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One Republican Senator Voted ‘No’ Vote on Bipartisan Asian Hate Crimes Bill. Here are His Reasons
Epoch Times ^ | 04/23/2021 | Jack Phillips

Posted on 04/23/2021 8:50:05 PM PDT by SeekAndFind

Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), the lone senator to vote against an Asian hate crimes bill on Thursday, said he could not approve the measure because the wording of the legislation was too broad and would infringe on the First Amendment.

On Thursday, the Senate approved 94-1 the measure that would combat violence against Asian-Americans and Pacific islanders during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The measure would allow for more police resources to be dedicated to hate crimes against Asian people by creating expanded reporting for the crimes. It would also create a position within the Department of Justice (DOJ) to review hate crimes across the country.

But according to Hawley in a tweet, the bill “turns the federal government into the speech police” and “gives [the] government sweeping authority to decide what counts as offensive speech and then monitor it.”

In an interview with Fox News, the Republican senator said, “It’s too broad. As a former prosecutor, my view is it’s dangerous to simply give the federal government open-ended authority to define a whole new class of federal hate crime incidents.”

Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii), a sponsor of the bill, said the measure would “send a clear message of support and solidarity” while Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), who amended the bill, added that “crimes motivated by bias against race, national origin, and other characteristics cannot be tolerated.”

The House is moving to pass a similar bill that can be signed into law by President Joe Biden.

According to data from nonprofit Stop AAPI Hate, there were 3,795 incidents reported from March 19, 2020, to Feb. 28, 2021. Verbal harassment accounted for 68 percent of all reports, while physical assaults made up just over 11 percent. The report contains firsthand accounts that detail the use of racial slurs and instances of shunning.

(Excerpt) Read more at theepochtimes.com ...


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Culture/Society; Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: asian; firstamendment; hatecrimesbill; joshhawley

1 posted on 04/23/2021 8:50:05 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
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To: SeekAndFind

Of course, the Communist Party of China (CCP) is very clever.

The Chinese regime has weaponized racism by conflating criticisms of the CCP with discrimination against Chinese people.

The CCP hasn’t hesitated in exploiting the recent narrative to push its own propaganda and to further divide the United States, according to scholars, human rights activists, and journalists.


2 posted on 04/23/2021 8:51:48 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
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To: SeekAndFind

The report contains firsthand accounts that detail the use of racial slurs and instances of shunning.


Those things have a very high bar for legitimately being illegal. Approaching preposterous.


3 posted on 04/23/2021 9:03:48 PM PDT by lepton ("It is useless to attempt to reason a man out of a thing he was never reasoned into"--Jonathan Swift)
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To: SeekAndFind

The near sole source of any anti-asian bigotry is from blacks and elite universities.


4 posted on 04/23/2021 9:04:18 PM PDT by DesertRhino (Dog is man's best friend, and moslems hate dogs. Add that up. .... )
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To: SeekAndFind
Did we need a separate law for this?

Isn't this already covered in the myriad of laws already on the books.

Does this cover Native Americans or are they going to need a bill?

5 posted on 04/23/2021 9:14:59 PM PDT by mcenedo (lying liberal media, our most dangerous and powerful enemy)
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To: SeekAndFind

I’ll say it again, Hate is a Motive, it isn’t a Crime.

Hate Crime is Thought Crime, period...


6 posted on 04/23/2021 9:19:37 PM PDT by Kickass Conservative (Don't blame me, I Voted for the guy who actually Won the 2020 Presidential Election...)
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To: SeekAndFind; All
With all due respect to post-17th Amendment ratification Sen. Josh Hawley, if he would read Free Republic he could have argued the following constitutional problems (imo) with the bill.

First, the only power that the states have expressly constitutionally given to the feds to dictate race protection policy is limited to voting rights issues, evidenced by the 15th Amendment.

Also, consider that probably most of the Civil Rights act of 1964 and its titles are based on stolen state powers imo.

Next, given the bill deals with domestic violence, the delegates to the Constitutional Convention established constitutional safeguards against unwanted federal involvement in domestic violence. The delegates did so by limiting the feds to respond only to such violence upon official application for assistance from a given state, evidenced by Section 4 of Article IV.

"Article IV, Section 4: The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of Government, and shall protect each of them against Invasion; and on Application of the Legislature, or of the Executive (when the Legislature cannot be convened) against domestic Violence [emphasis added]."

In fact, Justice Joseph Story had explained that the reason for state application in Section 4 is, in my words, so that desperate Democrats cannot use domestic violence, especially violence manufactured by Democrats, as an excuse to stick their big noses into the affairs of the sovereign states.

"§ 1819. It may not be amiss further to observe, (in the language of another commentator,) that every pretext for intermeddling with the domestic concerns of any state, under colour of protecting it against domestic violence, is taken away by that part of the provision, which renders an application from the legislature, or executive authority of the state endangered necessary to be made to the general government, before its interference can be at all proper [emphasis added]. On the other hand, this article becomes an immense acquisition of strength, and additional force to the aid of any state government, in case of an internal rebellion, or insurrection against its authority. The southern states, being more peculiarly open to danger from this quarter, ought (he adds) to be particularly tenacious of a constitution, from which they may derive such assistance in the most critical periods." —Justice Joseph Story, Article 4, Section 4.

Corrections, insights welcome.

To put a stop to unconstitutional federal government overreach in domestic violence, and anything else the unconstitutionally big federal government overreaches its very limited powers on, patriots need to do the following. They need to primary (2022) federal and state lawmakers who don’t agree to do the following federal action based on stolen state powers.

When the federal government accuses someone of violating a law, judges and law enforcement officials should be required to do this.

Judges and law-enforcement officials need to inform the accused of the constitutional clause(s) that arguably justifies the allegedly broken law for further scrutiny of the constitutionality of that law, especially where unconstitutional federal peacetime gun control laws are concerned imo.

7 posted on 04/23/2021 9:41:53 PM PDT by Amendment10
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To: SeekAndFind

President Pedo Joe:
“No Amendment is absolute. C’mon, man.”


8 posted on 04/23/2021 9:44:31 PM PDT by Dalberg-Acton
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To: SeekAndFind

Haley is the only sane one. Crimes should have identical punishment regardless of race, ethnicity, skin color, whatever.


9 posted on 04/23/2021 10:07:04 PM PDT by DennisR (Look around - God gives countless clues that He does, indeed, exist.)
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To: SeekAndFind

Better find all the Mr.: Chan, Wong, and Moto films you can before they are banned!!


10 posted on 04/24/2021 1:54:32 AM PDT by Terry L Smith
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To: SeekAndFind

White folk still waiting.............


11 posted on 04/24/2021 2:35:42 AM PDT by ronnie raygun
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To: Amendment10

As I’ve posted on this blog for the umpteenth time, in what is left of the now-defunct former USA, the Constitution is a dead letter, the Bill of Rights is no longer in force, and the Rule of Law is over. US courts are a sham and the US judicial system is a farce. It makes no difference whatsoever to argue at the bar before a corrupted bench what the Constitution requires. Lawfare today is a sucker’s bet in a rigged game. And the GOPee voted for it! GOPee Delenda Est!


12 posted on 04/24/2021 3:29:12 AM PDT by DrPretorius
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To: SeekAndFind

Hate crime laws are bogus Marxist BS


13 posted on 04/24/2021 3:31:13 AM PDT by Altura Ct. (And the GOP is where?)
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To: SeekAndFind

He’s got logic but it was still a fool’s errand.


14 posted on 04/24/2021 5:31:20 AM PDT by Brilliant
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To: Kickass Conservative

Interesting and valid point I had not considered- thanks.


15 posted on 04/24/2021 5:32:22 AM PDT by Hulka
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To: SeekAndFind

Let me get this straight. You can call a white, Christian, straight, republican male anything you want, including “white supremacist” or “terrorist.” And that appears to be acceptable. But if you similarly berate someone with a dark skin color, that is considered to be a crime?

🙄


16 posted on 04/24/2021 6:36:52 AM PDT by DennisR (Look around - God gives countless clues that He does, indeed, exist.)
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To: SeekAndFind

It was all predictable as soon as the very first “hate crimes” law was enacted - the REAL target has always been the use the law to control speech and by controlling speech you control thought by efforts to eliminate from public view the expression of any “illegal” speech (thought, idea).

ALL hate crime bills should be voided on First Amendment grounds.


17 posted on 04/24/2021 7:41:08 AM PDT by Wuli
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To: Hulka

This Orwellian Unconstitutional “Hate Crime” crappola should have been nipped in the bud by the Courts years ago.

I can’t believe what has happened to a Nation conceived on the principle of Individual Freedom. We are living the last scene from the original Planet of the Apes Movie.


18 posted on 04/24/2021 8:12:54 AM PDT by Kickass Conservative (Don't blame me, I Voted for the guy who actually Won the 2020 Presidential Election...)
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