Tuesday, December 20, 2016

Justice Clarence Thomas Cartoons





GOP senator: Museum ignores Clarence Thomas' accomplishments


Republican Sen. Ted Cruz says the Smithsonian has made a mistake by not including the "extraordinary accomplishments" of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas in the new National Museum of African American History and Culture.
In a letter to leaders of the Smithsonian Institution on Monday, the Texas senator says he was deeply disturbed to learn that Thomas is only briefly noted in the context of his contentious 1991 confirmation hearings, when he faced allegations that he sexually harassed Anita Hill when they were colleagues in the federal government.
"I am concerned that millions of Americans, of all ages, races, religions, and walks of life, when passing through this museum, will be subjected to a singular and distorted view of Justice Thomas, an African-American who survived segregation, defeated discrimination, and ascended all the way to the Supreme Court," Cruz wrote.
Thomas has long been a hero to conservatives, but remains a pariah among civil rights groups. He's been a fierce opponent of affirmative action and voted with the conservative majority to block a key part of the Voting Rights Act designed to protect minority voters from discrimination.
Cruz, who was once a law clerk at the Supreme Court, shares Thomas' philosophy of adherence to the original text and meaning of the Constitution.
"Justice Thomas' dramatic journey from enduring entrenched racial discrimination to serving on the highest court in a country of 320 million people is one that should be shouted from the rooftops to all Americans, regardless of race or ethnicity," Cruz wrote.
A spokesman for the Smithsonian Institution did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Thomas recently celebrated 25 years on the court, and is "known behind the scenes as one of the most jovial, down-to-earth, and gracious personalities to ever don the robe," according to Cruz.
In the letter, Cruz says the first and only other African-American Supreme Court justice, Thurgood Marshall, is briefly praised in the museum. He suggests an exhibit on Marshall and Thomas and their different judicial approaches.
"To be clear, I am not petitioning for a partisan hagiography of Justice Thomas, nor am I asking that everything critical of him be excluded," Cruz wrote. "I am simply requesting that a fair and accurate portrayal of his powerful story be included, for the great benefit of millions of future museum-goers."
South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, the only African-American Republican in the Senate, sent Smithsonian directors a similar letter earlier this month. And a group of Republican senators led by Cruz's Texas colleague, Republican Sen. John Cornyn, introduced a resolution to encourage the museum to give Thomas a prominent place in its exhibits.

Dr. Sebastian Gorka: 'The front line is when you leave your house in the morning'

Dr. Sebastian Gorka


National security expert Dr. Sebastian Gorka said that Monday's attack on a Christmas market in Berlin, Germany represented "the sad reality" of the fight against terrorism.
"There is no front line like there was in World War I and World War II," Gorka told Eric Bolling on "Hannity" Monday night. "The front line is when you leave your house in the morning or when you go to a Christmas market in downtown Berlin."
SUSPECT IN BERLIN CHRISTMAS MARKET ATTACK REPORTEDLY CAME TO GERMANY AS A REFUGEE
Gorka added that ISIS had "learned from the mistakes of Al Qaeda," making them more dangerous than Usama bin Laden's jihadis.
"Al Qaeda was, ironically, too successful on Sept. 11. They killed 3,000 people in 102 minutes. So afterward ... they wanted to go bigger and bigger and bigger," Gorka said. "ISIS understands this is just about guerilla warfare. They’ve said, ‘You don’t need to build a bomb, you don’t even need to get a gun. Get in a truck and' — literally, they wrote — 'mow the infidel down like grass.'"
Gorka said that the key to preventing or surviving terror attacks like those in Berlin or in Nice, France on Bastille Day of this year was to be "tactically aware."
AT LEAST 12 DEAD, 48 INJURED AFTER TRUCK PLOWS INTO BERLIN CHRISTMAS MARKET IN APPARENT TERROR ATTACK
"Look at downtown centers or any suburb, and people are walking around staring at their iPhone or their Android," Gorka said. "Well, you know what? Then you are a target. You’ve got to be aware of your surroundings.
"So, people need to – as the police say, your head should be on a swivel and you should be tactically aware every time you leave the house in the morning."

Trump secures victory in Electoral College, as bid to flip electors flops

Ha Ha Poor Democrats :-)






Donald Trump won the Electoral College vote on Monday and secured his election as the 45th president of the United States, as the latest – and perhaps last – stop-Trump movement failed to gain traction in state capitals.

A fervent push by anti-Trump forces to persuade electors to defect had turned the normally mundane civic procedure into high drama.
But Trump easily surpassed the 270 electoral votes needed to win, as representatives tabbed to cast ballots in accordance with their states’ Nov. 8 decision mostly adhered to the election results. After all the states had voted, Trump finished with 304 votes and Clinton had 227.
Texas put Trump over the top, despite two Republican electors casting protest votes.
Indiana Gov. Mike Pence afterward tweeted "congratulations" to his running mate while saying he was "honored & humbled" to be officially elected the next vice president.
Republican National Committee Co-Chair Sharon Day urged Trump’s detractors to stop fighting his election, now that his victory is affirmed.
“This historic election is now officially over and I look forward to President-elect Trump taking the oath of office in January,” she said in a statement. “For the good of the country, Democrats must stop their cynical attempts to undermine the legitimacy of this election, which Donald Trump won decisively in the Electoral College with more votes than any Republican since 1988.”
Elector antics were few and far between throughout the day, with most the disruptions occurring on the Democratic side. A Democratic elector in Maine tried to vote for Sen. Bernie Sanders, but switched to Clinton after it was ruled improper. Another who tried to vote for Sanders in Minnesota was replaced; a Colorado elector who tried to back Ohio Gov. John Kasich likewise was replaced. One of the biggest deviations was in Washington state, where three electors voted for Colin Powell and one voted for “Faith Spotted Eagle;” the remaining eight went to Clinton, the state’s winner.
It marked the first time in four decades the state's electors broke from the popular vote. Washington Secretary of State Kim Wyman vowed to work with the state attorney general and charge the four unfaithful electors with a violation of Washington state civil law. Such violations carry a fine up to $1,000.
With Trump’s win now secured, a joint session of Congress is scheduled for Jan. 6 to certify the results.
Trump’s clear Electoral College victory could serve to deter any further last-ditch efforts to effectively nullify his November win and prevent his inauguration, though the battle may shift next to his Cabinet picks.
Few expected the “faithless elector” push to imperil Trump’s victory on Monday.
Only one Republican elector – Texas’ Chris Suprun – publicly stated he would vote for an alternative candidate. (He backed Kasich, while another Texas elector used his ballot to vote for former congressman Ron Paul.) More than three dozen Republicans would have had to abandon Trump to complicate his path to the presidency.
But GOP electors still faced immense pressure -- with some even receiving threats -- from Trump foes in the run-up to Monday’s Electoral College vote. Those urging disorder in state capitals often cited Clinton’s popular-vote win, by roughly 2.6 million votes, over Trump in November.
Celebrities made public appeals to electors to use the arcane process to upend Trump’s victory, as some Democratic electors tried to persuade their Republican counterparts to defect. Reports that U.S. intelligence officials determined Russia interfered in the election to boost Trump – findings disputed by Trump himself – only fueled efforts to wield the Electoral College vote as a political circuit-breaker.
As electors met, thousands of protesters descended on state capitals Monday in one last push to convince Trump voters to change their minds.
In Arizona, dozens of protesters gathered outside the meeting site, marching around the Capitol mall and carrying signs that said, "Stop Trump." More than 200 demonstrators gathered at Pennsylvania's Capitol, chanting, "No treason, no Trump!"
Both states, and dozens of others, cast their electoral votes for Trump anyway.
In Mississippi, Gov. Phil Bryant dismissed attempts to sway Republican electors.
"This idea … that we want to change the electors’ minds who have been dedicated to Donald Trump very early in the process I think is just misguided,” he said.
If nothing else, the furor over Monday’s proceedings has served to re-acquaint Americans with a process that few pay attention to every four years.
The Electoral College was devised at the Constitutional Convention in 1787. It was a compromise between those who wanted popular elections for president and those who wanted no public input.
The Electoral College has 538 members, with the number allocated to each state based on how many representatives it has in the House plus one for each senator. The District of Columbia gets three, despite the fact that the home to Congress has no vote in Congress.
To be elected president, the winner must get at least half plus one -- or 270 electoral votes. Most states give all their electoral votes to whichever candidate wins that state's popular vote. Maine and Nebraska award them by congressional district.
After a joint session of Congress certifies the results on Jan. 6, the next president will be sworn in on Jan. 20.
Trump already is nearly done naming his Cabinet appointees, as he prepares for confirmation hearings and the inauguration ceremonies, in addition to his first 100 days agenda.
Despite the transition process being well underway, Republican electors said they were deluged with emails, phone calls and letters urging them not to support the billionaire businessman in the days and weeks leading up to Monday’s proceedings. Many of the emails were part of coordinated campaigns.
"The letters are actually quite sad," said Lee Green, a Republican elector from North Carolina. "They honestly believe the propaganda. They believe our nation is being taken over by a dark and malevolent force."
Wirt A. Yerger Jr., a Republican elector in Mississippi, said, "I have gotten several thousand emails asking me not to vote for Trump. I threw them all away."
Arizona elector Robert Graham told Fox News on Saturday that the state’s 11 electors received hundreds of thousands of emails telling them not to vote for Trump and that he’s received information that some of the other 10 have been followed or have received a death threat.
“It’s out of hand when you have such … a small group of people that is pushing so hard against millions if not hundreds of millions of people who still appreciate this whole system,” said Graham, chairman of the Arizona Republican Party. “The Electoral College is part of the Constitution.”

Federal judge orders release of search warrant from Clinton email case


A federal judge on Monday ordered the release of the search warrant the FBI used to reopen their probe into Hillary Clinton’s private email server days before the November election.
U.S. District Judge P. Kevin Castel ruled Monday morning that the public had a right to see the warrant, which he said was secretly filed with the court on Oct. 30.
“The search warrant, the application for the search warrant, the affidavit in support of the application for the search warrant, and the search warrant return will be unsealed and posted on the Court's electronic case filing system” subject to redactions, Castel said in his order.
The Justice Department may seek to block the release before a federal appeals court.
The court dispute concerns the warrant agents used to get access to emails stored on a computer belonging to Anthony Weiner, the estranged husband of top Clinton aide Huma Abedin.
FBI Director James Comey jolted the presidential race on Oct. 28 when he informed Congress that agents would be digging through the cache of emails between Abedin and Clinton for any new evidence related to Clinton's handling of sensitive State Department information.
Two days before the Nov. 8 election, Comey announced the inquiry had uncovered no new evidence of wrongdoing. Some in Clinton’s inner circle have blamed Comey for her loss, while President-elect Donald Trump’s advisers charge they’re making excuses.
The court documents are now set to be unsealed at noon Tuesday, with portions blacked out to conceal the names of the agents. The judge also ordered the redaction of any information about an open investigation of Weiner's online correspondence with a teenage girl.
Agents initially seized the computer in connection with that investigation.
Weiner, a Democrat, resigned his seat in Congress after sexually explicit texts and social media posts to various women. He tried for a political comeback two years later by running for mayor of New York, but his campaign was undone when evidence emerged that he hadn't given up his sexting habit.
Federal authorities began investigating him in late September after an online news outlet, the Daily Mail, published an interview with a North Carolina girl who said she had exchanged sexually explicit messages with him over several months.
Randol Schoenberg, a Los Angeles lawyer who specializes in recovering works of art stolen by the Nazis, petitioned the court to make the search warrant and supporting documents public.
In his order, Castel said public interest in the case overrode any privacy considerations.
"Ordinarily, a person whose conduct is the subject of a criminal investigation but is not charged with a crime should not have his or her reputation sullied by the mere circumstance of an investigation," he wrote. But in this instance, he said, the fact that the FBI investigated Clinton is hardly secret. "She has little remaining privacy interest in the release of the documents identifying her as the subject of this investigation."

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