Manhattan Neighborhood Network and Media Watch with Eric Tait, Raymond Peterson, and Alan Singer featured a panel discussion on Republican Party hypocrisy and its unfounded calls for an impeachment investigation of Joe Biden, the manufactured refugee crisis, and efforts to curb tech monopolies and compel media giants to behave responsibly. You can watch on YouTube.
These are my notes for the panel.
1. Is Hunter Biden, Joe Biden’s 53-year-old son, a government official? I don’t think so. Republicans are starting impeachment proceedings against Joe for possible corruption because of charges against Hunter. I would hate to be blamed for the behavior of my adult son who is in his mid-forties. This is another political stunt by Republicans who are determined to cripple the government. MAGA Republicans in Congress behave like two-year-old’s who are having temper tantrums and Republican Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy is playing the role of the befuddled parent.
The hypocrisy is that Donald Trump is a real criminal who profited from the Presidency and his daughter and son-in-law were government officials who used their positions to promote their business interests. Jared Kushner used a make-believe peace plan for the Middle East to make contacts that allowed him to set up a multi-billion-dollar investment firm with Saudi Arabia. Now that is corruption.
2. The Justice Department is suing Google accusing it of being an illegal monopoly with too much control over the lives of the public. Google is the popular online search engine that I prefer and currently controls 90% of the U.S. web search market in the United States. Google makes profits by collecting and selling data from users, using cookies to trace shopping habits, and placing targeted advertisements. The federal suit claims that Google uses its immense size to create one-sided partnerships with phone makers like Apple and Samsung and smaller Internet browser so it can block possible rivals. Google pays Apple and other companies about $10 billion a year to feature its search engine on their products. Google responds that its business practices are legal and mainstream. Google also operates YouTube and cloud computing. Don’t ask me to explain cloud computing. I think its magic.
This is the first anti-monopoly action against a tech giant since the federal government challenged Microsoft twenty years ago. Microsoft was accused of monopolizing the personal computer industry. The legal case went unresolved when Microsoft agreed to modify some of its business practices. If Google is found guilty of being an illegal monopoly it could be prevented from signing special agreements with other companies requiring them to promote or use the Google search engine.
3. A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in New Orleans ruled that the Biden administration overstepped the First Amendment by urging the major social media platforms to remove misleading or false content about the Covid-19 pandemic. This case was not really about freedom of speech. It is another example of rightwing control over the American judicial system that wants to block government efforts to protect Americans from corporate misbehavior and lying. Not surprisingly one of the judges was appointed by George Bush and two were appointed by Donald Trump. The lawsuit was pressed by the New Civil Liberties Alliance, a rightwing fake civil liberties legal firm funded by the Koch brothers and the donor fund and other rightwing groups. It represents plaintiffs challenging gun control and COVID pandemic restrictions and fighting labor organizing.
4. Mayor Eric Adams claimed New York City was being destroyed by an influx of over 100,000 asylum seekers. “Let me tell you something New Yorkers, never in my life have I had a problem that I did not see an ending to — I don’t see an ending to this. This issue will destroy New York City.” I don’t agree with Adams that New York City will be destroyed, but I do agree that refugees are a national concern that should be addressed by the federal government and housing, caring for, and educating children should be the responsibility of the federal government, not localities.
I don’t have a simple answer to the refugee crisis, but there are key points to stress.
- Republican governors are making the crisis worse by funneling refugees from the Southern border to northern cities. Republicans in Congress have blocked all immigration reform and want the situation to worsen as a 2024 political strategy. The Biden reelection campaign seems determined to avoid the issue figuring it is a no-win situation.
- The 14th Amendment to the United States Constitution ensures all people, not just citizens, the right to legal due process, so refugees are entitled to a day in court and cannot be summarily deported.
- New York City law guarantees all people the right to shelter, and it would be illegal, inhumane, and a public health disaster to turn people out onto the street.
- The refugee crisis will not go away and will probably escalate because of the impact of climate change on Mexico and Central America. There needs to be a federal response to the refugee crisis like the response to the COVID pandemic.