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Republicans Are One Bill Away From Making It Legal to Shoot a Protester Whose Sign They Don’t Like

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In the wake of last summer’s brutal murder of George Floyd by police officer Derek Chauvin, millions of people around the country started to take part in racial-justice protests that have necessarily continued to this day—thanks to, most recently, the killing of a 20-year-old Black man pulled over for allegedly blocking his rearview mirror and the of a 16-year-old Black girl shortly before the jury reached a verdict in the Chauvin case.Republicans obviously do not like these protests for a variety of reasons, chief among them being their insistence that racism does not exist. (As you might have noticed, they really, really do not like being called out for their part in the problem, hence slogans like “All Lives Matter” and the by a certain right-wing talking head over Chauvin’s conviction.) As last year’s protests hit a fever pitch, Donald Trump threatened to unleash “law and order,” i.e. police brutality, on people attempting to have their voices heard, on Juneteenth: “Any protesters, anarchists, agitators, looters or lowlifes who are going to Oklahoma please understand, you will not be treated like you have been in New York, Seattle, or Minneapolis.” Demonizing activists and demonstrators became a regular feature of his campaign, in which, on a near-daily basis, he voters that the Black Lives Matter movement was a “symbol of hate” embraced by Democrats as part of plan to destroy white people’s comfortable suburban lives. If he could have made it legal to attack a protester for displaying a sign one didn’t like, he most definitely would have.Trump, of course, didn’t get to that, his focus being redirected elsewhere amidst his quest to overturn the 2020 election. But his Republican brethren, equally incensed by the notion of people speaking out against systemic racism, are hard at work on the task.Following the signing of a Florida “anti-riot” law that, among other things, to people who decide to drive their cars into protesters who are&nbsp;blocking a road and makes it a second-degree felony to destroy a plaque, memorial, painting, flag, or other structure commemorating historical people or events, The New York Times that GOP lawmakers in dozens of states have introduced anti-protest bills meant to silence people speaking out for justice. Oklahoma and Iowa, for instance, were apparently inspired by what Florida did re: basically encouraging drivers to strike protesters with their cars, and passed similar bills granting legal protections in certain situations for drivers who hit protesters supposedly blocking the street. In Indiana a Republican proposal would ban anyone convicted of unlawful assembly from holding state employment. A Minnesota bill would bar people convicted of unlawful protesting from receiving unemployment benefits, housing assistance, and even student loans. In Kentucky, where Breonna Taylor was killed by the police inside her apartment last year, the State Senate passed a bill that would make it a crime to insult a police officer with “offensive or derisive” words or gestures that could “provoke a violent response.” (In other words, one could be charged for using words that caused a police officer to violently respond to them.) That measure would have required those arrested to be held in jail for a minimum of 48 hours, a rule that does not automatically apply to people arrested in Kentucky on charges of arson, rape, or murder. While the bill died in the statehouse, its lead sponsor, Republican state senator Danny Carroll, said he would refile it next session.As the Times notes, these bills are completely unnecessary given the fact that (1) last summer’s protests were overwhelmingly peaceful—more than 96% involved no property damage or police injuries, while a report found that it was police officers or counterprotesters who often instigated violence, and (2) laws already exist to punish rioting. Instead, the measures are clearly aimed at scaring people into staying silent.The laws carry forward the hyperbolic message Republicans have been pushing in the 11 months since Black Lives Matter protests against racial injustice swept the country: that Democrats are tolerant of violent and criminal actions from those who protest against racial injustice. And the legislation underscores the extent to which support for law enforcement personnel and opposition to protests have become part of the bedrock of GOP orthodoxy and a likely pillar of the platform the party will take into next year’s midterms.Most Popular“This is consistent with the general trend of legislators’ responding to powerful and persuasive protests by seeking to silence them rather than engaging with the message of the protests,” Vera Eidelman, a lawyer at the ACLU, told the Times. “If anything, the lesson from the last year, and decades, is not that we need to give more tools to police and prosecutors, it’s that they abuse the tools they already have.”Of course, despite seeing a need to viciously crack down on peaceful protesters, most Republicans have had precious little to say about the violence perpetrated at the Capitol building by Trump supporters on January 6, which Florida state senator Shervin Jones sees as a clear indication of GOP lawmakers’ true intentions: to target people of color. He called the bill Florida signed into law on Monday “racist at its core.”If you would like to receive the Levin Report in your inbox daily, click&nbsp;&nbsp;to subscribe.Tucker Carlson didn’t take Derek Chauvin‘s guilty conviction very wellUnless cutting off his guest, ranting about the country going down the tubes, and laughing maniacally à la the Joker constitutes the Fox News host taking the outcome in stride:This content can also be viewed on the site it from.Remember Mark McCloskey?One half of the gun-brandishing Missouri couple who had a long-barreled gun and a handgun at protesters marching past their house en route to the home of then St. Louis mayor Lyda Krewson amidst a summer of social justice protest following the murder of George Floyd? Were later on of evidence tampering and unlawful use of a weapon for which they pleaded not guilty? Appeared in a video during the opening night of the 2020 Republican National Convention in which they warned that the left wanted to “abolish” the suburbs and take away people‘s guns? Well, he‘s considering running for office, because of course he is. :Most PopularMcCloskey—the gun-toting St. Louis attorney who drew headlines last year for brandishing an assault rifle at Black Lives Matter protesters—says he’s looking at running for Missouri’s open Senate seat. “I can confirm that it’s a consideration, yes,” McCloskey said in a brief interview on Tuesday evening.McCloskey, a wealthy personal-injury lawyer, said that he had no timeline for making a decision about whether to enter the race for the seat from which Republican Sen. Roy Blunt is retiring.Should McCloskey officially announce a bid, he’d presumably win the endorsement of Donald Trump, who defended the couple in an interview, claiming it was “disgraceful“ that they were in legal trouble.In the future, Senator John Kennedy will probably try to avoid asking questions for which the witness can provide a lengthy answer that can be summed up thusly: “The GOP sucks”This content can also be viewed on the site it from.Elsewhere!U.S. launches probe of Minneapolis police after Chauvin conviction ()Biden presses employers to provide paid time off for vaccine shots, recovery ()HSBC Manager Heart Attack Prompts Viral Post About Overwork ()Elon Musk said he was a Secret Service “special agent” when he donated to the Republican Party ()Foxconn plant, once touted by Trump as a 13,000-job juggernaut, will now create just 1,500 jobs ()Most PopularCoronavirus Surge Spills Over Into World’s Financial Markets ()Andrew Giuliani to meet with Trump as he preps N.Y. gubernatorial bid ()Chris Christie friends believe he’s running in 2024 ()D.C. marijuana activists stage “Joints for Jabs” to promote vaccines ()“I’m haunted by my 2020 capital-gains tax.” ()“I’m not your food”: Wyoming jogger reasons with bear in face-off (Elsewhere!U.S. launches probe of Minneapolis police after Chauvin conviction ()Biden presses employers to provide paid time off for vaccine shots, recovery ()HSBC Manager Heart Attack Prompts Viral Post About Overwork ()Elon Musk said he was a Secret Service “special agent” when he donated to the Republican Party ()Foxconn plant, once touted by Trump as a 13,000-job juggernaut, will now create just 1,500 jobs ()Coronavirus Surge Spills Over Into World’s Financial Markets ()Andrew Giuliani to meet with Trump as he preps N.Y. gubernatorial bid ()Chris Christie friends believe he’s running in 2024 ()D.C. marijuana activists stage “Joints for Jabs” to promote vaccines ()“I’m haunted by my 2020 capital-gains tax.” ()“I’m not your food”: Wyoming jogger reasons with bear in face-off ()More Great Stories From Vanity Fair&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;— of an OnlyFans Model and Her Über-Wealthy Boyfriend— Wyoming Tells Donald Trump Jr. to — A Is Upending the Hamptons Social Order— How a Group of Rich Memphians During Capitol Attack— Prosecutors Are in Trump Investigations— Republicans Brave Plan to Stop Mass Shootings: — of Female Journalists Puts News Outlets to the Test— Six Photographers Share Images From — From the Archive: , the Ballad of Richard Jewell— Serena Williams, Michael B. 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In the wake of last summer’s brutal murder of George Floyd by police officer Derek Chauvin, millions of people around the country started to take part in racial-justice protests that have necessarily continued to this day—thanks to, most recently, the killing of a 20-year-old Black man pulled over for allegedly blocking his rearview mirror and the of a 16-year-old Black girl shortly before the jury reached a verdict in the Chauvin case.Republicans obviously do not like these protests for a variety of reasons, chief among them being their insistence that racism does not exist. (As you might...

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Bess Levin

Vanity Fair is a monthly magazine of popular culture, fashion, and current affairs published by Condé Nast in the United States.  The first version of Vanity Fair was published from 1913 to 1936. The imprint was revived in 1983 and currently includes five international editions of the magazine. As of 2018, the Editor-in-Chief is Radhika Jones.

Republicans Are One Bill Away From Making It Legal to Shoot a Protester Whose Sign They Don’t Like

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