Counting Consequences

Another Police Shooting:  It’s a work week beginning with a Monday so there’s another police shooting to discuss.  This one actually took place last week in North Carolina where Andrew Brown Jr, a 42 year old Black man, was fatally shot by a county sheriff deputy who was one of several attempting to serve him with a warrant.  The sheriff’s office has body camera video and audio of the shooting but so far hasn’t released anything to the public over their concerns that sharing “could lead to civil unrest.”  They have however shown a redacted 30 second “cut” to Brown’s family.  According to the family what they’ve seen seems to confirm that while Brown who was shot in the back of the head was trying to back out of his driveway, his escape was blocked by police cars, his hands were on the steering wheel of his car and that he was not a threat to the sheriffs when he was shot. No doubt more details will surface, perhaps as early as today, but whatever comes out, it’s fair to say that the sheriffs’ office characterization of the shooting as a tragic incident is both correct and an understatement. Unrelated to the North Carolina shooting, but definitely related to the national problem, yesterday Attorney General Merrick Garland announced an investigation into the policing practices of the Louisville Kentucky police department to assess whether that department “engages in a pattern or practice of using unreasonable force.”  Among other things the DOJ will determine whether the Louisville police department “engages in unconstitutional stops, searches and seizures, as well as whether the department unlawfully executes search warrants on private homes."  This investigation is being done in response to the killing of Breonna Taylor who was shot during a botched raid on her apartment while she was sleeping in her own bed by police using a no-knock warrant that was obtained using out of date information about the whereabouts of her prior boyfriend.  The Louisville announcement together with last week’s announcement that the DOJ will be investigating police practices in Minneapolis, provides just one more indication that this administration, unlike the prior one, is serious about trying to change police practices for the better.  

 

Politics as Usual:  Yesterday’s big news concerned the results of the 2020 census, the once every ten year exercise mandated by the Constitution which was undertaken while the Former Guy was still in office. Census results dictate the apportionment of Congressional seats among states as well as federal aid amounts which explains why Wilbur Ross, the Former Guy’s octogenarian/narcoleptic Secretary of Commerce tried to exclude undocumented residents from the count. Though he didn’t succeed in convincing the Supremes that he could proceed with his anti-migrant counting methodology it’s likely that the vision that he and the Former Guy shared had an impact on the final results which could be one explanation for what appears to be an undercounting of Hispanic residents. In any case it looks like with a population of 331.5 million, overall US population growth has slowed to levels not seen since the Depression of the 1930s.  Texas, Florida, Colorado, Montana, Oregon and North Carolina will gain more House seats while California, New York, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia will lose one each. The general trend of population shifting towards the south and west, though not California, isn’t surprising but still the results didn’t turn out totally as expected.  New York which fell only 89 residents short of keeping all of its seats was actually expected to lose two but instead will lose only one. By the way if you’re one of the 89 who didn’t fill in your form, note the consequences of inaction are real. Arizona which was expected to gain stayed the same and while Texas is getting two new seats, the Lone Star state was expecting to do even better as was Florida which will be gaining only one seat rather than two. Attention now shifts to the fight over redistricting. Due to a change in control of the state legislature, New York’s lost seat could turn into a net gain for Democrats who are likely to try to redraw lines to squeeze a few Republicans like gubernatorial hopefuls Elena Stefanik or Lee Zeldin out of their seats. Republican controlled legislatures will try and probably succeed in screwing a few of their states’ Democrats too but nothing can be done to save one of the Republicans in West Virginia where the state’s only two Congressmen, both Republicans, will have to duke it out to see who survives. The bottom line is though Democrats will ultimately lose a few safe seats, the results are not as bad for team blue as had been anticipated and it’s quite possible that’s due to the Former Guys anti-immigrant scare tactics which likely are the cause for Florida, Texas and Arizona getting fewer seats than expected.

Say What:  Former Pennsylvania Senator/CNN commentator dissed all Native Americans by telling an audience of young conservatives that "there isn't much Native American culture in American culture," that the culture of the United States is largely unchanged since it was birthed by "Judeo-Christian" values. He went on to say that when “we” arrived here the land was a blank slate because you know those prior residents that were slaughtered and/or run off their lands didn’t count and still don’t.  It’s never been clear why CNN keeps Santorum on board, but that offensive speech provides just another reason that he should be shown the door, permanently. Someone else who should be shown the door is Tucker Carlson, but sadly his spot seems secure. Last night the reliably controversial, hate mongering Carlson urged his viewers to oppose the outdoor wearing of face masks by children calling it child abuse. He went on to tell his viewers to harass outdoor mask wearers and to call the police or Child Protective Services if they see a masked child outdoors as if the police don’t already have their hands full. Not to be outdone in the absurdity category, House GQP Leader Kevin McCarthy now says that the Former Guy acted admirably on January 6 because he tried oh so hard to call off all those marauding insurrectionists.  McCarthy also seems to be losing his patience with fellow GQP leader Liz Cheney, something to do with her refusing to take back any of those not so nice things that she keeps saying about the Former Guy.  Cheney by the way won’t rule out a future presidential run, although it’s not quite clear that her party has much interest in a conservative who doesn’t adhere to the tenets of Q.  And proving that’s it not just Republicans who say outrageous things, according to Iran’s former Foreign Minister one time Senator/current climate guy John Kerry leaked some information about Israeli strikes on Syria back when he was negotiating the Iran nuclear deal for President Obama.  Kerry denies that and given the source he might be telling the truth, there are some tapes but they appear to be heavily edited.  Of course Republicans are up in arms calling for Kerry’s resignation.  More swift boating?  

And More:  Biden announced yesterday that we will be sending up to 60 million doses of our Astra Zeneca vaccine stores, the ones we don’t ever plan to use, abroad to those who need them and will use them. Also, over the weekend Biden formally recognized the targeted killing of somewhere around 1.5 million Armenians by the Ottoman Turks in 1915 as a Genocide. To state the obvious, Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan isn’t pleased with that word

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