mastodon.online is one of the many independent Mastodon servers you can use to participate in the fediverse.
A newer server operated by the Mastodon gGmbH non-profit

Server stats:

11K
active users

#ConfirmationHearings

0 posts0 participants0 posts today

#Politics #KashPatel #ConfirmationHearings
It’s not just Democrats concerns Patel. Way back Trump’s Attorney General Bill Barr rejected Patel as deputy director of the FBI, telling t Chief of Staff Mark Meadows that Patel would be appointed over “my dead body.” Strong words coming from man who complacently did Donald Trump’s bidding in most other regards. Then there’s Atlantic article ..as “many of the nearly forty” of Patel’s former Trump Admin spoke only do so if anonymous retaliation. JV

#Politics #KashPatel #ConfirmationHearings

“Senator Chuck Grassley told Patel, “Public trust in the FBI is low. Only 41% of the American public thinks the FBI is doing a good job … Mr. Patel, it’ll be your job to restore the public’s trust and return the FBI to its core mission of fighting crime.”
That’s going to be a heavy lift since Patel struggled with the truth today, having no recollection of unflattering details about his past and continuing to puff his resume…”
Joyce Vance

There’s someone at RFK Jr’s confirmation hearing wearing a respirator and holding a sign that says “vaccines save lives”

This is the way. Calm, cool & collected but sending a strong message that COVID isn’t over, no one is expendable and anti-science is dangerous.

Thank you Lone Masker!

#Politics #nationalsecurity #military #ConfirmationHearings #defence

“…Further, CNN national security correspondent Natasha Bertrand reported that almost an hour after Trump became president, “current and former Pentagon officials say they don’t know who is currently in charge of the Defense Department,” a key position to maintain U.S. security against adversaries who might take advantage of transition moments to push against American defenses…”

Heather Cox Richardson

#confirmationhearings #scottbessent #minimumwages

Show it to your maga friends, republicans want their people to be poor ;

“ Scott Bessent, President-elect Trump’s Treasury secretary nominee, said Thursday that he would not support raising the minimum wage.”

“ So you don’t think we should change the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour?” Sanders asked.

“No, sir,” Bessent responded.

The national minimum wage has been stuck at $7.25 since 2009” thehill.com/business/5090420-t

One thing that occurred to me while contemplating the #confirmationhearings going on is that so many people are acting like most of these terrible #nominees will be in their jobs all that long.

#PresidentMusk loves to fire people, and so does #CoPresident #Trump. Even if confirmed, many of these people won't be in those jobs 6 months from now. We should be worrying about the likely replacements and how bad they'll be, especially the "acting" #Secretaries...

#petehegseth #ConfirmationHearings #trump #gop #secretaryofdefense

He failed miserably here;

“Sen. Tammy Duckworth, grilling President-elect Donald Trump's choice for defense secretary over whether he had the "breadth and depth of knowledge" needed to lead international negotiations, asked Pete Hegseth if could name one member of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, describe what type of agreement the U.S. had with the countries and how many nations were in the bloc.

Hegseth responded at the heated Senate confirmation hearing that he couldn't tell Duckworth the exact number of ASEAN nations, but that "I know we have allies in South Korea and Japan in AUKUS (a pact between Australia, the United Kingdom and the U.S.) with Australia."
"None of those three countries are in
ASEAN," responded Duckworth, a Democrat from Illinois. "I suggest you do a little homework."

apnews.com/article/hegseth-duc Question on ASEAN stumped Hegseth at Senate hearing. What is it and why is it important?

“Pete Hegseth is wildly unqualified to run DOD. He described yesterday the most people he had ever supervised was 100. The non-profit budgets that went broke under his stewardship were in the $10 million range. He has never supervised an audit yet claims he’ll be the guy who finally ensures the Pentagon passes one.”

emptywheel.net/2025/01/15/how-

emptywheel · How Right Wingers Rushed to DEI Hire Pete Hegseth - emptywheelTrump convinced Republicans to do something they claim they oppose: hiring someone who lacks qualifications for the job based on his identity.

What I just can't wrap my head around is how these people perceive current reality.

If he didn't lose in 2020, someone should ask her how he can have been legally elected for a THIRD time in 2024. She said he couldn't legally run in 2028 without a Constitution change, but that has to be based on a theory 2024 is his second win. Where is the logical consistency here?

This matters because she plainly thinks Biden rules by fiat. Does she think such fiat lawful? Should we fear that even of Trump can't be elected, he can use similar fiat to force his way in?

I don't get how she reconciles this.

#BondiHearing #ConfirmationHearings #USPolitics #politics

theguardian.com/us-news/live/2

the Guardian · Pam Bondi claims justice department ‘targeted’ Trump but says she won’t pursue ‘political’ prosecutions – as it happenedBondi facing senators as Kristi Noem, Marco Rubio and CIA pick John Ratcliffe also face confirmation hearings

#AlexWagner discussed the first day of #ConfirmationHearings of #PeteHegseth to be our Secretary of Defense and (as always when the nominee is a #Republican), many #Republicans pitched embarrassingly un-serious fawning softballs of such an unqualified & compromised candidate to lead the largest military on the face of the planet. 🤦‍♂️
msnbc.com/alex-wagner-tonight/

MSNBC · Hegseth squirms as Democrats hammer poor character, weak qualifications to be defense secretaryBy MSNBC