Hearings regarding incoming cabinet appointments commenced on Tuesday, with the questioning of Donald Trump’s attorney general pick, Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions.
The duty of the U.S. attorney general is to uphold and enforce the laws of the nation — a role the NAACP and other civil rights groups argue the senator is not fit to assume.
As Republicans look to tout the senator’s extensive legal track record, Democrats aim to question Sessions’ history of racially insensitive comments, which are believed to have led to his 1986 rejection from a federal judgeship.
The 1986 nomination failure that occurred some three decades ago marks the senator’s last appearance before the Judiciary Committee. Sessions’ nomination failed, in part, due to allegations that he described the NAACP and other civil rights groups as “un-American” and alluded to a white lawyer’s being a disgrace to his race for representing African American clients.
In 1986, Sessions testified that he didn’t remember making these claims. On Tuesday, the senator denied owning these remarks, saying, “I never declared that the NAACP was ‘un-American’ or that a civil rights attorney was a ‘disgrace to his race.'”
He again pressed the matter later on Tuesday, saying allegations that he is in anyway sympathetic to groups like the Ku Klux Klan are “damnably false.”
Sessions has represented Alabama in the U.S. Senate since 1996, and responded to questions about his ability to transition from the legislative to executive branch, saying, “I don’t think I have any lack of ability to separate the roles that I’ve had.”
In regard to separating his political past from his role as attorney general, the senator stated on Tuesday that he would “recuse himself” from any prosecution that might emerge from investigations into Hillary Clinton’s private email server. Sen. Chuck Grassley noted that current Attorney General Loretta Lynch had said she would “defer” to the FBI in regard to the Clinton Foundation email investigation, but never officially recused herself from the inquiry.
When asked by Sen. Richard Blumenthal if he will also recuse himself from votes on other cabinet nominees while he is still serving in the Senate, Sessions said he will indeed recuse himself on the vote for his own confirmation but hasn’t decided on his plans for other nominees.
Leading up to and during Sessions’ opening remarks, audience members reacted audibly with chants, laughs and outbursts — after which they were removed from the hearing room.
When pressed on his past support for waterboarding as a military interrogation tactic, Sessions stood by the fact that there was once a determination that it was “proper,” but is now deemed “absolutely improper and illegal” by Congress.
Sen. Chuck Grassley, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, opened the committee hearing, saying the senator’s record “is a life of public service.”
The newest member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Sen. Dianne Feinstein also gave introductory remarks, in which she repeated her commitment to Sessions that the appointment approval process is going to be “fair and thorough.”
After introducing DREAMer Denisse Rojas as among those present in the audience, Sen. Feinstein recalled Sen. Sessions’ record in voting against the DREAM Act, which he called “a reckless proposal for mass amnesty.” Sessions also voted against attempts at immigration reform in 2006, 2007 and 2013.
In the wake of Trump’s focus throughout his presidential campaign on fixing American immigration policy and building a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, immigration and domestic security are expected to play a major roll in cabinet appointment hearings this week.
Sen. Susan Collins listed Sessions’ state-level record of working with civil rights voter fraud cases during his 12 years as U.S. attorney in the Southern District of Alabama, a post the University of Alabama graduate assumed from 1981 to 1993. She noted the senator’s history of backing African Americans, saying, “These are not the actions of an individual who’s motivated by racial animus.”
A Senate Judiciary Committee questionnaire asked Sessions to list the 10 most significant litigated matters that he personally handled, and four of those listed involved voting rights and desegregation of public schools in Alabama.
In a questionnaire supplement, the senator clarified that his role in these listed cases was to “provide support for the Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division, attorneys. I reviewed, supported and co-signed complaints, motions, and other pleadings and briefs that were filed during my tenure as U.S. attorney. I provided assistance and guidance to the Civil Rights Division attorneys, had an open-door policy with them, and cooperated with them on these cases.”
Sen. Feinstein described a national, post-election climate of alarm in her opening remarks, saying, “There is a deep fear about what a Trump Administration will bring in many places, and this is the context in which we should consider Sessions’ record to be the chief law enforcement in America.”
In Sen. Sessions’ opening statement the cabinet nominee said he an “abiding commitment to pursuing and achieving justice and a record of doing just that.”
Reports emerged from independent ethics lawyers on Tuesday that Sessions failed to disclose his ownership of oil interests on more than 600 acres of Alabama land. While the holdings are reported to produce a small revenue in the range of $4,700 annually, Sen. Richard Blumenthal, Sen. Dianne Feinstein and others have expressed concern over the omission.
http://www.aol.com/article/2017/01/10/amid-protest-jeff-sessions-kicks-off-donald-trump-cabinet-nominee-hearings/21651872/
Obama Gives Iranian Terrorists Nukes and Billions in Gold
The Obama administration has paid Iran more than $10 billion in gold, cash, and other assets since 2013, according to Iranian officials, who disclosed that the White House has been intentionally deflating the total amount paid to the Islamic Republic.
Senior Iranian officials late last week confirmed reports that the total amount of money paid to Iran over the past four years is in excess of $10 billion, a figure that runs counter to official estimates provided by the White House.
The latest disclosure by Iran, which comports with previous claims about the Obama administration obfuscating details about its cash transfers to Iran—including a $1.7 billion cash payment included in a ransom to free Americans—sheds further light on the White House’s back room dealings to bolster Iran’s economy and preserve the Iran nuclear agreement.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Ghasemi confirmed last week a recent report in the Wall Street Journal detailing some $10 billion in cash and assets provided to Iran since 2013, when the administration was engaging in sensitive diplomacy with Tehran aimed at securing the nuclear deal.
Ghasemi disclosed that the $10 billion figure just scratches the surface of the total amount given to Iran by the United States over the past several years.
“I will not speak about the precise amount,” Ghasemi was quoted as saying in Persian language reports independently translated for the Washington Free Beacon.
The $10 billion figure is actually a “stingy” estimate, Ghasemi claimed, adding that a combination of cash, gold, and other assets was sent by Washington to Iran’s Central Bank and subsequently “spent.”
“This report is true but the value was higher,” Ghassemi was quoted as saying.
“After the Geneva conference and the resulting agreement, it was decided that $700 million dollars were to be dispensed per month” by the U.S., according to Ghassemi. “In addition to the cash funds which we received, we [also] received our deliveries in gold, bullion, and other things.”
Regional experts who spoke to the Free Beacon about these disclosures said that the $10 billion figure offered by the Obama administration should be viewed “as a conservative estimate for what Iran was paid to stay at the table and negotiate.”
“Iran does have incentives to overstate this figure,” Behnam Ben Taleblu, a research analyst at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, told the Free Beacon. “But given the recent state-sponsored narrative in Iran about a Western and particularly American failing to offer sanctions relief, this reads much more as fact rather than another instance of disinformation from Tehran.”
It is likely Iran spent a portion of this money to fund its regional terror operations and military enterprise to bolster embattled Syrian President Bashar al Assad, Ben Taleblu said.
“Given the nature of some of this sanctions relief (through the provision of gold and unfrozen assets), this money likely underwrote some of the Islamic Republic’s more destabilizing regional activities,” he explained. “At the macro level, all of this continues to prove one larger point: The way the Iran deal was handled and the provision of sanctions relief during and after the talks that led to the nuclear accord continues to create problems for those interested in defending the integrity of the international financial system.”
One veteran foreign policy insider familiar with the administration’s outreach to Iran told the Free Beacon that the White House has a history of deflating these figures in order to obfuscate details about its contested diplomacy with the Islamic Republic.
“This is how it always happens when the Obama administration secretly sends money to Iran,” said the source, who would only speak on background when discussing the outgoing administration’s strategy. “They deny it until they’re caught, then they lowball it until they’re caught again, then they say it’s old news. In every single case where Iranian officials confirms these transfers while Obama officials denied them, it later turned out the Iranian officials were the ones telling the truth.”
http://freebeacon.com/national-security/iran-u-s-surrendered-10-billion-gold-cash-assets/
Obama Gives The American People The Finger For One Last Vacation
Today, the White House announced President Obama’s Tuesday trip to Chicago for his farewell speech, and the subsequent return to Washington, will be his final flights on AF1 as POTUS.
But he gets one more complimentary trip after January 20th, as press secretary Josh Earnest told the White House press corps Monday afternoon:
“It is obviously tradition for the former president to take one last flight aboard the Presidential aircraft at the conclusion of the Inauguration.”
Here’s President George W. Bush departing Washington on Marine One, on his way to Air Force One at Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland, after Barack Obama was sworn-in as President on Inauguration Day, January 2009:
Obama, too, will get a lift on Marine One to Air Force One on that final day of his presidency, but, unlike the Bush family, who were transported to their ranch in Texas, the Obamas are headed for vacation.
Said Earnest:
“That’s certainly what I would anticipate, yes. The president and first lady will be leaving town shortly after the Inaugural Ceremony. But they will return, of course, to their rented house in Washington, D.C.”
No official word where exactly the former first couple will be headed, but Obama told Oprah Winfrey during an interview last month that he was going to take Michelle Obama on a trip to a less wintry locale.
“We’re going someplace warm. See ya.”
And he’ll get to take Air Force One, a Boeing 747-200B series airplane, a massive, customized plane with more than 4,000 square feet of space and three levels. There are two galleys; one medical “office,” which can also be transformed into an operating room, if necessary; a full conference room; and specialized communications and anti-aircraft weaponry systems. It can also be refueled in mid-air, which means it can stay up as long as need be, in the case of emergency.
In June, Obama told a group of Air Force Academy graduates that he’d really miss flying on his private plane.
He also said the same to Ellen DeGeneres when he went on her show last February:
“I don’t miss flying commercial, taking your shoes off and all that.”
Might want to get used to it; come January 21st, it’s back to life as an everyday citizen.
http://ijr.com/the-political-edit/2017/01/774167-president-obama-to-take-one-last-ride-out-of-town-aboard-air-force-one/
Palestinian Muslim Mows Down Soldiers in Jerusalem With His Truck And Is Killed
Horrifying moment a truck driver mows down soldiers in Jerusalem – and REVERSES over them – killing four and injuring 15 before being shot dead at the wheel, as Israeli PM blames attack on ISIS
- Four Israelis soldiers have been killed and 15 wounded in a terrorist truck attack in Jerusalem on Sunday
- The victims had just disembarked a bus on a sightseeing tour when the truck driver veered into them
- Medics who attended the scene said that three of the victims were women, while all four were in their 20s
- Police confirmed the suspected terrorist had been ‘neutralised’ after his windscreen was covered in bullets
- Israel’s prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said ISIS is to blame but provided no further details about it
- Tour guide Eytan Rund has described how he shot his ‘entire magazine’ at the driver ‘until it was over’
A Palestinian has rammed a truck into a group of Israeli soldiers visiting a popular tourist spot in Jerusalem, killing four and wounding at least 15 people, in a shocking copycat of the Berlin and Nice terror massacres.
Shocking video from the scene shows the driver reversing back over the soldiers, trapping ten under his wheels, during the sickening attack on Sunday.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu alleged the attacker ‘supported’ the Islamic State group, though he provided no details on what led to the finding.
Speaking at the scene of the attack, Mr Netanyahu said the attacker has been identified and ‘according to all the signs he was a supporter of the Islamic State.’
He says there ‘definitely could be a connection’ between Sunday’s attack, which killed four Israeli soldiers, and recent attacks in France and Germany.
The terrorist was shot dead by Israeli forces at the location overlooking holy sites in the Old City such as the Dome of the Rock and providing one of the most spectacular views of Jerusalem.
Chaos broke out at the scene when the truck ploughed through the crowd, with hundreds of soldiers having arrived there as part of a tour for troops about the history of Jerusalem.
‘A lone terrorist drove his truck into a group of soldiers standing on the side of the road,’ police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld told reporters at the scene.
‘They got off the bus, and as they were getting off the bus and getting organised, he took advantage.’
Israel’s military said one of its soldiers fired on the attacker and distributed video of him saying he shot after realising it was not an accident.
Multiple bullet holes could be seen in the windshield of the truck.
Police only confirmed four people were dead, but a medic at the scene said they were soldiers.
Medics also reported that three of the victims were women, while all four were in their 20s.
Netanyahu says Israel has blockaded Jabel Mukaber, the east Jerusalem neighborhood where the truck driver lived, and is planning other measures to prevent similar attacks.
The group of soliders were standing beside the bus on some grass when the truck bounced into the air onto the promenade and drove through the victims without warning.
The killer then stood on his brakes and reversed, trapping some ten of his victims under the truck.
Some of the surviving soldiers managed to jump clear and opened fire, riddling the cab of the truck killing the man.
The soldiers were on a cultural sightseeing tour of the city when they were attacked.
The atmosphere in Israel has also been charged following the manslaughter conviction last week of an Israeli soldier who fatally shot a Palestinian attacker who had already been badly wounded and was lying on the ground.
Eytan Rund, a tour guide who said he shot the attacker Sunday, said soldiers in the area were slow to respond. He said he believed the ‘hesitation’ was connected to last week’s verdict.
Rund said: ‘The truck sent me flying, I was lucky, just a couple of bruises. The right corner of the truck hit me and sent me flying, a couple of flips on the grass, I am quite amazed that I am standing here right now.
‘The second biggest miracle is that my gun wasn’t lost from this.’
He said he realised that attack was intentional after the truck ‘suddenly turned around to probably run over again’.
‘I pulled out the gun I fired one shot at the wheels and I realised this will not do and while he [the attacker] was driving I ran to overtake him from his left side, I stood in front of him and started shooting my entire magazine until it was over.
‘He kept on driving after… I don’t know if my bullets were the one that wounded him and made him stop, but without a doubt he kept on going a few metres after I shot him.’
It is understood soldiers fired at least 18 rounds at the terrorist, who is believed to be from an Arab area of east Jerusalem.
Tour guide Lea Schreiber said: ‘I heard my soldiers screaming and shouting.
‘I saw a truck that went on the side of the road. Soldiers starting shooting. There were orders and screaming everywhere. They told them to hide behind the wall because there was fear of another attack.
‘There was no sense in that reverse. He drove backward to crush more people. That was really clear.’
SIS terrorist Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel drove his 19-tonne truck at revelers celebrating Bastille Day in Nice on July 14 last year killing 86 people and injury 400.
The killer mounted the pavement and steered directly towards the pedestrians walking along the promenade.
Bouhlel drove at speeds of up to 50 miles per hour as he crushed innocent civilians walking back from the sea front following the city’s fireworks display.
Eventually, French police were able to bring the rampaging truck to a halt and shot the Tunisian-born Bouhlel dead.
SIS terrorist Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel drove his 19-tonne truck at revelers celebrating Bastille Day in Nice on July 14 last year killing 86 people and injury 400.
The killer mounted the pavement and steered directly towards the pedestrians walking along the promenade.
Bouhlel drove at speeds of up to 50 miles per hour as he crushed innocent civilians walking back from the sea front following the city’s fireworks display.
Eventually, French police were able to bring the rampaging truck to a halt and shot the Tunisian-born Bouhlel dead.
The Palestinian Hamas movement praised the attack, but did not take responsibility.
Hamas spokesman Abdul-Latif Qanou called it a ‘heroic’ act and encouraged other Palestinians to do the same and ‘escalate the resistance.’
Qanou said Sunday’s attack proves the wave of Palestinian violence has not ended, despite a recent lull. He says ‘it may be quiet, it may linger, but it will never end.’
Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip, is pledged to Israel’s destruction.
Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat called on residents to be wary but carry on with their everyday life.
‘Unfortunately, there is no limit to the cruelty of terrorists who spare no means in killing Jews and disrupting their way of life. Those who incite and support terror must pay a heavy price.’
Police spokeswoman Luba Samri says the truck veered off course Sunday and struck a group of soldiers who had just disembarked from a bus.
Palestinian security officials in the West Bank city of Ramallah said he was a Palestinian from the east Jerusalem neighbourhood of Jabal Mukaber, close to the scene.
An ISIS terror magazine advised its followers to use large trucks when carrying out their planned atrocities, targeting ‘pedestrian congregated streets’ and ‘outdoor markets’.
The magazine, Rumiyah, said trucks, unlike knives, ‘arouse absolutely no doubts’, citing the example of Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel who murdered 86 people in Nice on July 14 and injured 400.
The twisted publication claimed a vehicle ‘presents the opportunity for terror for anyone possessing the ability to drive a vehicle’.
It said: ‘Likewise, it is one of the safest and easiest weapons one could employ against the kuffar, while being from amongst the most lethal methods of attack and the most successful in harvesting large numbers of the kuffar.’
The terror training manual said the ideal vehicle needed to be reasonably quick, heavy and ‘double-wheeled, giving victims less of a chance to escape being crushed by the vehicle’s tyres’.
Importantly, the truck needs ‘a slightly raised chassis and bumper, which allow for the mounting of sidewalks and breaching of barriers, if needed’.
The magazine said any event with a large crowd presents a good possible target.
‘The target should be on a road that offers the ability to accelerate to a high speed, which allows for inflicting maximum damage on those in the vehicle’s path.’
The potential terrorist is told he must ensure that he has pledged his allegiance to ISIS, even by writing a note and leaving it in the vehicle.
Chillingly, the magazine said: ‘It is imperative that one does not exit his vehicle during the attack. Rather he should remain inside, driving over the already harvested kuffar, and continue crushing their remains until it becomes physically impossible to continue by vehicle.’
An Israeli bus driver who witnessed the incident said on the radio the truck ploughed into a group of soldiers, and that they fired on the driver, who reversed direction and ran over them again.
‘They shot him, until they neutralised him,’ said the bus driver, who gave his name only as Moshe.
The attack matched the deadliest in a more than year-long wave of Palestinian shooting, stabbing and vehicle attacks against Israelis. The two gunmen in last June’s attack in Tel Aviv also killed four people, who were eating dinner at a popular tourist spot.
Since September 2015, Palestinian attackers have killed 40 Israelis and two visiting Americans. During that time, 230 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire.
The violence has slowed of late but tensions have been rising since President-elect Donald Trump promised to move the US Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
The Palestinians claim Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem as their capital, and have warned that moving the embassy would cross a ‘red line’ and undermine negotiations over one of the most sensitive issues in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4099046/Truck-attacker-shot-dead-killing-three-wounding-15-pedestrians-Jerusalem.html
Dumbass Anarchists Threaten to Disrupt Trump Inauguration
By Ian Simpson
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Anarchist groups have threatened to shut down Republican Donald Trump’s swearing-in as U.S. president, but police in Washington said on Friday they believe the thousands of security officers assigned to the event will be able to head off any disruption.
Dozens of activist groups plan to protest the Jan. 20 inauguration of the New York real estate developer, whose supporters are counting on him to fulfill a host of controversial campaign promises including building a wall on the Mexican border and deporting millions of illegal immigrants.
Police expect some 900,000 people to flood Washington for the inauguration ceremony, which includes a parade from the U.S. Capitol to the White House along streets thronged with onlookers.
Interim Police Chief Peter Newsham told reporters on Friday that in addition to the more than two dozen activist groups that have sought permits for peaceful demonstrations, Washington police were aware of anarchist groups vowing online to interrupt the proceedings.
“The fact that you have some folks that are indicating on social media that they’re coming to shut down the inauguration events is something that we will be prepared for,” Newsham said. “We’ve experienced that type of thing before in the city and we’ll be able to handle it.”
Asked about the prospect of mass arrests, Newsham said: “That’s one of the things that we have to prepare for, but we don’t anticipate that will be the case.”
Protests are planned before, during and after the inauguration, with the biggest event the Women’s March on Washington on Jan. 21. The National Park Service said Thursday it would start issuing permits for protest sites after civil rights lawyers threatened to sue, saying the agency was quashing dissent.
About 3,000 police officers from outside the District, 5,000 National Guard troops and federal agents will staff buffer crowd-control barriers and bag checks, said Brian Ebert, the head of the Secret Service’s District field office.
Barriers will be in place to prevent any possible truck attack, such as the attacks in Berlin last month and in Nice, France, in July.
A pro-pot lobbying group has vowed to distribute 4,200 joints and light up near the inaugural site to show support for legalization of marijuana nationwide. Marijuana is legal in the District of Columbia but can only be consumed in private.
Asked if police would bust smokers, Mayor Muriel Bowser said, “That wouldn’t be our first priority.”
https://www.yahoo.com/news/anarchists-threaten-disrupt-trump-inauguration-police-ready-200453050.html
Czech Government Tells Its Citizens To Shoot The Terrorist
A couple of months ago, Czech President Milos Zeman made an unusual request: He urged citizens to arm themselves against a possible “super-Holocaust” carried out by Muslim terrorists.
Never mind that there are fewer than 4,000 Muslims in this country of 10 million people – gun purchases spiked. One shop owner in East Bohemia, a region in the northern center of the Czech Republic, told a local paper that people were scared of a “wave of Islamists.”
Now the country’s interior ministry is pushing a constitutional change that would let citizens use guns against terrorists. Proponents say this could save lives if an attack occurs and police are delayed or unable to make their way to the scene. To become law, Parliament must approve the proposal; they’ll vote in the coming months.
The Czech Republic already has some of the most lenient gun policies in Europe. It’s home to about 800,000 registered firearms and 300,000 people with gun licenses. Obtaining a weapon is relatively easy: Residents must be 21, pass a gun knowledge check and have no criminal record. By law, Czechs can use their weapons to protect their property or when in danger, although they need to prove they faced a real threat.
This puts the country at odds with much of Europe, which has long supported much more stringent gun-control measures. In the wake of the 2015 terror attacks in Paris, France pushed the European Union to enact even tougher policies. The European Commission’s initial proposal called for a complete ban on the sale of weapons like Kalashnikovs or AR-15s that are intended primarily for military use. Ammunition magazines would be limited to 20 rounds or less.
The Czech Republic came out hard against the directive. Officials warned – somewhat ominously – that the measure would limit the country’s ability to build “an internal security system” and make it nearly impossible to train army reservists. And a total ban on military-style rifles that can fire large numbers of rounds would make illegal thousands of weapons already owned by Czech citizens, potentially creating a black market for terrorists to exploit. Finland and Germany offered their own reservations; Europe’s pro-gun groups also mobilized against the bill with the support of politicians on the extreme right.
After months of contentious negotiations, the EU passed a compromise last month; the Council of Ministers will confirm the measure this spring. All member states will have 15 months to comply with the new gun restrictions. The final measure bans the sale of most military-style rifles and requires all potential buyers to go through a psychological check before they can buy a weapon. If someone fails a check in one E.U. state, that information will be shared in an international database so that the person can’t procure a gun somewhere else. Online sales are also severely curtailed. The Czech Republic was the only country to oppose the directive for being too strict. Luxembourg also voted against the measure, but on the grounds that it was too weak.
That means that regardless of how the Czech parliament votes on the terrorist-hunting measure, gun laws in the Czech Republic are going to get stricter. All gun purchasers will be required to pass the psychological checks, though it’s not yet clear if gun owners will have to turn in newly illegal weapons. That ambiguity has led one Czech newspaper to suggest that the Interior Ministry’s latest move is much more about political safety than safety from terrorism.
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/nation-world/world/article125173034.html