Is it pitchfork time yet?
September 24, 2018 9:20 AM   Subscribe

Brett Kavanaugh, nominee to the Supreme Court, faces more and more allegations of sexual assault. Michael Avenatti has entered the fray. Something's up with Deputy AG Rod Rosenstein. A UN General Assembly Meeting is this week, and Trump is set to chair a Security Council meeting. And among other things, the Trump administration seeks another tightening of immigration rules.

Michael Avenatti tweeted last night with some very graphic details. By request, please do not include the most graphic details in this thread. Bloodless facts like dates, accusers, etc. are fine.

The list of women accusing Kavanaugh is now up to four: Christine Blasey Ford, Deborah Ramirez, one unnamed client of Michael Avenatti, and another accusation being investigated by Montgomery County.

As of now, Ford is set to testify in front of Congress on Thursday, but that could change at any time. Republicans are discussing how to interrogate her without looking bad.

In the past week, Rosenstein was the center of a firestorm that started with a NYT story, Rosenstein Suggested He Secretly Record Trump and Discussed 25th Amendment. Further reporting has only made the story more uncertain and murky. Around 11:00 am, Axios and the Washington Post reported a rumor from White House officials, saying that Rosenstein had offered his verbal resignation. NBC quickly reported that was NOT the case, and Rosenstein had instead been summoned to a meeting at the White House. At the time of this writing, no one knows what's going on.

Deputy AG Rosenstein is one of the key people keeping the Mueller investigation rolling, and firing him is one of the things Trump might do to stop that investigation (here's some discussion about the legal realities of that.) For that reason, Rosenstein being fired is one of the Moveon Rapid Response triggers.

Everything else is still going on at the same damn time. Trump administration seeks to limit access to visas or residency for immigrants who use or are likely to use public assistance (Washington Post)
posted by Rainbo Vagrant (2131 comments total) 114 users marked this as a favorite
 
As always, please consider MeFi chat for hot-takes and live-blogging breaking news, the current MetaTalk venting thread for catharsis and sympathizing, and funding the site if you're able. Also, for the sake of the ever-helpful mods, please keep in mind the MetaTalk on expectations about U.S. political discussion on MetaFilter.
posted by Rainbo Vagrant at 9:22 AM on September 24, 2018 [15 favorites]


Around 11:00 am, Axios and the Washington Post reported a rumor from White House officials, saying that Rosenstein had offered his verbal resignation.

Stop. Believing. These. People.
posted by OnTheLastCastle at 9:22 AM on September 24, 2018 [121 favorites]


I'm guessing the White House thought they could pull a head fake by floating the resignation balloon and goad Rosenstein into a "You can't fire me, I quit" resignation, but he wasn't nearly dumb enough to fall for it.
posted by 0xFCAF at 9:24 AM on September 24, 2018 [21 favorites]


Trump blinked before Rosenstein did.
posted by jaduncan at 9:24 AM on September 24, 2018 [26 favorites]


Stop. Believing. These. People.

I would amplify that: I don't think that anyone believes them, I just want the media to stop repeating them. It's not news that someone says something anymore. We're beyond that.
posted by Etrigan at 9:28 AM on September 24, 2018 [97 favorites]


I found this interesting from last thread, from zachlipton:

> Shortly before his retirement, Justice Kennedy came around to the position of hostility toward Chevron Deference. This is the explicit project of Don McGahn and the Federalist Society. There's no subtlety here; they're quite clearly saying that they are picking judges who will dismantle "the administrative state."

Another different interesting thing: The Democrats' Next Supreme Court Nominee (Slate). Meet Patricia Millett, the hero of the Jane Doe abortion case and a worthy successor to Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

===

final threadkeeping note: Per the July 28 Metatalk discussion, we should expect and plan for a new politics thread next Monday (Oct 1). The Metafilter wiki has a FPP Draft that anyone can collaborate on.
posted by Rainbo Vagrant at 9:31 AM on September 24, 2018 [26 favorites]


link, US Politics FPP draft
posted by Rainbo Vagrant at 9:32 AM on September 24, 2018 [7 favorites]


Stop reporting anything that comes out of this den of liars until verified with a third party / physical evidence. More evidence the WH reporters with "inside access" are just stenographers (as Colbert nailed it years ago).
posted by benzenedream at 9:33 AM on September 24, 2018 [15 favorites]


Mod note: Folks, I know a fresh new thread is tempting, but keep this information-dense or it won't actually help. Thanks.
posted by restless_nomad (staff) at 9:35 AM on September 24, 2018 [22 favorites]


I think, as a couple of y'all had said, that this was a trial balloon or a ploy to make Rosenstein quit. Trump wants Mueller out so badly he can taste it. I'm hoping Mueller is readying something to drop quickly.
posted by azpenguin at 9:38 AM on September 24, 2018 [12 favorites]




I think, as a couple of y'all had said, that this was a trial balloon or a ploy to make Rosenstein quit. Trump wants Mueller out so badly he can taste it.

The stupid thine -- one of the stupid things -- among the stupid things about this move, if move it was, is that it put the Washington press in the frame of mind that Rosenstein's resignation might not be the obvious obstruction of justice that Trump firing him would be.

Now if Trump does fire Rosenstein, it'll contrast with the resignation story and make the obstruction obvious (or, as i said in the previous thread, that if he offered to resign if the Mueller investigation was safeguarded, and Trump refused, it'd cast in even more stark relief that his firing was to shield Trump from a criminal probe).
posted by Gelatin at 9:47 AM on September 24, 2018 [2 favorites]


About the theoretical Rosenstein resignation/firing. Whatever meeting happened last night, whatever might have been said, it isn't really news. But if my life had gone in a very different direction, and I were a GOP political strategist, I'd absolutely use this as both a distraction from the escalating very real and serious Kavanaugh mess, as well as the UN and Pompeo's NK disarmament speech. All of which is great cover because it is real and momentarily imprtant, and distracts from the other ongoing serious but not sensational governmental and regulatory dismantling that is the real work and goal.

But it is an even better test of media outlets and response, both by reporters and the general public. Amazing how the conversation has shifted. It is a very handy tool to have.

Josh Barro gets it: The fun thing about this Rosenstein news cycle is we can do it over and over and over again.
posted by monopas at 9:48 AM on September 24, 2018 [23 favorites]


I suspect I'm preaching to the choir but, here goes:

Please do not let the deluge of everything that's happening distract you from doing the work that needs to be done for midterms.
-- Donate (up and down the ballot, local elections matter)
-- Make sure you are registered
-- Make sure your friends, family and neighbors are registered and have a plan to vote
-- Volunteer to canvass, write postcards, phonebank, textbank, help in campaign offices, GOTV...

And, most importantly, do not give in to the sins of despair or complacency. If we aren't doing the work, who will? Keeping on top of the news is not a substitute for making change.
posted by mcduff at 9:50 AM on September 24, 2018 [82 favorites]


PSA: When the thread gets long, you may want to give the MetaFilter Reader interface a shot. Reader loads up 15 comments at a time, so the total length of the discussion is immaterial. It should offer a snappy experience on just about any device with JavaScript enabled.

It's fast, but you can't comment from the Reader interface. Which, to be honest, may be a bonus for some :)
posted by syzygy at 9:51 AM on September 24, 2018 [32 favorites]


Statement from Sarah Sanders: "At the request of Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenestiein, he and President Trump had an extended conversation to discuss the recent news stories. Because the President is at the United Nations General Assembly and has a full schedule with leaders from around the world, they will meet on Thursday when the President returns from Washington, D.C."

So yeah, we get to do this again Thursday, the day of the Kavanaugh hearing. And possibly every single day.

They've already taken advantage of the occasion for a corrupt purpose too: Trump Lawyers Demand Mueller Probe ‘Time Out’ if Rosenstein is Ousted, in which Sekulow and Giuliani (how weird is it that Sekulow has a radio show?) that there needs to be "basically a time out" on the Mueller investigation if Rosenestin is out.

----

@jdawsey1: Kellyanne Conway just defended Brett Kavanaugh on a call with White House surrogates, urged them to defend his nomination. Compared judge to "elite media figures" like Les Moonves & Harvey Weinstein who have been accused of sexual harassment/assault, per two people on call. White House is full steam ahead on Kavanaugh nomination, per four people. Surrogates being urged to defend him; talking points against New Yorker story circulating; lots of calls, huddles about his nomination.

Um, what the what now? I would really like to know more about how she compared Kavanaugh to Weinstein please.

Update: @KellyannePolls: Your leakers need to take better notes. My comparison is to the hypocritical way some in media have covered unverified teenage claims about Judge Kavanaugh & yet protected adult media men who raped threatened & harmed women for decades.

Ugh.
posted by zachlipton at 9:53 AM on September 24, 2018 [40 favorites]


mcduff reminds me that I've been meaning to mention that I've been canvassing neighborhoods in Indianapolis and Marion County over the past couple of weekends. The Democrats are pushing hard to get the vote out for Joe Donnelly.

I've had receptions ranging from "I'm still undecided" to "heck yeah i'm voting for Donnelly!" -- and a couple of Republicans who were are least polite -- but while some of the voters I spoke to specifically mentioned wanting Donnelly to be a check on Trump, not a one of them said they wanted him to be more bipartisan.
posted by Gelatin at 9:54 AM on September 24, 2018 [36 favorites]


Compared judge to "elite media figures" like Les Moonves & Harvey Weinstein who have been accused of sexual harassment/assault

Does Conway really mean to compare Kavanaugh with two men who were so obviously guilty that they were fired?
posted by Gelatin at 9:57 AM on September 24, 2018 [26 favorites]


OK, so let me do some thinking on this from the perspective of Axios & the WP. They got told, by "White House officials" that Rosenstien had offered to resign. It's now becoming apparent that was not the case at all. When does the media becoming tired of being used as patsies in these games, and go back to the mysterious "White House official" and say "OK, shithead, you fed us an outright lie. Here's the story I'm running, which identifies you by name, and outlines the possible motivations for why you lied to me. I'm giving you a chance to respond. The story will be printed with or without your response. Have a nice day."
posted by nubs at 9:57 AM on September 24, 2018 [91 favorites]


To clarify, I said that the Rosenstein thing isn't news because it isn't. It is just a rumor that is a seed that could become part of the narrative, but nothing has actually happened...

Well, now there's been a statement that there's been a meeting, and they're going to keep the pot simmering on the stove until Thursday at least (twitter link). When they're definitely going to need another distraction.

This guy gets it too. @SpinDr: Coincidentally, the same time the Kavanaugh hearings will be broadcast live. Not a coincidence.
posted by monopas at 9:58 AM on September 24, 2018 [20 favorites]


I work for a small father/son company that replaces auto glass. We were notified, due to the China tariffs, effective October 1st, our prices would increase 10%. On January 1st 2019, prices will go up to 25%.

Sure hope everyone is ready for this.
posted by kiwi-epitome at 9:58 AM on September 24, 2018 [139 favorites]


(Oh, I see -- Conway is just being dishonest, pretending there's a double standard in the way they were covered. [Ron Howard narrator voice: There isn't.])
posted by Gelatin at 9:59 AM on September 24, 2018 [3 favorites]


WAIT!!! From the last thread:
Ok, so this New Yorker article mentions the hazing scandal a couple of years after Kavanaugh graduated.

Wasn't douchebag Gorsuch 2 years behind Kavanaugh?
posted by yoga at 9:59 AM on September 24, 2018 [9 favorites]


Sure hope everyone is ready for this.

Was Trump really so idiotically short-sighted that he timed the tariffs to go into effect a month before the midterms? The majority of his voters have no idea what a trade war means, but they sure as hell will sit up and listen when their bill for Chinese-produced goods at Walmart goes up by 25% overnight.
posted by Mayor West at 10:01 AM on September 24, 2018 [37 favorites]


I sincerely hope Trump's abusing the national security loophole of the tariff law -- Trump can only impose them unilaterally under national security grounds, but his blanket retaliatory tariffs on consumer good obviously are nothing of the kind -- destroys the courts' traditional deference to the Executive on matters of national security. Due deference is one thing, but "national security" should not be magic words that exempt the Executive from the law.
posted by Gelatin at 10:02 AM on September 24, 2018 [28 favorites]


Gorsuch wasn't a jock. I don't think there's any reason to believe he was involved.
posted by ArbitraryAndCapricious at 10:03 AM on September 24, 2018 [1 favorite]


When does the media becoming tired of being used as patsies in these games, and go back to the mysterious "White House official" and say "OK, shithead, you fed us an outright lie. Here's the story I'm running, which identifies you by name, and outlines the possible motivations for why you lied to me. I'm giving you a chance to respond. The story will be printed with or without your response. Have a nice day."

Jonathan Swan, who was the Axios byline that started the hand-wringing fever this morning, was a guest a few weeks ago on Stay Tuned with Preet. He spoke very specifically and convincingly about how truthful sourcing is THE thing he's good at and holds dear, and if you feed him lies your bridge is burned forever. Not sure if I believe him after this ridiculousness today.
posted by mcstayinskool at 10:05 AM on September 24, 2018 [19 favorites]


Was Trump really so idiotically short-sighted that he timed the tariffs to go into effect a month before the midterms?

Why do you assume that Trump has any idea what a trade war means? (Aside from the fact that it allows him to act like a tough guy?)
posted by escape from the potato planet at 10:05 AM on September 24, 2018 [7 favorites]


Jonathan Swan, Axios: "I asked Justice Dept spokeswoman Sarah Isgur Flores whether she denies that Rosenstein has offered his resignation to Kelly. Response: “My only statement is that Rod is the DAG.”"
posted by MonkeyToes at 10:06 AM on September 24, 2018 [1 favorite]


Was Trump really so idiotically short-sighted that he timed the tariffs to go into effect a month before the midterms?

I'm convinced he actually thought that China would simply crumble before the might of the great deal-maker's economic threat.
posted by Thorzdad at 10:06 AM on September 24, 2018 [58 favorites]


Was Trump really so idiotically short-sighted that he timed the tariffs to go into effect a month before the midterms? The majority of his voters have no idea what a trade war means, but they sure as hell will sit up and listen when their bill for Chinese-produced goods at Walmart goes up by 25% overnight.

Yes, he's that idiotically short-sighted. He's dumb as fuck, he has no plan at all, he doesn't understand how any of this works, and the scariest thing is I don't think it matters to his supporters at all.

Literally every interview I've heard or read with a businessperson (white, they're always white) who is affected by the tariffs has also been a Trump voter who says in the interview they're willing to suck it up and wait and see. And I've been shocked with the consistency of it, because it's been across different outlets and different mediums, but that message is the same: a long talk about how this hurts them, how it hurts consumers, and then "Oh yeah I voted for Trump and I'm gonna stick with him through this." Grim rather than enthusiastic but the message is still there.

Economic anxiety, y'know?
posted by scaryblackdeath at 10:08 AM on September 24, 2018 [55 favorites]


Heard from a friend this weekend that reporters are emailing students who attended Georgetown Law, where Brett Kavanaugh was a professor of some sort, asking if they ever noticed him behaving inappropriately at off-campus bar gatherings with female law students.
posted by chaz at 10:08 AM on September 24, 2018 [23 favorites]


Swan is the ultimate shit-stirring access journalist if you ask me. People should stop linking, quoting, and paying attention to him.
posted by FelliniBlank at 10:10 AM on September 24, 2018 [1 favorite]


Gelatin: (Oh, I see -- Conway is just being dishonest, pretending there's a double standard in the way they were covered. [Ron Howard narrator voice: There isn't.])

It's a form of wingnut spin so recognizable that Clickhole nailed it with the headline What The Mainstream Media Won’t Tell You: 17 Years Ago, Radical Islamic Terrorists Crashed Airplanes Into The World Trade Center, Killing Thousands Of Hardworking Americans
posted by InTheYear2017 at 10:11 AM on September 24, 2018 [49 favorites]


OK, so let me do some thinking on this from the perspective of Axios & the WP. They got told, by "White House officials" that Rosenstien had offered to resign. It's now becoming apparent that was not the case at all. When does the media becoming tired of being used as patsies in these games, and go back to the mysterious "White House official" and say "OK, shithead, you fed us an outright lie. Here's the story I'm running, which identifies you by name, and outlines the possible motivations for why you lied to me. I'm giving you a chance to respond. The story will be printed with or without your response. Have a nice day."

Bursts of manufactured chaos like this morning are great for media outlets. How many eyes were glued to CNN's breaking coverage of the front of a building, scored by aimless speculation by their commentators? How many ad impressions did the WP get as people nervously refreshed the page?
posted by codacorolla at 10:11 AM on September 24, 2018 [15 favorites]


Is anyone else surprised by how much of a paper tiger Big Retail turned out to be? You'd think they'd be able to take care of themselves and be incentivized to protect their necks when business was already getting worse, but they seem wholly ineffective at preventing what's essentially a large, regressive domestic tax hike on goods.
posted by Selena777 at 10:16 AM on September 24, 2018 [14 favorites]


Avenatti is a PR showman as much as a lawyer. That said, if I needed a showman in a legal matter where our interests coincided I'd consider hiring him.
posted by jaduncan at 10:17 AM on September 24, 2018 [5 favorites]


For those worried about the midterms: I'm canvassing a lot and having good results at dinnertime (I know, I suck, people are eating...) and during bad weather.

I'm happy to remind voters that our precinct went for Trump by a 12-vote margin and that every single person who commits to voting single-party ticket for the Dems -- the very last year this is legal in the state of Texas -- is helping fight corruption at the local, regional, state and eventually national level.

TWELVE VOTES. We can do this! Keep fighting, text-banking, calling, donating, etc.! Texans, voter registration ends on Oct. 9. Do the needful (or help others) and register here. People in other states, go here!
posted by Unicorn on the cob at 10:18 AM on September 24, 2018 [76 favorites]


Is anyone else surprised by how much of a paper tiger Big Retail turned out to be? You'd think they'd be able to take care of themselves and be incentivized to protect their necks when business was already getting worse, but they seem wholly effective at preventing what's essentially a large, regressive domestic tax hike on goods.

What choice have they got?

When their prices go up, their customer base will do two things: double down on xenophobic explanations, and blame them. Big Retail does plenty of data collection and analysis of their customer base, and they know their customer base will and won't choose to know or believe.
posted by kewb at 10:19 AM on September 24, 2018 [1 favorite]


there was some good discussion of Avenatti in the last thread, cough cough
posted by prize bull octorok at 10:19 AM on September 24, 2018 [8 favorites]


- Ok, so this New Yorker article mentions the hazing scandal a couple of years after Kavanaugh graduated. Wasn't douchebag Gorsuch 2 years behind Kavanaugh?

-- Gorsuch wasn't a jock. I don't think there's any reason to believe he was involved.


Gorsuch was student body president, and Georgetown Prep has only a few hundred bodies students.
posted by Iris Gambol at 10:20 AM on September 24, 2018 [13 favorites]


kewb, you don't think they'll respond by either buying less, or getting into a consumer debt spiral that will eventually result in lessened capacity to buy?
posted by Selena777 at 10:22 AM on September 24, 2018 [3 favorites]


Is anyone else surprised by how much of a paper tiger Big Retail turned out to be?

Their tax cuts more than make up for it. Plus potential future tax cuts.
posted by dilaudid at 10:23 AM on September 24, 2018 [5 favorites]


Bursts of manufactured chaos like this morning are great for media outlets. How many eyes were glued to CNN's breaking coverage of the front of a building, scored by aimless speculation by their commentators? How many ad impressions did the WP get as people nervously refreshed the page?

OK, but at a time when their credibility is being assailed, is being used to run false stories really what they want to do?
posted by nubs at 10:23 AM on September 24, 2018 [1 favorite]


Their tax cuts more than make up for it. Plus potential future tax cuts.

Yes but that would involve spending their money to solve the problem, not yours & mine.
posted by scalefree at 10:27 AM on September 24, 2018 [1 favorite]


For those worried about the midterms: I'm canvassing a lot and having good results at dinnertime (I know, I suck, people are eating...) and during bad weather.

We've had good luck early Saturday mornings (like 9ish) before people are out for the day. They don't even seem mad, it's weird.
posted by contraption at 10:34 AM on September 24, 2018 [5 favorites]


kewb, you don't think they'll respond by either buying less, or getting into a consumer debt spiral that will eventually result in lessened capacity to buy?

If there is nothing else to learn here about Trumpism, it's the degree to which the rural and Rust-Belt right have little interest in litigating economic class issues or wealth disparities as long as they occur among "white" people.

White ethnonationalist solidarity simply defines the way they think about everything else that happens to them; all economic problems are either blamed on nonwhites or blamed on whites who betray this ethnonationalist solidarity by supporting anything that might benefit nonwhites.

Merely imagine Facebook rightists or even the Foxbartwars mass media gang "revealing" that, say, Wal-Mart is fighting to let China keep its trade surplus with Murrica, or otherwise undermining Dear Leader's efforts to strike back at various sorts of Those People in the zero-sum game that characterizes Trumpist ideology.
posted by kewb at 10:38 AM on September 24, 2018 [20 favorites]


Their tax cuts more than make up for it. Plus potential future tax cuts.

For some of the individual owners, yes. The businesses themselves, however, are likely in a race to the bottom for the debt- and income-related reasons Selena777 mentions. It wasn't so long ago that we had a post on the Blue about Dollar General starting to serve as a diagnostic sign for areas that can't even support a Wal-Mart any longer.

I see nothing in history or the present to suggest that true believers in nativist and fascist movements are dissuaded by economic self-destruction. When things are bad, it's Those People, and when things are good, it's because we've been kicking Those People. And if comes down to it, you can always imagine yourself a martyr to the cause.
posted by kewb at 10:43 AM on September 24, 2018 [10 favorites]


> The majority of his voters have no idea what a trade war means, but they sure as hell will sit up and listen when their bill for Chinese-produced goods at Walmart goes up by 25% overnight.

Yeah, they'll sit up and listen to Trump telling them it's not his fault.
posted by The Card Cheat at 10:45 AM on September 24, 2018 [14 favorites]




That's why you need to preemptively tell your Trump-voting relatives in rural areas to expect a 10%-25% price hike before Christmas. Don't wait for them to listen to his dumb excuses about why, make them watch for it. If they don't believe select media outlets, here's a direct link to the Walmart letter's source.
posted by Unicorn on the cob at 10:47 AM on September 24, 2018 [55 favorites]


if comes down to it, you can always imagine yourself a martyr to the cause.

Psychology of the con: a loss often locks people in, both because of the sunk-costs fallacy and because people hate to admit how stupid they were.
posted by praemunire at 10:59 AM on September 24, 2018 [35 favorites]


Kavanaugh and Judge have some of the same info in their yearbook profiles; Gorsuch has "Fascism Forever Club (Founder and President)"*.

Then in his Columbia University yearbook, Gorsuch quotes Kissinger: The illegal we do immediately, the unconstitutional takes a little longer.

Who are these people? Sotomayor's Princeton yearbook entry features minister, and 6-time Socialist Party of America presidential candidate, Norman Thomas: I am not a champion of lost causes, but of causes not yet won.

*This was an actual, "anti-faculty student group that battled against the 'liberal views' of the school administration."
posted by Iris Gambol at 11:08 AM on September 24, 2018 [102 favorites]


Mayor West: "Was Trump really so idiotically short-sighted that he timed the tariffs to go into effect a month before the midterms?"

The Cheeto, if he gave the timing any thought at all, still believes he can win his trade war with China easily just by continued bullying until they give in. I'm sure he is surprised every he time raises and they don't fold and go away immediately.
posted by Mitheral at 11:09 AM on September 24, 2018 [4 favorites]


Mod note: Chill out or I swear I will turn this thread around and make you all load the super-long one instead.
posted by restless_nomad (staff) at 11:12 AM on September 24, 2018 [238 favorites]


Trump wants to crash the economy and blame it on the incoming Democratic Congress.
posted by dances_with_sneetches at 11:13 AM on September 24, 2018 [10 favorites]


Well color me surprised:
Natasha Bertrand: Gabe Sherman reports that the Rosenstein leak appears to have been a "smoke bomb" to knock Kavanaugh out of the news. “The strategy was to try and do something really big,” said a source familiar with Trump's thinking.
posted by FelliniBlank at 11:15 AM on September 24, 2018 [80 favorites]


Trump Lawyers Demand Mueller Probe ‘Time Out’ if Rosenstein is Ousted,

We'd like to further obstruct the investigation if our client obstructs the investigation.
posted by chris24 at 11:24 AM on September 24, 2018 [26 favorites]


Natasha Bertrand: Gabe Sherman reports that the Rosenstein leak appears to have been a "smoke bomb" to knock Kavanaugh out of the news. “The strategy was to try and do something really big,” said a source familiar with Trump's thinking.

@jonathanvswan: This is such disgraceful bullshit. @gabrielsherman should be ashamed of himself and should stop doing stenography for Steve Bannon. Rosenstein offered his resignation to Kelly. We wrote “verbally resigned.” Justice Dept isn’t denying he offered his resignation.

What if everybody just stopped everything?
posted by zachlipton at 11:25 AM on September 24, 2018 [29 favorites]


We wrote “verbally resigned.” Justice Dept isn’t denying he offered his resignation.

Writing that without the additional information since reported that there were conditions placed on his resignation that could not be agreed upon is equivalent to reporting “Trump fired a nuclear bomb” without the additional clarifying information of “in this dream I had last night.”
posted by C'est la D.C. at 11:34 AM on September 24, 2018 [33 favorites]


It's helpful to remember that "a source familiar with Trump's thinking" frequently, if not always, means the source is Trump himself.
posted by emelenjr at 11:36 AM on September 24, 2018 [18 favorites]


A "verbal resignation" is not a thing. That should have been @jonathonvswan's first clue he should have been circumspect about the info he'd been given.
posted by notyou at 11:37 AM on September 24, 2018 [20 favorites]


Yeah, "distraction" is nearly always a mistaken attempt to impose a framework on what is fractally a dumpster fire. (Sometimes the imposing is from political analysis, and sometimes, it's some staffer/official saying "We meant to do that.")

If this White House ever manages a calm, chaos-free 48-hour period, that's what should activate our suspicions.
posted by InTheYear2017 at 11:39 AM on September 24, 2018 [13 favorites]


To add to that: It's not that there's no grand strategy. It's that being a dumpster fire is the strategy.
posted by InTheYear2017 at 11:40 AM on September 24, 2018 [20 favorites]


cjelli, I really like this tweet from the same WH reporter.
posted by Halloween Jack at 11:47 AM on September 24, 2018 [6 favorites]


Giving credit to Trump is also a good move, as it is obvious that whoever really thought of this carefully prepped him for it. A good ego stroking keeps him contented and malleable.

How handy to time it all to distract from the walkout as well. And Trump's comments on Puerto Rico. And the tariffs. And now an oil train safety regulation roll-back (The Hill. Sorry).

It is still being talked about and analyzed, and the ripples will continue all day long. Hell, we're still talking about it. It broke up the building wave on Kavanaugh, giving them time to regroup and try to adjust the narrative there, and pushed all of the pesky women who were starting to be taken seriously and gather power out of the spotlight at a critical stage.
posted by monopas at 11:48 AM on September 24, 2018 [8 favorites]


Reminder: Jonathan Swan is part of the Trump Whisperer Troika. His leaks from the Trump White House potentially go all the way to the top. That said, there's a difference between relying on him to learn what they're thinking and reading him to be aware of what they'd like us to think they're thinking.

If this White House ever manages a calm, chaos-free 48-hour period, that's what should activate our suspicions.

e.g. how suspiciously calm @realDonaldTrump's posts were this weekend. Following its direct attack on Ford on Friday, that account confined itself to retweeting about Trump's recent rallies and posting anodyne news about economic stats, Shinzo Abe, and Tiger Woods.

Incidentally, CNN reported yesterday that McConnell called Trump to say Kavanaugh tweets weren't helpful.
posted by Doktor Zed at 11:51 AM on September 24, 2018 [12 favorites]


I am as cynical as it gets, and I can tell you that nothing much will distract women from the fact that Kavanaugh is a probable serial gang rapist. We’re not quite as distractable as, say, Jonathan Swan, or a kitten with a fascination for laser pointers.
posted by schadenfrau at 11:53 AM on September 24, 2018 [87 favorites]


High-Skilled Immigrants Call Out The Trump Administration's 'Hypocrisy' (NPR, Sept. 24, 2018)
The Trump administration says it wants to move to a "merit-based" immigration system — one that gives priority to immigrants who speak English and are highly educated.

But critics say that rhetoric is at odds with the administration's actions.

"Show me any policy that's come out so far that has actually made it easier for highly skilled immigrants," says Doug Rand, who worked in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy under President Barack Obama.

"I haven't seen any," Rand said.

In practice, critics say the administration is making high-skilled immigrants' lives harder, in all sorts of ways. It has gotten tougher to get or renew an H-1B visa, a program that brings in tech workers, doctors and other professionals. And the administration is getting rid of other visa programs altogether.
...
[Neha] Mahajan has a master's degree in English literature and worked as a journalist in India. It never occurred to her that she would have trouble finding opportunities in the U.S. But Mahajan was not allowed to work when she first got here.

"So here I am in the U.S., the most advanced nation on this Earth," Mahajan said. "But I'm in a cage. A metaphoric golden cage."

Mahajan moved here with her husband and daughter in 2008 when he secured an H-1B visa to work as a software developer. But she wasn't able to work legally until 2015, when the Obama administration launched the H-4 EAD program. It allows the spouses of H-1B guest workers to get work permits once they've been approved for a green card. About 100,000 people have signed up — mostly women, and mostly from India, which has a years-long waiting list for green cards.

Now the Trump administration is poised to end the program, which it considers an overreach.

"For me, one of the main reasons for proposing to rescind that is because I don't think it's appropriate," said Lee Cissna, the head of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, the agency in charge of legal immigration. "I don't think that Congress intended for the spouses of H-1Bs to work."

Cissna did not respond to requests for an interview. But he did speak last month to the Center for Immigration Studies, which favors lower levels of immigration.

"Everything we do is guided by the law," Cissna said. "That's all we're doing."
Emphasis mine, because what da fuq? Also, it seems like another instance of picking and choosing how to implement "the law," in addition to not trying to change the laws that are supposedly the problem, instead happily going along trying to Make America White Again and throwing up their hands when questioned about their practices, saying "sorry, it's The Law!"

Gosh, if we only had some way to change The Law ... Hmmm.
posted by filthy light thief at 11:55 AM on September 24, 2018 [28 favorites]


If distraction from Kavanaugh was the goal they botched this one. A bit too early. News on Avenatti's client just started to make the rounds, and the 4th in Montgomery County broke directly before.

The walk out will bring the narrative right back to Kavanaugh, while the Rosenstein flap fades into Scaramucchi time.

I'm not optimistic about much, but I'm pretty sure Kavanaugh's troubles are just beginning.
posted by Twain Device at 11:57 AM on September 24, 2018 [5 favorites]


"X is a distraction" is the sort of never-entirely-wrong but rarely helpful insight that these threads pretty much never need more (or any) of
posted by prize bull octorok at 11:58 AM on September 24, 2018 [71 favorites]


"Show me the results" should be the standard retort to Trump's exaggerated sales pitches.
posted by Gelatin at 12:00 PM on September 24, 2018 [4 favorites]


Mod note: It frustrates me that we ever have to leave this kind of reminder, but: if you are workshopping a satirical-joke-about-rape and think you are managing to pull off something that isn't in fact basically a rape joke, close the browser and go do something else until you come to your goddam senses. Thank you.
posted by cortex (staff) at 12:01 PM on September 24, 2018 [172 favorites]


Democrats Are Busting Their 2016 Mobile Canvassing Records (Issie Lapowsky for Wired, Sept. 24, 2018)
For Democrats, there are already plenty of signs pointing to a good election night this November. There's the record number of House candidates outraising their Republican incumbent rivals. There's the unlikely rise of Texas senate candidate Beto O'Rourke giving Ted Cruz a real run for his seat. There are the upset victories in state legislature races, like the one in Virginia last fall. And of course, there are polls showing Democrats with a steady lead over Republicans on a generic ballot.

But NGP VAN, which has maintained the Democratic voter file since 2004 and builds many of the party's voter outreach tools, is trumpeting a different data point: the record number of people using MiniVAN, its mobile canvassing app.

MiniVAN is what Democratic volunteers use when they knock on your door. Instead of lugging around a clipboard and stack of papers, they can log their results in the app, which also tells them what houses to hit. The app launched on iOS in 2010 and Android in 2011. Earlier this month, one user noticed that MiniVAN was trending in the iPhone app store and tweeted it out.
Cody Wilson arrives back in the States, enters US Marshals custody -- Wilson will initially be booked into the Harris County Jail located in Houston. (Nathan Mattise for Ars Technica, Sept. 23, 2018)
In a late evening press release on Saturday, September 22, US Marshals announced they have received and taken custody of Cody Wilson at the International Airport in Houston. The 3D printed guns activist is charged in nearby Travis County for the alleged sexual assault of a female minor.
Post-Cody Wilson’s arrest, few know what’s up with his company or legal efforts -- Filmmaker who got to know Cody Wilson says his company “can’t last” without him. (Nathan Mattise and Cyrus Farivar, Sept. 22, 2018)
posted by filthy light thief at 12:03 PM on September 24, 2018 [19 favorites]


Cody Wilson arrives back in the States, enters US Marshals custody

Here's an odd little thing: the username ("Sanjuro") that Cody used on the website where he found his victim just happens to be the same as the anonymous founder of the first Assassination Market. The founder and Cody also use strikingly similar language. Etc. Etc.
posted by Rust Moranis at 12:11 PM on September 24, 2018 [22 favorites]


Why Senator Mazie Hirono Asked a Crucial Question at the Kavanaugh Hearing
(Osita Nwanevu | New Yorker)
On the second day of Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation hearings before the Senate Judiciary Committee, two weeks ago, Senator Mazie Hirono, a Democrat from Hawaii, pursued a line of questioning that now seems like an act of clairvoyance. “Since you became a legal adult, have you ever made unwanted requests for sexual favors or committed any verbal or physical harassment or assault of a sexual nature?” she asked. “Have you ever faced discipline or entered into a settlement related to this kind of conduct?”
posted by Barack Spinoza at 12:14 PM on September 24, 2018 [84 favorites]


Yeah, I use MiniVAN when I canvass here in Indianapolis. It's super easy.

I also tote around a clipboard (well, a backpack, now) to contain the campaign literature i leave with prospective voters, but the app tells me who to visit and helps plan my route.
posted by Gelatin at 12:15 PM on September 24, 2018 [7 favorites]


cjelli, I really like this tweet from the same WH reporter [@seungminkim: What a century this week has been]

And that was Saturday morning. We're going to need a bigger time-space continuum for all this infrastructure.
posted by FelliniBlank at 12:16 PM on September 24, 2018 [6 favorites]


Just FYI: 63.3% of men at one university who self-reported acts qualifying as rape or attempted rape admitted to committing repeat rapes (source: doi:10.1177/1077801210387747).
posted by Dashy at 12:16 PM on September 24, 2018 [16 favorites]


MiniVAN is what Democratic volunteers use when they knock on your door.

I was talking to a Casten (IL-6 challenger to Roskam) canvasser yesterday and it seemed like she had a VERY specific list of households to target. Her success rate, according to her, was above expectations. If this app is what's making it work, that's awesome. I should have asked more about her setup but I didn't want to stall her momentum...
posted by JoeZydeco at 12:16 PM on September 24, 2018 [1 favorite]


The anti-Collins campaign fund is a mere $986 from hitting $1.5 million.
posted by duffell at 12:19 PM on September 24, 2018 [26 favorites]


If it's not revealing insider-strategy secrets, can someone explain how this app works? I mean is it tell you to visit Republicans so you can convert them? If it tells you to visit democrats that sounds like a) preaching to the choir and B) only slightly useful since it might GOTV but wouldn't change anyone's vote. But if it's tell you to target dems, wouldn't that explain how well everyone reports the canvassing is going?
posted by If only I had a penguin... at 12:21 PM on September 24, 2018 [1 favorite]


+1 MiniVAN is what our precinct canvassers are using here in Texas as well.
posted by Unicorn on the cob at 12:21 PM on September 24, 2018 [2 favorites]


I was talking to a Casten (IL-6 challenger to Roskam) canvasser yesterday and it seemed like she had a VERY specific list of households to target. Her success rate, according to her, was above expectations.

I know it's kind of small potatoes in comparison to [gestures wildly about her] but goddamn, FUCK Roskam. I hope Casten kicks his ass.
posted by We put our faith in Blast Hardcheese at 12:22 PM on September 24, 2018 [6 favorites]


And for those of you waiting with bated breath for Janus to bear fruit, exhale now. The attempt to bankrupt unions is well underway. Or, if you want to hear it from the spokesman for the group behind this suit and behind Janus itself: "If a bank robber steals someone's money, people ought to be able to get it back."

Obviously, this suit and others like it may fail. In particular, it's not clear on what theory plaintiffs can recover money that unions collected legally under then-prevailing law. But meanwhile, we're all going to have fun watching the fireworks! In a vet-with-PTSD way.
posted by prefpara at 12:24 PM on September 24, 2018 [6 favorites]


Never heard of MiniVAN before today, but it makes perfect sense as a platform tool: empower your local volunteer coordinators with the ability to target the demos that make sense for the race (or even district) in question.

A small but very insistent part of me wants to see how much of what's under the hood of MiniVAN is the same code that was powering Howard Dean's campaign outreach solution in late 2003. That sucker was pushing Ruby on Rails as far as it would go, but damned if it didn't make our frigid New Hampshire campaigning days just a little less awful.
posted by Mayor West at 12:25 PM on September 24, 2018 [6 favorites]


I'm not sure how the "smoke bomb" theory makes any sense. First, we have no real sign that Trump ever plans much of anything at all. More importantly, if he did: this lasted, what, hours? So did he choke on firing Rosenstein at the last minute? Or did he never plan to in the first place? Either he was going give himself a massive self-inflicted wound to distract from an ongoing self-inflicted wound that isn't going away, or he was looking for a distraction that would last a couple hours?

At this point I'm starting to feel like a bunch of journalists are trying to cover for their peers screaming thinly-sourced rumors and scaring the hell out of everyone. Or it's their rumor sources trying to salvage their own utility as sources. Or both.

The problem with claiming Trump did something because he planned it is it rests on the assumption he's capable of planning.
posted by scaryblackdeath at 12:28 PM on September 24, 2018 [5 favorites]


I don't know what the internal workings are like, but volunteers check in with the coordinators and input a list number. The lists I've had are individual names and addresses, not every door in the neighborhood, and I'm told they are registered voters who are likely Democratic voters. There's a Google Maps-like interface that shows the addresses. The list isn't perfect -- I've been told by people on the list that they're Republican, and we're instructed to thank them for their time and wish them a good day (and like I said, they've at least been polite).

Again, I can't speak to the strategy, but I'm pretty sure this weekend I got a couple of undecideds to commit to voting. I drop campaign literature if no one answers the door; Ford knows how effective that is, but it can't hurt. And the app accepts notes, so we can report back what individual voters' issues are. I even added someone by passing a car covered with sympathetic bumper stickers at an address that wasn't on the list yet and dropping off literature with the owner.

(Inputting a list number also keeps things coordinated and prevents freelancing, I'd imagine.)
posted by Gelatin at 12:29 PM on September 24, 2018 [4 favorites]


All the canvassing I've done in previous years was aimed at finding volunteers and then GOTV. Changing people's minds is not something you can easily train people to do, and confronting people can fire them up to go vote against you. Turnout is everything. When we get out the vote, we win.
posted by rikschell at 12:30 PM on September 24, 2018 [28 favorites]


The problem with claiming Trump did something because he planned it is it rests on the assumption he's capable of planning.

This kind of sentiment is all over these threads, and I think it is really pernicious. People's fantasies of Trump as a kind of zombie of pure momentary impulse are certainly hyperbolic. It does not take that much cerebration to conceive of planting a story as a distraction.
posted by thelonius at 12:31 PM on September 24, 2018 [6 favorites]


B) only slightly useful since it might GOTV but wouldn't change anyone's vote

My understanding is that this is super useful. Especially in a mid-term or off-cycle election, there's lots of low-hanging fruit in turning out your base. It's a lot more efficient use of volunteers' time to get sympathetic folks to vote than to try to change a Republican's mind (and risk reminding them of the election).
posted by bassooner at 12:33 PM on September 24, 2018 [33 favorites]


MiniVAN does whatever the campaign organizers want it to do. VAN holds data; organizers create walk lists; canvassers load the lists on to their phone; MiniVAN is the smartphone app that's the interface for them to work with. It's the same idea as turf packets, just digitized and with a lot more detail.

But even the extra detail is only useful insofar as your campaign organizers know how to use it.
posted by Rainbo Vagrant at 12:34 PM on September 24, 2018 [7 favorites]


Rust Moranis: Here's an odd little thing: the username ("Sanjuro") that Cody used on the website where he found his victim just happens to be the same as the anonymous founder of the first Assassination Market. The founder and Cody also use strikingly similar language. Etc. Etc.

More likely they're film buffs. The ronin with no name played by Toshiro Mifune in Akira Kurosawa's Yojimbo gives "Kuwabatake Sanjuro" ("Mulberry field thirty-years-old") as a fake name made up in the spot and "Tsubaki Sanjuro" (Tsubaki = "Camellia tree") in the sequel, Sanjuro. They're not obscure movies.
posted by sukeban at 12:35 PM on September 24, 2018 [20 favorites]


If it's not revealing insider-strategy secrets, can someone explain how this app works? I mean is it tell you to visit Republicans so you can convert them? If it tells you to visit democrats that sounds like a) preaching to the choir and B) only slightly useful since it might GOTV but wouldn't change anyone's vote. But if it's tell you to target dems, wouldn't that explain how well everyone reports the canvassing is going?


Talking to Republicans at best, won't change their minds, and at worst, will trigger a backfire effect and get them even more motivated to get out and vote. If you happen upon one while canvassing, you say "Thank you, have a nice day", and leave; no arguing or debating.

I've been doing union organizing lately, and it's the same deal. We're hitting up all of the former fair-share paying non-members. If they say they hate unions and everything they stand for, we say thank you, make a note to not visit them in the future, and move on.
posted by damayanti at 12:36 PM on September 24, 2018 [16 favorites]


But does it really change anything if the Rosenstein story is a distraction? How should we calibrate our response, our elected officials' response, and the media response?

"Oh fine fire Rosenstein if you really want" is not acceptable under any circumstances. This is not a game where we can assume they are bluffing to overshadow Kavanaugh's hearings. I mean, this is is ALL a dumpster fire, and it is all extremely dangerous, distractions or no.

Fight it on all fronts or we lose.
posted by lydhre at 12:37 PM on September 24, 2018 [15 favorites]


This kind of sentiment is all over these threads, and I think it is really pernicious. People's fantasies of Trump as a kind of zombie of pure momentary impulse are certainly hyperbolic. It does not take that much cerebration to conceive of planting a story as a distraction.

And yet, again, what good did it do? A couple hours of the Monday morning news cycle and more fodder for worry until Thursday? Sure, it's possible somebody has a plan, but we've got like two years of evidence of this White House not planning anything. If this came from McConnell's end, I'd be inclined to believe it's all dirty tricks. But reading the explanations of how it's all a set-up is like reading fanfics trying to rehabilitate bad movie plotlines into something clever. Fanfic is often smarter, sure, but it isn't canon.

I can buy the decision for a face-to-face on Thursday as a sudden impulse of "Hey, people will be distracted!" but not the idea of it being a master plan all along. I just don't see evidence of this White House planning things with any more utility than that.
posted by scaryblackdeath at 12:38 PM on September 24, 2018 [3 favorites]


@Taniel:
Some Dem counties exploit the opaque nature of local immigration decision-making to derive big profits from Trump's deportation machine, all while justifying themselves with anti-Trump grandstanding & questionable statements.

A short thread about NJ's Bergen County. 1/?
This seems like an area blue state folks can get into on a local level. Sheriff offices aren’t really known as bastions of human rights. I’m betting there are other super blue counties with shithead Sheriffs and ICE contracts who are hoping nobody notices them being shitheads with ICE contracts.
posted by schadenfrau at 12:41 PM on September 24, 2018 [16 favorites]


I just don't see evidence of this White House planning things with any more utility than that.

And yet immigration rules keep getting harsher and harsher, even outside of child abduction. Miller and Sessions are some of the most effective drivers of policy they have...and not on a short term basis, either.
posted by jaduncan at 12:43 PM on September 24, 2018 [7 favorites]


My abuser abused other women. One of them privately got in touch with me today to say that she would stand by me if I ever had to go public with it. How many women are having these private discussions, right now, today, this week? How many of us are walking around in the world with a tight smile on our face, keys between our fingers, trying to hold it the fuck together while all of this goes on? Talk about invisible fucking labor. I am trying to keep in the rage, but it's leaking out, and it's not good for me. How many women feel like me right now? It's taking such a toll on me, on my friends, on my colleagues, on all of us. And yet we must not crumble, or even show the cracks. We can't show our work, but we get lambasted for not showing our work. It's almost like being a woman is a goddamn curse.
posted by sockermom at 12:49 PM on September 24, 2018 [183 favorites]


Was Trump really so idiotically short-sighted that he timed the tariffs to go into effect a month before the midterms?

I'm convinced he actually thought that China would simply crumble before the might of the great deal-maker's economic threat.


This, and all other comments that hinge on the idea that Trump being reckless and crashing the economy would be unintentional...

Please consider that U.S. economic weakness is in Putin's best interest and doesn't hurt the super-rich hardly at all. If you assume the motive for Trump's actions is consolidating power among the rich and weakening the U.S. as a global player it makes much more sense.

Please don't assume that these impacts are accidental or unplanned.
posted by jzb at 12:49 PM on September 24, 2018 [19 favorites]


This kind of sentiment is all over these threads, and I think it is really pernicious. People's fantasies of Trump as a kind of zombie of pure momentary impulse are certainly hyperbolic. It does not take that much cerebration to conceive of planting a story as a distraction.

---

And yet, again, what good did it do? A couple hours of the Monday morning news cycle and more fodder for worry until Thursday?


I think it's simultaneously true that marketing and playing the press is the one thing he's really really good at, and that those skills just don't get you far when dealing with a passionate, fired up opposition watching like hawks. Normalization is a double edged sword, with everything crazy all the time since 2016 instead of just being Gish Galloped into the dust we're getting a lot of practice at keeping our eyes on every ball flying out of the ridiculous pitching machine on the fritz that is this administration.
posted by jason_steakums at 12:52 PM on September 24, 2018 [10 favorites]


It's also based on your voting history (whether or not you voted in various elections, not who you voted for), which are public records collected and stored in NGP VAN. If you're a registered Democrat who reliably votes every time, a campaign might not spend its resources canvassing you. If you're a registered Democrat who voted in '12 and '16 but not '14, then that's a really great opportunity to put someone on your doorstep who can explain why this election is so important and get you to commit to vote this time. Turnout in the midterms is so much lower than Presidential election years, and as we've discussed in these threads many times, getting our voters to show up is pretty much the entire ballgame.

Which is my place to plug the VoteWithMe app. You download it and give permission to upload all your contacts from your phone (which yes, is utterly terrifying, more on that in a second). The app attempts to match your contacts with voter data from the TargetSmart voter database, and gives you a list of people to encourage to vote. You can see if they live in a district with important races, their party affiliation, and their past voting history. It's not always 100% accurate (matching names to voters is hard, and the voter history sometimes gets truncated when people move), but it's spooky, and you will be surprised at the behavior of some of the people you know. And then it gives you prompts to compose messages to encourage your contacts to vote, with filters to target those likely to need the message based on the races they can vote for and their past voting behavior.

So yeah, it requires you to upload your contacts. Which is terrifying, and entirely understandable if people want to give it a pass for that reason, or try it out on a burner phone or Android VM with a limited contacts list on purpose. There are a few reasons to consider trusting them (as described in their FAQ): it's run by a a non-profit 501(c)(4) headed by Mikey Dickerson of US Digital Service fame; they promise to "never contact your friends or sell their information to anyone. Ever."; and they promise the data is then deleted from their side after the matching is done.
posted by zachlipton at 1:04 PM on September 24, 2018 [23 favorites]


I have conflicted feelings about this one, but might it not be for the best, strategically, that Kavanaugh appears to be doubling down and fighting this? Bowing out quickly gives them more option to nominate someone less obviously horrible. Forcing an FBI investigation could drag this out to the point where that isn't possible.

That said, dragging it out is presumably harder on his victims. On the third hand, those who are already paying the cost of coming forward might prefer to see if though on the hopes it leads to more justice than just being denied this appointment? No one but the individuals in question can answer that one, but it seems like an open question.

Feh. As usual, in 2018, none of the answers are good, and which one is least bad is unclear.
posted by bcd at 1:09 PM on September 24, 2018 [10 favorites]


Field report: When doorknocking for McCaskill, we use paper, pens, and a folder. We don't even get a clipboard.
posted by fluttering hellfire at 1:09 PM on September 24, 2018 [5 favorites]


Brett Kavanaugh and his wife Ashley just taped an interview with Fox New's Martha MacCallum, to air tonight.

They should have two interviews. One sober and then an hour later after three beers.

From classmate accounts Kavanaugh is quiet and charming when sober but becomes boisterous and obnoxious when drinking. They want people to only see the Dr. Jekyll and not the Mr. Hyde.
posted by JackFlash at 1:12 PM on September 24, 2018 [54 favorites]


When I get a job I promise I'll send a clipboard to any canvasser who wants one.
posted by rhizome at 1:12 PM on September 24, 2018 [6 favorites]


Brett Kavanaugh and his wife Ashley just taped an interview with Fox New's Martha MacCallum, to air tonight.

Big deal. If he's so innocent, why doesn't he tell his story far and wide? Running to the conservative propaganda network, where he knows he'll get the softball treatment, is another tacit admission of guilt.
posted by Gelatin at 1:13 PM on September 24, 2018 [38 favorites]


Telling his story before any testimony is also an obvious spin move, no matter who does the "interview."
posted by agregoli at 1:16 PM on September 24, 2018 [12 favorites]


The problem with claiming Trump did something because he planned it is it rests on the assumption he's capable of planning.

Do you think former Fox News president and Roger Ailes acolyte turned White House Communications Director Bill Shine is capable of planning? Do you think the guy who covered up for the culture of sexual abuse at Fox for years and years would be capable of coming up with a "smoke bomb strategy"? Do you think he would be sophisticated enough to come up with a story that would immediately grab all of our attention in the middle of a Supreme Court confirmation fight at the exact moment that new accusers are coming forward, thereby sucking all the oxygen out of the room for a critical few hours on a Monday morning? Do you think he would be smart enough to do it in such a way that damaged the New York Times' and Axios' news brand with liberals and Democrats? Do you think he's smart enough to design the story so that the next time, when Trump initiates a constitutional crisis for real, we'll hesitate to believe the story? Because he just did that.

What if MoveOn and company had taken the bait and activated their rapid response programs, and it turned out to be a false alarm? You get one shot at that working, and if they cry wolf, it's off the table. Then the Fox/Russia propaganda machine scares their voters with "Lawless liberals in the streets! Turn out to save Trump!" Worked like a charm for Nixon.

After half a century of Republican ratfucking, and now state level information warfare installing an American president, how can you dismiss the possibility that they continue to manipulate the media, with an alarming rate of success?
posted by vibrotronica at 1:18 PM on September 24, 2018 [111 favorites]


Also, how many times have we seen the "trot-out-the-wife-to-show-what-a-family-man-this-creep-is" ploy?

Kavanaugh's entire life is sexism personified. Which is great for those who are all in on the patriarchy, I guess, but it seems a lot of folks are saying "I've seen this movie before, and i know how it turns out."
posted by Gelatin at 1:19 PM on September 24, 2018 [55 favorites]


And then it gives you prompts to compose messages to encourage your contacts to vote, with filters to target those likely to need the message based on the races they can vote for and their past voting behavior.

Interesting! As someone who was formerly a Republican-by-default, I've been especially hesitant to talk about voting on social media because I'll likely be reminding people who would be, let's say, voting differently that I'd prefer. This could be an interesting way to only encourage friends who share my views.

(on a related note: There's a local political ad that accuses the Democratic candidate of enabling some nasty behavior because the law didn't really allow his office to do anything about it. He's supported legislative changes, now in effect, so that the situation won't be repeated. The attack ads make for a juicy elevator pitch but I feel like the logic falls apart if you think about it for too long.

Is it worth talking about this on social media to help encourage people, especially "default" voters, to stop and think, or does that fall under the "at best, won't change their minds, and at worst, will trigger a backfire effect and get them even more motivated to get out and vote"? Happy to take answers on MeFi Mail, and I suppose I could write this up for AskMe later on as well)
posted by Nonsteroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drug at 1:20 PM on September 24, 2018 [5 favorites]


Relevant re: Kavanaugh:
@EluraNanos: As I walked out of the courthouse at the #CosbySentencing — a woman driving by, hanging out of her car screamed at the crowd, “If you raped, you don’t wait no 30 years to come forward!”
Another woman standing on the corner replied, “I did.” #cosby #METOO
posted by scaryblackdeath at 1:24 PM on September 24, 2018 [72 favorites]


I appreciate the canvassing discussion and especially applications of technology that make it smoother for volunteers. I'm canvassing for a campaign that is still working from printed packets (at least they have clipboards, I guess), which has meant some really staggering mileage totals for me, since lately I've driven 12.5 miles (one way) to the office to pick up a packet, made the drive back past my house to walk a turf north and east of me, returned the packet to the office so an intern or volunteer can do the data entry, and then finally driven home. It added up to just over 60 miles the last time I went out. I've been trying to coordinate with other volunteers who are closer to the office and meet up with them in the field once they have addresses, but I'll ask about miniVAN too.
posted by danielleh at 1:25 PM on September 24, 2018 [6 favorites]


Telling his story before any testimony is also an obvious spin move, no matter who does the "interview."

This also seems like an incredibly stupid move ahead of the hearing? It’s entirely likely he’ll inadvertantly provide democrats with more avenues to question during the hearing. But that’s also totally on brand for someone who has never faced meaningful consequences before in his life.
posted by C'est la D.C. at 1:28 PM on September 24, 2018 [16 favorites]


Maria Farrell at Crooked Timber recalls debating some schmuck from Princeton in 1992: Owning the Peanut Gallery - "Ted Cruz has been accused of debating Beto O’Rourke in the style of a US college debater, more concerned with winning points than hearts. Twas ever thus."
For a couple of tournaments, as his normal partner wasn’t available, I debated with our team’s president. Gerry spoke with an authority that gathered the jangled masculinity of our many opposing alpha try-hards into itself, exposing their puff and strut as mere mummery. He knocked points down like an apex predator who has only occasionally to swat at something for it to shrink away. I’m not sure what I brought to the partnership. It’s hard to picture it, now. I had the novelty accent, for sure, plenty of earnest and the odd flash of wit. Whatever it was, we took home a fair amount of silver though I never won a tournament or placed in the top three.

We went to Harvard some time in the autumn of 1992, cutting through the preliminary rounds like a hot knife through butter. The semi-final was to be held in a medium-sized, steep walled amphitheatre, just like home. Our opposing team was also a man and a woman, Ted Cruz and a woman whose name I don’t remember. (In fact, I hadn’t recalled that it was Cruz till Gerry reminded me during the US presidential primaries a couple of years back.)
posted by the man of twists and turns at 1:29 PM on September 24, 2018 [22 favorites]


jzb: "This, and all other comments that hinge on the idea that Trump being reckless and crashing the economy would be unintentional... "

It's not that I think the effects are unintentional; it's that everyone the Cheeto has dealings with (that don't have some sort of kompromat on him and even that isn't a guarantee) ends up getting exposed to his bullying behaviour. That he cheats and bullies anyone he deals with is axiomatic to any attempts to comprehend what is goin on.

agregoli: "Telling his story before any testimony is also an obvious spin move, no matter who does the "interview.""

Kind of spikes the advantage the senate committee is trying to get him of testifying second.
posted by Mitheral at 1:30 PM on September 24, 2018 [5 favorites]


How many of us are walking around in the world with a tight smile on our face, keys between our fingers, trying to hold it the fuck together while all of this goes on?

I know this is rhetorical, but me. I take this moment to highly recommend Soraya Chemaly's Rage Becomes Her.

Our rage is so so warranted.
posted by Sophie1 at 1:32 PM on September 24, 2018 [34 favorites]


McConnell said on the Senate floor today that there will be a vote on Kavanaugh no matter what (which kind of gives away the game on whether any of the Judiciary R's really care whether he's a rapist, but that's not really a surprise). This is being widely read as a pressure move on reluctant Republicans, signaling that they cannot rely on him to scuttle the nomination based on a backroom head-count -- if they're going to vote no, they will have to vote no and deal with whatever rage that generates in their base.

Which, of course, means that there are reluctant Republicans and as it stands right now, the leadership doesn't have the votes. Otherwise McConnell wouldn't be pressuring them on CSPAN.
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 1:33 PM on September 24, 2018 [45 favorites]


Today Trump told the UN that he wants to eradicate "cocoa" production in Colombia. Won't somebody think of the children?
posted by mbo at 1:36 PM on September 24, 2018 [43 favorites]


"McConnell said on the Senate floor today that there will be a vote on Kavanaugh no matter what (which kind of gives away the game on whether any of the Judiciary R's really care whether he's a rapist, but that's not really a surprise). This is being widely read as a pressure move on reluctant Republicans, signaling that they cannot rely on him to scuttle the nomination based on a backroom head-count -- if they're going to vote no, they will have to vote no and deal with whatever rage that generates in their base."

Maybe. Maybe McConnell will force a vote before he can get the vote through; but then he's acknowledging the thing is over. Sure there might be rage with some republican voters, but less than 1/3rd of Republicans Senators are up for re-election this November.

I think he's bluffing, and will only force a vote he's going to lose if he's convinced that there is no chance he'd ever get the remaining votes.
posted by el io at 1:39 PM on September 24, 2018 [4 favorites]


It's not like Kavanaugh's wife can actually vouch for his character when drinking.

In an email from just 2001, not 35 years ago, when Kavanaugh and a bunch of male friends rented a boat for a week of debauchery he apologized to all for "growing aggressive after blowing still another game of dice (don't recall)."

Yet another case of getting blackout drunk and losing his memory of his bad behavior? At least to his fellow men he feels the need to apologize.

And then "Reminders to everyone to be very, very vigilent w/r/t confidentiality on all issues and all fronts, including with spouses."

How could his wife know what he's like when he is drunk? He arranges to conceal it.
posted by JackFlash at 1:42 PM on September 24, 2018 [102 favorites]




This also seems like an incredibly stupid move ahead of the hearing? It’s entirely likely he’ll inadvertantly provide democrats with more avenues to question during the hearing. But that’s also totally on brand for someone who has never faced meaningful consequences before in his life.

This assumes the “interview” isn’t carefully-scripted and edited to dovetail neatly with the script the Republicans are going to follow at the hearing. Honestly, I’m surprised they even did an “interview” given that his confirmation is pretty-much a fait accompli.
posted by Thorzdad at 1:46 PM on September 24, 2018 [2 favorites]


His wife might know it all, and she might be perfectly practised in the old art of "covering up for the alcoholic".
posted by clawsoon at 1:47 PM on September 24, 2018 [12 favorites]


This assumes the “interview” isn’t carefully-scripted and edited to dovetail neatly with the script the Republicans are going to follow at the hearing.

Oh, I wouldn't limit it to that.

It's Fox during a fight for the Supreme Court and just before the midterms, whilst Trump and the Reps more generally are having credibility issues, quite probably arranged with Bill Shine's level of knowledge of the producer and certainly with Murdoch's supervisory eye of Sauron trained on the result. Naturally it is going to be North Korea levels of hagiographic.
posted by jaduncan at 1:56 PM on September 24, 2018 [10 favorites]




The interview won't cede any strategic ground for the hearing before the Senate, it will be a hagiography, and any denials elicited will be unattached to facts which could conceivably cause Kavanaugh any trouble. And given that the interview is on Fox, the point isn't even to convince viewers of any particular facts, just to create a feeling of connection and solidarity with Kavanaugh himself.
posted by skewed at 1:59 PM on September 24, 2018 [4 favorites]


Artw: The Next Step for #MeToo Is Into the Gray Areas -- "As #MeToo founder Tarana Burke told Yes! Magazine’s Zenobia Jeffries in January:
The gray area is really important to talk about because so many of us live in the gray area. People talk a lot about how men are confused about consent and they don’t know if they should touch this or touch that, or ask.

But I also think there are issues around consent for women as well because we’ve been socialized to believe that we have to give in to the whims of men. That you have to well, OK, he asked three times, he asked four times, I gave in on the fifth time. And I’m not saying that giving in is automatically sexual assault, but it definitely is a gray area.
"How do we talk about behavior that is harmful and inequitable but isn’t illegal? How do we talk about the women affected by it? And what happens when accusations of such behavior are made against someone who is supposed to be an ally? These “gray areas” are embodied in a story Jezebel has been reporting since June, an example of the ways in which the messy contours of alleged coercion and manipulation are far more nuanced and more difficult to trace than behaviors that violate the law."

[Expanding the link here for context, but it's likely worth its own thread.]
posted by filthy light thief at 2:07 PM on September 24, 2018 [28 favorites]


Axios, Swan (there are some significant details in here, including an important note about this morning’s reporting, which I believe is worth noting, though like all such stories, not uncritically and not without considering which agendas are being advanced), Justice Department drafted exit statement for Rod Rosenstein
Shortly after Axios published its story this morning, saying that Rod Rosenstein had "verbally resigned" to John Kelly, Justice Department spokeswoman Sarah Isgur Flores drafted a statement that would announce Rosenstein's departure, written in the voice of Attorney General Jeff Sessions.

Driving the news: The White House received the statement within an hour of the Axios story being published online, according to a source close to the White House. Flores would not comment on the record about her statement.
...
The draft statement from Sessions says: "Rod Rosenstein has served the Department of Justice with dedication and skill for 28 years. His contributions are many and significant. We all appreciate his service and wish him well."

The draft statement goes on to say that Sessions' chief of staff Matt Whitaker would go on to serve as his deputy, and that Noel Francisco, the Solicitor General, would serve as the Acting Attorney General overseeing the special counsel investigation.

When I asked Flores whether she denies that Rosenstein offered his resignation to Kelly, she replied: "My only statement is that Rod is the DAG [Deputy Attorney General]."
That’s not much of a statement. This is the note on this morning’s nonsense (emphasis added):
Note for readers: I regret the way I wrote this morning's version of the story. By saying Rosenstein had “verbally resigned” to Kelly rather than “offered his resignation,” I conveyed a certainty that this fluid situation didn’t deserve. It’s an important nuance, and I regret the wording.
posted by zachlipton at 2:08 PM on September 24, 2018 [13 favorites]


By saying the inbound ballistic missile threat was "NOT A DRILL" rather than "A DRILL," I conveyed a certainty that this fluid situation didn't deserve. It's an important nuance, and I regret the wording.
posted by theodolite at 2:12 PM on September 24, 2018 [56 favorites]


Gonna be a hard hitting interview tonight.

@marthamaccallum
“Sickening” was the word I heard most often this weekend to describe what is happening. Innocent until proven guilty is how we do this in America.
posted by chris24 at 2:15 PM on September 24, 2018


“Offered his resignation” is too certain, too, probably, and does not accurately capture what other media has described as “discussed his possible resignation.”

Basically instead he should have just added “n’t” in there somewhere.
posted by notyou at 2:16 PM on September 24, 2018


Innocent until proven guilty is how we do this in America.

Except, of course, when it comes to "but her emails".
posted by Slothrup at 2:19 PM on September 24, 2018 [59 favorites]


It's not like Kavanaugh's wife can actually vouch for his character when drinking... In an email from just 2001...

Kavanaugh married Ashley Estes in 2004. In the interview, his wife may be credited for 'saving' him from youthful indulgences like hard drinking.
posted by Iris Gambol at 2:20 PM on September 24, 2018 [17 favorites]


@ronanfarrow: Update: 2 Kavanaugh classmates withdrew from a statement his lawyers issued disputing Ramirez’s claims. It is now signed by the 2 men whom Ramirez alleged had egged on Kavanaugh, the wife of the man she said told her to "kiss it,” and one other classmate

Per the update now attached to the story: “This story was updated with comments from two former classmates of Kavanaugh, Louisa Garry and Dino Ewing, who initially signed a statement of support for Kavanaugh provided by his attorneys. They approached The New Yorker after this story was published and asked that their names be removed from the statement, saying that they did not wish to dispute Ramirez’s claims.”

This was the “We can say with confidence that if the incident Debbie alleges ever occurred, we would have seen or heard about it—and we did not.” statement. Yeah, that wasn’t a good idea. The statement is now signed by two of the men accused of being involved, the wife of another man accused of being involved, and a third man. Garry, who removed her name, appeared in the Judicial Crisis Network ad praising Kavanaugh.
posted by zachlipton at 2:22 PM on September 24, 2018 [43 favorites]


So he never did any of the things he's accused of, and his wife saved him so he'll never do them again.
posted by clawsoon at 2:23 PM on September 24, 2018 [37 favorites]


Innocent until proven guilty is how we do this in America.

FFS, it's not a trial it's a job interview. For a lifetime appointment. To the most powerful seat on one of the three branches of government. Having a due process for that job interview is not sickening, jackasses.
posted by mcstayinskool at 2:23 PM on September 24, 2018 [123 favorites]


Except, of course, when it comes to "but her emails".

Or Ted Cruz's dad killing JFK, for that matter.

“Sickening” was the word I heard most often this weekend to describe what is happening.

Disgust is empirically linked to authoritarianism. When they say "disgusting" or "sick" or "sickening," it's a brain-hacking appeal to base (in both meanings of the word) authoritarianism. It means the position or argument has failed and that there's no other rhetoric to fall back on besides tapping into their natural inclination to follow the leader. Luckily for them, that inclination is a thus-far inexhaustible resource.
posted by Rust Moranis at 2:26 PM on September 24, 2018 [37 favorites]


Update: 2 Kavanaugh classmates withdrew from a statement his lawyers issued disputing Ramirez’s claims.

Sadly, their withdrawal will not receive anything like the coverage that the initial statement got. The prevailing narrative has been established as "every person alleged to be present denies it happened".

FFS, it's not a trial it's a job interview

For what its worth we should be careful with this analogy. It's not a very good one. A lifetime appointment vetting is not a job interview. Furthermore under some circumstances it's actively illegal to refuse to hire someone in circumstances which are at least as close as the "job interview" analogy. We like this analogy because its straightforward and seems to make sense, but the law isn't always the same as common sense.
posted by Justinian at 2:27 PM on September 24, 2018 [6 favorites]


FFS, it's not a trial it's a job interview. For a lifetime appointment. To the most powerful seat on one of the three branches of government.

Or as Doug Muder says: "It makes sense to let ten guilty people go free rather than send one innocent person to prison. But if we’re talking about positions of high power, I would rather turn down ten innocent people than elevate one guilty one."
posted by OnceUponATime at 2:27 PM on September 24, 2018 [178 favorites]


For those tracking the trade war thing, here are some choice snippets from some research I completed for work earlier this evening. Frankly, the signals are all pointing to a major rerouting of global trade flows and patterns, and the trade related articles have begun mentioning this shift. This time next year it's gonna be a wholly different global economy.

I'm convinced he actually thought that China would simply crumble before the might of the great deal-maker's economic threat.

The Cheeto, if he gave the timing any thought at all, still believes he can win his trade war with China easily just by continued bullying until they give in. I'm sure he is surprised every he time raises and they don't fold and go away immediately.


First, major hints that China is in it for the long game.

Jack Ma, co-founder of Chinese e-tech giant Alibaba Group Holding, said on Thursday that people should make preparations for 20 years of China-U.S. trade frictions. The economic situation is not good, and that could last for a long time, Ma said at the World Economic Forum in Tianjin.

China added $60 billion of U.S. products to its import tariff list on Tuesday to hit back at U.S. duties on $200 billion of Chinese goods that go into effect from Sept. 24


Plus, Ma rescinded on a million new jobs for the United States:

Alibaba founder Jack Ma said his ambitious pledge to create one million jobs in the United States had been scuppered by the trade row between Beijing and Washington, Chinese state news reported on Thursday (Sept 20). The billionaire owner of China's largest online shopping portal made the headline-grabbing promise to Mr Donald Trump last year, as Beijing courted the then-newly elected president.

But Mr Ma told Xinhua that his pledge had been made on the basis of continued cooperation and trade growth between the US and China, and would now be difficult to fulfil.

"However, the previous basis for trade has been undermined," he said in an interview on Tuesday.



Meanwhile, Canada's shipping grain to the EU while Egypt is sending its oranges to China because trade war you know.

This captures in brief the ebbs adn flows of the fortunes of Asian companies in response to the impact of the elephants fighting.

PwC India goes as far as to say that the Other [the PoC trade] is where the growth trade is at in the coming future as they're shut out of the "Big Boys" club.

And, some shocks are yet to be felt, as are the surprises.

I can write a synopsis extrapolating the outcome of these "weak" signals and there's a lot more shifting and changing going on that I haven't linked to, including things such as China lowering import tariffs for all their other partners. But you'd have to ask nicely since it'd be a waste of time given that nobody up there pulling these tariff strings is listening to anyone but themselves now.

On a high note, "el monde" is moving to increase tariffs on the instruments of torture and curb trade in this equipment.*

Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmström is co-chairing the first Ministerial meeting of the Alliance for Torture-Free Trade, bringing of together almost 60 countries, to take stock of progress to ban the trade in goods used for torture and the death penalty


*that particular keyword search was satisfying to have logged on google ;p
posted by infini at 2:29 PM on September 24, 2018 [40 favorites]


The perfect person to interview them.

Soledad O'Brien
Martha MacCallum, July 2016, describing Roger Ailes after Gretchen Carlson sued him for sexual harassment: “Roger is such a terrific boss,” mused MacCallum. “I don’t like to see anything that reflects negatively on him.”

Note: 2 months later Fox paid Gretchen $20 mil to settle.
posted by chris24 at 2:31 PM on September 24, 2018 [45 favorites]


A piece on why the "job interview" analogy is a bad one.

tl;dr - these accusations should absolutely be a factor, but not because this is a job interview and if it was a job interview it would be legally dicey to use them.
posted by Justinian at 2:32 PM on September 24, 2018 [3 favorites]


How Trump Got Rolled
...it seems likely that John Kelly either believed or wanted to believe that Rosenstein said he was open to resigning or would resign. It seems quite clear he was unwilling to do so. Otherwise there’s no way you end up with this sloppy and embarrassing public face plant. One strong possibility is that Kelly was not willing to fire Rosenstein himself. He insisted that the President do that. And Trump was unwilling.

As I suggested below, I think there’s a very good chance that that is why we went through this exercise this morning: Because President Trump wasn’t there and couldn’t be there in person. It was a way of getting Kelly to do the deed.

Alternatively, perhaps it wasn’t about Kelly refusing. It may simply have been that the White House was not willing to fire Rosenstein. He called their bluff and Trump folded.
...
Trump’s public persona as a no nonsense executive with his signature “you’re fired” tagline is utterly belied by the record of a man who is deeply conflict averse, a coward. He rails against underlings on Twitter and then apparently never makes the same comments to their face. Firing Rosenstein obviously has big consequences, both political and administrative.

It is highly unlikely that Rosenstein will either be fired or resign in that Thursday meeting with President Trump, if indeed that meeting happens at all. I would not at all rule it out tomorrow or the next day or at various times before that Thursday meeting, if it happens. But at the meeting? Doubtful.

There’s even a chance that this episode ends up strengthening Rosenstein’s position inasmuch as Trump showed his cards and then backed down.
posted by kirkaracha at 2:50 PM on September 24, 2018 [29 favorites]


Boycott update:

Chewy.com sent me a reminder that I have a regularly scheduled shipment coming up, which reminded me that they'd sent me a wishy-washy response to my email about them advertising on Hannity, and I never followed up. Many people wrote them in March about advertising on Hannity (here's merocet's excellent text.)

grabyourwallet.org says that Chewy stopped advertising on Hannity in April (scroll down to row #84.15).

foxnewsadvertisers.com, for its August 2018 post, lists PetSmart (which owns Chewy) on the list of top Fox & Friends advertisers (#12).

It's not clear to me from this whether the PetSmart ads on Fox & Friends also include Chewy-specific ads, but I'm going to email Chewy to ask, and also to thank them for stopping their ads on Hannity.

Boycott strategies: Since I asked Chewy to drop Hannity and they have, it's important to reward this responsiveness by keeping on shopping there, correct? Because I'm inclined to move the goalposts and say, "Thanks for dropping Hannity! Now, what about dropping Fox & Friends?" but I know how important positive reinforcement of desired actions is.

Would it work better if I got friends who are Chewy customers, but who never contacted them about Hannity, to say, "Hey Chewy, please drop Fox & Friends because of their support for credibly accused attempted rapist Kavanaugh, if you want my dollars"?
posted by cybercoitus interruptus at 2:58 PM on September 24, 2018 [13 favorites]


The Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) Expires September 30, Leaving Indigenous Women Especially Vulnerable [SLTeenVogue]

While a new reauthorization bill, which includes enhanced protections for Native victims of stalking, sex trafficking, and sexual violence, was sponsored by Representative Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas) in late July, serious action has not yet happened.
posted by Iris Gambol at 2:59 PM on September 24, 2018 [19 favorites]


There’s even a chance that this episode ends up strengthening Rosenstein’s position inasmuch as Trump showed his cards and then backed down.

There's also a chance that Trump is aware of how publicly he showed his bedraggled ass here, and Rosenstein's position has become more precarious inasmuch as Trump will feel the need to save face with a show of strength.

I mean, who the hell knows. I can feel myself getting stupider every time I try and read Trump's mind.
posted by duffell at 3:01 PM on September 24, 2018 [8 favorites]


Looks like Jonathan Swan finally
admitted he botched his story, to some degree.
Baby steps.
Agree it’s a critical distinction. I screwed up by giving it a certainty it didn’t warrant. Offering a resignation is different from resigning.

posted by msalt at 3:02 PM on September 24, 2018 [2 favorites]


The question is whether the "Trump got rolled" narrative or the "Advisers lied about Rosenstein's comments to try and roll Trump, but failed" narrative wins out.
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 3:04 PM on September 24, 2018 [6 favorites]


It makes a big difference whether the employer discovers the information themselves in a background check or whether the information comes to them without actively looking for it? Law is weird.

You're the law talker here so I don't see any reason not to believe you over Joyner. And he seemed so confident.
posted by Justinian at 3:14 PM on September 24, 2018 [2 favorites]


I spent 25 years in the bar business and Kavanaugh sounds like the classic Mean Drunk. Perhaps pleasant and personable when he walks in but a flaming asshole after he gets a few under his belt. And it's quite plausible that he has no recollection of many of these events since blackout drinking is a real thing. Not exactly what I'm looking for in a Supreme...
posted by jim in austin at 3:14 PM on September 24, 2018 [42 favorites]


@waynefreedman
James Roche continues re: roommate Brett #Kavanaugh at Yale and Ramirez accusation: "I did not observe the specific incident in question, but I do remember Brett frequently drinking excessively and becoming incoherently drunk." #abc7now #KavanaughConfirmation
posted by Artw at 3:16 PM on September 24, 2018 [19 favorites]


And he seemed so confident.

Well, except that he ends his article by conceding that it's a political process and that the Senate can accept or reject a nominee "for any reason, or for no reason" so the whole thing about due process doesn't really apply after all.
posted by Atom Eyes at 3:18 PM on September 24, 2018 [2 favorites]


Louisa Garry and Dino Ewing, who initially signed a statement of support for Kavanaugh provided by his attorneys

I can see making this mistake very early in the process. But at this point, frankly: what the fuck is wrong with these people?
posted by praemunire at 3:22 PM on September 24, 2018 [4 favorites]


Well, except that he ends his article by conceding that it's a political process and that the Senate can accept or reject a nominee "for any reason, or for no reason"

Right, but Joyner was saying the analogy was bad because you can do things in a political process that you can't do in a job interview. So pointing out that its not like a job interview is his point. Which, while true, is apparently kinda irrelevant because TWF says he's wrong about the things you can't do in most job interviews and TWF would know.

someone was wrong on the internet

fwiw Avenatti has put on more info on his new client and she sounds credible. On the other hand this process is 95% over so the fact that he's still playing coy is very dubious. There's obviously a reason legitimate reporters aren't touching it with a 10 foot pole.
posted by Justinian at 3:22 PM on September 24, 2018 [2 favorites]


Field report: When doorknocking for McCaskill, we use paper, pens, and a folder. We don't even get a clipboard.

Unfortunately, campaigns need to pay to use MiniVAN, and not all budget the money (or have the money to budget). MiniVAN is run by NGP VAN, a privately-owned company that does all the voter file management and administration for the DNC. The Republicans have similar.

Your walk lists for canvassing are based on modeling scores and other factors used by a campaign to cut up the voter files they get from the DNC or local DNC-related organization. Earlier in the summer you would have been doing persuasion work, on potential voters who were ostensibly chosen for their possible enthusiasm for your issue(s) and candidate(s). It wouldn't be the most enthusiastic voters, ideally--just the ones who weren't 100% committed but you might have a chance to convince. In this era this would've included Republicans depending on what area you went to--when I did persuasion canvassing it certainly did. There is a lot of debate over whether persuasion canvassing actually works.

At this point in the election season all efforts are focused on registration and GOTV, so you should only be sent to houses that are considered Dem votes if they vote. So that's your job--to convince them to register and vote.
posted by Anonymous at 3:22 PM on September 24, 2018


Jonathan Swan was an entirely unremarkable reporter in the Canberra press gallery not that long ago. He’s somehow Forrest Gumped his way into being a Whitehouse insider/conduit. From here it seems very odd.
posted by the duck by the oboe at 3:22 PM on September 24, 2018 [15 favorites]


Jonathan Swan is engaged to the Daily Beast's Betsy Woodruff.
posted by Iris Gambol at 3:31 PM on September 24, 2018 [8 favorites]


New Yorker, Jane Mayer, How Russia Helped Swing the Election for Trump: "A meticulous analysis of online activity during the 2016 campaign makes a powerful case that targeted cyberattacks by hackers and trolls were decisive." This is based on the new book by Kathleen Hall Jamieson: Cyberwar: How Russian Hackers and Trolls Helped Elect a President What We Don't, Can't, and Do Know. It's not necessarily new information, but packaged together in a way that makes a persuasive case.

There's a good callback to that story about how Comey sidelined Lynch because of a possibly fake Russian document? I mean if I forgot...
posted by zachlipton at 3:36 PM on September 24, 2018 [27 favorites]


I can tell you that nothing much will distract women from the fact that Kavanaugh is a probable serial gang rapist.

No doubt this is true, and it is getting very hard to imagine "serial rapist" not being attached to his name for a very long time, even if we get no further info from this moment on.

But is there any realistic way that can be translated into a No vote on confirmation once the senate pushes this to the floor? Last I checked there were still three or four senators that needed to flip to the No side, not just "express reservations" or "have concerns", and I can't even speculate on realistic candidates to do so. Murkowski, who is not up for reelection anytime soon? Collins, who probably won't run again anyway? Even if you have both of those, it's still not really enough.

Is there anyone else likely to be moved? If so, is there an effort to pressure those senators, specifically? And if so-so... how can we help?

I realize we're going to get a crazy conservative judge, here. But it'd sure be nice to get one who's less willing to protect the White House from scrutiny, which is pretty damn important right now, and is, you know... a lot less rapey.
posted by rokusan at 3:52 PM on September 24, 2018 [4 favorites]


@DavidWright_CNN: Per @Kantar_Media data, Maine has seen over $7.4 million of SCOTUS ads since July -- $6,585,520 anti-Kavanaugh vs. $837,500 pro-Kavanaugh

@jameshohmann: This is VERY unusual in a court fight. Typically conservative interest groups have been way more activated & willing to $pend. Consider Gorsuch last year. Perhaps, though, the right feels like they've got Collins vote locked up so they don't feel compelled to give her air cover.

Speaking of Maine, let's check in with Sen. Collins: "First of all, I do not believe he's going to repeal Roe v. Wade." She says she's "very close" to a decision.

Sen Collins has also escalated to being "very concerned" that Rosenstein could be fired, but appears to have forgotten she is a US Senator and is just voicing that concern on Twitter like the rest of us.
posted by zachlipton at 3:52 PM on September 24, 2018 [28 favorites]


Can confirm there are constant anti-Kavanaugh ads on tv in Maine; most of the ones I saw were Nice Respectable Older White Women, giving first-person statements about having had an illegal abortion before Roe v Wade. They're effective ads, it'll be interesting to see if they swing perception on that issue in Maine.
posted by LobsterMitten at 3:57 PM on September 24, 2018 [16 favorites]


If they feel like Collins is locked up then this is a complete fait accompli, so why are they running so scared? I can't really square that circle.
posted by Justinian at 4:03 PM on September 24, 2018 [6 favorites]


Speaking of Maine, let's check in with Sen. Collins: "First of all, I do not believe he's going to repeal Roe v. Wade."

Just like she believed Gorsuch when he said that he respected settled law.

Just like she believed McConnell when he said that he would take up DACA right after passing the budget resolution.

Just like she believed Paul Ryan when he said they would patch up the ACA cuts right after they passed the tax bill.

Seems that either Collins is dangerously gullible or else she is just lying about what she believes. Perhaps both.
posted by JackFlash at 4:10 PM on September 24, 2018 [107 favorites]


so why are they running so scared?

I guess the question is: are they? I mean, they've blustered out a bunch of piss-poor excuses. But the pissed-poor nature is telling in and of itself: no one on the side of defending Kavanaugh is trying especially hard. Yes, there's a lot of publicity, and that requires responses on the Republican side. But beyond that requisite activity, they've shown no sign that they give a damn about the allegations against Kavanaugh, and all of the back room discussions come to light, and public commentary from R senators, is "Get 'er done, let's wrap this up."

Their posturing is for show. They plan to push the nomination through anyway, and nothing short of an extremely convincing public meltdown (orchestrated by us, or the nominee) is going to change the course, unfortunately. Yeah, we gotta keep trying. But I'm not optimistic.
posted by Brak at 4:18 PM on September 24, 2018 [6 favorites]


no one on the side of defending Kavanaugh is trying especially hard

I think the best evidence that concern exists is Kavanaugh doing an interview on Fox sitting next to his wife. That's not something that would have happened if the GOP was fully confident Kavanaugh was going to make it.
posted by Justinian at 4:20 PM on September 24, 2018 [20 favorites]


Mod note: Couple deleted; in general, answering rhetorical questions like "why are Republicans acting this way" rarely leads to anything very illuminating, and instead leads to a dozen or more rehashy comments repeating the same things as always. So let's skip it.
posted by LobsterMitten (staff) at 4:24 PM on September 24, 2018 [10 favorites]


Mike Pompeo on China trade war: ‘We are going to win it’

Given the real world shifts in real world commodities such as grains and fruits now moving around in different directions, can the CIA really make a difference in this war? Seriously asking from the global trade geek perspective.
posted by infini at 4:26 PM on September 24, 2018 [3 favorites]




NYT, Rod Rosenstein’s Job Is Safe, for Now: Inside His Dramatic Day
When Rod J. Rosenstein, the deputy attorney general, headed to the White House on Monday morning, he was ready to resign and convinced — wrongly, it turned out — that President Trump was about to fire him. Top Justice Department aides scrambled to draft a statement about who would succeed him.By the afternoon, Mr. Rosenstein was back at his Pennsylvania Avenue office seven blocks from the White House, still employed as the second-in-command at the Justice Department and, for the time being at least, still in charge of the Russia investigation.

What happened in between was a confusing drama in which buzzy news reports of Mr. Rosenstein’s imminent departure set in motion a dash to the White House, an offer to resign, Capitol Hill speculation about Mr. Rosenstein’s successor and, finally, a reprieve from an out-of-town president.
...
By Friday evening, concerned about testifying to Congress over the revelations that he discussed wearing a wire to the Oval Office and invoking the constitutional trigger to remove Mr. Trump from office, Mr. Rosenstein had become convinced that he should resign, according to people close to him. He offered during a late-day visit to the White House to quit, according to one person familiar with the encounter, but John F. Kelly, the White House chief of staff, demurred. Aides began planning over the weekend for his departure, coming in to the Justice Department to determine how to recalibrate in the aftermath of his exit.

Over the weekend, Mr. Rosenstein again told Mr. Kelly that he was considering resigning. On Sunday, Mr. Rosenstein repeated the assertion in a call with Donald F. McGahn II, the White House counsel. Mr. McGahn, who was dealing with the emergence of another accusation of sexual assault against Brett M. Kavanaugh, the president’s Supreme Court nominee, asked Mr. Rosenstein to postpone their discussion until Monday.
...
By about 9 a.m. on Monday, Mr. Rosenstein was in his office on the fourth floor of the Justice Department when reporters started calling. Was it true that Mr. Rosenstein was planning to resign, they asked? Officials at the Justice Department took the inquiries as evidence that the White House wanted to speed along that outcome.

Mr. Rosenstein and Ed O’Callaghan, his top deputy, raced out of the building and headed to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue for what they expected to be the final word. Justice Department officials told reporters that Mr. Rosenstein expected to be fired upon arriving there.
...
The president had already planned to clean house at the Justice Department — but not until after the elections, according to one person who had discussed Mr. Rosenstein with Mr. Trump before last week’s Times article. Monday’s drama about an imminent resignation created an unwanted headache, the person said.
@matthewamiller: Nobody wants to hear this, but this story shows something I think has been evident all along: Rosenstein isn’t as strong a personality as the country needs in this job right now. The rub is that he’s almost certainly stronger than anyone who would replace him.

@qjurecic: @matthewamiller is right here, I think—Rosenstein is a weak person desperately trying to be a strong person.

As far as who would replace him, the article notes that the Justice Department was prepared to appoint Noel Francisco to oversee the Russia investigation. Some say that Francisco would need a waiver from the White House because his former law firm, Jones Day, represents the Trump campaign in that same investigation. Also notable: Matthew Whitaker, Sessions' chief of staff, would replace Rosenstein: "an unusual move; typically, a top aide to the deputy attorney general would take over the post."
posted by zachlipton at 4:29 PM on September 24, 2018 [7 favorites]




Never underestimate the power of humiliation coupled with 5000 years of recorded history.
posted by infini at 4:31 PM on September 24, 2018 [30 favorites]


Never underestimate the power of humiliation coupled with 5000 years of recorded history.

And a trillion in foreign reserves carefully accumulated over the past 40 years.
posted by Definitely Not Sean Spicer at 4:33 PM on September 24, 2018 [25 favorites]


NYT, Rod Rosenstein’s Job Is Safe, for Now: Inside His Dramatic Day

It’s come to the point where Haberman’s byline just indicates White House spin for me.
posted by schadenfrau at 4:33 PM on September 24, 2018 [52 favorites]


@matthewamiller is right here, I think—Rosenstein is a weak person desperately trying to be a strong person.

That was Comey's assessment as well. That Rosenstein was a moral guy but swayed in the prevailing winds too easily. He called it being a "survivor" which apparently was a bad thing to Comey. Which I sorta understand. But on the other hand Rosenstein is still in his job protecting the American people while Comey handed the country to Donald Trump and then took up a new career as a twitter dragger, so who really made the better life choices?
posted by Justinian at 4:39 PM on September 24, 2018 [62 favorites]


Louisa Garry and Dino Ewing, who initially signed a statement of support for Kavanaugh provided by his attorneys

I can see making this mistake very early in the process. But at this point, frankly: what the fuck is wrong with these people?


Louisa Garry is a teacher at my alma mater, a deeply white Quaker private school where her husband also teaches. She was always incredibly kind to me even though I never had her as a teacher and would chirp “Hi!” when I passed her classroom because her husband coached my bench-warming younger brother in some sport even though I was the outspoken liberal atheist girl who was friends with the outcast art stoners. I always thought of her as a nice, nice lady.

My school was so white and so wealthy; everyone played lacrosse and got into Cornell as a safety school. The headmaster, upon acceptance of the job, got automatic admission to a nearby country club that didn’t allow Jews (until my badass mom, who worked in the school library, told him to better reject that membership). We spent one hour a week in a meeting house reflecting on our inner Jesus. We had classes on charity and poverty. Everyone was so goddamn nice.

These are the a lot conservatives we’re up against: Genuinely nice people from an insular white, monied world who can’t imagine anything else.
posted by Yoko Ono's Advice Column at 4:39 PM on September 24, 2018 [96 favorites]


@qjurecic: @matthewamiller is right here, I think—Rosenstein is a weak person desperately trying to be a strong person.

Thing is, Rosenstein just kicked the shit out of the Trump administration. Which shows that whatever his faults, he's got what it takes, since the Trump administration IS weaker.
posted by mikelieman at 4:40 PM on September 24, 2018 [20 favorites]


Never underestimate the power of humiliation coupled with 5000 years of recorded history.

And a trillion in foreign reserves carefully accumulated over the past 40 years.


imo, ignore the ongoing news cycle on this on a daily or weekly basis and only pick it up on a monthly and quarterly survey, if necessary, otherwise, just sit back and relax. Winter is coming, and it's going to be good for the environment, given that increasing localization now an observed trend.
posted by infini at 4:47 PM on September 24, 2018 [3 favorites]


Daily Beast, Democrats to Avenatti: You’re Not Helping in the Kavanaugh Fight
“Mr. Avenatti has a tendency to sensationalize and make his various crusades more about himself then about getting at the truth,” said a senior Senate Democratic aide. “This moment calls for the exact opposite.”
...
Democratic senators stopped short of criticizing Avenatti, but appeared to be low on patience with his tactic of dribbling out information before a dramatic big reveal, fearful that it undermined the seriousness of the issue of sexual assault.

“If Michael Avenatti has any evidence, he should come forward promptly. If he has a client who has relevant information, I welcome hearing from him,” Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE), a member of the judiciary committee, said in an interview. “If there are additional allegations to come forward, this would absolutely be the time because I don’t see us pursuing this matter much more than the next week or two at most.”
...
“I believe there is a decent chance the person he reps may have a real allegation,” said another Democratic source working on the confirmation proceedings. “But he undercut it. If he had vetteed it through a media outlet and had journalists represent it in a well reported way or have the committee introduce it, it would have been better.”

Avenatti showed little concern that his involvement might complicate matters for Democrats as they press the case against Trump’s Supreme Court nominee. Instead, in a brief phone interviewed, he ridiculed his detractors for not appreciating the stakes of the confirmation battle ahead of them.

“I think that is ridiculous and I think it is another example of certain Democrats being weak-kneed and not up for the fight,” he told The Daily Beast. “If heat is too hot in the kitchen they need to just get out.”
...
“Is this about Avenatti or the women?” said Adam Jentleson, a former top aide to ex-Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV). “Hopefully it’s about raising up the voices of women and I guess we’ll find out in the next few days.”
posted by zachlipton at 4:49 PM on September 24, 2018 [8 favorites]


CIA Director is Gina Haspel. Deck chairs on the Titanic and all that.

Ah, now I understand that Malmstrom salvo on trade on the tools of torture.

The cooperation concerns products like batons with metal spikes, electric shock belts, grabbers that seize people while electrocuting them, chemicals used for executions, as well as gas chambers and electric chairs.

By joining the Alliance, countries commit to controlling and restricting exports of these goods, and making it easier for customs authorities to track down shipments and identifying new products.

posted by infini at 4:53 PM on September 24, 2018 [1 favorite]


This One Piece of Paper Threatens Trump at His Very Core — And Explains Why He Needs Rosenstein Out Now - Mark Sumner/Daily Kos (Alternet.org)
Trump’s “genius” for selling New York and Florida real estate at ridiculous markups actually disguises systematic money-laundering.
...
The scariest thing about Rod Rosenstein isn’t that he protected the continued existence of Robert Mueller’s investigation: it’s that he signed an order (PDF) expanding the scope of that investigation to include the money-laundering scheme on which Paul Manafort was convicted. Most of the document that contained that expansion was redacted. It’s not hard to guess what was under all that black ink: authority to investigate Trump’s business dealings.
posted by ZeusHumms at 4:58 PM on September 24, 2018 [53 favorites]


A Leaked White House Memo Reveals Trump’s Plan For Going After Google and Facebook - Tonya Riley, Mother Jones

The White House is considering an antitrust investigation into 'online platform bias' at Google and Facebook - Jim Edwards, Business Insider
Business Insider has obtained a copy of a proposed executive order for President Trump that would ask federal law enforcement to "thoroughly investigate whether any online platform has acted in violation of the antitrust laws," to "protect competition among online platforms and address online platform bias."
The proposed text of the order is the bottom half of the article.
posted by ZeusHumms at 5:07 PM on September 24, 2018 [3 favorites]


Business Insider has obtained a copy of a proposed executive order for President Trump that would ask federal law enforcement to "thoroughly investigate whether any online platform has acted in violation of the antitrust laws," to "protect competition among online platforms and address online platform bias."

Given that the big 3 have already been caught colluding to suppress tech workers wages and had to pay out a settlement I'd say anti-trust is probably an easy wide open slam dunk. Can the current bozos dunk? Probably not.
posted by srboisvert at 5:10 PM on September 24, 2018 [9 favorites]


Calls to the National Sexual Assault Hotline Spiked Last Weekend While More Kavanaugh News Broke - Jackie Flynn Mogensen, Mother Jones. "Friday to Sunday saw 57 percent more calls."

"You can reach the RAINN sexual assault hotline at (800) 656-HOPE."
posted by ZeusHumms at 5:12 PM on September 24, 2018 [18 favorites]


Oh my what the hell is wrong with these people? NYT, Kate Kelly and David Enrich, Kavanaugh’s Yearbook Page Is ‘Horrible, Hurtful’ to a Woman It Named
Brett Kavanaugh’s page in his high school yearbook offers a glimpse of the teenage years of the man who is now President Trump’s Supreme Court nominee: lots of football, plenty of drinking, parties at the beach. Among the reminiscences about sports and booze is a mysterious entry: “Renate Alumnius.”

The word “Renate” appears at least 14 times in Georgetown Preparatory School’s 1983 yearbook, on individuals’ pages and in a group photo of nine football players, including Judge Kavanaugh, who were described as the “Renate Alumni.” It is a reference to Renate Schroeder, then a student at a nearby Catholic girls’ school.

Two of Judge Kavanaugh’s classmates say the mentions of Renate were part of the football players’ unsubstantiated boasting about their conquests.

“They were very disrespectful, at least verbally, with Renate,” said Sean Hagan, a Georgetown Prep student at the time, referring to Judge Kavanaugh and his teammates. “I can’t express how disgusted I am with them, then and now.”
...
This month, Renate Schroeder Dolphin joined 64 other women who, saying they knew Judge Kavanaugh during their high school years, signed a letter to the leaders of the Senate Judiciary Committee, which is weighing Judge Kavanaugh’s nomination. The letter stated that “he has behaved honorably and treated women with respect.”

When Ms. Dolphin signed the Sept. 14 letter, she wasn’t aware of the “Renate” yearbook references on the pages of Judge Kavanaugh and his football teammates.

“I learned about these yearbook pages only a few days ago,” Ms. Dolphin said in a statement to The New York Times. “I don’t know what ‘Renate Alumnus’ actually means. I can’t begin to comprehend what goes through the minds of 17-year-old boys who write such things, but the insinuation is horrible, hurtful and simply untrue. I pray their daughters are never treated this way. I will have no further comment.”
posted by zachlipton at 5:13 PM on September 24, 2018 [79 favorites]


Odious Pro Kavanaugh ads are running on MSNBC
posted by fluttering hellfire at 5:18 PM on September 24, 2018 [1 favorite]


Odious Pro Kavanaugh ads are running on MSNBC

Are those the ones starring another woman who has withdrawn her support from Kavanaugh?
posted by gerryblog at 5:20 PM on September 24, 2018 [4 favorites]


Are those the ones starring another woman who has withdrawn her support from Kavanaugh?

Those were last week. This week is the Democratic Cabal Smearing Our Hero.
posted by FelliniBlank at 5:27 PM on September 24, 2018


But why didn't she report it before? Surely the justice system would have given her a fair shake.

TW for assault and just general not taking this shit seriously. Because there is absolutely no sign we ever will.
posted by East14thTaco at 5:56 PM on September 24, 2018 [5 favorites]


@matthewamiller is right here, I think—Rosenstein is a weak person desperately trying to be a strong person.

A weak person doesn't stay in the job of Deputy Attorney General under all the crazy pressures of the Trump administration--unless he's on the administration's side, and that sure hasn't been the narrative about Rosenstein since Comey was bounced. I think one can accuse Rosenstein of bad judgment in a few instances. Perhaps more than a few. But weak? A weak person in his role finds a new job and says he can make better money for far less grief and he'd be factually correct in saying so.

The final verdict on where Rosenstein was in all this is gonna evade us until we see the end results from Mueller, or from Trump firing him. But I don't think "weakness" is gonna be the key factor.
posted by scaryblackdeath at 6:10 PM on September 24, 2018 [31 favorites]


@frankthorp [letter attached]: In new letter from Dr Ford’s Attorney to the Judiciary Committee, they again object to having outside counsel ask the questions for republicans at Thursday’s hearing, and ask for the name and resume of who that person will be. This does not appear to be a done deal.
posted by zachlipton at 6:11 PM on September 24, 2018 [13 favorites]


Of all the issues of contention with the GOP Senators that's the one I'm on record here as saying struck me as non-negotiable for Ford. I've been surprised that they seemed willing to go forward even with outside counsel grilling her. But maybe that's been a misread.

I don't really understand what objecting gets them. Either they are willing to testify even with questioning by outside counsel or they aren't. If it is a red line, as I originally thought it would be, why not say so? Do Ford's lawyers think she'll have more leverage as we get closer to the scheduled hearings? I would have said less?

But her attorneys are by all reports very good so clearly they know what they are doing even if I don't understand it.
posted by Justinian at 6:21 PM on September 24, 2018


"The word “Renate” appears at least 14 times in Georgetown Preparatory School’s 1983 yearbook, on individuals’ pages and in a group photo of nine football players, including Judge Kavanaugh, who were described as the “Renate Alumni.” It is a reference to Renate Schroeder, then a student at a nearby Catholic girls’ school."

WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH THESE PEOPLE

WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH THE SCHOOL THAT THEY ALLOWED THIS TO BE PRINTED
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 6:23 PM on September 24, 2018 [149 favorites]


Both CNN and MSNBC are now running with the Avenatti thing, so I guess this is happening.

One bit of weirdness: He's on both MSNBC and CNN right now, and BOTH interviews are labelled as "LIVE". Which is either impossible or Avenatti definitely has my vote for whatever he wants to run for. But I'm guessing is impossible. Isn't labelling a recorded interview as LIVE a journalistic no-no?
posted by Justinian at 6:27 PM on September 24, 2018 [18 favorites]


addendum: CNN abruptly pulled the LIVE marking from their interview. So it's obviously the recorded one. I guess somebody dun fucked up.
posted by Justinian at 6:29 PM on September 24, 2018 [8 favorites]


With the yearbook story, I can't help but notice that there's no apology. This woman's name appears at least 14 times in the yearbook, and Kavanaugh's lawyer is putting out statements about how they kissed once (which she says never happened), so he'll talk about it, but there's no recognition at any point that, I don't know, it's creepy as fuck to describe yourself in the yearbook as an "alumnus" of a girl you knew and that you might maybe show a shred of contrition over that with the benefit of several decades of hindsight. If we want to talk about character and judgement, there's something wrong with a person who pretends this is fine and normal instead of having the decency to acknowledge he showed bad judgement and hurt somebody here.

It's been the same pattern throughout this entire process. No introspection or apology over Alex Kozinski, over Manny Miranda's document theft, his drinking, etc... I'm not talking about admissions of wrongdoing, but some basic human acknowledgement that, in hindsight, you've realized it's wrong to creep on a girl in the yearbook or you regret not knowing that your friend and mentor was a notorious harasser or that you apologize that you were given and used stolen documents. I don't think that's an unreasonable standard for human decency, let alone the Supreme Court.
posted by zachlipton at 6:39 PM on September 24, 2018 [118 favorites]


WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH THE SCHOOL THAT THEY ALLOWED THIS TO BE PRINTED

Judging by the stream of consciousness 'thoughts' adjacent, they didn't police them beyond obvious obscenities. They didn't even correct "Alumnius"
posted by ChurchHatesTucker at 6:49 PM on September 24, 2018 [20 favorites]


Is it safe to assume these society Republicans don't actually care about their daughters, if they have them? Because if so, why would you send them off into that environment, having been through it yourself, either as a victim or a perpetrator?

I'm sorry for the girls destined for the attentions of the prep assholes--sending your girls away to deal with eight years of frat bros, instead of the four years they'd otherwise have to deal with them, when they head off to college (at a slightly more mature age, as well) seems intentionally cruel.

The boys school Kavanaugh et al attended seems a hideous institution, apparently perfectly OK with churning out as many rapists as they can. Are the private girls' schools at least a bit better institutionally, or do they do everything they can to foster this environment as well?
posted by maxwelton at 7:04 PM on September 24, 2018 [15 favorites]


Having been a 17 year-old boy allow me to give you a glimpse into their apparently mystical thought PROCESS. A bunch of guys got word that a particular girl in their community was a slut and decided to tell a joke about it all together.

Har. Har. She probably kissed one or two of them so she might as well have fucked them all, right? Aren't we clever.

The thing is, that, on its own is just idiot teenagers being (egregiously) idiotic teenagers. But taken with the steadfast refusal to admit that the joke is what it obviously is along with everything else does raise serious questions about whether this person should be adjudicating the rights of women in the highest court in the land.

I wouldn't trust a man who has behaved like this to process an EEOC complaint, let alone have input on what future law students learn is a valid one.
posted by East14thTaco at 7:07 PM on September 24, 2018 [66 favorites]


Mod note: Gonna strongly suggest we not drive off into a wide-ranging discussion of the problems with prep schools, social class, internalized misogyny etc. Or someone can make a separate thread for it if we need to have that discussion.
posted by LobsterMitten (staff) at 7:08 PM on September 24, 2018 [9 favorites]


I just feel the need to say this:

It didn't surprise me when Kavanaugh was accused of sexual assault, and it didn't surprise me when a second accusation appeared. As soon as I saw who was nominated, and despite having never heard his name before, I thought to myself, "There's a good chance this guy is going to go down in flames due to sexual assault allegations." I have two thoughts about that.

First, that's appalling. All I was basing that judgement on was the preconception that, well, a lot of guys are serial sexual assaulters. Like, if the last few years have taught me anything, it's that a lot of guys are serial sexual assaulters. Period. That is the water we all swim in, and that's disgusting.

Secondly though, it's heartening. It's only in the last year or so that I've started to notice that women are regularly coming forward, against powerful and famous men, and making these allegations—and they're starting to stick. At least, some of the time. Maybe enough of the time that we're starting too see a snowball effect, where women feel able to come forward more and more because they feel better and better about their chances in doing so, and the more accusers come forward the harder and harder it becomes to dismiss them.

It would be a pretty amazing thing, if that happened.
posted by Anticipation Of A New Lover's Arrival, The at 7:08 PM on September 24, 2018 [42 favorites]


> This month, Renate Schroeder Dolphin joined 64 other women who, saying they knew Judge Kavanaugh during their high school years, signed a letter to the leaders of the Senate Judiciary Committee, which is weighing Judge Kavanaugh’s nomination. The letter stated that “he has behaved honorably and treated women with respect.” When Ms. Dolphin signed the Sept. 14 letter, she wasn’t aware of the “Renate” yearbook references on the pages of Judge Kavanaugh and his football teammates. ... “She should be offended,” Mr. Hagan said of Ms. Dolphin. “I was completely astounded when I saw she signed that letter” on Judge Kavanaugh’s behalf.

Since there is no mercy for us any more, I guess before this is over we are going to find out what a few other cryptic notes on the yearbook page are referring to. Avenatti has already claimed the "FFFFFFFourth of July" and "Devil's Triangle" - but what about "Malibu Fan Club"? "Wendy Whitney Fan Club"? "Maureen - Tainted Whack"? "Anne Daugherty's"? What about the Rehoboth Police Force, and which Judge asked about Boofing?? We'll all need brain bleach by the time this is done.

And those poor brave women. It's just horrifying what they're facing.
posted by RedOrGreen at 7:08 PM on September 24, 2018 [27 favorites]


What about the Rehoboth Police Force
Rehoboth is the Delaware beach town where D.C. prep school kids went for Beach Week, which was (is?) an unsupervised week at the beach where you could drink a lot and get up to no good if you were the kind of kid who drank a lot and got up to no good.

Also, I want to punch a lot of people on Renate's behalf, starting with the girls who didn't tell her at the time and the women who let her sign the letter all these years later. What the everloving fuck? I wonder what her social status was at her school.
Are the private girls' schools at least a bit better institutionally, or do they do everything they can to foster this environment as well?
One of my closest childhood friends ended up at Stone Ridge, a Catholic girls' school with close ties to Prep, and it wasn't as bad. It had some issues, but she found it to be pretty feminist in that don't-fuck-with-badass-nuns way that some Catholic girls' schools are feminist.
posted by ArbitraryAndCapricious at 7:16 PM on September 24, 2018 [14 favorites]


From Vice: Another Kavanaugh accuser has talked to Maryland authorities, report says.

Note that the person is talking to local authorities, not the Feds.
posted by Justinian at 7:37 PM on September 24, 2018 [11 favorites]


Mod note: A few deleted. I know we have feelings about the yearbook thing but no. If this is the thing that blows up so much that people need a separate Kavanaugh thread, so be it. But this thread needs to stay more-or-less on track, and high school yearbook/who were the sleazy kids at your school/what would your teachers have thought - it's just irresistible derail fodder.
posted by LobsterMitten (staff) at 7:38 PM on September 24, 2018 [8 favorites]


Ted Cruz chased out of dinner
posted by The Whelk at 7:45 PM on September 24, 2018 [89 favorites]


Well Trump just tweeted that the Democrats are leveling "an array of False Acquisitions the likes of which have never been seen before," and I, for one, am curious to know what we're acquiring beyond worsening headaches and feelings of impending doom.

And I guess someone reminded him he's supposed to be encouraging people to vote, because he tweeted simply "REMEMBER THE MIDTERMS!"
posted by zachlipton at 7:47 PM on September 24, 2018 [17 favorites]


ELECTIONS NEWS

** 2018 House:
-- TX-32: Siena poll has GOP incumbent Sessions up 48-47 on Dem Allred [MOE: +/- 4.8%]. [Clinton 49-47 | Cook: Tossup]

-- KS-03: Siena poll has Dem Davids up 51-43 on GOP incumbent Yoder [MOE: +/- 4.7%]. [Clinton 47-46 | Cook: Tossup]

-- TX-31: ALG poll has GOP incumbent Carter up 46-42 on Dem Hegar [MOE: +/- 4.4%]. Poll was commissioned by the Hegar campaign. [Trump 54-41 | Cook: Likely R]

-- PA-11: PPP poll has GOP incumbent Smucker up 44-35 on Dem King [MOE: +/- 4.2%]. You may have seen the recent Metafilter FPP about the King campaign. [Trump 61-35 | Cook: Solid R]

-- FL-17: Dem candidate April Freeman died unexpectedly last night. Under state law, her name will stay on the ballot, but the party will have a week to come up with a substitute candidate [Trump 62-35 | Cook: Solid R]

-- IA-01: DCCC cancels all remaining ad spend here, as everyone seems to think GOP incumbent Blum is done for. [Trump 49-45 | Cook: Lean D]

-- Weekly check-in on 538 generic ballot average shows D+8.5 (49.4/40.9).
** 2018 Senate:
-- AZ: Emerson poll has Dem Sinema up 45-39 on GOPer McSally [MOE: +/- 4.4%].

-- FL: UNF poll has Dem incumbent Nelson tied 45-45 with GOPer Scott [MOE: +/- 4.0].
** Odds & ends:
-- AZ gov: Same Emerson poll has GOP incumbent Ducey up 42-38 on Dem Garcia.

-- FL gov: Same UNF poll has Dem Gillum up 47-43 on GOPer DeSantis. | Amendment 4 (felon re-enfranchisement) is up 71-21. Needs 60% approval to become law.
posted by Chrysostom at 7:50 PM on September 24, 2018 [22 favorites]




The activists also shouted “Beto is hotter than you”
posted by The Whelk at 7:56 PM on September 24, 2018 [72 favorites]


Peter Kauffmann tweets a statement from Kavanaugh's Yale roommate James Roche, including:
"Based on my time with Debbie, I believe her to be unusually honest and straightforward and I cannot imagine her making this up."

"Based on my time with Brett, I believe that he and his social circle were capable of the actions that Debbie described."
posted by FelliniBlank at 8:08 PM on September 24, 2018 [91 favorites]


With everything going on in this thread, and the news that the sexual assault hotlines are overloaded with calls/texts, may I take a brief moment to remind my fellow mefites that you can help? Every call center is staffed by volunteers, and they never have enough. Specifically, the Crisis Text Line always needs more people. Their goal is to answer every texter in under 5 minutes, and at times like these, that's just not possible without more help. They provide training, you select your own schedule, and there's TONS of support. You're never stuck wondering how to respond to someone. If you want to do more, consider CTL, or any crisis or rape hotline.

And if you need someone to listen without judging, text 741-741.
posted by greermahoney at 8:10 PM on September 24, 2018 [69 favorites]


The "aggressive and belligerent drunk" theme seems to be very consistent from high school to college into the 2000s.
posted by FelliniBlank at 8:12 PM on September 24, 2018 [10 favorites]


It is very striking that the people offering the blanket denials did not know him as well as the people saying it's plausible. Even Judge notably denies the specifics rather than the broad sweep of them being hard drinkers with an unpleasantly misogynistic streak and history.
posted by jaduncan at 8:38 PM on September 24, 2018 [11 favorites]


I'd also note that the accusers coming forward are intensely brave, but so is the roommate; all of them are risking a libel action from a federal judge just to try and ensure a rapist doesn't get to be a Justice.

It's actually incredibly patriotic.
posted by jaduncan at 8:41 PM on September 24, 2018 [90 favorites]


JEBUS FUCKING KRUSTY - if Trump goes down as "Only Trump could make rape culture [absolutely] unacceptable" like "Only Nixon could go to China" ... I'd be ok with that if "frat boys" and that kind of culture be then universally considered unacceptable.

Not going to happen, even if the percentage of leadership positions (elected/ appointed, private sector) are majority women, for a very long time.

I hope that I'm wrong.
posted by porpoise at 8:48 PM on September 24, 2018 [2 favorites]


Amendment 4 (felon re-enfranchisement) is up 71-21. Needs 60% approval to become law.

I'm so pleasantly surprised to see this one doing so well, it really feels indicative of a significant shift toward decency and democratic values.
posted by contraption at 8:51 PM on September 24, 2018 [22 favorites]


WaPo: ‘How’d you find me?’: Mark Judge has been holed up in a beach house in Delaware amid a media firestorm.
posted by JoeZydeco at 8:53 PM on September 24, 2018 [33 favorites]


Well, at least the kids are alright: We asked teenagers across the U.S. what they think about the Allegations Against Brett Kavanaugh: NYT Single link, behnd paywall, so here are the quotes:

Layla King, a high school sophomore in St. Louis, Mo., was asked by her mother this week what she thinks about Brett M. Kavanaugh: If he was guilty at 17 of sexually assaulting a girl at a party decades ago, should he still be held accountable?

“He should,” said Ms. King, who is 15, “because you’re definitely supposed to know right from wrong by my age.”....

On Tuesday, Emma Thatcher, a high school student in Florida, tweeted: “I would just like to say that the emergence of this whole ‘teenage boys should get a pass because they’re not mature enough to understand consent’ narrative is probably one of the most unsettling things I have ever witnessed.”.....

Ms. Leach said she was frustrated by the doubt cast on Dr. Blasey’s claims, a reaction other girls in her high school have also encountered.

“When a girl has come to school after a weekend party and says someone made her feel uncomfortable, she’s called a drama queen,” Ms. Leach said. “People would say she’s fabricating stories for attention. The language being used by a lot of Republicans is eerily similar to the way boys sound in high school.”

For some teenage boys, the controversy underscores the importance of treating girls with respect. And it has been sobering to realize that gaining a job as powerful as sitting on the Supreme Court bench could hinge on what may have occurred in high school.

Dan Radka, 17, a high school senior who lives in Clinton, Conn., said he had learned from friends who were girls how important it is to obtain consent in sexual situations. His teachers have also stressed using caution on social media, where youthful posts can live forever.

But Mr. Radka said the controversy in Washington has made him think even more deeply about making the right choices now and in college, knowing they may well impact his future.
“I don’t want to do something dumb that I could have prevented,” he said.
posted by anitanita at 8:55 PM on September 24, 2018 [66 favorites]


But Mr. Radka said the controversy in Washington has made him think even more deeply about making the right choices now and in college, knowing they may well impact his future.
“I don’t want to do something dumb that I could have prevented,” he said.


Still striking that the narrative is 'what, there might be consequences for me for a dumb action' rather than 'this would be a horrific thing to do', but baby steps I guess.
posted by jaduncan at 9:18 PM on September 24, 2018 [62 favorites]


Has CNN yet made any statement about their decision to portray GOP party operatives as "average Republican women" yet?
posted by yesster at 9:21 PM on September 24, 2018 [45 favorites]


I'll also remember his quote next time someone says it's not important what people did in high school. It absolutely is essential to normalise the concept that there are consequences for rape and sexual assault even when the offenders are teenagers, because it's essential that we do what we can to ensure that today's teenage girls are less likely to get raped.
posted by jaduncan at 9:23 PM on September 24, 2018 [44 favorites]


Rod Rosenstein was pretty strong when he was testifying to Congress.
posted by M-x shell at 11:09 PM on September 24, 2018 [8 favorites]


Tuesday: Trump addresses the UN general assembly.
Wednesday: Trump participates in UN security council briefing, meets with Macron and Netanyahu.
Thursday: Trump meets with Rosenstein to talk about growing unemployment rates.
Also Thursday: Christine Blasey Ford's testimony.

This week is going to be a long year with plenty of opportunities for Trump to take the spotlight off Kavanaugh. They seem to be keeping good twitter discipline so far, but dear god, he's speaking at the UN.
posted by adept256 at 12:49 AM on September 25, 2018 [4 favorites]


I was going to ask you what the deputy AG had to do with the economy and then I went "ohhhhh noooooo".

Don't forget that Avenatti's client or clients are going public Wednesday night. Which will either be the death knell to Kavanaugh or discredit the whole enterprise.
posted by Justinian at 12:56 AM on September 25, 2018


I'm not particularly interested in seeing Kavanaugh on Fox, but they did show a clip during a news bulletin on Australian TV. In it, he claims he was a virgin at the time of the alleged incident, and was for many years after. Being Fox I suppose that went unchallenged. He said this while sitting next to his wife, as if to imply he was waiting for marriage.

Well, that's the image he's going for on Fox I guess.
posted by adept256 at 1:46 AM on September 25, 2018 [2 favorites]


That doesn't obviate the Blasey's story at all. But I'll call bullshit in any case.
posted by michswiss at 2:16 AM on September 25, 2018 [7 favorites]


Canvassing apps: (jumping back up the thread a bit) Pretty much every Democratic candidate in Houston, TX is using MiniVAN and have been for a while. It’s a nice app on my phone that picks registered Democrats. So you don’t knock doors of Republicans at all unless they crossed party lines in a primary vote, or the data is old, which happens. If they’re polite about it you can correct the data and leave them alone. If they don’t answer or don’t help me clarify my information is wrong I don’t correct it someone later may knock their door again. But because it’s been usead so much the last few years a lot of the incorrect or out dated information has been corrected.

Which is great because our problem in Texas is horrible voter turn out. We are the 50th state in voter turn out. So generally the goal in canvassing is familiarize your candidates name, review upcoming election dates and encourage a voter plan. Simply talk with people who are already registered to actually GO vote.

There is a group of hardcore canvassers in town who are Volunteer Deputy Registars who are going to apartments and canvassing to register voters. It’s non partisan, but generally more votes are better for our candidates.

Beto’s field team uses a different app, Polis. It also pulls up “likely voters.” It’s brand new to the area so the data is not as current as miniVAN. MiniVANs lists come from the campaign or precinct chair. Not sure where Polis gets its lists. So with both you skip a lot of houses. We aren’t trying to convince people to turn to our candidate, we are just trying to get people likely to lvote for our candidate to go vote.

So while miniVAN is probably more efficient, Polis is easier for me to canvass on the spur of the moment because anyone on there can pull up a list of houses. I think if I was a Precinct Chair or Captain I might have more access with miniVAN. Last week I started doing super short canvasses as I walk my dog. I can pull up a list on my phone and hit a few doors really quick.

A canvassing friend did a similar thing while hanging out at a friends house. They just decided hey let’s knock some doors real quick, pulled up a list and knocked out a whole list of 50. It’s really nice that with Polis you don’t have to wait for an official campaign sponsored canvass you can just go whenever. I just wish their data was as current as miniVANs. I have a bag ready with candidate push cards, a pen, some buttons and stickers plus a clipboard when I need a writing surface.

We will see what happens. I’m so hopeful about Beto, my CD02 House Candidate Todd Litton, who is also a “toss up,” and I have some great people running for State and Local races I’m excited about. Hopefully we can keep working past this election and maintain the community building we have done here. Our voter turn out isn’t an accident it was planned, and built, and the other side worked hard to convince everyone voting wasn’t worth the bother. So much work to do before AND AFTER these midterms.
posted by dog food sugar at 3:29 AM on September 25, 2018 [39 favorites]


A query: some of this stuff has been in plain sight for a while, like the Renate Alumni thing. This dude has been through a bunch of background checks, I mean, even prior to this. Does the Secret Service or whoever not go that far back? Is it something that is sort of a rich white privilege thing where there's an assumption of innocent hijinks and no investigator furrows his or her brow and follows up on that?

The other thing I find really sinister is that these are published yearbook remarks? Nobody ever thought to tell Ms. Renate that she was the subject of some crude in joke that was in a yearbook that probably still resides in hundreds of homes? That kind of blows my mind.
posted by angrycat at 3:34 AM on September 25, 2018 [41 favorites]


David French at National Review sounds worried that Kavanaugh may have overextended in his Fox interview last night:
He extended his denials into three very specific areas that were specifically designed to counter the elitist party-bro narrative that’s dominating the left side of Twitter. Each of these specific denials is subject to fact-checking (though it could get quite personal), and if any of these denials fails that fact check, he may face real issues with wavering Republicans. First — in the claim that’s rocketing around Twitter — he asserted that he was a virgin throughout high school and for many years afterward. ... Second — he denied ever drinking to the point of memory loss. ... Third — he denied going to any parties in the area where Ford claimed the party took place. Again, this is a highly specific denial. He didn’t just deny attending the party with Ford, he denied attending any party in the general area.
posted by clawsoon at 4:18 AM on September 25, 2018 [32 favorites]


And there goes the bit of doubt I had on his guilt.

HuffPo: Rep. Keith Ellison Won’t Rule Out Possibility Of Future Abuse Allegations
“I don’t know what somebody might cook up,” the Democratic nominee for Minnesota attorney general said.
posted by chris24 at 4:20 AM on September 25, 2018 [40 favorites]


Wait a minute--in an email he admitted to drinking to the point of memory loss in 2001 and apologizing for it. How is he going to reconcile that with his Fox interview?
posted by angrycat at 4:34 AM on September 25, 2018 [41 favorites]


HuffPo: Rep. Keith Ellison Won’t Rule Out Possibility Of Future Abuse Allegations

Ellison has to go.
posted by Faint of Butt at 4:36 AM on September 25, 2018 [58 favorites]


WSJ: In rebuke to Trump, Eu­rope will es­tab­lish a spe­cial pay­ment chan­nel to al­low Eu­ropean and other com­pa­nies to legally con­tinue fi­nan­cial trans­ac­tions with Iran while avoid­ing ex­po­sure to U.S. sanc­tions
posted by chris24 at 4:45 AM on September 25, 2018 [18 favorites]


Although Judge has explained that names were changed in his book to protect privacy — Georgetown Prep is referred to as Loyola Prep — there is a reference in the book to a drunken “Bart O’Kavanaugh” vomiting and passing out in a car. On his yearbook page, Judge apparently refers to Kavanaugh as Bart.
From https://theintercept.com/2018/09/22/mark-judge-wasted-brett-kavanaugh/, I realise it's the intercept, but the reference is the same as I've heard before. Also CW on the article going over the details of Dr. Ford's assault.

Given what he said in the interview it seems absurd if they don't bring Mark Judge in for questioning under oath (and ideally others from the clubs they were in).
posted by Buntix at 4:58 AM on September 25, 2018


First — in the claim that’s rocketing around Twitter — he asserted that he was a virgin throughout high school and for many years afterward

That loud thump you heard is a thousand incels pounding on their desks in approval.

People postpone sex for a variety of reasons, but doesn't Kavanaugh realize that he comes off as a sexless incel creeper who believes that men have a right to sex at any cost, and that aggression is morally legitimate?
posted by Gordion Knott at 4:59 AM on September 25, 2018 [12 favorites]


This Minnesota Star Tribune link made me think I can believe Ellison's accuser, Karen Monahan, and still believe be okay with Ellison being MN AG. I have been following the story carefully and have been on the fence (Doug Wardlaw, Ellison's Republican opponent, works for the "Alliance Defending Freedom" and is loudly anti-gay and anti-trans.)

From the link:
Kavanaugh is being accused of attempting to rape a woman. Ellison is being accused of … well, if you pay attention to the details … pulling on his ex-girlfriend’s feet and demanding that she move out of his house because their relationship had ended.
I think that's accurate, based on what I have read, and I do think that's a distinction that matters. Not saying I have a great opinion of Ellison these days, but I don't think this accusation is at the same level as even the ones against Al Franken.

Now if someone else DOES some forward with allegations against Ellison, I will have to revisit this.
posted by OnceUponATime at 5:01 AM on September 25, 2018 [8 favorites]


Also his membership in a secret college group with a name referring to female genitalia doesn't scream 'no sex until marriage'

This interview stuff is just riffing on: don't believe what you see, are told. That he'd issue these specific denials that some random internet person can poke major holes in doesn't make sense but for the subscription to a different reality, or maybe the idea that only winning matters. Maybe the interview was just about turning out the base in the midterms by constructing that different reality.

But Kamala Harris and the other Democratic members of the judiciary committee have a lot to clearly demonstrate he's a steaming garbage pile of a person. What that will do but motivate the democratic base, I don't know.
posted by angrycat at 5:02 AM on September 25, 2018 [5 favorites]


That loud thump you heard is a thousand incels pounding on their desks in approval.

Well he was prepped by the right wing propaganda machine, so this might have been designed to appeal to the incels and the evangelicals at the same time.
posted by duoshao at 5:06 AM on September 25, 2018 [1 favorite]


Wait a minute--in an email he admitted to drinking to the point of memory loss in 2001 and apologizing for it. How is he going to reconcile that with his Fox interview?

Does he have to? Like, he's just not going to, right? Literally nobody on Earth who knows about Brett Kavanaugh thinks he's telling the truth about the sexual assaults. Everybody already knows he's a liar. This new lie isn't going to matter.
posted by IAmUnaware at 5:06 AM on September 25, 2018 [34 favorites]


This dude has been through a bunch of background checks, I mean, even prior to this. Does the Secret Service or whoever not go that far back?

I think it's much more likely that the Secret Service doesn't give a shit that a white dude's prep school yearbook seems to allude to a bunch of drinking, bullying and bro sex laffs. Those of us who have been on the receiving end of this kind of behavior know that it's not all just innocent youthful hijinks but we are witnessing in real time everyone else coming to finally realize that young white men may actually be held responsible for their choices some day.
posted by soren_lorensen at 5:07 AM on September 25, 2018 [59 favorites]


This new lie isn't going to matter.

Can we stop with this? A month ago he was a lock to be long confirmed by now but people kept fighting and digging and he's at best 50/50 now. Things do matter – maybe not as much as we'd like – but he's the most unpopular nominee ever and they don't have the votes right now. And this is before Ford testifies and whatever else comes out. Even Rs who want him confirmed are saying these lies last night are bad news for him. I get that things seem hopeless and meaningless at times but they're not. And giving in to that is what the bad guys count on when they have a weak hand.
posted by chris24 at 5:14 AM on September 25, 2018 [138 favorites]


Rehoboth is the Delaware beach town where D.C. prep school kids went for Beach Week, which was (is?) an unsupervised week at the beach where you could drink a lot and get up to no good if you were the kind of kid who drank a lot and got up to no good.

A minor point: Dewey Beach, which is maybe two miles south of Rehoboth, is the party-and-drinking town in the area. This is not to suggest that kids didn't drink in Rehoboth because of course they did and do, but if you're a hard partier, you go to Dewey. In Animal House terms, Rehoboth is for Otter, Dewey is for Bluto.

A month ago he was a lock to be long confirmed by now but people kept fighting and digging and he's at best 50/50 now. Things do matter – maybe not as much as we'd like – but he's the most unpopular nominee ever and they don't have the votes right now.

The problem is that 50/50 is a winning hand. I remain convinced that Susan Collins will happily be vote #53 or #54 against Kavanaugh but will refuse to be #51. She will not get a hall pass of any sort because the stakes are too high and the consequences of a surprise defection would be too severe. Either Kavanaugh gets toxified to the point where a bloc of moderates all decide to move or the needle will simply not move far enough.
posted by delfin at 5:41 AM on September 25, 2018 [4 favorites]


Ellison has to go.

100% Investigation and if needed, action, immediately.
posted by mikelieman at 5:58 AM on September 25, 2018 [10 favorites]


doesn't Kavanaugh realize that he comes off as a sexless incel creeper

This is nothing to do with incels (he's probably only passingly aware of them, if at all) and all about the what a Catholic would be expected to say if they actually followed the dogma.

Why the fuck are we believing his claim that he was a virgin when he's already lied under actual oath?

Because that this point, the only court that matters is public opinion. The general populace doesn't follow news with enough attention to detail to care whether he purjured himself about Democratic emails but might pay attention to laughable claims of virginity.
posted by Candleman at 6:19 AM on September 25, 2018 [10 favorites]


Not that we don't already know this, but: as a person who drank too much in college and was blackout drunk a number of times, I still find a lot of what Kavanaugh has admitted to sounding worse than anything I ever did in terms of drinking. The notion that he did all that drinking and was involved in all these "secret clubs" referencing alcohol and was never blackout drunk doesn't just stretch credulity, it pretty much tears it in half, throws it into a nearby shredder, and then tosses the remains in a bonfire.
posted by tocts at 6:27 AM on September 25, 2018 [26 favorites]


I’m not cool with the idea that only a little hitting or ass-grabbing is okay in a political candidate. That’s like suggesting that Knoblach shouldn’t end his campaign because he didn’t actually molest his daughter, the paper said he only did some neck-kissing and forcible lap-sitting. If we’re going to decide that abusing people is fine and that it’s only a matter of haggling about the amount, then how can we ever call ourselves moral or ethical people? How do we ever expect to see the end of abusive people in our power structures if we continue to excuse their behavior and give them a pass?
posted by Autumnheart at 6:27 AM on September 25, 2018 [46 favorites]


laughable claims of virginity

I wouldn't call the claims of virginity straight-up laughable, and they won't sound that way to us weirdos who were given all of the tools to fail at interacting with women by our churches. It is surprisingly easy to simply not have sex for many, many years.

That has no bearing on what Kavanaugh did or didn't do, but it will have a bearing on his believability for his target audience.
posted by clawsoon at 6:32 AM on September 25, 2018 [9 favorites]


The blanket denial of blackout drinking is interesting, because if Kavanaugh admitted to blackout drinking -- and Trump's doctrine is never to admit, always deny -- then how could he be sure he never assaulted anyone?
posted by Gelatin at 6:41 AM on September 25, 2018 [4 favorites]


Just so we're clear, being a virgin doesn't mean you wouldn't, couldn't or didn't commit sexual assault.
posted by Miko at 6:41 AM on September 25, 2018 [113 favorites]


Virginity doesn't exist. It's not a thing. It's a made up misogynistic concept that breaks down upon the slightest scrutiny. And it certainly has nothing to do with sexual misconduct. What activities Kavanaugh did with other consenting people has nothing to do with what actions he did to nonconsenting people. The fact that he would even reference the concept of virginity in this context adds to his established record of being a misogynistic, abusive person who is incapable of understanding human relations at a level we want in a Supreme Court justice.
posted by melissasaurus at 6:43 AM on September 25, 2018 [79 favorites]


Yeah, having gone to Catholic college and thus being quite familiar with toxic Catholic all-male prep-school grads and their shenanigans, I'm totally willing to believe Kavanaugh remained technically a virgin for however long, but that says nothing about how many women he sexually assaulted, which does not require penis-in-vagina to be assault. And look, if he was physically forcing women to give him blow jobs, he'd still be saying he hadn't had sex and believing he's telling the truth, because he'll have been taught a reductive PIV vision of sex and virginity. There's even a significant subset of this cohort of young men who believe anal sex isn't sex.

Like, he was well-positioned to catch Bill Clinton in the "I did not have sex with that woman" thing because Kavanaugh, too, would insist that oral sex wasn't sex and didn't count. He could identify the sophistry because he would use the same sophistry -- and probably is using it right now.

"I'm still a virgin" and "we didn't have sex!" is absolutely par for the course for skeezy Catholic college guys trying to weasel out of sexual assault charges.
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 6:50 AM on September 25, 2018 [103 favorites]


> we are witnessing in real time everyone else coming to finally realize that young white men may actually be held responsible for their choices some day.

Hence all the pushback and refusal to just find a candidate who (presumably) hasn't committed sexual assault. This is the barricade being manned (pun intended), the hill they've chosen to fight and possibly die on. Or, as someone else put it, "If somebody can be brought down by accusations like this, then you, me, every man certainly should be worried."
posted by The Card Cheat at 6:51 AM on September 25, 2018 [13 favorites]


The WaPo has an annotated transcript of Kavanaugh's Fox interview if you're into that sort of thing.
posted by peeedro at 6:51 AM on September 25, 2018 [5 favorites]


GOP sees highest favorability in seven years. Yep, the GOP has certainly never been grander.
posted by The Card Cheat at 6:58 AM on September 25, 2018 [5 favorites]


Here's a default response I've developed to people that cross my feed suggesting that Ford might be making up her accusations: "then I hope you've contacted your Senators to show support for the request for a full FBI investigation to establish the facts. Here are their numbers."
posted by Miko at 7:03 AM on September 25, 2018 [43 favorites]


Here's a thing—it's via a dude named Thomas Fine (@thomasafine), whose twitter is giving me heavy OTT vibes to be honest—but whose evidence seems straight-up enough: in 2005 Creative Response Concepts (CRC)—Ed Whelan's old firm—registered with FARA to provide services for Paul Manafort's buddy Viktor Yanukovych. The very same year, in fact.

I should say that I suspect that this is less evidence of some kind of direct conspiracy linking Manafort to Kavanaugh and more of a demonstration of just how thirsty all of these guys were/are for that foreign dictator action, but it's still remarkable.
posted by octobersurprise at 7:07 AM on September 25, 2018 [14 favorites]


It won't be long before Kavanaugh says he's never had a beer. A friend tells me the secret society he belonged to is notorious for sleazy, drunken behavior. When she found out he was a member, she said "that's all I need to know".

I buy that he was a virgin, but it's beside the point. You can be a virgin and still terrorize someone. You can be a virgin and still stick your dick in someone's face. In fact, in 80's culture you may have been somewhat more likely. During the 80's, it wasn't uncommon for gay bashers, especially the really violent ones, to actually be gay themselves. Some virgins were similarly obsessed in proving to the world what hyper-masculine testosterone-filled asses they were. For me, it helps explain his behavior, not prove his innocence. .
posted by xammerboy at 7:14 AM on September 25, 2018 [23 favorites]


Hence all the pushback and refusal to just find a candidate who (presumably) hasn't committed sexual assault. This is the barricade being manned (pun intended), the hill they've chosen to fight and possibly die on. Or, as someone else put it, "If somebody can be brought down by accusations like this, then you, me, every man certainly should be worried."

'zactly. This would be a very different political moment if Kavanaugh had been directed by his Federalist Society handlers to make contrite noises about how he doesn't remember any specific incidents, but that he knows he made some bad choices as a young man, that he did not respect women as much as they deserve, and that he's done a lot of growing and changing in the ensuing 30 years. But instead they went hard on DENY DENY DENY to the point of absolutely absurd lies about even non-illegal or not-really-that-illegal teen behavior that no one believes. This is another one of those weird totalitarian loyalty tests: will you convince yourself to believe a blatant lie for the party? Even an inconsequential one?
posted by soren_lorensen at 7:16 AM on September 25, 2018 [31 favorites]


I’m not cool with the idea that only a little hitting or ass-grabbing is okay in a political candidate.

I think it is important to note that nobody has accused Ellison of doing either of those things.
posted by OnceUponATime at 7:16 AM on September 25, 2018 [13 favorites]


Which senator is going to get to ask him, based on the interview, which sex acts he had or had not participated in during the time period he describes himself as a "virgin?"
posted by Exceptional_Hubris at 7:17 AM on September 25, 2018 [10 favorites]




I’m not cool with the idea that only a little hitting or ass-grabbing is okay in a political candidate.

I think it is important to note that nobody has accused Ellison of doing either of those things.


I don't think that's correct. Ass-grabbing maybe not, but I'm not going to split hairs on whether on not grabbing someone's ankle and trying to drag them forcibly from a bed/out of a room is sizably different from shoving/hitting.
posted by phearlez at 7:19 AM on September 25, 2018 [5 favorites]


From the Daily 202 from WaPo: -- Looking ahead to Thursday, Republicans apparently continue to insist that Ford be questioned by a female attorney. Michael Bromwich, Ford’s lawyer, complained last night that Grassley’s staff has said they’re going to have an “experienced sex crimes prosecutor” ask questions, but they’ve thus far refused to identify that person.

I wonder what ability Ford has to come in, sit down, and just refuse to answer the questions put to her by someone who is not a Congresscritter. Do the committee members have the liberty to delegate questioning to someone else and still have the ability to hold someone in contempt? They can and have and do have staffers talk to witnesses but I wonder what limits, if any, exist to compel folks to talk to non-elected officials.

Would they be willing to hold her in contempt if Ford simply respectfully refused to speak to non-congressfolks and instead said what she wanted to say? What would it look like if this experienced prosecutor tries to hardass Ford in that sort of circumstance?

How do you pull this off and deny Dems the ability to have their own experienced sex crimes prosecutor ask Kavanaugh questions?

This is such a bullshit farce.
posted by phearlez at 7:30 AM on September 25, 2018 [21 favorites]


Who didn’t set their gym on fire and murder dozens of classmates when they were a teenager?

For the record if Buffy Summers, who definitely did this, were running for national political office it would be so vastly preferable to our current garbage timeline that I can't even put it into words.
posted by nonasuch at 7:40 AM on September 25, 2018 [58 favorites]


Was there ever any progress on Kavanaugh's money trail? He was throwing some frankly ridiculous amounts of money around, like that house down payment that exceeded his entire stated net worth... The focus is where it is for a very good reason, I'm just wondering if this was reported out and I missed it in the storm.

I'm sure his family has money, and his wife as well, but you would think it would be trivial to show an innocent paper trail if that's where it came from. If not, well, curiouser and curiouser.
posted by BS Artisan at 7:41 AM on September 25, 2018 [19 favorites]


This is such a bullshit farce.
They're trying to force Dr Ford to withdraw from appearing.
It's the only way they can move this forward now.
posted by fullerine at 7:43 AM on September 25, 2018 [12 favorites]


Never not lying.

Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen: "We do not have a policy of separating families at the border. Period."

Danielle Brian of Project on Government Oversight: "BREAKING: There was a DHS family separation policy and we found it"

Non-Twitter link here.
posted by marshmallow peep at 7:45 AM on September 25, 2018 [83 favorites]


A few other things—

• Via @WarfareNavel, a detailed examination of how CRC tried to propagate the "Kavanaugh doppelgänger" story.

• On the topic of propagating stories, "On the Origins of Memes by Means of Fringe Web Communities," by Savvas Zannettou, Tristan Caulfield, Jeremy Blackburn, Emiliano De Cristofaro, Michael Sirivianos, Gianluca Stringhini, and Guillermo Suarez-Tangil.

•On Monday, The National Archives released a memo written by Kavanaugh in 1998 in which he laid out in explicit language the kind of questions he wanted the Independent Counsel's office to ask Bill Clinton.
" ... The President has disgraced his Office, the legal system, and the American people by having sex with a 22-year-old intern and turning her life into a shambles -- callous and disgusting behavior that has somehow gotten lost in the shuffle. He has committed perjury (at least) in the Jones case. He has turned the Secret Service upside down. He has required the urgent attention of the courts and the Supreme Court for frivolous privilege claims -- all to cover up his oral sex from an intern. He has lied to his aides. He has lied to the American people. He has tried to disgrace you and this Office with a sustained propaganda campaign that would make Nixon blush.

He should be forced to account for all of that and to defend his actions. It may not be our job to impose sanctions on him, but it is our job to make his pattern of revolting behavior clear -- piece by painful piece -- on Monday. I am mindful of the need for respect for the Office of the President. But in my view, given what we know, the interests of the Office of the President would be best served by our gathering the full facts regarding the actions of this President so that the Congress can decide whether the interests of the Presidency would be best served by having a new President. More to the point : Aren't we failing to fulfill our duty to the American people if we willingly "conspire" with the President in an effort to conceal the true nature of his acts?"
posted by octobersurprise at 7:46 AM on September 25, 2018 [42 favorites]


I'm sure his family has money, and his wife as well, but you would think it would be trivial to show an innocent paper trail if that's where it came from.

Actually I think it would be hard to show an innocent paper trail there because not only are there questions of gift taxes that must be paid but it's potentially mortgage fraud if you have received undisclosed help to make those down-payments. Us peons* get scrutiny about this. If, when they look through your last few months of bank statements, they see big cash transfers from accounts you have not provided statements from you absolutely will get questioned on it.

* My family is fortunate enough to be up pretty high on the ladder when it comes to this sort of banking but we still aren't near the level where folks just shrug and let you go by without all the documents.
posted by phearlez at 7:47 AM on September 25, 2018 [5 favorites]


I don't really understand what objecting gets them. Either they are willing to testify even with questioning by outside counsel or they aren't. If it is a red line, as I originally thought it would be, why not say so? Do Ford's lawyers think she'll have more leverage as we get closer to the scheduled hearings? I would have said less?

But her attorneys are by all reports very good so clearly they know what they are doing even if I don't understand it.
posted by Justinian at 9:21 PM on September 24 


Well...in the time they've been stalling, 2 more women have stepped up with allegations, which, IIRC, is exactly what happened with Cosby,et al...so...seems like a pretty good technique. Plus, the levels of emotional and mental preparation Ford must be going through right now (plus, oh yeah, media circus) must be crushing. She can take as long as she needs IMO.
posted by sexyrobot at 7:49 AM on September 25, 2018 [12 favorites]


Add saying the 18 year olds were drinking legally to the obvious bullshit and lies from last night.

The drinking age changed to 21 in Maryland on July 1st, 1982 when Kavanaugh was 17.
posted by chris24 at 7:50 AM on September 25, 2018 [26 favorites]


Trump is being laughed at at the UN.

Daniel Dale is reporting that when Trump started his speech at the UN and told the room that his administration has accomplished more than almost any administration in the history of our country, there was laughter. When he then said, "So true." More and louder laughter.

Trump is flustered and says, "Didn't expect that reaction."
posted by Sophie1 at 7:51 AM on September 25, 2018 [181 favorites]


Daniel Dale @ddale8 from the Toronto Star is live tweeting the speech.
posted by Sophie1 at 7:53 AM on September 25, 2018 [3 favorites]


The drinking age changed to 21 in Maryland on July 1st, 1982 when Kavanaugh was 17.>

Yes but the drinking age in DC, 15 minutes away from his prep school, was 18 until 1986.
posted by Definitely Not Sean Spicer at 7:54 AM on September 25, 2018 [9 favorites]


Philip Gourevitch (New Yorker)
Nonpartisan group of 6,000+ Mormon women calls on Judiciary Committee—naming "the four members who share our faith,” Hatch, Lee, Flake & Crapo—"to immediately suspend the confirmation proceedings” for thorough independent investigation of K, to "prevent harm to SCOTUS legitimacy"

OFFICIAL STATEMENT FROM MORMON WOMEN FOR ETHICAL GOVERNMENT WITH REGARD TO THE BRETT KAVANAUGH CONFIRMATION PROCEEDINGS (FB post)
Given the seriousness of the allegations levied against Judge Kavanaugh, we call upon the members of the Senate Judiciary Committee to immediately suspend the confirmation proceedings until a thorough independent investigation can be conducted.

We very specifically urge the four members of the committee who share our faith as members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints--Senator Hatch, Senator Lee, Senator Flake, and Senator Crapo--to ensure that these charges be taken seriously and that every attempt be made to ascertain the truth of the situation. Our mutual faith teaches that any sexual abuse or assault in any context is contemptible and worthy of the most severe condemnation.

If these accusations are proved false, an investigation will prevent harm to the court's legitimacy. If they are true, then Judge Kavanaugh must not be confirmed.

As we have stated previously, sexual assault must not be normalized or condoned in any way or by anyone, especially those charged with political leadership. We boldly condemn any attempts to justify such inexcusable and reprehensible behavior and demand that our elected leaders set a morally sound example.
posted by chris24 at 7:55 AM on September 25, 2018 [106 favorites]


Mod note: A few deleted - please don't liveblog each line of the speech, instead wait a few min and collect several points into a longer comment; thanks.
posted by LobsterMitten (staff) at 7:56 AM on September 25, 2018 [3 favorites]


Manu Raju (CNN)
I just asked Sen. Lisa Murkowski, key GOP swing vote, if there should be a full FBI investigation into allegations from Kavanaugh’s past. “It would sure clear up all the questions, wouldn’t it?” she said
posted by chris24 at 7:57 AM on September 25, 2018 [45 favorites]


And a lot of states had grandfather clauses. Example, I was 17 iirc when the law changed to 21, but because of where my birthday fell, I was legally allowed to drink at 18.
posted by SecretAgentSockpuppet at 7:57 AM on September 25, 2018 [3 favorites]


that was a link to the live updates by The Guardian and The Independent.
posted by infini at 7:58 AM on September 25, 2018 [1 favorite]


Well...in the time they've been stalling, 2 more women have stepped up with allegations, which, IIRC, is exactly what happened with Cosby,et al...so...seems like a pretty good technique. Plus, the levels of emotional and mental preparation Ford must be going through right now (plus, oh yeah, media circus) must be crushing. She can take as long as she needs IMO.

And it seems that every time they do this back and forth it gets talked about and the desperation to avoid being seen questioning her might be revealed to more people. Also probably doesn't hurt that they mention that Congressional Republicans want to have a sex crimes prosecutor question the alleged victim.

I am obviously highly biased in this, but from here it seems like Ford is making overtures to come talk to them while they're afraid to be seen talking to her. Maybe it's good enough that people like me see that. Maybe people who aren't coming from my position are seeing it too.
posted by phearlez at 7:59 AM on September 25, 2018 [1 favorite]


Example, I was 17 iirc when the law changed to 21, but because of where my birthday fell, I was legally allowed to drink at 18.

Kavanaugh was 18 on Feb 12th 1983. The cutoff for MD's grandfather clause was 18 by July 1, 1982.
posted by Definitely Not Sean Spicer at 8:00 AM on September 25, 2018 [8 favorites]


I did not know there were four Mormon senators. I am surprised.
posted by OnTheLastCastle at 8:00 AM on September 25, 2018 [4 favorites]


I did not know there were four Mormon senators. I am surprised.

There's four on the Judiciary Committee, but there are six total: Crapo, Flake, Hatch, Heller, Lee, Udall.
posted by peeedro at 8:03 AM on September 25, 2018 [6 favorites]


Trump is being laughed at at the UN.

Trump has said time and time again that this is his worst fear.

Washington Post: Trump Said Foreign Leaders Wouldn’t Laugh At The U.S. Now They’re Laughing At Him. (June 2017)

Washington Post: The 100-Plus Times Donald Trump Assured Us That America Is a Laughingstock (January 2016)

The Atlantic: Notice a Theme? Trump Thinks Everyone's Laughing at Us (April 2011)
posted by Doktor Zed at 8:04 AM on September 25, 2018 [44 favorites]


WSJ: In rebuke to Trump, Eu­rope will es­tab­lish a spe­cial pay­ment chan­nel to al­low Eu­ropean and other com­pa­nies to legally con­tinue fi­nan­cial trans­ac­tions with Iran while avoid­ing ex­po­sure to U.S. sanc­tions

This is pretty big stuff. The world's currency has at least a few ways around it. One has now been specifically created by the EU as a "fuck you" to the world's currency. What a stable genius we have.
posted by petebest at 8:06 AM on September 25, 2018 [30 favorites]


When he then said, "So true." More and louder laughter.

Trump is flustered and says, "Didn't expect that reaction."


This mockery is of course deserved but it still makes me flinch. This is a significant narcissistic injury.
posted by contraption at 8:06 AM on September 25, 2018 [47 favorites]


I am watching this speech to the U.N. and I haven't watched any of his speeches since before the election. The laughter is healing. He flinches at the bigger reactions.
posted by agregoli at 8:09 AM on September 25, 2018 [16 favorites]


I did not know there were four Mormon senators. I am surprised.

The LDS church has a strong presence in the states bordering Utah as well (when I lived in Reno, I passed at least two LDS temples on the way to my Episcopal church each Sunday), and they're very civic-minded.
posted by Etrigan at 8:09 AM on September 25, 2018 [1 favorite]


David French at National Review sounds worried that Kavanaugh may have overextended in his Fox interview last night:
He extended his denials into three very specific areas that were specifically designed to counter the elitist party-bro narrative that’s dominating the left side of Twitter. Each of these specific denials is subject to fact-checking (though it could get quite personal), and if any of these denials fails that fact check, he may face real issues with wavering Republicans. First — in the claim that’s rocketing around Twitter — he asserted that he was a virgin throughout high school and for many years afterward. ... Second — he denied ever drinking to the point of memory loss. ... Third — he denied going to any parties in the area where Ford claimed the party took place. Again, this is a highly specific denial. He didn’t just deny attending the party with Ford, he denied attending any party in the general area.

@skantrow: Perhaps Brett Kavanaugh was a virgin for many years after high school. But he claimed otherwise in a conversation with me during our freshman year in Lawrance Hall at Yale, in the living room of my suite.
posted by mazola at 8:09 AM on September 25, 2018 [64 favorites]


Trump at the UN: “The United States leads the world in foreign aid. But seldom do other countries give anything to us.”

Donald Trump does not understand charity as a concept. Donald Trump thinks a strong, great America is one which is the beneficiary of foreign aid, presumably directed into one of his family slush funds.
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 8:10 AM on September 25, 2018 [16 favorites]


New call script for the Senate Judiciary Committee (202-224-5225) and your Senators.
It is essential for the FBI to conduct a full investigation into Brett Kavanaugh's history of alleged sexual predation and drunken behavior.

* Kavanaugh's college roommate James Roche has recalled Kavanaugh's aggressive and belligerent drunkeness
* Multiple witnesses must be called, including Kavanaugh's alleged accomplice Mark Judge
* Kavanaugh has never denied the specific allegations against him
* It is an unforgivable abdication of Senatorial duty for outside counsel to be asking questions of Ms. Ford
* The Republican attempt to force a confirmation vote last week while knowing about Debbie Ramirez's second credible allegation of sexual predation shows again how Republicans routinely enable rapists and strongly support sexual predators
* Sexual predators almost never strike only one time.

There is no good reason to rush through this confirmation given the seriousness and credibility of the allegations. We see through Senator Grassley's machinations and know he doesn't care about the truth.
Every delay makes it harder for this sexual predator to get on the court. Every delay gives more people an opportunity to dig into this guy's past. Every delay gives another courageous and determined heroine a chance to speak her truth about Kavanaugh's sexual predation.
posted by Excommunicated Cardinal at 8:12 AM on September 25, 2018 [52 favorites]




Good Ford, this "I can't be guilty of attempted rape/sexual assault because I was still a virgin afterward" defense is so cataclysmically stupid that it, and it alone, should disqualify Kavanaugh from serving as any kind of judge, up to and including the local chili cook-off, let alone SCOTUS.
posted by Gelatin at 8:13 AM on September 25, 2018 [67 favorites]


I am watching this speech to the U.N. and I haven't watched any of his speeches since before the election. The laughter is healing. He flinches at the bigger reactions.

Yes, they are laughing again and again at him. It makes me wonder if this was planned.

"Germany needs to change course or will be 'totally dependent' on Russian energy," Mr Trump said, to a bit of laughter from the German delegation shown on camera.

He attacked the International Criminal Court (ICC) and now the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).

He gets another laugh, for saying OPEC is taking advantage of the US “and I don’t like it.”

posted by infini at 8:14 AM on September 25, 2018 [28 favorites]


...he denied ever drinking to the point of memory loss...

I can see how this is going to be the thing that everything else hinges on. How can he be sure that no memory loss occurred if he was too drunk to remember?
posted by Namlit at 8:16 AM on September 25, 2018 [7 favorites]


2014.

@realDonaldTrump
We need a President who isn't a laughing stock to the entire World. We need a truly great leader, a genius at strategy and winning. Respect!
posted by chris24 at 8:19 AM on September 25, 2018 [82 favorites]


Actually I think it would be hard to show an innocent paper trail there because not only are there questions of gift taxes that must be paid

This is my latest hobbyhorse.

Gift recipients do not pay tax on gifts. Gift givers have to report gifts in excess of $15k per year, and those amounts may count toward the lifetime exclusion before tax kicks in (the same exclusion as the Estate Tax, just over $11m now, around $5.5m when Kavanaugh bought the house).
posted by notyou at 8:19 AM on September 25, 2018 [7 favorites]


Video of Trump being laughed at by the general assembly

Delightful! First the assembly giggles at a laughably grandiose claim (my administration has accomplished more in two years than almost any administration in history), but it's muffled, as these are after all diplomats. Then Trump acknowledges the laughter by saying he didn't expect that reaction, complete with that succession of goofy faces he makes when he's uncomfortable, and the place erupts in laughter.
posted by Gelatin at 8:22 AM on September 25, 2018 [14 favorites]


Wait til he sees that the laughter is all anyone's talking about. He's gonna go ballistic. Like when he thought Helsinki went great until he saw the coverage.
posted by chris24 at 8:23 AM on September 25, 2018 [11 favorites]


Gift recipients do not pay tax on gifts. Gift givers have to report gifts in excess of $15k per year

Good thing to point out. I knew that but I should have been more explicit about what I was talking about there: the innocence in this case is whoever would have given the gift. If it was family they might have failed to disclose. If it wasn't family then both they and Kavanaugh could come out bad here, as it could possibly have qualified as income as well as potentially be damning as something you do for a then White House employee.
posted by phearlez at 8:25 AM on September 25, 2018 [4 favorites]


Sigh. Anyone know why Avenatti’s twitter would suddenly be protected?
posted by schadenfrau at 8:31 AM on September 25, 2018 [2 favorites]


Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen: "We do not have a policy of separating families at the border. Period."

She must never, ever be allowed to eat in a public place ever again.
posted by ocschwar at 8:32 AM on September 25, 2018 [61 favorites]


schadenfrau - it's not for me. Could you have been blocked? He does have a twitchy block finger.
posted by Sophie1 at 8:33 AM on September 25, 2018 [1 favorite]


Sigh. Anyone know why Avenatti’s twitter would suddenly be protected?

He tweeted this about an hour ago:
I was just forced to make my account private because the bots and Trump trolls are out in full force due to my representation re Kavanaugh. I will change this back as soon as I am able.
posted by Roommate at 8:35 AM on September 25, 2018 [12 favorites]


schadenfrau - it's not for me. Could you have been blocked? He does have a twitchy block finger.

FYI - if you were already following him you should still be able to see his tweets. Protected accounts are hidden from people who don't follow them, and clicking "follow" on a protected account requires approval from the account holder. But going from public to protected grandfathers in everyone who was already following barring any other action from the account holder.
posted by Roommate at 8:38 AM on September 25, 2018 [6 favorites]




Avenatti also got the administrator of a private school in Arlington Texas suspended yesterday and it looks like the MAGA firehose got even stronger in his direction since then.
posted by JoeZydeco at 8:40 AM on September 25, 2018 [14 favorites]


(Maybe we don’t need a fine-toothed analysis of Michael Avenatti’s twitter settings in here?)
posted by Barack Spinoza at 8:41 AM on September 25, 2018 [15 favorites]


“The United States leads the world in foreign aid. But seldom do other countries give anything to us.”

Donald Trump does not understand charity as a concept.


Most of us don't understand foreign aid
- even though I expect the president to. Some portion of it is definitely humanitarian and in the interest of stabilizing the globe to reduce social volatilty. But another pretty big portion of it it goes to programs specifically designed to plant American-funded developments (airports, ports, energy stations, housing and office complexes) in foreign countries, or enacting big contracts for training of civilian, police, and military workers. So in the end, a lot of foreign aid is also carefully designed to benefit the US. I agree that Trump doesn't understand that, and it's weird that he is talking down aid since so many of his GOP cronies directly benefit by it, but hey, he's not too bright.
posted by Miko at 8:45 AM on September 25, 2018 [65 favorites]


Mod note: A few deleted. Friendly reminder, let's keep it focused on the national/Trump situation, and on real updates/contentful analysis rather than fed-up one-liner "ugh these fuckers" reactions or hypothetical "ugh, next I bet..." predictions.
posted by LobsterMitten (staff) at 8:52 AM on September 25, 2018 [7 favorites]


I feel like this is some kind incredible change of etiquette that may not quite be understood to everyone

Oh, I think people get it pretty clearly. The emperor has just been told he's standing there buck nekkid.
posted by adamgreenfield at 9:04 AM on September 25, 2018 [31 favorites]


Remember that unbelievable a-hole and calculating mega-villain John "Abolish the UN" Bolton is part of this administration. Getting laughed at may have been the goal here. What better way to get the Supreme Puppet hating a group then to get him laughed at in front of said group. Remember, 45 doesn't write these speeches, and he's too stupid to understand when he's being played.
posted by mcstayinskool at 9:10 AM on September 25, 2018 [20 favorites]


Daniel Dale is reporting that when Trump started his speech at the UN and told the room that his administration has accomplished more than almost any administration in the history of our country, there was laughter. When he then said, "So true." More and louder laughter.

You know what other heads of state use that kind of hyperbole and superlatives?

Saddam Hussein comes to mind.
Robert Mugabe comes to mind.
To a lesser degree, Bashar al Assad comes to mind.
posted by ocschwar at 9:12 AM on September 25, 2018 [13 favorites]


Oh, I think people get it pretty clearly. The emperor has just been told he's standing there buck nekkid.

Trump very clearly got it. His fat orange face turned red, that cavalcade of weird expressions capered across his face & he even did that thing with his suit jacket, pulling it tight around him like he did that time he pushed himself in front of some European national leaders. It's kind of a stupid take on the Picard Maneuver; I hereby dub it the Trump Maneuver.
posted by scalefree at 9:13 AM on September 25, 2018 [31 favorites]


Remember that unbelievable a-hole and calculating mega-villain John "Abolish the UN" Bolton is part of this administration. Getting laughed at may have been the goal here.

Perhaps, but I'm not going to be quick to attribute chess, in any dimension, to this clown car of tiddly-winks players. My guess is that Trump and/or his speechwriters Dunning-Krugered himself into looking like a doofus in front of the assembled UN crowd - which hardly takes any effort on Trump's part, as doofusdom is second nature to him.

I think that the Kavanaugh revelations coming thick and fast - and potentially other high-up Republican figures as well - has the flop sweat flowing equally thick and fast, if for no other reason than this looks to be backfiring on them in the midterms.

P.S. It's National Voter Registration Day!
posted by Rosie M. Banks at 9:17 AM on September 25, 2018 [8 favorites]


Yes, they are laughing again and again at him. It makes me wonder if this was planned.

"UN General Assembly"/#UNGA is trending on Twitter right now, and it's dominated by news of the laughter.

So much of his speech was obviously intended to provoke the international community, most likely in the same way the Trump administration constantly tries to push the buttons of Democrats and American liberals. Trump loves to pick fights and piss off his opponents.

Only Trump's domestic opposition, however, is required to take him seriously in the public arena (or at least respond with seriousness, in order to maintain whatever norms the country has left). Similarly the US media is professionally obligated to cover Trump's trolling with a straight face (which is why comedians Samantha Bee, John Oliver, et al. are far more honest when addressing current events). Team Trump has miscalculated here, however, even if they will now try to riled up his base over the perceived affront. John Bolton would prefer Trump to have been booed, or at least jeered, by the UNGA rather than be snickered at.

While that General Assembly has seen its share of attempted humor—Obama drew laughter with his self-deprecation in 2012, but Trump tried to crack a joke about socialism last year and bombed—today's reaction wasn't polite chuckling, it was guffawing in disbelief at the obvious bullshit, which went on long enough that he had to pause his speech. The UNGA laughs like this at figures such as Robert Mugabe.

Everyone can now point to the video to show Trump is literally an international laughingstock. And as Maggie Haberman tweets, there's no worse reaction he can think of than being laughed at.
posted by Doktor Zed at 9:18 AM on September 25, 2018 [28 favorites]


The UN is a body based on decorum. They don’t do this. Like, this is the UN equivalent of booing and throwing tomatoes. But Trump is a performer and he can’t help but bask in the crowd reaction no matter how inappropriate it is.
posted by rikschell at 9:19 AM on September 25, 2018 [14 favorites]


You want the US out of the UN? Because this is how you get the US out of the UN.
posted by emelenjr at 9:22 AM on September 25, 2018 [3 favorites]


You want the US out of the UN? Because this is how you get the US out of the UN.

But isn't this abuser behavior? 'Unless you want a fresh one you better be quiet.' Fuck giving into that.
posted by chris24 at 9:23 AM on September 25, 2018 [43 favorites]


To me he actually looks kind of pleased after he says "I didn't expect that reaction." I mean, as long as people are paying attention to him, right?
posted by The Card Cheat at 9:27 AM on September 25, 2018 [18 favorites]


Saddam Hussein comes to mind.
Robert Mugabe comes to mind.
To a lesser degree, Bashar al Assad comes to mind.


You know what comes to mind for me? Nicolae Ceaușescu. I mean, very unfortunately, this didn't take place before a domestic audience, and in the end it was neither pronounced nor prolonged enough to matter. But nothing — nothing — lets the wind out of an authoritarian's sails like the moment they realize the spell via which they'd enraptured the people has been well and truly broken, and they stand there no longer larger than life, simply human, ridiculous.

I pray we do get to see such a moment with Trump, in such a way as to prevent him from using the apparatus of state to revenge his narcissistic injusry.
posted by adamgreenfield at 9:28 AM on September 25, 2018 [20 favorites]


Yeah, honestly the laughter turns to clapping quick enough that I don't see it as being a dunk or anything.
posted by birdheist at 9:29 AM on September 25, 2018 [10 favorites]


A friend tells me the secret society he belonged to is notorious for sleazy, drunken behavior. When she found out he was a member, she said "that's all I need to know".

He was a Deke. That's public, and that's all you need to know.
posted by praemunire at 9:29 AM on September 25, 2018 [30 favorites]


To me he actually looks kind of pleased after he says "I didn't expect that reaction." I mean, as long as people are paying attention to him, right?

Yeah the full clip shows a more nuanced event than I'm seeing reflected in the comments here. He acknowledges the reaction and kind of chuckles and then gets applause from the assembly. it's not clear to me fully what the mood in the room was at that moment, but the tension is broken by his acknowledgement and then the subsequent applause, and I'm not sure applause is the reaction of a mocking audience.
posted by wemayfreeze at 9:30 AM on September 25, 2018 [18 favorites]


Remember that PR firm behind the Ed Whelan doppelganger/frame some innocent dude theory?

They registered as a foreign agent in 2005 for the Putin backed Ukrainian politician Viktor Yanukovych.

And today, all of their twitter accounts have gone dark. Which odd for a PR firm, no?

Original thread proving Grassley's office was behind the whole thing, or at minimum had advanced knowledge in coordination with the Federalist Society. New info is still being added.
posted by T.D. Strange at 9:31 AM on September 25, 2018 [44 favorites]


It's apparent that he was at least vaguely prepared for the possibility of laughter, because his smiling "I didn't expect that" was a tad quick for him.

However, it's safe to say that, regardless of a possible (very mild) base-energizing effect -- and a possible humanizing in the general public eye from his seeming to take it gracefully -- it is not what he wanted. He doesn't believe in short-term pain for long-term gain, nor in "first they laugh at you, then you win". He believes in being showered with affection 24/7, and laughing is specifically a sore point for him (hence his constantly portraying the USA under Obama as a "laughingstock" specifically).

So there's an nontrivial chance this will put Miller into hot water for writing the speech. There's also the solid possibility of him tweeting outright that he's not mad actually, maybe you're mad but he's not even a little angry, he's laughing actually.
posted by InTheYear2017 at 9:31 AM on September 25, 2018 [2 favorites]


There was laughter far beyond that big one...it continues. He is not comfortable with it. Regardless, it cheers the heart. More, please.
posted by agregoli at 9:32 AM on September 25, 2018 [3 favorites]


There's also the solid possibility of him tweeting outright that he's not mad actually, maybe you're mad but he's not even a little angry, he's laughing actually.

This. The snide, reflexive U MAD BRO response is certainly a Miller hallmark, whether or not the Big Baby gets to it himself. 'Twas ever thus with abusers.
posted by adamgreenfield at 9:34 AM on September 25, 2018 [4 favorites]


In other Resistance news, there's a deep dive in The New Yorker about two chefs in rural Utah fighting the reduction of Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument.

The bit that gets me is where they tried to engage with their Congressional delegation and the Dept of the Interior:
Together with all fifty-three members of the Escalante and Boulder Chamber of Commerce, they tried to tell Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke how much Grand Staircase meant to their business—first in letters, which got no response, then in person when he visited Utah for a “listening tour,” during which he met only with monument critics, and finally by sending a delegation to Washington, D.C., where he likewise refused to see them. “I called his office daily,” Spalding said, “saying, ‘I’m Blake Spalding, I’m the largest employer in the north end of this county, we pay nearly a million dollars a year in payroll, I want to talk to you about what the monument has meant for our business.’ No one ever called me back.”
It's kind of a surprise that people like Zinke even bother with the fig-leaf of a formal report, since their political intentions are so fucking obvious.
posted by suelac at 9:41 AM on September 25, 2018 [61 favorites]


This mockery is of course deserved but it still makes me flinch. This is a significant narcissistic injury.

Sure enough, Trump then gave an interview to the press in which he attacked Deborah Ramirez:
Q: Should the second accuser be allowed to testify?

Trump: The second accuser doesnt even know, she thinks maybe it could have been him, maybe not. Admits she was drunk. She admits time lapses, this is a person, and this is a series of statements that is going to take one of the most talented intellects from a judicial standpoint in our country keep him off the U.S. Supreme Court?
Another instance of Trump's Law of Misogyny: When Trump feels angry and insecure, he attacks women personally.
posted by Doktor Zed at 9:42 AM on September 25, 2018 [53 favorites]


WH Spox Twists Himself In Knots To Avoid Calling Kavanaugh Accusers Liars
“The President believes both of these women are lying because no one else will corroborate their stories,” MSNBC’s Hallie Jackson told White House principle deputy press secretary Raj Shah. “Is that accurate?”

“You’re using the word ‘lying,’” Shah responded. “What we’re saying is that we believe Judge Kavanaugh.”
Shah also claims that Kavanaugh's "entire life story demonstrates that he's promoted women, promoted equality from his female clerks to his classmates in high school."
posted by kirkaracha at 9:44 AM on September 25, 2018 [2 favorites]


Trump very clearly got it. His fat orange face turned red, that cavalcade of weird expressions capered across his face & he even did that thing with his suit jacket, pulling it tight around him like he did that time he pushed himself in front of some European national leaders.

The whole thing was very authoritarian-strongman-addresses-the-UN defiantly. Was sort of half expecting to see him take off a shoe and bang it on his lectern.
posted by octobersurprise at 9:45 AM on September 25, 2018 [8 favorites]


Worth noting, the Editor of the UN Dispatch:

That sucking sound you hear is the last bits of US soft power evaporating through the ceilings of the UN General Assembly.

This will make tomorrow's Security Council meeting all the more difficult for America to push its agenda through, as it has historically been able to do so.
posted by infini at 9:47 AM on September 25, 2018 [16 favorites]


Shah also claims that Kavanaugh's "entire life story demonstrates that he's promoted women, promoted equality from his female clerks to his classmates in high school."

Oh, was that what the yearbook entries were about.
posted by Gelatin at 9:49 AM on September 25, 2018 [17 favorites]


Donald Trump does not understand charity as a concept. Donald Trump thinks a strong, great America is one which is the beneficiary of foreign aid, presumably directed into one of his family slush funds.

....

Most of us don't understand foreign aid


Totally, and even that article misses two important points about foreign aid. First, while it alludes to the amount of funds that go to non-profits and for-profits rather than governments, it for some reason fails to point out that many/most of those are U.S.-based organizations. If you click through the link for private companies in that article, you'll see it lists the top 20 USAID contractors in 2015 - all 20 of them are headquartered in the US.

Second, it's important to look at the overall context within which foreign aid operates - a context in which overall, the US and other developed countries are beneficiaries of funds FROM developing countries, not the other way 'round.
posted by solotoro at 9:51 AM on September 25, 2018 [12 favorites]


Obviously only one poll, look at averages, etc. But for Justinian and others worried (justifiably) about Nelson, a ray of hope.

Greg Sargent
Well, here's a surprise.

Bill Nelson (D) has taken the lead over Rich Scott (R) in the Florida Senate race, 53-46 among likely voters, per new Quinnipiac poll.
posted by chris24 at 9:52 AM on September 25, 2018 [47 favorites]


Shah also claims that Kavanaugh's "entire life story demonstrates that he's promoted women, promoted equality from his female clerks to his classmates in high school."

Wow. Gold medal lazy lie. THE MOTHERFUCKER WENT TO AN ALL BOYS SCHOOL.
posted by Exceptional_Hubris at 9:52 AM on September 25, 2018 [111 favorites]


Wow, it's almost like something's happened in the past couple of weeks that would make undecided or squishy voters see Democratic control of the senate as an important issue regardless of how they feel about a particular candidate.
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 9:54 AM on September 25, 2018 [32 favorites]


Murkowski making more statements that Collins and the rest of the "sane Rs" should maybe start emulating.

NYT: “We are now in a place where it’s not about whether or not Judge Kavanaugh is qualified,” Ms. Murkowski, a key swing Republican vote, said in an extended interview in the Capitol Monday night. “It is about whether or not a woman who has been a victim at some point in her life is to be believed.”
posted by chris24 at 9:56 AM on September 25, 2018 [47 favorites]


Bill Nelson (D) has taken the lead over Rich Scott (R) in the Florida Senate race, 53-46 among likely voters, per new Quinnipiac poll.

I think credit for this probably goes at least partially to the red tide from lake run off and that blue green algae that’s fucking things up all over

IIRC Scott killed a clean up plan in favor of letting big agriculture do whatever it wanted, which was apparently to dump all their run off in such a way as to ruin Florida’s coasts
posted by schadenfrau at 9:57 AM on September 25, 2018 [38 favorites]


Murkowski making more statements that Collins and the rest of the "sane Rs" should maybe start emulating.

Lisa Murkowski's Vote on Brett Kavanaugh Is Looking Tougher Than Ever.
posted by homunculus at 9:59 AM on September 25, 2018 [4 favorites]


Murkowski making more statements that Collins and the rest of the "sane Rs" should maybe start emulating.


counter-point: Murkowski won the short straw in the draw. She's the one.
posted by pjenks at 9:59 AM on September 25, 2018 [18 favorites]


“It is about whether or not a woman who has been a victim at some point in her life is to be believed.”

I’m concerned about this phrasing because I can easily see Republican throwing their hands up in the air to say none of the allegations can be specifically verified and so they can’t act on them.
posted by C'est la D.C. at 10:00 AM on September 25, 2018 [4 favorites]


Bill Nelson (D) has taken the lead over Rich Scott (R) in the Florida Senate race, 53-46

The beauty of this is that, if the numbers are true, it's because Mother Nature is taking her revenge. The brutal red tide outbreak down here is killing businesses and keeping locals out of the water (we haven't been to the beach since March) and it's widely seen as Scott's fault, for gutting environmental regulations and agencies.

Nelson may be running a dog of a campaign, but activists and progressive orgs *are* doing a good job making the "Red Tide Rick" label stick, too. And this is a thing of beauty. (linked in last mega-thread, but worth another view.)

on preview: yes, schadenfrau, spot on.
posted by martin q blank at 10:03 AM on September 25, 2018 [27 favorites]


e I can easily see Republican throwing their hands up in the air to say none of the allegations can be specifically verified and so they can’t act on them

To which the response is: then of course there should be a formal investigation before confirmation, so we can verify the allegations or discredit them!
posted by Miko at 10:05 AM on September 25, 2018 [7 favorites]


Murkowski making more statements that Collins and the rest of the "sane Rs" should maybe start emulating.

Or not. Cramer Says Kavanaugh Allegations Not Disqualifying
Rep. Kevin Cramer (R-ND), who is running for Senate against Sen. Heidi Heitkamp (D-ND), told Valley News Live suggested that the sexual misconduct allegations against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh are not disqualifying “even if it’s all true.”

Said Cramer: “Even if it’s all true, does it disqualify him? It certainly means that he did something really bad 36 years ago, but does it disqualify him from the Supreme Court?”
Signs point to yes.
posted by kirkaracha at 10:09 AM on September 25, 2018 [18 favorites]


"Per Politico: Ted Cruz was spotted on his phone on a flight back from DC looking at a photo of Beto O'Rourke."

Obligatory Kate Beaton cartoon.
posted by acb at 10:10 AM on September 25, 2018 [33 favorites]


Faint of Butt: "Ellison has to go."

At this point, he would have to die or move out of state to be removed from the ballot (plus, Minnesota has already begun early voting). The Dems could mount a write-in campaign, I suppose.
posted by Chrysostom at 10:16 AM on September 25, 2018 [2 favorites]


Immigration lawyer Greg Siskind spent a lot of time going through the new Public Charge Rule (it's 447 pages) to work out some of the implications, which are massive. He has a detailed 32-page section-by-section summary, but takes a broader look in a series of tweets (emphasis added):
The basic factors considered in determining whether a person is likely to charge are
- Age
- Health
-Family status
- Assets, resources and financial status
-Education and skills
- An affidavit of support submitted by the alien’s sponsor

Reporters out there - This is probably the big story here. The way this is being set up is a backdoor point system like the one the Trump Administration has been pushing and which requires Congress to implement. Huge implications.

Some of these factors will be considered highly controversial. For example, examiners are told that people under 18 and over 61 are to be treated more harshly than those in the middle. Disabilities and chronic health conditions are serious negative factors. DHS will also be pulling credit reports and credit scores as evidence of financial status. This is the first time the agency has ever done anything of this sort and it's outrageous in my view

Here's another story for the reporters out there. There’s a hidden English language requirement.Failure to be proficient in English is considered a negative factor. So you now need English proficiency to get a green card and not just naturalize.That's for Congress to decide.
...
Heavily weighed positive factors are related to income. Basically, if you’re over 250% of the Federal Poverty Guidelines, you should not be scrutinized. That's double what the current system considers acceptable.

The proposed rule revives the use of public charge bonds. People who fail to satisfy an examiner that they won’t become a public charge may be given the opportunity to post a bond to show they won’t become a public charge. DHS will set the amount in each case and it will not be less than $10,000 (with inflation adjustments annually). As I said yesterday, I'm guessing that the uncorruptable Administration appointees are already looking at setting up new bond companies to make a killing on this new requirement.
...
The bottom line is that this carries with it the possibility of decimating the family immigration system and wreaking havoc on the employment system as well. It's a wild overstretch and the only good news is that they've put out something that a court will very likely kill.
There will be an opportunity for public comment once the proposed rule is published in the Federal Register.
posted by zachlipton at 10:17 AM on September 25, 2018 [33 favorites]


But by all means, continue to attack Ford and Ramirez.

Gabriel Debenedetti (New York mag)
Sensing a theme in this week's Senate polls:
FL: Nelson (D) +17 over Scott (R) among women [Quinnipiac]
AZ: Sinema (D) +15 over McSally (R) among women [Marist]
MI: Stabenow (D) +24 over James (R) among women [Mitchell]
WI: Baldwin (D) +27 over Vukmir (R) among women [Marquette]
posted by chris24 at 10:23 AM on September 25, 2018 [33 favorites]


petebest: " The world's currency has at least a few ways around it. One has now been specifically created by the EU as a "fuck you" to the world's currency."

I think what's being referred to specifically here is a workaround for SWIFT, as opposed to the dollar itself. Here's something about how that might work.
posted by Chrysostom at 10:23 AM on September 25, 2018 [5 favorites]


Powerful op-ed from Padma Lakshmi in the NYT [cw: descriptions of childhood and teenage sexual assault].
posted by melissasaurus at 10:25 AM on September 25, 2018 [24 favorites]


For example, examiners are told that people under 18 and over 61 are to be treated more harshly than those in the middle. Disabilities and chronic health conditions are serious negative factors.

You know, the only person I can think of who specifically sought to punish "the elderly, the infirm, and especially little children" had a whole song about how evil he was.

Also, this is fucking fascism.
posted by J.K. Seazer at 10:29 AM on September 25, 2018 [24 favorites]


For example, examiners are told that people under 18 and over 61 are to be treated more harshly than those in the middle. Disabilities and chronic health conditions are serious negative factors.

Canada's point-based system does this also, FWIW.
posted by Slothrup at 10:33 AM on September 25, 2018 [8 favorites]


From the Siskind thread: "The rule is prospective. DHS will look to whether a person is likely to become a public charge in the future. It will examine evidence of a person’s past and present circumstances when making the determination."

Minority reports from DHS precogs should not be policy.
posted by MonkeyToes at 10:37 AM on September 25, 2018 [18 favorites]


Trump—maybe not personally, but the administration, inclusive of his advisors/handlers— presumably want to do foreign aid in the same way that China does foreign aid (or at least the way they think China does it), which is as a way to buy off various countries' elites in order to move in and exploit their resources, and sometimes to install the infrastructure that specifically enables that exploitation, e.g. roads and port facilities. A bribery slushfund and vehicle for hard-nosed CAPEX, nothing else. What they can't stand is that money might be spent for the benefit of non-Americans. They see that as irrational, because their world is absolutely zero-sum, all the time. You win by taking from others, from grinding them down; you lose when anyone else wins. Charity is, by definition, for losers.

The whole thing was very authoritarian-strongman-addresses-the-UN defiantly.

Honestly I thought he stuck to the script rather... impressively? I mean, the bar for his public speeches is so low it's practically subterranean, but there's usually a whole bunch of incoherent ad hoc chest-thumpery and recitations of patently false factoids. The section I listened to this morning on C-SPAN sounded like he was reading. each. word. from. the. teleprompter. Channeling a little of G.W., really, like he was one step away from having to sound out some of the harder words, but somehow got through it.

It suggests to me that either someone impressed upon him the importance of not being misunderstood when speaking to the UN, or he's just not as confident anymore in his ability to control the message regardless of what sort of verbal diarrhea he has in front of the mic and cameras.

Canada's point-based system does this also

IIRC Canada also has public charge bonds, although I've never dug into the system deeply enough to know whether there's a whole shady bail-bondsmen type infrastructure or if it's meant to be a pure pay-to-play cash-on-the-barrelhead thing.
posted by Kadin2048 at 10:48 AM on September 25, 2018 [1 favorite]


@ShimonPro: Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley confirmed that the committee has hired an outside counsel to question Christine Blasey Ford and Judge Brett Kavanaugh. The individual is a woman with expertise in sex crimes prosecution, an aide told CNN.

They are refusing to identify the lawyer "for her safety," but Grassley was unable to identify any indication of threats to the attorney and said "I guess we’re just being cautious."

They're really going for hiring a mystery women because they don't have any? That's how low the Senate Judiciary Committee has gone?
posted by zachlipton at 10:48 AM on September 25, 2018 [38 favorites]


ELECTIONS NEWS

** 2018 Senate:
-- FL: Quinnipiac poll has Dem incumbent Nelson up 53-46 on GOPer Scott [MOE: +/- 4.0%].

-- AZ: Marist poll has Dem Sinema up 48-45 on GOPer McSally [MOE: +/- 4.7%].

-- MT: Gravis poll has Dem incumbent Tester up 49-45 on GOPer Rosendale [MOE: +/- 3.7%].
** 2018 House:
-- VA-07: Monmouth poll has Dem Spanberger up 47-42 on GOP incumbent Brat in their potential voters model. Tied at 47-47 in the midterm model, Spanberger up 48-45 in Dem surge model [MOE: +/- 4.9%]. [Trump 51-44 | Cook: Tossup]

-- KY-06: Pulse Opinion poll has Dem McGrath tied 47-47 with GOP incumbent Barr [MOE: +/- 4.0%]. Poll was commissioned by a group favoring House term limits. [Trump 55-39 | Cook: Tossup]

-- MT-AL: Same Gravis poll has GOP incumbent Gianforte up 51-42 on Dem Williams. [Trump 57-36 | Cook: Lean R]

-- Everytown for Gun Safety, Mike Bloomberg's gun control group, is dumping $5M in ads targeting 15 House districts.

-- If you're interested in really overthinking House races, you may want to follow Medium Buying, which reports on political ad buys and cancellations. For example, the DCCC is buying time for the first time in PA-16, which went for Trump by 20 points, so a race that hasn't been considered competitive may be becoming so.
** Odds & ends:
-- AZ gov: Same Marist poll has GOP incumbent Ducey up 51-43 on Dem Garcia. [Cook: Likely R]

-- Vox: Top state legislative battles.
posted by Chrysostom at 10:49 AM on September 25, 2018 [23 favorites]


mikelieman: "Ellison has to go.

100% Investigation and if needed, action, immediately.
"

AP: Minnesota’s Democratic Party chairman said Monday that he expects an investigation of allegations of physical abuse against Rep. Keith Ellison to be completed and released soon, well ahead of the November election.
posted by Chrysostom at 10:51 AM on September 25, 2018 [16 favorites]


The were floating former NH Sen. Kelly Ayotte for the outside counsel yesterday. She was a prosecutor and NH AG so technically I guess she has the "expertise in sex crimes prosecution".

Hard to see a reason for keeping her identity secret, she's already a high profile public figure.
posted by T.D. Strange at 10:51 AM on September 25, 2018 [1 favorite]


> Canada's point-based system does this also

I think the point is that a change to a points-based system would require legislation, at the very least. The executive can't (or shouldn't be able to) make this kind of change themselves.
posted by zrail at 10:52 AM on September 25, 2018


Meanwhile, in the great State of South Carolina
‘Southern Charm’ star [and ex-State Treasurer] Thomas Ravenel arrested on assault charge

Charleston police arrested the participant of the Bravo reality TV show, and he was booked about 10 a.m. at the Charleston County jail, records showed. Ravenel, 56, faces a count of second-degree assault and battery. He was expected to have a bond hearing Tuesday afternoon.

In May, a 43-year-old North Carolina woman told Charleston officers that Ravenel had sexually assaulted her in January 2015 at his Charlotte Street home, an incident report stated.
posted by octobersurprise at 10:53 AM on September 25, 2018 [2 favorites]


@alexanderbolton, staff writer for The Hill:
Sen. Bob Corker says GOP senators were told at lunch to expect to be in DC this weekend to process Kavanaugh nomination quickly.
posted by schadenfrau at 10:54 AM on September 25, 2018 [11 favorites]


The were floating former NH Sen. Kelly Ayotte for the outside counsel yesterday.

Things may have developed, but Ayotte said yesterday she hadn't been approached.
posted by Chrysostom at 10:54 AM on September 25, 2018 [2 favorites]


Hot take: Obviously what's happening in this case is largely an attempt to avoid the bad optics of old white dudes grilling a female assault victim, but Congressional hearings *should* be conducted primarily by outside experts. And that's often how they used to be done. Elected reps don't necessarily have the expertise to ask the right questions.
posted by Chrysostom at 10:56 AM on September 25, 2018 [11 favorites]


Should have added to my last comment, but: what the fuck do they mean by processing? Is that just whipping votes?

Like if they had the votes already, wouldn’t they just, you know, vote?
posted by schadenfrau at 10:56 AM on September 25, 2018 [2 favorites]


Should have added to my last comment, but: what the fuck do they mean by processing? Is that just whipping votes?

Bismarck's quip about "how the sausage gets made" works on multiple levels here.
posted by clawsoon at 11:00 AM on September 25, 2018


> Canada's point-based system does this also

Are you sure about this? For the skilled immigration system? I’m not aware of a disability related modifier. Age is there but relatively small. Would be interested if you have a link. (Not to derail but if the Canadian system is held up as a counterpoint it might as well be accurate.)
posted by ~ at 11:01 AM on September 25, 2018


There are a bunch of procedural steps that would have to be taken to confirm Kavanaugh. If the committee votes Friday, cloture could be filed on Saturday, which means Sunday is the "intervening day" where the petition sits around, which would allow a vote to break the filibuster on Monday morning and the final vote 30 hours later, if Democrats use all their time.

By Senate standards, showing up to work on a Friday is working over the weekend.
posted by zachlipton at 11:02 AM on September 25, 2018 [6 favorites]


Even if they have the votes right now (questionable), there's got to be some serious internal conversation about the wisdom of just doing a vote, sans hearings. Especially after they've made out hearings to be totally vital, somehow better than an FBI investigation, and treated Ford as unreasonable for having any conditions whatsoever.

I still cynically expect a majority to confirm (can someone clarify Pence's tiebreaker role in this?). But I presume they will have some sort of hearing first.
posted by InTheYear2017 at 11:06 AM on September 25, 2018


What's happening now is the hearing. If the committee approves the nomination, the next step is debate on the Senate floor, which is what the aforementioned cloture rules govern.

Also, yes, Pence would be the tiebreaking vote.
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 11:12 AM on September 25, 2018 [1 favorite]


Will the Democrats be required to funnel their questions through the mystery prosecutor as well?
posted by pjenks at 11:14 AM on September 25, 2018 [4 favorites]


Are you sure about this? For the skilled immigration system? I’m not aware of a disability related modifier.

Sorry, I shouldn't report anecdotal information as fact. This came from an acquaintance who was denied immigration into Canada on the basis of (she claims) having an retirement-age spouse and a school-age child with a learning disability. She may, of course, have misunderstood or been misinformed.
posted by Slothrup at 11:18 AM on September 25, 2018 [2 favorites]




Congressional hearings *should* be conducted primarily by outside experts. And that's often how they used to be done. Elected reps don't necessarily have the expertise to ask the right questions.

Elected reps have staffers. Elected reps have the ability to write and read and ask for clarification at a later time. Elected reps are the ones who vote on laws. Elected reps stand for election. If my elected reps are too dumb or don't care enough to ask their staffs to find experts to write down questions and read them to the people testifying and ask follow-ups and so on and so forth, then I want to know that too.
posted by Etrigan at 11:27 AM on September 25, 2018 [29 favorites]


For those who are curious, here's a link to Canada's points calculator. Age and health of sponsored candidates is NOT a consideration for family-class immigration -- if you already have residency or citizenship and you want to bring your spouse or child, their health status and age won't be counted against them. Age and health are considerations for those immigrating without family sponsorship, as is educational level. Language tests are also required. [Edited to add: health requirements were recently loosened for Canadian immigration, so the US would be moving in the opposite direction by tightening theirs.]
posted by halation at 11:29 AM on September 25, 2018 [8 favorites]


If my elected reps are too dumb or don't care enough to ask their staffs to find experts to write down questions and read them to the people testifying and ask follow-ups and so on and so forth, then I want to know that too.

If you've watched many Congressional hearings - like when they had Zuckerberg up - then you already *do* know that.
posted by Chrysostom at 11:34 AM on September 25, 2018 [7 favorites]


Etrigan has summarized my feeling about this. I think it should be fine for Congressfolk to sometimes have a staffer ask questions but for the most part the problem with these hearings isn't that they don't know what questions to ask. The problem is them not caring to figure out the right questions to ask, or even - I would argue in more cases than not - even having the witnesses there for the purpose of gathering information rather than to be a spectacle.

I think there's value in the person who will actually cast the vote being the questioner. They're the one who theoretically should have the understanding - at least conceptually - of what they're voting on. Having third parties gather this understanding in a hearing doesn't accomplish that, at least not in a way that couldn't be accomplished without having the hearing at all.
posted by phearlez at 11:35 AM on September 25, 2018 [2 favorites]


Or, you know, if they have a prosecutor the Dems should have their own prosecutor to cross examine the crap out of Kavanaugh without any deference to "congressional norms."
posted by Cocodrillo at 11:35 AM on September 25, 2018 [5 favorites]


Or, you know, if they have a prosecutor the Dems should have their own prosecutor

Her name is Kamala Harris.
posted by T.D. Strange at 11:37 AM on September 25, 2018 [108 favorites]


A little confused about having one lawyer question both Kavanaugh and Ford. On whose behalf is the attorney understood to be advocating? Kavanaugh? Ford? The Senate?

At least when senators are doing the questioning, there's a veneer of impartiality, in that they are supposedly looking out for the best interests of their constituents. But I have no clue whose agenda an ostensibly disinterested outside lawyer is meant to be serving. (I mean, I do have a guess...)
posted by Atom Eyes at 11:40 AM on September 25, 2018 [6 favorites]


The time to have actual experts do the questioning would have been during the fucking inane testimony of all of the silicon valley motherfuckers looking smug and correcting technical details in questions from octogenarians who barely acknowledge the existence of the technology they supposedly regulate. it was obvious from the hearing they were clueless.

treating women like shit? not listening to them? doing whatever the fuck they want to do to enrich themselves? these guys are the literal experts in that, and as such are the perfect people to do this questioning.
posted by Exceptional_Hubris at 11:40 AM on September 25, 2018 [39 favorites]


Her name is Kamala Harris.

Yes but she has limited time for a structured and thorough examination. Now if they would all cede their time to her, that would be something.
posted by Cocodrillo at 11:45 AM on September 25, 2018 [6 favorites]


Amy Klobuchar is also a former prosecutor and county attorney, so that's two.
posted by Flannery Culp at 11:48 AM on September 25, 2018 [18 favorites]


Chris Coons has discussed ceding time to Harris and Klobuchar.
...And with a Supreme Court seat in the balance, some lawmakers are considering ceding a chunk of their time to the two ex-prosecutors should both Ford and Kavanaugh agree to testify.

“We’ve got members of the committee who are far more experienced than I am in these matters,” Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE), a member of the judiciary committee, said Tuesday on CNN. “They’ve actually handled sexual-assault cases or prosecuted public crime cases, and so they’re more likely to be agile, capable, well-informed questioners in this particular topic.”
posted by Uncle Ira at 11:52 AM on September 25, 2018 [78 favorites]


Jonathan Swan was an entirely unremarkable reporter in the Canberra press gallery not that long ago. He’s somehow Forrest Gumped his way into being a Whitehouse insider/conduit. From here it seems very odd.

Axios's Jon Swan has a leaked preview of more UN chest-beating from Team Trump: In a Fire-Breathing Speech At The UN Later Today, John Bolton Will Warn Iran: "We Will Come After You"

And earlier this morning, he scored this "scoop": The DOJ's Full Rod Rosenstein Exit Statement "Trump has long been fed up with Rosenstein, and sources close to the president have told Axios for months that he would love to find a politically advantageous way to get rid of him."

N.B. In a now-deleted tweet from yesterday, Swan protested: "You have no idea about my sourcing, and everyone speculating I git spoon fed by White House should ask top White House officials whether they knew my story was coming. Ask every single one of them." (Google cache)
posted by Doktor Zed at 11:55 AM on September 25, 2018 [6 favorites]


> @matthewamiller is right here, I think—Rosenstein is a weak person desperately trying to be a strong person.

I believe, from context, this was meant as some kind of slight, but the more I think about it, the more I see that as the more admirable man, anyway.

To fight to be stronger or better than you "really" seems more admirable, and I suppose more human, to me.
posted by rokusan at 12:02 PM on September 25, 2018 [30 favorites]


Wow, this is a new thing I hadn't heard about. The GOP is beginning to use the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) -- which we know about now because of Manafort and Flynn -- against US-based environmental non-profits.
It all started in June, when the House Natural Resources Committee wrote the NRDC to complain that the environmental group was ignoring pollution in China while taking actions adversarial to the U.S., including lawsuits against the Navy for threatening marine life. Committee Chairman Rob Bishop, of Utah, and Arizona Republican Bruce Westerman, who chairs the panel’s Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, demanded stacks of documents within a week, and suggested that the NRDC may be a Chinese agent in violation of FARA.
Bishop and Westerman also wrote two other environmental groups, the Center for Biological Diversity and the World Resources Institute, with similar allegations and demands. The committee is investigating the “manipulation of tax-exempt 501 (c) organizations by foreign entities to influence U.S. environmental and natural resources policy to the detriment of our national interests,” states a committee letter dated September 5.
posted by suelac at 12:09 PM on September 25, 2018 [40 favorites]


Mod note: Couple deleted; let's not spin up debating 4chan stuff without more to go on, and in general please just keep the thread to less noise/more signal.
posted by LobsterMitten (staff) at 12:09 PM on September 25, 2018 [4 favorites]


And earlier this morning, he scored this "scoop": The DOJ's Full Rod Rosenstein Exit Statement

Written in the voice of Jeff Sessions.
Finally, I am confident that Noel Francisco will oversee the special counsel with a commitment to justice as Acting Attorney General for this matter. As I have said before, the American people deserve an expeditious resolution of this investigation consistent with the rule of law.
posted by kirkaracha at 12:13 PM on September 25, 2018 [2 favorites]


I'm hoping that Rosenstein makes good choices, but some comments here smack of lionizing someone who does not deserve it.

Josh Marshall, TPM
Rod Rosenstein, Republican
A brief note on Rod Rosenstein. Given all the fireworks there’s an inevitable tendency to see him as some sort of member of the anti-Trump resistance. This is not right. Rosenstein is a career Republican lawyer. He was part of the Starr investigation. He was there during Brett Kavanaugh’s testimony, sitting among his supporters and clearly a big supporter of his nomination. This is just what you’d expect in a high level Justice Department appointment under a Republican administration. One sign of his professionalism or reputation for integrity is that while he got his US Attorney appointment under Bush, he was retained under President Obama. The Obama DOJ did this more than other administrations. But if he were clearly a hack or a clear partisan he wouldn’t have been retained in 2009. When we think of Rosenstein we should think of him as someone who would really really really like to be a team player in every way possible. To his credit, he appears to have limits.
emphasis mine
posted by lazaruslong at 12:14 PM on September 25, 2018 [14 favorites]


More on foreign aid today: Trump keeps threatening to end foreign aid for disloyal countries. Here’s why it hasn’t happened.
For several weeks, a senior official at the National Security Council, Kevin Harrington, has led a review of U.S. foreign aid policy aimed at putting into practice Trump’s “America First” mantra and adjusting foreign aid priorities in the budget for fiscal year 2020.

In the process, he has faced stiff resistance from officials at the Pentagon, State Department and U.S. Agency for International Development who said his proposals were counterproductive, contradictory and could cede influence to China, according to senior U.S. administration officials familiar with the meetings.

Some of the proposals include revoking assistance to countries that do not vote with the United States at the United Nations and those that have developed strong financial ties to China, and providing loans to countries instead of grants, said the officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations.

The disagreements culminated in a “deputies committee” meeting earlier this month in which the No. 2 officials in U.S. agencies and departments failed to reach consensus, sending the foreign aid review back down to a lower policy coordinating committee. “Everyone agrees that foreign aid should be reformed, but the tactics Kevin Harrington has laid out have very little support in the interagency,” said a senior U.S. official familiar with the meetings.
Harrington is Peter Thiel's buddy. Doesn't sound like his proposals are going over so well.
posted by zachlipton at 12:16 PM on September 25, 2018 [5 favorites]


The entire Rosenstein resignation mystery seems to hinge on what conditions he demanded to go along with it... and how the heck any conditions could ever be enforced.
posted by rokusan at 12:17 PM on September 25, 2018 [3 favorites]


chris24: And there goes the bit of doubt I had on his guilt.

HuffPo: Rep. Keith Ellison Won’t Rule Out Possibility Of Future Abuse Allegations

“I don’t know what somebody might cook up,” the Democratic nominee for Minnesota attorney general said.


Snarky reply: you can't cook without the basic ingredients.


Sophie1: Trump is being laughed at at the UN.
...
Trump is flustered and says, "Didn't expect that reaction."


It's like surrounding him with sycophants and letting him bolster his ego with campaign rallies is backfiring when he faces people who don't give a shit about pleasing the man-child.


Even If Rosenstein Stays, the Mueller Investigation Status Quo Won't Last (Garrett M. Graff for Wired, Sept. 25, 2018)

In which Wired gets into the political hype and theory game, only to ground its "This Will All End Badly" talk with the following paragraph:
Mueller’s investigation may also prove harder to shut down, both practically and politically, than it might have during previous presidential eruptions over the so-called “witch hunt.” For one thing, parts of Mueller’s investigation have been farmed out to other sets of prosecutors. The elite federal prosecutors of the Southern District of New York are overseeing both the Michael Cohen end of the investigation, as well as allegations against other lobbyists tied to Paul Manafort, like Democratic power broker Greg Craig. What's more, the indictment of GRU officers has been handed off to the Justice Department’s National Security Division.

As former Southern District of New York US attorney Preet Bharara—himself one of the many US Attorneys fired by Trump in a single swoop last year—tweeted recently: “Practice note: Trump has no effective way to shut down any investigation being conducted by SDNY. That office is more insulated, enduring and ‘sovereign’ than the Special Counsel’s Office. You can fire Mueller. You can fire the US Attorney. You can’t fire the SDNY.”
posted by filthy light thief at 12:20 PM on September 25, 2018 [7 favorites]


@rupar:
Bill Cosby's publicist, Andrew Wyatt, claims both Cosby and Brett Kavanaugh are victims of "a sex war" that is "going on in Washington today." [video]

By the way, Bill Cosby was just taken into custody today to begin serving his 3-10 year sentence for serial sexual assault.
posted by Atom Eyes at 12:20 PM on September 25, 2018 [52 favorites]


that video of Wyatt makes me sick.

Trump is flustered and says, "Didn't expect that reaction."

@Acosta (4 mins ago) "Trump on laughter at UN during speech: 'Oh it was great. Well that was meant to get some laughter, but it was great."
posted by Exceptional_Hubris at 12:22 PM on September 25, 2018 [4 favorites]


I'm hoping that Rosenstein makes good choices, but some comments here smack of lionizing someone who does not deserve it.


I'm all for lionizing public servants whose commitment to the country and rule of law lead them to make real professional sacrifices. We don't have to endorse him for public office or anything, but I think it's a good idea to let the people who are trying to keep the DOJ from becoming Trump's secret police that we appreciate the effort.
posted by skewed at 12:25 PM on September 25, 2018 [5 favorites]


I'm not sure these assholes want to know what "a sex war" would actually look like, given the past oh five thousand years of recorded history.

Call me back when it is women who are dominating the conversation and the sentencing and not just bravely setting our jaws in the face of men abusing their office and their status.
posted by lydhre at 12:28 PM on September 25, 2018 [38 favorites]


"Is the President saying that it is a joke to suggest that his administration has been historically successful?" would be a good question to ask at the next daily weekly semiannual press briefing.
posted by contraption at 12:31 PM on September 25, 2018 [18 favorites]


Predictions I made two hours ago (which equals several weeks in this particular timeline):
He'll say that was great, I got laughter (Check).
He'll say that the news outlets who write that he was laughed at are presenting fake news (likely tomorrow).
He'll privately stew, like, a lot (Ongoing).
He'll say see? See? You can't cooperate with these people (aka the world) who won't take us seriously.
He'll walk away from some other deals, will tweet shit about some other world leader and consider some more sanctions (timing: always when inner politics are getting too hot).

In short: nothing really new happening, but it happens very fast.
posted by Namlit at 12:31 PM on September 25, 2018 [10 favorites]


Roll Call, Senate GOP Effort to Rebuke Trump on Trade Has Died a Quiet Death
Sen. Bob Corker appears resigned to the fact that the Senate won’t be acting to rebut President Donald Trump on trade policy before voters go to the polls in November.

The Tennessee Republican had previously talked up the possibility of attaching legislation drafted with Pennsylvania GOP Sen. Patrick J. Toomey to a must-pass reauthorization of the Federal Aviation Administration.

The effort got a lot of attention when it was rolled out, but its apparent death might be much less noteworthy.

The bill would provide a process for reviewing tariff determinations under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act, like those the Trump administration imposed on steel and aluminum. Specifically, it would require the president to submit to Congress any proposed trade restrictions under Sec. 232 for approval within 60 days.
The extent to which Congress has willingly abdicated any pretense of caring about preserving their power is disturbing.
posted by zachlipton at 12:40 PM on September 25, 2018 [30 favorites]


"Is the President saying that it is a joke to suggest that his administration has been historically successful?" would be a good question to ask at the next daily weekly semiannual press briefing.

DDale8: Trump is holding a rare solo (or likely solo) formal press conference tomorrow at 5 p.m.

Heads up, this almost certainly means he's going to try to do something drastic, probably at the UN.
posted by Doktor Zed at 12:40 PM on September 25, 2018 [26 favorites]


They are refusing to identify the lawyer "for her safety," but Grassley was unable to identify any indication of threats to the attorney and said "I guess we’re just being cautious."

Okay, this is obviously unadulterated bullshit/lies. This is just a simple lie. Unless the questioning lawyer is going to be hidden by a screen and her voice will be altered, her identity will be fully known when she does the questioning. "I guess" is code for "well the statement I just made a moment ago obviously doesn't survive any sort of scrutiny."
posted by el io at 12:42 PM on September 25, 2018 [20 favorites]


What I don't understand is why Trump thinks the world's diplomats would even care what his administration has accomplished. They aren't his base. They aren't even voters. This administration apparently lacks even the ability to imagine what the world's diplomats do care about. That may well be what they were laughing about, as in, "Who does he think he's speaking to?"
posted by M-x shell at 12:42 PM on September 25, 2018 [12 favorites]


What I don't understand is why Trump thinks the world's diplomats would even care what his administration has accomplished.

Trump’s a salesman, not a statesman. All he knows how to do is be a huckster and pimp and talk-up the brand. And the only brand he sells is Trump.
posted by Thorzdad at 12:58 PM on September 25, 2018 [19 favorites]


The extent to which Congress has willingly abdicated any pretense of caring about preserving their power is disturbing.

I predicted early on this type of overreach would trigger Congress into impeachment. I was wrong.
posted by scalefree at 12:58 PM on September 25, 2018 [4 favorites]


What I don't understand is why Trump thinks the world's diplomats would even care what his administration has accomplished. They aren't his base. They aren't even voters. This administration apparently lacks even the ability to imagine what the world's diplomats do care about. That may well be what they were laughing about, as in, "Who does he think he's speaking to?"

Remember when he bragged about his sex boat at the Boy Scout Jamboree? His only goal when he addresses a crowd is to brag about how awesome he is so they'll clap and cheer for his awesomeness.
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 1:02 PM on September 25, 2018 [31 favorites]


What I don't understand is why Trump thinks the world's diplomats would even care what his administration has accomplished.

From what I've gleaned from Daniel Dale's live-tweeting of his speeches, that line comes up frequently enough that it's more or less reflexive and/or boilerplate at this point. Which, of course, exposes the lie of his "it was meant to get laughter" explanation. Also, I would suggest that including it in the UN speech wasn't some kind of 11-dimensional chess move to whip up the conservative base by getting foreign leaders to openly deride him or whatever; I think it's just that he and his staff are lazy charlatans and probably didn't even think to remove that boilerplate line from the UN speech.
posted by mhum at 1:03 PM on September 25, 2018 [12 favorites]


To Trump, a sexual predator is one of the good old boys. Frank Bruni's take on it is worth reading, although at this point in time we are all exhausted by the utter vileness of it all
posted by mumimor at 1:06 PM on September 25, 2018 [4 favorites]


Yes, just talk, but at least some R is saying something. Lowest bar ever but here we are.

Manu Raju
Susan Collins, key swing vote on Kavanaugh, warns Trump on Rosenstein. "If there's any attempt to fire or force out Deputy Attorney General Rosenstein, that would be a huge red line and very problematic."
posted by chris24 at 1:08 PM on September 25, 2018 [7 favorites]


I’m honestly shocked he didn’t just come out and announce the US was pulling it’s funding for the UN. That’s been a big item for the far-right for ages. Maybe once Hannity explains to him that they were laughing at him, he’ll pull that trigger, too.
posted by Thorzdad at 1:09 PM on September 25, 2018 [5 favorites]


Of all the issues of contention with the GOP Senators that's the one I'm on record here as saying struck me as non-negotiable for Ford. I've been surprised that they seemed willing to go forward even with outside counsel grilling her. But maybe that's been a misread.

Dr. Ford has some options.

1) She could read an opening statement, then decline to answer questions by the outside investigator, or read a standard statement along these lines: "Republican Senators blocked an outside, nonpartisan investigation by the FBI. This is a hearing of the Senate Judiciary committee, and I will happily answer any questions from members of that committee. With all due respect, you are not one of those members."

This would force Grassley to be the bad cop. Is he going to hold her in contempt? Cancel the hearing? The ideal situation would be Ford stonewalling the female attorney, while Democrats use their turns to ask real questions.

2) More mildly, she could make a real point before every question of clarifying which Republican Senator is forcing her to read his questions for him. "I'm sorry, who's asking this question? Is it Senator Grassley? OK."
posted by msalt at 1:09 PM on September 25, 2018 [31 favorites]


In WSJ yesterday: Google CEO Sundar Pichai to Meet With Top GOP Lawmakers – related to a posting upthread by srboisvert, tl;dr showing an ongoing concerted attempt by GOP and conservatives to force Google to favor search results and news that conservatives favor.
posted by StrawberryPie at 1:10 PM on September 25, 2018 [5 favorites]


To fight to be stronger or better than you "really" seems more admirable, and I suppose more human, to me.

And by any reasonable account, it’s working. This whole line of “What kind of man is Rod Rosenstein?” public inquiry is such a pointlessly distracting exercise. To date, he’s done the job he needs to do. No small feat against an Executive hell bent on finding any reason to hinder or stop the investigation entirely.

I don’t care who Rod Rosenstein votes for, or who he sees in the mirror at the end of his day. I care that he continues to provide the means for a crucial criminal investigation to proceed. He’s doing that. Carry on, sir.
posted by Brak at 1:23 PM on September 25, 2018 [14 favorites]


Susan Collins, key swing vote on Kavanaugh, warns Trump on Rosenstein.

Republicans are very good at making public statements about being troubled by something or another, and then falling in line anyway.

Note that she never actually ever says "if this, then that." It's always, "if this, then it's problematic." She never, ever threatens to do anything beyond be publicly concerned.
posted by explosion at 1:24 PM on September 25, 2018 [62 favorites]


What I don't understand is why Trump thinks the world's diplomats would even care what his administration has accomplished.

I don't think the speech isn't really for them, it's for everyone who is going to watch excerpts of it on FNC later. The speech seemed to be full of fan-service stuff that's not going to change anybody's mind if they're not on board with the talking points already.

Making people he doesn't like sit politely and take it seems to be a thing he enjoys, though.

The PC scheduled for 5PM tomorrow should be interesting, though. I'd like to think it has some connection to the USSC nomination, but it could just as easily—and perhaps more likely—be something designed to distract from that. Maybe China trade, or maybe something totally out of left field related to the "sovereignty" drumbeat that was on display at UNGA..? I wouldn't put it past the administration to dump some kerosene on the "trade war" fire a day before the Kavanaugh hearing, just to give FNC something else to feed to the base.
posted by Kadin2048 at 1:24 PM on September 25, 2018


I don't think the speech isn't really for them, it's for everyone who is going to watch excerpts of it on FNC later.

Fox of course, cutting out the laughter.
posted by PenDevil at 1:27 PM on September 25, 2018 [4 favorites]


You liked the "the women are all liars" theory. You loved the doppelganger theory. Now get ready for: the "it's all a 4chan prank, bro" theory.

Was The Avenatti Bombshell Witness Claim All The Result Of A Well Executed 4Chan Prank?

In keeping with its journalistic paragon status, redstate.com made sure to spell his name as "Micahel Avanetti" in the body of the article.
posted by Rust Moranis at 1:30 PM on September 25, 2018 [10 favorites]


Avenatti:
There is a rumor being floated that I was "duped" or "pranked" by a 4Chan user re Kavanaugh. I have received multiple inquiries about it. This is completely false. It never happened; it is a total fabrication. None of it is true. The right must be very worried. They should be.
posted by prize bull octorok at 1:33 PM on September 25, 2018 [40 favorites]


A Supreme Court Case Could Liberate Trump to Pardon His Associates

A key Republican senator has quietly weighed in on an upcoming Supreme Court case that could have important consequences for Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation.

The Utah lawmaker Orrin Hatch, who sits on the Senate Judiciary Committee, filed a 44-page amicus brief earlier this month in Gamble v. United States, a case that will consider whether the dual-sovereignty doctrine should be put to rest. The 150-year-old exception to the Fifth Amendment’s double-jeopardy clause allows state and federal courts to prosecute the same person for the same criminal offense. According to the brief he filed on September 11, Hatch believes the doctrine should be overturned. “The extensive federalization of criminal law has rendered ineffective the federalist underpinnings of the dual sovereignty doctrine,” his brief reads. “And its persistence impairs full realization of the Double Jeopardy Clause’s liberty protections.”

Within the context of the Mueller probe, legal observers have seen the dual-sovereignty doctrine as a check on President Donald Trump’s power: It could discourage him from trying to shut down the Mueller investigation or pardon anyone caught up in the probe, because the pardon wouldn’t be applied to state charges. Under settled law, if Trump were to pardon his former campaign chairman Paul Manafort, for example—he was convicted last month in federal court on eight counts of tax and bank fraud—both New York and Virginia state prosecutors could still charge him for any crimes that violated their respective laws. (Both states have a double-jeopardy law that bars secondary state prosecutions for committing “the same act,” but there are important exceptions, as the Fordham University School of Law professor Jed Shugerman has noted.) If the dual-sovereignty doctrine were tossed, as Hatch wants, then Trump’s pardon could theoretically protect Manafort from state action.

posted by Artw at 1:37 PM on September 25, 2018 [22 favorites]


Say it loud: Orrin Hatch doesn't care about states' rights.
posted by Faint of Butt at 1:41 PM on September 25, 2018 [46 favorites]


This just popped up on my facebook feed.

Body-slammin' Greg Gianforte is doing everything he can to try and foment stochastic terrorism against his political opponent. By now I shouldn't be amazed that he can get away with it, but sure 'nuff.
posted by Rust Moranis at 1:43 PM on September 25, 2018 [7 favorites]


if manafort gets a pardon, what happens to the assets he had to forfeit as part of his conviction?
posted by murphy slaw at 1:46 PM on September 25, 2018 [4 favorites]


If the dual-sovereignty doctrine were tossed, as Hatch wants, then Trump’s pardon could theoretically protect Manafort from state action.

I'm no lawyer, but IIRC, the civil forfeiture of all of those assets of Manafort isn't affected by pardoning Manafort's criminal acts. That's a heartwarming thought for these perilous times.
posted by mikelieman at 1:48 PM on September 25, 2018 [4 favorites]


Friendly Fascism: The New Face of Power in America was a book written by Bertram Gross published in 1980.
posted by growabrain at 1:53 PM on September 25, 2018 [5 favorites]


@cspan [video]: .@SenateMajLdr: "We have hired a female assistant to go on staff and to ask these questions in a respectful and professional way. We want this hearing to be handled very professionally not a political sideshow..." #Kavanaugh

"A female assistant?" What the hell? This mystery woman is apparently an experienced lawyer, and McConnell is talking like they expanded the steno pool.
posted by zachlipton at 1:59 PM on September 25, 2018 [80 favorites]


But the important part is that he's clear that she was specifically hired for her gender.
posted by Nerd of the North at 2:02 PM on September 25, 2018 [24 favorites]


Marist FL polls:

* Senate: Nelson [D-i] up 48-45 on Scott [R]
* Governor: Gillum [D] up 48-43 on DeSantis [R]
posted by Chrysostom at 2:04 PM on September 25, 2018 [15 favorites]


I rather like the inferrence that the questioning wouldn’t be “respectful and professional” if the Senators did it themselves.
posted by Thorzdad at 2:04 PM on September 25, 2018 [32 favorites]


Meanwhile at the U.N.
posted by growabrain at 2:05 PM on September 25, 2018 [11 favorites]


I'm still unclear as to whether they'll allow any Senators ( D included ) to ask questions.
posted by localhuman at 2:16 PM on September 25, 2018 [2 favorites]


A question that I'm sure has both a legal answer and a "yeah right, those laws don't apply to important people" answer, but given the widespread existence of civil asset forfeiture laws couldn't Manafort's properties, or even Trump's, be identified by the NYPD as the profits of a crime and seized unless the property can be found innocent in a court of law?

Cash has been seized many times from normal people often on blatantly false claims that it was intended for drug trafficking. Admittedly those people don't have the resources to defend their cash in a court of law.

Still, wouldn't seizing the paintings, and gold, and whatnot in Trump tower on the grounds that it was the illicit proceeds of Russian money laundering be just as valid as a cop claiming he thought he might have smelled marijuana and that's why he took some poor person's life savings?

And wouldn't Trump, or Manafort, or any of them, have to actually go to court and open their books to try and prove the money wasn't gained via illegal activity?
posted by sotonohito at 2:17 PM on September 25, 2018 [10 favorites]


Upon a re-watch of the moment when people start laughing at him you can see Mr. President Doesn't Have As Much Money As He Claims He Does look around for someone to yell at and realizing (far more quickly than I'd have given him credit for) that there isn't anyone and he just has to power through.

It's the most flustered I've ever seen him.
posted by East14thTaco at 2:20 PM on September 25, 2018 [7 favorites]


zachlipton: "A female assistant?" What the hell? This mystery woman is apparently an experienced lawyer, and McConnell is talking like they expanded the steno pool.

Or like she came from a binder....

The way he describes this, especially the mentioning of gender, is as if a particular Trump quirk (noted particularly by Alexandra Erin early last year) has rubbed off on McConnell. That would be the foregrounding of strategy and rhetoric whose effect only works (whether well or poorly) if kept implicit.

Like, there are a lot of Donald speeches where he does a whole routine of "This thing I'm saying is the new angle, it's good optics". He's someone who would buy Melania flowers and say "This is so you won't be mad at me."

Now we have Mr Cocaine Turtle doing something similar: "Fine, if it looks better to have a lady ask questions, that's what we'll do. Happy?"
posted by InTheYear2017 at 2:21 PM on September 25, 2018 [16 favorites]


There is a rumor being floated that I was "duped" or "pranked" by a 4Chan user re Kavanaugh. I have received multiple inquiries about it. This is completely false. It never happened; it is a total fabrication. None of it is true. The right must be very worried.

And the Kremlin's been signal-boosting this, too. In the past 48 hours, #creepypornlawyer has been trending among Russian bot/troll Twitter accounts, according to Hamilton 68. But they're also promoting #DeepStateUnmasked, #QArmyTrain, #realTCUstatetrainCA ("Turn California Red"), so it's more like piggybacking on chaos than promoting any coherent plan.

Meanwhile, Russia media monitor Julia Davis notes, Like I've been saying all along, the Russians don't like or love Trump - rather, they enjoy the internal chaos and the humiliation of the U.S. on the world stage he is causing. https://twitter.com/SputnikInt/status/1044604718734102531 and #Russia's state TV is relishing every moment of Trump's #UNGA humiliation.

More seriously, she picks up on how Russian media reacted to what Trump didn't say to the UNGA, especially since Putin didn't attend his speech:
#Russia's state TV re: Trump's UN speech omissions:
"The biggest sensation: there is no more annexation, no more aggression... no more bad, aggressive Russia."
Russian state TV host Evgeny Popov calls Trump's speech "strange, wonderful and fatal [for Ukraine]."
(Trump only cautioned Poland and Germany on becoming too dependent on Russia as a supplier of natural gas, i.e. a US energy competitor.)
posted by Doktor Zed at 2:24 PM on September 25, 2018 [14 favorites]


And the Kremlin's been signal-boosting this, too.

Remember when the Steele Dossier first came out and suddenly a lot of people claimed it was a 4chan hoax?
posted by Rust Moranis at 2:28 PM on September 25, 2018 [16 favorites]


Senators just have a basic instinct to avoid being blamed for anything. It's really as simple as that. If they could get outside counsel to cast votes for them, they would. Grilling Ford the way they have to grill her will make them look bad, and more specifically, make them generate negative ad material with their own voices.

That's probably the same reason Dems are discussing ceding their time to Harris; she'll look good doing it.

Ford's motivation (for wanting senators to ask their own questions) is a bit of a mystery to me. I didn't think she was that political. It's possible she doesn't see that dynamic, and had her own reasons for wanting this shit to stick.
posted by Rainbo Vagrant at 2:32 PM on September 25, 2018 [2 favorites]


Ford has excellent attorneys.
posted by Peach at 2:33 PM on September 25, 2018 [15 favorites]


Right: one imagines that were she truly concerned about either Kavanaugh or Rosenstein, taking action on either front would be extremely productive at this point in time -- she could condition her vote on one on the other, but she isn't.

Also if any Republican, any of them, Collins, Flake, Sasse, Corker, ANY of them, were concerned AT ALL about protecting Mueller, there's a bill in the Senate to do just that. They could tell McConnell to bring it up. They could state their support for that bill publicly. Not bullshit "that would be problematic", actual conditional statements. They don't. Because they aren't. They are all 100% invested in the coverup and counting on future support from Russia to maintain power. When Putin's "election monitors" come to Maine, Collins will be the first to welcome them, she doesn't give a shit about Rosenstein, or Mueller, or democracy, she wants to maintain power at any cost.
posted by T.D. Strange at 2:35 PM on September 25, 2018 [12 favorites]


I'm still unclear as to whether they'll allow any Senators ( D included ) to ask questions.

I believe that, while the chair could have prevented a hearing at all, he cannot prevent Democratic Senators from using their time to ask questions. So it's entirely up to them whether they ask questions themselves, cede their time to Klobuchar and Harris, or bring in someone to ask questions (which they will not do).
posted by Justinian at 2:44 PM on September 25, 2018 [5 favorites]


Pro Publica: Did You Go to a Washington Nationals Game With Supreme Court Nominee Brett Kavanaugh?
Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh accrued as much as $200,000 in debt buying tickets to Washington Nationals baseball games.

White House spokesman Raj Shah told The Washington Post that Kavanaugh would go to games with a “handful” of friends. These friends then reimbursed him for the tickets, the White House says, and the debts have been paid off.

But the White House and Kavanaugh are not answering questions about what happened. Who did Kavanaugh buy tickets for? How did they reimburse him? Was this properly disclosed? And how was all of this treated for tax purposes?
...
We’re not sure what we’ll find. But we do know that people take a lot of pictures at baseball games. Did you see Judge Kavanaugh at a game? Did you attend a game with him? Do you have any photos, and if so, will you send them our way?
...
We’d especially like to figure out where he sat, how many seats he bought and which friends attended games with him. If you’ve got information, please fill out the questions below or send us an email at supremecourt@propublica.org.
posted by OnceUponATime at 2:50 PM on September 25, 2018 [115 favorites]


Slate, Lili Loofbourow, Brett Kavanaugh and the Cruelty of Male Bonding:When being one of the guys comes at a woman’s expense. (cw:link contains descriptions of the alleged assaults, the text below does not) It's worth reading in full, but I want to highlight this portion in particular.
One thing we’ve learned about Kavanaugh, then, is that he perpetually overshoots. To put it bluntly, he lies. Rather than admit he was flawed, or made some mistakes he regrets, or simply acknowledge that different people might have seen him differently—as they demonstrably did—he’s doubling down on an unsustainable and untrue account of himself and his reputation. Under immense pressure and a bright spotlight, he claims that “the women I knew in college” and “the men I knew in college” (a large group!) will all vouch for him. This is injudicious. But it adds to an emerging profile of a man who will go to long lengths to get approval. It’s what Kavanaugh did when he accepted the nomination from Trump with a sycophantic speech that has in the months since he made it become a telling document of his exaggerated need to affirm the club he belongs to. He claimed he’d “witnessed firsthand” Trump’s “appreciation for the vital role of the American judiciary,” adding—in a burst of mendacious hyperbole—that “no president has ever consulted more widely or talked with more people from more backgrounds to seek input about a Supreme Court nomination.” And it’s what he did in that Fox interview: present himself as a friendly virgin who works on school and service projects, and little else.
...
That’s where even this dumb yearbook entry thing becomes instructive: Kavanaugh was caught being cruel to a girl, and instead of owning up, he doubled down. It shows how boys who are cruel together lie together. This is why their denials are more emphatic than they need to be; each relies on the strength and intensity of the others. “Judge Kavanaugh and Ms. Dolphin attended one high school event together and shared a brief kiss good night following that event,” read a statement from Kavanaugh’s lawyer (she denies the kiss—I’ll take her word over his). “They had no other such encounter. The language from Judge Kavanaugh’s high school yearbook refers to the fact that he and Ms. Dolphin attended that one high school event together and nothing else.” Yeah, right. Four of the other players depicted in the “Renate alumni” photo issued a statement claiming that the phrase was “intended to allude to innocent dates or dance partners and were generally known within the community of people involved for over 35 years.” Before laughing at the absurdity of this, it’s worth reiterating that Renate did not know. One might then reasonably ask who the phrase “the community of people involved” includes.

How does the yearbook help us understand the other allegations against Kavanaugh? Well, for one thing, Kavanaugh’s admitted virginity shows how empty these rumors about Renate were. Whatever stories they circulated about her sexual behavior weren’t actually about her; to them she was less a person than a token you claim to gain status with your bros. That tells us something valuable about how Kavanaugh was willing to treat women when other guys were around. It also offers a clear window into how male networks like Kavanaugh’s work. If you get caught, you deny, and if you can’t, you manufacture explanations that may sound ridiculous to an outside audience. But you never break. His yearbook buddies tried to shelter him because sheltering him sheltered them.
What Kavanaugh and his buddies put in the yearbook was gross and cruel, to such an extent it managed to be hurtful 35 years later. I also don't think that someone's high school yearbook choices are a great barometer of their lifelong character. But the way he's responded to it is by doubling down, just as he's responded to everything else by doubling down. Loofbourow points out that the common theme behind all these accusations points to "a toxic homosociality—that involves males wooing other males over the comedy of being cruel to women." To not be able to see that 35 years later says a lot about a person. And as Quinta Jurecic just pointed out (love when I don't have to figure out how to finish my thoughts because someone smart nails it), this mirrors Trump's own pattern of relishing the cruelty of male bonding over unacceptable behavior toward women: there's not much distance from Trump laughing with Billy Bush to Kavanaugh and his buddies laughing, as both women have described in their accounts.
posted by zachlipton at 2:51 PM on September 25, 2018 [103 favorites]


Okay, this is obviously unadulterated bullshit/lies. This is just a simple lie. Unless the questioning lawyer is going to be hidden by a screen and her voice will be altered, her identity will be fully known when she does the questioning. "I guess" is code for "well the statement I just made a moment ago obviously doesn't survive any sort of scrutiny."

They are just avoiding any possible advance strategy detection via knowing who the lawyer is.

Also they are avoiding the inevitable bad press that will occur when they reveal who this latest dignity wraith will be and their horrid past is surfaced. Who else other than an awful person would even want to do this job?
posted by srboisvert at 2:54 PM on September 25, 2018 [8 favorites]


I was trying to compile a list of famous law-talking-women who are horrible enough for Republicans to have recruited for this job, but have so far managed only to come up with Jeanine Pirro or Nancy Grace. (Does anyone know if Ann Coulter has a law degree?)
posted by Atom Eyes at 3:03 PM on September 25, 2018 [2 favorites]


Yahoo, Hunter Walker, Deputy press secretary Raj Shah plans to leave White House after Kavanaugh confirmation hearings

He apparently wanted to leave on a high note with a sucuessful confirmation.
posted by zachlipton at 3:04 PM on September 25, 2018 [4 favorites]


Hillary is doing a fundraiser for Bob Menendez.

It's already bad enough that the corrupt piece of shit Menendez was able to somehow make it through his primary (only 40% to Lisa McCormick, god dammit New Jersey), the upper echelons of the party are coming to his god damned rescue.

OPTICS PEOPLE. Do you even think about how god damned bad this looks? We can't choose how people vote but we can (and should) damn sure shun the people they vote for if they're pieces of shit.
posted by Definitely Not Sean Spicer at 3:10 PM on September 25, 2018 [25 favorites]


Does anyone know if Ann Coulter has a law degree?

She does, but corporate law (natch.)
posted by ChurchHatesTucker at 3:12 PM on September 25, 2018 [1 favorite]


@frankthorp: JUST IN: The Senate Judiciary Cmte has rescheduled the committee vote on Kavanaugh's nomination for 9:30am on FRIDAY -->

9 other judicial nominees too. I'm sure they'll be in a real listening mood Thursday.
posted by zachlipton at 3:14 PM on September 25, 2018 [6 favorites]


Refresh my memory: Did Merrick Garland go on a cable news show and complain loudly about how tough the Republicans were making his confirmation?

Oh, yeah, that's right - they didn't even give him the courtesy. That's right. It seems so long ago.
posted by eclectist at 3:14 PM on September 25, 2018 [31 favorites]


the upper echelons of the party are coming to his god damned rescue.

Well...yes? The Democrats really cannot afford to lose New Jersey if they want to have any shot at control of the Senate. He's corrupt, but he's the candidate, and we need to win the race.
posted by Chrysostom at 3:15 PM on September 25, 2018 [50 favorites]


JUST IN: The Senate Judiciary Cmte has rescheduled the committee vote on Kavanaugh's nomination for 9:30am on FRIDAY -->

Avenatti better get to dropping
posted by schadenfrau at 3:20 PM on September 25, 2018 [5 favorites]


Founder and former Editor-in-Chief of The Rumpus pens an sad and timely memoir: How an anonymous accusation derailed my life.

Current Managing Editor of The Rumpus pens a response:
@lyzl: Stephen Elliot, it's me, Lyz. Remember when I was an unpaid editor at your magazine and we met at AWP where you invited me up to your room to watch a movie and I declined? But you didn't take no for an answer. You hounded me. I hid under a table.

[*fire* THREAD continues]
posted by pjenks at 3:24 PM on September 25, 2018 [83 favorites]


@frankthorp: JUST IN: The Senate Judiciary Cmte has rescheduled the committee vote on Kavanaugh's nomination for 9:30am on FRIDAY -->

The attached agenda doesn't specifically say words like "vote" anywhere (unless I'm having a reading comp fail?). Is this agenda standard language for "vote to confirm," or could this be about leaving time for the topic should the Grassley choose to discuss it?

I am naturally ready to expect the worst regardless but it seems worth asking.
posted by scaryblackdeath at 3:30 PM on September 25, 2018 [2 favorites]


I've been waiting for someone to write this up so I wasn't just linking to the brief. Texas Just Said In Court That A Black Girl Had To Stand For The Pledge Of Allegiance
Landry — then 17, now 18 — was attending Windfern High School in Houston last fall, where she had abstained from the Pledge of Allegiance more than 200 times without a problem, she said in a complaint against filed in federal court. But on Oct. 2, 2017, she was in Principal Martha Strother’s office when she refused to stand during the pledge. “Principal Strother upon seeing this immediately expelled India from school saying ‘Well you’re kicked outta here,’” the complaint continues, adding that a school secretary then added, “This is not the NFL.”

On Tuesday, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, a Republican up for reelection in November, filed a brief in US District Court for the Southern District of Texas on behalf of the state, asking a federal judge for permission to argue against the student in order to defend a state law that mandates parental permission for students who sit out the pledge.
Apart from everything else, it's an exceptionally poor use of taxpayer funds to devote the resources of an entire state to fighting this.
posted by zachlipton at 3:33 PM on September 25, 2018 [66 favorites]


Oh and the DOD has its own mini-Kavanaugh going but nobody realizes it
Mingling with the guests were attractive young women dressed as Santa’s little helpers, wearing red hats, black boots and skimpy yuletide costumes. Smiling at the center of the party was the host, Leonard Glenn Francis, a defense contractor who has since confessed to bribing scores of Navy officers in the worst corruption scandal in Navy history. Among those in attendance, records show, was Craig S. Faller, a Navy officer who has climbed the ranks at the Pentagon to become a vice admiral and the senior military assistant to Defense Secretary Jim Mattis.
Craig Faller, the nominee to run SOCOM, basically has been doing things that would look otherwise as going through the motions of being bribed to look the other way while a Malaysian businessman swindles the US Navy.
posted by Definitely Not Sean Spicer at 3:33 PM on September 25, 2018 [24 favorites]


Apart from everything else, it's an exceptionally poor use of taxpayer funds to devote the resources of an entire state to fighting this.

Is it really a pledge if someone is forcing you to do it? It kind of dilutes the solemness from the occasion.
posted by Definitely Not Sean Spicer at 3:35 PM on September 25, 2018 [15 favorites]


Is this agenda standard language for "vote to confirm," or could this be about leaving time for the topic should the Grassley choose to discuss it?

Committee rules require three day notice, so noticing it now gives them the opportunity to vote on Friday if they want to. They're now spinning that they could delay it from there if they want to, but yes, this would allow a vote to advance the nominations out of committee on Friday.
posted by zachlipton at 3:40 PM on September 25, 2018 [1 favorite]


He's corrupt, but he's the candidate, and we need to win the race.

Though it should be acknowledged that this is exactly the calculation that most Republicans in Alabama made with regard to Roy Moore. Menendez is, of course, no Roy Moore. But there's a line somewhere and it'd be nice if we didn't have to toe quite so close to it while rightly condemning Republicans for stepping over it.

"You guys crossed this line that our toes are touching!"
posted by Justinian at 3:43 PM on September 25, 2018 [11 favorites]


Devorah Blachor, McSweeney's: I'm Starting To Wonder If My Membership In This Fraternity Will Hamper My Future SCOTUS Prospects: Women! You can’t live with them, and you can’t even thrust your penis in their faces anymore without it becoming the kind of thing that hampers your career opportunities. Yes — you read that right! Penis-in-the-face thrusting is why Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination might ultimately sink. It’s crazy! I mean, it’s not like the guy hired a nanny without proper documentation.

Now every time I hand a girl a cup of jungle juice in the hopes of her getting drunk enough to rape, I have to stop and think. Is this the kind of woman who will speak out when I get my lifetime appointment? Or is she the kind to be like, whatever, it’s just rough horseplay and also I don’t want death threats.

posted by TwoStride at 3:45 PM on September 25, 2018 [38 favorites]


This is just me, but in my mind "took a bribe" is a pretty bright-line distinction from "child molester."
posted by Chrysostom at 3:49 PM on September 25, 2018 [27 favorites]


Menendez also went on trial for bribe-taking, was not convicted, and had the charges against him dropped. You can say it's bullshit that he got off, but at least he was held accountable by the justice system.
posted by prize bull octorok at 3:51 PM on September 25, 2018 [17 favorites]


Being acquitted of accepting bribes IS NOT THE SAME FUCKING THING AS MOLESTING GIRLS.

Menendez might be dirty, but he won his primary with all of this out in the open. If Menendez keeping his seat is thefifferencd between fucking Gilead and not Gilead, well. We can’t fix New Jersey, but we can work with what they give us.

Seriously, don’t you dare compare being acquitted of accepting bribes to molesting girls and then arguing it’s ok to molest girls because of the Bible.

Just fucking don’t.
posted by schadenfrau at 3:54 PM on September 25, 2018 [70 favorites]


I specifically said not Roy Moore. But "not a sexual predator" simply can't be our baseline. Menendez should have been jettisoned like a hot potato before the primary and it's a disgrace that he wasn't.
posted by Justinian at 3:58 PM on September 25, 2018 [4 favorites]


Sure. I think it was a mistake both tactically and ethically not to have jettisoned him. But here we are. What other choice do we have at this juncture, but to support him? We are literally on the brink of fascism.
posted by Chrysostom at 4:00 PM on September 25, 2018 [15 favorites]


I am cackling at my desk because TIL that some states make your mommy and daddy give you "permission" to opt out of your loyalty oath to the Freedom Textile and oh my god what.
posted by nakedmolerats at 4:01 PM on September 25, 2018 [33 favorites]


Chrysostom: "What other choice do we have at this juncture, but to support him? We are literally on the brink of fascism."

We can only rescue ourselves from fascism by committing to this party unconditionally! Which isn't even incorrect, it's just... sigh
posted by TypographicalError at 4:02 PM on September 25, 2018 [4 favorites]


I don't disagree we need to elect Menendez since "very likely corrupt" is apparently where we are now in the fight against creeping fascism. "Vote for the crook, it's important!" cf David Duke's opponent. But I was calling for us to recognize the - completely avoidable - position that the Democratic leadership and the voters of New Jersey put us in. Leadership could have jettisoned him. The voters could have jettisoned him. They didn't, so here we are.

Do better. That's all I'm saying.
posted by Justinian at 4:04 PM on September 25, 2018 [11 favorites]


@ToddRuger (CQ): Committee lays out schedule for Thursday #Kavanaugh hearing to Ford attorneys: @ChuckGrassley and @SenFeinstein openings; Ford statement no time limit; 1 round of questions, 5 minutes each senator, can give time to another senator or staff counsel. Then same for Kavanaugh.
posted by pjenks at 4:08 PM on September 25, 2018 [3 favorites]


I, for one, am wholly in favor of ejecting, with great force, every dirty, pervy, corrupt sleazeball that slithers their way to the top. We as a people deserve better than this. It's not too much to ask that the people we support be people worthy of our respect, and I don't care if that takes down people on "our team" too. Trump and decades of popular culture before him have done terrible damage to the standards politicians are held to and what we can expect from them. It is only by pushing back on this, electing genuine public servants and rejecting cronies, that we can hope to prop up some version of what America is supposed to be.
posted by Mr.Encyclopedia at 4:10 PM on September 25, 2018 [16 favorites]


This got weirder. WaPo, Rod Rosenstein’s departure was imminent. Now he likely survives until after the midterms, officials say
Rod J. Rosenstein’s departure seemed so certain earlier this week that his boss’s chief of staff told colleagues he had been tapped by the White House to take over as second-in-command of the Justice Department, while another official would supervise the special counsel probe into Russia’s interference in the 2016 election, people familiar with the matter said.

But by Monday afternoon, the succession plan had been scrapped. Rosenstein, who told the White House he was willing to quit if President Trump wouldn’t disparage him, would remain the deputy attorney general in advance of a high-stakes meeting on Thursday to discuss the future of his employment. The other officials, too, would go back to work, facing the prospect that in just days they could be leading the department through a historic crisis.

Inside the Justice Department on Wednesday, officials still struggled to understand the events that nearly produced a seismic upheaval in their leadership ranks — until it didn’t — and they braced for a potential repeat of that chaos later in the week.
...
While it remained possible that Rosenstein could still resign or be fired imminently, people inside and outside the department said it seemed increasingly more likely that Rosenstein would stay in the job until after November’s election and then depart, probably with the attorney general. Two White House officials said Wednesday that Trump is unlikely to fire Rosenstein until after the election.
posted by zachlipton at 4:12 PM on September 25, 2018 [17 favorites]


Other requirements being that hell freezes over and that pigs learn to fly?
posted by Artw at 4:15 PM on September 25, 2018 [6 favorites]


It is only by pushing back on this, electing genuine public servants and rejecting cronies, that we can hope to prop up some version of what America is supposed to be.

OK but what does this mean with regard to how you think someone in New Jersey should vote for a senator in November?
posted by Atom Eyes at 4:16 PM on September 25, 2018 [6 favorites]


I'm Starting To Wonder If My Membership In This Fraternity Will Hamper My Future SCOTUS Prospects
Let me tell you a story. Once upon a time, there was a young man who treated women like sexual objects. Everyone loved him for his womanizing because he was rich and managed to renovate an ice-skating rink. He got to be on Page Six of the New York Post and eventually got his own tv show. And do you know what happened to that man? Of course you do. He’s the President of the United States. Even though his wife accused him of raping her and 18 other women also accused him of sexual misconduct and assault.
posted by kirkaracha at 4:18 PM on September 25, 2018 [27 favorites]


I, for one, am wholly in favor of ejecting, with great force, every dirty, pervy, corrupt sleazeball that slithers their way to the top.

Let justice be done though the heavens fall.
posted by kirkaracha at 4:21 PM on September 25, 2018 [11 favorites]


Mod note: Y'all let the Menendez/Hillary thing drop already, you know this is going nowhere useful.
posted by cortex (staff) at 4:26 PM on September 25, 2018 [24 favorites]


I'd crawl across broken glass to vote for Menendez . I hope anyone who can effectively campaign for him campaigns for him effectively. Bob Menendez is why I understand Ted Cruz voters.

> It is only by pushing back on this, electing genuine public servants and rejecting cronies, that we can hope to prop up some version of what America is supposed to be.

It is only by burning the republican party to the ground and then salting that ground so that nothing can grow there that we can avert total disaster. This practical material concern beats any theoretical concerns.

I wish the crooked fucker would have stepped down / not run again / lost in a primary, but given that he has done none of those things, I hope that every effective campaigner for Menendez campaigns as effectively as they can.
posted by Reclusive Novelist Thomas Pynchon at 4:29 PM on September 25, 2018 [29 favorites]


We can only rescue ourselves from fascism by committing to this party unconditionally! Which isn't even incorrect, it's just... sigh

Elsewhere in Democratic pay-to-play corruption headaches, the Albany Times-Union reports: Cuomo Campaign Admits Outreach by Crystal Run—Forced to correct false statement by governor to TU editorial board
In a meeting with the Times Union editorial board three weeks ago, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo emphatically and repeatedly stated that Crystal Run Healthcare, a growing Hudson Valley company, had never warned his campaign of potential problems with its $400,000 in donations.

Moreover, the governor said that if the company had done so, Crystal Run would have effectively "admitted to a crime."

But on Tuesday, in response to the Times Union's questions about Cuomo's statement, his campaign acknowledged that what the governor said that day was not true: Crystal Run had indeed approached the campaign with concerns about its donations.

"Since the editorial board meeting, the governor has been informed that Crystal Run's counsel had been in contact with the campaign's outside counsel," campaign spokeswoman Abbey Collins said in an emailed statement.

The FBI and the U.S. attorney's office in Manhattan have been investigating whether a two-day flurry of 10 separate $25,000 checks from Crystal Run officials to Cuomo in October 2013 were actually reimbursed by the company through bonuses.

If that occurred, it could violate state election law, which bars the circumvention of donation limits through the use of so-called "straw donors."[...]

In 2016, Crystal Run landed $25.4 million in state grants for projects it was already building without taxpayer subsidies.
The Democratic Party faces a lot of house-cleaning after the elections, assuming the country's house is still standing.
posted by Doktor Zed at 4:33 PM on September 25, 2018 [12 favorites]


Fox News covers Trump's UN speech...very carefully. See if you can spot what they cut. It's very subtle.

@FoxNews .@POTUS: “In less than two years, my administration has accomplished more than almost any administration in the history of our country.” #UNGA

@FoxNews .@POTUS: “America’s economy is booming like never before.” #UNGA
posted by scalefree at 4:43 PM on September 25, 2018 [4 favorites]


I missed it too, and they're fixing the story, but this week has been so awful that the Post's reporters just wrote, "Inside the Justice Department on Wednesday," and we all just assumed that so many things have happened, Wednesday must have passed already.
posted by zachlipton at 4:48 PM on September 25, 2018 [6 favorites]




McConnell: I Believe We Have The Votes To Confirm Kavanaugh
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) indicated Tuesday that the GOP was full steam ahead in putting on the Supreme Court Judge Brett Kavanaugh, who faces allegations for sexual misconduct.

“I believe he’ll be confirmed, yes,” McConnell said at a press conference at the Capitol, when asked if he had the votes.
posted by kirkaracha at 5:13 PM on September 25, 2018 [1 favorite]


Ford's motivation (for wanting senators to ask their own questions) is a bit of a mystery to me.

I can’t speak for her but if a bunch of creepy old white men wanted to ask questions about my assault as a show trial before putting my assailant on the Supreme Court I’d damn well demand they look me in the eye while they did it.
posted by winna at 5:16 PM on September 25, 2018 [69 favorites]


The more I hear about election shenanigans, the more I want a law that boils down to, "if you are found guilty if breaking election finance laws, your campaign is scuttled. You are removed from the ballot; if it's too late to change the ballots, votes for you will not be counted. If the fraud is discovered after the election, you will be removed from office."

I don't care if this means the 4th-place candidate gets elected in a few places; I'm willing to deal with Peace & Freedom hippie wingnuts in office for a few years while the R's and D's figure out that no, you really can't ignore the parts of the law you don't like.
posted by ErisLordFreedom at 5:18 PM on September 25, 2018 [47 favorites]


scalefree: Fox News covers Trump's UN speech...very carefully. See if you can spot what they cut. It's very subtle.

The following program was filmed before a live studio audience whose reaction has been removed in post-production out of respect for the performers.
posted by InTheYear2017 at 5:18 PM on September 25, 2018 [11 favorites]


The more I hear about election shenanigans, the more I want a law that boils down to, "if you are found guilty if breaking election finance laws, your campaign is scuttled. You are removed from the ballot; if it's too late to change the ballots, votes for you will not be counted. If the fraud is discovered after the election, you will be removed from office."

I don't care if this means the 4th-place candidate gets elected in a few places..
Are you willing to give the power of enforcement over who can run effectively to the party currently in office? Because we've seen what happens in authoritarian states when autocrats use such laws against their opponents and as a general rule it does not result in less corruption.
posted by Nerd of the North at 5:22 PM on September 25, 2018 [23 favorites]


The Republicans are hiring a sex crime prosecutor to question Ms. Ford?

It's pretty clear who they think is on trial here.
posted by JackFlash at 5:26 PM on September 25, 2018 [24 favorites]


Almost every law has the issue, "but are you okay with the guys in charge now deciding how this gets implemented?" I'm not willing to accept that means we shouldn't have laws.

Throw in checks and balances ; make the accusations get confirmed by nonpartisan or bipartisan committees; put the end results up for public review so the people can see exactly how the numbers didn't add up--whatever it takes. But start making the penalties for breaking these laws severe, not on the level of "if you're a millionaire, you can ignore any fine this might trigger."
posted by ErisLordFreedom at 5:30 PM on September 25, 2018 [5 favorites]


McConnell: I Believe We Have The Votes To Confirm Kavanaugh

Maybe, if the vote was held right now. More information over the next few days is likely to change that.
posted by rhizome at 5:35 PM on September 25, 2018 [6 favorites]


Unnamed woman named.

@WaPoSean: NEWS, w/ @jdawsey1 @PostRoz: Rachel Mitchell, an AZ sex crimes prosecutor, has emerged as Senate Republicans' choice to question Kavanaugh's accuser before the Judiciary panel, per two people familiar w/the decision.

Per their story, she's the "likely candidate."
posted by zachlipton at 5:45 PM on September 25, 2018 [2 favorites]


McConnell, like Trump, works on the Theory of Infallibility. He won’t admit weakness. He wouldn’t admit he doesn’t have the votes to confirm. Doesn’t mean he had them.
posted by kerf at 5:47 PM on September 25, 2018 [5 favorites]


McConnell: I Believe We Have The Votes To Confirm Kavanaugh

“I believe he’ll be confirmed, yes,” McConnell said at a press conference at the Capitol, when asked if he had the votes.


That's a really poor paraphrase by TPM. "I believe he'll be confirmed" is absolutely not the same as "I believe we have the votes". In fact it's basically a tacit admission that he doesn't currently have the votes. (I see I disagree with rhizome on this.)

If he had the votes he'd say he had the votes. But he wouldn't say he had the votes, he simply said he believed that Kavanaugh would eventually be confirmed.
posted by Justinian at 5:47 PM on September 25, 2018 [12 favorites]


Arizona. Wonder how much of this decision was picking somebody Jeff Flake knows and likes.
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 5:49 PM on September 25, 2018


Nah, no disagreement. My "maybe" was sarcastic. And really, who knows, but yeah, they aren't voting today anyway.
posted by rhizome at 5:50 PM on September 25, 2018


The Republicans are hiring a sex crime prosecutor to question Ms. Ford?

It's pretty clear who they think is on trial here.


At the very least Democrats should insist she be used to question Kavanaugh as well. Out of fairness.
posted by scalefree at 5:51 PM on September 25, 2018 [4 favorites]


google-fu suggests Mitchell is indeed an experienced sex crimes attorney. She is bureau chief for Maricopa County's Sex Crimes unit. If Maricopa County sounds familiar it's because it was the place Joe Arpaio dominated for 25 years. That's... not great.
posted by Justinian at 5:53 PM on September 25, 2018 [44 favorites]


Ah, the county that let 400 child molestation incidents go uninvestigated because the kids were brown.
posted by ocschwar at 6:00 PM on September 25, 2018 [53 favorites]


google-fu suggests Mitchell is indeed an experienced sex crimes attorney. She is bureau chief for Maricopa County's Sex Crimes unit. If Maricopa County sounds familiar it's because it was the place Joe Arpaio dominated for 25 years. That's... not great.

True, but from what I've seen of Ford's lawyers, they are top notch and know what they're doing. I don' think this will throw them.
posted by bluesky43 at 6:01 PM on September 25, 2018 [1 favorite]


Reportedly, the plan is for the outside counsel to question both Kavanaugh and Blasey.
The Republicans are hiring a sex crime prosecutor to question Ms. Ford?

It's pretty clear who they think is on trial here.
Would you rather the senate hire a defense lawyer to run the hearing?
posted by mbrubeck at 6:01 PM on September 25, 2018 [3 favorites]


Ramirez's lawyer looks like a pro too. CNN interview.
posted by bluesky43 at 6:03 PM on September 25, 2018 [1 favorite]


It does make McConnell's description of her as a female assistant even more dubious. It remains to be seen if she's a partisan hack but she's been practicing law and prosecuting sex crimes for what looks to me to be about 25 years.
posted by Justinian at 6:04 PM on September 25, 2018


Here's an old article about how Mitchell got her gig. It was playing nice with Arpaios crew.
posted by SecretAgentSockpuppet at 6:04 PM on September 25, 2018 [13 favorites]


Would you rather the senate hire a defense lawyer to run the hearing?

no.

I am sure we would all secretly welcome the opportunity to send a lawyer of any variety to work for us on Thursday to do our jobs for us, so that we didn't have to fulfill our own obligations or do anything difficult on our own, but those of us who are not Republican senators wouldn't dream of actually doing that and would be ashamed to try.
posted by queenofbithynia at 6:06 PM on September 25, 2018 [7 favorites]


Also, please note the other Rachael in that story, as that's the one who is more likely to jump at an opportunity to be in the spotlight.
posted by SecretAgentSockpuppet at 6:06 PM on September 25, 2018




At the very least Democrats should insist she be used to question Kavanaugh as well. Out of fairness.

She may well on behalf of the Republicans, but she will be questioning Kavanaugh as a defense attorney, not as a prosecutor. Democrats can't make her ask hard questions. Democrats will have to ask the hard questions of Kavanaugh themselves.

The question times are allotted as 5 minutes per senator. The prosecutor will be using the 5 minutes allotted to the 11 Republican senators -- 55 minutes questioning Ms. Ford. It is not known who on the Republican side will question Kavanaugh. It could be the Republican senators themselves or they could delegate the task to the same prosecutor. But either way you can bet all of those questions will be used to rehabilitate Kavanaugh.

The Democrats with 10 members will be allotted 50 minutes questioning Ms. Ford and 50 minutes questioning Kavanaugh. It is unknown who will be doing those questions. Hopefully the Democratic members will yield their time to the best qualified members to do all of the questions.
posted by JackFlash at 6:08 PM on September 25, 2018 [7 favorites]


The standard move is for Senators to use much of their allotted time to make ridiculous and pompous speeches before sliding in one or two quick and useless questions before time expires. Given the Republican grilling of Ford will (it seems) be an hour of coordinated and unified questioning by an experienced prosecutor it would be an utter disaster if Democrats have 10 different Senators do their usual garbage job.

They better have a meeting and decide how they are going to handle this. Because Dick Durbin saying some bullshit nobody cares about for 4 minutes out of 5 and then Cory Booker railing against the injustice of it all for 4 minutes out of 5 and then Leahy putting us all to sleep with his droning incoherence for 30 minutes out of 5 is not going to serve anyone well. Not Ford, not themselves, and not the country.
posted by Justinian at 6:13 PM on September 25, 2018 [42 favorites]


Would you rather the senate hire a defense lawyer to run the hearing

I'd rather the Senate didn't outsource at all.
posted by ChurchHatesTucker at 6:17 PM on September 25, 2018 [4 favorites]


“Everyone cede their time to Kamala Harris” doesn’t seem super complicated to me
posted by schadenfrau at 6:25 PM on September 25, 2018 [71 favorites]


“Everyone cede their time to Kamala Harris” doesn’t seem super complicated to me

Have you seen a Senator who knows they're on TV?
posted by 922257033c4a0f3cecdbd819a46d626999d1af4a at 6:28 PM on September 25, 2018 [30 favorites]


I am cackling at my desk because TIL that some states make your mommy and daddy give you "permission" to opt out of your loyalty oath to the Freedom Textile and oh my god what.

It's like West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette never happened.
posted by mikelieman at 6:32 PM on September 25, 2018 [5 favorites]


Texas’s Unopposed Motion to Intervene
Page 3 of 6
3. Texans also recognize that a critical aspect of the liberty guaranteed by the United States Constitution — and represented by the United States flag — is a parent’s right to direct the education and upbringing of his or her children. See Washington v. Glucksberg, 521 U.S. 702, 720 (1997).
Emphasis mine, and WTF????

Washington v. Glucksberg, 521 U.S. 702 (1997)
Primary Holding

A state is permitted under the Fourteenth Amendment to pass a law prohibiting assisted suicide.

Facts

Under the Natural Death Act of 1979, the state of Washington prohibited assisted suicide. The law was challenged by Harold Glucksberg and four other doctors in conjunction with a group of terminally ill individuals and Compassion in Dying, an organization that provided guidance for people considering assisted suicide. They persuaded a federal district court that the right to die was part of the liberty interest protected by the Fourteenth Amendment. Initially disagreeing with the lower court, the Ninth Circuit ultimately affirmed its decision after an en banc review.
720 has a "In a long line of cases, we have held that, in addition to the specific freedoms protected by the Bill of Rights, the "liberty" specially protected by the Due Process Clause includes" ... "to direct the education and upbringing of one's children, Meyer v. Nebraska, 262 U. S. 390 (1923); Pierce v. Society of Sisters, 268 U. S. 510 (1925);"

But why not just reference Meyer and Pierce directly???
posted by mikelieman at 6:41 PM on September 25, 2018 [8 favorites]


Wow. What the actual WHAT is this motion about? And I’m even more confused to see this coming out of Houston, of all possible areas of the state. For comparison, I teach in one of the most conservative counties (80+% voted for Trump), and when school started last month we were explicitly instructed that we could not force our students to say the pledge or even to stand during it.
posted by Daughter of Time at 6:49 PM on September 25, 2018 [2 favorites]


Kevin Cramer (GOP candidate for ND Senate) continues to put his foot in it re: Kavanaugh. I'll be honest, I struggled for a while to do a pull quote that would do his comments justice, maybe just take two minutes to go read it.

I'm beginning to take a very keen interest in any possible incidents that Cramer may have been involved in....
posted by Chrysostom at 6:54 PM on September 25, 2018 [10 favorites]


when school started last month we were explicitly instructed that we could not force our students to say the pledge or even to stand during it.

I was always curious about whether teachers were given instruction. I was always anxious about the possibility of confrontation with a teacher, but it never happened. (I also kept having first period gym when the pledge became a thing again after 9/11, so it was basically only the first day of school when I wasn't in the locker room. But I didn't hear of anyone having issues.)
posted by hoyland at 6:56 PM on September 25, 2018 [2 favorites]


mikelieman: It's like West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette never happened.

I'd never heard of that case and looked it up. Apparently the West Virginia State Board of Education also felt the decision hadn't happened, even right after it was issued in 1940; they just declared that they didn't care and would stick with the lower court's opinion, thanks. And then a generation later, the plaintiff's own son was sent to the principal's office for not saluting.

The family was Jehovah's Witnesses so they naturally objected on that basis. And at the time of the original West Virginia policy, another very common objection was the similarity of the expected Bellamy salute to the Nazi salute.

The fact that this doesn't seem to go away, and people still constantly talk about criminalizing flag-burning and the desperate need to force young people into this weird ritual, is one of those things that makes you wonder if we can ever reduce the overall level of fascism to zero or thereabouts. Like is there something in the human essence that demands that we do this stuff? Blech.
posted by InTheYear2017 at 6:59 PM on September 25, 2018 [16 favorites]


InTheYear2017: "one of those things that makes you wonder if we can ever reduce the overall level of fascism to zero or thereabouts. Like is there something in the human essence that demands that we do this stuff? Blech."
It seemed to be a chronic disease. It was as if even the most intelligent person had this little blank spot in their heads where someone had written: "Kings. What a good idea." Whoever had created humanity had left in a major design flaw. It was its tendency to bend at the knees.”

― Terry Pratchett, Feet of Clay
posted by namewithoutwords at 7:05 PM on September 25, 2018 [64 favorites]


Anita Hill Says Kavanaugh Accuser Hearing 'Cannot Be Fair' - Merrit Kennedy, Bill Chappell; NPR
A fair process would start with a "real investigation," Hill tells All Things Considered, saying the absence of other witnesses raises concerns about a he-said-she-said situation.

"It's only that kind of a situation if it's set up as that kind of a situation," Hill says. "In a real hearing and a real investigation, other witnesses would be called, including witnesses who could corroborate, witnesses who could explain the context of the experiences of Dr. Blasey Ford and Judge Kavanaugh during that period in their lives, as well as experts on sexual harassment and sexual assault."

Hill, who is now a professor of social policy, law and women's and gender studies at Brandeis University, called for a "neutral body" to investigate the allegations. She says Senate members have already indicated "the presumptions they have about the claims that have been made."
posted by ZeusHumms at 7:09 PM on September 25, 2018 [46 favorites]


But why not just reference Meyer and Pierce directly???

Because there's something about Glucksburg that the conservatives really love. Kavanaugh referenced the case multiple times during his hearings, when he should by rights have been talking about Roe, Casey, or Lawrence (according to Dahlia Lithwick's Amicus podcast last week).
posted by suelac at 7:14 PM on September 25, 2018 [2 favorites]


Y'know that feeling when you walk into a room and realize you forgot what it was you were doing?

I've had that for about two years now. Only it's "Wait - what are the Republicans doing??" Like, that innately confused face that's somewhere between anger and a fart. It's friggin exhausting. Hang in there people. Only ??? more ??? to go!
posted by petebest at 7:15 PM on September 25, 2018 [15 favorites]


Renato Mariotti
Someone should ask the Arizona state prosecutor reportedly employed by Senate Republicans about the plea deal they gave to a church elder who confessed to molesting a boy. He only received six months in prison.

Phoenix New Times: A Former Jehovah's Witness Elder Who Sexually Abused a Teenager Gets Only Six Months
posted by chris24 at 7:23 PM on September 25, 2018 [22 favorites]


Oh, man, I adore Anita Hill. Showing up and pitching in again to help her country despite the fact that the last time she tried her efforts were unappreciated and they did everything they could to punish her and make her life hell.
posted by Don Pepino at 7:24 PM on September 25, 2018 [86 favorites]


Red-state Democrats refuse to come out against Kavanaugh
[...] “I’m very open. I haven’t closed any doors at all on Kavanaugh. I just want to make sure there’s a fair, open and civil hearing,” said Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia, perhaps the most conservative Democrat. “The man has to have a chance to clear his name, but these ladies have the complete opportunity to tell their story.”

Manchin said the allegations haven’t made him any less likely to vote against Kavanaugh than he was two weeks ago: “It hasn’t changed anything. I’m still waiting for this hearing.” [...]

“They have let us know that their states are still with Kavanaugh,” said one Democratic senator, who said the press-shy Donnelly was particularly vocal about that on Tuesday at a party meeting. [...]

Liberals say they are frustrated that a half-dozen Democrats have not been willing to take a risk and oppose Kavanaugh given his beleaguered status, even calling out Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) for not being publicly opposed to Kavanaugh despite his obvious opposition. [...]

“A couple of them have said to me: The credibility of this exchange between Ford and Kavanaugh have a lot to do with their final vote,” Durbin said. “No one has announced 'yes.' That says something of itself. And the people who are announcing 'no' do that at some risk.” [...]

Jones has tweeted repeatedly about the importance of a thorough investigation into Ford’s allegation, and said Tuesday that he also would wait until Thursday to announce his decision. “I’m going through the process," he said.

Nelson, who's in a close reelection battle against Florida Gov. Rick Scott, said Tuesday he also wants to hear from Ford before deciding.
With friends like these...
posted by chortly at 7:29 PM on September 25, 2018 [16 favorites]


Trump at the UN: “The United States leads the world in foreign aid. But seldom do other countries give anything to us.” Donald Trump does not understand charity as a concept.

And that foreign aid is not just charity. It buys us goodwill and protects our interests. Our foreign aid is money well spent. It's not just given out of good will. It protects the world from war, famine, and violence of all kinds.
posted by xammerboy at 7:38 PM on September 25, 2018 [19 favorites]


Chrysostom: "Kevin Cramer (GOP candidate for ND Senate) continues to put his foot in it re: Kavanaugh."
" I mean, how many 15-year-olds handle a lot of alcohol, you know, 36 years ago? When it wasn't that common, by the way. ... Thirty-six years ago it wasn't that common for 15-year-olds to be at booze parties," Cramer said."
Kramer was in his twenties 36 years ago; he should know millenials didn't invent teenage drinking.
posted by Mitheral at 7:48 PM on September 25, 2018 [11 favorites]


While I'd be more than good with Senator Kamala Harris running the show, I also had the privilege of watching Michelle Obama speak at a private event today. Boy, can she still give you all the feels. And I believe she's still an attorney (even if inactive), so Mrs Obama and Senator Harris could make a most sensational good cop / bad cop combination. I'm only half joking.

Bonus: While she's there, we could ask Michelle if she woudn't mind giving each of the Republican senators a hug and ask them to tell her who hurt them so badly to make them this way. Inquiring minds want to know.
posted by inflatablekiwi at 7:51 PM on September 25, 2018 [8 favorites]


Michelle Goldberg in the NYT:
Pigs All the Way Down
Kavanaugh and our rotten ruling class.
posted by Joe in Australia at 7:59 PM on September 25, 2018 [5 favorites]


So here's a puzzle. Nobody seems to know exactly what this means but here it is.

@mkrasberg I am issuing the following statement:

First, I would like to commend Debbie Ramirez for being brave enough to share her story. I am humbled by the courage she has shown.

Second, I am not a part of some last-minute smear campaign.

Brett Kavanaugh was my neighbor freshman year of college. On Sep 17 he issued the following blanket denial regarding the high school claims of Professor Ford: "I have never done anything like what the accuser describes — to her or to anyone”. This blanket denial set in motion a chain of events, and The New Yorker article was the result.

Third, I agree with Debbie Ramirez that there should be an FBI investigation, in which everyone involved is interviewed.

I would note that some of the people who had signed onto a statement in support of Brett Kavanaugh (and against Debbie Ramirez) have since asked for their names to be removed. (The New Yorker article has been updated to reflect this).

Finally, I would like to thank Jane Mayer and Ronan Farrow of The New Yorker for tracking down multiple corroborating & contemporaneous sources. Now that the article has been published, there may be others who are debating whether or not to come forward. I hope they are encouraged by the strength that Debbie Ramirez has already shown.
posted by scalefree at 8:11 PM on September 25, 2018 [33 favorites]


Mark Krasberg
@mkrasberg

Assistant Professor of Neurosurgery, UNM
Albuquerque, NM
Joined October 2008

There are literally ONLY those 6 tweets. He says he was Kavanaugh's neighbor, so I presume he has some insight into Kavanaugh's activities.

He apparently believes Ramirez, a Yale classmate of Brett Kavanaugh’s, who described a dormitory party and a drunken incident that she wants the F.B.I. to investigate.
posted by mikelieman at 8:18 PM on September 25, 2018 [8 favorites]


It sounds to me like Mr. Krasberg knows for a fact there are others out there, is being cautious not to out them (and giving himself enough deniability, e.g., "there may be others," so that he cannot be compelled to name names of survivors), and is doing what he can to encourage them to go public.
posted by duffell at 8:18 PM on September 25, 2018 [14 favorites]


Assuming he's real, he seems to have created his account to post that tweet thread.
posted by scalefree at 8:18 PM on September 25, 2018 [2 favorites]


ELECTIONS NEWS - pt. 2

** 2018 House:
-- CA-45: Siena poll has Dem Porter up 48-45 on GOP incumbent Walters [MOE: +/- 4.5%]. [Clinton 50-44 | Cook: Tossup]

-- PA-07: Siena poll has Dem Wild up 50-42 on GOPer Nothstein [MOE: +/- 4.7%]. [Clinton 49-48 | Cook: Lean D]

-- CA-21: Survey USA poll has GOP incumbent Valdao up 50-39 on Dem Cox [MOE: +/- 5.4%]. [Clinton 55-40 | Cook: Likely R]

-- Another batch of the PPP polls sponsored by a progressive healthcare group, usual caution about survey design:
-- TX-32: Dem Allred up 47-42 on GOP incumbent Sessions [MOE: +/- 4.2%]. [Clinton 49-47 | Cook: Tossup]
-- TX-07: Dem Fletcher up 47-45 on GOP incumbent Culberson [MOE: +/- 4.1%]. [Clinton 49-47 | Cook: Tossup]
-- Cook: Signs of bad turnout for GOP, which would be disastrous for them.
** 2018 Senate:
-- MA: MassInc Polling has Dem incumbent Warren up 56-30 on GOPer Diehl [MOE: +/- 4.4%].

-- FL: Marist poll has Dem incumbent Nelson up 48-45 on GOPer Scott [MOE: +/- 4.7%].
** Odds & ends:
-- KS gov: Civiqs poll has Dem Kelly at 41, GOPer Kobach at 39, indy Orman at 9 [MOE: +/- 3.4%]. [Cool: Tossup]

-- FL gov: Same Marist poll has Dem Gillum up 48-43 on GOPer DeSantis. [Cook: Tossup]

-- Tom Steyer dumping $5M into GOTV efforts in Florida. This is specifically targeting the Gillum campaign, but a rising tide lifts all boats.
posted by Chrysostom at 8:20 PM on September 25, 2018 [17 favorites]


These NYT/Siena polls started out moderately good for Dems, went through a stretch of moderately good for the GOP, and are now have been quite good for the Dems for the last several districts. Tomorrow looks like we'll get a very good NJ poll and a not so hot NE one.
posted by Chrysostom at 8:22 PM on September 25, 2018 [4 favorites]


Krasberg is referenced in the Farrow/Mayer piece:

Mark Krasberg, an assistant professor of neurosurgery at the University of New Mexico who was also a member of Kavanaugh and Ramirez’s class at Yale, said Kavanaugh’s college behavior had become a topic of discussion among former Yale students soon after Kavanaugh’s nomination. In one e-mail that Krasberg received in September, the classmate who recalled hearing about the incident with Ramirez alluded to the allegation and wrote that it “would qualify as a sexual assault,” he speculated, “if it’s true.”
posted by neroli at 8:30 PM on September 25, 2018 [8 favorites]


“I believe he’ll be confirmed, yes,” McConnell said at a press conference at the Capitol, when asked if he had the votes.

If he's confirmed without an investigation, it will poison every decision that comes after. I honestly believe they come to rue the day. This will not be a "win" for them.
posted by xammerboy at 8:30 PM on September 25, 2018 [7 favorites]


They haven't paid a price for Clarence Thomas in 30 years. They won't pay a price for Kavanaugh either unless Democrats use it as the reason to pack the Court. And well, Chuck Schumer.
posted by T.D. Strange at 8:33 PM on September 25, 2018 [46 favorites]


Assuming he's real, he seems to have created his account to post that tweet thread.

He joined twitter 10 years ago.
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 8:49 PM on September 25, 2018 [3 favorites]


If we're doing Kreminology, it seems that Mitchell has given only two at-length interviews in her career. One was to the local NPR station quite recently. Josh Marshall points out that the other was to "Fundamental Baptist Fellowship International" in 2012, an org closely associated with Bob Jones University and which espouses hyper-traditional gender roles, sexuality, and sexual ethics. He says the content of the interview are non-controversial, dealing with helping churches and such develop best practices for dealing with child sexual abuse.

Could be a coincidence that in her career that was one of the only two places she gave an interview. Y'all can read the entrails for yourselves.
posted by Justinian at 8:52 PM on September 25, 2018 [3 favorites]




We are fucking WINNING

Don’t let up
posted by schadenfrau at 9:03 PM on September 25, 2018 [83 favorites]


Thirty-six years ago it wasn't that common for 15-year-olds to be at booze parties," Cramer said.

while i was 15, lo, about 30 years ago, we "handled" a lot of alcohol; a party was neither required nor uncommon among two different school communities of the ilk of kavanaugh's high school... except both co-ed. (no, gentle reader, i was not expelled for being a wastrel; my family moved.) at both institutions there were wildly, dangerously decadent parties, generally held in the home of a student whose parents were away, or permissive to the point of negligence (a member of my 5th grade class had to be taken to the hospital w/ alcohol poisoning; those of us who didn't go to that one were envious). if there were no parties, alcohol could be got: i recall buying beer freely (or w/ a really obviously fake ID) in bethesda and dc (had to go to dc for the liquor), drinking it in a park not far from the zoo, any number of parking garages, or in classmates' lofts, basements, outbuildings, around campfires on "the land." oh yeah: also at various churchy youth group activities.

little-known fact: the beer bong was invented at a party by a group of fifteen-year-old sumerian youth. [FAKE, or, at least, MADE UP W/ NO REGARD FOR FACT]

six years earlier than that there were no booze parties, but i was certainly interested in learning more about alcohol. probably stole my first swig from the liquor cabinet round about that age.

um, recent (abandoned, for reasons of heightened risk of nostalgic tedium) review of HS yearbook noted 5 overt references to alcohol and 6 incantations of "beach week" among the 14 (of a class numbering 54) senior yearbook pages reviewed. to my surprise, the page representing an earlier me made reference to neither alcohol nor beach week. (this, pursuant to earlier megathread discussion of relative rarity of references to booze, fwiw).
posted by 20 year lurk at 9:22 PM on September 25, 2018 [5 favorites]


I'm still unclear as to whether they'll allow any Senators ( D included ) to ask questions.

I read somewhere that Democrats will not be forced to use the Arizona sex crimes prosecutor. I have not seen any count of how many will cede to Kamala Harris or Amy Klobuchar. Would love to see the latter get an extended go, since so many Mefites said earlier that she is funnier than Al Franken.
posted by msalt at 9:43 PM on September 25, 2018 [2 favorites]


His highschool misdeeds could've been explained. He didn't even try. He flat lied about all of it.

It's not just youthful whatever, not a product of a different time, he's lying about it today. That reflects on his character today, not in highschool. And it's entirely consistent with his actions as an adult, as the most perverted member of the Starr team, as a judge who lied in his first confirmation hearing, and who's lying now.

Brett Kavanaugh is a bad person, today. He's always been a bad person, from birth. Period. That's why Republicans like him. Period.
posted by T.D. Strange at 9:45 PM on September 25, 2018 [77 favorites]


He joined twitter 10 years ago.

@mkrasberg I don't use twitter very often - once every ten years or so - if you are concerned as to whether or not this is me please see Jane Mayer's tweet on Sep 25: https://twitter.com/janemayernyer
posted by scalefree at 10:02 PM on September 25, 2018 [1 favorite]


I'm still unclear as to whether they'll allow any Senators ( D included ) to ask questions. ... I read somewhere that Democrats will not be forced to use the Arizona sex crimes prosecutor.

Each party hires their own staff members. The Arizona prosecutor does not work for the Democrats. She was hired and paid by the Republicans and works for them as a Republican Senate staff member.

Democrats could hire their own staff member for questioning, but I think they plan to do the questioning themselves.
posted by JackFlash at 10:04 PM on September 25, 2018 [1 favorite]


Rand Paul Wants to Scrap Some U.S. Sanctions on Russia The senator will introduce a bill to lift U.S. sanctions on Russian lawmakers if the Kremlin does the same for U.S. lawmakers, The Daily Beast has learned.
Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) is introducing an amendment that would lift U.S. sanctions on Russian lawmakers, The Daily Beast has learned.

The amendment, which will be introduced at a Senate Foreign Relations Committee meeting on Wednesday, stipulates that existing U.S. sanctions on members of the Russian Federal Assembly will be lifted if Moscow agrees to lift its own sanctions on certain American members of Congress.

Paul’s amendment is not likely to go anywhere on a foreign relations panel that is overwhelmingly skeptical of Russia and unwilling to lift sanctions in exchange for such a concession as the one Paul has outlined. At least one fellow senator—who herself is banned from traveling to Russia—is already objecting.

“Thanks, but no thanks. As a senator who has been sanctioned by the Kremlin, I see absolutely no need for this amendment and strongly believe that sanctions should continue to be enhanced for Russian leadership rather than weakened,” Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), who was denied a Russian visa last year, told The Daily Beast. “As the Kremlin continues to attack our institutions and democracy, this amendment would be a capitulation to Putin’s aggression.”
posted by scalefree at 10:11 PM on September 25, 2018 [14 favorites]


What do the Russians have on Paul? It is just incredibly obvious that there's something.
posted by jaduncan at 10:23 PM on September 25, 2018 [41 favorites]


The amendment, which will be introduced at a Senate Foreign Relations Committee meeting on Wednesday, stipulates that existing U.S. sanctions on members of the Russian Federal Assembly will be lifted if Moscow agrees to lift its own sanctions on certain American members of Congress.

I sure do love fair exchanges! How about this one, Senator Paul: you and everyone as rich as you can give back all the wealth you stole from the rest of us. In return, we'll give back all the wealth we stole from you!
posted by J.K. Seazer at 10:26 PM on September 25, 2018 [33 favorites]


They handed a photo of Kavanaugh's 1982 June/July calendar to the press. I'm really not sure how anybody thought this would prove he was too busy for sexual assault. Folks are digging into details like the party on the 4th of July.
posted by zachlipton at 11:08 PM on September 25, 2018 [7 favorites]


- What do the Russians have on Paul? It is just incredibly obvious that there's something.

Russian stooge as a family pastime?

Speculation that Russia used the 2008 Ron Paul presidential bid as a trial balloon for election interference - But with the hindsight after the 2016 election, also a different take is possible: Ron Paul was supported by the Kremlin. The phenomena seem so familar now: An outsized Internet presence for a no-name candidate with techniques that went from the obnoxious to the fraudulent to the illegal, aggressive hordes of pre-Pepe trolls, and financial inflows that stagger belief.
posted by Iris Gambol at 11:13 PM on September 25, 2018 [21 favorites]


In contrast, USA Today is breaking news in the middle of the night that is more meaningful, Kavanaugh accuser Christine Blasey Ford offers Senate four people who corroborate her assault claims
The attorneys for Christine Blasey Ford have sworn and signed declarations from four people who corroborate her claims of sexual assault by Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh.

In documents sent to the Senate Judiciary Committee and obtained early Wednesday morning by USA TODAY, Ford’s attorneys present declarations from Ford’s husband, Russell, and three friends who support the California college professor’s accusation that Kavanaugh pinned her to a bed, groped her and attempted to pull off her clothes while both were high school students in 1982.
...
In her declaration, Adela Gildo-Mazzon said Ford told her about the alleged assault during a June 2013 meal at a restaurant in Mountain View, California, and contacted Ford’s attorneys on Sept. 16 to tell them Ford had confided in her five years ago.
...
In another declaration, Keith Koegler said Ford revealed the alleged assault to him in 2016, when the two parents were watching their children play in a public place and discussing the “light” sentencing of Stanford University student Brock Turner.
posted by zachlipton at 11:14 PM on September 25, 2018 [48 favorites]


They handed a photo of Kavanaugh's 1982 June/July calendar to the press

June 16: “Go to Grease II w/ Suzanne”

This calendar is fake as shit, lol
posted by Atom Eyes at 11:25 PM on September 25, 2018 [33 favorites]


I bet Nikki suspected something was up.
posted by rhizome at 11:33 PM on September 25, 2018


In the midst of so many Constitutional & otherwise critical crises to our nation this is small & insignificant but I feel it speaks to the zeitgeist nonetheless. As far as I can tell it appears authentic.

@indivis_Nville It's traditional for the President to send congratulatory letters to boys who have reached the rank of Eagle Scout. Parents or troop leaders request these letters. It's routine. Here is the letter my friend's son received from Donald J Trump. [image]
posted by scalefree at 11:37 PM on September 25, 2018 [74 favorites]


Two from the WaPo, Three Yale Law School classmates who endorsed Kavanaugh call for investigation into sexual misconduct claims.

Kavanaugh’s ‘choir boy’ image on Fox interview rankles former Yale classmates:
Brookes said she remembers seeing Kavanaugh outside the Sterling Memorial Library, wearing a superhero cape and an old leather football helmet and swaying, working to keep his balance.

He was ordered to hop on one foot, grab his crotch and approach her with a rhyme, Brookes said. He couldn’t keep balanced, she said, but belted out the rhyme she’s remembered to this day: “I’m a geek, I’m a geek, I’m a power tool. When I sing this song, I look like a fool.”

“It’s a funny, drunk college story that you remember — at least, I remember,” Brookes said.
posted by peeedro at 11:37 PM on September 25, 2018 [29 favorites]




What was Dr Strawberry?

probably weed
they still sold those strawberry flavored JOB rolling papers in '84, IF I recall correctly
posted by thelonius at 2:18 AM on September 26, 2018 [3 favorites]


This calendar is fake as shit, lol

I'd like to know what the circled numbers are for

They're in order, but not sequential

Is this the Keg Count?
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 2:34 AM on September 26, 2018 [1 favorite]


I think those are the beach days.

The movie thing is weird. It's like somebody said, 'what do super moral teens do in the eighties? They go see PG flicks. Yeah! What big name movies were playing that month!'

I mean, I went to the movies a lot as a kid in the eighties, also wrote down a bunch of shit in the cal, but never I WILL GO SEE GREASE WITH SUSAN because a) What if that movie stopped playing in the theater? What if Susan changed her mind? And WTF would I put a particular movie down, it would just be movie/susan or something.

Oh, I don't know, maybe he just was just weird that way. A incorrigible liar with a drinking problem, a mutliple-account sexual offender, who also liked to write down GREASE II WITH BOBBY ON SAT for some weird reason.
posted by angrycat at 2:50 AM on September 26, 2018 [9 favorites]


Oh, I don't know, maybe he just was just weird that way. A incorrigible liar with a drinking problem, a mutliple-account sexual offender, who also liked to write down GREASE II WITH BOBBY ON SAT for some weird reason.

Since it's part of the record apparently, "Where did you go, and what did you do after the movie(s)?" would be a reasonable line of questioning.
posted by mikelieman at 3:28 AM on September 26, 2018 [4 favorites]


I doubt I could even get 5/4 odds that we're about to learn that "Suzanne" is one of the unidentified women who has stepped forward to report their assault this week.

(And, really. Would anyone have written "Suzanne"? Surely "S", "Suz", or "Suzy" when scribbled on a calendar?)
posted by maxwelton at 3:43 AM on September 26, 2018 [1 favorite]


Here is the letter my friend's son received from Donald J Trump.

A letter thanking them for their thoughts and prayers at the loss of Barbara Bush.

From the most well-oiled people, and a certainly very stable, I would say genius administration. It's true, folks. It's incredible.
posted by petebest at 4:07 AM on September 26, 2018 [10 favorites]


A letter thanking them for their thoughts and prayers at the loss of Barbara Bush.

On the occasion of his becoming an Eagle Scout. This is just such deep incompetence it's laughable. It's just a farce.
posted by scalefree at 4:19 AM on September 26, 2018 [10 favorites]


Someone I know who works at a UN agency said the media is making the laughter to be more of a deal than it really was. That it was par for course and not a big deal. Idk.

Just as a fan of comedy and another hapless witness to this trainwreck of a Predisent, I have to agree it wasn't as dramatic as all that. In fact, and I say this as someone who is way disthrilled with all things Trümp, I thought it was one of the very few times he seemed genuine and in the moment. Maybe the only time. There was a real streak of humanity in his latest obvious misstep on the world stage where he kind of flinched before turning it around on some faux self-deprecation that elicited a relieved wave of laughter from most of the audience.

For a very brief half-second I sort of empathized with the guy. I mean, he's up there on the green marble stage of his hometown, leader of the free world, just waving his flappy tie and ridiculous hair around, like normal, y'know, and he gets to the part his "loyal" lickspittles have put in there just for him, it always gets a big reaction, right? And boom - there he is naked and utterly unprepared for the final exam - in front of "the world". For that tiny sliver of time that it took for his remaining healthy neurons to register and regret - I kinda felt embarrassed for him. But he mugged and shrugged and sqibbity-blabbity-doo through the power of the US Presidency, Dog help us, he turned it around and gave the audience a chance to laugh for real, and it worked for him.

Of course, he puts innocent children in cages and will certainly roil in his own grave as the monstrous fraud of a human he is, but hey I'm not made of stone y'know. I appreciate when somebody can Dangerfield themselves out of a jam.
posted by petebest at 4:29 AM on September 26, 2018 [28 favorites]


I doubt I could even get 5/4 odds that we're about to learn that "Suzanne" is one of the unidentified women who has stepped forward to report their assault this week.

A Suzanne Matan has been making the rounds attempting to defend him:
[NYT]“These guys weren’t any different than other boys high schools across the country,” said Suzanne Matan, a friend of Judge Kavanaugh’s from their high school days. “And I chose to hang out with those boys and many other girls did, too, because they were fun, and they were safe, and they were respectful.”
posted by melissasaurus at 4:29 AM on September 26, 2018


Thirty-six years ago it wasn't that common for 15-year-olds to be at booze parties," Cramer said.

Thirty-six years ago it was the 1980s, and every god-damn teen movie i saw in the 1980s had a scene at a party that was being held at someone's house because their parents were out of town so they could break into the liquor cabinet and get trashed. In several movies such a party was a major plot point that lead to popularity for our leads. Hell, in Fast Times at Ridgemont High the fact that there was drinking was accepted as a given; the real newsmaking element was that Spicoli had managed to hire Van Halen.

Some people are trying very, very hard to forget their teen years and it's making me wonder why.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 4:43 AM on September 26, 2018 [80 favorites]


A lot of talk about "back in the day, 15-year-olds didn't drink"... I think it can be legitimately explained by having a different life experience, not watching those movies, whatever. But regardless, it's nothing compared to the rest of the interview. Here are my OMG moments:
"My point was that there was no type of intercourse or anything like that," Cramer said. "That was my point, that nothing happened in terms of a sexual event beyond, obviously, the attack."
Except, obviously, the attack. He still calls it an "attack" while minimizing it! Does the Onion write his talking points? And this:
"Even if it's all true, does it disqualify him? It certainly means that he did something really bad 36 years ago. But does it disqualify him from the Supreme Court?"

The interviewer then pointed out that, if the allegations are true, Kavanaugh would have lied under oath.

"I think that disqualifies him," Cramer responded. "If it's found that he knew -- that he recalls it, and knew it happened and lies about it, that's -- then I think that would disqualify him. Because that's what he's doing today, not 36 years ago."
How often has an interviewer managed to make a politician pull a 180 simply by pointing out a basic truth?
posted by InTheYear2017 at 5:05 AM on September 26, 2018 [37 favorites]


Yard sign report:

Every year in September-ish, our church holds a weekend retreat near Great Falls, VA. And every year I drive past bungalows and mcmansions alike with lots of YUGE yard signs in support of Republican candidates, with no Democrats' names to be seen.

Great Falls is in Virginia's 10th Congressional district, a northern Virginia swing district represented by Republican Barbara Comstock. When we drove through last weekend, I'd say the yard sign ratio was 5:2 in favor of her Democratic opponent, Jennifer Wexton. And this is in what I imagine is a more conservative stretch of VA-10.
posted by duffell at 5:07 AM on September 26, 2018 [18 favorites]


The thing is, I wouldn't be surprised if Kavanaugh were a perfect gentleman with Suzanne. He bonded with other guys by sexually humiliating women whom they thought didn't deserve respect. Suzanne was probably a "nice girl," the kind of girl whom you date and marry. Christine Blasey went to a non-Catholic school and wasn't part of upper-class D.C. Catholic society, so she was a slut. (When I was 14, I dated a guy who went to St. Anselm's, another elite D.C. Catholic boy's school. He literally assumed that he was going to lose his virginity immediately, because I wasn't Catholic, and having sex wouldn't be a big deal to me. To be fair, he didn't push it at all when I told him that I was not going to have sex with him anytime soon. He was genuinely a good guy who had been given some weird messages.) Deborah Ramirez was working-class and half Puerto Rican, so she was absolutely fair game. And if you're the moral equivalent of Kavanaugh and his friends but you're a woman, what you do is look the other way, because their behavior doesn't affect you or anyone you care about.

The idea that there's no room on that calendar for drunken parties is kind of hilarious.
posted by ArbitraryAndCapricious at 5:09 AM on September 26, 2018 [79 favorites]


I’m not sure idly speculating about his calendar is a good use of thread space.
posted by lazaruslong at 5:11 AM on September 26, 2018 [11 favorites]


I'm not sure it's a good use of the national discourse.
posted by adamgreenfield at 5:15 AM on September 26, 2018 [52 favorites]


To clarify that although I gave the "booze parties" bit of the disgusting Cramer interview some benefit of the doubt, I don't think it really deserves it: a portrayal of Christine Blasey Ford as having some kind of serious alcohol problem is a major right-wing talking point at the moment.

I can't find any info on whether there's some basis in reality -- I presume that if there is, it's something she's addressed. But it's also possible it comes entirely from "admits to having had a drink once when 15". In any case, the double standard compared to men like Kavanaugh, who remains in denial to this day, is so incredibly misogynist.
posted by InTheYear2017 at 5:15 AM on September 26, 2018 [1 favorite]


NPR continues their tongue bath of republicans by having Jonah Goldberg, editor of National Review, come on the air to tell us how ridiculous democrats are for listening to a woman, and making a supreme court nomination take two weeks.
posted by SecretAgentSockpuppet at 5:17 AM on September 26, 2018 [15 favorites]


and making a supreme court nomination take two weeks.

From now on, any time someone dares complain about the left stalling a SC nomination, I'm going to point at them and screech, ala that scene from Invasion of the Body Snatchers. Only my screech will be the words "Merrick Garland".
posted by Twain Device at 5:19 AM on September 26, 2018 [43 favorites]


ArbitraryAndCapricious: I think you are right, and it goes a long way towards explaining why some women still cape for Kavanaugh (and other abusers and harassers, for that matter). Many rapists and abusers divide women into categories - "nice" girls who you might marry, and who merit respect and decent treatment, and "unworthy" girls, who are Other, and who don't. Women who have always been in Category One might not get that there is a Category Two, or may think that "those" girls deserve it out of racism or classism. (Deborah Ramirez is Puerto Rican, after all...) The reaction of some people - both men and women - to Leann Tweeden was not just that she was supposedly employed by right-wing radio, she was an underwear model and thus deserved her harassment.

So yes, I can believe that Kavanaugh treated "Suzanne" well while abusing Blasey and Ramirez because they were outsiders and therefore deserved what they got. It's an ugly and unfortunately prevalent mentality.

And I would love to see a Klobuchar/Harris tag-team questioning.
posted by Rosie M. Banks at 5:23 AM on September 26, 2018 [20 favorites]


To clarify: That calendar has zero probative value — none whatsoever. I can't believe it's being taken seriously by anyone, even those who wish to see Kavanaugh confirmed. But then, two years and counting of this national catastrophe has taught me more than I'd ever hoped to learn about the willingness of a corrupt and decaying elite to conform themselves around the Big Lie, bodily if need be.

For some reason, it was Michelle Goldberg's most recent column in the Times that really did me in on this. I remember the utterly casual misogyny and the serene entitlement of this caste from my high school years (roughly 1980-1984, as I didn't actually go to high school myself), and it was heartsickening and gorge-raising then. I never doubted the privileged ones would stop at nothing to maintain and extend their clutch on power, but it's another thing entirely to see it play out in the national media, complete with bad-faith readings like this calendar horseshit.

My sense, thankfully, is that only the true believers find it at all convincing, and that it plays poorly with just about everyone else, as it deserves to. Hopefully the blatant bad faith of this and the attempts at character assassination will prove to be enough to sink Kavanaugh in the end. It is starting to feel that way.
posted by adamgreenfield at 5:27 AM on September 26, 2018 [18 favorites]


I'm not sure it's a good use of the national discourse.

Yes, its beginning to overshadow the United Nations, the planet, and the US State Dept's repeating Trump words to OPEC on twitter. Surely, at some point, America must stop navel gazing long enough to consider saying hello to the rest of the world?
posted by infini at 5:34 AM on September 26, 2018 [5 favorites]


It's beyond stupid, but it's also the only specific thing/record he's put forward for that time period. I have no doubt that if he goes down some other evil thing will take his place, but this guy is a shit sandwich about to ascend to a position where he's going to bunch of bad things to the country and the planet.

I mean, there's nothing else to talk about but for the fact that he's an evil lying liar who has hurt people and never admitted it.
posted by angrycat at 5:37 AM on September 26, 2018 [7 favorites]


So here's the thing, infini. The Supreme Court is really, really, really important. The Supreme Court determines pretty much everything that happens in the US. In 1905, the Supreme Court decided that it was unconstitutional to have laws that protected workers from abuse, and there basically wasn't any protective labor legislation in the US for the next 30 years. And that could happen again. Kavanaugh is a reactionary: his behavior towards (some) women is not a mistake or an aberration. It's part of who he is. It's part of his overarching philosophy. If he's confirmed to the Supreme Court, he will be in a position to impose that philosophy on everyone who sets foot in the US, and it will reverberate in the rest of the world. This is not navel gazing. Our lives are at stake.
posted by ArbitraryAndCapricious at 5:46 AM on September 26, 2018 [108 favorites]


“And I chose to hang out with those boys and many other girls did, too, because they were fun, and they were safe, and they were respectful.”

How could she know? Maybe "Maureen -- Tainted Whack" thought they were perfectly respectful, too. At least if she never saw the year book.
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 5:47 AM on September 26, 2018 [10 favorites]


"Even if it's all true, does it disqualify him? It certainly means that he did something really bad 36 years ago. But does it disqualify him from the Supreme Court?"

After thinking about this for a while, I think it does. I don't believe that a crime you committed when you were an adolescent should prevent you from having a successful career, or that it stops you from becoming a good person. But this job requires you represent justice and can hand down decisions on, say abortion or juvenile crime without a good portion of the population flinching in disgust or being reminded of violent episodes in their past. Kavanaugh will likely be the deciding vote on overturning Roe v. Wade. Given what we know about his past, fairly or not, that event is going to be more traumatic, more divisive, just plain uglier, with him involved.
posted by xammerboy at 6:29 AM on September 26, 2018 [16 favorites]


To extend your line of reasoning, xammerboy, I'd say at the very least, all other things being equal, given a choice you'd want to go with the candidate who did *not* commit a crime as a teenager. And that points up one of the (many) infuriating things about this whole affair: there's no pressure from Rs in Congress to get Trump to give them a different choice. They're happy to let him stick with the candidate so clearly compromised by his connection to Justice Kennedy and his stance on holding a president legally accountable for his crimes.
posted by Rykey at 6:48 AM on September 26, 2018 [18 favorites]


So as not to abuse Edit:

Not to mention being compromised by his own fucked-up views and behavior toward women, of course.
posted by Rykey at 6:50 AM on September 26, 2018 [6 favorites]


"Even if it's all true, does it disqualify him? It certainly means that he did something really bad 36 years ago. But does it disqualify him from the Supreme Court?"

For practical purposes, yes, it should, for several reasons:

First, we already accept that a lot of things that happen in late adolescence shape your life. If he'd committed a felony, he wouldn't be up for the Supreme Court. If he'd crashed and burned academically, his wealth and privilege would have smoothed his later life, but he wouldn't be up for the Supreme Court. Honestly, everything that was done for/happened to him in terms of wealth and coddling brought him to this nomination. His life was very much shaped by his late adolescence, and as long as that's the case, there's no reason that a sexual assault shouldn't count.

Second, not all young men assault women. It's not just "whoops I'm a great person I just assaulted this woman one time". Holding a woman down and physically attacking her requires a level of commitment to harming women. Intentionally harming another person shows your character. We can all look back at our adolescences and remember that there were good guys and okay guys and guys who weren't that great but weren't rapists - this is absolutely a case of #NotAllMen.

Third, as evidence has shown over and over again, the type of man who intentionally assaults women isn't okay. It's an indicator, as when a small child tortures animals. And just as you'd predict, Kavanaugh's willingness to assault a woman predicted further abuse of women and predicted a hardened ideology of woman-hating.

Now, in theory, Kavanaugh could have done this and then totally changed - but we'd see evidence of total change. There'd be this one report and nothing; perhaps disgust at his own behavior would have turned him into an advocate for women, and at the very least he'd have a typical track record.

But in general, yeah, I think that to be on the safe side committing sexual assault should keep you off the judiciary. It's a consequence. We have no hesitation in dealing out extremely brutal, heavy duty consequences to less privileged teens, so I have no hesitation in proposing this one for the type of men who become judges.

Underlying all this excuse-making are two ideas - the idea that rape is natural, so the same boys who understand full well what they need to do to get into Harvard can't be expected to understand that in order to get into the judiciary they need not to rape; and the idea that hatred of women is not ideological, just some kind of opinion. But "women shouldn't have birth control" is an ideological position, not just a difference of opinion, and it stems from an ugly set of woman-hating beliefs that inform all other aspects of the belief-holder's life. If someone says, "women shouldn't have birth control", they're not likely to say "but women should have comprehensive sex education, rape should be prosecuted, the state should provide day care, wages must be equal in all industries and being gay is A-okay"...and that's because "women should not have birth control" is an ideological position that's part of a bigger worldview.

Kavanaugh hates women, and it's apparent in both his behavior and his ideology. His behavior predicts his ideology, and that's precisely why it should keep him off the court.
posted by Frowner at 6:54 AM on September 26, 2018 [133 favorites]


How Brett Kavanaugh Erases Inconvenient Women (Dahlia Lithwick, Slate)
If we have learned anything from this process, it is that he has shown himself time and again to be someone who doesn’t have a good deal of empathy or solicitude for women not in his immediate orbit.
posted by ZeusHumms at 6:55 AM on September 26, 2018 [17 favorites]


Holding a woman down and physically attacking her requires a level of commitment to harming women.

Even more than a commitment to harming women, it shows a commitment to performative masculinity for other men. Once again dropping in Lili Loofbourow's article, Brett Kavanaugh and the Cruelty of Male Bonding.
posted by Sophie1 at 7:04 AM on September 26, 2018 [26 favorites]


Some people are trying very, very hard to forget their teen years and it's making me wonder why.

Case in point, Brian Kilmeade is VERY upset that high school actions could derail someone's life. Like seriously watch this because whoa, are there any unsolved crimes from where/when he grew up?

Bobby Lewis (MMFA)
After Brian Kilmeade diminishes Ford/Ramirez's allegations as "when in doubt, go back to high school and college" his co-hosts try to do damage control, but he yells over them about how unfair it is that we “go back to high school to stop you from moving forward.”

VIDEO
posted by chris24 at 7:06 AM on September 26, 2018 [18 favorites]


Felony Disenfranchisement (YT): Last Week Tonight with John Oliver

The Future Of 1.4 Million Floridians With Felony Convictions Is On The Ballot In November - Allegra Kirkland, Talking Points Memo
Any Floridian convicted of a felony must now wait at least five years after completing their sentences — including parole or probation and paying off any fines — to apply for the opportunity to come before the [state clemency board, led by Florida's governor] and make a “pitch” to get their voting rights back. Roughly 3,000 people have had their rights restored in the past eight years, and the state has a backlog of over 10,000 cases.

The Scott administration claims that this case-by-case approach is necessary to prevent the swift restoration of voting rights to those undeserving of that privilege.

Both the FRRC campaign [Florida Rights Restoration Commission] and the plaintiffs in Hand v. Scott, a federal lawsuit currently winding its way through the courts, disagree. Though these efforts are separate, their arguments are similar: rights restoration should be an automatic, evenly applied process not left up to the whim of four elected officials or a change in administration. Formerly incarcerated people don’t want a free pass, they want to be able to participate in the political system that has indelibly shaped their lives.

The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals will likely not issue a final decision in the federal lawsuit until after the November midterms. But in just a few weeks, when voters go to the polls, they could pass an amendment with the potential to transform the state’s politics.

Amendment 4 would have a dramatic impact on the lives of hundreds of thousands of disenfranchised Floridians, and on who gets voted into office in a state with razor-thin electoral margins.

A wide spectrum of interests support a swifter path to rights restoration in Florida: civil rights groups like the Brennan Center and American Civil Liberties Union, the sheriff of conservative Dixie County, a handful of Florida Republican lawmakers, church leaders, and the American Probation and Parole Association, a trade group representing people who work on parole-related issues. And while opposition to changing the law exists, that, too, doesn’t fall perfectly along partisan lines: The Koch brothers’ Freedom Partners recently threw its support behind Amendment 4, saying it “will make our society safer, our system more just.”
posted by ZeusHumms at 7:07 AM on September 26, 2018 [14 favorites]


How Brett Kavanaugh Erases Inconvenient Women (Dahlia Lithwick, Slate)

And what he's been doing, particularly with the Fox interview is straight-up, shameless, gaslighting. That and things like his cutting his wife off in the interview when she was asked her opinion as to whether there should be an FBI investigation show with absolute clarity that he hasn't changed or reformed one iota. He's still every last little bit the sociopathic predatory abuser he was 36 years ago.

Regarding the women he knew who still support him,

@ztsamudzi: I'm lukewarm about BoJack Horseman, but it's kind of a perfect show for this #MeToo moment in a lot of ways. This quote's been sitting in the pit of my stomach: "You know, it's funny; when you look at someone through rose-colored glasses, all the red flags just look like flags."
posted by Buntix at 7:11 AM on September 26, 2018 [76 favorites]


After Brian Kilmeade diminishes Ford/Ramirez's allegations as "when in doubt, go back to high school and college" his co-hosts try to do damage control, but he yells over them about how unfair it is that we “go back to high school to stop you from moving forward.”

It's funny because Kilmeade used to be really concerned over where Obama went to school.
posted by peeedro at 7:13 AM on September 26, 2018 [13 favorites]


I think if we don’t hear from Avenatti soon, we’re not going to. Honestly I was expecting it this morning, to give maximum time for journalists to dig in and make it a thing before the hearings.

Any word from the Democrats about a game plan?
posted by schadenfrau at 7:19 AM on September 26, 2018 [2 favorites]


Red-state Democrats refuse to come out against Kavanaugh
[...] “I’m very open. I haven’t closed any doors at all on Kavanaugh. I just want to make sure there’s a fair, open and civil hearing,” said Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia


My suggestion here is that we all go on outside and play a game of hide and who fucking gives a shit? Holy fuck this makes me angry. Manchin isn't on the judiciary committee so his short-term reaction is fucking meaningless. Further, we've spent the last 700 days talking endlessly about how totally empty and meaningless these Republican expressions of concern are when followed by voting to let the Trump administration get its way. But we're going to turn around and say it matters what Manchin says here?

Let the motherfucker go on tv and draw little JM + BK inside pretty hearts if that's what keeps a Democrat in a Senatorial seat. What matters is the vote and limiting the bleeding and maybe even taking the majority. Being angry if he supported Kavanaugh's confirmation would be one thing, but refusing to go on tv and maybe energize Republican votes against him in November by taking a line now? It's the smart move because it does nothing. It doesn't accelerate the vote to confirm. It doesn't provide any cover because it's just a big we'll see, it doesn't harm efforts to investigate because it doesn't say we shouldn't investigate.

Fucking circular firing squads every day.
posted by phearlez at 7:20 AM on September 26, 2018 [20 favorites]


I think if we don’t hear from Avenatti soon, we’re not going to.

It's only 7:20 a.m. on the West Coast. We've got some time.
posted by Sophie1 at 7:23 AM on September 26, 2018 [6 favorites]


From the Post, about Blasey Ford's family. This kind of makes me cry for her. https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/christine-blasey-fords-own-family-has-been-nearly-silent-amid-outpouring-of-support/2018/09/26/
posted by Cocodrillo at 7:24 AM on September 26, 2018 [4 favorites]


Any Democrat who dares to vote for this fucking rapist needs to be primaried with extreme prejudice. "But then we'll lose the state." So what? If a Democrat is indistinguishable from a raving Trumpy woman-hating loon Republican, what's the difference?
posted by FelliniBlank at 7:25 AM on September 26, 2018 [23 favorites]


"Even if it's all true, does it disqualify him?"

The word "disqualify" has pretty much lost all meaning ever since Trump was elected POTUS.
posted by sour cream at 7:28 AM on September 26, 2018 [12 favorites]


FelliniBlank, I used to have this attitude when I had a blue dog Dem US Rep. Here's the difference: if your party has majority (even with idiots who vote wrong), you get control of the committees, the floor, the agenda.
posted by rikschell at 7:29 AM on September 26, 2018 [33 favorites]


NPR continues their tongue bath of republicans by having Jonah Goldberg, editor of National Review, come on the air to tell us how ridiculous democrats are for listening to a woman, and making a supreme court nomination take two weeks.

Yesterday afternoon NPR ran a teaser that went something to the effect of "Brett Kavanaugh denies allegations of sexual misconduct," complete with a quote denying everything cribbed from Fox News. Not "Two women have now accused him of sexual assault amidst a growing body of evidence of a privileged, hard-partying lifestyle."

Being fair is one thing, and "balanced" another, but there's no reason for NPR to push the framing of Kavanaugh's innocence -- especially when his claims are highly dubious, and denying being accused of sexual assault is not news -- other than craven (and futile) appeal to the hordes of "liberal media" accusers.
posted by Gelatin at 7:31 AM on September 26, 2018 [12 favorites]


Mr. Machine and I were puttering around the kitchen this morning, doing our morning thing -- he was making toast, and I was shepherding our toddler through the very hard realities of weekday mornings where you have someone to gently wake you up, carry you out of your bed, wash and dress you, make your breakfast for you, and turn on Dinosaur Train for half an hour.

And out of the blue, at least to me, Mr. Machine says, "You know, those pages at Kavanaugh's yearbook looked exactly like the ones from my yearbooks."

And I said, "The ones from [fancy elite mid-atlantic prep school that your grandparents paid to send you to, almost twenty years after Kavanugh]?"

And he said, "Yeah. The activities were basically the same."

It was really quiet downstairs for a while, except for Dinosaur Train.
posted by joyceanmachine at 7:31 AM on September 26, 2018 [44 favorites]


Mod note: Hello friends, we've literally gone around the circuit of "Manchin and other red state Dems who sometimes vote with Repubs, worst or worst?" (checks clipboard) one hundred millions times. There's a bare patch in the lawn there where we've worn away the soil. How about let's not go again.
posted by LobsterMitten (staff) at 7:32 AM on September 26, 2018 [63 favorites]


Thirty-six years ago it was the 1980s, and every god-damn teen movie i saw in the 1980s had a scene at a party that was being held at someone's house because their parents were out of town so they could break into the liquor cabinet and get trashed.

I know, right? I was in high school and college in the 1980's. The first time I was ever really drunk was at someone's house when their parents were out of town (It was on sloe gin, for the record. I don't recommend it.) The devotion to that cultural mythology was practically religious—especially I'd say, if you were raised in a white American social class at all similar to Kavanaugh's.

Anyway, here's your daily Rudes—"Rudy Giuliani Photographed With White Nationalist Mayoral Candidate." (Via Will Sommer @ The Daily Beast)
posted by octobersurprise at 7:44 AM on September 26, 2018 [9 favorites]


Avenatti just tweeted a photo and name of his client. So, this is happening.
posted by Sophie1 at 7:46 AM on September 26, 2018 [12 favorites]


HAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHA im DYING:

Nikki Haley says the laughter Trump got at the U.N. was because world leaders "loved his honesty." [FoxNews video via aaron blakes twitter]

. . . and its Avenatti Time (tm)
posted by Exceptional_Hubris at 7:49 AM on September 26, 2018 [13 favorites]


While we’re waiting to see if Avenatti has the goods on Kavenaugh the gang rapist, here is Cory Booker’s DC office number if you feel inclined to call him and ask that he cede his time to Kamala Harris:

tel:(202) 224-3224

Jumping around Twitter my sense is that Booker might be a hold out, because he doesn’t want to give Harris the limelight ahead of the 2020 primaries.

I’m going to call and inform his staff that there’s no way in hell I’ll support a man who won’t make way for a more qualified woman for fucking President.
posted by schadenfrau at 7:49 AM on September 26, 2018 [30 favorites]


Natasha Bertrand: Avenatti has released a sworn declaration from a third Kavanaugh accuser, Julie Swetnick. She says she was a victim of a gang rape after being drugged at a party in 1982, and alleges that Kavanaugh and Mark Judge were "present."
posted by FelliniBlank at 7:51 AM on September 26, 2018 [38 favorites]


ArbitraryandCapricious, thank you for contextualizing the concern for me. I do appreciate the importance now.

However, I suspect that this week's UNGA coverage will nullify the following statement of yours:

and it will reverberate in the rest of the world.

Today is Trump's chairmanship of the UN Security Council and it will set teh tone for many more things than just what is being said.
posted by infini at 7:52 AM on September 26, 2018 [2 favorites]


Her statement also refers to beach week, on the calendar they released. that statement is really something.

Brett Kavanaugh is a credibly accused rapist and the entirety* of the GOP is fine with it as long as he rules their way once hes on the court.

[* i mean i guess well see but im not feeling good about any of their moral courage/basic decency here]
posted by Exceptional_Hubris at 7:55 AM on September 26, 2018 [6 favorites]


Swetnick's sworn declaration includes some trigger-y material, so summary: she was present at 10 or more parties where Kavanaugh and Judge were aggressive, abusive, and demeaning to girls and touched them without consent. She was aware of them spiking the punch at parties to get girls drunk. She herself was gang raped at one of these parties and believes she was drugged.
posted by FelliniBlank at 7:57 AM on September 26, 2018 [52 favorites]


Democrats represent more people -- vastly more people -- than do Republicans. If and when Democrats gain power in the White House and/or Congress, they need to stop pretending we live in a bygone era of compromise and comity and take power -- and that includes acting to reduce, whenever possible, the power of Republicans, just as Republicans constantly attack unions, teachers, and trial lawyers.

A punitive, confiscatory tax on excessive wealth would be a start, as would expanding the SCOTUS and the House of Representatives.
posted by Gelatin at 7:58 AM on September 26, 2018 [45 favorites]


She alleges that Kavanaugh routinely participated in gang rapes.
posted by schadenfrau at 7:58 AM on September 26, 2018 [38 favorites]


That should be the fucking headline, everywhere.
posted by schadenfrau at 8:00 AM on September 26, 2018 [27 favorites]


> Swetnick's sworn declaration includes some trigger-y material, so summary: she was present at 10 or more parties where Kavanaugh and Judge were aggressive, abusive, and demeaning to girls and touched them without consent. She was aware of them spiking the punch at parties to get girls drunk. She herself was gang raped at one of these parties and believes she was drugged.

> She alleges that Kavanaugh routinely participated in gang rapes.


This - this is astounding. It is inconceivable that this didn't come up in a background check. How could they nominate this monster to the Supreme Court? How is he an Appeals Court judge? In all of the US, in all of the GOP, in all of even the Federalist Society, they couldn't find a better person to nominate?

Burn it all down.
posted by RedOrGreen at 8:02 AM on September 26, 2018 [61 favorites]


Yeah, I think the most important things in the statement are that she was aware of Kavanaugh and Judge adding drugs as well as alcohol to the punch, targeting specific girls with said, and that she repeatedly saw Kavanaugh and Judge waiting their turn in line outside rooms in which incapacitated girls were being raped.

The statement is significantly more troubling than "they got touchy feely" (not that that's not bad in its own right).
posted by telepanda at 8:02 AM on September 26, 2018 [18 favorites]


Oh: and she has multiple security clearances. Because that is apparently the standard a woman must meet if she is to be believed.

Well, we hope, anyway.
posted by schadenfrau at 8:02 AM on September 26, 2018 [49 favorites]


This - this is astounding. It is inconceivable that this didn't come up in a background check. How could they nominate this monster to the Supreme Court? In all of the US, in all of the GOP, in all of even the Federalist Society, they couldn't find a better person to nominate?

All of the other candidates that have been groomed as Kavanaugh was probably come from similar environments
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 8:04 AM on September 26, 2018 [23 favorites]


she was present at 10 or more parties where Kavanaugh and Judge were aggressive, abusive, and demeaning to girls and touched them without consent. She was aware of them spiking the punch at parties to get girls drunk.

Much like Kavanaugh's dubious denials were of behavior that others witnessed, and have since contradicted, Swetnick's claims are of actions that occurred in a group. The only other witness to Ford's story is Mark Judge -- whom the Senate Republicans didn't summon to testify, of course -- but there are many people out there reading this story and remembering. Someone may well step forward and corroborate these points.
posted by Gelatin at 8:05 AM on September 26, 2018 [10 favorites]


It is, indeed, pitchfork time.
posted by Sophie1 at 8:05 AM on September 26, 2018 [107 favorites]


I argue similarly. They can't find clean backgrounds on people who will bend a knee to Trump because no one with any kind of moral fibre would so much as enter the throne room.
posted by seanmpuckett at 8:05 AM on September 26, 2018 [25 favorites]


And these all appear to have taken place in Maryland, where we all just learned that there is no statute of limitations for sexual assault.

And this account has already been corroborated by Mark Judge’s college girlfriend in the New Yorker story.

That this didn’t come up on a background check is itself a massive indictment of the FBI. That the GOP knew about this, and nominated him anyway, is not so much an indictment as a manifestation of pure fucking evil.
posted by schadenfrau at 8:06 AM on September 26, 2018 [47 favorites]


Incredibly brave and resilient women are putting their lives on the line for us. And they always have. Many of our most important employment harassment cases involved women of color who were brave enough to come forward: ex, Mechelle Vison. As a reminder, here are the support hotlines you or those you love can reach out to. It's hard for many people to breathe these days.
posted by anya32 at 8:06 AM on September 26, 2018 [38 favorites]


It is inconceivable that this didn't come up in a background check.

Our society massively underestimates how much bad shit happens to women and girls. And how much we've kept silent.

@HeidiPrzybyla: In the past 2 days, I've been contacted by complete strangers who say they were sexually assaulted over 20 years ago -- not because they want me to tell their stories or get media exposure -- but because they just want to tell someone, put it on the record. This is a moment.
posted by melissasaurus at 8:07 AM on September 26, 2018 [93 favorites]


For what this is worth, this account also completely overthrows the already-preposterous "4chan hoax" claim that had quite a few prominent conservative voices going "Aha!"

The 4chan post (at least in screenshots I've seen) gives an account of someone telling Avenatti she went to Holton-Arms, the prep school attended by Christine Blasey Ford. But this new accuser Julie Swetnick was at Gaithersburg High School; obviously the wannabe prankster was hoping to make a lucky guess and failed.
posted by InTheYear2017 at 8:11 AM on September 26, 2018 [14 favorites]


It is inconceivable that this didn't come up in a background check.

I find it entirely conceivable. Who are they going to contact for a background check? His high school buddies, or girls from other schools that he interacted with at parties?

What is being described was and is such common behavior, think of all the teen movies (especially from the 80s) that this is literally the plot of*. Why would any of the dudes he was friends with even bring it up as remarkable or worthy of further investigation?
posted by soren_lorensen at 8:12 AM on September 26, 2018 [27 favorites]


This - this is astounding. It is inconceivable that this didn't come up in a background check. How could they nominate this monster to the Supreme Court? In all of the US, in all of the GOP, in all of even the Federalist Society, they couldn't find a better person to nominate?

I'm certain that they could have found better nominees, including women nominees, that meet their Conservatism Criterion. The problem is that they didn't want to nominate these other nominees. They wanted a political hack they could rely on, someone they understood very deeply was one of them to his core. They know Kavanaugh. His pedigree is impeccable: from the rapey Yale days to the the Starr report, and Bush Jr's white house, Kavanaugh is their guy. When they look at him it's as if they're looking in a mirror. It's not just that they can trust him when it comes to how he will vote on every issue of importance, from corporate power to roe v wade to presidential immunity, they trust him on a deeper, gut level, because it's as if they're nominating themselves to the court.
posted by dis_integration at 8:15 AM on September 26, 2018 [79 favorites]


I find it entirely conceivable. Who are they going to contact for a background check? His high school buddies, or girls from other schools that he interacted with at parties?

And even if they did, how many of those people would report any of this? For some of them, it was normalized, "boys will be boys," nothing out of the ordinary, nothing to report. For others (the "good girls," the future wives), it may have been hidden. For the victims, reporting means being brutalized all over again by an entire political party.
posted by Mavri at 8:15 AM on September 26, 2018 [8 favorites]


Oh: and she has multiple security clearances. Because that is apparently the standard a woman must meet if she is to be believed.

How long before this gets used as evidence of her connections to the Deep State Conspiracy?
posted by contraption at 8:16 AM on September 26, 2018 [8 favorites]


Yeah, I N not sure what the kinds of background checks he has been through have been but I suspect it’s not much more than criminal records, confirming his resume and a credit check*. This could easily fall outside of them.

It probably shouldn’t.

* not too close a credit check either since there’s obviously something lurking there too.
posted by Artw at 8:17 AM on September 26, 2018 [9 favorites]


If Bill Cosby had experienced an FBI background check in the early 2000's, would that have necessarily turned up anything? No. It all comes down to survivors speaking out. It wouldn't even be clear to investigators that they should contact them in the first place -- which of Kavanaugh's acquaintances would have said "Be sure to talk to Julie Swetnick"?

Of course, depressingly, when victims do speak out it's rarely enough. In both cases there was an additional wildcard factor, with Cosby's crimes getting signal-boosted by a comedian, and Kavanaugh getting this nomination.
posted by InTheYear2017 at 8:20 AM on September 26, 2018 [14 favorites]


It's also interesting how much the media is tiptoeing around the class issues inherent in Kavanaugh's story. That he was from a privileged family and went to an elite school at which they knew their behavior wouldn't have consequences (put that in your "moral hazard" pipe and smoke it, David Brooks). That he was respectful toward women of his own social rank and treated those he considered inferior with contempt. We've been seeing that movie for decades now, so it's bizarre and shameful that the media so steadfastly pretends it isn't even a thing.
posted by Gelatin at 8:22 AM on September 26, 2018 [58 favorites]


It all comes down to survivors speaking out

No. They speak out. It’s just that men don’t believe them until other men start talking about it. This is not survivors’ fault for “not speaking out.” Not even fucking close.
posted by schadenfrau at 8:23 AM on September 26, 2018 [103 favorites]


I never thought I'd live to see the day I'd get to watch the patriarchy unpeeling and falling to shreds at our feet. And frankly, I still don't — but this gives me the narrowest gossamer ghost of a hope that I'm wrong about that. Burn it all down.
posted by adamgreenfield at 8:23 AM on September 26, 2018 [50 favorites]


A big part of what's going on here is that ramming through a candidate who is manifestly a monster on every level is a show of power: We can do whatever we want and rub your faces in our crapulence and there's nothing you can do about it. At this point yanking him and replacing him with a similar candidate who isn't a shitbird would be letting their enemies and lesser beings dictate to them, which would be a massive interruption to the high they're getting from exerting their power to hurt people.
posted by Pope Guilty at 8:25 AM on September 26, 2018 [73 favorites]




That is what I keep thinking about, Gelatin. That he was upper-class enough to get away with being passing-out-drunk through high school and college, that he was upper-class enough to get away with rape. That a million people who could have been great judges both in terms of intellect and in terms of moral character never got within hoping distance of Yale Law because that wasn't the privilege they were born to. We can talk seriously about "should something you did 35 years ago disqualify you from the Supreme Court" without thinking about how many people never had a snowball's chance in hell of getting onto the Supreme Court because they shoplifted a pair of sneakers 35 years ago.
posted by Jeanne at 8:28 AM on September 26, 2018 [92 favorites]


A big part of what's going on here is that ramming through a candidate who is manifestly a monster on every level is a show of power

Which is why, if Democrats take Congress an the White House in 2020 (TTTCS), they should immediately expand SCOTUS to 15 seats, making the 40-year Republican project to impose minority rule from the bench a mere footnote.

Democrats represent more people, and the system is already tilted against them. On behalf of the majority of loyal americans who do not want the foulness that Trump and his minions espouse, Democrats need to screw their courage to the sticking point and take their power back from the oligarchs who would seize it.
posted by Gelatin at 8:29 AM on September 26, 2018 [51 favorites]


Is it scarier if Kavanaugh is lying, or is it scarier if he really believes he never drank that much in high school, in spite of the universe of credible witnesses? My point is that if you believe he's being honest in his denials, they almost take the character of delusions. Is that someone that should sit on the highest court in the land? At this point, for me to take him seriously, I also have to see him as potentially pathological.
posted by xammerboy at 8:31 AM on September 26, 2018 [7 favorites]


We can talk seriously about "should something you did 35 years ago disqualify you from the Supreme Court" without thinking about how many people never had a snowball's chance in hell of getting onto the Supreme Court because they shoplifted a pair of sneakers 35 years ago.

Or simply not being a legacy admission to Yale 35 years ago. It's that simple. Our system pretends to be a meritocracy, but constantly confuses class and merit, and not accidentally.
posted by Gelatin at 8:31 AM on September 26, 2018 [75 favorites]


> Do you want to learn more about the Skripal poisonings, a pattern of assassinations, and nerve agents?

That's like asking whether you want to learn more about how Puerto Rico became the latest tax haven for the super rich - there's just no more oxygen in the room with the latest Kavanaugh stuff, and that's before Trump gets going at the UN later today.

posted by RedOrGreen at 8:35 AM on September 26, 2018 [7 favorites]


schadenfrau: This is not survivors’ fault for “not speaking out.” Not even fucking close.

"All" was a poor word choice. I meant to convey that it's generally a necessary condition (without being a sufficient one). And also that it really shouldn't have to be necessary. My point (though I don't know how this would work in practice) is that there should have been a way to catch 17-year-old Brett and Mark right away -- or even now, decades later -- without any of the women having to come forward at all.
posted by InTheYear2017 at 8:36 AM on September 26, 2018 [2 favorites]


My point is that if you believe he's being honest in his denials, they almost take the character of delusions. Is that someone that should sit on the highest court in the land?

Republicans on the Court ruled that money equals speech and that flooding politics with anonymous, unaccountable campaign cash wouldn't be perceived as corrupt by the American people.

They've accepted any number of restrictions to abortion, to the point that many American women have no access to legal abortion at all, on the pretense that said restrictions do not impose an "undue burden."

Accepting these delusions is part of adhering to a political philosophy that is not popular and does not conform to reality. But it's also a demonstration of loyalty and political reliability, as Orwell pointed out. Kavanaugh's willing accepting of delusion (much like Collins' claiming to believe he will let Roe v Wade stand) is no accident; it's part of the design.
posted by Gelatin at 8:37 AM on September 26, 2018 [8 favorites]


This - this is astounding.

My guiding heuristic for the last two years has been "However bad it looks, it's probably worse" and it hasn't failed me yet.
posted by octobersurprise at 8:37 AM on September 26, 2018 [59 favorites]


This morning's Democracy Now! interviewed David S. Glosser, Stephen Miller's uncle and retired Boston University School of Medicine and Jefferson Medical College faculty member who now works with refugees , (starts at around 29min in the full show .mp4, alt link, .torrent) who published an article in Politico last month “Stephen Miller Is an Immigration Hypocrite. I Know Because I’m His Uncle.”:
If my nephew’s ideas on immigration had been in force a century ago, our family would have been wiped out.
Followed by a discussion of recent specific anti-immigrant actions by the Trump Administration with Marielena Hincapié, Executive Director of the National Immigration Law Center.
posted by XMLicious at 8:38 AM on September 26, 2018 [15 favorites]


This Is a Very Weird and Suspect Choice
...there are some real questions worth asking about the political views of Rachel Mitchell, the Arizona prosecutor chosen by Judiciary Committee Republicans to do their questioning of Brett Kavanaugh and Christine Blasey Ford. But judged entirely on its own, this is a truly bizarre decision, quite apart from all the obvious optics about hiring an outside person to avoid having the Committee Republican men question an alleged victim of sexual assault.

Mitchell is a prosecutor who specializes in child sexual abuse cases. Those cases require all sorts of specific knowledge and experience. That experience is at best ill-suited to this assignment. Blasey Ford is a fifty-something college professor. And in any case, this isn’t a trial.
...
The Majority has approached this whole question with what I think we can only call maximal bad faith. So I really don’t know what their angle is or why they picked Mitchell. But even as bizarre and, I would argue, inappropriate a choice as this is, I’m not sure it will come off well. Blasey Ford isn’t a child and she’s not an unsophisticated person. She’s a respected psychology professor. It’s a weird choice and I’m not sure it will work to the Majority’s benefit.
posted by kirkaracha at 8:39 AM on September 26, 2018 [23 favorites]


Holy crap, he might've actually put the damn thing on his calendar
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 8:40 AM on September 26, 2018 [34 favorites]


Gleaned from Reddit, but: this is a sworn declaration, so this accusations are made under penalty of perjury.

Kavanaugh is in direct legal jeopardy now. I truly, truly fail to see how they can possibly confirm him. Especially since at some point they’ll realize that having the seat remain open is probably the only thing that can turn out their base for the midterms.

But we’re not living in a reality that makes sense, so.
posted by schadenfrau at 8:41 AM on September 26, 2018 [35 favorites]


Only half joking, but at this point forget Judge, Kavanaugh might take the 5th.
posted by chris24 at 8:45 AM on September 26, 2018 [3 favorites]


Not only are the accusations made under penalty of perjury, but she has multiple security clearances. If she is found to have committed perjury, her career in government is over. The stakes are extremely high which makes it vanishingly unlikely that she is lying.
posted by marshmallow peep at 8:46 AM on September 26, 2018 [54 favorites]




"Even if it's all true, does it disqualify him? It certainly means that he did something really bad 36 years ago. But does it disqualify him from the Supreme Court?"

Even before the allegations of Kavanaugh participating multiple times in gang rape came out, this question seems disingenuous. With the new allegations it seems like a near platonic example of rape culture in action.

As others have noted, plenty of people pay a lifelong price for vastly lesser offenses committed when they were teenagers. A black 17 year old found with a joint would most likely have been tried as an adult, been on the convicted felon list forever, and been disqualified from all federal college aid forever as a result of a drug conviction.

To say nothing of the women who have sex as teenagers and who the Republicans want to punish with children.

And, of course, while people can and do change, theoretically the Justices on the Supreme Court should be held to a higher standard. Just as there were multiple Cardinals who weren't once in the Hitler Youth, and yet the Church chose Ratzinger, so too there were multiple candidates for the Supreme Court and yet the Republicans chose Kavanaugh.

That isn't so much a statement of a belief in redemption as it is a statement in the belief that some people are just, by virtue of being rich, powerful, and white, above such petty things as needing redemption.

Which, I'd argue, is the real crux of the matter and why Rep Cramer's question was the wrong question entirely. The question is not "did this person lead a blameless life as a teenager". The question is "has that person tried to make amends, change, and deserve redemption?"

Again, I argue that there are plenty of qualified nominees who didn't attempt rape or participate in multiple gang rapes.

But assuming that redemption is possible in this case look at Kavanaugh from a redemptive standpoint. Is this a man who has done wrong, recognized that he did wrong, and tried however futility to make up for his past wrongs?

And the answer to that question is a resounding no. He's not only still denying that he ever did wrong, but his entire career and life trajectory shows that he considers women (or at least the women he doesn't like) to be fair game for predatory men and exploitation in general. He argued that women who want abortions should be prevented from getting them, and also that women who didn't want abortions should be forced to get them. His entire career is built on the premise that women exist to be controlled, abused, and exploited by men. He has done the exact opposite of seeking redemption and even if he stopped committing rape at some point in his life (unlikely, most rapists are repeat offenders and never stop) he still has the mindset of a rapist.

Redemption is a rare and difficult thing, and you can make an excellent case that even a rapist who seeks redemption shouldn't be on the Supreme Court. But Kavanaugh has not even tried, and that is the question that Cramer studiously avoided considering.
posted by sotonohito at 8:47 AM on September 26, 2018 [46 favorites]


This picture makes Trump looks like he got a timeout at the UN. (From this Esquire article.)
posted by kirkaracha at 8:48 AM on September 26, 2018 [13 favorites]


If she is found to have committed perjury, her career in government is over.

It is extremely likely her career is over no matter what the outcome. She is literally sacrificing her career for the good of the country.
posted by 1970s Antihero at 8:48 AM on September 26, 2018 [141 favorites]


One thing that is coming out of the last few years is the absolute worthlessness of elite credentialing. From Eton and Oxbridge to Georgetown Prep and Yale it is becoming increasingly apparent that these institutions completely fail to install even the most basic of values in their much lauded top graduates. Yale in particular seems to be developing a pretty powerful negative reputational stench.
posted by srboisvert at 8:50 AM on September 26, 2018 [99 favorites]


Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) on Wednesday will announce that he's seeking an injunction in federal court designed to stop a final vote on Brett Kavanaugh, asserting an obstruction of his constitutional duty to advise and consent on nominees.

I admire his fortitude for exhausting every possible way of stopping this appointment, but holy shit, if you wanted to name the turning point for the constitutional crisis that burned this republic to the ground, you just found it.
posted by Mayor West at 8:51 AM on September 26, 2018 [29 favorites]


So, I'm putting in my tin foil hat, rather than storming the Bastille, for the moment, and I want to say that if I wanted a supreme court justice under my thumb, these allegations would have been perfect ammunition. There is no doubt in my mind that the Federalist Society not only knew, it was one of the very reasons he was picked.

Also, I am personally so shaken right now I don't even know what to do. My bestie, who is like my sister, we've been friends since high school and have witnessed up close what it is to be the exotic girls, the not quite our class girls, the bronze skinned girls in a field of blonde, sent me a picture of a needlepoint of half a dozen knives, and the words, No More Spoons, Only Knives. I am out of evens, I am out of spoons, and by gods, if they push this rapist through, I will be out for blood.

(Actually, I'm going To take a palette knife to a whole lot of paint and hope that painting my frenzied rage gets it out of my system before anyone else gets home. To my fellow sisters and suffefers, I hear you, I believe you, and I stand with you.
posted by SecretAgentSockpuppet at 8:53 AM on September 26, 2018 [111 favorites]


> Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) on Wednesday will announce that he's seeking an injunction in federal court designed to stop a final vote on Brett Kavanaugh, asserting an obstruction of his constitutional duty to advise and consent on nominees.

This is a good effort, and I've very much in favor of more efforts by Democrats to use every possible lever at their disposal to affect public opinion, but legally, no court will touch this with a ten-foot pole. Getting involved in an internal Senate matter, where that matter bears directly on the Judicial branch itself? No.

But please, keep trying.
posted by RedOrGreen at 8:55 AM on September 26, 2018 [11 favorites]


We didn't call it rape.
Here's another account from an alumna of National Cathedral School (all-girls DC area prep school) from 1988, the same year I graduated. She details Beach Week, "trains" and other sexual assaults happening in empty cavernous homes, devoid of parents during this time.
I attended these parties knowing there was always a chance of this happening to me, were I not careful. I saw older boys who didn’t participate seem more angry at the girls who had “let” themselves get into bad situations. Our boyfriends had been able to stop that lineup only because they were seniors. But it was often like this: a solitary girl who found herself helpless against the power of a group of boys. It’s why Ford’s description of her alleged attack sounded so plausible to me—two drunk boys who had cornered her and were egging each other on. We went through years of parties like this intimidated, afraid, and horrified. And yet it was also just the way things were.
I want to clarify though, lest anyone think this was common only in private prep schools. I was drunk (not unusual) at one of these frequent parentless parties in 1987 when I was raped. I was attending public school and so were all of my friends, though my perpetrator was an outsider.
posted by Sophie1 at 8:55 AM on September 26, 2018 [70 favorites]


Republicans on the Court ruled that money equals speech and that flooding politics with anonymous, unaccountable campaign cash wouldn't be perceived as corrupt by the American people.

I think if America wants to truly look in their heart and see what the problem is, this statement embodies a lot of it. America has come to rely on the supreme court far too much to intervene when novel and new situations come up. The court ruled on the constitutionality of a law and found it was not. That decision is almost certainly bad for the country, but that isn't their job, is it? That is the job of legislators. They need to either craft a better law or amend the constitution. The political system in America is so broken that they are largely incapable of doing this anymore, meaning the system is stagnating because the constitution isn't changing and, at some point, even a very liberal court has to uphold the laws as written even if the law is a bad idea.

America has a much more fundamental problem then the make-up of the supreme court.
posted by Bovine Love at 8:56 AM on September 26, 2018 [13 favorites]


I know that a frat on the other side of the country doesn't necessarily reflect on its brothers on the East Coast, but I lived on the top floor of the DKE house in Berkeley oh about 20 years ago (summer housing).

During July and the beginning of August the residents were actually fine - we played chess, there was some partying and some silliness but nothing crazy.

Then the prep boys started coming back from their rich kid vacations, and things got just absolutely stupid. Like, keggers, strippers, alcohol poisoning, date rapes - all in the course of about two weeks. I remember some drunk jackhole getting punched in the face for literally just drunkenly standing on the front lawn screaming the N-word.

The guys I'd been friendly with were clearly the fringe of nerds and poor kids.
I moved out as soon as I could.
posted by aspersioncast at 8:56 AM on September 26, 2018 [21 favorites]


From Eton and Oxbridge to Georgetown Prep and Yale it is becoming increasingly apparent that these institutions completely fail to install even the most basic of values in their much lauded top graduates.

There was a point made in some of the reporting of the paedophile cases with the UK upper crust. The shared crime brings with it a mutually assured destruction type loyalty. It's the price of entry to the old boys' club.

It seems that a lot of the hazing and shared crimes among the US aristocracy, particularly with the frats and secret societies plays a similar role.

The latest accusation is of gang rape. Judge and Kavanaugh were far from the only ones involved or who knew about it. It seems likely various people in the Republican party must have also know as they're from the same diseased cloth. It could even be why they were so insistent on Kavanaugh; he had paid his entry fee, proved his loyalty, and with the leverage they had on him they knew they could rely absolutely on him following any order given, no matter how it made him look. Because they could make him look worse.
posted by Buntix at 9:00 AM on September 26, 2018 [29 favorites]


Merkley's injunction is a dead letter and he must know it, but since our lazy media loves reporting on filed injunctions -- they're public records, and one can't get sued for reporting the details they contain, no matter how salacious, and they're judged to be newsworthy even if the case is thrown out 24 hours later -- he's taking a step that guarantees the Republicans' malfeasance is reported on, and in the way he chooses to frame it, not the media's traditional he-said, she-said style ("Democratic critics say the Republicans are abandoning their Constitutional responsibility to advise and consent and otherwise act as a check on the President, while Republicans contend that Democratic complaints are just political*...")

*Of course they are, as if that's a valid criticism. Politics is refusing to consent to being governed by a bunch of misogynist frat boys from Yale, crooked real estate dealers, yahoo preachers, and Russian tycoons.
posted by Gelatin at 9:00 AM on September 26, 2018 [17 favorites]


no court will touch this with a ten-foot pole

I dunno, maybe they get a woman who’s out of fucks and only has knives left.
posted by schadenfrau at 9:05 AM on September 26, 2018 [64 favorites]


The court ruled on the constitutionality of a law and found it was not. That decision is almost certainly bad for the country, but that isn't their job, is it?

Except that the unbelievable claim that a flood of unaccountable money not being perceived as corruption was language specifically designed to circumvent an earlier ruling that protecting the legitimacy of the electoral process and preventing a public perception that it's corrupt was earlier cited as a Constitutionally permissible reason to limit First Amendment freedom of speech in the form of unlimited, anonymous campaign cash. The Citizens United ruling was in no way made in good faith; it was judicial sophistry designed -- and, indeed, necessary -- to achieve a desired political outcome.

Much like Bush v Gore, in which Republicans on the Supreme Curt intervene to pick a Republican President who would nominate other Republicans to the Court. As we all saw how well that turned out for the country.
posted by Gelatin at 9:06 AM on September 26, 2018 [12 favorites]


Right, he's accepting an inevitable loss as the price of adding another ring to the circus, in one of the few areas where Democrats can exercise some control over a legal process. There's a reason it's not one of the Dems with presidential ambitions filing this, as the ruling denying an injunction would be a bigger problem for them than for a safe senator who's not likely to rise any higher.
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 9:06 AM on September 26, 2018 [4 favorites]


America has a much more fundamental problem then the make-up of the supreme court.

One of our two party’s entire platform consists of destroying the institutions of American government and transferring all wealth to the smallest number of people possible, while never compromising on any other issue. That makes it pretty difficult to enact any improvements.
posted by T.D. Strange at 9:07 AM on September 26, 2018 [20 favorites]


I want to talk about the word monster.

I am not responding to any specific person who has used it in writing to talk about someone who has perpetrated sexual violence or domestic violence. I fully get the impulse and instinct. And, the reality is that most sexual violence is not perpetrated by "monsters," Ariel Castro's who lock you in the basement, or people who jump out of the bushes. It is perpetrated by people we may love or trust or admire, like friends, fathers, uncles, cousins, brothers (and yes, mothers, sisters, aunts, too), the people we are dating, the people we are married to, the people we work with, or walk past on the street, or who we pay to drive us places or fix our sink. In 8/10 cases, survivors knew the person who sexually assaulted them (this fact sheet has other helpful statistics).

But it's the mythology that "good guys/people" could never do this that gets us into so much difficulty, victim blaming, normalizing of behavior. It literally brings me to tears to think about young kids hearing Trump say: "Judge Brett Kavanaugh is a fine man, with an impeccable reputation..." and then, "I have no doubt that, if the attack on Dr. Ford was as bad as she says, charges would have been immediately filed with local Law Enforcement Authorities by either her or her loving parents." Because Kavanaugh is a "good guy" in so many ways - and yes, race and class privilege are often used as proxies of good/bad in our society, too. He is a successful judge, father, husband, Christian. He is no monster, so this simply cannot be true. And if it were, she would have actually reported it. Either it was your fault, or you are lying, or the person who did this must be a monster in every facet of their life for this to be credible.

Sexual violence is about power. Sometimes for sexual gratification. Sometimes not. I think we need to move away from the language of monsters (although I understand the strong impulse) because that language protects perpetrators, and it also fails to hold people, more broadly, accountable. People who perpetuate rape culture, patriarchy, homo-bi-transphobia, racism, xenophobia, ableism, islamophobia, and all of the tools of power and oppression that contribute to a world in which some people are turned into objects, instead of subjects. And, although hard to say it, "monstering" let's us as individuals off the hook. How many of us have done things that were not consensual? I think a lot of people are grappling with that now and pushing it away in discomfort.

The history of the development of rape laws in this country was about protecting white, male, Christian property. What was the property? White women: wives and daughters. Women were considered to be chattel. But to be clear, only white women were worthy of protection. You could rape women of color/enslaved women/sex workers. Hence the legally developed history of victim blaming/evaluating a survivor's character.

It also wasn't until way too close in time to today that the last marital rape exemption was taken off the books. Chattel continued. Biblical verses protected abuse. Monsters not husbands are to be feared.

The monster myth has been used for ages to protect abusers. I say we move away from it. As uncomfortable as that may be.
posted by anya32 at 9:07 AM on September 26, 2018 [81 favorites]


Al Jazeera English is showing a clip of Trump speaking at the UN in which he claims that China is attempting to interfere with the 2018 US mid-term elections, followed by the Ambassador from China categorically denying the assertion.
posted by XMLicious at 9:11 AM on September 26, 2018 [6 favorites]


From Vox by Jennifer Pahlka: How computer software can make policy, explained by family separation at the border (emphasis below mine).

...The podcast detailed how border agents process people coming across the border. They use a computer program that allows them to categorize people in one of three ways: as an “unaccompanied minor,” an “individual adult,” or an “adult with children,” which refers to the whole family unit. Each case gets assigned an identification number, and families (”adults with children”) shared one ID number.

This seemed to work fine, until the Trump administration ordered these agents to separate these same families. In order to do that, border agents reprocessed members of families as either individual adults or unaccompanied minors, and gave everyone new identification numbers, thus losing the one piece of data that connected the members of the family in the system. So, when the court ordered that agents reunite families, those same processing center records no longer reflected which children belonged to which parents.

As Caitlin Dickerson and Annie Correal, who reported this story, put it, “When people hear this, they immediately picture something sinister. They think border agents carrying out this policy were essentially trying to cover their tracks, to intentionally make it impossible to link parents and kids after they were separated.” Instead, as Dickerson and Correal stated, “They can’t change their computer systems in a way that would separate families but still hold on to that identification number, for example. They just don’t have that much power on an individual level.”

...The fact that front-line workers couldn’t change the software they use to enable reunification of these families is both depressing and entirely unsurprising to those of us who work in government technology. And for most of us, the characterization of these front-line workers as more disempowered than sinister likely resonates. Knowing that this chaos could have been remedied — if not by software changes, then at least by some sort of hack, had someone with the right skills been allowed to help — is truly maddening.

But there are two larger lessons here that echo what we’ve learned at Code for America in eight years of working with government technology. The first is that implementation is policy. Whatever gets decided at various times by leadership (in this case, first to separate families, then to reunite them), what happens in real life is often determined less by policy than by software. And until the government starts to think of technology as a dynamic service, imperfect but ever-evolving, not just a static tool you buy from a vendor, that won’t change.
posted by Bella Donna at 9:11 AM on September 26, 2018 [30 favorites]


Al Jazeera English is showing a clip of Trump speaking at the UN in which he claims that China is attempting to interfere with the 2018 US mid-term elections, followed by the Ambassador from China categorically denying the assertion.

That's not the even the low-light of Trump's chairing today's UN Security Council meeting on the non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. He started by calling Iran's "regime" "the world's leading sponsor of terror", then switching to attack China… for 2018 election interference—"They do not want me or us to win because I am the first president ever to challenge China on trade [at last looking up from his prepared remarks] and we are winning on trade, we are winning at every level"—and then describing Kim Jong-un as "a man I have gotten to know and like".

The collective response from other world leaders was to chastise him on his quitting the Iran deal, per the LA Times's Eli Stokols:
Bolivia’s president, seated two chairs away from Trump, “categorically condemns” the U.S. for reneging on it’s obligations under JCPOA and for doing so based on “false pretenses.”
My word, he is just torching Trump—criticizing “contempt for multilateralism” and alleging US foreign policy is driven by greed.
Trump, when he’s finished, simply says “Thank you, Mr. President.”
Peru’s president, less pointedly, is following suit.
Trump is chairing this meeting to show toughness toward Iran and is getting scolded by leader after leader for withdrawing from the JCPOA.
British PM Theresa May says JCPOA “remains the best measure” to prevent a nuclear Iran, will continue to abide by it as long as Iran does.
Netherlands PM Mark Rutte says Iran is “abiding by its obligations” under the JCPOA.
Trump’s isolation on this issue has been brought into ever sharper relief by this meeting, a chorus of leaders undermining their commitments to multilateralism.
This is what Eric Trump described as "Game Time" on Twitter.
posted by Doktor Zed at 9:15 AM on September 26, 2018 [35 favorites]


For a hopeful look at one of the many benefits we could get from retaking the House: Maxine Waters is one of Trump's fiercest critics. She'll get a powerful new platform if Democrats take the House (Jim Puzzanghera, LA Tiimes)

For me, specifics about what could happen with a Democratic House do a lot to boost my hope and determination to keep resisting.
posted by kristi at 9:15 AM on September 26, 2018 [22 favorites]


Al Jazeera English is showing a clip of Trump speaking at the UN in which he claims that China is attempting to interfere with the 2018 US mid-term elections, followed by the Ambassador from China categorically denying the assertion.

I dont think we need to belabor the point here, or really expend too much effort to try to get inside the mind of a man so disconnected from reality, but i saw his point here summarized online as: by instituting retaliatory tarrifs (against trumps moves) china is trying to influence the election by getting trump-loving farmers who hate tarrifs to love trump less. (im reminded of yesterdays discussion about their fundamental misunderstanding of how foreign aid functions and its impossible to avoid the fact that the "logic" is completely reversed here).
posted by Exceptional_Hubris at 9:21 AM on September 26, 2018 [2 favorites]


Mod note: A couple deleted - folks, if you're reporting this morning's Avenatti thing, it's been reported and discussed a good deal upthread, read back a bit.
posted by LobsterMitten (staff) at 9:25 AM on September 26, 2018 [2 favorites]


Grassley just released Kavanaugh’s written testimony for tomorrow. He now admits drinking and “sometimes had too many” in highschool, which he categorically denied in the FOX interview.
posted by T.D. Strange at 9:29 AM on September 26, 2018 [67 favorites]


Five Cook ratings moves, all left:

CO-06 (Coffman) | Tossup => Lean D
NY-02 (P King) | Solid R => Likely R
NC-13 (Budd) | Lean R => Tossup
PA-01 (Fitzpatrick) | Lean R => Tossup
TX-31 (Carter) | Likely R => Lean R

Current totals:

Solid D: 182
Likely D: 12 (9D, 3R)
Lean D: 11 (1D, 10R)
Tossup: 31 (2D, 29R)
Lean R: 26 (0D, 26R)
Likely R: 26 (1D, 25R)
Solid R: 147
posted by Chrysostom at 9:33 AM on September 26, 2018 [29 favorites]


Another thought.

It seems that the sort of behaviour Kavanaugh engaged in wasn't unusual in the prep-schools and ivy-leagues among the children of the rich. It's fairly damning that the FBI's background checks didn't turn it up.

But did the FSB's?

It could partially explain why a lot of the Republican party are so clearly compromised.
posted by Buntix at 9:34 AM on September 26, 2018 [32 favorites]


I hope Democrats on the committee take the opportunity to remind the American people (because Fox won't) that so-called choirboy Brett Kavanaugh flatly lied to them. And that it wasn't some long-ago high school transgression; it was just the other day.

If he lied about drinking, what else is he lying about?
posted by Gelatin at 9:34 AM on September 26, 2018 [49 favorites]


There's a reason it's not one of the Dems with presidential ambitions filing this, as the ruling denying an injunction would be a bigger problem for them than for a safe senator who's not likely to rise any higher.

Just a quick note that Merkley isn't just some middle-of-the-road guy; he's specifically an outlier among Democrats. These threads give a lot of attention to Warren and Manchin as sort of mythic prototypes that capture the range of variation among Democrats, but that really only reflects some aspects of policy. As judged by DW-Nominate scores, Merkley is by quite a margin the most liberal Senator in the social/racial dimension; he was also the first Senator to attempt to visit a child detention facility, which helped bring the child separation crisis onto the front page.
posted by a snickering nuthatch at 9:35 AM on September 26, 2018 [79 favorites]


Bolivia’s president, seated two chairs away from Trump, “categorically condemns” the U.S. for reneging on it’s obligations under JCPOA and for doing so based on “false pretenses.”
My word, he is just torching Trump—criticizing “contempt for multilateralism” and alleging US foreign policy is driven by greed.


This was not unexpected, nor was the isolation. The press has been talking about this for a few days now.

Speaking to the American media outlet Politico last week, a senior German diplomat said preserving the Iran nuclear deal had become a “question of principle”, concerning the need to maintain international norms, treaties and agreements.
[...]
The leaders of China, Russia and India will not be in New York this week. While Trump acts out and plays the fool, they will be busy taking responsibility for global leadership off America’s hands.


Most of this is due to Trump being kept wrapped up in cotton wool and Fox News and getting only good press in his daily briefings. What is of concern is whether he will lash out with the bomb.
posted by infini at 9:35 AM on September 26, 2018 [8 favorites]


Cards Against Humanity is hacking the election with a targeted GOTV campaign in CA-25, IA-01, IL-06, IL-14, KS-04 and TX-26. If you refer a friend in one of those districts, both you and they will get a free CAH midterm booster pack, or you can just buy it for $5.
posted by Faint of Butt at 9:37 AM on September 26, 2018 [20 favorites]


i saw his point here summarized online as: by instituting retaliatory tarrifs (against trumps moves) china is trying to influence the election by getting trump-loving farmers who hate tarrifs to love trump less.

This is undoubtedly true. Canada also has carefully targeted products that achieve the maximum political effect. Characterizing this as some kind of election meddling is trying to repurpose a term (much like "fake news" has been successfully repurposed), and is definitely misleading, but those tariffs are without question politically targeted.
posted by Bovine Love at 9:37 AM on September 26, 2018 [8 favorites]


Mod note: One deleted. This is a shitty and intense time especially for sexual assault survivors. Please don't repost shitty things people are saying about it elsewhere, bringing that stuff over to Mefi and imposing it on your fellow site members. We know shitty people will say the usual broken-record shitty things that always get said about survivors; please think twice about what you're bringing here.
posted by LobsterMitten (staff) at 9:38 AM on September 26, 2018 [45 favorites]


Some more analysis from WaPo about the VA-10 race: In a swingy Virginia suburb, can Republican Barbara Comstock out-hustle a blue wave?

My favorite part: “My husband jokes, it could be a bologna sandwich — if it’s a Democrat he’s going to vote for it,” she said.

That line brought some much-needed chuckles into my day.
posted by jet_pack_in_a_can at 9:41 AM on September 26, 2018 [10 favorites]


Yeah, I N not sure what the kinds of background checks he has been through have been but I suspect it’s not much more than criminal records, confirming his resume and a credit check*. This could easily fall outside of them.

It probably shouldn’t.


IDK what folks' experiences with background checks are here on the blue, but fwiw: I had a nice, friendly phone call with a Coast Guard Intelligence chief once for a top secret background check for a high school classmate. He jokingly congratulated me for getting a call rather than a visit, because I was in a super isolated station where you get one cargo plane every two weeks if the weather wasn't shitty. He'd never made a call rather than a personal visit before.

It was for a lowly enlisted telecommunications spot. He did hundreds of these every year. He was used to traveling all over for these checks. And even over the phone, he got me to talk about things I didn't want to talk about, because he knew how to do his job. (She got the clearance, because those issues weren't really about her and he had the good judgment to see that.)

I keep thinking about that, because Kavanaugh's high school and college record is clearly stuffed with sexual predatory behavior along with a whole lot of incidental ugly garbage. And then there's his recent financial stuff. This dude's up for a Supreme Court spot. I'm having a hard time believing they were less thorough with him than the Guard was for my random high school friend and her telecom job. I'm more inclined to believe the investigators found it and decided it wasn't a problem.
posted by scaryblackdeath at 9:43 AM on September 26, 2018 [52 favorites]


But did the FSB's?

The FSB is almost certainly too sophisticated to believe that evidence of any of the discussed behavior would constitute kompromat given the context of rape culture.
posted by adamgreenfield at 9:46 AM on September 26, 2018 [3 favorites]


This dude's up for a Supreme Court spot. I'm having a hard time believing they were less thorough with him than the Guard was for my random high school friend and her telecom job.

Even now we suffer from the phony premise that SCOTUS nominations are about qualifications. The dog-and-pony show of committee hearings likes to pretend they are, sure, but Kavanaugh wasn't appointed for his law degree or experience, and certainly not for his squeaky-clean ethics record.

He was appointed as a vote against Roe v Wade (and, later, Griswold) and also to backstop the investigation into Trump's criminal conduct.

That's why he's up for the highest court in the land; it's all Republicans care about. Whatever the background check may or may not have uncovered is irrelevant, except inasmuch as it prepared them for his past assaults surfacing.

(Which it seems to have done at least to an extent -- remember how quick they were to release a letter attesting to his character?)
posted by Gelatin at 9:51 AM on September 26, 2018 [9 favorites]


Yes, but now I think the question is: how did any of these DC elite predatory fucks pass any background check, ever?
posted by schadenfrau at 9:52 AM on September 26, 2018 [14 favorites]


And yet it was also just the way things were.

The power of normalization is huge. I look back on my junior high and high school experience - the things that happened to me and the things that I knew happened to others - and it was so bad. My life was absolutely shaped for the worse on every valence by what happened to me.

I was in school in the late eighties/early nineties in a nice suburb - not Georgetown Prep nice, but above the median. Everyone knew what was happening in terms of rape, violence and harassment. Everyone. People who say they didn't know - in general if not in specific - are lying. We all took for granted that there was nothing to be done about it, but we knew. It was "against the rules" to smoke in school, for instance, but there wasn't a rule about rape any more than there was a rule about what newspaper you could read at home. Ditto for harassment and the kinds of violence that weren't fighting - there was a rule against talking when the teacher said to be quiet, but there wasn't a rule against following someone around and creeping on them between classes, or whispering disgusting or terrifying stuff in the hall. You wouldn't expect a teacher to do anything, because there wasn't a rule about it. And how could you possibly use the words you'd need to use to report it in front of an adult, anyway?

There was never a problem getting alcohol or soft drugs - maybe not the very second that someone wanted them, but certainly quickly enough. Again, anyone who says this wasn't the case is lying.

The ideology of patriarchy is totalitarian - the part where you're supposed to say you believe something that's obviously false in order to demonstrate loyalty. We're all supposed to say - and we did say, in my youth! - that none of this stuff was widespread and that people didn't know. Kavanaugh and them are relying on brute power to force people to agree to mouth this lie, knowing it to be a lie. I don't believe Kavanaugh on even one point. I don't believe he was a virgin - I think that's a far right Christian dog whistle. I certainly don't believe him about anything else he says. He's lying, everyone knows he's lying, and they are assuming that the same brutal inequality which forced us to normalize this stuff in high school is still operating. We know it's a lie, they know it's a lie, but they force us not to say anything.

Both the eighties and high school were absolutely as bad as they appear in eighties teen movies.
posted by Frowner at 9:53 AM on September 26, 2018 [92 favorites]


Yes, but now I think the question is: how did any of these DC elite predatory fucks pass any background check, ever?

Who do you think is doing the background checks?
posted by Faint of Butt at 9:53 AM on September 26, 2018 [38 favorites]


Well, now another vector to once again prove he's a liar; any evidence they knew each other.

Jake Tapper
Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh calls new allegation “ridiculous and from the Twilight Zone. I don’t know who this is and this never happened.”
posted by chris24 at 9:56 AM on September 26, 2018 [14 favorites]


If he lied about drinking, what else is he lying about?

At that point, what does it even matter? Democrats should simply pound him on the one lie.

"You lied. Less than 72 hours ago, you went on television with a categorically unambiguous, bald-faced lie, that you then 'corrected' in official testimony. Why did you lie? How would you respond to such lying from a counsellor in front of your bench? How do you consider yourself qualified for the highest court in the land, when you can't be counted upon to not lie when it suits you?"

I'm finding it increasingly difficult to imagine how this guy is going to survive cross examination in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee Democrats.
posted by Brak at 9:56 AM on September 26, 2018 [82 favorites]


Yes, but now I think the question is: how did any of these DC elite predatory fucks pass any background check, ever?

Who do you think is doing the background checks?


Pretty much this.
Maybe the investigators hear the rumors and see the yearbooks and figure, "Meh, whatever, pass."
Or maybe the investigators really did do their jobs, but once they handed their reports over, the people reviewing it all (cough cough Republicans) decided it wasn't a problem and redacted it.

Do Democrats get to see that material at the same time? Is this another norm that has gone by the wayside? I'm inclined to think several of the Democrats on Judiciary would've spoken up if they'd seen it in the first place.
posted by scaryblackdeath at 9:59 AM on September 26, 2018 [5 favorites]


Yes, but now I think the question is: how did any of these DC elite predatory fucks pass any background check, ever?

Remember when Trump asked Comey to let Flynn off because he was such a good guy? Yeah, well, that. After all, Brunt or Trunch or Chaps or whatever was a great guy when you played college lacrosse together, and isn't his daughter in your daughter's class at Rich Elitism School? All kinds of malfeasance has been condoned in the halls of power by the privileged letting each other slide.
posted by Kitty Stardust at 10:02 AM on September 26, 2018 [20 favorites]


Pretty sure Avenatti's claims against you were proven anything but false.

@realDonaldTrump
Avenatti is a third rate lawyer who is good at making false accusations, like he did on me and like he is now doing on Judge Brett Kavanaugh. He is just looking for attention and doesn’t want people to look at his past record and relationships - a total low-life!
posted by chris24 at 10:03 AM on September 26, 2018 [4 favorites]


I certainly don't believe him about anything else he says. He's lying, everyone knows he's lying, and they are assuming that the same brutal inequality which forced us to normalize this stuff in high school is still operating. We know it's a lie, they know it's a lie, but they force us not to say anything.

One way they do so is to act like accusing them of lying is some kind of terrible affront, instead of stating the obvious. "Are you calling me a liar?!" The very pretense changes the subject.

Even the so-called "liberal media" play along with their lazy "he-said, she-said" construction. Sometimes there are two legitimately differing points of view -- disagreeing on the ideal level of taxation, for example -- but sometimes they will present contradictory facts in which one side is obviously lying -- for example, when one side says x number of civilians were killed in an airstrike, and the other side denies conducting an airstrike. And yet they rarely do anything to assess the credibility of the statements (for example, by pointing out one side has lied about the topic in the past).
posted by Gelatin at 10:03 AM on September 26, 2018 [3 favorites]


@benkesslen A good day to remember that 76% of U.S. senators and congressmen and 85% of Supreme Court justices have been in fraternities, while only 2% of America's population have been fraternity members. [via a retweet from The_Whelk]

---

From elsewhere in the conspiracy news, Skripal Suspect Boshirov Identified as GRU Colonel Anatoliy Chepiga [bellingcat]

Also bellingcat should be hired to do all background checks from now on, because holy-mother-of-moly are they good at it.
posted by Buntix at 10:04 AM on September 26, 2018 [60 favorites]


Sounds like Grassley may be backpedaling on the Friday vote. Chuck Grassley leaves door open to postpone Brett Kavanaugh vote

"It could take place Friday, or it could not. That kind of depends upon what happens tommorrow," Grassley said.

Keep calling!
posted by scottatdrake at 10:04 AM on September 26, 2018 [35 favorites]


All I can say right now is. If they actually manage to push this nomination through and seat this serial rapist on the Supreme Court, the court will be just as illegitimate as the presidency is already, and government will cease to mean anything. And I hope the combined rage of women is finally powerful enough to burn down the world, because just thinking about continuing to live under the rule of rapists is so intolerable to me I can barely stand the idea of participating in society at all.
posted by the turtle's teeth at 10:05 AM on September 26, 2018 [62 favorites]


All I can say right now is. If they actually manage to push this nomination through and seat this serial rapist on the Supreme Court, the court will be just as illegitimate as the presidency is already

It was already illegitimate when they seated Gorsuch. This? This would be an abomination.
posted by Lentrohamsanin at 10:08 AM on September 26, 2018 [39 favorites]


Who do you think is doing the background checks?

The other point of failure is the people reviewing the background checks.

I mean, you can put whatever you want in the report, but what's the sound of a one-handed bear shitting in the woods? It's 100000% plausible to me that Mitch McConnell saw background checks with general rumors of heavy drinking and wrongdoing, and maybe a flag that this is something that should be nailed down and investigated further, and that this was part of why McConnell wanted to take a pass on Kavanaugh, because McConnell is smart enough to not want to take the chance of the absolute shitshow this has become in, like, two months before the midterms.

Whereas the fuckers at the White House would probably be like RENATE ALUMNI LOLOLOL WHAT A BONUS!!!!! OUR NO. 1 OPTION TO OBSTRUCT SUBPOENAS ALSO HAS A GREAT SENSE OF HUMOR!!!!!!
posted by joyceanmachine at 10:08 AM on September 26, 2018 [22 favorites]


Phil Mattingly (CNN)
Sen. Orrin Hatch, senior GOP member of Judiciary, says the Committee should move forward and questions the new allegations against Kavanaugh:
It's amazing to me that these type of things have come up way after the fact, way after the end of the committee hearings and everything else. It shows that there are people who would stop at nothing. I don't think it's fair to Brett Kavanaugh, I don't think it's fair to our system, I don't think it's fair to the process. I don't think we should put up with it to be honest with you.
posted by chris24 at 10:08 AM on September 26, 2018 [4 favorites]


I already knew McConnell and Grassley were garbage, but wow is Orrin Hatch really making a name for himself in the Misogynist Olympics.
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 10:12 AM on September 26, 2018 [36 favorites]


> It's amazing to me that these type of things have come up way after the fact, way after the end of the committee hearings and everything else.

So we should give him a lifetime appointment on the highest court because to do otherwise would be to disrespect the process?

WHERE WAS YOUR CONCERN FOR PROCESS WITH MERRICK GARLAND, YOU UNMITIGATED SHITSTAIN?
posted by RedOrGreen at 10:12 AM on September 26, 2018 [84 favorites]


We've always lived under the rule of rapists. That's what this patriarchy is all about. What's different right now is that some folks are making a big deal about it, and all the old white heads are sitting around looking at each other in bafflement: "why is this a problem? I don't understand?"

The rules are changing, ever so slightly. We have to keep pushing. Keep making it a big deal. Even if they don't understand the morality of it or why Things are Different now, they can understand the consequences of supporting it: being unelectable.
posted by seanmpuckett at 10:12 AM on September 26, 2018 [78 favorites]


@realDonaldTrump Avenatti is a third rate lawyer who is good at making false accusations, like he did on me

Can someone explain this to me? I thought Avenatti alleged Trump paid $130k for Stormy Daniels to keep quiet about their sexual encounter... which turned to be 100% true. Were there any other allegations, or are we at "millions of illegal voters in California" level denial of reality on this too?
posted by bluecore at 10:13 AM on September 26, 2018 [28 favorites]


This is your regular reminder that there's no deadline on confirming a SCOTUS judge (ask Merrick Garland) and the hasty dog-and-pony show the Judiciary committee conducted -- which, remember, Democrats already complained didn't allow enough scrutiny of Kavanaugh's record -- only goes to show how badly Republican Senators take their Constitutional responsibility to advise and consent.

Again -- they knew he was a Federalist Society stooge who would vote how they wanted, and that was all they needed or wanted to know.
posted by Gelatin at 10:13 AM on September 26, 2018 [22 favorites]


IDK what folks' experiences with background checks are here on the blue, but fwiw: I had a nice, friendly phone call with a Coast Guard Intelligence chief once for a top secret background check for a high school classmate.

I was called by the Metro Toronto Police Force as a reference for a friend. All of the key questions were about whether or not he was loyal.
posted by srboisvert at 10:14 AM on September 26, 2018 [4 favorites]


I don't think you can make the court _more_ illegitimate. The handling of Garland already did that.

Which doesn't mean it doesn't matter who gets on the court now, but its already way beyond broken (and no likelihood it can be fixed anytime soon).
posted by thefoxgod at 10:14 AM on September 26, 2018 [4 favorites]


or are we at "millions of illegal voters in California" level denial of reality on this too?

Yes, total gaslighting.

And Avenatti responds.

Michael Avenatti
“False accusations?” Like those crimes your fixer Cohen pled to? You are an habitual liar and complete narcissist who also is a disgrace as a president and an embarrassment to our nation. You are so inept that your “best and brightest” are Cohen and Giuliani. Let’s go.
posted by chris24 at 10:15 AM on September 26, 2018 [112 favorites]



But there are two larger lessons here that echo what we’ve learned at Code for America in eight years of working with government technology. The first is that implementation is policy. Whatever gets decided at various times by leadership (in this case, first to separate families, then to reunite them), what happens in real life is often determined less by policy than by software.


THERE IS NO DIFFERENCE. CODE IS LAW.

Software IS policy, and policy is software.

If you can't grasp the implications of how implementing policy in software requires encoding ALL your intentions into the software, you have no business doign software or policy.
posted by ocschwar at 10:15 AM on September 26, 2018 [42 favorites]


We've always lived under the rule of rapists. That's what this patriarchy is all about. What's different right now is that some folks are making a big deal about it, and all the old white heads are sitting around looking at each other in bafflement: "why is this a problem? I don't understand?"

I think a lot about how we have a literal memorial to Thomas Jefferson, a man who spent years raping an enslaved teenage girl, and how much of this shit is just built into the system. I'm much more a "dismantle the patriarchy" than "smash the patriarchy" person in general because I am aware that smashing usually affects the most vulnerable first but I have to say some smashing sounds pretty good right now.
posted by Mrs. Pterodactyl at 10:17 AM on September 26, 2018 [70 favorites]


With regards to Kavanaugh, background checks, and procedure, I'm reminded of words of wisdom from the webcomic Order of the Stick on the topic of cons:
A con man doesn't choose to play the shell game with you if there is any possibility of him actually losing. The con isn't in getting you to pick the wrong shell. The con is in getting you to accept that the basic premise of the game is still being followed.
The con was not and never was about Kavanaugh's papers, or his background check, or anything else we'd like to think is important.

The con was in getting us to accept that the basic premise of going through a nomination normally was being followed. It wasn't, it isn't, and it won't be now or in the future. The Republicans didn't run a real background check on Kavanaugh because they weren't playing the game of going through the real process of nominating a Supreme Court Justice.

In this particular case it may have backfired on them, like when a mark flips over all the shells and shows that there isn't a pea under any of them. But the con from the very beginning was in getting the American people, the media, and the Democrats, to accept the basic premise of following normal procedure was being followed. It wasn't. It isn't. It won't be.

If we manage to derail Kavanaugh, and it's looking likelier than I'd ever have thought possible, they'll pull the exact same con with the next nominee. They are not following normal procedure, any pretense of a background check, or examination of documents, or whatever will be pure pretense with no reality.

They aren't, yet, to the point where they can openly skip all that boring stuff and just let Trump appoint whoever he wants without even the Senate giving it a rubber stamp, but that's the end game. The object is to make the process irrelevant, and then once it's irrelevant point out how irrelevant it is and end it.
posted by sotonohito at 10:19 AM on September 26, 2018 [119 favorites]


This has them on the ropes a bit.

Daniel Dale
Asked if Kavanaugh should still be confirmed, the chief counsel for the Judicial Crisis Network, which is spending $1.5 million on "confirm Kavanaugh" ads defending his character, doesn't answer directly, says "think we have to look into this further."
posted by chris24 at 10:22 AM on September 26, 2018 [27 favorites]


Trump ‘Genuinely Conflicted,’ Considering Keeping Rosenstein - WSJ via Nicole Lafond/TPM
President Donald Trump is unsure if he should believe a recent New York Times report that claimed Rod Rosenstein tried to orchestrate Trump’s removal and he is considering keeping the deputy attorney general, the Wall Street Journal reported.

According to a WSJ source who’s spoken to the President about the matter, Trump has “an open mind about whether Rod really tried to orchestrate this” and is “genuinely conflicted” about it. Trump has reportedly told close aides that he wants to speak directly to Rosenstein about the reports that the deputy attorney general suggested wearing a wire and invoking the 25th Amendment to oust Trump from office.
posted by ZeusHumms at 10:22 AM on September 26, 2018 [1 favorite]


> It's amazing to me that these type of things have come up way after the fact, way after the end of the committee hearings and everything else. It shows that there are people who would stop at nothing. I don't think it's fair to Brett Kavanaugh, I don't think it's fair to our system, I don't think it's fair to the process. I don't think we should put up with it to be honest with you.

By "our" Hatch means the Republican Party, and by "it" he means any restrictions others would attempt to place on their actions.
posted by The Card Cheat at 10:23 AM on September 26, 2018 [7 favorites]


ELECTIONS NEWS

** 2018 Senate:
-- OH: Marist poll has Dem incumbent Brown up 52-39 on GOPer Renacci [MOE: +/- 5.0%] || Ipsos poll has Brown up 50-39 [MOE: +/- 3.4%].

-- IN: Ipsos poll has Dem incumbent Donnelly up 46-43 on GOPer Braun [MOE: +/- 3.3%].

-- MI: Ipsos poll has Dem incumbent Stabenow up 55-35 on GOPer James [MOE: +/- 3.3%].

-- PA: Ipsos poll has Dem incumbent Casey up 53-37 on GOPer Barletta [MOE: +/- 3.4%].

-- WI: Ipsos poll has Dem incumbent Baldwin up 52-39 on GOPer Vukmir [MOE: +/- 3.4%].

-- DE: UofD poll has Dem incumbent Carper up 61-24 on GOPer Arlett [MOE: +/- 3.7%].
** 2018 House:
-- MN-02: Survey USA poll has Dem Craig up 48-45 on GOP incumbent Lewis [MOE: +/- 4.5%] [Trump 47-45 | Cook: Lean D]

-- VA-02: Garin-Hart-Yang poll has Dem Luria up 51-43 on GOP incumbent Taylor [MOE: +/- 5.0%] Poll was commissioned by the Luria campaign. [Trump 49-45 | Cook: Tossup]

-- DE-AL: Same UofD poll has Dem incumbent Blunt Rochester up 58-28 on GOPer Walker. [Clinton: 53-42 | Cook: Solid D]
** Odds & ends:
-- OH gov: Same Marist poll has Dem Cordray tied 47-47 with GOPer DeWine [Cook: Tossup] || Same Ipsos poll has DeWine up 45-44.

-- FL gov: Quinnipiac poll has Dem Gillum up 54-45 on GOPer DeSantis [MOE: +/- 4.0%] [Cook: Tossup] | GOP worried DeSantis isn't taking the race seriously.

-- MA gov: MassInc Polling has GOP incumbent Baker up 68-24 on Dem Gonzalez [MOE: +/- 4.4%] [Cook: Solid R]

-- MI gov: Same Ipsos poll has Dem Whitmer up 52-39 on GOPer Schuette. [Cook: Lean D]

-- PA gov: Same Ipsos poll has Dem incumbent Wolf up 55-38 on GOPer Wagner. [Cook: Likely D]

-- WI gov: Same Ipsos poll has Dem Evers up 50-43 on GOP incumbent Walker. [Cook: Tossup]
posted by Chrysostom at 10:24 AM on September 26, 2018 [33 favorites]


Trump on twitter:
Avenatti is a third rate lawyer who is good at making false accusations, like he did on me and like he is now doing on Judge Brett Kavanaugh. He is just looking for attention and doesn’t want people to look at his past record and relationships - a total low-life!

Avenatti fires back:
“False accusations?” Like those crimes your fixer Cohen pled to? You are an habitual liar and complete narcissist who also is a disgrace as a president and an embarrassment to our nation. You are so inept that your “best and brightest” are Cohen and Giuliani. Let’s go.

it is AMAZING how hard trump is trying to erase women here - Avenatti isnt accusing Kavanaugh of shit.
posted by Exceptional_Hubris at 10:33 AM on September 26, 2018 [61 favorites]


wow is Orrin Hatch really making a name for himself in the Misogynist Olympics

Hatch has been in office since nineteen-seventy-damn-seven. He had a lot to do with conservative Christians and Mormons getting politically active, he's been anti-choice his whole life, Reagan was too liberal for his taste.

He's the head coach, cheerleader, and water boy for the Misogynist Olympic Team.
posted by soundguy99 at 10:37 AM on September 26, 2018 [51 favorites]


I take a generally positive view of Avenatti serving as a lightning rod to draw some of the toxic abuse that would otherwise fall directly on the accusers.
posted by prize bull octorok at 10:43 AM on September 26, 2018 [84 favorites]


It's also interesting how much the media is tiptoeing around the class issues inherent in Kavanaugh's story. That he was from a privileged family and went to an elite school at which they knew their behavior wouldn't have consequences

I just went through my (poor, rural) 1989 high school yearbook and counted precisely zero references to sex and one to booze ("What! Barkley had how many?") It's not because we didn't drink and have sex. The only thing I can figure is that as poor kids we weren't going to shout about it in the yearbook, because we knew we could get in trouble for it.
posted by Daily Alice at 10:43 AM on September 26, 2018 [50 favorites]


Brett Kavanaugh, Donald Trump, and the Things Men Do for Other Men
Jia Tolentino | New Yorker
Part of the reason the Kavanaugh news cycle has been such a flashpoint—part of the reason that so many conservatives have fanatically defended his right to have hypothetically committed the crime he’s been accused of, and that so many women have been spending the last two weeks in a haze of resurfaced trauma—is that it illuminates the centrality of sexual assault in the matrix of male power in America. In high schools, in colleges, at law schools, and in the halls of Washington, men perform for one another and ascend to positions of power. Watching it happen is a deadening reminder, for victims of sexual assault and harassment, that, in many cases, you were about as meaningful as a chess piece, one of a long procession of objects in the lifelong game that men play with other men.
posted by Barack Spinoza at 10:44 AM on September 26, 2018 [68 favorites]


Hatch has been in office since nineteen-seventy-damn-seven.
For me it's less that I expect Senator Hatch to do the right thing than that I expect someone who has been in the senate for more than 40 years to (1) be able to read which way the wind is blowing, and (2) be at least somewhat canny about the preservation of their own reputation. Whether he deserves them or not (in case you were wondering: not) Hatch has invested many years into buffing up his "elder statesman of the senate" and "serious person of probity and judgement" credentials and I, at least, am mildly surprised to see him ready to throw them on this particular garbage fire. Not shocked, just mildly surprised.
posted by Nerd of the North at 10:47 AM on September 26, 2018 [8 favorites]


From Matt Shuham, TPM, in re Judicial Crisis Network’s chief counsel, Carrie Severino, interviewed by MSNBC’s Craig Melvin:“They could always have more information from this additional accuser,” Severino said, referring to Swetnick, while criticizing Avenatti for “breaking this on Twitter.”

These pro-Kavanaugh folks have abandoned all shame and lie reflexively. As Avenatti made clear as he was "breaking this on Twitter," he broke it to the Judiciary Committee initially, but they chose to ignore it. This whole pro-Kavanaugh cabal is full of bleeding, bloated assholes.
posted by Mental Wimp at 10:47 AM on September 26, 2018 [28 favorites]


> Hatch has invested many years into buffing up his "elder statesman of the senate" and "serious person of probity and judgement" credentials and I, at least, am mildly surprised to see him ready to throw them on this particular garbage fire.

That image is just a mask. If they get Kavanaugh on the SC they'll be able to enact every shitty, repressive anti-female, anti-labour, anti-human policy they've feverishly dreamed about for decades. After that there won't be any need for masks.
posted by The Card Cheat at 10:53 AM on September 26, 2018 [13 favorites]


For me it's less that I expect Senator Hatch to do the right thing than that I expect someone who has been in the senate for more than 40 years to (1) be able to read which way the wind is blowing, and (2) be at least somewhat canny about the preservation of their own reputation.

They're way past the appearance of being genteel and equally human as the opposing party, but with different policies. The party is now a house of cards propped up by being rotten all the way down, and supported by voters who are rubes or otherwise want to "own the libs."

The whole thing is a massive suicide pact, and if he attempts to leave the crab bucket by being the one Republican of morals, they'll either air all his dirt, or guarantee he's primaried out. The only way out is in a coffin, as they say.
posted by explosion at 10:54 AM on September 26, 2018 [15 favorites]


while criticizing Avenatti for “breaking this on Twitter"

Even if that retort were true, which it isn't, it's the responsibility of a competent journalist to say "so what if he did?"

The "he said, she said" model of the lazy media only demands a response, not any kind of cogent, logical, topical, or even honest retort. But MSNBC got someone they knew would criticize Kavanaugh's accusers to criticize Kavanaugh's accusers, so high fives all around, never mind that the criticism doesn't actually rebut their story.
posted by Gelatin at 10:56 AM on September 26, 2018 [8 favorites]


Graham on Avenatti allegations: Why would any reasonable person continue to hang around people like this? Why would any person continue to put their friends and themselves in danger? Isn’t there some duty to warn others?

Says the guy recommending Kavanaugh be put on the Supreme Court without an investigation...
posted by xammerboy at 10:58 AM on September 26, 2018 [23 favorites]


Why would any person continue to put their friends and themselves in danger? Isn’t there some duty to warn others?

THAT'S WHAT THE WHISPER NETWORK IS FOR YOU FUCKING TURD
posted by joyceanmachine at 11:02 AM on September 26, 2018 [36 favorites]


There's a plane flying around Boulder, Colorado, with a banner that reads THANK YOU DEBORAH WE HAVE YOUR BACK.

A fucking PLANE.
posted by medusa at 11:03 AM on September 26, 2018 [134 favorites]




I guess I've already said this, but I wanna say again that Avenatti's Twitter feed has earned some credibility, I think, from the fact that it was the original source of reports that Michael Cohen had taken millions of dollars in "consulting fees" (AKA bribes) from AT&T, Novartis... oh yeah, and indirectly from Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg.

I think Avenatti has to get a lot of credit for the fact that Cohen eventually pled guilty to exactly the same campaign finance related crimes Avenatti was accusing him of. And started talking to Mueller. That "talking to Mueller" part could prove critical to the course of history, and I am not sure it would have happened without Avenatti and Stormy Daniels.

I would NOT want to date Avenatti, or even have a beer with him --- too much ego and need for attention. I certainly would not vote for him for president if he were running against someone with real qualifications. I wish he would turn his immigration cases over to actual immigration lawyers.

But I believe what he posts on his Twitter feed. He's been proved right every time so far.
posted by OnceUponATime at 11:08 AM on September 26, 2018 [62 favorites]


More on Trump's China claim from From David Nakamura and Ellen Nakashima Without offering evidence, Trump accuses China of interfering in U.S. midterm elections
“Regrettably, we found that China has been attempting to interfere in our upcoming 2018 election, coming up in November, against my administration,” Trump said during remarks at a U.N. Security Council meeting on nonproliferation.

“They do not want me or us to win because I am the first president to ever challenge China on trade, and we are winning on trade — we are winning on every level,” the president said. “We don’t want to them to meddle or interfere in our upcoming election.”

Trump presented no evidence for his claims, and his top national security advisers told reporters in August they had not found specific examples of interference ahead of the midterms from countries other than Russia, though they warned it remained a possibility. In his remarks at the Security Council meeting, Trump made no mention of Russian interference.
...
Trump’s remarks appear consistent with a White House strategy, devised in the immediate aftermath of his Helsinki summit with Russia President Vladimir Putin, to spread blame for election interference beyond Russia to include other countries such as China. At the July summit, Trump appeared to give more credence to Putin’s denials of 2016 election interference than to U.S. spy agencies’ assessment to the contrary.
Based on his tweet, Trump appears to be upset about the China Daily advertising supplement in the Des Moines Register, which....I have problems with advertorials, but the thing says at the top of it that it's written and paid for by the Chinese government, and countries placing these ads is far from a new practice. I realize there are a lot of five-alarm fires right now, but I think this qualifies: expanding the definition of "interfere" to attack China, and give cover to Russia, is deeply damaging.
posted by zachlipton at 11:08 AM on September 26, 2018 [15 favorites]


@DavidNakamura: Trump responds to reporter question about new allegations against Kavanaugh. Trump calls it a "con game. People are wise to it. [Democrats] are bringing people out of the woods. They could do that to anybody -- except Prime Minister Abe, because he's so pure."

Um, ok then. I don't think Abe wants to be a part of this narrative.

@sarahposner: REPORTER: "Are all three women lying?" TRUMP: "What's your next question?" (turns to male reporter)

Then he ranted some more about how the Des Moines Register advertorials look like real news and that upsets him.
posted by zachlipton at 11:13 AM on September 26, 2018 [22 favorites]


Taken aback by the strength of Bloomberg's language:

Bolivia's Morales Slams Trump to His Face at UN Security Council
Trump was forced to sit through a lengthy tongue-lashing from Morales on Wednesday at a meeting of the UN Security Council that the U.S. president hosted. It’s likely the harshest any foreign leader has ever spoken to Trump in public.
[...]
“The United States could not care less about human rights or justice,’’ Morales said. “If this were the case, it would have signed the international conventions and treaties that have protected human rights. It would not have threatened the investigation mechanism of the International Criminal Court, nor would it promote the use of torture, nor would it have walked away from the Human Rights Council. And nor would it have separated migrant children from their families, nor put them in cages.’’

Its a pitchfork.

President Donald Trump has taken an absence from the panel, and his spot has been taken over by US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley.
posted by infini at 11:19 AM on September 26, 2018 [60 favorites]


They could do that to anybody -- except Prime Minister Abe, because he's so pure.

Or Obama, I guess!

CNN, October 2016, (auto-play) Video - Trump: Why doesn't some woman accuse Obama?
posted by Nonsteroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drug at 11:20 AM on September 26, 2018 [10 favorites]


Then he ranted some more about how the Des Moines Register advertorials look like real news and that upsets him.
Ads that look too much like content? Gee, that must be so upsetting.
posted by mbrubeck at 11:23 AM on September 26, 2018 [16 favorites]


Daily Beast, Betsy Woodruff and Erin Banco (who I'm super happy for, because she got a new job, but it was objectively hilarious that the best reporting about the Seychelles meeting was coming out of the The Star-Ledger of New Jersey and I'm sad that no longer is the case), Revealed: What Erik Prince and Moscow’s Money Man Discussed in That Infamous Seychelles Meeting
Joint U.S.-Russian raids to kill top terrorists. Teamwork between an American government agency and a sanctioned Russian fund. Moscow pouring money into the Midwest.

These are just a few of the ideas the head of a Russian sovereign wealth fund touched on during his meeting with former Blackwater head Erik Prince in the Seychelles, just weeks before President Donald Trump’s inauguration, according to a memo exclusively reviewed by The Daily Beast.
...
Still, the exact details of the conversation between Prince and Dmitriev in the Seychelles have remained murky. But a memo Dmitriev sent after the meeting—described here for the first time—sheds new light on the conversation and indicates it addressed some of the thorniest diplomatic challenges facing the United States and Russia. The memo is characterized as a summary of some of the ideas discussed in the Seychelles. It’s not clear if Dmitriev, the Russian Direct Investment Fund CEO, drafted the actual document himself or merely sent it. Although RDIF is sanctioned, it was and still is legal for U.S. persons to meet with him and, in some circumstances, do business with the fund.
...
Third, the memo proposes ways the U.S. and Russia can develop “win-win economic investment initiatives that will be supported by both electorates.” “Understanding U.S. production by foreign companies is a focus of the new administration,” the memo says. It goes on to note that Russian companies would “make investments with RDIF financing to serve the U.S. market in the Midwest, creating real jobs for hard hit area with high employment.”

Trump spent his presidential campaign pledging to bring back jobs to blighted Rust Belt towns, notching wins in Midwestern Democratic strongholds like Wisconsin and Michigan—and even making Minnesota competitive. The memo is evidence that Russia was listening and proposing a way to help make Trump’s central campaign promise come true.
...
Evelyn Farkas, an Obama administration Pentagon official who focused on Eastern Europe and Russia, said the proposals in the memo aren’t unusual; in fact, they mirror proposals that Moscow makes regularly. “It’s nothing new,” she told The Daily Beast. “What is new is that they’re trying to do this through this weird backchannel.”
posted by zachlipton at 11:26 AM on September 26, 2018 [24 favorites]


I keep thinking about that, because Kavanaugh's high school and college record is clearly stuffed with sexual predatory behavior along with a whole lot of incidental ugly garbage. And then there's his recent financial stuff. This dude's up for a Supreme Court spot. I'm having a hard time believing they were less thorough with him than the Guard was for my random high school friend and her telecom job. I'm more inclined to believe the investigators found it and decided it wasn't a problem.

Natl Security twitter tells us that the FBI's job is to gather the info and provide it to decision makers to make the fitness determination. Certainly these would include people at the White House and perhaps some Judiciary Committee members and staff. The FBI's investigators do not decide what's relevant and what isn't -- their bosses do.
posted by notyou at 11:28 AM on September 26, 2018 [12 favorites]


Kavanaugh’s support drops 18 points among Republican women, with 49% thinking he should be confirmed and 15% in opposition.

When it comes to Trump, support among the same group fell 19 points, with 68% approving and 26% disapproving.

A new Morning Consult/Politico poll, conducted Sept. 20-23, found support for Kavanaugh’s confirmation is underwater among registered voters for the first time since his nomination, with 37 percent opposing the Senate confirming him and 34 percent supporting it.

The new finding marks a 5-percentage-point drop in net support since a poll conducted last week, after Christine Blasey Ford detailed her allegation that Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her while the two were in high school, a charge he has repeatedly denied. [all text pulled from the linked poll]
posted by Exceptional_Hubris at 11:32 AM on September 26, 2018 [9 favorites]


I don't think you can make the court _more_ illegitimate. The handling of Garland already did that.

I really don't think this is true at all... I think we've got a long, long way to fall. I mean, there are places where the other institutions of society simply ignore the court system, or where there's a complete absence of “rule of law” over systems of patronage and courts are merely another tool for the exercise of power by those at the apex of society and openly rubber-stamp whatever they're ordered to. The early-21st-century U.S. has lots of deficiencies in those areas but as with so many other things I think many Americans are underestimating how bad it can possibly get while our civilization as a whole continues to lurch along.

For the poli sci or international law people in the room, or maybe it's some other discipline that would be concerned with this in a big-picture sense, is there a term or field of study for basically how much traction a legal system has as a genuine method of seeking and enforcing justice, even if only in a Magna-Carta-like way for upper classes? Or for study of the type of events that delegitimize and consequently disempower a legal system, and the aftermath of such events? I've been considering trying to read about the topic but I'm not sure where to start.
posted by XMLicious at 11:34 AM on September 26, 2018 [8 favorites]


I suppose it depends on what you really mean by "illegitimate". I meant it in the sense that the court does not reflect democracy or the will of the people.

If you mean "do people basically follow court rulings or ignore them", then I suppose it has room to fall. But the court is now semi-permanently (potentially decades) balanced away from how it should be if the rule of law had prevailed.

There's no real path to fixing it anytime soon.
posted by thefoxgod at 11:42 AM on September 26, 2018 [2 favorites]


the fact that kavanaugh keeps blatantly, obviously, egregiously lying while accusing his accusers of being the real liars seems crazy to people who don't have a lot of experience with white guys who have huge amounts of generational privilege, but it's absolutely in character for men like him. god, i bet this is the first time in kavanaugh's entire fucking life that he's been openly taken to task for lying, and the first time he's said "that woman is lying" and had people do anything other than immediately believe him and agree with him.
posted by poffin boffin at 11:43 AM on September 26, 2018 [117 favorites]


Sen. Orrin Hatch, senior GOP member of Judiciary, says the Committee should move forward and questions the new allegations against Kavanaugh:

It's amazing to me that these type of things have come up way after the fact, way after the end of the committee hearings and everything else. It shows that there are people who would stop at nothing. I don't think it's fair to Brett Kavanaugh, I don't think it's fair to our system, I don't think it's fair to the process. I don't think we should put up with it to be honest with you.


Stock response to this kind of bullshit deflecting:

"Gee, that *is* some crafty maneuvering. You know what's even worse than that? COMMITTING SERIAL SEXUAL ASSAULT, LYING ABOUT IT, AND STILL TRYING TO SERVE ON THE HIGHEST COURT IN THE LAND."
posted by Rykey at 11:47 AM on September 26, 2018 [10 favorites]


Harvard Law School Refuses to Say Whether Kavanaugh Will Return to Teach in January

I'd like to think the leadership of the Harvard goddamn School of Law is a little smarter than that, but that's the sort of thinking that begets legacy admissions raping undergraduates, I guess. Regardless of what happens in the confirmation hearings, I think I speak for all of us when I say: enjoy the unharried walk to your classroom, through the not-at-all-politically-active streets of Cambridge, MA, Professor Kavanaugh.
posted by Mayor West at 11:48 AM on September 26, 2018 [15 favorites]


With the Supreme Court basically obviated as a source of justice, I've been thinking this afternoon about the rule-of-law in this country, such as it is. It begins down at your local courthouse. It's worth noting that the the people who work there — judges, prosecutors, sheriffs, clerks, commissioners, etc. — are at least as big a part of the reactionary-authoritarian problem in this country as the legislators, magistrates, and noblemen making national news. They, too, should all be forced to look for new jobs at our earliest opportunity.
posted by ob1quixote at 11:50 AM on September 26, 2018 [4 favorites]


I do not want to live in a country whose government would sit this man on the Supreme Court. I do not.

Do not talk of Avenatti or Trump. Say her name: Julie Swetnick. She is on the front lines and we owe her the damn recognition.
posted by lydhre at 11:50 AM on September 26, 2018 [84 favorites]


"I take a generally positive view of Avenatti serving as a lightning rod to draw some of the toxic abuse that would otherwise fall directly on the accusers."

Plus I can't deny part of me loves that for once we're all talking about the life, virtue, and virginity of a man. I hope Kavanaugh hates that his private life is now being cross-examined.
posted by Tarumba at 11:52 AM on September 26, 2018 [31 favorites]


A woman who grew up in Bethesda spoke anonymously to The Sentinel Newspapers: Bethesda resident describes “Culture of Privilege” leading to exploitation and abuse (cw: description of attempted sexual assault by another boy from a local Catholic high school, which I will not include below):
Elizabeth said she infrequently saw Brett Kavanaugh during this time – often at house parties. “He was cute. He was always nice,” she said. One night she ran across an apparently inebriated Brett Kavanaugh and things went differently then. Previously, he had always been nice to her. “ But not that night. He was drunk. He was obnoxious and crude. I had a friend with me and we left. His football buddies were laughing at us. Maybe they were laughing at him, but I didn’t take it that way and they didn’t do anything to keep him from being a jerk.”

From that point on Elizabeth said she steered clear of Kavanaugh and didn’t see any more sexually explicit behavior because, “I didn’t want to be around those guys.” She was not present at the party described by Ford – or doesn’t believe she was. She also said she never saw Kavanaugh assault anyone. But, from her experience, she said she has no problem believing Dr. Ford’s allegations and said Ford should be heard without politics being involved.
Once again, as Loofbourow pointed out, the common theme is the laughing. Men laughing at women because it's supposed to be funny to be an asshole. It's Trump and Billy Bush. It's Trump laughing with Howard Stern about sexualizing his daughter. It's Trump bragging that he got to "inspect" his pageant by walking in on the contestants while they were changing. It's an entire sick culture that thinks extremely not funny things are jokes.

----

BuzzFeed, Rep. Keith Ellison Is Asking The House Ethics Committee To Investigate Abuse Allegations Made Against Him. Good. This needs to be investigated by someone besides the DNC.

Bonus link: @TheDailyShow [photo]: Introducing the Jeff Flake Comfort Blanket™ — Warm yourself in the soft embrace of Senator Flake's meaningless tweets.
posted by zachlipton at 11:54 AM on September 26, 2018 [49 favorites]


I have an active security clearance. So does my ex-spouse. Every few years, I am called up by a clearance investigator and asked whether there's anything I know about my ex that might disqualify them from holding a security clearance. Sometimes, they even come to my house to interview me in person. And every few years, I say "No."

Because I still hold an active clearance, I believe that every few years, my ex is called up by a clearance investigator and asked whether there's anything they know about me that might disqualify me from holding a security clearance. Sometimes, I suspect they even come to their house and interview them in person. And every few years, they say "No."

Each of us is lying. We have never discussed this, not during our marriage, nor during the fairly acrimonious divorce, but I am very familiar with what exactly might disqualify a person, and I know for a fact that my ex and I have each done more than one of these things, and that either of us could expose them without damaging ourself. We cannot prove any of them, but we could each make the other's life difficult by telling that investigator.

But we don't. Partially because, as much as we dislike each other now, we don't want to go that far -- we each have a job that requires some form of security clearance -- but I think mostly because, despite these technically disqualifying things, we each think that the other deserves to retain their job despite having done some low-level dumb stuff in their past and does not pose a real risk.

Entirely separate from that, there are other people who could -- and likely would, if they had the chance -- torpedo my clearance. But the investigators have far better things to do than track down every person I've ever met in my life, and I'm sure as hell not going to put those people down as references (I'm sure I don't even remember some of them).

So yeah, I don't doubt that Kavanaugh has had at least as thorough a background investigation as I have. And I don't doubt that the investigators didn't find women that he'd been to parties with 35 years ago who have never told anyone in Kavanaugh's circle about the things he did. And I'm sure that even if those investigators talked to Mark Judge, he just lied, and dudes like that are good at lying, especially when it's something that they don't think was "all that wrong" either, because... well, to coin a phrase, because he probably thinks that Kavanaugh deserves to retain his job despite having done some low-level dumb stuff in his past and does not pose a real risk.

"It must have come up in the background investigation!" assumes a level of competence that, frankly, is not really there.
posted by Etrigan at 11:56 AM on September 26, 2018 [81 favorites]


Here is a shot of the plane over Boulder
posted by growabrain at 12:03 PM on September 26, 2018 [33 favorites]


Avenatti told MSNBC that "My client has been issued a number of security clearances by the federal government over the years. She has been fully vetted time and time again, and she is an honest and courageous woman."

"And I'm going to caution Donald Trump, Brett Kavanagh, [Senate Judiciary] Chairman [Chuck] Grassley and others, if they try to come after my client or engage in some smear campaign, they better pack a lunch because we're going to respond twofold," Avenatti said.

"We are going to respond double as it relates to force. So they better be very careful before they start spewing nonsense and trying to call my client a liar."


I mean, I'll take it because shitshow, but could we have some Democratic Senators talk like that? That some random Twitter lawyer is landing punches and Chuck is tap dancing - The gloves were off three years ago, Chuck.
posted by petebest at 12:06 PM on September 26, 2018 [52 favorites]


Pete, we're supposed to find Avenatti's effectiveness declasse and gauche
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 12:10 PM on September 26, 2018 [42 favorites]


No, no, no. Are you all unaware? My (lifetime progressive voting) friend just informed me over lunch that this is all a Democratic smear campaign and K is innocent until proven otherwise.... I have rarely been so baffled.

Lunch was short.
posted by Cosine at 12:13 PM on September 26, 2018 [24 favorites]


Avenatti definitely comes off as somebody who is in this for the fame more than anything, but from a particular standpoint he’s also the only one willing to talk shit to these assholes, and I wish the Dems would do that.
posted by gucci mane at 12:16 PM on September 26, 2018 [22 favorites]


For me it's less that I expect Senator Hatch to do the right thing than that I expect someone who has been in the senate for more than 40 years to (1) be able to read which way the wind is blowing, and (2) be at least somewhat canny about the preservation of their own reputation.

But, of course, we're talking about someone who may be in such cognitive decline that he's unable to tell whether he's wearing glasses or not.*

*Not sure if this is true, as I've done equally stupid things, and I'm not...er, at least I think I'm not in cognitive decline. If I am, don't tell me, okay?
posted by Mental Wimp at 12:20 PM on September 26, 2018 [2 favorites]


Julie Swetnick statement (cw: all of the above)

She says "... Mark Judge has significant information concerning the conduct of Brett Kavanaugh during the 1980s, especially as it relates to his actions towards women."

Also that Bretty Boy is "a 'mean drunk'". (Which, not that it's the top question, but how has his obvious alcoholism not been ... discussed?)

That is straight up courage there. No one in the WH has that.

* and Mark Judge is the SCOTUS nominee's wing/hit man? C'mon writers.
posted by petebest at 12:20 PM on September 26, 2018 [26 favorites]


petebest:
"We are going to respond double as it relates to force. So they better be very careful before they start spewing nonsense and trying to call my client a liar."

I mean, I'll take it because shitshow, but could we have some Democratic Senators talk like that? That some random Twitter lawyer is landing punches and Chuck is tap dancing - The gloves were off three years ago, Chuck.
Chuck != Democratic Senators. In the official hierarchy he leads them, but when it comes to resistance of any kind, they tend to run circles around him (barring the moderate fringey ones like Manchin).

Well before Christine Ford's name was public, the questioning from Kamala Harris and Patrick Leahy was rock-solid, and you can always see remarks equally firey as Avenatti's from the likes of Cory Booker, Mazie Hirono, etc. My own senator Bob Casey has gone from milquetoast to someone I can be at least a bit proud of.

Of course, they could be better. At least one of them ought to start being not just the bad cop but the Super Outrageous Cop. But I can't say I'm dissatisfied with the party as a class, because they've turned up the heat a lot of notches in this era.
posted by InTheYear2017 at 12:21 PM on September 26, 2018 [18 favorites]


Because today isn't bonkers enough, for tea this afternoon we're having a solo president press conference at 4pm CST (CSPAN link)
posted by fluttering hellfire at 12:21 PM on September 26, 2018 [5 favorites]


innocent until proven otherwise

I fully support this burden of proof in criminal trials, but this is not a criminal trial. It's a job interview.
posted by rocket88 at 12:25 PM on September 26, 2018 [11 favorites]


I can't deny part of me loves that for once we're all talking about the life, virtue, and virginity of a man.

and so many women have been spending the last two weeks in a haze of resurfaced trauma

Totally this. I went to the Nashville Tennessee version of Holton Arms and graduated the year before Kavanaugh. We had a boys school we were basically matched with. There were always drunken parties. We had toga parties for f*cks sake. There were trains that everyone heard about. There was all kinds of pretty horrible conduct. And the sexism and misogyny and double standard was all pretty much sanctioned. The headmaster of the boys school basically called me a slut in a schoolwide assembly ("[nice boy] is so lame he couldn't even get to third base with Cocodrillo"). My little brother, then a freshman, was there.

Absolutely plausible, all of this.
posted by Cocodrillo at 12:27 PM on September 26, 2018 [68 favorites]


I wish we were having national howling fantods over baseball tickets and dice and Pat Leahy's emails instead :(
posted by fluttering hellfire at 12:28 PM on September 26, 2018 [16 favorites]


Chuck != Democratic Senators. In the official hierarchy he leads them, but when it comes to resistance of any kind, they tend to run circles around him (barring the moderate fringey ones like Manchin).

Well before Christine Ford's name was public, the questioning from Kamala Harris and Patrick Leahy was rock-solid, and you can always see remarks equally firey as Avenatti's from the likes of Cory Booker, Mazie Hirono, etc. My own senator Bob Casey has gone from milquetoast to someone I can be at least a bit proud of.

Of course, they could be better. At least one of them ought to start being not just the bad cop but the Super Outrageous Cop. But I can't say I'm dissatisfied with the party as a class, because they've turned up the heat a lot of notches in this era.


And it's not a coincidence that so many of these spineful Democratic Senators are women and/or POC: Harris, Booker, Gillibrand, Hirono, to name four.

If we want more spine from our Democratic Senators we're going to have to elect more of them. There's only so much they can do when they're the minority party. If we can save the embattled red-state Democrats and get Jacky Rosen, Kyrsten Sinema, Phil Breseden, and, at a stretch, Beto O'Rourke, elected, we'll be in a better place, and then, then, we can put the pressure on. (Though I will say Chuck Schumer is no Nancy Pelosi. She is a Congressional lioness.)

While I'm glad Avenatti is on our side and all, I'm very much side-eyeing how many people want to swoon into his manly arms. For my money, Kamala Harris, Mazie Hirono, and Kirsten Gillibrand are every bit as tough and fighters as he is.
posted by Rosie M. Banks at 12:32 PM on September 26, 2018 [51 favorites]


I fully support this burden of proof in criminal trials, but this is not a criminal trial. It's a job interview.

Not only that, this construction discounts the fact that we are seeing more and more evidence of his guilt.

Testimony as to someone's wrongdoing is evidence. Circumstantial evidence is evidence. A clear pattern of behavior is evidence. This "innocent until proven guilty" fallacy wants to say "they haven't been proven guilty in a court of law, so we aren't allow to draw conclusions from the information in the public domain."

Hogwash. We are allowed to conclude that OJ did it, even though he was acquitted. We are allowed to conclude that Cosby assaulted dozens of women, though he was only convicted for one (and, indeed, to have concluded so even before his conviction). And we're allowed to weigh the stories of these brave women, Kavanaugh's denials (and outright lies about his drinking), and what each of them stand to gain or lose by telling their story, and conclude that he's guilty, guilty, guilty.
posted by Gelatin at 12:33 PM on September 26, 2018 [32 favorites]




Nate Silver: Avenatti might be literally the last person I'd tell you to hire as your attorney in a case like this. But he's also a figure who friends with a casual interest in politics often have a different (less cynical) impression of than people like me who cover politics for a living.

That's what I've been saying! But apparently optics are everything now.
posted by Justinian at 12:34 PM on September 26, 2018 [4 favorites]


It's an entire sick culture that thinks extremely not funny things are jokes.

I've always struggled with how to describe what happened to me in high school. What I refer to it as in my head is "sexual bullying." Harassment in most peoples' minds seems to conjure up non-touching things like catcalling or pestering about going on a date. Assault seems to imply violence. Abuse implies a preexisting romantic relationship. Dudes picking a girl in their social group to be a target for sexually-tinged humiliation for purposes of homosocial bonding or just their own singular jollies is common as dirt. The thing that made me a choice target for sexual bullying was the same thing that made me a target for the regular kind: I'm sensitive, I was fairly sheltered, I get visibly flustered, I'm not cool. Catnip, unfortunately.

Anyway, this all goes back to my Grand Unifying Theory of Trumpism which is that Trump's base is a coalition of bullies and abusers. They see people just like them attaining power and using it to bully and abuse others and they are all in. It doesn't matter what the politics are, they have finally found someone who gives them complete permission to bully and abuse without spending all that extra energy denying it. Bullying is the openly desired behavior. Being an abuser means you're tough and strong and a winner and they are never going to willingly walk away from that feeling.
posted by soren_lorensen at 12:34 PM on September 26, 2018 [118 favorites]


"Now, I want to be clear: my heart breaks for the victims of assault and abuse. It's an issue that must never be taken lightly. That is why unproven accusations are so very unjust."

So the only way for survivors to accuse someone is to prove it first. But they have to prove it without using the FBI to investigate, without contemporary witnesses, without corroborating stories, and without their own goddamn testimony.

Sure sounds like an impossible task, proving accusations against powerful men, huh?
posted by lydhre at 12:39 PM on September 26, 2018 [56 favorites]


Not to mention that Republicans routinely dismiss evidence that does not fit their preconceived notions. Reality has a liberal bias, so anything that proves reality is suspect too. No amount of proof would actually convince Republican politicians to believe a victim if they didn't want to.
posted by Gelatin at 12:48 PM on September 26, 2018 [4 favorites]


Gelatin:
Not only that, this construction discounts the fact that we are seeing more and more evidence of his guilt.

Yes! This new usage of "due process" and "innocent until proven guilty" is cut from the same cloth as "What's wrong with just having a reasoned debate with the alt-right? What you are afraid of?". Both interlocutors pretend an old state of affairs can be continually revived no matter what else has changed. (In the case of the alt-right, society more or less decided the ideas were bunk, like geocentrism, so we don't need continuous "debate".) Like necromancers reviving dead soldiers (the video game trope of Nazi zombies turns out to be symbolically potent) and repeating some canard about the war not being over until the soldiers are dead or something.

As I've said before, people are basically going "You're arresting me? Trying me before peers? Giving me a defense lawyer and the other side a prosecutor? Sentencing me... to prison? What?! How the hell can you send anyone to prison without due process?"

Or a more succinct phrasing I saw in the comments on a news article: "You can't force anyone to suffer the pain of due process without first giving them due process". Lawyers Guns Money calls it dude process.
posted by InTheYear2017 at 12:48 PM on September 26, 2018 [26 favorites]


Exactly how does Hyde-Smith think this would work, practically? Instead of yelling "Rape!" we all learned in high school that you're supposed to yell "Fire!" because people don't consider rape worth their rescuing time. So per this new Hyde-Smith rule, when you yell "fire" to stop someone from raping you and people show up with buckets of water, what do you then say? "I'm not able to offer any proof, but I think that gentleman you see running away there may have been responsible for something bad that just happened to me; I wouldn't want to make an unproven accusation, so could someone please place a quick call to the FBI and ask them to investigate?"
posted by Don Pepino at 12:51 PM on September 26, 2018 [4 favorites]


Representative Ted Lieu's call for Kavanaugh impeachment proceedings to begin is strangely missing from this thread. Behold!
Based on the numerous allegations of sexual assault against Judge Brett Kavanaugh, including these new criminal allegations by Julie Swetnick, the @HouseJudiciary Committee must immediately start an investigation into Judge Kavanaugh to see if he should be impeached.
posted by duffell at 12:52 PM on September 26, 2018 [94 favorites]


Anyway, this all goes back to my Grand Unifying Theory of Trumpism which is that Trump's base is a coalition of bullies and abusers.

This is genius! I would also add every abusers' enablers and a whole bunch of people with codependency issues (see every woman who has defended Kavanaugh's behavior, or Trump's for that matter). In recovery circles these people are sometimes known as "flying monkeys", since they do the abuser's bidding to seek their approval and are in charge of making the abused fall in line. If you add them up you get more less half of our adult population, which would explain how they won the election.
posted by Tarumba at 12:54 PM on September 26, 2018 [22 favorites]


My county just held elections for judges at primary time. There were 2 seats open, with 2 candidates for each seat. The election was technically "non-partisan," but Every. Single. Judicial. Candidate. was a registered Republican who worked with local Republican orgs, often fundraising for other state-level Republican politicians. There may be working class people filing papers at the courthouse, but they're not among the real decision-makers.
posted by Kitty Stardust at 12:59 PM on September 26, 2018 [4 favorites]


medusa: There's a plane flying around Boulder with a banner that reads THANK YOU DEBORAH WE HAVE YOUR BACK.

A fucking PLANE.


Apparently, there was a plane with pro-Trump messages flying around (very conservative) Huntington Beach, California, pretty frequently, in that when I pointed it out to a relative last summer they pretty much shrugged it off and said "they've been doing that for a while."


SecretAgentSockpuppet: So, I'm putting in my tin foil hat, rather than storming the Bastille, for the moment, and I want to say that if I wanted a supreme court justice under my thumb, these allegations would have been perfect ammunition. There is no doubt in my mind that the Federalist Society not only knew, it was one of the very reasons he was picked.

One point of clarification, FWIW: the Federalist Society didn't originally pick Kavanaugh, it came from Trump.

As posted in the prior thread by scalefree, and reposted here for ease of review:
Maddow: Overlap In Brett Kavanaugh Nomination, Trump Russia Probe Becomes Clear (video clip via Real Clear Politics)

2016: Candidate Trump releases list of potential Supreme Court nominees given to him by the Federalist Society & promises to only select from it. Gorsuch is on the list, Kavanaugh is not.
February 1, 2017: Trump nominates Gorsuch.
May 1, 2017: As rumors of Kennedy's immanent retirement surface, Trump again promises to select only from the same list.
May 17, 2017: Robert Mueller is appointed Special Counsel.
Late 2017: Trump's "final" Supreme Court list adds 5 new names including Kavanaugh, over Mitch McConnell's objection due to extensive paper trail & views on executive power.
June 27, 2018: Justice Kennedy retires.
July 9, 2018: Trump nominates Kavanaugh.
Summer 2018: Senate Republicans outsource Kavanaugh document curation to private attorney William Burke, who represents Mueller witnesses Steve Bannon, Reince Priebus, Don McGahn among others.
Even McConnell objected to Kavanaugh initially, and that was before we learned Kavanaugh is a serial rapist.
posted by filthy light thief at 1:01 PM on September 26, 2018 [62 favorites]


Mod note: A couple comments deleted. This whole "local government is corrupt, local courts are corrupt", thing is a tangent; we've already got plenty going on in here without opening up this as a line of conversation. If you want to pursue it, please make a separate thread.
posted by LobsterMitten (staff) at 1:17 PM on September 26, 2018 [2 favorites]


Apparently, there was a plane with pro-Trump messages flying around (very conservative) Huntington Beach, California, pretty frequently, in that when I pointed it out to a relative last summer they pretty much shrugged it off and said "they've been doing that for a while."

And this is why I wince when I have to tell people I grew up there, because they say things like "Oh, that must have been nice!"

No, it was actually horrible and it's been horrible since the post Watts riots and white flight. There's a reason why the phrase "behind the Orange curtain" exists.

I remember growing up utterly terrified of the HBPD because I'd known so many people that had been beaten up or hassled by them. A friend had his arm shattered by a night stick during one of the many different 4th of July cop riots. He was a photographer. Taking pictures. They chased him down an alley and smashing his body and his camera with clubs, exposing the film and intentionally pulling it out of the camera. He ended up hospitalized for like a week from the assault, sustained multiple fractures in his skull and arm and hands and had to go to physical therapy for years to restore just a fraction of function to that arm and hand.

HB was so horrible I ended up running with and being a wannabe SHARP and ska Rude Boy because there were actual Nazi punks all over the place, and they liked to show up at ska, reggae and other PoC-friendly music events and stomp (or even knife) people.

Yeah I'm talking peaceful, bucolic, white, suburban Huntington Beach. That place was just seething beneath the surface with violence, and it won that dumb "Safest City in America" award a couple of times.

HB is the birthplace of Dana Rohrabacher. OC was the birthplace and home of Trinity Broadcasting Network, Crystal Cathedral and Robert Schuller, and I think it might even be the birthplace or main foothold of Calvary Chapel.

HB and OC is basically one of the birthplaces of megachurches and hyperchurches, modern conservative politics and has long been a hotbed of racists and actual Neo-Nazis. You can trace a whole lot of today's zeitgeist right back to OC and HB in the 80s and 90s.

And my parents wonder why I don't want to visit the area.
posted by loquacious at 1:19 PM on September 26, 2018 [62 favorites]


Peter Sullivan, staff writer at the hill:
Feinstein just ran into Murkowski in the hall and they hugged and then Feinstein said “this is just between us” and then they started whispering
Wasn’t she also the one who lobbied McCain on the ACA?

I get all the arguments against Feinstein. But some things can’t be replaced, like relationships that go back 30 years. Right now I’m glad we have her in the Senate, even if I’ll still yell at her to move left.
posted by schadenfrau at 1:24 PM on September 26, 2018 [69 favorites]


Mark Judge’s girlfriend is ready to talk to FBI and Judiciary Committee, her lawyer says, Greg Sargent Wapo

Judge's girlfriend sent a letter to the Senate Judiciary which was leaked to or described to GS by a Dem staffer, from the article:

The letter from Rasor’s attorney confirms that this account faithfully reflects what she recalls — and, now, what she is prepared to tell the FBI. The letter says:

Ms. Rasor’s recollection of what occurred is stated accurately in the New Yorker piece and she would welcome the opportunity to share this information with agents of the FBI as part of a re-opened background investigation.
posted by Exceptional_Hubris at 1:25 PM on September 26, 2018 [38 favorites]


Feinstein just ran into Murkowski in the hall and they hugged and then Feinstein said “this is just between us” and then they started whispering

The photo is a work of art.
posted by zachlipton at 1:27 PM on September 26, 2018 [28 favorites]


Tech Won't Save Us From Tech / Just Don’t Call It Privacy -- Amazon, Google and Twitter executives are heading to Congress. Should legislators give consumers control over the data companies have on them? (Natasha Singer, Technology Reporter for New York Times, Sept. 22, 2018)

Congress Challenges Google on China. Google Falls Short (Issie Lapowsky for Wired, Sept. 26, 2018)
Google’s first public attempt to explain its reported interest in entering the Chinese market failed to appease critical members of Congress at a Senate Commerce Committee hearing on Wednesday.

The hearing, which was attended by Google, AT&T, Amazon, Apple, and Charter Communications, began as a broad discussion of possible privacy legislation. But it concluded as a pointed condemnation of Google over recent reports that the company is building a censored search engine for China. According to The Intercept, the plans, dubbed Project Firefly internally, would require Chinese users to log-in to search and would feed crucial data to a Chinese company.

Google’s chief privacy officer, Keith Enright, came to the hearing prepared to give a carefully scripted explanation of these reports that would neither confirm nor deny their accuracy. “My understanding is we are not, in fact, close to launching a search product in China, and whether we would or could at some point in the future remains unclear,” Enright said when asked by Senator Maggie Hassan (D-New Hampshire). If Google did choose to pursue any interests in China, Enright said, “My team would be actively engaged. Our privacy and security controls would be followed.”

Enright repeated the term "not close to launching" several more times throughout the hearing, before Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas) finally stopped him short. “You’re saying you’re not close to launching. I’m asking [...] is [Project Dragonfly] a project to develop a search engine in China? I didn’t ask timing of launch. I asked what it is,” Cruz said.

Enright only went so far as to confirm that Project Dragonfly does, in fact, exists. But he declined to expound upon its purpose, insisting he was “not clear on the contours of what is in scope or out of scope for that project."
Meanwhile, Ajit Pai slams cities and towns as FCC erases $2 billion in local fees -- FCC orders cities and towns to slash permit fees for 5G equipment. (Jon Brodkin for Ars Technica, Sept. 26, 2018)
The Federal Communications Commission today finalized an order that will prevent city and town governments from charging wireless carriers about $2 billion dollars' worth of fees related to deployment of wireless equipment such as small cells.

The decision has angered both large and small municipalities, as we reported last week.

The FCC's Republican majority says that limiting local fees will cause carriers to build 5G networks in rural and sparsely populated areas where it would otherwise be financially unfeasible. But the order doesn't require carriers to deploy any more broadband than they otherwise would have, and carriers already promised nationwide 5G networks before the FCC made its proposal.

"Comb through the text of this decision—you will not find a single commitment made to providing more service in remote communities," FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel, the FCC's only Democrat, said before today's vote. "Look for any statements made to Wall Street—not one wireless carrier has said that this action will result in a change in its capital expenditures in rural areas."

The $2 billion savings is less than 1 percent of the estimated $275 billion that carriers will have to spend to deploy 5G small cells throughout the US. That level of savings won't spur extra deployment "because the hard economics of rural deployment do not change with this decision," Rosenworcel said.
Emphasis mine, because Mignon Clyburn, the awesome, Star Trek-quoting telecom regulator left the Federal Communications Commission late May 2018, four months ago. In early June, Trump nominated Geoffrey Starks as FCC Commissioner, but *surprise*! That's the last news coverage of the FCC trying to fill it's other non-Republican seat (per Federal regulations, there can be no more than three people from the President's political party on the FCC's five-seat commission).
posted by filthy light thief at 1:32 PM on September 26, 2018 [14 favorites]


Here is the latest from Susan Collins from HuffPo, when asked a question about Kavanaugh's yearbook:

"I don't know what to make of it. There are rumors -- so many rumors -- that there are issues with Christine Ford's yearbook as well. I don't know if that is accurate or inaccurate. l don't know what to make of someone's high school yearbook."

Ford's yearbook? Huh, what? Where the heck did that come from?

Well, they traced it down to Alex Jones' InfoWars. He has posted a picture from Ford's yearbook of a girl, not even Ford, in a mini-skirt with a bunch of disgusting commentary which I won't repeat here, implying that these girls were asking for it.

Cripes, Susan Collins has lowered herself to slut shaming the victim based on conspiracist sweaty toad Alex Jones. And her "people are saying" plausible deniability is right out of the Donald Trump playbook.

If I ever again hear a reference to the "moderate Republican" Susan Collins ...
posted by JackFlash at 1:35 PM on September 26, 2018 [89 favorites]


Judge's girlfriend sent a letter to the Senate Judiciary which was leaked to or described to GS by a Dem staffer

Just to be clear, that's Judge's ex-girlfriend, who was apparently told about Judge's participation in these gang rapes of inebriated high school girls. If she's willing to testify that could be the nail in the coffin. That's a huge burden to take on for her, she's another hero in this story.
posted by skewed at 1:38 PM on September 26, 2018 [39 favorites]


I want fucking action figures of these women. And Anita Hill.
posted by schadenfrau at 1:48 PM on September 26, 2018 [57 favorites]


If the background check on Kavanaugh was incomplete, falsified, or simply disregarded, what's the likelihood Gorsuch's check was done properly?
posted by Iris Gambol at 1:50 PM on September 26, 2018 [15 favorites]


I guess we should expect at least one more Kavanaugh bombshell this evening to reclaim the narrative after Trump’s rare solo presser, which is coming up next.
posted by notyou at 1:50 PM on September 26, 2018 [1 favorite]


The press conference is an obvious response to Trump narcissistic injury from being humiliated in front of world leaders at the UN. I don't think there's any reason to assume it's to cover for a new bombshell.
posted by Justinian at 1:52 PM on September 26, 2018 [6 favorites]


Mod note: Preemptive reminder that the sheer spectacle of Trump being an ass on live TV is not new or novel at this point and to please avoid liveblogging it as one-liners. Sum up whatever's worth summing up.
posted by cortex (staff) at 1:54 PM on September 26, 2018 [12 favorites]


The photo is a work of art.

Close talking, LBJ-style.
posted by kirkaracha at 1:56 PM on September 26, 2018 [4 favorites]


Sam Stein (Daily Beast/MSNBC)
True story:

Republican Senators argued that Sotomayor was not qualified for the court because, they insisted, she believed in judicial "empathy"
posted by chris24 at 1:56 PM on September 26, 2018 [35 favorites]


Mod note: Also remember Venting thread is here if people need to just express emotions.
posted by LobsterMitten (staff) at 1:58 PM on September 26, 2018 [4 favorites]


Daniel Dale is tweeting the press conference.
posted by MonkeyToes at 2:02 PM on September 26, 2018 [8 favorites]


Trump is doing a weird Carrie (mom jeering "they're all going to laugh at you")/ projecting from his UN experience thing of saying that all the democrats are all laughing at the big con job they're doing on Bart O'K.
posted by angrycat at 2:12 PM on September 26, 2018 [2 favorites]


If the background check on Kavanaugh was incomplete, falsified, or simply disregarded, what's the likelihood Gorsuch's check was done properly?

Apparently, lying on your SF-86 isn't a disqualifier anymore either ( See: Trump Crime Family )
posted by mikelieman at 2:15 PM on September 26, 2018 [4 favorites]


Written Testimony of Dr. Christine Blasey Ford (pdf), for tomorrow: "I am here today not because I want to be. I am terrified. I am here because I believe it is my civic duty to tell you what happened to me while Brett Kavanaugh and I were in high school."

This is also a really interesting bit:
At least one of Kavanagh’s classmates scoffed at the notion that Swetnick would have been a regular at parties with Georgetown Prep students.

“Never heard of her,” said the person, who declined to be named because members of the class have agreed not to speak on the record to reporters. “I don’t remember anyone from Prep hanging out with public school girls, especially from Gaithersburg.”
Setting aside the elitism, "members of the class have agreed not to speak on the record to reporters." What? They've literally agreed on a code of silence? That seems like a story in and of itself.
posted by zachlipton at 2:16 PM on September 26, 2018 [111 favorites]


What? They've literally agreed on a code of silence?

I imagine that if people start talking there will be more than enough stories for the whole class.
posted by wemayfreeze at 2:26 PM on September 26, 2018 [13 favorites]


There's only one tweet from Daniel Dale that you need to read, it sums this whole thing up: "This is like one of those private Trump performances you read about from 17 anonymous Washington Post sources, except he's doing it at a press conference."
posted by zombieflanders at 2:32 PM on September 26, 2018 [56 favorites]


Sum up whatever's worth summing up

This place is not a place of honor. No highly esteemed deed is commemorated here. Nothing valued is here.

There has been a lot of nonsense, but [video] Trump telling a female reporter to sit down while gaslighting the nation about the allegations against him from the women who came forward during the campaign rather sums it up.

In terms of substantive news, he indicated he could delay tomorrow's Rosenstein meeting because of the Kavanaugh hearing.
posted by zachlipton at 2:35 PM on September 26, 2018 [36 favorites]


The Trumpspam in my one email box was strangely silent on the Kavenaugh matter... until today...
Authorized By Trump Headquarters
Judge Kavanaugh has become the victim of a televised witch hunt playing out in front of his own family.
Democrats only want to smear this man because he was nominated by President Trump.
We’ve heard from every liberal senator. They’ve even told us to “SHUT UP.” Now it’s time for these Senate obstructionists to hear from the American people.
From NOW until Thursday morning at 9 AM, we need to send a NON-STOP flow of petitions signed by the American people to Senate Democrats to STOP THE WITCH HUNT AGAINST JUDGE KAVANAUGH. (emphasis mine: Trump HQ forwarding petitions to Democrats? Sounds semi-legit.)
STAND WITH JUDGE KAVANAUGH
Please add your name by 9 AM Thursday morning to join the list of supporters who want to stand up to Senate Democrats and stop the witch hunt against Judge Kavanaugh
Judge Kavanaugh has HEARTFULLY denied these allegations and WANTS to clear his name from this witch hunt.
President Trump told you back in July that Democrats would get nasty to sabotage our Supreme Court nominee. They did it to Justice Clarence Thomas. They did it to Judge Robert Bork. (emphasis mine; interesting choice of past examples) Now it’s happening again.
But this time, the American people must fight back, or it will only get worse…
Please stand up in the face of injustice before Thursday morning at 9 AM and STAND WITH JUDGE KAVANAUGH.
Thank you,
Trump Headquarters
posted by oneswellfoop at 2:35 PM on September 26, 2018 [2 favorites]


Bruce Arthur (Toronto Star Sports Columnist): Its like if the National Enquirer wrote King Lear
posted by Exceptional_Hubris at 2:37 PM on September 26, 2018 [52 favorites]


The "male reporter" who asked if Trump was going to take questions from his female colleagues (after the first 3 questions were all to dudes) was, based on his voice, Jim Acosta. The fact that I could identify the reporter by his voice while the Washington correspondent for the largest newspaper in Canada didn't know who it was should make me rethink my priorities. But no.
posted by Justinian at 2:40 PM on September 26, 2018 [47 favorites]


He's repeatedly interrupted every single female reporter to the point that it feels like a deeply unfunny joke that will never end
posted by theodolite at 2:42 PM on September 26, 2018 [29 favorites]


Bruce Arthur (Toronto Star Sports Columnist): Its like if the National Enquirer wrote King Lear

I'm seeing David Lynch's Titus Andronicus but YMMV
posted by Rust Moranis at 2:42 PM on September 26, 2018 [19 favorites]


Diplomats Say They Were Definitely Laughing At Trump At The UN (Buzzfeed)

Because Trump reacts so well to being laughed at. Remember when Obama made fun of him at the White House Correspondants’ Dinner? And... well... here we are.
posted by Weeping_angel at 2:43 PM on September 26, 2018 [23 favorites]


I'm seeing David Lynch's Titus Andronicus but YMMV

I don't think David Lynch did a version of Titus Andronicus. You may be thinking of Titus by the fantastic Julie Taymor.
posted by contraption at 2:50 PM on September 26, 2018 [8 favorites]


> "Now, I want to be clear: my heart breaks for the victims of assault and abuse. It's an issue that must never be taken lightly. That is why unproven accusations are so very unjust."

W ... TF? "It is important to listen to victims of assault. That is why we should not listen to these victims of assault."
posted by kyrademon at 2:52 PM on September 26, 2018 [21 favorites]


At least one of Kavanagh’s classmates scoffed at the notion that Swetnick would have been a regular at parties with Georgetown Prep students.

“Never heard of her,” said the person, who declined to be named because members of the class have agreed not to speak on the record to reporters. “I don’t remember anyone from Prep hanging out with public school girls, especially from Gaithersburg.”


They were down at Ocean City on beach week. Basically Spring Break.
posted by leotrotsky at 2:55 PM on September 26, 2018 [5 favorites]




>my heart breaks for the victims of assault and abuse. It's an issue that must never be taken lightly. That is why unproven accusations are so very unjust.

What she means is "That is why false accusations are so very unjust." With the implication that these are, indeed, false accusations.

But of course she can't really say that out loud quite yet, so she replaces it with something that sounds better but still signals 100% what she really means.
posted by flug at 3:00 PM on September 26, 2018 [4 favorites]


If he'd committed a felony, he wouldn't be up for the Supreme Court.

No, if he were convicted of a felony, he wouldn't be up for the Supreme Court. Current evidence says there's a pretty strong chance he's committed several felonies.
posted by ErisLordFreedom at 3:01 PM on September 26, 2018 [21 favorites]


Update from IA-04, Incumbent Steve King (R, Lunatic):

I mentioned a couple megathreads ago that I was really hopeful for JD Scholten running against King, because he was running a rather Wellstonian campaign. This email just went to my father, who is in the district:

I told people at the start of this campaign that you won’t find a candidate that works harder than me, and you won’t find a candidate that has more fun than me. Last night, the hard work we’ve been putting in really paid off, and that’s when the fun really starts! Check out this picture from last night’s town hall:

*pic of Scholten at a town hall in Dickinson County, deep in the heart of Steve King country*

This picture is inspiring to me. It’s energizing to feel the momentum that comes with almost 200 people showing up to hear you speak on a Tuesday night.

As we’ve pointed out before, Steve King doesn’t do public events, he doesn't hold town halls, and he won't debate me. Since Steve King won’t hold even one town hall, I’m holding 39 of them on a tour called, “You Can’t Fake Showing Up.” This is my THIRD 39-county tour of the district and I’m doing this because you can’t have a government of the people, by the people, and for the people, if you don’t include the people.


FiveThirtyEight has Scholten's chances at about 12%, but I really think this is not one to give up on.
posted by mcstayinskool at 3:04 PM on September 26, 2018 [36 favorites]


> What? They've literally agreed on a code of silence?

Yes - as part of their upbringing a very long time ago.

I went to a rich privileged high school. I was generally on the fringe, but there were some larger parties that I somehow ended up at - not many. The binge drinking and drug use was certainly very open, and while I was never witness to any sort of sexual abuse, it would not have surprised me from that crowd.

I certainly witnessed (and was occasionally the target of) plenty of assholish behavior and plenty of cruel bullying, and it was made very clear that if you told ANYONE about their behavior, they would all conspire to get you in worse trouble, spread rumors about you, etc - and who are the others going to believe? A bunch of "good, upstanding, school-involved kids" or the guy on the fringe? You're clearly just jealous of them, after all, and are just trying to smear them. Figuring out how this would play out first hand would be how I nearly got expelled, and how I ended up being a large target of physical violence for the remainder of my time there.

More important than taking down any outsider who snitched would have been their group loyalty - they knew that if they all swore innocence together, they would be believed.... and if anyone snitched, they either had enough dirt themselves that they'd be in deep trouble, or it'd be easy enough to fabricate it and let guilt by association do its job. They would get their stories together in advance because they knew that if shit went down, they'd be questioned independently, and they wanted to make sure they all had the same story.

It was a fucking mob code, and I seriously doubt that they ever grew out of this. It's an insidious form of Omerta that is instilled in the privileged elite early on as a lifestyle and value system. I've seen this behavior extend to adults in corporate settings, and I've not only witnessed how little has changed for some, I've had to deal with the fallout from it after exposing serious fraud a couple of times. I've learned to assume that if I do expose something that I should only do so if I am willing to step out of my own position at best, and put myself in personal danger at worst.

This code of silence is integral to maintaining this sort of power and privilege, it is loyalty before all else, and this is reinforced with fear - disproportional retribution for breaking it is a major feature contributing towards its perseverance. These people are being quiet not just because they put this blind loyalty first, but also because they are afraid... either of having their own prior horrible actions exposed, or of making themselves targets.
posted by MysticMCJ at 3:05 PM on September 26, 2018 [86 favorites]


Dale's Twitter thread broke, presumably under the strain of all this nonsense. It picks up here.

The reactions on the trending #TrumpPressConference are nuts.

(Seriously, though, this is worse than his previous solo press conference in early 2017. His cognitive impairment has only increased since then, but it's shocking to see it on open display like this. I have no idea what his handlers were thinking when they let him do this. Perhaps he simply wouldn't stop hectoring them, and they gave in, the way all his advisors and aides seem to.)
posted by Doktor Zed at 3:07 PM on September 26, 2018 [13 favorites]


CNBC, Dozens of Kavanaugh supporters call new allegations of sexual misconduct 'nonsense'
The 64 signatories of the White House's letter agreed, saying in the letter, "We never witnessed any behavior that even approaches what is described in this allegation. It is reprehensible."

The letter goes even further, adding that "in the extensive amount of time we collectively spent with Brett, we do not recall having ever met someone named Julie Swetnick."
Where do they keep finding these people, and what the hell is wrong with the signatories that would possess them to sign a document like this as more accusations come out every other day? Who even knew 64 people in high school well enough to spend "extensive" amounts of time with them?
posted by zachlipton at 3:15 PM on September 26, 2018 [7 favorites]


“Never heard of her,” said the person, who declined to be named because members of the class have agreed not to speak on the record to reporters. “I don’t remember anyone from Prep hanging out with public school girls, especially from Gaithersburg.”

This is a very succinct indictment of the odious moral rot at Elite Independents and as such is of course serious and appalling but did anyone else...laugh out loud? "A POOR? At one of MY high school beach house bacchanals? UNTHINKABLE."

This grown ass adult man demanded anonymity to claim in a national newspaper that a woman couldn't have been raped because she was NOKD. That level of fragility belongs in a fucking M Night Shyamalan movie. These people are such cowardly snobs that they can't hide it even when the Supreme Court is on the line. I don't have any sympathy for any of them, but can you think of a better argument for progressive taxation than that no one should be cursed to the interior lives of these assholes?
posted by Snarl Furillo at 3:22 PM on September 26, 2018 [67 favorites]


can you think of a better argument for progressive taxation than that no one should be cursed to the interior lives of these assholes?

100% estate tax. If your spawn is worth a damn, let them earn their own fucking fortunes.
posted by mikelieman at 3:29 PM on September 26, 2018 [31 favorites]


"... we do not recall having ever met someone named Julie Swetnick."

Is it even known if Swetnick is her birth name, or a married name? And Julie can be a nickname. These odious people may have met a Julia/Juliana/Juliet/Julie ____ in the 1980s.
posted by Iris Gambol at 3:30 PM on September 26, 2018 [2 favorites]


Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish: "There's a reason it's not one of the Dems with presidential ambitions filing this"

FWIW, Merkley HAS been making the moves preparatory to running. Doesn't mean he will, but it's on his mind.
posted by Chrysostom at 3:34 PM on September 26, 2018 [3 favorites]


David Brock: Kavanaugh had what one could only be called an unhealthy obsession with the Clintons, especially Hillary
posted by growabrain at 3:35 PM on September 26, 2018 [13 favorites]


Swetnick is her birth name, and it might be a bit unusual for kids from Gaithersburg High to be at Prep parties or vice versa, because private and public schools in Maryland are in different sports conferences and don't necessarily have intersecting social circles for that reason. But Prep and Gaithersburg High are less than half an hour apart by car, and it's certainly possible that kids from the two schools would know each other socially just due to that proximity, or growing up together or attending elementary school together or meeting via other extracurriculars or at a concert or Beach Week or drinking in DC or any number of ways.

And it's not like "Julie" is that uncommon a name, or like you're necessarily going to learn the last names of every single person at a huge drunken teen house party.
posted by halation at 3:40 PM on September 26, 2018 [4 favorites]


HB is the birthplace of Dana Rohrabacher. OC was the birthplace and home of Trinity Broadcasting Network, Crystal Cathedral and Robert Schuller, and I think it might even be the birthplace or main foothold of Calvary Chapel.

I mean, not that HB isn't full of white power dudes in raised trucks, or not that I've never just considered everything south of Bakersfield to Mexico to just be Greater Los Angeles, but literally none of those things are in Huntington Beach. Rohrabacher was born in SD, TBN is from all over the place but their main HQ (the one full of gold, that they don't even own anymore) was in Costa Mesa and now they are based in Tustin, Crystal Cathedral is in Garden Grove (although owned by the Catholics these days), and Calvary was formed in Costa Mesa.
posted by sideshow at 3:41 PM on September 26, 2018 [9 favorites]


It's like Ken Russell directed Yertle the Turtle.
posted by dances_with_sneetches at 3:41 PM on September 26, 2018 [6 favorites]


Don't forget, Hillary was part of the Watergate investigation team, and as the uterus carrier of the young attorneys on the team, naturally these people focused on her to destroy.
posted by SecretAgentSockpuppet at 3:45 PM on September 26, 2018 [22 favorites]


!!! NBC News, Kasie Hunt, Leigh Ann Caldwell and Heidi Przybyla, Senate probing new allegation of misconduct against Kavanaugh
According to an anonymous complaint sent to Republican Sen. Cory Gardner of Colorado, Kavanaugh physically assaulted a woman he socialized with in the Washington, D.C. area in 1998 while he was inebriated.

The sender of the complaint described an evening involving her own daughter, Kavanaugh and several friends in 1998.

“When they left the bar (under the influence of alcohol) they were all shocked when Brett Kavanaugh, shoved her friend up against the wall very aggressively and sexually.”

“There were at least four witnesses including my daughter.” The writer of the letter provided no names but said the alleged victim was still traumatized and had decide to remain anonymous herself.
posted by zachlipton at 3:48 PM on September 26, 2018 [62 favorites]


This code of silence is integral to maintaining this sort of power and privilege, it is loyalty before all else, and this is reinforced with fear - disproportional retribution for breaking it is a major feature contributing towards its perseverance. These people are being quiet not just because they put this blind loyalty first, but also because they are afraid... either of having their own prior horrible actions exposed, or of making themselves targets.

The astonishing thing is that he said it out loud, at a public speech in Washington DC when he knew he was a leading candidate for a seat on the Supreme Court.

"What happened at Georgetown Prep, stays at Georgetown Prep." Hyuck hyuck hyuck wink nudge know what I mean? Know what I mean?
posted by msalt at 3:50 PM on September 26, 2018 [10 favorites]


@NoahShachtman, Editor in Chief, Daily Beast: If your newsroom is like our newsroom, you currently have more Kavanaugh tips than you can possibly follow up on.
posted by scaryblackdeath at 3:51 PM on September 26, 2018 [81 favorites]


According to an anonymous complaint sent to Republican Sen. Cory Gardner of Colorado, Kavanaugh physically assaulted a woman he socialized with in the Washington, D.C. area in 1998 while he was inebriated.

Gardner's brow is gonna be at Maximum Furrow when he votes for Kavanaugh.
posted by Rust Moranis at 3:52 PM on September 26, 2018 [16 favorites]


Pro tip, Noah: It's totally legitimate to report "Our newsroom has 7 other additional accusations against Kavanaugh that we have not yet had time to corroborate."
posted by msalt at 3:52 PM on September 26, 2018 [18 favorites]


Mr. Trump predicted that when Democratic senators are behind closed doors, “I guarantee you, they laugh like hell [about the accusations against Kavanaugh]

You know, it’s not as if we need further insight into his disordered psyche, but the essence of what he’s confessing here – i.e. his projecting onto his political opponents his own inability to see this as the matter of gravity it is, or anything but another petty partisan pissing contest, with real people as pawns – well, it’s monstrous.
posted by adamgreenfield at 3:54 PM on September 26, 2018 [37 favorites]


1998, Kavanaugh was a lawyer and working on the Starr investigation.

But probably just a "kid", right Susan Collins?

Also, that's four.
posted by T.D. Strange at 3:54 PM on September 26, 2018 [21 favorites]


it is 100% plausible that these guys would never have known, or would have forgotten if they did, the name of some girl they gang raped. of course they wouldn't know or care. WOMEN AREN'T HUMAN TO THEM.
posted by poffin boffin at 3:56 PM on September 26, 2018 [76 favorites]


it might be a bit unusual for kids from Gaithersburg High to be at Prep parties or vice versa, because private and public schools in Maryland are in different sports conferences and don't necessarily have intersecting social circles for that reason

There was a lot of discussion here...last week? About the particular social conventions of DC prep schools and how well students at various schools tend to know each other. That's perfectly sensible. What's bizarre to me is that this dude (anonymously! because bro code!) couldn't even bring himself to sound like LESS of an arrogant shit stain about it. "Most of our friends were from [other specific prep schools]. I'm not sure I knew anyone from [public school.]" That quote signals exactly the same status markers without making you look like a climber.

Part of what seems genuinely torturous to me is that people like this man and his classmates must say much worse in private, about the vast chasm that they believe exists between the 64 people that they personally know and everyone else in the world, while attempting to hide it (probably badly!) in public. How can you ever resolve the cognitive dissonance of being alive in the world while also believing that everyone else in it is inferior to you? You can't. It's impossible. Just attempting it leads to 50-something-year-old men who want it written down in a fucking newspaper that while they certainly didn't socialize with public school girls, they knew exactly which public schools were theoretically acceptable, and the lady in question attended none of them.
posted by Snarl Furillo at 4:05 PM on September 26, 2018 [10 favorites]


AP, Zimbabwe’s leader says he offers Trump land for golf course
Mnangagwa said he made the offer to Trump staffers earlier this year at the World Economic Forum in Switzerland, pitching land in the tourist town of Victoria Falls. Trump is a keen golfer.

“I had offered President Trump ground to build a state-of-the-art golf course so that as he plays he can be able to see the big five,” Zimbabwe’s president said. The “big five” refers to big game: lion, rhino, elephant, buffalo and leopard.
I am concerned about the safety aspects of a golf course that incorporates buffalo into the design, but at this point, the fact that he approached government employees to offer Trump land for his private business rather says a lot.
posted by zachlipton at 4:06 PM on September 26, 2018 [21 favorites]


if anything, not being from one of the usual private schools would probably make a party attendee a more appealing target, since the minimal chance of getting in trouble for the attack would be that much lower given the separation between the schools and the remote likelihood of the administrators knowing each other -- a lot of them do -- and pursuing discipline if a woman did report a crime (quite aside from the points made previously regarding catholic boys attitudes about 'slutty' girls from non-catholic schools).

and, not being a regular part of the circle, women from non-private schools might not be in the whisper network and might not know which people at the party (like judge and kavanaugh) to avoid.
posted by halation at 4:06 PM on September 26, 2018 [25 favorites]


Interrupting today's omnishambles for continuing coverage of different shambles: Watch the second Senate debate between Tim Kaine, Corey Stewart tonight, live now.

10 Lies You Will Hear Corey Stewart Say at Tonight’s Senate Debate
posted by T.D. Strange at 4:07 PM on September 26, 2018


WaPo has an annotated transcript of Trump's presser (in progress, because..well if you watched/listened you know why). Here's a taste:
China now, put on $250 billion, and they’re paying 25 percent on that. They’re paying billions and billions -- this has never happened to China, and I like China and I like President Xi a lot. I think he’s a friend of mine, he may not be a friend of mine anymore, but I think he probably respects -- from what I hear, if you look at Mr. Pillsbury, the leading authority on China. He was on a good show, I won’t mention the name of the show, recently, and he was saying that China has total respect for Donald Trump and for Donald Trump’s very, very large brain.
posted by zakur at 4:09 PM on September 26, 2018 [15 favorites]




oh my god if he was devoured by a lion live on camera at the ceremonial opening of a new golf course my entire body would enter into a state of eternal climax soaring through the galaxy forever
posted by poffin boffin at 4:12 PM on September 26, 2018 [118 favorites]


I grew up in northern Virginia and graduated from a public high school in 1983. I didn't drink in high school, but everyone knew there were tons of parties with drinking.

Movies about getting laid were a huge part of pop culture. Animal House came out in 1978 and there were a whole wave of movies: Valley Girl, The Last American Virgin, Screwballs, Porky's, Private School...for Girls, Sixteen Candles, Losin' It, Hot Movies, Goin' All the Way!, and so on.

I was 18 when Virginia raised the drinking age to 19, so I was grandfathered, and then I was 19 when they raised it to 21, so I was grandfathered twice.
posted by kirkaracha at 4:13 PM on September 26, 2018 [7 favorites]


it has to be sharks for the irony though
posted by prize bull octorok at 4:13 PM on September 26, 2018 [15 favorites]


Grassley's office released transcripts of two interviews with Kavanaugh: September 17th and September 25th.
posted by zachlipton at 4:13 PM on September 26, 2018 [1 favorite]


Because Trump reacts so well to being laughed at. Remember when Obama made fun of him at the White House Correspondants’ Dinner? And... well... here we are.

I think everyone in the world would be much happier if Trump were only in charge of the UN. We should encourage this progression!
posted by srboisvert at 4:17 PM on September 26, 2018 [1 favorite]


!!! NBC News, Kasie Hunt, Leigh Ann Caldwell and Heidi Przybyla, Senate probing new allegation of misconduct against Kavanaugh.

Dateline: about five minutes after the presser ended.
posted by notyou at 4:18 PM on September 26, 2018 [6 favorites]


From Ford written testimony: "In my freshman and sophomore school years, when I was 14 and 15 years old, my group of friends intersected with Brett and his friends for a short period of time... We did not know each other well, but I knew him and he knew me."

So Brent, do you recognize or remember your accuser Dr Blasey Ford? Think it over, Mr Yale Law, because you're just as fucked saying yes as you are going with no.
posted by klarck at 4:19 PM on September 26, 2018 [1 favorite]


In a perfect world at this point what I'd like to see is a joint statement by Kagan, Sotomayer, and Ginsburg that they cannot and will not serve along side Brett Kavanaugh. Of course this isn't a perfect world and so that would harden support. Hell, probably a plus since maybe you can get to a 9-0 Republican supreme court if you nominate somebody odious enough. "Justice Hitler's Corpse" has a nice ring to it.

Also, Chief Justice Roberts is partisan but he also cares about the view of the court. I imagine he is not happy though of course his mild discomfort is nothing compared to how rape survivors are thinking.
posted by Justinian at 4:24 PM on September 26, 2018 [5 favorites]


So when Avenatti started teasing bits of info, I was a little irritated by how quickly people on here got mad, assumed it was all showmanship and wouldn't be real, talked a lot of shit about him, etc. Now we know that in fact he did have some really seriously important shit to back it up. I didn't really doubt it. I feel that thus far, he has delivered. So why all the skepticism and hate?

I can't help but think it feels a little gross and condescending, like, do we think we're too good for attention-seeking behavior on our own side? We're fighting against the fucking reality show President and Friends here for chrissakes. These are not normal times, and the way many Americans consume and understand media right now is totally warped. There must be a gray area of people who actually probably don't like racism, sexism, corruption, etc and WOULD support the things we support if they knew more about it and were more interested and properly motivated, but they have the attention span of a goldfish. I mean, come on- people on Metafilter complain about their Senators lacking spines, being boring, even to us. So like . . . what do you WANT in order to get more people on board with the cause? In my opinion Avenatti (and Stormy Daniels) occupy a very specific and very IMPORTANT niche in this fight. They whip up maximum attention. They hit where it hurts. They have receipts. They're fearless, thick-skinned and can dish it right back out to those that pile on to them. They're on our side of the fight. The shamelessness, the honesty, the love of attention- right now, in this timeline, these things are features, not bugs. it pisses me off when people write off these two just because they seem to think they're better than them. but they have been, and i think will continue to be, key players in the takedown. i really think Democrats are shooting themselves in the foot by being assholes about them. you want the senators to do the same thing, but they occupy fundamentally different niches- they can't do the same thing in the same way with the same effectiveness for millions of reasons. anyway, i would bet money that you can find people who don't care what Senators say because "politics is boring" but to them this seems interesting and important and if it moves the needle then i'll take it.

on preview, i see a few other people saying positive stuff about avenatti. what prize bull octorok nails another aspect of what i'm trying to get at here: I take a generally positive view of Avenatti serving as a lightning rod to draw some of the toxic abuse that would otherwise fall directly on the accusers.

tl;dr let's stop being condescending about Avenatti and Daniels and maybe appreciate the work they're doing here because it seems to be working
posted by robotdevil at 4:25 PM on September 26, 2018 [106 favorites]


Also, Chief Justice Roberts is partisan but he also cares about the view of the court.

He said nothing about Garland or Gorsuch. The court's legitimacy is utterly shattered already and he said nothing. Roberts won't save us, this is as much his triumph as McConnell's.
posted by T.D. Strange at 4:34 PM on September 26, 2018 [25 favorites]


A thing about Stormy Daniels and Avenatti: They're some of the very, very few people who are not dependent on the goodwill of the center-right and whose professions mean they can't be taken down. If you're a successful porn star, people may insult you or think less of you for doing porn but they can't blackmail you or do some kind of big reveal of the "did you hear about Stormy Daniels, she does porn" variety. You don't have to do all that "ooh, I'm a nice girl and I really think men are so wonderful, please listen to me" stuff that many women have to do to get over. And frankly, sex always sells - Trump can't get you fired. Avenatti, as a loud, brassy lawyer type, is in a bit of the same position - Trump can't make him unemployable because being a loud brassy lawyer will always bring in business. A lot of other people, from professors to writers to celebrities, can't speak that kind of high-publicity truth to power because they're dependent on universities, think tanks, mass markets, sports team owners, etc etc.

It's like peasants - when the peasants have the commons to fall back on, they're strong because they always have a last resort. Daniels and Avenatti have professions that can't be taken away from them this side of the grave, and that means that they can say what others can't.
posted by Frowner at 4:38 PM on September 26, 2018 [122 favorites]


"Even if it's all true, does it disqualify him? It certainly means that he did something really bad 36 years ago. But does it disqualify him from the Supreme Court?"

I know this was heavily discussed 2,000 years ago (or maybe just this morning) and there have been excellent points brought up by just about everyone who focused in on this quote/why republicans are not punting and confirming someone else, etc. and I believe each thing mentioned (it's a vote on aristocracy, roe v wade overturned, etc.) plays some role in why they keep defending Kavanaugh and pushing his nomination through so quickly. For some repubs, I could see it being a one-issue deal, but for most I imagine these all aspects covered have played to their choice.

It seems like I have only seen sotonohito and one or two others mention how the above quote is disingenuous. But, that's only the start of it. It is purposely disingenuous to distract us from the question Cramer is afraid we will ask.

That question is:

"Let us say it is not disqualifying. Is Kavanaugh the most qualified candidate for the SC?"

They don't want to have that question asked because they would have to say no and logic would say choose someone else. But, and they are not saying it out loud, the answer to them is yes.

REPUBLICANS BELIEVE BRETT KAVANAUGH IS THE BEST CANDIDATE FOR SC NOM. THE MOST QUALIFIED.

Which, on it's face sounds absurd. But, it pulls all those puzzle pieces together on the different reasons we have been noting and why they just won't give up.

1. Pre-Meuller, Kavanaugh couldn't even make the list of candidates for SC nom. Now, Kavanaugh is practically yelling with a bullhorn, "Pres is free to commit crime until out of office." That's a huge win for Rs. It's not about Trump at all. It's about an R pres being indicted. I am guessing they would also think Ds just won't put someone in office that would come close to being indicted.

2.It is consistent with this Watergate scar that Rs just can't seem to get over. Couldn't get Bork on the bench, even though it was promised to him for his part in Watergate. Let's do the next best thing and appoint the judge who was instrumental in getting a D impeached, just like they tried to do to Nixon. Oh, also the D impeached was Clinton so it's a little dig at the last D pres candidate as well. That's a nice little bow on that present. (Point 1 also fits into this. They will never have to feel the shame of a trial if R pres is indicted... very close to the shame they felt during Watergate.)

3. As has been suspected, one reason to push through so quickly is that the Rs do know Kav has skeletons in his closet and they could potentially use those as blackmail, but I don't think that will be necessary since:

4. All signs point to Kavanaugh being 100% in the bag already: His work for Bush, his work on the Starr investigation, the specific questions he crafted for the impeachment hearing and now him flat out saying, "Pres gonna do what a pres gonna do."

(4a. and 1a. If a Dem pres were indicted, his opinions on sitting presidents being indicted would change in a heartbeat with a quote along the lines of "my experience gained listening to cases in the highest court in the land has helped me evolve my judgement on crucial matters" which would evolve right back if an R pres was indicted.)
posted by a non mouse, a cow herd at 4:45 PM on September 26, 2018 [24 favorites]


from the 9/25 interview, his first response to the question of whether he was ever involved in or present for a gang rape is that he never even had so much as a threesome. it is amazing. nobody follows up on why this non sequitur is relevant, in his mind.

he also says "twilight zone" approximately fifty thousand times. he is extremely determined to make "twilight zone" happen.
posted by queenofbithynia at 4:46 PM on September 26, 2018 [15 favorites]


I absolutely think Judge should be subpoenad... but do people really think this guy is going to admit to raping people? Or is the theory that he'll plead the 5th and that will sink the nomination?
posted by Justinian at 4:47 PM on September 26, 2018 [2 favorites]


@jeneps [citing the interview transcript] Another accusation against Kavanaugh that he was asked about by Senate staffers this week: an alleged rape on a boat in Rhode Island in 1985. Kavanaugh denies.

@eschor: Senior Senate Dem aide tells me there's a concern the GOP is "now releasing anonymous allegations in an effort to make all allegations look frivolous. We’re focusing on the ones that have names attached."

It's rather strange that "release more accusations against Kavanaugh to try to water down the most credible ones" is a not utterly ridiculous plan, but it does seem to be happening. Their argument is somehow that more people coming forward makes them all liars, and it entirely discounts the focused and detailed reporting of Ford's allegations by comparing them to unvetted anonymous letters and phone calls.
posted by zachlipton at 4:50 PM on September 26, 2018 [28 favorites]


he also says "twilight zone" approximately fifty thousand times. he is extremely determined to make "twilight zone" happen.

The Get Out guy got there first.

Jordan Peele’s Twilight Zone reboot is coming to CBS All Access next year
posted by Artw at 4:53 PM on September 26, 2018 [16 favorites]


Kavanaugh is the pick precisely because he is thoroughly compromised. Does anyone really think there were not implicit assurances given to Trump? Kavanaugh is the pick because he is dirty enough to kiss Trump's ring.
posted by benzenedream at 4:56 PM on September 26, 2018 [17 favorites]


The oddest thing about the Rhode Island rumor is that Brett Kavanaugh actually prompts the Republicans to ask about it. It definitely seems like they've found evidence of a provably false accusation from someone with political motives, and hoping to use it to cast doubt on all the other allegations.
posted by politikitty at 4:56 PM on September 26, 2018 [5 favorites]


Can't some reporter just put an end to this, already?
"Mr. President, do you have any response to the alleged allegations that in 2007, Kavanaugh described Trump Tower as, quote, 'not very impressive' and 'kind of tacky'? A lot of people are talking about it."
posted by uosuaq at 4:59 PM on September 26, 2018 [53 favorites]


I'm with robotdevil about Avenatti. He and Mueller are the best things going for us now. And I also wish that everybody will stop use euphemisms: They are not sexual assaulters - they are rapists - they do not use deceptive techniques - they lie - they don't show fraudulent conduct - they are corrupt. etc.
posted by growabrain at 5:00 PM on September 26, 2018 [14 favorites]


It's rather strange that "release more accusations against Kavanaugh to try to water down the most credible ones" is a not utterly ridiculous plan, but it does seem to be happening. Their argument is somehow that more people coming forward makes them all liars, and it entirely discounts the focused and detailed reporting of Ford's allegations by comparing them to unvetted anonymous letters and phone calls.

Republicans: "I'm Spartacus! ...but for rape."
posted by T.D. Strange at 5:01 PM on September 26, 2018 [12 favorites]


House Resolution Directs Trump to End U.S. Support for Yemen War
In Congress, frustration with the U.S. role in Yemen is nearing a breaking point. Sen. Bob Menendez — the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee — is holding up a $2 billion arms sale to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates over concerns that the two countries routinely bomb civilian targets. Meanwhile, in the House, U.S. assistance to the Saudi- and UAE-led coalition is about to face another major hurdle.
posted by homunculus at 5:06 PM on September 26, 2018 [10 favorites]


I can't help but think it feels a little gross and condescending, like, do we think we're too good for attention-seeking behavior on our own side? We're fighting against the fucking reality show President and Friends here for chrissakes.

Daniels rocks, has been brave throughout this entire process, and I do appreciate her. Nothing I'm about to say applies to Daniels. Avenatti, on the other hand, likes to talk about how he might run for President.

I feel like this is the same line of thinking that, along with a hell of a lot of racism and hate, caused Trump to be the Republican nominee. He's tough, he's a fighter, he gets attention. And we're desperate for people who can cut through the noise and get attention, because what we have right now isn't working. Avenatti is not Trump, by any means, but we need people who can get attention without being assholes. And he fails that test. Miserably.

As an example, here's an exchange between Avenatti and Jon Favreau from a couple weeks ago. Avenatti boldly declares that Democrats should use "ALL tools!" to ensure Kavanaugh isn't confirmed until all his documents are released. Great, good idea, what tools do you advocate using? Asking that apparently gets you declared a "hater," and the whole thing, to my eye, approaches the Democratic equivalent of a Republican getting called a "cuck" in 2015/2016 for supposedly not being tough enough.

Avenatti has done work I appreciate, and he will continue to do so. But shamelessness and assholery are never features, and certainly aren't now. We need politicians, of both parties, to have a hell of a lot more shame, and we need people in politics that parents aren't ashamed to have their kids see on the news. We're not too good for attention-seeking, but we are too good to condone jerks, even when those jerks are on our side. We need people who can be fighters without bringing out the worst in us; we need to separate our ideas of what leadership looks like from what gets good ratings on cable news. That doesn't mean he isn't useful at what he does, but the idea that he's fit to run a homeowner's association, let alone President, needs to end now, because we don't have time for this once an extraordinarily painful primary season starts not long after the midterms.
posted by zachlipton at 5:09 PM on September 26, 2018 [26 favorites]


Avenatti's earned some credibility, but big claims require big proof. And honestly his tone sounded like a breathless email forward about teenage sex parties. If some malevolent idiot wanted to make up a story to get media attention, it would sound very much like Avenatti's initial tweets sounded.

(That's not to say that any of the public accusations are made up, or that victims are rewarded in any way, but a lot of people DONT KNOW about the death threats that accusers often get, a lot of people think it's just a 15 minutes of fame thing, like a Kardashian's sex video. If someone misguidedly wanted their 15 minutes, they would make up a story pretty much like Avenatti's - something too horrible to ignore,
with visual and emotional details that prompt the imagination. I mean, tabloids and email forwards are effective.)

It's right to be skeptical about big claims, and it's reasonable to be annoyed by this guy seeming to play around with something so serious.
posted by Rainbo Vagrant at 5:14 PM on September 26, 2018 [1 favorite]


I absolutely think Judge should be subpoenad... but do people really think this guy is going to admit to raping people? Or is the theory that he'll plead the 5th and that will sink the nomination?

Regardless of if he has memory of the Ford incident, he can testify as to Kavanaugh's other numerous drinking incidents to impeach Kavanaugh's denial of heavy drinking. He can also testify as to the Bart O'Kavanaugh in his biography which describes him barfing and passing out in the back of the car. Kavanaugh has now denied under oath ever passing out while drinking.

So even if Mark Judge refuses to confirm the assault, he can lend credibility to Ms. Ford's account of a frequently heavily inebriated Kavanaugh in contrast to Kavanaugh's choir-boy characterization of himself.
posted by JackFlash at 5:16 PM on September 26, 2018 [9 favorites]


They are not sexual assaulters - they are rapists

Sexual assault is a legal term (in some states; it is called different things in different jurisdictions), and is a more expansive crime that includes more types of behavior. "Rape," while it is a word incorporated into certain statutes, describes an old common law offense that was often interpreted as more or less a property crime against the husband or father of the victim.

Frankly I wish we could move away from the word "rape" rather than elevating it as the actual bad thing because it has a much more problematic history, conceptually. It's also the thing that all the dude bros say they are against while they're beating their chests about how tough they are (and then go off to do some misogynistic shit anyway).
posted by Joey Buttafoucault at 5:17 PM on September 26, 2018 [12 favorites]


Mark Judge can show Kavanaugh lied under oath. About his drinking and possibly other behavior as well.

Which is why I expect Judge to plead the 5th if he ever gets subpoena'd.
posted by suelac at 5:19 PM on September 26, 2018 [1 favorite]


That doesn't mean he isn't useful at what he does, but the idea that he's fit to run a homeowner's association, let alone President, needs to end now, because we don't have time for this once an extraordinarily painful primary season starts not long after the midterms.

The one thing that gives me hope about an Avenatti 2020 run is money. Who the fuck is funding him? Trump was basically self/Russia funded for the entire primary cycle until winning. There's going to be 10-15+ well funded Democrats for 2020 (which is it's own issue, recall Republicans 2012 and 2016...) but Avenatti won't be one of them, he has no support, and Democrats aren't as prone to sheep mentality or the appeals to authoritarianism that allowed a Trump to exist on the right. Backstabbing and infighting and self-defeating moralism, yes, but not fall in line behind the loudest strongman in the room.

It takes real money to run a modern primary campaign, even an insurgent outsider one based on twitter and the internet. Trump had it. Avenatti won't. ...you know unless Russia realizes they can fund him too, and then let's just elect Putin and stop pretending.
posted by T.D. Strange at 5:20 PM on September 26, 2018 [2 favorites]


I don't even really think that the desperate clinging to Kavanaugh is necessarily about Kavanaugh. I don't think that the Republicans are weirdly fixated on this one obviously unfit candidate when they could easily put someone else up who wouldn't have this trouble. Their refusal to drop Kavanaugh makes a lot more sense when you think about the fact that nothing Kavanaugh is accused of is specific to him. It's not "Brett Kavanaugh, the terrifying rape monster that nobody could figure out how to contain", it's "Brett Kavanaugh, a guy who was basically doing what everybody else in his circle was doing". The lineup phenomenon is so common at their parties that they had to come up with a term for it. Beach week is something they're all into. He didn't come up with this Renate thing, and he certainly wasn't the only one in on the joke.

The problem isn't that the Republicans are weirdly fixated on the one guy who can't pass muster, but rather that if the kind of thing that might bring down Kavanaugh is actually able to bring their guy down then they don't have ANYONE who can pass muster. They're even saying this out loud, complaining that if Kavanaugh's confirmation is stopped then nobody (on their side) is safe. Every one of their potential court nominees is from the same kind of background and ran in the same kind of circles. They all did this stuff. If suddenly drugging and/or assaulting women means you can't be on the Supreme Court, then nobody on their little internal lists can be on the Supreme Court. That's the problem. That's why they can't let this go.
posted by IAmUnaware at 5:23 PM on September 26, 2018 [70 favorites]


I was killing time on Westlaw today, searching for Kavanaugh-authored opinions with the words "credibility" or "lied" in them, and came across the following gem:
[the petitioner's] willingness to adopt and repeat a false cover story constitutes strong evidence of guilt. See Al–Adahi, 613 F.3d at 1107 (“false exculpatory statements are evidence—often strong evidence—of guilt”); see Hussain, 718 F.3d at 969 (same); Latif, 677 F.3d at 1195 (same); Almerfedi, 654 F.3d at 7 (same); Al–Madhwani, 642 F.3d at 1076 (same); Esmail, 639 F.3d at 1076–77 (same); Uthman, 637 F.3d at 407 (same).

Ali v. Obama, 736 F.3d 542, 549 (D.C. Cir. 2013) (Kavanaugh, J.).

Here's hoping a senator asks him about it.
posted by mabelstreet at 5:23 PM on September 26, 2018 [37 favorites]


Mod note: Guys when Avenatti starts actually running we can talk about Avenatti running but I feel like we have PLENTY OF NEWS FOR NOW to deal with without pre-litigating the 2020 primaries.
posted by Eyebrows McGee (staff) at 5:24 PM on September 26, 2018 [46 favorites]


Which is why I expect Judge to plead the 5th if he ever gets subpoena'd

What criminal exposure does he personally have? I'm pretty sure you can't invoke the 5th for someone else's crimes.
posted by rhizome at 5:27 PM on September 26, 2018


What criminal exposure does he personally have?

According to his college ex, plenty.
posted by ChurchHatesTucker at 5:28 PM on September 26, 2018 [7 favorites]


The anonymous Rhode Island accusation appears to be sourced to an anonymous twitter account with 17 followers, operated by someone who just recanted (and by releasing that transcript, they effectively released the name of the person associated with the account).

They are absolutely flooding the zone tonight with anonymous accusations that lack credibility in order to say "see, look how false accusations happen all the time" and discredit Ford's allegations in advance of her testimony.
posted by zachlipton at 5:28 PM on September 26, 2018 [21 favorites]


In a perfect world at this point what I'd like to see is a joint statement by Kagan, Sotomayer, and Ginsburg that they cannot and will not serve along side Brett Kavanaugh.

In that case, their only recourse if he were confirmed would be to quit, which is the absolute worst thing that could possibly happen to us. Nothing would make the senate confirm Kavanaugh faster than a statement like that.
posted by greermahoney at 5:29 PM on September 26, 2018 [11 favorites]


Feinstein: Kavanaugh misled about grand jury secrecy in Vince Foster probe
Sen. Dianne Feinstein told POLITICO that she has now identified another area in which she believes Kavanaugh was not truthful in communications with senators. She said that by directing officials to speak to reporters during the investigation of President Bill Clinton, Kavanaugh may have violated grand jury secrecy laws — even though he told her and Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) he never broke those rules.
You Can Expect to Hear the Phrase 'There's No Definitive Proof' a Lot Over the Next Few Days. Brett Kavanaugh's nomination is taking on water fast, but Republicans won't easily abandon ship.
posted by homunculus at 5:31 PM on September 26, 2018 [32 favorites]


What criminal exposure does he [Mark Judge] personally have? I'm pretty sure you can't invoke the 5th for someone else's crimes.

Well, he was an accomplice in the Ford assault, being in the same locked bedroom. But if the committee really wants his testimony they could give him immunity for any testimony covering, for example, the years 1980 to 1984. Then he could be compelled to testify. As in the Ollie North case, it would be difficult for any other jurisdiction to prosecute him using immunized testimony.
posted by JackFlash at 5:39 PM on September 26, 2018


Just watched some of the press conference, which I think we can all agree everyone wanted to take the heat off Bart O'Kavanaugh.

Starts out strong. Boring. Rehearsed. Diction is working. Y'know.
First question - about Kavanaugh, why didn't the FBI investigate - planned, Trump recites his answer, no problem. Starting to get a little loose, but not even at campaign rally levels yet. Subdued, even.
Fast-forward, thirteen minutes in, WOW that got away from him. He knew, she, he doesn't they, its Democrats that, you know, everybody, it's we're gonna see, JUDGE BRENT KAVANAUGH, I wanna see, it's very, look, who - if we, I don't know, here
Twenty-three minutes in (see China quote above), jeeeeezus christ he's unraveling.
Thirty one minutes in, we're mugging, there's funny voices now, Obama, so bad, eyebrows jumping
Forty minutes, another woman gets talked over - the voices are getting weirder, the pantomime is getting more exaggerated He's selling Real Estate.
Fifty three minutes, he's tired, he's angry, he needs a juice box. "Yes?! Yes!" He scowls and points at the next reporter.
One hour ten minutes, he's whispering, he's using a tiny voice to let us in on these global secrets. He sees the finish line. He's not Predisenting for you, by the way. He's impaired, but he never wanted the job anyway. Elton John story. So vote Kavanaugh.

Ugh. I need a wet-nap™.
posted by petebest at 5:44 PM on September 26, 2018 [42 favorites]


I think at least 60% of the anti-Avenatti sentiment before today was risk aversion. The things he implied were so horrific that if there was any serious reason to doubt them (and it turns out there is not and they are entirely credible) then, unfortunately, it could have blown up enough to be perceived as "discrediting" everything else. It's absurd that's how the world works, and if there's a way we can fight that perception I'm for it. But in the meantime, it makes sense to proceed with bigger caution the bigger the accusation. And this factor is totally independent of AVenatti's credibility or personality -- there is literally no one alive who could hint at this kind of stuff without a significant number of us responding with "Make no assumptions, wait for more evidence, wait for more."

And now it looks like people might be trying the "discrediting" ratfuckery now, with this new story about someone claiming to have beaten up Kavanaugh and Judge in retaliation for a rape the two of them committed (against a fourth person) in their thirties. This person remains anonymous and grains of salt are advised.

Regarding Avenatti again, I think it was strategically smart for him to open with explicit references to the nature of the crimes, but without any other details, even though that's what a lot of people naturally grumbled about as artificial suspense-building. Aside from the lightning-rod aspect people have discussed, pushing something like this into public consciousness can require piecemeal introduction rather than dumping it all at once -- hence the concept of "drip, drip, drip". You tell people the gist of it and their brains work out whether it sounds about right, then you follow up with the name and face of the woman whose account they're already half-prepared to accept.

queenofbithynia: he also says "twilight zone" approximately fifty thousand times. he is extremely determined to make "twilight zone" happen.

A Twitter respond from Mike Drucker: You mean the television show in which characters get an ironic bad ending created by their own hubris?
posted by InTheYear2017 at 6:28 PM on September 26, 2018 [39 favorites]


[not a criminal lawyer] the mean drunk & demeaning behavior, in and around washington, d.c. & in maryland, is not criminal or beyond the statute of limitations ("inappropriate contact" is probably potentially criminal, depending, but subject to sol); spiking the punch is probably a crime for which the statute of limitations has elapsed. spiking the punch as part of a conspiracy to commit gang rape... gets closer. the gang rape itself, in maryland, would include crimes for which there is no statute of limitation. (have been focused on MD this whole time, haven't waded into DC sex crimes' statutes of limitations). ms. swetnick's statement was not particular as to where she witnessed United States Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh waiting in line to, presumably, rape an unconscious girl, nor about the jurisdiction in which she was raped.

i read there being real potential criminal liability for the men who spiked the punch and stood in those lines. in maryland. some investigatory interviews, at least, would seem to be called for. much more likely should a maryland victim swear out a complaint.

pleading the fifth as to, say, any sex crimes, shouldn't prevent mr. judge from attesting to the drinking & gambling & demeaning behavior, though. unless... there are more, as yet undisclosed, crimes there, too.
posted by 20 year lurk at 6:30 PM on September 26, 2018


WaPo: The GOP is buying the House. Literally.
(open in incognito tab to avoid paywall)

If Republicans succeed in keeping the House in November, it will have been bought for them by corporations and the rich — quite literally.
...
Records show House Republican incumbents in seats targeted by Democrats are getting almost all their campaign funds from large contributors (often those who donate $2,700 or $5,400) and political action committees. Only a tiny fraction comes from those who give $200 or less.

For example, Reps. Carlos Curbelo (Fla.), Kevin Yoder (Kan.), Ann Wagner (Mo.), Tom MacArthur (N.J.), Vern Buchanan (Fla.), Mario Diaz-Balart (Fla.) and Trey Hollingsworth (Ind.) all get less than 1 percent of their campaign cash from small donations.

The Center for Responsive Politics looked at all competitive contests and found that Republicans in House races receive 10 percent of contributions in small donations, compared with 21 percent for Democrats. The Senate is nearly identical, at 11 percent and 21 percent.

posted by saysthis at 6:31 PM on September 26, 2018 [19 favorites]


In that case, their only recourse if he were confirmed would be to quit, which is the absolute worst thing that could possibly happen to us. Nothing would make the senate confirm Kavanaugh faster than a statement like that.

The most effective thing they could do (and it still wouldn't be very effective, but it would be something) would be to refuse to join any opinion he signs. Any decision that doesn't have at least 5 of the men would be rendered useless as precedent. Obviously this wouldn't block partisan 5- 4 decisions, but nothing the court's left wing does can block those. This would at least kneecap decisions where Thomas goes off on his own about how the Post Office violates the magna carta or something.
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 6:33 PM on September 26, 2018 [6 favorites]


Yale Law School’s Reckoning Over Brett Kavanaugh - Jacob Stern & David Yaffe-Bellany, The Atlantic
Students and faculty staged a sit-in Monday in protest against President Trump’s nomination of the conservative appellate-court judge, a 1990 Yale Law graduate, to the Supreme Court.
posted by ZeusHumms at 6:41 PM on September 26, 2018 [4 favorites]


He says what we're all thinking!

@thedailyangle Did you all see Jared Kushner after the #TrumpPressConference ?
posted by scalefree at 6:50 PM on September 26, 2018 [34 favorites]


CNN:
Sen. Susan Collins, who could determine whether Brett Kavanaugh gets a lifetime seat on the Supreme Court, raised serious concerns at a private meeting about the newest allegations of inappropriate behavior against the nominee -- and questioned why the Senate Judiciary Committee had not subpoenaed a close friend of the federal judge.

Multiple sources familiar with the private Wednesday meeting told CNN that Collins appeared unnerved by the latest allegation, citing in particular that it was a sworn statement sent to the panel, which carries with it the possibility of perjury for lying to Congress.
(please, no need for an auto-response about how useless Collins is)
posted by Chrysostom at 7:24 PM on September 26, 2018 [32 favorites]


and questioned why the Senate Judiciary Committee had not subpoenaed a close friend of the federal judge.

Not a surprise, but the article confirms that the friend she's referring is Yellow King worshipper Mark Judge.
posted by Rust Moranis at 7:30 PM on September 26, 2018


Oy.

Politico: Ex-boyfriend filed restraining order against third Kavanaugh accuser

(That’s Swetnick, for those scoring at home.)

Avenatti says he knows nothing about this, rails at press for prying into an assault victim’s past.
posted by notyou at 7:30 PM on September 26, 2018


You always investigate people's pasts. The problem is when you start attacking them for irrelevant things. Like saying someone wasn't assaulted because they've had a bunch of consensual encounters with people in the past. Irrelevant. Restraining order may or may not be relevant depending on the circumstances.

... I will refrain from repeating my previous comments about Michael Avenatti.
posted by Justinian at 7:34 PM on September 26, 2018 [2 favorites]


> Al Jazeera English is showing a clip of Trump speaking at the UN in which he claims that China is attempting to interfere with the 2018 US mid-term elections, followed by the Ambassador from China categorically denying the assertion.
Hell yes China is interfering with the mid-term elections: I'm posting in MetaFilter #potus45 threads!
posted by runcifex at 7:37 PM on September 26, 2018 [12 favorites]


Pew survey:

June:
Men: R+6
Women: D+16
September:
Men: R+3
Women: D+23
A 26 point gender gap is just enormous.
posted by Chrysostom at 7:38 PM on September 26, 2018 [59 favorites]


Orrin Hatch should be called out every time he opens his mouth regarding Kavanaugh. He's simultaneously supporting the overturn of dual-sovereignty in an upcoming SCOTUS case, and even went as far as to put this in writing, 44 pages worth, in that amicus brief. This flies in the face of his precious states rights federalism, and would allow Trump to pardon without fear of being retried at the state level. They are openly supporting Kavanaugh as a political tool to help Trump kill the Mueller probe, assault accusations be damned.
posted by p3t3 at 7:38 PM on September 26, 2018 [14 favorites]


McConnell’s staff are going scorched earth on Swetnick’s background too. These claims are, of course, entirely irrelevant to these accusations.

It’s...I’ll say this without casting any aspersions on Avenatti more broadly, but there’s a reason why the “work with a reporter to responsibly investigate and present these stories” model has advantages over tweeting it out in pieces. Because any reporter working this story would understand the acuser’s background and address that in the reporting, rather than having it come out later as a gotcha. Irrelevant restraining orders can be looked into and dismissed from the start instead of being used to dismiss accusations after they come out.
posted by zachlipton at 7:45 PM on September 26, 2018 [7 favorites]


Yes, please stay away from the Rhode Island (5th) accusation and cull it from the herd whenever someone raises it. It may very well be the 4 chan hoax that was talked about.

A very young egg account by a self-described hippie who literally urged the military to depose Trump in a coup? It's clueless even by alt-right standards.
posted by msalt at 7:47 PM on September 26, 2018 [3 favorites]


@zoetillman: [docs attached] The Senate Judiciary Committee just sent out a timeline describing how they responded to the allegations against #SCOTUS nominee Brett Kavanaugh. It appears to indicate they've been in touch with two men who believe they had the "encounter" with Christine Blasey Ford

What the hell?
posted by zachlipton at 7:56 PM on September 26, 2018 [17 favorites]


(1) Senate Judiciary Committee misspells "Kavanaugh"
(2) Referring to attempted gang rape as "the encounter"
(3) Falsely admitting to an attempted gang rape to own the libs
posted by Rust Moranis at 8:13 PM on September 26, 2018 [15 favorites]


What the hell?

Rape culture Spartacus.
posted by flabdablet at 8:13 PM on September 26, 2018 [9 favorites]


The bullshit to some of this seems obvious, but the end result is no less crazy: They're seriously going to try to confirm him because there are too many allegations against him.
posted by scaryblackdeath at 8:15 PM on September 26, 2018 [14 favorites]


McConnell’s staff are going scorched earth on Swetnick’s background too

Here is all they could find to attack her with:
- "Sexual harassment lawsuit" - yeah, but filed by her against an employer. Your point?

- "Restraining Order Filed Against Her By Her Ex-Boyfriend In FL" - yeah, but "Thirteen days later, the case was dismissed, not long after an affidavit of non-ability to advance fees was filed." Notice the sleazy wording -- it says he filed for a restraining order, but not that it was granted. Also, the only sources running this story are Politico, Daily Caller, Washington Examiner and National Review. Jonathan Swan pumped it on Twitter.

- "Defamation Suit Filed Against Her In OR" yeah by Webtrends after she left work there, but it was dismissed a month later, with prejudice and no settlement or fees. Webtrends paid court costs. Sounds like a typical meritless countersuit for negotiation purposes.

- "2 tax liens." OK. Your point?

- "6 Court Cases In MD" Obviously not significant or more details would have been given. Parking tickets? Small claims court? Appealed a zoning regulation? She filed a claim in a car accident?

Bottom line: she has passed several security clearance screenings during the time covered. Nothing here but a desperate personal attack, and an answer to why women often don't want to press charges.
posted by msalt at 8:17 PM on September 26, 2018 [85 favorites]


They can't back down. Their base will tolerate embrace racism, sexism, homophobia, pedophilia, rape, and treason... but not losing to the libs. And they will see withdrawing Kavanaugh as "establishment" Republicans caving in to the libs and will punish them for it.

It's insane but it's how they think.
posted by Justinian at 8:23 PM on September 26, 2018 [20 favorites]


Anyone in Vancouver next week should come to see Ruth Ben Ghiat at UBC, talking about Trump authoritarianism in a historical context at GC on Tuesday (her expertise is in Italian Fascism) and on Visualizing Fascism on Wednesday.

If you come on Tuesday we can chat over wine and cheese at the reception.

She's in the media often (as per her website). All previous mentions on MeFi have been courtesy of the same megathread superstar, so she comes well recommended.
posted by ipsative at 8:29 PM on September 26, 2018 [10 favorites]


The World Famous: Oh, you know how it goes. Eyewitness victim testimony unequivocally identifies the person who committed the crime and requests an investigation, so you falsely tell everybody that the police are not allowed to investigate and then secretly take it upon yourself to investigate without any oversight and without telling anyone how you're investigating, and then you get super lucky and happen upon someone who confesses to the whole thing because they really just want to clear up this case of mistaken identity and expose themselves as the real perpetrator. Totally normal.

It's easy to miss when you live in reality and already know they're bullshit artists, but yeah, it's fractally nonsensical. Exactly why wouldn't the "real" perpetrator just let Kavanaugh, who already looks incredibly guilty on a dozen other fronts, just take the blame for this? Plus: these are attackers plural, so that means Mike Judge also happens to have an evil twin, unless he himself makes a surprise trip to DC?

I guess the set of people paying attention is mostly the same as non-Trump-supporters, because they long-ago learned to tune out the news. But Jesus, this gambit has to induce massive cognitive dissonance in anyone trying to remain loyal to the Republican Party.

Not to mention that this overshadows that weird smear they had going about three years ago in these hearings, where they called Cory Booker "Spartacus"( for supposedly being over-eager to martyr himself for publicizing documents that had been de-classified or whatever since the early hours that day).
posted by InTheYear2017 at 8:35 PM on September 26, 2018 [3 favorites]


(SL Huffington Post) New York City Councilman Rory Lancman announced his bid for Queens district attorney Wednesday, making him the leading candidate to replace a seven-term incumbent who’s gone unchallenged since the governor appointed him in 1991.

Nearly two months after floating his candidacy, Lancman launched his campaign with a video railing against racial and class disparities in the justice system critics in New York’s geographically largest and most diverse borough say District Attorney Richard Brown, 86, inflamed with a heavy-handed prosecutorial approach. In the video, Lancman vows to “make it a priority to protect working people and immigrants preyed upon for their vulnerability.”
posted by Bella Donna at 8:58 PM on September 26, 2018 [6 favorites]


This is from way back in the thread, but I wanted to repeat for emphasis:

Our society massively underestimates how much bad shit happens to women and girls. And how much we've kept silent.

This, 100%. What Frowner, soren_lorenson and others have reported about their time in high school, the We Didn't Call It Rape article, all of it mirrors my experiences at a public, suburban, affluent, all-white school. The way boys treated me and others was deeply traumatic for me and made me wary of and resentful towards white high school and college aged boys for years. Even when I was still in high school and college. I no longer harbor those feelings about young men in their teens and twenties, mostly because I tend to think that younger men have generally gotten a little better with each new generation. However, I remain deeply distrustful of the Gen X men in my own age group, as it seems like so many of them are not much different from the people they were in high school - they've just learned how to hide it better.

Also, re: Avenatti, this reply to the Nate Silver tweet, which says (in part):

What people underrate about Avenatti is that he has a trust factor with women because of how hard he went to bat for Stormy Daniels...

There haven't been many other men who has been quite as loud, as aggressive, and as forceful an advocate as Michael Avenatti. Republicans have gone gloves off with their fight against women and the response from most Democratic men has been...underwhelming. It's the Democratic women who have had to step in the ring to fight for our rights. When I see a man who's willing to consistently and reliably step in there with us, I don't really care if he's doing it for self-promotion or whatever else. I'm just happy to find allies who seem as willing and ready to get in the ring and fight for women as they are to fight for a $15 minimum wage or universal healthcare.
posted by triggerfinger at 9:01 PM on September 26, 2018 [121 favorites]


Yeah, if Avenatti's loud or self-promoting or whatever, that is vastly outweighed for me by the fact that he's a) pretty damn truthful-- I have yet to see him make a factual claim he can't back up-- and b) he goes to bat hard for the women he represents.
posted by nonasuch at 9:21 PM on September 26, 2018 [23 favorites]


So let me see if I have this straight. Two men called up the Senate Judiciary Committee and admitted to, I guess, committing crimes (it's not clear what they said they did exactly) in a series of repeated interviews and written statements, crimes for which there may be no statute of limitations. The Republicans did not tell the Democratic staff, will not say who these people are, but released these anonymous claims on the eve of Ford's testimony.

Did they call the FBI or the police or something? Subpoena them to testify? Otherwise do anything remotely resembling dealing with this in a responsible way? Or did they just drop this tonight and not do anything as part of their effort to confuse the difference between well-vetted, researched accusations and people who are not credible?
posted by zachlipton at 9:24 PM on September 26, 2018 [35 favorites]


witchen: "Yep. I got a call from someone with Team USA when my friend from study abroad in college was preparing for Olympic trials. They asked follow-ups to every follow-up, i.e. "What would you do for fun, outside of class?" --> "Going out... you mean going out to bars?" --> "Did [friend] drink alcohol at bars?" --> "How often?" on and on for a while with these questions. And she didn't even qualify for the Olympics after all, but was subjected to this level of scrutiny."

Wait, I though the Olympics are strictly about higher, faster, farther when it comes to selecting athletes. Can the competitors be barred for "moral" or discretionary reasons?

oneswellfoop: "From NOW until Thursday morning at 9 AM, we need to send a NON-STOP flow of petitions signed by the American people to Senate Democrats to STOP THE WITCH HUNT AGAINST JUDGE KAVANAUGH"

The Cheeto and his minions are going to end up completely redefining the term "Witch Hunt".

ErisLordFreedom: "Current evidence says there's a pretty strong chance he's committed several felonies."

A whole rainbow of assorted felonies spanning several decades. A Bifröst of felonies if you will.


halation: "it might be a bit unusual for kids from Gaithersburg High to be at Prep parties or vice versa, because private and public schools in Maryland are in different sports conferences and don't necessarily have intersecting social circles for that reason. But Prep and Gaithersburg High are less than half an hour apart by car, and it's certainly possible that kids from the two schools would know each other socially just due to that proximity, or growing up together or attending elementary school together or meeting via other extracurriculars or at a concert or Beach Week or drinking in DC or any number of ways."

Or more pessimistically these girls were recruited/invited to these parties for the explicit purpose of being prey that predators wouldn't encounter socially.
posted by Mitheral at 9:26 PM on September 26, 2018 [31 favorites]


It appears to indicate they've been in touch with two men who believe they had the "encounter" with Christine Blasey Ford

It's the "Renate Alumni" thing all over again. Guys telling each other and you that they slept with you even though you say they didn't is, was, and always has been an act of aggression, dominance, and humiliation. this is that but one step further: guys telling you and the whole world they assaulted you and you don't even know it isn't just a transparent attempt at clearing Kavanaugh, it's symbolic violation. a highly particular attack on Ford in a way that is consistent with everything known about Kavanaugh and his friends.

part of the thrill of incapacitating and attacking women in groups is that you know who was there and what you did to her, but she doesn't know. they want to rewrite her history into that story, because it is their favorite story and they like to tell it nearly as much as they like to act it out. they are so furious, not just that she speaks, but that she knows. they really think they can take that away.
posted by queenofbithynia at 9:29 PM on September 26, 2018 [50 favorites]


ELECTIONS NEWS - pt. 2

** 2018 Senate:
-- WV: DSCC starting to cancel ad time here. Presumably they think this one is done.
** 2018 House:
-- NJ-03: Siena poll has Dem Kim up 49-39 on GOP incumbent MacArthur [MOE: +/- 4.8%]. [Trump 51-45 | Cook: Tossup]

-- NE-02: Siena poll has GOP incumbent Bacon up 51-42 on Dem Eastman [MOE: +/- 4.5%]. [Trump 48-46 | Cook: Lean R]

-- WA-08: Siena poll has Dem Schrier up 46-45 on GOPer Rossi [MOE: +/- 4.6%]. [Clinton 48-45 | Cook: Tossup]

-- MI-08: GQRR poll has Dem Slotkin up 47-43 on GOP incumbent Bishop [MOE: +/- 4.9%]. Poll was commissioned by the Slotkin campaign. [Trump 51-44 | Cook: Tossup]

-- VA-07: Normington Petts poll has Dem Spanberger tied 47-47 with GOP incumbent Brat [MOE: +/- 4.9%]. Poll was commissioned by the Spanberger campaign. [Trump 51-44 | Cook: Tossup]
posted by Chrysostom at 9:44 PM on September 26, 2018 [18 favorites]


This is what the economic and political elite in this country is like. They're showing us very clearly and publicly who and what they are, what they're like, and their complete and utter contempt for all the rest of us.

We have a referendum on these assholes coming up. Please vote!
posted by nangar at 9:49 PM on September 26, 2018 [25 favorites]


Brett Kavanaugh was a model youngster. Bart O’Kavanaugh was not. (Alexandra Petri, WaPo:)
Brett Kavanaugh did not go out much. He was a quiet, respectful lad. His only hobby — more of a passion than a hobby — was to update a meticulous calendar of all of his social outings in case he needed to consult it in 30 or more years. Sometimes, for fun, he would pay a respectful visit to one of 65 girls his own age, although this was but seldom, as he had a lot of homework and volunteer work and future leadership to do. For fun, he enjoyed reading only the Gallant sections of Goofus and Gallant comic strips and saying, “Golly, gee whiz!” in moments of heightened stress. He was a model youngster.

It is too bad that his live-in doppelganger, Bart O’Kavanaugh, was not. But perhaps that was the only way things could have been. Brett was so complete in his purity that he once healed a junior’s hangover with merely a touch of his hand. On the single occasion he attended a party, Brett turned the keg to water and gave everyone fish-and-loaf snacks.

Bart, meanwhile, seemed possessed of a more than human strength. There were certain odd facets to him that his friends tried not to call notice to: He only had a shadow sometimes. No one had ever seen his feet. When the class dove was confided to his care, it died immediately. Sometimes you would be startled to find him in the locker room, because the echoes of his voice there did not carry.

Bart was on the football team and the basketball team. It was nice having a doppelganger, because that way Bart could play football on Brett’s behalf and Brett did not have to worry about getting head injuries. It had been a good idea to summon him. Only having a shadow sometimes was a small price to pay.
It gets better.
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 10:05 PM on September 26, 2018 [49 favorites]


Silver:
Despite all the political news, our House and Senate forecasts have been very, very (frankly a bit boringly) steady for several weeks, with Dems continuing to hover at a ~80% chance of taking the House but the GOP with a ~70% chance of keeping the Senate.

Behind the scenes, there's a bit more going on. Democrats have generally gotten very good district-by-district polls for the past couple weeks. But the generic ballot has tightened just a teensy bit and Trump approval has improved a tick. Those changes have roughly cancelled out.
posted by Chrysostom at 10:11 PM on September 26, 2018 [7 favorites]


Or more pessimistically these girls were recruited/invited to these parties for the explicit purpose of being prey that predators wouldn't encounter socially.

Yep, this is a phenomenon. There's a word for the way such girls ar viewed: townies. I found a link that illustrates the dynamic, but it is too disturbing and triggering to post.
posted by Miko at 10:20 PM on September 26, 2018 [48 favorites]


That Petri article is very Goofus and Gallant.
posted by jenfullmoon at 10:31 PM on September 26, 2018 [5 favorites]


Plus: these are attackers plural, so that means Mike Judge also happens to have an evil twin, unless he himself makes a surprise trip to DC

I know their names are similar, so it's an easy mistake to make, but I'm gonna go ahead and presume that Mike Judge would extra, extra appreciate our not confusing him with Mark Judge.
posted by Rykey at 11:34 PM on September 26, 2018 [28 favorites]


In Trump's press conference line about #metoo, “I know friends that have had false charges. People want fame. They want money. They want whatever," reminds me about his "blood coming out of her wherever" slur. Which reinforces to me that when he says "people," he means "women." Women want fame, money, whatever. To him, women are all about taking things from his friends, rich men.
posted by xigxag at 12:24 AM on September 27, 2018 [16 favorites]


Dear young people, "Don't Vote" [YT]
posted by PenDevil at 1:23 AM on September 27, 2018 [11 favorites]


Relevant:

Eric Blankenstein, a senior Trump appointee responsible for enforcing laws against financial discrimination, once questioned in blog posts written under a pen name if using the n-word was inherently racist and claimed that the great majority of hate crimes were hoaxes, the Washington Post reports.

I dunno, who rolled these characters? Check the dice.
posted by petebest at 2:15 AM on September 27, 2018 [13 favorites]


So let me see if I have this straight. Two men called up the Senate Judiciary Committee and admitted to, I guess, committing crimes (it's not clear what they said they did exactly) in a series of repeated interviews and written statements, crimes for which there may be no statute of limitations.

It's better. Both men claim to be the one mistaken for Brett Kavanaugh. Neither wanted to be Mark Judge, I guess. The Republican staffers who "spoke by phone" with Bart number two, presumably breathless from sprinting back to Chuck Grassley with the good news, were also not named.

It's literally Spartacus-but-for-attempted-rape.
posted by petebest at 2:38 AM on September 27, 2018 [34 favorites]


After the midterms I'd like to start setting aside money for the eventual opponent of Mitch McConnell (R - Wolfram and Hart), who's up for reelection in 2020. Yeah, yeah, I know he's in a deep-red state, but he's not exactly a beloved figure there.
posted by duffell at 3:03 AM on September 27, 2018 [14 favorites]


Trump Gets 100 Countries to Sign On to His U.N. Drug War Plan, Ignoring Changing Thinking on Human Rights and Legalization

Why some U.S. allies didn’t sign up for Trump’s pledge to fight drugs


Ctrl+F Australia reveals nothing; New Zealand and most of Europe rejected it, though.
I'm wondering if Australia is one of the 100 countries. Under the current leadership and with its persistent Murdochian hard-right culture of governance, my guess would be yes.
posted by acb at 3:29 AM on September 27, 2018 [2 favorites]


I am sick to my stomach and also terrified of what's going to happen this morning.

We had to know all along that the Repubs wouldn't allow this to happen unless they could control the outcome. The fix has been in from the start, and they're wrapping this up on their terms with the bullshit veneer of transparency. (Of course everyone here knows FULL TRANSPARENCY means an investigation, dozen witnesses, not a show hearing but whatever.)

I can't believe the ace in these guys pockets is "no this guy(s) assaulted you instead! and he's admitting to it so clearly it was him." And the terrifying thing is...it might work. It might give the swing votes that super thin layer of "oh my goodness, how can we be sure she's not mistaking his identity?" How a sexual assault survivor could ever mistake anyone, ever, is just........!!!!!!

Also word association with Kavanaugh now just makes me think of barfing. Is there a way more people can associate this guy with Barf? I would like that.
posted by andruwjones26 at 4:20 AM on September 27, 2018 [5 favorites]


'This guy doesn’t know anything’: Michael Lewis, author of Moneyball and The Big Short, reveals how Trump’s bungled presidential transition set the template for his time in the White House (Guardian, longread.)

relevant pull quote "Seeing that Trump wasn’t listening to Christie, Bannon said: “What do you think Morning Joe will say if you shut down your transition?”
posted by The Whelk at 4:20 AM on September 27, 2018 [40 favorites]


That Lewis piece is something else. We knew it all already, of course, but it's always sobering to realize the absolute contempt Trump and his coterie hold for complex processes with complex and at-best satisficing options for responding to them on the table.

It's dispiriting, deflating, but in a way a goad to all of us who wish for our processes of self-determination to operate on higher and finer and wiser principles. We can do (much) better, we have in the past, and we must hope that we are able to do so again.
posted by adamgreenfield at 4:37 AM on September 27, 2018 [8 favorites]


From The Whelk's link:

Chris Christie was sitting on a sofa beside Trump when Pennsylvania was finally called. It was 1.35am, but that wasn’t the only reason the feeling in the room was odd. Mike Pence went to kiss his wife, Karen, and she turned away from him. “You got what you wanted, Mike,” she said. “Now leave me alone.” She wouldn’t so much as say hello to Trump.
posted by PenDevil at 4:37 AM on September 27, 2018 [82 favorites]


Yes. When you've lost Mother...
posted by adamgreenfield at 4:38 AM on September 27, 2018 [46 favorites]


There's a word for the way such girls are viewed: townies. I found a link that illustrates the dynamic, but it is too disturbing and triggering to post.

It may be my mind filling in the blanks, but I can remember first learning about the word, and dynamic, in a children's book set at a public (US: private) boarding school. May have been one of the Jennings (1950's), or Just William (1920's) ones. But even older than that it is essentially the continuation of droit du seigneur.
posted by Buntix at 4:41 AM on September 27, 2018 [13 favorites]


the thought that Mother thinks that she and Mikey are hell-bound is providing me some solace
posted by angrycat at 4:48 AM on September 27, 2018 [47 favorites]


From the Guardian article: This is an edited extract from The Fifth Risk by Michael Lewis, published by Penguin on 2 October.

Another book to add to your reading list.
posted by TWinbrook8 at 4:53 AM on September 27, 2018 [7 favorites]


Here's a delightful anecdote from the Lewis piece about Trump taking phone calls from foreign heads of state to congratulate him on the election:

... the president of Egypt called in to the switchboard at Trump Tower and somehow got the operator to put him straight through to Trump. “Trump was like ... I love the Bangles! You know that song Walk Like an Egyptian?” recalled one of his advisers on the scene.

[Apparently real.]
posted by sour cream at 4:58 AM on September 27, 2018 [51 favorites]


oh. way oh.
posted by mrjohnmuller at 5:07 AM on September 27, 2018 [44 favorites]


"The party boys call the Kremlin
And the Chinese know (oh way oh)"


The Bangles were hip to Huawei in 1986. Someone alert QAnon.
posted by snuffleupagus at 5:32 AM on September 27, 2018 [18 favorites]


How the Kavanaugh Nomination Has Intensified the Feminist Protest Movement
Emily Witt | New Yorker
We found a side exit and climbed some steps, and soon we were back beneath the Calder sculpture, where the remaining demonstrators had discovered that the Capitol Police would tolerate them standing silently with raised fists. I asked Flynn Walker if there would be protests on Thursday, when Blasey Ford and Kavanaugh are scheduled to testify to the Senate Judiciary Committee.

“We will be here en masse,” Flynn Walker said. “There will be thousands of people lining the halls, being quiet. It will be so quiet that a pin can drop. We’ll be surrounding the hearing room in a sign of support for Dr. Christine Blasey Ford, and we’re not going to protest. We’re going to let her words and his words stand. Until Friday. And then we’ll do something else.”
posted by Barack Spinoza at 5:40 AM on September 27, 2018 [60 favorites]


There's a word for the way such girls are viewed: townies. I found a link that illustrates the dynamic, but it is too disturbing and triggering to post.

It may be my mind filling in the blanks, but I can remember first learning about the word, and dynamic, in a children's book set at a public (US: private) boarding school. May have been one of the Jennings (1950's), or Just William (1920's) ones. But even older than that it is essentially the continuation of droit du seigneur.

I know this has been covered to death in the thread already, but I was a part of such a culture as a child. The rage I feel at the constant lies is... difficult. I went to a school similar to Kavanaugh's, in Virginia. My paternal family is descended from both Jeb Stuart and Robert E Lee. Country clubs, men's-only clubs, housekeepers, debutantes, cotillion, "does she come from a good family?", all of it. "New money" was a phrase I often heard used as an epithet during childhood. It's hard to convey the sense of "I have the absolute right to do x" that prep school kids of that milieu have. At least two of my fellow school alums killed people while driving drunk, as teens, and never served a day of jail time. At least one other alum raped a woman, in college, and was convicted of it. His punishment? He had to go to his second choice medical school. (He's now pioneering medical science for humans to live on other planets. I hope he's the first to go.)

I also went to beach week in the 1980s, but in Virginia Beach. I just wrote a whole bunch of stuff and edited it down to this ,because no matter the level of disgust I feel when I look at Kavanaugh and see every prep school frat boy rapist I have ever known, this is not my diary: 1) I never knowingly witnessed a train rape or a date rape, but I would be surprised if it WASN'T happening nearby. 2) The usual cliques and social rules were blown up at beach week. Prep school kids who wouldn't consider dating outside the federation of prep school assholes during the school year would certainly be f---ing everyone at beach week, no questions asked. Or names, often.
posted by ImproviseOrDie at 5:41 AM on September 27, 2018 [55 favorites]


Up north it was Senior Week, not Beach Week, but the same principle applied. I didn't get to witness criminal levels of sexual debauchery, nor can I substantiate many of the rumors of sexual promiscuity therein (though there were MANY), but I do know that one of my high school's collections of fine young men (the football star, the court holders, the usual big men on their little campus) managed to get their rental house busted for underage drinking five times in two days. The fourth bust in 48 hours is nature's way of telling you to slow down.

As for today's hearing, I fully expect Orrin Hatch to state that, yes, HE was actually the one who assaulted Ford and thus Kavanaugh's nomination should proceed without further delay.
posted by delfin at 5:52 AM on September 27, 2018 [4 favorites]


I think my initial unease about Avenatti's approach stemmed from thinking about this in terms of narrative. He's been a really strong voice against Trump and it's not just because he's an asshole, it's also because he's a storyteller, and that's powerful.

My fear was that the story he was telling about his Kavanaugh client would render her a nameless, faceless avatar of female exploitation and pain, using the shocking details to advance the plot of this story while exploiting her suffering as some kind of next-season cliffhanger.

It's a tired trope in fiction: The good guy is good because he stops the bad guy, who is bad because he hurts and exploits women in ways that are disgusting and unspeakable, except not really because they're going to be described (maybe a bit too enthusiastically?) in every obscene and explicit detail.

In real life, women's suffering is at the center of all of this. I was afraid that Avenatti's narrative would render women collateral damage in a fight between men, and I'm tired of that.

But I've changed my mind, really because of the comments of people here, about how his antics serve as a lightning rod to draw some of the abuse away from his clients. Of course, Julie Swetnick is no longer nameless and faceless, but in this climate it's understandable that she might want to remain such for as long as she could.

And though I hate tired tropes, they remain effective; they became tired tropes for a reason. What he's doing is effective. If Julie Swetnick is happy with his representation, then so am I.
posted by the turtle's teeth at 5:55 AM on September 27, 2018 [19 favorites]


“We will be here en masse,” Flynn Walker said. “There will be thousands of people lining the halls, being quiet. It will be so quiet that a pin can drop. We’ll be surrounding the hearing room in a sign of support for Dr. Christine Blasey Ford, and we’re not going to protest. We’re going to let her words and his words stand. Until Friday. And then we’ll do something else.”

Late yesterday afternoon I got an email that there were buses leaving from Portland ME at about 8 pm - three busses - and they knew it was short notice, but if anyone wanted to go to DC, the ride was free. Sleep on the bus, protest all day, sleep on the bus Thursday night, get home.

When I clicked the link, the buses were already full. 13 hours in on a bus each way. Five hours notice to leave. 216 women were willing to drop everything and stand up.

I really, really hope I get to see some photos today of tens of thousands of women standing on the steps of the capitol. I don't think anyone will take those photos. But I know, in my heart, that the women will be there. I would be there, had I opened my email a few minutes earlier.
posted by anastasiav at 5:56 AM on September 27, 2018 [109 favorites]


managed to get their rental house busted for underage drinking five times in two days. The fourth bust in 48 hours is nature's way of telling you to slow down.

I think it might be nature’s way of saying that the local police department is complicit in the debauchery.
posted by ian1977 at 5:56 AM on September 27, 2018 [27 favorites]


Please stop using the rapists’ own choice of euphemism. It is not a “train.” It’s a gang rape where they’ve drugged or otherwise incapacitated the victim.
posted by schadenfrau at 5:56 AM on September 27, 2018 [51 favorites]


Please stop using the rapists’ own choice of euphemism. It is not a “train.” It’s a gang rape where they’ve drugged or otherwise incapacitated the victim.

Not sure who this is directed at. I said "train rape."

Apologies if I'm bungling language. I never heard that term until this whole episode. As a sexual violence survivor myself, at the hands of one of these prep school assholes who suffered zero consequences (and who later went on to be convicted of raping someone else), I myself am sensitive to language around it but not perfect.
posted by ImproviseOrDie at 6:15 AM on September 27, 2018 [10 favorites]


It’s not just you, it’s in many media accounts, usually shortened to “train.”

That’s the rapists’ spin. That’s how they talk about it to hide what they were doing from themselves. We shouldn’t use euphemisms. Call it what it is.
posted by schadenfrau at 6:18 AM on September 27, 2018 [7 favorites]


I really, really hope I get to see some photos today of tens of thousands of women standing on the steps of the capitol. I don't think anyone will take those photos.

Oh, I do.
posted by Rykey at 6:22 AM on September 27, 2018 [16 favorites]


That’s how they talk about it to hide what they were doing from themselves. We shouldn’t use euphemisms.

To the extent it's entered the vernacular (in this worst timeline) it doesn't hide anything. It's pretty damning language in the hands of, say, a prosecutor. If anything, it would be good if the phrase semantically drifted towards presumed criminality vs. some kind of socially tolerated sexual misbehavior that can be high-fived about in private.
posted by snuffleupagus at 6:28 AM on September 27, 2018 [4 favorites]


snuffleupagus: If anything, it would be good if the phrase semantically drifted towards presumed criminality vs. some kind of socially tolerated sexual misbehavior than can be high-fived about in private.

Yep. Not to re-open a can of worms, but see also "alt-right", which is kind of a euphemism, but should also be regarded as damning precisely because of the things it is synonymous with. The trick for fighting this is to use the term paired with its real, horrible meaning -- "train rape" fits that purpose.

Also, it's really key that after Swetnick's affadvit, the most cogent argument left to Kavanaugh's defenders (especially exemplified by David French) is simple incredulity that something like this could exist. Maybe that incredulity is genuine, maybe not. Either way, it's a simple, powerful rebuttal that so many people around this country can testify that yes, their school also had a gang of rapists who talked about "trains" and were never ever caught or punished.
posted by InTheYear2017 at 6:40 AM on September 27, 2018 [11 favorites]


For those of you with better journalist-lists on Twitter, any idea who might be live-tweeting this nauseating display today?
posted by jammer at 6:48 AM on September 27, 2018


Daniel Dale - https://twitter.com/ddale8 - seems like he would.
posted by ZeusHumms at 6:51 AM on September 27, 2018 [5 favorites]


Also, it's really key that after Swetnick's affadvit, the most cogent argument left to Kavanaugh's defenders (especially exemplified by David French) is simple incredulity that something like this could exist. Maybe that incredulity is genuine, maybe not. Either way, it's a simple, powerful rebuttal that so many people around this country can testify that yes, their school also had a gang of rapists who talked about "trains" and were never ever caught or punished.

Or to borrow from a variety of other rebuttals:

"It's beyond credulity that Catholic priests could molest little boys for so many years without SOMEONE speaking out."

"It's beyond credulity that a doctor could molest female gymnasts for so many years without SOMEONE speaking out."

"It's beyond credulity that someone like Bill Cosby could molest female acquaintances for so many years without SOMEONE speaking out."

Someone DID speak out in each of these. Many someones. These statements weren't generally immediate, and there are many, many reasons why they weren't, which is obvious to anyone who's not being deliberately disingenuous. And someones are speaking now about Kavanaugh and about the prep-school mentality he emerged from, and their experiences and statements should not be discounted simply because they don't fit into David French's fucking timetable and worldview.

The co-argument that people like him are trotting out is obscene in its myopia: how could a man have advanced to such heights if he HAD been a teenage drunk and serial molester/rapist? Which is willful and deliberate ignorance of social pressures, hazing, initiations and such things, which goes for both some of the participants AND victims. "Why would she (or anyone) keep going back to these parties if this was happening?" Because that was the social norm, and to challenge it risked ostracization on many levels. Because it meant challenging the people who controlled much of the world they lived in, in an environment in which those people would automatically win he-said-she-said confrontations. And because hard evidence of such things is not the easiest thing to obtain.
posted by delfin at 6:54 AM on September 27, 2018 [51 favorites]


From the Guardian live stream, excerpts from and links to their opening statements, which they submitted in writing last night.
posted by ZeusHumms at 6:55 AM on September 27, 2018


Good morning. Some friendly reminders. chat and the MeFi Politics Slack are available for live discussions. We may want to consider creating a #boundless-void, since I know I'm going to be doing a lot of screaming into it. The open fucking fuck thread is here, and remember to practice self-care and stepping away when you need to

BuzzFeed's Chris Geidner will be live-tweeting here if you'd rather read than watch.
posted by zachlipton at 6:56 AM on September 27, 2018 [19 favorites]


any idea who might be live-tweeting this nauseating display today?

Todd Ruger from Congressional Quarterly seems to be in the thick of things. He just posted a photo from the gallery of Capital Police with zip-tie handcuffs at the ready. Also pix of Alyssa Milano, who is in the room.
posted by martin q blank at 6:57 AM on September 27, 2018 [7 favorites]


Also, it's really key that after Swetnick's affadvit, the most cogent argument left to Kavanaugh's defenders (especially exemplified by David French) is simple incredulity that something like this could exist. Maybe that incredulity is genuine, maybe not.

Of course it is not. It's just the bloodless genteel response to the oh-so-regrettable airing of dirty laundry.

Unusually, the establishment conservative commentariat feigning that shock has apparently failed to notice that McConnell is going a different direction with the appointment of a sex crimes and child abuse prosecutor as Special Counsel. Their messaging is usually a little more coordinated than that.
posted by snuffleupagus at 6:59 AM on September 27, 2018 [1 favorite]


He just posted a photo from the gallery of Capital Police with zip-tie handcuffs at the ready.

How could this day be complete without public displays of state-sanctioned violence against women?
posted by Rust Moranis at 7:01 AM on September 27, 2018 [63 favorites]


“You got what you wanted, Mike,” she said. “Now leave me alone.” She wouldn’t so much as say hello to Trump."

I don't know why this makes me incredibly sad. I think it might be that a lot of religious women truly believe the world as designed by religious men is morally good. Like I am not saying Karen Pence is 100% naive, but she does come from a very sheltered and misogynistic background.
posted by Tarumba at 7:01 AM on September 27, 2018 [12 favorites]


Livestream links via Gizmodo (Matt Novak)
posted by ZeusHumms at 7:02 AM on September 27, 2018 [4 favorites]


Also, a pre-emptive thank you to everyone who managed to make it to DC, or called, or sent a post card, or just interpreted the top line of all this bullshit so that other people didn’t have to watch it live.
posted by schadenfrau at 7:05 AM on September 27, 2018 [22 favorites]


Late yesterday afternoon I got an email that there were buses leaving from Portland ME at about 8 pm - three busses - and they knew it was short notice, but if anyone wanted to go to DC, the ride was free. Sleep on the bus, protest all day, sleep on the bus Thursday night, get home.

Anyone who can reach NYC by 2am can still catch a bus to organized protests in DC on Friday morning: http://bit.ly/crashthevote
posted by blue suede stockings at 7:06 AM on September 27, 2018 [4 favorites]


538 will be liveblogging, too.
posted by readery at 7:06 AM on September 27, 2018


I told my story about prep school, but it was deleted before the mods decided to let stories from us stay in the thread as it became apparent there were so many of them. I won't repeat it except to say that today is going to be very hard for many of us, and though we are all separated by distance, we are together in spirit.
posted by SecretAgentSockpuppet at 7:15 AM on September 27, 2018 [67 favorites]


blue suede stockings, do you know what organization is behind crash the vote?
posted by schadenfrau at 7:17 AM on September 27, 2018


I keep seeing speculation that Trump has keyed up Rosenstein for today so he can fire him if things go badly at the Kavanaugh hearing to distract from things going badly at the Kavanaugh hearing.

Great, then he'll have TWO media shitstorms on his hands by the end of the day.

We will not be distracted. We will be furious.
posted by lydhre at 7:20 AM on September 27, 2018 [16 favorites]


"As Brett Kavanaugh and Christine Blasey Ford give their testimony, the images on major news networks will all look similar. Senators asking questions, Kavanaugh and Ford answering them. But, in an age where viewers’ attention spans are shrinking, the text bar at the bottom of the screen has become critical.

These captions — also called chyrons — not only tell viewers what the news is, they tell them what the network wants them to make of it. In the case of a big news event, they are a window into how different networks interpret the same thing.

As the hearing takes place, we are capturing what MSNBC, CNN and Fox are displaying in real-time. Every few minutes, this page will update with what the networks are currently showing."

The Washington Post is tracking how cable news is covering the hearing.
posted by everybody had matching towels at 7:20 AM on September 27, 2018 [23 favorites]


Another video stream: jwp.io, via NPR
posted by filthy light thief at 7:22 AM on September 27, 2018


Republican governor of Mass.

Charlie Baker
The accusations brought against Judge Kavanaugh are sickening and deserve an independent investigation. There should be no vote in the Senate.
posted by chris24 at 7:22 AM on September 27, 2018 [51 favorites]


Betsy Woodruff
Chris Wallace on Fox says 2 of his daughters, in the wake of Kav allegations, have told him about things in high school they hadn't told him before. "There are teenage girls who don't tell stories to a lot of people, and then it comes up. I don't think we can disregard that"
posted by chris24 at 7:27 AM on September 27, 2018 [96 favorites]


@RepLawrence [photo]: Happening now! @HouseDemWomen delivering a letter to @SenMajLdr calling to #PostponeTheVote on Kavanaugh until there is a thorough FBI investigation.

This is a callback to 1991, when House women marched across the Capitol to demand a hearing for Anita Hill.
posted by zachlipton at 7:31 AM on September 27, 2018 [62 favorites]



“You got what you wanted, Mike,” she said. “Now leave me alone.” She wouldn’t so much as say hello to Trump."

I don't know why this makes me incredibly sad. I think it might be that a lot of religious women truly believe the world as designed by religious men is morally good. Like I am not saying Karen Pence is 100% naive, but she does come from a very sheltered and misogynistic background


I'm more inclined to believe that she already had a pretty good idea just how much of an utter shitshow her next 4 years would be. Also, it must be particularily galling for such a "serious" Christian woman to find her name and fate permanently tied to a bunch of amoral grifters whose actions and words make a mockery of her faith every single day.
posted by Chrischris at 7:37 AM on September 27, 2018 [14 favorites]


Well, this testimony is upsetting. Anyone who is not moved or upset by this has a cold, black heart.
posted by triggerfinger at 7:41 AM on September 27, 2018 [42 favorites]


I don't know how anyone could not find Dr. Ford's testimony credible. She's visibly having trouble keeping it together. The details are both mundane and terrifying. It's heartbreaking. Her voice is breaking. Millions of American women are crying right now. There is no way she could be more credible, honestly.
posted by the turtle's teeth at 7:42 AM on September 27, 2018 [53 favorites]


it's weird to think about how much time i spent with criminals, drug dealers, and at least one actual murderer without being sexually assaulted as a teenager and how immediately it happens when hanging out with "nice boys" who are probably congressmen now.
posted by poffin boffin at 7:42 AM on September 27, 2018 [126 favorites]


I don't know how anyone could not find Dr. Ford's testimony credible. She's visibly having trouble keeping it together. The details are both mundane and terrifying. It's heartbreaking. Her voice is breaking. Millions of American women are crying right now. There is no way she could be more credible, honestly.

I'm afraid to say: some people are looking at exactly the same footage you just did and are accusing her of "crocodile tears".

Ford cannot do this alone. She needs the rest of us to speak up and speak out to our congressional representatives now, and on voting day, demanding that our own views be represented.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 7:45 AM on September 27, 2018 [49 favorites]


Grassley started the hearing by saying there will be just two witnesses, which implies that the two fall guys aren't showing up after all.

He both-sidesed the experiences Ford and Kavanaugh have had, in terms of backlash, since this became public. After that, he drops any pretense of nonpartisanship by going on and on about how Republicans have done everything right and Democrats everything wrong. How normal is it for a committee chair to act like this, talking about "the other side"? Then he described Feinstein's actions after she was first contacted by Ford, I'm pretty sure Grassley outright lies that she just did nothing with it.

He made a strange attempt to portray FBI investigations in two opposite ways. See, Kavanaugh has had six background checks, which means he's sparkling clean. But anyone thinking the FBI should open another investigation should just listen to all these Democrats talking about how those background checks don't mean too much because they don't reach conclusions, and maybe those Dems have a point so let's not have the FBI do anything else.

After that, Feinstein's strong speech was exactly what my ears needed, as a cleanser. Jesus. However, Ford's cuts straight into the soul. This is... there are no words.
posted by InTheYear2017 at 7:45 AM on September 27, 2018 [20 favorites]


The one iron-clad truth I have learned: never, ever trust a man who knows he can get away with anything.

Always applies to rich white men and police, but there’s room for plenty others.
posted by schadenfrau at 7:46 AM on September 27, 2018 [48 favorites]


From Osita Nwanevu at the New Yorker, via Twitter: This is what Christine Blasey Ford is looking at as she describes her sexual assault.
posted by kelborel at 7:52 AM on September 27, 2018 [32 favorites]


Dr. Ford is amazingly brave. Despite her terror, she provided an extremely credible and detailed statement.
posted by bluesky43 at 7:55 AM on September 27, 2018 [21 favorites]


I don't know how anyone could not find Dr. Ford's testimony credible. She's visibly having trouble keeping it together. The details are both mundane and terrifying. It's heartbreaking. Her voice is breaking. Millions of American women are crying right now. There is no way she could be more credible, honestly.

People are weeping in the committee room.

I'm afraid to say: some people are looking at exactly the same footage you just did and are accusing her of "crocodile tears".

the conservative movement in one tweet

From Osita Nwanevu at the New Yorker, via Twitter: This is what Christine Blasey Ford is looking at as she describes her sexual assault.

I've seen several people mention eye-rolling and unmasked contempt from the Republicans, particularly Graham.
posted by zombieflanders at 7:57 AM on September 27, 2018 [18 favorites]


I don't know how anyone could not find Dr. Ford's testimony credible.

every single thing you described is something that multiple men (and women, it must be said) have accused me of doing "for attention" while i was in similar situations.
posted by poffin boffin at 7:58 AM on September 27, 2018 [30 favorites]


Quick reminder that the GOP could very easily push another qualified nominee with nearly identical judicial and policy preferences through, but this is the hill they're willing to die on.
posted by tonycpsu at 8:00 AM on September 27, 2018 [48 favorites]


Dr. Ford is amazingly brave. Despite her terror, she provided an extremely credible and detailed statement.

I am encouraged. The ADA Mitchell is questioning her on the documents, and Ford is amazing, beginning with a grammatical correction of 'bystander', and while reviewing another her letter to Feinstein, Grassly interrupts to pivot to the next Senator, Feinstein, for her 5 minutes.

This is insane. Mitchell and Ford were both doing fine, moving forward, and the essential fucked-up-ness of the Senate Republicans strikes. FWIW, if everyone just let Mitchell and Ford rap for an hour, we'd have gotten to the bottom of this.
posted by mikelieman at 8:02 AM on September 27, 2018 [9 favorites]


If you're listening to Doctor Blasey Ford and need to talk to someone, here are some numbers which might be helpful. Please take care of yourself--you deserve it.

RAINN's National Sexual Assault Hotline: 1-800-656-4673
National Suicide Prevention LIfeline: 1-800-273-8255
Crisis Text Line: Text HOME to 741741

Doctor Blasey Ford is a real heroine.
posted by Excommunicated Cardinal at 8:04 AM on September 27, 2018 [55 favorites]


They truly do not understand what they’ve unleashed. It’s almost amazing. I think I’d always assumed that they understood the evil of sexual assault, of misogyny, and they just didn’t care, or believed it was right. So that they would, like rational beings, understand how much we hate them. How angry we are.

They don’t. They genuinely, genuinely do not understand, as you would expect an adult with a fully developed conscience to understand. Because they do not, on a fundamental level, regard women as people.

And they are making that abundantly clear to the entire nation, apparently without thought to the consequences.
posted by schadenfrau at 8:05 AM on September 27, 2018 [93 favorites]


FWIW, if everyone just let Mitchell and Ford rap for an hour, we'd have gotten to the bottom of this.

I dunno where the prosecutor was going, but it seemed like her intention was to get Ford to confirm the accuracy of two documents and then hang her out to dry by pointing out some supposed contradictions between them. I don't know where she's going with these questions, but I don't think this Maricopa County Prosecutor is an ally.
posted by dis_integration at 8:08 AM on September 27, 2018 [38 favorites]


blue suede stockings, do you know what organization is behind crash the vote?

The call came out via Paul Davis of Housing Works on the Birddog Nation mail list.
posted by blue suede stockings at 8:09 AM on September 27, 2018 [1 favorite]


I keep seeing speculation that Trump has keyed up Rosenstein for today so he can fire him if things go badly at the Kavanaugh hearing to distract from things going badly at the Kavanaugh hearing.

CBS's Paula Reid: "UPDATE: Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein has been spotted at the White House for a previously scheduled meeting. Still not clear whether he will meet with President Trump later today."
posted by Doktor Zed at 8:10 AM on September 27, 2018 [8 favorites]


FWIW, if everyone just let Mitchell and Ford rap for an hour, we'd have gotten to the bottom of this.

we already have, though. are we pretending there are unsolved mysteries now?
posted by queenofbithynia at 8:11 AM on September 27, 2018 [20 favorites]


FWIW, if everyone just let Mitchell and Ford rap for an hour, we'd have gotten to the bottom of this.

Dr. Blasey Ford is doing great, but Mitchell is not her friend. Her goal is to poke holes in the story and make Dr. Ford look like she doesn't remember/can't be trusted.
posted by Cocodrillo at 8:11 AM on September 27, 2018 [13 favorites]


They truly do not understand what they’ve unleashed.

There's a 26-point gender gap, and I'd be willing to bet it's going to get larger as the GOP digs in its heels and sneers at the women coming forward to testify. I can think of no more fitting end than for a mass of angry women to finally break the back of the hideous monstrosity that is the Republican party, based in no small part on this incredibly stupid hill they've chosen to die on.
posted by Mayor West at 8:11 AM on September 27, 2018 [51 favorites]


Quick reminder that the GOP could very easily push another qualified nominee with nearly identical judicial and policy preferences through, but this is the hill they're willing to die on.

The GOP would rather push another nominee through, all things considered. Another nominee could easily give them everything they want with much less baggage. This is the hill that Trump is willing to die on, as it's his hand-picked "Presidents can't be subpoenaed" nominee. How to defy Trump and not get primaried out of existence is left as an exercise for the reader.
posted by delfin at 8:12 AM on September 27, 2018 [9 favorites]


Trump isn’t making Lindsey Graham roll his eyes.
posted by schadenfrau at 8:13 AM on September 27, 2018 [56 favorites]


I dunno where the prosecutor was going, but it seemed like her intention was to get Ford to confirm the accuracy of two documents and then hang her out to dry by pointing out some supposed contradictions between them

That's typically what attorneys are doing when they get you to confirm a prior statement, in my experience. This sounds like a soft version of cross examination designed to impeach credibility, at least so far.
posted by Bulgaroktonos at 8:14 AM on September 27, 2018 [2 favorites]


This is the hill that Trump is willing to die on,

tonycpsu was correct. It's Trump's party now — signed, sealed, delivered and damned to hell.
posted by adamgreenfield at 8:14 AM on September 27, 2018 [9 favorites]


based in no small part on this incredibly stupid hill they've chosen to die on.

Seating a compromised and permanently loyal SC judge to enshrine regime control for decades is the only hill that will keep them from dying.
posted by Rust Moranis at 8:15 AM on September 27, 2018 [13 favorites]


Dr. Blasey Ford is doing great, but Mitchell is not her friend. Her goal is to poke holes in the story and make Dr. Ford look like she doesn't remember/can't be trusted.

That only works when there are holes. There are no holes, so all it does is establish the record clearly.

Ford just pulled the neuroscientist card while testifying to Leahy...
posted by mikelieman at 8:16 AM on September 27, 2018 [10 favorites]


Quick reminder that the GOP could very easily push another qualified nominee with nearly identical judicial and policy preferences through, but this is the hill they're willing to die on.

Because it sets the precedent that rape is also illegal for rich men and then what will happen to them? They all have skeletons in the closet.
posted by Tarumba at 8:18 AM on September 27, 2018 [22 favorites]


My mother, my evangelical mother who has a jesus fish on one side of her bumper and a PFLAG sticker on the other, messaged me this:
"Dear God, who opened Hagar’s eyes to the desert well, dear God who was with Hannah as she cried out her heart to the priest Eli, deafened by his position, authority and judgment, be with Christine Blasey Ford today as she opens her lips to share her painful truths in a seat of patriarchal power, may those who seek her harm be stilled, may those who quake with their own memories find support and comfort, may those who go to parties tonight and any night seeking joy, acceptance, release, adventure, never be pinned down, ridiculed, forced to yield the basic freedom to their bodies’ autonomy, to their souls’ intactness, to their future’s possibilities. And may those who seek to limit the freedom of women in the name of their own freedom or in the name of their faith, come to see that the way to protect the sanctity of life is right before them every day—in the workplace, in their families, on the streets and in their schools, because each chance to treat a human being as human being is an opportunity to honor the sanctity of life.
link: https://ritualwell.org/ritual/prayer-dr-christine-blasey-ford.
posted by tivalasvegas at 8:19 AM on September 27, 2018 [141 favorites]


@TalKopan: Ford says the most indelible memory is “the uproarious laughter between the two and their having fun at my expense,” as her voice cracks.
“Two friends having a really good time with one another."

I just can't.

Lili Loofbourow's essay on the cruelty of male bonding was incredibly perceptive on this.
posted by zachlipton at 8:20 AM on September 27, 2018 [52 favorites]


These pathetic, shabby excuses for men, that think they have the right to judge her. Grassley. Graham. I honestly didn't think my loathing for them could condense any further, but there it sits, a cold, black, diamond-hard mass inside me.

I cannot conceive of what this is doing to those of us who have suffered abuse and rape and been unable to tell their stories. I only hope it unleashes a torrent of righteous rage that cleanses the halls of power for all time, so mote it be.
posted by adamgreenfield at 8:23 AM on September 27, 2018 [25 favorites]


The lawyer is trying to catch Dr. Ford in some incredibly petty, minor bullshit about "if you couldn't hear the boy's conversation as they went downstairs, how do you know they were having one?" as if that matters at all. It's a cross-examination but a really unconvincing one. This is fucking painful and honestly embarrassing for the lawyer.
posted by the turtle's teeth at 8:24 AM on September 27, 2018 [34 favorites]


This is fucking madness.

Seriously, there’s nothing sane in this whole proceeding - the FBI didn’t investigate... why? No, this is a shameless mockery and that Kavanaugh is willing to go through with this ...

Beyond shameless. (Kavanaugh should become a judicial pariah for this and from here on out I don’t know how anyone could possibly see this as less than a travesty...).
posted by From Bklyn at 8:25 AM on September 27, 2018 [5 favorites]


Durbin's furious for her. I'm not usually proud to be an Illinoisan because ugh, Illinois politics... but I am naming him as a faithful Senator this day.
posted by tivalasvegas at 8:25 AM on September 27, 2018 [30 favorites]


I may be wrong about this, but the format actually seems to be helping Dr. Ford. Every time the prosecutor starts to put pressure on her, they have to break and give the Dems a turn. And Ford gets a breather to gather her thoughts. (Also, love how Harris (I presume, I'm on audio only) broke up the questioning with a request to see the documents.)
posted by martin q blank at 8:27 AM on September 27, 2018 [13 favorites]


The lawyer is trying to catch Dr. Ford in some incredibly petty, minor bullshit about "if you couldn't hear the boy's conversation as they went downstairs, how do you know they were having one?" as if that matters at all. It's a cross-examination but a really unconvincing one. This is fucking painful and honestly embarrassing for the lawyer.

Is that what the lawyer is doing? That seems like a really stupid strategy and that makes me super happy. Maybe that is what the general rules of the game are and the lawyer is just following that strategy. It wouldn't surprise me that the GOP members believe that would work.However, I think the rules of the game have changed and we're not taking it.
posted by bluesky43 at 8:27 AM on September 27, 2018 [7 favorites]


> But anyone thinking the FBI should open another investigation should just listen to all these Democrats talking about how those background checks don't mean too much because they don't reach conclusions, and maybe those Dems have a point so let's not have the FBI do anything else.

He also cited some nonsense from America's Creepy Uncle Joe Biden during the Anita Hill proceedings where he suggested that FBI reports were worthless. "A Democrat said it -- CHECKMATE, LIBS!" Yeah, because the way that the Thomas hearings went is a model that we should emulate in 2018.
posted by tonycpsu at 8:28 AM on September 27, 2018 [7 favorites]


Unbelievable, the Arizona prosecutor thought she had caught Dr. Ford out on the trivial detail of whether she directly heard people in the living room talking or not, while she was in a bathroom where she had locked herself to hide from her rapists. Ugh. She’s a shark with a soft voice.
posted by msalt at 8:29 AM on September 27, 2018 [14 favorites]


Something notable about Ford's testimony here is her multiple references to the science of neurology with respect to her own memory processes, for example how trauma will sear events into the mind because of certain chemicals and pathways (I couldn't begin to paraphrase her correctly, thanks to my own ignorance). I've never seen anyone testify that way, and I don't know how that will play out in the general public reaction, but it's interesting and credible.

On top of everything else, it's a serious shame there was no Wikipedia article about her before this, because it's apparent that she is a serious and brilliant figure in her field. My father has a friend who is a therapist specializing in the of psychology of trauma/stress, and apparently he had definitely already known about her work.

After some of Mitchell's questioning, Patrick Leahy said some pretty good stuff, including "bravery is contagious" as a compliment to the way Ford stepping out has lead to more women willing to do the same. He then questioned Ford directly, so I guess that's how this works, and Mitchell is just there as if the Republicans are speaking a different language and she's a translator.
posted by InTheYear2017 at 8:30 AM on September 27, 2018 [58 favorites]


Trump isn’t making Lindsey Graham roll his eyes.

Graham is a weasel and an obsequious suck-up to whoever's in power on the conservative side. He is loyal to Trump only as long as Trump is ascendant. If Trump gets kicked out somehow, Graham will point back to his old tweets about "if we nominate Trump, we'll be destroyed and we'll deserve it" and make I Told You So noises while nuzzling up to nurse off of whoever comes next in the feeding trough.

Does the current political calculus make it impossible for him to resist Trump? Of course it does. This is why he's become Trump's new buddy. But do not mistake Graham or many of the other GOPers for true Trumpoid believers ala Hannity; they are equal-opportunity douches and will gladly lamprey up to whoever will ensure that they get reelected.

Is Graham also obscenely dismissive of women? Of course he is. But that's not because he's a Trumpoid; it's because he's a conservative, and thus it runs in his blood. It's a subtle but telling distinction.
posted by delfin at 8:30 AM on September 27, 2018 [15 favorites]


The Washington Post is tracking how cable news is covering the hearing.

posted by everybody had matching towels at 7:20 AM on September 27 [14 favorites +] [!]


So now we're covering the meta-horse race, in a sense. I think it's a good thing. The media have been too un-self-critical and it's slowly waking up to the need to mind its own house.
posted by Mental Wimp at 8:31 AM on September 27, 2018 [9 favorites]


The lawyer is trying to catch Dr. Ford in some incredibly petty, minor bullshit about "if you couldn't hear the boy's conversation as they went downstairs, how do you know they were having one?" as if that matters at all. It's a cross-examination but a really unconvincing one. This is fucking painful and honestly embarrassing for the lawyer.

You can only do the best you can do for your client with what you have. She's doing the best she can do for the GOP with what she has. Which is nothing. If there's any blame to attach to her, it's choosing to work with the Senate GOP.
posted by mikelieman at 8:31 AM on September 27, 2018 [8 favorites]


(Also, love how Harris (I presume, I'm on audio only) broke up the questioning with a request to see the documents.)

I think that was Sen. Hirano. She wasn't on camera until they widened the shot, but I think that was coming from her direction. I couldn't understand Grassley's response though -- did his staff tell him they wouldn't make the documents accessible? I actually find Sen. Grassley very difficult to understand when he speaks.

Rachel Mitchell is the Dolores Umbridge of this hearing. I suppose she's sparing the Republican senators having video of them to use in campaign ads.
posted by gladly at 8:34 AM on September 27, 2018 [9 favorites]


Our country is a goddamn embarrassment to humanity on a systemic level.

I hope this doesn't come off as dismissive but honestly this shit with powerful men goes on everywhere and I could only dream that in my birth country women would be given the chance to tell their side of the story. This is horrible because it's in the open and most of us were ignorant or repressing reality, but the fact that we're even asking these questions and that there is a legitimate chance that this is making rich men scared is unprecedented. It's tough to feel positive about this but it is an improvement versus when men raped with zero consequences and nobody found out or cared.
posted by Tarumba at 8:35 AM on September 27, 2018 [69 favorites]


I don't believe the Senate republicans hired Mitchell to destroy Ford, but rather to prevent them from destroying themselves or create good video clips. They're just going to rely on Kavanaugh's denial and say "well, it's he said/she said, nothing to be done but affirm the nomination of a credibly accused sex offender, it's his due process right."
posted by skewed at 8:35 AM on September 27, 2018 [11 favorites]


Dianne Feinstein speaking about sexual assault and its impact on women, after having to listen to Grassley phlegm his way through whatever bullshit he was on about, gave me a little of the feeling I had during the third Trump/Hillary debate (I know, I know) when he went on a rant about partial-birth abortion and she just took him down. It was the kind of situation where a Democratic man would have given some bloodless response - it took a woman to get to the truth of the question. Feinstein was a little too buttoned down for that, but hearing one of the four women on the Judiciary Committee talk about how women are affected by sexual assault definitely gave me some kinda feeling.
posted by sunset in snow country at 8:35 AM on September 27, 2018 [14 favorites]


So now we're covering the meta-horse race, in a sense. I think it's a good thing. The media have been too un-self-critical and it's slowly waking up to the need to mind its own house.

Media Matters has been doing this all along. I've found it difficult to even skim its front page these past few weeks because of the concentrated focus on Kavanaugh by the media.
posted by ZeusHumms at 8:35 AM on September 27, 2018


> But do not mistake Graham or many of the other GOPers for true Trumpoid believers ala Hannity; they are equal-opportunity douches and will gladly lamprey up to whoever will ensure that they get reelected.

What distinguishes Graham from, say, Susan Collins or Lisa Murkowski? Expressing concern and then voting for whatever Trump wants is a distinction without a practical difference as compared to gleefully donning the MAGA hat.
posted by tonycpsu at 8:35 AM on September 27, 2018 [3 favorites]


Maybe that is what the general rules of the game are and the lawyer is just following that strategy. It wouldn't surprise me that the GOP members believe that would work.

Being blinded by their own hubris, they don't recognize the context. It's what's always worked in trials for the rich and powerful and their sons when they needed to escape the consequences of their terrible behavior, but you're right. It ain't working here.
posted by Mental Wimp at 8:35 AM on September 27, 2018 [7 favorites]


My older, white, liberal colleagues apparently don't like Ted Cruz getting chased out of restaurants because "it just gives the Republicans fuel."

And I'm like, since when have they needed fuel?

As a Washingtonian, I feel like if your state is going to send its worst, most craven, misogynistic, cowardly trolls to the Hill, our senator-less, unrepresented non-state reserves the right to chase you out of restaurants.
posted by aspersioncast at 8:37 AM on September 27, 2018 [100 favorites]


I think it’s safe to say that every Republican involved in the midterms has already started drinking if at all possible.

I hope they all get cirrhosis.
posted by schadenfrau at 8:39 AM on September 27, 2018 [23 favorites]


Even Fox is like 'oh shit, we fucked up.'

Michael Del Moro (MSNBC)
Chris Wallace on Fox News calls it a "disaster for the Republicans" says Ford's testimony is "extremely emotional, extremely raw, and extremely credible" you can't watch and "have your heart not go out to her"
posted by chris24 at 8:39 AM on September 27, 2018 [71 favorites]


Guardian YouTube livestream - straight footage, no chyron
posted by flabdablet at 8:41 AM on September 27, 2018 [3 favorites]


My older, white, liberal colleagues apparently don't like Ted Cruz getting chased out of restaurants because "it just gives the Republicans fuel."

Civility™: the game you win when the other player murders you.
posted by Rust Moranis at 8:42 AM on September 27, 2018 [95 favorites]


Wow, the first two calls that C-SPAN 3 are taking during the break were.... let's euphemise by saying they were basically youTube comments. I know we knew there are some awful people out there, but holy fuck.
posted by telepanda at 8:42 AM on September 27, 2018 [2 favorites]


Of course that’s who’s motivated to call: the people who are angrily, fearfully, urgently defensive.

The rest of us are still processing.
posted by schadenfrau at 8:44 AM on September 27, 2018 [13 favorites]


What distinguishes Graham from, say, Susan Collins or Lisa Murkowski?

Almost nothing? I have zero respect for any of the three.
posted by delfin at 8:44 AM on September 27, 2018 [5 favorites]


My older, white, liberal colleagues apparently don't like Ted Cruz getting chased out of restaurants because "it just gives the Republicans fuel."

Civility™: the game you win when the other player murders you.


I had to unfollow @popehat on Twitter because that was basically his take on chasing politicians out of restaurants. I don't know what he thinks is the "proper" way to protest or perform civil disobedience, and I don't want to know.
posted by runcibleshaw at 8:44 AM on September 27, 2018 [11 favorites]


Even Fox is like we fucked up.
@ErikWemple: "Very sympathetic witness," says Brit Hume on Fox News's coverage.

@ShaneGoldmacher: If Trump is watching Fox, these anchor comments are extremely significant
Not really sure I agree with Goldmacher here, but I would rather them be right than wrong.
posted by zombieflanders at 8:45 AM on September 27, 2018 [13 favorites]


Reposting from upthread <3

If you're listening to Doctor Blasey Ford and need to talk to someone, here are some numbers which might be helpful. Please take care of yourself--you deserve it.

RAINN's National Sexual Assault Hotline: 1-800-656-4673
National Suicide Prevention LIfeline: 1-800-273-8255
Crisis Text Line: Text HOME to 741741

Doctor Blasey Ford is a real heroine.
posted by erisfree at 8:45 AM on September 27, 2018 [33 favorites]


'This guy doesn’t know anything’: Michael Lewis, author of Moneyball and The Big Short, reveals how Trump’s bungled presidential transition set the template for his time in the White House
Bannon and Christie together set out to explain to Trump federal law. Months before the election, the law said, the nominees of the two major parties were expected to prepare to take control of the government. The government supplied them with office space in downtown DC, along with computers and rubbish bins and so on, but the campaigns paid their people. To which Trump replied: Fuck the law. I don’t give a fuck about the law. I want my fucking money.
The Trump Doctrine: Fuck the law. I don’t give a fuck about the law. I want my fucking money.

Ceterum autem censeo Trumpem esse delendam
posted by kirkaracha at 8:45 AM on September 27, 2018 [57 favorites]


@TalKopan: Ford says the most indelible memory is “the uproarious laughter between the two and their having fun at my expense,” as her voice cracks.
“Two friends having a really good time with one another."


Here's a video clip of that, if you're not watching live and can do small pieces.

The clip of Dr. Ford saying she's 100% certain it was Kavanaugh who assaulted her seems like it will inevitably lead the news, but the way she says "indelible in the hoppocampus is the laughter" is what I know I'm not going to forget.
posted by zachlipton at 8:47 AM on September 27, 2018 [30 favorites]




The lawyer is trying to catch Dr. Ford in some incredibly petty, minor bullshit about "if you couldn't hear the boy's conversation as they went downstairs, how do you know they were having one?" as if that matters at all. It's a cross-examination but a really unconvincing one. This is fucking painful and honestly embarrassing for the lawyer.
posted by the turtle's teeth at 4:24 PM on September 27

A friend of mine is a Cosby victim, and at one of her depositions Cosby's lawyer tried to discredit her testimony because she couldn't remember what she was wearing that day (in 1969, for God's sake!). Her reply: I might not remember what I wore that day, but I will never, ever forget that man forcing his dick into my mouth.

Dr Ford's testimony, with her scientific background about what the hippocampus records, is utterly compelling. She might not remember what music was playing, what the boys were saying, etc., but our lizard brain remembers the things we would otherwise want forever to forget.
posted by essexjan at 8:48 AM on September 27, 2018 [80 favorites]


chris24: "Republican governor of Mass.

Charlie Baker
The accusations brought against Judge Kavanaugh are sickening and deserve an independent investigation. There should be no vote in the Senate.
"

There's a reason a Republican is up 40 points in Massachusetts.
posted by Chrysostom at 8:51 AM on September 27, 2018 [18 favorites]


Grassley just mentioned a time limit on Ford's testimony, because they have 'a vote at 12:40'? What?
posted by Harry Caul at 8:51 AM on September 27, 2018 [2 favorites]


A friend of mine is a Cosby victim, and at one of her depositions Cosby's lawyer tried to discredit her testimony because she couldn't remember what she was wearing that day (in 1969, for God's sake!). Her reply: I might not remember what I wore that day, but I will never, ever forget that man forcing his dick into my mouth.

Then this prosecutor is true to form and it is both infuriating and an insult in its ignorance about what is known about memory.
posted by bluesky43 at 8:53 AM on September 27, 2018 [4 favorites]


This entire Kavanaugh saga sums up the modern GOP - they are never wrong, ever, and will fight to the ends of the earth before they admit any error.
posted by azpenguin at 8:53 AM on September 27, 2018 [14 favorites]


Even Fox is like we fucked up.

Occasionally during live coverage of disastrous events you will see a Fox anchor express something off-the-cuff that borders on being an actual human sentiment. It's similar to the type of on-screen flub you'll often see on Youtube wherein a local news anchor accidentally says 'testicle' instead of 'testimony.'
posted by Atom Eyes at 8:54 AM on September 27, 2018 [17 favorites]


From Bklyn This is fucking madness.

Seriously, there’s nothing sane in this whole proceeding - the FBI didn’t investigate... why? No, this is a shameless mockery and that Kavanaugh is willing to go through with this ...


Shameless is the correct adjective, not insane or madness.

They know exactly what they are doing and it is entirely rational if you start from their baseline assumptions. It **WOULD** be madness or at least manifest incompetence, if they were intending to run a real nomination process.

But they aren't. This is not a nomination process, it is a rubber stamp for Trump's choice disguised as a nomination process. If they were running a real nomination process of course there would have been investigation. But this is not a nomination process. This is the absolute minimum gesture in the direction of "advice and consent" that the Republicans can make before approving Trump's decision.

The object of the exercise is to utterly eradicate the nomination process (for Republican nominees anyway) and ultimately turn the "advice and consent" thing into the same sort of approval in the negative deal that old Soviet elections were.

In the Soviet Union voting took place quite simply: you either indicated approval of the Party's candidates, or you indicated disapproval. In theory if the disapproval side won then the Party would have more of what we think of as a real election, but of course in practice no one ever voted no on the Party's choice.

That's what the Republicans eventually want for advice and consent on picks from Republican Presidents: inaction as approval, and the Senate giving its approval in the negative sense of not impeaching the President. "Well, Trump nominated Ivanka to the Court and since no one has made a motion to remove him from office she's approved, contrats Chief Justice Trump". Obviously if there's ever a Democratic President again different rules will apply to them and their picks.

The rape allegations against Kavanaugh are interfering with their goal of making the process irrelevant, but they're still trying to make a blatantly obvious show of a process to establish that the process is worthless so they can use the worthlessness of the process as a justification for ending it.

Plus they're looking at their own political survival, and I think the calculus still comes down on confirming Kavanaugh after a mock investigation they can claim didn't prove him guilty. As long as Trump is backing Kavanaugh they have little choice, because going against Kavanaugh means going against Trump, and he may be senile but he's still a vicious person who has elevated vendetta and vengeance from hobby to vocation. To vote no on Kavanaugh is to get a place on Trump's enemies list. And that still matters if you're looking to be re-elected as a Republican.

So they're holding a mock hearing because they've been forced to. But they won't make it a real hearing because that goes counter to every purpose they have.
posted by sotonohito at 8:54 AM on September 27, 2018 [29 favorites]


Harry Caul: Grassley just mentioned a time limit on Ford's testimony, because they have 'a vote at 12:40'? What?

I assume he was talking about a procedural vote on when to take a break or something like that.
posted by InTheYear2017 at 8:54 AM on September 27, 2018 [1 favorite]


That sounds like an excuse to me. If they’re running true to form, it’s because they know how badly this is going for them and they want to call it off.
posted by schadenfrau at 8:56 AM on September 27, 2018 [2 favorites]


The full Senate is voting on a Defense Department nominee at 12:40, so members of the committee will need a break for that.
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 8:56 AM on September 27, 2018 [7 favorites]


To vote no on Kavanaugh is to get a place on Trump's enemies list. And that still matters if you're looking to be re-elected as a Republican.

Unless you're not up for reelection until after Trump is gone.
posted by kirkaracha at 8:57 AM on September 27, 2018 [2 favorites]


I had to unfollow @popehat on Twitter because that was basically his take on chasing politicians out of restaurants. I don't know what he thinks is the "proper" way to protest or perform civil disobedience, and I don't want to know.

At the end of the day he's a lawyer practicing in the system. If it's hard to make someone understand something when their employment is predicated on not understanding it, it's harder to make someone who makes their living within the system see any value in working outside it. He's got lots to say about the way the system works based on his time at the other table but he's always going to be focused on rearranging deck chairs, not smashing the institution.
posted by phearlez at 8:57 AM on September 27, 2018 [8 favorites]


I hope they all get cirrhosis.
posted by schadenfrau at 11:39 on September 27 [12 favorites −] Favorite added! [!]

Ahem... I'm glad I spelled my handle wrong (intentinally) all those years ago. I don't want anything to do with these assholes.

Seriously though... it truly boggles my mind that anyone could look at Ford's testimony and think "she's clearly lying" and then look at Trumps UN speech and think "Now there is how a President should be, honest and straightforward". Because that is basically the whole of the Republican base...
posted by cirhosis at 8:59 AM on September 27, 2018 [21 favorites]


Grassley is making it so painfully obvious that all he wants to do is defend the status quo but he has not once addressed why the FBI has not conducted an investigation. This is shameful.
posted by bluesky43 at 9:01 AM on September 27, 2018 [6 favorites]




As Sen. Grassley once again defends the process, @emptywheel: This is the third time that Grassley has made excuses for himself. It has probably taken up close to 20 minutes of the hearing thus far.

The fact he feels compelled to read the timeline over and over again, pretty much outright yelling about how appropriately he thinks he's handled this, makes him look increasingly horrible. But it also shows how vulnerable he is here, that he needs to keep trying and failing to defend himself.

@7im: The most effective thing Dems are doing is provoking Grassley, who is like a bull responding to a cape
posted by zachlipton at 9:03 AM on September 27, 2018 [51 favorites]


And just as a reminder:

They stole Scalia’s seat from Obama.

Kennedy’s seat is only open because Kennedy mysteriously retired, and afterwards it was revealed that Kennedy’s son was the banker go-between who helped Russians funnel money, likely illegally, to Trump. Kavanaugh, a Republican operative who has stated that he would protect a Republican executive from the rule of law, was his “hand picked” replacement. The Supreme Court will hear a case on dual sovereignty, with implications for the pardon power, in October.

It looks like Kennedy was forced out to make way for Kavanaugh with the promise that Kavanaugh would protect Trump from the Russia investigation. Full stop. That is why, as sotonohito notes, the Republicans have abandoned the process. They don’t want to know the truth. They want to be protected from the truth.

They are all craven, cowardly, traitors, and they deserve to be tried as such.
posted by schadenfrau at 9:03 AM on September 27, 2018 [174 favorites]


The full Senate is voting on a Defense Department nominee at 12:40, so members of the committee will need a break for that.

That would be the guy caught attending hookers and blackjack parties hosted by a con artist who was fleecing the Navy, right?

He's got lots to say about the way the system works based on his time at the other table but he's always going to be focused on rearranging deck chairs, not smashing the institution.

The answer is simpler - White's a free speech absolutist who has had a hard time grasping that the experience of the dispossessed with free speech might not be the unalloyed good he sees it as.
posted by NoxAeternum at 9:04 AM on September 27, 2018 [3 favorites]


It looks like Kennedy was forced out to make way for Kavanaugh with the promise that Kavanaugh would protect Trump from the Russia investigation.

The only way to force out a Supreme Court justice is through impeachment. Kennedy had wanted to retire for years, and was waiting for a chance to make sure it would be with someone on the right. This was the perfect opportunity.

It's sleazy, but I don't think we need to go full Tom Clancy here.
posted by Chrysostom at 9:07 AM on September 27, 2018 [9 favorites]


It's funny, I have such a strong memory of where I was (and how deeply excited I was) when I read that Scalia had died. I thought the Court, and the country was truly going to complete a shift towards humanism.

I'm so bitter now.
posted by Dashy at 9:08 AM on September 27, 2018 [80 favorites]


Oh, yes, Ms Perfeshunull Prosecutor, keep hammering on her reluctance to fly one more time, because that's so productive. Petty, petty stuff is not going to bring her down, so I hope she keeps hammering on such trivia.
posted by Mental Wimp at 9:08 AM on September 27, 2018 [5 favorites]


A big "fuck you" to whatever GOP sleazeball decided that nitpicking her fear of flying was worth the entirety of their five minutes.
posted by tonycpsu at 9:08 AM on September 27, 2018 [26 favorites]


My dad has a fear of flying and spent several decades working in jobs that required him to travel many times a year. He just, y'know, dealt with it for years before getting a small prescription for Xanax to relax.

What he didn't do was stop flying.
posted by zombieflanders at 9:10 AM on September 27, 2018 [18 favorites]


Someone upthread linked to "The Conservative Movement in One Tweet". It was a screenshot of the following exchange:

* Someone posting a clip of Ford: "I'm crying."
* Conservative journalist, responding: "I'm laughing."

....I tracked his response down and added my own reply to the journalist:

"I'm voting Democrat straight ticket."
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 9:11 AM on September 27, 2018 [69 favorites]


Today will never be undone but it can be avenged.
- @anamariecox

posted by coffee and minarets at 9:12 AM on September 27, 2018 [86 favorites]


Senator Whitehouse declared just how ahistorical it is for a background investigation to be stopped rather than re-opened when new derogatory information surfaces. He specifically blames "13 men", being the president and the Judiciary Committee Republicans.

Grassley then aired more grievances about how they were so gracious to Ford and Kavanaugh. He did something really sleazy where he implied that Ford was unreasonable to not want to immediately show up in person... whereas Mark Judge was totally acceptably compliant by simply sending them a statement. (He doesn't say that in quick succession, but separated by other bullshit.)

Mitchell just grilled Ford about her fear of flying. Holy shit, I had no idea that was another multiplier of Ford's distress in this. And it's obvious Mitchell is going for "Nobody with that fear would ever set foot in a plane". That's practically what someone here on MeFi might concoct as a parody of the obnoxious "Nobody who knew about gang rapes would ever go to these parties" argument with regards to Swetnick. (I don't know anyone with the phobia but I suspect many of them travel often for both work and pleasure. I despise needles but I still get the fucking flu shot every year.)
posted by InTheYear2017 at 9:13 AM on September 27, 2018 [16 favorites]


The only way to force out a Supreme Court justice is through impeachment

If you follow rules, yes. If you don’t, this is just...not reflective of how humanity works.

And with all due respect to Tom Clancy, I don’t think he would have come up with a criminal Russian regime that has compromised an entire major American political party, interfered in and likely tipped the balance in an American presidential election to no consequences, and is known to assassinate people with impunity all around the globe.

We’re literally beyond Tom Clancy already. Given what we already know about the Trumps and Russia, pressuring a Supreme Court Justice into retirement using his son’s exposure as leverage is, honestly, one of the more believable scenarios in this stupid fucking timeline.
posted by schadenfrau at 9:14 AM on September 27, 2018 [30 favorites]




I’m glad Dr. Ford “did well” but I’m also so angry for every survivor who doesn’t present in “the right way “ - doesn’t cry enough, cries too much, isn’t angry enough, is too angry, is emotionless, doesn’t remember every gd detail after experiencing trauma, laughs at the wrong time, doesn’t come across as the absolute perfect survivor. Because that’s most of us. And we’re never ever believed.
posted by greermahoney at 9:14 AM on September 27, 2018 [114 favorites]


Reading some of Ford's responses to Sen. Klobuchar's questions, and I'm speechless.
posted by ZeusHumms at 9:14 AM on September 27, 2018 [1 favorite]


yeah, "forced out" sounds a bit too much like he wasn't 100% complicit in this fucking travesty which has inexplicably not caused anyone to burst into actual flames yet.
posted by poffin boffin at 9:14 AM on September 27, 2018 [2 favorites]


* Conservative journalist, responding: "I'm laughing."

Journalist, ha. Kurt Schlichter's best known as the author of racial civil war fantasy novels. He's a bloodthirsty scumbag to the core.
posted by Rust Moranis at 9:15 AM on September 27, 2018 [17 favorites]


Grassley is reacting like a weird toddler being asked to put polygraph tests on the record.

He asked for the underlying data and Having Ford's counsel lay out in detail that they wanted the polygraph person to testify, but he refused and had also refused the full report.
Grassley finally allows the report in the record with a sulky: "You get what you wanted, you should be happy"

The Ford / Democratic contingent seem very well equipped for this.
posted by Just this guy, y'know at 9:18 AM on September 27, 2018 [12 favorites]


Jon Favreau tweeted what I've been thinking:
Just keep thinking about how today never had to happen. Republicans could’ve replaced Kavanaugh with an equally conservative nominee. They could’ve opened an FBI investigation. They could’ve taken many steps to avoid this ordeal and still achieve their goals.

But here we are.
I mean I know that Trump is an idiot but McConnell isn't and there's no shortage of horrible right-wing jurors that they could have picked instead. To put up Kavanaugh without vetting him and then stick with him when all this shit came out is such an astounding own-goal a month before the elections that I'm baffled.
posted by octothorpe at 9:19 AM on September 27, 2018 [56 favorites]


Trump returns to D.C., via Voice of America's Steve Herman (@W7VOA):
During the Air Force One flight @PressSec told pool reporters that @POTUS has spoken with #SCOTUS nominee Kavanaugh today and he was watching the @senjudiciary hearing on the plane ride back to Joint Base Andrews.

Reporters also told by @PressSec that @POTUS had not spoken to Deputy Attorney General Rosenstein and that it was up in the air whether they would meet today but it's still possible they will.

Stepping off Air Force One @POTUS did not wave as he typically does, according to reporters at Joint Base Andrews, who add he did not respond to a shouted question about his thoughts on the Kavanaugh hearing so far.

Entering @WhiteHouse @POTUS waved to media, but did not respond to questions about whether he thought Ford was credible or if he still supported Kavanaugh.[...]
Rosenstein Watch update, via the WSJ's Sadie Gurman (@sgurman): "SPOTTED: Rod Rosenstein, back at DOJ after a previously scheduled meeting at the White House — and he still has his detail in tow. #stilltheDAG"
posted by Doktor Zed at 9:20 AM on September 27, 2018 [5 favorites]


Could one of the Democrats read an affidavit from Kavanaugh's other accusers into the record?
posted by Gelatin at 9:21 AM on September 27, 2018 [3 favorites]


Republicans could’ve replaced Kavanaugh with an equally conservative nominee.

When all you got is frat boys, you're gonna get rapists. That's why they go to those schools and clubs. That's why their parents send them there. It's part of the culture. Kavanaugh isn't the disease, he's a symptom. If they seriously wanted to root out guys like this, the Republican benches would be nearly empty.
posted by klanawa at 9:23 AM on September 27, 2018 [20 favorites]


My dad has a fear of flying and spent several decades working in jobs that required him to travel many times a year. He just, y'know, dealt with it for years before getting a small prescription for Xanax to relax.

What he didn't do was stop flying.

posted by zombieflanders at 9:10 AM on September 27 [5 favorites +] [!]


When I discovered I had to fly a lot to continue doing my job as my network expanded to include foreign collaborators, I had to decide whether to change careers or deal with the chronic anxiety it produced. I finally discovered the right chemicals that helped me withstand my angst temporarily, but I'm currently paying the price in terms of several stress-related conditions that have slowly worsened. This is a common problem, I believe, and why there's so much drunkenness on airplanes, especially in first class where all the very frequent flyers sit.
posted by Mental Wimp at 9:23 AM on September 27, 2018 [11 favorites]


For those of us not able to watch live, can someone explain the supposed significance of Ford's fear of flying? They're saying you're afraid of flying so you … ?
posted by skewed at 9:25 AM on September 27, 2018 [2 favorites]


Off topic from Ford, but:

The full Senate is voting on a Defense Department nominee at 12:40, so members of the committee will need a break for that.

That would be the guy caught attending hookers and blackjack parties hosted by a con artist who was fleecing the Navy, right?


A reminder that in a saner world, the Fat Leonard scandal would regularly be front-page news. 16 Navy officials have pleaded guilty to related charges, including one admiral and four captains, with others awaiting trial.

Taken in perspective of things like the Judiciary hearings, I agree that this is now small potatoes. But that sure says a lot about where we are right now. And the result is we're still seeing confirmation votes on people who were tied up in the same shady shit.
posted by scaryblackdeath at 9:26 AM on September 27, 2018 [33 favorites]


Doctor Blasey Ford is a real heroine.

She deserves to never have to pay for a meal or a drink again.
posted by acb at 9:26 AM on September 27, 2018 [26 favorites]


There really was no supposed significance. The attorney asked her how she got there, she said on an airplane, the attorney was like "but aren't you afraid of flying!", she said yes, and then the attorney was like, "aha, but you fly on airplanes quite often, don't you?" and named various times that she's flown. There was no actual point.
posted by the turtle's teeth at 9:28 AM on September 27, 2018 [16 favorites]


Lost in all the Kavanaugh horribleness is that THE PURPOSE OF A CONFIRMATION HEARING IS TO FIND SHIT LIKE THIS OUT. It is not a rubber stamp party, the Rs who are acting like this is a terrible inconvenience are violating the intent of the hearings, which is to pick the best people. /teleports back to non bizarro universe
posted by benzenedream at 9:28 AM on September 27, 2018 [57 favorites]


They're saying you're afraid of flying so you … ?
I think it's a obliquely hinted-at credibility thing: like, "you're saying you were initially afraid of flying (to this hearing), but now you came anyway, and you also flew to all types of vacation resorts etc. how does all that hang together...?"
posted by Namlit at 9:28 AM on September 27, 2018 [2 favorites]


They're saying you're afraid of flying so you … ?

Dr Ford said that as one of the results of the assault, she became claustrophobic. Discrediting that claustrophobia becomes a way of discrediting the assault. (That's the theory, I'm guessing.)
posted by Capt. Renault at 9:29 AM on September 27, 2018


For those of us not able to watch live, can someone explain the supposed significance of Ford's fear of flying? They're saying you're afraid of flying so you … ?

They say she originally didn't want to go to DC but wanted the committee to come to her because she was afraid of flying. So the prosecuter asked her how she got to DC, how she got to this place or that place. She trotted out her hobbies off her CV and a list of places it sounded like she had been and asked her how she got there (plane). She tried to imply she had been to australia (But she hadn't.). The point seemed to be: "You say you're afraid of flying, but you fly!!" presumably to either a) Make her sound like a liar in general or b) Make it sound like she had some other reason for not wanting to come to testify.
posted by If only I had a penguin... at 9:29 AM on September 27, 2018 [8 favorites]


Putting up my call script so we can start slamming committee and Senate phone lines as soon as possible. Here are the names and numbers of every single member of the Senate Committee for the Judiciary. Script follows committee contact information.

Republican members of the Judiciary Committee (202-224-5225):
Charles Grassley (IA) -- (202) 224-3744
Orrin G. Hatch (UT) -- (202) 224-5251
Lindsey Graham (SC) -- (202) 224-5972
John Cornyn (TX) -- (202) 224-2934
Michael S. Lee (UT) -- (202) 224-5444
Ted Cruz (TX) -- (202) 224-5922
Ben Sasse (NE) -- (202) 224-4224
Jeff Flake (AZ) -- (202) 224-4521
Mike Crapo (ID) -- (202) 224-6142
Thom Tillis (NC) -- (202) 224-6342
John Kennedy (LA) -- (202) 224-4623

Democratic Senators of the Judiciary Committee:
Dianne Feinstein (CA) -- (202) 224-3841
Patrick Leahy (VT) -- (202) 224-4242
Dick Durbin (IL) -- (202) 224-2152
Sheldon Whitehouse (RI) -- (202) 224-2921
Amy Klobuchar (MN) -- (202) 224-3244
Christopher A. Coons (DE) -- (202) 224-5042
Richard Blumenthal (CT) -- (202) 224-2823
Mazie Hirono (HI) -- (202) 224-6361
Cory Booker (NJ) -- (202) 224-3224
Kamala Harris (CA) -- (202) 224-3553

I am calling from [your location] to demand a halt to committee vote on Brett Kavanaugh and a full investigation into the numerous credible allegations of sexual assault against him.

* Professor Blasey Ford's testimony is thoroughly credible, while Brett Kavanaugh's denials have clearly been lies
* Charles Grassley's rush to vote is transparently disingenuous garbage given how long he held a USSC seat open for the corrupt appointment of Neil Gorsuch
* Grassley and all the Republican men on the SJC are again proving that Republicans routinely enable rapists and serially support sexual predators
* I will be telling everyone I know about Republican's actively aiding and abetting a probable sexual predator as often as I can before the mid-term elections
We need to hit them as hard as possible for as long as possible until they delay the vote and then drop the nomination.
posted by Excommunicated Cardinal at 9:29 AM on September 27, 2018 [59 favorites]


She's dropped nitpicking on flying and is now nitpicking on dates and conversations.
posted by parki at 9:30 AM on September 27, 2018


Republicans could’ve replaced Kavanaugh with an equally conservative nominee.

There are any number of Federalist Society yahoos that could be counted on to predictably vote conservative, but Kavanaugh is Trump's pick specifically as a legal backstop to protect him from the criminal consequences of his actions. Having the nomination fail on the grounds of some of the very same criminal behavior of which Trump is also guilty would not bode well for the current president.
posted by Gelatin at 9:30 AM on September 27, 2018 [8 favorites]


Also happening today, Politico, Democrats prepare to force vote on Mueller protection bill
House Democrats are preparing to force a vote Thursday on a plan to protect special counsel Robert Mueller's probe from interference or unilateral removal by President Donald Trump.

Massachusetts Rep. Jim McGovern, with the backing of Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee, intend to introduce the proposal as an amendment ahead of expected consideration of three tax-related bills. The proposal would force Republicans to decide whether to consider the Mueller-protection proposal or sideline it.

For Democrats, the effort is a chance to force Republicans on the record on an issue that has generated some bipartisan support in the House and Senate. It's a matter Democrats have described with increasing urgency as Trump has ratcheted up his attacks on Mueller and the investigation of his campaign's contacts with Russia.

The measure, which has the backing of six House Republicans in addition to more than 120 House Democrats, would prohibit a special counsel from being removed without "good cause," such as a violation of Justice Department policy. The proposal would also prohibit removal by anyone other than the attorney general or the most highly ranked Justice Department official who oversees the special counsel. In addition, the measure must provide written notice of any removal decision, including a detailed explanation, and provide the special counsel an opportunity to appeal to a three-judge panel. The court would also decide whether the special counsel would remain active while any appeal is pending -- and would guarantee that all documents, resources and materials are preserved.
This thing actually could have the votes to pass, but leadership won't let it get to the floor. Forcing the issue at least sets it up as a campaign issue for the midterms if nothing else.
posted by zachlipton at 9:32 AM on September 27, 2018 [36 favorites]


I think the tweets are 5-10 minutes ahead of other feeds from the hearing room.
posted by ZeusHumms at 9:32 AM on September 27, 2018


I wonder what Mitchell thinks about what she's doing
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 9:33 AM on September 27, 2018 [6 favorites]


Is there a time schedule they are going to adhere to for this? Like, if Ford's questioning runs too long, will they postpone Kavanaugh's questioning until tomorrow?
posted by Atom Eyes at 9:33 AM on September 27, 2018


"Kennedy’s seat is only open because Kennedy mysteriously retired, and afterwards it was revealed that Kennedy’s son was the banker go-between who helped Russians funnel money, likely illegally, to Trump."
posted by schadenfrau at 11:03 on September 27
Politifact rates this claim as false, is there something they missed?
posted by thedward at 9:34 AM on September 27, 2018 [3 favorites]


Senator Whitehouse declared just how ahistorical it is for a background investigation to be stopped rather than re-opened when new derogatory information surfaces. He specifically blames "13 men", being the president and the Judiciary Committee Republicans.

That would add up to 12, so he's also including McConnell in the list of malefactors. Good for him because McConnell is at the root of all this.
posted by JackFlash at 9:36 AM on September 27, 2018 [6 favorites]


She's dropped nitpicking on flying and is now nitpicking on dates and conversations.

The prosecutor's entire strategy appears to be attempting to induce Ford to say words to the effect of "I don't remember" as many times as possible.

This isn't about eliciting testimony, it's about generating soundbites. "I don't remember" is a wonderful three word slogan, and if the prosecution and Fucks News between them can make that the single thing that their army of devoted zombies has space in their tiny minds for next to the name of Christine Blasey Ford, they'll count that as a success.

Expect memes.
posted by flabdablet at 9:37 AM on September 27, 2018 [16 favorites]


Are there particular suggestions for calling Senators from out of state?
posted by schadenfrau at 9:38 AM on September 27, 2018 [2 favorites]


Mitchell should just throw her hands up and say, "This is pointless. This woman is solid."
posted by Mental Wimp at 9:38 AM on September 27, 2018 [8 favorites]


The Democrats (both female and male) are all saying exactly the right things. And I'm so glad that these are the right things to say. None of them worry that sticking to a "believe women" narrative will somehow hurt them. That feels like a low bar but I'm using it as a source of hope.
posted by InTheYear2017 at 9:39 AM on September 27, 2018 [18 favorites]


The ongoing constitutional crisis has apparently been postponed again:

@jdawsey1: White House officially cancels Rod Rosenstein meeting for today. Press secretary Sarah Sanders says Trump and Rosenstein spoke today and will meet next week.
posted by zachlipton at 9:40 AM on September 27, 2018 [21 favorites]




@thegarance: Someone should track how many times Ford apologizes for minor things during her testimony.
posted by zachlipton at 9:45 AM on September 27, 2018 [26 favorites]


Politifact rates this claim as false, is there something they missed?

No, just something they can't possibly conclude. Did you actually read the page? Their conclusion is that there is no direct evidence that Kennedy was pressured into retirement because of his son, or that his son was directly involved in Russian money laundering.

But nobody stated there was, and as a point of, you know, fucking logic, "no direct evidence of" is not the same as "false."

The circumstantial evidence, on the other hand, is pretty fucking damning. Besides the fact that DB has actually been busted for Russian money laundering, and besides the fact that it's widely known that Russians have been pouring money specifically into New York real estate since the 2000s, and that none of it has been investigated, the Deutsche capital real estate markets group was known to be dirty as fuck in New York finance circles when Kennedy ran it. I know this because I knew this as a broker at the time in New York, and because someone I went to college with, whose family was in commercial real estate, fucking bragged about it to me in 2008. His uncle had just walked away with 75 million courtesy of Deutsche Bank.

You honest to fucking god would not believe the stuff people get away with in finance that is never, ever brought to light. My own boss at the time helped a trader at Hetco with a several hundred million dollar mark-to-make believe fraud. Neither of them were ever investigated, let alone prosecuted, and the only reason there were any consequences at all (one of them lost his job) was because he lost too much money.

For anyone who knows this world, this is a screaming red fucking alert of a red flag. It is a fucking art installation of red flags. There is so much fucking smoke I'm ready to welcome ten new popes.
posted by schadenfrau at 9:47 AM on September 27, 2018 [109 favorites]



I wonder what Mitchell thinks about what she's doing

I've been listening to this on audio only and she sounds super uncomfortable to me. Not to absolve her of her responsibility here because she agreed to do this when she could have and should have told these people FUCK and NO, but I think she is self-aware enough to realize what this looks like right now.
posted by soren_lorensen at 9:48 AM on September 27, 2018 [14 favorites]


Press secretary Sarah Sanders says Trump and Rosenstein spoke today and will meet next week.

Fired via Twitter over the weekend, then?
posted by Rykey at 9:49 AM on September 27, 2018 [7 favorites]


@gabrielsherman: Trump telling people he’s furious that WH aides didn’t have advance knowledge of how credible Ford would seem, per 2nd source
Nobody knew discrediting a sexual assault victim could be so complicated.
posted by Rhaomi at 9:52 AM on September 27, 2018 [151 favorites]


Lawyer friends here in Arizona who know Mitchell are... not generally big fans of hers. Even before today's shameful spectacle.
posted by Superplin at 9:53 AM on September 27, 2018 [5 favorites]


@kateirby: Hatch just called Ford an “attractive witness.” Asked to elaborate what he meant, he said “she’s pleasing.” Happened in a gaggle of reporters, and another woman amd I shared an unmistakable “did he really say that?” look afterward.

This is why they hired Mitchell to ask the questions. These people are not just incapable of doing their jobs, they're incapable of basic decency.
posted by zachlipton at 9:53 AM on September 27, 2018 [95 favorites]


Does anyone else feel it is pretty damning for Trump and exonerating for Rosenstein that he's escaped two firings from Trump? While the rumors of so-and-so leaving all the time that don't pan out, normally any meeting like the one on Monday, and the meeting planned for today are certain pink slips.

It seems that somehow *even* Trump has figured out he can't fire Rosenstein. (or at least, enough high ranking people know it, and have talked him out of it). And to me that can only be a positive thing for the investigation.

Or am I just being overly optimistic.
posted by Twain Device at 9:54 AM on September 27, 2018 [3 favorites]


Just as a note, the Senate Judiciary Committee's phone number is going directly to voicemail, and the mail box is full. It may be worth hitting up up your own senators first, then keep slamming the Judiciary Committee's phones.

Grassley and company must never ever hear the end of the crime against survivors of sexual assault, no matter the outcome of any of the nomination. We must tie their names and legacies irrevocably to their shameless promotion and protection of sexual predators like Donald Trump, J. Dennis Hastert, Strom Thurmond, Clarence Thomas, Brett Kavanaugh, and all the others.
posted by Excommunicated Cardinal at 9:54 AM on September 27, 2018 [13 favorites]


The absolute howling cowardice of every wizened GOP butthole sitting up there is nicely highlighted by Mitchell's perfunctory nitpicking. I'm not saying she's bringing weak sauce on purpose, but so far I don't see how her approach is harming Ford's credibility at all.
posted by prize bull octorok at 9:55 AM on September 27, 2018 [6 favorites]


One of my Facebook friends (made thru Pantsuit Nation) makes a good point (paraphrasing): The Republicans want us to focus our anger on the woman they put out front to hide behind. We shouldn't fall into that trap.
posted by Gelatin at 9:55 AM on September 27, 2018 [70 favorites]


The Republicans want us to focus our anger on the woman they put out front to hide behind. We shouldn't fall into that trap.

My hatred is an infinite resource and I will not ration it.
posted by Rust Moranis at 9:57 AM on September 27, 2018 [147 favorites]


Lawyer friends here in Arizona who know Mitchell are... not generally big fans of hers. Even before today's shameful spectacle.

Anyone who worked as a prosecutor for Maricopa County during Joe Arpaio's tenure as sheriff must have some ugly skeletons in their closet.
posted by Atom Eyes at 9:57 AM on September 27, 2018 [36 favorites]


The absolute howling cowardice of every wizened GOP butthole sitting up there is nicely highlighted by Mitchell's perfunctory nitpicking. I'm not saying she's bringing weak sauce on purpose, but so far I don't see how her approach is harming Ford's credibility at all.

Mitchell appears to be conducting a pretty good deposition. Which is fine, but not what the Senate Republicans were thinking would happen.
posted by mikelieman at 9:59 AM on September 27, 2018 [10 favorites]


An observation from a lawyer who does trial examinations and crosses (though not in the field of sex crimes): This was a really arrogant and poorly thought out strategy on Mitchell's part. It's obviously intended as a cross examination, to elicit gotchas, contradictions, and other things to undermine credibility. It is also being conducted during a hearing, the "ultimate event," akin to a trial, not some kind of informal or practice session. This is exactly the sort of situation where they say "you should never ask a question you don't already know the answer to" - but she hasn't had the opportunity or done the work to have that knowledge!

They only appointed her a week ago, 10 days to be generous. Ordinarily before you conduct a trial cross you do weeks or months of document review, turning over everything the subject has ever written on the topic. Ordinarily you would take the witness's deposition months before, or review a taped statement to the police or something. Here, there was no deposition or other testimony on the specific issues she wanted to cross on - like this fear of flying thing, it was a total flop. That's the kind of thing you try out at a deposition months earlier and then drop before trial.

They took a very big risk not doing any of that prep. They arrogantly assumed the Arizona prosecutor would have the upper hand on the poor befuddled victim, but they didn't even give her the tools to get that upper hand. Not surprising that this is really galvanizing for the Dems and anyone giving it an honest chance.

Also the 5-minute chunk format is really wrong for a prosecution-style cross. Many times you take more than 5 minutes building a thread of questions before delivering the "punchline." This is really disruptive to the job she's trying to do.
posted by Joey Buttafoucault at 10:00 AM on September 27, 2018 [51 favorites]


Anne Helen Petersen:
Dr. Ford is essentially offering expert witness testimony on the effects of her own assault
posted by ZeusHumms at 10:01 AM on September 27, 2018 [105 favorites]


I'm not saying she's bringing weak sauce on purpose, but so far I don't see how her approach is harming Ford's credibility at all.

"When you're weak on facts, pound the law."
- Except the law won't help here; this is not a court trial; the minutia of evidence rules don't support her case. The legal situation is: these acts are beyond any statute of limitations and no court would touch this, unless Kreepinaugh wants to file for defamation, in which case, why isn't he?

"When you're weak on law, pound the facts."
- The facts are not in the GOP's favor. There's some difficulty in getting evidence beyond "someone said X," but the eyewitness and historical accounts support Ford, not K. It's hard to prove, "I was a blackout-drunk party frat boy, but I'm certain I didn't grope THIS woman."

"When you're weak on both, pound the table."
- Raging and yelling will not support the case the R's want Mitchell to make, and she knows it, even if they don't.
posted by ErisLordFreedom at 10:04 AM on September 27, 2018 [16 favorites]


Excommunicated Cardinal: It may be worth hitting up up your own senators first, then keep slamming the Judiciary Committee's phones.

Is there a generic Judicary Committee line? Because generally it is an absolute no-no to directly call any senator who doesn't represent you. They use calls from "outsiders" to discredit the inside ones. And (even though they have power over all of us) it's generally understood that their sole obligations are to their actual constituents.

Joey Buttafoucault: This is exactly the sort of situation where they say "you should never ask a question you don't already know the answer to" - but she hasn't had the opportunity or done the work to have that knowledge!

Yeah, there are hearings and then there's this abomination that's being called a "hearing". Normally a hearing should be the chance for senators to learn about something (e.g asking Zuckerberg how Facebook works) which can inform their subsequent decisions. It's generally not to sway the American People like we're some kind of jury of millions, although I suppose the Benghazi farce had that quality as well.

soren_lorensen: I've been listening to this on audio only and she sounds super uncomfortable to me. Not to absolve her of her responsibility here because she agreed to do this when she could have and should have told these people FUCK and NO, but I think she is self-aware enough to realize what this looks like right now.

So basically, the Sean Spicer of Jeanine Pirros.
posted by InTheYear2017 at 10:05 AM on September 27, 2018 [9 favorites]


I think they'll pull the nomination today.
posted by schadenfrau at 10:05 AM on September 27, 2018 [16 favorites]


Note that if this all falls apart and they can't salvage Kavanaugh, the use of Mitchell here means Republicans will have a woman to blame for their failure.
posted by scaryblackdeath at 10:06 AM on September 27, 2018 [33 favorites]


Someone should track how many times Ford apologizes for minor things during her testimony.

Of course she is. When everyone around you is angry at you, you constantly apologize and do whatever you can to appease and soothe their rage.
posted by jenfullmoon at 10:06 AM on September 27, 2018 [17 favorites]


@katierosman:
Powerful, telling photograph.
posted by Atom Eyes at 10:07 AM on September 27, 2018 [11 favorites]


I also agree with others that she (Mitchell) looks and sounds very uncomfortable. That's maybe another mistake - going with a sex crimes prosecutor. They're generally very sympathetic towards victims, it's how they put away their perps. It must be disorienting to turn around and try to discredit someone in that situation. Frankly they should have hired a criminal defense attorney.
posted by Joey Buttafoucault at 10:08 AM on September 27, 2018 [9 favorites]


I wonder what Mitchell thinks about what she's doing

Isn't she hewn from the same scumbag material as Sheriff Joe Arpaio?
posted by acb at 10:08 AM on September 27, 2018 [4 favorites]


What they expected to do was showcase the general unreliability, irrationality, and instability of women, and to reinforce the idea that when it's a man's word against a woman's, the man is invariably going to be credible and reliable and rational, and the woman is not, no matter how educated and intelligent and qualified she is.

Instead, they're demonstrating conclusively how false and hypocritical that narrative is.
posted by Autumnheart at 10:09 AM on September 27, 2018 [13 favorites]




I think they'll pull the nomination today.

I really wish I had this kind of optimism. I’m watching on Fox News and while the analysis is pretty dismal they just keep coming back to there being no corroboration. It’s all about it being unsubstantiated for them.
posted by Exceptional_Hubris at 10:10 AM on September 27, 2018 [7 favorites]


If Kavanaugh gets pulled, can Kennedy unretire?
posted by fluttering hellfire at 10:11 AM on September 27, 2018 [4 favorites]


We don’t need Kennedy.

The SCOTUS can operate with eight Justices just fine.

Until January 2021.
posted by notyou at 10:12 AM on September 27, 2018 [61 favorites]


If Kavanaugh gets pulled, can Kennedy unretire?

Not to the Supreme Court, at least under current law. Former justices can sit "by designation" on any lower court, but the consensus view is that the enabling state for this (28 USC 294) does not permit them to resume service on the Supreme Court.
posted by Joey Buttafoucault at 10:14 AM on September 27, 2018 [3 favorites]


I just got back from the solidarity rally at Boston's City Hall where Ayanna Pressley stopped by, got "I believe you" written on her hands, hugged me, said she was angry that there are so many people who are part of the community of survivors, and said some other pretty amazing things. I'm glad she'll be joining Congress.
posted by ChuraChura at 10:15 AM on September 27, 2018 [26 favorites]


InTheYear2017 : Is there a generic Judicary Committee line? Because generally it is an absolute no-no to directly call any senator who doesn't represent you. They use calls from "outsiders" to discredit the inside ones. And (even though they have power over all of us) it's generally understood that their sole obligations are to their actual constituents.

Yes, the number for the Majority Party of the Senate Judiciary is (202)224-5225. While I would not suggest calling the members on their own specific lines, I have actually been advised by staffers (of Jason Chaffetz of all people--remember that shithead?) to call a committee's line directly to share your opinion.

The staffers there have been polite and willing to hear my whole scripts before. I think they are either totally swamped by calls at this point or are deliberately trying to limit contact with angry MeFites voters calling to highlight their boss' complicity in supporting a sexual predator in Brett Kavanaugh.
posted by Excommunicated Cardinal at 10:15 AM on September 27, 2018 [9 favorites]


Former justices can sit "by designation" on any lower court

David Souter takes a turn every so often hearing cases for the First Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston.
posted by adamg at 10:16 AM on September 27, 2018 [10 favorites]


I think they'll pull the nomination today.

That means that McConnell telling Trump that Kavanuagh doesn't have the votes. I think that will happen--I think it's possible that it happened even before today. But then does Trump do the sensible thing and pull the nomination, or does Trump defy rationality an demand a vote? I've been thinking that one possible reason for a quite vote is that Trump won't pull Kavanaugh, and the best way through for the Republicans is to vote him down quickly.

And I don't see Collins, Flake or Murkowski as the only possible "no" votes. I think there are almost certainly other Senators who have either suffered sexual assault or have close family members who have, and I would see negative votes coming from unexpected quarters on this one.
posted by Emera Gratia at 10:16 AM on September 27, 2018 [7 favorites]


I’m watching on Fox News and while the analysis is pretty dismal they just keep coming back to there being no corroboration. It’s all about it being unsubstantiated for them.

There are therapist's notes from 2012. There are conversations she had with friends in 2013. These are corroboration. It is substantiated. They are lying. If she had a home video of the damn event Fox News would still try to call it unsubstantiated because that's all they have.
posted by saturday_morning at 10:19 AM on September 27, 2018 [18 favorites]




I mean I know that Trump is an idiot but McConnell isn't and there's no shortage of horrible right-wing jurors that they could have picked instead. To put up Kavanaugh without vetting him and then stick with him when all this shit came out is such an astounding own-goal a month before the elections that I'm baffled.

Washington Post: "The Senate majority leader specifically did not want Trump to pick Kavanaugh, The Post reported. McConnell is worried that Kavanaugh’s partisan record could jeopardize what McConnell is hoping will be a speedy confirmation process."

Trump ignored McConnell's political instincts and the Federalist's less controversial candidates (we've discussed why). One of his few talents is wearing down his partners and underlings until he gets his way.

A reminder that in a saner world, the Fat Leonard scandal would regularly be front-page news.

Fat Leonard deserves an FPP all his own. That scandal is so insane it only the Trump administration's clown car pile-up could make it seem like something that could exist in reality instead of being confined to fiction.
posted by Doktor Zed at 10:20 AM on September 27, 2018 [12 favorites]


Silence on Wall Street. Tears in a retirement home. The country watches, transfixed, as Ford tells her story. WaPo

“She looks scared, and she looks nervous. But I think she’s telling the truth,” said Myrtle Facey, 78, a retired cashier. “She may have waited a long time to talk about it, but this is something that will never leave you, no matter what happens. You always remember it. You may not think of it every day, but it will always be with you, just like learning the ABCs. You never forget.”

posted by bluesky43 at 10:21 AM on September 27, 2018 [81 favorites]


Just as a note, the Senate Judiciary Committee's phone number is going directly to voicemail, and the mail box is full. It may be worth hitting up up your own senators first, then keep slamming the Judiciary Committee's phones.

Faxes work too, even when the phones are full.

Send faxes to senators for free at FaxZero

Excommunicated Cardinal's list of senators on the Judiciary Committee from earlier in this thread
posted by kristi at 10:22 AM on September 27, 2018 [11 favorites]


Lindsey Graham just falsely told a bunch of reporters that Democrats are never subjected to accusations of sexual misconduct, and warned them that if Kavanaugh fails, Republicans will gin up false accusations against future Democratic nominees to even the score. Wow.

Al Franken was pressured to step down for sexual misconduct because it was the right thing to do. I never imagined how much it would upset the Republicans, who live by hypocrisy, by taking a potential weapon from their hands.

Lovely of Graham to telegraph the strategy, too. i'm sure he doesn't care that this quote will likely be used to discredit the next woman who accuses a Democrat even if her story is true. And Graham isn't even as low as they get.
posted by Gelatin at 10:24 AM on September 27, 2018 [50 favorites]


Lindsey Graham has clearly won the worst possible reaction award.

I’ll go further. Not only do they pull the nomination, but the GOP never, ever recovers from this day.
posted by schadenfrau at 10:25 AM on September 27, 2018 [17 favorites]


I so badly want Kavanaugh to show up drunk to his part of the hearing.
posted by uosuaq at 10:26 AM on September 27, 2018 [76 favorites]


Lindsey Graham has clearly won the worst possible reaction award.

I regret to inform you that the award has been reissued, yet still belongs to Lindsey Graham, as he managed to react even worse:

@Emma_Dumain: A woman just told @LindseyGrahamSC she was raped. He said, as he headed into an elevator, "I'm sorry. Tell the cops."
posted by zachlipton at 10:27 AM on September 27, 2018 [80 favorites]


Lindsey Graham just falsely told a bunch of reporters that Democrats are never subjected to accusations of sexual misconduct, and warned them that if Kavanaugh fails, Republicans will gin up false accusations against future Democratic nominees to even the score. Wow.

Leave it to this POS to commodify victims of sexual assault. No matter what, we're just objects to these people.
posted by Tarumba at 10:27 AM on September 27, 2018 [14 favorites]


Apparently, people are calling CSPAN during the break with their own sexual assault stories. This is heartbreaking.
posted by bluesky43 at 10:28 AM on September 27, 2018 [16 favorites]


Silence on Wall Street. Tears in a retirement home. The country watches, transfixed, as Ford tells her story. WaPo

That reference to the retirement home really resonates with me. There are SO MANY older women who..I mean come on...who experienced all of this and worse.

Republicans depending on the Matlock vote? They might want to recalibrate.
posted by rhizome at 10:28 AM on September 27, 2018 [21 favorites]


Emera Gratia: "And I don't see Collins, Flake or Murkowski as the only possible "no" votes. I think there are almost certainly other Senators who have either suffered sexual assault or have close family members who have, and I would see negative votes coming from unexpected quarters on this one."

Jim Acosta of CNN reported yesterday that a lot of GOP Senators were in "wait and see how Ford's testimony" goes status yesterday. I think it's safe to say it did not go well.

They may just have been bs-ing, of course, but Acosta is usually pretty savvy.
posted by Chrysostom at 10:28 AM on September 27, 2018 [7 favorites]


I so badly want Kavanaugh to show up drunk to his part of the hearing.

Well, if he wanted to tie one on there were local joints where he could do so affordably.
posted by phearlez at 10:29 AM on September 27, 2018 [2 favorites]


Republicans will gin up false accusations against future Democratic nominees to even the score. Wow.

Oh, so Republicans will continue to make up a bunch of shit about Democrats to screw their chances of being nominated? How does this differ from previous Republican strategies?

Besides, Lindsey, it's not the false accusations you should be worried about.
posted by Autumnheart at 10:30 AM on September 27, 2018 [9 favorites]


At least Hatch is retiring this year. Graham must be defeated in 2020. Who's going to be the Beto O'Rourke of South Carolina?
posted by baltimoretim at 10:30 AM on September 27, 2018 [13 favorites]


Francis Wilkinson (Bloomberg): Whitehouse lays down a pledge that Kavanaugh will not be out of the woods no matter how this nomination goes.

Ron Brownstein (Atlantic/CNN): If Republicans still confirm #kavanaugh after today and refuse to conduct any further investigation, it seems inescapable now that a Democrat controlled House Judiciary Committee would reopen this investigation. The idea a quick Senate vote will end this seems implausible
posted by Chrysostom at 10:31 AM on September 27, 2018 [21 favorites]


I watched Fat Leonard go down in the front pages of Singapore's leading daily The Straits Times. It definitely does deserve an FPP on its own.

“It’s never been like this before,” said Daniel Kurtzer, a former ambassador to Egypt and Israel under President George W. Bush who’s now a professor at Princeton. “U.S. policy always has engendered opposition from allies -- Germany and France during the 2003 invasion of Iraq -- but what’s new is the derision.”
posted by infini at 10:32 AM on September 27, 2018 [4 favorites]


That reference to the retirement home really resonates with me. There are SO MANY older women who..I mean come on...who experienced all of this and worse.

Retired cashier Myrtle Facey was quoted in the article (cited upthread) speaking very much as though she has carried memories of her own for much of her 78 years.
posted by Gelatin at 10:32 AM on September 27, 2018 [14 favorites]


@rswirling: That was me! @LindseyGrahamSC said he did not believe Dr. Ford because she couldn’t recall the exact date of the assault. I told him I was raped 13yrs ago but don’t know the date. So would he believe me?

He said “I’m sorry, but then you should go to the cops.”

#BelieveSurvivors https://twitter.com/rachelperrone/status/1045361795999977472

posted by phearlez at 10:33 AM on September 27, 2018 [29 favorites]


Whitehouse lays down a pledge that Kavanaugh will not be out of the woods no matter how this nomination goes

Clarification: this is referring to Sheldon Whitehouse, the Democratic senator from Rhode Island.
posted by Atom Eyes at 10:33 AM on September 27, 2018 [22 favorites]


Jennifer Wright @JenAshleyWright

Grassley should smile more. His voice is very shrill.
posted by chappell, ambrose at 10:34 AM on September 27, 2018 [153 favorites]


GOP trying their damndest to lose North Dakota Senate:
In the middle of #KavanaughHearings, Kevin Cramer once again takes to the radio to call #BlaseyFord's allegation "suspicious." Also calls Sen. Grassley "gracious" as he's smearing Blasey Ford. #ndsen
posted by Chrysostom at 10:35 AM on September 27, 2018 [7 favorites]




Is there a generic Judicary Committee line? Because generally it is an absolute no-no to directly call any senator who doesn't represent you. They use calls from "outsiders" to discredit the inside ones. And (even though they have power over all of us) it's generally understood that their sole obligations are to their actual constituents.

I asked an AskMe about calling legislators for other districts or states.

I have called and faxed legislators other than my own when I have specific reason to do so - especially if they're on a particular committee - and have always been honest about not being their constituent. Sometimes I will say "I am not your constituent but as a member of x committee you represent me." If you're honest about it, the worst that will happen is you'll be ignored. If you have the time to do it, given even a tiny chance that you'll make a difference, it might make sense to speak out.

Especially in a time when the crowdfunded campaign to fund Collins's opponent if she votes for Kavanaugh has raised over $1,000,000. It might only target Collins, but you know other Republican Senators have to be aware of it, and that it could happen to them.
posted by kristi at 10:36 AM on September 27, 2018 [11 favorites]


Lindsey Graham just falsely told a bunch of reporters that Democrats are never subjected to accusations of sexual misconduct

Lindsey Graham was an impeachment manager accusing Bill Clinton of sexual misconduct.

Bonus blast-from-the-past quote:
You couldn’t live with yourself knowing that you were going to leave a perjuring judge on the bench. Ladies and gentlemen, as hard as it may be for the same reasons, cleanse this office.
I eagerly await Senator Graham's call for impeaching Brett Kavanaugh from the DC Circuit Court of Appeals.
posted by kirkaracha at 10:37 AM on September 27, 2018 [50 favorites]


> Something notable about Ford's testimony here is her multiple references to the science of neurology with respect to her own memory processes, for example how trauma will sear events into the mind because of certain chemicals and pathways (I couldn't begin to paraphrase her correctly, thanks to my own ignorance). I've never seen anyone testify that way, and I don't know how that will play out in the general public reaction, but it's interesting and credible.

She's providing expert witness testimony on the effects of her own trauma. It's extraordinary. Considering how many people are paying attention to this, it could change a large swath of the public's understanding of the effects of sexual violence and trauma on the brain and a person's life. Of course, that can only work for the people who are actually listening.
posted by homunculus at 10:39 AM on September 27, 2018 [50 favorites]


> Trump telling people he’s furious that WH aides didn’t have advance knowledge of how credible Ford would seem, per 2nd source

Just try to imagine how this sentiment was worded, exactly.
posted by The Card Cheat at 10:39 AM on September 27, 2018 [27 favorites]


I really hope Trump is watching Mazi Hirono's comments. short version: our president is a sexual predator.
posted by bluesky43 at 10:42 AM on September 27, 2018 [38 favorites]


What on earth is this line of questioning from Mitchell? It is becoming clear they have nothing—let alone any strategy.
posted by standardasparagus at 10:47 AM on September 27, 2018 [4 favorites]


Lindsey Graham's little threat echoes that link someone posted upthread where Trump actually pouts and whines that nobody ever falsely accused OBAMA of assault. It really exposes their ugliness trap on both sides: either they admit that it's not actually that "easy" for a woman to make a false accusation, otherwise they could have sunk Obama years ago; or they admit that assault is so rampant in their ranks that they're honestly crying "no fair" that their opponents can run a guy with no allegations.
posted by nakedmolerats at 10:48 AM on September 27, 2018 [16 favorites]


> What on earth is this line of questioning from Mitchell? It is becoming clear they have nothing—let alone any strategy.

I don't know, but I can't shake the feeling that she's put herself on the short list for the next SCOTUS vacancy.
posted by tonycpsu at 10:49 AM on September 27, 2018 [6 favorites]


What on earth is this line of questioning from Mitchell? It is becoming clear they have nothing—let alone any strategy.

The goal is to produce some 5 second clip that they can blast on Fox without any context. There isn't any strategy beyond that.
posted by dilaudid at 10:49 AM on September 27, 2018 [23 favorites]


Republicans will gin up false accusations against future Democratic nominees to even the score. Wow.

I lol'ed. Here's hoping democrats are smart enough to just nominate women for every seat on the court that they have a chance to fill for the rest of time.
posted by dis_integration at 10:51 AM on September 27, 2018 [51 favorites]


Lindsey Graham ... warned them that if Kavanaugh fails, Republicans will gin up false accusations against future Democratic nominees to even the score. Wow.

I've written and deleted a comment saying this like a dozen times over the last week, but I didn't post it because it's too depressing and apocalyptic and it would get deleted. Generally something like "This isn't a defense, it's a warning -- they're gonna slime the next Dem nominee, and they're gonna make it an obvious lie and wink directly at the fucking camera while they do it."

And he just... said it. To reporters. On the record.
posted by Etrigan at 10:52 AM on September 27, 2018 [78 favorites]


Ezra Klein: To lay this bare: Mitchell's questioning is implying Ford is laying her trauma bare for personal gain, and so can't be trusted.

Kavanaugh wants a lifetime seat on the Supreme Court. If having an interest in the outcome renders you untrustworthy, well...
posted by T.D. Strange at 10:53 AM on September 27, 2018 [33 favorites]


@jbarro: The soundbites being shown (on Fox!) are brutal for Republicans. They're not pulling soundbites from the bits where Mitchell asks about who paid for the polygraph or whatever.

I suspect they'll be pulling those out-of-context clips to blast her with later, that's going to be Ingraham's show or something, and I do agree that's their goal, but for the moment, that strategy doesn't seem to be at all effective if Fox isn't even biting.
posted by zachlipton at 10:55 AM on September 27, 2018 [5 favorites]


standardasparagus: What on earth is this line of questioning from Mitchell? It is becoming clear they have nothing—let alone any strategy.

Context (if I'm getting the timing of this comment correct): the most recent Mitchell questions are about whether or not, within a certain time window, Ford told any reporters or senators about this.

My interpretation is that she's getting at the fact that the Intercept leaked this, so the open question (whose answer is still, as far as I know, generally unknown) is how that happened. She's trying to find an inconsistency whereby perhaps Ford told someone who told the Intercept.

But the much likelier possibility is that it came by way of Feinstein -- not that Feinstein broke Ford's trust and told reporters, but rather someone among the Democrats somehow picked it up because (naturally) Feinstein didn't keep it entirely to herself, she has staff and such.
posted by InTheYear2017 at 10:56 AM on September 27, 2018 [2 favorites]


Trump telling people he’s furious that WH aides didn’t have advance knowledge of how credible Ford would seem, per 2nd source

They (the WH, GOP Senators on the committee, the Right) were all so certain this was a "con job" and that today's hearings would reveal as much, that they didn't bother to prepare. Nor especially consider that she is telling the truth.
posted by notyou at 10:56 AM on September 27, 2018 [6 favorites]


zombieflanders: Lindsey Graham just falsely told a bunch of reporters that Democrats are never subjected to accusations of sexual misconduct, and warned them that if Kavanaugh fails, Republicans will gin up false accusations against future Democratic nominees to even the score. Wow.

And worse, by this admission, he is also trying to reduce the believably of victims of sexual assaults, who choose to come forward and share their suffering publicly, which will lead to increased verbal and potentially physical attacks against them.
posted by filthy light thief at 10:57 AM on September 27, 2018 [28 favorites]


Holy shit, Doppelganger Theory has entered the questioning
posted by Rust Moranis at 10:59 AM on September 27, 2018 [3 favorites]




That's maybe another mistake - going with a sex crimes prosecutor. They're generally very sympathetic towards victims...

Well, we all know who they think is the real victim here.
posted by ChurchHatesTucker at 10:59 AM on September 27, 2018 [4 favorites]


“The world loathes what Trump says, but they pay deep attention to the new credible threats of economic and military coercion,” said Charles Lipson, professor emeritus of political science at the University of Chicago.

"The world" is not a "weak and fragile" woman to be manhandled out of the way of the big guns and the muscle cars and the loud voices. "The world" [minus Russia, China, and India who stayed home and sent deputies] is sitting in New York City right now, highly unlikely to be able to avoid this travesty of government and justice swirl around them regardless of what else they may be trying to do. Even if its the CNN or Fox playing in the lounges of the UN and the hotels.

"The world" and its video cameras are just "fake news", this is the important stuff happening right here.
posted by infini at 10:59 AM on September 27, 2018 [2 favorites]


@Bloomberg: "Trump is reportedly furious at how the Kavanaugh hearing is going" (Live-blog)

Maggie Haberman, as usual, puts as Trump-friendly a spin on this as she can: "Trump has been telling people for over a week he thought she could have a story to tell, and he was concerned about how the hearing would play on TV. He was already paving the road for moving on from Kavanaugh yesterday. One thing he isn't today is surprised."

Vanity Fair's Gabriel Sherman delivers the unvarnished news from within Trumpland: "Person close to Trump says Trump is raging at how bad this has been for Republicans so far. Trump told people Ford “seems credible,” per source"; "Trump telling people he’s furious that WH aides didn’t have advance knowledge of how credible Ford would seem, per 2nd source"; and "Trump also furious with Don McGahn for putting him in this situation, source said.".

Sherman's verdict: "This is Trump’s worst nightmare: a TV moment going badly for him that’s completely out of his control"
posted by Doktor Zed at 11:03 AM on September 27, 2018 [42 favorites]


Photo: Sasse and Cruz having a shared sad trombone moment
posted by Rust Moranis at 11:04 AM on September 27, 2018 [4 favorites]


Lindsey Graham's little threat echoes that link someone posted upthread where Trump actually pouts and whines that nobody ever falsely accused OBAMA of assault...either they admit that it's not actually that "easy" for a woman to make a false accusation, otherwise they could have sunk Obama years ago; or they admit that assault is so rampant in their ranks that they're honestly crying "no fair" that their opponents can run a guy with no allegations.

This x 1000. Trump honestly can't believe that any male in any position of power wouldn't abuse women. He does it, all his buddies do it...don't we all do it?

If fake allegations were easier to make, oh my GOD would every fucking democratic member of congress be dogged by allegations from the alt-right pranksters. But that doesn't happen because widespread false allegations are just not a thing.

And in the rare notable instances they happen (like the woman who claimed Doug Jones impregnated her? I think?) they are investigated and fall apart upon examination. Because facts and research typically rule out totally baseless claims. And when all else fails to derail credible accusations, the abusers fall back on the "everyone does it" defense. They want it both ways all the f**king time.

As a man I'm ashamed and furious that so many men out there could believe that some percentage of women would voluntarily lie and ruin their lives. I'm not surprised anymore, just angry.
posted by andruwjones26 at 11:04 AM on September 27, 2018 [42 favorites]


Trump's MO:

Before: "Yeah, whatever...we're going to win Controversy X because we're awesome"

After: Grar, rage, no clue that the Before: part matters.
posted by rhizome at 11:05 AM on September 27, 2018 [6 favorites]


Would you like to learn about the ongoing War In Yemen?

I mean, you probably wouldn't, it'll just make you sad with no recourse
posted by the man of twists and turns at 11:06 AM on September 27, 2018 [26 favorites]


notyou: They (the WH, GOP Senators on the committee, the Right) were all so certain this was a "con job" and that today's hearings would reveal as much, that they didn't bother to prepare. Nor especially consider that she is telling the truth.

I bet some believed it, but many of them felt there was no other choice. Can you imagine being the one to tell Trump in advance that she's credible? No doubt that even if someone had, he'd still be angry that nobody told him. That's how he operates.

Rust Moranis: Holy shit, Doppelganger Theory has entered the questioning

This started with Ford very deftly anticipating where Mitchell was going in asking about a specific man who served as the social link between Ford and Kavanaugh. Ford immediately brought up Ed Whelan using that innocent man as a scapegoat after viewing her LinkedIn page at such a suspicious point in time (after the WH was informed and before her name went public). She's careful not to say his name. Apparently the two of them went out for a period of months and he never harmed her. [Addendum: Alexandra Erin points out that this further disproves the notion that she could mix him and Kavanaugh up.]

Earlier in the hearing a Democratic senator says the guy sent them a letter protesting his innocence. So the question of who the Spartacus twins could even be, since neither is him, remains a mind-numbing mystery.
posted by InTheYear2017 at 11:08 AM on September 27, 2018 [6 favorites]


"I’m glad Dr. Ford 'did well' but I’m also so angry for every survivor who doesn’t present in 'the right way' - doesn’t cry enough, cries too much, isn’t angry enough, is too angry, is emotionless, doesn’t remember every gd detail after experiencing trauma, laughs at the wrong time, doesn’t come across as the absolute perfect survivor. Because that’s most of us. And we’re never ever believed."

This is so true and so important.

It is a terrible and perverse injustice that survivors of sexual assault are essentially placed on the defensive in our society. A person's perceived credibility in these circumstances does not strongly correlate with their actual honesty.

As several of the former prosecutors have mentioned, there are a few tells of a liar, particularly testimony that is too detailed and too consistent. But these aren't the sorts of things that laypeople tend to be aware of when evaluating credibility. The common intuitive evaluation of credibility -- of detecting lies -- is one that presupposes both that most people aren't practiced liars and, if someone does lie, it's in an everyday context.

A person in an extreme situation is in an entirely different social context and this common intuition is very inapplicable.

But not only is a sexual assault survivor's attestation very much not an everyday context, it's not even an ordinary extraordinary context. Consider: a sexual assault survivor who is truthful is more stigmatized than someone who lies.

Think about that for a moment.

It's true that in the US, as opposed to some nations, women aren't imprisoned or executed because they've been raped. But it's a difference of degree, not kind. Women are routinely assigned the blame for their own injury. They are often told, and believe, they are irreparably damaged. They are stigmatized.

Common notions about evaluating credibility are actively harmful in these cases.

Like others, I am naturally very happy that the public perceives Dr. Ford as very credible. But we should believe women because when women disclose such experiences, they are almost certainly telling the truth. We know this. The FBI, for example, has determined that false accusations of sexual violence are, at least, no more common than for other serious crimes. There are various reasons why false accusations are likely less frequent. Believe women not only when they conform to our expectations or are otherwise seen to be sympathetic, believe them because they are telling the truth.

Finally, I want to say one additional thing about something that several members of the committee have said to Dr. Ford, that she's doing a civic service, that she's an inspiration.

Both these things are indeed true. But it is not any individual woman's responsibility to disclose as a civic service, or for inspiration of others, or for education. Given everything else a survivor has to worry about, to deal with, they shouldn't be implicitly told that they're also carrying the burden of driving social change. That's not their job.

There has to be a way to support survivors who disclose -- because they absolutely need and deserve support -- without implying that they have a responsibility to everyone else. I know that most people don't intend that, I know that many or most survivors won't infer that, and I know that those survivors who disclose are indeed doing a public service and deserve gratitude and recognition for this.

But most survivors don't disclose. All those people should never, ever feel guilty for not doing so. One of the things that Dr. Ford has made perfectly clear, is why it's perfectly reasonable when they don't. And when they do, as Dr. Ford has, it shouldn't be made to be mostly about how they're helping other people. It should be about how we help them.
posted by Ivan Fyodorovich at 11:09 AM on September 27, 2018 [42 favorites]


It seems like GOP has already bailed on Kavanaugh and are trying to salvage from this wreckage a stabbed-in-the-back narrative they can sell to their bitter base.

The completely transparent line of questioning about where her lawyers came from makes me think this is a real possibility. (Answer: THE DEMS (not really but for the base ...))
posted by tocts at 11:09 AM on September 27, 2018 [3 favorites]


Nothing is ever Donald Trump's fault. He reminds me of the time this guy at a party knocked my beer off a table, a table that was against the wall, and then got angry and said "Who put this beer here?"
posted by The Card Cheat at 11:09 AM on September 27, 2018 [14 favorites]


Mitchell's now making Ford's case that this is a travesty by saying that the interview she is conducting is an awful way to get to the truth.
posted by Mental Wimp at 11:12 AM on September 27, 2018 [29 favorites]


Mitchell now on process (not verbatim): this procedure in five minute increments is less than ideal, this is not 1 on 1, this is not a "cognitive interview". In other words: this process is flawed.
posted by standardasparagus at 11:12 AM on September 27, 2018 [9 favorites]


(Can anyone explain the "Who paid for the polygraph" question? It's my understanding that it only costs a few hundred dollars. Are they really implying it was done with the aid of dark money contributions?)
posted by Atom Eyes at 11:13 AM on September 27, 2018


I saw bits of the hearing on TV at the gym (every single TV!) but without sound. It was actually kind of interesting to experience it this way. Dr. Ford looked a little shaky and upset. Mitchell looked like a baseball pitcher who was giving up hit after hit but getting no help from the dugout. The Republican senators looked like they were terrified to show any emotion at all.
posted by srboisvert at 11:13 AM on September 27, 2018 [2 favorites]


At least Hatch is retiring this year. Graham must be defeated in 2020. Who's going to be the Beto O'Rourke of South Carolina?

In the past I've consoled myself with the belief that however bad Graham is, any (almost inevitably Republican) replacement would likely be even worse. Right now I'm thinking there couldn't be worse. We're pretty short of Beto O'Rourkes around here but we do have James Smith and Mandy Powers Norrell running for Governor/Lt Gov. And there's Bakari Sellers, subject of a documentary produced by Charlamagne Tha God. Bob Peeler, Andre Bauer, or Mark Sanford might conceivably challenge him from the right, but the first is nearly 70, the second has his own asshole baggage, and the third is, well, Mark Sanford.
posted by octobersurprise at 11:14 AM on September 27, 2018 [3 favorites]


@PreetBharara: Mitchell ends by essentially saying this whole proceeding is crap. Strong finish.

It was an extremely strange line of questioning that boils down to arguing that the procedure her bosses picked is a bad way to get to the truth, blaming Ford for the 5-minute format. She literally asked Dr. Ford if she submitted to a forensic interview, which...isn't that what the FBI would do?
posted by zachlipton at 11:14 AM on September 27, 2018 [22 favorites]


Trump's MO:

Before: "Yeah, whatever...we're going to win Controversy X because we're awesome"

After: Grar, rage, no clue that the Before: part matters.


He's a practitioner of Relative Reality: the only thing that is real is what I am saying now. If you catch me in a lie, what I say now is real, not that thing before. The past is dead to me, I killed it.


Would you like to learn about the ongoing War In Yemen?

I mean, you probably wouldn't, it'll just make you sad with no recourse


Emphasis mine, because we do: GET OUT THE VOTE. It's more of a mid- to long-term plan, but a viable one with concrete steps towards success.
posted by filthy light thief at 11:15 AM on September 27, 2018 [12 favorites]


Woohoo! Kennedy's piling on now. Loves me some bipartisanism.
posted by Mental Wimp at 11:15 AM on September 27, 2018 [4 favorites]


This really is the world's biggest own goal. Trump didn't have to nominate Kavanaugh. Senate GOP didn't have to go along with it. They didn't have to rush the hearings and not do a full investigation of the paper trail. They didn't have to not ask the FBI to investigate Ford's claims. They didn't have to not subpoena Judge. They didn't have to keep sailing on when it was publicly clear there was quite a bit dirty about this guy.

At any point, they could have stopped this process, and started fresh with someone who would have been 98% judicially identical, but without all the costs - now, you've fired up the left and pissed off the right.
posted by Chrysostom at 11:15 AM on September 27, 2018 [31 favorites]


Dr Ford is truly a paragon of courage—heroic indeed.
posted by standardasparagus at 11:16 AM on September 27, 2018 [35 favorites]


Mental Wimp: Mitchell's now making Ford's case that this is a travesty by saying that the interview she is conducting is an awful way to get to the truth.

My livestream cut out before this, so to be clear: Mitchell didn't do something out of a Hollywood movie where's she's suddenly all "I'm participating in a travesty! I'm having a change of heart!", right?

She just made it seem like: oh, what an unfortunate process, what a shame this is how we have to do things. Correct?
posted by InTheYear2017 at 11:16 AM on September 27, 2018 [1 favorite]


Can anyone explain the "Who paid for the polygraph" question?

presumably they think that by "proving" someone not 100% impartial paid for it means that the results will be flawed in her favour, because that's what would happen if they were responsible for paying.
posted by poffin boffin at 11:16 AM on September 27, 2018 [6 favorites]


Mitchell calmly stated that this is not the way to do it. Quiet but clear. No one could mistake it.
posted by Mental Wimp at 11:17 AM on September 27, 2018 [7 favorites]


With an implication that it was Dr Fords fault
posted by erisfree at 11:18 AM on September 27, 2018 [13 favorites]


I keep getting into conversations online where some guy says, "Why didn't Feinstein act on this sooner?" And then all I can think of is how many women have told me of their attacks and their trauma and also asked that I keep quiet.
It isn't weird. It isn't weird at all.
But the list of men I want to punch forever keeps growing.

For a long time I have felt women would be justified in burning this entire society to the ground over the lack of decent pockets in women's clothes, let alone this shit. At this point I feel like I should just hand out matches and accept whatever personal losses I might suffer along the way as reasonable collateral damage while all the garbage burns.
posted by scaryblackdeath at 11:18 AM on September 27, 2018 [48 favorites]



My livestream cut out before this, so to be clear: Mitchell didn't do something out of a Hollywood movie where's she's suddenly all "I'm participating in a travesty! I'm having a change of heart!", right?

She just made it seem like: oh, what an unfortunate process, what a shame this is how we have to do things. Correct?


It was more along the lines of "Oh, what an unfortunate process, it's a shame that Dr Ford forced us to do things this way by not agreeing to being interviewed by Republican Senators off camera a week ago."

It was a pathetic last stab at victim blaming.
posted by Uncle Ira at 11:18 AM on September 27, 2018 [37 favorites]


[Mitchell] just made it seem like: oh, what an unfortunate process, what a shame this is how we have to do things. Correct?

Correct. Also, I believe her implication was that since a "forensic interview" (was that the term?) was never conducted, we can't know whether her memory is correct with regard to what really happened that night. It was a "both sides" thing: Oh, it's terrible that this hearing is so fucked up, and it's also terrible that you never submitted to a proper interview and have therefore come up with these false memories about what the judge did to you. My take, anyway.
posted by Mothlight at 11:19 AM on September 27, 2018 [8 favorites]


I think the point was that (a) this is a terrible process of finding the truth but (b) it's an excellent process for tarnishing the reputation of Kavanaugh, therefore, the reason that you're choosing to participate in this (as advised by your Democrats) is purely political.
posted by TheShadowKnows at 11:22 AM on September 27, 2018 [6 favorites]


during the opening of his meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, when he accused Democrats of “bringing people out of the woods” to smear Kavanaugh
posted by infini at 11:23 AM on September 27, 2018


Graham is on live tv spewing all the possible conspiracies and calling it uncorroborated and without details. God he’s fucking odious. And he’s on about who paid for the lie detector.
posted by Exceptional_Hubris at 11:23 AM on September 27, 2018 [23 favorites]


Graham is possessed by the ghost of Strom Thurmond today.
posted by Harry Caul at 11:24 AM on September 27, 2018 [14 favorites]


It was a pathetic last stab at victim blaming.
Far more than that, it is the last-second sabotage that creates the soundbite that allows Kavanaugh supporters to disregard the previous four hours.
posted by sageleaf at 11:34 AM on September 27, 2018 [2 favorites]


So hey, Rachel Mitchell is not an elected official, but her (Republican) boss, Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery, is--and based on his Twitter account he seems like a pretty horrible person. He won by 5 points in 2016 and is up for reelection in 2020. Remember the name.
posted by duffell at 11:35 AM on September 27, 2018 [36 favorites]


Blasey Ford’s Shining Moment; Grassley’s Catastrophe
We all get why the older men on the committee didn’t want to question Blasey Ford. But gender isn’t the only factor here. A woman treating her as a hostile witness and apparently being tone deaf to how the testimony had already gone is just as bad and maybe worse. Especially when everyone knows she is there as a stand-in for the Majority’s moral cowardice. It was so bad I even felt bad for Mitchell. After all, she’s only had a few days to prep and in the nature of things lacks the authority to shift gears from her brief.

In substantive and societal terms this is a powerful, morally healing moment. In political terms, for the Majority it seems like nothing short of a catastrophe. What’s more it is something the Majority one hundred percent brought on themselves: first attacking Blasey Ford’s credibility, then trying to bluff her out of testifying, later trying to rush the vote and finally in thinking anything good would come of having their question time used as a hostile cross examination.

It is hard to imagine how this could have gone any worse for Kavanaugh or the Majority.
posted by kirkaracha at 11:45 AM on September 27, 2018 [33 favorites]




They have, already, they just don't realize it yet. Like someone who has taken a fatal wound and is still going on pure adrenaline. They will flail and cause a lot of pain in the meantime, but my instincts are that this, on top of everything else they have done in the past two years, is fatal.

Because they just killed themselves with older white women, which was the only demographic of women they still had going for them, and they did it 6 weeks before the midterms. And once the Dems have a gavel -- or even two -- it all comes out. And in the end, there are more of us than there are of them.

They are fucked. And I think Lindsey Graham, at least, knows it, deep in his shriveled little heart. Hence the on-camera temper tantrum.
posted by schadenfrau at 11:47 AM on September 27, 2018 [44 favorites]


Far more than that, it is the last-second sabotage that creates the soundbite that allows Kavanaugh supporters to disregard the previous four hours.

"But why wouldn't she agree to a forensic interview?" is the new "but where is his long-form birth certificate?"
posted by mikepop at 11:50 AM on September 27, 2018 [50 favorites]


Donald Trump boasted about sexually assaulting women and he still won the white woman vote. I wish I shared schadenfrau's optimism, but I don't.
posted by COD at 11:50 AM on September 27, 2018 [116 favorites]


Republicans had pretty much total control over the process. Ford explicitly asked for an investigation before there was a normal Senate hearing, specifically because Senate hearings are not the right tool for a criminal charge. She explicitly asked that there be no outside counsel, that senators ask questions in their own voice. She asked for additional witnesses to be subpoenaed, or invited to testify, and she even asked that Kavanaugh testify first, not her.

Ford got them to delay the date; nothing else. Every aspect of this shitty procedure was decided by chuck fuckin grassley and the Senate Rs.
posted by Rainbo Vagrant at 11:51 AM on September 27, 2018 [30 favorites]


Surely, surely this..,

I *hope* the logic works out, but I assumed Access Hollywood would sink trump for similar reasons. There’s just a lot of pro-rape culture tradwife types out there I guess.
posted by Artw at 11:52 AM on September 27, 2018 [15 favorites]


Here’s a transcript of the final blame-Dr.-Ford-for-not-getting-a-forensic-interview line of questioning.

Republicans picked this process, and then blamed her for it.
posted by zachlipton at 11:53 AM on September 27, 2018 [10 favorites]


her implication was that since a "forensic interview" (was that the term?) was never conducted, we can't know whether her memory is correct with regard to what really happened that night.

Agreed, but she absolutely did not sell it. And there is no way in hell that prosecutorial wonkery about "forensic interviews" is going to nudge public opinion -- who knows what that even is? -- much less outweigh the incredibly compelling and relatable testimony of Dr. Ford.
posted by msalt at 11:53 AM on September 27, 2018 [1 favorite]


Here’s a transcript of the final blame-Dr.-Ford-for-not-getting-a-forensic-interview line of questioning.

Republicans picked this process, and then blamed her for it.

posted by zachlipton at 11:53 AM on September 27 [+] [!]


And no one in their right mind was fooled. Note that that excludes all the GOP/Trumpies.
posted by Mental Wimp at 11:54 AM on September 27, 2018 [2 favorites]


Ahh, memories...

@LindseyGrahamSC:
If we nominate Trump, we will get destroyed.......and we will deserve it.
2:03 PM - 3 May 2016
posted by Atom Eyes at 11:55 AM on September 27, 2018 [72 favorites]


@ddale8: On Fox, Andrew Napolitano says Rachel Mitchell "fortified" Blasey Ford's credibility
by asking questions that prompted her to offer “amiable, rational, emotional, attractive, reasonable explanations at almost every opportunity.” He says Republicans are in a deep hole. Napolitano on Fox: We'll see what happens after Kavanaugh testifies, but as of now, "It's a disaster for the White House."

The occupant of that house is presumably watching during an extended session of executive time. It’s not going to go over well.
posted by zachlipton at 11:57 AM on September 27, 2018 [19 favorites]


Listening to C-SPAN callers, among Kavanaugh defenders a common theme is this being too extreme, too narratively perfect, to be true. The refrain is "hit job" and "circus", and the implication is that the incompetence on the Republican side and comparative preparedness of the Democrats just makes this that much less fair and obviously somehow conspiratorial. Was that a strategy for the GOP? Probably not.

But: I'm also hearing a very heartening number of self-described Republicans (with plausible "real american" accents), particularly men but also women, saying this is changing their mind. (I'm guessing that most Republican women either changed their minds before this, or are absolutely committed to the bitter end and don't feel like articulating it because of the cognitive dissonance.)

A really dispiriting number of people will not be swayed. But insofar as the midterms are going to feel strictly like a referendum on Kavanaugh, how many of the unswayed will be energized to go vote, and confidently bat for him at the polls?
posted by InTheYear2017 at 11:58 AM on September 27, 2018 [3 favorites]


> here’s just a lot of pro-rape culture tradwife types out there I guess.

I doubt there are many people outside of the vilest MRAs who are explicitly *pro*-rape, but there are plenty of women who have been warped by patriarchy to the point where they reflexively blame or do not believe victims of sexual assault, especially those who are non-white or otherwise not "good" women in their eyes. Anything to keep the blame off men and maintain their worldview.
posted by The Card Cheat at 11:58 AM on September 27, 2018 [8 favorites]


Older white women didn't see themselves in any of Donald Trump's accusers, none of whom were given a Congressional hearing. And there's no Hillary Clinton avatar of misogyny and resentment to vote against this time.

Not to put too fine a point on it, but Blasey Ford is -- and I fucking hate this -- the perfect victim. She is them. She looks like them, she acts like them. Republicans attack her and they attack everyone who finds her relatable.

The only women they'll keep are the anti-abortion die-hards. And they might not even vote if they think the court is sewn up. After all, for a long time, they didn't.
posted by schadenfrau at 11:58 AM on September 27, 2018 [35 favorites]


Vanity Fair's Gabriel Sherman delivers the unvarnished news from within Trumpland: "Person close to Trump says Trump is raging at how bad this has been for Republicans so far. Trump told people Ford “seems credible,” per source"; "Trump telling people he’s furious that WH aides didn’t have advance knowledge of how credible Ford would seem, per 2nd source"; and "Trump also furious with Don McGahn for putting him in this situation, source said.".

Well, he's right about that, anyway.
posted by Melismata at 11:59 AM on September 27, 2018 [2 favorites]


Ford really didn't take the bait for the last bit about the format, though, which made it come off really weird.

Mitchell was all, do you agree we're doing this in a really stupid format instead of having a proper forensic interview? And Ford was like... Um... I agree that that's what you guys agreed on?....

I know I'm biased, but it wasn't a very successful victim-blame as far as I could tell.
posted by telepanda at 12:00 PM on September 27, 2018 [13 favorites]


Fact-checking President Trump’s statements about sexual misconduct allegations

BTW, tomorrow is the deadline for Trump's written responses in the Summer Zervos case.
posted by homunculus at 12:00 PM on September 27, 2018 [19 favorites]


In a functional democracy they’d be absolutely destroyed at this point... reduced to an irrelevance in all but the shittiest, most backwards part of the country, the primary political discourse in the country becoming the struggle between the center left and center left wings of the Democratic Party, with anyone who would previously become a “moderate ” Republican joining the center right wing.

They should not be able to survive becoming the Rape Party in a functioning democracy.

So anyway, we’ll see what happens.
posted by Artw at 12:02 PM on September 27, 2018 [38 favorites]


The occupant of that house is presumably watching during an extended session of executive time. It’s not going to go over well.

By selecting Miller to do the questioning, the 13 Republicans on the committee have placed a woman in position to take the brunt of Trump's anger for this disaster of a hearing.
posted by Uncle Ira at 12:03 PM on September 27, 2018 [14 favorites]


I doubt there are many people outside of the vilest MRAs who are explicitly *pro*-rape

You can be pro-rape culture without being explicitly pro-rape, per se. Or at least bury the fuck out of the implications of being pro-rape culture by being something else. Most of these vile fuckers live with themselves that way.
posted by Artw at 12:04 PM on September 27, 2018 [8 favorites]


"Forensic interview?" Somebody's been getting fed buzzwords by an underling! It's clear you don't know what the words you're using actually mean, so let's go to the Googles, Senator.
What Is a Forensic Interview?
When children or vulnerable adults experience abuse or neglect, they may not understand what has happened to them or be able to communicate effectively. In such situations, the police and Child Protective Services use a special interview technique to obtain the relevant information. Forensic interviews are handled sensitively to protect the well-being of the child. They also follow a structured framework to ensure the interviewer's objectivity, so the evidence given will stand up in court if the investigation leads to a criminal prosecution.

Why Are Forensic Interviews Needed?
Because most incidents of abuse and neglect are not witnessed, the vulnerable person's evidence is critical for securing the perpetrator's conviction. Obtaining such evidence is difficult, however, since vulnerable adults and children can struggle to use precise language and recall important events. These difficulties are complicated by the trauma the vulnerable person may have experienced because of the abuse. A forensic interview is designed to overcome these obstacles.
So, which is it, Senator? Is she a minor? No? Are you questioning the objectivity of the interviewer, who you yourself hand-picked from your stable of bottom-dwellers? No? Are you questioning the accuracy and/or precision of Dr. Ford's language? Seems to me like she named names and places at least as well as Kavanaugh's obviously-altered calendar, and lord knows she presented herself better than you currently are, while being forced to relive past sexual trauma in front of the entire goddamn nation. Nothing about a "forensic interview" would have made this process any less damning to your case, except that it would (by definition) have been conducted behind closed doors where your loathsome line of questioning wouldn't have been broadcast on CSPAN. So what are you buzzing about so angrily, you anthropomorphic pile of manure?
posted by Mayor West at 12:05 PM on September 27, 2018 [28 favorites]


Nevertheless, she persisted
posted by anastasiav at 12:05 PM on September 27, 2018 [37 favorites]


@jhenya_belitsky
This picture of women in a sports bar watching the #KavanaughHearings should scare the crap out of Republicans. This is going to reverberate. The @GOP didn't just shoot itself in the foot. It put a grenade in its pants pocket and pulled the pin. #MeToo⁠ ⁠ #BelieveSurvivors
posted by Artw at 12:08 PM on September 27, 2018 [41 favorites]


Donald Trump boasted about sexually assaulting women and he still won the white woman vote. I wish I shared schadenfrau's optimism, but I don't.

I don't either, with regards to being "destroyed," but they don't need to lose half of their white women support to be in major trouble. Losing just a few percent would be a problem for them. The Presidential election pivoted on 80,000 votes. Someone else with more patience can run numbers for senatorial elections, but if you're winning elections by just a few percentage points how much of half your voters can you afford to lose?
posted by phearlez at 12:08 PM on September 27, 2018 [6 favorites]


I doubt there are many people outside of the vilest MRAs who are explicitly *pro*-rape

Don't discount how many "Christian" women believe if she got raped she deserved it, because otherwise why would their loving God let it happen?
posted by COD at 12:09 PM on September 27, 2018 [13 favorites]


Dear All: I submit this little item also floating around twitter today. Not directly related to national/ local elections, but relevant as an example of at A Lot of Weird Things in the U.S. (religious and general societal blaming of women, and American education).

It's Eve's fault, and all the girls since, y'all.
posted by NorthernLite at 12:11 PM on September 27, 2018 [8 favorites]


Mod note: Folks, please don't liveblog the session here - if you have a comment to make, give enough context that people who aren't watching can understand it. Chat is an option!
posted by restless_nomad (staff) at 12:13 PM on September 27, 2018 [10 favorites]


Kavanaugh is definitely going for the angry look. Putting on a snarl. Don't think it's going to work, in combination with his prior sunny good-boy attitude.
posted by pjenks at 12:14 PM on September 27, 2018 [2 favorites]


This guy is guilty, guilty, guilty. We're seeing his rage-a-holic attitude in full bloom. He's outraged that he wasn't just handed the crown.
posted by Mental Wimp at 12:14 PM on September 27, 2018 [34 favorites]


"Forensic interview" is just another word-association trick. Much of the American public associates the word "forensic" with stuff like CSI, the crime-fighting TV scientists who use magical science to discover the truth. The implication is that forensic things are trustworthy, unlike a regular interview where the subject can lie.
posted by skymt at 12:14 PM on September 27, 2018 [5 favorites]


"Maybe if I act like a stereotypical violent abuser I will gain the nation's sympathies"
posted by Rust Moranis at 12:15 PM on September 27, 2018 [89 favorites]


With regard to Kavanaugh's demeanor:

@chrislhayes: This is a case study in @rtraister’s point about who gets to be angry and who doesn’t.
posted by zachlipton at 12:16 PM on September 27, 2018 [63 favorites]


My cynical belief is that it is entirely possible Kavanaugh doesn't recall assaulting Ford, because sexually abusing girls at parties was such a regular part of his high school career that she was just another terrified 15 year old among many.
posted by tavella at 12:18 PM on September 27, 2018 [48 favorites]


He's talking a lot about his life being ruined for someone staring at the prospect of being limited to a lifetime appointment on the second most important court in the country.
posted by Bulgaroktonos at 12:20 PM on September 27, 2018 [52 favorites]


His wife's face reads of sadness, anger, and weariness. She knows. She knows who she really married.
posted by Capt. Renault at 12:21 PM on September 27, 2018 [32 favorites]


To summarize broadly, he just went all in on the Republican effort last night where they presented objectively not-credible anonymous accusations at the last minute in order to make them all seem false, blurring the line between Dr. Ford's careful, credible testimony and anonymous letters from egg Twitter accounts. That, in and of itself, should be disqualifying.
posted by zachlipton at 12:22 PM on September 27, 2018 [7 favorites]


So maybe Kavanaugh really did get drunk before the hearing.
posted by vverse23 at 12:22 PM on September 27, 2018 [60 favorites]


[Folks, please don't liveblog the session here - if you have a comment to make, give enough context that people who aren't watching can understand it. Chat is an option! ]

Come to the PoliticsFilter Slack! We have channels for SCOTUS, voting or whatever else tickles your fancy but would be disruptive here. There's no such thing as a derail on PoliticsFilter, just spin up a channel & start talking.
posted by scalefree at 12:22 PM on September 27, 2018 [10 favorites]




He's talking a lot about his life being ruined for someone staring at the prospect of being limited to a lifetime appointment on the second most important court in the country.

If there is any justice in this world, he will be stripped of that position too before this is all over.
posted by C'est la D.C. at 12:23 PM on September 27, 2018 [20 favorites]


When he fakes crying he looks like he's trying to swallow a fidget spinner
posted by Rust Moranis at 12:24 PM on September 27, 2018 [38 favorites]


I dunno guys, assault charges aside I think this guy is too emotional to hold an important job like supreme court justice
posted by prize bull octorok at 12:24 PM on September 27, 2018 [214 favorites]


None of this is normal, so hoping for a specific outcome based on what ought by all rights to happen is dangerous. Absolutely none of this has to follow the law, logic, emotion, or what have you. Men have been getting away with this violence for the entirety of human history, it is entirely possible that they get away with it this time too.

I'm sorry, I'm angrier than I've ever been, and I want to imagine this a debacle for the Republicans but all I see is business as usual but with a bigger audience. Will the audience make a difference? It might in the midterms, but I don't think it does right this moment. They might not have the votes right now, today, but they sure as hell are going to go for it because why not? On a societal level this has worked every single damned time.

Will Trump destroy the Republican party? Will Kavanaugh? I don't know if it even can be destroyed, in as much as it now openly embodies the abusive and violent patriarchy we live in.
posted by lydhre at 12:24 PM on September 27, 2018 [17 favorites]


Okay, the constitution says that the President has to nominate a Supreme Court judge and then the Senate votes on it.

If the Democrats take the Senate in 2018 can they just proceed on Merrick Garland? The Republican Senate never voted him down: they just refused to bring up the matter in committee. Doesn't his nomination still stand?
posted by dances_with_sneetches at 12:25 PM on September 27, 2018 [49 favorites]


Trump is not going to like it that Kavanaugh nearly cried. It's not the bro' way.
posted by bluesky43 at 12:26 PM on September 27, 2018 [14 favorites]


"Trump also furious with Don McGahn for putting him in this situation, source said."

It's hard to determine how justified Trump is for placing the blame on McGahn over the Kavanaugh pick. At the time, there were indications that McGahn favored him, but Trump also seems to have been equally set on him for his SCOTUS nominee.

Washington Post: "Trump 'landed where he started' said a senior White House official, explaining that the president settled on the federal judge who had been his favored candidate since learning of Kennedy's retirement. Kavanaugh was also the top choice of McGahn, who sat in on nearly every interview and meeting."

CNN: "McGahn also reportedly favored Kavanaugh from the start of the process triggered by Kennedy's retirement."

Either way, McGahn's already fraught relationship with Trump is about to become a whole lot worse.

Come to the PoliticsFilter Slack!

Likewise MetaChat's live-blogging coverage has been terrific today.
posted by Doktor Zed at 12:26 PM on September 27, 2018 [6 favorites]


He's also not coming across as someone who should be on the Supreme Court, independent of anything else. He's angry and ranting and being explicitly partisan.
posted by Bulgaroktonos at 12:27 PM on September 27, 2018 [27 favorites]


He's combining Trump's angry owl frown with straight out yelling. That's not going to be helpful refuting charges that he's an angry drunk.
posted by msalt at 12:28 PM on September 27, 2018 [10 favorites]


Before Dr. Ford testified, James Poniewozik offered, "One thing that worked to Clarence Thomas' benefit was that he was able to come on after Anita Hill's testimony so furious that he got senators to pull back. No crystal ball, but tough to see that happening here."

I do not see Kavanaugh being able to find some righteously angry tone that works here. Maybe that's his only option. To put on this high indignation.
posted by gladly at 12:28 PM on September 27, 2018 [3 favorites]


If the Democrats take the Senate in 2018 can they just proceed on Merrick Garland? The Republican Senate never voted him down: they just refused to bring up the matter in committee. Doesn't his nomination still stand?

Nominations expire at the end of the congressional session in which they're brought forward.
posted by zrail at 12:28 PM on September 27, 2018 [5 favorites]


> This picture of women in a sports bar watching the #KavanaughHearings should scare the crap out of Republicans. This is going to reverberate. The @GOP didn't just shoot itself in the foot. It put a grenade in its pants pocket and pulled the pin.

I wish this were true, but it's exactly what people said about "grab her by the pussy". Nothing will change. Liberals are always hoping that they can wait it out until everyone realizes how awful the right-wingers are. It will never happen. The left needs to sieze power and then do everything it can to destroy the right wing establishment.
posted by scose at 12:29 PM on September 27, 2018 [39 favorites]


Full Frontal : Too emotional for the Supreme Court.
posted by bluesky43 at 12:29 PM on September 27, 2018 [20 favorites]


This "under penalty of felony" construction is driving me nuts...
posted by mikelieman at 12:31 PM on September 27, 2018 [5 favorites]


Nominations expire at the end of the congressional session in which they're brought forward.

Is that in the consitution, though, or is it just Senate tradition? Because Republicans have tossed out Senate traditions as important as the filibuster to get Supreme Court picks approved. No reason a Democratic Senate couldn't do the same.
posted by msalt at 12:32 PM on September 27, 2018 [3 favorites]




None of us enraged women are waiting around for the reckoning, FYI. In fact looking at Kavanaugh's stupid baby face reminded me that I need to RSVP to the phonebank I'm doing after work today. PATRIARCHY, WE ARE COMING FOR YOU.

(This probably belongs in the fucking fuck thread but speaking of stupid baby face, the weirdest side effect of all this is that I can look directly at a picture of Neil Gorsuch and not even want to sucker punch him. Wasn't expecting that.)
posted by sunset in snow country at 12:34 PM on September 27, 2018 [55 favorites]


Are there pictures of the committee listening to Kavanaugh? Do they look like the ones for Ford?
posted by ZeusHumms at 12:34 PM on September 27, 2018


When Kavanaugh teared up and choked on his words a few moments ago, Graham and Cornyn started tearing up too.

oh so they know about glenn beck's vicks vaporub trick too?
posted by poffin boffin at 12:34 PM on September 27, 2018 [17 favorites]


@CapehartJ:
Audience of one.
posted by mazola at 12:35 PM on September 27, 2018 [5 favorites]


Philip Seymour Hoffman really captured this moment well in Scent of a Woman.
posted by pjenks at 12:35 PM on September 27, 2018 [7 favorites]


Hey, wait, woah: "It had to be a weekend because we all worked."

Kids don't get 9-5 jobs with break days on Saturdays and Sundays.
posted by Don Pepino at 12:35 PM on September 27, 2018 [21 favorites]


Kavanaugh seems to have a lot of feelings about calendars. Perhaps after his impeachment he can get in to scrapbooking or something.
posted by Larry David Syndrome at 12:36 PM on September 27, 2018 [44 favorites]


Kavanaugh is acting as the prosecutor against Dr. Ford's charges, since Republican senators were too chickenshit to do so and the sex crimes prosecutor didn't deliver. It's a weird strategy, nitpicking individual dates that he says couldn't have been at any party, and doesn't seem likely to work.
posted by msalt at 12:37 PM on September 27, 2018 [8 favorites]


Guilty as can be. the cracking up and near tears when discussing his family are a tell. He knows, his wife knows.
posted by standardasparagus at 12:37 PM on September 27, 2018 [12 favorites]


Ford got them to delay the date; nothing else.

Yeah, and every day of that delay, Kavanaugh has polled worse and worse. And that's before this hearing, which was a disaster for the Republicans.

I don't know if Republicans yet perceive voting to confirm Kavanaugh as more harmful to their careers than voting against him. But as others have observed, Graham's whining and Trump's reported rage suggests they don't see things moving their way.
posted by Gelatin at 12:38 PM on September 27, 2018 [4 favorites]


Hey, wait, woah: "It had to be a weekend because we all worked."

Kids don't get 9-5 jobs with break days on Saturdays and Sundays.

Working during the week at that age didn't stop us from partying during the week, either.
posted by Nutritionista at 12:39 PM on September 27, 2018 [36 favorites]


@ddale8:
Kavanaugh: A drunken party like the one she describes would presumably happen on a weekend, but my calendars show I was out of town almost every weekend night that summer, except for one weekend; that weekend I was with my dad at a golf tournament and had a test the next morning.
posted by ZeusHumms at 12:39 PM on September 27, 2018 [4 favorites]


Caroline O. (@RVAwonk)
I'm not saying Kavanaugh is faking it, but I am asking: Where are the tears? For someone crying so much, there's a notable lack of ... tears.
posted by Xyanthilous P. Harrierstick at 12:39 PM on September 27, 2018 [27 favorites]


Any chance the Dems will cede their time to Harris and Klobuchar?
posted by standardasparagus at 12:41 PM on September 27, 2018 [3 favorites]


Kids don't get 9-5 jobs with break days on Saturdays and Sundays.

in general, no, but nothing about the kind of incredibly privileged childhood he had can be categorized as normal. i knew kids who had fortune 500 "experience" on their resumes while still in high school. like i don't mean to defend this fetid ooze of human waste who i would prefer to see literally on fire but a lot of the things he says and does that seem like stupid lies are just because he's coming from a completely different world than the vast majority of humans on earth.

on preview if he did say "yard work" then yeah, bullshit.
posted by poffin boffin at 12:41 PM on September 27, 2018 [12 favorites]


Metafilter: This is like Walter's eulogy at the end of the Big Lebowski.
posted by standardasparagus at 12:41 PM on September 27, 2018 [5 favorites]


@yoyoha: "BREAKING: Belligerent man attempts to prove he isn't belligerent."

See photo for more detail.
posted by ZeusHumms at 12:41 PM on September 27, 2018 [30 favorites]


ah, the ol 'blame caddyshack' defense
posted by standardasparagus at 12:42 PM on September 27, 2018 [11 favorites]


And his friend worked at a supermarket. That was actually quite surprising to me.
posted by If only I had a penguin... at 12:42 PM on September 27, 2018 [3 favorites]


By selecting Miller to do the questioning, the 13 Republicans on the committee have placed a woman in position to take the brunt of Trump's anger for this disaster of a hearing.

I mean, yes, absolutely. But also, she signed on, first to Arpaio and then to this. She can walk away. She can change parties and change her life. But she came here, and did this. Just like every Republican dude who has kissed the Trump ring and later been treated like crap. It's not a secret how it works. So I can't feel any sympathy.
posted by emjaybee at 12:43 PM on September 27, 2018 [16 favorites]


Working during the week at that age didn't stop us from partying during the week, either.

In 1984-85, we would get a case of beer to drink AFTER we closed the McDonalds. ( We'd also drop a bag of chicken mcnuggets, so we'd have something to eat... )
posted by mikelieman at 12:43 PM on September 27, 2018 [7 favorites]


A new claim is that he's not responsible for the stuff in the yearbook. By his yearbook picture, calling out to his friends, inside jokes, it's not his fault. and yeah, sorry for that yearbook reference to that woman friend of his. really.
posted by bluesky43 at 12:44 PM on September 27, 2018 [4 favorites]


I think he's drunk right now.
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 12:44 PM on September 27, 2018 [32 favorites]


The obviousness of his crocodile tears and fake sniffling should be disqualifying on its own. How insulting.
posted by BuddhaInABucket at 12:45 PM on September 27, 2018 [7 favorites]


I think he's drunk right now.

I'd love for Sen. Harris to open with, "Have you had anything to drink today?"
posted by anastasiav at 12:46 PM on September 27, 2018 [69 favorites]


Maybe it's a (bizarre) media strategy: to be so over-the-top with rage and emotion that the evening news runs with video of his "righteous" indignation over Ford's testimony.
posted by duffell at 12:46 PM on September 27, 2018 [4 favorites]


He has binders full of tears.
posted by Jody Tresidder at 12:47 PM on September 27, 2018 [31 favorites]


It is very surprising that he's gone with the "some of my best friends are women I haven't sexually assaulted!"
posted by just_ducky at 12:48 PM on September 27, 2018 [8 favorites]


No bets on where Republicans will vote but this sure sounds like a guy trying to defend his character while he's shoved out of the door and the credits roll. I'm starting to wonder if Kavanaugh himself knows he's done.
posted by scaryblackdeath at 12:49 PM on September 27, 2018 [5 favorites]


I HATE to say this (and really hope I am wrong) but I do think that this may be EXACTLY the sort of defence and faux-indignant behaviour that will appeal to the repugnant base, Fox news, and voting repug senators.
posted by standardasparagus at 12:49 PM on September 27, 2018 [22 favorites]


Let's put this sobbing drunk guy on the highest court, okay?
posted by Mental Wimp at 12:49 PM on September 27, 2018 [36 favorites]


I can't seem to get into politicsfilter, I used the account I use for my other slacks. If I need a new account, could someone set up an invite link?
posted by tavella at 12:50 PM on September 27, 2018 [2 favorites]


“Himpathy”: why powerful men get more sympathy than the women they abuse

From a Vox conversation: The Brock Turner case was a classic demonstration of himpathy. This was a Stanford University student, a swimmer, who was convicted of sexually assaulting a 22-year-old woman behind a dumpster in January 2015. And what we saw, from his father and his friends, was this wave of sympathy over what the whole ordeal was costing him.

Brock became the victim, the otherwise good kid who made this one mistake and who was so sad and depressed now. Much like the Kavanaugh case, there were several supporters who would say things like, “I’ve always known Brock to be a gentleman; he would never do this,” or, “Brock is not the kind of monster who would rape someone.”

Even the judge in the case seemed to buy into some of these character witnesses, saying the rape was not consistent with the impression he’d formed of Turner. There was much more made of his swimming prowess, even though the female swim team had various things to say about feeling that he’d been kind of a voyeur and really creepy around them in ways that were really inappropriate.

posted by bluesky43 at 12:51 PM on September 27, 2018 [30 favorites]


I'm struck that he says that the "Renate Alumnus" reference in the yearbook was "clumsily" a way to show affection and "that she was one of us." And then tried to blame the media for how they reported it.

First, if you want to show affection, you tell the person you're showing affection toward. She didn't know about the yearbook until now, and was quite clearly hurt by it.

But more broadly, his "that was was one of us" defense just goes right back to the toxic "cruelty of male bonding" I know I keep referencing over and over again. It was a "joke" at her expense. His defense is that it was another "just be one of the guys, we're laughing with you" moment. He's telling on himself here.

---

tavella: this invite link should work for anyone. If that fails for some reason, memail me an email address (can be an anonymous one, whatever you like, I will not share it), and I'll send an invite that way.
posted by zachlipton at 12:52 PM on September 27, 2018 [21 favorites]


This thread title's looking more and more prescient.
posted by rorgy at 12:52 PM on September 27, 2018 [14 favorites]


He started out by insisting that he wrote his opening statement all by himself, like someone is about to accuse him of plagiarism. He was yelling from the start. The crying starts when discussing calendars, because I guess he associates the practice as a tradition from his father. But he just keeps weeping even though all he's doing is describing each of those calendar activity, and hasn't stopped yet. In addition to prison, this man needs therapy. Relating that someone called him "a good man", he just kept repeating that a couple times, which I doubt was a quote, more of an emotional tic.

He yelled that someone smeared him as someone who, if placed on the bench, would "threaten the lives of millions of Americans." He shouts "You have replaced advice and consent with search and destroy!" He literally complained about "Borking".

So yeah. This is how he's talking about himself. Basically, he sounds like an ultra-angry/weepy conservative talk radio host defending that Kavanaugh guy. This is the mirror image of how Ford did double duty as an expert witness.

I don't know his personal tolerance level. But my estimate is: exactly three beers.

He gives an example of an unnamed woman who confided in him about her being assaulted, to try establishing his bona fides as taking this stuff seriously in general. But that's implicitly an admission that victims often tell only a few people.

He talked about his 10-year-old daughter saying at dinner "Let's pray for the woman [which is to say, Ford]" and he praises the wisdom of this. I can't begin to imagine what that kid's life will be like in future years.

Mental Wimp: He's outraged that he wasn't just handed the crown.

He literally shouted "I have been a good judge." This is simply a tantrum.

Insofar as the women in his life basically describe a Jekyll/Hyde deal, that was a brief sneak peak at Mr Hyde.

Described himself a "fully embracing" drinking beer, by way of contrast with the "bright line" of blacking out.

I can see how this is terrifying for many. It's also weirdly cathartic. I give a 5% chance of this resulting in an outright confession like A Few Good Men.

Let's put this sobbing drunk guy on the highest court, okay?

Honestly, I feel like if one of the Democrats just dryly said that right now, there would be laughter and it would have a salutary effect. I don't want the inherent risks of that, but a simple "Well, you've convinced me!" would necessarily be dry sarcasm right now. Maybe I'm in a bubble.
posted by InTheYear2017 at 12:53 PM on September 27, 2018 [28 favorites]


No-one in the room knows quite how to react. It's like the on-stage breakdown at the end of Coal Miner's Daughter, except completely unsympathetic.
posted by Capt. Renault at 12:53 PM on September 27, 2018 [8 favorites]


From Josh Marshall:
this photo from getty will probably get a decent amount of use
It’s like Getty accidentally took a picture of the portrait of Kavanaugh that’s been rotting away in the attic
posted by schadenfrau at 12:54 PM on September 27, 2018 [20 favorites]


Is there a video feed showing the committee?
posted by bluesky43 at 12:54 PM on September 27, 2018


This is every moment I've ever had as a teacher when I've confronted a kid for bullying his classmates.
Every time.
posted by scaryblackdeath at 12:55 PM on September 27, 2018 [102 favorites]


It feels uncomfortable -- just principally -- to go all "oh it's crocodile tears" -- I can imagine that he's seriously in the emotional dumps at this moment for a very large variety of reasons. Yet, the "poor me" display is pretty nauseating.
posted by Namlit at 12:55 PM on September 27, 2018 [12 favorites]


Daniel Dale (@ddale8): "Kavanaugh does not sound like a man who is confident he'll be confirmed to the U.S. Supreme Court."
posted by ZeusHumms at 12:55 PM on September 27, 2018 [8 favorites]


He looks like something that Sauron made in mockery of Alec Baldwin
posted by thelonius at 12:55 PM on September 27, 2018 [41 favorites]


Has he mentioned the crossed-out PARTY on his calendar? I want them to ask about it.
posted by kirkaracha at 12:56 PM on September 27, 2018 [6 favorites]


OH Mitchell is asking him Qs too? This is all so bizarre
posted by standardasparagus at 12:56 PM on September 27, 2018 [5 favorites]


Video feeds here
posted by TheCoug at 12:56 PM on September 27, 2018 [2 favorites]


He literally shouted "I have been a good judge." This is simply a tantrum.

He has ruled the way the Federalist Society wanted him to, and told Republican Presidents he defers to the Executive authority of Republican Presidents. He expects his reward, and I expect he sees it slipping away.
posted by Gelatin at 12:57 PM on September 27, 2018 [18 favorites]


And his friend worked at a supermarket.

And describes struggling with hang-overs every morning on the job. "Not getting drunk on work nights" - apparently not a particularly strong social norm in this milieu.
posted by sohalt at 12:58 PM on September 27, 2018 [2 favorites]


As a friend of mine tweets:
Kavanaugh is saying that the day before high school football camp he spent time with his friends preparing. No time for partying. As a football coach...I call bullshit. Teenage boys that play football party when they shouldn’t be. It’s why is coaches are mad all the time.
posted by Etrigan at 12:59 PM on September 27, 2018 [32 favorites]


I don't understand rubbing one's genitals on another person in a way that is not sexual, or is "horseplay". Mitchell mentioned that like it is a totally normal thing.
posted by just_ducky at 1:00 PM on September 27, 2018 [4 favorites]


I'm struck that he says that the "Renate Alumnus" reference in the yearbook was "clumsily" a way to show affection and "that she was one of us."

I sure hope one of the Democrats drills right into this, requiring Kavanaugh to look Americans in the eye and repeat that this "was a way to show affection". Because everyone in American, women and men, know this is absolute lying bullshit and this kind of gang cruelty was routine in school.
posted by JackFlash at 1:01 PM on September 27, 2018 [19 favorites]


Sorry, I know that guys who cry get a bad rap because patriarchy, but I'm 1000% more affected by the fact that Prof Christine Blasey Ford's marriage was under stress because even decades after the event she couldn't live in a house without a second escape route rather than a hectoring, sniffling Judge who cares deeply about his Dad's calendars, beer and praying for apple pie. Kinda think I'm not the target audience for those details though.
posted by I'm always feeling, Blue at 1:01 PM on September 27, 2018 [40 favorites]


"But if an allegation... from 36 years ago, is enough to destroy a persons career we will have abandoned... due process", says the man in the middle of a government hearing.
posted by Capt. Renault at 1:01 PM on September 27, 2018 [47 favorites]


Sorry about the lack of an invite in my PoliticsFilter comment. Here it is, copied off of zachlipton. PoliticsFilter invite. Come on over!
posted by scalefree at 1:03 PM on September 27, 2018 [3 favorites]


Really, really hope that the Dem senators staffers' have fed them this WaPo story by uberwonk Philip Bump, on how you can cross-reference Mark Judge's book and Kavanaugh's calendar to narrow down the date of the assault.
posted by martin q blank at 1:03 PM on September 27, 2018 [12 favorites]


I don't understand rubbing one's genitals on another person in a way that is not sexual, or is "horseplay".

It's about power/dominance. Sex needn't have anything to do with it.
posted by clawsoon at 1:05 PM on September 27, 2018 [6 favorites]


Even after the sickening display in his opening statements, I'm kind of shocked at how he's screaming and shouting and interrupting and mansplaining and carrying on with Feinstein. This is the measured, moderate Democratic senator who my Republican dad respects. Who is this supposed to play well with? (I know, we're past strategy and into a full-on screaming tantrum, but DAMN DUDE.)
posted by sunset in snow country at 1:06 PM on September 27, 2018 [22 favorites]


Is he a coke head? Is that why he keeps sniffling?
posted by stillmoving at 1:07 PM on September 27, 2018 [3 favorites]


Who is this supposed to play well with?

Trump and Trump Supporters.
posted by mikelieman at 1:08 PM on September 27, 2018 [6 favorites]


It's easy to understand why Trump chose this very stable genius.
posted by Foosnark at 1:08 PM on September 27, 2018 [43 favorites]


yeah ok I take back what I said before regarding his behaviour. he's a mess, he's unhinged, angry and belligerent. he's done. and now stumbling over Mitchell's questions regarding drinking. can't even say how many beer is too many beer?
posted by standardasparagus at 1:08 PM on September 27, 2018 [11 favorites]


I hope that someone on the Democratic side asks him about the other accusations some more. He clearly is uncomfortable about them, based on his response to DiFi's question.
posted by Mental Wimp at 1:08 PM on September 27, 2018 [1 favorite]


I'm in shock at his complete and open disrespect to Diane Feinstein. He flat shouted at her that SHE was interviewing him right now. He's SO angry and offended that anyone, male or female, has dared to question him about anything at all. He's Steff McKee from Pretty In Pink come to life.
posted by hollygoheavy at 1:08 PM on September 27, 2018 [20 favorites]


I don't think anyone has ever held Kavanaugh responsible for anything in his life and so he is completely emotionally unprepared for it and it's really showing.
posted by Mrs. Pterodactyl at 1:08 PM on September 27, 2018 [131 favorites]


“The Swetnick thing is a joke!”

That...is not going to play well.

For real he is drunk right? That’s the only explanation for this?
posted by schadenfrau at 1:09 PM on September 27, 2018 [18 favorites]


Even after the sickening display in his opening statements, I'm kind of shocked at how he's screaming and shouting and interrupting and mansplaining and carrying on with Feinstein.

This all comes across to me as someone who has never had to take responsibility for himself, never been challenged in a way that made him re-assess or question his behavior and someone who views his role in life as one that is supposed to be an unbumpy road to fame and fortune.
posted by bluesky43 at 1:09 PM on September 27, 2018 [15 favorites]


Who is this supposed to play well with?

--Trump and Trump Supporters.


Nto so much, probably? Based on what I know about Trump's...reactionary attitudes re masculinity and worship of "toughness" he's not going to be at all impressed with the fake crying.
posted by Pseudonymous Cognomen at 1:10 PM on September 27, 2018 [2 favorites]


This is not a good look. He is about to get seriously triggered on cross. The micro expressions / aggressions are off the charts.
posted by jasondigitized at 1:10 PM on September 27, 2018 [3 favorites]


can't even say how many beer is too many beer?

he answered that! it's whatever the chart says!
posted by prize bull octorok at 1:10 PM on September 27, 2018 [7 favorites]


Kinda wild that of the two people testifying today, this is the federal judge nominated for a Supreme Court appointment.
posted by theodolite at 1:10 PM on September 27, 2018 [144 favorites]


In an era defined by grotesque spectacle this really feels like Peak Grotesque Spectacle.
posted by Rust Moranis at 1:11 PM on September 27, 2018 [24 favorites]


Nto so much, probably? Based on what I know about Trump's...reactionary attitudes re masculinity and worship of "toughness" he's not going to be at all impressed with the fake crying.

As long as everyone knows it was FAKE crying, and not real vulnerability, they'll buy into it.
posted by mikelieman at 1:11 PM on September 27, 2018 [2 favorites]


You'd think someone who spends as much time in court as him would have a slightly better idea of how to present yourself as a good, reliable witness/defendant.
posted by dng at 1:11 PM on September 27, 2018 [15 favorites]


His denial that he's never blacked out was the least convincing thing ever. I've talked to people who were actively blacking out who were more convincing that they were fine.
posted by Bulgaroktonos at 1:11 PM on September 27, 2018 [58 favorites]


@JohnJHarwood: Kavanaugh to Mitchell on whether he ever passed out from drinking: “passed out? no. i’ve gone to sleep. i’ve never blacked out”
posted by zachlipton at 1:12 PM on September 27, 2018 [13 favorites]


Honestly I think Kavanaugh is looking at a number of criminal and civil investigations into his past, at this point.

IANAL, but what’s out there already seems like enough for a civil suit, and there is no statute of limitations on sexual assault in Maryland. And he routinely participated in gang rapes.

This is not over for him after this hearing, and he knows it.
posted by schadenfrau at 1:12 PM on September 27, 2018 [28 favorites]


Maybe if we're lucky somebody will walk up there during this 15-minute break and cross out the "Hon." in front of "Brett M. Kavanaugh".
posted by Two unicycles and some duct tape at 1:13 PM on September 27, 2018 [22 favorites]


I was sexually assaulted 30 years ago, as a 15-year-old, by a 17-year-old who everyone thought was a nice, good boy, and today is the first goddamn day of my life where I've felt entitled to my anger. And there is so, so much of it. The only redeeming thing about it is that there are so many fucking places to aim it right now.
posted by mudpuppie at 1:13 PM on September 27, 2018 [255 favorites]


I hope the Daily News front page designer has BENCHED lined up.
posted by emelenjr at 1:14 PM on September 27, 2018 [10 favorites]


So is this the point where he shouts "You're damned right I ordered the Code Red!"
posted by JackFlash at 1:14 PM on September 27, 2018 [27 favorites]


What's the likelihood that anybody who's ever embarked upon a lifetime of beerdrinking hasn't had at least one pass-out experience? Before you learn how much you can handle, you overdo it a couple of times, even if you're not going to become a lifelong drunkard; that's how it goes. Nah? Am I just remembering my younger self and everyone I knew who drank wrong?
posted by Don Pepino at 1:15 PM on September 27, 2018 [9 favorites]


I made the mistake of listening to a couple minutes of reaction from NBC and I was reminded of Chuck Todd's utterly reflexive sexism and Megyn Kelly's black, vile soul. I don't recommend it.
posted by scaryblackdeath at 1:15 PM on September 27, 2018 [10 favorites]


Hey, mudpuppie - I hear you and I believe you. You are completely entitled to your anger and I'm standing here next to you. No more spoons. Only knives left.
posted by anastasiav at 1:16 PM on September 27, 2018 [86 favorites]


I cannot understand what I’m watching, at all. How is this happening? Who is this guy? I found Dr Ford’s testimony deeply convincing and moving—she was so straightforward and dignified—and now the room seems to have completely shifted gear into the utterly grotesque.
posted by Aravis76 at 1:17 PM on September 27, 2018 [16 favorites]


Note how deftly he dodged whether he was 18 when he drank, even as he avoids admitting that the age changed before he hit 18.
posted by Etrigan at 1:17 PM on September 27, 2018 [8 favorites]


@ABCPolitics
NEW: Two sources close to Pres. Trump say Brett Kavanaugh has been “very strong” and “did what he needed to do” during opening statement. Asked about tough or emotional moments, one source tells @ABC, “The President will love it all—what’s not to like?

what's not to like
posted by Rust Moranis at 1:19 PM on September 27, 2018 [19 favorites]




Lawyers Guns and Money is doing a hearing open thread...featuring a still from Jimmy Swaggart's tearful TV confession many years ago. Kavenaugh looks a lot like him, but less capable of repentance.
posted by emjaybee at 1:19 PM on September 27, 2018 [2 favorites]


Seriously, can't both sides agree to an FBI investigation at a minimum now? He was ragey over not holding a hearing the very next day, would it no be prudent to do some investigation first??
posted by kiwi-epitome at 1:20 PM on September 27, 2018 [1 favorite]


Nah? Am I just remembering my younger self and everyone I knew who drank wrong?

Speaking for myself, as someone who does drink?

No. I have never been blackout drunk. Full stop. Maybe I was just boring, but... no. Not everyone who drinks drinks that much.
posted by sciatrix at 1:21 PM on September 27, 2018 [15 favorites]


but less capable of repentance.

Didn't think that was possible.
posted by Melismata at 1:21 PM on September 27, 2018


He can't use the "high-tech lynching" line that worked so well for Clarence Thomas, because *not black*. So he's trying the "belligerent asshole feeling wronged and in high dudgeon" tack. It's not working, IMO. But, we'll see.
posted by Mental Wimp at 1:21 PM on September 27, 2018 [7 favorites]


...and telling people "This is why I nominated him,"

As if Trump had ever spoken a syllable to this dude before Kennedy put his name forward in exchange for retiring early.
posted by PenDevil at 1:22 PM on September 27, 2018 [7 favorites]


The President will love it all—what’s not to like?

Trump's career is based on reality TV shows. Blustering anger and crying performances for the camera are the meat and potatoes of reality TV and all of the performers know it. Trump is all about ratings.
posted by JackFlash at 1:23 PM on September 27, 2018 [15 favorites]


can't both sides agree to an FBI investigation at a minimum now?

No. Republicans cannot currently afford to be seen to support any suggestion that any form of federal investigation could possibly have any kind of legitimacy, credibility or utility.
posted by flabdablet at 1:24 PM on September 27, 2018 [11 favorites]


I...I mean.

I don’t think they have the votes, after this. They didn’t have the votes before this. So whoever is leaking about Trump’s reaction...

I mean, it’s Trump, right? Trump is leaking, trying to sway media coverage?

It’s like he’s trying to tank the midterms. Or like he thinks they’re impossible to tank, for very treasonous reasons.
posted by schadenfrau at 1:26 PM on September 27, 2018 [5 favorites]


Homer Simpson talks about beer less than this guy
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 1:26 PM on September 27, 2018 [31 favorites]


It's pretty clear he not only cannot be confirmed to SCOTUS, but he needs to be impeached from his current role.

Can you imagine taking a case before him after this performance? What legitimacy as a judge does he have left?

That said, I have to think this is an audition for the wingnut welfare circuit and he knows he's done. There's no explanation for this that comports with him wanting to continue as a judge.
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 1:26 PM on September 27, 2018 [41 favorites]


Well, maybe I started too late in life, actually. I remember a nearly lethal semester when Stamtisch ended at a place called The Purple Porpoise. I was not young-looking enough to not get served. I had several mornings where I didn't remember falling down the night before, and one terrific hangover that enabled me, even at 18 or whatever it was, to determine that I was not meant to drink shots, ever.
posted by Don Pepino at 1:27 PM on September 27, 2018 [2 favorites]


Oh, the deplorables love manrage tears. Just look at Alex Jones. That dude takes extra strength Toxic Masculinity (literally!) supplements all day long and he cries like a colicky newborn.
posted by Kitty Stardust at 1:27 PM on September 27, 2018 [22 favorites]


I don’t think they have the votes, after this. They didn’t have the votes before this.

I don't understand how you could come to that conclusion. Aside from the late John McCain's downward thumb at Obamacare repeal, what evidence is there that any of these "moderates" ever, EVER not fall in line?
posted by mcstayinskool at 1:28 PM on September 27, 2018 [21 favorites]


I had a couple of blackouts, and I drank mostly beer.

Of course I've been sober for 45 years today, so there's that.
posted by Peach at 1:29 PM on September 27, 2018 [43 favorites]


Daniel Dale (@ddale8): 'On Fox, Napolitano says things are no longer disastrous for the White House after that Kavanaugh performance: “If Republicans were gloomy two hours ago, I don’t think they are now.”'

Which coincidentally reflects Trump's mood.
posted by ZeusHumms at 1:29 PM on September 27, 2018 [3 favorites]


Kavanugh Reaction Round-up:

WaPo's Seung Min Kim: "A person close to Kavanaugh tells me that the judge wrote every word of his opening remarks: “It was not precleared with the White House. This is 100% Brett Kavanaugh.”"

Donald Jr.: "I love Kavanaugh’s tone. It’s nice to see a conservative man fight for his honor and his family against a 35 year old claim with ZERO evidence and lots of holes that amounts to nothing more than a political hit job by the Dems. Others in the GOP should take notice!"

VF's Gabriel Sherman: "The crying has unnerved some White House aides, source says. “People don’t know why he is crying.”"

Buzzfeed's Zoe Tillman: "I've covered the DC Circuit for years, and been at numerous hearings where Kavanaugh was on the panel. His demeanor at this hearing so far is very, very different from his demeanor in court. Some judges get fiery/wound up on the bench, I've never seen that with Kavanaugh"

NYT's Katie Rogers: "The president, who abhors alcohol use and fights back against just about everything on instinct, is watching his nominee go from hopping mad to crying and describing his love for beer."
posted by Doktor Zed at 1:30 PM on September 27, 2018 [7 favorites]


I can entirely believe they have the votes; Flake and Murkowski are the only two I'd think where there'd even be a chance of actual second thoughts rather than brow furrowing, and I expect that whatever flickers of conscience arise will be quickly snuffed by the thought of the blowback for derailing the deciding Court vote. I expect the only difference the hearings will make is that they'll get no Dem votes at all, even pseudo-Dems like Manchin.
posted by tavella at 1:31 PM on September 27, 2018 [6 favorites]


I apologize to Leahy for slandering his questioning in advance last thread. He's been quite effective.

re: Judge

"You'd have to ask him."

"I'd like to."
posted by Justinian at 1:32 PM on September 27, 2018 [24 favorites]


I mean, I also dislike beer, so the first time I ever got drunk I was drinking rum straight. I still immediately stopped drinking after my face went numb, though, and like. I had always assumed that people drinking beer would find it easier to work out when stopping was maybe a good idea.
posted by sciatrix at 1:32 PM on September 27, 2018 [1 favorite]


I don't understand how you could come to that conclusion

Because if they had the votes they would have had the vote already.
posted by schadenfrau at 1:32 PM on September 27, 2018 [11 favorites]


@emilygorcenski
Remember, it’s not that many Republicans don’t think that rape is bad nor that rape is a crime, but that they think it’s a heinous crime that only Black men commit.
posted by Artw at 1:32 PM on September 27, 2018 [43 favorites]


Because if they had the votes they would have had the vote already.

Unless they’re thinking of this as a chance to justify the votes they already committed to.
posted by Artw at 1:33 PM on September 27, 2018 [7 favorites]


Remember when we saw Trump at the presidential debates with Hillary and we all thought: this guy is toast, there's no way he's gonna get elected with his weird performance on tv; people will have seen him for what he is and won't vote for him.
posted by Omon Ra at 1:35 PM on September 27, 2018 [112 favorites]


*longtime lurker uncloaks* I think the American body politic has taken a head wound today. *crawls back under the covers*
posted by disentir at 1:36 PM on September 27, 2018 [24 favorites]


I had always assumed that people drinking beer would find it easier to work out when stopping was maybe a good idea.
Nope! Beer creeps up on you slow. Pretty soon you've decided it's a great idea to switch to tequila. And then in the blink of an eye you're fifty and can't finish a single glass of wine because it puts you to sleep.

(Also: this that he's saying now is complete bullshit: BEACH WEEK "gatherings" aren't documented. They just say "BEACH WEEK.")
posted by Don Pepino at 1:37 PM on September 27, 2018 [8 favorites]


No. I have never been blackout drunk. Full stop. Maybe I was just boring, but... no. Not everyone who drinks drinks that much.

I have also never blacked out from drinking, and.....I was definitely someone who drank from ages 16 to 24 “that much”. My experience is that I go from having a good time where I remember pretty much everything to “oh shit need to go to sleep right now.”

However, another friend of mine can get into a state where literally hours go missing. From the outside he is just a dude living life that perhaps talks a bit loud, but inside his brain is just not recording.

Anyway, just making the point that “black out drunk” is not always tied to an amount of alcohol.
posted by sideshow at 1:37 PM on September 27, 2018 [14 favorites]


The Electoral College put Trump in the office. There's no Electoral College that will save Collins or Murkowski in their races.
posted by asteria at 1:37 PM on September 27, 2018 [7 favorites]


people will have seen him for what he is and won't vote for him.

Most people didn’t.
posted by Celsius1414 at 1:38 PM on September 27, 2018 [7 favorites]


So weird hearing him mansplain High School to Senator Leahy.
posted by MadMadam at 1:38 PM on September 27, 2018 [10 favorites]


The difference in tone dealing with Ford and Kavanaugh is hardly surprising, but deeply troubling to me.
posted by TheCoug at 1:39 PM on September 27, 2018 [3 favorites]


Brody Levesque: Capitol Hill sources claiming that @SenMajLdr McConnell & @WhiteHouse intend to forge ahead with a Senate Judiciary Committee vote on Judge Kavanaugh Friday followed by a Senate floor vote noon Saturday.

Why does that not surprise me?
posted by SisterHavana at 1:42 PM on September 27, 2018 [4 favorites]


Mitchell opened up a line of questioning about this calendar entry, in which both Mark Judge and "PJ," individuals named by Dr. Ford "go to Timmy's for skis."

Giving the game away that she has no interest in actually understanding what happened, she does not ask him to define "skis" (it's from July, they weren't getting winter sports equipment). It would seem to be inconsistent with the idea that he couldn't ever attend social gatherings or drink on weekdays during the summer, and it broadly backs up the names Dr. Ford identified.

Now Grassley is shouting again.
posted by zachlipton at 1:42 PM on September 27, 2018 [6 favorites]


Did no one prepare him to answer the question about supporting an FBI investigation? He sounds so weasley by not agreeing that an FBI investigation would clear up the matter. Grassley or the White House would have saved him from it in any case.
posted by gladly at 1:45 PM on September 27, 2018 [5 favorites]


Giving the game away that she has no interest in actually understanding what happened, she does not ask him to define "skis" (it's from July, they weren't getting winter sports equipment).

Skis = snow = cocaine?
posted by Uncle Ira at 1:45 PM on September 27, 2018 [6 favorites]


“Skis” = “brewskis”, or is that too obvious? (High schoolers, never mind.)
posted by McCoy Pauley at 1:45 PM on September 27, 2018 [28 favorites]


Trump took a hit in the polls after every debate and was still trending behind before the Comey letter. This stuff matters. Kavanaugh is already unpopular overall. I don't think those facts will change anything about the outcome--I think he'll still be confirmed--but he won't be doing it under the aegis of widespread support.
posted by Anonymous at 1:45 PM on September 27, 2018


The contrast in this questioning by the Democrats and the typical grandstanding speechifying at hearings is stark and amazing. It is actually nice to see that they can buckle down and act like actual Senators when the occasion calls for it.

Maybe they should try it more often?
posted by Justinian at 1:45 PM on September 27, 2018 [10 favorites]


Whoa, Lindsey Graham is taking over. First non-Grassley R senator to speak. Bold move.
posted by pjenks at 1:46 PM on September 27, 2018 [1 favorite]


I don’t think “Democratic Senators not acting like Senators” is even in the top thousand things wrong with all of this.
posted by schadenfrau at 1:47 PM on September 27, 2018 [7 favorites]


Lindsey needs to get acting lessons. God.
posted by Don Pepino at 1:48 PM on September 27, 2018 [6 favorites]


@JohnJHarwood: Kavanaugh to Mitchell on whether he ever passed out from drinking: “passed out? no. i’ve gone to sleep. i’ve never blacked out”

IME, there is a point when the distinction between the two is definitely without a difference.

This Liberty University student pretty much sums everything up on the pro-Kavanaugh side:
I really hope he gets in personally because I want abortion to stop... even if it turns out he’s guilty, I think I’m still gonna support him and hope he gets in because it’s our chance to end abortion.” — Via @FordFischer
TFW "abortion" is code for "everything else." (And could he look more like the kind of dude you'd expect to say this?)
posted by octobersurprise at 1:48 PM on September 27, 2018 [16 favorites]


I don’t think “Democratic Senators not acting like Senators” is even in the top thousand things wrong with all of this.

I... think that's the opposite of what I just said? Assuming it was a reply to me.
posted by Justinian at 1:49 PM on September 27, 2018 [2 favorites]


One thing this all cements for me: in general, liberal people are much more "spirit of the law" and conservatives are much more "letter of the law".

Unfortunately, the entities that enforce our laws are all "letter" institutions. We absolutely must write down--and enforce via all of the institutional power at our disposal--those things we thought were enforced by aforementioned "spirit".

Nearly all of the collective ruin caused by the Trump administration is based on how little actual law there is surrounding some of the most important functions of our government.

We'll never get it tight enough, but at least let's get our "norms" codified to the point where it's the occasional free lunch or thrown out parking ticket the "letter" people are able to game, not billions of tax dollars and sexual assault. I want the end of all "gentleman's agreements" on procedure, appointments, everything. And put real teeth behind it.

The conservative's idea of the perfect gentleman is fake-crying and shouting at this hearing right now. You don't ever make a "handshake" agreement with anyone like that. Not if you're sane.
posted by maxwelton at 1:49 PM on September 27, 2018 [15 favorites]


Graham: "in my understanding, if you're drugging and raping women in high school, you probably don't stop!"

(extremely uncomfortable Kavanaugh face)
posted by Rust Moranis at 1:49 PM on September 27, 2018 [74 favorites]


TFW "abortion" is code for "everything else." (And could he look more like the kind of dude you'd expect to say this?)

I don't know about that. You'd be surprised at the number of people who will vote for anyone, as long as they are anti-abortion. It really is a big deal.
posted by Melismata at 1:51 PM on September 27, 2018 [11 favorites]


ahhhaa, the "everybody knows I am a prolific vomiter" defense
posted by prize bull octorok at 1:52 PM on September 27, 2018 [29 favorites]


I am genuinely wondering what Avenatti and Swetnick will do after this.
posted by schadenfrau at 1:53 PM on September 27, 2018 [6 favorites]


I can't wait to see what happens when Kamala Harris gets her turn.
posted by SisterHavana at 1:54 PM on September 27, 2018 [15 favorites]


I can't see it either (have to listen to it at work without staring at video), but he's just SO OUTRAGED and seething vocally. So is Brett, for that matter, as far as I can hear. I'll have to look for some recaps after work.
posted by jenfullmoon at 1:56 PM on September 27, 2018 [3 favorites]


How did Dr. Ford know who Kavanaugh's friends were if he didn't know her?
posted by Mental Wimp at 1:56 PM on September 27, 2018 [23 favorites]


Lindsay Graham went on a long-form angry rant about how awful this whole thing is, how unfair to Kavanaugh, how unethical and unprecedented it was, yadda yadda, asked Kavanaugh if he was a gang rapist, got a flat no, a few other things, all in a big blustering go.
posted by cortex at 1:57 PM on September 27, 2018 [2 favorites]


> Asked what he meant in his yearbook when he said he a leader of the "Beach Week Ralph Club," he says it was probably a reference to vomiting - but says he has a "weak stomach," especially with spicy food.

Beach Week certainly sounds like something where you'd sit around with your friends and just stuff your face full of spicy food until you puked. That's a thing, right?
posted by The Card Cheat at 1:57 PM on September 27, 2018 [29 favorites]


The contrast in this questioning by the Democrats and the typical grandstanding speechifying at hearings is stark and amazing. It is actually nice to see that they can buckle down and act like actual Senators when the occasion calls for it.

Maybe they should try it more often?


Earlier today, from @NicolaSturgeon "Just caught a few minutes of the US Senate session with #ChristineBlasleyFord and it is sickening. A woman forced to relive trauma live on TV in a partisan political forum. It is medieval. I salute her courage but despair that she is having to endure such an ordeal."

The way to get politicians who behave as, and who are civil servants is to elect the disenfranchised.
posted by Buntix at 1:58 PM on September 27, 2018 [28 favorites]


Remember when we saw Trump at the presidential debates with Hillary and we all thought: this guy is toast, there's no way he's gonna get elected with his weird performance on tv; people will have seen him for what he is and won't vote for him.

My take on it is there are some people for whom the "alpha silverback" shit works. Those people self-select to be Republicans in the current climate. For non-silverback worshippers it's all very confusing because it's someone trying to pull levers that don't exist in their particular brain.
posted by benzenedream at 2:00 PM on September 27, 2018 [22 favorites]


Dick Durbin just DESTROYED Kavanaugh, challenging him to ask White House Counsel Don McGahn to have an FBI investigation to clear his name. Even after Grassley interrupted to give Kavanaugh more time to think of answer, he was literally dumbstruck.

"You can't answer, can you?"
posted by msalt at 2:01 PM on September 27, 2018 [59 favorites]


It looks to me like the Republicans did not like where the questioning with Mitchell was going re: Kavanaugh, so they changed tactics and kicked her out? Is that accurate? Because she seems to have disappeared after asking a couple questions of Kavanaugh.
posted by Justinian at 2:01 PM on September 27, 2018 [15 favorites]


@TheViewFromLL2: How can someone who believes an entire political party is conspiring to destroy him serve as a judge on the DC Circuit -- the most politically important circuit court -- let alone the Supreme Court?

Independent of the accusations against him, his performance today ought to be disqualifying. Asking him to show extraordinary calm and levelheadedness here may be asking a lot of a person, but it's precisely the temperament we should expect of a Supreme Court Justice, and it's frankly what we just saw from Dr. Ford, so the nominee should be held to at least high of a standard.
posted by zachlipton at 2:02 PM on September 27, 2018 [77 favorites]


Hearing Kavanaugh go on and on about the damage to his reputation brings to mind nothing so much as Hannah Gadsby’s Nanette. I can’t be the only one making that connection. That is NOT the association he wants.
posted by greermahoney at 2:02 PM on September 27, 2018 [20 favorites]


Kavanaugh seems very, very assured that he'll "never get his reputation back". Cornyn reassures him not to give up hope! Cornyn is clearly a true believer in Kavanaugh's innocence... but Kavanaugh is reacting to him with total distress, sometimes combative and sometimes submissive, as if Cornyn is a Democrat needling him. That's because Cornyn is saying very stern, loud-ish things about how serious these accusations are, and Kavanaugh can't process it as anything but Cornyn accusing him. Because he's so incredibly fucking guilty.
posted by InTheYear2017 at 2:02 PM on September 27, 2018 [58 favorites]


Yes, it seems like Rachel Mitchell was actually conducting a legitimate, professional sex-crimes interview instead of whatever farce they wanted from her and they dumped her midway through in favor of outraged shouting.
posted by theodolite at 2:03 PM on September 27, 2018 [37 favorites]




Kavanaugh didn't mind the reputation his behavior granted him when he was in high school and college. Guess bad behavior is only considered bad when it keeps you from getting what you want.
posted by Autumnheart at 2:05 PM on September 27, 2018 [8 favorites]


Maybe they're saving that for Harris.
posted by asteria at 2:06 PM on September 27, 2018 [1 favorite]


Josh Marshall is screaming into the void for Democrats to ask him about Ed Whelan. Are they really going to let that go? Republicans tried to frame someone else likely with Kavanaguh's knowledge.
posted by T.D. Strange at 2:10 PM on September 27, 2018 [16 favorites]


You've really out-borked yourself this time, Kavanaugh.
posted by Slackermagee at 2:10 PM on September 27, 2018 [1 favorite]


@davidenrich [New York Times]: Based on extensive interviews by me and @katekelly with Kavanaugh's former Georgetown Prep classmates, what he just said about the meanings of "boofed" and "Devil's Triangle" is not true. FWIW, Kavanaugh's explanation of the "FFFFFFFFFourth of July" is consistent with what @katekelly and I heard from his ex-classmates: that he had a friend who sometimes stuttered.

This is another case where an FBI investigation, where knowledgeable witnesses are interviewed separately and their stories are compared, is vastly favorable to the witness telling everyone involved what answers to give on live television.
posted by zachlipton at 2:11 PM on September 27, 2018 [44 favorites]


The gender gap is going to be 85% after this day of hearings.
posted by msalt at 2:14 PM on September 27, 2018 [7 favorites]


This is a pretty rough day, so I'd like to remind everyone that The Good Place, perhaps the only convincing argument for continuing this miserable civilization, comes back tonight.
posted by theodolite at 2:14 PM on September 27, 2018 [82 favorites]


> Every woman behind Kavanaugh including his wife looking all kinds of things while he yells.
The inevitable meme-fied version is good too.
posted by RedOrGreen at 2:15 PM on September 27, 2018 [25 favorites]


I won't use the word "shocked", because christ I'm out of shock.

But.

The thing that stood out to me most in the parts I could bear listening to was how nakedly contemptuous Kavanaugh is towards the hearing. He really could not any more clearly state, out loud: "I do not believe I am subject to any law or scrutiny, and how dare you for even thinking that anyone may question me".
posted by tocts at 2:16 PM on September 27, 2018 [58 favorites]


I find this to be a very interesting, and astute point made by Amelia Thomson-Deveaux over at 538:
A reminder that from a legal perspective, Kavanaugh’s responses to Mitchell’s questions could have big implications if this case is ever prosecuted in Maryland. He’s now on the record responding to all kinds of questions about his drinking habits and denying sexual misconduct. Hard to say what that will mean later, but this detailed record is one interesting result of having Mitchell ask some of the questions, rather than leaving it all to the senators.
Could any of the more legally-minded folks here elaborate?
posted by standardasparagus at 2:16 PM on September 27, 2018 [6 favorites]


@jbendery:
Sen. Klobuchar: Have you ever drank so much you didn't remember what happened?

Kavanaugh: "Have you?"

What. The hell.
I wonder how he thinks this would go over in his court if counsel tried to turn questions back on the judge.

“How do you distinguish this case from such-and-such precedent?”
“How about you distinguish it, your honor."
posted by zachlipton at 2:17 PM on September 27, 2018 [79 favorites]


I think he said Timmy's meant "football workouts". Could "skis" mean "sleds"? Like football players hit in training?
posted by mad bomber what bombs at midnight at 2:17 PM on September 27, 2018


Late answer to the "wtf is up with Lindsey Graham" question because I think my brain short-circuited and it has taken me this long to catch up with reality. He went off about how this is the most unjust thing he has seen in his years in the Senate, and said that any Republican who votes No on Kavanaugh's confirmation is... I don't remember the word he used. Disloyal? Helping to destroy this man's life? Some shit like that. And then he said to Kavanaugh "Say hello to Sotomayor and Kagan when you're on the Supreme Court, because I voted for their confirmations." It was... truly unhinged. And if you're not watching all this, for someone who was already watching Kavanaugh cry and shout up there to say that someone else was unhinged is... well, let's just say the bar was already high. Woooow.
posted by sunset in snow country at 2:17 PM on September 27, 2018 [18 favorites]


Somebody needs to use that photo for a Successories poster parody with the word PATRIARCHY underneath.
posted by The Card Cheat at 2:19 PM on September 27, 2018 [9 favorites]


@congressedits (3 minutes ago): Devil's Triangle (disambiguation) Wikipedia article edited anonymously from US House of Representatives

To add "'Devil's Triangle,' a popular drinking game enjoyed by friends of Judge Brett Kavanaugh."
posted by zachlipton at 2:22 PM on September 27, 2018 [29 favorites]


Fox's @BritHume: "I think we're probably, at the moment, back to where we were before the hearing started... I think the scales have been rebalanced."

And this is why the Republicans were *adamant* that Kavanaugh be allowed to testify second.
posted by Roommate at 2:24 PM on September 27, 2018 [26 favorites]


Kavanaugh's explanation of "boofed" as slang for farting makes NO SENSE in the context of the yearbook quote. The phrase "Have you Xed yet?" clearly refers to a rite of passage or a one off event of some sort. How does farting, something that every living human has done since infancy fit in the context of that phrase?
posted by Larry David Syndrome at 2:24 PM on September 27, 2018 [17 favorites]


A weird rhetorical note, overshadowed by the aggressively boiling soup that was the balance of Graham's rant: he opens up by asking if Kavanaugh thought this was a job interview, to which Kavanaugh clearly had no sense of how to reply and so gave a halting, technical affirmation; Graham repeats his question, Kavanaugh repeats his cautious attempt at a "...yyyyesss?" engagement. Finally Graham gives up and feeds Kavanaugh the line that in fact this is not a job interview, this is hell.

This seems like Graham imagining a dramatic, concise bit of call-and-response, further imagining that Kavanaugh is imagining the same thing, and then proceeding with the set piece on sheer faith and seeing it collapse utterly because Kavanaugh isn't fucking telepathic. It's mistaking a fictional righteous conversation you have in bed at 1am for a workable congressional hearing improv gambit. To some extent I wonder if Graham's proceeding hollering was a little more loud and unhinged just for the embarrassed need to flee from that incredibly clumsy start.
posted by cortex at 2:24 PM on September 27, 2018 [21 favorites]


This thought doesn't come readily, seeing how normalized Hellworld has become, but: Kavanaugh's performance has been at least as batshit as Trump at any of the presidential debates. When Trump did it, we responded in a
similar "wowee what a shitshow" fashion, and we knew he was a crazy clown-monster. Now it's our reaction to the same (or worse) behavior from a multi-decade judge and supreme court candidate. That's how far we've descended.
posted by Rust Moranis at 2:25 PM on September 27, 2018 [17 favorites]


Um, I will not link it, but someone using a House of Representatives IP also just edited Lindsey Graham's Wikipedia page to add his home address, cell phone number, and private email, clearly with the knowledge the edit would be captured and retweeted by the bots that monitor Congressional IP edits to Wikipedia.

So that's going to be a thing.

Update: Same thing for Hatch now too. Holy crap.
posted by zachlipton at 2:26 PM on September 27, 2018 [39 favorites]


This is a pretty rough day, so I'd like to remind everyone that The Good Place, perhaps the only convincing argument for continuing this miserable civilization, comes back tonight.

Also the relaunch of Murphy Brown.
posted by DevilsAdvocate at 2:26 PM on September 27, 2018 [3 favorites]


I got the polygraph test Dr. Ford took showing truthfulness about her account in the record. To quote a judge: “law enforcement agencies use polygraphs to test the credibility of witnesses” & the tests “serve law enforcement purposes.” That judge was Brett Kavanaugh in 2016 case.
The context here appears to be Kavanaugh's appelate decision confirming the denial of an FOIA request for polygraph efficacy reports, under Exemption 7E, because "the reports identify deficiencies in law enforcement agencies' polygraph programs. Their release could enable criminal suspects, employees with ill intentions, and others to subvert polygraph examinations."

Personally, I'm not a fan of security-through-obscurity. I'm also a little worried that the concern over polygraph false negatives somehow sucked up so much attention in this decision that the possibility of life-wrecking false positives is never ever even mentioned. But if my concerns are unfounded, and instead Kavanaugh's reasoning was correct, then choosing obscurity over Freedom-Of-Information was the key decision which allows polygraph results to remain unsubvertable today. We Did It, Brett!
posted by roystgnr at 2:26 PM on September 27, 2018 [1 favorite]


Note that the House of Representatives has publicly available Wi-Fi. I'm not sure if those Wikipedia monitoring bots control for that.
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 2:27 PM on September 27, 2018 [1 favorite]


Every woman behind Kavanaugh including his wife looking all kinds of things while he yells.

It's great, but then I remember all those times a photo went viral of Mattis or Kelly listening to a trump speech with a seemingly pained expression on their face and it turned out they were just concentrating while typing out a tweet saying "POTUS is making USA strong! Can't wait to bomb Iran for FREEDOM!" or whatever.
posted by Atom Eyes at 2:31 PM on September 27, 2018 [13 favorites]


National Treasure Alexandra Petri works fast: HOW DARE YOU DO THIS TO BRETT KAVANAUGH?
HOW DARE YOU?!
HOW DARE YOU DO THIS TO BRETT KAVANAUGH?
HOW DARE YOU DENY HIM THIS SEAT?!

Listen, NO, YOU listen!
Do you know who Brett Kavanaugh is? Brett Kavanaugh went to Georgetown Prep!
BRETT KAVANAUGH IS AN OPTIMIST WHO LOOKS ON THE SUNSHINE SIDE OF THE MOUNTAIN!
BRETT KAVANAUGH IS NOT YELLING!
YOU’RE YELLING!
posted by zachlipton at 2:31 PM on September 27, 2018 [73 favorites]


COD: Donald Trump boasted about sexually assaulting women and he still won the white woman vote. I wish I shared schadenfrau's optimism, but I don't.

We had audio of Trump, on a bus and off-camera, make these statements, and then they were re-played, and news agencies discussed why they decided to air or omit the word "pussy" from their broadcast. But this? This has had a long build-up, full-court GOP press against Dr. Ford and rallying behind Kava-naw, and additional claims against Bart. And today, we have a full day of live coverage, people going into sports bars to watch the live coverage, massive rallies against the GOP's support for this serial rapist.

And it's all coming after almost two years of atrocities against humanity, human decency, and democracy itself under the Trump administration. And almost a year after Harvey Weinstein's story of secret settlements to hide his serial sexual assualts breaking in the New Yorker. I feel like "I grab 'em by the pussy" was a "surely this..." moment. We have moved well beyond "surely this" and into a 26 point polling gap where comparing party preference by gender of responder (Men: R+3 to Women: D+23) (link back to earlier in this thread).

This is different. It is terrible, and may be a significant step towards making it better.


@ABCPolitics
NEW: Two sources close to Pres. Trump say Brett Kavanaugh has been “very strong” and “did what he needed to do” during opening statement. Asked about tough or emotional moments, one source tells @ABC, “The President will love it all—what’s not to like?

what's not to like


I can just hear the orange buffoon saying "Just look at the ratings!"


greermahoney: Hearing Kavanaugh go on and on about the damage to his reputation brings to mind nothing so much as Hannah Gadsby’s Nanette. I can’t be the only one making that connection. That is NOT the association he wants.

My wife and I watched Nannette recently is somehow even more powerful to watch now. "A 17-year-old girl is just never, ever, ever in her prime! Ever! I am in my prime! Would you test your strength out on me? There is no way anyone would dare… test their strength out on me, because you all know… there is nothing stronger then a broken woman who has rebuilt herself."
posted by filthy light thief at 2:32 PM on September 27, 2018 [39 favorites]


"Working during the week at that age didn't stop us from partying during the week, either."

He's just three months younger than me. I drank in high school. Basically every thing he says about his drinking then -- given that he admits to regularly drinking and partying -- sounds like bullshit to me. And, in conjunction, what he says about sex. He reminds me of some of the preacher's kids I knew: a hard-partier but remarkably adept at the choirboy act.

Given my previous comment, I'm not going to make a judgment of his overall credibility. But on this one specific matter about which he is somehow simultaneously adamant and evasive, I am certain he's lying.

And since we're all about law and court and presumption of innocence (whether or not that is genuinely appropriate in this context), what is that principle they teach in law school about one lie? That just one demonstrated lie calls a person's entire testimony into question?
posted by Ivan Fyodorovich at 2:35 PM on September 27, 2018 [6 favorites]


someone using a House of Representatives IP also just edited Lindsey Graham's Wikipedia page to add his home address, cell phone number, and private email

I'm so old I can remember when candidate Donald Trump did exactly the same thing on national TV to Lindsey Graham. And today Graham is his best buddy.
posted by JackFlash at 2:36 PM on September 27, 2018 [6 favorites]


Is it just me or was Kavanaugh's answer to Coons' asking if he'd gotten aggressive as drunk basically: "No, unless you can prove that I'm lying in which case maybe."
posted by Justinian at 2:37 PM on September 27, 2018 [9 favorites]


Is it just me or was Kavanaugh's answer to Coons' asking if he'd gotten aggressive as drunk basically: "No, unless you can prove that I'm lying in which case maybe."

He did the exact same thing in his first hearing about discussing the President

"No, unless you have evidence I did"
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 2:40 PM on September 27, 2018 [1 favorite]


Yeah. He clearly didn't mean to land there, but that's what he stumbled into. I think Kavanaugh caught himself out when he couldn't manage not to qualify a "no" with "...basically" and then he just sort of mumbled forward aimlessly. He was absolutely not comfortable flatly saying no.
posted by cortex at 2:40 PM on September 27, 2018


Hey! I finally got a brief break between classes. How’s it going? What’d I miss?

846 new comments, show

oh.
posted by Barack Spinoza at 2:40 PM on September 27, 2018 [65 favorites]


That's how far we've descended.

It's yet another reminder that Donald Trump is the symptom, not the disease. The disease was there all along. A mild-seeming rich private-school guy like Brett Kavanaugh can become exactly as unhinged and angry as Donald Trump when pressed into a corner; it's just that, until recently, those guys were too removed in their power to ever face a scenario like this.
posted by rorgy at 2:41 PM on September 27, 2018 [84 favorites]


I mean there's a public-record email that quotes him apologizing for getting aggressive, so...
posted by contraption at 2:42 PM on September 27, 2018 [2 favorites]


Remember the days when Bush Sr. nominated Souter, and no one said a word? Sigh.
posted by Melismata at 2:42 PM on September 27, 2018 [3 favorites]


After Mitchell landed the "How man beers are too many?" haymaker. While Kavanaugh was holding a "What ever the chart says?" response. Republicans realized asking Kavanaugh questions and hearing his answers are detrimental to his confirmation. So they are just going to filibuster so Kavanaugh doesn't talk more.

I also liked the part where Sen. Graham went all "we used to be friends" in his tirade. Frigging breakup drama.

Kavanaugh at least apologized for being a dick to Sen. Klobuchar for the, "Have you?" retort. Sort of classic abuser stuff of lashing out and then claiming it was out of character.
posted by phoque at 2:43 PM on September 27, 2018 [26 favorites]


I think he said Timmy's meant "football workouts". Could "skis" mean "sleds"? Like football players hit in training?

No. "Skis" is "brewskis." Credentials: I'm almost an exact contemporary of his and played football in high school. And like beer.

Kavanaugh's explanation of "boofed" as slang for farting makes NO SENSE in the context of the yearbook quote.

Pretty sure "boofed" meant "threw up from drinking."
posted by kirkaracha at 2:43 PM on September 27, 2018 [22 favorites]


I think Trump is less than the complete disease but more than a symptom -- a catalyst, maybe. His success gives the other terminally entitled rich white men permission to act out in ways they never thought would actually be defensible five years ago.
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 2:44 PM on September 27, 2018 [11 favorites]


A meta-question. Does the fact that Democrats are refraining from the usual grandstanding (yay!) and asking polite but firm and probing questions of Kavanaugh while Republicans have dialed the pompous, outraged bombast up to 11 and asking him "How shitty are these false allegations?" matter to the public? My gut says not really but I hope I'm wrong.

Watching the questions I am reminded of the legal maxim:
When the facts are on your side, pound the facts. When the law is on your side, pound the law. When neither are on your side, pound the table.
posted by Justinian at 2:45 PM on September 27, 2018 [16 favorites]


Basically every thing he says about his drinking then -- given that he admits to regularly drinking and partying -- sounds like bullshit to me.

The most obvious lie to me is the one claiming that his gang cruelty singling out Renate was a sign of affection. Everyone knows that is not true. It was out and out cruelty -- typical of teenagers -- period. Teens can be cruel, not necessarily worth a lifetime sentence, but lying about it under oath today certainly is.
posted by JackFlash at 2:46 PM on September 27, 2018 [20 favorites]


The bitching about the amount of days that have passed since Kavanaugh was nominated and not yet voted on is really rich. How many days passed between the time Merrick Garland was nominated and the time he got a vote? Oh right...
posted by SisterHavana at 2:47 PM on September 27, 2018 [22 favorites]


after jeff flake votes for this travesty i want his jaw wired shut for the rest of his goddamn term
posted by murphy slaw at 2:48 PM on September 27, 2018 [23 favorites]


The most obvious lie to me is the one claiming that his gang cruelty singling out Renate was a sign of affection. Everyone knows that is not true. It was out and out cruelty -- typical of teenagers -- period. Teens can be cruel, not necessarily worth a lifetime sentence, but lying about it under oath today certainly is.

Yeah, after his statement about this I went from considering him an untruthful attempted rapist to a bald faced unapologetic liar who is willing to lie about anything if it would otherwise make him look a tiny bit bad. If he is happy to lie about that to the committee- something that's basically trivial, in the grand scheme of things- then he'll lie about anything.
posted by BungaDunga at 2:50 PM on September 27, 2018 [9 favorites]


Oh, okay, Senator Blumenthal answered my question just a few minutes after I asked it.
posted by Ivan Fyodorovich at 2:51 PM on September 27, 2018


I'm so old I remember when the GOP Senators had a lady prosecutor asking their questions for them.
posted by scalefree at 2:52 PM on September 27, 2018 [30 favorites]


Kavanaugh is clearly and obviously lying about the Renate thing... but Democrats can't effectively go after him on it because they can't provide definitive proof and he keeps falling back on "why are you dragging this poor innocent woman through the mud?". It's quite galling.
posted by Justinian at 2:53 PM on September 27, 2018 [9 favorites]


Has Kamala Harris gone yet?
posted by Atom Eyes at 2:54 PM on September 27, 2018 [2 favorites]


Doesn't someone have to yield time in order for her to be able to ask questions?
posted by mabelstreet at 2:55 PM on September 27, 2018 [1 favorite]


Sen. Blumenthal (D-CT), as his time runs out: "Judge, do you believe Anita Hill?"
posted by box at 2:56 PM on September 27, 2018 [5 favorites]


Kamala Harris's turn has yet to come up. She should be speaking shortly.
posted by standardasparagus at 2:58 PM on September 27, 2018 [1 favorite]


Doesn't someone have to yield time in order for her to be able to ask questions?

No. I think people were speculating that some of the other Dem senators might yield their time to her.
posted by Atom Eyes at 2:59 PM on September 27, 2018 [2 favorites]


Pretty sure "boofed" meant "threw up from drinking."

It's always been slang for vomiting. There's even a West Wing scene where President Bartlett's daughter apologizes for boofing in the Presidential armored car.
posted by scalefree at 2:59 PM on September 27, 2018 [11 favorites]


This is so ugly and dispiriting.
posted by Aravis76 at 2:59 PM on September 27, 2018 [12 favorites]


Procedural note: Committee hearings alternate senators by party and seniority, starting with the Chair.
posted by fluttering hellfire at 3:00 PM on September 27, 2018 [1 favorite]


@JesseCharlesLee: The constantly claim from Kavanaugh that “the 4 other people at the party said it didn’t happen” is a lie. 3 said they don’t remember it, unsurprising since they didn’t witness the incident. One of them said they believe Dr. Ford. Only 1 said it didn’t happen: Mark Judge.

Democrats have not done a particularly great job of pointing out that he's made this claim repeatedly, when it's not what the witnesses have said.
posted by zachlipton at 3:00 PM on September 27, 2018 [35 favorites]


Boofing can also be putting drugs or alcohol up your bum.
posted by peeedro at 3:00 PM on September 27, 2018 [4 favorites]


Boofed may also be a reference to anal sex, which "Have you boofed yet?" fits much better than vomiting, which Kavanaugh admits he did frequently. Every preschooler vomits.

BuFu (pronounced boofoo) was slang for anal sex in the early 80s. I'll leave the derivation of that term as an exercise for the class. It's a short hop from there to "boofed".
posted by msalt at 3:02 PM on September 27, 2018 [15 favorites]


@JesseCharlesLee: The constantly claim from Kavanaugh that “the 4 other people at the party said it didn’t happen” is a lie. 3 said they don’t remember it, unsurprising since they didn’t witness the incident. One of them said they believe Dr. Ford. Only 1 said it didn’t happen: Mark Judge.

And it's not sworn testimony; it's letter from their attorneys, so no perjury risk.
posted by Mental Wimp at 3:02 PM on September 27, 2018 [7 favorites]


Somewhere John Roberts is crying. The Supreme Court is basically broken for a generation now no matter what happens. If Kavanaugh goes down, Republicans will rush a nominee in record time. And when Democrats take over they will pack the court and probably launch investigations of every single Republican judge in sight. Then Republicans will take back power and retaliate. Fun!

And that's the best case scenario.
posted by Glibpaxman at 3:05 PM on September 27, 2018 [15 favorites]


And when Democrats take over they will pack the court

Isn't it pretty to think so?
posted by kirkaracha at 3:07 PM on September 27, 2018 [28 favorites]


And I should add, it is totally 100% the Republicans fault.
posted by Glibpaxman at 3:08 PM on September 27, 2018 [1 favorite]


Boofing, I think, is also is used to describe stuffing objects into ones rectum for smuggling or hiding them, like cell phones and drugs, in prison.

(edit:The 1980's probably rules out the cell phone usage though).
posted by phoque at 3:09 PM on September 27, 2018


Break over. Senators remaining:

Hirono (D)
Tillis (R)
Booker (D)
Kennedy (R)
Harris (D)
posted by snuffleupagus at 3:10 PM on September 27, 2018 [3 favorites]


Nah, Roberts will merely redouble his efforts to make sure the Democrats are never in power again, via ruling for Republican voter suppression efforts and corporate financial control of elections.
posted by tavella at 3:10 PM on September 27, 2018 [5 favorites]


The difference between the parties appears to me, as a complete outsider watching these hearings, to be that Democrats believe in the rule of law and Republicans simply don’t. If only the party that has some vague regard for the rule of law appoints judges for a generation, that seems fair enough to me. Maybe the Republicans can spend their time off from the process brushing up on the US constitution.
posted by Aravis76 at 3:11 PM on September 27, 2018 [10 favorites]


Where is that seal with an octopus when you want them?
posted by adept256 at 3:12 PM on September 27, 2018 [71 favorites]


I normally very much like Senator Hirono but she is being not good. Repeating questions from earlier and in particular joking with Kavanaugh about Georgetown vs Yale.
posted by Justinian at 3:12 PM on September 27, 2018 [15 favorites]


I can't help but feel that "the Democrats will pack the court when they get in power" is basically political fanfiction.
posted by kyrademon at 3:16 PM on September 27, 2018 [35 favorites]


I’d like to take a moment to say that, if literally all you have to offer in a comment is fatalism or learned helplessness, take it to the fucking fuck thread. That is literally what it is there for. I’m not sure why only some people (mostly women, it seems!) seem to understand that, but fatalism and learned helpless are both their own kinds of venting and contribute no actual content while putting stress on the rest of us.

That said, unless Avenatti has another haymaker coming, it’s back to the Murkowski/Flake/Collins/Corker strategy. Two out of the four. Anyone know who’s working them?

*Edited for coherence
posted by schadenfrau at 3:18 PM on September 27, 2018 [49 favorites]


Philip Bump, Kavanaugh is pressed on the key July 1 entry in his calendar. But only to a point. In which questions are asked, but not enough of them, about the calendar and the "skis."

I'd say Democrats in general have been not very good here. There are a lot of threads that have gone unprobed, including the calendar, Ed Whelan, pressing him on his lies about the witness statements, him trying to blame the media for "Renate alumnus," etc...

Seems like Sen. Booker is taking a good crack at it now though. Finally!
posted by zachlipton at 3:18 PM on September 27, 2018 [5 favorites]


I normally very much like Senator Hirono but she is being not good. Repeating questions from earlier and in particular joking with Kavanaugh about Georgetown vs Yale.

I assume faux friendliness is intended to get people testifying to let their guard down. The Republican proxy did the same thing with Dr. Ford earlier in the day and at the end of the hearing. He's heady with playing defense so maybe they feel it's just good strategy to be disarming. People let their guard down, they are more likely to slip up with the next person asking questions.

I'm frustrated that people aren't pressing harder on simple yes/no questions. I've never seen anyone not running for office do a shittier job of answering yes/no. "Yes or No? Is it Yes or No?"
posted by A Terrible Llama at 3:20 PM on September 27, 2018 [4 favorites]


Unless I'm mistaken, both my local New Hampshire nightly news and at least one Boston local station have been overridden to continue broadcasting the hearing? The cable guide seems to think the local news should be on right now.

So, every senator speaking since 6:00PM Eastern may have been aware that they're what people tuning in to watch the news are seeing instead...
posted by XMLicious at 3:21 PM on September 27, 2018


when he gets mad he kind of sounds like Bob Odenkirk doing an angry, guilty judge nominee
posted by scose at 3:21 PM on September 27, 2018 [14 favorites]


Corey Booker is the only one who seems to be taking this seriously, for god's sake
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 3:22 PM on September 27, 2018 [14 favorites]


Booker's doing a decent job at pinning him down. Harris goes last, she'll have a shot at whatever she thinks the most important points are in closing.
posted by snuffleupagus at 3:23 PM on September 27, 2018 [4 favorites]


If only some of the others ceded their time to Booker.
posted by standardasparagus at 3:23 PM on September 27, 2018 [6 favorites]


The @GOP didn't just shoot itself in the foot. It put a grenade in its pants pocket and pulled the pin.

I wish this were true, but it's exactly what people said about "grab her by the pussy". Nothing will change.


One important distinction here is the specificity, I think. For better or for worse, every listener was free to determine who the object of that infamous quote was. We saw it as women in general, but the shaped expectations of his base were... well, use your imagination as to the perceived faults the right wing would attribute to anyone who "allowed herself" to be groped by Trump. Dr. Blasey Ford is a real person and as such doesn't easily fit into the dismissal of "those kinds of people" (too many real victims do, and that sucks, but moving people beyond victim-blaming is a slow task and whenever a victim can get recognition that moves the needle a little).
posted by jackbishop at 3:24 PM on September 27, 2018 [5 favorites]


I assume faux friendliness is intended to get people testifying to let their guard down.

Absolutely, but that only works in a long-form interview with no hard deadline. Particularly not one with a 5 minute limit. Kavanaugh is not going to become relaxed and loose in 2 minutes.

Booker is doing well, and I expect Harris will. Actually lots of Senators have done well, I just didn't think Hirono was particularly effective. Still actually trying to ask real questions which puts her way ahead of any of the Republicans.
posted by Justinian at 3:24 PM on September 27, 2018 [1 favorite]


Democrats need to stay on the Renate question. Blumenthal was almost there but dropped it too soon.

Basic question: "You've testified that the phrase "Renate Alumnius" was a mark of affection, is that correct?" [yes] "Then why did you apologize to her?"

Followup: "Why then was Renate hurt by your comments?"

Followup: "One of your friends Michael Walsh, who also called himself 'a Renate Alumni' included this poem: 'You need a date / and it's getting late / so don't hesitate / to call Renate.' Is it your testimony that this refers to friendship and not to sexual availability?"
posted by msalt at 3:25 PM on September 27, 2018 [27 favorites]


Indivisible, NARAL, MoveOn and others are organizing protests at all senators' office across the country tomorrow at noon local time. They ask that we wear black, bring signs and take/post photos.
posted by mcduff at 3:25 PM on September 27, 2018 [22 favorites]


You need a date / and it's getting late / so don't hesitate / to call Renate

Kavanaugh clarified her name was pronounced “Renada” So, did shitty poetry guy not know how her name was pronounced? Or does Kavanaugh not?
posted by greermahoney at 3:30 PM on September 27, 2018 [6 favorites]


Has Ted Cruz had his chance to do/say something unbecoming yet?
posted by ZeusHumms at 3:33 PM on September 27, 2018 [1 favorite]


I see no reason the poet wouldn't include a deliberate mispronunciation of her name as a "joke" to emphasize how insignificant and disposable he considers her to be.
posted by contraption at 3:34 PM on September 27, 2018 [13 favorites]


Sen. Harris questioning Kavanaugh now.
posted by snuffleupagus at 3:36 PM on September 27, 2018 [3 favorites]


Absolutely, but that only works in a long-form interview with no hard deadline. Particularly not one with a 5 minute limit. Kavanaugh is not going to become relaxed and loose in 2 minutes.


They're a team. Only sometimes, but a team. Watching Dr. Ford earlier, you could feel how exhausting it is. One person is friendly. One is trying to trick you. You get through one question, relax for a single second, and then another head of the hydra snaps up. One question is factual. The next emotional. It's like sleep deprivation torture.

Or reality television. Prolonged tension; laugh, release; hostility; fight or flight--drives an ordinary person bonkers. Dr. Ford was so credible because she allowed those things to show--she'd take a relieved breath, drink a tiny sip of Coke, and then the next one would come.

Normal people are just not prepared for this and she came across as genuine and he has been a hot mess. Both are getting played with, tension and release, tension and release, but she allowed it to be expressed in her demeanor and he seems like he is hiding it every step of the way going with pugilism and defensiveness above all else.
posted by A Terrible Llama at 3:36 PM on September 27, 2018 [5 favorites]


uh—Feinstein now says the letter wasn't leaked?
posted by standardasparagus at 3:36 PM on September 27, 2018


The hearing has devolved into Senators arguing with each other about who leaked the allegation in the first place, because that's obviously the most pressing issue right now.

@ryangrim [the reporter who broke the story of the letter]: Feinstein's staff did not leak the letter to The Intercept
posted by zachlipton at 3:36 PM on September 27, 2018 [10 favorites]


The letter was released on purpose after the allegations had been leaked. The point being that the mere fact of the allegations could have been leaked by Ford's circle while the letter would have had to come from Feinstein's people.
posted by Justinian at 3:38 PM on September 27, 2018 [5 favorites]


Yes, for example "Do you agree that it is possible for men to be friends with some women and treat other women badly."
posted by Justinian at 3:40 PM on September 27, 2018 [3 favorites]


Harris isn't concerned with the letter, but she's having trouble moving him off his I-was-a-good-boy dissembling-by-reverie.
posted by snuffleupagus at 3:40 PM on September 27, 2018 [2 favorites]


Looks like they juggled things around for Flake and Kennedy to go last.
posted by snuffleupagus at 3:41 PM on September 27, 2018 [2 favorites]


@emptywheel:
Harris: Did you ask Ford's testimony?
Kav: I did not. I planned to but I did not.
[He went on to say he was preparing his testimony.]

He didn't even watch.

@JaneMayerNYer: Another echo of Clarence Thomas's confirmation hearings: Thomas didn't watch Anita Hill's testimony about him, and Judge Kavanaugh now says he didn't listen to Ford's testimony about him.
posted by zachlipton at 3:42 PM on September 27, 2018 [14 favorites]


Flake (in his 1 minute statement) and Sasse have both telegraphed they will vote this out of committee, in my opinion. So it will come down to a floor vote and, I think, Collins and Murkowski.
posted by Justinian at 3:42 PM on September 27, 2018 [6 favorites]


On my way home, I surfed up and down my SiriusXM dial. MSNBC had the hearing. CNN had the hearing. POTUS had the hearing. PATRIOT... had Sean Haw-Haw discussing with Sebastian Gorka how so many Americans were reaching out to tell them how moved they were, many to actual tears... by Judge Kavanaugh's unprecedented and brave and fearless testimony.

And then God shat out an elephant and it hit the highway next to me, so I changed stations.
posted by delfin at 3:43 PM on September 27, 2018 [3 favorites]


Kennedy is doing an actual come-to-Jesus moment. Gross.
posted by snuffleupagus at 3:43 PM on September 27, 2018 [6 favorites]


I see no reason the poet wouldn't include a deliberate mispronunciation of her name as a "joke" to emphasize how insignificant and disposable he considers her to be.

I'm guessing that at least some of the boys signing on to the Renate thing, had never met her, had no idea who she was or how her name was pronounced. They were just going along to ingratiate themselves with the "in crowd". That's how teen bullying works.
posted by JackFlash at 3:45 PM on September 27, 2018 [14 favorites]


Hearing adjoined.

@LACaldwellDC: Flake doesn't ask a question but asks for "21 imperfect senators" to speak and act with "humility"

@eschor: Democratic questions about Ed Whelan's theory and how it took shape: 0

And right as it ends: @realDonaldTrump: Judge Kavanaugh showed America exactly why I nominated him. His testimony was powerful, honest, and riveting. Democrats’ search and destroy strategy is disgraceful and this process has been a total sham and effort to delay, obstruct, and resist. The Senate must vote!

@MikeIsaac: cornyn now parroting the "search and destroy" line on live TV, seconds after the President tweeted it do they all have a slack room im not aware of
posted by zachlipton at 3:48 PM on September 27, 2018 [9 favorites]


Matt Yglesias: Are we overlooking the fact that the calendar Kavanaugh introduced as evidence that this didn’t happen specifically features a July 1 brewskies session with the people Ford says were there?

Note that this appears to be what Mitchell was drilling down on when she was abruptly shuffled to the side. I think that a plausible explanation is that Republican senators realized what was about to happen and Graham went ballistic on purpose to prevent it. Because Mitchell was literally moments away, it appears, from establishing on the record that Kavanaugh's own calendar includes a small gathering, in the timeframe in question, of exactly the people Ford claims were present, and indicating it was for drinking purposes.
posted by Justinian at 3:49 PM on September 27, 2018 [111 favorites]


Fuck. They're going to jam this shitstain through tomorrow.
posted by msalt at 3:50 PM on September 27, 2018 [13 favorites]


I think that a plausible explanation is that Republican senators realized what was about to happen and Graham went ballistic on purpose to prevent it.

I think you're exactly right.
posted by Miko at 3:51 PM on September 27, 2018 [12 favorites]


And they are making that abundantly clear to the entire nation, apparently without thought to the consequences.

I hope there are consequences this time. This is beyond disgusting and shameful but the Republicans have rarely had things they believe in and things they do have consequences, particularly recently. The world view is one where Ebenezer Scrooge was the "real" victim. When Elaine was denied a job at the coffee shop in Seinfeld because she wasn't "buxom" enough that wasn't an issue at all, it was as it should be. A flippant example perhaps but that world view has devastating consequences of course. These are human predators that want to keep the system in place that enables them to prey on those they consider weak. They pretend that the world of animals, where eagles eat baby foxes alive, where fish have millions of eggs because only a very small percentage survive is the way of the human world as well all the while destroying the natural world in the process (and either condemning or praising animals by human standards) and ignoring the fact that we alone have been privileged with a unique intelligence that could build a world where predation in this sense is minimized. We really can't condemn an eagle for eating a baby fox but we should and must condemn human predators for preying on the the weakened, exploiting them, demonizing them, and stealing people's dignity and opportunity. As a species we may have self domesticated ourselves but we've setup a societal structure to keep a predator/prey relationship at the center. We don't have to kill, rape, steal, etc. We can see a version of society where such things are not a way of life. I don't pretend that such things can be eliminated. There will always be murder, rape, theft, dishonesty, etc. But we can build a society that better protects people and helps them recognize bullshit when they see it. Such things take compassion and effort which don't seem to be lacking, they are lacking. People are eating their shit in droves like it's the finest chocolate, enough of them to keep these people in power. They cry about destroyed lives and destroyed reputations that they themselves destroy. It's always someone else's fault. Everything is placed in terms of battle and destruction. Everything is escalated. Money and societal structure gives them an operating strength while they are devoid of any strength of character. Attacking someone for overcoming a particular fear is beyond deplorable. Real courage is shit on. My disgust is beyond words.

Just the other day I was at a clinic getting a blood test when 2 older men barged in with an older woman in a wheelchair and immediately yelled at the worker at reception about some sort of appointment mix up. I mean real loud outraged beyond words yelling. This is how they started their interaction. She had no idea what their issue was. The worker was obviously taken aback and defended herself in a calm manner which only resulted in further outrage. They started threatening her. Saying she was going to be out of a job once they spoke with her supervisor. They said her "lip" was the problem with society today. They upset everyone waiting in the clinic with their bullshit and screaming. Of course they actually got their service immediately (I and others were walk ins). As they were leaving they continued complaining, calling her a deary and terrible person with terrible morals. She was black and to no one with any sense surprise, in her attempt to find out what these people's problem was, she brought up race. Of course, more outrage resulted. They kept screaming at her that she only said that because they were white. No, she only said it because of the way they were treating her. Everyone else has to have responsibility but they, of course, were not at all responsible for anything. They threatened her job again. I told her I would be happy to talk to her supervisor and tell the supervisor that these people were completely out of line and why they were. She was so upset she just didn't care anymore she said. Mentioned that last week someone referred to her as a monkey. This type of shit, at least in the open, is on the rise. Bigots and assholes feel more empowered then ever. It's beyond depressing but we as a society can no longer tolerate this. I'm hoping the constant open racism, hatred, authoritarianism, etc. will inspire people who for a variety of reasons either didn't realize it was so bad or kept looking the other way to stand up for a change.
posted by juiceCake at 3:53 PM on September 27, 2018 [37 favorites]


Fanciful theory, the "just for your ears" moment yesterday between Collins and Feinstein involved Feinstein knowing about Mitchell's planned, almost successful, prosecution of the calendar issue.
posted by Slackermagee at 3:54 PM on September 27, 2018 [1 favorite]


Fuck. They're going to jam this shitstain through tomorrow.

Still has to go through the full Senate, right?
posted by rhizome at 3:54 PM on September 27, 2018


Well, that settles it. Kennedy invoked God and Kavanaugh swore to God, so good God-fearing folks know that he can't possibly be lying now because God. Clearly Kavanaugh is the Almighty's chosen. It is known.
posted by homunculus at 3:54 PM on September 27, 2018 [2 favorites]


Note that this appears to be what Mitchell was drilling down on when she was abruptly shuffled to the side. I think that a plausible explanation is that Republican senators realized what was about to happen and Graham went ballistic on purpose to prevent it.

I absolutely agree, but the Dems didn't entirely go there either. There's a calendar, which he himself provided, which puts the right people in the right place during the right time period, holding beers, on a weekday despite his earlier claims about weekday drinking. There's no way Dr. Ford had seen that calendar before she provided her statements, and it bolsters her credibly immensely. And that line of questioning was never completed.

I suppose the logic may be that it's better to keep that argument unexplored so it can be used now, rather than giving Kavanaugh a full chance to try to refute it under oath (it was never going to be a code red moment).
posted by zachlipton at 3:54 PM on September 27, 2018 [7 favorites]


They definitely had planned to let Mitchell examine Kavanaugh, and pulled her off to grandstand instead.
posted by notyou at 3:55 PM on September 27, 2018


Fuck. They're going to jam this shitstain through tomorrow.

It's small consolation but if they do they will be severely hurting themselves in the midterms.

Their best move for the midterms probably would have been to withdraw his nomination yesterday, force through someone squeaky clean but equally heinous (judicially speaking) and then play up the "we're martyrs and the Dems are mean to good folks like Judge K".
posted by duoshao at 3:55 PM on September 27, 2018 [1 favorite]


Matt Yglesias: Are we overlooking the fact that the calendar Kavanaugh introduced as evidence that this didn’t happen specifically features a July 1 brewskies session with the people Ford says were there?

Note that this appears to be what Mitchell was drilling down on when she was abruptly shuffled to the side.


I think the GOP sanctimoniously told her they "wanted the truth," so she went after it. When she started to get close, they reverted to their real intent.
posted by Mental Wimp at 3:55 PM on September 27, 2018 [22 favorites]


Still has to go through the full Senate, right?

Right, but 2 of the 4 Republicans most likely to vote NO are on Judiciary (Flake, Sasse). So if they pass it out of committee it indicates that we're counting on only Murkowski and Collins to stop this thing.

Unless Flake is doing a McCain where he votes to go through the process and then votes NO on the substance but nothing in his past has indicated he is that kind of guy. McCain, rest his soul, was a giant partisan asshole but he did have steel in his spine. (He wasn't a bad guy because he was a coward, he was a bad guy because he was a bad guy.)
posted by Justinian at 3:57 PM on September 27, 2018 [7 favorites]




So maybe Harris didn't waste a question with that one.
posted by notyou at 4:01 PM on September 27, 2018 [13 favorites]



While Ford testifies, Kavanaugh is watching the testimony from a monitor in another room in the Dirksen Senate Building.

posted by armacy at 3:58 PM on September 27 [+] [!]


So he lied about that, too. I'm so distraught right now, because the Democrats should have ceded their time to Kamala Harris and let her methodically take Kavanaugh apare, as she clearly would have been able to do. Kavanaugh on the Supreme Court is worse than Trump in the Oval Office. I'm out of evens.
posted by Mental Wimp at 4:02 PM on September 27, 2018 [15 favorites]


Why would he lie about that? Afraid Harris would take it somewhere he didn't want to go?
posted by notyou at 4:02 PM on September 27, 2018 [2 favorites]


I mean, among the many times he perjured himself today, that one seems the easiest and fastest to prove, right?
posted by Atom Eyes at 4:02 PM on September 27, 2018 [3 favorites]


What a stupid thing to lie about. And why would Sen Harris even think he would lie about it and use up a question? This is odd.
posted by greermahoney at 4:04 PM on September 27, 2018 [2 favorites]


While Ford testifies, Kavanaugh is watching the testimony from a monitor in another room in the Dirksen Senate Building.

That tweet appears to have been deleted?
posted by Justinian at 4:04 PM on September 27, 2018 [8 favorites]


And why would Sen Harris even think he would lie about it and use up a question?

She probably didn't. Maybe a note to ask it was passed to her, since the story just broke, because as every good prosecutor knows: don't ask a question you don't already know the answer to. Hey, he could have told the truth and really caught Kamala out! I'm sure she could have handled whichever way it went, and it was at the end of her time anyway.
posted by rhizome at 4:06 PM on September 27, 2018 [1 favorite]


Here's a link to the WSJ liveblog the tweet went to: Kavanaugh Monitoring Hearing From Elsewhere.
posted by peeedro at 4:07 PM on September 27, 2018 [3 favorites]


I'm not ready to say he lied about that. The WSJ was told by a staffer he was watching on a monitor in the other room. He could have easily been in a room equipped with a monitor and not had it turned on. Thomas also said he didn't watch Hill's testimony. He could have been lying—he absolutely made false statements today, including repeatedly mischaracterizing the statements of the witnesses. But I'm not aware of a reporter or anyone who actually saw him watching, just the second-hand statement that someone said he was watching.

I realize it's a silly thing to split hairs about, but if I'm going to say he lied, I'd like to not rely on a third-hand account for that, at least pending further reporting.
posted by zachlipton at 4:07 PM on September 27, 2018 [10 favorites]


Points to this WSJ bit
Kavanaugh Monitoring Hearing From Elsewhere
Among those watching Dr. Ford’s testimony was Judge Kavanaugh, a committee aide said, from a monitor in another room in the Dirksen Senate Building, where he awaits the opportunity to tell his side of the story later today.

UPDATE: Judge Kavanaugh said during his hearing that he did not watch Dr. Ford's testimony. He said he had intended to but was preparing for his own testimony.
posted by cybertaur1 at 4:07 PM on September 27, 2018 [3 favorites]


WSJ link for Kavanaugh watching Ford
posted by armacy at 4:07 PM on September 27, 2018 [2 favorites]


After watching all this, I think he gets confirmed. None of the Democratic senators actually got out of their wind-up and made the pitch.
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 4:08 PM on September 27, 2018 [3 favorites]


Hmm, yes, it appears we ought to stand down on the watched from the sidelines thing.

I pledge to do better.
posted by notyou at 4:09 PM on September 27, 2018


My cold little heart says Collins votes no, Murkowski votes yes, Pence breaks the tie. It's just bleak enough to be writ in the book of fate.
posted by Rust Moranis at 4:11 PM on September 27, 2018 [4 favorites]


If he gets confirmed, this isn't the Dems fault. This is squarely on the Republicans. They're the ones who are pushing him through despite all of the evidence that he should be on the sex offender registry, not on a court.
posted by azpenguin at 4:12 PM on September 27, 2018 [38 favorites]


None of the Democratic senators actually got out of their wind-up and made the pitch.

I think many of them did as good a job as could be expected in a 5 minute segment which is constantly being interrupted. And that's exactly why this format was picked by the chair. It also goes to show how much danger Kavanaugh was in if Mitchell had been allowed to continue. Because she was laying down a narrative and a timeline and was using more than 5 minutes to do so. Something you simply cannot do when 10 different people are each given 5 interrupted minutes.

In a movie the next Democratic Senator would have been about to start his or her questioning after Graham pushed aside Mitchell... then would have paused, looking thoughtful as a repeat of the audio of Mitchell's last question about who was present at the July 1st party played... and then looked directly at Grassley and said "I yield my time to Prosecutor Mitchell." and then the whole charade would have been torn down by the Republicans own prosecutor.

But this is real life and nobody realized what was happening at the time. Completely understandably.
posted by Justinian at 4:14 PM on September 27, 2018 [11 favorites]


I think there's another endgame other than simple impeachment - there's also conviction in state court, jail time and resignation (or again impeachment)
posted by mbo at 4:14 PM on September 27, 2018 [3 favorites]


BuzzFeed, People Kept Calling C-SPAN To Share Their Own Sexual Assault Stories During The Kavanaugh Hearing

I wonder if these women thought they'd be spending their day reliving their stories on C-SPAN. I wonder if National Treasure C-SPAN’s Steve Scully was prepared for this, that he’d wake up this morning and be talking strangers, unrehearsed, through retelling their worst moments on live television over the phone.

And why would Sen Harris even think he would lie about it and use up a question?

I suspect it was less about thinking he would lie about it, and more that she intended to ask if, having watched, he's calling her a liar or something along those lines. He said he didn't watch, and so she had no foundation to ask him to say anything about her testimony.
posted by zachlipton at 4:15 PM on September 27, 2018 [7 favorites]


And so Kamala went just as far as she needed to.
posted by rhizome at 4:15 PM on September 27, 2018


Local to Washington, but whoa:

@candacefaber: If it’s bad that Blasey Ford waited to raise this until Kavanaugh got to the highest levels of government, then maybe the rest of us shouldn’t sit on our secrets just crossing our fingers that they won’t come into more power.
So okay, let’s do it.

@senatorfain, you raped me the night I graduated from Georgetown in 2007. Then you had the audacity to ask me to support your campaign. I’ve been terrified of running into you since moving home and seeing your name everywhere.

I’m done being silent.


Joe Fain is a Republican state senator for South King County, WA.
posted by scaryblackdeath at 4:17 PM on September 27, 2018 [114 favorites]


Manu Raju: HIGH DRAMA: Flake, Collins, Murkowski and Manchin - the senators who will determine whether Brett Kavanaugh gets a lifetime seat on the Supreme Court - are privately huddling NOW. @tedbarrettcnn

He's senior congressional correspondant for CNN.
posted by Justinian at 4:17 PM on September 27, 2018 [5 favorites]


Oh my.

@WaPoSean: Senate GOP Whip John Cornyn explaining why Rachel Mitchell stopped asking Qs partway through: “Frankly, I think there was some frustration among the senators that they thought there were arguments that needed to be made, that she frankly was not equipped to make.”

The fact that these Republicans continue to say absolutely the wrong thing every time they open their mouths is presumably why they realized they had to hire Mitchell in the first place, and they've proven that over and over today.
posted by zachlipton at 4:17 PM on September 27, 2018 [72 favorites]


Collins votes no, Murkowski votes yes, Pence breaks the tie.

Hmmm... would this be the most drawn out and excruciatingly painful outcome? The thing that would inspire the deepest possible internal vats of boiling rage at the largest possible number of people...?

...Mmmhmm!

Then this'll be what happens.
posted by Don Pepino at 4:18 PM on September 27, 2018 [5 favorites]


@Phil_Mattingly: Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski, Jeff Flake and Joe Manchin are all meeting NOW before the GOP conference meeting, per @tedbarrettcnn

Nobody wants to be the 49th or 51st vote alone.
posted by zachlipton at 4:20 PM on September 27, 2018 [17 favorites]


Then this'll be what happens.

I disagree. If Collins votes NO I think the nomination fails. Murkowski would also vote NO. I do believe Murkowski is more likely to vote no than Collins. Not just because of today. The letters from the Native organizations in Alaska would probably have been quite influential.

It does look to me like, predicatably, Manchin is willing to sink the nomination but not willing to vote no if the nomination is succeeding anyway. Not a profile in courage. But at least I don't see him being the 50th vote for YES if 2 Republicans vote NO.
posted by Justinian at 4:21 PM on September 27, 2018 [17 favorites]


My first reaction upon Kavanaugh's teary tantrum was that Trump wouldn't like it. Obviously that was mistaken.

And a whole lot of the media was clearly swayed by Ford on her own. Then a privileged white man got up and threw a privileged white man's tantrum over being held accountable and all the other privileged white men felt sympathy for their own fears of accountability. It's not just Republicans. It's blind-ass privileged white dudes in the media. I'm waiting for Chuck Todd to tell us Ford seemed "overprepared" compared to Kavanaugh.
posted by scaryblackdeath at 4:22 PM on September 27, 2018 [50 favorites]


but really, how could he not watch Dr Ford's testimony, so as to be sufficiently prepared for what one may ask? Yet at the same time, if he were to admit watching the testimony, he opens himself up—even more—to the content of the questioning and allegations.
posted by standardasparagus at 4:24 PM on September 27, 2018 [1 favorite]


How did they offload poor Rachel Mitchell? Did Chuck just go "hssst!" and glower at her while jerking his thumb at the door? I didn't expect her to question Kavanaugh, anyway--I thought they mostly didn't trust themselves not to tear their female witness to shreds artlessly like the slavering wolves they are. Then when she showed up for Kavanaugh, I figured they had to have her do both or it wouldn't be "fair." Then suddenly I realized she'd disappeared and they were screamcrying their own questions and I really realllly missed her. I hated the whole idea of her, but she turned out to make the first part of this much more bearable. Two Lindsey Graham performances in a single day might've killed me.
posted by Don Pepino at 4:24 PM on September 27, 2018 [6 favorites]


How did they offload poor Rachel Mitchell?

The GOP members were individually yielding their time to here, turn by turn. All they had to do to cut off her questioning was to not do that when their turn came around. After Graham, they did just that, eating up the time with their own various grandstandings while she sat quietly, no longer being yielded to.
posted by cortex at 4:26 PM on September 27, 2018 [9 favorites]


I guess the corollary is that because Kavanaugh was so completely emotional and angry and aggressive that he must not be fake.
posted by birdheist at 4:26 PM on September 27, 2018


Because she was composed it’s fake.
But his and their discomposure was so performative it made me cringe and shudder. Weird.
posted by Don Pepino at 4:27 PM on September 27, 2018 [6 favorites]


I hated the whole idea of her, but she turned out to make the first part of this much more bearable.

Yeah, I dug as far into her background as google would allow last night and posted about it. I was a bit apprehensive because, one, she accepted the job in the first place and, two, that one of the only two interviews she ever gave was to a looney tunes BJU appendage. But she seems to have taken her job far more seriously than the Republican senators and she looked completely prepared to continue on Kavanaugh.

I wonder how she feels now that it is so clear how she was used? "Powerful white Republican men use woman for their own purposes, cast her aside when finished." That headline can apply so often.
posted by Justinian at 4:28 PM on September 27, 2018 [21 favorites]


And of course you can imagine the narrative if she'd yelled, started crying and/or was anything but perfectly composed.
posted by The Card Cheat at 4:28 PM on September 27, 2018 [16 favorites]


I wonder how she feels now that it is so clear how she was used?

Maybe she'll talk.
posted by Miko at 4:31 PM on September 27, 2018 [5 favorites]


All they had to do to cut off her questioning was to not do that when their turn came around.

Do you guys think I'm reading too much into the timing of her being cut off? The fact that she was starting to drill down on the July 1st entry on the calendar, I mean. I feel like a conspiracy theorist. Obviously such an entry on the calendar is not dispositive but if I'm right it does put the lie to Kavanaugh's claim that it couldn't have happened because nothing on his calendar is consistent with it.

Tell me if I am a conspiracy theorist. Maybe Graham went batshit because he was really, really mad at the process.
posted by Justinian at 4:34 PM on September 27, 2018 [15 favorites]


And right as it ends: @realDonaldTrump: Judge Kavanaugh showed America exactly why I nominated him. His testimony was powerful, honest, and riveting. Democrats’ search and destroy strategy is disgraceful and this process has been a total sham and effort to delay, obstruct, and resist. The Senate must vote!

Trump or Not Bot: This tweet was sent via Twitter for iPhone. I compute a 58% chance it was written by Trump himself.

In contrast:

@realDonaldTrump: Avenatti is a third rate lawyer who is good at making false accusations, like he did on me and like he is now doing on Judge Brett Kavanaugh. He is just looking for attention and doesn’t want people to look at his past record and relationships - a total low-life!

Trump or Not Bot: This tweet was sent via Twitter for iPhone. I compute a 100% chance it was written by Trump himself.

Shine and Scavino have been doing a much better job managing @realDonaldTrump since the mid-term election campaigning kicked in, but there's no mistaking the voice of the real Donald Trump.
posted by Doktor Zed at 4:35 PM on September 27, 2018 [2 favorites]


I have no idea if it was that concrete or not, but I wouldn't be surprised if that was some or all of the calculus involved. Chasing down specificity to catch Ford out would be a lot more attractive for ratfucking purposes than chasing down specificity that could reveal Kavanaugh to be inconsistent, so a swerve on the approach to the latter is totally plausible.

I'm just noting that the process of cutting her off was not, mechanically, complicated; the default with any speaker would be to do so, just be reverting to "okay now everybody listen to ME for five minutes" behavior. I might have been taking another user's question too literally on that front.
posted by cortex at 4:38 PM on September 27, 2018 [2 favorites]


I feel like a conspiracy theorist.

No, there's really no other explanation for what was a sudden, clear, and dramatic change of strategy. Mitchell was onto it and they decided they couldn't take the risk. The Graham tirade was them buying time to regroup.

Also, wasn't it around that time that BK got a note on yellow legal paper? I might be misplacing that, but there was something significant on the paper and it wasn't short.
posted by Miko at 4:40 PM on September 27, 2018 [10 favorites]


Gotcha. Also I just saw Joan Walsh on CNN bring up the fact that Mitchell was about to try to get to the truth of what happened "on July 1st". So OFFICIALLY NOT A CONSPIRACY THEORY.
posted by Justinian at 4:40 PM on September 27, 2018 [18 favorites]


Oh! I remembered what I came in here to post fifty years or so ago.

Remember how last night they ginned up a whole bunch of wild accusations that BK kept referring to all hearing long--"the breathless media say that I'm in gangs, I cooked meth, I ran sweatshops!" or whatever--I don't remember any of it beyond the word "gangs," chiefly because they tried this PR push way too late, at least in the mainstream media, and BK's references to these things were the first I'd really paid attn to them.

Well, about that. By chance I happened to listen to Episode 6 of Russia, If You're Listening, which is all about the dossier and "the pee tape." This "gangs!" thing is the same strategy as screaming about the pee tape 24/7 was back in the day. You take the most outlandish item and trot it out all over. If there isn't one to hand, make one up. Or a dozen! If you're trying to protect somebody you're pretty sure is a criminal, real crimes will more likely be discounted if you drown out discussion of the real crimes with yodeling about unbelievably salacious ones.
posted by Don Pepino at 4:40 PM on September 27, 2018 [6 favorites]


The Mississippi House Speaker Pro Tempore Greg Snowden was just arrested and charged with DUI after apparently driving recklessly all afternoon and finally rear-ending someone. He failed the field sobriety test, but has said that the accident occurred because he was watching the Brett Kavanaugh hearings on his smart phone when he rear-ended the driver. Ugh. Honestly this never-ending shit.
posted by thebrokedown at 4:41 PM on September 27, 2018 [45 favorites]


"There's no way Dr. Ford had seen that calendar before she provided her statements, and it bolsters her credibly immensely. And that line of questioning was never completed."

Yeah, I'm very puzzled by that. There were a number of missed opportunities, though, so I have to assume that I'm armchair quarterbacking. It's not so much that I expect the senators to be on top of everything so much as I thought that was what their staff was supposed to be doing.

Regardless, it's difficult to see how the July 1st event won't become central to any further inquiry, formal or not.
posted by Ivan Fyodorovich at 4:42 PM on September 27, 2018 [3 favorites]


I don't know if Graham went batshit as part of a deliberate plan or not, but the entire tenor of the questioning and the tone in the room changed once he got going, and it was never the same after that. It went from everyone saying Kavanaugh's nomination seemed to be over to people thinking nothing was going to change. And I felt like Kavanaugh's tone changed too at that point, as he dropped some of the incredible anger he showed during the first hour.

I think it's entirely possible that Graham just wanted to yell, and was planning on yelling all along, and that it happened around the same time Mitchell was asking about July 1 was a coincidence, but that shift was vital, and nobody ever went back to really pressing him on those questions 100%.
posted by zachlipton at 4:43 PM on September 27, 2018 [7 favorites]


You take the most outlandish item and trot it out all over. If there isn't one to hand, make one up.

Alexander "Boris" Johnson's infamous Dead Cat Technique. They've obviously learned from the worst, the very worst:
There is one thing that is absolutely certain about throwing a dead cat on the dining room table – and I don’t mean that people will be outraged, alarmed, disgusted. That is true, but irrelevant. The key point is that everyone will shout, ‘Jeez, mate, there’s a dead cat on the table!’ In other words, they will be talking about the dead cat – the thing you want them to talk about – and they will not be talking about the issue that has been causing you so much grief.
posted by Grangousier at 4:44 PM on September 27, 2018 [27 favorites]


there's also conviction in state court, jail time and resignation (or again impeachment)

But the first two alone are not enough. Cf. Walter Nixon, a federal district judge who was convicted of perjury and jailed in 1986, but refused to resign, and was not removed until he was impeached and convicted in 1989.
posted by DevilsAdvocate at 4:44 PM on September 27, 2018 [2 favorites]


I don’t think there’s any question they pulled Mitchell off because she was destroying the nominee, if only optically. Her demeanor and clear, patient questioning had the effect of legitimizing the accusation and the entire process. The questioning also made Kavanaugh look like he was on trial for sexual assault. It was a disaster for him. Was the specific line of questioning she was on was about to finish him? I dunno.

(Ron Howard: It was.)
posted by notyou at 4:49 PM on September 27, 2018 [14 favorites]


anyway direct action
posted by poffin boffin at 4:55 PM on September 27, 2018 [17 favorites]


Kavanaugh is pressed on the key July 1 entry in his calendar. But only to a point.

I'm not sure Mitchell was going there. It seems like she might have been maneuvering around it.
posted by homunculus at 4:55 PM on September 27, 2018 [5 favorites]


Hey Don Pepino, that link isn't working.
posted by jenfullmoon at 4:57 PM on September 27, 2018


Adam Kotsko @adamkotsko
If Dr. Ford is lying, then all the following are true:
1. She sociopathically created a very detailed scenario of abuse out of thin air.
2. She didn't go for the "worst" story (actual rape).
3. She gratuitously named a second witness who could easily disprove her account.
12:36 PM - 27 Sep 2018
posted by standardasparagus at 4:57 PM on September 27, 2018 [42 favorites]


But the first two alone are not enough.

Seems enough for me? He wouldn't be delivering many terrible opinions from state prison even if he's still collecting a justice's pay.
posted by GCU Sweet and Full of Grace at 4:58 PM on September 27, 2018 [2 favorites]


@planetoffinks
it's weird that we just take it as read that most republican senators will always take deeply immoral actions and that there's 2-4 who will very occasionally not do that
posted by Artw at 5:04 PM on September 27, 2018 [30 favorites]


And I felt like Kavanaugh's tone changed too at that point, as he dropped some of the incredible anger he showed during the first hour.

i actually paused the stream to look at kavanaugh's face at the moment he knew graham had saved him. he actually smirks in relief. he knew, knew he's been saved by his bro.
posted by halation at 5:06 PM on September 27, 2018 [26 favorites]


@rollcall: Brett Kavanaugh opens testimony calling situation a “national disgrace” and warned Democrats: “What goes around comes around”

@KevinMKruse: This is the nominee for whom most, if not all, of the Republicans in the Senate will be voting. Not an impartial jurist. A career partisan making angry threats to get revenge on Democrats in his confirmation hearings.

In context:
This whole two-week effort has been a calculated and orchestrated political hit, fueled with apparent pent-up anger about president trump and the 2016 election, fear that has been unfairly stoked about my judicial record. Revenge on behalf of the Clintons and millions of dollars in money from outside left-wing opposition groups. This is a circus. The consequences will extend long past my nomination. The consequences will be with us for decades.

This grotesque, character assassination will dissuade confident and good people of all political persuasions from serving our country and as we all know in the political system of the early 2000s, what goes around comes around. I am an optimistic guy. I always try to be on the sunrise side of the mountain and be optimistic about the day that is coming, but today I have to say that I fear for the future. The last time I was here I told this committee that a federal judge must be independent, not swayed by public or political pressure. I said I was such a judge, and I will not be intimidated into withdrawing from this process. You’ve tried hard. You’ve given it your all.
This is the guy we're told is just going to call balls and strikes. Does this sound like an impartial judge or someone out for revenge against Democrats? Why the hell is he mentioning the Clintons? How can he continue to serve as a judge at all let alone on the Supreme Court if he's making threats like this?

@edokeefe: UPDATE: Two GOP senators emerging from the meeting say the Judiciary Committee will vote tomorrow. Send. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) and Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) emerged to say the vote will happen as scheduled. The closed-door Senate GOP meeting continues.
posted by zachlipton at 5:11 PM on September 27, 2018 [29 favorites]


I don’t think there’s any question they pulled Mitchell off because she was destroying the nominee, if only optically

I think the simplest explanation is most likely and doesn't require any conspiracizing. Which people would do the questioning wouldn't be left to chance or last second maneuvering. It was decided before the hearing started.

Sasse, Flake, Cruz (especially Cruz in a close election) did not want to have their faces on TV taking sides, so yielded to the hired prosecutor.

On the other hand, Graham, Hatch, Cornyn, Lee and Crapo are among the biggest troglodytes of the Senate and simply couldn't pass up an opportunity to go nuclear on women's issues.

I think that's all it was. Some playing it safe and others doing their usual showboating. All decided in advance.
posted by JackFlash at 5:16 PM on September 27, 2018 [7 favorites]


I really wish the Democrats would add a question to their standard lineup: "Have you ever committed any crimes?" Not because it'd make any difference, but because the standard R "of course not" instead of a waffling, "not that I recall or am sure of," would help perjury cases later.

Hell, just picking a set of yes/no questions and sticking to them would be nice. "Did you drink alcohol before you were 18? Have you ever forgot events that happened while you were drinking? Have you ever had sex with someone who didn't consent, including someone who was too intoxicated or too young to give consent? Have you ever stolen money? Have you ever cheated on an examination in school?"
posted by ErisLordFreedom at 5:17 PM on September 27, 2018 [5 favorites]


Has anyone made an informed analysis of Dr Ford's chances of success using the civil courts to sue for emotional distress? It would be a small consolation to imagine his wages will being garnished while he's serving on the Supreme Court.
posted by peeedro at 5:18 PM on September 27, 2018


Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski, Jeff Flake and Joe Manchin

Much as I'd like to think otherwise, I can't see that collection of profiles in courage conclaving for anything but "we're all voting for him, right?" I'm a trifle surprised that Manchin is going to throw in but probably shouldn't be.
posted by tavella at 5:20 PM on September 27, 2018 [4 favorites]


Watching today's testimony, between Kavanaugh and Ford, I was strongly reminded of "The Judgment of Solomon."

tl;dr: Two women claim to be the mother of a child. No one knows who is telling the truth. Wise king Solomon decides "fine! We'll chop the baby in half & one of you can have the left, the other the right!" The first lady says "GREAT! Let her reap what she has shown disputing my claim! Kill the boy!" The second lady recoils in horror & says "NO!!! Sheathe your sword, she can keep my child- I'd rather my child live than be killed over this disagreement." King Solomon (not being a member of the GOP) recognizes that the woman who would be willing to give up the child to her rival is clearly the mother. Yay, wisdom.

We could use some of that here.

On the one hand, you have a woman who emphatically encourages an investigation into her claims by the FBI and who is willing to abide by whatever they discover.

On the other hand, you have a man who repeatedly defers to "the will of the council" which is run by partisans who have loudly demonstrated that they will do no such thing.

"Though seeing, they do not see; though hearing, they do not hear or understand."

But I don't think the GOP is familiar with Joshua..
posted by narwhal at 5:20 PM on September 27, 2018 [37 favorites]


Has anyone made an informed analysis of Dr Ford's chances of success using the civil courts to sue for emotional distress? It would be a small consolation to imagine his wages will being garnished while he's serving on the Supreme Court.

Even if success were almost assured the odds of this are, I think, essentially nil. She did not want this but thought it was her civic duty. It was clearly harrowing. She's done, and that's absolutely her right.
posted by Justinian at 5:21 PM on September 27, 2018 [9 favorites]


True, but one of the many other women he's raped could do so.
posted by poffin boffin at 5:27 PM on September 27, 2018 [1 favorite]


@AP: GOP senators: Judiciary Committee to vote Friday morning on Brett Kavanaugh's nomination to the Supreme Court.

This would setup a cloture vote on Saturday and a final vote on confirmation early next week, should they have the votes.

Also, so much for that whole "Grassley just had to notice the vote on Friday because of Senate rules, but don't worry, it doesn't have to happen" thing.

@mattdpearce: There are two other women who accused Kavanaugh of sexual assault on the record. We haven’t heard their testimony. It seems we don’t expect to.
posted by zachlipton at 5:27 PM on September 27, 2018 [6 favorites]


I think Sen. Harris was really smart to go after Rachel Mitchell (at the end of the Blasey Ford hearing) by reading guidelines from Maricopa county departments website with regard to victims of sexual assault. It struck a nerve. Mitchell, while not there to answer any questions did respond to the remark and ended with acknowledging that the process was far from ideal.

I think she understood what Harris was telling her ... there are professional standards, you know them. You can either be professional or a political pawn who will ultimately be blamed by the men who hired you. They are leaning on you. Passing you their little folded gotcha questions that you must ask because you aren't actually here as a hired profession but a credentialed and gendered mouth piece providing cover for the cowards seated behind you ... (at least that is how I saw the subtext of Harris's questions).

So when Mitchell began to put Kavanaugh under even light scrutiny (trying to do valid questioning and appear somewhat even handed and please the Republicans at the same time) the wheels fell off the bus completely.

Sen. Graham doesn't require a specific reason to go off. He does it often and it is a fake contrarianism that he uses to appear or claim an independent mindedness.
posted by phoque at 5:29 PM on September 27, 2018 [30 favorites]


Chris Hayes is on board the Conspiracy Train! With the July 1st "hot stove moment" on the Mitchell firing in-situ. They're talking about it on his show. Not in depth but he did point out the weirdness of her being pushed aside at exactly that moment.
posted by Justinian at 5:30 PM on September 27, 2018 [3 favorites]


Susan Ferrechio @susanferrechio
Closed-door GOP meeting HUGE applause when @LindseyGrahamSC walked in.
4:22 PM - 27 Sep 2018
posted by standardasparagus at 5:31 PM on September 27, 2018 [1 favorite]


Aravis76: The difference between the parties appears to me, as a complete outsider watching these hearings, to be that Democrats believe in the rule of law and Republicans simply don’t

Same as it ever was, at least within the last few decades. More recently: One Hearing, Two Different Realities — And The Data Prove It (NPR, May 9, 2017) -- including a bar chart for which party asked which questions of Sally Yates:

Russia/Flynn/WH conduct
D: 142
R: 40

Leaks/unmasking
D: 0
R: 65

Travel ban
D: 6
R: 26

Before that, House Republicans Spent Millions Of Dollars On Benghazi Committee To Exonerate Clinton -- Like eight previous reports, the bitterly partisan panel finds failings, but no blame for the former secretary of state. (HuffPo, July 28, 2016)
posted by filthy light thief at 5:32 PM on September 27, 2018 [3 favorites]


Believe whom we may, one thing should be clear by now—A thoughtful person, who saw the service for which they were nominated as larger than themselves, who understood the gravity of their newfound part in a dangerous and growing cultural rift, would have recognized the value in bowing out of this process.

To say nothing of whose story is more convincing, or our political slants—the fight itself, under this hot of a spotlight, illuminates one’s values more clearly than an actual trial could have. This was unwinnable in the ways that matter most.

I can’t trust an ego that out of balance, standing for itself above others, to wield so much power.

--

I feel terrible for everyone who feels re-dragged through the mud of self-doubt and despair by these recent weeks (and years).

Thank you to those who are speaking more personally and eloquently than I am able.
Thank you to those who have sacrificed.
Thank you to all those who push us to see ourselves more clearly, toward justice and harmony.
posted by angelplasma at 5:34 PM on September 27, 2018 [29 favorites]


Susan Ferrechio: The GOP meeting is over. Senate Judiciary will vote Friday on Judge Kavanaugh and full senate will hold first vote (procedural) SATURDAY says Sen Bill Cassidy.
posted by Justinian at 5:37 PM on September 27, 2018 [1 favorite]


NY Times: Both Sides!
WASHINGTON — She was nervous as anyone would be describing the worst moment of her life, choking up at the memory of a violent encounter that happened 36 years ago. Her voice at times was high, her manner deferential, even solicitous.

He was bristling with outrage and grievance, fighting back tears, his voice trembling, a man who saw his own life unraveling before him. He lashed out, interrupting senators and defiantly proclaiming his innocence.

“Dr. Ford, with what degree of certainty do you believe Brett Kavanaugh assaulted you?” Senator Richard J. Durbin, Democrat of Illinois, asked Dr. Blasey, who also goes by her married name, Ford.

“One hundred percent,” she said calmly.

When Mr. Durbin a few hours later challenged Judge Kavanaugh to call for an F.B.I. investigation, the nominee erupted in indignation.

“I’m telling the truth!” he shouted. “I’m innocent! I’m innocent of this charge!”
posted by standardasparagus at 5:39 PM on September 27, 2018 [13 favorites]


@itsmikebivins
Washington State Senator being accused of rape

That's Republican Joe Fain.
posted by Artw at 5:51 PM on September 27, 2018 [3 favorites]


sorry if it was discussed before, but i have a what if question.
what if he becomes a SC judge, and some time later, irrefutable evidence comes up that shows an illegal conspiracy by republicans to steal this spot, and an investigation starts building about how all of them knowingly broke the law - what can happen then?
(also sorry if i'm a bit incoherent, but i don't feel too good)
posted by growabrain at 5:51 PM on September 27, 2018


sorry if it was discussed before, but i have a what if question

Judges can be impeached.
posted by 922257033c4a0f3cecdbd819a46d626999d1af4a at 5:52 PM on September 27, 2018 [7 favorites]


Realisticly only if Republicans are elected out.

He will of course be part of the arsenal of tools they use to prevent that happening.
posted by Artw at 5:53 PM on September 27, 2018 [6 favorites]


I'm at the Grace Hopper Conference in Houston Texas, Anita Hill is presenting a panel tomorrow titled "The Past, Present, and Future of the #MeToo Movements" It is being live-streamed.

You can register to watch it here:

Registration Link
posted by nikaspark at 6:00 PM on September 27, 2018 [34 favorites]


Realisticly only if Republicans are elected out.

And if Democrats grow a spine. I'm not gonna hold my breath.
posted by Mavri at 6:02 PM on September 27, 2018 [3 favorites]


Washington State Senator being accused of rape

TBC, a State Senator from Washington state.
posted by ChurchHatesTucker at 6:04 PM on September 27, 2018 [1 favorite]


America Magazine, a Jesuit publication, has rescinded their endorsement of Kavanaugh.
While we previously endorsed the nomination of Judge Kavanaugh on the basis of his legal credentials and his reputation as a committed textualist, it is now clear that the nomination should be withdrawn.
posted by Uncle Ira at 6:06 PM on September 27, 2018 [57 favorites]


Women describe brutal attacks, and the GOP cheers. Behind closed doors, of course.
posted by Dashy at 6:07 PM on September 27, 2018 [13 favorites]


The current Democrats may or may not grow a spine, but remember we got a whole bunch of new ones storming the ballot all over the country.
posted by Autumnheart at 6:08 PM on September 27, 2018 [30 favorites]


In case you were wondering about this mythical "spine", Manchin is now making noises about voting for Kavanaugh.
posted by dilaudid at 6:10 PM on September 27, 2018 [1 favorite]


Corker (R-TN) has already issued a statement that he intends to vote yes on Kav.
posted by Xyanthilous P. Harrierstick at 6:12 PM on September 27, 2018 [1 favorite]


Calls to the National Sexual Assault Hotline Spiked Last Weekend While More Kavanaugh News Broke - Jackie Flynn Mogensen, Mother Jones. "Friday to Sunday saw 57 percent more calls."

"You can reach the RAINN sexual assault hotline at (800) 656-HOPE."


I haven't needed to speak to anyone in over a year, but just two hours of listening to the testimony and I may need to make a call to the local counselor. It comforts me, and disturbs me, that I'm not alone.
posted by girlmightlive at 6:15 PM on September 27, 2018 [17 favorites]


Collins is the golden key. Wherever she leads the others (Murkowski, Flake, Manchin) will follow.
posted by Glibpaxman at 6:16 PM on September 27, 2018


Very Smart Brothas has been all over this today (and if any of you need a smile, go read their coverage of the seal slapping a kayaker with an octopus, too):
The Delicious Salt of Brett Kavanaugh's White Tears: You’ve seen the incredulousness; the doubt that something like this is happening to them. (“But I’m me!” you see them thinking.) You’ve seen the anger, which can be volcanic and deadly. (Imagine a three-year-old cycling through a temper tantrum. Now imagine that three-year-old is 17 or 37.) You’ve seen the bargaining, the pleading, the brow-beating, the threats, the gaslighting, the disbelief, the questioning, the begging, and the defiance. And sometimes, if you’re lucky enough, you also see the blubbering. You watch them sob and slobber at the possibility that something, maybe, for the first time ever, won’t go exactly the way they wanted it to. You watch them watch themselves losing, and just for a nanosecond, the shield of privilege that has protected and curried and cocooned them like an extra sheen of skin is pulled away.

Of course, you know that they’ll be fine, that this is a bump in the road, that when privileged white men fall, they somehow fall up as if gravity doesn’t apply. And so you wonder ,“Why the fuck are you fucking crying?” And then it hits you: Oh yeah. He’s never felt this before. He doesn’t know what it feels like. This thing he’s experiencing now—this disappointment, this fear, this shame, this doubt—is new to him.


And Lindsey Graham Is Scared Shitless: Forget, for a moment, about the words escaping Lindsey Graham’s feckless and pouty mouth today, and the threats conjured when said words are stitched and strung together. Forget his long and pillowy face, and how when things drip out from them you’re sometimes left to wonder how a hot dog bun possesses the wherewithal to speak. Forget the pathological misogyny, the boundless antipathy for honesty, the transparently vapid false equivalencies. Forget even his voice, which sounds like rats laughing, but if those rats were somehow also Scarlett O’Hara.

Instead, look into his eyes. Watch them, as he attempts to not just deny the credibility of Dr. Christine Blasey Ford but that her credibility even matters. They are the eyes of a man—a white man—who is scared shitless. That motherfucker is shook.

posted by TwoStride at 6:17 PM on September 27, 2018 [81 favorites]


Chris Cuomo, who is generally god emperor of both-sides moderate centrism, is talking to one of Kavanaugh's Yale classmates live. She is clearly distraught because she says that there have been emails flying all day between their classmates talking about how Kavanaugh is blatantly lying about his time at Yale. That he was (as we all know) a hard-partying drinker who regularly drank to excess and undoubtedly blacked out. And that everyone knows it.

I'm waiting to see how Cuomo bothsideism this one but so far he has been very tough on Kavanaugh.
posted by Justinian at 6:18 PM on September 27, 2018 [38 favorites]


Re: "boofed" for anyone still wondering -
A few years later, when I was in maybe sixth grade (1986) it meant butt-fucking.

Edited to add: (both in the spoken vernacular, and the "Truly Tasteless Jokes" books we stole from B. Dalton)
posted by notsnot at 6:21 PM on September 27, 2018 [7 favorites]


Texting right now with my college friend who is a survivor. She's having a bad day. Whereas I remain stuck with my rage at a slow but white-hot burn.
posted by emjaybee at 6:22 PM on September 27, 2018 [4 favorites]


The right wing/trollbots are super hopped up about Lindsay Graham and Kavanaugh and Grassely screaming and yelling and generally throwing white boy privileged tantrums.

It's like the pain of millions of women, as so bravely fronted by Dr. Ford, were washed away in the torrent of outraged privilege.

No more spoons. Only knives.
posted by SecretAgentSockpuppet at 6:26 PM on September 27, 2018 [61 favorites]


The current Democrats may or may not grow a spine, but remember we got a whole bunch of new ones storming the ballot all over the country.

And many of them are women! The Democrats are nominating a record number of women. (It makes me think of the fact that blue used to be the girls' color! )

If Democrats can find themselves in the majority, that's when they will grow a spine. And besides - Harris, Hirono, Booker, Gillibrand, Lieu, Klobuchar all have spines to spare.
posted by Rosie M. Banks at 6:34 PM on September 27, 2018 [23 favorites]


@SopanDeb: A former Yale classmate of Brett Kavanaugh just went in on former New York Knick and Kavanugh ally Chris Dudley on @ChrisCuomo's CNN show: "I’m not sure he's the best character witness."

If you click through to the transcript, you'll see she tells the story of a party she remembers from college where Kavanaugh and Dudley "were very drunk and they thought it would be be really funny to barge into a room where a guy and girl had gone off together and embarrass that woman. Chris Dudley was, I believe, the one that went in under the egging on of Brett Kavanaugh, and they thought it was funny. The girl was mortified and I was furious. So I'm not sure he's the best character witness."

I know I keep saying this over and over, but yet again with another story, the common theme is the laughter, as Dr. Ford testified to today in a moment I will never forget: "Indelible in the hippocampus is the laughter, the uproarious laughter between the two."

So many people have come forward to say that Kavanaugh, time after time, got together with his buddies to laugh at hurting women. The yearbook page is outright documentary evidence of that; the hurtful "Renate Alumnius" "joke" is right there. The laughter is in Dr. Ford's testimony and Ramirez's account. And here too, "they thought it was funny."
posted by zachlipton at 6:39 PM on September 27, 2018 [66 favorites]


Rebecca Traister, What a Good Boy
This was of course wrong. The lesson of the United States in this moment is that misogyny and racism aren’t disqualifiers. They are the qualities the right wing considers key to their larger project—perhaps in fact, a main selling point. (Especially for their president, who today was reported to have loved Kavanaugh’s blustering, aggressive attitude toward his questioners).

After all, the reason that Republicans want to jam through Kavanaugh’s nomination is that as a member of the Supreme Court he’ll be able to help create the mechanisms that determine which kinds of Americans have rights, protections, autonomy, and power.

By building a court that can reverse precedent—around affirmative action, reproductive autonomy, fair wages, voting and collective bargaining—Republican believe that they can push back the populations that threaten the dominance of the white patriarchy. The right kind of court, so to speak, could turn back social movements that have succeeded to the point that old white men like Orrin Hatch can’t just ignore the Anita Hills and Christine Blasey Fords and Kamala Harrises and Mazie Hironos. To regain the court is to regain the power, to perhaps build a future in which powerful white men do not have to put up with all this kind of stuff anymore.
As if to prove Traister's point, Matt Schlapp's tweet tonight abandons any pretense and just is straight up trying to scare voters with the prospect of women and people of color in power.
posted by zachlipton at 6:48 PM on September 27, 2018 [29 favorites]


New York Times front page for Friday. Only lacking the BOTH SIDES headline.
posted by Justinian at 6:55 PM on September 27, 2018 [8 favorites]




My cold little heart says Collins votes no, Murkowski votes yes, Pence breaks the tie.

I think it will be the other way around - Collins votes yes, Murkowski votes no, Pence still breaks the tie.
posted by SisterHavana at 6:58 PM on September 27, 2018 [1 favorite]


So the democrats must use one bold image of all these that vote yes, and say - they are the ones who condon a rapist
posted by growabrain at 6:59 PM on September 27, 2018 [7 favorites]


Burgess Everett: Donnelly, Manchin, Murkowski and Collins are all expected to vote the same way, per senators and aides.

I think a lot of us suspected this but its nice to see it confirmed. There won't be a 50/50 split. This will be either 47-53 or 51-49 (assume Flake and Sasse act like Flake and Sasse).
posted by Justinian at 6:59 PM on September 27, 2018 [2 favorites]


Don't fucking try and tell me that boof is slang for fart you awful man.
posted by Going To Maine at 7:00 PM on September 27, 2018 [26 favorites]


Can someone explain to me why the FBI was not tasked to investigate the financial impropriety as well as the rape and abuse charges? Why is there no vetting of the fitness of every nominee for office, whether it be for judge, president, or dog catcher?
posted by BlueHorse at 7:02 PM on September 27, 2018 [10 favorites]


I'm angry and the only thing I can think of to do with this anger is fight like hell for midterms. Tonight I wrote 50 postcards for the NAACP letting people in Georgia know they'd been purged from the voting list and need to re-register. And, inspired by Dr. Ford's bravery today, I'm going to do some canvassing this weekend.

Please let your anger spur you into action. It's the only way forward.
posted by mcduff at 7:03 PM on September 27, 2018 [70 favorites]


Chris Cuomo, who is generally god emperor of both-sides moderate centrism

Christ almighty, this dickbag showed up on XM's politics channel this week, and I am livid about it. I'm not saying they've never had some bad shows or biased hosts, but the core since literally it started in '08 has been actual unbiased coverage that strives to present the news in a more neutral manner than nearly anyone else. I'd never heard Cuomo before, and about 5 minutes into his first show it was painfully clear that he's an arch "both sides"-er who values decorum above all else.
posted by tocts at 7:04 PM on September 27, 2018 [1 favorite]


I'd never heard Cuomo before, and about 5 minutes into his first show it was painfully clear that he's an arch "both sides"-er who values decorum above all else.

You may not have heard Chris Cuomo before but you've heard of his father; Mario Cuomo, governor of New York. And you've heard of his brother; Andrew Cuomo, governor of New York.

And that should tell you everything you need to know about that.
posted by Justinian at 7:11 PM on September 27, 2018 [14 favorites]


One quote keeps coming back to me:

“I could not eat as much as I'd want to throw up” — Max Liebermann, 30 January 1933
posted by acb at 7:12 PM on September 27, 2018 [13 favorites]


Burgess Everett: Donnelly, Manchin, Murkowski and Collins are all expected to vote the same way, per senators and aides.

The Atlantic's Elaina Plott:
Interesting: A source close to Senator Manchin tells me now, "Short of claims that definitively prove Dr. Ford's allegations or a realization that Kavanaugh will gut the healthcare law, Manchin will side with the overwhelming number of people in WV who want Kavanaugh confirmed."

"Manchin likes Kavanaugh and has always wanted to find a way to support him."

Manchin, of course, left his meeting with Collins, Murkowski, and Flake saying he was unsure. But thought source's use of "definitively prove" was interesting.
Later: "Manchin spokesman Jonathan Kott: 'He is one-hundred percent undecided and remains so.'"
posted by Doktor Zed at 7:12 PM on September 27, 2018


Activist Ady Barkan, who started the "Sen. Collins vote no or else" fund, has set up a new opposition fund for Grassley after witnessing his treatment of Dr. Ford today:
Hey Chuck -- we’re the people who worked with Mainers to raise over $1.5 million for Senator Collins’ future Democratic opponent, if she votes to confirm Kavanaugh. But after witnessing your disgusting misogyny and cruelty at Dr. Blasey Ford’s testimony, we decided to try a different approach with you:

We're not waiting for your vote. We are building a campaign to fund your future Democratic opponent.
posted by duffell at 7:16 PM on September 27, 2018 [57 favorites]


Sigh. Grassley's not running again, you guys. He'll be 89 in 2022. He's trying to groom his grandson to run for his seat, so I guess they can put the money towards whoever is Pat Grassley's opponent.
posted by ArbitraryAndCapricious at 7:20 PM on September 27, 2018 [7 favorites]


Whatever. I gave $20 anyway.
posted by Fritzle at 7:22 PM on September 27, 2018 [9 favorites]


Grassley's not running again, you guys. He'll be 89 in 2022.

Probably not but Arpaio ran at 86. These people are addicted.
posted by girlmightlive at 7:24 PM on September 27, 2018 [3 favorites]


one-hundred percent undecided is an odd way to express ... i'm not sure what
posted by 20 year lurk at 7:25 PM on September 27, 2018 [5 favorites]


One possible flaw I see in the very solid hypothesis that the calendar does include the crucial event, on July 1st... if I'm getting this right, the four male attendees are described as Brett, Mark, PJ, and "Squee", who is identified (perhaps only by Kavanaugh, I'm not sure) as Chris Garrett. This would be the man scapegoated by Ed Whelan, and Ford today said (without naming him) that the two of them had gone out for a period of months.

So if she knew him pretty well and he was the other guest, it's not clear why she'd forget he was at the gathering. Still, it's not entirely mysterious that she would (or that Squee is someone else and Kavanaugh just lied about that too, or Garrett never showed up and someone else did instead, etc).
posted by InTheYear2017 at 7:25 PM on September 27, 2018


Every woman behind Kavanaugh including his wife looking all kinds of things while he yells.

@curaffairs: "before this becomes a meme ... every woman in this pic is there to support him. the first woman from the left is his mother. the fourth woman from the left is his wife. they’re not upset because they think brett kavanaugh is terrible. just the opposite."
posted by Noisy Pink Bubbles at 7:26 PM on September 27, 2018 [14 favorites]


one-hundred percent undecided is an odd way to express ... i'm not sure what

I'm sure what: an absolute absence of a conscience, interest in the public good, a sense of morality, or anything else apart for concern about what's best for Joe.
posted by Rust Moranis at 7:28 PM on September 27, 2018 [2 favorites]


Corker announces he will vote for Kavanaugh: "While both individuals provided compelling testimony, nothing that has been presented corroborates the allegation."

You fuckers refused to call the key witness.

This entire thing was a set up designed from the start so Corker can make this exact statement to justify his vote for a rapist.
posted by T.D. Strange at 7:28 PM on September 27, 2018 [66 favorites]


it's not clear why she'd forget he was at the gathering

I may be wrong but I heard it as two different gatherings. The "skis" ended up being a pregame to the one that followed, and maybe "Squee" (to which I add fuck your WASP fratboy nicknames) peeled off at that point.
posted by Miko at 7:28 PM on September 27, 2018 [4 favorites]


before this becomes a meme ... every woman in this pic is there to support him.

It’s always folly to try to read human emotions in the faces of ghouls.
posted by Atom Eyes at 7:31 PM on September 27, 2018 [10 favorites]


So if she knew him pretty well and he was the other guest, it's not clear why she'd forget he was at the gathering.

Blasey Ford said that she thought (at least some of) the people at the "gathering" were perhaps pregaming for a later party that she wouldn't be attending, since they were older than she was and her parents wouldn't let her stay out that late. The "skis" could have been the gathering Blasey Ford attended, but the "skis" could also have happened later. Other people could have showed up after Blasey Ford left, or the party could have moved elsewhere, since we're not sure where "Timmy's" was.
posted by halation at 7:32 PM on September 27, 2018 [1 favorite]


This entire thing was a set up designed from the start so Corker can make this exact statement to justify his vote for a rapist.

This is exactly right. They specifically disallowed corroborative witnesses and now will use that lack of corroboration to ignore the testimony. It's analogous to killing your parents and then pleading for mercy on the basis that you are an orphan.

The "close to Manchin" source about his vote is ominous. I absolutely believe this person was speculating and doesn't know for sure how he'll vote, but it's never a great sign when the key Senators are denying they've decided to vote the wrong way rather than denying they've decided to vote the right way. It shows which way the prevailing winds are blowing. I still think Manchin and Donnelly will vote NO if Collins and Murkowski do, for cover, but... I dunno guys, I don't have much fight left. This feels like the night of the Obamacare repeal failure all over again. How many times can we do this?
posted by Justinian at 7:32 PM on September 27, 2018 [10 favorites]


> COUNT TIMES

There are 69,105 times here.
posted by delfin at 7:36 PM on September 27, 2018 [6 favorites]


How many times can we do this?

What's the alternative?
posted by Miko at 7:36 PM on September 27, 2018 [2 favorites]


ELECTIONS NEWS

(I'm going to start adding some commentary, where appropriate)

** 2018 Senate:
-- WV: 1892 Polling has Dem incumbent Manchin tied 45-45 with GOPer Morrisey [MOE: +/- 4.4%]. Poll was commissioned by the Morrisey campaign. => This seems pretty clearly an effort to counter perceptions that this race is already over - the DSCC pulled ads yesterday. Public polling has had Manchin with leads of about ten points.

-- CA: PPIC poll has incumbent Feinstein up 40-29 on de León [MOE: +/- 4.4%].

-- MI: EPIC-MRA poll has Dem incumbent Stabenow up 56-33 on GOPer James. [MOE: +/- 4.0%].

-- PA: F&M poll has Dem incumbent Casey up 50-33 on GOPer Barletta [MOE: +/- 6.1%].

-- IN: Former Senator Lugar refuses to endorse either candidate.
** 2018 House:
-- CA-50: Monmouth poll has GOP incumbent Hunter up 49-41 on Dem Campa-Najjar in their potential voters model. In midterm model, Hunter up 3-38; Dem surge model, Hunter up 51-40 [MOE: +/- 4.9%]. [Trump 55-40 | Cook: Lean R] => Hunter is currently under indictment for campaign finance violations, which is why the Dem is about 20 points closer than he was previously. But it's just a really red area. The DCCC is cancelling their San Diego ad buys, probably meaning they a) see CA-50 as out of reach, and b) see CA-49 as in the bag.

-- AZ-04: OH Predictive poll has GOP incumbent Gosar up 57-25 on Dem Brill [MOE: +/- 5.1%] [Trump 68-28 | Cook: Solid D] => This is the one where all of Gosar's siblings made an ad endorsing Brill. It was a great ad, but a 40 point Trump margin district.

-- Democrats still expanding the map, as numerous unheralded races are believed to be within 10 points.

-- Cohn: Undecided voters may help Dems more in Sunbelt than Midwest.
** Odds & ends:
-- CA gov: Same PPIC poll has Dem Newsom up 51-39 on GOPer Cox. | Downballot, Proprosition 6 (gas tax repeal) fails 39-52; Proposition 10 (allowing municipalities greater power to enact rent control) fails 36-48. [Cook: Solid D]

-- MI gov: Same EPIC-MRA poll has Dem Whitmer up 45-37 on GOPer Schuette [Cook: Lean D] | Downballot: SOS: Dem Benson up 40-31 on GOPer Treder Lang. AG: Dem Nessel up 38-32 on GOPer Leonard.

-- PA gov: Same F&M poll has Dem incumbent Wolf up 52-30 on GOPer Wagner. [Cook: Likely D]

-- SD gov: ALG poll has Dem Sutton up 45-42 on GOPer Noem [MOE: +/- 4.4%]. Poll was commissioned by the Sutton campaign. [Cook: Likely R] => This one has been a sleeper favorite for a while. Sutton is very well known and popular in SD - he's a former professional rodeo guy who suffered a tragic accident - and presumably the soybean tariff is none too popular. Still something of a long shot, but not a foregone conclusion.

-- FL gov: GOPer DeSantis hires new campaign manager, as polls show Dem Gillum with consistent leads. [Cook: Tossup]
posted by Chrysostom at 7:37 PM on September 27, 2018 [28 favorites]


It’s always folly to try to read human emotions in the faces of ghouls.

Every nice ghoul loves assailants.
posted by Joe in Australia at 7:38 PM on September 27, 2018 [6 favorites]


What's the alternative?

There isn't one, of course.

I'm just so tired. I can't imagine what women who have been assaulted and particularly those who have kept quiet so exactly this sort of bullshit didn't happen to them are feeling right now. Sorry, mefi friends.
posted by Justinian at 7:40 PM on September 27, 2018 [14 favorites]


Metafilter: (I'm going to start adding some commentary, where appropriate)
posted by Melismata at 7:44 PM on September 27, 2018 [15 favorites]


DevilsAdvocate: "But the first two alone are not enough. Cf. Walter Nixon, a federal district judge who was convicted of perjury and jailed in 1986, but refused to resign, and was not removed until he was impeached and convicted in 1989."

Can a judge rule from jail? If not it would seriously blunt the effect he could have during a 10-20 stay at taxpayer expense.
posted by Mitheral at 7:46 PM on September 27, 2018


I listened to bits and pieces throughout the day. Kavanaugh and the Republican senators sounded like whinging children. They had no professionalism, no poise, no self-respect. You are not the horribly maligned victims of some underhanded conspiracy. Get over yourselves, work through it, and move on already.
posted by xammerboy at 7:47 PM on September 27, 2018 [3 favorites]


Matt Schlapp's tweet tonight abandons any pretense and just is straight up trying to scare voters with the prospect of women and people of color in power.

I don't know about those other states, but I'm pretty amused that he's trying to scare voters in Michigan into voting for the African-American.
posted by Etrigan at 7:47 PM on September 27, 2018


I can't imagine what women who have been assaulted and particularly those who have kept quiet so exactly this sort of bullshit didn't happen to them are feeling right now. Sorry, mefi friends.
posted by Justinian


I am feeling all the feels: rage, despair, bitterness, disgust. I'm channeling them into a quick and dirty embroidery project I sketched out this afternoon.

#metoo
posted by workerant at 7:49 PM on September 27, 2018 [45 favorites]


Ah, Lindsey Graham and his melodrama.

I still remember when he waxed maudlin during Sam Alito’s hearing, in such an affectedly mawkish bit of stagecraft that even got Alito’s wife to tear up.

That made for good video, and all you heard from most outlets for the next news cycle was how the mean old Democrats made a woman cry.
posted by darkstar at 7:54 PM on September 27, 2018 [1 favorite]


I've gone back and watched this moment over a couple of times. It's the moment where Sen. Klobuchar is asking Judge Kavanaugh if he's ever drank so much he couldn't remember any of what happened. And he turns it back on her and asks the Senator "have you?" Watch it closely, right around 34 seconds.

He gets this weird look on his face, like he realizes he's jumped back into angry partisan mode and not umpire judge mode. He sucks in air sharply, and maybe I'm projecting here, but I swear he looks like he's doing a poor job of holding in a grin, like he just found another opportunity to hurt and laugh at a woman. This was later in the hearing, and it was a stark contrast to his more calm tone at that point. Klobuchar is taken aback but handles it professionally, instructing him to answer and asks again, and yet, with the benefit of more time, he doubles down, just like he's doubled down in every situation where a decent human being looking back at something in their past would show something resembling reflection if not regret: as the clock ran out, "yeah, and I'm curious if you have. [I have no drinking problem Judge.] Nor do I."

For context, Sen. Klobuchar has discussed her father's struggle with alcoholism, noting that her father continues to attend AA meetings at age 90. After the break, and consultation with his team, Kavanaugh did apologize, noting "this is a tough process." But it was just so absurdly out of line that he did it twice. As Deadspin demonstrated in a supercut, the man discussed his affection for beer over and over again (a bit of a contrast from the Fox News interview, don't you think?). Compared to the detailed questions about his drinking that that would have been fair game to ask, at least in private if not in public, (how many drinks a night, how many days a week, in high school, in college, now, what about the 100 kegs, how many people would share a keg over how long a time, etc..., etc...), simply asking if he's ever drank so much to impair his memory is a fairly basic question directly relevant to the inquiry. And yet given the opportunity to stop, take a deep breath, and remember that he's at an extremely important job interview and you do not clap back at US Senators, he doubles down and does it anyway.

He showed who he was right in that moment.

@ClydeHaberman: If Kavanaugh's instinct is to respond snidely & nastily to a U.S. senator at a televised hearing, it doesn't require a great leap to intuit that he is capable of worse, maybe much worse, with women who lack any power.
posted by zachlipton at 7:56 PM on September 27, 2018 [117 favorites]


It does feel like, regardless of how this turns out, expanding the Court has become much more likely.
posted by Chrysostom at 7:57 PM on September 27, 2018 [13 favorites]


I can't imagine what women who have been assaulted and particularly those who have kept quiet so exactly this sort of bullshit didn't happen to them are feeling right now

I can only speak for myself, but this , on top of the whole 2 years, has been a very clear and direct message from white males in power reminding me how worthless they think I am.

I know it's not progressive and I probably will dial this back, but I am considering a blanket rule to never ever vote for another white man for the rest of my life. Not just the GOP but the Dems that don't get it and don't really do jack. Done.

I'd like to go to everyone who ever whined the likes of 'lesser of two evils' in my presence and make sure something terrible happens to them, too, to make them feel as bad as their actions have made me and every woman and person of color and marginalized individual in this fucking country.
posted by Miko at 7:58 PM on September 27, 2018 [56 favorites]


NYT op-ed, Michelle Goldberg, Christine Blasey Ford’s Sacrifice
The hearing, by contrast, was profoundly dispiriting. If I were allowed to curse in The New York Times, this column would be one word repeated over and over.
...
In her opening statement, Blasey described why she’d been reluctant to go public with her story. “I believed that if I came forward, my voice would be drowned out by a chorus” of Kavanaugh’s powerful supporters, she said. She may have been correct. By the time the hearing ended, the right seemed more committed to Kavanaugh than ever, and his confirmation appeared inevitable. “Judge Kavanaugh showed America exactly why I nominated him,” tweeted President Trump. He did indeed.
posted by zachlipton at 7:58 PM on September 27, 2018 [27 favorites]


I’m at Grace Hopper right now and Anita Hill is the #1 topic of conversation. She’s speaking at the same time as the panel I’m participating in tomorrow and I expect attendance to be light for our previously sold out room. In fact, we discussed canceling our panel so we could see Ms. Hill, too.

So, hello to any other Mefites at Grace Hopper. This is a really, really comforting place to be at this moment in history.
posted by Alison at 7:58 PM on September 27, 2018 [50 favorites]


It does feel like, regardless of how this turns out, expanding the Court has become much more likely.


No, god no, that’s always been a pipe dream. It makes me cringe to hear folks suggest it, because it feels so totally like an acknowledgement that there is so damn little we can control about this mess, so let’s drift off into fantasyland.

Don’t get me wrong: I’d love to see SCOTUS expanded to include enough progressives to safeguard our civil liberties for the foreseeable future. It’s just that it’s about as likely as my winning the lottery. Fun to dream about, but I’m not planning my future around it.
posted by darkstar at 8:02 PM on September 27, 2018 [7 favorites]


Just not holding hearings on a nominee wasn't possible, until McConnell did it.
posted by Chrysostom at 8:05 PM on September 27, 2018 [52 favorites]


In case you're wondering what Mitchell's role was after it ended:
Rachel Mitchell, a lawyer who was retained by the Senate GOP to question Ford, broke down her analysis of the testimony to Republicans, but did not advise them how to vote. She told them that as a prosecutor she would not charge Kavanaugh or even pursue a search warrant, according to a person briefed on the meeting.
Or even pursue a search warrant. Christ.
posted by zachlipton at 8:05 PM on September 27, 2018 [17 favorites]


For anyone who needs a change of pace, here's some fascinating political history:

A Brief History of Animals Elected to Public Offices

Via
posted by homunculus at 8:06 PM on September 27, 2018 [3 favorites]


Well, during her tenure in Arizona, Maricopa County was remarkably uninclined to pursue prosecutions for sexual molestations of children.
posted by ocschwar at 8:07 PM on September 27, 2018 [30 favorites]


No, god no, that’s always been a pipe dream.

Chrysostom's never struck me as particularly prone to flights of political fancy. I think it's more a reflection of where we're at today. Just as the hours and days after the election was called for Trump felt very radicalizing to many of us, I think today is and will have a similar effect.

I would not have supported expanding the court, even in the face of a 5-4 conservative majority, before. Now I would. That doesn't mean it's likely but it might mean the overton window is less shifting and more being whammed with a sledgehammer. Though, again, this would require nuking the filibuster and so it's not likely.

Now ask me if I've moved on nuking the filibuster. We're all TD Strange now, I guess.
posted by Justinian at 8:09 PM on September 27, 2018 [40 favorites]


The Supreme Court is about to have a 5 person conservative majority where 4 of the 5 were appointed by presidents who lost the popular vote, 2 of the 5 have perjured themselves while being credibly accused of sexual assault/harassment, and 1 of the 5 was a stolen seat. All of this as a minority party cheating and gaming the constitution to enact policies hugely unpopular with the majority – repealing Roe and most of the New Deal and civil/voting rights – and enshrining minority rule. Fuck thinking expanding the court is a pipe dream. It would be a plank in the Democratic platform. The Supreme Court will have no legitimacy after Kavanaugh and we should not worry about perceptions.
posted by chris24 at 8:13 PM on September 27, 2018 [142 favorites]


Doreen St. Felix, The New Yorker: The Ford-Kavanaugh Hearings Will Be Remembered For Their Grotesque Display Of Patriarchal Resentment. The Republicans, if they stick together, have the necessary votes. A veneer of civility made it seem as if the senators were questioning Ford and Kavanaugh to get to the truth of whether Kavanaugh, as a drunk teen-ager, attended a party where he pinned Ford to a bed and sexually assaulted her, thirty-six years ago. But that’s not what the hearing was designed to explore. At the time of this writing, composed in the eighth hour of the grotesque historic activity happening in the Capitol Hill chamber, it should be as plain as day that what we witnessed was the patriarchy testing how far its politics of resentment can go. And there is no limit.
posted by TwoStride at 8:15 PM on September 27, 2018 [59 favorites]


N.B. The Constitution says exactly nothing about how many justices should comprise the Supreme Court.
posted by Atom Eyes at 8:18 PM on September 27, 2018 [7 favorites]


Indeed, it's been as small as six and as large as ten.
posted by Chrysostom at 8:21 PM on September 27, 2018 [6 favorites]


I wouldn't discount pipe dreams seeing as we've been sluicing through a pipe nightmare for years now.
posted by Rust Moranis at 8:22 PM on September 27, 2018 [18 favorites]


The Judiciary Act of 1869 set the size at 9.
posted by kirkaracha at 8:23 PM on September 27, 2018 [2 favorites]




Packing the court is not a good strategy unless your base covers the majority of states.
posted by ChurchHatesTucker at 8:25 PM on September 27, 2018 [2 favorites]


Didn’t FDR pack the court at some point?
posted by joedan at 8:25 PM on September 27, 2018


FDR's 9th Fireside Chat on the Expansion of the Court
[transcript]



"We have, therefore, reached the point as a Nation where we must take action to save the Constitution from the Court and the Court from itself. We must find a way to take an appeal from the Supreme Court to the Constitution itself. We want a Supreme Court which will do justice under the Constitution—not over it. In our Courts we want a government of laws and not of men.

I want—as all Americans want—an independent judiciary as proposed by the framers of the Constitution. That means a Supreme Court that will enforce the Constitution as written—that will refuse to amend the Constitution by the arbitrary exercise of judicial power—amendment by judicial say-so. It does not mean a judiciary so independent that it can deny the existence of facts universally recognized.
"

FDR didn't wind up packing the court: the "switch in time that save the Nine."
posted by snuffleupagus at 8:26 PM on September 27, 2018 [7 favorites]


Here's an updated script to email/fax your Senators tonight. They are moving so fast because Grassley must know that there are more credible allegations coming. Fax zero and Senate Directory. Link to earlier post with Judiciary Members' info..
Senator,

I am completely opposed to the nomination of Brett Kavanaugh to the USSC. His hyper-agitated, angry tantrum before the SJC was ipso facto disqualifying for a life-time appointment to the USSC. For him to assert that an entire political party is conspiring against his nomination indicates that he will be unable to adjudicate any case in a fair, impartial manner.

On the substance of the hearing, Doctor Blasey Ford's testimony was extremely credible, while Kavanaugh's unhinged, unprofessional, and disqualifying ranting testimony is full of lies and mistruths.

The process for the entire nomination has been arbitrary, rushed and farcical. Charles Grassley makes big motions for getting to the bottom of the accusations but refuses to use his immense Senatorial power to empower a full investigation. It is a disgrace to the Supreme Court, the Congress, and our very way of life for this nomination to proceed without a full fact-finding investigation. It is clear that more credible accusations are coming, and the majority know it.

[For Democratic Senators: I urge you to pressure Senators Manchin, Flake, Collins, and Murkowski to vote against Kavanaugh. Tell them that your constituents are watching and will be more than happy to fill the coffers of their opponents should they vote to confirm him.

I also demand that you use every procedural tactic possible to slow Senate business, including denial of unanimous consent, so McConnell must get every single vote.]

Sincerely,
[your name]
This hearing brought up a lot for me today. Reminds me of all the times of unwanted touches and emotional labor to not offend dudes who want my time/body but might freakout if I'm less than super nice. It all adds up..jesus how do we do it.
posted by Excommunicated Cardinal at 8:26 PM on September 27, 2018 [48 favorites]


it's been bugging me all day and I finally figured out who Kavanaugh reminds me of when he gets stressed. Saul Goodman -- Better Call Saul. Class act all the way.
posted by philip-random at 8:31 PM on September 27, 2018 [4 favorites]


He also looks vaguely like "Morning" Joe Scarborough.
posted by snuffleupagus at 8:32 PM on September 27, 2018


Someone earlier in the thread compared him to the entitled frat boy played by Philip Seymour Hoffman in Scent of a Woman and now I can’t stop seeing it.
posted by Atom Eyes at 8:35 PM on September 27, 2018 [8 favorites]


Of course, if expanding the Supreme Court ever becomes a Democratic Party plank, much less a legislative reality, I will gladly eat a cake. For that matter, I’ll eat one for every new SCOTUS Justice position added to the current nine.
posted by darkstar at 8:36 PM on September 27, 2018 [3 favorites]


Christine Blasey Ford Lawyer Michael Bromwich Resigned From His Law Firm Because Partners Objected to His Decision to Represent Her

No doubt his firm cut him loose because it doesn't pay for a prestigious DC law firm to make enemies of Supreme Court Justices.

Lisa Blatt made the 180 degree opposite choice -- a self-described "feminist and Democrat" who introduced and endorsed Kavanaugh at the original hearing, a plus for her law firm.
posted by JackFlash at 8:39 PM on September 27, 2018 [9 favorites]


So, what's Avenatti keeping his powder dry for now? He'd better drop whatever it is his client has tomorrow.
posted by snuffleupagus at 8:44 PM on September 27, 2018 [1 favorite]


Senator Doug Jones (D-AL) is voting No on Kavanaugh. (it's a good, strong tweet-statement too!)
posted by un petit cadeau at 8:45 PM on September 27, 2018 [40 favorites]


We're all TD Strange now, I guess.

Join me in the next step, a constitutional amendment to overrule Marbury v. Madison.

The Supreme Court is illegitimate. It's undemocratic. It's a tool of oppression. It cannot be fixed. It's role should be written out of American life and reduced to interpreting placement of Oxford commas.

Tune in next week when we eliminate the unfixable Senate.
posted by T.D. Strange at 8:49 PM on September 27, 2018 [26 favorites]


Fuck yeah, Doug. I'm so proud of my senator tonight. His message bears repeating:
I have called for:
—Complete disclosure of all documents
—Subpoena Mark Judge
—Postpone the vote
Dr. Ford was credible & courageous.
What message will we send to our daughters & sons, let alone sexual assault victims?
The message I will send is this—I vote no. #RightSideofHistory
posted by Rhaomi at 8:51 PM on September 27, 2018 [74 favorites]


The American Bar Association just put out a late-night statement calling for a delay of the vote until the FBI investigates.
"The basic principles that underscore the Senate's constitutional duty of advice and consent on federal judicial nominees require nothing less than a careful examination of the accusations and facts by the FBI," said Robert Carlson, president of the organization, in a Thursday night letter addressed to Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley and ranking Democrat Dianne Feinstein.

"Each appointment to our nation's Highest Court (as with all others) is simply too important to rush to a vote," Carlson wrote. "Deciding to proceed without conducting additional investigation would not only have a lasting impact on the Senate's reputation, but it will also negatively affect the great trust necessary for the American people to have in the Supreme Court."
The ABA's recommendation of Kavanaugh was cited a whole bunch of times today, which indicates this has a prayer of carrying some weight, and it's a pretty bold step for them.
posted by zachlipton at 8:54 PM on September 27, 2018 [106 favorites]


I'm also wondering if anything has been done to address Dr. Ford's email hacking.

She stated it was used to impersonate her and spread disinformation, but do we know if that was the extent of the activity? Where the hacking originated? How it was hacked? Was there any sensitive archived info stolen?

Whether or not this links back to the dirty GOP tricks or CRC, or Wikileaks, etc. we deserve to know and the hacker deserves to be held responsible.
posted by p3t3 at 8:59 PM on September 27, 2018 [4 favorites]


Of course. His statements seemed to suggest she had made her decision and he was managing the timing but it's certainly possible that after today his client is considering her options (or that I got the wrong impression).
posted by snuffleupagus at 9:20 PM on September 27, 2018 [1 favorite]


A DSA meeting at a Louisville restaurant was pepper-sprayed by Nazis, who the cops laughed and joked with before letting them go.

DSA yelling at concentration camp director in a restaurant commit acts of grave incivility. Nazis physically attacking DSA in a restaurant (plus its staff and other patrons) get a wink and pat on the back.
posted by Rust Moranis at 9:21 PM on September 27, 2018 [71 favorites]


#NoMoreSpoons
posted by growabrain at 9:31 PM on September 27, 2018 [7 favorites]


Jennifer Rubin in the Washington Post: The most telling moment: Kavanaugh goes after Sen. Klobuchar
The shouting didn’t end with his opening statement. He barked at the ranking Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.). Then the Republicans got into the screaming act, pushing their outside lawyer Rachel Mitchell aside in favor of histrionics from Sens. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) and John Cornyn (R-Tex.). If President Trump loved the nasty, male grievance game, the rest of us had reason to wonder if anyone of this temperament — Cornyn, Graham or Kavanaugh — should be in a position of power. If they were women, they would be called “hysterical.”

Kavanaugh, as of this writing, made a couple major errors. [...]


Kavanaugh says he was not the attacker. But even if you believe that — despite Ford’s riveting testimony — one can reasonably conclude he is not the right person to sit on the court. His anger toward liberals is palpable, his lack of humility bracing. He has the partisan mindset that opponents are unworthy of respect and kindness.

One has had the sense, since his testimony skated past the truth on his involvement with Charles Pickering and on his awareness that documents he received were purloined, that his heart is that of a conservative partisan, one who tried so very hard to make himself into Supreme Court material. The mentality of a political operative — willing to go on Fox News, ready to inflame passions, disrespectful toward opponents — is still there. A nonpartisan would ask for, if not demand, an FBI investigation and Judge’s appearance. Kavanaugh wants to avoid both at all costs.

I believe Dr. Ford. But even if one does not, one can easily and firmly reach the conclusion Kavanaugh is far too partisan and angry to be on the Supreme Court.
Rubin really got at what struck me of the Kavanaugh testimony--if a woman got up their and acted like any of those men, she'd be called "shrill" and "hysterical" and "dramatic" and "emotional". She also calls out his apparent perjury from his first round of being questioned by the committee.
posted by Excommunicated Cardinal at 9:38 PM on September 27, 2018 [54 favorites]


Charles Pierce: This Was the Hour of White Male Rage: Brett Kavanaugh's hearing devolved into an exhibition of furious contempt for those who would keep him from what he's entitled.
Anyway, while Graham cued up his fellow Republican committee members for the rest of the afternoon, it was Kavanaugh himself, with his raving opening statement, that first cleared the decks for them. On Wednesday, he released a set of "prepared remarks" that pretty plainly were a feint. What emerged on Thursday was a stunning outburst of wounded privilege and raging contempt for people who would deny him that to which he was entitled. (When Clarence Thomas ran his rap about a "high-tech lynching," he was firm, but he didn't raise his voice.) If Kavanaugh really is completely innocent, then his anger is somewhat justified. But, I don't think he is, and, therefore, I think he looked like the guy you move to the other end of the bar to avoid.

...

Oh, and that threat right there at the end? The going around and the coming around. He will overturn Roe now, not merely because he thinks it's bad law, but because the circus made him do it. He will have his revenge on all these drones who put him and the kids through this "hell," and it will come from the highest court in the land. This, I guarantee you.

With the Democratic members of the committee, Kavanaugh remained an enraged, entitled twerp through the whole long day. There was his interchange with Senator Amy Klobuchar, in which, after she asked him about his alleged blackout drinking, Kavanaugh sneered, "Have you?" If any ordinary person had treated a sitting United States Senator with that kind of virulent disrespect, they'd have been hauled off in irons. Of course, after all the noise and bother, it stays 6-5 and pick 'em that this strategy will work. It certainly has solidified the president*'s support—for the moment, anyway. I suspect it played pretty well in MAGA precincts outside the Potomac. But what I also know is that Brett Kavanaugh is now far more dangerous a nominee for the Supreme Court than he was when the day began. He will be a wrathful judge. He pretty much said so, and his supporters on the committee enthusiastically encouraged it.
posted by homunculus at 9:45 PM on September 27, 2018 [28 favorites]


Mod note: Couple comments removed. I know this has been a shitter of a day in a shitter of a Good Long While Now and am super sympathetic about an instinct to talk about personal traumatic experience in the context of what Dr. Blasey Ford testified about today, but let's try not to go zero to sixty springing graphic sexual assault anecdotes on folks in here.
posted by cortex (staff) at 9:45 PM on September 27, 2018 [17 favorites]


Impeaching a Supreme Court justice, explained - Dylan Matthews, Vox
[tl;dr] It works just like impeaching a president.
posted by ZeusHumms at 9:46 PM on September 27, 2018 [5 favorites]


Waleed Shahid:
The old America is dying.

A new America is struggling to be born.

Now is a time of monsters.
posted by gwint at 9:47 PM on September 27, 2018 [69 favorites]


Now is a time of monsters.

Paraphrasing Gramsci: "The old world is dying, the new world slow to appear and in this chiaroscuro surge monsters."

This one's for you, Antonio.
posted by Rust Moranis at 9:55 PM on September 27, 2018 [53 favorites]


Lindsey Graham Stages Meltdown After Christine Blasey Ford Finishes Testimony - Inae Oh, Mother Jones

That is, he had one talking to the press before Brett Kavanaugh started his testimony, during the 45 minute break.
posted by ZeusHumms at 9:56 PM on September 27, 2018 [4 favorites]


Has anyone tried to argue that the drink-spiking, druggings, and mass sexual assaults reported by Ms Swetnick couldn't have happened, or even that they didn't happen? The impression I have is that Kavanaugh's side just claims that he was uninvolved. Under the circumstances that's not much of a defense, particularly when it's by someone from whom the highest ethical standards are required. I think we all know that those crimes were committed, frequently, and that the perpetrators are now among the highest men in the land. We're going to need a Truth and Reconciliation Commission before we're done.
posted by Joe in Australia at 9:56 PM on September 27, 2018 [6 favorites]


I'm generally small-c conservative on the institutional front but: packing the court takes a president and a simple majority in both houses. It violates long standing norms. Or more precisely norms that stood a long time before the Garland/Gorsuch/Kavanaugh trifecta blatantly violated them.

At this point I'm not really sure what we stand to lose by doing it. I mean I know NPR will ask sanctimonious questions of Democratic senators and the NYT will write a critical editorial, and it will be expanded again next time the Republicans are in power, but net result is still slightly less bad.

Personally I would do it as adding two seats which will sunset when Gorsuch retires so it's officially just rectifying the Garland travesty. But whatever. Someone campaigns on expanding to 15 or 31? Go for it.
posted by mark k at 9:57 PM on September 27, 2018 [6 favorites]


Senate Republicans Are More Emboldened Than Ever to Confirm Kavanaugh - Elaina Plott, The Atlantic
The mood in GOP circles was glum during Christine Blasey Ford’s testimony. But by Thursday’s end, lawmakers were confident enough to quickly schedule a vote.
...
Republicans still believe, as I reported Monday, that the failure to confirm Kavanaugh would definitively sink their chances of keeping their congressional majorities. But as of Thursday evening, at least, GOP staffers in the White House and Senate alike are breathing easier.
Is there anything else Republicans believe could cause them to lose congressional majorities?
posted by ZeusHumms at 10:01 PM on September 27, 2018 [4 favorites]


Yglesias contrasting Sotomayor's treatment with Kavanaugh's.

Seriously this "he's highly qualified because judges'-son-prep-school-boy who got right credentials" and she was intellectually mediocre because women of color have it so easy is some serious bullshit, but it was accepted by nominal liberals without much challenge.
posted by mark k at 10:02 PM on September 27, 2018 [27 favorites]


packing the court takes a president and a simple majority in both houses.

It takes a 60 vote majority in the Senate as the number of justices is set by statute and the Republicans would filibuster any change. Or, alternatively, one could abandon the legislative filibuster. See previous discussion.
posted by Justinian at 10:19 PM on September 27, 2018 [3 favorites]


Blasey Ford–Kavanaugh Testimony Tells a Tale of Two Internets
Whether you followed along with a news outlet’s livestream or liveblog, watched the event on cable news, or relied on Twitter to curate a highlight reel, your experience was mediated and shaped by the filter bubbles that dictate whose opinions you see when you read things on the web. Where some see sober, science-backed credibility, other see a circus...

These stances are wildly, maybe disastrously, different. Each side casts the other as inappropriate and lionizes their own entrants into the fray. And as these narratives grow, change, and refract their way across the internet—being discussed and rehashed by people in their own corners of the political spectrum as they go—the gap between them is likely to widen. Partisan narrative has come to trump attempted objectivity. It’s hard to imagine a scenario where that’s less appropriate than when trying to determine whether a man is fit to be an objective arbiter of truth and justice for an entire nation.
I'm not fond of the both-sides framing here, but I think this is important. I don't quite know how to address it - I've definitely felt the pressure of a liberal bubble running away with a story, even if I think I've got the facts in here with me, but I'm also thoroughly sick of the encouragement to compromise and find common ground with people who have no intention of doing the same. I'm sure the people devastated by the events of today don't want to be making nice with these sorts of people. But it's a timely reminder that this doesn't actually read as a slam-dunk embarrassment to the people we'd hope would feel embarrassed.

Call your senators, and if that doesn't work, make sure you're registered to vote.
posted by Merus at 10:19 PM on September 27, 2018 [21 favorites]


It takes a 60 vote majority in the Senate as the number of justices is set by statute and the Republicans would filibuster any change. Or, alternatively, one could abandon the legislative filibuster. See previous discussion.

Well, yes, abandoning the filibuster takes a simple majority and violates norms but that is part of the norms that were violated already in the supreme court fight. It'd be kind of silly to want to pack the court and worry about being criticized for suspending the filibuster.
posted by mark k at 10:29 PM on September 27, 2018 [5 favorites]


My daughter was born in November 2015 and has had the words "Nevertheless, she persisted" hanging above her crib/bed for most of her life. I'm a little conflicted on hanging "No more spoons. Only knives" next to it because that seems like unsafe advice for a three year old. On the plus side, she can't read so maybe I'll just tell her it says "smash the patriarchy" because at least that won't encourage her to grab knives and make my wife yell at me.
posted by jermsplan at 10:32 PM on September 27, 2018 [56 favorites]


Regardless of how the confirmation vote goes, can we start doing our utmost to make sure that the Republican party never gets away from this and that the stench of it haunts them forever?

As childish as it is, every time a Republican says something about the "Democrat party" I want whoever they're baiting to respond by calling them RAPEubilicans.

I want memes all over the internet proclaiming "You can't spell GROPE without G.O.P."

I want to tar them with this so thoroughly it makes the construction "tax and spend liberal" seem like a flash in the pan.

Because if they are determined to secure their longed-for Supreme Court majority by stooping to these kind of depths and if we are powerless to stop them at this moment in time I want to at least be sure that they pay the full price that ought to come due.
posted by Nerd of the North at 10:59 PM on September 27, 2018 [88 favorites]


I saw Ford's half of the hearing live, but just catching up to the Kavanaugh video now. Liberal or conservative media bubbles aside, I don't see how anyone can miss at least the amount of bias (if not the entitled anger that our side sees) at the words coming out of this guy's mouth:

…then, as no doubt was expected if not planned, came a long series of false last-minute smears designed to scare me and drive me out of the process before any hearing occurred. Crazy stuff- gangs, illegitimate children, fights on boats in Rhode Island, all nonsense reported breathlessly and often uncritically by the media…

He's also trying to not blame Dr. Ford, which means he's basically blaming Senate Democrats, and reading into motives of the accusations, why and how they were released, ulterior motives of the press. He's getting into a political shit-flinging contest with barely the thinnest modicum of civility. This deserves to be a deal-breaker in and of itself.

I expect as much from Trump, but the rest of the GOP is pretty astounding in their efforts to out-corrupt him.
posted by p3t3 at 11:28 PM on September 27, 2018 [4 favorites]


Regardless of how the confirmation vote goes, can we start doing our utmost to make sure that the Republican party never gets away from this and that the stench of it haunts them forever?

There's no expiration date on investigating Kavanaugh's past. It can be hung around his neck, tainting his decisions & possibly even turning him a bit defensive & tentative. And of course providing ammunition for eventual impeachment.
posted by scalefree at 11:53 PM on September 27, 2018 [22 favorites]


Regardless of how the confirmation vote goes, can we start doing our utmost to make sure that the Republican party never gets away from this and that the stench of it haunts them forever?
There's no expiration date on investigating Kavanaugh's past. It can be hung around his neck, tainting his decisions & possibly even turning him a bit defensive & tentative. And of course providing ammunition for eventual impeachment.
That's nice, but I don't want this to just loom over Brett Kavanaugh for whatever career follows from here. I want this to haunt Lindsay Graham. Chuck Grassley. John Cornyn. I want nobody to ever take Ben Sasse's "very serious person" act seriously ever again. I want it to haunt Ted Cruz's retirement after Beto kicks his ass. I want Republicans who haven't even been born yet to have to explain why they joined that party. I want this to have its own chapter in future history books, as it should, but only if we make them pay the consequences.
posted by Nerd of the North at 12:07 AM on September 28, 2018 [78 favorites]


Let's refocus our attention to the salient point: "THIS is the best the GOP can offer?"
posted by mikelieman at 1:01 AM on September 28, 2018 [20 favorites]


I keep coming back to what Rebecca Solnit wrote about movements of hope and change: that what seemingly happens on the surface is never the whole story; that bonds formed amidst crisis tend to last longer and mean more than anybody suspects in the moment; that heroic movements one decade plant seeds for half a century to come.

It disgusted me, after a day's worth of real-time proof that Ford is an astonishing and brave woman and that Kavanaugh is a brutish goblin of a man, that every MSM outlet seemed to revert to "MAYBE BOTH WERE RIGHT??", and that the Republicans are intent on playing this out like the ghastly football game they want to make it. The latter half feels less surprising, to me—they want, in their mean, tunnel-visioned way, to crush #MeToo, to do something horrible and gross and disgusting to it, and to shock and hurt and depress its participants into shutting the fuck up and never finding courage ever again—but the way the press treated today reminds me that they, too, are part of this moment in history. They, too, are fundamentally reactionaries, perhaps "liberal" as individuals but still invested in the Great White Man Machine, still invested in "politics as usual", where "usual" means Kavanaugh would not be the first rapist serving in the genuine highest seat of power in the land. They thought the last two decades went fine, and would love to suspend us in, I dunno, a perpethal 1994, to pick a year that nobody thinks of as uniquely wretched that would also make a depressing high bar for American progress. Republicans are the extreme end of a cultural malignancy that runs far beyond them, well into the realm of purported "moderates" who would see themselves as the highest form of order even as the ground beneath them erodes away.

All of which is to say that I wish I had faith that Kavanaugh wouldn't get nominated. I have hope, and more of it than I expected a week ago, but hope hasn't been enough for a decade and running, these days. It feels depressingly easy to imagine a world where the fucker makes it.

But I'm not sure that, when we look back at this day in history, we'll care about the outcome as much as we care about the storm around it. A part of me felt, from start to finish all day, that we were looking at a pivotal moment in the crumbling of the Powerful Man in our cultural cachet, and of the Weak Victim too. Because Ford came across, start to finish, as brave, as intelligent, as strong—as a hero in every sense of the word—whereas Kavanaugh looked, no better word for it, spoiled. Like a ripe fruit left in the sun. Like a pissy child. He looked like the overgrown teenage rapist that he was, incapable of feeling bad for anyone but himself, incapable of feeling righteous about anything but his own would-be destiny.

Donald Trump was a freak show from the start. Yes, he's brash and colorful and tactless in all the fun ways that energize his base, but he's not elite as we've been taught to see the elite. In the world those "elites" created, sure, he's a funhouse-mirror John Galt, but nobody would mistake him for his creators. Brett Kavanaugh, on the other hand, is that rarest of specimens: the "good boy". He's properly bred. He was raised in money, and he played his game right at every moment. Even his hair screams of tasteless so-called "cultivation", as if Dale Cooper'd started taking styling advice from a similarly overbred poodle. Brett Kavanaugh is everything Reagan's right thinks a man should be, from his worldview to his wealth to his daughter's fucking extracurriculars. In their perfect world, he's the hedge the rest of us get pruned down to, all the non-Brett Kavanaugh-ness of the world violently trimmed away.

And that "good boy" got on camera and proceeded to glare and yell and sulk and smirk. He took every opportunity to be a dick for no good reason, every chance to do the weaselly thing, every shot he was given to do something cowardly and smug. And he did it right after his once-victim, who was bullied and threatened and hated and treated like shit even during this proceeding, came forward and demonstrated a masterclass in being forthright, but unashamed. Kavanaugh exposed the myth of the good Christian man in an afternoon and did it with a thousand cameras pointed his way, and a world watching in real time.

There are people who won't see it that way. People who think that a man was the real victim here; people who still believe that strength works the way it did in high school, where jackassery is proof that nobody will penalize you for your jackassery, and therefore a sign of strength. But they are no longer the majority, and—just as importantly—it's not hard to see what a shallow, weak understanding that is of strength, of justice, of what it means to have done with with your life and with the world. They will take longer to crumble away than we would like, but once it happens, it will happen with a shocking rapidity. One day soon, Brett Kavanaugh will serve as the posterboy for everything that was wrong with the world in this moment in time, and we know it will happen because of how many people saw him exactly that way in real time. Those people, not Brett, control the future of this nation, and of the world.

It's an ugly, shocking time, because four-plus decades of social order and myth are crumbling far more quickly than anyone can process, and, beneath those, however many centuries of male power, and perhaps even—one hopes—the brutal power of wealth and class itself. Whether it will find a way to right itself, to stabilize, no one entirely knows, but days like today don't embolden it: they crumble its foundations even further. Whatever smug triumph the right finds tomorrow will be overwhelmed by the outrage, the fury, the sheer injustice of it all, that will face them for letting history come to this moment. This isn't the world that put Clarence Thomas into power anymore. That's not to say it's no longer a world in which Kavanaugh stands a chance, but the outcome of this hearing is not the most important thing to come out of the hearing itself, a fact which the reactionaries of America desperately hope is not the case. They'll try to bully the world into staying the same shape it used to be. It's unclear how many of them have even the dimmest recognition that that bullying is what got them here in the first place, that it will ultimately be the cause of its own demise.

This has been a terrible week, and I don't wholly believe that the vote today will make it one whit less terrible. But something great has happened here as well. Something irrepressible. Something impossible to miss, unless you're the New York fucking Times.
posted by rorgy at 1:50 AM on September 28, 2018 [145 favorites]


ugh, Fuck Lindsay Graham!

I'd hope that anyone in the US on the left would fully support the notion that if a Democratic nominee was facing such credible accusations they'd want them pulled too.
posted by Just this guy, y'know at 2:56 AM on September 28, 2018 [5 favorites]


I'd hope that anyone in the US on the left would fully support the notion that if a Democratic nominee was facing such credible accusations they'd want them pulled too.

Franken was pulled off the Judicial Committee itself!
posted by PenDevil at 3:07 AM on September 28, 2018 [63 favorites]


> Paraphrasing Gramsci

maybe arnold, too:
"Wandering between two worlds, one dead,
The other powerless to be born"
posted by kliuless at 3:45 AM on September 28, 2018 [12 favorites]


Joe in Australia: Has anyone tried to argue that the drink-spiking, druggings, and mass sexual assaults reported by Ms Swetnick couldn't have happened, or even that they didn't happen?

Yes. I'm pretty sure that, e.g, David French of the National Review and Lindsey Graham of the Ridiculous Tantrum have expressed on Twitter something along the lines of incredulity that a band of young men could rove from party to party committing assault and not being stopped. So, just disputing the existence of frat culture's worst evils, like someone saying "mass shootings" have to be a myth because someone would do something about them.

Don Pepino: Remember how last night they ginned up a whole bunch of wild accusations that BK kept referring to all hearing long--"the breathless media say that I'm in gangs, I cooked meth, I ran sweatshops!" or whatever--I don't remember any of it beyond the word "gangs," chiefly because they tried this PR push way too late, at least in the mainstream media, and BK's references to these things were the first I'd really paid attn to them.

So, about "gangs". I don't know the specifics of the red-herring accusations (other than suspecting the Rhode Island one to be among them), but he very likely was not mentioning that term in reference to one of them. Instead, it's about Julie Swetnick's account.

See, Alexandra Erin raises a headspinning but valid point about the term "gang rape" -- quite a few conservatives have been treating it like an accusation that Kavanaugh belongs to a gang. Like, with hand signals and rivalries and graffiti tags. And from there you can see how the dogwhistle operates: "gang rape" can only be committed by "gangs", and we all know what sort of people are in those.
posted by InTheYear2017 at 3:59 AM on September 28, 2018 [47 favorites]


Okay, I'm experiencing serious problems here. I was just browsing reddit at work, and I came across a front-page post of someone who claims to have been a leftist until now, but the "disgraceful spectacle" of the Kavanaugh hearing made him see the light and convert to MAGA-republicanism.

This got my curiosity, and looking at the top posts of /r/Conservative also appears to show that the general opinion of the right is that they "won" the hearing.

I'm in Europe, and as much as I learned about American politics in the last few months, I keep wondering: how can that be? How can two different groups of people witness the same events and yet see them completely differently?
And, more importantly, when I tend to side overwhelmingly with one side's interpretation, does this mean I'm blinded by partisan fervor, or is the other side really as, well, evil as they would have to be to see things this way?
posted by PontifexPrimus at 4:22 AM on September 28, 2018 [7 favorites]


Didn't watch the hearings but monitored Thread and twitter and my brother was texting me (re: Bart O'K:) STOP CRYING DOUCHE to which I was I will motherfucking suck those tears down with a motherfucking straw, believing that this was the meltdown of a man losing.

And lo, here we are. Inconceivable that a federal judge could take a steaming dump during a job interview and dare senators to eat it and Lindsay Graham says lo he shatteth gold and King Trump is pleased.

Whatever happens, Trump has added more dry kindling around a forest that is basically 90% kindling already. When the storm comes and the lightning starts a fire, bet those motherfuckers will be crying then, too.
posted by angrycat at 4:25 AM on September 28, 2018 [24 favorites]


I think the part that horrified me the most, and assured me that Kavanaugh would be put on the Court, was when the Republicans kept praising Dr. Ford, giving her little patriarchal head pats for her "bravery".

You cannot both support Kavanaugh and think that Dr. Ford did a praiseworthy thing. One of the two of them is lying. If you believe Kavanaugh then there is nothing brave, or good about Dr. Ford testifying.

But the Republicans were taking the logically impossible position of both supporting Kavanaugh **AND** saying nothing but good things about Dr. Ford. The only reason for that is a bit of asscovering to try and give self hating women an excuse to vote for them. It's a statement that bitches ain't shit, but one with a very thin veil of deniability that Republican women can latch on to and use as a justification for voting for the Republicans who will, today, vote to put a rapist on the Supreme Court.

I knew the instant I heard the Republicans praising both Ford and Kavanaugh that they were going to vote to confirm him. The only question now is whether Kavanaugh will be confirmed with 51 votes, or if some Democrats will show their contempt for women by voting yes as well.

The US Supreme Court will now have at least two known sexual predators, and five hardcore Republican votes. What happens after that I don't know.
posted by sotonohito at 4:26 AM on September 28, 2018 [29 favorites]


"How can two different groups of people witness the same events and yet see them completely differently?"

This is the sad mystery of modern Amerikan politics - truth has become partisan. It's now the world of Star-Bellied Sneetches. Nothing matters except whether your party says wear a star or not.
posted by parki at 4:27 AM on September 28, 2018 [16 favorites]


How can two different groups of people witness the same events and yet see them completely differently?

There is no consensus reality anymore, nor has there been for quite some time. All that remains is a roiling manifold of objects, processes and events to be recombined and interpreted differentially, generally according to one's prejudices and/or ideological predilections.
posted by adamgreenfield at 4:33 AM on September 28, 2018 [9 favorites]


Avenatti's back on Twitter as of a few minutes ago, insisting his client wants to be heard.
posted by snuffleupagus at 4:37 AM on September 28, 2018 [2 favorites]


does this mean I'm blinded by partisan fervor, or is the other side really as, well, evil as they would have to be to see things this way?
this, ladies and gentlemen, is American soft power projection in 2018.

rorgy lays it all out. The confirmation or the outcome is a detail. What we have all just witnessed is the greatest power struggle in our contemporary era - the playing out of ye olde Rich White Man rules the world vs the "Other" - whether its power against a woman in America itself, or whether its "America" vs China,Russia, Iran, NKorea, pick your Other folks, here's a dart.

In a microcosmic event, this hearing, the futility and entitlement and spoilt brattishness of it all is being played out, not just within the US government, but thanks to the need for publicity, the media's need for eyeballs, and the power projections via "news" and information on the tech giant platforms, this has now played out for the world to see and reflect and rethink what power means. Women everywhere have been triggered by this "Kavanaugh" thing even if they barely comprehend who he is and what is he fighting for... all we hear, back home, in our own continents, is the outpouring of misogynistic abuse and violence spilling out and over into our phones and screens and, our communities.

glasseyes said to me today that this isn't even patriarchy (our families of origin are both from heavily patriarchal cultures) its naked ruling class (rich men) stomping down against "women and minorities" [nowhere else on this planet are women, 50% of the population, lumped together with minorities, the way that the USA classifies half their population]

This is no different the gang boss cracking his whip to instill fear into the disrespectful before it blows up into the disruptive and rebellious.

read rorgy again. Something broke today. Derision heard during the ONGOING United Nations General Assembly in your country right now is only the equivalent of a polite titter at the naked horror playing out between power and vulnerability right now in every television set not in a private home.
posted by infini at 4:38 AM on September 28, 2018 [41 favorites]


*throws up a little in mouth*

/takes that walk in the sunshine
posted by infini at 4:44 AM on September 28, 2018 [3 favorites]


Metafilter: a roiling manifold of objects, processes and events
posted by crocomancer at 4:47 AM on September 28, 2018 [11 favorites]


I came across a front-page post of someone who claims to have been a leftist until now, but the "disgraceful spectacle" of the Kavanaugh hearing made him see the light and convert to MAGA-republicanism.

This is something the right's been trying to make a thing lately- they hope that if they just lie like this eventually it'll become real.
posted by Pope Guilty at 4:58 AM on September 28, 2018 [31 favorites]


I came across a front-page post of someone who claims to have been a leftist until now, but the "disgraceful spectacle" of the Kavanaugh hearing made him see the light and convert to MAGA-republicanism.

I thought it was by now fairly well established that the platform in question has been exploited extensively by IRA trolls. One would do well not to take anything encountered there at face value, especially "conversion experience" claims of this nature.
posted by adamgreenfield at 5:02 AM on September 28, 2018 [11 favorites]


> I came across a front-page post of someone who claims to have been a leftist until now, but the "disgraceful spectacle" of the Kavanaugh hearing made him see the light and convert to MAGA-republicanism.

This got my curiosity, and looking at the top posts of /r/Conservative also appears to show that the general opinion of the right is that they "won" the hearing.
My reading is that they're buying into the ideology of (what they believe to be) the coming hyperauthoritarian era, in an attempt to preserve their asses or privileges.
posted by runcifex at 5:07 AM on September 28, 2018 [3 favorites]


You cannot both support Kavanaugh and think that Dr. Ford did a praiseworthy thing. One of the two of them is lying. If you believe Kavanaugh then there is nothing brave, or good about Dr. Ford testifying.

I was trained, as a lawyer, that the best way to convince someone is to tell a single, internally consistent, story. Doing criminal work, it was called "a story of actual innocence," as opposed to throwing out every possible reason to doubt and hoping enough of them sound plausible to add up. We even had a little flow chart in clinic of common narratives you might want to use.

This was decidedly not that approach. They relied on a number of completely inconsistent approaches. If you think she's telling the truth about something that happened to her, but mistaken, then the process doesn't matter. If Kavanaugh is the victims of a left wing plot, as he certainly argued,* then why praise her? Is the idea that the evil left wing plot happened across a woman who mistakenly, but genuinely, believes Kavanaugh tried to rape her, but somehow that "plot" and bullshit like who is paying for her polygraph is still relevant?

It's a garbage approach, but it's designed for people whose minds are already made up, so who knows if it'll even matter.

*The bottom of that clinic flow chart, by the way, was "my client is the victim of a plot by liars," a defense that worked so seldom that you really only supposed to try it when there was nothing else.
posted by Bulgaroktonos at 5:08 AM on September 28, 2018 [43 favorites]


Avenatti's back on Twitter as of a few minutes ago, insisting his client wants to be heard.

Avenetti needs to drop some additional evidence -- such as some of the corroborating witnesses mentioned in his client's affidavit -- to have a hope of stopping this confirmation.
posted by Cocodrillo at 5:16 AM on September 28, 2018 [3 favorites]


There's no expiration date on investigating Kavanaugh's past.

Exactly. Come January, a D (TTTCS) House can subpoena Mark Judge. Can invite Ramirez, Swetnick, and Rasor to testify. Can hire investigators if they want. They can officially request the WH to have the FBI investigate and make Trump turn it down.

The Supreme Court post Bush v Gore, Gorsuch and probably Kavanaugh is illegitimate and we should make it manifestly obvious. And pointing it out is not the action that delegitimized it, Republicans built that.
posted by chris24 at 5:18 AM on September 28, 2018 [17 favorites]


I came across a front-page post of someone who claims to have been a leftist until now, but the "disgraceful spectacle" of the Kavanaugh hearing made him see the light and convert to MAGA-republicanism.

This, for the record, is so commonly used as a tactic on 4chan and Reddit that it's a cliche. On the internet, nobody knows you're a dog. More than that, they definitely don't know if you are a Black young person who thinks that Trump gets a bad rap and has won you round/woman who hates feminism/etc rather than a troll.
posted by jaduncan at 5:20 AM on September 28, 2018 [52 favorites]


Has the US gone full Russia Yet? The media has got to stop elevating tantrum-based, reality-TV politics. Of course, they are likely old White dudes, don't t hold your breath
posted by eustatic at 5:27 AM on September 28, 2018 [3 favorites]


That was by far the most disgusting show of arrogant white male ignorant flatulence ever broadcast on live television in the history of the world.

The Zapruder film didn't get shown to the public until 1970, but I see a parallel thread here. Did you see that?! Holy shit. Hooooly shit. Did you f- ... did you see that?! What th- Oh man. Oh shit.

The Krying assaulter drunk judge needs to lose everything, for starters. That was straight up shitting-on-the-dais perjury and a grotesque display befitting no human over the age of three. His co-conspirator bastard fascist Senator screamers need to get taught by their constituencies right damn quick. They have willingly and with malice destroyed the image of the Supreme Court for ... As long as we remember.

Whaaaat a shitshow for the Republicans. Dude ... quit shitting yourself. What a significant embarrassment for all of us.
posted by petebest at 5:30 AM on September 28, 2018 [28 favorites]


One of the things I've found most difficult during the entirety of the Trump presidency is constantly adjusting my expectations downward.

I expected Trump to nominate a far right wing Heritage Foundation approved partisan hack in the mold of Alito, Gorsuch, or Roberts. I'd expected another round of despair over the Court becoming a bastion of far right Republicanism for the next 40 years.

What I hadn't expected is that Trump would nominate a rapist with a history of gambling and bragging about being blackout drunk. [1] That genuinely surprised me.

Just as in the past other actions Trump has taken that lowered the bar below what I'd thought was the ground surprised me.

The past two years have been a continuous exercise in discovering that my expectation for how bad things are is wildly over optimistic and that what I imagine to be the worst a President can do is laughably naive.

I'll try to adjust my expectations downward again, and I expect to be proven unable to adjust them far enough the next time Trump acts. Whether in international politics, judicial appointments, domestic politics, or even simple graft and nepotism, I keep discovering that no matter how cynical and jaded I think I am, Trump continuously finds a way to be even worse than I think he will be.

And the Republican Party as a whole keeps going along with it.

[1] And I"m really disappointed that none of the Democrats quoted Kavanaugh's multiple bragging statements about his habit of getting falling down blackout drunk, his recent statements that he never drinks to excess, and then asking if he was lying then or if he's lying now. Because clearly he was lying at one point.
posted by sotonohito at 5:31 AM on September 28, 2018 [30 favorites]


Of course there is an objective really. There are facts. Don't anybody dare believe there aren't, despite the obvious willingness of some people to claim it. When your cause is righteous, the enemy's only hope is to make you doubt its righteousness. Don't doubt it, people.
posted by dbx at 5:32 AM on September 28, 2018 [8 favorites]


State prosecution always remains a possibility.

Apparently not:

Amid the Ford-Kavanaugh exchanges, have the local police been asked to investigate? (Dan Morse, WaPo)
The most serious crime that authorities could pursue, given the description of alleged events in sworn testimony provided to U.S. senators on Thursday by Christine Blasey Ford, would be attempted rape. But that was considered a misdemeanor crime in Maryland in 1982, which would be the relevant legal application.

As a misdemeanor, it carried a one-year statute of limitations, meaning charges would have had to have been filed within a year after an incident, according to John McCarthy, Montgomery County’s longtime chief prosecutor, Lisae C. Jordan, the executive director and counsel for the Maryland Coalition Against Sexual Assault, and other longtime Maryland attorneys interviewed in recent days.

The Maryland legislature changed the law in 1996, making attempted rape a felony and removing the statute of limitations, according to McCarthy and Jordan.

“But we’d have to apply the law as it existed at the time of the allegations,” McCarthy said.

Other possible charges, such as second-degree assault, remain misdemeanor offenses in Maryland, subject to a one-year statute of limitations, McCarthy said.

“Based on all the allegations I’ve seen so far, there are a number of legal barriers to criminal prosecutions,” Jordan said.
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 5:36 AM on September 28, 2018 [6 favorites]


What we have all just witnessed is the greatest power struggle in our contemporary era - the playing out of ye olde Rich White Man rules the world vs the "Other"

That was made pretty clear when Kavanaugh just doubled down on the absurdly transparent gaslighting (boof meaning fart, the award for throwing up being because he had an upset stomach...), and the Republicans not only backed him, but joined in. It was a potemkin hearing.

I'd like to think they've overplayed their hand and "surely this", it seems like it's just too big* for them to be able to confirm him without pitchfork type repercussions, but...

--
And, as is traditional when n or n+1 metafiltrans are gathered together in a megathread, one should recommend watching the documentary Active Measures and note that while there's not much we haven't already learned here, it really does lay it out in an incredibly stark and believable fashion.

Because it really does, and puts the Kavanaugh hearing in a fairly terrifying context in terms of where things could be going. Especially with the shit going on in Finland right now [Finnish authorities raided a Russian owned company that had been buying up ex-military gear and land along trade routes and near sub-sea cables. The day after the raid there was an apparent major attack on the country's government/civil cyber-infrastructure. More info via @pmakela1]

---
On the internet, nobody knows you're a dog. More than that, they definitely don't know if you are a Black young person who thinks that Trump gets a bad rap and has won you round/woman who hates feminism/etc rather than a troll.

Some of them don't seem to realise that reality doesn't work that way as well.

---




* #KavanaughHearings is the top trending tag for Glasgow twitter, which isn't usual for an internal US political matter, even Amnesty International are calling for a halt to the process and an investigation.
posted by Buntix at 5:36 AM on September 28, 2018 [11 favorites]


If you wish to express rage this AM, the goddamn motherfucking fuck these republican ASSHOLE monster shitbags thread is here.
posted by yoga at 5:36 AM on September 28, 2018 [14 favorites]


[1] And I"m really disappointed that none of the Democrats quoted Kavanaugh's multiple bragging statements about his habit of getting falling down blackout drunk, his recent statements that he never drinks to excess, and then asking if he was lying then or if he's lying now. Because clearly he was lying at one point.

I was waiting for someone to ask if he was lying Sunday -- in his Fox interview -- or if he was lying yesterday. Easiest gotcha in the world. Nobody did.
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 5:44 AM on September 28, 2018 [24 favorites]


Could be noise, but in the NYT's live polling of House races, Kavanaugh's net support dropped 5 points yesterday. From -1 to -6.

Nate Cohn (NYT)
Support for Kavanaugh's nomination slipped in today's interviews.
Please be cautious. It's one day and, as you can see, a one day estimate would have been noisy in the past. He could easily bounce back tomorrow.
Will be interesting to watch.
GRAPH
posted by chris24 at 5:46 AM on September 28, 2018 [4 favorites]


Huh? Democrats pressed him on the drinking, down to gritty details, a lot. I'm missing what people think was missing.
posted by InTheYear2017 at 5:48 AM on September 28, 2018 [3 favorites]


For an all too apposite history lesson, Politico columnist David Greenberg revisits the men behind the independent counsel's campaign against Bill Clinton:
Twenty years ago this month the Starr Report came out. Let’s review what happened to some of Bill Clinton’s antagonists.

One of the House leaders, Henry Hyde, was revealed to have had an extramarital affair of his own. He called it a “youthful indiscretion” because he was, at the time, a mere 41 years old.

House Speaker Newt Gingrich all the while was having an affair with a staffer. (She is now ambassador to the Vatican.) He stepped down as speaker.

His anointed replacement, Robert Livingston, declined the job when it was disclosed that he too had an extramarital affair.

Fortunately for the GOP, they settled on another replacement, who served for eight years. That man, Dennis Hastert, later served time in a federal prison for molesting young boys when he was a wrestling coach.

Independent counsel Ken Starr went on to become president of Baylor University, but had to resign for turning a blind eye to sexual harassment

But at least one of Starr’s young staff attorneys made good. Brett Kavanaugh is likely to become the next justice of the U.S. Supreme Court--unless, that is, someone discovers that he committed sexual assault or witnessed gang rapes while in high school
I'm sensing a pattern…
posted by Doktor Zed at 5:49 AM on September 28, 2018 [101 favorites]


ITY2017, the Dems asked about drinking--frequently the same questions--but never seemed to address the inconsistencies in his stories. I kept waiting for some form of a "gotcha" that never came.

Harris asked if he watched Ford's testimony. I'm assuming because she knew that he was seen watching. He said no. No follow up. So why ask that question?
posted by armacy at 5:51 AM on September 28, 2018 [4 favorites]


A wave of people who have ever been sexually assaulted, regardless of statutes of limitation, flooding police stations this weekend to name names would be a powerful show of support for each other, as well as a powerful message that we, as a group, will no longer be silenced. (Please note, I have reported a sexual assault and gone to court, know what I am asking, would never want anyone to feel pressured to report, and have equal respect and love and compassion for those who come forward and those who don't.) 

When I reported the assault I dealt with the detective every survivor deserves. The evening of the day he filed the charges, he called me and said, "I just wanted you to know that he is shitting his pants tonight". May the shit flow.
posted by ruetheday at 5:55 AM on September 28, 2018 [50 favorites]


I'm missing what people think was missing.

Three easy ones:

-attending Yale Law School is not somehow incompatible with drinking to excess or sexual assault; no Dems pressed him on that, not even Chris Coons, fellow Yale Law grad, or Blumenthal, who represents all of the women attending Yale Law right now. Is every woman who was assaulted by a fellow student while attending Yale Law lying? Are we expected to believe that no one who attended Yale Law has ever been an alcoholic or had an occasion of being blackout drunk?

-No one asked about the email where he said he didn't remember something on account of drinking and had to apologize. It was RIGHT THERE.

-No one asked him if he ever drank anything other than beer. There are reports that they fed basically jungle juice and quaaludes to girls at these parties. But nope, just beer beer beer. Not even one question about mixed drinks. No questions about drugs, not cocaine, not even marijuana.

But let's ask him again if he wants an FBI investigation, sure.
posted by melissasaurus at 5:57 AM on September 28, 2018 [40 favorites]


Just called Tillis' local office. Got a female staffer. She was polite, nothing but business.

I said I'm restraining myself here, I'm sure you guys have had a lot of calls on this this morning, but I want to be heard, I want to be counted.

Kav is a joke. He is not fit for any judgeship much less the SCOTUS. I am very VERY strongly urging Tillis to vote no and to ask him to think about his daughters. And by the way, you being a woman I would urge you also to think very hard about this. I want to be counted and heard. You will hear from me again.

edit: forgot to add there was no answer at his DC #. I called the Raleigh office.
posted by yoga at 5:58 AM on September 28, 2018 [27 favorites]


There are actually a crap ton of yes or no questions I wish someone had asked. I'm frustrated at Harris and Booker, in particular, for not asking them:

- Have you ever displayed or exposed your penis to a woman without her consent?
- Have you ever displayed or exposed your penis to a woman "as a joke"?
- Have you ever hit, grabbed, pushed, or shoved a woman because you were angry?
- Have you ever hit, grabbed, pushed, or shoved a woman while you were drunk?
- Were you ever present at any place where you were aware that men were offered the opportunity to have sexual intercourse with a woman who was drunk, or who was otherwise unable to consent?
- How often did you drink alcoholic beverages in college? Every day?
- Has any one ever told you that you tend to become angry, belligerent, or violent after drinking alcohol?
- Did you drink an alcoholic beverage today?
- How old were you when you drank your first alcoholic beverage (communion wine or similar does not count)?
- Do you feel that drinking was common while you were in high school? Were you often present while other students were drinking to the point of vomiting or becoming uncontrollably inebriated?
- In general, as a judge, do you feel that most accusations of rape or sexual assault have a basis in fact?


.... this doesn't even touch the "baseball tickets" or other issues. Why were this issues of character not addressed?
posted by anastasiav at 6:01 AM on September 28, 2018 [56 favorites]


A friend in Maine reporting that the "contact" link on Collins's website is down. I just tried it and it's "down for maintenance." How... convenient.
posted by TwoStride at 6:05 AM on September 28, 2018 [6 favorites]


A friend in Maine reporting that the "contact" link on Collins's website is down. I just tried it and it's "down for maintenance." How... convenient.

Yeah, we've seen that for about 24 hours.

If anyone is in Portland there is a thing (protest/sit in/action) scheduled at her Portland office at 11:45 am. Wear black, bring signs.
posted by anastasiav at 6:09 AM on September 28, 2018 [18 favorites]


I was able to get through on Collins' phone line this morning, there were several options of extensions to use for general calls, the first two I tried were dead-ends, but I got a live person (before 9 am, even!) on the third extension. I grew up in ME, but live in MA now, but I still have plenty of family and friends in ME who vote, which I made clear. The phone answering person was nice.
posted by banjo_and_the_pork at 6:19 AM on September 28, 2018 [4 favorites]


NYMag reports Dubya's also calling senators: George W. Bush Is Whipping Votes for Brett Kavanaugh
George W. Bush, the Washington Post reports, has reached out in recent days to Republican senators Susan Collins, Jeff Flake, and Lisa Murkowski, along with Democratic Senator Joe Manchin.[...]

The Post suggests that Bush has entered the fray, at least in part, because these undecided senators are less likely to be swayed by President Trump, who hasn’t made very good friends with any of them. And while that may be what’s driving Bush’s most recent attempt to win support for Kavanaugh, it’s not the whole reason he’s involved.

Bush and Kavanaugh go way back. In 2000, the judge worked for Bush during the Florida recount. In 2003, he nominated Kavanaugh to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. That nomination was held up for three years, during which time Kavanaugh served as White House Staff Secretary. In the summer of 2006, Kavanaugh finally made it onto the court.

When President Trump tapped Kavanaugh to join the Supreme Court in July, Bush came out in full support. “He is a fine husband, father, and friend — and a man of the highest integrity. He will make a superb Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States,” Bush said. Two months later, after the judge was accused of attempted rape, Bush reaffirmed his support.
Just called Tillis' local office. Got a female staffer. She was polite, nothing but business.

I love dealing with those kinds of staffers! Asking to leave a message with them for my GOP senator—who mostly hides behind voice mail (and refuses to meet with constituents or hold town hall meetings)—I return their polite and business-like tone, laying out my reasons for calling as clearly and straightforwardly as I can. Then with even more exaggerated courtesy, I request they repeat back the entire message to me. If they miss or mess up any of my points, I reiterate them all over again. Requiring them to read complaints aloud may not convince them, but it does trigger the cognitive dissonance they have to muster to do their jobs.

In any case, the number for the senate switchboard (202) 224-3121.
posted by Doktor Zed at 6:23 AM on September 28, 2018 [29 favorites]


George W. Bush Is Whipping Votes for Brett Kavanaugh

the charmingly impish avuncular gentleman with the wurthers candies? impossible!
posted by entropicamericana at 6:26 AM on September 28, 2018 [51 favorites]


Senator Bill Nelson: I will vote no on Judge [sic] Kavanaugh.

-----

Another note, still can't get through to the Senate Judiciary Committee. I've been getting busy signals, as well as straight-to-voice-mail calls, with a full mailbox.

It might be useful to highlight to your Senators that the majority party on the SJC are abdicating their responsibility to serve the people of the United States by a) not having enough staff to answer phones at this critical juncture and b) not having a voice mail management system among staff to keep it available for voters to share their opinions.

Keep calling, writing, faxing, and making a huge stink. This shit ain't a done deal, and we can make this process a goddamned pain in the ass.
posted by Excommunicated Cardinal at 6:27 AM on September 28, 2018 [9 favorites]


There are actually a crap ton of yes or no questions I wish someone had asked. I'm frustrated at Harris and Booker, in particular, for not asking them

They tried. It's not a courtroom, and no one knows it better than Kavanaugh. His carrying on was sickening in its entitlement and privilege, but it was also a cynical and self-aware way of frittering away all of the Democrats time on his good-boy QB valedictorian act (however it might play for a particular viewer). A minority senator isn't going to have much luck objecting that the witness' answer was non-responsive to get a hostile Chairperson to extend their time.

After a night to reflect on it, I'm increasingly sorry the Dems didn't all make 90 second statements and then cede the rest of their time to Harris so she could try to break through that bullshittery.
posted by snuffleupagus at 6:27 AM on September 28, 2018 [17 favorites]


Flake is a yes. This is going to leave the committee.
posted by cmfletcher at 6:31 AM on September 28, 2018 [6 favorites]


Washington Post breaking news
Trump administration sees a 7-degree rise in global temperatures by 2100

Last month, deep in a 500-page environmental impact statement, the Trump administration made a startling assumption: On its current course, the planet will warm a disastrous 7 degrees by the end of this century.

...

But the administration did not offer this dire forecast as part of an argument to combat climate change. Just the opposite: The analysis assumes the planet’s fate is already sealed.

The draft statement, issued by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), was written to justify President Trump’s decision to freeze federal fuel efficiency standards for cars and light trucks built after 2020. While the proposal would increase greenhouse gas emissions, the impact statement says, that policy would add just a very small drop to a very big, hot bucket.

posted by whistle pig at 6:33 AM on September 28, 2018 [47 favorites]


it's not often you see "hahaha omg we're all doomed" as an actual policy position
posted by entropicamericana at 6:38 AM on September 28, 2018 [72 favorites]




Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Grassley is my Senator. I called his DC office to express my concern that the Committee would be voting today before Mark Judge, the sole alleged co-conspirator in the attempted rape of Professor Ford, was subpoenaed. I asked if Senator Grassley had made any statements as to why Mark Judge had not been subpoenaed to be questioned regarding his letter professing his innocence; the Senator had made no such statement.

I said I was concerned because the likely reason that Senator Grassley has declined to subpoena Mark Judge is because Senator Grassley is scared that to do so would reveal that Judge Kavanaugh is guilty of attempted rape, which would make Senator Grassley look very bad indeed. It would make Senator Grassley look like a person who would put his popularity with voters or donors above the basic rights of women; above a woman's right to choose not to be pinned down and have someone hold their hand over their mouth so they can't breathe, and begin preparing to forcibly penetrate them with their penis. It would mean that Judge Kavanaugh is a monster, the President who nominated him is a monster, and the Senator who enables this confirmation is a monster, and I dearly hope that Senator Grassley will redeem himself by voting against awarding a lifetime appointment as one of the most powerful people in the country, and the world, to a monster. I was thanked and my message will be passed along
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 6:42 AM on September 28, 2018 [40 favorites]


Dominic Green, The Spectator: Republicans should drop Kavanaugh now, before they harm themselves for a generation
There are legitimate concerns about the accusations against Kavanaugh — the politicising of Supreme Court appointments, the possibility of trial by media — but to only raise these concerns when your team is in trouble is a failure of responsibility. The voters, and women voters especially, will not forget this insult to their intelligence.

Conservatives who claim that her case is a Democratic ‘hit job’ are succumbing to conspiracist fantasies. They ask us to believe that Blasey Ford lied to her husband when she told him before her marriage that she had suffered a sexual assault; that she laid a trap for Kavanaugh in her therapist’s office; that her therapist and husband are parties to a plot; and that she has contrived symptoms of PTSD.
posted by 1970s Antihero at 6:42 AM on September 28, 2018 [24 favorites]


Watching the hearing late after the news of the ABA pushing for an FBI investigation, it was at least a small consolation noticing how Kavanaugh and GOP folks kept name-dropping the ABA support as a legitimizing factor for his nomination. I guess now they'll just pretend the ABA never existed for at least the next week or so.
posted by p3t3 at 6:43 AM on September 28, 2018 [4 favorites]




it's not often you see "hahaha omg we're all doomed" as an actual policy position

You're being unfair. It's been a smooth transition as follows:

1. global warming doesn't exist, so take no action;
2. global warming isn't related to human activity, so take no action;
3. global warming might be related to human activity but it isn't the primary cause so take no action;
4. we can't afford to take action, so leave it till later until we can;
5. looks like nobody took any action, so it's too late to worry about it now.
posted by jaduncan at 6:48 AM on September 28, 2018 [73 favorites]


it's not often you see "hahaha omg we're all doomed" as an actual policy position

You would think we would want to produce even more fuel-efficient vehicles, because that would reduce the number of fuel convoys we have to protect from the marauders.
posted by mcdoublewide at 6:52 AM on September 28, 2018 [11 favorites]


Thank you for posting that twitter video, @soren_lorensen. I'm crying.
posted by narwhal at 6:59 AM on September 28, 2018 [4 favorites]


Based on the tip above, I called Tom Tillis’ Raleigh office. I said that I am very interested in politics and would love to work in Senator Tillis’ office in any capacity possible. I told her I am a college grad and think I am very qualified — well, except for a couple lying women who said I sexually assaulted them. I asked for her assurance that those claims wouldn’t hurt my chances of being hired.
posted by flarbuse at 7:01 AM on September 28, 2018 [51 favorites]


Of course the New York Times -- and many other liberal media outlets -- are going with the "tale of two internets" framing. Democrats saw one thing, Republicans saw another, everyone lives in their own realities, we can only discover the truth by exiting our bubbles, blah blah blah.

BUT the fact that both the Jesuits and the American Bar Association -- originally his supporters -- withdrew their support immediately after yesterday's hearing, and the ABA is even recommending an investigation... that tells me everything I need to know about what actually happened yesterday. You know, the objective reality of the situation, for people who are still somewhat in touch with it.

Leftists aint the ones living in the bubble.

And the NYT is garbage.
posted by the turtle's teeth at 7:02 AM on September 28, 2018 [102 favorites]


WATCH — Sexual assault survivors confront Jeff Flake on the elevator moments after he says he will vote to confirm Judge Kavanaugh

It's powerful.


I am in tears and I also don't know what to do.
posted by bluesky43 at 7:06 AM on September 28, 2018 [7 favorites]


Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Grassley just said that he doesn't want to delay the vote in order to allow an FBI investigation, because to do so would extend the period of time that Professor Ford (who wants to delay the vote in order to have the FBI conduct an investigation) would be subject to harassment by the public. The Senator claims to know what the Professor wants and needs better than she does. This is where we are at, as a country.
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 7:08 AM on September 28, 2018 [63 favorites]


I'm about to watch Anita Hill give a presentation at the GHC conference.

You can register to watch it here:

http://cnxstream.com/ghc-18-anitahill/

I need this.
posted by nikaspark at 7:09 AM on September 28, 2018 [12 favorites]


Earlier, Grassley said something like: while the hearing was not a criminal trail, a trial should involve evidence and honest testimony and "not the other way around". I think he garbled a phrase meant to involve "innocent before proven guilty".

Hearing Feinstein speak after him was another cleanser, explaining again why she did what she did after Ford first contacted. A very good line from her: Republicans have replaced "attack the victim" with "ignore the victim".
posted by InTheYear2017 at 7:10 AM on September 28, 2018 [5 favorites]


A Bruising Hearing Casts Doubt on Kavanaugh’s Judicial Temperament - Stephanie Mencimer, Mother Jones
The judge has faced questions about excessive political partisanship for 15 years.
...
When Brett Kavanaugh was first nominated to a seat on the DC Circuit Court of Appeals in 2003, Democrats were outraged and expressed concern he was too partisan a figure to take a lifetime appointment on an important federal appellate court. Kavanaugh, at the time the staff secretary for President George W. Bush, had worked in the independent counsel’s office investigating the Whitewater land deal under Ken Starr, and co-authored the famous Starr report about President Bill Clinton’s relationship with intern Monica Lewinsky. As part of Starr’s probe of the Clintons, Kavanaugh re-opened the investigation into the death of deputy White House counsel Vince Foster, and spent millions in taxpayer money to investigate wild conspiracy theories suggesting Foster had been murdered. It took Republicans three years to get Kavanaugh confirmed to the DC Circuit.

After 12 years as a federal judge, Kavanaugh may have finally proven his early critics right. During his testimony Thursday, in which he sought to defend himself against allegations he’d sexually assaulted Christine Blasey Ford when the two were teenagers, Kavanaugh launched into a highly partisan speech that was shockingly political for a Supreme Court nominee. He attacked Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee, saying, “The behavior of several of the Democratic members of this committee at my hearing a few weeks ago was an embarrassment,” and then suggesting the sexual assault allegations against him from three different women were part of a vast left-wing conspiracy.

Almost shouting, he said angrily:
This whole two-week effort has been a calculated and orchestrated political hit fueled with apparent pent-up anger about President Trump and the 2016 election, fear that has been unfairly stoked about my judicial record, revenge on behalf of the Clintons, and millions of dollars and money from outside left-wing opposition groups. This is a circus.
His anger, combined with his political attacks, prompted pundits and lawyers to question whether Kavanaugh’s partisan outburst has demonstrated he lacks the judicial temperament to serve on the federal bench, much less the nation’s highest court, regardless of whether the sexual assault allegations against him are true.
posted by ZeusHumms at 7:12 AM on September 28, 2018 [20 favorites]


I'm in Arizona and when we got home from bringing pizza to the Handmaids last night my partner made me a meme to make me feel better (has sound).
posted by WidgetAlley at 7:15 AM on September 28, 2018 [10 favorites]


Earlier, Grassley said something like: while the hearing was not a criminal trail, a trial should involve evidence and honest testimony and "not the other way around".

Grassley did not misspeak. A trial should involve evidence and honest testimony, and he was saying that he does not particularly want evidence and honest testimony in his hearing, which is intended to be a rubber stamp upon a desired candidate.
posted by Xyanthilous P. Harrierstick at 7:15 AM on September 28, 2018 [5 favorites]


Mark Judge has sent a letter (PDF) to the Judiciary Committee to plead that he not be called to testify because he's too delicate: "As I stated in my attorney, Barbara Ven Gelder’s September 18, 2018, letter, I did not ask to be involved in this matter nor did anyone ask me to be involved. We have told the Committee that I do not want to comment about these events publicly. As a recovering alcoholic and a cancer survivor, I have struggled with depression and anxiety. As a result, I avoid public speaking."

Exhibit [N] in fragile masculinity, ladies and gentlemen.
posted by Doktor Zed at 7:16 AM on September 28, 2018 [75 favorites]


Marina Hyde: "My name is Brett Kavanaugh and this is my testimony"

"To the Republicans among you, I would say: I know you believe her, but I thank our mutual God you don’t care."
posted by dng at 7:16 AM on September 28, 2018 [25 favorites]


I know that SC judges don't have to be lawyers but couldn't the Bars that he is a member of revoke his membership or at least bring forward hearings to do so on moral grounds?
posted by Mitheral at 7:17 AM on September 28, 2018 [1 favorite]


Harris asked if he watched Ford's testimony. I'm assuming because she knew that he was seen watching. He said no. No follow up. So why ask that question?

She was establishing that he saw her testimony so that she could ask him questions about it. It should have been a pro forma question but he lied about it, perhaps to derail the next few questions that would have certainly revealed some inconsistency, forced him to lie, or force him to reveal something damning.
posted by VTX at 7:19 AM on September 28, 2018 [5 favorites]


As a recovering alcoholic ... I avoid public speaking.

Mark Judge here invoking the rarely-used Fifth Amendment Lite
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 7:19 AM on September 28, 2018 [42 favorites]


I know that SC judges don't have to be lawyers but couldn't the Bars that he is a member of revoke his membership or at least bring forward hearings to do so on moral grounds?

I think there are many people at the bar association who probably wouldn't want to open to the door to disbarring anyone who has ever sexually assaulted a woman.
posted by If only I had a penguin... at 7:19 AM on September 28, 2018 [11 favorites]


"As I stated in my attorney, Barbara Ven Gelder’s September 18, 2018, letter, I did not ask to be involved in this matter nor did anyone ask me to be involved. We have told the Committee that I do not want to comment about these events publicly. As a recovering alcoholic and a cancer survivor, I have struggled with depression and anxiety. As a result, I avoid public speaking."

Also, for REASONS I will not provide written answers to questions, or be questioned in a one-to-one session with a Senate-appointed lawyer.
posted by jaduncan at 7:20 AM on September 28, 2018 [9 favorites]


My bet is Flake is taking a page out of McCain's playbook, he'll advance the nomination so it gets the vote by the whole body but will vote "no" when it comes to it. McCain had his mic drop moment, I think Flake wants his, too. The only question is one of the R women will join him, and if Manchin will stay in line.

But I want/need to feel some optimism. Flake will likely flake.
posted by karst at 7:21 AM on September 28, 2018 [7 favorites]


I know that SC judges don't have to be lawyers but couldn't the Bars that he is a member of revoke his membership or at least bring forward hearings to do so on moral grounds?

Even if his bar license was revoked, he would retain his lifetime appointment as a federal judge.
posted by dis_integration at 7:21 AM on September 28, 2018 [1 favorite]


I am in tears and I also don't know what to do.
posted by bluesky43


I just find myself praying to the God I don't believe in, over and over: Please, please, let the person who has the photos or videos of Kavanaugh engaged in the behaviors he's categorically denied decide to come forward. It won't change the Republicans in Congress—nothing will—but it'd be a nail in some coffins for the public.
posted by Rykey at 7:22 AM on September 28, 2018 [9 favorites]


As I stated in my attorney, Barbara Ven Gelder’s September 18, 2018, letter,

Kavanaugh kept saying that Judge had essentially testified "under penalty of felony" via letter, but the letter was the lawyer saying that Judge had told her X and Y. The only possible exposure is on Ven Gelder, if it somehow comes out that Judge didn't tell her that. If it comes out that he merely lied, then there's no way to sanction either of them, because she was being truthful ("He told me X" doesn't mean "I attest to X") and he wasn't under any form of oath.
posted by Etrigan at 7:23 AM on September 28, 2018 [6 favorites]




Even if his bar license was revoked, he would retain his lifetime appointment as a federal judge.

In a normal world I'd say that being disbarred for ethics reasons is impeachment worthy for a federal judge. In the Upside Down, who knows?
posted by jaduncan at 7:25 AM on September 28, 2018 [3 favorites]


My bet is Flake is taking a page out of McCain's playbook, he'll advance the nomination so it gets the vote by the whole body but will vote "no" when it comes to it.

I would have loved for that to be true. But it seems Jeff Flake has said he will vote to confirm.
posted by penduluum at 7:26 AM on September 28, 2018 [3 favorites]


"Catch-22 says they have a right to do anything we can't stop them from doing."

"What the hell are you talking about?" Yossarian shouted at her in bewildered, furious protest. "How did you know it was Catch-22? Who the hell told you it was Catch-22?"

"The soldiers with the hard white hats and clubs. The girls were crying. 'Did we do anything wrong?' they said. The men said no and pushed them away out the door with the ends of their clubs. 'Then why are you chasing us out?' the girls said. 'Catch 22,' the men said. All they kept saying was 'Catch-22, Catch-22. What does it mean, Catch 22? What is Catch-22?"

"Didn't they show it to you?" Yossarian demanded, stamping about in anger and distress. "Didn't you even make them read it?"

"They don't have to show us Catch-22," the old woman answered. "The law says they don't have to."

"What law says they don't have to?"

"Catch-22."


I post this at intervals because it is in large part where we as Americans have been, and where we are going.
posted by delfin at 7:26 AM on September 28, 2018 [30 favorites]


I am quite certain that Judge Kavanaugh has lied repeatedly in these confirmation hearings, and in previous ones. If he is somehow confirmed, I would like to see a future Democratic Congress impeach and convict him on the basis of this perjury.
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 7:27 AM on September 28, 2018 [26 favorites]


FYI, Sen. Leahy (VT) is speaking in Judiciary right now, and he's surprisingly on point, plainspoken, and powerful.
posted by anastasiav at 7:29 AM on September 28, 2018 [14 favorites]


I am quite certain that Judge Kavanaugh has lied repeatedly in these confirmation hearings, and in previous ones. If he is somehow confirmed, I would like to see a future Democratic Congress impeach and convict him on the basis of this perjury.

Leahy is going on and on about those lies, and his temperment and "misleading" the Senate. Still has spoons left, and won't call him a liar.
posted by mikelieman at 7:31 AM on September 28, 2018 [3 favorites]


Jeff Flake has been actively anti-choice his entire life. He will vote to confirm. This is Their Project.
posted by Harry Caul at 7:35 AM on September 28, 2018 [16 favorites]


I started to watch the Judiciary Comm. stream but I felt physically nauseous when Lindsey Graham started talking.
posted by bluesky43 at 7:36 AM on September 28, 2018 [2 favorites]


I'm in Europe, and as much as I learned about American politics in the last few months, I keep wondering: how can that be? How can two different groups of people witness the same events and yet see them completely differently?

It's a values thing. The fundamental principle of conservatism, i.e. that there shall be in-groups that the law protects but does not bind alongside out-groups that the law binds but does not protect, makes the division of the world into those groups a necessary feature of the worldview.

You won't find a conservative actually willing to admit that this is what conservatism amounts to; as Wilhoit observes, when stated baldly the principle is indefensible. Even so, it's completely consistent with what they actually do, and a shrieking, howling, desperate need to belong to one of the assumed-inevitable in-groups, driven by a visceral fear of finding themselves in one of the out-groups, is completely consistent with the way conservatives respond to the things we all see going on around us.

And this is by no means solely an American thing. I see the same patterns in Australia, and if you think about it I'm sure you'll find plenty of European examples as well; Farage and Le Pen immediately spring to mind.

And, more importantly, when I tend to side overwhelmingly with one side's interpretation, does this mean I'm blinded by partisan fervor, or is the other side really as, well, evil as they would have to be to see things this way?

I don't think a person needs to be evil in order to take the principle of conservatism as an inevitable given. Merely having spent a lifetime being manipulated by those who genuinely are, like Lord Moloch, is enough.
posted by flabdablet at 7:36 AM on September 28, 2018 [47 favorites]


Lindsay Graham is literally addressing Trump directly and saying he did a good job picking Kavanaugh. I'm going to be sick.
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 7:37 AM on September 28, 2018 [10 favorites]


Re: Mark Judge

If he's in recovery as he says, how do he and his sponsor reconcile this with Step 9, making amends?

Does Kavanaugh no longer talk to him because he got sober?
posted by fluttering hellfire at 7:38 AM on September 28, 2018 [15 favorites]


If he's in recovery as he says, how do he and his sponsor reconcile this with Step 9, making amends?

Not all recovery is AA's Twelve Steps, and there has long been a thread of belief even within AA that making amends doesn't mean a free pass for re-inserting yourself into people's lives just to make yourself feel better.
posted by Etrigan at 7:41 AM on September 28, 2018 [1 favorite]


"As I stated in my attorney, Barbara Ven Gelder’s September 18, 2018, letter, I did not ask to be involved in this matter nor did anyone ask me to be involved. We have told the Committee that I do not want to comment about these events publicly. As a recovering alcoholic and a cancer survivor, I have struggled with depression and anxiety. As a result, I avoid public speaking."

FUCK you, Judge. Recovery is about facing consequences, you disgusting, also-sexual-assaulter jerk. Countless people have testified about their own failures, their attacks, their children's deaths, their own torture. That was hard too. Harder. You can fucking testify about how you abetted an assault.

This is the one other person who knows the truth and is desperately praying they won't be forced to tell it. I deeply wish for a criminal investigation so he can be subpoenad.
posted by Miko at 7:42 AM on September 28, 2018 [42 favorites]


every time a Republican says something about the "Democrat party" I want whoever they're baiting to respond by calling them RAPEubilicans.

Yes! The one I was mulling was "republiCONS."

If the audience is sophomoric enough to appreciate it, I suppose you could go with "rePUBElicans."

The beauty of it is, you don't change the spelling in any way and you can dial the tomfoolery up or down. Start out supersubtle and only just discernible, then now and then hit it hard. If anyone is so idiotic as to rise to the bait and mention it, you go, "I'm sorry?" and then choose another of the idiotic mispronunciations and just barely torque the vowel or the emphasis, lather, rinse, repeat. Everyone should start this and keep it up until enough of them die of the aneurysms they've been courting to change the balance of power.
posted by Don Pepino at 7:44 AM on September 28, 2018 [3 favorites]


Graham constantly calling Dr. Ford Ms. Ford is making me almost more angry than anything else.
posted by anastasiav at 7:44 AM on September 28, 2018 [58 favorites]


PontifexPrimus: Okay, I'm experiencing serious problems here. I was just browsing reddit at work, and I came across a front-page post of someone who claims to have been a leftist until now, but the "disgraceful spectacle" of the Kavanaugh hearing made him see the light and convert to MAGA-republicanism.

Pope Guilty: This is something the right's been trying to make a thing lately- they hope that if they just lie like this eventually it'll become real.

Local example that has me enraged: Tea Party Republican and New Mexico gubernatorial candidate Steve Pearce, who told a forum organized by the NAACP and an associated sorority of the need to "make sure women of color — that everyone — has access to the best education possible," a quick adjustment to an "All Lives Matter" statement for education, has Democrats for Pearce signs up, locally outnumbering other Pearce signs I've seen, and even a webpage to "join our Democrats for Pearce coalition". I'm going to fire off an email and ask to talk to these Democrats for Pearce, because that's some red-hot bullshit.
posted by filthy light thief at 7:44 AM on September 28, 2018 [4 favorites]


Senator Graham says that to not confirm Kavanaugh on the basis of unproven allegations would be "the end of the rule of law in this country and the beginning of a process that will tear this country apart".

jeez dude i'm just asking for more time to investigate, can't you go back to the chill folksy routine
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 7:48 AM on September 28, 2018 [19 favorites]


E-mails Show That Republican Senate Staff Stymied a Kavanaugh Accuser’s Effort to Give Testimony
By Ronan Farrow and Jane Mayer.


... a fuller copy of the e-mail correspondence between Ramirez’s legal team and Republican and Democratic Senate staffers shows that a Republican aide declined to proceed with telephone calls and instead repeatedly demanded that Ramirez produce additional evidence in written form. Only then could any conversation about her testimony proceed. The exchange culminated in a breakdown of communication between the two sides, as Republican and Democratic staffers traded accusations of stonewalling.
posted by bluesky43 at 7:49 AM on September 28, 2018 [29 favorites]


East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 I am quite certain that Judge Kavanaugh has lied repeatedly in these confirmation hearings, and in previous ones. If he is somehow confirmed, I would like to see a future Democratic Congress impeach and convict him on the basis of this perjury.

There's a couple of misunderstandings of how impeachment and removal from office works here.

First: impeachment is a 100% political process, not a criminal process. There does not have to be any crime committed by a person for them to be impeached. Then House Majority Leader Gerald Ford [1] tried several times to get a vote to impeach Justice William O. Douglas basically on the grounds that Ford hated him. When asked what crimes Justice Douglas had committed that merited impeachment, Ford replied:
An impeachable offense is whatever a majority of the House of Representatives considers it to be at a given moment in history
Now, practically speaking a Party that impeached someone on frivolous grounds would pay a political price, but there is no actual limit on who can be impeached for what.

Impeachment requires a simple majority vote in the US House of Representatives.

But that only starts the process. Because what really matters is removal from office, and that requires a 2/3 vote in the Senate. President Bill Clinton was impeached on Feb 12, 1999, he stayed in office until his term ended naturally on Jan 21, 2000 because it takes 67 votes to remove an impeached person and only 45 Senators voted to remove him from office.

Which is why talking about impeaching Kavanaugh is whistling in the dark. Sure, in theory the Democrats could get a House majority and impeach him. But so what? The part that matters, removal from office, is what most people erroneously call "impeachment", and that will never happen.

It will take not just 67 Senate Democrats, but **MORE** than 67 Senate Democrats to remove Kavanaugh from office because several of the Senate Democrats are Blue Dogs who cannot be counted on as votes to remove him. And there will never be 67 Democrats in the Senate.

Do not pin any hopes on impeaching Kavanaugh. The House would be foolhardy to impeach him without 67 votes in the Senate to remove him, and those votes to remove simply do not exist. If he is confirmed (as seems inevitable at this point) he will be in office until he retires or dies.

[1] Ford has a well crafted and totally undeserved reputation as a sort of good natured bumbler. He was, in fact, a mean SOB with good PR.
posted by sotonohito at 7:50 AM on September 28, 2018 [11 favorites]


In the Judicary Committee meeting now, Graham has listed two of the bogus allegations, both of which apparently were sent to Republicans (I think). Graham claims that the FBI looked into one of them, finding it false, and he laments that the other one was leaked to the media.

That part of this has total ratfuckery written all over it. Why were those Republicans so eager to pursue those particular claims? Like, their whole spiel was that the prior FBI investigations have basically cleared Kavanaugh now and forevermore. Swetnick makes a damn affadavit and you dismiss it outright. But then you hear this guy saying, not under oath, that he beat up Mark and Brett on a boat in Rhode Island and you're like "We have to consider this"?
posted by InTheYear2017 at 7:52 AM on September 28, 2018 [7 favorites]


Good Lord, his anger and contempt was evident and quite horrific, and I am left to believe that the only reason his attacks did not get much worse was pure inebriation to the extent he could not complete what he evidently started!
posted by Wilder at 7:54 AM on September 28, 2018 [2 favorites]


Regarding the FBI debunking the other two allegations - the ones made 48 hours ago? damn, thats a fast investigation. if they are that efficient surely looking into Dr Fords allegations wont slow down their march to fascism that much, will it?
posted by Exceptional_Hubris at 7:55 AM on September 28, 2018 [9 favorites]


I'm well aware of the political nature of impeachment, and I certainly think it's vital that Kavanaugh's confirmation be prevented. But I can imagine a future in which Kavanaugh's serial sexual predation is proven to people's satisfaction, and a handful of chastened Republican senators join the Democrats in convicting him. Having a crime like "perjury" to pin the conviction on would be helpful in such an effort.
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 7:55 AM on September 28, 2018 [8 favorites]


Per Politico, the vote has been postponed until 1:30
posted by bluesky43 at 7:56 AM on September 28, 2018 [2 favorites]


1970s Antihero: Dominic Green, The Spectator: Republicans should drop Kavanaugh now, before they harm themselves for a generation

Oh no, please don't jump in the briar patch! (Really, who is this sort of article trying to reach?)


Doktor Zed: Mark Judge has sent a letter (PDF) to the Judiciary Committee to plead that he not be called to testify because he's too delicate: "As I stated in my attorney, Barbara Ven Gelder’s September 18, 2018, letter, I did not ask to be involved in this matter nor did anyone ask me to be involved.

That's what she said! No, seriously, Dr. Ford did not ask to be sexually assaulted by Kavanaugh in high school, and she did not ask to be put under national scrutiny and relive that sexual harassment to exhibit how very unfit he is for any position of power or authority, let alone a lifetime appointment to the Supreme Court of the United States.

Fuck you, Mark Judge. Woman up and take a stand already.
posted by filthy light thief at 7:56 AM on September 28, 2018 [59 favorites]


Why didn't anybody jump with both feet on whichever monstrous ass it was in the Kavanaugh hearing yesterday who said, "I thought I'd never see anything worse than what happened to Bork or what happened to Clarence Thomas [emphasis added], but here we are," with clear intent to indicate, in 2018, that Anita Hill should not have called the nation's attention to the fact that Clarence Thomas sexually harassed her?
posted by Don Pepino at 7:58 AM on September 28, 2018 [5 favorites]


but here we are," with clear intent to indicate, in 2018, that Anita Hill should not have called the nation's attention to the fact that Clarence Thomas sexually harassed her?

Booker did ask if he wished that Dr Ford hadn't come forward.
posted by fluttering hellfire at 8:02 AM on September 28, 2018 [4 favorites]


But I can imagine a future in which Kavanaugh's serial sexual predation is proven to people's satisfaction, and a handful of chastened Republican senators join the Democrats in convicting him.

Yes. Can we please acknowledge, at this late date, that the political landscape is subject to rapid, lurching, transformative shifts and that none of us has any fucking clue what the common knowledge will be two months from now, let alone two years? Play every angle.
posted by contraption at 8:02 AM on September 28, 2018 [29 favorites]


Why didn't anybody jump with both feet on whichever monstrous ass it was in the Kavanaugh hearing yesterday who said, "I thought I'd never see anything worse than what happened to Bork or what happened to Clarence Thomas [emphasis added], but here we are," with clear intent to indicate, in 2018, that Anita Hill should not have called the nation's attention to the fact that Clarence Thomas sexually harassed her?

Because we are in a nation in which I heard on the radio, just the other day, that Anita Hill "was and is a bold-faced liar." We are still living amongst people who actually believe that, or whose salary depends upon them deliberately choosing to act as if it's true.

Also because there's only so much each Senator can attempt to cram into five minutes of questioning, which is all something as trivial as a SCOTUS hearing deserves. Now, BENGHAZI, that's another story...
posted by delfin at 8:04 AM on September 28, 2018 [11 favorites]


I kept thinking about how it's not just patriarchy, but class privilege that allowed us to get to the point of a Kavanaugh hearing, and then having to remind myself that they're inseparable.

Aside from Obama, every president since Reagan has been a fraternity member. Both Bushes were in the same frat as Kavanaugh at Yale. Privilege begets privilege, and these little clubs men join in college provide the elite with the back channels, in-group signals, and junior partnerships that preserve their wealth and access to power.

Ugh.
posted by aspersioncast at 8:04 AM on September 28, 2018 [47 favorites]


Further, i think the very concept of "proven to people's satisfaction" is worthless here. After watching yesterdays shitshow i think there is a pretty decent chance that a plurality of the republicans who will vote for Kavanaugh do believe he assaulted Dr Ford, they just dont think that should keep him from being a SC justice.
posted by Exceptional_Hubris at 8:05 AM on September 28, 2018 [11 favorites]


Jeff Flake is a boof of hot air
posted by Going To Maine at 8:05 AM on September 28, 2018 [12 favorites]


Which is why talking about impeaching Kavanaugh is whistling in the dark.

Considering the inmates are about to rewrite the rule book for the prison, we are going to have to think creatively to defeat them. Everything is impossible until it isn't
posted by benzenedream at 8:06 AM on September 28, 2018 [12 favorites]


and these little clubs men join in college provide the elite with the back channels, in-group signals, and junior partnerships that preserve their wealth and access to power

and the blackmail material to keep them from breaking the cycle
posted by murphy slaw at 8:06 AM on September 28, 2018 [7 favorites]


So now Grassley claims that the ABA is just an "outside group" that doesn't dictate committee business, and that a letter from the president of the ABA doesn't mean anything because the thousands of lawyers in this country haven't also signed on to the letter.

GOP Yesterday: Welp. ABA says to give him the job, we have to go with what the ABA says.
ABA: Yeah, no, nevermind.
GOP Today: ABA is nothing more than a partisan lobbying org and their president doesn't speak on behalf of them.

Credentialism is used to build up white supremacist patriarchy and then credentials are made irrelevant the second they're used against white supremacist patriarchy.

Kavanaugh went to Yale Law, meaning he couldn't be a sexual predator. Clinton went to Yale Law so she can't be trusted and we must "lock her up" over email usage.
posted by melissasaurus at 8:06 AM on September 28, 2018 [96 favorites]


i think there is a pretty decent chance that a plurality of the republicans who will vote for Kavanaugh do believe he assaulted Dr Ford, they just dont think that should keep him from being a SC justice.

I don't think there's any question of that. What remains to be seen is what long-term electoral consequences that will have, and how the opinion of the electorate might shift over the course of this lifetime appointment.
posted by contraption at 8:09 AM on September 28, 2018 [4 favorites]




Senator Whitehouse delivers on closing the circle on the ADA's interrupted July 1st Calendar inquiry.
posted by mikelieman at 8:20 AM on September 28, 2018 [10 favorites]


Perhaps this has been answered upthread, but has there been a forensic analysis of the calendars? Was all of the content actually written in 1982?
posted by avocet at 8:23 AM on September 28, 2018 [7 favorites]


The calendars have not been examined at all. Kavanaugh didn’t share them until earlier this week.
posted by notyou at 8:25 AM on September 28, 2018 [1 favorite]


Even if it turned out that the typeface for the numerals was Microsoft Verdana or something similarly anachronistic, will it be enough to stop the process? It seems to be operating on the Law of This Is Our Country Now, where the transparent flimsiness of alibis is a feature, bespeaking contempt to those who would oppose the dominant side.
posted by acb at 8:26 AM on September 28, 2018 [7 favorites]


Perhaps this has been answered upthread, but has there been a forensic analysis of the calendars? Was all of the content actually written in 1982?

How DARE you question his calendars!!?!? Don't you know his DAD ::sob:: kept ::sob:: CALENDARS!?!?! He LIKES BEER and he LIKES his DAD and he LIKES CALENDARS! This is an attack on all men and the concept of timekeeping. HAVE YOU NO DECENCY????
posted by melissasaurus at 8:27 AM on September 28, 2018 [83 favorites]


The calendars have not been examined at all. Kavanaugh didn’t share them until earlier this week.

Kavanaugh only provided a photo of one page from his calendar. The calendar itself has never been examined. This is another case of investigative malpractice. I don't think the calendar is fake, but looking back on other months might show a pattern of behavior and partying that contradicts Kavanaugh's testimony.

Cripes, they have access to actual physical, written evidence from 35 years ago and Republicans refuse to examine it. To allow Kavanaugh to selectively release only one part of it is ridiculous. Since when do witnesses get to pick and choose what pieces of evidence they want to provide?
posted by JackFlash at 8:34 AM on September 28, 2018 [17 favorites]


@NormOrnstein: "I simply cannot understand why Judiciary Democrats, before the floor vote, do not do their own informal but heavily aired hearing, bringing in the other women as well as Ford, Georgetown Prep students and Yale ones, to respond to Kavanaugh’s misleading assertions"
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 8:34 AM on September 28, 2018 [33 favorites]


Amy Klobuchar: where is the bravery in this room?
posted by Exceptional_Hubris at 8:35 AM on September 28, 2018 [18 favorites]


Donnelly is a no! Tweet w statement screenshot.
posted by melissasaurus at 8:39 AM on September 28, 2018 [17 favorites]


I wrote something up on my blog about this. I don't know whether the argument is well-presented, but I do know it is too long to post here.
posted by dances_with_sneetches at 8:39 AM on September 28, 2018 [3 favorites]


hey folks, susan collins is thinking she might not yank the football away this time
COLLINS NEEDS TO HEAR FROM US
202-224-2523
@LauraLitvan
!!NEW: Susan Collins just told my colleague @sahilkapur that she hasn't made her mind up yet on Brett Kavanaugh's confirmation
wind up for the kick, i guess?
posted by murphy slaw at 8:40 AM on September 28, 2018 [9 favorites]


Joe Donnelly is a NO on Kavanaugh.
posted by Rhaomi at 8:40 AM on September 28, 2018 [8 favorites]


Kavanaugh's appointment is now locking all three branches of the government into the Trump gang's control.

With elections the way they are, we cannot be sure the damage will be even partly undone in states like Georgia.

General strike. Start preparing. Start talking about it.
posted by ocschwar at 8:40 AM on September 28, 2018 [17 favorites]


The calendars have not been examined at all. Kavanaugh didn’t share them until earlier this week.

I am persuaded by this article, which gives a credible date for the attack, right on his calendar. I think they pulled Mitchell because she was getting too close to this.
posted by apricot at 8:40 AM on September 28, 2018 [11 favorites]


Isn't Donnely a democrat? So isn't this non-surprising?
posted by If only I had a penguin... at 8:41 AM on September 28, 2018 [5 favorites]


Wondering if Kavanaugh or Graham should be nominated for an Emmy for best scenery chewing.
posted by ZeusHumms at 8:42 AM on September 28, 2018 [1 favorite]


Joe Donnelly is a NO on Kavanaugh.

I guess that whole "Flake, Donnelly, Collins, Murkowski, Manchin voting as a block" thing didn't turn out after all.
posted by leotrotsky at 8:43 AM on September 28, 2018 [5 favorites]


Isn't Donnely a democrat? So isn't this non-surprising?

He's a democrat in Indiana with a tough reelection (though not as tough as it was, yey!) who voted for Gorsuch, so it's not non-surprising.

it also helps push the momentum back after Flake caved like the gossamer flower he is.
posted by leotrotsky at 8:44 AM on September 28, 2018 [15 favorites]


Donnelly is a no!

That part yesterday where someone claimed Collins, Manchin, Murkowski, and Donnelly were going to vote as a bloc?

Get ready for that to be false.
posted by Xyanthilous P. Harrierstick at 8:44 AM on September 28, 2018 [7 favorites]


Also, I thought they weren't voting until 1:30
posted by If only I had a penguin... at 8:44 AM on September 28, 2018 [1 favorite]


Shaun King: "Right now Senator Sheldon Whitehouse is nailing the fact that Brett Kavanaugh's calendar actually corroborates Dr. Ford's testimony and that an FBI investigation would've proven such a thing."
posted by homunculus at 8:46 AM on September 28, 2018 [52 favorites]


Yes. Can we please acknowledge, at this late date, that the political landscape is subject to rapid, lurching, transformative shifts and that none of us has any fucking clue what the common knowledge will be two months from now, let alone two years? Play every angle.

If you're pinning your hopes on "the political landscape" being a motivator for Republican senators to change their ways, I have some bad news for you. There is literally nothing that will get these people to change their minds, because they are fundamentally incapable of being convinced that people who don't look or behave the way they do are human beings. We've lurched from watershed moment to watershed moment over the past two years, which would have had an enormous transformational effect on elected members of congress--if those people were capable of being convinced that maintaining the GOP's grasp on the levers of power is not their lone goal. There's a small chance a few of them will be voted out of office for this oversight, but the structure of the senate is such that most of them will never pay for their hubris, because their constituents believe exactly the same thing. "The political landscape" could swing to full-on luxury gay space communism tomorrow, and the same retrograde shitbags from South Carolina and Utah will still be there in ten years, tut-tutting about the indecency of white men being subjected to scrutiny when those mean old women have the audacity to report their sexual assaults.
posted by Mayor West at 8:53 AM on September 28, 2018 [8 favorites]




Isn't Donnely a democrat? So isn't this non-surprising?

He's my senator. The surprise is that he's a "no" at all. SO sick of that guy.
posted by Rykey at 8:56 AM on September 28, 2018 [3 favorites]


Not to break the edit window -- Charles Pierce, who tweeted it initially said there is no evidence that it's true. It was sourced to the WSJ so now I'm not sure whether it is factual.
posted by A Terrible Llama at 8:57 AM on September 28, 2018 [5 favorites]


Ted Cruz is arguing that subpoenaing Mark Judge would only result in Mark Judge pleading the Fifth Amendment, because "any lawyer worth his salt" would tell him to do so, and so such a subpoena would only be of political benefit to Democrats. This is a novel theory of how investigations work
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 8:57 AM on September 28, 2018 [25 favorites]


WSJ: Mitchell advised Republicans that to continue questioning Kavanaugh she was required by her oath in Arizona to inform Kavanaugh of his rights after he lied to her

A Few Good Men Boys
posted by snuffleupagus at 8:58 AM on September 28, 2018


This Pierce claim sounds very Louise-Mensch-esque, and I would totally disregard it until a legitimate source (including the Wall Street Journal, which he attributes it to with zero evidence) reports it.
posted by InTheYear2017 at 9:00 AM on September 28, 2018 [7 favorites]


Kavanaugh's calendars are, as he put it so risibly in his opening testimony, "not dispositive." This is because he was keeping his calendars in the family home where he lived as a juvenile under the supervision of his parents. So, just as he would not have documented on his calendars his bowel movements, his churchgoing, or his masturbatory sessions, he would not have documented on his calendars any sexual assaults he was involved in because parents don't like that stuff, and, additionally, if we are to believe his opening testimony, he was charmed by his father's calendar-sharing tradition and he intended to share his own calendars with his own kids and grandkids one day. It is unlikely that when his father hauled out his calendars as he regularly did to regale the family with his high school exploits, that the elder Kavanaugh included in the tale-sharing any high school sexual assaults he might have been involved in. So the calendars, like everything else in that hearing, were wholly unconvincing pieces of theater. In a legitimate investigation, they would have been smiled at gently and respectfully moved to the side to make way for actual evidence that could prove or disprove the allegations.
posted by Don Pepino at 9:01 AM on September 28, 2018 [16 favorites]


WSJ: Mitchell advised Republicans [...]

That's not a link to the WSJ, it's a link to a tweet by someone named Alan Covington, who doesn't list his job in his profile. Pardon my ignorance, is he anyone of note? Do we have another source?
posted by Roommate at 9:01 AM on September 28, 2018 [7 favorites]


Ted Cruz is arguing that subpoenaing Mark Judge would only result in Mark Judge pleading the Fifth Amendment, because "any lawyer worth his salt" would tell him to do so, and so such a subpoena would only be of political benefit to Democrats.

Let him plead the Fifth, on camera, and then have the committee give him immunity and then compel him to testify. That would be what you would do if you want the truth.
posted by JackFlash at 9:01 AM on September 28, 2018 [29 favorites]


Ted Cruz is saying that Kavanaugh must be innocent, because rapists typically commit crimes repeatedly throughout their lives, and in this case there's no "credible evidence" that Kavanaugh did so. The other allegations saying that Kavanaugh did precisely this are not credible, because, for example, they accuse Kavanaugh of participating in gang rapes, which Senator Cruz believes is "ludicrous".

Compelling shit right here
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 9:04 AM on September 28, 2018 [12 favorites]


Kavanaugh only provided a photo of one page from his calendar.

Which is oddly telling.

"I couldn't have done it! There's nothing on the July page!"

"Who said it was in July?"
posted by ChurchHatesTucker at 9:04 AM on September 28, 2018 [44 favorites]


Ted Cruz is arguing that subpoenaing Mark Judge would only result in Mark Judge pleading the Fifth Amendment, because "any lawyer worth his salt" would tell him to do so, and so such a subpoena would only be of political benefit to Democrats. This is a novel theory of how investigations work

It would also be an admission of potential criminal liability, which seems politically valuable.
posted by jaduncan at 9:04 AM on September 28, 2018 [6 favorites]


WSJ: Mitchell advised Republicans that to continue questioning Kavanaugh she was required by her oath in Arizona to inform Kavanaugh of his rights after he lied to her

I know July 1 is significant because of how it lines up with Judge's book and that his calendar entry mentions most of the people Ford has mentioned.

But I missed what Barto's lie to Mitchell about July 1st was. Can anyone catch me up?
posted by duoshao at 9:04 AM on September 28, 2018


WSJ: Mitchell advised Republicans that to continue questioning Kavanaugh she was required by her oath in Arizona to inform Kavanaugh of his rights after he lied to her about July 1, 1982 entry on his calender. Maryland statutes was last question she asked, then break was called..

And then afterwards—as linked above—Mitchell advised the GOP that she would not charge Kavanaugh, let alone pursue a search warrant? Doesn't fit. This tweet is unsourced rubbish.
posted by standardasparagus at 9:06 AM on September 28, 2018 [5 favorites]


> WATCH — Sexual assault survivors confront Jeff Flake on the elevator moments after he says he will vote to confirm Judge Kavanaugh

Two Sexual Assault Survivors Stopped Jeff Flake in a Capitol Elevator and Told Him Exactly What He'd Done.

"There, staring at the floor in that cramped little elevator, Jeff Flake offered a vision of the moral content of his character. There wasn't much to see."
posted by homunculus at 9:06 AM on September 28, 2018 [33 favorites]


It would also be an admission of potential criminal liability, which seems politically valuable.

Pleading the 5th is not an admission of guilt of any kind. I do think Judge would be smart to plead the 5th because if, on the one hand, he tells the truth and admits to the assault on Dr. Blasley, he's potentially liable to charges, but, on the other hand, if he lies under oath to protect his friend, he's liable to charges of perjury. So, essentially, unless he can be granted immunity, the 5th is, in fact, his smartest move if subpoeaned.
posted by dis_integration at 9:10 AM on September 28, 2018 [2 favorites]


Trump administration sees a 7-degree rise in global temperatures by 2100

To be clear: a 7F/4C temperature increase means the Sahara will reach the Alps, it means no more trees in Colorado, it means sea level rises of 100 feet and at least half the world's population becoming refugees or starving. It plausibly means complete oceanic ecological collapse to the point that most of the world's oxygen supply disappears.

The GOP is a death cult, and they know it. They're consciously stripping the earth for their last few decades of extreme luxury, with maybe enough leftover wealth to ensure an air-conditioned bunker for their kids. After them, the deluge.
posted by Rust Moranis at 9:10 AM on September 28, 2018 [98 favorites]


So the calendars, like everything else in that hearing, were wholly unconvincing pieces of theater. In a legitimate investigation, they would have been smiled at gently and respectfully moved to the side to make way for actual evidence that could prove or disprove the allegations.

That is not true. The calendars could be important. You are demanding only evidence that directly proves or disproves the allegations. Unless there are photos of the actual attack, you aren't going to get those in a he said/she said case.

What you do instead is build a case as to which of the two are lying and which is telling the truth. You do that by finding the contradictions in testimony. In this case we have Kavanaugh telling lies multiple times about his high school experiences. The calendars might show more of those lies. Based on who has the history of lying and who has the history of telling the truth, you can decide who to believe as to the allegations.
posted by JackFlash at 9:11 AM on September 28, 2018 [8 favorites]


Kavanaugh only provided a photo of one page from his calendar.

Which is oddly telling.

I mean, your overall point stands. And this guy is clearly a monster and a piece of human garbage. But he provided 4 months, May-August (plus the cover for some reason, probably to show off his totally sweet star scribbles).
posted by penduluum at 9:14 AM on September 28, 2018 [6 favorites]


Note: discussions of impending climate change may be better in Bubble, bubble, toil and trouble (Sept. 25, 2018), the most recent climate change-focused thread.
posted by filthy light thief at 9:15 AM on September 28, 2018 [5 favorites]


Jeff Flake will be in Boston on Monday to discuss "the future of the Republican Party" with John Kasich at some Forbes Magazine festival for people under 30 with disposable income.
posted by adamg at 9:15 AM on September 28, 2018 [7 favorites]


> Watching the hearing late after the news of the ABA pushing for an FBI investigation, it was at least a small consolation noticing how Kavanaugh and GOP folks kept name-dropping the ABA support as a legitimizing factor for his nomination. I guess now they'll just pretend the ABA never existed for at least the next week or so.

The Republicans' 'Gold Standard' Just Called for an FBI Investigation. Will They Just Ignore It? They will.
But rather than heed the advice of The Gold Standard, Graham is now spelunking deep into the abyss this Friday morning:

Graham Pointedly Changes Twitter Pic, Says Blasey Ford Has ‘A Problem’

This is appalling, particularly because it totally misunderstands—or purposefully mischaracterizes—why Dr. Ford chose to come forward. As at the hearing, Graham attempted to paint this as a smear job on Kavanaugh—as an attack on him, rather than someone coming forward to tell the truth about what he allegedly did to her. It is a refusal to acknowledge her story, instead turning it into an assault on that to which Kavanaugh is entitled, a violation of his birthright. This is the closest Graham has come to calling Ford a liar outright, though he spent his time Thursday hinting she was part of a Democratic Party plot against Kavanaugh—and, as a result, that she was either a liar or a dupe.
posted by homunculus at 9:17 AM on September 28, 2018 [8 favorites]


The tweet about Mitchell is apparently based on its author's reading of the ABA letter and his interpretation of Dershowitz's comments. But I don't see anything in there, so meh.
posted by snuffleupagus at 9:18 AM on September 28, 2018


Jeff Flake will be in Boston on Monday to discuss "the future of the Republican Party" with John Kasich at some Forbes Magazine festival for people under 30 with disposable income.

Wait, what? My understanding was that the committee vote is today, the cloture vote tomorrow and then the full Senate vote would be Monday? Why would he be in Boston at 1130 am and not in the Senate?
posted by anastasiav at 9:20 AM on September 28, 2018 [1 favorite]


Jeff Flake will be in Boston on Monday to discuss "the future of the Republican Party" with John Kasich at some Forbes Magazine festival for people under 30 with disposable income.

HAHAHAHAHAHOHOHOHEEHEE
posted by Melismata at 9:21 AM on September 28, 2018 [6 favorites]


Wait, there are people under 30 with disposable income?
posted by ArbitraryAndCapricious at 9:22 AM on September 28, 2018 [34 favorites]


More Flake intrigue, via Manu Raju on Twitter:
Flake just got up and left the hearing room and asked to speak privately to Coons in the ante room.
They are close friends; Coons became emotional and upset this AM when he learned about Flake’s support of Kavanaugh
posted by Rhaomi at 9:22 AM on September 28, 2018 [16 favorites]


Coons, whos reaction to hearing Flake was a Yes was to say "FUCK" to the reporter who told him?
posted by Exceptional_Hubris at 9:26 AM on September 28, 2018 [28 favorites]




Wait, there are people under 30 with disposable income?

Republicans in their larval stage.
posted by hangashore at 9:27 AM on September 28, 2018 [13 favorites]


HAHAHAHAHAHOHOHOHEEHEE

By which I mean, Flake knows that Boston is one of those liberal places where they're going to eat him alive finger by finger in the streets, right?
posted by Melismata at 9:29 AM on September 28, 2018 [1 favorite]


Dean of the Yale Law School: calls for further investigation
posted by bluesky43 at 9:33 AM on September 28, 2018 [33 favorites]


Tester is a no on Kavanaugh too. Manchin needs to stand with his party on this vote. I don't think it's going to effect his re-election.
posted by gladly at 9:33 AM on September 28, 2018 [19 favorites]


So, essentially, unless he can be granted immunity, the 5th is, in fact, his smartest move if subpoeaned.

If subpoenaed the smartest move would be to refuse to testify. He could theoretically be referred by the Chairperson to the DC Circuit on contempt charges. Yeah, right.

Meanwhile, the nomination would move forward because that all takes too long and anything else would be terribly "unfair" to Good Boy Kavanaugh.

Then either people will lose interest in Judge's refusal, or he could be pardoned by Trump.
posted by snuffleupagus at 9:36 AM on September 28, 2018


By which I mean, Flake knows that Boston is one of those liberal places where they're going to eat him alive finger by finger in the streets, right?

Which part of Boston? I've never heard worse racism or sexism than I have from loudmouthed Boston Republicans who think they're among likeminded friends.
posted by snuffleupagus at 9:38 AM on September 28, 2018 [15 favorites]


Flake's talk is called After the Deluge: A Rejection of Destructive Politics and a Return to Principle [real, yes really]
posted by Buntix at 9:39 AM on September 28, 2018 [12 favorites]


I thought this thread from Henry Farrell was rather good.

tl;dr: SCOTUS was already dangerously reactionary, but lots of people didn't really notice. The whole Kavanaugh saga, and in particular his deranged performance yesterday, has thrown it into sharp relief. This brings us much closer to getting something done about it.
posted by Chrysostom at 9:39 AM on September 28, 2018 [23 favorites]


Manu Raju: Coons just returned, whispering to Feinstein’s staff director

Seung Min Kim: Something weird is happening — lots of chatter among Democrats after Coons and Klobuchar returned from their talk with Flake

Paul McLeod: Oh hey theoretical-but-in-practice-probably-not-swing-vote Ben Sasse just emerged from the back area where we last saw Flake go. This is all weird.

Manu Raju: Lots of chatter on Dem side initiated by Coons and now with Feinstein staff director. Now Feinstein heads to anteroom, with Coons.
posted by Rhaomi at 9:41 AM on September 28, 2018 [17 favorites]


I'm really proud of Donnelly and Tester for their No's. I am sure they realized that they'd lose many more women voters than they'd gain in "swing" voters by a Yes. And so much for "boohoo Democrats don't have spines boohoo Democrats blew it."

Now Flake, on the other hand, can just go flake off. With his furrowed brow to keep him company.
posted by Rosie M. Banks at 9:42 AM on September 28, 2018 [8 favorites]


Vox: Brett Kavanaugh is terrified
Whatever happens with Kavanaugh’s confirmation, men are no longer safe from the testimony of women. And they’re starting to get scared.


“You sowed the wind for decades to come,” Brett Kavanaugh warned Senate Democrats during Thursday’s hearing on the sexual assault allegations made by Christine Blasey Ford. “I fear that the whole country will reap the whirlwinds.”The message of Kavanaugh’s threats was clear: If he wasn’t safe, then no one was.

That message comes from a place of deep privilege. While women have never been safe when coming forward to report sexual misconduct, men like Kavanaugh — white, educated in the country’s most prestigious schools, groomed through high-profile jobs — have long been able to glide smoothly to the highest levels of our government and other arenas of power.

posted by bluesky43 at 9:42 AM on September 28, 2018 [35 favorites]


to the DC Circuit

Excuse me, that would be the US Attorney for DC. (The Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit is the court Kavanaugh currently sits on.)
posted by snuffleupagus at 9:46 AM on September 28, 2018


Josh Marshall on TPM Prime (paywall) making a very specific observation: We're watching a clumsy cover-up in real time.
Kavanaugh says not only that he doesn’t remember the alleged attack but that he doesn’t have any recollection of Blasey Ford at all. They weren’t even in the same social circles, he claimed. [...] And yet, when his friend and top nomination advisors came up with an alternative theory of the crime they picked [Blasey Ford's] then boyfriend? That is not an accident... it is highly likely that shows Kavanaugh’s knowledge and I suspect, if looked at closely, will show real evidence of Kavanaugh’s consciousness of guilt.
posted by RedOrGreen at 9:52 AM on September 28, 2018 [35 favorites]


Kavanaugh's a liar. But this being 2018, it's possible the GRU cooked up the Doppleganger theory and fed it to Ed Whelan and the Junior Kavanaughts via Twitter, Reddit and Discord.
posted by snuffleupagus at 10:00 AM on September 28, 2018 [1 favorite]


bluesky43: “You sowed the wind for decades to come,” Brett Kavanaugh warned Senate Democrats during Thursday’s hearing on the sexual assault allegations made by Christine Blasey Ford. “I fear that the whole country will reap the whirlwinds.” The message of Kavanaugh’s threats was clear: If he wasn’t safe, then no one was.

GOOD. Rapists, especially serial rapists, should NOT BE SAFE.

Women, on the other hand, should be. Free to drink at parties without fear of someone drugging them. Free to walk at night without fear of someone attacking them. Free to wear what they want, and talk to who they want, without fear of those actions being deemed as them "asking for it," whatever it was, besides being treated as a human being deserving of the same respect and deference as any man.

In other words, women should have the same freedoms as men. The fact that this fucking shit-show is even happening, that it's even a discussion in 2018, breaks my heart and sickens me.

But the fact it's being discussed now so openly and widely gives me hope. It'll take time to make more men understand that they aren't owed a damned thing in this world, especially from women (see: the fact that MRA is even a fucking thing), but I'll celebrate every advance and every step forward.
posted by filthy light thief at 10:03 AM on September 28, 2018 [66 favorites]


I don't think this is a puzzle with any GRU-shaped holes in it. The GOP is more than capable of making a disgraceful mess like this all on their own.
posted by prize bull octorok at 10:04 AM on September 28, 2018 [19 favorites]


> Rude Pundit: Random observations on a raging, privileged, alcoholic rapists's testimony.

@rudepundit: "Just curious: What would HR at your company or work say about all this? Would they let you hire Kavanaugh?"
posted by homunculus at 10:05 AM on September 28, 2018 [33 favorites]


"You sowed the wind for decades to come,” Brett Kavanaugh warned Senate Democrats during Thursday’s hearing on the sexual assault allegations made by Christine Blasey Ford. “I fear that the whole country will reap the whirlwinds.” The message of Kavanaugh’s threats was clear: If he wasn’t safe, then no one was.

Let justice be done, though the heavens fall, Mr. Kavanaugh. In this case, the "heavens" would be the world of privilege and comfort that white men have known too long.
posted by nubs at 10:13 AM on September 28, 2018 [14 favorites]


@pdmcleod My God, Flake may actually be on the brink of changing his vote.
posted by anastasiav at 10:19 AM on September 28, 2018 [8 favorites]


Zeke Miller, AP, is live-blogging and says that the GOP doesn't have the votes to confirm.
Senate Republicans do not yet have the votes to confirm Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court. That’s according to Sen. John Thune of South Dakota, the third-ranking member of Republican leadership.

Thune said that Republicans still have “a little work to do” to get enough support.

Whether Kavanaugh is confirmed to the Supreme Court could hinge on the votes of two Republican senators: Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska. It does not appear that President Donald Trump or the White House is reaching out to them to try and influence their decision.

Thune said while such calls may be well-intended, “it’s better to let people decide on their own up here.”

Republicans have set a committee vote for Friday afternoon to send Kavanaugh’s nomination to the full Senate.
posted by gladly at 10:22 AM on September 28, 2018 [8 favorites]


The message of Kavanaugh’s threats was clear: If he wasn’t safe, then no one was.

I don't know... Sounds to me more like Kavanaugh is threatening exactly what Graham was threatening: Republicans will make up spurious charges against Democrats and their nominees as retribution.

Which is laughable because they've already been doing this forever, and Kavanaugh was one of the ones doing it.
posted by duoshao at 10:22 AM on September 28, 2018 [46 favorites]


homunculus: @rudepundit: "Just curious: What would HR at your company or work say about all this? Would they let you hire Kavanaugh?"

This point, which a lot of people have made independently, really cuts to the heart of things. I think the main counterpoint is just an unarticulated authoritarian sense that it's just wrong to think of potential Supreme Court justices (if white/male/etc) as the sort of people who answer to anyone else. Kavanaugh himself was clearly aggrieved in that way -- just being made to wait 10 more days would be an injustice, somehow.

A rhetorical trick multiple Republicans went for was to dispute that "job interview" was the right because of the intensity of the allegations. Graham yell-asking "Is this a job interview?" and hoping to hear a defiant "No, this is hell!" from Kavanaugh, supplying it when that didn't happen. But the thing is, no one is saying that "job interview" captures the totality of what's at stake (indeed, by all rights there should be a criminal investigation and multiple trials). It captures the part where they vote.

Any Senator could vote him down and say they also think he didn't assault anyone, and there's no actual contradiction. Another senator suggested otherwise, that the vote is just a litmus test on that. Absurd. To go back to the "hiring" analogy, you don't walk in to the room and yell for a hour that you never robbed a bank, then automatically get the job because maybe you told the truth.

I also wouldn't be surprised if someone at National Review is penning a "Flight 93 confirmation" essay right now. "Sure you wouldn't have Kavanaugh watch your pets when you went on vacation, but by God we need this contorted-face word-spitter to get on the court and fight for us. Physically if necessary"
posted by InTheYear2017 at 10:22 AM on September 28, 2018 [11 favorites]


I don't think this is a puzzle with any GRU-shaped holes in it. The GOP is more than capable of making a disgraceful mess like this all on their own.

Oh, without a doubt they took it and ran with it, wherever it came from.

The whole Doppleganger thing just had the same bizzare flavor as the other conspiracy theories that have made their way into actual politics from obscure corners of social media with no apparent real goal beside ratcheting up the dystopian absurdity.

TL;DR, I think TPM's point that it suggests knowledge of Blasey-Ford's high school social life is a possibility, but it could also be a Pizzagate type thing.
posted by snuffleupagus at 10:25 AM on September 28, 2018


CSPAN feed of the Senate Judiciary Committee, if you can bear to watch.
posted by Fritzle at 10:25 AM on September 28, 2018 [2 favorites]


Sounds like the confrontation in the elevator really got to Flake. Good. I suspect if he still decides to vote to confirm, he'll be dealing with many more such uncomfortable situations.
posted by Roommate at 10:25 AM on September 28, 2018 [30 favorites]


AP, Kavanaugh wrongly claims he could drink legally in Md.
Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh has repeatedly said that he was legally allowed to consume beer as a prep school senior in Maryland. In fact, he was never legal in high school because the state’s drinking age increased to 21 at the end of his junior year, while he was still 17.

Kavanaugh’s drinking has come under intense scrutiny after California professor Christine Blasey Ford alleged that a heavily intoxicated Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her while they were both teenagers at a Maryland house party during the summer of 1982.

The legal age in that state was raised to 21 on July 1, 1982; Kavanaugh did not turn 18 until Feb. 12, 1983.
I was surprised Democrats didn't push him on this at all. It's not inherently disqualifying, but it fits into the same pattern we've seen out of him every single time: double down instead of acknowledging reality and owning up to your past actions. And it's impossible to believe that someone so interested in drinking beer was unaware of the drinking age at the time, when it was changing and the focus of immense public attention.
posted by zachlipton at 10:26 AM on September 28, 2018 [13 favorites]


Sounds like the confrontation in the elevator really got to Flake. Good. I suspect if he still decides to vote to confirm, he'll be dealing with many more such uncomfortable situations.

The women who confronted him were incredibly brave. And persistent. A lesson for all of us.
posted by bluesky43 at 10:27 AM on September 28, 2018 [81 favorites]


Reminder that they don't need a Yes majority on Judiciary to advance to the floor.
posted by Chrysostom at 10:28 AM on September 28, 2018 [7 favorites]


Of course Kavanaugh is a liar, and guilty.

More to the point, everyone knows it including the Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee and the average voting Republican. I suppose there are people out there who really are such suckers they genuinely believe Kavanaugh to be innocent, but they've got to be few and far between.

Or, rather, people who genuinely believe Kavanaugh not to have assaulted Dr. Ford. Which, critically, is a very different thing from believing Kavanaugh to be innocent.

We're looking at rape culture here.

Despite what the naive reading of the term might seem to imply, in rape culture rape is not actually legal or even officially and formally approved of. Rape culture often makes rape out to be one of the very worst possible crimes that can be committed, in part because misogyny paints women who are rape victims as "damaged goods".

What rape culture does do is narrowly define rape and, most especially, establish that rape only counts when the victim is perfect, and define all victims as being imperfect.

Thus in the mind of a person who has accepted and internalized rape culture it is possible to both acknowledge that Kavanaugh did assault Dr. Ford, and also think that Kavanaugh is innocent of wrongdoing. First the narrow definition of rape, basically anything that isn't forcible penis in vagina penetration doesn't count to the defenders of rape culture [1], and in general the defenders of rape culture define anything other than this very narrow conception of rape as non-criminal. Which means immediately they think Kavanaugh is innocent of any real crime by Dr. Ford's own testimony. They'd define what Kavanaugh did as "horseplay" or maybe even as being crude, but they reject the validity of the concept of sexual assault.

But, more important, is that they can define Ford as a non-perfect victim. There is always some way the defenders of rape culture can find a way to claim any victim failed to behave, or dress, or look, or whatever, right. And that makes the crime really their fault, and the perpetrator the actual victim.

Ford was 15, she had a beer, she was at a party with boys, therefore to the people who have internalized rape culture she was at fault for anything that happened to her. They'd use a word that starts with s to describe her, though I note that both Kavanaugh and all the Republicans were very careful to avoid that particular term yesterday. To the people who have accepted rape culture, Ford was the only person guilty of wrongdoing and Kavanaugh was just a good boy having fun and it would be deeply wrong to ruin his life over a little bit of innocent horseplay with one of "those women".

There is, of course, some classism involved as well. Any woman who is not wealthy can be much more easily defined as deserving of sexual perdition; the more money the victim's father has in relation to the perpetrator the more innocent the victim becomes. And of course there's a racist component as well, women of color (regardless of wealth) are always at fault for any sexual attack or harassment they suffer at the hands of white people. And there's a homophobic component as well, any male victim of sexual assault or harassment who isn't sufficiently heterosexual and "manly" will also be to blame for anything they experience.

And so rape culture starts from the proposition that rape is among the worst possible crimes, but through narrow definitions of rape and literally impossible to meet standards for the victims, it turns out that in rape culture all the rape that exists isn't, as Whoopi Goldberg once put it "rape rape" and therefore doesn't count, and the real victim is the perpetrator who's life has been ruined by these allegations.

Whether or not Kavanaugh is confirmed, the longer term question is how the more obvious expression of rape culture in action here will impact future voting by women who identify as Republican.

Because one of the other, deeply harmful and damaging, aspects of rape culture is that it encourages women who internalize it along with patriarchy to believe both that if they are attacked they are at fault, but also that they can be safe if they are sufficiently virtuous. Women who are not attacked are able to imagine that it was their own virtue that protected them, and to believe on that basis that there is no need for laws or investigations because the only women who are attacked are lacking in virtue and thus deserve their fate as just punishment for their lack of virtue.

To one extent or another all Republican women must maintain that sort of belief system in order to maintain their own self image as good people. And the more openly rape culture is on display the harder it is for those women to maintain their belief in it. I doubt we'll see any sort of sudden shift in women's votes. But perhaps one silver lining of the horror will be that over time it convinces more women to leave the Republican Party.

[1] Note that it is only in 2014 that the FBI updated its own definition of rape from "the carnal knowledge of a female, forcibly and against her will." Note first that the FBI definition doesn't allow for men to be the victims of rape, and also that it requires physical force and penis in vagina penetration.
posted by sotonohito at 10:29 AM on September 28, 2018 [74 favorites]


Reminder that they don't need a Yes majority on Judiciary to advance to the floor.

No, but they do need the votes. If Collins, Flake, and Murkowski all stick together, it is done. There is strength in numbers (for any Senator) much more than going it alone.
posted by anastasiav at 10:31 AM on September 28, 2018 [2 favorites]


Whitehouse has been talking behind his hand a whole lot on the CSPAN feed.
posted by Don Pepino at 10:32 AM on September 28, 2018 [1 favorite]


The legal age in that state was raised to 21 on July 1, 1982; Kavanaugh did not turn 18 until Feb. 12, 1983.

TBC, people who turned 18 before it was raised were grandfathered in.

Neighboring D.C. raised the age a few years later (also grandfathering), so Kav was legal across the state line once he turned 18.
posted by ChurchHatesTucker at 10:33 AM on September 28, 2018 [1 favorite]


As the article points out: "There was a grandfather clause in the Maryland law, but only for those who were 18, 19 or 20 on the day the increase went into effect, thereby not including Kavanaugh."

It does mention that he would have been legal in DC.
posted by zachlipton at 10:35 AM on September 28, 2018 [3 favorites]


Not everyone clicks through :)
posted by ChurchHatesTucker at 10:36 AM on September 28, 2018 [2 favorites]


Sounds to me more like Kavanaugh is threatening exactly what Graham was threatening: Republicans will make up spurious charges against Democrats and their nominees as retribution.

Surely you're not suggesting that two guys who were instrumental in impeaching Bill Clinton for lying about a blowjob would make up spurious charges!
posted by kirkaracha at 10:39 AM on September 28, 2018 [13 favorites]


It's very weird that we find ourselves trying to work out whether the obvious violent rapist drunken monster set to determine the rule of law for the next half century was technically legally allowed to drink alcohol in Maryland in 1982.
posted by Rust Moranis at 10:39 AM on September 28, 2018 [44 favorites]


The vote is nearly ten minutes delayed already. Flake still absent. This is some high drama.
posted by Rhaomi at 10:39 AM on September 28, 2018 [7 favorites]


It's very weird that we find ourselves trying to work out whether the obvious violent rapist drunken monster set to determine the rule of law for the next half century was technically legally allowed to drink alcohol in Maryland in 1982.

Someone has to look into this stuff...
posted by ChurchHatesTucker at 10:41 AM on September 28, 2018 [1 favorite]


Reminder that they don't need a Yes majority on Judiciary to advance to the floor.

There are 21 members of the committee. They need at least a tie to advance with no recommendation. But it's going to be 11-10 or 10-11. It's not going to be 10-10 unless someone abstains. 10-11 doesn't advance to the floor.
posted by JackFlash at 10:41 AM on September 28, 2018 [1 favorite]


There's a new CrowdPac opponent fund for Chuck Grassley now.
posted by yoga at 10:41 AM on September 28, 2018 [11 favorites]


Flake always flakes. This is the default until proven otherwise.
posted by mcstayinskool at 10:41 AM on September 28, 2018 [5 favorites]


@StevenTDennis: The choice now for Collins, Murkowski and Flake now that the offer is on the table: Do you want to give the FBI a week to investigate or confirm him for life without an FBI look at claims by Ford etc?

(Steven Dennis is the Bloomberg reporter whos on-the-floor body language analysis of the ACA vote in july read it correctly)

Apparently Lindsey Graham is pissed and theyre working on Flake to delay.
posted by Exceptional_Hubris at 10:42 AM on September 28, 2018 [4 favorites]


> Flake always flakes. This is the default until proven otherwise.

@HeerJeet:
Writer: So, the plot will hinge on senator who is always dithering and changing his mind. His name will be Flake.
Producer: Didn't I fire you last year?

posted by RedOrGreen at 10:45 AM on September 28, 2018 [102 favorites]


Don Pepino: "Whitehouse has been talking behind his hand a whole lot on the CSPAN feed."

Whitehouse himself went to an elite prep school (St. Paul's), I'm sure he saw a lot of Kavanaughs.
posted by Chrysostom at 10:46 AM on September 28, 2018 [3 favorites]


Dana Bash reports negotiations centered on one week delay for FBI investigation.

Flake is back.
posted by Rhaomi at 10:46 AM on September 28, 2018 [3 favorites]


This is like the tension of the Cuban Missile Crisis if instead of blowing up Miami instead they were targeting the rights of every woman in America and instead of being deathly afraid of Mutually Assured Destructions these rich, entitled idiots keep gleefully smacking the button wondering why the missiles won't launch?
posted by Freon at 10:47 AM on September 28, 2018 [32 favorites]


@pdmcleod As are Dems. Seems some agreement has been reached!

I'm voting FBI investigation, since they would never agree to vote against or vote for.
posted by If only I had a penguin... at 10:48 AM on September 28, 2018 [2 favorites]


JackFlash: "There are 21 members of the committee. They need at least a tie to advance with no recommendation. But it's going to be 11-10 or 10-11. It's not going to be 10-10 unless someone abstains. 10-11 doesn't advance to the floor."

I don't believe that's accurate:

"It’s worth noting that regardless of how the committee vote goes, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is able to bring Kavanaugh’s nomination to a floor vote, which could begin on the Senate floor as early as Saturday."
posted by Chrysostom at 10:48 AM on September 28, 2018 [3 favorites]


How confident are we that the FBI isn't filled with the same sort of people as Kavanaugh?
posted by clawsoon at 10:49 AM on September 28, 2018 [7 favorites]


@ShimonPro: Serious conversations are underway about how and whether a brief additional investigation could be done by the FBI and a vote delayed by no more than a week @DanaBashCNN

@ByYourLogic: oh my god Jeff Flake gave up at giving up. you just have to get him to start with his default position of folding and he’ll fold on that

The committee is coming back now, we'll see if there really is a deal. Now's your time to turn on C-SPAN if you want to watch. Flake will speak.
posted by zachlipton at 10:50 AM on September 28, 2018 [4 favorites]


How confident are we that the FBI isn't filled with the same sort of people as Kavanaugh?

Every institution that contains privileged men will proportionally be filled with Kavanaughs.
posted by Rust Moranis at 10:51 AM on September 28, 2018 [14 favorites]


Flake wants a week to investigate
posted by ChurchHatesTucker at 10:52 AM on September 28, 2018 [8 favorites]


Holy crap, FBI investigation.
posted by Imperfect at 10:52 AM on September 28, 2018 [2 favorites]


Flake is voting for due diligence via FBI hearing, and will advance based on a delay of one week.
posted by NorthernAutumn at 10:52 AM on September 28, 2018 [7 favorites]


Okay, we get to stretch this out for another week. I'm so "excited" I'm going to throw up.

But really, this is the time for maximum pressure on the wavering senators. Please call!
posted by RedOrGreen at 10:52 AM on September 28, 2018 [25 favorites]


Flake has been talking about "making sure we do due diligence here" and says it would be proper to delay the floor vote for up to 1 week so the FBI can investigate. He says he will therefore vote to advance the nomination out of committee with that understanding.
posted by zachlipton at 10:52 AM on September 28, 2018 [2 favorites]


Flake will vote it out of committee but thinks the floor vote should be delayed for 1 week and no longer for an FBI investigation.
posted by melissasaurus at 10:52 AM on September 28, 2018 [2 favorites]


Clarification - he is going to vote to advance the nom out of comittee with the understanding that it doesnt go to a floor vote until at most a weeks worth of FBI investigation.
posted by Exceptional_Hubris at 10:53 AM on September 28, 2018 [1 favorite]


Arvanatti's time to shine. He might do a lot in a week.
posted by stonepharisee at 10:53 AM on September 28, 2018 [11 favorites]


A weeks seems not very long. Also, he said "floor vote". So they are going to vote right now on the recommendation without the results of the investigation.
posted by If only I had a penguin... at 10:53 AM on September 28, 2018 [1 favorite]


What kind of "understanding" is this? Is Grassley just going to put it up for a vote regardless?
posted by dilaudid at 10:54 AM on September 28, 2018 [6 favorites]


This is bullshit - how can he guarantee that the floor vote wont happen? McConnel wont respect this.
posted by Exceptional_Hubris at 10:54 AM on September 28, 2018 [37 favorites]


Ah, the time-honored tradition of punting it to the floor vote, with the "understanding" that it won't advance yet. Meanwhile, the idea that the FBI could turn around an investigation of this magnitude in a week even if they wanted to is crazy. Expecting them to do it when they're ultimately accountable to a serial rapist who wants Kavanaugh confirmed... Yeah. Good luck with that.
posted by tonycpsu at 10:54 AM on September 28, 2018 [6 favorites]


I wouldn't trust McConnell to abide by any "understanding". Flake's being hopelessly naïve.
posted by orrnyereg at 10:55 AM on September 28, 2018 [5 favorites]


And it's turned into a bigger mess, with Sen. Feinstein saying "that's not my understanding" on what's being voted on. Grassley doesn't get a crap and says "call the roll." They vote very quickly. 11-10 to report the nominee out of the committee.
posted by zachlipton at 10:55 AM on September 28, 2018 [9 favorites]


"Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh has repeatedly said that he was legally allowed to consume beer as a prep school senior in Maryland. In fact, he was never legal in high school because the state’s drinking age increased to 21 at the end of his junior year, while he was still 17."

... it's impossible to believe that someone so interested in drinking beer was unaware of the drinking age at the time, when it was changing and the focus of immense public attention.


I'd have to listen to his testimony yesterday more closely, I think he may have hedged it a little acknowledging that only some Seniors were legal some years, but generally admitting that "we drank beer in high school," i.e. that it was provided by those students who were legal to everyone else while that lasted, and later on was otherwise procured.

The 'love of beer' and 'we drank beer' stuff everyone wants to make fun of is in fact more God Save the Homecoming King signaling from Kavanaugh to the Republican base. It was just beer, at parties, with his pals Chad, Theo, Scooter, Sally, Babs and Midge (or whatever), in a permissive and safe environment, according to established customs -- not hitting the hard stuff alone or hanging out with the bad kids. Not like that poor Mike Judge guy who was on his own trip and whose privacy and recovery deserves respect and who Senators should certainly not try to talk to. The 'weak stomach' is to explain why he could've been seen vomiting from drinking "just beer" without never-ever-ever being blackout drunk or having a drinking problem obvious to his social circle.

It's all the kind of implausible chain of bullshit that the rascally over-privileged and under-achieving antihero (or here, overachieving icon) charms/coerces the stodgy Vice Principal into accepting at the end of the zany teen comedy. Supreme Lampoon Court Academy's Day Off.

Except of course that this man has victims, is alreadya Federal judge, that this shit is probably going to work, and that this is an exceedingly, historically serious watershed moment for U.S. politics and society.

On preview: gee whiz, I hope Flake's 'understanding' doesn't somehow turn into a regrettable 'misunderstanding' when they just vote on the fucker anyway. Maybe he should just vote 'No,' and then they can keep it in the actual committee.
posted by snuffleupagus at 10:55 AM on September 28, 2018 [10 favorites]


This isn't the first time Flake has been faked out, right?
posted by ZeusHumms at 10:55 AM on September 28, 2018


This is bullshit - how can he guarantee that the floor vote wont happen? McConnel wont respect this.

He can if he has the others (Collins et al) with him.
posted by carsondial at 10:55 AM on September 28, 2018 [3 favorites]


Basically Jeff Flake: “It’s not like Mitch McConnell has ever broke a promise to his members in exchange for a vote before!”

They’ll have the floor vote Monday.
posted by T.D. Strange at 10:55 AM on September 28, 2018 [29 favorites]


How confident are we that the FBI isn't filled with the same sort of people as Kavanaugh?

We're not. But every delay, every pound of flesh that gets taken in this is worth it. A couple of weeks ago, this looked like a done deal. But it isn't over yet. A week for an investigation (if it happens; I doubt this will be respected) is a week for something else to happen, a week for more pressure, a week to inflict more damage and make the cost higher and higher. Never stop fighting til the fight is done.

The people I feel the worst for are all the survivors out there who will have to endure another week of triggering, horrible news.
posted by nubs at 10:55 AM on September 28, 2018 [12 favorites]


It's been mentioned but I want to make it super clear and explicit that Yale Law fraternities produce Democrats just as easily as Republicans. The vast majority of Congresspeople of any party have come from the same sort of privileged background. It's not just possible, it's almost certain that some elected Democrats have the same sort of dirty habits in their past.

There have been lots of potential candidates that don't run, and don't get support, because they weren't in a fucking fraternity ... I would really love it if we started preferring those kinds of candidates.

I would love it if fraternity membership became a black mark in someone's record instead of a positive mark. I think that would be really reasonable and justified, considering.
posted by Rainbo Vagrant at 10:57 AM on September 28, 2018 [35 favorites]


For a minute there I thought Flake might have found his spine, but it looks like another attempt to have it both ways to me.
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 10:57 AM on September 28, 2018 [19 favorites]


How confident are we that the FBI isn't filled with the same sort of people as Kavanaugh?

Some of them are women.
posted by ChurchHatesTucker at 10:57 AM on September 28, 2018 [9 favorites]


"It’s worth noting that regardless of how the committee vote goes, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is able to bring Kavanaugh’s nomination to a floor vote, which could begin on the Senate floor as early as Saturday."

Okay.
posted by JackFlash at 10:57 AM on September 28, 2018 [2 favorites]


> I wouldn't trust McConnell to abide by any "understanding". Flake's being hopelessly naïve.

I don't think he's naive. I think he knows where this is going but wants a clear conscience. Someone made the "gunman with the blank cartridge in the firing squad" analogy before, and that's what's going on here.
posted by tonycpsu at 10:57 AM on September 28, 2018 [28 favorites]


Didn’t they promise Collins a vote on DACA in exchange for her ACA vote?

I’m not holding my breath for an FBI investigation.
posted by joedan at 10:58 AM on September 28, 2018 [11 favorites]


This is something but this is bullshit. I'm guessing that no matter what the FBI finds, the GOP members will support the nomination. Flake says he'll support moving it to the floor for a vote only after the FBI investigation. one week not more. Grassley doesn't guarantee that the vote won't go to the floor.
posted by bluesky43 at 10:58 AM on September 28, 2018 [2 favorites]


Feinstein and others expressed confusion about what's going on. As in, what they're even voting for -- many cast those votes by saying: "On the nominee, no", just so they could clarify that it wasn't a "no" to some motion for the FBI to investigate.

Grassley said "Since you [Flake] are the deciding vote, we're do the vote [up-or-down on the nominee] and then [continue to discuss]". Flake just said AYE, along with all other Republicans and zero Dems, to this vote on the nominee.

That was the Flake-iest thing I've ever witnessed. I don't think an investigation will happen, because all he did was express a wish.
posted by InTheYear2017 at 10:58 AM on September 28, 2018 [13 favorites]


Extremely stable country.
posted by Rust Moranis at 10:59 AM on September 28, 2018 [13 favorites]


You can't have a deal with people who don't have the power to make the deal happen, which no one in the room does.
posted by Bulgaroktonos at 11:00 AM on September 28, 2018 [3 favorites]


I wouldn't trust McConnell to abide by any "understanding". Flake's being hopelessly naïve.

Flake's being PURPOSEFULLY naive. He wants some blood off of his own hands by saying "look, I fought so hard to get the FBI involved" but he knows very well that he has zero power in this unless he votes No on the floor if the FBI doesn't get involved.

Which. he. will. not.

Because he is Jeff Flake.
posted by delfin at 11:00 AM on September 28, 2018 [19 favorites]


Is it implicit in Flake's proposal, though, that if McConnell calls for the floor vote anyway, he'll vote no? And hopefully take Collins and Murkowski with him? That's the threat here, right? Because if they had the votes now, they'd vote now.
posted by penduluum at 11:00 AM on September 28, 2018 [11 favorites]


Flake says he'll support moving it to the floor for a vote only after the FBI investigation.

That is NOT what he said - he already voted to move it to the floor (out of committee) pending some to be determined investigation. What it appeared he said was that he wouldnt vote Yes on Kav on the floor until the investigation was complete. they could still vote tuesday and he could still vote no.
posted by Exceptional_Hubris at 11:00 AM on September 28, 2018 [3 favorites]


So the implication is that e.g. Jeff Flake will not vote “Yea” on the floor if an FBI investigation is not initiated. It kicks the can down the road for these swing votes to wuss out. But it’s better than a straight fast-track confirmation without such statements, I guess.

It was going to go to the floor, in any case. Now it’s time to dial the pressure up to 12.
posted by Brak at 11:01 AM on September 28, 2018 [3 favorites]


I wish I hadn’t watched that.
posted by Barack Spinoza at 11:01 AM on September 28, 2018 [8 favorites]


My sense is that the committee is as confused as I am.
posted by bluesky43 at 11:02 AM on September 28, 2018


motion to hereafter in perpetuity refer to the senator from arizona as "Useless Boof Jeff Flake"
posted by halation at 11:02 AM on September 28, 2018 [24 favorites]


Grassley "This is all a gentlemen's and women's agreement."

Harris "What?"
posted by ChurchHatesTucker at 11:02 AM on September 28, 2018 [21 favorites]


Final words:
Grassley: Because of the two-hour rule, we’re adjourned.
*gavel*
Feinstein: What?
posted by RedOrGreen at 11:03 AM on September 28, 2018 [21 favorites]


I suspect the full-throated endorsement of beer is a nod to all those people who say they just want someone they can have a beer with (and then proceed to vote for people who don't drink).
posted by ckape at 11:04 AM on September 28, 2018


Because if they had the votes now, they'd vote now.

No. Due to procedural stuff it couldn't have a floor vote before the weekend, and Dems have indicated they'll keep it tied up until Monday.
posted by Chrysostom at 11:04 AM on September 28, 2018 [2 favorites]


That was insane. No one there has any idea what's going on, and several of them are so elderly they can't even get through a full sentence. "Wait, what are we voting on?"

It's like a production of "12 Angry Men" in a fucking nursing home.
posted by Yoko Ono's Advice Column at 11:04 AM on September 28, 2018 [64 favorites]


Is it implicit in Flake's proposal, though, that if McConnell calls for the floor vote anyway, he'll vote no? And hopefully take Collins and Murkowski with him? That's the threat here, right? Because if they had the votes now, they'd vote now.

The procedural votes take 3 days to set up. Flake doesn't appear to have explicitly conditioned his floor vote on actually having his request for an investigation honored, and Collins and Murkowski are nowhere to be seen on this. Grassley didn't promise no floor vote, much less McConnell.

Yes, they COULD threaten that. They haven't, and Flake didn't. Flake threatened nothing, and got no promises in return. And then he voted yes to put this in McConnell's hands. He made himself a "John McCain moment" for twitter. That's it. There's nothing stopping McConnell from starting the procedural votes this afternoon as planned.
posted by T.D. Strange at 11:04 AM on September 28, 2018 [13 favorites]


Recently I saw a bumper sticker that said Any Functioning Adult 2020.

It would be great to have functioning adults running the fucking country.
posted by medusa at 11:04 AM on September 28, 2018 [47 favorites]


I think Nate Silver has the right of it here:

"I'm undecided but you'll force me to vote 'no' if you don't give the FBI a week to investigate" is likely to be a very comfortable position for the other wavering senators too.

But the Executive branch has to initiate an FBI investigation (the Senate can only request one), so I wouldn't put it past Trump to have a hissy fit and just say "No".
posted by RedOrGreen at 11:05 AM on September 28, 2018 [24 favorites]


That was insane. No one there has any idea what's going on, and several of them are so elderly they can't even get through a full sentence. "Wait, what are we voting on?"

The chair could fix that by only allowing votes on written motions, you know, so that it would actually be clear what the members were voting on. Which it was not. To this very tuned-in millennial.
posted by Exceptional_Hubris at 11:05 AM on September 28, 2018 [9 favorites]


Like I said, the whole "procedure" is a con. This isn't about when he drank, or what women he assaulted, those are all really good questions but they depend on the premise that this is a normal confirmation procedure being valid.

And that premise is not valid.

Grassley has gotten what he needed: advancing this out of committee. McConnell will hold the vote as soon as possible and Flake knows perfectly well his deal is pure BS that no one was ever going to honor. He'll use the BS deal as a way to paint himself as thoughtful and compassionate, but ultimately vote yes on Kavanaugh despite no investigation taking place.
posted by sotonohito at 11:06 AM on September 28, 2018 [17 favorites]


This "reporting the nomination" is some Flake cover his ass bullshit.

It isn't just reporting the nomination. There are only three possible reports -- favorable, not favorable and no recommendation (a tie).

So by voting with the majority, Flake is giving a favorable recommendation -- before he sees the investigation he is calling for.
posted by JackFlash at 11:07 AM on September 28, 2018 [9 favorites]


Lindsey Graham: "Somebody's gotta explain this to Trump, I guess that's my job" followed by weird, punch drunk laughter
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 11:09 AM on September 28, 2018 [24 favorites]


What it appeared he said was that he wouldnt vote Yes on Kav on the floor until the investigation was complete.

He was not that categorical. He said he wouldn't "be comfortable with" any movement happening on the floor until the investigation. He never said that should the movement happen despite his scary, scary, discomfort, that he would then vote no. In fact, the only thing he was categorical about was in describing how he has no power to prevent that movement from happening.
posted by solotoro at 11:09 AM on September 28, 2018 [1 favorite]


It's this sort of Friday afternoon: Twitter video of hearing cut with Samuel L. Jackson in Pulp Fiction.
posted by RedOrGreen at 11:10 AM on September 28, 2018 [16 favorites]


per Klobuchar - they don't have the votes unless there is an investigation.
posted by bluesky43 at 11:11 AM on September 28, 2018 [2 favorites]


Graham to Trump: "I have good news and I have bad news. Bad news: we didn't vote Kavanaugh in today. Good news: we're renewing the show for an extra episode! Bad news: The FBI are going to be involved. But good news, only for a week, so they don't really have time to reveal anything of importance, so we can vote him through next Friday. By then, you'll do something to boost the ratings, and everyone will have forgotten about our bro Brett." [Fake, but it feels so real.]
posted by filthy light thief at 11:12 AM on September 28, 2018 [12 favorites]


just taking it all in
posted by theodolite at 11:12 AM on September 28, 2018 [1 favorite]


@AJentleson: You'll be hard pressed to find another human more skeptical of McConnell upholding commitments than me, but if Flake-group includes enough senators to keep K under 50 and they stick to their guns, McConnell can't force confirmation. The votes are either there or they aren't.

The catch is that Flake didn't actually say that, he just kind of said there should be a delay without explicitly promising a no vote if there isn't one. Which opens the possibility for Flake to flake on himself if McConnell forces the issue.

Indeed, they don't know McConnell will have the cloture vote tomorrow or not! seungminkim: Cornyn on whether procedural votes will still begin on floor tomorrow — “We’re having a discussion about that”

Alternatively, they can wait a bit, somehow get Trump to agree to have the FBI get involved, have the FBI produce a stack of paper, say "well this tells us nothing new, thanks for wasting our time," and proceed anyway.
posted by zachlipton at 11:13 AM on September 28, 2018 [9 favorites]


Meanwhile, live from the senate (periscope, Reuters), and reacting to that rather odd process.
posted by stonepharisee at 11:13 AM on September 28, 2018


Donald Trump, Accidental Open Mic Comedian, Is Laughed at by the U.N.
Here's how you know things are really going well: when you're giving a speech to almost all of the world's leaders—folks like Emmanuel Macron and Enrique Peña Nieto were there but Oprah Winfrey and Beyoncé were notably absent—and you boast to those world leaders about how much your country has accomplished under your tyrannical reign and those world leaders respond by laughing. At you. Openly.
...
Trump, addressing the 73rd session of the U.N. General Assembly, said, "In less than two years, my administration has accomplished more than almost any administration in the history of this country." Which, like, Teddy Roosevelt established 150 national parks, and you cut taxes for the wealthy and put a bunch of infants in jail, but sure, go off. Trump paused, probably for applause since this is the kind of statement that makes the folks at Fox and Friends wet their pants with glee. But Trump was not speaking to Ms. Fox nor any of her little friends. There was a second of dead air (awkward, amazing) during which dozens of translators tried their best to find a way to relay what Trump had said without audibly scoffing. And, once the phrase had been translated, the laughter began.
Make sure to. peep the compare-and-contrast pics of Trump looking like he 's in the UN Time Out with other world leaders looking suave.
posted by kirkaracha at 11:13 AM on September 28, 2018 [7 favorites]


I am so pissed that Flake gets to be the "good guy" by announcing the FBI investigation. Fuck him. Fuck him forever.

Is what I wrote before that whole clusterfuck played out. Well, good call me. It's clear that the Dem agreement was to delay the Committee vote for a week, which still isn't enough time for an FBI investigation, but any delay is better than nothing. I am incandescent that Grassley steamrolled the vote through with that stupid slimy "We'll discuss after the vote" thing when the Dems were trying to clarify Flake's comments.
posted by Ruki at 11:13 AM on September 28, 2018 [7 favorites]


It's very weird that we find ourselves trying to work out whether the obvious violent rapist drunken monster set to determine the rule of law for the next half century was technically legally allowed to drink alcohol in Maryland in 1982.

Especially since fake IDs are a thing.

For the love of fuck I was a teetotaler in high school why am I the only one to remember fake IDs exist
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 11:14 AM on September 28, 2018 [17 favorites]


But the Executive branch has to initiate an FBI investigation (the Senate can only request one), so I wouldn't put it past Trump to have a hissy fit and just say "No".

Kavanaugh might prefer that at this point. It would produce an up or down vote without his claims having to face real scrutiny and without him having to withdraw from the nomination. If he fails to be confirmed, he can stay where he is and when he's tired of that can get wingnut welfare.

I wouldn't be surprised if the Trump administration already has the FBI double checking Amy Coney Barrett's background right now, in case they need to railroad her through in October.
posted by snuffleupagus at 11:15 AM on September 28, 2018 [3 favorites]


Graham: "this is called democracy". Oh for the love of god shut up.
posted by bluesky43 at 11:17 AM on September 28, 2018 [20 favorites]


@ddale8: Trump calls Christine Blasey Ford a "very fine woman" and "a very credible witness," but he says Brett Kavanaugh was "incredible."
posted by zachlipton at 11:18 AM on September 28, 2018 [8 favorites]


Would It Make A Difference If The FBI Were To Investigate Kavanaugh? (NPR, Sept. 28, 2018)
There are several reasons an FBI investigation would be different. First, because it's a crime to lie to the FBI. It's a crime to lie to Congress, too, but there is a practical difference between people in the Kavanaugh case issuing written statements about their versions of events and actually sitting down with human FBI special agents.

And second, because the FBI might hear from, and ask questions of, people who so far have only spoken out on paper. Special agents might talk in more detail with bystanders and witnesses and glean details from them that aren't yet in the public eye.

So although Grassley and Kavanaugh are correct that the FBI might serve only as a gold-plated transcription service in this case, the completeness of those transcripts might exceed the body of evidence that now exists — and it would be evidence obtained from witnesses who could be prosecuted if they lied to the feds.

That leads to the third important point in all the discussion about an FBI investigation: Democrats and outside groups want whatever evidence the Judiciary Committee or the Senate considers to have the imprimatur of the world's premier law enforcement agency.

An interview given to the FBI by Kavanaugh's boyhood friend Mark Judge, for example — whom Ford has accused of being a bystander to sexual assault — would have much greater political heft than the written statement he has released on his own.

On Friday, the committee voted along party lines to defeat a Democratic motion to attempt to subpoena Judge to testify before the panel.

The case made by Democrats and outside groups goes beyond Judge. They also want interviews with other accusers and witnesses in the case, some of whom have already said they want to talk with investigators.
...
There's no way to know how much more time it might require for the FBI to interview all the people now involved with the Kavanaugh case. Some of them are spread around the country.

Moreover, Grassley has said, the Judiciary Committee also already has federal investigators detailed to help it talk with people involved — they just come from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

These ATF and ICE investigators, however, so far apparently haven't spoken to Judge or other people directly connected with the allegations made by Ford and the other women.

The committee's staffers and investigators have been dealing with other allegations, according to transcripts released by the Judiciary panel, including ones they and Kavanaugh have concluded were false.

And the FBI has conducted background checks into Kavanaugh in the past, as he and Judiciary Committee Republicans pointed out several times on Thursday.

If the bureau didn't find anything that disqualified him for his executive branch positions or his current seat on the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, what difference, they ask, would a new inquiry make?

One difference is what the people involved are willing to say now.

Ford says she didn't talk with anyone about her alleged assault at the time it happened in 1982, including in the 1990s at the time the FBI might have looked into Kavanaugh's background so he could join the Justice Department, or in the early 2000s when he worked for then-President George W. Bush.
Emphasis mine. It looks like this article was written before this recent announcement, but it provided good context for me to understand what could happen next with the FBI.
posted by filthy light thief at 11:19 AM on September 28, 2018 [22 favorites]


Right now, Mark Judge is putting on a fake mustache and sombrero, waiting for a cab to take him from Bethany Beach to Ocean City, MD, where he can hide in the back of the Purple Moose Saloon and say "No habla inglés, señor" to anyone who approaches him this week.
posted by delfin at 11:20 AM on September 28, 2018 [17 favorites]


@ddale8: Trump calls Christine Blasey Ford a "very fine woman" and "a very credible witness," but he says Brett Kavanaugh was "incredible."

oh i agree if you take that word literally
posted by murphy slaw at 11:20 AM on September 28, 2018 [52 favorites]


Incredible - adj. Not believable
posted by maniabug at 11:21 AM on September 28, 2018 [12 favorites]


One week is a joke. There's a reason Mueller has been at it for over a year. Investigations take time. First you have to figure out who you should interview. And then you have to make arrangements for the interview, which may involve appointments with lawyers. Sometimes it can take a while to persuade someone to cooperate. And then that interview may bring out names of other people that might be important. You can't do this in a week.

And we don't know what the scope of the investigation will be. Just Ms. Ford? How about Ms. Ramirez? How about Ms. Swetnick? How about Mark Judge? What about Kavanaugh's entire history of drinking? How about all his high school and Yale friends who say he was a heavy drinker? No, it's likely to be a very superficial investigation with the FBI saying "Nobody remembers anything."
posted by JackFlash at 11:22 AM on September 28, 2018 [14 favorites]


If the bureau didn't find anything that disqualified him for his executive branch positions or his current seat on the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, what difference, they ask, would a new inquiry make?

One difference is what the people involved are willing to say now.

Ford says she didn't talk with anyone about her alleged assault at the time it happened in 1982, including in the 1990s at the time the FBI might have looked into Kavanaugh's background so he could join the Justice Department, or in the early 2000s when he worked for then-President George W. Bush.


This I believe.
posted by bluesky43 at 11:23 AM on September 28, 2018 [3 favorites]


Believe Survivors protest planned for Monday, outside the Colonial Theatre on Boylston Street in Boston, before and during the Flake/Kasich chat on the future of the Republican Party.
posted by adamg at 11:23 AM on September 28, 2018 [31 favorites]


They need to get every fence sitter to stare into a camera and pledge to vote No unless this investigation happens right away. Get Manchin, Flake, Collins, Murkowski all on the record before the end of day.
posted by cmfletcher at 11:23 AM on September 28, 2018 [3 favorites]


Would It Make A Difference If The FBI Were To Investigate Kavanaugh?

Every delay is a chance for Kavanaugh to be struck by lightning, or for Trump to choke on a cheeseburger, or for the crowdsourced "fund the opponent" campaigns to gain enough steam to influence Senators' votes.

And even a small, rushed investigation brings up the possibility of evidence that can be used to try and convict Kavanaugh later--not impeach, which, as mentioned, is a pie-in-the-sky option, but prosecuting him and sending him to prison is based on state laws, and SCOTUS justices aren't immune from prosecution. (Also, a conviction and prison sentence is one of the few things I think might convince the senate to remove a justice, if there were a solid D majority to start with.)
posted by ErisLordFreedom at 11:25 AM on September 28, 2018 [35 favorites]


Agreeing to vote to move the nominee out of committee pending an FBI investigation is probably the Flake-iest thing that Jeff Flake has ever done. He approves of the nominee, but yeah maybe the nominee might be guilty after all, but okay let's go ahead and vote anyway.
posted by vverse23 at 11:25 AM on September 28, 2018 [13 favorites]


Every time Ford and Kavanaugh dodged a question, in one chart (spoiler: the results are exactly as you'd expect)

This is not the testimony of an innocent man, but we already knew that.
posted by un petit cadeau at 11:29 AM on September 28, 2018 [42 favorites]


One week is a joke.

Maybe. But it's a week we didn't think we'd get this morning. A lot can happen in a week. Keep fighting. Keep calling.
posted by Roommate at 11:29 AM on September 28, 2018 [94 favorites]


I mean, if Kavanaugh ends up on the Court and everyone around him ends up going to jail because they lied to the FBI about Kavanaugh... that's a pretty Trumpian way for this to go, isn't it.
posted by Etrigan at 11:30 AM on September 28, 2018 [8 favorites]


Assuming Trump is unable to control the results of a purported FBI investigation, I think such an investigation would be overwhelmingly likely to result in Kavanaugh having less support, not more. Republicans might be better off having Kavanaugh withdraw his nomination rather than actually go through with an investigation.
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 11:31 AM on September 28, 2018 [10 favorites]


Republicans might be better off having Kavanaugh withdraw his nomination rather than actually go through with an investigation.

Republicans would, but not Trump.
posted by skewed at 11:34 AM on September 28, 2018 [4 favorites]


Considering I had no hope this morning, I got quite the adrenaline rush from the slim chance of a week's delay for an FBI investigation. Even if the investigation only goes as far as getting names down on paper, Dr. Ford already has a list of possible corroborating witnesses. I want those names on the goddamn record. Julie Swetnick already has a sworn statement, including potential corroborating witnesses. I want those names on the goddamn record, too.

I can buy Flake flaking if McConnell rams the vote through tomorrow or what have you, but I don't necessarily buy Collins and Murkowski doing the same. If they needed an excuse to vote no on the floor, this is it.
posted by lydhre at 11:34 AM on September 28, 2018 [8 favorites]


MSNBC: Murkowski supports Flake's demand for a week-long investigation.
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 11:34 AM on September 28, 2018 [37 favorites]


Kavanaugh could not have been clearer that he was scared shitless of an FBI investigation.

While I would caution the angels not to descend to award Flake a real actual spine yet, I am happy with this development. It's better news than I thought we were going to get today.
posted by prize bull octorok at 11:35 AM on September 28, 2018 [48 favorites]


@byrdinator: MURKOWSKI tells me she spoke with Flake before he made his decision in Judiciary committee and they are in agreement. She says she supports having an FBI investigation that is “limited in scope”

@Tierney_Megan: MURKOWSKI is supportive of Flakes proposal, doesn’t know how she’ll vote tomorrow

They could very well vote for cloture tomorrow, with the understanding that they'll be a delay before the final vote. It's unclear whether that's the plan. If they're serious, they have the two votes they need to get whatever they want.
posted by zachlipton at 11:37 AM on September 28, 2018 [5 favorites]


And now for the battle over what "limited in scope" means. That should be fantastic(ally horrible)
posted by mcstayinskool at 11:38 AM on September 28, 2018 [8 favorites]


Republicans might be better off having Kavanaugh withdraw his nomination rather than actually go through with an investigation.

That sounds like another case of “surely, this”. And is there any reason why “surely Republicans, who have female relatives, will withdraw their support of a liar and likely sexual predator” will fare worse this time than it did in November 2016?

The only “surely, this” now is, as someone else once said here, the one followed by “is our country now”. They have made their Faustian bargain, and they either dominate and crush all resistance for a generation, or they (proverbially, if not literally) hang for trying unsuccessfully. They know it, they've burned their bridges back to the old civil society and know that they charge forward or perish.
posted by acb at 11:38 AM on September 28, 2018 [2 favorites]


I listened to the hearings yesterday, and I thought it was kinda weird that Senate Democrats "wasted" so much time harping on the need for an FBI investigation, instead of asking prosecutorial questions which could have discredited Kavanaugh. Even Kamela Harris and Amy Klobuchar used a lot of their time that way!

I guess I get it now! They must have known this was possible. Klobuchar was involved in the negotiations with Flake.

She gave a superstar speech this morning, by the way, reminding everyone of the investigations into Trump and what Kavanaugh had said on the record about presidential investigations. I'd like to find a clip of that part of her speech to share, if anyone comes across one.
posted by OnceUponATime at 11:41 AM on September 28, 2018 [32 favorites]


but [a week] delay is better than nothing

Keep in mind that that it’s been less than two weeks since Dr. Ford went public. And that the nomination was all but guaranteed before that moment.

While a week is not a lot of time for a formal investigation, let’s not forget that a lot can change in that time. And that a favorable formal conclusion of such an investigation is not necessary for this nomination to be torpedoed. Any time extension is clearly not in the interests of O’Kavanaugh and his enablers. Who knows what mountain of his shit pile is going to come crashing down on him by this time next week?

Keep fighting. Keep calling. It’s working.

And as one of my little protests, I’ve decided that I’m not going to call O’Kavanaugh by his real name, ever again. Not that anyone will care, but it makes me feel better.
posted by Brak at 11:41 AM on September 28, 2018 [23 favorites]


CNN: Trump defers to Senate on Kavanaugh investigation: "Whatever they think is necessary"

(to be taken with a grain of salt, given hellscape)
posted by tarshish bound at 11:41 AM on September 28, 2018 [20 favorites]


Something that's unclear to me about how the FBI operates. It's been treated as a given that they just can't open an investigation without the direction of the president. So, for starters, that means Christopher Wray, as the bureau's director, couldn't just initiate one himself? Nor could the head of whatever sub-agency would do this sort of thing?

Also, it seems obvious to me that all kinds of federal investigations have happened without the president initiating every one of them; if you're a criminal of the sort the FBI looks into, they'll look into you as a matter of course, right? So what sets this situation apart -- is it the lack of any apparent federal crime to follow up on? (Although you have to consider whether the perjury was a federal felony anyway.)
posted by InTheYear2017 at 11:41 AM on September 28, 2018 [2 favorites]


Poor Mark Judge, he who cannot speak in public because it would distress him too much?

He's available for media and speaking engagements.
posted by PontifexPrimus at 11:42 AM on September 28, 2018 [80 favorites]


graham has gone full-meatloaf dignity wraith and actually seems to be enjoying himself doing it

I just . . . I really need to see an illustration of that.
posted by gladly at 11:42 AM on September 28, 2018 [6 favorites]


So what happens in an FBI investigation, do you suppose? I mean, I'm no cop, but I've watched a lot of law and order and things I would imagine cops doing:
1. Have Ford sketch house. Do cognitive interview to possibly retrieve more detail.
2. Find out where Jimmy (of July 1) lived and layout of the house. Does it match?
3. If not, make a list of everyone in that calendar. Get list of people she hung out with from Ford. Find out where they all lived back then. Check layout/Location. Does any match?
4. Talk to people who went to elite private schools at that time. Ask them about slang and what different words meant.
5. Talk to all the Renate alumni -- ask them what it meant. (Yes, it's trivial, but it's perjury)
6. Obviously a forensic examination of the calendars.
7. Obviously talk to Judge and other people listed as being present.

Is there time? A week seems like so little and if they do an honest investigation, there's so much to do. And that's just for this one allegation. The scope did include "allegations," so presumably the others as well.
posted by If only I had a penguin... at 11:43 AM on September 28, 2018 [2 favorites]


Also, has there been any talk of the regular old police investigating, given that there is no statute of limitations?
posted by If only I had a penguin... at 11:44 AM on September 28, 2018 [1 favorite]




Also, has there been any talk of the regular old police investigating, given that there is no statute of limitations?

There was a statute at the time, so that's the law that would prevail.
posted by ChurchHatesTucker at 11:46 AM on September 28, 2018 [3 favorites]


One week is a joke. [...] Maybe. But it's a week we didn't think we'd get this morning. A lot can happen in a week. Keep fighting. Keep calling.

Exactly, this is a true "teach the horse to sing" situation.
posted by Justinian at 11:48 AM on September 28, 2018 [9 favorites]


Metafilter: to be taken with a grain of salt, given hellscape

I fucking love the idea of Mark Judge and Kavanaugh being interviewed by the FBI, when lying would actually be a fucking crime that someone with the power to prosecute might give a shit about prosecuting

Can we have a moment to fucking cheer for all the Democratic Senators we shat on yesterday? Because those motherfuckers played the fucking game, and they keep coming up with these Hail Marys that get us ever closer to the end zone, stopping the clock along the way. It could still fall apart, but so far it looks like “one week investigation delay” is holding, and that is everything.
posted by schadenfrau at 11:49 AM on September 28, 2018 [68 favorites]


Again, this isn't criminal proceeding, it's a Senate hearing. It only needs to go on record that Kavanaugh is a Raping Rapist who Rapes, not a convicted one. The FBI investigation needn't result in an indictment, it just needs to reveal the truth of the matter.
posted by explosion at 11:49 AM on September 28, 2018 [1 favorite]


@mgallagher822: I feel relieved that @JeffFlake seems to have heard my and @AnaMariaArchil2’s voices in the Senate elevator today. We absolutely need an FBI investigation and for him and all Senators to vote NO. #StopKavanaugh

From the Daily Beast with Maria Gallagher and Ana Maria Archila:
She had never expected to relay the most emotional moment of her life to a United States senator. She had never actually told anyone before. It had just come out, right there, in front of everyone, soon to be broadcast on national TV.

Her mother had called her after seeing it on cable. Even she had not known. Gallagher needed to step outside to go and talk to her about it. “This won’t be an easy conversation,” she said.
Brave as hell.
posted by zachlipton at 11:50 AM on September 28, 2018 [120 favorites]


Something that's unclear to me about how the FBI operates. It's been treated as a given that they just can't open an investigation without the direction of the president...Also, it seems obvious to me that all kinds of federal investigations have happened without the president initiating every one of them; if you're a criminal of the sort the FBI looks into, they'll look into you as a matter of course, right?

An outsider's guess: the President has to direct investigations of things like SC picks, because (we hope) there is nothing criminal there to begin with; the Office of the President does so as a means of demonstrating that this nominee is a good person, with no criminal past or troubling activities in their past.

When it comes to other investigations, involving actual crime being done, the FBI has a mandate around protecting the US from terror, enforcing federal law, and so forth; so if a crime that falls under their jurisdiction happens (or might be happening) they can investigate with no problem. Presidential nominees fall outside that jurisdiction, so they have to be specifically instructed to investigate.
posted by nubs at 11:51 AM on September 28, 2018 [2 favorites]


But Kavenaugh was so obviously lying yesterday about so many things, and blocking any perfectly rational suggestion that a little FBI inquiry would clear things up, that I can't but be a bit hopeful that this will reveal him unambiguously to be the lying sack of shit that the republicans seem not to be able to see.
posted by stonepharisee at 11:53 AM on September 28, 2018 [13 favorites]


I don't understand why Julie Swetnick isn't getting more play. Do we just flat out not believe her? And if so, why not? Is it because Avenatti is involved? Is it because of the sheer horror of the accusations? Are we actually afraid they make the other accusations seem less believable?

Because from where I'm standing, Swetnick testified under oath -- in writing -- under penalty of blowing up her career in government if her allegations are proven false, in addition to all the other ways that coming forward were sure to blow up her entire life. The accusations describe horrific, nakedly criminal behavior that involves many other people, and many other victims.

With this potential week reprieve I feel all our energy should go into demanding investigation of her claims and giving her the opportunity to speak, but it seems even Democrats don't want to touch it.
posted by the turtle's teeth at 11:55 AM on September 28, 2018 [41 favorites]






Maria Gallagher and Ana Maria Archila may have hijacked the narrative back from Lindsey Graham. It seems too perfect to last.
posted by ChurchHatesTucker at 11:57 AM on September 28, 2018 [19 favorites]


Leah McElrath: "Senator Flake and Senator Grassley just fucked over the Democrats and all the survivors of sexual assault and rape in the United States."

Michael Esposito: "Perhaps. But I also feel that it provides a razor-thin sliver of hope."

Sarah Kendzior: "No, that vote does not offer hope. Try Occam's razor. It's so thin and sharp you can stab a democracy to death with it."
posted by Dashy at 11:57 AM on September 28, 2018 [13 favorites]


I don't understand why Julie Swetnick isn't getting more play.

I think her story was dismissed out of hand by Kavanaw and the GOP on the committee because they dont care. why the rest of us dont know more? well Avenatti has said he would be releasing more info over the weekend, and that was before we knew of the FBI investigation possibly getting reopened.

i think well hear more soon.
posted by Exceptional_Hubris at 11:58 AM on September 28, 2018 [6 favorites]


I think any FBI investigation would have to include the Swetnick allegations. I think we’re not hearing it because they are so heinous, they’re the kind of allegations you want a mountain of evidence for — a gajillion corroborating witnesses, more victim statements, etc. Evidence the FBI can probably get.
posted by schadenfrau at 11:58 AM on September 28, 2018 [2 favorites]


More Boston updates: Students at Emerson (which owns the theater where Flake and Kasich are scheduled to chat) and NARAL's Mass. chapter are also organizing protests.
posted by adamg at 11:58 AM on September 28, 2018 [15 favorites]


I don't understand why Julie Swetnick isn't getting more play.

Going by Avenatti's Twitter, Grassley et al are doing their best to ignore her. As of an hour ago, Avenatti's asking when they can present her evidence to the FBI.
posted by snuffleupagus at 11:58 AM on September 28, 2018 [26 favorites]


Like, they made the Cosby comparison. There are probably Cosby levels of women out there that went through this. And exponentially more witnesses.
posted by schadenfrau at 11:58 AM on September 28, 2018 [12 favorites]


MSNBC: Murkowski supports Flake's demand for a week-long investigation.

That's a smart move for the "moderates." If more shit comes out of the woodwork, they won't be the ones who sunk Kavanaugh, he will have sunk himself.

Honestly, I think this just killed his chances on get on the Court. You KNOW there's more women to follow.
posted by leotrotsky at 11:59 AM on September 28, 2018 [9 favorites]


Resistbot sent me one of its periodic gentle text nudges this morning. It consisted entirely of this:

"When you get to the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on."
–Franklin D. Roosevelt
posted by young_simba at 12:00 PM on September 28, 2018 [35 favorites]


Flake is giving the same bullshit talk at St. Anselm college in Manchester, New Hampshire. Hope we see some organizing there too.
posted by schoolgirl report at 12:00 PM on September 28, 2018 [6 favorites]


You KNOW there's more women to follow.

And that's why the investigation is "limited in scope" to the existing allegations.
posted by If only I had a penguin... at 12:01 PM on September 28, 2018 [16 favorites]


I would really like to know about any and all protest actions, anywhere. Whatever time we have left, I want to be loud, visible, and undeniable. My Senators are already going to vote OK, but I want to be part of an enormous, incovenient, and deadly serious female rage movement.

Honestly, I think this just killed his chances on get on the Court.

At least part of the Democrats-and-wafflers gambit has to be that if the heat turns up some more, he might just withdraw.
posted by Miko at 12:02 PM on September 28, 2018 [19 favorites]


@lachlan: I think pro-Kavanaugh folks dumping on Flake are seriously underestimating how savvy a move that was. He basically neutered Ds' central talking point. If the FBI finds nothing new (as is likely), Collins, Murkowski, and Manchin are unquestionably more likely to vote yes.

@brianklaas: This is correct. A week delay is risky, as more information could come out that further affects things in the court of public opinion. But if we are in roughly the same place a week from now after the FBI does a cursory investigation, it’ll be *easier* for swing votes to vote yes

I don't entirely agree. For one thing, since when does a week go by in 2018 without stuff happening? It's been just four lifetimes days since everyone thought were were in the middle of a Rosenstein-induced constitutional crisis; what will happen in a week? But I feel like the existing allegations are essentially priced into the vote at this point, and this could easily end up giving them the reason to go forward and confirm. That doesn't mean this is bad—it's the only deal on offer—, but I don't hold out a ton of hope an even bigger smoking gun emerges in a week of "limited" investigation, and Republicans can call "times up" if the investigation looks like it's going somewhere. If there are 50 Senators comfortable voting to confirm with the evidence we have now, they'll be even more conformable voting to confirm if it's broadly the same thing written up by the FBI. Flake isn't suddenly going to be concerned about the July 1 calendar entry if the FBI notes its existence.
posted by zachlipton at 12:04 PM on September 28, 2018 [9 favorites]


Anyone who doesn't want to talk to the FBI merely has to say they will speak only in consultation with their attorney -- whose first available time is one week and a day from today.
posted by JackFlash at 12:04 PM on September 28, 2018 [9 favorites]


“surely Republicans, who have female relatives, will withdraw their support of a liar and likely sexual predator”

I've been telling people on Tumblr: Quit referencing their female relatives and close friends. Talk about THEM. Don't reframe the situation using a hypothetical victim they should care about - it's obvious they don't care what happens to women. Ask what they'd do if the same assault happened to them, personally.

I want to see Republicon (I'm stealing this term) politicians have to explain, in public, why they would be outraged by a man assaulting them, but when the target is a woman, they're not sure it's even worth investigating her claims.
posted by ErisLordFreedom at 12:04 PM on September 28, 2018 [20 favorites]


> Can we have a moment to fucking cheer for all the Democratic Senators we shat on yesterday?

From what I can tell, the question before the SJC went from
Kavanaugh: Yes/No
to
Kavanaugh: Yes-with FBI investigation someday real soon honest/No-not before an FBI investigation.
That's not a bad play on a weak hand.
posted by klarck at 12:04 PM on September 28, 2018 [12 favorites]


Like with literally everything else so far, the “limited scope” of the investigation is not written in stone anywhere. If more evidence and more allegations come out, I don’t think they’ll be able to pretend they don’t exist, politically.

They’ll probably try, because we live in an abusive gas lighting nightmare, but those of us who see reality aren’t shutting up anytime soon.
posted by schadenfrau at 12:05 PM on September 28, 2018 [7 favorites]


It is, apparently, pitchfork time.
posted by stonepharisee at 12:05 PM on September 28, 2018 [40 favorites]


Can we shut the country down in a mass-protest this weekend? Pretty please?
posted by gucci mane at 12:06 PM on September 28, 2018 [12 favorites]


snuffleupagus: Going by Avenatti's Twitter, Grassley et al are doing their best to ignore her. As of an hour ago, Avenatti's asking when they can present her evidence to the FBI.

Maybe this is what a week gets us: a "gold-plated transcription service" of others accusing Kavanaugh of similar acts, and the FBI starting investigations to corroborate their statements.

As I quoted from NPR upthread: One difference [between Kavanaugh's priore FBI background check and now] is what the people involved are willing to say now.
posted by filthy light thief at 12:06 PM on September 28, 2018 [5 favorites]


If Collins votes yes a week from now after a toothless FBI investigation she would have voted yes tomorrow as well.

Nothing ventured, nothing gained. There is no way this puts us in a worse position than where we were sitting two hours ago. None.
posted by lydhre at 12:06 PM on September 28, 2018 [42 favorites]


I’m feeling especially generous today. What are some suggestions for the most effective orgs to which I should donate? DSCC? ActBlue? Others? Obviously we need every seat we can get flipped in the midterms, I want to throw more of my money at this.
posted by rodeoclown at 12:07 PM on September 28, 2018 [11 favorites]


Anastasia Bernoulli has a hopeful perspective:

Kavanaugh, an Agent of Recalibration
All I know is that we are experiencing a recalibration. Trump is part of it. Kavanaugh is part of it. I don’t know who or what else will be, but I know it’s not over yet. Rome is not burning. We are not falling apart at the seams. We are a young country experiencing some nasty growing pains, and I am pretty confident that if we stick with it, we’re going to come out of all this better than we went in.

I say this as much for myself as for anyone else. As a person who spent yesterday reliving past trauma and feeling pretty terrified in general, keeping my head in the game is a constant battle. It’s not over. We’re fighting. We may just block Kavanaugh’s nomination. The American Bar Association is calling for a full FBI investigation, as Dr. Ford has. If the Senate complies with this, and the investigation finds questionable things, there is a very good chance this will set a significant precedent of people who do bad things to other people not being allowed to influence the laws of our country.

That’s been a long time coming. Our nation has a rich and lengthy history of being ruled by a long line of mostly academically brilliant and well-spoken scumbags. It’s not a partisan thing. I can name just as many Democrats as I can Republicans throughout history who fall into this category, and people of every party who don’t. I’m also not saying that the known philanderers, harassers, racists, and homophobes of our history never made any good leadership decisions. Sure they did. At the same time, I know we can do better, and maybe this epic battle over Kavanaugh is part and parcel of getting to that place where we demand our government consist of a diverse array of decent people who understand and honor the humanity of others.

These are difficult times we’re in, but I feel strongly that there’s a purpose for it all, that if we stick with it, and keep holding our government accountable, we’re going to rise from this place, and be better than we were before we went through these challenging times. People like Trump and Kavanaugh aren’t the problem. They’re symptoms of the problem, manifestations of what’s existed just below the surface for longer than any of us have been alive. They are showing us what’s wrong, and forcing us to fix it. That doesn’t mean it’s easy, of course.

Hang in there. We’re going to get through this together. As my Drill Sergeant used to say, courage isn’t a lack of fear. It’s acknowledging that you’re afraid, and pushing through anyway. We’re all afraid, for numerous reasons, but the only way out of this is straight through, so we have to keep pushing. I believe we will be glad we did.
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 12:08 PM on September 28, 2018 [35 favorites]


One difference [between Kavanaugh's priore FBI background check and now] is what the people involved are willing to say now.

Because now they're less certain of what others will say.

Prisoners' dilemma.
posted by ChurchHatesTucker at 12:09 PM on September 28, 2018 [12 favorites]


Honestly, I think this just killed his chances on get on the Court.

At least part of the Democrats-and-wafflers gambit has to be that if the heat turns up some more, he might just withdraw.


And another week of wall-to-wall coverage with more press on the women, more interviews, more accusations, more protests, more articles by investigative reporters, etc.

There's a reason why the Republicans wanted to wrap this up quickly; the longer this goes on, the more his lies become obvious, and the faster the wheels fall off.
posted by leotrotsky at 12:09 PM on September 28, 2018 [40 favorites]


Anyone who doesn't want to talk to the FBI merely has to say they will speak only in consultation with their attorney -- whose first available time is one week and a day from today.

Yes but then the only people speaking to the FBI will be the people who have already indicated that they would like to speak to the FBI: Blasey Ford, Ramirez, Swetnick, Judge’s ex-girlfriend, and anyone else so inclined, who will almost certainly not be friendly to Judge and Kavanaugh.

They could try stonewalling, but they don’t get a second chance to offer their side of whatever if they do.
posted by schadenfrau at 12:09 PM on September 28, 2018 [9 favorites]


For one thing, since when does a week go by in 2018 without stuff happening?

For detailed reference, here's where we were on September 21.
posted by rhizome at 12:09 PM on September 28, 2018 [2 favorites]


Swetnick's affadavit was released just one day before the hearing, so I hardly blame Democrats for not digging into it for lack of time, although I think one of them did describe part of it.

Meanwhile, I suspect that if an investigation is ordered, it will limit itself to what Ford experienced, never mind Swetnick or other allegations. (That's not nothing because it could mean a Mark Judge interview.)

After Kavanaugh's rage-a-thon, I don't see him withdrawing. Literally drinking himself into a stupor seems likelier. Otherwise he'll just yell even louder about how everything Judge (or whoever) said was all LIES.
posted by InTheYear2017 at 12:09 PM on September 28, 2018 [8 favorites]


I JUST REALIZED HE PROBABLY BOUGHT ROSENSTEIN A WEEK ALSO.

Seriously, they didnt can Rod this week because they didnt want it to overshadow or taint the nomination process? how does that not apply to trying it again next week.

@lachlan: I think pro-Kavanaugh folks dumping on Flake are seriously underestimating how savvy a move that was. He basically neutered Ds' central talking point. If the FBI finds nothing new (as is likely), Collins, Murkowski, and Manchin are unquestionably more likely to vote yes.

You'd have to not have watched Kavanaw's testimony yesterday to put that much weight on the bolded portion of his tweet. Seriously.
posted by Exceptional_Hubris at 12:10 PM on September 28, 2018 [14 favorites]


I can't but be a bit hopeful that this will reveal him unambiguously to be the lying sack of shit that the republicans seem not to be able to see.

They see. They know. They are exactly the same as he is, and they do not care. He is one of them in every aspect of his repulsive inhumanity, and they love him for it and will elevate him to the highest court in the land. Specifically because he is the man that he is. Please understand this.
posted by poffin boffin at 12:10 PM on September 28, 2018 [37 favorites]


I completely reject any speculation that's based on an assumption that it is likely that the FBI won't find anything new. I don't think that's likely at all.
posted by melissasaurus at 12:11 PM on September 28, 2018 [23 favorites]


@AP_Politics: BREAKING: Kavanaugh friend Mark Judge says he'll cooperate with any law enforcement agency that investigates `confidentially'

pbump, WaPo, Here’s where Kavanaugh’s sworn testimony was misleading or wrong. This also describes some of the things he wasn't asked or places where follow-up would have been appropriate.
posted by zachlipton at 12:12 PM on September 28, 2018 [30 favorites]


since we're not sure where "Timmy's" was.
Kavanaugh identified "Timmy" as "Tim Gaudette". Take this with a "Twitter sleuths"-sized grain of salt, but the Gaudette home address in 1982 appears to be a two-story condo with only 1 bathroom, which is next to a bedroom at the top of a narrow set of stairs...
posted by roystgnr at 12:12 PM on September 28, 2018 [23 favorites]


Is the FBI going to talk to Judge? That’ll be how you tell if this is real.

Edit: guess they are, ‘confidentially’??
posted by Artw at 12:13 PM on September 28, 2018


So, Trump needs to actually perform an action to initiate an investigation?
posted by lucidium at 12:13 PM on September 28, 2018 [3 favorites]


schoolgirl report: Flake is giving the same bullshit talk at St. Anselm college in Manchester, New Hampshire. Hope we see some organizing there too.

I just texted my kid up there and suggested keeping an eye open for a protest to join. Thanks for the heads-up!
posted by wenestvedt at 12:15 PM on September 28, 2018 [10 favorites]


I started out this morning with the same despair (but more anger) than I felt in Nov. 16.

Now I have been offered this tiny, nay, waffer-thin sliver of hope.

By Goddess, I will take it.

The kiddo and I are making cupcakes this weekend. If Kavenaugh drops out before we can deliver them to the church Sunday a.m., everyone gets extra sprinkles.

All the same, I cannot yet read any chirpy opinion pieces calling this "growing pains" WTF. We are still balanced on the edge of an extremely fascist knife. The time to see this as the final Surely This that Changed Everything is in the better future we hope to get to, not right now.
posted by emjaybee at 12:19 PM on September 28, 2018 [36 favorites]


@burgessev Manchin supports call for FBI investigation
posted by scalefree at 12:22 PM on September 28, 2018 [18 favorites]


This is the most outrageous, disgusting display I have ever seen in the Senate. I cannot believe these men. Despicable asswipes the lot of them.

What just happened? Here's a breakdown of the Brett Kavanaugh vote and what happens next (USA Today)

Why did the meeting end so abruptly?

...As Flake, discussed his hope that the FBI investigation would take place before the full Senate voted on Kavanaugh's nomination, committee chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, cut him off by invoking the two-hour rule and adjourning the meeting.

The rule, Senate Rule XXVI, is an archaic rule dictating how long Senate committees and subcommittees can meet when the Senate isn't in session. The rule states no Senate panel can meet for more than two hours, or past 2 p.m., without the permission of the Senate.


Cowards and crooks.
posted by petebest at 12:23 PM on September 28, 2018 [13 favorites]


All the same, I cannot yet read any chirpy opinion pieces calling this "growing pains" WTF. We are still balanced on the edge of an extremely fascist knife. The time to see this as the final Surely This that Changed Everything is in the better future we hope to get to, not right now.

this. you can pause and identify the turning points in retrospect, but for now keep turning
posted by murphy slaw at 12:25 PM on September 28, 2018 [17 favorites]


The other thing is, Angry Kavanaugh may have played well to the prez live on day 1. But I really find it difficult to believe that that performance is going to hold up well to repeated watchings. It's no accident the committee meeting was at 9:30am today - I'm pretty sure all those clips of K screaming and sniveling are going to look less and less supreme court-idential as the week wears on.
posted by telepanda at 12:26 PM on September 28, 2018 [23 favorites]


Dear Senator Leahy,

Thank you for your aggressive opposition to nomination of Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court.

The current one week limited scope FBI investigation is more than I'd hoped for this morning.

Please keep fighting, however.

One week is NOT enough time for even a somewhat thorough investigation given the required steps of contacting witnesses, scheduling and interviewing them, analysis, forensics, followup on results of the preceding, and preparation of a report. A month would be more like it, assuming only the crimes that appear to have been committed.

Limited scope is NOT acceptable. The ensuing week is likely to provide opportunity for more abuse victims to come forward. Each of those brings with it additional time requirements as per the paragraph above.

Those senators, Flake and Murkowski, who have called for the investigation, need to come out and explicitly pledge to vote NO on the floor until the results of a completed and adequate FBI investigation are IN HAND.

Thank you, sincerely, for fighting the good fight. This is our moment. Our nation is teetering on the brink of frightful and possibly irreversible lawlessness, predation, and civil war.

I am an abuse survivor, and my two daughters are staring into a hell mouth of abuse, neglect, and violence even though they are too young to know it yet.
posted by maniabug at 12:26 PM on September 28, 2018 [28 favorites]


What's likely is that they'll find something and it will continue to not matter,

If it really didn't matter, they would have had a straight vote today out of committee.

It clearly did matter.
posted by leotrotsky at 12:27 PM on September 28, 2018 [19 favorites]


But Kavenaugh was so obviously lying yesterday about so many things, and blocking any perfectly rational suggestion that a little FBI inquiry would clear things up, that I can't but be a bit hopeful that this will reveal him unambiguously to be the lying sack of shit that the republicans seem not to be able to see.

This weeklong FBI whatever (and HOORAY! for it) merely has to uncover a single, sort of significant lie in Kavanaugh's testimony in front of the committee to possibly derail his nomination, for as the nominee agreed yesterday, false in one thing, false in everything.
posted by notyou at 12:29 PM on September 28, 2018 [3 favorites]


cut him off by invoking the two-hour rule and adjourning the meeting.

Every delay is helping us. It's not like they stop talking to each other when the official meeting part is done; they just stop recording things for the public, and they can't make officially-recorded decisions. And every delay is a chance for people to share info about what happened in the whiplash-fast meetings, and call their senators, and coordinate protests. More time for people to make "cryin' Kavanaugh" gifsets, more time for women he's assaulted to check through their calendars and figure out what weekend it happened before coming forward, more time for fact-checkers to compare what he said this time to both what he's said in the past and what the facts show.

I know Grassley is trying to slam shut the conversations, but there is absolutely no way that "meeting's over for now" helps his cause.
posted by ErisLordFreedom at 12:31 PM on September 28, 2018 [8 favorites]


Once again, if you need to wallow in despair or make various proclamations of doom or helplessness (and sometimes we all do), that is venting that belongs in the fucking fuck thread. That is what it’s there for. It’s really good at it. Lots of people in there screaming into the void.
posted by schadenfrau at 12:32 PM on September 28, 2018 [15 favorites]


Maybe we need a, "I know exactly the outcomes of everything before they occur" thread.
posted by Chrysostom at 12:33 PM on September 28, 2018 [42 favorites]


two moments in yesterday's hearing that really stood out for me:

1. Kavanaugh's complete vapor lock for several seconds after Durbin pressed him on calling for an FBI investigation

2. Harris' uncontested "I'll take that as a no" after he gave her his final stammering, flopsweat-drenched non-answer to the FBI question

This motherfucker does not want the FBI to investigate him.

Should be an interesting week
posted by prize bull octorok at 12:34 PM on September 28, 2018 [86 favorites]


@nycsouthpaw Nancy Pelosi says she recently read “God and Man at Georgetown Prep” by Mark Judge at the Library of Congress, encourages reporters to read it.

This was in addition to his more mainstream memoir, per Wikipedia
The author details rampant alcohol abuse at Georgetown Preparatory School, including downing beers with a music teacher from the school, while the teacher was entertained by a stripper. The author recounts a "100 Kegs or Bust" challenge, where the goal was to consume 100 kegs of beer before the end of the school year. Judge chronicles his exit from religiousness, followed by a return to Catholicism later in life. He criticizes those who diverge from traditional Catholicism and advocates for a return to more stringent religious practices.

...

Oppenheimer commented that the book "caused quite a storm", due to its revelation by Judge that "alcoholism was rampant" at the school.
There could also be some game theory come into play with the FBI interviews, Swetnick (along with Judge's ex girlfriend) both stated that there was gang rape*, and finding likely names of who the other rapists were won't be hard (the society/frat memberships are recorded). All of them face perjury charges if they lie and even one of the others tells the truth and can name names.

There is some hope if the FBI actually do their job and utilise enough resources. It may even help that they probably aren't very happy with Trump right now, even if they would traditionally be more conservative than not.


* Also documented in places like the ethnography by Peggy Reeves Sanday Fraternity Gang Rape - Sex, Brotherhood, and Privilege on Campus, and in a slightly bizarre coincidence, a D&D liveplay podcast I listened to last night (recorded back in 2016) referencing 'rape trains' The Dungeon Rats - 3. FRAT GNOLL INTOLERANT.. Which didn't really help with my trying to use it for insomnia. CW on both, although no rape in the podcast (IIRC), just a lot of scatology and violence (the frat gnolls die gruesomely if that's anyone's cup of catharsis tea).
posted by Buntix at 12:35 PM on September 28, 2018 [13 favorites]


Today in Philly hundreds of people gathered in front of Toomey's office to protest Kavanaugh. It was a beautiful thing. Speakers who talked about their own sexual assault experiences and speakers who issued calls to action. This all came together in less than a day. People are pissed. My sign said "This is the straw that broke the elephant's back."
posted by mcduff at 12:35 PM on September 28, 2018 [41 favorites]


If Kavanaugh doesn't want to be investigated enough to withdraw, how quickly can they sub in Barrett? The Senate is in session all four weeks of October.
posted by snuffleupagus at 12:36 PM on September 28, 2018 [3 favorites]


Mark Judge's offer to cooperate with an investigation appears to only apply to Swetnick's allegations, which he denies. He doesn't say anything about cooperating with an investigation into anything else.
posted by zachlipton at 12:41 PM on September 28, 2018 [2 favorites]


This motherfucker does not want the FBI to investigate him.

And the beauty of this is: the people who believe he's innocent, and the ones who think maybe he did some drinking and groping in his youth but hey that doesn't matter, will happily support "sure, let's have a quick little investigation and set all this garbage behind us for good."

His supporters won't be re-watching the parts of the interview where he panicked at the idea of an investigation; they'll be re-watching the parts where he yells, I AM INNOCENT. And why would an innocent man object to an investigation? Let's make that happen and clear his good name!
posted by ErisLordFreedom at 12:41 PM on September 28, 2018 [6 favorites]


I'm glad Kavanaugh's confirmation is not inevitable, but I'm terrified at whoever will be appointed in his stead. Barrett in particular is frightening.
posted by pxe2000 at 12:41 PM on September 28, 2018 [1 favorite]


@sahilkapur: CORNYN, exiting a meeting in McConnell’s office, re: next steps on Kavanaugh: “Next order of business will be a motion to proceed to the nomination tomorrow at noon.”

So the deal out of McConnell's office is "a supplemental FBI investigation for up to one week," but it sounds like they'll vote to proceed tomorrow anyway so they can just push this through as fast as possible. Now it's down to what the terms of the investigation actually are, if they'll talk to Judge, what allegations are investigated, whether it actually lasts a full week, etc... I presume Flake and company have said they're willing to vote for the motion to proceed, so they're going to key up the final floor vote regardless.
posted by zachlipton at 12:45 PM on September 28, 2018 [4 favorites]


rodeoclown: "I’m feeling especially generous today. What are some suggestions for the most effective orgs to which I should donate? DSCC? ActBlue? Others? Obviously we need every seat we can get flipped in the midterms, I want to throw more of my money at this."

The DSCC is fine, if you don't want to give to a specific Senate candidate - pretty much any money you give them is going to go to the obvious close races, anyway.

You might consider Spread The Vote, which helps people get photo ID in states that require that for voting.
posted by Chrysostom at 12:45 PM on September 28, 2018 [14 favorites]


I'm glad Kavanaugh's confirmation is not inevitable, but I'm terrified at whoever will be appointed in his stead. Barrett in particular is frightening.

I'm going to repeat something I wrote a few days ago:

We fight the one that's in front of us. If we win that fight, we fight the next one. In the meantime, we work like hell to flip the House and Senate.
posted by mcduff at 12:46 PM on September 28, 2018 [62 favorites]


A one week delay keeps him from hearing oral arguments for at least the first week of the term, which starts October 1. There are eight cases scheduled for oral argument that week, including a case about sex offender registration and one about critical habitat designations for the endangered species act.

That's 8 cases he can't rule on because he was not on the court at the time they were heard.
posted by anastasiav at 12:48 PM on September 28, 2018 [66 favorites]


They rushed Kavanaugh through as fast as they thought they could and it’s still taken over two months so far, right?

I’m guessing Kavanaugh might be talking to his own lawyers at length about his exposure to an FBI investigation this weekend, assuming he’s not a total fucking moron. Depending on what there is to find...I mean. Again, a rational person would say it’s not worth it, withdraw. But Kavanaugh seems so privileged as to be literally incapable of believing that he would face consequences for any illegal activity.

I have no idea what’s going to happen. But if Kavanaugh goes down, I don’t think they’ll have all of october left. I think they’ll have like 3 weeks to the election.

I don’t know if they’ll have the political capital to force through a new nominee in 3 weeks, especially if Kavanaugh has just gone down in spectacular flames.

But then again, everything is insane. So.

I would plan to be white knuckling through January, at least.
posted by schadenfrau at 12:48 PM on September 28, 2018 [14 favorites]


True to form, the Trump admin is keeping busy while most of the nation's attention is focused on Kavanaugh:

@ProPublica: "In case you missed it because your attention was elsewhere yesterday: The EPA is dissolving its Office of the Science Advisor. It also placed the head of its Office of Children’s Health, on leave without giving a reason."
posted by homunculus at 12:48 PM on September 28, 2018 [65 favorites]


We fight the one that's in front of us. If we win that fight, we fight the next one. In the meantime, we work like hell to flip the House and Senate.

The fight that's in front of us is bigger than Kavanaugh, it's about whether the seat can be held open long enough to fall into the hands of a flipped Senate. That includes having some idea how to respond to a hasty withdrawal of Kavanaugh and summary confirmation of an already vetted alternate.

Trump and the GOP are doubtlessly planning for that contingency, so should everyone in opposition to them.
posted by snuffleupagus at 12:50 PM on September 28, 2018 [8 favorites]


Mark Judge's offer to cooperate with an investigation appears to only apply to Swetnick's allegations, which he denies. He doesn't say anything about cooperating with an investigation into anything else.

Additionally he offers to cooperate with "confidential" investigations. FBI background checks are not confidential nor can they be, AFAIK.
posted by Justinian at 12:52 PM on September 28, 2018 [3 favorites]


I didnt see it called out yet, so... this here:

WSJ: Mitchell advised Republicans that to continue questioning Kavanaugh she was required by her oath in Arizona to inform Kavanaugh of his rights after he lied to her about July 1, 1982 entry on his calender. Maryland statutes was last question she asked, then break was called..

is literally fake news. It appears to be completely false.
posted by Justinian at 12:57 PM on September 28, 2018 [25 favorites]


Is it pitchfork time yet? Day 84

Trump admits friendship with Xi could be over

While the strategy is still taking shape, the push against China is expected to bring further sharp U.S. rhetoric and unspecified policy actions in coming weeks, according to one of the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
The White House did not address Reuters questions on these points.


what will be left of the old transatlantic west even if Trump departs the scene in January 2021 – or, pray heaven, sooner. The answer is sobering. Even in the best case, the United States and its international alliances are not going to bounce back as they did after the era of Watergate and Vietnam. This time is different, for reasons that lie both inside and beyond the US.
[...]
As I have argued elsewhere, that transatlantic unity of action has been in question ever since the end of the cold war. Now more than ever, the wider American congregation is turning away from international commitments and entangling alliances to address its own pressing domestic concerns.


Donald Trump, the UN and the fracturing of the west
The world order shook as America’s allies crossed the floor


Such was the distraction provided by the bitter controversy in Washington over the US president’s nominee for the Supreme Court that Americans may have missed the potent symbolism of exhibit B. This was an exceptional moment by the standards of the UN’s 73-year history. Europe, including the UK, normally a reliable US ally, publicly lined itself up with Moscow and Beijing against Washington on an issue core to US foreign policy: confronting Tehran’s expansionary agenda and nuclear ambitions. What is more, the Europeans paraded measures designed explicitly to undercut the new US sanctions regime on Iran.
posted by infini at 12:58 PM on September 28, 2018 [21 favorites]


A one week delay keeps him from hearing oral arguments for at least the first week of the term, which starts October 1. There are eight cases scheduled for oral argument that week, including a case about sex offender registration and one about critical habitat designations for the endangered species act. That's 8 cases he can't rule on because he was not on the court at the time they were heard.

Justices recusing themselves from cases that they did not hear oral arguments on is a custom. There is no requirement that he recuse himself if he ultimately gets confirmed. I'm not sure this custom is one that he'd keep.
posted by Arbac at 12:59 PM on September 28, 2018 [8 favorites]


My Senators are already going to vote OK, but I want to be part of an enormous, incovenient, and deadly serious female rage movement.
Stay angry, little Meg,” Mrs Whatsit whispered. “You will need all your anger now.” — @MadeleineLEngle ∙ Sep 27
(The twitter account is curated by L'Engle's granddaughter, Charlotte Jones Voiklis (@charlottejv))

posted by octobersurprise at 12:59 PM on September 28, 2018 [56 favorites]


A friend said that when Dr. Ford testified about Kavanaugh's laughter it reminded her of this James Baldwin quote: "This laughter is the laughter of those who consider themselves to be at a safe remove from all the wretched, for whom the pain of the living is not real."
posted by mareli at 1:05 PM on September 28, 2018 [56 favorites]


Statement: The Senate Judiciary Committee will request that the administration instruct the FBI to conduct a supplemental FBI background investigation with respect to the nomination of Judge Brett Kavanaugh to be an Associate Justice on the Supreme Court. The supplemental FBI background investigation would be limited to the current credible allegations against the nominee and must be completed no later than one week from today.
posted by zachlipton at 1:15 PM on September 28, 2018 [11 favorites]


who gets to define credibility?
posted by Exceptional_Hubris at 1:15 PM on September 28, 2018 [11 favorites]


Gallup approval of SCOTUS:

September 2017:
Men - 50%
Women - 49%

September 2018:
Men - 60%
Women - 43%
posted by Chrysostom at 1:16 PM on September 28, 2018 [19 favorites]


Another benefit for even a week of delays: fewer days that there's a conservative majority in the Supreme Court. Why This Weird Little Frog Should Care About Brett Kavanaugh -- If the conservative jurist joins the court by Monday, he will rule on protections for the critically endangered dusky gopher frog. (Robinson Meyer for The Atlantic, Sept. 27, 2018)
He is one of about 75 dusky gopher frogs left in the wild. On Monday, the Supreme Court will start its term with a case that could decide whether he and his peers dwindle into extinction. And—most peculiarly for the frog—Brett Kavanaugh’s presence or absence from the bench could prove decisive in how the court rules.

To understand why, it helps to know how we got here—both with the frog and its legal protector, the Endangered Species Act. The dusky gopher frog is among the hundreds of amphibian species that have suffered from a global fungal pandemic and from atrocious habitat loss. Losing one’s home would be a problem for any species, but it has debilitated this one, as they are very finicky. Dusky gopher frogs can breed only around “ephemeral ponds,” pools of water that grow with the winter rains before drying out and vanishing in the summer. Right now, the last known population of frogs lives entirely around one of these ponds in Mississippi.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has a plan to resuscitate the frog. It wants to restore polluted ponds and construct new ones altogether in pine forests throughout the Deep South. Then it will relocate some frogs to these new pools and protect the land around them.

But this policy has run afoul of Weyerhaeuser, one of the largest timber companies in the world, and the owner of a parcel of Louisiana woodlands that the Fish and Wildlife Service has ruled “critical habitat” for the frogs, even though they don’t live there yet. Weyerhaeuser charges that the Endangered Species Act’s protections for critical habitat do not extend to places where a species does not and cannot currently live. The government, citing six peer-reviewed studies, says that the frog cannot recover and flourish without that parcel of forest.
...
The justices will also rule on what the word habitat means. When the government lists a species as endangered, it must describe its critical habitat, a legal term of art. Weyerhaeuser argues that habitat should have a commonsense definition: It should describe only places where a species currently resides. Environmental advocates and the federal government say that it should have a more scientific one, describing any tract of land essential for the animal’s long-term survival.
It's more than these frogs at stake. With climate change and ever-increasing development, endangered animals face diminishing "current" habitats, so future habitats will have to be identified to increase their range to support their survival.
posted by filthy light thief at 1:17 PM on September 28, 2018 [23 favorites]


Gallup approval of SCOTUS:

I find this question incomprehensible. What am I approving of or not? Decisions they make? Items they refuse to take up? The makeup of the court? Should I say I approve of it more than I used to because Scalia isn't on it? Less because Garland wasn't approved? Maybe I think too much about how the sausage is made to have a singular opinion on the matter but I wouldn't be able to answer this question in a poll.
posted by phearlez at 1:21 PM on September 28, 2018 [23 favorites]


Collins backs FBI delay, joining Flake, Murkowski, Heitkamp, Manchin.
posted by Chrysostom at 1:27 PM on September 28, 2018 [22 favorites]


A piece of my soul for video of Lindsey Graham's face right now, media. A good piece, too.
posted by schadenfrau at 1:30 PM on September 28, 2018 [7 favorites]


Correct me if I'm wrong, but after releasing that statement from the SJC, the ball is in Trump's court, and the next step is that he picks up the phone to the head of the FBI and tells them to "Go"?
posted by mikelieman at 1:30 PM on September 28, 2018 [2 favorites]


Fun fact about the head of the FBI.

@MikeSacksEsq: Now that Flake has made his support contingent upon an FBI Investigation, worth noting FBI Director Chris Wray was two years behind Kavanaugh at Yale and Yale Law, where they both entered into the same conservative legal circles that would land them in the Bush Admininstration.

@Susan_Hennessey: This will be a test for FBI Director Wray to assemble a rapid investigation under a partisan microscope in which ever last decisions will be second-guessed by both sides. (Wonder if he wishes he could call Comey for some advice right about now.)
posted by zachlipton at 1:34 PM on September 28, 2018 [13 favorites]


Hey, all. I was at the Hart & Dirksen Senate office buildings this morning participating in a protest and planned arrest action. The whole protest was maybe 150-200 people, with 70-80 of us who were arrested after sitting and chanting (several women blew on rape whistles) in the Senate office hallway.

I'm still processing it all, but mainly I was blown away by the bravery, the fire I saw on display this morning. Some of the women (they were almost all women) drove here all the way from New Mexico. Maine. Florida. Oklahoma. Colorado. They've been getting themselves arrested all week, making as much noise as they can, rattling the resolve of cowardly Republicans and shoring up the "No" votes' commitment. I saw Republican Senators slink away when confronted. I saw a sexual assault survivor chase down Sen. Mazie Hirono and thank her, with a hug that was tearful on both sides.

If you live in or near DC, please come out and participate in the actions that will (almost certainly) be taking place daily between now and the eventual floor vote. (You don't need to get arrested!) Nearly every person I spoke to while we were being processed at the police precinct had come from hundreds (even thousands) of miles away. That's an incredible effort that most people can't afford, so if you're nearer and you have the time and ability to do so, please consider it!

(There were several orgs running things in tandem today. Suggestions here on who to follow for next steps.)
posted by duffell at 1:34 PM on September 28, 2018 [111 favorites]


"Current, credible" is code for 'Blasey-Ford and Kavanaugh's competing factual claims only.'
posted by snuffleupagus at 1:37 PM on September 28, 2018 [4 favorites]


I haven't seen anyone besides the Washington Examiner report this, and while I've been burned before, I think they can manage to quote the guy accurately, so, um, what the hell is this? Ryan Zinke: Naval blockade is an option for dealing with Russia
Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke says the U.S. Navy can blockade Russia if needed to keep it from controlling energy supplies in the Middle East as it does in Europe.

"The United States has that ability, with our Navy, to make sure the sea lanes are open, and, if necessary, to blockade ... to make sure that their energy does not go to market," Zinke said on Friday at an industry event in Pittsburgh hosted by the Consumer Energy Alliance.
I...Why is the Secretary of the Interior discussing a naval blockade?
posted by zachlipton at 1:39 PM on September 28, 2018 [25 favorites]


Because he's a crazy person.
posted by schadenfrau at 1:40 PM on September 28, 2018 [13 favorites]


Off the top of my head, wouldn't a blockade be an act of war?
posted by orrnyereg at 1:40 PM on September 28, 2018 [3 favorites]


navel blockade?

Stop belly-button lint.
posted by clawsoon at 1:40 PM on September 28, 2018 [10 favorites]


A piece of my soul for video of Lindsey Graham's face right now, media. A good piece, too.
posted by schadenfrau at 3:30 PM


Careful, that is not a horcrux you want any part of.
posted by skewed at 1:40 PM on September 28, 2018 [7 favorites]


I was going to do an FPP on the UN GA (and I still might after its over on Sunday) but right now I can't bring myself to dive in too deep.

The laughter of foreign dignitaries was a remarkable moment not just because it reflected how the world has come to see Trump, but also for what it said about the drastic reorganization of global power. “He was genuinely surprised to hear them laugh,” marveled one former national security official. “His advisers aren’t helping him understand how the world looks at America today.”
[...]
The president of the United States, far from representing U.S. hegemony, looked weak and small—preoccupied with the Mueller probe and disloyal aides, insecure about his achievements, and fearful of Republicans losing control of Congress.


Erdoğan says he skipped Trump banquet to avoid being in the family photograph

The Real Pain From Trump’s Tariffs Trickles Down to Consumers

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has used her debut speech to the United Nations General Assembly to directly challenge the view of the world outlined by US President Donald Trump in his speech there earlier this week.....she has called for a different world order - one that puts "kindness" ahead of isolationism, rejection and racism.
posted by infini at 1:44 PM on September 28, 2018 [18 favorites]


I've been sort of contemplating the psychology of Cavanaw. He lies so fucking much, it's weird. I wonder if he'd just been raised like a normal school instead of Hogwarts for Gang Rapists, with just ordinary ambitions, maybe he'd be able to acknowledge the shit he'd done and become something other than a risible human being. As is, man Barty, you better help there's not a fucking hell down there.
posted by angrycat at 1:45 PM on September 28, 2018 [7 favorites]


Sure, Zinke, go ahead and start openly talking about energy strategies that would start a war and get us nuked. Guess we'll really need all that coal that you wanna scrape out of Grand Staircase then.
posted by azpenguin at 1:46 PM on September 28, 2018 [2 favorites]


@chrisgeidner: Former SG Ted Olson, who testified in favor of Kavanaugh's nomination and wrote about the nomination on Sept. 20 tells me, in response to a question about the ABA's letter calling for further investigation, "I was a member of the ABA until today."

The sickness in the elite legal community is a deeply disturbing aspect of all this.

@amandawgolden: BREAKING on @TheLeadCNN: a White House official tells @jeffzeleny President Trump will authorize and order a supplemental FBI background investigation into Brett Kavanaugh

It was 10 days ago that Trump said the FBI doesn't do this.

More broadly on Kavanaugh, Adam Serwer, The Confirmation of Trumpism:
The most important lie that Kavanaugh told, however, was in his initial testimony. Echoing Thomas’s broken promise to avoid ideology as a judge, Kavanaugh initially proclaimed that “as Justice Kennedy showed us, a judge must be independent, not swayed by public pressure … The Supreme Court must never be viewed as a partisan institution. The justices on the Supreme Court do not sit on opposite sides of an aisle. They do not caucus in separate rooms. If confirmed to the Court, I would be part of a team of nine, committed to deciding cases according to the Constitution and laws of the United States. I would always strive to be a team player on the team of nine.”

On Thursday however, Kavanaugh made his partisan inclinations clear. “This whole two-week effort has been a calculated and orchestrated political hit, fueled with apparent pent-up anger about President Trump and the 2016 election,” Kavanaugh testified, blaming “fear that has been unfairly stoked about my judicial record, revenge on behalf of the Clintons, and millions of dollars in money from outside left-wing opposition groups.” He added a threat for good measure, warning his critics that “what goes around comes around.” It was yet another echo of Thomas. “While there were intermittent rumors that he might step down long before retirement age,” Mayer and Abramson wrote, “Thomas himself vowed on the day of his confirmation, at the age of forty-three, that he intended to spend the next forty-three years of his life as a Supreme Court justice. It would take that long, he told friends, to get even.”

By Kavanaugh’s own standard, he is incapable of sitting on the Court. While justices are in practice often partisan actors, hewing closely to one party’s preferred outcome in big cases, they understand their own role as impartial jurists interpreting the law and the Constitution. Kavanaugh’s characterization of the charges against him as a left-wing revenge plot shows that the illusion is not one he even cares to maintain. There is no case that might come before the Court involving partisan interests in which Kavanaugh could be impartial. Kavanaugh himself told us so.
posted by zachlipton at 1:48 PM on September 28, 2018 [37 favorites]


Why is the Secretary of the Interior discussing a naval blockade?

Trump has been trying to hard sell the overpriced super cooled LPG from the US shipped over by ships to Germany and Turkey instead of the cheaper Russian stuff currently piped over.
posted by infini at 1:51 PM on September 28, 2018 [3 favorites]


NT Alexandra Petri, with an exceptional piece It is very difficult to get the train to stop
But I am so tired.
I am so tired of this constant parade of pain.

In the Bible, Thomas says he will not believe what Jesus has survived unless he can stick his hand into the wounds. But this is not a reasonable thing to ask of someone who is not God, to stick your hand into their wound. I am tired of watching people become wounds. Half the Internet is a wound. Have you stuck your hand in it enough? Do you believe yet? The #MeToo movement lurches forward over a path of scars. The change is so slow and the sacrifice it demands so great.

Even as she testified Thursday, Christine Blasey Ford kept apologizing. (“I’m sorry,” she said. “I can read fast!” she said. She was here to be “helpful,” she said.)

Someday I want to not be tired.
Someday I want us not to apologize.
...
Is it too much to ask to be the train sometimes? Not all the time, just sometimes.
posted by zachlipton at 1:52 PM on September 28, 2018 [100 favorites]


Republicans Are Deploying Staggeringly Racist Ads in Upstate New York - Tim Murphy, Mother Jones
posted by ZeusHumms at 1:53 PM on September 28, 2018 [6 favorites]


God. “The train.” In all its sickening senses. That can’t be accidental.
posted by adamgreenfield at 1:54 PM on September 28, 2018 [7 favorites]


Republicans Are Deploying Staggeringly Racist Ads in Upstate New York - Tim Murphy, Mother Jones

California, too.
posted by Chrysostom at 1:57 PM on September 28, 2018 [6 favorites]


zachlipton:
@chrisgeidner: Former SG Ted Olson, who testified in favor of Kavanaugh's nomination and wrote about the nomination on Sept. 20 tells me, in response to a question about the ABA's letter calling for further investigation, "I was a member of the ABA until today."

The sickness in the elite legal community is a deeply disturbing aspect of all this.
Taken wholly at face value, there is so very little logic to this kind of resistance to an investigation (which is all ABA has called for, and hence the only reason one mght quit in response to tem). They argue (Merrick) that a delay is (Garland) bad, even just a week long. If the delay is bade because of midterms, then what about a three-week investigation followed by a week of debate and a vote? That leaves time for the midterm, right?

Then there's the notion that it's unnecessary because anything untoward would have come up in the first six checks. Okay, but how does that really conflict with doing another one now? What exactly is the harm?

I can easily see a scenario where something at least a bit damning comes out, and the new party talking point is "This can't be true or else it would have already come out". Like the economist in that old joke about a dollar bill on the sidewalk.
posted by InTheYear2017 at 1:59 PM on September 28, 2018


Just a side thing I keep wanting to say somewhere, so maybe it can gain traction:

Please, please, please, for the love of god, push back like crazy on the whole "the FBI doesn't do this!" and/or "the FBI doesn't come to conclusions!" argument. Kavanaugh and the senators holding hands around his summoning circle keep saying this, and it is ludicrous.

The FBI does not make conclusions, but what the FBI does do is gather facts so that the people whose job it is to make a conclusion can make an informed one.
posted by tocts at 2:00 PM on September 28, 2018 [7 favorites]


MSNBC says the President has requested a week-long Kavanaugh background investigation from the FBI, “limited in scope”.
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 2:01 PM on September 28, 2018 [3 favorites]


A judge just ruled (pdf) that Congressional Democrats have standing to bring their Emoluments Clause lawsuit against Trump. The judge helpfully points out that "Modern Presidents, except for President Trump, have sought advice from the Department of Justice Office of Legal Counsel (“OLC”) prior to accepting potentially covered emoluments."
posted by zachlipton at 2:04 PM on September 28, 2018 [73 favorites]


> the President has requested a week-long Kavanaugh background investigation from the FBI, “limited in scope”.

Good. Now it's time to keep pushing back on the "limited scope" - why? What are they so afraid of finding out?

(Oh, and "current credible allegations" - so the current allegations are in fact credible? Good to know. I'm sure that no HR department ever would hire someone with credible assault allegations outstanding, but sure. Put him on the Supreme Court.)
posted by RedOrGreen at 2:05 PM on September 28, 2018 [16 favorites]


Off the top of my head, wouldn't a blockade be an act of war?

Yes, which is why our blockade of Cuba was a "quarantine" during the Cuban Missile Crisis.
posted by kirkaracha at 2:13 PM on September 28, 2018 [3 favorites]


The FBI investigation covers some of the waffly Republicans either way.

FBI finds something: I can't vote for that (no can do).

FBI "doesn't find something"*: The FBI cleared him so I can vote in good conscience.

* All they'd need to do is read through the megathread and follow up to find something.
posted by kirkaracha at 2:16 PM on September 28, 2018 [7 favorites]


The official Senate Judiciary Committee Twitter account has been spamming its feed with links to blatantly pro-Kavanaugh, anti-Democrat articles for the past couple of hours. It is really a sight to behold.
posted by Atom Eyes at 2:16 PM on September 28, 2018 [14 favorites]


Good. Now it's time to keep pushing back on the "limited scope" - why? What are they so afraid of finding out?

Are FBI agents even allowed to "limit" their scope?

If they find evidence of law breaking are they allowed to just look the other way?
posted by ocschwar at 2:21 PM on September 28, 2018 [5 favorites]


Bodycam video of cops responding after Louisville DSA were pepper-sprayed by Nazis

DSA who have obviously been pepper-sprayed, customers, owner and multiple staff of restaurant: "These Nazis tried to start a fight and then pepper-sprayed us."

Obvious Nazis wearing fucking Mjollnir necklaces: "These crazy commies came running at us with a glass, I don't know nothing about no pepper spray, I've never seen no pepper spray"

Cops: "Both sides are giving us conflicting stuff [ACTUAL QUOTE], a real he-said-she-said situation, not much we can do"

Hand-in-hand as always.
posted by Rust Moranis at 2:25 PM on September 28, 2018 [49 favorites]


I really want someone to ask Kavanaugh, to his face, on the record, if he recognizes that, whether he's guilty or not, his name will forever be associated, for a lot of Americans, with the most traumatic events of their lives. That his tenure on the Supreme Court will always have an asterisk next to it for everyone who's suffered a sexual assault of any kind. Then I want them to ask him if he thinks his appointment to the Supreme Court is worth doing that kind of damage to legitimacy of the Supreme Court as an institution.

I mean, obviously, even if he genuinely thinks he's innocent of the accusations, it's clear that he thinks his appointment to the Supreme Court is worth trampling over anyone and anything to get to. Nor does someone so nakedly partisan truly care about the legitimacy of the Court. But I so badly want someone to make him say it out loud. Or at least be forced to blubber and flail his way around admitting it.
posted by mstokes650 at 2:26 PM on September 28, 2018 [19 favorites]


NEW THREAD

Special thanks to the news, for briefly stopping long enough to get this posted, and Doktor Zed, Box, the man of twists and turns, and tautological for collaborating on this FPP on the mefi wiki.
posted by zachlipton at 2:41 PM on September 28, 2018 [28 favorites]


four days.

this thread only lasted four days.

my god.
posted by Reclusive Novelist Thomas Pynchon at 2:42 PM on September 28, 2018 [54 favorites]


And it will be a treasure trove for future historians.
posted by Melismata at 2:45 PM on September 28, 2018 [12 favorites]


Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.
posted by kirkaracha at 2:45 PM on September 28, 2018 [40 favorites]


Did somebody mention Ryan Zinke? He's coming to Boston next week, too, for an announcement of some multi-million-dollar project to "reshape the visitor experience" at the historic Charlestown Navy Yard, where the USS Constitution is berthed. 11 a.m. on Friday.
posted by adamg at 2:47 PM on September 28, 2018 [1 favorite]


Hopefully some herstorians. 😊
posted by riverlife at 2:57 PM on September 28, 2018 [3 favorites]


also nbstorians.
posted by Reclusive Novelist Thomas Pynchon at 2:58 PM on September 28, 2018 [3 favorites]


Not to get even more Bostonish than I usually am, but this just in: Emerson College, which owns the theatre where Jeff Flake is supposed to pontificate Monday on the future of the Republican Party, is trying to get the event canceled for safety reasons. The college gave management of the theater over to a private concern a couple years ago, says it didn't know about the event until the local press started yammering about it today.
posted by adamg at 2:58 PM on September 28, 2018 [5 favorites]


this thread only lasted four days.

It's been a long year since last week.
posted by scalefree at 3:01 PM on September 28, 2018 [41 favorites]


> Emerson College, which owns the theatre where Jeff Flake is supposed to pontificate Monday on the future of the Republican Party, is trying to get the event canceled for safety reasons

Sounds like they are ... flaking out.
posted by RedOrGreen at 3:02 PM on September 28, 2018 [3 favorites]


Venue hosts political event. Venue cancels event on rumors that politics might occur.
posted by rhizome at 3:09 PM on September 28, 2018 [1 favorite]


Jeff Flake is banned in Boston
posted by octobersurprise at 3:17 PM on September 28, 2018 [3 favorites]


🥛🍪🍪
posted by kirkaracha at 3:25 PM on September 28, 2018 [4 favorites]


Jeff Flake's Out
posted by kirkaracha at 3:27 PM on September 28, 2018 [1 favorite]


Venue hosts political event. Venue cancels event on rumors that politics might occur.

Emerson actually shut the theater three years ago and initially looked at turning it into a student cafeteria. After considerable uproar (it's not like Boston has a ton of old-school theaters), the college agreed to rent the building to a third party to run as a theater, so, yeah, they might be telling the truth about not knowing about the event. But the concern about safety? One thing Boston Police are very good at is handling large crowds, which Emerson should know, given its location across from Boston Common, which is one of Boston's main locations for large-crowd-type demonstrations.
posted by adamg at 3:27 PM on September 28, 2018 [2 favorites]


>>>> NEW THREAD >>>>

(reposting for the folks on the Recent Activity page)
posted by mbrubeck at 3:41 PM on September 28, 2018 [5 favorites]



Republicans Are Deploying Staggeringly Racist Ads in Upstate New York - Tim Murphy, Mother Jones

I grew up one town away from Cairo (pronounced "care-oh"), the Greene County location of the featured sign on the tweet, and I am not at all surprised.
posted by jgirl at 5:35 PM on September 28, 2018 [1 favorite]


What's the backstory on all of those upstate New York towns named for Old World cities?
posted by Chrysostom at 5:59 PM on September 28, 2018


What's the backstory on all of those upstate New York towns named for Old World cities?

Optimism.
posted by ChurchHatesTucker at 6:01 PM on September 28, 2018 [11 favorites]


What's the backstory on all of those upstate New York towns named for Old World cities?

After the Revolutionary War, many soldiers were offered land bounties for their service, as I'm sure you know. Some sold theirs. Towns were created on the lands and given classical names: Ovid, Rome, Utica, Romulus, and many more. Cairo and nearby Athens, in the Hudson Valley, are a bit far east for this. They had to come up with names, and they went with that theme.
posted by jgirl at 6:14 PM on September 28, 2018 [3 favorites]


God. “The train.” In all its sickening senses. That can’t be accidental.

If you were wondering why people who regard public transport to be degenerate Euro-Chinese socialism would call their movement the “Trump Train”, wonder no more. It never was a railroad metaphor.
posted by acb at 6:32 PM on September 28, 2018 [4 favorites]


You know, I never understood before that people think rape diminishes the raped. I was raped, a couple of times, as a teenager, and even then I somehow knew that while my humanity was ignored, it was the rapist who was diminished. He was the actor who reduced his own worth by his act. He was the one who denied empathy and commonality, he was the one who ignored a social contract. He was/is less than. But I never really thought it out until now.
posted by goofyfoot at 8:45 PM on September 28, 2018 [31 favorites]


« Older All hail Gritty.   |   Breaking A Sacred Trust Newer »


This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments