Warnock: DOJ Has a ‘Duty to Investigate’ TN Legislature for Expelling Members
Senator Raphael Warnock (D-GA) said Wednesday on MSNBC’s “Alex Wagner Tonight” that the Justice Department has a duty to investigate the Tennessee legislator for expelling two members.
Warnock said, “The federal government has a role to play in protecting the integrity of our democracy. Nothing could be more important than that. I am heartened that Representative Pierson and Representative Jones have been rightfully returned to their seat. The city councils in Nashville and in Memphis did the right thing, but this unabashed assault on the very foundation of democracy continues unabated. I think this is a very dangerous precedent, and returning them as their local leadership did this week doesn’t solve the problem.”
He added, “We, I reached out to the Justice Department because I think that it is its duty to investigate whether the constitutional rights, first of all, of the citizens that they represented had been violated. Citizens have a right to decide who’s going to represent them. And unfortunately, members of this state legislature, I think, have been playing games for so long, engaged in partisan and racial gerrymandering. Right now, the Tennessee legislature doesn’t actually look the way that people of Tennessee voted. So they have been getting away with this, playing these games so long that they have convinced themselves that the people’s House doesn’t belong to the people. It belongs to them. And so I think is a role for the federal government play here, which is why we sent the letter. We will continue to make the case.”
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And, if these same lawmakers were really audacious and genuinely wanted to throw a wrench into the cycle of poverty that has entrapped so many Black Californians, they would do everything in their power to ensure that universal school choice was the norm in the Golden State. It also would help if these so-called leaders addressed the elephant in the room: the breakdown of the Black family, which is arguably the biggest driver of poverty and so many other societal problems.
2 expelled TN insurrectionist legislators have some mighty embarrassing skeletons in their closets
You won’t be seeing any of this information on the CNN, MSNBC, or ABCNBCCBS, I bet. But the two Tennessee state legislators expelled from that body last week over their disruption of the business of that body are no angels.
Oddly enough, both of the insurrectionists, whose supporters claim they were targeted because of their Black racial identity, are named Justin, which to my mind is one of those WASPy names that you find at prep schools with large endowments.
Which brings me to the first of the Two Justins, the buffoonish, not the thuggish one. That would be Justin Pearson. Twitchy has his number: he is a phony, a preppy whose previous incarnation was as an articulate speaker of the standard, educated dialect of English.
Twitter video screengrab
Peachy Keenan has a side-by-side comparison of the two incarnations of Justin Pearson:
Amazing how Justin Pearson learned that crazy fake southern preacher accent just a few years after his Brooks Brothers prep school days at Bowdoin: he's like the Hilaria Baldwin of Al Sharpton clones:
Of course, it is anyone’s right to change their public persona. Just ask Hilaria Baldwin. But you do tend to become an embarrassing joke. Again, ask Hilaria.
Nevertheless, phony Justin apparently is back in his seat in the state capitol:
Nashville's Metropolitan Council voted to reinstate Jones on Monday.
The other Justin is more troubling. Guy Benson has his number:
Strangely, this relevant little nugget was omitted from nearly all of the hero worship "news" coverage of the expulsions. I can't imagine why:
A protester behind a series of recent demonstrations at the Tennessee state Capitol has been banned from the building and ordered to have no contact with House Speaker Glen Casada after being charged Thursday with assault. Justin Jones, 23, was charged with two counts of misdemeanor assault and one count of disorderly conduct after authorities say he threw a cup of coffee into an elevator, striking Casada and Rep. Debra Moody, R-Covington...According to arrest documents, Jones "attempted to push his way past uniformed state troopers" as he approached the elevator while yelling "Casada is a racist." Jones then is accused of throwing a paper to-go cup "filled with an unknown liquid believed to be hot coffee" into the elevator. The liquid splashed onto Casada and Moody... (bold in original)
So in his days an unelected left-wing agitator, this man -- then a divinity student -- shoved police officers while accosting the Tennessee House Speaker, per police records, then allegedly hurled a cup of hot coffee at the man, striking his target and another GOP lawmaker. This conduct earned him a ban from the building. Democrats in Tennessee then decided it would be a good idea to nominate and elect Jones to that very chamber, where he flagrantly violated the rules, disrupting the legislative process with a new form aggressive agitation. And that's not all. He also insulted another GOP colleague with a racial slur, because he's classy that way:
Two Black “heroes” both weirdly named Justin: one buffoonish, one thuggish.
California Reparations: a 'Blueprint for America’?
Like many deep-blue states, California has its share of deep-rooted problems. From a surge in violent crime, homelessness, and drug overdoses to a giant budget shortfall, a population exodus, and a power grid on the brink of collapse, the Golden State is suffering from multiple crises.
Yet, instead of addressing these problems and actually making life better for the 39 million Americans who currently live in California, Golden State lawmakers are focused on identity politics in the form of a comprehensive reparations plan that one California lawmaker says, “will be a blueprint for America.”
So, what does the California Reparations Task Force (CRTF) “blueprint for America” look like?
For starters, the CRTF seeks to provide all eligible Black Californians with a lump sum payment of $5 million. On top of that, eligible residents would also receive “free” college, “free” housing, and total debt forgiveness, among several other government goodies.
According to California Reparations Task Force Chair Kamilah Moore, “I hope that… this task force sets a precedent not only for what other states can do… but, of course, the federal government as well because it's primarily the federal government's responsibility. They are the entity that has the big enough purse, for instance, to close the wealth gap, and so I do think that the task force is headed in the right direction in terms of that precedent-setting.”
If Moore gets her wish, and other states follow California down the reparations road, the economic and social repercussions would be terrible. If the federal government were to embark on a similar quest, it would spell the end of America as we know it.
First, it must be stated that slavery never existed in California. In fact, California was a free state that fought alongside the Union against the Confederacy during the Civil War. That alone should make the reparations conversation in California moot.
Second, California (and every other state for that matter) does not have billions of dollars at its disposal to redistribute to a sliver of its population. Currently, California’s population is 39 percent Hispanic, 35 percent White, 5 percent Asian, and 4 percent Black. Is it fair to force 95 percent of Californians, all of whom had absolutely nothing to do with a reprehensible institution that was outlawed more than 150 years ago, to pay enormous sums of money to 4 percent of the population simply based on their skin color? Of course not. Actually, that is the very essence of racism.
Third, if California lawmakers really wanted to help its Black residents and close the wealth gap, one-time payments and other government handouts will not make the situation better, it arguably will make it worse.
Consider. Since the start of President Lyndon B. Johnson’s “war on poverty,” the federal government has spent $22 trillion on various wealth redistribution programs. Yet, over that span, the rate of poverty remains unchanged.
Perhaps this is because giving some people other people’s money is an incentive for the former to remain indolent. In other words, government checks breed dependence on government.
On the other hand, if California lawmakers were actually interested in addressing the plight of many of the Black residents who live in the Golden State, they ought to take a forward-looking approach that would include an increased police presence, a tough on crime approach, lower taxes, fewer regulations, and commonsense policies that would make energy affordable and abundant.
And, if these same lawmakers were really audacious and genuinely wanted to throw a wrench into the cycle of poverty that has entrapped so many Black Californians, they would do everything in their power to ensure that universal school choice was the norm in the Golden State. It also would help if these so-called leaders addressed the elephant in the room: the breakdown of the Black family, which is arguably the biggest driver of poverty and so many other societal problems.
However, these are difficult conversations for leftist lawmakers, who always view more government wealth redistribution as the answer to everything. It is much easier for politicians to propose a superficial solution, like reparation payments, even though time has shown that giving people money doesn’t solve deep-seated, complex problems.
I hope the rest of the country does not follow California’s lead on this issue. Once upon a time, Americans flocked to California because it was the land of freedom and opportunity. Today, Americans are fleeing California because it has become the land of big government socialism and identity politics. Suffice to say, this is not the path that other states, or the federal government, want to tread.
Chris Talgo (ctalgo@heartland.org) is editorial director at The Heartland Institute.
Image: Fibonacci Blue
