Yesterday brought closing arguments in the hush money case in New York City. This old lawyer wonders how the 12 men and women on the jury can be impartial when they fear for their lives if they don’t vote to acquit? This old lawyer wonders if people working for or in behalf of Donald Trump don’t already know the names and home addresses of the 12 jurors? This old lawyer wonders if the 12 jurors wonder if their identities are compromised?
Yesterday, someone told me that I am a radical. I said, actually I am a patriot. He said he has read my writings and he is far more patriotic than I am. I said I have a very different view of patriotism...
So, what is patriotism?
Is it waving the American flag?
Is it celebrating and honoring America’s war dead?
Is it saying God is on America’s side?
Is it saying America was founded on Christian principles?
Is it supporting America fighting a foreign war that benefits only rich white American capitalists?
Is it saying America should back Israel in its war in Gaza?
Is it saying what anyone wants to say?
Yesterday, someone else told me that President Joe Biden had said Memorial Day is for remembering Geoge Floyd. I said that’s not what Memorial Day is about. I did not say, if Biden said that, then he’s nuts.
Memorial Day was May 27.
According to Huff Post, May 24:
Biden Marks 4th Anniversary Of George Floyd’s Murder, Urges Action On Police Reform Bill
The president signed an executive order in 2022 to implement police reform and accountability measures, and he's urging Congress to follow through.
By
Shruti Rajkumar
May 24, 2024, 05:21 PM EDT
President Joe Biden reflected on moments he shared with George Floyd’s family and called for Congress to advance police reform legislation as he marked the fourth anniversary of the day police murdered the Black man on a Minneapolis street.
“George Floyd should be alive today. His murder shook the conscience of our nation and reminded us that our country has never fully lived up to its highest ideal of fair and impartial justice for all under the law,” Biden said in a statement Friday.
On May 25, 2020, Floyd, a 46-year-old father, died while a Minneapolis police officer, Derek Chauvin, knelt on his back and neck for more than nine minutes despite Floyd saying, “I can’t breathe.” The plea for mercy as he died was captured on video, sparking outrage and protests nationwide.
Protesters demanded not only justice for Floyd, but also the protection of Black lives against police force and violence, along with reform and greater accountability within the law enforcement system.
Last year, jurors found Chauvin guilty of murder in the death of Floyd, and the former Minneapolis police officer was sentenced to 22½ years in prison. On Tuesday, a new lawsuit was filed against Chauvin, alleging that he had pinned down a woman and knelt on her neck in January 2020, just as he had done to Floyd a few months later.
Biden has spoken with Floyd’s family over the past four years to commemorate his life, and he has vowed to ensure law enforcement accountability. In his statement on Friday, the president reflected on an encounter he had with Floyd’s daughter the day before his funeral in 2020.
“The day before George Floyd’s funeral, his young daughter, Gianna, told me, ‘Daddy changed the world.’ Four years after her father’s murder, there is no doubt that he has,” he said.
The families of those who had been killed by police officers were eager for Biden to take action, to push forward police reform and accountability, which he had promised in his 2020 presidential campaign. In 2022, he signed an executive order to implement aspects of the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, including restricting chokeholds and no-knock warrants, and establishing a database to track police misconduct.
Now Biden is calling on Congress to send the legislation to his desk.
“My Administration has made significant progress in implementing this Executive Order, and will continue our work to build public trust and strengthen public safety. But real and lasting change at the state and local level will only come when Congress acts,” the president said in Friday’s statement.
According to Reuters, May 27:
Biden honors fallen soldiers during Memorial Day ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery
By Jarrett Renshaw
May 27, 20249:58 PM CDT
ARLINGTON, Virginia, May 27 (Reuters) - U.S. President Joe Biden honored fallen soldiers during the 156th observance of Memorial Day at Arlington National Cemetery outside the nation's capital on Monday.
Biden placed a wreath of flowers at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in a solemn ceremony, where he was accompanied by Vice President Kamala Harris and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin.
"We gather at this sacred place, at this solemn moment, to remember, to honor the sacrifice of the hundreds of thousands of women and men who have given their lives for this nation," Biden said afterward at the cemetery's amphitheater.
Earlier in the day, Biden hosted a White House breakfast in honor of Memorial Day that included administration officials, military leadership, veterans and so-called Gold Star family members, referring to those who have lost an immediate relative in military action.
The Memorial Day ceremony is the latest in a string of events where Biden has focused on active and retired military personnel, including delivering the commencement speech on Saturday at the U.S. Military Academy in West Point, New York.
Next week, the president will travel to Normandy, France, to participate in ceremonies marking the 80th anniversary of the D-Day invasion. He is expected to give a major speech about the heroism of Allied forces in World War Two and the continuing threats to democracy today.
Thursday will mark the ninth anniversary of the death of Biden's son Beau, who served in Iraq as part of Delaware's National Guard. Beau died from glioblastoma, a highly aggressive form of brain cancer that his father believes was possibly a consequence of exposure to military burn pits in Iraq
"This week marks nine years since I lost my son, Beau," Biden said. "Our losses are not the same. He didn't perish on the battlefield. He was a cancer victim.
"The pain of his loss is with me every day ... so is the pride in his service," the president said.
On Memorial Day, each grave site at Arlington will have a small American flag carefully positioned exactly one boot’s length away from the headstone. The flags were placed by 1,500 soldiers from the Army’s 3rd Infantry Regiment, better known as The Old Guard. The regiment has carried out the tradition, known as “Flags In,” just before Memorial Day every year since 1948, when it was designated as the Army’s official ceremonial unit.
So, is patriotism making up facts to support your partisan perspective?
Is patriotism mourning dead America war veterans and waving American flags on Memorial Day, without saying America had a hand in causing every war it waged during my lifetime, and the beneficiaries of those wars were rich white American military industrial complex capitalists?
I say patriotism is hororing the truth, regardless.
Maybe the next time a Trumper talks to me about patriotism, I will remember to say President Donald Trump called American soldiers killed during World War II in France, losers and suckers, and his adoring Republican Alabama U.S. Senator Tommy Tuberville single-handedly held up promotions of generals and admirals because the U.S. Armed forces were helping armed services women travel to where they could get legal abortions and keep defending America.
I’m a radical.
sloanbashinsky@yahoo.com
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