Perhaps that’s the best we can hope for from an attorney from “a state in the South.” But I also have a beef with the subsequent clarification by the Justice Department (bolding mine):
Um, no, I don’t think so. Derrick Watson is from the State of Hawaii, and it’s a pretty safe bet that when Sessions and Prior said “Hawaii” they were referring to the State - which isn’t an island, it’s many islands.
There is indeed an island called Hawaii (we call it the Big Island to avoid confusion), but it is not synonymous with the State, and I’ll hazard a guess that the AG’s granddaughter wasn’t born on it (most likely she was born on the island of Oahu, but I can’t find anything that says).
Well, the judge is sitting on an island in the Pacific, so Sessions wasn’t wrong. What I find objectionable was his belittling of the judiciary, as Trump did with his “so-called judge” comment last time around.
Agreed, the Sessions comment was technically correct from a geographic perspective. It’s the Prior post that is most suggestive of an ignorance of geography.
The belittling of the judiciary, belittling of Hawaii, and geographic ignorance are all bad things. As a part-time-soon-to-be-fulltime resident of the Big Island, I choose to direct my ire in this particular instance to the geography issue. But I’m just having fun in MPSIMS.
Hawaii became a state in 1959. Sessions was only 12 years old at the time. Sure, he remembers when Hawaii wasn’t a state. But he’s had 58 years to get used to the idea that it’s part of the Union.
No island is an island. They all have at least an offshore rock you have to jump to, as a part of their circumscribed territory. “Island group” is what is meant when serious intelligent people use the word “island” and wish for the discourse to continue without needless interruptions.
By complaining about the accuracy of a comment that is in fact accurate.
Good times.
My own reaction is: he’s right that Hawaii is an island in the Pacific, and apparently woefully uninformed about the role of judges in the federal judiciary.
Alternative interpretation: he is well-informed on that subject, but chooses his words to play on the lack of information the reading public has.
Either one is worthy of critique. But not, I grant, MPSIMS fodder.
So Sessions’ granddaughter was born on the Big Island? Because that’s the only thing that makes Prior’s statement accurate. Do provide your evidence, please.
I’m not saying you are definitely wrong, but I haven’t been able to find any information that you’re right, either.
A simple misstatement that is quickly corrected, compared to insulting both a state and the judiciary itself?
Next time, try fighting against ignorance.