Medium - With little attention, the House of Representative just passed the “Protect and Serve Act of 2018” sponsored by Representative John H. Rutherford (R-FL). The bill would make it a federal crime, punishable by up to 10 years in prison, for “knowingly causing serious bodily injury to a law enforcement officer, or attempts to do so.” It joins a host of others deemed “Blue Lives Matter” laws, which have been introduced and passed, in part as a reaction to rising defiance to documented brutality and racism practiced by law enforcement in this county.
Police departments across the country have justified brutality and murder by accusing their victims of assault, for actions as heinous as dodging a night stick or pushing back on a barricade that is crushing against a crowd. And we don’t need body cameras to know that law enforcement officials are not always honest about their actions that result in arrests and lethal force....
The Democratic support (162 voting “Yea”) for this bill is revealing, considering it includes “progressive champions” and Bernie Sanders allies Rep. Keith Ellison (D-MN), Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-AZ), and Rep. Robert Francis “Beto” O’Rourke (D-TX), who is currently in a tight race for the U.S Senate against Ted Cruz. Outspoken Sanders supporter, Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI), who resigned from a party leadership seat due to her endorsement, abstained her vote on the bill.
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