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July 13, 2019 - Freedomain Radio - Stefan Molyneux
01:25:09
The Untruth About Jeff Sessions | U.S. Attorney General
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Hi everybody, Stefan Molyneux from Freedomain Radio.
I hope you're doing well.
Ah, mainstream media!
Thou dost give us such a bounty of material for the Untruth About series.
This is the Untruth About Jeff Sessions.
We will get into why he's so important in just a moment, just in case you haven't heard of him already.
But let's dive straight in.
From 1981 to 1993, Jeff Sessions served as United States Attorney for the Southern District of Alabama.
In 1994, Sessions was elected Attorney General.
In 1996, he was elected to the U.S.
Senate, where he has been continuously re-elected.
On November 18, 2016, Sessions was announced as Donald Trump's nominee for Attorney General, and the media smears began almost immediately.
Remember, there are some groups that the Democrats don't like.
Christians, Southerners, military people, and so on.
And white males.
Why?
Well, because they tend to vote Republican and all the people that the Democrats like tend to vote Democrats.
Not really a philosophy so much as it is organized political attack and bribery.
So that's just important when you remember all of this stuff.
So the New York Times said, why are you hiding Jeff Sessions?
CNN, is Jeff Sessions Trump's scariest cabinet pick?
Time.
Donald Trump's AG nominee Jeff Sessions is a threat to justice.
Salon.
Two Ps in a racist pod.
Jeff Sessions' alarming history of opposing civil rights.
Whoa, whoa.
Hang on a second.
Is Dan rather telling me that it's very unusual for Salon to accuse someone of racism?
This will make sense as we move forward.
The Huffington Post.
Jeff Sessions was deemed too racist to be a federal judge.
He'll now be Trump's Attorney General.
The Economist.
Jeff Sessions has some troubling ideas about justice.
The Intercept.
Korea racist Jeff Sessions is Donald Trump's pick for Attorney General!
The Nation.
As Attorney General, Jeff Sessions would be a threat to civil rights.
So, not wowing the leftists.
Ha!
I wonder why.
Let's see if we can root around a little and find what they're looking for.
Let's go back to 1986, shall we?
When I could be surprised and move my hat.
President Ronald Reagan nominated then U.S.
Attorney Jeff Sessions as a U.S.
District Court judge for the Southern District of Alabama.
During Sessions' Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearings, there was a concentrated effort to paint the nominee as a stereotypical racist white Southerner.
This portrayal worked.
Smears work!
And basically, it's the people who consume the media who make the smears work.
Where there's smoke, there's fire.
Well, if people are this upset with him, he must be doing something wrong.
This is why it keeps happening, because y'all, or those around you, keep falling for it and reinforcing it.
So stop doing that, will you please?
I beg you.
Sessions did not get confirmed and the smear campaign from the 1986 hearings would linger on in public perception.
But were these claims based on fact or fiction?
Enter Senator Edward Kennedy, the driving force between the demographic shifting 1965 immigration bill that fundamentally changed America as a whole.
I see when the Democrats lost the war of ideas after the Crimes of Stalin were revealed and the horrors of totalitarian communistic socialism in the USSR and other places were revealed.
They kind of lost the war of ideas so they just started deciding to stack the deck to get their leftward drift the way they wanted it by bringing in people who would vote for the left and not people from Europe as a whole as we've talked about before in the show.
So Senator Edward Kennedy Yeah, he met with some communists, kind of undermining a lot of political goals, which was not particularly great.
The big thing with Kennedy is he drove a car off a bridge.
He was 37 years old, married in the middle of the night.
He was driving with a single young lady of 28 years of age.
Her name was Mary Jo Kopechny, and he accidentally drove his car off a bridge into a Tidal channel.
And he swam free and left the scene and didn't report the accident for 10 hours.
See, there was a house pretty close with the lights on and phones that worked.
He could have called and said, hey, someone's trapped in a car down there.
You've really got to go and help them.
But you see, he didn't.
He didn't report the accident for 10 hours.
One of the things that is particularly horrifying about this story is that this woman, Mary Jo, she had an air pocket, an air bubble.
She couldn't get the door open.
I guess it was jammed shut or broken shut.
And she was in the car underwater, trapped.
And it took her, according to the estimates of divers and others, it took her hours, hours, To die.
Because they found her kind of with her face pressed up against the last pocket of air as it slowly drained out of the car.
Out of Senator Edward Kennedy's car.
What a horrible way to die.
If he'd made the phone call she most likely would still be alive.
But he didn't make the phone call and so she died suffocating to death and it took her hours and hours to die.
But it's okay, see Justice.
did its job and he got a two-month suspended sentence.
So that's the moral character of Senator Edward Kennedy.
So let's hear this Socratic figure of wisdom and justice opine.
So Senator Edward Kennedy in the 1986 confirmation hearings said, Sessions comes to this committee with a record which regrettably includes presiding over the now infamous so-called Perry County voting fraud prosecutions.
Boy, he's really, really concerned with justice, this guy.
He goes on to say, in the Perry County case, the government indicted three well-known and highly respected black civil rights activists on charges of voter fraud in assisting elderly black voters to vote by absentee ballot.
Mr. Sessions' role in that case alone should bar him from serving on the federal bench.
Being significantly responsible for the drowning death of a young woman, well, that's fine.
You can be a senator that way.
Well, let's get into this case.
It's horrifying but instructive.
So, Jeff Sessions had been criticized and painted as a racist for prosecuting a 1985 voter fraud case against three black civil rights activists.
The three activists, including Albert Turner, were accused of altering absentee ballots to prevent the election of various black Democrats whom they strongly opposed.
Well, this has sparked endless news articles speculating on possible racial motivations for Sessions prosecuting this case.
The victims and complainants in this case were also black Democrats.
Oh, America.
So much fun.
See, if black Democrats come to you and say that they're being disenfranchised, right, they show up to vote.
And people say, no, no, no, you've already voted by absentee ballot.
You can't vote again.
I say, I didn't vote by absentee ballot.
And then they go and complain and see, if you take this case, then you're called a racist.
If you don't take this case, guess what?
You're going to be called a racist because you're not defending the disenfranchisement, you're defending the disenfranchisement of black.
Ah, what a, what a joy multiculturalism is.
Well, with the leftists.
So African-American legal assistant Lavon Phillips noted that in 1982, the Perry County's District Attorney's Office, quote, received several complaints from incumbent black candidates and black voters that absentee ballot applications were being mailed to citizens' homes without their request.
Right.
So if you can't make it to the polls, You might be traveling.
You might be in the Tour de France.
You might be disabled.
So you, I guess you phone and you say, you write in and they say, well, we didn't, we, we didn't ask, ask for these.
Um, so it says fellow Phillips testified that the power of black civil rights activists had been threatened as black voters in Perry County had started quote, voting more of their convictions, their interests, rather than relying on the per se black civil rights leadership.
And, um, That is important.
You know, I mean, there is a certain tendency within some communities to want to stay on the left, to keep on what's been called the Democrat plantation.
If people are breaking free, well, steps may have to be taken.
Albert Turner was also alleged to physically transport absentee ballots despite being a candidate in the election involved, explicitly violating Alabama's criminal code.
See, this is important.
If you are a candidate in an election, you shouldn't be transporting absentee ballots.
They should not be in your possession.
You should not be delivering them.
Why?
Because you may have a tiny, tiny incentive to alter them, which is not good.
A handwriting expert had also determined that Turner had even written his own name on absentee ballots in violation of state law.
So people are complaining.
He's driving around ballots and a handwriting expert says he's written his own name on absentee ballots.
Do you think that maybe that needs to be pursued from a legal standpoint?
If not, please turn this off and go back to cats playing pianos.
Senator Jeff Sessions said, African-American voters who had come to the polls to vote became angered to find that someone had already voted in their names by absentee ballot.
The Perry County Grand Jury, the majority of which was African-American and was led by an African-American foreperson, called for a federal investigation.
Here's the thing, people, here's the thing.
I know it's hard to break out of this racialized mindset, this race-baiting mindset, but imagine, just imagine, if it was a white politician who was implicated in this, or accused of this kind of stuff, who was driving around black votes and altering them with his own name, disenfranchising blacks, of course you would prosecute someone like that, or at least you'd bring trial against them, you'd bring charges against them.
It's a violation of the law.
And people would cheer you for that, right?
But you see, if it's black politicians doing it, disenfranchising black voters, somehow it's racist to bring charges against them.
Do you see how this works?
Peel off the skin, look at the meat underneath.
And if it was a white person, he'd be cheered for doing this.
White politician disenfranchising black voters!
Get him!
Get him!
But if it's black politicians potentially doing this, it's racist to enforce the law.
You see how this works?
It really is quite mad, but it is something that we always need to remember.
Flip the races and you'll find out if racism is occurring or not.
In this case, clearly not.
The Perry County Grand Jury was made up of seven whites and eleven blacks, further rebuffing any claims of racial motivations related to pursuing the case itself.
The Grand Jury returned no indictments against Turner related to the 1982 election, but found that a fair election was, quote, being denied to the citizens of Perry County.
I'm no lawyer, but I know that two and two make four.
I don't know how you can say a fair election is being denied, but no one's to blame, or at least not these people.
So I don't know.
If you know anything about this, let me know in the comments below.
Sources, of course, are also in the description.
The Perry County Grand Jury said, We encourage vigorous prosecution of all violations of voting laws and especially would request the presence and assistance of an outside agency, preferably federal, to monitor our elections and ensure fairness and impartiality for all.
So, yeah, no one's to blame, but man, we really, really need some help making sure we get fair elections somehow in this county!
After discussions with the Federal Bureau of Investigations, Sessions' office concluded that they would not conduct an additional investigation, believing that the local investigation would have, quote, caused all campaigners to re-evaluate their activities and confirm to the law.
I think I thought it was conformed to the law, but confirmed to the law is what the quote is.
And yeah, so he took a run at it.
The grand jury did not choose to issue any indictments and he said okay well let's not continue I think we've sent a message a shot across the bows so you know if he really I don't know hated these black activists wouldn't he have continued his work with the FBI anyway charges of racism almost always so boring although we were getting one genuine and horrendous charge of racism that I think is completely justified in a few minutes so unfortunately despite
Jeff Sessions' optimism, several of the 1984 Perry County Democratic primary elections once again saw significant irregularities and evidence of voter fraud.
Complaints were made by several African American candidates who noted that large numbers of absentee ballots had been collected, exceeding 10% of the total vote, and were being maintained by Turner and other local civil rights So activists, see, just in general, it's supposed to be anonymous voting, right?
So you could be intimidated into voting for candidate X.
You could go in and vote for candidate Y, but there's a curtain.
You can't be seen, and it's secret, right?
Now, absentee ballots are not susceptible to that anonymity, that secrecy, right, People can help you fill them out.
Hey, nice house here.
I really like the way that it's not on fire.
Hey, do you feel like voting for a certain candidate?
I'm not speaking about anyone in particular.
This is just a general theory of how it could happen.
So this is one of the reasons why when you have a high number of absentee ballots, there may be some questions.
Just a few here and there.
Senator Jeff Sessions said, The complainant further said that they were being taken to a central headquarters where the ballots were altered to ensure they were marked for candidates endorsed by Turner.
District Attorney Johnson said that the African-American candidates were extremely concerned about the election and believed that it was being stolen from them.
Huh.
That doesn't sound... That doesn't sound good.
That does sound like something that A racist wouldn't be too concerned with.
So again, heads you lose, tails you lose.
Perry County Democratic official Reese Billingsley said, I was one of the first black candidates elected in Perry County, Alabama.
During the campaign, I was approached by many of my supporters who informed me that my opposition had stated publicly that they would do anything to get rid of me.
This is back to the cliche that if you're black you have to be on the left, otherwise you're an Uncle Tom, an Oreo, not a real black, acting white, all this sort of boring stuff.
Don't ever judge blacks collectively.
The only real blacks are on the left.
So racist.
Reece Billingsley said, I became convinced that there was concerted well-organized effort was being made, that's the quote, to steal the election from me through the absentee ballot box.
I spoke with him, Sessions, and requested his assistance.
From everything that I was aware, Mr. Sessions and the United States Attorney's Office handled the investigation with the highest professionalism.
See?
Ken.
This is what it's like in America!
Especially if you're, you see, if you're a Southern white male.
I mean, a lot of people just assume you're racist by default because DELIVERANCE!
Because, you see, Hollywood, very leftist, generally does, you know, Mississippi burning style exposés where white Southern males are always racist because, you see, white Southern males tend to vote for Republicans.
So they must be slandered at every conceivable opportunity, thus paving the way for these kinds of smears and making people feel that they're somewhat true.
So here we have a black candidate who is being told by black voters that they're being disenfranchised.
The black candidate goes to Jeff Sessions, who tries to do something about it and stop it.
And this makes Jeff Sessions racist.
Senator Jeff Sessions said the FBI determined that 75 of the 729 ballots contained alterations And erasures.
Each voter with suspected changes on their ballot was shown their ballot and asked if they had made or authorized the changes.
Approximately 25 individuals said they had not authorized changes and that they had given their ballots to the Turners, Albert Turner and his wife, or Hogue for mailing.
Oh yeah, we'll take these from you.
We'll mail them for you.
And then there are alterations and changes that were not authorized.
This is 25 out of the 75 out of the 729.
So it's significant.
A couple of percentage points, which is generally, you know, a lot of elections are pretty close, right?
And we don't know, of course, if other people maybe didn't authorize the changes, but said they did out of fear or out of some other reasons, possibilities.
These altered ballots, right, the 75 out of the 700 odd, all show changes to two Turner-supported candidates from non-supported candidates.
Every single one!
Now again, I know mathematicians.
Statistically, this seems a tiny bit less than hugely likely.
One African-American family was particularly upset that their ballots had been changed to a Turner-supported candidate as their original votes were for their own cousin who was running for office.
Hmm.
Turner even admitted to changing the ballot of this family, but claimed it was done with the permission of the family, which the family vociferously denied.
So Sessions' office assigned two attorneys to the case and wound up significantly overpowered.
They faced 11, count them, 11 different attorneys representing the black civil rights activists.
So that's what?
Almost one attorney for every two ballots that the owners deny authorizing the change.
Ultimately the jury acquitted the defendants but the strong evidence supports Sessions Decision to prosecute the case.
So, again, they were not found guilty.
They were acquitted.
The question isn't, were they acquitted, were they innocent, or were they guilty?
The question is, was there enough evidence to pursue the case?
I will leave that to you to decide.
And if he hadn't done it, would he be open to charges of racism if ignoring complaints by blacks that they're being disenfranchised?
Ah, so much fun in America.
Now, Sessions' predecessor, Democratic U.S.
Attorney William Kimbrough, Jr., said this, Quite often in the South, you do not win civil rights cases.
That is not to say they should not be brought.
I personally tried a number of civil rights cases involving police brutality or alleged police brutality, and I do not believe I won one of them.
I do not apologize to anyone for having brought the case.
There was probable cause to believe that somebody's rights had been abused.
You bring the case because the case needs to be brought.
But the facts simply don't go.
Racism!
He was he was charging black civil rights leaders who were trying to protect people.
Right.
No, no particular facts.
These are the facts.
Now the prosecution of Henry Hayes.
So when his civil rights record is questioned, many people point to Sessions' role in the conviction and execution of high-ranking Ku Klux Klan member Henry Hayes for the 1981 lynching murder of black teenager Michael Donald.
This lynching was every bit as brutal and ugly and vicious and evil as you could conceive of.
Remember, Ku Klux Klan was the enforcement arm of the Democratic Party in the South.
And also, please remember, as we get further along, that marriage licenses were invented by the Democrats in order to prevent blacks and whites from marrying each other.
Jeff Sessions said, When I became a U.S.
Attorney for the Southern District of Alabama, I, along with Assistant U.S.
Attorney Thomas Figures and the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice, worked to solve the Donald murder.
Because the federal government did not have an enforceable death penalty at the time, I insisted that Hayes be prosecuted by the local district attorney.
So Jeff Sessions wanted this man dead or wanted whoever killed the teenager dead and he moved heaven and earth to ensure that if he got a conviction that he could potentially apply the death penalty.
I don't see how that's positive towards the KKK at all, but of course some people think.
Well, we'll get there.
District Attorney and original lead prosecutor Chris Galanos said, I believe then and I believe now, that were it not for his assistance, the case would have remained unsolved for an indefinite length of time.
So Jeff Sessions, of course, outraged by the brutal lynching and murder of a black teenager.
It's just out getting his sister some cigarettes.
Snatched and tortured and killed.
Horrible, horrible stuff.
Jeff Sessions, outraged by this, sets his laser sight on finding who it was and applying some pretty Old Testament justice to his head.
Mobile District Attorney's investigator Bobby Eddy said, without his Sessions cooperation, the state could not have proceeded against Henry Hayes on a capital murder charge.
Assistant District Attorney and Replacement Lead Prosecutor Thomas Harrison said, Sessions asked what we needed.
And I said, in order to get a capital murder conviction, we need these things.
And he said that in that regard, whatever the federal agents did or the FBI did, he would make those things available.
He did in fact do that.
So, I don't know.
It's just hard for me to get to how this could possibly be pro-KKK or racist in any way.
I mean, he had his sights on this guy.
Hayes was ultimately convicted and sentenced to death.
In addition, Jeff Sessions oversaw the Hayes appeal, which was denied.
Hayes was executed in 1997, the first white man put to death for killing a black man in Alabama since 1913.
And by the by, this was pretty much the end of the KKK.
In Alabama, for sure.
The conviction of a high-ranking Alabama Klan member also paved the way for a slam-dunk civil suit by the Southern Poverty Law Center against the Alabama chapter of the Ku Klux Klan.
The SPLC civil case resulted in a $7 million verdict against the Klan, essentially destroying the Alabama chapter of the organization.
Legal director of the SPLC and Donald family attorney, Richard Cohen, said, in addition to helping to develop the evidence in the criminal investigation that we used, Sessions' office was helpful in arranging for an FBI agent to testify for us at the civil trial.
Hmm.
I mean, tough time seeing the racism here, people.
Maybe it's my privilege.
Blinkers.
I don't know.
Now, some have taken to quibbling about Sessions' level of responsibility for the successful prosecution of this case to maintain their unfounded racism narrative.
Many of the claims regarding Sessions' supposed racism rest upon the accusation and testimony of the late Thomas Figures, who was previously an assistant U.S.
attorney under Sessions.
Thomas Figures will figure prominently in this next part, so keep that name in mind.
He's African-American.
Fellow.
U.S.
Attorney Thomas Vickers said, In the early stages of the case, Mr. Sessions did attempt to persuade me to discontinue pursuit of the case, calling it a waste of time and noting, If the perpetrators were found, I would not be assigned to the case.
All of these statements were well calculated to induce me to drop the case.
On the other hand, none of them amounted to a direct order to drop the case.
Now, the only evidence that supports this alleged conversation, or this alleged pressure that Sessions brought to bear, is figures on testimony.
So, naturally, when someone is making a claim, we would look as to their credibility.
So, is the former Sessions a co-worker seen as a credible witness?
Hmm, let's find out.
Thomas Figures insinuated that Jeff Sessions supported the Ku Klux Klan due to a joke he made during evidence acquisition for the Michael Donald case, which involved the KKK kidnapping and murdering this black teenager.
Now, of course, please remember that Jeff Sessions, he teaches Sunday school.
He is an old-school Christian and he is very much against illicit drug use, very much against marijuana, very much against cocaine and heroin and all that kind of stuff.
So that's an important context.
You know, share his beliefs or not, that is an important context for the next little part.
Several civil rights attorneys noted that multiple Klansmen claimed an inability to remember information relevant to the case due to smoking marijuana.
Sessions then made a joke to his colleagues.
And I guess 4.20 in the afternoon, they did bad things, couldn't remember what happened because they were high.
Sessions then made a joke to his colleagues.
He thought the Klan members were okay until he learned that they smoked marijuana.
Long hours, difficult case, frustrating, and it's a joke.
Is it a great joke?
No.
Is it evidence that he's somehow supporting the Klan?
Dear God.
He's working day and night to try and get a Klansman the death penalty for his involvement in the murder of a black teenager.
Come on, people.
The entire humor of the joke is its sheer absurdity, but that didn't stop figures from testifying as if it were a serious statement of Session's prior support for the Klan.
Go with me for a moment to think back on every joke you've ever made and imagine how those jokes could be taken out of context and presented this way or presented that way by people who might have their own agenda.
And let me give you an analogy, if I may.
So let's say it's, I don't know, 1941 and Churchill, of course, and Hitler are at war.
And Churchill, of course, is trying to destroy Hitler's Germany, and I guess Hitler himself.
And Churchill makes the following joke.
You know, I just heard that Hitler was kind to animals.
Well, I thought he was a pretty bad guy until I found out he was kind to animals.
And then he goes on trying to kill Hitler.
I mean, does anyone... Churchill is pro-Hitler!
I mean, you've got to be kidding me, people.
Jeff Sessions clarified the joke's humor at the 1986 Senate Judiciary Committee hearings by comparing it to saying, I do not like Pol Pot because he wears alligator shoes.
Civil rights attorney Albert Glenn said, I took it wholly as a joke and humor.
There was no question in my mind at the time that it was meant humorously.
Senator Joe Biden at the 1986 He was attacking the Klan!
1986 Senate Judiciary Committee hearings said, I could see how someone could say that humorously.
That statement does not mean you are defending the Klan.
He was attacking the Klan.
His actions helped destroy the Klan in Alabama.
Bad Klansman.
Democrat State Judge Braxton Kittrell said, I have never known Sessions to make racial slurs or remarks.
If he, in fact, had made the remarks which have been attributed to him, I am satisfied that they have been taken out of context, as Jeff Sessions is not that kind of person.
DOJ Civil Rights Division Deputy Chief Daniel Bell said, As a matter of fact, my experience with him is that he does not make racial jokes or insensitive jokes.
To show the absurdity of this joke being reported as fact 30 years later, lifelong Democrat and noteworthy civil rights attorney Barry Kowalski reported relaying Sessions' joke to others, quote, in a humorous vein as well, close quote.
It is frustrating, of course, when people say, well, I can't remember because I was high when you're trying to prosecute them.
You know, it's kind of, kind of frustrating.
And, um, these are people who they were questioning about the brutal lynching and murder of a black American teenage boy and saying, well, I thought they were fine.
And I found out they were smoking marijuana.
I mean, come on people.
I thought the left had a sense of humor anyway.
So, Civil rights attorney Kowalski was one of the lead prosecutors in the Rodney King trial, and when asked about Figure's accusations, he commented, I have trouble understanding how he came to that conclusion.
It's a very loyally like way of saying something.
Kowalski also said, the way he was portrayed was very unfair.
At a time when many U.S.
attorneys in the South were not always welcoming to the Civil Rights Division, Jeff Sessions was.
Jeff had the vision and the courage and the desire to do right.
So, one joke.
Now, more racism allegations.
After a conflict with the Secretary, Thomas Figures claimed that Mr, quote, Mr. Sessions admonished me to be careful what you say to white folks.
Figures also testified that Sessions and other others in the U.S.
Attorney's Office had, quote, regularly called, quote, boy.
These allegations were denied by those within the office who were alleged to overhear such comments, leading to Figures walking back his claims around the frequency of the alleged insults.
Fellow Assistant U.S.
Attorney Edward Vluvich, who disputed the racist claims about Sessions during the 1986 confirmation hearing, described figures as having a, quote, persecution complex, with difficulty, quote, getting along with people, and somebody who kept, quote, very much to himself.
Assistant U.S.
Attorney Edward Vulovich said, I might best describe it as the man in a football stadium with 80,000 people, but he thinks that when the team huddles, they're all talking about him.
Now, in my experience, just about everybody's met someone like this at some point in their life.
And, uh, yeah.
According to Breitbart, quote, the sentiment seemed corroborated by William Kimbrough, Sessions' Democratic predecessor, who had himself hired figures.
Kimbrough explained that figures appeared, quote, disaffected and, quote, had some difficulty, end quote, working in a Republican office, right?
So Democrats got replaced by Republicans.
Figures stayed on.
Maybe he felt like he was working with the enemy or all Republicans are racist or whatever it was.
So it's a possibility.
After the statements from figures re-emerged, the Daily Caller News Foundation uncovered sworn statements from former colleagues alleging extremely bizarre behavior from the mainstream media's star witness.
This is who they call to the stand of public opinion when they want to claim that Jeff Sessions is a racist.
And what have his colleagues said?
I don't use this extremely bizarre behavior phrase lightly.
Let's dive in, shall we?
Former FBI Special Agent John Brennan once submitted an affidavit claiming that figures often made incredibly strange claims.
Oh yes, the Dan Rather thing is going to make sense in just a little moment.
An affidavit.
It's one statement.
It's one statement.
Quote, Mr. Figures told me that CBS news anchor Dan Rather and other news anchors would glance off camera and was signaled when he was watching television.
Mr. Figures claimed that, once signaled, Mr. Rather or the other news anchors would speak directly to him from the television and tell him things they wanted him to do or would give him information they wanted him to have. Mr. Rather or the other news anchors would speak directly Just let that sink in through your paws for a moment. .
This is a sworn statement from an FBI special agent.
Dan Rather.
Glance off camera.
Oh, Figures is watching.
Okay, Figures.
Here's what you need to do.
Here's the information I need you to have.
Okay.
In code?
I don't even know what to call this.
Kevin Daly, of the Daily Caller, no relation, said, quote, On another occasion, figures allegedly told Brennan he believed his home was bugged and asked him to execute a search of the house.
The ensuing search did not turn up listening devices.
In a related instance, Brennan says figures told him he terminated a road trip from Mobile, Alabama to Dallas, Texas, because he believed a truck with a satellite antennae was following him.
Assistant U.S.
Attorney Cheryl Cressona, who worked with Figures from 1981 to 1985, said, he was very paranoid about any group in the office talking, always assuming they were talking about him.
In a nutshell, every one of us in that office was afraid of Thomas Figures.
Kevin Daly, The Daily Caller, said, Cressona alleges Figgers was confrontational with colleagues and often made a secretary she shared with him cry.
The affidavit mirrors claims Figgers' ex-wife Janice made during divorce proceedings in 1991.
Now, I have a little bit of a weakness for gossip.
Could not get these divorce proceedings.
I guess they're held by The Daily Caller or whatever, but let your imagination do the roaming on that one.
I'm being bugged.
No, you're not.
I'm being followed by a truck with a satellite antenna.
Dan Rather's telling me what to do over the television.
Jeff Sessions is a racist.
Oh yeah, that one we totally believe.
Other stuff?
Crazy.
That one?
Bing!
Pure sanity.
That's objective evidence.
The late Alabama Senator Jeremiah Denton also noted that Figueres also failed to disclose significant personal and financial interests.
Now, to be fair, if he did fail to disclose significant personal and financial interests, it could be because Dan Rather didn't tell him to.
So it's really Dan's fault, as so many other things.
Only 24 hours before testifying against Sessions, Figures was hired to defend a disputed Perry County election plan, which has been created by the aforementioned Albert Turner, whom Sessions had prosecuted in the noteworthy voter fraud case.
During the 1986 confirmation hearing, Senator Denton strongly defended Sessions, noting that, quote, all significant allegations by Mr. Figures have been either refuted or denied.
All of them.
Six years after Figures offered his questionable testimony against Sessions, he was faced with federal charges for attempting to bribe a witness.
This is a little complicated, so stay with me.
The New York Times, November 8, 1992, quote, Thomas H. Figures was charged by the grand jury in Mobile with offering a $50,000 bribe to a convicted drug dealer who was to testify against a client of Mr. Figures in 1990.
According to the indictment, Mr. Figures offered the money, and quote, an unspecified amount of financial assistance for the children, end quote, of the witness in exchange for his promise not to testify.
Again, I hate to drag Mr. Rather in, but maybe Mr. Rather told him to do this.
It's a possibility, just like it's possible, that Jeff Sessions is a secret closet racist who viciously prosecutes clan members.
New York Times says, Mr. Figure's effort to bribe convicted drug dealer not to testify against Figure's client were unsuccessful.
Figger's client was convicted, and convicted drug dealer later cooperated with prosecutors and revealed the alleged bribe attempt.
As the then United States Attorney for the Southern District of Alabama, Sessions recused himself and his office from investigation into the bribery allegations.
The investigation ended up being conducted by the Department's Criminal Division in Washington.
Black Activist Group New South Coalition Chairman J.L.
Chestnut said, I don't think it is incidental that Tom Figures testified against Jeff Sessions' nomination to the bench.
and is now being indicted just ten weeks before the Republican administration leaves office.
It has raised a lot of eyebrows here and many feel there is a connection.
Some retaliatory something-something right?
Figures later testified that he only went along with the bribery suggestion which originated from the convicted drug dealer with plans of having him charged with attempted bribery thus preventing him from testifying against figures client.
The drug dealer was wearing a wire apparently.
Figures was eventually cleared by a jury of all charges and went on to serve as a municipal judge for the city of Mobile, Alabama.
Alabama State Senator Michael Figures said, The government set out to entrap my brother.
At the time Sessions was asked about Figures' recent indictment and the possibility of it being retaliation for his 1986 testimony, he said, I'm sorry people see it that way.
It is a matter I would like to see behind me, and I'm sorry to see it come up again.
At the 1986 hearing, additional allegations against Sessions were made by J. Gerald Hebert.
At the time, Hebert was a senior trial attorney in the Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division, but currently he's employed by the George Soros-funded Campaign Legal Center.
Now, big picture time, George Soros is an open borders, kind of globalist kind of guy, and Jeff Sessions wants to enforce immigration law.
There is a potential conflict of interest between these two positions known as the future of Western civilization as a whole.
So just keep that in the... keep that in the cloud while we go through this part.
Senator Edward Kennedy, he's back, and he said, don't call for help!
No, sorry, misread that.
He said at the 1986 confirmation hearings, Mr. Hebert has stated to the committee investigators that Mr. Sessions on more than one occasion has characterized the NAACP and the ACLU as un-American, communist-inspired organizations.
Mr. Hebert reports that Mr. Sessions said these organizations did more harm than good when they were trying to force civil rights down the throats of people who were trying to put problems behind them.
Criticizing particular policies of the NAACP or the ACLU doesn't mean that you think the entire organization is that way inclined.
Both Hebert and Figures claim that Sessions had called the NAACP and the ACLU un-American.
But Sessions later clarified that he was specifically describing certain policy positions taken by the groups, not the groups themselves.
So liberal immigration policies in particular and the support for the socialist Sandinista government in Nicaragua.
Criticizing particular policies does not mean the whole organization is... I don't think you understand.
Jeff Sessions said, I said that they take positions that are considered un-American.
They hurt themselves.
They lose credibility.
And many people do think that some of those positions they take are against the national interests of the United States.
So, back to racism allegations.
Hebert also testified about the contents of another private conversation with Sessions, but the specifics are not clear in the mind of either participant.
Accusations of racism are, to me, direct smears against a person's character.
I think you've got to have a pretty high standard of proof for this, right?
In civil claims, it's a preponderance.
In criminal, it's overwhelming or beyond the shadow of a doubt.
I think, you know, hearsay, I remember 20 years ago when someone, in my particular opinion, these should just be dismissed as if they were never said.
They would be, as far as I understand it, inadmissible in a court of law.
They should be inadmissible in the minds of the court of public opinion.
You need to have pretty solid proof before making accusations of this nature.
Senator Edward Kennedy in 1986 confirmation hearings said, Mr. Hebert has also stated Mr. Sessions suggested that a prominent white civil rights lawyer who litigated voting rights cases was a disgrace to his race for doing it.
Wow, that doesn't sound disgrace to your race.
That doesn't sound pretty good.
J Gerald Hebert 1986 testimony said, Mr. Sessions and I were in his office and we were talking about different judges' handling of cases.
I mentioned to him that one of the judges had reportedly said that a lawyer who handled civil rights cases in Mobile was either a traitor to his race or a disgrace to his race.
As I recall, Sessions said, well, he probably is.
All right.
Um, that's kind of foggy.
It's not a direct, I mean, it's not, it's not Session saying this about someone he knows.
Just, ah, some judge said something about some lawyer, as I recall, said, well, maybe, probably, probably yes, right?
So probably yes.
Well.
Could someone say this about you from a conversation that they remembered from many, many years in the past?
And what would you have to say in return?
And how would you like it if your reputation was destroyed because of these kinds of allegations and this kind of stuff?
In later testimony, Hebert recalls Sessions' response as, Well, maybe he is.
Ooh!
Maybe and probably.
Say, we're going to the movies tonight.
Maybe.
We're going to the movies tonight.
Probably.
These two things are different.
You gonna win the lottery?
Maybe.
You gonna win the lottery?
Oh, probably.
See?
One, you make plans.
The other, you circle and wait.
Even the guy making these accusations.
Well... While Sessions did not deny the conversation during the 1986 hearings, he could not remember what was said.
He said, I've wrestled with that to try to recall that instance because I respect the lawyer referred to a great deal.
I do not know why I would have said that and I certainly do not believe that.
So... I mean, to deny... Can you remember every conversation you had years and years ago?
Now, if you're going to accept any details of Hebert's reported conversation with Sessions, this is dependent on Hebert's credibility, which fell apart in spectacular fashion later in his testimony.
Hebert testified that Sessions aimed to, quote, call off a specific FBI civil rights investigation by contacting the agents involved and stating that the case shouldn't go forward.
The records at the Department of Justice were reviewed and the case that Sessions reportedly wanted to call off was conducted, ooh, oh dear, prior to him even becoming a U.S.
attorney.
Huh.
That, that seems relevant.
That, that seems relevant.
So, yeah, it's a massive accusation that he's interfering with an FBI civil rights investigation.
Contacting the agents saying the case shouldn't go forward.
Big accusation.
Oh, it turns out he wasn't even a U.S.
attorney at the time.
Couldn't have happened.
So, I mean, there's basically two logical possibilities.
Either Hebert knew he was wrong, but made up this story anyway, in which case I personally wouldn't give him a particular ounce or two of credibility.
Or he thought he was 100% right in his accusations against Jeff Sessions, and it turned out he was 100% wrong, in which case everything else that he's 100% right about, hmm, It also means that he would, like, if you're going to accuse someone of something like this, and it's, you know, in the fair distant past, wouldn't you make a call?
Wouldn't you just find out if he was in fact a US attorney?
Wouldn't you just make sure that you were correct before publicly airing such accusations?
Oh, apparently not.
So was Hebert being purposefully dishonest or was he unintentionally mistaken?
I'm not sure it entirely matters, but I will leave that question circling you like a shark on a wounded fish.
Either way, Hebert completely constructed a non-existent conversation session supposedly had with various FBI agents, which calls his earlier testimony into significant question.
J. Gerald Hebert said, My testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee was in error.
My recollection on this matter has now been refreshed.
I have no knowledge that Mr. Sessions ever interfered with any voting investigations in the Southern District of Alabama.
I apologize for any inconvenience caused to Mr. Sessions or this committee by my prior testimony.
Boy, that inconvenience can last quite a long time now, can't it, if there's the leftist media intent on airbombing you with racism charges?
Author J. Christian Adams said, Hebert, the leading critic of the appointment of Senator Jeff Sessions as Attorney General, has a history of making things up about racial issues.
So much so, in fact, that a federal court imposed sanctions in one of Hebert's voting cases.
Patterns.
He said, "Hebert's exaggerations about racism in one federal court case, United States v. Jones, resulted in sanctions being imposed by a federal judge costing the United States taxpayer $86,626." So, yeah, Hebert, kinda calling Jeff Sessions "kinda racist," was sanctioned for exaggerating claims of racism.
Senior U.S.
Circuit Judge for the 9th Circuit Arthur J. Alarcon said, A properly conducted investigation would have quickly revealed that there was no basis for the claim that the defendants were guilty of purposeful discrimination against black voters.
Unfortunately, we cannot restore the reputation of the persons wrongfully branded by the United States as public officials who deliberately deprive their fellow citizens of their voting rights.
We also lack the power to remedy the damage done to race relations in Dallas County by the unfounded accusations of purposeful discrimination made by the United States.
We can only hope that in the future the decision-makers in the United States Department of Justice will be more sensitive to the impact on racial harmony that can result from the filing of a claim of purposeful discrimination.
Well, I guess Obama came in and fixed all of that.
Good thing too.
That could have been very dangerous.
Could have resulted in riots.
Could have resulted in neighborhoods being burnt down if they hadn't fixed this problem of unjust accusations of racism.
Boy, it could have been, it could have been bad.
I'm so glad we dodged that bullet.
Whoa, what, Dan, you say we didn't?
Okay, I'll go a bit.
Now what makes this situation with Hebert even more interesting is that he testified strongly in favor of Sessions during the same Senate hearings as a man of his word who was incredibly helpful to him and willing to cooperate with even unpopular Justice Department litigation.
Little confusing.
Little confusing.
On November 22nd, 2016, Hebert wrote an op-ed for the Washington Post claiming that, quote, his job was threatened if I said what I knew about Sessions and that his former colleague as Attorney General, quote, should make every American shudder.
End quote.
So yeah, he was a man of his word, very helpful, willing to cooperate.
I only said that because, anyway.
Unfortunately, Hebert didn't explain how Sessions could be blamed for him giving provably false testimony, which he both recanted and apologized for during the 1986 confirmation hearings, but I'm sure racism involved somehow.
The testimony of figures in Hebert being discredited, along with the untold positive testimonials from influential black legal professionals, did little to slow down the accusations.
And why would they?
They're politically motivated, not fact-based or reality-based.
Senator Edward Kennedy said, Mr. Sessions is a throwback to a shameful era, which I know both black and white Americans thought was in our past.
It is inconceivable to me that a person of this attitude is qualified to be a U.S.
attorney, let alone a U.S.
federal judge.
I just, I think of Senator Edward Kennedy, I think of him driving that car and I wish they'd had smartphones back then.
Not just because he could have made the call and most likely saved this young woman's life who died trapped like an animal in declining oxygen state, but if he had a smartphone he might have had it tuned to the news and Dan rather could have told him to make the call!
The nomination of Sessions floundered under the weight of these accusations and was eventually withdrawn by the Reagan White House.
Jeff Sessions said, The comments were filled with distortions and inaccuracies.
It was an attempt to create a caricature of me.
When I got to Washington, there had been an orchestrated campaign to smear my record, and it was executed with great care.
And I, frankly, was a babe in the woods and wasn't sufficiently prepared for it.
Ah yes, your first brush with the mainstream media.
Always exciting.
And at least one of the members of the 1986 Judiciary Committee has had second thoughts about the committee's rejection of Sessions.
Now, before we dive in, just remember This is a time when, of course, the desire to import people from non-European countries in order to have them vote.
Democrat was in full swing.
The demographics of America were being substantially altered with no prior approval or referendum on the part of the people.
Of course, when the 1965 immigration bill was brought in, it was promised it was not going to alter American demographics.
A lot of people didn't want this.
Blacks and whites and other Americans didn't want this.
And Jeff Sessions has always been pretty good on immigration.
Outside of Ann Coulter, he's about the strongest when it comes to controlling illegal immigration and perhaps even altering some statistics around legal immigration.
So yeah, this is just as important.
This is the battle that's going on, right?
Former Pennsylvania Senator Arlen Specter said, ah, Mr. Bond, no, he said, my 1986 vote against candidate Sessions for the federal court was a mistake because I have since found that Senator Sessions is egalitarian.
Jeff Sessions said, I was pleased the day before yesterday that Senator Specter volunteered all of that.
In, of all times he's been here, one vote he's regretted is a vote he cast against me.
That was gratifying.
Ah, Rosa Parks.
Now, the Rosa Parks situation is complicated.
We'll talk about this another time, but let's just go with the mainstream narrative for now.
On April 19th, 1999, Jeff Sessions successfully requested that Rosa Parks be awarded the Congressional Gold Medal, making a passionate call for the principle of equality under the law.
Ms Rosa Parks, a native of Tuskegee and a former resident of Montgomery whose dignity in the face of discrimination helped spark a movement to ensure that all citizens were treated equally under the law.
Equal treatment under the law is a fundamental pillar upon which our Republic rests.
As legislators, we should work to strengthen the appreciation for this fundamental governing principle by recognizing those who make extraordinary contributions towards ensuring that all American citizens have the opportunity, regardless of their race, sex, creed or national origin, to enjoy the freedoms that this country has to offer.
Through her efforts, Miss Parks has come to be a living embodiment of this principle, and it is entirely appropriate that this Congress takes this opportunity to acknowledge her contribution by authorizing the award of a Congressional Gold Medal to her.
Her courage, what we may call gumption, resulted in historic change.
Certainly there is much still to be done.
True equality, the total elimination of discrimination, and a real sense of ease and acceptance among the races has not yet been achieved.
But it is fair to say that in the history of this effort the most dramatic and productive chapter was ignited by the lady we seek to honour.
Approximately a year later, Jeff Sessions attached an amendment to an appropriations bill which provided a million dollars to the Rosa Parks Library in Alabama to memorialize the original Montgomery bus boycott.
On November 2nd, 2005, Sessions spoke in a powerful tribute to the recently deceased Rosa Parks on the floor of the U.S.
Senate.
It went like this.
Mr. President, I thank the Senator for his courtesy.
I know we had the opportunity a few moments earlier to discuss Rosa Parks as we viewed her casket.
It was indeed just a few hours ago, right down this hall, that Rosa Parks' body lay in honor in the Capitol Rotunda, the site where our nation pays its highest respects to our most noteworthy citizens.
She was the first woman ever to be so honored.
How is it possible that a seamstress born in Tuskegee, Alabama, who had never held elective office or any high political or military position, be so highly recognized?
Just six years ago, she was awarded the Congressional Gold Medal, which I was pleased to be a sponsor of in this Senate.
She was also awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
It is a story I would suggest that only divine providence could write.
The theological concept is well known, his power and authority being made manifest by lifting persons of apparent low estate to great heights.
Certainly the life of Rosa Parks produced an advancement of freedom, equality and progress.
These accomplishments rose from her steadfast courage and strength that she found from above.
As a result, she fulfilled her calling.
And she met her challenge on that afternoon, when she came home weary from work, with dignity and integrity.
I was not yet 10 years old when these events happened in Montgomery, Alabama, 85 miles north of my home in rural Alabama.
We did not even have a television set that year.
We got one a few years later.
I have a recollection of the events, the boycott of 382 days, and some understanding and recollection of the momentous court decisions that resulted.
Make no mistake, the races in the South in the 1950s were, for the most part, openly and legally separate.
That is the way it was.
Although the mantra was separate but equal, the reality was separate and unequal.
Mr. Pryor says, Mr. President, I join Arkansas in mourning the loss of Rosa Parks, known throughout the nation as the mother of the freedom movement.
As people line up to pay their respects to Mrs. Parks in the Capitol Rotunda today, I cannot help but remember the incredible impact she had on our nation.
Rosa Parks is the first woman to lie in the Capitol Rotunda, which is a testament that her actions are just as significant today as they were in 1955.
Mrs. Parks once remarked that her show of defiance to move to the back of the bus was simply because she was tired of being humiliated.
Tired of following archaic rules forbidding her from sitting in the front of a public bus or entering public buildings through the front door.
But history will remember Rosa Parks for shaking America's conscience and changing the course of our nation for the better.
Mrs. Parks' courage to sit down for equal rights ignited others to stand up for theirs.
Reverend Martin Luther King Jr.
stood up to call for equality and justice for all Americans, inspiring and organizing thousands of activists to stand up with him.
Four students in Greensboro, North Carolina, sat in at a Woolworth's lunch counter, standing up for their right to be served.
And Daisy Bates led the Little Rock Nine to stand up for their right to an equal education.
THE LITTLE ROCK NINE TAUGHT AMERICA THAT SEPARATE WAS NOT EQUAL.
Nine black students—Ernest Green, Elizabeth Eckford, Gloria Rae Kallmark, Carlotta Walls, Lanier, Minnijean Brown-Trickey, Terrence Roberts, Jefferson Thomas, Thelma Mothershed Ware, and Melba Patilio-Biltz—defied hatred and threats to attend the all-white Central High School for a better education.
Of Rosa Parks' battle for equality, Minnijean Brown Tricky said, I don't think, until the bus boycott, we had a sense of our power.
The general feeling was, if she could do it, we could do it.
She was really a heroine to us.
She was an extraordinary woman.
And we were ordinary kids.
And it seems we had a relationship.
As a former student of Central High, I can attest to the influence Rosa Parks and the Little Rock Nine continue to have in the hallways today.
We know that Rosa Parks' inspiring story lives on in the pages of every history textbook across America.
Her legacy also endures at the Rosa and Raymond Parks Institute for Self-Development, which she founded in Detroit.
The center offers career training and encourages teens to stay in school and take advantage of the opportunities available to them.
I am just one of millions of Americans who admired Rosa Parks' tenacity and life's work.
She earned countless accolades and awards for her efforts in the civil rights movement, including the Congressional Gold Medal Award, the nation's highest civilian honor.
In honoring Mrs. Parks with the Medal of Freedom, President Clinton reminded us that, Freedom's work is never done.
There are still people who are discriminated against.
There are still people that because of their human condition are looked down on, derided, degraded, demeaned.
And we should all remember the powerful example of this one citizen and of those of us with greater authority and power should attempt every day in every way to follow her lead.
Although Rosa Parks served as a catalyst to get the wheels turning in the civil rights movement, our journey is not completed.
We can honor her memory by continuing her work to stand up for equality and justice for all Americans.
Still, this was the reality of more than 100 years of history.
Change was not favored.
It had been and would be resisted.
Of course, while the South was open and notorious about its segregation policies, research in recent years has shown that there were places all over this great land that secretly or overtly discriminated against those of African descent.
But in the South, discrimination was not only openly acknowledged, it was the law of the land.
The fact was that in Montgomery, Alabama, on December 1st, 1955, it was the law of the city of Montgomery that colored persons on city buses must sit in the back.
As one who loves and admires his home state and her people, I believe they're an unfiner.
This is painful to acknowledge.
But facing the painful truth is essential for reconciliation and progress.
So on December 1, 1955, Rosa Parks refused to go to the back of the bus, a city bus, in violation of city law.
And it sparked, and sparked is the right word, a nationwide confrontation, a confrontation between our American ideals and our religious concepts and the grim reality of that day.
Southerners were angry, embarrassed, resistant, introspective, hostile, and pained.
They watched, much like I did in Heibert, the drama unfold.
And they were forced to deal with an ugly reality they would rather have ignored.
Rosa Parks' gumption resulted in a 382-day boycott of the city bus system led by a young 26-year-old preacher new to town at Dexter Avenue Baptist Church, a block from the Capitol, a Capitol building proudly known as the first Capitol of the Confederacy.
That young preacher, of course, was Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
And there was a young attorney, Mr. Fred Gray, who had come back to Alabama after receiving his degree from Case Western Reserve University, determined to, quote, become a lawyer, return to Alabama, and destroy everything segregated if I could find.
He would become a legend in his own right, being a part of some of the most historic cases in civil rights and American history.
The young federal trial judge and Eisenhower appointee, Judge Frank M. Johnson, would become perhaps the most courageous, clear, and authoritative judicial voice for equal justice in America.
And the lawyer who argued the case for Rosa Parks in the U.S.
Supreme Court, Thurgood Marshall, who would later sit on that very court, The very words, the back of the bus, went to the heart of the problem.
Separate was not equal.
It was not fair.
It was discriminatory against a class of Americans solely because of the color of their skin.
I knew Judge Frank Johnson.
He was courageous and followed the law.
He did not believe he was an activist.
He did not believe he was amending the Constitution.
Judge Johnson believed he was simply being faithful to the plain words of the Constitution.
Words that guaranteed everyone equal protection of the laws.
Sending someone to the back of the bus because of the color of their skin violated that principle he ruled and the Supreme Court agreed.
This Simple act by a courageous woman, a seamstress, but one who was well aware of the danger she faced at 42 years of age, sparked the Civil Rights Movement and justly earned her the title Mother of the Civil Rights Movement.
Today, in Montgomery, Alabama, there exists a museum, part of Troy State University, that sits on the spot where she was arrested.
It has a school bus, like the one she rode that day, which has interactive capabilities so that children can sit in it and get a better feel for the events of the day.
It has more exhibits, and I commend this fine historical museum to any who would want to learn more of Rosa Parks and the movement she sparked.
I was pleased to sponsor legislation that this Congress passed to provide funds to help establish the museum.
While there are many problems between the races today, the jury, the statutes and ordinances that enforced segregation are gone.
And I am proud that the people of Montgomery have come to see the positive benefits of ending discrimination, and that they have chosen to honor Mrs. Parks in this way.
Everyone knows, virtually everyone.
That as a result of the movement she sparked, today's Montgomery is a different and better place.
Today we also look with pride on the historic Dexter Avenue Baptist Church that once heard the powerful sermons of a young Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
And we look with respect on the Civil Rights Memorial, a striking monument of black granite and cascading water which honors those who gave their lives in the pursuit of equal justice.
Thus, it is true.
Ms.
Park's efforts helped spark the dynamic social changes that have made it possible for positive and historical change for Montgomery, Alabama, and America.
But in fact, Ms.
Park's contributions extend beyond even the borders of our nation.
In his book, Bus Ride to Justice, Mr. Fred Gray, who gained fame while in his twenties as Ms.
Park's attorney, and as one of the early African-American attorneys in Alabama, he was a lead attorney in many of Alabama's other famous civil rights cases, wrote, and I do not believe it is an exaggeration, these words.
Little did we know that we had set in motion a force that would ripple through Alabama, the South, and the nation, and even the world.
But from the vantage point of almost 40 years later, there is a direct correlation between what we started in Montgomery and what has subsequently happened in China, Eastern Europe, South Africa, and even more recently in Russia.
While it is inaccurate to say we all sat down and deliberately planned a movement that would echo and reverberate around the world, we did work around the clock, planning strategy and creating an atmosphere that gave strength, courage, faith and hope to people of all races, creeds, colors and religions around the world.
And it all started on a bus in Montgomery, Alabama, with Rosa Parks, on December 1st, 1955.
For her courage, For her role in changing Alabama, the South, the nation, and the world, for the better.
Our nation owes a great debt of thanks to Rosa Parks.
Placing her body in our capitol's rotunda, lying in honor, the first woman who has ever been so honored, is a fitting recognition of her towering achievement.
And, as I conclude, I think it is important to note the recent death of another Alabamian who played a key role in the early civil rights movement in Alabama, Vivian Malone, who crossed the schoolhouse door into the University of Alabama.
We must also celebrate that very special event that occurred two weekends ago when another native Alabamian, the Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, returned to Alabama, visited her family's church, and unveiled the statues of the four little girls, one of whom she knew and played with, who were killed in a bomb attack at the 16th Street Baptist Church.
It was also good, earlier today, to stand and discuss Rosa Parks' life with Alabama native and U.S.
Congressman John Lewis, who, inspired by Rosa Parks, began a lifetime of leadership in the civil rights movement, culminating in his election to Congress.
Alabama has the highest number of African-American elected officials of any state in the country.
We are proud of that.
Progress has certainly been made, but we must work harder to ease divisions and tensions and promote progress.
Let us so pledge on this historic day.
Let us allow the steadfastness and peacefulness of Rosa Parks' life, which started the civil rights movement on the basis of faith and morality, not violence, to be our guide in this century as we seek to further the gains she championed.
And that, my friends, is not what we call a racist.
On December 20, 2012, Jeff Sessions issued the following remarks after passing a bipartisan Senate resolution to commemorate the 100th anniversary of Rosa Parks' birth.
With this resolution, we honor one of Alabama's most remarkable citizens, Mrs. Rosa Parks.
Fifty-seven years ago, Mrs. Parks sparked the civil rights movement when she refused to give up her seat on a bus.
Her courage ignited major changes in our nation and led a revolution in race relations.
Mrs. Pox will always be remembered as a courageous individual who confronted injustice head-on and in so doing changed our nation.
her legacy continues to endure.
Ah, the LGBT conference. - Thanks.
In 1996, Sessions was involved in a controversy related to a public university hosting the Southeastern Lesbian Gay Bisexual College Conference in violation of Alabama state law.
Until a Supreme Court ruling in 2003, sodomy, anal sex, was illegal in 14 states, including Alabama.
In 1992, Alabama passed a state law which made it illegal for public universities to fund, in any way, a group that promotes, quote, actions prohibited by the sodomy and sexual misconduct laws.
Now, again, this is forcing taxpayers, of course a lot of Christians in Alabama, forcing taxpayers to fund a viewpoint that they find objectionable.
It's not that you can't do it on your own, you can't do it in your own venue, but you can't use taxpayer dollars to fund Particular viewpoints that are objectionable to the majority, at least significant majority, of the taxpayers in Alabama.
That's the law.
Again, agree or disagree, that's the law.
We don't want people in charge of the law to be playing selective prosecution, right?
I mean, the law is the law.
If you want to change the law, change the law.
But you can't just say, well, we'll do this, we won't do that, we'll do this, we won't do that.
That's not really the option.
That's not what you want in a lawmaker.
Because it's open to manipulation of every single kind.
So if you have a law that says public universities can't host events that encourage illegal actions, that advocate for violations of the law, publicly funding something that is illegal, that's illegal, publicly funding something illegal is a challenge, right?
So what was he supposed to do?
As Alabama's Attorney General, Sessions naturally became involved in the dispute but initially was hesitant to take any legal action, he said.
This is a matter that the University and Board of Trustees need to deal with.
University officials say they're going to try to obey the law.
I don't see how it can be done without cancelling this conference.
The conference organizers filed a lawsuit, and the U.S.
District Court ruled against the state law as a violation of the First Amendment.
Sessions vowed to appeal the decision, arguing that, quote, the state of Alabama will experience irreparable harm by funding a conference and activities in violation of state law.
The government is being forced to fund, the taxpayers are being forced to fund something that advocates illegality.
It doesn't seem... Agree or disagree?
You understand the challenge?
Can you just pretend the law doesn't exist?
Is that what you want from an Attorney General?
Alabama Attorney General Jeff Sessions said, I intend to do everything I can to stop that conference.
The legislature gave serious thought to trying to craft a statute that passed muster, and I believe that my responsibility is to defend the laws of the legislature.
And he's right.
That is his responsibility as Attorney General.
Agree or disagree, right?
You know, hate the game, not the player, right?
Ultimately, the conference happened as planned, with taxpayer money contributing to a group which advocated something which was illegal within the state itself.
Conference organizer Kathy Lopez-Wessel said, quote, It was probably better attended than it would have been, so in some ways what they did backfired.
What really struck me was that this seemed clearly to be about free speech and peaceable assembly.
I feel like Jeff Sessions used the full power of his office position to deny a student group the right to have a conference.
Huh.
I wonder if these same people are outraged at the challenges that conservative groups in universities have getting someone like Milo Yiannopoulos to safely come and speak.
I wonder if they're outraged about that too.
Even though he does not advocate anything that is illegal.
As Attorney General of Alabama, Sessions was responsible for enforcing the law.
The situation has been used to paint Sessions as an irrational bigot, but it was simply about fulfilling his duty and obligations as Attorney General.
Like most strong Christians, Sessions opposed the Supreme Court's 2015 decision legalizing gay marriage and described it as an, quote, effort to secularize by force and intimidation, end quote.
Now, again, this is important to remember that why is the government involved in marriage at all?
Why is there such a thing as a marriage license?
Well, marriage licenses were invented by the Democrats to prevent miscegenation, to prevent blacks and whites from marrying, to be able to disallow marriages they disapproved of.
The government shouldn't have anything to do with marriage.
It's a contract between two individuals.
Anyway, so in his recent confirmation hearing sessions was asked how his previous opposition
to same-sex marriage would impact his ability to enforce the law and he said Supreme Court has ruled on that the dissents dissented vigorously but it was five to four and five justices on the Supreme Court the majority of the court has established the definition of marriage for the entire United States of America and I will follow that decision so he's following the law and is going to respect the United States Supreme Court decision legalizing gay marriage He's following the law.
No, no one's complaining about that because it's what they want.
When he follows the law and it's what they want on the left, it's fine.
When he follows the law and it's not what the left wants, well, he's a bigot, right?
So boring.
Opponents have also jumped on sessions for voting against measures expanding hate crime legislation to include sexual orientation in both 2000 and 2009.
Now, hate crimes as a whole, eh, another time.
Jeff Sessions, out of context, said, Today, I'm not sure women or people with different sexual orientations face that kind of discrimination.
I just don't see it.
Of course, people say, Well, are you saying there's no discrimination whatsoever?
Using an out-of-context quote, ignoring his arguments, the media portrays Sessions as an out-of-touch old man who doesn't care about LGBT people being assaulted.
Zoom out a little.
Get the whole context.
Always beware of individual snippets.
Jeff Sessions said, If you can show that there is statistical research that indicates that a serious problem exists in this country, I'm willing to talk about it.
It did exist in the South throughout much of our history, and we have that Civil Rights Act that allowed that to happen.
It was justified, as I said in my opening statement, because the facts justified that.
You know, the discrimination.
African Americans couldn't go to certain schools.
They couldn't use certain restrooms.
There were other kinds of routine biases against them.
Out of that was why this bill passed.
But today, I am not sure women or people with different sexual orientations face that kind of discrimination.
I just don't see it.
You see?
You see?
Actually, some blacks dislike other groups jumping on the black experience to claim similar kinds of discrimination.
But no, I mean, lesbians and gays, they're not banned from using certain restrooms.
In fact, quite the opposite.
Gays and lesbians are not prevented from going to certain schools.
They're not deprived of voting rights.
So he's just saying it's not the same.
It's not the same.
He went on to say, so I believe that if they are harassed or discriminated against unfairly, we probably have the laws.
I believe we have the laws to fix it.
So what the question would be Is this one necessary?
I'm not sure that it is.
Matter of fact, I don't think that it is, based on what I know.
This is simply the standard conservative and libertarian position on adding additional hate crime laws.
It's not specifically anti-LGBT in any way, shape, or form.
So Sessions' argument is something like this.
The civil rights laws were an extraordinary federal response to serious misconduct by state and local governments.
And the federal government has less justification in intervening in state and local governments if they're not acting badly in the same way.
And if you want to see Sessions make his case against federal hate crime laws as a whole, you can check out his floor speech on July 20th, 2009.
It's an educational pushback on the expansion of government power known as new hate crime laws.
Sessions has also been smeared for co-sponsoring, quote, the First Amendment Defense Act, which opponents have dubbed a right to discriminate.
The purpose of the bill is to allow free association, which doesn't sound nearly as terrible as a right to discriminate.
The bill provides that the federal government quote shall not take any discriminatory action against a person wholly or partially on the basis that such person believes or acts in accordance with a religious belief or moral conviction that marriage is or should be recognized as the union of one man and one woman or that sexual relations are properly reserved to such a marriage.
So you could actually just call this, You Can't Force the Conservative Christian Bakery to Bake a Gay Wedding Cake Act.
And, um, I don't know.
I mean, if you're a conservative, go try and get a job in the mainstream media, in sort of the left-wing media.
I mean, in general, they won't hire you.
The vast majority of them are liberals, vote to the left, Democrats and so on.
So they discriminate all the time.
And they won't even hire people who don't follow their particular beliefs.
So it just seems kind of strange for me as a whole.
You should not be forced to provide services to people you find objectionable.
In the lawsuit, Barber v. Bryant, religious leaders claim that Mississippi violates their right to freedom of religion.
Quote, Because persons who hold contrary religious beliefs are unprotected, the state has put its thumb on the scale to favor some religious beliefs over others.
Donald Trump said, if I am elected president and Congress passes the First Amendment Defense Act, I will sign it to protect the deeply held religious beliefs of Catholics and the beliefs of Americans of all faiths.
So this public smearing tactic, we have to push back against it.
We have to push back against it.
We need to have rational discourse about the way society is going to move forward and these smears are the exact opposite of that.
Smears are not an argument.
And as long as we allow the media to portray these kinds of horrible untruths about people, we are forever going to be bouncing back in emotional reactivity rather than coming forward with reason and evidence.
This escalates, this divides, this can have the very potential to tear the country apart, to divide it into two camps, one of whom views the other as evil and the other of whom is kind of confused, but beginning to wake up.
So I think that's very important to understand.
One of the reasons why I do these untruths is because I do want people to be able to make clear decisions based upon clear information.
And you have to clear the fog before you can navigate.
So I hope that these are helpful to you.
They're certainly helpful to me in clarifying how I see particular public figures and how I see the mainstream media as a whole.
So if you find these helpful, please, please go to freedomainradio.com slash donate to help me to continue to bring this kind of information to the world as a whole.
And I hope that you will have a better view of how to judge people with this kind of context.
This is Stephan Molyneux for Free Domain Radio.
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