RINGSIDE POLITICS – APRIL 21, 2021

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Welcome to another edition of Ringside Politics with Jeff Crouere

Today’s Hot Topics:

1) Republican senators questioned Stacey Abrams during a Senate hearing Tuesday about voting rights, quizzing her over whether state laws in Democratic-controlled states are “racist” and whether her own 2018 gubernatorial race was “stolen.”

Abrams became a voting rights advocate since her failed run for Georgia governor and was credited with helping organize voters in her state to help propel President Joe Biden to the White House. She was testifying to advocate for passage of a sweeping federal overhaul of the U.S. voting system that is being pushed for by Democrats.

She has led the national criticism of a recently-enacted Georgia law that placed new limitations on voting in the state.

“Georgia has a no-excuse absentee voting provision in that law,” Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, said. “Connecticut, Delaware, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and New York do not have any no-excuse absentee voting. Are the voting laws in Connecticut, Delaware, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and New York racist?”

2) Drawing on his experience growing up under Jim Crow laws in the South, Utah Republican Rep. Burgess Owens says it is “absolutely outrageous” for President Joe Biden and Democrats to compare legalized segregation to the new Georgia voting law.

Owens testified Tuesday at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing titled “Jim Crow 2021: The Latest Assault on the Right to Vote.” He condemned “the left” for criticizing a provision in the Georgia law requiring people applying for an absentee ballot to include evidence of government-issued identification.

“To call this Jim Crow 2021 is an insult, my friends,” he said.

Owens said for those who have never lived under the racial segregation law, what is happening with voting laws today is not Jim Crow.

3) Democratic United States legislators, including Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Senator Ed Markey, reintroduced their “Green New Deal” resolution on Tuesday, a set of aggressive climate goals intended to transform the US economy.

Initially introduced in 2019, the non-binding resolution seeks to eliminate US greenhouse gas emissions within a decade and transition the economy away from fossil fuels.

“For so long, our movement toward a sustainable future has been divided with really just this false notion that we have to choose between our planet and our economy. And we decided to come together in sweeping legislation that not only rejects that notion but creates a plan for 20 million union jobs in the United States of America” in several sectors, Ocasio-Cortez said at a news conference.

It was not immediately clear whether the plan would receive a significantly warmer reception from President Joe Biden’s administration than it did from the administration of former President Donald Trump, which did not believe action on climate change was necessary.

4) The former Minneapolis Police officer who knelt on George Floyd’s neck for more than 9 minutes last year was found guilty Tuesday of all three charges against him in one of the most consequential trials of the Black Lives Matter era.

Today’s Guests:

1) Tracey Anthony, Real America’s Voice Correspondent

2) Robert Couch, Former governemnt attorny and author

3) Todd Erzen, Co-author; Faucian Bargain: The Most Powerful and Dangerous Bureaucrat in American History