True. As usual, however, I would wish the MSM wouldn’t carry their water and promulgate the lie.
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I think the message could get away from them if they aren’t careful.
If you’re talking about civil lawsuits, this is probably correct. But just making civil remedies more easily available isn’t going to cure the problem of police brutality. New York City paid out $69 million in civil settlements last year, and that does not seem to have done much of anything to change the cops’ behavior.
ETA: And it was $230 million paid out in 2018. That’s a shitload of money, and the cops don’t seem appreciably less thuggish than they otherwise might have been.
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What, he wants to keep some types of lynching legal!?!?
I swear to dog, it’s like we’re living in some kind of bizarre alternate universe…
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It looks like they are relying on state AGs (and Democratic Federal AGs) to investigate why criminal charges are not brought, but at the least they are giving them a lower bar and more tools and data to work with.
As @robg said, they actually have to be able to pass the law to get anything to happen.
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I think I see the problem here. As was noted last week, the moment the 57 cops were told by their union that they would be personally liable for the costs of legal defense from any actions serving on their city’s Emergency Response Team, they all resigned from the team, each and every one of them. Remove their privilege and make them assume some of the liability for convicted, wrongful actions and they’d clean up in a heartbeat…
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I’m not suggesting that it’s going to pass the Senate or get signed by Trump. This is about what might be possible after January 20.
And about controlling the dialog and framing throughout the election. Trump and his minions just tried to enact a coup, and guess what? They had to abort because it wasn’t flying with the American people. Now, the conversation is all about whether we should call him “BunkerBoy”, “BunkerBaby” or “BunkerBitch” and whether we should call for “defunding” or “eliminating” police or the more moderate “reforming”. This sort of proposed legislation keeps that framing in place, so Donnie can’t replace it with another one of his “play to the base” moves.
And yes, once we get control of our country back, we can actually pass this into law and start to fix the underlying problems. “In Life, as in Volkswagens - one thing at a time…”
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No, as good as it gets of is having cities and states take up the mantle of leadership. That’s really the only thing that has a hope.
And the bill openly states that much of this needs to get done at the State and local level. I thought I read where Nancy batted that whole thing about federal defunding down with nope, not happening.
OK. Then, for you at least, it’s a messaging document. I thought it was a “strike while the iron is hot and get at least something done” bill.
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Democrats realize that the R’s are like the old “Chatty Cathy” doll on this kind of issue: pull the string in the back and you get a predictable response.
In this case, the R’s either give a stock RW response that digs them deeper into the hole with the majority of the electorate, or alienate their “base” by backing something that is responsible and reasonable. Either way, they lose at the ballot box.
Definitely possible, but I’m not too concerned. Trump’s NPD prevents the GOP from effective messaging. By the time the GOP messaging machine gets coordinated on attacking “Defund the Police”, Trump will have committed another outrageous offense that moves the news cycle.
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Piggybacking with some inneresting news-check out which justices are looking at this:
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So Kevin McCarthy says the Republicans support every officer who puts on the uniform and uphold their oath.
One of the widely used oaths written by the International Association of Police Chiefs is
“On my honor, I will never betray my badge, my integrity, my character or the public trust. I will always have the courage to hold myself and others accountable for our actions.”
How many of those were violated in George Floyd’s murder and in the police riots since? How many are violated on a regular basis by cops who have no accountability?
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Now I don’t know for sure, but I think that was the union giving them cover to resign en masse from the ERT in some kind of weird blue flu or work slowdown. That way they could point to those guys and not to the demand that they be held accountable for being part of a culture that tolerates pushing peaceful citizens to the ground then lying through their teeth about it.
Vote local - your mayor, city officials, etc.
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Could be, but like so much these idiots do, there’s the potential for real and serious blowing up in their faces here if we do move some liability onto the individuals. I’m seeing calls for lessening their qualified immunity, enforcing “always on” body cameras policies, reducing their access to forced arbitration (especially one in which they get to pick the arbitrator, as in Minneapolis) and getting more proactive about betting rid of bad cops before they rack up 17 complaints before killing someone. All would make at least some folks give pause before acting out as is so common right now.
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“Defund the police” has got to be the dumbest slogan since ever. What does it mean? Who the hell knows. Why not say De militarize the police instead. People would get that because that is the kind of shit we are seeing on the streets.
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