Wednesday politics

[redheadbaker]

www.washingtonpost.com/news/national/wp/2019/11/06/judge-voids-trump-administrations-conscience-rule-letting-health-care-providers-refuse-to-give-care-for-religious-moral-reasons/

Judge voids Trump Administration's 'conscience rule'

U.S. District Judge Paul Engelmayer in Manhattan declared the rule unconstitutional in a decision stemming from a lawsuit by New York and 22 other mostly Democratic states and municipalities. The rule, which was set to go into effect later this month, gave health-care providers greater latitude to refuse to participate in abortions, sterilizations or other procedures they disagree with on religious or moral grounds.

[underwaterrhymes]

The whistleblower has apparently been identified by Russian media at the urging of Rand Paul (and, in another article I saw, DT Jr.)

www.thedailybeast.com/thanks-to-trump-booster-rand-paul-russian-media-are-naming-the-alleged-ukraine-whistleblower

[bcv513]

nypost.com/2019/11/06/donald-trump-jr-tweets-possible-identity-of-white-house-whistleblower/

He  broke federal law. Lock him up. 

[downtoearth]

Nov 6, 2019 12:51:08 GMT -5 bcv513 said:

nypost.com/2019/11/06/donald-trump-jr-tweets-possible-identity-of-white-house-whistleblower/

He  broke federal law. Lock him up. 

I assume you mean Trump Jr. broke the law. But did he? I think the whistleblower laws protect the whistleblower from retaliation for their job/career, but don't protect them from being identified by media or the government, right? Up until now it's been a practice or ethics practice to keep whistleblower identity to smaller circles and out of journalistic discussion, but not illegal to identify them. 

[1confused1]

I fear for the whistleblower's safety.

[carmenere]

Nov 6, 2019 13:08:15 GMT -5 1confused1 said:

I fear for the whistleblower's safety.

Me too. And what really pisses me off is how pointless it is. Like, so what if the whisteblower voted for democrats? So what if they contacted Schiff's office first? People who were on the call and who were directly involved in Ukraine policy have corroborated the complaint. Doxxing the whisteblower doesn't change any of that. (Not that it would be okay under any circumstances, but what the fuck do they think they're going to accomplish?)

[Wallflower]

Nov 6, 2019 13:11:56 GMT -5 carmenere said:

Nov 6, 2019 13:08:15 GMT -5 1confused1 said:

I fear for the whistleblower's safety.

Me too. And what really pisses me off is how pointless it is. Like, so what if the whisteblower voted for democrats? So what if they contacted Schiff's office first? People who were on the call and who were directly involved in Ukraine policy have corroborated the complaint. Doxxing the whisteblower doesn't change any of that. (Not that it would be okay under any circumstances, but what the fuck do they think they're going to accomplish?)

Stop the next one from coming forward. And visit their self-righteous punishment on anyone who dares question their authority. Trust me, the whistleblower getting killed is everything the GOP dreams of.

[pumpkin]

Nov 6, 2019 13:08:15 GMT -5 1confused1 said:

I fear for the whistleblower's safety.

Me too! And it makes me so sad and furious that this is being done to someone who was doing the right thing

[isabel]

I'm so disgusted by their insistence on outing the whistleblower.

[seeyalater52]

I literally love this. He mentioned Medicaid!

[bowies]

Nov 6, 2019 13:03:58 GMT -5 downtoearth said:

Nov 6, 2019 12:51:08 GMT -5 bcv513 said:

nypost.com/2019/11/06/donald-trump-jr-tweets-possible-identity-of-white-house-whistleblower/

He  broke federal law. Lock him up. 

I assume you mean Trump Jr. broke the law. But did he? I think the whistleblower laws protect the whistleblower from retaliation for their job/career, but don't protect them from being identified by media or the government, right? Up until now it's been a practice or ethics practice to keep whistleblower identity to smaller circles and out of journalistic discussion, but not illegal to identify them. 

Discussions I saw are that WBs have the right to anonymity if they want it, and the WB opted in.

[Michelle]

Nov 6, 2019 12:32:12 GMT -5 redheadbaker said:

www.washingtonpost.com/news/national/wp/2019/11/06/judge-voids-trump-administrations-conscience-rule-letting-health-care-providers-refuse-to-give-care-for-religious-moral-reasons/

Judge voids Trump Administration's 'conscience rule'

U.S. District Judge Paul Engelmayer in Manhattan declared the rule unconstitutional in a decision stemming from a lawsuit by New York and 22 other mostly Democratic states and municipalities. The rule, which was set to go into effect later this month, gave health-care providers greater latitude to refuse to participate in abortions, sterilizations or other procedures they disagree with on religious or moral grounds.

This is awesome.

We have a request for accommodation under this rule by an employee who asks not to be required to care for our transgender patients.

HHS already has a conscience type rule that allows healthcare providers to decline to participate in procedures. And i'm ok with that. But this rule led people to believe they could request to reassign care for a patient to someone else if that patient has beliefs or lives life in a way that conflicts with the caregiver's beliefs. And that goes against our organization's values, not to mention discrimination laws (which (the laws of course, not our values) in Texas obviously don't extend to LGBTQ patients).

[downtoearth]

Nov 6, 2019 13:46:50 GMT -5 bowies said:

Nov 6, 2019 13:03:58 GMT -5 downtoearth said:

I assume you mean Trump Jr. broke the law. But did he? I think the whistleblower laws protect the whistleblower from retaliation for their job/career, but don't protect them from being identified by media or the government, right? Up until now it's been a practice or ethics practice to keep whistleblower identity to smaller circles and out of journalistic discussion, but not illegal to identify them. 

Discussions I saw are that WBs have the right to anonymity if they want it, and the WB opted in.

He did and he does have that right, but I went and looked and it seems that this article explains it really well that the only person who has to keep the anonymity is the inspector general in the government.

Do whistle-blowers have a right to remain anonymous?

Only in a limited way. Another part of the Inspector General Act says that agency watchdogs “shall not, after receipt of a complaint or information from an employee, disclose the identity of the employee without the consent of the employee, unless the inspector general determines such disclosure is unavoidable.”

In line with that law, the inspector general for the intelligence community, Michael Atkinson, did not include the whistle-blower’s name in his report to the acting director of national intelligence, Joseph Maguire. Mr. Maguire testified last week that he did not know the name of the person, whom people familiar with the matter have identified as a C.I.A. officer who was detailed to the White House at one point.

But the legal prohibition on disclosing the official’s name applies only to Mr. Atkinson. It does not bar Mr. Trump and his allies from trying to identify him or disclosing his name if they figure it out. (It would be illegal under the Intelligence Identities Protection Act for any official to disclose his name if he is a covert agent, but no one has suggested that he is.)

The White House and the Justice Department have known since shortly after Mr. Trump’s July 25 call with President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine that a C.I.A. employee was raising concerns because he first anonymously approached the agency’s top lawyer. He also approached a staff member on the House Intelligence Committee, who advised him to hire a lawyer and to meet with an inspector general.

In a statement this week, Senator Charles E. Grassley, an Iowa Republican who is known as a champion of whistle-blower protections, said, “We should always work to respect whistle-blowers’ requests for confidentiality.” And the whistle-blower’s legal team has raised alarms that its client’s identity may be publicly disclosed, putting him in danger.

Link: www.nytimes.com/2019/10/03/us/politics/whistleblower-complaint.html

So I guess it isn't illegal for anyone else except the Inspector General to call him out, it's just a bad practice that public officials and journalists have stayed away from in the past. Trump and his cronies are so shady, I'm guessing they knew this and just don't care about ethics at all. 

[bowies]

downtoearth Damn.

Guess we can throw WB laws on the pile of things to reform.

[mbcdefg]

Former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi and former Treasury spokesman Tony Sayegh are expected to join the White House's impeachment communications team, a senior official says

www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-impeachment-defense-idUSKBN1XG2R8

[bowies]

In case anybody is curious about Rand Paul’s allegiances - He’s trying to have Snowden retroactively made a WB.

[anodyne]

I thought someone finally got through to him to keep his mouth shut.

The investigation I conducted concerning 2016 Ukrainian collusion and corruption, was done solely as a defense attorney to defend my client against false charges, that kept changing as one after another were disproven.

The evidence, when revealed fully, will show that this present farce is as much a frame-up and hoax as Russian collusion, maybe worse, and will prove the President is innocent.

[biscoffcookies]

According to the news, Jeff Sessions will announce he's running for Alabama's Senate seat tomorrow.

[bowies]

So, a private citizen was running our diplomatic corps at the behest of Trump and in furtherance of his personal goals?

Oh Rudy Colludy.

[ESF]

Nov 6, 2019 18:06:46 GMT -5 biscoffcookies said:

According to the news, Jeff Sessions will announce he's running for Alabama's Senate seat tomorrow.

The guy needs to just crawl back into the tree hole he came out of. But this is so weird. Trump's going to lose his damn mind. I wonder if Roy Moore will run against him in the primary.

[Velar Fricative]

Nov 6, 2019 18:45:00 GMT -5 ESF said:

Nov 6, 2019 18:06:46 GMT -5 biscoffcookies said:

According to the news, Jeff Sessions will announce he's running for Alabama's Senate seat tomorrow.

The guy needs to just crawl back into the tree hole he came out of. But this is so weird. Trump's going to lose his damn mind. I wonder if Roy Moore will run against him in the primary.

Yes, Moore has already confirmed he’s running.

I think Jones is toast if Sessions wins the nom but it will be interesting to see how AL ultimately votes. They love Trump but he clearly does not love Sessions, but Sessions is their guy too.

[mbcdefg]

Trump wanted A.G. Barr to hold a news conference declaring the Trump had broken no laws during his phone call with Zelensky. Barr ultimately declined to do so, people familiar with the matter said.

www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/trump-wanted-barr-to-hold-news-conference-saying-the-president-broke-no-laws-in-call-with-ukrainian-leader/2019/11/06/16d541ec-ff55-11e9-8bab-0fc209e065a8_story.html

[sparrowsong]

Nov 6, 2019 20:24:13 GMT -5 mbcdefg said:

Trump wanted A.G. Barr to hold a news conference declaring the Trump had broken no laws during his phone call with Zelensky. Barr ultimately declined to do so, people familiar with the matter said.

www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/trump-wanted-barr-to-hold-news-conference-saying-the-president-broke-no-laws-in-call-with-ukrainian-leader/2019/11/06/16d541ec-ff55-11e9-8bab-0fc209e065a8_story.html

Are they trying to pretend they aren’t working as Trump’s personal lawyers by spilling this tidbit?