riversedge
riversedge's JournalIn response to #Jointsession, Beshear will say President's attacks on intelligence agencies, court s
Chuck Schumer Retweeted
Matt House? @mattwhouse 8m8 minutes ago
In response to #Jointsession, Beshear will say President's attacks on intelligence agencies, court system & free press erode our democracy
https://twitter.com/mattwhouse/status/836735233277952000
Bannon, Sessions & the Remaking of U.S. Justice- & of America!
Tweet:
Bannon, Sessions & the Remaking of U.S. Justice- & of America! https://nyti.ms/2mzFfff #Resist #TrumpRussia #nobanNoWall #TheyLostRyan
Cover Photo
The Justice Department's interior courtyard. Credit Andrew Moore for The New York Times
Department of Justification
Stephen Bannon and Jeff Sessions, the new attorney general, have long shared a vision for remaking America. Now the nation’s top law-enforcement agency can serve as a tool for enacting it.
By EMILY BAZELON
FEB. 28, 2017
One night in September 2014, when he was chief executive of Breitbart News, Stephen Bannon hosted cocktails and dinner at the Washington townhouse where he lived, a mansion near the Supreme Court that he liked to call the Breitbart Embassy. Beneath elaborate chandeliers and flanked by gold drapes and stately oil paintings, Jeff Sessions, then a senator from Alabama, sat next to the guest of honor: Nigel Farage, the insurgent British politician, who first met Sessions two years earlier when Bannon introduced them. Farage was building support for his right-wing party by complaining in the British press about “uncontrolled mass immigration.” Sessions, like other attendees, was celebrating the recent collapse in Congress of bipartisan immigration reform, which would have provided a path to citizenship for some undocumented people. At the dinner, Sessions told a writer for Vice, Reid Cherlin, that Bannon’s site was instrumental in defeating the measure. Sessions read Breitbart almost every day, he explained, because it was “putting out cutting-edge information.”
Bannon’s role in blocking the reform had gone beyond sympathetic coverage on his site. Over the previous year, he, Sessions and one of Sessions’s top aides, Stephen Miller, spent “an enormous amount of time” meeting in person, “developing plans and messaging and strategy,” as Miller later explained to Rosie Gray in The Atlantic. Breitbart writers also reportedly met with Sessions’s staff for a weekly happy hour at the Union Pub. For most Republicans in Washington, immigration was an issue they wished would go away, a persistent source of conflict between the party’s elites, who saw it as a straightforward economic good, and its middle-class voting base, who mistrusted the effects of immigration on employment. But for Bannon, Sessions and Miller, immigration was a galvanizing issue, lying at the center of their apparent vision for reshaping the United States by tethering it to its European and Christian origins. (None of them would comment for this article.) That September evening, as they celebrated the collapse of the reform effort — and the rise of Farage, whose own anti-immigration party in Britain represented the new brand of nativism — it felt like the beginning of something new. “I was privileged enough to be at it,” Miller said about the gathering last June, while a guest on Breitbart’s SiriusXM radio show. “It’s going to sound like a motivational speech, but it’s true. To all the voters out there: The only limits to what we can achieve is what we believe we can achieve.”
The answer to what they could achieve, of course, is now obvious: everything. Bannon and Miller are ensconced in the West Wing, as arguably the two most influential policy advisers to Donald J. Trump. And Jeff Sessions is now the attorney general of the United States. The genesis of their working relationship is crucial to understanding the far-reaching domestic goals of the Trump presidency and how the law may be used to attain them over the next four years. Bannon and Sessions have effectively presented the country’s changing demographics — the rising number of minority and foreign-born residents — as America’s chief internal threat. Sessions has long been an outlier in his party on this subject; in 2013, when his Republican colleagues were talking primarily about curbing illegal immigration, he offered a proposal to curb legal immigration. (It failed in committee, 17 to one.)
Talking to Bannon on air in September 2015, Sessions, who has received awards from virulently anti-immigrant groups, described the present day as a dangerous period of “radical change” for America, comparing it to the decades of the early 20th century, when waves of immigrants flooded the country. He said that the 1924 immigration quota system, which barred most Asians and tightly capped the entry of Italians, Jews, Africans and Middle Easterners, “was good for America.” Bannon is also uncomfortable with the changing face of the country. “When two-thirds or three-quarters of the C.E.O.s in Silicon Valley are from South Asia or from Asia, I think — ” he said on the radio with Trump in November 2015, vastly exaggerating the actual numbers. “A country is more than an economy. We’re a civic society.”
At a time when other, more libertarian conservatives had begun to embrace critiques of the criminal-justice system, each man saw crime as yet another way that the fabric of society was deteriorating. While Bannon was chief executive, Breitbart created a specific tag for articles called “black crime” and ran article after article demonizing the Black Lives Matter movement (calling protesters “blood-lusting junkies”) and showing Latino immigrants as violent (“One Sex Offender Illegal Alien Caught After Another Alleged Offender Legalized”). The site also frequently covered Sessions’s condemnations of criminal-justice reform. Opposing a bipartisan bill to reduce sentences for some nonviolent drug offenses, Sessions said last May that Republican supporters of the legislation “in no way represent the conservative movement” and warned against “signing death warrants for thousands of American innocent citizens.”..................................
I think it is a very informative article.
Recent Comments
PogoWasRight 20 minutes ago
Now, THERE is a small group of people who are more dangerous to our country than any foreign invader.......
Ben 35 minutes ago
Very well written article. It really captures the lunacy of the dystopian vision of America's cities shared by so many of today's...
flxelkt 35 minutes ago
.@marcorubio's office has been booted from a Tampa building over demonstrators outside. Staff has t
Good for the protesters.
Eli Yokley?Verified account @eyokley 35m35 minutes ago
.@marcorubio's office has been booted from a Tampa building over demonstrators outside. Staff has till Friday(!).
https://twitter.com/eyokley/status/836682297302794240
Five Weeks Into His Presidency Donald Trump Grades Himself Guess What He Says He Deserves?
and I certainly would give his communication skills a Failing Grade!
TWEET:
A reply:
Jeff Black follows
Terri K-Mc? @tnparalegal50 4h4 hours ago
@BraddJaffy WHOA! He must be using Trump University grading scale. And like the University, those grades are BS!
0 replies 1 retweet 2 likes
Five Weeks Into His Presidency Donald Trump Grades Himself – Guess What He Says He Deserves?
http://www.thenewcivilrightsmovement.com/davidbadash/five_weeks_into_his_presidency_donald_trump_grades_himself_guess_what_he_gets?recruiter_id=2&utm_content=buffer90299&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer
by David Badash
February 28, 2017 7:36 AM
Trump's Record Includes Breaking Nearly Every Promise of What He Would Do on Day One and in His First Month
President Donald Trump is an amalgam of extreme insecurity and extreme self-importance. He is constantly lying and bragging to make up for his shortfalls and for what he thinks he deserves.
Fox News' "Fox & Friends," ahead of the president's first address to Congress, early Tuesday morning asked the really tough, hard-hitting questions, like, what grade he would give himself.
Just five weeks into his term, having broken almost all of his "on day one" promises, and broken 64 of his 71 promises for his first 30 days in office, can you guess how the President of the United States graded himself?
Definitely on a curve. The biggest, most trumpian curve ever.
"In terms of effort," Trump said, "I give myself an A+."
"In terms of messaging I would give myself a C or a C+."
https://twitter.com/mch7576/status/
"In terms of achievement I think I'd give myself an A."...........................
https://twitter.com/thehill/status/836595080140050432
To DeVos--"To paint historically black colleges as pioneers of "school choice" is like saying the M
My beef is that Devos is taking the work 'choice" as used to today--and applying to history!! This does NOT work =( but I know she and RW will continue to use it).
Today's 'choice' schools are funded with money--taken out of Public edu funds!! Historically Black colleges were NOT funded with public funds (correct me if I am wrong).
Lee in Iowa Retweeted
Farhad Manjoo?Verified account @fmanjoo 3h3 hours ago
Farhad Manjoo Retweeted adam harris
To paint historically black colleges as pioneers of "school choice" is like saying the Montgomery bus boycott was a transportation startup.
The above tweet was replying to this tweet from Devos!
adam harris
?Verified account @AdamHSays
Inbox: @BetsyDeVosED statement on today's meeting with HBCU leaders
https://twitter.com/AdamHSays/status/836416602736312320
Two tweets today about SC Ginsburg today........Side by side ....
https://twitter.com/GrimmPixels/status/836598665640886273
Trump White House scrambles to check scandal over FBI inquiry into Russia ties
Trump White House scrambles to check scandal over FBI inquiry into Russia ties
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/feb/26/white-house-scrambles-to-damp-down-scandal-over-fbi-inquiry-into-russia-ties?CMP=share_btn_tw
Trump spokesman says FBI called links ‘BS’ but agency has yet to comment
Ex-CIA chief John Brennan warns White House to ‘steer clear’ of investigation
Sunday 26 February 2017 18.40 EST
First published on Sunday 26 February 2017 13.26 EST
The White House made a messy attempt on Sunday to control public perceptions of a widening scandal over alleged contacts between aides to Donald Trump and Russian intelligence officials during the 2016 election, alleging that the FBI had dismissed reports of such links.
The scandal has shown little sign of coming under control, with a Republican congressman calling for an independent inquiry, multiple congressional committees pursuing investigations and Trump escalating a war with the media in an apparent attempt at distraction.
While the White House has, by its own clumsy admission, been working behind the scenes to try to manage the conduct of Congress and intelligence agencies in the scandal, those efforts have so far backfired.
Contacts between the White House chief of staff, Reince Priebus, and top FBI officials have come in for particular criticism as a violation of a necessary line separating the White House from justice department investigations with potential targets inside the administration.
On Sunday, a Trump spokeswoman once again tested that line, saying the FBI had dismissed allegations of inappropriate Trump-Russia ties as “BS” – bullshit.
“The FBI has already said this story is BS,” Sarah Huckabee Sanders said on ABC’s This Week. “Those were their words, so I apologize to my mom. But literally those are the words of the FBI, that the story is BS.”
The FBI has in fact made no public comment on its investigation into alleged contact between Trump associates and Russian operatives, which was first reported two weeks ago by the New York Times and CNN, citing anonymous law enforcement and intelligence community sources. The labelling of the story as “BS” has been attributed to the FBI’s deputy director, Andrew McCabe, by anonymous administration officials. .....................
Jewish life in the US under Trump. Kids evacuated in rolling cribs from JCCs because of bomb threats
I really feel for the these families.
howard wolfson? Verified account @howiewolf 13h13 hours ago
This is Jewish life in the US under Trump. Kids evacuated in rolling cribs from JCCs because of bomb threats. 20 today - pic from Birmingham
https://twitter.com/howiewolf/status/836337301160611847
Huckabee Sanders: Sessions doesn't need to exit Russia case
Source: Politico
By Madeline Conway
02/26/17 10:55 AM EST
Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the deputy White House press secretary, suggested Sunday that Attorney General Jeff Sessions does not need to recuse himself from investigating Russia’s role in the election, at least at this point.
“I don't think we're there yet,” Sanders told ABC’s George Stephanopoulos on “This Week.”
She clarified a few minutes later: “I wasn't saying that he shouldn't recuse himself or that he should. My point is I don't think we're there yet. Let's work through this process. You guys want to jump to the very end of the line. That's not how this works. Typically, you go through a congressional oversight review. We're doing that. Let's not go to the very end of the extreme. Let's let this play out the way it should.”
Democrats are trying to pressure Sessions, an adviser to President Donald Trump’s campaign and one of his first prominent backers, to recuse himself from any investigation into Russia’s attempts to meddle in the presidential election because of his ties to the campaign.
Though the White House has pushed back on the reports, news outlets have reported that the FBI found evidence that Trump campaign aides were in contact with the Russian government before the election. ..............................................................
Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2017/02/huckabee-sanders-sessions-russia-235410
Democrats are trying to pressure Jeff Sessions to recuse himself from any investigation into Russia’s attempts to meddle in the presidential election because of his ties to the campaign. | Getty
https://twitter.com/politico/status/835968959845392385
Democrats are now READY TO ROAR...........CONGRATS TO ALL NEW DNC LEADERSHIP.......
Gail Mountain Retweeted
The DemocratsVerified account?@TheDemocrats 19h19 hours ago
Congratulations to new DNC Chair Tom Perez and Deputy Chair Keith Ellison! Watch: http://bit.ly/2lREP5Z #DNCFuture
https://twitter.com/TheDemocrats/status/835609363222048768
https://twitter.com/DNC/status/835614672686559232
https://twitter.com/DNC/status/835640597641900034
https://twitter.com/DNC/status/835647480574390273
*******I concur**************
https://twitter.com/AdamParkhomenko/status/835897650956349441
Markos Moulitsas Retweeted
Gabe OrtízVerified account?@TUSK81 17h17 hours ago
The new #DNCChair is Latino, the new DNC Deputy Chair is Muslim, NOW LET'S DO THIS 🙏🏽✊🏽🙌🏽
Profile Information
Member since: Wed Aug 15, 2012, 03:24 PMNumber of posts: 70,192
