“This begs the question, what is being hidden?"

[Tennesseer]

So what are trump and Barr hiding and that they don't want the American people to know?

Trump asserts executive privilege to shield documents on census citizenship question

President Trump asserted executive privilege Wednesday to shield documents about the administration’s decision to add a citizenship question to the 2020 Census, a move meant to try to undercut an expected vote by a House panel to hold his attorney general and commerce secretary in contempt for failing to turn over the materials to lawmakers.

A day earlier, Attorney General William P. Barr had warned the House Oversight Committee that if it moved toward holding him in contempt, he would ask Trump to assert privilege to protect the materials. The committee, though, rejected his offer, and was preparing to vote Wednesday on a contempt finding when Trump followed through on Barr’s threat.

The department revealed the assertion in a letter to the committee, which called the contempt vote “unnecessary and premature.”

In the Justice Department’s view, the privilege assertion undercuts the contempt finding because it prevents the attorney general from turning over materials lawmakers had subpoenaed.

Complete article here: Trump asserts executive privilege to shield documents on census citizenship question

[Deleted]

Anything or nothing.  (Your first line)

So it goes with open speculation.

[busymom]

My best guess would be, (on what's being hidden) anything that would improve things for the Republicans...

[Tennesseer]

OOPS: GOP DOCS REVEAL CENSUS QUESTIONS WERE DESIGNED TO HELP WHITE REPUBLICANS

Smoking-gun files discovered on a Republican operative’s hard drives explicitly state that a question about citizenship “would be advantageous to Republicans and non-Hispanic whites.”

In a blow to the Commerce Department’s claim that asking about citizenship status on the U.S. census is not at all politically motivated, several lawyers have produced evidence that the endeavor was concocted by a Republican strategist. Files found on the hard drives of the late Thomas Hofeller, the “Michelangelo” of gerrymandering, reveal he pushed the Trump administration to make the citizenship question, a first in census history, a key policy goal. Per the documents, he also personally drafted a letter on behalf of Commerce and DOJ officials arguing that adding a citizenship question upheld the Voting Rights Act. And perhaps most damning of all, in conjunction with the results of a 2015 study he conducted for a Republican mega-donor, he explicitly noted that the question “would be advantageous to Republicans and non-Hispanic whites.”

According to the filing, the Washington Free Beacon commissioned Hofeller to analyze the effect on congressional districts if the census were reworded to count only eligible voters, and not the total population. In his report, which remained unpublished, Hofeller found that not only would Republicans benefit from the move, it would “clearly be a disadvantage for the Democrats.” His analysis centered on Texas, an increasingly purple state, where nixing Latino noncitizens would shrink the size of districts in places such as El Paso, South Texas, and the Rio Grande. That would allow the Republican-held state legislature to consolidate several Democratic districts into one, which would, in turn, “[strengthen] the adjoining GOP districts.” It was a perfect strategy to maintain GOP power, wrote Hofeller. But “without a question on citizenship being included on the 2020 Decennial Census questionnaire, the use of citizen voting age population is functionally unworkable.”

The Supreme Court heard oral arguments over the citizenship question back in April, with the Commerce Department claiming the question was necessary to uphold the “one person, one vote” principle. Its challengers, however, asserted that the question would not only lead to an inaccurate count, but also deter Hispanics and nonwhites from responding. By pure chance, Hofeller’s hard drives ended up in the hands of Common Cause, one of the plaintiffs in the case. According to the Times, Hofeller’s estranged daughter, Stephanie Hofeller, came across the hard drives while clearing out her father’s possessions, and mentioned them offhandedly to a staffer at the advocacy group while talking to them about another matter. (She told the Times that while she’s a progressive who “despises Republican partisanship, but also has scant respect for Democrats,” she believed that her father was more interested in creating a permanent Republican ruling class than upholding democracy: “He had me with the idea that we are made to be free, and then he lost me.”)

Full article here:  OOPS: GOP DOCS REVEAL CENSUS QUESTIONS WERE DESIGNED TO HELP WHITE REPUBLICANS

[happyhoix]

Jun 12, 2019 11:04:49 GMT -5 Tennesseer said:

So what are trump and Barr hiding and that they don't want the American people to know?

Trump asserts executive privilege to shield documents on census citizenship question

President Trump asserted executive privilege Wednesday to shield documents about the administration’s decision to add a citizenship question to the 2020 Census, a move meant to try to undercut an expected vote by a House panel to hold his attorney general and commerce secretary in contempt for failing to turn over the materials to lawmakers.

A day earlier, Attorney General William P. Barr had warned the House Oversight Committee that if it moved toward holding him in contempt, he would ask Trump to assert privilege to protect the materials. The committee, though, rejected his offer, and was preparing to vote Wednesday on a contempt finding when Trump followed through on Barr’s threat.

The department revealed the assertion in a letter to the committee, which called the contempt vote “unnecessary and premature.”

In the Justice Department’s view, the privilege assertion undercuts the contempt finding because it prevents the attorney general from turning over materials lawmakers had subpoenaed.

Complete article here: Trump asserts executive privilege to shield documents on census citizenship question

I agree, why are they trying so hard to hide?

Can't be corruption or theft or any of the usual reasons politicians want to cover stuff up.

Which just leaves 'embarrassing shit.'

Like trying to make it harder for anyone other than white guys to vote.

[NastyWoman]

What does Executive privilege protect?

Executive privilege is the constitutional principle that permits the president and high-level executive branch officers to withhold information from Congress, the courts, and ultimately the public. This presidential power is controversial because it is nowhere mentioned in the U.S. Constitution. That fact has led some scholars (Berger 1974; Prakash, 1999) to suggest that executive privilege does not exist and that the congressional power of inquiry is absolute. There is no doubt that presidents and their staffs have secrecy needs and that these decision makers must be able to deliberate in private without fear that every utterance may be made public. But many observers question whether presidents have the right to withhold documents and testimony in the face of congressional investigations or judicial proceedings.

Executive privilege is an implied presidential power that is recognized by the courts, most famously in the U.S. v. Nixon (1974) Supreme Court case. There are generally four areas that an executive branch claim of privilege is based: 1) presidential communications privilege; 2) deliberative process privilege; 3) national security, foreign relations or military affairs, and 4) an ongoing law enforcement investigation.

www.lawliberty.org/2012/07/12/the-constitution-and-executive-privilege/

So under which of these 4 areas is dt claiming Executive Privilege? Looks to me more like he has introduced a fifth category: either "(5) protecting and strengthening "my" party at all times" or is it "(5) "I DON'T WANNA--- WAAAAAHHHHH "

[weltschmerz]

I watched the big, ignorant blabbermouth with the the Polish President today.He was bragging about his beautiful, tremendous letter from Kim Jong-Un again, but won't let anyone see it. "Maybe in a hundred years".
What's he hiding?
Won't let anyone see his tax returns.
What's he hiding?
Won't let anyone see his grades.
What's he hiding?

Evidently, there is no letter, he's laundering money for the Russians, and the dumbass did poorly in school.

[happyhoix]

I'm curious why he even thinks we would be thrilled that he got a beautiful tremendous letter from a dictator?

Every time the two of them exchange hugs and kisses it embarrasses me that our POTUS is either so stupid he's falling for a ruthless dictator's obviously phony pretense to play nice, or our POTUS thinks we're so stupid we think Trump is charming a ruthless dictator into giving up his weapons.

Either way, it pisses me off.

[AgeOfEnlightenmentSCP]

I don't know. What was so bad that Hillary would defy a subpoena and violate the Espionage Act (among 17 other felonies) to delete her emails, Bleach Bit her hard drive, and destroy devices with a hammer? I mean, I realize you're all too far gone to be reasoned with- but just for a second, come with me to a world where President Trump and his closest team members behaved this way. I want you to imagine a scenario where John Durham interviews Trump, but he isn't placed under oath, the interview isn't recorded, and the notes of meetings about potential crimes he was involved in go 'missing'. I want you to come with me on a journey to an imaginary world where Melania ambushes William Barr on an airport tarmac where a 45 minute meeting takes place-- and no one is ever interviewed about the substance of that meeting. And finally, join me with the rainbows and unicorns at the FBI Director Wray's press conference where he outlines at least 26 felonies committed by President Trump, but asserts that no reasonable prosecutor would ever bring a case against him, and announces the end of the investigation. What? Are you going to deny this happened with Hillary? Give me a break.

[happyhoix]

I see Hillary is still firmly living in the headspace of some conservatives.

Probably pissed she hasn't died from TB or syphilis or brain spoilage or whatever it was that was supposed to kill her within two months, 2.5 years ago.

[oped]

Ok. So I’m that person... but it Raises the question. Not begs. That means something else. 

Sigh. #fightingalosingbattle

[thyme4change]

Jun 13, 2019 7:51:29 GMT -5 AgeOfEnlightenmentSCP said:

I don't know. What was so bad that Hillary would defy a subpoena and violate the Espionage Act (among 17 other felonies) to delete her emails, Bleach Bit her hard drive, and destroy devices with a hammer? I mean, I realize you're all too far gone to be reasoned with- but just for a second, come with me to a world where President Trump and his closest team members behaved this way. I want you to imagine a scenario where John Durham interviews Trump, but he isn't placed under oath, the interview isn't recorded, and the notes of meetings about potential crimes he was involved in go 'missing'. I want you to come with me on a journey to an imaginary world where Melania ambushes William Barr on an airport tarmac where a 45 minute meeting takes place-- and no one is ever interviewed about the substance of that meeting. And finally, join me with the rainbows and unicorns at the FBI Director Wray's press conference where he outlines at least 26 felonies committed by President Trump, but asserts that no reasonable prosecutor would ever bring a case against him, and announces the end of the investigation. What? Are you going to deny this happened with Hillary? Give me a break.

I have never said I think Hillary was an honest person, completely on the up and up. But if you want to quote the 26 felonies, you have to also acknowledge the 10 outlines nicely by Mueller and stop with this 'he didn't bring an indictment, so Trump is exonerated' bullshit.

[Tennesseer]

Jun 13, 2019 8:49:05 GMT -5 happyhoix said:

I see Hillary is still firmly living in the headspace of some conservatives.

Probably pissed she hasn't died from TB or syphilis or brain spoilage or whatever it was that was supposed to kill her within two months, 2.5 years ago.

Parkinson's disease to be exact.

[Tennesseer]

The census is a sleeping giant of a potential Trump administration scandal

The White House has repeatedly threatened or reserved the right to use executive privilege to protect documents and Trump administration officials from House Democrats’ investigations. But on Wednesday, it actually asserted it.

And the subject on which it has been invoked — the census — is a sleeping giant of a potential scandal.

Ever since the Trump administration moved last year to add a citizenship question to the 2020 Census, questions have been asked about the true motivation. The stated reason is that it is needed to enforce the Voting Rights Act, but that has never been a huge point of emphasis for the Republican Party. Indeed, GOP officials have worked to dismantle the VRA in recent years.

And as we’ve found out over the last few months, there are reasons to doubt those initial explanations. Exactly where the idea to add the question came from has been obscured, including apparently by Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, and now evidence exists that its earliest proponents may have had other, very political motivations. 

Full article here: The census is a sleeping giant of a potential Trump administration scandal

[teen persuasion]

Files found on the hard drives of the late Thomas Hofeller, the “Michelangelo” of gerrymandering, reveal he pushed the Trump administration to make the citizenship question, a first in census history, a key policy goal.

I don't understand this "first in census history" - I use Ancestry's databases all the time at work, and many of the back census records have questions on citizenship, country of citizenship, mother's country of citizenship, father's country of citizenship, country born in, naturalized citizen, language spoken, etc. It's really interesting, how the questions change from one census to the next, what information the government wanted to collect, thought would be useful. I've also found it interesting how the country names changed over time - tracking my grandfather's records, I've seen Austria, Hungary, Slovak, Czech, Silcia, and once an anomalous Gaelic (for country of origin, nationality, or language spoken).

Whether it is an appropriate question today is another issue, but it was definitely a question on past censuses.

[Wisconsin Beth]

I think it's the first time gerrymandering via citizenship question, not so much the citizenship question, if that makes sense.  I think I read that the 1950 census was the last one with a citizenship question.

[djAdvocate]

Jun 14, 2019 11:31:22 GMT -5 Wisconsin Beth said:

I think it's the first time gerrymandering via citizenship question, not so much the citizenship question, if that makes sense.  I think I read that the 1950 census was the last one with a citizenship question.

I would be very interested to know why the question was removed.

[Tennesseer]

Jun 14, 2019 12:29:48 GMT -5 djAdvocate said:

Jun 14, 2019 11:31:22 GMT -5 Wisconsin Beth said:

I think it's the first time gerrymandering via citizenship question, not so much the citizenship question, if that makes sense.  I think I read that the 1950 census was the last one with a citizenship question.

I would be very interested to know why the question was removed.

DJ-

MYTH #5: It’s no big deal adding the citizenship question to the 2020 Census form.
It is a big deal. The last time a citizenship question has been on a census survey sent to 100% of
households was the 1950 census. The Census Bureau decided to remove the citizenship questions
in 1960 in part because innovations in survey methods revealed a more accurate and less
burdensome way of counting the country's non-citizen population. In the 1940s, the U.S. Census
Bureau began testing techniques to improve sampling and created a different "sample
questionnaire" that would go to a smaller percentage of the country — forming the basis for what
would eventually be called the ACS.

"By the 1950s, the Census Bureau statisticians realized they get better results from a well-designed
sample than they do from a complete count like the census," said Margo Anderson, who wrote a
book on the history of the census. Thus, when the decennial census came up again in 1960, the
citizenship questions were no longer needed because citizenship questions were asked on the
sample questionnaire.

Debunking the Myths about the Citizenship Question on the 2020 Census Form

[djAdvocate]

interesting. so it is not necessary to get an accurate count.

does that imply that asking it results in inaccuracies?

[NastyWoman]

Jun 13, 2019 8:49:05 GMT -5 happyhoix said:

I see Hillary is still firmly living in the headspace of some conservatives.

Probably pissed she hasn't died from TB or syphilis or brain spoilage or whatever it was that was supposed to kill her within two months, 2.5 years ago.

Parkinsons. I believe she died of parkinsions - and it is her zombie image that is still walking around (or something like that)

[dondub]

That’s her body double.

[weltschmerz]

Jun 14, 2019 15:49:39 GMT -5 NastyWoman said:

Jun 13, 2019 8:49:05 GMT -5 happyhoix said:

I see Hillary is still firmly living in the headspace of some conservatives.

Probably pissed she hasn't died from TB or syphilis or brain spoilage or whatever it was that was supposed to kill her within two months, 2.5 years ago.

Parkinsons. I believe she died of parkinsions - and it is her zombie image that is still walking around (or something like that)

Don't be silly! It's her clone. 

[happyhoix]

Jun 14, 2019 16:45:46 GMT -5 weltschmerz said:

Jun 14, 2019 15:49:39 GMT -5 NastyWoman said:

Parkinsons. I believe she died of parkinsions - and it is her zombie image that is still walking around (or something like that)

Don't be silly! It's her clone. 

Nope! Hillary actually died a long time ago and Bill Clinton replaced her with a high tech AI unit, given to him by the Deep State, and controlled by the Black Hat/Dark Star people. Like one of those fake presidents in the Disney Hall of Presidents, which is why she sometimes falls over. They haven't perfected the technology yet.

I know this for a fact because I read it on the conservativenuthouse website, www.barkingmad.com

(Please don't actually go out to that link, it may be a porn site or something, I haven't actually looked).

[AgeOfEnlightenmentSCP]

Jun 13, 2019 8:52:50 GMT -5 oped said:

Ok. So I’m that person... but it Raises the question. Not begs. That means something else. 

Sigh. #fightingalosingbattle

I looked this up. I did not know that. I shall henceforth be alert to it and stop misusing the phrase. FWIW, I lost the aggravate / irritate battle a long time ago and I'm still upset about it.

[AgeOfEnlightenmentSCP]

Jun 14, 2019 16:01:51 GMT -5 dondub said:

That’s her body double.

Deep fake AI is a thing.

[djAdvocate]

Jun 13, 2019 8:57:50 GMT -5 thyme4change said:

Jun 13, 2019 7:51:29 GMT -5 AgeOfEnlightenmentSCP said:

And finally, join me with the rainbows and unicorns at the FBI Director Wray's press conference where he outlines at least 26 felonies committed by President Trump, but asserts that no reasonable prosecutor would ever bring a case against him, and announces the end of the investigation.

he never said anything of the kind. he said that it was against DOJ rules, which HE was bound by.

he said that it was up to Congress to take it up.

and he actually said that there was probable cause for obstruction.

but you continue spouting your rancid Barrisms as if they were gospel.

#sad

[Tennesseer]

The light has run out of gas.

[thyme4change]

Jun 17, 2019 7:52:03 GMT -5 AgeOfEnlightenmentSCP said:

Jun 13, 2019 8:52:50 GMT -5 oped said:

Ok. So I’m that person... but it Raises the question. Not begs. That means something else. 

Sigh. #fightingalosingbattle

I looked this up. I did not know that. I shall henceforth be alert to it and stop misusing the phrase. FWIW, I lost the aggravate / irritate battle a long time ago and I'm still upset about it.

I still don't understand how to use it correctly. Oped has explained it to me, but it is not sinking in for me - so I have just stopped using the phrase all together.

However, I think most people use it in the same improper way, so it will probably change to mean something different. Just as now literally means figuratively. You can say "My heart literally exploded into a million pieces" and not be improper.

[AgeOfEnlightenmentSCP]

Jun 17, 2019 11:11:49 GMT -5 thyme4change said:

Jun 17, 2019 7:52:03 GMT -5 AgeOfEnlightenmentSCP said:

I looked this up. I did not know that. I shall henceforth be alert to it and stop misusing the phrase. FWIW, I lost the aggravate / irritate battle a long time ago and I'm still upset about it.

I still don't understand how to use it correctly. Oped has explained it to me, but it is not sinking in for me - so I have just stopped using the phrase all together.

However, I think most people use it in the same improper way, so it will probably change to mean something different. Just as now literally means figuratively. You can say "My heart literally exploded into a million pieces" and not be improper.