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Edited by Mrph1 on Nov 30th 2023 at 11:03:59 AM
Sessions announces Department of Justice "religious liberty task force."
Sessions said the task force, co-chaired by Associate Attorney General Jesse Panuccio and the assistant attorney general for the Justice Department's Office of Legal Policy, Beth Williams, will help the department fully implement the religious liberty guidance it issued last year.
The guidance was a byproduct of President Trump’s executive order directing agencies to respect and protect religious liberty and political speech.
Sessions said on Monday that the task force will “ensure all Justice Department components are upholding that guidance in the cases they bring and defend, the arguments they make in court, the policies and regulations they adopt, and how we conduct our operations.”
The announcement came during the department’s religious liberty summit.
Sessions said the cultural climate in this country — and in the West more generally — has become less hospitable to people of faith in recent years, and as a result many Americans have felt their freedom to practice their faith has been under attack.
“We’ve seen nuns ordered to buy contraceptives. We’ve seen U.S. senators ask judicial and executive branch nominees about dogma—even though the Constitution explicitly forbids a religious test for public office. We’ve all seen the ordeal faced so bravely by Jack Phillips,” he said, referring to the Colorado baker who took his case to the Supreme Court after he was found to have violated the state’s anti-discrimination laws for refusing to make a cake for a same-sex wedding.
Sessions said the guidance he issued in October lays out 20 fundamental principles for the executive branch to follow, including the principles that free exercise means a right to act — or to abstain from action — and that government shouldn’t impugn people’s motives or beliefs.
“In short, we have not only the freedom to worship—but the right to exercise our faith. The Constitution’s protections don’t end at the parish parking lot nor can our freedoms be confined to our basements,” he said, according to his prepared remarks.
Sessions said the federal government under the Trump administration is not just reacting but is actively seeking to accommodate people of faith.
“Religious Americans are no longer an afterthought,” he said.
Cross posted from the Women's issues thread:
Public Breastfeeding is now legal in all 50 states.
Quite the fuck you to the trump administration for trying to go against the UN when it comes to Breastfeeding.
I wonder what kind of backlash this will get politically in the now.
Edited by Demongodofchaos2 on Jul 30th 2018 at 1:45:56 PM
Watch SymphogearThe "Religious Liberty Task Force" sounds more like an excuse to persecute faiths and groups the religious right don't like.
I'm sure that it feels like a reaction to the above public breatfeeding legalization.
It gives the ability of companies to use Religious liberty to tell you to not breastfeed in public because of religious reason.
Blegh.
Watch SymphogearThe Manafort trial begins tomorrow. No wonder Trump has been so panicked lately.
Also, I'm not sure if this came up, but a few days ago, CNN reported that Micheal Cohen is willing to tell Mueller that Trump knew about, and approved the infamous trump tower meeting.
1/ Tonight @CNN reported that Cohen is prepared to tell Mueller that Trump knew about the Trump Tower meeting between Trump Jr., Kushner, Manafort and Russians before the meeting happened.
2/ Tonight Cohen's attorney Lanny Davis told MSNBC that Cohen's team is not responsible for the CNN story. Since that time, CNN (and later, MSNBC) confirmed that their sources continue to maintain that Cohen is prepared to tell Mueller that Trump knew of the meeting beforehand.
3/ That could mean that Cohen told associates about his knowledge, and those associates in turn told CNN. It is worth noting that Cohen said he was present, along with several others, when Trump Jr. told Trump about the Russian offer but that there are no tapes.
4/ So what are the legal implications? The most obvious legal implication is whether Trump Jr. lied to Congress when he was interviewed regarding the Trump Tower meeting. However, in his prepared statement, he said nothing about Trump's knowledge. [1]
5/ During questioning, he may have answered a question about this topic, which could be problematic for him, although he did refuse to answer questions about a later conversation with Trump, citing attorney-client privilege. [2]
6/ If Trump Jr. didn't answer questions about this topic previously, Congress could bring him back and ask again, which could put him in a difficult position. Regardless, a potential charge for lying to Congress (or the FBI) is the most straightforward way that this news matters.
7/ In fact, Cohen himself arguably has liability because he told Congress he "never saw anything–not a hint of anything–that demonstrated [Trump's] involvement in Russian interference in our election or any form of Russian collusion." (Cohen could argue this wasn't collusion.)
8/ Apart from potential charges for lying to Congress or the FBI, there are other implications of Cohen's potential testimony, but none of them indicate a crime was committed in themselves. One obvious takeaway is that the Trump Tower meeting must have been important to Trump Jr.
9/ Trump Jr. and Kushner have tried to make the meeting sound like it wasn't a big deal. If it wasn't a big deal, why did they go spend time telling Donald Trump about it? This also sheds new light on Trump's dictation of Trump Jr.'s misleading statement about the meeting.
10/ It suggests that Trump knew from the beginning that the statement, which made the meeting seem like it was about adoptions, was highly misleading. After all, the emails to Trump Jr. said the meeting was "part of Russia and its government's support for Mr. Trump."
11/ Lying to the press is rarely a crime, but Mueller is reportedly looking at the misleading statement dictated by Trump, perhaps to show that Trump had the intent to hide what happened in the meeting, which raises interesting questions.
12/ Regarding the Trump Tower meeting itself, it's not clear what liability Trump would have even if he was aware of the meeting in advance. What matters is what he knew about the meeting and what he agreed to. Merely meeting with Russians is not a crime. More is needed.
13/ For example, if Trump agreed to receive or distribute stolen emails, that could be a crime. Merely agreeing with Russians isn't enough—the agreement must have an illegal purpose. A criminal conspiracy is when two or more people agree to commit a crime.
14/ Potential crimes could be hacking a U.S. computer (like the DNC server), receiving or distributing stolen material, or trading an official act (like lifting sanctions) for something of value. Knowingly receiving campaign contributions from foreigners is also a crime.
15/ Aiding and abetting is also another potential source of criminal liability. That's when you know about criminal activity and help it succeed in some tangible way. (Not just by cheering from the sidelines.) It is possible to aid and abet a criminal conspiracy by aiding them.
16/ There are also plenty of agreements with the Russians that wouldn't involve criminal violations. If that's all Mueller could prove, the importance of the Trump Tower meeting might be political—it would show Trump was willing to receive aid from the Russians and cover it up.
17/ Obviously another issue is that Cohen's credibility can be easily attacked by Trump's team. For Cohen's word to matter, it likely has to be corroborated by other evidence, such as the testimony of others in the meeting or emails/texts/notes. /end
Fixed
Edited by megaeliz on Jul 30th 2018 at 4:00:08 AM
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez had an interview with the Daily Show where she talks about her platform.
I'm worried she might be counting her chickens before they hatch. She talks about how she's one of a number of Democrats who've sworn not to take any corporate PAC money, but then she adds this:
I'm glad you're enthusiastic, but y'ain't been elected yet. Don't go into the general treating this like it's a guaranteed win, or you might just have the election stolen out from under you.
Y'know, kinda like what happened to Joe Crowley when he couldn't be arsed to debate his primary challenger.
Edited by TobiasDrake on Jul 30th 2018 at 11:35:29 AM
My Tumblr. Currently side-by-side liveblogging Digimon Adventure, sub vs dub.I agree, while she is in a deep blue district during an election cycle that heavily favors Democrats in blue states, nothing can be taken for granted. She needs to get elected (and stop shilling Bernie cultists half a country away, instead of their more progressive opponent(s)) and then start working her way up the ranks. If she does that, we know she's realistic enough to have a shot at actually getting her agenda passed.
And rejecting Super PAC money isn't viable for Democrats who have actual challenges during elections, not while Republicans are raking in that money.
Politics is the skilled use of blunt objects.![]()
To be fair, she might be referring to the Primary election - I could easily see people falling at that hurdle without accepting a PAC in some form or other.
Which makes me wonder if she's accepting any help from the DCCC, as I'm reasonably sure that counts as a PAC.
"Why would I inflict myself on somebody else?"The DCCC shouldn’t be offering her help, she’s in a deep blue district, she should be raising the little money she need locally and letting the DCCC focus on other races.
“And the Bunny nails it!” ~ Gabrael “If the UN can get through a day without everyone strangling everyone else so can we.” ~ Cyran
As I've said before, though, I can't help but consider the DCCC's attempts at help to sometimes be Unwanted Assistance, due to seeing a shitload of mailers during the 2014 election about how much Katko would suck, so vote Maffei... Maffei being the incumbent. Going negative when your candidate is in office already is an awful idea, and yet mailer after mailer harped on the same 3 points (some of which were half-truths) about Katko. I'm talking a minimum 3:1 ratio "Don't vote Katko" vs "Vote Maffei".
"Why would I inflict myself on somebody else?"@Rational Insanity: Actually, in Texas, senate candidate Beto O' Rourke has been able to raise more money than Ted Cruz, without PA Cs. That is due to his massive popularity though and I see no reason that candidates with little money shouldn't take the extra help.
Life is unfair...https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/2018/07/30/day-557/
Day 557: "Trump Derangement Syndrome."
1/ Rudy Giuliani: "Collusion is not a crime." Trump's lawyer told Fox and Friends "I don't even know if that's a crime, colluding about Russians," and that he's been "looking in the federal code trying to find collusion as a crime." Giuliani asserted that "the hacking is the crime. The president didn't hack. He didn't pay them for hacking," suggesting that Trump would have had to pay for Russia to interfere on his behalf. Trump has argued for more than a year that there was "no collusion" – not that collusion wasn't a crime. On Sunday, Trump tweeted that "There is No Collusion!" and that "the Witch Hunt is an illegal Scam!" (The Hill / Washington Post / CNN)
https://www.cnn.com/2018/07/30/politics/rudy-giuliani-collusion-crime-cnntv/index.html
Trump didn't tell the truth about the Russia investigation 7 times in 1 tweet. Despite the tweet's brevity, there are at least seven examples of exaggerations, mischaracterizations and outright falsehoods contained in it. (CNN)
https://www.cnn.com/2018/07/30/politics/donald-trump-tweets-mueller-russia/index.html
2/ Trump claimed that Robert Mueller's investigation has multiple "conflicts of interest," including a "very nasty and contentious business relationship" between the two men. Giuliani said the dispute remains unresolved "even to this day," but refused to detail the alleged conflict. Last year, White House advisers said Mueller had a dispute over membership fees at Trump National Golf Club in Northern Virginia in 2011. Trump tried to fire Mueller in June 2017 over alleged conflicts of interest. (The Hill / CNN / Washington Post)
https://www.cnn.com/2018/07/29/politics/donald-trump-robert-mueller-twitter/index.html
Trump and his legal team have cut ties to Michael Cohen for "violat[ing] the attorney-client privilege, publicly and privately." Giuliani confirmed the two sides have ended their joint defense agreement to share information. (Politico / ABC News)
https://www.politico.com/story/2018/07/28/giuliani-cohen-trump-legal-teams-separated-747466
Robert Mueller's office said Paul Manafort earned $60 million from his work as a political consultant in Ukraine. The indictment against Manafort says $75 million flowed through offshore accounts controlled by Manafort and his former business partner Rick Gates. (CNN)
3/ Trump accused journalists of being "driven insane by their Trump Derangement Syndrome" and suggested that they are endangering American lives by revealing "internal deliberations of our government." He charged that journalists were "very unpatriotic!" for their negative media cover of his administration. In tweetstorm, Trump singled out the New York Times and the Washington Post after A. G. Sulzberger – publisher of the Times – released a statement about an off-the-record meeting between the two. Sulzberger disclosed the details of the meeting after Trump "put the meeting on the record" when he tweeted about his "very good and interesting meeting" with Sulzberger. Trump claimed the two discussed "the vast amounts of Fake News being put out by the media and how that Fake News has morphed into phrase, 'Enemy of the People.' Sad!" (Washington Post / The Hill / New York Times)
Statement of A.G. Sulzberger, Publisher, The New York Times, in Response to President Trump's Tweet About Their Meeting (New York Times Communications)
Trump has repeatedly tried to punish journalists for how they ask him questions, directing White House staff to ban reporters from covering official events or to revoke their press credentials. (Washington Post)
4/ Trump threatened to shut down the federal government if Democrats don't agree to sweeping changes to U.S. immigration laws and appropriate money to build his proposed border wall. "I would be willing to 'shut down' government if the Democrats do not give us the votes for Border Security, which includes the Wall!"Trump tweeted on Sunday. "Must get rid of Lottery, Catch and Release etc. and finally go to system of Immigration based on MERIT! We need great people coming into our Country!" Trump faced immediate words of caution from top Republican lawmakers, including the head of the National Republican Congressional Committee and the chairman of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs. (Washington Post / New York Times)
Notables.
The government has been secretly monitoring U.S. citizens when they fly since at least 2010 as part of a secret TSA program called "Quiet Skies." The program targets travelers who "are not under investigation by any agency and are not in the Terrorist Screening Data Base," but all U.S. citizens who enter the country are automatically screened for potential inclusion in the program. (Vox / Washington Post)
https://www.vox.com/2018/7/29/17627734/quiet-skies-tsa-flight-surveillance
A federal judge ordered the Trump administration to provide detailed information about the location of "missing parents" the government deemed "ineligible" for reunification by Wednesday. As of Friday, 650 of the 2,551 migrant children separated from their families at the border remain separated because their parents had been deemed ineligible. (NBC News)
A group of 36 people representing all five of the Muslim-majority countries affected by the current travel ban are suing the Trump administration in the first lawsuit since the ban was upheld by the Supreme Court in June. The suit names Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, and other government agencies as the defendants. While the suit doesn't challenge the constitutionality of the ban, it instead asks the administration to explain how it grants waivers under the ban. (Vox)
https://www.vox.com/2018/7/29/17625194/travel-muslim-ban-lawsuit-waiver-how
Brett Kavanaugh sided with Trump Entertainment Resorts in a 2012 case that stopped a unionization drive at one of its casinos. Trump's nominee for the Supreme Court voted to ignore an order from the National Labor Relations Board that would have required the Trump Plaza Hotel and Casino in Atlantic City to bargain with the United Auto Workers. (Bloomberg)
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg said she hopes to stay on the Supreme Court until the age of 90 or "about at least five more years." (CNN)
https://www.cnn.com/2018/07/29/politics/ruth-bader-ginsburg-scalia-new-york/index.html
Jeff Sessions announced that the Department of Justice is creating a "religious liberty task force" to "ensure all Justice Department components are upholding" Trump's executive order to respect and protect religious liberty and political speech. (The Hill)
http://thehill.com/regulation/administration/399482-sessions-announces-religious-liberty-task-force
Trump's golf resort in Scotland "partially destroyed" protected sand dunes. Scottish Natural Heritage acknowledged that serious damage has been done to the site of special scientific interest. Locals say Trump failed to honor promises to protect the site and that the development did not justify destroying the delicate ecosystem. (The Guardian)

Noice...Out of context page topper.
Edited by AngelusNox on Jul 30th 2018 at 12:56:54 PM
Inter arma enim silent leges