Author Topic: Confirmation Hearings  (Read 5981 times)

Ben

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Confirmation Hearings
« on: January 10, 2017, 10:01:06 AM »
Thought I'd start a general topic on the confirmation hearings starting today. Keeping in mind that Obama's appointments pretty much breezed through, it'll be interesting to see how this dog and pony show goes.

Sessions is up first. So far I've seen that Cory Booker, for the first time in history, will be one Senator testifying against another senator. Nevermind that Sessions worked with Booker on race issues. Also there are punks dressed in KKK sheets, Code Pink, etc. in the audience. Plus right now I'm listening to Diane Feinstein listing a bunch of things an AG should not be, which coincidentally, seem to be describing the current and prior AGs.
"I'm a foolish old man that has been drawn into a wild goose chase by a harpy in trousers and a nincompoop."

Ben

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Re: Confirmation Hearings
« Reply #1 on: January 10, 2017, 10:28:02 AM »
I've been trying to watch/listen, but I think I have to give up. Every five freakin' minutes, some punk(s) in the audience stand up and start yelling until they're escorted out. When you see how they act, it seems difficult for a normal person not to want to end up supporting sessions more. I'm only going from memory, but  I don't recall this childish activity during any dem confirmations. People may have something to say, but the generally use a different venue versus disrupting the floor to the annoyance of all.
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HankB

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Re: Confirmation Hearings
« Reply #2 on: January 10, 2017, 10:42:46 AM »
. . .  Every five freakin' minutes, some punk(s) in the audience stand up and start yelling until they're escorted out. When you see how they act, it seems difficult for a normal person not to want to end up supporting sessions more . . .
This.
Trump won in 2016. Democrats haven't been so offended since Republicans came along and freed their slaves.
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Perd Hapley

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Re: Confirmation Hearings
« Reply #3 on: January 10, 2017, 11:41:17 AM »
I'm only going from memory, but  I don't recall this childish activity during any dem confirmations. People may have something to say, but the generally use a different venue versus disrupting the floor to the annoyance of all.


That's been a long-standing difference between the two sides. Even when we get out and protest, we do it in a much more orderly fashion.
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zxcvbob

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Re: Confirmation Hearings
« Reply #4 on: January 10, 2017, 11:49:54 AM »
Wife was watching it this morning, and was literally yelling at the TV at Sessions when he said he'd recuse himself from any Clinton cases.
"It's good, though..."

grampster

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Re: Confirmation Hearings
« Reply #5 on: January 10, 2017, 11:50:04 AM »
One hopes the nitwits will continue with the aberrant behavior.  More Democrats will fall by the wayside because of it. [popcorn]
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Ben

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Re: Confirmation Hearings
« Reply #6 on: January 10, 2017, 11:57:47 AM »
Wife was watching it this morning, and was literally yelling at the TV at Sessions when he said he'd recuse himself from any Clinton cases.

I actually understand why he would have to do that, whether I like it or not. Certainly things at that point would hinge on his deputy(s).


I understand that there will be some fairly contentious 2nd amendment questioning. There's no way I'm listening through this whole thing to hear that.  I wonder if there's any site that has some kind of indexed videos or audios of various subjects he responds to?
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KD5NRH

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Re: Confirmation Hearings
« Reply #7 on: January 10, 2017, 01:28:50 PM »
Even when we get out and protest, we do it in a much more orderly fashion.

Tar and feathers make a huge mess if you're not careful when handling them.

Ben

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Re: Confirmation Hearings
« Reply #8 on: January 10, 2017, 02:30:21 PM »

That's been a long-standing difference between the two sides. Even when we get out and protest, we do it in a much more orderly fashion.

And I suspect it is mentioned somewhere in "Rules for Radicals". That way when we say, "look, nobody went off the deep end with Obama's appointees", they can say "because they were such great picks, who would interrupt the hearings to protest them!?!".
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Perd Hapley

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Re: Confirmation Hearings
« Reply #9 on: January 10, 2017, 03:37:35 PM »
True. There does seem to be an element of theater to it. The Left enjoys a friendly, collaborationist media that will put their antics in a sympathetic light, or at least report that those controversial Republicans are being protested again. Let us try that, and we're extremist, racist deplorables, trying to keep the Little Rock Nine out of the school-house, etc.
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Jamisjockey

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Re: Confirmation Hearings
« Reply #10 on: January 10, 2017, 04:10:17 PM »
I only caught a minute of it, but Sessions said that crime is up in America.
Great.  Another fear monger.
Violent crime is 16.5% lower than 10 years ago.
https://www.fbi.gov/news/stories/latest-crime-statistics-released

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Perd Hapley

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Re: Confirmation Hearings
« Reply #11 on: January 10, 2017, 05:13:06 PM »
I only caught a minute of it, but Sessions said that crime is up in America.
Great.  Another fear monger.
Violent crime is 16.5% lower than 10 years ago.
https://www.fbi.gov/news/stories/latest-crime-statistics-released

Out with the old bosses, in with new bosses.


The headline on that story you link to says violent crime is up. I'm not sure what Sessions was referring to (did he mean long-term, or short-term?), but there has been an increase in violent crime, recently. The Ferguson Effect...
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cassandra and sara's daddy

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Re:
« Reply #12 on: January 10, 2017, 05:20:53 PM »
So much posturing
Short of him committing a felony and breaking 2 commandments during the questions he's a lock.all this is role playing for the constituents

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It is much more powerful to seek Truth for one's self.  Seeing and hearing that others seem to have found it can be a motivation.  With me, I was drawn because of much error and bad judgment on my part. Confronting one's own errors and bad judgment is a very life altering situation.  Confronting the errors and bad judgment of others is usually hypocrisy.


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Ben

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Re:
« Reply #13 on: January 10, 2017, 05:55:20 PM »
So much posturing
Short of him committing a felony and breaking 2 commandments during the questions he's a lock.all this is role playing for the constituents

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Though I understand Tillerson will not be a lock. I heard mention, though I didn't hear names, that several Rs are looking at voting against. I haven't heard of any dems breaking with their party to cancel that out.
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cassandra and sara's daddy

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Re: Confirmation Hearings
« Reply #14 on: January 10, 2017, 06:21:38 PM »
After the shellacking I got thinking trump was gonna lose I am afraid to be too sure. But this is an insider deal. They are like key lawyers and doctors. They look out for their own.


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It is much more powerful to seek Truth for one's self.  Seeing and hearing that others seem to have found it can be a motivation.  With me, I was drawn because of much error and bad judgment on my part. Confronting one's own errors and bad judgment is a very life altering situation.  Confronting the errors and bad judgment of others is usually hypocrisy.


by someone older and wiser than I

Jamisjockey

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Re: Confirmation Hearings
« Reply #15 on: January 10, 2017, 08:40:00 PM »

The headline on that story you link to says violent crime is up. I'm not sure what Sessions was referring to (did he mean long-term, or short-term?), but there has been an increase in violent crime, recently. The Ferguson Effect...

Over a one year span.  The overall trend of violent crime is down 16% in the last 10 years.
JD

 The price of a lottery ticket seems to be the maximum most folks are willing to risk toward the dream of becoming a one-percenter. “Robert Hollis”

cassandra and sara's daddy

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Re: Confirmation Hearings
« Reply #16 on: January 10, 2017, 09:14:18 PM »
Changes in how agencies record and report crime can affect numbers.  Much shenanigans there


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It is much more powerful to seek Truth for one's self.  Seeing and hearing that others seem to have found it can be a motivation.  With me, I was drawn because of much error and bad judgment on my part. Confronting one's own errors and bad judgment is a very life altering situation.  Confronting the errors and bad judgment of others is usually hypocrisy.


by someone older and wiser than I

cassandra and sara's daddy

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Re: Confirmation Hearings
« Reply #17 on: January 10, 2017, 09:15:23 PM »
It is much more powerful to seek Truth for one's self.  Seeing and hearing that others seem to have found it can be a motivation.  With me, I was drawn because of much error and bad judgment on my part. Confronting one's own errors and bad judgment is a very life altering situation.  Confronting the errors and bad judgment of others is usually hypocrisy.


by someone older and wiser than I

Jamisjockey

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Re: Confirmation Hearings
« Reply #18 on: January 11, 2017, 08:43:47 AM »
http://www.latimes.com/local/cityhall/la-me-crime-stats-20151015-story.html


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And right there it says with the irregularities factored in there was still a drop in violent crime.
JD

 The price of a lottery ticket seems to be the maximum most folks are willing to risk toward the dream of becoming a one-percenter. “Robert Hollis”

RoadKingLarry

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Re: Confirmation Hearings
« Reply #19 on: January 11, 2017, 09:12:43 AM »
And right there it says with the irregularities factored in there was still a drop in violent crime.

Not really trying to contradict but we need to remember, the same folks telling us crime is down are the same ones taking credit for making it happen.
I just have major trust issues with pretty much anything the government tells me. Particularly  if it makes their ham handed, border line (at best) unconstitutional tactics look better.
I'm cautiously optimistic about Sessions as AG. Only time will tell but he has to be, just HAS TO BE better than Holder and Lynch.
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Ben

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Re: Confirmation Hearings
« Reply #20 on: January 11, 2017, 09:18:58 AM »
Only time will tell but he has to be, just HAS TO BE better than Holder and Lynch.

Certainly better than Holder - that's an extremely low bar. While I obviously don't approve of Lynch, I'm not sure she has ever done anything "worse" than some AGs under Republican administrations - she's just done stuff I don't like. Holder clearly broke the law and crapped on the constitution.
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K Frame

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Re: Confirmation Hearings
« Reply #21 on: January 11, 2017, 09:19:41 AM »
Over a one year span.  The overall trend of violent crime is down 16% in the last 10 years.

Oddly enough, the recent spike in crime has pretty directly matched the BLM movement and the response by police in pulling back from, and in some cases out of, communities...

Funny how that working...
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Perd Hapley

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Re: Confirmation Hearings
« Reply #22 on: January 11, 2017, 09:21:28 AM »
I didn't watch the hearing, so I had to look it up. I don't know which part of Sessions' remarks you're referring to, Jamis, but this is what I'm seeing in the transcript.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/10/us/politics/sessions-remarks-transcript.html

Quote
Drug use and murders are half what they were in 1980.

Right there, I think he's addressed your point. He acknowledges that crime rates have come down. He goes on to say:

Quote
I am very concerned, however, that the recent jump in the violent crime and murder rates are not anomalies, but the beginning of a dangerous trend that could reverse the hard won gains that have made America a safer and more prosperous place. The latest official F.B.I. statistics show that all crime increased nearly 4 percent from 2014 to 2015 with murders increasing nearly 11 percent — the largest single-year increase since 1971.

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Ben

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Re: Confirmation Hearings
« Reply #23 on: January 11, 2017, 10:28:33 AM »
Just watching a bit of the Tillerson hearings. If this is political theater, the dude is the star of the show. Right now he's making Rubio look like a desperate 12 year old in his first debate.
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roo_ster

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Re: Confirmation Hearings
« Reply #24 on: January 11, 2017, 10:33:27 AM »
Just watching a bit of the Tillerson hearings. If this is political theater, the dude is the star of the show. Right now he's making Rubio look like a desperate 12 year old in his first debate.

Kind of to be expected.  I am not a big Tillerson fan, but you don't get to be CEO of such a megacorp by being a shallow twit with a pretty face.  Like Rubio.
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