I just don’t get what now-former acting Attorney General Sally Yates was doing. No wonder she was fired. The Justice Department has long argued in defense of near absolute deference to presidential authority on immigration and national security, vigorously opposing lawsuits against the Obama Administration’s record-setting deportations and unprecedented invasions of privacy. Where was Yates when her department defended “enhanced interrogation” and a slew of restrictions against immigration imposed by presidents of both parties?
granny, thanks for posting keith’s 27th resistance. I share your tears.
craig, odd coming from you this finding fault of one who chose to abide by her oath to uphold the constitution and whatever other oath she took upon becoming a lawyer. did you not in the past applaud others in similar situations and did you not castigate some who didn’t speak up or who didn’t publically resign and refuse to follow orders or who kept silent while the powerful did dastardly deeds?
Mosque shooting suspect in Canada known for far-right views
Turns out this bomber is a White Nationalist
ny times:
President Trump removed Sally Q. Yates, the nation’s top law enforcement officer, from her post Monday night, saying she had betrayed him by refusing to defend his executive order closing borders to citizens of seven predominantly Muslim countries.
Her replacement, Dana J. Boente, immediately rescinded Ms. Yates’s directive to Justice Department lawyers not to defend Mr. Trump’s move. The firing raises pressure on senators to confirm, or block, Senator Jeff Sessions as attorney general.
Also on Monday, Sean Spicer, the White House press secretary, warned State Department officials who disagreed with Mr. Trump’s agenda, saying they “should either get with the program or they can go.” Career officers have circulated a memo stating that the recent immigration order would not make the nation safer.
and at Atlanta journal constitution:
“At present, I am not convinced that the defense of the executive order is consistent with these responsibilities, nor am I convinced that the executive order is lawful,” she wrote in a letter to the departments lawyers, according to the Times.
The Trump administration lashed out at Yates immediately after her firing.
“Ms. Yates is an Obama administration appointee who is weak on borders and very weak on illegal immigration,” said a statement issued by White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer.
In her 2015 confirmation hearing as deputy attorney general, Yates was confronted with this question from Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions, who is now Trump’s nominee to become attorney general: “Do you think the attorney general has a responsibility to say no to the president if he asks for something that’s improper?”
Yates replied: “Senator, I believe that the attorney general or the deputy attorney general has an obligation to follow the law and the Constitution, and to give their independent legal advice to the president.”
Craig,
“Where was she” … She wasn’t in charge. She has only been Acting Attorney General since January 20, 2017. I doubt you can blame someone in the position to make this type of decision who has only been there for 11 days.
You are correct, Craig…Yates had blood coming-out of her eyes.
Holy Xenu! bannon’s navy experience qualifies him to sit on the nat’l security council on the right hand side of trump. Just like l. ron hubbard…space opera in the WH? Look at how well-run scientology is!
do hope that senators will ask sessions the same questions
https://youtu.be/rUiS0nALcBo
Current mood.
Still clinging to my humor, however weak, and my science.
Time crystals.
bid..I have had bees all winter due to the warmth. What bees do in the winter. We let our broccoli flower this winter and the hive bees have been busy all winter when the air temp allows them to leave the queen. We also have solitary bees. Like the birds? Hubby and I always take care of the ‘birds and the bees.’
Time Crystals are a great energy source as our technology has moved in the incorrect direction with regard to energy consumption.
Digital energy suckers. Not only is our technology lazy with the always-on feature, but also can use up to 3X’s the amount of energy than regular tv. From the article —
Another problematic thing when it comes to energy-efficiency is that newer consoles are also billed as video devices. They can stream Netflix and play DVDs/Blurays, but compared to other specialized video streamers like the Apple TV or dedicated Bluray players, they use vastly more power.
If I may, I’d like to propose that we change our National Anthem to “Get Back” by The Beatles.
My modem went kapooey Sunday morning. New one installed last night. Gotta say, was kinda nice reading, sleeping like we used to 😉
welcome back to the digital world, sj. Glad to hear you had some analog healing time.
pretty soon their noses will be so long they’ll topple over.
wapo:
“Only 109 people out of 325,000 were detained and held for questioning.”
— President Trump, tweet, Jan, 30, 2017
“Remember we’re talking about a universe of 109 people. There were 325,000 people that came into this country over a 24 hour period from another country. 109 of them were stopped for additional screening.”
— White House press secretary Sean Spicer, press briefing, Jan. 30, 2017
President Trump and his aides love to cite a small number and a big number in order to minimize the impact of the president’s executive order suspending the visas of citizens of seven countries.
But these figures are incredibly misleading,….[…]
The Pinocchio Test
The Trump White House’s figures on the scope of the travel ban are ludicrously low. The universe of people likely affected by the travel suspension is around 90,000 — not 109. The White House should also not use the overall daily number of travelers as a comparison.
Four Pinocchios
btw, sean was really callous in presser when he referred to what happened to those banned as just being an “inconvenience”….sure is inconvenient facing homelessness or at the worse death if sent back or not let in.
This is an epic moment went it comes to foreign policy blunders, but I still don’t see a legal case. It should be fought in the political word, not the courts.
This country has a president who is nuts. His cabinet picks are unqualified. He fires the Joint Chiefs to replace them with a white supremacist while circumventing Congress in order to do so. He and his Press Secretary habitually lie. Oh I can’t wait to find out whom he picks to replace Antonin Scalia. I could go on and on… but I’m sure you all get the point.
And you Craig take it upon yourself to criticize someone left over from the Obama administration.
hmmmmmm…..
boss, these guys sure see a legal case and they’re putting their money where their mouth is.
ibt: Amazon, Microsoft and Expedia to support Washington lawsuit over Trump’s travel ban
these guys do too
cbslocal Massachusetts AG To Join Lawsuit Challenging Trump’s Immigration Order
avauncer: California lawyers sue President Trump to repeal immigration order
Pat, as the saying goes, “Any fool can sue.” These cases, instead of reigning in executive power, are more likely to lead to rulings that set another precedent for judicial deference to presidential authority on immigration and foreign policy, in this one even when he is stupid, mean-spirited and xenophobic.
Poobah, Jonathan Turley, whose opinion on these kind of things I have great respect for agrees with you on the prospect of a successful legal challenge to the “No 7 Muslim country immigrants allowed” order. The prez’ power in that area is plenary or damned close to it. I think Rudy stepped in it for drumpf’s lawyers though – saying trump asked him to convene a commission (WTF?) to tell him how to do a Muslim ban legally. I do not agree that there is no prospect of challenging this on the basis of violation of the Act that precludes discriminatory actions against immigrants based on national origin or religion, but I haven’t actually read that law or any of the cases regarding it (if there are any).
I do not fault Sally one bit, and she had to know that her directive would result in her discharge. I kinda like the fact that she had the balls to take a stand based on her belief that the law might not be constitutional even if it meant getting canned. BTW, I understand she’s been with DOJ for 27 years, which would put her into the department under GHWB if that is correct – likely as an AUSA.
Craig: I’m somewhat confused by your post…maybe it’s just me. Perhaps you could clarify i.e. what did or did she not do or what should or should she not have done during her time as AG that seems to have displeased you so much that you seem OK with her being fired now?
That said…I think it’s time to call this what it is. We now officially have a dictator running the country. There are going to be serious repercussions around the world. With every new “order” dictated by this lunatic the situation grows ever more gloomy. What will it take to stop him and save America?
Just sign me Not Hopeful!
And Poobah, I hate it when executive power is enlarged or strengthened in an area when it is done so with a stupid, mean-spirited and xenophobic executive in the oval office.
Granny, I just thought it was a silly gesture, with no basis in law. She’s been a Senate-confirmed Deputy for the last year or two, had to have known it was a pointless thing to do.
Pogo, besides the chance for unintended consequences, my other concern is that if Trump ultimately wins these cases it will give the impression that the courts support his policy (he will certainly claim that), when the only issue before them was his legal authority.
This thing out to be dealt with in the political world where the policy itself can be thrashed out, and the public engaged.
Better an empty gesture then no gesture at all
I don’t care if she’s late to the party at least she showed up and did something
KGC – I am with you on that. But I do not think it was worthless. Combining her firing with Nixon’s actions multiplied the effect with a result that many can understand. The guy is lost in his own world and Bannon is running the show.
Poobah, with respect to unintended consequences and how this sort of thing should be dealt with I couldn’t agree more.
By Douglas Perry | The Oregonian/OregonLive
Email the author | Follow on Twitter
on January 30, 2017 at 10:39 AM, updated January 30, 2017 at 10:56 AM
Conventional wisdom among President Donald Trump’s critics has it that his executive order banning U.S.-bound travel from seven Muslim-majority countries was the epitome of incompetence and arrogance.
They note that it was put into action without being reviewed by the State or Defense departments or the appropriate government lawyers. The order’s intent, goes the opposition’s thinking, isn’t national security. It’s racism and the president’s desire to prove to his core supporters that he meant what he said on the campaign trail.
“Put simply, I don’t believe that the stated purpose is the real purpose,” wrote Benjamin Wittes, a conservative who is a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and a member of the Hoover Institution’s Task Force on National Security and Law. “This is the first policy the United States has adopted in the post-9/11 era about which I have ever said this.” He added:
“It’s a grave charge, I know, and I’m not making it lightly. But in the rational pursuit of security objectives, you don’t marginalize your expert security agencies and fail to vet your ideas through a normal interagency process. You don’t target the wrong people in nutty ways when you’re rationally pursuing real security objectives.”
But other critics have another, even darker view of Trump’s executive order. That the president is swiftly and expertly creating an authoritarian state modeled on Vladimir Putin’s in Russia.
“The regime’s main organizational goal right now is to transfer all effective power to a tight inner circle, eliminating any possible checks from either the Federal bureaucracy, Congress or the Courts,” wrote Yonatan Zunger, a former Stanford theoretical physicist and a principal engineer at Google. “Departments are being reorganized or purged to effect this.”
His evidence: that Trump’s executive order did not include Muslim-majority, terrorist-fostering countries where the Trump Organization has business interests; that Trump’s inner circle — namely senior political strategist Steve Bannon — overruled the Homeland Security Department’s interpretation that the order did not apply to green-card holders; that Bannon, in an unprecedented move, has been put on the National Security Council while the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the director of national intelligence have been downgraded; and the surge in resignations of career foreign-service managers in the State Department, many of them forced by the Trump administration.
Zunger also argues that the travel ban — highlighted in its first days by customs and Homeland Security officers refusing to obey federal judges’ decisions to halt parts of the executive action, apparently on the president’s order — is a probing of our institutions’ weaknesses and willingness to fight.
“That is to say, the administration is testing the extent to which the DHS (and other executive agencies) can act and ignore orders from the other branches of government,” he wrote on Medium. “This is as serious as it can possibly get: all of the arguments about whether order X or Y is unconstitutional mean nothing if elements of the government are executing them and the courts are being ignored.”
President Trump, for his part, is mocking his critics and their theories about his actions. “Big problems at airports were caused by Delta computer outage, protesters and the tears of Senator Schumer,” he tweeted, referring to protests at airports across the country and Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer calling the executive order “mean-spirited and unAmerican.” The president added:
“There is nothing nice about searching for terrorists before they can enter our country. This was a big part of my campaign. Study the world!”
Many people who have studied the world are growing increasingly worried. Aziz Huq and Tom Ginsburg, professors at the University of Chicago Law School, argue in a newly released academic paper that our vaunted separation of powers does not actually offer us much protection from an authoritarian president.
“Our analysis suggests that when local partisan forces or an exogenous constellation of socioeconomic and transnational forces are threatening that political disposition [that maintains our legal and political institutions], the Constitution as currently construed provides only feeble shelter,” they wrote. “Democratic stability hence depends on the preferences of particular leaders, and under the right political conditions, constitutional retrogression is a clear and present risk to American constitutional liberal democracy.”
Huq and Ginsburg define constitutional retrogression as the incremental but steady undermining of the “three basic predicates of democracy — competitive elections, liberal rights to speech and association, and the adjudicative and administrative rule of law necessary for democratic choice to thrive.”
They cite as recent examples, among many others: Trump’s criticism of a federal judge during the campaign; his refusal to release his tax returns that would show his conflicts of interest; his war against the press and the meaning of facts; his refusal during the campaign to say he would accept a loss at the polls; the “surge in popular abuse, vandalism and violence targeting racial minorities, ethnic minorities, gay, and transgender individuals;” and congressional efforts to weaken oversight of the executive and legislative branches.
So”Can we now stop the debate about whether Trump’s business interests might influence his policymaking,” he wrote, alluding to the travel ban, “and move on to the more important question, which is how do we protect ourselves from this despot and start the work of getting him removed from office?”
where does all of this leave the country? Trump backers say this is Chicken Little hysteria, that Trump is simply doing what presidents should do: making the country safe and putting his personal stamp on the government.
For progressives and other Trump critics, however, it means resistance must be more than complaining but become focused on results. The activist group MoveOn.org has launched #ResistTrumpTuesdays to goad Democratic lawmakers into fighting the new president. And though we’re barely a week into the new administration, Cato Institute adjunct scholar David Post insists it’s time to get serious about impeachment.
— Douglas Perry
Trump is driving some of the world’s brightest foreign students out of America.
ooops…. screwed that one up…..
Trump is driving some of the world’s brightest foreign students out of America.
Can honestly say, I’m daily hoping for a Bill of Impeachment. The longer this ignorant, arrogant, incompetent man with his alt right advisors hold the presidency, the more danger he will be to the country. While I don’t hope for a national tragedy or a personal one to him, one or the other is bound to happen. When you strut around asking for trouble to happen, someone will be more than willing to accommodate you.
Fashioniskas
Kellyanne Conway’s coat on display in a Gucci shop window next to Moscow’s Red Square
#Russia
Thanx, CNN
Tbe mannequin wears it with more joie de vivre than Kellycant.
For eight years, WhiteHouse.Org’s merciless mockery was a celebrated thorn in the side of the Bush administration. With a knack for irritating all the right people, Dick Cheney threatened to sue us. We called his bluff. And now, we’re calling on you to help us bring WhiteHouse.Org back, this time to trigger Trump. Here is a preview of the mischief afoot:
http://whitehouse.org/
Trump is encouraging a flourishing of the arts, protest-wise. Absolutely terrific work being done out there.
A local tv station reaches out to the same five Trump supporters (there probably are only five in the Bay area) to check how they think he is doing. I was surprised that they all basically said they voted for Trump because they are afraid and now they feel safer. oy
Poor x General Kelly now he is just another Liar for Trump
It is incredibly bad form for the President to bypass the anointed leader of one of his cabinet-level organizations and directly task the lower echelons of said organizations. The lower levels are in no position to negotiate anything in the tasking; it’s do or die. Besides, the President might very well be walking through the wrong door(s).
It is quite appropriate that the cabinet-level leaders band together, insist on a joint meeting with the Pres, and lay down the law. To wit: Bypass us at our joint peril.
Flatus
Based on what’s happened so far not likely
Congressional staffers signing Non-disclosure agreements with the Executive Branch? How often has that happened in the past?
Let’s play by Trump’s rules and break the rules. Let’s strand him on an island off Alaska, give him a bow and arrow, some hair gel and a case of Tic Tacs. Tell him See ya! and move on from this freak show.
The Scots are the best! Trump rebuked by his old ma’s countrymen.
If Neil Gorsuch is the pick for Supremes, I almost feel bad. If he were Trump’s second pick, it looks like he could be a good one. As it is, any nominee other than Garland was a total betrayal of the system.
http://www.politico.com/story/2017/01/who-is-neil-gorsuch-bio-facts-background-political-views-234437
get a load of hatch quote below….where was he during the garland nomination?
Chicago trib:
Democrats forced delays Tuesday in planned Senate committee votes on President Donald Trump’s picks for Health and Treasury secretaries and attorney general, amid growing Democratic surliness over the administration’s aggressive early moves against refugees and an expected bitter battle over filling the Supreme Court vacancy.
Democrats abruptly boycotted a Senate Finance Committee meeting called to vote on Rep. Tom Price, R-Ga., the Health nominee and Steve Mnuchin, Trump’s Treasury selection, saying both had misled Congress about their financial backgrounds.
The Democrats’ action prevented the Finance panel from acting because under committee rules, 13 of its members — including at least one Democrat — must be present for votes. It was unclear when the panel would reschedule to votes.
At the Senate Judiciary Committee, a meeting considering Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., to be attorney general lasted so long — chiefly because of lengthy Democratic speeches — that Chairman Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, said the panel would meet again Wednesday.
[….]
Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, accused Democrats of “a lack of desire to fulfill their constitutional responsibilities.”
“They ought to stop posturing and acting like idiots,” he said.
“Members, that statement took guts,” Feinstein said. “That statement said what an independent attorney general should do. That statement took a steel spine to stand up and say no. It took the courage of Elliot Richardson and William Ruckelshaus, who stood up to President Nixon. That is what an attorney general must be willing and able to do. I have no confidence that Senator Sessions will do that.”
Patd… Thanks for the quote from Hatch. I’m sure the right will call Dems hypercrits…. But I love the saying “pay back’s a bitch”.
Sen. Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.)…… He took aim Tuesday at Trump’s firing of Yates, saying the president had “placed the independence of the Justice Department at stake.”
“I’ve said and I believe the president’s decision to fire Acting Attorney General Sally Yates is shameful,” Leahy said. “His accusation that she betrayed the Department of Justice is dangerous. The attorney general is the people’s attorney, not the president’s attorney.”
Sean the Liar’s response to everything is that’s what Obama did….a 10% truth
Not one thing Pretending President Pussy Grabber in anyway remotely resembles anything Obama did
Democrats should do everything they can to make Pussy Grabber a 1/4 term president
Finishing up my lunch just now and slipped over to Huffpo to see the headline which at the time was “Dems boycott”. Evidently Democrats today simply didn’t show up to a vote on cabinet nominees, and so with no member of the minority party present, the vote was postponed. Cool.
But then I happened across an article about JK Rowling and her twitter wars. Now I don’t do twitter, but I like JK, so I peeked into the article and came across this fantastic tweet.
I believe that’s what they call a gotcha to whomever it was directed. Back to work now.
Ban-him has to be approved by the senate for seat on the NSC
will they withdraw or fight it out
daily beast:
New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman announced on Tuesday that the state is joining a federal lawsuit against President Donald Trump’s executive order which temporarily bars foreign nationals from seven Muslim-majority countries from entering the United States. “As I’ve made clear: President Trump’s executive action is unconstitutional, unlawful, and fundamentally un-American,” Schneiderman said in a statement
“Where was Yates when her department defended “enhanced interrogation” and a slew of restrictions against immigration imposed by presidents of both parties?” -CC
Where were you?
craig, taking a stand by a lawyer to not violate the law is not a “silly ” or “empty” gesture…. unless of course it’s by a silly empty headed woman and not some one like elliot Richardson or william Ruckelshaus…. or were they being silly too?
Trailmix is best when the host pisses off the women.
This is an interesting argument that you have made in Huffington Post, Craig. I assumed that the reason the courts were involved is that the Congress is well-known for not doing anything except arguing over how little they are being paid.
oh god, don’t tell me you wrote that at huffpo too! that standing up for the law is a silly gesture.
lawyers get enough bad press without castigating them for doing something good for a change.
egads, poobah, save things like that for the trail where it can be taken with the usual grain of salt.
🙂
Patd/BW 2020
Prince Charles is growing into his feet…….he might make a pretty nice king…….
Nail and head.
Prince Charles
@Charles_HRH
If Trump wants to ban those who can be radicalised by extremists, then he should start with anyone who voted for him. #muslimban
3:49 PM – 28 Jan 2017
Bink…. lol… pissed off women rock…
jaslf…. welcome to the blog…. or should I say welcome back. I think I recall someone with that moniker that hailed from LA.
Craig…. seriously…. FYI, you should never use the word “thug” when you’re talking about a black man and you should never use the word “silly” when you’re talking about a woman.
I’d vote for him.
I’m really looking forward to the NEXT band Chuck gets to name…….
Chuck’s answer to Our president should be on billboards all over the country.
I’m really heartened by Chuck and Pope Frank……..there are still some good things afoot in the world outside our little grimy American window.
Now I’m wondering if it was really Chuck……..
<gloom>
JK does do great Tweet
Sean the liar “It’s not a travel ban”
Pretender Pussy Grabber “It is a travel ban”
Sturgeone
Parody account, but a very good one. The real thing is quite witty, but doesn’t usually comment politically.
He tweeted “Make America British Again”, so quite naturally I tweeted, “Why stop at America? Paint the globe pink again. It ran pretty well then.”
How bout old Europe…….big goofy cousin USA won over the nozzies and been bestriding the narrow world like a colossus ever since and now old Europe (and Russia) get to watch as over a period of 71 years or so the good old USA has gone completely to the dogs.
Rats.
I think Standing Rock should be the next big demo destination. Mr.Cracker would like to go but too cold and too old. We have helped sponsor people from the area and the farmers market I work for sent food and other supplies
Venus, Mars, and moon triangulating, tonight. Look up, weather permitting.
I just took “silly” to mean pointless. Obama was referred to “The-Deporter-In-Chief” and there was no blowback for him. That’s what I got out of Craig’s post.
I will not be watching The Trump Sideshow: Supreme Court Edition.
If he wanted weekly TV time, he should’ve kept his gig on a The Apprentice, instead of running for prez.
One thing is for sure, the Trump name will be so toxic that the family won’t be able to sell hot pretzels from a street cart. (Four more…minutes?)
Betsy DeVos! You keep your eyes on your own paper! Why didn’t the press get that info sooner? Cheater, cheater.
I’m reading a very interesting book about Scandinavian countries; the chapters on immigration are very meaningful in light of this week’s mean-spirited non-sense from Trumpco.
crackers – The next, big protest will be outside the Super Bowl. Houston, you’re gonna have a problem.
The NDPL protestors were inspiring this winter. Too bad the press chose not to cover much of it unless something was on fire.
Trump was supposed to visit Harley Davidson. Harley Davidson has decided that Trump is not worth the baggage he would bring and canceled his visit.
I just changed my party affiliation to Democratic…a lifelong independent? The dems need all the help they can get and now they get me! It is a gift to Mrs. Mitch McConnell, confirmed transportation secretary. The 99 percent moves closer to 99.5 percent, just like the doomsday clock has moved ahead with the electoral college vote win for trumpence.
To the other billionaire without borders, DeVos of Amway fortune. It is a lengthy read and dedicated to Corey and western Michigan. I have been to Grand Rapids (used to be furniture capital of the US) and also Amway Headquarters (rural location). It was during the 1980s and there was a big staircase to the office level in the open reception area with a lot of windows. It was a prime example of googi architecture. Reminded me a bit of scientology. My company was involved in pursuing network marketing with Amway…the reason for my visit.
As far as raw story gossip goes, this bit is fascinating if even close to true.
Jared Kushner is “f*cking Furious About Reduced Role”
The DeVos and Van Andel families have done a lot of good around West Michigan, but that hasn’t really changed anyone’s opinions of Amway. I received a spam phone call today from Ada, Mi. and my first thought was, “Did Amway call me?” As a matter of fact, I’m going to a concert in downtown Grand Rapids in April at a bar called “The Pyramid Scheme Bar”. Guess how they came up with that name? 🙂
So it’s Scalia lite. Gorsuch it is. Textualist, originalist. So it’s back to muskets under the 2nd?
IMHO he’s 3 degrees to the right of Thomas, but by all accounts much smarter. His only saving grace is that he worked for Anthony Kennedy. Hopefully some of his reasonableness rubbed off on him.
Corey, get in on the ground floor and you can get rich.
So Chris Hayes is interviewing Mo Brooks, idiot congressman from Alabama. Using words like applicators and administers for judges and bureaucrats…I guess torturing language isn’t against the law.
One last comment since I’m apparently the only one around. Ideology and Merrick Garland’s treatment by the Senate aside, there is absolutely no reason he shouldn’t be confirmed. His qualifications are probably as good as anyone who has ever been nominated to the court.
Dammit.
well duh Jared they only gave you a job so Ivanka could be near Daddy
Interesting chart showing balance of the court with the Gorsuch appointment. How long can Notorious RBG hold out and will Kennedy drift left?
NEW THREAD
Pogo
I actually have to agree with you with the obvious questions about views on corporations are people & religious views take precedence over public sales. Qualifications are just about perfect.