Tag Archives: Attorney General Jeff Sessions

Trump Administration takes the first steps towards implementing theocracy in America

Posted on by under Political commentary, Racism & Bigotry, Re-blogs, religion, Social commentary

You all know I tip-toe around when it comes to religion, for it is never my goal to offend anyone, and that’s hard as heck to do when religion is the topic. Our friend Robert Vella wrote the post I was contemplating, and did so much better than I could have anyway.
‘Religious freedom’ used to mean that we each had the freedom to follow any faith or no faith without interference from the government or from others. But in recent months, it has taken on a new connotation … one that I and others find deeply disturbing. The new meaning takes away the freedoms of any who do not comply with the evangelical Christians, almost as though Christianity were the “official religion” of the U.S.
Please take a few minutes to read Robert’s excellent post about the latest push for religious bigotry. Thank you, Robert, for this post and implied permission to re-blog!

The Secular Jurist

By Robert A. Vella

The very first amendment to the U.S. Constitution, as part of the Bill of Rights ratified in 1791, states that:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

This separation of church and state was intended and repeatedly affirmed to ensure two things for the new nation:  1) that the United States government would be formally secular, and 2) that United States citizens could legally practice their various religions freely and without interference from other religions.  In a letter to the Danbury Baptist Association in 1802, President Thomas Jefferson wrote:

Believing with you that religion is a matter which lies solely between Man & his God, that he owes…

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Tears of Rage …

Posted on by under Racism & Bigotry, Rants, Social commentary

There are so many important things I need to write about today that as I sit at the keyboard, I am conflicted, not knowing where to begin.  Trump’s emoluments lawsuit?  His DACA threat?  His intent to pull out of Syria?  His threat to pull out of NAFTA?  His ignorant statement that The Washington Post should have to register as a lobbyist organization?  Laura Ingraham’s cruel statements about the kids protesting for gun regulation and the backlash against her?  Then again, I have a piece started about how gerrymandering could affect the mid-term elections, but it requires more research that I haven’t yet found time for.  Sigh.  But I know that I will write about none of these topics for this post, because while they are all extremely important, another story has stirred my emotions … all of them: rage, grief, despair.

Stephon Clark with his two children

A young man, Stephon Clark, was only 22-years-old when he died, fatally shot in his grandmother’s backyard by police officers.  Police said he was coming toward them with a weapon.  In fact, he held a cell phone.  Police said they shot in self-defense … all twenty times.  In fact, six of the eight bullets that hit Mr. Clark, hit him in the back … in the back!!!  They shot an unarmed man six times in the back!  Stephon, as I’m sure you have guessed by now, was black. It happened two weeks ago, 18 March, to be precise. At first I steered clear of this story, for it was reported that Stephon may have been vandalizing cars in the neighborhood, and details seemed conflicting in several areas.  Besides, our friend Gronda had done a fine post about it, so I went in a different direction.    But when I heard the autopsy reports, I began to lean toward writing about it after all.  And then today … on Saturday night, a Sacramento County Sheriff’s car hit a 61-year-old woman in a crowd of protestors and then … sped away!!! That’s right … one of “Sacramento’s Finest” is guilty of hit-and-run against a woman who was doing nothing more than protesting a brutal murder by other members of “Sacramento’s Finest”! It was at this point that I knew I had to write this else my fury would eat me alive.

Wanda Cleveland, the woman the deputy hit, will fortunately be alright.  She was treated at the hospital for injuries to her arm and the back of her head.  The incident was captured on video, so there should be no doubt as to who the guilty deputy is, though the Sheriff’s office has not released that information as yet.  They say only that it is ‘under investigation’.  There is already a demand that the two officers who shot Stephon be fired, and I would add this deputy’s name to the list of people who do not need to be in law enforcement.

Does anybody remember the riots in Los Angeles in 1991 after the videotaped beating of Rodney King by L.A.P.D. officers?  It looks a lot like Sacramento wants to repeat those riots.  Protests in Sacramento had been ongoing for days, but those protests increased in intensity and tension after the results of the autopsy were released.  Thus far, the protests have shut down major roadways, blocked entry to an NBA game and created a seemingly ever-present tension in the streets of California’s capital.  I must commend the protestors, for through it all, there have been only two arrests.

And there have been signs of compassion and remorse.  Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg walked with Clark’s family as they left his funeral last week.  The Sacramento Kings NBA team has launched an education fund for Clark’s children.  Protest organizers are cautiously optimistic about the new Police Chief Daniel Hahn, who just last August became the city’s first African American police chief. Hahn did not hesitate to swiftly release body-cam videos of the shooting and summon the assistance of the state attorney general’s office to investigate it.

So yes, there are signs that this is being taken seriously, there may well be olive branches extended, but it is not enough.  Steps must be taken to hold law enforcement accountable, and thus far that has not been done.  As Attorney General under President Obama, Loretta Lynch initiated investigations and implemented procedures to ensure federal oversight of police departments, especially those accused of racial profiling.  Upon taking office, Attorney General Jefferson Beauregard Sessions, who has a history of proven racism,  repealed much of what Ms. Lynch had put into place, saying …

“It is not the responsibility of the federal government to manage non-federal law enforcement agencies.”

Then whose responsibility is it, Mr. Sessions???  We The People are sick and tired of unarmed black men being gunned down in cold blood by local police, and never being held accountable.  Local police across the nation have proven that they are not going to terminate officers who shoot unarmed black men.  Community outrage?  Sure, for a while, and then it dies down, the officers are found “not guilty” and reinstated in their positions, their killing weapons returned to them so that they can go out and take another young life.  #BlackLivesMatter is a movement that is rarely understood among the white population of this nation.  It is not saying, as some would claim, that only black lives matter … it is saying that black lives matter every bit as much as white lives!  Just maybe not to the police, the courts, or the current Department of Justice.

Something must change.  This cannot continue.  The people of Sacramento are angry.  The people of this nation are angry, at least most of us.  And we are tired … tired of racial injustice, tired of law enforcement being “above the law”.  Tired of white supremacism, bigotry, racism and hatred.  I hope the protests in Sacramento continue until finally somebody sits up and takes notice.  I do not hope to see more lives lost, but hope that, like the young people who marched for laws to control guns, the protesters are spirited, yet operate peacefully, within the bounds of the law. But the point must be made, somehow, that no, this is not okay with us!

In two days, 04 April 2017, it will have been 50 years since the assassination of Civil Rights leader Martin Luther King.  Are we any further along in our quest for racial equality than we were 50 years ago?  You tell me …

Tears of Rage – Revisited

Posted on by under Social commentary

At 2:00 p.m. today, the United States Justice Department made the following announcement:

“After an exhaustive, almost yearlong investigation, all of the prosecutors involved have come to the conclusion there is insufficient evidence to charge either office with a federal crime. “

Last year, under Attorney General Loretta Lynch, the Justice Department opened an investigation into the murder of Alton Sterling by police.  Apparently, under the new, racist Attorney General Jeff Sessions, that investigation was closed and no charges will be filed.  There will be no justice for Alton Sterling’s murder, just as was the case in so many others in recent years.  I am reposting this post from 07 July 2016, when Mr. Sterling was so viciously, needlessly murdered.  R.I.P., Mr. Alton B. Sterling.

I long for the day when I no longer have to write these stories.  I no longer expect to see that day in my lifetime, but I surely can wish for it.  This story, no worse than the others, has somehow left me drained, depleted, tired, and incredibly sad.  Perhaps it is worse than the others, merely by merit of quantity, of the number of these I have read, only some of which I have written about.  Perhaps it is because we keep hearing promises that steps are being taken to ensure it does not happen again, but then it happens again.  Or perhaps because of the haters out there who have already begun to blame the victim.

sterling1.pngThe Facts of the Matter:

  • Tuesday morning, at approximately 12:35 a.m., Alton B. Sterling, age 37, was selling CD’s in his usual place outside a convenience store in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
  • Police received an anonymous 911 call saying a black man in a red shirt selling music CDs outside the Triple S Food Mart had threatened him with a gun.
  • Police arrived on the scene and arrested Mr. Sterling, tasing him and throwing him first on the hood of a car and then on the ground where the two officers, Blane Salamoni, 28, and Howie Lake II, 29, pinned him to the ground.
  • While Sterling was pinned, one of the officers pulled his gun and shot Mr. Sterling numerous times.
  • Mr. Sterling was African-American. Mr. Sterling is dead.

The “Positives”:

  • The Justice Department opened a civil rights investigation on Wednesday, thus the investigation will not, as recent, similar killings of African-Americans by police have been, be left to state or local investigators. The FBI and the United States Attorney’s Office will also participate in the investigation.
  • Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards has a history of being fair. He ran for governor in 2015 based on “a healthy dose of common sense and compassion for ordinary people”.  Since then he has signed legislation to protect the rights of the LGBT community and rescinded an earlier order by Bobby Jindal that allowed for discriminatory practices by businesses and religious organizations.  Governor Edwards has promised to ensure transparency and assistance to the Justice Department in this investigation, and I somehow believe him.
  • There are at least six videos of the incident: 2 from the body cams of the officers, although apparently the quality is poor, as the cams were “dangling”; 1 from the dash-cam on the patrol car; 1 from the surveillance camera at the convenience store; and 2 from witnesses.  The two by witnesses are available online, and I will include links at the end of this post.

The Responses:

  • Protests, peaceful thus far, have sprung up drawing hundreds of people Wednesday night to the storefront where it happened.
  • Police department spokesperson L’Jean McKneely, when asked if the officers had been questioned, replied that they had not, because “we give officers normally a day or so to go home and think about it.” (This, though in almost every criminal incident, witnesses are interviewed as soon as possible, as credibility of eyewitness accounts lessens with time.  And what the Sam Heck is there to think about?  Do they need time to corroborate their stories?)
  • Officer Salamoni’s father-in-law, James Durdin, released an angry statement, saying “It burns my you-know-what when it’s – usually the black people – that try to make an agenda out of this. What I’d like to see is them with no police at all, so they can know what it’s like not to have them… The majority of (cops) would never be abusive. Does anyone give a you-know-what about that? We’ll have social chaos (without cops). I’m totally against these people.”

Given that the investigation is being conducted at the federal level, I think there is a better than even chance that the truth will come to light.  Does that mean I believe justice will necessarily be served?  Not necessarily.  There was no justice for Trayvon Martin.  There has been no justice, as yet, for Freddie Gray.  There was no justice for Tamir Rice. There was no justice for Michael Brown. And either way, at the end of the day, Alton B. Sterling will still be dead and his son will still be crying for his dad.

So why do I keep writing these posts?  I do so because people far too easily become complacent, become accepting that this is the status quo, that this is the norm, that this is just the way it is.  If we all just sigh, then keep our mouths shut and do not speak out, then we are as guilty as anybody else.  I may not make a difference, or at least not much of one, but I will not sit down and shut up!  I will speak against this injustice until I take my last breath.  It is who I am, and I make no apologies for that.

I have tried to write this post presenting facts and leaving out rumours and unverifiable data.  I have tried to write this post calmly and somewhat dispassionately.  It is difficult, if not impossible to do so, as I am literally choking on tears or rage, frustration and incredible sadness as I write.  Sometimes I find shreds of humanity and, being mostly an optimist, I think, “AHA … there is hope for mankind after all.”  Tonight, as I read the stories, as I do the research, and as I write this post, I cannot find that glimmer of hope.  R.I.P. Mr. Alton B. Sterling.

Video Links (warning – these are not easy to watch)

Video #1

Video #2

Jeff Sessions – The First Fateful Three Weeks – Part II

Posted on by under Global Issues, Political commentary

It is apparent that Trump’s hand-picked ‘team’ has a problem with their collective noses … they cannot seem to keep them clean.  The latest in the team to scramble in the world of CYA is none other than Jeff Sessions.  During Sessions’ confirmation hearings in January, he took an oath to answer questions put to him with honesty.  Since the scenario I am about to discuss is tangled with the scenario of the Russian hackers, the investigation of said hackers, ties of Trump’s team to the Russian government, and the case of Mike Flynn, I thought it might be helpful to put together an abbreviated timeline to help clarify (the New York Times has put together a much better, more detailed timeline which I encourage you to look at also)

Timeline for the purpose of clarification:

  • 03 March 2016 – Trump announces Jeff Sessions will lead his national security advisory committee.
  • 18 July – 22 July 2016 – Sessions talks with Russian ambassador to the U.S., Sergey I. Kislyak and a group of other diplomats after an event at the Republican National Convention/
  • 08 September 2016 – Then Senator Sessions meets privately with Kislyak at Sessions’ office in the Senate Office Building.
  • 10 January 2017 – Under sworn oath, Sessions is asked by Senator Al Franken what he would do if “there is any evidence that anyone affiliated with the Trump campaign communicated with the Russian government in the course of this campaign.” Sessions replied: “I have been called a surrogate at a time or two in that campaign, and I didn’t have — did not have communications with the Russians, and I’m unable to comment on it.”
  • 17 January 2017 – Sessions, still under oath, is asked to complete a written set of questions prepared by the committee. Among the questions is one from Senator Patrick Leahy asking whether “he had been in contact with anyone connected to any party of the Russian government about the 2016 election, either before or after election day.” Sessions replied, “No.” 
  • 08 February 2017 – Despite opposition from Democrats and some Republicans, Sessions is confirmed as Attorney General.
  • 01 March 2017 – The Washington Post breaks a story  that AG Sessions had met twice with Ambassador Kislyak last year. Sessions responds to the Post story by saying, “I never met with any Russian officials to discuss issues of the campaign. I have no idea what this allegation is about. It is false.”
  • 02 March 2017 – Congressional Republicans begin breaking ranks and joining Democrats in demanding that Mr. Sessions recuse himself from overseeing an investigation into contacts between the Trump campaign and the Russian government. At a 4:00 p.m. press conference, Sessions announces he is recusing himself from any investigations related to the Trump campaign, saying now, “I don’t recall”, whether Mr. Trump or the presidential election, which was then two months away, came up in the discussion with the ambassador.

It would appear that members of Trump’s inner core have a severe problem with not only their noses, but also their memories. We are reminded of Mike Flynn’s downfall last month when it was discovered that he had communicated with Ambassador Kislyak on 25 December regarding the as-yet-unannounced U.S. sanctions against Russia.  First, he claimed he only called Mr. Kislyak to with him a “Merry Christmas”.  Then his story changed to “I might have mentioned sanctions … I really don’t remember”.  And then, it was proven that he had, in fact, discussed upcoming sanctions and more.  Flynn was forced to resign in disgrace.  Will Sessions’ fate be similar?

There are two salient points here:

  1. Jeff Sessions, the most senior enforcer of law in the nation, lied under oath
  2. Jeff Sessions had contact with a member of the Russian government twice during an election which, it has been proven, the Russian government conspired to sway.

Do I have proof that Sessions was a part of the wider conspiracy to turn the election in favour of Trump?  No, of course not.  Presumably, at this point, neither does anybody else, including the intelligence community.  However, the appearance of impropriety cannot be denied.

Opinions on both sides have been swirling madly today, some saying that he didn’t lie, because he {claims} he did not discuss anything related to the campaign.  This is splitting hairs, folks.  If I ask you if you ate the last of the chocolate ice cream this morning, and you actually ate it last night, so you simply say “no”, you have still falsified, or at the very least withheld information.  Sessions, if not trying to fabricate or conceal information, would have mentioned the two occasions on which he had met with Kislyak and stated the purpose of those two meetings.  It is called ‘transparency’.  It is called ‘honesty’.  It is called ‘integrity’.  All of these are qualities I want in the man who ultimately decides how laws will be enforced, a man who is the chief law enforcement officer AND chief lawyer for the nation.  We can nitpick, split hairs, and argue verbage for days, but the reality is that Jeff Sessions was not completely honest, and therefore does not belong in the position he is in.

A member of Trump’s administration said, “Sessions met with the ambassador in an official capacity as a member of the Senate armed services committee, which is entirely consistent with his testimony.” Two points here.  Yes, it may well be that Sessions, as a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, had justifiable cause to meet with Ambassador Kislyak.  However … in that case, why hide the truth?  The lack of transparency here is deeply disturbing, leads to much speculation, and is taken, at least by this writer, as a sign that Sessions is hiding something, a sign of dishonesty.

Had he not recused himself this afternoon, Sessions would have led the investigation into the connections of Trump and his advisory team and their connections with Russia during the campaign.  There is a lot of room for ethics violations and outright dishonesty, cover-up worse than Watergate, and breach of trust here.  Even Representative Jason Chaffetz, the Utah Republican who played a significant role in the electoral loss of Hillary Clinton, said earlier today, “AG Sessions should clarify his testimony and recuse himself.” 

Sessions made the right decision in recusing himself from any investigations into the Trump campaign and the Russian government, but is it enough?  There are calls from Democrats in and out of Congress for Sessions to step down, to resign his position.  I agree with those who believe he should do so, in part because his nomination to that position has always disturbed me based on his blatant and inherent racism, but also because this latest episode of dishonesty disturbs me even more.  If he lied about one thing, we must ask the question, what else is he lying about, or to what lengths is he willing to go to obscure the truth?  In the three short weeks he has been in office, he has already stomped on LGBT rights by rescinding protections for transgender students, and tromped on the civil rights of African-Americans and other minorities by announcing his intent to stop monitoring police departments with a history of racial bias and related police brutality.  The Russian connection is only the latest in a series of acts that prove he is not the right man for this job.  The job of U.S. Attorney General requires somebody who is honest, is compassionate, is dedicated to following the letter of the law with compassion and humanity, and above all has the courage of his convictions.  Jeff Sessions is none of these things.

So yes, I do believe Sessions needs to resign, but we need to learn from the experiences of Flynn and Sessions and demand better choices from our government, demand that Congress be more dedicated to the good of the whole, rather than the benefit of the few who fill their coffers.

There may yet be a Part III of this post in a day or two, once the dust has had time to settle from the two-day whirlwind chain of events.  Time will tell.