WTF Community

Day 642

General Discussion
#1

Updated 10/23/2018 1:55 PM PDT

1/ Trump called the Saudi operation to kill Jamal Khashoggi one of "worst cover-ups in the history of cover-ups," saying "they had a very bad original concept." He added: Somebody really messed up." Saudi Arabia claimed that Khashoggi died in a fistfight at the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul on Oct. 2. (New York Times / Associated Press / The Hill)

This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/2018/10/23/day-642/
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#2

Race to influence the courts, bypassing procedure and to go directly to Supreme Court/ SCOTUS. Seems like a huge travesty…and what’s known as an abuse of power by grabbing power.

To a far greater degree than its predecessors, the Trump administration has sought to bypass adverse lower-court rulings on some of its signature issues by seeking extraordinary relief from a refortified conservative Supreme Court.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Solicitor General Noel J. Francisco have repeatedly gone outside the usual appellate process to get issues such as the travel ban, immigration and greater authority for top officials before the justices.

They were rewarded Monday night when the court, in an unsigned opinion, put a hold on a planned deposition of Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross. Ross had been ordered to submit to questioning because of shifting versions he has given about why he wanted to add a question to the 2020 Census regarding a respondent’s citizenship.

…

Besides the controversy over Ross, Department of Justice lawyers have petitioned the court to lift a stay on President Trump’s travel ban while considering its merits, asked the justices to limit discovery in trials in lower courts involving immigrants, and succeeded at least temporarily in stopping a trial brought by young people over climate change.

The administration recently told a federal appeals court it would go directly to the Supreme Court if the judges did not rule by the end of the month on a case challenging the administration’s position on Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA).

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/courts_law/trump-officials-aggressively-bypass-appeals-process-to-get-issues-before-conservative-supreme-court/2018/10/23/ce38b9da-d612-11e8-83a2-d1c3da28d6b6_story.html?utm_term=.88ac9d22c0fa

3 Likes
#3

Continue as usual…

1 Like
#4

You wonder … if seeing a portrait in the Dept of VA’s offices of a KKK grand wizard was a mistake, oversight or just plain ignorance. But then again, maybe it was not.
It is an important recalibration - taking it down…and not just pc, IMHO.

A senior official at the Department of Veterans Affairs said he removed a portrait of the Ku Klux Klan’s first grand wizard from his Washington, D.C., office after offended employees began signing a petition to present to VA Secretary Robert Wilkie.

David J. Thomas Sr. is deputy executive director of VA’s Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization, which certifies veteran-owned businesses seeking government contracts. His senior staff is mostly African American.

Thomas said he took down the painting Monday after a Washington Post reporter explained that its subject, Nathan Bedford Forrest, was a Confederate general and slave trader who became the KKK’s first figure­head in 1868. He professed to be unaware of Forrest’s affiliation with the hate group, which formed after the Civil War to maintain white control over newly freed blacks through violence and intimidation.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/i-thought-it-was-very-nice-va-official-showcased-portrait-of-kkks-first-grand-wizard/2018/10/23/f49434ca-d6c0-11e8-aeb7-ddcad4a0a54e_story.html?utm_term=.f1a2a8bc6774

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#5

Looking at Washington Post’s David Fahrenhold’s twitter feed. The past couple of days he’s coming up with a few newsworthy financial details about T.

He is the Washington Post investigative journalist who found all the fake charitable ‘gifts’ (non-gifts) that the Trump Foundation had been giving and won a Pulitzer prize for his work.

And after his father’s death, and in between the launch of the Apprentice, a lot of cash comes in… He ties this to the NYT piece NYT Explosive findings on Trump’s income, Reaps Riches, avoids taxes etc.

And as Fahrenthold says, T’s income increases 30x between 2001- 2004.

@fahrenthold

Wow. Compare @realdonaldtrump’s estimate of his cash in ‘01 (h/t @derekkravitz) and in ‘04. Increased 30X.

These documents come from a lawsuit between T and Tim O’Brien - author who T sued.

See source of documents FInancial documents filed in lawsuit

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#6

This has been disputed…from Saudi journalist

#7

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