Attorney General

Conflict Within The Trump Circle Undermining Stability Within The White House

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Secretary of State Rex Tillerson is told he cannot have his choice for Deputy Secretary of State, Elliott Abrams, because of Abrams’ criticism of Donald Trump during the Presidential campaign.

Secretary of Defense James Mattis contradicts Donald Trump’s statement that America should take Iraq’s oil if America were to send troops again to that nation to fight ISIL (ISIS). Also, Mattis does not see Russia as an ally to fight the terrorist group in Syria and does not trust Vladimir Putin, but Trump does, so that presents a problem in strategy.

Secretary of Homeland Security John Kelly contradicts Donald Trump’s statement that the deportation of immigrants to Mexico will require military forces, saying no such scenario will occur.

Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos is ordered by Donald Trump to agree with Attorney General Jeff Sessions on rescinding federal endorsement of transgender students being able to use the bathroom they choose in public schools across the nation, with DeVos issuing statement promoting her view, but giving in to Trump in a White House meeting with Sessions, instead of resigning.

Kelly Anne Conway has been silenced a lot as she was making statements later contradicted by Sean Spicer, the Press Secretary to Donald Trump.

Several potential appointees have refused positions because they do not wish to work for Donald Trump.

The man is a nightmare to be around, and too many appointees and cabinet members have to swallow a great deal in order to work around a true narcissist, with no scruples, ethics or morals, and only interested in promoting his own sick ego!

The best thing that could happen would be for the cabinet members to organize with Vice President Mike Pence, and force Donald Trump out of office based on his total mental instability and danger to the nation, putting their principles ahead of their loyalty.

This could be done by the utilization of the 25th Amendment, Section 4, leading to Mike Pence as President, with all his faults and shortcomings, but not mentally damaged where he is a threat to the nation and the world!

Cabinet Of “Deplorables” Marches Forward Toward Confirmation

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The effects of election results are demonstrated once again as the Cabinet of “Deplorables” marches forward toward confirmation.

The last 24 hours have been particularly gloomy as Betsy DeVos was confirmed as Secretary of Education, and Jeff Sessions was confirmed as Attorney General.

Having a person who has never in any way been involved in public education and believes in charter schools and Christianized education is outrageous and demoralizing. America’s children will suffer as she takes over with the intention of ignoring the issues of disabled students, racial and ethnic minorities, and the protection of women and girls, and the problem of guns in schools.

Jeff Sessions reminds us too much of George Wallace, and the old saying applies–Once a bigot, always a bigot–ant to believe that he will dispense equal justice, and enforce civil rights and civil liberties, and protect women’s rights and immigrants rights, is to believe the tooth fairy.

We will soon see Tom Price as Secretary of Health and Human Services, with an intention to destroy Medicare, Medicaid, and ObamaCare as we know it; and Scott Pruit head the Environmental Protection Agency which he has sued 14 times and would like to destroy the agency if he could; and Ryan Zinke as Secretary of the Interior, but not dedicated to preservation of the National Parks and protection of native American rights.

And other horrors in the cabinet are also in line for a vote, one that the Democrats and Progressives are unable to stop, a very depressing time.

Donald Trump’s Inaugural Address And First Actions Show America Is In Massive Constitutional Crisis, Greater Than Watergate!

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Donald Trump’s Inaugural Address and first actions in office show America is in a massive constitutional crisis, greater than Watergate!

Trump’s speech was the most negative, darkest speech ever given on Inauguration Day, when usually the rhetoric is lofty and positive.

He talked about “Carnage” in the nation after eight great years of positive change under Barack Obama.

He is so insecure that he continues to brag about his accomplishments, even today while visiting the CIA headquarters in Virginia, an agency he had been highly critical of, as they investigate any Russian connection during the Presidential campaign, and with Trump still applauding Vladimir Putin of Russia, while strongly attacking NATO and the European Union, undermining our alliances from Truman to Obama.

And his changes in the White House website within an hour after Barack Obama left office is alarming–wiping out the sections on Gays and Lesbians, Civil Rights, Health Care, Immigration, Native Americans, Violence Against Women, Disabilities, Climate Change, National Endowment for the Arts, National Endowment for the Humanities, National Public Radio, PBS, and with more certain to come.

Trump also signed into law the wiping out of an Obama initiative to lower mortgage insurance fees to help new homeowners, causing an estimated $500 increase annually, which will force some out of the home market, people who are struggling to be able to buy The American Dream, their own home.

How can Trump say he is for the people, and that they control their government, when only the wealthy and powerful will benefit, and many groups of people will suffer, massively, by his narrow mindedness and bigotry?

Trump is already in violation of the Emoluments Clause of the Constitution, with conflicts of interest all over the world, making profit off being President, and putting his foreign properties under threat of attack. Just the Trump Hotel on Pennsylvania Avenue, a few blocks from the White House, is a violation of the Constitution, and leading early to impeachment resolutions.

We are in a nightmare situation, and the fear that Trump will suppress the free news media, form an enemy’s list like Richard Nixon had, and try to curb freedom of assembly, and who knows, possible thoughts of Martial Law that might be endorsed by a right wing Attorney General, Jeff Sessions!

Trump Cabinet By Far The Oldest In American History: The Senior Citizen Dominance!

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One unnoticed issue about the Donald Trump Cabinet is that the 45th President has, by far, the oldest group of Cabinet officers in all of American history.

A total of 11 people around Trump are from age 62 up to 79 as they take over their positions, making our government one run by “senior citizens”.

Understand that this blogger is technically a “senior citizen”, but he also is not taking on the burden of a high pressure, burdensome job working for a President of the United States, and to have the vast majority of those in charge of our future being those who have, probably, no more than 10-15 years left, in a natio in which half the population is under 35, brings up the issue of whether it is proper that so many “senior citizens”, who will not be personally affected long term, should be in charge of government policy that affects 325 million Americans.

Here are the cabinet members who fit into this category:

Tom Price, Secretary of Health and Human Services, 62
Rex Tillerson, Secretary of State, 64
Steve Bannon, Chief Strategist and Senior Counselor, 64
Elaine Chao, Secretary of Transportation, 64
Ben Carson, Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, 65
Andrew Puzder, Secretary of Labor, 66
Rick Perry, Secretary of Energy, 66
General John Kelly, Secretary of Homeland Security, 66
General James Mattis, Secretary of Defense, 66
Jeff Sessions, Attorney General, 70
Wilbur Ross, Secretary of Commerce, 79

And Donald Trump is 70 years and 7 months, 8 months older than Ronald Reagan, when he took the oath of office.

It must be admitted that Hillary Clinton is 69; Joe Biden is 74; and Bernie Sanders is 75, but it is highly likely that they would have brought in a much younger group of Cabinet officers.

Most Crucial Trump Cabinet Member To Resist Is Jeff Sessions, Attorney General Nominee— A Danger To Civil Rights And Civil Liberties!

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The Trump cabinet choices are overall horrific, but the most that might be expected is to stop maybe one or two of the nominees.

It is so hard to judge which are the worst of all of them, but clearly, after reflection, the record of Senator Jeff Sessions disqualifies him for the position of Attorney General.

This is a man who has displayed racism, misogyny, nativism, and homophobia, and was opposed to extension of the Voting Rights Act, and he was already rejected for a federal judgeship in 1986 by a Senate with a majority of his own Republican Party.

In an age when civil rights and civil liberties are in danger from Donald Trump and his mentality, to put Jeff Sessions into the Justice Department would set back the Bill of Rights tremendously, as Sessions is no different than if one were to select former Alabama Governor George Wallace, or former North Carolina Senator Jesse Helms, or former South Carolina Senator Strom Thurmond to be Attorney General.

These were the worst of all Southern politicians who undermined civil rights, and there is no evidence that Jeff Sessions is any different in 2017.

All that is needed is for a few Republican Senators to show courage, and vote against their own colleague, replicating the Republican Senate of 1986, as then Arlen Specter and Charles Mathias blocked Sessions from a federal district court judgeship, a very rare occurrence.

Pressure must be brought on Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Jeff Flake of Arizona to show the same kind of courage now, within the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Otherwise, it is essential that such Senators as Susan Collins of Maine, Rob Portman of Ohio, Lisa Murkowksi of Alaska, John McCain of Arizona, Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania, and Dean Heller of Nevada be appealed to, to reject Sessions.

Alabama Senator Jeff Sessions: A Horrible Successor To The Position Of Attorney General

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Alabama Senator Jeff Sessions may be very cordial and pleasant to his Senate colleagues, but he is clearly a horrible successor to the position of Attorney General of the Unites States.

The only Senator given a cabinet post, Sessions is, unfortunately, the totally wrong choice to enforce civil liberties and civil rights. He is rated one of the most conservative, hard right members of the US Senate.

He was rejected for a Circuit Court Judgeship thirty years ago by a Republican controlled Senate due to his insensitive statements on race, and has no record of tolerance on immigrants, Latinos, Muslims, gays and lesbians, and women.

Sessions would present a very different image of the Justice Department, to favor the powerful and elite over the powerless and middle class and poor in legal and constitutional matters.

He voted against use of medicinal marijuana, and is opposed to stem cell research. He also was highly critical and voted against Barack Obama’s two Supreme Court nominees, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan.

Sessions is like bringing back the “Old South” image of George Wallace, Jesse Helms, and Strom Thurmond, with lack of concern about the growing number of cases of police behavior in controversial cases where people of minority status are often the victim of trigger happy cops, and end up deceased.

Will the Senate again reject one of its own, of the majority party as thirty years ago? That is the question that will be focused on next month when Sessions faces Senate Judiciary Committee hearings.

Republican Split Begins, As Several US Senators Indicate They Are Ready To Fight Trump Cabinet Appointments

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It is now clear that Donald Trump will NOT work to avoid Republican party splits, but instead will do everything he can to stir division within the party, and within America, as shown with his horrendous Cabinet appointments.

Democrats MUST fight tooth and nail against many of the Cabinet appointments, including the nominees for Attorney General (Jeff Sessions); Health and Human Services (Tom Price); Labor (Andrew Puzder); Education (Betsy DeVos); and Environmental Protection Agency (Scott Pruitt).

But there are Republicans unhappy over issues of foreign policy, including close association between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Secretary of State nominee Rex Tillerson: and the proposed nomination of John Bolton to be Deputy Secretary of State, despite his continued belief that the Iraq War was justified, and the opposition of many top Republicans who despise the former United Nations Ambassador by recess appointment under George W. Bush, who could not be confirmed by the US Senate.

Republican Senators, including Marco Rubio, John McCain, Lindsey Graham, Jeff Flake, Rand Paul, Ben Sasse and Susan Collins, and possibly others, could prevent some of these appointees in committee or on the floor, and in league with Democrats, create more Cabinet turmoil and rejections than any modern President, reminding us of the battles some earlier Presidents, including John Tyler and Andrew Johnson, had with Congress over their choices for the Cabinet and the courts.

Also, even Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Speaker of the House Paul Ryan are calling for a full investigation of Russian hacking of the Democratic Party campaign in the recent election, and many are alarmed by Donald Trump seemingly cozying up to Putin, and Trump’s denial that he believes the evidence of such hacking as concluded by the Central Intelligence Agency, undermining respect and support of the President Elect for the intelligence agencies. And Trump’s refusal to get intelligence briefings regularly and to show mistrust of the Intelligence community, which is so important for the national security of the nation, is very worrisome and alarms many in his own party, as well as the nation at large.

The Collapse Of Chris Christie–19 percent In Quinnipiac Poll, Lowest For Any Governor In Past 20 Years Since Such Polling Has Been Done!

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New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, one of the biggest bullies, egotists, and loudmouths in American politics, is on the ropes, and not going to find it easy to get up, and not because of his being tremendously overweight.

His reputation has been destroyed by “Bridgegate”, the blocking of the George Washington Bridge in 2013, which led to the conviction of two of his aides, and by all honest assessment, Christie should be prosecuted and do prison time as well for that crime.

But also, his Presidential campaign collapsed, and although he became the equivalent of a lap dog for Donald Trump, and was given the job of organizing the transition team if Trump won the Presidency, it was taken away from him right after the election in November.

Christie also hoped to be the Vice Presidential nominee, or the Attorney General, or even Republican National Chairman, but Trump has disposed of him, as Trump has done with employees, contractors, fellow businessmen, women, and anyone else who dared to challenge him or displease him in any fashion, as Donald Trump loves to fire people, as on his former TV series, “The Apprentice”.

Also, Christie’s public opinion ranking in the Quinnipiac Poll hit 29 percent a year ago, but now has collapsed further to 19 percent, the all time low for any governor in the Quinnipiac Poll for the past 20 years that the poll has been conducted.

The people of New Jersey want him out as Governor, but will likely have to wait until next year’s gubernatorial election, when he is term limited.

If Christie is lucky, he will leave office and go into obscurity, but he might instead end up on trial and go to federal prison. The latter could not happen to a better person!

Grand Opening Of Democratic Campaign As Tim Kaine Is A Rock Star In Introduction To The American People In Miami Rally!

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Virginia Senator Tim Kaine, the Democratic Vice Presidential nominee, presented himself to the nation yesterday at a political rally in Miami, Florida, with Hillary Clinton, at Florida International University, a heavily Latino school.

Many observers had said that Kaine was a “boring” personality, but he was anything but that. He was a “Rock Star”!

The TV audience and the crowd learned just how dynamic, caring, committed, and principled Tim Kaine is, apparently a secret just unveiled, as he was not well known nationally.

Tim Kaine is a wonderful human being with compassion and concern for social justice, just the opposite of Republican Vice Presidential nominee, Indiana Governor Mike Pence, who has demonstrated an extremist right wing Tea Party view on so many different issues.

The future debate between Kaine and Pence will be very revealing, and will help Hillary Clinton win the Presidency.

And we will be blessed in January with a great successor in the Vice Presidency to follow Joe Biden, who must be recruited for some important position, as we should not lose his talents and expertise.

A good suggestion is to make Biden Secretary of State or Attorney General, both areas of his expertise and knowledge, not only as Vice President for eight years, but also his years as Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and the Senate Judiciary Committee.

The Democrats have, once again, blessed us with outstanding Vice Presidents—Walter Mondale under Jimmy Carter, Al Gore under Bill Clinton, and Joe Biden under Barack Obama, and now they offer us the talents and great judgment and humanity of Tim Kaine.

The Top 30 Presidential Cabinet Officers In American History

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Presidents do not accomplish their goals and policies on their own, but rather depend on the best advice and counsel of their cabinet members.

Since the Presidential Cabinet idea was formulated by George Washington and the first Congress under the Constitution, we have had the creation over time of 15 Cabinet agencies, and some of those who have held Cabinet posts under Presidents have had a dramatic impact on their times.

Below is a list of what the author believes are those 30 Cabinet officers who have had the greatest effect on American history, without ranking them in any order:

Alexander Hamilton, Secretary of the Treasury under George Washington

Albert Gallatin, Secretary of the Treasury under Thomas Jefferson and James Madison

John Quincy Adams, Secretary of State under James Monroe

William Seward, Secretary of State under Abraham Lincoln and Andrew Johnson

Hamilton Fish, Secretary of State under Ulysses S. Grant

Carl Schurz, Secretary of the Interior under Rutherford B. Hayes

John Hay, Secretary of State under William McKinley and Theodore Roosevelt

James Wilson, Secretary of Agriculture under William McKinley, Theodore Roosevelt, and William Howard Taft

Franklin K. Lane, Secretary of the Interior under Woodrow Wilson

Charles Evans Hughes, Secretary of State under Warren G. Harding and Calvin Coolidge

Herbert Hoover, Secretary of Commerce under Warren G. Harding and Calvin Coolidge

Cordell Hull, Secretary of State under Franklin D. Roosevelt

Harold Ickes, Secretary of the Interior under Franklin D. Roosevelt and Harry Truman

Henry A. Wallace, Secretary of Agriculture under Franklin D. Roosevelt

Henry Morgenthau, Jr, Secretary of the Treasury under Franklin D. Roosevelt

Frances Perkins, Secretary of Labor under Franklin D. Roosevelt

George C. Marshall, Secretary of State under Harry Truman

Dean Acheson, Secretary of State under Harry Truman

Stewart Udall, Secretary of the Interior under John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson

Robert F. Kennedy, Attorney General under John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson

W. Willard Wirtz, Secretary of Labor under John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson

Henry Kissinger, Secretary of State under Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford

George Romney, Secretary of Housing and Urban Development under Richard Nixon

Cecil Andrus, Secretary of the Interior under Jimmy Carter

Elizabeth Dole, Secretary of Transportation under Ronald Reagan

Robert Reich, Secretary of Labor under Bill Clinton

Donna Shalala, Secretary of Health and Human Services under Bill Clinton

Bruce Babbitt, Secretary of the Interior under Bill Clinton

Richard Riley, Secretary of Education under Bill Clinton

Robert Gates, Secretary of Defense under George W. Bush and Barack Obama

Note that 25 Presidents and 12 of the 15 Cabinet Departments are included in this list. Nine Secretaries of State; three Secretaries of the Treasury; one Secretary of Defense; one Attorney General; six Secretaries of the Interior; two Secretaries of Agriculture; one Secretary of Commerce; three Secretaries of Labor; one Secretary of Health and Human Services; one Secretary of Housing and Urban Development; one Secretary of Transportation; and one Secretary of Education make up the list.

Also note that President Franklin D. Roosevelt had five cabinet members who made the list; Bill Clinton had four; and Harry Truman, John F. Kennedy, and Lyndon B. Johnson had three each!