Jeff Sessions (R-Al)
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EXECUTIVE INSIGHT BRIEF - March 3, 2017 Date: Monday, March 06, 2017 9:20:37 AM
From: Craig Quigley To: Craig Quigley Subject: EXECUTIVE INSIGHT BRIEF - March 3, 2017 Date: Monday, March 06, 2017 9:20:37 AM Ladies & Gentlemen, below please find this week’s edition of Executive Insight Brief from The Roosevelt Group. Craig R. Quigley Rear Admiral, U.S. Navy (Ret.) Executive Director Hampton Roads Military and Federal Facilities Alliance 757-644-6324 (Office) 757-419-1164 (Cell) EXECUTIVE INSIGHT BRIEF | March 3, 2017 TOP STORIES JEFF SESSIONS RECUSES HIMSELF FROM RUSSIA INQUIRY. Attorney General Jeff Sessions, facing a storm of criticism over newly disclosed contacts with the Russian ambassador to the United States, recused himself on Thursday from any investigation into charges that Russia meddled in the 2016 presidential election. Read more ISIS DUMPED BODIES IN A DESERT SINKHOLE. IT MAY BE YEARS BEFORE WE KNOW THE FULL SCALE OF THE KILLINGS. The horror stories about the Islamic State’s mass killings at a cavernous hole in the desert near Mosul became legendary over the years. Soon after the group took control of the Iraqi city more than 2½ years ago, the 100-foot-wide sinkhole five miles southwest of the airport became a site for summary executions. Read more TRUMP’S DEFENSE SPENDING INCREASE ISN’T EXTRAORDINARY, BUT ITS IMPACT COULD BE. On Monday, the White House announced the first few details of President Trump’s budget proposal, expected to be released within the next month. He plans to increase defense spending by $54 billion — about 10 percent of its 2017 budget. In his joint address to Congress Tuesday night, he falsely called it “one of the largest increases in national defense spending in American history.” Read more KIM JONG-NAM KILLING: N KOREAN SUSPECT TO BE DEPORTED. -
Culture Wars' Reloaded: Trump, Anti-Political Correctness and the Right's 'Free Speech' Hypocrisy
The 'Culture Wars' Reloaded: Trump, Anti-Political Correctness and the Right's 'Free Speech' Hypocrisy Dr. Valerie Scatamburlo-D'Annibale University of Windsor, Windsor, Ontario, Canada Abstract This article explores how Donald Trump capitalized on the right's decades-long, carefully choreographed and well-financed campaign against political correctness in relation to the broader strategy of 'cultural conservatism.' It provides an historical overview of various iterations of this campaign, discusses the mainstream media's complicity in promulgating conservative talking points about higher education at the height of the 1990s 'culture wars,' examines the reconfigured anti- PC/pro-free speech crusade of recent years, its contemporary currency in the Trump era and the implications for academia and educational policy. Keywords: political correctness, culture wars, free speech, cultural conservatism, critical pedagogy Introduction More than two years after Donald Trump's ascendancy to the White House, post-mortems of the 2016 American election continue to explore the factors that propelled him to office. Some have pointed to the spread of right-wing populism in the aftermath of the 2008 global financial crisis that culminated in Brexit in Europe and Trump's victory (Kagarlitsky, 2017; Tufts & Thomas, 2017) while Fuchs (2018) lays bare the deleterious role of social media in facilitating the rise of authoritarianism in the U.S. and elsewhere. Other 69 | P a g e The 'Culture Wars' Reloaded: Trump, Anti-Political Correctness and the Right's 'Free Speech' Hypocrisy explanations refer to deep-rooted misogyny that worked against Hillary Clinton (Wilz, 2016), a backlash against Barack Obama, sedimented racism and the demonization of diversity as a public good (Major, Blodorn and Blascovich, 2016; Shafer, 2017). -
The Department of Injustice Under Jeff Sessions the Department of Injustice Under Jeff Sessions January 2019
January 2019 The Department of Injustice Under Jeff Sessions The Department of Injustice Under Jeff Sessions January 2019 CONTENTS INTRODUCTION 1 VOTING RIGHTS 2 IMMIGRANTS' RIGHTS 3 CRIMINAL JUSTICE 6 DISABILITIES 9 HEALTH CARE 10 RELIGIOUS LIBERTY 10 LGBT RIGHTS 10 CRIMINALIZATION OF POVERTY 11 AFFIRMATIVE ACTION 12 WORKERS' RIGHTS 12 FREE PRESS AND PROTEST RIGHTS 12 PRIVACY RIGHTS 13 SEPARATION OF POWERS 15 POLITICIZED ANALYSIS AND PERSONNEL 15 INTRODUCTION Jeff Sessions' tenure at the Department of Justice was a national disgrace. As attorney general, he was entrusted to enforce federal laws — including civil rights laws — and secure equal justice for all. Instead, Sessions systematically undermined our civil rights and liberties, dismantled legal protections for the vulnerable and persecuted, and politicized the Justice Department's powers in ways that threaten American democracy. When President Donald Trump and his political appointees elsewhere in his administration tried to do the same, often in violation of the Constitution, Sessions' Justice Department went into overdrive manufacturing legal and factual justifications on their behalf and defending the unjust actions in court. Sessions was aided by Trump-approved appointees who often overruled career attorneys and staffers committed to a high level of neutral professionalism. Under Sessions' political leadership, these Trump appointees have inflicted significant damage in the past two years. Together they have threatened the First Amendment rights of the press and protesters, targeted the communities Trump disfavors through discriminatory policies and tactics, attacked the ability of ordinary citizens to vote and change their elected government, vindictively retaliated against perceived political opponents, and thwarted congressional oversight of the Justice Department's activities. -
Presidential Files; Folder: 9/25/78 [2]; Container 92
9/25/78 [2] Folder Citation: Collection: Office of Staff Secretary; Series: Presidential Files; Folder: 9/25/78 [2]; Container 92 To See Complete Finding Aid: http://www.jimmycarterlibrary.gov/library/findingaids/Staff_Secretary.pdf WITHDRAWAL SHEET (PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARIES) FORM OF CORRESPONDENTS OR TiTLE DAliE RESTRICTION DOCUMENT Memo Harold Brown to Pres. Carter, w/attachments 4 pp., ·r!=!:Defense Summary 9/22/78 A , ' Cabinet Summari. s Andrew Ypung to Pres. Carter~ 1 pg., re:UN activities 9/15/78 9/22/78 A Capinet' Summa:ri s Cal.ifq:no . to Pres. Carter, 3 pp. , re: Personnel "changes 9/22/7.$ c .:~ 0 '· i ~"d. 'I ".'' ' a ~~~·.0 .:t'' '~ ,, 11 , .. "~ •) •· ·~· ',,• \:l,. ,j; ~··~-·< ·-·... • 1 ' .} "I. " 1~ •: , dJ~ ·, '0 ·., " ~ ~r-~ 1\ ~ '·;P. , .. " . ,, ~ 1 , .. ··~ ·:. •·,· '"" <':'• :..·) .,0 / ~ ;w . • '' .• ~ U',• "·',, If' ~' • ·~ ~ ~· • ~ c , " ill" : " ,·, "''t> ''., ' : "."" ~:~~.,,~ . .. r " ·i ' '· ·: ., .~.~ ' 1. ~. ' , .. ;, ~, (• '• ·f." J '',j> '~~'!, ~' -o," :~ ~ ~ e' . " ' ~ ,· J ', I I. FIWE LOCATION Carter Presidenti,al Pap.ers-Staff Offices, Office .of Staff Sec. -Presidenti?l HandwritiRg File, 9/25/78 [2] Box-103 R.ESTRICTtiON CODES (AI Closed by Executive Order 1235S'governing access to national security information. (6) .Closed by statute or by the agency Which originated tine document. (C) Closed in accordance with restrictions contained in the donor's deed of gif,t. ~. NATIONAL ARCHIV.S AND RECORDS AOMINISTRA TION. NA FORM 1429 (6-8,5) ' . THE WHITE HOUSE WASHINGTON 9/25/78 Tim Kraft The attached was returned in the President's outbox: It is forwarded to you for appropriate han<D:ing. Rick Hutcheson cc: Frank Moore THE WHITE HOUSE WASHINGTON 9/25/78 rick-~- although pr.esident is sending note to tim ... -
Using Activists' Pairwise Comparisons to Measure Ideology
Is John McCain more conservative than Rand Paul? Using activists' pairwise comparisons to measure ideology ∗ Daniel J. Hopkins Associate Professor University of Pennsylvania [email protected] Hans Noely Associate Professor Georgetown University [email protected] April 3, 2017 Abstract Political scientists use sophisticated measures to extract the ideology of members of Congress, notably the widely used nominate scores. These measures have known limitations, including possibly obscuring ideological positions that are not captured by roll call votes on the limited agenda presented to legislators. Meanwhile scholars often treat the ideology that is measured by these scores as known or at least knowable by voters and other political actors. It is possible that (a) nominate fails to capture something important in ideological variation or (b) that even if it does measure ideology, sophisticated voters only observe something else. We bring an alternative source of data to this subject, asking samples of highly involved activists to compare pairs of senators to one another or to compare a senator to themselves. From these pairwise comparisons, we can aggregate to a measure of ideology that is comparable to nominate. We can also evaluate the apparent ideological knowledge of our respondents. We find significant differences between nominate scores and the perceived ideology of politically sophisticated activists. ∗DRAFT: PLEASE CONSULT THE AUTHORS BEFORE CITING. Prepared for presentation at the annual meeting of the Midwest Political Science Association in Chicago, April 6-9, 2017. We would like to thank Michele Swers, Jonathan Ladd, and seminar participants at Texas A&M University and Georgetown University for useful comments on earlier versions of this project. -
Administration of Donald J. Trump, 2017 Remarks at the National Rifle Association Leadership Forum in Atlanta, Georgia April 28
Administration of Donald J. Trump, 2017 Remarks at the National Rifle Association Leadership Forum in Atlanta, Georgia April 28, 2017 Thank you, Chris, for that kind introduction and for your tremendous work on behalf of our Second Amendment. Thank you very much. I want to also thank Wayne LaPierre for his unflinching leadership in the fight for freedom. Wayne, thank you very much. Great. I'd also like to congratulate Karen Handel on her incredible fight in Georgia Six. The election takes place on June 20. And by the way, on primaries, let's not have 11 Republicans running for the same position, okay? [Laughter] It's too nerve-shattering. She's totally for the NRA, and she's totally for the Second Amendment. So get out and vote. She's running against someone who's going to raise your taxes to the sky, destroy your health care, and he's for open borders—lots of crime—and he's not even able to vote in the district that he's running in. Other than that, I think he's doing a fantastic job, right? [Laughter] So get out and vote for Karen. Also, my friend—he's become a friend—because there's nobody that does it like Lee Greenwood. Wow. [Laughter] Lee's anthem is the perfect description of the renewed spirit sweeping across our country. And it really is, indeed, sweeping across our country. So, Lee, I know I speak for everyone in this arena when I say, we are all very proud indeed to be an American. -
Sen. Jeff Sessions's Record on Criminal Justice
Analysis: Sen. Jeff Sessions’s Record on Criminal Justice By Ames C. Grawert This analysis provides a brief summary of Sen. Jeff Sessions’s past statements, votes, and practices relating to criminal justice. Specifically, this analysis finds that: • Sen. Sessions opposes efforts to reduce unnecessarily long federal prison sentences for nonviolent crimes, despite a consensus for reform even within his own party. In 2016, he personally blocked the Sentencing Reform and Corrections Act, a bipartisan effort spearheaded by Sens. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa), Mike Lee (R-Utah), and John Cornyn (R- Texas), and Speaker of the House Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), and supported by law enforcement leadership. As Attorney General, Sen. Sessions could stall current congressional efforts to pass this legislation to recalibrate federal sentencing laws. • Drug convictions made up 40 percent of Sen. Sessions’s convictions when he served as U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Alabama — double the rate of other Alabama federal prosecutors. Today, state and federal law enforcement officers have begun to focus resources on violent crime, and away from archaic drug war policies. But Sen. Sessions continues to oppose any attempts to legalize marijuana and any reduction in drug sentences. As Attorney General, Sen. Sessions could direct federal prosecutors to pursue the harshest penalties possible for even low-level drug offenses, a step backward from Republican- supported efforts to modernize criminal justice policy. • Unlike many Republican legislators, Sen. Sessions supports the use of “civil asset forfeiture,” which allows police to confiscate property from people who may not even be accused of a crime. -
Gay Liberation Comes to Dixie—Slowly
Alabama: Commandments, Amendments, and Defendants Patrick R. Cotter Alabama’s 2004 election was a quiet affair. Signs that a presidential campaign was occurring—candidate visits, partisan rallies, hard-hitting tele- vision commercials, or get-out-the-vote efforts—were largely missing from the state. The outcome of Alabama’s U.S. Senate race was a forgone conclu- sion from the beginning of the year. All of the state’s congressmen were easily reelected. Contests for the few state offices up for election in 2004 were generally both invisible and uncompetitive. The only part of the ballot that generated any interest—and even here it was limited—involved a pro- posed amendment to Alabama’s already long state constitution. Alabama’s 2004 election was also a clear Republican victory. Republi- cans George W. Bush and Richard Shelby easily carried the state in the presidential and U.S. Senate elections. The GOP kept it 5-to-2 advantage in Congressional seats. Republicans swept all the contested positions on the state Supreme Court. Alabama’s 2004 election campaign was not the first time the state had experienced a quiet presidential campaign. Nor was it the first in which Republicans did quite well. Both the 1988 and 2000 campaigns were also low-key affairs. Both were also campaigns that the GOP clearly won. These earlier low-key, Republican-winning, presidential campaigns did not significantly alter the state’s partisan politics. Rather, the close partisan balance that has characterized the state since the 1980s continued beyond these elections. (For descriptions of these earlier campaigns and analyses of recent Alabama politics see Cotter 1991; Cotter 2002; Ellington 1999; Cotter and Gordon 1999 and Stanley 2003). -
Trump, Kavanaugh Effect Bury Donnelly Mike Braun Pulls Off an Emphatic Upset As Voters Embrace the President by BRIAN A
V24, N13 Thursday, Nov. 8, 2018 Trump, Kavanaugh effect bury Donnelly Mike Braun pulls off an emphatic upset as voters embrace the president By BRIAN A. HOWEY INDIANAPOLIS – It would be easy to consign Mike Braun’s epic, not-even- close upset of U.S. Sen. Joe Donnelly to a Democratic blunder on Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation. Don- nelly, along with U.S. Sens. Heidi Heitkamp and Claire McCaskill all voted against Kavanaugh and lost emphatically. West Virginia Democrat U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin supported Kavana- Senator-elect Mike Braun addresses the GOP victory rally Election Night as U.S. Sen. ugh and won easily. Todd Young looks on. (HPI Photo by Mark Curry) Until the allegations of Dr. Christine Blasey Ford surfaced in mid-September, probable yea vote on Kavanaugh, which had that occurred, might have left this race on more parochial footing. Donnelly had narrow poll advantages and Democratic voter intensity far outpaced Republicans. He was a plausible and Continued on page 4 Big showdown that wasn’t By MARK SOUDER FORT WAYNE – The U.S. Senate election in Indi- ana was perceived to be a pivotal showdown for control of that body. It was supposed to be another test of the Republican-lite strategy employed by Evan Bayh to carry “I have supported the Mueller Indiana, a method he con- ceived after watching his father investigation from the beginning fall in an upset to Dan Quayle in 1980. because we need answers about What is hard to remem- Russia’s attempts to influence ber, even for those who re- member that there were two our elections. -
Numbersusa Factsheet
NUMBERSUSA IMPACT: NumbersUSA is a nonprofit grassroots organization of nearly 1.1 million members that describes itself as a group of “moderates, conservatives, and liberals working for immigration numbers that serve America’s finest goals. Founded in 1996, NumbersUSA advocates numerical restrictions on legal immigration, an elimination of undocumented immigration, an elimination of the visa lottery, reform of birthright citizenship, and an end to “chain migration.” The organization was founded by author and journalist Roy Beck, and has ties to anti-immigration activist John Tanton’s network of anti-immigration organizations. The organization has expressed support for individuals with anti-Muslim and anti-immigrant views, such as former U.S. Senator and Attorney General Jeff Sessions, Senator Tom Cotton, and anti-Muslim activist Frank Gaffney. • NumbersUSA is a nonprofit, nonpartisan grassroots organization that advocates numerical restrictions on legal immigration and an elimination of undocumented immigration. It favors “removing jobs, public benefits and other incentives that encourage people to become illegal aliens and remain in the U.S.” The organization promotes the influx of immigrants who are part of the nuclear family of an American citizen, refugees with “no long-term prospects of returning home,” and immigrants with “truly extraordinary skills in the national interest.” • The organization was founded in 1996 by author and journalist Roy Beck. Prior to the establishment of NumbersUSA, Beck worked for ten years at U.S. Incorporated, an organization founded by anti- immigration activist John Tanton. Beck also served as an editor for the Social Contract Press, a Tanton publication notorious for its promotion of white nationalist and anti-immigration views. -
The Facts on Senator Jeff Sessions Facts on Senator Jeff Sessions Facts on Senator Jeff Sessions
THE FACTS ON SENATOR JEFF SESSIONS Proposed Nominee for Attorney General is DDDangerousDangerous tototo Civil Rights and Unfit for the Job BACKGROUND On November 18 th , President-elect Donald Trump selected Senator Jeff Sessions (R-AL) as his nominee to become the attorney general of the United States. A key responsibility of the attorney general is to oversee the U.S. Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division — enforcing our nation’s civil rights laws and upholding the U.S. Constitution. The attorney general also plays a significant role in immigration enforcement and adjudication, including setting policy, through the oversight of the immigration court system and the appointment of immigration judges. Senator Sessions has opposed civil rights legislation and led anti-immigrant efforts throughout his Senate career. His record of disenfranchising and denying the rights of people of color, immigrants, and Muslim communities, as well as his overtly racist statements made during his career as U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Alabama, make him unfit for the position of attorney general of the United States. THE PROBLEM WITH SESSIONS In his own words: Senator Jeff Sessions has bemoaned the “last four decades” as a “period of record uncontrolled immigration to the United States” and remarked that “since 1965,” there has been an “extreme unprecedented pattern of immigration… unlike most established countries in the world.” Citation: A Memo For Republican Members From Sen. Jeff Sessions, Immigration Handbook for the New Republican Majority ; Quote from Subcommittee Hearing on “The Impact of High Levels of Immigration on U.S. Workers” Senator Sessions has emerged as the lead anti-immigration voice in the United States Senate over the course of his 20-year tenure. -
Fall 08 Southern FINAL Draft:Southern Magazine Text Pages Draft 1.Qxd
fall 08 southern_FINAL draft:southern magazine_text pages_draft 1 10/13/2008 11:39 AM Page 34 Veteran political science professor Dr. Natalie Davis during a class session. 34 / ’southern fall 08 southern_FINAL draft:southern magazine_text pages_draft 1 10/13/2008 11:39 AM Page 35 Democracy in Action eing hailed as a training ground for future public servants and politicians is certainly not a goal of Birmingham- How BSC inspires its students Southern. Yet the college is producing a Bvibrant conglomerate of opportunities for and alumni to become engaged students to move out of their comfort zone and to become aware of the political activities in activity for the public good available on the campus and in the community. “It’s difficult to separate the intellectual, by pat cole cultural, social, and engaged learning aspect of a student’s education,” says Dr. David Pollick, BSC president. “If you don’t have an informed citizen, you can’t have an effective citizen. “Though the college doesn’t set out as its primary goal to create an activist and someone who is politically engaged, I think our first intention is to make students as thoughtful as possible while helping them to develop all the skills they can at this age within an academic community. So the ultimate end is for them to be involved in the world as effectively as they can be.” The full liberal arts experience at Birmingham- Southern has long involved so much more than the traditional classroom education, which by itself seeks to develop thoughtful U.S. citizens by the time students become alumni.