{"id":24681,"date":"2016-11-19T03:39:28","date_gmt":"2016-11-19T11:39:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/?p=24681"},"modified":"2016-11-19T03:48:33","modified_gmt":"2016-11-19T11:48:33","slug":"squatchs-open-thread-18112016","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/2016\/11\/19\/squatchs-open-thread-18112016\/","title":{"rendered":"Squatch’s Open |Thread 18\/11\/2016"},"content":{"rendered":"

Today has been "one of those days".  I slept late and then spent play time with my three cats which was very relaxing.  It was hard to tear myself away from my furballs, but I did.  After our play time I spent several hours at the local hospital visiting some of our church members who are on my pastoral care list.  One lady, who I call my second mum, did not look like herself at all when I first went in, but that soon changed and we had a wonderful visit talking a lot about her oldest grandson who was in my Sunday School class 20 years ago.  This weekend, I will be visiting my mother and hoping Patty Monster does not kick my butt at Fantasy Football!<\/span><\/p>\n

Short Takes<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

CBC<\/strong><\/span><\/a> — President-elect Donald Trump on Friday named his earliest and staunchest supporter in the Senate, conservative Republican Jeff Sessions, to become the next U.S. attorney general, triggering an outcry from civil rights groups as well as some conservatives outside Congress who are uneasy about Sessions' positions.<\/p>\n

\"jeff-sessions\"<\/p>\n

Sessions is one of three senior leaders Trump has appointed  to his national security and law enforcement teams, including Representative Mike Pompeo as CIA director and retired Lt.-Gen. Mike Flynn as national security adviser<\/font><\/a>.<\/p>\n

If approved for the job by a simple majority in the Republican-dominated Senate, Sessions, 69, would lead the Justice Department and the FBI. He brings a record of controversial positions on race, immigration and criminal justice reform that Democrats may target.<\/p>\n

OMG!!! or WTH(F)!!!  Can there be any other first reaction to Trump's choice of Senator Jeff Sessions for Attorney General?  Sessions has a reputation as an unabashed racist.  From <\/span>Wikipedia<\/strong><\/span><\/a>:<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

"In 1986, Reagan nominated Sessions to be a judge of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Alabama. … At Sessions' confirmation hearings before the Senate Judiciary Committee, four Department of Justice<\/font><\/a> lawyers who had worked with Sessions testified that he had made several racist<\/font><\/a> statements in the context of the Marion Three case. One of those lawyers, J. Gerald Hebert, testified that Sessions had referred to the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People<\/font><\/a> (NAACP) and the American Civil Liberties Union<\/font><\/a> (ACLU) as "un-American<\/font><\/a>" and "Communist<\/font><\/a>-inspired" because they "forced civil rights<\/font><\/a> down the throats of people"."<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Sessiions has 4 years left in his Senate term which as I understand means that Alabama will appoint another person  (read Republican) to complete the term or run a byelection.  In 2014, Sessions ran essentially uncontested and received 97.25% of the vote, while in 2008 he received 63.36%, far ahead of his Democrat opponent.  I think we should have concerns over civil rights investigations and prosecutions.  Click through for the rest of the article.<\/span><\/p>\n

Daily Kos<\/strong><\/span><\/a> <\/span>— Irish Senator Aodhán Ó Riordáin opened the upper house of the Irish legislature (Seanad Éireann) with a statement about the United States’ election of Donald Trump. Mr. Riordáin was responding to the hypocritical congratulatory<\/font><\/a> reactions from fellow Irish politicians. Riordáin opened by quoting the Irish statesman, Edmund Burke.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

The only way evil can prosper if for good men to do nothing.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n