Conservative Blogger
Thursday, January 5, 2017
Holder hired to help California fight Trump administration
California lawmakers already are preparing for a legal brawl with the Donald Trump administration – and they’ve got President Obama’s former top attorney in their corner.
Top state Democratic lawmakers announced Wednesday that former Attorney General Eric Holder has been tapped as outside counsel to advise the Legislature on potential challenges with the Trump government. He will lead a team from the Covington & Burling law firm, where he’s been working since leaving the Obama administration in 2015.
“With the upcoming change in administrations, we expect that there will be extraordinary challenges for California in the uncertain times ahead,” California Senate President pro Tempore Kevin de León and Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon said in a statement. “This is a critical moment in the history of our nation. We have an obligation to defend the people who elected us and the policies and diversity that make California an example of what truly makes our nation great.”
They said Holder and his team will advise “in our efforts to resist any attempts to roll back the progress California has made.”
The statement did not specify which policies they anticipate will cause friction, though California’s numerous sanctuary cities are likely to face challenges from an administration that has threatened to pull their federal funding.
In an interview with the Los Angeles Times, De León suggested Holder’s team will work on issues like immigration, climate change, the environment and voting rights.
The unorthodox arrangement assigns to Holder’s team some duties that normally would be handled by the state’s top law enforcement official, the California attorney general. Gov. Jerry Brown has nominated Democratic Rep. Xavier Becerra for that job.
The Los Angeles Times reported that De León and Rendon have been considering hiring outside counsel ever since Trump’s election, in a preemptive bid to protect state policies that could clash with the new administration’s.
Holder was one of Obama’s longest-serving and most controversial Cabinet members.
He had a contentious relationship with congressional Republicans, who in 2012 voted to hold him in contempt of Congress for not turning over documents on the Fast and Furious “gun-walking” scandal.
He left in 2015 to rejoin Covington & Burling.
Holder said in a statement Wednesday he is “honored” to work with California’s Legislature “as it considers how to respond to potential changes in federal law that could impact California’s residents and policy priorities.”
Republicans name first targets in drive to repeal Obama regs
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| McCarthy clarifies 'misinformation' on ethics committee vote |
House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., said Republicans would roll back one rule reducing methane emissions and another meant to ease the environmental impact of coal mining on streams. McCarthy argued the regulations limit the nation's energy production, and said the GOP-controlled Congress will seek to invalidate the rules starting at month's end.
Republicans for years have clamored in vain about Obama’s attempts to move the country from fossil fuels to renewable energy using a mix of financial incentives and federal regulations. But with a Republican president coming into office, they will have the power to roll back some of those rules.
In his first floor speech of the 115th Congress, McCarthy said GOP House leaders will take a “two-step approach” to federal regulations – first, passing legislation to give Congress more power to repeal, and then repealing rules that are “harmful to the American people, costing us time, money, and, most importantly, jobs.”
Industry groups already have filed suit to block Obama's regulations designed to reduce methane emissions, and other major regulations are currently tied up in court.
But GOP leaders hope to bring about a more certain verdict through the so-called Congressional Review Act, a rarely used process that requires a simple majority of both chambers to approve a joint resolution of disapproval and the president's signature to make a regulation invalid.
Lawmakers have successfully used the act only one other time to quash a new regulation. Generally, they cannot get the two-thirds majority necessary to overcome a presidential veto, but under GOP President-elect Donald Trump, they'll have a limited window to test his campaign promises to repeal various Obama administration regulations.
McCarthy said the process won't be completed quickly, but likens the effort to "draining the bureaucratic swamp that undermines the will of the people."
Obama has pushed for rules to protect air and water as part of his focus on curbing global warming. He argues that the regulations enacted have benefited the economy more than they have cost. He has also said his administration's use of regulatory authority is also a reflection of the GOP's unwillingness to work with him on legislative solutions.
Republicans will also seek to repeal regulations implementing an education reform bill that some state officials have complained erodes local decision-making, McCarthy's office said.
Business groups are lining up to support the effort with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce saying the work done in the House over the next several weeks "is a step in the right direction toward bringing greater accountability, transparency, and integrity to federal rulemakings."
Trump Organization cancels business talks in three countries
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| President-elect Trump still doesn't think people get him |
Trump lawyer Alan Garten said Wednesday that the company has canceled a "memorandum of understanding" to continue discussions with local partners over possible office towers in Rio de Janeiro. He also said the company won't continue "exploratory" talks over projects in Pune, India, and in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
The moves follow cancellations late last year of licensing deals for hotels in Brazil, Azerbaijan and the neighboring country of Georgia as Donald Trump has come under pressure to separate from his business before assuming office. Federal ethics rules do not require presidents to sell off their business or investments, but critics argue that Trump should do so because his global holdings present unprecedented conflicts of interest.
Trump has given no indication that he plans to sell his interest in his business. Instead he has pledged to do "no new deals" while president and to leave management of his company to his two adult sons, along with executives.
Trump has stakes in 500 companies in about 20 countries, though some of those appear set up for tax or legal reasons and do not have any underlying business operations. Trump shut down four such "shell" companies in Delaware last year that appeared tied to Saudi Arabia but had no operations.
The Argentina talks came under scrutiny last year after several media outlets reported that Trump tried to speed along the Buenos Aires project by mentioning it in congratulatory call from Argentine President Mauricio Macri. A Macri spokesman denied to The Associated Press that the subject even came up in the call.
Garten said that the project didn't even get past the exploratory phase and that, unlike the case in Brazil, there wasn't even a signed agreement to continue to talking about a possible deal.
The project in Brazil has garnered some publicity, too. The plan was to build five office towers in Rio de Janeiro, but the development got tied up in a corruption investigation unrelated to Trump himself. Called Trump Towers Rio, it was announced in 2012, but construction of the office towers has not even begun.
Trump also had a licensing deal for a hotel in Brazil, but canceled that last month.
Discussions over the possible project in Pune were separate from two residential towers already built there that bear the Trump name. Trump also has his name on a residential tower in Mumbai.
Trump to Rahm: Get Chicago violence under control or feds will step in
President-elect Donald Trump said Monday that if Mayor Rahm Emanuel can’t turn the tide on Chicago's soaring murder rate, Washington may need to step in.
Trump, who frequently cited Chicago’s violence during the presidential campaign, tweeted about The Windy City a day after the Chicago Police Department released year-end crime stats showing homicide numbers that dwarfed those of New York and Los Angeles combined.
“Chicago murder rate is record setting - 4,331 shooting victims with 762 murders in 2016. If Mayor can't do it he must ask for Federal help!” Trump tweeted.
Most of the Chicago statistics were grim, showing the nation’s third-largest city recorded 1,100 more shooting incidents than in 2015 and had homicides spike by 278 – the largest increase in 60 years.
CHICAGO'S BLOODIEST YEAR ENDS WITH 762 HOMICIDES
Trump and Emanuel broached the topic of Chicago’s surging violence during a Dec. 7 sit-down. While Emanuel later told reporters most of the meeting focused on immigration, infrastructure and education, he also acknowledged the two had “talked about public safety.”
A spokesman for Emanuel released a statement Sunday, obtained by The Chicago Tribune, that alluded to the December meeting, but did not directly address Trump’s call for possible federal intervention.
“As the president-elect knows from his conversation with the mayor, we agree the federal government has a strong role to play in public safety by funding summer jobs and prevention programming for at-risk youth, by holding the criminals who break our gun laws accountable for their crimes, by passing meaningful gun laws, and by building on the partnerships our police have with federal law enforcement,” the statement from Adam Collins said. “We are heartened he is taking this issue seriously and look forward to working with the new administration on these important efforts.”
Sunday’s tweet wasn’t the first time Trump has taken a public swipe at Emanuel’s handling of the violence epidemic. During an August interview with Fox News' Bill O’Reilly on “The O’Reilly Factor", Trump said Chicago's crime problem couldn’t be solved “because they don’t have the right people in charge.”
“When I was in Chicago, I got to meet a couple of very tough police,” Trump said. “I said, ‘How do you stop this? How do you stop this? If you were put in charge to a specific person, do you think you could stop this?’ He said, ‘Mr. Trump I would be able to stop it in one week,’ and I believed him 100 percent.”
On the campaign trail, Trump also backed the use of the controversial stop-and-frisk tactic, saying “Chicago needs” it.
“But they asked me about Chicago and I think stop-and-frisk with good strong, you know, good strong law and order,” Trump said during a September event. “But you have to do something. It can’t continue the way it’s going.”
Wednesday, January 4, 2017
Police end NAACP sit-in against nominee for attorney general
MONTGOMERY, Ala. – The national president of the NAACP and five others were arrested after staging a sit-in Tuesday at the Alabama office of Sen. Jeff Sessions, the nominee for U.S. attorney general, the civil rights group said.
The organization held the demonstration to protest Sessions' nomination by President-elect Donald Trump, criticizing Sessions' record and views on civil rights, immigration, criminal justice reform, and voting rights enforcement.
"We have an attorney general nominee who does not acknowledge the reality of voter suppression while mouthing faith in the myth of voter fraud," NAACP President Cornell William Brooks said by phone earlier in Tuesday's protest. Brooks called Sessions a poor choice to lead the U.S. Justice Department.
The sit-in at Sessions' office in Mobile, Alabama — the city the Republican senator calls home — began around 11 a.m. Tuesday. Demonstrators refused a request by the manager of the building— which includes several other tenants in addition to Sessions— to leave when the building closed for the day at 6 p.m. Police could be seen on video footage coming and handcuffing the six protesters and escorted them to a police van.
"We all are aware of the laws of trespass. We are engaging in a voluntary act of civil disobedience," Brooks told the officers who arrived at the scene.
The NAACP broadcast the events live on the organization's Facebook page. WKRG of Mobile reported that the six, which included Brooks and the president of the Alabama NAACP, were charged with misdemeanor criminal trespass and released on bond.
The all-day protest ended in handcuffs but without confrontation. Brooks shook the hands of the officers and the officers allowed the protesters to kneel and pray before they were led away.
Brooks criticized Sessions' prosecution of African-American voting rights activists on voter fraud charges when he was a U.S. attorney in Alabama. The group also raised concerns about immigration policies under Trump, the future of the Voting Rights Act and noted allegations — raised decades ago in Sessions unsuccessful 1986 confirmation hearing for a federal judgeship — that Sessions made racially insensitive remarks when he was a U.S. attorney.
Sarah Isgur Flores, a spokeswoman for Sessions, said in a statement that the nominee has dedicated his career to upholding the rule of law, ensuring public safety and prosecuting government corruption.
"Many African-American leaders who've known him for decades attest to this and have welcomed his nomination to be the next Attorney General. These false portrayals of Senator Sessions will fail as tired, recycled, hyperbolic charges that have been thoroughly rebuked and discredited," the statement added.
Sessions was in Washington D.C. and not in his Mobile office at the time of the protests.
In testimony at the 1986 confirmation hearing, Sessions was accused by some hearing witnesses of saying the NAACP was "un-American" and saying he thought Ku Klux Klan members were "OK until I found out they smoke pot,"
Sessions said during the hearing that the Klan remark was a joke and that other remarks were mischaracterized. What he had said, Sessions said, was that civil rights groups hurt themselves when "they take positions that people think are un-American they hurt themselves." He then praised the work of the NAACP.
The demonstration marked the latest criticism of Trump's pick for attorney general. Sessions' confirmation hearings are expected to begin next week, highlighted by a vigorous push both by those favoring the nomination and those opposed to it.
Former Democratic Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick, who was part of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund team representing the black civil rights activists in the voter fraud prosecution, on Tuesday urged U.S. senators to reject Sessions' nomination.
Republicans deliver on 'Day One' promise, begin ObamaCare repeal on Hill
Republicans delivered Tuesday on their “Day One” promise to start repealing ObamaCare at the start of the 115th Congress, introducing a resolution to dismantle the 2010 health care law.
“Today, we take the first steps to repair the nation’s broken health care system, removing Washington from the equation and putting control back where it belongs: with patients, their families and their doctors,” said Wyoming GOP Sen. Mike Enzi, chairman of the Senate Budget Committee.
Enzi and other leaders of the Republican-controlled Congress are relying on a parliamentary maneuver known as “budget reconciliation” to dismantle the law because it avoids a Senate Democrat filibuster and requires only a 51-vote majority for passage in the chamber, not the 60-vote majority.
Republicans have a 52-to-48 member majority in the Senate and a 241-to-194 majority in the House, which requires only a simple majority for passage.
The GOP can use the reconciliation tactic because federally-subsidized ObamaCare directly impacts the federal budget. (And congressional Democrats used the same tactic in 2009 to complete passage of the law, officially known as the Affordable Care Act.)
Incoming GOP President Donald Trump won the 2016 White House race in part on a vow to repeal ObamaCare on “day one” of his administration and to replace it with “something terrific.” But the dismantling process will be decidedly longer and more complicated.
Top congressional Republicans in the weeks after Trump’s Nov. 8 win started saying that replacing ObamaCare could take two to four years.
A top Senate aide declined Tuesday to give a timeline on when the resolution -- which must pass in three House and four Senate committees -- will be passed and ObamaCare will officially be repealed.
The aide said the focus is on getting through the process “as quickly as possible.”
However, Enzi’s office said that Senate debate on the issue will begin next week and that the seven committees should hold preliminary “repeal legislation” votes by Jan. 27.
The House is expected to begin debate on the issue next week.
To be sure, Republicans are now the party under pressure with ObamaCare -- after years of crticizing the law and now that they finally have a president who will sign repeal-and-replace legislation.
In addition, some of the most conservative House Republicans are already raising concerns about their leaders wanting multiple years to implement a replacement plan, fearing backlash from voters at home.
And Trump’s victory over Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton has spotlighted her party’s argument that Republicans have no viable ObamaCare replacement, despite years of criticism and promises.
Meanwhile, President Obama will be on Capitol Hill on Wednesday to talk with fellow Democrats about how to save his signature health care law.
And Democratic congressional leaders are urging rank-and-file members to hold rallies to tell voters about the importance of preserving ObamaCare. They have planned a national “Day of Action” on the matter for January 15.
Dismantling the government-mandated insurance without an alternative for the roughly 20 million Americans now enrolled could indeed be a political disaster, particularly before the 2018 midterms.
ObamaCare was created to drive down overall insurance costs by reducing emergency-care visits and other uninsured medical expenses.
However, lower-than-projected enrollment among younger, healthy Americans and insurance companies dropping out of the program have contributed to significantly increasing premium costs.
And while 2016 voters disaffected with big government will likely want Trump to fulfill his repeal-replace promise, the president-elect and others have hinted at keeping some parts of ObamaCare, including young adults being allowed to stay on their parents’ plan.
Late Tuesday, the House passed the set of rules that will govern the body through the 115th Congress -- minus a controversial provision quietly inserted late Monday by Republican members to gut the independent Office of Congressional Ethics and put it under lawmakers' control.
The provision was removed under pressure from Trump, as well as furious Democrats.
The approved rules package, however, now includes provisions that allow Republican leaders to fine members who use electronic devices to take pictures or video from the House floor.
The change comes six months after Democrats live-streamed a sit-in on the House floor for 26 hours to call attention to their demand for votes on gun control.
Under the new rules, first-offenders get a warning. The next offense comes with a $500 fine, and ensuing ones could cost members $2,500 apiece.
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