RFK Jr. on confirmation hotseat questioned by questionable Sen. Ron Wyden

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As this is being written, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. is seated for his confirmation hearing for HHS Secretary. While the Republicans are asking him reasonable questions pertaining to the job, the Democrats, led by Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon, has attacked him unmercifully in his opening statement and then in his questioning. Wyden has attacked RFK Jr's character and even yelled at the candidate at one point, cutting him off as he attempted to answer.

So who is Ron Wyden?

 
In 2024, Wyden introduced legislation to reform the Supreme Court, a politically motivated move to increase the number of justices who would therefore be appointed by then-President Biden. It's obvious that Wyden is Party-driven and if Kennedy was nominated by, say, Kamala Harris had she won [heaven forbid] the election, he would be all in for him.

There have also been instances in which Wyden's family members engaged in stock trading activities that coincided with legislative actions, as in insider trading. His wife, Nancy Bass Wyden, who owned the Strand Bookstore, bought shares in semiconductor companies [Nvidia, for example] at the time when Sen. Wyden was pushing for legislation to support the U.S. semiconductor industry--a conflict of interest, obviously.

Wyden was also involved with Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, which he co-authored. There followed debates about content moderation and responsibility of platforms such as social media companies. Wyden wanted more moderation rather than First Amendment rights, taking a position more like that of a dictatorship nation.

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Pam Bondi shuts Dem senator's attacking Trump nominee

During her confirmation hearing to become the U.S. Attorney General on Wednesday, Pam Bondi encountered sharp questioning from a senior Democratic senator concerning her support for President-elect Donald Trump's nominee for FBI Director, Kash Patel.

Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) grilled Bondi over Patel's previous statements, including his idea to close down FBI headquarters and his mention of an "enemies list." Blumenthal asked, "Is that a person who, appropriately, should be the FBI director? Aren't those comments inappropriate? Shouldn't you disavow them and ask him to recant them?"

Bondi responded, "Senator, I am not familiar with all those comments. I have not discussed those comments with Mr. Patel." She continued, despite Blumenthal's attempt to interrupt, "Excuse me. What I do know is Mr. Patel was a career prosecutor. He was a career public defender, defending people. And he also has great experience within the intelligence community."

She added, "What I can sit here and tell you is, Mr. Patel, if he works with running the FBI, if he is confirmed, and if I am confirmed, he will follow the law. If I am the attorney general of the United States of America, and I don't believe he would do anything otherwise."

Blumenthal countered, "Well, let me just submit that the response that I would have hoped to hear from you is that those comments are inappropriate, and that you will ask him to disavow or recant them when he comes before this committee, because they are indeed chilling to fair enforcement and the rule of law."

This confrontation followed similar questioning by Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), who also brought up what Democrats have described as Patel's "enemies list." This refers to a list of 60 individuals in Patel's book "Government Gangsters: The Deep State, the Truth, and the Battle for Our Democracy," whom he labeled as part of the "deep state."

Bondi defended Patel during Whitehouse's questions as well, while asserting that there would never be an "enemies list" at the Department of Justice under her leadership. Whitehouse, as you may know, is not the sharpest senator.

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Cory Booker asks Mike Pompeo questions from leftist field

At his secretary of state Senate confirmation hearing, CIA Director Mike Pompeo was asked a variety of questions. Some questions were relevant, probing about Pompeo's thoughts regarding Syria and Russia; other questions were asked as a way of political grandstanding by the inquisitor.

Such were the questions asked by Cory Booker (D-NJ).

"Is being gay a perversion?" Booker asked, referencing a speech Pompeo gave in the past.

Pompeo responded: "When I was a politician, I had a very clear view on whether it was appropriate for two same-sex persons to marry. I stand by that." He was referring to when he was a congressman and opposed the U.S. Supreme Court ruling that legalized gay marriage in 2015.

Booker, who probably has his eyes set on the 2020 presidential race, continued to ask questions that have nothing to do with the office for which Pompeo is being confirmed. He asked if it's "appropriate" for same-sex couples to marry.

"Senator, I continue to hold that view," Pompeo responded.

At his January 2017 confirmation hearings for CIA director, Pompeo was also questioned by another Democratic presidential wannabe, Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA). She asked if he would treat every CIA employee "in a way that is appropriate and equal." He made it clear that he would.

At the secretary of state confirmation hearing he told the showboat Booker that his "respect for every individual, regardless of their sexual orientation, is the same." 

His record proves this, but Democrats don't care about actual performance.

Booker's first confrontational question for Pompeo was whether he viewed those who worshipped "other gods," particularly Muslims, as "negative."

Pompeo referred to his "exquisite" record of treating people with respect, regardless of their religious beliefs. He also explained to the clueless Booker that Muslims have a special "opportunity" with how they respond to terrorist attacks because they are "better positioned" to respond to "certain types of violence."

Booker never asked Pompeo about the most prevalent form of religious hate: anti-Semitism. 

Perhaps he was afraid of offending Louis Farrakhan.


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