Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark. (C, 76%) penned an impassioned Facebook post Tuesday afternoon, calling out Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J. (F, 14%) for testifying against Donald Trump’s attorney general pick, Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala. (C, 78%).
Sen. Cotton referred to the unprecedented event of a sitting senator testifying against another sitting senator nominated for a Cabinet position a “disgraceful breach of custom.”
Cotton expressed his belief that Booker’s “shameful” decision to cast aspersions on a fellow senator (whom, just last year, he was “honored to have partnered with”) is part of a ploy to be elected president in 2020:
“Senator Booker is better than that, and he knows better.” (For more from the author of “Named and Shamed: Tom Cotton Calls out Cory Booker’s Disgraceful Sessions Chicanery” please click HERE)
While most politically-minded Americans were keeping up with the confirmation hearings Tuesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was busy lambasting the Obama administration for colluding with terrorists to pass an “anti-Israel resolution” in the United Nations.
Israel has unequivocal evidence that the Obama administration led the effort to pass the anti-Israel resolution in the UN Security Council. pic.twitter.com/lBaAWhNM75
Netanyahu corrected the suggestion some have made that the U.N. Security Council’s decision, which ruled that Israel is illegally “occupying” its own land, follows the policies of previous United States administrations.
The UN resolution was not a reformulation of things that all previous administrations said, but was in fact a major break with US policy.
Netanyahu’s announcement came after Israeli news outlets reported Tuesday that the United States embassy could remain in Tel Aviv during Donald Trump’s presidency, breaking from the president-elect’s pledge to relocate to Jerusalem.
Israel's Channel 2 is reporting that the next U.S. ambassador to Israel will work from Jerusalem, but the embassy will remain in Tel Aviv.
Other reports, however, stated that the Trump administration will move ahead with the relocation, despite liberals’ concerns that the decision would only lead to more violence in the Middle East. If Trump remains true to his campaign promise, it will send a clear message to Israel that America’s terrible foreign relations track record under Obama has come to an end. If he doesn’t, Bibi will surely take notice. (For more from the author of “Netanyahu Is Sounding the Alarm on Obama’s Anti-Israel Terrorist Collusion” please click HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/flag-186476_960_720.jpg540960Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2017-01-10 21:30:372017-01-10 21:30:37Netanyahu Is Sounding the Alarm on Obama’s Anti-Israel Terrorist Collusion
Tonight, in Chicago — the nation’s murder capital, Barack Obama boasted of his self-styled achievements as president, and gave a preview of his future as the nation’s first activist former president. The setting provided a bitter irony for Obama’s self-praising. Chicago is both where Obama honed his activist chops, and is one of the places most negatively affected by his policies. A perfect allegory for a failed presidency.
In the final year of the Obama presidency, under the guidance of his former chief of staff Rahm Emmanuel, Chicago’s murder rate has spiked. This is directly the result of president Obama’s war on cops. Rather than put themselves in danger through aggressive policing, Obama’s friends in the Black Lives Matter movement have made their neighborhoods more dangerous, with police just staying out of certain neighborhoods.
Chicago is Obama’s legacy. Tonight he tried to put a shine on his legacy. But the facts tell a different story.
Obamacare
Obama once again touted success with Obamacare. He crowed about millions more now insured. That may be true, but at what cost? He even, with no hesitation, said that health costs are growing at their “lowest rate in 50 years.” As CR’s Daniel Horowitz recently explained Obamacare is more expensive than if nothing had been done … especially when it comes to Medicaid.
The cost of covering an individual in the subpar Medicaid program was $3,247 per individual in 2011 before Obamacare was enacted. In 2015, according to data from the Department of Health and Human Services, the cost of enrolling an individual in Medicaid doubled to $6,366 per individual. And that is only for the second year of implementation. The cycle of regulation, public funding, overutilization, and lack of ability to peg the cost to the service has created a circuitous death spiral of unaffordable costs and unsustainable subsidies.
But it’s not just that. Millions of middle class Americans now have coverage they can’t afford to use. Before the election Bloomberg highlighted the problem:
Harris is one of many people with Obamacare plans that feature high out-of-pocket costs that can put health services out of reach. That’s because the insurance coverage Harris and others like her have purchased is designed not to kick in until patients have spent thousands of dollars.
She’s not alone. While the Affordable Care Act has pushed the uninsured rate in the U.S. near a record low, a Commonwealth Fund study this year found that about four in 10 adults in ACA plans aren’t confident they could afford care if they got sick.
Obamacare has also been a drag on the overall economic outlook for millions of Americans. The full-time employer mandate has meant more people are working part-time and in need of multiple jobs. The CEO of Carl’s Jr., a Trump supporter, said in January of 2015 that ‘Obamacare has caused millions of full-time jobs to become part time.” A statement that even Politifact had to rank as “half true” — a moniker they use when the facts buttress an argument but the editors of Politifact don’t like the outcome.
Oh and about that lowest health cost claim, CNNMoney reported in September of 2016 that healthcare costs rose the most in 32 years. Speaking of Politifact, they gave a similar claim by Hillary Clinton during the campaign a rating of FALSE.
National Security
Obama told the nation that we are safer because of his presidency. He touted that no foreign terrorist organization has attacked American soil. Of course, he is parsing words. As the Daily Wire wrote in December of 2016, many of the jihadi attacks in America have been inspired by jihadi organizations or the jihadis were trained by those organizations.
The list compiled by the Daily Wire reports on “the major, verifiable radical Islamic attacks over the last eight years.” The Daily Wire further explains that there have been other attacks in which jihad is suspected but not verified. The thirteen attacks highlighted include the Little Rock military recruiting station attack, the Fort Hood attack, the Boston Marathon bombing and subsequent firefight, a beheading in Moore Oklahoma, a Queens hatchet attack, the execution-style murders of two cops in Brooklyn, the Garland draw Mohammed attack, the Chattanooga recruiting station attack, the San Bernardino Christmas party attack, the Orlando night club attack, the St. Cloud mall attack, the New York/New Jersey bomber, and the Columbus Ohio State University attack.
“Climate Change”
Obama also took credit for his climate change agenda. Something he has always believed poses a greater threat to world peace than radical Islamic terrorism. Jack Welch, the former CEO of GE, explained on CNBC why Obama’s focus on climate change has hurt the nation as a whole.
Jack Welch, former chairman and CEO of General Electric, said Thursday the Obama administration’s heavy focus on combating climate change is “radical behavior” that’s holding back the economy.
A longtime GOP supporter, Welch told CNBC’s “Squawk Box” the priority on preventing climate change spills over into “all kinds of policies throughout the different agencies.”
The result, he said: “You get an economy that won’t move. You get ozone regs that are wacky.”
“You [also] get a reduced military,” he added — saying the U.S. needs to rebuild its national defenses to combat the threat from the so-called Islamic State terrorist group. “You can’t be sitting here with the real threat of a caliphate and ISIL … and talking about climate change.”
The Obama focus on ‘climate change’ has led to a weaker, less prosperous, and less safe America. Hardly an accomplishment to crow about. Not to mention that now some scientists think we are headed into a new ice age.
Jobs
Obama also once again tried to paint the nation’s employment picture as rosy. He boasted about how he “unleash[ed] the longest stretch of job creation in our history.” While it may be factually correct, it belies the type of job growth and the stagnant rate of growth.
Because of Obamacare, there have been a disproportionate number of part-time jobs created. The labor force participation rate is still anemically low.
CR’s John Gray has blown a hole in Obama’s jobs record. Back in 2015 he laid out the case, which hasn’t changed much.
Obama Touts This. Currently at 5 percent, the unemployment rate is at the lowest level since Obama became president. In addition, the president has “created” about 8.1 million net new jobs since 2009 – a little less than the 8.7 million that were lost during financial crisis in 2008 and 2009.
But Not This. Those rosy unemployment numbers fail to factor in millions of people only marginally attached to the workforce, or those who would like to work, but have quit looking for employment out of frustration at the lack of opportunities. When those workers are factored in, the real unemployment rate, otherwise known as the underemployment rate is now 9.9 percent – nearly twice the rate of the “official” metric.
More importantly, a growing share of the population is no longer participating in the workforce altogether. The labor force participation rate has dropped to 62.4 percent, or nearly 94 million American not in the labor force; labor force participation has not been this low since 1977. Those are just a few of the areas that Obama tried to take “credit” for improving. He then went on to talk about areas he would be judging President-elect Trump on, signaling that he would not step aside quietly to let his successor govern, as is the precedent with past presidents.
Tonight’s speech was a powerful reminder of how much better the nation will be when the ink in Obama’s pen runs dry, and his government cell phone contract is dropped. Then all he’ll have is a soapbox, where he can utter “just words.” (For more from the author of “Named and Shamed: Tom Cotton Calls out Cory Booker’s Disgraceful Sessions Chicanery” please click HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/3601294800_a0686756b8_b.jpg7661024Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2017-01-10 21:20:452017-01-15 00:35:554 Ways Obama’s Final Speech Was a Load of Crap
Senator Jeff Sessions (R-AL), a longtime student and teacher of both Bible and Constitution, will meet this week in confirmation hearings with the Senate Judiciary Committee, seeking approval as U.S. Attorney General. Like most Americans, including his fellow evangelicals, Sessions knows that lawlessness, open borders, crime and drugs destroy lives and weaken our nation.
George Soros will be at the hearings too. Not in person, of course, but in the form of evangelical and Catholic “mascots” who accept his funding and share in his agenda. Soros, an atheist billionaire, has also funded Ready for Hillary PAC, as well as activists for open borders, amnesty, Islamic “refugee” migrations to the West and many other culture-wrecking efforts in Europe and America.
Soros Knows how to “Rent-An-Evangelical”
The Soros network’s New America Foundation aptly refers to its sponsorship of religious mascots as “Rent-An-Evangelical.” Soros began funding Rev. Jim Wallis’s leftist journal Sojourners over a decade ago, to teach Biblical catchphrases and “the faith narrative” to previously secular Democrats, in the hope of peeling off Christian values voters.
In 2011, Wallis famously denied being on Soros’s payroll — until he was caught with the money. Richard Cizik, former policy head of the National Association of Evangelicals (NAE), admitted it. Wallis and Cizik are busy teaching a new generation to use selective Bible quotes and buzzwords to push a post-American, globalist agenda. Socialists have long beguiled Christian citizens with “faith” optics and words ornamenting their projects.
Their technique, tempting not only to liberals, is to cherry-pick Bible verses while ignoring the whole counsel of Scripture. The Soros-Left then organizes its network to swarm an event or person, like Senator Sessions. Their large, subsidized media then dutifully parrots their divisive message. Think: Saul Alinsky for the Digital Age.
Expect the usual suspects chosen from Soros’s tame Christian groups to appear at or comment on the hearings:
Sojourners, Wallis’s journal. Its recent diatribes include: “Resistance is Patriotic — and Christian,” “NAACP President and Colleagues Stage Sit-In at Sen. Jeff Sessions Office, and this pro-Islamist critique of Christians in government.
Faith in Public Life (FPL), a putatively Catholic organization which, as Wikileaks revealed, was paid by Soros to try to influence Pope Francis’ visit to the U.S., and spin it as a win for pro-choice Democrats. FPL’s leader, John Gehring, has chimed in against Sessions here and here. See Rev. Robert Sirico’s worthy critique of “Soros’s Catholic Useful Idiots” here.
People Improving Communities through Organizing (PICO), which also took Soros money to spin Pope Francis’ visit. PICO’s contribution to the Sessions debate was published here.
Members of the Evangelical Immigration Table (EIT), a public relations campaign, launched by the secular National Immigration Forum (NIF) of Soros, Ford, Carnegie and other foundations.
Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good, one of the organizations which a Podesta email cited as part of a “revolution” Democrats hoped to support inside the Catholic church. This organization claimed during the election that “Trump-Pence is the Most Anti-Catholic Ticket in Modern History.”
The Bible is not Globalist or Open Borders
Thankfully Americans are waking up to the Progressive machine, fueled by Soros and friends. In 2016, thousands of Christians signed a “Call to Repentance and Renewal” to ministers advancing progressive chaos in our cities and nation. A short “must see” video followed, which documents Soros’s Formula.
Jeff Sessions is a faithful public servant who deserves our support against these heavily subsidized radicals. As a prosecutor in Alabama, Jeff Sessions worked to desegregate schools. He prosecuted and bankrupted the KKK. But leftists distort his record to pretend that he is somehow tainted by “racism.”
Nor are Sessions’ views on immigration in any way extreme or unbiblical, As Sessions wrote:
It is not mainstream, but extreme, to continue surging immigration beyond any historical precedent and to do so at a time when almost 1 in 4 Americans age 25 to 54 does not have a job. What we need now is immigration moderation: slowing the pace of new arrivals so that wages can rise, welfare rolls can shrink and the forces of assimilation can knit us all more closely together.
Immigration laws are a necessary part of a just society. As we read the whole Bible, we’re taught to love ourselves, our families, our neighbors, our cities, as well as the stranger (ger in Hebrew) who comes lawfully as a blessing. What we see in the Bible is not open borders, but wise welcome.
Let us welcome Senator Sessions to the Trump administration. (For more from the author of “George Soros Is “Renting” Christian “Mascots” to Stop Jeff Sessions’ Nomination” please click HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/1280px-George_Soros_-_Festival_Economia_2012_02.jpg7181280Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2017-01-10 21:10:012017-01-10 21:10:27George Soros Is “Renting” Christian “Mascots” to Stop Jeff Sessions’ Nomination
Israeli soldiers captured on video a pillar of cloud that strangely hovered over the boundary between Syria and Israel, protecting the soldiers from ISIS during a battle.
The Israeli soldiers videotaped the phenomenon that occurred during a battle with ISIS in the Golan Heights. The men called the pillar of cloud the “hand of Hashem,” or the hand of God, which protected them.
According to Israel News Online, the cloud was comprised of dust, cloud and rain and “did NOT cross the border fence into Israel. It sat like a barrier between ISIS and Israel.” Israelis have called the storm “divine intervention,” reported Israel Today.
“Huge miracle! Notice how God stopped this enormous storm exactly on the border,” Yifat Romano posted on Israel News Online‘s Facebook page. “Thank you, Father!”
Nissim Nahoum wrote, “The Creator of the world is protecting us.”
When asked about how the cloud protected the soldiers, Israel News Online responded, “Well there have been no ISIS attacks since then. I wonder what they thought of it. That may be the case if the cloud was there or not as we retaliated at the time. Impossible to say for sure.”
Here is the video, which was captured by an Israeli soldier:
(For more from the author of “Israeli Soldiers: Hand of God Protected Them Through Pillar of Cloud During Battle With ISIS” please click HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/1280px-AQMI_Flag_asymmetric.svg_.png9601280Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2017-01-10 20:58:352017-01-10 20:58:35Israeli Soldiers: Hand of God Protected Them Through Pillar of Cloud During Battle With ISIS
The Episcopal Church in America reached peak membership in 1959, with about 3.5 million baptized members, rising from just over one million in a decade. Since the population of the USA also rose during this period, another way to put it is to say the Episcopal Church had in 1959 about 19.4 members per every 1,000 citizens, rising from 17 per 1,000 in 1949. Total church membership has since fallen, with membership about 1.8 million in 2015, or 5.5 per 1,000, and dropping none too slowly.
Liberal versus Conservative
Similar rapid decreases are seen among the Presbyterian (PCUSA), United Methodist, and Lutheran (ELCA) churches. Episcopalians, Presbyterians (USA), Lutherans (ELCA) and United Methodists represent historical or mainline Protestant Churches in the USA,
The much more evangelical Southern Baptist Convention, because of its age, is similarly situated. Numbers are better in the large Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) than in the Mainline. But membership in SBC congregations has not been keeping track with population increases.
In contrast, evangelical denominations, such as for example the Assemblies of God, while still individually smaller than mainline Protestant congregations, have seen significant growth. The Assemblies of God had only about 300 thousand members in 1950 (about 2.1 per 1,000), swelling ten times to 3.1 million last year (9.8 per 1,000).
Broadly speaking, and using the colloquial understanding of the terms, conservative Protestant churches have had increases this past half century, and liberal churches have had decreases. It is, of course, of interest to shore up these loose expressions and discover just what “conservative” and “liberal” mean in this context.
Enter the paper “Theology Matters: Comparing the Traits of Growing and Declining Mainline Protestant Church Attendees and Clergy” by David Millard Haskell, Kevin N. Flatt, and Stephanie Burgoyne in the journal Review of Religious Research. The trio asked questions of the clergy and congregations of 22 Protestant churches drawn from the Anglican Church of Canada (5), the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada (4), the Presbyterian Church in Canada (8), and the United Church of Canada (4) all centered in southern Ontario. Of these, 13 had declining populations from 2003 to 2013 and 9 had increasing populations.
Now this isn’t an especially large or necessarily representative sample of churches outside Canada; however, as the survey questions will show, there is still much that can be learned.
Congregations in Growing and Declining Churches
Several questions were asked of the congregants, and many answers showed wide disagreement between the Growing and Declining churches.
For instance, 79% of Growing congregants agreed strongly with the statement “Through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus, God provided a way for the forgiveness of my sins,” whereas only 57% of Declining congregants thought the same. About 19% of Growing congregants strongly agreed that “the beliefs of the Christian faith need to change over time to stay relevant,” whereas 31% of Declining congregants thought so.
Three questions in particular were revealing in the conservative-liberal gap. Only 7% of Growing congregants strongly agreed that “the Bible is the product of human thinking about God, so some of its teachings are wrong or misguided,” whereas over 15% of Declining congregants strongly agreed.
About 13% of Growing congregants strongly agreed that “all major religions are equally good and true,” but more than twice as many Declining congregants, or 25%, thought so. On the fundamental basis of the Christian religion, 66% of Growing congregants strongly agreed that “Jesus rose from the dead with a real flesh and blood body, leaving behind an empty tomb,” but only 37% of Declining congregants did.
Not surprisingly, about 29% of Growing congregants thought their church’s mission was evangelism, and 16% thought it was social justice, whereas the numbers in Declining congregations was 9% and 31%.
Clergy in Growing and Declining Churches
Questions were also asked of the clergy, and the differences between Growing and Declining congregations was starker.
The largest difference was in the statement “Jesus was not the divine Son of God,” where it might be expected no clergy member could agree. And, indeed, no Growing clergy member agreed in any way. Yet 13% of Declining clergy agreed at least moderately.
Likewise, no Declining clergy strongly agreed that “it is very important to encourage non-Christians to become Christians,” but 77% of Growing clergy did. The statement “The beliefs of the Christian faith need to change over time to stay relevant” could not get any Growing clergy to agree in any way, but 69% of Declining clergy at least moderately agreed.
Some 70% of Growing clergy strongly agreed that “those who die face a divine judgement where some will be punished eternally,” but only 6% of Declining clergy moderately agreed, and none strongly agreed. On that same fundamental question asked of the congregation, 85% of Growing clergy strongly agreed (and none strongly disagreed) that “Jesus rose from the dead with a real flesh and blood body, leaving behind an empty tomb,” yet only 38% of Declining clergy thought so (and 19% strongly disagreed).
Has the call for liberalization failed?
Writing in the Washington Post, one of the authors of the study (Haskell), reminds us of the 1999 book by Episcopalian bishop John Shelby Spong Why Christianity Must Change or Die. “Spong, a theological liberal, said congregations would grow if they abandoned their literal interpretation of the Bible and transformed along with changing times.”
The Episcopal Church followed this advice. They have female priests and bishops. They allow “the ordination of openly gay, lesbian, bisexual, and/or transgender clergy.” They even had a practicing homosexual bishop in a (government-defined) “marriage” to another man, a “marriage” which was further liberalized into a “divorce.”
Yet, even though Haskell says Spong’s theory “won favor with academics” and was “praised” at no less eminent a place than the Harvard Divinity School to assist in “shifting Christianity to meet the needs of the modern world,” the Episcopal Church’s membership dropped precipitously, with no sign of slowing. The Church even splintered, with the Anglican Church in North America forming from former Episcopalians who could not countenance Spong’s liberal theology.
As for the anti-climatic conclusion of his study, Haskell blandly writes, “Conservative Protestant theology, with its more literal view of the Bible, is a significant predictor of church growth while liberal theology leads to decline.”
Apparently theological liberalism empties churches. (For more from the author of “Liberal Theology Empties Churches” please click HERE)
Just after midnight Tuesday in college football’s National Championship game, Clemson quarterback Deshaun Watson, with one second left, threw the ball two yards to wide receiver Hunter Renfrow. The pass won the game at 35-31, giving Clemson their first championship since 1981. The typical college-football-win hysteria was there, along with the mandatory Gatorade dunk, obligatory press interviews and drunken bar scenes filled with screaming fans.
But if that’s all you saw, you missed the game. The real story goes much deeper — as deep as the faith of Head Coach Dabo Swinney and his players.
‘It’s What God Wanted’
As ticker tape rained down on the field and cheering fans formed a deafening roar, quarterback Deshaun Watson stood with a reporter for an interview. Still gasping for air following the game, his smile was electric. “I’m speechless right now, man. It’s what God want[ed]. He put us [here] for a reason,” he said. “I talked to one of my coaches and he said ‘It’s a movie and it’s going to end the right way. Just keep believing in God, and just believe in your teammates and everything’s gonna fall in place,’ and that’s what happened and now we’re national champs and it’s amazing!”
Watson was asked why he made the decision to attend Clemson when he originally wanted to go to Florida. Calling Florida his “dream school” and saying that he loved Tim Tebow and Percy Harvin, Watson said the decision was made after he found Christ in 9th grade. He began to pray, along with his ailing mother, about which school to attend and that God would lead him to the right decision. “The day I committed to Clemson, God was talking to me and I just felt like the timing was perfect and that’s what I wanted to do. I stuck through it and it was the best decision of my life.”
‘Only God Can Do This’
Head Coach Dabo Swinney, in a post-game press conference, said rival Alabama worked hard and was a great team, but in the end, his players worked harder. “They fought. They fought for every play,” he said. “I said it out on the field and I’ll say it again. For me personally, only God can do this … there’s just no other explanation for me. It’s not anything to do with me. It’s God working through me and the staff and these players.
“Alabama [is] a challenge. … we just kind of hung in there. We made some mistakes, really we played great defense outside of about three plays, four plays, great drive by them there at the end, unbelievable play, to get the first down there, but at the end of the day, we had one second. We got it done with one second left and we’re the National Champs. To God be the glory.”
Journey of Faith
Wide receiver Hunter Renfrow said being a walk-on player was a “journey,” and that he could never have imagined last night’s win back as a senior in Myrtle Beach. “It’s almost like I got knocked out in the third quarter and this is just all a dream. And credit — I think my faith in God really got me through.” In a locker room interview, Renfrow added that winning the championship felt “unbelievable.” “Just glory to God. Thankful for everyone who … got me to this point.”
The Real Story
The real story of Clemson’s win isn’t about the school having the biggest or fastest or strongest players — although Tigers worked very hard to get to the championship game. It isn’t about who had the most genial or magnetic personality — although Coach Swinney is known for having such a disposition. The real story behind the incredible win is that the men interviewed following the game — the coach and key players — exhibited and proclaimed their faith on the world stage.
Given the opportunity to remain silent, these guys held up Christ as their hope and reason for success.
Watson summed it up in one last interview question on the field. The star quarterback was asked what he told his teammates when he led his offense back on the field after Alabama had regained the lead very late in the fourth quarter. “I walked up to my offensive line and I walked up to my receivers and I said, ‘Let’s be legendary. Let’s be great. God put us here for a reason.’”
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/21848251428_828543004e_b-1.jpg6801024Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2017-01-10 20:25:112017-01-10 20:25:11‘To God Be the Glory’: The Faith That Carried Clemson to Victory
The Rev. Al Sharpton is organizing a resistance movement comprised of black civil rights leaders to protest the presidency of Donald Trump.
He showed up Tuesday at Sen. Jeff Sessions’ confirmation hearing for attorney general. In an interview with The Daily Signal, Sharpton rehashed allegations of racism against the Alabama senator, claiming they were “found to be substantial.”
Here’s what Sharpton had to say—and The Daily Signal’s examination of the facts.
(For more from the author of “Al Sharpton Makes Some Serious Charges Against Jeff Sessions. Here Are the Facts.” please click HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/1080px-Al_Sharpton_by_David_Shankbone.jpg10241080Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2017-01-10 20:17:252017-01-10 20:17:25Al Sharpton Makes Some Serious Charges Against Jeff Sessions. Here Are the Facts.
It got rowdy at times during the hearing Tuesday on Sen. Jeff Sessions’ nomination to become attorney general, but not so much because of fellow senators who questioned the Alabama Republican.
Protesters interrupted the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing multiple times, some dressed in Ku Klux Klan outfits, others wearing the familiar Code Pink attire. They shouted “No Trump! No KKK! No fascist USA!” and other slogans.
The hearing itself wasn’t as contentious as some expected, as even some Democrats noted their friendship with Sessions, President-elect Donald Trump’s choice to run the Justice Department as attorney general.
Until Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn., challenged Sessions on the precise number of civil rights cases he was involved in as a U.S. attorney in Alabama, there was little talk about the allegations of racism that helped sink Sessions’ 1986 nomination as a federal judge.
Here are eight takeaways from the first day of the Sessions confirmation hearings:
1. Racism Allegations ‘Damnably False’
During his opening remarks, Sessions confronted head-on allegations lodged 30 years ago by other Justice Department lawyers that he was hostile to civil rights.
“I was accused in 1986 of failing to protect the voting rights of African-Americans by presenting the Perry County case, the voter fraud case, and of condemning civil rights organizations and even harboring—amazingly—sympathies for the KKK,” Sessions told his colleagues on the Judiciary Committee. “These are damnably false charges.”
He explained that he brought a 1982 voter fraud case in Perry County, Alabama, against civil rights advocate Albert Turner at the urging of local prosecutors and a grand jury foreman.
“The voter fraud case my office prosecuted was in response to pleas from African-Americans, incumbent elected officials who claim that the absentee ballot process involved a situation in which the ballots cast for them were stolen, altered, and cast for their opponents,” Sessions said. “The prosecution sought to protect the integrity of the ballot, not to block voting. It was a voting rights case.”
Turner and others were acquitted.
Sessions noted his role as both a U.S. attorney and later as Alabama’s attorney general in the prosecution and execution of Klansman Henry Hays.
“As to the KKK, I invited civil rights attorneys from Washington, D.C., to help us solve a very difficult investigation into the unconscionable, horrendous death of a young African-American,” Sessions told the committee, adding:
There was no federal death penalty at the time and I felt the death penalty was appropriate in this case. I pushed to have it tried in state court, which was done. That defendant was indeed convicted and sentenced to death and 10 years later—ironically—as Alabama’s attorney general, my staff participated in a defense of that verdict. That murdering Klansman was indeed executed. I abhor the Klan and what it represents and its hateful ideology.
Sessions said he “never declared the NAACP was un-American nor that a civil rights attorney was a disgrace to his race,” as he had been accused of in 1986.
2. He’ll Recuse Himself on Clinton
Sessions said as attorney general he would recuse himself from any federal investigation into former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton or the Clinton Foundation, because he publicly criticized the Democratic nominee during the 2016 presidential race.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., the ranking member of the Judiciary Committee, asserted her concerns during opening remarks.
“The president-elect said to his opponent during a debate, ‘If I win, I’m going to instruct my attorney general to get a special prosecutor to look at your situation,’” Feinstein said. “Mr. Chairman, that’s not what an attorney general does. An attorney general does not investigate and prosecute at the behest of a president.”
Later, Judiciary Chairman Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, raised the question.
“In light of the comments that you made, some have pressed concern about whether you can approach the Clinton matter impartially in both fact and appearance. How do you plan to address those concerns?” Grassley asked.
Sessions said it was a highly contentious campaign.
“I, like a lot of people, made comments about the issues in that campaign with regard to Secretary Clinton and some of the comments I made I do believe could place my objectivity in question,” Sessions said. “I’ve given that thought. I believe the proper thing for me to do would be to recuse myself from any kind of investigations involving Secretary Clinton and matters raised during the campaign.”
Later in the hearing, in response to a question from Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., Sessions said he never joined the chants of “lock her up” during the presidential campaign.
3. Russian Espionage
Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., asked whether Sessions would recuse himself and appoint a special prosecutor for an investigation of any Trump campaign officials that might have worked with Russian intelligence. Durbin said it was “a hypothetical.”
His decision to recuse himself from any Clinton probe was “because I’ve made public comments that could be construed as having an impact on the final judgment that would be rendered,” Sessions said, adding:
I don’t think I made any comments on this issue that would go to that. But I would review it and try to do the right thing as to whether or not it should stay within the jurisdiction of the attorney general or not.
Early in the hearing, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., asked about the alleged Russian hacking of the Democratic National Committee and of Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta’s email.
“How do you feel about a foreign entity trying to interfere in our election? I’m not saying they changed the outcome, but it is clear they did it. How do you feel about it and what should we do?” Graham asked.
Sessions called it a “a significant event.”
“We have penetration apparently throughout our government by foreign entities. We know the Chinese revealed background information on millions of people in the United States,” Sessions said, adding:
These I suppose ultimately are part of international big power politics. But when a nation uses their improperly gained or intelligence-wise gained information to take policy positions and impact other nation’s democracy or approach to any issue, then that raises real serious matters. Really I suppose it goes in many ways to our State Department and our Defense Department in how we as a nation have to react to that.
4. ‘Access Hollywood’ Video
In a line of questioning that seemed to catch Sessions off guard, Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., brought up the 2005 “Access Hollywood” video, in which Trump is heard making lewd comments about groping women.
“If a sitting president or any other high federal official is accused of committing what the president-elect described in a context in which it could be federally prosecuted, would you be able to prosecute it and investigate it?” Leahy asked.
Sessions, who also agreed any such behavior would be sexual assault, said the president could be prosecuted.
“The president is subject to certain lawful restrictions and they would be required to be applied by the appropriate law enforcement official if appropriate, yes,” Sessions said.
5. Saying ‘No’ to President Trump
Sessions talked about how he would move from making law and voting on policy to enforcing laws—even laws he voted against—as a matter of duty. Stressing independence, he also said the attorney general is not a political office.
“He or she must be committed to following the law,” he said. “He or she must be willing to tell the president ‘no’ if he overreaches. He or she cannot be a mere rubber stamp to any idea the president has.”
He added:
He or she also must set the example for the employees in the department to do the right thing and ensure that they know the attorney general will back them up, no matter what politician might call, or what powerful special interest, influential contributor, or friend might try to intervene.
6. Abortion and Same-Sex Marriage
Feinstein pressed Sessions on two major social issues, abortion and same-sex marriage. Sessions said he would enforce the law on both.
“You have referred to Roe v. Wade as ‘one of the worst, colossally erroneous Supreme Court decisions of all time.’ Is that still your view?” Feinstein asked.
Sessions responded:
It is. I believe it violated the Constitution and really attempted to set policy and not follow law. It is the law of the land. It is established and has been so for a long time. It deserves respect, and I will respect it and follow it.
Asked later whether his Justice Department would argue before the Supreme Court in favor of overturning Roe v. Wade, which legalized abortion across the nation, Sessions said the question was too hypothetical.
Feinstein referred to a November interview that Trump gave on “60 Minutes” in which the president-elect said same-sex marriage was settled law. She asked whether Sessions agreed.
“It was 5-4 and five justices on the Supreme Court, the majority of the court has established the definition of marriage for the entire United States of America, and I will follow that decision,” Sessions said.
7. Illegal Immigration
On one of Trump’s signature issues, curbing illegal immigration, Sessions said the U.S. must enforce its laws. He also said Congress has a role in fixing the nation’s broken immigration system.
“Colleagues, it has not been working right,” Sessions said. “We’ve entered more and more millions of people illegally into the country. Each one of them produces some sort of humanitarian concern. But it is particularly true for children. We’ve been placed in a particularly bad situation.”
When the matter came up later, Sessions talked about the economic impact of illegal immigration.
“Immigration has been a high priority for the United States. We’ve been a leading country in the world in accepting immigration,” Sessions said, adding:
I don’t think the American people want to end immigration. I do think if you bring in a larger flow of labor than we have jobs for, it does impact adversely the wage prospects, the job prospects of American citizens. As a nation, we should evaluate immigration on whether or not it serves and advances the national interest and not the corporate interest. It has to be in the people’s interest first.
8. Operation Choke Point
Sessions briefly addressed Operation Choke Point, a secretive Justice Department program that works with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and other agencies to target legal businesses—such as payday lenders, tobacco sellers, and gun dealers—that the Obama administration opposes.
Choke Point refers to the aim of discouraging banks and other lenders from doing business with these industries, thus choking off financing.
Sen. Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, later asked Sessions whether it is proper to target legal businesses for political reasons, and whether he would stop it if confirmed.
“At least as you framed this issue, as I understand the issue, from what little I know about it, fundamentally, a lawful business should not be attacked by having other lawful businesses pressured not to do business with the first business. For me that would be hard to justify,” Sessions said.
(For more from the author of “8 Takeaways From the First Day of Jeff Sessions’ Confirmation Hearings” please click HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/6235841005_2c1baba0b3_b-1-1.jpg6831024Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2017-01-10 20:12:382017-01-10 20:12:388 Takeaways From the First Day of Jeff Sessions’ Confirmation Hearings
As Congress enters debate on a new budget, Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., is making sure wasteful spending remains at the forefront with a report citing examples ranging from a study of how college students party to research on whether dinosaurs could sing.
Flake told The Daily Signal that he released the report, “Wastebook: PORKémon Go,” for two reasons.
“One, to inform the debate that is being had right now about whether we should bring earmarking back,” Flake said. “And two, just the issue of priorities. We have to make choices when we’re borrowing a lot of money.”
Named after the wildly popular mobile app Pokémon Go, “Wastebook: PORKémon Go,” released Tuesday, details more than $5 billion in what Flake calls wasteful government spending.
The report, which Flake discussed during an appearance Tuesday at The Heritage Foundation, is the second volume in the Arizona Republican’s “Wastebook” series.
Flake has a habit of exposing government waste. In 2015, he released a detailed report entitled “Wastebook: The Farce Awakens” and has put out similar reports since 2003, when he was in the House.
Here are seven of the most outrageous examples detailed in the new “Wastebook” report:
1. “Spaceport to Nowhere.” The Missile Defense Agency continues to fund a rocket launch site in Alaska that could cost the organization up to $80.4 million. The facility is 20 years old, “rarely used,” and was established with an $18 million earmark. “The millions spent to date on this launch complex have not made America safer from potential missile attacks from foreign adversaries,” the report states. “To the contrary, it has siphoned away tens of millions of dollars that could have been better spent on more promising initiatives.”
2. Fishes on a Treadmill. How long can a mudskipper use a treadmill? The University of California-San Diego’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography is using grant money from the National Science Foundation to answer just that. The study found that mudskippers “can exercise longer and recover quicker under higher oxygen concentrations.” The grant also is slated to be used “to purchase what one of the researchers jokingly refers to as ‘all the toys’ as well as travel costs for junkets to conferences.”
3. Holograms at a Comedy Museum. The National Comedy Center, a nonprofit in New York, received a $1.7 million grant from the Department of Commerce’s Economic Development Administration to create a comedy museum. The museum will feature holograms of dead comedians. A New York state lawmaker has promised to bring an additional $3 million in federal funding. “I’m not kidding you,” Flake said at Heritage. “It’s a comedy club that, unfortunately, gets your tax dollars.”
4. Partying College Students. Part of a $5 million grant from a section of the National Institutes of Health paid for a researcher at Brown University to study the partying habits of college students. Some findings: “Greek members engaged in more risky health behaviors … than non-Greek members,” and college students tend to increase their intake of alcohol on game days. “According to the researchers,” Flake said, “all the games had the same goal—causing the participants to become intoxicated. I think that falls into the obvious category.”
5. Do Boys or Girls Play More With Dolls? A study executed by Vanderbilt University with money from the National Eye Institute and National Science Foundation examined “whether boys or girls spend more time playing with Barbie dolls.” The report surveyed about 300 men and women and cost over $300,000. The study also found, in the words of Flake’s report, that “women were much better at identifying the correct Barbies while the men were more likely to recognize the Transformers.”
6. Singing Dinosaurs. A study conducted with partial funding from $450,000 in grants from the National Science Foundation examined whether dinosaurs were able to sing. The two-year study examined, in part, whether dinosaurs ever possessed a syrinx. The lead author said the study was “another important step to figuring out what dinosaurs sounded like.”
7. Binge-Watching Computers. Can computers learn human behavior by binge-watching TV shows such as “The Office” and “Desperate Housewives?” The study was funded in part by the Department of Defense’s Office of Naval Research and the National Science Foundation, which helped researchers study how TV shows “train computers to understand and predict human behavior.” Flake said he sees this research as nonsensical. “Spending nearly a half a billion dollars to … turn computers into couch potatoes doesn’t compute for me,” he said. (For more from the author of “7 Ways This Senator Says Government Wastes Your Tax Dollars” please click HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/6355404323_cf97f9c58e_b-1.jpg6831024Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2017-01-10 19:59:272017-01-10 19:59:277 Ways This Senator Says Government Wastes Your Tax Dollars
