Also on today’s menu:
Legislative Committee Approves Broadband Funds
Deploying The Terminator
Terminating the U.S. Constitution
In an overtly political move, President Joe Biden Jr. has prevailed upon a subcommittee of the Democratic National Committee to move the first-in-the-nation presidential primary to South Carolina, while making New Hampshire share a second primary date with Nevada — provided the Granite State revises its laws governing elections. To maintain its second-place position, lawmakers would have to repeal the state’s 1975 law requiring that the primary be scheduled before any other state, and pass a law to make early voting easier.
The DNC has previously sought to remove New Hampshire’s first-in-the-nation role, citing the lack of diversity in the Granite State, but with Biden in the White House, the move has more traction. Biden finished fifth with 8 percent of the vote in the 2020 New Hampshire primary, and it was not until the South Carolina primary that he was able to revive his bid for the presidency, later winning the Democratic nomination.
Reaction in the Granite State has been predictable. Republican Secretary of State Dave Scanlan said, “We have our law, and so, regardless of what the DNC does, we will follow the law and have a first primary.” Former Democratic state senator Melanie Levesque, a candidate for secretary of state, agreed, saying, “By law, New Hampshire goes first so I’m going to fight for that.”
Even New Hampshire’s Democratic congressional delegation has objected to the potential action by the DNC, vowing to fight for the state’s right to be first. The decision is not final until the full DNC meets next month.
Legislative Committee Approves Broadband Funds
New Hampshire’s Joint Legislative Fiscal Committee has approved the use of $65 million in federal funds to expand broadband internet to unserved and underserved areas of the state. The committee had previously tabled the request from the Business and Economic Affairs agency over concerns about how the money had been awarded in the initial round of funding, whether there was a duplication of services, and how the federal and state requirements for the projects aligned.
Internet providers have balked at extending services to sparsely populated areas where their return on the investment would be negligible, leaving some parts of the state without broadband access. Senate Majority Leader Jeb Bradley (R-Wolfeboro), the sponsor of the matching grant program, said the grants are intended to get the internet to areas of the state that have no service.
There also was concern that the future standard for broadband capacity is expected to be eight gigabits, while the state program aims at providing only one gigabit. Mark Laliberte, who is overseeing the projects, said the infrastructure would support future expansion.
Deploying The Terminator
San Francisco has tentatively granted the ability to use potentially lethal, remote-controlled robots by city police in emergency situations, despite strong objections from civil liberties and other police oversight groups. Opponents said the authority would lead to the further militarization of a police force that already is too aggressive with poor and minority communities.
The San Francisco Police Department said it does not have pre-armed robots and has no plans to arm robots with guns. The department said it could deploy robots equipped with explosive charges “to contact, incapacitate, or disorient [a] violent, armed, or dangerous suspect” when lives are at risk. San Francisco police currently have a dozen functioning ground robots that are used to assess bombs or provide eyes in low-visibility situations. A federal program has long dispensed grenade launchers, camouflage uniforms, bayonets, armored vehicles, and other surplus military equipment to local law enforcement agencies.
A final vote on the measure is scheduled to take place today, and activists are calling for the San Francisco Board of Supervisors to turn down down the plan. An article in Popular Science offered the opinion that, “By allowing police to turn a specialized robot into a weapon, San Francisco is solving for a problem that does not meaningfully exist, and is making a genuinely non-lethal tool into a threat. It also sets a precedent for the arming of other machines, like inexpensive quadcopter drones, increasing the distance between police and suspects without leading to arrests or defused situations.”
Terminating the U.S. Constitution
I’m repeatedly told that people are tired of hearing about Donald Trump, but the man refuses to fade away. His latest ploy for attention, calling for the termination of the United States Constitution, requires a response. Republicans are avoiding doing so. Even those like Senate Minority Whip John Thune (R-SD), in saying, “of course I disagree with that,” when asked about Trump's comments, refused to say whether he would support Trump if the former president wins the GOP nomination in 2024. Thune said he’s “just not going to go there at this point — that’s a long way off.”
Trump’s terminate-the-Constitution posts on his Truth Social platform mark the second time in two weeks that he has prompted guarded criticism from within the GOP. He dined last month with antisemitic rapper Ye (Kanye West), and white nationalist Nick Fuentes. The best that Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) could do is to say that anyone holding meetings with people who use their profiles to disseminate bigotry “are highly unlikely to ever be elected president of the United States.”
Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) commented that what “Trump said was wrong, but what happened at Twitter was wrong.” He was referring to the released internal discussions about suppressing news of Hunter Biden’s laptop and the implications of the president’s son engaging in illegal activities. In releasing the documents, Elon Musk suggested that Twitter had acted under government orders to suppress free speech.
That’s a story for another day.
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