This is why this is what Michael Moore describes as an "All hands on deck" situation.

https://www.democracynow.org/2017/1/6/headlines/six_confirmation_hearings_trump_news_conference_scheduled_on_one_day

There are six confirmation hearings (and a shiny distracting object disguised as a Trump News Conference) in one day and it's coming up fast, before these cabinet picks can even be vetted for ethics concerns. Of course Day One of the new Congress already demonstrated what they think of "ethics concerns".  (scroll to the bottom for my letter, I'm going long today)

This Wednesday Six Cabinet Nominees of varying deplorability are up for nomination.   Not to understate the disgusting nature of Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's wife Elaine Chao being rewarded with a cabinet spot after her husband sat on damaging information regarding Russian hacking before the election. I'm cynical enough to believe he would have done so regardless of any quid pro quo simply because he is the worst kind of partisan hack (see his goal of making Barack Obama a one term President, his refusal to confirm his Supreme Court nominee and the pure Huevos it took to criticize Chuck Schumer for returning the favor to Trump)

Sadly Elaine Chao may be the most normal nominee on the table here and not someone I want to spend a lot of time on.  

While I admit I am not well read on Pompeo or Kelly but don't like what I have heard. That leaves three absolutely horrid cabinet choices to choose from for today's letter.

As repulsive as the idea of a billionaire privatization advocate being in charge of the Department of Education is, this is also not my area of expertise (as dumb as it sounds to say "Education is not what I'm smart at").  I'm more worried about which cabinet member poses the most imminent danger to personal freedom and the future of the Republic.  

Rex Tillerson and Jeff Sessions are the classic Trump vs. Cruz question of "Would you prefer to be shot or poisoned?". I think in this scenario due to both his resemblance to a snake and to being less likely than Trump to actually push the button, Ted Cruz was the poison (not to diminish a death by poisoning, but there's usually more time to find the antidote).

Maybe you have these two flipped in your opinion, but to me the gun to the head of American Democracy and Justice for All is Senator Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III, a name that would be more at home as Chapter President of the Sons of Confederate Veterans or the Council of Conservative Citizens (aka the Diet Klan).

The unreported story of the election is not "Voter Fraud" which implies an attack on the integrity of the Vote by average every day citizens (or as they like to claim, non-citizens, as if Illegal Immigrants really have time in their day in between their 3 jobs picking vegetables to get in line 5 times to vote). The real threat to Democracy is Voter Suppression.  It starts with Voter ID and culminates in total repeal of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, a great Civil Rights achievement signed by LBJ meant to protect the rights of African American voters in states just like Senator Sessions' state of Alabama. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voting_Rights_Act_of_1965). Not to mention the Interstate Cross-Check program championed by Trump ally Kris Kobach, Kansas Secretary of State, which invalidated millions of people's voter registration incorrectly.

In 1986 Jeff Sessions was nominated as a District Judge by Ronald Reagan. This nomination was torpedoed by the Senate Judiciary Commitee with even two Republicans voting with the Democrats against his nomination. Reason being? In 1986, Jeff Sessions was viewed as too racist to act as Judge in a Country that still actively supported Apartheid in South Africa. Pretty telling how far we've progressed as a country that 31 years later his nomination is viewed as highly likely and that he was the first Senator to come out in support of our now President-Elect.

Why was he viewed in this regard aside from statements like calling a Black Man "Boy" and off-color jokes about liking Klan members until he heard they smoke pot?  A big part of it was his wrongful prosecution of a group of Black Civil Rights Activists in Alabama in 1985 for, yeah you guessed it Voter Fraud. https://www.thenation.com/article/jeff-sessions-trumps-pick-for-attorney-general-is-a-fierce-opponent-of-civil-rights/

This is the centerpiece of my opposition. Like any Hard Right pick I expect him to strongly support Private Prisons, to regress on the War on Drugs (it will be ironic to see how someone from the proud tradition of "States Rights" reacts to the Liberal states' legalization of Marijuana) and to overcorrect on President Obama's symapathetic view towards Black Lives Matter towards unquestioned deferral to Law Enforcement even when there is clear evidence they've acted in the wrong when it comes to using lethal force.


The Senate Judiciary Committee is charged with reviewing Senator Sessions' nomination as Attorney General. The Chairman is Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa who's immature refusal to vet Merrick Garland for the Supreme Court doesn't leave me hopeful here. Regardless he is on my list of people to e-mail and e-mail is how we're going to have to go here since this is happening on Wednesday. Ranking Member is Dianne Feinstein of California who I hope will show some backbone with the rest of the Democrats on the committee.

I'm not super hopeful about the rest of the committee and I'm aware that Senators and Congressmen are most likely to only listen to their constituents.  However, I still feel as though sheer numbers help so I will do my part.

There are a couple of Republicans on the committee who I am e-mailing (and if your Senator is on the committee please don't let your opinion of them sway whether or not you contact them. You may detest Ted Cruz or Mike Lee but if they are your Senator they need to hear from you). I am contacting Orrin Hatch (and considering what I just said, Mike Lee, that's right Utah you have two members here) as a former constituent of his who still has multiple family members who still are.   I am also e-mailing Senator Jeff Flake of Arizona and Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina since they have shown they are willing to stand up to Trump on principle.

Most importantly of course I am contacting Senator Dean Heller my friendly local Republican Senator and once Catherine Cortez Masto gets her official e-mail up and running I will send her a friendly note of encouragement as a Democrat to vote against this nomination. (Don't take the Democrats for granted that they will always vote on the right side of things.  In may case Senator Cortez Masto is an unknown quantity as a Freshman Senator. In your case there are any number of reasons your Democratic rep may give to go along with a nominee).

I am personalizing my letters to Senators Hatch and Lee and Heller so for the sake of making a template I will post my letter to Senator Grassley (change Chairman of the Judiciary to Member of the Judiciary or to refer to yourself as your Senator's constituent).

Finally my letter to Senator Grassley. Once again if you have letters on other matters you'd like to share, please leave them in the comments. For help finding your Senator go here https://www.senate.gov/senators/contact/

For info on the Senate Judiciary Committee including contact info go here: https://www.judiciary.senate.gov/about/members


Subject: Jeff Sessions Nomination

Dear Senator Grassley,

I'm writing you today to ask you as a citizen to please reject the nomination by President-Elect Trump of Senator Jeff Sessions (R) Alabama to be our new Attorney General.

My concerns about Senator Sessions are many but ultimately boil down to his record on Civil Rights, Voting Rights and the negative message his nomination sends on justice and inequality in our country.

The Voting Rights Act of 1965 was a landmark achievement of the Civil Rights Era that corrected many years of discrimination against our Black fellow Citizens in the Old South who faced huge obstacles when trying to exercise their most fundamental right to vote for the people who represent them from the most local level up to the President. 

Senator Sessions has shown disdain for this important act by calling it "Intrusive" and opposing efforts to update this law (http://www.montgomeryadvertiser.com/story/news/2014/06/25/sessions-opposes-update-voting-rights-act/11364929/).  In fact Senator Sessions himself has engaged in Voter Suppression by wrongfully prosecuting Civil Rights activists in his home state for Voter Fraud.

Reasons for opposing the Voters Rights Act today seem to be tied to the idea that we have moved past racism in our society. However, what other causes could their be when shortly after this act was weakened by the Supreme Court, Senator Sessions' home state of Alabama who had recently passed a voter ID law, closed 31 branches of their DMV in primarily rural impoverished majority Black areas of the state? Or when the State of North Carolina has specifically gone out of their way to suppress Black voting through studying the demographic and doing things such as ending Sunday early voting because of the "Souls to the Polls" efforts by Black Churches.

In 1986 the Senate Judiciary Committee rejected Jeff Sessions for a District Judge appointment because his record on Civil Rights was considered too far out of the mainstream. In 1986 our country's views on things like Apartheid in South Africa were still not settled but we still recognized that Jeff Sessions views on race were unacceptable.   31 years later what sort of a message does it send that we are willing to accept him as the number one Legal mind in the land?

At a time when racial tensions in this country are as high as they've been since the 1992 L.A. riots I urge you to please reject the nomination of Jeff Sessions and encourage our new President-Elect to nominate someone who will truly have justice and the rights of all Americans regardless of color, religion, income or ethnic origin at heart

Thank you for your service in the Senate and for considering the views of all Americans as you are faced with the task of considering the nomination of who should be the face of Justice in our country.

Sincerely,

Mike Jones