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Justice Department Keeps For-Profit Prisons, Scrapping an Obama Plan New York Times WASHINGTON The Justice Department said Thursday that it would continue to use private, for-profit prisons to house thousands of federal inmates, scrapping an Obama administration plan to phase them out because of problems. It was the second time in ...

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Justice Department Keeps For-Profit Prisons, Scrapping an Obama Plan - New York Times

Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner said Thursday that Illinois should take a day each year to honor former Democratic President Barack Obama, but it shouldn't come with a day off work.

Rauner's comments came in response to a bill that would designate Aug. 4, Obama's birthday, as a state holiday. The measure seeks to put the first African-American president among the ranks of Martin Luther King Jr. and Abraham Lincoln, who also have state holidays in their names. State government is closed for business on state holidays.

"It's incredibly proud for Illinois that the president came from Illinois. I think it's awesome, and I think we should celebrate it," Rauner said when asked about the measure by a reporter at an unrelated event. "I don't think it should be a formal holiday with paid, forced time off, but I think it should be a day of acknowledgment and celebration."

In line with Rauner's view, a Senate bill would designate Aug. 4 as Barack Obama Day but it would be a commemorative day instead of a state holiday.

Rauner is embroiled in a long-running contract dispute with the largest state employee union over issues including when overtime kicks in and health insurance costs. The union announced Thursday that it had authorized a strike vote, though the labor group also stressed that it first prefers to pursue all other options.

Other proposals to honor the former president and his influence in Illinois have surfaced in the General Assembly. One plan would label the stretch of Interstate 55 from the Tri-State Tollway to East St. Louis the "Barack Obama Presidential Expressway." A separate measure would dub the Tri-State the "President Barack Obama Tollway."

hbemiller@chicagotribune.com

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Rauner: OK on Obama Day, but no one gets to skip work - Chicago Tribune

The Trump administration has reversed federal guidance that directed public schools to allow students to use the restrooms and locker rooms that corresponded to their gender identities. Sara D. Davis/Getty Images hide caption

The Trump administration has reversed federal guidance that directed public schools to allow students to use the restrooms and locker rooms that corresponded to their gender identities.

The Trump administration is rescinding protections for transgender students in public schools.

The move by the Justice and Education departments reverses guidance the Obama administration publicized in May 2016, which said a federal law known as Title IX protects the right of transgender students to use restrooms and locker rooms that match their gender identities.

But on Wednesday, the two federal departments said the Obama documents do not "contain extensive legal analysis or explain how the position is consistent with the express language of Title IX, nor did they undergo any formal public process. This interpretation has given rise to significant litigation regarding school restrooms and locker rooms."

A letter issued by the departments also says there "must be due regard for the primary role of states and local school districts in establishing educational policy."

"The president has made it clear throughout the campaign that he's a firm believer in states' rights and that certain issues like this are not best dealt with at the federal level," said White House spokesman Sean Spicer.

About 150,000 young people ages 13 to 17 identify as transgender, according to the Williams Institute at the UCLA School of Law.

Civil rights groups say they worry that the reversal could lead to bullying and violence against vulnerable transgender kids. Some protested outside the White House on Wednesday evening.

When then-President Barack Obama issued the guidelines last year, the White House directed schools to allow students to use the restrooms and locker rooms that match their gender identities, citing a federal law that protects students from gender discrimination.

As NPR's Scott Horsley reported, the Obama administration "warned that schools that defied the recommendation could be at risk of losing federal funds. Thirteen states challenged the Obama guidelines, and a Texas judge put them on hold."

That administration said the directive was meant to help school districts avoid running afoul of civil rights laws, as we reported.

Under Obama, the Department of Justice sued the state of North Carolina over its so-called bathroom law, which prohibits municipal governments in the state from passing laws protecting the rights of transgender people. It also requires trans people in government facilities to use the bathroom corresponding to the sex on their birth certificate.

North Carolina has lost business over the law, including NCAA championship events that were scheduled to be held in the state.

State legislatures in New Hampshire, Colorado and Texas, among other states, have also considered bills that would restrict access to restrooms for transgender people.

On March 28, the Supreme Court is scheduled to hear oral arguments in a lawsuit filed by a high school student in Virginia. As NPR's Nina Totenberg has reported:

"Gavin Grimm, a 17-year-old senior in Gloucester County, [Va.] ... came out as transgender when he was a freshman in high school. The school principal allowed him to use the boys' bathroom, until some parents complained, and the school board adopted a policy that required students to use the bathroom that corresponds with their biological sex, or a separate single-stall restroom office."

Grimm sued the school board. His lawsuit argues the bathroom policy is unconstitutional under the 14th Amendment and violates Title IX of the U.S. Education Amendments of 1972, which prohibits sex discrimination by schools.

In April, the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals allowed the case to proceed. In August, the Supreme Court ruled 5-3 that the school board did not have to allow Grimm to use the restroom of his choice in the interim.

Justice Stephen Breyer said he voted to stay the lower court order as a "courtesy" to maintain the status quo while the court considered whether to hear the lawsuit, as The Two-Way reported.

Wednesday's documents say the Trump administration will "more completely consider the legal issues involved" in the Obama rules and in litigation "will not rely on the views expressed within them."

The American Civil Liberties Union's James Esseks says in a statement:

"While it's disappointing to see the Trump administration revoke the guidance, the administration cannot change what Title IX means. When it decided to hear Gavin Grimm's case, the Supreme Court said it would decide which interpretation of Title IX is correct, without taking any administration's guidance into consideration. We're confident that that the law is on Gavin's side and he will prevail just as he did in the Fourth Circuit."

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Trump Administration Rescinds Obama Rule On Transgender Students' Bathroom Use - NPR

A group of voters in France is urging former President Obama to run in the French presidential election this spring.

At a time when France is about to vote massively for the extreme right, we can still give a lesson of democracy to the planet by electing a French President, a foreigner, the French website for OBAMA17 reads, ABC Newsfirst reported on Thursday.

"[Its] because he has the best resume in the world, the site, which is not connected with Obama, continues.

The group is jockeying for 1 million signatures, even though Obama is not French and France requires its presidential candidates to be natives.

We started dreaming about this idea two months before the end of Obamas presidency, an OBAMA17 spokesman told ABC. "We dreamed about this possibility to vote for someone we really admire, someone who could lead us to project ourselves in a bright future."

Then, we thought, whether its possible or not, whether or not he is French, we have to do this for real, to give French people hope Vive la Republique, Vive Obama, Vive la France and the U.S.A.

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French fans to Obama: Run for president here - The Hill

Michelle Obama signed an autograph after giving a campaign speech for Barack Obama in Milwaukee on Feb. 18, 2008, before her husband was elected president. (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)

Milwaukee County Sheriff David A. Clarke Jr., a big enough supporter of President Donald Trump that he has been mentioned for a role in the administration, has been a frequent basher of former President Barack Obama.

On Feb. 17, 2017, he turned to attacking the former first lady.

"Michelle Obama said she was never proud of her country til they elected her husband POTUS," Clarke charged on Twitter: "I've never been prouder since we got rid of him."

With the tweet was a photo of Clarke, who is being encouraged by some to run against U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., in 2018. Flexing his biceps, Clarke is shown wearing a T-shirt with an image of Trump standing on a tank and holding a rifle.

During Obamas first presidential campaign, Obama did take some flack for remarks she made in Wisconsin about being proud of her country.

Lets see whether Clarke is accurately describing what she said.

Two Wisconsin speeches

Obama campaigned for her husband in Milwaukee and Madison on Feb. 18, 2008, the day before Wisconsins primary. He had won eight consecutive Democratic primaries and caucuses over Hillary Clinton.

In Milwaukee, Michelle Obama said:

People in this country are ready for change and hungry for a different kind of politics and for the first time in my adult life I am proud of my country because it feels like hope is finally making a comeback.

But remarks she made later in Madison were the ones that gained widespread media attention. Several minutes into her speech, Obama noted her husbands primary victory in South Carolina and continued by saying:

And then he went on to win throughout the country. And whens the last time weve seen a candidate -- male, female, whatever party -- who has been able to pull together victories that included Utah and Idaho and Louisiana and Maine and Washington and Illinois. I dont think weve seen that. But what weve learned over this year is that hope is making a comeback. It is making a comeback and let me tell you something: For the first time in my adult lifetime, Im really proud of my country and not just because Barack has done well, but because I think people are hungry for change. And I have been desperate to see our country moving in that direction and just not feeling so alone in my frustration and disappointment. Ive seen people who are hungry to be unified around some basic common issues and its made me proud.

So, Obamas remark was made before her husband had won the Democratic nomination and nine months before was elected president.

And Obama said she was proud because Americans were hungry for change, not just because her husband was winning.

But her statement was controversial.

Asked the day after the Wisconsin primary, which her husband won, if she wanted to clarify her remarks, Obama said:

What I was clearly talking about was that I'm proud in how Americans are engaging in the political process. For the first time in my lifetime, I'm seeing people rolling up their sleeves in a way that I haven't seen and really trying to figure this out -- and that's the source of pride that I was talking about.

Bill Kristol, editor-at-large of the conservative Weekly Standard magazine, said at the time that Obamas original comment "was sort of revealing," adding:

She was an adult when we won the Cold War without firing a shot. She was an adult for the last 25 years of economic progress, social progress .I dont think the American people think on the whole that the last 25 years of American history is a narrative of despair and nothing to be proud of.

CNN included the key part of Obamas remark -- "For the first time in my adult lifetime, I'm really proud of my country, and not just because Barack has done well, but because I think people are hungry for change" -- in a documentary on her that aired in January 2017. That clip was followed by David Axelrod, a former senior adviser to President Obama, saying:

Those kinds of moments gave you a heartburn. By the same token, it became clear to me very quickly that we had failed her, because we threw her out there without adequate staffing, without adequate preparation.

For his part, Clarke didnt provide us any information to back his claim. The sheriffs office spokeswoman told us the sheriff said: "Go suck an egg" and that when he does provide us evidence of his claims, PolitiFact Wisconsin "still finds a way to contort a way to say false."

Our rating

Clarke says Obama "said she was never proud of her country til they elected her husband POTUS."

He provided us and we could find no evidence of such a statement.

What Obamasaid -- nine months before her husband was elected president -- was that for the first time in her adult life, she was proud of her country not just because Barack Obama had done well in pursuing the presidential nomination, but also "because I think people are hungry for change."

We rate Clarkes statement False.

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Says Michelle Obama "said she was never proud of her country til they elected her husband POTUS."

David Clarke

Milwaukee County sheriff, Democrat

In a tweet

Friday, February 17, 2017

02/17/2017

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David Clarke says Michelle Obama said she was proud of US only after Barack Obama became president - PolitiFact