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I want you to stand in front of a mirror.

Now I want you to imagine Barack Obama is 40 days into his presidency, and that during his campaign he repeatedly and inexplicably praised Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Next imagine that late in the campaign and in the weeks that followed the election that brought Obama into office, American intelligence agencies determined conclusively that Russia had hacked the Republican National Committee and released thousands of stolen emails that were damaging to Obama's opponent.

And that Obama's campaign vigorously denied any contact with Russian officials before or after the election.

Then, imagine that not long after the inauguration, Obama's national security adviser was found to have lied about having contact with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak. He in fact spoke with the ambassador in December, the day the outgoing president issued sanctions against Russia for interfering with the election.

The adviser was fired.

Questions persisted. More evidence began to surface that people connected to Obama had been in contact with the Russians during the campaign.

Imagine that President Obama continued to deny there was any issue and brushed off reports as "fake news," criticizing the intelligence community for leaking information to the press.

As calls for an investigation into the Obama campaign's connections to Russia grew louder, news broke that Obama's new attorney general had been less than honest during his confirmation hearing when asked if he had contact with the Russians. He said he hadn't, but it turns out he had met twice with the Russian ambassador, one of those times during the Democratic National Convention.

Imagine the attorney general said his meetings were part of his work as a senator, but then news came out that the trip to the convention was paid for through the then-senator's campaign fund.

Under pressure, Obama's attorney general finally recused himself from investigations into issues surrounding the campaign and Russia.

Now imagine at this point, which again is in Obama's first 40 days as president, you learn that the fired national security adviser actually met with the Russian ambassador at Obama's house in Chicago, along with Obama's son-in-law. (You also have to imagine that Malia Obama is married and that a staffer in Obama's White House recently tried to push Malia's clothing line in a nationally televised interview. I know this is hard, just keep that imagination going.)

Next you learn that an Obama campaign official who made a change to the Democratic Party platform during its national convention, a change Russia would like the only change that candidate Obama's campaign requested also met with the Russian ambassador during the Democratic National Convention.

Imagine all of these things. And remember that President Obama and members of his campaign all said specifically and repeatedly that there had been no contact with Russia.

Imagine.

Now look into that mirror in front of you.

If this were true, would you think there should be an independent investigation into contacts between the Obama campaign and Russia? Are you angry?

If you answered yes to either of those questions and you don't feel the same way right now about the connections between Donald Trump's campaign and Russia, you need to ask yourself: What is the difference between these two men?

Now look in the mirror again, long and hard. Because you have one last question to ask yourself.

And I think you know what it is.

rhuppke@chicagotribune.com

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Trump's Russian connections: What if it were Obama? - Chicago Tribune

Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and the Democrats continue to snub President Trump by slowing down Senate confirmation of his Cabinet appointments. Their underlying goal is to allow remaining Obama-appointed bureaucrats to do as much damage to the Trump administration as they can before leaving.

CNN reported last week that Trump is noticeably behind the last three presidents when it comes to securing the confirmation of his Cabinet and other top appointments that require Senate approval.

The Senate confirmed Governor Rick Perry on Thursday to lead the U.S. Department of Energy, leaving only former Governor Sonny Perdue and Alexander Acosta awaiting confirmation to lead the Department of Agriculture and the Department of Labor respectively.

But Schumer is only stalling top cabinet picks to further block the appointments of nearly 2,000 other political vacancies within the administration. CNN said as of February 23, Trump had 1,987 vacancies throughout his administration.

Many of these positions are empty. Attorney General Jeff Sessions said yesterday that much has happened at the Department of Justice in the three weeks hes been in office, and he wished more of his staff had been confirmed by now. To be clear: Senate Democrats are keeping the Department of Justice from functioning at full capacity.

But other seats are currently filled by Obama appointees quietly working behind the scenes to sabotage Trumps efforts by continuing their previous leaders agenda while Schumer works to hamstring Trumps presidency. These include deputies, managers, and political appointees who are meant to keep the government running while a new administration comes into power.

A clear example of this is occurring in the Department of Education, where bureaucrats are continuing what the Washington Post called Obamas ideological crusade on for-profit colleges.

During President Obamas term, his administration forced ITT Technical Institutes out of business after the school helped train American workers for half a century. This left about 40,000 students displaced and about 8,000 employees jobless, according to a September 20, 2016 Washington Post editorial.

And two months before the end of Obamas term, his education department abruptly stripped authority from the Accrediting Council for Independent Colleges and Schools, which is one of the oldest national accreditors of academic institutions in the country.

The Obama administration took this action without giving the ACICS a standard 12-month grace period to address the Department of Educations complaints and imposed intentionally unattainable deadlines on private colleges and work training programs accredited through ACICS.

Secretary Betsy DeVos is now leading the Department of Education, but Obama-appointed lawyers in the department are still enforcing these unreachable mandates for career training institutions.

One such deadline requires 690 privately-owned schools to prove they have applications to other accreditors by March 12. Not only is this forcing private schools to leave ACICS before its appeal is adjudicated, but not meeting this deadline will mean these schools will lose the ability to receive federal Title IV funding, which is bureaucrat-speak for federal student aid.

This means more than 600,000 students at 725 schools will have to either quickly find other educational programs and restart their degrees or certificates; pay off their federal loans with their own money; or find a private lender to accept their debt. All of these options are terrible and punish hard-working people. And the last resort is having taxpayers cover the cost of forgiving the now-useless loans.

The Obama administration made a mission out of demonizing private for-profit colleges and universities, but many of these students are single parents or people who were failed by college-focused federal education policies.

Pulling the rug out from under organizations like ACICS is a blatant, misguided effort by Obama administration bureaucrats who are focused on destroying this industry.

Many of these students are working adults who are trying to improve their lives for the sake of their children. Not only will these Obama-led efforts hurt Americans, but without these colleges and career training programs, our ability to fill the jobs President Trump is working to bring to this county will be severely hindered.

Senate Republicans should make every effort to break the Democrat blockade, so President Trump can swiftly fill these positions. And then the presidents cabinet members should take a close look at Obama staffers who have burrowed in by moving from appointed positions to career jobs.

The Washington Times reported in November that there were 69 Obama political appointees who moved into career jobs from 2010 to 2015, and 17 of them didnt receive the required approval from the Office of Personnel Management.

The bold changes President Trump is bringing to the federal system will require complete loyalty within the ranks of the executive branch. Republicans in the Congress and the Presidents cabinet should work doubly hard to ensure the administration is at top working order as soon as possible.

Newt Gingrich is a Fox News contributor. A Republican, her was speaker of the United States House of Representatives from 1995 to 1999. Follow him on Twitter @NewtGingrich.

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Newt Gingrich: Schumer's plan to Keep Obama appointees in power - Fox News

March 3, 2017 Since leaving office, former President Barack Obama has stayed largely out of the public eye. In May, however, he will be invited back into the spotlight to receive an award for his political service.

On Thursday, the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation announced that Mr. Obama would be the 2017 recipient of its John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage award. Obama is being recognized for a number of principled stances he took as president, including his action on climate change, expansion of health care under the Affordable Care Act, and work to restore diplomatic relations with Cuba.

Though its unusual for a president to be presented with the award so soon after leaving office, the Kennedy family and the selection committee agreed that Obama was the logical choice for this year, the centenary of President Kennedys birth.

"President Kennedy called on a new generation of Americans to give their talents to the service of the country," Kennedy's daughter, Caroline Kennedy, said in a statement. "With exceptional dignity and courage, President Obama has carried that torch into our own time, providing young people of all backgrounds with an example they can emulate in their own lives."

The John F. Kennedy Profiles in Courage Award has been presented annually since 1989. It is named for the late presidents Pulitzer Prize-winning book, Profiles in Courage, which tells the stories of eight US politicians who stood up for their principles even if it meant risking their careers. The award is given to politicians who follow their conscience in making similarly controversial decisionsand is typically awarded for a single act.

Obama, however, is being celebrated more broadly for "his enduring commitment to democratic ideals and elevating the standard of political courage in a new century," the foundation said.

Obama is not the only former president to receive the award. Gerald Ford was selected in 2001 for his controversial decision to pardon Richard Nixon, while George H.W. Bushs decision to roll back his campaign pledge of No More Taxes and work across party lines to reduce the deficit made him the 2014 pick.

But why is Obama being recognized so much sooner after leaving office than other presidents? The selection committee was trying to do something different this year as a way to honor the centenary of Kennedys birth, foundation selection committee chairman Al Hunt, a Bloomberg columnist, told BuzzFeed News. Choosing Obama, whom they see as carrying on Kennedys legacy, fit the bill.

The selection is, perhaps, not surprising: Obama is already being recognized as a successful president. He enjoyed high approval ratings as his second term drew to an end, and last month debuted at #12 on C-SPANs presidential rankings, which rate presidents on leadership qualities ranging from economic management to moral authority.

Ms. Kennedy, who served as US ambassador to Japan under the Obama administration, and her son, Jack Schlossberg, will present the award on May 7 at the JFK Presidential Library and Museum in Boston. At the ceremony, Obama is expected to give one of his first speeches since leaving office.

This report contains material from the Associated Press.

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Obama to receive 2017 Profile in Courage Award - Christian Science Monitor

Long before the Trump administration announced it was pulling federal support for transgender students in schools, a Chicago-area teenager challenged a local district on locker room access and won a case with national implications.

Identified publicly as Student A, the teen filed a complaint with federal authorities in 2013 seeking access to a girls' locker room in Palatine-based Township High School District 211. After two years, an investigation by federal education officials and an unprecedented finding that the district violated federal law, administrators agreed to make the accommodation.

Now it's unclear whether that settlement is jeopardized by the decision announced Feb. 22 by Trump Cabinet members to rescind the Obama-era guidance that paved its way.

Citing pending litigation, both the school district and the U.S. Department of Education declined to comment. Meanwhile, attorneys for the student and for the parents' group that filed suit seeking to undo the agreement have threatened to go back to court.

The rollback of the Obama rule which took the stance that the federal Title IX law prohibits discrimination of transgender students has stoked an already divisive issue. School districts and families alike are scrambling to understand what it could mean for them. Officials from a number of districts in and around Chicago said they have no plans to modify their guidelines that allow transgender students to use the restrooms and locker rooms of their gender identity.

None of those districts, however, entered into a binding agreement with the federal government.

So far, the access provided to the District 211 student at the center of its federal settlement has not been changed, according the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois, which represents the student.

"Everything is the same, and she has every expectation it will remain that way for the foreseeable future," said ACLU spokesman Ed Yohnka. "She is happy to have access to the appropriate locker room and not be forced into a segregated locker room."

But attorneys for the group that sued District 211 and the federal government over the locker room access are encouraged by the Trump administration's move. Two days after the new guidance came down, federal officials formally notified the judge in the District 211 case about the rule reversal and called for further consideration of the legal issues surrounding the matter, court records show.

"By rescinding the guidance, the federal government is no longer in a position to pressure school districts like Palatine," said Gary McCaleb, an attorney with Alliance Defending Freedom, which represents the parents who sued. "What that means for the past agreement is something the parties are going to have to discuss and, if necessary, take back to the court. But in our view, it's a right step forward to restore the historic and clear meaning of Title IX as protecting sex and not gender identity theory."

He added: "Certainly, the federal government needs to make clear whether they're going to stand by an agreement that rested in guidance that now no longer appears to have any basis in the federal position."

The December 2015 agreement between District 211 and the Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights sparked bitter debate among community members. The district risked the loss of millions of dollars in federal funding and legal action if it failed to reach a resolution.

The agreement went beyond giving the student entry to the locker room. It required the district to consult a child and adolescent gender identity expert, revise its nondiscrimination notice and ensure the student has access to female facilities when traveling in district-sponsored events. While those conditions have been met, the agreement also called on the district to file regular reports and submit to monitoring through June 30, 2017.

Yohnka, of the ACLU, remains confident that the District 211 agreement will remain intact.

"Frankly, if any school district in Illinois withdrew a policy that accommodated and affirmed students who are transgender simply because of the Trump administration's withdrawal of this guidance, we would seriously weigh legal action," he said. "The law didn't change, and there's no reason for the treatment of students to change as the result of that action by the administration."

Removing such a critical decision from the hands of the federal government likely will result in variability across states and even towns as to how transgender youth are treated, said University of Illinois at Chicago professor Stacey Horn, who chairs the educational psychology department.

"That inconsistent support opens up a window for these policies and procedures and protections being turned on and off at a whim, depending on who is in control, who is on the school board and what families move in to the community," she said. "The damage is that young people think, 'I feel safe. I feel supported. I can go to school,' but then all of a sudden that gets taken away from them, and what does that mean for their continued education and health? It wreaks havoc on their lives."

Sarah Schriber, director of the nonprofit Prevent School Violence Illinois, said there's already been an uptick in bullying and harassment motivated by transphobia and racism in recent months. She and a number of legal and school experts are watching closely the case of Gavin Grimm, a transgender student in Virginia who sued over access to the boys' bathroom. The U.S. Supreme Court is set to hear the case this month, though attorneys for the Gloucester County school board have in recent days referred to the new guidance when asking the court to delay oral arguments.

"We're all holding our breath," Schriber said. "The guidelines themselves may become a moot issue, in a good way, and pass into the night. That's my hope."

On Thursday, nearly 200 lawmakers filed a legal "friend of the court" brief in the Grimm case arguing that Title IX protects transgender and gender non-conforming youth. On the same day, more than 100 members of Congress including a handful from Illinois penned a letter to Trump, urging him to reconsider the reversal and to meet with transgender students and their families.

"What the president has done is put a cloud of confusion on how to interpret Title IX that would affect the most vulnerable young people," said U.S. Rep. Jan Schakowsky, a Democrat from Evanston who signed the letter. "What kind of person would do that? These are students, many of whom have experienced harassment and discrimination. It's just so mean, just cruel."

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Trump reversal of Obama transgender rule puts landmark local case in limbo - Chicago Tribune

WASHINGTON New Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke plans to review Obama-era measures that limited energy development on some federal land and undertake a "bold" reorganization of his 70,000-employee agency, he said on Friday.

The former U.S. congressman addressed employees at the Department of Interior's headquarters on his second full day on the job, assuring them he would not sell off federal lands, as some had feared, but also promising change.

"You can hear it from my lips: We will not sell or transfer public lands," he said.

The department manages about a fifth of the country's surface, including national parks, forests and tribal territories, from the Arctic to the Gulf of Mexico.

Zinke said he wanted to change the structure of the department, which includes the National Parks Service and the Bureau of Indian Affairs, to give more authority to rangers and land managers outside the District of Columbia.

"The last time the Department of Interior has been reorganized was about 100 years ago, so the reorganization is going to be bold," he said.

Zinke, who arrived on horseback for his first day at the department, did not provide specifics but said he would rely on input from Interior's sub-agencies and bureaus.

The ex-Navy SEAL said employee surveys showed the farther staffers were from Washington, the unhappier they were because "they felt they don't have authority."

Zinke, whose home state of Montana is one-third federal land, addressed career employees who face an uncertain future under Republican President Donald Trump. Some worry that Trump's platform would open the door to selling off public land and more mining and drilling.

Others fear deep cuts to the agencys budget. Zinke told staff he was unhappy about preliminary budget figures and would fight to secure more money.

Zinke has advocated for mining and drilling on federal land. He told reporters after his speech that he would review some executive actions from the waning days of the administration of former president Barack Obama, a Democrat, that had placed more federal land off-limits to development.

Those orders include limits to drilling in sensitive offshore areas like the Atlantic coast and Arctic, as well as a ban on new federal coal mining leases.

"I think I am going to review everything that didn't go through Congress," Zinke said.

However, he said the department would continue Obama's effort to study whether coal leases had been properly valued to ensure taxpayers receive their fair value.

"I think we all benefit from that rather than buying a junk bond," he said.

(Reporting by Valerie Volcovici; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn)

WASHINGTON U.S. Vice President Mike Pence on Friday said there was "no comparison whatsoever" between his use of a private email account for state business while he was governor of Indiana and the email woes of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

WASHINGTON The Trump administration said on Friday it is suspending action on an Obama administration decision in October to probe a long-time practice by some airlines of preventing various travel websites from showing their fares and whether to require transparency in airline baggage and other fees.

President Donald Trump's federal hiring freeze will not apply to immigration court judges under an exception for positions that are needed for national security and public safety, the Executive Office for Immigration Review told Reuters on Friday.

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New Interior chief vows review of Obama-era rules, 'bold' restructuring - Reuters