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Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced tougher guidelines for prosecutions and sentencing in federal cases, reversing policies undertaken under President Barack Obama.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions recently charged federal prosecutors with taking a more aggressive approach to charging defendants, including seeking mandatory minimum sentences.

The guidelines, signed on May 10, 2017, moved in a very different direction from what the Department of Justice had been doing under President Barack Obama.

Under Obama, the department focused on prosecuting the most serious criminals and finding ways to keep minor or low-level offenders from serving long, mandatory sentences.

During a May 18 floor speech, Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., made clear that he thought Sessions new guidelines were ill-advised.

"Thanks in part to this initiative, President Obama became the first president since (Jimmy) Carter to leave the White House with a smaller federal prison population than when he took office," Schumer said.

We wondered if that comparison was correct.

When we checked with Schumers office, a spokesman pointed us to research by the Pew Research Center, a widely trusted independent source.

Pew looked at federal Bureau of Prisons data going back to the 1920s and produced this graph showing a sharply increasing federal prison population between about 1980 and 2010.

The graph shows that not only was Obama the first president to see a drop in the federal prison population since Carter, but that only four other presidents (Johnson, Kennedy, Truman and Hoover) oversaw a decline on their watch. Most of the presidents studied -- nine, starting with Coolidge and ending with George W. Bush -- oversaw inmate increases on their watch.

We wondered whether Schumer was cherry-picking data from the much smaller pool of federal inmates. In 2015, the number of inmates in state-run prisons was almost seven times larger than the number of federal inmates, and the total number of inmates in state and local facilities was more than than 10 times larger than the number in federal custody.

However, we found that the same trends held for state and local inmate populations -- the number declined under Obama for the first time since at least the Carter years.

Here are the trend lines for state inmates (dark blue) and local inmates (lighter blue), which we compiled from federal prison statistics:

Meanwhile, a credible argument can be made that Obamas policies made a difference in driving the decline.

As weve reported, Obama signed the Fair Sentencing Act of 2010 into law. It dramatically reduced a 100-to-1 sentencing disparity between powder and crack cocaine. And his administration advocated for, and the U.S. Sentencing Commission approved, the retroactive application of some of the new sentencing guidelines.

Ironically, Sessions was among a number of Senate Republicans who spoke in favor of the Fair Sentencing Act of 2010. "I will not favor alterations that massively undercut the sentencing we have in place, but I definitely believe that the current system is not fair and that we are not able to defend the sentences that are required to be imposed under the law today," he said in a 2009 Senate speech about the bill.

James Alan Fox, a criminologist at Northeastern University, said he sees no significant omissions from Schumers statement. "The assertion is correct," Fox said. "The reasons are partly strategic and partly being in the right office at the right time.

"During Obama's administration, prosecutors were discouraged from seeking unnecessarily long prison sentences for non-violent drug offenders, a practice that the Trump administration wants to change. In addition, the cumulative impact of a declining crime rate had an impact on prison populations."

Our ruling

Schumer said, "President Obama became the first president since Carter to leave the White House with a smaller federal prison population than when he took office."

The statistics bear out Schumers assertion, so we rate it True.

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2017-05-18 21:30:43 UTC

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"President Obama became the first president since Carter to leave the White House with a smaller federal prison population than when he took office."

Charles Schumer

Senate Minority Leader

a Senate floor speech

Thursday, May 18, 2017

2017-05-18

More:
Did federal inmate population drop under Obama for first time since Carter? - PolitiFact

In a twist that should come as a surprise to no one, it turns out Barack Obamas stellar sense of style the one hes been unknowingly using to tug at our heart strings for months has been waiting to emerge for quite some time.

A new story in People Magazine about the Obamas lives since leaving the White House offers revelations about the former presidents seemingly recent passion for fashion, including one of his more buzzed about staples: The brown leather jacket. As it turns out, theres nothing new about it at all.

Associated Press

Hes had that jacket for quite some time, Anita Decker Breckinridge, Obamas chief of staff told the mag.He really likes that jacket. People think he looks good in the jacket. Hes had it for a long time. I just dont think hes had the opportunity to wear it. When does the President ever get to go out in his leather jacket? Its not something we see.

Its true that Obama has really taken the bull by the well-dressed horns in the past few months, whether in bomber jackets or unbuttoned shirts. But with this new development, we cant help but picture the former president staring longingly at the jacket during his tenure in office, waiting for the glorious day hed get to wear it freely while still looking like (and being) a total boss.

Anyone else excited to see what sartorial blessings Obama is sure to bestow upon us this summer?

Head to People to see the entire story.

Go here to see the original:
Barack Obama's Leather Jacket Has Been Hiding In His Closet This Whole Time - HuffPost

Sadly, the alleged Obama quote about Trump we're reporting on today is not, simply, "Fuck that guy." But it's pretty close. According to People, former POTUS Barack Obama told "two friends" shortly after the election how he really felt about the Home Alone 2: Lost in New York ruiner who's currently occupying the White House.

"He's nothing but a bullshitter," Obama reportedly told the friends last November when discussing an election night phone conversation he had with Trump. As for how Obama's views of a POTUS who can't even spell basic words correctly on Twitter have changed in the months since that alleged quote, People's sources have some clarity. "Well," one said, "it hasn't gotten any better."

The "bullshitter" distinction is obviously apt, especially when considering all the absolute drivel Trump has (publicly, mind you) hurled at Obama.For years, Trump attempted to discredit Obama by questioning the legitimacy of his birth certificate. Despite Obama's publication of his birth certificate in 2011, Trump continued to press the non-issue in interviews and, of course, on Twitter:

For the bullshitter-in-chief's latest delivery of bullshit, America was burdened with some early morning whining about the investigation into alleged ties between Russian officials and the Trump team.This week, the Justice Department appointed a special counsel (i.e. not"councel"). Predictably, Trump responded by tweeting claims about Obama and Clinton that he didn't bother backing up with evidence:

Follow this link:
Apparently This Is How Obama Really Feels About Trump - Complex

Getty Images

BY: Elizabeth Harrington May 18, 2017 3:33 pm

Former President Barack Obama's travel cost taxpayers roughly $100 million in his two terms in office, according to Judicial Watch.

The conservative foundation recently received additional Freedom of Information Act records of Obama and his family travel that shows a total of $99,714,527.82.

The Secret Service and Air Force records show Obama's spring break trip to Key Largo in 2014 cost over $1.1 million alone. The Obama's stayed at the "exclusive" Ocean Reef Club, a private social club that offers lavish luxury rentals.

The former first lady also cost taxpayers $121,876 for an Aspen vacation in February 2015. Michelle Obama once spent more than $600,000 for a one-night stay in Morocco.

The former first family also spent over $2.5 million to travel to Honolulu for Christmas vacation just before leaving office.

Judicial Watch is still keeping tabs on the Obama's taxpayer-funded travels, such as a vacation on David Geffin's luxury yacht in Tahiti with Tom Hanks and Oprah, as the first family still receives Secret Service protection.

The watchdog group announced Wednesday it has filed a FOIA lawsuit against the Department of Homeland Security for records relating to Obama's taxpayer-funded travel since he has left office.

"For eight long years, the Obamas spent our tax dollars for a lavish jet-setting lifestyle," said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton. "Many in the media would only focus on President Trump's travel, but Barack Obama continues to cost taxpayers with his luxury travel and we aim to get the facts."

Here is the original post:
Obama Travel Cost Taxpayers $100 Million - Washington Free Beacon

Two former senior administration officials said it was retired Army Gen. Michael Flynn, Trump's former national security adviser, who rejected such a move, telling the Obama team that the Trump team first wanted to conduct its own review of an ISIS strategy.

One former US defense official explained to CNN the Obama administration offered to green light arming the Kurds during the transition in order to spare Trump the fallout with Ankara. At the time, this official had the impression Trump's people vetoed it because they wanted to do their own strategic review. The official did not speak to Flynn's role in this.

Prior to Flynn making this decision, the Flynn Intel Group received $530,000 in payments from a Turkish-owned company based in the Netherlands and in March registered as a foreign agent with the Justice Department, acknowledging that the work may have benefited the Turkish government, according to foreign agent registration paperwork filed with the department.

Flynn's firm was not compensated directly by the Turkish government. Flynn Intel had a contract with a Dutch firm, Inovo BV, a Dutch firm owned by a prominent Turkish businessman Kamil Ekim Alptekin.

Alptekin, the chair of the semi-official Turkish-American Business Council helped organize Turkish President Recep Erdogan's 2015 visit to Washington. In an email to CNN, Alptekin said that his firm works to strengthen "the transatlantic relationship and Turkey's future in that alliance."

The decision to arm Syrian Kurds was something even the Obama administration struggled with in order to save the fragile US-Turkey relationship. Two Kurdish allies of the US -- the YPG and the Syrian Democratic Forces -- are enemies of Turkey.

The Pentagon finally announced last week that Trump had authorized the limited arming of Syrian Kurds to help in the fight against ISIS in Raqqa, despite strong opposition from US NATO ally Turkey.

A current senior defense official told CNN there was no delay in the military planning or operations to isolate Raqqa and continue to train local fighters. The official did not speak to Flynn's actions.

View original post here:
Flynn rejected Obama's offer to arm Syrian Kurds, something Turkey would oppose - CNN