By now, you’re aware that Joy’s selection for Wednesday’s “Absolute Worst” was Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro.
Here are some “dishonorable mentions” — deplorable people who just missed the cut.
Border Patrol agents
The Border Patrol agents recently seen grabbing and chasing Haitian migrants in Texas while on horseback have been placed on administrative leave, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Wednesday. She described the agents’ actions as “brutal and inappropriate measures against innocent people.”
The agents have been placed on leave pending a Department of Homeland Security investigation, meaning it’s entirely possible that being listed on “Absolute Worst: Dishonorable Mentions” is the extent of the repercussions they could face.
What’s the cost of being at the center of an incident that has evoked thoughts of slavery? You, I and a few Border Patrol agents are about to find out.
Michael Flynn
Former national security adviser Michael Flynn, the Donald Trump sycophant-turned-convicted felon pardoned by Trump in the last few months of his presidency, has some more deluded theories to share.
On Tuesday, video surfaced of Flynn appearing to suggest that health officials are considering putting Covid-19 vaccines in salad dressings. If you weren’t already inclined to call Flynn’s statement a lie — and Lord knows he’s told many of those — rest assured there is no truth to the “vax salad” conspiracy. Vaccines are quite expensive, for one. And if the government were trying to force-feed vaccines to people, I’m quite confident the best way to do it would not be with salads.
Sen. Tim Scott
If you believed the Republican Party would throw its support behind the police reform bill as the party wages its most virulent assault on the rule of law in years, I have an Edmund Pettus Bridge to sell you.
Negotiations over a bill that was to be known as the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act fell apart Wednesday, after Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., and Rep. Karen Bass, D-Calif., were unable to reach an agreement with Republican Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina.
According to NBC News, Booker presented a “skinny” reform bill that excluded several things Democrats wanted, including an end to “qualified immunity,” which shields police from civil liability. Bass was in agreement, but Scott — the lone Black Republican in the Senate — balked.
Head over to The ReidOut Blog for more.
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Ja’han Jones is an MS NOW opinion blogger. He previously wrote The ReidOut Blog.