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On Thursday night at a CNN town hall, President Joe Biden was asked whether he supports reforming or abolishing the Senate filibuster — which would be necessary to pass a number of Democratic priorities like a new voting rights bill. He gave a careful answer explaining that, at least for now, there is a key reason why he can't come out in support of it.
"Here is the deal, if, in fact, I get myself into at this moment the debate on the filibuster, I lose at least three votes right now to get what I have to get done on the economic side of the equation, foreign policy side of the equation," said Biden. Presumably he was referring to Sens. Joe Manchin (D-WV) and Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ), although he didn't specify who the third senator is.
He added that "in the meantime" he would support going back to a talking filibuster, where "you had to stand on the floor and exhaust everything you had and when you gave up the floor and someone else sought the floor, they had to talk until they finished. You're only allowed to do it a second time. After that, it's over. You vote."
Asked whether this means Biden would be open to more aggressively pushing filibuster reform after the infrastructure bill and the Build Back Better Act pass, Biden avoided making a hard commitment either way.
"That remains to be seen exactly what that means in terms of fundamentally altering it, whether or not we just end the filibuster straight up," said Biden, adding that one area where Democrats might be forced to reform the filibuster is on passing an extension of the debt ceiling in December: "There are certain things that are just sacred rights. One is the sacred obligation that we never are going to renege on a debt. Only nation in the world we have never, ever, reneged on a single debt."
Watch below:
Biden discusses his position on abolishing the filibuster at CNN town hall www.youtube.com
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'You saved his life': Woman praised after sticking up for Black man detained by police in viral video
October 21, 2021
A TikTok user is being praised for her actions in a viral video that showed her sticking up for a Black man who'd apparently been wrongly detained by police — prompting the officers to let him go.
At the start of the video, the woman approaches the officers who had detained the Black man and tells them that they're mistaken if they believe that he did anything wrong.
"It was those people going after him. I saw that," the woman yells as the officers are putting Black man's arms behind his back as he's pinned against a police SUV.
"Thank you, that's what I'm saying," the Black man responds, visibly relieved.
"If you saw it, I need you to stay here," one of the officers tells the woman, as they let go of the Black man's arms.
She then explains that the Black man they were detaining was apparently the victim in a dispute rather than the perpetrator.
"There were people going after you, and the cops went after you and not the other white guys," the woman says. "I saw that sh*t. "
"You were the one that was being accosted," she says. "There were a couple of white guys over there that were going after him. They got out of his vehicle, and he was trying to back away."
"Oh, one of these cops actually believed the white guy when they said this guy was the one in the f*cking wrong," the woman tells another officer. "That's what f*cking happened."
After the officer appears to admonish the woman for cursing, she tells him, "I don't give a sh*t."
"Why didn't you pull over the other guys who were part of it?" she says.
In the background, another witness can be heard corroborating the woman's account.
"I told you what happened," the woman tells the officer, after another witness can be heard in the background corroborating her account. "This guy was accosted by other people, and he was the one that was pulled over."
The Black man can be seen sitting casually on the front bumper of the police SUV, conversing with the other officers, as the video ends.
The woman's video of the incident, captioned with the letters "BLM," had been shared more than 14,000 times in just nine hours by Thursday night.
The woman, who goes by Dlèit Rose on TikTok, said in a follow-up video that she's not white, but indigenous. The woman also said that one of the officers wouldn't listen to her because she was "calling it like it was," saying he would only listen to her "white partner."
"The cop that refused to listen to me and would only listen to my partner claimed he was offended because his wife was Black so he can't be racist," the woman says.
"Every (person of color) knows that proximity means nothing. Proximity to a person of color does not mean you're not racist," she says, accusing the officer of "tokenizing" his wife.
The original video had garnered 24,000 comments, mostly from people praising the woman for her actions.
"That poor kid you can see the fear in his face thank you so much for standing up and saying something," one person wrote.
"They backed off so quickly when she spoke up. To everyone watching. Never be a bystander," another wrote.
"U literally just saved this man's life," another commenter wrote.
The woman said in a follow-up video, "To the people making positive comments, thank you. This man was able to go home to his brand new baby yesterday, and that man was scared he wouldn't."
Watch below.
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FBI arrests MAGA-rioting comic book artist who took down officer in 'violent struggle'
October 21, 2021
A graphic and comic book artist who was part of a group of insurrectionists who charged and attacked Capitol police officers on January 6 at the U.S. Capitol was arrested yesterday by the FBI.
Robert Wayne Dennis, 61, of Garland, Texas, was caught on police body cameras fighting with police officers trying to control the violent mob near the stairs to the Upper West Terrace, according to federal court records.
"At approximately 2:51 p.m., Dennis charged the line of officers," the FBI report states. "One officer, identified in court documents as 'Officer J.S.,' attempted to use a baton to push him away. Dennis grabbed another officer's baton and took 'Officer J.S.' to the ground after a violent struggle in which he threw punches at the officer. During the struggle, the baton belonging to 'Officer J.S.' was knocked out of his hands."
The Dallas Morning News reports that "Dennis' Facebook profile says he's a senior restoration artist at Comic Art Restoration Service, which 'provides restoration and reproduction for original comic book art.'
"He studied visual communication at Truman State University and art at Crowder College, according to the Facebook account. A website linked to his Facebook account indicates that Dennis produces advertising graphics and designs such as logos and signage as well as original art and photography.
""My background in the graphic arts, as well as my knowledge of the comic book field, enables me to take a less than desirable piece of original art and transform it… into a product that displays all of the merits that the work was originally intended to present," the website says.
Dennis was charged with the following:
- Assaulting, Resisting or Impeding Certain Officers.
- Civil Disorder.
- Entering and Remaining in a Restricted Building or Grounds.
- Disorderly and Disruptive Conduct in a Restricted Building or Grounds.
- Engaging in Physical Violence in a Restricted Building or Grounds.
- Act of Physical Violence in the Capitol Grounds or Buildings.
The Department of Justice reports that 650 suspects have been arrested from nearly all 50 states for crimes related to the insurrection. That includes more than 190 charged with assaulting or impeding law enforcement. The investigation remains ongoing, it says.
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