Marsha Gessen and Sarah Kenzior: In Defense of Truth
Tag: trump
Hey so remember those lawyers we all saw at the airports when Trump’s travel ban first came down? The ones that were working there for free to help represent the people being detained? Well one of the first non-profit groups that came down to the airport is in trouble. The Northwest Immigrant Rights Project (NWIRP) has been issued a “cease and desist” letter by Jeff Sessions’ Department of Justice.
The DOJ is threatening disciplinary action if this non-profit continues to help immigrants, refugees, and asylum seekers. Some background information: One has NO right to counsel in immigration proceedings. That means you can be removed from your home, jailed, deported, etc. without ever seeing a lawyer. It’s 100% legal and totally common, so these lawyers work for free to ensure millions get the representation they deserve. The NWIRP represents children and refugees in immigration and asylum proceedings for free and they are one of thousands around the country.
Here’s an explanation to why the DOJ is issuing this cease and desist:
“The accusation is that because NWIRP provides advice and assistance to people in immigration proceedings without committing to full representation, it is violating the rules.
It’s a Kafkaesque system: The government won’t provide immigrant defendants with legal representation, and they are allowed to get help for free only if they find a lawyer who will commit up-front to a case that will stretch on for years. Otherwise, they’re not allowed to have any help at all, are required to submit complex legal documents with no assistance, and lawyers who try to help them will be sanctioned.
Precisely because this would be a cruel and absurd result, NWIRP and its peers around the country have had longstanding agreements with immigration officials that permit them to run asylum-assistance programs without committing to permanent representation. Attacking them now is a shockingly cynical move, akin to sanctioning an emergency-room doctor for sewing up a bleeding patient without first promising to be their doctor for life.
NWIRP doesn’t know why it was singled out. But we do know that NWIRP has been at the forefront of resisting Trump’s travel ban. Its staff and volunteer lawyers were at SeaTac airport immediately after the White House launched the first Muslim ban, and in March it sued to block the second Muslim ban.
And NWIRP isn’t alone; its nonprofit counterparts did the same at airports around the country, leveraging law-school clinics and large-firm lawyers working pro bono. The DoJ’s suspiciously timed cease and desist letter sends a chilling message to exactly these groups, and to volunteer attorneys. This attack by the government on a legal services-provider for immigrants could dissuade law firms from letting their lawyers volunteer for these cases, scaring those firms away by convincing them that immigration-related projects are too risky pro-bono projects.”
The NWIRP has successfully been granted a restraining order, so right now they are still able to help immigrants who need legal advice but their work is at risk. They are now filing a lawsuit to defend itself from the move, the move that will set precedent to other non-profits who do similar work.
If you would like to support them you can join them as a volunteer or donate.
You can also follow regular updates on what they’re doing and the case against the DOJ on their Facebook and Twitter.
drst:
There’s one part of the Trump fiasco that I just don’t get at all. Why is there this blind loyalty to Michael Flynn? Does anyone have any idea?
So the most innocent version I’ve seen is that while he might screw people he works with often he sometimes develops a weird loyalty especially in a case where he wasn’t entirely convinced he should have fired them in the first place.
The least innocent version involves a quid pro quo from the Russians during the election because Flynn is their man since there is apparently signals intelligence of Russian officers bragging about Flynn’s ability to influence Trump.
I suppose either scenario makes sense, if you flip the world inside out and upside down.
I’ve been wondering this myself. In Drumpf’s case, I suspect he feels like he was forced to fire Flynn, and as we all know, only the Yam himself is allowed to decide to fire people (ala Comey). Allowing the fake news people to push him into firing someone is being a loser.
That or Flynn knows where a body/bodies are literally buried. Along with the tax returns.
Oh… he really seems to idealize power and the military. Flynn was one of “the generals.” And not only is Flynn one of “the generals” but Flynn believes in and reinforces many things that Trump believes. So, Trump could see himself reflected in someone who had a position that he idealizes.
aka Killing Teachers.
Welp, I’m fucked…and not in a good way.
Dems raise concern about possible links between DeVos and student debt collection agency
Washington Post January 17, 2017
Education Secretary nominee Betsy DeVos and her husband have extensive financial holdings through their private investment and management firm, RDV Corporation. The firm, where DeVos once served as director, has financed real estate acquisitions, telecom companies and online charter schools, among other things. But one particular deal is creating concern on Capitol Hill.
RDV is affiliated with LMF WF Portfolio, a limited liability corporation listed in regulatory filings as one of several firms involved in a $147 million loan to Performant Financial Corp., a debt collection agency in business with the Education Department.
Twenty-three percent of Performant’s revenue is directly tied to its dealings with the Education Department, which had 14 contracts worth more than $20 million with the company in fiscal 2016, according to regulatory filings and government documents. The company lost out on a recent contract bid with the department and is now protesting the decision with the Government Accountability Office, which can dismiss the dispute if the department reverses course.
If confirmed as secretary, DeVos would be in a position to influence the award of debt collection, servicing and recovery contracts, in addition to the oversight and monitoring of the contracts. She would also have the authority to revise payments and fees to contractors for rehabilitating past-due debt — all of which has Senate Democrats concerned.
Trump revealed highly classified information to Russian foreign minister and ambassador
President Trump revealed highly classified information to the Russian foreign minister and ambassador in a White House meeting last week, according to current and former U.S. officials, who said Trump’s disclosures jeopardized a critical source of intelligence on the Islamic State.
The information the president relayed had been provided by a U.S. partner through an intelligence-sharing arrangement considered so sensitive that details have been withheld from allies and tightly restricted even within the U.S. government, officials said.
The partner had not given the United States permission to share the material with Russia, and officials said Trump’s decision to do so endangers cooperation from an ally that has access to the inner workings of the Islamic State. After Trump’s meeting, senior White House officials took steps to contain the damage, placing calls to the CIA and the National Security Agency. …
As president, Trump has broad authority to declassify government secrets, making it unlikely that his disclosures broke the law. ….
In his meeting with Lavrov, Trump seemed to be boasting about his inside knowledge of the looming threat. “I get great intel. I have people brief me on great intel every day,” the president said, according to an official with knowledge of the exchange.
Trump went on to discuss aspects of the threat that the United States learned only through the espionage capabilities of a key partner. ….
U.S. officials said that the National Security Council continues to prepare multi-page briefings for Trump to guide him through conversations with foreign leaders, but that he has insisted that the guidance be distilled to a single page of bullet points — and often ignores those.
“He seems to get in the room or on the phone and just goes with it, and that has big downsides,” the second former official said. “Does he understand what’s classified and what’s not? That’s what worries me.”
Trump revealed highly classified information to Russian foreign minister and ambassador
Trump Lawyers Say He Had No Russian Income or Debt, With Some Exceptions
Trump’s lawyers who wrote the recent letter exonerating him from financial ties with Russia are from the firm Morgan Lewis & Bockius, who were named Russia Law Firm of the Year in 2016.
Snopes says that this assertion is “partially true.” Morgan Lewis has multiple offices throughout the world (”The firm has 29 offices in North America, Europe, Asia, and the Middle East.”), with one office in Russia that apparently did particularly well.
For starters, the award applied only to the Moscow office of a U.S.-based firm that has dozens of offices in the U.S. and around the world. Additionally, this award was not handed out by any Russian governmental or business organization; it was bestowed by Chambers and Partners, a group that reviews law firms around the globe.
Chambers and Partners recognized the firm for their work in energy, telecom, media, tech, mergers and acquisitions, international investment… All things that would make the firm a very appropriate one for Trump to use, but also means that the Russia office would have been dealing with very high level Russian oligarchs and other Putin associates.
Trump Lawyers Say He Had No Russian Income or Debt, With Some Exceptions
President Trump After Hours
The waiters know well Trump’s personal preferences. As he settles down, they bring him a Diet Coke, while the rest of us are served water, with the Vice President sitting at one end of the table. With the salad course, Trump is served what appears to be Thousand Island dressing instead of the creamy vinaigrette for his guests. When the chicken arrives, he is the only one given an extra dish of sauce. At the dessert course, he gets two scoops of vanilla ice cream with his chocolate cream pie, instead of the single scoop for everyone else. The tastes of Pence are also tended to. Instead of the pie, he gets a fruit plate.
this is not the onion
Wow. Just… wow. This reads like a horror story.
Hearseeno 