You Will Anyway: On his way out, Jefferson Beauregard Sessions struck one last blow

Friday, November 9, 2018

On his way out, Jefferson Beauregard Sessions struck one last blow

Former Attorney General Jeff Sessions, in one of his final acts as the nation’s top cop, curtailed the ability of law enforcement officials to use court-enforced agreements to create change within local police departments accused of civil rights violations.

Consent decrees are often used to enforce an agreement between the Justice Department and a local police department to address a violation of law.

[...]

The memorandum lists three requirements for consent decrees, including that political appointees (rather than lawyers) must sign off on the deals, defendants must provide evidence of violations beyond constitutional behavior and the order must have an expiration date instead of being terminated when the department in question shows improvement.

The decision reflects President Trump and Sessions’ belief that law enforcement agencies are unjustly hamstrung by civil rights lawyers and ‘political correctness.’

The Hill

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Life, as Explained in "Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead"

GUILDENSTERN: What a fine persecution---to be kept intrigued without ever quite being enlightened.

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ROSENCRANTZ : The only thing that makes it bearable is the irrational belief that somebody interesting will come on in a minute.

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GUILDENSTERN: But for God's sake what are we supposed to do?!

PLAYER: Relax. Respond. That's what people do. You can't go through life questioning your situation at every turn.

GUILDENSTERN: But we don't know what's going on, or what to do with ourselves. We don't know how to act.

PLAYER: Act natural. You know why you're here at least.

GUILDENSTERN: We only know what we're told, and that's little enough. And for all we know it isn't even true.

PLAYER: For all anyone knows, nothing is. Everything has to be taken on trust; truth is only that which is taken to be true. It's the currency of living. There may be nothing behind it, but it doesn't make any difference so long as it is honoured. One acts on assumptions.

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GUILDENSTERN : We act on scraps of information... sifting half-remembered directions that we can hardly separate from instinct.

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PLAYER: Life is a gamble, at terrible odds-if it was a bet you wouldn't take it.