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Newsom selects progressive assemblyman for California attorney general

March 25, 2021

By JOSH FRIEDMAN

California Gov. Gavin Newsom selected Assemblyman Rob Bonta, a progressive Democrat, to be the state’s next attorney general.

Bonta, who represents Oakland, Alameda and San Leandro in the state Assembly, is set to become California’s first Filipino attorney general. If confirmed by the Assembly and Senate, Bonta will replace Xavier Becerra, who was recently sworn in as President Joe Biden’s Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services.

First elected to the Assembly in 2012, Bonta has introduced numerous bills, some of which have become law. Bonta has led first-in-the-nation efforts to eliminate cash bail, ban for-profit prisons, protect renters from wrongful evictions and strengthen hate crime laws, Newsom’s office stated in a news release.

In addition to authoring legislation that banned for-profit prisons and immigrant detention centers, Bonta wrote a state law that automatically expunges and modifies criminal records of people convicted of minor marijuana offenses. He also penned legislation requiring immigrants to be informed of their rights before speaking to ICE agents and co-authored a law requiring an independent investigation any time law enforcement is involved in the death of an unarmed civilian.

Bonta also introduced and later rescinded a controversial bill that would have made it easier for members of the Communist Party and their sympathizers to work for government agencies in California. Though the bill was advancing through the Democrat-controlled Legislature, it was causing uproar in California’s sizable Vietnamese-American community.

In a statement, Newsom said Bonta represents Californians’ desire to reverse systemic injustices.

“Rob represents what makes California great — our desire to take on righteous fights and reverse systemic injustices,” Newsom said. “Growing up with parents steeped in social justice movements, Rob has become a national leader in the fight to repair our justice system and defend the rights of every Californian. And most importantly, at this moment when so many communities are under attack for who they are and who they love, Rob has fought to strengthen hate crime laws and protect or communities from the forces of hate.”

Bonta released a statement thanking Newsom for selecting him and promising to enable Californians who have been wronged to find justice.

“I became a lawyer because I saw the law as the best way to make a positive difference for the most people, and it would be an honor of a lifetime to serve as the attorney for the people of this great state,” Bonta said. “As California’s attorney general, I will work tirelessly every day to ensure that every Californian who has been wronged can find justice and that every person is treated fairly under the law.”


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Yay. Yay. The first Filipino Attorney General! Next it will be the first one legged hermaphrodite. Aren’t we so blessed with our continued focus on identity in a “post racial” world? Call me racist, but I prefer qualifications. Being a Filipino Communist isn’t one of them. What a putz.


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Well, let’s see: Yale, Oxford, Yale Law School, clerked for a U.S. District Court judge, Deputy S.F. City attorney, private litigator on insurance, civil rights, patent infringement, fraud, contracts, etc. Defended the police in a high profile case in 2008.


California Assembly for the last seven years, won each of his elections by an average of 85%-15%.


Those qualifications seem pretty solid and if he was a white Republican I doubt you’d argue it.


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media parrot vitriol, race resentment, dated labels, odd political fantasies …

y’all must be missing,

your insurrection “hugging and kissing”


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Oh you must be talking about the “summer of love.” 25 people killed by antifa and Black Lives Matter. Small family owned and minority owned businesses burned to the ground worth billions of dollars. Topped off by a federal courthouse, yes a federal government building no less, like the capital, fire bombed and attacked. All of this while the cops did nothing for fear of being called racist. And let’s not forget Washington DC prior to January 6. Oh yeah, you mean that insurrection Comrad?


4

Very well stated and absolutely true. Some how these terrorist groups and their insurrection, murder, and destruction across this nation is justified by the cowardly media and those individuals blinded by their own ideologies right here with their own comments as we see above. Please show me the media and the Socialist Democrat members denouncing the murders, destruction, racism and hate from these insurgent groups that continue to attack all around this country. Those that support this and remain silent are heretics.


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On 5/31/20, the fifth night of Floyd demonstrations, Joe Biden wrote “burning down communities and needless destruction is not [right and necessary]. Violence that endangers lives is not. Violence that guts and shutters businesses that serve the community is not.”

On 6/3, Rep. Clyburn, the majority whip of the House of Representatives, stated, “We have to make sure we do not allow ourselves to play the other person’s game. Peaceful protest is our game. Violence is their game. Purposeful protest is our game. This looting and rioting, that’s their game. We cannot allow ourselves to play their game. … Breaking out a window will not contribute to that. Setting a fire, throwing stones at police officers, that’s destructive behavior, which will not contribute to anything that will make this a better country and make a better future for our children and our grandchildren.”

Democratic Mayor Lori Lightfoot said there is “no justification for criminal behavior. There cannot be any excuse for it, period. This was not legitimate First Amendment protected speech. To those who engaged in this criminal behavior, let’s be clear: We are coming for you.

“When you commit arson with an accelerant in an attempt to burn down a building that is occupied by people who you have intentionally trapped inside, you are not demonstrating, you are attempting to commit murder,” Portland’s Democratic Mayor Ted Wheeler said.

In 2017, Pelosi condemned “the violent actions of people calling themselves antifa” after a protest in Berkley, California. “Our democracy has no room for inciting violence or endangering the public, no matter the ideology of those who commit such acts.”

Sources:

Medium Statement from Joe Biden, May 31, We are a nation furious at injustice.

Washington Post, June 3, Race in America: A Conversation with House Majority Whip James Clyburn

Des Moines Register, May 31, ‘We’re losing the message about justice’: Des Moines community leaders fear attention now focused on violence

Associated Press, July 3, Violence mars Portland protests, frustrates Black community

New York Times, Aug. 10, Chicago Police Arrest More Than 100 People After Looting Batters Downtown

Washington Post, June 22, “Who caused the violence at protests? It wasn’t antifa.”

Reuters, Aug. 4, “U.S. prosecutors do not charge Portland protesters with antifa ties”

Washington Post, Aug. 9, “‘You can’t control people’s anger’: Portland protesters set fire to polic1e union headquarters as tensions rise again”

Washington Post, Aug. 30, 2017, “Pelosi condemns ‘violent actions’ of antifa protesters”


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Nice try,


LOL!


-3

You are deflecting from what you can not face. The Capitol insurrection was called for and organized by Trump and his supporters to overturn a federal election. Over 100 officers were injured. There were deaths and calling for the death of members of Congress and the VP. Current GOP members of Congress STILL continue to feed the Big Lie that the election was fraudulent, in spite of having NO evidence, or legal success in 80+ cases. Incredibly, 12 GOP representatives voted NOT to award medals to Capitol officers!!!

What you also cannot face is that peaceful protesting the deaths of Floyd and Taylor IS justified. Consider the $27 and $12 million dollar settlements and that more than 93% of the BLM protests were peaceful according to a report by the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project. This report analyzed more than 7,750 Black Lives Matter demonstrations in all 50 states and Washington D.C. that took place in the wake of George Floyd’s death between May 26 and August 22.

It is true, some BLM protests were accelerated by agitators, posers. These are the same type of accelerators that were at the Capitol. https://www.justsecurity.org/70497/far-right-infiltrators-and-agitators-in-george-floyd-protests-indicators-of-white-supremacists/ Almost all the violence seems to come back to alt-right actors.

As for Antifa, they are radicals that oppose the rule of law and the Democratic Party. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-biden-inauguration-portland-prote/anti-fascist-protesters-vandalize-buildings-in-portland-and-seattle-idUSKBN29Q0H9

The last resort is to bring up the local protest, an expensive, prosecutorial failure of a nothing burger.

deras, 1)election falsehoods-fail; 2)insurrection and murder attempts-fail; 3)election lawsuits-fail; 4)large BLM judgments-fail; 5)far-right agitators federal investigations-fail; 6)Antifa connection to Dems-fail; 7)local protest prosecution-fail. 0 for 7


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