In case you missed it, the Republicans have scheduled two days of hearings for Jefferson Beauregard Sessions to be confirmed as Attorney General. Those hearings will be long and contentious but don’t count on your Congress critter to get definitive answers to the softball questions they always ask after they grandstand for the CSPAN cameras. He is totally unacceptable as a nominee: his past racist statements and his antipathy for voter rights and his stance on LGBTQ do not reflect the values we hold as Americans. No.
The schedule for the rest of the week is the real bamboozle: 6 hearings of totally unqualified and in many cases, antagonistic nominees to the departments they’ve been chosen to run. These are being rushed through with little opportunity for meaningful questioning. Some Democrats have already been making their usual mealy mouth appeasement statements saying they “look forward to finding common ground” and “will wait to pass judgment after a fair hearing”. No.
To further bamboozle, Trump has scheduled his first press conference since last July and where do you think the media spotlight will be? (Squirrel!) This is certainly engineered to draw attention away from the clown show line up that’ll be passed on in a flurry of votes. No.
So here’s what we need to do. Start calling Monday. Call both Senators and your representative. In St Johns county you need to know your district, we have 2. Tell them you say No to Sessions. Ask the staffer what your member’s position is. Write down exactly what they say. It doesn’t matter if they are on the committee or not. They represent you and you have a right to know their position. Be firm but be polite. Then come back to this site and tell us all what happened. Enough bamboozle and we have a story for the media.
By Wednesday you should have it down. That’s when the conga line starts.Call both your Senators and your representative. Tell them NO to all the nominees being pushed through for confirmation. Ask the staffer what your member’s position is on each nominee. Make them tell you for each candidate. Write down exactly what they tell you and again, come back to this site and tell us all what happened. More bamboozle, more fodder for the press. We can make this big.
Here’s the schedule of hearings:
Tuesday and Wednesday, 930 AM Senate Judiciary Committee, Jeff Sessions for Attorney General
Tuesday 330PM Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, Gen John Kelly, USMC (Ret) for Secretary of Homeland Security
Wednesday 1000 AM Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, Betsy DeVos, Secretary of Education
Wednesday 1015AM Commerce, Science and Transportation, Elaine Chao (McConnelll’s wife), Secretary of Transportation
Thursday 930AM, Armed Services, James “Mad Dog” Mattis, Secretary of Defense, needs a waiver to be considered since he’s not been retired from active service for 7 years:
Thursday 1000 AM, Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs, Ben Carson, Secretary of Housing and Urban Development
Thursday 1000AM, Commerce, Science and Transportation, Wilbur Ross, Secretary of Commerce
We don’t have time to outline what’s completely wrong with each of these nominees but we’re sure you’re smart enough and have time at work to look them up. Seriously, you will not believe what you will find out. It’s like the old Bizarro world of Superman where everything is backwards. Remember to be nice to the staffers. They’re going to be getting A LOT OF CALLS. Be firm and get answers and tell us how it goes.
List of Numbers:
Senator Bill Nelson 202.224.5274
Senator Marco Rubio 202.224.3041
Representative John Rutherford 904.598.0481
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