The decision is not final but this guy appears to have better credentials than Sessions or the 'acting' AG.

Former Atty. Gen. William Barr is President Trump’s leading candidate to be nominated to lead the Justice Department — a choice that could be made in coming days as the agency presses forward with a probe of Russian interference in the 2016 election, according to multiple people familiar with the deliberations.

Barr, 68, a well-respected Republican lawyer who served as attorney general from 1991 to 1993 under President George H.W. Bush, has emerged as a favorite candidate of a number of Trump administration officials, including senior lawyers in the White House Counsel’s Office, these people said. Two people familiar with the discussions said the president has told advisors in recent days that he plans to nominate Barr.

One person familiar with the discussions cautioned that while Barr is the leading candidate, the decision is not final and the president could decide to pick someone else.

LA Times

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Northern California Coast

Yeah, but will he DO it ? Trump cabinet jobs are the kiss of death for a future career.

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cbelt3
Yeah, but will he DO it ? Trump cabinet jobs are the kiss of death for a future career.

He’s 68 and rich enough to not care about his future career as long as it doesn’t include serving 3 to 5 years in a federal penitentiary.

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Saint Cloud, Minnesota, where the weather is wonderful even when it isn't.

Dude is 68. How much longer does he want to defend white America from scary Spanish-speakers from down south (in the hemisphere)? He's already promoted the invasion of Panama, cracked down on some ruffian Cuban prisoners, and promised to abrogate a woman's right to choose as soon as he's able. That last one isn't Latinx-specific - just general misogyny.

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rj
AKA
Vreemac, Moth of the Future

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rjmacs
Dude is 68. How much longer does he want to defend white America from scary Spanish-speakers from down south (in the hemisphere)? He's already promoted the invasion of Panama, cracked down on some ruffian Cuban prisoners, and promised to abrogate a woman's right to choose as soon as he's able. That last one isn't Latinx-specific - just general misogyny.

A good nickname for the president to call him: Attorney General Misogyny.

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Saint Cloud, Minnesota, where the weather is wonderful even when it isn't.

It seemed likely to me that Trump would nominate someone with a basket of such type of beliefs. There will be so many people that will suffer unnecessarily, just like under Sessions. That's the most important thing about this.

But I do also wonder about whether Barr will stay well within the bounds of the highest DOJ ethical expectations (or at least close to standard ethical expectations). That's also a very important thing.

"During 1989, at the beginning of his administration, President George H. W. Bush appointed Barr to the U.S. Department of Justice as Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Legal Counsel, an office which functions as the legal advisor for the President and executive agencies. Barr was known as a strong defender of Presidential power..."

[www.washingtonpost.com]

“President Trump insisted when he made Matthew G. Whitaker his acting attorney general that critical of special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s probe.

But now it might be happening again.

Former attorney general to be the nominee for the full-time AG job, The Washington Post is reporting. Picking former president George H.W. Bush’s AG would seem a pretty safe and confirmable pick, on its surface.

But , Barr’s past commentary has played down the severity of the allegations against Trump — on both the collusion and obstruction-of-justice fronts — and he has also suggested the Clintons should be in more trouble.

In fact, in November 2017, Barr that there was actually more basis to investigate Hillary Clinton for the Uranium One deal than there is to investigate Trump for potential collusion with Russia. He went so far as to say the Justice Department was wrong to give Clinton a pass.

"To the extent it is not pursuing these matters, the department is abdicating its responsibility,” he said.

Earlier that same month, Barr also explicitly called for more investigation of the Clintons, telling The Washington Post’s Philip Rucker and Matt Zapotosky, “I don’t think all this stuff about throwing [Clinton] in jail or jumping to the conclusion that she should be prosecuted is appropriate.” Then he added: “But I do think that there are things that should be investigated that haven’t been investigated.”

In both stories, Barr declined to judge Trump harshly for calling for specific investigations — even ones affecting him and his political opponents, apparently. Barr suggested that was okay for a president as long as the decision was made with respect to the actual evidence at hand and not for political reasons.

But Barr apparently thinks those conditions have been met on the topic Trump had strongly tried and failed to get then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions to investigate — the Clintons — and that has to be music to Trump’s ears.

Barr has also given Trump a complete pass on one of the central events in the Mueller probe: Trump’s firing of FBI Director James B. Comey. In a Washington Post op-ed, Barr said Trump not only did nothing wrong, but that he actually “made the right call”:

It is telling that none of the president’s critics are challenging the decision on the merits. None argue that Comey’s performance warranted keeping him on as director. Instead, they are attacking the president’s motives, claiming the president acted to neuter the investigation into Russia’s role in the election.

The notion that the integrity of this investigation depends on Comey’s presence just does not hold water. Contrary to the critics’ talking points, Comey was not “in charge” of the investigation.

At other points, Barr has also supported Trump’s firing of acting attorney general Sally Yates (which many legal experts agree with), and like Trump he has criticized the political donations of the prosecutors on Mueller’s team.

"In my view, prosecutors who make political contributions are identifying fairly strongly with a political party,” Barr said. “I would have liked to see him have more balance on this group.”

Barr also has a relevant history with special counsels and has appointed some himself. But when Bush in 1992 decided to pardon several figures in the Iran-contra scandal, he took the legs out from beneath the independent prosecutor investigating the matter. And one of the people Bush consulted was Barr. At the time, the prosecutor, Lawrence Walsh, called it “a sort of Saturday night massacre” — a reference to high-profile Nixon firings during the thick of the Watergate scandal.

It would seem quite the coincidence that Trump appears to be settling on yet another attorney general who might be prepared to take his side on these very personal and political investigative issues in a way Sessions wouldn’t. It’s also notable that Barr seems to believe it isn’t so necessary to erect a wall between the presidency and the nation’s top law enforcement official — a wall that Trump has long desired to demolish.”

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Saint Cloud, Minnesota, where the weather is wonderful even when it isn't.

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rjmacs
That last one isn't Latinx-specific - just general misogyny.

"Latinx" is Cultural Imperialism! Keep your Gender Nuetralism away from my Español, ¡Gringo!

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San Antonio, TX (in the old city)


"All that is required for evil to prevail is for good men to do nothing." - Edmund Burke
“Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented." - Eli Weisel

"To announce that there must be no criticism of the President, or that we are to stand by the President, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public." - Theodore Roosevelt (1918)

"I don’t want to see religious bigotry in any form. It would disturb me if there was a wedding between the religious fundamentalists and the political right. The hard right has no interest in religion except to manipulate it." - Billy Graham 1981

"Politics and governing demand compromise. But these Christians believe they are acting in the name of God, so they can't and won't compromise" - Barry Goldwater

I don't know about this Barr. He doesn't seem pro-Constitution to me. Some ideas I can't agree with.

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Rolando

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rjmacs
That last one isn't Latinx-specific - just general misogyny.

"Latinx" is Cultural Imperialism! Keep your Gender Nuetralism away from my Español, ¡Gringo!

I learned the term "Latinx" from a Latina. So I guess take it up with her.

Edit: I also know several people who come from Spanish and Portuguese-speaking communities in the western hemisphere who do not identify as male or female, and do not prefer the term Latino or Latina to describe them.

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rj
AKA
Vreemac, Moth of the Future




Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/07/2018 08:13AM by rjmacs.

Couldn't sleep last night so I read the transcript of Bill Barr's interview with the Presidential Oral Histories project from UVA, from April 2001.

It's fascinating if you want to hear, from his own lips, who this guy really is and what he believes, and also good inside scoop on 41's administration.

I couldn't understand why Barr would even consider working for the chaotic train wreck that is the current White House, but after I heard more detail about his beliefs and actions as AG under 41- it's a perfect match.

[millercenter.org]

Some takeaways:

As a conservative he is very partisan in his views.

Dismantled the independent counsel system as AG, more interested in preserving the power of the presidency, which he believes was weakened by Watergate.

Thinks the media is very biased against Republicans. He's saying this ten years after the launch of Fox News and the ascent of conservative talk radio.

Barr helped select and then fiercely defended Dan Quayle as VP.

He went after Anita Hill to defend Thomas, who he thought was a great choice for SCOTUS. Didn't think Souter was a good choice though.

Refers to a female US attorney (rare at that time) as "woman US attorney" and scapegoated at least one woman in that position; he's pretty open about it.

He's a staunch defender of the war on drugs, thought attacking the suppliers in South America would work, had no interest in reducing the "demand" side in the US. Resented the "drug czar" Bill Bennett because he thought of himself as the "drug czar."

He LOVES the idea of using the Army against American citizens when there is "unrest."

He's a big fan of mandatory sentencing and apparently mass incarceration.

He thinks border control is one of the country's biggest problems and makes overtly racist statements about that.

Thinks deregulation is the answer to everything in the economy.

Anti-choice, admired 41 for sticking by the anti-choice crowd.

After the Rodney King riots in LA he thought that was a perfect opportunity to go in and round up the protesters because "we don't put up with that" but was not allowed to do so. Apparently this still bothered him 10 years later.

He thinks 41 lost to Clinton because of media bias against Republicans, and because he wouldn't lower himself to pander to people the way he says Clinton did. Makes lewd comments about Clinton.

Uses a lot of profanity especially when talking about Congress and Democrats and Clinton.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/07/2018 11:04AM by Lemon Drop.

Thanks, LD. It's weird to be in a position these days of thanking someone for doing something that nauseates you.

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rj
AKA
Vreemac, Moth of the Future




Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/07/2018 11:00AM by rjmacs.

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rjmacs
Thanks, LD. It's weird to be in a position these days of thanking someone for doing something that nauseates you.

You're welcome, I get that!
I thought this material would put me to sleep but dammit it was interesting! In a bad way.

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Lemon Drop

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rjmacs
Thanks, LD. It's weird to be in a position these days of thanking someone for doing something that nauseates you.

You're welcome, I get that!
I thought this material would put me to sleep but dammit it was interesting! In a bad way.

Yes, thanks! Reading that would have made it a sleepless night for me.

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Saint Cloud, Minnesota, where the weather is wonderful even when it isn't.

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Rolando

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rjmacs
That last one isn't Latinx-specific - just general misogyny.

"Latinx" is Cultural Imperialism! Keep your Gender Nuetralism away from my Español, ¡Gringo!

While I didn't have quite the same reaction, as a former language student my immediate thoughts were about this term's impact on the language and can respect the sentiment.

Wiki

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Wiki
The term Latinx has been the subject of controversy...

[Huge Snip]

...Another, more recent, variant is Latine, where the vowel -e is taken as a "neutral" alternative to either -a or -o. Proponents of Latine say it sounds more natural and grammatical to native Spanish speakers.[21]

Full disclosure, I am a descriptive grammarian.

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Picasso in his studio after the liberation of Paris, taken by my friend and mentor.

I'm not fully serious on this, but it does make me cringe.

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San Antonio, TX (in the old city)


"All that is required for evil to prevail is for good men to do nothing." - Edmund Burke
“Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented." - Eli Weisel

"To announce that there must be no criticism of the President, or that we are to stand by the President, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public." - Theodore Roosevelt (1918)

"I don’t want to see religious bigotry in any form. It would disturb me if there was a wedding between the religious fundamentalists and the political right. The hard right has no interest in religion except to manipulate it." - Billy Graham 1981

"Politics and governing demand compromise. But these Christians believe they are acting in the name of God, so they can't and won't compromise" - Barry Goldwater

Quote
Rolando
I'm not fully serious on this, but it does make me cringe.

In fairness, I also do a lot of work in the trans community and I know lots of trans folk who are Spanish-speakers. Some of these people do not exclusively identify as 'Latino' or 'Latina,' and prefer the term Latinx as a generic. This is not a monolith, however - there are other folks in the Latina/o/x community who prefer gendered modifiers. It's a site of some cultural contestation, but I'll say that what matters most is showing respect and dignity, not having perfect words coming out of your mouth.

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rj
AKA
Vreemac, Moth of the Future