RINGSIDE POLITICS – APRIL 15, 2021

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Welcome to another edition of Ringside Politics with Jeff Crouere

Today’s Hot Topics:

1) The cause of George Floyd’s death should be considered “undetermined”, rather than a murder by police, a forensic pathologist testified in the Derek Chauvin murder trial on Wednesday.

A confluence of different factors – fentanyl intoxication, pre-existing heart disease, potential exposure to carbon monoxide from a police car’s tailpipe, and officers’ restraints – all had an impact on Mr Floyd’s death, argued Dr David Fowler, former Maryland chief medical examiner and an expert witness for the defence.

“When you put all of those together, it’s very difficult to say which of those is most accurate,” Dr Fowler said, as part of his day-long turn on the witness stand. “I would fall back to ‘undetermined’ in this particular case.”

2) President Biden said Tuesday that all U.S. adults should be eligible for Covid-19 vaccines by April 19, speeding up a timeline he set out last month, and he urged Americans to be patient and take precautions as the rollout continued and new variants spread.

Hawaii said Tuesday that it will meet President Biden’s April 19 target, according to a spokesman from the state’s health department. He added that residents still must be patient because of limited supply of vaccine. Oregon said Tuesday that everyone over age 16 would be eligible to sign up for a vaccine on April 19. Ahead of the announcement, the Biden administration asked states if they could meet the new target for expanding eligibility, a person familiar with the conversations said.

“There is a lot of good news. But there’s also some bad news,” Mr. Biden said. “The virus is spreading because we have too many people who’ve seen the end in sight, think we’re at the finish line already. Let me be deadly earnest with you…We’re still in a life and death race against this virus.”

3) Vice President Kamala Harris said on Wednesday that she will travel to Guatemala and Mexico as part of her role in tackling the “root causes” of the swirling migration crisis at the southern border — as she faces intense criticism for her alleged lack of action on the crisis.

“The president has asked Secretary [Alejandro] Mayorkas to address what is going on the border and he has been working very hard on that and is showing some progress because of his hard work,” she said at a Northern Triangle security roundtable.

“I have been asked to lead the issue of dealing with root causes in the Northern Triangle, similar to what the then-Vice President did many years ago,” she said. “But I will tell you these are issues that aren’t going to be addressed overnight.”

4) UN Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield told the Human Rights Council that “the original sin of slavery weaved white supremacy into our founding documents,” as the Biden administration lobbies the body to readmit the United States.

Thomas-Greenfield made the remarks while delivering a speech at a virtual National Action Network conference Wednesday, where she argued that the “imperfect union” of America must approach issues of “equity and justice at the global scale … with humility.”

“We have to acknowledge that we are an imperfect union — and have been since the beginning — and every day we strive to make ourselves more perfect, and more just. In a diverse country like ours, that means committing to do the work,” the US ambassador to the UN said.

She told the “human rights” body, which includes China, Cuba, Venezuela, Saudi Arabia and North Korea, that the United States needed to “engage trailblazing groups like yours” in order to “improve.”

Today’s Guests:

1) Col. Allen West, Chairman of the Texas Republican Party – calls in the state of affairs in the Republican Party and the nation as a whole.

2) Steve Konos, Ringside Politics Creative Director; Ringside Politics Parody of the Week – joins the show to share and discuss his weekly political parody.

3) Josh Bernstein, Ringside All-Star – joins the show to opine with callers and discuss the events of the week.