monitoring Trump and relevant contemporary events

Early this morning, Jeff Sessions was delivered to his residence by DC police who'd found him wandering around his neighborhood at 5:00 AM, having forgotten where he lives.

Attorney General Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III is indignant.

"The suggestion that I participated in any collusion or that I was aware of any collusion with the Russian government to hurt this country, which I have served with honor for over 35 years, or to undermine the integrity of our democratic process, is an appalling and detestable lie," Sessions said Tuesday while testifying before the Senate Intelligence Committee. "I recused myself from any investigation into the campaigns for President, but I did not recuse myself from defending my honor against scurrilous and false allegations."

Those remarks came in Sessions' opening statement before the committee's latest look into Russia's meddling in the 2016 presidential election. Sessions, while certainly not the main event, has been floating around the fringes of that particular story ever since he denied during his confirmation hearing that he had had any interactions with Russian government officials during the campaign. That turned out to be, well, not very true: He met with the Russian ambassador a couple of times, at least, as well as with plenty of other foreign officials.

As a high-profile surrogate for now-President Donald Trump, and the first senator to jump on board the Trump train, those meetings obviously drew retroactive attention, much to Sessions' apparent chagrin.

And his opening statement was certainly not the last of the fireworks during Tuesday's proceedings. Sessions later hollered at Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., when the latter made reference to hints former FBI Director James Comey dropped last week regarding Sessions' behavior and some still unknown aspects of his interactions with Russian officials. "This is secret innuendo being leaked out there about me, and I don't appreciate it," Sessions said.

Sessions may be cranky that he has to go through this sort of thing. But we should all be cranky at Sessions' performance during the hearing, too, and for his wider retrograde leadership at the Department of Justice.

For one thing, Sessions refused to discuss any conversations he's had with President Donald Trump, based on the legal theory that if he doesn't wanna, he doesn't gotta. Sessions didn't invoke executive privilege, nor did he, as New Mexico Democratic Sen. Martin Heinrich pointed out, claim that the conversations he's had with Trump included classified material, the other thing that might render them off limits. Sessions simply claimed it was against DoJ policy to discuss anything said between an attorney general and the president.

"There is no appropriateness bucket. That's not a legal standard," Heinrich said. Not that it's super surprising Sessions took this tack, mind you; what is surprising is that he didn't come prepared with a better reason for his refusals, a point on which Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., deftly nailed him.

Then there was the discussion of an encounter Sessions and Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak may have had at the Mayflower Hotel in April 2016. Sessions said under questioning that he couldn't recall such a meeting occurring but that "certainly I can assure you nothing improper [occurred] if I'd had a conversation with him, and it's conceivable that occurred."

To sum up: He's sure nothing inappropriate was discussed, even if he's not sure a discussion ever took place. He remembers no words, but is sure his words were fine. For what it's worth, Sessions and the ambassador were photographed during the conversation that may or may not have happened. Score one for the photo wires.

Overall, Sessions' modus operandi was to not answer questions, have his memory fail him when he did deign to answer or to simply cop to having no information other than what everyone is reading in the newspaper. It may not have been scurrilous, but it also wasn't particularly satisfying. And it likely isn't going to lessen the amount of smoke hovering over the entire Trump-Russia affair.

But his performance on Tuesday is not the only reason America has to be upset with Sessions. In fact, the direction Sessions is taking DoJ is grounds enough to find him a contemptible figure, Russia notwithstanding.

For instance, Sessions is super psyched about private prisons, despite the abuses that occur in such places. He's firing up the utterly failed war on drugs and bringing back the worst of 1990s crime-fighting excesses, despite no evidence they were ever effective.

And let's not get started on his horrid immigration preferences, which is why he found Trump such a kindred spirit in the first place.

Taken together, Sessions' preferred policies take law enforcement in a "Leave it to Beaver" direction, turning back to failed nonsense that didn't reduce crime or drug use, nor make America safer or more prosperous. Instead, it simply condemned people to lives trapped in a cycle of jail and poverty.

Sessions may not like what the intelligence committee is trying to find out, but there's little to like about what we already know regarding Sessions being attorney general. Talk about appalling and detestable.

Donald Trump is handing the federal government over to fossil fuel interests

In September 2016, speaking to an audience of fossil fuel executives at a Shale Insight conference in Pittsburgh, Donald Trump promised, “Oh, you will like me so much.”

They didn’t give him much money during his campaign, presumably because, like most people, they were confident he wouldn’t win. But they made up for it quickly after the election. According to an analysis by the Center for Public Integrity, “oil, gas and coal companies and executives contributed more than $1 out of every $10 raised for Trump’s inauguration, for which he raised nearly $107 million overall” (a new record).

The love affair between Trump and fossil fuel companies has blossomed ever since. Recently, Kathleen Sgamma, president of the oil and gas trade group Western Energy Alliance, gushed to the New York Times, “not in our wildest dreams, never did we expect to get everything.”

I know, right? During his testimony I kept thinking he was going to say he forgot who he is.

If there’s consolation for Republicans in Trump’s scandal-plagued presidency, it’s that the wattage of the scandals serves in effect as a distraction from the fact that the party’s top legislative objective is so toxic, they have to treat it as highly classified information. But the scandals may be so severe and fast-moving that they’re increasing the GOP’s desperation to pass a ruinous and inhumane health care bill as quickly and quietly as possible, before the Trump administration experiences complete political collapse and the window to accomplish anything at all closes.

It has been widely and rightly hypothesized that the GOP’s patience with Trump’s assault on the norms and traditions of government, and on the rule of law, is partly due to their understanding that he will sign their bills to deregulate polluters, deregulate health insurance companies, deregulate the financial industry, and cut high-income taxes. It follows that if and when their agenda falters, Republicans will be more inclined to serve as a check on the president’s lawlessness and shine a light on his wrongdoing.

"We are not auditioning for fearless leader. We don't need a president to tell us in what direction to go. We know what direction to go. We want the Ryan budget. ... We just need a president to sign this stuff. We don't need someone to think it up or design it. The leadership now for the modern conservative movement for the next 20 years will be coming out of the House and the Senate."

"Pick a Republican with enough working digits to handle a pen to become president of the United States. This is a change for Republicans: the House and Senate doing the work with the president signing bills. His job is to be captain of the team, to sign the legislation that has already been prepared."

Not exactly sure why you put your post here, but below is a link to more info.

Reports: 'Multiple shooting' at congressional baseball game practice field (The Hill)

revelette1 wrote:

Not exactly sure why you put your post here, but below is a link to more info.

Reports: 'Multiple shooting' at congressional baseball game practice field (The Hill)

You don't, really?

Congressmen were shot at, targeted due to their party affiliation with the president. Most definitely 'a relevant contemporary event.'

Gee. I wonder what kind of person attempted this murder of Republicans...?

Gee. I wonder what kind of person attempted this murder of Republicans...? Signature

Quote:

Gee. I wonder what kind of person attempted this murder of Republicans...? Signature

All I'll venture to speculate is that he's white - because he was taken alive.

Yeah, you'll get it with a car or a pub stabbing.