Dems move to expel “QAnon Congresswoman” Greene – National & International News – FRI 19Mar2021

Democrats move to expel “QAnon Congresswoman”. Border crisis grows. War of words at China-US meet. Myanmar: mutual hatred of junta uniting protesters with armed ethnic minorities.

NATIONAL NEWS

Democrats move to expel Greene

73 House Democrats have co-signed a resolution to expel Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene. Statements by Greene both before and after the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol have spurred accusations that Greene supported and perhaps even aided the insurrection. Even member of Greene’s own party have sought to distance themselves from her. Last month, 11 of Greene’s fellow House Republicans voted with Democrats to remove Greene from her committee positions. Several House Democrats have since moved to further isolate Greene and other GOP Reps who refused to acknowledge the results of the November election.

Greene drew further controversy this week by leading a group of 12 Republicans in voting against a resolution to award gold medals to Capitol Police who protected Congress on Jan. 6, despite being seriously outnumbered. Greene’s objection centered on language in the resolution that referred to the attack as an “insurrection.

The resolution to expel Greene, introduced by Rep. Jimmy Gomez (D-CA), cites 2019 statements by Greene on social media. Although Greene published the posts before her Congressional run, Democrats say they amount to incitements to violence and murder of Congressional Democrats, including Nancy Pelosi.

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Child immigration crisis grows at border

Last week, the White House called in FEMA to address the influx of unaccompanied minor migrants over the Mexican border. The large numbers of lone children seem to have caught the administration unprepared.

A DHS document obtained by NPR shows that 100s of children have been held in jail-like detention centers for 10 days or longer. Legally, Customs and Border Protection can only hold children for up to 3 days before transferring them to a licensed childcare facility.

The White House has blamed the delay on Trump’s dismantling of vital services at the border, telling reporters they are “dealing with the hand they were dealt” by the previous administration. According to one Biden administration official, “[President Biden] inherited a mess, which is the result of four years and one thousand policies that had the intent of undermining and weakening the entire immigration system”.

As of yesterday, CBP facilities were holding 4,600. This is a 30% increase over last week, and a record for the detention centers.

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INTERNATIONAL NEWS

War of words at US-China meeting

The first high-level meeting with Chinese officials since the beginning of Biden’s presidency is getting off to a rocky start.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is meeting with his Chinese counterpart, Foreign Minister Wang Yi, in Anchorage, Alaska, along with other senior security and policy officials from both sides.

At the first meeting, Chinese officials accused the US of inciting countries “to attack China”. The charged referred to recent US efforts to persuade other nations to condemn what the US has declared a Chinese genocide of its Uighur population. The US side has pledged “discuss our deep concerns with actions by China, including in Xinjiang, Hong Kong, Taiwan, cyber attacks on the United States, economic coercion of our allies” at the meeting.

US officials accused the Chinese officials of “grandstanding”. Despite the raucous public exchange, insiders say that the later closed-door talks had been “substantive, serious and direct”.

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Myanmar: junta crackdown anger may stir armed rebellion

Since the Feb. 1 removal of the country’s democratically-elected leadership, Myanmar’s military and police have gunned down at least 200 protesters and arrested thousands.

In the borderlands, several armed ethic groups have been fighting for self-determination for decades. Having previously agreed to a nationwide ceasefire, these groups have refused to cooperate with the new military-led junta. Even when President Suu Kyi was in power, the military brutally oppressed many of these minority groups.

Under Suu Kyi’s government, the KIA and other rebel groups had been labeled as terrorists. Myanmar’s majority largely accepted this. Now, Myanmar’s majority have come to sympathize with the oppressed rebels, and the rebels have voiced support for protesters. There are hints the two may even join forces to fight back against the military, sparking a civil war.

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