George Floyd/Derek Chauvin Case Swings?, 40 Children Dead in Myanmar at the Hands of the Military, Voter ID Law Corporate Fails, Jordan B. Peterson a Captain America Villain? (The Five for 04/06/21)
Hey,
Welcome to The Five. Sadly, I missed publication last week due to illness and a crazy schedule (the first time in over a year!) but we’re back to a regular Tuesday/Friday publishing schedule now.
Let’s get into the news:
[one]
A major turning point in the Derek Chauvin murder trial (the Minneapolis officer up on 2nd degree murder charges after the death of George Floyd during an arrest) may have happened with Morries Hall, who was in the passenger seat when Floyd was pulled over, refusing to testify.
MSN reports:
Morries Hall, who was in the front-passenger seat when police first confronted Floyd in Minneapolis last spring, appeared via video conference as lawyer Adrienne Cousins explained to the court why her client is planning to invoke the Fifth Amendment, a constitutional right against self-incrimination.
Cousins said that testifying about any of his actions on May 25, including whether Hall provided drugs to Floyd that day, could potentially lead to a series of criminal charges.
“There’s an allegation here that Mr. Floyd ingested a controlled substance as police were removing him from the car — a car, by the way, that has been searched twice and, to my understanding, drugs have been found in that car twice,” she said. “This leaves Mr. Hall potentially incriminating himself in a future prosecution for third-degree murder.”
In the court system, all the defense has to do is prove reasonable doubt for an acquittal. If the jury is convinced that maybe Floyd died from an overdose (or, maybe he died from Chavin kneeling on him during the arrest), that’s enough for a “not guilty” verdict.
One point worth noting here is that if Chauvin is convincted of second degree murder or manslaughter, he’ll likely receive 10-12 years in prison. If this happens, it will be longer than the sentences for the 13 and 15 year old girls charged with murdering Pakistani immigrant Muhommad Anwar in an attempted carjacking of the Ubereats driver last week. If the girls are convicted as minors, they can’t be held past the age of 21.
Anwar was the sole provider for his immigrant family. You can donate to the GoFundMe to assist with funeral expenses here.
[two]
In the wake of the coupe in Myanmar, more than 40 children have now been murdered by the military, most for simply being in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Since staging a Feb. 1 coup and jailing the nation’s civilian leaders, the Myanmar military, known as the Tatmadaw, has murdered, assaulted and arrested with impunity. More than 550 people have been killed on the streets and in their homes by soldiers or police officers, according to a monitoring group.
At least 40 of the dead were children under 18, according to a tally compiled by The New York Times that relies on medical testimony, funeral details and family accounts. A few of the minors were killed for participating in the protests. Many others were bystanders who were seemingly executed, with a single gunshot to the head.Often the children were killed as they went about their lives, playing or huddling with their families, in cities and towns that have descended into terror. Some had done nothing more threatening in their final moments than seek the comfort of a father’s lap, serve tea, fetch water or run down a lane with a piece of coconut.
The general populous in Myanmar is crying out for democracy to be restored, which doesn’t seem like a probable outcome.
It’s a stark reminder that, for all the problems the U.S. has, bands of Marines and Army infantry aren’t ranging through our neighborhoods shooting children for the crimes of…playing outside…or running errands…or showing fear of the soldiers.
[three]
Again, because I was unable to put out The Five last week, I’m assuming you’ve heard about Georgia’s election changes.
I’m going to go as neutral as possible in my source here and pick the writeup from the San Diego ABC affiliate, which puts to rest a couple of much debated points about the law:
It’s not illegal to hand a voter water while they’re in line. Bring your own water. Bring a case of water for strangers if you want. What is banned is for a campaign to hand you a gift (including food or drink) within 150 feet of the polling place.
Weekend voting has been expanded (it’s been mis-reported that weekend voting was cut, which isn’t in the legislation that passed).
ID is required to vote, but ID in Georgia is free so this is not a “poll tax.”
This kicked off a series of shots back and forth (mainly on social media) as corporations were quick to condemn changes to the law.
Paypal, American Airlines and Major League Baseball all confirmed ID’s are required to use their services, and this will not change. Apparently none of them will admit to the irony of an ID required to attend a baseball game or purchase something from eBay.
As someone who’s worked in crisis communication for organizations, I would have crafted a reply closer to “yes, we require ID, but voting is a right and an ID requirement impedes on the rights of American citizens.”
But apparently the people running the Paypal and American Airlines (and MLB site) aren’t that crafty. Here’s how the brands handled it:
On the other side of the political aisle, Texas Governor Greg Abbott pulled out from throwing out the first pitch at the Texas Rangers home opener because baseball is “being influenced by partisan politics.”
Of course, Governor Abbott is also taking partisan action to influence the MLB.
This is all political theater, but it does have a real world consequence…we’re losing yet another patch of “neutral ground” for people who hold different views to bond over.
If I were advising Abbot, I would have told him to make his statement, but hold to the tradition of throwing out the first pitch because common ground (like sports) are vital elements of a free society.
Abbot can’t take a shot at the MLB without the debris also hitting the Texas Rangers and Houston Astros, two important economic and cultural engines for his state.
Oh, and if you want to hate the MLB for anything, hate the league for cozying up to the Chinese Communist Party as that nation’s human rights violations escalate.
UPDATE: (I write these a day ahead of time, FYI…this broke after I wrote the rest). The All-Star game has moved to the Colorado Rockies stadium. As YouTuber Maj Toure points out, Colorado and Georgia share the same voting laws…but the move has robbed huge income potential from an untold number of black-owned businesses in Atlanta.
[four]
Due to the surge of people crossing the southern border, the Department of Homeland Security may continue construction on Donald Trump’s border wall.
Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas told department employees he may restart border wall construction to plug what he called “gaps” in the current barrier.
In a conversation with Immigration and Customs Enformcement employees last week Mr. Mayorkas was asked about his plans for the wall and he said that while President Biden has canceled the border emergency and halted Pentagon money flowing to the wall, “that leaves room to make decisions” on finishing some “gaps in the wall.”
Mr. Mayorkas, according to notes of the ICE session reviewed by The Washington Times, said Customs and Border Protection, which oversees the wall, has submitted a plan for what it wants to see happen moving forward.
Mayorkas is an appointee of the Biden Administration, which some see as Biden continuing the Trump agenda on a physical barrier between the U.S. and Mexico.
[five]
I carefully considered whether or not to include this next story, as I’m very intentional to avoid “Twitter clapback” stories as “news.”
However, I do think the following is real news worth covering.
We’ll need to take a minute to unpack what’s going on in this Tweet. Ta-Nehisi Coates rose to prominence for his memoir Between the World and Me, a beautifully written book that’s worth your time. However, I strongly disagree with Coates Nietchze-like conclusion of racial nihilism. In my opinion, Coates has a way with words but not with vision for the future.
While I agree with Coates on his broad thesis that racism is a problem in the U.S., I can’t co-sign his utter sense of hopelessness and tendency to root for everything to burn to the ground, with no plans for what’s next.
In Between the World and Me Coates writes of smoking a joint on his rooftop in New York City on 9/11 and watching the Twin Towers fall on with a sense of smug satisfaction.
I could see no difference between the officers who killed Prince Jones and the police who died, or the firefighters who died. They were not human to me. Black, White, or whatever, they were the menaces of nature; they were the fire, the comet, the storm, which could—with no justification—shatter my body.
Uhh…even if you hate cops, the anger at firefighters make no sense whatsoever.
As I reported on previously, Coates is currently penning an upcoming Superman movie for DC/Warner Brothers, which will likely get pretty preachy and nihilistic. But hey, the movie isn’t out yet, and I’ll gladly give it a watch and a fair shake it it looks good.
Coates has also moved into writing comics. Yesterday, the news broke on Twitter that Ta-Nehisi had allegedly transformed the classic Captain America villain Red Skull into a clone of mega-popular Canadian psychologist Jordan B. Peterson, who’s bestselling books are titled Twelve Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos and Beyond Order: Twelve Rules for Life.
As with the baseball story above…this is further erosion of common, non-partisan spaces in American society.
Some things shouldn’t be politicized and weaponized, and this level of personal attack moves Coates’ comic from narrative (which can still have strong political/subversive messaging) to open propaganda with corporate backing.
In a different format, I’d love a debate between Peterson and Coates.
But we’re not better off as a society when the collateral damage to political and ideological fights becomes the general public not being able to enjoy classic American pasttimes like baseball and superhero stories without taking a political side.
[epilogue]
A year later, one of the most telling images of the 2020 lockdown.
Until the next one,
-sth