has accepted Trump's offer of soldiers to police their states; in fact, Ron DeSantis says he's sending 500 of his guys to Washington. Who needs the 82nd Airborne when you have the Florida National Guard? It's like D-Day without the bad weather over the Channel.
Mayor Bowser has cancelled the curfew after a night of peaceful protests, no arrests and no property damage. Trump, Cotton and DeSantis look dumb. This is where we came in.
posted by Buttermilk Sky at 2:39 PM
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