THE JEFF SESSIONS: PART 1/2

EVERYTHING CHANGES OVER TIME ...

WHO IS JEFF SESSIONS & WHY SHOULD WE CARE?

Senator Jeffrey Bouregard Sessions III is currently the presidential nominee for the position of Attorney General of the United States.  He wants to head the Department of Justice, a vast, powerful, well-funded agency charged with the enforcement of our Constitution's 14th Amendment right to equal protection under the law. 

THE JUSTICE DEPARTMENT'S MISSION:

 https://www.justice.gov/about 

To enforce the law and defend the interests of the United States according to the law; to ensure public safety against threats foreign and domestic; to provide federal leadership in preventing and controlling crime; to seek just punishment for those guilty of unlawful behavior; and to ensure fair and impartial administration of justice for all Americans. Below are the 60 (!) separate DOJ agencies (including the FBI): 

(see https://www.justice.gov/agencies ) 

United States Attorney General is a position of vital importance; How the Department of Justice functions  affects some aspect of our lives almost daily. Jeff Sessions would have huge say in determining the Justice Department's priorities as well as what resources would be dedicated to those priorities 

- or not.

SO, WHAT ABOUT JEFF?

“…. Jefferson Beauregard "Jeff" Sessions III (born December 24, 1946) is the junior United States Senator from Alabama and a member of the Republican Party. He currently ranks 15th in seniority in the United States Senate. From 1981 to 1993, he served as U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Alabama. Sessions was elected Attorney General of Alabama in 1994, and to the U.S. Senate in 1996, being re-elected in 2002, 2008, and 2014. Sessions is considered one of the most conservative members of the U.S. Senate....” From:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeff_Sessions 

...AND JEFF SESSIONS IS ALSO A ....

****************************************

... VERY controversial nominee for Attorney 

General. His advocates insist that what might be construed 

as his past lapses in judgment are “ancient history” and 

that he has long since learned from his "mistakes."

His critics,however, adamantly insist that he is still a racist 

and a bigot,that he “is hostile to civil rights law,”vindictive 

and has at times blatantly abused his authority for   

political and personal gain.

Despite his soft spoken, gentlemanly behavior, many are 

convinced that this man, who would be charged with 

endeavoring to provide to all Americans equal protection 

under the law, judges entire classes of Americans as 

inherently unworthy of equal treatment and protection. 

             *******************************************

JEFF SESSIONS, 1986

On July 31, 1986, Jeff Sessions’ aspirations for a Federal judgeship died inside the Senate Judiciary Committee because numerous charges extending backward over 2 decades were made against him which then, as now, he and/or his advocates have attempted to minimize or dismiss.

Nonetheless, Mr. Sessions then became only the second nominee ever in 48 years whose nomination failed to make it out of committee. 

Although much documentation exists regarding allegations against him, Coretta Scott King's written testimony, submitted to the Judiciary Committee in March, 1986 (see below) is emblematic of the several other complaints brought against him. 

All 10 pages available at this link:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Coretta_Scott_King_Letter_against_Jefferson_Sessions.pdf

NEXT POST: ... EXCEPT (NOT SO) GOOD OL' JEFF - PART 2/2

TAKE ON: PART 4/4

4. TAKE BACK

It's likely there will be no shortage of issues you’ll want to address in the Trump administration. Did you know that the hearing for confirmation of the Presidential nominees start today, January 10, 2017 … 2 today and 4 tomorrow… allotting only 2 hours for questioning each nominee?

Most of Trump’s nominees have not been vetted yet by The Office of Government Ethics as required, or completed an FBI background check (required) or submitted financial disclosure forms as legally required.

All these documents should have been submitted and evaluated before these hearings take place, yet Republican Majority Leader Mitch McConnell insists upon holding the hearing NOW and “finishing the paperwork” later.

Click on the link below to read the letter the Office of Government Ethics wrote to Senators Warren and Schumer articulating that office’s concerns:

http://apps.npr.org/documents/document.html?embed=true&id=3255189-Response-to-Senators-Schumer-and-Warren-Schumer

Mitch McConnell has accused the Democrats of ‘politicizing’ the process by arbitrarily attempting to delay Trump’s appointments, and cites that President Obama’s candidates in both terms were appointed without any such delay… that the Democrats need to “grow up” and accept the fact that they lost the election. 

Obama’s candidates did clear the hearings quickly because they were all properly vetted and cleared well before the nomination hearing dates were set. 

In fact, on February 12, 2009, then Minority Leader Mitch McConnell wrote to the Democratic Leader Harry Reid listing - and insisting -   the “best practices” of the nominating process that had to be met “before considering any time agreements on the floor for any nominee”.

Yesterday (January 9^th) Senator Schumer produced that letter, read it on the floor of the Congress, changed the ‘to’ and ‘from’ lines delivered McConnell’s letter back to him, remarking that all the Democrats want is what the Republicans wanted -  and got- in 2009.

Here’s the letter:

https://twitter.com/SenSchumer/status/818544880658108416

Isn’t it obvious that the confirmation hearings should be delayed until the nominees have completed and cleared the legal requirements for consideration for the job? 

What serious applicant for any position anywhere would show up to a job interview without a proper resume – much less when the interview is for one of the most powerful positions on the planet? 

How could anyone purporting to represent ME (and you) set up such a shoddy, slapdash interview process and claim with a straight face to be acting in MY (and your) best interests?  

Certainly this issue worthy of 3 phone calls and 15 minutes of your time (and mine).  Today’s the day….let’s do it!

Also, Alabama Senator Jeff Sessions, Trump’s Attorney General nominee is supposed to be interviewed today. I believe he is just about the worst candidate for the job. If you know enough about him to have an opinion, then make another round of calls (remember, one issue at a time )and express yourself.

There will be a fuller discussion of Senator Sessions in the next post, but here are some articles you might want to read until then:

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/jeff-sessions-omits-decades-of-records-for-his-ag-confirmation-hearing/ar-BBxJP47?li=BBnb7Kz

http://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/08/opinion/jeff-sessions-the-grim-reaper-of-alabama.html?ribbon-ad-idx=5&rref=opinion&module=Ribbon&version=origin&region=Header&action=click&contentCollection=Opinion&pgtype=article

Whatever happens today, tomorrow, etc., know that if you speak up, thousands of people are speaking up right along with you … so last - but never least - TAKE HEART.

MY NEXT POST IS IN THE WORKS

TAKE ON: PART 3/4

3. TAKE AIM

FROM INDIVISIBLE GUIDE Re: Calling your MoCs (members of Congress):

1. Find the phone numbers for your MoCs. Again, you can find your local MoCs and their office phone numbers, ETC. at www.callmycongress.com.

2. Prepare a single question or issue  per call. For in-person events, you want to prepare a host of questions, but for calls, you want to keep it simple…The question should be about a live issue — e.g. a vote that is coming up, a chance to take a stand, or some other time-sensitive opportunity. The next day or week, pick another issue, and call again on that.

3. Find out who you’re talking to. In general, the staffer who answers the phone will be an intern, a staff assistant, or some other very junior staffer in the MoCs office. But you want to talk to the legislative staffer who covers the issue you’re calling about. There are two ways to go about doing this:

»        Ask to speak to the staffer who handles the issue (immigration, health care etc). Junior staff are usually directed to not tell you who this is, and instead just take down your comment instead.

»        On a different day, call and ask whoever answers the phone, “Hi, can you confirm the name of the staffer who covers [immigration/health care/etc]?” Staff will generally tell you the name. Say “thanks!” and hang up. Ask for the staffer by name when you call back next time.

4.  If you’re directed to voicemail, follow up with email. Then follow up again. Getting a more senior legislative staffer on the phone is tough...

The junior staffer will probably just tell you “I checked, and she’s not at her desk right now, but would you like to leave a voicemail?” Go ahead and leave a voicemail, but don’t expect a call back.

Instead, after you leave that voicemail, follow up with an email to the staffer. If they still don’t respond, follow up again. If they still don’t respond, let the world know that the MoC’s office is dodging you.

BE POLITE BUT PERSISTANT

If the person taking the call says: 

“We don’t take positions on appointments.” Or, “it’s not our business to have a position on who the President appoints… that’s  the President’s responsibility to respond....” 

You might reply:

 “It’s everyone’s business if a man who promotes white supremacy is serving as an advisor to the President,”  or  "But Senator XX has the ability to speak out … other members of Congress have done so,” or “I find it unacceptable that Senator XX refuses to take a position and politely,firmly end the conversation with:

"I’ll be notifying my friends, family and our local news outlets that our Senator doesn’t think it’s his job to represent us or actually respond to his constituents’ concerns.” 

There’s more in the book, but for now, take down the date in the notebook or pad you’ve chosen to use to track all your interactions with public officials, the name of the person(s) you spoke to and the subject of your call. 

Call all three MoCs. If they support your position, let them know you support them.  If they don’t/won’t take a position or intend to take the opposite position use a reasonable facsimile of the sentence in bold print above … and perhaps throw in something about how you will certainly take this MoC’s position on issue X into account when he comes up for re-election.

READ MY NEXT POST: TAKE BACK

TAKE ON: PART: 2/4

2. TAKE HELP

...That miracle was - and is - us!! 

Members of Congress reported to news outlets that they had received altogether thousands of outraged calls, emails, Facebook and Twitter posts, and it was actually that avalanche of attention from constituents and citizen’s groups that turned these stubbornly wrongheaded politicians around. See below the Google’s real time search spike re: the question “who is my congressman?” at the time the story broke and early the next morning. 

 http://wlrn.org/post/amid-ethics-office-debacle-googling-look-congress-members-spiked-sort 

http://www.cnn.com/2017/01/03/opinions/house-ethics-drutman-opinion/

Especially now, we need to remember that elected officials work for us. Because they only get re-hired (or not) every 4- 6years, it’s easy for them (or us) to forget who’s boss. But this is our democracy every day – not just on election days – and participating in it often and effectively is easier than it ever was.

 

One of the best of several accountability tools your telephone. Elected officials are more apt to heed the calls (and personal encounters via visits and public forums) from their constituents than letters, emails, petitions, Tweets, etc. Calling elected officials can work wonders, especially if you know why, when and how to do it.

This and other strategies are outlined in a simple, short FREE book entitled Indivisible A Practical Guide to Resisting the Trump Agenda.” Written by former Congressional staffers in order to “reveal the best practices for making Congress listen,” it can be viewed online and/or printed out.  

.

This is opportunity rich month to perfect your phone skills with Congressional representatives. Go to www.callmycongress.com, get contact info for your 2 Senators and 1 House Representative. Keep those numbers handy and maybe start a list of issues you want to weigh in on with your representatives. 

If you have time, download and/or read Indivisible at https://www.indivisibleguide.com


UPDATE! UPDATE! UPDATE! UPDATE! 

 UPDATE! UPDATE! UPDATE! UPDATE!  

1/4/2017 MSNBC, RACHEL MADDOW SHOW, EZRA LEVIN, co-author,THE INDIVISIBLE GUIDE: 

“…there have been over 600,000 page views, 130,000 people have downloaded the guide…. in the last 24 hours since we've been collecting (this info) ….350 groups registering ….. We’ve covered every single state we have subscribers in every single Congressional District in the country.”

READ MY NEXT POST: TAKE AIM

TAKE ON : PART 1/4

1. TAKE NOTE

My first 2 days of 

2017 were fun. I hope yours were, too. In fact, I was actually flirting with hope - that 2017 might turn out OK ….. until I came back from a wonderful long day out on Monday, January 2 and read this:

“....Washington (AP) House Republicans on Monday voted to eviscerate the Office of Congressional Ethics, an independent body created in 2008 … is part of a rules package that the full House will vote on Tuesday … also includes a means to punish lawmakers if there is a repeat of the Democratic sit-in last summer over gun control…” Jeez! 

By secret ballot (119-74) they had voted to:

1) prohibit any release of any information to the public, 

2) employ anyone to communicate with the public, 
3) directly contact law enforcement without approval, 
4) investigate anonymous complaints.

 I Went to bed half sad, all-mad… but, incredibly, woke up to this:

Before noon, the Republicans, in a great hurry and with no fanfare, took that odious, self-serving vote back… but why? 

Trump did Tweet just before that vote was being (re)called but his concern seemed to be about timing (his comment below), and subsequent analysis determined it arrived too late be the driving cause of the Republican pivot. 

So… what miracle happened overnight?  What circumstance could have occasioned such a marvelous event? 

Links to full text of articles referenced: 

http://bigstory.ap.org/article/a349ef57fb6b4b4f82809b3c7b0d4c68/house-gop-votes-gut-independent-ethics-office

www.nytimes.com/2017/01/03/opinion/house-fires-at-ethics-and-shoots-self.html

http://www.thefrisky.com/2017-01-03/congress-first-day-back-has-already-been-a-complete-shit-show/


Read my next post: TAKE HELP: PART 2 OF 4