{"id":182712,"date":"2015-06-24T20:25:00","date_gmt":"2015-06-25T01:25:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/2015\/06\/24\/f-me-i-agree-with-that-bigot-jeff-sessions\/"},"modified":"2015-06-24T20:25:00","modified_gmt":"2015-06-25T01:25:00","slug":"f-me-i-agree-with-that-bigot-jeff-sessions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/2015\/06\/24\/f-me-i-agree-with-that-bigot-jeff-sessions\/","title":{"rendered":"F%$# Me, I Agree with that Bigot Jeff Sessions*"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Yesterday, the Senate voted for cloture on Fast Track authority (TPA), and today, they voted to pass the measure, which will <a href=\"http:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/us-news\/2015\/jun\/24\/barack-obama-fast-track-trade-deal-tpp-senate\">require the House and Senate to vote on any trade agreements within 60 days, and prohibit any amendments or meaningful discussion<\/a>, which would include including the noxious Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP):<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><span style=\"color: blue;\">Barack Obama was given the authority he has long sought to expedite negotiations for a massive trade deal with countries on the Pacific rim, propelling the US toward a landmark agreement that, both proponents and critics agree, will reshape the global economy.<\/span><br \/><span style=\"color: blue;\"><br \/><\/span><span style=\"color: blue;\">The Republican-controlled Senate finally passed legislation on Wednesday that gives the president the power to \u201cfast-track\u201d negotiations with the 11 other countries party to the Trans-Pacific Partnership.<\/span><br \/><span style=\"color: blue;\"><br \/><\/span><span style=\"color: blue;\">The vote, which passed 60-38, was a significant victory for multinational corporations which have been lobbying hard for a trade agreement expected to lower tariffs and create new regulations for sectors as diverse as agriculture, banking and the pharmaceutical industry.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Let&#8217;s note that the tariffs among the largest economies in the deal are already around 1%.<\/p>\n<p>What this is really about is aiding rent seeking industries, primarily pharma and finance, by creating new &#8220;rights&#8221; and forestalling meaningful regulation, because 7 figure lobbying salaries following retirement from politics don&#8217;t grow on trees.<\/p>\n<p>It is the very apotheosis of rent seeking, and I oppose this bill.<\/p>\n<p>BTW, here is a list of Vichy Democrats who voted for cloture,  They should not be supported in ay primary, nor should they be supported in a general election.<\/p>\n<p>In the long run, and in the medium run as well, this would be a good thing, one need only remember how the 1994 electoral debacle, which was driven by NAFTA.<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Bennet (D-CO)<\/li>\n<li>Cantwell (D-WA)<\/li>\n<li>Carper (D-DE)<\/li>\n<li>Coons (D-DE)<\/li>\n<li>Feinstein (D-CA)<\/li>\n<li>Heitkamp (D-ND)<\/li>\n<li>Kaine (D-VA)<\/li>\n<li>McCaskill (D-MO)<\/li>\n<li>Murray (D-WA)<\/li>\n<li>Nelson (D-FL)<\/li>\n<li>Shaheen (D-NH)<\/li>\n<li>Warner (D-VA)<\/li>\n<li>Wyden (D-OR)<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>I would also note that those Democrats who voted for cloture who are up for reelection in 2016, Patty Murray, Michael Bennet, and Ron Wyden are dead men walking anyway, because they have given their opponents such a heavy club..<\/p>\n<p>My Senator, Ben Cardin, would probably have voted for cloture if they needed another vote, but I&#8217;ll leave him for a later discussion.<\/p>\n<p>As to my agreeing with Jeff Sessions on this (God Help Me), when he says, &#8220;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.sessions.senate.gov\/public\/index.cfm\/news-releases?ID=BEF90E4A-433F-4C97-A8B3-0E875531D36A\">President Obama, and allies in Congress, have won this fast-track vote. But, in exchange, they may find that they are losing something far greater: the trust of the American people<\/a>, I have to honestly agree. (His full statement after break)<\/p>\n<p>This is a bad deal, and a bad thing, and much like in 1994, the Republicans are going to spot weld this on the Democratic Party, which will probably lead to their keeping the Senate.<\/p>\n<p><sup>*<\/sup><span style=\"font-size: xx-small;\">Before his Senate career, he was a US attorney, and then he was nominated by Reagan to the Federal Judgeship, but he was <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Jeff_Sessions#Failed_nomination_to_the_district_court\">rejected by the Senate because of credible allegations of bigotry<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a name='more'><\/a><\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<h1><span style=\"color: blue;\">Sessions Comments On Senate Vote To Advance Fast-Track Authority For Executive &#8211; News Releases<\/span><\/h1>\n<p><span style=\"color: blue;\"><br \/><\/span><span style=\"color: blue;\">Senator Jeff Sessions<\/span><\/p>\n<div style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"color: blue;\"><i>\u201cPresident Obama, and allies in Congress, have won this fast-track vote. But, in exchange, they may find that they are losing something far greater: the trust of the American people.\u201d<\/i>&nbsp;<b>&nbsp;<\/b><\/span><\/div>\n<p><span style=\"color: blue;\"><br \/><\/span><span style=\"color: blue;\"><b>WASHINGTON\u2014U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL) issued the following statement today after the Senate voted to advance six-year fast-track executive authority:<\/b><\/span><br \/><span style=\"color: blue;\"><br \/><\/span><span style=\"color: blue;\">\u201cAmericans increasingly believe that their country isn\u2019t serving its own citizens.  They need look no further than a bipartisan vote of Congress that will transfer congressional power to the Executive Branch and, in turn, to a transnational Pacific Union and the global interests who will help write its rules.<\/span><br \/><span style=\"color: blue;\"><br \/><\/span><span style=\"color: blue;\">The same routine plays out over and again. We are told a massive bill must be passed, all the business lobbyists and leaders tell us how grand it will be, but that it must be rushed through before the voters spoil the plan. As with Obamacare and the Gang of Eight, the politicians meet with the consultants to craft the talking points\u2014not based on what the bill <i>actually<\/i> does, but what they hope people will <i>believe<\/i> it does. And when ordinary Americans who never asked for the plan, who don\u2019t want the plan, who want no part of the plan, resist, they are scorned, mocked, and heaped with condescension.<\/span><br \/><span style=\"color: blue;\"><br \/><\/span><span style=\"color: blue;\">Washington broke arms and heads to get that 60th vote\u2014not one to spare\u2014to impose on the American people a plan which imperils their jobs, wages, and control over their own affairs. It is remarkable that so much energy has been expended on advancing the things Americans oppose, and preventing the things Americans want.<\/span><br \/><span style=\"color: blue;\"><br \/><\/span><span style=\"color: blue;\">For instance: thousands of loyal Americans have been laid off and forced to train the foreign workers brought in to fill their jobs\u2014at Disney, at Southern California Edison, across the country. Does Washington rush to their defense? No, the politicians and the lobbyists rush to move legislation that would double or triple the very program responsible for replacing them.<\/span><br \/><span style=\"color: blue;\"><br \/><\/span><span style=\"color: blue;\">This \u2018econometarian\u2019 ideology holds that if a company can increase its bottom line\u2014whether by insourcing foreign workers or outsourcing production\u2014then it\u2019s always a win, never a downside.<\/span><br \/><span style=\"color: blue;\"><br \/><\/span><span style=\"color: blue;\">President Obama, and allies in Congress, have won this fast-track vote. But, in exchange, they may find that they are losing something far greater: the trust of the American people.  Americans have a fundamental, decent, and just demand: that the people they elect defend their interests. And every issue to come before us in the coming months will have to pass this test: does it strengthen, or weaken, the position of the everyday, loyal American citizen?\u201d<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Yesterday, the Senate voted for cloture on Fast Track authority (TPA), and today, they voted to pass the measure, which will require the House and Senate to vote on any trade agreements within 60 days, and prohibit any amendments or meaningful discussion, which would include including the noxious Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP): Barack Obama was &hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[969,1051,1016,1020,979],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-182712","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-evil","category-hypocrisy","category-international-commerce","category-legislation","category-wanker"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/182712"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=182712"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/182712\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=182712"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=182712"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=182712"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}