Still Free

Yeah, Mr. Smiley. Made it through the entire Trump presidency without being enslaved. Imagine that.

Wednesday, November 29, 2017

Current Year America

Examining a piece in the Washington Post we see that current year America is a joke of a nation.
But legislators spent little time asking Sessions about the dramatic and controversial changes in policy he has made since taking over the top law enforcement job in the United States nine months ago.
Policy changes? Ok. That sounds interesting. Lets see what they are:
From his crackdown on illegal immigration to his reversal of Obama administration policies on criminal justice and policing, Sessions is methodically reshaping the Justice Department to reflect his nationalist ideology and hard-line views — moves drawing comparatively less public scrutiny than the ongoing investigations into whether the Trump campaign coordinated with the Kremlin. [My underlines]
So enforcing the law is now "hard line"? Really? Shall I accuse the police officer who tickets me for speeding as being "a nationalist with 'hard line views'" or is he actually just "doing his job"? By the way. Why is it a "policy change" to be "nationalistic"? Shouldn't the people in government, that, you know, is supposed to be by and for 'the people", supposed to be "nationalistic"?
Sessions has implemented a new charging and sentencing policy that calls for prosecutors to pursue the most serious charges possible, even if that might mean minority defendants face stiff, mandatory minimum penalties.
Wait? So "minorities" are supposed to have different punishments than other people in America? How does that square with the constitution? It's almost like the Post thinks that minorities (in which it means, non asian minorities") shouldn't be held to account for their behavior. Like...um...children.
He has defended the president’s travel ban and tried to strip funding from cities with policies he considers too friendly toward undocumented immigrants.
He defended a law passed by congress that gives the president discretionary powers on determining who may and may not enter the country. This is news?

It's almost like the Post thinks that illegal immigrants. Say it with me: Illegal. Immigrants have trespass rights in America. Like the law(s) don't apply to them.

Sessions has even adjusted the department’s legal stances in cases involving voting rights and lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender issues in a way that advocates warn might disenfranchise poor minorities and give certain religious people a license to discriminate.
It's almost like the Post is unable to look up the constitution on the internet, nor the 1964 Civil Rights Act that expressly:

1) Says the government cannot abridge the freedom of religion or exercise thereof.

2) Says that religious institutions and private clubs are exempt from laws in the 1964 CRA.

While critics lambaste what they consider misguided changes that take the department back in time, supporters say Sessions has restored a by-the-book interpretation of federal law and taken an aggressive stance toward enforcing it.
It's as if Sessions thinks that the department should do it's job: enforcing the law. Shocking policy change!
Prosecutors have brought several such cases since he became attorney general and recently sent an attorney to Iowa to help the state prosecute a man who was charged with killing a gender-fluid 16-year-old high school student last year. The man was convicted of first-degree murder.

But while civil rights leaders praised his action in that case, Kristen Clarke, president and executive director of the national Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, said that it “stands in stark contrast to his overall efforts” to roll back protections for transgender people.

I don't know what "rights" Kristen thinks "transgender" people have that are different from those of every other citizen, but I do know that murder is illegal, period. What's the problem?
Critics say, though, that his record shows otherwise. “We are seeing a federal government that is pulling back from protecting vulnerable communities in every respect,” Clarke said. “That appears to be the pattern that we are seeing with this administration — an unwillingness to use their enforcement powers in ways that can come to the defense of groups who are otherwise powerless and voiceless.”
No, what we have, finally, is a justice dept. and administration that is not making up "rights" via executive fiat (or court decision). This is a good thing. You don't get "rights" because you are a minority, poor or confused about your body.