<html><head><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body dir="auto"><div>What was that I read somewhere that people have the right to protest.</div><div><br></div><div>Courtesy of the <i>New York Times</i> at:</div><div><br></div><div><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/21/us/politics/republican-anti-protest-laws.html">https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/21/us/politics/republican-anti-protest-laws.html</a></div><div><br></div><div>—————————————————</div><div><br></div><div><div class="css-1vkm6nb ehdk2mb0" style="font-size: 16px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%; font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: rgb(51, 51, 51);"><h1 id="link-58953625" class="css-rsa88z e1h9rw200" data-test-id="headline" style="margin: 0px auto 1rem calc(0.5 * (100% - 600px)); padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: nyt-cheltenham, georgia, "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 2.5rem; font-style: italic; font-variant-caps: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 3rem; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(18, 18, 18); width: 660px; max-width: none; position: relative;">G.O.P. Bills Target Protesters (and Absolve Motorists Who Hit Them)</h1></div><p id="article-summary" class="css-w6ymp8 e1wiw3jv0" style="margin: 0px auto 1.875rem; padding: 0px; border: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%; font-family: nyt-cheltenham, georgia, "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 1.4375rem; font-stretch: normal; line-height: 1.875rem; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); width: 600px; max-width: 600px; caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51);">As the nation reacts to the guilty verdict a jury handed to Derek Chauvin in the killing of George Floyd, Republican-led states are introducing punitive new measures governing protests.</p></div><div><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">As the nation reacts to the guilty verdict a jury handed to Derek Chauvin in the killing of George Floyd, Republican-led states are introducing punitive new measures governing protests.</span><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;"><br></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(51, 51, 51);">Republican legislators in <a href="https://www.koco.com/article/oklahoma-legislature-oks-bill-to-crack-down-on-protesters/36123193" target="_blank"><span style="color: rgb(50, 104, 145); border: 1pt none windowtext; padding: 0in;">Oklahoma</span></a> and Iowa have passed bills granting immunity to drivers whose vehicles strike and injure protesters in public streets.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(51, 51, 51);"><br></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(51, 51, 51);">A Republican proposal in Indiana <a href="http://iga.in.gov/legislative/2021/bills/senate/34#digest-heading" target="_blank"><span style="color: rgb(50, 104, 145); border: 1pt none windowtext; padding: 0in;">would bar anyone convicted of unlawful assembly from holding state employment</span></a>, including elected office. <a href="https://mndaily.com/267272/news/proposed-bill-would-make-protesters-convicted-of-an-offense-ineligible-for-student-loans/" target="_blank"><span style="color: rgb(50, 104, 145); border: 1pt none windowtext; padding: 0in;">A Minnesota bill</span></a> would prohibit those convicted of unlawful protesting from receiving student loans, unemployment benefits or housing assistance.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(51, 51, 51);"><br></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(51, 51, 51);">And in Florida, Gov. Ron DeSantis signed sweeping legislation this week that toughened existing laws governing public disorder and created a harsh new level of infractions — a bill he’s called “the strongest anti-looting, anti-rioting, pro-law-enforcement piece of legislation in the country.”<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(51, 51, 51);"><br></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(51, 51, 51);">The measures are part of a wave of new anti-protest legislation, sponsored and supported by Republicans, in the 11 months since Black Lives Matter protests swept the country following the death of George Floyd. The Minneapolis police officer who killed Mr. Floyd, Derek Chauvin, was convicted on Tuesday on murder and manslaughter charges, a cathartic end to weeks of tension.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(51, 51, 51);"><br></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(51, 51, 51);">But while Democrats seized on Mr. Floyd’s death last May to highlight racism in policing and other forms of social injustice, Republicans responded to a summer of protests by proposing a raft of punitive new measures governing the right to lawfully assemble. G.O.P. lawmakers in 34 states have introduced 81 anti-protest bills during the 2021 legislative session — more than twice as many proposals as in any other year, according to Elly Page, a senior legal adviser at the International Center for Not-for-Profit Law,<a href="https://www.icnl.org/usprotestlawtracker/" target="_blank"><span style="color: rgb(50, 104, 145); border: 1pt none windowtext; padding: 0in;">which tracks legislation limiting the right to protest</span></a>.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(51, 51, 51);"><br></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(51, 51, 51);">Some, like Mr. DeSantis, are labeling them “anti-riot” bills, conflating the right to peaceful protest with the rioting and looting that sometimes resulted from such protests.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="css-axufdj" style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: medium; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(51, 51, 51);">The laws carry forward the hyperbolic message Republicans have been pushing in the 11 months since Black Lives Matter protests against racial injustice swept the country: that Democrats are tolerant of violent and criminal actions from those who protest against racial injustice. And the legislation underscores the extent to which support for law enforcement personnel and opposition to protests have become part of the bedrock of G.O.P. orthodoxy and a likely pillar of the platform the party will take into next year’s midterms.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="css-axufdj" style="margin: 0in; font-size: 1.25rem; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; vertical-align: baseline; -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.875rem; max-width: 100%; caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51);"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(51, 51, 51);">“This is consistent with the general trend of legislators’ responding to powerful and persuasive protests by seeking to silence them rather than engaging with the message of the protests,” said Vera Eidelman, a lawyer at the American Civil Liberties Union. “If anything, the lesson from the last year, and decades, is not that we need to give more tools to police and prosecutors, it’s that they abuse the tools they already have.”<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="css-axufdj" style="margin: 0in; font-size: 1.25rem; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; vertical-align: baseline; -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.875rem; max-width: 100%; caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51);"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(51, 51, 51);"><br></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(51, 51, 51);">Laws already exist to punish rioting, and civil rights advocates worry that the new bills violate rights of lawful assembly and free speech protected under the First Amendment. The overwhelming majority of last summer’s nationwide Black Lives Matter protests were peaceful — more than 96 percent involved no property damage or police injuries, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/10/16/this-summers-black-lives-matter-protesters-were-overwhelming-peaceful-our-research-finds/" target="_blank"><span style="color: rgb(50, 104, 145); border: 1pt none windowtext; padding: 0in;">according to The Washington Post</span></a>, which also found that police officers or counterprotesters often instigated violence.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(51, 51, 51);">Most of the protests held across Florida last summer were also peaceful, though a few in Miami, Tampa and Jacksonville produced some episodes of violence, including the burning of a police car and a sporting goods store. Still, as they embraced the bill that Mr. DeSantis signed into law, Republican leaders expressed scorn for cities that trim police budgets and tolerate protesters who disrupt business and traffic.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(51, 51, 51);"><br></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(51, 51, 51);">“We weren’t going to allow Florida to become Seattle,” said Chris Sprowls, a Republican who is the speaker of the Florida House, mentioning cities where protests lasted for months last year and demonstrators frequently clashed with the police. “We were not going to allow Florida to become Portland.”<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span></p><p class="css-axufdj" style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: medium; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(51, 51, 51);">The Florida law imposes harsher penalties for existing public disorder crimes, turning misdemeanor offenses into felonies, creating new felony offenses and preventing defendants from being released on bail until they have appeared before a judge. A survey conducted in January by Ryan D. Tyson, a Republican pollster, found broad support in the state for harsher penalties against protesters “who damage personal and business property or assault law enforcement.”<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="css-axufdj" style="margin: 0.9375rem; font-size: 1.25rem; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; vertical-align: baseline; -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.875rem; max-width: 100%; caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51);"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(51, 51, 51);">But the law goes farther. If a local government chooses to decrease its law enforcement budget — to “defund the police,” as Mr. DeSantis put it — the measure provides a new mechanism for a prosecutor or a city or county commissioner to appeal the reduction to the state.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">The law also increases penalties for taking down monuments, including Confederate ones, making the offense a second-degree felony punishable by up to 15 years in prison. It makes it easier for anyone who injures a protester, such as by driving into a crowd, to escape civil liability.</span><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(51, 51, 51);">State Senator Shevrin D. Jones, a Democrat from Broward County and a vocal critic of the law, noted that Mr. DeSantis <a href="https://apnews.com/article/donald-trump-tallahassee-legislation-florida-ron-desantis-e513f8cccaa14eec61943133e45e62bf" target="_blank"><span style="color: rgb(50, 104, 145); border: 1pt none windowtext; padding: 0in;">had been quick to emphasize how necessary the bill was</span></a> the day after the deadly Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol but had made no mention of that event during Monday’s bill signing, focusing solely on the summer protests.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(51, 51, 51);"><br></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(51, 51, 51);">That was evidence, he said, that bills aimed at punishing protesters were disproportionately targeting people of color. “This bill is racist at its core,” Mr. Jones said.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(51, 51, 51);"><br></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(51, 51, 51);">So far, three bills aimed at limiting protests have been signed into law — Florida’s and new laws in Arkansas and Kansas that target protesters who seek to disrupt oil pipelines. Others are likely to come soon.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(51, 51, 51);"><br></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(51, 51, 51);">In Oklahoma, Republican lawmakers last week sent legislation to Gov. Kevin Stitt that would criminalize the unlawful blocking of a public street and grant immunity to drivers who strike and injure protesters during a riot. Last June, <a href="https://tulsaworld.com/news/local/pickup-rolls-through-protesters-gathered-on-interstate-244-state-troopers-questioning-driver/article_f6703c70-2c6d-5455-85cb-ea41373fc7e8.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: rgb(50, 104, 145); border: 1pt none windowtext; padding: 0in;">a pickup truck carrying a horse trailer drove through a crowd of Black Lives Matter protesters on a Tulsa</span></a> freeway, injuring several people and <a href="https://www.koco.com/article/oklahoma-legislature-oks-bill-to-crack-down-on-protesters/36123193" target="_blank"><span style="color: rgb(50, 104, 145); border: 1pt none windowtext; padding: 0in;">leaving one paralyzed</span></a>. <a href="https://www.kjrh.com/news/local-news/tulsa-co-da-no-charges-filed-in-horse-trailer-incident" target="_blank"><span style="color: rgb(50, 104, 145); border: 1pt none windowtext; padding: 0in;">The driver, who said he had sped up because he feared for the safety of his family, was not charged</span></a>.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(51, 51, 51);"><br></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(51, 51, 51);">The bill’s author, State Senator Rob Standridge, said the Tulsa incident had <a href="https://www.koco.com/article/oklahoma-legislature-oks-bill-to-crack-down-on-protesters/36123193" target="_blank"><span style="color: rgb(50, 104, 145); border: 1pt none windowtext; padding: 0in;">prompted him to seek immunity for drivers who strike</span></a>protesters. He said Tuesday he wasn’t aware of any drivers who had been charged after striking protesters in Oklahoma. “My hope is that this law never is utilized,” he said in an interview. Carly Atchison, a spokeswoman for Mr. Stitt, declined to say whether he would sign the bill, which passed with veto-proof majorities.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(51, 51, 51);"><br></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(51, 51, 51);">Tiffany Crutcher, whose twin brother, Terence Crutcher, was <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/video/us/100000004660026/shooting-of-terence-crutcher-by-tulsa-police.html"><span style="color: rgb(50, 104, 145); border: 1pt none windowtext; padding: 0in;">shot and killed in 2016 by a Tulsa police officer</span></a> who was later acquitted on a manslaughter charge, said the Oklahoma proposal represents Republican efforts to extend the Trump administration’s hostility toward people of color.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(51, 51, 51);"><br></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(51, 51, 51);">Dr. Crutcher said she was convinced that if Mr. Stitt signed the legislation, it would be applied in harsher terms against those protesting racial injustice than for white protesters demonstrating for gun rights or against abortion.</span></p><p class="css-axufdj" style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: medium; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(51, 51, 51);">“We all know that over the last four years that we saw white supremacy, bigotry and racism show its ugly head in so many forms,” said Dr. Crutcher, who quit her job as a physical therapist to work for racial justice after the death of her brother. “This is the continuation of the Trump administration that showed us every day that Black lives didn’t matter.”<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="css-axufdj" style="margin: 0in; font-size: 1.25rem; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; vertical-align: baseline; -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.875rem; max-width: 100%; caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51);"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(51, 51, 51);">While Republican lawmakers present the anti-protest legislation as support for the police, law enforcement agencies don’t necessarily back the new proposals.<o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><br></div>—————————————————<br><br><div dir="ltr"><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Seeya 'round town, Moscow, because . . .</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">"Moscow Cares" (the most fun you can have with your pants on)</span></div><div><a href="http://www.moscowcares.com/">http://www.moscowcares.com/</a></div><div><br></div><div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Tom Hansen</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Moscow, Idaho</span></div></div><div><br></div><div>“A stranger is just a friend you haven’t met.”</div><div>- Roy E. Stolworthy</div><div></div></div></body></html>