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ALABAMA SENATOR JEFF Sessions, who once missed out on a federal judge’s position after allegations that he was racist, is set to be Donald Trump’s attorney general according to reports from the US.
Sessions was the first senator to back Trump during the campaign and is an architect of Trump’s immigration, counter terrorism and trade policies.
However, the last time he had to face a Senate confirmation hearing 30 years ago, he was not confirmed and withdrew from consideration.
Nominated for a federal judgeship in 1986, Sessions was dogged by racist comments he was accused of making while serving as US attorney in Alabama. He was said to have called a black assistant US attorney “boy” and the NAACP “un-American” and “communist-inspired.”
“Jeff Sessions is a throwback to a shameful era, which I know both black and white Americans thought was in our past,” the late Massachusetts Democrat, Senator Edward Kennedy said during the 1986 confirmation hearing.
During the hearing, a former assistant US attorney, Thomas Figures, who is black, said Sessions referred to him as “boy,” and told him to be careful what he said to “white folks.” Sessions said he never called Figures “boy,” but Kennedy produced a letter from an organisation of black lawyers that said Figures made the allegation about Sessions to the organisation’s investigators at least twice.
Sessions was also criticised for joking in the presence of an attorney with the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division that the Ku Klux Klan was “OK” until he learned they smoked marijuana. During his confirmation hearing, he said his comment about the Klan “was a silly comment, I guess you might say, that I made.”
Sessions told the committee he made the joke while his office was investigating the 1981 murder of Michael Donald, a black man who was kidnapped, beaten and killed by two Klansmen who slit his throat and then hanged his body in a tree in Mobile, Alabama. The two men were later arrested and convicted.
Sessions said he never meant the joke to suggest he supported the Klan. He said the joke was intended to convey that he thought it was “bizarre” that Klansmen had smoked marijuana after one of their meetings.
Sessions would face confirmation as a member of the chamber. Senators often are deferential to current and former members who are nominated for Cabinet posts. The last time the Senate rejected one of its own was in 1989 when then-Sen. John G Tower, a Texas Republican, could not get confirmed as President George HW Bush’s defense secretary amid reports of heavy drinking and womanising.
Elsewhere, Trump has tapped Mike Pompeo to be head of the CIA and former military intelligence chief Michael Flynn as national security adviser.
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It says man in headline, turns out he is a senator, would be more accurate to include that in the headline.
But it doesn’t quite fit the narrative that the journal want to feed you
@Maurice Bourke:the headline is correct, he was an attorney at the time and not a senator till later in life.
Did it turn out that he wasn’t a man? I would expect given the current climate, that this would be bigger news.
@Cen Sored: So true. All they did was look at the first few paragraphs of the guys Wikipedia page and focussed on how in 1986, his leanings were called backward for the time…
They could have scrolled down the page to see how he is a “pro-life”, anti gay marriage, has said having gay tendencies made a person unqualified to sit on the Supreme Court and has voted in favour of opening oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife refuge.
How much accuracy would you prefer to see?
The right side turning up on the Journal comment section to attack “liberals” and “SJWs” get embarrassingly defensive when they see something bad written about someone from the right… But here you have it, there’s so many ways to report this man, sorry, senator’s likely selection, none of them good in my eyes and we get here to see you lot whining about mean reporting. It’s so biased… using quotes and things people have done to define them like this….
Cue @MackPilon to defend Sessions and call you a weepie, greenie, leftie libtard snowflake or whatever his latest insult is
Trump won, he gets to pick who he likes, deal with it losers.
Apparently neither trump or sessions have confirmed if this is is the case. Whether it’s been offered and accepted. Seems it’s coming from sources.
Actually Obama gets to pick the currently vacant seat, it’s just that the republicans have been blocking his chosen candidate.
That’s how things work in dictatorships. In a democracy though, picking who you want without considering the reaction can have dire consequences for a leader. Well, let’s hope so anyway
@David Dickenson:
Then why not attorney? Also he is appointed these days, so why not use his current title?
I can’t help but enjoy the irony of people getting worked up over the senator in question being called a ‘man’, who in turn referred to a black attorney as ‘boy’.
Graham are you mixing up the vacant Supreme Court position with the attorney general? Political hack Loretta Lynch is the current AG, there is no vacancy.
Actually. Yes. Though you can’t deny there is a spectacular symmetry between the two situations.
I was suggesting a more accurate headline. You’re reading too much into it.
In other news. It has been alledged Donald Trump was responsible for the Tokyo sink hole.
Mention of racists makes me wonder what Jeremiah Wright.and Bill Ayers will do for a crust now that Obama is redundant ?
@MackPilon: Retire I would imagine, being 75 and 71 years of age respectively.
@MackPilon: What do you make of this Pompeo lad that Trump is making Director of the CIA ? This Pompeo lad has called for Edward Snowden to get the Death Penalty,did you know about this?
@littleone..integrity
I guess Welsh folk won’t be acceptable to the progressive snowflakes now will they Boyo ?
@Ciaran Ó Fallúin: Honestly, I would also take the view that the journalism here is too soft on him. I would have no issue with labeling Sessions a White Supremacist, because he has often made statements that simply could not be interpreted in any other way.
In fact, the man is not only a racist, he is an extremist racist with an ultra-conservative, white power agenda. This is not a matter of opinion, his own previous statements speak entirely for themselves.
He called someone “boy”, and “communist inspired” 30 years? That’s it. That’s all it takes for liberals to condemn someone’s career for a lifetime. This is exactly the kind of liberal fascism which led to a Trump presidency. People have had enough of walking of eggshells around liberals and the hard left.
So calling a black attorney “boy” and making jokes about KKK murders 30 years ago isn’t racist, but defending a rapist because you are their court appointed attorney and have a legal obligation to represent then is reprehensible?
@Clever Jake: It’s only the alt-right loons who think calling someone liberal is an insult, I live buy this quote from JFK
“If by a “Liberal” they mean someone who looks ahead and not behind, someone who welcomes new ideas without rigid reactions, someone who cares about the welfare of the people-their health, their housing, their schools, their jobs, their civil rights and their civil liberties-someone who believes we can break through the stalemate and suspicions that grip us in our policies abroad, if that is what they mean by a “Liberal”, then I’m proud to say I’m a “Liberal.”
Jake, your argument lacks a realisation of its own irony. This guy probably is a full blooded racist hate monger, then again probably not. I haven’t read enough about him to judge for myself. Any judgement should be based on measurable things like his history of actions, voting patterns, group memberships and stated positions. Anything else is opportunist just labelling for political advantage.
Are there any other revelations other than one political name calling accusation and one bad attempt at a joke? The only thing these justify are a deeper look into his history before his name is put forward. If he is a racist, fine, block him, but being called one doesn’t automatically mean he is one. That is the glasshouse where the liberal fundamentalist and the hard right fascist share their stone throwing territory.
Censored, keep justifying racism. Really frightening what’s happening in the world today
Larissa JFK would probably be alt right if he was alive today.
@Matt Coulter: What a load of nonsense – which of the alt-right policies did he espouse? Just cos you type something doesn’t make it true/
Oh absolutely Matt. They should just get over the higher rates of poverty, the lower access to education and higher education, the constant voter suppression tactics by republicans, the police brutality, the casual racism of the republican party and the alt-right and the fact that we should give Trump a chance, Jeremy Clarkson a second chance but Trayvon Martin absolutely got what was coming to him for being black, wearing a hoodie and allegedly acting suspiciously. PS. Give George Zimmerman a second or third or whatever chance he’s on at the minute.
@Cen Sored: it’s not just liberals who condemned this man! Time to stop with the BS rhetoric!!
Time for you to wake up….racism is ingrained in the american society and it has nothing to do with eggshells – it’s derogatory and time that people grow up and learn to live and respect each other.
@clever jake So clever, he couldn’t even get my name right.
@graham kavanagh George Zimmmerman was a Hispanic man who was acquitted of 2nd degree murder of Trayvon Martin. If you have evidence this was incorrect don’t hold it to yourself.
Lower access to eduction ? Obama did well from affirmative action so that’s just bollo. No mention of the devastation suffered by black kids when they find out that in spite of getting a free pass into school and University they just don’t cut the mustard at exam time. As for Mooshell Christopher Hitchens observedabout her thesis “To describe [the thesis] as hard to read would be a mistake; the thesis cannot be ‘read’ at all, in the strict sense of the verb. This is because it wasn’t written in any known language.” yet she still got into Harvard.
@MackPilon: What obstacles do they have to face before they get to college ?
@Maurice Bourke: What? That against the instructions of the police he followed Trayvon Martin. A struggle ensued in which unarmed Trayvon Martin was shot and killed. Exactly what crime did Martin commit that he deserved to be shot and killed? If Martin attacked first, as Zimmerman claims, could it not be argued that he was simply “standing his ground” against an armed man following him in a suspicious manner?
Of course, that is to say nothing about the various incidents which Zimmerman has been involved in since the shooting, which really casts doubts upon the man’s honesty, or indeed, sanity.
@Graham Kavanagh: My problem with Clinton in the case wasn’t that she did her court-appointed duty. It was that she found it so funny that she got the guy, who she said she knew from the beginning was guilty, off the charges.
@Ewan Euphrenza: But she didn’t find that funny, what she found funny is that he passed a polygraph test. Also her client didn’t get off – her client has initially pled guilty, and later he accepted a plea deal from the prosecutor for a lesser charge.
http://www.snopes.com/hillary-clinton-freed-child-rapist-laughed-about-it/
@George Kavanagh Zimmerman was tried and found not guilty in a court of law. Or is it your opinion that juries favour hispanics above blacks in Florida?
@Jake, some very clever observations on your part, except you forgot to acknowledge your own use of classic juxtapositions throughout your own philosophical ramblings and insult based responses. That aside, I don’t know how many comments make a racist, but it has to be more than one in a public life otherwise everybody can be classed as a bigot, because everybody has said something sometime that can be viewed as offensive. Are you a bigot, have you ever used the N***er word, the Kn***** word or the Fa**ot word at some stage in your life? What about pejorative terms for non some minority people can they be classed as bigoted? Who decides, you?
@Maurice Bourke: Are you asking me if I believe that the colour of one’s skin might play a part in determining a person’s guilt?
I only ask because statistics would indicate that it does.
Mr Trump please stop appointing all these people witout contacting the Irish media
RTE Newstalk and Irish times are getting very upset
You have no right to be upsetting them like this
It is just not fair
@Clever Jake: SF/IRA were involved in violent campaign along the border many killings they did were sectarian and ethic
Does that make SF a racist sectarian party
@Clever Jake: OK very good if SF have left their sectarian machinations in the past and all is forgotten by the media.
Then perhaps Trumps appointments should also be allowed to have their past mistakes forgotten
Really? Did they target British soldiers because of their religion?
@Clever Jake: Not to give Sessions too much benefit of the doubt, but his allegations date from the ’80s, while the Provisional IRA remained active until the ’90s.
Just saying if there actions can be left in the past, can his?
Draining the swamp or scraping the bottom of the barrell?
@John003: The IRA killed more Catholics than Protestants but that doesn’t count because black on black crime is not as bad as the crimes of the ‘oppressor.’
@John003: Think you are mixing up the IRA and the British, the IRA weren’t killing people because of their religious beliefs, they killed those that stood in the way of a united Ireland or attacking the nationalist community.
All those bad hombres best start packing their bags, time for a big league Mexit!!
He’s planning on deporting 3 million, Obamas regime deported 2.5 million last year. And extra half million in a country the size of the US won’t even be noticed.
Oh FFS! He refered to someone as Boy and that makes him racist…. It is this nonsense that got Trump elected!
Ok yeah, just ignore all the other racist stuff he said. THAT is what got Trump elected.
@Laura Walsh: Can you give an example?
@The_Techno_Mage: Wasn’t there something about a judges heritage? I’m sure that there was..
You don’t think telling the guy to he careful how he spoke to ‘white folk’ is racist? Or joking about the ku klux klan?
is this Paloma Faith’s grandmother ? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QzHIn5S-RbY
Most disturbing thing about this guy is wearing a baseball cap very badly.
Everyone appears to be wearing caps must the new in thing
@Colin Moran: If he wore a cap like this at Disneyland everyone would let him straight to the front of the queue…
All the right wingers on here saying ‘what’s the big deal’, then lose their minds if a football player doesn’t stand for an anthem..
@gordon kennedy: All the left “wingers” on here saying anything and everything and then losing their minds over anything and everything.
Congratulations angry gaming on coming up with the most vague response of all time.
@Angry Gaming: That’s what makes the journal such fun, all the lefties foaming and frothing on just about every subject and if Trotsky hadn’t invented the word racist they would be lost.
@MackPilon: What makes the Journal so whatever is all the things doing the stuff on just about every other thing, and if someone hadn’t come up with something they would be something else.
I want my trophy back.
“All the lefties”? You need your eyes tested, mate. Hasn’t been a leftish comment section in a LOOOONG time.
@gordon kennedy: Completely support Kaepernick’s right to kneel/sit down for the anthem. Your allegiance to a country is earned not required. Whether I or anyone else agree with Kaepernick’s reasoning is irrelevant.
At this stage Trump could nominate the ghost of Nelson Mandela and the left wing media would still find something to complain about. They’re just waiting on tenterhooks to stick the knife in regardless of who he picks for what.
Well I think one of the prerequisites of the job is that the nominee be alive..
No Matt, the people he has already picked have shown themselves up by their previous actions. Why are you trying to deny that ?
If he appointed a ghost to his govt team, then I think all the media would complain. Wouldn’t be surprising really
I know what you mean. They will literally complain about any appointee that has a history of racism and/or white nationalistic ties. Like get over it. Bunch of babies.
I refer to Simon Harris as ‘boy’ all the time, I don’t think that makes me a racist. The NAACP actually are un-American and communist-inspired.
The NAACP is an american founded, funded, and inspired institution. Can hardly be called unamerican.
Ah sure hes only a young lad
@Laurence Fogarty: But Harris is a member of a fascist right wing party , leopards and spots etc.
To be fair, he has denied some of those comments.
@Rosa Parks: “On October 5, 2005, Sessions was one of nine Senators who voted AGAINST a Senate amendment to a House bill that prohibited cruel, inhumane, or degrading treatment or punishment of individuals in the custody or under the physical control of the United States Government” Yikes!!
The journal doesnt do fair reporting Rosa.
At least he scored well in the Human Rights Campaign Scorecard
He voted for giving Rosa Parks (the real one) the Congressional medal of honor. He also took desegregation cases as AG in Alabama and voted for renewal of Civil Rights Act.
A man is allegedly called a boy; disgraceful! :D
Drain that Swamp
@Val Martin: Ever hear of the Koch Brothers ? Well..their man has just been picked as the new Director of the CIA
#draintheswamp
Yep, drain the swamp so we can make it a slurry pit
This is entirely Billy (Wally) Mooney’s fault . I knew all his copying and pasting about his ‘banksters’ would lead to widespread racism.
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@Santosh Kumar: I’d like to donate a kidney. Actually I’d like to donate two. They’re Donald Trump’s. :)
And I only state that so that you know that they’ll be the best kidneys! You can cut a lot of people open and you won’t find kidneys as good as these!
@Graham Kavanagh: in the olden days when I was into big fry-ups for breakfast I always included lambs kidneys, especially good were the ones from the Lamb of God
@Graham Kavanagh:
Hate speech much you hypocrite, just like the idiot today asking wheretf is Oswald when we need him? Gob Shiite remarks! Reported.
@Warthog: Hey – if you don’t want these kidneys, and I got to tell you, you’d be an idiot not to – these are the best kidneys, then you should just say so. Sheesh!
@MackPilon: You can’t trust those Lamb of God ones – I mean you cut the lamb open expecting to get two delicious kidney, and find yourself with a dozen fish and twenty loaves of bread – madness!
@Warthog:
Calm down snowflake.
@Santosh Kumar: would have thought that kidneys would be more readily available ad at a lower cost in India, but hey you never know, I won’t a couple of 100k give us a ring santosh 0876453246, you can knock the price of the call off the cheque.
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