Trump selected John Gore, a lawyer who has defended many Republican states that passed restrictions on voting rights as the new deputy assistant attorney general in charge of the Civil Rights Division of the Justice Department.
Gore does boast some expertise in civil-rights litigation — specifically, he has considerable experience defending the Republican Party against allegations that its voting laws violate civil rights.
As BuzzFeed notes, Gore defended controversial redistricting plans pushed by Republicans in Florida, New York, and South Carolina in 2012.
He also defended Florida governor Rick Scott’s attempt to purge his state’s voting rolls of non-citizens, shortly before the 2012 election. A federal court later ruled that Scott’s measure had violated the National Voter Registration Act, as it purged many legal voters from the rolls, most of whom happened to belong to left-leaning constituencies.
Don’t expect vigorous enforcement of civil rights laws in the next four years. Don’t expect any enforcement of civil rights laws, and you won’t be disappointed.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
It just keeps getting worse.
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Sadly, all too true.
Pretty much everyone whom Trump has appointed seems to be determined to either destroy the agency he has appointed them to, or to deform the agency and change it into something totally at odds with what that agency’s original purpose was intended for. 😦
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Littlefingers Donald Trump has been named in at least 169 federal lawsuits (the first one in 1983). He often boasts that he gets even with his enemies and those who will not do what he wants.
It’s obvious that he sees the government he now leads as one of his enemies in need of being crushed and broken. Before he is gone and swept off history’s stage with the rest of the trash, he will do as much damage as he can to the Republic and its Constitution that was a thorn in his thin con-man’s hide.
http://lawnewz.com/high-profile/we-investigated-donald-trump-is-named-in-at-least-169-federal-lawsuits/
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A truely Orwellian cabinet
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Like Robert Shepherd said, they read 1984 and thought it was a how to guide.
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Have heard many cringe worthy Trump comments/actions but this is by far one of the worse. DOJ was the last bastion on voting rights and civil rights. Given no or minimal support to plaintiffs, the future looks bleak in an area that could now give states even more ability to define who can vote.
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Regarding civil rights… and Trump, and fear-mongering.
I woke up to a local news report showing graffiti at a local high school and adjacent ball field. Staff and volunteers were struggling to remove the spray painted words “Trump,” Nazi symbols, and insults. Th taggers wore masks, a fact known because they sprayed the security cameras in addition to the building, sidewalks, and some difficult to clean second story surfaces.
Staff, volunteers, and parents were in place very early in an effort to affirm that the school would still be a safe place for learning.
By late afternoon our Cincinnati Educational Justice Coalition had provided the Board of Education with a prepared statement requesting their support for safe and inclusive schools, letting them know this cause was national and also especially important for them to affirm today.
The Board arranged for their regular meeting to be held in the vandalized school. Some of the news is reported here. http://www.wlwt.com/article/withrow-high-school-vandalized-with-swastikas-racial-slurs
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In light of his choice of Sessions for AG, this is one more coffin nail for civil rights. Drumpf once again shows the world he is a virulent bigot.
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I think it great,. You just can’t make this stuff up . Think of the positives. . If we ever recover our democracy . You might do so with a radical left coalition that makes Sanders look like an FDR liberal .
Remember eventually every authoritarian leader eventually gets overthrown. From the Soviet Union to dictatorships in Latin America. Usually it is a radical departure from what existed. Our friends Hillary and Obama delivered us into this nightmare time to end the 1.5 party duopoly.
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With a Republican Congress, the records and financial conflicts and history of these Deplorable nominees will be ignored.
Shame on a once-great party, the party of Lincoln.
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Do you mean the party of Nixon.
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Today HuffPo had a great piece of an Australian drag queen interviewing Trumpistas at the inauguration. Quote of the piece by Trumpista: “If they can prove that they’re good people, then they’ll be treated like good people.” http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/courtney-act-trump-inaguration_us_58866d38e4b070d8cad4b095?rkrhltk59fxpp0hpvi&
Seems to align perfectly with this nomination. You must prove you are a good citizen and prove you are eligible to vote. None of this subversive “innocent until proven guilty” or “right to vote” nonsense. Any question left that this is a fascist regime by American fascists? No rights, you have to prove your loyalty to the People’s (das Volk) line.
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Yes. This all sucks. All we do is whine. We look so stupid. We need to be smarter than they are. Not happy with redistricting, start strategizing on how to change it. Not happy about voter rules, figure out the loopholes in the system and exploit them. That’s what they did. Let’s learn from our mistakes.
Just saying
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In addition to being manipulative and devious, Republicans have ALEC with billionaire supporters that meet to strategize on how to win elections through any means necessary. Progressives are going to have to be more assertive, vigilant and present highly appealing, electable candidates, if they want to win.
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Yes. Vigilant, persistent, become more educated about process than politics, and willing to engage those closest to them (family, friends, neighbors), even those proverbial “crazy uncles.”
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So let me translate this for you. Progressives have to start being progressive. Watching Trump addressing Unions today on an issue that should have belonged to Democrats was revolting . Here is the dirty little secrete . Not one of the Unions in the room represents factory workers . They were all to my knowledge construction trade unions (not mine) willing to cut a deal for shortsighted economic gains like pipeline construction. There is a long history of this type of betrayal dating back to the turn of the last century . Notice Trumka, the CWA, the USW were not in the room. His trade positions are a red herrings to disguise deregulation and tax cuts .TPP was already dead.
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Here is another perspective on The Resistance that just came to me from a Native American friend who was regular military during Viet Nam.
https://shadowproof.com/2017/01/19/clinton-democrats-no-position-resistance/
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Old news Ellen(LOL) . I already took the Dramamine last week to stop the vomiting. I don’t know if its Trump or those 13 Democrats that is preventing it from working. But rest assured if they needed 14 they would have been there..
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Add to the Republican agenda for this year, a long-yearned for defunding of National Public Radion, The National Endowment for the Arts,and the National Endowment for the Humanities. So far, The National Science Foundation looks safe, but some science-deniers and alt-fact supporters may be working on that. Here are some musings from Americans for the Arts, the lobby for the National Endowment for the Arts.
http://www.playbill.com/article/americans-for-the-arts-respond-to-possible-national-endowment-for-the-arts-cuts
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From one filmmaker to another: Thank you, Greg Palast. You are a warrior and a hero:
http://thebestdemocracymoneycanbuy.com
Mr. Palast has broken the silence on voter suppression. Will any mainstream media outlet be brave enough to publish him????
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YES!!!
You must see the Greg Palast film. Palast is a crime reporter who has made a fascinating film about the Trump vote theft he put it up on Facebook.
Watch the movie that predicted Trump would steal the election…And find out how he did it!
#TrumpStoleIt:
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I remember when – but I didn’t hear a peep from the snowflakes and buttercups of this group.
The politicization of the
Department of Justice the Office of
Legal Counsel has a critical role of
providing sound legal and constitutional
advice both to the Attorney General in
the President and in the last eight
years we have seen a highly politicized
LLC that has given politically
convenient rulings whether on recess
appointments whether on executive
amnesty and early on perhaps that was
started by 2009 Attorney General Holder
overruling LC concerning legislation
trying to grant the District of Columbia
representation in Congress and then it
may well be that that sent a message to
olc that its opinions were to be
political and not legal in nature.
The rule of law should be the guiding principle and I am encouraged because for eight years it was absent. For eight years we’ve seen a Department of Justice consistently disregarding the rule of law:
when Eric Holder’s Department of Justice allowed illegal gun transactions illegally sold guns to Mexican gun traffickers as part of Fast and Furious – guns that were later used to murder Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry
when Eric Holder was found in contempt of Congress for refusing to cooperate with Congress’s
investigation into Fast and Furious
when the IRS illegally targeted United States citizens exercising the First
Amendment views for exercising their
their roles in the political process
when the Department of
Justice refused to fairly investigate
the IRS targeting citizens and indeed
assigned the investigation to a liberal
partisan Democrat who had given over six
thousand dollars to President Obama and
democrats.
Numerous members of this
committee called on the Attorney General
to appoint a special prosecutor to
ensure that justice was done in the IRS
case
when the Department of Justice
used operation chokepoint target legal
businesses because they disagree
politically with those businesses the
when the Obama Justice Department sent
millions of dollars of taxpayer monies
to sanctuary cities that were defying
federal immigration law
when the
Obama administration refused to enforce
federal immigration laws and
unilaterally rewrote those laws the
when the Obama administration released
tens of thousands of criminal illegal
aliens including rapists and murderers
into the general population
when the
Department of Justice signed off on the
Obama administration paying a nearly two billion dollar ransom to Iran contrary
to federal law
when the Obama
administration ignored and rewrote
provision after provision of Obamacare
contrary to the text of the law
when the Obama administration signed off
on illegal recess appointments that the
Supreme Court had to strike down
unanimously
10 when the
Obama administration released five
Guantanamo terrorist without the
required notification of Congress
We need a mature smart experienced person
who understands this government
understands the laws and is principled
and consistent in their application of
the laws In the last eight years
department of justice’s solicitor
general’s office has also and it has
sustained an unprecedented number of
unanimous losses before the United
States Supreme
Court. Indeed President Obama’s Justice
Department won less than half of its
total cases before the Supreme Court
which is the lowest presidential win
rate since Harry Truman – the average
historically the last 50 years has been
about 70-percent numerous of those cases
were unanimous with indeed both Obama
supreme court appointees voting against
the lawless positions of this justice
department including their assertion
that the government has the authority to
supervise and direct the the appointment
of the clergy in the church. Hold the new people to the fire but stop prejudging
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Jscheidell, you make an interesting point. If you don’t like the work of the people who were in office, replace them with people whose life work has been to undermine the goals of the office. Makes sense in la-la land. (Not the movie)
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Just had the same argument with an angry Union member on facebook . If your pissed off about neo liberal Democrats vote for Republicans who invented it.
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Edit you’re
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I agree totally with you that one should vote those individuals out of office – clean the swamp – and I did, and will continue to do so – maybe those goals are not supported by everyone – why did Trump gather the voters he did? Many reasons for each individuals circumstance I guess … change and hope for a business man who never was a politician or ideologue — action – not a vague start like Obama – he says what he is going to do and does it….expectations met – 20,000 on the Dow today it exemplifies how one sector looks at it. Everyone was laughing about his entry and no one even on the right felt he was for real – and sa number of the Hollywood crowd was leaving the US if he won – what is holding them up?
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Trump won because he is a demagogue and a liar. Everything he promised will set our society backwards.
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Trump won because he did a number of thinks Hillary didni. 1 a message which caught many to agree and come out to vote opposite of supporters who knew she was a bad candidate. But one the party “owed” the election to for screwing her over Obama in 09
2 she didnt campaign in a. number of states3 Trump was doing 3 and 4 campaign speeches to her 1 3. He offered the country a different direction on policies of left not more of the same under Hillary and yes she got more votes but she didnt understand that her campaign couldnt stop a couple of weeks or not do news. conferences for many weeks 4 hillary was getting rid of coal jobs well there goes votes and she didnt like hals the nation by calling us deplorables and irredeemables. The name calling didnt help her. Trump out campaigned her his whistle stops were made by his jet trips
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jscheidell,
and that explains why we elected an unhinged demagogue. Thanks.
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Obama created a need for Trump and this win for him was enhanced by Clinton herselfand I thank you and yours for supporting an individual who ultimately devasted the Democatic party via her illegal server and the hacking into the emails and later having Debbie Shultz and her succesor caught in lies and underhandily wiping Sanders off his socialistic endeavors(which I liked😜) The Dems need some youth and a new leader
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I disagree in that his direction and policy views will get this nation moving. Real “hope” is reflected in the stock market jump over 45 days The CEOs and even the heads of the unions praised his directions on epa and regulation and ttp and etc after discussions with him in WH . We gave Obama 8 years and Trump has done more in his short term to get moving and not one break for golf
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Littlefingers won because of a multi-pronged media assault on reality and facts.
Littlefingers had help from Russia, with love from his Golden Showers buddy Putin, from the FBI, and from the Alt-Right lying, misleading, hate frothing-at-the-mouth for fools far right media machine.
But the most help came from racist, and/or biased, and/or ignorant, and/or easy-to-fool voters. In addition, the GOP had to resort to voter suppression.
“Republicans were wildly successful at suppressing voters in 2016
“Three GOP-controlled states demonstrate the effectiveness of disenfranchising the opposition.” …
“Last week, the first election in 50 years without the full protection of the federal Voting Rights Act propelled Donald Trump to the White House.” …
“In the years leading up to 2016, Republican governors and state legislatures implemented new laws restricting when, where, and how people could vote — laws that disproportionately harmed students, the poor, and people of color. In several instances, lawmakers pushing such policies said explicitly that their goal was suppression of voters who favor the Democratic Party.
“Three such states serve as case studies for the effectiveness of these voting restrictions: Wisconsin, North Carolina, and Florida.”
https://thinkprogress.org/2016-a-case-study-in-voter-suppression-258b5f90ddcd#.ngrueev9r
And even then, with all that manipulating, all the lies, all the misinformation, Littlefingers still lost the popular vote by almost 3 million.
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jscheidell, calling the people who frequent this blog “snowflakes” and “buttercups” is not the way to persuade any of us to pay attention to a d@mned thing you have said.
It’s demeaning and insulting.
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Stop plagiarizing Ted Cruz.
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Zorba, it seems it is ok for Lofthouse to refer to Trump as “LittleFingers Trump” or Lubric referring to the President as “Drumpf” and stills calls him a “virulent bigot” – interesting that the name calling is only appropriate for those who suck up your flatulence and concur with those of the left
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Jscheidell,
You are right. Name calling is nasty. Why don’t we refer to him with the same terms used by Romney,Cruz, and Rubio: pathological liar, con man, fraud.
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Remember that Trump had to pay a minimal fine of $25 million in the middle of the campaign to some of the people defrauded by Trump University. Thus, fraud, conman, and liar are facts, not opinions.
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The name calling on this blog i was told earlier negates anyone understanding points to be made doesnt matter who is doing it. If this is an intelligent blog on education all points are important for both sides to understand all views you dont have to agree with them.
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Sorry i alologize for non reference to cruz but the basic point still stands
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