5587

The bill would mandate enhanced sentencing for defendants convicted of targeting a victim because of their “actual or perceived race, color, religion, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender, mental disability, or physical disability.” That would mean additional potential prison time or fines on top of sentences for the type of crime for which the defendant was convicted, such as manslaughter or murder.

Kemp has stated that he’ll sign the Bill pending legal review. Still:

The bill has not been without controversy. Debate erupted last week when Senate Republicans amended the bill to extend hate crime protections to law enforcement and first responders. Critics said the addition diluted the symbolic nature of hate crime legislation, which is typically intended to send a strong message condemning hate that has historically plagued marginalized communities in the U.S.

The first responders amendment was later struck from the bill in a bipartisan compromise, but some protections for law enforcement were folded into another bill that passed the House Tuesday, HB838. That proposed legislation would create a “bill of rights” for officers under investigation, and would add additional penalties for people convicted of targeting a firefighter, police officer or paramedic specifically because of their profession.

In a statement, the Democratic Party of Georgia said Republicans “forced through” HB838 even though law enforcement officials are already afforded protections under state law and “are all too often at the center of violence against the marginalized Georgians that the hate crimes law is looking to protect.”

So, some protection from ol’ Jim Bob but perhaps not from Officer Jim Bob.

5588

Oh man, this is going to have the conspiracy theory sites going nuts. Apparently every once in a while they’re right about something.

5589

Oh no, this is really bad. White nationalists are going to go nuts. I’m staying off the Reddit, Facebook, and Twitter.

5590

It’s not like it was a “false flag” or anything.

5591

True, but that’s not what’s going to be screamed about for the next 2 weeks in an attempt to totally invalidate the entire Black Lives Matter movement.

5592

My takeaway is if it was up there for years, why was nothing done about it before now? The symbolism is still the same. And while it clearly shows that there was no targeting here which ruins the narrative of it being a hate crime, what it symbolized is hate, pure and simple. But that kumbaya crap doesn’t get clicks or sell ads so the media will go with “nothing to see here, move along”.

5593

For the sake of clarity for anyone not doing any clicking to other links on the Bubba Wallace story, he never saw the garage door pull/noose himself. Ever. It was a member of his crew who found it, thought it was disturbing, and notified NASCAR. NASCAR then gave Wallace the details of what they found.

5594

“Based upon my review, these are extreme violations of our policies,” he wrote. “I find your conduct a shock to the conscience.”

Violated the department’s deadly force standards resulting in the death of a civilian but no charges pressed as yet.

5595

And of course, the message to the police is “don’t be involved in a public scandal, that costs you your job” not “don’t shoot random black people, that costs you your job” as it should be.

5596

Mine as well. It’s an obvious thing. So. Who was in that garage in October of 2019? Ask them a few questions.

5597

Rudes with some soothing words.

5598

Man. I’m appalled at the blatant…everything…going on from this Very Serious Mainstream Republican. I can’t imagine what I’d be feeling if I were idk black.

So grotesque.

5599

Why doesn’t he just don his white hood and sheets now? After that tirade no reason to hide it anymore.

5600

I know that’s framed as being ‘bad,’ but I’m onboard with pretty much all of it.

5601

5602

Rudy’s tweet, annotated:
“destroy law enforcement” - fine with me. Fire all the cops and rebuild.
“end bail” - fine with me, bail favors the wealthy.
“empty the prisons” - probably fine in most non-violent instances, particularly “including drug dealers” and especially “as well as users.”
“provide themselves with reparations” - 100% cool with reparations.
“AND a full-time government income without the necessity of work” - UBI is good too.

5603

Okay. I think I understand now. You weren’t onboard with Rudy’s racism. But the general plan. Hard to glean at first.

5604

Yeah, I was onboard with the BLM platform that his tweet framed as being bad. That wasn’t super clear in hindsight.

5605

I’m not yet sold on UBI. I’d like to see more research on it. The rest… I guess to some degree, I agree with all of it. Its a bit radical, but maybe radical is what we need right now.

5606

Well the theory is espoused (quite effectively) in this book.

And the fallout from Finlands experiment (the gold standard so far for trying it) is still going on.