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On a night in mid-December 1773, a group of about 60 men who had disguised themselves as Native Americans boarded three merchant ships at a Boston wharf and dumped dozens of chests of imported tea into the cold dark waters an act of civil disobedience that damaged private property in protest against government tax policies.

Conservatives these days hail that moment; in fact, a faction on the right a few years ago co-opted the name tea party as its own. Yet conservative state legislators across the country have been behaving less like the revolutionary rebels for whom they express admiration and more like British colonial overlords by introducing, and in some states passing, dozens of laws aimed at curtailing the fundamental right to public protest.

How counter-revolutionary.

The murder of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer a year ago prompted waves of protests across the country. But Floyds killing was hardly the first such outrageous act by government officials, and the Floyd protests were not the first outpouring of anger and opposition to such acts. In fact, the Black Lives Matter movement so feared and reviled by the right began with a hashtag campaign after George Zimmermans 2013 acquittal in the death of Trayvon Martin.

It is in our national DNA to respond to the objectionable through public protest. Street actions in the late 1950s and the 1960s spurred watershed changes in civil rights protections and helped bring an end to U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War. Three decades of protests also helped change public awareness and national policy on nuclear energy and weapons. And dont forget the 1999 anti-World Trade Organization protests, or the Occupy Wall Street movement a decade ago.

But some conservative politicians dont like such protests. Since Donald J. Trumps election as president which spurred massive protests by women around the world 45 states have considered a total of 226 bills addressing free assembly and free speech rights, many of which would restrict public protests or reduce protections for protesters, according to the International Center for Not-for-Profit Law, which focuses on supporting civil societies.

Of those, 18 states primarily Republican-led ones in the South and Midwest have enacted 34 bills; 64 measures are still pending.

Montana, North Dakota, Texas and several other states increased penalties for people protesting near oil or gas installations, fallout from the protests against the Keystone XL pipeline; the measures seem to be part of a national campaign by the conservative pro-industry American Legislative Exchange Council, which drafted model language for the bills.

North Dakota also made it a crime to wear a mask during a protest. Utah criminalized protests that disrupt public meetings.

Florida made it so all protesters in groups of more than three can be held criminally liable if any of them damages property.

Anti-protest bills are of a piece with voter suppression efforts. They are attempts to shut off the political participation first of Black Americans, but also of anyone else moved to stand with them, or anyone who would stand against other actions that the government supports.

This is dangerous ground, no matter where on the political spectrum you may stand. Democracy is predicated on the free exchange of ideas and the ability of people to openly express support, opposition or even ambivalence regarding government actions.

Of course, the right to protest is not the right to rampage or block a highway or halt a pipeline or derail a public hearing. Yet we already have laws attending to those issues, and people engaged in civil disobedience anticipate that they will face arrests for their actions. Its a step they are willing to take.

Tellingly, the same Republicans who rail about violent protests last summer seem to have no problem at all with the protesters who stormed the U.S. Capitol and assaulted police officers in hopes of overturning the results of a presidential election. For the record, had Trumps supporters on Jan. 6 marched from his rally on the Ellipse to the police lines at the Capitol steps to decry the certification of Joe Bidens victory, we would have defended their right to do so (while also blasting the lies they were espousing). But they didnt do that; an assault on the seat of government to usurp democracy is not protest but insurrection.

All the same, the indefensible acts of property destruction and violence by the few cannot be used as a mechanism to muzzle the many regardless of the content of the message. That includes voices that express hatred, racism and intolerance.

The best counter to a Klan rally is widespread voices raised in condemnation. We disagree with those who deny the existence of white privilege in our society, but they certainly have a right to utter their bigotry and those who recognize the echoes of history have a right to offer counterarguments, whether these take place in quiet conversations, the letters pages of this newspaper, or on the streets of cities coast to coast in a spontaneous movement decrying police violence.

Democracy can be contentious, loud and messy. Thats the way ours began and the way it must continue.

Elected officials in state capitals should not be allowed to undermine it.

The Los Angeles Times

More:
In Their Opinion: Another victim of the Floyd killing: The right to protest - The Sun Chronicle

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Gov. Greg Abbott had big plans. It was Feb. 1, and he took to the podium prepared to deliver his annual State of the State address. He wanted Texans to know the state was brimming with promise, words that must have rang hollow to those who were still shell-shocked from the U.S. Capitol riot less than a month earlier. Still, he vowed that this years legislative session would provide relief.

Just three weeks earlier, state lawmakers had convened the 87th Legislature. And another two weeks after Abbotts address, Texas would plummet into darkness as a deadly winter storm cut off the lights for millions across the state.

On Feb. 1, though, Abbott was busy laying out his legislative priorities. Speaking to the camera, he urged lawmakers to tackle five emergency items, including so-called election integrity bills. Among the non-emergency priorities were expanding gun rights and banning abortion.

The ground was laid for what became a historic legislative session, one that some Republicans have celebrated as the most conservative session yet.

Rockwall state Rep. Justin Holland is among the Republicans championing the session. Taking to Twitter on May 5, with only a few weeks of lawmaking left, Holland insisted that it was perhaps the most conservative session in Texas history.

While many liberals would begrudgingly agree with that claim, some Republican Party leaders have slammed lawmakers for not moving the needle far enough right.

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Rockwall state Rep. Justin Holland has claimed this was the most conservative session yet

courtesy Rep. Justin Hollands office

On May 24, Holland apparently dressed to make history. He sported a navy and red tie and a plaid blazer. The state Senate had just passed one of his bills, all but ensuring that Texas would become a so-called Second Amendment sanctuary state. Soon, itd be on its way to the governors desk.

Holland was beaming as he posed for a photo beside Republican colleagues. State Reps. Shelby Slawson and Matt Schaefer had also advanced the conservative cause this session, spearheading two of the Houses anti-abortion and pro-gun bills, respectively.

With time running out on the clock, Holland knew the 87th Legislature would be one for the books. We have addressed a very large number of conservative priorities, Holland told me. And I do think it is when the dust settles the most conservative session weve ever had, certainly since Ive been here, but I think ever.

Gov. Abbott celebrated Hollands Second Amendment sanctuary bill onTwitter, writing it would protect the Lone Star State from any new federal gun control regulations. Dont tread on Texas. The Senate had also approved a compromise on Schaefers so-called constitutional carry bill, which would allow Texans to carry a handgun without a license. And the previous Wednesday, the Senates heartbeat bill was signed into law, effectively banning abortions statewide. Slawson had authored an identical companion bill in the House.

On top of tending to regular responsibilities, such as passing the states budget, the Legislature also had the once-in-a-decade redistricting process to contend with. Last year, state lawmakers expected theyd have to make a grueling series of budget cuts, but the federal government helped by providing COVID-19 aid.

And a special session for redistricting will be held later this year because of a delay in receiving census data. That further freed up the Republican-majority Legislature to focus on issues important to its base.

Soon, Holland said, conservative lawmakers had passed religious liberties and bail reform bills, plus those pertaining to election integrity or, as Democrats call it, voter suppression. The way Holland sees it, those were all major victories and conservative lawmakers had delivered the goods for Texas voters who resoundingly reelected them in November, despite Texas Democrats hopes of reclaiming a House majority. Instead, they didnt pick up a single seat.

Holland isnt the only one who thinks this was the most conservative yet. On May 11, Texas Tribune CEO Evan Smith echoed the sentiment in a tweet: this is my fifteenth #txlege and it is, hands down, not even close, the most conservative session ive ever seen, he said, along with the hashtag #electionshaveconsequences.

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Republicans want to keep police in Texas well funded.

Brian Maschino

Last year, after a police officer killed George Floyd, a 46-year-old Black man, in Minneapolis, Black Lives Matter protests surged around the country. Activists rallied around the slogan defund the police. But conservative state lawmakers fought back, threatening to fiscally punish cities that slash law enforcement funding. They also pushed legislation that would make it more difficult for educators to teach about racism.

On Thursday, May 6, state Rep. Jasmine Crockett booked it up to the House mic. The Dallas Democrat had a few pointed questions for House Bill 1900s author, and she didnt hold back.

State Rep. Craig Goldman, a Republican from Fort Worth, had authored a bill that would punish certain municipalities that cut their police funding. The legislation would penalize cities of more than 250,000 people, including Dallas, which last year had opted to decrease its police overtime budget, though the departments overall budget increased.

Crockett battered Goldman with questions that day, her attorney skills on full display. For her, it was personal. Sadly enough, plenty of people havent been to South Dallas, where Black people are afraid most of the time because they dont know if theyre going to get killed, Crockett said, fighting back tears. And instead of us doing something to protect people in this state, we decide to punish punish people who are already suffering. Last week, the bill passed out of the Senate.

Other Texas Democrats have also felt helpless to keep conservative legislation from advancing.

On May 11, the Texas Democratic Party slammed House lawmakers for passing Senate Bill 7, which would limit the ways Texans can cast their ballots. The bill joined hundreds like it across the country, proposals to impose tighter restrictions on voting. The wave of legislation came in response to the 2020 presidential election, which many Republicans falsely claim was rigged against former President Donald Trump.

Texas Democrats had again failed to stir up a blue wave last November, but the partys chair, Gilberto Hinojosa, issued a scorching statement on Republicans voter suppression efforts, calling it their only hope of staying in power.

Even some Republicans were unhappy with the bill, albeit for different reasons. Take Allen West, chairman of the Texas GOP. He said SB 7 had been gutted and replaced, a fact that disappointed him, given that election integrity was a priority.

I caught up with West by phone on May 20, two days after his first grandsons birth. He gave lawmakers credit for passing the heartbeat bill that practically outlaws abortion an end to the dismemberment of unborn children, he called it but that wasnt enough.

West insisted the grassroots conservative base was disappointed with the Republican majority they worked so hard to elect. When I think about some of the other things that have been wasted upon I mean, declaring Dr Pepper the official drink of Texas or San Marcos as the official mermaid capital of Texas I dont think the people want those to be priority issues, he said.

Lawmakers let die bills that would protect Confederate monuments. Important legislation regarding school choice and taxpayer-funded lobbying also fizzled out, West said. Plus, certain bills that would essentially ban gender-affirming care for transgender minors failed to make it to the finish line. So to come out and say this was the most conservative legislative session in history for the state of Texas, West argued, thats delusional, and I dont understand why anyone would say that.

State Rep. Holland thinks West is merely posturing for personal gain and positioning himself to run for higher office. The Republican Party of Texas has been hijacked by a carpetbagger from Florida, and so Allen West does not represent all of the Republicans in Texas, Holland said.

The type of Republican I am is to work on issues that mean things to our party and mean things to our conservative values, he continued. [Wests] is to stoke up his base and make them think were not doing a good job.

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Gov. Greg Abbott is laying out a conservative agenda for the legislative session

Lynda M. Gonzalez-Pool/Getty Images

Theres no denying fissures within the Texas GOP have grown since Wests ascension to state GOP chair last summer.

A former Florida congressman and Tea Party favorite, West moved to Texas sometime after he was defeated by a Democrat in his 2012 bid for reelection. Since then, hes carved a name for himself as a political firebrand and one of the governors greatest Republican foes. Last October, he protested against Abbotts coronavirus restrictions outside the governors mansion. Legislation that would have reined in some of Abbotts executive powers also died, West said, which was another state GOP priority.

When we spoke, West said hed give the 2021 legislative session a D grade. But Thomas Marshall, a political science professor at the University of Texas at Arlington, disagrees: As of last Tuesday morning, hed give the session, from a conservative point of view, an A-minus.

After holding onto a legislative majority in the 2020 election, Republicans set themselves up for success, Marshall said. They changed the Senate rules to require 18 votes instead of 19 for a supermajority, ensuring an easier route to pass conservative legislation. From there, they deftly avoided progressive legislation, such as skirting some of the provisions in the George Floyd Act, a police reform bill.

Until around a decade ago, the Texas Senate was run by more moderate Republicans, Marshall said, but some have since lost reelection or retired. The remaining Senate Republicans are a more conservative bunch, certainly more so than those of the 1990s.

But during the 2020 election, Democrats failed to gain enough ground in the Legislature, and that harmed their chances of blocking legislation they saw as particularly damaging, Marshall said. Republicans would have offered red-meat bills anyway, but this time around, it was easier to advance them.

Although politics have become increasingly polarized for some time, Marshall said, last years contentious presidential election and social justice protests sharply escalated the tension at the grassroots level. Republican voters expected their lawmakers to make big moves, even if they were symbolic.

Legislators already anticipated a special session for redistricting in the fall, during which officials will take census data and redraw voting districts. But the legislative session got more complicated last Wednesday, with less than a week left to go before adjournment.

Last Tuesday was the final day for the House to advance Senate bills, and as the clock struck midnight, Democratic House lawmakers celebrated: Time had run out on three of Lt. Gov. Dan Patricks priorities. One bill would have prevented local governments from paying lobbyists with taxpayer funds. Another would have prohibited social media giants from "censoring" Texans for their political viewpoints. The third bill was even more controversial: It would have kept young transgender athletes from playing on school sports teams that align with their gender identity.

But Patrick had one last trick up his sleeve. In a tweet last Wednesday morning, he petitioned Abbott to call a special June session to pass those priorities.

Things got even muddier late Sunday night after Democrats walked off the House floorto block the passage ofSB 7, the "election integrity" bill.The move may have stalled that issue for now,but Gov. Abbott plans to add it to the special session agenda.

By and large, though, legislators like Holland are pleased even if critics arent. Soon, some lawmakers will ask voters to reelect them in November 2022. I cant wait to go and brag on what a session we had, Holland said. And people that dont think we did enough, well just have to work on that next time for them.

If they didnt think we did a good job, he continued, then we dont get to go back.

Keep the Dallas Observer Free... Since we started the Dallas Observer, it has been defined as the free, independent voice of Dallas, and we would like to keep it that way. Offering our readers free access to incisive coverage of local news, food and culture. Producing stories on everything from political scandals to the hottest new bands, with gutsy reporting, stylish writing, and staffers who've won everything from the Society of Professional Journalists' Sigma Delta Chi feature-writing award to the Casey Medal for Meritorious Journalism. But with local journalism's existence under siege and advertising revenue setbacks having a larger impact, it is important now more than ever for us to rally support behind funding our local journalism. You can help by participating in our "I Support" membership program, allowing us to keep covering Dallas with no paywalls.

Simone Carter, a staff news reporter at the Dallas Observer, graduated from the University of North Texas' Mayborn School of Journalism. Her favorite color is red, but she digs Miles Davis' Kind of Blue.

Read more:
Conservative Lawmakers Ran Roughshod Over Dems, but Some in the GOP Wanted More - Dallas Observer

Will a new movement steer the Republican party away from Donald Trump?

Frustrated by the direction the Republican party has taken since nominating Donald Trump as its presidential candidate, a group of Republican leaders is pushing to "rededicate" the GOP to its founding ideals. Led by Republican and independent leaders, the group put out a public declaration titled A Call for American Renewal. More than 150 leaders have joined.

"We will not wait forever for the GOP to clean up its act," Miles Taylor, a founder of the movement, tweeted after releasing the five-page document outlining the group's concerns and goals. "If we cannot save the Republican Party from itself, we will help save America from extremist elements in the Republican Party."

Here's what the group hopes to accomplish and who is in it. For more on what Washington is doing now, here is when you can expect to start receiving your first child tax credit payment, what is happening with the federal unemployment payments and what the chances are of a fourth stimulus check.

Now playing: Watch this: Child tax credit: Everything we know

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The movement describes itself as consisting of local, state and national leaders. The group says its members seek to form a "common-sense coalition" that will work to overcome the "division and political extremism" of the current political system.

"There is a cohort of people who want [an] 'I'm not crazy' coalition that they can join," according to Taylor, who is also the author of a New York Times op-ed that criticized the Trump administration during the middle of the 45th president's term. The piece was attributed to Anonymous, described at the time as a senior administration official.

Concern among some Republicans about their party's direction isn't new. Trump's 2016 candidacy prompted a small, loosely knit group often referred to asNever Trumpers that spanned from party leaders to newspaper columnists and fought to keep the property magnate and reality television star from being nominated.

A group of Republicans is looking for another path for their party.

The Republican and independent political leaders who signed the declaration include former members of Congress (such as Virginia Rep. Barbara Comstock), former governors (former New Jersey Gov. Christine Todd Whitman, for example), members of the Trump administration (former Trump White House Director of Communications Anthony Scaramucci, among others) and political commentators (including Bill O'Reilly).

Dissatisfaction within a political party is nothing new. The Tea Party movement that started around 2009, for example, called for the Republican party to embrace more fiscally conservative policies. On the left, supporters of the Green New Deal since 2019 have pushed the Democratic party to focus on climate change.

At the national level, a new third party would face an uphill battle to become viable. The grip the Democratic and Republican parties have on the national political structure and the winner-take-all nature of the Electoral College work to keep a third party from gaining a foothold.

For more on what's happening at the national level, here's how to check on the status of your income tax refund, how much you could expect to receive from the advance child tax creditand what President Joe Biden is considering putting in his next two stimulus proposals.

Learn smart gadget and internet tips and tricks with our entertaining and ingenious how-tos.

See the original post here:
New party for anti-Trump Republicans? Here's what is happening - CNET

Todays topic is hypocrisy in our liberal local elected officials and in the progressive local, state and national Democratic Party.

Hypocrisy is the act of pretending to have a character, beliefs or principles that one does not possess, a pretense of virtue or piety, false goodness.

Human nature and our culture are full of hypocrisy from George Orwells doublespeak to local candidates not being completely honest with voters. Your husband could be hypocritical when he says he cant watch the kids because he has an important errand to run for the family, and then he goes fishing. A state governor shows hypocrisy when she ridicules constituents on a certain behavior, like wearing a mask, and then is caught in a social group without her mask. Hypocrisies can be harmless or dangerous depending on motive, intent and desired outcome.

While candidates last year, the Summit School District Board of Education members glossed over their desire to implement a sweeping program of social justice policies. Then once they were safely elected, every white person in Summit County was immediately a racist in their view. Everything was fine until they actually got into office, at which point they imposed the most racist policy by accusing everyone who disagreed with them of being a racist.

Town council candidates in Breckenridge and Frisco talked about a vague unthreatening future for our towns with words like livability. It sounds nice enough, but nobody knows what it means. As it turns out, livability is a buzzword for allowing socialist governments to implement restrictive public policies that can limit the number and kinds of people who can visit, and how residents can use their private property. If the local governments dont like you or your behavior, then livability is a ubiquitous term that gives them carte blanche to treat you as they see fit (e.g., climate change mandates).

Local employee workforce housing is another hypocritical pretense to allow our government to subsidize the lifestyle that socialist mayors like Hunter Mortensen dream of. When he ran for mayor of Frisco, he never mentioned implementing a state of emergency because his precious lifestyle was being threatened by the realities of our real estate supply/demand curve. Id like to live in La Jolla, California, overlooking the Pacific Ocean, but I dont expect the government to pay for it.

When the builders of our community came here in the 1960s and 1970s, we never had any government subsidies for housing. Jeff Bergeron should know. It was as cost-prohibitive then as now. We lived in condominium basement boiler rooms, restaurant kitchen storage rooms, second home garages and in our vans parked anywhere five or six of us in a space just to live in paradise for a while. It wasnt a right; it was a privilege.

I was encouraged this week to meet four guys from the University of Alabama, all of whom came to Summit County and found work and housing. So I know it can be done the old-fashioned way without Mortensens emergency powers. Pretense of virtue, false goodness.

Hypocrisy has been very apparent in the aftermath of the George Floyd riots last year as Democratic district attorneys have chosen not to prosecute violent rioters yet went all in to prosecute and detain protesters at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6. Say one thing, do another.

Todays local, state and national liberal progressives are the most hypocritical political party. They preach tolerance, fairness and individual caring. Yet one look at the Summit Daily News letters to the editor shows the local Summit Haters Club lashing out full of venom demanding that the editor cancel any dissenting opinions. Hardly tolerant.

Local liberals on our town councils and school board dont want to liberate us. They want to control our lives with draconian policies in which we have no input. Hardly fair.

Liberal progressives nationwide want to tear down our society that has been the most benevolent civilization in human history to raise the standard of living for all individuals and replace it with monolithic, communist central planning. Hardly caring for the individual.

Just tell us the truth without hypocrisy. Then we the people can decide what is right.

Kim McGaheys column Conservative Common Sense publishes Tuesdays in the Summit Daily News. McGahey is a real estate broker, tea party activist and former Republican candidate. He has lived in Breckenridge since 1978. Contact him at kimmcgahey@gmail.com.

Link:
Opinion | Kim McGahey: Enough of the hypocrisy already - Summit Daily News

In the USA, laws are a response to a generally felt need. The anti-riot law does not meet this criterion, because current laws cover riotous behavior. Instead, it seems aimed at certain kinds of behavior, which gives the enforcer (the cops) the job of interpreting the law, which is the courts duty.

After hearing about the posters for hiring instigators and the piles of bricks stashed along the protest route beforehand, one can assume that a peaceful protest will become unruly.

Inflammatory speech or a thrown brick can change a peaceful crowd into an angry mob. Surely, law enforcement in Florida is aware of this.

The pics of white murderers completely unscathed juxtaposed with those of unarmed, Black, battered and bruised traffic violators leave little doubt about who would be arrested.

The phrases ... different levels of punishment and ... threaten people ... alone are an invitation to subjective and selective enforcement.

Since the civil rights movement of the 60s, cops have gained raises and political power by painting Blacks as people to be feared. This law is merely a codification of that sentiment. Im not sure about anti-American, though!

I was taught about King George and the Boston Tea Party. Didnt people get mad about taxes and rebel? Wasnt that the violent protest on which America arose? And wasnt that destroying others property?

Was that a peaceful protest at Fort Sumter? Based on our history, that sure seems American to me.

Despite this real history, a recent letter-writer to The Beacon wrote ... destruction of property is not the way to protest Though he didnt mention these rioters, that writer surely is receptive to tracking down, arresting and prosecuting those violent rioters at the nations Capitol.

From a historic perspective, Black people who dared protest will be punished by this law.

I guess the letter-writer agrees with that SCOTUS judge who said a Black person has no rights a white man should respect. Because he completely ignores the damage done daily to the minds of Black Americans.

Read this article:
Letter to the Editor: 'Anti-riot law' clearly directed at certain people - The West Volusia Beacon