Effort to recall Bourne School Committee member Kari MacRae continues. Here's what we know

Paul Gately

Special to the Times

Published Feb. 8, 2022 

BOURNE — With the first 250 signatures behind them, those who are trying to recall Bourne School Committee member Kari D. MacRae will now be looking for six times that number.

The first step in recalling MacRae has proceeded to the point at which enough affidavit signatures were filed last week with Town Clerk Barry Johnson’s office to move the recall process forward.

During a meeting that filled the high school auditorium, Bourne educators and some parents of students last October pressed MacRae to resign from the school board due to posts on her TikTok account relating to gender identity issues and critical race theory.

MacRae refused to resign and proceeded to launch a state Senate campaign to unseat Sen. Susan Moran, D-Falmouth, in the Plymouth-Barnstable District. MacRae vows to remain on the Bourne school board if elected to Beacon Hill.

Election 2022:Bourne school board member will remain if also elected to state senate

The next procedural step after certification of the 250 signatures filed Wednesday for the recall is for Johnson within 10 days to notify selectmen and MacRae about the affidavit. Then he must issue a blank petition for collection of at least 1,486 signatures of registered voters, which must be certified to continue the recall effort.

The next round of signatures must be collected within 45 calendar days and, at the very least, must represent 10% of registered voters in town during MacRae’s election last year.

Former school committee member and chair Anne-Marie Siroonian has helped spearhead the collection of recall signatures and has pledged to run against MacRae in a recall contest. MacRae ran unopposed in the last election.

Selectmen Chairman Peter Meier said he does not want a recall question added to the annual May town ballot. However, Johnson said this will likely happen given the tight recall framework dictated by the Bourne Charter and his lack of funds for a special election.

“That election issue remains at the discretion of selectmen,” he said.

Johnson’s operating budget does not include funds for a $20,000 special election. But Meier said funds can be secured. 

He said the MacRae issue is “culturally divisive on its own merits” and that he does not want “political partisan divisiveness necessarily being introduced to the annual election.”

Recall supporters are committed to collecting signatures, Johnson said, adding that the effort is not easy and was not meant to be when the Bourne Charter was written.

“I get calls routinely every week,” he said. “About (interim) schedules, deadlines and procedures.”

MacRae’s state Senate race, with high-level state Republican Party support, pivots on a number of points and embraces parental rights. 

Fight spans two districts:Bourne school board member says she was fired from teaching job over social media posts

She was fired from a teaching job in Hanover in the fall. A conservative advocacy group, Judicial Watch, filed a federal civil rights lawsuit on Nov. 29 that claims MacRae was fired in retaliation for social media posts that objected to the inclusion of critical race theory in schools.

Bourne educators have stressed that critical race theory is not taught in Bourne classrooms and nobody has ever questioned what is taught about history in classrooms, which are based on state curriculum frameworks.

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RSN: FOCUS: Paul Krugman | Attack of the Right-Wing Thought Police

 

 

26 January 22

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FOCUS: Paul Krugman | Attack of the Right-Wing Thought Police
Paul Krugman, The New York Times
Krugman writes: "Freedom is under attack, on more fronts than many people realize."

Americans like to think of their nation as a beacon of freedom. And despite all the ways in which we have failed to live up to our self-image, above all the vast injustices that sprang from the original sin of slavery, freedom — not just free elections, but also freedom of speech and thought — has long been a key element of the American idea.

Now, however, freedom is under attack, on more fronts than many people realize. Everyone knows about the Big Lie, the refusal by a large majority of Republicans to accept the legitimacy of a lost election. But there are many other areas in which freedom is not just under assault but in retreat.

Let’s talk, in particular, about the attack on education, especially but not only in Florida, which has become one of America’s leading laboratories of democratic erosion.

Republicans have made considerable political hay by denouncing the teaching of critical race theory; this strategy has succeeded even though most voters have no idea what that theory is and it isn’t actually being taught in public schools. But the facts in this case don’t matter, because denunciations of CRT are basically a cover for a much bigger agenda: an attempt to stop schools from teaching anything that makes right-wingers uncomfortable.

I use that last word advisedly: There’s a bill advancing in the Florida Senate declaring that an individual “should not be made to feel discomfort, guilt, anguish or any other form of psychological distress on account of his or her race.” That is, the criterion for what can be taught isn’t “Is it true? Is it supported by the scholarly consensus?” but rather “Does it make certain constituencies uncomfortable?”

Anyone tempted to place an innocuous interpretation on this provision — maybe it’s just about not assigning collective guilt? — should read the text of the bill. Among other things, it cites as its two prime examples of things that must not happen in schools “denial or minimization of the Holocaust, and the teaching of critical race theory” — because suggesting that “racism is embedded in American society” (the bill’s definition of the theory) is just the same as denying that Hitler killed 6 million Jews.

What’s really striking, however, is the idea that schools should be prohibited from teaching anything that causes “discomfort” among students and their parents. If you imagine that the effects of applying this principle would be limited to teaching about race relations, you’re being utterly naive.

For one thing, racism is far from being the only disturbing topic in American history. I’m sure that some students will find that the story of how we came to invade Iraq — or for that matter how we got involved in Vietnam — makes them uncomfortable. Ban those topics from the curriculum!

Then there’s the teaching of science. Most high schools do teach the theory of evolution, but leading Republican politicians are either evasive or actively deny the scientific consensus, presumably reflecting the GOP base’s discomfort with the concept. Once the Florida standard takes hold, how long will teaching of evolution survive?

Geology, by the way, has the same problem. I have been on nature tours where the guides refuse to talk about the origins of rock formations, saying that they have had problems with some religious guests.

Oh, and given the growing importance of anti-vaccination posturing as a badge of conservative allegiance, how long before basic epidemiology — maybe even the germ theory of disease — gets the critical race theory treatment?

And then there’s economics, which these days is widely taught at the high school level. (Full disclosure: Many high schools use an adapted version of the principles text I co-author.) Given the long history of politically driven attempts to prevent the teaching of Keynesian economics, what do you think the Florida standard would do to teaching in my home field?

The point is that the smear campaign against critical race theory is almost certainly the start of an attempt to subject education in general to rule by the right-wing thought police, which will have dire effects far beyond the specific topic of racism.

And who will enforce the rules? State-sponsored vigilantes! Last month Ron DeSantis, Florida’s governor, proposed a “Stop Woke Act” that would empower parents to sue school districts they claim teach critical race theory — and collect lawyer fees, a setup modeled on the bounties under Texas’ new anti-abortion law. Even the prospect of such lawsuits would have a chilling effect on teaching.

Did I mention that DeSantis also wants to create a special police force to investigate election fraud? Like the attacks on critical race theory, this is obviously an attempt to use a made-up issue — voter fraud is largely nonexistent — as an excuse for intimidation.

OK, I’m sure that some people will say that I’m making too much of these issues. But ask yourself: Has there been any point over, say, the past five years when warnings about right-wing extremism have proved overblown and those dismissing those warnings as “alarmist” have been right?

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RSN: FOCUS: Clint Watts | We're Training Our Own Insurrectionists

 

 

18 January 22

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FOCUS: Clint Watts | We're Training Our Own Insurrectionists
Clint Watts, The Washington Post
Excerpt: "The Oath Keepers are among those who use their military skills to advance their extremist plots."

The Oath Keepers are among those who use their military skills to advance their extremist plots.

Sprinkled through the 48-page indictment of Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes and 10 others for their alleged role in the Jan. 6 assault on the Capitol last year is terminology I learned as a U.S. Army infantryman. According to the indictment: Oath Keepers used a “stack,” a formation designed to breach a building or room, as they entered the Capitol. The group prepared a “QRF”— quick reaction force — in Virginia and conducted a “recce,” or reconnaissance, to Washington for their operation that fateful day. They organized “military style basic” training to get recruits “fighting fit for inauguration,” and Florida members participated in “unconventional warfare” training.

While I learned these terms and tactics with the express goal of defending my country, Rhodes and his Oath Keepers, according to the indictment that charges the 11 with seditious conspiracy, used them in pursuit of overthrowing it. The Oath Keepers logo looks a lot like the black-and-gold half-moon shape of the Army Ranger Tab — what soldiers receive for completing Ranger school — and the lingo they allegedly used in encrypted communications channels as they coordinated preparations has military origins. Alongside military terminology and doctrine, those reviewing Thursday’s indictment will find a group seeking armament and transport — purchasing night vision goggles, rifles and assault weapons, and planning transportation and escape routes.

None of this is coincidence; many of the Oath Keepers present at the Capitol were military veterans. The U.S. government is unintentionally training its own insurrectionists — providing the specialized and strategic-thinking skills needed to carry out an insurrection with any hope of success.

Rhodes himself, who apparently remained outside the Capitol during the attack, is a former Army paratrooper. Jessica Watkins, who led the Oath Keepers’ Ohio contingent on Jan. 6, joined the group’s main stack formation that breached the Capitol and was named in the Thursday indictment, is also an Army veteran. Edward Durfee Jr., a former Marine and leader of the Oath Keepers northern New Jersey region, was, like Rhodes, outside the Capitol during the insurrection but was not named in the indictment. Another Oath Keeper in Washington that day but not charged in connection with the attack, Alaska State Rep. David Eastman, is a U.S. Military Academy graduate who served in the military police battalion in Anchorage. He was called on to resign by some fellow U.S. Military Academy graduates after his Oath Keepers membership was revealed.

The Oath Keepers’ military veterans were not the only former and active military present at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Air Force veteran Larry Brock Jr. was photographed inside the Senate chamber wearing a tactical vest and helmet and gripping plastic handcuffs. Days before, Brock posted on Facebook about a second civil war, referring to his military oath to defend against “all enemies foreign and domestic.” Jacob Fracker, an infantry rifleman in the Marines who deployed to Afghanistan twice, is accused of storming the Capitol. A psychological operations officer and an Army Reserve sergeant in the 174th Infantry Brigade and Navy contractor who obtained a secret security clearance were also present.

International military coups have occurred many times over the past century, and at the moment, I still do not worry about one coming from within our current force. But what about America’s former military and law enforcement members? Long before the insurrection were violent extremist attacks from former Army members Timothy McVeigh in the heinous 1995 Oklahoma City bombing, Eric Rudolph in the 1996 Centennial Olympic Park bombing and Kevin Harpham in his failed IED plot at a 2011 Martin Luther King Jr. Day parade in Spokane, Wash. Fears of extremists using military training and skills in violence and terrorism arose in a Department of Homeland Security warning in 2009 before vanishing amid political pushback.

Some have claimed the events of Jan. 6 were not a coup attempt but a largely peaceful protest or even a false flag. The Thursday indictment, however, alleges in some detail how the Oath Keepers prepared to carry out terrorism — violence in pursuit of political change — unlike anything the United States has witnessed in recent history. Never in two decades working on international counterterrorism did I encounter in research or in person an armed al-Qaeda or Islamic State cell that came close to breaching the halls of the Capitol or killing the vice president or members of Congress — a possible outcome that has to be taken seriously since numerous members of the Capitol mob and those who planned for the day said that part out loud. In a post on Nov. 10, 2020, titled “Call to Action! March on DC, Stop the Steal, Defend the President, … Defeat the Deep State,” Rhodes wrote that on Nov. 14, the Oath Keepers militia would be “sending some of our most experienced LEO [law enforcement officers] and military combat veterans into D.C. … and in the days to come.” Rhodes called on “all our LEO, military, Fire, EMS, and search and rescue brothers and sisters nationwide” — those who would be “eminently capable if things turn physical.”

The problem of domestic extremists relying on military training, tactics and knowledge is bigger than the Oath Keepers. Take the plot to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D). The Wolverine Watchmen militia charged in the plot conducted firearms training and combat drills in preparation. Constitutional Sheriffs, whose members are drawn from the ranks of current law enforcement officers, some of whom reportedly have ties to extremist groups, may or may not enforce the laws. The military and law enforcement, two essential stalwart institutions of a strong democracy, have been gravely challenged in the era of Donald Trump. The Justice Department’s new charges against the Oath Keepers simply add some of the most alarming details yet to the deeply troubling picture of the political instability that has manifested in this country.

The Defense Department apparently worried about being dragged into the appearance of a coup on Jan. 6, in the aftermath of the National Guard’s deployment during the previous summer’s protests over the murder of George Floyd by a police officer. Had troops shown up more quickly to the Capitol, the National Guard most likely would have come face-to-face with fellow soldiers who also served in Iraq or Afghanistan. Now, in recent weeks, we’ve seen Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin seeking to rid the military’s ranks of extremists, but the military’s response is lacking clarity about which groups should be deemed extremist and what behavior might be considered incitement to violence or dangerous.

Unlike in the case of international terrorism, where the U.S. State Department designates foreign terrorist organizations so that the Justice Department can then preemptively pursue investigations based on affiliations, no such designation process exists for domestic terror groups; there’s nothing similar to provide the basis for policing extremism in our own country or in the military’s ranks.

At the moment, extremist groups like the Oath Keepers are not trying to overthrow the government violently — they’re trying to take it over at the ballot box. Oath Keepers have been running for local offices in states like New Jersey and New York. Members of the far-right group the Proud Boys, white supremacists and neo-Nazis are running in elections, too. What is extreme when extremists are in power?

And what needs to happen now? In a less-talked-about move this week, the Justice Department stood up a unit focused on countering domestic extremism. But if members of Congress continue claiming those who participated in last year’s insurrection were peaceful when they were clearly not, or if those elected to office are members of the same extremist groups participating in insurrections, the silent majority will be overtaken by a violent minority.

The federal government must decide beyond cases at the individual level which ideologies and corresponding groups conducting or advocating violence to overthrow the government — in plain sight — are domestic terror groups. And only in the face of consequences will we see domestic terrorists and those inciting them curb their activity. If the evidence of extremist violence is available openly on social media, we must allow our federal investigators to preemptively open inquiries into organizations clearly intending to overturn democratic processes and overturn institutions. Both of these changes require Congress to pass legislation and the Justice Department to update regulations. If such changes are not made, we should not be surprised if the next insurrection succeeds in effectively ending our democracy.

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POLITICO NIGHTLY: Magical thinking vs. Manchin

BY ELANA SCHOR Presented by With help from Tyler Weyant Sen. Joe Manchin is followed by reporters as he leaves a caucus meeting with Senate Democrats at the U.S. Capitol Building. | Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images WATCH ME PULL A BILL OUT OF THIS HAT — Magical thinking has a multitude of definitions in psychology, but at its root is the belief in connections that aren’t there: that one’s thoughts or actions have the power to change objective reality, for example. And Democrats have had, in 2021, a year of magical thinking (with apologies to Joan Didion and her masterful memoir). Regardless of how the majority of Joe Manchin’s party feels about his continued presence in their ranks — and he’s offered to leave it if his colleagues want him to — the West Virginian conveyed in every way possible that he wouldn’t back the House-passed social spending bill before he squashed it Sunday. Manchin said in September he didn’t favor the creation of a large number of new programs in the bill that would expire after only a few years, a political dare to make them permanent. The House-passed bill went that way regardless. Then, when Manchin pointedly declined to endorse the framework for the bill in November, it came after a weekend of texts from House progressives pushing him. “He was mad because members kept asking him for more s---,” one Senate Democratic colleague told us of Manchin, insisting on anonymity. And Manchin said last week that he wanted to see the expanded child tax credit permanently extended, rather than the yearlong reprieve it got in the House-passed social spending bill. He’s also previously indicated his interest in adding work requirements or other means-test-like conditions to the credit, though that wrinkle reemerged today as if it were new. In other words: Manchin’s objections to the bill were unsurprising, even as his decision to announce that he was finished negotiating landed as pretty startling in a Washington already accustomed to Democrats’ thinking. His more liberal colleagues believed they could change Manchin, that they could exert outsized power over him by wishing it were so. Their assumption proved fanciful; but as we report tonight, progressives aren’t reconciling themselves to trimming their agenda because of their inability to influence Manchin. Instead, they’re arguing that they can work around him and get President Joe Biden to use executive actions to enact some of what Manchin nixed. Democratic leaders have persisted in believing their intense focus on writing the most progressive-leaning climate and social spending bill possible would muscle it through the 50-50 Senate, past Manchin’s clearly stated opposition. They’re engaging in similar magical thinking about their elections and voting bill, letting their belief in its existential necessity blur the reality that it lacks a path to passage without filibuster reform that Manchin and Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) have said they do not support. The party is now left with a simple choice: Continue the magical thinking in the hopes that Manchin and the colleagues who may align with him on one or multiple priorities can be worn down by it, or embrace a more realistic perspective that involves further compromise. The furious Democratic base might prefer the first course of action. The odds of getting serious legislative wins next year will jump higher with the second one. Welcome to POLITICO Nightly. A programming note: Nightly won’t publish from Friday, Dec. 24-Friday, Dec. 31. But don’t fret: We’ll be back and better than ever on Monday, Jan. 3. Reach out with news, tips and ideas at nightly@politico.com. Or contact tonight’s author at eschor@politico.com, or on Twitter at @eschor.   A message from Mastercard: Holiday cheer is in the air and shoppers are returning to stores in force, including millions of small businesses across America. Mastercard SpendingPulse data shows that total retail sales are up nearly 30% compared to last year. By empowering small businesses with digital payment solutions, data insights and the tools to operate more efficiently, Mastercard is committed to helping them during this holiday season, and thrive in the future.   WHAT'D I MISS? — Omicron now the dominant Covid strain in U.S., CDC says: The highly transmissible Omicron variant has rapidly taken hold in the United States and now accounts for nearly three-quarters of new Covid-19 cases nationwide, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention . CDC estimates today showed that Omicron accounted for an estimated 73.2 percent of U.S. cases surveilled between Dec. 12 and 18, with the Delta variant now accounting for 26.6 percent of cases. Between Dec. 5 and Dec. 11, Omicron accounted for just 12.6 percent of U.S. cases, the agency estimated. — Biden and Manchin speak: Manchin and Biden spoke Sunday night after a major blowup in negotiations around the president’s domestic agenda , two people familiar with the call told POLITICO. The conversation ended with a sense that negotiations would, in fact, resume around the Build Back Better act in some form in the new year. White House staff had given Manchin a heads-up Thursday that the president was soon to put out a statement accepting a delay in the Build Back Better Act and that it was going to mention the West Virginia senator by name. Manchin objected, asking that either his name be left or that he not be alone because his family had already been the target of abuse and he didn’t want to be singled out.   POLITICO TECH AT CES 2022 - We are bringing a special edition of the POLITICO Tech newsletter to CES 2022. Written by Alexandra Levine and John Hendel, the newsletter will take you inside the most influential technology event on the planet, featuring every major and emerging industry in the technology ecosystem gathered together in one place. The newsletter runs from Jan. 5-7 and will focus on the public policy related aspects of the gathering. Sign up today to receive exclusive coverage of the Summit.     — Trump says he received vaccine booster: Former President Donald Trump said he received a Covid-19 booster shot, revealing the news to former Fox News host Bill O’Reilly on Sunday during one of their “History Tour” live events . O’Reilly also confirmed he received a booster shot, though neither said which one they received. The crowd began to boo Trump after he said he had gotten his booster shot, though the former president discouraged the jeers. — Pentagon issues rules aimed at stopping rise of extremism: Warning that extremism in the ranks is increasing, Pentagon officials are issuing detailed new rules prohibiting service members from actively engaging in extremist activities. The new guidelines come nearly a year after some current and former service members participated in the riot at the U.S. Capitol, triggering a broad department review. Senior defense officials tell the Associated Press that fewer than 100 military members are known to have been involved in substantiated cases of extremist activity in the past year, but they warn that the number may grow given recent spikes in domestic violent extremism, particularly among veterans.       — Maryland’s Hogan announces positive Covid test: Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan announced today he had tested positive for Covid-19, the latest in a string of high-profile public officials to have been infected as case rates escalate nationwide . “This morning, as part of my regular testing routine, I received a positive rapid test for COVID-19,” Hogan, a Republican, wrote on Twitter. “I have been vaccinated and boosted, and I am feeling fine at the moment.” — Alex Jones sues Jan. 6 committee, indicates plan to plead the Fifth: Pro-Trump broadcaster and conspiracy theorist Alex Jones is suing the Jan. 6 select committee to block the panel from obtaining his phone records and compelling his testimony at a deposition next month. In the suit, Jones says he intends to assert his Fifth amendment rights against self-incrimination — confirming a statement he made on his show — and that the committee rejected his offer to provide “written responses” to their questions. AROUND THE WORLD The Davos Congress Centre, center, prepared for the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, in 2020. | AP Photo/Markus Schreiber DAVOS HEADS ONLINE AGAIN — The World Economic Forum in Davos will go virtual for the second year in a row, amid the surge of Covid-19 cases in Europe and fears about the Omicron variant, organizers of the event announced today. “Current pandemic conditions make it extremely difficult to deliver a global in-person meeting,” the WEF said in a release. Instead, participants will join a headline series of "State of the World" sessions, bringing together global leaders online to focus on shaping solutions to the world’s most pressing challenges, Jules Darmanin and Johanna Treeck write. The forum was supposed to take place from Jan. 17-21 in the Swiss ski resort town. The full annual meeting, with in-person attendance, is now scheduled to take place in early summer. The annual meeting is a gathering of the world’s rich and powerful. The meeting has repeatedly come under fire, most recently because participants pay lip service to fighting climate change while flying in with private jets and helicopters.   STEP INSIDE THE WEST WING: What's really happening in West Wing offices? Find out who's up, who's down, and who really has the president’s ear in our West Wing Playbook newsletter, the insider's guide to the Biden White House and Cabinet. For buzzy nuggets and details that you won't find anywhere else, subscribe today.     NIGHTLY NUMBER 47 The number of Republican lawmakers who filed an amicus brief in support of a federal lawsuit brought by more than two dozen Navy SEALS seeking a religious exemption to the Biden administration’s vaccine mandate . The suit, which names Biden, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro, was heard in a federal courthouse in Fort Worth, Texas, today. The lawsuit was brought on behalf of 26 Navy SEALs and nine special operations crewmembers. PARTING WORDS With the statue of U.S. Navy Adm. David Farragut looming above, a man is tested for Covid-19 at a free testing site in the square named for the Civil War admiral famous for saying, "Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead," in Washington, D.C. THE ESSENTIALS — Nightly deputy editor Tyler Weyant emails: In an article by Ashish Jha in The Atlantic this weekend, titled “Don’t Panic About Omicron. But Don’t Be Indifferent, Either,” the dean of the Brown School of Public Health used a phrase that caught my eye as he talked about making choices during the pandemic: “... seeing friends and family? That is essential, and we should feel comfortable celebrating with our nearest and dearest these holidays — as long as everyone eligible is vaccinated and boosted, and uses rapid testing as an additional layer of protection.” Essential . It’s a word we’ve carried with us for the past two years. We learned which industries were considered essential to keeping our economy running. We celebrated doctors and nurses and grocery store workers and delivery drivers for the essential work they do for all of us. But “essential” and how we use it has evolved with the pandemic. The coming week will be a test of how we see the word now, how essential we feel the rituals of the holidays are, how essential seeing that friend who’s been having a rough time is. The things that were considered essential in the first year of the pandemic were easily counted: We closely tracked cases and hospitalizations and deaths, while also measuring how our country’s economic health was holding up. And while monitoring the twin curves of the economy and the virus is still critically important, it’s also crucial that we not forget about the essential parts of our lives that are less quantifiable. We need to repair our economy and reinforce our health care system. But the way to a better future after the worst of the Covid pandemic recedes must also include an understanding that everyone needs to be around other people, to socialize and to simply be a human being who belongs to a society, even if such things are much harder to count. Yes, it is also essential that we try to keep our families and friends safe, secure and supported with the latest data and advice. But public health and governmental officials need to include one more essential feature in their decision making, perhaps most important at this time of year: The essential need to be together.   A message from Mastercard: What do you do when your dreams don’t go according to plan? That’s what many small business owners who depended on foot traffic wondered last year when the pandemic suddenly forced them to close their doors and change their business models. Small businesses are the backbone of our economy, serving as the lifeline through which goods, services and livelihoods flow. And, when the pandemic hit, Mastercard solutions, insights and tools helped entrepreneurs evolve to succeed in the new digital economy. Now, as shoppers return to small businesses this holiday season, Mastercard is helping entrepreneurs prepare for the future.     Follow us on Twitter Chris Suellentrop @suellentrop Tyler Weyant @tweyant Renuka Rayasam @renurayasam Myah Ward @myahward   FOLLOW US

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RSN: FOCUS: Robert Reich | What Happens When a Congressman Threatens a Colleague With Violence?

 

 

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FOCUS: Robert Reich | What Happens When a Congressman Threatens a Colleague With Violence?
Robert Reich, Guardian UK
Reich writes: "Last week, Arizona Representative Paul Gosar posted on Twitter and Instagram a photoshopped animated cartoon in which he assassinates Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and attacks President Joe Biden."

America is experiencing increasingly virulent politics and violent political threats. Sometimes, it’s elected officials who foment or encourage violence

Last week, Arizona Representative Paul Gosar posted on Twitter and Instagram a photoshopped animated cartoon in which he assassinates Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and attacks President Joe Biden.

Gosar says it “symbolizes the battle for the soul of America” when Congress takes up the president’s economic package, which he said includes immigration provisions he opposes.

Gosar represents Arizona’s 4th congressional district. Until 2012, a dear friend of mine, Gabrielle Giffords, represented Arizona’s 8th congressional district.

I got to know Gabby shortly before she entered politics as a member of the Arizona state house of representatives in 2001. She then became the youngest woman ever elected to the Arizona senate and then, in 2006, the third woman in history to be elected to represent Arizona in the US House of Representatives.

On 8 January 2011, during a public gathering outside a Safeway grocery store in Casa Adobes, Arizona, Gabby was shot in the head by a man firing a 9mm pistol with a 33-round magazine.

He hit 19 people and killed six, among them federal judge John Roll and a nine-year-old girl, Christina-Taylor Green. The shooter, Jared Lee Loughner, was detained by bystanders until he was taken into police custody. Eventually, after facing more than 50 federal criminal charges, Loughner pleaded guilty to 19 of them to avoid a death sentence.

Gabby was evacuated to the University Medical Center of Tucson in critical condition. By the time I was able to see her the following week, she could say a few words. But even now, a decade later – after the most intense and courageous personal effort at rehabilitation I have ever witnessed – she continues to struggle with language and has lost half her vision in both eyes. Gabby resigned from Congress in 2012.

Why did Loughner try to assassinate her? No one will ever know for sure. Authorities found in his safe an envelope that bore the handwritten words “Giffords”, “My assassination” and “I planned ahead.” By all accounts, including his own, he was growing increasingly delusional. He had amplified on his social media accounts several extremist rightwing tropes.

In March 2010, 10 months before the shooting, former vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin had posted a map of 20 congressional districts she and John McCain won in 2008 but whose representatives in Congress had voted in favor of the Affordable Care Act. The map marked each district with a set of crosshairs. Palin promoted the map by tweeting “Don’t Retreat, Instead – RELOAD.” One of those crosshairs targeted Gabby.

Although no direct connection was ever established between Palin’s map and Gabby’s shooting, surely Palin’s violent rhetoric contributed to a climate of political violence in America in which a delusional man would mark Gabby for assassination. Gabby herself had expressed concern about Palin’s map.

Just as surely, Palin’s inflammatory post was a step toward increasingly violent political rhetoric on the way to Donald Trump and the insurrection of 6 January.

Last Friday a group of House Democrats introduced a resolution to censure Gosar for posting his video. The motion was introduced by Representative Jackie Speier, co-chair of the Democratic women’s caucus, and nine other lawmakers. “For that Member to post such a video on his official Instagram account and use his official congressional resources in the House of Representatives to further violence against elected officials goes beyond the pale,” the group said. “As the events of January 6th have shown, such vicious and vulgar messaging can and does foment actual violence.”

The House Republican leader, Kevin McCarthy, has so far been silent on Gosar’s video. The group of House Democrats who introduced the resolution condemned McCarthy’s silence, calling it “tacit approval and just as dangerous”.

America is experiencing increasingly virulent politics and violent political threats. The New York Times reports that at a conservative rally in western Idaho last month, a young man stepped up to a microphone to ask when he could start killing Democrats. “When do we get to use the guns?” he said, as the audience applauded. “How many elections are they going to steal before we kill these people?” The local state representative, a Republican, later called it a “fair” question.

According to the Times, violent threats against lawmakers are on track to double this year. Republicans who break party ranks and defy Trump have come to expect death threats – often incited by their own colleagues, who have denounced them as traitors.

Unless those at the highest levels of government who foment or encourage violence – or who remain conspicuously silent as others do – are held accountable, no one in political life will be safe.

Censure is not enough for Gosar. He should be expelled from the House.

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